“It is,” I agreed. “Although … I don’t know what comes next for you. I don’t think you can live out here without eventually succumbing to your baser instincts.”
“That won’t be a problem.” Gillian insisted. “I will stay with Caroline until the end and then we will cross over together. That was always my hope.”
“You want to die?” Caroline had told me that, but until this moment I couldn’t be sure she had told the truth. “You’re okay with that?”
“I’m okay with peace,” Gillian corrected. “I will finally have it for the first time in … well, forever. That is all I want.”
“And the rest?” I gestured toward the beaten women. They were bruised and bloodied, but still alive. “Can you let the vengeance go?”
“I let the vengeance go a long time ago,” Gillian replied. “I don’t want vengeance. I simply want peace.”
“Then take it.” I stepped away from her, creating a clear path so she could escape. “Go with Caroline. Take care of each other until the end. After that … I hope you find what you’re looking for on the other side.”
“Oh, I think I will.” I tried not to cringe when Gillian smiled, showing off two rows of jagged teeth. “Anything is better than this.”
I could definitely see how she would believe so.
30
Thirty
I found Kade sitting at the picnic table close to trailer row when the cleanup was almost completed. He’d been quiet since it happened, his hands thankfully back to normal and resting on his knees. I decided to give him time before approaching, but ultimately I couldn’t ignore my heart.
“Hi.”
Kade glanced up. “Hey.” He looked unbelievably weary. “Do you want to sit down?”
“Sure.” He was acting a bit odd, stiff and formal. I figured he was uncomfortable talking about what had happened. He would simply have to get over that. “So … I always knew you had magic hands, but that was pretty impressive.”
Kade barked out a laugh. I’d clearly caught him off guard. “You cut right to the heart of matters, don’t you?”
“That is often my plan.” I grabbed one of his hands and flipped it over so I could study his palm. “Did it hurt?”
“No. Does magic often hurt?”
“Not really, but it was your first time,” I replied. “Sex hurts the first time for women. I thought maybe magic might be the same in some cases.”
“Ha, ha.”
I smirked. “I’m glad to see your sense of humor is okay. I worried it might have been damaged during the fight.”
“Yeah, well … are you okay?” His gaze was earnest as he looked me over. “I didn’t even check on you after. I’m such a selfish idiot sometimes.”
“Hey, you’re talking about my boyfriend. I happen to like him.” I wagged a finger to let him know I was kidding. “Those are fighting words where I come from.”
“Yeah.” Kade looked to the sky. “I saw you talking to Gillian. I tried to come out of it long enough to help, but … my head was kind of a blur.”
“It’s okay.” He looked so forlorn I could do nothing but shift closer, wrapping my arm around his back and resting my head on his shoulder to share a bit of my warmth for a change. “Gillian didn’t want to hurt me. I saw it the second she arrived, the way she searched the battlefield. Her soul is intact. It’s ravaged and brittle, but it’s still intact.”
“Do you think it was wise to let her go knowing that she might kill and eat people?”
I shrugged, noncommittal. I’d worried about that very thing myself. “I don’t think she will.”
“You told me wendigos can’t survive for more than a week without feeding,” Kade pointed out. “What happens when she’s starving and no longer under the thumb of a megalomaniac?”
“She wants peace. That’s what she told me.”
“She might not be able to fight her inner urges.”
“Then she’ll kill herself.” Even as I said the words, I knew they were true. “Caroline is already dying. She’s Gillian’s last tie to this place. If Gillian can’t wait it out, she’ll end things on her own terms and wait for Caroline on the other side.”
“How can you know that?”
I shrugged. “They love each other.”
“Like … they’re girlfriends?”
I snickered at his expression. “Like there are many different kinds of soulmates. I think, in this life, Caroline ended up being more than Gillian’s salvation. In essence, she was also her soulmate.”
“That’s a nice way of looking at it.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a nice woman.” I smiled when he chuckled and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth, stroking his hair as I turned serious. “Do you want to talk about what happened to Liz?”
“Not really.”
“Are you sure?”
Kade sighed. “I don’t know what there is to say. I killed her.”
“You didn’t have a choice.”
