Edge of Moonlight (7 page)

What the hell was going on?

The
streghe
had supposedly erased all traces of magic from Evie after she’d been infected by the woman who’d kidnapped her. Using a mishmash of spells from all sorts of origins including Etruscan, Egyptian, Celtic and Norse, the woman had given Evie the ability to call power, much like the Etruscans did. But whatever had been done to her, it’d nearly destroyed her.

Evie had had no control over the power. She’d been dangerous, to herself and others. If the
streghe
hadn’t been able to scrub it from her system, they never would have released her. She would’ve been unstable and dangerous. A time bomb waiting for a trigger to set it off.

So why the hell did she still smell like magic?

With as much calm as she could pull together, Kaine slowly approached Evie. She kept her expression friendly and a little abashed. As if she were embarrassed at being caught sneaking out of John’s bed.

Evie watched her as warily as a cat being stalked by a larger predator, her hands curling into fists at her sides, ready to defend herself if necessary.

When she was only a few feet from the door and Evie, Kaine smiled. “Sorry, I don’t think we’ve ever met.”

Nodding slowly, her gaze still locked on Kaine’s, Evie took a deep breath. Then another. And another.

Kaine’s gaze narrowed. “Hey, are you okay?”

She automatically reached out to touch Evie, to offer her some comfort but Evie pulled away as if Kaine had drawn a knife.

“I’m fine. Just a long night at work. I don’t mean to be rude but I’m really tired, so if you could just…”

Leave.

But Kaine couldn’t.

The scent of magic continued to intensify around Evie. Kaine felt Evie drawing it to her, felt the other woman pull on the power from the ley line in the earth below the city.

And from the look on her face, Evie didn’t have a clue what she was doing. Only that she felt something happening and it scared the hell out of her.

“Evie, you look really tired. Why don’t you go sit down? Can I get you a glass of water?”

“No, please, I just need you to leave. I need…”

The look of fear on Evie’s face made Kaine’s stomach clench. Evie began to back away, her eyes widening as she stared at Kaine.

“What are you doing to me?”

Evie’s breathless question made Kaine draw in a sharp breath.

Oh, shit.
Was this her fault? Was she somehow triggering Evie’s magic?

“Okay.” Kaine took a step back toward the door. “No problem. I’ll just—” The door swung shut, knocking Kaine to the ground with the force of its motion.

As she stared up at Evie from the floor, Kaine had only a few seconds to think,
Shit,
this is bad,
before Evie lost control.

As if she were watching a scene from one of the horror films Nic loved, the taps in the sink in the kitchen turned until water spewed from the faucet and the few candles in the room burst into flame.

But when the floor began to shake beneath her, Kaine stood and headed straight for Evie.

The woman stared at her with fear and confusion in her eyes.

Kane shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”

Then she cold-cocked Evie with a roundhouse to the jaw and watched as the woman crumbled to the floor unconscious.

And power in the room dissipated like smoke on a breeze.

For five seconds, Kaine let tears well. Then she blinked them away, took a deep breath and lifted Evie into her arms to place her on the couch.

Pulling her cell phone out of her jeans pocket, she hit speed dial.

“Sal. I need you.”

* * * * *

It took only minutes for Sal to get to her, but in those few minutes Kaine worked herself into a pretty decent panic attack.

So when he finally appeared in the living room, having magically transported himself from his home to here, she could barely breathe as she paced from the living room to the dining area to the kitchen and back again.

Sal took one look at her before grabbing her hand, leading her to the chair by the couch and forcing her into it. Then he grabbed her head and pushed it down between her knees.

“Breathe, Kaine. Slow, deep breaths.”

“Evie… John…”

“No talking. Everything else will wait, baby girl. Just breathe.” The steady, familiar tone of his voice helped calm her more than anything. She let her body relax as Sal rubbed her back like she was a baby being lulled to sleep.

Keeping her eyes open so she didn’t get nauseated, she focused on Sal’s sneakers.

