54. Chapter Fifty-Four The Witch’s Legacy
Chapter Fifty-Four: The Witch’s Legacy
Tess
When I opened my eyes, I didn’t recognize the ceiling or the shape of the shadows in the ceiling over my head. I didn’t recognize the color of the walls. I glanced around and didn’t recognize the furniture or the way the sounds outside bounced around the room. All at once, the memory of what happened returned:
He bit me.
He claimed me.
He changed me.
I sat up with a gasp, my heart a hysterical bird flailing against my ribcage. A hand slapped against my chest, the shock underlining the depths of my panic when I realized it was my own. Heat rushed through my body, not the heat of passion and desire like before, but of rage and fury at the injustice of what Maverick had done to me. I didn’t know exactly what it meant, and as the thoughts tumbled over each other, I started to tremble.
The horror of what had transpired was like a tangible thing growing inside me, a demonic fetus my body could never withstand. My breaths grew shallow and wheezy with every passing second, the images from my memory of what he’d done to me playing over and over again.
I’d trusted him.
I yelped when the door swung open part-way, and a figure appeared, keeping their head down, long, straight, dark hair, framed light skin and elfin features. The face was friendly but inscrutable as the door shut. “There’s water on the nightstand beside you.”
Her voice rang out strong and confident but friendly. As if I could trust anyone ever again—it didn’t matter what my impression was. I followed the direction of her gesture and found the pint glass. A sharp pang overwhelmed me, the instinct to seize it quickly. I hadn’t realized how parched I was until that moment. I shifted upright and gulped the entire pint in seconds.
“Take it easy. You’ll give yourself a cramp.”
With the empty glass back on the nightstand and my hands in my lap, I wondered what came next. Where Maverick had gone was a mystery I didn’t care to solve. Despite the heat in my chest–which somehow I knew was his presence—he could stay gone from my life.
But this woman, still standing at the door trying not to spook me, I didn’t know who she was or what she wanted. Still positive I’d never been here, there was a faint familiarity, the interiors similar to one I’d visited not long ago .
“You’re at the house Maverick shares with Lux and Stone. You’ll be safe here until he wakes, and you two can discuss… whatever’s going on with you.”
She didn’t know?
Shocked at first, I wasn’t sure I believed her. Not over the more likely scenario that she was sparing me the embarrassment. “You don’t know?”
“I can take a guess, but no. I don’t know any of the details. Neither does Stone nor Lux.”
The truth rushed back to me like a flaming ball of shit thrown at my face. My whole body flushed with the heat of fury, and I let out a puff of breath through my nose like a bull. “He claimed me and then said I was dying…” The lump in my throat wouldn’t allow me to continue the story, but it wanted to spill out of me like Maverick’s guts would fall from him as soon as I managed to get out of that bed.
She inclined her head. “He messaged me for help just before he went into stasis with you. He wanted us to bring you both here, where you are safe, to renew your power sources.”
Swallowing, my breathing turned shallow with the bubbling fury inside. “He’s here?”
“In the room next door.”
I turned from her. She was his friend, and I didn’t want to look at her either. “Good. After I have something to eat, I’m going to kill him.”
She laughed. “You can’t kill him, and anyway, I can’t let you try. But I do believe you; I believe that your feeling is justified. Hold on to that.”
I stared at her, trying to figure out if she was serious. If she really suggested I hold my grudge and stay mad. “Really? ”
She shrugged. “I’ve known Maverick a long time. He could use a counterbalance like you.”
“He… He’s done this before?”
Her eyes grew large, and she pulled back an inch. “Oh no, never!” She laughed. “But the thing about Maverick is, you learn to expect the unexpected. I would never have predicted this… situation. What could have possessed him to claim you if you… weren’t willing?” The last words were gently probing, testing her assumption.
I raised my chin. “No, absolutely not. I said no, and he held me down and did it anyway.”
