Chapter 16

We were halfwaythrough dinner when the doorbell rang. Bran answered. It was Von, with James and Kells behind him. I fixed them lattes, and we had ordered plenty of doughnuts for dessert so I made sure to bag them a couple of doughnuts, as well.

Von sat, more than a little stiff, on the edge of the sofa while Kells and James stood near the door. "I hope they found out the cause of your fire," he said to Bran.

May sighed. "They did, indeed. We didn't have a chance to tell you—Elphyra and Morgance—but the determination came in shortly before we met you in the woods. Arson, as expected. Someone poured gasoline on several rags and started them alight around the edges of the barn. Whoever it was didn't care about the animals inside, or anything of the sort. They just decided to burn it all down."

"We found a barn to house the animals," Bran said. "But rebuilding will take a while. First we have to clear away the remains. We found a company who will do it before they rebuild, but it's pricey. We have the money, but it's going to take a bite out of our savings."

"Bran and I are both contributing. We own the land jointly," May said. "Or rather, it's portioned out so that I own one acre and the house, and Bran owns the other four acres. That way if he ever wants to build his own home, he can do so on his land proper." She turned to Von. "Thank you, by the way. I don't know if I got a chance to thank you last night, but you saved our land and—quite possibly—our lives. You saved the farm animals, for sure."

"We were hoping you didn't lose any," Von said.

"Actually, we did. We lost several chickens, but all the others got out. I just wish I knew what was going on," she said.

"Well, we'd best be getting to our patrol. Oh, Elphyra? Kyle asked me to have you call him when you're able. It's not an emergency, but he has an update on Lord Faron." Von motioned to the other two men. "Come on, let's get to business."

As they headed out, I turned to May. "I still think your fire has to be linked to whoever is targeting me. Though, for the life of me, I can't think of who could be after both of us." I turned to May. "The woman in your readings—can you do a reading and see if she's connected to Bran, as well?"

"I hadn't thought about that. Good idea. But given I'm involved now, because of the fire, would you read the cards, Morgance?"

"Of course," Grams said.

We followed her into the kitchen after she stopped in her room for her cards. Fancypants was right behind us, and he perched on the edge of the table. Grams laid out five cards and she studied them. They didn't look like tarot cards to me, but instead, like some oracle deck based on plants. After a moment, she held up the Heather card.

"The goddess is speaking. This reading is coming from her. The next card, Briar, tells me that this is a tangled web. Your situations are indeed, tied together. The thorns of the briars indicate someone is deliberately ‘jabbing' you both…though to be honest, I get the sense that it's Bran and not you, May, who's the recipient. Bran and Elphyra." She turned over the third card. "Belladonna. The jealousy card—jealousy, anger, envy, ill-wishes. This card can bring about greatness in terms of power, or it can consume."

"Jealousy? Who would be jealous? Bran's not dating anyone, and…while I'm dating Faron—or was—it's not like I was seeing anybody else before I met either him or Bran. Could it be one of Faron's Packmates?"

"I suppose, though would she have a connection to Bran? Belladonna usually indicates a woman," Grams said. "Fourth card: Rose. Lovers, weddings, the joining of hearts." Grams stopped, looking confused. "Bran, are you sure you haven't been seeing anybody as of late?"

"I haven't," he said. "Not since I got back from Europe."

"All right, let's see the last card." Grams turned it over. "Morning Glory. Whoever it is has hope for a fresh start, for a new beginning." She paused.

"Holy crap, I know who it is," Bran said, the color draining from his face. "I know what's going on."

May turned to him. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Gloria—she wants me back. She turned out to be a real narcissist." He shook his head. "I can see her doing all this."

"But I thought she was with some French guy?" I said. I turned to Grams. "Gloria was Bran's fiancée until he caught her naked with a French guy over in Paris."

Grams stiffened. "Yes, it's her. My alarms are ringing like crazy."

"I better call Daisy and have her track Gloria down. She must be back in town—" Bran froze. "Did you hear that?"

I strained my ears. "No, what are you talking about?"

"That—" He frozen. "I'm not sure but…"

His words drifted away but were replaced by another sound—one that we all heard. The sound of an explosion rocked the ground and I ran to the window, looking out to see my shop in ruins. It looked like a bomb had gone off.

"Call the police and fire department—my shop's gone!" I raced to the door. "Get the cats and Fancypants and get out of the house."

"Wait—" Grams called behind me, but I was out the door, leaping down the stairs as I ran. Bran followed me. At that moment, Von and Kells raced into the yard, but there was no sign of James.

"Are you all right?" Von asked.

