by Jade White
“He didn’t hurt me.” Dom said, her voice was flat, still numb from her encounter. “He just threatened me.”
“They did something to lock us into the building. We couldn’t get anyone to you in time. We tried, and there should be someone with you soon.”
“I think I’m OK, I just want to go home right now.” She told her boss, hoping that her voice wasn’t shaking too badly. “I think I’m going to skip my grocery shopping for right now and just head to the house and try to get some rest.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to send anyone to stay with you?” Anna’s voice carried a large amount of concern.
Dom did her best to calm the powerful district leader before the pregnant witch ended up trapped in protective custody. “I’ll be fine. I just need some time to get myself back together.”
“I’ll send someone down to check on you later. Get home and stay safe, I’m worried that it won’t take them long to go beyond threats. In the meantime, I’m going to try to talk Gregor into staying somewhere else. He’ll want to protect his child.”
“He doesn’t know.” Dom confessed.
“I might have to tell him.” Anna’s voice was disappointed. It almost broke Dom’s heart to hear it in the woman’s words. It was obvious that Anna had expected better of her, and she wasn’t living up to expectations. They disconnected the call and after a few minutes, Dom pulled out of the parking lot.
The ride home was filled with paranoid fantasies about being followed. “It’s not really paranoid if someone is actually threatening you.” She told the words to herself, hoping to understand the frustration she was feeling.
By the time she pulled into her driveway, she was incredibly jumpy. Looking over her shoulder she was ran for the door and unlocked it. Her breath was ragged as she made her way into her home, her safe haven. She walked into the living room and immediately noticed the mess.
She started to put things back together, working through the load of dishes that had been in the sink since the day before. She walked through her house, picking up trash and depositing it into the garbage can before she reached under her sink to remove the dented metal watering can that had been passed down through three generations. When she touched it, the soothing effect was almost instantaneous. She immediately felt better as she channeled energy through her.
The energy had been there long before she existed in this form. The thought brought her some comfort as she filled it with water and began to care for her plants and strengthen her defenses. There was a vibration in the air as it filled with power. She hummed along, creating a tempo and adding to the strength of the spell.
The humming led to chanting as she moved to her backyard and opened up her greenhouse. She continued to take care of the plants that sustained her practice and her physical form. “The strawberries are coming in nicely.” Her words were said with the chant. “I should get a basket and pick some of my plants.” She noted.
As she entered her home she could feel the first steps being taken on her property. Someone was coming. At first she couldn’t decide what to do about it, but then decided that she wasn’t just going to hide.
She walked through the kitchen and grabbed the first weapon she could find. It was a long bread knife with serrated edges. Looking at it, it wouldn’t be immediately good for stabbing so with it in her hand she reached into her utensil drawer and pulled out a large fork that had been meant for carving large cuts of meat.
It was an ancient tool, and she hadn’t realized why she kept it before this moment in time. The rust flaked off of it as she lifted it into a ready stance. The tool had been her grandmother’s. She loved to cook giant roasts and chickens, surrounding them with homegrown vegetables from the garden and green house. That was before Dom had gotten to the point that she couldn’t handle thinking about the little animals that sacrificed themselves so that they could eat. After her grandmother passed away, Dom refused to eat meat again. She shook her head, trying to keep the memories from clouding the magical senses that were enhanced by the protections that were placed on her home.
She tensed as she heard the key turn in the lock. She took cover in the tiny hallway that separated the kitchen from the living room. She held both of her weapons, ready to attack anyone coming in. She held her breath as the door opened. “Dominique?” The voice was familiar.
Dom stepped out of her hiding place. She still had the weapons in her hands. “I didn’t think you would come back.” She told him, her voice still shaking slightly.
“Are you going to stab me?” He asked, putting his hands up in order to indicate the knife and fork that she was carrying.
“No, no, I’m not going to stab you.” She put the weapons down on a table. Her movements were hurried, embarrassed. “I’m sorry.” She admitted, hanging her head.
“There’s no reason to be sorry. You thought I was coming to hurt you, after a day like today nobody can blame you. I’m just surprised that you didn’t run.” He lowered his hands and smiled at her.
“What can I say; I’m not much for running.” She smiled sheepishly at him, looking up slightly.
He laughed at the motion; she looked so shy and demure, even though that he knew that she wasn’t known for being so much like a school girl. “Is everything alright? Did he hurt you?”
“No, I’m not hurt. He just threatened me, tried to rattle my cage. He wanted you to leave. How did you get here?” She knew that she was rambling a bit, but it was keeping her from crumbling from the stress that she had endured through the day.
