Stripped. Julie Leto

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СКАЧАТЬ even those carved into stone tablets shortly after the dawn of humanity.”

      Regina’s expression softened, but the Council was another story. The twin towers of old-world thought that stood one to each side of her sister swirled with auras white with fear and admonition. Everyone in the witching world feared Lilith, reviled her even—had her whole life—though Lilith could never quite understand why. Sure, she had a habit of losing her temper and hurling epithets with more precision than a major league pitcher. Her psychic prophecies had sometimes caused distress here and there. But in the long run she was just a sassy pain in the ass. Her powers were nothing compared to her sister’s. It’s not as though she could blow anybody up.

      “I need my powers, Reg,” Lilith whispered.

      “You no longer deserve them,” Regina countered, her gaze glittering purple like the stone of rank she wore around her neck.

      “Do you hear how you sound like a complete hypocrite?”

      Regina sucked in a breath. For a split second Lilith felt guilty.

      Then she got over it.

      Four years older, Regina had been barely a teenager when she’d been tapped as Guardian following their mother’s brutal murder at the hands of a warlock. But unlike most witches attacked by the thieving race of witch killers, their mother had transferred her powers to her older daughter before she died. From that moment, Regina possessed a wide range of powers that included being able to shimmer from one place to another and the ability to form and hurl energy bursts that could blast a demon or warlock to kingdom come—an act Regina had executed only seconds after their mother had taken her last breath.

      Baptism by fire, literally. There might not have been as many demons and warlocks in the world as a certain popular television show about witches might lead one to believe, but when one popped up, the burst had come in damn handy. And for this everyone loved Regina.

      All Lilith could do was read minds and predict the future. And even then, sometimes her predictions came too late.

      As it had for her mother.

      She swallowed the lump in her throat and stood firm.

      “What about all the good I do with my powers?” Lilith argued. “My work with the cops?”

      Regina arched a brow. “You abruptly stopped working with the police three months ago.”

      Lilith had the insatiable need to stick her tongue out. “I can’t help it if they don’t call me anymore.”

      A smile twitched Regina’s generous lips—a family trait. St. Lyon women never needed collagen.

      “Can’t you?” she asked knowingly. “And, besides, can you honestly tell us that you have gained nothing personally from your association with the police?”

      Not without lying.

      Lilith had gained plenty—first and foremost, major bedroom action with chief of detectives, Mac Mancusi. But that was over. Had been since he’d figured out that she was a real psychic and not simply an ultra-intuitive woman, as he’d rationalized. Oh, and that she’d been using her powers to manipulate him into falling head over heels in love with her. Yeah, that had pretty much sealed him kicking her ass to the curb.

      “My benefits were short-lived and not without repercussions,” Lilith said, jabbing her hand through her spiky short hair. “I’m on my own again. Just me and all the bad guys I help the cops catch whenever they come to me. I could clean up Chicago once and for all.”

      “And disrupt the balance of good and evil?” Regina asked, her voice hitching higher than her normal sultry tone. “Jeez, Lilith, are there no rules you won’t break?”

      Lilith stamped her foot, crunching down on a large, serrated glass triangle. “The only rules I won’t break are the ones I make for myself.”

      “Like?”

      Lilith scowled. She wasn’t a big rule maker. She definitely ascribed to a live-and-let-live philosophy. “I do no harm, Regina.”

      “What do you call the aftermath experienced by your clients once you’ve bilked them for a peek at their futures?”

      “It’s not bilking if what I tell them is true,” she countered. “If they can’t handle the truth, that’s their problem.”

      The two elders on either side of Regina whispered simultaneously in her sister’s ear.

      Once again, her smart mouth wasn’t helping. Nothing would. No amount of pouting or manipulating was going to get her out of this one. She did a quick probe of their minds. They wanted her powers. The future of order in the witching world depended on Lilith’s punishment. Blah, blah, blah.

      Regina nodded to the elders, then with a swish of her hand, shimmered them out of the room.

      Lilith took a hopeful step forward.

      “What just happened?”

      “I don’t need them to witness what must be done.”

      Betrayal cut a slash through her heart. “Reggie, you can’t.”

      Her sister’s eyes glossed with emotion. “You’ve given me no choice, Lilith. Please take the punishment the Council has chosen. Use this time as a mundane to prove to them you are capable of selfless good, and maybe you can earn your powers back.”

      Instinctively Lilith squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “The Council can kiss my ass.”

      Regina quirked a quick half grin before she placed her hands gently on Lilith—one hand on her forehead and the other on her heart.

      She made short work of the incantation, a spell as old as time itself. Lilith planted her feet solidly on the ground, refusing to yield as her psychic energy was sucked out of her. She loved her sister, but if she’d had the strength at that moment, she would have coldcocked her as soon as the spell was complete.

      Instead she drifted to the floor, unconscious and unaware of how deeply her life had just been irrevocably changed.

      1

      “YOU HAVE TO CALL HER.”

      Mac Mancusi stood, eyes focused on his perp on the other side of the one-way mirror. The jackass was forcing his hand. With teeth grinding until his jaw ached, Mac cursed. There had to be another way to save this case before it was flushed down the crapper, his career along with it.

      “I don’t have to do anything, Fernandez. Last time I checked, I was still the chief of detectives in this department. Or did your sorry ass somehow get promoted by the new mayor when I was wiping his footprints off my back?”

      Through the reflection in the glass, Mac watched Lt. Rick Fernandez run his hand through his thick hair.

      “Boss, I’m just saying… We all know the mayor’s been riding you since the election. His smarmy staff boys have been sniffing around the precinct all week, hunting for some damning shit to leak to the press. If this drug bust doesn’t happen, you can kiss your job goodbye.”

      Mac СКАЧАТЬ