Jocelynn Drake - [Asylum Tales 02] (10 page)

“What’s the news?” My voice was rough as I struggled to push aside my growing panic.

“Rowena, I’m hoping that this break has given you the time to think about your situation,” Eldon began. I flinched at hearing Trixie’s real name, brutally reminded of the long life she had lived with her people before she had been forced to run to protect her freedom. “Come back to your people, where you belong.”

“No! She’s not returning so she can be a plaything for a selfish asshole!” I shouted.

“Selfish? The king is trying to protect our people by selflessly putting aside his desires so that he can ensure the continuation of our people.”

“Bullshit! He’s a pompous prick—”

I never saw Eldon’s fist, he moved so quickly. Pain exploded across my jaw, snapping my head around and knocking me off balance. I recovered quickly, swinging two fists at him. He dodged both, but the kick to the stomach caught him by surprise. I slammed my fist into his chin, knocking him to the ground.

The elf rolled back to his feet and started to charge when Trixie jumped between us.

“Enough! You’re acting like a pair of idiots.”

I stepped back, breathing heavily, my eyes locked on Eldon. If he touched Trixie, I was going to be all over him again. Trixie’s brother didn’t appear to be winded at all, but at least he was rubbing his jaw.

“You’re not the only one being hurt by your decision, Rowena,” Eldon said in a low voice. “What remains of your family is hurting. My daughter is hurting. Come back, and you can start to make it right for everyone.”

Pain slashed across Trixie’s face at his words and I growled, ready to jump over Trixie to get at him. “You know I never meant to hurt you or our family. But what he wants, what he’s doing, is wrong. Let me fix this, my way.”

Eldon took a stiff step backward, his face becoming a blank slate. I didn’t know what the elf thought. He was ready to hand his sister over to the king to be used as some kind of brood mare. Yes, I could understand trying to protect your people, but what about the happiness of your own flesh and blood?

“Do you have any news or are you here to harass Trixie?” I demanded, breaking the thickening silence.

Eldon glared at me for a second before he spoke. “The queen has agreed to meet with you. Tomorrow at noon at Mirror Lake.”

“Anything else?” I said when he started to walk away.

“Don’t be late.”

Trixie reached out, catching his shirt with two fingers, halting him when he would have turned his back on us. “Eldon.”

His shoulders slumped and he shook his head before looking at his sister. I wasn’t sure who was older. They both could have passed for midtwenties, even though I knew that Trixie was more than six hundred. They both had green eyes and blond hair, but Eldon’s features seemed hard and cold to me, where Trixie was soft.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” he said, breaking the silence. “After the king’s betrayal, I was lucky she didn’t have me killed for seeking an audience with her.”

Trixie gasped beside me, her fingers fisting around his shirt. I frowned. This wasn’t a good sign. “Do you think she’ll try to execute Trixie when we show up?”

“Possibly. But I think she’s more interested in you.”

“Then I take it she knows what I was?”

Eldon smiled at me; a cold, evil thing that made my skin crawl. “
Was?
You don’t ever stop being one of them no matter what you do. And, yes, she knows what you are.”

“Thank you, Eldon,” Trixie interjected, trying to defuse some of the tension. I kept my mouth shut rather than adding to it. There wasn’t much I could say. Witches and warlocks had brought the elves close to extinction during the Great War; not exactly something that is easily forgiven or ever forgotten. I may not have been the one killing elves, but I was counted as one of that race and that was condemning enough.

“You know you could avoid this need to meet with the queen,” Eldon said, looking over at his sister.

“I’m not going to him. There has to be another way.”

“I don’t see it if there is.” He started walking into the woods, his shirt pulling out of Trixie’s grasp.

“How’s my niece?” Trixie called in a voice that slightly wavered.

Eldon didn’t look back as he continued to walk away. “Waiting to meet her aunt.”

