Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot) (36 page)

“And now you have two powerful families breathing down your neck,” I finished for him.

“Exactly.” Hank looked toward the door, as if expecting them to come pounding on it at any moment.

My whirling mind began forming the beginnings of a plan.

“I think I need to cut my losses and run. The girls aren’t one hundred percent drained, but the men don’t have to know that. I can cut them off, say it’s all over, and take off with just the down payment they gave me. Since I don’t have to split it with Randy anymore, it’s almost as much as I would have gotten anyway.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” I said, slowly. “Then of course, these two men will be the hunted ones, since they’ll have the girls.”

Hank nodded. “Exactly. And by the time they decide to come after me, I’ll be long gone. I’m good at hiding.”

“I bet you are.” It was time to stroke his ego. “I’ve never met someone as powerful as you before.”

He didn’t look amused. “No tricks. Now, I think I’d be better off if I didn’t kill you, since your parents would probably decide to come after me instead of rescuing some distant cousin, but I will if I have to.”

“You should take me with you.”

The words had precisely the desired effect. He looked up, utterly perplexed. “Why would I want to do that? Why would you want me to do that?”

“You said yourself that this went wrong because Randy didn’t do the right background checks. I’m an investigator. If you want to be able to get away with this kind of thing in the future, that’s what you need – not some overly confident mirror with a bit of skill studying blood.”

He didn’t say anything for a long minute, and when he did, he didn’t talk to me. He went to the couples sitting on the couch and began saying the words of a spell that would unlink them. Even not being attuned to magic, I could almost feel the moment when the draining stopped. The two girls collapsed backwards onto the sofa into instant, exhausted sleep. The men looked dazed, though sleep was slower in coming to them.

“They’ll be out of it for a few hours,” Hank told me. “Now, why in the world would I want some throwback tag-along? You think I’m going to let you at some of this magic?”

I shrugged, trying to look casual as I took a step toward him. My skin prickled at the increased nearness, but I pushed the revulsion away. “I’ve spent my life trying to attach myself to the most powerful person around. When my parents kicked me out of the house, I turned to Evan, the most powerful sorcerer in town, but you...”

“Enough of that,” Hank said. “Why in the hell would I want anything to do with you? Throwbacks don’t even make the best breeding stock.”

“But I’m not a throwback,” I said. “How do you think my parents made all their money?”

Hank frowned deeply. “What are you getting at?”

“They sold my magic when I was a little girl. When I found out, I ran away from home. Trust me when I say, I owe them nothing.”

“I can tell with a blood test, you know.”

I didn’t know, but I feigned total lack of interest in the news. If this scheme went long enough for him to run a blood test, it would be too late anyway. “I figured.”

He hesitated, his gun lowering to his side. I drove home the slight advantage with a finishing touch to the story. “Look, damn it! I’d love to get my hands on some magic. It’s been this gaping hole my entire life, and my parents pretend like I was born dry, which makes it that much worse. It’s like I failed instead of them. But there are things I can offer you in return.”

Hank licked his lips and scrutinized me. “
If
you’re telling the truth, then I want something besides your investigating skills.”

I’d been waiting for this, but it was best if he brought it up. “Oh?”

He pushed himself forward a few steps. “I want you. It’s not every day you run across a drained woman with as much lost potential as you’re talking about. Usually that kind of power is protected. I could probably get a million dollars for you.”

My face paled. If he thought to sell me, then this would never work. Of course, it wouldn’t go that far because the blood test would prove my lie, which would probably result in my death instead.

“But,” Hank went on, “I’m almost forty. I’ve got some money tucked away, and I could be persuaded to use you myself.”

I didn’t have to fake the sigh of relief.

“You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?” Hank said.

I looked him straight in the eyes and nodded, once.

“Come here.” He reached for me and pulled me to him, still holding his gun in one hand. I could feel the cool metal against my back.

Fighting down an urge to flee, I let him touch me, let him tip my chin upward with his free hand, and let him lower his lips to mine.

The ward Evan had woven around my lips would last a week or two, he had said. He cast it a week ago, so I sent out a quick prayer that the duration would be closer to two.

His lips met mine, wet and open, his tongue trying to gain entrance practically before his lips arrived. A shudder of revulsion crept down my spine for the space of a heartbeat.

Then the pressure was gone, and I heard a distinctive CROAK!

T
HE FROG HOPPED OUT OF THE
cabin, but nobody bothered to go
looking for him. I found my phone among the leftover pile of clothes and put in a desperate call to my father, who managed to stop arguing with Victor long enough to give him the message that both of their sons were hurt.

After that, I went to locate and tend to the wounded. At first, I passed over Scott, figuring him for dead, but of course I had forgotten the amazing strength and healing properties of the werewolf. He wasn’t quite as invincible in human form as he was in his wolf form, but since the bullet had just missed his heart, he was already beginning to recover.

When I stepped out of the cabin he stared up at me with wide, darkened eyes. “What happened?”

“Turned him into a frog.”

Scot laughed, though the effort seemed to pain him. “Damn. I told Evan learning that spell was a waste of time, too. I’ll never live it down.”

I shrugged. “You’re intuitive, not clairvoyant.”

“Yeah.” Scott shifted a bit and grimaced at the pain. “Sometimes I think you are, too.”

My cheeks went a little pink but I shook my head vehemently. “I’m not going down that road. I’ve been there before, and it only leads to disappointment.”

“I heard the game you were playing in there,” Scott said. “At first I thought you were crazy but I couldn’t move to help you. Then I realized it was brilliant and that it was working. You knew just what to say and when. That’s intuition.”

