EdgeofEcstasy (15 page)

“I like the idea of that partnership you mentioned,” she
said huskily, her voice thick with mingled pain and desire. “We’ll need to iron
out details—I don’t mind being an equal partner with you, but I have never
worked
for
someone since I broke free of my father. I’m not keen to go
back there again.”

“We can discuss it,” Daniel promised. “I’m sure we can reach
a compromise we can both live with. I just need to be with you. Forever and
always. That’s the only thing I refuse to budge on.”

“That sounds perfect to me,” Melissa agreed. “The rest we
can work on.”

“You two are going to make me sick,” Hayden complained with
mock severity. It would have been a whole lot more convincing had he not been
covered in his own blood and swaying with the effort of standing up without
holding on to the wall for support. The wizard looked like a harsh wind would
knock him back flat on his ass.

Daniel watched as Hayden looked sadly at his ex-partner, his
disappointment at the brutal betrayal clearly etched upon his lean face. Daniel
felt a moment’s pity for the wizard. He had been loyal and honest, generous
with his friendship and refusal to believe in the badness in his partner.
Daniel could admire that and feel for the wizard as he had his eyes ripped
open.

“I’m going outside—I need the fresh air,” Hayden said
brokenly. He’d clearly endured more than enough pain for one day. “I’ll call
for reinforcements. Can you watch him for a moment, please?”

Daniel and Melissa nodded silently. After Hayden had limped
out of the door, still clutching his bleeding head, Daniel turned to his love
and kissed her again.

“The Tribunal won’t kill him,” Daniel said softly.

Melissa looked at him impassively. Her golden hair framed
her face, a mass of waves and curls, and even messed-up as it was looked
perfectly beautiful to him. Her eyes were a deep, dark blue, like the depths of
the ocean. He wondered what she was thinking in that moment, until she spoke
quietly.

“They’ll be afraid of setting a precedent of being too
bloodthirsty and not being voted back in,” she agreed sadly. “They’ll just lock
him up. Hope the problem goes away and doesn’t come back again.”

Daniel focused his whole attention on Melissa. A part of him
knew that if she killed Ben it would not ease the aching loss of her best
friend. Nothing could bring Falconn back from the dead. What had been done
could not be unsullied. Daniel understood that there would be some level of
satisfaction, maybe even justice, in Melissa killing Ben. He sure as hell was
not going to begrudge her the action if it was something she truly desired.
They were both killers—that was part of who they were.

He just hoped Melissa would not feel dissatisfied with the
kill afterward. Daniel didn’t think it likely she would
regret
the
action—neither of them was like that—but part of him could not help but believe
she needed to heal and move on far more than she needed to kill the useless
excuse for an evil wizard.

Regardless of his own thoughts, he remained silent and knew that
no matter what Melissa chose to do, he would back her the whole way and stand
by her side. He loved and adored her. Nothing in this world or the next could
change that.

“You’re both fools,” Ben hissed at them.

As quick as lightning, Daniel pressed his foot to the fallen
wizard’s windpipe and held him to the ground.

Tempted beyond belief to end it there and then, he toyed
with the idea of just crushing his throat and being done with it. It would save
Melissa having to do it, possibly even help her find closure for part of her
grief over Falconn. But in his heart he knew that if someone was to kill this
bastard, it should be Melissa. Daniel looked at her to see how she wanted to
proceed.

She looked at the fallen wizard, bleeding from numerous cuts
and broken bones. Fire shone in her eyes, a heartfelt anger that could not be
expressed in mere words. Even so, she just silently shook her head.

“I thought I knew exactly what I was going to do, but with
him lying there like that, broken and bleeding…” Melissa’s words trailed off
and Daniel immediately understood. One of the few things he could never do was
murder someone already down, unprovoked.

A part of him felt relieved, glad she had not become caught
up in the power of bloodlust that unrepentant killing could lead to, but also
torn. Ben did not deserve to be allowed to live. He had knowledge and power far
beyond what any of them were used to, beyond what any wizard could truly
comprehend. This was not a usual situation and not one he felt comfortable
leaving in the hands of the Tribunal. Without their refusal to burn the
manuscripts, none of this would have happened.

