"What's up, Chief."
"I need you." His voice told me not to make any jokes about his phrasing.
"Where."
"Jason's."
"Oh, dear Lady, no."
"No. He's okay, but get down here."
I sighed and hung up, looking forlornly at my shower. "Soon, and you will be mine," I whispered and grabbed my keys. "I'll be back," I told Josie as I walked past her.
"Where you going?"
"See the chief."
She just chuckled.
It took twenty minutes to get out to Jason's trailer and I got lost twice. Chief had to flag me down as I was driving by before I saw it nestled in the woods.
Slamming on the brakes, I fishtailed to a stop, backed up, and turned in. I shut off the car and got out, almost frantically. "What happened?"
"I'll let him tell you."
I walked up the wooden steps to his trailer and pulled the door open without knocking. He was lying on the couch holding a cold beer to the large knot on his forehead. His shirt was sliced open, but luckily his flesh wasn't, and his jeans were charred from ankles to knees.
"What the hell happened?"
"Hey, Dot. Good to see you, too."
"Oh, sweetie. I'm sorry. Hello," I said as I crossed the distance between us, sitting down on the couch next to him. "Let me see." I reached over and pulled the bottle away from his forehead.
Gasping, I gently touched my fingertips to the lump, trying very hard not to put any pressure on it. Even the gentle contact caused him to wince. "Leigheas," I canted, intent on healing the worst of it and letting the power flow freely from my hand. His face visibly relaxed after just a moment of work.
"Feel better?" I didn't stop pouring power into him even though I asked.
"Yeah. That's pretty amazing."
"Talk. Tell me what happened."
"I was having a quick nap before I had to go into work tonight, when I felt something hitting the wards Dwight helped me place on the property around the trailer. I went out to investigate and I find three witches I'd never seen before testing the defenses."
"What did they do when they saw you?"
"Kind of laughed and then they started bashing the wards with their power."
I had a sinking feeling I knew what they were looking for. "How did you get hurt?"
"I was pouring power back into the wards. That frustrated the hell out of them. They started to coordinate their attacks, two weakening the wards and one attacking me when she could manage to break through. Set fire to the ground around me once and then hit me in the head with a ball of force. The rips in my shirt were from a thorn wall. Luckily it was rooted, and I had room behind me to roll."
"I'm taking it they didn't get through," I said and finished the healing. He wasn't perfect, but the swelling had gone down immensely. I was getting better at it.
"No. I almost went down when the sphere hit me in the head but moved away from them to feed the wards. Luckily Bill showed up and scared 'em off."
"What did they look like?"
"Old. Not their faces or their bodies, more like they'd traveled through time. They were wearing beat up leather outfits and weren't speaking English."
"Did you recognize the language?"
"I don't know. It was very guttural, but not German. There weren't a lot of syllables."
That didn't help at all. "I'm glad you're safe."
"For now," Bill added from the kitchen, slowly sipping a beer and not looking happy at all.
"What?"
"Think they were looking for your new friends?"
"Actually, yes. Yes, I do."
"New friends?" Jason chimed in. "This have something to do with that vampire the other night?"
I nodded. "His entire clan but him and his sister were wiped out by these witches. They seem to be looking for them outside of town."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
"You need to get them out of your house, Dot."
I turned and gave Chief a withering glare. "I will not. I have reinforcements coming from Ashville to help them and bought them a house. But, until they're ready, they're staying right where they are. Where I can protect them."
"When are you going to realize not everything is your fight? When are you going to quit putting yourself, and the rest of us, in danger?" He barely got the words out through his anger.
He could have slapped me across the face, and it would have stung less. Jason must have sensed me tense, he put his hand on my arm. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. They're vampires, Dot. They're not witches. They're not coven. Why is it up to you to protect them? You've ignored everybody when it comes to them. The minute he asked for help, you've been so focused on them, you stopped worrying about us."
I stood up, shrugging Jason's comforting hand off me. I didn't need to be comforted, I needed to be restrained. If one more word came out of Chief's mouth, he was going to need an ambulance. I tore my hate filled gaze from his pompous ass and looked down at Jason. One look, and I knew from his face, he was afraid of what was coming next.
"Could you please contact Dwight? I want you to check on him and then I would like the two of you in town until I can put an end to this mess. One way or another. Call me when you do get into town. I'll meet you at Farrell's motel and pay for your stay since all of this seems to be my fault, anyway." I paused to shoot Chief a scathing glare.
"Dot, would–"
I interrupted Chief with a hand. I held it up and looked at him, daring him with my eyes to say one more fucking word before turning back to Jason. "Could you do that for me? Please?"
"Yes, Lady."
"Thank you, Jason. I'm very sorry this happened, but you did awesome. And thank Dwight for me for his ward work."
"You're welcome, and I will."
I stood up and turned, taking a very long and deep breath, letting the oxygen clear my head. "The place looks awesome by the way. I don't even see a single beer bottle. Proud of you," I said, never taking my eyes off the slowly reddening chief of police blocking my way to the door. "Now if you'll both excuse me, I had just gotten home and was on my way into the shower."
