Guardian's Joy #3

by Jacqueline Rhoades

  “The last place I saw one of those mirrors.” Grace told her about the troubles they’d suffered when she first came to the House. “When it was over, it was just a mirror. We didn’t realize it was special.”

  “I should have,” Manon added. “A ritual like this would need more than words.”

  “That was quite a while ago. Are you sure it’s still there? Surely someone reported the woman missing.” JJ cringed. “Jeeze, Grace! That was a red light!”

  “Oops, sorry Officer. Yes, the house is still there and in her name and no, no one reported her missing. Nardo keeps tabs. I figure we’ve got four scenarios.”

  Grace took her hand off the wheel to count with her fingers. Very calmly, Hope, riding shotgun, directed the hand back to the two o’clock position on the wheel and held up her own finger. “One,” she said.

  Grace went on as if nothing happened. “We find the place abandoned and the mirror gone or two,” she glanced at Hope’s fingers, “We find the mirror and no one’s using it.”

  “In which case we destroy it.” Manon was adamant.

  “Or bring it back to the House.” Grace eyed the French woman’s frown in the mirror. “Oh come on, Manon. If it can be used for evil, it probably can be used for good. We can store it safely away until we learn more.”

  “What if it’s being used,” Hope asked suspiciously.

  “Then we’re on to scenarios three and four. Stop sign!” All three passengers braced as Grace slammed on the brakes. “We’ll either find one powerful witch, in which case JJ can zap her ass, or we find a full coven of thirteen and we run like hell. Manon, maybe you should stay in the car.”

  “I will not.”

  “Whoa! Stop! Wait a minute!” JJ was thrown forward as Grace hit the brakes. “Not the car, the conversation!” They started moving again. “What if my ass zapper doesn’t work? It hasn’t been too reliable lately.”

  “You’ll do fine. You can zap humans any day and I’ve been thinking about the Paenitentia. That guard you couldn’t zap had a tear. He was a potential Guardian. What if it’s only Guardians you can’t zap?”

  “And how do you propose we test that theory?” JJ laughed.

  “At this engagement party I’m being forced to attend. You can test it on the bitch of honor.”

  “Now Grace,” Manon warned.

  “Jeeze, Manon, you used to be fun. Just a little zap during the toast,” Grace laughed and then shrugged. “Oh, all right, have it your way. We’ll find someone else.” She parallel parked between two cars with only inches to spare.

  “Someone lives here,” JJ told the others as they mounted the stairs. “The walk is shoveled. The porch is swept. The windows are clean.” She stepped to the window and hooded her eyes with her fingers to reduce the glare. “No lights. One plate, one cup and saucer, one pair of women’s boots and uh-oh,” she lowered her voice, “I’m pretty sure that’s a coat thrown over the chair.”

  “Do you see the mirror?”

  “No, the drapes are in the way.” JJ moved back to the door and checked the frame. “If she’s working with the Nonveniae, then she’s where we should be, in bed.”

  “What do we do now?” Hope asked.

  “When I open the door, I go up the stairs. You go with Grace and Manon. Find the mirror.”

  “No.” Hope whispered nervously. “I’ll go with you. Faith said I shouldn’t leave you.” Her fingers were already working their designs in the air. It was what she needed to call her power of telekinesis.

  “Far be it for me to argue with Faith.” JJ rolled her eyes at the power the little sister held over them both. She stepped back from the door, raised her foot and kicked, aiming the flat of her foot right below the latch. The porch shuddered with the force of her blow. The doorframe cracked. She kicked it again, this time with less force. The door swung open on creaky hinges.

  JJ didn’t wait to see if she was followed. “Check the kitchen first!” she yelled as she pounded up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, two doors were open, one closed. She hit the closed one with a kick much like the one she used downstairs. The effect was much more dramatic as the door flew open and crashed against the wall.

  The woman sitting straight up in bed, eyes round with fright, was already whirling her hand about her head. A gust of swirling air slammed into JJ and she had to spread her hands and grasp the doorframe for support as the whirlwind struck her.

