Beneath the Watching

26. Stefan

26

STEFAN

Ilya was a smug bastard, gloating about how he finally had the promised magic source for a bride. Technically not a bride, as no one got married here. What one did was publicly declare the other person was yours, consummate the relationship, and you could refer to them as your wife. No need for a piece of paper that could be burned to ash.

My best friend sat across from me in the castle’s version of a bar—minus the tab. “We’ll have some semblance of peace now,” he added to his bragging and lengthy speech.

Setting my tumbler down on the cut-crystal coaster, I eyed him. He’d been feeding on her. A lot. My ability to perceive auras and energies wasn’t nearly as astute as my peers due to being tainted with human blood but I could see them occasionally and currently I was witness to an incredibly bright one.

Ilya oozed pride and magic. Together with his magazine worthy looks, his charisma was currently off the charts. More than one young woman had made it a point to catch his eye. Whether by swaying their hips, bending over, or a subtle but carefully timed little swipe of the tongue over their lips, they swarmed like sharks here in the bar.

It was tiresome.

“I’m glad you got what you wanted,” I said as feedback. “Kiara and Mabel have been spending some time together. I think it's good for them, Mabel is happy to have her back.”

“Yes, that’s good,” Ilya agreed. “Julian is the only real threat right now, but I’ll be able to handle him when I go back to the Third.”

My brow arched in disbelief. It wasn’t likely. “With Ramone still recovering, I’d be wary.”

Ilya lit a cigarette and took a long drag, exhaling smoke across the table. “Oh, ye of little faith.”

The man thought he was invincible now that he’d taken custody of the scrawny woman. “If you say so,” I conceded.

He crushed his cigarette, snuffing it out. A thin tendril of smoke fluttered in a draft, and he hovered his hand, ending the pollution. “You do know I love her, right?”

It seemed more like an obsession to me but I was no one to have any sort of ethical discussion with, myself. He clearly cared for her, and I’d witnessed their chemistry. “Yes, I know. Just don’t forget pride comes before the fall.”

“Fucking unholy priest,” Ilya muttered before he chuckled.

“I’ve been thinking about desecrating the altar in my chapel,” I said, smirking.

His eyes lit, an orange-reddish glow swirling around his pupils. “Not if I do it first.”

That was not something I cared to walk in on. “Stay the hell out of my church.”

“Make me,” Ilya challenged.

I knew he was just screwing with me, and we both knew I would not be the victor should we come to blows. It was time to use my most effective weapon.

“I should monitor the spells in my chapel more often, I keep forgetting about them.” I stood up and pushed the stool under the table, watching a trickle of wariness crawl over my friend.

“What’s next for you? Lucian will give us assignments soon, now that he’s got his daughter back.”

Ilya followed my motions, running a hand through his hair before he replied, “Probably just focus on the company for now. With Ramone mostly out of commission, I have a full workload.”

“Good luck with that and don’t ask me for help,” I said, turning to leave.

“Fuck off.” He knew I wanted as little to do with the Third Realm as possible, but it didn’t stop us from giving each other a hard time every chance we got or him from trying to get me on board.

It just wasn’t going to happen.

“Ilya,” I called over my shoulder. He was shrugging his suit jacket back on.

He began buttoning it. “Yeah?”

“Don’t forget she wasn’t raised here. She won’t take kindly to being used and abused,” I paused. “In other words, don’t take advantage of her.”

He scowled. “Since when do you care about her?”

Grinning, I replied, “I don’t—I care about you.” He gave me the finger and walked away.

Ilya was gone often over the next couple of weeks and Kiara was in our quarters at least every other day, brainstorming with Mabel and my men. The bake shop my love was planning on opening had a good chance of not only featuring breads and cookies but also, maybe a hedgehog farm and possibly a ski resort—if I was hearing correctly.

I felt fairly confident the resort was the comedic genius of either Benjamin or Jack, and with the sole purpose of riling me up. I let it slide.

Mabel glanced up at me, her eyes shining, when I walked into the kitchen. It was a large area but felt crowded with all the extra bodies.

“Hi, love,” I greeted her, kissing her until Kiara cleared her throat obnoxiously loud. I wasn’t much for public displays of affection, not being comfortable with anyone else tasting my woman’s lust, but I took one look at her and instantly melted into a puddle.

Defiance covered Kiara’s face. We still weren’t exactly on great terms, but I tolerated her for Mabel’s sake. We’d never liked each other but I think she didn’t like me only because I’d called her out on her shit in the past.

Staring her down to put her in her place, I wondered if she would still be Ramone’s whore if Ilya hadn’t taken care of the problem.

“Asshole,” Kiara muttered under her breath, responding almost as if she’d heard me.

I didn’t respond to her taunt and took a deeper look. Her eyes were dark underneath and her thin frame had lost more weight. Her skin appeared tight, and her visage had dulled slightly. The fiery woman she’d been a few weeks ago was slowly deteriorating.

“Are you okay?” I asked her, sincerely. It was concerning because it appeared Ilya was overdoing the siphoning of her magic and energy. Energetic transactions were normal amongst demons, it was expected, especially during intimacy. Couples even exchanged or donated magic at times.

