24. Chapter 24
Chapter twenty-four
LUCA
I watched Sage leave feeling completely helpless and I hated every second of it. But it wasn’t like I could run out after him in the daylight even if I could get out of my shift.
“Nothing will happen to him on wolf land,” Titus said gruffly, having heard Sage’s comment on his way out the door.
The dragons and the wolves had grown close during their time working together at the fire station, so Titus’s comment wasn’t surprising. He respected the men he worked with there.
“I know,” I agreed.
“Then why do you still look so troubled, kiddo?” Phee chimed in.
“It’s nothing. Do you need another drink?”
“You’ve been through a lot in a short time,” Phee said instead. “But it’s okay to let yourself care about someone again.”
My jaw dropped. I hadn’t told any of them who Mark, the hunter who killed me, had actually been to me, but Phee’s comment made it sound a lot like she’d already guessed.
Aiden rolled his eyes, not following what she was implying. “What is that even supposed to mean? He obviously already cares about Sage, he wouldn’t have that look on his face if he didn’t.”
Phee examined my face with those sharp eyes of hers. “You’re not wrong,” she agreed. “So what has you so hesitant, kiddo? Is it the vampire thing?”
As usual, I found it difficult to brush Ophelia off, and over the past few nights, I’d pinpointed the one of the reasons I was so hesitant to keep chasing after him.
“Actually, I’ve been wondering how much of my involvement with Sage’s situation is just my training coming out, telling me I need to save someone in trouble.”
I’d been out every night since I’d tracked Sage to Mars’s house of horrors and I’d saved more than one non-human from the grasp of the hunters. In part, I was trying to make the town a little safer while I knew Sage was out getting into trouble, but I couldn’t deny that part of me also felt fulfilled being out there and doing something to keep Eastbend safe again.
Surprisingly, it was Aiden who spoke up. “Well, do you feel the same inclination to help Declan?”
“Declan? Not really.”
“But you know he’s not really here just looking for a place to crash, yeah?”
I shrugged a shoulder. We pretty much all suspected that at this point. The man was clearly hiding from something, but it wasn’t really my business.
“You have a point,” I conceded. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want to put my own issues on Sage, especially right now. I want to keep him safe, but Sage doesn’t want or need to be saved. He’s smart and capable and apparently a lot stronger than we thought. The fact that I keep wanting to chase him down and protect him is my issue, not his.”
Phee smiled. “Maybe it’s not about saving him at all. Sage is a smart boy and you’re right, he’ll probably figure it all out on his own sooner or later, though the path he takes to get there may be a rough one. But just because he’s capable of walking his own path, doesn’t mean he should have to do it alone, does it kiddo? No one can walk our path for us, but sometimes just having someone there with us makes all the difference.”
It was like she’d blown away the dark clouds that had been following me for days. Sage had shown up for me over and over, putting himself in my presence even knowing what I’d become. Forcing me to face the things I needed to face to ensure I never lost my humanity. He never tried to take away my pain or make anything easier, he just stayed when I couldn’t even stand being near myself. Why had I even hesitated to do the same for him? Oh, right.
“What about the vampire thing?”
“What about it?” Phee asked. “Sage certainly doesn’t seem to mind. If anything, it only makes you the best person to understand what he’s going through right now.”
“Maybe, but he’s still human, and I’m still a vampire.”
“What does that matter?” Aiden asked. “I’m half human and mated to a non-human who’s probably more different from me than you two are. Mating usually resolves any lifespan differences, though I don’t know if it works the same way for vampires. Even so, he’s bound to a demon, isn’t he? He’s probably got hundreds of years ahead of him even without a mating. Plus, Elliot could probably find a way to bind you two together the way he and Ollie are bound to their demons if he needed to. And from the sound of it, the demon possessing him won’t let you hurt him, so there’s nothing to worry about there either. So what’s stopping you?”
Sage’s lifespan had been a concern for me early on. Silas warned me almost immediately of the downfalls of being immortal, and the fear of living while I lost everyone around me had scared me into isolation. I’d pulled away from everyone, including the family I’d been close with. Honestly, it had been a knee-jerk reaction and I assumed I’d get over it before it was too late, but it was undoubtedly one of the reasons I’d avoided Sage for so long. And now it was one more thing that had seemed so huge before but wasn't actually as insurmountable as I'd imagined.
