Precarious Possessions (Maxwell Investigations) (10 page)

Thorne shook his head. While part of him was amazed by what
his friend could do, there was a larger part of him that understood the need
for secrecy. If word about bringing murder witnesses back from the dead got
out, the number of body mutilation cases would go on the rise. For the ones
that could actually
bring
the bodies
back, they would instantly paint a target on their backs. Thorne leaned against
the wall behind him as Barry cut into the palm of his own hand and allowed the
blood to well up.

Barry silently prayed that he got the words right. “Of my
body, be revived. Of my flesh, breathe once again,” he said as he poured the
blood welling in his hand into the mouth of one of the carcasses.

Thorne stood silent as Barry repeated the simple process
with the other two slabs in the room. He frowned as the room slowly seemed to
darken. Thorne could feel the heavy presence of Magic surrounding them both. Something
was going to happen, and he was pretty sure that it wasn’t going to be good.

Barry slowly inhaled as he held his hand over the last
victim’s mouth. Nothing was happening so far. He didn’t know if he hadn’t given
them enough blood, or if there was something else he was missing.
Just as he was about to turn away, a pair of gnarled hands grabbed
at his wrist and brought his hand down to cutting teeth.

When Barry screamed out, Thorne instantly drew his gun.
“Tell me this isn’t normal,” he ordered. Over the years, he and Barry had a
system. If this was out of Barry’s realm, then Thorne was going to do whatever
he could to get his partner out of trouble.

Brown eyes were beginning to glaze over as Barry looked at
one of the few men he would ever trust. “This is definitely
not
normal.” His eyes rolled to the back
of his head.

Thorne wasted no time. He unloaded the clip of his gun into
the creature’s forehead. When the cadaver was lying prone on the slab again, he
ran over to Barry and felt for a pulse. When he found one, he started to lift
his partner into a fireman’s carry. “Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he
whispered before leaving and locking the medical room.

* * *
* *

Madison opened the front door of her house and smiled when
she saw Aiden and Kayin. “Did you have fun with Grandfather?” she asked as she
hugged both of her sons.

Aiden beamed as he kissed her cheek. “
Becca
showed us how to make éclairs.”

Kayin looked down the driveway where Victor was still
helping Lacey out of the limo. “I think Grandfather wants to marry
Becca
,” he whispered.

Madison smiled as she turned her eyes to Victor. “Now boys,
you know that you are not supposed to talk like that in front of Grandfather.
He’s too old to take a hint you know.”

Aiden smiled as he looked over Madison’s shoulder and saw
Troy. “Daddy!” he cheered before leaving his mother’s arms and running over to
the tall man he only met last night.

Troy lifted his son up into his arms and smiled. “Hey
Squirt,” he laughed. This was the one that smiled and easily welcomed him.
According to what Madison told him, this would be Aiden.

Kayin looked at Troy and frowned at his mother. “Is he our
daddy?” he asked her.

Madison lifted Kayin into her arms and hugged him. “Yes, my
little devil, this is your father. And I expect you to be nice to him.”

Victor entered the house with Lacey and closed the door.
“Kayin and I have already had that talk my dear,” he said with a nod to Troy.

Lacey carried a bag over to Troy and smiled. “We brought
this for you, Uncle Troy,” she said happily. “They’re cinnamon rolls and other
pastries from Éclair’s.”

Madison laughed as she watched the smile on Troy’s face.
Lacey had just won over another male heart. She shook her head and started for
the deck where Crispin and Dylan were relaxing. “So what are the plans for the
rest of the day?” she asked looking over at Victor.

The elder Vampire looked at her for a long moment. “Now that
you and the boys are out of danger, I was going to see about that trip I was
telling you about.”

Madison’s lips thinned as she put Kayin down. “Go to your
father.” When he frowned, she lightly tapped his nose. “Now,” she said gently.
She waited for Kayin to run off before turning to Victor. “You’re leaving?”

