CHAPTER 16

 

 

Aisanna sat with her rear against the shelving, head ducked between her legs until the sounds of Elon’s engine faded. Her lungs hurt when she took a shaky breath. She’d managed to break it off. It was logical. It was the only way she knew to keep Elon safe. From herself and from Darkness. Why did she feel so damn bad about it?

His eyes, red and full of dying hope… She shook her head bitterly. This was not how she’d wanted it to end. Not even close.

Israel quirked a brow at her. “Are you done being crazy for the evening?”

Nope, not by a mile. Aisanna sighed and pushed herself up, lifting her gaze to him.

“You can go,” she told Israel. “We’re done. I can’t do this anymore.”

“That’s it? I came out here to give you a gift and tell you about my feelings, and I get a punch in the face and a goodbye?” He was outraged only on the outside, she knew. Showing her what he thought she wanted to see. Yes, the punch had pissed him off, but if she didn’t know any better, she’d say he was relieved.

“For right now, yes.”

“You’re unbelievable!”

“I don’t owe you an explanation, either.” Aisanna ran her hands through her hair. “I’m tired of everyone wanting more from me than I can give. I have real problems, Israel. Real life or death problems and here I am dicking around with you because it’s better than accepting responsibility. After all, this has only been sex for us. Not like either one of us was really invested.”

Israel turned toward the door, then back to her. “What if I was?”

He didn’t like when she let out a small laugh. “I’m sorry. Are you trying to tell me you wanted to seriously date me? Give me a break.”

“What do you want me to tell you? You’re the girl for me? That I’ve never felt this way about anyone before? That I’m willing to set everything aside for you?”

Yes, she thought. Because Elon would. The thought brought a fresh round of agony until her eyes blurred and her heart began to pound like the start of an anxiety attack. “Please leave, Israel. I can’t deal with you tonight.”

Aisanna listened to him storm off in a huff, knowing he would soon forget the argument as he buried himself in another distraction.

A noise from the front caught her attention. A scratch on the glass. “Hello?” Aisanna reached for her purse and snagged the container of pepper spray her mother made her keep there.

“Miss Cavaldi?” a male voice asked, deep and saccharine.

“I’m coming.” She kept the pepper spray at the ready. At once she stopped, sweat running cold and clammy on her skin. Dread fell over her like a blanket until she smelled her own fear. The edges of her vision began to blur though her feet kept walking.

“We’re glad to catch you alone. We had a feeling you would be here,” the same voice called out to her.

She squared her shoulders and tried to ignore the sliver of apprehension piercing her insides. “How can I help you? I’m afraid we aren’t open at the moment. If you would like to come back in the morning—”

“We’re not here for your flowers, girl.”

The man stepped forward into the light and Aisanna wished she could say she relaxed once his identity became clear. Instead, the opposite proved true.

She stiffened and the blood ran cold in her veins. “Mr. Voltaire, what a pleasant surprise.” She kept her pitch even, although that was the only part of her remaining steady. “Somehow I didn’t picture you as the type to stay out later than seven o’clock. Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“You and your sister share the same sarcastic humor, I see.”

Leo’s father, the head of the earth elementals of the Great Lakes Claddium, stood in the entryway with his shoulders blotting out the light of the street lamps. An impish woman with hair the burnished red-gold of a bonfire stood next to him. Both were dressed for a day at the office with matching black slacks and similar wool coats.

In her mind, there had never been two people less alike, save for the same crackling of latent power.

When Orestes smiled, the gesture reminded Aisanna of a hyena. There was no warmth there, no emotion. Only calculation. Calculation and a healthy appetite for a fresh kill.

The woman, despite her size, held the same bearing, her face a blank mask.

Orestes swept a hand back. “May I introduce Ms. Zelda Vuur, head of the Great Lakes fire elementals? I’m going to guess you two have never had the satisfaction of meeting before this. No? Good.”

Aisanna mentally calculated her chances for escape and found herself lacking options. Remain calm, she lectured herself. The only way you’re getting out of here is to play the game.

