Going Under (26 page)

But she loved Gage Garrity with his frowny face and his awesome ass. She loved the
way he listened to her. They bickered, but he respected her, which made all that bickering
sort of fun and really hot.

Without another word, he handed her the television clicker and got to work on dinner.
She tuned in to see just exactly what had happened all across the globe that day.

Chapter 27

GAGE
stood at her office door and she took a moment to just look at him before he spoke.
She knew by the look on his face that it would be something bad and she wanted that
bubble of time to wonder at how magnificent the man was before it burst on the reality
he carried.

He smiled when he realized what she’d been doing. “Hey.”

Things had been tense between them since the night in his apartment when she’d told
him she loved him. But the tension of the outside world had also grown far more quickly,
so there hadn’t been a lot of time to obsess over it. Mainly because she’d had to
deal with the way some on the media had been spinning the news to make it look like
all the attacks and persecution were the fault of the Others because humans felt threatened.

Threatened
. She didn’t see their homes and businesses getting burned down or bombed. The unfairness
of it burned until she was filled with anger every waking moment. The entire world
was totally illogical and while she did have a gift for swaying people to her perspective,
she couldn’t do the whole world and she couldn’t change the minds of crazy people
either.

More attacks. Only now Others were defending themselves and humans were beginning
to realize Others simply weren’t going to let themselves be shoved into camps without
a fight. And that if they did fight, the humans might not find it so easy to win.

And this was before they even really had any idea what the Others were capable of.

“Okay, I’m done. Tell me.”

“I should report you for objectifying my body.”

She smiled back. “Yeah? G’head. But then I won’t be able to objectify you anymore
and then what? Your whole day will be absent of any objectification from me. That’s
what my mom calls cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

“Good point.” His smile went away. “Car bombs in Alaska. This time vampires.”

“Oh shit.”

The vampires had been wavering on leaving the Council of Others. They were sick of
the violence. Impatient with the slow pace of the political and diplomatic process.
And she didn’t blame them.

“How bad?”

“This was an Elder. On his way to a local restaurant with his humans and a few of
his staff. They set off what’s essentially a roadside IED.”

“So Alaska is suddenly Afghanistan? What the hell? What do the local vamps say?”

“They’re pissed. Every vampire in that car and the one in front of it is dead. Their
protected have also died.”

Protected were the class of humans who served the vampires in dealing with the human
world. They took a blood oath to protect them from harm and vampires took that stuff
seriously. To kill one who is protected meant the vampires would be honor bound to
avenge that death. And to kill an Elder? A vampire over five hundred years old? She
had no idea what the cost to the humans would be. But it would be steep and she couldn’t
do a thing to stop it. And really, why should she?

“They just can’t learn. No matter how many chances you give them, they just . . .”
She broke off. “It’s time to stop playing around.” She stood and he handed her her
crutches.

“I agree. But what exactly is it you’re planning in that pretty head of yours?”

“I need to talk with Meriel. And the Full Council. Lark and you as well.” Expertly
she walked past him to Rita’s desk and asked her to set up that meeting.

“Hey, why don’t you let me wheel you wherever you’re going in the wheelchair?”

She kept moving, heading toward the office Meriel and Dominic shared.

“The exercise helps burn off the rage.”

“Molly, I’m sorry. I know you were hoping for . . . well, for a different result.”

Goddess, he made her want to cry sometimes. Not always in a positive way, but at that
moment she wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss him for caring.

“Don’t be nice to me. I can’t handle it right now.”

He got in front of her, impeding her progress. “Why don’t we get some lunch? Then
you can get yourself together first.”

“I don’t have time for lunch. Being together is a luxury I can’t afford. Things are
falling apart. I’ve been drowning for three and a half months. I used to think it
would let up, but I’m deeper and deeper. Going under is the new normal apparently.”

Gage sighed heavily. “I hate seeing you this way.”

“I hate being this way.” She walked around him and headed toward Meriel’s office.

She knocked, but it was Dominic who waved her in, a phone to his ear. He motioned
for her to sit and she did, happy to be off her feet again.

