“Don’t come any closer, Drayton.” The doctor didn’t look at him at all. Her sole focus was on his son. She sang a song he had heard Ella sing a thousand times, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” rocking Nate back and forth, as if oblivious to them all. He slid his gaze at Jake, who tilted his head with his eyebrow raised, shaking his head. How had they missed this instability in the doctor? How?
“Elizabeth, please, you’re one of us. Tell me what you’re thinking. Don’t shut us out. I want to help, but give Nate to Isabella. He doesn’t need to be involved in this.”
Marcus’s voice sounded calm, which was a damn sight more than he felt. He had been trained to face hostage situations, to remain calm and alert, all the while planning a way to defuse and resolve the situation. But examining this woman who was unraveling before his eyes, he wanted to shoot her dead, to hell with the consequences. Elizabeth wasn’t a supernatural; it would be easy enough. He touched his sidearm. But the threat of dropping Nate or doing something far worse gave her all the power she needed, and the doctor knew it. Glancing at the witches, he pleaded for them to intervene, but they stood motionless, shaking their heads. Losing his patience, he shouted, “Elizabeth, look at me!” He stepped closer, but Jake gripped his arm.
“Liz, don’t do this. Whatever you’ve done, we’ll figure it out,” he said, walking in front of him.
The doctor raised her head, staring at Jake, and Marcus thought at last someone had reached her. But the woman sniffed and wiped her nose with the blade in her hand as tears streamed down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry…but you can’t, Jake. No one can. My mother didn’t die all those years ago. She had a stroke. It would have been easier if she had passed away. There were bills, so many of them. I couldn’t keep up.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Jake asked and Marcus swallowed, knowing the man was attempting to keep the conversation flowing to get the doctor to trust him.
“I couldn’t. The Morrigan helped me. She helped with a nursing home and all the expenses. She put me through college. Found me jobs and provided me with references and work experience.”
“Didn’t you ever question who this woman was and why she was helping you?” Jake asked.
“Of course I did. But I was a kid, and she appeared like an angel. Now I know she’s the devil, but I didn’t know that then, I swear. All along, I believed all she wanted was information. I never thought she would harm Ella.” Elizabeth kissed Nate’s cheek, and Marcus’s heart rate spiked. “But I was never one of you…I was the outsider. Always alone.” She handed Nate to Jake, and Marcus charged over to grab his son, passing the baby to Isabella.
“That’s not true, Liz,” Jake said.
By the time Marcus spun back to face the doctor again, her body shook violently from head to foot. The color drained from her face as she waved the knife at them.
“It’s…been…too much. You…would’ve found out…what then? The Morrigan…would never set me free. The…professor recreated the poison…. I used on that shifter…it was only a matter of time…The drug…takes a little…time…to work…long enough…to say good-bye.” Her eyes fluttered. The knife clattered to the floor and the doctor collapsed next to it.
Elizabeth had been the one to murder the shifter. Marcus darted forward.
“Nooo…” Jake shouted, rushing at the woman and falling to the ground at her side.
Marcus crouched low, kneeling across from Jake. He grabbed Elizabeth’s shoulders as she gasped, clutching her throat, knowing as her eyes flickered, she was dying.
“Where’s Ella?” Marcus knew time was slipping away and there was little they could do to save her.
She groaned, and her breathing became uneven. A gray mottled color climbed up her neck like ivy. “Swo...oow…” She sighed as she took her final breath. Her eyes were wide open, but she was gone.
Marcus felt for a pulse and shook his head when he couldn’t find one.
“You don’t get out of it that easy! I need some answers,” Jake shouted as he started compressions.
But it was useless. Elizabeth’s lifeless eyes stared ahead, her body rigid and her lips blue.
Marcus couldn’t believe it. He glanced at the witches, who hugged each other with Nate caught between them.
“I can’t undo the poison she has taken, Drayton. No magic can,” Zephra answered as Isabella snuggled Nate, crying.
Flicking back to examine the doctor, he acknowledged there was always a self-inflicted distance about the woman, but he had always considered her a part of their team. In some way, he had failed her. Stretching his hand out, he closed the doctor’s eyes.
“She’s gone.” He sighed.
Jake glanced at him, shaking his head before stopping to sit back on the floor, cradling his head in his hands. “Damn you to hell…”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“My magic doesn’t work like that, Drayton. I’ve tried everything to catch a glimpse of Ella and there’s nothing. It’s not like a telephone—I can’t simply press a number and contact her. I’ve tried summoning a vision, but like I said, there’s nothing. She’s gone,” Zephra said.
A whole month had passed since the doctor had taken her own life, shocking every member of the Orion team. The hardest hit was Jake, who despite reading the letter the doctor had left behind, refused to talk about the blasted woman. Nate had turned one and Marcus couldn’t bring himself to celebrate without Ella.
During the past weeks, he had been forced to run missions across the East Coast, intervening in disturbances between the
