Point of No Return (15 page)

Theo didn’t reply.

Danial sighed. “If you try to kill Dev, Lash
will kill you for sure. Lash’s older, he’s more skilled, and he’s
faster than you are. Don’t think because your status has changed to
second in these past years that you are even close to his
expertise. Remember the time he broke your neck—?”

“Danial, I can’t do this,” Theo whispered. “I
can’t be alone here all weekend, and think about her with you and
him. I can’t do that for the rest of my life—”

“How the hell do you think I feel right now?”
Danial shouted loudly. “Knowing she’s there with you, and dreamed
with you again, and most likely loves you more than before?”

“Stop it,” I said tearfully. “Please, stop
it.”

“I’m sorry for my outburst,” Danial said
instantly. “Please excuse me, Sweetheart. I didn’t meant to upset
you. If you wouldn’t mind, hang up for now. I’ve got some things to
talk over with Theo—”

“Say them,” I said, weary but resolute. “I
don’t want to be left out of the decision process.”

“Very well,” Danial answered. “Theo, I leave
you with this thought: it is better to have a little of something
you love dearly than not to have it at all.” He paused.

“What else?” Theo growled softly. “Say
it.”

“I have to inform you that I believe Devlin
took Tasha, and gave her to Lash, as he wanted to. He wouldn’t
admit it, but she was gone this morning from the barracks. There
was residue of demon teleportation.”

“It may have been Titus,” I whispered. “He
wanted to kill her.”

“Devlin’s decisions command Titus’s actions,
Sar,” Danial said carefully. “He gave the order. By now she is
either dead, or wishing she was.”

“Why would Lash want her?” I asked curiously.
“I didn’t understand that last night. He already has a...um,
girlfriend.”

No one answered me, something more
frightening than talk of rape and torture.

“I’ll call Devlin,” Theo said gruffly. “Most
likely, Lash found out who gave her the potion she used on me. I
want to make sure it was Samuel.”

“Fine, but don’t antagonize Devlin further,”
Danial warned. “He’ll kill you outright. It is only fear of
angering Sar that stays his hand.”

“I get it,” Theo said gruffly. “I’ll be
nice.”

“Sar, I talked to Elle, told her Theo is back
with you. Though she’s upset you took him back, I think she’s
happier, because she thinks things will go back to normal now.”
Danial paused. “She was upset that Devlin and you are together. I
explained he had been a power to be reckoned with for many more
years than I, that he had done terrible things, and had more
respect from our peers than I did.” Danial paused. “I’m not
sure—”

“That’s not important! Does she understand
why I did what I did?” Theo asked loudly. “Did you tell her about
the love potion?”

“She understands it wasn’t your fault. She’s
angry at Tasha, not at you.”

“Tell her I’m staying with Sar,” Theo said,
his eyes on me. “Tell her we are staying married. Ask her if she’d
like to come here and spend this weekend with me.”

“I think that would be good for everyone,”
Danial said in approval. “Hold on, I’ll ask her.”

“What are you doing?” I asked him,
surprised.

Theo covered the receiver. “Danial’s right. I
need to accept this is how things are, at least for now. It will be
good for me, and for Elle. We should spend more time together
anyway, she won’t be a child much longer.”

“You know she’s already wearing lipstick?”
Danial said.

“What?” Theo roared. “She’s only nine at the
most!”

“Calm down,” I soothed, going over to him. At
once, the two phones began to give us feedback, being too close
together. “Damn it—”

“I’m going to let you go,” Danial said. “I’ve
got a client on hold. Theo, Elle said yes, so expect her tomorrow
morning sometime. Bring her back with you on Monday morning, if
that’s good for you.”

“Yes,” Theo said. “Bye.” He hung up, took a
deep breath, and then called Hayden.

Lash answered. “Dev’s not here, Sar. Try back
later.”

“It’s Theo, Lash.”

“What do you want, Jerk?” Lash hissed.

“I need to talk to Devlin,” Theo growled.
“Put me—”

Lash hung up on him without another word.
Theo roared in fury.

Irritated, I took the phone from him before
he threw it, and dialed Devlin’s cell. He answered on the first
ring. “What is it, Sar?”

“Danial said you took Tasha. I need to know
if you did, and if she’s dead.”