  “No!” the woman screamed.

  JJ tore her hand from the frame, blue flame crackling. She wondered if it was powerful enough to kill.

  “Don’t!” Hope screamed behind her.

  JJ was pushed aside. A lamp skittered along the wall and then flew across the room to shatter against the wall behind the bed. The bedclothes flew up and over the woman in the bed. She shrieked in frustration and the whirlwind carried the covers upward, away from her face and arms. JJ lunged. The bed collapsed. JJ drew back her arm and slammed her fist into the woman’s jaw. The woman’s head snapped back and her eyes rolled upward. JJ whirled on Hope.

  “What the hell was that about?” she shouted. She climbed off the bed, her fists clenched at her sides.

  “You wanted to kill her, JJ.” Hope turned her head to the sound of footsteps on the stairs and Grace yelling their names. “We’re fine. We’ll be right down,” she called to them and looked back at JJ. “You wanted to kill her. I couldn’t let you do that.”

  “She would have gladly killed me.”

  “But you are better the she,” Manon said from the door. “And together, we are so much stronger. Are we not?” She looked around the room and headed for the dresser, opening drawers and pulling out scarves and pantyhose. “I think it would be wise to tie her up and bring her downstairs. She may have much to tell us, non?”

  It didn’t take long to bind the unconscious woman and carry her down to the small living room.

  “I wonder who she is and where she came from,” Grace mused aloud as she positioned the woman on the sofa.

  JJ curled her lip at the woman. “Her name is Marion and she’s from the Compound of the Nonveniae. She’s the leader of the First Coven there or at least she was. She taught me most of what I know, but when I knew her, she didn’t have anywhere near the power she has now. Everyone thought she was a wonder because she could work up enough wind to move an open door, but she couldn’t close and latch it.”

  Manon collapsed into the chair opposite. She blew out a tired breath. “She has learned to take power from others.”

  “Can you do that?” Grace asked. She perched on the arm of the sofa farthest away from their captive.

  Manon smiled tiredly. “You took it from me when you healed Col. Take enough and you can drain a Daughter completely.”

  “Oh goddess, Manon, did I hurt you?”

  “What you took, I willingly gave. Non, ma petite, you did not hurt me permanently. I’m old, but my power is strong. It would take a great deal to drain what I have. What amazed me then and amazes me now, is that for one so young, you were able to do it without help from others. I think the three of you are all stronger than I could ever hope to be.

  “If what you say is true,” she went on, nodding at Marion, “This one would not be strong enough to take anything without help and then only from someone much weaker than she.”

  “Would it be possible to steal power from more than one person? I mean, would the power add up?” JJ thought of the other young women at the compound. Somehow she didn’t think Marion would stop at taking a little. She’d have drained them dry and justified it by saying it was for the greater good.

  “C’est possible. I have only seen it done as Grace did to me and she did not keep the power to herself.”

  The older woman closed her eyes for a moment and for the first time JJ saw the signs of age in what she thought of as an ageless face. Grace must have seen it, too.

  “We should get you home. You need your sleep.”

  Manon didn’t deny it. “As do you, ma petite. We also
have the problem of moving the mirror. It will not fit in your piece of shit.”

  The younger women sputtered laughter.

  “What? You think because I am old I could not know what POS stands for? I propose that we return to the House and when darkness falls, the men can return for the woman and the mirror.”

  JJ’s “No!” was emphatic. “We don’t know what she’s capable of and I don’t want her and the mirror inside the House at the same time. It spooks me enough just taking the mirror. You guys head home. I’ll stay with Marion and the mirror. When she comes to, I’ve got some questions I’d like to ask.”

  Hope refused to leave JJ alone and it was decided that the two would stay while Manon and Grace returned home. There should be no danger until darkness fell. It would only be a few hours.

  “Manon’s getting old,” Hope said sadly as they watched their sisters drive away.

