“Whether you’ve misunderstood your role in this or not, you have done something great. I won’t let you withdraw your help.” Her voice had warmed, but it didn’t belie her threat.
“Let me?”
She looked around; I felt the shift in the energy. Was she about to use magic on me or force me to go with her? I eased my hand closer to one of the candles on the shelf, preparing to use it as a weapon if necessary, watching the effort she put into calming herself.
“My apologies.” It didn’t sound like an apology, but a concession. She’d play nice because she had to. “Please allow me a chance to present my side—our side.”
I thought she’d taken my silence as a tacit agreement when she retreated and slipped away. Then I caught sight of Jackson approaching. Great.
I shrugged at Emoni, who had pulled her attention from the woman she was speaking to long enough to shoot furtive death glares at Jackson’s back.
I grinned at her. “I got this,” I mouthed.
16
I didn’t have the situation under control so much as I leaned into just evading Jackson. But it was what was needed to keep Emoni from marching over and intervening.
“Hi,” I greeted him before he could say anything, and jabbed my thumb in the register’s direction and the line forming. Quickly, I returned to the store before he could answer.
Him waiting for me to finish was another reminder of my underestimation of his arrogance and nonexistent sense of propriety. Why not harass someone at their job? What’s wrong with that? He sat at the table nearest the checkout and waited until I didn’t have any customers and no other option but to leave the area and reshelve books and tidy the store.
At least he had the common courtesy not to approach as soon as I left the checkout.
“That was a hell of a performance, wasn’t it?” he remarked.
“You should tell Emoni and Gus,” I suggested. “Or is this your segue to us just talking and then you peddling your ‘I’m so wonderful and should be shared among the masses’ speech?”
He blew out a sigh of exasperation. “Must you always be so…” He searched my face, not because he was lost for words but because he was a calculating manipulator, something else I could recognize now that my rose-colored love goggles were removed. What was his goal? A thinly veiled insult to put me on the defensive? A prick at my insecurities to unsettle me? Or would he play on my emotions?
“Cold and spiteful.”
Ah, the emotion route. When narcissism and self-entitlement fail, make it the other person’s fault.
“Cold? Spiteful?”
“You’re throwing away our relationship because of one indiscretion. You know how much I love you and how losing you has made me feel. Don’t kick me while I’m down. Is that who you are now?”
He was laying it on pretty thick. What kind of Jedi mind trick was he trying to pull? His arrogance blinded him to how contrived he sounded.
When he ambled closer, his head bowed in submission as if he were a wounded pup and I had just rejected him or—even worse—kicked him, I despised him for the dramatics. Then I despised myself just a little for the moment I allowed his performance to make me feel guilty.
“Three years and it’s gone and you’re ready to say goodbye to it. All of it.”
“No, not at all. We had a history. Some good times that I will remember fondly and some bad times that I’ll remember, too, and take as lessons for future relationships. But we’re over. To be honest, it’s not just the cheating. That shone a light on the flaws in the relationship that I’d ignored. We need to let the relationship stay over. Not just for me, but for us both. Move on.”
“Lulu.” I hated that name and had told him numerous times. “Don’t do this to us.”
“You would rather me be miserable in a relationship with you, so that you can be happy?” I asked, though he’d never admit it. He’d have to be a special type of ass to openly admit that he would not have a problem with that.
“You weren’t miserable. It’s a protective mechanism. I made you happy. And you know that. That was always my goal, and I succeeded in every way.” His heavy-lidded look used to work, so of course he’d try it now. He made it sexy, and I fell for it time and time again. He attempted to follow it up with a kiss. The gentle ones he used to give me. A feather touch with the promise of so much more. It had worked before, enhanced by my love for him. But not now. I shoved him back.
“You know this isn’t about us getting back together. It’s about you winning. This is just you wanting your way and nothing else. You want me happy, go away.”
“As you wish,” Rei said. Jackson’s eyes glazed over; his body became rigid before collapsing to the ground. Dagger in hand, Rei started driving it toward his chest.
“Stop!” I yelled, not caring who heard, but there wasn’t anyone to startle. I took a quick glance into the coffee shop. Empty. Almost. One person remained: a man standing just a few feet away. His round face and stern appearance matched his short, stout body. The eyes were keen with predatory alertness, like the others. Scoping his prey. Shifter.
How had I missed Cameron and Lilith leaving? Or the absence of customers? There was no way I was so engrossed in my conversation with Jackson that I missed people exiting the store, and Emoni wouldn’t have left without telling me, and we never left anyone in the store alone. The witch must have used a spell to compel them to leave.
My theory was proven when four non-humans joined the shifter. Two of them were vampires, for sure. I suspected one of the new arrivals was a shifter. She had the nuanced ferocity that I’d come to attribute to them. Predators in their own right. I wasn’t sure what type of supernatural the fourth new arrival was. Perhaps another witch.
“Don’t kill him. Please.”
My heart pounded and my mouth dried as I tried to make sense of what was happening.
“Luna, we owe you a great deal. We know what you’ve done. What you have sacrificed to make this happen. I want to convince you of our cause and our appreciation.”
