by Liz Schulte
“Ask the doctor to wait. And send the bounty hunter to the dungeon,” Cheney said and the guard left. “You need to see the doctor. Jessica will wait.”
“I’m not waiting. I’m fine now. The doctor can’t help me.”
“You don’t know that,” Cheney said.
“I do too. And so does he,” she pointed at me.
I let myself go still. “I don’t know anything of the sort. All I know is whatever is happening to you has to stop. If that means you have to be carried kicking and screaming to see the doctor it can be arranged.”
She glared at me.
“You care to do the honors?” Cheney asked me with a slight smile.
“No.” I held my hands up. “She’s all yours.”
Selene whipped around to him. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“In fact, I would. Now you can either go on your own or…”
She ground her teeth. “Fine. But no one even talks to Jess before I get down there.”
“Agreed.” Cheney winked at her and she stormed out.
Cheney watched her go then looked back at me. “Thank you,” he said. I squeezed the bridge of my nose. I was losing my fucking mind. “Believe it or not,” he continued, “I know exactly what it feels like.”
My body prepared for whatever surge was going to come next. I was fairly certain he didn’t have any fucking inkling what this felt like. “What is that?”
“To not have her, but also to not be able to let her go. When she was reborn as a human we were actually married. I was bound to her, but she wasn’t to me.”
“She has a knack for that.”
“The point is, I do understand. You’re handling it better than I did.”
There was nothing to say. The image of the redhead’s aged face popped into my mind. I wasn’t handling it at all and soon enough Paolo would know I was hiding something and wouldn’t stop until he knew what it was exactly.
“Are you coming?” Cheney asked, nodding toward the doorway.
Selene had her worst attack around the time the witch was being captured. Coincidence, maybe. But Jessica had also made me an offer. She was willing to give me Selene in exchange for the child, which meant she believed she had a way to control Selene. If the pain in Selene’s side wasn’t physiological then Jessica had to be the prime suspect. “Wouldn’t miss it.” I followed him down to the dungeon.
Frost was leaned casually against a wall, staring into a locked cell. “You sure this will hold her?” she asked, flipping her long white braid over her shoulder as she looked at Cheney. Her eyes darted to me for a split second and her lips thinned. “What’s he doing here?”
“Miss me?” I asked.
She crossed her arms. “No.”
“The cell will hold. Her magic will be useless in there. The only way she’ll get out is if someone lets her out,” Cheney said. “Where are Sebastian and Sy?”
“Sy went back to the Office. Sebastian stayed with the girls.”
“How’d you catch her?” I asked. I had witnessed Jessica also do the shadow trick. Why didn’t she use it again this time?
“She didn’t know I was there. She had Katrina cornered and the other girl had Leslie. I hit Jessica over the head with a skillet and the others fled”
“Did she say anything?” Cheney asked. “Not while I was there. She just dropped like a bag of rocks. And when she did, everyone else left.” Frost shrugged. “It’s suspicious as hell, I know.”
“Maybe she wanted to be caught.”
“She didn’t know Sebastian and Sy were there,” Cheney said. “We set a trap.” He shook his head. “Regardless, we have her which means we have everything we need. I’ll have Sebastian bring the girls back here.”
He walked away, leaving Frost alone with me in the dark hallway. I hadn’t seen her since the night at the cemetery when Selene was supposed to have killed her, but didn’t. That had been our deal. I would seduce the necromancer and get the information Selene wanted in exchange for the necromancer’s life. Her ability to perform death magic gave her the potential for entirely too much control over my race. If other vampires knew of her existence, she’d be everyone’s target.
“How have you been?” she asked.
“Are we doing small talk now?”
She kept her eyes trained away from me. “Never mind. I didn’t fucking care anyway, leech.”
I laughed and pulled her to me. “Poor little lonely Frost in love with a vampire.” She slapped me and I ran my tongue over my lips. “You know I like it rough.”
She pulled her fist back and hit me with a solid hook. “You like that, jackass?”
I worked my jaw back and forth. I rather did like it. “Better than small talk.”
The fight drained from her and she chuckled as she looked at the floor. “You’re such an asshole. Still pining away after Selene?”
I sighed. “Every day.”
She rolled her eyes. “Can’t you take anything seriously?”
I looked at her. “Do I look like I’m joking?”
Understanding softened her face ever so slightly. “Isn’t there anything you could—”
“I wouldn’t even if there was.”
“So touching,” Jessica’s voice came out of the cell. “The two broken losers bonding over their lack of love.” Her face pressed up against the bars. “I have a question for you. When did the two of you become so pathetic?”
“Says the woman in a cage,” Frost said. “Who’s pathetic now?”
“What makes you think this isn’t exactly where I want to be?” Jessica asked.
“Because you didn’t have a choice,” Frost said, her eyes scanning the other woman. “I can sense the other inside of you. Enjoy the free ride while it lasts. Your time is almost up.” She turned and walked away.
Jessica gaze turned to me. “Alone at last. Have you considered my deal? I’m offering you everything you want in this life. Can you pass that up?”
“You don’t appear to be in the position to make deals.”
“You’d be surprised.”