Trixie laid her head against my shoulder and sighed. She was in a shitty position. Leaving the Summer Court had made her an outcast among her people. She’d never seen her only niece and she’d been at odds with her brother for centuries. Adding to her problems was that she’d chosen to align herself with a warlock—the most hated of creatures in this world. Even if she did win her freedom from the king, it was highly unlikely her people were ever going to welcome her back. Certainly not with me hanging on her arm.

I squeezed Trixie’s waist, pressing her tightly against me. “We’ll figure this out,” I whispered against her hair. Trixie looked up at me and nodded, but there was no accompanying smile. I had a sick feeling that her thoughts were traveling in the same direction as mine, which didn’t bode well for our relationship. I couldn’t blame her. Bronx and I were family and friends as much as we could be, but blood ran so much deeper.

Well, at least that was true for everyone but witches and warlocks. We didn’t give a shit about each other beyond how we could use one another. But there was a comfort in having something in common with another people. Whether I wanted to admit to that comfort was another matter altogether when it came to the Ivory Towers.

“Let’s get going,” I said, releasing her so we could walk between the trees to the car.

I followed her through the thin strip of woods toward the car, both of us silent as we remained lost in our own thoughts. I wanted to think of something brilliant that would fix all of this, but the wheels in my brain kept slipping. The stress of dealing with Reave, trying to think of a way to free Bronx, protect my brother, and extricate Trixie from her problems with the king of the Summer Court had left me with a brain that felt like mush.

As the car came into view, Trixie slowed her step as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. She had put it on vibrate after we left the car and started walking toward George’s house.

“Hey, Bronx,” Trixie greeted when she answered the call. “Everything okay at the shop?” Her voice sounded weary to me, but there was a little relief in it, as if the promise of moving her thoughts to Bronx and the shop seemed to lighten the load on her mind.

I pulled my keys out of my pocket and clicked the remote to unlock the doors, only half listening to Trixie’s side of the conversation. I wasn’t expecting much to happen at Asylum. I had put in my usual shift and I had pulled Trixie out only a few hours early. Bronx was supposed to have a light load for the rest of the night and he was accustomed to working alone.

“We’re getting to the car now and heading back toward you. You need us at the shop?” I stopped beside Trixie as she paused in the act of reaching for the door handle, a frown pulling at her lips as her eyes jumped to my face. “He’s right here with me. I’ll tell him. Thanks.”

“What’s up?” I asked as she ended the call.

“Not sure. He said to turn on the radio immediately and call him if you needed anything.”

I stared at Trixie for a second, my face twisting in confusion. “Is everything okay at the shop?”

“I guess so. He didn’t say.”

I started walking around my SUV to the driver’s side. “Did he sound like he’d been drinking?”

“Oh, come on! You know better.”

I shrugged before pulling open my door. “Yeah, but Bronx isn’t usually this cryptic.”

I let it drop as we settled into the car. Slipping the key into the ignition, I only turned it enough to get the radio on. I had a sick feeling that I didn’t want to be driving yet.

“What channel?” I asked, reaching for the tuner. I think Trixie was going to tell me that Bronx didn’t say. She opened her mouth, but the words never came out, as they were stopped in her throat by the announcement coming across the radio. Bronx hadn’t needed to give a station—the news hitting the airwaves was on all stations.

. . . skies are filled with smoke and the flames can be seen for several miles away from where the city had been. As far as we know, there was no warning that this strike was coming and no explanation has been released since the strike. The president has sent both the National Guard and members from all branches of the armed forces to do rescue and reconnaissance. While there are no official news reports coming out of the city, it is believed that every living creature within the confines of the Interstate 465 loop has been destroyed by members of the Ivory Towers. Our prayers and thoughts go out to everyone who had family living within the confines of Indianapolis.

9

OH, SHIT! THEY KNOW
.

The words kept ringing through my head while the radio announcer’s voice became a dull buzz in the background. My hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles ached and turned white. Muscles were rigid throughout my whole body while air was pulled into my lungs in sharp, harsh gasps. All those people . . . dead. Thousands gone in a flash of fire and destruction that I was sure had completely leveled the city and surrounding area.

