Caine took a deep breath, and she sensed something was roiling through his mind. “If you’re on the side of the demons, do you still think we’re evil?”
She gazed into his pale eyes. Did he actually care what she thought? “I guess the idea of good and evil isn't as clear cut as I once thought it was. I’m sorry I called you an abomination. That’s what Mason used to call me, and it just popped into my head. I don’t know why. He’s a complete asshole, and you’re not an abomination.”
He let out a sigh, his breath warm against her skin. “I wouldn’t go that far,” he said, his voice barely audible.
Whatever he meant by that, now wasn’t the time to get into it. “Also I’m sorry about the stabbing thing.”
“If it gets your legs wrapped around me again, I might risk another stake to the heart.”
She almost smiled, but something else whispered through the back of her mind. Miranda. Both Josiah and Caine seemed to know who she was, and Caine actually seemed to care about her.
Unable stop herself, she touched his chest, feeling his body’s heat through his shirt. “Caine. Who is Miranda, and why did Josiah say he wanted to watch her burn?”
His muscles tensed. “It’s complicated. I don’t want to get into that now.”
His constant evasions irked her. “Will you at least tell me what Ambrose wants with me?”
“Yes. We’re pulling up to my house.”
“Hardy Street!” Marisa said. She pulled over by the empty green field.
After thanking Marisa, Rosalind stepped out of the car, her thoughts whirling. Whoever Miranda was, both Caine and Josiah seemed to find her important, and they weren’t letting Rosalind in on their secret.
Chapter 22
Still barefoot, Rosalind paced the warped wooden floor inside Caine’s house.
It only took a few seconds for Tammi to find his whiskey decanter. She poured herself a glass. “I was an art history student. Less than three semesters till graduation.”
“I know,” Rosalind said. “Everything is a disaster.”
Tammi took a sip, then wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “Maybe we need to move to France or Vietnam or something.”
Aurora leaned on a granite counter in the open-plan kitchen. “You both are starting to spin out. Do you need a snack or something?”
Rosalind was starving. But it wasn’t just her hunger—her mind was a raging storm, and she could hardly concentrate on one thought at a time. “What I need is for the Brotherhood to drop my case and to leave Tammi alone.”
Tammi knocked back her drink. “I don’t blame you. I blame that stupid cult. Your ex-boyfriend is an asshole.”
Aurora rifled around in the cabinets. “The two humans are losing it. I’m making them a snack of food.”
Rosalind’s fingernails pierced her palms. “We need a plan. Caine, what exactly is Ambrose’s grand plan?”
He leaned back, stretching out his arms on the sofa’s back. “Ambrose’s plan is for us to take on the Brotherhood. With the combined auras of two powerful mages, we can find a way to get past their security systems.”
Dread whispered through Rosalind. He wanted her to take on the Brotherhood?
Aurora sliced through the top of a tin can with a knife, spilling juice all over the counter. “Have some faith in Caine. He’s a brilliant military strategist. Ambrose made him a Duke.”
Tammi ran her fingers fretfully through her hair. “Is there another plan? Like, one that doesn’t involve provoking the wrath of an ancient society of lunatics?”
Rosalind stared at Caine in disbelief. “Just the two of us are supposed to topple their security systems.”
Aurora dumped a pile of mandarin slices onto a plate. “You’re more powerful than you know.”
Caine ran a finger over his lower lip, studying her. “We break into the building, and then we free the captives, so the sadists you once worked for don’t burn them to death. Aurora can tell you all about their torture techniques.”
Seven hells, the torture. She couldn’t let this happen to more people, not after what she’d done with Josiah. Maybe this was her chance to atone. She knew what it felt like to burn now, and couldn’t subject others to the same fate—not if there was something she could do about it. “I’ll do it. I’ll help you free them.”
Caine let out a long breath. “Good. And now I have to teach you magic. We haven’t got much time.”
