Precarious Possessions (Maxwell Investigations) (24 page)

“She would never want that for me. Lily and I are the same.
If I suffer, she suffers.” Cord gathered his power around him and focused it on
Eric. He smiled when the Mage stumbled. “And I’ll have her back now. Where is
she?”

Eric looked at Cord and shook his head. It didn’t matter
that he had loved Sloane since they were in high school. At this moment, he
wanted the man in front of him. Eric grabbed the metal paperweight Sloane had
made for him. The point of the cone was breakable, and the center was
completely hollow. Before he was brought to his knees, Eric snapped off the tip
and brought it up to his makeshift horn. Just as Cord started to approach him,
Eric yelled into the metal cone.

Cord was thrown back by the force of Eric’s power. He
growled as he stood and watched the Keeper that was standing between him and
his sister. Cord charged Eric and slammed him into the file cabinets behind
him. As he started to back up, he felt Eric’s fist collide with his jaw. When
he stumbled back Eric followed him down to the floor.

There was no way he was going to let Cord get to Lily. Eric
wrapped his arms around Cord’s neck in a choke hold and screamed into his ear.
The sight of blood running down the Incubus’s ear let Eric know he popped
Cord’s eardrums. Eric gasped when a heavy elbow slammed into his stomach.
Alarms were ringing when Cord grabbed him with by his throat.

“Open your mouth again and I’ll rip out your fucking
tongue,” Cord growled. When Eric tried to break his hold, he threw the Mage
across the room into the glass window.

Eric tried to keep his bearing around him as he sat up. The
thick glass behind him couldn’t take much more punishment, and sadly he wasn’t
the fighter that his siblings were. As Cord slowly stalked him Eric grabbed a
handful of pencils that had fallen next to him. His Alchemic Magic was nothing
like Dylan’s, but he did have enough to break down whatever elements he wanted.

Cord grabbed Eric and pulled him to his feet. “I want my
sister,” he said in a growl.

Eric gave him a lopsided smile. “Tough shit,” he said before
blowing the pencil dust he created into Cord’s face. As the Incubus choked and coughed,
he grabbed Cord and slammed him against the window. The glass shook and then
shattered. Eric swallowed as both he and Cord fell forward. Eric faintly heard
a woman screaming as the ground three stories below rushed up at him. His brown
eyes narrowed when Cord turned his body, making sure Eric would hit first. He
then grinned when he looked into Cord’s scared green eyes. “She’ll hate you
forever now,” he whispered before his world went black.

Casper frowned as he watched Madison’s car turn onto her
estate. The news he had to deliver wasn’t going to be pleasant. He knew for a
fact that there was an excellent chance that she was going to focus her sights
on this random killer. Then run him into the ground.

Madison pulled up to the mansion and quickly got out of the
car. She ignored Troy as he climbed out of the passenger seat. She glanced at
Casper, who took a quick note of her eyes. Not only were they murderous, but
they had that strange glow that heralded use of her magic. “Where are the
boys?” she asked with her sibilant voice.

“The old man took the boys and Belle to her place. She
wanted to pick up some things.” Casper folded his arms over his chest as she
walked over to him. “There’s something you should know Pixie,” he said calmly. The
Vampire barely held back his curse when Madison’s back straightened. She was in
a fighting mood, and there was no one who could handle her. This wasn’t
something that could wait. “I just got a call. Eric was in a fight and it ended
badly.”

“How badly?”
Troy
asked. When Madison turned to glare at him, he continued to look at Casper. “Is
he alright?”

“He was fighting someone, some
thing
, and they fell from his office window. Eric landed on a car.
Currently, he’s in surgery trying to repair his spinal cord. Sloane is already
at the hospital. Dylan and Crispin are on their way.”

Madison curled her hands into fists before turning back to
her car. She paused when she felt a solid hand grab her arm. Her eyes narrowed
on the werewolf holding her. A savage growl escaped her as she pulled her arm
out of his hold. “Do not think you can tell me where to go,” she said in a
threatening tone.

