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“Goddamn you, Ray,” she said, taking both me and Gunnie by surprise, if the look on my cousin’s face was anything to go by. “How could you leave me like that? I know you didn’t have a choice, but if you can be here now, you could have been there for me then. Could have been there all these years.” Tears ran freely down her face, and I felt the sobs in her body. “I know it’s not your fault but I . . . I can’t do this right now. This will have to wait. I need a goddamn drink.” She flew off my lap, her sobs echoing in the room in her wake, and was gone before I could even think of a word to say to keep her there. When I heard the door slam, I looked back at my cousin.
“What is going on, Gunnie?”
She shrugged, pointed to her lips, shook her head, and then pointed to her ears before shrugging again. Something was keeping her from being heard. At least, by me. I was probably lucky to be seeing her right now.
“Have you tried reaching out and talking to me?”
She nodded.
“When did this all start?”
She pointed in the direction Hanlen had gone.
“When Hanlen arrived?”
She nodded again.
Interesting . . . I thought about the necklace Hanlen wore.
“Does it have anything to do with her veve?”
She cocked her head and seemed to think for a minute then held her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart before shrugging again.
Maybe a little.
“Have you learned anything about your murder?”
She shook her head and then stared off to where Hanlen had gone again, a look of wistfulness in her expression.
“I felt soul magick in that pendant. Was that you? Did you do it recently? After death? It felt like departed power.”
She nodded again.
Well, that explained the strength and unusual feeling of the protection ward. My cousin had been a very strong practitioner back in the day, despite her age, and even though she’d had to keep it under wraps given the stigma of such things even as recently as ten years ago—even from those closest to her. Even in death, she would be able to work powerful magic. Which made her not being able to communicate properly extra infuriating.
“I’ll get to the bottom of this, sweets,” I said, and watched as she nodded once more, tears glistening in her ethereal eyes again. “Will you be back?”
She moved her head in agreement and then gestured to herself, crossing her arms over her chest before pointing at me and then outside. She would be back because she loved us.
“Love you, too, Gun. So much. I’ve missed you.”
She pointed to herself, held up two fingers—she missed me, too—then blew me a kiss and disappeared.
I had a show to finish, but I also had to find Hanlen and make sure she was okay. The rest of the team could take care of things for a little bit.
Chapter 23
“To feel another’s life force as powerfully as your own, that is love.”
~Marty Rubin
She walked out the door, and he stood, transfixed. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. From the time he’d first seen her dancing in the club all those years ago, he’d known he wanted to engage in a communion of blood and soul. He wanted her in him. Needed to possess her—make her his.
And when she rolled back into town, and he saw her again, everything came crashing back. His darkness roiled, seeking and searching sustenance of the one being he felt would be his salvation, the one with the light his darkness was drawn to. He took it as a sign that this was his moment. This was the sacrifice and offering he had been looking for to make his other half happy.
The one that got away.
He took in her body language from across the way. She seemed upset. While he knew now that fear was like sweet ambrosia, and defeated acquiescence was tart like lemonade, he imagined anger would be like the best gumbo, spicy and kicking, warming him from the inside.
