Adam grinned at him. “Speaking as the first one to fall victim to whatever forces are at work here, welcome to the club. I can’t wait to tell Michael and Vincent; they’ve had a bet going ever since Chloe showed up in town.”
“Great, I’m glad my love life is a source of amusement,” he said. “Don’t they have better things to do, like worrying about what Sebastian is up to?”
Adam shrugged. “Come on, you can’t blame them; you were so adamant about not falling in love and bonding, they’re not going to be able to let it go.”
“I guess I do deserve that,” Gabriel said. “I just never thought it would happen so fast.”
“You’re in for a rollercoaster ride, my friend; love is never easy to capture,” Adam said, getting up from the table.
“Especially since Chloe is a natural witch,” Gabriel said, grinning when Adam whipped his head around.
“You’re kidding,” Adam said. “Does she know that you’re a dragon shifter?”
“She senses something, but I’m not sure what, and when I tried to tell her, she wouldn’t let me,” he said. “She said once she knew, she’d never be able to go back. She’s scared of something too, Adam. I don’t know what, but she’s holding back, hiding her magic.”
“Well, that, my friend, is what you’re going to have to find out. There’s more than one reason Chloe was brought here,” Adam said. “We need her at the festival; we need her magic.”
***Chloe***
Chloe pushed her plate away and groaned. “I’m stuffed; that was wonderful, Emma Jean. I don’t know how you had the energy to cook after the day we had.”
“It was nothing. When you’ve been cooking as long as I have, it’s easy to whip up something quick,” Emma Jean said, but Chloe could see that she was pleased.
They hadn’t talked about that morning, hadn’t talked that much during dinner at all, but she could feel the questions Emma Jean wanted to ask sitting heavy between them. She was bracing herself when Emma Jean surprised her said, “I think we should get a booth for the festival. It’s still a week away, and I bet I can sweet talk someone into sliding us in at the last minute.”
Chloe’s mind was everywhere but on the tea house. “The festival?” she asked, confused.
“Yes, you know, the Medieval Festival everyone’s been talking about for days,” Emma Jean said, shaking her head.
She suddenly remembered what Emma Jean was talking about. “Oh, the festival,” she said. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what it’s all about. Do you really think people will buy tea? I mean, did they even drink tea back then?”
“Well, I’m sure they drank herbal tea. I mean, why wouldn’t they have?” Emma Jean asked. “I’m no expert, but I think your teas would fit in just perfectly, add another element. Has anyone explained to you how important the festival is to the town and the valley?”
“It’s a festival. I mean, people selling things, entertainment. I saw the posters around town,” Chloe said. “Just the kind of place I used to try to find, but I didn’t think about it since we opened the tea house. I guess it would be a good way to bring in more customers.”
Emma Jean studied her for a second. “Chloe, I know you noticed that things are a little different here in Prospect Falls. I know you’ve felt it. But I don’t know if you know what it is that you’re feeling,” she said. “I want to explain it to you, but I think that’s for Gabriel to do.”
“I told him I didn’t want to know,” she whispered. “He tried to tell me, but I didn’t want to hear it. I’m scared, Emma Jean, scared to start caring.”
“I think it’s too late, Chloe,” Emma Jean said. “I think something beyond our comprehension is at work here, and all we can do is ride it out.”
“But it’s not your heart that’s going to get broken,” Chloe said.
“What makes you so sure your heart is going to get broken?” Emma Jean asked. “Maybe you’ll live happily ever after.”
“In my experience, it doesn’t work that way,” Chloe said, shaking her head. “You should know better than anyone else.”
“What I know is that you need to talk to Gabriel,” Emma Jean said. “I made the wrong choices a long time ago, and I’ve paid for them; don’t make the same mistakes I made. I know you may not understand this right now, but this town needs you, Gabriel needs you, and you need him.”
