by Shay Cabe
“Did you get my presents?” I put my hand in my jeans pocket and lightly move my fingers in the shape of a casting rune. When the spell leaves me and heads slowly towards him, it’s stopped dead in its tracks by a stronger spell. A much stronger spell. The protections on this guy are off the charts and definitely not from just him. This spell required a lot of power behind it. Spells like that can’t be done by one person and it's a spell fueled by sacrifice. The taint of it makes my magic recoil like it touched something nasty.
Sacrifices aren’t all about killing things. A sacrifice spell is all about the importance of the item offered to whatever bad dude on the other side is offering power. It has to be something or someone precious to you, something irreplaceable. Laughter, happiness the first smile of your newborn child. A person you love the most.
Nasty business, sacrificial magic. My mom hated the stuff and forbade me asking questions about it. After she died, I had a mini-rebellion and read everything I could about it. My dive into the dark was incredibly short lived. The things I read made me sick to my stomach. How could people offer up such precious things for an inkling of power that has an expiration date? Not to mention there is always a catch.
Always. Much like what the humans think demons do. Except that’s not quite how it goes down, most demons couldn't give two shits about humans. Never trust something you have to call to this world with a sacrifice, ever.
I’m not like my mom, but I’m not a sadist either.
I stop walking and turn towards the general area of where the voice is coming from. I don’t look around or try to figure out where he’s hiding in the shadows, instead I look up at the moon peeking through the trees.
“Not really no, my freezer isn’t big enough,” I answer after waiting for the tension to wind more.
“You have a dark sense of humor, I knew you were different,” he says then chuckles. I’m almost positive he’s coming from my left and I’m not the only one who thinks so. I feel one of the guys over there—Barrett I think, the quiet one. He’s close but not close enough. Barrett is the best at sneaking up on anything, including cray-cray bitten witches.
“Who are you?”
“An admirer who knows what you are,” he says, his voice sounding a bit farther away. He knows they're there so I imagine he has a plan to get away from them, I only have these few minutes to remember everything I can about him. If I can lull him enough to relax a little, which isn’t looking likely, he might give something away.
“How can I thank you properly if I don’t know who you are,” I make sure to look to the right, where he’s trying to project his voice. If I only had human hearing I’d be fooled; since he claims to know what I am, he should know he can’t fool me this way.
“You’re like me, stuck in between two worlds. They want me to tell them everything but I won’t tell them this.”
Apparently there’s no keeping him on track, he’s already off in effing left field.
If I ask who ‘them’ is, I don’t think he’ll answer. I try a different tactic.
“Can I have a hint at least? We can call it our little game.”
There’s a pause which I hope is him contemplating answering me. I know he hasn’t left yet, I can still feel him close by; his eyes make my skin feel dirty.
“I like how they pick on you,” his voice is even fainter now, and heading away.
Damnit. I stand there until I know he’s completely gone and then turn in the direction that I feel all four of the Hazards. Oz slinks into the moonlight and I can’t help but admire him in this form. He’s about twice the size of a normal lion—where he gets the mass, no one knows; magic is mysterious. His mane nearly glows blue as he comes towards me in full on stalk mode.
His eyes are so light they look eerie in all the darkness of his fur, and they’re lasered on me.
“If you bitch at me, I’ll shave your head while you sleep, Oz,” I warn, meaning every single word.
“What you did was dangerous, you could’ve told us and let us help,” Hez says coming to stand even with his brother.
“Your help scared him off, Hez.” I know I shouldn’t be upset they followed, I wanted them to, but I hoped they’d have enough sense to figure out what I was doing. I grab onto my anger and push it down, it’s pointless and will simply cause more problems between us.
“You did it on purpose, didn’t you?” Phoenix the most observant out of the four says. I look over at him and smile.
“Maybe,” I answer and start heading home. My stalker is long gone, but he gave me a bigger clue than he realizes. Whether he did it on purpose, I’m not sure but it’s a good one.
He’s watching me at school.
The guys fall into step with me. Oz is now wearing a pair of loose basketball shorts and nothing else, while Barrett is wearing a pair of jeans. Only a pair of jeans. Is it terrible that I checked them all out? I mean, guys their age shouldn’t have abs like that. Shows how inhuman they really are.
“Nora, did you get anything useful at least?” Phoenix asks. I start to look over at him and then look back to the front. I’ll stare like an idiot if I look at him—and not at his face.
Ugh, I’m no better than a horny teenage boy.
“Yes, he’s got someone in our school or he goes there.” I see no reason not to share that. Five sets of eyes are better than one and these four have other senses that I don’t. Yet.
“Teddy?” At his question, I stop and turn to Phoenix.
“No, it’s not him. He looks at your ass way more than mine, so I doubt he’d waste his time stalking me. Instead, he’d be stalking one of you,” Phoenix smirks and I start walking again.
“He’s gay?” Hez asks in surprise. Everyone starts laughing, including me.
“It could be anyone, to be honest. Being bitten and surviving gives a witch an edge a regular shifter doesn’t have. Think of how well you four hide it, he’s probably better at it.”
“Like you?”
