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After leaving Zoe at the castle with Joel and Silver, Nick headed out to an old mansion on the outskirts of town. The mansion’s gaudy opulence made Nick cringe. To think I once lived here. He ignored the guards stationed in each hall and the servants wandering around. No one questioned him or even looked him in the eye. They didn’t dare. They hadn’t done a damn thing for him as a kid either.
Nick moved through the corridor until he finally reached another door. He didn’t want to be here, had never wanted to set foot in this wretched place again. He’d once vowed he never would, but Zoe needed him, so personal feelings no longer mattered.
Nick knocked once, taking deep breaths. God, he wished he didn’t have to do this. Why couldn’t he just barge in and grab the stuff himself? Then again, he had no idea where Dorian might have stashed everything, and the old man would go ballistic.
“Come,” barked a voice.
Keep it together. You’re a guardian, he has no power over you.
Nick pushed the door open. The study looked just as he remembered it, with wall-to-wall bookcases, an ornate desk, and a leather visitor’s chair.
Dorian himself sat behind the desk. He rose and grinned as Nick walked in. “Nicklaus, good to see you.”
Yeah right! Nick crossed his arms. “I want my mother’s things,” he said. “Where are they?”
Dorian gave him a disapproving look. “Please sit.”
“This isn’t a social call. I want my mum’s things. Now.” He folded his arms.
“What makes you think I have them?”
“Because she lived here, if you can call being stuck in this gilded prison ‘living.’” Nick’s eyes were hard.
“She never complained.” A smile twisted over Dorian’s lips.
Nick’s jaw clenched. No, he wouldn’t give into rage. No matter how much he wanted to. That would be playing right into Dorian’s hands. His mother wouldn’t have complained about this place, or anything toward the end. The memory of her lying on the floor bloody and broken flashed through his mind, so raw it hurt.
His hands clenched as he forced himself to stay calm. I won’t give in. I won’t let him get to me. He called on his guardian training to try to hide his true feelings.
“You wouldn’t have thrown her stuff away. You considered them trophies—just like her.” That was what she had been to Dorian: a trophy. A prized possession and his property. Not a person.
“Perhaps I kept a few things, but why would I hand them over?” Dorian arched an eyebrow.
“Because they’re mine and because you’re feeling generous today.” Nick smirked.
Dorian chuckled. “Nothing comes for free. What do you have to offer me?”
“I kept your secrets, that should be enough. What would your precious Circle think if they knew what you did to one of the last guardians?”
The Circle leader’s jaw tightened, and he snapped his fingers. “I’ll have a servant bring them down for you. As for the Circle, they wouldn’t do anything. It’s your word against mine, and you have no proof against me now she’s dead.” He raised a brow. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with your little lost fey, would it? She’s not worthy of Sonia’s things. She’s not even a real guardian.”
“This isn’t about her. I just want my mother’s things, then I’ll be out of here.” He turned to leave.
“Please sit. Have some tea—that’s what families do, don’t they?”
“We’re not a family. We never were,” Nick scoffed. If they didn’t bring the stuff down soon, he’d rip the damn place apart himself.
“How is the fake guardian getting along?” Dorian asked. “Her probation will be reviewed again soon, and this time they’ll lock her up for sure. I told them she’s too dangerous to run loose.”
“She’s not a rabid dog, for fuck’s sake! She’s a guardian. I’ll be damned if I let you do anything to her.”
Dorian laughed. “You can’t protect her forever. She’ll be locked up soon enough, and the strange deaths will finally end.”
“What do you even know about her?” Nick demanded.
Given what Dorian was capable of, Nick suspected he was somehow connected to Zoe’s mysterious past, but he hadn’t found a connection between them so far.
“I know as much as anyone does about her. A girl with no past, raised among humans, possessing unnatural power.”
“Right. You wouldn’t have had anything to do with that, would you? Given your penchant for owning guardians, especially females?” Nick spat.
