Banishing the Dark

14

Rooke didn’t respond right away. He watched his daughter step off the path to pick a stem of the jasmine we’d passed and hold it up for Lon to smell. After a time, he finally said, “Temple of the Serpent.”

“What is it, and what does it have to do with my parents?”

“Are you familiar with Ophites?”

I shook my head.

“It was a heretical Gnostic sect that popped up in the second century or so. They thought the serpent in the Garden of Eden was a hero, because it gave mankind the gift of wisdom, Sophia.”

“As in the Sophic Mass?”

All E∴E∴ lodges put on this dog-and-pony show one night every week or month, depending on the size of the lodge. I’d attended mass regularly in Florida until I went on the lam.

“Yes. Only this Gnostic sect took things to the extreme, shall we say, and believed Sophia and the serpent to be as important as Christ himself. For the most part, the sect died out in the third century. But a small group of followers persisted. There’s said to be a group of them in both Greece and France.”

“France? Is this what my mother found there?”

“I don’t know. There’s rumored to be a secret sect of them in the States. Your mother mentioned them on occasion when she was visiting the Pasadena lodge in the 1980s.”

“What did she say about them?”

“Nothing substantial. She was always interested in other magical orders, so any comment she made went in one ear and out the other . . . that is, until Magus Frances had another vision. She said she saw your mother studying in the serpent temple in secret.”

“Studying what?”

“She didn’t know, but she said Enola was hell-bent on it. Whatever it might have been, Frances thought it would tear the order apart. Perhaps it was a coincidence that she and your father attempted the Moonchild ritual again and you were born a year later. I don’t know.” He bent his stick in the middle, snapping it in two, and tossed it into the maze. “But if you’re looking for the key to your origins, I’d seek out the Ophites.”

My pulse pounded. Okay, this was good, something substantial to follow. Worth the whole trip down here. But just when I was about to ask Rooke about the temple’s location, I got a little distracted.

Several yards behind us, Evie sat down on a bench to scribble something on a business card while Lon remained standing. She handed it up to him, then playfully snatched it back when he reached for it. Laughing, she held it out for him again, and when he took it, she slowly ran her fingers over his.

What the hell did she think she was doing?

Any temporary excitement I’d felt over Rooke’s information vanished under the flare of jealousy that twisted my stomach into a knot and made my face overheat. Violent girl-on-girl thoughts filled my head.

Her fingers fell away from his, only to trail down the front of his shirt and rest on the waistband of his jeans, which she gave a gentle tug.

Nuh-uh. No. Hell, no.

I felt the rush of power ripple over my skin but didn’t recognize what was happening. Hot anger mixed with an oblique energy that swirled around me and shot toward Evie like an arrow. Branches swayed. Leaves scattered. I hadn’t moved an inch, but I felt the bark and leaves and flowers as if I were a stormy wind howling down the garden path, as if I were touching them with my own hands.

I felt the cool metal of the trash can as it lifted off the path and slammed against a nearby tree. The dense weight of the cement bench as it rose—

With Evie still on it.

Her mouth fell open. She gripped the molded gargoyle arm of the bench in terror as her legs dangled a foot above the paved path. Two feet. Three. When I blinked, my vision changed; silver light blanketed the gardens. Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew this was bad. It was night, and I wasn’t standing in a protective ward. My mother could—

“Cady!”

My gaze snapped to Lon’s. The commanding intensity there was a bucket of cold water over my wayward power. I gritted my teeth and reeled it back in with a growl. The silver light retreated. Half a second later, the cement bench crashed to the ground. Evie cried out as she bounced off and tumbled to her knees.

I struggled for breath as Lon hesitated, then rushed to help Evie up. She didn’t look all that hurt, more shocked than anything. I was a little shocked, too. What the hell was the matter with me? Rooke had just finished telling me about my evil mother’s crazy outbursts of anger, and here I was, following in her footsteps.

I turned to him with an apology on my tongue and saw the evidence of what I’d just done. Not only was unfiltered awe written all over his face, but the silver light lingering in my eyes was reflected in his glasses, two eerily glowing dots.

