Chapter 778: Stronghold
I had already taken a step toward the door, reaching for the veil.
Power rippling in waves of near-uncontrolled vitriol.
Mom's hand on my arm, her magic touching mine, broke enough of the hold hate had on me to stop me from going after Ameline right then and there.
Barely.
"Syd." She pulled me back, face calm, though I knew it was a mask. That she was trying to keep me from tearing off.
Good luck with that.
"We need to form a plan," Mom said, slowly. Steadily. Like she was talking to my son and not to me, as if I were the child.
"No." I staggered, feeling my physical weakness, reaching for strength to hold me up. Found it as Enforcer power slipped in beside me and supported me as it did only moments before. I looked up at Quaid who lifted one hand, pressed it between my shoulder blades, feeding me energy and healing magic.
"You need to eat," he said, chocolate eyes soft around the edges though his lips pulled tight in concern. "Get some rest. You've been gone from us for so long." He swallowed, throat working. "Please, let us take care of you. Of this."
Mom's power joined his. "So we can bring Gabriel back safe and sound."
Gulp. Her words were a bucket of ice water splashed over me and I was suddenly very grateful Quaid's power held me up.
"She won't hurt him," I said. Panicked. Look up into kind brown eyes full of calm and focus. Dragged my gaze back to Mom. "She won't, Mom. She took him for a reason."
"But how did she take him?" Gram's grim anger simmered in her faded blue eyes, the magic she had left to her sizzling around her edges. "Miriam, how did she get in?"
It hadn't occurred to me to wonder. And part of me didn't care. But Gram was right, I supposed. Understanding how Ameline stole him might help me find her. Yes, I was full maji and she wasn't-at least to my knowledge. With the loss of my demon grandmother's spirit, Ameline was down a soul. Unless she'd found one here on this plane to steal.
The possibility was so real I staggered.
What the hell was I thinking, just letting her roam free?
You were thinking of Gabriel, my vampire sent. Now, stop with the guilt and listen.
Roger that.
Mom's hands shook as they ran through her hair. "I don't know," she said. "There shouldn't have been a way in. The wards are tied to my Council magic. I would have known if Ameline breached them." She paused. "Even if she used sorcery, the empty touch would have triggered the wards." Her hands fell to her sides before she wrung them at me. "Syd, sweetheart. I'm so sorry. But there's only one explanation for how this happened."
My brain agreed. "Inside job."
There, you see? My vampire sighed. There will be more than enough guilt floating around us in the next little while. We don't need yours added to the mess, muddling our thoughts.
I ignored her, hugged Mom immediately. "This was not your fault." Wasn't. My vampire was right. As I pulled free of my mother, I suddenly felt fresh, the most clear-headed I had in ages. Even before Gabriel was taken.
Since Liam died.
"That makes the most sense." I should have been running off looking for the culprit, not calmly discussing the matter. But my relief made me hyper rational. "Not only are your quarters warded," I said, "but I had Gabriel fully shielded with maji power. So it had to be Ameline with help from a witch with access to your quarters."
"Could she have found a way to break through the wards, Miriam?" Varity's arms crossed over her thin chest, scowl remaining. "Without help? If so, we need to find out how and plug the breach."
"I doubt it very much," Mom said. "I have no illusions as to the power of the shields. If Ameline assaulted them with all the magic she has at her disposal, she could easily break through. But."
But. Mom would have known. Felt it.
Which meant...
"We need a list of all of your staff," Quaid said, hand still firm on my back. "Leader Tremere will want to round them up and question them immediately."
"Is anyone missing?" Sassafras's voice hissed out, ending in a furious whine. "Surely the traitor must have known the possibility existed we would uncover the deception. Turned tail and ran."
Mom shook her head. "No one," she said. "All present and accounted for." She looked so distressed it could have been one of her people, but I couldn't bring myself to care.
Not when puzzle pieces began to shift and fall into place.
Yes.
Of course.
I knew exactly who Ameline's little helper was, didn't I? The fear he showed for me the night Gabriel went missing wasn't a reaction to my battle with the Brotherhood.
Maurice.
This time I didn't allow Mom to stop me. Ahbi roared her answering rage as I jerked open a hole in the veil and dove through, power building around me as I slammed into the rubber membrane, propelled by Ahbi's anger, and out the other side.
He barely had time to see me coming, but turned as I leaped from the veil. His round face formed a shining "O" of terror as I closed the distance between us, pinning him against Mom's desk as he scuttled back. Maurice's head whipped from side to side, seeking escape, no doubt.
