Blood Binding, page 13
Tannic poured a cup of coffee and brought it over to her. “I volunteered.”
“What?” She didn’t take the mug. “You didn’t look stupid at first glance.”
Benny chuckled.
Missy stared at him. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“I read the reports. You needed me.” He shook his head. “And then you didn’t even use me.”
“I never wanted to use anyone. That was the point,” she muttered.
He reached for her and stroked the back of her skull. “I know, but you have no idea how much I gained from this connection. You are very smart.”
She waved that comment away. “It comes and goes.”
“Well, it has allowed me to acquire a medical degree and one in herbal healing.” He smiled. “And massage therapy.”
“I am glad you have made the most of your time. Why didn’t you do it earlier?”
He nodded. “I lacked focus. Coffee?”
He held her mug up.
She took it. “Thank you.” She drank down the cup and stepped to the side, sidling into her kitchen, past the strangers.
She put her mug in the sink then crept back out of the kitchen.
Benny stared at her. “Do you have problems with men?”
“A bit, but just because of size. They take up a lot of space.” She frowned. “It is very people-y in here. I am going into the other room.”
Benny asked, “Missy, are you sociophobic?”
Missy elevated one thumb while walking away. It was ironic that she could deal with angry mobs and twisted hordes, but extra people in her house freaked her out.
She walked into her living room, noticed the conversation still coming through the hallway, and headed to her office. She settled behind the ornate desk and brought out her computer.
The angry emails and demands for explanation blasted her the moment that her computer flashed to life. She started typing the story and the ratification of Atty’s contract and sent it to the council and the council members asking her what she thought messing with the wolves and their beasts would do.
She bit her thumbnail as she typed with one hand. When everyone had been answered, she started watching some of the videos that soothed her. A soft knock on the doorframe made her look up. “Hey, Tannic, are you heading out?”
He shook his head. “Your breakfast is ready. Do you always chew your nails?”
She looked at her nails. “It happens. You didn’t have to make me breakfast.”
“I didn’t. The guys did. There’s a ghost at their place that does the cooking. They enjoyed the exercise.”
“Are they still here?”
“Yes, but they are eating on the back porch. I didn’t know that you had anxiety of that nature.”
She looked at him. “Do you know why I needed a familiar?”
“Power surges is what I was told.”
“Sort of. I was kidnapped as a student, and they tried to drain my power from me, and it fought back. By the time they got me back, it had grown to more than I could contain. They tried to give me a regular familiar.” She swallowed.
“What happened?”
“They kept exploding.” She covered her face with her hands.
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah, so when they told me they were getting me a shifter familiar that was strong and resilient, I didn’t want to do anything to stress you out.”
“Including flirting with me.”
“Yup. Not that it would have occurred to me.”
He chuckled and sighed. “Come on. Breakfast is getting cold. They made you eggs benedict.”
“Why?” She looked at him, lowering her hands.
“Because I told them you enjoyed it.”
She got up, and he took her hand to walk her back to the kitchen.
“So, when you were kidnapped, you developed your fear of people?”
“Yeah, and that is when my focus on portaling came in handy. I was able to escape by opening a portal around me and the mages who were trying to drain my power. I made it out of the portal. They didn’t.”
“Ouch.”
“I don’t know if it was painful, but pieces of them began to show up around the globe. Usually in bushes for some reason.”
“No one mentioned that.” He chuckled and boosted her up to the bar stool at her counter.
She widened her eyes at the light contact. “Um, people don’t touch me.”
“Why not?”
“They just don’t.”
“You hugged your sister.”
“She’s my sister.” Missy frowned. “We have been hugging since we were toddlers.”
“Right.” He took a bowl and lifted it off a plate with eggs benedict and some golden hashbrowns.
“Thank you. Please thank them.”
“You could.” He leaned against the counter behind him, crossing his arms and smiling.
She shrank in on herself and pushed the plate away. “No, thank you. I am done with talking to new people today.”
He uncrossed his arms and slid the plate back toward her. “Why can you take charge of a pack of wolves, keep them in control, and give them hell when you don’t talk to people?”
She snorted and picked up her cutlery. “It’s a matter of need. Atty needed me. If there is a need, I can do just about anything. Want is another matter. I didn’t want to run around and chat with the wolves, explaining what the new dire wolves can become with effort, but if I need to explain it to them, I will.”
He cocked his head. “So, how do you function on the councils?”
“Remotely for the most part. I am on call.” She put some food in her mouth, moaned happily, and kept eating. “I can hold things together for an in-person meeting if I have to.”
“So, you can issue a portal anywhere at any time?”
“Sure,” she mumbled around a mouthful. “Why are Benny and her group here? They are assigned to Redbird City.”
“We are near Redbird City. You know about them?”
She nodded and started to work on the second muffin. “Yeah, Benny’s entrance into the XIA had to be authorized by the guild heads. I am one of the guild heads.”
