Chapter Seventeen
From the time Pandra wassixteen, her ring hadn’t been off her finger for more than an hour, maybe two—however long it took to shag a lad—and that was it.
Now, it had been about twenty-four hours.
In that time, her surroundings had become a sensation bombardment, her hyper-aware nerve endings processing everything as her body fought to find a place in this new world. The chair she was sitting on outside of Toni’s office had a slightly pilled cushion. One of the wooden back slats was shedding a prickly splinter. She could feel where her skin was attached to her muscles, how her blood fizzed through her veins. She could sense her god-blasted hair growing. She could also tell her clothes fit perfectly. Whoever had dropped off four sacks of duds outside of her door had gauged her size bang on, although hadn’t judged her style very well. Unless she’d been given “nice” clothes on purpose. Today’s ensemble of a light blue skirt that flowed all the way down to her knees—cor, the thought—a soft cottony white blouse, and a pair of slip-on Vans made her resemble a sweet Gidget off for a day of boating. Sideburns Vinz had dropped his mouth nearly to his belt when he showed up at her door to usher her to a morning meeting with Toni.
Vinz was now leaning against the wall outside of Toni’s office and fiddling with his cell phone, taking pains to ignore her. He was one of many of that ilk. On her walk down Main Street, she’d been coldly disregarded by the entire town.
Unfortunately, she’d felt that, too.
Aye, discovering a deeper set of emotions was the worst part about being ringless. She’d actually woken this morning with an unfamiliar tightness in her throat and belly, her conscience needling her about ruining Thomal’s chance for an idyllic life with that Hadley bit of skirt.
The office door to her right opened and Toni appeared, wearing an emerald blouse and loose black slacks cut on the bias so the silk-like material flowed gracefully around her when she walked. Pandra sat frozen in place, again struck by what a stunning sort Toni was. Pandra herself was attractive, she knew that, but where Pandra was sexy hot, Toni was beautiful in an elegant way. The kind of classy looks Pandra would’ve preferred, and why the devil was she thinking rot like that?
Vinz pushed off the wall. “Do you need me to wait around till you’re done, Toni?”
“Thanks, Vinz, but you can go. I’ll call you if I need you.” Toni waved Pandra inside. “Come on in.”
Pandra stood and entered Toni’s office.
Toni moved over to her desk and sat down behind it.
Pandra glanced at the couch and two chairs opposite Toni’s desk. Ah. So there’d be no dishing the dirt over in the comfy chat area, eh? Right, then. Strictly business today. Pandra sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk.
Toni picked up a daisy-painted coffee mug and took a sip out of it. “How’d you sleep?”
Pandra propped her elbows on the armrests and bared her teeth in a smile.
One side of Toni’s mouth crooked upward. “That bad, huh?”
“The bedroom’s a far sight better than a jail cell, that’s for dead cert.” Pandra could’ve gone in for a different flatmate, though. But, unfortunately some strange Varcolac bonding need had required that Thomal remain close to her scent for a while. He’d stayed in her room all night, spending the first half of the evening planted in front of the TV, staring hard-jawed at a marathon of re-tread House episodes. It’s lupus, no, it’s sarcoidosis, no, it’s syphilis, no, it’s lupus…over and over again.
A serving gal had brought a meal at supper time. Thomal ate his in front of the television. Pandra had sat at the desk reading The Help from a stack of books someone had left for her. Thomal’s freeze-out would’ve been complete had she not caught him studying her on more than one occasion when he thought she wasn’t minding. She’d sneaked eyefuls of him, too. Blimey, but two boshes of her blood had certainly awakened the bloke back to his perishing good looks.
Beddy-bye time had come, and Thomal had just stripped out of his clothes and climbed under the covers of her bed. That had stumped her. Should she join him or make a place for herself on the floor? She’d ended up sleeping on her own side of the mattress—not starkers like him—figuring if he’d either wanted to kill her or shag her, he would’ve done so already. It had still taken her a long time to get to sleep.
Toni leaned back in her chair. “The Costache brothers are well-loved around here, Pandra. There’s no short road back from what you did to them, not with the people of this community or with Thomal.”
Heat washed up the back of Pandra’s neck as she relived her walk down Main Street, people pointedly turning their backs on her. “Did I give you the impression I wanted to travel that road?”