“My God,” Rooke murmured.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean . . .” I started, glancing back at Evie. Lon was pulling her up, making sure she was okay as she brushed dirt off her knees.

“Damn me to hell,” Rooke swore as we hurried toward them. “What in God’s name did Enola do to you?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

He didn’t say anything else until we were a few yards away. “I truly don’t know the exact location of the serpent temple, but Magus Frances said it was in the desert, and your mother would visit it—back and forth in an afternoon—when your parents came to the Pasadena temple, so it can’t be that far from L.A.”

Maybe not, but we couldn’t just roam around Southern California looking for a hidden temple. “You’ve got to know something else. Mr. Rooke, please.”

He clutched his smoking jacket lapels in one hand and shook his head. Then something changed in his face. He halted long enough to tell me one last thing under his breath. “They are snake handlers, like the Pentecostal churches in the South. But they use exotic snakes—big, colorful ones that don’t belong in the desert.”

Lon didn’t say anything until we were back inside the SUV. While he started the engine, I pulled down the visor mirror to confirm what I already knew: reptilian pupils ringed with silver and a halo so bright it cast metallic light across the dash. I slammed the visor back into place as he pulled out of the garden parking lot, heading back toward the residential neighborhood we’d passed through to get there.

“Call Jupe,” he finally said in a flat voice. “Get him to summon Priya and find out if he noticed that in the Æthyr.”

“I didn’t—My tail.” I didn’t feel it slithering down the leg of my pants in the garden, so that was something. “My horns didn’t . . . did they?”

Lon shook his head and flicked a glance at my halo. “Just that. And your eyes. Cady—”

“I know, I know,” I mumbled. “I lost control. I don’t know what got into me.”

But that wasn’t really true, was it? I did know. I was jealous as hell over a man who wasn’t mine. And that was nearly as terrifying as the Moonchild power, which had flared up as fast as my anger and temporarily overridden my good sense.

I dug out my cell phone and stared at the time on the screen. “It’s past one in the morning,” I told Lon. “Jupe’s asleep.”

Lon opened his mouth to argue but changed his mind.

“We can check in the morning,” I said. “What’s done is done. If my mother detected what just happened, there’s nothing I can do to undo it.”

Traffic picked up as Lon headed into Old Town, where a handful of late-night pedestrians strolled down sidewalks lined with bars and restaurants. Lon was asking me something, what I’d learned from Rooke. But I couldn’t concentrate for all the worries clamoring inside my throbbing head. Rooke’s insights about my mother. My dead brother. The serpent temple. My screwed-up memories. The jealousy I felt over Lon. The barely restrained power coursing through my veins.

A keening panic gathered in the pit of my stomach.

“Pull over,” I pleaded, desperately punching the button to lower my window. Why wasn’t it working? Stupid safety lock. “I need air.”

The SUV turned sharply off the main road onto a small side street and swung into an empty parking space. I lurched out of my seat and onto the curb, slamming the door behind me. For a second, I thought I might throw up. But after I took a few steps and focused on my breathing, the nausea faded.

I slowed down and rested my hands on my hips, glancing around for any nearby Earthbounds who might spot my insanely bright silver halo. Not a one, but then, I’d only seen one since we left Big Sur. So strange. I’d become used to Earthbounds outnumbering humans in La Sirena; it was easy to forget the rest of the country wasn’t like that.

Palm-tree shadows striped the sidewalk below my feet. Lingering scents of expensive tapas and wine hung in the air as I passed the last sidewalk café on the block, which looked to be closing up for the night. Live music pulsed from a neon-lit club across the street. Beyond here, the noise petered out.

Unhurried, steady steps approached me from behind. A few seconds later, Lon’s deep voice floated over my shoulder. “You okay?”

“I think so,” I said.

“You ready to talk about what happened back there?”

I swung around to face him. “I lost control.”

“Did Rooke say something to make you angry?”

“Nope.”

“Because you looked pissed as hell.”

“Well, you looked like your tongue was going to fall out of your mouth.”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb. I saw Evie flirting it up with you.”

