Twisted i-3

by Gena Showalter

  “And what about when a pack of wolves decide to make you their lunch?”

  “So, if you could still shift, you would stay with me every second of every day?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  “Lock me up?”

  “No.”

  “Then how would you have protected me from that before, huh? I could become someone’s breakfast, lunch or dinner, whether you shift or not. Stop making excuses and say what we both know you want to say.” Don’t listen to me.

  He was breathing heavily, his nostrils flaring with the force of his inhalations. “We’re…we…”

  “Say it!” No. Don’t.

  A hard hand settled on her shoulder, and Mary Ann whipped around with a startled yelp. A frowning Aden stood beside her. Riley snarled at him, realized what he’d done to his king and cleared his expression.

  “Let’s head to Tonya’s. I’ll get Victoria there. Riley, you get Mary Ann there.”

  Warmth flooded Mary Ann’s cheeks. Okay, so now she cared about her audience. “Why do you want to go back to Tonya’s?”

  “She has answers about Julian that I can’t find in the papers and photos. So, meet us there in…” He glanced at a wristwatch he didn’t have and had never worn. “Half an hour?”

  Enough time to work through their current problem, he was saying.

  Riley nodded. “Fine.”

  “Good.” Aden and Victoria sauntered off, hand in hand.

  Way to rub it in.

  “Come on,” Riley grumbled, taking off in the other direction. He rounded the far corner, Mary Ann close to his heels. Rather than picking up where they’d left off, he picked out a car to steal.

  She didn’t protest as he popped the door lock, removed a chunk of plastic around the ignition, then cut and twisted the exposed wires. She just acted as lookout and slid into the passenger side when the engine roared to life.

  Soon they were winding down the roads a little too swiftly for her peace of mind, winding in and out of traffic. Which still wasn’t heavy, but come on. Only took one vehicle to get in your way, and hello, wreck.

  “Slow down.”

  “In a minute.”

  He’d never driven this erratically before. Not with her. “If I say what you wouldn’t, will you slow down?”

  His fingers curled around the wheel, his knuckles quickly losing color. “I don’t need you to say it. I can.”

  She wouldn’t react, she wouldn’t react, she wouldn’t freaking react. “Then do it.” Good. There’d been no hint of turmoil in her voice.

  “I can’t,” he said, contradicting himself. “I try, part of me wants to, but I can’t.”

  There was no comfort to be had in his claim. “Can you ever forgive me for what I did? For what you asked me to do?”

  He reached up, adjusted the rearview mirror. “That’s not the issue, Mary Ann. If I hadn’t done what I did, if you hadn’t done what you did, you wouldn’t be alive. And I’d rather you were alive and my animal dead than the other way around.”

  That, she could take comfort from—but it cost her. Suddenly she was bathed in shame, her skin tingling with it. “I wish I could give him back to you.” But she’d absorbed him and must have chewed him up bite by tasty bite, because she couldn’t sense him inside her. Not on any level.

  “You can’t,” he said, confirming what she’d already known.

  “If that’s not the issue, then why are you so angry with me?”

  “I told you. I can’t protect you like this.”

  “Riley, I never liked you because of how well you protected me. I liked you because of how hot you look in your jeans!”

  “Funny.” The word was laced with sarcasm, but his lips were quirking at the corners, delighting her, uplifting her.

  “But kind of true.”

  All too quickly, he sobered up. “My pack, the vampires, they all hate you, fear you and will be out for your blood.”

  “Even though I’m no longer draining?”

  “Yes. A drainer has never been rehabilitated before. They won’t believe you’re no longer a danger to them.”

  And he didn’t either, apparently. “A few weeks ago you would have said they’d never follow a human king, but look at them now.”

  He flicked her a glance, and the car at last slowed down. He was still breaking the sound barrier, but she took heart. “Do you want to be with me? Because I seem to remember you pushing me away again and again.”

  Now or never. She may as well lay it all on the line, since she was asking him to do the very same. “Yes. I want to be with you.”

  “And if you start draining again, will you run from me again?”