“No.” Toni settled her mug on her lap. “And how you spend your time in this town is entirely up to you. Nobody can force you to make an effort. I just didn’t think that Jacken’s suggestion to hang you from a meat hook sounded appealing.”
“Ah, yes.” She crossed her legs and flipped her foot. “Best I not forget that I’m trapped here till I’m a wrinkly gimmer, eh?”
Toni released a soft breath. “I’d prefer you didn’t think of it that way. Your stay here doesn’t have to be unpleasant. If you work hard, keep your nose clean, and show yourself disposed to be a good person, then the people of this community might give you a chance.”
“A good person?” Pandra snorted. She supposed pigs did fly in a frozen-over hell every now and again.
“Sure, and why not?” Leaning forward, Toni set her mug on her desk. “Don’t underestimate yourself, Pandra. Wearing a ring enchanted by Raymond has affected you. There’s darkness in his power. I know this because I feel it in myself whenever I use my own power, which is why I don’t, besides learning how to enchant medications and a few other things. But I’m very cautious about it.” She sat back again. “Look, take some time without your ring on your finger and heal yourself, figure out who you really are and what you want to do. I imagine some great possibilities lurk within you.”
Pandra bore down on her teeth, creating another unpleasant smile. “Lawks, sis, I do appreciate the whole sunshine-up-my-arse-thing, but I already know who I am, and it certainly isn’t anyone who can keep her nose clean. Sorry to disappoint. Shall I go now?”
Toni picked up her mug and sipped her coffee as she searched Pandra’s face. “I don’t believe that’s true,” Toni said. “You’re my half-sister, and in my mind, that makes you—”
“Just one of Fate’s little laughs, old mucker, so I wouldn’t get yourself in a dither about it.” Pandra cocked her head to the side. “Do you know that Raymond wanted to have all of his nippers with your mum. Her Fey goes back to the Irish fairies, see, and that’s a right powerful lineage. But there were complications with your birth and your mum couldn’t have any more babies after you, so Raymond had to settle for a Pure Om R?u female, my rank mum. A kick in the ballocks for you, though, getting abandoned by your father because of the accident of your own birth.”
Toni gazed down into her mug and ran the tip of her finger around the rim. “I’m offering you a second chance, Pandra. A genuine offer from my heart, no strings attached, besides the requirement that you adhere to the town laws, same as everyone else. You can continue to try and sabotage that by attempting to hurt me…an endeavor you’ll probably succeed in if you keep using my losses against me.”
Pandra re-crossed her legs. Slowly. She couldn’t believe Toni had openly handed her a weapon like that.
Toni looked up. “But I sincerely hope you won’t. If you agree to this offer,” she went back to the topic at hand, “we’ll find you something useful to do. You’ll be assigned to various jobs in the community until you’ve had a chance to try a little of everything. Hopefully, this will help you figure out what suits you best. The only thing you won’t be allowed is access to our computer systems. I know it’s where your expertise lies, but there’s a security issue involved. Everything else is available.” Toni slid a file folder across the desk to her. “The other requirement is that you go to twice-weekly sessions with our therapist. She comes down here from topside three times a—”
“A what? A blooming head shrink?”
“Don’t make it sound like that. Karrell’s a great person to talk to, someone to help you work out your…for lack of a better term, your Raymond issues.”
Pandra smirked. “Maybe you should go, too, then.”
Toni smiled, maybe a shade too nicely. “I’m not the one who’s trying to self-destruct.”
“Is that what I’m doing?” Sod the woman, she was frighteningly close to dead-on with that.
Toni turned the mug in her hands. “As to Raymond, what kind of retribution can we expect from him for taking you?”
A laugh launched up Pandra’s throat. Raymond would hardly pass up on another opportunity to send Pandra the message she wasn’t of any cop to him. He would do exactly nothing.
“I’m sorry,” Toni said after a short pause.
“Don’t be,” Pandra shot back. “I myself couldn’t give a kipper’s dick.”
Toni paused again. “Okay.”
Pandra tapped her fingers on the armrests. She was getting restless to be done with this meeting. “So if I say yes to your offer, promising to be well-behaved and such, you’ll trust me at my word?”
“Yes. Until you give me cause not to.”
“I’ll be allowed to”—she swept her hand through the air—“run amuck?”
“You’ll be watched to a certain degree, of course, but not guarded outright. That is, if you agree to abide by our rules. I’d like ??ran? to feel like your home, Pandra, as much as possible.”
