She couldn’t say anything, too shocked to speak. “Damien…”
At that moment, however, there was a bang outside and the door flew open. Damien turned, still shirtless and barefoot, pushing Kimi behind him as Robert came into the apartment. His father scanned the rooms and spotted them in the bedroom. He marched toward them, Margaret hot on his heels, Max and Rose behind them.
Robert stopped in the doorway, staring at his son, then glanced over as Kimi stepped beside Damien, clutching his hand.
Robert glared at them, furious. “You stupid idiot!” he yelled. “Why couldn’t you keep your dick in your pants?!”
Damien said nothing, his grip tight on Kimi’s hand. Margaret pushed past Robert, her eyes livid. “Do you realise what you’ve done?” she whispered.
“Blown a few light bulbs?” said Damien.
“Don’t you dare joke about this!” she screamed.
Robert caught her arm impatiently as she went to fly at them. “Margaret, enough of the dramatics.” His face had turned cold. “What’s done is done, we can’t undo it now.” He came up to his son. “You know what has to be done—you know the price of breaking the oath.”
Damien nodded, lifting his chin. “I do.”
“No,” Margaret snapped. “One of them must lose their powers—that doesn’t mean it has to be him.”
Kimi’s eyes widened. “Can you take mine instead of Damien’s?”
Margaret glanced across at her. Her disgust was plain for all to see. “Yes. And so we should, considering what you’ve done.”
“It takes two to tango, Margaret,” Damien said calmly. “And forget about Kimi, that’s not an option.”
Kimi tugged his arm. “Don’t be stupid—of course they should take mine.”
“It would make sense,” said Max, coming into the room. “We can’t afford to lose you, Damien.”
“No,” he said, “and will everyone please stop calling me stupid?” Kimi’s portal was still open, and she could see his aura swirling with scarlet, indicating his rising anger. His gaze took them all in. “There’s no question of Kimi losing her powers instead of me. I took the oath—it’s my powers that should be removed.”
Robert’s face showed his pain. “Son, nobody wants this less than I, but the thought of you being without them…” He glanced across at the window. Kimi followed his gaze. Outside, storm clouds were gathering at an unnatural speed.
“It’s starting,” said Damien. “I can feel it. Do it, Dad.”
Robert stared at him, shaking his head. “Please let her make this sacrifice for you. The invasion is coming—we need you.”
“Let me do it,” Kimi begged him. “Please, Damien.”
He pushed her away angrily, and she fell onto the bed. He moved away from her, into the middle of the Elders, who circled him like wolves. He glared at his father. “You’ve been there,” he growled, “you’ve done it, you know how it feels. You let my mother sacrifice her powers for you. And I know you’ve regretted it ever since. Do you really want me to go through the same thing?”
Thunder rumbled through the air, and Kimi jumped. She was really frightened now. The storm was somehow related to the breaking of his oath, and she realised the very fabric of reality was demanding a forfeit for what they’d done. “Damien…” she whispered, but he didn’t hear her.
“Do it,” he demanded, facing his father.
“No!” said Margaret with anguish.
Robert studied him. “So be it.”
Chapter Twenty
Robert placed a hand on his son’s head. Quietly he began to mutter Latin under his breath. Reluctantly, Margaret moved forward and joined him, Max and Rose also placing their hands on his. Kimi watched in horror. The thunder rumbled around her, seeming to come from inside the house. There was a crack of lightning, and the room filled with light. She brought her hands up to hide her eyes.
When she could finally bring herself to look, Damien had sunk to his knees in the middle of the Elders, head bowed. Kimi looked at his aura, shocked to her core. It had shrunk to half its size and pulsed the dull pastel colours of an ordinary mortal. His powers had gone.
Robert stepped back. “Get out,” he demanded.
Damien knelt there for a moment, breathing heavily. Then he got to his feet. His cheeks were wet. He didn’t look at Kimi. He picked up his T-shirt and shoes and walked out of the door.
