Illicit Magic (Stella Mayweather Paranormal Series #1)

by Camilla Chafer

  The door was shut when I opened my eyes and seconds later, Evan was filling the door frame.

  “It worked.” I grinned.

  “Do it again. Visualise the hallway.”

  I saw it clearly in my mind and poofed myself away in a burst of energy. Evan followed me through the door.

  “So you need to visualise,” Evan decided. “How much detail do you need?”

  “A lot. I need to see a lot of the place I want to be.” But when I reflected on it that didn’t explain all the times I’d ended up in places I’d never even thought about.

  Evan drew me back inside and for a moment, his eyes went from me to the bed; then he shook himself with a grunt and held my hand as he led me back outside. Truth be told, I was both elated that I could move myself again at will and disappointed that the bed wasn’t figuring into the scenario. I sat opposite him and watched as he puzzled in thought, stroking my hands absently.

  After a while, he said, “I don’t think you’ll always need as much detail but the visualisation can be your trigger for now. Right now when you’re learning, you’ll need to be certain of where you want to be. When you’re more practiced at it, I think you’ll just be able to get a general feeling of where you want to be. Maybe you’ll even be able to get there just by seeing a picture or reading an address or even just thinking of a person to be able to find them.”

  “But what use is it? Other than I’ll be able to get places quicker?” I paused. “So, maybe one day I can just think about being in Paris or Rome or LA and just magic myself there?” I’d always wanted to travel. Now there was a chance I could be my own private jet. Cool!

  “Maybe, though it takes some strong magic to go those kinds of distances at will.” He mulled it over. “Regardless, you will be able to get places quicker or get out of situations faster. People pay good money for fast, efficient service, especially in our world.”

  “Are you saying I have a future career as a supernatural Fed Ex?”

  Evan laughed. “With your potential, you can pick and choose what you want to do.”

  “When Étoile came to me in London, she moved me just by holding me. I didn’t do a thing. When I was thinking about how I could move before, I could feel it in my veins but when you touched me, I felt it fizzle out. Do you think I could move people too?”

  “Maybe.” He looked at me for a minute and, as if he could see what I was thinking, said. “You are not trying with me.”

  “Oh.” I tried not to sound sullen.

  “It’s not exactly an exact science. You might move me, but not my clothes. Or forget my head.”

  “You’re right.” I sighed. “Can I try with something else?”

  “Start small. Try the tennis ball.” Evan picked one up and set it on the table between us. “It isn’t like telekinesis this time. Think where you want it to be.”

  “Okay.” I stared at it for a full five minutes but the damn thing never moved a millimetre.

  “Relax a bit. You’ve used up some energy just moving yourself. Twice,” Evan reminded me with obvious approval.

  I stood up and walked over to the edge of the balcony, closing my eyes. I let the cool breeze wash over me, imagining it was cleansing my body of the energy I had spent. I knew I could do it. I just had to tap into the power, wherever my body held it, and use it to move that stupid tennis ball. I’d drop it on the lawn. I could visualise it now. I could see the yellow ball disappear from the balcony. I could see it drop at the foot of the tree.

  “Stella,” said Evan, his voice wary but pleased. “The ball has gone.”

  I swung round. I hadn’t even been looking at it. It had gone, but it wasn’t the only thing.

  “Where’s my table?” Evan asked, looking for all the world like he was trying not to burst out laughing. The corners of my mouth were twitching too.

  “Oh... hell.”

  I looked over my shoulder and sure enough, the tennis ball, and the table, were under the tree just where I thought I would send it. Nearby, Étoile and David had interrupted their lesson to look in surprise from the new table and then up to the balcony. David gave me the thumbs up. Étoile cupped her hands to her mouth and called, “Perhaps some iced tea, too?”

  Evan could barely constrain himself now, laughter escaping from his mouth.

  “Jeez,” I muttered, turning away from the gardens. “Now I’ve got a future as a cosmic waitress.” And I rolled my eyes as Evan guffawed. Turning back to concentrate on the two objects on the lawn, this time, I didn’t surprise myself when I brought both back to where they should be.

  “Just be grateful it wasn’t your pants,” I muttered.

  “Stella, you’ve cracked it,” Evan said at last, rubbing his ribs as I watched him with my arms folded. “I’m not sure I’m ready for you to move me but I am awed at how fast you picked that up.” He earnestly added, “Perhaps the key is just having faith in yourself.”

  “Can we take a break?” I kneaded my temples where the throbbing vein told me I was going to get a major headache if I didn’t relax for a while. I closed my eyes for a second to take the throb away.

  “Sure.” Evan checked his watch. “It’s after midday anyway. We need to eat.”

  “Already?”

  I followed him into his room where I asked him. “You’re not going to bind my powers are you? Not now that I’ve finally cracked them.”

  Evan looked shocked. “No, of course not. Whatever gave you that idea?”

  “Marc told me that Seren had bound Jared.”