Gone were his goat legs and hooves. At least to the naked eye. He’d pulled on the glamour he wore when he went out among the
eteri
. Instead of a fortyish looking man with the lower body of a goat, he looked like an
eteri
boy around ten or twelve wearing a knit ball cap. For some reason, Sal would never magically erase his horns. Maybe he couldn’t.

When she finally felt she had her body under control, she sat back and took a deep breath.

Sal met her gaze head on, no accusation or anger evident in his eyes or his stance.

He simply waited for her to speak.

“I met John at the bar. I didn’t even go looking for him, if you can believe that. He was in Lacey’s. I came home with him. We had sex and as I was leaving, Evie walked through the door. I think whatever’s going on with me triggered whatever had been done to her. She started to pull power. She had no idea what she was doing. She could have brought the building down around us.”

She stopped to take a breath, closing her eyes as the realization of what could have happened hit her again.

Her fault. This was her fault.

“I had to knock her out before she…before she lost control.” Sal sent Evie a thoughtful look before turning back to Kaine. “I thought the
streghe
took care of this?”

“I thought so too. I think they did. I think it’s me. I think I did something to her.

What if it’s me, Sal?”

Sal reached for her hand and gave her a squeeze. “Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, we’ve got to figure out what’s going on.”

“That’s exactly what I’d like to know,” John said. “Why don’t we start with who the fuck you are?”

John’s head ached like a sonuvabitch and he felt so damn tired, he wondered if Kaine had drugged him.

He had no idea what’d woken him but when he’d reached for Kaine and found her gone, he’d wanted her back in his bed so badly, he’d forced himself to go in search of her, despite the headache and the dragging need to sleep.

He’d heard voices out here, thought maybe Kaine and Evie were having a conversation. About what, he didn’t have a clue. His brain wasn’t exactly functioning at top speed.

Which was probably why he didn’t go for a gun when he realized there was someone else in his house.

A kid, wearing jeans and a black knit cap, stood next to Kaine, holding her hand as if comforting her.

Was he dreaming?

He looked back at Kaine. She looked…stricken. Guilty.

Why the hell—

Shit
. Evie lay on the couch, unmoving. He ran for her, nearly stumbling in his haste.

Or from the dizziness in his head.

“Evie! Evie, wake up.”

“John, stop it. She’s fine.”

The boy’s tone barely filtered through his brain as John lifted Evie into his arms. He had to hold her, had to make sure she was okay.

Her cheeks were pale and there seemed to be a bruise on her chin. Had someone hit her?

Rage began to build in his gut and he tried to stand, tried to get him and Evie away from the boy. It had to be the boy.

“What the hell do you want?”

“I’m not here to hurt you, John.” The kid’s face twisted in a grimace and John was caught by his eyes. The kid had old eyes. Ancient eyes. “Kaine called me for help.”

“What? Why? I didn’t hurt you. I wouldn’t hurt you.”

Tears welled in her eyes but she blinked them back. “I know that. I didn’t call for help for me. Evie needs help, John. I think she’s in trouble.”

“I know that. I just don’t know what’s wrong.”

Shit, what the hell had loosened his tongue?

Kaine and the boy exchanged a glance as John held Evie closer. Should he run? He had to protect Evie but even though the situation was surreal, he didn’t sense danger.

Which could just mean he was more fucked up than he thought and not thinking straight.

“Maybe you want to tell me what’s been going on.” The boy who’d been holding Kaine’s hand released her and took a few steps closer to him.

“Why would I want to do that?”

“Because maybe I can help.”

Help? Yeah, help would be nice. Help would be really nice right about now. But why would he accept help from a kid who didn’t look older than twelve, a kid he’d never met before and who shouldn’t be in his house?

John shook his head, trying to clear his brain. “I don’t know you.” The kid nodded. “No, you don’t. But you can trust me. Kaine trusts me and you can too.”

Kaine. His gaze shifted back to the beautiful woman he’d brought home from the bar. She stared at him with huge, dark eyes.

He trusted Kaine. Why the hell did he trust Kaine?

“Christ, none of this makes any sense.” He lifted one hand to rub at his temples.