Lon squinted down at me with a puzzled look on his face. “She was trying to get information out of me.”

“O-o-oh, she was trying for more than that. And clearly, you weren’t discouraging her, because I saw her giving you her phone number. Were you going to drop me off at the hotel while you called her up for a nightcap?”

Lon’s head slowly tilted to the side, as if he couldn’t believe what I was saying but was trying to make sense of it. I knew at that point that I sounded like a crazed, clingy harpy, but I just couldn’t stop myself.

“Her hands were all over you,” I said. “You practically had your nose wedged between her breasts. Which weren’t real, by the way.”

“Whoa,” Lon warned as his brows snapped together.

“Don’t ‘whoa’ me. I’m not stupid. I know—” What? What exactly did I know?

My head pulsed as it tried to make sense of the hurt clawing at my chest. I was insanely, painfully jealous, and it didn’t match what was in my head. He was not my boyfriend. He was just an overly generous man who’d opened his home to me and taken me in, as if I were some ragamuffin orphan who needed shelter.

I knew this.

But I didn’t care. I was still hurt.

“Is that what you like? Women who look like that?” I asked as angry tears stung my eyes. “Can’t you manage to spend a couple of days alone with me without sniffing after the first oversexed bitch who shoves her tits in your face?”

“Cady—”

I grunted and shoved at his chest. “I got naked in front of you—I let you take pictures of me, for the love of God! Maybe you think of me as just some oddity that Father Carrow foisted off on you, but I have feelings. I have pride.”

“Cady, will you just shut up for one second—”

“If you want her so badly, go back and get her. But don’t be surprised when she lassos an entrapment spell around your horns. You can’t trust magicians.”

His lips quivered. “Oh, is that right?”

“Most of them,” I corrected irritably.

He burst out laughing. Laughing! And it was the most open, joyful laugh I’d ever heard out of him. I was horrified. Where was the damned moon power when I needed it? Because I really could have used a little telekinesis to pick up the nearby city newspaper rack and bash it over Lon’s head.

“Is this just a joke? Am I a joke to you?” I said.

“Oh, Cady, I’m not laughing at you,” he said, still grinning. “I’m happy.”

“Happy?”

“Very.” His hand reached out to touch my hair.

“You’re an ass,” I said, slapping his hand away.

“Maybe I am, because I damn sure like seeing you jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.” I totally was. “I’m . . . angry.”

“No, you’re angry because you’re jealous, and you don’t understand why.”

“That’s right, I forgot—you know my feelings better than I do. Screw you.”

He chuckled. “You have no idea how much I’d love to.”

Was he making fun of me? I honestly didn’t know. But in case he was, I shoved him again, hard. His eyes tightened as the smile fell away from his face. Crap. Before I could move away, he grabbed my forearms and yanked me closer. “Go on,” he murmured in a rough voice near my ear. “Push me one more time.”

I tried to think of a sharp retort, but several seconds passed, and all I did was hold my breath and stare at the collar of his jacket while my pulse swished in my temples. When I finally drew in a quick breath, I smelled leather and soap and the intoxicating scent of Lon. My body liked that smell quite a bit—so much it temporarily forgot about being angry.

“Listen to me,” Lon said in a low voice. “I’ve got about as much interest in seeing Evie Rooke again as I do in getting chicken pox, so I hope you pried some helpful information out of her father. And just so we’re clear, I haven’t touched another woman since I met you.”

Oh. Wait . . . “Why?”

He released one of my arms to tentatively trace a lock of hair framing my face. “Because I haven’t wanted to.” The hand holding my other arm slid around my back and held me closer. “You might have trouble believing this, but I spend most of my time being grateful you’re near me or counting the minutes until you will be again.”

My heart fluttered wildly. “You do?” I whispered.

“I do.”

“Lon . . .” I rested my hands on his chest when he pulled me closer. His heart pounded under my palm. I surveyed his face for some sort of proof. My gaze shifted over the hard jaw darkened with stubble. The long hollows of his cheeks. The narrowed green eyes and the fine lines radiating from their outer corners. It was a heart-stopping, wildly handsome face.

