Protector (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 5) (25 page)

Apparently there had been some talk about the other McAllister elders coming down with them, but then the Wilcoxes would have had to send envoys as well. It also sounded as if Marie had wanted to put in her two cents regarding the situation, although since she hadn’t really been that much help in locating Roslyn and Danica, Alex didn’t much see the point of Marie being present. In the end, though, it had been decided that the three clan leaders — Angela and Connor and Luz — would handle the situation. Just as well, Alex reflected, since the living room was already crowded enough, what with Caitlin’s parents and his own father being there, too.

Danica’s parents had come down with the rest of the contingent, but had collected their daughter and continued on to Tucson so they could retrieve whatever of her things were still left at the condo, along with the Land Rover that had been parked there since the girls first arrived in Tucson. They’d looked shaken when they saw their daughter’s condition firsthand, but they hadn’t wanted to stay to see punishment meted out.

“It’s better if I don’t see those bastards in person,” Joseph Wilcox had growled. “Because otherwise I’d be tempted to wring their necks.”

Now, Connor shook his head. “I don’t think any of us signed up for this,” he told Angela. “Problem is, we have to deal with it, one way or another.”

“I know.” She looked past him to Luz. “I don’t suppose you have any advice?”

“None beyond what I’ve already given you.” Dressed in a black sheath dress, her hair in a low bun on the back of her neck, Alex’s mother looked more composed than she had the day before, but still tired. He hoped that after Matías and his cronies were taken care of, she might finally have the time to grieve for her mother.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Angela said. She fidgeted with the pendant she wore, a pretty thing of turquoise and what looked like smoky quartz. Unlike Luz, she was wearing jeans, but with a simple wrap top and boots. Too heavy for Phoenix weather, really, but they’d come straight down from Flagstaff.

A knock came at the door. “I’ll get it,” Alex said. It made sense. He was closest. And anyway, he was curious to see how the three warlocks had fared while being watched over by Miguel and Jack.

When he opened the door, he noticed at once that, besides the two men he’d been expecting, his cousin Oscar stood outside as well. Oscar de la Paz was a detective with the Tucson P.D., and Alex didn’t have to think too hard about why his other cousins would have enlisted Oscar’s help.

As for the three captured warlocks, well, they weren’t looking all that good. Tomas and Jorge seemed to have shrunk in height, and still seemed to be unable to meet anyone’s eyes directly. Matías did stare angrily at Alex, but the effect was marred by the two black eyes he was currently sporting. Whether they were a result of smacking into Zoe’s car, or whether one or more of his captors had decided he needed a little roughing-up, Alex didn’t know for sure. Either way, Matías wasn’t in any condition to be attracting any more unsuspecting females.

“They’re waiting for you,” Alex told his cousins, and they marched the three young men into the living room, then stopped with them in the middle of the space.

He wasn’t psychic or empathic, but Alex could still feel the wave of fury that radiated from the watching witches and warlocks as they looked upon the trio who had caused so much havoc. Angela had still been holding hands with Connor, but in that moment she let go and turned toward the three captives. Her green eyes blazed pure emerald, and her pretty mouth pulled into a flat line.

“Tomas Aguirre, Jorge Aguirre…Matías Escobar…your crimes have put you beyond the pale. No witch or wizard has dared to lift a hand against their own for generations.”

Well, except maybe Connor’s dear departed brother,
Alex thought with some irony.
Although in that case, he never intended to hurt Angela, only make her his own. Even he wouldn’t have stooped to the sort of foul magic Matías was using.

She hesitated, and looked up at Connor. Looking very grim himself, he said, “And because you have committed crimes that haven’t been seen for generations, we thought it only fitting that you should suffer a punishment that hasn’t been handed down for generations.”

Jorge and Tomas maintained their hangdog looks, but Matías glared at the
prima
and
primus
out of his bruised eyes, his mouth curling in a sneer.

“You can’t do anything to us.”

