by Jayne Faith
The horde took us around a corner and then veered sharply to the left into an open garage door.
Zarella stood there, right next to—
“Lynnette?” I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
The zombies lined up against the wall as the garage door lowered.
She kept flicking glances at Zarella, and she was fiddling with her keys. She seemed thoroughly creeped out by him.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her.
“No time for that,” Zarella cut in. “You all need to get out of here. As soon as you’re off the grounds, you can call on the help of the authorities if you need to. Here, you’re completely at Gregori’s mercy.”
He was gesturing urgently at a high-end SUV parked behind him. It was Lynnette’s car.
I shook my head, trying to get the pieces to fit as I helped Evan into the back seat. Lynnette jumped in and started the engine, and I slid into the front passenger seat just as another door, this one at the back, began to rise.
Zarella nodded at us and then stepped off to the side. Lynnette threw the SUV into reverse and squealed out of the garage.
Chapter 26
LYNNETTE SEEMED TO know exactly where to go, and we managed to exit the grounds without anyone trying to stop us.
My pulse was still racing.
Once we were out on the highway, I turned to her. “How . . .?”
“Deb got in touch with me when she couldn’t reach you.” She was gripping the wheel tightly with both hands and driving about twice the speed limit. “She’d talked to that detective guy, and he told her you’d said Jacob took your brother. She asked me to help. I wasn’t sure what I’d find, so I wouldn’t let her come.”
“And Zarella?” I asked.
“When I got here, they wouldn’t let me through the gate, and they wouldn’t tell me anything. I drove around the property trying to find a different way in. That’s when a zombie opened one of the gates for me. Did you know Phillip Zarella was still alive?” She writhed a little in a full-body cringe.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I found out recently.”
I couldn’t help staring at her.
She glanced at me. “What?”
“I just can’t believe you did this,” I said.
She frowned as if my statement made no sense. “We may have our differences, but we’re still coven sisters, Ella.”
I pulled a sour face. Right. Coven sisters.
I checked behind us to make sure we weren’t being pursued. Then I remembered the mages. Zarella wasn’t quite right about us being safe once off Gregori property.
“Shit, we can’t go back home,” I said. “There are, uh, people looking for my brother.”
“Come to my place,” she said without hesitation.
“I’m Evan, by the way,” my brother said from the back seat.
I glanced back at him. He was hunched over as if it were too much effort to hold his spine straight.
“Oh yeah, sorry,” I said. “Evan, this is Lynnette, the, uh, leader of the coven Deb and I are in.”
He snickered hoarsely. “You’re in a coven, El?”
“Not by choice,” I muttered. But I couldn’t help a little spark of happiness at his comment. It was one of the few even remotely personal things he’d said since I’d found him in the vampire feeder den.
“How’d you get away from the dragon?” I asked Lynnette.
Her mouth twisted. “I had to make a sacrifice.”
I looked at her in horror. “You what?”
“Not a blood sacrifice,” she said hastily. “I had to give up one of my abilities. He let me choose. I’m . . . no longer an exorcist.”
My brows rose, and I watched her face in profile. I wasn’t sure if she looked more on the verge of vomiting or crying. Wow. She’d lost one of her most coveted abilities. If she hadn’t been so scheming and unscrupulous up to this point, I might have felt some sympathy. But she’d made that bed.
“Bummer,” I said to her, but I didn’t have the energy or the desire to talk about Lynnette’s problems. I had plenty of my own. “You need to know the dangers of taking us in.”
I explained about Jacob and the mages, staying vague about why they all wanted my brother so badly. And I didn’t go into the whole backstory about how my brother and I might have been living experiments.
Lynnette wasn’t as surprised as I would have expected, but then she’d probably seen a lot of strange shit.
“We’ll shore up the wards,” was all she said.
We rode in silence for a couple of minutes.
“You need some major healing. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you you’re in bad shape,” she said to me quietly. “And he needs to be in detox.”
I nodded. “That obvious, huh?”
I pulled out my phone, forgetting the battery had gone dead. I swore under my breath.
“Call Deb,” Lynnette said, handing me her phone as if she’d read my mind.
I scrolled to the Ds in her contacts and paused. Damien’s name was in there, too. I paused. He and Lynnette knew each other through me, of course, but I wouldn’t have expected that they’d exchanged phone numbers.
I nearly teared up a little when I heard Deb’s voice. I quickly summarized the last few hours for her. When I got to the part about the mages, I stayed purposely vague and said I’d explain it all later. She promised to meet us at Lynnette’s.
“Your magic has increased,” Lynnette said to me after I ended the call.
“Yeah,” I said, guarded.
“You used to be a barely-Level-I. Now you’re a high Level I,” she pressed.
I pushed stray strands of hair behind my ears.
“Things have been different since I got my magic back,” I lied. “I guess between the reaper, the ability to access power from the in-between, and the spells that gave me my abilities back, something just got knocked loose. I’ve barely had a chance to even think about it. Pretty fricking crazy, isn’t it?”
