Chapter 23
“Can’t you drive any faster?” Analise asked. “I still have to go through check in and all. You should have gotten up earlier.”
“You should have called an uber or something! And I’m driving just fine. I would be driving better if you’d let me have coffee first.”
“It’s afternoon, Emmalyn. You should have been up hours ago.”
“You know what? Just be glad I’m driving you,” Emmalyn said, yawning as she put her blinker on and turned out onto the highway. “Besides, we’re just now turning on the highway. I’m not speeding through the property. Anybody could walk in front of us.”
“If you hurry up and get me the hell out of here, I’ll buy you a hundred-dollar gift card to whatever coffee shop you want,” Analise said.
Emmalyn perked up and looked at her sister. “Seriously?”
“Yes!”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Emmalyn asked, pressing down on the accelerator to bring up the vehicle’s speed.
Analise’s phone began to ring. She picked up the phone and looked at the screen. Shaking her head frustratedly, she put it back down.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?”
“No. He’s the reason I want to get out of here.”
“He might have something important to say.”
“Nothing that would matter. Can you just drive?”
“Fine. You’re the one who insisted I drive you. If you don’t like how I’m driving, maybe you should have driven yourself.”
“I did. Then Mom and Dad took my rental to the airport.”
They were a full three miles down the highway before Analise’s phone pinged.
“You got a message!” Emmalyn announced.
“I don’t care. I just want to go,” Analise said, her voice hoarse with emotion.
“If it hurts you that much, just stay Analise.”
“It’s so far past that.”
“At least listen to his message.”
“No.”
“Listen to his message.”
“I don’t want to!”
“Listen!” Emmalyn yelled.
“If I listen, will you just drive me to the freaking airport in peace?”
“Yes,” Emmalyn said brightly.
“Fine.” Analise picked up her phone and brought up her voice mail app. She keyed in her pass code and then pressed number one to have her voice mails play. She rested her head on her own shoulder, her eyes closed as she prepared for the effect Havoc’s voice always had on her.
“’Lise! ’Lise, it’s me. Harley is missing! I’m hoping she’s trying to get over to see you. Please, please check. I’m at Vince’s, but I’m on my way. Please look around. See if she might be anywhere nearby trying to find her way to you.”
Analise shot up straight in the seat. “Stop!”
“What?” Emmalyn asked, beginning to slow the vehicle.
“Stop! Now! Right now! Stop the car!”
Emmalyn slammed on the brakes as hard as she could, almost throwing them both through the windshield.
Analise didn’t say a word about it, instead she threw open the door and jumped out, running back up the road toward the house.
“The hell are you going?” Emmalyn demanded, maneuvering the car around with the passenger side door still open to follow Analise as she ran up the shoulder of the highway.
“Harley?! Harley are you out here?” Analise shouted. Analise ran for a few steps, then walked again. Shouting as loud as she could. “Harley?! Baby if you can hear me, yell for me!”
“Nooooo!” Emmalyn said.
Analise glanced quickly toward the vehicle driving along in the opposite lane. “Havoc said she’s missing and he’s hoping she was coming to try to see me.”
“Where do I go? Where do I go look?” Emmalyn asked. “And where the hell is everybody else?”
“The woods on Brandt’s side! Go see if she got turned around near her house. I’m going to look on our side.”
“Got it,” Emmalyn said, throwing the car into reverse and slamming her foot on the brake after she got a little speed built up. The momentum caused the still open passenger side door to slam closed. Emmalyn drove up beside Analise again. “I’m calling everybody. I’ll get everybody at home looking for her near our house.”
“Tempest! Go get Tempest!”
“Yes, and Brandt and Barron!”
“Tempest!” Analise yelled. “Tempest knows things!”
“On my way!” Emmalyn yelled, accelerating so quickly she left rubber from the cars’ tires on the road.
Analise continued alternately running and walking up the highway, calling Harley’s name non-stop toward the woods on both sides of the highway. She stopped every once in a while and listened for anything at all that didn’t sound right. “Harley!” she screamed when she didn’t hear anything at all out of the ordinary.
