Beneath the Black Moon (Root Sisters) (27 page)

“Tsk,
tsk. Not planning to shoot Auntie, are we?” Pauline leaned down to stroke Cam’s
throat just above where the cord bit into her flesh. “For her sake, I hope
not.”

Cam
grit her teeth and stared down at the hair that she kept wrapped around her
finger.

“You
two!” Pauline’s voice sharpened. “No talking.” While Pauline was distracted
with Brent Caro had murmured something to Grandma, and now they both faced
Pauline, shoulders squared. Pauline shifted uneasily. “I think it’s time to begin
the show.”

Grandma
cleared her throat. “In that case, why don’t you let Cam go now?”

Pauline
laughed. “Now why would I do that— she’s the first act.” And with that, she
leaned down and seized the ends of the cord as if she was about to pull it
tighter.

The
room exploded into action.

Brent
lunged for Pauline.

Cam
reached up and ripped the cord from her neck, catching Pauline by surprise.

Grandma
passed a charm to Caro, who cradled it for a moment, murmuring the words of a
spell, before tossing it at Pauline.

Cam
recognized the charmed item flying through the air as particularly dangerous
conjure, and threw herself into Brent, knocking him clear of the charm as it
flew in a neat arc straight toward Pauline.

Pauline
screamed and dodged it. As the charm bounced harmlessly into the wall behind
her, she threw her arms into the air and shouted a curse. Cam could feel the
conjure surging through the air toward Grandma. Grandma tried to avoid it, but
she tripped over a footstool and the conjure slammed straight into her back,
sending her flying across the room. “Grandma!” Cam screamed when her
grandmother was thrown against the wall and didn’t move.

Caro
retrieved another item from her apron pocket and faced Pauline grimly. Cam
glanced down at her own fingers frantically and was relieved to see that the
strand of Pauline’s hair was still wrapped around her finger. But to give it to
Caro Cam would have to walk directly in front of Pauline.

“Damn,”
Cam muttered, but she hadn’t counted on Brent. He had somehow managed to get to
his rifle in the chaos, and now he leveled it directly at Pauline, his face as
serious as a heart attack. “Hands in the air.”

“Telling
your auntie what to do? It’s true what they say— young people
don’t
have
any respect these days.” Cam was torn as Pauline slowly raised her hands in the
air. She glanced hesitantly between Brent, who was directly in front of
Pauline, and Caro, who was watching with another charm at the ready. Biting her
lip and hoping that Pauline didn’t curse Brent in the next minute, Cam darted
to Caro’s side.

“Quick!”
She said and held out the finger with the hair wrapped around it. She caught
sight of her grandmother, still lying by the wall, and panic laced her tone.
“Quickly!”

“What
am I looking at, child?” Caro squinted at Cam’s finger. “My eyes are old.”

Cam
unwound the hair from around her finger. “Get a poppet, quickly!”

Caro’s
eyes gleamed. “Oh, very good!”

“Let’s
hope it’s not too late,” Cam said, her gaze bouncing back and forth between her
unmoving grandmother and Brent.

“Leave
it to me,” Caro had a poppet in her hand one instant, and the next she was
taking the hair from Cam.

“You
don’t want to do this,” Pauline was saying amiably to Brent. “Not over a cheap
little chit like that Johnson girl.”

“Don’t
move,” Brent said, looking as though he was dying to shoot her then and there.

Pauline’s
expression changed in a second, becoming menacing. “No, I mean, you
don’t
want to do this.” She waved her arm, and Brent’s gun went flying. “Hello!” She
called to Caro, “what have you got there?” She raised her arm as if to curse
the woman, but Cam grabbed the same footstool her grandmother had tripped over
and flung it at the woman. It hit Pauline dead-on, knocking her arm aside
before she could harm Caro or keep her from charming the poppet.

“Almost
ready?” Cam called to Caro anxiously.

“Almost.
Pin… pin… I need a pin.” Caro rummaged around in her apron. “How could I have
forgotten a damn pin?”

