Chameleon (Supernaturals) (42 page)

Russ dropped all his anger and went into panic mode. “Dani, don’t do this,” he begged. “I’ll stop being a jerk. I won’t say another word about you and Gabriel. Just—you can’t leave.”

“You’re not going to change my mind about Gabriel. It will break your heart.”

“That’s
my
problem.”

“Russ.”

Russ jumped up from the booth and pulled me away from Gabriel. The way he hugged me was so desperate it made my stomach churn. “You’re not going anywhere without me,” he whispered.

Russ was now holding me against him so tight I couldn’t breathe. I hated that he was so familiar. I hated the yearning I still felt for him, that I had always felt for him. The right thing to do was to walk away from him, but I couldn’t. Gabriel was going to have to pull me away.

As if reading my thoughts, Gabriel pulled me back to his side. “I am sorry, Russ, but you are not the only problem here.”

“I’m not her problem,” Russ growled. “I’m her best friend.”

“And I respect that. But even if you could be only a friend to Danielle, which I am not convinced of, I do not trust your father.”

Gabriel turned to Alex, who I could tell was struggling to keep his composure. “I’m sorry,” Gabriel said. “You have lied to Danielle and Russ for so long about many things. You have withheld information from Danielle that could have helped her, and I do not trust your motivations.”

“You watch who you’re talking trash about!”

Alex had to grab hold of Russ so that he couldn’t jump Gabriel. “Russell, calm down,” he said. He dropped a wad of cash on the table. “Everyone outside. Now.”

Once we were in the parking lot I felt the sensation of magic cover me and knew that Alex had cloaked us all. He turned to me with a pained expression.

“Dani, think about this. It’s dangerous for the two of you to be on your own. You would have to remain a warlock at all times and you would quickly drain your energy trying to hide yourself.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said. “This is my prophecy to fulfill and as much as I hate the Councilor, he’s right. If I can be so easily swayed, then I can’t trust anyone. I have to do this on my own.”

“You’re not doing anything on your own!” Russ yelled and thrust an angry finger at Gabriel. “
He’s
making all your decisions! He’s the one swaying you!”

“He’s the Seer, Russ. He’s the one who found me. He’s the only person who can help me.”

“
We
can help you,” Alex insisted.

“Dani, it’s my dad. He loves you as much as I do. You have to come with us.”

Alex nodded his agreement. “I understand Gabriel’s hesitation, but you know me Dani. You’ve known me your whole life. I took care of you the best I knew how to, given the circumstances. I love you like you were my own daughter.”

Everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to take a side. I stood there hesitating because I knew what my answer was, I just didn’t like it. “I’m sorry, Alex. I—I love you too but…I don’t trust you right now.”

“Geez, Dani!” Russ’s temper exploded and he grabbed me by the arm and shook me. “What the hell is wrong with you? He’s got you so whipped that you’re actually buying into the Councilor’s lies!”

“Russ, the Councilor’s a jerk, but he’s never been unclear with his intentions. It’s your father who’s lied to us.”

Russ opened his mouth to yell at me some more, but I cut him off. “Think about it. You feel it too. I saw your face last night when Simone showed up. He never told us about his relationship with her.”

Russ frowned and glanced at his dad.

“I didn’t feel it proper to tell you kids of my love affairs. That is all.”

“Then what proposal were you talking about?”

“Proposal?” Russ asked.

“You were unconscious at the time Russ, but last night when we let Simone go, your dad told her that his offer still stands.” I looked at Alex. “What offer were you talking about?”

For a split second Alex looked scared, but he quickly recovered. “Simone and I were very close,” he said, resigned. “She knew all about my history with the council. Before she disappeared she told me she loved me and asked me to join the resistance with her. I didn’t believe she was serious about me. I believed she wanted only my power. Plus I couldn’t bear to separate you and Russ. I declined her offer. But I cared for her, so I told her if she wanted to continue our relationship she would have to come to Carmine to be with us.”

“You asked some chick to move in with us when you’d never even told me about her?” Russ asked. “What about Dani? You said you didn’t trust Simone. You risked Dani’s safety anyway?”

“I knew she wouldn’t take the offer. But I hoped. I believed that if she were actually willing to leave her company and her sisters and her daughter to be with me that I could trust her with Dani’s secret.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell us this?” I asked.

“I wasn’t sure how it would affect you guys and I really didn’t believe she would come. I was right. She refused me. I didn’t want to stress you out with the idea of adding a woman to our family unless I was sure it was really going to happen. Soon after that I heard she died and I never saw the necessity of bringing it up.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell us you used to be on the council?” I asked. “Why did you leave? What did you do to make the Councilor hate you?”

Alex reached up to rub his head like he was getting a headache from my questions. “That is a very long story.”

“One that you seem unwilling to explain,” Gabriel pointed out.

Alex glared at Gabriel before he could stop himself. The look was so nasty that I gasped. Even Russ looked astonished. Though I doubted it upset him to think his dad didn’t like Gabriel.

I felt completely sick to my stomach. “I’m sorry, Alex. I—I can’t trust you anymore.” I turned to Gabriel and said, “Let’s go.”

I took Russ’s hand turning myself back into a warlock. “I’m sorry Russ,” I said and kissed his cheek. “I love you.”

When Gabriel and I disappeared, Alex called out to us. “Dani, wait! You’re making a mistake!”

I tried to ignore it but then I heard Russ say, “Tell me the truth about my mom.”

Gabriel and I both stopped walking. It was like that moment I’d frozen everyone at the school dance. Nobody moved an inch. Nobody said a word. Nobody even breathed as we watched Alex’s face turn paler than Duncan’s. “How did you? W—what do you mean?” he stammered.

