No Peace for the Damned (8 page)

A knock on the bathroom door startled me. Boy, someone sure had balls.

“What?”

There was no answer.
What the hell!
I yanked the bathroom door open and froze.

Theo stood inches away, towering over me with his hands braced on either side of the doorframe. His face was dark, his hair falling over his eyes. My heart stopped beating for a few seconds. My breath caught the moment his scent filled my lungs.

His thoughts were in chaos—and so loud I couldn’t have blocked them if I tried. He was drawn to me. A compulsion. Just like the pull I felt for him. And just like I’d been so sure that he’d done something to cause this pull, he was certain I had done something to him. That strange, warm place inside of me trembled, then grew. Against my will, I calmed down. My breathing steadied, my heart rate slowed. My rage at Thirteen lightened to a manageable pissed off. There was no motive behind Theo’s presence here. He just
had
to be where I was. And I just
had
to have him here.

“You’re not going to help us, are you?”

I jumped. Heather appeared from the hallway, breaking through our silent moment. Theo didn’t move. I had to duck down to see her from under his arm.

“I’ve already helped you,” I said coldly.

Theo’s breath turned ragged over me. Ducking had moved me closer to him, and suddenly I had to be closer still. It was like a magnetic pull, stronger than anything I had ever experienced. The force of it put my family’s energies to shame.

And it scared the crap out of me.

I leaped back in a flash, putting my back against the bathroom wall. Unfortunately, the bathroom was so tiny I was still only a few feet from the door. Heather peered at me from under Theo’s arm. Her empathetic impulses alerted her to something heavy and sensual in the air, but she didn’t trust herself.

“You’re right. You have helped us,” she tentatively agreed, looking back and forth between Theo and me. “But we won’t be able to really stop your family unless you show us how.”

Theo turned his head and glared at Heather. He didn’t say a word, but his thoughts snarled at her.

Holy shit
…he wanted to defend me. Rough stubble shadowed his jawline as he ground his teeth. A slight crook in his nose warned of long-ago fights. It was a fabulously sexy profile.

“Magnolia?” Heather said.

Theo turned an arched brow to me. Oh, crap; he caught me staring. Heat flooded my face.

“What?” I snapped, my voice cracking.

Heather’s eyes widened. “I said, why not? Given what they did to you. So much horrible stuff that you had to escape. Why not help us defeat them?”

Because you would use what I taught you to try to hurt me
. The words were on the tip of my tongue when Heather’s mind swept over me. She was nearly a decade older than me, had worked for the Network for years. Yet she was more naïve to the world than I had been an hour after my birth. I felt the weight of Theo’s stare. For some reason I couldn’t crush that naiveté. Not in front of Theo.

When I didn’t answer, Heather shook her head and walked back toward the kitchen.

Theo’s grip tightened on the doorframe. With Heather gone, the connection between us flared. I clung to the wall because I wanted to go to him. Wanted to touch him, taste him.

His eyes twitched. Amid our overwhelming urges, something occurred to him. “Will you train us, Mag?” he asked softly.

My stomach dipped at the sound of his voice. Before I could stop myself, I nodded. His gaze softened and he leaned toward me. The fluttering in my stomach stole my breath. I had to get away from him. Now. Or God knows what else I’d agree to.

I cleared my throat twice then said, “I, um, need a minute.”

He frowned. He didn’t want to leave. I could feel the effort it took to peel his fingers from the door. With a shake of his hair, he turned away. I waited until his footsteps were past the kitchen and out the front door. Then I shut the door and locked it tight.

And cursed myself repeatedly.

Everyone arrived the next morning at sunup, ready to start training. All because I’d said yes to Theo. I’d stayed up half the night trying to talk myself out of the decision. But the moment I pictured his face I was helpless to resist.

Thirteen had suggested I begin with my mental powers: telepathy, telekinesis, mind manipulation. Well, screw that and screw him. I needed a fight. And if I was going to do this, I was going to do it
my
way.

Nothing like a little hand-to-hand combat to start your day off right.

Before we could start, though, there was one little thing I had to take care of. With a deep sigh, I called out to Charles. He turned in the doorway to the backyard. The others were already outside. “You can’t train with your hand like that,” I said.

He faced me full-on. He was tall enough to make the hallway look tighter than it was. His buzz cut almost touched the ceiling.

“Thanks to you I don’t have a choice, do I?” he growled.

“What’s going on?” Marie said from behind him. Several others had followed her back into the house. Fabulous. We’d have an audience.

“Little Kelch here says she isn’t going to let me train because of my fucked-up hand.”

OK,
so
not what I’d said. “Of course you can train,” I continued slowly, “I’ll just have to heal you first.”

Silence and blank expressions.

“You can really heal him?” Jon asked. I nodded. He looked back at Charles and shrugged. “So let her fix it.”

“Are you serious?” Marie squealed. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, but she’s the one who shattered his hand in the first place!”

“Then she should be the one to fix it,” Jon said, his voice resolute.

For a long minute they all just looked at each other. Finally, Charles stepped forward. Marie sucked in her breath. I stared at his cast.

“Well?” he said.

It was going to hurt. Badly. I’d only ever healed another person once before, but Uncle Max had screamed like a girl when he’d made me fix that gunshot wound in his chest. And then he’d punished me with the drugs that he and Father had stolen from the Chinese politicians who shot him. After a moment I shrugged. Screw it.