Kimi couldn’t believe he’d actually gone—that he’d walked out and left her. She knew he had no choice, but now she had to face the music on her own. The thought terrified her. She wanted to scream at him and run after him, but something—maybe the sneer on Margaret’s face—made her stand her ground. The other Elders turned as one to look at her, and she trembled, but raised her chin and met Robert’s eyes.
“You must be good,” he said. “I think the lights are out all the way to Land’s End.”
Her cheeks grew hot, but she refused to look away. “It wasn’t us that did that. The energy was contained. But something happened while we were…making love.” Her cheeks flamed even hotter, but she had to make him understand. “We’d already closed the rift in the veil. I was channelling at a hundred percent—we were perfectly in control.” She saw the surprise on all their faces. They hadn’t expected her to reach the maximum, she realised. They still didn’t understand how powerful she was. “But something happened—I don’t know what. There was a surge of energy, separate from what we were channelling. It overpowered us and blew the electricity.”
Robert frowned, but Margaret was already shaking her head. “You’re sidestepping the issue,” she snapped. “Damien broke his oath—everything else is irrelevant. You’ve shown yourself to be completely irresponsible, and we’re not going to let that go lightly.”
Kimi gave a short laugh. “Do you really think I care? The only thing that matters to me is what happens to Damien.”
“Well, you should have thought about that before you climbed into bed with him,” Margaret said nastily.
Rose came forward. “Perhaps it would be best if you went to your room now. We need to let these very high emotions settle before we discuss this further.”
Kimi bit her lip. She couldn’t believe only minutes before she’d been lying with Damien, his warm body pressed against her own. Tears threatened to rise within her, but she fought them, refusing to let the Elders know they’d beaten her.
She walked through them, picking her way carefully through the broken glass, slipping out of the open door. She paused outside as they began to speak.
“She’s got guts,” said Max, “to hold it together with us four standing here glaring at her.”
Someone snorted, probably Margaret, she thought.
“He loves her,” said Robert. “He must do, to give up his powers for her.”
“Irrelevant,” snapped Margaret. “He keeps telling me he’s not a teenager any more. Was this supposed to demonstrate his maturity? If so, it failed miserably. Now we are one shaman down with an imminent invasion on our hands because a couple of horny twenty-somethings couldn’t control their lust. Great!”
It was so unfair, and she hated the way it made what she’d had with Damien seem so shallow, but there was nothing Kimi could say. She walked down the corridor, her lip trembling, tears starting to spill down her cheek. The place was dark with all the bulbs in the house blown, although as she looked down at the foyer she could see people milling about with boxes of bulbs, starting to replace the shattered ones.
She went to her room and let herself in. Ella was in there, sitting on the bed, looking out at the moon. She glanced over as Kimi came in.
Kimi leaned against the door, tears rolling down her face. “He’s gone,” she whispered. “They took his powers away.”
Ella stared at her. “That was you two? Blowing the lights?”
“The whole grid I think,” Kimi sniffed.
Ella’s eyes widened. She started to laugh, then sobered and came forward to envelop Kimi in a hug. “Oh God, wh
at have you done?”
“I need to find him,” Kimi said through her sobs. “I don’t know where he’s gone. Robert told him to get out, and he just went.”
“He’s probably gone to his mum’s in town,” said Ella.
Kimi wiped her face and walked over to the cupboard. She took out her bag and started stuffing clothes into it. “Can you call me a taxi? I’ve got to get out of this place.”
“Kimi, if you want to go into Exeter I’ll take you. But we’d better wait a while. The Elders will be up for another couple of hours. You don’t want them to catch you sneaking out.”
The girls sat and talked for a while, Ella trying to comfort Kimi as she related everything that had happened. Eventually, however, Ella decided it was probably safe to leave. It was after eleven—she’d gone downstairs to check, and everywhere was quiet for the night.
