by Robyn Bachar
“Well, there’s nothing to be done about that now. Now, I’ll do what I can to aid you, Catherine. I’m afraid this isn’t going to be simple, or pleasant-”
“Em, I don’t think you should try this,” Michael interrupted.
“I’m afraid I’m the only one who can, darling. No more interruptions,” she admonished him. Focusing her attention on me, she patted my hand gently. “Unfortunately, I can’t remove the attunement. I can ease some of your discomfort by drawing out the worst of the necromantic magic, but I can’t remove all of it. Losing that much blood at once would likely kill you.”
Oh, that was comforting. Still shivering uncontrollably, I couldn’t really argue with her plan. All I wanted to do was get away, far away as I possibly could, and sleep for a week.
“Emily,” her husband intoned again. “This isn’t safe.” I glanced at him, noticing the deep concern in his expression.
“Why? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing, he’s just being overly cautious.” She gave me a reassuring smile.
I wasn’t convinced, particularly when Simon spoke up on the subject. “I’m afraid I must agree with Michael. We don’t know how Harrison’s magic will affect you, Emily.”
Squaring her small shoulders, the petite woman drew herself up. “I’m sure I can handle anything from one of Laura’s kept men. He’s only a child.” Waving her hand dismissively, she ignored their fears. “Now, Catherine, it will be easiest on you if you do not watch this.”
Like getting a shot-just close your eyes, slight pinch, and it’s all over. Too bad nobody was going to offer me a lollipop afterwards. Nodding my consent, I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head away. Intent on ignoring the feel of her fangs piercing my wrist, I concentrated on the sound of the speeding SUV and the splatter of rain against the roof and windows. Emily used just enough of her vampire magic to dull the pain of the bite. It made me wonder if she knew what her buddy Simon had put me through, and what she thought about it.
The chill in my veins began to subside, and the shivering quieted. As the sensations calmed, I could distantly feel even greater anger from Harrison, now mixed with poignant anguish as he realized he was powerless to stop me from being spirited away. Even as I regained control of myself, Harrison continued to remain in the back of my thoughts. I wondered if I would ever be completely free of him.
I also wondered if Emily was going to drain me into unconsciousness as I felt increasingly lightheaded, but she finally withdrew her fangs and moved away. Opening my eyes, I studied the vampire’s expression. A frown creased her brow, and her gaze was distant and glassy as though she was in some sort of trance.
“Emily?” I asked.
“Give her a moment,” Michael said. “She’s having a vision.”
I nodded in understanding. Before she became a vampire Emily must’ve been a seer, the rarest breed of magician, and taking in Harrison’s magic triggered some sort of psychic episode. After a minute or so passed, Michael reached over from his seat and tapped her shoulder, murmuring her name. For another long moment Emily continued to stare blankly, then she blinked several times and awareness filled her soft gray eyes.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, concerned.
“Yes, I am now. It was a bit…unexpected. But don’t you worry, my dear. I’ll see that young Mr. Harrison behaves himself in the future. Rest now, we’ll take care of everything.” Turning to her husband, I watched them exchange a look heavy with emotion, and I wondered what it was she’d seen.
I turned to Simon. “You know about this spirit-link thing, how it works?”
“I’ve heard of it. I’ve never attempted such a thing,” he replied.
“Can it be undone?”
“I don’t know. I can research the matter.”
I frowned. “How much would that cost? After all this, my blood bank’s closed until further notice.”
The vampire smiled, amused. “That sort of research is expensive, but you have nothing to fear. I’m sure your Oberon will insist on payments that are…less memorable.”
I nodded, too tired to press him further. I drifted off to sleep, waking only when we stopped to switch cars. Apparently the vampires were going to keep an eye on Mac for now, which might have made me nervous, but Emily assured me that no one in the Order would ever harm a fellow librarian. On one hand I hoped that Mac got to experience Simon’s ridiculously extravagant library, but on the other hand I knew he’d never want to leave if he did. Lex tucked me into the passenger seat of his SUV, and I missed the rest of the ride to his place. When I awoke again I was being shaken gently.