I shook my head. “Even if you could control Selene, which you can’t, it wouldn’t be her. I want her. Not an imitation.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I assure you it will be one hundred percent her. I have no intention of controlling her. I only intend on reminding her of who she is on the inside….” She ran a hand down the bar. “But if you’re not interested, perhaps I won’t bother. I’ll take the child and be on my way.”
“You’ll have to kill her to get that child. And there’s no way I’ll let that happen.”
She smiled and retreated into the shadows. “That’s what will make her a great mother. She will protect her child to her last breath.”
“If you hurt her—”
“I won’t touch a hair on her pretty head. She won’t know I have it until it’s too late. In fact she’s going to give me the child of her own free will and never know she did it. Now run along. I have preparations to make.” Jessica moved to the darkest corner of the cell out of sight.
I stared into the darkness, piecing together the witch’s plan the best I could from what she told me.
Selene stepped up beside me, breaking my concentration. “How is she?”
“She wants the baby.”
She nodded. “That’s what she says, but why would she? I think it’s a distraction.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think it is. I have the feeling that she’s exactly where she wants to be. What’s your plan for her?”
“We’re going to cast out the spirit possessing her.” Selene peered inside the cell, craning her head, trying to find Jessica in the darkness. “We’re going to send you back to where you belong.”
Selene’s hand shot to her side and she grimaced just as I felt the stabbing pain.
“Sometimes old wounds are the best ones to poke around in,” Jessica called cheerily and let out a cackling laugh, still nowhere to be seen.
I thought back to what else
she’d said—that she would take the child without Selene knowing it. That Selene would make a good mother and would fight to the death for her child.
“You’re behind this pain?” Selene’s hand sparked. “Why?”
Jessica appeared suddenly just on the other side of the bars, watching me intently. “He almost has it.”
The spirit in Jessica wanted to be caught. It wanted to be removed so it could possess the child—the child that would undoubtedly be strong and magical. As a fetus it had been exposed to the Pole of Charon, to dark magic, to a vampire bond, and still it thrived, but the soul was unformed and weak. If she succeeded there would be nothing they could do short of killing the baby to remove the spirit. That’s how she was going to get the child. That’s how she was going to get to Selene.
“There it is,” Jessica whispered as if she could hear my thoughts.
“Corbin?” Selene asked.
I closed my mouth and shook my head. Jessica grinned.
I studied Selene, the too recent memory of her lips against mine scorching through my brain. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
The war within me was fierce and mighty. Sebastian wasn’t hurt-hurt—he’d be fine—but still, he was injured enough that I was losing grip on my completely justified anger, which I didn’t want to do. I wanted to stay mad. It was so much easier to be angry than sad.
After much discussion (but it wasn’t like we really had a say) Sy left, leaving Sebastian with us. Frost had absconded with Jessica, needing to get her into a cell before she woke up.
Leslie handed Sebastian a towel filled with ice for his black eye. “We really don’t have much in the house,” she said.
He took the ice, but merely held it in his hand. “I’ll be fine. When Cheney calls, I’ll take you back to the castle to do the spell.”
I sat on the counter across the kitchen from him, as far away as I could get while remaining in the same room. My heart was still racing from the moment I saw him fall. How was it possible to care so much about someone who didn’t really share those feelings? Why did I do this to myself?
I dropped my chin toward my chest and closed my eyes as I swung my feet from left to right, letting the rhythm sooth me. The image of Jessica standing over me, her but not her, popped into my head. Would she have really hurt me? Killed me? Or would she have found a way to stop whatever had her. Jess was a fighter. No matter what inhabited her body with her, she wouldn’t just give up. She had to be in there fighting for control. But there was something there. Something I couldn’t quite place, and it made me nervous, really nervous.
“Hey, Les, what sort of emotions did you feel from Jess.”
Leslie took a deep breath, her brow furrowing. “I don’t know. There were too many people in the room. It was hard to pinpoint who felt what.”
“Well, in general, what did you feel?”
“Scared. I was scared so that sort of colors everything else.” She tugged on the end of her dark blond hair. “Other than that, I felt anger, excitement, resolution, worry, and… a sense of waiting. Not like hesitation though—more like someone was biding their time.” Her nose wrinkled. “But that doesn’t really make sense, does it?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, studying my still-swinging legs. Maybe that was it—what I’d felt coming from Jess. She was threatening us, but didn’t intend to do anything. She was waiting for something else to happen first.
“Just now, what did you think?” Sebastian asked.
“It was nothing.” I shook my head. “Nothing that makes any sense.”
“Tell me anyway.” He stood up and brought the towel filled with ice to the sink and dropped it inside, cutting the distance between us in half. “You two know her better than anyone else. If there is something about her that doesn’t make sense to both of you, then chances are that is what we need to focus on.”
“But she’s possessed. Nothing about what she’s doing makes sense given the person we know,” Leslie said and I nodded.
“She’s right,” I said. “Jessica doesn’t kill people, especially not one of us. None of it makes sense.”
“What were you thinking?” he asked again.
I sighed. “That she wasn’t going to hurt me. Not because she cared or anything, but because she was waiting for something else.”
