The Keepers (The Alchemy Series) (17 page)

My resentment was short lived, as he walked back in the room shirtless, with just a pair of gym shorts on. He looked like a dark angel come to collect me.

“What are you doing?” I asked, as he picked me up in his arms.

“Heat, the doctor said the heat would help.”

The bright lights of the bathroom hit my eyes before he dimmed them quickly. I heard the humming of what sounded like a hot tub. He lowered us both, and I felt the hot water soak through my clothes as he sat down with me still in his arms. The water felt like it was almost boiling, and it was fantastic, reducing the intensity of the spasms within minutes.

As the cramping started to subside, I became acutely aware
that much of Cormac’s naked skin pressed against me; the way the material of my shirt clung to my breasts detailed every curve. I turned to look into Cormac’s face, just mere inches away, and I could see I wasn’t the only one who was becoming very aware.

I grabbed the edge of the tub, splashing water everywhere with my sudden movement and pulled myself out. I barely stopped long enough to grab a towel in my rush from the room, le
aving a watery trail behind me as I ran into my room and collapsed on my bed.

“Jo?” Cormac said as he stood just inside my
door. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”

“I’m fine. The pain is subsiding.”
I rolled on my side and looked away from him. I didn’t want to be alone anymore, but I couldn’t trust him. I’d been getting sloppy. I’d relaxed my guard. I couldn’t afford to do that. I still had no idea who my parents were, what had happened to my mother that night long ago. Cormac had his own priorities. It didn’t matter what he said, he’d had me hurt once, he’d do it again. Actions were what were important.

“No
, you aren’t.” I felt the bed dip as he climbed in next to me. His arm pulled my body close to his, and I didn’t fight it, but just lay there nestled alongside him.

I woke
alone the next afternoon to a beautiful Monet painting leaning against the wall, opposite the bed. It was beautiful, with red lily clusters. I wasn’t sure why it was sitting there but I wasn’t going to complain.

The need for a strong cup of coffee propelled me toward the living room in hopes that Cormac might have a pot of hazelnut floating around.

“So, what are we going to do?” I heard Dodd ask as I neared the room.

“I don’t kn
ow, but she’s not doing it anymore. Not like last time. Not until I know it won’t happen again. It could have killed her,” Cormac replied.

“But we’ve got the Festiva. What are we going to tell them when we can’t get them over?”

“I’ll figure something else out.” He spoke in a tone that made it clear he was done discussing it.

As I walked in, I saw Cormac standing by the windows while Dodd and Buzz sat on the couch.

“Hey, how are you feeling? Heard you had a rough night?” Dodd asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Dodd asked.

Cormac didn’t say a word, but walked over to me. He looked me over a little to
o intensely for comfort. Even though it wasn’t a sexual perusal, I was glad I’d opted for jeans and an oversized sweatshirt.

“How are you going to run the portal?” I asked him.

“It’s not your problem.”

“If what you said is true, then isn’t it everyone’s problem?”

“I’ll handle it.” He turned back to Dodd and Buzz. “I’m going to go see if I can track down Hammond.”

“Is he even alive anymore?” Buzz asked.

“Yes, and I’m going to find him,” Cormac replied. He turned back to me. “I don’t want you going out today. You need to rest.”

I tilted my head toward the foyer and motioned for him to follow me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, once we stopped in the foyer and out of earshot.

“I know this isn’t
the best time to talk, but I have to get this off my chest. I think I’ve been throwing you some mixed signals, but I just want to make it clear, we are just business. I’ll help you through this mess and you’ll get me the answers I need, then we go our own way. I’m not looking for any other kind of relationship.”

“Sure.”

“That’s not a problem for you?” I guess he hadn’t been that interested then.

“Believe it or not, I’ve got other options.”

“I mean, obviously you do. I just think that this is the way it should be.”

“Like I said, no problem.”

Completely nonchalant, like it didn’t mean a damn thing that I was rejecting him. He did know I was rejecting him, right?

“So, strictly business.”

“Yes, and I’ve got some of that to attend to. Was this all you needed?”

“Yep, that was it.”

              “Great, see you later!” he said as he walked toward the door, but then paused. “I almost forgot, did you like the painting?”

             
“It’s beautiful. Were you going to hang it on the wall there?”

             
“Is that where you want it?”

             
“It’s your painting. Hang it wherever you want it.”

             
He smiled. “It’s for you.”

             
“I couldn’t! It’s a Monet! Isn’t it?”

             
“Yes, it is. No strings. I knew you had a rough night so I thought you would like it. It’s called
Red Lilies
. I’ve got to go. See you later.”

             
I stood, still staring at the door as words from the page sprang to mind. Eternal Lilies bloom after a hard night, the giver of gifts will stand for the right. Nope, it was just a coincidence. I wasn’t going to start reading into things thinking there were cryptic meanings. There was some strange stuff going on, but I refused to buy into fortune telling, too. A girl had to draw the line somewhere.

I walked back into the living room where Dodd and Buzz still sat.

“Who’s Hammond?” I asked, as I refused to let my mind get swept up into crazy thoughts.

“He’s an old timer. Crazy strong. He trained Cormac. He was his mentor.” Dodd answered.

“And you really think he’ll have some answers on how to fix what’s happening?”

“He’s our best bet.”

“Why aren’t there anymore older alchemists? Someone with answers? I mean really, you can’t die? What happened to them all?”

