Savannah Sacrifice (22 page)

“We have to take a vote.” President Kitchings stood up. “All of those in favor of making a peace treaty with the Sisterhood in exchange for the books and their giving us the medication and secrets we need, raise your hand.”

Almost everyone in the room, except Virginia, raised their hand.

“It passes.” President Kitchings motioned to Virginia. “Get her the books.”

Virginia stood up and walked to the corner of the room where a picture of President Kitchings hung from the wall. Taking down the picture and dropping it with a clatter to the floor, she revealed a safe behind the portrait. She spun the dial and opened the metal vault. Starling sucked in a breath as the woman pulled out three large books and, shuffling her feet resignedly, brought them to the group. She thumped them on the black table in front of the president. “Here,” she grunted, passing him a defiant look.

The books were smaller than Starling expected. For months, she had imagined them as if they were thousands of pages with heavy bindings and metal brackets. Instead they were thin, their edges curled with age. The covers were simple, each carrying nothing more than a trinity-like design. They looked antique, but aside from the cover they were
ordinary
. If Starling hadn't known the truth of what they were, it would have been hard to guess that these books held the secrets that would save her life.

“Thank you, Virginia.” The president motioned for her to sit down and then turned back to Starling. “I believe these are the books you wanted.” He pushed them across the table.

Starling picked the one on top. Its white velum cover was almost the same shade as her skin. The Red sat underneath, its cover the color of blood. Beneath it was the Black, its color so dark it almost disappeared into the table. She flipped open the White. Inside were hand-inked drawings and long pages filled with Latin.

Her knees weakened. The time had come … the books were here … in her hands. She sat down before her exhausted body failed.

“Are we allies?” the president asked.

Starling forced herself to stand back up and took his proffered hand. “Allies.”

“What is the secret, Harper?”

“You must mate with a demigod while taking the pills,” Harper said.

The door slammed open. Jim rushed into the room, Devon close behind him. Devon scanned the room, his eyes wild with rage.

“What's going on?” Jim screamed. “These are our enemies and you are having a meeting with them. That's bullshit! They deserve to die!”

Starling let go of President Kitchings's hand and moved down the table until she found the vulture's ruby-colored eye. She pressed down and frantically searched under the table with her left hand for another button, but she found nothing. She moved toward the gun, but Virginia stepped in her way. “Where's the elevator?” Starling yelled at the president.

“This table isn't an elevator. It's there—” He pointed to a large painting that adorned the wall.

“I'm not going in any damn elevator!” Jasper yelled. “There has to be another way!”

“Shut up! Everybody shut up!” Jim yelled.

Devon stared at her, the anger in his eyes turning to lust. Jasper pulled Starling down and pushed her to the floor. Her knees connected hard with the concrete.

“Don't touch her. Don't touch Starling!” Devon screamed. “She's mine!”

Starling watched in horror as Devon grabbed Jasper's gun and pointed it toward them.

The shot rang out, its deafening roar careening through the room.

Jasper crumpled to the ground beside her. A scream rippled from her lips as blood poured from his chest. “I … love … you.” As the last word fell from his lips, his body stilled. His breathing stopped. Jasper was gone.

Starling pulled him against her chest as she rocked him back and forth in her arms. “You promised … you promised you wouldn't leave me … ”

Devon handed the gun to Jim and rushed to her side, dropping to his knees. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”

She stared at his eyes, noticing how the black had taken over. “You … you shot him.” She looked away as the bitter taste of bile filled her mouth. Jasper lay in her arms, his head perched in the crook of her elbow. “Jasper, I'm so sorry,” she whispered before leaning down to kiss his forehead. His skin was still warm, but even in its warmth it carried the weight of the dead.

“He threw you to the floor. No one can touch you like that. No one.” Devon reached for her hand that rested on Jasper's motionless chest. She pulled away from his touch, hating him for making her move her hand from the man she loved.

“Get away,” she said through her teeth.

