Endless Magic (Stella Mayweather Series Book 6) (9 page)

"They can't have you," she said as if I were an item on the menu. I suppose I was exactly that on The Brotherhood's most-wanted list: something to be bartered for and ultimately gotten. "They can't have either of you," she added. "The High Council will meet in the great hall in ten minutes. Bring someone for company."

Before I could ask
who
, she continued her journey past us with several guards in tow at whom she barked her orders.

I didn't care to wait to see what the remaining guards did with the body, but I did want to know what would happen when the High Council assembled. It seemed Étoile was calling high-level meetings daily now, and this one had to be urgent, given the circumstances.

"Will you come with me?" I asked Evan.

He nodded. "What did she mean?" he asked. "What did she mean, they can't have you?"

"Stella?" Chyler grabbed my arm. The book was in her other hand, and the pages were still. Clearly, she'd given up waiting for me reach her, and that thought drove another shard of guilt through me. "What the hell was that?"

"An attack," I told her, "but don't worry. Étoile has everything under control." Even as I said it, I hoped that was the case. Given Étoile's excellent poker face, it was hard to tell what she was thinking, but I had to assume it wasn't good. She saw the corpse. She also read the message. Even the thought of it chilled me to the core.

"Is it because I brought the book?" she asked. "I just came up in that elevator. Ohmygosh! What if that had been me?"

I put on my best reassuring face. "It wouldn't have been you. You weren't in any danger. That witch was already dead before someone put her in there, so they had to have snatched her before you even arrived. I don't think this has anything to do with the book."

"Are you sure?"

I thought about the message. "Positive."

"Here. Take it." Chyler thrust the book at me, forcing me to grab the heavy tome with both hands. The pages rippled.

"I'll take care of it," I promised.

"I know you will. Anyway, if it's not happy, it will return to my family." She shifted from one foot to another and tried not to stare at Evan. "What do I do now?"

"Go to your room. Try not to worry. I'll come find you when I know what's going on."

"Okay." She nodded readily. "I won't worry. Much."

"What's she doing here?" Evan asked as we left Chyler with a guard. She was looking even more worried as she gripped her small case and bag before heading towards the great hall.

"I needed her help with something," I told him, tapping the book with my hand.

"Oh?"

"She asked me to unbind her."

"Sounds like
she
needed
you
for something."

I smiled. "It's a mutual thing. She wants to be a part of this." I waved a hand around, unsure if I indicated The Amethyst itself, or the cluster of hard-faced guards assigned to retrieve the body and disable the lingering spells.

"She's not ready. She's too young."

"I think that was said about me once."

"You're different."

"That's been said, too."

Evan laughed, but he didn't ask any more questions as we walked into the great hall. Most of the chairs were empty and the High Council were already assembled, but this time, they were seated at a table on the floor, rather than above us on the stage. I would have said they looked casual, but since I knew why they were here, it was a very different sort of meeting.

"What's going on, Étoile?" asked Arnie South, seated at the table, loud enough for the arriving assembly to hear. His goatee was neatly shaved, but he rubbed his hand over it, clearly worried. For someone who led his faction for more than thirty years, he didn't look much older than fifty. I wondered how he clung onto his command since his youth, or if he were genuinely good at it.

"We've received a message from The Brotherhood," she said, dialing a number on her phone.

"What? What did they say?" he asked, but she waved him quiet while waiting for whomever she dialed to answer.

"Wake him," she said into the phone. "I know it's daylight, but wake him. It's important."

"The vampires?" asked Corinthia, her dark eyes roaming the room before focusing on Étoile. "What's so important that you have to wake them before sundown?"

Étoile ignored her as she continued, "Thank you. Yes. Please inform him he is on speaker." Étoile set the phone down on the table, addressing the other members of the Council, "We are all members of the High Council. An attack against one is an attack against all; and as of this moment, our security is threatened thanks to a Brotherhood message that has infiltrated this building. I have called you to discuss the matter; and Luke Fellows, representing the vampires, now joins us by phone."

Gage strode past, not looking at any of us as he made a beeline for the table. Evan and I grabbed chairs and sat as Étoile called the meeting to order. While Evan was silent, I surveyed the High Council. All were present except for the vampires, whom Étoile clearly thought were important enough to have them present by phone. A body dropped into the seat next to me and I looked up.
Daniel
. I tried to give him a reassuring smile, which he returned with a confused shrug, as if he weren't quite sure why he was here.

"I am here," said a disembodied voice via the speaker. "Why have I been summoned?"

Étoile leaned towards the phone. "Luke, I apologise sincerely for waking you."

"I was not asleep."

"A message was received at The Amethyst from The Brotherhood."

"You keep saying that," interrupted Arnie. "What did it say? What do they want?"

