by Opal Carew
No, she knew that was too much to ask. But maybe Dario would make it quick…
She wondered if it would hurt.
Footsteps in the hall now.
Slipping the key from around her neck, she dropped it into her wooden jewelry box. Her sister would find it there. She had to believe that.
* * *
Shea was closer to the bedroom but Gabriel was faster.
He burst through the door, gun in his hand. The room was dark, even with his enhanced sight.
Shea tried to move past him but he barred her way. How the hell could someone have slipped past the wards without him knowing?
He flipped on the light switch, trying to see everything at once. Leo huddled on the bed, pillow clutched to his chest, rocking back and forth.
“Borelli, let me in.” Shea insisted.
“Stay back,” he hissed. “Leo, are you okay?”
“Dark,” Leo whimpered.
“Gabriel, move your ass now.”
Shea’s tone nearly singed his eyebrows. But his given name coming out of her mouth… Well, that singed other, lower places. Since he didn’t sense anyone else in the room, he let her by. She ran for the bed as Leo launched himself at her and clung like a baby monkey as she sat on the side.
“Shh, it’s okay,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”
“Dark,” Leo wimpered.
“I know. I’m sorry. Calm down, bud. Deep breaths.”
Gabriel took a couple of deep breaths to calm his own runaway heartbeat.
Shit, the kid wasn’t being kidnapped or murdered. He was afraid of the dark. And Gabriel had put him in the darkest room of the house.
Fuck.
He caught Shea’s glance, expecting to see condemnation there, but she only shook her head.
“My fault,” she said. “I’m sorry. I should have checked on him. I always leave a light on for him if I’m not here. You didn’t know.”
Because he hadn’t asked.
As Leo clung and drew in deep breaths while Shea held him and rubbed his back, Gabriel complicated the situation by sitting on the bed next to them. He should keep his distance. It was one of the first things his dad had taught him. It was why Davis hadn’t been his mother’s true mate, merely her companion.
“Hey, kid. Wanna know what scares the shit out of me?”
Shea and Leo looked at him. Shea’s mouth tightened at his language, Leo’s eyes still wide and terrified. But after a couple of hitched-in breaths, he nodded.
“Spiders. They freak me out. All those legs and some of them bite. I know they’re tiny and I could crush them before they get to me, but I had to learn how to overcome that fear because sometimes there’s gonna be spiders.”
The terror in Leo’s eyes began to fade as curiosity settled in. He released his death grip from around Shea’s neck and moved a little closer to Gabriel. “How?”
Shea’s indrawn breath drew his gaze for a second before concentrating again on Leo.
“By studying them, learning everything I could. Then they weren’t so scary anymore. If you want, I can teach you some stuff. Maybe then the dark wouldn’t freak you out so much. The dark can be good. We can hide in the dark. And you and me, we can see things in the dark other people can’t.”
Leo’s eyes widened even further.
“Some are kind of cool,” Gabriel continued. “Come here.”
Gabriel stood and held out his hand. Leo stared at him for a second before slipping his small hand in Gabriel’s larger one and sliding off Shea’s lap. Surprise lit her expression for just a second before her eyes narrowed. She watched from the bed as he took Leo to the window but didn’t open the blackout shade.
“Now, I’m going to have your sister turn off the lights, but I’m not going anywhere, okay?”
Leo’s hand tightened on his and he drew in a sharp breath. But he didn’t say no.
“When she does that, we’ll be able to see things only a few people in the world can see, okay? Grigori are born with special powers. These powers make us protectors.”
“I’m a grigorio. Daddy told me.”
“Yeah, you are. Shea, hit the switch and close the door.”
He knelt down beside the kid, still holding his hand. Shea hesitated only a second before she rose and the room went dark.
“Leo, hey, look at me, bud. I know you think you can’t see me, but you can. You just have to know what you’re looking for.”
“Dark.”
“No, it’s not. Not really. Focus on the sound of my voice and I’ll help you see.”
* * *
Dario stood at the top of the stairs, watching the strega walk into the hall and close the door behind her. Her calm expression told him she was not surprised to see him.
His eyebrows lifted. Did she think she could defeat him? By herself? From the reports he’d gotten, her grigorio was old, slow. Not a threat to him or the three men he’d brought with him.
“Dario.” Her voice was steady, her gaze locked on his.
“Tullia.” One of his men stepped forward but Dario made a swift motion with his hand, ordering him to stop. “You’re not surprised to see me.”
The strega smiled and he had a flash of another life, the life he’d had before…all this. He’d known Tullia from the village, one of only two members of the boschetta he’d known personally. He hadn’t seen her in more than four centuries, but, of course, neither of them had changed. At all.
“No, not surprised,” she said. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
He saw no fear in her eyes. Curiosity, something he hadn’t experienced in years, made him continue the conversation when he should finish this. “Yes, it has. Are you ready to stop running?”
Tullia’s chin lifted, and her eyes, those strange, shattered-glass eyes he and the cursed streghe shared, blinked back tears. “Yes. But I have a request.”
Now, this was new. The streghe he’d dispatched before had fought him with all their power. They hadn’t wanted to die. And still, he’d defeated them because his cause was right. Still… “And that is?”
