Grim Rites (15 page)

I
didn’t pass out
, despite wishing I would. Pain bloomed in my head but the heat slowly subsided, leaving me exhausted and as weak as a kitten. Something wet and warm trickled from my nose and even the effort of lifting my hand seemed like too much.

Brushing my fingers against my face, they came away wet, the crimson stain surprising me. It wasn’t pleasant, but at least it meant I was alive.

“Amber…” Mia said, her voice hoarse and broken.

I jerked, surprise sending my heart into overdrive as I dropped my gaze to her face. She looked up at me, but her eyes were different; the spark that only existed within a living human was back and she blinked back tears that started to fill her eyes.

“You’re alive?” I said, more to myself than Mia.

She pushed up and lifted her hands to her chest and the blood soaked hole in her jumper.

“How?” she asked, pulling her jumper up to reveal her pink bra and the small pink scar that sat between her breasts. It looked newly healed and, in a way, it was. “I was dead…” she said, glancing back up at me with a mixture of fear and wonderment in her eyes. “What did you do?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t sure what I’d done. I’d felt Father Matthew’s life, dragged it out of him, but what had happened then … it wasn’t possible. People didn’t just come back from the dead, not without some serious magic drawing them back, and I certainly hadn’t used any spells….

“What’s the last thing you remember?” I asked, pushing up against the cold wall.

“I remember telling you we couldn’t let him go and then….” Mia dropped her head and stared down at her hands. “I let him feel everything,” she whispered.

“And then he stabbed you,” I said, finishing the sentence for her. Her death had been instantaneous; the angle and force the half-breed Father Matthew had forced the blade into her heart had been enough to stop it dead.

Mia glanced back over her shoulder at Father Matthew’s prone body pressed up against the doors.

“Did you do that?”

Nodding, I tried to focus on the pain radiating through my body. I felt like someone had hit me with a truck before reversing over me for good measure. Clearly, it was a side effect of bringing someone back from the dead.

The handle of the door rattled, causing us both to jump. If Father Matthew had friends, then we were in big trouble.

Mia cast a glance in my direction, naked fear in her eyes. “Please tell me that’s your back-up,” she said.

“I’m not the one who can read other people’s feelings. Whoever is outside that door … well, I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting them,” I said, cringing, as I forced my body to respond.

I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

Mia closed her eyes and her shoulders dropped suddenly as the tension left her body.

“They’re friendly,” she said with a wide smile before she pushed up onto her feet.

Watching her carefully, I studied the serenity that seemed to fill her face. What exactly had happened to her? She’d just died, and yet she was the calmest I’d ever seen her.

The door burst open, and Nic pressed his shoulder against it as he shoved Father Matthew’s body back out of the way.

His worried gaze searched the room, finally coming to rest on me. The intensity in his gaze sent a wave of heat flooding through my body and I fought the urge to squirm. What was it about him that turned me so badly upside down?

“Amber, what happened?” he asked, crossing the room, his strong arms wrapping around my shoulders as he helped me to sit up a little straighter.

“I could ask you the same thing. I thought you needed to head Jason off at the pass,” I said, gritting my teeth as my body protested over the movement.

“He did.” Jason’s voice sent the tension in my body ricocheting upward.

“He understands, Amber. You needed to get over here to help Mia…” Nic said, his eyes desperately trying to communicate with me, but my brain was mush, which made picking up on his signals almost impossible.

“You do know you’re an idiot?” Jason said, crossing to where Father Matthew lay.

“Yeah, because you’re…” Nic’s grip on my arm tightened in warning and I bit my tongue. Whatever was going on, apparently I needed to keep my mouth shut and just let it all play out.

“Rushing in here without proper back-up could have gotten you and your friend killed,” Jason said as he rolled Father Matthew’s body over.

“I didn’t exactly have a choice. I couldn’t wait for Jon to see sense and let me explain.”

“I guess that was my fault. I didn’t let him on my little discovery of your demon mark. He jumped to conclusions after the occurrences in your apartment.”

I didn’t speak; it seemed pointless, and I’d obviously lost all of my marbles during the fight with Father Matthew. Perhaps the blow to my head was worse than I’d first anticipated because there was no way Jason, a witch hunter, was standing in front of me, explaining away everything that had happened.

“Once I reassured him there was nothing to be concerned about, at least not yet anyway, he came to the conclusion that he was mistaken.”

My mouth dropped open. The thought of Jon admitting he was mistaken, well, it was too good to be true, and I simply couldn’t wrap my head around it.

“I think the appropriate response in this instance is to thank me…” Jason said, his smug smile causing my blood to boil.

He was toying with me—I could see it in his eyes. He wasn’t convinced by my innocence, but clearly he was going to give me the rope to hang myself. All I needed to do was stay one step ahead of him.

“Thanks,” I said, climbing to my feet.

“We’ll need to get you both down the station to ask you a few questions. We need a full statement of what happened here … and I’ll need to do an examination of your friend,” Jason said, his gaze levelling on Mia.

Her hand wrapped around mine and she didn’t need to tell me what she was feeling; I could feel it. Images jumbled in my brain, fear coating my tongue, thick enough that I would never be able to brush my teeth enough times to scrape it away.

