Copyright © 2013 Jamie Magee
All Rights Reserved
Cover Art by Emma Michaels
Edited Todd Barselow
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.
Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book. This purchase allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading enjoyment on your personal computer or device. You do not have the right to resell, distribute, print or transfer this book, in whole or in part, to anyone, in any format, via methods either currently known or yet to be invented, or upload this book to a file sharing program. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
Where To Find Jamie Online:
authorjamiemagee.com
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Other Books by Jamie Magee
“Web of Hearts and Souls”
Insight (Book 1)
Embody (Book 2)
Image (Book 3)
Vital (Book 4)
Vindicate (Book 5)
Enflame (Book 6)
Imperial (Book 7)
Blakeshire (Book 8)
Emanate (Book 9)
Exaltation (Book 10)
See (Book 1)
Witness (Book 2)
Synergy (Book 3)
Redefined (Book 4)
Derive (Book 5)
Rivulet (Book 1)
Contemporary Novels:
Impulsion
Friction
Deploy
For the lovers who stand the test of time...
“Though lovers be lost, love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.”
― Dylan Thomas
Episode Five
Chapter One
Wall to wall, on every surface and across the floor were white candles. Long, thick rivulets of cold wax shaped each one; the prolonged wicks were waiting patiently for the command to bring to life the fire once more.
Fire had always been a constant companion to Scorpio, since long before he became an immortal. There was honesty in the flames, basic laws that were definite—rules, boundaries that could not be broken. The security of knowing so had always given him peace. Not many things in his life had ever been so predictable, safe. Fire was a living truth existing in a world of falsehoods, a world of constant change. Fire shed light on the secrets, purified the wrong, and warmed the cold. Fire was existence.
Even though electricity became all the rage centuries before, he’d yet to catch on to the ease of such things as a light switch. To him, watching a flame come to life set forth intent, it meant that you intended to be present. You knew the time you were present would be marked by the silent flow of wax, the sacrifice you asked to be made on your behalf.
He thought to search for a box of matches when he followed Adair into the front room of his lair, but then he realized the time for illusive charades needed to end—for everyone’s sake.
With a glance, one by one, he began to light the candles. He took his time doing so. He may have seemed serene on the outside, distant, but he was aware of Adair’s every breath. He tasted her sentiments and did his best to read them. To understand the erratic emotions she had been living through…how she saw everything now.
When he turned to light the candles on the other side of the room, he discovered he was too late. She’d lit them—with one glance. The power she had always carried naturally within her soul was radiant in the glow around her in the dim room.
“Elements,” she said, with a slight cock of her brow. “It was the first lesson I learned from Finley. One of many that taught me to be a proper witch,” Adair said as she slowly sat down on the couch. Clearly stating she was over the bullshit, and it would take more than white magic to impress—or scare her—at this juncture.
Scorpio kept his stance, only crossing his arms over his tone, bare chest. The act framed the beautiful Phoenix on his chest. The reflection of the candles in the room seemed to bring to life the flaming wings.
Adair’s gaze slowly moved over the art, seeing the man before her in a new light, one that was just as confusing as clarifying.
“Now, if she were to teach me magic, tell me there was some beautiful, misunderstood power within me…why would she not tell me of the birth of myths?”
He held her gaze for a long moment before he answered. “I can’t speak for the dead.” And that was true. All he knew was that Talley and Finley strived to keep Adair’s life as normal as possible. They didn’t want their choice in the lifestyle they lived to influence Adair to make the same choice, or so they claimed. “I’m sure youth was involved.”
“What? They thought I would figure out that vamps were real and then beg to be changed so I could be forever immortal? Swear my teen heart to another for all of time then fight demons for the rest of eternity with the constant threat of losing the one unnatural gift that I should have never possessed in the first place—immortality in one form.” She lifted her chin. “Such things bend the law of nature—nature which should be respected, honored, and obeyed.”
“And you’re the voice of nature?” he asked, in a cool, level, sleek tone.
Aghast, Adair drew her head back. He might as well have asked if she were the voice of God. Before she could retort he spoke over her.
“Apparently not.” He pressed his lips together before he spoke, clearly trying to suppress a smile that wasn’t fitting for the time or circumstance. “For if you were, I’d ask you why not every soul that was asked to come back has been granted a pass. I’d ask you why such specific gifts were given to those who have claimed the prize of immortality. I’d ask why the gifts fit so perfectly to the soul, why it would seem as if the soul was only born to die—to birth a new generation of existence that is inherently more connected to the faith you claim was assaulted.”
“I’ve just insulted my family, and you. Haven’t I?” Adair asked, remembering bits and pieces she had heard him say on his phone call. She wanted to tread carefully, but she was too full of questions, too much on the defense to do so. “Must be a mortal witch tendency, I suppose.”
