“I can go back? This”—I grasped the amulet under my shirt—“can send me home?”
“Finding information about your charm was almost impossible, but I managed to learn enough. If you strike a bargain with Marigold, she will undoubtedly give you what you request in turn.”
I lifted my hand, rubbing my tingling and hot cheek. “Why are you giving me this information? What do you get out of all of this?”
“For your first question, I want Graham Tavish dead. He is a being that never deserved to exist. He destroyed everyone and everything I loved. I told him he’d pay for it when he killed Joseph and he attempted to make me his familiar. I swore I’d get revenge, even if it meant living in Hell. You can make that happen. As for what I’ll get? I want a chance at a new life.”
“You think I’m capable of doing that?”
“If you return and change the events of the past, you can.”
Change the past.
Paine’s warnings of tampering with the future rolled through my mind, as well as a noticeable amount of sickness at what I had recklessly done with Paine while believing I’d never return. God help me, if what Sonja said was true, I could go home. But what would the repercussions be?
How would I tell Disco what I had done?
Jesus, I didn’t know if I’d be brave enough to confront him.
Would he forgive me for my transgression?
If not, could I still find a way to prevent him from being killed?
So many questions, so few answers.
The ripple effect, Paine called it. Changing what was never meant to be, altering the future. It was dangerous, foolhardy, and something that should never be done. Even knowing that, even considering Disco’s anger and sense of betrayal at my actions, I didn’t give a shit.
“You should know that shortly after Gabriel was killed, a shift in power occurred. It wasn’t long until Joseph was left with nothing to bargain with. He was thrust aside like a forgotten toy, his family nothing more than a plague that had destroyed the most powerful vampire in the city. Joseph never wanted to harm Gabriel. He wasn’t given a choice.”
“So you want me to return, kill a half-demon, and set the future on a different path?”
“Look around you. Is this the world you want for the children in your past? Living as cattle? Forced to subservience or face the possibility of death? I don’t see how changing the past can make things any worse. Can you?”
“No.” The response was automatic and honest. “I can’t.”
“Return to your apartment, go to your closet, and locate the box hidden in the back. Everything you need to summon a demon is there, including all the information I could find on Marigold Vesta. Do what you were intended to do. Sever the debt with Zagan, return to where you belong, and change the course of history as we now know it.” When I didn’t immediately respond, she asked, “Will you do this? Are you brave enough to take a risk with your life to save the person who loved you so much he was willing to die to learn what had become of you?”
Slowly, I nodded, the choice already made. “Yes,” I said and looked at her. “I will.”
Her grin was nothing more than gums, partially missing lips and a few teeth. “Then I will willingly accompany you downstairs and allow you to do what you must. There is something you should know, though. You can’t speak about this to anyone. If you decide to go forward, you do it alone. Ethan is tied to Victoria, and she has total control and power over him, as well as their daughter.”
My chin snapped up. “Their daughter?”
“Belinda McDaniel is the product of a seduction that forced Ethan to become a willing servant to what he detests most. By baiting him with glamour and becoming impregnated with his child, he had no other choice but to fall in line.”
“He’d try to stop me,” I mused aloud, knowing I would do the same thing given the circumstances.