Midnight's Jewel (Siren Publishing Classic)

by J. Annas Walker

“Do you know what Midnight’s Jewel is?” He slid closer to the edge of his seat and propped his elbows on his knees. It seemed like an effort to keep the conversation going. Her caution shifted to warning. No one asked about Midnight’s Jewel unless they wanted it. Brandon had asked as she was going to sleep, but he…

  The puzzle pieces started coming together. Brandon worked for Hadrian. Hadrian wanted the jewel or information about the jewel. They had waited until Eleanor was long gone before questioning her about it. A sick feeling started building in the pit of her stomach. Had Brandon used her? Her breathing became panting and anxiety flooded her system. She looked at him in disbelief. He loved her. She just knew it. He loved her back. He said so. How could he love her, fuck her, protect her, and still betray her?

  “Please, Sabrina. Don’t look at me that way. I swear I didn’t use you. Everything that has happened between us, everything we feel, has been real. I only asked about the necklace because I had to do my job,” he explained. It almost sounded like pleading.

  “You fucked her!” Clay shouted. Eleanor stood in the entryway dragging an unconscious Farrell by the collar. Behind them stood a very battered Camilla gnashing her teeth at Sabrina and growling like a wolf.

  Chapter 11

  Sabrina did not know what to feel first. Clay’s face flushed with anger, hurt, and embarrassment. She knew he would be unhappy with his reaction. He was usually so reserved and rarely had such outbursts.

  Camilla was twitching with rage. There was real intent behind the growl. Eleanor gave Camilla a hand gesture that meant “calm down.” The wolf settled back uneasily. Sabrina remembered Eleanor’s power over wolves and knew she would not be attacked by an enraged werewolf. While Sabrina did not know the extent of Camilla’s relationship with Brandon, she suspected they had been lovers in the past. Or did he have the title of Cheater to add to his resume? It was bad enough to think he may have taken advantage of her inexperience but to have done so and cheated was beyond anything Sabrina could tolerate.

  Eleanor’s expressionless face drew most of Sabrina’s attention. Eleanor looked more like a cobra, cool and calculating, waiting for the right moment to strike. The entire left side of her body from the waist down was coated in dried blood. Sabrina was sure little to none of it was Eleanor’s. She stalked into the room, dragging poor Farrell. Her eyes never left Hadrian’s. She swung him forward and deposited him at Brandon’s feet.

  “This one attempted to stop my entry,” she said, turning her cold stare to Brandon. “He will exist. The damage is not permanent.”

  “I take it you have finished routing your attackers,” Hadrian interjected. Sabrina could tell he wanted to deflect Eleanor’s attentions back to himself.

  It did not work. She continued to glower at Brandon. “I think so. I came to check on Sabrina before sweeping the area one last time,” she responded. She turned slowly toward Sabrina, her eyes the last to move. “I felt a shift. What has happened?”

  Icy cold slid down into the pit of Sabrina’s stomach. A whisper ran through her mind reminding her she was a free woman. She pulled herself up as straight as she could and tried to return Eleanor’s stare. Her own anger bubbled just below the surface.

  “The spell that curtailed my powers broke. You’ve been hiding a lot from me. What am I, Eleanor? I know you know,” Sabrina demanded. Part of her wanted to rage. Part of her wanted to flee. Logic took over. She needed the information Eleanor had. Deep down, she knew her survival depended on it.

  “You are the daughter of my sister. You are an orphan. You are in my care. Your powers need to be controlled.” The standard mantra spilled out automatically.

  “Which sister?” Sabrina almost made it an accusation. After the two earlier incidents, she was sure of the answer. Making Eleanor admit it out loud seemed necessary. No one else spoke. No one dared to move. They melted away into the distance of Sabrina’s immediate surroundings.

  “Aradia,” she hissed through gritting teeth. She had started to shake slightly. The years of pent-up emotions were visibly harder to control.

  “And what happened to her?” Sabrina asked in a furious whisper.

  “She was punished for dereliction of duty and for her dalliances with your father.” A hard smirk replaced her expressionless calm. There was a sense of justice behind it.