No escape for him.
My maji power formed a solid bubble around the two of us. Ameline would likely ignore a plea for help from this little sack of wasted life. She'd used him and discarded him, I had no doubt.
Still.
Wasn't risking him contacting Ameline at this point and alerting her to the fact she was next on the dead meat list.
Maurice's beady eyes blinked behind his round lenses, jiggling belly bouncing as he fought for breath.
"Coven Leader!" He grasped at the collar of his elaborate white shirt, paisley vest straining over his paunch as he cowered before me. "How lovely to see you up and... and..."
My jaws ached. My cheeks. I was smiling, grinding my teeth at the same time. And from the amber glow cast around the edges of my vision, my demon was in full theatrical release.
"Where." I slammed against him with my power. Not too hard. Not yet. Needed to soften him up a little before I ruptured his nasty little mind. The large desk he pressed against squealed in protest, sliding an inch back from the pressure. "Is." I hit him again, controlled, precise, right in the breastbone, knocking the wind from him. Maybe I didn't want an answer to my question, not a verbal one. I'd tear it from his mind soon enough. "My." But he needed the chance to spill it, didn't he? Another hit, cold and calculated. My alter egos joined the fun, impacting him so hard the buttons in his vest popped and flew wide, bouncing around the inside of the power bubble with the sound of heavy hail. I drew a giant breath. Pressed my face almost to his, the moisture from his terrified sweat steaming his glasses. "Son?"
And crushed him with my magic.
Tried to. Someone held me back. Almost gently, but with firm insistence, the same warm magic touched with chocolate. I spun with a snarl, animal hate rising all over again, to find Mom, Sass, Gram, Varity. Quaid holding me back. All of them. The doorway packed with those who couldn't squeeze into the room. Staring with huge eyes.
And Max.
"Stay out of this." I pushed against Quaid with my power, stepped out of his grip. And right into the drach. He I couldn't fight, knowing it wouldn't matter. Max was so much stronger than me, proved it when he let Liam die.
I should have stayed with Quaid.
"Please, listen." Max nodded his head toward the terrified secretary, now blubbering before me. "Use him to find your son first. Then kill him."
Logic. "But I want him dead now." I really, really did.
Max nodded. "I understand," he said. "But sometimes waiting makes the killing sweeter."
Maurice wailed, collapsed to the floor. The distinct scent of released urine rose from him as the front of his pleated pants darkened with moisture. I backed off in disgust, even as my demon howled and Shaylee shook the entire building in her fury.
"Actually," Alison said, tone clinical and head cocked to the side, her perky cheergirl expression oddly hilarious. "If you kill him now, I can just raise him for you. So, go for it."
I grinned at her, vicious and joyful. But the moment was past. Max was right. And as much as I wanted to squash Maurice, I would take what I needed from him and allow the law to send him to the stake.
Where he belonged.
Enforcers flooded the room, Pender's grim unhappiness etched deeply in his face as Mom gestured at Maurice.
"Take him to be questioned," she said even as I opened my mouth to argue.
Too late. Max's magic broke my hold for the brief moment Pender needed to form his own shield around the quivering secretary. The Enforcer leader then latched onto the mess of a witch and vanished in a flare of blue fire.
I lashed half-heartedly at Max as I spun on Mom, my power surging around me, the need to hurt someone so vivid I had to gasp a breath of air and remember who she was to me. To Gabriel.
"I will question him," I snarled.
"You will not," Mom said. "Until you've calmed down."
Shut. Up.
"Sydlynn, listen to me." Mom came to me, hands settling on my shoulders despite the sparks cascading from my agitated magic. "If you go into his mind and destroy information we need, finding Gabriel will be all the harder."
"I won't," I said, teeth clenched again. I really needed to invest in a bite-plate. Or a mouth guard. Something.
"Syd." Mom's mind touched mine. "Do you really believe that?"
REND TEAR DESTROY, my demon sent.
I'll rupture every organ in his body. Shaylee's enthusiasm for her pet project shifted the building slightly while everyone gasped and held on.
My vampire sighed, her agitation a burning white light in my mind. I hate it, she sent. I hate him. But your mother...
My mother was right.
Damn. It. All. To. Hell.
I jerked away from her. "Fine." Rubbed my upper arms, gooseflesh rising in a rippling wave as my egos crouched and fumed.
