Double Alchemy: Climax (11 page)

“It’s blood,” Jeremy said disinterestedly. “It looks like you’re crying tears of the stuff. Matthew says it will get better. He says you need a different perspective on things, to see what he sees, in order to be him. So he’s changed your eyes a little. They won’t look the same anymore.”

“What the hell has he done to them?” Rowan whispered, squinting his eyes against the glare even though it was night.

“You’ll see. I wish I had them.” Jeremy sounded envious. “They look pretty cool, like one of those vampire people with totally black eyes. The ladies will love you.”

He laughed softly and Rowan finally managed to open his eyes without too much pain. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He could focus now and he saw the young Witchfinder in front of him, his silhouette emitting a strange orange glow, almost like an aura. Rowan gazed in wonder around him, seeing light where he’d never seen light before, noting the light around the trees, on the grass, on his own hands. He felt a sense of awe.

Jeremy turned and strode off toward the car. “Come on. I want to get home and you’re the driver.” He looked a little worried. “I hadn’t thought of that. Can you still see to drive back to London?”

Rowan nodded. “I think so. It all looks very different but I can still see.”

The two men got into the blue Rover and drove away, leaving a trail of exhaust fumes behind them.

Chapter 10

Quinn turned off the water in the shower, stepping out of the wet room and wrapping a towel around his waist. He frowned as he heard his mobile ringing downstairs.

It’s Sunday. They can leave a message.

He finished dressing into comfortable chinos and an open-neck grey shirt, pulled on his loafers and went downstairs to wait for Cade to get back from his daily swim. Cade had been practicing holding his breath underwater and seemed to be pleased at the fact he could now reach almost seven minutes without coming up for air. Quinn had even found Cade disconcertingly immersed in his bathwater once or twice while he did the same thing, his hair floating around his face as he grinned up at him. He’d smirked and said he was getting his Sprite on. He hadn’t been contacted again in the pond by any fellow Sprites and was a little disappointed.

Quinn switched on the coffee machine and sat down to check his mobile. The missed call had been from Percy. He knew he wouldn’t have called this early unless it had been urgent, so he called his Marshall back. Percy answered almost immediately.

“Morning, sorry to call so early, but I have some good news to give you. We get so little of that nowadays, I thought you’d want to know.”

“You got that right. What’s up?” Quinn stood watching over the heath to see if he could spot Cade returning.

“I think those clever lads and lasses in the Reponosium have figured out whose Book of Shadows you have.”

Quinn was all ears and he turned away from the window in anticipation. “That
is
good news. Tell me.”

“Do you remember a witch named Elizabeth Clarke?”

Quinn nodded as he paced lion like around the living room. “Yes. She was the poor one-legged woman accused of being a witch by Matthew Hopkins and hanged at Chelmsford Crown Court in 1645.” He frowned. “Are you telling me we have possession of
her
book?”

“I am,” Percy said grimly. “She
was
a witch, a fairly powerful one from what we’ve found in the old texts. Matthew Hopkins set his cap at her for doing something bad to a tailor in the town. After that, there was no escaping the man. Elizabeth Clarke was taken to the cells, tortured and held prisoner until finally she confessed to anything that the Witchfinder General wanted.”

Quinn frowned. “Is that what the initials are on the book then? I thought they were an M and a strange triangular symbol. How does that equate to E.C.?”

Percy chuckled down the line. “I had no idea either until the clever clogs at the research arm told me that they thought the symbols were old Elder Futhark runes, an ancient Germanic text. The M apparently symbolises the letter E and the smaller symbol is a K, which was also used for the letter C. So, the initials E and C. It fits in with the rest of the book contents, as there are various runes of the same language scattered throughout the book.”

Quinn was impressed. “They’re sure about this?”

Percy laughed. “Quinn, even you wouldn’t want to go down and challenge Stephen Moreson on his interpretation of the hidden language of the book. Stephen’s really passionate about his knowledge and his research and he’s one of the world’s experts on ancient languages. He’s a really brilliant man and even
you
wouldn’t be able to scare him.”

Quinn grinned. “I might have to put that to the test sometime. So what else did they find out then?”