“Um, we need to find my brother.”

Scott waved his arm toward the lake, only a few yards off. “He’s there on the beach. Luckily, he knows just about everything there is to know about fire or he’d be dead right now. He’ll need some work, but he’ll hold out until reinforcements arrive.”

“Evan?” I looked back the other way and saw him starting to stir. An instant later I was by his side, holding him as his eyes blinked the world back into focus.

“I thought I told you to run.” He slurred his words slightly, but I could still hear an undercurrent of... fear? I would have expected anger.

“I don’t listen very well.”

“You could have been killed.”

Possibly worse than that, but I didn’t say so. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” I paused before adding. “I love you.”

He swallowed, averting his eyes. “Come on, let’s get to the girls.”

* * *

The two men who had purchased the stolen magic turned out to be two brothers from the West Coast who spent the next week or so living the agony of returning the magic. The girls were given the choice, but after both received offers from their respective families to learn how to defend themselves in the future, they decided to take it all back. From what I understand, they might have left the reverse flow on a little too long. Their would-be buyers weren’t drained completely, but they wouldn’t be much of a threat to anyone anymore.

Ben Goldstein had been given a slow-acting poison intended to make it look as if he had overindulged in alcohol. He lived, but it doesn’t seem likely that he will ever see his daughter again.

Away from Hank’s influence, the Polk County sheriff didn’t turn out to be quite as useless. He tracked down Mackenzie’s body at the crime lab in Little Rock where Hank had supposedly sent the bodies of two girls. They had only ever received one body, but had not been able to identify it until they received Mackenzie’s dental records.

They were a match.

We sent Renee to her mother, hoping time would heal her. Well, time and a strong magical sedative. The sedative may have erased a few days’ worth of memories, too. It wouldn’t help her grieve, but it would help her live the rest of her life.

* * *

The next night I made my first overture toward forging a new relationship with my parents by having dinner with them. It was a somewhat tense affair. Afterward, I knew we still had a long way to go to heal. But it was a start.

Mom told everyone the truth that night, to the mingled, horrified gasps of those old enough to understand and some frankly worried looks from those too young. She didn’t hold anything back, and as she told us about her long-dead sister, Sheridan, I felt the memories as if they were my own, a side-effect of the mind-merge.

“It didn’t work, as you all know by now,” Mom concluded, “My heart was never in the spell, and neither was your father’s. It turned out, it wasn’t even necessary. We’re about to be nine, not eight. Three by three is almost as good as seven, anyway.”

I did the math first. “Twins?”

She nodded. “The hospital insisted on doing an ultrasound. I wouldn’t let them tell me if they’re boys or girls, but they did say there were definitely two.”

The evening would have gone well if it hadn’t been for my father, who kept giving me sideways looks. I tried to ignore him, and at one point even bit my tongue to keep from demanding:
What
? I sensed he wanted me to ask, that there was something he was dying to tell me, but I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. Especially not now, when I hadn’t heard from Evan since the rescue.

It wasn’t for lack of trying, either. I had called, e-mailed, and texted him, leaving enough messages to qualify me as a stalker. I just couldn’t get our last conversation out of my head. It kept looping endlessly through my mind, and each time I remembered it a little worse than the time before.

I would have to go to him, maybe even that night. Definitely by the next day. I couldn’t let this... whatever this was... fester.

If only I understood it. Dad kept looking at me, too, making me wonder if he knew something he wasn’t telling. Had he spoken to Evan? Evan had claimed he hadn’t spoken to my brother, but, I realized, I hadn’t asked about my father. The technicality didn’t detract from the deception, but the lie didn’t bother me as much as the possibilities. What had my father
said
? What had he
done
? And how could any of it matter if Evan did, as he claimed, love me?

I was on my way out the door, my head swimming in doubts, when a phone call brought the family one last surprise. I paused with the door open, one foot on the threshold, when a few words from my mom’s end of the conversation caught my attention.

“Jason? No. I don’t believe it. Not Jason... Sherry, slow down... No, you know you have our support... Yes, of course...”

I closed the door, stepping back inside, and set my purse down, waiting for Mom to finish. It only took her a few minutes and when she did, her face was as white as a ghost.

“What?” I asked.

“They’re saying Jason’s turned.” Her voice was barely a whisper. From around the living room, nearly every head snapped around.

“Turned?” I said.

“Into a vampire.”

I shook my head. “Impossible. He’d have to willingly take the antidote to the potion protecting him from that fate, and he’d never do that.”

Mom didn’t look as if she saw me. Her gaze was fixed on Dad. “He wouldn’t do it, would he?”

Dad hesitated. “I don’t know. What if he were tortured? It’s hard to know what anyone would do in a situation like that.”

“Edward, you can’t believe it,” Mom said.

“I don’t know what to believe.” Dad looked at me. “I do know that we need to protect our family, even from him if need be.”

Mom sank onto a chair.

“What about Kaitlin?” I asked, wondering how I would broach this subject with her.

“We’ll help her,” Dad said, firmly. “She’s family now, too.”

* * *

The news about Jason became the last motivation I needed to seek out Evan right away. I didn’t want to face Kaitlin with the news that her baby’s father may no longer be human – not yet. So I drove to Evan’s house, feeling a sense of relief when I saw lights on in the den. The relief vanished a few minutes later when he stood, framed in the doorway, his eyes cold and impersonal. He looked... he looked as if he didn’t know me.

“Evan?” I made it a question.