Chapter Fifteen
It took two days tohammer out a plan. Two days which felt like weeks knowing The Chief was with Esteban. We decided to sacrifice the safe house, it had the largest grounds with little chance of a random person walking up on us. And as Melinda had decided to destroy her inheritance, or maybe her memories, we didn’t have the already compromised mansion to fall back on.
Both Fin and the others had more properties. It appeared to be magical being 101 to set up multiple safe houses. A fact no one ever bothered to tell me about. To be fair, if I ever needed a place to lay low, I’d use one of The Office’s houses.
On the day of the meeting, I woke up restless. Fin had already risen and gone to train with Helix and Hawk. Something that wouldn’t have hurt me to do as well, but I couldn’t bring myself to really talk to Fin yet, not after everything, and not before we finished things with Esteban.
I grabbed some breakfast and joined Melinda, Echo, and Ash at the small table off the kitchen. They’d strewn drawings and schematics over the breadth of it. Everything looked set, they just needed those of us with magic to anchor the device with it. Fin had the biggest reserve of power, but I didn’t want him to offer much so he could be a failsafe if everything went south. Of all of us, I figured he’d be the one with the best shot against Esteban.
Melinda pointed to the paper and added a notation.
I shook my head. “It looks like gibberish to me. Does all the magic you do require this much planning, or mapping out?”
So far all the magic I’ve done felt simple in comparison.
She flushed, her ears going pink in the morning light. “Not everything, no. But like any machine that is expected to be self-operational, it needs to be planned carefully. Especially when magic is involved, as once it starts, what if you can’t stop it again because of one minor mistake?”
“That’s fair. So this device won’t be detectable right? No one will know I’ve got it, especially Esteban?”
She looked at Ash who gave her a little head shake. “I’ve agreed to share how to remove the magical signatures most magic gives off. It’s what makes my pieces so sought after. Ash should be able to do the same thing, given slight adjustments to his magic being mage magic.”
I wondered if she’d considered how cozy she’d gotten with two mages in the last couple of days. Only a short time ago, one being near her might have set off a panic attack. Even without her magic, sitting here going over math equations and schematics she looked content.
I sat back in the chair and watched them. Piping in on a plan whenever they needed an answer. It wasn’t until Echo spoke to me that I snapped back to truly focusing. “What?” I hadn’t caught all of what he’d said.
“What are you going to do after this? Once The Black Mage is taken care of, are you going to return to being a bounty hunter?”
It hit me that I hadn’t considered any next steps for a long time. I’d only been running forward, hoping to stay alive for a while now. So I answered honestly. “I don’t really know. When Fin and I went back to The Office a little while ago it was made clear the other bounty hunters didn’t want me there anymore. Not with magic in my blood.”
“Didn’t you always have magic?” Melinda asked. “You just hadn’t used it before.”
“Technically yes, but I guess now that it was out in the open, they decided they didn’t want me. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for them, Hawk is in charge and basically fired anyone who didn’t want to work with me. So, right now, The Office is empty.”
Saying the words out loud hurt my heart a little bit. I checked my watch to hide the pain I was sure flashed across my face. “We should start getting ready for this thing. Get the device going, if you need more power let me know, but once I have it on, I’ll anchor it to my own then.”
I left the table and headed back into the bedroom to get dressed. What clothing I had needed washed, but I managed to find some black clothes that would hide blood if I needed to fight. Once I’d gathered my hair up into a messy bun and strapped my daggers to my thighs, I felt a little more like myself for the first time in a while.
One way or the other this ended today. Either I’d be dead, or Esteban would be. There was no middle ground anymore. No going back.
When I came out of the bedroom, the others were waiting, all dressed similarly, except Melinda and Ash who were staying as far back as possible.
I waved at everyone. “Alright. Everyone on the same page? Know where their position is?”
Hawk brought out a box and handed out tiny earbuds so we could all hear each other. It wasn’t magic, but it worked just as well. Maybe some normal technology might throw him off his game.
Once everyone nodded, Melinda stepped up holding a necklace. A long thick cable chain hung from her hands and at the bottom a circle of what appeared to be silver. Set inside it were some kind of black stone. “You ready?” she asked.
I nodded once. Hell, did I even have a choice here? I was the person who could get the closest to Esteban and not get outright murdered. It seemed like a good plan when I’d made it. Now, the thought being within touching distance of the man made me a tad queasy.
Melinda fastened the jewelry around my neck and adjusted it down the front of my shirt so it remained out of sight. “Now see if you can feel it with your magic. It should latch on to you, and when it does, hold it. Let it use your magic, but not take enough to do any damage.”
“Uh...that’s comforting...” But I did as she instructed and reached out to the necklace. It felt cold, dead, like a vessel waiting for...
I snapped my eyes closed and forced my breathing to slow. It wanted to suck in everything, take it all, but I slowed the tide and then forced it to take only a trickle of what I could offer it.
When I relaxed, I found Melinda staring at me intently. “Won’t he be able to keep it from taking his power like I just did?”
“No. He’s not the one who gave it the first kiss of power, you did, so it answers to you. Anyone else, and it’ll want to be a black hole for their powers.”
Awesome. “To recap. I’m walking into a fight with a psychotic, too powerful mage with a magical death star around my neck, and yeah, way too little backup.”
Fin gently nudged his sister out of the way and took my hands. “If I thought I could talk you out of this, I would. If I thought you’d let me be the one to meet him, and end him, I’d do that too.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know, you’re a big strong man.”
He released my hands and captured my cheeks between his palms, then tipped my head back to force our gazes together. “It’s not about me being a man, or you being a woman. It’s about watching someone I love face something so dangerous and feeling powerless to stop it. We’ll get through this, and then we’ll take a vacation.”
