by Anya Breton
My mother nodded but didn’t comment on whether or not I’d succeed. The rule of Fate meant she couldn’t because it might interfere with Fate’s plan. Occasionally she flouted that rule because she and Clotho were bosom buddies. This wasn’t one of those instances.
“Apart from that, I don’t have any additional news to report,” I said.
She set her mug down atop the travertine floor. “The Water witch—is he the lynchpin?”
I exhaled a disappointed breath because I didn’t have a good answer for her. “If he’s not, he’s at least very important.”
“Find out.”
“I’ve been trying,” I said under my breath.
“Try harder.”
With that said, my mother disappeared into the Void, leaving me to wonder how in Hades I could try harder without sneaking into a coalition meeting.
****
Dea Woods looked pale but in good spirits when Rich showed me into their hotel suite sitting room. There were two bedrooms, confounding me on the question of if they were lovers or not.
Dr. Yates, on the other hand, had deep circles beneath her eyes and nursed a thermos of coffee the size of my arm. I hid my frown because her lack of sleep was my fault.
Dea greeted me warmly as I settled my tush onto the chair across from her. “Thank you for coming, Ms. Walsh. Won’t you sit? I really appreciate what you and Dr. Yates are trying to do for me—for us all.”
Rich paced behind me. I opened my mouth to reply, but he burst out as if my arrival had only interrupted an argument.
“The Healers should have been working on this all along,” he said. “This shouldn’t have been a cobbled together test involving a human sorceress and a general practitioner. There should be options that aren’t risky. What are the Healers doing instead? Worrying about their own skin? And Viho—”
“I can find you thousands of studies about curing cancer, AIDS, heart disease, and other prevalent disorders,” Dr. Yates said. “Our focus is on what will improve the world at large. Not ourselves.”
“Blood bonds may not have newspaper campaigns and fun runs associated with them, but they’re just as prevalent.”
“As cancer?” Dr. Yates snorted. “Where are you getting your data? Vampires enthrall for power, for what someone can do for them. They—”
Rich jabbed a finger in the doctor’s general direction. “Healers probably aren’t looking into it because they’re in big-V’s pocket.”
“Aren’t out there biting random victims,” Dr. Yates said. “Big V? Are you serious? Who—”
Dea spoke over the bickering voices. “As I was telling Rich and Dr. Yates, anything I can do to help is worth any risk involved. The gain is too important to worry about the potential for problems.”
Her steady gaze was on me, but I sensed her attention was on Rich hovering behind me. I didn’t need an empathic link to know he was concerned for her. And that his guilt was eating him up inside. Even if the blood bond were cured, Rich would still carry that guilt. It would complicate this relationship for years to come.
This time I’d ask for permission. “May I check the levels of the antibodies?”
Dea nodded eagerly, but her hands clasped just a little tighter in her lap. She didn’t trust me.
Dismay made me slow. I called on Healing. This time she’d need to know I’d done something. I willed the soothing magic to make a small sound when it connected with her. She flinched upon hearing it. Rich took a step forward.
Dea waved a dismissive hand at him. “It’s fine. I was just startled.”
Healing already showed me the antibodies I’d isolated yesterday. It wasn’t until I’d exhaled a relieved breath that I’d realized I’d been holding it in.
“There are fewer,” I said. “Far fewer.”
The females exhaled much as I did.
“That’s good,” Dea said.
“Very good,” Dr. Yates said. “We’ll do more treatments today.”
“As many as I can handle.”
“D,” Rich said warningly from his spot on the fringe of the room.
Dea cast him an impatient look. “I won’t have my life back until this is resolved. I won’t be happy until I have my life back. We can’t run forever, Rich.”
He sighed and shook his head.
Vanessa moved to my side. “Can you show me how to check?”
I looked to Dea for authorization because she was the one who would be under examination. Dea nodded. And then I turned toward Rich. “May we use you as our control? Dr. Yates will need an unaffected witch for comparison.”
His lips thinned, but a glance at Dea prompted his agreement. “Fine.”