“To what do I owe this unexpected visit?” She drew the lapels of her coat closer and crossed her arms over her chest. No one offered a hand to shake in greeting.

“There has been talk, Miss Cavaldi, of a developing phenomenon of an alarming nature. I’m sure you are aware of what happened to your brother last month. Your sister.”

Orestes moved to examine the cooler and the fresh blooms stored inside. He trailed a finger over the glass while he spoke, without bothering to look at her.

“I’m aware,” she answered simply.

“One thing I’m not sure you’ve realized yet. The Claddium has a vested interest in finding the Harbinger witch.”

Aisanna started. “To help stop the thinning veil? How magnanimous of you.”

“Don’t concern yourself with our motives, Miss Cavaldi,” Zelda answered for him. “Think of your own safety. What you can do to help us achieve our goals. We need your cooperation.”

Miss Vuur looked like an avenging pixie and sounded like a bulldog. The deep, husky voice seemed at stark odds to her pleasant demeanor. Sparks crackled off her skin in evidence of her magic.

“If you would tell me why you’re here, then maybe I’d be better equipped to answer your questions,” Aisanna countered. “I’d rather not beat around the bush.” False bravado helped many a fool, she knew.

Zelda stepped forward, her hands in her pockets and her gaze cast to the floor. A witch version of Agent Scully. “We’re concerned about your proximity to the source. We’ve received multiple reports about your mental well-being. We have questions for you.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” If only she’d had the warning to prepare something. Orestes and Zelda had the upper hand in catching her unawares. “Or if it’s any of your business what I do.”

“Look, Miss Cavaldi, let’s be frank.” Orestes sent her a second smile, one he surely reserved for dealing with ignorant underlings. “We’d like to take you in for questioning. Pick your brain and see how you and your family have been impacted by rogue magic. Perhaps you’d like to see your brother.”

Adrenaline surged through her veins and Aisanna was overwhelmed with the need to flee. If the Claddium took her into the Vault, she wouldn’t come out again. “Is that what the Claddium is about now? Questioning innocent people when rogue magic is causing chaos among our peers?” Aisanna remained stoic and tried to consider her chances to get away without damage. She widened her stance, arms at her sides and fingers flexed. Her magic flared once in preparation.

“There is no need for a standoff. We’re friends, aren’t we?” Orestes tried to smile. The corners of his mouth appeared uncooperative. “We’ve had the opportunity to meet several times in the past, after all.”

There it was, the I’m a nice guy connection every dictator in history had tried to push and failed.

“Especially considering that your sister is…your sister and my son…they’re…” Orestes had a difficult time finishing his sentence, fumbling over the words and looking like he’d swallowed a rock.

“They’re involved.” Aisanna took pleasure in saying it and watching a small muscle tick above his upper lip. “In love. Engaged. Fucking. Saying it out loud doesn’t make it any less real.” It tickled her when his face paled. She could practically see an ulcer bursting in his stomach.

Orestes snarled. “However, I like to think we can reach a cordial agreement.”

“If you and she are here, I doubt there’s anything cordial about this meeting. You’ll have to pardon me.” Aisanna shook her head and moved back until the counter separated the three of them.

“After the little mishap last month, we’ve been keeping a close eye on you and your family,” Orestes told her, taking his turn in delighting in her shock. “Now, with your latest acts, we’re concerned.”

“My acts?”

She went cold. They knew about Elon, she was sure of it. How? “If you’re talking about the other night, then I can tell you I took care of things.”

“Took care of things. Explain,” Zelda demanded.

Aisanna threw her hands up. They were going to fry her for this. There was no way to deny her guilt if they already knew. “I talked to him about what he saw. He was a little hesitant to believe at first and pretty much assumed we were both nuts. I explained how things worked and he was fine with it. Eventually. He won’t be a problem.”

“He?”

She was hesitant to say his name. If she couldn’t protect herself, she could at least keep him out of it. “The human who knows about us.”

