But Dee shook her head and glanced toward Grim. “Always come back…” Her hand lifted to her shoulder. Pressed hard. “They always…come back.”
“Not this time.” Catalina’s certain voice.
She came from the darkness. Soot and blood covered her clothes. Jude walked at her side, clad in a pair of jeans, and his woman held the witch’s arm, helping her to walk. “This time,” Catalina said again, “he’ll stay down.”
She stopped near his body. Catalina stepped away from the shifters and lifted her arms. Her chant came, quick but soft, and the wind stirred.
Power. Licking in the air. So much power.
And not all of it was from the positive source a witch should use. Simon felt the taint of darkness, saw it reflected in Catalina’s eyes.
Changed.
Grim had left his mark on another victim.
A ball of fire exploded—no, Grim’s body exploded into flames. Burned and burned until nothing was left.
Not even ash.
“Guess he won’t be coming back from…that,” Dee managed and they watched the fire sputter.
No, he damn well wouldn’t.
A reminder never to piss off a witch.
Bye, asshole. Have fun in hell.
“I didn’t die.” Dee felt like she’d been hit by a bus or a stake. But then, she had. She winced as she lowered her body onto the chair that Simon had pulled out from who the hell knew where.
Catalina stood a few feet away, rocking back and forth, her eyes on the ashes that fluttered up into the sky.
A cleanup team was en route. Pak’s teams always moved fast. Soon, nothing would be left of this place.
Just the memories of what had been.
“Did you hear me, Cat?” Yeah, good, her voice was getting stronger because the blood flow had finally stopped. “Your future was wrong. I didn’t die. I’m sitting right here, I’m—”
Catalina finally looked her way. “The night’s not over.”
Well, shit. Wasn’t she a ball of sunshine? Not that Cat really liked sunshine these days. Dee blinked. “Uh, you’re still alive, too.”
A shiver worked over Cat’s body. “Doesn’t feel that way.”
“No.” Softer now as she thought about exactly what Catalina might have gone through. How long she’d been with Grim and his little fire-loving friend. “I guess it doesn’t.”
Catalina’s shoulders squared. “I’m not going back to Baton Rouge.”
Not what she’d expected. “Where are you going?”
Her gaze slanted over to the stable. Smoke drifted from the roof. “Somewhere I can forget.”
Forgetting wasn’t always the answer.
“I shouldn’t have left you,” Catalina said. “You needed me. I-I shouldn’t have run.”
“It wasn’t your fight.”
A steady stare. “Wasn’t it?”
Dee swallowed. “How long—” She had to ask.
“I’d just left the parking lot. They got me—” She cleared her throat. “It was fast.”
“And the spells? What all did Grim want?”
Catalina’s eyes darted to the men. Zane and Simon were standing in front of the house. Simon’s gaze kept coming back to Dee. Checking her. Watching.
He’d forced her to drink from him. A good thing because without the blood, she’d have fallen on her face.
“He wanted Simon to kill you.”
Dee met Simon’s gaze.
“Grim wanted me to send out a command spell. One that would force Simon to act.”
“And you didn’t.” Catalina might not have stayed to fight, but the woman had guts. She’d held out against Grim and she’d—
“And I did.” Dee’s stare came back to her just as Catalina’s head sank.
Wow. Hadn’t expected that. “Then why am I still breathing?”
“Because he loves you.”
It felt like another stake had been plunged into her chest. Only this time, it found its mark in her heart. “You don’t—”
“He should have killed you. He should have turned on you and joined Grim. You would have died. I would have died. Everything I saw would have come true.” A hard rasp of breath. “But he fought my spell and he fought Grim.”
“He wanted his vengeance. His freedom.” That was why he’d fought so hard. Not for—
I’ll fucking love you forever. The words she’d never forget.
“He wanted you.”
She glanced back at him.
His gaze bored into her. So much heat. Need.
Was her own stare like that?
“For you, he’d fight magic and monsters.”
He had.
Catalina turned away. “I-I’m going…tell Zane.”
“You tell him.” Those two had some complicated crap going on.
“I’m not what he needs. Or what he wants.” Sadness there. An ache. “I saw his future. She’s not me.”
“You’ve been wrong once already,” Dee reminded her, and she tore her gaze from Simon. Catalina couldn’t just leave. She belonged with them.
But Catalina didn’t look back and her head shook once, slowly. “Didn’t you hear me, Dee? The night’s not over yet.”
Her lips parted, but Dee had no idea what to say. What more could happen?
“I saw you.” Catalina’s voice drifted back to her. “Surrounded by vampires. No way out. No. Way. Out.”
Understanding finally hit. Catalina had never said that Grim took her out.
The others—they were the ones she needed to fear.
They went back to the same seedy motel. They could have stayed at the scene, made sure Pak’s team arrived, but screw that. Dee was about to fall on her face and taking care of her was Simon’s priority.
She’d taken blood from him at the scene. Not too much. Just enough to kick-start her healing, and then she’d stared around at the darkness, worry in her eyes.
The big, bad bastard was dead. What did she have to worry about?
She shuffled into the room before him, wrinkling her nose. “I smell like death.” Common, for many vampires, but not for her.
Never her.
She stripped, right there, even before he’d slammed the motel room door shut, and Simon just took a minute to enjoy the view. World class, really.
Then she headed for the bathroom and his gaze followed her ass. Dimples. Nice, lick-me dimples right at the top of that curve.
He took a step to follow her.
The lady kicked the door closed.
Okay.
The shower blasted on, the roar of the water easily penetrating through the thin door.
Simon hesitated, his eyes on that door. She’d shut him out, so that clearly said she didn’t want him stripping and joining her for some water fun.
But there’d been something in her eyes since Grim’s death. Not fear. Yeah, worry, but—
Pain. More than just the physical wounds.
He locked the motel room door and strode toward the bathroom. His knuckles rapped against the door. “Dee?”
No answer.
His hand dropped to the doorknob. If she told him to fuck off, he’d leave her in peace. But if she was in there, hurting, he wasn’t going to walk away.
He turned the knob and stepped inside. Steam had begun to rise and to drift lazily in the air, but Dee hadn’t entered the shower yet. She stood near the tub, head bowed, shoulders hunched.
“Dee?” He said her name again, softer.
She glanced back at him and the sight of tears on her face was a punch right in his gut. “It didn’t make any difference.”
What? Fuck, but now he hurt. He grabbed her arms and yanked her against his chest. “Babe, what’s—”
“I thought killing him would make some of the pain stop. That it would give me some peace.” A hard swallow. “But when I close my eyes, I still see them.”
Them. Her family. Simon blew out a breath and held her even tighter. “I know.” He did. Because there was still a hole in his heart for his family. A hole that vengeance hadn’t healed.
“My fault.” A whisper. Stark.
The water fell in a hard stream.
“Nothing that happened was your fault. Not then. Not now.”