Lust and Magic Page 14

  And now she was the enemy. Sam would like nothing more than to admit to Claudia exactly what was happening. Her grandmother would probably know exactly what to do, but Sam couldn’t take that chance.

  As much as she loved and respected Claudia, her grandmother was losing control. Half of her sentries were already working with Heather. Her favorite guy, Bastian, had been infected with darkness. And now she was holding the one thing Heather wanted. Sam had to assume that Heather was watching Claudia. She had no idea how, but it was the only thing that made sense.

  It was completely rational for Heather to let Sam go in alone. It made all the sense and was totally logical, but Heather wasn’t even close to logical right now. She was somehow watching Sam. So for now, she was going to have to lie to Claudia as much as possible until she got the binding agent Heather wanted.

  The only question was what she’d do with it once she had it.

  When the elevator doors opened in Claudia’s quarters, her grandmother was nowhere around. Sam started for the office side of things and, sure enough, Claudia was behind her desk, the light of the computer glowing on her face.

  It was strange to see someone who sometimes seemed so ancient and powerful surfing the Internet. “Hello, Grandmother,” said Sam as she walked farther inside.

  “Good evening, Samantha,” she said, not looking up. “What can I do for you?”

  “I haven’t heard from you today. Is Bastian doing okay?”

  “He’s healing.”

  Sam noticed that Claudia wasn’t offering up any extra information. Well, she was going to have to pry harder if she wanted to get anywhere. “Grandmother, I think you know why I’m here.”

  Claudia looked up from the screen and sighed. “Samantha, I’m very tired. Can we—”

  “No,” she said firmly. “You’ve been denying me answers for too long.” From her tone of voice, Sam was guessing Claudia hadn’t gone to bed at all last night, but she still looked refreshed and radiant. Her gray-streaked black hair was pulled into an intricate French twist at the nape of her neck, and the shirt she wore was a translucent black fabric with a detailed pattern of black beads and thread that was probably handmade by some artist and tailored for Claudia’s body. If only everyone could look that good with no sleep….

  “Samantha, I have enough secrets to last us a lifetime. You’re going to have to be more specific about what you’d like to know.”

  Well, not exactly the floodgates of information, but she hadn’t been shut out either. “Tell me about the darkness.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “You don’t have a choice,” bluffed Sam. There was no way she could force Claudia to tell her anything, but she was damn well going to try. If she wanted to defeat this enemy, she couldn’t fight it with her hands tied behind her back.

  “You think they’re talking about me?” asked Heather.

  Derek rolled his neck, trying to work some of the tension out of his shoulders, with no luck. “I think you’re the topic of most conversations these days.” He leaned against the side of the Porsche and stared at the crowded sidewalk, willing Sam to get back soon even though he knew it wasn’t likely. She needed to get access to a secure room without making it obvious that she was there to steal something. That required finesse, which usually required conversations, which required time.

  Which meant he was going to be stuck with Heather for a while. She was annoying as hell, but every once in a while, he found himself forgetting exactly what she was capable of. Her damn peppiness and constant smile, combined with the fact that she was barely five foot six and probably weighed less than half of him, just wasn’t threatening.

  And that worried him. Because this woman was a killer. If he let his guard down long enough, who knew what she could do? And considering she could get into his head at any minute and take complete control of him, he was already at a disadvantage.

  “Don’t look so sad.” She moved to stand right next to him, her leg pressing against his. “You look so much more handsome when you smile. Though the frowning does add to the beastly thing. Hmmm….”

  Derek debated moving away from her but that would probably just make her happier.

  “You need to stop doing that,” he said calmly as he kept his eyes on the street.

  “Oh, sugar. Am I making you uncomfortable?”

  He did look at her then. He stared in her eyes to let her see exactly how much he didn’t care about her attentions. “You’re killing Sam.”

  “Sammy’s a big girl.”

  “Your actions affect the people around you. You say you love your sister and you want to be with her as a family, but every little comment you make about me is like slapping her in the face.”

  Heather blinked in confusion. “Come on. She’s not self-conscious enough to be jealous. It’s not like you’d ever stray. I’ve seen the way you look at her.”

  He held in a sigh. Who knew evil could be so dense? “She’s not worried about me fucking you. Every threat you make, knowing what you did to my family—it is like you’re stabbing her over and over again. She doesn’t want me involved in this. She thinks it’s her fault every time you cause me the tiniest bit of pain. So cut it out, okay? Right now, alone, torture me however you want. But when she’s around, act like you’re her sister. Got it?”

  Heather pushed away from the car then and her peppy, cheerful smile was gone. “No. That’s not fair. My actions are my own. I own them and I get the blame. Any pain Sam feels is going to be because I give it to her.”

  He shrugged. “I agree. I tell her it’s okay. But you and I both know the world doesn’t work like that.”

  Heather opened her mouth to say something and suddenly the Porsche window behind him exploded outward. Derek jumped away from the car and wiped down his jacket, since the little pieces of glass had gotten everywhere. He looked over his hands and felt up and down his neck but didn’t think the glass had gotten anywhere important. He turned to see Heather staring in shock and her hands trembling. Well, that hadn’t been planned.