Zelda and Orestes shared a look between them and Aisanna’s insides dropped to her shoes. “You told a human what you are? With the uncontrolled magic out there before the eclipse, you broke a cardinal rule?”

Oh, dammit. They hadn’t meant Elon. Aisanna felt the ground beneath her feet opening up into a large hole of her own making, plummeting deeper by the second. “No. No, that was a joke. I was testing you.”

“Then tell us about the man from the club and stop playing games. We want honesty.”

Zelda was a woman of little patience and less tolerance for bending rules. She stared across the space at Aisanna with a gaze designed to burn holes in the flesh. From the rumors on the street, she knew Zelda was the Claddium’s big gun. They brought her out at the last minute to get the job done.

“The man?”

An image came to her then. A flash of red and a face she’d seen only in dreams. Her forgotten night when Darkness held the reins and the man she knew was there but couldn’t place.

“The man in the club,” she said suddenly. As though their presence cleared her mind, Aisanna saw the stranger clearly. Light brown hair curled slightly around dark eyes and a sweet, forgettable face. Average height and slightly pudgy build. Little distinguishing markings.

“Yes, the very same one. The fire elemental under my jurisdiction,” Zelda informed her.

He was a fire elemental? Double ouch.

“The same man who, after cavorting with you in a public place, took it upon himself to find a shotgun and shoot up a FedEx office three blocks over. After security cameras caught you whispering in his ear, sending him on his way. Ring a bell?” Orestes’ glee at telling her took it to a whole new level. He practically smiled at the mention of the tragedy.

“He what?” Aisanna exclaimed.

“He killed two people before someone was dispatched to stop him. This was not a simple case of influence. This was direct involvement by one of our own.”

Aisanna immediately held her hands up in front of her. She knew where they were going with it and wanted to clear the air before they buried her. “I had nothing to do with it! It wasn’t me.”

“Funny you should say that,” Zelda moved closer and her small step was enough to have Aisanna shifting back. “We have witnesses willing to corroborate. After a sordid evening of dance and drink, a single whisper from you had the man running to grab his firearm. Do not try to pass this off as a reaction to the rogue magic leaking from beyond the veil. This is you, Miss Cavaldi. You.”

Aisanna shook her head until she felt her teeth click together. No, it wasn’t possible. She would never do something like that. Never encourage another person to kill.

Get it together, she warned herself. Play it cool. You have nothing to hide.

Or do you?

“What kind of witnesses?” she forced herself to ask.

Orestes answered first. “The kind we can trust.”

“When you do something like this, it affects everyone. Especially when the magic user in question is under my protection.” Zelda spoke to her like a belligerent child with a spanking looming on the horizon. “I cannot allow you to go unpunished.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Aisanna insisted hotly. “I don’t know what happened. I blacked out.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. She mentally slapped herself. Definitely the wrong thing to say.

“You don’t know what happened? You blacked out?” Orestes repeated, finding her statement quite interesting. “That means you cannot discount your potential involvement. And believe me, Miss Cavaldi, you will need all the help you can get to worm your way out of this. It would be best for you to come with us, spend some time in the Vault with your brother, and think about your actions while we attempt to locate the Harbinger.”

Despite his similarity in appearance to his son, the two were not similar in temperament. Orestes would enjoy tormenting her emotionally and physically to serve his end goals. The same could never be said of Leo.

“I wasn’t there, I swear.” Maniacal laughter echoed in the confines of her head. Circling beneath the surface. Aisanna raised her hands to her ears although it did nothing to block out the white noise.

Tell them lies or tell them the truth. Neither will believe you.

“Having a personal problem, Miss Cavaldi?”

“I’m fine,” she answered through clenched teeth, drawing up a mental block against the voice. “But if you’re going to continue this interrogation, can you make it snappy? I have things to do tonight.”

“Cancel them.” Zelda turned her nose in the air. “We’re not done.”

“Unless you’d like to cut to the chase and allow us to escort you out,” Orestes told her pleasantly, studying his nails.