The witches and the warlocks had struck, and I knew it had to be because they suspected that someone knew the Tower locations. I don’t know how they found out, but Low Town was no longer safe. Gideon’s warning that the situation was bad in the Towers only made this tragedy worse. They were going to be quicker to act, quicker to strike out to protect themselves as their panic increased.

I looked over at Trixie as she sat silently beside me, staring straight ahead. One trembling hand was pressed to her parted lips while tears traced down her pale cheeks. She looked over at me, horror filling her wide eyes.

“Why?” she whispered, her voice shattered. “Why would they do such a thing? We’ve done nothing to antagonize them.”

“I . . . I’m not sure,” I replied. I had a guess, but I couldn’t be sure. I needed to talk to Gideon. And I needed to beat the shit out of Reave.

Reaching for the key in the ignition, I hesitated. Where was I going to take her? If this was about the Tower locations, Low Town wasn’t safe any longer. Hell, I was surprised they hadn’t attacked the city already because of their animosity toward me.

Sadly, the first safe place I could think of was the Summer Court. The Towers weren’t going after the elves and they stayed out of the cities for the most part. But I couldn’t bring myself to make the suggestion. Even if I could convince Trixie to go, she’d be alive but miserable as the consort to the king. That wasn’t a life.

Sending Trixie off to the Summer Court might save her life, but what about Bronx and Sofie and the thousands of other people that called Low Town home? What about my parents? The only way to save Trixie and everyone else in Low Town was to stop the Ivory Towers from striking here. I didn’t have a clue how to do that without risking the life of my brother as well.

Taking a deep breath, I grasped the key and turned it, starting the engine. I wasn’t going to solve anything sitting in the car, staring blankly through the windshield. The first thing I needed to do was talk to Gideon and find out if this had to do with the information that Reave possessed. If I was lucky, it didn’t, but I wasn’t a lucky kind of guy.

As I pulled away from the curb, I hit the radio knob, silencing the announcer. He was repeating the same horrific information over and over again, adding to the sickening feeling in my stomach. It would be a couple more hours before they could provide details about the damage in Indianapolis. I had no doubt that everyone was dead. The witches and warlocks were thorough when they decided to kill.

“Gage.” Trixie’s soft voice shook me from my dark thoughts. “Is this the beginning of something new? The start of another war with the Ivory Towers? Because I don’t think I can go through another Great War.”

Her words cut through my heart, leaving me feeling wounded and bleeding. I had never thought about it. She was over six hundred years old. She had lived through the Great War the warlocks and the witches had waged against the world for dominance, while I had only read about it in books—most written by the Towers. Millions had been slaughtered, leaving at least two races extinct and many others on the cusp of extinction. The elves had come close. At the time of the war, Trixie had been on the run. Every day must have been a torture, never knowing if the people she loved had been killed.

I reached across and grabbed her hand in mine, tightly squeezing it. Her fingers were cold against my palm as the horror filled her. “I will do everything within my powers to stop it from reaching that point. This world can’t survive another Great War.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her lift her head and look at me. “If you did know what was happening in the Towers, would you tell me?”

I flinched and I knew she felt it because I was holding her hand. She captured my hand as I tried to withdraw it, holding it with both of hers. “I honestly don’t know,” I said. “I’ve got a couple ideas as to what’s going on, but I don’t know anything definite.”

“But you still won’t say.”

“I think it’s better if I don’t.”

“Because you don’t trust me?”

I jerked my hand free while struggling to keep the car on the road. “What the fuck? How could you even ask that?” I exploded. Growling, I found an open spot on the side of the road and pulled over before I got us both killed with my distracted driving. I threw the car in park, tore off my seat belt, and twisted to face her. There was fear, pain, and a lot of uncertainty in her wide eyes, causing my anger to disappear.

