Inhuman Heritage (31 page)

“You lied to me you know,” he said but he didn’t really look cross.

“Hey, I fully intended to come back here and tell you what happened but I got hit on the head. I think that counts as a mitigating circumstance.” He smirked.

“I was actually going to tell you that I was glad you didn’t listen to me because without you things could have gone very wrong here.”

“Glad I could help.” I took another sip of the champagne. Simian stood at my side in companionable silence while I delved into my thoughts. I had a lot of them. Being shot had led me down a path that Virginia had been deeply afraid of me taking. The bird in my dreams had finally caught me and I felt not really different per say but I felt strangely complete, like something that had been missing had clicked into place. It was strange as I hadn’t been aware that something had been missing to start with. I knew there were a lot of blank spots in this story though, I needed to know more about where I came from, about my mother, about this creature that I was and to what extent my magic would now go to. I’d already won a fight with a werewolf hand to hand, which if you had asked me last year I would have said there was no possibility of. I was still afraid of what it all meant.

Simian elbowed me in the side and I raised my head to look at him. Leroy Craven was standing in front of us, he had taken off the ceremonial robe in favor of a very nice dark suit with a purple tie. I smiled at him and slid my hand into his as he reached for it.

“Your majesty, congratulations,” I said with all politeness.

“Thank you. It seems to be my word of the day where you are concerned Miss Farbanks. We owe you a great deal.”

“LeBron, don’t forget him, you might be getting to know him very well.” Leroy Craven looked back over his shoulder to where LeBron was refilling Brie’s glass while she giggled and looked like she was getting a little tipsy.

“I believe someone else is attempting to get to know him. I will have to join the line.”

I laughed. He smiled at me and it was so strange how much younger that smile made the man seem. I knew good things would be in store for the community with him at the helm.

“It was a pleasure to help you out.”

Leroy reached up pulling my scarf away from my skin a little, this startled me and I took a step back from him drawing the scarf wider. The bruises on my neck had gone past being purple and were already starting to yellow and heal.

“You are already healing your wounds?” he said surprised.

“I heal fast,” I said fixing the scarf back into place forcing him to take his hand back.

“As I said, we are indebted for all you went through for our sake.” He was looking at my stomach and I gathered that DJ had given him a full report, including that I had been shot fatally but survived it. I wonder if he had included a description of what I looked like naked. I coughed subtly making sure that he raised his eyes back to my face.

“Well, when you get a minute, you can send me a check.” He smiled.

“Of course, Miss Farbanks, you will be paid the exact amount that was promised as well as a very generous tip,” he said but he came closer sliding his arm around my shoulders leading me off to one side. “There is just one more thing we require of you.”

* * * *

I was once again sitting in a car with DJ driving and Farir and Sorin sitting in the back seat. We were driving back along the road we had taken the night this had all began. The community had sent people out to clear up as much of the mess they could so that there would be nothing for the police to bring against them. The farmhouse looked deserted now. The bitten wolf that had owned it had fled during the night probably receiving word or guessing that the coup had not gone to plan and he didn’t want to face justice. We sped up the dirt track to the airstrip to find that the white plane that had brought them in was sitting waiting, the pilot leaning patiently against the side. I was still in my dress from the ceremony even though I was desperate to get home and get out of it, get back into some normal clothes. This dress had actually been my mother’s. We were pretty much the same size which was eerie to say the least. Maybe it was an immortal thing. It was something I was going to have to look into. I had Googled Phoenix just trying to gather some basics and had read that they could live from five hundred to a thousand years. I was facing a much longer time on this earth than I had ever imagined. DJ pulled the car to a stop next to the shed that still held the little red crop duster that had been there the first time. He was out his door like a shot and ran around to open my door for me, I let the gesture slide as I was in a short dress and heels. I stepped out into the dim light of twilight, adjust my locket and waited for Sorin and Farir to get out.

The three of us walked together towards the plane while DJ hung back by the car. Farir greeted the pilot leaving me alone with the boy. I bent down carefully smoothing my skirt down and hugged the little boy tight; I’d gotten strangely fond of him. I wasn’t even aware at first that he was touching the bare skin of my arm powering up ever so slightly. He read me and I still wonder what it was he saw because he smiled at me very brightly. I hope that meant he saw that I was going to do good with my very, very long life.

“Cassandra, can I ask you something?” he asked looking at me unsure whether or not I would give him an honest answer.

“Sure, Sorin, anything you want.”

“You’re not really my mother are you?” I gave him a sad little smile.

“No, I’m sorry but I’m not.”

“I’m kind of glad you’re not,” he said beaming at me. I didn’t know quite what to make of that. He hugged me again and I stood up to shake Farir’s hand. He lifted Sorin into the plane and climbed in after him. I stepped backwards as the propellers whirled to life kicking up dust and waved goodbye. I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last I saw of the boy. DJ smiled at me sliding his arm around my shoulders. He was looking up at the sky watching the plane disappear into the distance.

“I think someone has developed a little crush on you.” I smiled a little to myself.

“Do you always refer to yourself in the third person?” I slid my shoulders out from under his arm rounding the bonnet back to the passenger side door and pulled it open. He looked at me all red-faced.

“Come on, I need to get back before sunset. I’ve got a lot to do tonight.”

Chapter Thirty

I let myself into my apartment an hour before sunset figuring that I would have enough time to change into something more comfortable and head over to Dante’s to have a talk with Aram that I was not looking forward to. I unwrapped the scarf from around my neck and examined the bruises in the mirror. Even now I could see they were fading much faster than normal. I would still have to wear something that would cover them because Aram might overreact when he saw them.