Luz spoke up then. “Actually, they can. I’m surprised word didn’t get around about what can happen when you go up against a
prima
and
primus
working together.”

For the first time, Matías appeared frightened, a muscle twitching in his cheek as he fought to maintain his current defiant stance. His two companions only exchanged puzzled glances. Obviously, they didn’t have a clue as to what Alex’s mother was talking about.

Angela said, her voice soft but her tone cutting, “You see, we all agreed that you should be punished for what you’ve done, but a civilian prison isn’t much good when it comes to keeping someone with witch blood locked up. However, if your powers were taken from you….”

Matías shook his head. “You can’t do that.” The words were defiant, but Alex couldn’t help detecting a note of worry in them.

“Oh, I think we can.” She looked past Matías to Jack Sandoval. “Detective, why don’t you let them know what they’re facing?”

“Up to ten years each for kidnapping, but that’s moot, since they’re all on the hook for first-degree murder. Life, or the death penalty. I think I know what the judge is going to go for, once the particulars of Roslyn McAllister’s murder come out.” Jack didn’t seem to take any pleasure in saying this. Maybe it was because of Tricia McAllister’s white, stricken face. Roslyn hadn’t been just a distant cousin, but her niece.

“I didn’t kill no one — ” Tomas began, and Jack overrode him, saying,

“Doesn’t matter. You were an accessory to first-degree murder — a murder that followed a kidnapping, which means special circumstances. You’re equally on the hook.”

Looking pale, the warlock subsided, but Matías wasn’t so ready to back down.

“You got nothing on us,
pendejo
.”

“Well, about that — ” He glanced over at Oscar, who’d remained silent during the whole exchange. “Want to tell him what you ‘got’ on him?”

“With pleasure.” Oscar stepped forward. He was ten or so years older than Jack, with tired dark eyes that had seen too much. “We followed up the lead Miguel gave us and got a warrant for the address associated with the mail drop rented in Tucson. When we searched that residence, we found Roslyn McAllister’s body.”

Tricia let out a small moan, and Caitlin reached over and took her mother’s hand in hers, while on the other side, Caitlin’s father dropped an arm around his wife’s shoulders. For herself, Caitlin looked pale but composed. Then again, she’d had a little more time to come to grips with her cousin’s death.

Luz and Angela and Connor remained silent, waiting, while Matías clenched his hands at his sides and seemed as if he wanted nothing more than to lash out at all of them. But because he was surrounded and outnumbered, he stayed where he was, seething, while the two other warlocks appeared as if they were ready to have the earth swallow them up. Better that than face the combined wrath of the McAllister
prima
and the Wilcox
primus
…not to mention the stern justice of the civilian legal system.

After pausing a few seconds, probably to let everyone regain what they could of their composure, Oscar went on, “We also found a quantity of spilled blood and what appeared to be some kind of ritual knife with Roslyn’s blood on it, along with fingerprints that we’re certain will match those of our perpetrators here. We’ll find out for sure when we take them in, but at the moment there’s sufficient evidence for an arrest.”

“Thank you, Detective,” Angela said. Her gaze shifted back to the three captive warlocks. “You abused your powers to kidnap three innocent girls. Caitlin was lucky enough to get away, but even her escape wasn’t enough to shock any sense into you.”

Matías shot Caitlin a baleful glance, but she stared back at him, unmoving, and after a second or two he looked away. The interaction surprised Alex a little, but he realized Caitlin had grown into her strength the past few days. She wasn’t as easily cowed as Matías probably thought she would be.

“And because you abused your powers,” Connor went on, “you have no right to them any longer. You can see what it feels like, being the prey from now on.” His eyes met Angela’s, and she nodded.

They joined hands then, and the air in the room suddenly felt dense, charged with electricity, like the atmosphere before a thunderstorm. Alex could actually see the hairs on his arms standing up. It was difficult to breathe. The blood seemed to pound in his temples.

