by Amy Boyles
Dash shoved the nose of the pistol into my back. “Sorry, but it looks like I already have.”
He led us to Rots. So Reese and I were screwed. Completely. But I still hoped Mama and Rose would see us without getting caught and tell Thorne what was going on.
My stomach knotted in fear. Yes, my mother and Rose could do it. They could save us and stop Rots and Dash’s evil plan.
“Charming!”
We’d reached the clearing where Rots had hidden the machine. My hopes turned to ashes when Rose shouted my name again.
“Charming!”
Rots had Mama and Rose at attention. He’d pulled the crystal from the large machine and strapped a smaller machine to his chest so that apparently he could be mobile in his evil machinations.
Yay, us.
“Well, what a happy reunion this is,” Mama said snidely.
Rose adjusted Pig in her arms. “If we’d known you’d meet us here, Charming, we could’ve all just told each other to head here after we first arrived.”
I nearly slapped my head in frustration. “Mama, Rose. Reese and I ran into Dash. I believe Reese recognized him from somewhere—like the train, for example.”
Mama’s gaze swept from Dash to Reese. “Stop right there,” Dash commanded. “That’s far enough. Go stand beside the others.”
Rose and Mama got a good look at the pistol then.
“The two of y’all are lucky I don’t have my power right now,” Mama said. “Otherwise you’d be wishing you weren’t holding that gun.”
Dash scratched his knuckles over the dark stubble sprinkled on his cheeks. “Is that so?”
She nodded curtly.
Rose, exasperated, stared at both men. “Would someone like to tell us what’s going on here?”
Dash and Rots exchanged a glance. “Don’t tell them anything,” Rots said.
I rolled my eyes. “Please. I already heard you monologuing about how you’re going all super villain and plan to rule the world.”
Dash glared at Rots. “You told them about our plans? This is top secret.”
Rots gestured toward me. “I didn’t tell her. She must’ve been hiding somewhere. These women have been bothering me for days. They broke into my house. I couldn’t prove it, and that vampire chief of police wouldn’t listen to me when I told him.”
Rots pointed at me. “He’s been sniffing around that one’s tail over there. So I’m not surprised.”
I bristled. “What are you talking about? Thorne is not sniffing around my tail.”
“Well actually, Charming,” Rose said. “He sort of was. I mean, if you count giving flowers sniffing, then he’s been sniffing around all our tails, but you got to have dinner with him.”
“Quiet!” Dash scowled. “It’s bad enough the four of y’all are here, witnessing what we’re doing. At the most, I thought I’d only have to get rid of one of you.”
I scoffed. “Which one of us was that?”
Dash cocked his head, and Rots scurried into the bushes and dragged out Kimberly.
I gasped. This had gone from bad to worse. It was one thing that Reese was involved. She had been willing. But Kimberly? I felt guilty about her being there as I stared at the fear shining in her eyes.
If only I’d made sure to touch Dash sooner, I would’ve known everything.
“I’m so sorry, Kimberly,” I said.
Dash grabbed her by the arm and threw her into our cluster. “It won’t matter because soon the five of y’all will be dead, your magic taken.”
“Wait a minute,” I protested. “Are you saying the machine is going to kill us? Because my mother touched it and all it did was take her power; it didn’t kill her.”
Dash glared at me. “No. First we’re going to suck the power away; then I’m going to shoot you.” An evil smirk lit his face. “Feel better knowing the order of events?”
“I do,” Rose said. “If I’m going to die, I always think it’s better to know exactly how it’s going to happen.”
Had to stall the men. Had to figure out a way to get us out of here without Rots using that stupid machine. Would my power work on it?
Dash took center stage as I thought through a plan. “If Reese hadn’t recognized me from the train, I might’ve let the two of you go. But I saw that expression on her face.” He pointed the gun on her. “You remember me, don’t you?”
Her lower lip trembled. “Corley told me she was running from you. We saw you in the dining car. She was afraid of you.”
