Darkest Misery (10 page)

I opened my eyes wide. The angry adrenaline that had been dissipating in my blood was refreshed. “She convinced you to take me off the case? I want to be involved.”

“We agreed together. You have more important things to do.”

“No, you have things you want me to do. Whether they're more important is debatable. We have no idea what role I might play in this prophecy. Therefore learning how to make charms or read glyphs might be a complete waste of my time. The only thing I do know isn't a waste of time is finding out who killed Olef and bringing them to justice.”

I could sense Tom's annoyance with me seeping past his emotion-dampening charms. “We can discuss this more later. Jessica, please go back inside and calm down.”

“Has the lab figured out what kind of feather was in Olef's room?”

“We're still waiting on results.”

“Why was Lei in The Feathers? Xander's got a point. It's very strange.”

“Jessica…” Tom closed his eyes, and I got the sense he wouldn't mind bashing
my
head in. “Can we discuss this later?”

I stared at Tom, utterly lost. Why was he deflecting? What could Lei have been doing in The Feathers that he didn't want me to know about? Dragon shit on toast, nothing was making sense anymore.

“Fine, I'll go ask her myself.”

“Jessica, please. You need to work with us right now.”

I jabbed the elevator button, and when it didn't appear immediately, I opened the stairwell door. “In case you've forgotten, I don't trust any of you. If I have to do this on my own, I will.”

I feared for a moment Tom would charge after me, but the door slammed shut, and then all I heard was my feet on the concrete stairs and the sound of blood rushing by my ears.

Chapter Thirteen

Tom didn't follow me, but apparently my satyr bodyguards had arrived at the hotel sometime after I had. Gi and Melissa were hanging out in the bar, disguise charms in place. I had to pass by them to get from the stairs to the front door. Gi downed the rest of his beer, and they rushed to catch up to me as I left.

I rolled my eyes as I opened the door. The rain had gotten worse. It was pouring. “How effective are you guys supposed to be if you've been drinking?”

Gi grinned. “We're still the biggest badasses this side of the Charles.”

“Uh-huh. Let's hope my potential attackers don't hail from the Cambridge side then.”

Melissa tucked her extra-large umbrella under her arm. “Your meeting was scheduled to go on longer.”

“I stormed out ahead of schedule. Everyone else is yelling at each other.”

Gi's phone rang as we gained cover under the parking garage roof, and from his expression, I gathered the caller was talking about me. He hung up, shaking his head. “Sounds like you caused a scene.”

“Me? Never.”

“Hit anyone with a chair lately?”

In spite of everything, I laughed. “No, but I'll keep it in mind for next time.”

“So where are we going?” Melissa opened the car door.

“Shadowtown. I need to talk to Lei.”

I wasn't ready to admit it to Lucen, but occasionally, having bodyguards was useful. Melissa dropped me off in front of Lei's shop and went to park while Gi escorted me inside. The rain had lightened, but I was just as glad not to have to walk in it.

In fact, being away from the meeting had lifted my mood considerably. Everything felt hopeless, but I no longer wanted to hit people.

Lei's shop was neither fancy nor particularly inviting, but it didn't need to be. Her work and reputation spoke for itself. She had no need to lure people in with decorative charm vials in the window or a fancy sign over the storefront.

People, be they preds or humans, came here because they wanted complicated or powerful spells, and they paid a lot to obtain them. The ones humans came here for were probably illegal or else they would have bought them from a magi, and no doubt they paid for them with their souls. There was a time not so long ago when I'd have been disgusted by that, but I had bigger issues.

Besides, I had to admit the information Devon had shared with me about why preds needed addicts had softened my attitude a bit. I could tell myself that as long as the pred treated their addicts well, it wasn't too terrible a situation for the humans.

I told myself that again now, although I still couldn't force myself to entirely believe it.

A harpy with cascading yellow and blue feathers down her head was mixing some sort of concoction in an obsidian bowl. “Can I help you?”