“Maybe it’s that Sage seems so different lately?” Ophelia asked.
Aiden answered her as if I wasn’t standing right in front of them. “Maybe, but then Luca seems pretty different lately too, doesn’t he?”
I’d been too distracted trying to keep up with Sage to feel sorry for myself, so Aiden probably wasn’t wrong, but he saved me from having to answer when he turned sideways on his stool to shoot narrowed eyes at Phee.
“Actually, you’ve been pretty strange lately yourself.”
Completely undisturbed, Phee took a sip from her delicate tea cup. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“Oh really? What’s with all the advice you’ve been giving lately? It’s like you’ve completely given up on the mystery and have switched to beating everyone over the head with the obvious.”
Ophelia blinked big innocent eyes at Aiden over her tea cup. “Maybe love has simply made you more observant.”
Aiden snorted. “I know you too well, old woman, that’s not going to work. It’s almost like you’re in a hurry for some reason. But why would you need to rush?” He stared at the woman for a long moment. “Levi wasn’t from Eastbend and he was planning on leaving all along, but he stayed because of Connor. Sage isn’t from Eastbend either, is he going to leave if — mmph!”
Ophelia slapped a hand over Aiden’s mouth.
“That isn’t the way this works, Aiden!” She said, shooting me an apologetic look. “You can’t live your life for the what ifs, you’ll only talk yourself in circles or weigh every decision with your worst fears. Every one of us is constantly making choices, and sometimes those choices impact our lives in more significant ways than we realize. Any decision could have unforeseen consequences, so all you can do is make the best one you can for you and the people you care about. Do you understand?”
“Kind of,” I agreed slowly.
Aiden leaned back to escape Phee’s hand, seemingly comforted by the return of her vague advice.
“Besides,” Phee added cheerfully as she turned back to Aiden. “What are you so worried about anyway, you said I was just some hack with a blog, didn’t you? Or are you finally willing to acknowledge my talents.”
Aiden rolled his eyes. “I’ll let you know when I need a fortune cookie.”
I left them to their bickering and got back to work refilling drinks along the bar. The place went quiet the next time the door opened and I looked up to find a man in uniform heading my way.
The sheriff’s eyes wandered the tavern and he arched an eyebrow at me as he took a seat not far from Ophelia. The last time he’d been in he wasn’t in uniform so he hadn’t gotten the same response. This time around, people were torn between the uniform and the obvious shifter scent. They weren’t sure how to react.
“Sheriff,” I greeted calmly, hoping to ease their concerns. “What can I get you?”
“Mr. Marquez, I didn’t hear from you. I was actually hoping we could talk, but I can come back at a more convenient time.”
We weren’t especially busy, so I wasn’t surprised when Connor offered to cover the bar from the kitchen window.
“You can talk in the office,” he offered as he came up front.
Sheriff Ross gave Connor a nod. “Appreciate it, I won’t take up too much of his time.”
Connor flashed his usual friendly smile. “Take your time, we’ve got it covered.”
I led the sheriff to the office where he took a seat in front of Royce’s desk.
“Something wrong?” I asked as soon as the door closed behind me.
“Seems a lot of things are wrong around here lately,” the sheriff answered, looking a little grim. “I looked into everything you told me and I’m not liking what I’m seeing here in Eastbend. On top of that, you keep running off to stop crimes in the middle of the night after leaving your position with the police department. If anyone else catches on to what you’re doing, it won’t look good.”
I didn’t need to ask how he knew about that. The sheriff had been spending a lot of time in Eastbend lately and I’d picked up his scent trail several times, as I was sure he had mine. So I’d used it to my advantage, calling him to pick up the hunters I’d caught rather than dealing with it myself.
“I see, I’ll stop sending them your way then.”
Sheriff Ross shot me a flat look. “Actually, I might have a simpler solution. How would you feel about coming to work for the Sheriff’s Department?”
I nearly choked on the breath I sucked in. “What?”
