Nine Lives of an Urban Panther (19 page)

I began to pace. There were so many people in the kitchen that the pacing room was only three good strides and I was pretty sure that I stepped on someone but they didn't protest.

“So Jovan takes the little devil under his wing. Teaches him things like how to steal energy, things that his father never taught him. He gets really good at it, which is why I defaulted to it when I was dying, but now, he's gotten too big for his britches and surrogate daddy wants him out of the nest. So he's pulling on his debts to help my older brother three-heel-click it back home.”

I looked around at the gaping mouths.

“Don't explain it to the others like that,” Jessa said. “There was just way too much wrong with that whole thing.”

“But I'm right.” I looked around at all the other eyes, but particularly Nash's. I knew that he'd find the flaw in the logic. He shook his head. I smiled. We had a plan.

“So we get back to Dallas. Tell the heads what we know and—”

Tucker spoke. “Fortify you. You're the one he needs to get across.”

I nodded. “Agreed, but if I've got all the Wanderers keeping a look out for weirdness, then that should be easier.”

“Maybe we could ask a certain long lost cousin to see something useful?” Chaz asked.

“First steps first, though,” Nash said. “Do we want to break the Demon Lock?”

I gasped. “What?”

“Cristina solved it for us,” Nash said as he walked back around to the side of the table. “It was in the margins of the paper you had stuck in there.”

The energy between Tyler and me tightened. I pulled at it as well, like he was keeping me upright as much as I was keeping him standing, both knowing that we could do this together.

“Seth Garrett had it half right and Cristina finished it off.”

“What?” Chaz joined us at the table to look over the bound book.

Nash's gaze bounced between me and Chaz like a tennis ball that didn't quite know when to stop.

“I mean I knew that he helped people out, but he broke Jovan's mark?”

I nodded. How was I going to say this without completely sending Chaz into another dark and broody because maybe I had left out a few vital details about his father? “Cristina was helping me figure out exactly how. Our concern was that we could break it, but it would bond them to me, and I can't have more than four.”

“Why not?” Chaz asked, his eyes growing more golden as the conversation went on.

Why'd he have to ask that question? “Because the way that your father did it actually just broke the bond with Jovan and didn't actually remove the lock.”

Chaz wasn't stupid. He'd lived with monsters and demons his whole life. He knew how this stuff worked. “Dad pinned the mark on himself. Like the boys pinned their mark on you.”

I nodded.

“And the boys drained you, so the others drained him?”

Iris finally broke in on the powwow. “Seth knew what he was doing.” The crowd parted for her as she carefully made her way to the table. “Came to me, told me what he'd done.”

“Did it kill him?” Chaz's hands wrapped around the top of the kitchen chair and I watched the tension run up from his white knuckles to his shoulders.

“Made him fight like hell.” Iris reached out and put her wrinkled hand over Chaz's hand. “He fought harder afterward. He was connected to others. And he knew that Haverty had to die.”

Chaz got silent, that stony silent that he always got.

I curled my arm around his. “Nash, how do we break it?”

Nash licked his lips. “Fire. Burn another mark on top of it, just like Garrett did.”

“But it wasn't enough,” Chaz growled next to me.

Nash looked to me for permission to continue. I nodded and he slipped into Mr. Info Mode.

“The lock connects two people's magics, their souls if you will, allowing for a flow of energy. Undoing the mark just unlocks them but it's like two loose shoelaces. Still dangling out there. The key, the part that Cristina figured out, was how to loop the magic back in on itself and create a whole person again.”

“My brilliant girl,” Tyler breathed. Something light and fluttery passed between us.

“How?” I asked.

“By redirecting the person's power into themselves.”

“And what makes you think that I can do that?”

“Because you're the freak with the stories,” Jessa said. “We do stuff together that no one's even heard of before.”

I burst out laughing, as did the whole of the kitchen. “And I'm the one who says stuff wrong?”

Jessa just rolled her eyes. “I'm saying that you have a knack for this stuff. If your little brain can dream it up, I'm pretty sure you can do it.”

“Like that lightning thing with Carlisle. Shifters aren't supposed to be able to do that,” Tucker said from behind Jessa.

“And no one but a Fairy Warden is supposed to be able to weave the Veil but you can.”

I shook my head. “I'm not chancing this one. We need more than just Violet's brain to rely on. It's too important.”

“So use your stones,” Nash said as innocently as possible.

“What?” I said, with a smile. I was beginning to think that everyone needed an extra cup of coffee this morning.

“Cristina thought of that too. You'll have two loose ends. Put a banishing field up so Jovan's energy can't stay anywhere around here and something else that will help bind their energy to themselves.”

