Falling Into Place (13 page)

Her eyes flashed as she raised her head to
glare at him. “You’re going to be an uncle.”

“Oh no. Not after Robert took Emily from me.
I’ll make sure you aren’t.” With that he walked into the
kitchen.

* * * *

Liz heard the slide of metal and her heart
started racing. She forced herself to think through her throbbing
headache.

His voice was cold, pure evil lurking. “I’ve
been waiting to remind you who you were for far too long. He
grabbed her panties, and tore them from her body.

“Go to hell.”

He laughed. “I can fuck you now, and take
the baby later, or take the baby and fuck you while you bleed out.
Your choice, Liz. Either way, you’re not walking away from
here.”

“Trust me, James. I’ll make you pay if you
touch me.”

“I’d like to see you try,” he sneered as he
placed the head of his cock against her opening. She focused every
ounce of magic into him. She heard the sizzle and crackle before he
jerked away from her.

James leaned heavily against the wall, his
hand over his dick as he stared at her with pure hate.

“I know what my uncle did to you. I saw it
with my own eyes. The way he tore into your body. You killed him,
but I’m not so easy to kill.”

He snatched the blade off the table and
plunged into her abdomen. She screamed and he did it again, and
again.

She couldn’t travel from one point to
another like Robert, but she could do something to buy a little
time. Holding her breath, she closed her eyes, shutting out his
grunts, the pain, and all sound until she phased through the table,
landing on the floor in a thud that sent a wave of agony through
her. Black spots winked through her vision but she held on.

Liz barely managed to sit up and knew she
did more damage to herself, to her baby, but she had to stop
James.

“Oh, Liz, don’t make this worse,” James
cooed. “I can’t put you back together again if you do too much
damage.” He crouched down, the bloody knife in his hand.

She shot forward, twisting the blade out of
his hand. He laughed cruelly but she didn’t go for his chest and
throat which he expected.

Liz took the blade and jammed it into his
cock. As he screamed she envisioned the blade twining apart, which
it did at her silent command. She yanked, shredding his dick before
she crawled away.

He hit the floor hard, probably passed out
from the pain, because he was hardly breathing at that point. She
crawled to the kitchen and found one of the charms Robert had made
for her.

She threw it at James and whispered the
word. A whirling white vortex opened up and sucked James and the
blood out of her dining room.

The pain made her vision fuzzy, but she
dragged herself to her room. There was so much blood. She knew she
had lost the baby, and it would be a miracle if he hadn’t hit a
major organ. She leaned against the wall and covered her stomach
channeling all of her energy into sealing the wounds.

She was by no means healed, but she was no
longer in danger of bleeding out. Through sheer force will she
managed to change into a silk nightgown and fall into bed.

She didn’t have the energy to call for help.
She needed sleep.

* * * *

Tremaine walked into the Silver Council
Headquarters in Seattle. He needed to look into what it would take
to get Liz a leave of absence. Though, if he could talk her into
retirement, he would in a heartbeat.

He was sick and tired of the political
bullshit that got deeper and deeper as that little shithead Jarvis
climbed the ranks.

After Maynard died, his kid stepped into the
role of lead investigator for the Silver Council Internal Affairs.
The public side of it at least. It still didn’t make a damned bit
of sense when Maynard and Jarvis weren’t the only shady Hendricks
mages in the Council’s history. Their whole family was notorious
for dealing with Dark mages, and smuggling illegal magical
devices.

Before Tremaine made it through the lobby,
James flopped onto the floor with a grunt, his hands over his
groin. Tremaine saw blood, strips of ruined flesh and veins.

He had a momentary pang of sympathy before
he realized what was ruined and a million questions swarmed through
his mind. James was supposed to be across the country.

Tremaine crouched down and rolled James onto
his back. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked sharply.

James wasn’t answering with anything
coherent. Security shoved Tremaine out of the way as they examined
the fallen mage, and before Tremaine could walk back out to check
on Liz, Draecyn appeared and called him down to his office.