“It sure as shit sounds like you think I’m guilty.” Aisanna glanced toward the door and wondered if she could bolt before either one reacted. If they combined their powers she would have no hope against them. Perhaps if she utilized the element of surprise…

Orestes reprimanded her quickly. “Crassness must run in your family. I’ve had quite enough.”

“Let’s head to my office to discuss this further.” Zelda gestured toward the front. “There we can have a conversation without being interrupted.”

Aisanna heard the words she didn’t say, and those were the scariest of all. In her mind, it only meant one thing: Once there, she would never leave. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“It would be best.” The steel in Zelda’s eyes brooked no argument. She was not used to people fighting her orders.

“Who sent you here, anyway?” Aisanna asked instead.

Orestes and Zelda shared a look. “They would prefer we not say.”

“It was Israel, wasn’t it? He sent you over here because he thinks I’ve been acting crazy.” It had to be Israel; there was no one else who would be willing to talk to the Claddium. Let alone tell them such damning information.

Zelda flashed a minuscule smile, born and gone before she blinked, more frightening as it did not reach beyond the borders of her mouth. “Mr. James mentioned concerns, nothing more. He did his civic duty.”

Both of them closed in on her, infinitesimally slow to keep from startling her. Aisanna wasn’t aware of their movement until man and woman stood less than two feet from her.

The force of their power filled the air and threatened to close her throat.

No, this was not good. Not good at all. Aisanna refused to break eye contact. Mentally calculated her chances of escape. There were none.

“It would be best if you came with us now, Miss Cavaldi,” Zelda repeated. “Think of your family. The shame. Do the right thing. Your brother will be thrilled to see you.”

What shall you do now, Aisanna? Now, when there is nowhere to run?

Malevolent strings of magic coursed through her and out through her fingertips, unwarranted and outside her control. Aisanna tried to stop it, to stem the influence before it took her over completely. The more she fought, the harder Darkness countered, until she felt the stain closing in around her soul.

“Back off.” Aisanna held up a hand and sparks crackled along her skin. “Don’t come any closer.”

Logically she knew better than to posture in front of those two. The worst people she could possibly come across. Darkness laughed at her and egged her onward. Urged her to follow through on her survival instincts and level them. Bring them to their knees.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop this display before you go too far,” Orestes warned. “We wouldn’t want to take you down by force. Not when we started out so pleasantly.”

“I don’t want to do this. Please back away. Please, I’m begging you.”

“Are you threatening us?”

She heard the plea in her voice although her body betrayed her. Sparks lengthened and sailed up her arm, turning from a harmless gold to a deep dark red. They crackled and snapped in whip-like tendrils before shooting around her feet in a protective circle.

“Please!” she begged one last time.

Zelda stepped forward, with the tips of her fingers glowing in retaliation. “This is a path you do not want to go down. I’m warning you to cease this juvenile behavior and do yourself a favor.”

“I don’t want to do this.” Aisanna felt tears leaking out without conscious effort. “It’s not me. If you leave me alone, then no one will get hurt.”

“Zelda, please note for the record we came here for peaceful negotiations and have instead been threatened both verbally and physically. This is not making a good case for yourself,” Orestes said with forced nonchalance. He slid the soles of his wingtips along the floor, making no sound. Inching closer.

“Miss Cavaldi…” Zelda began.

They approached her with the sort of bloated self-confidence of persons thinking they can handle a wild animal. Believing their magnetism was greater than the shadow coursing through her blood, taking control.

“Have you succumbed to the dark, Aisanna?” Orestes said softly. “The wild magic? Have you let it infect you?”

“No!” She didn’t want to believe it, could not. It didn’t matter how hard she tried. Her stomach contracted in pain as another worked her magic, moved her limbs, and stared out through her gaze.

Darkness whispered to her of the terrible things Zelda and Orestes had done in their lives. How delicious it would feel to make them pay. How easy it would be.

“Did you whisper in that man’s ear and make him believe killing humans was the right thing to do?” Orestes asked.