Rosalind stopped pacing, folding her arms. “Before what? Is there a specific deadline?”
“I have a good friend in there,” Caine said. “Two, actually. And I don’t want them to die.”
“I don’t really want Rosalind to die,” Tammi said. “Do I get a vote in this?”
“No,” Aurora said, spearing mandarin slices with toothpicks.
Two friends. At least one of them had to be Miranda, but she didn’t need to ask about that now. And the other—she could only hope the other was not an incubus too. Oh gods, what if the demon I interrogated was Caine’s friend?
All at once, a wave of guilt slammed into her. She’d been trying to keep the memories at bay, but she couldn’t hold them back anymore. I’ve done terrible things. She slid her hands over her face, and her chest heaved with a sob. Such a simple set-up for an interrogation. A chair, cinderblocks, cloth, and water. She suppressed the urge to be sick. It could have been Caine.
Caine clenched his jaw. “There’s no need to cry. You’re supposed to be a warrior, and I’ll make sure you don’t die.”
Josiah had looked her straight in the eye and told her she needed to hurt the incubus. He’d sworn the demons were planning a massacre to rival the Boston Slaughter, and that the only way to stop it was to break the monster’s will. Josiah had said it was her duty to force the incubus to confess everything he knew until the Brotherhood could stop the carnage. It was the life of one monster sacrificed for the lives of thousands of innocent people. Simple math.
But half the stuff Josiah had told her was a lie. She wanted to smash his smug face in.
She lifted her eyes. “That’s not why I’m upset. You don’t understand. I’m not a good person.”
Confusion flitted across his features. “What are you talking about?”
She was half tempted to confess everything. “I thought demons and mages were all evil. I never would have agreed to the things I did if I’d known the truth. Maybe some demons deserve to die, but it’s not like we took the time to find out.” Every second they stood here was another moment wasted. “Why are we wasting time? We need to get in there now before anyone else gets hurt.”
Tammi raised her hands in the air. “You’ve officially lost your mind.”
Aurora handed Rosalind a plate of mandarin slices and raisins, each speared with a toothpick. “You can’t just go in there now. You sound like a nutter. Have a sodding snack and a nap, or you’ll be no good to anyone.”
Caine caught her eye. “The whole building is rigged with iron dust. That means I can’t use my magic until we disable the sensors. There are scanners to block our exit, and machines rigged with stakes.”
He was right. With all the defense systems at the entrances and the ID scanners, no supernatural creature could gain access to the building.
At Aurora’s insistence, Rosalind forced herself to eat a raisin. “And how do we disable all that?”
“We have a plan,” Aurora said. “I learned about the building’s design during my escape, and I’m guessing you can fill us in on what we don’t know.”
Caine shrugged. “Basically, I want to blow up half their building and disable their dust.”
“Why do you need magic for that?” Tammi gripped her plate of speared fruit. “Why not just use explosives?”
“Too messy,” Aurora said. “We might kill the people we’re trying to free. We want to save all the captives we can.”
Rosalind swallowed a mandarin. “How do we make sure no one from the Brotherhood gets killed?”
Caine furrowed his
brow as though this question was absurd. “We don’t.”
Rosalind closed her eyes. “I don’t want to kill people. That’s the whole point.”
Caine eyed her. “Am I wrong in thinking that just yesterday, you were trying to kill a vampire?”
“Yes, but not everyone in the Chambers deserves to die.” She shot an uncertain glance at Aurora. “I know you were tortured, and you have every right to want to hurt the people who did that to you, but most of the novices don’t know about that. Most of them just thought we were stopping demons from massacring humans.”
The vamp glared at her. “Caine can hypnotize the novices to leave the building. Then the two of you need to blow up the front entrance, the great hall, and the offices. All of this means you need to take off your stupid ring and start learning Angelic, like you should have started yesterday.”