“I don’t want Brian to suffer.”
Understandable. “If he does not put up a fight, I can honor that request.”
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”
Even more interesting. “And what about you, Tullia? Don’t you want me to spare your life?”
She smiled, a bittersweet twist of her lips. “I am not a fighter. But do you honestly believe killing us will release you from the curse, Dario? Will murdering thirteen women ensure entrance into your heaven?”
Yes, that’s exactly what he believed. “This is not murder, Tullia. I’m releasing you. Don’t you see? You, too, will benefit from this. We’ll all be free.”
Tullia’s smile was sad as she shook her head. “I’m tired. And I’d like to believe you’re right, that my soul will be free to be return in another body. But nothing is ever simple, is it?”
No, of course not. But nothing would be right until the streghe were all dead. “I’ll make it fast, Tullia. And Brian will not suffer.”
Pulling the dagger from his jacket pocket, he motioned two of the men into the bedroom and held out his hand to the strega.
“Then let’s finish this,” Tullia said and took his hand.
* * *
Shea leaned against the door and held her breath, one hand on the light switch in case Leo freaked again. She was willing to give Gabriel a little leeway here, but not at her brother’s expense.
“Don’t focus too hard,” Gabriel said. “Don’t try to force yourself to see what’s in front of you. Relax.”
Oh, man, that voice. Shea felt tension ease out of her at Gabriel’s tone. It was mesmerizing. Deep and raspy, it should sound rough. Instead, it made her shiver. And boy, was that a huge, fatal hole just waiting to swallow her.
And when the hell had she made the switch from Borelli to Gabriel? It seemed so much more…intimate.
“Now, look for the outl
ine of my face. Use your eyes but also use your inner sight. Do you know what I mean?”
When Leo shook his head, Gabriel said. “Use your arus as well as your eyes. Relax and let that power seep out of your body a little, then look around. Now look at me. What do you see?”
Leo paused then gasped. “A cloud around you. It’s…blue.”
“That’s right. Now, look around, see if you can see your sister.”
Leo turned toward her. “She’s not blue.”
Shea frowned.
“That’s right, she’s not.” Gabriel didn’t sound surprised or worried. “What color is she?”
Leo looked at her for a few more seconds. “Purple.”
“Good, now I’m going to open the curtains and we’re going to look outside.”
“Okay.”
Leo’s excitement rang loud and clear in his voice as Gabriel opened the curtains and introduced him to his heritage.
She’d been kidding herself for too long. She’d believed that once they were safe, after she’d found someone to help them get rid of the men on their trail, she and Leo would be home free. They could set up house somewhere. Leo would go to school. She’d get a real job, although what that would have been, she didn’t know.
They’d live a normal life, one without magic she couldn’t work or monsters who wanted to take Leo from her. No sacred duties to Etruscan goddesses who abandoned their priestesses.
All a stupid dream.
She had a counterfeit high school diploma from a defunct Colorado school, but she didn’t have the knowledge to go with it. She could read Latin and ancient Etruscan and knew her multiplication tables, but she’d never had to balance a checkbook. Or use a bank, for that matter.
Her father had taught her to protect herself with her hands but she didn’t have enough magic to keep Leo safe. And she didn’t know the first thing about getting a real job that didn’t involve taking off her clothes.
“What’s that? A dog?”
Leo’s excited voice drew her back to the present. “It’s a fox. See the color around it. Wild animals have a different color than pets.”
And the curse. That big freaking curse her parents had never told her about. The one she’d been born to break.
What the hell did she have to do for that? She was pretty sure she didn’t want to know.
“What about the bears?”
“Where do you see bears, Leo?”
“In the trees.”
Gabriel paused. “I don’t see anything there, Leo, but maybe I’m not looking in the right place. Are they close to the house?”
Leo shook his head. “They’re walking away.”
Another pause. “Do they look like the other animals?”
“No, they’re kinda…foggy.”
“Okay, Leo. You did really well. Bet you’re hungry, huh? Let’s see if we can find something to eat.”
When Gabriel closed the curtains, Shea turned on the light. And found Gabriel staring at her.
A chill shivered down her spine. Something was wrong. She could tell from his expression. And she was pretty sure she didn’t want to hear what he had to say.
* * *
After a quick, silent snack in the kitchen, Shea told Gabriel she was taking Leo back to bed.
Since the little boy could barely keep his eyes open, he figured she was right. But when she didn’t come back, Gabriel headed to Leo’s room and found them both asleep on the bed—Shea on her side, Leo curled into the curve of her body.
They looked damn near angelic—for a girl who held the key to a five-hundred-year-old curse and a boy who had powers greater than his own.
Leo had been able to see trace energy left behind by the versipelli who took care of this house. Gabriel couldn’t. He wasn’t that good.
Back downstairs, he picked up the phone in the living room and dialed the one man he trusted most in the world.
“This better be fucking good,” Quinn growled into the phone. “It’s six o’clock in the fucking morning.”
Gabriel smiled. “Good morning to you, too, ceffo. Gettin’ your beauty sleep or just gettin’ old?”