“Yeah, he’s like me. I don’t think his witch side is super powerful, but he has help, that’s the only way he’s hiding. I’m trying to decide who’s the bigger threat, the ‘them’ that he mentioned or him. We won’t know until I can get him to show himself again.”
“You’ve put a lot of thought into this,” Hez says coming up to my right side.
“What do you think I do all day? Think about eyeshadow palettes?”
“Well, you are a girl,” he defends. He doesn’t need to know that I do in fact think of things like makeup and clothes. I like them both I simply don’t fool much with them. Having nice makeup won't save my ass when I find the shifter who killed my mom.
“Didn’t you have practice tonight?” I ask Hez.
He shrugs and says, “I only play sports to make mom happy, none of us are really into them.” That’s news and I file it away for later. “Plus, it lets me hit people and not get in trouble for it.” Ah, the real reason. Maybe I should take up a sport.
“Do they have any girl sports where we get to hit people?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“No, unless you count cheerleading. There’s always a catfight after a game between the cheerleaders,” Phoenix says with a smile.
“Nothing against cheerleading but it's not my jam.”
“Is it the short skirts?” Phoenix teases.
“No, it’s the fact that I can’t hit anyone for points.” They all laugh and we keep walking.
“You know, most people in your situation would be more scared,” Barrett muses from behind me.
“At least, you didn’t say girls,” I tease.
“No reason to, I know a lot of guys who’d be freaked out too.”
“I don’t think many things freak Nora out, bro. Plus, she hits like a fucking truck.” I can’t help but smile at that, Oz found out the hard way. They laugh again and Oz gets a bit of teasing from his brothers.
Feeling the need to defend him a little I say, “Any of you are welcome to spar with me and find out.”
> “You’re on!” Phoenix says, sounding way happier than he should.
Oz looks at him and says, “Dude, she’s gonna beat your ass. I totally gotta see this.”
“I have forty pounds on her and shifter speed,” Phoenix boasts.
“You’ll see. Can I video it?” Oz asks hopefully.
I laugh and shake my head. “I’ll go easy on you boys.”
We spend the rest of the trip home teasing each other about ass whoopin’ and them teasing me about how they’re the ones going to go easy on me. They think. I’m looking forward to showing them what I mean by easy.
Chapter Sixteen
The guys got worked up enough that we all end up in the workout room. I changed into something more suited to fighting four super strong shifters and I also sneak a taser in my pocket. It’s a small one that will only send enough juice to sting them, potentially quite a bit but they do have some advantages over me.
Whatever animal I’m going to become is fast, has claws and sharp teeth but I don’t have the strength the guys do. Especially when it comes to slippery Barrett. I plan on making them work for it and winning.
I stretch to warm up and watch them laying about or leaning against the wall. They need more training and Maggie knows it; she said as much. I’m going to see how much training they need and if I have to elect myself to teach them until they need someone better than me.
I’m not being egotistical, only honest. When I say it’ll take a while, I mean it.
I stand and turn my left shoulder towards them. “Who’s first?”
An hour later, three of them are laying on the ground groaning and cussing while a fourth one, Oz is leaning against the wall laughing. He chose to stay out of this exploration into how to temper their egos.
“How the—who—where did you learn that?” Hez finally manages to spit out. He rolls onto his side and I watch the purple bruise covering the side of his mouth and chin start to fade. He was running his mouth until I kicked him in it. Twice.
Not that I’m completely unscathed, they got lucky a few times but only because they all ganged up on me. Their stances are sloppy, they have no discipline whatsoever and whoever has been teaching them is a shit teacher. My instructor would’ve shredded them and their egos in two-minutes flat.
Now I have to figure out how to either get him to train them or find someone who can. After this little bout I know I won’t be able to, our feelings for each other will always get in the way. None of them came at me full-on, not even when I pissed them off.
“I’m going to call my former trainer tomorrow and see if he’s willing to take you on. You guys suck, do you even practice?” I ask them sitting down on the floor to take a long drink of water.
“We don’t suck!” Phoenix protests but doesn’t get up from the floor.
“One girl beat all three of you, at the same time, bro. We all suck,” Oz says with quite a bit of satisfaction in his voice. I think probably because he has company now for his I-suck-team.
“Who was your trainer?” Barrett asks, he’s the fastest of the four and gave me a bit of a fight mostly because he’s good at dodging. Phoenix put up the best fight, he’s designed to siege. Hez took the most hits but I know his weaknesses too.
“Don Gregory,” I answer taking another drink of water. Their silence is answer enough. “Because you’re witch born he might take you on, we’ll see. If he does, then you’ll discover what real training is and then you’ll have a chance to truly kick my ass.”
They might actually pull it off, eventually. It depends on how serious they take everything and how hard they’re willing to work for it. I know that it’ll take them a good bit of time. It won’t happen overnight and Don won’t be gentle on them.
“I’m game,” Phoenix says laying his head back on the floor.
“You say that now. I’m going to go shower and leave him a voicemail.” I climb to my feet and dodge a few hands trying to trip me up. Laughing, I walk out the door and to my room. I find my phone on my bed and grab it as I head into the bathroom. Beating them wasn’t easy in the literal sense of the word, but I consider it easy because of what they are.
