The Banshee's Desire (4 page)

"Did Gabe get that bastard?"

"Yes. He's in the police car right now." Jacqueline glanced towards the flashing lights. She could just make out the silhouette of the man in the back seat of the car. Anger flared within her.

She couldn’t wait to get her hands on Jacob Fortensky's soul.

"Where is Gabe?" Angela tried to sit up on the gurney, but the paramedic who'd been tending to her pushed her back down. "I need to thank him."

"Just rest right now," Jacqueline soothed. "They're taking you to the hospital."

"I'm fine."

"That asshole stabbed you. You are not fine," Jacqueline said. "Don't worry. I'm going to follow right behind you in my car."

The paramedic pushed the gurney into the ambulance.

Jacqueline couldn't get the image of Angela's pale and bruised face out of her mind as the door to the vehicle shut. Her friend looked so defeated lying on that gurney. The red marks on her neck where Jacob Fortensky had tried to strangle her stood out against the white sheet tucked around her for warmth. And the long red cut along the side of her face…

Just the thought of what he had tried to do made Jacqueline's blood boil.

Toby put his arms around her and she leaned against him, hoping his strength would quiet the anger within her. He kissed her head and said, "Breathe deep."

She did, surprised at the sudden scent of lilac that tickled her senses.

"Just a little soothing spell," Toby whispered. "Your whole body is vibrating with energy."

"I just can't believe that this happened to Angela. I mean, after everything she went through with Derek. It's so unfair."

"She'll be okay. Angela is one tough lady."

Gabe walked by, his shoulders hunched as if he didn't want to be noticed.

"Gabe," Jacqueline called out and broke away from the warmth of Toby's arms. "Are you okay?"

He scowled.

"I'm fine. If the cab driver hadn't pulled up and started hollering for people to come out and see the girl in the parking lot, I would have killed him."

"Thanks for looking out for Angela. She's…she's like a sister to me."

"She's a fighter." Gabe glanced at the ambulance which was pulling away. "She gonna be okay?"

"Yes. Thanks to you."

"Men like Fortensky are scum. I should have let you have his soul earlier." Gabe gave her a grim smile. "He deserves a slow, painful reaping."

"He does." Jacqueline stared at the man in the cop car. "He certainly does."

"It's not up to us to decide when or how a man should die. Especially a regular mortal." The warning in Toby's voice was plain. But who was the warning for? "Don't get me wrong. There is nothing I'd like better right now than to torture him with every dark spell I know. But there are consequences for every action. Jacob Fortensky will get his punishment by the rules of human justice."

"There's nothing human in a man who kills women."

Jacqueline didn't wait to hear Toby's response. Instead, she made her way through the bystanders and cops towards the prisoner. She blocked out the noises around her and focused on one sound only.

The beating of Jacob Fortensky's heart.

It pounded in a strong intoxicating rhythm. A chill crept into Jacqueline's skin, a shroud that she allowed to surround and harden her resolve. The closer she got, the louder the heart beat became, and she enjoyed listening to the quickening of it as Jacob realized she was coming towards him.

Through the glass of the rolled up window, the two stared at each other. His face was bruised from the beating Gabe had given him, distorting his looks. Jacqueline felt that they were both monsters in a way, able to cause havoc, able to destroy life. But the way Jacqueline saw it, she was justified. She was only ridding the world of an evil creature before it could do more harm.

It was then that she saw the gray shadows again.

They materialized into the form of two women who stood outside the car, their eyes wide and pleading as Jacqueline took in their state of undress. Both were naked, but one of them had a deep cut in her throat and blood leaked from it. The other woman's face was mutilated as if someone had gone after it with a sharp object. There were multiple bleeding wounds all over their bodies.

"He did this to us," the scarred faced woman said. "He deserves to die."

These were the murdered souls of the women he'd killed two months earlier.

They hadn't been able to pass on and their grief almost took Jacqueline's breath away.

"Monster," she whispered, looking into Jacob's eyes. "Your victims can't even be at peace because of you."

"She would have loved it!" Jacob shouted the words so Jacqueline could hear. "She would have loved being fucked by me!"

She bent closer to the glass, entranced by the glow of life she could see surrounding him. 

"Just do it," the woman with the slit throat said.

"Reap his soul and be done with it," the other dead girl urged. "You are the mark of Death."

Jacqueline could feel the gentle tugging of a melody threatening to burst from her. A lilting humming sound passed her lips.

"Don't do it, Jackie." Toby stood next to her, one arm going around her waist. "This isn't the way. You are a human. Don't become a monster over this man."

"I have to do it" Jacqueline whispered, looking back the two murdered women.

"No, you don't. Let some other reaper--a reaper who has fully crossed over--take care of this. It's not the same as helping someone's soul cross. You would be the cause of death. You would be pulling a soul before its time." Toby tugged at her waist, trying to steer her away. "Please, Jacqueline."

Somewhere inside her, Jacqueline heard the words. She struggled through the darkness in her head and tried to grab on to them. 

But the urge to reap was stronger.

The humming grew a little louder. She could see a tiny piece of his soul emerging from Jacob's head. Reaping always put the image of separating a shadow from its owner in her mind, and that's what she thought of now as little by little the soul loosened. She knew better than to pull it completely free all at once.

It would be over way to quick if she did that.

Humming the soul out was guaranteed to be a much slower and more painful process.

Already, Jacob Fortensky was beginning to gasp and wheeze. His face turned the color of ash. He hunched over in the seat of the car, wailing in pain.

