Blood Diamond (28 page)

When I told them of my intentions, they hadn’t questioned my authority, although they had been shocked at my ready defiance of my twin’s orders. Older brothers did that. I grinned, and unable to help myself, I asked, “Does that mean I can dominate you?”

She laughed. “Do I get a turn dominating you?”

“For some reason, I think I could live with that… somehow. It’ll be a burden,” I teased.

“Poor man, having to submit. I’ll make certain you survive the experience… somehow.”

“That sounds promising.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time for that right now.” Evelyn peered at the laptop’s clock. “We’ll be reaching port soon.”

I sighed, and working around Evelyn, I saved my work and shut the laptop down. “You’re right, as always. I wonder if we can just hide in here. I’m not looking forward to this.”

For the next stage of the plan to work, I would spend the next several hours pretending to be my brother, complete with carrying fake copies of his ID and passport. While there were those who knew I was still alive, it was something my twin wanted to keep under wraps until I was in Yellowknife.

“It’s only for a little while,” she soothed, sliding off of my lap to retrieve the laptop bag.

“I can’t believe you’re okay with this,” I muttered. Pretending to be cozy with my brother’s woman was one of the last things I wanted to do. Vicky seemed nice enough, but she wasn’t
my
Fenerec.

“Vicky isn’t interested in you. She’s as unhappy about things as you are. From my understanding, she came along to keep Elliot company, not his lookalike.”

“Have they dealt with their little issue?”

“Little?” Heading to the closet, Evelyn pulled out the suit tailored to match my brother’s favored style. She sighed. “Of course they haven’t. That would be the wise thing to do. Vicky’s adamant that she has a boyfriend and is just friends with your brother. She’s refusing to acknowledge the mating bond, though I doubt the poor woman would recognize it for what it was even if it grew arms and beat her over the head with a bat. She’s positively dense, Jackson. Sweet, but absolutely dense. Your twin, on the other hand, is still caught up in the Inquisition’s rules and at a complete loss over what to do about it. They’re hopeless.”

“Wonderful. And anyway, give them time to think things through. That said, I’ll ask Zachary to do some digging into Vicky’s boyfriend, then.”

“Oh?”

“If he’s not above meddling with my affairs, I certainly am not above meddling in his. The last thing I need is some angry other man coming around after my brother.” Rising from the couch, I claimed my suit from Evelyn and headed to the bedroom. The classic cut could make any man look good, but I preferred something a little more modern. Elliot wore cotton shirts, where I liked silk, which only made me keenly aware that I was trying to be someone I simply wasn’t and could never be. At least our tastes in ties overlapped.

To complete my disguise, there was even a replica of my brother’s watch, which was similar in style to the one I had broken in Oconee. Finding room for two passports, two wallets, and my twin’s cell phone proved problematic. The final touch to my outfit, at the suggestion of Dr. Cerimino, was the leather pouch containing the smaller of the two blood-red gems. It was attached to a leather cord, and I wore it beneath my shirt. I don’t know what sort of magic the witch had worked on the leather, but I couldn’t hear the whispers of the dead despite the stone’s proximity. However, I could still feel the warmth of my daughter’s ghost lingering within me.

“I feel like I need a purse to carry all of this junk,” I complained.

“You can use mine.”

“Cute, Evelyn. Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass. Your purse of choice today happens to be pink, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“I bet you’d make a pink silk shirt look sexy,” she countered.

I laughed. “I might have one or two in my closet somewhere.”

“Really?”

“Sure, I have a few gray suits that look good with the color. I might be a troglodyte male, but I have style.”

Arching a brow at me, she grabbed a dress bag from the closet. “Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. You don’t own a pink shirt.”

“Okay, fine. It’s more of a lavender. Not quite as offensive as that bright neon pink bag you’ve been toting around.”

“I’ll be taking the white purse, if you must know.”

I eyed the pink purse, wondering how much trouble I’d get into if I chucked it overboard. “The white one’s nice. That pink color should be illegal.”

“Touch the purse and you will regret it, Jackson.”

Grinning, I finished getting dressed and packed up the room while Evelyn changed. When she emerged, she was wearing the slinky white dress, which had somehow survived its dunking into the jacuzzi unscathed. She struck a pose, showing off a lot of leg and making me wish we had more time.

