by Robyn Bachar
An unholy chorus of wails echoed throughout the clearing as I stared up at the night sky, and then for a moment everything was silent. It quickly passed as the sounds of battle started again, but I knew the tide had turned. No more demons for the Prometheans—they’d all been sent back to hell.
Groaning, I sat up and glared at Patience, who was still laid out flat. “You’re a real bitch, you know that?”
She snorted. “Sorry, needed witch blood. Gives that extra punch to a purity spell. It worked. You’re fine. I’d say mission accomplished.”
There was something inherently wrong with my blood aiding in a purity spell, but I couldn’t argue with results. I surveyed our surroundings and frowned at the nearby body of a shapeshifter who’d been riddled with bullets. “Yeah. We win. So you and me are even now?”
“We are. Your hubby’s not.”
“Good to know,” Lex said.
He picked himself up, helped me to my feet, and drew me into his arms. Relieved, I leaned into his embrace. My entire body was heavy, and I felt stuffy, as though I had a nasty flu. I started to ask Patience if I needed to be worried about side effects, but then Faust appeared and pounced on her. He held her close, and my jaw dropped.
“I’m fine, babe,” she said. Her voice was muffled by being pressed against his jacket, and he stroked her hair.
“Babe?” I repeated. Did the summoner queen just call the shadowspawn faerie babe? No, clearly I was hallucinating. Faust turned to me, and I realized with a jolt that he was worried. Deeply concerned about Patience Roberts’ welfare. Lord and Lady…did they shop for mirrored glasses together?
“Are you all right, Catherine?” he asked.
“Umm. More or less.” I looked up at Lex, who just shook his head in bemusement. “Are you okay?” I asked him.
“Fine, sugar.”
“What about the vampire king?” I asked.
That earned an irritated groan from Harrison’s direction, proving that he was still among the unliving. He’d been laid out by the magical blast, but he still had enough energy to flip me off, and I snickered.
“I will return for Zachary after I see to Miss Roberts,” Faust announced.
He and Patience vanished, and I sensed a running theme for this battle. The tough chicks were dropping like flies. Marie and Patience were two of our A-team magicians, and they were hurt. The B-team was probably screwed. At least the gunshots became fewer and farther between, which I hoped meant we were winning.
I looked up at Lex. “Is it safe to call in phase two now?”
“Yeah. Call Portia.”
I called out for my cousin, and she appeared next to us, bloodier than before. Horrified, I shook my head. “What is this—I don’t even—I don’t want to know. Just start phase two.”
“Okay. James and Thomas did well, didn’t they?” she asked, smiling.
“Who?”
“The dragons,” she replied.
“Oh, them. Yes. Are they badly hurt?” I asked.
“Not severely. They’ll be all right.”
She vanished before I could request that she send someone for Harrison to snack on. He continued to look miserable as he forced himself to sit up, and I actually felt sorry for him. “You’re the one who insisted Anthony stay at home,” I pointed out.
Zach scowled. “And I stand by that decision. He wasn’t ready for a fight like this.”
“But now you have no one to nom.” He blinked at me, and I clarified, “No one to drink from. And you can’t bite me. Aside from the obvious Lex-will-punch-you-in-the-face problem, Patience got to me first.” I held up my bloody, dirt-covered hand as evidence, and it only added to the vampire’s tantrum expression.
“Why do you both owe favors to Patience Roberts?” Zach asked. His green eyes were narrow as he peered up at us, and I swallowed hard. Oops. Guess he’d heard that.
“Umm…”
“Not your business. Magician unity and all,” Lex said. Good answer.
“Right. Just ignore it. Anyway, I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like crap. I say it’s high time we blow this popsicle stand.”
Lex and Zach agreed with me. It was too bad Lex and I didn’t have a home to go to, but the guesthouse of the vampire mansion would have to do for now. I called for Portia again and waited for our turn to be ported out of the battlefield.