Still with the fingers of their near hands entwined, Connor and Angela raised their free hands, palms facing outward. And then it was as if some sort of pale light or energy began to drift out of the three warlocks, knotting itself into a heavy thread that connected with the
prima’s
and
primus
’ fingers. They both made a sudden tugging motion.

The
crack!
that followed was sharp as lightning, and Alex couldn’t help wincing. In that same moment, all three of the captive warlocks let out a trio of unholy shrieks, further assaulting his eardrums. They sank to their knees, moaning, while Angela calmly caught that thread of light and squeezed it in her palm, where it seemed to disappear.

“It is done,” Luz said.

None of the warlocks seemed able to move from where they were crouched on the faded Persian rug that covered the floor. Alex looked on in disbelief. Was it really possible? Had Angela and Connor combined their powers somehow to permanently remove Jorge’s and Tomas’ and Matías’ magic?

Then Angela put a hand to her forehead and winced slightly, as if the effort had taken something out of her as well. “I didn’t think that was actually going to work.”

“But it did,” Luz said. “They are harmless now — well, at least as harmless as men with souls black as theirs can be.” She looked to Oscar and Jack. “They’re all yours now.”

“And we know what to do with them,” Jack said. “I’m just sorry we can’t prosecute them for what they did to Maya, but there’s no evidence we can present in a civilian court.”

Alex watched as his mother’s eyes grew cloudy with unshed tears. “I understand. It’s enough that they’ll face justice for Roslyn’s murder and the kidnappings. They’ll never walk as free men after this.”

It said something for how much the de-magicking — for lack of a better word — had traumatized the three warlocks that none of them said anything or even reacted as Miguel, Oscar, and Jack took them by their arms and hauled them to their feet, then pushed them out of the living room. Alex supposed they were about to get a quick one-way trip to the Tucson police department’s central station.

Even so, he hardly felt happy about it. Yes, they’d been caught and would be going away forever, it looked like, but that wouldn’t bring Roslyn or his grandmother back, wouldn’t fix the glassy, confused expression in Danica’s eyes. So much mayhem, and for what?

He couldn’t help looking across the room at Caitlin. She still sat quietly next to her mother, but her gaze caught his, and she gave him the slightest of nods, as if to say,
This isn’t over.

The faintest flicker of hope stirred in his chest. Maybe he would be able to steal a chance to speak with her before her parents spirited her away.

It took some waiting, but while Tricia McAllister was speaking quietly with Alex’s mother and father, and Connor and Angela with Caitlin’s father, Caitlin slipped over to Alex and whispered, “Kitchen.”

So he followed her there, wondering what she was going to say. As it turned out, she didn’t say anything at all at first, but instead took his hands and pulled him toward her so she could kiss him soundly, a kiss that seemed to turn him all to heat and flame, despite the shocking show of power he’d just witnessed.

“I have to go with them,” she said at last, after she pulled away. “And there’s school and everything, but — ”

“But you still want to see me?” he asked, wondering if that was being too blunt.

“Of course I still want to see you.” The way she uttered the words made it sound as if their being together was so natural, she didn’t even know why he was questioning it. “That is, if you want to see me. Maybe I was assuming — ”

The only possible response was to reach over and bring her against him, to cover her mouth with his and show her that she wasn’t assuming at all. Or maybe she was, but that was all right, because he’d been assuming the exact same thing.

As for the rest, well…he figured they’d work it out as they went along.

T
he sunlight felt far too
bright, far too merciless, for such a solemn occasion. Caitlin couldn’t help wondering how much hotter that same sun was down in Tucson, where Alex had gone home. But no, she shouldn’t be thinking about Alex right now. This was the time for the McAllisters to say goodbye to Roslyn. Never mind that Caitlin wanted Alex with her so badly, wanted to hang on to him and feel his reassuring arm around her waist as she made her last farewell to the lighthearted girl who had been both her cousin and her friend. He’d had to make his own goodbyes to his grandmother just the day before, and his family needed him with them to share their grief. Both he and Caitlin had realized their families wouldn’t understand the bond that had grown between them so quickly, would have thought them selfish to insist on being together when their clans needed them more. And so they’d reluctantly agreed to stay apart until things settled down, although every day away from him was its own kind of agony, its own measure of grief.

