Unchained

Chapter 20

Monday, April 6, 8:00 a.m.

Carver House

Early the next morning, Ashe sat across from Eden on the floor of her old bedroom in the Carver house, listening to her daughter tell the story of her kidnapping again, from start to finish. Eden had gone through it the night before in front of everyone—Mac, Alessandro, and Holly included—and then again with just Ashe holding Eden in the narrow, pink-quilted bed. Ashe was relieved that Eden was physically unhurt, but couldn’t bear to think what might have happened if Reynard hadn’t thought to look in the Castle.

This was the room where Eden slept when she visited her aunt. It was mostly emptied of Ashe’s old things now, all the teenage paraphernalia packed away, but the yellow curtains were familiar, as was the angle of the sun on the floor. It brought back memories both sweet and painful.

Every so often, she reached across, brushing the dark curls of hair from Eden’s face, unable to stop touching her. Some part of Ashe needed that physical contact to reassure herself that Eden was really safe.

“I was just scared,” Eden said. “No one actually hurt me, and Miru-kai was really nice. I mean, I was so glad to see Captain Reynard, but I was okay.”

Eden had told the story several times already, but each time something new emerged. Today, it was the fact that the fairy prince knew exactly how Ashe’s parents had died. That wasn’t impossible—a very few in the magical community had that information—but it showed how thorough the prince’s network of informants was.

More important was the fact that he’d told Eden. In Ashe’s book, that was a crime in itself, whether or not he’d meant to do it. It wasn’t his secret to share. Still, it seemed he really had saved Eden from the vampires. The jury was still out on what he had meant to do with her himself. At the moment, according to Mac, Miru- kai was swearing up and down that he’d meant to return her to Ashe.

They’d probably never know the truth, but dark fey kidnapped children. Mac had no plans to let the prince go anytime soon.

“Do you need me to forgive you for casting that spell way back when?” Eden asked, looking up through her lashes. “Because I do, y’know. Everyone makes mistakes, sometimes bad ones. Look at Uncle Mac. He got himself turned into a demon, but we still like him, right?”

Ashe was stunned, her stomach doing a strange flip. Where had that come from? “What I did isn’t something that can be forgiven. Not really.”

“But I forgive you. So it happens.” Eden gave her a crooked smile. “And I need you at the top of your game for when I get my powers. You’re going to make sure I don’t make any big mistakes.”

For a moment, Ashe couldn’t meet Eden’s eyes. “I don’t have any game anymore. I lost my powers.”

Eden’s smile got bigger. “That doesn’t mean you’re not my mom. Moms always have game.”

Ashe snorted. “Tell me that after six loads of laundry. By then I’m all game-over.”

“Look.” Eden closed her eyes, holding out her hand, palm up. Ashe watched her with a mix of curiosity and maternal alarm, wondering what was coming. For a moment, there was only sunlight, the curve of Eden’s cheek, the peaceful feeling of the house. And then it happened—a cluster of bright blue sparkles hovering over Eden’s hand. Tears blurred Ashe’s eyes. She recognized the conjuring spell at once. It was one of Grandma’s first magical exercises.

“You’re growing up,” she said huskily, picking up the ball of blue sparkles and rolling it along her fingers. “Far too fast.”

“Hey,” said Eden, watching her mother play with the light. “I thought you said you couldn’t do magic.”

“I’m not a complete null,” Ashe retorted. “I’m still a witch.”

There were some things she would never tell Eden. Foremost among them, Ashe had never looked for a cure after the spell had taken her magic. She might have found one. After all, Holly had eventually healed.

No, Ashe didn’t know whether or not her powers could be revived, and that was the way she wanted it. When her parents had died, there had been no law on the books for manslaughter by magic, so Ashe had made her own sentence. She lived deaf and blind to everything but the most basic energy fields. There were senses she used to have but didn’t anymore. That was her punishment.

Witches could be immortal if they were powerful enough, but, without using a lot of powerful magic, Ashe would age and die like a human. Some witches made that choice. Grandma, for one, had chosen to join her human husband by letting time have its way. In the meantime, Ashe was going to live her mortal life well. That way, there would be opportunities to make what amends she could for her mistakes.