Anger flashed in Étoile's eyes, but vanished in a millisecond. "The Brotherhood demands that we turn over Stella Mayweather and Daniel Morgan. Or, as they said,
return
them. If we refuse, they say there will be consequences. The message was delivered by a witch I had out on patrol. Her throat was cut."

I hoped I only imagined the sound of someone licking their lips, but I figured I probably didn't. I wished something like that bothered me now. Instead, I turned to Daniel to see if he needed my reassurance, to tell him that
of course
the High Council wouldn't turn us over. But Daniel didn't look afraid. Instead, he took a deep breath, his mouth set in a thin line of anger.

"The delivery of the message suggests a refusal would bring dire consequences," said Luke.

"I concur," said Étoile.

"So why don't we turn them over?" suggested Luke. "They've already had the girl, and the boy is of little use to us."

Sitting beside me, Daniel bristled. I bumped his arm gently with my elbow and blinked at him, hoping he got my message:
Stay calm. Say nothing.

"They are two of our own," Étoile responded icily. "I would no sooner turn them over, than two useless recently-turned."

"But what about the consequences? We hand them over in order to avoid any further attacks!" Arnie persevered.

"I believe The Brotherhood are conspiring a ruse," said Corinthia, her voice deep and melodic, commanding attention. "They cannot be trusted."

"Your personal feelings towards Stella Mayweather don’t outweigh the needs of all of us. They're just two witches! We have five races to protect here," Arnie continued to protest.

Gage slammed his fist against the table, causing the shifter to jump. "How does giving up two of our own protect our races?" he asked.

"Don't get me started on what you know of Stella," snarled the shifter as my face coloured. Gage didn't even look in my direction, but a pulse of heat from Evan told me he was annoyed at the shifter's intimation.

Étoile slammed a hand on the table. "Personal feelings do not enter this. What is at stake is a dead witch was used to deliver an ultimatum demanding two of our own, or face whatever may come our way. Turn over two, they ask for two more. First witches, then shifters... We can't allow that!"

"We..." the shifter started, but Étoile cut him off swiftly. "We know already from Stella's testimony that plenty of others from our races are held captive. We don't even know why they're being held, or why they're needed. We can't even gain intel on how many of our people they currently have. We simply will not give them two more!"

"Maybe Stella is a ticking time bomb! Maybe if we don't hand her over, she'll annihilate us all. We don't know what they did to her!" said the shifter as I mentally wrote him off my Christmas card list.
Permanently.

"So we hand her over for further torture? That's not going to happen. We have security procedures in place should anything happen to Stella."
News to me
. I would have to ask Étoile just what procedures she meant, but I figured they couldn't be good ones. I didn't know which was worse: that she arranged such procedures already, or the obvious gossip being passed around as to what might have happened to me and what I might do as a result of it. If people were afraid of me here, what good was I to anyone? Even worse, was I safe anymore if they thought I could attack or kill them? Or would I be swiftly thrown out to The Brotherhood?

"The demon is smart to suggest a ruse," came the disembodied voice. "They want our young witches, and we can understand the desire for the boy, given his bloodline, which is no secret, Étoile, despite what you might think."

Silence descended over the table.

"We were prepared for this," said Étoile, ignoring the master vampire. "We knew The Brotherhood were circling their quarry and it was only a matter of time before they attacked. This is an
attack.
This is a crime against our people and it must be answered in only one way."

"War," said each Council member, one after the other.

Étoile nodded. "War."

Chapter Ten

I turned the talisman over in my hands, the hum of magic running through me like electricity. Powerful magic must have been imbued in it when it was created, many, many years ago. Already, I could feel the traces of a headache starting to build. I didn't think it was because the talisman didn't like me. I doubt it could like or dislike anyone, in contrast to the horologican, which never hesitated to make its pleasure or displeasure known. The magic was simply powerful and insistent, which put me a little on edge. Now I remembered why I was so keen for Gage to hide it in the first place.

I ran my hands over the surface, looking for clues, hoping it would reveal something about the superwitch, or the power it contained. On each of the four sides, it seemed to tell a story, depicting the stages of the moon as I turned it around. Below the moons were other carvings that covered its surface. Even without knowing it was important, I could instantly appreciate its beauty.

"So?" prompted Gage. "What are you going to do with it?"

I glanced up, glad for the reprieve from staring at the carvings. "Nothing," I said tersely.

His brows knitted together like he wasn't sure whether to believe me or not. "I ran all that way on four legs through the night for you to do nothing with it?"

"Okay, at the moment, I don't plan on doing anything, but I think it could be useful in this war."

"You think? Or Étoile thinks?"

"Both of us."

"And what does she expect it to do?"

"Save us all."