Pandra lowered her gaze against a rush of unexpected emotion, pretending a sudden interest in her fingernails. Home: the most frightening concept of them all. Home had never contained a sister like Toni, who was, from all appearances, caring and just, open and honest. The next oldest sister in the half-R?u brood was Opal, ten years younger than Pandra at fourteen and born of Boian—Raymond’s pure Fey partner in their procreation program—making her a complete bum nugget, as all of Boian’s progeny were. Pandra wanted to claw the cowbag’s eyes out more than she ever imagined having a chin wag with her over tea and scones.
Pandra coughed lightly. “I suppose I’ll give it a bash.” She had no illusions that this place would ever truly become a home to her, but she was stuck here for now, by gum, and Toni was right; she didn’t fancy hanging from a meat hook while she figured out her next move.
“Great.” Toni beamed. “Your first assignment is with Hannah Cri?an in our library. You start today. The particulars are in there.” She pointed to the file folder. “It also contains a map of the town and the community manual. I recommend you read that without delay. It’ll get you up to speed on Varcolac culture. Any questions?”
Pandra picked up the folder. “Actually, yes. I’ve developed…there’s something that grew on my back overnight. A dragon.” The thing had surprised the devil out of her in the bathroom mirror this morning. It was fashioned out of actual scales, brilliant blue on the body and wings, red on the belly, claws, and choppers. The dragon’s noggin sat in profile over her left shoulder blade, the wings arched over the right, and the reptilian tail snaked along her lower back with its clawed feet aimed at imaginary prey to the left of her spine. It was the same kind of beast she and Murk had seen on Thomal’s and Arc’s backs in that rubbishy hotel room, although the Varcolacs’ dragon had been green and red.
“The dragon is a tattoo of sorts,” Toni explained. “It means you’re Fey now.”
“It means…?” Pandra’s mouth dropped open. She was too shocked to stop it. I’m Fey? “But that’s impossible.”
“I have one, too, as does Alex.” Toni pushed her intercom button. “Donree, could you please send in Dr. Jess, if he’s not too busy.”
“You’re pulling my plonker.” Raymond had been going mad planning the next generation because it was only his grandchildren who were supposed to be fully Fey, not his children.
Toni laughed. “Nope.” She stood, turned around, and lifted the back of her blouse, flashing a dragon—the exact same one Pandra had.
Well, I’ll be damned.
A knock sounded at the office door, then Natty entered, dressed in a white lab coat over an impeccable dark suit, the garment rich enough to pass even Raymond’s high standards.
“Dr. Jess,” Toni introduced, gesturing to Natty. “This is Pandra Parthen.”
Pandra rose.
The doctor offered her his hand. He striking turquoise eyes were warm with welcome.
Pandra took the offered hand, giving it a firm shake.
“Pandra popped her dragon,” Toni went on. “I wanted you to look at her enchantment designator. I never know what those symbols mean.”
Designator? Ah, the symbol off her dragon’s nose.
“Neither do I, usually,” Dr. Jess admitted. “The Fey bloodline has been suppressed for so many years. But, indeed, let’s have a peek. If Miss Parthen doesn’t mind lifting her shirt in back.”
Pandra half-smiled. A bit of a silly worry, considering her usual wardrobe choices. “I don’t mind a’tall. I’m rather curious myself.” She turned around and gathered her shirt up.
“It’s the letter V,” Dr. Jess mused.
“And you don’t know what it means?” Toni guessed.
“I have no idea,” Jess confirmed, chuckling. “But Miss Parthen’s power will come out soon enough, and then we’ll all know.”
Bully. More power for Pandra. Just what she needed to inspire everyone to hate her more than they already did. She pulled down her shirt and faced the doctors. “How did it come to be there?”
“Well, the enchantment itself has always been with you,” Toni answered. “But Thomal’s Fiin?? activated it.”
“Fiin???”
“The elixir that comes out of a Varcolac’s fangs when he or she feeds. Funny, isn’t it?” Toni added in a sardonic tone. “Raymond considers Varcolac to be the scum of the earth. Yet, it’s the Varcolac who can trigger enchantment powers in a person with Fey bloodlines. Here and now, today.” Toni’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “I don’t think we should tell him, though, do you?” She winked at Pandra, such the conspiratorial sister.
Pandra experienced the oddest stirring in her chest. How to respond to this attempt at connection? She didn’t have a bloody clue.