The McAllisters had gathered in the quiet corner of the Cottonwood cemetery where all the members of their clan were laid to rest, and stood quietly as the white coffin with its coverlet of pale pink roses and soft white lilies was lowered to the ground. Well, most of them were quiet. Cousin Lysette, Roslyn’s mother, was sobbing, handkerchief pressed to her mouth, and Roslyn’s sister Jenny was sniffling, her big blue-gray eyes — the eyes she’d shared with Roslyn — filled with tears. Standing next to her was her brother Adam, his arm around Mason’s waist as she looked on, her expression stricken. Caitlin somehow knew that Mason was thinking about how that could have been her own sister Danica being lowered to the hard reddish earth, and how she was selfishly glad that Danica had somehow been spared.

Caitlin didn’t really think that Mason was being selfish. At least one person had survived Matías’ hellish plans, so why shouldn’t be Mason be glad about that while at the same time grieving the young sister-in-law she’d lost?

Adam’s face was tight, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Caitlin could see his jaw working, but he obviously didn’t intend to let go of the tight rein he had on his emotions. He and Roslyn had always been close, closer than they were with their older sister Jenny, who was three years older, while Roslyn and Adam were barely a year apart.

Angela stepped forward and spoke quietly, talking about Roslyn’s joy for life, her wonderful voice, her amazing talent with music. And then Caitlin heard the sound of a guitar being plucked, accompanied by her cousin’s pure, clear soprano singing “In the Arms of the Angels,” and she realized someone must have found a recording Roslyn had made and was playing it now from some source she couldn’t quite see.

It was understanding that she’d never hear that voice again in real life, that she’d never see Roslyn’s big blue eyes dancing with laughter, or the way she’d toss her long honey-colored hair in that artfully artless manner of hers, that finally brought the tears to Caitlin’s own eyes. They streamed down her cheeks, and then it seemed everyone was weeping, mourning the loss of a girl who should never have been taken from them so young.

And if fury toward Matías Escobar burned in the hearts of some of the people around her, how could she blame them? The same fire burned in hers.

S
ince Alex wasn’t privy
to the goings-on behind the scenes at the Tucson P.D. or the local district attorney’s office, he didn’t know exactly what went down to send Matías and his cronies to the front of the line when it came to them going to trial. Somehow, though, they were arraigned within a few days, with the courthouse date scheduled for only a week or so after that.

When he’d called Caitlin to give her the news, she seemed relieved but not particularly happy. He hesitated, unsure as to whether he should press her on the subject, but then he decided to go ahead and ask anyway. “What’s the matter? I thought you’d be glad to hear he’s on the fast track to life in prison.”

A long pause on her end. He wished he could see her face, but she didn’t have Skype installed on her computer, which she claimed was really underpowered, and so they were talking on their cell phones. She’d finally gotten hers replaced after she went home; there had never seemed to be any time to do it during those feverish few days they’d spent together.

Then she said, “I don’t think ‘glad’ is the right word. Of course it’s good that he was caught and that he’s going to get a dose of civilian justice on top of what Angela and Connor already did to him, but…that won’t bring back Roslyn or Maya. It won’t fix what’s wrong with Danica.”

Oh, hell. He’d been hoping in the back of his mind, between trying to adjust to a new clan dynamic with his mother at its head, and attempting to focus on work and not the ever-increasing need to see Caitlin while the world conspired to keep them apart, that her friend might be improving. “She’s still having trouble?”