  “I… I need to leave.” Without another word, she walked away, leaving Derek on the street surrounded by people who had stopped to look at the now broken windows of the Porsche.

  “There’s nothing to say,” said Claudia.

  Sam had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. “There’s a lot to say and you know it. You just don’t want to.”

  Claudia opened her mouth and then shut it, as though looking for the right words. Which was strange because Claudia always seemed to know the right thing to say. “The darkness almost destroyed me.”

  “I know. That’s what it does. It kills people.”

  “No, you need to listen to the words coming out of my mouth. It didn’t almost kill me. It almost destroyed me. The way it has done to your sister. She’s not dead, but there’s nothing left in there. It’s just a shell for the darkness to use to get what it wants.”

  Sam thought back to what she’d seen that day. It hadn’t seemed as if her sister was gone. It seemed as if it was just a strange, perverted version of Heather. But she didn’t say that to Claudia.

  “But you beat it. You were able to kill it, right?”

  “No. I trapped it. I sent it somewhere I thought it would never get out, but I was wrong.”

  “It’s not completely out, though. That’s what Heather is trying to do by sacrificing all those people. She’s trying to bring it back.”

  Claudia let out a deep sigh. “Think of it like a cage. I put it in a really secure cage. But the darkness is fluid, like smoke or water. The slightest crack was enough for it to seep into the world and pollute it.”

  Sam winced. “Please stop with the metaphors. Crack? How would a magic spell get a crack in it?”

  “How else? Some other magic. Some dark act must have occurred that was powerful enough to awaken the darkness and give it just enough room to escape.”

  “What kind of dark act would do that?”

  “Death,” said
Claudia simply. “Either a lot of people died or there was an intense emotional connection. Maybe a terrorist attack or a loved one was killed. Something serious enough for all the heavens and earth to take attention.”

  “But you had no idea?”

  Claudia tightened her lips. “Terrible things happen all the time. It’s impossible to tell what the darkness used as a tether to climb out of the hell I put it in.”

  “What about the spell you used? Can we recreate it?” Maybe if Sam got her talking about it, she could tell her what mystical item she used to bind it. Binding agents could be anything with mystical properties: A necklace with meaning to the wearer. A crystal that channeled the right energies. Sam had even heard about certain body parts being used, but usually after they were separated from the original owner. So here was hoping she didn’t have to steal a severed finger or anything.

  “The spell I used was the most powerful piece of magic I’ve ever done. It almost killed me. And when I used it…. It wouldn’t work today because we’re dealing with something different. The bulk of the darkness is still locked away. I need to determine what opened the cage and how to seal it shut again.”

  Claudia didn’t seem to want to talk about the spell and Sam didn’t want to push the subject and raise Claudia’s suspicions. “What about your room? The one with all the magical items. Isn’t there something in there we can use?”

  “Well, we don’t need a bracelet to find the magic, do we? We’ve determined that it’s already wormed its way into the family.”

  “Come on, Claudia,” said Sam, not even bothering to flatter her with the term grandmother. “Give me something I can use here. I want to help. Heather is running around and she could be finishing her ritual to free the darkness any day now. Any second now.”

  Claudia laid her palms flat on the desk and leaned forward. “Samantha, if I knew what you could do, I would tell you. But right now, I’m at a loss.”

  Sam would’ve felt better if Claudia had just punched her in the face. She had still held some hope that Claudia would be able to pull some solution out of her ass and save Heather and put everything back to normal.

  But just because Claudia didn’t have an answer didn’t mean there wasn’t one. And Sam still had one more question. “What is Bastian?”

  For the first time in the entire conversation, Claudia looked away. Her bottom lip trembled for just the briefest second and Sam thought she was actually about to cry. “Bastian is one of a kind. Another reminder of ways I have failed, unfortunately.”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  Just like that, Claudia’s cool mask was back in place. “I didn’t give you an answer because I chose not to. Bastian is alive and he will continue to be loyal to me and that is all that matters.”

  Sam had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming at Claudia. But right now screaming would only cause her grandmother to shut her out even more, and they needed to be unified, not separate right now. “Give me access to your books.”

  “No,” she said simply.

  “I’ve already scoured through every single one of Mom’s. I know your collection is bigger. Give me a shot.” And if she hung out for a few hours reading through the books, she might have a chance to get into the vault.

  “I have read them all countless times.”

  “That’s exactly why you need me. A fresh set of eyes.”

  “It will take you years to get through them.”

  “Then I’ll bring backup. Claire and Derek. You can have Bastian help out too. Derek and Claire are more invested than anyone to beat the darkness. And, as you said, Bastian is loyal to you. You’re not alone, Grandmother. We’re your personal army. Let us work for you.”

  Claudia was quiet for a moment.

  “You know I’m right,” said Sam, going for the hard sell.

  “You’re wrong,” said Claudia. “I’ll let you and your friends into my library, but I need you to understand. I don’t know anything any longer.”