Slowly, I reached up and cupped her cheeks, wiping away her tears with my thumbs. “I love you, Trixie. I have loved you for so long that I can’t remember a time when I didn’t. I love your smile, sarcasm, and that brilliant mind of yours. I love how you mother Bronx and Sofie like they’re a pair of lost children. I love how you laugh and I love every time you tear into me because I’m a fucking idiot. For almost two years, the worst days of the week were Sunday and Monday because I knew I wouldn’t see you. And every day since I told you about my past I wake up in a panic, terrified that you’re going to come to your senses and hate me because of what the Towers did to your people.” I paused and licked my lips, my heart pounding in my chest. I hadn’t planned to tell her any of this now. I didn’t know if I ever planned to tell her. I could be pushing her further from me, but it didn’t matter. With the world teetering on the brink, she had to know.

“There is no one in this world that I trust more than you,” I whispered. “I wish I could tell you everything, but I can’t. It’s not a matter of trust. It’s because I’m a coward. I’m afraid if you know everything, then you’ll leave. I’m afraid that you could be hurt because of what I tell you. Short of pulling out my wand and killing anything that comes near you, keeping my mouth shut is the only way I know to protect you. I’m sorry.”

The pain had eased from her eyes as I spoke but she still looked sad. She reached up and laid her palm against my cheek. I could feel her wipe away something wet, but I refused to think she had made me cry as well as admit that I was a coward. The League of Men was going to come confiscate my balls at this rate. But it didn’t matter. Trixie was worth it.

“Oh, Gage, how could any woman hate you?” Trixie asked in a broken voice.

“Talk to Sofie or Bronx. I’m sure they could provide examples,” I joked but I couldn’t hold the smile on my lips. It wasn’t exactly the response that I was hoping for, but at least she wasn’t getting out of the car and walking out of my life.

I dropped my hands from her face and started to turn back in my seat to face front when Trixie tightened her hold on my cheek. She pulled me closer while she leaned across the remaining distance. She kissed me hard and I hesitated only a heartbeat before I kissed her back, getting lost in her soft lips, the warmth of her mouth. She broke off the kiss before I could pull her into my lap.

“First, I’m not happy with you but I understand your reasoning for keeping secrets,” she said in a hard voice. “Second, you’re not a coward. I’ve never known anyone braver than you. And third, I will never hate you because you’re a warlock. You weren’t one of the bastards hunting down my people. You chose to leave rather than be like them.”

I smiled at her, some of the tension easing from my chest. “There doesn’t happen to be a fourth thing you want to tell me?”

Trixie frowned and I pulled away from her, struggling to keep the teasing smile on my face. Yeah, I was definitely pushing my luck. It was enough that she wasn’t leaving. It was enough that she didn’t hate me.

I was reaching for the shifter when Trixie’s laughter rang through the SUV, jerking my gaze back to her face. “For fuck’s sake, Gage,” she said between giggles. “I feel like I’ve been throwing myself at you for almost two years. How could you not know that I love you?”

Releasing the shifter, I grabbed Trixie with both hands and pulled her into my lap. It was cramped and uncomfortable, but her mouth on mine made me forget about everything else. She wrapped her arms around my neck while I pressed her as close to me as I could. The world was burning around us, but I had Trixie in my arms and I would keep her safe even if it meant taking apart each Tower with my bare hands.

Trixie pulled away, her breathing heavy, but a smile was on her beautiful face. “How can you be so smart and so stupid at the same time?”

“I lose ten IQ points anytime we’re in the same room.”

Trixie arched one thin eyebrow at me. “That’s all?”

“Well, twenty points when you’re wearing leather.”

She chuckled again as she nuzzled her cheek against mine. “I love you, Gage. Don’t ever question that.”

I squeezed her, some of the tension easing from my chest. I didn’t know what this meant for us. I had never uttered those words before and I had never received them in return. For now, it meant nothing more than that someone was going to stick beside me through the mess that I was faced with, and I was grateful for it.

Trixie leaned back so she could look at me. “What are we going to do about the Towers?”