I nodded, suddenly hit with a wave of nausea. The headache had come on rapidly, and I felt like my head was going to explode. Somebody was hammering at my brain—I could tell it was magical and not physical. So if it was Gloria, she had to be around here somewhere.

Taking a deep breath, I cast around for the direction from which the energy was coming. My gaze immediately went toward the shed, and I darted across the wet ground. Bran was right by my side. He tried to stop me but I shook him off, racing harder.

As we neared the shed, the door opened and out streaked a woman clad in pale pink. She held a wand, and as we came closer she aimed it at me.

"Don't come any further or you're going to end up as deconstructed as your shop!" Her eyes flashed, gold flakes shimmering in the deep brown pools. She was a beautiful woman, but the look on her face told me she'd checked out. She was living in a world of her own, and I did not wish to be a part of that world.

Bran motioned for me to stop. He stepped forward. "Gloria, stop. Don't hurt her. If you're mad at me, talk to me."

She hesitated for a moment. "Why did you leave me?" Her voice was plaintive, sounding like a child.

"You left me, remember? You met Julien." He grimaced—I had the feeling he was second guessing his answer. But she tilted her head, looking confused.

"Julien didn't love me. He told me he did, but after you left, he started seeing other women on the side. I didn't have any money. I couldn't leave. He took my passport and phone, and kept me prisoner. When he got drunk, he beat the crap out of me. And I waited for you to come back, to save me, but you never came." Her voice cracked, and for a moment, I could see the broken woman beneath the crazy.

Bran let out a sigh. "Gloria, I thought you wanted to be with him."

"It was a mistake—and by the time I got away, you were long gone." She seemed to have eyes only for Bran at this point, and I slowly began to ease to the side.

"I'm sorry, Glory. I thought I was giving you what you wanted." Bran sounded helpless now, and I realized he was torn. Torn between feeling guilty for something he shouldn't feel guilty for, and yet—he had loved her, and leaving her there was probably one of the hardest things he'd ever done. He started to take a step toward her.

Gloria suddenly stiffened, then frantically waved her wand at him. "Stay back," she said. "Stay there. I'm so confused."

"How did you get out of Europe?" Bran asked.

I had frozen in place when she became agitated, but now her attention was totally focused on him again, her face rapt in a mixture of love and hate and longing. Once again, I began to inch towards her.

"One night he was angry at his boss, and he came home. He raped me, then he got so drunk that he forgot to lock me in my room before he passed out. I managed to get the key and some money out of his pocket and ran outside. I didn't know where I was, but I was able to flag down a taxi and I had them take me to the embassy. They helped me get back home."

"What happened to Julien?" Bran asked.

"He died. Somebody killed him while he was passed out—with a kitchen knife."

"Glory, do you know who killed him?" Bran asked the question slowly, so as not to set her off again.

"No—but somebody must have known how horrible he was."

A shiver raced over me as I realized that she had stabbed him. And I couldn't say that I didn't feel sorry for her. She had made a mistake, but the price for it had been steep.

I was nearing the edge of the shed. In a few steps I could grab her, or I could slide around back and come through the shed, sneaking up behind her. That might be the safest route, I thought. Who knew what that wand of hers could do?

I was about to find out, however. She whirled, suddenly realizing that I was there, and she aimed the wand at me and whispered something. I ducked as a massive bolt of lightning came flickering my way. As I leaped behind the shed, it hit a tree and exploded it into smithereens.

Holy fuck, the woman has power!

And ten to one, her mental issues were increasing her range and ability. I raced around behind the shed and burst in the back door. Ahead of me, was the open door and there, was Gloria's back. As I put on the speed, the wail of sirens echoed from my driveway. Grams and May must have called Daisy.

But I was too close to stop, and if I did, Gloria would have enough time to launch her attack at me. I charged, head down, at full speed, and landed against her, knocking her to the ground. She was wiry, though, and athletic, and she managed to turn over beneath me as I struggled to catch hold of her hands.

We were near a patch of ground ivy, and I did the one thing I could think of.

"Ivy growing wild, on the ground,

Hear my call, hear my plea,

These hands, weave your vines around,

Keep her from attacking me!"

As the ivy began to slither toward us, Gloria let out a scream. She twisted, trying to get away, trying to aim the wand at me. I raised my hand and brought it down, open against her cheeks. My slap was so hard that it echoed through the yard.

"Here," Bran was kneeling beside me now. As the ivy wound itself around her hands, holding them together in the prayer position, he took the wand from her, tossing it cautiously to the side. She was kicking at him, so I conjured the ivy to hold her feet as well, and when she was fully bound, we sat her up.

She glared at me, the screams fading from her throat. "I can't believe he chose you. I can't believe he left me for you. He's mine, he's my love. He's my fiancé."