The light on my answer machine was blinking. I reached over to press it down and froze when the voice came over the line. I reached for the delete button.

“Cassandra, I know I am the last person in the world that you want to hear from please just listen okay.” I curled my finger back and decided I could listen to Nancy’s message, didn’t mean I had to do a damn thing about it. “I’m not calling for me, it’s Magnus. I don’t know what happened between the two of you the other night but it really upset him and I know most of it was my fault. He’s been much nicer to me than I know I deserve after what I did to you and I am really sorry about that.”

I grumbled wishing she would just get to the fucking point already.

“Magnus is leaving. He’s packed up most of his stuff and he’s going away somewhere. He won’t tell me where and although he’s said I can stay in his empty house for as long as I want, I can’t help but think that you need to talk to him, maybe talk him out of it but please, he can’t just leave without…” The message cut off with a beep because she had run out of space and she hadn’t called back. I felt something in my heart twitch. Magnus was going away. He was leaving Worcester and it was because of me. I doubted I could change his mind; he was one of these people that when he made up his mind he was damn stubborn.

I walked into my bedroom and found myself changing into my motorcycle pants and a high necked long sleeved top that had a purple-eyed black cat on it. I was going to go see him. I was riding myself into more emotional turmoil than I had planned for the evening. I grabbed my keys, changed my phone and wallet over to my jacket before heading down to get on my bike.

* * * *

When I pulled up to the curb outside Magnus’s place I found him on the drive packing boxes into his old car. There was no sign of his sleek new car. A snide part of me hoped that he hadn’t swapped it with Nancy. He stopped holding a box in his arms when he saw the bike pull up. I yanked the helmet off shaking out my hair and left it sitting on the seat. As I approached he slid the box into the back of the car.

“What are you doing here?”

“A little birdie told me you were skipping town.” He shut the car door with a loud slam but I didn’t jump. He crossed his arms over his chest.

“This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. There is an old theatre up in Manchester that needs some serious renovation but it’s a classic and I either go up there and fix it up and get it running again or it gets torn down.”

I knew Magnus was big into keeping culture alive and restoring a grand old theatre sounded just like the sort of thing he would do but there was more to it then he was saying.

“Who’s going to run the Swan while you’re away?”

“I hired in a replacement, she’s got experience and I’m sure the place will do fine. I mean I still own it and the money that comes in from that will really be a help on my new project.” I put my hands on my hips; he was stonewalling me, not with silence but with optimistic busy talk. I found there were a lot of people that smiled to hide their pain.

“What does your sister and step dad think of this?” His face got a little stormy like I had kicked him below the belt.
“Aziel doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. Bethany is upset of course, she’s been pleading with me not to go. Did she call you? Does she think that maybe you can talk me out of it?”

“Your sister didn’t call me. She wouldn’t even speak to me after we broke up because she thought it would upset you,” I said and he arched an eyebrow at me.

“I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah well, I mean I needed to talk to her but she blew me off and, well, then you found me in the bar. I’ve had a really screwed up week. I don’t want what nearly happened to be a factor here.” His face softened and he reached out to touch me. I flinched, I couldn’t help it and his fingers curled into a fist.

“I can’t lie to you—you are definitely a factor. We could have been really good together, we could have been a permanent thing but things just got messed up and well, I thought you might be the one and it hurts to be wrong. Even if you said we could try again, right now, it might not change my mind. I craved you so badly when you left me that I did stupid things, the new look, the stupidly expensive sports car, all of it designed to win you back. I didn’t like that I became so obsessed.”

“It wouldn’t work out Magnus, I’m not who I was.”

“People change, I understand that.”

“You really don’t…” And then I blurted out everything. The dreams, the results of my blood test, the fact that I’d accept the power and now I might outlive him by several hundred years.

“If anyone other than you told me this I might not believe it,” he said sadly and when he reached to hug me, I made myself hold still and let him do it but his arms no longer offered me the comfort they once had. I had thoroughly killed any love I had for him but it was possible that we could still have some kind of relationship, a friendship.

“Kind of cements how perfect you and Aram are for each other.”

“I wouldn’t say perfect where Aram is concerned.” Magnus leaned against his car and crossed his arms again as if he didn’t know what else to do with them.

“He’s been in your life a lot longer than me, he’s taken his time but he has a secure place in your affections, even when you were mad at him you couldn’t let your inaction bring harm to him.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“Just answer me one thing. Do you love him?”

I had asked myself this many times in the last week since I thought that we might be breaking up and although I had admitted it privately to myself, sharing it with another person seemed to make it more official.

“I think so.”

“You don’t sound sure.”

“I’m not. I’ve got a lot on my mind right now. I need to know who I am before I worry about…other things. I’ve got to talk to him.” Magnus rubbed the stubble on his chin and sighed like he didn’t like what he was about to say.

“I don’t like the vampire, I know I’ve said it before but I want to be clear, I really don’t like the blood sucking SOB, but that said, don’t break his heart, Cassandra. It will hurt you more that it will him.” I looked at Magnus and blinked tears back. I was going to miss Magnus because I could see it all. I could see us really being in love, getting married and having children perhaps, but I could also see me having to watch him die someday. I reached out to him and took his hand.

“I’m sorry, Magnus.”

“What for? You might have to be more specific.” That made me laugh and I hit him playfully in the shoulder, he winced and rubbed the spot. “Ah, so there is that new strength you told me about.”