“What about anyone else within a five-mile radius?” I asked. “What protects them from Jovan?”

Nash's face turned to stone. “You can't protect everyone.”

I was going to have to choose between my pack and innocent people. My stomach churned and I felt something like a squid kick around in my gut. Did I put my pack above the others in the area?

I tightened my embrace of Chaz's arm. His power beat around him, his emotions breaking through his steely borders for the moment. I'd fought too hard to let this happen, to have my people take from me. And Seth Garrett had fought too hard to have me stop trying.

“Do it.” The words made my mouth dry and my stomach turn over on itself. A million other thoughts ran through my head.

Nash and Kandice nodded and took the book away. Tyler escorted Jane back upstairs.

The rest of us just looked at each other in silence for a moment.

“You can do this,” Chaz finally said.

I dropped my head to his shoulder. “I wish I had your faith.”

“You do. And apparently that of everyone else you've every met.”

Chaz pulled his arm away from me. “Who thinks Violet can pull this off?”

Chaz raised his hand and everyone else in the room did too. It was ridiculous to see a group of grown-ups raise their hands, but the visual was damn effective.

“Who's going to be right there, just in case Plan A doesn't work out?”

Everyone kept their hands up.

“Fine,” I said as I pulled Chaz's arm down. “But this isn't a joke. I know I tend to tread on the lighter side of things, but not about people's souls.”

Tucker stepped up. “As a person who happens to actually have their magic connected to yours, I know you can do this. You just have to want to.”

P
ETER CAME IN
when I was scratching my back against the rough edge of Iris's fireplace. “What can I do for my favorite emissary?”

He stalked across the living room and joined me by the fireplace. “Still wanted to make sure you were keen on this unity thing.”

“Not pushing for unity. I just want to make sure that everyone is safe.”

Peter watched me for a second as I rubbed against the mantel.

“Are your scars itching?”

I stopped and a chill ran down my shoulders. They were. That's exactly what it was. The fours scars down my shoulder tickled almost.

“Mine do that right before a major litigation.” Peter said.

“I think mine are trying to tell me that I'm mortal.”

“Well,” Peter said as he ran his fingers through his blond hair. It fell back into its perfect order. “You are trying to do not one but two things that have never been done before.”

“Break the marks and unify a city?”

“Defy a demon and declare war on your maker.”

“I think that second thing has been done before. Granted, it was probably in a movie, but I'm sure it's been done before.”

“You need an army if you think you can stop him,” Peter said frankly.

I looked up from where my eyes had been raking the bricks of the fireplace. “I've got one better. I've got a silver-tongued wolf who can charm the skin off a snake and will get all the heads together by the time I get back to Dallas.”

Peter's jaw turned to stone as he clenched his teeth. “That would take a miracle.”

“No, it won't, and you want to know why?” I reached over and placed my hand over his heart. It pounded under my fingertips. “Because I know what your insides look like, Peter. I know why your bond to me is so different from all the others.”

He licked his lips. “Why's that?”

“The others are strands, they keep themselves loosely connected to me for their own reasons. But our connection is a million strands twisted together through strife, and frankly, some serious frustration. Do you understand?”

Peter's lower lip quivered for a moment and his borders dropped around him and I was awash in the scent of leather and sandalwood.

“You are the tested rope, Peter. And you are the stronger for it. You can work those miracles.”

In a sharp move, Peter took my hand from his chest and put it against his smooth cheek. He closed his eyes and took in a long, steady breath. “You reminded me of my older sister.” His breath traveled down my wrist as he narrated the story that I'd been waiting for. “She was fierce and free-spirited and everything I couldn't be because of . . .” He took in a deep shuddering breath. “She was on the outside what she was on the inside.”

“What happened to her?” I whispered.

“Nothing. She's living happily in Seattle with her two kids. But until you, until . . . I didn't think I'd be comfortable enough in my skin to even think about that kind of happiness.”

His blue eyes fluttered open and I smiled up at him. “Feel free to quote me back to me.”

“It's not about the power. It's about the lives you build.”

“And if I can do anything to help in those choices, or help you build anything, you only need to ask.”

Slowly, Peter let go of my hand and let it trail down his chest before I pulled it into the back pocket of my jeans.

“Thank you, Prima.”

I felt the word, felt the power burning in my chest as he repledged himself to me, to this fight.

Peter dropped his head and walked out of the living room past a very confused Chaz.

I called out after him. “If you want his new cell number, it's on my phone.”

Chaz raised an eyebrow but walked to join me by the fireplace. “Does that need explanation?”

“He's going to set up a meeting with the other heads.”

