And what she saw chilled her to the bone. So much that it was difficult to leave without doing some real damage. He didn’t deserve to live.
But she didn’t want to deal with the added weight on her soul of killing when she didn’t have to. She had enough death in her future and some in her past. It was better to only do it when she had to.
Sometimes being the better person sucked.
She pulled free and noted they had only a minute or so until the security and cameras kicked back on.
“I was getting ready to shake you.” Faine helped her stand. “Can we get out of here?”
“Yes, let’s go. Back home, we don’t need to go to Powers’ house. It’s not worth the risk and I’m pretty sure we’ve got more than enough information.”
They ended up back in Faine’s living room. “What did you see?” Faine asked.
“They have plans to attack Rebecca’s house. They know where she lives. Thank goodness she went to the enclave earlier. I think we need to call the cops though and give them a heads up. Or rather, I’ll call Agent Anderson at the task force because the issue of how I came by the information won’t be as big a deal. PURITY is using enough explosives to injure people on the whole block. And they know where Meriel is. One of their spies from Owen got them access to a directory. That’s how they knew where to find Lark and Simon’s house. They have a list of all the top-ranking witches. One of the mages has told them they need one of these witches to do the spell to open a portal. What the mage told them isn’t possible, so that’s something at least. But they’re willing to kill however many, and whoever they have to. Carlo Powers is obsessed with the Magister. He thinks he can control it.”
Faine scrubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck.”
“Yes. The plus is that they really have no way of bringing the Magister back. But they have no hesitation at all in killing or harming anyone to try it. I need to get all this data to our IT people. They can get in and see what we can find. And I need to get this info to Lark and the others so they can make sure all clan leadership is away from known addresses.”
“We can drop it somewhere if you like,” Mei offered.
Helena thanked them. She made a call, told the IT people to be at the offices to get all the data off those sticks. She wrote a note, shoved it and the sticks in an envelope and handed it to Mei. “Thank you so much. You’ve saved lives by helping us tonight. Gennessee won’t forget that.”
“That’s what family does.” Mei hugged her. “Now you need to rest or get some protein in you. You used a lot of magick to get into his head back there.”
Faine narrowed his eyes at her but waited until they’d left before he turned her way again. “I know you need to make calls. I’m going to make some food and you will eat it without complaint or I will call your mother.”
“You fight dirty.” She liked it.
“Don’t forget it.”
She smiled as she grabbed her phone. “I won’t. Thank you.” She dialed the number Anderson had instructed her to use in urgent situations.
“Anderson.” He’d clearly been awake.
“I’d say I was sorry for waking you up, but I think I should be sorry you’re not sleeping at nearly two your time. It’s Helena Jaansen and I have bad news for you.”
“Riots and bad news from my favorite witch too. Busy night in America.”
Shit, she’d forgotten about the riots. She didn’t know if something even worse had happened while they were gone so she turned on the TV with the sound off and plunged ahead with the reason for the call.
“I’ve come by some information that PURITY has plans to kidnap Rebecca Gennessee. I’ve heard this info twice. I know Senator Sato called you regarding the first source.”
“We’ve got people on her location. Well, outside her location. Nothing amiss has happened.”
“We moved her, as you know. But there’s more. They’re planning to use enough explosives to level her house and probably her side of the street for a block or so.”
“What?” His tone sharpened and she knew what was coming so she headed it off.
“I can’t tell you how I know. Only that I do. Greg Powers is behind a plan to kidnap Rebecca, Meriel or possibly other powerful witches to aid his father in bringing back the Magister. They know the locations of these witches because they are in possession of a directory of sorts.”
“Like my middle schooler has?”
“Probably. Look, before this mess we were just a bunch of people with magick. We had potlucks and ran businesses. None of this war or spying stuff happened. PURITY brought all this on. We just like to eat casseroles and gossip.”
He snorted. “Spare me. I’ve seen you fight. You didn’t just learn that yesterday.”
“No. I’ve been trained my entire life to do this job and still, I’ve never blown up anyone’s home. I’ve never assaulted a child or started a riot. The bald facts are that humans have pushed this situation to the brink. We’ve done nothing but
“I apologize. I’m not trying to offend. I know. But not all of us are these PURITY assholes.”
“I know that. Which is why I called the FBI instead of handling this threat on my own.” She let that hang for a moment. She
She was giving Anderson—and humans in general—a chance to make things right.
“I’ve already got people on the clan leadership in the major cities. Are the explosives planted now?”
“I don’t know. I just know it’s part of their plan. Her house and property are warded pretty well. But if they were bringing the explosives, or if they’d planted some under the house in the sewers or next door . . .”
“I’ll send teams over to check things out. So, this story about spies for Hayes disappearing.”
“Dunno what you mean. I’ll talk to you later. Thanks.” She hung up before he could say anything else. In the kitchen Faine was making bacon and eggs. Her head hurt and she normally would have gotten a bloody nose for using that spell to get into Powers’ head. But in the post-Magister world, bloody noses from overuse of magick seemed far rarer.
She watched the destruction on television as she called Lark and filled her in.
HE found her dabbing her eyes and staring at the television. Her sadness hit him and he realized he’d assumed it was his own and had been ignoring it as he’d been cooking.
“Hey.” He handed her a plate and let her get herself together. But he settled next to her, needing that contact.
“So happy first day bound to me. How’s that working out for you?” She ate a piece of bacon. “Thanks, by the way. You’re a really good cook as well as the other services you provide.”
Her smile made him feel a little better. “As it happens, though the day has been challenging, being bound to you has been quite lovely. Unexpected, I suppose, because no one can really express just what it feels like to be so connected to someone you love. What about you?”
“I’m not quite sure what I’ve done to deserve you, to be honest. I used to be calm. Like every day. I didn’t cry when I watched television unless it was
“You resent me for it?”
“Huh? No! Why would you think that? Can’t you feel me? Or whatever?”
Her confusion was sort of adorable, but he figured telling her that would be a bad thing at that moment. “So tell me what you mean.”
“No. I’m sick of thinking about it and talking about it.”
“You’re a difficult woman.” He grinned and when she turned, annoyed, she saw it and rolled her eyes.
“I’m too tired for you to poke at.”
“Eat your food and then let’s sleep a while. Did you talk to Lark?”