“You need to calm down,” Troy warned.

“You need to back off,” Madison countered. She didn’t step
back when Troy started to crowd her. Madison closed her eyes tightly as she ran
her fingers through her hair. “You need to let me do my job. There is a killer
out there and I have to figure out a way to keep Ashton off my back. I can’t do
that with you and Dennis having a pissing contest over how he talks to me.”

Troy slowly shook his head. “You’re the mother of his
grandchildren. You deserve his respect. I won’t let him talk to you any way he
feels like it.” He touched the sides of her face and waited for her to look at
him. “I’m sorry if I stepped on your toes,” he said quietly.

Madison growled as he brushed his lips against her. Before
she could think about what she was doing, she lashed out. Her fist collided
against his jaw, making him stumble back. Madison pushed at his shoulders. “I don’t
need you here,” she spat. “I don’t need you hovering over me.” When Troy
straightened she pushed at him again. “Just leave.”

Troy grabbed her arms and pulled her close. Her eyes were
slowly fading to their normal brown color and her voice had lost its sibilant
echo. “No,” he said into her ear.
His grip on her tightened
as she started to struggle.
“I’m not going anywhere, Madison.”

She turned her body and brought her foot down on his instep.
When he cursed under his breath, she threw her knee up into his groin. As he
fell to the ground, she backed away from him and ran her hands through her hair
again. “I don’t need this right now,” she said in a small voice. Her eyes
looked at her Mate and felt her heart drop. “I can’t do this,” she mumbled
before climbing into her car and heading back down the driveway.

Casper looked at Troy as the other man sat up looking after
her car. “You know, even if I couldn’t read your mind, I would say you were
trying to get her to fight with you.” He walked over to Troy and held out his
hand to help him up.
“You alright?”

Troy wiped at his jaw and tried not to wince. Madison had a
damn good left. “I’m fine,” he mumbled. When Casper raised an eyebrow, he
sighed. “This last victim got to her.”

“There’s a lot getting to her.” When Troy frowned at him, he
continued. “This case is just the icing on the cake. She’s been on an emotional
roller coaster for years because she didn’t want us to come after you. Then you
show up. Now, she has to share her life with you. That includes the side that
she doesn’t want anyone to see. And just think about how she feels because two
of her brothers were hurt and she wasn’t there to stop it.”

“Can you tell me something?” Troy requested. When Casper
raised an eyebrow, he continued. “Why did her mother send her to New York?”
Troy followed Casper as he went into the mansion. “Madison keeps thinking I’m
going to leave her. I need to know where that fear comes from.”

Casper made his way into the kitchen and pulled out a pack
of cookies from the pantry. “I completely agree. You do need to know.” He ate a
cookie and thought about what to tell him. “Madison was about five years old
when Tina’s father passed away. From Madi’s memories, I knew she was close to
him. When they held the funeral Tina and James took all of their children. They
were expecting Madison to be a Healer like her grandmother. They were lowering
the casket, Madison started panicking. She wanted everyone to stop putting dirt
on her Grandpapa. Tina was about to take her to the car when the casket started
moving.”

Troy’s shoulders fell. “Jesus Christ. She
Raised
him?
Like she did with Megan in the alley.”
As Casper
nodded, Troy sat at the table.

“Yeah.
And
he hadn’t died peacefully in his sleep, either. Tina’s father was killed on a
hunting accident. A wolverine got to him and unfortunately, he was not a Mage.”

“Tina got scared of what Madison was able to do and sent her
away.” Troy felt sick with the knowledge. That was why she was so worried about
him leaving. She didn’t want him to see what she could do, because even her own
mother hadn’t wanted her. Troy sighed before looking at Casper. “I need to know
what hospital her brother is in.” When Casper frowned he raised his hands in
surrender. “I won’t fight with her.”

* * *
* *

Madison walked into the hospital waiting room and quickly
spotted Sloane sitting with Dylan and Crispin on each side of him. “What
happened?” she asked.