“I'm looking for Lei.”

The harpy paused her mixing and cocked her head side to side. “She's busy.”

“I need to talk to her about why the Gryphons questioned her this morning.”

“You are a Gryphon. Ask them.”

I groaned, and Gi tapped me on the shoulder. “Might not want to wear your jacket 'round here or carry so many weapons.”

The Gryphon windbreaker. I'd forgotten I had it on, and I pulled it off. “Would you tell her Jessica Moore wants to talk to her? She should—”

“In here, Ms. Moore,” Lei called out from the back room.

I smiled.

The other harpy returned to her concoction. “Go on then.”

Gi stayed behind, commandeering one of the plush chairs in the shop's corner while I headed into the work area. I'd been back here before. When Lei had created her glamour for me, I'd had to spend several hours in her back room as she taught me how to use it. It looked much like the charm labs I'd since seen at Gryphon Headquarters, and much how I'd imagine a mundane chemistry lab might look. Only with more vile ingredients and stranger-smelling brews.

Lei gestured me to the small metal table in the corner, and she sat across from me. “I assure you, the Gryphons questioned me quite thoroughly this morning. I don't have anything left to tell.”

I twisted my fingers together, thinking I should have approached this in a better way. Of course Lei wasn't going to enjoy explaining herself a second time. “The Gryphons are locking me out of the investigation about Olef.”

“And what does this have to do with me?”

“I don't like being locked out. If they won't tell me what you told them, then I figure it's got to be important.”

Lei stared at me a moment, then she laughed, a high cackling sound that once would have made the hairs on my neck stand on end. These days, I was able merely to consider it an unfortunate personality quirk. Lei wasn't nearly so sinister anymore. “The Gryphons chose well when they made you to be one of their elite, didn't they? You have to do everything on your own.”

I wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic. “The Gryphons got lucky with me, but they don't appreciate it. They also chose Victor Aubrey.”

Lei laughed again. “Point taken. I like you. Since you're the one responsible for setting this odd coalition into motion, I'll play along. I was in The Feathers the morning of Olef's death to meet with him. I am, unfortunately, probably the last person to have seen him alive.”

I sat up straighter with surprise. Of all the reasons I could have imagined why Lei might be in the magi neighborhood—and admittedly, I couldn't imagine many—meeting with Olef was not one of them. Yet I wondered if I should have suspected something. There had to be a good reason why the Gryphons had released Lei so quickly, especially if she'd seen him the morning he was killed.

I made a guess. “Were you talking about the prophecy?”

Lei folded her fingers together. “Not quite. I'm not sure what path Olef was going down with the research he was doing for you, but he was asking me questions about magic. I went to his apartment so he wouldn't have to lug his books around. You find this odd?”

She was reading my emotions, and I could only hope she didn't think I was being rude. “A bit, yeah. No offense, but why would Olef ask you? Plenty of magi are skilled in magic even if Olef wasn't.”

“I wouldn't say plenty. It's only plenty compared to humanity's lack of skilled charm makers.” She looked so smug I was tempted to point out that a harpy's weakness was supposed to be jealously, not vanity. But Lei continued. “Magi are as different from our races as they are from yours. Magic is inherent in them. It's a force within them since they are born. With us, that's not true. Do you follow?”

I followed. Preds were made, not born. They were once humans with not a hint of a magical gift in their bodies. “So do you mean you work magic differently than magi?”

“Essentially. We react to it and can use it differently, which is why Olef wanted my perspective.”

My phone buzzed, and I ignored it. “About what?”

“I'm honestly not entirely sure what he was getting at. He was keeping his motives secretive, but he was asking me about how we channel power. It made some sense because of what Dezzi told us about the Vessels, but Olef was asking about alternate ways we can do it. I don't think I was much help.”

Alternate ways to channel power didn't make sense to me either. We weren't trying to channel anything. Our goal was to prevent the furies from being able to open the Pit, and to do that we needed to find the Vessels.

