Entwined Enemies (12 page)

Felix gestures toward another wall, where the other end of the hallway terminates. There’s an opening there, beyond which a flight of stairs curves upward. No windows anywhere that I can see, but if we’re underground, that’s not surprising.

I keep repeating the numbers I just memorized in my head.

“Let’s head up,” Felix says casually. “As you can tell, it’s a trifle hot down here. I wouldn’t want such an exquisite weapon of lust to sweat away her delectable curves. That would be a shame, even if we are enemies.”

Felix takes the lead as Trent approaches me from behind. I turn around and look at him, trying to gauge what he’s feeling. He looks neither angry nor cheerful. He does incline his head toward Felix. Understood. Follow the warlock.

Trent is a soldier right now. A high-ranking soldier, perhaps, but still compelled by orders. I take a chance and touch Trent’s naked chest with the tips of my fingers, making eye contact with his disturbing crimson gaze.

Only then do I respond to Felix behind me.

“Is that what we are? Enemies? Or just two people on the opposite sides of a fence who want the same thing?”

Trent’s eyes flare when I say that. The words were intended more for him than Felix. I spin around and do as bidden, following Felix.

I notice that each slab entranceway we pass is marked with another set of numbers. Too small to make out from a distance, so I don’t try. Memorizing one set of numbers is enough.

As Felix passes each parallel set of torches, they snuff out as well, leaving the hallway in darkness behind us.

“If that’s true,” Felix answers, “then maybe we should learn how to share the wealth.”

Wealth. He’s talking about Trixie like she’s a resource to be mined. Felix had access to her for a year before we began to suspect what was happening.

Shortly before squaring off against Felix, Candice told me that none of us were a match for Felix individually. Not even Saffron. That’s why she stopped her from charging after him alone.

Together, however, our combined might was more than able to repel him.

Trixie is protected against Felix now. Saffron keyed the spell specifically to the warlock, which is why we had to face him at least once. The hex prevents him from coming within a mile of Trixie, which can’t make life easy for him in the same city.

Now, while I consider Trixie a close friend, I must always keep that secret from her, just like our surveillance is conducted. Trixie still thinks that Felix left her callously. The truth is that he wanted to keep seeing Trixie, just not for love.

From what I gathered, Felix was slowly draining Trixie, treating her like an energy source for his magic, much like I drain the lust of men to fill the quicksilver pool.

The only difference is that in Trixie’s case, she can fill an even larger magical reservoir than an uninhibited werewolf, which is saying something. Saffron once told me that her daughter is a force of supernatural energy, which shouldn’t be surprising with her as a mother.

Rather than raise the girl, however, Saffron left Trixie in the care of two loving parents.

For twenty-five years, we have watched over Trixie from afar. Candice and Saffron obscured her existence with countless spells, cloaking her power from the world. From the world—but not from Felix, apparently.

He bided his time, almost as if he had been looking for her specifically.

When Felix got a hold of Saffron’s daughter, he drained her supernatural energy almost completely. She was near empty when we drove him off with a powerful hex. Trixie worked at The Vault for one year before he introduced himself. After that, he had her all to himself.

Trixie believed that she was in love at the time, but has since moved on, which wasn’t easy. The heartbreak she felt about Felix
suddenly
leaving was devastating to her for a long time.

We don’t actually know if the power Felix stole from Saffron’s daughter will replenish itself or not, but we’re always watching, either Kumi or one of the coven members. Near as I can tell, Saffron is navigating uncharted waters where her daughter is concerned these days.

As for right now, I don’t know how much Trent knows about Trixie these days, but I’m certainly not going to tell him anything.

“There’s nothing to share,” I tell him. “People aren’t resources to be used up and cast aside. They have value beyond your selfish needs.”

Felix stops before walking through the doorway. He turns halfway and looks back at me with a single raised eyebrow and a surprised look on his face.

