The Banshee's Embrace (16 page)

             
"Gabby, where did they take the baby? I want to see my son."

             
"I asked Derek to take it away." She sobbed again. "My son is dead."

             
Our son, Toby wanted to say. Our son.

             
But he didn't. Instead he backed out the door, numb with shock over the death of his child.

             
Stillborn?

             
Or had his father done something to the baby?

             
It was a question that would haunt him forever.

*****

             
"Oh, Toby. I'm so sorry."

             
Jacqueline's heart ached for the stoic man, and she wrapped her arms around him, wishing she could heal the wounds of his past. How awful to lose a child in the first place, but then to also have to wonder about whether or not your own father had played a part in it. She couldn’t imagine how Toby had dealt with that all these years.

             
"What happened to Gabriella?" she asked.

             
"She died a few months later. Suicide."

             
Toby looked at her, the pain in his eyes raw.

             
"I couldn't help her, Jacqueline. She just shut me out. I didn't understand it."

             
"Oh, Toby." She kissed his cheek. "How awful for you."

             
"I never got to see my son's body. The Spark family had a private funeral. Guess who wasn't invited? Me. My father and I never really spoke again. Even if he hadn't killed my son, I couldn't look him in the eye. That's when my mom started drinking, too. When my father died a few years later, I didn't even go to his funeral."

             
He fell silent and Jacqueline continued to hold him, her mind whirling in a thousand directions.

             
Derek had taken the baby's body away.

             
The more she thought about it, the more convenient an excuse that seemed.

             
What if Josiah Williams had just removed the problem, but not killed it? If he could cast a spell on Toby freezing him in place, surely he could cast a spell on Gabriella making her forget or become unaware of the truth about her child.

             
In fact, that made perfect sense.

             
After all, Derek had cast a spell on her to do his bidding.

             
Her mouth tightened at the thought. He'd told her not to tell Toby about that. And she couldn't. The mere thought of telling him caused a sharp pain to race through her head as a warning.

             
What was Derek going to make her do?

             
She didn't want to be the one to break Toby's heart again.

             
Maybe there was a way to warn him without actually telling him what had happened. If she could just find a magical loophole… But one thing at a time. She was certain that Gabe was Toby's son. If Derek had taken the child and he wasn't dead, then that opened a world of possibilities.

             
The trick was getting Toby to see them.

             
"Toby." Nervous, she took a deep breath. "What if the baby wasn't stillborn?"

             
He stirred in her arms, but said nothing. Encouraged, she continued.

             
"What if your father had a change of heart? Could he have put on a spell on Gabriella, making her say those things or make her
think
that the baby was dead?"

             
"I don't know," he said, softly.

             
"Maybe your father gave the baby to someone else."

             
She felt Toby tense.

             
"Are there spells that allow a person to command someone else to do things, but the person being commanded can't talk about it?"

             
A sharp ache rose in her head as she asked the question, but despite the pain she persisted.

             
"Yes. Command spells are powerful." He pulled out of her arms and turned to face her, frowning. "What are you getting at?"

             
"Well, you said that you knew Gabriella loved you, but then she shut you out of her life, wouldn't even talk to you, right?" He nodded and she plunged on. "What if a command spell had been placed on her so that she couldn't tell you the truth about what really happened? I mean, that's how it works, isn't it? You know about the spell, but you can't talk about it?"

             
Toby nodded.

             
"So what if you knew you were under a spell, but weren't able to talk about it? Or if you knew your child was alive, but couldn't do anything to help him because of a spell?"  Jacqueline stopped speaking, afraid to say the rest of her thoughts…the pain in her head increasing with each heartbeat.

             
She didn't have to worry. Toby saw them.

             
"You think Gabriella killed herself because she couldn't tell me the truth and she couldn't get to our child?" Toby asked.

             
Jacqueline nodded.

             
"Toby, maybe she really did love you, but had been commanded to stay away just to hurt you. Maybe her will wasn't her own," Jacqueline said.

             
"I don't know… I never…"

             
"Give it some thought," she said. "I really believe that Gabe is your son. Hell, he even has the male version of the name Gabriella. Gabe is short for Gabriel."

             
Toby stared off into space, a trouble expression on his face before he stood up.

             
"Forgive me, Jacqueline. I need a few minutes to think. Would you mind if I took a shower? Then I need to go back to the bar and make sure your friend, Angela, didn't burn the place down."

             
"You left Angela in charge?"

