As I thought about Ms. Harp’s comment and the events of the day, I sipped on a glass of the Chateau Léoville Las Cases that Mephisto had given me. I had received another case along with a case of Belvedere vodka, I guess in response to the cheap vodka I’d offered him. Pretentious much?
Taking another long draw from the glass, I knew I shouldn’t get accustomed to drinking wine like this. Mephisto was footing the bill and there wasn’t any sense in getting used to imbibing that quality of vodka and wine, since I had no intention of drinking it when it wasn’t free. The cheaper stuff fit my palate just fine.
Before I could take another indulging sip, someone knocked lightly on the door. When I saw that it was Mephisto, I opened it and he hastily slipped in.
“Are you hiding from my neighbor?” I teased.
I didn’t think Mephisto was capable of sheepish, but he gave me a smile that closely resembled it.
“I’ve not figured out if she’s overly protective of you or overbearing without any sense of boundaries.”
“It’s about ten percent from column A, eighty from column B, and the rest can be contributed to her Asher fandom.”
His expression changed and his head tilted in appraisal. “I don’t think that fondness for the Alpha is just limited to your neighbor.”
I shrugged. “He was worried about me,” I offered.
He followed me to the living room, where I returned to my glass of wine. He smiled at the open bottle on the table.
“You’re enjoying it?” he asked.
“It’s an indulgence,” I admitted. “One I don’t think I should get used to.”
His eyes trailed along the planes of my face and then my lips, where they lingered. “Some indulgences are worth it.” He leaned against the wall closest to me, one leg crossed over the other, and I felt the full weight of his contemplative look. “Tell me about your visit with the demon.”
“I didn’t visit a demon, I visited a witch,” I clarified.
“Fine, tell me about the witch who introduced you to a demon.”
As I recounted the story, Mephisto had great difficulty keeping his impassive look. It kept slipping between irritation and anger.
“Harrison tried to use you to pay a debt to the demon?”
“That’s what we suspected.”
“You shouldn’t have stopped Cory. Harrison will try it again and the next person might not be so lucky.”
“Then Cory would have killed someone in cold blood. I don’t think he would have handled it well. I’ll talk to Madison and she can have someone watch Harrison. If he tries it again, he’ll go to the Enclave, where he belongs.”
Mephisto didn’t seem pleased with that course of action, but he didn’t push it.
“What did he mean I’m protected by elven magic?”
“If he’s correct, it might be the reason we haven’t been able to remove your restriction. Witch and mage magic are the most closely aligned—”
“Good luck getting them to believe that.” My words were punctuated with the same level of annoyance that rose in me every time I was confronted with the litany of alleged differences between the two that was spewed by either sect when people failed to see them as different.
He gave me a shrug as if he’d experienced it firsthand. “Fae magic is a variation of it. God magic works differently. Although fae, mage, and witch magic have similar properties to ours, they don’t affect us and aren’t nearly as strong. Elven magic is not only comparable in power but is equally different. It’s the only magic that will work against us, and we can’t undo or duplicate their spells. For that reason, your mother wanted them as allies. When they refused…” His lips tightened into a thin line, rage and anger casting a dark look over his face. “She handled it the way she always does. Wrathful violence. Peaceful by nature, the elves weren’t prepared for her to attack while they slept and—”
“Don’t finish,” I requested quietly. I couldn’t stomach another story about the ruthlessness of a woman who didn’t follow the rules of engagement and common decency. Each recount made that flicker of hope that she would just leave me alone, be happy with her weaker state and inability to make another ruthless army, diminish even more.
“So that means?” I inquired.
“It means that if your father put a restriction on you, then he is an elf. You’re a demigod, an elf/god hybrid. The first ever known. And there might be more elves.”
The intense look of interest that he’d held when I was the death mage who could navigate the Veil had returned.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“I’m sorry. I knew you were an anomaly. I just didn’t know to what extent.” He unsheathed a dagger at his waist and handed it to me. The markings on it were similar to the ones on his sword.
“What’s this?”
“One of Kai’s blades. You’re good with a blade. I don’t think you have to worry about the Immortalis anymore, but it should work against your mother.”
“Malific,” I corrected. The blade didn’t instill me with the level of confidence I thought it would. I’d be going up against her ruthlessness, magic, and her weapon of choice. Talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight. “What’s her weapon of choice?”
“It was a saber.”
Looking down at the blade again, I pursed my lips.
“Can you use a sword?” he asked.
I nodded. “I’m better with a dagger, but a sword will keep me better protected. Provide a better defense.”
“Then you can have mine.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, but he had something else I needed, magic. Easing closer to him, I rested my hand on his waist. As if he sensed what went through my mind, his lips kinked into a smile. “Magic. She has magic.”
Threaded into my desire for magic was an actual need. Not like before where I had conflated the two. I needed magic to protect myself not just against Malific but whoever was casting spells on me and causing me to lose time.
His lips brushed lightly against mine. “I wish I could, but now more than ever, I can’t be in a weakened state.” He removed the temptation by moving away from me. “We will figure out a way to remove the restriction.”