Emma Jean got up and stomped out of the kitchen, muttering under her breath, leaving Chloe stunned and staring at the empty doorway. She cleaned up the kitchen, wondering when her life had spun so completely out of her control and wished she’d walked away when she had the chance. Now, she was entwined in the life of the town, facing the biggest choice of her life, and unsure what was expected of her or where to find the answers.
She was just about to go to bed when the phone hanging on the wall in the kitchen began to ring. Surprised, she picked it up. “Hello, Baxter House, how can I help you?” she asked.
“Who is this?” a male voice demanded.
“This is Chloe. How can I help you?” she asked again, trying to keep her voice level.
“I want to speak to my mother,” the man said, his voice getting louder. “Where is she? Why are you answering her phone? Who are you?”
“Umm, let me get her for you,” Chloe said, her heart pounding in her chest.
She took the stairs two at a time, then knocked on Emma Jean’s door. “Emma Jean, your son is on the phone,” she shouted through the door.
The door swung open so fast, it banged against the wall. “Darrell is on the phone?” she asked, then began to wring her hands. “I haven’t talked to him in over twenty-five years.”
“He doesn’t sound very...” Chloe trailed off, not wanting to say what she was thinking. “I think you should talk to him.”
“Oh, dear, what will I say?” Emma Jean fussed.
Chloe turned her around and led her back into the bedroom. “Start by saying hello and see where it goes from there. Do you want me to stay with you?”
“No, I’ll be okay,” Emma Jean said, looking over at the phone. “I thought I’d never hear from him again.”
“I’ll be in my room if you need me,” Chloe said, then backed out of the room and shut the door, a smile on her face.
Chapter Eight
***Gabriel***
Gabriel was dozing on the couch with the television on, afraid that if he went to bed, he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about Chloe. As it was, she was still in about every other thought, and he was beginning to think she’d enchanted him or put a spell on him. It was the only thing that could explain his sudden fascination with the woman, who, while extremely beautiful, was still a mystery to him.
She was clearly a witch but refused to admit it and wouldn’t listen when he tried to explain what he was, but that wasn’t all: he sensed a scar deep inside her that had never completely healed. The last thing he needed or wanted was a complicated woman; his life was difficult enough already between the demons and his medical practice. The only problem was that his body hadn’t gotten that message, and the pull he felt toward Chloe only seemed to get stronger each time he saw her, each time he thought about her.
Realizing that he was just spinning in circles, he tried to force Chloe out of his mind, relieved when his phone began ringing. His relief was short-lived when he heard the voice on the other end. “Gabriel, I’m sorry to bother you so late, but there’s something wrong with Emma Jean,” Chloe said, her voice full of panic. “Should I call an ambulance?”
“No, I’m on my way,” he said, heading for the door. “Tell me what happened.”
Chloe’s breath was coming in short gasps. “Chloe, take a deep breath,” he ordered, stepping into his shoes.
“It’s freezing in here,” she said, her voice shaking. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“I’m on my way,” he said, but the call was dead.
It only took a few minutes to get to Emma Jean’s, but it felt like the longest minutes of his life
, and when he saw Chloe standing on the porch waiting for him, he thought the worst had happened. She motioned for him to hurry, so he grabbed his bag and ran up the steps.
“What happened?” he asked, following her inside and up the stairs.
Chloe shivered. “I’m not sure. I went in to check on Emma Jean, to see how her call with her son went, and she was just lying there staring into space. The phone was on the floor, and I could hear someone yelling, then it went silent,” she said, opening the bedroom door.
A blast of cold air hit him, followed by a sense of despair, but he pushed through it into the room, where it vanished. He looked back at Chloe; whose face was pale. “What was that?”
“I don’t know for sure,” she said. “I managed to get it away from Emma Jean, but I can’t make it go away completely.”
“Tell me again what happened,” he said, going over to the bed. “Did you say Emma Jean was talking to her son Darrel?”