Dylan stood and looked into her sister’s eyes. She could
tell there was something was wrong with Madison, but at the moment she didn’t
feel like pressing. “Reports are saying that someone went into Eric’s office
and they fought. The glass in the window broke. Eric and the guy he was
fighting went out of the window. Eric hit first.”

“What about the other guy?” Madison asked softly.

“There was no trace of him by the time the paramedics got
there.” Dylan glanced at Sloane and returned her attention to her sister.
“There was a woman unconscious a few blocks away from the office. When she came
to, she kept talking about how a man just limped up to her and kissed her,” she
said mentally.

Madison’s eyebrow twitched. “The Incubus,” she whispered.
When Dylan nodded Madison’s jaw tightened. “How is Sloane?”

“Worried.”
Dylan
glanced at their friend. “He’s feeling like he should have been there, even
though we know that wouldn’t have been possible. He’s also concerned about
Lily.”

“Who’s Lily?” Madison asked. From the look in Dylan’s eyes,
she was not going to like the answer. “And why would he be worried about her?”

“Because apparently Incubi come with
Succubi counterparts.
Lily is the Succubus. Her brother did
this to Eric.” Dylan watched the way Madison’s eyes darkened and put her hand
on her sister’s shoulder. “According to Sloane the situation is more complicated
than we know. Right about now we all need to be here for Eric.”

“I want to talk to her,” Madison said lowly. When Dylan
frowned, she shook her head. “If this is her brother, I have to stop him.”
Madison paused when a woman came into the waiting room carrying two cups of
coffee. The woman was beautiful. Her long wine colored hair framed jade colored
eyes and soft caramel skin told of her Indian descent. Madison wanted to take
her head off. This woman was a female version of Megan’s killer. She inhaled through
her nose and tried to calm herself. “Lily?” she asked.

She nodded as she crossed the room and gave Sloane one of
the cups of coffee. “Yes, and you would be Madison,” she sighed as she sat next
to her new friend. Lily gave both sisters a sad smile. “I don’t know where my
brother is. I kicked him out last night.”

“Do you know where he would go?”

Lily sighed as she thought. Most of the clubs were closed
and it would be a few more hours before they would open for business. One stood
out in her mind. “Cord liked going to the Kitty Palace. He would go there to
try and get an energy boost.”

Madison went over to Lily and knelt in front of her. She
gently took the other woman’s hands into hers and took a steadying breath. “I
want you to know something,” she said seriously. “Your brother has killed
multiple young women. One of which is a member of my Pack. Now he’s put my
brother in spinal surgery. He won’t be around too much longer. I will kill
him.”

“That’s enough Madison,” Sloane said quietly.

“I just want her to understand that Cord has pushed my
hand.”

Lily nodded as she sipped her coffee. “I know. He needs to
be stopped. Right now he thinks he’s untouchable.”

“Not for long.” Madison stood to her feet. Just as she
turned to the door, Tina and James walked into the waiting room. “Mom,” she
greeted with a nod.

Tina’s eyes were red as she looked at her two daughters. She
went to Madison’s side and hugged her. “Do you need me or Jimmy to help you?”
she asked.

Madison returned Tina’s hug before shaking her head. “I’ll
be fine,” she replied before looking at her family. “Keep me posted on his
condition, I’ll handle Cord.” Madison quickly turned and left the waiting room.
She wouldn’t allow another member of her family get hurt over something she was
supposed to be handling.

* * *
* *

Tina looked at Dylan. “She’s stubborn, isn’t she?”

“You don’t have to ask Mom. You called her that plenty of
times.” Dylan looked at her watch and sighed. She knew Tina wanted to be around
for Eric, but this situation with Madison had the potential of getting real
bad, real fast. “Madison is reaching a limit with her power,” Dylan confessed.
When Tina looked at her, she pressed her lips together. “It’s like there’s
something in her trying to take over. I was hoping that Troy being here would
help, but they haven’t had too much time together since he’s been back.”