I bit my lip. “Did Olef ask you anything about a key?”

“A key? No. Key to what?”

“I have no clue. It was a long shot, but I was hoping you could tell me.”

Lei looked at my phone, which buzzed again. “A key to the prison?”

“I had that thought, but he was telling me to use it. If the prison's locked, why would I want something that could unlock it?”

“Perhaps you need to find this key and the Vessels to prevent it being unlocked.”

Tom and I had brainstormed the same thoughts yesterday, but the fact remained—he'd never heard of a key either. And next to Olef, Tom was the most knowledgeable person we had about any of this lore. “I guess I need to keep searching Olef's research.”

“I do wish you luck, Ms. Moore. I'd have returned to the meeting today, except Xander.” She grimaced. “Neither Eyff nor I thought it would be wise.”

“Good call.”

After I left, Gi and Melissa escorted me to Lucen's. I had to promise them I had no plans to go anywhere before they took off. Finally alone, not counting one grumpy pet dragon who was snorting in his cage, I plopped on the sofa.

I wanted to nap. Maybe eat some ice cream. But I also wanted to find Olef's killer and stop the furies, which meant no nap for me. I decided to compromise—make coffee, check if Lucen had any ice cream, then return to Olef's research. I had a couple of his books at the apartment. It wasn't much to work with, but it was something.

Before I could move from the couch, though, I remembered my messages. Both were from Tom and annoyingly uninformative.
Call me.

Grumbling to myself, I did as asked. “Yes?”

“Have you calmed down?”

Ooh, moose tracks. Trust Lucen to only buy the good stuff. I pulled out the ice cream carton. “I'm about to eat ice cream. Does that sound like I'm calm? Why wouldn't you share what Lei told you?”

“You're still hung up on that?” He sighed. “It wasn't the time. Lei's information raised a whole lot of new questions for us to consider. I didn't want you getting sidetracked. I was going to tell you later.”

I relegated myself to only taking a couple spoonfuls in a dish because I could probably stress-eat the entire carton if I wasn't careful. “So you weren't blowing me off?”

“Do you have to take everything in the worst possible way?”

“When it comes to your fraternity? Do you need to ask?”

Wisely, he ignored my comment. “I take it you spoke to Lei. Where are you?”

“Home.” Close enough. “How's the meeting going?”

“It's not. I'm confident both the satyrs and the goblins have information about the Vessels that could be useful, but none of them are willing to share what they know.”

Gooey chocolate melted on my tongue. My muscles seemed to melt with the ice cream. “How did you find that out?”

“I overheard the goblins from the High Council talking to Gunthra.”

“Sloppy of them.”

I could almost hear Tom smile. “They weren't aware of my presence.”

“So you were spying? I approve.”

“I'm so thrilled to have finally earned some respect from you.”

I grinned and ate the last spoonful of ice cream. “Every now and then you manage, but don't think I'm happy about being removed from the investigation. I'm not done arguing.”

“I wouldn't dream I'd be so lucky. Are you returning to the office?”

I stuck the dirty dishes in Lucen's dishwasher and wandered into the living room. “I have a couple of Olef's books here, and more to go on from Lei. So no. It's enough to keep me busy. Unless you plan to let me in on more secrets if I go in.”

“Not today. Keep researching.”

“Fine.” I hung up on him and tossed the phone on the table.

A banging noise from behind alerted me that Sweetpea was up to no good. The dragon had apparently decided he was sick of being caged and was butting his head against the bars. “That makes two of us,” I told him. “I feel like I'm doing exactly the same thing.”

Chapter Fourteen

Although I considered Sweetpea and myself to have shared a bonding moment, the dragon didn't agree. Biting was more his style than bonding, but he eventually calmed down when he realized I wasn't going to let him out of the cage so he could sink his teeth into me.

“Hush, you,” I muttered as he attacked the poor chew toy Lucen had given him.