What I was seeing was not normal and it appeared my best friend had strayed deeply into the field of addiction and would cause himself no end of troubles. I would never hear the end of it.

“What do you care?” She sniped.

Stripping off my coat, I laid it over one of the stools at the kitchen island and ignored her.

“Kiara,” Mabel raised her voice slightly. “Stop it. You guys need to get along.”

Kiara’s shoulders slumped. “I’m trying. I’ve just been tired lately.”

Leaning back against the counter, I crossed my legs at the ankle. “Do you know why?”

She threw me an irritated glance and then lowered her head, pretending to peer at the sketches she and Mabel had spread out before them. “Yes.”

“You can stop him,” I told her. Mabel gave me an interested look. “She’s doing this to herself, love,” I glanced at Mabel and she went stared at the countertop.

“You don’t understand. Ramone sacrificed himself for me, but Ilya also killed him. I didn’t ask for any of this. Now, he’s out there pretending I don’t exist but also, he was going to kill me and...” She trailed off and took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to think or what to do but Ilya comforts me. And he’s not going anywhere. He couldn’t even if he wanted to.”

Mabel met my eyes again, and I knew right then that we both understood. She’d told me once, and I’d witnessed it, that Kiara was damaged. Everything in her life—including herself—had worked against her. She was still in love with both men. Ramone being out of sight did not equal out of mind. This wasn’t something anyone could help her with.

“Ramone’s all I ever really knew of this place,” she said, quietly.

I had to stop myself from groaning out loud. The man was going to kill her, and she still longed for him.

Right then, Tiffany walked in. “This is not a revolving door. Benjamin. Jack. Get back to work,” I directed my men as the woman shrugged past me. I’d been too lenient, softened by a vision with ebony tresses. The two men shuffled by me, debating possums and hedgehogs in low whispers.

Tiffany glanced at them with interest, her gaze lighting on Jack just a little too long. She smiled shyly when he winked at her. Good Lord .

“Hey Kiara,” Tiffany greeted the woman before moving to Mabel’s side, who then gave me a smile of pity.

“I’m heading out,” Kiara announced. Mabel nodded and then slowly blinked, her eyes losing focus for a moment.

The door was shut after Mabel’s friend passed through and I waited until all was quiet. Tiffany sensed we needed space and mentioned she had knowledge of possums, excusing herself to go find my guards.

“You heard the Sentient,” I stated.

Mabel nodded. “It said death.” She shivered. “That’s it. Just death. Dead .” She lined up the colored pencils beside her drawing pad arranging the shades to form a rainbow.

My first thought was Ramone and the fact his soul had been in a coma. He hadn’t been truly dead at any point, and he’d be back amongst the fully functioning at any moment. From what I understood, he was still recovering but now back in the office and continuing to terrorize unsuspecting humans with his impossible demands and mood swings.

“Ask it what it means.” I knew she wasn’t completely comfortable with the voice that followed her everywhere. It wasn’t an intrusion she fully welcomed.

“What do you mean? Who’s dead?” she asked softly, nudging the bottom edges of the pencils into a smooth, even line.

The hum of the refrigerator buzzed louder as the compressor kicked into gear. Our guests’ voices could be heard, a faint static several rooms away. Colored pencils tumbled onto the floor as Mabel tapped them in frustration.

I bent down to gather them and held them in my fist. “Try rephrasing the question. Maybe you’re not asking the right ones.”

She sighed, holding out her palm. “Which death are you talking about? Is someone going to die?”

Mabel’s eyes widened and she curled her fingers around the writing instruments she now gripped. “The voice said many people will die. What do we do?”

My eyes squeezed shut. This was a huge issue with this kind of magic—there was no way to maintain complete control. Information was nearly always left wide open to a variety of translations.

In general, even the most detailed spell could end up having tremendously unintended consequences. Toying with the fates was not for the weak.

The archangel Matthew, who Ilya had hired to erase Kiara’s memory with a time travel spell surely knew the magnitude of what he was doing and yet he still did it anyway. Screwing around with time never erased everything. The alternate or original timelines remained in existence, popping up at inconvenient times with a dash of Deja vu here or an errant memory there, to torture the psyche.

With a deep sigh, I answered, “Many people will always die but don’t forget there is no such thing as death, not in the way one would think. Energy can’t be destroyed, and it moves onto to another form or another existence.”

“Then why even say it? If it's not true? I don’t want anyone I know changing or going anywhere.” The pencils fell from her grasp as she let them go, clattering against the counter. I stopped one from rolling to the floor and pushed the bunch away from her. “I don’t know what to think,” she said.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully, and this morning Mabel had left to go running with Kiara. Ilya had the bright idea to force the woman he loved to start exercising again and Mabel decided she wanted to try it, too. What had started as a forced enterprise for Kiara turned into her convincing herself that she lived for it, to try and take away some of Ilya’s power over her.

At least, that’s what it looked like to me.

From my seat on the patio, I watched as Kiara and Mabel sprinted back and forth, trying to beat the other. I could sense Ilya’s confusion from all the way up here and couldn’t stop my grin from spreading as he stalked up to me, planting himself in the chair beside mine. The two women’s breathless yells and haggard laughs carried on the wind and a deep sense of contentment spread through me.