As he examined Emma Jean, Chloe told him about the phone call and leaving her alone to take it in the bedroom. “I had had no idea this would happen. I mean, she was so excited to talk to him. I shouldn’t have left her alone.”
Gabriel did a thorough exam, then doubled checked. “I can’t find anything physically wrong with her, Chloe,” he said, standing up and putting his supplies away. “It doesn’t look like a heart attack or a stroke. I can’t explain it.”
She sank down into a chair. “Then it’s something worse,” she said, shivering again. “I just can’t figure out why.”
He sat down across from her and waited, but Chloe just sat staring at the cold fireplace. “Can’t figure out why what?” he asked, keeping his voice gentle. “Chloe, what aren’t you telling me?”
She finally looked over at him, a haunted look in her eyes. “When I came into the bedroom, it wasn’t just shouting I heard, Gabriel: it was someone reciting a spell.”
“Over the phone?” he asked, sitting down across from her. “Is that even possible?”
“If you use black magic,” she said.
They were both silent for a long time. “Are you sure?” he finally asked.
Chloe looked over at the bed, then back at him. “Let’s go down to the kitchen. I don’t think there’s much more we can do now, and I have a few questions for you.”
When they got to the kitchen, she put on a pot of coffee, dug around in the refrigerator, and put together a tasty plate of food. When she brought it all over to the table, some color had come back into her cheeks, and she seemed calmer. He wasn’t very hungry but filled his plate, then took the cup of coffee she offered him.
“Coffee in a tea house,” he said. “It will be the scandal of the century.”
Chloe managed a smile for him. “Thanks for coming, Gabriel. As terrible as it sounds, I was hoping you would have a medical explanation. I think I just didn’t want to face the truth,” she said.
“I don’t blame you,” he said, filling a plate for her and sliding it across the table. “You need to eat something; you look terrible.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said, but picked up a piece of fried chicken and took a bite.
After she’d eaten the entire piece and started on the salad, he got up and refilled their cups, then sat down and waited for her to finish. When she finally pushed the plate back across the table, she looked better; all the color had returned to her face, and she didn’t look quite so drained. But when she looked up at him, she had tears in her eyes.
“If that really was Emma Jean’s son on the phone,” she said, her voice full of anguish, “he’s cursed her to die of starvation.”
Unable to fight the urge to comfort her, he got up and pulled her to her feet, trying not to be thrilled when she went willingly into his arms. He held her tightly for a few minutes, the sound of the clock on the wall the only noise in the room, then she pulled away from him and took a deep shuddering breath.
“I’m sorry, it’s just so awful. I mean, why would he do that? And if it wasn’t him, then who was it? I’m angry and horrified all at the same time,” she said. “He knew what he was doing, Gabriel; that spell is forbidden, almost impossible to find.”
“Okay, let’s slow down,” he said. “I think we have a lot to talk about.”
***Chloe***
Chloe didn’t want to talk about it anymore; she didn’t want to think about the evil she’d sensed in that room, the malicious intent that crackled in the air. “We need to check on Emma Jean,” she said, heading for the stairs.
But when she got to the bottom, she couldn’t make herself start climbing, wasn’t quite ready to face what was in the bedroom again. Gabriel came up next to her, took her hand in his, and squeezed it. “I don’t blame you for not wanting to go up there. I don’t really want to myself, and I’ve seen some pretty nasty things, things that would scare most people to death.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she asked but did feel better, and a little smile crept across her face.
Gabriel shrugged. “Well, it looks like it did,” he said. “Come on, we’ll go up together.”
When they got to the bedroom, Chloe cracked open the door, then stepped through the cold spot, relieved to see Emma Jean’s eyes were closed and she was breathing more regularly. Gabriel looked her over, shook his head. “No change,” he said.
“But her eyes are closed,” Chloe said. “That’s a good sign.”
“Maybe,” he said. “I think you might know more about that than I do. I mean, what is that thing over there? It’s cold and makes me feel...”
