Colin: Her Warlock Protector Book 4 (7 page)

Luckily the stores on Michigan Avenue were still open, and inside of an hour, she had an outfit she thought would pass. Her job paid well, and underneath her long dark coat, she had given up the jeans and the t-shirt for a beautiful gray dress that was cut almost indecently short. She traded her shoes for high heels, and she put her hair up into an elegantly simple French twist.
 

When she looked herself over in the dressing room mirror, she knew that she was dressed to kill. The dress hugged her curves in just the right way, and the neckline plunged daringly, revealing an eye-catching amount of cleavage. It would be normal for the club where she was going, but she still buttoned up to her chin before stepping back out.

The information that her patron had given her told her where the subject would be. The club was an exclusive place on the edge of downtown, and the line to get in was extremely long. With the confidence of a woman who was used to getting her way no matter what, she breezed to the head of the line and made sure that the doorman never remembered letting in someone who should never have been there. Once inside, she paid for a drink to hold, and started scanning the crowd.

Selene had the facts in front of her. She knew exactly who she was looking for, but still, when she spotted the young girl, her heart sank. Her mysterious patron had given her a description, but somehow she hadn't expected her mark to look quite so innocent.
 

She wondered what secrets the girl held. But she resolutely told herself that it was none of her business. She had a job to do, and drink in hand, she made her way across the floor. The girl she was targeting was lovely, but there was something fragile about her as well. When her friends were turned to speak with others, there was a lost look on her face. She was skinny rather than slender, and though she wore the latest fashions, they hung on her awkwardly, as if she was wearing a costume.
 

When Selene got closer, she made sure that her eyes were pointed elsewhere, and she made bumping into the girl look like an accident. She cursed and then apologized profusely when she 'accidentally' spilled her drink all over the girl's dress, and then she insisted on taking the girl to the bathroom to clean her up.

The club's bathroom was amazingly spacious, with a sitting area complete with an elegant couch and coffee table. Selene sat the girl down and came back with a wet cloth, cooing in concern about her lovely dress.
 

“It doesn't really suit me, does it?” the girl asked with a half-hearted little laugh.
 

“No, sweetie, it looks fantastic on you. You have such a lovely figure, so graceful! I would love to have a body like yours.”

“Bet you wouldn't,” the girl said darkly. “Bet you would hate it.”

There was something so vehement about the girl's tone that Selene paused. The girl still hadn't looked up, and if she was going to avoid eye-contact, there was nothing that she could do but keep the girl talking and wait. At least, that's what she told herself.
 

 
“I think that most women have days where they know with absolute faith that the grass is greener on the other side,” she said cautiously. “This sounds like a little more than that.”

“You bet it is!” the girl exclaimed.
 

She swept her hand over her body as if she wanted to accuse it, to hold it responsible for what it had done to her.
 

“I've always been so small and frail. No one ever takes me seriously. No one ever thinks that I can handle anything. They insist on treating me like a little kid. When I have the nerve to speak up for myself, they think it’s cute.”
 

The vehemence in the girl's tone saddened Selene, but it didn't surprise her. She was perhaps five years older than her, and she could all too clearly remember what that was like.
 

“'Come on, miss, why don't you let someone else handle that?'” she suggested. “Things like that?”

The girl nodded, and she grasped the arm of the couch to steady her. Selene hadn't seen her drinking, but with a build that narrow, she didn't need much to start feeling a little light on her feet. Selene found herself irritated with the girl's friends. They should have been looking after her, not letting her go to the bathroom with any lady who wanted to clean her up.

“I thought I was doing so well,” she said softly. “I thought that I was making a name for myself, making sure that people respected me. I thought that when Mr. Lattimore wanted me to work for him in his office that meant that people were taking me seriously.”

Selene's ears pricked up at that. Mr. Lattimore was one of the things that she was meant to make Miss Elsa Mayberry forget, and now it seemed like she was going to find out all about why that was.

“What did Mr. Lattimore do?” she asked, dread pooling in her belly.
 

She remembered the feeling that she was finally making headway in the coven, and how Lester had encouraged her. He had made her feel like the most clever witch of her generation. He had spoken so admiringly of her at first.
 

“He started giving me these files to get rid of, you know? At first it was just the normal stuff, but then…then I started to look at them. They…well, I'm not sure I'm supposed to get into it.”
 

“These were files that he should not have gotten rid of,” Selene guessed. “They were in fact files that should have been forwarded straight to someone in charge.”

Elsa nodded, as if relieved that she didn't have to say it. “Yes.”

She sat so still that at first, Selene thought that she wouldn't speak again.
 

“There was a town where they were pouring chemicals into the water from the factory. People were getting sick. Mr. Lattimore was in charge of seeing if the waste water was related. Those files said that they were.”

There was something deflated about her now, but Selene could see that there was more to this girl than what she showed. She was brave enough to call out wrong-doing when she saw it. She was ready to take those files to someone who had the power to punish this oh-so-powerful Mr. Lattimore, and she was willing to go through whatever it took to see justice done.
 

Suddenly, Selene was full of an old fury, both anger at herself and rage at the forces that had made Elsa Mayberry feel so afraid. She realized two things. The first was that she could never take Elsa's story away from her, not when the health of an entire small town was riding on the girl's word. The second was that she knew that she needed to do something to help.

She cast around for a moment, and then she nodded firmly.

“Will you look up for me, please?”
 

She held up the wet towel as if she wanted to dab the dress directly under the girl's chin, but when their eyes met, gold to blue, Selene held her.

