Chapter 34
WEDNESDAY
IN WHICH DESSA GETS A PROMOTION
Dessa woke up in a room with green walls and an open window draped with gauzy white curtains blowing in the crisp autumn air.
For a moment, her mind tripped over itself in a haze of déjà vu.
Suddenly she was seventeen again in this very same room, about to find out Alana was changed, Peter was dead, and Zach was missing.
She bolted upright with a gasp, and there was Brad sitting by her bed just as he had been back then. Except Brad’s hair was in a long ponytail now, his face roughened with the grizzle of six trying years.
“Shh, it’s all right.” He put a hand on her knee. “You’re safe.”
Dessa stilled under the words, her hands twisting in the blankets as she tried to cage her mind in this place and time. Noah, Rhett, Xavier…and, she gasped, “Jamison, is he…”
“He’s fine,” Brad said. “Sleeping outside on a couch, waiting to be let in. Arthur, Melba, and Richard are out there too, but I wanted to talk to you first.”
Dessa swallowed. “But Noah is dead. What about Rhett and—”
“Rhett is stable, and we found Brynn, along with a cache of Noah’s other supplies when Melba hacked into his phone.
It looks like he was addicting the Vampires to a drug called Sharp Vein and then forcing them to collect different paranormal substances that he could sell.
He had an even bigger plan to stoke a regional Vamp/Were war and sell weapons to both sides.
” His expression was grave. “It wasn’t just in Azalea Springs, Dess, he had six different Vampires across the state doing this for him, selling to Hexxers across the country. ”
“That’s why regional enforcement kept running around. He was trying to throw them off,” Dessa said. “But we were the source of his information.”
“Well, one of many. But I think it was his obsession with Jamison that eventually brought him down. If he’d stayed away from you, who knows how long he might’ve been able to run his operation.”
“What about Zach?” Dessa asked, her voice cracking. “Was he—?”
“No,” Brad said. “Noah has only been active for the last year. He made the original trade for a Hexxer shadow band after he was cursed, and it gave him a hunger for more power.”
Of course. Because Hexxer magic always came at a cost. “But I couldn’t sense his magic.”
Brad nodded. “It was probably masked by the curse. The one on the Kanes is so strong, I don’t think you could find anything else.”
“Well, I guess that’s at least one mystery solved.” Dessa fell back into the pillows. She was still so tired, she could probably sleep for another week.
“Dess,” Brad said, his voice low, “Jamison told me what happened. Xavier saw you compel Noah.”
“But I made it look like erasing a memory,” Dessa cut in, her pulse kicking up again. She still didn’t know much about Xavier Kane, but he certainly seemed like a man she wanted to avoid.
Brad shook his head, scratching a hand through his beard. “Yes, that was smart. But even using your gift like that proves you to be much more powerful than me. And the more you use it, the stronger you become, the more you’ll want to use it. It could even drive you mad.”
“It does scare me a little.” Dessa clenched her hands into fists to keep them from shaking. “I never thought I could use it on paranormals, and now that I know, I worry I might not be able to resist the temptation. It tugs at me.”
“Yes, but you have to fight it.” He leaned forward. “If people know, they will seek you out. Try to use you. You must keep it under control, Dess, and downplay how much strength you have. No one can ever know you have more sway than that. Never, Dessa.”
The word “never” seemed difficult, especially considering how much she’d used her gift in the last three weeks. She remembered Xavier’s expressionless face. “Okay, but what’s wrong with Xavier Kane? Something seemed so off.”
“For better or worse, I don’t think what you’re feeling has anything to do with the curse or any other paranormal explanation. He’s a sociopathic narcissist with a lot of money, but don’t underestimate how dangerous that can be, especially now that he has a two-sided curse.”
“Yeah, well, I’m more than happy to stay away from him too,” Dessa grumbled.
“So has this”—he gestured to the IV and the bandages on her leg—“changed your mind again? No one would blame you if you wanted to go back to New York.”
Dessa paused and turned her gaze to the green lawn outside the window, the broad, waxy leaves of a Magnolia tree swaying in the breeze.
The last time she was here, she felt lost and alone.
Defeated. Embarrassed. But now, even though they’d lost people in the past month, they’d also saved them too, and they had put a stop to Noah’s dark business, making A-Springs just a little safer. And it felt good. Right, even.
“Is it weird if I say no?” she whispered. “That as crazy as this has been, it’s felt like something I could be good at? Something I could do good in?”
