by Nadia Heaton
Both sisters giggled. His face burned in embarrassment as Savion grabbed the robes and yanked them forcefully down. It only took a second for his brain to make the leap. A breeze springing up out of nowhere just when Fleur and Lisette were probably ready to be shot of him?
A cold sweat broke out all over his body. These women were magic wielders of some sort. Of course, he should have realized. The crystals, the candles, the incense… There was only one type of magic user he knew who used these things to enhance their powers.
Witches.
His fear quickly turned to anger. Hatred of witches was passed down from generation to generation of vampires, and Savion was no different. Worse, it was witches who had attacked his coven only days ago, who had left Jermaine badly injured. He looked up at Fleur, all thoughts of her beauty gone. Now, all he saw was a witch.
She looked back at him and blanched. It was clear that she could read his anger and the reason for it. She knew that he had figured out her secret. To do that, he’d have to be a supernatural creature himself, though she had no way to know which one. Still, any of their kind was dangerous to underestimate.
Fleur muttered something under her breath and the unnatural wind died down at once. Savion stumbled back, anger being replaced with caution. There were two of them and one of him. He couldn’t fight them. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to fight them. His head was a mess of anger and confusion.
Before he could do something beyond retrieval, Savion wisely found the door and stumbled out.
Walk, he ordered himself. Keep walking.
He didn’t look back, and neither Fleur nor Lisette came after him. He didn’t know whether he was relieved or disappointed. Savion would have to strategize about how best to find Bethany later. For now, he desperately needed some time to think.
His feet took him to the rental car he was using to move between town and Rashid’s chateau. Savion got into the front seat, but didn’t start the car immediately. What did it mean that Bethany’s sisters were witches? Was she a witch too? Surely, she had to be – it wasn’t a recessive gene. But Jermaine would have known, wouldn’t he? Even Jermaine wouldn’t be stupid enough to have relations with a witch.
Savion closed his eyes, reaching out to Bekka. Call Vincenzo and Zan. We’ll need them.
He didn’t keep the connection open long enough for her to reply. Just sending the message was taxing enough. Vampires weren’t witches. Magic wasn’t their primary weapon. They mostly relied on their senses and the abilities of their bodies, which were far superior to those of humans. They had certain magical abilities, but those didn’t come nearly as easily to them as a witch’s ability would, and they were often taxing.
Unfortunately, to send the message, you needed to know where the recipient was, or he would have contacted Jermaine that way by now. Savion trusted Bekka to follow through. Knowing that Bethany’s sisters were witches complicated things. Bethany wouldn’t be nearly as easy to find as he’d hoped.
He’d have to get a search party going. The town wasn’t that big, and her sisters couldn’t hide her forever. There were at least two witch sisters, possibly three, but it wouldn’t end there. Where there was one witch, there was a coven of witches.
Another thought struck him, one that had Savion starting the car’s engine. Rashid knew. That was what all the sly, amused looks were about. The bastard, how dare he! He should have warned Savion about the witches. Letting him walk into that situation wasn’t funny, it could have been disastrous. Host or not, Savion was going to have a very angry conversation with Rashid, right now.
He’d known that Rashid was a bit of a troublemaker, but he hadn’t expected something like this. If he’d been killed because he didn’t have all the information, his coven wouldn’t have rested until Rashid was dead. Was the guy insane, or just suicidal?
Savion drove way too fast all the way to the chateau, and followed the sounds of music and laughter. Wherever there was a party, that was where you’d find Rashid. So far, his reputation had proven to be one hundred percent accurate. Savion parked the car sloppily and stormed toward the source of the sounds.
5
“Rashid! Where are you, you can’t hide from me!”
The doors burst open as Savion barreled in, not bothering to try to save the splintering wood.
“I’m not hiding, you buffoon. Have a drink!” Rashid held up a glass of some bright blue alcohol that Savion wouldn’t touch if someone paid him.