He was quiet for a moment, certainly thinking
of a way to answer and still make himself look good. “I’ll give you
to Lash, so he can tell you—”

“No,” I said firmly. “He can lie to me
easily. You promised to tell me the truth. Now answer me.”

“Yes, I took her,” Devlin admitted. “She
caused you a lot of misery. I also wanted to know exactly who gave
her the potion she used on Theo. It doesn’t matter if you hate me
for it, because you still—”

“What you did was probably best, Dev,” I
interrupted. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Theo pick up the
other phone quietly. “What did she say?”

“She said that a man cloaked in grey came to
her a week after Theo arrived. He told her what Theo was, though
she didn’t believe him. He gave her a number, and told her to call
when she found out the truth. A month later, she saw Theo change
into human form. She liked him on sight, but was young and shy. It
took her a few weeks to muster up her courage to ask him if he
wanted her. After a night with him, she knew she loved him. When
she told him, he said he said had to leave as soon as he was healed
enough, and it broke her heart. Who would have ever figured you for
a heartbreaker, Theo?”

Theo growled softly.

“I knew you have to be at least decent in
bed, or Sar wouldn’t have wanted you back—”

“Leave the taunts aside, Dev,” I said. “I
know all this from Theo. Who gave her the spell?”

“I’m telling the story.” Devlin cleared his
throat, and started again. “Tasha called the man, and told him what
had happened. He told her she needed to use a spell, that otherwise
Theo would leave, and if he left, he would be killed by the people
who had given him the injuries he’d arrived with.”

“Clever,” Theo said coldly. “She was naive
enough to believe anything he said, as he knew she would be. She
never questioned why he was willing to help her, or who he was, or
that he showed up just when she was in most need of his help.”

“She had another reason, too, Theo,” Devlin
said, his tone lilting. “As you found out later, she was to be
married soon, to a man of her father’s choosing. She hated him. She
knew if she took a lover, and her betrothed found out she wasn’t a
virgin, he wouldn’t want her.”

“Is that what she said happened, after I left
her?” Theo asked, embarrassed.

“She apparently told her fiancé, and he
refused to marry her. It took her father a year to find another
suitor for her, and by then, she had given up hope of you coming
back. She thought you had gone back to Sar, which you had.”

“We know all this,” I said loudly, very
annoyed. “Get to the point, Dev.”

“How did she get another potion to put in the
letter she wrote to me?” Theo asked, confused. “And why wait so
long to send it?”

“That is the crux,” Devlin said triumphantly.
“The same man who’d appeared so mysteriously before appeared again
this past November, saying there was one last chance. He gave her
another potion, showed her what needed to be done, and gave her
Danial’s contact info, so she could contact you, Theo.” He paused.
“This time, the man didn’t hide his appearance in a cloak.”

“What did she describe the man looking like?”
Theo asked.

“Old, thick white hair, short, hazel eyes,
crackly voice, dressed in expensive clothes with an air of power.
He used a cane with a dragon’s head, made of crystal. Sound like
anyone you know, Theo?”

Theo roared in fury, and crushed the phone in
his hands, shattering it. He scowled, tossed the remains in the
garbage, and stalked out of the room.

“Who was it?” I asked.

“By the description she gave, it had to be
Cyrus, Samuel’s magician,” Devlin said.

Theo picked up the bedroom phone. “Samuel’s
watchdog, Cyrus,” he growled. “I saw him at the gathering. He was
standing behind Samuel during the face-off, Sar. He’s the one who
told Samuel that you and Devlin spoke the truth, that you were
Oathed.”

I remembered the aged voice that had answered
Samuel’s repeated question. “What are we going to do, Dev? I don’t
want any more spells cast on Theo or me.”

“I have taken care of it, Sar,” Devlin said
smoothly. “I called Samuel an hour ago, told him I knew what had
happened, and that if you miscarried our child because of his
actions toward Theo, I’d consider it an act of war. He agreed to
leave Theo alone, and sends his best wishes for your good
health.”

“How did you manage that?” Theo said bluntly.
“You had to tell him we’re back together, and he must have been
pissed, to say the least.”

“He does not mind if you bed her, just if you
get her pregnant. You know me, Theo, just like he does. All I had
to say was I had asked you into our bed.”