“There should be a law against anyone other than me getting such a nice look at those pretty legs,” I murmured.

“Hey, the dress was your idea.”

I chuckled and went to fetch the white heels that went with the gown. “With so many busy looking at you, no one is going to take a second look at me.”

“That was the entire point, dear. And give your brother credit. The shoes were all on him. Even Vicky’s wearing them. With us having three extra inches, no one should realize you’re as tall as you are.”

“I’m buying him stilts,” I grumbled. “Maybe I should take him to a medieval torture chamber and stretch a few extra inches into him. He’s stunted, obviously.”

“Be nice. Are you ready?”

I sighed and made my rounds through the stateroom. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

“Let’s go and get this over with, then. Remember, you like Vicky, not me.”

“I’ll pretend to like Vicky, while secretly lusting for my brother’s beautiful woman,” I countered.

“You’re hopeless.”

~~*~~

I didn’t know the two Inquisitors serving as my bodyguards. They were polite, greeting me with a salute. I kept quiet, answering their courtesy with a nod. The limo wasn’t parked far from the
Wave Dream
. Vicky, dressed in a beat-up trench coat and ratty jeans, beat us all to the limo and let herself in, followed by Evelyn and Richard. I ended up seated next to the Alpha Fenerec.

The two young men serving as my guards didn’t look too happy about that. One sat on my other side, and the other took the seat beside Evelyn. It was hard not to glare at the younger man. I wanted to gouge out the eyes of the men gawking at Evelyn. She was radiant, and when she smiled, I had to force myself to look elsewhere or betray my interest and affection for her.

“I’m really sorry about your brother. He was a good man,” Richard said for the benefit of the bugs likely installed throughout the limo.

“Thank you. He was,” I replied as my brother had instructed me. “I appreciate you allowing me to look through your correspondence.”

“If it helps you catch those responsible, I’m pleased to offer my records.”

I nodded. “Let’s hope we find something.”

It was a thirty-minute drive to the airport, one spent in uncomfortable silence, another detail the Inquisition expected. While Richard liked my twin and me, he treated the rest of the Inquisition with the same caution most men reserved for spiders, snakes, scorned women, and angry bears. Richard wasn’t at fault; I understood what it felt like to be in the Inquisition’s sights. Nicole was Richard’s world, and the Inquisition kept looking for reasons to get rid of her.

Like me, she had unwanted, inconvenient powers. I didn’t talk to her on the phone often, but I liked her. While she didn’t know the nature of my witchcraft, our situations weren’t too different. We had an understanding.

At the airport, Richard took the lead, guiding me to a charcoal Cessna TTx that looked brand new. It had a silver running stripe, which gave it a bit of charm without taking away from its elegance. The four-seater waited with its engine running. While Richard spent a few minutes doing a walk around the plane and speaking to the ground crew, I leaned against the body. The two Inquisitors helped the ladies board, which involved a stepladder and walking on the wing to access the doors.

Since my brother wasn’t a pilot, I feigned disinterest as I waited.

“Everything looks in order,” Richard said before climbing in. I followed his example, taking the co-pilot’s seat. At least my brother had assured me he’d flown in enough planes to know how to buckle the three-point harness. The ground crew closed the doors, thumping the side of the plane to signal the all clear. I put on my headset and tuned it to the airport’s channel, listening to the chatter as I did my own review of the instrumentation. While it was tempting to poke around on the touch-screen navigation system, I shoved my hands in my pockets so I wouldn’t betray my knowledge or curiosity.

Within ten minutes, we were in the air. Richard tapped my headset to catch my attention. I switched to the plane’s private communication system.

“We’ll be refueling in Shawinigan before crossing into Ontario,” he said, tapping to a zoomed out map, gesturing to the town. “This bird has long range for a single engine. You’re qualified for night flying, right?”

“Unfortunately. It’s not my favorite thing in the world,” I confessed.

“Too bad. You’re taking over in Ontario when we refuel the second time.”

I laughed. “What did I do to deserve that?”

“Hey, I’m being nice. I’m the one flying over lake country. You get the plains. I’ll take over again after two refuels.”