“In bed?”
“If you like.”
“In bed with chocolate?”
“Yes.”
I smiled and let him lean down and kiss my lips gently. “Well, now that I’m properly motivated.”
A soft breeze blew around us and I took one last moment to breathe it in and try to calm my mind. I’d already lost if I stepped up to this in a panic.
I felt the ripple of power one second before Esteban materialized a hundred yards into the middle of the field. Had he been able to do that before, shit, I didn’t know.
Tucked in tight to his side, looking disheveled and pale, was The Chief. I scanned him as they walked closer and wanted to murder Esteban all over. He had deep purple smudges under his eyes, the same clothes he’d been wearing when he’d been kidnapped, and bruises along the sides of his face through the white stubble.
“I’m here. You can let The Chief go now.”
Something about Esteban didn’t feel right. His eyes were too wide, the whites showing, similar to how he’d been at the house when he’d killed The Captain, but amped up to another level. He looked almost high. And the fact that The Chief stared at him, terrified, scared me as well.
Fin took one step back and then leaned in again. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Me too,” I said, before he raced off to join the others. Esteban watched him over my shoulder but didn’t say anything.
I motioned to The Chief again. “His release? You promised you’d let him go and leave everyone alone if I met you.”
“I believe I said I would do these things if you came to me. However, you didn’t come to me, you forced me to come to you. What is keeping me from killing you all right now? I feel the mages amongst you, I know my own kind have turned against me.”
I tried to draw his focus away from them by getting a step closer to him. “What anyone else does, isn’t significant. This is between you and me. Let The Chief go and we can talk about it.”
It felt like hours before Esteban shoved The Chief forward and I caught him in my arms. “Hawk!”
He came rushing up behind me and gently tugged The Chief from my grasp into his own. I met his eyes briefly and touched The Chief’s face to let him know it would be alright. I wasn’t sure it would be, but for now, he deserved some peace if he could be soothed by it.
It wasn’t until The Chief had gone and I stared at Esteban full on again that I realized he wore a tuxedo. This one white on white, which felt obscene for going to a fight in the middle of a field. But, maybe he’d assumed I’d just walk away with him into the sunset and he wanted to be dressed for the occasion.
“You look nice,” I tried. Now that The Chief was safe, I didn’t know what to do. I doubted Esteban would let me walk away from him right now and I didn’t want to draw attention to anyone else.
“Thank you, Darling. I dressed for you.”
He’d officially fucking lost his mind. I gave him a half-assed smile. “So now what? What do you want with me?
“To take you home of course. Come here and we’ll leave right now.”
It took everything in me not to stumble backward and put more distance between us. If he got hold of me and disappeared, or reappeared, at will, then I’d be fucked.
“We can’t talk here?”
He pasted on a crazy smile and shook his head like I was a petulant child. “Of course not my dear, you’re not even dressed yet.”
Then just as suddenly as he’d appeared, my clothing flashed and changed into a silky black ball gown. It hugged my body like it was tailored and the neckline dipped low.
I glanced down at my cleavage and let out a sigh. The necklace had shifted down between my breasts, and he wouldn’t be seeing it unless he had to dig around in there. Something I definitely wasn’t about to volunteer for. “Uh, this is nice, but I feel a tad overdressed.”
His deranged smile twisted into another aw-she’s-cute-look. “You won’t be when we get to the party.”
“If you have a party going, maybe you should get back there. I’d hate to keep you.” At this point I was grasping straws. Anything to keep him talking and not flashing me to hell knew where. Anything to keep his attention on me, and not on my friends.
Shuffling started behind me, and I shifted to block the visual with my head. Even my hair lay around my shoulders thick and curly. Well, it beat sitting in the salon chair, shit.
Hawk’s voice cut into the earbud in my ear. “Zoey, can you hear me?”
I slid my hands behind my back and flipped Hawk the bird.
“Great. The Chief had some information for us but I’m not sure what it means for you, or for our plan.”
I smiled sweetly at Esteban who seemed content to wait until I walked into his arms. Fat fucking chance. All the while, I motioned at Hawk behind my back to continue.
“The Chief said he came here alone. He’s been alone for days. Esteban spent time bringing all his goons to his mansion, and then one by one, he sucked them dry of their power and killed them all. There are mounds of bodies at his house and then started calling it a party and The Chief thinks you should bolt. Don’t let him get ahold of you.”
Melinda spoke next. “He could be degrading. It’s common amongst older magical creatures like a magical form of dementia. Combined with whatever problem started all this, and the fact that he’s serious overloaded on magic, it’s created the perfect storm of crazy. If he weren’t so powerful, he would be dead from it all.”
This day just kept getting better and better. “Tell me about this party, Esteban?”
“Hmm...” he said, seemingly to have lost focus for a second.
“The party,” I prompted. “Are there appetizers? Because you know, I love appetizers. Especially any form of friend cheese. Not those weird like snail balls or anything like that.”
“There will be food, of course, and wine, dancing, anything my new mate wants is hers.”
Something in my prickled at him calling me his mate. Maybe it came down the bond from Fin, but neither of us liked it.
“But, Esteban,” I gentled my tone. “I already have a mate, and so do you. Where’s yours? Haven’t you seen her in some time?”
He blinked once, twice, slowly, like a creepy jack in the box. “No. I haven’t. My mate is dead, so now I’ll have a new mate.”
Shit. Hopefully reminding him of that fact didn’t just hurt what’s left of his crazy little brain. “Did I ever meet your mate, what was she like?”
He gave me another patronizing smile I wanted to smash into the nearest blunt object. “You did get the pleasure of meeting him; you were there the day he died. My mate was Harlan, of course.”