He clutched his heart. “Corley Duvall, the one true love of my life. Sorry, Kimberly,” he said to her, “you’re cute and all, but you don’t compare to Corley. We met and fell in love. At first I was only pretending. I needed her to get into the Duvall’s vault and get the crystal so that Rots here”—he clasped the other man on the shoulder—“could create the device that’s going to make us rich beyond belief.”
Dash tsked. “Of course, once I got the crystal and Corley discovered what I’d done, I had to stop her from telling anyone. Rots and I tracked her here. I tried to get to her on the train, but I couldn’t. She was staying around you too much,” he directed to Reese.
“Really a shame. Just think,” Dash mused, “if I’d been able to kill Corley on the train like I planned, none of y’all would’ve been involved. We wouldn’t be standing here like we are now, and y’all wouldn’t be about to die.”
“I still would be,” Kimberly sniffed. “You lied to me, Dash.”
He shrugged as if leading a woman on and making her think he cared about her was no big deal. “Sorry, but that’s the way the dice rolls sometimes. I wish it wasn’t so, but that’s the way it is. And then of course I didn’t kill Corley on the train. Instead she thought that by pretending to be someone else she’d be safe. That she could just slip away into the great unknown with that stupid surfer guy.”
He scoffed. “That didn’t exactly work out for her, did it? I still got her in the end with the poison.”
Dash clapped the butt of his gun and sighed with pleasure. “But my friend Rots here has developed a device that will steal magic and put it into this suit. Anyone can use the suit, though we plan on selling it to other wizards or witches.”
Here was my chance. I cocked a suspicious brow. “Really? That’s not what I heard. Rots said he planned on using the device himself.”
Dash’s gaze snapped on mine, sharp and hard. “You’re lying.”
Reese latched on. “No, she’s not. The two of us stood in those bushes and heard him say he was going to steal the suit for himself and become the world’s most powerful wizard.”
Dash’s cheek twitched. He pinned his focus on Rots. “Is that true?”
Rots shook his head, cowering. “Of course not. Why would I go against our plan? I’m only the person who created the technology, of course. Only the person who understands how the suit works. But why would I go behind your back when we can make billions? Plus, I can always make a new suit.”
Dash glared at him with suspicion. “You’ve mentioned something like this before.”
As Rots argued, Mama jerked her head, getting my attention. She nodded toward the device as if to say that all I had to do was shoot it from Rots and we’d be safe.
But I figured I could do better than that. Perhaps I could destroy it and, by destroying it, give Mama back her power and save Witch’s Forge.
A crystal was an earth stone. The counter to earth was air. If I focused all my air magic on that gem, I might be able to shatter it.
I took a deep breath and called on the power of wind. I stared hard at the crystal, putting every cell of my attention on it.
I could feel it vibrating, could hear it even.
The crystal buzzed at a high, nearly ear-splitting octave.
Rots broke away from his conversation with Dash. He stared down at the stone on his chest. “What’s going on?”
“Don’t try to backtrack now,” Dash demanded.
Rots grasped at the cage surrounding
the crystal. “I’m not. Something’s happening.” His face twisted in fury. “It’s one of them!” He focused his glare on us. “They’re trying to destroy it!”
Sweat poured down my face.
Dash aimed the pistol on us. “They’re not going to get far.”
This was it. The one moment I had before Dash started shooting. I flared out my arms.
Dash directed the gun on me.
A surge of power flew from my hands.
I heard the hammer pull back.
The crystal shattered into a thousand pieces.
The bullet exploded from the gun.
Bullets travel fast, y’all. So quick you can’t see them. But something happened in that moment. It may have been because of the amount of air magic I used. I wasn’t sure.
But the one thing I was certain of was that I could see the bullet heading straight toward me.
It would hit my chest. I would die.
In another breath, the bullet was careening to the side, away from me.
