Lauren Dane - Heart of Darkness

Edwina reached out to squeeze Meriel’s hand.

“As for the offer to stay with you, I appreciate that. I’ll talk to Dominic, but I think I’d like to go home. It’s closer to work and I have an office Dominic set up for me there if I need to work.”

Dominic shrugged. “That’s a given. You work there all the time.” He turned back to Edwina. “I want to thank you too, for the seat and for the offer to stay with you. I’ll ask for your assistance in keeping your daughter from overdoing until she’s physically able to get back to full time.”

Edwina laughed. “You’ve met Meriel, right?”

“The two of you are more alike than you think.”

Edwina stayed with her for a while longer before leaving. “I appreciate your continuing to run the clan. It’s easier for me to rest knowing you’re doing it.”

Her mother sniffed as if she’d do anything else. “Of course. I look forward to the day when you get that blank face of yours and tell me that perhaps I should take on a few more clients since you’re running things and I’ll have the time.”

Meriel laughed and it didn’t hurt a whole lot.

“You should sleep,” she said to Dominic once they were finally alone.

“Too keyed up. You’re awake now and I don’t want to waste a minute. Anyway, I did sleep last night. You had a fever for a while but it broke yesterday early evening. I slept here with you last night.”

“Are you all right?”

He snuggled closer, careful to stay gentle. “You got shot, Meriel. No, I’m not all right. But I will be.”

“I mean about Gloria.”

“How can you ever be all right when your mother is a mass murderer?”

“It’s not about you. You’re not responsible for what she does. How can you be? Look, you’ve been alive as long as she’s been stuck and then turned. You didn’t turn, did you? No. It’s her weakness. Her inability to not be so selfish.”

“She got you shot. I didn’t protect you. She came to Owen land. I didn’t protect our witches.”

“Of course you did! Dominic, do you know how hard it is to close a gate the way you did? You had to make choices I don’t envy in any way. But you chose me and our witches over your mother. I’m sorry.” She wondered if he’d blame her on some level. Felt responsible for his pain.

“Sorry? For what?”

“You had to watch your mother die. For me. I’m sorry you had to choose.”

“I chose you about ten minutes after I met you, Meriel. I didn’t even know her. She was part of my life for six months when I was a baby and she sucked at it then apparently. And when she came back into it she tried to kill my woman and opened me up to possession. It’s not like choosing between those two things is hard in any way. Certainly I wish she’d made other choices. I wonder if she could have been helped all those years ago. Would it have been easier though? To have known her and then watch all the horrible things she did? I can’t help but wonder about all the might-have-beens with my mother, but the woman she was in that warehouse was beyond redemption. You had nothing to do with that.”

“Aren’t we a pair?” She let her gaze rove over his face. “Gosh, you’re pretty. Even when you’re sleep deprived and scruffy. Hell, because you’re scruffy. I like that beard. Anyway, I’m not responsible for her and neither are you. You were strong and you saved lives. We did it together.”

He took her hand and kissed her fingers. “Yeah. I love you Meriel. Therefore in the future, once this new hunter team gets all trained up and fierce, you will no longer be going out on missions of any kind.”

“You got that right.”

“Now, Shelley says you can’t take a shower until after the stitches come out. But that you could have sponge baths. I’m the man to deliver. What do you say?”

DOMINICpaused outside the door. He’d had a very lovely late afternoon with the woman he loved. They’d both needed the time together to reassure each other they’d be all right.

And they would. She was strong. He was strong and together they were unbeatable.

He didn’t want any of that to touch what he was about to do, but they’d discussed it anyway. In the end, you were predator, or you were prey. Meriel understood that quite well and with these mages, they needed to be predator in the strongest of terms. He asserted, and she had agreed, that it was important for the leader to make this statement. Nell was fabulous at her job, but this was something Dominic was going to do because the point needed to be underlined in exactly the right way.

He was no stranger to physical violence and his magick, having been underutilized for so long, was now tight and toned and very, very powerful. He could do this and he would.

Nell opened the door and came out. They had been waiting to use any more severe methods of getting information from the mage until Dominic had spoken to them. “He’s ready. Do you want backup?”

“No.” He moved past her and into the room, pausing until he heard the locks engage again.

The mage they’d taken into custody two nights before sat on a bunk, head hung.

“You tried to kill my woman.”

“You need to turn me over to the cops. You can’t hold me here.”

Dominic took four steps and drove his fist into the mage’s face. The force of it sent him sprawling to the floor.

“I don’t have to do anything, as it happens. Human cops have nothing to do with this. We take care of our own.”

“I don’t have to talk to you.”

Dominic kicked him, hard. Twice, in case it needed to be underlined.

“I don’t have to stop beating you down either. You see, we have a problem.” Dominic moved away and sat on the chair near the door. “Let’s go back to the beginning, all right? I’m Dominic Bright. My woman runs this clan. She’s the one your dead friend shot. And you are?”

The mage glared through a swelling eye.

Dominic kept looking until the mage broke eye contact. “Tim Ifill. You can’t hold me here! I demand to be turned over to the proper authorities.”

“I don’t give a shiny fucking penny what you want, Tim. I’m in charge here, not you. I hear tell you were in Gloria’s little gang for at least seven months. Where you from originally?”

When he didn’t get an answer, Dominic got up and cuffed Tim upside his head, leaving him on the floor again.

“Don’t bother getting up. We’ll be playing this game until you’re ready to talk or until you have no ability to talk. I’ve had it. I’m happy to break other things if I have to. Two days we’ve been reasonably accommodating with you. Time’s up.”

“Accommodating! You broke my nose!”

“But I didn’t shoot you in the head, which is what I’d really like to do.”

“The other one tried the tough act, too.” Tim sneered.

“I have to hand it to you, I figured you’d be smarter. I’m amazed you got this far being so stupid. Until right now, we’ve been trying nonlethal methods to get you to talk. I’m bored with that. Meriel is bored with that. And she’s recovering from being shot so she’s extra grumpy.” He heaved a sigh.

“As it happens, I don’t think I need to punch you anymore. Though it’d please me just because. So, you can tell me what I want to know, or I can get it myself.”

“Go ahead and try,” the mage taunted, giving Dominic all the permission he needed.

He used the spell Arel had shown him earlier. The hunter from Rodas had told him it might take some practice, but Meriel was sure he wouldn’t have any problem.

And he didn’t. He walked right into the mage’s head and looked around.

“You’re from Cleveland. Long way from home.” He shuffled through Tim’s mind and found what he needed and then disconnected.