Chapter Eighteen
“No. We’re not naming our child Beauregard. End of discussion,” I said.
“There have been several Beauregards in the Duquesne family,” Lex argued. “My great-great-uncle was one, and he was a very well-respected guardian.”
“He didn’t happen to fight in the war of northern aggression, did he?” I asked. Lex scowled, and I pointed at him. “See? No way. We’re going to pick a nice, normal name. Like Robert. Or Brian.”
Lex’s expression darkened at the mention of Brian, and I mentally kicked myself. Whoops. Dr. Brian Dannaher wasn’t on Lex’s list of favorite people at the moment, but Lex needed to get over that. Marie really liked him, and though I doubted she’d be planning on marrying a chronicler, they were definitely a couple for the time being, and she was spending most of her time the past few days at his place instead of at the guesthouse. Not that I could blame her for using any excuse to avoid staying at the vampire mansion. I didn’t want to stay here either.
I picked up the “big-book-o’baby-names” Portia had acquired and paged through it for other ideas.
“Zachary’s a nice name,” Faust suggested from behind us. I craned my neck to peer at him from my spot on the ugly couch. I couldn’t complain that he popped in on us too often in the guesthouse because he’d done it when we lived at Lex’s place too.
“Yeah, that’ll never happen either. We’re talking a future guardian, not a future spoiled billionaire.”
“I heard that,” Zach said as he entered the room. Bubba and Cesár growled at him like good guard dogs.
Lex sighed. “You promised to ring the bell before entering.”
“Portia let me in,” he replied.
“Portia!” I snapped. She blinked into the room, all innocent and adorable. “Don’t let the vampire in the house unless we tell you to.”
“But he has news,” she protested.
We all turned our attention to Zach to hear said news, and he took a seat in the ugly chair that matched the ugly couch. It was entirely unfair that I’d gone from Lex’s testosterone palace to Zach’s guesthouse that had been decorated by Antiques Roadshow rejects. It was a floral nightmare up in here.
“My necromancer colleagues and I have finished interrogating the last of the hunters. We were unable to determine the location of the hunters’ base. I did speak with Miss Williams—over the phone, don’t panic. She believes that we’ve put a great dent in their human numbers. But Ms. Roberts has noticed a severe increase in local demon activity. She’s put in a few calls to bring in reinforcements, but for now she is the only one maintaining the wards.”
“How bad is that?” I asked.
“Very,” Zach replied.
Great…at least it was quiet here at the vampire mansion. I never thought I’d feel safer being surrounded by paparazzi, but there was a strange comfort in being monitored by the media whenever we left the grounds. The hunters couldn’t grab us because TMZ would notice. The reporters were having a hell of a time figuring out who we were, and that was amusing. They decided that Lex was either a model, actor or personal trainer, which I found hilarious. Apparently I looked like a secretary. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“Heard back from your reporter friend yet?” I asked.
“Yes. I had to be a bit more…persuasive in my argument, but soon the straights will be seeing the bogeyman in every shadow. There will be increased police presence, curfews—the paranoid works.”
“Good. What’s our next move?” Lex asked.
I shook my head and pointed at Zach. “No, what’s his next move,” I corrected.
Zach quirked a blo
nd brow at me. “You’re putting me in charge?”
“No, we’re still in charge. You’re going to be our man in the trenches. It’s time for you to stop being Bruce Wayne and start being Batman. Gotham’s burning. Go save it.” I folded my arms across my chest, and Lex snorted.
“Do I get to be a superhero too?” he asked.
“Oh, you’re definitely the big blue boy scout.” I patted his knee affectionately before returning my attention to Harrison. “My point is, this is your shot to save magiciankind. I know you’re all ambitious to rule the world with an iron fist. Maybe you should focus on saving it from the demon apocalypse instead.”
“And what will you be doing in the meantime?” Zach asked.
