“I’m sure he was the man in robes.”
“He was?” Tinniel frowned, his eyebrows pulling low as he looked down at me. “They were partners. Not only that, he doesn’t look the type to wear robes.”
Shrugging when I rolled my eyes, Tinniel linked his fingers in mine, squeezing gently. Heat slunk up my arm, spreading as I chewed the inside of my cheek. The intimacy was totally uncharacteristic. Had the idea of his brother being alive ignited something within him, clearing away the misery?
“To be fair, the memories are hazy, so I might be wrong. Not only that, I think he had a beard.”
“True wizard style,” Tinniel said, greeting Naz when he strode up. “Brother.”
Nodding, Naz gave him a tight smile before he glanced at me. I didn’t want to blurt that I’d made contact with my mother, even though the bastards had believed that I was too weak.
“You what?” Naz barked, his eyes widening as Klarita called us over.
Putting his arm up to stop Naz from grabbing me in his excitement, Tinniel glared hard. An internal dialogue and staring competition ensued, where they clearly had a whole conversation without uttering a word.
“Henrick?” Naz whispered, glancing at me.
“What’s that about Henrick?” Synthia popped up beside us, making me jump as she seemingly appeared from out of nowhere.
We were so wrapped up in our silent conversation, we had missed the healer-woman’s approach. Shit, now all expectations would be on me. If Synthia knew that my mother had mentioned the third sorcerer’s name, she would freak out. When we had told her about the wolf-man’s claim, she had denied it, completely refusing to believe the villain – her words, not mine.
“Nothing,” Tinniel said, glowering in Naz’s direction. “Let’s get to the meeting before Klarita breaks an arm waving us over.”
Taking that as my cue, I stepped into gear, almost propelling myself over to the woman who was currently standing in as the leader of the Federation. I still hadn’t had a chance to sit down and talk to her properly. She had left me in the care of the twins, assuring me that she trusted them to train me well. Part of me wondered if she was avoiding me, although there wouldn’t be any reason to. Would there?
“Thank you.” Klarita huffed as we settled into our seats. “We don’t have time to stand around all day.”
Tinniel was next to me, his gaze boring into the glass floor, staring at the table below. It was pristine, I had to give it to the cleaners. However, there was nothing that riveting about the glass. Where had his mind gone?
“As you all know, last week, Jimmy claimed to have Mariah and Henrick,” Klarita started, her words instantly drawing the attention of every bounty hunter in the room. “Since then, Jimmy has gone quiet. Until now.”
My chest squeezed as I sucked in a breath and wiped my sweaty palms on my black leggings. Whatever Klarita was about to divulge hadn’t come from me. I’d tried, numerous times, to connect to Jimmy. The spell that the witch had cast on him had held strong, keeping me out.
“Our surveillance team has caught him entering the medieval banquet hall at St Katherine’s docks. However, he never came back out.” Flicking her eyebrows, Klarita pursed her lips. “Like before, you already have your bounties, but I’ve promised to keep you updated in the search for Mariah. I want Tinniel, Naz and Lyla to work on the Jimmy case with Synthia and Zac as backup.” Looking at us, she blinked slowly. “I want you to forget your other bounties, it’s time to get the bastard. You’re our best, you must find him.”
A tiny part of me glowed at being included in her best hunters. Okay, she was probably being kind considering I hadn’t been able to track a fly, let alone anything else. Still, I would allow myself to gloat for a second.
Naz coughed, his eyes rolling when I glanced at him. What could I say? A girl needed a tiny confidence boost after failing so badly.
“Go to the surveillance room, check out the video and then get down there.” Klarita clicked her fingers, officially ending the short meeting.
My gut instinct told me that she was hiding something from me, although maybe she knew that I was hiding something from her. Not that I’d meant to. I wanted to tell her what had happened when I’d tried to track my mother.
A hand wrapped around my wrist, gripping my skin in a gently squeeze. I looked down at it, frowning when Naz’s watch twinkled up at me.