Don’t trust him.
It didn’t come to me as words but more a collection of feelings that amounted to the same thing.

I shot a glance in Mia’s direction and she smiled at me. She really was different; it wasn’t just her demeanour that had changed, apparently. She now had the ability to communicate mind to mind.

“No problem,” I said with a wide smile.

If we were going to play games, then I needed to get on board with a plan. Without one, he would trip me up—I just needed to make one mistake and he would have me. At all costs, I needed to make sure that didn’t happen.

Victoria appeared in the doorway, her dark hair swinging around her shoulders as she stepped into the room. Her gaze probed mine and I kept my smile fixed in place.

“Good, you’re not dead,” she said, her bluntness expelling the tension rippling through my muscles as I burst out laughing.

“I’m glad you didn’t die either,” I said, when I finally caught my breath once more.

It was as close to happy relief that I wasn’t dead as I was ever going to get from her and, considering what she was capable of, I was willing to accept it for what it was.

“Can we make a pit stop for food before you drag me back down to Elite?” I asked, doing my best to look as harmless as possible.

Jason nodded and turned his back on us, his attention completely taken up by the body and the piles of ash on the floor.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said, as I looped my arm around Nic’s waist and let him take my weight.

He gave me a surprised look, but it was quickly replaced by a wide smile as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and dragged me closer.

“You’re freezing,” he said, pressing his lips against my hair.

“That’s what you get when you bring someone back from the dead,” I whispered, cuddling closer so I could steal some of his body heat.

Nic jerked and his muscles tightened for a second, his expression almost comical as I shook my head at him.

“Later,” I said, as we passed Jason.

Jason’s gaze bored into my back, his hatred and fear prickling along my spine as we stepped out into the hall.

I definitely needed a game plan if I was going to go toe to toe with someone like Jason and come out of it with my life.

But that could wait until I’d at least eaten and regained some of my own strength.

“
A
nd you’re
sure there was no one else in the church? No other demons?” Jason asked, his eyes searching mine.

I leaned back in my chair and threw my hands up in the air. The fact that Jason had allowed my statement to be taken in Jon’s office and not the interview room told me just how far he was willing to go to give the appearance of not having a problem with me.

“Well, I’m as positive as I can be. They were the only ones I saw and, well,” I said with a shrug and a smile, “the other two were pretty stupid; anyone with a brain in their head will tell you that mixing blood and circles of power is a dangerous combination.”

“But you have no idea why it became so dangerous?” Jason probed further and I sighed.

“Look, you and I both know it probably had something to do with the mark on my shoulder. But outside of that, I really have no idea….” I trailed off as the sound of screaming cut through the air.

“What now?” I said, turning in my chair to peer out through the half-closed blinds that covered the glass between us and the rest of the office.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Jason said, and he pushed onto his feet as a body hurtled past the window and slammed into the wall.

I hopped to my feet, my body still a little unsteady despite my devouring three burgers and two plates of fries with a large chocolate milkshake to wash it all down. Under normal circumstances, eating like that would have left me in a food coma, but it seemed raising people from the dead turned me into the human equivalent of a bottomless pit.

Jason was out the door before I could even turn around; shouting and the sound of glass breaking filled the air, making the office seem more like a war zone than a workplace.

Stepping out onto the main floor, I scanned the room and my gaze fell on her. Lily stood at the opposite end of the room, a broad smile on her face as she flicked her wrist and sent another Elite officer hurtling through a wall.

Jason paused and I felt his power flex; it called my magic to the surface, and I grabbed the doorframe in an attempt to hold onto the part of myself that was in control. The demon mark surged, stealing my breath as its own power roared through my body, crushing my power beneath its darkness as surely as I could crush a bug beneath my boot.

Lily’s smile faltered as Jason’s power slammed into her, her eyes widening before her magic flooded to the surface. Throwing her head back, she screamed an ear-piercing, soul-shattering cry of agony before she raised her hands over her head and dropped to her knees.

Her irises had disappeared, swallowed beneath the green glow of her power. She shuddered and convulsed, green sparks dancing through her dark hair and along her skin. I knew what it felt like, knew the power of having your magic dragged to the surface and exposed.

We were of the shadows and as such, our magic didn’t belong in the open. To have it so painfully exposed was excruciating.

“I’m not here to fight, I’m here to hand myself in,” she said, her voice hoarse with the echo of her power.

My heart came to a crashing halt. There had to be a mistake; it wasn’t possible that I’d heard her say what I thought she’d said….

“You submit to the power of the Saga Venatione, to the judgement that will ultimately be passed?” Jason said, pausing in front of her.

Lily nodded and dropped her head, her spine bowing as she dug her fingers into the floor. “I will not fight you, you do not need to do this,” she said painfully.

Jason’s power disappeared like someone switching off the lights. One moment it was there, determined to drag every ounce of magic out into the open, and the next it was gone.

I stumbled slightly, my knuckles turning white as I clung to the door. What was she doing? I’d thought her crazy, but not suicidal. It wasn’t possible that Lily would simply hand herself over without a plan in her mind first.