One that I desperately wanted closer to mine.

And as if compelled by my will, that face did come closer.

“Please don’t let this be a mistake,” he murmured.

His lips grazed mine, light and soft. Seeking permission. I exhaled a shaky breath, and he kissed me. Slowly at first. Reverently. A kiss that would be forgiven with a single Hail Mary. But it was enough to send goose bumps over my arms and a rush of joy through my chest. My arms wound around him as if they’d done it a thousand times. And as I molded my hands to the hard planes of muscle covering his back, he crushed me against his chest.

And just like that, all bets were off.

Tongues tangled. Teeth clashed. We kissed each other like desperate addicts who’d stumbled upon a forgotten stash of drugs, grunting and moaning with pleasure—too lost to care about the headlights that crossed over us as cars sped by or the distant drunken laughter from the club at the end of the block.

None of it mattered.

When I momentarily pulled back to gasp for breath, he dragged his mouth down my neck, kissing me like someone intimately familiar with every architectural detail of my body: the underside of my chin, the pillar of my throat, the shell of my ear, and the hidden alcove of sensitive skin below it. By the time he’d circled back to my mouth, my knees were wobbly, and I was wetter than the ocean.

I don’t think I’d ever wanted anyone so badly. If he’d asked me to, I would have stripped off my clothes in the middle of the sidewalk.

He pulled back, chest heaving. “We can’t do this.”

“Too late,” I said with a lazy grin. “I think we just did.”

He gripped my jacket tighter, trying to stop our bodies from swaying together like magnets. “We need to focus. This is a distraction.”

“And a damn good one,” I murmured, dipping my head to capture his earlobe between my teeth. Christ, he smelled good. He groaned and palmed my ass, holding me against the substantial hardness between his legs.

“Yes,” I encouraged wantonly.

“No.” He pushed away again and rested his forehead against mine. “I mean it, Cady. This is weakness and . . . complicated. We’ve got other things we should be focusing on. We need to be on guard, in our right minds.”

“Okay, okay,” I said, breathless and frustrated.

“Let’s just cool off,” he said, but that was hard to do when his hands were stroking up and down my back. “Think of something else.”

“Like what?” My fingers trailed down his chest, trying to cop whatever feel I could get over his T-shirt. “Something boring like baseball? Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day?”

“Gonna need more than that,” he said with a slow grin, peeling away my straying hand to thread his fingers between mine.

“Hmm, what about all those flying cockroaches in the abandoned cannery?”

“That’s better. What else?”

“Smell of wet dog,” I suggested. “No—smell of Foxglove after she rolled around in that dead animal carcass she found in the woods.”

He laughed. “Christ, that was disgusting.”

“I couldn’t stop gagging.”

“You weren’t the one who had to bathe her.”

“I held the hose! And I never could figure out what was worse, Foxglove’s fur or Jupe barfing all over the grass after he handed you the shampoo.”

Lon grinned. “Jupe was worse, hands down.”

“Ugh, so gross.” I squeezed Lon’s hand tighter. “I remember you took two showers afterward, and no one felt like eating dinner. Then we watched that old stop-motion movie with the fighting skeletons.”

“Jason and the Argonauts.”

“Right. Then . . .” I remembered something else happening after Jupe went to bed, but it was fuzzy. “You were wearing this T-shirt,” I said, running a finger over the faded graphic.

Lon blinked several times, almost as if he’d gotten sentimental. “It doesn’t matter.”

I felt strangely sentimental myself. “I sort of miss Jupe.”

“Me, too,” he mumbled, so low I barely heard it. He cleared his throat. “But what we need to be thinking about right now is your mother.”

Talk about a cold shower.

He cradled my face in his hands. “We’re going to find a way to stop her. Come hell or high water, I will not let her take you away from me. You got that?”

I nodded.

He dropped one last lingering kiss on my forehead, then pulled back and slung his arm around my shoulders. “Why don’t we go get some food?” he said, leading me back to the SUV.

“And while we find a place that’s open, you can tell me everything you learned from Rooke.”