Looking to the right, which was Brandt’s side of the highway, and to her left which was the side Kaid’s property was on, she decided to go directly into the woods on the left. Havoc had made it clear a couple of days ago that she was familiar with anywhere on their side of the property, so if she was lost, it would stand to reason that it would be on Kaid’s side.
She went down into the ditch, and up the other side, kicking her shoes off and leaving them wherever they’d managed to get stuck in the muck. “Harley! Honey, I’m coming!”
~~~
Tempest opened the door and grinned at Emmalyn. “Emmalyn! Come on in. You tired of bothering Barron yet?”
“Harley is missing!” Emmalyn rushed out, grabbing Tempest’s hand and pulling her out of her own front door.
“What? When?”
“I don’t know. Analise is walking the highway looking for her. Havoc said he thinks she might have been trying to find her way to Analise. I don’t know anything else except Analise said to come find you because you know things.”
“Okay, okay. Hold on…” Tempest said, closing her eyes and releasing some of her powers to search for the little girl.
“What are you doing? Let’s go, we got to go!” Emmalyn insisted.
“Shhh! Hold on…” Tempest said, canting her head just slightly. “Okay, I got her, but she’s not alone.”
“Who’s she with? Where is she?” Emmalyn demanded.
“Call Havoc, tell him that she’s okay. I’m going to her now.”
“Wait! Where?”
“The woods, before Kaid’s property,” Tempest said as green mists began to swirl and Tempest disappeared before Emmalyn’s eyes.
“Holy fuck,” Emmalyn breathed, her hands shaking as she dialed Havoc’s number. “Fucking mists… I need some mists,” she grumbled.
“You find her?” Havoc demanded, taking Emmalyn’s call at once.
“Kinda.”
“Emmalyn, now is not the fucking time!” Havoc bellowed.
“Tempest said she’s going to her now. She’s not alone, but she’s okay and she’s going to her.”
“Where?”
“She said the woods before Kaid’s property. That’s all I know. Analise is out there, too.”
Havoc pressed his foot on the accelerator as he tossed his phone at Ronan who was hanging out of the truck screaming Harley’s name on his side of the vehicle. Havoc kept his eyes trained on the woods as they went past and just barely managed to catch sight of two bright green high heel pumps sticking up out of the mud on the side of the ditch with several fresh footprints leading from the ditch and into the woods. He slammed on his brakes and threw the vehicle into park. “I’m going in!”
“I got the truck, just go,” Ronan said, scooting over the seat to get to the driver’s side.
Havoc hit the ground running, screaming for Harley with every step he took, his eyes glued to the tiny footprints he followed, not doubting for a second they were Analise’s.
~~~
“There you are,” Tempest said, lifting the low hanging branches to find Harley sitting beneath them looking up at her teary-eyed.
“I got lost,” Harley said between hiccups.
“It’s okay. Everybody gets lost sometimes. But there are lots of people out looking for you. Look at you! You must be freezing. It’s a good thing I brought you this coat, huh?”
“You brought me a coat?”
“I sure did,” Tempest said, creating the coat out of thin air and wrapping it around Harley’s shoulders.
“Harley?!” Analise called from somewhere nearby.
“I’m right here!” Harley called out, jumping to her feet. “That’s Analise!”
“It is, she’s looking for you, too.” Tempest raised her voice. “We’re here, Analise!”
“Help me. Help me!” a woman’s voice called from about sixty feet away. “What about me?! Help me! I need help more than she does!”
Harley looked afraid suddenly and started crying again.
“None of that now. You don’t worry about her. I’m going to take care of her.”
“She’s not nice,” Harley whispered through her tears.
“Harley! Honey, what are you doing out here?” Analise asked, before she even got eyes on the little girl.
“I was looking for you, but then she chased me and I got scared and I got lost,” she said as Analise finally came into view.
Harley ran into Analise’s arms and started sobbing as Analise picked her up.
“I just found her,” Tempest said, walking over to Analise and resting a hand on Harley’s back. “She’s okay. She’s safe now.”
“Thank you. Who chased her? Who frightened her?” Analise asked.
“Help meee! Why isn’t anyone helping me?” Marie-Claire screamed angrily.