“There we go, sweetheart, let's see…”

She sat quietly with Elsa's hand in hers. The few women who came in and out must have thought she was consoling the girl after a bad breakup. Bitsy found her way from Selene's purse and nosed at Elsa's limp hand as well. Selene could feel her connection strengthen with the presence of her pet. She found the memories that they had wanted to erase, and they were tinged with fear and anger. Elsa would need the anger, but she certainly didn't need the fear.
 

Just like she had done with Yasmine, she smoothed the fear away, blunting those emotions and making them stand smaller. The details were still there, they were still important, but now they would be sharper and stronger.

As Selene did her delicate work, she realized something odd. She had never had such an easy time with this task. However, now she could see the memories she targeted much more clearly, and she could pull the fear away with much more finesse. More than that, she could feel herself start to weave bravery into the mix as well. She could feel Elsa's spirit rally. She was doing right, and she would be bold and strong under lawyers' questions. She had been as afraid of the witness stand as she had been when she took the files out of the office, but now she was resolute as well.

When Selene pulled back, Elsa was slumped on the couch, but there was a soft smile on her face. Selene eased her down to lie on the cushions, exhausted but exhilarated as well. Her employers wouldn't be pleased, but she had failed on jobs before. She wouldn't starve before the next one came along. After all, who did they know who could do what she did?

She stood, ready to summon Elsa's friends to her side, and when she turned, she walked right into what felt like an immovable brick wall. She yelped in surprise, and then she felt her blood run cold. Colin stood next to her. He had appeared as silently as he always had, but the expression on his face was thunderous.
 

“This is the ladies' room,” she stuttered, because it was the only thing that she could think of.

He laughed, an angry bark of a sound.
 

“You're right,” he said, his tone deceptively casual, and his hand wrapped firmly around her upper arm.
 

“Wait!” she blurted, glancing behind her at the prone Elsa.
 

The girl rested quietly with a small smile on her face, but she was still so vulnerable. As Selene watched, however, two other girls rushed in, loud and teasing Elsa for sneaking away from the party. Elsa woke up smiling, and went to rejoin her friends.

“Okay,” Selene said softly. “Let's go.
 

Colin's gaze softened just a little bit, but there was still raw fury there. Instead of speaking, he nodded tightly, and they disappeared together.
 

TO SELENE'S SURPRISE, they appeared not at a Corps holding cell, but at her own comfortable apartment. She blinked, looking around, but Bitsy, pleased to be back in familiar surroundings, immediately zipped out and headed straight for her food bowl. When she found it empty, she chittered with such misery that Selene immediately went to fill it.

Colin didn't stop her. Instead, he stood in the center of her living room, watching her like a lowering thundercloud. When she had fed and watered her familiar, she finally turned to him.
 

“What?” she said, and the weariness in her voice made even Bitsy look up from her bowl for a moment.

“I'm here on formal business,” he said, and there was such a note of gravity to his voice that she was certain he was going to execute her. It was his right under Corps law, and under the oaths she had sworn so long ago to her coven. In this matter, his word and his judgment were absolute. She sat slowly onto the couch, watching him with wide eyes.

“I have spoken with the commandant with whom your coven master's charges were filed. I spoke with him, and I asked him to make a judgment based on what you told me and my own findings. Your coven master's claims have been dismissed, and as soon as a member of the Corps catches up to him, he will be speaking with one of our finest truthtellers, someone who can read intent, memory and thoughts as if they were printed text.”

“What does that mean?” she asked shakily.

“It means that you are a free woman,” he said, his voice falling like sparks from a flint. “It means that you have the freedom to go where you will and do as you like. You are free to join another coven, or to seek work with the Corps. My only suggestion is that you leave helpless girls alone with whatever grief or crime they are going to report.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” she asked angrily, rising to her feet.
 

She couldn't fathom the idea of being free from the hunt, not after she had been on her own for so very long. Instead, she struck at the far more easily-recognized hurt, glaring at Colin.

“What do you think I did?” she said. “Why not tell me exactly what you think?”

“That girl is Elsa Mayberry, and she's a key witness in a case against one of the biggest industrial complexes in this part of the city. I didn't know where you were, so I came here. What should I find but an address you left on your computer when you were looking for directions to a club. I find you, and where are you but cozying yourself up to a woman who is due to testify in less than forty-eight hours. You have an apartment that no waitress could afford, and when I catch up with you, you're rising from her limp body like some kind of goddamn vampire.”

 
Selene's laugh was bitter, and there was nothing but contempt in her eyes when she stepped up to Colin. She hoped that her anger hid the hurt that was eating through her heart.

“Of course that's what the rogue must be doing, isn't it? I need to be doing the absolute worst thing that you can think of because that's what rogues do. Of course I must be someone who would rob a good person of their memories all in the name of big business and keeping myself comfortable.”

“Tell me what you were doing then. Lie if you have to. Tell me what you were doing in that bathroom with Elsa Mayberry.”
 

The words came out a challenge, but in his face Selene was shocked to see hope.

“You really do want to know,” she said, the anger seeping out of her.

“Of course.” Colin's words held a hint of defeat, and it took the rest of the fight from her.

“I helped her, Colin,” she said softly. “I didn't take her memories. I didn't take a single thing that she needed, I swear. I took away the edge of fear that was covering everything, just like I took away Yasmine's sadness. I made sure that she could remember everything clearly, and…”

Colin frowned. “And?”

“And I think I made her braver.” Selene shook her head. “I don't really understand it. I know what I can do. Inspiring people—that was never one of the things that I could try before. I made her brave, though. I made her remember why she had taken the files, and I made her proud of what she had done. She was always brave, I think, but I made her recognize it. That's what it felt like, anyway.”

Colin nodded as if he’d expected it. “That makes sense. I've found that what we have together is affecting me as well.”