Chapter 23

Drew woke, his mind was clear and he felt better than he had in a long time. Moving, he felt something gritty on his skin and ran a hand up under his shirt to come away with white granules a tentative taste revealed it was salt. Leaning forward and shaking his head while he ran his hands through the mess, he heard it hitting the carpet with a light patter and caught the scent of something earthy and strangely spicy he didn't recognize.

Glancing around, he saw Brandon lying in bed, his shoulders were bare above the covers. There were clear rocks that looked a lot like the one from his ring just less green, scattered around him. One lay on the pillow above his head, one beside either hand, a fourth beneath his feet.

His brother's appearance had not changed, though with his eyes closed it was less painful to look at him.

That Cassie's initial reaction to Brandon's return had been compassion and not to immediately arrest him had alleviated the fears that had been creeping up on him. He remained untrusting of her partners, but that he could rely on Cassie to help him untangle his brother from Pritchard thus giving him an ally made all the difference for him. He was relieved to be free of the dread that had weighed him down since learning that Veritas was investigating Brandon's relationship with Terry Pritchard. That and the knowledge that he might have to lie to Cassie or even have been forced to hurt her to save his brother. For the first time in his memory his brother was not the only person he cared about, he could no longer deny that. The realization hammered its way into his consciousness with the subtlety of a Jack Russell Terrier.

Voices coming from the front room floated in quietly, rousing Drew from his chair to follow. He wanted to see the source of the one he recognized, curious the identity of the other. When he stood more salt fell from his clothing and he gave his shirt a cursory shake, getting the majority of the stuff off his skin on his way across the room.

As he approached, Drew could see Cassie lying against the arm of the smaller sofa, her knees drawn up and a white blanket thrown over her legs. She had that wrinkle between her brows she got whenever she was upset. Anxious hands wrung his guts and he continued putting one foot in front of the other. The other woman who came into view when he passed through the doorway was reclined, fully stretched out on the longer sofa. Both had cups, his nose said coffee, and he caught sight of the small pot on the counter. There was only a little left, not enough for more than a few swallows.

"Good evening." The woman he assumed was the healer greeted him. There was something in her voice that made him think of his dead mother. It had been so long since he'd thought about her it took him by surprise. The kindness in her tone was the same he'd heard countless times in his youth when he'd been ill or suffering some scuff or another. Drew hardened himself to the pang the woman's voice elicited.

"Hi." His eyes strayed to Cassie. She was watching him curiously, maybe waiting for him to freak out like before. She was tired along with being worried, he could see the dark circles under her eyes. Drew glanced at his watch. Two o'clock. "Haven't you been to bed yet?"

"We've been waiting for you to wake up." Cassie answered quietly, her voice husky with the sleep calling to her. "Drew Carter, this is Dr. Jones. She's a healer with Veritas."

He gave her a quick wave, waiting quietly for what had to be bad news. He didn't have to wait long.

"Drew, Dr. Jones is one of our top healers. She's been working here in the area on a number of cases that have the organization's attention." Cassie waited to see that he was able to focus, going on only after getting a nod from him. "For months there have been reports of strong paranormal activity, significant raising of energy in pockets from Tampa to Gainesville. Then, two weeks ago there was an incident in Jacksonville."

Drew rethought the coffee, wanting the comfort of holding something warm. Wandering back to the pot he grabbed a glass, the mugs were taken, and poured the last of the pot. Listening, he leaned back on the unoccupied arm of Cassie's sofa. "What kind of reports?"

Deferring, Cassie cast a glance at Dr. Jones who took over. "Reports of a drug. It's being taken by regulars and witches alike with very different results."

He tested the coffee against his lip, it was cooling. Sighing that even this small comfort was not to be, he slugged it down in one disappointing mouthful.

