Divided (Elena Ronen, Private Investigator)

by Jennifer Sights

  “Yes, but I don’t know if I will even want to join the coven.”

  “But you are very powerful,” he insisted.

  “If I could give up my power, I would.”

  Clavius’ eyebrows raised and his eyes widened. “Really?”

  “Yes. I’ve always believed in the possibility of magic, and sometimes wished to experience it myself, but now that I have, I would take that wish back. This is all a bit overwhelming. I’d rather keep to myself than have all this going on.” I poked at a piece of meat, but had little appetite left.

  “Yet Elizabeth fears you.” His eyes never left mine.

  “I can’t help it if she’s insecure. I tried to tell her I don’t want her position, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “And your display of power against her made her even more fearful of you.” Clavius pulled his fork from the pot and dipped his now cooked piece of meat into some sort of sauce.

  “That was not my intention. I was only trying to protect myself.” I took a sip of tea, my throat suddenly dry.

  “And look how it backfired,” Clavius said, spearing another piece of meat with his fork.

  Vittorio was silent through this exchange, slowly eating while watching us. He squeezed my leg in reassurance.

  “Are you saying you don’t believe me?” I asked Clavius.

  “I don’t know what I believe. I do not know you well enough to make a decision on my beliefs about this.”

  “Clavius, you can believe Elena. I did not choose to love her so that I could bring her into the coven to take anyone’s position. I did not choose to love her at all. My heart left me no choice in the matter. I love her for who she is, not because of her power,” he said, putting his arm around my shoulders and kissing me on the cheek.

  “But you said you thought her power had something to do with your love,” Clavius said. It was not a question.

  “Yes, I believe it is why I was initially drawn to her so strongly, but even if she had no power, I would still love her. She is a beautiful woman in every way and has no ill intent toward anyone. You can trust her, as I trust her.”

  Clavius studied Vittorio. “I can see you believe what you say. But that does not mean Elena has not fooled you of her intentions. Men are often deceived by beautiful women, besotted by their looks.”

  “I do not believe that I am, Clavius.”

  “Hmm.” Clavius chewed his food thoughtfully for several minutes. “Very well. I will tell Elizabeth she has nothing to worry about. Do not prove me wrong.” Clavius looked at me as he said the last part.

  “I won’t. I promise, I want nothing more than Vittorio’s love.” Relief that he finally believed me allowed me to relax just a little.

  Clavius made more small talk over dessert, and I hoped I responded in the appropriate manner to his questions.

  I took a deep breath of clean night air when we left the restaurant. A weight lifted from my shoulders now that Clavius was gone.

  I sighed, sinking into the soft, comforting leather of Vittorio’s Ferrari.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  I saw Courtney at The Chapel more often over the next week, always with Samuel. Sometimes she seemed so young, so naive, but then I caught a glimpse of ruthlessness in her face, and knew she would stop at nothing to be brought into the coven.

  “How are things with you and your mom?” I asked her one night while Vittorio and Samuel talked business.

  “Alright, I guess. She doesn’t nag me anymore, at least.”

  “She really does love you.”

  “I guess.” She watched Samuel.

  I realized the look in her eye was not love. It was closer to possessiveness.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You don’t love him, do you?”

  “Why do you care?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “He’s a friend, of sorts.” I shrugged, still unsure how to classify Samuel. My power still did not trust him.

  “That’s high praises,” she snorted.

  “He is Vittorio’s best friend.”

  “That still doesn’t explain why you care whether I love him or not.” She reached toward her ear as if to fidget with a metal addition, then stopped herself midway.

  “I’m just trying to figure you out,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “Curiosity. Maybe I like you.” In reality, I hoped to figure out why she had gone home so easily. Her sudden change still didn’t sit well with me.

  “I don’t see that it’s any of your business,” she said, then stood and walked to Samuel, interrupting his conversation with Vittorio with a very sensual kiss.

