Deceiver's Bond: Book Two of A Clairvoyant's Complicated Life (7 page)

The deputy looked both perplexed and alarmed. “You did all that?”

I shrugged.

“What the fuck are you? I thought you were supposed to be a clairvoyant.”

I stuck out my chin and fought to hold his direct gaze. “I am,” I said. “I just have a few extras.”

“No shit.” He examined me before glancing at the sheriff. “He gonna be okay?”

I heard Lancer babble something about ‘the devil’s mate.’

I sighed, unsure whether Burke referred to Lancer’s hand or the state of his mind. “I don’t know. I hope so.” I hugged myself and looked away.

“He tried to shoot you.” Burke sounded stunned.

I nodded and slid my gaze toward Vince. He remained near the front doors, observing the aftermath, arms now at his sides. He caught my eyes, looking stern, before turning his attention to an approaching deputy.

Collins had regained his feet. “I’ll need a statement.”

Before I could answer, Lancer yelled over his shoulder at us. “Can’t you see? She’s has the demon’s mark. Look at her! Look at her hair!” Locks of his own auburn hair hung down over his eyes and his mouth had curved into a snarl. My hair was a darker red, but I didn’t think I was the one who looked demonic.

I shivered.

“Get him out of here,” Collins snapped.

When I gazed up at Collins, he regarded me with a dispassionate eye and unreadable face. What was with law enforcement? Did they take classes on how to master the art of looking cold and detached?

“You can wait out here. It shouldn’t be long,” he said.

“Okay.” I watched Burke pull Lancer into the intake area and shivered.

“Jones. Open those doors. Let’s get some air moving. It’s like a sauna in here.” He glanced at me, frowning, before turning away to follow Burke.

I tightened my arms around myself and tried not to cringe.

“You did good,” Daniel said from behind me.

“Right,” I muttered. “If you think nearly freezing everyone in the room is good, then yeah.”

“Hey. Look at me.”

When I turned, he regarded me with sympathetic eyes. “Don’t sell yourself short. You protected yourself and prevented people from getting killed.”

I shrugged.

“Lire, it’ll be okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.”

The way he leaned forward and pinned me with his lucid gaze—I knew he was sincere in this. True, he had a vested interest in ensuring that I fulfilled the prophecy, but he cared about me too.

I nodded. “What now?”

“My associates are smoothing things over. We’ll do what we can for Sheriff Lancer, make it look like a breakdown.”

I couldn’t help wondering what Lancer’s life might have been like if the telepaths hadn’t messed with him. I straightened my back, hands clenched. “He doesn’t deserve to have his life and career trashed. It’s not fair.”

“No. It isn’t. That’s why you’re important. You can help change things.”

“Right. Because I’m so damned special.” I wanted to rant about how absurd it all was, but I’d only be repeating myself. I turned my back with an exasperated grunt. “God. I can’t deal with this right now.”

Leaving him behind, I approached Vince.

The deputy must have only asked him a few questions because he stood alone. I tried to smile. “Hi.”

“What the hell was all that about?” he demanded, glaring over my shoulder. “And what the fuck is he doing here?”

My eyes narrowed to mere slits. “I get arrested by a psychotic sheriff and thrown in jail for something I didn’t do. Plus, I almost get shot. And that’s the first thing you want to say after not seeing me for three weeks?” I crossed my arms. “Care to try again?”

He sighed, his eyes softening, but his stance remained rigid. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Sort of.” I shrugged. “As usual, things could be better.”
In fact, I’d be a hell of a lot better if you started acting like my boyfriend.

As if he were reading my thoughts, he reached out to rub my arm. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“For being an ass, or that I got arrested?”

He snorted. “Both.”

I gave him a wan smile.

“Ms. Devon,” Burke’s voice came from behind me.

I stifled a groan. “Can you wait a moment? I could use a ride as soon as I’m done.”

“Sure.”

“Be nice to Daniel,” I told Vince. “He came here to help me.”