“Yeah.” A little gust of a breath, as if Caitlin had let out a sigh she couldn’t quite keep in. “I mean, it’s not like she’s in a trance anymore, but she still seems pretty out of it, and I guess she’s been having a lot of nightmares, too. She had to withdraw from school, and her parents just came by yesterday to get the rest of her stuff. They’re thinking about sending her to a therapist, although they’re not sure because no one in either of our clans is a psychologist or anything, and it could get weird if she has to go see a civilian.”

“Weird” was putting it mildly, Alex knew. There were certain things that had happened to Danica that weren’t exactly proper for a civilian to know, and it was even more awful that apparently her ordeal hadn’t ended when she’d been rescued.

But because he knew talking about it was painful, he didn’t press for any details, instead asking, “So you’re living in the apartment alone now?” Alex didn’t think he liked the sound of that, although he knew Caitlin should be perfectly safe in Flagstaff. Her cousin Adam was living there with his wife Mason, after all, and it wasn’t as if the Wilcoxes and the McAllisters were feuding anymore.

“For now.” Another one of those little pauses. “That is, my lease is up at the end of June, so I’ll have to decide by then what I want to do. But luckily, the money from my book sales is picking up, since I just published the final book in my trilogy, and that should bridge the gap. It’ll be okay.”

This girl never ceased to amaze him. She’d lost her friend, been through an ordeal of her own, and yet seemed to have dusted herself off and gotten back to her writing despite everything. “That’s great news,” he said. “Kind of surprising, but — ”

“Not really,” she cut in. “I was really close to being done anyway. It seemed like the best thing I could do was focus on the writing…and my classes, obviously. It wouldn’t have been honoring Roslyn to quit any of it. Besides, no way was I going to give Matías that sort of power over me.”

When she put it that way, Alex could understand how she felt. Letting that warlock interfere with her life any more than he already had would only be allowing him to continue to disrupt her plans and goals and dreams, and clearly Caitlin was a lot tougher than that. He also realized then that, however much he missed her, he couldn’t interfere. She needed to finish out the semester, if nothing else.

Afterward…well, he had a few ideas about that.

S
he tried
to tell herself that it was all okay, that this separation from Alex didn’t get more and more painful as spring wore on toward summer. True, he had come up to visit as often as he could, and in the beginning, Caitlin had had the selfish thought that she was almost glad she was living by herself now, since at least it meant she wouldn’t have to hide their nighttime activities from anyone else. Yes, it was awkward squeezing in with him in her full-size bed, but still so much better than sleeping alone. But then he’d have to go away again, to attend to his own responsibilities, and she was left telling herself it was okay, that she’d see him again in a couple of weeks. It was never enough, but it was better than nothing.

Even more promising, Alex told her in mid-May that he’d submitted his resume to a local station in Tucson, and they were very interested in talking to him about an assistant marketing position. Caitlin had been thrilled for him, although he’d only shrugged and said, “Well, it’s not a job offer. And even if I do get an offer, I still have to deal with my parents and the store.”

Oh, right, that. “I find it hard to believe that there’s no one else who can manage it,” she protested.

A shrug. “Manuela could probably do a great job. The real question is whether my parents will let her. She’s not a Trujillo son.”

Since Caitlin had grown up in a tight-knit clan herself and knew all too well the weight of tradition and expectations, she didn’t force the argument any further than that. She could only hope that Alex’s father would come to realize that his younger son’s happiness was a lot more important than whether a Trujillo was in charge of things at the family
mercado
.

It was even more difficult to determine whether anyone in their respective clans was particularly happy about hers and Alex’s burgeoning relationship. Her visions hadn’t gone away — she’d woken up one night after having a nightmare about the hillside beneath Rory Lightman’s house giving way, and phoned her mother immediately. Tricia McAllister had passed on the warning, and Rory got his family out before half the house slid down the hill. At least the incident had proved that Caitlin was willing to do her part as the clan seer, even when off at college in Flagstaff, but she had a feeling they really wouldn’t be thrilled if she announced that her relationship with Alex Trujillo was getting serious and that she might not be staying in the northern half of the state for very much longer.

