Ewan rolled the toothpick in his mouth and gripped it tight between his teeth, considering me.
“We’re on a mission.”
“I gathered that. Where does she fit in?”
“That’s need-to-know, Valdez. Why are you here? Did someone send you?”
This was the tricky bit. If they called to corroborate my story, I was sunk. But I was counting on the fact they weren’t keeping in contact with the Trust regularly. It would be too easy for someone watching the Trust to glean their whereabouts.
“I’m here searching for a cure for Cat.” Starting off with truth was always best. It shored up the lie nicely. “Roland called. I know he wasn’t supposed to, but he found a shaman who might have the answers I need. He vacations here on the offseason. I was supposed to meet him at that cafe. And instead…well you saw. I guess the vamps didn’t get the newsletter.”
Ewan’s face softened just a little. “You did good back there, you know. With just a standard gun and no prior warning? Damn good.”
“She has other weapons, Ewan. She’s still breaking her parole.” Dominic said, holding my bomber jacket up to the light. Someone must have stripped it off of me while I was unconscious. At least all my other clothes were still on. If Dominic had undressed me while I was out, I’d have to cold clock him into oblivion. There were some lines you didn’t cross, even with your ex.
A sneer twisted my mouth. “Yeah, I have more guns. Sue me, Finch. I didn’t want to come face a shaman unarmed. Especially if it turned out to be some Trust trick to get me arrested.”
His jaw flexed once in annoyance. “We wouldn’t do that. The Trust is fair. More than fair, in light of what happened. You’re still breathing.”
“Dominic, what’s going on?” Eleanor breathed, her eyes bouncing back and forth between us nervously. “Who is she?”
Dominic heaved a sigh and tugged his gaze from mine. “This is Natalia Valdez. She was one of the Five, years ago. She went rogue and decided she preferred being a vigilante, instead of a cop.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it, Dom,” I shot back, rising to my feet. The bile was working its way out of my system finally, and I only wobbled slightly.
He got a grip on my bicep and tugged me toward the door to the adjoining room. “We’re not having this conversation here.”
“Afraid you’re going to upset your girlfriend?”
Dominic didn’t dignify the barb with a response. He yanked the door open so hard the hinges creaked and pulled me into the room after him. It slammed behind us. This room was smaller than the one we’d just left. There was only a small bed, a desk covered in beakers and test tubes, and a nightstand.
“You shouldn’t have come here, Nat,” he said, voice tight with an emotion I couldn’t name. “If the Trust finds out you’re here, they’ll give me the order to carry out your sentence. You’re not supposed to fraternize with us. You’re not to take part in any Trust activity. And you’re not supposed to use magic offensively. I know that those aren’t old guns. We confiscated every piece you had.” He shoved me toward the bed. I landed and bounced once, the springs protesting loudly. “Who are you here to kill?”
“No one,” I growled. “Can’t you give me the fucking benefit of the doubt, just once?”
He flinched away from the venom in my tone. I could still hurt him. That was good to know, I supposed.
He began to pace, his coat swirling around him like a living thing. I hadn’t gotten a good look at him during the shootout. It was a shame too because he looked just as good as I remembered him. He wore a black, tight-fitting sweater beneath the coat. It would have been hell to wear anywhere without air conditioning. The bootleg jeans made his ass look like a dream. I scowled down at the ground, rather than continue to ogle him. It was so freaking unfair that he could still draw this reaction from me.
“I want to. But even if I do decide to trust you, the Trust won’t. One good deed done in ignorance won’t help you. It’s probably best that you leave Belize. I’ll talk to this shaman friend of yours when I get a chance.”
“And when will that be? What’s she cooking up for you here? It could take months. Years, even. I don’t have that long. Cat’s going into renal failure. I have to find a cure. Now.”
The mask slid completely away then, and the empathy I saw in his gaze punched me in the gut.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not. If you cared about me you would have done something by now.”