Ilya lit a cigarette, the smoke quickly carried away on the breeze. “Never thought I’d see the day,” he remarked. He’d gotten nearly everything he wanted—the woman, more power, and more magic, which in turn equaled more respect.

Twisting the cap off a bottle of water, I said, “Neither did I. I’m happy for you.”

When I’d first seen Mabel, sitting at a table in the casino, I never could’ve pictured this idyllic scene. Granted, Ilya’s road to this point had been much harder than mine, but I never thought it’d end up like this. This was the two of us almost domesticated.

“Have you thought about having Mabel use her Sentient on Kiara?” he asked.

My hackles rose. No, I had not thought of that, and I did not like what he was implying. There was no way I’d allow for Mabel to be manipulated to try and secure more power for my best friend. Never would I subject her to relentless question and answer sessions—which is what it would turn into, under his supervision.

After I swallowed a mouthful of water I answered, “No, and I won’t do that to her. You have a source of magic. No one else has that, be happy with what you’ve got.”

Ilya raised his palms. “Just a thought. No one’s ever done it before.” He didn’t verbalize it, but I could feel the unspoken threat in the air. I’d asked a while back, and he’d agreed, that Mabel’s presence here would be kept as quiet as possible and her magic unspoken of.

“We’re not gonna start, now,” I snapped at the man who held too many of my secrets. Neither of us had said it out loud but I knew he knew I was only half demon. What he knew about me had piled up to levels that made me distinctly uncomfortable. It didn’t stop me from putting Mabel first, though.

He took a long drag of his cigarette and returned his gaze to Mabel and Kiara, who were now flat on their backs in the grass. “All this sweat is making me horny,” he said, standing up.

“Too much information, Ilya,” I drawled.

He headed across the grass and the two women stood up. Mabel brushed herself off before coming back this way, trailing behind the others. Kiara dismissed me with a casual glance, and I took Mabel’s arm and headed back into the fortress.

Ilya and Kiara went in one direction, and we went in the other. When they were out of earshot Mabel whispered to me, “Should we have told them?” I furrowed my brow. “What the voice said, about death,” she clarified.

“Has it said anything else?”

“No.” She paused before saying, “Well, there was something about asking and receiving, but it was pretty general.”

We’d reached our wing and Benjamin opened the door for us. “We don’t want to cause problems where there aren’t any. As I’ve told you before, it's not always reliable. What was relayed to you could mean anything with how generic it is.”

Mabel walked down the hall to our bedroom, and I followed. She stripped off her shirt, getting ready for a shower. “I just don’t want anything else bad to happen.”

Taking her shoulders in my hands, I faced her. “I know you blame yourself for what happened to Kiara, but you can’t. She made her own decisions. Whether you said anything or not in the beginning, it wasn’t your battle to fight. All of it would’ve happened regardless.”

She glanced away and unhooked her bra, revealing her full breasts. “I didn’t do the right thing by her,” she insisted, wiggling out of her leggings. For some reason, she hadn’t been wearing any underwear.

She leaned over, her ass jutting out and lifted a foot to peel the fabric from her leg. My finger traced the globe of her rear. “You’re going to make me fall over,” she complained, just as I slung an arm around her waist.

“Maybe you should be punished for not speaking up,” I rasped, as my cock thickened in my pants.

Mabel swung around under my grasp. “But you just said...” She sucked in a breath.

She had one leg of her pants trapped on her foot, but I didn’t care. I picked her up and tossed her on the bed. She bounced once and then raised on her elbows and tried to roll away. I snagged her calf and pulled her back before straddling her.

“Why do you like spanking me so much,” she whined, wiggling below me.

I bent down and spoke softly in her ear. “As if you don’t love it.” She giggled and then moaned when she saw me unclasp my belt. Mabel licked her lips as I backed away to remove my pants and sat up, her hands reaching for my waist.

The pounding of a fist on the bedroom door brought everything to a halt. “What?” I yelled.

“Something’s going on, you need to come out,” Jack barked. His tone conveyed his urgency.

Bending down, I pressed a kiss to Mabel’s lips. “Get dressed,” I told her cautiously.

“What’s going on?” Her brow furrowed in concern.

Hurriedly, I put all my clothing back on. “I don’t know but Jack isn’t the type to raise a false alarm.”

Mabel shoved herself off the bed and began getting dressed as I walked out.

Benjamin and Jack were in the receiving room, the door to the hall wide open. Lights were flickering up and down the expanse of the walkway, Benjamin’s face pale.

“I don’t know what’s happening, but we wanted you to see this,” he said, eyes darting back and forth.

Mabel joined us, poking her head out into the hall. I wrapped my arm around her and gently pushed her back inside. “This is weird,” she remarked.

Just then a group of the Black Guard could be seen running down the far end of the hall. Jack, Benjamin, and I all glanced at each other.

“What?” Mabel asked, looking between the three of us.

There was shouting, and more running. “I need to go, wait here,” I said to no one in particular.