Lasting Fury (Hexing House Book 2) (20 page)

“I can’t say I’d be all that pissed off,” Alecto muttered.

“She’s my prisoner,” Megaira said. “Caught trespassing illegally in my building. I’ll do what I like with her.”

Alecto sighed, crossed her arms, and said with resigned irritation, “No, you won’t. She’s a member of my colony, and you will let her go.” She glanced at Holgersen and added, “And him too, I suppose, while we’re at it. This is fury business. He shouldn’t even be here. And I don’t need the headache of starting some kind of incident with law enforcement.”

“Your headaches are not my concern,” Megaira snapped. “I am the head of this colony.”

Alecto and Megaira continued to argue—making use of several variations on such sibling favorites as
you are not the boss of me
and
I know you are but what am I
—until the board members lost patience, just as Thea had hoped they would.

Frederick called Philip back into the room. “Please find someplace else for our guests to wait. Including Thea and Detective Holgersen. You can remove their restraints.”

“I beg your pardon?” Megaira asked.

At the same time, Alecto asked, “Wait for what?”

Frederick chose to answer Alecto. “For our board to confer in private. We’d like to discuss Thea’s… proposal.”

“There is nothing to discuss—” Megaira began.

“Excuse me,” Frederick interrupted. “But I believe there is. And I think it’s in your best interests if we do it without the members of Hexing House present.”

“Fine.” Alecto stood. “But we’re adding one more item to our terms.”

“Oh?” Frederick asked.

“We will agree to destroy our own hex, submit to inspections, and cease all threats against you from either hexes or washed-up celebrities—on two conditions.” Alecto squared her shoulders and looked at Frederick, not Megaira. “First, you will of course do the same. And second, you will remove Megaira from office and punish her for her crimes, according to whatever system of justice your colony has, but in a way we agree is satisfactory.”

Beside her, Thea could have sworn she heard Holgersen whisper, “Damn straight.”

Megaira was still shrieking threats and insults at her sister when Philip led the contingent from Hexing House out of the room.

He brought them down the hall—it was deserted now, and Thea wondered how the rest of Fury Unlimited was faring in the aftermath of Alecto’s hex—to another, smaller conference room. As soon as he left, Alecto rounded on Thea.

“How DARE you—”

But Thea’s neck hurt, her head still ached, and as far as she was concerned, Alecto could stuff it. “How dare YOU!” she interrupted. She turned to Langdon and Nero. “And I’m sure the two of you had your hands in this, too. Developing a superhex of your own is a betrayal of Hexing House and the trust of—”

“Well, it’s not exactly a superhex,” Nero interrupted.

“I don’t care what it is!”

Langdon looked around, including at the ceiling, as if looking for security cameras (there were none that Thea could see). Then he stepped closer to Thea and whispered in her ear. “It’s not even a hex, exactly. More like a drug. We weren’t even sure it would work. It’s highly unstable and frankly, I wouldn’t assume we’d get the same results twice.”

Thea stared at him.

This whole thing was a bluff?

She didn’t say the words out loud. She didn’t even want to mouth them, inside the Fury Unlimited building.

Finally she shook her head. “The details don’t matter. I can’t believe you thought attacking other furies, or coming here to start a damn arms race, was a good strategy.”

“I can’t believe you thought going rogue on your own was a good strategy,” Alecto said. “Of all the arrogant, prideful things. We had this, believe it or not. We didn’t need your help.” She took a step closer to Thea. “And I specifically warned you that any interference from you would result in the loss of your wings.”

Holgersen stepped up beside Thea, while Gordon stepped up beside Alecto, like rival gangs getting ready for a rumble.

But Thea held up a hand and shook her head. “Wait,” she said sharply and then, even though nobody was talking, “Shh!”

She’d seen something in Alecto’s eyes. Something that didn’t look like her boss. It looked more like…

“Megaira,” Thea said.

“What about her?” Alecto asked. The anger was gone from her voice now, as she studied Thea’s face.

Thea had that feeling in her stomach, like she was coming too fast down a hill.

The same feeling she got when she had a vision.

She quickly ran a claw across her palm, deep enough to draw blood, then held out her hand to Alecto.

Alecto, who had probably seen Nana in this same state a hundred times, didn’t hesitate to take it.

The vision hit Thea fast and hard, and was gone just as quickly. It was less than a full second before she snatched her hand away again.

“We can argue later,” she said. “Your sister is coming to kill you.”

It was two, maybe three seconds after Thea finished speaking, when Megaira came flying into the room, claws out, shouting, a couple of her own security guards at her heels.

Two seconds was enough for Alecto to be prepared.

Thea had seen furies fight before, and she’d gotten a small taste of what Alecto and Megaira could do with their telekinetic powers. But nothing had really prepared her for what a brawl between them would be like. Almost instantly, the conference room was in chaos. Chairs, pads of paper and boxes of pens, power strips, anything that wasn’t fastened to the floor or walls (and a few things that were) flew around and collided. All the while, the sisters slashed at one another with claws and talons.