“You think I haven’t tried?” he said, jabbing a finger at me. “Who do you think keeps giving Anton hints? Do you think a gunsmith is well-versed in ancient texts? Has connections to priests and fae who can help you? Of course not. I’ve been doing that.”
I blinked, staring at him in shock. “You…what?”
He blew out a frustrated breath through his nose and continued to pace, faster now. “I knew they’d be watching me, Nat. I couldn’t be with you. Not if I wanted to find the real culprit. And I’ve been trying. But they’re damned good at covering their tracks.”
The real culprit.
I held up a hand. “Wait. Wait. Wait. You what? You mean to tell me that you knew I was innocent this whole time and you let me take the fall for it? They might have killed me!”
“You weren’t innocent, Nat. You were working for that despicable mercenary. And you’re wrong. They wouldn’t have killed you. Whoever’s been pulling the strings needs a scapegoat. There’s no pinning something on you if you’re dead.”
My head spun wildly. This couldn’t be happening. Why was he telling me this now?
But depressingly, it meant nothing. I still had to kill that girl. For the cure. For Cat. For everything I held dear. If that virus got out, it would mean the end of all things demi-human. I reached up and brushed my hand along my ear, half expecting Geoffrey or Arabella to be hissing instructions in my ear. Someone had removed my silver earring. Probably Dom. But even if they couldn’t hear us, they could still keep an eye on us. There were ears and eyes for hire everywhere. I knew. I’d paid several of the maids to spy and report back to me.
If I faltered now, Cat was as good as dead. Why did I learn this now, when it was absolutely imperative that I betray him?
Dominic reached out a hand toward me and I flinched away from him, expecting a blow. Instead, he cupped my face and tipped my chin up so he could look me in the eye. Tears spilled over.
“Let go,” I muttered. “If you watch me cry I swear to God I’m going to punch you in the face hole.”
“Fine. But I have just one question before we start in on physical battery, if it’s all the same to you.”
“What’s that?”
“The guns. How were you enchanting them without your wand? I thought they confiscated it.”
I squirmed once in embarrassment. It was a less loaded topic than the one we’d been on. I wiped at my cheeks and sniffed hard. “You’ll laugh at me.”
“I might.”
I dug around in my pocket and withdrew the toothbrush, balancing it in my palm. He squinted at it in bemusement.
“What’s this?”
“My grandfather’s wand. I carved it down to disguise it on flights and in case Findlay caught me abroad.” I waggled it at him. “Fear my minty magic, Finch.”
He let out a loud bark of laughter that morphed into a full on belly laugh. He couldn’t seem to stop. He doubled over and kept laughing until tears streamed down his face.
“Le Fay’s saggy tits, Nat. You haven’t changed a bit. God, I missed you.”
He lunged and then his lips were on mine. I surrendered to the warm slide of his mouth over mine with a groan, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, anchoring myself to him.
His hands braced my waist, pushing me backward onto the soft mattress, and drawing me closer to him in the same move.
Well, I supposed it wouldn’t hurt if the girl lived one more night.
***
&n
bsp; I lay sprawled in a pool of golden sunlight. My bones felt like jello and I couldn’t recall a time in recent memory that I’d felt happier. After a week with the vampires, I’d grown accustomed to the dark and ever-present fear of imminent danger, as I’d monitored this room through my scope. They couldn’t touch me here, in this warm, cozy room, awash with light and protected by the Trust’s best defense enchantments.
Dominic’s arms wound around me and he pressed me close, hauling my nude body against his. The kiss he placed beneath the hollow of my ear made me shiver.
“Are we good now, Nat?” he whispered. “Cause I could be up for another fight if you want.”
I rolled my eyes, my cheerful mood draining away as quickly as it had come. “You’re not getting makeup sex again, Dom. This was a one-time deal. I’m still pissed at you. You shouldn’t have treated me like a doll. I don’t need your protection. Never have, never will.”
Dominic propped himself up on one elbow and frowned at me. “Come on, Nat. You’re not being fair.”