“I also didn’t have control,” Kade argued. “At some point I realized I should stop what I was doing and managed to accomplish just that, but she was already gone by that point.”
“She was going to die no matter what,” I reminded him. “We talked about it over lunch. I was going to kill her. If I couldn’t, it would’ve fallen to Max or Raven. We couldn’t let her leave this place alive. She was too dangerous.”
“Yeah, well, it was different when I thought someone else was going to do it,” Kade admitted. “Not that I wanted you to have to do it,” he added hurriedly. “I just didn’t think I was going to be the one … and not in the way I did it.”
“Yeah. How did that happen? All I know is that you were suddenly next to me and your hands were on fire.”
“I don’t know.” Kade shook his head. “I was watching you fight, my heart pounding a mile a minute, and I kept thinking there had to be something I could do to help. The next thing I knew, my hands were tingling, and when I looked down I saw the flames. Somehow I simply knew what to do.”
“You did the right thing.” I rubbed my nose against his cheek, keeping my body flush against his. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think it will be easier going forward. You got over the main barrier and now you’ll be able to call the magic easier.”
“I still don’t know if I want magic.”
“I don’t see where you have much choice. It’s a part of you. It has always been a part of you.”
“But I didn’t know about it. That somehow made it easier.”
“Well, you know about it now.” I wasn’t sure if taking a pragmatic approach was the right way to go, but I committed all the same. “Max said it earlier. We can’t go back in time. We can only move forward. We’ll move forward with this together. I’ll be right by your side when something comes up, and we’ll figure it out … because that’s what we do.”
Kade smiled as he slid me a sidelong look. “When did you turn into an optimist?”
That was a great question. I had pessimistic leanings. There was no doubt about that. “Maybe it happened when I realized that the wendigo wasn’t the real monster in this story. Maybe it happened when a mother took time out of her day to talk to me about her special son and explain how she was worried that he would never get the life he deserved, and I found myself telling her that he would be fine as long as he kept the strong foundation he already had.”
“Wow!” Kade made a hilarious face. “You’ve had quite the day, huh?”
“It’s nowhere near the day you’ve had. In fact … .” I didn’t get a chance to finish because Max picked that moment to approach us. He was dirty and grimy from the fight – something I rarely saw – but he appeared otherwise happy. “Hello, Max. How are you doing?”
Max shot me a cheeky wink as he smiled and wiped his hands on the paper towel in the middle of the table. “Oh, well, I can’t complain. We had a war that pretty much fizzled out. We saved a wendigo and set her free on the world with nothing but a promise that s
he wouldn’t kill. Oh, and my son used magic for the first time. All in all, a fairly good day.”
I scowled under the weight of his stare. “If you’re going to give me crap for letting Gillian go … well … I don’t care. I couldn’t kill her.”
“Releasing her wasn’t part of the plan,” Max reminded me. “We were supposed to kill her. She’s still a threat to this area.”
“She’s not a threat. She’s … different. Not everything falls into a neat little category or box.” I realized what I’d said only after it escaped my mouth, Raven’s words from earlier in the week coming back to haunt me. Oh, geez. That was something to dwell on later.
“I agree she’s not a threat,” Max said after a beat. “Still, we should’ve discussed it before you cut her loose. As it stands, I believe she’ll keep to herself and take care of Caroline. They seem quite devoted to each other.”
“Yeah.”
“As for the men, I placed a call a few minutes ago.” Max smoothly changed topics. “As soon as Liz died, they returned to their former selves. It was as if a switch got thrown. They started babbling and, if what I’m hearing is true, they don’t seem happy with their enslavement.”
I widened my eyes. “They remember it?”
“Apparently so. They saw very little of us. Their stories will revolve around the women they married and were sacrificed for. I think that’s a fitting punishment for those who ran before the fighting truly started.”
“I guess.” I rubbed my neck, unsure what to make of the development. “So, that’s it? We’re done here.”
“We have another day of work, and it will be a busy one,” Max corrected. “We gave out a ton of free vouchers to placate the guests earlier. We will be slammed from opening until closing tomorrow.”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.”
“Other than that, we’re done.” Max focused his full attention on Kade. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“I just want to sleep on it right now,” Kade replied, rubbing his hand over my thigh as he forced a smile for his father’s benefit. “I don’t know what to think about it. I’m exhausted. I really just want to throw Poet over my shoulder and hide in our new trailer until dawn.”
