Page 56 of A Touch of Brimstone

“What’s going to happen to Books and Brew? There’s no way magic can fix that.”

I’d seen the height of it, but illusions could only go so far. Could magic replicate the scorched books, renew the destroyed display shelves and bookcases? Or the blood, vampire dust, and fog of powerful magic I was convinced lingered in the room?

Dominic had settled into silence as he stood in front of me. It ticked on so long that I didn’t think he’d answer.

“This isn’t the first time we have had to handle something like this. It will look like a random act of property destruction. There will be recompense for loss of income. The store will be back to normal in three or four days.”

“How much of this efficiency will be a result of mind manipulation and compulsion? Making people perform for the magical puppet masters.”

He blinked once, his fiery amber eyes an abyss that was hard to pull from. “Do you have other options? If so, do tell.”

The fact that I didn’t frustrated me even more.

“You wear your thoughts on your face,” he told me.

“Good, then you know how exasperating and overwhelming all of this is.”

He closed the distance between us, putting me face to face with him. The continued silence, taut as a stretched rubber band, remained between us. When it snapped, would I be verbally sparring with the Prince of the Underworld?

The light touch across my cheek was a contrast to the intense, painful-looking scowl that did nothing to diminish his appealing features. It enhanced it—a cruel beauty.

“Does it hurt?” he asked. “The bruise,” he added, answering my confused look. I shook my head; it had just merged with all my other aches and bruises. With the adrenaline gone, I felt them even more.

“Why didn’t you leave with him?”

“As if that was a choice. Remember, I only have the illusion of choice.”

His finger moved from my cheek and was resting against my hand. Warmth slithered around me, his intoxicating smell enveloped me, and I let myself be submerged in the depth of his eyes. Searching for answers that he wouldn’t willingly offer. He was a mass of contradictions. Raw power and violence but capable of gentleness. A fuse just waiting to be ignited but stalwart tolerance with Helena, and even with me.

“I wouldn’t have stopped you,” he admitted.

“Really?”

“It wouldn’t have stopped the plans I have, but if you needed to be with him, I wouldn’t have stopped you.”

“I don’t think I will ever need to be with him.”

He let the surprise show on his face.

“It’s time for him to be out of my life. Today was a lot for me, and it would have been nice to have a little normal. But something was off with him.”

Dominic moved back to the chair, canted his head, and waited for me to continue.

“I’m not sure what it was.” I explained about him being compelled by the vampire and my suspicion that it had been broken by the vampire’s death, and about Jackson’s return to the store.

“You are correct. Just as a spell is broken when the caster dies, the same happens with a compulsion from a vampire.”

“He just seemed odd, and I don’t know why he’d return to the store.”

“Someone made him do it. The Dark Caster was there.”

“The wall,” I concluded. “It was the Dark Caster who erected it, which was why you couldn’t break it.”

He confirmed. “Your boyfriend—”

“Ex.”

“Your ex, could he be the Dark Caster?”

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