Kimi had packed her basic essentials into her overnight bag. “If I don’t come back, I might have to ask you to send the rest to me in London.”
Ella stopped and caught her hand. “Oh you’ll be back, don’t say that.”
“I don’t know. They’re pretty angry with me.”
Ella brushed Kimi’s cheek. “Hey, Damien’s taught Goddess-knows how many women here, and I’ve never seen him tempted, never. You must really be something special for him to break his oath. That’s got to stand for something.”
“I don’t know.” Kimi couldn’t think how it mattered—all she knew was she had to find him and make sure he was all right. “Are you ready?”
“Come on.”
Together they crept out of the room and down the stairs. They let themselves out of the front door quietly, then ran over to Ella’s car in the car park.
“Will you get in trouble for this?” Kimi asked as Ella reversed out and down the drive.
“Don’t know,” said Ella. “But you’re my friend and I want to do what I can to help.”
Ella drove as fast as she could without attracting attention into town.
“Have you been to his mum’s house?” Kimi asked as the car threaded through the quiet streets, darkened due to the blown streetlamps.
“No, but he told me where she lived. Number forty-seven, I think.” Ella pulled up outside a small, neat, semi-detached house with oak trees in the avenue outside. “Here it is.”
Kimi got out, carrying her bag on her shoulder.
“I’ll wait, just to make sure,” Ella said. Kimi nodded. Her heart pounding, she walked up to the front door. She knocked on it softly.
After about ten seconds, the door opened. Kimi looked up at the woman standing in the doorway. She was a bit taller than Kimi, slender, with Damien’s dark blond hair cut in a long bob and his kind eyes. She surveyed Kimi for a moment, then smiled. “You must be Kimi. Come in.”
Kimi turned and waved to Ella, who blew her a kiss before driving away. Kimi watched her go, then turned back to Damien’s mother. Her mouth had gone dry. The older woman didn’t look mad, but surely she was angry with Kimi for what she’d done to her son?
“I’m Serena.” His mother held out her hand, and Kimi shook it, giving her a nervous smile.
“Pleased to meet you.” It seemed oddly formal, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Is…is Damien here?”
Serena glanced over her shoulder to a closed door. “Yes, he’s in the lounge.”
“Is he…okay?”
Serena studied her. “Not really. He’s been drinking solidly for the past few hours. He’s pretty upset.”
Kimi bit her lip, her eyes filling with tears. “Is he angry with me?”
Serena stared at her in surprise. “With you? Oh Kimi, no, of course not. He’s crazy about you.” She gave Kimi a wry smile. “He sacrificed his powers for you—which is more than his father ever did for me.”
Kimi pressed her fingers to her mouth, trying to stop it trembling. Serena’s face softened and she smiled. “He’ll be so pleased to see you. Just remember… He’s had his powers since he was born. He’s never been without them. He’s feeling very lost right now.”
“I’m sorry,” Kimi whispered. “I never meant this to happen.”
“Of course not. But you can’t stop loving someone. Damien’s told me all about you—about you having the Goddess’s mark. He said you were fated to meet. You can’t fight that.” She reached out and lightly touched the pendant around Kimi’s neck. “I see he gave you my necklace.”
Kimi looked down. “Oh, yes.”
“Good.” She nodded, as if seeing the pendant had confirmed something in her own mind. “Come on. And don’t worry if he gets angry—he has his father’s temper.” She winked at Kimi before opening the lounge door, indicating for Kimi to precede her in.
Kimi hesitated, then walked into the room. He was standing by the far window, looking out onto the garden. He had a glass in his hand, but she couldn’t see his face, which was in shadow, there being only one lamp lit in the room—presumably Serena had only had one spare bulb, Kimi thought guiltily.
He glanced over as she came in, and her heart thumped as she waited for his reaction on seeing her. In spite of Serena’s words, she wasn’t sure he didn’t resent her for what had happened to him.