“But … you love me. You and I, we can be together forever.” The word
forever
hung in the air like the gun's smoke.

“I never want to be with you,” she screamed.

Devon waved her off. “I was only protecting you. You will come to see that, sweetheart.”

“You and your friends are to be arrested for murder and treason!” President Kitchings yelled above the melee of noise. “You shall be stripped of your feathers!”

Jim raised the gun, taking aim at the president. “Who's going to arrest me?” His finger moved under the trigger guard and Starling tensed, readying herself for the explosion.

“Jim, stop!” Virginia shouted. “You are not to hurt Steve.”

Starling slipped her arm out from beneath Jasper's head and gently rested it on the ground. They had to pay. They had to pay for what they had done. “Devon?”

“Yes, sweetheart?” he asked.

“Get me that gun,” she said, motioning toward Jim.

“Yes, sweetheart.” Devon stood up and moved toward Jim.

She leaned down one more time and kissed Jasper's forehead. “I love you, Jasper. I'll always love you.”

It was funny how much she had feared saying those words when he'd been alive, but now they flowed unchecked. Perhaps if she hadn't admitted it to herself, if she hadn't felt that love in the first place, he would have still been alive. But no. She had selfishly allowed herself to feel.

“Give me the gun, Jim,” Devon said with outstretched hands.

“Shut up, Devon. You are as guilty as they are. You let her bewitch you. You promised you were better than this!”

“She's so beautiful. I love her.” Devon signaled to Virginia to come closer. “Give me the gun, Jim, and I will let you run.”

Virginia stood up and, brushing off her lap, she joined the middle-aged man. “I told you that you were better off staying with me, Starling. If you would have listened, maybe your little boyfriend would still be alive. There's really no one else to blame. You are responsible for his death.”

“Shut up, bitch!” Starling jumped to her feet. “All you care about is yourself. In fact, you don't give a shit about Jim or Devon. You are only using them to get what you want.”

“You mean like you are using Devon? Like you used Jasper?” Virginia retorted. “Devon, do you hear this? Do you understand that if you stay with her you will end up dead as well? There's no way out of here alive; she's a nymph. Nymphs leave only death behind. You must overthrow the spell the harlot has passed over you and choose our side, or you will end up like every other man nymphs have sunk their claws into.”

Devon only gave Starling a bewitched, mindless smile.

“Go to hell! Go to hell!” A shrill non-human voice called from behind the room's closed doors.

The doors to the room flew open, one hitting Jim in the back and knocking him off balance. He staggered a few steps toward the table. Devon took his chance and grabbed the gun, stripping it clean of Jim's hands.

Standing in the doorway was Jamie, a gray parrot on her shoulder. Behind them were the Voodoo Queen Bethany, with her arm in a sling, and a dark-haired woman Starling didn't recognize.

“Go to hell!” the parrot repeated.

“How did you get in here?” Harper asked, choking back tears of relief.

“Bethany used her magic. What in the hell is going on here?” Jamie asked. She glanced around the room until her gaze settled on Devon and the gun in his hand. “Give me that.”

“No. It's for Starling.” He pulled the gun back against his chest protectively.

Jamie caught her eye, her gaze coming to a stop at the patch of fresh red blood on Starling's cloak and moving to Jasper, who lay limp in her arms. “Give me the gun.” She stepped closer and grasped the gun in Devon's hands.

“No,” he said, stepping back so his legs pressed against the side of the table.

“If you don't, Starling is going to get hurt.” Jamie pulled the gun as Devon's grip weakened. “You don't want her to get hurt, do you?”

Devon released the gun, letting Jamie take it from him. “Good boy,” she said, like he was nothing more than an obedient dog. She turned to Virginia, Jim, and the rest of the council. “Ariadne?” she asked, motioning for the woman behind her to step forward.

“Thank you, Jamie.” Ariadne stopped beside Starling. She looked down at Jasper, pain radiating through her eyes. “He loved you, didn't he?”