I focused on Vanessa. “Call on Healing and ask it to join with both. Can you do that?”
“Join?”
My skin warmed because my lack of magical education showed. I didn’t know any of the Healers’ terminology. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what words you use. It’s the link you create with an individual to check their vitals.”
Vanessa’s head tilted to the right. Confusion crinkled her eyes. “I have to touch them for that.”
Oh no. Not only had I admitted I could access Healing, but apparently I’d also admitted I had power above that of a standard Healer. Maybe I could dodge the subject.
I motioned for Rich to join us. He sat on the sofa beside his high priestess. I moved so Vanessa could take my seat. She set a hand to their arms, closing her eyes while she whispered an incantation in a language I didn’t understand.
“I’m linked,” she said.
“Call on Healing to visualize the circulatory system of them both.”
The doctor’s head snapped toward me. “What do you mean?”
I shifted my weight onto my left hip.
This was just one of the dangers of having learned as I went and from texts I’d found hidden in my mother’s quarters in the Underworld. The texts had been centuries old. Things must have changed since then.
“I ask Healing to visualize them like an angiographic in my mind’s eye,” I said. “It provides realtime updates better than any machine.” At least it did for me.
Vanessa stared at me in wordless shock.
“Try it. Will your Healing magic to show you Rich’s circulatory system.”
She gasped seconds later. “Oh, my! Kora… This…”
I dropped into a nearby chair in a combination of surprise and worry. How was it that Healers hadn’t been utilizing that ability? And could I hope Dr. Yates would keep quiet about my knowledge of Healing?
“I’ve done it for them both,” she said.
“Now ask Healing to show you the differences. When you find the antibody in Priestess Woods, ask it to illuminate it for you.” My voice was hollow. Word of my access to yet another school of magic would make it into every ear in Wipuk before the week was out.
A full minute later Vanessa exclaimed. “I see it! It’s there! This is less?”
“Yes, she has about a third less today than she did when I saw her last.”
“A third after two treatments.” Her eyes darted beneath her closed eyelids. “Four or five more ought to do it. And now that I can check for the antibodies, I’ll be able to tell if they come back.”
I felt the need to give a warning. “This is only our best guess, Priestess Woods. The antibody may just be a sign of the blood bond’s presence rather than the bond itself. We don’t know if you’ll be cured when we remove it.”
The Earth witch nodded. “Thank you for trying all the same.”
I stood because they no longer needed me and I wanted a nap before work. “Please keep me updated. I’m eager to know the outcome.”
“We will,” Dea said for them all. “Thanks again, Ms. Walsh.”
I left Flagstaff with no additional information than I’d arrived with. The wait was frustrating because if nothing came of it, I’d be back to square one with seven witches I didn’t know how to save and one angry, powerful vampire gunning for me.
There was a message on my phone when I woke from my nap at quarter after eleven. Nell had called out sick. She wasn’t truly suffering from a “head cold”. She was suffering from a sense of betrayal. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
I was particularly aggressive with the styling gel after my shower, taking my frustration out on my hair. The giant television dominating the living room was a symbol of why Nell was avoiding work. I was tempted to throw something into it but restrained myself. The device had cost a pretty penny, and I couldn’t afford to anger Maximo. So I shuffled around the apartment with my back to it as I gathered up my purse, keys, and boots.
The shop was unbearably quiet without Nell’s scuffing or her occasional chatter. I turned the radio on for the noise. It didn’t fill the void.
Who’d known how much I’d come to rely on the young woman? Or had Nell been filling a different sort of void I hadn’t known I’d had until there’d been nothing to plug it? I shook my head rather than ponder such dark thoughts.
Two tourists came in, looking for rare crystals. I sent them down the street to one of the many crystal stores Sedona boasted. A trio of Canadians visited and bought a stick of incense. One declared she had a terrible time of keeping plants alive and thus couldn’t buy the potted clovers. I tried to sell her the lightly etched glass vase that extended the life of any plant stored inside it. She’d declined but said she’d keep it in mind if she bought nothing else on the trip. No doubt I’d lose out to a cheap glass sphere that was sold for twenty times its worth because someone had wrapped it in a box and called it a “crystal ball”.
