Intoxicating Magic (25 page)

“You’re not going to be tied to anything. Once you change Rox, he’ll make a trade and we’ll be free of you and the rest of this bullshit.”

Trade? Trade what? Me? To whom? Allcot? Asher? Some other effed-up group I didn’t know about? “Free to do what?”

“Live!” He shouted the word at me. “Ever since your brother up and got himself killed, we’ve been in this fuckin’ limbo of hell, Rox and Grace fighting about what to do next, Asher calling all—” He stopped and stared at me, wide eyed. “Never mind. I just want to be done with this nonsense. I don’t want to be involved in a political war any longer.” He stopped pacing and slumped down onto an old stump.

I pressed my lips together tight, willing myself to stay quiet. It was hard, though. I had a lot of questions. But something told me the minute I asked him anything else, he’d clam right up. Instead, I made what I hoped was a sympathetic noise in the back of my throat.

He sighed and ran a hand down his face. “But it’s not going to end, you know.”

I waited a few beats, but when he didn’t elaborate, I asked, “Why not?”

“Your nephew.” He let out a long-suffering breath. “Even if you died today, there’d still be a battle over him once he comes of age. And because he’s under Allcot’s protection, it’s going to be epic. Asher will never let that go.”

Ice-cold dread shot straight to my heart. Beau Jr. He was at the center of all this. Not me. Yeah, they wanted me to do their bidding, but in the end, the war would be waged over my nephew. The reality of it settled over me with a hard finality. I’d known all along he was in danger, but I’d only been focused on keeping him hidden. Safe. Alive.

I’d reluctantly accepted that he’d be safest under Allcot’s care, but I could see so clearly now that keeping him there was a surefire way of losing him faster than anything else.

As long as Allcot had access to the fae who could turn vamps into daywalkers, Asher would never give up. The last thing he’d do is let Allcot gain any more power.

I had to get Beau Jr. out of there. Had to find a way to end this power struggle between the two master vamps. The only problem was I had no idea how to do that.

And I sure as hell couldn’t do it while being held captive by Shorty and company. I turned to him. “What would you do to end this right now?”

He stared at me, startled. “I don’t…” Frowning, he rubbed his forehead. Then his expression brightened. “I’d work both sides against each other until the water boiled over, and then I’d skip town and let the pair of them battle to the finish.”

“Hmm. Interesting.” That definitely wouldn’t work for me since Asher had already tried to kill me a few times. But his words combined with the look he’d had on his face right before Grace had left us for the evening did give me an idea. “So…?”

“Yeah?” He plucked a stray blade of grass and fingered it.

“Why haven’t Vince and Talia shown up?”

He looked startled at the question, but then shrugged. “They do their own thing now. Only come around when Rox has a job for them.”

“So it’s just you and Rox and Grace usually?”

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why?”

I waved a hand, trying to look casual. “Just curious is all. I was actually wondering if you had a girlfriend.”

His expression went flat and then he cut his eyes to the house. “She… left.”

“Oh,” I said sympathetically. “Breakups are hard.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. We didn’t break up. She just left one day. Went out and never came back.”

Yikes. He looked so dejected I actually felt a pang of sympathy for him. “Do you know why?”

He was completely silent as he stared at the back door of the house. The night was still as I listened to myself breathe, waiting for him to answer.

Finally he turned to me, his eyes full of fury. “Because that morning she walked in our bedroom and found Grace crawling all over me. Naked.”

Bingo.

Chapter 24

Shorty was vibrating with barely repressed rage. I wanted to reach out and soothe him if for no other reason than to calm my own nerves. I needed him to keep talking, but if he was going to lose his shit on me, it wouldn’t do me any good.

Fortunately he got enough of a grip on himself that the tension drained from his face and he sat back down on the stump, pretending he wasn’t upset. It was enough for me.

“Ah,” I asked carefully. “Had you invited her there? Grace, I mean?”

He turned steely eyes on me. “No.”