But there was one exception to her self- imposed sentence that she was prepared to make. Ashe blew on the blue sparkles, snuffing them out. “Give me your hand,” she said to Eden.

Eden complied. Her hand was warm and soft, just starting to hint at the fine-boned elegance of a woman’s. “Is this going to be slimy and disgusting?”

“Would I do something like that?” Ashe said brightly.

“I’m just saying. . . .”

Ashe closed her eyes and reached into herself, finding the emotion that bound her to Eden. She pictured it in her mind’s eye, running like a constant golden flow from her heart, down her arm, and through her hand to Eden’s. She focused on that flow, seeing it like a stream of living blood, cell by cell, giving health and life just as when Eden had been in her womb. Then, without willing it, she could see the flow in reverse, a paler gold but just as strong, bringing love from Eden’s heart to hers.

Was it her daughter’s newfound magic that let her see that second stream? Or was it a remnant of her own? At that moment, it didn’t matter. It was what she needed. Despite everything, she loves me.

Ashe said the words that once her mother had said over her: Child of mine, child of mine

Your love will bind your heart to mine.

I will know, I will know

Whatever steps your journeys go.

And where I go, you shall see

Where I venture constantly.

Blessed be.

Ashe felt the spell slide into place. She opened her eyes. Eden was staring at her with awe. “What was that?”

“Just a little magic. A very, very simple, small spell.” Yes, she felt like apologizing, but no judge in the world could fault her for this. “This way we’ll always be able to find each other if we want to. No vampire or demon or fey can keep us apart. You matter more to me than anything.”

Eden grinned. “This magical GPS is going to suck when I’m sixteen.”

“Hey,” said Ashe. “You said you wanted me at the top of my game.”

Monday, April 6, 5:30 p.m.

Carver House

Reynard woke himself by sitting bolt upright. Alessandro Caravelli stood at the foot of the bed. Reynard’s scalp tightened, primal instinct telling him a vampire wake-up call was a dodgy thing.

Caravelli tossed a pile of clothes on the bedcovers. “Here’s something clean to wear. The sun’s been up for hours. You’re watching the house now. I’m going to bed.”

Reynard glanced around, disoriented. “Where is Ashe?”

“Downstairs.”

“Any sign of Belenos or the demon?”

Caravelli gave an unpleasant smile that did nothing to relieve his look of exhaustion. The daytime hours were telling on him. “Nothing yet, but allies are arriving from out of town. Wolves and vampires who owe me favors. Belenos cannot escape long. He’s moved himself from annoyance to threat by touching my mate’s family.”

Caravelli began heading for the door, but paused. “Once you have your urn, what then?”

The weight of his amber, predatory eyes reminded Reynard of a tiger he had seen in India. The difference was the tiger had seen him as mere meat. The vampire had a much more complex agenda.

“I don’t know,” said Reynard. “I didn’t expect to survive.”

Alessandro gave a slow blink. “Ashe and I have had our differences, but I would regret seeing her unhappy.”

Without another word, he left the room.

Reynard stayed where he was, propped up on his elbows, feeling the cool air of the room on the skin of his chest. The simple, forgetful pleasure of falling asleep with Ashe stroking his hair seeped away with the warmth of the bedclothes.

He understood the vampire’s last words. Don’t hurt her. He’d received that same warning often enough in the past from fathers and uncles and brothers. This time, though, it was different. He had changed. Back then he sought to forget the woman who’d chosen his brother instead of him. He’d bedded his way through dozens of women out of anger and revenge. He’d squandered his substance on liquor, cards, and danger.

Now . . . now he wanted a way to stay right where he was. The man he was now loved, wanted, needed Ashe, with her stubborn strength and hidden vulnerabilities. Being with her was like admiring an exotic, spiny sea-shell, and then finding its secret entrance to the pearl-pink luster inside. He wanted to protect that private chamber, make it his.

At some point during the night they’d talked again. She’d told him about her husband, who he was and how he’d died. Her affection for Roberto de Larrocha had been plain in her voice. It made him want to be by her side even more, because Ashe Carver clearly knew how to love. It made Reynard long to have her think of him with such tenderness.