“Gabe.” Quinn sounded wide awake now. “You okay? Serena called earlier. Said you might need help.”
“We ran into a little trouble—”
“Hey, you alright?”
Gabriel’s lips curved at the worry in Quinn’s voice. “We’re fine. We’re holed up in the safe house in Oley.”
“What’s up?”
“You need to see it to believe it. Just get up here.”
“Gabe, what—”
“Just get here. I need back up because if anything happens to me, I know I can trust you to take care of them.”
“Them who?”
“Leave soon, Quinn.”
“Whoa, Gabe, you’re really freaked out, aren’t you?”
Yeah, he was. “And Quinn? No chasing cars.”
“You bast—”
Gabriel hung up, feeling a little better.
Chapter Nine
Gasping for air, Serena woke from a restless sleep.
Gone. Another one gone.
Hands shaking, she reached for the light on her bedside table, knocking over her glass in the process. As water dripped onto the thick carpet by her feet, tears she couldn’t control ran down her cheeks.
Tullia.
Her gaze flew to the photos on the built-in bookcases on the far wall. The last time they’d had their photo taken, only six had been here. Pretty, round-faced Tullia—or Lea Tulane as she called herself now—with her brown hair and sweet disposition hadn’t said much, but Serena could tell she’d been tired.
Hell, weren’t they all tired?
Unable to go back to sleep, she left her room and headed for the basement.
As she was the only one in residence at the moment, the house was silent except for the tick of the clock in the front room. She bypassed the lights on her way to the back. She could see as well as a cat in the dark, and she knew this building like she knew the lines of her face.
Everything had a place.
Perhaps, if Gabriel had the girl, her boschetta might have a place in the world again.
Down the west hall, she bypassed the main atrium and the dining room, a study and two bedrooms. At the end of the hall, she pushed through the door and headed into the basement.
At the bottom of the circular, iron stairwell, she flicked a switch and blinked until her eyes adjusted to the light.
The pinball table pinged and the Pac-Man game beeped as they came to life in the cavernous room. The pool table Davis had loved gleamed to her left. A widescreen, plasma TV dominated the wall to the rear along with a sectional couch big enough to fit twelve. A library of DVDs filled shelves on either side of the screen.
Picking up the remote from a table by the bottom of the steps, she turned on the television, hitting the favorites button until Cartoon Network appeared. Typically, this early in the morning, they showed old Tex Avery and Chuck Jones cartoons.
She was in luck. Bugs Bunny. Thank God it wasn’t that stupid “Ed, Edd and Eddy.”
Next she headed for the bar and poured herself a double shot of Jack Daniels, enjoying the burn as it sank into her gut and warmed her from the inside. Never too early for Jack.
Several Road Runner cartoons and five double shots of Jack later, she felt sufficiently warm and pleasantly buzzed.
When the phone rang, she knew she shouldn’t answer it. Not in her state. But she had to. Others would have felt what she’d felt. They would call to commiserate. The grigori would have questions. She’d have to alert those who didn’t know.
“Hello.” Oh, dear, she sounded a little tipsy.
“Serena? Hey, are you okay?”
Quinn.
Oh, Sweet Uni, not now. Not while she felt so alone, so…desolate.
She covered the bottom of the ancient black receiver and took a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm her racing pulse.
“Serena, is som
ething wrong?”
“No, Quinn. Nothing’s wrong. What do you need?”
Quinn paused and she could practically hear him thinking through the phone lines. He’d never known her to drink. And since it wasn’t a pretty sight, she didn’t want him to even suspect.
“Gabe called,” he said finally. “I’m meeting him at the safe house in Oley.” He paused, but she knew he wasn’t finished. “Then we’ll be up to the compound. You gonna be glad to see me?”
He didn’t expect an answer. He was merely yanking her chain. But the words escaped before she could stop them. “More than you know.”
The silence from the other end of the phone was deafening.
“Serena—”
“No.” She took a deep breath. “No, don’t say anything. Just hear me out.”
She paused, listening to the nearly tangible silence on the line.
“It’s been hard, so hard, to stay away from you. But you’ve got to understand, I’ve lost you twice before. The first time nearly killed me.”
Quinn huffed at the old argument. “I’m. Not. Them. I’m not your other husbands—”
“No. No, I understand that. I know you want me to love you for who you are. And I do, Quinn. I really do. But I can’t separate the past and present anymore. It’s been so long. Too long.”
She felt tears threatening, but she’d be damned if she broke down now.
“Christ, Serena—”
But she couldn’t shut herself off, either. “I ache for you, Quinn, and I can’t have you. It would be the death of me this time. When you die, I’ll walk straight to Dario and let him cut out my heart, cut off my head and burn my body.”
“No!” Quinn’s voice sounded strangled. “No, Serena, what if—”
“There is no ‘what if’!” Oh Goddess, now she was yelling. She drew in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “I can’t let myself consider ‘what if.’ You need someone, Quinn, someone who can love you. Someone—”
“Oh, fuck that! Damn it, you listen to me now.” Quinn’s voice took on a tone she’d never heard before. Hard and forceful, and Goddess forgive her, it made her thighs clench.