“You believe that, don’t you? It makes me wonder how much you know about Saffron’s daughter. Perhaps, even after all these years, the Crone is still vetting you. She’s always been slow to trust, especially where her experiments are concerned.”

Felix doesn’t wait for an answer to his question; he simply turns around and makes his way easily up the narrow staircase.

Felix and Trent march me up the stairs and through a false wall. The hallways change after that. Stone is replaced with riveted beams of metal, like an old military base, with row after row of doors on either side. A labyrinth of hallways.

We don’t get far before Felix places his hand on a scanner, or his eye to a camera, or speaks into a microphone. Every door opens. I’m waiting for him to use the iron key around his neck, but he never does.

I should be worried for my life, but I can’t help but wonder how tedious this must be for anybody who comes down here regularly. I’m fascinated by the level of security. It’s still quite warm on this level, but much more tolerable than it was in the stone hallway below.

Not only that, but the further we travel, the more modern the place becomes. It feels like we’re walking through history, centuries of it. Styles change, construction techniques, but not the security. That stays the same no whatever where we end up.

It’s like this place is constantly being updated with the most current technology. Keeping whatever lies behind these doors securely locked away. It’s almost impressive enough to make me forget about my predicament.

For Felix and Trent, however, none of this appears remarkable. They’ve seen it all before. Felix must be navigating the hallways by memory, but I can’t remember how many times we’ve changed directions now.

I am pretty certain this is The Vault, where Trixie used to work. There are branches all over the world, but she never left town during the two years she was employed by them—or, more specifically, by Felix.

I use the silence to repeat the numbers I read on that slab entranceway in my head. I may be lost, but I don’t want to forget that sequence. I’m sure they’re significant.

Felix really didn’t want me to see anything down in that hallway. He also wanted it to seem like he didn’t cared one way or the other. For that matter, he revealed a bit more to me, whether he intended to or not.

Firstly, he and Saffron have known each other for a long time. Longer than Saffron ever told me. That could mean anything. They could be enemies or friends or something even more intimate. Everybody is entitled to their secrets.

It’s not like Saffron lied to me about her connection to Felix. The subject simply never came up. Still, if the whole point is to protect Trixie from Felix, then I would think every little piece of information might be useful.

Secondly, Felix also said that Trixie is a part of some grand experiment engineered by Saffron. That could either be a lie or true. I suspect the former, an attempt by Felix to make me distrust Saffron at the very most or question her motives at the very least.

Regardless, he didn’t elaborate. He simply gave me just enough information to whet my curiosity. I won’t tug on obvious bait, but I would like to know more. Even if it’s just his side of the story.

It would be so much easier to read Felix if I had access to my spells, like Discern What is True. I reach out for the quicksilver pool to see if I have access again. No. Still cut off. I repeat the sequence of numbers to myself one time and then break the silence.

“So am I to be your guest, then? Locked in one of these rooms, perhaps?”

Felix looks back at me as we keep walking. “Not these rooms, no.”

“So what are these room for if not to seal away troublesome problems?”

“Incorrect, Jess—they can be used to lock away problems, but each of these vaults is already owned by a client. Some of these rooms will never be opened again, a contract in perpetuity. Those rooms are more about containment than storage.”

“And the stone rooms down below?”

Felix places his hand on a security scanner.

A computer voice chirps back at him, “Felix Eichmann. Recognized.”

“You already know more about those rooms than you should,” he answers, before pointedly looking back at Trent. “If the rules I outlined about teleportation circles were followed, then it wouldn’t be an issue right now,” he says before walking through the next door that opens.

I can actually feel Trent bristle behind me. “I didn’t have a choice,” he says. “I was impaled on a post and Jess was in the circle. They were going to kill me. I had to trigger the rune.”

Felix stops in his tracks. Trent and I do the same. The warlock takes a deep breath, and for one terrifying moment, I can actually feel anger radiating off him in waves.

“That’s the problem with werewolves, Jess. Their survival instinct kicks in. It guides them more than reason.”