Emily was finally settled into her home in
West Seattle. It was a nice home on the water, and was in a quiet
neighborhood. She had finally calmed down, and was sleeping.

Robert stepped out of Emily’s room, and
translocated into the room he shared with Liz. The scent of copper
permeated the air. Liz was in the middle of the bed, curled into a
ball. She never wore a nightgown to bed, but she wore one now. The
cream silk had splotches of crimson, and blood was pooled between
her legs.

Panicked, he rushed to her, and knelt on the
bed. Something was wrong, there was no way that was just monthly
blood.

Being gentle, he pushed her gown up but she
jerked away, shoving at his hands.

He felt the shock but tried to catch her
wrists. “Liz, it’s me, love. I’m here.”

“No. James, no.” Her pain filled cry tore at
Robert’s heart. She shrank away from him, covering her stomach as
tears filled her eyes.

“What did he do to you?” He whispered as he
reached out to brush the tears from her face.

“No,” she screamed as she launched herself
at him, planting her lightning covered hands on his chest and his
ribs as she shoved.

The voltage slammed into him, he felt his
shirt start to burn as he fell. All he could think of were ways to
kill his brother for hurting Liz.

The world went black, but he could hear her
sobs and pleading as she landed on the floor beside him.

* * * *

Robert lay on the floor beside her. Liz
could hardly see through the tears as she stared down at the only
man she had ever given herself to as he lie there dying.

“No, please no,” she whispered as she tore
his burnt shirt away. Blisters were already forming around the
charred flesh in the shape of her hands. “You can’t die,” she
pleaded, placing her hands over Robert’s ruined flesh and pushing
her life force into him.

She envisioned his skin whole and perfect.
The blisters melted away, the crisped layer of skin smoothed out
and mended. When she opened her eyes she saw a shiny white scar
over his heart, and one on his ribs.

He was breathing though, he was alive. She
scrambled back, hugging her legs to her chest as she stared at
him.

I nearly killed him.
Guilt and shame
wiped out all other emotion.
How did I think my sweet, gentle
Robert was ever James?

When she looked down at herself, she
remembered the night before and let the tears come. Her child,
their little baby was gone, and she couldn’t trust herself with
Robert, not after nearly killing him.

She stumbled to her feet and made her way to
the bathroom. A look in the mirror and she knew why he was worried.
She looked like something from a horror movie. Fighting back the
wail of pain, she climbed into the shower with the gown still on
and collapsed to her knees

* * * *

Sobs from the next room pulled Robert back
to reality. He sat up, trying to figure out what the hell had just
happened. He ran his hand over his chest and felt a smooth scar. He
looked down to find her handprint over his heart.

It wasn’t a dream. He shot to his feet and
ran to the bathroom. Liz was on her knees, her hands covering her
face as her whole body shook with cries.

“Liz, baby, look at me.”

Her big hazel eyes glowed as her gaze found
his. “I’m sorry, Robert, I’m so sorry.

“Shh,” he whispered, before climbing in with
her. He pulled her to his chest, holding her tight. “I’m fine. You
healed it, I’m fine. “What did James do?”

She shook her head. “No, don’t ask,” she
begged.

“Whatever it was, I’m going to kill him,” he
vowed. In all his years, he’d never seen Liz so broken over
anything. “I’ll end him.”

“No. I will,” she whispered. “I will make
him pay.” She sat back, and he saw fury in her eyes. “I’ll make him
pay, Robert. Me, I swear it.”

He took her face in his hands. “I won’t stop
you. I only want you safe. I love you no matter what, Liz.”

She buried her face against his chest and he
pulled her tight against him.

“I’ll make this right,” he promised her.

* * * *

The medic mages couldn’t do much for James.
Liz had done so much damage they couldn’t fix all the plumbing. He
stared down at his limp dick. It looked like a swollen jigsaw
puzzle. Every movement he made sent a jolt of pain up his spine,
leaving specks of light in his vision.