Jason moved around her. Drawing her hands behind her back, he slapped a pair of handcuffs over her wrists before dragging her back onto her feet.

“Let’s have a chat…” he said, pushing her ahead of him towards one of the warded interrogation rooms.

Lily held my gaze as she moved up the room. She passed me, and my stomach flipped as she winked in my direction. There was no doubting it—she was definitely up to something, and whatever it was, we would all pay the price for falling for her tricks.

Reaching out, I caught Jason’s arm, drawing him to a halt as he came level with me.

“She’s lying. She’s doing this for a reason. You can’t trust her,” I said.

Jason shook his head and smiled at me with a condescending look. “You let me worry about whether she’s telling the truth or not. Go home and get some rest—you’ll find your badge and gun at the front desk.”

“You’re reinstating me?” I asked.

“We know what happened with the shifters, and with that mark we can’t exactly cut you loose. Keeping you as a member of the Elite is the best way to keep an eye on you.”

Jason pulled away from me as he led Lily down towards the interview rooms.

My head spun, but this time it wasn’t from lack of food. Lily had the power to singlehandedly destroy me. The moment she decided she wanted to come clean to Jason about who I was, it would be the end.

P
oking
my head around the office door, I smiled at Graham as he set his belongings out on the desk and he gestured for me to step inside.

“I’m still not sure I believe they gave you Jon’s position,” I said as I dropped down into one of the leather chairs across from the desk.

“You can’t believe it? How do you think I feel?” Graham said, setting a gilt framed picture of Jessica on the desk next to his computer.

“Did they give you a reason as to why he was moved on?” I asked.

“Nope. The same one they told everyone here, but I would imagine it had something to do with the botched raid he did on your place when he went after Lily,” Graham answered as he sat into his seat behind the desk.

Glancing back over my shoulder, I stared out into the main office area at where Victoria’s empty desk sat. I had a feeling that Jon’s sudden massive screw up had something to do with her, but when I’d asked her she’d feigned innocence over the matter. I’d mistakenly been under the impression that the Fae couldn’t lie until I dug a little deeper into Changeling lore and found out
they
could lie just fine.

“Have you heard anything about Lily?” I asked, sitting forward in my chair to grab Graham’s name plaque from the desk. I twirled it around in my hands, my mind tripping back over the events that had led to Lily’s incarceration.

“Apparently she’s a model inmate: doesn’t ask for anything and stays out of everyone’s way….”

“You mean they don’t have her in isolation?” I said, the plaque slipping from my fingers toward the floor. I caught it before it hit the carpet, and under Graham’s long-suffering glare, I set it back in place.

“Why would they? As far as the Saga Venatione are concerned, they’ve got her. They don’t really see her as a threat,” Graham answered. “And from everything I’ve read, they’re right. Are you sure you need to be so concerned about all of this?”

Dropping my head back, I let out a long sigh. “I’m damn sure I need to be concerned. The fact that they’re not means she has them right where she wants them, and we both know that nothing good can come of that.”

Graham nodded as he steepled his fingers together. “Look, until she does something, there’s nothing much we can do.”

Frustration washed through me and I pushed onto my feet.

“Amber, I mean it. Until something happens, there’s no point in winding yourself up. The facility is secure; there’s not a whole lot she can do, and when she faces judgement, well, we both know what the outcome will be.”

He was right. The facility was secure, and maybe I was overreacting, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling in the pit of my stomach that we were just sitting around waiting for something to happen.

“I suppose so,” I said, making my way to the door. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any cases?” I said hopefully.

“Not until every last case report has been filed for the last three cases you’ve worked,” Graham answered with a grin as he leaned back in his leather chair. “You know, I really think I could get used to this.”

“What? Spoiling my fun?” I said, folding my arms across my chest.

“Well, there’s that, and there’s the pay rise.” He smirked at me before making a shooing motion. “I expect those files before end of day,” he said.

Glancing down at my watch, I groaned. “That’s in half an hour.”

“Then you better get cracking.”

Pushing away from the door, I stuck my tongue out at Graham with a fake petulant expression on my face. His laughter followed me out into the main office as I headed back to my desk and stared at Victoria’s empty seat.

Where the hell was she? Going A.W.O.L. simply wasn’t like her, and her absence was doing nothing to ease the tightness in my chest and the queasiness of my stomach.

Despite agreeing with Graham that I was probably overreacting, I couldn’t shake the bad feeling in my gut that seemed to be growing with every day that passed. Add to the mix a demon mark that was a heck of a lot stronger ever since it had eaten Father Matthew’s demonic essence, and a budding relationship with Nic that seemed to be growing more complicated by the day, and I was left with one major ball of anxiety.

Of course, the Nic thing wasn’t that complicated, especially as he’d asked me out on a date and I’d accepted. Whatever happened, happened, and I wasn’t going to fight against it anymore. If the last couple of months had taught me anything, it was that was life was way too short to not do the things that felt right. And kissing Nic felt right … more than right.

All I needed to do was make sure my half-sister didn’t expose me and Nic’s brother didn’t burn me at the stake.

Why in Hell was I worried?

It would be a piece of cake.