“I doubt that she had much of a choice.” I didn’t say it to make the detective or anyone else feel better. It was most likely the truth.
“What do you mean?” Masarelli spun on me, his voice edged with fear.
“He managed to convince the Inquisitors that he was helping them. I’m sure that he lied to her too.” I shrugged. “It’s what he does.”
“You said that he killed the witches and the Inquisitors. Why?” Masarelli struggled to put it all together. He’d been so certain it was the coven.
“He killed the witches to drain their magic because he needs it to gain his full power.” I was starting to feel like I needed a little power boost myself. The night was catching up to me.
“You’re not a witch. You don’t have magic. So what does he gain from you?” Scratching his head, Masarelli mulled over the details.
“No, I’m not a witch, but I am—I mean, I was…” I trailed off.
Masarelli was waiting for me to finish, but the rest, the part where I told him that I was metaphysically bound to a witch until I let him get killed, wouldn’t come out of my mouth.
“Maurin has her own kind of magic, and for whatever reason, he has taken a liking to it.” Aidan rested a hand on my shoulder, gave me a reassuring squeeze.
“But why kill the Inquisitors? It doesn’t make sense.”
How the hell did this guy make it to detective?
“He said he wanted revenge on the ones that enslaved him. The Inquisitors summoned him. In his eyes they’re no different from the ones who made him this way.” I leaned into Aidan’s arm to steady myself as I fought off another wave of exhaustion.
“Well, I’d say he certainly achieved that back in the warehouse. He didn’t leave anyone alive. What more does he want?” Masarelli had way too many questions.
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.” I stepped forward, ready to leave.
“You’re damn right we are.
“Um, hold up a second Masarelli. When I said we, I didn’t mean you.” I mustered up the energy for one last argument.
“You and the lawyer here aren’t cutting me and my men out of this. He killed a woman in our station.”
“So, you’re my lawyer now? That was your master plan?” I smirked, casting a sideways glance at the vampire.
He just shrugged. “I was a lawyer before I became this. I was quite good. It seemed like it would be easy enough to bail you out.”
“Nothing is ever that easy.” With a chuckle, I just shook my head.
“I’m beginning to see that—at least where you are concerned,” Aidan gave me a little wink.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do. This is my case!” Masarelli looked about ready to explode.
“Do you want your men to end up like this?” Aidan pointed to the shriveled up woman on the floor.
“No way, forget it! We’re working with you on this!” Masarelli turned an interesting shade of red when he got really angry.
“Your men must have emptied thirty clips into him, and he just brushed it off. You can’t defend yourselves against him, and we can’t fight him if we’re busy saving your hides the whole time.” I turned to Aidan. “Lead the way, Counselor.”
With that, Aidan and I left Masarelli to clean up the mess the Afrit had made.
Chapter 15
“Maurin, get in the car.” Aidan opened the door of his sixty-nine Camaro SS and leaned against the side, waiting for me to get in. It was a classic—black with white racing stripes—and any other day I’d be begging him to let me drive it, but right now I couldn’t even bring myself to get inside.
I stood there frozen on the sidewalk. My feet felt as if they were cemented in place.
“You’re going to have to face the coven sooner or later. Sooner, in fact, because later is not a luxury afforded to people like us,”
I could feel him moving toward me. It felt as if the air was displaced as he came closer. He stood in front of me, but I looked right past him. I stared over his shoulder at nothing until he grabbed my face with both hands and forced me to look at him. “This is not your fault. No one blames you for what happened.”
“You don’t know that,” I jerked free of him only because he let me. He was a vampire. I’d never be as strong as he was.
“If they want someone to blame, they can blame me. I’m the reason you were here in the first place, remember? I was only worried about us getting out of the warehouse. I didn’t think about what would happen if they took your amulet.”
“You’re not the one who—”
Aidan cut me off. “Neither are you. It was the Afrit, and we’re not going to be able to stop it from killing again standing here and arguing, so get in the car.”
I let out a heavy sigh and got in.
Aidan shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side. Hurt by Nine Inch Nails came on when he started the car.
Cranking the music up, I turned to face the window. I didn’t feel like talking, and something told me Aidan did. Listening to things that made sense or have someone try to talk some sense into me wasn’t on my agenda.
He reached to turn off the radio.
“Don’t.”
“At least let me put something else on.”
“No, I want to listen to it.” I understood why he wanted to change the music. Nine Inch Nails wasn’t the most upbeat choice, but I wanted to listen to someone who seemed to understand how I felt.
Besides, listening to some bubblegum pop song would have just made me feel worse. Aidan put the car in gear and didn’t say another word.
When we pulled up in front of Mahalia’s house, I couldn’t help wondering why the trip was always shorter when you didn’t want to go somewhere, as if the dread of your looming destination sped up time. Aidan got out and had my door open before I even had my seatbelt off.
I took his proffered hand, but he still had to pull me out of the car. My left foot got hung up on the floor mat, and I stumbled into him. Gently brushed my hair out of my face and he took me by the shoulders as I regained my footing. My heart raced at his touch. He leaned in, and I was suddenly nervous, my palms sweaty from the anticipation of what I thought was about to happen. “You can do this.”