I recognized the bravado and overconfidence because I’d seen it in myself when dealing with Madison and Cory. It was a tactic I used when I didn’t want them to worry.
“Clayton said he hadn’t seen an elf in over fifty years.”
“That’s how long we’ve been here. If your father is an elf, that means they aren’t truly extinct. We will find one. We only need one to remove your spell. Or we will find your father.”
The doubt must have crossed my face. He moved closer to give my hand a quick squeeze and a quick “I will.” Then he just as quickly replaced the distance between us. “I’m a very resourceful man,” he reminded me.
That he was.
“Speaking of resourceful, rescind your offer to the Lunar Marked coven.” Taking his silence for consideration, I added, “Please.”
It wasn’t my polite entreaty that bothered me. It was the breathy way I delivered it. The doe eyes and the ever-so-slight lip bite that followed. I thought I’d turned the sexy on to an inferno, but based on his amused look and the laughter that twinkled in his eyes, I’d missed the mark. Did I look more like a constipated toddler than a sex kitten?
“Ah, am I about to be seduced into giving you what you want?”
If you have to ask, I’m seducing wrong.
He took slow, deliberate steps toward me, and I took him in. The powerful grace of his movement. The way the shirt molded to his body. The relaxed jeans that I was sure covered defined and well-muscled legs. Intense midnight eyes. Lightly ruffled hair that was just as dark with hints of indigo. And supple lips that looked even more enticing after he slowly ran his tongue over them.
I should be taking lessons on the art of seduction from you.
His finger hooked my chin and lifted it until my eyes met his. “Erin. My enigmatic, dele
ctable, incorrigible demigoddess, your mere presence is a seduction.” His warm breath teased my lips. “I gather no pleasure in telling you no, and yet I have to.” Movements no longer slow and measured, he moved into his unsettling speed and had his hands on the door in a blink. “Our interests will not always align. It is important that you remember that,” he said, and then he was gone before I could respond.
Plopping down in the chair, I shoved my hands into my hair and wondered how I was going to fix the mess with the vampires. I tried not to take on the blame. If it ended badly for the coven, it would be due to their avariciousness. It wasn’t my problem. But no matter how many times I said it, the guilt still tugged at me.
“How do I fix this?”
CHAPTER 13
“You meddler,” Cory teased when I answered his video call. Him beaming at me on the screen sent relief through me.
I returned the smile. “I did good?”
“You did excellent. I’m sorry about rejecting your company. I thought I wanted to be alone, but Alex coming over helped.”
Yeah, it did. I pulled my mind out of the gutter where it had sashayed.
He sighed and the smile faded. “It was embarrassing and a little scary how out of control I was. And you being there after seeing me like that wasn’t something I could handle,” he admitted in a somber whisper. “I reacted badly.”
“If I had magic, I’d have been just as out of control as you were. Probably more. But you stopped.”
“You stopped me.” He huffed out a breath. “If the situation were reversed, who would I send to your house to comfort you?” he asked with a new liveliness to his voice. “The Alpha or the god?” His question was breezy and casual, but I knew there was true curiosity and sincerity to it.
“Neither. They both suck,” I said, not caring that I sounded like a petulant child. “Because of Asher, I’m being stalked by a geriatric.” I told him about Ms. Harp’s running interference the night before. Cory’s fight to suppress his laughter didn’t make the situation any better. And then I told him about my efforts to convince Mephisto to rescind his offer.
“Did you use your charm?”
“Yes, I did my sexy kitten face and everything.” I lay back on my bed, holding up the phone so he could get a better look at me. “And I even gave him a ‘please.’” I said the last part in the sexy breathy voice I used with Mephisto before flashing him my sex kitten look.
Cory’s face scrunched. “Can I get you to promise to never show me that face again? That’s not sexy kitten, that’s suspicious mange face. Can kittens have mange? I feel like I should call the vet or animal control.”
“Shut up!” I laughed. “I’ve blinded you with my sexy allure and hotness.”
“I never denied your hotness. It’s the sex kitten part I’m calling into question. If that’s the look you gave him, you probably could have gotten him to rescind his offer by promising never to make that face again.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.” My smile faded. “Should I be concerned that I use seduction on Mephisto for my job?”
“Oh honey, that face you made was more like an assault than a seduction. Your integrity is intact. The only thing you should be concerned about is actually getting a sexy face because the one you have is in desperate need of work.”
“Quiet!” I lashed out playfully.
“Did you try your other charming tactic? You know, the one where you storm the castle with all your violent toys and weapons and threaten to beat everyone up? That seems to have a higher success rate.”
“I don’t want to fight with Mephisto because…I need him.” I needed the Huntsmen and had to accept that sometimes our interests wouldn’t align. Because of Mephisto, I had an Obitus blade and the promise of a sword with an Obitus blade. I no longer had to worry about attacks from the Immortalis. And if anyone could find an elf to lift my restrictions, Mephisto could.
I sighed. “I have to get Landon to make an offer better than Mephisto’s. I need to visit him.”
