by Alicia Rades
“I know a witch named Clarita who might have some information on the Soulless,” Sondra told him. “Luckily for you, she’s on the way.”
3
The tension in the air was palpable the moment Venn and I stepped into the elevator at Clarita’s condo. Venn pressed a button, and the doors slid shut, trapping us alone inside. We stood side-by-side facing the door, neither of us daring to steal a glance at the other.
Venn was close enough that I could smell his familiar scent. It made my insides go haywire. Every muscle in my body told me to turn to him and jump into his arms, to press my body against his and tangle my fingers in his hair. I wanted him to kiss me back like he meant it, to touch me in places I’d never been touched before. The surface of my skin heated just thinking about it. It was crazy what being alone with a guy for barely a second could do to your basic instincts.
Except Venn wasn’t just any guy. He was the guy, the one I could picture giving everything to and spending the rest of my life with.
I’m going to have his shifter babies someday.
What the hell? Where did that come from? Behave, brain.
Venn broke the silence. “Are we ever going to talk about it?”
I glanced to him and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I willed myself not to blush, but my pale skin betrayed me. “Talk about what?”
Venn must’ve thought I was stupid, because the look in his eyes gave everything away. Couldn’t we just make out and let the moment speak for itself?
“You know,” he said with a teasing smile. “Don’t you feel the crazy connection between us?”
Of course I did, but I wasn’t about to admit it out loud. Except, with Venn, I almost wanted to talk about it. It was weird. I didn’t like sharing my feelings with anyone, but there was something about Venn—about his whole family—that made me want to open up.
Venn inched closer to me until his chest was only an inch away from mine. If I breathed too hard, my boobs were going to touch him. Not that that’d be a bad thing…
There was plenty of space in the elevator for both of us, but in that moment, it felt as if the walls were shrinking in on us—and not in a claustrophobic I-need-to-get-out-of-here kind of way. More in a way that made me feel secure and safe, and freakishly hot. Why was my skin burning up?
“I think you know I feel it, too,” I whispered.
What the heck? I wasn’t supposed to say things like that out loud. But something about it felt good. It felt right. Nothing had felt right in years, so speaking the truth to someone I trusted was a relief.
Venn reached up to brush my hair from my eyes. His touch sent an electric tingle across my cheek. I dropped my gaze, hoping he couldn’t tell that he totally took my breath away. I killed vampires for fun. I wasn’t supposed to be brought to my knees by the simple touch of a drop-dead gorgeous guy.
Don’t kid yourself. You’ll be dropping to your knees eventually.
I bit down on my lip to keep from smiling. Get your mind out of the gutter, Rachel.
“What should we do about it?” Venn whispered. His hot breath rushed across my face.
I inched backward. I wasn’t sure why, considering all I wanted to do was close that small gap between us. Venn followed until my back was pressed up against the wall. My lower back dug into the metal rail that lined the perimeter of the elevator.
I suddenly realized what I was doing. I wanted him to advance on me, because it meant he wanted me. By the look in his eyes, he wanted me as much as—if not more than—I wanted him. A shot of adrenaline raced through my veins, and my heart slammed against my rib cage as I waited for Venn to make the next move.
He wrapped his arms around the rail on both sides of me, trapping me in. I made no effort to escape, though. This position was hot as hell. I’d stay trapped between his arms as long as he liked, if the fool would just kiss me already.
The elevator dinged, pulling me out of my trance. Venn jumped and turned toward the doors as they slid open. Reality came crashing down on me, reminding me why we were here.
Damn it. We had to get serious now.
Venn looked as disappointed as I felt.
“We’ll pick this up later?” I suggested.
“Yeah,” he said with a shy nod. “Right where we left off.”
Good, I thought in relief. I had something to look forward to.
My heart slowed as we stepped out of the elevator on the twelfth floor of Clarita’s building. The long hall was lit with soft lighting, and the doors were spaced far apart. The spotless gray patterned carpet made the apartment building look like a luxury hotel.
When I heard the word witch, I pictured cauldrons and pointed hats, but I’d come to learn that they were as diverse as anyone. Some witches, like Genevieve, preferred the cobwebs-in-the-corner Halloween theme. Others, like Clarita White, opted for modern luxuries. Judging by the condominium she lived in, she hadn’t let her powers go to waste.
We reached the end of the hall and stopped in front of a door marked 1212. I took a breath and knocked.
A woman poked her head into the hallway. All I could see was her shoulder-length black hair with thick bangs that brushed the top of her cat-rimmed glasses. She glanced between Venn and me.
“You’re the ones Sondra called about?” she asked before either of us had a chance to speak.
“Yes,” Venn answered. “May we come in?”
Clarita swung the door open, and I finally got a good look at her. She was at least three inches shorter than me with a curvy figure that filled out the dark purple dress she wore. Long earrings with rainbow-colored feathers attached dangled from her ears. Gorgeous blue beads hung from her neck, and she wore all different kinds of rings on each of her fingers.
She shot us a friendly smile. Clarita had a vibrant glow about her that I instantly connected with. She gave off serious cool aunt vibes, like she was the kind of person you could say anything to and get the best advice in return.