My stomach rumbled, and I flipped the page in Olef's book. Since the meeting had broken up, I expected Lucen home soon, and I was trying to be good and wait for him to arrive so we could eat together. As he enjoyed pointing out, he was the better cook.

Alas, Olef's book was dry reading and therefore a poor distraction. Thanks to my conversation with Lei, I had an idea why he'd been reading it, but the content—magical theory—was mostly over my head. The Gryphons wanted me to study the topic too but at a much more basic level. As such, my eyes glazed over as I scanned the pages in hopes of finding words like “channel” or “key” or anything that would induce me to stop and read more thoroughly.

I was about to give up and text Lucen when someone knocked. Warily, I set the book down and traipsed to the narrow entryway that was squeezed between the living room and kitchen. Lucen had no peephole on the door, but he had a chain lock, which I made sure was in place.

Despite my caution, I'd been hoping for a friendly visitor. Maybe Devon coming by to tease me for storming out of the meeting, or Dezzi stopping in to express her displeasure.

I got Claudius. Fuck.

“Lucen's not home yet.” I went to shut the door, but it never made it all the way.

The Upper Council satyr smiled down on me, and the effect was dizzying. My head clouded with his pheromones, and my lungs constricted.

At the meeting this afternoon, he'd been working none of his power on me, and I'd seen him as just another satyr. Another arrogant satyr. Someone I could have decked for his terribly timed sense of humor.

That man was gone. Too late, I realized Claudius had only been toying with me the first time we'd met. Now, when I gaped at him, my body was overwhelmed by his beauty and the primal lust he aroused. It seemed to settle on my skin like dew.

My tongue swept against my teeth, and my knees trembled. I wanted to kneel before him. Take him in my mouth. Already, I could taste the salty sweetness of his skin. Picture myself closing my lips around his cock, feel his hands pressing me closer, deeper, hear myself moaning as I pleasured him.

And even though some part of me knew he was inserting these images and desires in my mind, I couldn't fight them off. My immunity to pred power was shot to hell. I ached for him something fierce.

“Let me in, Jessica.” He notched his head to the side. “I came to apologize for offending you earlier.”

“So apologize.” The protective glyphs the Gryphons had drawn on me warmed, but their magical shield proved thin.

Wet wind gusted outside, and Claudius's dark eyes gazed at me endearingly. “I thought I just did. Are you going to let me in?”

No. Absolutely not. Yet my traitorous right hand was releasing the chain lock, and my left was sliding over my breasts, clutching the fabric of my shirt and rubbing my hard nipples. I shivered.

The chain fell against the door, and I stepped back to let Claudius in. He shut the door behind him.

Realizing what my left hand was doing, I dropped it back to my side. My heart pounded, burning lust mixed with increasing fear. I should not have let him in. This could go bad so very fast, and I'd enjoy every second of it right until he left and I had to deal with the fallout. Lucen wouldn't care if I had sex with Claudius, but I would. No matter what my body was telling me, I did not want him touching me.

For the first time in a long while, I remembered very clearly why I'd been scared of preds. Why I'd stayed away from Lucen and denied my feelings for him for so long. When you couldn't tell a person no, you had no ability to tell them yes.

Backed against the wall, I inched away from Claudius. “Since you think you've already apologized, you can either give me another reason for staying or you can leave.”

He chuckled. “You think you could kick me out?”

“I'm willing to try.”

“Someone needs to teach you manners. That's not how a satyr speaks to her superiors. This is the second time today you've been insulting.”

I crossed my arms in front of my chest, sensing he'd been staring at it. “Second time you've been too. Don't be a jackass, and I'll be nice.”

Claudius turned his back on me, but I could see his shoulders shaking with amusement as he wandered deeper into Lucen's apartment. He'd changed out of the clothes he'd worn to the meeting earlier, opting for a tight black shirt and a pair of jeans that hugged his ass nicely.

Bad Jess. Stop staring at his ass. You're as terrible as he is.

