9
OH, SHIT! THEY KNOW.
The words kept ringing through my head while the radio announcer’s voice became a dull buzz in the background. My hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles ached and turned white. Muscles were rigid throughout my whole body while air was pulled into my lungs in sharp, harsh gasps. All those people . . . dead. Thousands gone in a flash of fire and destruction that I was sure had completely leveled the city and surrounding area.
The witches and the warlocks had struck, and I knew it had to be because they suspected that someone knew the Tower locations. I don’t know how they found out, but Low Town was no longer safe. Gideon’s warning that the situation was bad in the Towers only made this tragedy worse. They were going to be quicker to act, quicker to strike out to protect themselves as their panic increased.
I looked over at Trixie as she sat silently beside me, staring straight ahead. One trembling hand was pressed to her parted lips while tears traced down her pale cheeks. She looked over at me, horror filling her wide eyes.
“Why?” she whispered, her voice shattered. “Why would they do such a thing? We’ve done nothing to antagonize them.”
“I . . . I’m not sure,” I replied. I had a guess, but I couldn’t be sure. I needed to talk to Gideon. And I needed to beat the shit out of Reave.
Reaching for the key in the ignition, I hesitated. Where was I going to take her? If this was about the Tower locations, Low Town wasn’t safe any longer. Hell, I was surprised they hadn’t attacked the city already because of their animosity toward me.
Sadly, the first safe place I could think of was the Summer Court. The Towers weren’t going after the elves and they stayed out of the cities for the most part. But I couldn’t bring myself to make the suggestion. Even if I could convince Trixie to go, she’d be alive but miserable as the consort to the king. That wasn’t a life.
Sending Trixie off to the Summer Court might save her life, but what about Bronx and Sofie and the thousands of other people that called Low Town home? What about my parents? The only way to save Trixie and everyone else in Low Town was to stop the Ivory Towers from striking here. I didn’t have a clue how to do that without risking the life of my brother as well.
Taking a deep breath, I grasped the key and turned it, starting the engine. I wasn’t going to solve anything sitting in the car, staring blankly through the windshield. The first thing I needed to do was talk to Gideon and find out if this had to do with the information that Reave possessed. If I was lucky, it didn’t, but I wasn’t a lucky kind of guy.
As I pulled away from the curb, I hit the radio knob, silencing the announcer. He was repeating the same horrific information over and over again, adding to the sickening feeling in my stomach. It would be a couple more hours before they could provide details about the damage in Indianapolis. I had no doubt that everyone was dead. The witches and warlocks were thorough when they decided to kill.
“Gage.” Trixie’s soft voice shook me from my dark thoughts. “Is this the beginning of something new? The start of another war with the Ivory Towers? Because I don’t think I can go through another Great War.”
Her words cut through my heart, leaving me feeling wounded and bleeding. I had never thought about it. She was over six hundred years old. She had lived through the Great War the warlocks and the witches had waged against the world for dominance, while I had only read about it in books—most written by the Towers. Millions had been slaughtered, leaving at least two races extinct and many others on the cusp of extinction. The elves had come close. At the time of the war, Trixie had been on the run. Every day must have been a torture, never knowing if the people she loved had been killed.
I reached across and grabbed her hand in mine, tightly squeezing it. Her fingers were cold against my palm as the horror filled her. “I will do everything within my powers to stop it from reaching that point. This world can’t survive another Great War.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her lift her head and look at me. “If you did know what was happening in the Towers, would you tell me?”
I flinched and I knew she felt it because I was holding her hand. She captured my hand as I tried to withdraw it, holding it with both of hers. “I honestly don’t know,” I said. “I’ve got a couple ideas as to what’s going on, but I don’t know anything definite.”
“But you still won’t say.”
“I think it’s better if I don’t.”
“Because you don’t trust me?”
I jerked my hand free while struggling to keep the car on the road. “What the f*ck? How could you even ask that?” I exploded. Growling, I found an open spot on the side of the road and pulled over before I got us both killed with my distracted driving. I threw the car in park, tore off my seat belt, and twisted to face her. There was fear, pain, and a lot of uncertainty in her wide eyes, causing my anger to disappear.
