Broken Heart 06 Come Hell or High Water (26 page)

"Unless it's halved for you." I sent her a significant look.

She shrugged.

Ash was the only one of her kind, a creature that could capture supernatural souls and their forms (you know, the ones who'd once owned the souls), and sorta eat them. She could access a soul's powers by "becoming" the soul itself. It was a painful process, nearly as painful as absorbing the souls.

Ash was dangerous, especially since she had to take a soul every ninety days or die. It was one of the reasons her kind had been hunted to extinction. It was amazing she was even around, because she scared the hell out of nearly everyone.

Including me. But we'd become friends - well, as much as Ash allowed friendship. She often came to the diner during her infrequent visits to town. I got the feeling she was lonely, though I would never accuse her of it.

"Libby told me you can't even access it because you didn't take the form, too."

"She would've never forgiven me if I'd sucked her husband into my well of souls."

I stopped fussing with my Glock. "Will my idea work?"

"I usually imbibe souls whole. You know, like sushi."

"Nice visual." With all my weaponry in place, I took the time to rebraid my hair. "What about the ones you don't want?"

"If the ninety days are up, it doesn't matter." She grimaced. "I've got a few I don't even access. Too skeevy."

"I can't imagine how horrible that must be."

She shrugged. "I was born a soul shifter. I can't change that."

"Still sucks."

She tossed me a careless grin. "I like you, Phoebe."

"You don't like anyone. And you don't do favors."

One eyebrow lifted insolently. "You've been talking to Libby. She likes to think I'm a heartless hard-ass."

"Aren't you?"

"Yeah," she admitted. Then she grinned again. "But at least I'm not soulless."

Without Connor and his insta-'port, I had to drive Sally to the compound. I went to the Consortium headquarters and parked in front of the big white building. I went around the side, to the stairs that led to the underground facility.

Accessing the door meant smearing blood over the lock, and the spell - which would allow only Broken Heart citizens to enter - snicked open. Connor came out of a door down the long hallway, a conference room, if I remembered correctly. He hugged me.

"I'm not even late!"

"I know," he said into my hair. "But it still feels like years."

Connor loved me.

It was as simple, and as complicated, as that.

He led me to the door that he'd exited and I followed, lost in thoughts and feelings that threatened to overwhelm me. I needed to keep a clear head.

We entered the room and I stopped.

Oh, my God.

"Damian and Nicor collected them," said Connor quietly. "They wanted to make sure the children stayed safe."

It was like a museum display:
Broken Heart Children Rendered in Arctic Ice
.

Patsy's son Wilson in motion, hand out as though dribbling a basketball.

Tamara and Durriken, fingers touching as they gazed at each other.

Patsy and Gabriel's triplets tucked into their cribs, crystalline in sleep.

Glory, face looking up, eyes wide, tears forever glittering on gelid cheeks.

I drifted into the room, horrified. Terrible beauty. I'd heard that once, I think from Eva. I thought it was an odd description, but now I understood. Here was terrible beauty.

I sat down heavily in a chair that had been pushed against the wall. "Holy crap."

Danny could've been here, I realized. He could've been an icy statue along with the rest. I wondered if Broken Heart would ever be safe. I thought about Ella, about her being snatched off the street and taped to a table so a crazy woman could sacrifice her.

Nowhere was safe, I reminded myself. Who better to protect the children of Broken Heart than the wolves, the vampires, the fairies, the dragons? The police didn't have anything on us. We were a lot scarier.

Connor strode to me and knelt. He put his hands on my thighs and stared up, pain shining so brightly it turned his eyes the color of champagne. He kissed me oh-so-softly. "We cannae waste any more time."

I let him help me to my feet. We turned toward the door, but it filled with roiling gray mist.

"Hold!"

The feminine voice crackled with power. The mist cleared and a tall, willowy woman stood in its place. She wore a hooded green robe and held within her bejeweled grasp a gnarled, polished wood staff. At its top sat a gleaming silver crow.

"Morrigu," said Connor in a hushed tone.

Brigid was the daughter of Morrigu, and Ruadan was a vampire because he'd imbibed his grandmother's dark blood. In essence, she was the reason vampires existed at all. Morrigu exuded a you-live-at-my-behest energy that instantly cowed me. Still, I didn't look away from her as I stood, and Connor 's grip tightened on my hand.

Morrigu pulled back her hood. Her raven hair hung in long, silken ringlets around a pale, unlined face. Here, too, was terrible beauty. A thin silver crown nestled on her head; a single red stone glittered from its middle. Her dark eyes held ancient secrets.

Morrigu studied Connor. Then she turned her enigmatic gaze to mine. "Talisman," she said, inclining her head.

Uh... what?

"Lilith has brought harm upon my kin," she said. "I will not tolerate it."

Lilith probably didn't think she'd draw the attention of the goddess of chaos. I think Morrigu scared me more than Lilith, but at least the crow queen was on our side.

I thought.

Connor asked, "Can you undo her spell over the town?"

"It is not my magic." Her eyes were dark and flat as river stones. "Spells are like cloth, woven intricately. It will take much too long to unravel threads. Lilith intends to come through tonight. It is a new moon; the power of your talisman will be at its weakest."

"She won't have a portal. We disbanded her cult," I said.

"Yet her demons roam free. They kill in her name, too."

I shared a look with Connor. He looked just as horrified as I felt.

"Why did she just freeze everybody?" I asked.

"Expediency. Or the demon she sent to do it had limited powers. Or she's a ravin' bitch." Morrigu looked at me with those ancient eyes, and I saw the flames of funeral pyres and the bleached bones of the dead reflected there. She said, "You can fix this."

I twisted the wish ring around on my finger, and I nodded.