He chuckled.
“So, you live in Redbird City?”
Tannic paused. “Yes. I thought this was part of the city?”
She chuckled. “No. Well, yes and no. This house exists in a bunch of places, and only those who mean me no harm can find it.”
“We are in a dimensional split?”
She nodded. “Yup. I use anchors to keep the house in place in each location. The house is on the outskirts of Redbird City and four others.”
“Does it depend on what door you use?”
“No, it depends on what door you came in. The house opens where I need it to, but it won’t move others unless I will it. Making it was a hobby after I became an archmage.”
She finished her food and got up to walk her plate over to the dishwasher. “Please, thank them.”
He frowned.
She sighed and met his gaze for a moment. “Please.”
He smiled and inclined his head. “As my mage wishes.”
Missy felt a flash of panic. “No. Don’t. I will do it.”
His smile faded. “What caused that?”
“I know a lot of mages who bully and use their familiars, and I never want to be that.” She slid off the chair and walked to the door. She walked up to the table and bowed. “Thank you for making my breakfast.”
Benny frowned. “How hard was that for you?”
She kept her face calm, but her heart was racing, and her skin was cold. “I will get a nap once everyone is gone.”
The guys looked confused, but the vampire suddenly took his glasses off. “Archmage, you don’t look good.”
She swallowed, nodded, and headed for the door back inside. “Have a good day. Goodbye.”
Tannic was staring at her as she dashed past him. She ran to her bedroom, warded all the doors and windows, and crawled into the closet with her blankets. Too much. Having him in her house was too much. Having them with him was too much. That easy friendship that Tannic had with Benny and her men was something that hurt. Missy knew she couldn’t have the same with him, and that hurt more. She was defective. Always had been. Only her sister had kept her moving forward, and once she was gone, there was no one to guide her and show her how she was supposed to do things. She was locked in that point of social development and couldn’t move past it. Adults couldn’t be trusted. The fact that she was an adult didn’t matter. Her brain was still a teen’s, and she was screaming for help, and no one came. Alone was better. If you were alone, you didn’t count on anyone to help. She curled up in her closet and fell asleep to let the stress drain from her soul.
* * * *
Tannic asked Benny, “She feels numb. Do you know what caused that?”
Benny wrinkled her nose. “I can ask my mom. I seem to remember something happening fourteen years ago. There was a lot of upset, and all security on mages like Mom was checked and double-checked. Her kidnapping was a big deal. You might want to request her file from the mage guild.”
Tannic was surprised. “I can do that?”
“You are her bound familiar. You can’t help her if you don’t know what’s happening.” Benny smiled. “I can help you with that. I know a mage that is in very good standing, and she has a familiar of her own. She can get you to the archive. Her pedigree is impeccable, and they won’t balk at her accessing records.” Benny smiled. “Should I call her?”
“Please. I know she’s safe, but she is having trouble that I don’t understand. I am going to talk to her sister as well. Cassian will let her up for air in a day or two.” Tannic sighed. “It would have been easier if she was just aloof like a standard high-ranking mage.”
Smith nodded. “Yeah, she smelled like fear, but it was cold fear. The kind of scent I get when we find long-term abuse victims. She’s used to it, and that kind of pain is going to be hard to get through.”
Tannic nodded. “Right.”
Benny cleared her throat. “You can’t feel her?”
“No. She put up barriers between us the day we were linked. Her power flows into me around the barrier. We are very separate.” He rubbed his hand at the back of his neck. “She is extremely smart though. That came through as well.” He smiled weakly. “I have several degrees now that I would have been too birdbrained to obtain before. She let me grow more than I have in four hundred years, and yet, she walks into her own death over and over as if her life doesn’t matter.”
Benny shrugged. “She’s living a life of service. Her own existence is incidental.”
Tannic scowled. “That’s not a life.”
Tremble murmured, “Maybe it’s all she has.”
Tannic looked at the quad that had come to verify his safety, and he looked back and up toward the window with the blackout blinds on it. He wanted to say it wasn’t all she had, but it was too early. She didn’t flinch when he touched her, but she held very still.
Benny cleared her throat. “We have to get you to your students. I have sent a text to Imara, and she’s agreed to come here and talk to Artemis about familiars. If hers shrinks himself down, he’s adorable.”
Tannic blinked. “Shrink? Yeah, that could work.”
Argyle chuckled. “You are willing to do that?”
“I am willing to try.”
Benny’s phone buzzed, and she picked it up. “Imara is on her way, but her boyfriend is giving her a ride. She should be here in an hour.”
“If she can remain outside, that would be preferable.”
Benny nodded. “Of course. Now, you have to make at least an appearance.”
He looked up to the window again. “I am going to cancel classes for a few days, but I know I have to do it in person.”
He stepped off the deck and opened his smaller wings to fly to the XIA headquarters. “See you guys there.”
He launched skyward and headed toward the city. He wanted to be back when the mage and her familiar arrived.