He smashed the drink out of Rashid’s hand, causing Bekka and Eliane, both of whom were stretched out on couches, to squeak with alarm. “How dare you, Rashid! I could have been killed – you’re lucky I wasn’t!”
“Savion! Take a breath.” Bekka quickly got between him and Rashid, though she was swaying slightly.
“Did our host tell you, Bekka, that the very people I’m looking for are WITCHES?”
That did it. Bekka’s rage was instantly retargeted to Rashid, who wisely took a step back. “I was just having a bit of fun. No real harm done.”
“Luck, sheer luck!” Eliane looked even angrier than her sister. “When it gets out that this is how you treat your guests –”
“No one will be surprised. Don’t act all shocked, honey, you all knew what you were getting yourselves in for when you came to stay with me. You think I don’t know I’m a topic of gossip? Now, enough with all this angst. Let’s have some fun!”
Rashid slammed his hand over a large red button labelled ‘fun button’. Immediately, some kind of powder started wafting down from the ceiling. Savion didn’t know what it was, and he didn’t want to find out. He couldn’t search for Bethany if he was too high to remember the way to the front door.
He held his breath and sped out of the room. Bekka followed, but Eliane made the mistake of taking a breath. The moment she breathed in the powder, she fell to the floor, giggling hysterically.
“Leave her.” Savion took Bekka’s arm, pulling her further away from the danger zone. “It won’t hurt her, Rashid is breathing in the same stuff. Besides, all his other flaws aside, I don’t think he’s a murderer.”
“Evil genius psychopath,” Bekka mumbled sourly as Savion led her away. “It’s brilliant, you have to give him that. Either the people annoying him leave the room in a hurry, or they become party animals and join in the ‘fun’. Once Eliane has come down, I’m booking us a hotel room.”
“Don’t do that. We may still need Rashid. There are witches in the area, and we don’t know how well they’ll react to us taking residence in their town, even temporarily. I’d be prepared to bet that they wouldn’t be at all happy about it.”
“True. I still can’t believe he didn’t tell you.”
“Me neither. But we can’t change that now. Did you contact Vince and Zan?”
“I did, they should be here by tonight, though they won’t be happy about having to travel during the day.”
“They’ll understand when I explain it to them. Before they get here, we need to figure out if Bethany is a witch or not. I know it seems likely, since her sisters are, but I can’t imagine Jermaine wouldn’t figure it out after spending an entire night and day with her. He may be love-struck, but he’s not dense.”
Too late, Savion realized he’d said more than he’d intended to.
“Love-struck? I thought it was just a fling.”
“It was.” He frantically tried to backpedal. “You know how it is when you’ve just been with someone – love chemicals and all that. They would have faded long ago.”
Bekka’s eyes were still narrowed in suspicion. “If you say so.”
“We should get some rest,” Savion said quickly, trying to distract her. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept, and it was starting to wear on him. Bekka nodded. “We’ll have a busy night if we’re going to be searching. Especially with witches around. They’re good at covering their tracks.”
Savion fell into bed and was asleep almost immediately. He dreamed of Fleur, of her bright ey
es and amused smile. He wished he hadn’t run out so quickly, even though it had probably been the best call, given what happened.
When he woke, he struggled to keep his mind on Jermaine. He still needed to find his brother, but he was comforted by the consistent feeling that Jermaine at least wasn’t injured anymore. That brought up again the question of what or who had healed him.
Maybe Bethany had convinced her witch sisters to do it. Savion couldn’t see any witch helping out a vampire, favor to a sister or not, but he couldn’t think of another option. He supposed it didn’t matter; he’d just ask Jermaine when they saw each other next.
Savion waited at the dock for Vincenzo and Zan to arrive. He wanted to speak to them before they met up with Bekka and Eliane. There was a favor he needed to ask.