Victor shrugged. “For a while,” he said a wave of his hand.
“A year, maybe ten.
Who knows?” He noticed the way Madison
frowned at him and scoffed. “I asked you and the boys to come with me, and you
said no.”

She mimicked his scoff perfectly. “That was before I knew
you were really leaving.” She then looked into his green eyes. “Is this because
of what the kids said?” she asked. “Is there something going on between you and
Rebecca?”

Victor glared at Madison and hated the fact that it didn’t
scare her the way he did others. He did too well raising her. “Rebecca is none
of your concern.”

Madison rolled her eyes. “Which means Kayin was right and
you do want to marry her,” she said dryly. When his glare intensified, she
crossed her arms in challenge. “And not only do you find her attractive, you
want to leave before you can act on that attraction. You want her to live a
nice and normal life without our world disrupting hers.”

“What makes you so sure of that?” Victor asked.

Madison rolled her eyes and held up a single finger. “I was
with Pan for about a year and a half. He hired a nanny named Emily. She was
completely human with knowledge that magic existed, but not Vampires and the
like. You moved to New York, and soon after, Emily left never to come back, and
you took over raising me.”

Victor frowned. Emily was a beautiful young woman that was a
trying to make a living as a governess. He found a lovely family in Paris for
her to work for and set up a meeting. She found a nice husband who was a low
level Mage and had two lovely children. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

Madison ticked off another finger. “And then there was Amy,”
Madison continued. “She was there when Antonio was attacked and while you
changed him, you paid for all of her medical bills from that night. You also
made Crispin give her a job. When you started to become infatuated with her, we
went to Japan for the summer and when we came back, she was transferred to
Austria.” Madison saw the way Victor frowned and turned his gaze away from her.
He never realized that she kept such a close eye on what he did, and he was
torn between being angry and being impressed. “So what are you going to do now?
Leave and then send Rebecca to study under Gordon Ramsey or
something?”

Victor stayed silent knowing that both Crispin and Dylan
were probably listening to their entire conversation. After a moment, he looked
at the woman that was his daughter in every way but blood. “You are an annoying
little know-it-all,” he hissed. When she laughed, he shook his head. “I do not
know what I would do with Rebecca,” he admitted. “She does want to go to
culinary school. I was thinking about keeping her here in the States and have
her study under the Ace of Cakes.”

Madison laughed as she hugged Victor. The Vampire’s
sweet-tooth always seemed to show through, “You’ll do no such thing. She can
stay right where she is.”

Troy walked over to where Victor and Madison stood and
stared into Victor’s eyes. “Thank you, for taking care of the boys for so
long.” When Victor nodded, he held his hand out for Madison. “I don’t know if
she told you, we’re going to… try to have a relationship.”

Victor’s eyebrow arched. As far as Troy was concerned, all
they were missing were the rings. Considering the younger man was a mated Wolf,
he was correct. He was just putting up appearances for Madison’s sake.
Something for which Victor could grow to like him.
“Well,”
he said regally, “knowing Madison the way I do, you may need me to stick
around.”

Madison’s eyes narrowed. “And why is that Father?” she asked
with a tight smile.

The former ruler was going to enjoy this. “My dear, Troy
will do something sickeningly romantic and you are going to run. I will have to
be here to help him catch you.” He smiled as her hackles started to rise.
“Besides, if you think to tease me about Rebecca, then think of this as
turnabout.”

Madison couldn’t contain her laughter as she hid her face in
Troy’s shoulder. “Bloodsucking Bastard,” she mumbled.

Victor only waved his hand as he walked down the hall. “I
love you too, my dear.”

Troy looked at Madison and shook his head. “That has to be
one of the strangest conversations I’ve ever listened in on.”

She smiled as she looked up into his face. “This one was
pretty tame,” she admitted. “Sometimes they can be worse.” She reached up on
her toes and kissed him. As she pulled away, a thought occurred to her. “Tell
me about your family,” she said quickly then rethought her request.
“Your mother and stepfather.”

