“It was Twyla who opened the portal. No one blames her for his death.”
“Twyla is innocent. She wasn’t even conscious when she did it.”
“Still. She opened that portal. You just hesitated to take a sword. I can’t believe you’ve been blaming yourself for that all this time.”
“Margery blames me.”
“Miss Goody Two Shoes can go fuck herself. Seriously, Liv. What did you do? You hesitated for like two seconds.”
“It was more like thirty, with Margery screaming at me the whole time. I didn’t take the sword until Dad was already dead.”
Raven put his hand to his head. “And you left me because your sister made you feel guilty?”
“We’d just lost our father. I’d killed him. I could have taken that demon in one slice. It was easy for me. That’s when I decided to dedicate my life to killing. To atone for my sins. A killer can’t have a family. Can’t have love. A killer is alone.”
“Olivia,” he said, pulling me toward him. I let him hold me, a tear sliding from the corner of my eye.
“It makes me weak,” I said.
“No, Olivia. Love makes you strong.”
“I do love you, Raven. I love you with every breath in my body.”
He crushed his lips to mine, kissing me like his life depended on it. When he let me go, he wiped the tear from the corner of my eye with the pad of his thumb.
“Let’s go kick some vampire ass,” he said. I nodded, sniffing.
We climbed out of the car and strode across the street. Not knowing what I was going to find inside, I prepared myself for anything. My warrior senses and my Executioner powers were on high alert. As I entered the lobby, I could sense his presence there. High above me.
“He’s here,” I told Raven. “I couldn’t feel him until we got inside, but I feel him now.”
“Do you think he knows we’re here?”
“I don’t know. But he knows I’m coming.”
I strode to the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. As we zoomed upward, I could still sense him above me. Finally, we came to the top floor. He had to be there. I strode out with Raven right behind me. Pulling my gun from the holster at my back, I began to walk slowly down the hall. Raven took out his gun as well. I looked at him and pulled out some spelled wooden bullets.
“For vamps,” I said. He smiled and slid the clip into his gun. Because it was spelled, it fit into any gun.
We walked down the hall together, ready for anything. I walked past the double doors of one of the penthouse suites and stopped. “He’s in here,” I said, gripping my gun.
“We busting in there? How are we doing this?”
I considered my options, my magic taking in all the information around me to process the best course of action.
“On three, we kick the door down,” I said. “One, two…”
Suddenly the doors slid open in front of us. The messenger from the club stood before us in a white suit, his eyes dazed and vacant. Behind him, a stark white room with white furniture, white walls, and white decorations stretched out before us.
“Come in,” he said, stepping out of the way.
A pool of bright red blood sat on the table in a huge marble bowl. Drip. Drip. Drip. Blood dropped from above. My gaze went up to see a brunette girl hanging upside down, her neck slit, the blood drained from her body.
“Fuck,” Raven said, pointing his gun in front of him. The minion slid the doors closed behind us and we walked further into the room. I pulled Benedictus out of the scabbard and held it in my left hand with my gun in my right. I would be ready this time.
Chapter 29
The minion opened French doors at the other end of the room, and we paced toward them, Raven covering us from behind.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I said, playing his game.
Vincent swept into view on the other side, wearing a spotless white robe, his bleach-blond hair hanging down his back and his bright blue eyes shining with power. I saw the power totem on his neck.
“Olivia, so good of you to come.”
“Hey, what’s up, Vincent?”
“I see you brought your boyfriend. I’m sorry, my darling, I’m not interested in a three-way.”
“Save it, fucker. Where’s the girl?” Raven ground out.
“What girl? There’s a girl hanging out in the living room. You can have her. I’m done with that one.”
“We saw your handiwork,” I said. “You’ve broken every law the Council of Elders has for vampires. Now, Vincent, we can do this one of two ways. You can turn yourself in and spend the rest of eternity in supernatural prison. Or you can resist and die.”
“Seems like a waste of immortality, doesn’t it? Oh, Olivia. What I could have given you.”
“What’s it going to be, Vincent?”
“Tell me, did you use that sweet pussy of yours as a way to get closer to me?”
“Shut up!” Raven yelled.
“You didn’t know did you?” he said drawing closer. Vincent was supremely good-looking, like a marble statue of a god. His eyes glowed with mesmerizing desire. All at once, I felt bad. Like I’d lost something.
“It doesn’t make any difference,” I muttered, pointing my gun at his heart. “I’ve got wooden bullets in this gun.”
“Tsk, tsk, Olivia. You know you can’t shoot me.”
He moved toward the balcony, his robe fluttering around him as he walked. “Come here. I have something you might want to see.”
Raven and I walked forward as he slid open the patio doors. What I saw almost made my knees buckle. Twyla was bound and gagged, hanging over the balcony by an invisible thread.
“I used spell thread to keep her up there. If I die, the spell goes with me.”
“What do you want, Vincent?” I spat out.
“Isn’t it obvious, Olivia? I want you.”
“What?” Raven and I said at the same time.
“No one else’s blood fills me with the same spirit as yours. I miss you.”
“You let him feed on you?” Raven barked.