Felix is talking to me, but not really. He turns around and looks past me and over my head.

“You
always
have a choice.”

The look he delivers to Trent is withering. The meaning is clear. He expected Trent to die rather than reveal his secret enclave to the likes of me. People really are expendable to Felix. A means to an end, nothing more.

Then, almost comically, he relaxes and returns to his lighthearted demeanor. Felix shrugs his slight shoulders and looks at me with a smile.

“Really, I only have myself to blame. I knew what I was getting into when I hired Trent and his ilk.”

Felix turns around starts walking ahead again. I hesitate to follow, but then Trent nudges me from behind, albeit gently.

I continue walking without any more prompting. Felix keeps talking when he hears us catching up behind him.

“If nothing else, Trent’s
mistake
will give us a chance to get acquainted. For a while, at least.”

“Just a while?” I ask casually. “Until I become a liability?”

I throw the question away, trying to hide what I’m really feeling, how much that possibility actually scares me. I’m helpless in this situation, but now is not the time for emotion. I have to be interesting instead. Sharp and witty.

If I can’t offer good company, then why else keep me around?

“Oh, you’re already a liability,” Felix says. “We crossed that road when I found you bouncing up and down on Trent’s lap.”

“So why keep… what did you call me? A weapon of lust? Why keep me around if I have the ability to distract your lead werewolf general? Unless you have something more salacious in mind?”

Felix chuckles, almost to himself.

“It may surprise you that when it comes to matter of the flesh, I have a
type
, Ms. Aberdeen. You are not it. When it comes to matters of spirit, however, you are a wellspring. I can see why Saffron recruited you. Take that as a compliment if you like, but it would be premature to do so. You see, the fact that I admire your spirit is unfortunate.”

Felix turns his head a little to address me over his shoulder. His golden eyes flash.

“Because now I want to see how far it bends.”

He’s testing me, my courage, trying to intimidate. I’m still drawing breath, but at his sufferance. That can change on a whim. He wants me to know that I should be afraid.

I already know that Felix is much stronger than he looks, especially after moving that stone slab by himself.

Make no mistake, I am afraid of him, but it’s important to hide that feeling, so I look for another thread in the conversation. Anything to preoccupy my thoughts.

Maybe he’ll talk about Saffron with a little prompting. Were they a couple? Are they related? How do they know each other? I’m curious, but don’t want to be blunt about it.

“If you’re anywhere close to Saffron in age, then I’m surprised you haven’t figured out one very basic fact about people. They don’t have
types
, not really.”

“Oh? And how did you arrive at the conclusion?” he asks with genuine curiosity. Felix directs his question to me at yet another a voice analyzer at yet another security checkpoint.

“Felix Eichmann. Recognized,” the computer responds. I wait for the digital voice to stop talking before answering.

“First of all, it’s easy to confuse
types
and
physical preferences
. When you’ve seduced the number of people I have, you realize that people are more attracted to
behavior
than
looks
. Once you figure out what kind of behavior a person likes, the rest is just performance.”

Felix actually considers that for a moment.

“So by your definition,
behavior
is what people really mean by
type
?”

“Yes, and with the right behavior, even looks and physical preferences can become irrelevant.”

“I never considered that, which is saying something for me. You may have just changed my mind on the subject. Still, is it wise to reveal the tricks of your trade to me? Especially with Trent listening? He might question the sincerity of your motives back in that room. He might figure out that you were actually playing him.”

Felix really wants to drive that point home.

“That you call them tricks is telling,” I say. “It makes me think that you’ve been tricked before. The truth is that seduction done right is not a trick. You can fake physical pleasure. Anybody with a nose can tell when they’re being shined on.”

“Any how can
anybody
know that?” Felix asks.

“A person either has an orgasm or not. There are always signs if you care to notice them. Now take a person with heightened senses—they can tell if you’re faking right away. Their nose tells them. For seduction to work on such a person, there has to be real chemistry. Emotion.”