Something Wanton (Mystics & Mayhem) (43 page)

“You know, some things never change,” he drawled, ambling into the room and
throwing himself down over mine and Kim’s legs.  He grinned from ear to ear before shaking the melting snow out of the ash blonde curls he had inherited from his father and spraying us with water in the process.  Kim immediately yelled for her mom; I rolled my eyes.

“Yep, everything is just like I left it,”
Riley laughed.  “Kim is still a big cry baby, and Em is still rolling her eyes at me.  Ah!  It’s good to be home!”

“You are so right,
Riley!” I said, laughing and leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek.  “Some things don’t change, because you’re
still
an ass.”

“And you’re a hot immortal chick now,” he retaliated, winking at me.  “You still wanna get married?”

“Sure I do,” I purred, leaning close to him.  “I just don’t want to marry
you
.”

“Well that’s a relief,” Nathan said, walking through the door and throwing
Riley
the look
, the one he usually reserved especially for Tyler.  “You were supposed to come get them, Riley, not propose to my girl.”

“He really has no sense of humor,”
Riley sighed, moving his head a little higher up on my lap and whispering low just to be annoying.  “Now,
I
have a sense of humor.  Add that to the fact that I’m practically irresistible, and you get the total package.  Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider my acceptance of your proposal?  Just say the word, and all this could be yours.”

“Your proposal?” Nathan asked, arching an eyebrow at me.  “
You
proposed to
him
?”

“Um, yeah,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes again
as I shoved Riley off my legs, “when I was seven years old.  And I didn’t really propose to him, if we’re going to get technical.  I told Mrs. Val I was going to marry him.  That is so
not
the same thing.  Anyway, I outgrew it.  In case you haven’t noticed, he’s kind of a pain.”

“I noticed,” Nathan said, chuckling and holding his hand out to me.

“How was the hunting?” Kim asked casually as I let Nathan drag me off the bed and into his arms for a kiss.  “Did you catch anything?”

“Oh, yeah,” Nathan purred, sharing a look with
Riley who was grinning from ear to ear again.  That was never a good sign.  In fact, Kim and I usually ran from that grin.  “Tyler is gift-wrapping the package now.”

“Package?” I asked, thoroughly confused, as Kim smiled like the Cheshire cat.

“Come on, baby,” Nathan said, winking at me as he slid an arm around me and started ushering me out of the room.  “You’re not going to want to miss this.”

“Release me at once!”

I stopped just inside the door of the room Nathan led us to and stared, jaw dropping almost to the floor, as that furious howl washed over me.  The woman tied to the chair in front of me, her eyes practically barbecuing us all with emerald green flames, looked totally different from the crone I knew.  Her hair was down and floated around her all the way to her waist.  They had apparently pulled her out of bed because she was still in her nightgown, a form-fitting silk number—funny, I had always pegged her as the high-necked cotton tent type—that did a lot more for her figure than her usual black suits.  I was surprised to see that, dressed that way and with her hair down, Constance Cantrell was actually…pretty.  Who knew?

And then it hit me what they had done.

“You kidnapped Dragon Lady Cantrell?” I squeaked.

“Yes, we did.”  Tyler was leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and a distinctly disgruntled look on his face.  “And, as you can see, it wasn’t without its setbacks.”

He turned his head and I saw four long scratches, just starting to heal, running down the side of his neck.  In my opinion, he was lucky that was all he had.  Personally, I wouldn’t have gone after her without a ready supply of elephant tranquilizers, a muzzle, and some heavy duty chains.

“I insist you untie me immediately, Miss Blaylock,” Ms. Cantrell hissed, her eyes on me.  “You have no idea who you’re dealing with, young lady.”

“You don’t think so?” I asked coldly, remembering all too well what she’d already done.  If I needed a reminder, all I had to do was think about the burns that had covered half of my best friend’s body a few hours before. 
“I’m well aware of what you’re capable of now, Ms. Cantrell.”

“Right now she’s not capable of anything but shrieking like a banshee,” Zan said, coming through the door behind me.  “The stuff we shot her up with will keep any powers she has neutralized until we give her the antidote—which I have conveniently misplaced.”  I gave him an impressed look and he grinned.  “What can I say?  It pays to have a girlfriend who was raised by a bunch of witch hunters.”

So
that’s
how they had managed to kidnap her without losing a limb or two.  I assumed that the antidote he was talking about was the same stuff that had been on the arrow Ainsley had shot me with the night I met her. 

The fact that the witch hunters had found a way to use chemistry to bind magic was kind of scary.  Then, hadn’t I once read somewhere that magic was simply science that hadn’t been explained yet?  I had scoffed at it at the time, but maybe that theory had some merit, after all.