“Cat, honey. C’mon, we need to get you inside and cleaned up. I’ll even make pancakes for you.”
Still half asleep, I smiled. “I love you, but we both know you can’t cook.”
He laughed, the first real laugh I’d heard from him in far too long. Sitting up, I stretched in my seat and undid my seat belt. Lex held the door open for me, and my bare feet touched down on the damp grass of the lawn.
“Can you walk?” he asked, and I nodded. “Hmm, better safe than sorry.” Scooping me up in his arms, he hoisted me out of the truck and shouldered the door shut.
Too tired to argue, I let him carry me across the lawn. I hadn’t spent much time at Lex’s place. It’s a long drive from my apartment-not that I had a car-and since it’s a half-hour from the nearest shopping center it qualifies as country in my book. He’s got a pretty good sized chunk of land, lots of trees, and it’s along a river I can never remember the name of. Lex even has a speedboat, which I’d been out on all of one time-too loud and too fast for me. The house is really too large for one person, but he’s got a lot of junk-sorry, important guardian equipment-so it balances out.
The moon, almost full, lit the surrounding yard with a soft glow. The motion sensors triggered the outside lights as Lex walked up the steps of the front porch, and I heard the sound of dogs barking within. He set me down, and the wooden planks of the porch were cold. “You better get behind me, or they’ll knock you down and lick you to death,” he warned as he unlocked the door.
“You got another dog?”
“Yeah, that’s Cesár. He kinda adopted me while I was out on a call. Got more than enough room, so I brought him home.”
Bubba, the German shepherd, bounded out of the door first, followed by a mutt of unknown but vaguely Labradorish descent. Both dogs bypassed Lex and sniffed me, tails wagging. “No, she doesn’t want to play with you boys. Go on, get.”
The dogs hightailed it out into the yard, and I followed Lex inside. He flicked the lights on, and I looked around the room. I couldn’t shake the odd, out-of-place feeling. I’d never felt comfortable here, and I guess I wasn’t about to start now. Turning to me, Lex kissed me hard and deep, reminding me in a rush of heat and passion just how amazing he made me feel. “Missed you,” he said simply when he pulled away.
“Obviously.”
Lex caressed my cheek as he studied the black eye peeking out from behind the makeup that’d been spackled over it. “Did he hit you?”
“Of course not. Laura, on the other hand, beat the ever-lovin’ snot out of me.”
“I missed a chick fight?” He raised an eyebrow, looking disappointed, and I couldn’t help but laugh at his expression.
“It wasn’t a fight, it was a beating.”
“We’re goin’ to work on your self-defense skills, sugar. But first, you need to eat so we can do somethin’ about those wounds.”
“I’ve eaten enough for a small army today, and it didn’t do much.”
“And your blood was full of vamp magic before, now it’s not,” Lex pointed out in reply.
The main room of Lex’s place is a giant combination of living room, dining room and kitchen. He flipped on the TV for noise, and a twenty-four hour news channel droned on in the background. I took a seat at the kitchen table and watched as Lex cooked me an omelet and toast, which was the extent of his cooking skills. It was almost a crime that someone who
had a kitchen as nice as Lex-granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances-had zero cooking skills. Then again, it might very well become my kitchen, if Lex was serious about becoming Oberon and working out our issues.
“What made you change your mind?” I asked as he set the plate of food down in front of me.
“About what?”
“You know about what. What made you decide to be Oberon?”
“I never said I wasn’t goin’ to take it, I just wanted some time to get used to the idea.”
“Gee, it would’ve been nice to have some time to get used to the idea of trying out for Titania.” Picking up my fork, I poked at the omelet. In the back of my mind, I heard Zach’s voice assuring me that if it had been him, he would’ve accepted the position without hesitation.
“You thought I was walkin’ away from you again.” It wasn’t a question. Taking the seat next to me, he leaned back in his chair.
“Yeah, I did,” I admitted.
“You didn’t trust me. That why you let Harrison bite you?”