I glanced at Bran, who shook his head solemnly. "She needs help."

"She needs a lot of help, to heal and to come back to herself. If that's possible." He glanced over his shoulder. "Daisy's here, with her men. The fire department too. Twice in one week, aren't we lucky?"

"I wonder why she didn't just try to kill me," I mused.

"I think…somewhere in there, she knows that she'd be going too far. I think killing Julien broke something inside her." He searched her eyes.

She stared at him, a devoted look on her face. "Bran, you love me, don't you? You'll take me back? We could be so happy together." She hiccupped, her voice fading. "I'm so tired. I'm so tired."

"I know you are, Gloria. We're going to get you some help. You're going to have a nice, long rest, where you can feel better and talk to someone about Julien and everything that happened." He glanced at me. "She's firmly bound?"

I nodded. "The ivy's trussing her up nice and tight. She can't get away that easily."

"Then I'm going to talk to Daisy." He stood, heading over to Daisy. He spoke with her for a moment and then a man and woman came over to where I was sitting, holding Gloria against me so she couldn't struggle and hurt herself.

Gloria had given up fighting and was now resting against my shoulder, her anger seemingly gone. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing softly.

"Your name is Elphyra, right?" she asked.

"Yes, my name's Elphyra." I shifted so that she could be more comfortable. My heart went out to her. I knew what it was like to lose the love of my life, even if I hadn't been the one to cause it.

"That's pretty," she whispered. "Maybe we can be friends…"

"I'd like that, Glory," I said. "But now, you need to go see a doctor and make sure you're okay. This nice man and woman will take you with them, and they'll help you."

Gloria tensed, then her eyes fluttered open. "Do you promise they won't hurt me?"

"I do. I promise they'll take good care of you." I glanced at the medics. They were used to treating Otherkin, so they would know what to do. As I transferred Glory into the female medic's arms, she began to cut the ivy off as the sheriff stood ready with handcuffs. The other medic motioned for me to step to the side with him.

"What should we be aware of?" he asked.

"She's lost her ability to reason. She's delusional, she was seriously hurt—physically and emotionally—by an abusive kidnapper. We think she killed him and that further traumatized her. She was Bran's fiancée until she met that guy and ran off with him, only for the situation to go south." I quickly outlined some of the things she'd done. "She's dangerous, but she needs some compassion, too."

"We'll make sure she's placed in an anti-magic room where she can't hurt anybody. Or herself. We'll probably put her on suicide-watch, just in case." He finished his notes. "All right, I think we have enough. If you and Bran could come down to the hospital with us, you can give them the full story. Do you know if she has any next of kin?"

"I don't know. Bran probably would." As they strapped her to a stretcher, handcuffing one of her arms to the side, I thought that sometimes our choices in life haunted us for years afterward. I glanced over at Bran, where he was still talking with Daisy. How would this affect him? How would this affect us? With no answers—only questions—I headed in their direction.

* * *

We went to the hospital,and Daisy accompanied us.

"We're pretty sure she was attacking both Bran and me. That wand could easily set the barn on fire. I know you found gasoline cans, but some of the timbers looked like they'd been blown up. Just like my shop."

"We'll get to the bottom of this," Daisy said.

"Well, now I don't have to worry about reopening. At least not for now. I hope the insurance company will pay out on it. That's a lot of money to lose," I muttered. "Anyway, we're safe, nobody died except a few chickens. At least we're both safe and so are our families and friends." I yawned. "Oh cripes, I have the wake tomorrow. I don't want to go, but there's no getting out of it. Can we wrap this up as soon as possible?"

"Of course," Daisy said. "So this was all jealousy?"

"Jealousy with a serious mental illness thrown into the mix. Absolutely frightening the way it can play out. By the way, you might want to contact the Paris police. We think she killed a man there. His name was Julien. The embassy probably has a record."

"I'll do that. I'll call them at 11:00 our time. It should be morning there, by then." Both she and the doctor took down all of our notes, and finally, we were finished and able to leave.

As we exited the hospital, I wasn't sure what to say. Bran was lost in thought, and I was still reeling from everything that had happened. As we reached his truck, he opened the door for me and I climbed inside.

"Elphyra…I don't know what to say. I'm just…"

"Me too," I said. "Why don't we wait till tomorrow to talk? I know I need some sleep before the wake, and I'm sure that you're done in, as well. We don't have to talk now."

He worried his lip, then nodded. "Thanks. I appreciate it. This is…as I said, I don't know what to say."

Without another word, we drove home, and all the way I kept seeing Glory's frightened face, and her luminous eyes, and the fear that haunted them.