The Banshee's Embrace (18 page)

             
"Then we need them to think the baby is dead." Josiah looked at Gabriella. "And you must never tell the Brotherhood or my son any different."

             
"What are you going to do?" Gabriella clung to the bed, trying to protect her baby as best she could. "I won't let you murder my child."

             
"No. We'll tell everyone the baby was stillborn." Josiah quickly chanted a command spell. Gabriella's eyes dulled and she sobbed uncontrollably as the older wizard took the baby from her. "Derek, will you protect our families or do I have to spell you, too?"

             
Derek stared at the wizard, the hate in his eyes obvious. A lesser wizard though, he didn't dare fight Josiah.

             
"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

             
"Take the baby and find it a home. Let it grow up far from our clans, never knowing about its powers or heritage. This is the way to protect it and our families from the wrath of the Brotherhood." Josiah handed the baby to Derek. "If you speak a word of this to anyone, I will personally hunt you down and exact my own brand of punishment."

             
Derek took the baby and disappeared into the corridor.

             
Josiah bent over the weeping woman and stroked her hair.

             
"It is for the best, my dear. You and Toby may love each other, but the Brotherhood doesn't understand such things. All they see is the potential for our powerful bloodlines to cross and create something that they can't control." He got up and headed towards the door. "Toby really loves you though. Take comfort in that even if you can't be with him."

             
Gabriella only cried harder.

             
The past rushed away, returning them to the Merlyn's Bar.

             
"You lied," Gabe whispered, staring down at his uncle. "You lied from the moment I met you."

             
"I was protecting you," Derek said.

             
"No, you wanted to punish my father. So you bided your time didn't you?" Gabe shook his head. "That's what this has always been about."

             
"Why did you kill my husband?" Jacqueline asked. "What does that have to do with revenge?"

             
"I told you the truth about that. We were tracking Eric because he had been looking for us. Derek was excommunicated from his family. They kicked him out and wanted him dead." Gabe said.

             
"But why Eric? Why would they hire someone outside of their family?"

             
"Eric must have been part of the Spark family," Toby said. "A cousin, maybe?"

             
"That's what Derek said." Gabe kicked at his uncle who remained silent on the ground. "We needed to kill Eric so he'd leave us alone. Only thing is, we hadn't counted on the wife getting in the way. I thought he was in the car that night, not you Jacqueline. And who knew he'd married a future banshee? I knew his job was protecting supernatural beings, but to marry one? He must have really loved you, Jacqueline. Once we realized what we'd unleashed with Eric's death, Derek thought he had a way to get revenge on Toby and have something that would get him back into his family's good graces."

             
"Revenge? Because he loved your sister?" Jacqueline shook her head, meeting Derek's defiant gaze. "You're really a jerk, you know that?"

             
"Toby brought shame to my family," Derek said.
             
"Oh, please." Jacqueline rolled her eyes. "He did no such thing. He loved your sister."

             
"It doesn't matter," Derek said to Gabe. "You were still rejected by your father's family. I was the one who found the Harringtons. They were good to you and when they died, who was there for you? I was. I helped you along the way. I even taught you how to assume the forms of different people. If I hadn't done that, you would have been caught by Toby the night you killed Eric."

             
"You were the man in the bushes," Toby said to Gabe. "I saw you, but you didn't look like this."

             
"I taught him well," Derek laughed. "Williams wizards can't even begin to assume other identities with the ease that a Spark can. Lucky for me, they boy has at least some of my sister's genes."

             
"Did you kill my adoptive family?" Gabe asked. "I always thought their deaths were suspicious. It seemed too convenient to have you swoop in at exactly the right time to help me out."

             
Derek said nothing, but the way his eyes shifted guiltily was proof enough for Gabe.

             
Angered, Gabe suddenly let out a shriek of primal rage! Power lifted his body into the air and electricity crackled from his fingertips, even as it poured from his mouth and eyes. He aimed all of that energy at Derek.

             
"You betrayed me, uncle!" he shouted.

             
The bolt of energy hit Derek in his chest, and as Toby and Jacqueline took cover behind the bar, they saw him writhe in pain, a look of shock on his face. But Gabe's power was no match for anything Derek could have mustered.

             
Within a moment Derek Spark exploded. There was nothing left but ashes.

             
Everything in the room shook. Bottles fell and pieces of the building crashed down around them. When the dust settled, Jacqueline peeked out from behind the bar.

             
"And you were worried about my powers going crazy?" she said to Toby.

             
Together they stood, brushing each other off.

             
Gabe lay on the floor.

             
"No!" Toby ran to his son, kneeling next to him. He breathed a sigh of relief. "He's alive. I don't want to lose him all over again."

             
"He's going to need some help controlling his powers," Jacqueline said.

             
Toby looked up at her.

             
"Speaking of control, do you realize that you broke a command spell on your own? That takes incredible will power," Toby said. "How did you break it?"

             
"I just thought about you." Jacqueline smiled. "I could never hurt someone I love."

             
The smile Toby gave her made her feel as light as air.

             
In fact, as soon as his lips met hers she found herself literally floating.

             
"Now that's my kind of magic," she said.

             
"Do you realize that none of the wizards can hurt you now? They can't control you," Toby pointed out. "I always thought death would be your only escape. Once you were a full bloodied banshee, no one would want to hurt you since all you could take then were dead spirits."

             
"I didn't want to die," Jacqueline whispered. "I want to be with you."

             
She thought about all the things that would need to be taken care of.

             
Explaining what had taken place in the bar to Angela and Matilda while they'd been tied up in the office was going to be interesting. Getting Gabe to control his powers would probably be another hard task--not to mention figuring out how to get past the fact that he had murdered Eric. Learning about the best way to use her new found skills was going to take time, too.

             
Hell, discovering everything there was to know about the supernatural world was going to be a challenge!

             
But as she looked into Toby's eyes, she found she was ready for anything. The future didn't seem so daunting in his arms.

             
For his part, Toby could hardly believe that he'd found such an amazing woman. He would keep her safe from any lingering threat from the Brotherhood or anyone else.

             
But those were worries for another time.

             
At that moment, all he could do was kiss his banshee and enjoy her warm embrace.