I seized my jeans from the floor and wriggled into them. The fact he was staring at my ass did not escape my notice. Honestly, if I’d been aiming to kill him, it would have been ludicrously easy. I threw on the tight red tank top I’d worn to offset the heat and tugged on the jacket he’d given me. The vial of vaporous darkness in the secret pocket clinked once against the keys to the rental car and I winced, hoping he didn’t hear. It would have tipped him off, and I needed him relaxed and unprepared for what was about to happen.
“I need to go,” I said, shoving my feet into worn combat boots. “I’ve got a shaman to meet. A sister to save. You know, all that fun shit.”
Dominic sat up fully, not even bothering to cover the fact he was entirely naked beneath the sheet. It was an effort not to stare. He was the picture of masculine beauty. All six feet of him was composed of chiseled muscle. He seized my arm before I could make my escape. Freaking hell. I didn’t want to fight him. But it would come down to that if I killed the girl.
“Don’t go, Nat. We can work this out. Stay with us. You can protect Elle. And if we manage to pull this off, the Trust will probably welcome you back into the fold. We can cure Cat later. She’s not going to die in the next week or two, is she? Elle is close to a breakthrough.”
The casual use of the nickname made me bristle. It almost bothered me more than the fact that he talked so casually of genocide. I reached carefully into my pocket. Once I released the vapor I had about three seconds to get the hell out of the room.
I leaned up, kissed him very gently on the mouth and muttered, “I’m sorry, Dom. I really am.”
And then I threw the vial down as hard as I could. It hit the ground and cracked open. The room instantly went dark.
I fumbled in the gloom for the doorknob and twisted it open, ducking out into the main room quickly.
Ewan was reclining slightly on the bed, watching Elle mix something in a small test tube. The girl raised her eyes to glare at me as I slammed the door shut. She was looking up at me like I’d just pissed all over her new shoes. The subtle but distinct ownership vibe rolled off her. Too bad, little bitch. Neither of us get to have him.
Ewan glanced up at me with a smirk “What, no round two? And here I thought that Nikki boy had more stamina.”
I grinned tightly at him. Normally I’d have more time for banter. In ideal circumstances, I would have gotten closer to him, so that my attack wouldn’t be visible until it was too late. But of course, nothing up to this point had been ideal. I’d just have to make do.
“I’m heading out,” I said in a casual tone. “I’ll give you fifty for letting me stay.”
I reached into my bomber jacket. Shoving my hand into the pocket dimension to retrieve my weapon felt like sitting on it until the circulation cut off. Pins and needles ran up my arm as I fished out the first enchanted handgun I could find. I drew it carefully, keeping my hand carefully shielded from his view. My grip tightened around the CZ 75, and I flicked the safety off with my thumb. The sound was audible in the relative quiet of the room and Ewan didn’t miss it. By the time that I brought up my sidearm, he had a Beretta in hand, ready to loose a round at me.
“Ewan!” the girl shrieked. He ignored her.
I dove sideways, ducking behind the queen-sized bed to avoid his first shot. Instead of going through the drywall, as I expected, shimmering silver wards glowed iridescent against the creme paint. Dominic had warded the whole place. Well, at least the bullets weren’t about to ricochet into the rooms around us. The bad news was, I couldn’t make a quick escape if I needed to.
And damn, Ewan was quick. I’d hoped the shock would throw him off guard for long enough I’d be able to line up a shot on Eleanor. But I’d forgotten just how fast my comrades could be in my two-year absence. I wasn’t facing off against Lamonia’s rookie guards or a vampire with more bloodlust than sense. Ewan wasn’t as good as me, but he was very skilled to have made the Big Five. None of us were pushovers.
A less experienced fighter would have unloaded the clip into my hiding spot. But Ewan wasn’t stupid. He was waiting for me to make a move toward the target.
I peeked out from my improvised barricade and lined up a shot. Ewan tried to dodge, but didn’t move in time. The shot blasted a hole the size of a golf ball into his calf. He let out a rather unmanly scream of pain and said something very insulting about my mother.
