Wuthering Frights (18 page)

"Okay," Christina said nervously, her eyes suddenly going wide as she probably wondered if she'd just offered herself as a guinea pig.

My father smiled at her warmly and shook his head, as if to say, "Calm down and relax." Then he picked up the headset to his phone and dialed. His secretary answered almost immediately.

"Barbara? Will you come in for a moment?" he asked, sounding casual, but matter-of-fact.

"Of course," she answered in a chirpy voice as Melchior hung up.

Then he picked up the vial of white pills and emptied them into his palm, taking out one before replacing the others. He brought the pill to his tongue and swallowed it in an instant, turning to face the three of us. "Now would be a good time to take yours."

I'd nearly forgotten the white pill I clutched in my hand. For a split second, I thought the pill might be something entirely different than an antidote; and maybe this was some sort of setup. But after witnessing my father swallowing his and confident that I wanted nothing to do with the
Draoidheil
, I swallowed mine, hoping for the best. With last minute panic, I glanced at Quill and Christina, and relaxed a little after noticing they had both taken theirs.

At the sound of a hesitant knock on the door, I saw Barbara poke her head in. She was a redhead with a plain, non-descript prettiness about her face—like with the right makeup she might even be considered beautiful.

"Come in," my father greeted her warmly. I watched as she closed the door behind her and approached us, smiling curiously before settling her gaze on my father. She was probably in her mid thirties and maybe five foot six, if I had to guess. She was dressed conservatively in a slim fitting, two-piece grey skirt suit, but it was still obvious that she had a good figure.

She approached my father and then paused, as if awaiting his instruction. He simply pulled out the vial of
Draoidheil
and handed it to her as my stomach dropped. It just seemed so wrong that he'd lured his trusting
secretary to be his test subject. Why that should have surprised me was curious since there was really nothing redeeming about my father at all … A sobering thought.

"We are researching new scents," he started, sounding like he was the chairman for a perfumery. "Our panel seems to agree upon this one." He paused. "We thought we'd ask your opinion."

I desperately wanted to stop her from reaching for the vial, but I knew I couldn't. Instead, I stood there with my heart lodged in my throat and watched her bring the vial to her nose and sniff it. At first nothing happened. Her face appeared to go blank, and I thought maybe she hadn't gotten the scent of anything. She started to move the vial toward her nose again, as if she needed another sniff, when the
Draoidheil
appeared to have hit her.

She sort of hobbled back a few steps, at which time Melchior grabbed the vial from her, to stop her from spilling it. Then a momentary look of bewilderment pasted itself across her pale face. She closed her eyes as a huge smile widened her mouth. When she opened her eyes again, she focused on Melchior and her pupils were dilated.

She definitely looked like she was on something.

"Melchior," she said in soft voice, closing the gap between them. She took one of his hands in hers while running the fingers of her other hand through his hair. At that moment, it was pretty obvious what she most desired—my father.

Yuck in a basket.

My father seemed slightly uncomfortable, although not surprised by her display of affection. He eyed the three of us almost apologetically before taking control of the situation and turning it into a show-and-tell again. He smiled at Barbara
, something
she must have taken as an invitation because she suddenly tried to kiss him. He pulled away.

"What do you most desire, Barbara?" he goaded her, obviously still trying to prove a point.

"You," she responded automatically. "You've always known that. I just never imagined you'd ever give in to your feelings for me."

He looked at us again, holding Barbara's wrists to keep her at arm's length. "The
Draoidheil
makes you believe that whatever you most desire is yours," he said to the three of us. He focused on Barbara again. "Case in point."

"Point taken," I grumbled, hating that Barbara's secret was being so blatantly flaunted in front of people she didn't even know. I couldn't imagine how mortified she'd be if she had any idea what she was saying and doing at the moment. Hopefully, the
Draoidheil
would mess with her memory. When my father made no move to end his little show, I attempted to. "I think we've seen enough," I said, trying to sound calm and even-keeled. "Give her the antidote ... please."

Melchior said nothing. He merely nodded and shook the vial of pills over his palm, before selecting one pill and handing it to Barbara. She stopped attempting to sexually harass him and eyed the pill curiously, making no motion to put it in her mouth.

"Swallow it," my father said abruptly.

Barbara dutifully placed the pill on her tongue, and a second or so later, swallowed. I assumed it would
take
the antidote at least a few minutes to work, depending on how long it took to reach her bloodstream, but I was wrong. Almost instantly, her demeanor changed, the lovelorn look in her eyes was replaced with perplexity as she glanced around the room in utter confusion.

"Do you feel well?" Melchior asked, studying her in a detached, clinical sort of way. I felt extremely sorry for her, knowing that she was in love with my father who was incapable of loving another person. Of that, I was convinced; he was entirely too much in love with himself.

She faced him and shook her head, bringing her hand to her cheeks then her forehead. "It's strange but I feel a bit flushed, I'm not sure why."

"Perhaps you should leave early today, Barbara," Melchior said, patting her back as he escorted her to the door. "Sit down at your desk for a while before you drive, though, will you?"

