Isabelle looked up at Dalton. “What does that mean?”
“It means if it fails and your demon comes up, the Realm will deal with it.”
“Deal with me, you mean.”
“I don’t think I like that,” Angelique interrupted. “You can’t just make a decision about my sister’s life without knowing what’s going to happen.”
“That’s not what I meant, Angelique,” Michael said.
“It’s what you implied.” For the first time in a long time, Mandy had actually spoken. She seemed angry. “It’s just like the last time. You think you already know what’s going to happen. Look at Isabelle. You ordered her death, and look at her. She’s human now, not demon. Maybe if we’d waited, Lou would still be alive. Maybe he could have fought the demon inside him, too.”
“Mandy,” Derek warned. “There was nothing we could do.”
“Wasn’t there? We don’t know that. We had to make a judgment just like that,” she said, snapping her fingers. “What if we’d waited? Maybe we could have gotten the demon out of him somehow.”
“Mandy,” Michael said, his voice soft as he looked at her.
Mandy stared at him, anger lacing her features at first, then Isabelle saw tears well in her eyes. She turned and walked out of the room, Michael watching her.
Georgie cleared her throat. “We can begin tonight, if you’re ready.”
Dalton focused only on Isabelle. “Are you ready?”
No. She’d never be ready. But she could no longer put it off. She could already feel herself weakening. The Sons of Darkness were knocking on the door, and soon she’d be too tired to keep them from busting through it.
“As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do it.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Michael excused himself as soon as he could and went in search of Mandy. She’d walked away from the main house, but he couldn’t find her until one of the kids said he’d seen her heading toward the boathouse on the east side of the dock.
The boathouse was a good-sized wooden building where boats were stored during winter and storms. Michael opened the door into darkness, the only light streaming in through small windows high above.
“Mandy?”
No answer.
“I know you’re in here. Why don’t you save me several bruises and just tell me where you are.”
Silence, then, “Over here.”
He turned and headed in the direction of her voice, found her sitting near the back door on a bench, farthest away from the light.
“I’d really like to be alone, Michael.”
He sat next to her on the bench. “Wouldn’t we all. But we need to talk.”
She sighed. “I’m not the touchy-feely type that needs to rehash everything, okay? So if you’re feeling guilty about the sex, don’t be.”
“I’m not feeling guilty about the sex. You wanted it. Why should there be any guilt?”
Okay that was stretching the truth a bit since he did have guilt, but not for making love to her.
“We need to talk about these residual feelings you’re having about Lou.”
“Doesn’t the Realm have counselors?”
“Yeah. You want to set up a talk with one?”
“No. But you’re not one, so you’re hardly equipped to hand out advice.”
God, she was difficult. “True enough, but I am your Keeper and in charge of determining whether you’re fit for duty or not. So I’m the first one you need to talk to.”
“I killed a demon. I can handle my job.”
“We’ve been over this before. You fell apart afterward. You went into shock. And don’t bother trying to deny it, because I was there to pick you up when it happened.”
She stared at the wall on the other side of the room. “It won’t happen again.”
“Yes, it will. Until you face your demons-sorry-it will. And no amount of trying to handle this on your own-not even sex-will make this go away.”
She closed her eyes, and though it was dark in there, he saw the tear slip down her cheek.
“I loved him. He was all I had.” When she opened her eyes again, she turned her head to face Michael, her lashes spiked with tears. “Why do I keep losing people I love?”
“I don’t have an answer for that.”
“He was my family after I lost my family. He was my father after my father was killed by demons. And I had to kill him.”
“No, you had to kill a demon.”
“I killed Lou, Michael. You were there.”
“I know. I know how hard it was for you.”
“Do you? How do you know? How could you possibly know how it felt?”
“Because I had to kill my father.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
He hated reliving it, but it was important she understand that she wasn’t the only one. “The Sons of Darkness had already killed my mother. They took my father and turned him into … one of them, their intent to have me killed.”
“Because you were a descendant, and they want to kill all the Keepers.”
He nodded. “So my father disappeared, and then came back. But it wasn’t him. I knew it wasn’t him. My father was warm, and this … thing was cold. He’d warned me once, told me what I had to do if there was ever a sudden change in him.”
“So you killed him?”
Michael nodded, trying to block out the visuals of that night, but the pain soared back, nearly doubling him over. He stood, walked to the other end of the boathouse. “I got one of the old swords out, and when his back was turned I beheaded him.”
“Oh, God.” Mandy stood, went to him. “Michael, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“No one knows, other than the Keepers.”
She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. “And here I’ve been whining about how I feel, never knowing that you felt the same way.”
“You didn’t need to know this. I’m just trying to give you perspective.”
Her hold on him tightened. “How do you deal with it?”
“I just remind myself that the man I knew as my father was already dead, and that’s what he would have wanted.” He drew her away so he could look at her. “And that’s what you have to remember. Lou was already gone. You didn’t kill Lou. You killed that demon. Lou would be proud of you.”
“You and I are so much alike. I never saw it.”
He slid his fingers under her chin. “I did. And maybe that’s part of why I said what I did back in Florida.”
“What do you mean?”
“Keepers’ mates are vulnerable, Mandy”
Her eyes widened. “You thought … oh.”
“Yeah.”
“I can take care of myself, Michael. You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not a housewife who’s going to be slaughtered while you’re off fighting demons.”
He closed his eyes and dropped his chin to his chest. Stupid, he knew, because his mind had gone there.
“Oh, my God. You thought that, didn’t you? About you and me.”
“Maybe.”
“That’s a pretty broad jump. From sex to forever.”
“Is it? In our line of work, hello to forever could be just days. We never know how long we have. I don’t like to waste time.”
She blew out a breath. “You scare me sometimes, Mike.”
“You infuriate me sometimes, Mandy. But you intrigue me, and you excite me, and I really like being with you.” And he knew now why he found her so irresistible. Beyond her beauty and her courage, she was just as lost as he was. He pressed his lips to hers, drawing strength from the way she kissed him back, moved into him to draw closer.
He’d prided himself on remaining aloof for years. Like Mandy, he’d lost so much.
But maybe it was time to fight back against the Sons of Darkness, and to take solace in someone else.