Keepers & Killers (The Alchemy Series) (11 page)

I watched Cormac ponder over the terms. "You agree to destroy the current contract and it
's a deal."

Vitor nodded.

Cormac nodded.

I sighed in relief. I had enough going on with a crazy Senator that was killing people and wolves now wanting us dead. I didn
't need another battle to fight.

"Tomorrow, at midnight. My place," Vitor said, and Cormac nodded.

"Why then?" I asked, as no one else seemed to be finding the timing unusual.

Cormac turned to me to explain, "There are certain times during the day when magic is weaker. It depends on what
type of magic it is exactly, but midnight is usually the best bet. It's the time between two days that allows for a weakness in the contract. Certain days of the year make it easier but we don't have that kind of time."

Vitor left pretty quickly after
it was arranged, not wanting to stay in Cormac's domain.

Cormac followed him out to go down and confirm that everyone that could run the portal knew it was shut down, but I stopped him before he left. "What if you can
't break the contract?"

"We have to. This is much bigger than the wolves. We don
't know where the senator comes from or where he gets his strength. We've got to keep this contained as much as we can. He's not human, which means he might come from there. We can't let in anyone that might aid him."

I thought back to how he was helping Tracker set up other wormholes. "And he wants them open, which means we don
't," I added.

"Exactly."

I watched him go and I headed toward the guest suite, my old rooms. wanting a shower but also not wanting to be far from the book.

My hands shook as I turned on the water and let it flow over me, but I couldn
't even enjoy that. Finishing up quickly, I asked Ben to get me a pair of Cormac's sweats and t-shirt. I was swimming in them but at least they were clean. Then I went and sat with the guys as everyone took their turn trying to get the book open.

When I got there, I found the doctor, Sabrina, there as well as Kever and another petite brunette Keeper named Lucy
, who I'd seen operate the portal.

There were others but I also knew the amount of people
that Cormac really trusted was small, even among The Keepers.

Dodd had control of the remote as usual, but it didn
't matter since I couldn't pay attention to the TV anyway. I just sat there, half in a trance, replaying Rick's image in my head, only occasionally startled as someone would try to open the book again and inevitably screamed out in pain.

At that moment, I didn
't think things could get much worse. It felt much later than it was, since it had been the middle of the night on their planet, but here the eleven o'clock news was just coming on.

When I looked at the screen, I was shocked. They were older but I would have recognized them anywhere. After all, I
'd thought that they were going to be my parents. How could I forget them? And now their pictures were on the TV.

The news reporter explained the chilling details of how Charles shot Maxine in the middle of a park. Then shot himself.

I thought I heard Dodd in the background, saying something about all the crazies out there now, but I was hypnotized by the TV.

It couldn
't be. He'd just gone crazy. He hadn't seemed crazy when I was a child, because I was too young to notice. And what kind of judge was I anyway? I had a couple screws loose myself.

I would have been able to rationalize it away. I
'd almost been there, if they had just not interviewed someone in the park. It was a woman in her early thirties describing her eyewitness account. Nothing more shocking than you would expect, considering what had just happened, until she told the reporter that he had spoken right before he blew his head off.

"What?" the reporter asked her.

Please, please, don't be what I think it's going to be, was all that ran through my mind as the witness rambled on about how strange it all seemed, but still not saying what he said. I pulled my knees up to my chest and half hid my face, as if I'd somehow be able to shield myself from the horrible truth I was afraid I was about to find out. Finally she said, "He said 'the senator says hello'. It was the strangest thing."

I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on my knees, frozen and immobilized, as my reality became a living nightmare. I didn
't cry or scream. I did nothing. Some logical part of me reasoned that I was in shock.

Why me? I know people ask that all the time when bad things happen. I also thought I was done with that question and accepted life for whatever it handed me. It hadn
't been all sweet and perfect but I'd gotten some good things too. When the senator had talked about payback that night, I hadn't thought it would come like this. My pain I could handle. This? No. I knew me and I knew my soft spots. I couldn't hold up under too much more of this. Just not the way I was built.

The door in the hallway shut and we all turned to see Cormac strut into the room.

"Any progress?" he asked and tilted his head in the direction of the book, still sat on the table.

Dodd rattled off a list of our futile attempts but when I looked over at the two of them
, Cormac only seemed to be paying half attention, his eyes glued on me. He made a not so subtle gesture of telling them we're through for the night and ushered everyone out. I fell in with everyone, as they headed through the door.

I
'd put one foot into the hallway when Cormac's voice called from behind me, "Jo, wait up a minute."

Shit. I knew what I had to do and didn
't want to discuss it with him. I hesitated for a few seconds then forced myself to turn around. Act natural.

"What
's up?"

He walked over with purpose to where I still hovered in the doorway. His predatory nature was sometimes overwhelming and if
it had been even a month ago, I would have run away screaming. We had a dark past, the two of us, but I didn't think he'd hurt me. Sometimes I thought I saw something else lingering in those predatory eyes that gave me a chill. But it was of a completely different nature and promised a whole different kind of hurt.

"Come in here."

