Death's Endless Enchanter

by Ruby Loren

  “But it is! We’re in this together, remember?” Gregory said, and for a moment, he almost looked sad.

  January tossed the feeling away. It was exactly what Gregory wanted her to feel.

  “We’ve still got these Old Ones to worry about and you’re the only thing they may be scared of. Get rid of that, and we’ll both be dead,” he informed her.

  “I’m not trying to un-enchanter myself before we’ve figured things out with them. I just want to get the ball rolling so that after all of this is over, I can be normal again. I don’t want to live forever,” she said, her eyes meeting Joe’s. He was looking thoughtful.

  “I’m with you, January. You should be able to choose how you want to live your life. Whatever you feel is the right choice, is the one you should pick,” her new boyfriend said.

  Gregory made an undisguised noise of disdain. “Trust the shifter who wants to get in your pants to pick your side.”

  January frowned at Gregory’s jarring use of modern language. It was just so wrong for a vampire to…

  “The pack won’t protect you, puppy dog. Now, if someone would just let me finish, all I wanted to say was that you should be careful what you go looking for, or you might find it. If you figure out how to un-enchanter yourself, who’s to say that The Clan won’t work it out, too? Perhaps they already have that information and are dredging it up as we speak! Or…” He paused for effect. “…perhaps it isn’t possible.” His teeth glinted as he barely contained his smile.

  January felt her temper snap.

  “Wha?! Hey!” Gregory yelled when he was hoisted into the air by the thorny vine that had made its way up his leg. His blonde hair flopped down towards the ground. He managed one last glare in January’s direction before the vine carried him down the hallway and unceremoniously tossed him out of the house.

  She turned back to see Joe staring wide-eyed at what had once been a perfectly normal bouquet of flowers. A red rose, blown up to monstrous proportions, unfurled its petals to reveal a row of shining, thorny teeth. January sighed and waved a hand, mentally snipping the tie that linked her power with the rose. Giant petals fell, like blood droplets from a dragon, to the floor of the kitchen. She tilted her head, feeling a stab of regret at the mess that was left of the flowers. No one had ever bought her flowers before.

  “Thanks for being on my side,” she said, simply, turning to face Joe with sincerity in her eyes. He nodded back and she tried not to notice the way that his throat bobbed and his hands balled and un-balled. What he’d seen had made him uncomfortable. Her power had made him feel that way.

  “No problem. I want to be on your side for the foreseeable future. In fact, I want it to be our side,” he said.

  Any disquieting thoughts January suspected he was having must have been tossed away, as the next moment he was in front of her, his mouth only inches away from hers. She breathed in the scent of wolf and wood smoke and raised her eyes to his. She saw a flicker of gold – the wolf within - and then his eyes creased at the corners and his mouth curved up.

  “I’m guessing you probably want to go and beat the vampire up,” he said and waited while January snorted and claimed it wasn’t worth the trouble. “But, tonight you’re mine,” he finished, his hand going to the back of her neck, stroking her there and making her head tilt backwards with the lightest of touches.

  “Definitely,” she agreed, her eyes alighting on his lips before her gaze slid lower, to the blue-grey t-shirt he was wearing that clung to his muscular body, and the dark grey jeans that also fit so very well. Her eyes flicked back up to meet his. She only had a second to note the mutual hunger she saw reflected there, before his lips were on hers, and she slid her hands under that tight t-shirt to feel the smooth, warm skin beneath.

  January was happy to let all thoughts of her enchanter problem slip away when his teeth nipped her earlobe and his lips began their slow trail down her neck.

  She had all the time in the world. She was surely allowed to waste a little of it…

  14

  The shrill ring of the house phone had January blinking in confusion. The last she remembered, she’d unplugged it from the wall.

  She frowned into her pillow before slipping out of bed, casting a wistful glance back at Joe, who was sprawled out beside her on the sheets. He made a muffled sound. January hurried to get the phone, the frown back on her face.

  “Hello,” she said, keeping her voice as flat as possible. Only a couple of people had her home number, and the blazing sunshine streaming through her front window let her know that one of them would be dead to the world right now.

  “Well, it’s about time!” The irate voice on the other end of the line said.

  January frowned some more and wondered why she’d bothered to pick up in the first place. “Hello, mother.”

  “Your father and I have finally had enough!”

  January’s eyebrows shot up. She’d thought they’d finally had enough of her a long time ago. But it doesn’t seem to stop her from calling, January thought. “What seems to be the problem this time?” She asked, not bothering to check her tone. It wasn’t as if her mother was listening to her, anyway.

  “Your little deal with the wolf pack. I don’t know how you’ve got that new leader under your thumb with your manipulative unnatural ways but I’m disgusted by it. The wolves should be the only pack. It’s their job to keep the other shifters in line – not yours!”

  January rolled her eyes at this old argument. She couldn’t resist smirking when she thought about what her mother’s reaction would be if she knew exactly who was lying in her bed right now. It would probably just confirm all of her dark suspicions.

  “Well, that’s the way it is,” January said, feeling tired already. Then again, it wasn’t as if she’d actually got much sleep last night… “I’m not forcing anyone to be in the pack. Anyone can leave and anyone can join up,” she added, thinking of the tiger she’d met in the bakery and half-wishing that the last rule wasn’t the case.