What terribly wrong version of the story had they heard? Willing? Not at all. Sacrifice? I was at the point of bartering anything to get out of this web I was caught in. Was this part of Rei’s swaying me that supernaturals should be revealed, unimpeded by the rules that kept them from using their magic against humans, doing things like this without consequence?
“Luna, it is as you wish. What would you have me do with him?”
As I wish. I wish you not to be an ex-boyfriend-killing sociopath. Why is death always the first option with them?
She waited for instruction. What to tell her? No to the killing or hurting him, but can you cast a spell to make him less of an insufferable ass, seemed really inappropriate. I knelt down and pressed a finger to Jackson carotid’s artery; I found a pulse. The beat was steady but slower than mine. Was this his normal or a result of him being in this state? Would it continue to slow until it stopped?
“It’s just a sleep spell,” she assured me. “I can wake him or do whatever you wish me to.” A cruel smile feathered across her lips. This is not how to ingratiate yourself to a person. This is not normal. Be more normal.
“Wake him and let him go,” I said, watching the thrill from the anticipation of violence eke from her face. It wasn’t the violence she wanted; it was domination.
She scoffed. “Let him go? It’s not that easy, Luna. He knows. Right now, those are the rules.” She bristled, her voice tight with irritation. “But it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s what we’re fighting for. Our acknowledgment and place in this world. No longer will we have to go through such extremes to hide our existence or be penalized anytime we risk exposure.”
“Don’t hurt him. Get him out of here, or all talks are over. I’m leaving.” I had bargaining power and I had to wield it to help Jackson out of a mess that I was moored to.
With a sound of contempt, she nodded in agreement and looked in the vampires’ direction. A woman started toward us,
her auburn hair a stark contrast to her limestone-fair skin. She possessed an overwhelming presence, despite her slight build. Her movement toward us was done with the ease of someone floating through the air. I glanced at her eyes but refused to hold focus with the vampire as she attempted to hold mine. As if it was instinctual. Compel the human, get them to do your bidding.
With the vampire at Jackson’s side, the witch whispered a spell, and a brilliant silver light moved over Jackson’s face. He eased up on his elbows, like he’d been awakened from a deep sleep. Confusion was all over his face at me standing a few inches away, the stern-faced witch in front, and the vampire’s tranquil features that vied for his attention. Which he surrendered to easily. Transfixed by her eyes, he was lulled into complacency.
Her brusque, stilted voice didn’t sound melodic or entrancing, but Jackson was enchanted by it. Enthralled by her. I remembered that feeling—and hated subjecting him to it. Forcing him into a faux need to please her and follow her wishes without challenge. Even if it was her simple request that he go straight home and remember that it was a lazy day for him.
Attentive to her directions, he stood when commanded to, walked out the door, and didn’t look back, just as she had instructed. He obeyed, without any signs of being controlled by someone else, which seemed the most worrying thing about vampires and their ability to compel. How did you determine if a person was acting of their own volition or at the behest of a vampire?
“This is why living in the shadows is ridiculous. He should know who we are, what we are capable of, and leave us the hell alone. Spending our talents hiding, making sure the simple little humans don’t know of our existence is foolish. We’re giving them power over us. Over us!” the vampire hissed. Nothing about her voice was beautiful or lyrical, despite the hold it had over Jackson. It was arctic, cold and sharp as a blade.
“It’s always power with you all, isn’t it?” Anand acknowledged, moving from the shadows, a blade in hand, taking in the five people in the room with the disinterest of looking at common nuisances.
The witch stood and squared her shoulders. Her lips furled as she placed a laser-sharp focus on him.
“Abandon this Awakening absurdity and walk away unscathed,” Anand urged.
“Or you can stop following Dominic and the Conventicle’s restrictive and insidious rules and join us. Why should we be hidden from humans and forced to accommodate them? Why are we required to bow to their whims and not the other way around? Why are you complicit when the most powerful of our kind are being jailed to satisfy the Conventicle’s ego and flaunt the control they have over us? We don’t need regulation and anonymity,” she challenged.
“Rei, this misrepresentation isn’t befitting of you. Own your belief and your true desires,” he told her. “You believe revealing magic will put you on top of the food chain. That you’d be allowed to be openly reckless without consequences. You all want exemption from governance and rules under the false belief that it will be liberation. It won’t. It will lead to a great deal of violence and everyone vying for domination.”
He closed the distance between them, forcing her to adopt a defensive stance despite her shifter and vampire allies spreading out to surround him. She was clearly a powerful witch, and the others were undoubtedly just as formidable, but faced with Anand, apprehension and fear lingered in their postures. Forcing them to be reactive. He had the lithe, calm assurance of a person who thrived on adrenaline and danger. Surrounded by predators and powerful magic, he carried himself as if he was a wolf surrounded by lambs.
“How is that different from what we have now? The Conventicle making and enforcing the rules.”
“Rules? You mean, not using magic on humans, not stealing magic from other witches, and not killing other supernaturals. Are those rules too hard to follow?”
Rei tutted. “They break them all the time.”