Dr. Jones watched his reactions closely, attempting to determine his state of mind. Cassie had faith in him that was abundantly clear. Just the same, this was a lot for anyone to take in and this man had thought himself a regular until three days ago. She went on cautiously, ready to stop if he looked overwhelmed. "Witches go into a sort of a frenzy, going after anything that smells of magick. Regulars, on the other hand, see bright halo like auras surrounding practicing witches. They can see anyone using magick"

"How bad are the attacks on the witches?" Drew wondered if something like that had happened to Brandon.

"Mostly fatal." The doctor said simply waiting for a sign he was going to have trouble accepting what she was saying before elaborating. "Our reports have been limited to random and unexplained violent outbursts involving heavy energy use in different communities. There have been quite a few, too many to be accidental, and who knows how many more there have been that we don't know about." That she wanted to bring an end to the incidents and couldn't was clear. Dr. Jones was visibly agitated. "We have found only one witch left alive thus far and he has little memory of what happened. The only common denominator has been a residual chemical in the victims called citalopram. It's found in an antidepressant prescribed by thousands of doctors all over the country and on the street to some extent."

Drew swirled the last drop of brown liquid around the bottom of his glass, watching a stray coffee ground get hung up on the glass when the liquid would outrun it. Glancing sideways at Cassie, Drew saw the hint of strain around her eyes and mouth. There was more, she was waiting for it. "At the risk of sounding like an ass, what is it you want from me?"

"Only information." Dr. Jones had seen Drew watching Cassie for cues. His ability to read the young woman was astounding. Especially considering the brevity of their association and the protections the junior agent kept up, as was protocol. She agreed with Cassie's determination of his magickal type. She could see the strength in his ability by the way he read her without physical contact. That was a rare accomplishment for a Sentimental witch. When this was over she would recommend the man to the Directors as Investigator material. An ability like his would be a boon in the field.

"Your position inside a club affords you a unique insight. We wondered if you'd heard of a new drug being circulated. Something new in the last six months or so. It's most often inhaled, similar to cocaine, although a few appear to have injected it like heroin. Have you noticed unusual levels of excitement, maybe heightened volatility in your patrons?"

"Hmm." He closed his eyes, trying to think. Clubs and recreational drug use tended to go together no matter how much the club owners might try to discourage their use. As far as Carter's went, Drew had been able to keep the dealers out for the most part with only the rare exception. Although, now that he was thinking about it, he'd had more than the usual attempted drug deals in the back alley, and at least a couple of times a week for the past two months he'd turned customers away for being stoned off their asses. There had been concerns of the increase in violence attributed to local gangs. It had affected some other clubs more and he'd worried it would cross over to his. Unhindered by the amulet or ignorance of magick, he was able to put it all together.

With everything he knew now, he couldn't miss the meaning of the occasion two months ago when he'd been rougher than necessary because of a raging headache. It had been after a customer had jumped up on the bar upstairs and was ranting about angels. The guy had been out of his mind on something and they'd thrown him out, not wanting the police in the club. His fingers rubbed his naked finger out of habit while he sifted through his memory, searching for the name he'd heard recently. "Yeah, I think I've seen it in action at our place. It's been making the rounds at the local clubs, it's something called Revelation."

Repeating the name to commit it to memory Dr. Jones stood, giving them both a polite if not forced smile. "I'll call that in and see if we can find more information in the local police files now that we know specifically what we're looking for." She had reached the door and turned back. "If you two don't mind, I would like to keep the external stimulation down for Brandon. I'll stay with him but I'm sure you can find other accommodations for the remainder of the night." Opening the door, she made their dismissal clear.

"Yes Doctor." Drew leaned over as he straightened, getting a glimpse of his brother's feet. They hadn't moved nor had the rock by them been disturbed. It was doubtful Brandon was going to miss him if he wasn't there. "Could you call if he wakes up?" He wanted to be there when he needed a familiar face.

Understanding shone in her soft brown eyes. "Of course."

With a visible effort Cassie threw back her blanket and got up, stretching her arms over her head. "Thank you Doctor." She nodded and touched her forehead in thanks.