The two vampires sailed up in a yacht slightly smaller than Savion’s. He embraced his two most trusted friends. Their coven assignments may have paired him more with Bekka and Eliane recently, and while he loved them like sisters, no one knew him like Vince and Zan did.
“Thanks for coming.”
“Of course. Anything for Jermaine. What have you sensed?” Zan started walking to the chateau, Vince and Savion on either side of him.
“He doesn’t seem to be injured anymore, and I think he’s close. Of course, I’m not entirely sure I can trust that feeling. It’s all very strange.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find him.” Vince glanced at the chateau and back to Savion. “We’ll just drop our stuff at Rashid’s, then we can start searching immediately.”
“Actually, there’s something else I wanted to ask you.” Savion knew he shouldn’t, that he should focus on finding Jermaine, but he couldn’t get Fleur out of his head. “I want you to do something else.”
“Something else? I thought you needed us to help you find your brother?”
“I do, Zan, but there’s also something I need. Well, I – I only feel comfortable asking you two. You can help with the search for Jermaine once you’ve… found out about the local witch coven.”
Both Zan and Vince stopped walking. Savion knew that look well – it was the look they gave him when wondering if he’d finally lost his grip on sanity.
“I thought the reason you called us here was because of the witch coven.” Vince took a small step closer, as though expecting Savion to collapse of a fever or something.
“Yes, and Bekka assumed it was to work around them, but… I want to know more about them.”
“Why?”
“Don’t give me that look, Vince. I – I met one of them. Her name is Fleur. She’s Bethany’s sister and she…” Savion trailed off, wondering how to explain. “I can’t seem to get her out of my head,” he admitted.
Zan covered his face with his hand, making his voice slightly muffled when he spoke. “Not you too, Sav! Jermaine falling in love with a mortal is bad enough, but you having the hots for a witch? No way. Even you know how insane that is.”
Savion wasn’t surprised Jermaine had confided his feelings to Zan and Vince; they were his closest friends too, aside from Savion. “I just – it’s probably only curiosity. I just want to know a bit more about her, and I’m not sure it’s safe to approach her again.”
“Don’t you dare approach her again,” Vince growled. “We didn’t sign up for a fight with witches.”
Despite his words, Savion knew that his two friends wouldn’t hesitate to throw themselves between him and danger if the situation called for it.
“So you’ll do it?”
Vince rolled his eyes. “If it’ll stop you doing something stupid, sure. Just don’t tell anyone else about this. Bekka and Eliane may be used to your insanity, but I’m not sure even they could deal with this.”
Savion privately agreed. “Thanks, guys. This means a lot.”
“Once we’re done spying on your witch for you, our focus will be on finding Jermaine.”
“Agreed. I’m not giving up on him – both missions will be running concurrently. It’s likely they’ll intersect anyway. Fleur and Bethany probably live together, or at the very least, Fleur will know where Bethany is.”
“We’d better get started, then. Bekka and Eliane can form one search party, we’ll form the other.” Vince started walking again, and Savion and Zan followed.
“If Eliane has come down by now. Rashid may have drugged her a bit.”
Zan and Vince bristled, and Savion quickly went on. “He has his faults, but for now, we need him, so let’s not go picking a fight. Trust me, I tried that earlier today; it won’t end well for you.”
Fortunately, it seemed that Eliane was fine now, other than a slight headache that Rashid assured her would go away with time, or alcohol. She wisely refused the alcohol, much to Rashid’s disappointment.
They split up, Savion and Vince following Zan’s lead. He had the most experience in this kind of investigation. “We should go to the bar. People’s tongues get loose with alcohol, and at this time in the evening things will just be picking up.”
“We should have invited Rashid,” Savion muttered, still slightly annoyed with their host. “He’d have their tongues loose alright.”
Zan just laughed and led them into the bar. The three of them ordered drinks, and soon got into conversation with one of the locals. Zan had been right, tongues were indeed a lot looser than when Savion had been trying to pry information out of people earlier today.