“Don’t…” He let go, his sentence trailing off when Klarita approached us, Leon sauntering up next to her.
Leon’s gaze had so far avoided mine, but when he looked up, his eyes landed on me. Instead of looking away, he lingered a moment, his gaze daring me to break eye contact first.
The pressure of Naz’s touch was emblazoned on my skin, a clear warning to keep quiet. Goosebumps broke out on my arms as Leon glanced away, focusing on my new boss. Who was he? And why did he feel so familiar?
The others had insisted that he couldn’t be the man in my fuzzy memory, and yet, those dark blue eyes were known to me.
His greying hair was slicked back off his face, his freckled cheeks covered in grey stubble. The suit that hung from his frame was finely cut, nipped in at all the right places.
“Now,” Klarita started, her gaze on me, “I’d like to introduce you to Leon, your mother’s old partner. He trained with her from the age of sixteen. He’s obviously very concerned about her.”
“He is?” I said, tilting my head to the side to look at him. “Why is he no longer bounty hunting then?”
My new boss was well trained. The only sign she showed that I’d been harsher than normal was a slight narrowing of the eyes.
“Oh, I retired. I was too old to keep up with these young ones. I implored your mother to take a step back, fearing that she would overdo it.” Shaking his head with mock sadness, Leon shrugged his shoulders. “She refused to listen to me and look what happened.”
“What did happen?” I asked him, keeping my gaze off the twins as they stiffened beside me.
What? I couldn’t help the icy chill that raced over me every time he looked in my direction. He was careful not to make complete eye contact with me, looking just above my shoulder. What was he hiding?
“We lost her when she went undercover.” Leon’s expression was deadpan, completely emotionless.
If they had been partners, wouldn’t he be feeling something? Even the agents who had hardly spoken to me were anxious to know how the case was progressing.
“We better get on.” Naz nodded his head to the side, gesturing for me to leave them.
Squaring my shoulders, I glared at Leon for a moment longer before turning and leaving with Tinniel, who had stayed silent. I had to suppress a shudder as we left the main dance area and made our way to the training room.
Once inside, I released a breath.
Tinniel raised his eyebrows as he glanced at me before striding across the room and leading me through a metal door at the back. I hadn’t noticed it before, always too engrossed in the clinical desks. If my mother returned as the leader of the Federation, I would insist they redo the décor. It was far too uninspiring.
A twang of regret tugged on my stomach, making me grimace as I stepped into a small cubby room and stared at a bunch of floating pictures. Wow, that was cool.
“This is our surveillance room,” Tinniel said, pointing at a chair.
Staring at the screens, I sat slowly, my butt not quite hitting the seat right. “Crap!” I exclaimed, only just keeping my balance as I reached out and grabbed the nearest thing to me.
“Ouch!” Tinniel yelped as he hopped back, clutching the crotch of his jeans.
Oops. “Oh, my goodness, I’m so sorry.”
I was off my chair, advancing towards him as my cheeks burnt so hard, they would probably blister. Yes, I had groped his man parts, and not in a good way.
It might have been a fantasy to be intimate with the man who had brought out a witchy charge in me, but not quite in that way.
Holding up his hands,
Tinniel placed them on my forearms, preventing me from advancing any further. A shock of magical energy pulsed through me as his fingers brushed my skin. Shit, I would have a heart attack if we didn’t sort the bloody charge out.
“Does it ever go away?” I snapped, backing out of his grip.
A rush of anger singed the hairs on my arms, the smell rising up to shock me out of my sudden aggression.
Licking his lips, Tinniel stepped closer and shook his head. “Not until we do something about it.”
The anger fizzled away as desire made me ache in places desperate to be touched. If I didn’t have enough to deal with, I had to suffer – okay, it wasn’t that hard to endure, but still – longing for someone who was in the middle of a mid-life crisis. Bit harsh, kinda true.
“Do you want to do something about it? When all this is over, I mean?”
It was best to keep it platonic until we’d found Henrick and my mother. There was too much riding on my ability to track them both. I had to focus on my new job, even if I still had no idea what I was doing most of the time.
