by Rose, Imogen
I nodded. Mom commanded respect, and when she was in this mood, no one would mess with her. But, just to make sure, I shot Dorian the look. It was his task to keep her safe. It was hard to find anyone with a sharper mind than Mom’s, and she could turn out to be invaluable in helping us hunt down the killer.
Then, I turned to Ryker and nodded. He placed his hands on my shoulders, and I felt the weightlessness I had felt the last time we wandered together. I clung to him as my eyelids were forced shut by the pressure, and we remained glued to each other for much longer than we had the last time. I was jolted back to reality when my feet connected with something solid. Ryker let go of me, and I opened my eyes. We were back in my Manhattan bedroom. I slumped onto my bed and watched Ryker as he disappeared into thin air again, this time to retrieve Neave.
I was in a no-win situation with Katerina. Unless I could figure out a way to rescue Kismet, Luke and the others, it was fairly clear that I’d be forced to abdicate. I couldn’t think of a way to rescue them. The only one who could release them from a protective shield was the witch who cast the spell in the first place–Katerina. Did I even have a guarantee that she would release them after I abdicated? No.
I picked up the phone and called Fitch. I knew that I could trust him. “Fitch, can you come over? And, can you bring Taylor?”
Ryker returned–alone–before Fitch and Taylor arrived.
“Where’s Neave?”
“At her apartment, in her room.”
“Doing what?”
“Eating pizza and watching Freaky Friday.”
“Why didn’t you bring her with?”
“She’s protected–confined–in a shield. I couldn’t penetrate it.”
“Did Katerina get to her? Why?”
“She doesn’t know. Her stepfather decided that it would be safest for her to stay in her room. She assumed that she was just locked in when she called me earlier and was just as surprised as I was to encounter the shield. She hadn’t even noticed before.”
“Who put it up?” I asked, confused. Ryker shrugged. Tessa wasn’t home. Could she have done it remotely to keep Neave safe?
“Expecting someone?” Ryker asked when the doorbell rang.
“Yeah. Just Taylor and Fitch.” Ryker followed as I went to answer the door.
“Wassup?” Fitch asked.
“Hey, guys! How are you feeling, Taylor?” I asked.
“Great. Back to normal. What are you doing back here? Fitch gave you Kismet’s message, right?” she asked, throwing Fitch a stern look.
“Yeah,” I reassured her. “Mom’s dealing with stuff in London at the moment. We came back to break Neave out of confinement, but it seems she’s been witch-shielded as well, so...” I shrugged.
“By Katerina?” Fitch asked.
“No idea. She doesn’t know. She just thought that Robert–her stepfather–had locked her in for her own safety because Tessa is missing.”
“Robert?” Taylor repeated, shooting Fitch another look.
“Yeah. Tessa’s new hubby–nerdy human stockbroker,” I explained. “What was that look all about?”
“What look?”
“You know, the one you two shot each other when I mentioned Neave’s stepfather.”
“It wasn’t that you mentioned the stepfather,” Fitch explained. “It was the name–Robert.”
I raised my shoulders and eyebrows. “Explain.”
“Robert’s a fairly common name; it’s our dad’s name as well.”
“Yeah, really common name,” I agreed.
“It’s just that, well, combine that with the nerdy stockbroker thing.... It’s probably just a coincidence, but… our dad’s name is Robert and he fits the description.”
My mind blanked for a moment. Then my mouth fell open. “Are you saying that your dad may be Neave’s new stepfather?” I asked, totally aghast.
“Geez,” Ryker murmured. “Is he a wizard?”
“Describe him. In detail,” I demanded. Fitch described Tessa’s Robert exactly; it was the same man I had encountered in the elevator with Ryker. Either him or his doppelganger. Sheesh. What did this mean?
“How could Tessa not know that her husband is a warlock?” I asked, stumped.
“Oh, Dad’s really good at disguising himself,” Taylor said. “I can’t believe he got married without even telling us!”
“At least we know where he’s been spending all his time,” Fitch muttered.
“So, I guess Robert put the shield around the apartment to confine Neave,” Ryker muttered. “But why? Do you think he’s trying to rescue Tessa and did it to keep Neave safe?”
Taylor shrugged. “He would know there’s no way he could do that other than convincing the witch who cast the spell to remove it.”
“Does he know Katerina?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Fitch replied. “I should warn you, though; he’s a very powerful and power-hungry warlock. Everything he does is well planned and aimed at furthering himself. When we were younger, he would tell us that one day we would be the warlock sovereigns of New York.”
“How does marrying Tessa fit into that, or did he marry her because he loved her?” I asked.
“Dad doesn’t do anything for love,” Taylor said, shaking her head.