"Sounds good to me," said Gage, clapping his hands together in a gesture of support. His face turned serious. "You had better tell me the rest of it. If it gets out that I gave you that talisman, it won’t be good for me. I'd rather have all the information I need in advance; after everything that's happened to us, I’m sure that day will come."

I had to agree with him. If I found the other talismans, the day when my secret endeavour would be revealed would arrive very soon. I just hoped it neatly coincided with finding the elusive superwitch, who would hopefully reveal the bravery inside her, and the magic, by uniting the talismans and defeating The Brotherhood.
At least, we weren't asking too much
, I thought with a wry smile. "There's a prophecy in an old book written by a clairvoyant. It talks about The Brotherhood's demise and claims a superwitch is supposed to incite it," I explained, sticking to the bare basics. He didn't need to know how the star sisters were involved. Besides, we already discounted that theory with Étoile's test.

"A superwitch who needs this?" Gage asked, pointing to the talisman.

"I think so. Astra and I found some other writings by the same witch and it mentions certain objects that the superwitch will need. This talisman is just one of them." I held it up, and the vibrating magic trickled over my forearm like invisible water. It felt strange, but not uncomfortable. However, it was definitely something I didn't want to experience for too long. I reached for the box Gage presented it in and pulled out the thick cloth wrap. Enveloping the talisman securely, I tucked it inside the box and replaced the lid. I wondered where I would put the thing. Last time it was in my possession, it briefly lived in my suitcase and still managed to give me a headache.

"This witch who foresaw the superwitch... she have something to do with the witch who made this?" he asked.

"I don't know. I don't think so."

"What else?" Gage pressed.

"What do you mean?"

"Is there anything else you're not telling me? I can't say I'm surprised that Étoile hasn't informed the High Council of this superwitch search, but I'm surprised you didn't tell me right away, especially when you gave this to me," he added, pointing at the box.

"I..." I faltered. What was I supposed to say? I'm sorry? I couldn't tell him? I shouldn't be telling him now? Or because we just weren't that close anymore? We were friends, but it was tentative and hesitant, bound in past hurt and a future that involved the dictates of his race that he wouldn't publicly defy. We both made our choices. A secret relationship that would never lead anywhere was not something I wanted. It may have been so in the past, but that along with other things now affected the future. "I didn't know what the talisman could be used for when I gave it to you," I told him. "It's only come to light recently."

"You used to tell me everything. Is it because of us?" Gage paused, waiting, knowing that I knew exactly what he meant. Had it been on his mind too? Had he thought about it while I was missing?

"Things have changed."

"You're telling me." Gage sighed. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the wall, looking down at me with eyes full of hurt. Perhaps he wasn't taking the end of our non-started relationship as well as I thought. He gave me the option to continue and I declined since it involved secrecy with no promise of a future. "I would give anything to change..."

"Don't!" I held up a hand. "Please, don't. I get it. Really, I do. It doesn't mean I have to like it, but I do understand. The werewolves want what they want, and you're their leader. I can't be part of that because of who I am."

"We could..."

"There's no we. We chose our paths and they can’t converge anymore than this. We can only be friends."

He pushed himself off the wall and was next to me in one quick bound. His palms landed softly on my cheeks and he brought his lips down to mine, kissing me, searching for something that was no longer there. We never even had a chance to explore what could have been. There was no point in reopening an old wound now. The attraction was laced in disappointment; and with that thought, something snapped inside me.

I broke it off, bringing my fingers to my lips where I felt his heat lingering. Hot tears pricked my eyelids. "No," I told him, "I can't do this."

"It's because of him, isn't it?" Gage didn't step away, but kept his lips inches from mine.

"Him?"

"You know who I mean."

"No, it’s because we have no future. There's no point in hurting either of us. We had what we had, which was amazing; and I could have..."

"Loved me?"

"I think I did, but..."

"Not like you love him," Gage finished, his voice dropping. Annoyance bubbled in me at him discreetly blaming another man. Couldn't Gage take responsibility for the situation as it was between us? "I love you, Stella. I'm not sorry for kissing you, but I am sorry for hurting you. I won't stop being your friend. I will always be there for you."

"I know," I said, sensing his sincerity and honesty, knowing I could believe him. What I couldn't acknowledge was what he said about "him." He could only mean one other and I still wasn't sure where I stood with him, or what my feelings were. Evan's words at the door drifted into my mind again. I didn't misinterpret him. Were we really meant to be together, like he said? Was it truly only a matter of time?

~

"So how does this thing work?" asked Chyler. We were sitting in the restaurant at a table by the window, and she looked a lot calmer than my last glimpse of her in the reception area. She sounded thrilled when I called her asking to meet, and she was still casting glances around, audibly sucking in the sights. It didn't escape me that she was more interested in
who
was in the building, rather than the views that lay outside.