“I know I can. I just don’t want to,” Relief and disappointed that he had misread my feelings swelled up.
As we headed up the little walkway leading to the front door, I couldn’t stop thinking about my attraction to Aidan. What the hell was wrong with me? I was here to face the coven, to explain my role in Oberon’s death and ask their forgiveness, not get weak- kneed with a hot vampire outside their door.
There was no magical connection pulling me to Aidan. Not like there had been when I first saw Oberon. Maybe it was some lingering effect from letting Aidan drink from me. Maybe it was just plain old physical attraction. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter because I wasn’t going to act on it.
Too focused on the feelings that were starting to stir for Aidan, I hadn’t been paying attention to anything else. Deciding it was time to pull my head out of my ass and face the music; I stopped staring at my feet and looked up.
I was hallucinating. That was the only explanation.
“I think I’m losing my mind.” I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
“Not unless we’re having the same delusion.” Thankfully the vampire decided to join me in my delirium.
Oberon stood in front of the door. My heart pounded against my ribs to break free. I forgot to breathe. There were so many emotions swirling around inside my head - nausea, joy, and relief, but mostly guilt for what I had been thinking about Aidan.
I didn’t run to him, I just stood there taking in every detail. He didn’t look hurt. In fact, he looked perfect.
He paused halfway, but kept walking when I made no move to meet him. “Maurin.”
Hearing him say my name set me in motion. I walked away from Aidan and closed the last few steps between us. “I thought that you were dead.” My vo
ice came out hoarse and my throat felt tight.
His face crumpled at my words. “Maurin, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…when I broke the connection, I thought that you’d know.”
I couldn’t process what he had said. He reached for me, but I was already in motion. I landed a right-handed hook to his jaw, knocking him on his ass.
“I thought that you were dead, you son of a bitch!” Tears streamed down my face as I screamed at him.
He didn’t say anything, just sat there staring up at me in disbelief. Which only pissed me off more.
Aidan got me in a bear hug from behind, holding me up in the air while my feet swinging wildly, in an attempt to make connection with Oberon.
I wanted him to hurt as much as I had.
Lights flicked on in the house, and people started coming outside to see what was going on. Amalie was standing on the stone slab in front of the door.
Graive stepped out from behind her. It was close to four in the morning, but none of us cared about waking the neighbors. She started walking over to Oberon. “You damn near killed him! That wasn’t enough for you?”
“That’s it. I’ve had enough of her shit! Put me down, Aidan.”
“As much as I’d like to see you have a go at the necro, I’m not going to let go of you until you calm down.” Aidan tightened his grip, struggling to hold onto my wiggling body.
“I am calm. I’m the epitome of calm!”
Aidan just laughed. “Yes, I can see that.”
“Let her go, Aidan,” Oberon got back on his feet.
“If I let you go, do you promise not to hit anyone else?” Aidan didn’t miss an opportunity to tease me.
“Don’t ask her to make a promise that she can’t keep. She’s out of control.” Graive didn’t miss an opportunity to incite my temper.
“How about I come over there and break that promise on your face? No one’s talking to you, so shut up!” I fought harder to free myself of the vampire’s hold.
“See what I mean? She almost got Oberon killed, who’s going to be next?” Graive asked.
“You, if you don’t shut your mouth I’m going to shut it for you.” The necro frayed my last nerve, exceeded my patience. However you wanted to describe it. I’d had enough.
“I seriously doubt that.” She waved off my threats like they were nothing and stepped forward.
“Graive,” Oberon warned.
She took a couple more steps forward, muttering something I couldn’t understand. The ground hummed as she moved toward us, and the air smelled like damp moss.
“I’d think twice before you finish that spell, necromancer, or Maurin will be the last of your worries.”
Graive stopped when she realized what Aidan meant. She almost broke Mahalia’s agreement with the vampires. Devastated when Oberon didn’t come to her defense like he had against Matthison, the necro was without allies in the crowd that had gathered outside, either. No one wanted to go up against Agrona. When no one took her side Graive stormed into the house.
Aidan released me , but didn’t walk away, standing stoic at my back like a bodyguard. With the excitement winding down, most of the onlookers had gone back inside. Cash and Amalie were the only two left.
“I’ve got it from here, Aidan. I just want to talk to her.” Oberon brushed some more grass off his elbows as he approached.
Aidan didn’t move.
“I promise not to hit him again.” I sighed.
Aidan gave me a mischievous smile that said he didn’t quite believe me but joined Cash and Amalie on the steps.It made for a nice illusion of privacy. They’d still be able to hear everything we said.
“I’m sorry, Maurin. I thought that you would be able to feel my magic when I broke the connection.” Oberon reached for me, closing the distance between us.
“What was I supposed to think?” I jerked away instinctively, still too hurt, too confused for him to touch me. My shields were weak, and I didn’t need his thoughts muddling mine. “I could feel you one minute, then it became weak like you were slipping away, and then the next minute there was nothing. You were gone. The connection was gone,”
“I told you before not to worry, that I could handle myself. Remember?”