“How am I being a jackass?” He stopped in front of Sweetpea's cage, and I was pleased to see the dragon growl at him.

“You're messing with my head.”

He tossed me a glance over his shoulder. “Messing with it sounds very unsystematic. I'm testing you, Jessica. I want to see how much of a satyr you are.”

“Not enough for you. You made that clear.”

“No. And yet your very human reaction to me does intrigue. I've been alive a long time, you know. I've fucked kings and queens, heroes and villains, Gryphons and priests, and so many boring satyrs. But never someone with your unique magical signature. I'd like to remedy that.”

Oh, God. My body wanted to remedy that too. Traitor, I silently cursed it, but it didn't care. Liquid heat pooled between my legs the moment Claudius uttered the word
fuck
like some erotic and terrible Pavlovian response.

If he was determined, there would be nothing I could do about it. My body didn't want me doing anything. My brain was screaming,
Oh, hell no,
but the stupid cluster of nerves between my legs was yelling,
Oh, please yes.

The nerves got the better of my legs, and I shuffled forward then grasped the stairwell baluster, breathing hard. With one hand I reached under my shirt and grabbed the pendant Lucen had given me, clutching it tight, as though it could drive off these thoughts. All it did was up the aching in my breasts as my skin brushed them. My stance widened as I leaned against the railing.

Way to go, body. Just spread your legs for him.

Luckily, my brain had better control of my mouth than my limbs. “I don't think it's a good idea.”

Okay, so maybe its control of my mouth was lacking a little force.

Sweetpea's cage was near the stairs, and it only took Claudius a couple steps to reach me. “You don't think? I'm doing you an honor.”

I laughed shakily. “Why am I not surprised you believe you're that good?”

“You are feisty.” He came up behind me, his body heat enveloping me. “I'm going to enjoy listening to you come and begging for more.”

I held my breath as his hands lifted my shirt and slid around my waist. His touch was light and cool, and his fingertips sent sparks down my skin into my groin. I squirmed in his grip. Though I wanted to tell him to stop, my brain was disassociating from my body. And when he leaned over me and inhaled deeply at the crook of my neck, I actually moaned.

“Again,” he whispered in my ear, and his breath was fire. His lips brushed my earlobe, and his hard body and a massive erection pressed against my ass. My legs spread wider, begging to take him in, and I was helpless not to do as he commanded. “Good girl.”

Claudius pulled me away from the railing and shoved me against the wall. His fingers dug into my hips, slipping under the waistband of my jeans. My hands grabbed hold of his shirt, but I couldn't decide whether to push him away or rip it off.

“A true satyr wouldn't be fighting me,” he whispered, bending in closer. I closed my eyes, intoxicated by his scent and enthralled with the sensation of his cock on my stomach. I rubbed myself against him, and he licked my collarbone and up my throat.

I gasped, struggling for words. “A true human couldn't fight you either.”

That seemed to give him pause. “Your resistance is unusual, I admit. But I never said you were a pure human.”

He withdrew suddenly, and I thought I might have won. Feared I might have too. My body was flushed from head to toe, and my breaths were nothing but a series of jagged gasps. Looking at Claudius's hard stomach muscles and the teasing bulge in his pants was going to drive me insane. I had to kick him out while I had a chance, but I couldn't do it.

He smiled slowly. “Dezzi told me what you could do. Let's see how strong you are, shall we?”

“What are you…?”

I crumpled to the stairs, and a horrible reality swept over me. Claudius hadn't just been working his wickedly tempting mojo on me. He'd been arousing me enough to have laid the groundwork for a pred-addict bond.

My nerves danced, and Claudius watched me writhe with an expression of such hunger that it fed my desire. I had to close my eyes, and only then could I sense his grip around my soul. It was surprisingly—or maybe unsurprisingly—pleasant. When the furies and sylphs had mentally assaulted me, it felt like a vise squeezing my head. With Claudius, his magic felt more like a pair of very skillful hands playing with my body.