There was one bright spot in my day—a phone call at seven in the evening. Dr. Yates had successfully eradicated every antibody out of Dea’s bloodstream. They’d decided it would be smartest to stay in Flagstaff for another night and then come home tomorrow if she was still clean. Both women asked me to visit in the morning again so I could verify Dea had no lingering antibodies. I tentatively agreed because I didn’t know how the meeting with Maximo and Nadir would go later tonight. My hope was Maximo would put him off for a third day.
Well, my hope was that I’d live to see another sunrise. My days were numbered if the plasmapheresis treatment worked. If Nadir didn’t kill me, Maximo surely would.
Chapter Fourteen
I stiffly drew out of the Escalade’s passenger seat. My lips were compressed in a fine line at the vampire in front of me. Javier might not have done anything wrong, but he was a symbol of his boss, or master, or sire—whatever Maximo de Sole was to him.
I was miffed.
Maximo had called me at the shop shortly after dusk to invite me to his house “for drinks”. And if that hadn’t been distasteful enough, the guy had said he’d “enjoy seeing me dressed in something feminine”. As if I typically dressed like a lumberjack.
I’d thought about dressing in the pair of menswear inspired slacks I’d bought two years ago for an interview. I’d discovered the perfect thing to go with it—a crisp black dress shirt I wore under my corset top in the winter. But I didn’t wear these suit-like items. I couldn’t make an enemy of the creature who held my mother’s ring, at least not until I had it back.
Instead, I’d donned a rust-colored summer dress with eyelet trim on the hem and pretty cap sleeves. It was probably the girliest thing I owned apart from the gown I’d bought for his solstice ball. Likewise it was difficult not to pull on my Doc Marten’s over the Swiss dot, white nylons I’d slid over my already pale legs. So white ballet flats completed the outfit.
But the one thing I didn’t do was soften my wildly spiked hair. Maximo could take a long swim in the River Styx if he didn’t like it. After all, it was his girlfriend who had destroyed my delicate asymmetrical bob.
Attired like a ceramic doll given into the care of a toddler with scissors and a permanent black marker, I strode to Maximo’s elegant nineteenth century wrought iron door. My teeth were clamped tightly. This wasn’t the best way to start the evening. Not when Maximo’s guest of honor would call for my death the first chance he got. But I couldn’t bring myself to release my ire.
Javier opened the door, gesturing for me to go ahead of him down the marble-floored corridor. He guided me through the central hall, past the formal living room with its massive fireplace, and onward to Maximo’s modern office. My spine went rigid at the accented voice coming from inside. Nadir Khan is here.
Maximo interrupted him. “If you will excuse me.” His leather shoes whispered over the dark floor toward me.
Javier gestured for me to go ahead inside. I remained where I was, just out of sight. Maximo appeared within the office door, his head tilted to the left as he lifted his eyebrows in question.
His eyes swept down me. His neutral expression told me nothing of his opinion. That changed when his gaze reached my feet. A twisted half smile formed on his face.
Was that acceptance or some sort of disgusted amusement?
He was due a little scrutiny in return. I scanned him up and down. The outfit he’d picked was nearly formal—as if he’d planned on attending a wedding. While his gray trousers were relatively ordinary, they were the only ordinary thing on his body. A gray and black brocade vest topped them. Above the vest was a rich black jacket and a white shirt with a curious stiff collar. But it was his shoes that made him look like a man out of time. The spectators encompassing his feet were cream calfskin wrapped by black patent leather. He’d be right at home at a swing dance club. He does like to dance.
Maximo tugged his hands out of his trouser pockets, pushing off his back foot toward me. He crossed only half the distance before taking my hand. Maximo tugged until I stumbled forward. He wrapped my arm around his neck, dipping his head so he could capture my lips with his.