“Seems you can’t quite give up the gig anyway, and I like to have some legitimacy behind you before it’s too late.”
“Too late?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes, that’s the other thing I wanted to warn you about. I looked into the issues with the local police myself and lets just say my dealings with the department ended on less than friendly terms. I’ve turned a lot of information over to some folks that deal with this kind of thing. Between my evidence and the negative attention the department has been getting from the media, I expect something’s going down around here soon. And there’ll likely be some backlash to boot.”
“When you say something’s going down, you mean…?”
“I went over their heads. Gonna be a few less local cops here in Eastbend real soon, at least until everything’s sorted out. I’ll need some men I can station in town for the time being. Night shift’ll do just fine.”
“I… don't really know what to say.”
The tavern had taken me in at the lowest point in my life. Could I just walk away after all they’d done for me?
“Ask yourself if you can do more for them tending the bar, or behind the badge again,” he said, seeming to pick up on my thoughts.
He was right. There was a time when I would have done almost anything to have my old job back. To be the person I’d thought I was. Anything but go along with the corruption, that is. But this time it wasn’t about me, or what I’d lost. It was about what I could do for Eastbend.
Seeing that he had me, the sheriff gave me a nod and stood. “Got the paperwork all ready, come see me soon as you can. And, keep your guard up, son. Things are gonna get real rocky before they get better.”
When he opened the door, Royce was waiting outside. The Sheriff gave him a nod.
“Sheriff,” Royce greeted as the man found his way out of the kitchen and then the tavern.
“Sorry about that,” I said, feeling bad for keeping Royce out of his own office. “I didn’t even hear you out here.”
Royce rubbed the back of his neck. “I should be the one apologizing. They told me the sheriff had you back here and I was just making sure they weren’t causing trouble for you, but then…”
So he’d been especially quiet on purpose. And then he’d heard everything.
“I see.”
“Sorry, Luca. I really was just making sure he wasn’t connected to the local police. But then I heard what he was saying and it sounded kind of important.”
“Well, what do you think?” I asked.
The fact that Royce heard everything meant I couldn’t take my time and hide from this for long. The big bear wasn’t much of a gossip, but he told his mate everything, and Damien was close with the chattiest people in Eastbend.
Royce sighed. “I think he’s right, but you knew that already. Didn’t know you were still going out and dealing with things at night, but it sounds like we could use someone in a position like that. I don’t think any of us would mind having the sheriff’s department on our side. You’ll always have a place here if you decide it’s not for you, but somehow I don’t think that’ll happen. You’re a good cop, Luca. Eastbend needs someone like you.”
Elliot came rushing into the bar, a little out of breath and frowned at Connor. “Where’s Luca?”
Conner chucked a thumb through the kitchen window and Elliot rushed into the back to find Royce and I talking outside of the office.
“Did you run all the way here?” Royce asked, arching a brow at the way the sorcerer was panting.
“No, Jet’s waiting out in the car but Ollie made it sound like this was an emergency so I rushed to get this ready and ran it in here.”
Neither Royce nor I commented on the fact that the skinny sorcerer was out of breath just from the run into the building, but some cardio might be good for his heart.
“What emergency?” I asked. “Ollie was here earlier, she and Sage had an argument, but I wouldn’t call it an emergency.”
Elliot seemed confused, but he held out a pouch and dropped it into my hand. “It’s not done. I’ve been working on it for months, but it’s still not where it needs to be. The jacket I made you was sort of the first attempt, but I’ve been trying to manipulate glamour magic to allow you to walk in the sun.”
“What?”
“We didn’t want to tell you in case it didn’t work, but basically I can use glamours of objects to create shade, or even imitate night within a small perimeter. Weak surface level glamours wouldn’t actually protect from the sun, but my glamours are much more elaborate. More physical. I learned fae techniques combined with an understanding of shifter magic to change something’s actual form so my glamours are more like Alwin’s for example. When he’s glamoured, you can touch his ears, but they’ll feel rounded like human ears. Similarly, he can conceal the sword and bow on his back and it doesn’t get in the way when he sits because it’s glamoured into almost like a fold in the physical. It’s not entirely unlike the elven pouches they carry. Does that make sense?”