Short and to the point. And interesting. Had Grace and Rox had issues at some point, or was she just a troublemaker in general? I was going with the latter. “Did your girl know that?”

He shrugged. “I guess not.”

“You didn’t tell her?”

The look he gave me could’ve melted iron. “I would have if she’d come back.”

“Oh.” The word hung in the air between us. Finally I said, “I see.”

His head snapped in my direction. “No. You don’t see. Not at all.”

I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

He stared me dead in the eye and said, “It wouldn’t have done any good anyway. Because that bitch”—he pointed to the house—“she’d been fucking with the two of us for months. Undermining our relationship. And that day, Grace startled me. Caught me off guard. I actually thought she was my girl at first. So… there you have it. Grace got what she wanted. Like she always does. So do yourself a favor and just turn Rox. Maybe then she’ll leave you the fuck alone.”

I stood, pleased to realize my body was stronger, even if my eyes did feel like sandpaper. I needed to get some rest at some point, but at least I had some strength back. The tree had done its job. I reached out tentatively to Shorty.

He jerked back. “Don’t even think about it,” he barked.

“What?” I asked confused, then realized he didn’t want me to touch him. Did he think I was going to drain him? I could, but then I’d be useless again with no hope of escaping. “Oh, sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I was going to say that maybe you should stand up for yourself. Don’t let Grace have so much control over your life.”

He snorted. “Right. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You sure about that? I have a boss and certain vampires trying to tell me what to do on a daily basis. But you know what? One person can only take so much, human or vampire. If you’re miserable, what’s the point in living?”

My words resulted in the exact opposite of my desired outcome. His shoulders slumped forward in defeat.

Son of a… How pathetic was he? I couldn’t take it anymore. “Stand up for yourself, man! What she did is complete bullshit and you know it.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Grace’s sharp voice came out of the darkness. She was on me before I could even get my hands up to defend myself. “Are you trying to turn him against me?”

She let out a growl as one hand squeezed my neck, cutting off my airflow.

Panic rendered me absolutely still.
Can’t breathe. Can’t breathe.
The words filtered through my consciousness while my body tried to catch up with my brain. My world was dark, filled with foggy, colorless clouds.

I was quite literally the deer in the headlights as the raging vampire squeezed harder, sucking out my newly recharged energy.

But then everything came into clear focus and all I saw was the enemy trying to choke the life out of me. Pure hatred roared to life from deep in my gut. I’d be damned if I let that crazy vampire bitch get the better of me.

With my nerve endings screaming in pain from her contact and my body already trembling, I reached out and grabbed her perfect face, pulling in her tainted black vampire energy.

My legs wobbled but I didn’t let go as she screamed bloody murder.

“You bitch. Get off me!” Suddenly I was lifted off the ground by my neck and flung backward right into the oak.

“Oomph.” I heard a loud snap, followed by a sharp, blinding pain in my left arm. My body fell in slow motion down the trunk of the tree until I collapsed in a heap at the bottom. Tears from pure shock blurred my vision as I clutched at my limp arm. That bitch had broken it.

Oh. My. Goddess. It hurt.

There was a scuffle going on somewhere in the small backyard, but I couldn’t focus long enough to make sense of anything. Most likely it was Grace and Shorty.

“Stop!” someone shouted and then more rustling commenced followed by accusations and threats from Grace and Shorty. She was berating him for being a pushover and letting me get to him and he was threatening to tell Rox about them.

“What’s he going to say when I tell him where you’ve been spending your Tuesday nights? You think he’s going to keep you around? You know him. And you know he’ll throw your ass out,” Shorty said.

“You wouldn’t dare. He’d rip your dick off.” Her voice was low and controlled.

But when he laughed in her face, she flew at him, clawing at his eyes as he used one arm to try to fend her off. She kicked out, hitting him in the knee, and they both fell to the ground, going at each other with such fury there was no doubt in my mind that they were crossing the lines of love and hate. No one had that much passion for someone they were lukewarm about.