Max chuckled. “I think you should definitely do that. We can talk about the rest during our trip to Michigan. It’s going to be a long drive.”
“Sounds good.” Kade heaved out a sigh as he got to his feet and extended his hand. “Shall we?”
I slipped my hand in his and grinned. “Sure.”
“Great.” Kade took me by surprise when he grabbed me around the waist and threw me over his shoulder, causing me to squeal as he playfully patted my rear end.
“What are you doing?”
“I believe there’s a saying about victors and spoils and such,” Kade replied. “Well, today I’m the victor.”
“Does that mean I’m the spoils?”
“That means you’re the only thing I want right now.”
Oh, who wouldn’t melt at that? “Then let’s spoil away.”
“That’s exactly what I plan to do.”
Serious discussions could wait … at least for a few hours. For now we had each other and I recognized Kade needed quiet time. He was about to enter a new world, and there was officially no looking back.
Want more? Sign up for my mailing list. It’s for new releases only, no spam.
http://eepurl.com/Y6bkf
About the Author
I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read my novels. I have a particular brand of humor that isn’t for everyone – and I know that.
If you liked the book, please take a few minutes and leave a review. An independent author does it all on their own, and the reviews are helpful. I understand that my characters aren’t for everyone, though. There’s a lot of snark and sarcasm in my world – and I know some people don’t like that.
Special thanks go out to Heidi Bitsoli and Phil VanHulle for correcting the (numerous) errors that creep into a work of fiction.
If you’re interested in my future works, follow me on Facebook, Twitter or join my mailing list. I do not believe in spam. I only announce new releases or free promotions.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
For more information:
[email protected]
Books by Amanda M. Lee
An Avery Shaw Mystery
Who, What, Where, When, Die
If it Bleeds, it Leads
Buried Leads
Shot Off The Presses
The Preditorial Page
Misquoted & Demoted
Headlines & Deadlines
Misprints & Mistakes
Bylines & Skylines
Off the Record
Unwritten & Underwater
Extra! Extra! Dead All About It
A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery
Any Witch Way You Can
Every Witch Way But Wicked
Witching You Were Here
Witching on a Star
Something to Witch About
Witch Me Luck
Life’s a Witch
Charms & Witchdemeanors
The Trouble With Witches
Murder Most Witchy
A Witch Before Dying
A Breath of Witchy Air
A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Short
Careful What You Witch For
Wicked Brew
On a Witch and a Prayer
You Only Witch Once
The Christmas Witch
Bewitched
A Solstice Celebration
Witchdependence Day
Happy Witchgiving
Merry Witchmas
Four-Leaf Clover
Thistle While You Work
Landon Calling
I Dream of Twila
How Aunt Tillie Stole Christmas
A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Fantasy
Witchy Tales
A Witch In Time
Make A Witch
A Witchmas Carol
All My Witches
Close Encounters of the Witchy Kind
An Aisling Grimlock Mystery
Grim Tidings
Grim Offerings
Grim Discovery
Grim Reunion
Grim Expectations
Grim Holiday
Grim Rising
Grim Tempest
Grimlock Family Shorts
Grim Like Me
Grim & The City
Now & Grim
Grim & Bear It
A Mystic Caravan Mystery
Freaky Days
Freaky Lies
Freaky Hearts
Freaky Games
Freaky Places
A Charlie Rhodes Cozy Mystery
The Bigfoot Blunder
The Chupacabra Catastrophe
The Werewolf Whoops
A Moonstone Bay Cozy Mystery
Witchin’ USA
Witch Out of Water
Covenant College
Awakening
Whispering
Conjuring
Waxing & Waning
Graduating
Living Covenant Trilogy
Rising Covenant
Dark Covenant
Eternal Covenant
Dying Covenant Trilogy
Haunted Covenant
Desperate Covenant
Everlasting Covenant
Elemental Witches of Eternal Springs
Bat Out Of Spell
Spell on Earth
Hotter Than Spell
Spell or High Water
Freaky Rites (A Mystic Caravan Mystery Book 6) Page 28