She slipped a glance at me, and I could tell she wasn’t buying it. I also saw the gleam in her eye, the one that always made my stomach tighten. It was that hunger that constantly seemed to lurk just below the surface of her carefully fashioned goth-chic appearance. That ever-present yearning for power.
“It’s beyond crazy,” she said. “It’s unheard of. You’re a miracle of the supernatural world.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “I wouldn’t know how to repeat it, and I don’t want to become news. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
I watched as the tip of her tongue slipped out to moisten her lips.
“I won’t say anything to outsiders, of course,” she assured me. “The others in the coven will notice, but—”
“Coven sisters wouldn’t betray me,” I supplied. “Right?”
“Exactly.”
We’d arrived at Lynnette’s, and she drove around into the alley so she could pull into the garage.
I looked over my shoulder at my brother, who appeared to be asleep with his head propped against the window.
“Hey, Evan,” I said. “We’re here.”
We quickly helped him inside and got him settled in one of Lynnette’s guest rooms. I made him drink some water, and when I went to set the glass on the nightstand, he clutched my wrist.
“They gave me something in there,” he said, his voice tremoring a little. “But I can feel it starting to wear off. I’m going to need a fix. Soon.”
There was a faint sheen of sweat on his face and neck, and one eye was twitching a little. My chest clenched. I’d known this was coming, but still, it hurt. He was heavily addicted to the euphoria-inducing chemical in vampire saliva. When he came off whatever the doctors at Gregori had pumped into him, he would turn into a violent, feral version of himself. Without another fix, he’d eventually go into fatal cardiac arrest.
“I’ll get something for you,” I said. I wasn’t sure how or where, but I’d figure it out.
He leaned back, his h
ead sinking against the pillow, and closed his eyes. I let out a slow breath, relieved to see him peaceful for a moment at least.
As I walked down the hallway back to the main living area, I heard Lynnette talking in a low voice on her phone. When she saw me, she said another word or two and then hung up.
“He’s going to need a fix,” I said. “Any chance you know someone who could help?”
I wasn’t plugged into the drug scene, and I was afraid it would take me too long to chase down a connection.
“I’ve called a couple of healers,” she said, all business. “One is Gina, who you know. Another has some experience with your brother’s issues.”
My shoulders sagged in relief. “Thank you.”
She fiddled with her phone for a second. “I’ve been meaning to say something about what happened with the oracle.”
I tried to keep my face composed. Was Lynnette Leblanc really going to apologize?
“I didn’t remember that the skull ring was charmed,” she said. “Honestly, it was an old spell that had almost completely worn off, and I didn’t even think about it when I gave you the ring.”
I narrowed my eyes. I wanted to believe her, but I didn’t. Regardless, she’d saved my ass, and Evan’s too. Not to mention that the dragon had already dished out a pretty stiff punishment. I was willing to let it slide.
“No worries,” I said. “You’re making up for it now. Let’s call it even.”
She gave me a smile. The doorbell rang, and I think both of us were relieved for the interruption. It was Deb. A few minutes later the healers arrived.
I’d been on guard since we’d reached Lynnette’s, expecting Jacob’s men or the Steins to come crashing through the door at any moment. But it had been nearly an hour since we’d made our getaway. Maybe Damien was doing something to help hold them off. I’d left my phone on Lynnette’s charger, and I was tempted to go get it and send him a text. But if he was posing as an ally to the mages, I needed to let him keep his cover.
Gina had me recline on one of Lynnette’s leather sofas. Before I let her begin, I reached out with my necro senses for minor demons. Finding one hanging out in a nearby attic, I took control of its mind and positioned it at the top of a power pole with a clear view of all approaches to Lynnette’s house. I would have commanded more if I thought I could keep the links during the healing, but I knew I’d have to devote a good portion of my attention and energy to Gina’s work.
“Don’t take me too deep,” I said. “I need to stay vigilant.”
Her brow creased. “You’ve got the start of permanent damage, Ella. You need a long course of deep-healing sessions, beginning with a few days of inpatient treatment, ideally.”
I waved a hand. “I know it’s bad, but I can’t afford that right now.” If she only knew just how many ways I couldn’t afford it.
She pursed her lips with disapproval but didn’t press me.
I drifted a bit, allowing my body to relax while I kept my mind focused on the demon lookout.
After a while, I felt Gina starting to withdraw her magic, signaling that the healing was almost finished. At the same time, my demon minion stirred. At first I thought it was in response to the healing that caused some sort of change in my hold on its mind, but it became steadily more agitated.
I bolted upright, looking through the demon’s eyes. I felt it coming a split second before it happened. Just as I retracted my connection, the creatures mind imploded. Before I lost the demon, I’d seen a flash in the sky like sheet lightning, but it was too pure white to be a storm. Magic crackled through my supernatural senses.
I rose to my feet and then reeled so hard I had to grab the edge of the sofa to keep from falling over.
“Lynnette, help me!”
She appeared in the kitchen doorway, her eyes round. “What was that?”
“Mage magic!”