Analise’s expression grew cold and she made a motion to hand Harley to Tempest so she could go deal with Marie-Claire, but Tempest shook her head. “You and Harley go get warm. I’ve got a few things to take care of here.”
Analise’s gaze shot over in the direction Marie-Claire’s voice was coming from, then at Tempest. “This needs to end.”
“Trust me,” Tempest said. “It won’t be a problem again.”
Analise hesitated, she really wanted to be the one to deliver a little karma.
“Trust me,” Tempest said again.
Analise nodded, realizing that Harley needed her attention more than she needed vengeance.
Harley sobbed again, holding tighter to Analise.
“Are you okay baby?” she asked, refocusing on Harley.
Harley didn’t pick her head up from Analise’s shoulder, she just kept clinging to her as she cried.
“We’re going to go home, okay? We’re going to go to my house.” Analise shared another look with Tempest before she walked away, giving the general vicinity Marie-Claire was in a wide berth. “We’re going to call your daddy and let him know you’re safe and with me while we’re walking home, okay?”
“Okay,” Harley said.
Analise opened the psychic connection she’d always had with Havoc for the first time in a long time. The first thing she picked up from him was panic. She pushed a wave of soothing emotion toward him, then followed it up with a softly thought message. I have her. She’s safe, just a little shaken up. I’m taking her to my house.
Havoc was still following Analise’s footprints through the cold, sticky mud when he suddenly felt her, and heard her voice in his head. Where are you? he thought back at her, relief flooding through him as he realized that Harley was safe.
In the woods, almost to Kaid’s property. Tempest is still out here with Marie-Claire.
What the hell is she doing out here?
She chased Harley into the woods.
Havoc’s snarl transmitted clearly through their psychic connection. Tell Harley I’ll be there soon.
Analise hugged Harley a little closer. “Daddy says he’ll be here in a little while. He’s been out looking for you, too.”
“He’s going to be mad.”
“Probably. But he’s going to be more relieved than mad.”
“I’m cold,” Harley said.
“I know, baby. Your feet are wet. We’ll be there before much longer and we’ll get you all warmed up, okay?”
“Okay.”
~~~
Tempest took her time walking casually through the tree covered landscape until she was almost right on top of Marie-Claire. “Well, what do we have here?” Tempest asked, intentionally throwing a little insanity and threat into her tone.
“Who is that? Who are you? I can’t see you!” Marie-Claire said, rolling over on the ground to look up at Tempest.
Tempest misted from her spot behind Marie-Claire where she’d just managed to get eyes on her, to a squatting position right in front of her.
Marie-Claire’s face went white when the woman misted into place before her.
“Can you see me now?” Tempest drawled, winking at her.
“Who are you? Get away from me!” Marie-Claire exclaimed. “Get away from me!”
Marie-Claire held up her hands in front of her, crossing two of her fingers in the sign of the cross to try to ward off Tempest.
Tempest laughed as she reached out and wrapped her hand around Marie-Claire’s crossed fingers, squeezing until the bones in both fingers popped and snapped.
Marie-Claire screamed, trying to yank her hands out of Tempest’s grasp.
“What are you?” she finally sobbed, her hands trembling.
“Well, you see, that’s kind of a complicated question. I’m a little bit Dragon, but I’m also a little bit Gargoyle, and a whole lot of ancient elemental. There is a little tiny bit of human thrown in, but unfortunately for you, not enough to make me give a damn about any suffering you might happen to endure.”
“I don’t deserve this,” Marie-Claire whimpered, looking around herself quickly for any kind of relief, anything at all that might shift attention from this horrid creature away from herself.
Heavy footsteps had both women looking in the same direction as Havoc stomped into the clearing.
“Havoc! Havoc, help me! This demon attacked me! Help me!” Marie-Claire begged, her screaming a high-pitched whine that had both Havoc and Tempest wincing ever-so-slightly.
“Tempest,” Havoc said, inclining his head.
“Havoc. How are you this fine day?” Tempest asked.
“I have a feeling I’m about to be a whole lot better,” Havoc said.
“Funny. I was thinking the same thing.”
“You know this creature?!” Marie-Claire asked, horrified.
“Oh, yeah. She’s Brandt’s mate. My new Alpha.”