Much of the warmth left his eyes, but he didn’t argue.

I followed Deputy Burke past intake into the room I’d seen with all the desks. After giving him my truthful statement (save for any mention of telepaths) and answering several questions, I was returned to the lobby to find Vince and Daniel talking. Vince’s posture hadn’t changed much. He looked tense and his arms were folded in a sure sign of displeasure.

Jeez. What now?

“Mr. Evans?” Burke called to Daniel from the doorway.

When I approached them, Daniel told Vince to “at least think about it,” and then turned to me. “I’ll be in touch, Lire. We’re looking out for you. Try not to worry.” He strode toward Deputy Burke, presumably to give him a statement.

I studied Vince. He practically stared a hole through Daniel’s back with his head tilted down, eyebrows flattened into a surly line. His expression didn’t fade, even after he turned his gaze on me. “That guy’s been nothing but trouble. He likes to pretend he’s helping you, but he’s not. Trust me on this. Stay away from him.”

“I know Daniel has an agenda, and I even know what it is, but he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to me either,” I huffed. “If he hadn’t been here today, I’d still be sitting in that holding cell, up on murder charges. I hoped everything would settle down after Brian was killed, but I guess the Invisius
asshats
weren’t satisfied with my promise to stay out of their secret club business.”

I explained what Daniel had said about Invisius moving against me. “They’re messing with innocent bystanders just to destroy me, and I don’t know what I can do about it.”

He studied my face before shaking his head and blowing out an irritated sigh. “Things aren’t going to resolve just standing around. Come on.”

He headed for the door and I trailed behind, wondering what annoyed him most: Daniel’s comments, Invisius’ machinations, or seeing me.

I gave Vince directions as he drove.

He’d slipped off his leather jacket before getting into his Jeep. A shoulder rig stretched across his back, his holstered gun resting under his left arm where it was out of my view. Underneath, he wore a fine gauge, royal-blue sweater. A black t-shirt peeked out from the v-neckline.

He wasn’t wearing his sling, and I could see how it would get in the way with his holster.

“How’s your shoulder?” I asked. I vividly remembered Paimon callously pitching Vince’s body to the ground. Before I could slip down that particular rat hole, I shoved the memory aside.

“Not bad.” He rotated it around. “Can’t raise my arm higher than my chin yet, but every day it feels a little better.”

“You still doing physical therapy?”

“Yeah. Twice a week.”

“Does it hurt?”

He shrugged. “A little. I do the stretching exercises in the shower. The hot water helps.”

“I bet.” After a pause, I gave in to my curiosity. “So. What did Daniel want you to think about?”

His lips twitched, and he ran his fingers through his dark-brown hair. I loved watching the gesture, although he tended to do it when he was stressed.

“An elf wants to meet me.” His tone said it all.

“I don’t think Daniel said
elf
.”

“Whatever. Shee.”

“Sidhe,” I corrected.

He tipped his chin in a grudging acknowledgment.

“Did he say why?” A few weeks ago, I’d explicitly told Daniel not to notify his sidhe contacts about Vince. Now, I wondered if he’d gone and done it anyway.

“Something about there not being many humans with sidhe blood.” He snorted.

“You don’t believe that?”

“How would I know? And it’s not like I give a shit.”

“Why? Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

His posture had gone rigid, both hands tightly gripping the steering wheel.

“You know, our situations aren’t so different,” I said, filling the silence. “Accepting my new powers hasn’t been easy, but I couldn’t just ignore them. They’re a part of me now. I have to learn to control them, for my sake and the safety of everyone around me. It would have been reckless not to.”

“You saying I’m reckless because I don’t believe this elf crap?”

I sighed. “No. That’s not what I meant. And I don’t think it’s crap, but maybe we should just drop it.”

He glanced at me, a brief flash of his narrowed brown eyes. “You think I’m an elf, but I know my family. How the hell could I be part elf? My dad’s not. My mom sure isn’t. I remember both sets of grandparents and they never said anything about being from fairyland. It’s ridiculous.”