The door opened again and Skippy walked in, looking as pleased with their night’s work as the rest of the guys in the room.  Mrs. Val and Grams followed him, leading a very weak looking Mrs. Amelia.  Our eyes met and Mrs. Amelia smiled at me faintly.  She couldn’t meet my gaze for long, however.  After a second, she looked away, ashamed.

“What is she doing here?” Ms. Cantrell bit out, looking like she was about a second from an apoplectic fit.  “Can’t you see she’s ill?  What kind of monsters are you people?”

“Monsters?” I hissed, the word sending my temper spiraling.  “
We’re
monsters?  What does that make you, then?  We weren’t the ones who sold out our friends!  We weren’t the ones who got all those people killed last night!  You want to see a monster, Constance Cantrell?  Go look in the mirror, then tell me if you can stand to see what looks back at you after what you’ve done!”

She had the nerve to look confused.  Was that really how she was going to play it?  The innocent act?  She had been brave enough to join forces with
Hamilton and the sick bastards who followed him, but she wasn’t brave enough to admit it?

“Oh, Connie!” Mrs. Amelia whispered, her face ashen.  “Connie, how could you?”

“You don’t honestly believe that nonsense?” Ms. Cantrell snapped.  “This girl has lost her mind!  You all have!”

“That remains to be seen,” Skippy said calmly.  Seeing that I was about to say something much less diplomatic, he took my elbow and turned me back toward the door.  “Please excuse us, Ember and I need to finalize our plans.  Nathaniel, Tyler, if you would join us?  I feel certain the others can contain one powerless female for the few minutes it will take us to get everything squared away.”

He didn’t wait for their agreement but pulled me out the door.  I went willingly, afraid of what I might do if I stayed.  Monsters.  I still couldn’t believe she’d had that much nerve.  Yeah, we might be a little different, but we weren’t monsters.  Monsters were people like Hamilton and Constance Cantrell.  Monsters hurt people because they were jealous or because they allowed their hatred to control them.  She should thank every higher power ever worshipped that I wasn’t a monster.  If I was, she’d be a smoldering pile of ashes.

I didn’t even realize where we were until Skippy pushed me into the chair in front of his desk and walked around it to pour me a drink.  I took it from him and slowly sipped it, taking deep breaths to try to control my anger.  When Nathan and Tyler walked in a few minutes later, I was actually
starting to calm down.  I smiled weakly when they both walked over and laid a hand on one of my shoulders, hovering on either side of me like sentinels protecting royalty.

“The move is
nearly complete,” Skippy said quietly, walking back around his desk and taking a seat.  “The most critical are already gone.  My guard and a team of witches have been transporting them out for the last hour.  The few that remain are not seriously injured and have asked to stay to fight beside us.  I have granted that request.”

“How can we be sure they don’t already know about our plans to relocate
the injured?” I asked, taking another sip of my drink.

“Shea assures me that she told no one, so the injured will be safe under my guard.”

He leaned back in his chair with a loud sigh and rubbed a hand over his face in a gesture that seemed too old for him.  When he looked up again, I saw, for the first time, the power that had gotten him to the position in the Nosferatu that made him the most feared being alive.  It was in his eyes, the way he held his head.

“How many of us are there?” Nathan asked, his voice silky and low.

Like Skippy, when I looked at him I saw a different man.  This wasn’t my obnoxious, arrogant mate.  In that moment, he looked like the warlord I had once compared him to in my mind.  His hazel eyes had turned ice cold and there was a feeling of brute strength coming from him.  Scary Nathan.  I decided I preferred the other one, the one who got on my nerves and made me want to kiss him all at the same time, to the man standing next to me.  Scary Nathan was just a little too intense for my taste.

“At last count, the number of us who will face the enemy stands at less than thirty,” Skippy told him before turning to look at me and Tyler.  “Even with Ember and Tyler fighting on our side, we are going to be grossly outnumbered
.  Hamilton is not a fool.  After what happened when he tried to burn Miss Robbins, he will call in reinforcements.  We need help, and we need it now.”

Skippy and I had talked about it, but it didn’t really hit me until he started using terms like ‘facing the enemy’ and ‘calling in reinforcements’ that we were really going to war.  It wasn’t just a figure of speech, it was a reality.  I struggled to make it sink in as the guys talked about strategy around me, tried to figure out how I had gone from being just Ember to being the unofficial leader of an army.

“What do you think, beautiful?” Tyler asked, squeezing my shoulder.  “You would be the best person to do it, but you can say no if you think it would be too much.”

“Do what?” I mumbled, drawing concerned looks from all three of them.  “Sorry, guys.  I was thinking about something else.  What did I miss?”