I rested my head on Chaz's chest. That morning when it was light between us, when it was far away and just us, seemed a million years ago.

“You're exhausted.”

“I'm exhausted. Are they ready yet?”

“No. They didn't have enough salt.”

He kissed my temple and wrapped his arms around me. I pressed myself against his strong chest and took in a deep breath of that wonderful scent.

“Remember when it was simple stuff, like four mutts chasing after me?”

Chaz chuckled and I closed my eyes to just be quiet for a moment. Just be still. And loved. And just Violet.

“Can I tell you a story for a change? I think you might need it.”

Chaz pulled me over to the couch and set me down. He pulled my legs over his and I rested my head on the back of the couch. He ran his hand through my long hair and pulled lightly the ends, sending prickles of calm down my scalp.

“I met this girl once. Klutzy thing that couldn't seem to keep her shoes on.”

I laughed.

“Hey. Interrupting the narrative flow.”

I rested my head back on the couch. “Continue.”

“So this girl didn't know just how special she was. Couldn't see the big picture. Sure she could tell you the entire canon of Star Wars, but she couldn't see what was really going on around her. And it amazed me that when the world was falling around her ears, she was still her. And when there was blood and violence, she was still her. And now that she is facing down another prophecy about death and another resurrection of a demon, she is still her.”

“And what is that?”

“Funny. Sharp. And she still puts others first.”

“So what are you going to do about this shoeless, klutzy girl, because she sounds a little dense?”

Chaz smiled and everything went golden for a moment. “I'm going to marry her and make sure I put her first.”

A tear squeaked out of the corner of my eye. “Still keen on that idea? After all this?”

“Because of all this.

I curled into his chest and tucked my head into his neck. A few more hot and happy tears streamed down my face and I buried it into his chest. Why did he always manage to make me cry?

“I want to get married in the barn,” I said into his Illinois T-shirt.

I waited for the laughter, or some joke about animals, etc. Nothing came. I sat up and looked at him.

“I love it.” He shrugged. “Now you have a phone call to make to Drew. Don't think I'm letting you out of your promise from yesterday.”

“Yes, sir.” And I kissed him. More than I had kissed him in a good long while.

 

Chapter Eighteen

I
T WAS BIG
spell time. Nash had drawn this circle in a field and it spread out as far as I could see. The boy had a talent for spell craft, or at least for following instructions to the letter. Maybe Cristina actually had the flair.

Tyler had gathered the four with the mark. Jane still quivered from her run-in this morning. Charlotte, the other Fang sister, stood there, her heels digging into the earth. Julio was joined by his two brothers. Hannah and Evan held each other's hands.

Others stood outside of woven patterns of the circle.

Jessa squeezed my arm. “I think I have something that will help.”

“I'm taking all I can get.”

Jessa reached up and touched my forehead. There was a familiar chill that forced my eyes closed as a cool power covered my face. “It will let you see the unseen. Like I did that one time.”

“I love that we survived that-one-times.”

I opened my eyes and Jessa glowed a little more radiant than usual, like I was looking at the world through 3D glasses. Everything had a deeper dimension.

The circle beneath my feet glowed white and I knew this was going to work because even I had a hard time pushing through the barrier as I walked toward my people. The circle really did know evil.

“So you know how this is going to work?” I asked my huddling masses.

They all nodded obediently.

“Then I guess I just need a willing participant.”

The four looked around at each other. I wouldn't have volunteered to be first either.

“Fine, I'll go,” Charlotte said. “Nothing's gonna hurt more than giving birth to Terrell. Have you seen the head on that kid?”

I smiled. Laughter was good for me right now. Relaxed me.

Charlotte stood before me in the center of the central circle. With the spell that Jessa had placed on my eyes, I could see her wolf in iridescent pink on her chest, like a truck-stop T-shirt.

Nash brought me a cordless wood burner and a picture of the symbol that I needed to burn over her mark. I'd made it very clear that I was not going to have that evil book anywhere near this spell work.

“A wood burner?” I asked as I touched the smoldering tip of the pen-sized tool. It burned a hole into my pointer finger but the black dot disappeared quickly with my healing.

“Better than what he did it with the first time,” Charlotte said as she pulled up her shirt and turned around.

Her mark was planted at the base of her spine, just above the waistband of her almost indecently short shorts.

“Do you want to sit down?”

“Guess it would be better than you kneeling to look at my butt.”

Charlotte sat cross-legged on the ground and I sat behind her, tucking the paper under my toe.

“If this doesn't work—” I started.

Charlotte turned her head to sweep her long dark hair out of the way. “If this doesn't work, you tried. More than he ever did for us.”