             
"It was a spur of the moment decision."

             
"Go take your shower," Jacqueline said, but worry washed over her. Would Derek do anything to hurt Angela? "Hurry, Toby. I want to make sure Angela is okay."

             
He nodded, but as he disappeared into the next room, Jacqueline couldn't help but ask herself the question that tormented her:

             
What was Derek going to make her do?

*****

             
In the shower, Toby puzzled over the situation.

             
Could it be true?

             
Could his son be alive?

             
Jacqueline's logic made sense. Thinking back to that night, he realized he had no reason to suspect that his child had lived. In his mind, he'd always assumed that if the child hadn't been stillborn, Josiah would have killed the boy anyway. Saving him, giving the baby a chance at life--that would have gone against the Brotherhood's wishes.

             
His father never broke the rules.

             
Still…something felt off.

             
And then there was Jacqueline.

             
She'd been trying to tell him something. He'd sensed the anxiety in her, but chalked it up to her being frightened about her experience with Derek. Toby had been afraid to push her about what had happened even though he really needed to know.

             
Why had he been able to get her so easily? What trick did Derek have up his sleeve?

             
Turning off the shower, he grabbed a towel and dried off.

             
In some ways, it didn't matter. He had Jacqueline back and nothing was going to get to her. Not Derek. Not Gabe. Not even the Brotherhood. Yes, they could present a problem, but he was ready. He'd made up his mind.

             
Jacqueline was not going to die.

             
Not if he could help it.

****

             
The bar was still busy even though it was close to closing time. When Toby walked in, a collective groan had gone up. No one wanted to go home.

             
"Hey! I thought you were gone for the night!" Angela shouted at him. There were several one dollar bills sticking out of the top of her shirt. When she saw him looking at them, she added, "That's where I keep my tips! No change-jar for me."

             
Her expression changed when she saw Jacqueline step in behind him.

             
"Jackie!"

             
She came around from behind the bar, brushed past Toby, and gave her friend a hug.

             
"Are you alright? You left so suddenly I was worried."

             
"I'm fine. I just had a headache," Jacqueline said, giving her a tight smile. Looking over Angela's shoulder, she could see Toby going behind the bar.

             
"Don't forget our arrangement."

             
The voice in her ear was not Angela's.

             
It belonged to Derek Spark.

             
Startled, Jacqueline pulled back. Angela smiled at her but her eyes--those eyes belonged to another person.

             
"Are you ready to do as I command?"

             
It was weird seeing Angela's lips move but Derek's voice come out.

             
"Are you ready, Jacqueline?"

             
"Please…I don't want to hurt him."

             
"It's what I want that matters. I let you go free because I knew Toby had feelings about you. I certainly hope you showed him a good time. A man needs to have sex one last time before he dies. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he finds out that once again, his lady love has betrayed him." Derek gave her another hug. "Get ready for some fun, my dear."

             
With that he pulled away and still looking like Angela, sauntered back towards the bar.

             
Jacqueline's heart pounded. Toby was so close to his enemy, and she was powerless to tell him the truth. Stricken, she could only watch them interact and wonder what she could do to stop Derek.

             
"Something wrong?" Matilda had walked up to her, unnoticed. "You look worried."

             
"I am."
             

             
"Want to talk about it?"

             
"I can't."

             
"Is it about my son?"

             
"Yes."

             
Matilda studied her and Jacqueline tried to think of a way to convey the danger that Toby was in. She just had to find the magical loophole that would allow her to talk about what was happening.

             
"What are you thinking about, Jacqueline?"

             
"A loophole. I need one."

             
"I don't understand. Are you talking about like a legal loophole or something?" Matilda wrinkled her nose. "I hate law shit."

             
"Yeah, but sometimes in law people don't go to jail because of legal loopholes." She turned so that she faced Matilda.

             
Maybe this was her chance to get help.

             
If she could just get Matilda to understand…

             
"Matilda, did you ever talk to Gabriella after she had the baby?"

             
The other woman's eyes narrowed.

             
"How do you know about Gabriella? Did Toby tell you about her?"

             
"Yes. He told me the whole story about how the wizard bloodlines aren't supposed to mix and how the Brotherhood wanted your husband to kill the baby. Only it came out stillborn." Jacqueline watched Matilda. The old woman seemed surprised to hear that her son had shared part of his painful past. "Afterwards, Gabriella rejected Toby, but I think there was more to it. I think something else happened."