Horror flashed across her eyes before they returned to neutrality. She nodded, lips tight. “It’s not like him. He doesn’t even let anyone get close. But what is like him is that his behavior is always this fucking startling. He never fails to shock us, Tess. You’ll have to get used to that, too.”
“I’m not getting used to shit. He can get used to living without me.”
She gave me a gentle look that had ‘not the time to crush your hopes and dreams’ all over it. “You’re hungry, you said, right? Come out, and we’ll prepare something to get your energy up. You’ve been out a week.”
“A week?”
She nodded and disappeared. Or rather, she slipped out in a very strange, almost shadow-shifter kind of way. I didn’t even notice the door open. But I heard it click closed again.
There was another door on the other wall, by the foot of my bed, which I expected to be a bathroom, and thankfully, I was right. After relieving myself, I padded out to the hallway and followed the voices down the stairs and into the kitchen .
The counter was covered in platters of sandwiches, pizza, a quiche, some fruit salad, a roast chicken, a plate of hot dogs, a salad, and a few bags of different brands of chips.
I brought my hands up to cup my mouth and nose, closing my eyes and breathing slowly to a count of seven. “Please don’t tell me you’re having a party.”
Lux shook his head. “Just didn’t know what you’d like.”
“How did you even know when I’d wake up?”
He smiled, held his palm up, and a pot of yogurt materialized. He handed it to me.
I took it and placed it on the counter. “Oh… uh… Is it safe to eat?”
“I wouldn’t give it to you otherwise.”
“Well, I don’t know. I don’t know you, and I clearly don’t know Maverick either.”
He nodded. “Plate yourself something. Let’s go sit.”
Lux brought two coffees to the table where Stone was already sitting, and they plucked potato chips from a bowl while I shoveled forkfuls of ham and cheese quiche into my face, followed by some strawberries and mango.
“I’m sorry, Tess. This really isn’t like him. I don’t know what he was thinking.”
“Can you explain what he’s done to me?”
Lux nodded. “It’s deadly for a seraphim to claim a mortal unless we also share power stores, which makes you a rare hybrid now.”
I’d never asked for this. I’d never wanted immortality. Sometimes, I wasn’t even sure I could bear to live out the expected seven or eight decades. “Meaning what?”
“I’m not completely sure. As I said, it’s not common, but you obviously needed stasis.”
“What’s that? ”
“You’re aware we feed off of mortal emotions?”
He was feeding off me like Ivan did? I shook my head. “I am now. More or less.”
“On the mortal plane, that’s what gives us our magical strength and power. But it’s volatile, and when we run out, we need to sleep.”
“But not just overnight?”
He shook his head. “It’s more like a weeklong coma.”
I hated the idea of having to sleep like Ivan with his wraithshade. “That’s what I just woke from?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you here?”
“Sometimes I’m really not sure anymore. But while the mortal plane isn’t perfect, sometimes it’s easier to accept foreign imperfections than the ones at home.”
I searched his face for clues, but there weren’t any. His features were kind but serious. “Something happened in Hell to make you run away?”
“To make a long story short, the seraphim sector is fascist, the devil sector is anarchy, and the fae sector is impossible to get into.”
I blinked at him, trying to take it all in.
“All I know is that we’ve been working hard lately to evade seraphim hunters.”
“What’s a seraphim hunter?”
“The seraphim don’t allow refugees into the mortal plane. They want us to return.”
“They’ve been hunting you the whole time you’ve been here?”
“More or less. Some centuries are quieter than others.”
“And it’s not like him to go insane like that?”
His lips formed a straight line. “That’s not what I said, but it’s not like him to claim someone for any reason. Not ever. ”
“Lucky me.” I sipped my coffee. “What’s this warmth in my chest?” I had an instinct about it, but I needed confirmation from someone who knew.
“I think that’s a physical manifestation of your bond with Maverick. He’s not far. If you go too far away, it will grow cold and eventually painful.”
“Fucking great. I just got free of an attachment just like that.”