"I know we failed you once," Mom said, grief-laden face now slick with tears. "But Syd, I swear to you, we won't fail you again. Or my grandson."
Breathing became easier. Rage settled into a simmering pot of bubbling expectation.
I nodded. And Mom spun and left.
Maurice better look the hell out.
Quaid looked like he wanted to say something. Took him a long moment to muster his voice. "I'll kill him for you, if that's what you want."
I shook my head. "Please let me," I said.
Quaid bowed his head. Hesitated. "I'll do my best," he said. Looked up, face tight with anger and traveled on his own flare of blue.
Leaving me behind. He'd better save me some torture and guts.
Or he'd be in big freaking trouble.
Charlotte and Shenka, meanwhile, grasped onto me by either arm and dragged me out of the office. Through the sitting room. Into the bedroom I'd only just recently vacated. And forced me into the bathroom.
"Coven Leader," my second said with an attempt at joviality, "you stink. Shower."
I didn't have time, couldn't she understand that?
She slammed the door in my face. Locked it.
Like that would keep me from leaving. But the moment I unlocked it, pushed it open, Charlotte slammed it again. And from the thudding sound on the other side, she was now firmly pressed against it.
Sigh.
With Charlotte standing stern duty outside the door, I finally did as I was told, though it took a constant, muttered string of the worst swearwords I could think of to keep me moving. When I finally stepped into the stream of water, I waffled between giggling into my hands under the steaming stream of hot water at the thought of holding Gabriel again and intense passion wrapped around Ameline and her demise. I scrubbed and cried and laughed and swore at the top of my lungs until I felt clean again.
Inside and out.
The reflection in the mirror gave me pause. I'd looked like crap before. Like the time I'd come back from my mummy state after being drained of blood. But I'd never looked hopeless, truly helpless. The dark circles aged me ten years, a crease formed between my eyebrows reminding me of Mom. Skin so pale I could have rivaled a vampire.
But hey, I could see my ribs. Lost the last of my baby weight, go me.
Didn't recommend the weight loss program to anyone.
Ever.
When I emerged, ready to go, I discovered my two charges still weren't done. Charlotte firmly escorted me into the kitchen. Sat me down and hovered as Shenka and Gram dished up some food. And though I just wanted to go, had to leave, the smell made my stomach cramp so hard I bent over the plate and shoveled in a few bites just to shut it up.
I sent my power out, in an almost constant search for traces of Gabriel as I gulped a glass of milk, Lula's magic hard at work around me as she sat next to me with a worried look on her face.
"You don't want to lose everything you've just eaten," she said.
Antsy, feeling a little sick, truth be told, I jiggled my knees up and down as she soothed my upset stomach before nodding. Taking my hand. Crying suddenly.
"I'm sorry."
My vampire hit it on the money. I was going to be hearing that a lot over the next little while.
"Lula," I said. "Thank you for taking care of me."
She shook her head, but I didn't let her speak, deny it out loud.
"Just promise me," I said, "when we bring Gabriel home, you'll always be his healer."
She choked, face twisting in self-loathing. "You still want me around?"
Guilt sucked.
I hugged her, as I hugged Mom. Then stood. Grabbed Charlotte who shook and cried silently while we embraced. Kissed her cheek before hugging Shenka. My second whispered her love for me in my ear, her support, as always. Alison hovered nearby, had a hug of her own. So nice to have my Al back.
And Gram. Gram most of all. She stood watching me, fuzzy-socked feet tapping the tile as she looked up through her lashes, faded blue eyes teary, white hair floating around her as her thin shoulders hitched up around her ears.
Sister soul, I sent as I squeezed her so hard I heard her back pop. She did the same to me, wiry arms straightening a few vertebrae.
We'll find him, she sent, mental voice strong thanks to our physical connection. And he'll be fine.
But Ameline won't be, will she? I leaned back, smiled. A happy smile.
Gram grinned, pinched my arm. Nope nope, she sent.
We laughed together. Because killing Ameline was going to be so. Much. Freaking. Fun.
I turned to the amazing women watching me and shared my smile with them, too.
"Thank you," I said. "For loving me. For loving Gabriel. But it's time to put our grief and guilt aside and focus on the real villain."
Shenka nodded, murmured, "Here, here."
"Now," I said, "if you ladies will excuse me, I have a date for an interrogation and I don't want to be late."
Clean, fed, head on mostly straight.
Time to talk to Maurice again.
Personally.
***