“So
its poppets is it?” Pauline asked, standing up and lurching towards them. “How
very conventional of you. I was expecting something a little more creative.
What
a disappointment—” She broke off with a gasp as Brent clocked her with
candlestick. She dropped to her knees, and Brent leaned over her with a pained
expression on his face.

“I’ve
never actually hit a woman before,” he told Cam, wrinkling his nose.

“And
you never will again!” Pauline screamed, waving her hand wildly. Cam clutched
her head in terror, but Brent managed to dodge whatever curse Pauline had aimed
at him. Cam sighed in relief, and then gasped as she realized
what
she
was clutching. Something sharp and metal was poking into her index finger.

I’m
wearing a hairpin
. Cam fumbled with her chignon
frantically as Pauline rounded on them, fingers crooked with violent intent.
“This has been exciting,” Pauline admitted with a deranged gleam in her eye as
she approached them.

“Well,
if you thought that was exciting, then you’ll love this part.” The voice was
Grandma’s and it was thick and powerful with conjure. Pauline was tossed
backwards every bit as forcefully as she had thrown Grandma.

With
shaking fingers, Cam finally extricated the hairpin from her curls and thrust
it at Caro, practically stabbing the woman in her haste. “Would you like the
honor?” Caro asked, holding up the poppet.

“Just
do it already!” Cam said, half-mad with fear. Pauline was already pulling
herself upright and snarling at them. The old woman’s eyes widened at the sight
of the poppet in Caro’s hands, and she slumped backwards, her eyes rolling back
in her head.

Did
she faint?
Cam frowned, and then decided that she didn’t care
as Caro plunged the pin deep in the belly of the doll.

Pauline
didn’t make a sound, didn’t even shiver, as she was stabbed by an invisible
blade. Caro pushed the pin in once more for good measure. “Stop!” Cam shouted,
bile rising in her throat. Pauline’s eyes were open and vacant.

“She’s
dead,” Brent said quietly. He stared down at the body of the woman who had
pretended to be his aunt, and Cam could quite read his expression. Then he
turned back to Cam. “Are you alright?” He asked with concern.

“I’m
fine,” Cam said. “Grandma?” She turned to face her grandmother, who was slowly
pulling herself to her feet.

“Still
breathing.” The old woman was clutching her elbow with a pained expression, but
otherwise she looked well.

“Here’s
your hairpin,” Caro offered.

Cam
nearly gagged. “No thank you.” She said finally. Caro shrugged and set it down
on the arm of Brent’s sofa.

“What
is that?” Brent asked, gesturing to the poppet.

“It’s
a poppet,” Cam said. “A sort of a doll that’s used for channeling conjure meant
for a certain person.”

“I
see.” Brent glanced over his shoulder at the wounds in Pauline’s abdomen. “Is
that how Kat—”

“Yes.”
Cam said quickly.

“I’d
better think of some way to explain this,” Brent said, referring to the dead
body on his drawing room floor. Caro and Grandma drew nearer, obviously alarmed
at the thought of being exposed by Brent. “You don’t need to worry,” Brent told
them quickly. “I have no intention of telling anyone anything about this.”

“Good,”
Caro said, in a tone of voice that suggested he had made the only smart choice.
She and Grandma watched him carry Pauline’s body back to her room. When he was
out of sight, they nodded at each other.

“I
don’t think he’ll say anything.” Grandma said.

“After
what he just watched us do?” Caro snorted. “Unlikely. Anyway, he is crazy about
Cam. Did you see the look on his face when Pauline had that cord around her
neck?”

“So
Pauline was Kat’s mentor?” Cam asked, eager to steer the conversation away from
Brent.

“I
believe so. Like she said, she only visited once, and we only saw her once or
twice. But when you meet a rootworker that powerful, you don’t forget her.”
Grandma frowned. “I don’t understand her timing though. What made her come back
now?”

“I
don’t know. I’m just glad we got here in time to stop her from doing whatever
she had planned for the black moon,” Caro said. “She wasn’t at full strength
yet. We were very fortunate.”