  “Is she alive?” The possibility brought a thread of hope. Her mother could have been out there somewhere just waiting for her.

  “Yes and no.”

  “So, which is it? Yes or no?”

  “It’s hard to kill a goddess. So, yes she is still alive, in her own way,” Eleanor replied with relish.

  “Can she be brought back?” The pendant hummed against her chest. Dark rainbows began swirling all over Eleanor’s body and face. The answer did not come from the redheaded warrior standing in front of her. It came from her side.

  “Only, your grandmother, the goddess Diana can bring her out of exile.” Hadrian’s gruff voice shook. It brought Sabrina up short. She gaped at the vampire. He glared at Eleanor with a deep-seated scowl.

  “Oh, shit,” Brandon whispered. He sidled up to Sabrina, discreetly taking her hand. He gave a little tug to pull her out of the way. She allowed him to remove her.

  “How could you, Eleanor? She was the love of my life, my death. I gave up everything for her. You took her from me and didn’t even tell me about Sabrina! When I walked in here this evening, I expected to find some experimental hybrid. Instead, I found her. By the gods, I thought she was Aradia. You can’t tell me you didn’t know.” Tension hung in the air.

  “I knew. My sister broke every law. She had a duty to perform and forsook it. Because of you, she turned to Lilith. Because of you, she willed a child into existence, crossing the magical lineages. We all swore never to do it again. But not her! Oh, no! Not my precious sister! Hell, no. Being the last-born full-blooded goddess made her special. She could do whatever she wanted! Our mother was devastated. What was she supposed to do? Let Aradia’s disloyalty be an example to the others?” she ranted. It was the first time Sabrina had ever seen Eleanor explode. The wild look in Eleanor’s eyes mirrored the rage on her face.

  “Didn’t I deserve to know I had a daughter? Or was that my punishment?” Hadrian fumed. “I would have taken her. I would have given her the world!”

  “And what would you have done about her magic? She isn’t like anything we’ve ever seen. It took centuries of slowing her growth to stop her from destroying us all. Siphoning her power was the only way. You couldn’t have done the job. Mother left her in my care. So, I had to clean up Aradia’s mess, again,” she spat.

  Sabrina’s head spun with the onslaught of information. She tuned out their argument. Her mother and father were here the entire time. She was no orphan. Hadrian had had no idea she existed. He could not be blamed for not being there for her. Eleanor had always shown kindness, but there was a sense of honor-bound duty to it. Her mother may have wanted to keep her. There was no way of knowing. Was there an unknown connection between them? Was that why she loved to watch the night sky so much?

  If she could have, Sabrina would have bolted for the door. A glance told her Clay and Camilla were blocking the way. She had to get out, to get some breathing room. This was too much, too much anger, too much hostility, too much of everything. A jolt of electricity trickled to her fingers. “Ouch, damn it!” Brandon jerked his hand back. He reached for her but was shocked before making contact.

  She made for the door. Camilla stepped in front of her, forcing her to go around. “Bitch, that’s my man you’re fucking,” she rumbled. “He’s mine! You hear me? Mine.”

  The words rolled off. Sabrina was so numb, nothing else fazed her. She tilted her head to one side and made a flicking motion. Camilla flew backward into Clay and took him down with her. Sabrina was sorry Clay broke the werewolf’s fall, but it did clear the doorway. Stepping over the struggling pair, she was vaguely aware someone behind her was calling her name.

  She hit
the elevator button. The doors remained shut. She was going to have to wait for the car to return. Footfalls behind her were getting closer. Squeezing her eyes tight, she thought of the parking deck. Again, the floor fell away and the world spun. This time she had the feeling she was in control and would end up where she wanted.

  When the spinning stopped, she took a deep breath. The smell of dripped motor oil, tire rubber, and gasoline vapors filled the air. Road noises from the street outside were the only sounds. It had worked. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim orange lights.

  * * * *

  Brandon stared at the vacant spot where Sabrina once stood. She had not so much vanished as faded into nothingness. The elevator doors opened to an empty car. He knew she could be anywhere. Her disappearance did accomplish one thing. Hadrian and Eleanor’s argument ended abruptly.

