Chapter Fourteen

Genevieve

I barreled into Barker with a fury far worse than that of a stampeding bull—the fury of a woman in love who is unhinged enough to be ready to die to protect her man. It was likely the shock of having me appear out of nowhere and screaming like a banshee that kept Linda, Charles and Barker frozen in place.

My body collided with Barker's smaller one, sending us both flying backward. We toppled over the piles of dirt and into the empty pool, where our bodies crashed hard into the ground.

Rocks dug into various parts of my body, and I knew I'd be rocking a giraffe print pattern on my skin the next day, but I was too angry to feel any pain. Not giving her a chance to process what had happened, I scrambled toward the lamp.

Everything would be fine if I could just get to Roam.

"I don't think so, human," Barker spat, leaping onto my back. Her weight threw me off balance and sent us slamming hard into the ground a second time. "He's mine."

"Roam isn't an item you can claim like a pair of new shoes!" I bit down on her arm and brought my knee up hard into her midsection.

Barker shrieked in pain and rolled off me. "Djinn do as they're told."

I threw myself toward the lamp that lay less than six feet away. Seeing what I had planned, Barker launched herself at it too.

My fingers were less than an inch from the lamp when lightning struck me. I curled into the fetal position, screaming in agony as my muscles convulsed.

"I tried to get the lamp from you nicely, but you just had to be stubborn." Linda stood at the edge of the pool, looking down at me with disgust, smoke curling from her hand. "See where your greediness got you?"

"My greediness? You're the one breaking and entering to steal something that doesn't belong to you and attacking two people who did nothing to you." Each word hurt like heck to speak, but I refused to die a sobbing mess.

Linda waved her hand dismissively. "We didn't know your mother was visiting, and the djinn is too rare an artifact to be left in the hands of humans. That power needs to stay within the paranormal community."

Charles dropped down into the hole.

I scowled up at him as he approached. "And what part do you play in this?"

"I saw you unbox the lamp while moving your furniture inside the house and knew immediately what it was. If I could have snatched it right then, I would have, but I thought it would be child's play to get it from you later. Except you refused to invite me home. You were willing to sleep with a djinn, but not me?" Charles' eyes rolled over my skin with a look I didn't like.

I should've let him stay dead.

Charles puffed out his chest. "I'm the son of a warlock and an enchantress. You should feel honored to have me show you any attention at all."

"Yeah, a lame one born without magic." Barker curled her lip in disgust. "Mom had the dud first. Then married a fairy and had me. I wasn't involved in Charles and mom's scheme. Not until the rose festival. They wanted me to distract you so they could dart the djinn with a cocktail capable of taking down a paranormal."

She picked up the lamp, dangling it by the handle from one finger. "I did my part, but then, thanks to a weird quirk of being half fairy and half enchantress, I caught a glimpse of his figure in the dunking booth. As if that wasn't enough, later, I walked by the changing room and heard his voice. I heard the way you screamed, and I knew I wanted to experience a lover like that. And now I will."

"That's creepy. Do you lurk around listening to everyone have sex? Maybe if you put more effort into your own sex life, you wouldn't have to be envious of mine." I pretended to gag.

She held up the lamp, watching to see if I would lunge for her, but I couldn't. The muscles in my legs and arms refused to obey my commands.

"It belongs to me!" Charles roared, rushing at Barker. "I won't let you ruin this!"

He was so much larger than Barker, and I was expecting him to flatten her, but she rolled her eyes and flung him into the wall with a flick of her hand. Charles didn't stay down long, and a heartbeat later, he sprung toward her with his hands outstretched.

Another flick of her wrist sent him crashing into a cement mixer that sat at the far side of the hole. The unmistakable sound of bones cracking was followed by a groan from Charles. Still, he pushed back to his feet, staggering slightly.

A trickle of blood ran from his temple down his cheek. "Mother! Help me! This isn't what we agreed on."