“Yes, but I thought that you meant physically, like when I almost slit your throat—by accident.” I rush to clarify for the audience on the front step.
I could hear Aidan and Cash chuckle.
“But I couldn’t replay every conversation we ever had in my head while I was drugged and an Afrit was sucking the life out of me.” “A what? Who drugged you?”
Oberon didn’t know what happened, and that just pissed me off all over again. He should have known. He should have been there. If he cared enough he would have been.
“If you were at the police station, then you would already know that. You knew that I was in trouble, so where were you?”
If the roles had been reversed—if it were me feeling everything he was going through—I would have been at that police station no matter how badly injured I was. I would have been tearing walls down to find him. I realized too late to spare myself the hurt feelings, that that was a big difference between Oberon and me.
“You weren’t the only one getting the life sucked out of you.” Reeling from the accusation, Oberon fired back.
“You look fine to me.” I huffed, folding my arms across my chest.
“It took almost everything that I had to break the connection with you, Maurin. I wasn’t exactly at peak performance after that.”
“What, no magic elixir to get you back on your feet?” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
“Why do you do that? Why do you always mask your true feelings with anger?” Oberon raked fingers through his hair, stopping to pull out a small twig.
“I’m not masking anything, you self-serving ass. I am angry. I am royally pissed off. So don’t try to change the subject. This isn’t about me. I thought the link between us was supposed to be permanent?”
“Now she’s asking the right questions,” Cash mumbled.
I shot him a look that would pierce armor. He raised his hands into the air in mock surrender and then pretended to lock his lips.
“It was. I mean, that’s what we thought. And there was never any reason to test that theory before.” Oberon sucked at back peddling, fumbling up when he was such a good liar up until then.
“Never a reason? How about any one of the million times I was freaking out about the connection or about us? How about when I started questioning whether or not what I was feeling was real or even my own? None of those seemed like a good time to you? No, I guess not. You were too busy cramming all this shit down my throat.” My hands curled into fists at my side. If I didn’t reign in my temper one of them would connect with his face again.
“Come on, Maurin; it’s not like that.” Oberon held out his hands, palm up, pleading for me to understand..
“Really? Well, it sure looks that way to me. You must have been so pleased with yourself, keeping me tied to the coven, and making a fool out of me.” I dug my nails into the palm of my hand to keep from hitting him.
“I was just as confused by the connection as you, at first,” he said, stepping closer.
“Don’t,” I closed my eyes and counted to ten. If he got any closer, Aidan would need to intervene again. Thinking about the vampire brought on images of his body pressed to mine, his breath on my neck. Giving myself a mental shake to snap out of it, I made a note to ask Aidan how long the side effects from his feeding would last. Keeping my temper was hard to do when a sexy vampire kept invading my thoughts. And I wanted to relish every drop of my anger.
“Bullshit. The other night you said that this all came easily to you because you’re a witch. Now it’s difficult for you. You can’t have it both ways. So which is it, Oberon?”
He didn’t answer. I’d caught him in a lie, and he knew it.
“You’ve been trying to convince me that this was what was best for me, but t
he whole time it was what was best for you.” I finally put the pieces together.
“Best for me?” He laughed nervously. “I wouldn’t say that.”
“Well, what would you say?”
Mahalia came outside before he had a chance to answer. At some point, Amalie had gone to get her, probably because she was afraid I’d beat the shit out of Oberon after he had fessed up to the truth. He was right there; ready to spill his guts out here in the front yard.
“Maurin, come inside. Let’s talk in my office. Alone.” She glanced at Aidan and Cash.
“We don’t need to go inside. We can settle things right here.”
She sighed heavily and audibly. “Fine. Youth today. I simply don’t understand it. You’re all perfectly happy to air your dirty laundry in front of anyone who’ll listen. I’d prefer a little discretion myself.” She stepped off of the stone staircase and out onto the front lawn.
The air moved, like heat coming off of hot pavement in the summertime, and closed around us like a stage curtain being drawn. The ward was in place. We could still see the quiet street and the houses lining it, but no one would be able to see or hear us outside of her magical boundary. She knew I wouldn’t like whatever it was she was about to say.
“Your anger is misplaced, Maurin.”
“No, I think it’s locked on the correct target.”
“Oberon made a lot of sacrifices to do what I requested of him.” Mahalia looked fondly at Oberon before turning back to me,
“What exactly did you ask him to do, Mahalia?” I was trying not to lose my temper. Hitting an old woman, however powerful, wouldn’t feel as good as hitting Oberon.
“I encouraged him to pursue you, of course, and to nurture the connection between you.” She turned her hands up and with a little flick of her wrists waved it off like it was nothing,
She may have acted like it was no big deal but the full weight of her words slammed onto my shoulders. I thought back over the last couple of months, scrutinized every detail, especially from the last couple of days. Graive stretched out over Oberon on the couch, Oberon rushing to save her when Matthison shot the zombie girl, the way he’d held her to his chest, how worried he was that Graive would walk in on us in Mahalia’s office. The things I overheard her saying to him yesterday replayed in my mind, her reaction tonight, and his overall absence since she got into town.
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