I took in a deep breath and focused on the dark mark. It seemed to swirl under her skin, like a life force of its own, the black not just ink undulating under the surface, but evil locked under her skin.

“Think about something nice. This is going to hurt.”

I steadied my hand on her back and let out a breath. This was just like drawing on someone, only it would smell like barbeque.

When I made the first line across the swirling black mass, it burned with a white light.

Charlotte cried out and her energy spiked around her, her power pulling at mine. It took everything I had to keep behind my shield, not to reach out to her. This was working, but at what cost?

“You okay?”

“Friggin' peachy.”

If she had said anything else. If she would have said fine, I would have stopped right there and tried something else, but the defiance in her voice pushed me forward. She was one of mine and she could do this.

I made the second and the third marks and she cried out again, her nails digging into the ground at her side. With each stroke, a fine white line settled over the Demon Lock.

And the Demon Lock was fighting back. The strands that connected her to the demon were red and angry as they swirled around on the mark, tendrils of red-hot energy reaching out. Her life force and the demon's were fighting each other in the circle mark on her back.

“Last one.”

Charlotte nodded and, even though I couldn't see her tears, I could feel them running down her cheeks.

As the wood burner drew one last line across the mark, I heard the pop when the spell was completed, when the mark was broken.

Charlotte gasped as I watched the darkness fade from her mark as a tendril of hot energy shot out and across the field like an angry arrow. Take that, you lousy piece of demon.

I looked down at the mark and saw the part of Charlotte that needed healing. Light, wispy fingers reached out like a scared child and looked like an exposed nerve as its tendrils waved outstretched, searching.

I scurried back on the ground but I knew that I couldn't be far enough away. She needed to heal herself. “Charlotte, focus. The symbol will help you, but you have to focus.”

Her shaking shoulders and her clenched jaw told me she was, but it wasn't enough and I couldn't risk sending my power to her to make her stronger.

A golden strand jutted out at me. I flinched and held my hand up, like I could have caught it.

When I opened my eyes, the tendril was stopped, still lunging out at me but like a dog at the end of its chain. I was stopping it. I was preventing it from touching me by my sheer will.

And if I could stop it, maybe I could turn it back to Charlotte.

I had to try.
Use that big brain of yours, Vi.
Every thing else was a visual. The brick tower that kept my power safe. The curio cabinet of my pack members that kept them protected in my head.

I thought of my hand like a mirror and pushed forward. Slowly, the tendril backed off.

On my knees, I crawled across the ground back to Charlotte. The tendril darted a few times, but I caught it again and pressed forward until my hand hovered right over Charlotte's exposed power.

“Can you feel that?”

Charlotte nodded.

“Take it. Just reach out for it and take it. It's already yours.”

With one deep breath, Charlotte expanded her power around her and the tendril was absorbed into her.

Charlotte collapsed and I waved for Nash to bring bandages. He pressed the bandage against the fresh mark and carefully ran the tape around the edges to make it stick.

I shook Charlotte's shoulder. “Talk to me, Charlotte.”

She pushed herself up from the grass and turned to look at me with a little wince. She looked around, and I could see the wolf still emblazed across her chest. Brighter. Stronger.

“I think . . .” she started. “I'm good.” She nodded. “Yeah. I'm good.”

I resisted the urge to do a happy dance. It was all too easy. But then again, no one had ever tried before. Except for crazy Violet.

Nash however, did not resist showing his excitement. “Ready for another?”

I
DIDN'T HAVE
the energy for another big speech that night. Only half of the pack stayed and I saw the other half of them off with brief instructions: Don't do anything stupid; you'll know if something happens and you'll have to choose.

The Fang sisters went back to their kids. The Rosario brothers went back to the restaurant. Hannah and Evan went back to their burrow with instructions to recreate the white stones that I'd put around Iris's house. Gator took Remy home with instructions to tell his girlfriend Twila that the Prima wanted to meet with their Coven leader, but I was sure that he'd already texted her something to that effect.

But I kept Jane for another night. She slept for the better portion of the evening and barely ate her dinner, her hands still shaking. Her mark took a little longer and fought me a little bit more, but eventually, it broke. It was the first time I'd seen her smile.

Iris was quiet. I brought her tea on the porch as the sun went down.

“Tucker and the boys offered to fortify the barn.”

I smiled. I hadn't even asked Iris if I could get married there. This place was more like home than any I'd ever found. Guess if I was going to start with the Plan A stuff about keeping everyone in the loop, I might as well start here.

“Chaz and I want to get married in the barn.”

Iris didn't react except for the single tear that squeezed out of her eye that she quickly caught with her knobby knuckle.