"Then go."

"Take me to Main Street," I said to Connor. "That's where the middle of the Invisi-shield is. If Lilith can use it to spread her magic, then so can I."

He frowned as he gathered me into his arms, but I couldn't look at him. I didn't want to explain that I'd been saving the wish to break our mating. Or maybe I'd kept it for another reason. Maybe this one. Astria had said I would need it.

Had she foreseen this very circumstance?

I hoped I would have another opportunity to talk to her. I had to believe she'd survived the Turning, and that I would survive this night.

I snuggled in Connor's arms while he transported me to the middle of Main Street. It turned out that the center of the Invisi-shield was above downtown, almost right over the Old Sass Cafe. I felt doubly offended that the bitch had cursed everyone practically above the place I worked.

From the street, I could see into the still-lit windows of the cafe.

"I've spent a lot of time being scared for Danny, for you, for Broken Heart. We've been terrified by Lilith, bullied by her demons, and I'm sick of feeling helpless and afraid." I pointed up. "Let's go."

Connor's face went stony. "I cannae take you unless..."

"You go demon? We don't have any Family Ruadan here," I said. "So make with the wings already."

For a moment, I didn't think he would do it. Then he stood back and invoked his demon form. It took only seconds for him to meld from human to demon. He looked like diamonds to me, magic and glitter and beauty.

Connor gripped my arms. "I'll take you up to where the points of the shield converge."

He stroked his fingers down my spine - just a reminder that he was there for me. He had my back. No matter what I did. That was a powerful feeling.

He launched upward, his impressive wings pushing us skyward. We flew up, up, up into the starry sky.

"Here." Connor pointed above his head and then whispered, "
Solas.
"

Red orbs appeared, and their
sidhe
light reflected the otherwise invisible lines of the shield.

"What will you do now?" asked Connor.

"I'll make a wish," I said. I wasn't quite sure how it would all work. Keeping it simple was best. I took off the ring and pressed it against the thin streaming lights of the Invisi-shield. "I wish for everyone in Broken Heart to be free of all spells invoked by demons."

The glow burst from the ring and connected with the shield. For a moment, the entire bubble glowed gold. I felt the tingle of magic, and then it burst, raining gold sparks of magic to the town below.

Connor took me back down to Main Street. We landed softly; then he put some space between us. He shifted to his human form, and then magicked up some clothes for himself. He didn't say anything for a long moment.

"Astria gave the ring to you," he said. "She knew there was a wish trapped in it."

"She thought telling everyone it was for Ella would be enough for us to steal it. Then she planned to find a way to give it to me."

"I don't need to ask why."

"No," I said, my voice catching. "You don't."

"You don't love me," he said. The finality of his tone sliced through me.

"Connor."

"No, lass." He shook his head and smiled. "It's all right."

He took me into his arms, but I sensed his distance - distance I had created by not admitting how I felt about him. My choice had been taken from me; how could I know that what I felt was real? I didn't want some prophecy or destiny telling me what kind of life I should live. I wanted to choose whom to love.

And yet, Connor had embraced it all, and didn't doubt he was mine.

By the time we returned to the Consortium compound, it was buzzing with activity.

Damian beckoned us into a room, where he and his brothers, Drake and Darrius, guarded the door.

Inside were Patsy and Gabriel, Anise, Ren, Larsa... and Astria! I hurried over to her and hugged her.

"I have fangs," she said. Then she leaned back and showed them to me. "Drinking blood isn't that bad."

I laughed. "I'm just glad you're still walking around."

"As are we," said Anise softly. "Ruadan and you, Phoebe, will have our loyalty always."

"Thank you," I said, touched by her words. "A good way to repay me is to give the girl some freedom. A few choices of her own."

Anise nodded. "
Oui.
I see the wisdom in such advice."

"Let's get down to business," said Patsy. "We need to transfuse the talisman, and then Phoebe needs to invoke the magic, right?"

"Tell them the prophecy, Astria," said Connor. He sat in a chair next to me, but he might as well have sat across the room. It was as if all the affection, and -
gulp
- love he'd offered had been tucked away. I shouldn't have been hurt by his need to protect himself, to protect his heart, but I was. I knew it wasn't fair to want him, to bask in the warmth of love he'd given to me, and offer nothing of myself.

I felt so ashamed.

"Where's Morrigu?" I asked suddenly, as if it mattered.

"Haranguing Brigid and Ruadan," said Patsy sourly. "That woman is scary as shit."

"The prophecy," said Connor again. His gaze swept the room, but went past me. He wasn't in my thoughts anymore, either. I sensed his withdrawal keenly, and I didn't like it.

"Lilith returns," said Astria. Her words had the cadence of poetry. "'And the world weeps. The talisman weakens, its champions gone. The valiant arise, a demon lord and his bride, O daughter of Durga. Only they possess strength enough to stop the queen of hell. Mated together, they stand as one and defeat evil.'"

Her voice echoed into the room; then she sat down. She smiled at me, but it was sad. I looked down at the table.

"I am the only one left."

"The last female of the Family Durga," agreed Patsy. She sent me an empathetic look. She knew, better than anyone, what it was like to have your life altered due to prophecy. Her relationship with Gabriel and even her rise to queenly power had also been predicted by another Vedere prognostication.

And she seemed happy. A husband who adored her, three adorable toddlers, a grown son, and now two additions to their
loup de sang
family.

"Connor was the only possible demon lord," said Astria. "No other demon has a soul or the will to see Lilith returned to the Pit."

"Tell her the rest," said Connor.

Astria's gaze skidded away from mine. She swallowed; then she turned back to me. "Two halves of the talisman," she said. "One is the medallion infused with the magic of all eight Ancients. And the second... is you."