Lust and Magic Page 13

  “I really wish you wouldn’t.”

  “But I need to. I know you went out on a limb for me by getting me a job and taking me out, but I don’t think I’m at a place emotionally where I can do these things.”

  “Wait? You brought me here to fill me up with added sugar and quit your job?”

  “I think we have to admit when things aren’t working out,” she said carefully.

  “Well, you can’t.”

  She blinked a few times. “What do you mean I can’t?”

  “I mean I’m your boss and you’re not allowed to quit.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “No. A human boss can’t do that. I can do whatever I want.” To prove his point, he held out his hand and a waiter walking by with a chocolate-filled croissant stopped and handed it to Dante without a word spoken. “This job is good for you and you know it. So you can’t quit. Was that all?”

  “No, you don’t understand. I need some time alone to—”

  “I understand exactly and I don’t care. I said no.”

  “You don’t get it. You can’t work with a—” She broke off as she tried to think of a good enough lie.

  “With a soul sucker?” he finished for her.

  Her heart leapt into her throat at the words and her entire mouth went dry as she lost the ability to speak. “I…. Uh….”

  “Don’t worry.” Dante took a bite of croissant. After he finished chewing, he pointed the roll at her. “Because we’re going to work together, and with me, you’re going to be the best damn soul sucker you can be.”

  “Hold on.” Sam ran to the Crown Vic and climbed in the passenger’s seat. “I’m going with you.”

  “It’s just work. I have one interview and then a lot of paperwork today. Not exactly entertaining.”

  “No, I really need to go with you.” She took out her phone and showed him the text message she just received.

  I’ll be in the Beast’s office when you get there. Can’t wait to team up, Sammy! This is going to be awesome <3 <3 <3 –H

  Derek groaned. “For real?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “I don’t get it. You said you were going to help her. Why would she show up at my work?”

  “I don’t know. She likes you for some reason.”

  Derek reared back at that and looked at her as if she’d grown a second head. “She tried to kill my father.”

  “Well, in her own crazy way she likes you.”

  “She calls me a beast.”

  “That’s actually a compliment to her.”

  “Sam….”

  “What? It is. Like a sexy beast. Trust me, she likes you. She’ll kill you in a second, but she likes you. And you make me happy and she likes that. When she was trying to get me on her side, she mentioned what Claudia did to us a lot. She’s using you as a tool to get me on her side.”

  “Great. Now I’m a tool.”

  “I’m so sorr—”

  “I swear to God, if you apologize I’m going to punch a hole in this windshield.”

  She closed her mouth and pressed her lips together. She didn’t want to keep on apologizing like a broken record, but she really wished this would stop. Every time she tried to protect Derek, she seemed to drag him further and further into trouble. No matter how many times he told her it wasn’t her fault, she wouldn’t stop feeling that guilt.

  Besides, right now the guilt was a blessing. Especially when the other members of her family seemed to be incapable of feeling the emotion.

  They drove to the precinct mostly in silence. Sam wasn’t in the mood to try to cheer either herself or Derek up. She just wanted to get this over with.

  No one stopped Derek on the way to his office.

  Heather sat behind the desk, happily going through some papers.

  “Those are confidential.” Derek closed the door to his office.

  Heather set her elbows on the papers and rested her chin in her hands as she looked up at him with a smile. “Mmmm," she murmured. "I love them tall, dark and angry.”

  He glanced at Sam and she really wished Heather wasn’t proving her point by flirting with him. Not because she was jealous. Obviously Derek would never be tempted. But Heather was doing it on purpose to make them uncomfortable, and it was working.

  “I said we’d work together,” said Sam, making sure her voice sounded calm and sure and pretty much the opposite of how she felt. “I didn’t say you could be rude. Now get out of Derek’s chair.”

  Heather smiled at her and stood, walking around the desk the opposite direction of Derek so she didn’t bump into him. “Can I just say how excited I am for this?” she said. “The three of us together, getting shit done. It’s going to be epic.”