I sauntered back in as if nothing were amiss other than what he already knew. I watched him close the door and then stand in front of it.

"You
're acting weird."

"No I
'm not."

"Yes, you are, and you aren
't leaving until you tell me what's up."

"Cormac, we were just almost killed by a pack of human wolves, ran through a wormhole to be dumped onto the casino floor in front of an audience. How normal could I be right now?" I watched his face
, waiting to see if he was going to buy my story, but he was so damn hard to read sometimes. I saw a twitch in his left cheek but that could mean I was fine or maybe the guy was hungry. He was pretty solid, I imagined he had to eat a lot.

"I think you should stay here. I don
't feel comfortable, with everything going on."

Nope, that wasn
't good. It would be a lot harder to do anything under the Cormac microscope. As it was, I was going to have to figure a new way out of the garage.

"So, is everybody going to be staying here?"

"This is different."

"Why?"

Now his muscle definitely was twitching. "It just is."

"We are supposed to be partners, correct?" I didn
't wait for an answer and he didn't give one. "It's bad enough you moved my trailer to your garage, but that's where I'm staying." And now came the big test. He stood like a statue in front of the door as I squeezed around him. He didn't move, but he didn't stop me either.

Chapter  Seven

It was nine o'clock in the morning when I stood and stared at the building that housed the senator's office. That morning it had been tougher than ever to get out without a tail. I'd made it all the way down the car ramp to find a guy sitting at the bottom, drinking coffee and reading a paper in a lounge chair. No one ever tried to stop me from going anywhere, but didn't anybody realize a girl needs some privacy sometimes?

I
'd turned around, made my way back in and headed to the main kitchen area where they received deliveries. I got a couple of strange looks from the kitchen staff but no goons followed.

Now, here I stood, a knife in one pocket and a gun in the other. Even if I couldn
't kill him, maybe if he killed me he would stop trying to murder everyone I knew. Yes, that was me, always the optimist.

My hands were in my pockets so no one could see I was shaking like a leaf. I strolled up to the front reception desk
, dressed in my black pants suit, trying to act the part of someone politically involved. Someone who should've been here.

"I
'm here to see the senator," I said as I approached the blond receptionist who looked even younger than I did.

"What
's your name, Miss?"

"Josephine Davids." Why bother to lie? There were at least four cameras aimed
at me anyway.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but the senator knows me well."

That seemed to catch her attention and I realized the word
'well' might have given her the wrong impression.

"If you could just take a seat, I
'll see if he can see you."

The chill in her voice confirmed she now thought I was a call girl. If this kept happening, I might need to get cards made up.

The upholstered chairs in the waiting area were quite comfortable for what it was worth. I watched the receptionist make a call and then greet another man that walked past and through the door that would lead to where I needed to go.

It wasn
't long before a different man walked out through the same door. I saw his eyes scan the waiting area and lock on me, but he didn't approach. Blood pumped through my veins so hard and fast it dulled my hearing. Game on, I thought to myself.

Then he handed a white envelope to the receptionist and left. The receptionist stood and walked over to me with a forced smile on her face.

"The senator asked me to deliver this to you and apologizes but his schedule is too busy to see you today."

I accepted the envelope as I sat there befuddled. He wouldn
't see me? We were arch enemies. This isn't how it happened in the movies. Where was our big confrontation? I get a card? I felt kind of cheated, to be honest.

Looking down at the sealed envelope in my hands, I counted her retreating footsteps
, gauging her distance before I tore the seal open.

It was so nice of you to visit me today, but you'll need to reschedule.

The debt must be paid.

I was lost. I couldn
't figure out the Senator's angle. Was this a personal vendetta but why go through all, this? Just kill me already. I sure couldn't figure out how this had anything to do with taking over the world. Then there were the wormholes we knew he was behind. What did they have to do with anything? My head spun with all the variables, nothing fitting neatly together like I thought it should.

I shoved the note in my pocket, half crumbling it as I did. All decorum was gone as I raced from the building, not caring what I
looked like anymore. It was either that or storm the door that led to him. In my current mood, I'd end up killing innocent people in my efforts before I died a bloody death.

The second I got outside, I pulled the jacket off and undid another button of my blouse. The heat of Vegas felt oppressive as I walked away from the showdown that
hadn't happen. How silly I'd been to think I'd be able to end it today.  After all, when did things ever work according to plan?

I stumbled blindly away from the building in search of space. When I finally stopped to look at where I was walking, I saw Cormac waiting by the curb. The crossed arms and look in his eyes told me there would be a showdown after all, just with a different adversary.

When I had anticipated this moment in my head, either the senator or I was supposed to be dead. If it was dead, then I'd have nothing to really worry about with Cormac. If I made it, how could anybody be pissed at the person that killed the bad guy?

He stood there in front of his newest Ferrari,
which happened to be white. I didn't bother ignoring him, I had my own pent up anger and if he wanted a fight, so be it. I'd give him one.

"What?" Some words in life are very versatile.
What
could have sounded defensive, shocked or nonchalant. The way I just said it was more along the lines of
What
the fuck is your problem? This was definitely a cursing
what
.