  “Manon is old, but you’re right. It’s starting to show.”

  “Grace thinks it’s the blood bond with Otto. After he turned, he began to age like a human. I can see the difference in the short time I’ve known him. Grace thinks Manon is aging with him. She thinks when he goes, Manon won’t be far behind. I hope that’s true for Manon’s sake… and my own.”

  “You wouldn’t want to live without Nico?” JJ asked her gently. This was something the others hadn’t talked about and she had the feeling Hope was sharing something personal and important.

  Hope nodded her answer and smiled sadly. “I wouldn’t do anything foolish, you know, to make it happen, but yes, I wouldn’t want to live without him. I don’t know if I could live without him. The blood bond does something to you that’s hard to explain. It’s like his heartbeat is your heartbeat, his breath, your breath. It’s more than loving him, feeling close to him. It’s like you are him and he is you.” She shook her head in frustration at her inability to find the words.

  “Manon said that when Otto died, she knew it. She felt it literally as a stab to the heart. Of course, she had no way of knowing he’d survived being turned. Not until he showed up on her doorstep, but she says she should have known because she still took an interest in things even though she was lonely and heartbroken. She knows now that if he’d suffered true death, she would only have existed, waiting for the time when she could join him.”

  “Did you know all this before the bond?”

  “No, but I would have said yes anyway.” This time when Hope smiled it was like her whole being brightened with light. “All I have to do is think of Nico, of being with him, and I’m filled with such a feeling of love and happiness and rightness that any price I might have to pay would be worth it. I want to say it’s more than love, but it isn’t. It’s love in its purest form. It’s what they write songs about. It’s what the poets try to say, but never quite manage to.” She shook herself and laughed, this time embarrassed. “Well, don’t I make it sound corny.”

  “No,” JJ whispered, half lost in her own thoughts, “You make it sound beautiful.”

  Chapter 40

  Canaan had roared his displeasure, picked his mate up and carted her off to bed. Grace had looked properly contrite and apologetic until she was safely ensconced over the Liege Lord’s shoulder where she gave Nico and Nardo a finger wave and grinned mischievously.

  Nico had given a noncommittal shrug and said he would spend the time until dark reading in the parlor at the front of the house. He almost pulled off the calm, cool and collected act, except his twitching fingers and the pulsating vein in his neck ruined his air of nonchalance. He didn’t like his woman out there and unprotected any more than Nardo did.

  Canaan and Nico’s reactions were understandable. The blood bonds they shared with their women intensified their need to shelter and protect their mates. Joy wasn’t his mate, probably never would be after her nightmare experience with that bastard at the compound. So why did his heart feel like it had been chewed up and relocated in his gut?

  Joy was perfectly competent out in the field. She could not only wield the electric power in her fingertips with precision, she could handle herself physically as well. She had Hope for backup and Nardo was more than familiar with how strong and determined his business partner could be.

  He shouldn’t worry. Hadn’t both Manon and Grace assured them the situation was under control? And didn’t they promise to call if there was a problem?

  Nardo sat at the counter and waited for the sun to set.

  *****

  Maximillian never saw the downside of the utility tunnels beneath Moonlight Sanctuary. They allowed easy access to all Sanctuary’s buildings even during the light of day. He never understood why his predecessors complained so mightily about them. Until now.

  It wasn’t until today that he realized the tunnels also afforded easy access to him. There were a thousand things that needed to be done and there was only one more night to accomplish them all; only one more night until the papers stating his intent to mate the daughter of one of the most influential families of the Race were accepted and signed.

  It was only a formality, he knew. Callista an Addison, Advisor to the Ruling Council, had already agreed to his proposal and he had acceded to her demands. It was a union that would suit them both and Maximillian suspected Councilor Addison, her father, would be relieved to turn over the responsibility of his daughter to someone else. Callista had quite a reputation among the upper echelons of the Paenitentia. She was strong willed and spoiled and many objected to her position as the only female Advisor to the Council.