  “I’m glad you’re so sure.” Derek sat down at his desk and scanned everything, probably aiming to see what exactly Heather had messed with.

  “Don’t get comfortable,” said Heather. “We’re going off on our scavenger hunt.”

  “Listen, I want to help you, but I do have a day job. I have an interview scheduled in fifteen minutes and then I have to—”

  “It’s done.”

  “What?”

  Heather shrugged nonchalantly. “I had a little talk with your boss, Captain Voss, and he took me through what your plans were for the day and I made sure he knew you were on a special task force that took priority over everything else on your plate.”

  Derek opened his mouth and closed it. “Coffee. I need a lot more coffee before we finish this conversation.”

  He got up and left the office. Sam thought they were going to wait for him to come back, but instead, Heather followed him right out, which meant Sam followed him out too. No one seemed to pay Sam or Heather any attention, which gave Sam another bad feeling. Heather had been here for a while and had been doing plenty of mischief, so who knew what commands she’d put in everyone’s head.

  Sam thought back to her conversation with Derek last night. The reason Heather always won was because of these surprises. Once again, they were surprised. They were going to have to get a leg up or they were always going to be one step behind.

  A pretty blonde found Derek in the break room. “Hey, Pierce,” she said, acting as if Sam and Heather weren’t even there.

  Heather leaned in to whisper into Sam’s ear. “I think we found the work wife.”

  The blonde wore a brown suit and cream-colored blouse underneath. She wasn’t wearing a lot of makeup, but she was naturally pretty so she didn’t need much. “I meant to tell you good job.”

  Derek didn’t look as if he was in the mood to talk to anyone as he poured the department-made coffee into a paper cup. “Good job on what?”

  “The interview this morning. When the girlfriend was brought in, we were debating arresting her for obstruction because of all the cuss words she was throwing at us. Then you came in and two seconds later, she confessed. Didn’t even ask for a lawyer. So good job. I’m going to see if she can point me to anyone I can use to replace the CI.”

  “That’s great, Parker,” said Derek dryly. “Glad to help.”

  Parker seemed to realize something was off and she gave Derek an odd look as she left him to his bad mood.

  “See?” said Heather. “You stick with me and I’ll take care of you.”

  “By weaseling your way into people’s heads and taking away their free will and rights? Was that girl even guilty?”

  Heather scoffed. “Of course she was guilty. You have good instincts. I just ordered her to tell the truth for once in her life. And let’s get real here. The little commands I’ve put into all your coworkers’ heads? That’s for their protection. Because if anyone gets in my way, I’m going to be forced to stop them, and you know how I feel about giving warnings.”

  Derek took a deep drink of his coffee. “You know, I’m not a passive person. I’ve had violent urges my entire life.”

  Heather’s eyes lit up. “There’s my beast… go on.”

  “I have never
wanted to punch a woman in the face as much as you.”

  Sam held her breath as she waited to see what Heather was going to do. Instead of being upset, Heather smiled from ear to ear as she stepped in closer. “If you want to, I won’t stop you.”

  Derek clenched his jaw as though he was seriously considering it.

  “No, come on. Do it. I might even like it.”

  Derek’s hands balled into fists.

  “You want to know the best part though?” whispered Heather as she moved in closer. “I know that the second your knuckles hit my face, you’re going to love it. And how are you supposed to sleep at night knowing that deep down you’re just as bad as me?”

  Derek stepped forward and Sam ran to him, setting a hand on his chest, right over his heart like she had last night. “Babe, I’m here.”

  He sucked in deep breaths and stared at Heather with an expression filled with anger and hate.

  “It’s going to be okay, Derek.” She took a breath and hoped Derek was calm enough to deduce the truth and lie out of what she was about to say. “We’re going to find the binding agent and once we do, Heather will be able to control herself. She’s not always going to be this bad.” Derek finally looked away from Heather and met Sam’s eyes. “I promise,” insisted Sam, trying to get it through that what she was really promising was that they were going to kill Heather.