Dorian chuckled. “Alas, your mother was the only guardian I possessed. Pity, I still miss—”
“Don’t you dare speak of her! You didn’t deserve to breathe the same air she did.” Nick felt power crackle between his fingers as his magic flared to life.
The door opened as a man came in carrying a large wooden box then set it down on the floor.
Magic fading, Nick pulled it open. The smell of jasmine hit him so hard he felt his gut twisting, and his eyes misted over. His mother’s scent.
Dorian moved around the desk. “You won’t kill me, you don’t have it in you,” he hissed. “Under your façade you’re just as weak as Sonia was.”
“You couldn’t possess her soul, could you? In death she won. You never got her power,” Nick growled. “Is this all of it?”
“That whore served her purpose. Now get out.” Dorian jerked his hand toward the door.
Nick picked up the box.
“Your precious Zoe won’t be free much longer. The Circle will see to that. Now there’s a guardian I look forward to breaking.”
Nick blurred away before he did something he’d later regret, the feel of the place burning like a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.
He dumped the box off at his room at the castle, unable to face its contents just yet. The pub outside seemed tempting, but he didn’t want to go there. He needed something dark to match his mood. Somewhere darker.
Nick blurred until he reached the Black Dahlia club. It looked far worse than where Zoe used to work as a barmaid when he’d first met her. The wooden floor was black with dirt and dust, the tables and bar stools ripped and scuffed. It was the kind of place supernaturals frequented, a seedy place with even seedier people. He headed for the bar.
“Can I get a beer? Make it a large one.” He gulped it down, then ordered another.
“Well, if it isn’t the famous Trevelyan himself.” A redhead with breasts almost spilling out of her bodice sidled over to him. “Where have you been, Nicky? I’ve been lonely without you.”
“I doubt that, Cal. You have a bar full of potentials in here.”
“Yeah, but they don’t have your stamina.” She ran a nail down his cheek. “You’re grumpy. You need me to make you feel better.”
Nick gave her a light shove. “Believe me, I’m not in the mood.”
She pouted. “Does it have anything to do with your new guardian? I heard you were getting cosy with her, but I didn’t believe it.”
“I’m not anything with her,” he muttered.
Just get the fuck away from me. Couldn’t he have a bloody drink in peace?
“Something bad is coming, we can all feel it. Your girl is connected to it,” she snapped.
Nick spun around and grabbed her by the throat. “What the fuck you are on about?” he growled, power flashing in his eyes.
Callie trembled, but didn’t stop. “Can’t you feel it? Something dark is coming, you of all people should know. That’s why so many of us are dying.”
“You’re a succubus, what would you know?”
“I know the woman you’re shacked up with is dangerous. Says she’s a lost girl, but no guardian has that kind of power inside them.” She tried to wriggle free.
Nick tightened his grip. “How do you know anything about her?” he growled.
“Word gets around. Everyone has heard about the new guardian and how strange she is.” He squeezed her so tightly her eyes bulged. “Guardians...don’t kill.”
With a disgusted growl, he released her. “This one can and will. Get the hell away from me.” He turned back to the bar and downed one pint after another, trying to block out memories he’d thought were long since buried. The booze burned the back of his throat but did little to ease the pit in his stomach.
His phone buzzed with a text from Zoe: Hey, we have training. Where are you?
He ignored it, growling a warning when the bartender tried refusing him another drink. Within minutes, his phone started chiming, and Zoe’s smiling face appeared on the screen in a photo he’d snapped when she hadn’t been watching.
Nick pressed the cancel button without hesitation and drained his glass. No amount of booze would make him feel better. He couldn’t really get drunk unless he drank strong fey booze, but this stuff would at least numb him for a little while.
––––––––
Growing sick of the bar, he finally headed back to the castle.
Zoe rounded on him the minute he stepped through the door. “Where were you?” she demanded. “I thought something had happened to you.”
“Jeez, I didn’t know we had to be joined at the hip. I have a life that doesn’t include watching you all the time.”
Her eyes widened with hurt, but she carried on. “We had training, something you berate me for missing.” Her nose wrinkled. “God, you reek of booze. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Training is off for today.” He tried to push past her, but she didn’t budge. “Move.”
