“Wait, what?”
She tipped up, kissing him with intention, filling his mind with resplendence, a flowing thought train of painting and song, eternal beauty unfolding. As her lips drew away, a silver eyebrow raised. “Now what do you feel?”
His dopey grin said it all.
“You’re saying we have no clue how dark this kid is?” Perfect. We’re careening from one catastrophe to the next. Giddy freaking up.
Theo’s face pinched; Topper’s remained resolute.
“Correct.”
“Magic embraces people of all magical stripes. It’s the most important part of our community. When a situation is dangerous, we loop in the town to make them aware, and they decide if they want to be involved.” And, it’s possible to choose to not solve every damn one of the world’s problems.
“I realize this Theo, but I don’t wish to send out a false alarm. Jasper might be fine.”
Theo leaned back and looked at her. She held his gaze, but her cheeks reddened.
“So it’s a possibility, but you aren’t backing that particular horse.”
“Dammit, Theo, I’m not sure! He could blow either way. Melia’s a hedge, but not a guarantee.”
“Could he hurt her?”
Topper shifted in her seat. “Yes.”
“Is she on board with the risk?”
Topper bit her lip and gazed out the window.
“Topper!” Theo’s hand smacked on his desk. “Is she sugarcoating this risk?”
“Maybe. Her attraction to Jasper is strong.”
“The hell? This isn’t how to roll this and you know it. What is it with this kid that clouds your judgement?”
Topper blew out a sigh. “It’s not him, Theo, I admire his mother. She made a stand in a crappy situation, and I respect that.”
Over a distressed face, Topper’s hair changed colors, from pink, to purple, to black.
“Don’t get upset. I have your back and we’ll figure this out, but charging out in front isn’t the best way and you know it! We have to work as a team.”
Violet eyes held his, and Topper snapped her fingers, breaking the connection.
“Gotta say,” Theo mused to his empty office, “The vanishing thing got old several years ago.”
Romer’s eyes traveled along the bar. Guess it’s the mojo bag, but these people are changing from human to different. I’m trippin’.
Topper approached, and he mixed her a fresh one, passing it across the gleaming wood with a smile. “You alright? Why so worried?”
“I’m fine,” Topper laughed. He’s got an amazing vibe. You can’t help but believe the good of the world when Romer shines. “You keep making little wiggles with your eyebrows, I wondered why.”
“This may be the neighborhood to you, but I’m on a learning curve.” Romer shot her a grin.
Topper’s sharp eyes picked out the cord around Romer’s neck. “What are you boys up to?”
Wellie sauntered over and threw an arm across her shoulders. “Cookin’ up some gris-gris, Bayou style. Felt it coming, so we brought High John to this here party.”
“Good to know,” Topper sipped her drink, deciding. “It may be a case of the more the merrier, but promise, if I tell you to do something, you do it, no questions asked.”
Wellie opened his mouth, looked at her face, and shut it. Romer glanced at her.
“We’re here for Jasper. No promises.” Romer’s expression was easy, but Topper saw the determination as he turned back to a tall vampire well on his way to becoming shit-faced. Romer’s elaborate shakes aerated blood and moonshine before he drained it, with a flourish, into an ornate shot glass.
“Better than Taloot’s! I salute you,” chortled the vamp, his toothy grin belying a slight stagger. Romer made an exaggerated bow and moved along the bar to mix drinks for a sexually exhausted werewolf and three sniggering trolls.
Topper sipped, lost in thought. This is getting away from me. Am I wrong to push this? Melia’s serene assurance persuaded me, but Elthera, Theo, and these two have me worried.
“Another?” Romer’s face broke her reverie, and Topper stared at her empty Graveyard, surprised, and nodded. That went down quick. Might as well blur the edges. Nothing else is clear.
The air reverberated, filled with night-after-a-full-moon energy. On the porch swing, Melia sat on Jasper’s lap as they rocked, watching the moonrise between soft, lingering kisses.
“I want to be your lover, Melia. I’ve never experienced a sense of purpose, but one courses through me now. The only grounding is when you’re close.” What am I doing? Make the play and take the goods! My entire sense of self keeps shifting when I’m around her.
