Dominion: Zoë Martinique Investigation, Book 6 (7 page)

When I touched Dags, there was always
Alice and Maureen.

And with Daniel, there was always
Inanna.

He sighed as he released me. Then he
looked me over. "You okay? That asshole didn't hurt you, did he?"
He eyed the bandage on my neck.

"Joe, don't start. I told you Daniel
can't help himself—"

"I don't care. You're not a snack
cake."

I couldn't help but smile at him for a
second, before thoughts of Daniel turned my smile upside down.
"Anyone looking for him? Is that where Manuel got off
to?"

Joe nodded. "Two teams are out there
looking, basing their searches on what Manuel discovered in
Montreal."

Discovered in Montreal? I looked from
him to Mom. "What does that mean?"

"No big leads, baby," Mom said.
"Manuel found the area of the park where you and Daniel were
attacked and did a bit of cleanup."

"Cleanup?"

"Daniel bled. A lot," Joe said. "And
the last thing we want is for some forensic hematologist to get
hold of a Revenant's blood."

Oh. Right. Good point. "Did
they?"

Joe grinned. "Not anymore."

I narrowed my eyes at him, then
glanced over at Nick. "Was that why those two were in there
questioning me?"

Nick shook his head. "I stand firm in
my opinion. They wanted you to confirm you were with Daniel so they
could tie him to the rapist."

That remark brought me back to what I
needed to know. "Guys," I said, and I looked at each of them, "I
need to talk to Mom. Alone."

Joe started to follow Jason and Nick
from the room, but Mom ushered them back in. "Joe, this is your
room. Get some sleep. That Veil is going to be more taxing on your
physical self than you realize."

"I feel fine."

"Uh huh. Give it time." She motioned
me to follow her out of the room, past the nurse's station, and
down the hall. Eventually we took the elevator upstairs to the main
lobby, where she continued down a hall to the right.

I didn't say anything. Not once. I was
trying to figure out how to broach the subject with Mom.

We ended up in her office. Her massive
antique desk had Tiffany lamps in various spots. Books covered the
walls, from classic volumes to encyclopedias. When was the last
time I'd cracked one of those?

A leather couch sat in front of a
darkened fireplace. I plopped down and watched as Mom walked over
to it, said a few words, and a few flames danced on the logs. "Is
that real?"

"Not in the beginning," Mom said as
she sat down next to me. "I create a sort of spark that ignites the
wood. Eventually the magic burns out and the fire burns on its
own."

Magic. Scares the shit out of
me.

"So, what did you need to talk to
me—"

"Did Daddy make that man rape me in
Piedmont Park?" Whoa…not good with the subtlety, are we? Just blurt
it out there, Zoë. Blah.

I wasn't sure what answer I expected.
I'd seen the mark on that man's face and knew it was my dad's.
But…had there been a tattoo there when he'd attacked us that
night?

I couldn't remember, and it was
driving me crazy.

Mom stood and moved to the fireplace.
She closed the chain-link screen and brushed her hands on her
pants. I'd seen Mom nervous a few times in my life. This wasn't one
of those times. She looked downright worried.

"Mom?"

"Zoë, I—"

"Those cops in Montreal had a witness
drawing of him." I kept going even though I was sure she already
knew this—secrets being pretty much nonexistent in a house full of
Abysmal. "He had a mark on his face. It was Dad's mark. And the
picture Nick had—it was the same guy with the same mark. Did Daddy
do it?"

She shook her head quickly. "No. Your
father didn't send him out there to attack you that night, Zoë.
Your father wasn't a Virtue yet—he didn't have that kind of
control."

"So the guy didn't have a
tattoo?"

"No."

"Mom, Azrael's always hinted that
night wasn't a coincidence, that it was planned."

She looked directly at me. "It
was."

Okay, that wasn't at all what I'd
expected to hear. I'd always thought Azrael was messin' with me.
"It was…" I swallowed. "By whom?"

"Me."

Chapter Eight

I couldn't breathe.

It…it
had
to be a lie.

I couldn't hear.

But I knew from the
expression on her face and the tone of her voice, it
wasn't
a lie.

It was the truth.

For a second, I couldn't see anything
as my vision shot forward into a long tunnel and I was taken back
in time to that night. Unmoving on the ground, bleeding from a
knife in my chest, unable to speak or escape as that man grunted on
top of me—

And when I finally broke free of my
body that night and saw him raping me, I saw Barry's staring
eyes.

Betrayal
.

"Zoë?"

I could still hear that bastard making
those disgusting sounds, hear him muttering to himself about how he
wanted a Mexican whore. How he was going to finish off and then use
a broken bottle to mess it all up.

And I was…

I was…

"Zoë—
listen
to me—"

Betrayer
.

And then I was in the Botanica at
mom's, and Rodriguez was there. I heard him telling me how Rhonda
wasn't my friend but one of his little spies, placed near me to
report back to the Society so they would know how my powers were
developing.

Betrayed
.

"Nona, what's happening? Is that an
earthquake—what's wrong with Zoë?"

"Joe, get out of here, now. Go back to
bed."

"Nona—"

"Now!"

And then I could hear and see, and I
could breathe. I was still in Mom's office, but I wasn't on the
couch anymore. I'd stood up and moved away—and Mom—no, not
Mom.

She could never be "Mom"
again.

That woman
was too close….too close to me….