My head felt like it was about to explode. What was all this? I let my head drop on to my palms. What the heck was going on? Had he married Tessa just to get access to me?
“Why don’t we call Mom?” Taylor suggested. “She might be able to help figure this out. After all, she was married to him.”
“Can we trust her?” Ryker inquired, much to my relief.
“Duh! Yeah! Of course we can,” both Taylor and Fitch exclaimed. “Why would you even ask that?”
“Well, it’s just that Oscar is missing, too, and Alexandra did conveniently step in...” I explained.
“It’s not like she wanted to! She was practically forced by the New York council. And, she’s hoping that Oscar will return so she can get back to her regular life. She’s not loving dealing with all this,” Taylor said firmly. Fitch was nodding as well.
“All right, call her. Or maybe we should go over to her place?”
“Hey, kids,” Alexandra said, ushering us into her apartment. “Getting together to study? Taylor, you okay?”
“I’m fine, Mom. We need to talk to you.”
“Oh, okay. What can I do for you? Let’s go to the kitchen, so I can get you some snacks.”
Once we were seated around the breakfast table, and I had finished chewing the first few pieces of my steak, I got down to business. I wasn’t sure where to start. I had to assume trust, or this was going to go nowhere. If I was wrong to trust her... Well, it could end up in a demon showdown.
“How’s Kismet? I’d love for you to bring her up for lunch when it’s safe for her. Is she still over at Pauline’s?”
“She is,” I confirmed. “She–all of them, Luke, Tessa and Pauline–are confined at Pauline’s house. They can’t leave. They are shielded by a witch’s spell.”
“Really? Did Edith do that to keep them safe?”
“No, Katerina did. But not to keep them safe.”
“Your half sister?” she asked, surprised. “Why?”
“She wants my crown.”
“Ah. She’s blackmailing you?”
I nodded. “She’s doing a lot more than that, though. Have you heard about the London killing spree?”
“Of course. We–the New York council–had an emergency meeting to discuss it last night. Sophia, our vampire queen, is flying over to London to assist Alfred. Do you think Katerina is involved in the murders?” Alexandra’s eyes narrowed.
“Not just involved, I think she’s responsible.”
“I guess she might be responsible for Peter’s death as well, then,” Alexandra murmured.
“She is. She told me so herself,” I replied.
Alexandra shook her head. “What a mess. Is there any evidence to suggest that she�
��s behind Sebastian and Oscar’s disappearances?”
“Definitely my dad’s. She admitted it. I don’t know about Oscar, though,” I whispered.
“Mom,” Taylor broke in. “We think Dad may be involved somehow.”
Alexandra rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised. I wonder what arrangement they’ve come to. Katerina obviously wants more than just control of London. She probably wants New York, as well,” she mused. “She’s putting plans into place to undermine anyone that she can’t manipulate. That would include Alfred and Sophia by organizing this vampire revolt. She is sowing mistrust between the demons and vampires by suggesting that the vampires in question have been demonized. A war between the vampires and demons would bring down the whole council in both cities, making it easy for her to step in. She could end up with complete power of two of the most powerful cities in the world. She could create such havoc. And, she would have a perfect partner in Robert. It would be the end of human and paranormal existence, as we know it. She and Robert would destroy everything in their quest for more and more power.”
“Taylor? What’s the matter?” I asked, noticing her eyes welling up.
“I’m going to have to do it, aren’t I, Mom?” she sobbed. “I’m going to have to stop him. No one else will be able to get close enough to him to stop him.”
Alexandra went over to her daughter and put her arms around her. “You and Fitch will have to work together to destroy him and Katerina.”
“Why them?” I asked.
“Since she has imprisoned Kismet and the others, we can’t just destroy Katerina,” Alexandra explained. “We need someone to harness her spells and powers before we destroy her.”
I nodded. That made perfect sense. But, how? It wasn’t like Katerina would share her spells with anyone.
“In order to do that, someone will have to demonize her: possess her and absorb her powers.”
“How will I do that?” I asked.
“You can’t,” she said simply. “Sure, either you or I could possess her, but we’re not witches, we can’t harvest her powers and spells.”
“I can, though. I can do both,” Taylor said, reminding us that she was part demon and part witch. “But how will I get close enough to her? And even if I do, she’ll never relax enough in my presence to allow me an opportunity to occupy her.” She paused, then opened her eyes wide. She nodded.
“How?” I asked perplexed.
“Through Dad.”
Alexandra nodded. “He’s probably the only one who can get close enough to Katerina, if he is indeed involved in her scheme. If he is, she must trust him. That trust will make her vulnerable to him. It would be fairly easy for Taylor to possess her dad; he trusts his daughter.”
“Taylor, how do you feel about this?” I asked.
