“Livi. We obviously still have something. This wasn’t just some casual thing.”
“We have no idea what we have and what is the effect of the bonding spell.”
“You aren’t serious,” he scoffed.
I shrugged, taking one last sip of the warming beer.
“Is this because of him?” he said, leaning back and crossing his arms.
“Because of who?” I asked, irritation thick in my voice.
“Vincent. Your psycho vampire boyfriend.”
I made an offended sound as my mouth dropped open. “He isn’t my boyfriend.” I gripped my sword. Raven was pulling his pants on now. He stood shirtless in front of me, his muscled chest still glistening with sweat. He rubbed his hand across his chest, and I stopped staring.
“He was your boyfriend,” he said.
“How do you know?”
“I’ve told you before, Livi, you aren’t the only one with contacts in the Council. I’m the one paranormal police officer in the entire city of Portland.”
“But they didn’t tell you about the girls?”
“No. That must have been above my pay grade. But my contact did warn me about you. You and Vincent. He thinks you failed because you’d been seeing the vampire.”
“Who have you been talking to? No one on the Council would breathe a word of that information.”
“My contact is just an administrator. It’s gossip. Gossip and nothing else.”
“Why are you spreading gossip?”
“Because this guy’s information has been accurate so far. He knew you’d been kicked off the Executioners. Why wouldn’t he be right about this too?”
“All right. We’d been sleeping with each other. It was just a fling. Nothing more. He was a diversion while I stayed in Milan waiting for my job. Vampires can be fun in bed. They tend to be very…exploratory.” Raven threw his hand up, making an angry grunt. “But it wasn’t a relationship.”
“Was it good?”
“Was what good?”
“The sex, Livi. The sex.”
“I guess. Sure. I told you, vampires are good in bed generally.”
“Better than that?” He pointed to the couch. I looked away, rolling my eyes.
“What do you want from me? It’s different, okay? Do you want to compare cock sizes now?”
“Should I?”
“Raven, you’re acting like a jealous boyfriend. Let’s just be clear here. I’m not your girlfriend. I left you five years ago.”
“You left without breaking the bond, Olivia. We still belong to each other, no matter what you say. You feel it as deeply as I do. No matter what you say or how much you act like a total bitch to me, it doesn’t change it.”
That was it. I wasn’t sticking around to listen to any more. “We’re done here,” I said, turning on my heel. I flung the door open and stopped on the other side. “I’ll call you tomorrow. I’d like you to go with me to the vamp club.”
“What makes you think I’m at your beck and call all of the sudden?”
“Because, birdbrain. You’re the only paranormal police officer on the entire Portland PD.” I smirked at him as I closed the door in his face.
I felt kind of bad about leaving it like this. I’d broken the guy’s heart once already. But for that reason more than anything, we couldn’t start this back up. I’d loved Raven with every breath in my body, every fiber, every cell. He’d meant everything to me, and I’d hurt him. I could never make that up to him. It was best if we just tried to work through this until I was given my next assignment and finally left town for good. Getting involved with me would be a big mistake. I was just trying to protect him. I should never have slept with him. But he’d started it. It was his problem.
Unfortunately, when I thought about breaking the bond, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Chapter 24
I went home, avoiding the witches still chattering in the kitchen and promptly passed out in my bed. I technically didn’t have to stay at my mother’s house anymore since the Council had unfrozen my assets. But I was way too worn out to find a new place to stay in the middle of the night.
I woke up with my hair plastered to my head, feeling hung over and a faint sense of longing in my chest. I rubbed my forehead, remembering being with Raven last night. My pussy throbbed and I pressed my eyes shut, trying to block it out.
What the hell had I done? Sleeping with Raven had been a stupid, impulsive mistake. But he’d been right about one thing, I couldn’t resist him. I wondered if he felt the same way and maybe that was why he was so angry. The bond was messing with us both.
I stood from my bed, resolving to break the spell once and for all, freeing the two of us. All of a sudden, a wave of emotion smashed into me and I slid down the wall of my bedroom, breaking out in sobbing tears.
I cried my eyes out like a five-year-old girl who’d lost her best friend. My whole body shook with sorrow and loss. The door swung open. I expected to see Mother through my tear-streaked vision, but instead I found Twyla standing in the doorway in shock.
She closed the door and swooped down to me, putting her arm around my shoulders. She pulled me to her and held me, rocking me as I cried. What the fuck was wrong with me? Was this the spell? It had to be.
“It’s okay,” Twyla whispered.
“I’m so confused, Twyla,” I whimpered.
“It’s okay to be confused.”
“It’s Raven. We cast a bonding spell on each other when we were in college. It was stupid. But we loved each other so much back then.”
“You never broke it,” she said.
“No. We never did.”
“And it’s as strong as ever.”
“Yes. I want to break it now.”
“Is that why you’re sitting on the floor weeping your guts out?” she asked, stroking my hair.
“It must be the spell.”
“Is it?”
“I has to be. I don’t lose control of my emotions like this,” I said, sniffling as I stood. Twyla rose beside me like some kind of ephemeral ghost. Her faraway eyes where shrouded behind a vale of black lace. She stared into the distance out the window.