“You’ve obviously never been with a vampire before,” I muttered.
“I can’t believe you let his guy feed on you.”
“Could you just drop it please? We have to get her down.”
“You can’t get her down until I let her down,” Vincent said, overhearing everything we’d said.
“So you’ll give up Twyla in exchange for me?” I asked, still pointing my gun at him, my sword ready in my left hand.
“Olivia,” Raven snapped.
I gave him a pleading look and shook my head no. If this was what I had to do to make up for my mistakes, then this is what had to be done.
“Okay. How are we supposed to do this?”
“Put down your useless weapons so that we can speak like civilized people.”
Raven scoffed.
I began to lower my gun and Raven barked at me. “No.”
“Put your gun down, Raven.”
I didn’t know what my plan was, but I’d come up with something as soon as he let go of Twyla. I’d get my sword back and kill him.
But Raven wasn’t following my plan. Shots rang out in the room as he ran forward toward Twyla. Oh shit.
I lunged forward, blocking Vincent from slamming into Raven. Raven sidestepped, jumped into bird form, and flew toward Twyla. I saw him standing on the edge of the balcony casting a wind spell around Twyla’s struggling form.
Snapping back to look at Vincent, he burst toward me, moving so quickly I couldn’t see him. I emptied my clip in his general direction. Bullets flew and hit the minion in the shoulder. He slid down the wall, leaving a streak of blood behind him. Vincent came up in front of me. I could see the totem hanging around his neck as he slammed me into the wall.
His fangs extended and he lunged for my neck, but I sliced at him with Benedictus. I was able to cut his leg before he realized my sword cut got through his protective barrier. He lung
ed away, screaming in anger.
I dropped the empty gun and gripped Benedictus with both hands. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I mocked. He started it.
I looked upward and found him clinging to the ceiling just before he jumped down on me, grabbing at my neck. I parried, but he scratched at me with his extended nails.
His fangs were bared. He spun around me, trying to disarm me. Benedictus had chosen me; it belonged in my hands. I saw Raven pulling Twyla onto the balcony out of the corner of my eye. He set her down and untied her.
A blur sped across the room grabbed for Twyla. But Raven blocked him, only to get flung off the balcony instead. As Vincent turned to grab for Twyla, I lunged forward but missed.
I watched Raven fall from the twenty-seventh story of the building. A split second later, a black bird flew past Vincent and snatched the totem from his throat. I took the opening and lunged again, piercing Vincent’s kidney. Benedictus worked quickly on the vampire, impairing the ability of the undead to heal.
My ex-lover stumbled to his knees, blood spilling from his wound. Vincent grasped at the wound that wouldn’t heal. His legs kicked as he slid around on his side.
“Damn you, Olivia. I could have given you everything.”
I reached down and grabbed the totem from the floor.
“I already have everything I need, Vincent. But thanks.” I pulled back my sword and thrust it into his heart. Raven’s bird form flew up and over me, landing on the balcony beside Twyla.
We knelt beside my traumatized little sister, whose mouth and hands were still bound. Her eyes were huge.
I pulled the gag from her mouth and she took a deep breath.
“The portal,” she said, struggling to her feet. “He’s opened it all the way.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The portal to the other world,” she staggered into the living room and threw open the door to the bedroom.
“He used me and the blood of the girls to open it.”
Raven, Twyla, and I stood there, staring at a glowing oval portal that shimmered like the silver surface of a lake. “Great,” I muttered, crossing my arms.
“How do we close it?” Raven asked.
“We can’t. Not from this side, anyway.” Twyla said.
Twyla began to move forward. “What are you doing, Twyla?” I screamed, grasping at her hands.
“I’m not letting this happen. I’m not letting my magic be used to hurt people again. I have to stop this.”
“This is because of Oren isn’t it?”
She turned to me, her face expressionless. “This has nothing to do with him,” she said, but I could tell she was lying.
“He left you, Twyla. He used you to open a portal home. The portal that killed Dad.”
“I have to confront him, Olivia. He’s never even met his own daughter.”
Her fingers slipped from my hand and she sprinted forward, jumping through the portal. It snapped out of existence, and Twyla was gone.
“No!” I screamed, falling to my knees. Raven was beside me, his arm around my shoulders.
“She’ll be fine,” Raven whispered. But anything could happen on the other side. As a portal catalyst, Twyla couldn’t open portals herself, but she could be used by others to open them. That’s what had happened five years ago, when the boy we all thought was her boyfriend used her to open a portal into the other world. A portal home.
Fae were not common in our world because of the difficulty involved in opening portals. Vincent has been using blood magic to open a portal to bring the paranormal creatures here, and then used Twyla to open it the rest of the way.
“I hope she finds him and kicks his ass,” I said, standing.
Chapter 30
Raven drove away from Vincent’s chamber of horrors. The Council’s cleanup crew was already in the hotel room, taking care of the dead humans.
Neither of us spoke until he was parked outside my mother’s house. I had to tell her about Twyla. She would not be pleased.
Sighing, I climbed out of the SUV and prepared myself for a thorough chewing out by Nelly Fanning. I’d be held responsible for Twyla’s power, yet again. I was just about done accepting the blame for that.
