Going Under (28 page)

Chapter 31

MOLLY
only hoped he slept worse than she did.

She woke up and rolled from bed, where she’d been alone for the first time in over
a month. That had sucked and she hoped he was miserable because she sure had been.

Then again, she’d taken all that energy and written a great speech. So there.

She made herself a good breakfast and drank her coffee. She’d gotten used to having
him around as she prepared. Bouncing ideas off him, having him listen to speeches
and give her suggestions on how to improve.

She loved him. More than anyone she’d ever felt for in her whole life and she trusted
that to get her through. Only it hadn’t and he’d broken up with her. Chuck that in
the failure file. Which pissed her off anew. He added something else to her failure
list.

That sucked.

Luckily the mad burned away the heartache for the time being and when Faine arrived
to escort her to the convoy of cars they’d drive down to the capitol for the press
conference, she was less heartbroken and more pissed off. She’d take that.

Gage wasn’t in her car and she didn’t know if he was in any of the others either.
She wanted to ask Faine but then decided she shouldn’t care. But she did. So then
she decided that if she asked she’d look sad and desperate, which did the trick.

She made calls and took notes and got about her day, pretending it was just another
public-speaking gig. Until they got to Olympia and the roads were crazy backed up.
There were dueling protests between the pro–civil rights groups and PURITY.

“Oh nice. God hates werewolves. Who knew God had time for such things?”

Faine laughed. “Imagine if they took their energy and channeled it into something
positive. They could change the world for the better. Bitterness is a waste of time.”
He looked at her carefully. “As is regret.”

“I know. But you can’t make someone love you. Not these people, not anyone.”

Faine squeezed her good hand. “It’s going to be fine. I know this.”

“Let’s hope so. I’ll settle for getting trough this without getting bombed or shot.”

* * *

MOLLY
approached the microphone and tried to swallow back her nervousness. All around her
she had bodyguards, reminding her of why she was there. She’d had to wear a cape because
her cast wouldn’t fit into the sleeve of her coat. A cape like a superhero. Or so
she told herself.

Off to the side she caught the golden-blond hair and knew he was there. She felt better
and then wanted to punch him for making her so damned . . . dependent? Reliant? Addicted
to his presence. Whatever. He was a poop head and she had to get through this so she
could make him pay for breaking her heart like a dumbass.

“Ladies and gentleman, I’m Molly Ryan and today I’m speaking on behalf of the witches
all across the United States, be they clan or coven, as well as the Council of Others
representing shifters and vampires. If you’ll give me your silence while I speak,
I’ll open it up for questions once I finish.

“
‘I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and
humiliation. We must always take sides.’
That’s a quote from a great man, Elie Wiesel. And today it’s more apropos than it’s
ever been in my lifetime. Four months ago, at the end of last year, a being manifested
itself in this world. We know this being to be called the Magister. Humans have their
boogeyman story to scare their kids into compliance on one thing or another. Others
had theirs too, the Magister. Only our boogeyman was real and though it did not harm
humans, thousands of Others simply turned into dust the day Clan Owen fought it and
shoved it from this world.

“We lost so many that day. Without any notice for most of us. Countless brothers,
sisters, friends, husbands, wives, children. And we barely had the chance to get used
to the fact that these people were gone from our lives when humans, most of them scared,
began to react to our presence, which we could no longer hide from human eyes.

“Since that day, we have been persecuted. We have been assaulted, murdered, attacked.
We’ve had our homes burned down and vandalized. We’ve been fired from our jobs and
kicked out of our homes. In some jurisdictions the police will no longer respond to
our emergency calls and when there was a riot in our neighborhood in Indiana, when
our peaceful gathering place was overrun with humans with guns and knives, who attacked
the Others inside, when that spilled onto the streets and those humans set blocks
of homes and businesses on fire, the police blocked fire trucks from going in to help.