  “Oh, damn! When did she learn that trick?” Eleanor was more put out than surprised. She put one hand on her hip and stared after Sabrina.

  “Last night,” Brandon chimed in. “She claimed it was the first time she had gone anywhere while awake.”

  Eleanor honed in on him with precision. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled his face in close to hers. Her eyebrows were so furrowed, they nearly touched. He made it a point not to flinch.

  “Where did she go?”

  Brandon told her about the stone balcony, about seeing the Pegasus, and about the old woman screaming. He left out the part about their having had sex but did include Sabrina leaving his bed behind.

  “She said she had been going to that place since she was a little girl but had always thought of it as a dream,” he finished. She turned loose of his shirt.

  “All these years and she never mentioned it. I should have known. Astral travel doesn’t require much power. You say she took you and left your bed?” Her face had smoothed back into the calm Eleanor he had always seen.

  “Yes. Whatever she was touching went with her. This morning was different. She was asleep but dreaming of a throne room full of light. A man she called Lucifer beheaded someone and threw his sword at her when she was found. She said I woke her up before the sword reached her,” Brandon added.

  “Did she have the necklace on?”

  “No. It was on the nightstand,” he said.

  Eleanor shook her head. “That was no dream, you fool. She was projecting her spirit mind. Without the necklace to deflect negativity, she was drawn to the Hall of Eternal Light by Lucifer. He must have been thinking of her. Now he knows her guard is down. We have to find her before he does.” Eleanor sighed. She turned to Clay, who was still sitting on the floor looking dejected. “Get up, boy. There is still work to do.”

  Clay turned his morose face up to her and shook his head. “Why? She turned me down over and over. Why? I love her. I’ve always loved her and she gave herself to him. She doesn’t even know him,” he moped.

  “Because, Clay, we can go out day or night. Like it or not, you are her backup protection. You took the job decades ago knowing it might be this way. Now, get up!” She reached down, grabbed him by one arm, and lifted him to his feet in one easy pull. “That reminds me,” she added. She extended her right hand into empty air and whispered something in a language Brandon had never heard. A gladius materialized. She spun and struck with a surprising amount of speed.

  Brandon barely saw her move, she was so fast. He felt a burning pain pierce his abdomen. A woman screamed from the doorway. He could only assume it was Camilla. Hadrian shouted something indistinguishable. Blood oozed from his mouth, cool and thick. He hit his head on the coffee table as he crumpled to the floor. He could see Eleanor standing over him with a satisfied smile.

  Hadrian knelt beside him with a towel and applied pressure to his head and stomach. He looked up at Eleanor. “You didn’t have to do that. I would have punished him myself,” he complained, scowling at her.

  “No, I didn’t. I could have taken his head.” There was a moment’s pause. “Or yours, for that matter. You vouched for him. I said she was to be in same condition when I came back as left her. Deflowered and free of the protective spells is not returning her in the same condition, now is it?” She strode back to the door. “Move it, Clay. I don’t have time to screw around.” She sniffed the air. “Her magic smells just like her mother’s.” She gripped Clay’s wrist and faded into the same nothingness as Sabrina.

  A clambering noise announced the arrival of Camilla. He tried to sit up. The hole in his gut was healing but slowly. She leaned over him, fury darkening her sharp features. She reared back her hand and slapped him hard enough to draw blood on his cheek.

  “How could you fuck that filthy half-breed? How could you do that to me?” She choked out the words, as if they were stuck in her throat.

  Brandon managed to pull himself up onto one elbow and then to a sitting position. He held his abdomen. The skin knitted together under his hand. He spat out what was left of the blood in his mouth and rubbed his scratched cheek with his shirt sleeve. The shirt was ruined anyway. Why bother using a napkin?

  “I told you when you came here, you crazy bitch, there is no us. There never will be an us. No pack will have your obsessive, possessive ass. That’s why you’re here. Nobody else would take you after your last pack kicked you out,” Brandon quipped.

  “Oh, so I’m the poor little werewolf without a home. Is that it? You took me in out of pity? Well, fuck you! I don’t need your pity! I wish I could be free of you but I can’t. I love you.” Tears streaked down her face. “I nearly died out there. Those fuckers tried to kill me, and Eleanor used me and the fairy as bait. All to save some pain-in-the-ass bitch. I hope she was worth it!” Camilla ran from the room crying.

