Page 129 of Magic of the Damned

“Mother,” he snapped.

“Dominicus, you visit me with the stench of humans and supernaturals on you, and you brought this creature of the unknown.” She turned again and continued her walk toward her destination.

I’m a creature of the unknown. This place is the freaking Island of Doctor Moreau and I’m suspect?

Humility. It was a look I wasn’t used to seeing on Dominic. He wore it with an aversion and unfamiliarity.

“I had no other place to go,” he admitted. His admission stopped her in her tracks.

“What has Areleus done?” she ground out, drawing her lips back in a scowl. The avian creature was showing distress at her display of anger.

Dominic nudged his chin forward, urging her to continue. We navigated along one of the trails to a house that made Dominic’s home diminutive in comparison.

A massive and stately white Greek revival home entrance had equally impressive columns greeting us. Beautiful flowering vines wound up the sides of the home. It was an enchanting view until I noticed the vines were in constant sinuous movement and were pulling away from the house and reaching for me. Dominic eased me closer to him.

“Mother.”

With a wave of her hand, the vines settled back against the home in the illusion of decoration.

Opening the elaborately decorated iron doors and standing on each side of the entry as sentries was a menagerie of more peculiar creatures.

“Stand down, it’s just Dominicus.”

“Dominic,” he corrected.

She tossed a look in his direction that profoundly rejected his suggestion. The sound of her shoes clicking over the marble floors echoed in the minimally decorated space. No art or a lot of home décor. Walls decorated by ornate wainscoting that I stared at too long, expecting them to do something disturbing.

As she continued to escort us through the house with its distinctive columns and archways, I got glimpses of the peculiar person who occupied it. The evergreen walls looked as if they were made of crushed velvet. What could have easily looked gauche held a level of refinement that embodied his mother. She guided us to a sitting area of four chairs. Dominic sat directly in front of her. I sat next to him, closest to the room’s exit.

“Why are you here with your creature?”

I think I preferred the description ‘toy’ or ‘human’ that Areleus and Helena used.

“It’s Luna,” I provided.

She cut her eyes at me and said my name slowly, tasting all the letters and exhibiting the talent her children possessed to make it sound like a curse or defilement.

Moments ticked by as I remained under her cool unyielding assessment.

“I’m Ileana,” she eventually provided with a reluctance I didn’t understand.

Dominic spilled everything to her, giving freely what he’d held from his father and the others. His mother stayed expressionless throughout the telling. She frowned, seemingly drifting in and out of contemplation.

“He betrayed you for power he already has? It makes no sense.”

“It’s not power he already has. He wants control of the shades. It would give him a small army with far more capabilities than the one he has. I don’t believe he wants the supernaturals to be in the shadows anymore. He wants complete dominance, and the Dark Caster will give him that.”

Her gaze trailed over Dominic with a boastful look of pride. “He fears you. You’ve exhibited something that makes him believe he can’t win against you.”

Dominic gave her an indolent shrug. The bank of fire that had muted flared in his eyes. He didn’t seem to have a problem with their internal battle for power; it was the betrayal that seemed to sting the most. Or was it that he’d never anticipated it? I wondered which betrayal hurt the most, Areleus’s or Helena’s.

“Easy, son.”

Her gentle coaxing words didn’t stop his spiral into barely contained anger. Fire pulsed in his eyes, claws embedded in the arms of his chair, and his strong magical energy swirled.

His mother watched him with slight amusement and concern. “I’ve always admired and despised Areleus for his power-thirst,” she admitted.

“He has no restraint,” Dominic said. “The shades are loose, he’s aligned himself with the Dark Caster, and he’s destroying allies. This will not get him the results he wants.”

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