  So not the response she’d craved. “I—” Crap. She had no answer for him. Would she? Wouldn’t she? She didn’t know, and then it didn’t matter. Blue and red lights flashed behind them. A siren blared. “I think we’re being pulled over.”

  Riley slowed the rest of the way, easing over to the side of the road.

  Panic beat through her. “Does he know it’s stolen? Is that why he stopped us?”

  “No, or he’d have his gun out and aimed. Just stay calm, and say nothing.”

  A few horribly agonizing minutes later, the cop was standing beside their car, his elbow resting against the open window, and Mary Ann was battling a panic attack.

  “Do you know how fast you were going, son?”

  “Nope.” And Riley didn’t sound as if he cared.

  “Thirty-five miles over the speed limit.”

  “You mean the sign wasn’t just a suggestion?”

  She wanted to curse. Why was he being so antagonistic?

  Gaze narrowing, the cop focused on her, his lips turning down in a scowl. “License and registration. Now.”

  “Can’t,” Riley said easily. “This isn’t my car.”

  She really wanted to curse. What was he doing? Did he want to be arrested?

  “What are you saying, son?”

  “That I don’t know who it belongs to.” Riley flashed a wicked grin. “I—” he air quoted the next word “—borrowed it.”

  Aaannd…that’s when the cop pulled his gun.

  WHERE WERE THEY? Victoria wondered for the thousandth time. The allotted half hour had come and gone, yet Riley and Mary Ann never made an appearance, never texted, and never answered her texts or calls.

  “Maybe we should go look for them,” she suggested to Aden. “Then, you can teleport us where we need to go.”

  She’d had to work for years to move even a yard, and even then, she’d always winded herself. Yet he had jetted them miles across the city, without having to stop and rest or check his surroundings to ensure he’d hit the right spot. She was baffled, impressed and, yes, jealous.

  The jealousy made her feel guilty. He’d given up a lot to be with her. She could deal with the loss of her vampire abilities.

  “They’re probably arguing and lost track of time,” Aden replied. “Come on. We don’t need them for this.”

  “You’re probably right.” Riley had never had to work for a girl, so a resisting Mary Ann was good for him. Seeing them together, seeing the need Riley tossed her way when he thought no one was watching, Victoria had stopped blaming Mary Ann for what had happened to her friend. Clearly, they needed each other.

  Aden gave her a quick kiss and dragged her up the porch steps. Hard and sharp, he knocked on the front door.

  Several seconds ticked by. Victoria didn’t see or hear anything, but Aden must have because he said, “You will open the door, Tonya, and welcome us inside.” The polished cherrywood swung open, Tonya’s eyes already glazed as she stepped aside.

  Aden led Victoria into the living room. The furnishings were clean, yet clearly aged, the floral fabric on the couch faded in spots, the coffee table scuffed. In fact… Victoria studied the few magazines resting on top of that table. They were yellowed, a little brittle and dated seventeen years ago.

  Grimacing as he made himself comfortable on the couch, Aden
muttered, “Julian is going crazy. He recognizes the furnishings. He clearly spent more time inside than out.”

  “Well, there’s a possibility the inside looks the exact same as it did before he died.” She motioned to the magazines.

  “Huh. Interesting.”

  Tonya sat across from them. “What do you want?” The words lashed, as if she were fighting the forced desire to welcome them. And those shadows…they were in her eyes and undulating madly.

  “First, I want you to know that I will not hurt you,” Aden said. “Do you understand?”

  A frown. “Yes, but I don’t believe you.”

  “That’s all right. I’ll prove it.”

  “What do you want?” she asked again, and wonder of wonders, she was less hostile.

  “Answers. The truth about your husband and his brother. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll leave you alone.”

  “I don’t like to talk about my darling Daniel and that rat Robert.” Adoration mixed with revulsion. Her frown returned, and the shadows picked up speed. “I always call them by those names. And I feel that way, I do. I loved my husband and hated his brother, but…”

  “But?” Victoria prompted.