Holy crow. Were they having some kind of affair? It had sounded like Shorty hated her. But the way they were fighting, it looked a lot like pent-up passion.

I stumbled to my feet, wiping my tears with my free hand just in time to see a tall figure drop from the tree above. I let out a cry of surprise and stumbled, almost losing my balance.

“Whoa,” a very familiar voice said as he wrapped a steady arm around me.

“Talisen,” I breathed and clutched him with my good arm. “Where’d you come from?”

“Later.” He glanced down at my cradled arm and frowned. “You’re hurt.”

I nodded.

“Can you fly?” The concern in his voice had me standing taller, forcing myself to be strong.

Eyeing the two vampires trying to kill each other, I sucked in a sharp breath. “I will if I have to.”

“Hold still,” he said softly into my ear and then ran his magical fingers lightly along my battered arm. A cooling numbness took over, leaving behind a dull ache. “It’s not healed, but it should be enough to get you out of here without too much pain.”

He released me and scrambled up the tree from where he’d appeared. I followed him with my gaze, realizing he was headed for the neighbor’s rooftop. Once again clutching my immobile arm, I thrust my wings and gasped at the sharp bolt of pain that shot through my arm. It wasn’t as bad as it would’ve been, but it still made me see white spots. Despite the pain, I thrust my wings once more, determined to follow Talisen, to get the hell out of there.

Ten more feet and I’d clear the roofline, five feet. Three feet. I was so close, I stretched my good arm out for Talisen, but then a sharp pinch of pain pierced my ankle. Jerking my feet up, I pitched forward, losing my momentum. The night blurred around me as I was suddenly tumbling to the ground, my limbs and wings paralyzed.

Someone screamed. Maybe it was me. Nothing was clear, only the sudden and final impact of my body slamming to the hard-packed ground.

***

“Willow! Wake up.” There was a faint trace of urgency in the faraway words. Talisen. He was calling to me. “Come on, Wil. You can do this.”

I wanted to open my eyes. Wanted to look up into the green-emerald gaze I knew so well, but nothing was cooperating. My brain was sending the signal, but my body wasn’t responding.

My breath came in shorter, more frantic gasps. I’d broken my neck. Or back. That’s why I couldn’t feel anything. Couldn’t see anything. My insides were churning with the impulse to run, to cry, to lash out, but there was nothing. Only the sound of erratic breathing.

Was this death? I welcomed it, then. Didn’t want to be in my frozen prison any longer. Everything would end. All my troubles with Allcot, Asher, and even the Void. Talisen could move on and have a normal life without me. Link would go with him. Phoebe would get a partner who had more than one useless skill. Tami would take over the shop, maybe hire another magical baker. And Mom. She could focus on… Beau Jr.

My heart pounded harder at the thought of my nephew. What would his life be like?

“Willow, dammit!” A bolt of power rocketed through my veins and I shot straight up, my body humming with familiar healing magic. Tal’s magic. I twisted and found him white-faced and clutching my hand in both of his. “Thank the gods,” he said and wrapped me in his strong arms.

His redwood scent engulfed me. I took a deep breath, fortifying myself with the knowledge that he was real. That I was real and hadn’t died from my twenty-foot fall.

Before I said anything, he stood and pulled me to my feet. “Can you walk?”

“I…” The words were stuck in my dry throat. I coughed, tried again, but then shook my head and pointed to my mouth, indicating I couldn’t speak.

“You need to hydrate. Don’t try to talk. Just put one foot in front of the other.”

I did as he said, wobbling perilously. After a few steps, my balance stabilized, and I glanced around, noting the now-familiar backyard.

Things had changed quite a bit. Grace and Shorty were no longer fighting. Shorty was lying flat out, unconscious. What had happened to him? Link was there, pacing in front of Grace, his teeth bared and his hackles standing on end. He was seconds from attacking her. But she stood with her hands up in surrender.