The Fury Unlimited guards, who appeared to have been chasing Megaira rather than helping her, ducked into the hallway to avoid being hit. Langdon was standing near the door, and did the same. Thea, Holgersen, and Gordon took cover under the table.

“Do we just let them kill each other?” Holgersen asked Thea.

“Of course we don’t!” Gordon said. “We defend the leader of our colony.”

“Hey, I don’t have a colony,” Holgersen pointed out. “That’s all you, buddy.”

With a grumble, Gordon began to move out from under the table.

“What’s he going to do?” Holgersen asked. “Doesn’t seem to be much point in pulling them apart when they can just keep throwing everything around. Why doesn’t Megaira’s security shoot her?”

One of the guards was staring from the doorway with his mouth open. His hand was on the gun at his belt, but he made no move to draw it.

“Because they’re afraid to,” Thea said. “But I’m not.”

Gordon made a grab for Megaira, but before he could reach her a chair slammed into his head and knocked him out cold.

The way Thea saw it, she had two options. One, she could fly over to the guard, hoping she didn’t get knocked out herself on the way, then ask him nicely for his gun, hoping he would just hand it over.

Or two, she could take it. After all, Alecto and Megaira weren’t the only ones who could do a little telekinesis.

Her powers were unpredictable at best, but they’d only grown since she’d gone through the transformation. And they seemed to work best in high adrenaline situations. She thought of Mr. Fanatic’s truck, flipped over on the side of the road.

Come on, Thea. What’s a little piece of metal compared to a whole truck?

She looked again at the guard’s belt, focused, and flicked her wrist.

The gun sailed into her hand.

As soon as she caught it, Thea flipped it around and shot Megaira.

She’d been aiming for the knee—a wound that would knock Megaira down and startle her out of focus—but although Thea had grown up around guns, she’d never been a very good shot. She got Megaira in the hip.

Close enough.

The second Megaira hit the ground, writhing and screaming, a dozen pieces of flying furniture and debris dropped abruptly to the floor. Alecto, breathing heavily, took a step back. She’d been clawed in several places, and was bleeding quite a bit, as was her sister.

The guard whose gun Thea had taken rushed to his boss—former boss?—and injected her in the neck with something. Megaira calmed almost immediately.

Thea hoped it was the same thing they’d drugged her with. It caused a bitch of a headache.

Ten minutes later, the rest of them were back in the board room. Langdon stood over Alecto, bandaging a few of her wounds with a first aid kit they’d given him.

Frederick was sitting in Megaira’s seat.

“Megaira has been taken to the infirmary,” he told them. “We’ll deal with her from here. We may need to keep her sedated until her wrath passes, but I’m telling you now, we won’t take her wings.”

“What will you do?” Alecto asked.

“Keep her out of power,” Frederick said. “And keep her here at Fury Unlimited, in a low-responsibility, low-access position. It will be punishment enough for her to watch the colony she built flourishing, under the control of others who are making advances and making names for themselves, while she’s a nobody doing menial work.”

“It won’t even be close!” Holgersen said. “Are you seriously in the
justice
business? She killed several people. Orphaned a little boy.”

“She’s done a lot of things she should have to answer for,” Thea agreed.

But Alecto held up a hand. “I know my sister. Frederick is right. They’re essentially putting her in her version of hell. It’ll do.” She looked down the table at her rival colony’s board. “I assume our other terms are acceptable, with regards to the superhex?”

“I’m the head of RDM,” Frederick said. “And I’ll be candid with you: I’ve never been a fan of this product line. It’s volatile, unpredictable. The buyers aren’t trustworthy. It involves too much risk all around. Not many of us here, apart from Megaira, will have a hard time giving it up.

“And those who do will fall in line anyway,” another fury added. “We need to put the business first.”

“Good,” said Alecto.

“But that doesn’t mean we aren’t happy here,” Frederick said. “I’ve had some disagreements with Megaira, most especially with her methods. But a lot of her ideas were spot on. Those of us who left Hexing House had our reasons. And we want to stay at Fury Unlimited.”

“Understood,” Alecto said. “Hexing House poses no threat to you. Except, of course, for a little friendly competition.”

Thea very much doubted the competition would be friendly, but for now at least, they’d gotten what they needed. Megaira was neutralized, the superhex was a thing of the past. It was a victory.

It was also time to go home.

The Bowmans were not waiting at the bottom of the mountain road. Thea found out later that they’d given up and gone home, as she’d hoped they would. Holgersen called a cab to take him to the airport, and Thea flew home with the others.

It was late at night when they got back to Hexing House. Alecto brought them all back to her residence, and sent her butler to find them some food.

“I’m going to let you keep your wings, by the way,” Alecto said to Thea. “As a thank you for warning me that Maggie was coming for me. If she’d taken me by surprise, that might have ended differently.”

“Doesn’t look like it ended so well as it is.” Thea pointed at a bandage on Alecto’s shoulder that was already soaked through with blood.