“Sounds good. You ladies good back there?” I asked, twisting around. Evelyn was seated behind Richard, and she grinned at me.

“All good,” Vicky reported.

“It’s like a roller coaster but better,” Evelyn said, pointing at the window. “A really tall coaster, at that.”

“It’s better during the day,” I replied, smiling at her awed tone. “If Richard doesn’t mind, I’ll take you up sometime after we’re settled in Yellowknife.”

“I don’t mind. I have a helicopter you can use if you’d prefer that. That’ll let you land for a stretch. If you really want to explore, though, we have a bunch of ATVs you could use. If you want to go camping somewhere quiet and out of the way, I recommend taking the helicopter. Just don’t tell Nicole or Amber. They’ll want to go,” Richard replied before bursting out into laughter. “If you’re not careful, you’ll end up with an entire pack of chaperons.”

I scowled at the thought of being one of two witches surrounded by a pack of Fenerec out in the middle of the woods. I had no idea how unmated Fenerec males would behave—or if they’d try to get rid of me for a chance to be with Evelyn. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Once I could pull him aside in private, I’d have to ask Richard about that. Evelyn was mine, and I wasn’t going to let anyone try to take her from me.

“Nap while you can, Jackson. We’ll reach North Bay in approximately seven hours.”

“Wait, North Bay?” I asked, unable to keep the alarm out of my voice, the rest of my worries faded underneath the realization that we were refueling at an airport destined to be near a great deal of water. “I thought I was flying over the plains.”

“Close enough,” the Fenerec replied.

I tapped my way through the plane’s GPS maps until I found North Bay. The lake the small city skirted was huge. I groaned. “I hate flying over water.”

“You’ll survive.”

“We’ll see,” I grumbled. Making myself comfortable, I took his advice and got what rest I could before it was my turn to fly the Cessna.

Chapter Fourteen

Something cold and wet dripped onto my face.

Terror surged through me, and I jerked forward, cracking my forehead into something hard. Pain blossomed through my skull, centered behind my eyes. I meant to wipe my face, but my arms refused to obey me. My heartbeat pulsed in my ears and my throat throbbed to its frantic rhythm.

I couldn’t open my eyes, and it frightened me so much I couldn’t breathe.

The patter of rain on metal accompanied the gentle lapping of water. My feet and legs were wet, and the realization fueled my anxiety and jolted me to awareness. Shivers rippled through me.

It wasn’t until I convinced my right arm to obey me enough to wipe my face that I managed to contain my panic. My movements were sluggish, but after several minutes of rubbing my eyes, I was able to open them. My vision was blurred and dark at the edges. I shook my head, hissing as stabbing pain lanced down my neck and back. The effort it took to open my eyes drained me of strength.

It took time for my eyes to adjust and focus, but when they did, all I could see was the shredded ruins of a tree, twisted metal, and shards of glass surrounding me. Turning my head woke throbbing pains in my back and neck, and my vision darkened again. My left arm was pinned in a cage of wreckage. Through the gaps in the branches and destroyed cockpit, I watched water lap at the Cessna, not quite as deep as the seat, but too close for my comfort. Dim light streamed in through the shredded plane. I was cocooned in a tangle of debris, which blocked my routes of escape.

I drew a shaking breath and lifted my hand to my forehead, tentatively prodding at my brow until I located a gash near my hairline.

My neck protested when I turned my head towards the pilot’s seat. From what I could tell, Richard was gone. I couldn’t twist around enough to see the back seats.

“Evelyn? Vicky?” Their names emerged as a hoarse croak.

Silence.

My worry for the Fenerec surged. It was one thing my brother had been adamant about; injured Fenerec often transformed into wolves to heal. Once their animalistic nature took over, it was bad news for anyone in their path. While I considered my survival a miracle, it gave me hope that the Fenerec had all escaped, probably in better shape than I was in.

Judging from the proximity of the tree trunk in front of my face, I had dodged death by a few inches. Instead of a merciful and instant end to my life, I faced something far worse—a slow, painful spiral into oblivion. I had a difficult time imagining how my situation could get worse; unless I was wrong, it’d take someone a lot of heavy equipment to peel me out of the wreckage.