Silas had given me one of those pouches to carry bottles of blood in case of an emergency, so I somewhat understood what he was saying. The pouch itself was small enough to keep in my wallet, but it could hold far more than its size implied. If I reached my hand in right now, I could pull out enough blood to keep me in control of my hunger even if I was seriously injured. Damien had a similar bag that he carried in his crow form, but Royce’s eyes seemed to have grown distant the second the sorcerer started explaining glamours. Almost like he wanted nothing to do with Elliot’s magic.
Elliot seemed to pick up on the bear’s discomfort and waved a hand. “Uh, right. Let’s just say it’s a complicated process, but I was basically trying to fold the daylight away and create a false shade that can’t actually be seen by anyone else.”
I looked at the pouch in my hand, afraid to get my hopes up. “But you said it doesn’t work?”
“Uh, well, I haven’t been able to test it really. It should work, probably, but I can’t make it strong enough to sustain itself through the day. It’ll give you a couple of hours tops on a bright day. Maybe four on a more overcast one, and possibly a little longer if combined with your spelled jacket. But it’s cumulative, so if you were out for an hour earlier in the day, you’ll only get an hour out of it if you go out again on the same day. It’ll need to charge nightly, and, uh, this is the bad part, it’ll pull from your energy.
“You’re at your strongest at night, so that part is good, but depending on how much magic you depleted, the spell will take until it’s fully recharged. That’s how magic works for casters, if we overdo it on a spell we can incapacitate ourselves, but I’m not positive what it will do to a vampire when heavily depleted. It could slow your speed, reduce your strength and senses, increase hunger. If you haven’t fed in a while and are weaker than usual, the spell could harm you. And if it can’t recharge completely, for example if you take it off, it won’t offer the same protection the next time you use it.
“I had to tie it to the magic innate to vampires, and since vampires don’t have active magic, that meant using vampire blood. Silas allowed me to experiment on him, but the result is that the magic took on a somewhat carnivorous attribute. That’s why I can’t make it any stronger, it definitely wouldn’t be safe with the way it works now.”
There was a long silence while I let it all sink in.
“I’m sorry, nothing like this has really been done before. I’ll keep working on it, but this was the best I could do for now.”
Emotion I wasn’t expecting hit me hard. I didn’t even have the words to tell him how much it meant to me that he’d put so much effort into even trying to find a solution, whether it worked or not.
“No, this is… incredible. Thank you.”
“I don’t even know how well it works!” Elliot stammered. “And it was Sage who thought to hide you from the sun in the first place. Light can be blocked or refracted, but I don’t know that I would have thought to use a glamour to do it if Sage hadn’t come to me with the question in the first place.”
Sage’s brain never stopped running, did it? And now the ball of tension in my chest throbbed a little harder.
“When did he…?”
Elliot smiled. “Sage? Well, he started researching vampires about ten seconds after he heard you’d been turned and I think he came to me a few days after that? You know how Sage is, he obsesses over things until he finds an answer. He hounded Silas and Rowan the whole time you were recovering for everything they knew, and then he spent a few days in our library. When he finally emerged looking half dead himself, he pelted me with questions until he passed out. I got to work right away, but it’s taken all this time just to get this far.”
When I thought about how I’d treated him back then, I cringed. I’d been so caught up in self-pity that I hadn’t even seen how hard everyone was working for me. Some hero I was.
It was easy to play the hero when the sun was always shining down on you, but what really made a person was how they behaved when things weren’t all sunshine and rainbows.
“Everything I thought I was had been stripped away and I stumbled hard instead of standing strong,” I mumbled. “But Sage didn’t get tripped up for a second, did he?”
I didn’t even realize I’d spoken out loud until Royce patted my shoulder. “We all stumble sometimes, it’s just a fact of life. No one can stand strong every second of every day. Those are the times you’re supposed to lean on the people standing behind you. That’s what pack does. And when you’re back on your feet and it’s their turn to stumble, you just make sure you’re ready to catch them too.”
He was right. Sage had my back no matter how much of an asshole I’d been. He’d never doubted me for a second, never let me wallow in self-pity for long. He never let me run away no matter how much I pushed. It was my turn to repay the favor.