Reynard rose, showered, and dressed. He started down the long hallway outside his bedroom door, trying to guess where everyone else was in the huge house. He could smell the sea, and wondered how close they were. He longed to see the endless silver of open water again.

There was a window seat in the upstairs hallway. He paused, peering through panes of colored glass. The day was overcast, the sky heavy and grim with rain. He unlocked the casement, pushing it open. A cold blast of wind ruffled his hair, the stinging chill a welcome and familiar slap against his skin.

Below, the rich dark earth of the flower beds already showed spatters of rain. Tulips tossed on their stems, the bright reds and yellows luminescent in the muted light. Here and there, hellhounds stood beneath the trees, dark shapes in the shadows. There must be a dozen. No one was taking any chances.

It was late, nearly dusk. Reynard had more than slept around the clock. No wonder Alessandro had looked so tired. The rest had done him good, though. Whatever Holly and her grandmother had given him made him feel almost back to normal.

He wondered how long it would last.

Reynard pulled the casement shut, locking it. The house settled, like a bird ruffling its feathers. He could believe it was sentient.

What would he do once he found his urn? He would survive, but could he bear going back to the Castle? In the course of time, everything he had felt and done in the last few days would fade to shopworn memories. Piece by piece, the incredible gifts of hunger and thirst, lust and true joy, would fall away, leaving a numb eternity behind. He was doomed and damned.

A jittering panic wrenched his gut. When would he have to face the choice between duty and freedom, the Castle or death?

A sudden, visceral memory twisted inside him. The clanging of the old cell doors. Bargaining, bullying, pleading with the warlords to keep peace in a place where the guardsmen were outnumbered a hundred, maybe two hundred, to one. His second in command, Bran, losing his wits and taking to flaying the inmates who crossed him, pinning up the hides like trophies on his cell wall.

Discipline had kept the despair at bay. Reynard had written logs every day, copious records of incidents, rosters, patrols, and supplies. Filling page after page with trivia no soul would ever read. Today, Guardsman Phillips found a box of firearms in the outer chambers. Today, a sighting of the griffin on level three. In the end, who really cared what Phillips did or what they saw? The events were all forgotten in the darkness of the Castle, along with the men who witnessed them.

All that pride—the tidy logs, the neat uniform, the refusal to give in to chaos—it was all whistling in the dark. Mac had made things better, but too late for Reynard. He hadn’t broken, but imprisonment had worn him to the bone.

He took a long breath, then another, calming himself until the sudden chill of dread left his body. What if I simply refused to go back? Two hundred and fifty years of service is enough.

There had to be a better answer.

Reynard rose from the window seat and found the stairs. Moving through the warm, pleasant house quickly lulled him into a sense of borrowed peace. His nose led him to the kitchen and he stood in the doorway for a moment, enjoying the scene. Holly was making soup; Eden was at the table with her schoolbooks. Ashe was reading a cookbook with a perplexed frown.

“How many cupcakes are you supposed to take to the school bake sale?” Ashe asked her daughter.

“Twenty-four,” Eden said without looking up from her schoolbook. “With pink icing.”

“That’s a double batch,” said Holly. “That’s a lot of ingredients.”

“Mrs. Flammand specified pink icing?”Ashe said skeptically. “Are you sure those aren’t your specifications?”

Eden looked mutinous. “With chocolate sprinkles.”

“I don’t think we have chocolate sprinkles,” Holly put in, stirring the soup. “We have food coloring, though. You sure you don’t want me to do the baking, Ashe?”

“I can fight a demon. Surely I can make cupcakes.”

“I dunno,” teased Holly. “Those little paper cups can be tricky.”

“I’m tougher than that.” Ashe got out of the chair and took the cookbook to the kitchen counter. “Whoever heard of asking parents to bake on short notice? What is this, like a command performance or something?”

“Welcome to the dictatorship of the parental fund-raiser,” Holly said dryly. “I’ve heard all about it from the moms in the baby clinic.”