  Vittorio left them to their kiss and sat next to me. “She leaves your conversations often. I am not sure she likes you, mio amore,” Vittorio said.

  “I can’t figure her out. Why did she go home so easily?”

  “Are you still worried about that? Do not let it bother you. We have bigger problems.” He flicked his eyes toward Elizabeth. “She is planning something, but I do not know what.”

  “How do you know?” I played my hand along the back of his, never quite able to stop touching him when we were close.

  “She seems to have given up on you, but I know her better than that. I have seen her like this once before.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Before she was Dama D’Onore, she worked hard to gain Aerin’s affection. Aerin would not replace the woman who held the position at the time, and it seemed as if Elizabeth had given up on it. Then one day, the woman was found dead in her home, an apparent suicide. Elizabeth had a bullet proof alibi, but when Aerin appointed her as the Maiden, it seemed all too convenient, as it is too convenient for Elizabeth to simply ignore you now.”

  Icy fingers clutched my gut. “You think she’s going to try to kill me?”

  “I do not know, mio amore, but we must be careful of her and her trusted circle.”

  “You mean Neal and Jonah?”

  “Yes.”

  I huddled close to Vittorio, and he held me tight. My job as a P.I. wasn’t always safe, but I had never felt truly in fear of my life before.

  Ms. Carmen was frantic when she burst into my office the next day. “Elena, someone has stolen my map!”

  “I’m sorry, what happened?”

  “Remember the map I told you about, the one that Samuel Porter wanted to buy?” She paced in front of my desk.

  “Yes. Please, won’t you sit down?” Her pacing fed into my already frayed nerves.

  “It’s gone! And Courtney hasn’t been home in two days.” She just about collapsed into an empty chair.

  “Do you think she took it?” I slowly sipped my coffee, hoping if I remained calm she would follow suit.

  “I don’t know, but there was no break-in. I don’t want to think that of my daughter, but it’s the only thing I can think of. I have a security system on the house, and another in the room where I keep my artifacts. Can you find it, and her, for me?”

  “Which is more important?” I sensed it was the map.

  “My daughter, of course.” She tried to feign offense, but I knew it was false.

  “Why is this map so important?” I reached for a pen and notepad.

  “Ponce de Leon drew it himself, which is why it is so sought after. Most people believe the Fountain of Youth to be located somewhere in the Caribbean. This map shows it to be on an island in the Gulf of Honduras, but the island doesn’t seem to exist.”

  “Do you have the map insured?” I asked after making a note about the map.

  “Of course I do, but why does that matter?”

  “Just trying to gather all the facts, Ms. Carmen. Have you reported this to the police?”

  “No. With the map and my daughter disappearing at the same time, I suspect she took it, and I don’t want to involve the police. I don’t want something like that to go on her record. You did such a good job of finding her the first time, I thought you could find her again.”

 
I had some very solid ideas of where the map was, but didn’t want to tell her anything until I was sure. “I’ll find your daughter and ask her if she knows anything about it. You already know my rate. I’ll be in touch.” I stood and led her to the door, not in the mood for niceties. Her tone made it plain she was more worried about the map than her daughter this time.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  When I left my office for the day, I took Ms. Carmen’s file, which contained copies of the articles about the premiere. They would be proof to back up my suspicion that Samuel was somehow behind the theft. I knew Vittorio would not easily believe such a thing of his best friend.

  While I walked back to my car, my power suddenly flared up. I stopped dead in my tracks, and had enough time to think ‘something’s wrong’ before someone grabbed me from behind and covered my mouth. The person shoved me into the backseat of a car, causing me to hit my head on the window, then tore out of the parking lot.

  When I shook off the pain, I realized someone was in the backseat with me. It was Samuel. “What the hell?”

  I tried to get away, but the rear door seemed to have child-proof locks, and he tied my hands behind my back and draped some kind of amulet around my neck. “Now you won’t be able to call to your precious Vittorio for help. That amulet will block you from using any of your powers.”