Frowning, I set the fork down. “We’ve been over this already. I didn’t let him do anything to me. I didn’t even know what this weird spell thing he did to me was, or how he pulled it off, but it wasn’t my idea. I didn’t agree to it.”
“I meant it when I said I’d kill him for layin’ a hand on you. Looks like I won’t be able to follow through on that one.”
“Well, it’s even worse than that, because now we’re going to have to work on keeping him alive too. If he goes, I go.”
“That won’t be easy. I’m willin’ to bet he’ll go after Laura’s council seat.”
“Great… Did you know about the government going after magicians?” I asked, changing the subject.
Lex looked surprised. “He told you about that?”
“He took me to a place, kinda like a safe house, where I helped heal this shapeshifter who looked like a prisoner of war. Poor kid must’ve been sixteen years old.”
Lex rubbed his eyes wearily. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“Harrison wants me to help him overthrow the government and take over the world. Like a Bond villain, without an accent or a white Persian cat.” I snorted. Pushing around the food on my plate, I paused and forced myself to continue eating.
“You think that’s a good idea?”
“Oh sure, I’m gonna get a leather jumpsuit and change my name to Kitty Galore. What do you think?”
“That you’d look good in that jumpsuit,” he replied, and I rolled my eyes at him. “Seriously, though, you know he’s goin’ about it the wrong way.”
“Yeah. What are we going to do about it, though?”
“I’m not allowed to go after straights, Cat.”
“Lex the Guardian can’t. Oberon, on the other hand… I just feel like if I’m going to do this, I want to make a difference.”
Lex eyed me silently, and I went back to pushing food around on my plate, and then he nodded slowly. “I guess you’re right. C’mon, you’re doin’ more playin’ than eating, so let’s get you cleaned up.”
Unwilling to leave me alone in case I had another seizure-like episode, Lex perched on the bathroom counter as I showered, ready to leap to my rescue if I looked wobbly. It took a ridiculously long time to scrape off the makeup and undo my hairstyle. When Lex got a real look at my bruises he cursed about three minutes straight in French, which was quite impressive.
I didn’t have any clothes at his place so he gave me a T-shirt to wear as a makeshift nightgown. Despite the fact I was battered, bruised and in borrowed clothes, I felt better than I had in a long time. Lex drew me close to him the moment I slid into bed, and he kissed me.
“I love you, Cat,” he murmured.
“I love you too. Go to sleep.”
I didn’t have a single nightmare.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The need for coffee awoke me from my blissful slumber, and Lex mumbled something vaguely coherent at me as I slipped out of his arms. It was early, especially considering how late we’d gotten to sleep after our daring escape from Harrison tower, so I drew the covers up around him and told him to go back to sleep. Lex nodded, mumbling again, but this time I was able to decipher that he wanted me to take the dogs with me if I went anywhere outside.
I didn’t plan on wandering around the property, considering my current ensemble was distinctly lacking in pants, but as the coffee brewed the idea began to sound more and more appealing. The morning was cool and clear, not a single cloud left in the sky after last night’s rain. With mug of coffee in hand, I headed out into the yard. The nearest neighbors were far enough away that I didn’t need to worry about being seen wearing only my borrowed T-shirt. The dogs ran past me once I opened the back door, and then they trotted around, sniffing and inspecting their territory to make sure nothing had changed in their absence.
Blades of wet grass stuck to my bare feet as I made my way down to the river. Everything was quiet at this early hour. The river was calm and placid, its surface smooth as it eased by. Later on in the day the water would be stirred up by boats, and choppy waves would lap against the concrete seawall that lined the bank. Weathered wooden planks made up the pier, and Lex’s boat rested in its station next to it. I glanced over the speedboat as I cautiously made my way to the end of the pier. The craft was long and sleek as I remembered, but I spotted a new detail when I reached its stern: flowing script spelled out “Catherine.” Huh. I couldn’t wait to hear the story behind that one.