“We can die. It’s just hard to kill us.”

“You put five bullets in my head, and I didn’t die.”

“Okay, so it’s really hard, but it can be done. We had something akin to a civil war about twenty years ago.”

“And that’s when Cormac took control? He must have been barely a kid.” It wasn’t a question. He was a leader born. Some people lead, but in him it was instinctual. “What were you fighting about?”

“Some of us wanted to use the portal for power over the other races. They felt that we should rule everyone
who came over. And then some of the people who did manage to circumvent the system, well, that got ugly.”

“Ugly? What was uglier than a civil war?”

“The Fae cursed some of them. They died slowly and painfully. Nobody could do anything because they voided the contract first. That’s why nobody messes with the contracts.”

“When do all these people for Festiva have to come over by?”

“The next couple of days or it’s gonna start getting awkward.”

“
I still don’t understand what exactly is going wrong? Do you guys know?”

“When a portal is opened, it produces a large mass of radiation. One of the things we do is pull that radiation towards us. For some reason, it’s not pulling forward like normal and we don’t know why. It’s lingering within the portal and frying anyone
who goes into it.”

“What about if someone were to go into the portal while another person operates it. Instead of just pulling from the outside? Would that give you more control?”

“It might, but it’s hard when you’re in the portal. It screws with your abilities. The person would have to be awfully strong, otherwise they’d fry up.”

“Do you think I could do it
?”

“Oh
, no! Don’t even think about it.”

“D
odd, just answer me. Do you think I could?”

He made a loud aggravated sigh. “You might be
able to. I’ve seen the power you put out. But Cormac said you couldn’t do anything else.”

“If we don’t fix this, from what I’m being told, all hell will break loose. Is that correct?”

Dodd and Buzz looked at each other hesitantly, then both looked back at me and nodded.

“And then
it’s not going to be just your world but mine, too, that is in danger.”

“You’ve been kicking and screaming this entire time. Now you want to step up and save the day?”

“Do I want to? Absolutely not. But I’m starting to think I have to. I’ve met Tracker. Him ruling the world holds no appeal to me.”

“
Who said it’s Tracker? Cormac thinks it’s probably Vitor.

“I don’t. I want to try and run the portal while I’m inside. Will you help me
?”

“You’re asking us to go against C
ormac. He just said he didn’t want you going anywhere near it,” Dodd replied.

“Yes, I am, but i
f Cormac doesn’t find Hammond or some other solution soon, we need to try it.”

“I don’t know,” Buzz said looking completely panicked at the idea of going against Cormac.

“You both need to man up,” I said. “Cormac will go down with the sinking ship. What good are you doing him? You need to think for yourselves and stop being babies. You aren’t hurting him, you’re possibly saving his ass.”

“She’s right. It’
s not disloyal. There’ll be more defectors if we don’t get this worked out, and you know Cormac will go down dying before he steps aside,” Dodd said.

“Okay, but we give him the week?” Buzz asked.

“And it’s got to be the last resort,” Dodd added.

“Yes. We give him the week.”

It had been five days and no sign of Hammond. Cormac had only been at the penthouse to sleep. I wondered if he was trying to avoid me, but he hadn’t been at the casino either. Dodd and Buzz, my new coconspirators had told me he’d been on the hunt for Hammond every minute of the day.

When I did see Cormac in passing, either late at night or the crack of dawn, I could see the stress was wearing on him. He looked exhausted. Like the weight of the world rested upon his shoulders. From what I had heard, it might be the truth.

Concerned that we would have to enact my plan, I’d woken that day with a new determination. It had taken me about three hours, but I finally found Dodd downstairs near the slot machines. He was in the middle of trying to work a cocktail waitress I didn’t recognize, and I wondered if she had been hired to fill my spot.

“We’ve got to talk,” I said to him as I approached the couple.

“Sure, give me a couple of minutes.” He turned so that only I could see his face and used his eyebrows to signal he was in the middle of working the new girl.

Rolling my eyes right back, not caring if the girl saw, I went and stood at the end of the aisle as I watched him try to close the deal with the pretty brunette. She handed him a slip of paper, that I could only assume had
her phone number and walked away while they both smiled.

“I’ve been trying to crack that one for a week,” he said, when he came to me. He held up the paper she had handed him, waving it at me. “Sooner or later, they all succumb.”

“We’ve got bigger issues than your sex life.”

“Nothing’s bigger than my sex life. Sex is very important to me. I won’t have you belittling it.”

“Dodd, can you stop? We need to plan.”

He made a point of sighing loudly and dramatically. “Okay, let
’s plan.”

“Not here.”

“Obviously. Let’s go to my place. I don’t want anyone walking in on this. Cormac will rip me a new one if he hears.”

“Lead the way.”

We took the penthouse elevators up to the floor beneath Cormac’s. His entire place was dark browns, and the biggest TV I’d ever seen dominated one wall.

“We need to do this.”

“You know it’s very dangerous, right?” he asked, all the earlier playfulness gone.

“Yes, but what’s the alternative?”

“And you know you could die doing it? From what I’ve heard, you already came close last time.”

I’d
known it was possible, but it still chilled me to hear. “I figured as much.” I sat on his couch as my knees became weak.

“
Why are you so set on this? I thought you considered this our problem. You haven’t made any secret about the resentment you have toward Keepers.” He handed me a shot of what smelled like tequila and sat across from me in an armchair.