Hmmm
, he pondered.
The manuscripts.

Daniel cast a speaking glance at Melissa, willing her with
his mind alone to trust him and follow him. Without taking his eyes from Ben,
he lowered his voice to a husky whisper and hissed at the man in the most
convincing act he had ever indulged in.

“I want the power,” he commanded. “I’ll exchange your
freedom for the manuscripts. Tell me where they are and I’ll let you go.”

Daniel let a few muscles around his eyes twitch to hopefully
indicate to Melissa that he needed her help here. To convince Ben, they would
need to both give compelling acts.

“Daniel,” she cried out in a high-pitched voice. “No! You
can’t do that. Think of how it will taint your soul.”

Only the very corner of his mouth twitched and he felt love
overflow his heart for this witch. She was perfection.

“Shut up,” he answered gruffly, hoping that if he simply
kept things vague they could run with a simple scenario. “You know what they’ll
do to us if we can’t deliver it. We agreed it had to be this way.”

Convinced they could continue to play this act through,
Daniel turned his cool gaze on Ben and scorched him with a glance. “Tell me
where the manuscripts are, or we’ll turn you over to the Tribunal and you can
take your chances with them and whomever you’re unlucky enough to share a death
cell with.”

Daniel pressed down harder on Ben’s throat until the wizard
choked and nodded.

“All right! All right,” he whined. “I’ve already memorized
them. Let me up—I’ll get them.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows, astonished. Skepticism instantly
followed.

“They’re here? You were brazen enough to keep them
here
?”
he asked, the genuine disbelief evident in his voice. Ben snorted and shot him
an arrogant, smug glance.

“Unlike
you
, no one ever thought to question me. I
kept my nose clean, I don’t have a reputation for losing my cool when things
get tough,” Ben insisted.

Daniel kept his mouth closed but had trouble controlling the
urge to snap. A few times he had been hauled before Enforcer management and
questioned for debatable choices. He had always been cleared, but as an
Assassin he was always the one who fell under suspicion when something went
awry on a mission.

He could feel the weight of Melissa’s dark-blue gaze and he
met her eyes with a tiny hint of worry. His heart eased as her gaze spoke
volumes of her love and support. Daniel almost smiled. He should have known. No
one could understand what it was like except for another Assassin.

“Tell Melissa where the scripts are,” Daniel insisted, his
tone dark and angry. “And you’d better hurry. Hayden will be back in a minute.”

Disgust twisted in Daniel’s stomach as Ben scowled and
snarled out a crudely rude comment about Hayden and his “do-gooder” nature.
Daniel had never had a permanent partner, not as Hayden and Ben had had each
other. Daniel knew that would change now he had Melissa, but he would never have
taken any partner and their faithfulness and loyalty for granted as Ben seemed
to have with Hayden.

Ben barked out a series of instructions, telling Melissa
where a hidden panel lay underneath the stone altar. Within it were five
tattered, almost desiccated scrolls and manuscripts.

“Now I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain, Assassin,” he
insisted brazenly.

“So you have,” Daniel replied idly. “The matches are on the
shelf, next to the incense, love.”

“
What?
” Ben screeched.

Daniel nodded as Melissa grinned evilly, a naughty, raunchy,
beautiful smile that had him wishing his shoulder didn’t ache so badly. She shuffled
the old papyrus into a pile on the stone table, defiantly struck a match, then
lowered it to the ancient papers.

Daniel pressed his foot down harder as Ben scrambled to get
up, his fingernails breaking on the floor as he writhed as if in mortal agony.

“You can’t let her do this!” he screamed hoarsely, his voice
cracking from the force of his yells. “Those manuscripts have
power
! You
can’t— Argh!”

The flames quickly consumed the dry paper, the heat
spreading through the pages and curling them into black cinders in a matter of
seconds. Ben twitched and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He
continued to mumble semi-coherently and Daniel risked jacking his power back up
to survey the wizard.

Even with his senses only partially open, Daniel could tell
something had snapped and irrevocably broken inside Ben. Power leaked from the
wizard as he struggled to contain himself. Heavy boots thumped toward the door
and Daniel cast a quick look at the altar where the papers still burned,
utterly beyond salvation but not yet reduced to ashes.

