Witch Hearts (24 page)

“You mean a special witch like you.” She fought to keep her voice even, hoped that stroking his ego would be the right move. It paid off when he lit up at the compliment; she breathed a small sigh of relief.
 

“Yes, like me. After I take your power for myself, I will never be beaten.”

He paused for a second, his gaze drifting up somewhere far away from Ruby as he seemed to collect the memories. Ruby’s stomach tightened; her gut told her to recapture his attention. She didn’t want him relishing his memories. The more they talked, the longer she stayed alive to do something.
 

When Ruby spoke, she concentrated on keeping her voice curious, maybe even interested. “How do you know things about my friends? You can’t possibly watch us all the time.”

His spacey look went away as he smiled down at her, pleased. The knot lessened an inch in her stomach.
 

“I work alone, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have friends.”

Ruby actually had to prevent her eyes from rolling back. The surprises and problems kept coming. She switched tactics, decided to appeal to his pride.
 

“How did you know Courtney hid all that money?”

Those damaged teeth reappeared in a twisted smile. “Courtney was a beautiful girl, too. I loved her for a while before we met, you know. I knew Courtney better than anyone - her schedule, her habits, the spells she liked to practice in private.”

Ruby’s eyes widened. “Does that mean—”

He shook his head, sounded almost regretful. “I said everything I could in my notes to you.”

Her mind flew back to what he’d said when luring her to Denise’s body; she’d assumed Denise’s body had been the “something valuable” that came along with the book. What if he’d meant something about the million dollars?

His gaze wandered, became lost and she knew she had to reel him in again. She looked at the table behind him, which looked much too like a surgeon’s station.
 
“Does your ritual have something to do with water?”

A chuckle escaped X, a rough sound, like he didn’t do it often. He shook his head. “No, of course not. I wanted to send my girls away peacefully as well as wash away any evidence. It made the most sense.”

Fear seized her again and the words spilled from her mouth. “Why am I here? I thought you didn’t want to kill me. Didn’t you get your fifth witch heart with Rebecca?”

He frowned at her, his expression almost puzzled. “No. I did no such thing.”

“But…”

“I didn’t kill Rebecca.” He tapped his scalpel against her arm in annoyance. “Your power is the strongest. Why would I waste my time with her? She had no real power, nothing to give me for the ritual.”

It was Ruby’s turn to look puzzled. “I don’t understand.”

“The
ritual
,” he said, lowering his voice to a growl. He poked her arm with the scalpel. She jerked back, too late, and blood leaked from a slice. “I need witch hearts. That girl was a pretender. She had no patience and no family history.”

“Not worth your time.” Ruby waited for the small zing of pleasure at all of Rebecca’s lies, but nothing came. Rebecca was dead and now Ruby would follow.
 

“Correct.”

“So where’s her heart?”

“Couldn’t tell you. Don’t care. Now, it’ll be dawn soon. We need to begin.”

Now might be the time to panic. “No, we don’t.”

“Sweetheart, it’s time for you to make the sacrifice. I hate to do it, but if I can’t have you, I don’t think anyone should.” X managed to spare her a small smile, moved his head to show her his eyes, welled up with tears at her death.
 

He lifted the scalpel and Ruby clenched her eyes shut in fear.
 

The door burst open and Ruby squinted at the yellow light that flooded in from the street. She made out the shape of an intruder, the best surprise of her life if anyone asked her. The light behind the figure gave them an angelic look and she almost passed out in relief. After a half second, she gave a start. She knew those broad shoulders, that muscular build.
 

“Michael!” she screamed. She struggled harder against the ropes, her wrists rubbed raw from the thick, scratchy twine. Too bad she didn’t have Lacy’s telekinesis power to untie the knots.
 

“Ruby,” he said grimly, stepping forward into the room. He spared her a glance before turning an angry glare on the killer, who emitted a high-pitched giggle that made Ruby’s skin crawl. Michael stood with his feet spread wide apart, keeping his right arm behind him.
 

“I see Prince Charming has arrived.” X snorted.
 