“The darkness is here,” she whispered.
“Edana from the Council told me they suspected as much last night.”
Twyla gasped and moved away from me as if she was afraid and trying to escape. “No,” she moaned.
“What? Twyla what’s wrong?”
“I can’t. I have to get out of here. Nowhere to go. He’s everywhere. Olivia!”
“Twyla. Stop. You aren’t making sense.” I grabbed for her arm, but she yanked it away before she went screaming out of the room.
Mother walked up behind her and gave me a disgusted look. “What did you do to her?” she asked me.
“I didn’t do anything to her,” I said, offended.
“Why is she screaming then?” Mother threw a dishtowel over her shoulder and cocked her hip out.
“She had a vision.”
“A vision involving you,” she said.
“I’m taking care of it, okay Mother? Can you just give me a little bit of a break here? I’m doing everything I can.”
“Make sure you do, Olivia,” I heard her say as I trudged down the hall. “And take a shower. You look like hell.”
Oh my God! I growled. She was right though. I felt like death warmed over. After fighting the wendigo, digging a hole, burying the creature, puking, and then having hot sweaty sex with Raven, I’d been through it all last night.
I need a shower big time. I went into the upstairs bathroom and turned on the shower, looking at my reflection as the steam rose in the mirror. What was I doing here around these people? Someone like me could only bring them pain. I’d proved that over and over again.
Then I thought about what I’d done with Raven the night before. We’d totally done it without protection. Great. Just great. I might be a witch, but I didn’t have birth control spells written on my body or anything
. I had to see Iona. I knew she could give me something to make sure I didn’t have any accidents.
After a long, hot shower, I wrapped myself in a towel and went back to my room to check the things in my trunk. I found several fresh uniforms. Weapons, cash, runes, scrolls, spelled totems. All regulation stuff used in the job.
I put on a fresh uniform and loaded up on weapons and runes. Most supernatural weapons were spelled to keep humans from seeing them. It had been that way for hundreds of years. I could walk down the street with a sword at my waist and a dozen totems around my neck and no one would see them.
With my gear in place, I went downstairs. Smelling coffee, I wandered into the kitchen. It was empty, as if by some kind of magic. Thank God. I poured a cup of coffee and drank it quickly. I didn’t want to talk to anyone this morning.
Family togetherness and I were not getting along. I needed a break from these people. Maybe a decade or two would do it.
I strode out of the kitchen down the hall toward the front door and walked straight into Twyla. Her wide eyes looked right through me. Her tiny body trembled as if she were being blown by a terrible wind.
“What?” I asked. I didn’t have time for this.
“I’m afraid, Olivia. I see darkness descending.”
“Don’t worry, Twyla. I have my powers back and Benedictus. I’ve got this.” I walked past her out the front door. “I’ll be fine.”
If everyone would stop freaking out and getting in my way, maybe I could deal with the threat. I grumbled to myself as I got in the car. First Raven, now Twyla. It was “make Olivia feel guilty” day, or week. Heck, lifetime.
I groaned as I turned the key in the ignition. Before I went out to the vamp club, I needed to pay Iona a visit and deal with my stupidity the night before.
Pulling up in front of the apothecary, I rehearsed what I was going to say. I didn’t want anyone to know about this, but I was going to have to tell her. I had to tell her something. I couldn’t exactly say it was for a “friend.”
Striding into the shop, I was struck by the bittersweet smell of herbs, oils, and soaps. Amber jars lined the shelves on the wall behind where Iona stood helping a customer. She glanced up to say hello and gave me a wide smile of recognition.
“Olivia. Hi. I’ll be right with you.”
She finished ringing the customer up. After she walked out of the shop, Iona ambled over to me. “What brings you to the shop today?” She leaned down on the counter, resting her chin on her palm.
“I need some help with something. An herb. For when you… you make a mistake. Like. In bed.”
Iona stood up and giggled at me, then turned to pull a jar from the wall. “A mistake in bed. I hope it didn’t hurt. How does someone your age make a mistake in bed anyway?”
“Please, Iona. I just need the herb.”
“Who was it?” she asked, a gleam in her eye. Great. She was going to make me pay with my blood. I sighed. “Anyone I know? Does he have black hair…and feathers?”
“Iona.”
“It was Raven, wasn’t it?”
“Of course it was Raven. Like I’ve had time for a random hookup since I’ve been here. Jesus.”
Iona frowned, her features softening. She looked concerned. “Are you guys getting back together?” She scooped the herb into a tea ball and closed it. She muttered a spell as she waved her hand over the ball of herbs.
“No. But we’re still bonded. That’s all it is.”
“I’ll make this tea for you now.” Iona pulled a hot kettle from the single electric burner she had on the back counter and poured hot water into a cup. “That needs to steep for fifteen minutes. Why are you two still bonded?” she asked as she walked back over to me with the teacup covered by a saucer.
“Because I left in a hurry five years ago. We never broke it.”