Rosalind froze, the full implications rolling through her mind. On the side of the demons, she’d have to abandon the only thing keeping her remotely sane—though, given her whirling emotions, maybe it wasn’t doing its job so well anymore.
She closed her eyes, trying to lock her terror into her mind’s vault. Her atonement would depend on her ability to master her fear. No longer hungry, she set the plate on the table. “Let’s get started now.”
Chapter 23
As they stood in Salem Woods, the wind rushed between birch and ash leaves, and Lilu circled overhead.
Caine stood across from her in the grove. Before they’d left, he’d created a new outfit for her—black jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Of course, because he was Caine, they fit her like a second layer of skin. But at least if the spirit wanted to jump his bones again, Rosalind wouldn’t end up with a skirt around her waist.
Caine looked down at her. “When you take off the ring, I want you to imagine the mage’s aura inside your mind. Concentrate on trying to condense it smaller, so it no longer takes over your whole body. I want you to imagine it as a ball of light, right here.” He touched her sternum, and her skin sparked at his touch.
“Is that how you stay sane?”
“Eventually I figured it out,” he said. “Are you ready to start?”
“I thought we would learn some spells first.”
He shook his head. “The mage already knows the spells. I’m going to prompt her to think of them, and then you need to draw on her knowledge.”
“What if she tries to assault you again?”
“I don’t mind.”
“I don’t want it to happen.” Sure, Caine was beautiful, but it wouldn’t be Rosalind kissing him. It would be the mage. On top of that, she knew better than to get involved with an incubus. “What happened outside Elysium was just strategic so you could heal. And anyway, we’re here to learn magic so we can save the captives, not to get distracted by having fun.”
“Fine. If you’re worried about what the mage will do, I can tie your arms and legs.”
Just like Mason used to do when he beat the crap out of me. “No way.”
“It would help keep you safe. If she wants to do something against—”
“—I said no. The whole idea of it makes me want to stab you with another hawthorn stake.”
He glanced at her shaking hands. “Gods below. What’s wrong with you?”
Shit. Why was this coming up now? She didn’t need to dredge up her screwed up childhood with Caine. “It doesn’t matter. I’m just overtired. Let’s get on with what we need to do.”
“Fine. I’ll keep control of the spirit. And when we get home, you need to eat and sleep, because you seem like a mess.”
“It’s been a rough night.” Understatement of the year, right there.
“You’re a warrior. Your enemy has made a move, and its time for you to fight back. Muster your mental strength and take off the ring.” He closed his eyes, marshaling his patience. “Please take off the ring when you choose to.”
She twisted the ring around her finger, trying to work up the nerve. “If I seem like I’m burning, will you touch my shoulder or something? It seemed like your aura helped stop the pain.”
“Of course.”
After closing her eyes, she yanked the ring from her finger, shivering at the tumultuous presence of the aura. It swirled through her body, skimming over her skin with a tingling and buzzing. Tendrils of green unfurled in her mind like spectral ferns.
Rosalind tried to curl them up again, forcing them together into a small sphere, but the aura wouldn’t obey. In the heavy spring air, her body vibrated with exertion.
The spirit was winning, forcing her to move, making her open her eyes. She stared up at the stunning incubus. Pearly moonlight filtered through the oaks, dancing on his smooth skin, glinting in his pale eyes.
The spirit wanted Rosalind to run her hands over his strong, tattooed arms, his perfectly muscled chest. But it wasn’t just how he looked. Something in his aura drew her closer, like a gravitational pull. The spirit knew his aura.
She took two steps, slipping her arms around his neck, reveling in the warmth coming off his body. She thrilled at his sharp intake of breath when the spirit pushed Rosalind’s body against his.
She studied his face, and the ethereal silver aura spiraling skin. Another soul lay inside the incubus, one the spirit knew well. “Richard.”
His muscles tensed, a hint of confusion in his beautiful eyes. “Cleo.” He gripped her forearms. “Rosalind. You need to control the aura.”