In the hall, Cassie and Drew regarded each other awkwardly. It was the middle of the night and although they had a block of four rooms they had been kicked out of one, they didn't have a key to the two belonging to the other agents, and the door adjoining Julia's was locked, leaving Cassie's as the only option if he wanted to stay close to his brother.

She was dead on her feet. The let down from a long night and the drain of helping Dr. Jones with three cleansings was beginning to show itself. With the back of a hand, she stifled a yawn.

Drew could tell she was leaving the decision up to him and held out a palm. "Let me have your key."

Without a peep of protest, Cassie handed it over and followed him in.

"Why don't you lay down and get a few hours while you can. I'm going to take a shower." He threw the key on the table in the front room, a mirror image of the one they'd just left. "Do they have a laundry service here do you think?" He held his shirt out to show her the blood, curious if he looked as gross as he felt.

"Twenty-four hour." She made an effort at levity. "This is one of our hotels, we have all the amenities."

"Really? You guys own hotels?"

Cassie walked through to the bedroom and sank down on the bed where she used the front of one foot on the back of her heel to remove one shoe then the other. "Veritas has its fingers in just about every industry we touch on a regular basis. It's a necessity really." She shrugged. "Cost saving as well when you think about how much we travel." Her eyes rolled up as she ticked off a few. "Hotels, airplanes, cars, restaurants, like I said, everything." Socks came off and she let them lay where they fell beside her shoes. Naked feet felt good after a long day and she wiggled her toes in celebration.

Drew crossed his arms and leaned a shoulder on the doorjamb. Watching Cassie talk about Veritas and this whole other world, Drew considered a life with them. What he'd done his whole life had been outside of respectable.

Working at their club was barely on the other side of the line. A career with an organization that helped people like Brandon and him could feel good for a change. If he learned how to wield his magick as well as Cassie did, maybe he could work with them. She'd said he was talented enough. A lot depended on the next few days and what was going to happen with his brother. If it turned out, he might just have to look into it. He wondered how she would feel about his joining.

"How long do you have to study at the Academy to become an Investigator?" Trying to appear only mildly interested, Drew directed his eyes to a tiny crack in the ceiling.

"Depending how quickly you come along it's usually about two years of basics, one year of specialization to be an agent. I could give you a recommendation." Kicking herself for sounding so eager, Cassie forced herself to calm down. Drew was only considering the job change because he didn't know what was going to happen. Even if he went to the Academy, which he should, there was no way he would end up being an Investigator or want to see her again. Blaming her and what she stood for was pretty much an inevitability.

Drew noticed the shadow pass over her features and feared for its cause, her usually easy to read expression was mixed and he was confused. He took a breath and told himself it was better this way, he had wanted to know if she was uncomfortable with the idea he might follow her into her world and now he did. "It's no big deal, I was just curious if you guys went as long as police. Your jobs are about the same."

Stomach knotting at the feeling of his energy tickling on the edge of her protections, Cassie closed her eyes and took another deep breath. Her attempts to center herself were ineffective, she was far too mentally spent. Her defenses were close to coming down and he had none, everything he was projecting both willingly and unknowingly was hitting her and she was feeling the vast majority of it. Frustrated with herself more than anything, she closed her eyes and pushed back, hard. When she opened them again she saw Drew staring wide eyed at the floor. He'd pushed himself away from the wall and stood braced in a wide stance, touching his forehead with both hands.

"I don't think I'm feeling well. I'm going to shower."

Thinking herself a fool for telling him yet knowing she couldn't put it off any longer, it wasn't fair, Cassie stood up off the bed. "Drew, come have a seat."

One hand rubbing over an eye, he raised his gaze to hers and she was able to see the turbulence she'd caused. He blinked. "I don't think that's a good idea. I'm really not feeling like myself."

"That's why you should. I can explain." Hesitantly he came over and sat, she sank down heavily beside him, their knees less than a foot apart.