I took a sip of my coffee before I answered. "I have no idea."

"I thought you'd done this before!"

"Nope."

"How many times have you bound a witch?"

"Including you? Once." I witnessed a coven binding a witch before, and it was simple enough for one witch to bind another, but I never had cause to. I only bound Chyler because she asked me to. I should have expected the time would come to unbind her.

"So you have no idea? I'm the only witch in a building full of witches with no magic? I'm a freak! I'm a bigger freak than in high school when I had magic, and no one else did."

I held back a smile as Chyler indulged her theatrical pity party. She might have looked older, and her style might have toned down a little bit, but she was still just as excitable as I remembered. "You're not a freak. You're just... stuck," I finished lamely.

"I thought you were going to help me."

"I am. Just as soon as I figure out how."

"I kind of hoped you would already know," Chyler said, rolling her eyes as she took a bite from her baguette. "At least, you paying for lunch takes the burn off." She winked as I tried to recall any offer I made to pay for lunch. What the hell? She deserved it after the morning she had. I had to somehow compensate her for a dead body traveling up on the next car after her.

"We could ask the book," I pointed out. The horologican lay between us. If I thought it could actually sleep, I would have sworn it was sleeping. The pages were still, and the covers closed. It hadn't uttered a single murmur since I placed it between us an hour ago, its cloth cover concealing it so it wouldn't attract any undesired attention.

"I think it got scared," she said. "That poor woman... I see her every time I close my eyes."

"It's the shock."

"Will it go away?"

"Yes, I think so."

Chyler shivered. "Good. I don't want to remember her. I don't mean it in a bad way. I mean... I don't want to remember a dead body. I'm truly sorry for her. Did they find out who did it? Or how they got in?"

"Not yet that I'm aware of."

"I feel sorry for her family. It's so hard to lose someone close to you, and know you will never see that person again."

"Me too." We both lost our mothers, a mutual lack I was quite sure we both wished we didn't share. I wondered if the dead witch were a mother, or a sister, or a wife, and my heart burned for the people she left behind. Without realising it, I reached out and stroked the book. Now with my hand resting on it, I was fully aware of how strange it was to instill humanistic properties to something with no right to bear them. It was even stranger that I could swear I felt a pulse coming from deep within the book. "How do I unbind Chyler?" I asked, changing back to the topic in hand.

The cover jumped, knocking off my hand as its pages fluttered, before falling open to an early page. A spell was inked across it along with illustrations of witches being unbound.

"I swear that wasn't in there this morning," said Chyler.

I believed her. Turning it towards me, I read the spell. It was incredibly simple, given the requirements. I always thought only the witch who bound another was the exclusive party who could unbind them, and this spell could have wreaked havoc for the bad witches who were permanently bound, and their binders long gone. "We have to get a jasmine candle."

"I have a jasmine candle in my room."

"Perfect. We need a drop of my blood..."

"I've seen enough blood today."

"It's only a drop. Oh, and we need a drop of yours. We combine them and drop them into the flame; then I say the spell and you're unbound."

"Easy peasy, magic squeezy," said Chyler. "The first thing I plan to do when my magic returns is tame this frizz," she said, running a hand over her perfect hair. “Second thing is to learn how to kick Brotherhood ass."

"Glad your priorities are in order."

"They took Jemima, my friend, back when I was eight or nine. Her family, well..." Chyler swallowed the last of her baguette and brushed the crumbs from her top. "So when do we get started? I can go get the candle now."

"We can't practise magic here. It's off-limits in public areas."

"How come? Some werewolf get zapped by accident?" Chyler giggled.

"Everyone's just edgy around here. They have been for... well, as long as I can remember. We'll unbind you in your room, since that's where the jasmine candle is," I told her, raising my hand for the server.

With the bill paid, we headed to Chyler's room on the floor above mine. I expected her to be closer, since we knew each other, but she told me that her aunt arranged for her to have the room next to hers. She was anxious to teach her what she missed once her magic was unbound. I ignored a brief twinge of envy at having a family member looking out for her, and reminded myself that I had someone too.
Daniel.
I knew he was training with Astra and Seren at the moment, and I made a mental note to find him later. It had been a short time for me, and a long time for him since we last caught up properly — my kidnap occupying most of that lengthy time — and with an impending war, time was literally of the essence now. Besides, it would be nice to have the company of one of the few men in my life who didn't send my mind into a twist. Not that I could think about that now. I pushed aside the images of Evan and Gage. I needed to concentrate on the task in hand: my first unbinding and properly restoring Chyler to her full power.

Chyler let us into the room. It was a little smaller than mine, but furnished almost exactly the same with a neat double bed, a desk and chair and a linen tub chair. Her view was less spectacular, without the vistas of the skyline that mine offered.