Blood, Smoke and Mirrors

Chapter Twenty-Three

Emily bent over me as I thrashed and kicked, molten agony racing through my veins. A high-pitched scream tore from my throat, long and agonized. The vampire placed her hands on either side of my face, and she held me steady as she looked deeply into my eyes.

Lex knelt next to me, and then grabbed my hand and held it. Some of the heat subsided, enough to let me concentrate on Emily as she spoke.

“Catherine, how much did you drink?” she asked.

“What?” My breath was still too fast, too shallow-I felt like I was hyperventilating.

“How much did you drink from Harrison?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Did he have you recite any spells? Any oaths?”

“No.”

“Good. Alexander, you’ll have to carry her.”

Lex picked me up and held me close, and my thrashing quieted into mild shakes. Just his mere presence helped fight back the effects of the poison racing through my body. We hurried through the parking garage, and once we reached their car-a bright red SUV-I was dropped into the backseat as everyone climbed into the car.

“I’ll take care of her from here, Alexander. You need to drive,” Emily informed him, patting his arm. Lex appeared less than thrilled at being banished from my side, but he obeyed her command.

“What’s happening to me?” My voice trembled as the heat suddenly turned to an icy chill, and I shivered. The engine revved, and I heard the tires squeal as Lex raced through the parking garage and out into the rainy Chicago night.

“Please have a care with my car. We’re going to need a bit of stability back here,” Emily warned him, and then she turned to me. “The blood you ingested has saturated your aura with necromancy, and it’s allowing Zachary’s emotions to overwhelm you.”

Taking my hand, she turned it over and peered thoughtfully at my wrist. “How much did you drink? Was it more than one time? Did he force you?”

“No, Laura tried to kill me, but Zach chased her off. He said I had to drink or he couldn’t help me.”

“You lost a lot of blood?” Simon asked, and I nodded. “A mortal wound would have required a good deal of his blood to heal.”

“Will it wear off? Zach said it was dangerous for a magician to drink vamp blood if they weren’t a necromancer.”

“Yes, it is.” Emily sighed, shaking her head in annoyance. “Alexander, you’ll need to take her directly to your home once we part ways. The farther away from here she is, the better. Young Mr. Harrison won’t leave the safety of the wards on this building. He knows the Silverleafs have marked him.”

“I’ll be damned,” Michael said softly. “That’s brilliant.”

“What is, darling?”

“He’s bought himself immunity from the faeries-they can’t touch him without risking the safety of their Titania.”

“Well, there’s nothing to be done about that now. Now, I’ll do what I can to aid you, Catherine. I’m afraid this isn’t going to be simple, or pleasant-”

“Em, I don’t think you should try this,” Michael interrupted.

“I’m afraid I’m the only one who can, darling. No more interruptions,” she admonished him. Focusing her attention on me, she patted my hand gently. “Unfortunately, I can’t remove the attunement. I can ease some of your discomfort by drawing out the worst of the necromantic magic, but I can’t remove all of it. Losing that much blood at once would likely kill you.”

Oh, that was comforting. Still shivering uncontrollably, I couldn’t really argue with her plan. All I wanted to do was get away, far away as I possibly could, and sleep for a week.

“Emily,” her husband intoned again. “This isn’t safe.” I glanced at him, noticing the deep concern in his expression.

“Why? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing, he’s just being overly cautious.” She gave me a reassuring smile.

I wasn’t convinced, particularly when Simon spoke up on the subject. “I’m afraid I must agree with Michael. We don’t know how Harrison’s magic will affect you, Emily.”

Squaring her small shoulders, the petite woman drew herself up. “I’m sure I can handle anything from one of Laura’s kept men. He’s only a child.” Waving her hand dismissively, she ignored their fears. “Now, Catherine, it will be easiest on you if you do not watch this.”

Like getting a shot-just close your eyes, slight pinch, and it’s all over. Too bad nobody was going to offer me a lollipop afterwards. Nodding my consent, I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head away. Intent on ignoring the feel of her fangs piercing my wrist, I concentrated on the sound of the speeding SUV and the splatter of rain against the roof and windows. Emily used just enough of her vampire magic to dull the pain of the bite. It made me wonder if she knew what her buddy Simon had put me through, and what she thought about it.