  A hand was extended to him, and he took it. Pulling himself up into a slightly hunched standing position, Hadrian gave a small chuckle. “Well, my boy, you certainly have a way with the ladies. One vanishes, one stabs you, and the other runs away in tears. You may want to work on that.”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t had a go at me, too. I didn’t know she was your daughter,” Brandon offered apologetically.

  “Neither did I, or you would have never gotten near her,” Hadrian admitted. He shook his head and sat down, putting his hands over his face and rubbing them up through his hair.

  Scarlett slinked from the kitchen with a glass of fresh, whole blood. She offered it to Brandon. Turning to Hadrian, she waited for an order. He waved her off. Instead of returning to the kitchen, she began cleaning up the disarrayed room.

  “Aren’t you going after her? Sabrina, I mean?” Brandon was confused by Hadrian’s lack of action. His daughter was distraught and on the run in a large, unfamiliar city at night.

  “And track her how? Eleanor will be able to get her back before we will. Daylight is in a few short hours. We would be out of the running before we ever got started,” he said. It was the first time Brandon had ever heard the ruthless man admit to a weakness.

  A deep inhale and a groan came from the corner. Farrell was coming around. “You can’t go in just yet,” he mumbled. He rolled his head and blinked several times, as if the room was not yet in focus. “Is she still here?”

  “No. She left. You’re lucky she just knocked you out. From the looks of her clothes, Eleanor has been dispatching her enemies the old-fashioned way, by slitting their throats,” Brandon said.

  “If you don’t mind, I think I’ve had enough excitement for one night. I’m going home, if you don’t need anything else, sir.” Farrell stood, brushing himself off.

  “I know what you mean. Sure, take off,” Brandon dismissed. As the slight man moved toward the door, Brandon spoke up once more. “And, Farrell, I appreciate your effort to stop Eleanor. It was foolish, but brave.”

  The little man lit up with pride and gave him a thumbs-up sign. “Thanks, and good day, sir.” He disappeared in a streak of color down the hall, swinging the door shut behind him.

  Brandon dragged himself to his room and fell into a fl
oor pallet Scarlett had made up.

  Chapter 12

  Sabrina stepped out onto the sidewalk closest to the parking garage. A sour tang hit her nose and tongue. The city was filled with unfamiliar smells and sounds. Winos yelled at her for money or catcalled for something more. Cars crept past, music blasting.

  She did not know where she was going. All she knew was she did not want to be in Brandon’s apartment. She needed time to think, time to decide. She wanted someone to hold her, to put their strong arms around her, and reassure her everything was going to be all right. An image swam to the surface of her thoughts. Brandon’s face eased her tension. It was his arms she craved. Thinking of him brought another memory, his earthy dark-amber scent. Her skin flashed with heat but cooled quickly.

  Camilla’s shrieks echoed from the back of her mind. Her growled response to Clay’s revelation made Sabrina question Brandon. Had he really cheated? Was seducing her really a part of his job? Did he feel nothing for her when she had given away her heart, as well her virginity? A swell of pain pushed the molten pool in her chest down. She thought she would choke on the lump forming in her throat.

  Part of her wanted to defend him. He seemed like an honorable man with a defined self-sense of right and wrong. He had been gentle when he found out he was to be her first lover. There was a genuine affection between them in their time together. Her magic had recognized him the moment their eyes meet the first night. He was the one. The warm pool tried to force the pain out of the way, but the pain pushed back.

  Betrayal, treacherous, cheater, liar. The words whispered in the wind around her, bringing with them doubt. A rolling sickness waved its way through her. She felt dizzy. For a moment, she was not sure she was still in the same place. Stumbling like an intoxicated drunkard, she found her way to a bench on the edge of an open green space.

  The pain tugged one way. An outside force tugged another. Someone was calling her with magic. Not knowing who the person might be, she resisted following the pull. Her necklace flared to life. Brilliant jewel-tone rainbows flashed around her and the dizziness stopped.