  “Okay,” he finally said. “We’re going on a wild-goose chase for this thing. Where do we start?”

  Heather leaned back against the break room counter and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, we’re going to go to where it all started. Where Claudia first vanquished the darkness.”

  “It’s not going to be there,” said Sam.

  “Well, I know that,” said Heather. “But do you have any better idea?”

  “I do, actually. Claudia has a hidden room in her office. It leads to a bunch of magical artifacts. If it’s anywhere, it’s there.”

  Heather’s mouth dropped as she looked at Sam. “Sammy. That’s amazing. I didn’t think you were actually going to help. I just kind of assumed you were going to kill me the first chance you got.”

  Derek choked on his coffee and Sam kept her face neutral.

  “So let’s blow this joint and check it out,” said Heather. “Road trip!” She turned and left the break room, leaving Derek and Sam a moment alone.

  “Stay here,” said Sam. “I can try to handle this.”

  Derek tossed his head back and downed the rest of the coffee, which Sam really hoped wasn’t burning hot, before he poured himself another cup. “No. I’m not letting you stay alone with her.”

  Sam knew Derek was well aware that it didn’t matter whether she was alone with Heather, but he was already walking out the door. Sam sighed as she followed him out. Heather wasn’t anywhere to be found, but Sam knew she hadn’t gone far.

  They had a few moments of solitude on the short elevator ride down and Sam glanced over at Derek. She wanted to say something comforting but didn’t know anything comforting to say.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he said, shocking her.

  “You don’t know—”

  “I don’t know a damned thing,” he said as the elevator hit the ground floor. He reached over to take her hand. “But this is going to be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”

  Even though she knew it was all bullshit, he sounded so sure of himself. Sure of them. She took his hand and they walked out together. It still amazed her how being with Derek could allow her to forget even the craziest situations going on around her.

  Like last night. After Heather had left and Derek had calmed her down, they’d gone to bed like any normal couple. Derek held her until she’d fallen asleep.

  And then she’d woken up in his arms in a completely different context. She wasn’t exactly sure who had started what, but the dazed, sleepy sex had been the perfect remedy for the stress running through her. A short-lived remedy, but for the moment things had been perfect.

  This little moment was ruined the second they walked outside and saw Heather and her blue Porsche right in front of the station.

  “There you two lovebirds are. Let’s get going. Traffic is a bitch this time of day.”

  Sam eyed the car warily. Derek was barely going to fit and she had a feeling Heather wasn’t going to let her drive, which meant Sam was stuck in the back while Derek was with Heather.

  Heather held up the keys. “Detective Pierce, how would you like to have all this power at your fingertips?”

  “Looks uncomfortable.” He ignored her phrasing. “Let’s take the Crown Vic.”

  “I don’t plan on getting in the back of a police car anytime soon. Let’s go.” She pulled open the passenger door and folded the seat forward so Sam could awkwardly climb in. She immediately felt claustrophobic in the small space with no easy way out. Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths as she tried to calm herself.

  When she felt the car shift as Derek sat down, some of her fear was alleviated. It was still strange to be this scared of Heather. Sure, she and her sister hadn’t always been the best of friends, but this fear was a whole different level.

  “Did you guys want to stop anywhere on the way? Brunch or something? We could do mimosas.”

  And she was terrified of a brunch and mimosa loving socialite. Great. “I don’t want to do mimosas. I don’t want to do brunch. Heather, I want some answers.”

  “Fine,” she said surprisingly. “I’m always down for girl talk.”

  She was actually going to answer a question? Finally. “When did this happen?”

  Heather sighed and that terrifying smile she seemed to always wear lately finally dropped. “A few years ago. It wasn’t a fast thing, like a light switch. More of a slow and gradual descent.”

  “Well, what happened? Something had to trigger this, right?”