Pure music to her banshee ears.

"Jacqueline, I love you. Do you hear me? I love you and this is not who you are!"

Love.

Jacqueline blinked and the soul snapped back into Jacob.

Toby wrapped his arms around her, holding her body as she began to shake.

"It's alright," he whispered. "You didn't do it. Everything is okay."

Jacqueline listened to his voice, unable to take her eyes off the man in the car.

An officer got into the vehicle and seconds later slowly began to drive away.

Jacob turned his head to meet Jacqueline's gaze. His eyes were filled with a wicked glee reminding her of a child who'd gotten away with something. He'd gotten away from her. Though he probably didn't know how, some part of him had registered that Jacqueline had been killing him. But not now. He'd escaped. She couldn't harm him now.

A vicious smile spread across his face.

Next to him, she could see the faces of the two murdered women as they pleaded to her with outstretched hands pressed to the glass.

Still, holding tightly to Toby, Jacqueline focused all her energy on the man in the car.

His soul ripped free.

Closing her eyes, she absorbed the energy, only dimly aware of the guilt. Toby held her closer, unaware of her action.  She stroked the hair on the back of his head, breathing in the warm scent of lilac and the masculine smell of Toby. Turning her head to the side, she rested it on his shoulder.

It was then that she saw Gabe. His face was bland as he watched the two of them embrace, but when his gaze met hers, he gave her a small nod, as if to say he approved of what she'd done.

Worried, she stared back at him. Had he seen? Would he tell? Jacqueline couldn't say for sure, but she sent him a silent message with her eyes, one she hoped he understood clearly.

Tell on me and I'll make trouble for you, too.

Nobody had much liked Derek Spark.

Including most of the members of his family.

When his brother, Finneus Spark, heard about the murder, he hadn't exactly cried over Derek's demise. It was hard to work up sympathy for someone who physically tortured you just for kicks when you were a kid. Mostly, Finn had just felt a sense of dread.

Wizard pride would run high over Derek's death.

Someone probably would have to go in and declare vengeance just to save face.

It didn't take a genius in Finn's opinion to figure out who the "someone" was going to be. He was the only son left and at the age of twenty-five, he'd rarely been called upon to show his family loyalty. It would be only a matter of time before his father, Jonathan Spark, would summon him about the matter.

Damn, Derek.

What an asshole.

Sure enough, his father had requested a meeting at noon today. The message had been sent via his father's personal secretary, Tiffany--a buxom blonde with sky blue eyes that set Finn's libido racing. At least his father knew how to get his attention!

"What are you doing later, sweetheart?" Finn asked Tiffany as he lounged against the door frame of his apartment.

Tiffany had taken in his dark hair, steely green eyes, and flirtatious smile with a breathless giggle.

"I'm doing whatever you want, Finn," she said.

"Meet me at Luciano's for drinks. Around eight."  He stared at her chest with appreciation. "Wear something with cleavage."

Giggling, Tiffany handed him the letter she'd been sent with and left.

Finn grinned as she walked away. He had a feeling the evening would bring all sorts of delights. He could only hope those delights wouldn't get the best of him, wouldn't cause him to do anything regrettable.

Occasionally, sex did get him a little…out of sorts.

But his grin faded as he stared down at the letter in his hand. How old fashioned his father was! No calling on the cell phone or emailing for Jonathan Spark. That would have been too easy.

Easy had never been his father's style.

That was one thing he'd had in common with Derek.

Finn opened the letter, noting the heavy stationary with his father's gold seal at the top. The ink on the paper was slanted and dark, as if the sender had been pressing hard on the paper. And there at the bottom was Jonathan Spark's signature, a flourish of loops that looked as domineering and sophisticated as the man who wrote it.

Come to my office at noon. Be prompt as we have much to discuss regarding an errand of great family importance.

Yep. This was definitely about Derek and the shit he'd pulled over in
Galesburg
Falls
. Finn still couldn't quite believe that his brother had managed to hide their nephew for so long. What a huge secret to keep! And what a blow to their family that this nephew had been allowed to live in the first place.

Finn had only been five when his sister, Gabriella, had gotten in trouble. At the time, he really hadn't understood what the big deal was. She loved some guy who wanted to marry her. Wasn't that a good thing? Isn't that what was supposed to happen?

But then she'd gone into the hospital to have a baby, and after that, she'd never been quite the same person. Melancholy, dirty, and thin--those were the words that came to mind when he thought of Gabriella's last years. Her suicide hadn't been particularly shocking to Finn. She'd been dead a long time already, in his opinion. The actual dying had been just a formality.

Over the years, he'd pieced together the story of his sister and another wizard named Toby Williams. They'd fallen in love and secretly begun to see each other. Though they'd lived in separate cities, Toby's magic had been powerful enough for him to transport himself to visit her.

Finn had felt a pang of jealously at finding that out. It seemed unfair to him that wizarding families were blessed with specific talents. Some wizards were suited to guarding and protection spells. Others were deemed healers, having a knack for medicine and cures. And still other families were able to master the art of time and space and move from place to place with ease and unconventional means.

When he was younger, Finn hadn't understood why they couldn't all have the same talents, but his father had explained to him that Merlyn, the first of all wizards, had not wanted any one particular group to be all powerful. Magic was a living, breathing thing that could not be abused. If it was spread out, then balance could be maintained. That didn't mean that guardian wizards couldn't learn transportation spells or that the alchemist couldn't find ways to protect. It just took more practice. And time.