I wasn’t totally convinced that the world knowing about supernaturals was a bad thing. We could learn to coexist. Were the Awakeners the bad guys or the good guys? I was getting a stress headache trying to figure out who the good guys were and where I stood.
“Most of the time it’s fixing issues that arise as a result of you and your ilk being reckless and trying to reveal yourselves.”
“I don’t care. It’s time for new rules and governing.”
“You don’t like the rules? Fine, let me put you out of your misery.”
Rei’s eyes flicked from Anand to Helena, who had taken up a position next to him. She was dressed in slim beige slacks she’d paired with a burgundy draped crisscross tank that revealed another network of markings twining up her arms, similar to Dominic’s. The magic-restricting marks were still in place. Flawlessly shadowed eyes with thick mascara, liner forming a peak at the end, cherry-red lips, and defined cheeks highlighted by blush. She’d pulled her tresses back in a severe ponytail. She looked as if she was going to an event and not a potentially violent ambush. But this was Helena; maybe she might consider this an event.
Rei swallowed, stepping back, her lips moving ardently and her hands circling around each other. A blast of spherical magic launched from her like a rocket, smashing into Helena and dissipating over her body.
Rei’s breathing became more ragged as she shuffled back a few more steps, more aggressive magic springing from her with no effect. Her face was panic-stricken as she looked at her companions. The vampire was the first to react. A lightning strike movement placed him just inches in front of Helena. A self-satisfied smile traveled over Helena’s lips as he looked down at the stake embedded in his chest. His shock barely registered before the blade she held in the other took off his head. Instead of a body, there was just a splattering of dust piled on the floor and the bloodstained stake.
I swallowed the scream. Rei’s lips furled into a snarl as she made quick slashes in the air. Books flew from the shelves like a whirlwind, whipping around the room and striking at Helena and Anand, who used their weapons to slash and hit them. Another slash of Rei’s finger, and the pages of the books ignited. Fire blazed, books launched, the strain of the effort heavy on Rei’s face.
The room was pure chaos at Rei’s hand as Anand and Helena dealt with the flaming books being hurled in their direction and chairs being magically flung at them.
“Animal,” was all I blurted as one of the shifters morphed into a bear without breaking stride. Seeing the quick change from human to beast was shocking, no matter how many times I witnessed it. The bear pinned Anand to the ground. Anand delivered blows hard enough to make the animal huff and growl in pain.
Too preoccupied with fighting off the flaming books and warding off flying furniture, Helena couldn’t help Anand or counterattack.
The supernatural that I suspected was a witch cupped his hand, and a whirl of white, blue, and black coalesced. His brow furrowed as he concentrated, making it bigger. As black overtook the sphere, the room clouded over. His face showed strain as he directed the sphere over Helena. She gasped for breath, her color waning. The witch had found a workaround by affecting the environment.
Even feet away from Helena, I could feel the results of the oxygen-removing spell. She clawed at her throat. I moved back toward the wall, keeping my distance from the magic. I needed to distract the witch, break his concentration. Grabbing one of the few items still intact, a heavy Dungeons and Dragons light, shaped like a die, I hurled it at the witch, hitting him on the side of his arm.
The oxygen-siphoning sphere shuddered a few feet away from Helena, but not far enough to prevent its effect. The heavy mug I lobbed at him next hit a diaphanous field, rebounded, and pitched into my hip, sending me stumbling back. Recovering with a groan, I looked for something that could pierce the field and found Rei on the other side of the room providing protection for the oxygen-siphoning witch. She shook her head, a silent request for me to stay put. She wouldn’t kill me—that was some comfort—but the throb in my hip was proof she would hurt me.
The shimmering field th
at covered the witch flickered and dropped, and the mug I hurled smashed into the side of the witch’s face. He stumbled to the side, and the sphere shuddered then vanished. Running out of objects heavy enough to throw, I searched for more items and found the source of the breach in Rei’s field.
Dominic.
He had pulled Rei against his chest and held a claw at her jugular. I turned back to find Helena standing over the manacle-subdued, oxygen-siphoning witch. There was a naked man where moments ago a bear was fighting Anand. The man wasn’t moving, not even a faint rise and fall of his chest.
Rei’s eyes were calculating, glancing at the claw at her throat then cutting to the two remaining allies in the room, who were doing their own assessment.
Amid all the violence and pandemonium, it was hard not to think of Cameron. The damage was extensive, with areas empty of books, partially burned books strewn throughout the store, the registers on the floor, and several bookshelves smashed.
Her store was in shambles. She’d lose income. How would the destruction be explained? The cameras? Was this being seen on her phone real-time? How would they handle her knowledge of them?
Dominic’s expression was stoic as his eyes met mine. I wasn’t sure if it was his presence or tempered anger that had increased the room temperature by several degrees.
One of the shifters watched Dominic as he took in the damage.
“Is this what you all want?” Dominic asked, directing his attention to all the Awakeners in the room.
“No, but it seems to be what you want,” the lone shifter growled. I knew the tell now; he was about to shift.
“You do it and I’ll kill Rei,” Dominic told him. “Then my sister will kill you and this little stunt will be for naught.”
A Touch of Brimstone (Magic of the Damned Book 1) Page 17