  I tried, but couldn’t feel my connection to Vittorio. Shit. My Smith and Wesson Model 10 was in the holster at the small of my back. Before I could even think about trying to aim it with my hands tied, Samuel took it from me. I wondered how he had known about it, or if he was just being extra cautious.

  Neal drove and Elizabeth sat in the front seat glaring at me. “Sounds like you’ve been having a lot of fun with Vittorio. He was supposed to be mine, you little bitch.”

  “Excuse me?” How the hell did she know about that? Had Vittorio told Samuel? He didn’t strike me as the kiss and tell type.

  “Your weak little friend told us.”

  Kevin! “What did you do to him?”

  “He’s alive; don’t worry. Neal saw him go into your house and decided he might be useful.”

  They had been stalking me? “He wouldn’t have told you anything on his own. What did you do to him?”

  “Nothing that won’t heal. A little torture is good for a person’s character.”

  I was going to be sick.

  My cell phone rang, and Samuel got it out of my purse. “Here’s your little lovebird calling now. Why don’t you talk to him?” Samuel flipped open the phone and held it to my ear.

  “Elena, what is wrong? I cannot reach you with my thoughts.”

  “Get away from here. Leave town. Now. Just go. Don’t worry about me.”

  Samuel backhanded me across the face.

  “Please, just go,” I sobbed.

  “Elena, where are you?”

  Samuel took the phone from my ear. “She’s perfectly safe here with me, Vittorio. If you do as I say, that is. If you don’t, we’ll see if she holds up as well as her friend Kevin did.”

  A string of curses resonated from the phone. I never would have imagined my proper Vittorio capable of such language.

  “You might want to calm down, friend. You don’t know what will anger me. Now, here’s what I want you to do. Meet me at The Chapel in an hour. I’ll take you to Elena from there. And you better come alone.”

  “Don’t do it, Vittorio!” I shouted, knowing it was hopeless.

  Samuel backhanded me again; this time I tasted blood.

  “You know I can control my power now. Stay away from them!” I yelled to Vittorio. Never mind the fact that the amulet somehow blocked my power. Vittorio didn’t need to know that. I didn’t care what happened to me. I just wanted to keep him safe.

  “Your little pet is a brave one, my friend. What she isn’t telling you is we’ve placed a power-blocking amulet on her. She’s completely helpless. The Chapel. One hour.” Samuel ended the call.

  “You bastard. You backstabbing asshole. Vittorio trusted you.” I spat in his face.

  “All the worse for him. And you, it seems,” he said, wiping the spit away with a handkerchief.

  “I knew you were up to something, but Vittorio assured me I could trust you.”

  “Loyalty has always been his downfall. And now you’re going to pay for his loyalty.”

  “And you’re going to pay for stealing my man,” Elizabeth said.

  “He was never your man. You never had a chance in hell with him.”

  “Watch your mouth, slut,” she said as she twirled a knife in her hands. “You wouldn’t want to lose anything important, now, would you? What would your dear Vittorio think of you then?”

  A woman scorned, men battling for power, and me in the middle of it all, defenseless. There was no way Samuel would let Vittorio waltz in and rescue me, so I was going to have to figure this one out on my own.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Neal dropped Samuel off at The Chapel, then drove through some winding country roads, leaving me completely lost. We ended up at a huge house in the middle of nowhere. I would have bet this was where they held the rituals. They dragged me into the basement. I expected to see some dungeon-like room with a concrete floor and drain in the middle, like in bad horror movies, and was surprised to find a nicely furnished basement instead. They took me into a large utility room, and I saw Kevin. “Oh my god, Kevin, are you okay?” That was a stupid question. Obviously, he wasn’t. His face was badly beaten, and his right arm hung to his side at a grotesque angle.

  “Elena?” His eyes were swollen nearly shut. Elizabeth was standing behind me, pushing me into the room. I snapped my head back as hard as I could to hit hers. She cried out and momentarily loosened her grip. It was enough for me to get away from her and run to Kevin. I hugged him as best I could with my arms tied behind my back and began crying.