Tempest beamed a perfectly terrifying smile at Marie-Claire. “Nice to meet you.”
“She’s a demon! She just disappeared right in front of me! I saw it!”
“Was that before or after you chased my child into the woods scaring her so badly she’s still crying?”
“She’s my child! She’s horrible! She’s a terrible, horrible child! If I could have caught her, I’d have beaten her until there was nothing left to beat!”
“Is that what you told her? Is that why she’s so upset?”
Tempest reached out and slapped a hand across Marie-Claire’s forehead, squeezing uncomfortably. “Hang on, I’ll tell you,” Tempest said, pulling the memories from Marie-Claire's mind. Tempest was quiet only for a few moments before she shoved Marie-Claire’s head away from her grasp, resulting in Marie-Claire whimpering and crying out.
“She told her she’s her mother, and that she hates her and she was going to beat her when she caught her. And just so you know, her plan was to take Harley, hide her away and make you pay her for access to Harley, which she never planned to give because she doesn’t want Analise around her.”
“She’s lying! She’s lying!” Marie-Claire exclaimed, cradling her broken fingers against her chest as she looked up at Havoc.
Havoc’s features seemed to grow sharper, his eyes began to glow an eerie gold, his shoulders widened and a low rumble began deep in his chest. “I’m going to enjoy killing you. I should have done it the moment you gave birth.”
“Oh, my God! You’re like her!” Marie-Claire cried, trying to crawl away from Havoc as he advanced on her.
“Oh, no, I’m much more dangerous than he is. He’s just a Wolf shifter. I’m a little bit of everything good and bad rolled into one. The part you get depends on you. Guess which one you get!” Tempest said excitedly.
Marie-Claire wasn’t far from insanity as it was, but this was all about to push her over into lunatic range.
Havoc looked down at the pitiful excuse for a human-being lying in the mud before him. “I just can’t understand why you’d want to hurt your own child. I get you don’t want to be a mother, but why do you want to hurt her? Why so much disregard for her? Just walk away.”
“She ruined my life!” Marie-Claire screamed through tears, snot and spittle. “She took everything from me! She never did anything but hurt me. I wasn’t trying to hurt her! I was trying to make you respect me! I deserve respect! I just needed her to come with me so I could make you show me respect. So I could make you give me what I deserve in exchange for giving her back to you, but the stupid little bitch wouldn’t listen! If she got hurt, it’s her own fault!”
Havoc stepped closer to Marie-Claire and slammed his boot down on her ankle. “You’re out of your fucking mind. And you’re lying. I fucking hate you. Mine will be the last face you see on this Earth and it’s going to be a long painful exit, cunt.”
Marie-Claire screamed over and over again in pain as he stomped down on her ankle once more.
“Havoc, I think maybe you should go see about Harley.”
“I have to kill this bitch first.”
“I think that you’d be better with no part in it.”
Havoc swung his gaze to Tempest, prepared to rage at her, too, if necessary. But what he saw there stopped him. Her face was her own, but it was tinted in shadows. Her eyes were almost transparent, but behind them swirled universes of stars.
“You see, part of my lineage is that of an ancient elemental. Do you know that there was once an elemental known as a soul-eater. He consumed souls of the evil as sustenance.”
“I’m not evil!” Marie-Claire screamed desperately.
Tempest cackled maniacally. “Of course, you are.”
“Don’t let her kill me! I gave her life!”
“Who? Me?” Tempest asked.
“No, my daughter!” Marie-Claire sobbed.
“I gave her life. I made sure that you were protected, provided for, sheltered and I even tried to care about you. MY daughter is alive because I provided for you. I have no doubt that had I not, you’d have aborted her. She’s my daughter, all you are is the body that made that possible,” Havoc growled.
“He’s not lying,” Tempest said as the winds around them began to swirl.
“The soul-eater that I told you about, he’s one of my ancestors. I’ve inherited limitless power from him and from my mother. That means I can… do you know what it is?” Tempest asked.
“No!” Marie-Claire sobbed.
Tempest looked at Havoc who was admittedly looking at Tempest a little nervously. “I think she’s figured it out.”
“It’s not my fault! My whole life is bad. I never have anything good happen to me. Only bad luck! Only misery!”