Scorpio nearly grinned. Her wit, how blunt she was, had always mesmerized him. Most around the Club were not afraid to say what was on their mind, but there was something about the way she did it, something about the way she stripped the absurdity out of every situation and framed the truth that drew him ever the closer to her.
With a good lover, a good friend—you always know where you stand. Adair Vallet made sure that was true in her presence.
“You meant what you said, Talley was a wolf?” To her credit her voice only vaguely quaked. What she knew in her gut as truth was still fiction in her mind, something she had the chance to disprove, to not believe.
Slowly, Scorpio moved toward a chair across from the couch and sat down. He leaned back and kept his legs wide, the same dominant, relaxed stance he always had when he sat at the head of his table. “You have no recollection of these myths, nothing to go on but what humans have said, portrayed in their books and movies.” He rested his elbow on the arm of the chair then slowly brought his fingertips to his jaw and traced
the shadow of stubble there. “Therefore, this is comical to you.”
“I have little to no sense of humor these days. I do have some knowledge,” Adair admitted. “It’s not a memory, though. Reveca gave me a book a few days ago. I started to only skim the words when I realized nothing in the book would help me with what I’m enduring now.” Her stare moved over him. “I suppose that was a mistake.”
He nearly laughed but thought better of it. He was sure every time Reveca had told him and the others that Adair had no reason to know of immortality that she didn’t completely agree with the notion, and Adair had just proven his theory correct. Reveca, of all people, knew Adair would have to find her own way of understanding the life her family led. “There is nothing Reveca ever does without intent. If I were you I would read anything she purposely gave you ten fold.”
“And what about what she doesn’t give me, purposely keeps me from?”
“Respect her wishes.”
“Why, because she’s the Queen?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
Adair clenched her jaw and looked down at Mystic who was calm as ever, asleep at her feet. “A wolf…not human—that’s what you’re saying Talley was?”
“We call them such but they do not or have not shifted into any wolf as of yet. However, they do tend to be wolfish in the best and worst of cases.”
Adair looked up in shock.
“It’s a beast, as they call it, which lives within. It’s anger and aggression—predatorily. It connects the soul with the mother earth, puts them at one with their emotions, their world—removes reason from reaction.”
Adair furrowed her brow as she thought back to the night Finley had died. “It was a new moon when the accident happened, not full. He was more aggressive then than ever.”
“The moon doesn’t influence their emotions anymore than you or I, at least not to the degree you would assume.”
Adair let out a frustrated sigh. If what Scorpio claimed Talley was, a wolf, had nothing to do with his death, then she was back to her original mystery. How to undo the wrongs that were done to him. “He was cursed, that’s why he was out of control.” She almost added that she was sure whatever curse was inflicted on him was still in play. And his rising from the dead was part of it. Instead, she held her tongue. She had no hard facts to back up her instinct.
The only response she received was a knowing stare.
“Who did it? Who cursed Talley?” It was impossible for her to hide the wrath in her tone, even though it was just above a whisper.
“He exists no more.”
“You’re certain?”
“No.”
Adair’s sharp stare rose to meet his.
“Nothing in this world is certain, princess. His demise was recent. I wasn’t the cause nor did I see his soul go into the Veil of death or be trapped by the Unclaimed.”
“Who was?”
“Reveca.”
“To avenge Talley?”
“Talley was one of many wrongs.” His gaze shifted to the closest flame to him, then back to her. “Within immortality we weave a complicated web of deceit…we have time to commit sins and forgive over and over.”
“Who? Tell me what soul destroyed my family.”
He lifted a brow.
“Name them.”
“Zale.”
Adair showed no expression but inside she felt her soul tremble. All witches knew of Zale, the dark one. The evil one. The witch that was said to have no soul, no mercy, to be ageless—to some he was the devil himself. “And why did Zale place this curse on Talley?”
“War. A way to hurt us all. If Zale could have controlled Talley he would have had the advantage—he’d know our strategy, and he’d have the element of surprise. A Trojan horse.”
“You’re wrong.”
“What?”
“I’d say you were lying, but you believe what you said. Which is why I said you’re wrong.”
He leered. “I know what you said, I asked you why you think so.”
“Any witch worth their title would not lay down a spell unless they had complete control of the curse.” She drew her head back slightly. “A witch ignorant enough to go to war with the Pentacle Sons surely had enough power and sense to know what the fuck they were doing.” Her eyes watered. “Talley had no control before he died. He was savage. He was brutal. Not a man that would sit calmly and listen to your battle plans and then report back. No. The curse upon him acted as it should have.”