Dominic hung up and turned to her. “I’m guessing you’re here about the Alaska situation?”

“Yes.” She was so very tired all the sudden and the emotion welled up.

Dominic got up and shut the door before returning. “Aw sweetheart, let it go.”

She fanned her face. “I’m mortified. I apologize.”

“I’m the boss and I do not accept your apology. It’s unnecessary. What do you have
to be sorry for? Having feelings? Getting overwhelmed by what has to be one of the
most difficult jobs anyone could possibly have? Or being physically attacked on more
than one occasion? Personally, I went out to the range this morning and shot off a
few dozen clips and after that I boxed for another hour and I’m still angry.”

“I wanted it to work.”

He poured her a cup of coffee and placed it near.

“I wanted the good humans to outnumber the bad ones and stop this nonsense. But it
keeps getting worse and I can’t seem to stop it. I wanted to. I keep trying. And there
are good people like Senator Sato and so many others who’ve worked so hard to protect
us. I feel ungrateful and resentful for not remembering that sometimes.”

“For what it’s worth, I think good humans
do
outnumber the bad ones. But they’re not making themselves heard enough over the bigots.
And the outcome is what it is. We’re being picked off. Our children are in danger.
Our homes aren’t safe. We can’t drive without worry of roadside bombs now?”

“I used to feel caught between two worlds.”

“And now?”

“I feel totally rejected by one and not completely accepted by the other. I’m not
totally at home in either.”

He held his mug up in a toast. “I hear you. I feel very much the same and this is
my clan.” His laugh was rueful. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry this has been what it has been.
For what it’s worth, it does get better. You get used to how a clan works. They get
used to you. They do respect you, which is huge given how insular witches can be.
It doesn’t hurt that you’re likeable and pretty too.”

She snorted. “My old secretary, back at my old firm, would say,
‘Well, at least she’s pretty,’
when a woman was sort of dumb or incompetent.”

Dominic choked on his coffee, waving a hand at her. “Not what I meant.”

“I know, I was just teasing.”

He shook his head as he got his breath.

“We need to draw a line in the sand now.”

The words had been on her tongue for at least a month. But she held them back. Over
and over. Hoping at some point that she could swallow them and not have to use them.

“Wow, that was liberating.”

Dominic grinned at her. “Yeah?”

She nodded.

“I agree. So does Meriel. I was just on the phone with her. She’s at a meeting but
she’s on her way back and we’d like to set up a meeting with you and the Full Council.
I’m guessing that’s why you’re here?”

“Yes. And probably for the pep talk too. Thanks, Dad.”

He started and then began to laugh. It was a wonderful laugh and she realized she
hadn’t heard it much. Pity that.

“You have quite a sense of humor a few layers down. Why don’t you tell me what it
is you’re thinking?”

“We’ve been nice. We’ve been diplomatic. We’ve offered up various bits of information
and education about ourselves. We’ve been open and honest about what witches are,
what shifters and vampires are. The only things we haven’t shared are that our powers
seem to be growing since the Magister and that there are beings from the other side
of the Veil and demons. And you know what would happen if we told them about demons.”

He blew out a breath. “Yes.”

“We’ve tried being firm. We’ve tried retreating a little to give them space. What
we’ve gotten in return has not been hopeful. Bills rushing through both houses of
Congress to put us in camps. To strip us of our citizenship. We’ve been run off the
road, had our houses and businesses burned and vandalized. Riots. Assaults. Murders.
Our children are bullied in schools, we’re being fired from our jobs, discriminated
against even in direct contravention of the Constitution. In other words, this particular
path of media isn’t working.”

“You’ve done a great job. But you’re right. I’ve seen you take a hostile room and
convert it. But you can’t do that to an entire nation. Or hell, maybe you could, but
we don’t have the ability to get to them.”

“Gage suggested a reality show. It was a joke of course, but the
Real Housewives of the Others
or something like that. We do have Others selling their stories to tabloids now.
Nearly all of it is utter nonsense and lies, but it makes us look bad either way.”