It took about half an hour, but eventually, they were directed to a man sitting at the bar, chatting casually with the bartender.
Savion took the lead this time, with Zan and Vince standing just behind him. “Teo? Teo Abbadelli?”
The man looked up at him. “Yeah. Who’s asking?”
“My name is Savion. I’m a friend of Bethany’s. I believe you are engaged to her sister, Lisette?”
Teo’s face softened into a smile. “I am. Lis is… she’s really something.”
“That she is,” Savion agreed. “She’s like a sister to me,” he added quickly when Teo gave him a suspicious look. “I was really hoping to drop in on Bethany, but my phone was stolen the other day and I’ve lost her address. Any chance you could remind me?”
The suspicion was back. “Why do you want to see Bethany?”
“She’s an old friend, and I’d love to see her while I’m in the area.” Teo still didn’t look convinced, and Savion continued. “Of course, you don’t know me, you’re right to be cautious. Would it work for you if you accompanied me there? Then Bethany could tell you she knows me, and you’ll know everything is ok before you leave me alone at the house.”
Teo nodded slowly. “I can do that. I’ve just about had enough for the night anyway. I can take you once I’ve finished my drink. Who are your friends?”
“These are my cousins, Vince and Zan. You guys said you were going to look into a hotel for the night?”
“That’s right. I’ll text you the address. See you tomorrow, Sav.” Vince clapped him on the back and left, but Zan hesitated, pulling Savion aside. “Maybe you shouldn’t go along, Sav.”
“I don’t want you two in danger from witches.” Savion spoke softly enough that Teo couldn’t pick up his words with human hearing. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you just because I dragged you into this. I mean for you to watch from afar, to not get directly involved.”
“I know, I figured you’d say something like that. I don’t want you going in without backup, though. Why not call Rashid? He may be a prankster at times, but he’s powerful, more than you, or me, or Vince. You could use him on your side.”
It was a good point. Rashid wasn’t exactly on Savion’s good side at the moment, but he couldn’t deny that backup would be useful. “Maybe…”
“If you give your leave, I’ll contact him when we get to the hotel – I think he has a phone in his house – and ask him to meet you here.”
“I – alright, just make it clear that I’m leading this show.”
“I will. Delay Teo until Ra
shid gets here.”
That shouldn’t be difficult. Teo was leaning back in his chair, relaxed as he sipped at his drink. Vince hurried off over Zan, leaving Savion at the bar with Teo.
“Can I buy you another?”
“I thought you were in a hurry?”
“Actually, I was wondering if a friend could join us? His name is Rashid, he’s my host while I’m here.”
“I suppose so.” Teo didn’t look entirely comfortable, so Savion pressed another drink on him. He wondered if Rashid would come. In the short time Savion had gotten to know him, he sensed that Rashid could be unpredictable at the worst of times.
Savion didn’t know whether he was relieved or apprehensive when Rashid turned up. They greeted each other jovially for Teo’s sake. Vince had no doubt briefed Rashid on the situation. After three more drinks, Teo was considerably more relaxed, though not quite drunk yet. Savion waited for him to finish the drink in his hand before standing up.
“Shall we go, then?”
“Sure.” Teo grinned widely. “This way.”
Savion wasn’t sure whether he was more excited to see Fleur or Bethany.
6
Fleur spoke the familiar words as she walked past the herb beds, her candle steady in her hands. Lisette and Tristan were in their places already. The three of them walked their set paths around the garden, doing the spell from memory.
It was a simple ritual to help their herbs and flowers grow. No one outside of the family knew they were witches, and Fleur frequently found herself bombarded with questions about gardening and how she did it so well.
Consequently, she’d had to read a number of gardening books just to keep up the façade. It should technically be Lisette’s job, as the oldest, but Lisette was always more focused on her latest love interest than reading about boring subjects she had no passion for. And Fleur didn’t mind doing it.