  Heather let out a bitter laugh. “What do you think? It was a boy. A bad boy. The best kind, right? I resisted at first. We’d been so ingrained to believe that the darkness was bad. But it started like a drug. A little at first and then my tolerance got higher and higher.”

  “You do realize that comparing it to a drug might not be a good thing,” said Derek.

  “Well, luckily I don’t care what you think about my magic,” said Heather in her extra sweet voice. “My body, however, is a different story. Though judging from that kiss you planted on me at the solstice party, you had no problems in that department.”

  Sam mentally cursed. She needed to get Heather away from sexually harassing her boyfriend. “What happened to the guy? I don’t remember you bringing anyone home.”

  “Oh, he’s ancient history. He didn’t take it too well when I was so much better with the darkness than him. After he started to cause problems, I had to… get rid of him.”

  Sam winced. Did that mean she needed to add another number to the tally of people Heather had killed? For some reason, she’d assumed that Heather getting involved with the Tommy Collins killings was her first time getting her hands dirty with a murder. But Heather could’ve been hiding a trail of bodies for years.

  “Enough about me. What’s the plan?”

  The plan. Sam had to stop herself from laughing out loud. There was no plan. This entire thing was messed up. “Well, Claudia still trusts me. I figure Derek and I will go up there and say we’re checking on Bastian. Then we’ll try to get access to the vault.”

  “Vault? I thought you said it was a hidden room.”

  “A hidden room that’s filled with her most valuable possessions. Trust me, it’s a vault.” It took the rest of the awkward drive for Sam to work up the courage to say what she needed to next. “I think you should hang out here while I go up.”

  Heather was just putting the car in park about a block away from Claudia’s exclusive high-rise tower. “Are you kidding me?”

  “It’s smart. Claudia still trusts me. If I go in alone, I’ll have a much better chance of helping you.”

  “I wo
uld rather be there,” said Heather.

  “I know. I would rather have you doing this too, but you have to admit I’m right.” Then she said the thing that gutted her. “Just trust me.”

  Heather turned around and looked at Sam, her eyes intently scanning every little detail as though trying to see right down to Sam’s soul. She kept her face blank as she met Heather’s eyes.

  “Fine,” said Heather finally. “And to show how much I trust you, I’m not even going to threaten to kill anyone.”

  “Thanks,” said Sam dryly. But everyone in the car knew that the words were a sort of lie. Heather hadn’t outright threatened anyone, but Sam knew that if Heather knew she was never planning to give her what she wanted, everyone Sam cared about would be in danger.

  Derek got out of the car and flipped the seat in front of him down, motioning for Sam to climb out. He didn’t give her any words of comfort, but he set a hand on her shoulder once she was out and gave her a quick squeeze.

  “I hate to break up you two lovebirds, but Derek can’t go with you.”

  Sam let her eyes close and took a deep breath as she swallowed her annoyance. “What?”

  “You’re going up there and you’re going to ask Claudia for a huge favor. You can’t do that with the boy toy she hates with the fire of a thousand suns at your side. Don’t worry, though, I’ll keep him company.”

  Sam’s hands balled into fists as she tried to control herself.

  Derek’s hand ran along her arm and he wrapped his fingers around her fists. “She’s right,” he said softly.

  “I know that,” she bit out. “Why do you think I’m so mad?”

  “He’ll be fine,” called Heather. “I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

  Sam got even more angry and Derek must’ve known. “Just go. I’ll be fine.”

  Sam nodded. Go. She needed to go. Before she went anywhere, she stood up on tiptoes and pulled Derek down the rest of the way for a deep, possessive kiss.

  She might not be jealous of Heather and Derek, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t prove a point to her sister.

  Derek was off limits.

  Sam was let up to Claudia’s apartment without hesitation. She wasn’t surprised. Claudia had never hesitated to let her up. Even when she was passed out unconscious in Derek’s arms, Claudia had welcomed her.