“That’s what you sow. You reap what you sow. Have you heard that one? The common denominator in your life is you,” Tempest said. “And the thing is, at some point everybody has bullshit in their lives. Everybody has shit to overcome. But not everybody chooses to become a leech on society and blame everybody else including their own child for their fuck-ups as they continue to make everyone else responsible for their poor choices,” Tempest said.
“I tried to give you good. You wanted no part of it. And now you chase my daughter into the woods, screaming at her how you’re going to beat her, how you hate her, while you’re telling her you’re her mother? You deserve nothing but bad things. I hope you rot in hell when I’m finished with you.”
“You think you’re better than me? You’re just like me!” Marie-Claire yelled. Her constant moving back and forth between begging for mercy and hurling angry accusations was evidence that she was completely unstable.
“Oh, I was going to eat her soul,” Tempest lamented comically.
“You really don’t want to do that. It’ll probably make you sick,” Havoc said.
“Havoc, I think it’s time for you to go.”
“I’m not finished.”
“You are. No new start should be poisoned with the remnants of your last. Go. See to your daughter, to your mate. I give you my word this will never be a problem again.”
Havoc looked down at the woman sobbing on the ground, looking frantically from Tempest to himself and back again. “I hate you, so fucking much. You are the entire reason everything around you goes to shit. You’re worthless.” He turned and walked away.
“No! Wait!! Don’t let her kill me!”
Havoc ignored her as he walked away, but the idea of what was about to happen was still tugging at his conscience.
“You can’t kill me! They’ll find my body! They’ll know what happened! They’ll find you, you’ll pay for this!” Marie-Claire shouted between sobs.
Havoc stopped and turned back to Tempest and Marie-Claire.
Tempest was kneeling over Marie-Claire who’d begun to scream again.
“Can you make it quick?”
Tempest looked back at Havoc questioningly. “A soft heart after all?” she asked.
Havoc shook his head. “No, but she’s right about one thing. I am better than she is. I’m ready to be done with the whole damn thing, her included. She will never hurt my child again, but neither will I have to feel responsible for anything she endures. Not even this.”
Tempest smiled at Havoc and gave him a single nod.
He turned and walked away, leaving Marie-Claire to her fate. He’d asked Tempest for mercy on her behalf, that was the only part he’d have in it. He hated her, he truly did. But that was something he’d have to face his maker about, just like Marie-Claire would have to face hers for all her own personal issues.
Tempest looked down at Marie-Claire lying on the ground in front her, trying in vain to crawl away from her. “Here’s a bit of truth for you. He’s a much better person, than I am, too. I would have shown you no mercy. You don’t fuck with kids and get away with it. I think maybe he’s asked for mercy for you so he can honestly tell his daughter later that whatever happened to you, it was peaceful.”
Marie-Claire was moving only inches at a time as she ignored Tempest’s voice.
“Are you even listening to me?”
“You go straight to hell!” Marie-Claire shouted.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Tempest said, shoving her hand into Marie-Claire’s chest, causing everything around them to glow a soft light green as mists and winds of the same color began to swirl. Marie-Claire’s body tensed, then fell back prone onto the ground.
“Tempest?” Brandt said from behind her, he and Barron having just located her seconds before.
Tempest remained as she was until the slight green shimmers began to die down along with the winds. She stood and flicked her fingers at the body that once belonged to Marie-Claire, and watched as it faded away. “Tell Ata’Halne I said hello,” she said softly.
“Tempest?” Brandt said again, a little louder this time.
Tempest turned quickly at the sound of her name and smiled brightly at Brandt. “Hello, my love.”
Brandt moved toward her, his arms open for her.
She walked into his embrace and closed her eyes as she let all the stress leave her.
“Who’s Ata’Halne?” Barron asked.
“The Dark One, of course.”
“Of course,” Barron said, looking uncertainly at Brandt.
“You alright?” Brandt asked.
“Just need a little time to calm the storm inside me. I might have let a little too much of the elemental side have free rein for a few moments, there.”
“It’s alright. I’m here. I’ll hold you steady,” Brandt said, holding her tightly in his embrace.
Tempest nodded and released a deep measured breath.