“Pulling strings. Ordering people around. Looking for a new house. Doing Titania and Oberon stuff.” I shrugged. After I’d called down the dragon thunder on the hunter helicopters, the local faerie-blooded population started to fall in line with our rule. Or at least they didn’t openly scorn me anymore, which was an improvement.
“What she means is, she’s not willing to let me go into battle without her, and since she’s not supposed to be fighting in her condition, we’ll be taking an advisory role,” Lex explained.
“Right. I’m not built to be a rollicking badass. In a few months you’d have to roll me onto the field of battle, and that’s just a bad idea.” I glanced back at Faust, who was still lurking behind us. “And I expect you to keep Harrison honest.”
Faust smiled dryly. “Keeping Zachary honest would be a full-time job.”
“Well, you’re hired, so make me proud.”
“Oh, I have a gift for you.” The faerie held out his hand and a top hat appeared in it. I frowned, wondering if he’d pull a rabbit out of it.
“I’m done with hats,” I reminded him.
“You’ll like this one.”
Reluctantly I took it, and turned it around to examine it. Two new tarot cards were stuffed into the band—the Empress and the Sun. Positive cards of motherhood and happiness. My eyes narrowed as I peered up at him. “Were you the one messing around with my hat?” Faust smiled enigmatically, and I rolled my eyes. “Well next time you have something to say, just spit it out. No more clever bread crumbs when there’s a potential apocalypse.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” he asked.
Faeries. Always ready to play the mysterious mentor and kick someone down the quest path. Well, from now on he could mess with Harrison.
I settled the hat on my head and opened the baby-name book again. “So, how about Benjamin?”
About the Author
Robyn Bachar was born and raised in Berwyn, Illinois, and loves all things related to Chicago, from the Cubs to the pizza. It seemed only natural to combine it with her love of fantasy, and tell stories of witches and vampires in the Chicagoland area. As a gamer, Robyn has spent many hours rolling dice, playing rock-paper-scissors, and slaying creatures in MMPORGs.
You can learn more about her at www.robynbachar.com. Robyn can also be found on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RobynBachar.
Look for these titles by Robyn Bachar
Now Available:
Bad Witch
The Importance of Being Emily
Blood, Smoke and Mirrors
Even a bad witch deserves a second chance.
Blood, Smoke and Mirrors
© 2010 Robyn Bachar
Wrongly accused of using her magic to harm, the closest Catherine Baker comes to helping others is serving their coffee. Life as an outcast is nothing new, thanks to her father’s reputation, but the injustice stings. Especially since the man she loved turned her in.
Now the man has the gall to show up and suggest she become the next Titania? She’d rather wipe that charming grin off his face with a pot of hot java to the groin.
Alexander Duquesne has never faltered in his duties as a guardian—until now. The lingering guilt over Cat’s exile and the recent death of his best friend have shaken his dedication. With the murder of the old Titania, the faerie realm teeters on the brink of chaos. His new orders: keep Cat alive at all costs.
Hunted by a powerful stranger intent on drawing her into an evil web, Cat reluctantly accepts Lex’s protection and the resurrected desire that comes along with it. Lex faces the fight of his life to keep her safe…and win her back. If they both survive.
Warning: This book contains one tough and snarky witch, one gorgeous guardian, explicit blood drinking, magician sex, gratuitous violence against vampires and troublemaking Shakespearean faeries.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Blood, Smoke and Mirrors:
For the entertainment portion of our evening Lex bravely—or perhaps foolishly—decided to teach the faeries how to play Texas hold ’em poker. The only cards I own are tarot cards, but he’d brought a deck of playing cards with him in his gym bag, and we used pretzels and chocolates as poker chips. The man displayed the patience of a saint as he tutored my cousins in the basics of the game—I’d learned it when we’d dated, though we’d bet clothing instead of snacks.
Tybalt was enthralled, but Portia was slow to warm to the idea until she figured out how to cheat by magically marking the cards. Poker ended soon after that, and we turned to the Game Show Network for entertainment. Few things are quite as entertaining as watching millennia-old frost faeries shout “No deal, Howie!” at your television screen.