  “I’m so sorry, Kevin. This is all my fault.”

  Elizabeth caught up to me and backhanded me across the mouth, splitting my lip. I looked at her and saw her nose bleeding. Point for me, I thought, swallowing my own blood.

  “You’ll pay for this, bitch.” She pulled me roughly to my feet then shoved me into a chair across the room from Kevin and tied me to it. She took out her knife and waved it in front of my face. “You’re lucky Samuel said he wants you mostly unharmed for now. Otherwise, I’d cut up your pretty face.”

  I spat at her, which wasn’t the brightest thing I’d ever done.

  “Did you miss the part where I said ‘mostly?' " She pressed the knife to my neck. That wouldn’t be ‘mostly,’ so I tried to remain calm. That would kill me. I prayed she was more scared of Samuel than angry at me. Turned out she was. Mostly. She dragged the knife across my forearm, then walked out of the room, my dripping blood a temporary goodbye gift.

  “Kevin, I’m so sorry. I should have trusted my instinct about Samuel.”

  “Can’t you use your power to get us out of here?”

  “No. They put this amulet on me and it blocks everything.” Burning pain shot through my arm. “I can’t even communicate with Vittorio.”

  “So, we’re just stuck here?”

  “No, he’s coming. He called after they grabbed me, and Samuel told him to meet him at The Chapel. I’m sure he’ll bring him here. I just hope he can get us out of this without getting himself killed.”

  Footsteps came from the stairs. I prayed it was Vittorio, then prayed it wasn’t. Samuel entered the room first, followed by Vittorio. Neal had a strong grip on him, preventing him from coming to me. I guessed they didn’t want to risk him taking the amulet off me.

  “Elena, are you alright?”

  “Yeah.” I felt that my lip had swollen, and guessed my face was bruising from where Samuel slapped me. The bleeding seemed to have stopped on my arm, but when I looked down at it I saw it was covered in blood. “Mostly, anyway.”

  “Let her go. You have me now. You don’t need her.”

  “Oh, but there you are wrong. W
e need her more than you. We only brought you here as a bit of extra incentive in case her darling Kevin wasn’t enough.”

  “You have me, just let Kevin go!” I pleaded.

  Elizabeth backhanded me. “No one is talking to you, tramp, so shut up.”

  Vittorio fought Samuel’s grip, but couldn’t break free. I was shocked. Vittorio was much larger than Samuel, and I knew how strong he was. Why couldn’t he overpower him?

  “I’ve given him a low dose of sedative so he can’t fight me,” Samuel said, as if reading my mind.

  Elizabeth twirled her knife again. “Will you work with us?” Samuel asked.

  “I don’t even know what you want,” I shouted. “Please, Vittorio, don’t worry about me. Just get yourself out of here.”

  “Do you really think I would abandon you with these lunatics?” He continued struggling weakly against Samuel’s grip.

  I shrugged. “Not really. But I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “I’m getting impatient,” Samuel said.

  “Let her go,” Vittorio said.

  “I already told you. No. Asking again will only make me angrier,” Samuel said. He threw Vittorio against the wall, his head making a sickening crack.

  “I will not help you.”

  “Oh, really?” Samuel grinned maniacally. “Elizabeth.” He nodded toward her.

  She drew the knife across my other arm as Vittorio shouted wordlessly. I resisted crying out for his sake.

  Samuel and Neal dragged him away, leaving me and Kevin alone with Elizabeth and her knife.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  “How about you help us?” Elizabeth lightly traced her knife down my arm. It scratched my skin, but did not draw blood.

  “What do you want from me?” I tried to keep my voice steady.

  “Samuel thinks you can translate a very old text he recently acquired.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “He needs to do his research better. I don’t speak any languages other than English.” Maybe if I kept her talking, she’d forget about the knife she held. Yeah, and I was Mother Theresa.