I pulled out the sharpest steak knife I could find. Charles jumped back and clutched his hand to his chest. “What the hell?” he yelled.

“I don’t think so,” added Marie. She stepped forward to block me from Charles. It was a sweet move, actually, even if she was a raging bitch.

“I have to get the cast off. You can cut it off yourself if you want, but I can’t do anything with that huge thing on your hand.”

Marie snatched the knife. I tensed. She glared at me then handed the knife to Jon. It took forever for him to remove the damn thing. They were being so careful. I poured another drink and had it half finished by the time Charles rested his hand palm-up on the table. The others stood at his back, watching. I reached across the table. Charles flinched before I even touched him.
Oh, come on
.

“You have to hold still,” I said. He scowled at me but took a deep breath and braced himself. I gently rested one hand on his forearm then hovered my fingers over the worst of his breaks. He flinched. Before he could pull away again, I lowered my fingers and focused my power into his bones. He gasped and jerked as if electrocuted. Marie and the others closed in behind me. I didn’t stop.

Through gritted teeth a strangled cry escaped him. “Stop it!” Marie shouted right at my ear. I slowly turned to face her. She took a step back.

Finally, it was done—the bones healed around the pins from his surgery. I released him and he sagged to his knees, cradling his hand to his chest. I stepped around the table and lifted my drink.

With a toast to the others I said, “You’re welcome. Now let’s start some training.”

…

Charles’s hand was perfect. And after a couple of days of watching me fight, the scowls faded to reluctant respect. Unfortunately, it didn’t last.

Theo lunged for me, armed with a stiletto. He spun, then leaped forward again in a move we’d practiced at least a dozen times. He missed, but his hand grazed my waist under my tank top. The moment our skin touched, power exploded between us. An electric current erupted, launching Theo through the air. I stood shocked as he landed on his back several feet from where I stood.

The others jumped to action. Shane guarded Heather and Jon as they rushed to Theo’s side. Marie and Cordele took up defensive posts with Charles between them, each one ready to kill for their fallen teammate.

“You see!” Marie shouted. “She’s using training as an excuse to take us out!”

The three in front went for their guns. I hunched in a defensive position, ready for an attack.

A crash at the house had us all turning. Thirteen and Banks raced through the back door, their movements tight with purpose. Another Network member had been found dead.

Our standoff instantly fell to the back burner. Thirteen and Banks gave orders, and the team moved without question. Theo got to his feet, rolled his shoulders in a stretch, then followed in pace behind Jon and the others. He didn’t look back at me once.

Thirteen briefly nodded to me, but Marie was the only one to look back. She paused at the back door to glare at me over her shoulder. Then she slammed the door shut, leaving me alone in the field. The sound of their cars shook the air until they disappeared in the distance. Then all was silent.

I stared at the cloud of gravel dust covering the driveway, my mind numb.

I’d lost control of my power. The energy released at Theo’s touch—I couldn’t have stopped it. Not even if I’d tried. My knees gave out and I hit the ground.
What the hell was happening to me?

I closed my eyes. Bright colors flashed in my mind. Red and yellow—the colors had haunted my dreams all week. On the estate I’d never slept soundly enough to dream. But here, I dreamed every night. Maybe that was the problem—I was too well rested.

I held up my hands in front of me. Power rose beneath my fingers then ran down my arms and into my chest. My whole body swelled with energy. I felt the power pulse, felt the strength of my muscles and the heat of my senses. Whatever had happened before, I was in control now.

“This is bullshit and you know it!” I yelled at Thirteen from the front porch. Since I happened to be outside when he arrived, he hadn’t bothered getting out of his car. Nice.

“I’ve done everything you’ve asked, Thirteen. There’s no reason I shouldn’t come. You just don’t want to give up what little control you
think
you have over me.”

“I never said that.”

“Yeah, well, you thought it.” Actually he hadn’t, but I didn’t care. I was pissed.

The funny thing was I hadn’t even thought of joining the others on a mission until he suggested I shouldn’t go. Now, I was adamant. Why the hell shouldn’t I go? It wasn’t like they were storming the estate or anything. They found fingerprints on the latest recovered body that led them to one of Uncle Max’s public guards. As if going after a Kelch bodyguard was a big deal. Thirteen just wanted to keep me the Network’s dirty little secret.

His hands clutched at the steering wheel.

“OK, you want the truth?” He looked up at me and squinted into the early morning sun. “The team doesn’t quite trust you yet, Magnolia. You have no real field experience. They have no way of being sure that you’d have their back in a real fight.”

“Of course they don’t trust me! They’re smart people, most of them. They
shouldn’t
trust me. God knows, I sure as hell don’t trust any of them. But that doesn’t mean I can’t go, that I have to stay here all the—”

“It’s dangerous. This man works for your family.”

I waved that off. “I’ll stay invisible. I’ll be prepared. Aren’t you taking him into custody, anyway? He wouldn’t get the chance to tell anyone even if he did see me—which he wouldn’t.”

He shifted the car into gear. “I’ll call you later this afternoon.”

“But, but…”

The car window started sliding shut.
Son of a bitch!
The porch creaked with my tempered power. “At least tell me where you’re going!”

The window paused, nearly shut. The address popped into his head a split second before he blocked his thoughts. He met my eyes through the glass. The window slid back down. He pressed his lips together, then finally said, “I thought you didn’t want this. Didn’t want to give this much to the team. Hell, two weeks ago you were ready to kill me for asking you to train them. Now you want to join them on a mission?”