“And my head fucking
hurts
. Who the fuck are you?” The kid looked at him with old, old eyes and a well of patience. “My name’s Sal.

I’m Kaine’s friend and I can help Evie. You just need to tell me what’s going on with her.”

What was going on with Evie?

Hell, weird, freaky shit was going on with her. Light bulbs burst when she got angry or scared. Tables and chairs moved across the floor on their own. Doors slammed, windows cracked.

“You’re right,” the kid said. “That’s freaky. Hell, Kaine. This is bad.” Whoa, he must be really far gone. He couldn’t remember saying that out loud.

In his arms, Evie started to wake. Her eyes fluttered until finally she opened her eyes just enough to see him.

“John?”

“Shh, Evie. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

“What’s going— Wait.” Her eyes shot open. “There was someone in the apartment.

Someone was here, John.”

“It’s okay. I know. Kaine’s here, she’s a friend.”

Evie started to shake her head then couldn’t stop. “No. No, she’s not. She did something to me. She… She hit me.”

“What?” His gaze snapped to Kaine and her guilt was so easy to read. “Why?”

“Tinia’s teat, the girl’s pulling some serious power,” the boy said. “We’ve got to shut her down or she’s going to blow the roof off this place.”

“I know.” Kaine’s voice was barely a whisper. “I don’t know what I did.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.” The boy walked over to him, his smile easygoing. “Hey, John. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

Evie burrowed closer to him as the pain in his head threatened to crack his skull open.

Then everything went dark.

* * * * *

John and Evie went out like someone had pulled their plugs.

As John’s arms loosened around his sister, Sal caught her before she fell off John’s lap and hit the floor.

Evie already had a bruise on her chin from where Kaine had knocked her out.

John would hate her for that. Hell, he’d hate her for a lot more than that.

He’d slept with a monster. And if the
streghe
had to lift the spell masking his memories of everything that had happened, he’d know that.

And he’d despise her.

“Kaine, we don’t have time for you to fall apart right now.” Sal’s sharp tone snapped her to attention as he set Evie on the couch next to John.

He’d released his glamour and the cap, the clothes, were all gone now. His hooves made little indentations in the carpet as he moved to stand in front of her.

“The girl needs help right away,” Sal said. “I’m afraid she’s going to have permanent physical damage if we don’t do something.”

And that was Kaine’s fault. She’d been so selfish. “Then do it. John will be devastated if something happens to her.”

Sal nodded as his gaze sharpened on hers. “Before we go back to the
streghe
with them, I’m going to hit up Amity for help.” Sal stepped away from the couch to an open spot on the floor. “I put them out pretty hard. They shouldn’t wake before I return.” Kaine nodded, shameful grief and guilt making her stomach roll. If John woke, she’d take whatever he dished out.

“Kaine!” Sal’s sharp tone bit at her and she felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

“I know what you’re thinking. Just don’t. At least not yet. You need to suck it up and deal until I get back,
sicari
. Understood?”

Her back straightened at Sal’s deliberate use of her rank. Yes, she understood. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t shift, or that she was something other than she’d always understood herself to be. She was still
sicari
and that would get her through.

“Go,” she said. “Get Amity. I’ll be fine.”

After another hard look into her eyes, Sal nodded. Then he closed his eyes and disappeared.

For several seconds, she just stood there, staring at the spot Sal had been standing in only seconds ago.

Then with a deep breath she turned to look at John. Her breath left her in a rush when she found him unconscious still.

Thank the Blessed Mother Goddess for small favors.

The man had the will of a bear. He’d broken through her sleeping spell earlier.

Granted, she hadn’t made the simple spell too powerful. She’d only wanted enough time to slip out of bed and out of the house. It should have kept him out for several hours at least.

But he’d fought through it somehow.

Maybe the spell had failed because she was different now. Maybe none of her magic would work the same as it had before.

Maybe…she just wasn’t ever going to be the same.

Tears threatened again and, even though she knew John couldn’t see, she couldn’t cry in front of him. She
refused
to cry in front of him.

She forced her feet to move, to carry her to the opposite side of the room and the window that overlooked the street in front of their building.