But he was still a pred, and I knew what to do with preds who tried to addict me.
Test this.

I stopped resisting and let him in. All at once, the whole of his power flooded me. I cried out, grasping at the stairs as it crescendoed through me, and I exploded in the least satisfying orgasm ever. My body felt like it rocked forever, but the release lasted a mere second.

I opened my eyes to see him wetting his lips in triumph as he watched me. My need for him was unabated. If I had the ability to stand, I'd have gone straight for his jeans, torn them off and taken his erection for myself. There was almost nothing left of me but pure, animal instinct.

Almost.

So instead I grabbed at his power. This was my test, after all. He wanted to see how strong I was, so I'd show him.

In my mind's eye, the bond connecting us was a circuit, a river of power with a current flowing almost entirely from me into him but for one measly tributary that closed the loop and connected us in the other direction. It was on the tributary that I focused my attention and yanked.

I felt the tug instantly, letting me know I'd snagged something. But unlike when I'd used this trick on Red-eye the fury or one of the sylphs, the circuit didn't reverse so easily. Claudius's pull was stronger. Much stronger. And my body didn't want to fight him or the glorious desire that immersed it. I wanted to give in and give up, let this struggle go and let him have his way with me.

Seething, I fought against myself as much as against him, and I tightened my grip. The current faltered and slowed, but it didn't reverse. Yet even that much effort made my head shriek in pain.

Clenching my jaw, I tried again, and I got the distinct sense that Claudius wasn't fighting me. This time when I pulled, a new tributary split off and more of his power slammed into me. The throbbing in my head picked up tempo. As good as my body felt, my head felt awful—a splitting pain like my skull had cracked open.

Then he released me.

I gasped, and my eyes watered in agony as I hunched over. “What the hell?”

“I have to say that was disappointing.”

I winced as I raised my gaze to meet his. “I hate you.”

Claudius threw his head back and laughed. “Why? Because you can't keep me out of your head like you do the others? That's hardly my fault. You're not as powerful as Dezzi led me to believe, nor—I'm guessing—as powerful as the Gryphons think you are. How do they expect you to stand up to the originals if you can't even fight me?”

I whimpered and rubbed my temples. “I have no clue what they expect me to do.”

He knelt next to me and placed his hands on my arms. The desire that had grown cold in me, overpowered by my splitting head, returned. His warmth crept up my arms, and my pulse quickened once more. “You fear me, don't you? I can sense it. That's good. Fear goes a long way toward engendering the respect you owe me. Plus it can make other undertakings much more exciting.”

Claudius ran his thumb over my lips. I was tempted to bite it, but that would likely give him the wrong idea. “Can't tonight, honey. You gave me a headache.”

“I could make it go away.”

“You could. It's called leaving.” The apartment door opened, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Jess?”

Claudius stood as Lucen appeared in the living room entryway. “You missed our tête-a-tête, Lucen. Jessica was showing me what she could do.”

“Was she?” His voice was cold.

I glanced up at him, wanting to throw my arms around him but too weak to move. His face softened.

“Unfortunately, she's not as impressive as I was hoping,” Claudius continued. “Being a strange human does not make her a satyr. More like an imperfect imitation of one. Though I imagine she has uses, that's hardly a reason to claim her as one of our own. I'll need to speak with Dezzi about her.”

“Her is here, you know,” I said through gritted teeth.

Claudius blew me a kiss. “We can try again another time.” Then he nodded at a stunned-looking Lucen and left.

I flipped him off as the door shut.

Lucen dropped the bag he'd been holding and rushed over to me. “Little siren, are you okay? What did he do to you?”

I launched myself forward and fell onto him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I felt better although I wasn't sure what throbbed worse—my head or the residual lust Claudius left behind. Either way, for the love of dragons, it was a terrible and unnatural combination.

“He said he was testing me.” I burrowed my face against Lucen's shoulder. “First he seemed intent on sex, and when I resisted, he decided to test how strong my resistance to his magic was. He addicted me.”