“Don’t look at him. He’s not going to help you.”
“Lil!”
I glared at Bran and for one brief moment, my sight blurred until all I saw was a shadow where his face had been. Dizziness washed over me again. His thoughts, along with the others’, crashed into my psyche, but they were jumbled and didn’t make sense. My knees gave away.
I’ve got you, Bran telepathed me just as he pulled me against his chest. You are okay.
Calmness settled on my mind as his psi energy blended with mine. Cool hands touched my forehead and voices echoed in my head as though filtered by a mist.
“She’s burning up,” someone said in a distorted voice.
“We’ll finish here, then take her home,” another added.
My vision and hearing cleared. The headache was slow to react.
“She’ll be fine,” Bran reassured them.
“She fainted, Bran,” Kim insisted.
“And her eyes glowed just like they did on the island,” Izzy added.
“I’m fine,” I finally spoke, but my eyes stayed locked with Bran’s. I tried to disengage our energies but he wouldn’t let me. I could have pushed him out of my head, but I might have ended up hurting him. I wiggled, hoping physical distance would do the trick, but he refused to let me go. You can’t do this.
Says who?
You’re sharing a burden that’s not yours, I insisted. You’ll get my headache and mess up your powers.
So what? You and I are mated/or better and for worse.
I frowned. We are?
Yes, so sit back and let me take care of you.
Reasoning with him was getting me nowhere. It was time to lay on the guilt. You are draining my energy, something you swore you’d never do.
He grinned. Nice try. When we are done here, I’m taking you home, where you’ll stay until your powers stabilize. He severed the link. Can you take care of Mrs. Watts ‘memories without turning her into Mrs. Hyde again?
I rolled my eyes, but at the back of my mind I kept hearing “Mated.” When? Another lost memory? Leaving that for later, I turned to see the contract burst into flame. Mrs. Watts let out a screech.
Amazed at how much better I felt, I approached her. “One last thing, Mrs. Watts.”
She cringed, “Stay away from me.”
Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. I could feel the others’ stares, knew they worried about me dealing with Mrs. Watts fairly. Don’t worry, guys. I won’t blow up her head.
“That’s not funny,” Izzy said then added softly, “Are you sure she should do this?”
“She can handle this,” Bran answered.
“What did you do to her? Kim asked.
“I drained some of her energy.”
Silence followed. I shook my head. He really shouldn’t blurt out things like that. Only demons drained energies, and it was usually to enhance theirs.
“Dude, that’s messed up,” Sykes said.
“And demonic,” Izzy asked tentatively.
Bran shrugged. “So? She’s stable now.”
From the smile on his face, he was getting a kick out of shocking the others. Cupping Mrs. Watts’ face, I stared into her eyes and meshed our minds. Snapshots of her fake memories zipped past, most of them of her children, women friends. The most recent showed her eating dinner with her children, then waking up and finding her children sick.
Was that how my memories were? Hours of nothing mixed with a few treasured moments? Bran and I were mated. How could I forget that?
Focusing on Mrs. Watts, I let my thoughts flow into her head. When I let go of your face, turn around and walk out the door to your van. Wait there with your children until the ambulance arrives to take Michele to the hospital. Forget you saw us or that we were here. Forget your broken windows. Only your oldest daughter is ill. She was okay for a long time, but now she’s ill again.
When I let her go, she turned around and walked out the door without glancing left or right. She walked to the van with even, measured steps. When Remy held the door open for her, she got in without looking at him.
“What in Tartarus did you do to her?” Izzy asked.
“I just erased her memories and told her to wait outside for the ambulance.”
“But the people usually talk to us in confusion and ask who we are, what we’re doing in their home, office or wherever. They don’t walk away like zombies.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Bran cut in. “What’s done is done.” He walked to my side and touched my forehead. “You’re still feverish and—”
“Nothing.” I didn’t want to hear another lecture about going back home. “I’m fine now. We should teleport to our next stop.”
Bran frowned. “I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do, but you cannot treat humans like you just did Mrs. Watts.”
“She was being impossible.”
“I know, but you must control your anger and frustrations or they’ll control you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not responsible for what’s happening to me. Are you forgetting the transfer of the dagger’s powers into me?”
“I’m not. But I know you, Sunshine. I know what you are capable of. You can control anything.” He studied me intently, love and utter belief in me shining in his emerald eyes. His hair, shorter on the sides, swung across his cheeks as he peered at me. “You can control them.”
Of course I could…would with time. I reached out, twirled the lock of his hair around my finger and smiled. “Yes, I can.”
He took my hand and pressed his lips into my palm. When he stepped back, my gaze met with the others. I’d completely forgotten their presence.
That was intense, Izzy telepathed me.
I just shrugged. My gaze met with Sykes and it was hard to describe the look in his eyes. Annoyance? Jealousy? A combination of both. I just couldn’t deal with him and his feelings.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Bran removed his clairvoyant stone and activated it. Light shot up from the core of the stone and projected a holographic image of a house. “This is Mr. Watts’ new place in Palos Verdes. The roof is flat, so let’s teleport there.”
“What happened?” Remy asked when he joined us and saw the mess on the floor. “I just cleaned this place up.”
Sykes pointed at me like a child tattling. “Lil did it.”
I laughed, happy to see him bounce back. I was also thrilled I could laugh without wincing. “But Mrs. Watts canceled the contract.”
Remy’s eyes narrowed. “You forced her?”
“Of course not,” I said. “I couldn’t see or hear a thing when she agreed to cancel it.”
Remy looked confused. “What?”
Sykes slapped Remy on the back. “Long story, dude, but the EMT is here. We need to disappear.”
The ambulance pulled up outside Mrs. Watts’ van. We dematerialized before the EMT reached the house.
- 7 -
GAVYN’S AGENDA
A yellow police tape wound around Mr. Watts’ broken door and window like a bad bandage dressing. His neighbor eagerly informed us that Mr. Watts had been having a “noisy party last night and was cooking something in the early hours of the morning when an explosion blew out his windows.”
No one spoke after we thanked her. We headed to our next destination. After several more stops, we materialized on the roof of U.S. Bank Tower, the tallest building in California with a rooftop helipad. Lucky for us, it was empty, giving us enough space and privacy to vent.