by Anya Breton
I gaped at her sweet face, stunned. Had I just won over one of the schools of magic? If so, I was finally on the road to infiltrating the coalition as my mother had demanded—the whole reason I was in Wipuk in the first place. One down, six to go.
Dea nodded toward the Healer. Viho took up the mantle of speaker. His tenor voice sounded younger than the thirty-seven or so years he appeared. “Dr. Vanessa Yates reports that you contacted her last week for information regarding a potential treatment for enthralled individuals.” He glanced to a set of pages in his tan hands. “Her written report details that at your urging, Priestess Woods gave a sample of her blood. And you showed Dr. Yates the foreign antibodies you believed to be the cause of Priestess Woods’ affliction. After initial tests, you agreed it would be safe to offer the treatment to Priestess Woods. Dr. Yates writes that you taught her how to spot the antibodies in the bloodstream herself. And that the treatment was a success.
“Priest Marino testified the vampire Nadir Khan was unable to call on his blood bond following Priestess Woods’ treatment. Though treatments have been carried out on the remaining witches, Nadir’s absence means we don’t have confirmation they worked. Regardless, I think the report speaks for itself.” He fixed his sober gaze on me. “Ms. Walsh, you may have done the world an immense favor. You may have given us the tools to fight one of the vampires’ most destructive powers. If this is the case, then words cannot describe what debt of gratitude we owe you.”
I could only offer a deferential nod. More tests would need to be done before we’d confirm if the treatment worked. They couldn’t be done on the seven Nadir had enthralled now that he was dead.
But Viho wasn’t finished. “The Healers of America humbly request you teach us your method for spotting blood pathogens. And if possible, how you are able to do so without touch.”
I swallowed down unease as every eye in the room seemed to sharpen on me. Bacchus’s blue balls. In not so many words Viho had announced I had access to the Healing school of magic. I should have known better than to think I could get away with that information remaining secret. I never get a break.
With another swallow for good measure I nodded. “Of course.”
“The Healers of America accept the mantle of knowledge for this treatment’s benefits and the risks that come with it,” Viho said. “We will carry it word of mouth, guarding its secrets with our lives until which time it is agreed the world is ready for it to be publicized.”
He nodded back to Desmond.
Desmond’s head lifted from his chest. I hadn’t realized he’d dropped it low. Now that I had, and now that it was no longer jabbing into his collarbone, there was no missing the narrow slits of his eyes. He wasn’t happy. I needed to escape before he caught me.
“If there is no other business?” Desmond’s question was voiced in tight efficiency. He glanced at each witch in turn before slapping the gavel down on the sound block. “This body is adjourned.”
I swiveled on my heel, gesturing frantically for Ali Mac to get up.
“Ms. Walsh.”
I pretended not to hear Desmond’s frosty voice as I hurried out the door with a snarl at the werewolf to go. We’d made it to the front sidewalk by the time Desmond caught up. He grabbed hold of my forearm. A spark of latent power shocked us both—a side effect I generally compensated for if I knew it was coming. I hadn’t known it was coming. He never touched me.
A low growl ripped through Ali Mac’s throat.
Desmond’s cool gaze switched to him. “I will drive her home. Go back to your master.”
The swelling scent of a crisp mountain stream proved my fear as Ali Mac turned away. Desmond had magically manipulated the werewolf into leaving. I considered using my own magic to make Ali Mac stay but decided it would only hurt him. No doubt Desmond would fight me through Ali Mac.
A second later, the leather jacket disappeared around the corner. My safety net went with it.
Desmond tugged me toward the BMW parked out front—in a space that had his name painted on the pavement as well as a signpost at the head. Yanking open the passenger door, he pushed me inside, heedless to my stumble into the seat. Despite this aggressive gesture, he waited until I’d pulled my arms and legs in before closing the door. Only then did he stalk to the driver’s side.
I didn’t need an empathic link to know he was irate. The barely perceptible shaking of his shoulders proved that. What would an unpredictable Desmond Marino do?