“We think you would be the person most likely to get the truth from Constance,” Nathan explained, kneeling down next to my chair.  “We have to know what she’s told them, baby.  You seem to have a way of pushing the right buttons with her.  While you’re doing that, Skippy and I are going to see if we can get in touch with some old friends and Tyler has volunteered to keep an eye on Amelia.”

“Why?” I asked, frowning.  “I don’t think it was Mrs. Amelia, Nathan.  She really does look sick.  Maybe we could just take her
wherever we’re taking the other injured witches.  That way, she’s safe and sound and she can get some rest.”

“We can’t do that until we’re absolutely sure it was Constance, Em,” Tyler said softly.  “We have to take every precaution until we know for sure.”

They waited patiently as I thought about what they wanted from me.  Could I do it?  No, that wasn’t the right question.  Of course I could do it.  The real question was whether or not I could do it without killing her.  That led to another question, one that seemed much more critical to me.

Was that the kind of person I had become?

“Yeah, I’ll do it,” I told them, grimacing at the thought of spending quality time with Constance Cantrell.  Even before she sold us all out she hadn’t exactly been my favorite person.  “Clear the room.  If I’m going to do this, it’s just going to be me and her.”

They exchanged worried looks, but Nathan immediately got to his feet and went to do as I asked.  Tyler squeezed my shoulder again, as if he understood what I was feeling, and I laid my hand over his.  What I was doing was dangerous.  More dangerous than facing
Hamilton and his goons.  More dangerous than even going up against Bastian had been. 

I was about to face
myself
.  It was time to find out exactly who I was and what
I
was capable of.

Nathan was back in less time than I would have thought to let me know everyone had vacated the room.  He held his hand out to me and I took it, squeezing it gently, but then let it go.  My father had made a good point when he said I had stopped standing on my own two feet and started depending on Nathan when I met him.  It wasn’t that I minded leaning on Nathan
—that was part of loving and being loved by someone.  I just didn’t want to become so dependent on his strength that I lost sight of my own.

“We will be in the
library on the first floor,” Skippy said, looking very proud.  Of me?  I thought that might be jumping the gun just a bit.  I hadn’t done anything yet—good or bad.  “Good luck, my sweet.”

“It’s not a matter of luck anymore, Skippy,” I told him, sighing.  “It’s all a matter of time, now.  And, unfortunately, that’s something we’re running dangerously low on.  Now, if you boys will excuse me, I have a date with a Dragon.”

∞§∞§∞§∞

I walked back into Ms. Cantrell’s temporary holding cell with my shoulders back and my head held high.  She watched me warily as I walked past her and pulled the chair from under the small writing desk beneath the window.  She didn’t say a word when I dragged it over in front of her and turned it backwards.  Taking a deep breath, I straddled it and folded my arms across the back, completely calm.  When I rested my chin on my hands and just stared at her, she smirked unpleasantly and her eyes narrowed to the slits I was used to seeing.

“Ah, so they sent you, did they?” she said softly, her voice icy.  “I thought they might.  This may surprise you, Miss Blaylock, but I’m actually quite pleased.  It’s time you understood a few things, and I am just the person to instruct you.”

“There’s really only one thing I want to understand,” I told her.  “Why did you do it?  Those people who died were people you knew, other witches.  Why would you hand them over to
Hamilton?  Do you really hate me that much?”

Her eyes widened ever so slightly, but she kept her silence.  I didn’t let that get to me. She was going to tell me what I wanted to know.  I had all night to sit there, staring right back at her.  It didn’t matter to me if it took an hour or a week.  Neither of us was leaving that room until I got the information I wanted.  I hoped she had used the bathroom before she went to bed, because she had a long wait ahead of her for the next trip if she didn’t start talking.

“Tell me, Miss Blaylock,” she sighed finally, “why is it that you believe I would betray the people who make up my entire world?”

“
Sierra Lovell,” I told her, watching her face for her reaction.  “It was the way you looked at that poor dead woman.  Did you kill her, Constance?  Did you use some kind of spell to make it look like a demon—or another darkling, perhaps—had killed her?  Really, I want to know how you did it.”

“
I didn’t!” she said, actually looking horrified.  “I would never harm an innocent, Miss Blaylock!  And, despite what she was, Mrs. Lovell was an innocent.  To my knowledge, she had harmed no one in Moonlight.”

“You didn’t seem all that bothered by
the fact that she was dead, though, to be perfectly honest,” I told her, studying her through narrowed eyes.  “Why is that, do you suppose?”

She glared at me, her lips pursed together in a way I was all too familiar with.  She looked like I had just given her a stupid answer to a question in class.

“Miss Blaylock, I know this might come as a surprise to someone like you who wears every emotion right there on her face for the world to see, but sometimes people can be upset and not show it.”