Making a snap decision and judgment call about Ben’s
potential dangerousness—or lack thereof—Daniel removed his foot from the
wizard’s throat and crossed quickly over to where Melissa still stood. He
grabbed the matches from her hands, wiped her prints from the box, replaced
them with his own and returned the matches to the bench near the altar.

“Daniel,” she protested. “What are you—”

“Hush,” he said gently, “don’t argue with me. These bastards
can be tricky sometimes. I don’t want you getting any grief. Here—I think you
should also wear my jacket.”

Melissa snorted but accepted his coat and closed it over her
nakedness. It came almost down to her knees and while it was obvious she wore
nothing beneath, it covered her decently. Four Special Operative agents stormed
into the loft and took in much of the scene with barely a glance.

Frowns marred their faces as they came over and peered down
at Ben. They stared intently at him for a minute. Daniel hazarded a guess that they
were scanning him, using their powers to determine what had gone on. It was
relief, pure and simple, that coursed through Daniel when the largest of the
wizards in the group spoke to him.

“Which of you broke him?” the dark-skinned leader snapped.

Daniel pasted on his best blank face and merely shrugged as
he wrapped his good arm around Melissa’s shoulders.

“Neither of us did that,” Daniel replied smoothly, pleased
that his assessment of Ben was accurate. Broken, shattered—even though he
technically still lived, nothing much of the wizard’s sentient being remained.

“Your buddy Ben did a perfect job of destroying himself with
those manuscripts,” Daniel continued with brutal honesty. His words held a dual
meaning, but the agents didn’t yet appear to have noticed. Daniel cast one last
glance at the now-ashen papers and led Melissa toward the door.

“If you gents will excuse us, we both need healers,” Daniel
finished, throwing the words over his shoulder. “My shoulder is stiffening up
and Melissa needs to get her hand seen to before the bones can’t be re-set
without having to break them all over again.”

The agents glared at them, but the dark-skinned leader
nodded, clearly reluctant. “We know where to find you when we need reports,” he
said with a hint of threat in his voice.

Daniel gave his most bland, pleasant face. “Of course,” he
agreed amiably, and led Melissa out of the loft.

At the front of the loft, Hayden stood looking shattered and
forlorn. Despite the genuine ache in his shoulder and the fact that Melissa was
shivering slightly under his jacket, Daniel felt they owed the wizard at least
a farewell. Without speaking to each other, they seemed on the same wavelength
and headed toward the tall, scruffy, dark-haired wizard.

“Will you be okay?” Melissa asked quietly, her voice
carrying in the morning air. Hayden shrugged without turning around to face
them. Daniel figured he was collecting himself before replying. After a moment
Hayden took a deep breath and turned on his heel to face them both.

“He was my friend.” Hayden spoke in a low voice. “He wasn’t
perfect, but he backed me up, saved my ass a number of times. I owed him my
loyalty. He was a good partner. I don’t understand how I couldn’t have seen
this and saved those people.”

Daniel squeezed Melissa’s shoulder in comfort but spoke to
Hayden.

“We never see the bad in our friends,” he explained. “For
better or worse, they’re ours. A part of being a good friend is sometimes being
blind to their faults and issues. You’ve made it right now. You didn’t beat my
ass when I confronted you with it—you came to support him but you still let me
prove it to you one way or the other. You acted honorably, Hayden. You have my
thanks for that.”

Hayden’s dark eyes swung to Melissa and he stared at her
before speaking.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry for Falconn, and that he
hurt you. I hope you can forgive me.”

“Like Daniel said,” Melissa replied in her clear, open
voice. “You went along with Daniel—you aided my lover and saved my life. No
apologies are needed, Hayden. Your hands are clean. Trust me.”

“I don’t feel very clean,” he said somberly.

Melissa and Daniel nodded simultaneously, understanding
exactly what Hayden meant.

“Take a long, hot shower,” Daniel recommended. “Meditate.
Give yourself a few weeks or even months to get past this. Take a break if you
can—get away. If none of that works and the nightmares don’t dwindle and fade,
go see someone and get some help. But it
will
fade. I can promise you
that. I’ve been there.”