I won’t kill him. Not until he’s useless.
Coltrain
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” Gwen hissed. “He’s a goner.”
She felt the hand on her shoulder. Her head snapped to the right and came face-to-face with Preston who wore a look of worry. “You shouldn’t be on this case, Gwen.”
“Fuck that. You took down your woman’s father. With her help. Robert took down his own brother to protect Liz. I’m going to be part of this, like it or not.”
“I could lock you in a cell,” he warned.
“You wouldn’t.” She fucking hoped not.
Robert narrowed his eyes at Preston. “She’s right. We wouldn’t. But we’ll help you find Coltrain and put a stop to him.”
“What about me?” Roxy asked in a dangerous tone. Her eyes were blazing white, and nothing Trevor said was calming her.
Gwen knew what Robert would say before he said it, but it was a relief to hear his words anyway. “No. You’re not trained for this. You’re not a Silver Council Enforcer. Besides, you’re pregnant and I understand your situation is delicate. There is no way I can allow you to be part of this investigation.”
“I need to find my brother!” Roxy shook her head, tears falling down her face.
“No, A Chroí, you don’t. Let them do their job. Your brother would kill me if I let you chase after a necromancer.”
“A what?” she shouted.
“I’ll explain later. Don’t worry,” Gwen assured. “I doubt he’ll harm Mike. He needs him alive.” She prayed that was true, but she knew eventually, Cole would do real damage to Mike, once he had what he wanted.
“Do I even want to know?”
Trevor sighed. “Knowing you, yeah. I’ll do my best to explain, but not here. We should come up with a plausible story and wake Doug up.”
“Roxy,” Gwen caught her arm, “I’ll find him. I’ll bring him back. I swear to you.”
She nodded. “I believe you.” Her eyes closed and she laid her head on Trevor’s shoulder. “I can’t argue with the reasoning and I hate it.” Her chest heaved with a breath. “I know you love him, so go get him back.”
Gwen nodded, tears filling her eyes. “I do. I’ll get him back.”
“Take care of her,” Robert told Trevor before grabbing onto Gwen and Preston, relocating them back to his office at Silver Council Headquarters.
Gwen stood in the center of the room, while attempting to catch her breath and hold back the waterworks. Getting all emotional wasn’t going to help a damned thing. She needed to get her ass in gear and figure out where the fuck that piece of shit had her man.
Robert tipped her head up. “Hey, Gwen, we’ll get him back.”
“No shit,” she snarled as the anger settled in. “I won’t let Coltrain win.”
Robert pulled Gwen into a hug. “Don’t blame yourself. This isn’t your fault.”
“I was right outside and couldn’t stop it. How the hell could I let Mike be taken?”
“Don’t,” Preston said, “seriously, don’t do that.”
She shook her head as the doubt snuck up on her. “Maybe everyone’s right. Maybe I’m not good enough to be an enforcer.”
“Oh, fucking no.” Preston spun her around. “Don’t go there. It’s not like you left him all alone where anyone would find him. We were in a location no one should have known. We were outside with you. If anyone is to blame, it’s us for dragging you outside.”
“It’s not your fault either,” she whispered.
Preston caught her chin, and forced her gaze to his. “Listen to me. You need to snap the fuck out of it. We’re going to find that fucker and take him down. Do you understand me? Now where the hell is the battlemage we know and love? The feisty one who runs head-first into danger and comes out swinging?”
Her jaw clenched. “Right here.”
“And who are you going to blast into the afterlife?”
“Col-fucking-train!”
“There’s my girl. Now let’s get to work. We have a few more clues that may come in handy. Maybe you’ll have a better idea of where we need to start. This is your territory after all.” He raised a book between them. “There’s a layout he drew. And we have a few blueprints. We haven’t managed to find the building that matches.”
Her chest heaved, but she was finally starting to think. She looked at Preston, then Robert.