“No, I didn’t. I don’t know!” She bent over with her hands clawed over her face. A convulsive sob escaped.

“Do not do anything rash, Miss Cavaldi. We are here to talk to you and get to the bottom of the matter. Think of Israel.”

Suddenly, her shop turned from a comforting space, an area she could go to and relax, to a cage keeping her imprisoned. The Claddium members wouldn’t let her leave, not without a knock down drag out fight.

Darkness leaped with gleeful malice at the opportunity to engage.

Yes, yes. Think of the explosion, the tide turning in my favor. Think of the pain you can inflict, and how deserving they are.

“I can’t control her,” Aisanna said instead, teeth chattering. Her eyes had been rubbed raw with fury and pain. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You need to come with us.” Zelda didn’t need a word or a potion to bring forth the full force of her magic. Her brow furrowed and a ring of fire roared to life around them, keeping them penned.

“Leave me alone.”

“Aisanna—”

“I said leave me alone!”

A puppet with her master’s hand pulling the strings, Aisanna let her magic burst forth, enhanced by the slithering blackness inside of her. A wild range of emotions competed for possession of her, like rival generals in front of vast armies bent on taking the same native land. Excitement. Rage. Dread. Grief. She tried to focus on here and now, to push away the bad feelings and regain control. A creeping sense of futility infected her, the same one incubating in her heart since the first night she’d been struck with the death rune.

The dam broke, the only barrier holding back everything she tried desperately to contain.

And Darkness was thrilled.

Power sprang out from her to manifest as thick poisonous green trunks. Tiles burst from the floor as those trunks wound toward the ceiling. They burst through sheetrock and cement, metal and wood, until they reached the rooftop.

The ring of fire shrank down in surprise. Zelda drew her brows together, livid. “Miss Cavaldi, call this off! That’s enough.”

Thorns the size of a giant’s forearm grew from the stems, with points gleaming black. The thorns formed a wall around her and forced the others to retreat.

“I’m sorry,” she cried, the sentence quickly cut off. Darkness rose and she clutched at her throat. She was forced into a corner until her vision dimmed and she watched the display through a small circle of light. She was an observer in her own body. Unable to stop the tainted black power using her.

Don’t fret. They deserve everything they get. In this game, there’s no loyalty.

A second wave of vines whipped around—summoned out of nothing—and snapped at the air in front of her. They lashed out at the Claddium members like cat-o’-nine-tails, cracking anything they touched and leaving a pool of acid-like liquid in their wake.

Orestes retaliated with a wave of his own earth magic. “I have had enough of this! Cease now or you’ll spend the rest of your miserable life in the Vault.”

The vines shrank back an inch, then thickened. Grew larger and more impenetrable. That’s when Aisanna lost all hope of fighting the one who strengthened her.

Zelda recovered quickly and added her own power to the free-for-all. Flames licked the thorns in bursts that would have normally been able to melt the paint off a tanker. Instead, the plants absorbed the fire and doubled in size.

Aisanna was not one to give in to hysterics. The opposite, usually. She delegated hysterics for Karsia. However, at the realization that Darkness would never let her go, she went ballistic.

With a scream to make a banshee proud, she released the flow of magic and bolted toward the back door, gaining enough control of her legs to stumble along.

Her dark passenger found the resistance amusing.

Run, run, little one! I’ll give you this escape tonight.

Her muscles protested after everything she’d been through. She pushed on into the freezing cold. She had no place to go, no sanctuary for escape. She ran over frozen sidewalks and across blocks, ran until her vision dimmed. Her feet slowed and a slick patch of ice had her sliding into a nearby building. Needles pierced her insides and she bent over her knees, sobbing.

Sobbing and woozy-headed, Aisanna sank to the ground with dizziness swarming like bees in her ears. “Just take me already.”

As if from a distance she heard a boom, an explosion of mortar and stone when her building collapsed to the ground. Her business had been decimated.

Her vision tunneled once more until she beheld only a single point of light from a nearby street lamp.

Then she gave in.