  “Ye-es,” agreed Evan, “but only so that he’d stop breaking all the chairs and no more of the windows. It’s not exactly convenient to get a glazier out here and there would be questions. Besides, Marc probably told you that Jared knows and was happy to ... actually. He asked. Why would you think I would want to bind yours?”

  “So I don’t accidentally zap you somewhere. Or your clothes.” I ran my eyes over him. Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. I smiled to myself.

  “Stella.” Evan placed both hands on the tops of my arms and looked at me square in the eye. “I would never bind your powers and certainly not without your permission. I trust that you will be careful and you won’t toss one of us out a window or into the ocean. And, I truly mean this, if you want to practice removing my clothes I am quite happy for you to do so in here. Alone. And you can use your hands.” Evan winked and pulled me closer as I tipped my chin up, just about standing on my tiptoes so he could kiss me and let me melt into him. With the connection I felt between us, I never wanted this day to end.

  We ate outside, a few of us on the grass in the shade of the tree while the sun was at its highest. I sat with Seren and Étoile and wished that I, too, had a sister. My surrogate sister, Kitty, as she appointed herself, was apparently running errands in town with Jared.

  Evan sat with David, their heads bent together. They sounded like they were reminiscing about times long gone and I wondered if they had known each other prior to coming here. I wondered where they had been, and what they had done, in their other lives away from the safe house. The cut that marred David’s face was less prominent now, more of a dark pink than an angry welt. I noticed his fingers sometimes trailed the length of it and I wondered what scars he carried inside. I also wondered if Seren was taking his mind off them. I thought back to the scars on Evan’s back; where had they come from? I liked these people but there was so little that I knew about them.

  “Evan seems to be a little less unhappy,” observed Étoile softly as she chewed a sandwich.

  “I hadn’t realised he was unhappy,” I replied. I picked up an apple from the basket Meg left for us and rubbed it against my jeans. Meg never seemed to join us outside and I wondered what she busied herself with during the day.

  “Oh, I didn’t mean to imply he was miserable.” Étoile was picking her words carefully. “I just don’t think he was overly enthusiastic about being here, but he seems quite cheerful now.”

  “He’s grateful I didn’
t zap him into the ocean by accident in today’s lesson,” I deflected.

  Seren chuckled. “We’re all grateful for that.”

  “There’s time yet.” I laughed and Evan caught my eye and smiled.

  “I rather thought it was because he had found something to interest him.” Étoile was watching us from under her lashes. She had that air of amusement about her as if she were already fully aware. If I wasn’t sure then, I was a moment later when she rested her fingers on Seren’s wrist and Seren smiled and said, “Ahh.”

  So the cat was out of the bag.

  “It wouldn’t have taken her long to figure it out.” Étoile seemed to be apologising for whatever had passed between them.

  “I don’t suppose I can ask what you saw?” Was it much of a future? I wanted to ask. Or a future at all?

  “Snippets, but you’ll find out soon enough. I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

  ~

  I spent the rest of the day by myself, the headache still just tickling at my temples without quite hitting me. My eyes ached so I couldn’t read or listen to music, and the idea of walking on the beach, each step jarring my body, put me off.

  I stayed in Evan’s room again that night. It was a humid night and after we’d made love – I was more than getting the hang of that – we kicked back the covers to lie there, his arm around me, my head on his shoulder with my hair fanned down my back. Our legs were entwined and our skin was sticky with exertion and heat. The last of the sunlight cast patterns on the floor and a storm cloud was already rolling in over the sea. I could hear raindrops pattering on the roof and hitting the table on the balcony. I kissed Evan’s neck. After I complained about my threatening headache, he pressed his hands against my temples and the pain was gone in an instant. I had never felt more content as we dozed together.

  The first clap of thunder woke me with a jolt and Evan tightened his arm around me, bringing the other over and caressing my side in smooth strokes as I snuggled into his embrace.

  “I’m not frightened,” I confessed, lest he think I was silly. “It was just loud and woke me. Didn’t it wake you too?”

  Evan shook his head gently. “I wasn’t sleeping.”

  “Not tired?”

  “A little, but frankly, you’re very distracting. Even more so naked.”

  “Should I go?” I hated to sound hurt.

  “Hell no.” Evan twisted so that he had manoeuvred under me and I sat astride him, my thighs against his. His hands held my waist, his fingers almost touching in the middle of my stomach and back and once again, I marvelled at how big he was.

  “How old are you?” I asked, curious, looking down at him.

  “Older than you.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “Nevada. Not Vegas, thank goodness.”

  “Do you have any other family?”

  “I have a dad and a brother. I don’t see either of them.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “My dad and my brother aren’t the most stable and after my mom passed, I didn’t need to be part of that anymore.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’ve accepted it.” He ran his hands over my hair and traced the line of my spine, sending pleasurable shivers through me.