She looked out the window for long moments. “I think we need to deliver a speech.
A televised speech.”

She outlined it for him and by the time Meriel and the rest of the Full Council had
arrived, he was on board.

Chapter 28

“THANK
you for coming. I know you’ve got enough to do with the recent bombing in Alaska.”
She bowed slightly to Franco.

“I’m hoping you’re going to say something I like. If you don’t, there will be war.”

“Tomorrow at eight a.m. Pacific, I’m giving a televised speech that will also be broadcast
on radio and Internet. In that speech I’m going to draw our line in the sand. The
witches have had enough. We’ve tried diplomacy and it’s gotten us nowhere. So now
we show the fist in the glove.”

From the corner of her eye, Molly noted Gage shifting in his seat. She hadn’t said
much to him. He was pouting that she hadn’t filled him in on any of her plans. She
usually did. But there’d been one meeting after the next at the clan and then this
meeting had to be set up. In the midst of that, he and Lark had to deal with their
own stuff. So it wasn’t as if she could have anyway.

Nina Warden leaned forward in her seat. “The wolves are meeting right now and waiting
to hear what you have to say, Molly. As many of you know, I was born human. I grew
up in the human world and I was not made into a wolf of my own free will. I like to
think that gives me a unique perspective on this issue. The wolves have been out for
years now. We’ve had some problems here and there. We’ve been targeted by the Humans
First people with leaflets and some generalized discrimination. But until recently
we’ve never had the kinds of problems we all face now. Wolves will not allow our children
to be harmed. We will not allow our Elders to be threatened. Our land, our pack is
the lifeblood of our culture. Former human or not, we will no longer turn the other
cheek.”

Mia de La Vega, Molly’s pilot and the wife of a high-ranking jaguar shifter in the
de La Vega Jamboree nodded. “The wolves and cats are in accord here. You know I respect
you, Molly. I’ve seen what you can do and it’s given me hope. But you’re sitting there
with a cast on your arm, a splint on your wrist and a cast on your leg. They killed
Elder vampires and protected. Police in some cities have begun using silver ammo.
We will accept no further threat or violence from the humans.”

Meriel had been listening quietly but she finally spoke. “Do you realize what you’re
saying?”

Helena Jaansen had been in a far corner guarding the room. She’d come up to meet with
Lark and Gage. She stood forward.

“Gennessee is in accord with Owen, of course. I’ve been on this traveling road trip
with Molly and the Others she travels with and with Senator Sato and the other human
lawmakers. Not all humans are PURITY. Sato wants to do the right thing. He’s a persuasive
voice. He’s principled and good. I know we have to do this, but I want to remind everyone
that this is not—should not be—an
us versus them
situation.”

“Should be or not, in the end isn’t that exactly what it is?” Mia de La Vega shrugged.
“I served in the military. I’ve been decorated multiple times. And still I had a police
officer tell me I should be shot in the head and left to die in the gutter while we
waited for Molly to arrive at the airport on her way from the hospital.”

There was back and forth argument on this point for several minutes with passionate
debate on several sides of the issue.

“No, it isn’t exactly what it is. Let me clarify.” Molly had let them go on a bit;
it was good to let people speak and get things out of their system, but it was time
to rein it back in and give the discussion some direction again. “My aim with this
speech is not to divide humans and Others. That’s already happening, I don’t need
to make it worse and I’ve worked my damndest to make it better. And failed. That’s
my failure and I own it. The aim of this speech is to draw that line. We will not
be herded into camps. We will not be marked and tracked. We will not allow them to
institute any of these ridiculous curfews and other things they want to do to curtail
our rights. They need to understand that not only will we not allow that, but that
we have the power—magickal and physical—to stop them.

“There are humans who support our rights. If a majority of them really felt like PURITY,
we’d have been overrun. I watched the poll numbers and we came out looking far better
than PURITY after the bombing.”

Molly knew her magick flowed all through the room. Felt it touch shifter and vampire,
felt it recognize witch and that particular flavor those like Simon and Faine, from
the other side of the Veil, carried. She could control it now. It responded to her
will without even a thought. She had no idea she could even do this a month ago and
now she grew better at it every single day.