Melia looked at the moon, hearing the ancients hum in her blood. This man is meant for me. What I don’t yet see is how he is to become. Until he does, though, I cannot give myself to him.
“My blood tells me, Jasper, that you must finish your journey before we can pursue ours. What does that mean to you?”
A sudden flash of red rewarded her words, and Jasper’s hands burned against her skin.
“I can’t do that, Melia. I have to stay, what? Normal? These past couple of days are a testament to weirdness. I am not playing with this. My life is fine! I have a good job, a decent place to live, great friends, and this connection with you. To peel off every scrap of your clothing and make you happy is what I’ve got. Isn’t that enough?”
“Your anger lurks, Jasper. It’s clawing. I feel it, so I know you do too.” With gentle purpose, she kissed him, flowing her essence through his skin as his eyes faded to puzzled brown.
I’m so screwed in the head. This girl is gonna bounce and it’ll slay me.
Lips curving into a smile, she leaned back and met his gaze. “I will not fade, Jasper, but you need to decide how you can prevail. You are a pawn in a war not of your making. While unfair, it is the truth. I am a descendent of such a bargain, only between an immortal and a titan. My history is written, and your skepticism won’t change it. Through time, the nine original Muses dallied in trysts, and the earth holds many such as I. We function as a balance to destruction, a wellspring to the beauty of the human spirit.”
She kissed his nose. “I am the yin to your yang, Jasper. But, you must emerge and fight for your soul.”
Jaspers rose, lifting Melia into his arms, hands sliding down the smooth curve of her spine to the small of her back, pulling her body into his. He took her mouth, tasting the honey, feasting like a man starved for real food. Her soft moan was all the encouragement he needed. Holding her firm again his growing cock with one hand, his fingers slid up her ribcage, toying with her hardening nipple, then giving it a firm pinch. Her gasp filled his mouth.
“I need to be with you. I need your strength,” he rumbled in her ear, enjoying her body’s quiver.
No, Muse.
Sometimes, I wish all of you were not in my head!
“Stop.”
“Melia, please. I am asking you with my heart.”
“No, Jasper. You are urging me with your lust. That is avoidance. I have not waited, a patient virgin, for my one, to succumb to a man unwilling to face his demons.”
“A what?”
Melia stepped back, spun, and headed down the steps into the darkness.
“Wait! Let me walk you home. I’m sorry, Melia. I didn’t realize.”
“Jasper, in your current state you should not be out amongst the creatures of the night. They can’t harm me. Stay there. We will talk tomorrow.”
Her footsteps faded as bats zipped through the tall arches of the porch. It wasn’t until they dive-bombed him that Jasper put together they might be more than bats. He ducked, adjusting his hard-on, and slipped through the door.
Chapter 7
Taloot checked around his place, taking in the polished bottles, gleaming back bar, and rows of clean glassware. The liquor and the bloods were stocked and in their respective places. Even the alchemy, his secret sauces, were in the correct order.
<
br /> Huh. These smokin’ hot boys know their stuff. Too bad they don’t swing my way.
“Bon Ami, how was the ouzo?”
Wellie’s curly head cast a shadow on the bar as Taloot looked up.
“The first bottle was heaven. I tucked away the second for the next momentous occasion. I hear the gumbo is the ticket at the Kettle. About time. They needed some secret sauce.”
“In a town of secrets, should the sauce be less?”
“The secrets are for the tourists, you fine ginger. Drink?”
“Sure. Dragonale without the fire. I like my hair.”
“As do I. One impotent dragon, coming up!”
Taloot slid the ale to Wellie. “I’m confident you are not here to seduce me, although I’m persuadable. What brings you in on this fine day?”
“Things are about to shift, and hard. I wondered what you could tell me about Melia. My bro Jasper is all about her.”
“Your bro will blow soon, and everyone in Magic knows it. Melia is the best weapon he could get. He’s damn lucky.”
“How so?”