Chapter Thirteen
Atty dismounted from Cassian’s back, and he transformed into his bipedal self. “Well, that was a brisk trip.”
Cassian chuckled. “I will warm you up. I wonder if the others are back?”
“Missy said she would, so I am sure she did.”
They walked in through the upper door, and Cassian greeted the security officer. They made it to his apartment, and Ilthar was waiting for them.
Atty sighed. It felt nice to be home, and she checked her phone. Text messages were piling in on her phone from the friends that had shown up on her behalf.
Cassian hauled her into the bedroom, stripped them both, and pulled her into bed. She answered her texts for a few minutes, and while Lily and Rose accepted the lack of detail as to where she was right now, they made her swear to give information at work the following morning.
“So, is there any particular reason that we are all curled up together?” She nuzzled his neck and then glanced at her phone as acceptance of her answers and confirmation of health were acknowledged.
“I was worried.”
She leaned against him. “For a while, so was I. Then Missy showed up, and she made it all better.”
“Your sister is very powerful. You are as well, but the magic is different.”
Atty nodded. “She is. She always has been. She’s different now though. I was surprised at how thin she was when she came over here. I’m worried.”
“Why?”
“She was stabbed through the back, and she took it like it was nothing. I could see the pain, but she just kept going. What the hell is Tannic?”
“A roc.”
“Oh. So, a giant eagle?”
“Yeah.” He stroked her back.
“Nice. She has a familiar. That’s funny.”
“Why?”
“She can’t deal with people. To have someone tied to her must freak her out in the extreme.” She sighed. “I need to go see her after work tomorrow.”
“What do you mean? She was fine. She was effective as hell.”
“She needs a person to help her navigate things, and she doesn’t have that. I hadn’t thought much about it over the years. I guessed that the mages gave her an apprentice to help or something.” She sighed. “She didn’t say anything, so I thought she was okay.”
“What changed your mind?”
“I saw her in action. She was cold, efficient, and abrupt. That was how she was when we were kids until I was taken away.”
“So, she is not neurotypical.”
Atty chuckled. “No, she is not. She’s exceptional in every way but doesn’t know what to do with people, so she avoids them. Right now, she has enough rank to make folks bend to her, but I worry about her. After seeing her dealing with the stabbing, I am worried even more.”
“Tannic took care of her.”
“Yeah, but she said she didn’t summon him. That worries me.”
Cassian continued rubbing her back. “How did he get there? He is fast but not that fast.”
“As they are linked, I am guessing her magic pulled him. Portals are her thing.” She trailed her fingers along his carvings.
“It is so strange that you are outgoing and your sister is... not.”
“She was shy when we were little, and it never changed. She was out at therapy when they came and got me.” She felt the tears building up. “I begged them to let me go and explain, but they wouldn’t let me go back.”
“Do you want to be with her now?”
She sighed. “I do, but knowing her, she’s asleep. You know Tannic?”
“Only since I woke. We have flown a few times. He’s a very respectable monster.”
“I thought he was a shifter.”
“No, there is only one of him, which makes him a monster.” He smiled. “Just as I am a monster.”
“Yeah, stop bragging. It’s not horribly big.”
He chuckled. “Flatterer.”
“Shut up and hold me. I need to sleep off my stress.” She snuggled in close.
“Is that something your family does?”
“Yes. Deal with it. I will call Missy when I take my morning break tomorrow.”
“I was looking forward to you spending it with me.”
“You can keep. I know what you have been up to. Missy... is different. If she thought it would make me uncomfortable, she wouldn’t even ask for help if she was on fire.”
“Why not?”
“She doesn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. She fell and skinned her knee when she was eight, walked to the store, got a first aid kit, and took it to the school nurse. She didn’t want the nurse to have to look for supplies. She hates putting people out, but it might be because asking folks for help makes her vomit if she doesn’t know them.” Atty lay across him and kept talking about her sister until the stress of the day faded away with Cassian rubbing her back.
* * * *
Cassian looked at her and stared. The woman she described wasn’t a mouse but someone who lived their life away from those around her, interacting as little as possible.
She was very different from the people-person who was burrowing into his chest. Her power was astonishing, and he had the sinking feeling that her control was all that separated her from enjoying life with people around her or complete and total annihilation.
Tannic was definitely more now. He had been flighty, but over the years, he had developed a hunger for education that he admitted to not having before. The link to his mage had dumped her intellect into him, and he was now much more than he had been before.
If Cassian had known it was Atty’s sister who had that effect, he would have made the move on Atty sooner. He smiled down at his mate. There was going to be a lot of power in their family. He was looking forward to it.
* * * *
Atty called her sister when the morning rush was over. There was no answer, so she sent a text. Missy, I am worried. Call me.
She took a basket up to Cassian, but he was scowling as well. “The mage council wants to see us... immediately.” He was glaring at his phone.