Satisfied that Emma Jean was safe and possibly recovering, she pushed him back out of the room. “We can talk in my room,” she said, then punched him when she got a silly grin on his face.
“Now is definitely not the time for that, Gabriel; don’t be getting any ideas,” she said, stomping away, annoyed that her heart had done a flipflop.
When they got to her room, she guided him away from the bed and over to the fireplace. “You can sit there,” she said, pointing to one of the chairs before sitting down in the other one.
Gabriel stoked the fire and put on a few more logs, then sat down. “Okay, let’s start with the spell; you said it was black magic.”
She nodded. “Very hard to find,” she said. “And usually requires a sacrifice of some sort, a chicken or a goat, something like that. But a spell like this takes more.”
“You mean like a human sacrifice?” he asked, a bit shocked. “I see now why you said you were horrified.”
“I used a protection spell to try to break the spell, but all I was able to do was create a barrier between Emma Jean and the negative energy,” she said. “I think she might wake up if I got there soon enough, but the only way she’ll ever be safe is if I can break the spell.”
“Can you do that?” Gabriel asked, the one question she couldn’t answer.
She was silent for so long that he leaned forward in the chair. “I don’t know, my magic is rusty. I haven’t used it in so long. Besides, if something went wrong, I could make things worse. I could accidentally kill Emma Jean,” she said. “I don’t have a spell, either, and I need to know for sure that Darrel is the one who put it on her.”
“Okay, let’s take this one thing at a time,” he said. “It should be easy enough to trace that call; I can have Michael do that in the morning. But if you want my opinion, it was Darrell on the phone. He’s always been a huge jerk and a bit of a hoodlum. This is just the kind of thing he would do. I’m just not sure why he would do it.”
Chloe studied him for a second. “What do you mean a hoodlum?” she asked. “Emma Jean never really talked about him that much.”
“I think she was always a bit embarrassed by the way he traumatized the town,” Gabriel said. “He was a handful right from the very beginning, always jealous of his sister, but would have defended her to the death. When she left, he went crazy, started using his magic to bully people in town until they had no choice but to drive him away. My mom and
dad could probably tell you more, they were all about the same age, but from what I heard, he wasn’t a very nice guy even back then.”
Chloe let that sink in. “I guess that’s why Emma Jean didn’t talk about him much,” she said. “The only thing she said was that his father drove him away.”
“That’s true, in a way,” Gabriel said. “From what my mom told me, Simon didn’t want magic in his house; he hated it, thought that it was evil. He forced Emma Jean to stop using hers but could never stop the kids.”
“So, it was a constant battle, and they both eventually left,” Chloe said, shaking her head. “I guess that explains some of it, but why marry a witch if you hated magic?”
“He thought he’d get Baxter House and the money that comes along with it,” Gabriel said.
“But he didn’t,” Chloe said.
Gabriel shook his head. “The Baxter family was one of the original families that settled Prospect Falls,” he said. “Unlike other families of the time, the women were always in control of the finances and kept the Baxter name.”
“They were witches,” Chloe said, more of the pieces fitting together. “That’s why they kept the Baxter name; it was pretty common back then.”
“They were more than just witches, Chloe,” Gabriel said. “They were responsible for keeping the town and the valley safe.”
Chloe thought about the magic she felt in Prospect. “It’s a protective spell,” she said, more to herself than Gabriel. “But why?”
Gabriel sighed. “That’s going to require another long explanation,” he said. “Maybe we should take a break and check on Emma Jean again.”
As tired as she was, Chloe could sense that they were coming to the end and wasn’t about to let Gabriel push it off any longer. “Gabriel, I sense magic in you too, not just the town. I know I told you that I didn’t want to hear the truth, and I’m sorry about that, but I was scared,” she said.
Guardian Dragons of Prospect Falls: (A Paranormal Shifter Romance) Page 41