Scorpio furrowed his brow, seriously considering her very pure observation. It had been assumed in the past the reason Talley was ruthless, out of control was because he was fighting the curse, letting the Sons know something was off about him. As far as he knew, someone thinking the curse occurred as Zale intended was a new angle.
“So the question is—how would killing Finley defeat anyone but me and Talley?”
Scorpio settled deeper into his seat. His fingertips kept up to their slow glide along his jawline, his gaze dipped to her waist, then moved up slowly again. “You tell me. What do you remember, princess?”
“I’d remember more if you find someone to un-curse me—or hell just tell me what the fuck went down.”
A slight nod of agreement came from him. “Everyone’s coming home. When they get here we’ll have Church and vote on the matter of your memory once more.”
“I get a vote?”
He pursed his lips knowing no matter the answer she would not be satisfied. “Whether you did or not the vote has to be unanimous.”
“And this is the second time this vote has occurred?”
“Third.”
Adair moved her head side to side in fake dismay. “Who’s the holdout—how many souls at this Boneyard wish to torture me?”
“There is less each vote. I have faith that your wishes have been thoroughly campaigned…the next vote should flow in your favor.”
“You.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. I have seen you in the lounge each night, seen you move from bay to bay during the day, from one group of those who vote to another.” She adjusted the way her legs were crossed. “I assumed you were being a good leader, but I’m wrong. You have been urging others to vote in my favor, that’s why they all look at me the way they do when I’m near.” She leaned forward. “Who’s your holdout?”
He never answered, only kept his jade stare locked on hers.
“Am I that bad of a fuck?”
Scorpio jarred his head back, clearly shocked by her off the wall comment. “Haven’t had the pleasure.”
Adair arched a brow as she appraised him. She was a bit shocked by his answer. The way her body seemed to react to him led her to believe she had been there and done that, and surely enjoyed it. Then again she and her body hadn’t gotten along in years. It was becoming more and more impossible for Adair to understand what she was feeling.
“Must be. I surely did something wrong enough that the almighty Judge wants to forevermore banish me from his life.”
“Perhaps he’s trying to protect you.” The words felt as if they cut his throat right open. They mirrored what he had said to her years before when she tried to understand why a man would claim a woman only to leave her untouched, alone.
“From?”
“Him.”
Adair nearly laughed. “We’re back to the bad teen romance. Are you trying to tell me he loves me but I’m food or something to him—the forbidden love?”
Scorpio shook his head then adjusted the way he was sitting. “Immortal or not, he’s a Son, one in the inner circle, one that knows every secret of this Club inside and out—more so because of his own gifts. He has enemies, ones that know the best way to hurt him is through those he loves.”
“Yet he claimed a woman for the hell of it.”
“You’re really going to do this to me,” Scorpio grumbled as his emotions flamed in his eyes.
“Do what?”
“Force me to convince you t
o go to him once more.”
A sarcastic huff left her. “You aren’t convincing me to do shit and if you did so in the past, shame on you.”
“I did it because it was what you wanted. It’s still what you want.”
“Bullshit.”
He lifted his chin. “Tell me I’m lying.”
She couldn’t, not truthfully, so she glanced away.
“My point,” Scorpio said, as he settled once more.
“I don’t know what I want or apparently who I am, so I’m not in a position to argue anything with you—particularly about my barren love life.”
She leaned forward. “Last I saw Judge he disarmed me, pushed me against the wall and basically told me he murdered my family—then he imprisoned me here.”
“He didn’t hurt Finley.”
“So he says.”
He clenched his jaw before he spoke. “What would push you to kill?”
“Me? Self-defense. This Club? I have no fucking idea, probably not much considering it is so easy to claim someone as property.”
“It was a mutual claim,” Scorpio snapped. “Yes we all witnessed the flare of his energy aimed squarely at you—to shut it down all you had to do was tell him and everyone else you denied him. You didn’t.”
Adair slammed her eyes shut, sensing the pain in his angry tone. “I’m not trying to hurt anyone, just understand. I’ll move on when I do, when my family is at peace.”
“I doubt it,” he said with a cold smile.
“Because I’m not getting out of this alive?” Adair assumed.
“Why do you think that?”
“Been expecting to die for a while now.”
“Why?” he asked, leaning forward.
She lifted a shoulder. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve been hexed this year alone? And not bullshit hexes. The ones that make you think you’re fucking insane. You know when Talley first charged me the other night, for a split second I was sure this was one of them—every now again, when shit gets too weird here I think to myself that my first instinct might be right. For all I fucking know Jade is standing over my limp body laughing her ass off, ready to burn me alive so she can finally have my shop, the legacy Finley left me.”