“You may have killed Rebecca, but you are in no way taking Ruby away from me.” Despite the flat, angry tone, Michael still sounded so matter of fact that it gave Ruby hope.
 

Michael’s shoulder twitched, a sign that Ruby know to mean he was about to get physically aggressive. Good. To hell with this creepy murdering bastard. Ruby hoped Michael beat the everliving shit out of him. She pulled against her ropes some more, felt them tug a little. If Michael could distract him long enough, she might be able to get a spell out to untie herself.
 

“I didn’t kill your little girlfriend, but Ruby here, I need her for the ritual. She’s the biggest puzzle piece.” X’s voice sounded raspy and manic.
 

“And here I thought you loved her too much to kill her.”

Despite standing over Ruby holding a scalpel over her heart, the man’s free hand went up to his heart in wounded disappointment. He shook his head, made a
tsk, tsk
noise
.
 

“I do love her,” he said, looking down at Ruby with affection. Those watery eyes met hers, pride and adoration clear in his gaze. She fought off a cringe and the man looked back up at Michael, a knowing smile playing around his lips. “I love her even more than you do.”

Michael’s tone could not have been more serious as his eyes flickered to Ruby for a split second. “I doubt that very much.”
 

“She and I don’t keep secrets from one another.” The man’s eyes narrowed at Michael, his tone somewhat suggestive.

“You won’t hurt her.”

X tapped his scalpel on the metal table, making Ruby’s eyes twitch with each loud bang. “You’ll have to try harder than that.”
 

Michael’s right arm swung out in front of him and a crossbow appeared. Ruby knew that weapon, a special piece Michael’s grandfather had built that shot wooden bullets instead of arrows. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest, every nerve in her body screaming in fear.
 

“All right,” Michael said, his tone deadly calm. “Get. The fuck. Away from her. Now.”

“You would shoot me? After everything that’s happened?”

“Especially because of what’s happened,” Michael spat back. He cocked the crossbow and aimed towards X’s heart.
 

The killer roared, his left arm flying up above his head. The scalpel in his hand caught the florescent light, winked at her. X moved to bring the blade straight into Ruby’s chest. She screamed, her brain going blank as she braced herself for the pain.
 

Then a short bang sounded in her ears, a loud pop that brought her scream to a shriek. Michael had pulled the trigger. After the longest three seconds Ruby had ever known, she opened her eyes and turned her head to look.

Courtney’s murderer appeared stunned, his body doubling over as he clutched at his stomach. Red seeped into his shirt as he crumpled down to the floor. He looked at Michael, his expression a mix of surprise and anger.
 

“You shot me.” Blood spilled over his fingers onto the concrete ground and he growled like a wounded animal. “You’re going to regret that.”
 

“It’s a different kind of crossbow,” Michael replied, his cold tone unmistakable. “For a different kind of witch. These bullets have a potion on them. You’re not going to like how this ends.”

“M-Michael,” Ruby stammered. She pulled at the ropes on her wrists, waited for Michael to walk over and untie her. Instead, he remained where he stood, gave her a calm look and a slight smile.

“We got him, Ruby.”
 

The killer’s was furious, his eyes focused on Michael. His ugly face twisted in anger as he threw his words out.
 

“You won’t get anything if I die. You can’t finish what you started.”
 

“Be quiet,” Michael told him. He aimed the crossbow at the killer’s head to silence him.
 

“What? What did he just say?” Ruby jerked her head from side to side to see both of their faces as they talked.
 

“Nothing.”

Ruby looked back at her captor, whose murderous glare at Michael made Ruby’s hair stand on end. When he felt her eyes on him, he repeated himself.

“He killed all those people for nothing. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“Shut up!” Michael shouted.

“Michael, what is he talking about?”

“He’s not who you think.” X coughed and red appeared in the corner of his mouth.
 

Ruby struggled against her ropes. “Michael…”

Crossbow still trained on his target, Michael turned his attention back to Ruby and gave her an apologetic look. “He shouldn’t have said anything.”

Ruby hardly recognized her panicked, shaky voice. “What is going on?”