My jaw dropped and I looked around to see my mother give me a satisfied grin. “It’s good to have my powers back.” She pointed a finger at two Venus flytraps behind Rots and Dash.
“Wrap those two up,” she said.
Quick as mercury, the plants coiled around the wizards, wrapping them in a tight embrace.
“It’s good to have a little earth magic,” Mama cooed.
I agreed.
Just then a siren split the night. “Thorne,” I exclaimed. “He must’ve tracked where I called him from.”
Mama’s eyes flared. “We broke into the gardens. We can’t be found here.” She cringed. “Charming, why did you call him?”
“I was going to tell him I’d received a tip about the machine. We have to get out of here.”
Kimberly picked up the gun Dash had dropped and sauntered over. “Y’all go on. I’ll watch these two. I’ll tell the officers everything when they arrive, but be sure to leave y’all out of it.”
It was perfect. The four of us could disappear and Kimberly, who’d been taken hostage by Dash, could explain everything and conveniently omit me and my family from her story.
I shot Mama and Rose a look. “What do y’all think?”
“Well,” Rose said, “Pig didn’t poop anywhere, so it might work.”
Mama nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”
“We can’t forget Broom.” I gave Kimberly a squeeze. “Are you sure you can do this?”
She shot Dash a dirty look. “Oh, I’ll be glad to watch them. For as bad as that sucker stole my heart, I won’t hesitate to shoot at the first sign that he thinks he’s going to escape.”
“But baby,” Dash pleaded. “It was all a joke. I care about you. All that I said about Corley was a lie.”
Kimberly cocked the gun. “Sure it was.”
“Charming,” Mama said impatiently. “We’ve got to leave.”
I gave the scene one final look and, satisfied that the men were safely stowed until the vampires showed up, which would be any second now, I left.
“I’m pretty sure that Thorne knows my scent,” Rose said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he arrives because he smelled me out.”
The four of us sat in the kitchen, hunching over cups of coffee.
She was right. Thorne would smell us out. I cringed. I only prayed I wasn’t in too much trouble for breaking and entering.
The doorbell rang. Reese, Rose and I froze.
Mama rose proudly. “I’ll get it.”
My nerve endings were frayed. I stared at the brown coffee, my stomach knotted into a pretzel.
I heard the door open. A moment later Mama announced, “Reese, it’s for you.”
We all shot each other confused looks. Reese slowly stood. “Coming.” She glanced at me. “Who do you think it is?”
I shrugged. “No clue.”
But as soon as she exited the kitchen and reached the door, Reese said, “Jamison!”
The door shut as the two of them stepped outside, into the beautiful late summer night.
Reese had been gone no less than maybe a minute when the doorbell rang again. My shoulders tightened. Thorne had arrived, ready to rip us a new one.
I rose this time. “I’ll get it.”
Mama’s face filled with concern. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “I am. It’ll be fine. What’s the worst that could happen? We wind up in jail?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
I grimaced. “Well, I guess I’ll take that chance.”
I took a deep breath and headed out of the kitchen. When I opened the door, Thorne stood on the other side, as I’d expected.
He wore jeans and a button-down polo. I was surprised he wasn’t wearing more of a work outfit, but who was I to judge?
“Can I talk to you a moment?”
I didn’t even get a hello. It was all straight to business.
“Should I grab my purse?” I figured I was going to jail. Did I get to bring a toiletry bag?
He shook his head. “We’re not going far.”
I considered my options and figured it looked better for me if I went with him willingly. I closed the door and glanced around, noting Jamison and Reese sat on a nearby bench.
“It’s a nice evening for a stroll, don’t you think?” Thorne said.
I shot him a what’ch-you-talking-about-Willis look but followed him down the steps and onto the sidewalk.
We walked quietly for a moment, and I couldn’t take it anymore. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Why hadn’t he admitted he knew we were at the botanical gardens? Why was Thorne, the vampire extraordinaire, being so gosh-darned quiet?