“Do you need me to go with you?”
“No, I have it.”
I didn’t. Convincing Landon to pay more when he would rather decimate the coven and be done with it was going to be a task in itself. Having an audience would only make things more difficult.
I shrugged the bag filled with stakes over my shoulder and had my stake-loaded crossbow with me. Part of my whip was bundled into my other hand. Landon was reluctant to take a meeting with me because he only wanted to hear that the situation had been handled. Anything other than that wasn’t up for discussion. I hoped the meeting would be amicable, because once weapons come out, things get hostile quickly. The only thing that would be more difficult to deal with than a hostile vampire would be a vampire throwing a tantrum. I took Landon for one who’d throw an over-the-top-spectacular-vamp-trum. Today, I didn’t have the tolerance for either. Sometimes, that’s what the job entailed. I was definitely sticking him with a hazard surcharge.
To make sure the Lunar Marked coven didn’t become victims of their greed and stupidity, I had to coddle Landon and convince him to make an offer persuasive enough for them to reject Mephisto’s offer. I cursed Mephisto for the fifth time. I was used to interests not aligning; at times they hadn’t with Madison, either. But this was different. Madison and I had a conflict because my actions were selfish and in the best interest of my clients. Although this current situation was in the best interest of my clients—it was going to save a coven’s life—not even that had been enough to change Mephisto’s mind.
A few feet from my car, magic swirled around me. Familiar magic. Magic that had taken time from me. Dropping my bag and the whip, I spun around, pointing the crossbow in the direction I thought the magic had originated. Crossbows weren’t just good for vampires. The nearly vacant parking lot didn’t have any hiding places. Eyes focused, I thoroughly scanned the area, letting the scent of the magic wash over me.
Following it, I saw a figure watching me from the sidewalk of the building across the street. We were separated by the parking lot and a cross street. I slowed my advance and let the crossbow relax to my side. My pounding heart was distracting and my breaths came in ragged clips. The man wore a moss-green long-sleeve button down and tan pants. From a distance, his dark hair appeared to be graying around the temples.
I needed to get closer, to see the ears. Was he an elf? Did they really have pointed ears? Braydon, the mouthy, rambunctious teen from the Veil, commented that Elizabeth was a fae/elf hybrid. She didn’t have pointed ears, and neither did I for that matter. Fighting the urge to touch my ear as I continued to move forward, I ignored the nagging feeling of apprehension and the thought of how many ways this could go terribly. I needed to do this.
I sped up, quickly eating up the space between me and the stranger when a wolf padded up to my side.
“Asher,” I said, my free hand lightly running over his head. I caressed the soft fur of the massive wolf who had sly-footed his way next to me nearly unnoticed, forgetting that I was committing the faux paus of all faux pas. It was tantamount to sticking your hand in front of a starving animal while he was eating. You’re just asking to be bitten. Never pet a shifter.
Asher made a low growl, warning me off.
“Sorry,” I whispered. The security of a massive magic-immune wolf was comforting. I was delighted to have him with me.
The stranger’s head shifted to look at the wolf, and whatever it was about the stranger’s guarded movement had Asher charging in his direction. I ran, too, but by the time I got to the spot where the stranger once was, it was empty.
Asher had shifted back to his human form and looked frustrated as he walked up and down the area, nose to the air, trying to find the scent. The magic was gone; not even a hint of its magical marker remained.
“Who was that?” Asher asked once we’d made our way to his car, parked close to mine. Grabbing the clothes that were stored in the backseat, he pulled up his pants with the slow ease and total lack of con
cern about his nudity as a man getting dressed in his bedroom rather than a half-empty parking lot.
“I don’t know.” I wasn’t ready to put words to my suspicion that he may have been my father. Because he might have been.
“You were scared,” he pointed out, buttoning the sleeves of his shirt before shrugging on his suit jacket.
“No, I wasn’t,” I said, going through my bag to make sure everything was there. As if someone wanted my bag of stakes and electric pellets. My bag and the whip I’d discarded were still by my car where I’d left them.
His eyes narrowed at me. “So, you just approached a stranger for no apparent reason?”
I didn’t want to go into detail about me suspecting him of bespelling me or the attack the other day. “It was the magic. I was curious about it because it felt—”
“Different,” he interjected. “Different than anything else I’ve felt. Not the witches, mages, or fae.” For the first time, it seemed like being able to detect magic was one of the senses he could do without. I could imagine that on top of all the preternatural senses they enjoyed, the newness of detecting magic had to be overwhelming.
He leaned against my car and crossed his arms, his uncompromising gaze on me. Holding it was becoming increasingly difficult. Not just because of the primality of it but because of the intensity of its search.
“Doesn’t seem like you’re taking our agreement seriously,” Asher said.
Now it was my turn to cast doubt. “Really, because you violated the terms.”
With a sly look, his tongue slid rakishly across his lips. “How so?” he asked innocently.
Been taking lessons from Ms. Harp, have you?
“I said no more details. Instead of your shifters following me, you have a seventy-year-old spy with boundary issues tracking me,” I huffed out.
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