His touch sent thrills through her body, but the spirit looking out through her eyes didn’t like the name Rosalind.
“That’s not my name,” she warned, her voice laced with venom, no longer her own.
His grip tightened. “Rosalind. I need you to gain control. Close up her aura.”
The aura surged through her body, and her voice came out low, strangely accented. Her arms tightened around the incubus. His body was rigid against hers, and she tried to pull his head down for a kiss, but his perfect lips were out of his reach.
He swallowed hard, closing his eyes, and took a steadying breath. “Rosalind. Crush the aura.”
The spirit forced her to stand on her tiptoes, but she couldn’t reach his mouth. “Richard. I missed your touch, but I like your new body better.”
Caine pulled her arms from his neck, gently pushing her back. “Rosalind. Get control of the aura.”
The green tendrils spiraled through her in whirlwinds, and she tried to get control of them, but the spirit was stronger. It began speaking in Angelic, and Rosalind’s body hummed with the growing aura, a thrilling rush of power.
At her words, the incubus’s eyes widened, and he spun her around, wrapping his strong arms around her. He clamped a hand over her mouth to silence her.
She didn’t like being pinned. Rage burned through her nerves, and she bit into his fingers, drawing blood. He released her, and she broke into a run through the forest, the damp air whispering over her skin. This was Cleo’s true home, her world before the evil ones snatched it away from her.. How would you like the flames, Rosalind?
The spirit forced her to stop and hold out her arms. Somewhere inside, Rosalind screamed, trying to regain control. The scent of burning flesh filled the air, and in the next instant, searing pain ripped her apart. Flames blazed from her limbs, and she loosed an agonized scream.
It must have been only a few moments before a pair of masculine arms surrounded her again, cooling the flames.
In the next instant, Caine slipped the iron ring on her finger, and Rosalind let out a long, shuddering breath. Her body trembled. She’d only been on fire for a few moments, but the ghost of her torment still whispered through her nerve-endings, reverberating in her skull.
“Fire,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry.” His voice was so quiet she hardly heard him.
Her breath rasped, and he held her from behind, his skin smooth over muscled arms.
Exhausted, she melted into him. “She called you Richard.”
“I never knew my spiri
t’s name before,” said Caine. “But as soon as she said it, I recognized it.”
“You said the name Cleo.”
He took a deep breath. “Richard knew her. There was some connection between them. I’m guessing they were lovers.”
“She was starting to chant a spell. What did it mean? Why did you stop her?”
His arms loosened. “An aphrodisiac,” he said, his voice husky. “If she’d finished it, I wouldn’t have been able to control what happened next.”
“She has a one track mind.”
“Can you blame her? It’s probably been hundreds of years since she inhabited a human body. She obviously wants to make the most of it.”
She stepped out of his arms, turning to look at him. “That was a total disaster. She wanted me to burn. She was vengeful, and I had no control over her. I don’t think I’ve ever failed at anything so shockingly. I’d rather fight the Brotherhood with weapons.”
“That won’t work.”
“This won’t work.” Her nerves were frayed, the memory of pain still whispering through her. “I can’t control her. She’s too powerful.”
“It was only your second try. Aurora was right. You need to rest and eat. You won’t be able to gain control of anything when your body is falling apart.”
She dug her palms into her eyes, trying not to think of what might be happening to the captive incubus. “We need another plan.”
Chapter 24
By the time they reached Caine’s house, the rising sun stained the sky a pale coral, streaked with steel. Caine opened his front door into a quiet house.
In his living room, someone had drawn the curtains closed, and only a faint glow filtered in through the edges, dimly lighting the living room and kitchen.
In the darkness, Rosalind could just make out that Aurora had fallen asleep on the sofa, while Tammi dozed in an armchair, wrapped up in a blanket.
Caine trod quietly into the kitchen, motioning to one of the chairs that stood by the marble island. “Have a seat. I’m going to make you some food.”
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