Slowly, I reached up and cupped her cheeks, wiping away her tears with my thumbs. “I love you, Trixie. I have loved you for so long that I can’t remember a time when I didn’t. I love your smile, sarcasm, and that brilliant mind of yours. I love how you mother Bronx and Sofie like they’re a pair of lost children. I love how you laugh and I love every time you tear into me because I’m a f*cking idiot. For almost two years, the worst days of the week were Sunday and Monday because I knew I wouldn’t see you. And every day since I told you about my past I wake up in a panic, terrified that you’re going to come to your senses and hate me because of what the Towers did to your people.” I paused and licked my lips, my heart pounding in my chest. I hadn’t planned to tell her any of this now. I didn’t know if I ever planned to tell her. I could be pushing her further from me, but it didn’t matter. With the world teetering on the brink, she had to know.
“There is no one in this world that I trust more than you,” I whispered. “I wish I could tell you everything, but I can’t. It’s not a matter of trust. It’s because I’m a coward. I’m afraid if you know everything, then you’ll leave. I’m afraid that you could be hurt because of what I tell you. Short of pulling out my wand and killing anything that comes near you, keeping my mouth shut is the only way I know to protect you. I’m sorry.”
The pain had eased from her eyes as I spoke but she still looked sad. She reached up and laid her palm against my cheek. I could feel her wipe away something wet, but I refused to think she had made me cry as well as admit that I was a coward. The League of Men was going to come confiscate my balls at this rate. But it didn’t matter. Trixie was worth it.
“Oh, Gage, how could any woman hate you?” Trixie asked in a broken voice.
“Talk to Sofie or Bronx. I’m sure they could provide examples,” I joked but I couldn’t hold the smile on my lips. It wasn’t exactly the response that I was hoping for, but at least she wasn’t getting out of the car and walking out of my life.
I dropped my hands from her face and started to turn back in my seat to face front when Trixie tightened her hold on my cheek. She pulled me closer while she leaned across the remaining distance. She kissed me hard and I hesitated only a heartbeat before I kissed her back, getting lost in her soft lips, the warmth of her mouth. She broke off the kiss before I could pull her into my lap.
“First, I’m not happy with you but I understand your reasoning for keeping secrets,” she said in a hard voice. “Second, you’re not a coward. I’ve never known anyone braver than you. And third, I will never hate you because you’re a warlock. You weren’t one of the bastards hunting down my people. You chose to leave rather than be like them.”
I smiled at her, some of the tension easing from my chest. “There doesn’t happen to be a fourth thing you want to tell me?”
Trixie frowned and I pulled away from her, struggling to keep the teasing smile on my face. Yeah, I was definitely pushing my luck. It was enough that she wasn’t leaving. It was enough that she didn’t hate me.
I was reaching for the shifter when Trixie’s laughter rang through the SUV, jerking my gaze back to her face. “For f*ck’s sake, Gage,” she said between giggles. “I feel like I’ve been throwing myself at you for almost two years. How could you not know that I love you?”
Releasing the shifter, I grabbed Trixie with both hands and pulled her into my lap. It was cramped and uncomfortable, but her mouth on mine made me forget about everything else. She wrapped her arms around my neck while I pressed her as close to me as I could. The world was burning around us, but I had Trixie in my arms and I would keep her safe even if it meant taking apart each Tower with my bare hands.
Trixie pulled away, her breathing heavy, but a smile was on her beautiful face. “How can you be so smart and so stupid at the same time?”
“I lose ten IQ points anytime we’re in the same room.”
Trixie arched one thin eyebrow at me. “That’s all?”
“Well, twenty points when you’re wearing leather.”
She chuckled again as she nuzzled her cheek against mine. “I love you, Gage. Don’t ever question that.”
I squeezed her, some of the tension easing from my chest. I didn’t know what this meant for us. I had never uttered those words before and I had never received them in return. For now, it meant nothing more than that someone was going to stick beside me through the mess that I was faced with, and I was grateful for it.
Trixie leaned back so she could look at me. “What are we going to do about the Towers?”
I jerked back as if she had hit me. The anxiety that had so nicely flowed away rushed back, squeezing my heart with fear. “We aren’t going to do anything. It’s the Towers, Trix. What could we or even I do about the Towers?”
She frowned. “You’re telling me that you’re going to huddle in Asylum and pray that it blows over? I don’t believe that for a second.”