Troy smiled as she started to lead him to the deck. “They
both still live in Alexandria,” he started. “Mom’s a DA and Dad’s an OB/GYN.”
He paused when Madison froze up. “Are you okay?”

Madison stood with her mouth open for a few moments then
swore. “I hate your father.”

Troy frowned as he followed her. “What are you talking
about?” he asked as she picked up and started to dial. “Who are you calling?”

Madison smiled evilly and winked at Troy. “You manipulative
son of a bitch,” she said when Dennis answered the phone.

Troy hid a smile. That seemed to be her favorite slur to
Wolves… but really, it wasn’t one. His smile then faded when he started to
listen to what she was saying.

“I should have put it all together. Really, I should have.
You had me go to a doctor that you trusted. The same doctor that had the same
last name as a woman I worked with for years. You had me around his family this
whole time and didn’t even tell me.”

Troy’s smile was completely gone as he listened to his
father try to come up with some excuse. With a deep frown, he reached over and
took the phone from Madison’s grip. “I’ll deal with you later,” he said before
hanging up. He then looked at his mate. “You know my mother?” he asked. When
she slowly nodded, he swallowed. “Does she know about the boys?”

Madison’s eyes went round for a moment. She remembered
something Dennis said about Belle having a nervous breakdown when she
discovered he was a Wolf. She held onto Troy’s hand and walked over to the
sofa. “She’s seen them,” Madison answered. “When she asked who their father
was, I told her that I doubted it would be anyone she knew.”

Troy could see the humor in that as well. Without meaning to
do so, Madison let his mother see her grandchildren. He looked at their
entangled hands and lifted them up to his lips for a kiss. “Well, we’ll be able
to tell her the truth.” He then frowned at the thought of telling her about
Werewolves and magic in general. “Maybe not all of it,” he amended.

Madison laughed softly as she caught on to his train of
thought. “I think she would freak if she found out that Aiden will be able to
raise the dead. She doesn’t need to know that.”

Troy looked at her. “You know that they’re Mages?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I know how to read Magic signatures,” she
said easily. “Anyone can do it if they try.” When he continued to look at her,
she shrugged. “Aiden is going to be a Necromancer, like me. Kayin is his twin
and counter balance. So he’s going to be a Healer.”

Troy couldn’t help but chuckle. The boy with the open heart
will be the one that deals with Death. He then looked at Madison. “We’re
gonna
raise good boys,” he told her.

Madison felt the wall around her heart crack a little more.
He was still thinking that he would stay with her through everything. Little
did he realize, everyone that loved her found some way to leave
her.
Without a word she leaned forward and kissed him deeply.
Madison relished the groan that escaped him as she leaned forward and wrapped
her arms around his neck. It only took a moment before his arms went around her
body like steel bands. It was another moment before they were interrupted.

“Mommy and Daddy sitting in a tree,” Kayin and Aiden sang.
“K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Madison turned to look at her boys with a mischievous glint
in her eyes. “You finish that song and I’ll kiss you two next,” she threatened.

Kayin’s eyes widened before he turned and ran down the hall.
Aiden giggled before going after his brother.

Troy laughed as he hugged her. “Do I want to know where they
learned that?” he asked.

Her eyes rolled. “I have a foster son, Alex.” She waited for
his eyes to narrow and was surprised when he simply nodded. “Well, he probably
said that a couple of times about Dylan and Crispin.”

“Uh huh,” Troy said skeptically. From her tone, she was the
one that would sing it in front of Dylan and Crispin. She was placing blame on
an innocent teenager. He gently tugged on a lock of her hair and chuckled. “You
should be ashamed of yourself.”

She laughed and tried to hide her face in his chest. It was
amazing how well they fit against each other. “That’s my story and I’m sticking
to it,” she giggled.