“And I supposed since you're the closest thing he's got to family, I should probably make sure it's okay with you we're getting married.”

“You're two grown adults. You don't need my permission.”

“But we'd still like to have your blessing.”

Iris looked over at me. “I don't know that I can give it.”

It wasn't like a stab to the chest; it was an actual stab to the chest. “Iris,” I winced.

“There was a reason that I never married, Violet. Wasn't because there wasn't opportunity.”

Iris put down her tea and turned toward me. “You know that I hate preaching and you know that you're already doing a better job of this than I ever did, but a Prima has to stand alone. The ultimate decisions have to be yours.”

“Why?”

Iris almost jumped at the question.

“Where does it say that I can't have a Primo? That I can't share?”

Iris shook her head. “You just don't know.”

“Then tell me, Iris. Help me learn.”

Iris's jaw clenched and her hands clasped on the arms of the rocker. “I was the reason Dallas fell. I was the reason Haverty wormed his way in. My weakness, my mistakes alone.”

“Just because you took the blame doesn't mean the others were blameless.”

“But they could sleep well at night when it was my fault.”

The truth of it trickled down my skin and bumps. “You gave them peace.”

“Until Haverty turned to that demon for more power.”

“It was still peace, Iris. And, not to get too epic about it all, but you've done good by me, by this pack.”

Iris looked out across the backyard as the night darkened.

“Given me some peace. Hell, Iris, you've been Chaz's family.”

“I'm just trying to say that the hard decisions have to be yours, as the Prima. You will always have the biggest sacrifice. The buck stops with you.”

I nodded. I knew this. And I told her.

Her blue eyes shone in the moonlight. “Chaz can't be that sacrifice.”

“Never, Iris. I want him to be in on that big decision. I want him to share everything.”

Iris nodded and her eyes went back out to the field. “I just hope that's enough.”

“Think of how much stronger the two of us would be.”

The screen door opened and the man of the hour walked out and our conversation stopped. “How are my girls?”

“So you want to get married in the barn?” Iris said.

Chaz grinned as he knelt between us. “You always said I was raised in one, so it seems fitting.”

“Have you figured out what rings you're going to use?”

I looked down at Chaz. “Haven't really talked about it.”

Chaz winked up at me. “Doesn't mean I haven't thought about it. I figure since you've got my mom's rings, I might wear your dad's.”

“Not sure we should have so much heirloom silver out there.”

Chaz stopped smiling.

“I've got my parents',” Iris said, still gazing at the backyard, as if she was actively trying to hide the tears in her eyes. “Not like I've got anyone to pass them down to. It's gold, so it won't kill you.”

“That's a bonus.”

Iris pulled herself up from her rocking chair. “I think I'll go to bed. See if you can keep the howling to a minimum tonight.”

“Yes, ma'am,” we answered in tandem as we watched her toddle into the kitchen.

Chaz got up and pulled her rocking chair closer and reached out to take my hand.

“So you're really going to unite Dallas?”

“That's Plan A.”

“What do you want me to do?” Chaz looked across the field. “I need my marching orders like everyone else.”

“Thought we covered that this morning. Right next to mine when I kill that bastard.”

Chaz faked a shiver. “You know l like it when you talk all tyranty.”

“Maybe that psychic was right all those months ago. Maybe you just need to protect me.”

Chaz nodded. “Check. Protect the girl. Done.”

“Which means that you have to stay really close to me. Like all the time.”

“Should probably shower with you just to be sure no water demons try to attack you.”

I laughed. “That's a good start.”

I rested my head against the rocking chair and listened to the quiet. I was exhausted. The hand that Chaz held still ached from this afternoon, but it was a good ache. It was the ache of a good day's work.

“I'm okay with Dad, you know.”

I looked over at my golden fiancé.

Chaz looked at me. His fingers tightened around mine and there was glassiness to his eyes. “I mean, I get it. He was fighting the good fight. Just wished that he would have thought about me for a second before he did it.”

“I think he was. He was trying to make Dallas safer for you. So you could grow up.”

“I was already grown up and working my own sacred destiny.”

“Doesn't mean he didn't still see you as his little boy.”

Chaz sniffed and looked over at me with a small smile. “How did you get all-knowing about family? I thought we were orphans together.”

“I think Waylon reminded me. He's got this image of me in his head as this chubby teenager. I think he always will, despite the fact that I can kick his ass across the county without breaking a sweat.” I pulled at his hand. “And you're not an orphan, Chaz. You've got Iris. And you've got me. And a niece and even a cousin, if you'll have him despite the bad timing with his prophetic visions. And that's not even the pack, the boys.”