Magic on the Storm (6 page)

Tough. I just didn’t have it in me to forgive the kid.
“Say it.” I didn’t sit. Neither did Zay.
Anthony, to his credit, nodded, and pulled his hands out of his jacket. “You
want to sit, maybe? You could sit. This is gonna take more than a minute.”
I didn’t want to. I wanted the kid to say he was sorry Pike was dead, and then
I was going to tell him I wouldn’t accept his apology, and to never talk to me
again.
Zay hooked the leg of a chair with his foot, and scooted it out.
His shoulder brushed mine as he took the extra seat, and I felt a flash of his
curiosity, his sense of compassion.
It was strange. Zayvion went through his life taking away people’s memories,
sometimes taking away their lives, without qualms. I didn’t expect him to have
a shred of compassion for a kid like Anthony.
Hells.
I took the other seat. “Talk.”
Anthony licked his lips. His gaze skittered over my face, finally settled
somewhere around my chin.
“I’ve tried to think of how I should say this, and I can’t.” He raised his
eyes, met my gaze, then looked away. Ear this time. “I’m sorry. For those girls
getting hurt. For what I did to Pike.”
“You killed him,” I said. “You might not have held the gun, but you sold him
out, and you killed him.”
Anthony’s eyes went narrow. It looked like he was trying hard not to yell. I
could smell the heavy stink of guilt on him.
“I know what I did,” he said. “If you can’t forgive me, it doesn’t matter. I
just had to say it. Counselor told me.” His looked back up at my forehead, his
gaze steady, flat.
I couldn’t forgive him. And there was no way I would ever trust him. I wanted
to tell him to go away and never talk to me again. But I had a pretty good idea
what would happen if I handed the kid his ass. Sometimes it takes only one word
to send someone into a spiral they never pull out of. Then how many deaths
would he be responsible for? And how many would be on my hands?
“I don’t trust you, Anthony, and I don’t like you. But Pike saw something in
you. Get clean. Get your life together and make something out of it.”
“I want to Hound. I want to be a part of the pack.” Sweet hells. What was I
supposed to say to that? I sure as hells wasn’t going to be his babysitter. I
was nowhere near as nice as Pike.
“Have you even finished high school?”
“I’m doing online classes.”
“Does your mother know you want to do this?”
“We don’t talk much.”
I took a drink of coffee to keep from yelling at the kid. He was what, sixteen?
And already taking his life back down a path that had almost killed him the
first time.
No sense.
Of course, most Hounds didn’t have any sense.
Me included.
This was a bad idea.
“This is a bad idea,” I said.
“So you’re saying no?”
I’m sorry, Pike. I can’t do it.
“I’m saying no.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say.”
Kid was angry. But even if I let him join the pack, no one would work with him.
Plus, I was pretty sure Davy would kill him if they ever got in the same room
together.
“You want to be part of the pack, you have to earn it.”
“Pike wouldn’t—”
“I suggest,” I said over the top of him, “you don’t quote me on what Pike would
or wouldn’t do. Ever.”
Kid wasn’t the only one who was angry.
He shut his mouth. Good.
“Finish school. Get clean. You give me your counselor’s number so I can check
in on you. You don’t Hound—at all. You got me on that, Bell? Not for the cops,
not for a friend, not for anyone, until you’re straight and clutching a diploma
in your hand. You do that and I’ll give you a try.”
“Fuck that shit,” he said. “I don’t need you.”
“No,” I said, “you don’t.” I stood. “And one more thing—I’d avoid Davy Silvers
if I were you. He’s not as forgiving as I am.”
Pike had been my friend, but Davy had worshipped the man. I waited a second to
see if Anthony had anything else to say. He didn’t. So I turned and walked off.
Anthony swore again behind me.
Kid didn’t know it, but I was doing him a favor. I was giving him a chance at a
life without pain. Well, with less pain anyway. I think that’s what Pike would
have really wanted—for the kid to have a second shot at a clean life,
regardless of the dumb things he’d done.
Anthony had that chance. I hoped he made good use of it.
I strolled over to the table where Kevin and a noticeably pregnant Violet
waited for me. Zayvion, surprisingly, stayed seated for a few more seconds. He
said something to Anthony, but even with my good ears, I couldn’t catch it over
the noise of the crowd.
Rats.
“It’s good to see you,” Violet said once I was close enough.