When I reached the edge, I sat down and let my legs dangle over the water. Though the recent rain had swelled the river’s water level, my legs were still too short to reach the surface. The German shepherd, Bubba, lay down next to me and plopped his head in my lap. I scratched behind his ears. Though I’m a cat person, I like dogs too. Cesár took a spot behind me and began gnawing on a large stick that must’ve blown down during the storm last night.
I sipped my coffee, enjoying the morning quiet. I had a suspicion that there weren’t going to be many more quiet mornings in the near future. Faint and distant, Harrison’s magic tugged at me, a light itch in the back of my mind. I didn’t know what this connection was between us, but I knew it was going to be a problem.
The sudden thumping of dog tails and a slight shaking of the pier alerted me to Lex’s approach, and I turned around to look at him. Shirtless and shoeless, he wore only an ancient pair of blue jeans that were so worn and full of holes that sheer willpower was probably the only thing holding them together. He carried his own cup of coffee, and when he arrived at the end of the pier he nudged Bubba with his foot.
“You’re in my spot, Bubba,” he informed the shepherd. Giving me a parting slobbery kiss, the dog got to his feet and trotted away. Grimacing, I wiped drool from the side of my face as Lex sat down. “Here, let me take a look at that bruise of yours.”
“It looks better.” Turning my face toward him, I let him run his fingers over the faded bruise. The combination of food and a good night’s sleep had let my magic heal a good deal of it. By tomorrow there wouldn’t be any left of it at all.
“We’re goin’ to work on your hand-to-hand combat skills next.”
“What hand-to-hand combat skills?” I smiled dryly.
“Exactly.” He put his arm around me and then began drinking his coffee. I leaned against him, and we sat in comfortable silence.
Lex brushed a kiss across the top of my head. “You ready for the ceremony tonight? I talked to Portia, she said the council wouldn’t grab us ’til after nightfall, so we have the day to prepare.”
“I’m ready. Are you?”
“Definitely.” He nodded.
“You’re not… I mean, you’re okay with this? No regrets?”
“No regrets. I love you, Cat. Bein’ Oberon is goin’ to take some getting used to, but I think you and I are meant to do this. Together.”
“Good. Well, then there’s only one thing left to worry about.”
“Yeah? W
hat’s that?”
“How are we going to convince our pets to live together?”
Lex threw his head back and laughed. “We’ll think of something.”
When the time came for the ceremony I fully expected to appear back in the great hall of the Underhill clan, but much to my surprise Lex and I were popped into a forest. The night air was a bit warm, and the scents of rich earth mixed with the smell of smoke from a nearby fire. Flickering light filtered through the trees in front of us, and faint music floated on the breeze.
“Nice change of scenery,” Lex commented. Taking my hand in his, he gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s see what kind of party the council’s throwin’ us.”
“Don’t try to kill the hosts of this one.”
Lex grinned in reply, and we started toward the light. We emerged from the dense wood into a grove-a suspiciously familiar grove, in fact. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve sworn it was the same grove that we’d been in during the dreams we’d shared during my time in the tower. That was impossible, however, considering the wards around the building would have prevented me from drifting into Faerie.
Unlike the dreams, the grove was filled with people. A bonfire burned in the center, and the three council members stood in front of it, waiting for us. Off to our right, Portia and a group of my cousins were gathered, white and shining in the moonlight. To our left were five human women, one of whom I recognized instantly as Lex’s sister Marie-the pink hair gave her away-and the rest had to be Lex’s mother and his other three sisters.
Lord and Lady. I really hoped they weren’t here to kill me for de-guardianifying Lex. I’d probably want to slay me if I were them-here I was taking the only man in their family and destroying his opportunity for carrying on the family tradition. Nervous, I nearly tripped over my feet, and Lex glanced at me, looking concerned.
“You still hurtin’?”
“Yeah,” I grudgingly admitted. “Though that’s not the problem. Did you call them?”
“Who?”
“Your family.”
“Nope. Don’t worry, they’ll love you,” he assured me. Before I could panic any further, we reached the waiting council. Cecelia of the Silver Crescent gave us both a long, measuring gaze, and then she did something I never thought I’d see: she smiled.