Before she opened her mouth, Preston gave her a nudge. “You’re the one with the expertise in this city. You know Coltrain best. No one else has the knowledge you do, so get to it.”
“I’ll bring you coffee,” Robert started out of the room.
Preston sat down at the desk, patting the seat next to him. “No more doubts. Get to work. That’s an order,” he said sternly.
She glared at him.
He let out a chuckle and shrugged. “Sorry, had to get you going somehow, and figured calling your mom would get my ass kicked.”
She laughed then, feeling stupid. “Thank you for bringing me back.”
“Anytime. Besides, you’re one of the best enforcers I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”
“You’re just saying that.”
“Nope, it’s the truth. Robert agrees.”
“I do,” he said as he stepped through the door. He placed a steaming mug beside her. “Let’s find him.”
Chapter 26
The room was spinning, his head ached, and moving got him nowhere. Mike pried one eye open to find himself face down with his hands bound behind his back.
The surface felt smooth and cold, like marble.
What the fuck is going on?
Beyond the white platform, he saw black with flickering flames around the edge. He tried to roll and found himself strapped to the table, or whatever it was.
He reached out with his sense, like Gwen explained, and came back with dark and cold. Shifters tended to be warm and full of energy. Mages hummed with their element. Druids were full of life. Whatever Isa and Toryn were, they were arcane and elemental. All he detected was entirely void of life.
Necromancer. She called Cole a necromancer. Said he could control the dead and undead. Oh, fucking shit.
He remembered playing with the band, Gwen watching him like she was ready to climb his body and fuck him like an animal. Everything was blank after that.
“What did you do with my sister, Michael? Did you kill her and her maker? Is that why we can’t find them?” Cole’s voice was strangely amused.
He tried to raise his head but it felt like a ton of bricks was lodged in his skull.
“What are you talking about?” Mike asked. His voice was rough and slurred. Then he remembered the other night when Amanda showed up, terrified. At least Cole assumed they were dead.
Best to play along.
“Never wanted Amanda dead. Don’t know what the hell you’re talking about in regards to a maker.” He rolled his head to find Cole staring down at him. “Where the fuck am I?”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re not going anywhere.” His head tilted. “Relax, this doesn’t have to hurt.”
Mike jerked at the bindings, but found himself immobilized. A sharp pain spiked through his head with the effort.
Did that fucker drug me? The dart. He fucking did, he realized. I will eat that fucker’s face off.
He pulled on his power but nothing happened, aside from his heart acting like a bass drum in his skull. Trying a second time made his vision gray out, then black washed over him.
* * * *
Cole sneered. Mike was out again. Sighing, he rolled the altar on wheels into his private quarters, where Josephine’s body reclined on the bed.
Once Michael was in place, he reached out to caress Josephine’s pristine cheek. “Not much longer and I’ll have you back, my love.”
For a moment, he wondered if he was doing the right thing. Then rational thought clouded over, spinning away.
True death should never be undone. He couldn’t remember who had told h
im that.
All he could see was Josephine smiling up at him when they made love. “Always for me. Everything for me,” she used to cry out.
Shaking his head, he snapped out of it, and went back to preparations, setting out the crushed herbs and incense he’d prepared earlier. Everything was ready, but he couldn’t feel Mike’s magic. The drugs had completely suppressed his power. Until it unfurled, Mike was useless.
* * * *
Gwen tapped her finger on the layout, wracking her brain for why the odd-shaped building looked familiar. The image was just beyond the edge of her memory.
“You’re on to something, aren’t you?” Robert asked.
“I know the building, but I can’t quite envision it. Sort of like how wards work around buildings. Fuck, I bet that’s it.”
Robert’s head tilted to the side. “Maybe Amanda knows? That is, if you want to go for a stroll through her head.”
Her brow wrinkled as she looked at him.
“Won’t be a walk in the park,” Preston warned.
“But—” she started.