We all stared up at Linda, who stood at the edge of the hole. Her brow was creased, and she glanced back and forth between her two unhinged offspring.

"If you raise a finger against me, I'll tell Dad. What do you think the fairy courts will think of you using magic against me?" The smugness in Barker's tone had Linda's eye twitching. Clearly, I wasn't the only one who wanted to knock some sense into the self-centered, cruel fairy.

Linda's fists clenched and unclenched at her sides.

"Mother! Who knows how long before we locate another djinn? If we don't use this one to complete the spell, I may never reach my full potential," Charles pleaded.

Barker watched the unfolding drama with cool amusement. "Give it up. If she uses her magic against me, she'll be forfeiting her life. Fairy code dictates it, and she became a citizen of the fairy courts when she married Dad."

Charles' face darkened with rage, and if I could have moved, I would have backed away from him.

Barker fake yawned. "You don't even know if it would have worked. So stop getting so worked up."

"It would! My vessel is strong, built to handle magic. The spell will allow me to absorb the djinn, and his magic will become mine."

My stomach pitched, and I fought the urge to vomit. What was wrong with them? How could they talk about him as though he were a commodity and nothing more than an object to possess for their selfish desires?

"Bro, quit hanging onto Mom's lies," Barker snorted. "You see, I did a little snooping around about that spell. It did a number on my computer and messed up a bunch of documents. You might want to do a DNA test. Let's just say, I think Mom decided to do a little dumpster diving in her younger years and she seemed to have a thing for humans. The spell works in theory, but it has killed everyone who has used it."

Charles' mouth opened and closed as he stared in disbelief at Linda.

Barker's eyes cut to me and she whispered, "Thanks for helping fix that, by the way. I was supposed to stop you from leaving until they stopped by your house. My plan was to knock you out and lock you in the bathroom for the weekend, but you were so nice to offer to help me, and that slowed you down."

"You know," I wheezed, trying to breathe through the fiery pain radiating through every fiber of my muscles. "The more I get to know my co-workers, the better I understand why Noah only let animals join him on the ark."

"I compliment you and you act like that?" Barker kicked out her foot, landing a solid blow to my cheek.

Agonizing pain stabbed my skull, and a copper taste burst across my tongue and my vision blurred.

"Do you have something else to say, Vivi?"

Refusing to let her see how much pain I was in, I spat the blood from my mouth. "Yeah. I hope the love of your life gets stuck in a condom."

Was it smart to goad a lunatic? No.

Did it hurt like a son-of-a-biscuit-eater when her cute pink boot hit my shoulder with enough force to dislocate it with a sickening pop? Oh, yeah.

Was the rage on her face worth it? Without a doubt.

Seeing she was distracted, Charles rushed her. This time, he made contact, sending them both tumbling into the wall. Charles wrapped his hands around her throat, and I thought he might actually win. Then she threw out her hand, and I watched in horror as a piece of metal rebar flew to her hand as though she held a magnet.

Barker didn't even hesitate before plunging it through Charles' chest. He stared down at the crimson stain blossoming on his chest.

"Ugh!" Barker groaned, heaving him off her and standing without even sparing him another glance. "I was basically saving his life by not giving him what he wanted, and the only thanks I get are bloodstains on my vintage blouse. Oh well, the djinn will fix it."

Over my dead body. I focused on my rage, willing it to give me the strength to get up and fight.

"Charles!" Linda landed softly in the dirt. "Barker! He's your brother. How could you?"

"Relax. Once the djinn is mine, I'll wish for him to heal your precious firstborn. But if you try to stop me, it will be too late."

Linda looked torn between grabbing for the lamp herself, or letting Barker have her way. At last, she dropped her head. "I won't stop you. Please hurry."

The woman was off her rocker if she thought Barker would keep her word. One look at the fairy's face made it clear she found Charles' death of no more importance than that of a fly.