  “That’s not what we’ve heard! Everyone is saying that you’ve got magical powers and that the whole of Witchwood is under your spell!”

  January tried not to snort at the level of implied control and skill. Carnivorous plants were currently her most impressive party trick. “Whose side of the family do you think my magic came from?” January asked, pretending to sound sincere.

  Her mother spluttered on the other end of the line and January wondered if her parents would fight that one out later. Perhaps they’d find another family black sheep to blame it on, but as far as she knew, she was the only black sheep - and unicorn - in the gene pool.

  “We’re leaving,” her mother said.

  January blinked in surprise. Perhaps this was going to be a good morning after all! “Where are you going?”

  “Paris! We’ll meet up with…” Her mother trailed off.

  January tried not to mash her face into her palm. She wasn’t supposed to know where her exiled sister had been banished to, but this was a pretty big hint.

  “Great, I’m sure you’ll like Paris,” she said, grudgingly thinking they’d probably enjoy the company there. During her time in Paris, killing off old vampires - and even a shifter out of self defence - she’d hardly made friends with the supernatural community. Her parents would fit right in.

  “I’m sure we will,” her mother said.

  January narrowed her eyes at the handset. Was her mother hoping that she’d beg her to stay? She smiled a little. First her parents had practically forced her to leave for Paris, when the alternative had been to keep her second nature locked up forever. Now it was their turn to make the trip. Hopefully, they wouldn’t return.

  “Bye,” she said and put the phone down.

  “This keeps buzzing.”

  January looked up as Joe handed her mobile phone to her and then stumbled back towards the bedroom. Not a morning person then, January thought and glanced down at her phone. There were five missed calls. She was more
popular than she thought.

  As she was looking at the screen her phone buzzed again. “Hello?” She said, picking up.

  “Hey, it’s Ollie here, manager of James Phoenix…” There was a pause, presumably as Ollie smacked himself on the forehead for introducing himself the way he would when calling someone in the industry.

  “What’s up?” She said, walking back towards the bedroom, so she could watch Joe put on his clothes again.

  “Oh, nothing much. I was just calling to ask if you’d seen the charts recently.”

  January frowned. Charts?

  “The music ones,” he clarified and January made a non-committal noise. It can’t have been the response Ollie was looking for because he sighed. “We’re number one again! The new track, ‘True Diamond’, is number one in the UK, and ‘Black Wolf Shadow’ is still at number three. Go out and do something crazy to celebrate! Woohoo!” He said, sounding excited but confused at the same time.

  “Woohoo!” She echoed back, a little weakly.

  Joe shot her a puzzled look.

  “Thanks for letting me know, Ollie. It’s great news,” she finished and was about to hang up when he cleared his throat.

  “Could you, uh, check that Leah knows, too? Okay, thanks, bye!” He said and hung up. Making a run for it, more like, January thought and wondered whether she should pass on the info. It would probably only annoy the anti-fame drummer.

  “What was that?” Joe asked.

  January shook her head at him. She’d barely woken up and it had already been a hell of a morning. “Nothing important. My parents hate our packs so much that they’re moving to Paris, and the band I play bass for has a track that’s at number one in the charts,” she said and frowned. “Oh, and I guess there’s another track at number three.”

  Joe tilted his head to see if she was kidding and realised she wasn’t. “Well, uh, congratulations on the track and, uh…”

  “Congratulations on my parents moving, too. Thanks!” January finished off for him to let him know exactly where things stood.

  The doorbell rang and January stared towards the sound in surprise. What had got into everyone this morning?

  She slowed her walk to the door when she realised that the ward which usually told her exactly who was calling wasn’t working - despite her having replaced all the wards last night, after Joe had eventually fallen asleep. She felt around with her magic and all there was, was a big empty nothing. She blinked and realised that there was nothing around the house either.

  That was bad news.

  “Who is it?” She called down the corridor, mentally preparing herself for battle. How had Bob managed to strip away her wards again without her feeling anything? She’d have to ask Tor about that.

  If she lived through the next five minutes…

  Joe appeared behind her, his face questioning. She motioned for him to stay back. Anything could be about to happen.

  “It’s Morgan Bracken… we met yesterday in the bakery?” A deep voice said.

  January bit back her surprise. She heard Joe growl under his breath and resolved to explain it all to him later. She’d forgotten to mention the potential pack snitch.

  “Coming,” she said, walking to the door and pulling it open, her magic on guard - just in case.

  “Hi,” Morgan said, sounding far more awkward than when they’d met yesterday.

  “Hi,” January echoed, not about to make things any easier for him.

  His shoulders lifted slightly with tension, as he searched for words to say. “I noticed you play in a band with the pop artist, James Phoenix,” he said.

  January felt her surprise double. “I notice that you found out where I live,” she commented.

  One side of Morgan’s mouth curved up for a fraction of a second. January gave him her sternest look, but he didn’t know to look worried.

  “It wasn’t rocket science. So, you’ve got a song at number one in the charts.”