“It was only Others who were arrested that day. Though we have surveillance video
to prove our side of the story, that proof has been ignored until the Justice Department
stepped in and made the locals obey the laws of this country and provide due process
to its own citizens. Cars have been run off the road, including right here in Washington
when the Borache family was assaulted. Both parents are now dead along with one of
their children. Only one survives to face a world where no one seems to want to do
anything to protect her.

“Then last week, bombs went off across the globe, all targeted at Others. I was caught
up in that attack in Washington, D.C., as I was attempting to testify on a bill that
will strip Others of their citizenship, implant us with GPS chips, forcibly sterilize
us and put us in camps. Does that sound familiar to anyone? It should to anyone who
took a history class in high school and studied World War Two.”

A few people started to heckle and she used her magick to shut them up. The first
time she’d ever really done that with such force and intent. And she let them know
she did it.

“As I was saying. We have been there and we have done that. We have been burned at
the stake. We have been drowned. We have been hunted with silver ammunition and left
to die in traps lined with silver. We have been through your crusades, your
Reconqueista
, your Inquisition and your purges.

“We will not be your victims again.”

She stood there, letting her words sink in.

“There will be no stripping us of our citizenship. We will not allow you to harm our
children anymore. We will not march peacefully into your concentration camps. We will
not let you chip us and track us and we sure as hell won’t allow you to sterilize
us. We will defend our property. We will defend our homes and our jobs and we will
defend our persons. And what’s more?
We can
.

“We’ve been patient with humans because we understand there is fear of us and what
we are. We have offered to educate you. We have waited for your voices to overcome
those voices of hatred and violence. I grew up in the human world. My mother is human,
my grandparents are human. I know there are good men and women who disagree with what
has been done in your names. But I need you to speak up because we aren’t going to
be victimized while we wait.

“There will be no pogroms. No purges. No marches into camps. If you try, you will
meet resistance. And you will understand, far too late, that we have always had this
power and lived peaceably with you while you have brought this war onto yourselves.
We are not weak. We are not defenseless. We are strong and we are united. And we are
fed up.

“I say this not to scare you. Not to start a war. But so that you understand we are
not playing around. We prefer peace and diplomacy. You don’t have to like us, but
you don’t get to kill us, not without risking getting killed right back. We are not
your victims and we will prove that point if you make us.”

She let go of the spell she’d been using to keep the hecklers quiet and the entire
crowd erupted. Some with cheers, some with questions, some with tears and some with
angry words.

“What is it you expect us to do now?” a local lawmaker asked.

“We expect you to leave us alone. We expect to enjoy the same rights and privileges
as citizens that we have now. And we expect to carry out the responsibilities we have
always carried out. We want to pay our taxes and complain like everyone else. We want
to go to our kids’ baseball games and track meets. We’ve tried to say all this over
the last months. And you’ve ignored us. None of this would have been necessary had
we not been backed into a corner.”

“I should shoot you in the head right now! See just how powerful you are. You scum
dare to threaten humans?” One of the PURITY people screamed.

She stared at him, hoping her face didn’t betray the pounding of her heart. She knew
there were shifters all through the crowd, witches with spells at the ready. Knew
too that she had her own skills. But staring someone in the face who just proclaimed
he wanted to shoot her was still shocking.

“I do dare, yes. Because you broke my arm, my leg and a rib. Because your hatred has
killed children. Because you are a cancer in this country and we will no longer tolerate
your threats. Do not come at us expecting us to turn the other cheek. We’ve turned
it and you’ve bombed us. You’ve been warned.”

Shoving broke out. One human pushed the one who’d just threatened to shoot her and
the PURITY people waded in, fists at the ready.

“Will you create your own military like the humans have?” A reporter asked over the
rising din.

They already had them, but there had been discussion of such a thing. Not that humans
needed to know. The world had really split into an
us versus them
dichotomy and it hurt her heart. But it didn’t make it any less true.