Barker moved to stand in front of me, no doubt wanting to make sure I was watching as she took the most important thing in the world from me. She maintained eye contact and smirked as she lifted her hand and rubbed the lamp.

My heart broke, and I braced myself for the pain I was going to experience when he was forced to answer her summons. He'd be bound to obey her.

I waited for the familiar sparkling dust to appear, but nothing happened.

Barker cursed, rubbing harder at the lamp.

Yet again, no sparks nor clouds of swirling purple appeared.

"Even if he answers the summons, you will never have him as your lover. Djinn have to grant wishes, but they can't be forced into sharing their bodies. They have to choose to give it." I took an incredible amount of pleasure in telling her that little fact. "Roam loves me, and you'll never get to experience how incredible it is to have him as a lover."

"Lies!" Barker screeched, rubbing harder and harder at the lamp.

Still, nothing happened.

I was equal parts terrified and relieved. Maybe our bond was strong enough that he was able to resist her. But what if the reason Roam wasn't answering was because he was gravely injured or worse?

"Tell me how to summon him!" Barker's open palm smacked my swollen face.

"Never." I clenched my jaw.

Barker's face turned a deeper shade of purple than Roam's eyes. "You can delay all you want, but he will be mine. Even if I have to bring your mom down here and force you to transfer ownership in exchange for her life."

Instead of focusing on my rage, I focused on how Roam made me feel and the intensity of the love I felt for him.

My muscles twitched, my control slowly returning.

It's about freaking time.

With herculean effort, I pushed myself into a sitting position. "I can't do that."

"You can and you will!" Barker shrieked, rubbing furiously at the lamp, to no avail.

I swayed, but righted myself. "You have it all wrong. It's Roam who owns me."

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the box cutter. Between my blurred vision and the darkening twilight, I struggled to see my target clearly.

The box cutter wouldn't do fatal damage, but Barker's vanity would work to my advantage. I had one shot at this.

"Fine, I'll tell you how," I whispered, dropping my head forward.

Barker fell for my act and squatted in front of me. "I knew you'd give in."

Lifting my head, I stared straight into her cruel eyes. "Oh, wait. I forgot I don't explain myself to idiots."

With a speed I would definitely brag to Roam about later, I slashed the box cutter across her face, trying to make the cut as long as possible.

"My face!" Barker reacted exactly how I thought she would—concern over her face having a scar distracting her from all of us.

I reached for the lamp, but before I could do more than touch it with the tip of my finger, a bolt of electricity, much like the one that had hit me, hit the lamp.

"If I can't have him, then you can't either!" Barker's eyes were wild with a feral rage as she blasted the lamp with her magic.

"Barker, NO!" Linda screamed, raising her hands and sending a burst of magic at her daughter.

It distracted the fairy, and she turned her magic on her mother.

I scrambled to the lamp, sobbing as I saw the melted metal of the lamp spreading like cooling lava across the ground. The intricate etchings were gone, and if I hadn't known what it had been just a minute before, I'd never have guessed it was once a lamp.

From somewhere behind me, I heard Barker's harsh laugh. "I guess no one is going to win today."

Purple dust coated the ground. I gathered it in my hands, sobbing harder when I realized it no longer sparkled. It was little more than ash.

He was gone.

I'd lost him.

Burying my fingers in the dust, I cried for the man who'd shown me true love. Now that I'd had a taste of it, I couldn't imagine being able to survive a single day without it.

"All those times you wanted to grant a wish for me, and now that I finally want to make a wish, you're gone." I knew he was gone, and I sounded crazy, but this was the only opportunity I'd have to say my goodbyes. "Roam, I wish you were with me. I told you I was going to cling to you like an octopus and never let you get away. I wish that was possible in the real world—not the octopus part—but the being tied together for the rest of my life."

Darkness had fallen and the only sound was my sobs. Muscles weak, I dropped to my side on the ground. And there, curled up in the midst of the purple dust, I screamed at the unfairness of it all.