  “So I’ve been told,” January said, feeling her patience wearing thin. Was there a point to this conversation? Her eyes drifted around the doorway while she waited for Morgan to get it together and ask for her autograph, or whatever the hell it was that he wanted. Her breath caught when she spotted something hanging from the bricks above her door. Oh… this is bad, she thought and almost missed what Morgan said next.

  “…Stop,” he said.

  She blinked and frowned.

  “You have to stop. You have to quit the band before too many people know who you are. The more you’re in the public eye, the more of a liability you become. People will be watching, and there’s every chance that someone will find out your secret… our secret,” he said.

  January raised an eyebrow at him. “What secret would that be?” She said, just wanting to be pedantic. Her mind was full of other problems right now. Riling a tiger shifter felt like a good way to let off steam.

  Her phone buzzed in her hand. She glanced down at the screen to discover Ryan had texted her. Timing is everything, she thought with an inner smile, after she’d read his message.

  “You’re a shifter. Our kind has to keep the secret! As a new member of your pack, I just thought it would be good to remind you of that before something more serious happens. As a friend, I mean,” he added with a smile, that was meant to look honest and caring.

  January only just managed to resist an eye roll. “You mean that the Official Board of Shifters might make something more serious happen, when you go and report to them?”

  Morgan’s face clouded with confusion almost immediately, but January had spotted the split second of panic. “I don’t know what…”

  January raised a hand to cut him off, still trying to ignore the thing she’d seen above the door. “The last employed enforcer is at odds with the Board, so it makes sense that they’d send someone else. It also makes sense that they wouldn’t send just anyone to deal with a pack as strange as mine. I’m willing to bet we have quite the reputation, too,” she added, conspiratorially. His mouth opened but she held out a silencing finger. “I’m afraid you stick out like a sore thumb, Rolf.”

  His face darkened at her casual use of that name.

  His real name.

  Rolf Garda said nothing, but January noticed the way his hands weren’t hanging as loosely by his sides as they had been. She could also feel the tension rolling off Joe, who had come up behind her, presumably when he’d smelt tiger.

  January sighed, and folded her arms, hoping to disperse the energy. “Look, I know being an enforcer is important. I’ve had it all explained to me,” she said, trying not to think about how close she’d come to ripping Ryan’s head off when he’d sprung the truth on her. “I’d rather we worked together than against each other. I’m not hiding anything here, and you can still join the pack. Let’s just… try to get along, okay?”

  Perhaps having everything out in the open would mean that Rolf the tiger would stop behaving so sneakily. Unfortunately, she suspected that it was probably part of his nature, and the reason he’d been chosen. Her face clouded. A name hadn’t been the only information that Ryan had included in his text.

  “That sounds fair,” Rolf said, sliding his hands back into his pockets.

  Behind her she sensed Joe relaxing too. Crisis averted, she thought.

  “So, you’ll leave the band then?” He raised a dark eyebrow.

  January smiled back at him. “No,” she said.

  Rolf looked like he might be about to choke up a hairball. “But the Board…”

  January made a sound of annoyance. “Are the Board aware that I’m a bass player, and that the band isn’t actually a band, it’s just called James Phoenix? In case you hadn’t noticed, my name is not James Phoenix. Ergo, I am not famous and never will be - or want to be,” she added, for good measure. It was a little late for that in the shifter world, not that she minded it as much as she once had. Her supernatural fame could well be one of the reasons why The Clan hadn’t killed her yet. If they made her d
eath too obvious, it could be traced back to them. After spending thousands of years hidden and forgotten by the world, while they manipulated it, she doubted they’d want their secret to get out now.

  “It’s still a risk,” Rolf said, his voice deepening into the start of a growl. Behind her, January heard Joe growl in response.

  She wished she could bash their heads together. Why didn’t they understand that talking things out was a far better way of solving a problem?

  Especially when she was so good at arguing…

  “Has the Board forgotten about my magic? Even if anyone was watching, it would be simple to make them forget all about it.” She shook her head. “This is stupid! I’m a bass player working behind the scenes.” She snorted, finally letting some of her animalistic annoyance show through. “I have bigger problems than the Board’s views on fame. The death curse you walked straight through being one of them. I need to spend some time working out why you aren’t dead.”

  Rolf’s eyes widened when he followed her gaze above the door and no doubt saw more than just the edge of red paint that January had noticed and smelled. There were also two hazel sticks on either side of the door. Both of them were shattered.

  “Death curse?” Rolf started to back away.

  January stepped out of the house and looked up at the broken symbols. “Yes, definitely. It was probably meant to kill the first person through the door.” She tilted her head. “Or the first person to walk up to the door.”

  Rolf’s tan skin turned a few shades paler.

  “Someone broke it?” Joe asked, sounding just as disappointed as January felt inside.

  “It looks that way,” she admitted, running her hands over the broken symbols and feeling the familiar thrum of the red magic. She frowned when something familiar flashed under her fingertips, but it was gone before she could get a good impression of what it really was. She bit her lip. Her mind told her that it didn’t make sense.

  It was something she’d think about later.

  “Why would there be a death curse here? Is someone working against the pack? What have you done?” Rolf enquired, making his questions sound more like accusations.