I smiled, even though Anthony still had my hackles up. “Good to see you too.” I
took the extra seat. “Is it okay if Zayvion joins us?”
Violet nodded, the low lights of the room flashing across her tasteful
wire-rimmed glasses. She had pulled her red hair back in a plain ponytail. She
wasn’t wearing any makeup, but had that beautiful glow pregnant women were
supposed to always get. I used to think the whole glow thing was a bunch of
baloney before watching Violet go through the last few months of carrying my
dad’s child.
Yes, it was weird to see someone younger than me pregnant with my dad’s baby.
Family issues. I have them.
“Why didn’t you just call?” I asked.
Violet pushed her glasses back on her nose and shifted to sit up straighter.
Kevin pulled a Mute spell out of his sleeve. I mean literally. He tugged his
rucked-up shirtsleeve back down on his wrist, and somehow in the middle of that
put up a very subtle Mute that even a good Hound would have a hard time
tracking.
Like I said, he was very, very good at that sort of thing.
“I didn’t want the call traced,” Violet said.
Wow. The woman knew how to set a mood.
“Someone’s tracing your calls?”
“There are members on the board of Beckstrom Enterprises. They represent a
faction of shareholders. They are displeased with the amount of resources going
into the lab and technology development, and the lack of results. They insist I
show them classified documents of my progress.”
“Okay,” I said, trying to get my head around the problem. “What classified
documents?”
“The disks. They want to know about the disks.”
The same disks that were stolen. The same disks that were implanted in
Greyson’s neck and used to turn him into a beast. The disks that would make
magic portable and nearly without price. Disks that would change how everyone
accessed magic and be used for as much bad as good.
That
was a problem.
Zayvion strolled over, made eye contact with Kevin, and then sat in a chair
next to me without ruffling the Mute spell. Very nice.
“Are they members of the Authority?” I asked. I knew some of the people in my
father’s company were in the Authority, like his accountant, Mr. Katz, but it
wasn’t like anyone had ever done a roll call for me.
Note to self: get a roll call.
“No,” she said. “The disks are proving to be too dangerous when not in the
right hands, which is such a shame considering how much good they can do in the
right hands. I’m working on ways to limit how much magic a disk can hold, and
how many times it can be recharged. There are pros and cons as to creating
fail-safes for compatibility between disks. We designed them to be compatible.
But ever since the robbery at the lab, and then Daniel’s death . . .” She
paused.
In my head, my dad stirred and pressed outward, like he was leaning against a
wall of glass. He scratched at the backs of my eyes, and a melancholy need that
was not my own filled me.
“Since his death,” she continued, “I haven’t been pushing forward on that
project as hard.”
Which made sense. James Hoskil, one of the people involved in my dad’s murder,
had admitted using disks with Blood magic. Violet didn’t know it, but Greyson
had a disk implanted in his neck, holding him permanently between life and
death, neither man nor beast.
As far as I could tell, the disks had only ever been used to harm.
“What happens if you don’t release the documents to the shareholders?” I asked.
“There are legal actions they could take.” She picked up her cup, the steam
giving up the sweet perfume of licorice. “They’ve threatened locking me out of
the lab, seizing my files, closing down the facility . . . and . . . other
actions. We’ve had some interesting mail. Threats.” She gave me a small smile
and I saw a flash of anger in her eyes before she took a sip of her tea. Violet
was no fainting flower. I’d come to believe she had matched my moody father’s
intellect and stubbornness point for point.
“The attorneys are involved, but these kinds of people don’t always go through
legal channels. Which is why I wanted to talk to you. I’m going to move in with
Kevin for a little while. Just while the condo is being remodeled for the baby,
and retrofitted for security measures.”
I couldn’t help it. I stared at Kevin.
Kevin didn’t show a scrap of concern. Didn’t give off a single vibe that he was
happy or sad about the arrangement. I’d seen the two of them together enough to
know he was in love with Violet, even though she had no clue, and as far as I
could tell, he was not willing to admit it to her.
But living together. Seriously?
“Seriously?” I said, because I am clever like that.
Violet nodded. “I could have rented a second condominium for a while, but the
security may have been a problem. Kevin suggested I stay at his house, which is
well guarded, magically and technologically, and since he has a guest room, I
agreed.”
Kevin picked up his nearly empty coffee cup, took a drink, his gaze meeting
mine over the top of his cup.