Raven walked with me up the front steps of the house. I didn’t want to go inside.
“I don’t know how to tell her,” I muttered.
“It wasn’t your fault—just like with your father, Livi. You can’t blame yourself for Twyla’s decisions. Twyla is stronger than she looks. She’ll be fine. I’m sure.”
“She left her daughter. Everyone is going to be worried sick. I shouldn’t have let her go.”
“I was there. You didn’t have a choice. Twyla’s an adult. She makes her own choices.”
“I’m going to need backup to face my mother.”
“Want me to stay the night?” he said, suggestively.
I smirked and thought about it. Yes. I did want him to stay the night. But I didn’t want a replay of earlier this evening with my mother.
“Yeah. If you don’t mind sleeping in a twin-sized bed.”
“I believe we did that when we were in high school.”
“Come on.” I opened the door. “Be quiet,” I whispered.
He followed me up the stairs and into my bedroom. In the dim, tiny room, I watched Raven take his jacket off as I sat on the bed. My mother was sleeping downstairs, and the idea of bringing him in here still gave me a wicked thrill.
Raven took off his shirt and the light of the lamp glowed on his tanned skin. I pulled off my boots and weapons with a sigh. Sitting on the bed beside me, Raven put his arm around my shoulder and we lay back across the bed with our feet still on the floor, staring up at my teenage goth band posters.
“Olivia,” he said after a long silence.
“Yeah?”
“What happens now?”
“I don’t know, Raven. I’m back on the Executioners. I have to go where the Council sends me. It’s part of the job.”
“What about us?”
I let out a long sigh and stared at the ceiling. I didn’t know what to do about us. All I knew was that I didn’t want to let him go.
“I can come visit.”
“That’s not enough for me, Livi. I need you here with me.”
“I know it’s not fair. I just don’t have any other solutions for you. I can’t leave the Executioners. It’s all I’m good for.”
He leaned over and looked into my eyes, cupping my cheek in his hands. “You’re good for much more than killing paranormals, Olivia.”
“I’m a warrior witch, Raven. There aren’t any other jobs for a person like me.”
“You could join the police department with me.”
“No. I can’t be a cop. That is so not me. You know that.”
He sighed and leaned back on his elbows. “It was just a thought.” He lay back down beside me and stared at the ceiling again. “Don’t leave, Olivia. If you leave again, I want to break our bond. I’m serious. I can’t keep doing this for the rest of my life. Commit to me or let me go.” He stood with the last words, put on his shirt and jacket, and looked out the narrow window, his back to me.
I stood behind him and put my hand on his shoulder. “Raven. I don’t want to hurt you.”
He turned to me, his hands on his waist. “Then stop. Stop now. You have two options. Stay. Or let me go. That’s it. Choose now.”
“Don’t make me do this.”
“You have until tomorrow morning, Olivia. Do not leave without talking to me again. If you do, I’ll track you down and make you break this bond. You understand me?” He said that just inches from my face before he brushed past me and out the bedroom door.
“Raven,” I whisper-yelled. But it was too late, he’d already trotted down the stairs and out the front door.
Shit. Fuck. What was I supposed to do? Give up my position with the Council? What would I be then? A cop’s girlfriend. Get a job as a waitress or something? I could jus
t see it now.
I’d destroy him if I didn’t have an outlet for my skills. It would be worse than leaving without a word. I could guarantee that. I knew it like I knew my own name.
Groaning, I closed the door to my bedroom and climbed out of my clothes to get in bed. I was asleep soon after I flicked the lamp off.
I woke in the morning, feeling like I had a massive hangover. When my bare feet hit the cold floor, sitting there braless in a ratty T-shirt and underwear, I looked up and saw Edana standing in the middle of my tiny room.
I gasped. “God, you scared me.”
“Warrior skills a little rusty?” she asked me, throwing me my pants. She wore a satin evening gown/pants combo that looked like it would be more appropriate at a black tie event or a casino in Monte Carlo.
I pursed my lips at her and pulled my pants on. “Since I had my abilities stripped from me and then thrown back at me in the course of two weeks.”
She flicked her hand as if my words were meaningless. “Olivia. The cleaners have taken care of everything in the hotel. But, as you know, that portal Vincent opened created some problems here.”
“Yeah, I know. The paranormal creatures have been out of control.”
“We’ve estimated that the portal has allowed an unacceptable level of paranormal activity to manifest in the city of Portland and the surrounding area.”
I pulled my pants on began to zip on my boots. “Yes?” I said, standing.
“We feel that it would be wise to keep an Executioner here for the time being. Since you are already here and you are familiar with the area, we chose you.”
“Am I still on probation?” I asked, crossing my arms.
She pressed a perfectly manicured, red nail to her red lips. “Hmm. Well. We do need you at full capacity. But be warned, if you use unapproved totems again, you will be kicked off with no chance to be reinstated.”
I put my arms out in a gesture of surrender. “Hey, I learned my lesson.”
“Now that you have Benedictus, you will be even more valuable to us, but that value only lasts as long as your willingness to follow our rules.”
“I get it.”