She nodded obediently as he closed the door behind her. He faced us again and slapped his hands together like he'd just proven his thesis. "Any questions?" he asked.

I didn't say anything. I was afraid that if I started, I wouldn't be able to stop. I saw Quillan simply shake his head, with the look of defeat on his face. Christina was the only one of us who seemed at all interested, and although she didn't have any questions, this new project seemed to excite her, all the same.

"If you don't mind showing yourselves out, I still have important business that demands my attention," my father said. He returned to his gargantuan desk, took a seat and faced his computer as we started for the door. None of us said a word as we traipsed down the hallway to the bank of elevators. Even our ride down was silent. Once we reached the lobby, I cleared my throat and Quillan sighed.

"Guess we're going to have our work cut out for us with this
Snake Oil
stuff," Christina said. She offered me a tentative smile as we walked out of my father's building and headed for the portal to return to Splendor.

"I'd say so," Quill said, his tone of voice sounding somewhat reserved as he glanced at me for the third time since leaving Melchior's office. Knowing Quill as well as I did, I would have bet money that he was fretting over how I was taking everything that had just happened. He had to know I was reeling at the moment, anger and shock churning in my stomach.

Somehow, I imagined my father had to have been getting perverse pleasure out of being able to bend me to his will just like that. Well, he could think whatever the hell he wanted to think, but we were definitely not "like father, like daughter." No, I was now even more determined than before to find a way out of this and what was more, I was arriving at the realization that the only way out of this mess was in going after the mastermind, himself.

"Are you headed to Splendor?" Christina asked Quill, interrupting my train of thought. We'd arrived in the parking lot of the ANC Headquarters. Apparently, this time the portal was at the far end of the parking lot, just beside the dumpsters.

I couldn't help but notice Christina was avoiding me, probably sensing my temper was about to blow. I tried to at least partially mask my foul mood, not wanting Christina to suspect I was less than thrilled to be a player in this team. Why? Well, first and foremost—I had to think of Knight. And I also didn't think it would be a good thing for Christina to know I was only working for my father because I
had
to. Yep, better to keep that under wraps. The less my father's people knew about me, the better.

"Yes, both Dulcie and I are headed to Splendor. You?" Quill responded.

Christina nodded and the sound of her heels tapping against the concrete grabbed my attention. I glanced down and noticed she had tattoos of purple and green hummingbirds on the tops of both of her feet. It made sense—fairies were supposed to be the "children of nature," and most of us were naturally attracted to flora and fauna, hummingbirds always a fairy favorite. I guess I'd just missed the boat where all things nature were concerned.

"I live in Sanctity, but given recent events, I think I might stay in Splendor for a while so we can discuss a plan moving forward," she answered as she pulled her incredibly long hair into a ponytail, offering me a glimpse of her ears. As fairies, Christina's and my ears came to points at the top. Hers, by the look of them, however, weren't as pointy as mine. Something which made my mood even better.

Scolding myself for comparing ears (and even more irritated that mine came up short), I forced my thoughts back to her last comment, something suddenly occurring to me. "You live in Sanctity?" I asked, turning to face her. Sanctity was the next town over from Splendor, maybe twenty or thirty minutes away.

Christina smiled sweetly, merely nodding. Quill stopped walking and checked his portal compass watch, I assume, to ensure that we were still going the right way. Apparently, we were because he proceeded forward again, Christina and I in tow.

"I've never seen you before," I said finally, pulling my attention from Quill and narrowing my eyes at her. "And I'm pretty sure the ANC records only itemize Zara, the hooker, and I as the sum total of the local fairy population." All Netherworld creatures that lived on Earth had dossiers in the ANC which specified the type of creature they were, how they earned a living and where they lived. It was the easiest way to keep track of them. And I wasn't bluffing—Christina didn't exist in the ANC database, as far as I knew. I definitely would have remembered another fairy living nearby.

She eyed me with surprise. "Ah, that's right! Your father mentioned that a member of his entourage worked in the Splendor ANC. That must be you." Her smile broadened. "Very smart of him, placing his own people in the enemy's lair." Then she laughed. All I managed was a half-assed laugh-giggle that came out more like a grunt, but sounded worse still, like a burp.

"Yeah, smart," I managed, wanting to direct her to the question at hand. I raised my brows at her in impatience when it didn't seem she had any
thing
more to offer.
“
So you managed to avoid ANC profiling?
”

She simply smiled again.
“
I, um, stay beneath the ANC radar,
”
she said simply.

“
Interesting,
”
I admitted, studying her pointedly.
“
And why is that?
”

The look she gave me combined with the smile that was still on her lips told me she was hiding something. Something big. And that
’
s when I zeroed in on her little game. She was tough, strong and smart. But she didn
’
t want anyone to know that. She exploited her beauty and femininity in a way that got men to doubt her, finding her nothing more than a pretty face. Well, unluckily for her, I didn
’
t possess a penis. And since my father had deliberately placed her on this task force, I assumed he saw through her game as well. That or maybe he was enamored of her, which, come to think of it, could very well have been the case. Either way, she was someone I had to watch.