His hand landed on her shoulder. “That’s code for Robert trusts you. Plus, you know what you’re looking for. All I meant was that it’s fucking weird being in someone else’s head. I know, because I’ve gone there with him before. Plus, Amanda’s head is pretty warped. Something is off in there.”
Her brow arched. “Other than the fact she’s a vampire?”
“That might be part of it,” Robert answered. “I think Cole has distorted some of her thinking. But I’ve never known a necromancer to do that. My only plausible theory is that Josephine taught him tricks he’s adapted for application to the undead. We need answers.”
“I guess it’s worth a shot. Longer Mike is captive, the more I worry about what he’ll have to endure. What if Cole rips what makes Mike a druid completely out?”
“He won’t. He wants to use Mike to raise a horde of undead.” Preston rolled his eyes. “Like he thinks he’s some voodoo king.”
“Amanda won’t be awake until dark.” Gwen rubbed at her temples. “She’s too new to get up early.”
“Dinner then,” Robert offered. “Let’s recharge, and then find out what she knows.”
“I vote Italian,” Preston chimed in as he dug his phone out of his pocket. “But let me warn Dacia I’ll be late.”
“And here I thought you were too much of a bachelor to ever settle down,” Gwen teased.
“Could say the same for you in recent years. Now hush.” He placed a finger over his mouth before his attention went to the phone call.
Chapter 27
Chanting wafted through his hazy consciousness. Sparks crackled up and down Mike’s spine. He felt something pulling at his energy and yanked it back, reflexively, to the pit of his stomach.
A bone-deep chill settled in as Cole’s rhythmic voice got louder. Then something sucked in a stuttered breath and a new essence filled the room like an oil slick in the Gulf.
Every hair stood on end as realization hit. Cole was bringing back the dead, using his energy.
Mike threw up every shield he could summon with all the power he could muster. He tried to zap the bonds, but the energy shunted through the cuffs without breaking them.
The chanting stopped and there was silence. A mattress shifted. He got his head turned and found Cole sitting, facing a woman he didn’t recognize. Her eyes glowed an eerie green.
“So long since I last heard your heart beat,” Cole said, but his voice sounded tinny, as if he wasn’t all there.
She looked alive though, and was something that made every fiber of his being hum with discord.
He had to get out of there. How was the problem? Completely immobile, he wasn’t coming up with anything brilliant. Then he remembered talking about other animal forms with Trevor and the guys.
Tiger’s bigger than my frame. That would hurt to be bound as I am. Something small, something that can hide. Fuck, I hope this works.
He closed his eyes and envisioned a tiny shrew. Gwen had told him about her pet as a child, and he pictured the stuffed one she kept on her bedside table. It looked out of place in her grown up bedroom, but he smiled as he thought of her.
The chains fell around him, and he squirmed to freedom in his new shape. Cole and his undead-bride were too busy making glowing googly-eyes to notice him jump, rather agilely, to the ground and scurry toward the door.
Not much room between the bottom edge of the door and the concrete floor, but he managed to squirm underneath.
There was a chill, like the building wasn’t well-insulated. He was in a makeshift hall, and the walls seemed thin like the portables back in high school. Looking up, he found a high steel-beamed ceiling with hanging lights.
Warehouse. What the fuck?
He ran down the hall to what he hoped was the main part of the warehouse. There was nothing but empty shelves and blocked loading bays. Traveling under the shelving, he looked for a door that wasn’t sealed shut from the inside.
* * * *
Gwen sat down beside Amanda. She looked better today. Not quite so freaked out. “This isn’t so bad, is it?” Gwen wanted to smack herself for how that sounded.
“Better than I expected.” She offered a genuine smile. “Tremaine and Liz have taught me a lot I didn’t know before. I don’t feel like such a monster anymore.”
“You felt like a monster?”
Dropping her gaze to her hands, Amanda nodded.
How ironic. “Cole took Mike. We think you might know where he is. We have a vague idea. I need your help to narrow it down so we can get him back.”