“Any ideas what?”
“Nothing comes to mind. Why did she even come to begin with? Did you notice they didn’t ask for anything from us? They simply came in and made threats—but they didn’t hurt any of us when they easily could have.”
Leslie rubbed her forehead. “The last time she had me, she wanted Selene to choose between me and the elves. What did she have to gain by making her make that choice?”
“It shook the elves faith in Selene as a ruler that she did not choose them,” Sebastian said.
“Why would she care about that? Even possessed Jessica isn’t an elf. I think politics are probably the last thing on her mind.”
“But it is a good distraction,” Leslie said. “Now all of our attentions are divided.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But when Selene wouldn’t choose, she moved on and said she wanted the baby instead, which could have been her pushing Selene’s buttons or it could have truth. Why would she want the kid?”
“Why would she want to keep us alive?” Leslie countered. “You have to face it, Kat. That person isn’t Jessica. She killed Devin without blinking an eye, but she spared me twice and you once. And she let…”
I met her eyes. “She let herself get caught.”
Leslie nodded and my eyes shot to Sebastian. “Why would she want to be caught?”
“Because it is part of her plan.” He folded his arms behind his back. “She wants to be in the castle for some reason. But her plan doesn’t really matter if your spell works. If you can remove the spirit in a controlled environment, whatever her plan is, it’s moot.”
“We just have to do our part first,” I said, then had a terrible thought. “What if it’s already too late?”
“She was knocked out. It can’t be too late,” Leslie said though she looked worried too.
Sebastian’s phone rang, making me jump.
“Yes…Okay….” He hung up. “It’s time.”
He held out a hand to each of us. Leslie took it right away, but I hesitated for a half second before I shook it off and took his other hand. Seconds later the dizziness that came with transporting flooded me. Transporting was something I wouldn’t miss.
We entered the castle through the back door where Cheney and Frost were waiting for us.
“Is she awake?” I asked.
Frost nodded. “She is.”
“The girls and I were talking. They think she wanted to be caught,” Sebastian said.
Frost nodded. “She said something like that to me in the dungeon, but I thought it was bullshit. Why would anyone want to be behind bars?”
Cheney frowned. “The castle is warded against magic from the outside.”
“That cell was designed to hold a witch,” Sebastian said. “Her magic will be useless in it.”
“The cell was designed to hold Selene,” Cheney said. “It depends how different dark magic is.”
“Where is Selene?” I asked.
“With the doctor. She had an episode. It was bad.”
I sucked in a breath and Leslie grabbed my hand.
“Is she okay?” Sebastian asked before either of us could speak.
“She is now,” Cheney said, his elven mask impossible to read. “It was frightening for a while, but Corbin was able to help her.”
“The vampire. Why couldn’t you heal her? Where is she seeing the doctor?” Sebastian moved forward without waiting for a reply. Cheney fell in step with him.
“There wasn’t a wound to heal. I don’t know what’s happening, but she’s…” They looked at each other and Sebastian nodded. “I can’t lose her, Sebastian. Whatever it takes.”
“I know.” Sebastian looked as
grim as Cheney as they charged forward. “The three of you can handle the spell on your own?”
Leslie and I scrambled to keep up, while Frost took her time pulling up the rear. “It’d be better with Selene, but we can try,” I said. “What’s wrong with her?”
Silence filled the hallway and Leslie squeezed my hand harder. Cheney stopped so abruptly we almost ran into him as he pulled a heavy door open to a small room.
“She’s not here,” Sebastian said.
“I can see that,” Cheney growled and took off at a run toward the dungeon.
Relief nearly made me collapse when I heard her voice calmly talking as we raced down the hallway.
Cheney looked furious, but all he said was, “What’d we miss?”
“Oh, goody—the whole gang is here,” Jessica’s voice carried from the cell.
“Can she see us?” Leslie asked.
“It’s been three seconds and I’m already annoyed. That’s how I know.”
“What do you need from her?” Cheney asked me.
“A piece of hair, blood, whatever—so long as it is a part of her.”
“I’ll go,” Selene said.
“No,” Cheney said. “I’m Erlking. I will go.”
But if the cell couldn’t negate dark magic then he would be vulnerable. “I’ll go,” I said. “She’s not going to hurt me. Isn’t that right, bestie?” I raised my voice making sure she could hear.
“Only one way to find out,” she said.
“Does anyone have a knife by chance?” Sebastian produced one almost before I stopped talking. His fingers brushed mine as I took it from him. “Thanks.”
“I’ll come with you,” Selene said as a figure reached out of the darkness behind her, making me yelp.
Corbin stepped forward. “No, I’ll go. You stay.”
I wasn’t entirely certain that going inside with a vampire made me feel even remotely more comfortable, but what choice did I have. Cheney unlocked the door and we stepped inside; the bolt clicked shut again. I took a couple steps forward, my heart beating so loud everyone had to hear it.
“Are you a ‘fraidy-Kat?” Jessica asked from the darkness.
My mouth went dry. I glanced back at Corbin. He winked at me. Lot of help he was. “Why don’t you step into the light?” I asked.