“But it’s not enough. Our powers are growing. I know this. You know this. The humans
don’t need to know the full extent of it. But we are not cartoon witches. We have
real power. And it’s time the humans understood what that means. We will no longer
be victims. And if someone tries to kill us, we’ll try to kill them right back.”

“Plus one for the
Firefly
reference.” Nina winked. “I need to conference back with Lex and Cade. I move we
take a recess to confer with our respective leaders and then meet back here to decide
on next steps.”

The others agreed and the room emptied, leaving her the space to let out a breath
and the tension in her shoulders.

Gage was up, moving to her before he realized it. He saw the strain on her features.
Even as he heard the resolve in her voice, he knew she paid a price for it. Knew this
speech would be a final step out of her old life and into the world of magick.

He grabbed a sandwich from the stack near the doors and brought it to her. “Eat.”

She looked up at him, smiling. “I thought you were mad at me.”

She knew him so well. He’d hated that she hadn’t come to him to bounce ideas off.
Hated that she hadn’t asked for his perspective when she so often did. Oh, he knew
there’d been a time crunch and that things were hurtling forward at a scary-fast pace.
But when he’d tried to comfort her back at Owen she’d walked around him and had sought
out Dominic’s counsel instead.

“Do I have a reason to be mad at you?”

“Give me the food and stop with that wily stuff. I’m too tired for it.”

He handed her the box and she unwrapped the sandwich, eating slowly.

No one talked to him the way she did. On one hand it felt right to be so understood
and also to know she wouldn’t take any of his shit. On the other hand, it was raw.
Exposed. She knew his flaws and thought she loved him anyway.

“No more coffee for you today. You’re strung out.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve got coffee in my veins now. Used to have blood until I
moved to Seattle. That’s what coffee shops on every corner will do to a gal. Anyway,
your mom says I’m all right.”

“She said your blood pressure was amazing for someone who is under as much pressure
at you are.” She’d also told Gage he was a damned fool if he didn’t make a public
claim on her. She’d scoffed when he’d told her, the same as he did Molly and everyone
else, that he didn’t have time for a serious relationship. It was like these people
didn’t know there was a damned war brewing.

Helena sent him a raised brow from where she sat with Lark.

“Do you want me to get you another?”

Molly put her hand over his and he shifted, turning his wrist to entangle their fingers.

“No, this is good. Thank you.” She lowered her voice. “I read your report of the bombing.
I hate that you blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault.”

“You’re sitting here broken and bruised and you say that?”

“I’m sitting here, yes. So of course I say that. Why on earth do you think you can
protect me from everything and that if you don’t you’re a failure? That makes me so
mad.”

“That makes two of us. Look, it’s my job to protect. We’ve gone over that a million
times.”

“Yes, and every one of those million times I tell you it’s outside of your abilities
to prevent me from getting hurt if someone really wants to hurt me. I have a bodyguard
because people want to hurt me. You do all you can, but even you can’t possibly believe
anyone
is capable of preventing every single crazy person with an agenda from trying to
kill me if they want to. You’re awesome and all but you’re not Superman. Hell, even
Lois Lane got killed. Remember that movie? Superman had to fly backward around the
earth to go back in time. Which was sort of dubious, but whatever. My point is, unless
you have been hiding your awesome skill of flying and being able to control time,
you’re stuck with the reality that you can’t be everywhere at all times. You can’t
stop it in every case, so what you need is to realize that and prevent it when you
can and accept it when you can’t.”

He chewed on that a while. It burned in his belly that she could have been killed.
For a number of reasons, he could admit. It tasted like failure and he didn’t like
failure in any guise.

She took her hand back and wrote some notes as people began to stream back into the
room. She didn’t like failure either. He saw it on her face when she spoke. This speech
she was going to deliver would be a good one, he knew that much. But it would kill
part of her to do it. That part that connected her to her old life. He knew it and
wished he could spare her the pain.