“Janie’s mom called Mrs. Flammand the cupcake Nazi,” Eden piped up.

Holly snorted. “Better watch our step, then. We can send one of the hellhounds for sprinkles.”

Reynard watched and listened with a happy feeling he’d forgotten. Bantering women, the smell of good food, domestic bustle. This was something he’d never take for granted again.

“The soup smells wonderful,” Reynard said.

“Hi!” Ashe and Holly said in chorus. They looked at each other, a bit embarrassed.

“It’s not soup,” said Holly. “It’s a tracking spell for the demon. We’ve given up trying to be subtle.”

“By now it knows we’re on its trail,” Ashe said. “It has to.”

He sat down opposite Eden and looked at her book. It was upside down to him, but he knew what it was right away. “You’re studying the stars?”

“For science.” Eden took a sip from her glass of sticky brown milk—chocolate milk, he thought she’d called it. He’d have to try it when he got the chance.

“You don’t have to do homework today if you don’t want to,” said Ashe.

“It’s okay,” said Eden. “I kind of feel like I should be good for a couple of days.”

Ashe looked at her daughter with concern. “I’m not complaining, but are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

The girl shrugged. “You said I was grounded until I was forty for running away again. I thought maybe I should start sucking up.”

Reynard exchanged an amused glance with Ashe. “Currying favor usually works better if you at least pretend to be sincere.”

“I am sincere,” Eden said blithely. “Mom rocks.”

Ashe gave an exaggerated shrug.

“When this is all over, are you going back to the Castle?” Eden asked Reynard, coming with a child’s instincts to the one topic he didn’t wish to discuss. Which apparently everyone else did, starting with Caravelli.

“Why do you ask?”

She gave him a wary look. “Is it all really horrible there?”

Yes. He had to answer this one carefully. He didn’t want to frighten the girl. “There are some wonderful people there. Your uncle Mac, for one. Lore and his hellhounds lived there until a little while ago.”

“I like the hellhounds. They play fetch.”

Reynard’s mind boggled a moment. “Good for them.”

“Do they have other animals in the Castle? I didn’t see any.”

“Yes. Parts of it are a bit like a zoological garden.” A bizarre, nightmarish one. “Your mother and I saw a rabbit there the other day.”

“Are the animals in cages?”

“Not all of them.”

“Don’t they eat each other?”

“No. The Castle makes it so no one’s hungry or thirsty. You weren’t there long enough to notice that.”

“You don’t ever eat in there?”

How many questions can she ask in under a minute? “Never ever. At least not the old-timers, like me.”

“That sucks. What about Choco-puff cookies?”

“Fortune is a harsh mistress.”

She made a face. “You’re laughing at me.”

“A little.”

“I’m just a kid.”

“Don’t underestimate how wonderful that is to an old soldier like me.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re not old. Grandma’s old.”

“I am, too. I’ve lived a long time and traveled a great many places.”

“You talk like you’re from England.”

“I was. I’ve been other places, too. Flanders. Italy. Germany. India.”

“India? Did you see elephants?”

“Of course. And a few lions and tigers as well.”

“And bears?” Eden’s eyes twinkled.

“No bears,” he said, thinking that now she was laughing at him, though he couldn’t figure out why.

She pushed a bag of cookies his way. “Have a Choco-puff.”

He took one and bit into it. It was disgustingly sweet. He ate it anyway.

“Why did you go to India?” she asked around a mouthful of chocolate.

“The king sent me. And I wanted to get away from home for a while.” From his father. From Elizabeth. From the fact that she had borne his brother a son. Oddly, the memory didn’t burn the way it used to anymore.

Eden watched him intently, the way children do. “Did you get homesick?”

“Yes, but I watched the night sky, like in your book there. When you travel the world, somehow knowing the people at home see what you see in the sky helps a lot. And it helps you sail your boat home again.”

“You can find your way with them? Could I find Spain with the stars?”

“Stars are like a map. You can find your way anywhere if you know them well enough.”

“Are there stars in the Castle? I didn’t see any stars.”

“No. There are no stars.” There is no connection to anyone else there. You are truly alone.