“Someone from the office gave me a ride. Did you know that no one knows where you live?”
“I like to keep it that way. Nobody comes to bother me.”
“They said that they can put you in a safe house.” Gregor knew that she wouldn’t even consider the possibility of moving. The woman was in tune with her home, it was very much a part of her. She had spent her entire life in this house; in fact at least two other generations had spent their lives in this house.
Gregor’s suggestion wasn’t exactly hard to refuse. “This is my home. I’m not leaving it just because some vampire cop stopped me.” Dom’s stance grew determined and her eyes turned to steel. It was obvious that she wasn’t one to hide from a problem.
Gregor took a moment to admire her strength before he continued his argument. “I don’t want you to be in danger. I think that you should go somewhere safe.”
“I don’t care what you think. I’m not going to run from these people.” She knew that this offer was going to be made, but she had already decided that she wasn’t going to run from this. She didn’t know quite when she had made the decision, but she knew that it hadn’t been fully realized until she had been pushed to defend her position.
“Why do you want to stay here?” He had no idea why she was so attached to her home, but he knew that she wouldn’t leave it easily.
“This is the safest place I can be. I have protections here, and they’ll stop any intruders.”
“Someone should stay with you.” He commented, accepting her decision, even if he didn’t like it very much. “I don’t think I’m going to change your mind about this.”
“I’m sure they’ll send someone to stay with me.”
“I’m going to stay with you.” His voice was firm, unwavering and it was obvious that he had made his decision.
“You should go someplace else.” She would be lying to herself if she said that she didn’t want him to stay.
“I’m not going to leave unless you ask me to.” He stated, his decision had been made, and he wasn’t going to back down unless she made him. “Even if you ask me to leave your home, I will still be in town. Now that the vampires have gotten themselves involved in the outcome of these talks, its more important than ever that we finish them.”
“I’ve never been known to give in to threats.” Dom explained, her voice growing steadily braver.
“Let them bring it on. I’ll strengthen the protection spells
and target some toward vampires.”
“The shifters might just have found a common enemy to defend against. It might get them a little more eager to talk.” He seemed very confident in his plan. “Perhaps I can talk them into listening to me now that the vampires are sticking their little pointy teeth into this.” He practically spat the word vampire, and she got her first taste of the distrust and outright hatred between both of the groups.
“You need to leave town. They’re not going to stop trying to hurt you. They don’t want these things to happen.” Dom felt the panic starting to well up in her throat. She wanted to keep him safe and as long as he was here, she wasn’t sure if her protections would hold.
“I’m not leaving. My people need me and I’m not going to abandon them, especially now that I know that there are vampires involved.”
“You can’t protect them if you’re dead.” Dom’s retort echoed into her ears, full of possibilities she didn’t want to face. It was a fact that now that he had found his way into her life, she didn’t want him to be out of it forever.
“That’s not true. The vampires aren’t going to kill me. They’re not that stupid.” He scoffed at the possibility of his own demise.
“Right.” Dom agreed. “That would just make you a martyr and they don’t want that to happen. Your death would greatly expedite the peace talks.” They both laughed.
“It’s not like they could get past your amazing defenses anyway.” He added.
Dom remembered how quickly he had arrived. “I thought you were meeting with both groups today.” She reminded him.
“I heard about what happened during a break. I explained it to the shifters and they understood. For some reason, they might think that you’re my mate.” The hint wasn’t very subtle.
“Did you tell them I was your mate?” Dom scoffed, her voice was filled with incredulity. “I can’t believe that you would do something like that.”
“I didn’t tell them.” Gregor put his hands up again, surrendering to her symbolically. “When they saw how worried I was, they assumed that you were my mate. I just let them assume.”
“You didn’t correct them?” Dom stomped, her shoulders back and her eyes wild with rage.
“I didn’t have time to correct them. I was trying to get to you.” He looked hopeful that she would believe him.
“Do you consider me your mate?” Dom hit him with the hard question. She knew that she was hitting him in a tough spot, but she wanted the answer so she was willing to fight a little dirty.
She still wasn’t sure how she would feel about the answer either way.
It was Gregor’s turn to stumble over his responses. He didn’t know how to respond to it so he stuttered for a few moments trying to recover. It took him a few minutes to formulate the thoughts that he was trying to put into words. He was afraid that if he said too much, she would run away, she would make him leave. “I just wanted to make sure that you’re safe.” He finally got the words out. “If that impression let them understand my needs at the moment, I let it happen. I’m sorry if it hurt you, but would it really be that bad?”