Her eyes rounded. “My brother has Mike? Why?”
Robert gently answered, “We believe it’s to bring Josephine Monvoisin back to life.”
“That psychotic bitch, Josie? He can’t do that, can he?”
Robert nodded. “He may be able to. It could really hurt Mike if he succeeds.”
“I want to go. Cole needs to pay.”
“No, Amanda. That’s not wise.” Gwen took a slow breath. “Your brother can get in your head and twist things around. Even control you. You going is a liability we can’t afford. It would put us, and even Mike, in more danger.”
Robert sat down beside Amanda. “You’re safe here.”
She nodded. “I wouldn’t know what to do anyway.”
“Leave that to the professionals.” Preston motioned to Robert, Gwen, and himself.
“You’ll bring him back?” There was a tremble to her voice.
“With everything I am, I promise we’ll bring him back,” Gwen vowed. “We may not have much time to find him though.”
“Find him. Protect him from Cole.” She slumped against the back of the couch and Robert reached across her lap to take Gwen’s hand. Then he touched Amanda’s head.
Dark, it was so dark. And cold. She could see everything against a black backdrop, as if through shadows. If she looked closely, the shapes took on colors. One image made her heart skip.
Mike and Amanda lay curled around each other in bed. He was asleep, his chest rising and falling. Tears flowed down her face as a transparent boy whispered to her.
“Find the scary man. Bring me justice,” he pleaded.
She looked over at her jacket. Withdrawal was setting in, and she didn’t have the strength to ignore the dead boy with tear-filled eyes. Not even when Mike was willing to do anything and everything to help her get off the drugs.
“I love you, Mike. Forgive me,” she whispered before slipping from his arms to grab her jacket.
Robert gently tugged Gwen away from that memory. She was pulled to another and turned to follow it.
Amanda sat, huddled, on her bed. Her body trembled so hard it was getting ready to go into convulsions. There were a dozen used needles on the bedside table and twice that many ghosts screaming and crying at her for help.
She blindly reached for another syringe, praying she could make her shattered heart stop beating. Life wasn’t fair
. Magic ruined everything. Maybe if she hadn’t seen what Cole did, if he hadn’t ripped apart her fragile shields, Mike’s bursts of magic wouldn’t have impacted her. She’d be sane.
One thing quieted the voices. Heroin, but even that stopped working. The spirits wouldn’t go away. They kept talking to her, trying to get her attention.
When she was young, she could ignore them and they’d fade into nothing. After what she saw at Death’s Door, the spirits grew stronger, more insistent, around Mike. They screamed in her face, demanding answers.
The needle slid into her vein and she knew the end was coming. The world disintegrated into a swirling gray mist so thick she couldn’t see anything but shadows howling in the distance. Time drifted away as she floated, finally feeling nothing.
Something warm, wet, and thick dripped into her mouth. She started coughing, but whatever it was pressed tighter to her lips, and her nose was pinched. Her throat started working automatically even as she fought against the foreign sensation.
The world started coming back. Colors were brighter, fuller, the edges sharper. Sounds from outside the shitty apartment started to echo in her ears.
Black hair fell around her, deep black eyes bored into hers.
“Hush now, child. Everything will be all right. I’m here to take away the pain and addiction.”
Amanda tried to shake her head, but couldn’t, so pleaded with her eyes instead.
The woman poked around her head, digging through memories, sending images flashing through her mind.
A look of concern passed over her features. “Don’t worry, Amanda. You won’t ever see the ghosts again. They can’t reach you once you pass beyond the veil and come back as something else.”
Amanda saw the woman’s fangs and realized she was guzzling the stranger’s blood. Then everything went black.
Robert caught Gwen’s arm and yanked her toward him with a glare. “We’re here for one thing. Trust me, Gwen, you don’t want to know what else Amanda has locked away.”
Accepting Fate Page 19