Eden looked glumly at the book. “I can’t remember this map, and we have to name the stars on a test.”

Reynard tilted the book to see it better. It was a map of the night sky, with lines and dots marking the major constellations. He looked at the window over the kitchen sink. It was just starting to grow dark. Not dark enough to teach her the way he had learned, from simply looking at the sky with his tutor.

He thought for a moment. “Sometimes it helps to remember them by the story they tell. Do you know your Greek legends?”

Eden wrinkled her nose. “Like gods and goddesses?”

“They play a part.” And he started to tell her the stories he knew of Hercules’ lion, of the twins Castor and Pollux, and Orion the Hunter, pointing to each of the players where they danced in the night sky.

Ashe listened with half an ear as she worked, measuring flour and trying to double the recipe without miscounting. Reynard’s voice was soft, his stories steeped in the elegance and heroism of another time. She didn’t know about Eden, but she wasn’t going to forget a word of his tale.

But when the story ended, her mind drifted. It had been a busy day, an urgent search through books with Holly and Grandma to find the perfect demon locator spell, dozens of phone calls in search of news of demons or vampires, and keeping an eye on Eden and Reynard to make sure they were all right. She’d tried contacting her hacker friend again to see what other properties the demon might have purchased. No answer. She wasn’t worried—every so often he seemed to fall off the planet only to reappear days later, but it was a bad time to pull one of his vanishing acts. Then she’d got Mac on the phone to see what he’d learned from questioning Miru-kai. Even if she hadn’t been banging on doors, the last hour was the first reprieve from the search for the urn, Belenos, or the demon.

One other thing had happened. Earlier that afternoon, Brent Hashimoto, the lawyer who was presumably not a demon-possessed nut job, had phoned with a proposal for her. Roberto’s family wanted to spend the holidays with Eden. That meant summer vacation and Christmas in Spain. In return, they’d back off about Ashe’s suitability as a parent. As Hashimoto said, their real concern was losing touch with their only grandchild.

That gave her something to think about. Ashe agreed that Eden should have a relationship with her grandparents. The sticking point for her was, as always, safety issues. As long as they agreed to work through those, she was willing to talk. Hashimoto was smart: Confronting Ashe head-on only made her hostile. Appealing to her reason engaged her. Acknowledging that nothing came before Eden’s well-being had her willing to play ball.

Perhaps it was possible that at least something in her life could be settled without a knock-down, drag-out fight? It would be nice to think it was possible.

Eventually, she started spooning chocolate batter into paper-lined muffin tins. They’d had just enough eggs. Ashe’s mood was good. Cupcakes seemed easy after the last few days. Holly’s spell was bubbling. Reynard was looking better. Eden was safe and sound.

Eventually, finished with his astronomy lesson, Reynard came to lean against the counter. Something in his expression reminded her of a stray cat confident of a handout.

“Wicked with a stake, and she cooks, too.”

“Don’t mock the woman holding the food.”

He looked from her to the bowl as if both were filled with tasty goodness. Ashe ducked her face away before she blushed or started to giggle. Even leather-clad action babes got giddy with relief some days. The memory of Reynard naked wasn’t helping her concentration, either. If lust could be stirred into a recipe, these cupcakes were going to be rising high on pure desire.

She picked up the baking pans and slid them into the oven, then set the timer and dumped the dirty bowl in the sink, where Holly was washing dishes. “There’s one more for ya, Hol.”

Holly stuck out her tongue, but her eyes were full of mischief.

“Hey, Eden,” Ashe said. “We’re going to eat supper in a little while. Why don’t you take a break and put your books away for now?”

“Put them in my office,” suggested Holly. “Move the cat off the desk if you want to play on the computer. He likes to sleep there.”

Eden slipped off the chair, gathered her books, and wandered off. Ashe watched her go, wondering if her daughter really was that calm after her adventure with Belenos and the fairy prince, or if it simply hadn’t hit home yet.

The phone rang before Ashe could pursue that thought. She picked up the cordless handset. “Hello?”

“I thought I might find you at this number.”