I wanted to shake her. She knew me too damn well despite my tendency to keep secrets. “We aren’t doing anything. I am going to try to contact a couple of people and see if I can get a little inside information. Besides, I think we’ve currently got our hands full with our meeting with the queen tomorrow.”
Her expression crumpled as she was reminded of her own plight, which didn’t look much better than my own when it came to the Towers. We were in a world of hurt and we needed to start digging our way out of it if we were going to not only survive, but also have something that resembled a normal life again.
“What are we going to do?” she murmured, resting her head on my shoulder.
I gave her a hard squeeze. “We’re going to take this one day at a time, one problem at a time. I’ll try to get some information about tonight’s attack and then we’re going to get some rest ahead of tomorrow’s meeting. I have a feeling I’m going to need to be sharp for this little parley with the queen.”
Trixie snorted softly before pressing a kiss to my cheek. “And then some.” She slid across my lap and sat in the passenger seat. I immediately missed the feel of her against me, her warmth and wonderful weight, but I kept my mouth shut and tried to focus on what she was saying.
“You have to be very careful with the queen, Gage. She’s . . . tricky, and I imagine that after everything that has happened, she’s probably more than a little bitter. I’m not sure that she’s going to want any help that you have to offer. The truth is, I’m not even sure as to why she agreed to this meeting.”
I shook my head as I reached for the shifter on the steering column. “Doesn’t matter. We’ll meet and figure out the next step from there.” I threw the SUV into drive again and pulled back out into traffic. The ride back to the shop was silent. We didn’t bother to turn the radio on again, though I was sure that we would be flipping on the news when we were back at our respective apartments. Neither of us seemed ready to be bombarded by the reality that thousands of people had been slaughtered in the blink of an eye and Low Town could be next on the hit list if the witches and the warlocks decided to strike again.
Of course, we weren’t the only ones stunned by the destruction of Indianapolis, as the roads were mostly empty on the ride to Asylum. It was as if all the inhabitants of Low Town had scurried into their homes to protect themselves from the dark gaze of the Towers.
When we reached the parlor, Bronx was sitting at the glass counter while Sofie was stretched out along the top. He had a news radio station turned on rather than his usual MP3 music. The lines on his face seemed to ease when we walked through the front door. He rose as Trixie rushed across the lobby and around the case so that she could embrace him in a fierce hug.
I gave him a stiff smile while I placed the brown bag containing the Asian Moon Lily flower on the case. My hand drifted over Sofie’s head, trying to reassure her that everything was okay. It didn’t feel that way, but for a moment we all needed the reassurance, whether it was the truth or not.
“Do you have any more appointments tonight?” I asked when Trixie released the troll.
Bronx returned to the stool he had been sitting on. “I’ve got two more that haven’t canceled.”
“Why don’t you call them and reschedule? I don’t think they’re going to come in tonight and I’m sure you’d feel better if they were already on the calendar for another time.”
“Closing early?”
“No one is out right now. They’re all home, glued to the news. We could keep the place open until dawn and we wouldn’t see anyone. We’ll call it a day and start fresh tomorrow. I have a feeling people are going to be looking for a little extra protection after this.”
“Is there anything we can do for them?” Trixie asked. She stood behind the case opposite me and stroked Sofie’s fur.
I stared down at the case, my eyes drifting over the random books filled with old pictures of tattoos as a sense of helplessness settled into my bones. “No, not really. We have to keep people calm and help them where we can.” There was no good defense a tattoo artist could offer against the Towers. But then, neither could the president and he had the various armies and warheads at his disposal.
Pushing that dark thought aside, I looked up at the troll again. “Bronx, would you stay with Trixie tonight?”
Both looked surprised by my question. “Are you expecting trouble?”
I paused before I answered, weighing my fears. “No, just being cautious. I can’t be there tonight and I might get some sleep if I know you’re there.”
“Where are you going to be?” Trixie demanded.
“At my apartment, waiting for some answers. My contacts are unlikely to talk to me if anyone else is around.” Both of my friends frowned at my comment and I couldn’t blame them. It certainly didn’t sound safe. “Don’t worry. I’ll have Sofie with me.”
The cat made a sound of disgust as she rose so that she was sitting on her hind legs. “So it’s like that, is it?”
“Sorry, Sof. You know I’d go myself if I could.”