I strode forward intently, not planning on stopping even if he didn't move out of my way. Luckily for him, he did, but he was also dumb enough to try to stop me from leaving by putting his hand on my arm and opening his mouth to talk.
"Poll oscailte," I shouted, holding my hand over the floor of the trailer beneath his feet. Shuddering the whole trailer, a hole formed beneath him, dropping him to the ground below, the floor of the trailer level with his chest.
Chief glared at her, clearly pissed. "Dot!"
"Sorry about that, Jason. I'll come and fix that later once you get the shit out of the hole."
His chuckle was music to my ears and helped drown out the shouts of Chief's obscenities as I walked past him and out the door, calmly getting into my vehicle and heading home.
My sobbing the entire ride home tarnished my victory.
CHAPTER 11
The great thing about showers is when you're standing under the water, nobody can tell you're crying…
It also didn't hurt that I was alone in my bathroom.
When the tears finally stopped, I shut the water off, holding the shower handle and staring at the white tile of the wall until the steam finally faded and the cool air made me uncomfortable.
Opening the sliding door, I grabbed the towel off the rack and rubbed its softness against my puffing eyes. I was glad I hadn't run into Josie when I got home, she would have known in an instant something had gone horribly wrong. I didn't want to talk about it.
I wiped the beads of water from my arms and shoulders before cocooning myself in my robe. Without any other thoughts, I wrapped the towel around my hair and crawled under the protective shielding of my comforter.
Let the monsters come.
I may have dozed off, I might not have. I was too exhausted emotionally to tell. For the first time since I'd left hom
e, I debated the wisdom of coming to Cedar Falls.
It's not too late to tuck tail and go home.
But then I'd have to face my mother. And the goddess wants me here.
Are you sure?
Pretty sure?
It wasn't the first time I'd argued with myself, but it was the first time I didn't win. A soft knock on my door put an end to it. I even thought about asking who it was, but I didn't. I just lay there, letting my bed warm me and hold me.
The door opened anyway. It had to be Josie.
"I know you're awake."
"I know I didn't say come in."
"I know you wanted me to."
"No, Josie. I really didn't. If you could leave me alone for a few years, I'd appreciate it."
"Now I know you don't mean that."
She lay on the bed next to me on top of the covers and threw her arm over me, pressing her forehead into my exposed neck. "I know you don't want to talk about it."
"Well, at least you got something right."
"Yeah. I'm just here to comfort you and listen to you verbally abuse me. If that makes you feel better, go on ahead."
I rolled my head back until I could almost see her face. "I'm sorry. I know you're just trying to help. Forgive me?"
"Of course. I wasn't kidding. Whatever helps you feel better, that's what I'm here for. Just lay off the hair. I know it's not as pretty as yours."
"Oh, Josie." I flipped over and hugged her to me. "Please stop saying shit like that, you break my heart and I can't take any more."
"I was just making a joke trying to make you smile. Lighten up!"
"Berating yourself would never make me laugh. You should have said your taste in décor. Then I would have laughed."
"But I don't find your utter lack of chic decorating sense a laughing matter."
I chuckled as the tears started falling again. I remembered exactly why Josie was my best friend.
"How did you know?"
"Chief called and told me."
I snarled instead of cried.
"Easy, Tex. He knows he done fucked up. I guess Jason ripped him a new one for the better part of an hour before helping him out of the hole you threw under his feet. Impressive. Did you really call him a piece of shit?"
I nodded, not elaborating. "He's lucky I was worried about blowing the trailer apart. I would have blasted him all the way to Syracuse."
"So, not agreeing with him in any way, shape, or form, I have to ask. Were you so pissed off at him because there was an inkling of truth behind his words?"
"If he had talked to me and told me how he felt, I might have listened and thought about it. But you know Captain Arrogant-ass. He's got to be pissed off and snarky about it. Not to mention he did it in front of Jason."
"And you wonder why I like women."
"I'm just as bad as he is."
"But you have an excuse, I know your mother. At least you admit that you have a problem."
I pulled back from her a little. "Do you think I'm too focused on protecting strangers and not worried enough about my own coven?"
"If you had asked me before I met our houseguests, I would have nodded reluctantly. Now, I know you were right in doing so. They needed your protection and you had no idea Jason was going to get attacked. If you had, you would have got him out of that shitty trailer beforehand. So, no. You are doing just fine."
"The other vampires will be here tomorrow. I sign for their house in the morning. We're going to ward that house until it is a fortress and make sure they have lines of communication open to us at all times. I am personally going to find these rogue assholes and show them the errors of their ways and send them to the goddess for judgement if needed. That was my plan all along," I said angrily and determinedly.
Josie actually patted my head. "You do share some blame. You need to communicate your plans with those around you better. I knew. Jimmy caught some of it last night when he wasn't staring at you adoringly. But the chief of police and the alpha asshole of the coven, didn't have a clue."
"Yeah. If he wasn't so damn difficult to talk to half the time, I might have." I sounded defensive, even to my ears.