He got up and left the room. He needed to walk off the anxiety that’d been riding
his nerves for months now. That’s when he literally bumped into Rose.

She smiled at him, clearly happy to see him. “I was just looking for you. I asked
and they said you were in a meeting.”

Rose hugged him and he hugged her back. That, of course, was when Molly came out of
the conference room. She narrowed her gaze to where Rose’s hand remained on his waist.

He hadn’t done anything wrong, damn it. He waved at Molly, who rolled her eyes and
made her careful way back toward the restrooms.

“What brings you back? I mean, I didn’t know you’d even come back.”

“I couldn’t find a job, not a good one with benefits and stuff like I have here. And
I missed things in Seattle. People.”

“I’m sorry about the job thing. It’s rough out there right now, for humans too. I’m
guessing you didn’t tell anyone you were a witch.” He didn’t go near the tentative
step she tried to take back into a relationship with him.

“Yeah. Well, I’m not really a human now, am I? I . . . are you free? Do you want to
go grab a bite or something? Catch up?”

“I’m not free, no.” Not in either way she meant. He might not want to move in with
Molly and start having babies, but he was with her. He didn’t cheat and he had no
desire to. Just looking at Rose then underlined the difference in how he felt about
Molly versus anyone else he’d ever dated. “I’m in an important meeting. And I’m seeing
someone.”

Her smile fell. “Ah. Okay. Wow, that was fast.”

Was it really? He met Molly in January. Early January and he’d been with her pretty
much daily for three months. He knew her in ways he didn’t know another soul. Even
Nell, who he’d been close with since childhood didn’t know him the way Molly did.

As if he’d conjured her, she came back toward them and he smiled, waving her over.
“Molly, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” He may as well, because she’d be wondering
who he’d been talking with and he didn’t want her to worry.

She was pretty fast on her crutches. He’d joked with her that she’d overcome her crutches
like anything else that might have gotten in her way.

She was at his side in moments, smiling at Rose, but clearly wondering who the other
woman was.

“Molly, this is Rose.”

She got it then. There was a slight shift in her body language, but her smile didn’t
falter, he gave her that.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Rose. I hope you’re back home for a good reason. That
sounds odd. I mean, so much has been happening to so many that I hope you’re here
for something positive and not because you or someone you know was harmed.”

Rose smiled and Gage realized Molly could charm most anyone. She could have acted
like a bitch; some women would have. Goddess knew he did sometimes around Tosh Sato
and he’d never even dated Molly. But Molly had been her normal gracious self and Rose
got that.

“I was just telling Gage the job market is crazy and my job here paid more and had
great benefits. And I missed being around other witches. So I figured moving back
here was the best option. I saw you on television. More than once actually. You do
a good job. I’m sorry you were hurt.”

“I was just telling Gage that part seems to come with the territory, unfortunately.”
Molly looked back over her shoulder. “I need to get back in. Our break is over. It
was nice to meet you, Rose. I hope to see you around.”

She turned deftly and headed back into the room.

“That’s her, right? The one you’re seeing?”

“Yeah. I have to get back in there too. It was good to see you, Rose. I mean that.”

“She’s nice. I’m glad you ended up with someone nice. I need to run. But I’ll see
you around. The clan gave me my old job back. I’m starting again Monday.”

She hugged him quickly, but there was a distance there now entirely appropriate for
a friend. Gage found himself relieved that she was still as nice a person as she was
before she’d gone.

But by the time he’d reached the doors to the conference room, his mind was fully
back on Molly again.

She looked up, locking gazes with him and smiled before she went back to her conversation
with Meriel. He liked that. Liked that she sought him out the way she did.

They needed to talk. Once this speech had been given and things calmed down, they’d
go away. Maybe head to the coast to watch storms. He thought again. After the Magister,
he didn’t think he’d be up for storm watching for the next fifteen years at least.
But maybe they could go to Hawaii or someplace sunny. Then they could talk.

Yes, that would be the ticket. He relaxed a little. Probably for the first time since
that night she’d been attacked and then told him she loved him. He probably loved
her too. Maybe. That was something else he could put off until after the speech.