Drew's eyes were questioning, the openness she saw there making her wish all over again that the amulet hadn't limited their encounter to being purely physical for him. It hadn't been for her, she could feel it when she looked at him and her resolve to remain emotionally divorced was floundering.

Dr. Jones had seen it, which meant Julia would as well. Cassie cared about Drew and that was why she couldn't let him spend another moment thinking he was doing something wrong and punishing himself for it. Summoning courage she prayed wouldn't fail her, she told herself this was the right move.

"Drew, do you remember when I told you that you were able to get me to tell you things I hadn't told anyone?"

Snorting, he bit back the sarcastic comment that rose to his lips. That he couldn't get her to tell him what he wanted to hear, so it was fairly worthless as a skill. "Yeah." He replied tightly.

Cassie hurried to explain worried he was thinking she'd cornered him into one of "those" talks. "No, listen, that's where your magick comes in. It's what the stone felt in you and amplified." She had his attention and lowered her voice, making herself speak more deliberately, less agitated. "The stone guarded you from feeling anything deep good or bad, right?"

"Yeah." He waited for her to tell him he had been ruined or crippled or something by the ring.

Swallowing, Cassie got ready to tell him, hoping her trust in him was well placed. If she was wrong and he got himself into trouble she didn't want to be the one to blame for putting temptation in front of him. The truth of it was there was nothing he couldn't persuade people to do for him if he thought big enough. That was an enormous temptation for most people. "Your magick, I figured it out a while back. I didn't tell you because I was hoping we would have you set up with a trainer or at the Academy before you found out." She rambled off track.

Drew stared, his headache was fading thankfully but Cassie was giving him a new one.

"Your magick is called Sentimental because it's tied to emotion. Your charisma Julia asked you about, your gift with women," she flushed, "and your ability to cool down a room, it's all tied together. The ring protected you from negative influences, but it also toned down your natural abilities."

"What does that mean? I can make people like me? You said that before and that's not magick by my definition." He wasn't impressed.

Cassie hadn't explained it right. Puffing up her cheeks, she blew out in a big gush and tried another tack.

"Not just like you." She clarified. "You can make people do things for you. It's an incredibly useful tool for manipulating people, and yours is really strong." Cassie watched him carefully. "You could make someone rob a bank for you, kill for you, fall in love with you, anything."

She didn't know why she said the last she must have been tired. But Cassie saw his misgivings; he was not excited about his magick. In what was becoming a sick cycle, Cassie felt the pleasure and pain associated with her mission. If educated on how to wield his magick, she was sure Drew wouldn't use it to hurt anyone though an ability such as his would have tempted even the morally incorruptible Galahad. "I think you should go to the Academy Drew. I really think you would be a great Investigator and what a fantastic place for a talent like yours." Too anxious to stop talking, Cassie went on. "Julia's that way too. She can get almost anyone to tell her things. Except you, but that was the stone. You should have seen the look on her face when she told us not only did you block her out but you were charming her." Cassie guffawed at the memory. "No one has ever fought her off before, but you did. It might have been different if she'd touched you or gotten something of yours, then she might have had you."

He was running his hands through his hair, feeling sticky and gritty at the same time, focusing on the tactile. Preferring it to the less visible things Cassie was going on about. "It was the ring, that's all." He objected weakly, remembering back to his childhood when he'd been able to do no wrong. Teachers loved him, friends' parents and coaches, it was always the same thing. If Drew wanted it, he got it. Luckily his parents had been well grounded and the only ones able to say no. Looking back, he wondered if they hadn't had a little magick of their own to be able to keep him at bay. He wished he could see them one more time, if nothing else than to thank them for keeping him from turning into a monster.

"Only part of it was the ring. It had to get its direction from you." She wouldn't listen to his objections. "If I were wearing it, it would do something different maybe bend the metal in the bar or something." She referred to hers being a physical magick. "But on you it brought out your strengths, getting people to trust you and to like you. It's something you do naturally." Her voice grew more subdued. "You're doing it now, that's why I pushed you out of my head."