“Can I get you anything?” Clarita asked as we stepped inside. “Perhaps tea or water?”
“Water’s fine,” I answered.
Clarita gestured for us to sit while she closed the door behind us and headed to the kitchen. Her condo walls were white, but the decor was accented in every color of the rainbow. Pink, green, and blue throw pillows filled the couch and matched the bright floral pattern of her area rug. A coffee table with a stack of books on it sat in the center of the room, and a large-screen TV hung on the wall opposite the couch. Glass doors with long drapes beside them led out onto a balcony, and potted plants dotted the room. The condo wasn’t huge—Clarita only seemed to have as much as she needed—but it was nice enough that I was sure it cost more to live here than what I made in a month.
I sank into the couch next to Venn. The cushions were so soft I could’ve fallen asleep right then and there.
“Here you go.” Clarita returned and handed us each a bottled water. It was cold in my hand and refreshing when I took a sip.
“What do you do for work?” I couldn’t help but let my curiosity get to me.
Clarita sat in the plush armchair across from us. “I own a boutique shop not far from here. It’s been my dream since I was a kid.”
“You don’t work in magic?” Venn asked. He sounded surprised, like every other witch he’d met used their magic for profit.
“I used to,” Clarita said as she adjusted her glasses. “Now I only work with a select few clients. What is it that I can help you with?”
Venn and I exchanged a glance. This wasn’t the type of conversation you approached lightly.
Venn leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He spoke slowly. “Sondra said you might know something about the Soulless.”
Clarita’s right eyebrow twitched slightly, but apart from that, she didn’t let her thoughts show. She took a long, deep breath and then let it out in a sigh. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you much.”
My body went so numb that my water bottle slipped
out of my fingers and landed on the cushion beside me.
“It’s true that I’ve had an interest in the Soulless for many years,” Clarita said. “I, along with many other witches, am quite interested in learning what happened to them. We know how they came to be, but we don’t know where they disappeared to when they went silent two years ago. Some suspect they’re planning something big and that they’ll be returning in full force soon.”
“What do you think?” Venn asked.
Clarita straightened in her chair. “I haven’t reached a clear conclusion yet. I’ve been trying to track them down for years, hoping that if we could infiltrate their nest, we might be able to figure out what they’re planning. So far, I’ve only come up with guesses. Tracking spells, unfortunately, can be quite tricky without a starting point.”
“Like how you need something that belongs to a person to track them?” I asked, remembering how we’d used Cowen’s watch to track him.
“Exactly,” Clarita confirmed. “But in this case, since we’re looking for a hidden location, it starts with information. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough of it.”
“Information like what?” I asked slowly, wondering if what Venn and I learned from Maliya was enough.
“A general location would be a good start,” Clarita said. “We know the Soulless are somewhere in the States, but reports are pretty widespread. We suspect their nest is located in the Midwest, but each time I perform the spell to narrow the location, I hit a block. It’s like an ocean I can’t cross.”
Almost literally.
“That’s because it is,” I said in a rush.
She tilted her head in question.
“We believe the Soulless are hiding on an island somewhere in the Great Lakes,” I elaborated. “But the lakes are so big that we don’t know where to go from there. We were hoping you could help us figure it out.”
Clarita pressed her lips together and shook her head. “We’ve tried the Great Lakes region, and nothing has ever come up.”
I looked to Venn, my eyes widening. “Maliya lied to us.”
Venn’s lips tightened. “I don’t know… I thought I could read her pretty well, and I believed she was telling the truth.” He looked back to Clarita. “The island would’ve been cloaked by magic up until eight years ago, when Valkas escaped. It could still be cloaked.”
Clarita stared into the distance in thought. “So Valkas is still in the same location he was imprisoned?”
Venn nodded.
“Mm…” Clarita mused. “Then why haven’t you found him yet?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You are a witch, aren’t you?” Clarita responded.
I nodded, my heart rate spiking. “How could you tell?”
She smiled that soft, friendly smile of hers. “I’m a high witch. I can sense the magic around me, and you, sweetheart, radiate it. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but I sense you have a strong connection with the Soulless.”
I looked to Venn, as if he might be able to explain what she meant by that. “I guess so. I mean, they kidnapped my sister, so I’m pretty motivated to find them and get her back.”
“No.” Clarita shook her head. “I meant a connection that spans many lifetimes.”
Clarita stood and crossed around the mahogany coffee table to stand in front of me. She sat on the table casually, as if it were a chair, and held out an inviting hand. I hesitated.
“It’s okay,” she encouraged.
I glanced to Venn. He seemed relaxed enough, and I trusted his judgement, so I offered her my palm.
Clarita lifted her glasses and pulled my palm close to her face. She eyed it intensely, as though trying to burn a hole through it with laser vision. After studying my palm for what felt like a full minute, she closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. Finally, she opened them and dropped my palm.
Clarita readjusted her glasses. “It’s very clear that your past lives are deeply rooted in history. I suspect you were among one of the witches to imprison Valkas.”