The man was hard to read, even for me, and I make a living off reading people.
The only page I could read in the book of Kevin was that this was none of my
damn business.
Maybe he was right. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me.
“You don’t care what the tabloids will say when they catch wind of this?” I
asked.
“I’ve put some people in place to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Well, well. Look at who knew whom to bribe and how. Violet was good at playing
this game. “All right, then. So don’t try to reach you at home, is what you’re
saying?”
Violet twisted, as much as she was able, and dug into the purse hanging on the
chair beside her. “Yes. Here’s the address, and the number at Kevin’s. My cell
phone remains unchanged. If you need me, just call. And if they do tap my
phone, I’ll find a way to let you know.”
She produced a piece of paper and handed it to me.
I tucked it into the back pocket of my jeans.
“Thanks,” I said. “How are you feeling?”
“Other than being as big as a house?” She laughed.
“You are not,” I said. “You look beautiful. Doesn’t she, Kevin?”
The man could set a stone on fire with that look. I just smiled innocently.
Yes, I am cruel like that.
But as soon as Violet looked over at him, Kevin turned down the inferno and
went back to Mr. Plain and Mild. I had no idea how he kept all those emotions
he felt for Violet behind the proper, impersonal attentiveness of a bodyguard.
“You do,” Kevin said. “You look beautiful.”
Violet rolled her eyes, but she blushed. “You’re both crazy. Or blind. But
thank you.” She patted Kevin’s hand. She didn’t see what that simple touch did
to him, because she was looking at me instead.
I kept my gaze off Kevin. No need to torture the man. “So when’s the big move?”
“Last week,” she said.
Correction. She was very good at playing this game. I hadn’t even heard a hint
of a rumor.
“I would have contacted you earlier, but on top of all this, I’ve been trying
to get everything ready for the baby. I know I still have three months to go,
but I don’t want to put it off to the last minute, just in case.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t the maternal type. I had very little idea of what a baby needed.
Blanket, bottle, diapers. Was there more to it? Nola, my best friend, never had
kids. And my lack of social life hadn’t afforded me many baby showers.
“Do you . . . uh . . . need me to do anything for you, for that?” I asked.
“No, no, I’ve got it. There’s still a lot of time; I’m just putting my nervous
energy to good use. Making lists. A lot of lists. I like lists.”
“Do you know if it’s a boy or girl?”
“Nope. And I won’t until he or she takes their first breath of air.” She picked
up her cup again, took one last drink. That reminded me. I hadn’t finished my
coffee, or even opened the bag with the scone yet.
“I do need to be going, though,” she said. “I have an appointment with the
lawyers. If you need anything, or have any problems, I’d like you to let me
know.” She stood, and I marveled at how her petite frame could be so rounded in
front and otherwise look exactly the same.
Kevin was already on his feet, holding her coat out for her. All the sounds
from the room came rushing in like someone had pulled plugs out of my ears.
Kevin’s Mute spell was gone.
“I’ll call you when I move back into the condo, or if I hear anything about the
legal actions.” Violet put on her coat. “And you call me if you are contacted
by anyone, stockholders, members of the board, anyone. I want to know if they
are offering you anything . . . interesting in return for favors.”
“Like I’d have anything to do with this political business maneuvering crap,” I
said.
“We all have our price,” she said pleasantly.
“Did you just tell me I’m going to sell you out?”
“I don’t think you would, no. You’re . . .” She paused and gave me a critical
look. Her eyebrows dipped. “What have you been doing lately, Allie? You look
good.”
“Remodeling. Next door for the Hounds. Oh, and the whole three-meals-a-day
thing is catching on.” Not lies. But not the whole truth. I’d been training my
butt off. Physically and magically. And it showed. In all the right ways.
“Still seeing a self-defense teacher?”
“Yes.”
She nodded, but I had a feeling she didn’t think I was telling her the whole
truth.
Note to self: tell my sibling never to lie to her.
“You were saying?” I prompted.
“Oh, right. Don’t get pregnant. It ruins your short-term memory.”
I was the last person she needed to explain memory loss to.
“Keep a journal,” I suggested, with as little sarcasm as possible.
She actually laughed at that. “I can’t believe I said that to you.” She pressed
her fingertips against her lips. “Pregnant makes me a little stupid. I’m
sorry.”