She let her bag slide to the floor. “Damien…”
He put down his drink and walked toward her. She met him halfway, tears pouring down her face as he wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.
“I’m sorry too.” Thankfulness flooded her that he hadn’t turned away. As long as he wasn’t angry with her, they’d be able to get through this.
He pulled back, holding her face with his hands, and kissed her gently. She knew Serena was watching them and blushed, but accepted his kiss, so relieved to be near him again.
“I’m sorry I left you there,” he said, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. “Was it awful? Was my father mad at you?”
“It was more Margaret,” she said, watching as he turned and picked up his drink. “She hates me, I know it.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t,” said Serena, coming into the room and perching on the arm of the sofa. “She may be misguided, but I think she only wants the best for The Crux.”
Kimi shook her head vehemently. “No, she really dislikes me. She thinks I’ve corrupted Damien.”
Serena started to deny it but Damien interrupted. “No, I think she’s right. Margaret’s been acting more and more strange lately. I know she thinks of me as her protégé, and she’s been growing more resentful as my powers have grown stronger. She doesn’t think of me as an equal. There’s more to her anger than frustration than the fact that I broke the oath.”
Serena shivered. “She always had a strange hold on Robert—now it seems she’s transferred it to you.”
“There’s something else,” Kimi said to Damien. “What happened in your apartment…” She tailed off, embarrassed to talk about it in front of his mother, but she had to tell him what she knew. “When the power blew… That wasn’t us, Damien.”
He frowned at her. “What do you mean?”
“Right at the end… I felt another surge of energy, not connected to us. It was more powerful than what I felt when we were closing the rift. It was sent from another source. Someone else made us blow the grid.”
He stared at her. His eyes lifted and met his mother’s.
Serena gasped. “Oh my God, it’s true—there is a saboteur at The Crux.”
Kimi swallowed. “Damien… I think it’s Margaret.”
He went very still. “What makes you say that?”
“I tried to tell them in the bedroom what had happened, but even though your father wanted to listen, Margaret wouldn’t have it. She said that the only thing that mattered was you had broken your oath—she wouldn’t even listen to me.”
He frowned. “Kimi, I’ve known her a long time—all my life. I know I said her behaviour was odd, but you can’t start throwing accusations at so
meone because they don’t like you.”
“Don’t patronise me,” she snapped, her anger starting to rise. “I’m not stupid! I’m not speaking out of spite. She doesn’t just dislike me—she hates me, resents me for taking you away from her.”
“Away from her? What the hell do you mean by that? I don’t belong to her or anyone else.”
“Damien,” Serena warned, but he didn’t even look at her.
“She thinks she owns you,” said Kimi. “She thinks you’re hers. And maybe she’s reacted to you pulling away by turning to the dark powers…”
“No, you’re wrong.”
“I don’t think I am,” she said, trying to make him see.
“I’m telling you, you’re wrong!” he yelled.
Kimi said nothing. Anguish and hurt had twisted him, she realised, and he was also embarrassed and humiliated at having his powers taken from him. He’d gone from being one of the two most powerful men in the country to being an ordinary Joe—in his eyes, anyway—and that couldn’t be easy. But he wasn’t going to listen to her, not tonight, at any rate, with half a bottle of whisky inside him.
“All right,” she said cautiously, but he’d gone past the point of no return. He tightened his hand on the glass, clenching his other fist, and his eyes blazed, even though he had no powers.
“Why can’t she leave me alone?” he shouted. “Why does she act like she’s my mother—she’s nothing like my mother! I have my own mother!”
“She just cares for you,” Serena tried to say, but he wasn’t having any of it.
“She treats me like I’m six years old—always has done. I’ve been more powerful than her since I was twelve, but she’s never accepted it—she always treats me like I’m her underling, like I’m a fucking trainee. I’m not her minion anymore!”
Turning, he threw his glass across the room. It shattered against the opposite wall in a spray of broken glass and liquid.
Midnight Shaman, Fire Witch Page 18