It was a welcome break, and I could almost imagine this was a normal night of fun with my cousins. The addition of Lex didn’t hurt, but it added to the strangeness. He was acting like the Lex I remembered—funny, caring, charming. I wanted to stay angry with him, but having him stand steadfast by my side today made that difficult. He was there when I needed him, which felt weird after what had occurred between us in the past.
A little after midnight I kicked the faeries out and sent them home so Lex and I could get a good night’s sleep before our big day tomorrow. Not that I predicted being able to sleep with the cold dread that’d settled into my stomach, but I was willing to give it a try. I gathered up the empty drinking glasses and the bag of chips we’d devoured, and brought them into the kitchen. When I returned to the living room for the second round of mess, I found the lights had been switched off. Barely visible, Lex stood at the window, staring into the night as he held the curtains aside.
“You need to see this.”
“What is it?”
“Might want to put your shields up in case they try to take a shot at you,” he advised as I crossed the room. With a deep breath I put my shields in place, feeling the energy snap around me and then continue its new odd habit of stretching to include Lex.
“How are you doing that?” I looked up at him, confused.
“Doin’ what?”
“You keep getting through my shields.”
“Huh. Probably ’cause your subconscious knows I’m not going to harm you, so there’s no need to keep me out. Those vamps outside, on the other hand, they’re probably not here to play cards.” Lex pointed into the darkness, and I looked out the window.
“I don’t see anything.” Squinting, I pushed my glasses up on my nose and strained to see what he indicated. My eyes slowly adjusted to the rainy night. The streetlights had been doused, and this time it wasn’t my fault.
“There.” Stepping close to me, he gestured again. “Two in gangways across the street, one behind that oak tree.” Following Lex’s lead, I managed to spot three figures hiding in the shadows, and they were definitely not my neighbors.
“What are they doing?” I asked, my voice dropping to a tense whisper.
“Waitin’. They can’t get in, so they’re waitin’ for us to come out. Sooner or later they’ll get impatient and figure out a way to force their way in. In fact, I’m surprised they haven’t tried to set your building on fire and smoke us out.”
“They can’t, I have a ward against that too. Fire here can’t grow any bigger than a stove burner.”
“Damn, you are good. Still, with
those vultures outside it’s not safe here anymore, Cat. You’ll have to stay somewhere else from now on.” With his point made, he let the curtains fall back into place, plunging the room into darkness, with only the light from the kitchen to see by.
“You’re right,” I reluctantly agreed.
“You could come stay with me.”
“With you?” Surprised by the suggestion, I turned to look up at him. We were standing so close I could feel the heat of his body and the light brush of his breath against my face. Nervous, I took a deep breath and unintentionally inhaled the familiar, unique scent of him. My heartbeat drowned out the steady patter of rain against the windows. With an amazing display of willpower I resisted the urge to bolt, knowing I’d only trip over something (like the cats that were still standing guard over Lex) and break my neck. Instead I took a slow step backward. “Why, you think it’d be easier to babysit me on your own turf?”
“I’m not babysitting you. Really, I’m protecting them from you,” he teased. Grinning, he reached up and tucked a stray lock of hair that’d escaped from my braid back into place behind my ear.
“Thanks, that makes me feel so much better,” I joked, a blush heating my face.
“I try. But seriously, Cat, I’ll be here as long as you need me.” Lex looked down at me, seeming sincere, and I shook my head at him.
“Don’t, Lex. You’re only here on orders. You’ll be gone and on to the next as soon as this assignment is over.”
“What if I don’t want that?”
“What if I do? I’m all for the life-saving thing, but I don’t want you in my life again.”
“Are you sure of that?”
Scowling, I took a steadying breath and prepared to launch into an explanation of the myriad reasons why I wasn’t about to go through another round of heartbreak with him, but before I could speak he leaned down and brushed a kiss across my lips.