“We want to be safe. If the local police can’t make that happen, we’ll protect ourselves.
We’re not setting out to create a military of Others.”

A woman off to the side nearly lost her feet when one of the PURITY thugs grabbed
the pro-Others sign she carried.

“Stop! Someone is going to really get hurt.” But no one heard as the shoving got worse.

Gage appeared at her side, speaking in her ear. “We’ve got to get you out of here,
Molly. There’s going to be a riot soon.”

She allowed him to shield her, moving her down the steps as the rest of the hunters
surrounded her, protecting her. She breathed Gage’s magick in, even as hers rose to
meet it.

He made her feel safe.

They got her in the car and slammed the doors, locking them as they managed to maneuver
around the crowd. People jumped on the hood, banging on the windshield, and Lark threw
a hand out with a blast of magick that cleared the guy off, sending him off to the
side as they continued forward.

“Keep driving. Don’t stop unless I say so,” Lark ordered.

Molly shook, but wrestled herself back under control. She would not let them win.
She would not let them see her upset. She would wait until she got back to her place
before she let herself go.

“You did great.” Gage spoke quietly to her, his arm around the back of her seat. She
leaned into him briefly, letting herself take comfort.

“You all right? You kicked ass.” Lark reached around to squeeze the non-casted leg.

“Not every day someone says they’re going to shoot me.”

Lark’s face darkened. “That guy is an asshole who needs to be beaten senseless. Or
rather, beaten since he has no sense to start with.”

Molly put her head back and closed her eyes.

“Rest.”

“Can’t.” She pulled her phone out. “Calls to make.”

At least the calls gave her something to do to keep the shaking at bay until they
got back to the hotel an hour later. News vans had parked out front so they went in
the back way and took the freight elevator up.

Faine checked the room, as did Gage.

“I’ve got it for now if you want a break,” Gage told Faine, watching her carefully.
She was sick of being watched carefully.

Faine kissed her cheek. “I’m very proud of you.”

She threw her good arm around him, hugging him tight. “Thank you.”

He disappeared and she turned back to Gage.

“I’m going to run you a bath. Then I’ll garbage bag up your cast.”

“No bath. I can’t get in and out on my own with the leg hanging over the side. I’ll
shower.”

“Fine. I’ll get it started.” He looked her over carefully and walked down the hall
while she got the duct tape and two garbage bags out.

* * *

BY
the time he came back down the hall she’d gotten her leg in a bag and had taped it
up.

“I’ve got the arm.” She walked past him and closed the bathroom door behind her.

He allowed himself the full body shakes he’d been holding back for hours. Christ.
She could have been killed and if she had been, it would have been while they were
mad at one another.

He got his Bluetooth in and began to make calls while he got her some tea, made her
a sandwich and listened to be sure she didn’t fall or have trouble in the shower.

The capitol police together with the Olympia police had managed to get things under
control after nearly two hours of fighting. The news was talking about her speech
in slightly awed terms. He wasn’t sure how it would all turn out, but she’d hit it
out of the park. Her speech had ridden the line between scary threats and olive branch.

He hoped the humans listened. For all their sakes.

She came out finally on a puff of Molly-scented steam. Coconut like the soap she used.
She threw the plastic away and looked at the tea. “Thank you. I’m fine. You can go
now.”

He stepped to her, banded an arm around her waist and hauled her close. Carefully.
Damn it, he was going to have to grovel like there was no tomorrow because there wasn’t
without her in his life.

“I’m sorry.”

“Is the tea cold?”

He growled and she didn’t even give him the raised brow.

“I’m sorry I broke up with you. I take it back. I never meant it anyway. I love you,
Molly. I’ve loved you for a long time and I was a fool for pretending I didn’t and
for not saying it when it’s been so true. I love you and I am sorry for hurting your
feelings. I’m sorry for all the stuff I said about you calling Sato. I know why you
did it and I know you weren’t seeking permission and it was a low blow and I shouldn’t
have said it.”