God, had all those supplies in Devlin’s
bathroom been for men
and
women? I was afraid to ask. “Why
is he being so agreeable, after all his dictates to me on New
Year’s Eve?”

“Mostly because of his newly acquired woman,
Harriet,” Devlin answered. “She is like you, Sar. Samuel and
Perseus have given her a demon’s blood, and are waiting for her
blood to turn summer-like. As soon as it does, they are going to
start trying with her for their own dhamphir.”

Ugh
. “Wasn’t she with someone else?
The man who, um, outed her that night?”

“Probably,” Devlin replied. “But that doesn’t
matter; she is theirs now. She has Oathed to both of them, so you
can be assured of their commitment to her.”

“But she had no choice—”

“Better her than you, Sar,” Devlin said
sharply.

Put that way...Hell, yes
. “Thanks for
contacting him, and straightening this all out.”

“Thank you,” Theo echoed me.

“You are most welcome, Love,” Devlin purred.
“I want you to be calm, and it would not be good for our baby if
you were worried or anxious—”

Theo growled again into the phone.

“Cougar, stop making noise, or get off the
phone. I—”

“Devlin, I need to know. Is she dead?” I
interrupted. “Tasha?”

“Yes,” Devlin said bluntly. “After Lash
extracted all the information he could from her, I drained
her.”

I was repulsed, then told myself to grow up.
The only reason I felt any different about this versus what Theo
had done to Manir was because Tasha was a woman. Manir had likely
suffered much more than Tasha had.

“It’s better this way,” Devlin persisted.
“You don’t render your enemies harmless, you kill them, because
there is always a motive for revenge otherwise.”

“He’s right,” Theo said brokenly, wiping his
face.

He was crying for Tasha. Maybe some residue
of the spell on him was the culprit. Or maybe even magic love
couldn’t be erased completely.

“Oathed One?” Devlin said.

“I’m not angry, Dev,” I said tiredly. “I
killed Monica for less.”

“Go rest, Love,” Devlin replied tenderly.
“Take it easy. Don’t think about all the bad things that have
happened. You are well again. Theo can keep you entertained until
we meet again.”

“Thank you,” Theo said grudgingly. “Thank
Titus for me as well.”

“You are calmer, Theo,” Devlin said
thoughtfully. “Have you accepted how things are?”

“I hate it,” Theo said angrily. “But I’m not
suicidal. Lash won’t find me in his way tomorrow.”

“Good,” Devlin said in approval. “I need to
get back to business. Adieu.”

Later that night, I lie in bed next to Theo,
unable to sleep.

I didn’t know if I should hope to be pregnant
or not, and if yes, whose child to want more. Either way, I would
have a new set of problems.

The best thing was to get more information.
To do that, I’d have to bring my doctor into my confidence.

* * * *

The next morning, I called asking to speak to
Dr. Camlyn. Stephen came on the phone immediately.

“I’ve heard about what happened at the
Vampire Gathering, and also with Devlin,” he said sadly. “I’m sorry
that I didn’t recognize what was happening to you.” He paused. “You
have every right to sue, or if you settle on a figure, I can have
my lawyer—”

“As much as I’d love a windfall, you had no
way to know,” I interrupted. “I know you, Stephen. You’ve never
have put me in danger knowingly.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” he said, very
relieved. “I’d been told you’d booked an appointment yesterday. I’d
hoped it was a sign you weren’t holding me liable. When Devlin
called to announce that I’d be handling another dhamphir pregnancy
soon, I—”

“That’s what I made the appointment for. I
need to know if I’m pregnant.”

“There’s no hurry, especially given the
previous documented duration of insemination needed for a dhamphir
pregnancy. Don’t come in until you miss a period.”

I floundered, then said, “I can’t wait. I
have to know.”

“Sar, you’ve had a child successfully. Having
another will be easier, despite the nature of the pregnancy. Now
that we know what to expect with a dhamphir—”

“I may be pregnant with Theo’s child.”

“Devlin said you wouldn’t be unprotected with
anyone but him,” Stephen said, confused. “Did the condom
break?”

God, thank you for that lifesaver.
“Yes. Two did, the second at the critical moment. We tossed the
rest and started a new box. It must have been a defective
package.”

“You were on the pill for months,” he mused.
“You’ve only been off about a week. Was it only that time?”