I whirled around, sprinted unsteadily for Evan’s room, and burst through the door. Lynnette and Deb were right on my heels. I reached for the light switch but didn’t need to flip it on because the pure white glow of mage magic filled the room.
There were two people standing at the foot of the bed. One of them was my brother. The other was Damien, who was also the source of the light. My heart lifted at first, but something was wrong. The way Damien clutched at Evan’s waist and arm was anything but friendly. And the blank look on Damien’s face made my blood run cold.
Both of them seemed to pale, as if a black and white filter had suddenly dropped between me and them. Then the lines defining them began to smudge.
“No!” I cried, lunging for Evan.
My fingertips clutched the terrycloth sleeve of his robe, but before I could pull him to me, the fabric dissolved to nothing in my hand.
And then they were gone.
Chapter 27
SHAKING WITH FEAR and anger, I faded to the in-between.
Damien had used mage power to teleport himself and Evan. Up to then, I’d thought mages could only project images of themselves, not physically teleport their bodies. It was probably one of those abilities that was supposed to be kept secret from non-mages.
Well, two could play at the magical teleporting game.
If I could catch up with him, I might have a chance. That trick he’d pulled should have left him magically drained for a while.
In the realm of mist, I grabbed the glass of water on the nightstand and dipped a ghostly finger in it. I pictured the living room of Damien’s loft and touched the water again.
When I returned to the living realm, I was standing next to Damien’s kitchen island. I went into a defensive stance and whipped around, not sure of who or what I’d find there. But the place was empty.
I didn’t have to check the other rooms. It looked like Damien hadn’t been here in a while. The items we’d set on the floor around the sofa when he’d raised my magical aptitude were still there.
Turning again, slowly this time, betrayal stabbed through my fear. I’d thought he was on my side, but he’d helped me free my brother only to steal Evan himself.
“Damn it, Damien!” My voice cracked as my anger echoed briefly through the spacious, modern apartment.
As I stood there while my temples were pulsing a hard, outraged rhythm, my fists clenched and shaking at my sides, I wished he would appear right now. If he did, I swore I’d kill him or die trying.
How could he do this?
I wanted to keep searching, but I had no idea where else Damien would go. He could be anywhere, and it struck me that even before his transition to mage I hadn’t really known him that well at all. I hadn’t realized it at the time because Damien had always helped me. He’d always been right there, ready and willing. I’d just kept overlooking his true obsession, or assuming nothing bad would come of it.
I should have seen there was more behind his actions. He’d literally told me that the only thing he wanted in life was to not be the black sheep of the Stein family. Tagging along with me on my little adventures had been at best an amusement for him. At worst, maybe something more sinister.
But now I knew for sure—he didn’t really care about anything else.
I looked out the huge windows at the twilight sky, searching it as if I’d find answers on the horizon.
Since he had what he’d always longed for, what was he going to do with my brother? What was Damien’s new obsession? Did he still have something to prove to his family?
I went to the bowl of water on the floor, the one we’d placed at the traditional west position for that element, and used it to go back to Lynnette’s.
I walked down the dark hallway and found Lynnette and Deb both on their phones. The healers were gone. Deb stiffened in surprise when she saw me, and she quickly ended her call.
I sat on the sofa and dropped my face into my hands. “I went to Damien’s. They weren’t there.”
When I looked up, I saw Deb and Lynnette both staring at me with wide eyes. Lynnette licked her lips, and I could see s
he was dying with curiosity about the disappearing act I’d just pulled. Deb made a little gesture with her hand, and a slight frown passed over Lynnette’s face. She pressed her lips together, as if holding back the questions that wanted to spill out.
I pressed my fingers over my closed eyelids, wishing I could rewind time. Wishing I could have grabbed Evan before he disappeared with Damien.
The cushion shifted as Deb sat next to me. She placed her hand on my back and moved it in small circles, trying to soothe away pain that had no cure.
“I just spoke to Chris and told him that Damien abducted Evan,” she said. “He’s going to use his channels to try to help.”
I looked up. “Chris?”
“Lagatuda,” she said with a wry twitch of one corner of her mouth.
I sighed heavily. “Thanks.”
She moved again, and I could tell she had about a million questions on the tip of her tongue. She was trying to be sensitive to my feelings, but she’d probably just witnessed about half a dozen things she didn’t understand.
“Go ahead, fire,” I said.
“Damien is a mage? What the . . . ? And how in the world did you just disappear and then come back?”
Lynnette joined us, staring at me with open curiosity and waiting for me to respond.
I stood up and began pacing. “Yes, Damien is now a mage. He made a deal with the devil, but I don’t know any more than that. As for my disappearing act, well, that’s a reaper trick and what happens in the in-between stays in the in-between.”
No one laughed at my weak-ass joke. Lynnette looked like a cat who’d just found a bird with a broken wing.
“Don’t get any ideas,” I said to her. “It’s something only reapers can do.”
“I’m just interested, that’s all,” she said, smoothing her expression.
Right. If there was a way she could siphon away my necro abilities, connection with in-between magic, and reaper tricks, she’d do it in a heartbeat.