The chill in my veins began to subside, and the shivering quieted. As the sensations calmed, I could distantly feel even greater anger from Harrison, now mixed with poignant anguish as he realized he was powerless to stop me from being spirited away. Even as I regained control of myself, Harrison continued to remain in the back of my thoughts. I wondered if I would ever be completely free of him.

I also wondered if Emily was going to drain me into unconsciousness as I felt increasingly lightheaded, but she finally withdrew her fangs and moved away. Opening my eyes, I studied the vampire’s expression. A frown creased her brow, and her gaze was distant and glassy as though she was in some sort of trance.

“Emily?” I asked.

“Give her a moment,” Michael said. “She’s having a vision.”

I nodded in understanding. Before she became a vampire Emily must’ve been a seer, the rarest breed of magician, and taking in Harrison’s magic triggered some sort of psychic episode. After a minute or so passed, Michael reached over from his seat and tapped her shoulder, murmuring her name. For another long moment Emily continued to stare blankly, then she blinked several times and awareness filled her soft gray eyes.

“Are you okay?” I asked her, concerned.

“Yes, I am now. It was a bit…unexpected. But don’t you worry, my dear. I’ll see that young Mr. Harrison behaves himself in the future. Rest now, we’ll take care of everything.” Turning to her husband, I watched them exchange a look heavy with emotion, and I wondered what it was she’d seen.

I turned to Simon. “You know about this spirit-link thing, how it works?”

“I’ve heard of it. I’ve never attempted such a thing,” he replied.

“Can it be undone?”

“I don’t know. I can research the matter.”

I frowned. “How much would that cost? After all this, my blood bank’s closed until further notice.”

The vampire smiled, amused. “That sort of research is expensive, but you have nothing to fear. I’m sure your Oberon will insist on payments that are…less memorable.”

I nodded, too tired to press him further. I drifted off to sleep, waking only when we stopped to switch cars. Apparently the vampires were going to keep an eye on Mac for now, which might have made me nervous, but Emily assured me that no one in the Order would ever harm a fellow librarian. On one hand I hoped that Mac got to experience Simon’s ridiculously extravagant library, but on the other hand I knew he’d never want to leave if he did. Lex tucked me into the passenger seat of his SUV, and I missed the rest of the ride to his place. When I awoke again I was being shaken gently.

“Cat, honey. C’mon, we need to get you inside and cleaned up. I’ll even make pancakes for you.”

Still half asleep, I smiled. “I love you, but we both know you can’t cook.”

He laughed, the first real laugh I’d heard from him in far too long. Sitting up, I stretched in my seat and undid my seat belt. Lex held the door open for me, and my bare feet touched down on the damp grass of the lawn.

“Can you walk?” he asked, and I nodded. “Hmm, better safe than sorry.” Scooping me up in his arms, he hoisted me out of the truck and shouldered the door shut.

Too tired to argue, I let him carry me across the lawn. I hadn’t spent much time at Lex’s place. It’s a long drive from my apartment-not that I had a car-and since it’s a half-hour from the nearest shopping center it qualifies as country in my book. He’s got a pretty good sized chunk of land, lots of trees, and it’s along a river I can never remember the name of. Lex even has a speedboat, which I’d been out on all of one time-too loud and too fast for me. The house is really too large for one person, but he’s got a lot of junk-sorry, important guardian equipment-so it balances out.

The moon, almost full, lit the surrounding yard with a soft glow. The motion sensors triggered the outside lights as Lex walked up the steps of the front porch, and I heard the sound of dogs barking within. He set me down, and the wooden planks of the porch were cold. “You better get behind me, or they’ll knock you down and lick you to death,” he warned as he unlocked the door.

“You got another dog?”

“Yeah, that’s Cesár. He kinda adopted me while I was out on a call. Got more than enough room, so I brought him home.”

Bubba, the German shepherd, bounded out of the door first, followed by a mutt of unknown but vaguely Labradorish descent. Both dogs bypassed Lex and sniffed me, tails wagging. “No, she doesn’t want to play with you boys. Go on, get.”

The dogs hightailed it out into the yard, and I followed Lex inside. He flicked the lights on, and I looked around the room. I couldn’t shake the odd, out-of-place feeling. I’d never felt comfortable here, and I guess I wasn’t about to start now. Turning to me, Lex kissed me hard and deep, reminding me in a rush of heat and passion just how amazing he made me feel. “Missed you,” he said simply when he pulled away.