She welled up again. “Are you going to kill him?”
I considered the question. Did I need to? He had Neave, but Taylor would release her when she controlled him. Then, she’d leave his body to take control of Katerina. How would Robert react when he was free again and realized what Taylor had done? I guessed that’s what would determine whether I would kill him or not. So, I just shrugged. A tear fell down Taylor’s cheek.
“I don’t want to,” I assured her. “And I’m really hoping not to. But, if he goes nuts when you leave his body, I’ll do what I have to.”
“Could we get Edith to restrain him with a spell after Taylor leaves his body?” Fitch asked. “I don’t want to see him hurt, either.”
“I’ll call her and see what we can do,” Alexandra said. “I guess you’ll want the same for Katerina, Faustine?” Alexandra asked.
Honestly, we’d probably all be better off with her dead. But I didn’t want to make that call. I wanted Dad to do that. So, I nodded. Having Edith confine her until we found Dad seemed like the best option.
The hardest part in this scheme was taking the backseat. I was going to have to leave all the action to Taylor, poor thing. We were basically sending her in on her own to deal with my issues, just because it was her dad that was involved, and she was the only one with the combined powers to deal with it. We decided that Fitch should be around for the first part of the operation, demonizing their father. Taylor and Fitch would invite Robert for dinner at their home tonight, and that’s where phase one would play out.
“You look stressed,” Ryker remarked, once Taylor and Fitch had left.
I nodded. “I feel helpless. I want to be around Taylor to help her out if anything goes wrong.”
“And why can’t you?”
“What do you mean? How?”
“Make yourself invisible.”
“I wish. I don’t have that power,” I said, regretfully. Most demons did, but not me. It sucked.
“Oh. I didn’t realize,” he said, surprised. “I do.”
“Must be wonderful!” I snapped.
“Faustine, it means that I could make you invisible as well...” he explained.
“Really? That would be awesome! Can you bring me to the dinner at Taylor’s this evening?”
“Yeah. But you have to promise to be quiet. I can make you invisible, but I can’t mute you,” he warned.
I nodded. I could manage that. Probably.
Alexandra looked mildly aggravated when she returned from her phone call with Edith.
“She won’t do it?” I asked.
“It’s not that. She’s in London. She said that she’d try to make it back in time. When are we planning on completing phase two?”
Phase two was taking down Katerina. “I don’t know. I was going to play it by ear, let Taylor take the lead and set it up once she has Robert under control,” I said. “What’s Edith doing in London?”
“Cassandra called her in. Something big is going down, and they needed her powers. In fact, I’ve had a message from Annabel asking me to come to London, too, and bring you with me.”
“They must have made some progress on the killer vampire situation. Fly over. I’ll have Ryker bring me as soon as phase one has been taken care of here. Taylor will need some time to figure out how Robert would interact with Katerina, anyway. I want to be back here, in New York, when she meets with Katerina.”
I had a few hours to kill before we went to Taylor’s. I tried calling both Mom and Dorian for an update, but they weren’t answering their cell phones. I was sort of relieved. A few hours of not knowing is what I needed. I should probably have called Alfred and the others, but I procrastinated, instead. With Ryker. We went back to my apartment, made ourselves comfortable on the couch, and turned on the television. CNN images of fresh killings in London lit up the screen.
“Do you mind if I change it?” I asked. I should have watched it, but I couldn’t bring myself to look. I needed to unwind for a few hours, and then I’d catch up with real life again. I flicked through the channels and settled on Sesame Street. I wasn’t going to watch it, but it was perfect background noise.
Ryker had his arm around me as I snuggled up against him and closed my eyes. What did I know about this guy I felt so close to? Nothing really. I felt like I had known him for years, but that was only because we’d been at Bonfire Academy together. I had seen him practically every day for two years. He had arrived a year after I started, but we had never spoken. I hadn’t had any classes with him, nor did we have any common extra-curricular activities. He was mainly into soccer and tennis. I spent my free time skiing, snow boarding and playing field hockey, depending on the season. But I had noticed him, mainly because he would look at me intently whenever our paths crossed. It was like he wanted to say something, but held back. It was definitely not shyness that held him back. He was popular, always surrounded by a bunch of beings; the vampire chicks in particular seemed really into him. Blech. Maybe he was one of those blood junkies. Double blech.
“Ryk, how come you were so friendly with the vamp girls at school?” I blurted out before I could duct tape my overactive mouth.
He laughed. “I
’m a blood junkie.”
Stupid shield! I had relaxed so much in his company that I had brought down my shield. My thoughts were totally naked to him. How humiliating!
“It’s okay!” he said, as I protected myself again. “There’s no need to do that, you know. You’re safe with me.”