Sucking on his bottom lip, Tinniel narrowed his gaze on me. “I want to do something about it every single fucking day. The charge drives supernatural beings towards one another, making it impossible to ignore it. When Jimmy beat me…”
I swallowed hard, unable to look away from him. “Yes,” I breathed.
“All I thought about was you, even though we hardly know each other.”
“It’s as if we’re mated,” I said, biting my top lip. “Like in Twilight.”
Frowning, Tinniel shook his head as the corner of his lip rose. “As cheesy as it was, it did teach the world about how mating works. Not that humans know half of what goes on in our world.”
Tinniel glanced at the floating screens. They reminded me of the movie Avatar. I hadn’t believed that sort of technology existed, but right in front of my very eyes, London city went about its day.
Each screen was a moving video, hovering above a rounded desk in the middle of a room. One video would rise up, growing bigger than the others. After a moment, it would drop back down, being replaced by another.
“I’m glad I somehow helped you get through your pain. You know, when Jimmy hurt you,” I said, my heart thumping as I brought my gaze back to him. “I’ve been wanting to talk about our charge since we rescued you.”
Nodding, he scratched his stubble before turning his head to look at the video that popped in the air. “I promise, once we’ve found your mother, and Henrick, if he is still alive, we’ll talk more.”
We would be doing a lot more than talking if I had a choice. As if I was going to just talk about something that was constantly on my mind. Fuck that…maybe literally. Hopefully.
Shaking my head, I cleared my throat. “Yes, we need to get this bounty. I could do with being paid, I want to sign up for motorbike lessons.”
My quip fell on deaf ears as Tinniel sat at the desk and tapped several buttons on a panel along the edge of the glass surface. Our conversation was forgotten when a screen shot into the air, replacing the one before it.
Jimmy.
His slicked-back hair reflected the sunlight as he walked across a cobbled walkway and ducked around a corner, checking over his shoulder. He had a rucksack on his back, the bright blue material clashing with his black suit.
“Look,” Tinniel said, pressing buttons again and exhaling loudly when the camera zoomed in. “The amulet.”
Caught on the zip of the bag was the same pendant as the one Naz had found as a calling card when I’d very first come to the club. When I’d seen the midnight blue heart shaped crystal encased in wire angel wings, I’d been drawn to it. I’d never found out what that had been about.
“It’s a twin.” Tinniel sat forward in his seat as the other screens disappeared, and he zoomed in on the frozen image of Jimmy.
“A twin?”
Licking his lips as he stood, he glanced at me. “Yes, they’re protection amulets, spelled to hide the person wearing them. These are incredibly powerful.”
“Why?” My palms were damp, sliding as I leant on the table to get a closer look. A memory popped into my head, making me jolt back and bash my leg on a stool.
“Are you okay?” Tinniel asked, his eyebrows pulled low.
Waving away his concern, I looked at him. “Answer the question.”
“Because your mother made them.”
Shit, I knew that. Although it had been a long time ago, I’d worn one as a girl. When my mum had caught me handing it to my human school friend to make myself more popular, she had taken it off me, proclaiming that it was broken. It wasn’t long after that she gave me the tattoo with my name and date of birth.
“This…” Rolling up the sleeve of my denim jacket, I showed Tinniel the black script that scrolled around my forearm. “…is my new amulet, isn’t it?”
Reaching out, Tinniel traced the black letters, pulling back when his skin made contact. “Yeah, I can feel that’s magic. Although…” He frowned as he glanced back at the screen above. “…it’s not working properly. We were able to find you through hospital records. I suppose most paranormals wouldn’t think to look the human route. They’d use magic to trace you.”
“Why do they want me?” I rubbed my arm before tugging my sleeve down.
Tucking his T-shirt into the waistband of his jeans, Tinniel ran a hand over his hair, quickly tying it in a band. “I told you,” he said, narrowing his eyes on me, “you’re royalty, which means you’re powerful. If another person, be it human or paranormal, could control you, they’d have a weapon that could achieve almost anything. Can you imagine how useful it would be for a criminal to have access to the whereabouts of anyone in the world, including government officials and bank managers?”