Ewan pulled a lighter from his pocket and flicked it on. Immediately the tongue of flame jumped into his hand. I swallowed convulsively. They didn’t call Ewan Nature’s Fist for nothing. He was one of the strongest elemental fighters the world had ever seen. And now he had access to fire. Peachy.
He slapped his palm down onto the hole and screamed again. The smell of burning flesh turned my stomach. Ever since the fire that had claimed a portion of Phyllis’ home, I hadn’t been able to stand the smell of smoke or burning hair. I’d stopped using my hair dryer because the strands would catch in the heater and waft the scent to me.
I had one brief flash of Phyllis’ lined face, scrunched up in an expression of agony as I pulled her from the blaze. I could still feel the bone-crushing grip she’d had on my hand when they’d been forced to debride the wound.
The reminder that I had more than just Cat depending on me hardened my resolve and I rolled out into the open, bringing my gun up, aiming for his head this time.
Ewan was ready for me.
A fireball the size of my fist screamed across the room toward me and I barely had enough time to dodge out of the way. It impacted the wall behind me, exploding into a shower of sparks, leaving a blackened streak in its wake.
“Ewan!” Eleanor shrieked again. She dropped to her knees and scrambled toward him. I whipped the gun around. My finger twitched on the trigger. She was staring up at me horrified, fear in those big brown eyes.
“Please,” she whispered. “Don’t. Whatever they’ve told you, it’s lies.”
“Did you or did you not design the werewolf virus?”
Guilt played over her face before she could stop it. It didn’t matter that she felt remorse. Remorse did jack all for the dead and dying whom she’d helped infect. It didn’t save the people that she was trying to wipe from existence.
“That’s what I thought. When you get to hell tell the devil I say hi, will you?”
But before I could pull the trigger, Ewan struck again. Another jet of flame streaked toward me and this one was better aimed. It caught the edge of my pant leg before I could move out of the way.
Heat licked up my thigh quickly, setting every nerve on fire as it went. An unthinking, instinctual panic seized me and I dropped to the ground, rolling out of sight to smother the fire. The thigh holster that held my knife melted, clinging to my leg, and drawing skin off when I pulled it free.
My fingers were pink and blistering by the time I’d gotten it off. It felt like I’d shoved shards of glass into my hands when I tried to grip my gu
n.
I had to end this before Ewan actually managed to set me on fire. Of all the deaths I’d imagined for myself over the years, death by pyrokinetic redneck was not the one I’d go with. It would look absolutely horrible on my obituary page.
Toxic black darkness was curling from beneath the door of Dominic’s room, adding its cloying scent to the aromatic stew all around us.
I staggered into an upright position with difficulty, removing the second gun from its holster. Alright, no more screwing around. Time to fight fire with fire.
When Ewan lobbed his third fireball at me, I took aim with my enchanted pistol and fired at it. The two met in midair and the momentum of my shot sent the fireball back the way it had come. Ewan ducked out of the way and the supercharged fireball sailed toward Elle.
Ewan realized what he’d done a second too late as Elle’s scream split the night air. She’d tried to duck but not fast enough. The fireball managed to brush her as it went crashing into the wall. She collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.
“Elle!”
Ewan turned away from me, making a bid for the injured girl. After he’d doused the flames, the turned back with fury in his eyes, leveling his weapon at my head. He was going to kill me. If he lived, I might not. And Cat definitely wouldn’t.
My shot caught him between the shoulder blades and he dropped like a stone. From the sound of things, I’d punctured a lung.
I took a few steps forward, waiting to see if he was playing possum.
Ewan’s final exhalation was soft and then the gurgling sound died away. His toothpick went rolling across the floor toward his fallen charge.
I buried my guilt and stalked toward the girl, gun hanging loosely at my side. She wasn’t armed and even if she had been, I doubted she would know how to use it. If the girl was any sort of threat the council would have decided that only one protector was necessary.
I was less than a foot away from her when something cold and thick was jammed into the base of my skull.
Agent of Magic Box Set Page 14