  “But I didn’t always feel that way. I mean, I never loved Robert, but I liked him. And I remember wanting to divorce Daniel.” Her brow furrowed with confusion. “Or maybe I only dreamed that, because I love him so much. I will always love him.”

  Aden massaged his temple. Was Julian shouting? “Tell me about them.”

  “They…were…twins.” Tonya acted as if she were having to push each word through a too-thin pipe. “Daniel worked at the hospital morgue…Robert was a good-for-nothing con artist. Yes. That’s right.” Flowing more easily now. “My Daniel was not jealous of his brother.”

  And yet, the words seemed so rehearsed, as if she were repeating something she’d been told over and over. Maybe she was. Those spell books…the shadows in her eyes…the faded black aura Riley had mentioned.

  Perhaps Tonya’s emotions and her unwavering loyalty were magic-driven.

  Yes. That was it, Victoria realized with shock.

  In unison, she and Aden sat up straighter. “I think I know what happened,” they said.

  THIRTY

  MEMORIES FLOODED ADEN. None of them his own, all of them Julian’s, and all of them devastating. His name was Robert Smart. Yes, he’d had thinning hair and had worn glasses. Daniel had been the good-looking one, the strong one, the smart one, but he’d never been the beloved one, and so he’d always been jealous of Robert’s talent for the supernatural.

  So Daniel had turned to spell books. Black magic, deeper and deeper into the occult, until finally delving into human sacrifice.

  Robert’s sacrifice.

  Normal people would not have known to go that route, but Daniel hadn’t been normal. His human parents had loved all things mystical, believing whole heartedly in psychics, Ouija boards and enchantment of any kind.

  Maybe that’s why they had loved Robert so much more. Maybe that’s why Daniel had finally struck at him—fatally.

  On the night of December twelfth, Daniel had called Robert and asked him to come to the hospital. Robert had gone because he’d wanted to talk some sense into his twin. But there had been no talking. Daniel had stabbed him over and over, trying to draw Robert’s ability into his own body as Robert lay dying.

  Only, Robert had been absorbed by Aden—his past buried, his mind reborn—before his twin could succeed.

  Something else Robert had done to defeat his brother during those final minutes alive? Over the years he’d learned to control his ability to raise the dead, and he’d raised the corpses in the morgue. Several had disposed of Robert, eating him completely, and the rest had killed Daniel before help arrived.

  Before all of that, however, Daniel had cast a spell over Tonya to gain her eternal devotion.

  “Uh, Aden,” Victoria said at the same time Julian said, I loved her, his tone sad, so sad and heavy with his memories, but she never loved me back. She loved him, and she paid for it. Too late she realized Daniel’s craziness and tried to leave him. That’s when he cursed her to love him always. All I wanted, there at the end, was to set her free. And I could have done it, if my own brother hadn’t betrayed me.

  “Then we’ll set her free now,” Aden said. A wave of sadness moved through him. Doing this would set Julian free, as well. Smart-mouthed, fun-loving Julian, whom he adored. Whom he wanted to keep forever. Losing Eve had devastated him. Losing Julian would be even worse. Julian was like his brother, closer than blood.

  “Aden?” Victoria tried again.

  How, though? Julian asked. I need to know what spell Danny used, and I don’t know. I wasn’t there. That’s the real reason I went to the hospital. To see if I could trick him into telling me.

  “Aden, please.”

  What if you traveled back through her life? We could listen to the spell he cast.

  “Aden!”

  Wait, wait, wait, Elijah said before Aden could turn his attention to Victoria. He travels back, he looks through Tonya’s eyes, hears through her ears, and HE—WE—could become bespelled to love Daniel, too. I don’t think any of us want that.

  And he, we, could not become bespelled. It’s worth the risk, Julian replied with a huff and a puff.

  They always thought the risks Aden took on their behalves were worth it. For them, they were. For everyone else, no.

  He didn’t go back for my witches, he’s not going back for your human, Caleb said.