“This is the best news. If it’s true, it’s a real breakthrough and God knows we could use of one of those. There’s apparently a story in the texts about Elizabeth Clarke damaging the Witchfinder General. She had very long fingernails, apparently, and as the man tried to get her Book of Shadows away from her, she dug her fingernails into his arm, slicing his arm badly and drawing blood, which spilled all over the book.” Percy’s voice was excited at the news and Quinn could see why. So could Taliesin. His Withinner sounded excited.

This is good news. We can track him down like we did Cade if the blood is indeed his.

“That means the stains on the front of the book could belong to Matthew Hopkins. That’s a really powerful tool for us to use to track him down. I already have people on the lookout for any magyckal activity in Manningtree. Mistley actually, which was supposedly the place he was buried. Hopkins has roots there so it makes sense that Jeremy might go back there. We’ve had nothing yet but I’d imagine he’s masking himself well. We might just need a stroke of luck to pin down exactly where he is.”

A glimmer of hope surged through Quinn’s body. Blood was always a powerful way of finding magyck practitioners and their arts and if that was true, it was a welcome bit of news. Percy continued his story, his voice fairly matter-of-fact.

“I know you won’t like this request, but the research team have asked for the book to be sent over to them so they can do some testing on the stain and verify it is blood, see how old it is and what else they can find in the book. I know you sent over a replica but they really want the real thing. Now, I know how you feel about the book and you’ve probably married it by now and had a honeymoon, you may even have babies on the way, but—”

Quinn sighed heavily. “Enough already, you idiot, I know what I’m like and it’s not a bad request. They deserve to see the real thing and if they can find out more about it than I can, they should have it. I’ll get it sent over ASAP.”

His Withinner commented silkily.

This is indeed an unexpected reaction. Normally you would have combusted at that idea like a chestnut in an open fire.

Quinn scowled.

Well, perhaps I’m learning a little bit of restraint, you poxy sorcerer. Now get out of my head and leave me be.

Taliesin shook in mirth.

“Wow, I must say I expected a lot more resistance to that idea than I got,” Percy said, gob smacked. “You really are mellowing in your old age, aren’t you?”

Quinn snorted. “Don’t overstep the friendship line, Marshall.” But his voice held laughter. The news had definitely made his mood better. He glanced out of the window and his heart leapt as he saw Cade’s tall figure making his way across the heath.

“Once they have the book, let me know the minute they have any results on the tests. If it is blood, we can then convene a Withinner’s Circle and between them, they can try and track down where Jeremy Payton is. Wherever he is, we’ll find Matthew Hopkins. This has been great news. I’ll come down to the Reponosium and personally thanks all those researchers for doing such a great job.”

“They’ll appreciate that, even though Stephen will probably ignore you and hurry back to his books. Don’t be offended if he does; he’s a strange bird.”

Quinn chuckled. “I’ll remember that. Anything else?”

“Nope, that was it for now. I’ll be in touch as soon as I have anything new. Speak to you soon.”

Chapter 11

Cade leaned back in his dining chair at the restaurant and patted his stomach. He grinned at Quinn, who sat opposite him, wincing at the amount of food he’d just eaten. He’d put away more food in one sitting than Cade had ever seen him eat.

“I am now officially stuffed. That was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten.” Cade gazed around admiringly at the dimly lit restaurant with its sophisticated ambience and quiet atmosphere. “I think all I want now is coffee and then home.”

Quinn nodded. “Me too—except I think might have an Irish coffee instead.” He beckoned to a passing waiter and placed their order then sat back in his chair with a satisfied sigh.

“This was a good idea, an anniversary dinner.” He smiled at Cade. “I can’t believe we’ve been together a year. It actually seems much longer. In a good way of course,” he hastened to say.

“Not just been together,” Cade chided him. “Today is the day you ravished me at that charity event. That was really our first date, hence the anniversary dinner tonight.”

Quinn shook his head in amusement. “I’ll never live that down, will I?”

He reached over and took Cade’s hands in his, stroking his palm idly with his thumb. No one paid any attention to them. “I don’t regret a single thing. Meeting you on the heath that evening was my saving grace.”