Another mage came into his room and looked
him over. This one winced when he got to his penis. “And how did
you manage that?”

“One nasty spell,” James muttered. He’d
never seen anyone turn a blade into a shredding device, but it was
sure as hell effective. “Look, I was attacked unaware, and didn’t
see who cast it. I don’t even know how I got here.”

“Yeah, can’t imagine you remember much after
that.” He nodded to James lap before turning back to the door.
“You’ll be out of here once someone comes to pick you up.”

He didn’t have time for that. He was going
back to Liz as soon as he was out of here, which was now. He walked
up behind the mage and covered his mouth. With a deep draw, he
pulled the other mage’s magic and memories.

In moments, the mage was slumped on the
floor. James stared down at the man, studying the mage. He felt his
bones and face shift to match the other man’s appearance, including
clothes.

On his way out of the Medic’s wing, he
stopped by the potions cabinet and swiped the most potent pain
blocker.

* * * *

Robert stood at the closet door, his hands
splayed on the wood, his head against it. “Please, Liz, let me see
what’s wrong. I can take you to Emily. She can heal whatever it
is.”

“I already told you no. I won’t bother her
with this. Just drop it,” she pleaded.

He didn’t know what else to do. She wouldn’t
let him in, she refused to let him see. He wanted to stop her from
going after James, but he knew that wasn’t an option, so he
wouldn’t let her go alone.

His mind raced, trying to figure out what
James could have done. After he found out about Emily, he couldn’t
put anything past his demented brother. Emily pleaded with Robert
to leave James be, and he did. Now he regretted the decision.

The phone rang and Robert picked it up.
“Yes?”

“Robert? What the fuck is going on?”
Tremaine asked with a quiet force behind his words.

“I wish I knew, but Liz was in bad shape
when I got home. She just received a call from James about the old
warehouse outside of town. She’s going after him, and I’m coming
with her.”

“What did he do?” he demanded.

“Liz won’t let me see. She won’t talk about
it. I don’t know, Trem, but I won’t let her out of my sight.”

“Don’t. I’m coming, but I was sent on some
damned research mission, and I’m still an hour out.”

“You know me better than that. I’m going to
be with her every step of the way.”

“You better be. She’s going to need you
after this,” Tremaine warned before hanging up.

* * * *

“You want me to do what?” Emily asked in a
panicked whisper. She didn’t know how James knew she was back, or
how he got her new number, but he was on the phone with her
anyway.

He called with directions to meet him in an
hour, at some old warehouse. She wanted to tell him that she was
done with him. She couldn’t. He was family, and no matter what he’d
done to her in the past, she couldn’t walk away.

She needed to finally confront him and tell
him how wrong he was. She needed to fix him, if it could even be
done.

While she was in Switzerland, Emily had
found a spell to imprison him in his own head. She could then use
hypnosis to alter his personality. It would take years but she
wanted to save him.

Now he needed her help with something. If
she denied him, he would know something was up. This was her only
chance to attempt this. She had already earned his wrath for
disappearing for months. Emily needed to do this before Robert
found out about the years of abuse.

Robert only knew about the one time, but
that was only the latest incident. He would never let James live if
the truth came out. Emily wasn’t sure she could live with herself
if she didn’t attempt to redeem her twin

* * * *

James was out of breath, pain shooting
through his body with every movement. The potion hadn’t done a
damned thing to help. Even after fully draining two mages, he felt
weak. Whatever Liz did to him further severed his connection to his
own magic.

He heard wood splintering and looked up to
see Liz storm through the door in a maelstrom of flame and energy.
Her colorful hair danced around her as if in a windstorm.

Robert followed with a dark look on his
face, his fury aimed at him. He kept his distance, letting Liz take
the lead.

Raising his hands, James started chanting.
He threw fire bolts at Liz, but she knocked them back with a flick
of her wrist. He barely got the shield up before his own spells
fizzled out against the barrier.