  He told us he’d do anything to help us, Julian snapped. Correct me if I’m wrong, but time traveling falls into the category of anything.

  “Guys, please. There’s gotta be another way. How many times do I have to say this—traveling through the past is dangerous.”

  “Aden!” Cool fingers shook him.

  Aden forced the room back into focus. “Victoria, I—” The words died in his throat.

  His father was sitting next to a too calm Tonya, a gun resting on his thigh, the barrel pointed at Aden. Immediately Aden jumped to his feet, in front of Victoria, acting as her shield. Junior belted out a snarl, responding to the spike of aggression in Aden’s veins.

  The ward to control the beast suddenly seemed like a brilliant idea, damn the consequences.

  Aden did a little deep breathing, keeping his blood pressure down and his head clear. Emotions were not going to engulf him. Not this time.

  “How’d you find me?” he asked.

  “Do you really think I’d ward you and not make one of them a tracker?”

  Joe had always known where he was, he realized. His father had simply chosen not to seek him, until now. Don’t react. That’s what he wants.

  “Now, if I was going to hurt your girl, I would have hurt her already.” Joe tapped at the trigger, light but threatening all the same. “Sit down.”

  Aden sat, angling his body so that he remained Victoria’s shield. She trembled against him, her chilled breath shuddering over his neck.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “No reason to be.”

  “He snuck in, and…” Another shudder raked her.

  He reached back and squeezed her knee.

  “I’d be still if I were you,” Joe said. “The slightest move makes me twitchy.”

  Warning received.

  Tonya hadn’t moved or spoken during the entire exchange. She wasn’t dead, but she wasn’t all there, either.

  “I drugged her,” Joe explained, having noticed Aden’s attention on the woman. “One injection, and she’s out but still functioning. Guy learns to use what weapons he can when he’s always running for his life.”

  The first wave of danger had passed. Clearly conversation was up next on the chopping board. “You sound bitter. As old as you are, you should get over yourself already. Some people have had harder lives.”

  Junior kicked up a bit of a fuss, drowning out the arguing souls.

  One sandy-col
ored brow arched. “Meaning you? You think you had a harder life than me, boy?”

  Don’t you dare react. “Meaning you’re a baby. By the way, you should see what happened to the last guy who held a weapon on me. Oh, wait. You can’t. He’s dead.”

  Joe placed his free hand over his heart. “My son, the killer. I’m so proud.”

  First time Joe had ever willingly acknowledged their link. And to do it that way, full of piss and vinegar, well, that was a far more deadly weapon than the gun. “So you’ve never killed in self-defense, you—”

  Reacting…

  In and out he breathed.

  Victoria linked their hands. Her trembling had intensified, though her expression was serene. Junior gave another roar. Much as Aden despised his…this man—no way he’d refer to the guy as his dad again—he didn’t want Joe to become a Happy Meal for his beast.

  “By the way, your conversations with yourself are more interesting now than they were when you were three.” Joe’s gaze shifted to Victoria. “Do you know what his first word was? Lijah. His second was Ebb. His third, Jew-els. His forth, Kayb. Yes, he had a slight pronunciation problem.”

  I was last? Caleb said. Thanks for the love, Hay-den.

  Rather than getting caught up in a distracting conversation with the soul, Aden ignored him. There had been no affection to Joe’s words. Just straight-up facts. No question, Joe was determined to flay him alive and leave him bleeding to death internally.

  Murder with words. Smart. You couldn’t be convicted for that.

  Victoria tsked under her tongue. “You know, Joe—may I call you Joe?—Aden probably said the names of the souls first because they were better parents and friends to him than you had ever been or would ever be. Food for thought, don’t you think?”

  Joe popped his jaw, and Aden squeezed Victoria’s knee, in warning this time, hoping to stop her from lashing out again. However sweetly she lashed out. Do not poke at the armed bear. Aden could, because well—fine, that wasn’t such a good idea, either. Not while Victoria was so vulnerable.

  “Enough of that. Let’s get down to business, shall we?” Joe said. “Why do you want to travel back through this woman’s life?”