“You know exactly what I mean,” Russ said. “I want to know why you left the council, and why you never even bothered to tell me you were on it. And I want to know what it all has to do with my mother. Now.”

“Your mother left us, Russ. That’s all,” Alex said.

I think we all knew he was lying.

“Tell me the truth right now, or I’m leaving too.”

“Russ, please,” Alex begged. “Let it alone.”

“Fine.”

Russ walked over to the car and grabbed his duffel out of it. “Last chance,” he said to Alex.

Alex hesitated long enough that Russ said, “Thanks a lot,” and disappeared.

Alex finally cracked. “Your mother is dead, Russ,” he yelled out to the open air. “She didn’t leave us. She’s dead, and it’s because of the council.”

Russ dropped his cloaking spell. He hadn’t moved even a step. “What?”

Without thinking I ran to him and threw my arms around him and we sank to the ground together. He didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see me still there. Alex looked relieved to see me though and muttered, “Thank the Creator.”

Alex started to walk over to us but whatever looks we both gave him made him stop short. He began pacing in front of us as he unwillingly launched into his tale. “I held the warlock seat on the council for seventeen years. The current Supreme High Councilor came into the position when his grandfather died three years into my service. Being the youngest two people to ever sit on the council, and being both from legendary warlock families, we developed a strong relationship. I became his most trusted confidant.”

“You and the Supreme High Councilor were BFF’s?” I asked. I couldn’t picture a world where that was possible.

Alex chuckled at my shock. “We were. Only he was just Jacque Valois to me then.”

“Valois?” I asked. “Of the House of Valois in France who fought the war against the humans with the Oracle?”

“The very same. The Valois family stayed in France long after succeeding the throne. It was Jacque’s grandfather who moved the family to New York during World War II and reinstated the council in America since over the centuries most of the supernaturals had migrated here.”

Gabriel came to join Russ and me and asked, “What happened? What was your falling out?”

Alex smiled, but the look in his eyes was distant. “I met Russ’s mother.”

“Was it a forbidden love?” I asked, completely caught up in the story. “Or, I know! You and Jacque Valois fell in love with her and she chose you.”

“Always such a romantic, Dani,” Alex said. “It actually was a forbidden love of sorts, because Kate was human.”

I was surprised by the reasoning. “Supernaturals aren’t allowed to get involved with humans?”

“It’s not strictly forbidden, but it’s definitely frowned upon. Most races don’t have a problem with that. The nephilim would consider crossbreeding a disgrace—very snobbish, those half-angel bastards. They believe they’re the Creator’s chosen race. Vampires and werewolves tend to mate with their own kind or turn a human if they’re interested. And the faeries, well, they don’t venture into this realm often. If they do take interest in a human while they’re here, the poor soul doesn’t generally live long enough for it to be a problem.”

I shuddered thinking of Alistair. He was the only faery I’d ever met and I hoped it stayed that way.

“If a supernatural-human relationship does form it tends to happen among necromancers because they are so rare even among supernaturals, and also with witches and warlocks seeing as how there are no male witches or female warlocks and a blood feud exists between us.”

“Can we please get to the part where the council killed my mother?” Russ snapped.

“Yes, I too am very curious about that,” Gabriel said, earning a nasty look from Russ.

“The Valois family members are very traditional, as I’m sure you can imagine, being descended of French royalty. They are set in their ways of thinking. Because of the Hundred Years’ War and the personal impact on their history, they loathe humans. There is not a supernatural family on the planet that hates the human race more than the House of Valois.”

“So the Councilor was pissed when you fell in love with my mom?”

“Not just mad, Russ. He considered it a personal insult. He was devastated. He tried for years to get me to forget about her.”

“And when you didn’t they killed her?” Russ asked. He looked like he was going to go bomb the consulate.

“No, it didn’t happen like that,” Alex assured us. “Jaque had the council forbid me to tell your mother the truth about me.”

“Understandable,” Gabriel muttered.

Russ jumped to his feet and I had to pull him back down before he put his fist through something like a wall—or Gabriel.

Alex continued as if nothing had happened. He was now as caught up in the story as we were. “They forbid it because they knew she would be able to handle it,” he said bitterly.

“Come now, Mr. Devereaux,” Gabriel said. “You do not honestly believe that. The odds—”

“If they really thought she couldn’t handle it they would have just had me tell her. She would have left me and their problem would have been solved.”

Alex dared Gabriel with a look to argue but Gabriel was deep in thought. “You are right,” he eventually decided. “The council should have had no problem with you telling your human wife the truth. I myself would have encouraged it. Most likely she would have left you and if by some miracle she did accept the truth then there would be no threat to the supernatural. Your relationship would not be an issue.”

Alex surprised us by smiling at Gabriel. “Would that everyone on the council thought like you. My ideals were very similar to yours young master Seer, but I was one of the more liberal minded council members. Valois convinced the others that a man on the council with a human wife, especially one who knew of the supernatural world, would cause trouble. They thought it would fuel the resistance—give them a false sense of hope. Some—Alistair, Angelo Torres—were not hard to convince of that position. In the end, the only ones to oppose the motion were myself and old Margret.”

“I knew I liked her,” I mumbled to myself.

“I like her too Dani,” Alex said. “But the two of us weren’t enough to hold off the vote. The council intervened with me the way they did with you and Gabriel. They voted for me to break up with Kate. They wouldn’t allow me to marry her.”

I was appalled. “They couldn’t do that!”

“They could and they did. They said if I continued my relationship with her they would throw me off the council. But Kate was pregnant and when the council learned it was a boy they didn’t want a Devereaux warlock to be taken by his human mother.”