"Or if you weren't so busy staring at his dick and forgetting about everything else…"
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that. Zorch marks on a white comforter are a bitch to get out."
She chuckled. "Our guests are up. I got them fed and sitting in front of the television, watching a movie. Do you need anything?"
"No. Leave me here to wallow in self-misery."
"Glass of wine?"
"And one of those."
"Be right back."
I pulled the towel off my head and let my hair flop on the pillow behind me, pulling the comforter over my head and hiding. The bottom of a wine glass nudged my hand. Without looking, I reached up and touched the hand holding the stem. It definitely wasn't Josie's. It was too rough and rugged.
If she let that asshole into my house, burning a hole in my comforter is going to be the least of her worries…
I let go of the hand and used it to peel the cover off my head slowly. I sighed in relief when Jason's concerned face came into view.
"Jason?"
"Yes, Lady."
"What are you doing here?"
"I did as you asked about Dwight, but I missed the beginning of my shift. Told the foreman I'd been in a minor accident and had an injury to my head. He gave me the night off. I was going to call, but I wanted to check on you in person."
"You didn't have to do that."
"I think you missed the part where I said I wanted to."
I smiled at him and took the offered glass of wine, taking a sip and setting it on the nightstand beside me. Sitting up, I propped the pillows behind me and scooted up, leaning against the headboard.
"Sorry about your trailer…"
He let out a short bark of laughter. "Totally worth it to see that."
I gave him a small sorry-not-sorry smile. "Yeah. I wish I could have seen his little feet dangling below the trailer. I should have crawled under there and taken some pictures. Heard you gave him an earful before helping him out."
Jason blushed. "Yeah. I feel as though I should explain something to you, so you understand him a little better. Can we sit and talk somewhere?"
"There's half a bed right here next to me. Park your butt."
"You don't mind?"
"Nope."
He walked around and sat against the headboard, tucking one leg under the other. "I think I should start with my sister…"
"Go ahead. I hardly know anything about her."
"I loved my sister dearly. She was sort of my personal hero when I was younger. As we got older, she was so much better at everything than me, I had to stop comparing myself to her or I would have gone insane. One thing she was never good at was making decisions. She was too carefree for that. She would wait until everything fell into place on its own and would deal with the aftermath or just sit back and smile when it did work out. It drove Chief nuts. It even drove me nuts. I don't think the rest of the Coven ever noticed or had a problem with it. Chief and I used to roll our eyes a lot and then laugh about it to each other."
"Sounds like Josie."
Jason nodded slowly. "I can see that."
"So, what does this have to do with me?"
"The longer my sister was high priestess, the worse it got. If it didn't involve Bill or their own little world, she stopped caring. Bill kind of became the impromptu high priestess through her. He was the one who made the decisions and would guide her into thinking it was her idea. It was kind of brilliant and worked perfectly. Until she was murdered."
I didn't say anything. I reached out and put my hand on his leg. I knew it was still tough for him to talk about it.
"My point is this, Chief was used to running the show and I don't think he knows how to deal with you. You are the complete opposite of Becca in everything. Better. Her being high priestess made him into a know it all, and you
inadvertently remind him every day that he doesn't know shit. It wasn't him who saved the coven, it wasn't him that caught the Connors, it wasn't him who turned us back into what we could be, it was you."
"You do know I didn't do that on purpose, right?"
"Absolutely. I just don't think he does. I'm not telling you to cut him some slack, especially when he's being a pompous boyscout with a superiority complex, but I'm telling you to remember why he might be doing things a certain way."
"You're pretty fucking smart. Anybody ever tell you that?"
"I watch and listen and learn. When you play second fiddle to someone for so long, it kind of becomes second nature."
I blinked in surprise. He wasn't just a pretty face, and trust me, it was. His sculpted cheek bones, icy eyes, and devilish smile would make anybody's heart flutter. But I wasn't sure if it was intelligence or wisdom. Rocket scientists could have problems tying their shoes. Sages knew it was easier to wear sandals.
"I'm going to keep you around just for your advice. I'm impressed."
He blushed again and it was almost too cute.
"Well, I should get going. Don't worry about the motel. I completely agree with you about staying in town, but I have some money saved. I can foot the bill. That's not fair to you and you know it."
"Bullshit." I got up off the bed, having lost all interest in wallowing in pity. "I meant what I said. This is my deal. Let me get dressed and we'll run you over there. I'll pay for Dwight's room, too."
"Well, just get one room with two beds. He and I can bunk."
"You sure?"
He nodded, not giving it a second thought.
"Okay, let me throw on some clothes." I dropped the robe without thinking about it and headed into my closet.
"Are you always this un-shy?"
"You've seen me naked already. Why would I be?" I grabbed a long-sleeved T-shirt and pulled it on before walking back out and grabbing a pair of panties and leggings, slipping them on under the top.
I turned quick enough to catch him staring at my ass. "Get a good look?"
His face turned crimson. "I–"
"I'm teasing."
He sighed and shook his head. I planned on having a lot of fun with him if he was going to be that easy to get flustered.
Second Blood: A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 2) Page 9