I wondered why he continued to react so vehemently about the possibility of a sidhe relative somewhere in his family tree, but I supposed it wasn’t unlike my own disdain for the Invisius Verso telepaths and their prophecy. I often called that piece of work ‘ridiculous’ too.

“Maybe it is. But without talking to this sidhe contact, you’ll never know for sure.”

Vince kept his hands at ten-and-two, staring straight ahead at the road.

I turned to sit straight in my seat, lacing my fingers together in my lap. “I’m not trying to pressure you. I
am
curious to know why you’re invulnerable to both clairvoyants and telepaths, but when it comes down to it, I don’t give a crap whether you’re part sidhe, part … purple-tentacled alien, or all human. Whatever you decide, I’ll back you up one hundred percent. I just want you to be happy.”

“Purple-tentacled alien, huh?” He shook his head, clearly amused.

According to the Jeep’s digital clock, it was just after 2:30 pm when we pulled into Nick’s driveway. Vince peered at the house through the windshield as he put the car in park. “Looks nice.”

“Yeah. It’s cute. Wanna come in with me?”

“Sure.”

Red greeted us at the door. I could tell by his posture that he’d been worried. I bent down to scoop him up into a hug. “I’m fine.” I breathed in the comforting smell of his cuddly body before putting him back on the floor. “Thanks for calling Vince … and Daniel. Unfortunately, things are as complicated as ever.”

“Daniel gave me that impression when we spoke,” he replied. “He already knew you had been arrested. Glad to see you received my message, Vince. Come sit, both of you. Tell me what happened.” Red led the way into the kitchen.

I levitated Red to the tabletop before sitting across from Vince. Starting with the appearance of Sheriff Lancer at Nick’s front door, I told them everything.

Vince leaned back in the straight-backed Windsor chair with his arms folded. He hadn’t enjoyed seeing my bruised arm or hearing about my experience with the fingerprint machine, but his scowl had mostly faded by the time I finished.

“So, the Invisius telepaths got away without any consequences. Again.” I stressed the last word, disgusted. “They’re going to keep doing shit like this until I get thrown in prison for good or end up dead.” I mirrored Vince, my arms folded. My expression was probably just as irritable.

“What did Daniel have to say?” Red asked.

“Not much. Just that I’m important and can help change things for the better.” I rolled my eyes.

Red put one paw on his hip. “It is not something to discount. Clearly, you have an important role to play. Otherwise Invisius would not go to such lengths to seek your silence.”

“I wish this important
role
, or whatever it is, would hurry and happen. I can’t just sit back and let these guys muck around with my friends and innocent bystanders indefinitely. But even if I knew where they were hiding—”

“Don’t go looking for trouble.” Vince leaned forward. “Let me help you.”

“We can’t work with the police on this. You know that.”

His stubborn expression said otherwise.

I glared at him. “You remember what happened the last time I spilled to law enforcement about Invisius. You could lose your job. I could lose my business. Or worse. That’s precisely the type of trouble I’m trying to avoid.”

“They can’t subvert everyone. There aren’t enough of them.”

“I don’t have a clue how many telepaths there are and neither do you. Daniel hasn’t said, but there are enough of them to make our lives a living hell. That much I know.”

Vince sat back, crossing his arms and looking even more inflexible.

“I can’t do anything until I have more information. I’m not happy about it, but there’s not much else I can do.”

His eyes flashed with determination. “Work from home. The telepaths can’t get past your building’s djinn, right?”

“True, but I’ve got to deal with everything here and then I fly to Vegas on Wednesday. Remember?”

“You’re still doing that show? Even with all of this?”

“I can’t stop living my life. It’s for the Discovery Channel. A lot of other people are involved besides just me. I can’t ask them to change their shooting schedule on the off chance the Invisius twerps might try something. This is a big deal, and I refuse to act like a scared rabbit.”