“No, not until you tell me what’s up with you.”
“Not happening.” Nick blurred away, heading straight into his room.
Zoe appeared in front of him, hands on hips. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere, so you might as well just tell me.”
“Zoe, get the hell out my room!”
“Nick, you’ve seen the shit I go through. You can share whatever shit you’re going through with me.”
His mind raced, wondering where the hell he could go. “It’s not your business.”
“Trevelyan, I’m the closest friend you’ve got. Friends share, so tell me, or I’ll just keep harassing you.”
She had a point, but he didn’t want to think about it.
“I don’t want to talk,” Nick growled. “I wanna hit something. Now go!”
“Okay.” Her fist flew out.
Nick ducked. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m the only one who can fight you evenly, so let’s go.”
“I’m not hitting you!” He shook his head, wondering what she was playing at.
“It’s either that or talking, so...” She flew at him again.
He blocked her blow. She spun and knocked him to the ground.
Nick grunted, raised his hand and blasted her with a low-level jolt of ley line energy.
“Hey!” Zoe yelled as she hit the floor. “That’s cheating!”
He rolled over to her, brushing her hair off her face. “I don’t want to fight you.”
Zoe grinned. “Shame, I was just starting have fun.” She shoved him back down.
Nick laughed. “You’re sexy when you’re like this.”
“Don’t try flirting with me, Nick. Just tell me what’s the matter.” She wriggled away from him and got up.
He sighed and sprang to his feet, eyeing the chest containing his mother’s things. He couldn’t open it. Not yet.
“Why do you smell like really cheap perfume?” Zoe scowled.
“It’s not what you think.”
She shrugged. “I don’t care. We’re just friends.”
“We’re more than that, and you know it.” He tilted her head up, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I can’t– I can’t not have you in my life now.”
“You have me. Always.”
Nick held his hand out to her. “I want to show you something.”
Zoe took it, light blurring around them as he opened the lines.
They reappeared inside an old graveyard. Most of the headstones had either worn away or were overgrown with grass and weeds, leaving only remnants of the names of their occupants.
Nick let go of her hand, walking over to a spot he hadn’t visited in over two decades. “You ask why I never talk about my family.” He knelt, pulling grass away to reveal a name. “Well, meet my mother.”
The name read ‘Sonia Trevelyan’.
“She died when I was eight. She was a guardian, strong, powerful. The most beautiful woman in the world to me,” he said. “She met a man who wanted to possess her. He abused her, tortured her, stripped away everything. She tried to hide it, but I heard her crying every night whilst he...” Nick shook his head. “She taught me what she could, said being a guardian was an honour. The last day we spent together she took me to a park. We had so much fun without him there. She told me she was leaving him, that we’d start over somewhere new.” He stared at the headstone. “The next day, I found her at the bottom of the stairs, dead.” He sank to his knees then, feeling tears prick at the back of his eyes. “Damn it, I should have...”
Zoe came up behind him, wrapping her arms around him. “I’m so sorry.” She rested her head against his shoulder.
“I stayed with him for another few years. Every day I dreamt about killing the bastard,” he snarled. “When I finally had the chance, I couldn’t do it. Oh, he fucking loved that! Said I was weak, just like she’d been.” He let the tears flow. “God, I should have.”
“You’re not a killer. She wouldn’t have wanted you to be.”
“I should have saved her, should have done something.”
“You were a kid. There’s nothing you could have done.”
Nick sniffed, wrapping an arm around her. “She would have loved meeting you.”
Zoe smiled. “Me too.” She kissed his forehead. “She would’ve been proud of you.”
Nick snorted. “Doubt that. I screwed up so many times.”
“Everyone makes mistakes, but you’re a good man. Hell, you’ve been there for me like no one else would have.”
Nick rubbed his eyes. “I’m fucked up, Zoe.”
“Yeah, well, that makes two of us. We make a great pair.”
He stayed there, staring at the gravestone, lost in memory.