The murderer heaved a sigh, a choking, wet gasp that told Ruby his lungs were filling up with blood. Michael had chosen a potent and painful poison on his bullets. Had Ruby not been terrified for her life right now, she might’ve almost spared sympathy for the psycho. Almost.
 

“Ruby…my angel…I wasn’t entirely honest with you,” X said from his bloodstained spot on the floor. A dribble of blood spilled onto the ground. “I’ve had some help the last few years.”
 

Ruby ignored the sharp pain her neck as she twisted her head back to look at him. She struggled to keep her voice even. Considering that he was a powerful dark witch and she was still tied to a table, he still had the ability to kill her at any second.
 

“What do you mean?” she asked, her mind refusing to connect his statement. “I thought you were the mastermind.”

Michael barked out a sharp laugh that made Ruby’s blood run cold. “Mastermind?
Please
. Xavier couldn’t formulate a plan if his life depended on it.”

The man bared his bloody teeth and Michael stopped his chuckle, perhaps realizing he shouldn’t push a dark witch too far no matter how close to death. Ruby saw her opening.

“Xavier? Y-you can’t possibly be working with him. He’s…on an entirely different level.” She hoped that was enough; to her relief, satisfaction crossed the man’s pale face.
 

“And I told him you were not part of the deal,” Michael spat out. “He could never have you because you’re already mine.”

Ruby’s head jerked so fast to look at him that she whacked her cheekbone on the table. “What the hell are you talking about?”
 

“I suppose now is as good a time as any to start being honest with each other,” Michael said in a casual tone. He did another check on the killer, who didn’t move from his fetal position against the wall. Michael’s posture loosened as he lowered the crossbow and walked over to touch Ruby’s face, caress it the way he used to - the way a lover would. Then he stepped back to keep an eye on the half-breathing lump on the floor.
 

“
Why
?” Ruby’s chin quivered, part of her not wanting to hear any answers. “Why would you do any of this?”

“I never liked her, you know,” Michael said “Courtney, I mean. She did everything she could to break us up.”

“I don’t…you didn’t have to kill her.” Anger replaced terror, invaded her vision with a red sheen. Her body shook, whether from anger or fear, she didn’t know.
 

“Of course I did. Her death gave me power and more conveniently, got her out of your life. Now we’re free to be together again.”

“We didn’t break up because of Courtney, you idiot. I dumped you because you
cheated on me
,” she said. “And then you brought Rebecca into our coven.”

“You’ve mentioned that,” he said, tapping his hand against his leg in impatience. “And I’ve already apologized, so we need to move past it.”

“So not how that works,” Ruby muttered.
 

“We had other problems, long before Rebecca came along, I understand that. But with her and Courtney gone, now we can address those issues and move on.”

“Sure, I’ll go first. You’re a control freak. Apparently a big thing with serial killers. Boy, do I feel dumb.”
 

Ruby fought back a hysterical laugh. Terror coursed through her and an image of Cooper flashed through her mind. He would never be okay if she died, too. She suspected even if she died tonight, Michael would never let Cooper walk away unscathed.
 

“I admit I’m a bit…old-fashioned,” Michael interrupted her thoughts. “I like things a certain way. But you were always so wonderful at everything. I was so lucky to have you and -
 
as I’ve said before - I’m so sorry I broke your trust. But Courtney whispering into your ear…you would never let me back in if she kept up all the lies.”

“Courtney had nothing to do with us!” she shouted.
 

“She took up all of your time,” he snarled back. He swooped in, hovered over her and gripped her arms into the table. He made her look him in the eyes, his expression full of self righteousness. “Don’t you see? There wasn’t enough room in your life for both of us, so I made the decision for you.”

“Right, like you always did.” Ruby rolled her eyes, almost surprised. Had they not been discussing Courtney’s murder, it’d be like a regular ex-couple arguing at the bar. Minus the whole heart-ripping-out ritual and general terror.
 

“I know what’s best for you.”

“No, you don’t! You never did, what don’t you get about that?”