Taloot leaned forward, resting his chubby forearms on the bar. He gave Wellie a conspiratorial look. “Well, she’s 100% good. A badass, but she has no dark to her.”
“Badass, how? She resembles a tall fairy.”
“Badass as in half immortal. She fights too, if the cause is pure, and she’ll have you counting your balls. That girl can make it rain.”
“Holy shit. What else?”
Taloot dropped his voice. “You ever see the Star Trek shows? The ones with the Borg? Hive mind?”
Wellie nodded, thinking of late-night TV binges while his folks went out. They ostensibly went to the movies, if there were movies in a swamp with a bunch of old conjurors, 500 candles, and a pack of gators.
“Well, they live every-freaking-where, Ginger, all over the world, and they’re connected inside their heads. You aren’t fighting one, you are fighting every descendent of that Muse, in simulcast.”
Taloot paused for effect. “Living or dead.”
“Whoa.” Wellie swigged ale into a mouth gone dry.
“Yes, whoa. She looks like a delightful dumpling, but she’s a balancer for the Universe.”
“May the force be with Jasper, eh?”
Taloot’s grin slid away. “It’s win or die, Ginger Pie. She can’t leave him alive if he blows superbad. Too dark and she has no choice but to balance him right out of existence, black widow style.”
Theo squinted into the sun, then jammed on his sunglasses and stared again. Ice. There is ice coating my jail. Dammit. Now what?
The door snicked shut and Theo glared at Egan and Arbuk, tucked into the side office. The two Star Rangers (who might be former Star Rangers because Magic slammed the portal shut last year and broke the connection) gazed back. In the room, the air was freezing, the Rangers, grinning.
“In case you forgot,” Theo grumbled, “I’m not from Glacier, didn’t grow up on an ice planet, and,” his face shifted, a smoking snout emerging, “I can warm this place up with dragon fire in three seconds flat. Perhaps we should come to an accord on the temperature in here.”
“It’s up to her,” Egan grinned as Topper’s face popped around the door jamb.
Her sassy smile at the joke was infectious and Theo burst into laughter. Welcome back to messing with me. That’s a helluva lot better.
He shook his head, pouring a coffee into his favorite mug and one for Topper before plopping behind the desk. She took the cup, snapped her fingers to restore the temp to 70, and settled in, sipping. Outside, sheets of ice crashed to the ground, sparkling in the hot New Mexico sun.
Theo grinned. “Did you get some sleep?”
“No, I was up all night with a dragon,” she smirked, with a flirty wink.
Heh. “The guardian of your library? Lucky beast. What did you learn?”
“I plan to discuss it with the other witches, but I believe it’s possible to remove Jasper’s spells one at a time, leaving the protection casting in place until the end. That will help us understand what he is, how dark, and how best to bring him through.”
Theo set his mug on his desk. “That sounds promising.” And unstable. Why can’t she let this go?
Topper beamed at him.
“I thought multiple spells had to release together. That’s how it was with my sister and me.” Theo gave her a considering look. Which was no fun. Wandering through time, losing a piece here and there, no control, shit winging everywhere while clueless… man, for Jasper, that has all the elements of a total crapfest.
“I found an old spell that reveals the casting order and their intersections. It’s complicated as hell, Theo, but it is possible. At some point in time, a witch did this, and it worked.”
“Sounds dangerous. What happens if you get it wrong?”
“Nothing good.” Topper wrinkled her nose. “But, compared to yesterday–and by the way Romer mixes a delicious Graveyard–discovering how to help this boy rolls the weight off my shoulders.”
Fresh from the shower, Jasper combed his long hair, yanking through the knots. He let it swing to dry, grabbing jeans and his last clean shirt. Gonna need to handle that. Can’t work dirty. Wish they’d fix the damn car. Except I don’t. Melia is here. But the weirdness, it’s pressing.
Jasper headed toward the sink to brush his teeth.
“Yeeeeoooowwl!”
Dim but growing, a face took shape in the mirror, eyes deepening from fire to blood red.