Starling nodded. The axe of their curse had fallen.

“I'm more sorry than you can possibly know, Starling.”

“Are you Ariadne Papadakis?”

The tanned, dark-haired woman nodded. “I'm here to help you.” She glanced back down at Jasper. “I only wish I could have come sooner. Maybe we would have avoided this tragedy.”

“Why did you bring Bethany here? She's my enemy.”

Bethany ran her hand over the bandage on her shoulder where Starling had stabbed her. “You stabbed me. We be even.”

“You tried to steal my friend. We're hardly even.”

“You'd do anything to be with your lover. I'm no different, except my lover's gone.”

Ariadne stepped between them. “Bethany was the only one who knew where we could find you and Harper. Without her and her magic, we never would have made it below. Mutual hatred makes great allies.” Ariadne paused. “Don't worry, Starling, we will make this right and Bethany will help do that.”

“Fine, but make no mistake, Bethany and I will never be friends.” There was no making any of this right. Jasper was gone. Her love had killed him.

“Bethany says that you are responsible for erasing a soul. That type of action has consequences in the supernatural world. You are aware of this, are you not?” She turned as she addressed the council.

“It wasn't us,” President Kitchings said, shaking his head. “It was Virginia and her group of followers. We never would have allowed such an action to be taken without a full vote.”

Ariadne looked to Virginia. “Is that true? Did you take this action on your own without the support of your council?”

Virginia nodded. “You wouldn't understand … ”

“We will see that she and her lackeys are disciplined for their crimes,” President Kitchings said. “What say you, council?”

The room filled with the members' agreement.

“She is your wife. How can I trust that you will give them the punishment they deserve?” Starling asked. “They killed him … ” she sobbed.

Ariadne wrapped her arm around Starling. “It's okay. They will do what is right. Won't you?”

The president nodded. “On the subject of punishment for Virginia Kitchings, Jim Peterson, and Devon James, I move that we strip them each of their feathers and all rights given to our kind. They will no longer be allowed in or around any of our communities or their members. And from this day forth, they shall no longer be allowed to call or consider themselves Catharterians. What say you, council?”

He was answered with another round of unanimous “ayes.”

Starling sucked in a long breath. Virginia, Jim, and Devon had lost everything. A shifter without their community would be at the mercy of the fates. They would no longer have the safety of their people and would be under the constant threat of other supernatural beings, beings that would love to enslave vultures and use them as they pleased. Yet, even with those staggering losses they still had their lives. The same couldn't be said for Jasper.

“Are you happy with that punishment?” President Kitchings asked.

Ariadne looked to her. “I know that it doesn't seem like enough. I know how badly it hurts right now, but killing them for what they have done won't bring Jasper back. It will only bring more death. They will no longer be supernatural. In time, their new level of humanity will bring its own justice.”

Starling nodded. There would be no more death.

The taxi was cold even though the thick Savannah heat blanketed the world. Goose bumps rose over her body as she pulled Jasper's body tighter against her. The
Libros
collection stuck out of her purse and dug painfully into her side.

“Your friend is awfully quiet, ladies. He okay?” the taxi driver asked as he peered from Harper to Starling.

Jasper was perched in the back seat, his eyes closed, and his head resting on Starling's shoulder like he was merely asleep.

“He's fine,” Harper replied from the front. She looked pointedly at the jacket Starling had put over Jasper's chest to hide the bullet wound. “Just drank too much.”

The city twisted by, a world filled with deep early morning shadows, the kind that only further reminded Starling of how close they all were to the other side.

She should have taken the bullet for Jasper. She never should have gone for the elevator. She could have saved him, maybe not from her love, but at least from the bullet.

“Miss, you have something in your hair, ma'am.” The cabby pointed to a spot near the front of his head. “Right there.”

“Thanks.” Reaching up, Starling pulled a black feather from her tresses. A slight sense of satisfaction whispered through her as she opened the car's window and pitched the feather into the wind.