He put the car in reverse with uncharacteristic jerky motions. The vehicle bounced back enough for him to peel out of the space and down the street. But we weren’t going in the direction of my apartment. And we also weren’t going to his house.
“Where are we going?” I asked uneasily.
He ignored me much as he’d done to Veronika all the way to Phoenix. I folded my arms in front of me until I realized that had been what she’d done. Dropping them to my sides, I glared out the window.
Desmond pulled the car down a dusty road. The spot lacked a sign and was in the middle of nowhere heading further into No-man’s-land. Did he mean to kill me and leave me for the buzzards?
But I was more powerful than he was. And he knew that. He’d be foolish to try anything.
He drove a quarter mile from the main road and then put the car in park, twisting the keys with a punctuated jerk. Desmond jumped out of the car without a word, stalking around the hood. He wrenched open my door. His fist curled around my forearm and tugged me out. I stumbled on the dusty ground, a move he didn’t note because he was too busy slamming the door.
Desmond stalked several feet from the car. I hovered closer to the vehicle. He wouldn’t attack me if it meant putting his car in danger, would he?
He faced me. A dark expression twisted his ordinarily beautiful face. “You are a Healer, too?” The impressive roar sent the fine hairs around my face flying away.
I pulled my head back as far as it would go while still attached to my neck. I’d have liked to run in the opposite direction but he needed to have his say.
He lifted a finger into the air. “Water.” A second finger moved into place beside it. “Earth.” A third joined them. “Air.” A fourth finger popped up. “Fire.” And the thumb jumped out. “And now Healing!”
Desmond stomped forward, crowding me into the BMW. “Five schools. Five fucking schools! Are you a necromancer, too, Kora?”
I blinked back surprise upon hearing his use of my nickname. He always called me Ms. Walsh, especially when he was angry.
But how in Hades was I supposed to answer him? The truth would send him off the deep end. But eventually the truth would come out thanks to what would happen later tonight. Desmond would feel betrayed if I lied now. I needed him—I needed all of them—or I’d never be able to enact my mother’s plan.
My answer came in the form of a small nod.
“Jesus Christ!” He rolled away from me and shoved his hands into his cropped hair. “Jesus Christ,” he said with his back to me. His head lifted to the sun as if he’d find his answers there. Experience told me that never worked. “Six schools! And no weaves? It’s not possible! But I’ve seen it! My God, I’ve seen it!” Desmond’s torso folded over, doubling toward the ground. He went quiet, eerily so.
I held my breath, willing him to get back in the car.
Desmond’s head rolled toward me. His aqua irises peeked from beneath deeply furrowed brows. Then he was upright and coming at me. He halted startlingly close—toes touching mine. His intense gaze ensnared me, catching my breath in an instant.
His voice came out as a whisper. “What about Light?”
I released a ragged sigh, eyelids slipping shut.
He wasn’t supposed to ask that. He wasn’t supposed to ask any of this.
“My God.” He choked. “And Time?”
“Please.” I whimpered because I knew he’d haul me back to the coalition to have me burnt on a pyre if I answered him. “I’m not here to hurt anyone. I swear it.”
>
“They’re extinct schools,” he said in a voice laced with disbelief. “How can you have them if they’re extinct?”
“Desmond, please. I don’t mean anyone harm. I swear on all that is good.”
He snapped out of his shock. Desmond grabbed hold of my biceps with pinching fingers, hauling me onto the tips of my toes. Once he had me in a position I couldn’t easily break out of, he roared into my face. “How can you have them if they’re extinct?”
I must have been a mess on the heels of last night’s attack otherwise I never would have reacted as I did. I burst into tears when I would have rather died than cry in front of him.
His fury was too like Nadir’s, and the submissive pose he’d put me in brought that horrific memory to the forefront. Fortunately I’d been alert enough not to attack him. Though it wouldn’t have killed him, it wouldn’t have been good for my case.