“You left him without a word. You broke his heart, Olivia. The whole coven is concerned about him since you’re back.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Iona put her hand over mine and gripped it, looking me in the eye, her face serious. “You need to know, Olivia. Raven was despondent when you left. He tried everything to find you. He thought you were dead. When he found out you’d just left without a word and had gone to join the Executioners without him, he went through a really bad period. First he got really destructive. Then it turned inward. We were worried he might hurt himself.”
“Raven would never…” Iona gripped my hand harder, cutting me off.
“Raven is a strong capable man now. But the boy you left…he was just a boy. A twenty-three-year-old boy who’d lost the love of his life. If you hurt that man again, the entire coven will punish you.”
I pulled my hand away, narrowing my eyebrows in disdain. How dare she threaten me like that? This was between me and Raven. No one else.
She lifted the saucer off the cup and removed the tea ball. “Drink up.”
Chapter 25
After I drank the tea, I left the shop as quickly as I could. I’d never seen Iona act like that. Goddamn it. Why did they have to be like this? I’d left for their own good. What I’d done, what I’d failed to do, had caused Dad’s death. They were all better off without me. Including Raven.
But every time I thought about breaking the bond, my heart ached. I was sure it was just the spell trying to do its job. But Twyla hadn’t been so sure. Maybe there was more to it than that. I’d loved Raven so much. I knew part of me always would. But I couldn’t curse someone I loved with…me. He deserved better. I had to cut him loose. I had to do it. Because I did love him.
Just the thought made my chest clench up like I might have a heart attack. It had been selfish to keep Raven attached to me like this for all these years. Iona had been right about that.
I felt the herbs working inside me. Most likely, it was just a precaution, but a precaution I needed to make. No one needed a pregnancy coming out of this mess. I didn’t even know if I ever wanted to have kids, let alone in the middle of a major life fuckup.
I got coffee from a drive-through place, a common occurrence in Oregon, and dialed Raven’s cell phone and waited for my coffee.
“Yes?” he said bitterly.
“Do you have time to go out to the vamp club this morning?”
He sighed heavily and didn’t say anything for a moment. “Vamps aren’t very active in the morning. We’re better off going at night.”
“I need to talk to the club’s owner. Stefan Cosev. Do you know the guy?”
“I know him. He keeps his club clean. Stefan should be around in the morning. He’s one of the few vamps in Portland with a daylight totem. He wears it in a ring on his pinkie.”
“That’s what I expected. What’s the address? I’ll meet you there.”
Raven texted me the address and I drove across town while sipping my coffee. The tea had made me a little drowsy, and I needed to wake up before I interrogated a vampire coven leader about another even more powerful vampire.
I found the location, at an old warehouse near downtown that had been converted into a dance club with loft apartments above. After parking, I pushed the car door open and climbed out, holding my hot coffee in my hand. Raven’s SUV was already parked out front, and I found him sitting in the cab.
I rapped my knuckles on the window and he rolled it down. “No coffee for me?” he accused.
“You didn’t say you wanted one,” I countered.
“You didn’t tell me you were getting any.” We stared at each other, grinding our teeth. The front door of the club opened and two massive human minions came walking out toward us.
“We’re closed,” they said.
Raven hopped out of his SUV and showed the men his badge. “I’m detective Hunter with the Portland PD. We’d like to ask a few questions. Is Stefan available?”
The older-looking bouncer growled and picked up a walkie-talkie, mumbling into it, out of ear shot. “Boss says okay. Follow me.”
We followed the bouncers
into the cinderblock building. It was dark inside. The windows had all been bricked up. The only light came from dim, colorful lasers that stretched in long lines across the dance floor.
“He’s in his office,” the bouncer with the walkie-talkie said.
We went to the other end of the wide room and exited through a dark doorway. Following down a narrow hall, we turned and walked down a short flight of stairs. The bouncer unlocked a thick metal door that opened into an even darker room.
Pitch black except for a single lamp light on a wooden desk, we stood across the room from what could only be a vampire.
A man with pale white skin and preternatural good looks gazed up at us. His eyes glowed blue in the lamp light, and I could see the locks of black hair curling to his shoulders. His gaze went from Raven to me as he rose a pointing finger in my direction.
“Who are you?” he asked. His long slender finger pointed like a wand.
“Executioner Olivia Fanning,” I said, gripping my sword. “We need to ask you some questions about some missing girls.”
“Missing girls?” he looked at Raven, lowering his finger. His voice was soft like silky cream. So enticing. So mesmerizing. That’s how they always got you.
“Four college girls have gone missing over the last week. We know that they frequented this club. Groupies. Here are their pictures. Tell me if you recognize them.” He set the pictures down on the desk in front of Stefan, who lowered his gaze to examine the girls’ faces.
“I don’t know. These girls come and go. Perhaps they haven’t been coming very long. What makes you think it has anything to do with us?”
“The Council has reason to believe that there was vampire involvement,” I said.
“And please tell me, what reason do they have to believe this?”
“I’m sorry, that information is classified.”
Stefan pursed his lips and rose as if floating from his chair. He stood as tall as Raven, but had probably been shorter in life. Vamps always grew bigger and more beautiful when they turned.