I dial a number I memorized a long time ago and wait for it to ring four times, then I hang up. Don is paranoid with a capital P. I call back and the line picks up—no one says hello, but they never do.
“It’s Nora, I have some witch-born who can’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. I’m in Singe at Maggie Hazard’s house,” I say then hang up. I sit the phone on the sink and start stripping to get into the shower.
The shower is quick but satisfying, I’m sore and I’ll definitely have some bruises tomorrow but it feels nice to stretch my training muscles. It feels good to fight again. Wrong or right I love a good fight so more often than not I have to try to solve something without a physical confrontation because I can get a little… carried away. Don used to tell me that violence should always be used carefully, intelligently. He said anyone who gets ignorant when they’re angry becomes a danger to more than their opponent; they become one to themselves.
I climb onto my bed, my eyes on my phone and the messages the guys have sent me since I was in the shower, and reach over to pet the dark lump that’s Cookie when I feel something wet. That’s unusual; a familiar spends most of the time incorporeal so smells and liquids won’t stick to them. I look over and jump backwards off the bed in horror.
The animal on my bed isn’t Cookie, it’s a large black dog that resembles her enough to have fooled me with a cursory look. Obviously, it’s dead and has been for at least a few hours but that’s not the truly concerning part. No, that belongs to the fact that someone put a dead dog on my bed while I was in the shower in a house surrounded by wards. One inhabited by four witch-born, me and a witch who was powerful enough to rival my mother in some ways.
“Maggie!” I yell, hesitant to leave the room. There’s foreign magic here, it’s making my skin itch and whatever it is, is active and wasn’t until I touched the dog. I can’t believe I was that stupid. Before I came here and had the lid ripped off of my emotional soup pot, I would've checked the house, room, shower, food—everything.
I’ve gotten sloppy.
Whoever he is has also seen my familiar, which means he’s been following me more than I realized. Hidden in a way I didn’t feel. That’s concerning too.
“Nora!” Maggie exclaims from the other side of the door, she’s stopped because she can feel the spell. “There’s a spell here, a nasty one.”
“What’s it do?” Without being able to get closer to it, I can’t feel anything more than some malevolence. I’m afraid to move because I’m pretty sure there’s more than one spell.
How the hell did he place these spells in fifteen minutes with no one knowing? I let my senses expand seeking out the rest of the spells. There’s exactly four of them and that can’t be a coincidence.
He’s targeting the guys.
One of which pushes the door open with enough force to make it break its hinges and bounce off the wall behind it. Phoenix stands there, eyes glowing—untouched by the spell that’s now dissipating back out into the world.
Romeo doesn’t know their special abilities, which means he doesn’t know they’re mostly immune to spells cast by anyone but me—as morbid as it is, I’m the only witch in existence who can use magic against them. He also doesn’t know that with a bond to me, they’re even stronger and their already natural immunities are enhanced.
His eyes meet mine. “How many?”
“Three left, you’ll need to walk all around the room and deal with the one on the bed,” I say, remaining in place. The guys might be immune but I’m not. I’m not entirely sure they’ll do anything to me but I’m not taking the chance either.
“That’s the neighbors' dog, I’ll get it taken care of,” Oz says from the doorway.
After Phoenix, thoroughly walks around the room and deals with the one on my bed, he and his brother wrap the dog in the sheets and carry
it outside. I walk to the window, that’s now open. I’m guessing this was his entry point and I’m guessing that he wasn’t alone. This feeling of violation doesn’t make me want to hide.
It makes me angry.
I look outside at the endless woods behind the house and the crawling feeling on my skin makes me think he’s out there, watching. I smile, a not so nice smile and lift up my hand.
My middle finger raises as I yell, “I’m going to shove my foot up your ass, Romeo!” Hez and Barrett come up behind me to look over my shoulders at the woods. “And theirs!” I add.
“Is he out there?” Hez asks quietly, his eyes searching the tree line.
“Somewhere. I don’t think this is all just a romance game, there’s more to it but I’m not sure what yet.” If it were only about courting he’d have never placed spells that could hurt me, it doesn’t fit the whole profile thing. This is something more than a shifter courting me.
“Do you think it has anything to do with the mess your father has landed in?” Maggie asks, squeezing in between the boys to stand at the window with me.
“Maybe, but I’m not sure… this guy knows what I am, or thinks he does, but he doesn’t know what the boys truly are. Especially what they are to me.” I sigh and cross my arms. The presence is moving away, quickly and with its absence the night goes back to normal. Why can I feel him—them—whatever, at times but not at school or other times?
None of this is making sense.
“He’s insane, Nora. I can smell it when he’s close—when I try to follow him the scent is erased, but they made a mistake this time. You’re right, he’s not alone… there’s a whole fucking pack of bitten,” Phoenix says coming up behind me. I turn to him and he’s covered in dirt and sweaty from what I’m assuming is him running through the woods after our unwanted guests.
One bitten is dangerous, an entire pack of them is an apocalypse. It explains the strength of the spells, the multiple spells and being able to keep tabs on me without me feeling them. I can feel him because he lets me.