Comprehension lit in his eyes. "That was what I felt? You pushing me away?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't it happen like this before? Have I ever 'influenced' you before, you know, made you do something you didn't want to do?" Drew worried for the first time he'd taken advantage of her, of any of the women he'd been with. Here he had been worrying whether he should be with her when it was possible he'd not left her any choice in the matter. That he would only have to snap his fingers to bring her to his bed.

"No, I was able to guard against your influence before." She shook her head.

"Aren't you guarding yourself now?" He asked the question awkwardly, the concept felt strange.

Cassie's sagging frame answered better than words. "I'm tired. It's harder now and I'm slipping." She watched all of this new and heady information sink in. He stared at his hands, fingers running over the back of the finger where the stone used to sit whether out of habit or if he was thinking back and questioning everything he'd ever done, every friend and woman he'd ever had. Wondering if any of it had been real.

Chancing to touch him, Cassie reached out and let her hand settle gently on his leg, preparing herself for the jolt and making a conscious effort to keep his influence out. "You're a good person Drew." She spoke from the heart, confessing more than he could comprehend yet. "One of the really good ones. You can't second guess yourself. You have to trust that you would never had taken advantage of someone, it just isn't in you."

"How can you say that? If somebody can't say no to me then how is anything I do not taking advantage?"

"Because even a regular can push back, we all have free will. You would have had to consciously choose to talk someone into doing something. You would know if you had convinced someone to go against their will."

Cassie's shoulders had unconsciously clenched and she felt them relax when she saw his frame do the same. He wasn't guilty. He had never coerced someone to do something they felt opposed to, nothing of any import.

"I'm going to take a shower." His face closed and his thoughts turned inward as he stood and made his way to the bathroom.

Cassie was staring at the one king sized bed and chastised herself for being so juvenile to concern herself with the joint accommodations. They were both adults and there was no reason they couldn't share a bed platonically. Cripes, she'd shared a bed with Quan once. Granted it was only for a couple of hours and it was a totally different situation. But that wasn't the point.

She worked to sound nonchalant. "I'm going to lay down for a little bit and see if I can get some sleep."

Drew looked from her to the bed and then out toward the front room. "I'll sleep out there."

"Don't be silly, you're longer than both couches." Cassie felt the heat creep up her neck and flood her face. It sounded like she was begging him to stay. "I mean, it doesn't make any sense for either of us to get a crappy night's sleep on a tiny couch you can't even roll over on when this bed is plenty big enough for both of us. I trust you to be a gentleman."

He gave her a dubious look.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "I'm not that tired. You couldn't make me trust you if I didn't already."

That seemed to settle things for him. He walked around her to the house phone and called for laundry to come pick up his clothes and they promised to have his things back to him in a few hours. They would leave the parcels outside his door so as not to disturb him.

"Could I bother you to put my clothes out while I shower?"

Cassie agreed, intending to put some of her own out as well. She eyed the blood stained pants she was wearing, hoping they were salvageable.

She heard the shower turn on and Drew stepped out of the bathroom in only a towel with his clothes folded and balanced on one palm and she realized one thing that could prove very awkward. He would be sleeping naked and in the same bed as her until morning.

Their eyes met for only a passing second during the uncomfortable handoff. Drew mumbled a thank you and Cassie mumbled something back. She got changed and put hers on top with a note to check for bloodstains, getting the clothes out just in time to see a hotel employee coming to take them. Dressed in a tee and shorts, she settled in to bed where she lay on her side with her eyes closed, figuring that might make things easier.

When Drew came to bed, moving ever so carefully trying not to wake her, she could feel him shifting and tugging his towel with him. Only because she was absolutely beat was Cassie able to fall asleep with the sporadic tingles pinging against her shoddy barricades. Thank goodness for the hardnosed instructor in charge of self-defense at the Academy. She would have to be almost dead to drop them completely.

Drew had his hand on his towel, holding it together even after he heard her drop off to sleep. He thought it would never happen, but sleep finally came for him too.