His narrow-eyed fury paused. Wide-eyed shock replaced it. But fury quickly returned. The expressions of soft concern and twisted remorse made rare appearances in between his churning fury. Clearly he fought several emotions.
Desmond’s rage won out. He dropped me without warning. My feet hadn’t been prepared for the movement. I crumpled onto the sandy ground in time to hear the thuds of loafers over the dusty ground as he stalked back to the car. He slammed the driver’s door shut. And then peeled out backwards, kicking up gravel as he went.
I stood in disbelief as Desmond left me … in the middle of nowhere.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I’d Healed the soles of my feet countless times over the five mile walk from nowhere to the apartment complex. My ballet flats weren’t the worst shoes I could have been stranded in, but they certainly weren’t the best. Numerous times I’d considered stripping one or more of my garments off because it had become terribly hot in the July sun. But I hadn’t. Though I did take a long shower when I got home.
Should I be seething because Desmond had left me out in the desert? Or relieved he hadn’t killed me and then left me? One thing I definitely wasn’t relieved about was that he had my purse. I’d had to ask the front office to let me into my apartment because he even had my keys.
I couldn’t drive. I couldn’t call anyone, even him. And I wouldn’t know if the coalition wanted to burn me until they arrived with a pitchfork-laden mob.
I sat on the futon staring at the dark, colossal-screen television. Had hiding my abilities from the start had been a misstep? Desmond had wanted to eject me from Wipuk when he’d thought I was a vanilla human with a few weaves. What would he have done if he’d known I had access to every school of magic on the planet?
Best case scenario, he’d have driven me and my furniture into Mexico. Worst case, he would have mounted an attack on me. At least this way I’d had some time to prove I could do good things with my abilities.
But would it be enough?
****
Desmond’s assistant—the statuesque brunette with the conservative wardrobe—dropped my purse off at three in the afternoon. Allison didn’t have any warnings or messages of any kind from her boss. But she did have a dark glare leveled at my head throughout the transaction. Whether that was from Desmond sharing I was a magical menace or not was unclear.
The return of my purse meant I was able to answer my phone when it rang three hours later. The caller ID told me it was Max. How should I feel about him? He’d brutally murdered a man in front of me. But that man would have made it his mission to destroy me if something hadn’t been done. I was also still torn on the whole sex-with-a-corpse thing thanks to Trip’s visit.
I picked up the call after the third ring. “Hello?”
“Hola. Rebecca.”
My eyelids fluttered at his sensual voice.
“I was worried,” he said. “Ali Mac is here. He wasn’t supposed to be here. I’m very displeased he left you. You are well?”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see it. “I’m fine.” He didn’t need to know Desmond had stranded me in the middle of nowhere. He’d want to know why, and I couldn’t tell him that. I’d need the element of surprise if I had any hope of getting back my ring.
“He believes Dr. Marino manipulated him into leaving you,” Max said coolly. “Do you agree with this?”
Damn it down the Styx. Why couldn’t Desmond have also made Ali Mac forget what had happened?
“He did.”
Max exhaled an angry breath. “Had you been hurt…” His voice trailed off, perhaps while we recalled what had happened last night. “Suffice it to say Dr. Marino would have learned true pain.”
A shiver skittered down my back. I couldn’t keep the image of Nadir Khan’s shocked expression above his naked, dripping spinal cord out of my head. Gruesome didn’t begin to describe it.
“If you believe Ali Mac capable of guarding you, I’ll send him back at once,” Max said next.
The unvoiced threat was clear. If I didn’t believe Ali Mac capable, the young man would lose his job. I hoped that wasn’t the best case scenario. I was beginning to think Max was rather ruthless despite his flirtatious nature with me. It made the fear of what would happen later lift a little more.
“Ali Mac is capable of guarding me,” I said.
At least he was capable of guarding me against anyone but the high priest of Water witches. No one but perhaps Max himself could guard me against Desmond. And that was only because Max seemed immune to the school’s manipulation.