Belenos. She turned her back to the others and walked into the living room, not wanting them to see what must have been horror on her face. From there she could see out the front window. The streetlights flickered on, pools of yellow light backlit by an indigo sky. It was still a half hour to full dark.

“Aren’t all good little vampires still asleep?” She dropped her voice and tried to add a pinch of menace. Does he know this address? The house was secure, but they still had to come and go.

“I am neither good nor little. However, I did think congratulations on retrieving your daughter would be appropriate. Of course, it would not have gone so well for you if that meddling fairy hadn’t turned up. We missed our opportunity.”

For what? For me to fall at your feet? Ashe glared at the handset a moment. It wasn’t like Reynard’s departure would leave a job vacancy she’d have to fill. In fact, she was trying hard not to think about post- Reynard at all. The notion of it left her empty, like a nut shelled to find only cobwebs inside, the meat long shriveled away. “I’m not having this conversation with you, Red. Take your sicko fantasies and go home.”

He laughed, low but not menacing. He sounded genuinely amused, and that pissed her off even more.

She heard Holly and Reynard leave the kitchen, retreating to the library at the back of the house. Reynard was asking something about the Order; Holly was offering to look something up in one of her books. Ashe suddenly felt very alone.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I’m calling?”

“No. I doubt you have anything interesting to say.”

Belenos sighed against the mouthpiece of the phone. The sound of rushing air was so intimate, she could have sworn it brushed her cheek. “You mistake me for someone who gives up easily.”

“Maybe I mistake you for someone with half a brain. You might be able to sell this trip as an effort to fix a business deal gone bad, y’know, with your thief turning traitor and all that. But if you keep pissing people off, you’re declaring war on the local vamp queen. You pull that, and everybody loses.”

“Perhaps we are already at war,” Belenos said softly. “I will protect you, if you let me. I will even protect those you love, if you ask.”

Ashe felt the muscles down the back of her neck tense. “What are you talking about?”

“Have you forgotten the assassin you killed? I certainly didn’t send him. So who wants you dead? Have they given up? Perhaps I have an answer for you.”

Ashe opened her mouth to speak, but breath wouldn’t come. The assassin. She hadn’t forgotten about him, but too much had happened to dwell on a threat that wasn’t in her face right that moment.

“I’ll be at your mother’s grave in an hour.”

The phone beeped, and then the sound of a dial tone filled her ear. Ashe hit the disconnect button.

“Damn it!” She fell into a chair. At some time during the call, the light in the room had turned the corner from dim to dark.

A dark that had been relatively inert a few moments ago. Now it crawled with suspicions. What the hell kind of a game is Belenos playing? Was this an elaborate setup to make her grovel to him for protection? Or was he telling the truth? Was there another killer with her name on a contract?

Nah, it was a transparent trap, and he was too arrogant to think she’d refuse to come.

It was tempting to grab her stakes and go. She needed something to fight, not these vague, faceless enemies. Not a voice on the phone. Not a figure in a dream. A sniper on a hill. Tension clawed her shoulder muscles, sending the first flickering lights of a bad headache arcing through the darkness.

Time passed. Ashe wasn’t sure how many minutes she sat there, turning over everything that had happened since the phouka had attacked in the gardens. There was a connection, perhaps something fairly obvious, that she was missing.

She heard Alessandro leave, start the T-bird, and drive away. He was going to pick up some of his friends from the airport shuttle. The supernatural community at large had taken an interest in Fairview’s situation and was starting to mobilize.

It was about bloody time.

Ashe jammed her fingers in her hair. Bunny. Demon. Vampire. Fairy prince. Yes, Miru- kai was a possibility. Which one wanted her dead the most?

What was she going to do about Eden? There had been one horrible night, back in Spain, when Ashe had awakened to find a vampire creeping down the hall toward Eden’s pink-and-white bedroom. She’d killed it, of course. She had cried afterward, suddenly and explosively. Ashe had not truly known fear before that night. The next week, she began looking at boarding schools. What was she going to do this time? Send Eden away now, or risk waiting?

She heard Holly’s slippers scuffing on the kitchen floor. “What’s burning?”

Shit.