She wouldn’t make that announcement, though, because she didn’t know for sure if their relationship really
was
that serious. Sure, he’d come up and spend a weekend here and there when he could make the time in his schedule, but she really couldn’t count that as an extreme escalation of their relationship. And she couldn’t even reciprocate, because her ancient Toyota could barely make it back and forth between Flagstaff and Jerome. No way could she drive the poor thing all the way to Tucson and hope to have it survive.

On Memorial Day weekend, Alex made the slog through traffic to see her, since it was her birthday that Sunday. They had a large, noisy lunch at the Haunted Hamburger with as many family members as they could squeeze in amongst the tourists, but after that Alex took her back to Flagstaff. He seemed unusually quiet on the drive home, but Caitlin didn’t want to make anything major out of that. A few hours spent around her relatives would be enough to wear anyone down, even someone who was used to being part of a large extended family himself.

After they got back to the apartment, though, and Caitlin got them some iced tea, Alex asked, “So what are you going to do about this place?”

“What place?”

“The apartment.”

“Oh.” She handed him his glass of tea and settled herself down on the threadbare sofa. It seemed Alex had finally decided they were going to have “the talk,” and she wasn’t sure what she thought about that. Or maybe it was more that she did know what she thought…what she hoped for…but didn’t want to admit it to herself. “Well, I can afford to stay, if I decide that’s what I want to do. My parents aren’t thrilled about the whole thing, but no way am I going to bail out with only a year of college left.”

He appeared to absorb that remark, dark eyes thoughtful. Instead of coming to sit next to her, though, he went over to the sliding glass door and looked outside. The view was about the only decent thing in the apartment; you could see pine trees and a glimpse of Humphreys Peak off to one side. But Caitlin had a feeling Alex wasn’t really looking at the view, no matter how pretty it was.

Turning around so he could face her, he said abruptly, “I want you to come to Tucson and move in with me.”

“What?” Even though she’d been halfway hoping he might make such a proposition, now that it had come, she felt blindsided.

“You heard me.” He moved from the window and stood in front of her, a pleading expression on his face. “We’ve been trying to make this work, but God, Caitlin, you live four hours away from me, and that’s on a day with good traffic. Besides, this place is a dump. Wouldn’t you rather live in my house?”

Tone wry, she asked, “Oh, so now you’re trying to save me from living in a shithole apartment, Mr. Protector?”

“Of course not.” His mouth twisted, and before she could even register what he was doing, he’d gone down on one knee in front of her and was pulling a box out of his jeans pocket.

No — he couldn’t. This was ridiculous. They hadn’t even known each other for three whole months.

But Goddess…she wanted this. She wanted
him.
She wanted to be with him.

Obviously, Alex didn’t think it was ridiculous, even if he did look adorably silly, perched there on one knee in front of her. Voice earnest, he said, “I want us to be together, Caitlin. I want you to come home with me. I want it to be
our
home. I know you only stayed there for a few days, but the house still feels empty without you.” He opened the box. The ring inside was white gold, with a glittering round-cut diamond in the center surrounded by smaller diamonds.

It was beautiful. It was perfect. But still she could only sit there, staring at him, all the words she loved so much suddenly deserting her.

He paused and stared up into her face. “Is it — is it too soon? I’ve been trying to make myself wait, at least until you were done with school, but Caitlin, I don’t want to wait anymore.”

At last she found her voice. “I don’t want to wait, either. So — yes.
Yes
. It’s crazy, but yes.”

That flashing smile she loved so much lit up his face, and he slid the ring onto her finger. It fit exactly right. And that was how she felt about Alex…he fit exactly right.

He pulled her toward him, and she was kissing him, and then they were on the rug and their clothes were being flung this way and that, and his mouth was on her, his fingers stroking her, and at last he was inside her, and she knew this was the most perfect thing in the world, being with Alex, knowing he loved her and would always, always make sure she was safe.