I reached out to shove her, and saw my
skin. Ashen, clothed in black sooty spirals. My nails were black
and long, and I realized I'd somehow shifted. I just didn't
remember doing it.

And I was mad.

No.

I was pissed.

No.

I was…
über
-pissed.

And the powerful
should
never
be
über
-pissed off.

Zoë, what are you
doing?
It was Mephistopheles. His voice
rang clear in my head, and it hurt.

"Don't butt in, Old Man," I said in a
low voice.

What happened? Talk to me.
I can feel your power. You need to calm down before you shake the
foundation.

"Zoetrope Adiran—"

"
SHUT THE FUCK UP!
" I thundered. And
oh yeah, I
thundered
it. I was freakin' loud and clear. And I hadn't even tried. I
had a long, sharp nail pointed at her. "You have
no
right to use that tone
with me." I took a step toward her as my wings unfurled behind me.
It felt so good to stretch them. "How….
how
could you do that to me? Do you
know what it was that bastard
did
to me?"

"Of course I
know
," she said in a
voice as full of anger as my own. "I was there at the hospital when
they brought you in. But you have to believe me that he wasn't
supposed to rape you—and he wasn't supposed to kill
Barry."

"What?" Joe said from behind me. He
hadn't gone away like Nona warned. "Wait…Nona, what are you talking
about?"

Joe was figuring it out. I'd never
discussed it with him and he'd never asked. But Daniel had
investigated my past. He knew. And if he knew, I was positive Joe
did.

"Joe, just stay out of this and get
out of my office."

"Why,
Mother
," I said and I felt and
sounded like I was twelve again. Hurt. Bruised. Angry. Resentful.
"Don't you want everyone to know how you arranged your daughter's
rape?"

"I just told you that wasn't supposed
to happen!"

"And I'm supposed to
just
believe
you?
So tell me…what was
supposed
to happen?" I was airborne before I could stop
myself, and the movement of my wings knocked over a few of her
precious lamps. "An innocent boy died that night, Nona!" I spat at
her. "Your own daughter had a stranger's dick shoved repeatedly
into her dying body—and you calmly stand there and say that wasn't
supposed to happen?"

"Zoë, just please come down and talk."
Joe had his arms out at his sides, and I could see his palms glow a
soft blue. Would he dare try and use his magic on me?

I ignored Joe. He was a bug
to me, an irritant as I demanded answers from this woman. "You…you
let a man
rape
me." I'm not saying I was entirely happy with my actions up
'til this point. It really wasn't the mature, adult face I'd sort
of assumed I possessed, especially in comparison to Rhonda's
actions lately.

But damn it…this was bad!

"No, Zoë. Please, just calm down and
listen to me. You have to know the events leading up to that
night."

The door to the office burst open
then, and five men dressed like something out of a special ops
movie filed in. They wore black camo, vests, boots, and
masks.

And they were all carrying what Joe
once referred to as BFGs—Big Fucking Guns.

"Hey, hey, hey—" Joe held up his
hands. "What's going on? Why are they in here?"

The last man to file in motioned for
Joe to move. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to
leave."

"Not 'til you tell me who and what the
hell you are."

"Joe, just move," Nona said in a very
tired voice. "They're our safety unit. Something the council set up
in order to protect…"

When she didn't finish it, I did it
for her.

"To protect you from things
like
me
?" I balled
my hands into fists. Not a real good idea when you have very long
nails. "So you
do
have a goon squad to keep creatures like me in line. To police
us. Is one of them going to rape me one day? And, who knows, kill
another innocent man?"

"Zoë, grow up and stop this!" Nona
shouted, and she had her witchy-poo finger pointed up at me. I was
also very much aware of the men pointing their guns at me. Which
seemed kind of silly since I could just go incorporeal, and the
bullets would just hit the ceiling. "You need to sit down and
listen to what I have to say."

"No, I
don't
!" I held out my arms with the
intention to sieve through the roof and up and away from
there.

But that didn't happen—'cause one of
those bastards shot me. And it wasn't a bullet that hit
me.

No…it was something worse. Something
very familiar. Those guns didn't look like the old L-6 weapon
developed by Randall Kemp, but they sure fired the same glowing
arc. And when they hit me—I saw stars.

I also lost everything else and
crashed to the floor below.

It used to be if I got hit
with one of those, I'd crash back into my body. And if I was
Overshadowing someone (could I still do that?), then it forced
me
out
of their
body. And it zapped me of all my strength for a little
while.

I hadn't been hit with one
since this latest incarnation of me as
Wraith and Scary in My Body
. And I
wasn't prepared to stop a fall I didn't expect. When I hit, I
landed on top of the end table next to the couch I'd been sitting
on. My head connected with something very unforgiving, and the pain
made me black out for a second. I was pretty sure I'd broken that
table, and my head along with it.

I couldn't see—hell, I couldn't move.
But that was what that damned gun did, and I cursed Randall again
for creating it. It was like being stunned, literally unable to
move. But I could hear and I could feel—oh, hell, I could
feel.

And it
hurt!

"Stay back!"

"Joe, don't go near her. She's
obviously upset."

"Nona, she's obviously hurt.
Christ—Sergeant, who fired? She wasn't going to hurt
anyone."

"We didn't know that, sir, and Ms.
Stephens gave us strict orders to protect the humans over the
supernaturals."