  With the aid of the doctor’s expertise, Maximillian was sure her wild ways would be tamed. A baby in her belly would settle her down and once the child was born, the duties that took her away from it would become unbearable. Maximillian saw himself in her place as Advisor and only a step away from Councilor when her father stepped down.

  Yes, everything tomorrow night must be perfect. The announcement would not only be made in front of the best of Moonlight Sanctuary, but the best of Councilor Addison’s colleagues and friends as well. They had already started to arrive last night and it was Maximillian’s duty to see that everything went according to plan.

  The Captain and the doctor refused to understand the significance of the coming event. It was four-thirty in the afternoon, for heaven’s sake. They should be home in their beds instead of bothering him. But no, they had to choose this moment to meet with him.

  The sharp knock at his door had him scowling. In the track suit he wore to the gym, he wasn’t even dressed to receive visitors. He plastered his best political smile on his face and opened the door. Neither of his early visitors would know how much he resented their presence.

  “Gentlemen. Up and about early, I see.” Maximillian held out his hand as he welcomed them in. Doctor ad Fenton shook it cordially, but the Captain rudely pushed past and into the room. Once again, the Director wondered how he’d ever thought this boorish man a friend. “Unfortunately, my staff won’t arrive for another few hours.” He paused to let the hint sink in, “I’m afraid I have nothing to offer to break your fast.”

  “No need to worry, Director. I’m too excited to eat or sleep. We’ve come to invite you to the unveiling tonight.” The doctor took a seat by the tightly shuttered window and blew out an exhausted breath. “I’ve gone over everything from start to finish. I’ve checked and double checked the meds, the socialization program and the subjects’ procreative viability. They are ready to be introduced.”

  “Introduced? Gregory, what are you talking about?” Maximillian looked over at Salvador who was helping himself to a drink from one of the crystal decanters on the sideboard. “What’s this about? And what the hell is their procreative viability?”

  The Captain didn’t try to cover his sneer as he took a sip of his drink. “He means they can still fuck and they’re ready to knock up one of your perfect Moonlight princesses.”

  Gregory pursed his lips, offended. “No need to be crude, Captain. That was part of the original proposal
. What I’ve learned will help our members immensely and an increase in our numbers can only serve to further our cause.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question. Introduced to whom?”

  “To society, of course. They will escort Salvador and myself to tomorrow night’s festivities.”

  “No! No, no, no, and no again.” Maximillian was horrified at the thought. “I forbid it.”

  Ad Primus raised his eyebrows. “Forbid? I don’t think you have the authority to forbid anything.”

  “What if something goes wrong? It’s too soon. A smaller setting perhaps, one the Father could attend. Surely he would want to witness such a momentous occasion.” The Director couldn’t believe they would choose, of all days, the one that should be his.

  “You worry too much, Director.” Dr. Ad Fenton waved off the man’s discomfort, though secretly enjoying it. “We’ll introduce them as members of the Captain’s security force. This will be their final exam, so to speak.”

  The Captain offered a shark like smile. The Father wouldn’t be attending anything soon. “Their orders will be simple and easy to follow. They won’t interfere with your announcement.”

  Maximillian knew he had no choice but to go along with whatever ad Primus chose to do, but he couldn’t let go. “I want to see them, see for myself before they step foot in Moonlight Sanctuary.”

  Dr. ad Fenton smiled broadly. “That’s why we’re here, Director.”

  *****

  “Wake up, Marion. We need to talk.” JJ slapped the seemingly unconscious woman’s cheek none too gently and hoped her kinder partner hadn’t heard it in the kitchen. Hope hated violence.

  The woman moaned and flexed her bruised jaw before she opened her eyes. “It is you,” she whispered, her brow wrinkling. “They said you might be alive. I thought they were lying to the High Lord to give him something to live for.”

  “Yeah, well here I am back from hell. You don’t look too happy to see me and I’ve got to ask myself why.”