“Obviously.”

Lex caressed my cheek as he studied the black eye peeking out from behind the makeup that’d been spackled over it. “Did he hit you?”

“Of course not. Laura, on the other hand, beat the ever-lovin’ snot out of me.”

“I missed a chick fight?” He raised an eyebrow, looking disappointed, and I couldn’t help but laugh at his expression.

“It wasn’t a fight, it was a beating.”

“We’re goin’ to work on your self-defense skills, sugar. But first, you need to eat so we can do somethin’ about those wounds.”

“I’ve eaten enough for a small army today, and it didn’t do much.”

“And your blood was full of vamp magic before, now it’s not,” Lex pointed out in reply.

The main room of Lex’s place is a giant combination of living room, dining room and kitchen. He flipped on the TV for noise, and a twenty-four hour news channel droned on in the background. I took a seat at the kitchen table and watched as Lex cooked me an omelet and toast, which was the extent of his cooking skills. It was almost a crime that someone who had a kitchen as nice as Lex-granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances-had zero cooking skills. Then again, it might very well become my kitchen, if Lex was serious about becoming Oberon and working out our issues.

“What made you change your mind?” I asked as he set the plate of food down in front of me.

“About what?”

“You know about what. What made you decide to be Oberon?”

“I never said I wasn’t goin’ to take it, I just wanted some time to get used to the idea.”

“Gee, it would’ve been nice to have some time to get used to the idea of trying out for Titania.” Picking up my fork, I poked at the omelet. In the back of my mind, I heard Zach’s voice assuring me that if it had been him, he would’ve accepted the position without hesitation.

“You thought I was walkin’ away from you again.” It wasn’t a question. Taking the seat next to me, he leaned back in his chair.

“Yeah, I did,” I admitted.

“You didn’t trust me. That why you let Harrison bite you?”

Frowning, I set the fork down. “We’ve been over this already. I didn’t let him do anything to me. I didn’t even know what this weird spell thing he did to me was, or how he pulled it off, but it wasn’t my idea. I didn’t agree to it.”

“I meant it when I said I’d kill him for layin’ a hand on you. Looks like I won’t be able to follow through on that one.”

“Well, it’s even worse than that, because now we’re going to have to work on keeping him alive too. If he goes, I go.”

“That won’t be easy. I’m willin’ to bet he’ll go after Laura’s council seat.”

“Great… Did you know about the government going after magicians?” I asked, changing the subject.

Lex looked surprised. “He told you about that?”

“He took me to a place, kinda like a safe house, where I helped heal this shapeshifter who looked like a prisoner of war. Poor kid must’ve been sixteen years old.”

Lex rubbed his eyes wearily. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Harrison wants me to help him overthrow the government and take over the world. Like a Bond villain, without an accent or a white Persian cat.” I snorted. Pushing around the food on my plate, I paused and forced myself to continue eating.

“You think that’s a good idea?”

“Oh sure, I’m gonna get a leather jumpsuit and change my name to Kitty Galore. What do you think?”

“That you’d look good in that jumpsuit,” he replied, and I rolled my eyes at him. “Seriously, though, you know he’s goin’ about it the wrong way.”

“Yeah. What are we going to do about it, though?”

“I’m not allowed to go after straights, Cat.”

“Lex the Guardian can’t. Oberon, on the other hand… I just feel like if I’m going to do this, I want to make a difference.”

Lex eyed me silently, and I went back to pushing food around on my plate, and then he nodded slowly. “I guess you’re right. C’mon, you’re doin’ more playin’ than eating, so let’s get you cleaned up.”

Unwilling to leave me alone in case I had another seizure-like episode, Lex perched on the bathroom counter as I showered, ready to leap to my rescue if I looked wobbly. It took a ridiculously long time to scrape off the makeup and undo my hairstyle. When Lex got a real look at my bruises he cursed about three minutes straight in French, which was quite impressive.

I didn’t have any clothes at his place so he gave me a T-shirt to wear as a makeshift nightgown. Despite the fact I was battered, bruised and in borrowed clothes, I felt better than I had in a long time. Lex drew me close to him the moment I slid into bed, and he kissed me.

“I love you, Cat,” he murmured.

“I love you too. Go to sleep.”

I didn’t have a single nightmare.