“He’s walking out the door now, querida.” There was a pause. “You’ll come for dinner?”
I nibbled my lip. I hadn’t wanted to do this at his house. But maybe that was best. It would be easier to tell him to stay than to tell him to go home.
“Yeah.”
“Excellent,” the vampire said. “I’ll see you in a few hours. Rebecca.”
Yeah, he would. And it would be the last time I would ever go to Maximo de Sole’s beautiful Spanish villa.
****
He was dressed for sex. I knew it the moment I stepped into the breakfast room and saw the light glint off his olive sienna skin. A black linen shirt was unbuttoned clear to his navel, showcasing his strong chest and soft spattering of hair. His white linen pants were slung low over his hips, and the waistband had slipped beneath the clump of hair that protected the sensitive organs below. He looked cool and comfortable without shoes or socks, hair styled out of his face just so.
He crooned upon seeing me. “Rebecca.”
In contrast to him, I looked as if I’d dressed for a cool autumn day of tag-sailing. My jeans were relaxed, and a large orange shirt hid my shape. I even had on socks beneath my Doc Marten’s instead of fishnets.
His gaze dropped to the bruises visible above the shirt’s boat neck collar. Max’s expression darkened, but he said nothing. Instead, he crossed the room so he could hover his hand over them.
“Vampire saliva heals,” he said. The mischievous smile formed on his lips. “Perhaps your bruises will fade if I lick you from head to toe.”
Heat lifted from below. I drew in a quick breath because I hadn’t wanted this to get that far. He was too close. He’d kiss me if I didn’t do something soon. And if he kissed me, I might become pliant. I might let him do more to me.
Before I could change my mind, I silently called on Death magic. Reports of the dead in the building flew through my brain. Apart from the one standing within a foot of me, there was another in the kitchen, one in the basement, and a third somewhere in the distance—perhaps in a garage or tending the lawn.
The trapped soul in Maximo seemed in pain, though less so than Nadir’s. I didn’t have time to consider its meaning. Instead I called on it, ensnaring its glowing seed in a magical lasso. I’d try my attack silently. Maybe Max wouldn’t figure out how I’d accomplished it.
I pushed Death magic into him while simultaneously filtering it back into me like an uninterrupted power circuit. The faint snapping sensation in my head told me he was mine. Feigning a smile, I brushed my finger
s over the thin stroke of hair lining his jaw.
“Max,” I said while pushing just a little more power into him. “I think you should give me my ring now.”
His hand lifted automatically. The opposite limb came up to do the honors. And then the ring was in my palm. I didn’t breathe in relief, didn’t dare jinx this.
Rising up onto the tips of my toes I pressed a small kiss against his lips as I slipped the ring onto my ring finger. “Thank you for everything. It was fun while it lasted. Enjoy dinner without me.”
At a sedate speed, I walked to the door, hitting Ali Mac with my own brand of Water magic. He’d give me a ride home as fast as his truck would go whether he liked it or not. Only when I was halfway across the colony did I release the reins on Maximo de Sole.
He would make me pay. But with Death magic in my arsenal and the ring out of his, I could keep him and his pets in line.
****
“Hecate, I summon you.”
My mother appeared in her ceremonial robes atop her beanbag chair. She snatched up the coffee I’d made. A clump of burgundy hair flowed over her shoulder in a beautiful fall I envied. Her face was set in a warm smile as she sat properly in the seat for once.
“You did it.” Pride spread her lips broad.
I gave a glum nod. The ring that had caused so much drama was nestled within my outstretched palm. “I appreciate the gift, but I’d like you to keep it safe for me. I can’t risk something this powerful falling back into the wrong hands.”
Maximo had never actually done anything with it. He hadn’t so much as asked how to invoke it. I shook my head, putting the thought out of my mind.
“I failed to keep it safe, and thus I am unworthy to hold it,” I said.
“You aren’t unworthy.” My mother snorted. “But I will take it back if it would make you feel better.”