Cade smirked in the candlelight. “Yeah right. I’m sure if I hadn’t been there you’d have met some other sexy Fey who would have jumped your bones without the hassle I gave you.” He picked up Quinn’s hand and kissed it softly. “But I’m glad it was me.”

The waiter arrived with their coffees and they sipped quietly.

“So, you said you didn’t want an anniversary present.” Quinn looked at Cade curiously. “Instead you said you had something else in mind that you wanted.” He leered at him. “What could that be, I wonder?”

Cade chuckled. “Not what you have in mind, although that may come later.” He hesitated. “You have to promise me you won’t get upset when I tell you what I want. It’s very important to me. I need to know you won’t go all prima donna on me like last time.”

Quinn’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like the sound of this. Exactly what is it you want from me?”

Cade took a deep breath. “To talk. Really talk. At home there’s always someone to interrupt us, or you can’t wait to get to the basement to your books, or there’s some life threatening event that you have to prevent. It’s so difficult to actually have a conversation with you because you get distracted.”

Quinn was still, his eyes wary. “Okay. What do you want to talk about?”

Cade drew a deep breath. “I want to talk about your childhood. I want to know what you did, how you grew up, what you were like as a young boy, a teenager. I know you went to the prom, but did you ever fancy a girl or a boy who didn’t like you, did you get spots on your face—I want to get to know a bit about that part of your life.”

Quinn was still as he toyed with the silver candlestick on the table. The candle had long burnt down. Cade waited to see what his response was.

Finally Quinn looked up and sighed. “I promised you I’d open up and try and tell you more about me. So it’s not an unreasonable request as anniversary presents go. As long as you realise once you open my Pandora’s box, there’s no going back.” He smiled grimly. “It’s been a pretty eventful childhood so I hope you can stomach some of it. I’m no angel, I promise you.”

“Nothing you could do would make me think less of you.” Cade’s hands covered his on the table. “I know this may be painful, but I’d really like to know a little about your parents.”

Quinn looked down at the table. “They were pretty good, from what I remember.” he said softly. “I only had them in my life for six years. My father’s name was Christopher, my mother was Angela. My dad was the Grand Master of the Consortium and it was his full-time job. The Fairmont family has always had plenty of money so he didn’t need to work at another job.” He grinned slightly. “It’s only overachievers like me that want to hold down a day job like a normal person.”

Cade smiled at his comment, nodding his head in agreement.

“My mother was a witch. She fell madly in love with my father when they met at some convention when she was eighteen and it was love at first sight. They had me quite young. My dad was twenty-one, my mum a year younger.”

He sipped his Irish coffee as Cade drank his coffee. Quinn’s fondness for his parents reflected on his face as he talked about them.

“It was obviously a strange childhood. Where other kids were attending play dates with their pals and going to birthday parties, I was learning about magyck and spells and learning how to be physically strong. When you take on your Withinner at age seven, it’s a really intense and physical ritual and they wanted me to ready for it. So I learned how to fight, how to deal with pain, how to be strong.”

Cade squeezed his hands and Quinn smiled.

“It was a tough existence but it was rewarding and my parents did what they could to prepare me for what came later. I couldn’t have had a better grounding. Of course, from birth I was being groomed to be the next Grand Master. But we didn’t expect it would be so soon, that they would die so early.”

His voice trailed off slightly.

“I didn’t want to dredge up your parent’s death,” Cade said quickly. “I don’t want you feeling uncomfortable. Tell me what happened when you were a teenager.”

Quinn shook his head firmly. “You need to know everything I want to tell you. You can’t take part of my life out because you don’t want to hear it.”

Cade stayed silent, watching him, knowing he was getting what he’d asked for. His lover’s eyes were distant.

“We had a house in St. James, a large penthouse. I remember sitting in the lounge, playing with an aeroplane I’d been given for my birthday, when it got really cold. I thought the door had opened; it was the middle of winter and the hallway outside could get quite chilly. I remember getting up to go see what was going on and then…nothing. It’s as if it just all got blanked out.”