“That’s nothing we can’t take care of,” Langdon said. He was squatting beside Thea, looking at her neck where the dart had gotten her. “And neither is this, by the way. You’ll be fine.”

Thea turned to give him a pointed look. “Are you sure you have time to cure people? Not too busy making your own superhex?”

Langdon dismissed that with a wave. “Most of that pseudo-hex was Nero’s doing.”

Thea glared at Nero. “And you didn’t tell me.”

“Some people follow orders,” Alecto said dryly.

Nero gave Thea a helpless little shrug, and Thea couldn’t help but smile.

“By the way, Thea,” Alecto said. “You do have a recording of the Bowmans being offered the superhex? That wasn’t a bluff?”

“We have it.”

“Good. Find a way for Todd Caulfield to hear it.
Just
hear it, mind you. No leaked copies he could bring to the media.”

“Defying the peace agreement already?”

“I don’t recall the absolute protection of all their secrets being one of our terms. I believe my exact words were
cease all threats from hexes or washed-up celebrities
. Todd Caulfield is neither, and unlike you, he hasn’t got the power to command a reality show. Word won’t spread far. But it’ll spread far enough to get the Concerned Citizens off our backs, I would think.”

Thea shrugged. “Fine with me. As far as I’m concerned, the victims of Hemlock Heights deserve to know who made that hex.”

Half an hour later, Langdon stopped Thea as she was leaving Alecto’s house. “You missed something else today,” he said. “Dr. Forrester and I appear to have made an excellent team. We believe we have cured the Ninth Disorder for good. We’ll need to keep the doctor and Julius under observation for a week or so to be sure, but I’m confident they’ll be home soon, and with no permanent effects.”

“That’s kind of sad,” Thea said. “If Megaira had been able to do what you’ve done, Hemlock Heights would never have had to happen.”

“It’s a shame we couldn’t save the Lexingtons, or the others,” Langdon said. “But I’m glad we could do this for Julius. He deserves a long and normal life, after everything he’s been through.”

“He’s a good kid.”

“I’ve grown fond of him,” Langdon agreed.

“So this cure, is it a pill, or what?”

“A series of shots and hexes, taken over several days.”

“A series of
hexes
?”

“Well, not exactly hexes. Hex-like things.”

“More pseudo-hexes?” Thea asked.

“If you like. It’s a really interesting delivery mechanism. Sort of like using hex technology to introduce something other than a hex into a target’s system. Dr. Forrester and I—”

“I want to take it,” Thea interrupted. “The cure.”

Langdon frowned at her. “Thea, how many times must we go through this? You don’t have the Ninth Disorder.”

“Is it dangerous for a fury to take?”

“No, I doubt it,” he conceded. “But I’ve told you—”

“—that you don’t
think
I have it. And if I try this cure, and nothing changes, you’ll be proved right.”

And so she took it.

And Langdon was proved right. Nothing changed.

Thea wasn’t surprised. She’d known the truth before she took the first dose. But she’d insisted on making sure beyond all doubt, because a small part of her, a part she could only put to rest with hard proof, still hoped for something to blame. For Philip. For Mr. Fanatic.

But although she might have some regrets to face, this wasn’t really bad news. Because if it wasn’t the disease, then it was
her
. Her wrath. Her choice to control it, or to give in. She might be a monster, but she was a
free
monster.

Thea called Pete the morning after she found out.

“I want to see you, but I don’t want to come around your house,” she said. Pete’s elderly and not-terribly-healthy father lived with him. Thea had no idea how much the old man knew, but even if Pete had told him everything, there was a big difference between knowing about furies and having one in your living room. “Can you meet me at your cabin to talk?”

He agreed, but he sounded strangely distant. Thea wondered what was going on with him. Had his dad taken a turn for the worse? Was he distracted by something else?

When was the last time they’d talked?

Shit.

Not since Flannery’s wedding.

Since Thea had come back to the ruined Colony Center with a triumphant expression on her face and a corpse in her arms.

And for the first time in her life, she felt shy and uncertain about Pete.

Thea arrived at the cabin early, but rather than let herself in, she waited on the porch, on the chair beside the old lobster trap that had belonged to Pete’s mother. Pete pulled up a few minutes later, got out of his SUV, and climbed the first two porch steps. He stopped there and leaned against the railing.

“What’s up, Gumdrop?”

“I just… I kind of blew you off, that day we were packing Flannery’s things,” Thea said. “I had some things going on that I didn’t want to tell you about then. That I was afraid to tell you about. But I wanted to tell you now.”

“All right.”

Pacing back and forth as she spoke, never meeting his eye, Thea told him everything. About the Ninth Disorder, about her difficulty controlling her rage. And about how she thought—she hoped—she was past that now.

“So it turns out you never had this disease,” Pete said when she finished.

“No. I’m just a fury. But now that I know that, I can control my instincts.”

“Can you? I don’t know about that.”

“Pete!”

“Thea, the last time I saw you, you were carrying a
dead body
. Someone you killed yourself, with your bare hands!”