“I- I don’t know.” Dom kept her stance while she thought about it.
“I want to be near you. Let me stay with you, we don’t have to make any decisions right now, plus you’re cute when you’re angry.” He tried to find a compromise with her frustration.
“Fine you can stay, but you need to give me some time to adjust. It would make my situation a lot easier if you don’t make comments about how I look when I’m angry. I need someone to watch out while I strengthen the protections. Can you do that?”
“I will be your loyal guard.” He bowed to her, foppish and endearing at the same time. Dom smiled a little. “I like it when you smile. Now is there anything I can help you with? We need to get these things finished quickly. Keep in mind that the shifters might be sending people to guard the house.”
“What are you talking about?” She asked, caught completely unaware by the news. “The shifters are going to be coming here?”
“They want to make sure that my mate stays safe.” He explained it as gently as possible, but there was no way to gauge what her reaction was going to be. “It’s not a guarantee and I didn’t tell them where you lived.”
“I cannot believe you’ve led them on like this.”
“Really, you can’t believe that? It’s getting both sides to work together, and it’s going to lay the ground work for future talks.”
Chapter14
It was after dark by the time she finished her spells. Gregor had remained quiet and respectful the entire time she worked, dancing through the house in her swirling skirts. She chanted and spread around the smoke from various herbs and plants. She looked like she was painting the walls with her protective spell.
Gregor watched protectively as she stepped outside, continuing her work on the edges of her property. He stood guard in silence, watching earnestly, trying to learn her nature, the ways of her magic, the special personal manner in which she carried herself. He watched her, wanting nothing more than to touch her everywhere.
When she finally finished her work, he followed her back inside of her house. “Do you need anything?” He asked eager to help with her troubles.
“I’m just a little tired right now. I’ll be fine in a moment.” She panted as she sat down on the couch.
“What do you have to eat around here?” He walked into the kitchen and opened the empty fridge. “I don’t see any food in your house.”
“What are you talking about? There’s food everywhere here. Let me go pick some things up.”
She followed him and grabbed a wicker basket that was sitting by the back door. He followed her out to the greenhouse in the back yard and watched her carefully pick a basket full of fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs.
He frowned. “Don’t you eat meat?” The question was disturbed.
“I don’t eat meat.”
“Then can we order something in or go to the grocery store. I can’t go without protein.”
“I could make some beans if you would like them.” She suggested, knowing that it wasn’t going to work.
He laughed at the suggestion. “Do you think that I’m a were-rabbit?”
“No, I suppose not.” She agreed. “Do you want to go to a grocery store, or do you want to order in?” She asked him, hoping that he would make it easier on her.
“We’ll order in tonight and go to the store in the morning. How does pizza sound? I can get it half with meat on it and half without.”
She walked back into the living room. “That sounds fine. There’s a number on the fridge.” She pointed into the kitchen haphazardly.
He called after getting the order of what she wanted, trying to keep his plan a secret. She was lying on the couch when he returned. He parked in an easy chair and told her that dinner would be here in a little less than an hour. She nodded to him and handed him the remote before closing her eyes. Gregor watched her rest for a moment, noticing her arm draped around her waist before turning on the television. There really wasn’t anything that he was interested in watching and he was sure that the television hadn’t been used very often since he had left a month before. Turning the volume low, he contented himself to watch her rest until the pizza arrived.
She sat up when the pizza guy pulled up. He heard the car pull out front, but she must have sensed someone stepping onto her property. “Is that the pizza?” She yawned, stretching her lithe arms high above her head.
He stood and walked across the room to look out of the window. “Yeah, I think that it is.” He opened the door and signed the credit card receipt. He came back in and laid several boxes on the coffee table.
She pointed at the boxes. “Isn’t that a lot of food for both of us?”
“I was hoping that it would last us for a while. I’m trying to make your life easier; we don’t need to go grocery shopping tomorrow.”
“That might be nice. I wouldn’t mind ta
king it easy.”
“Especially with the irritating shifter that insists on keep you company and in danger.” The two shared a laugh and their hands grazed against each other reaching into a box containing bread sticks There was a moment of shared silence before Dom’s eyes flickered over to the door and she screamed pointing at the window.
Gregor jumped up and looked out the window. He saw something moving away from it. “Who was that?” He asked her.
“It was a vampire. They’re gone now. I saw him looking in the window.”
“I thought that you would be able to sense them the moment they stepped onto your property.” Gregor closed the curtains.
“I am able to sense them. They move really fast remember? By the time I turned my head I saw his face looking in the window, leering at me like some kind of pervert.”