I jerked back as if she had hit me. The anxiety that had so nicely flowed away rushed back, squeezing my heart with fear. “
We
aren’t going to do anything. It’s the Towers, Trix. What could we or even I do about the Towers?”

She frowned. “You’re telling me that you’re going to huddle in Asylum and pray that it blows over? I don’t believe that for a second.”

I wanted to shake her. She knew me too damn well despite my tendency to keep secrets. “We aren’t doing anything. I am going to try to contact a couple of people and see if I can get a little inside information. Besides, I think we’ve currently got our hands full with our meeting with the queen tomorrow.”

Her expression crumpled as she was reminded of her own plight, which didn’t look much better than my own when it came to the Towers. We were in a world of hurt and we needed to start digging our way out of it if we were going to not only survive, but also have something that resembled a normal life again.

“What are we going to do?” she murmured, resting her head on my shoulder.

I gave her a hard squeeze. “We’re going to take this one day at a time, one problem at a time. I’ll try to get some information about tonight’s attack and then we’re going to get some rest ahead of tomorrow’s meeting. I have a feeling I’m going to need to be sharp for this little parley with the queen.”

Trixie snorted softly before pressing a kiss to my cheek. “And then some.” She slid across my lap and sat in the passenger seat. I immediately missed the feel of her against me, her warmth and wonderful weight, but I kept my mouth shut and tried to focus on what she was saying.

“You have to be very careful with the queen, Gage. She’s . . . tricky, and I imagine that after everything that has happened, she’s probably more than a little bitter. I’m not sure that she’s going to want any help that you have to offer. The truth is, I’m not even sure as to why she agreed to this meeting.”

I shook my head as I reached for the shifter on the steering column. “Doesn’t matter. We’ll meet and figure out the next step from there.” I threw the SUV into drive again and pulled back out into traffic. The ride back to the shop was silent. We didn’t bother to turn the radio on again, though I was sure that we would be flipping on the news when we were back at our respective apartments. Neither of us seemed ready to be bombarded by the reality that thousands of people had been slaughtered in the blink of an eye and Low Town could be next on the hit list if the witches and the warlocks decided to strike again.

Of course, we weren’t the only ones stunned by the destruction of Indianapolis, as the roads were mostly empty on the ride to Asylum. It was as if all the inhabitants of Low Town had scurried into their homes to protect themselves from the dark gaze of the Towers.

When we reached the parlor, Bronx was sitting at the glass counter while Sofie was stretched out along the top. He had a news radio station turned on rather than his usual MP3 music. The lines on his face seemed to ease when we walked through the front door. He rose as Trixie rushed across the lobby and around the case so that she could embrace him in a fierce hug.

I gave him a stiff smile while I placed the brown bag containing the Asian Moon Lily flower on the case. My hand drifted over Sofie’s head, trying to reassure her that everything was okay. It didn’t feel that way, but for a moment we all needed the reassurance, whether it was the truth or not.

“Do you have any more appointments tonight?” I asked when Trixie released the troll.

Bronx returned to the stool he had been sitting on. “I’ve got two more that haven’t canceled.”

“Why don’t you call them and reschedule? I don’t think they’re going to come in tonight and I’m sure you’d feel better if they were already on the calendar for another time.”

“Closing early?”

“No one is out right now. They’re all home, glued to the news. We could keep the place open until dawn and we wouldn’t see anyone. We’ll call it a day and start fresh tomorrow. I have a feeling people are going to be looking for a little extra protection after this.”

“Is there anything we can do for them?” Trixie asked. She stood behind the case opposite me and stroked Sofie’s fur.

I stared down at the case, my eyes drifting over the random books filled with old pictures of tattoos as a sense of helplessness settled into my bones. “No, not really. We have to keep people calm and help them where we can.” There was no good defense a tattoo artist could offer against the Towers. But then, neither could the president and he had the various armies and warheads at his disposal.

Pushing that dark thought aside, I looked up at the troll again. “Bronx, would you stay with Trixie tonight?”