The silence was killing me.
“You know,” he started. This was it. The moment he told me I was going to the pokey. I fisted my hands and steeled my spine. I was ready.
I’d done it all for the right reasons, and I wasn’t ashamed.
“You know, the other night when I said that you weren’t ready to be kissed?”
The words blurted from my mouth. “I had to, Thorne. I had to do it. Witch’s Forge was in danger.”
Apparently I hadn’t listened to what he’d said. Okay, perhaps I was too ready.
He quirked an eyebrow in question.
I waved my hand in dismissal and laughed nervously. “Okay. Never mind.” I inhaled a deep, refreshing gulp of air scented with the sweet smell of honeysuckles.
“I said that because—well, I told you the reasons why.”
My beating heart settled. “And you were right. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, you were absolutely right. I was protecting myself, lashing out and being hateful.”
He pointed to a fountain with a bench. I followed and sat beside him, still uncertain where this entire conversation was going.
Thorne turned toward me, draping his arm over the bench. “What I realized was that I’ve done the same thing.”
I frowned. “How do you mean?”
“I mean,” he said slowly, his gaze landing on the fountain and resting there, “when you asked me about Angelique, it angered me.”
“It was a very personal question.”
He slowly nodded. “There was that, but there was also more to it. You were asking me to reveal a part of myself that I haven’t discussed with anyone, at least not anyone here. Peek is from my old life, that’s how he knew the tale. That event was something I haven’t thought about for a long time.”
“Oh.” What else could I say?
“It made me realize”—his gaze swiveled back and his silvery eyes snagged mine, making my breath hitch—“that I was doing the same thing that I accused you of.”
His gaze mesmerized me. I could barely find the breath to say, “Oh.”
A slow smile curled on his lips. My heart fluttered in my throat, and I wondered if he could hear it, if he could sense the blood rushing through my veins. What did that do to him?
Better not to ask.
“I decided it was only fair to b
e honest with you. Angelique used our relationship to betray my family to a rival vampire clan. What ensued was an onslaught that wiped out many of my family members. When it was discovered that Angelique had been a spy, a treasonous one, I went after her.”
His gaze shifted back to the distance. “I found her. She pleaded with me, denying any involvement, but the evidence didn’t lie. So I brought her back to my family, where she suffered the consequences.”
Thorne’s eyes darkened to the color of gunmetal. “No. I wasn’t the one who killed her. That’s the next question and rightly so, but I didn’t stop justice from being carried out.”
I shivered. The emotion filling his voice made my heart leap to my throat. The sadness infecting the tale constricted my chest. Thorne thought he’d found true love, but instead she’d betrayed him.
It was horrible.
“Your eyes are as violet as an orchid tonight.”
I nearly bolted from my seat. “What? Oh. My eyes. You surprised me.”
His head slowly bobbed. “So that’s what happened with Angelique. She didn’t die by my hand.”
But others had? He didn’t say it, but that was what Thorne implied. The man reeked of soldier. For the first time I knew Thorne was a killer by nature, all vampires were. But this vampire held a moral code. If he killed, it was for a reason.
Thorne may not have always lived that way, but he did now and now was what mattered.
He brushed a hand over his thigh. “That’s what I wanted you to know. I said you weren’t ready, but you aren’t the only one without issues.”
A wobbly smile pushed up on my face. “I’m trying to be nice. Nicer. You were right about me.”
He smiled sadly. “Looks like there’s work to be done for both of us.”
I nodded. “I’ve never been friends with a vampire before.”
“I’ve never been friends with a witch.”
I scoffed. “You live in a town that’s full of them.”
“Doesn’t mean we’re friends.”
I laughed. “Guess that means we’re not.”
Thorne studied me. “You don’t really think that, do you?”
I shrugged. “I guess I don’t know what to think. Everything seems so confused.”
He smiled. “I know what to think.”
“What’s that?”