  Claire put her hands in her pockets and then out. She didn’t seem to know what to do with any of her body at the moment.

  Dante, who was now eating an ice cream cone because his sweet tooth still wasn’t satiated apparently, was calm as could be while walking alongside her. They were in Central Park on a beautiful summer day, and because it was after the morning jogging rush and before the lunch hour walkers, it was about as slow as it could be. And the calm, serene setting only seemed to make the anxiety churning inside her even worse.

  “I don’t get it. Why aren’t you freaking out? I’m freaking out and I’m not the one who almost died.”

  Dante took a lick of the cone. “Are you planning on killing me?”

  “No! Of course not. But I wasn’t planning on doing whatever I did to you the other day. Who knows when I’m going to lose control next?”

  “Exactly. That’s why we need to train. I’ll help you.”

  “Are you deaf? No! I’m not going to practice a damn thing on you.”

  “Well, you didn’t kill me before and you had no control. So when you’re purposely doing it, you’re going to have more control, right?”

  “That’s one hell of a theory to risk your life on,” she pointed out.

  “Come on, you have to admit this is awesome.”

  She stopped and faced him, not even trying to hide the shock on her face. “What?”

  “Claire, even the name is awesome. You’re a soul sucker. You inspire fear in everyone around you. Some witches work their whole lives for that.”

  “If the wrong person finds out what I am, I’m dead.”

  “That’s why you need me. Because if you know what you’re doing, you don’t have to be afraid of anyone. Remember when I said you were the top of the food chain the other day? I lied. Now you’re the top of the food chain.”

  “Why would you think that hearing that makes me happy?”

  For a moment, Dante got serious. “Considering what happened to you, isn’t it a good thing? Knowing that no one can ever hurt you again.”

  Claire fidgeted with her hands and bit at her bottom lip. God, she hated to think about that. It was so easy to sit in Sam’s beautiful apartment and forget all the dirty, terrifying details of her not-so-distant past. But it kept on biting at her heels. “Don’t mention my past,” she bit out. “And what—” She stopped when she realized she didn’t actually know what she wanted to ask. She just wanted to change the subject. “Aren’t you going to get in trouble for helping me?”

  “Well, maybe if I get caught.” He didn’t seem concerned about it at all. “But if I gave a damn what people thought, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.”

  “And your hair wouldn’t be green,” she muttered.

  He looked taken aback. “Hey, people love my hair. Do you not love my hair? It matches my beautiful eyes.”

  In spite of herself, she laughed at the cockiness. “Stop that.”

  “Stop being charming as hell? Not possible. It’s my default setting.”

  Still grinning, she shook her head at him. “I can’t believe you.” Everything about him was unexpected. His look. That he dressed like a punk and acted like her best friend. That he worked at the DMV. That he was willing to take a chance on her for seemingly no reason.

  “Well,” he said, “you know how some guys tell girls to smile and it comes off as them being a huge dick? So instead of telling pretty girls to smile, I use my abundance of charm to make it happen.”

  She raised a brow at that, but then he reached out and brushed the side of her cheek with his thumb. Her breath caught in her throat at the decidedly more than friendly touch.

  “What do you think?” he asked softly.

  He seemed closer. Had he moved closer?

  “Am I coming off as a huge dick?”

  She shook her head, having to struggle to find words. “No. Definitely not a dick.” His thumb ran along her cheek and then moved to just brush her bottom lip before his hand fell away, lea
ving her wanting a little more. “Umm….” Words. Sentences. Come on, Claire. “Do you just want to help me so we can, um, be together?” She felt self-centered to even ask, but he wasn’t exactly being subtle about his intentions.

  “I want to help you because I think you’re amazing. We all thought your kind was extinct and here you are in all your glory.” She snorted and he smiled before he continued. “And I’m hitting on you because—and I’ll say this as many times as you need to hear it—I think you’re gorgeous and I have shit for self-control. If I see something I want, why wait?”

  “That sounds like a dangerous way to live.”

  “See? That’s why you need me in your life. I’m going to open your eyes to a whole new world.”

  Easy for him to say. He literally had the ability to make everyone give him exactly what he wanted. But that also meant he was probably one of the best people to help her. Jackson was obviously more experienced than she was, and he knew exactly what she was going through, but the options he’d given her were slim to none.

  Could she really be trained? “Can we do this without killing anyone?”

  His eyes widened. “Yeah. I generally do everything I do with the assumption no one is going to die. It’s kind of one of my things.”

  She picked up on the sarcasm, but she was completely serious. “For real, Dante. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  “For real, I also don’t want anyone to get hurt. We’re in a hundred percent agreement.”

  Claire nodded as she shifted her weight. This could work. This could be her answer for everything. “Okay. When do we start? Want to meet somewhere tonight?”

  Dante snorted. “Tonight? What about now?”

  “Huh?”

  He tossed what was left of the ice cream into a nearby bush and then rolled up the sleeves of the flannel shirt, revealing toned forearms dusted with dark-brown hair. Then he held his wrists out to her. “Come on. Hit me.”