The cat muttered something under her breath in what sounded like Russian. She hopped down off the case and walked over to the front door, which opened for her as if manned by some ghostly doorman who waited on her pleasure. A faint smile touched my mouth as I watched her go, the door shutting behind her. She had been expecting my request, but then I had a feeling that she was also anxious to get the inside dirt on why Indianapolis had been unexpectedly leveled. This was the first big strike that the Towers had made in years and the first that Sofie had not been privy to before the event. Curiosity had to be eating away at her.
Of course, I was itching to put my hands around Reave’s neck and keep squeezing until his eyes popped from his skull, but I couldn’t overreact yet. There was a slim chance that the destruction of Indianapolis had nothing to do with him gaining the locations of the Towers. But I wasn’t counting on it.
“Where’s Sofie going? Will she be safe?” Trixie asked.
“She’s off to make contact for me. She’ll be safe. It’s me the Towers hate, not her.”
“I’ll get on those calls so we can get going, Trix,” Bronx said, breaking the lingering tension. Trixie didn’t argue, as I doubted she wanted to be alone. I wished it could be me in her apartment all night, keeping her safe, but it was more important that I understood what was happening in the Towers. The elf absently patted Bronx’s arm before she turned and walked into the tattooing room, where I could hear her settling into one of the chairs.
“Thanks for this,” I said as I started around the counter. It was no small thing for Bronx to agree to spend the night at Trixie’s. It would mean that he would also be stuck there during the day, as he couldn’t go out in sunlight without risking being turned to stone. And unlike gargoyles, this was a permanent state for trolls. If anything happened to Trixie’s apartment building during the day, such as a fire, he was trapped.
I had been to Bronx’s house a few times and it was heavily protected so that he would be safe during the daylight hours. The small ranch-style house was plain and austere on the first floor, but the windowless basement level was loaded with large comfortable chairs, an entertainment center, several bookcases filled with books, a sweet gaming system, and a fully stocked kitchen.
“No problem. Just try to stay out of trouble and away from Reave,” he warned in a low voice.
I flashed him a quick grin. “Got to. Trixie and I have a date tomorrow that I wouldn’t miss for anything in the world.”
Bronx shook his head as he picked up the cordless phone before walking back into the tattooing room, where he kept his personal schedule.
Shoving my hands in the pockets of my jeans, I wandered over to the large picture window that looked out onto the street. The sidewalk was empty and there wasn’t a car in sight. Low Town, like most of the world, had closed up shop. People were clustered in their homes behind closed doors with the blinds tightly drawn against the world. They were sitting around their televisions and scanning the news sites on the Internet, trying to digest this latest development.
Wars happened every once in a while between two countries, but the battle lines were neatly drawn in most cases and the deaths of innocent bystanders were infrequent. The United States had been lucky in that we hadn’t seen any battles fought on our own soil in a long time.
But this was different. The Towers had been quiet on a large scale for decades. We had convinced ourselves that if we kept our heads down and ran when they appeared, we’d be safe. We told ourselves that they wouldn’t have a reason to attack us. We could live in peace if we ignored them. We were wrong and thousands died because of it.
Tonight was a time of grief and overwhelming fear as people searched for a reason behind this unexpected attack. The long-lived races would be gathered, trying to figure out if this was the start of another Great War and what they should do. They would remember the horrors of the last war, the devastation to their races that were even now struggling to pull away from the brink of extinction.
Tomorrow, grief would be replaced by boiling rage. The creatures with shorter life spans, shorter memories, would shake their fists in the air and call for arms against the Towers, regardless of the fact that they didn’t know where to go to strike at their enemy. Regardless of the fact that they didn’t have a hope in the world of winning.
I was angry for all the lives that had been senselessly wiped out in a matter of seconds by a handful of witches and warlocks. I was angry for all the years of violence and bloodshed. But more so, I was afraid. I was afraid for the people of this world if we were forced to go to war again. And a bit selfishly, I was afraid for myself.
Despite my petty claims of leaving the Towers and turning my back on that lot, I was still a warlock. If we went to war, I wouldn’t side with the Towers, but what could one warlock-in-training do against them? And would the rest of the world even welcome my help if we went to war?
No. This had to be stopped before it came to that. The mess with the Towers had to be sorted out before anyone else had to pay the price.