Releasing my breath, I shook my head as my chest constricted my lungs. “Ah, yeah. I get it now.”
Crap, if I could potentially harness my magic to achieve that level of awesomeness, I’d be the first to admit that I’d need a bodyguard. Preferably Tinniel, so I could stare at his butt every day.
In the small amount of time that I’d been aware of my magic, I hadn’t believed that I could be as good as my mother. She was clearly well respected.
“Shall we…?” Flicking his fingers, he offered his hand and nodded towards the screen.
A thrill of excitement shot up my arm as I quickly wrapped my fingers around his, not giving him a chance to use his ability without me.
“I can’t believe that I’m about to–”
Tinniel raised his eyebrows and pretended to zip his lips. Calming my racing heart, I shook off the nervous energy that made me want to hop up and down. When I was no longer acting like an excited child, Tinniel reached for the floating screen and plunged his hand into it.
The scene around us changed, turning into a busy street with pedestrians rushing by. Before I had the chance to catch my breath, Tinniel took hold of my elbow and dragged me across the road, holding up his hand to thank the driver of a vehicle that almost crashed into our legs.
How was it possible that Tinniel and I were real in his time travel spell? The events had already played out exactly as they should.
“There,” Tinniel said, pointing down the street. “Jimmy is on his own. He has the backpack on, so I know I’m in the right time.”
“Have you ever made a mistake by going to a different time?” I asked.
Our boots stomped along the pathway as we followed the vampire at a distance. Could events be changed if he was to turn around and spot us? It was fascinating to know that we were watching something that had already happened. Tinniel might believe that my power was incredible, but his ability as a sorcerer was mind-blowing.
“Yes. When I was training, I tried to go back to a murder that had taken place a week before. Fortunately, the witch we’d been hunting, happened to be committing another crime, one I didn’t recognise. However…” Tinniel paused, grabbing me against the wall of a building as Jimmy glance
d over his shoulder.
“Shit,” I muttered, “that was close.”
Leaning forward to glance down the street, Tinniel almost chuckled as he shook his head and gestured for me to follow him. I understood his hilarity. Heat rushed through me, the first sign of adrenaline pumping through my veins.
“I might have got it wrong in my training.” Tinniel glanced down at me as we dodged around a couple, “but my mistake actually gave us an even bigger lead. Don’t doubt yourself, Lyla. No one is perfect at their own magic straightaway.”
A glow emanated from me as I smiled to myself. My moody sorcerer had turned into quite the charmer. Apparently, knowing that there was a chance that his brother was alive, had completely lifted his spirits. I would take it. Gladly.
“Well,” I said, speeding up when Jimmy disappeared from the street. “I did manage to connect with my mother. Neither you, nor Naz, believed that I could. I proved you wrong.”
Eyebrows raising, Tinniel nodded before pointing forwards again. It was time to concentrate on our bounty. Catching my breath, I pushed forward as we started to run.
Rounding the corner where Jimmy had just disappeared, we came to a halt. He was ahead of us, striding beside the Tower of London, towards the docks. The amulet was tied to his bag, rather pretty for a mean vampire. Did that mean it belonged to him? Or had he taken the bag from someone else?
“Watch out for any sign of his men.” Tinniel glanced around us, his gaze seeking our enemies.
I didn’t need to reply as we both pushed on, forcing our way through a crowd of humans who were staring up at the tower.
Although I had loved history as a teenager, my passion for it had dried out when life had got in the way. Seeing the momentous historical building, full of so many painful memories, I couldn’t quite imagine what it would have been like back when King Henry VIII had ordered all those people beheaded.
Once we had caught Jimmy, I would ask Tinniel if he had ever been able to time travel back to ancient times. Now, that would make for incredible magic.
The Witch With An Attitude (Federation of Magic Book 2) Page 3