“Clearly,”
Grandma said, wincing as she rubbed her elbow, “your idea of fortunate differs
substantially from mine.”

“It
could have been a lot worse.”

“Do
you think Cam and I could have a minute alone?” Brent asked. He had returned downstairs
and was standing on the bottom step.

Grandma
eyed him suspiciously, and then sighed. “Why not? Our work here is done, and I
need to get this elbow bandaged. Let’s go.”

“And
leave her here without a chaperone? Elizabeth wouldn’t like it,” Caro pointed
out.

“Well,
that settles it,” Grandma said with her usual contrariness where Aunt Beth was
concerned. “I’ll see you at home, Cam.”

“Goodbye,”
Cam said. She was fixing her skirts and smoothing the crumpled satin when she
felt something tumble out of her pocket.

“What
is that?” Grandma stared at the doll on the floor, her eyes widening as she
recognized it. “Cam, why do you have Brent’s poppet?”

For
a woman who was usually exceptionally good at keeping secrets, Grandma really
had put her foot in it this time, Cam thought as Brent whirled around to stare
at the doll where it had fallen on the floor.

“My
poppet?” He asked, a slightly dangerous expression appearing on his face. “
Mine
?”

“It’s
not what you think,” Cam said the minute that Caro and Grandma had left them
alone.

“How
can you say that?” Brent asked her. “I don’t even know what I think. How could
you know what I’m thinking?”

“They
can be used for good things,” Cam said. “For strength and health…”

“I’m
already strong and healthy.” Brent waved her words away and stepped closer,
staring down at her with his arms crossed. It felt like he was staring into her
soul. “What was it for, Cam?”

Lord,
she didn’t have the heart to tell him another lie… assuming that she could even
think of one. “It was a precaution,” she said finally, quietly.

“A
precaution in case of what?” Brent said, with more fury in each syllable than
Cam had ever heard from him before. “In case I tried to hurt you? In case I
tried to kill you? Do you know me at all, Cam?”

“I
didn’t think you would.” Cam protested.

“You
didn’t
think
?” Brent was close to shouting. “Don’t you
know
? What
about now, Cam, hm? Am I a danger to anyone now?”

Cam
took a quick step backwards and braced herself against the back of the sofa.
“Brent…”

“What?”
he all but snarled. “What? I’ve trusted you for a long time, Cam. When are you
going to return the favor?”

“You
don’t understand,” Cam yelled finally, losing her temper. “It’s not a matter of
who
I
trust! I wasn’t the one whose life was at stake. The choice wasn’t
mine. Do you really think if the choice had been mine I would have made that horrible
little thing? Do you think I liked doing that? But it didn’t matter. It was my
family’s secret, not mine. People can be fooled, Brent,” Cam said, her tone
changing, becoming almost bitter. “Hell, that’s
how
people are fooled.
People can only trick you if you trust them.”

“Trick
you?” Brent said. “Is that what you think I’ve been trying to do?”

“No!”
Cam said emphatically, “but that doesn’t matter. Just because you trust someone
doesn’t mean you should. Just because you love someone doesn’t mean they won’t
hurt you or leave you.”

“
Do
you love me?” Brent asked suddenly, explosively.

For
a moment Cam could just stare at him, and she knew that the answer had to be in
her eyes, but then her old instinct to protect herself reared its head. “Not at
the moment,” she snapped.

“Well,
that’s a shame,” he snapped back, “because I still love you.”

Cam
and Brent were still glaring at each other when the drawing room door creaked
open. They both startled and Brent stepped protectively in front of Cam, but
when he saw who it was his jaw dropped. “Hattie!” He said with relief. “You’re
out of bed! My God, I with John were here to see this. Did we wake you?” A wide
smile lit his face. “How do you feel?”

Hattie
didn’t respond. She stood in the drawing room doorway, dressed only her
nightgown and swaying on her bare feet. She was morbidly pale, even blue around
her lips, and her tangled brown hair hung in her face, fluttering slightly with
each breath. Her jaw was clenched and she was baring her teeth as if in pain.