His mouth was soft but coaxing, drawing my awareness fully to him. Though he was cool, my soaring temperature heated us both. My anger at his dress code demand melted.
He curled his arm beneath my waist and fitted me along his body. Evidence of arousal nudged my pelvis. I went pliant in his arms while shivers of desire danced along my veins.
My yielding earned me a smile against my lips. He let out a soft laugh before deepening the kiss with a renewed swirl of his tongue along mine. Then he set me on my feet. I nearly fell on rubbery legs.
Maximo drew his arm around my shoulders, steadying me and then ducked his head to eye level. “Hola. Rebecca.”
Hola was right!
I was flushed pink, stumbling like a child as he ushered me into his office. Surely I looked like the wide-eyed doll I’d compared myself to earlier.
Maximo tugged me against his side. “Allow me to introduce my girlfriend—Rebecca Walsh.”
The vampire seated on Maximo’s chocolate sofa complemented the space in his midnight blue sport shirt and orange and blue patterned tie. Had I not known what he was and what he’d done, I’d have felt an instant kinship with him based on the color choices alone. As it was the warm, heady feeling Maximo’s kiss had poured into my limbs cooled.
Nadir glanced at me with marked impatience. He gave a swift nod, and then returned his attention to the tablet computer in his hand.
Maximo made the reverse introduction. “This is Nadir Khan, the Shah of Persia’s favorite son.”
“I can’t work out how to do this. You do it.” Nadir tossed the tablet onto Maximo’s glass coffee table, nearly upending one of the decorative glass spheres.
“Get comfortable at my desk,” Maximo told me, gesturing to the sable wood that dominated the corner of his office.
I made my way behind it because there were no chairs for an audience. Brochures for a vampire-friendly ocean cruise and a seaside resort in Sardinia were my distractions. Maximo instructed the foreign vampire how to use the tablet to check the weather in Tehran. The occasional smoldering look Maximo shot my way made me flush to the tips of my hair.
I nudged another trifold brochure out from under a stack of yellow legal pages. An
animalistic growl cut through the room. A half second later Maximo had Nadir by the throat inches in front of the desk. Spittle hit my face. My stomach jumped into my mouth. I’d been centimeters from certain death. What had I been thinking entering the room without hitting Nadir with an empathic link?
“She’s mine,” Maximo said. “I have claimed her. I am dating her. You cannot touch her.”
Razor-like fangs had distended from Nadir’s gums. He used them to snarl and snap in my direction. His face was a wrinkled mass of hatred. Eyes rimmed with red promised a painful death for the hassle I’d put him through. The foreign vampire looked like a wild animal dressed up in costly fabric that had been released into a ring to fight for his life.
“I killed the last vampire who harmed a hair on her head, Khan,” Maximo said.
It took Nadir several heart-stopping intervals to ease the deep wrinkles on his face into smooth dark skin, soften the red in his eyes back to near black, and retract his fangs. He stood to his full height—an inch below Maximo’s six foot two inches. Nadir straightened the creases out of his shirt. But his malicious gaze remained locked on me.
“She deserves to die,” Nadir said. “You are a fool if you think she isn’t manipulating you.”
I wished I could manipulate him.
Maximo’s angry glare softened into his half smile. He settled it on me for a moment as if he knew I couldn’t manipulate him and had read my mind. He focused on Nadir.
“I will decide what she deserves,” Maximo said with all of the arrogance of an imperial lord. I shot a glare at him that went ignored. “You will stay away from her.”
“She’s using you for safety,” Nadir said in a lifting pitch. “When she gets what she wants, she’ll leave you tattered and limping.”
“I will enjoy having her try.” Maximo’s answer struck a little slice of fear through my heart.
Nadir charged out the door in a blur of movement. Glass shrieked well after he’d disappeared as though he’d broken the sound barrier. Maximo curled himself around me, seemingly blocking me from the shrapnel of his coffee table exploding behind him. Once the final shard quieted against the floor, he withdrew with a soft command for me to remain where I was. Then in a blur of movement he disappeared.