I drew in a sharp breath. She was wrong. No way did my past lives involve powerful magic like that.
“I suppose you don’t remember that yet, do you?” Clarita asked.
I shook my head. I couldn’t seem to form any words in that moment. Clarita spoke so casually, like it wasn’t a huge revelation. She had to be lying to me.
“You’re much stronger than you think you are,” Clarita said. “You have yet to realize your full potential in this life.”
“That’s what I told her,” Venn chimed in.
I sat there dumbstruck. I was still trying to wrap my head around this whole past lives thing, let alone entertain the possibility that I’d been there to imprison the original vampire. It was clear I wasn’t quite the low witch I’d always thought I was, but I wasn’t powerful, either. Clarita was insane.
Clarita stood and crossed over to a cupboard set into the wall. She began shuffling through it while she spoke. “Is there anything else you can tell me about the location of the Soulless?”
“Yes,” Venn answered confidently. “We were told the Soulless are residing in a place called Gregor Island.”
Clarita’s eyes lit up as she turned from the cupboards. She held a large roll of paper in one hand and a black marker in the other. She bounced on her toes in excitement. “That’s excellent! You know the name! If it’s true, pinpointing the location should be simple.”
My heart soured in excitement. One step closer.
Clarita lowered herself to her knees and swept the books off the coffee table, as if they were unimportant. She unrolled the paper in her hand to reveal a large laminated map of the United States. I leaned forward to get a better look.
“Can you get the drapes?” Clarita asked.
Venn quickly rose to his feet and rounded the couch. He pulled the drapes shut, and the room was instantly blanketed in darkness. Only a small amount of light peeked through the edges of the curtain.
“The dark helps me concentrate,” Clarita said to no one in particular. “Let’s get started.”
In the darkness, I could only see silhouettes. Clarita reached up and slipped a set of beads off of her neck. She held them straight out and dangled them above the map.
The cushion beside me sank in as Venn returned to his spot. I barely noticed him, though. Clarita had stolen my attention.
She closed her eyes and began muttering unfamiliar words under her breath. To my amazement, the beads in her hand began to sway, though Clarita hadn’t moved an inch. The room sizzled with energy that only grew with each passing second. I could feel it brush across my skin, raising the hairs on my arms.
The beads swirled clockwise and increased their speed without expanding the small imaginary circle they were outlining. Clarita’s eyes remained closed, and she continued to mutter words I didn’t understand. Her hand opened, but the beads remained suspended in mid-air.
My heart hammered as I witnessed the magic unfold before my eyes. I’d seen spells performed before, but this was different. The beads seemed to have a mind of their own and moved as if gravity didn’t matter. It was mesmerizing, and honestly a little freaky. This went far beyond the laws of physics.
The beads slowly descended through the air, as if they were connected to a wire. They stopped when the lowest bead touched the map, though they continued to hang there, circling a small area of blue in the northernmost part of Lake Michigan.
My breath ceased. Had we found it?
Clarita’s eyes snapped open. Almost instantly, the beads fell into a heap on top of the map. She brushed them aside and popped the cap off her marker. She quickly drew an X right where the beads had been hovering and then looked to us in alarm.
“You must go.” She spoke so fast that the words all jumbled together.
Clarita jumped to her feet while she rolled up the map. Venn and I both shot up from the couch at once. Tension suddenly overtook my entire body.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded.
>
“Here, take this.” Clarita shoved the map into my hands. “But don’t use it yet.”
I opened my mouth to demand an explanation of what was going on, but she was already ushering us to the door.
“Hold on,” Venn insisted. “What—?”
“Go to your family,” Clarita interrupted. “They need you.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded. My body broke out in a sweat. Was Venn’s family in danger? “What’s happening?”
Clarita swung the front door open. “I cannot tell specifics, only that you need to return to them now.”
Venn opened his mouth to say more, but Clarita grabbed a set of keys from the small table in her entryway and shoved them in his hands.
“Take my car,” she insisted. “The parking garage is down the hall and to the left.”
Venn and I both seemed to realize at the same moment how serious Clarita was. It didn’t matter what she knew or how she knew it. It was clear there wasn’t time for explanations.
Venn shot me one glance of horror and then grabbed my hand.
“Wait!” Clarita called before we made it too far.
I whirled around to face her, my heart hammering.
She stood in her doorway. “I mean it about the map, Rae. If you use it before helping your family with their current quest, you and your sister have no hope of making it off Gregor Island alive.”
My blood ran cold.
“Now go,” Clarita said in a rush. “Your family can no longer wait.”
4
Heavy raindrops pounded against the windshield of Clarita’s car, obscuring our view of the street in front of us. The wipers swiped as fast as they could, but it wasn’t enough. People rushed off the streets to escape the downpour, and the traffic in front of us slowed.
“Venn—what if—what do you think—?” I couldn’t get the words out as the possibilities raced through my mind. “There has to be a faster way.”
Venn spun around in his seat, glancing up and down the street. His eyebrows were tight, but he didn’t voice his worry like I had. In front of us, a vehicle pulled into traffic from where it had been parked on the curb.