“Oh, hell no!” Jasper jump-walked out of the bath, clattering down the stairs three at a time and out the back door with a bang. “I will walk ten miles in the desert before I deal with, with, whatever the hell that was.” And, chances are it was from Hell. Jeez.
Hot wind ruffling his damp hair, Jasper headed towards town. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a large animal loping parallel to him, not charging at him, but not moving away either. Keep in your lane, friend. I don’t need another situation today.
The carved door of Kokopelli’s yielded to the cool, dark interior. Taloot waved, and a semi-wasted Wellie gave him a grin.
“Bon Ami! We spoke of you. Some of it was kind. Come have a warm up before you begin.”
Jasper laughed.
“So you’ve caught the eye of the fair Melia?” Taloot grinned, sliding a glass across the bar.
“What’s this?”
“New concoction. If it’s good, I’ll teach you how to make it.”
Jasper swallowed, made a face, and took another sip. “All I can taste is the hot pepper. It’s a bit, uh, holy hell!”
Taloot pushed a glass of milk over, watching him chug it. “Guess I have to work on it.”
“Think so. Excuse me, I’m going to bleed out in the bathroom.”
Wellie’s laugh followed him into the bar’s restroom. Jasper washed his face without looking at the mirror. Nope, not gonna look. Don’t need or want to know.
“Well?” Wellie looked at Taloot, all trace of merry drunkenness vanished.
“Not a demon. At least, not yet. But, it’s in there, Ginger. That drink would near-kill you or me.”
Theo slid into a booth in Kokopelli’s, eyebrows smoking from his dragonale. He felt new ones pushing through as little charred bits drifted to the tabletop. Kid mixed this perfect. No doubt he’s a pro. He looks jumpy though.
The air changed, and Theo’s eyes slid to the door, watching Melia slip through and take a seat at the bar. I don’t think she’s ever been here at night. This is interesting.
“What’s your pleasure?” Jasper’s voice deepened, and she rewarded him with a smile.
“Coffee, cream only, please.”
Jasper started a fresh cup and frothed the milk for it, bestowing the cup with a flourish.
“Perfect. Thank you.” Her smile widened, and, feeling good, he turned to refresh the dragonales of the two dwarfs at the end of the bar. One had a sooty nose, the other missing eyelashes on one side.
“A
gain, gentlemen?”
One dwarf nodded as the other slid off his stool and landed in a heap on the floor, grinning and out cold.
“Perhaps only one,” the dwarf motioned to his friend. “Roko appears to need a nap.”
“One it is.” As he twirled the stein and started the pour, Jasper realized he was having fun. The night felt clean, the worry of the mirror fading. It’s Melia. Her presence lights my dark corners and leaves me feeling peaceful.
He worked the bar, conscious of her gaze, chatting with her in the lulls, loving the sound of her laughter.
Theo watched from the back, assessing. Maybe I was wrong. Melia is her typical confident self, not a love-sick pup casting clarity aside. She’s centered and moving with purpose. She’s decided, that’s obvious, but with eyes wide open.
“You are happier now,” Melia said to Jasper as her second coffee slid in front of her. “There was a turbulence within you when I arrived.”
“Saw something weird,” he told her, lost in her aqua depths. “Can you give me a ride home and talk?”
“I’d love to spend time with you.” Melia appeared to shine, and Jasper staggered, shot through with silver and light. The tips of her hair turned molten and glowing, her eyes sudden seas as he fell in, willing and powerless. As quick as the moment occurred, it left. Jasper shook, looking around the bar, and realized it affected no one else.
“How? What?”
“I think I will sit with Theo and let you do your thing.” She leaned forward to murmur, “I’ll stay until you finish here.”
She picked up her coffee, and the crowd parted as she passed, each straightening, absorbing her light and joy. She settled in next to Theo, blowing the soot away and setting her cup and saucer on the table.
“You’ve had doubts.” Her matter-of-fact tone belied the rich aura swirling around her.
“Yup. Came here to watch him, but seeing you here was a surprise. And, an education.”
“I appear whimsical, Theo, but I don’t move through the world on whims.”
Broke In Magic Page 4