Brad smiled. “No, Dess, it sounds like something my niece would say. And it’s a good thing a brand-new full-time spot just opened up in AzRIO.”
“Wait, what? Why?” Dessa’s brow furrowed. “Who quit?” Had she finally run Jamison off after all?
Uncle Brad gave her a bittersweet smile. “Uh, well, they offered me a permanent federal post.”
Dessa studied him for a moment. He’d been after it so long, it came as no surprise to her now. “Well, congrats. You deserve it.”
“And I managed to get us funding to turn an intern into a permanent slot, so there’s officially two vacancies for AzRIO field agents.” He grinned at her. “Know anyone you can recommend?”
Dessa wrinkled her nose with a teasing grin.
“I’ll put some thought into it.” Silence filled the space between them while a playful gust drifted in through the window, rustling the curtains.
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to speak her heavy thoughts aloud.
“Do you think we’ll ever find who took Zach?
I really thought this one was connected. ”
Brad sighed and looked at his hands, old grief giving his face new lines.
“I think there are some cases we never let go, Dess, but they’ll always be open.
You and I will always be searching for connections that may never exist.” Uncle Brad’s voice cracked, his eyes filling, and Dessa squeezed his hand.
“But it’s important we never stop looking. ”
“Is that why you wanted the bigger federal job?” Her voice was hesitant and gentle. “For Aunt Carolyn?”
“As always, you got me.” He chuckled wetly as he looked at her again. “I’ll always be looking for her.”
Just like she would always be looking for Zach. Dessa blinked to try to keep her tears at bay. She could barely even remember Aunt Carolyn now—just the shadow her disappearance had left behind. “You think there’s a chance we may find them someday? Or are we just doomed to look?”
“Aw, Dessa Blue, there’s always a chance.
” Brad reached out and wiped a tear from her cheek.
“I find new leads all the time. And even if we don’t bring home our own miracles, we’ll still be bringing home others.
” A howl outside the window made him chuckle.
“Speaking of, I expect the Weres and Vamps are ready to pledge their never-ending allegiance to you right now.”
“It’s a better ending than last time at least. And I like this one a lot better.” Her lips tightened. “I, um, I heard that you’ve talked to Peter after, uh, after he died.”
Brad frowned with a slow nod. “I did, though I always have qualms about disturbing the dead. I take it you’re also considering calling on him then?”
“He asked me to,” Dessa whispered. “But after talking to Carly, I’m worried it’s because he’s holding on to a prophecy for me somehow.”
Brad’s blue eyes widened a fraction. “Well, that could explain why he hasn’t fully gone to rest. Are you going to talk to him?”
Dessa’s eyes filled. “Am I a coward if I say I’m not ready?”
“No, sweetheart, no.” Brad squeezed her knee again. “He would never want you to wake him if you weren’t ready. And prophecies, well, those are never easy to bear.”
“I will one day,” Dessa said. “I just, I still need time.”
“No one will begrudge you that, Dessy girl. You’ve only been back a few weeks, and the world can move fast. If you need time, best take it while you have the luxury.”
Something about the way he phrased that gave Dessa a cold feeling in her gut, something she wasn’t at all ready to address.
“Speaking of time, I don’t want to ask how long the others have been waiting out there.
” Dessa wiped her face and allowed herself a smile. “Do you mind letting Jamison in now?”
Brad raised a brow at her. “I thought you didn’t like Jamison Kane? I seem to remember something about a clown himbo.”
“Well, he can still be a clown.” But he was her clown. Dessa swallowed down the words before they could slip out. Instead, she said, “He’s saved my life a couple times though, so I figure I owe him.”
“He does seem to have a strange knack for that.” Brad replaced his baseball cap on his head and swiveled it to the back.
Dessa shrugged, striving for innocence. “I figured that’s why you hired him.”
With a laugh, Brad walked out the door. “Maybe it was.”
As Dessa laughed to herself, her body bruised and aching, she thought back to Alana, and Peter, and Zach.
What would they think if they could see her now?
After her life had shattered into pieces, she’d been able to put herself back together, and even though she was still cracked in some places, she was smiling.
Because she may have failed before, but she’d totally won this round.
She could almost see them in her mind’s eye: Zach with a goofy grin, Peter squeezing her hand, and Alana winking beneath her long golden hair. Yes, if they could’ve seen her, they would’ve been proud.