  “Seems a good way of looking at it.” I’ve never been entirely sure if I’d come to terms with losing my parents. I didn’t even know if they had family. That would be something to investigate.

  “Where do you normally live?”

  “I have a house in Texas but I travel a lot. It’s actually rare for me to be asked to take on work like this but I wanted a change and I was needed, so I felt duty-bound to oblige.”

  “You don’t normally teach?”

  “No. This is a very rare occurrence. Robert Bartholomew actually asked me and he’s helped me out before so I owed him a favour. He made it clear I could have refused but he was insistent that he needed the help and I felt obliged.”

  I shuddered involuntarily at the sound of Robert’s name.

  “Cold?” Evan asked but I shook my head. He ran his ridiculously warm hands the length of my back and under my arms to caress my breasts. My body tingled from the inside out, though it didn’t do anything to warm the fear in me. I tried to gulp it down.

  “What is it that you do?”

  He paused for a moment, as though thinking about what he should say. Finally, “I’m a tracker.”

  “Is that even a career option?”

  “Not in regular schools.”

  “How come you don’t have a girlfriend?” Wow, I was nosy tonight.

  “I don’t have a whole lot of time. Like I said, I travel a lot and I can never guarantee where I will be or how long the job will take. If I come home, I can be out again the next day or not for weeks. Women don’t want to hang around waiting for a guy they won’t see regularly.”

  That didn’t sound promising. “Ever been in love?”

  “Yes. It was a long time ago. She wasn’t like us, but she knew about our way of life and understood. For a while, anyway.”

  “Do you date?”

  “I am male,” Evan pointed out, rather unnecessarily, seeing as a very male part of him was pressing quite heavily against me. He smirked. “So, yes, I date from time to time. I’m thinking I would quite like to not date for a while.”

  I frowned at him. If this was going to be a brush off it was phenomenally bad timing.

  “I want to be with you, Stella, if you want to see where this leads. I can’t offer any guarantees but I can offer me.”

  “Tempting,” I said, a smile springing to my face. “Even if I don’t see you for days, weeks or months?”

  “I’ll have to work on that. I am staying put while I’m wanted here.”

  “You’re wanted rather a lot right now.” And I could understand from the pressure digging into my leg that I wasn’t the only one wanting and hoping right now. I moved to accommodate him and exhaled a deep long breath as he slipped inside me and slid his hands to my hips to guide me. I held onto his shoulders as he ground against me, until he pulled me up so that he could kiss me and hold me before rolling me onto my back and making me cry out with the ecstasy of it all. Later, we clung to each other, our skin sticking together with a soft sheen of perspiration.

  “I have to shower. It’s too hot tonight,” Evan murmured after a while, extricating himself. He flashed me a broad smile. “You can come too.”

  Lightning flashed through the room as we slipped from the bed and padded to the bathroom. It was the same as mine except for a long, ladder towel rail and a cluster of men’s toiletries on the shelf above the tub rim. Shaving gel and a razor stood next to the taps by a toothbrush and paste. Evan flipped the lever and the water whooshed out. He felt it for a moment with his hands before signalling that it was warm and pulling me under the jets. We stood under the water barely millimetres apart as he lathered soap in his hands and washed me, handing me shampoo from his own bottle (I was grateful it seemed to be some unisex fruity scent) and massaging it into my hair himself. When I was clean, I returned the favour, keeping my excitement in check as I savoured stroking his long limbs. So freaking yummy.

  Bursting with cleanliness, Evan stepped out first, wrapping a towel around his waist as he held a towel for me so I could wrap myself in its toasty warmth.

  Back in the bedroom, Evan drew the curtains against the inky blue sky and changed the sheets so that we could lie on fresh cotton. It was so oddly tropical (Kitty’s doing, I wondered) that my hair was almost dry before I joined him in the bed again, sitting up so I could run my fingers threw my hair to stop it getting all knotty. Evan patted his own short dark crop. “I’d offer you a comb but I don’t have much need for one.”

  “No matter.” I braided my hair so that it wouldn’t tangle while I slept and snuggled against him, asleep again in minutes.

  I was the first to wake the next morning so I slipped from Evan’s bed as gently as I could. Our commingled bodies se
parated while asleep and he lay sprawled on his stomach, one hand under his head the other flung out towards me. I picked up my clothes and dressed quietly. I couldn’t help my eyes flickering to the scars; there were a dozen or so, old and faded with time. As I was reaching for my socks, Evan’s hand stretched out for me and drew me towards him.

  “Running out on me already?” he asked, smiling sleepily at me as I wriggled in his strong arms.

  I gave up and knelt beside the bed to kiss him. “Not in the slightest. I want to get changed before breakfast, before anyone else wakes up.”

  “Fair enough.” He kissed me again, long and lingering and I thought twice about staying before I pulled away. I couldn’t help lean in for one last kiss before I flipped the lock and sneaked out of his room. No one else was on the landing but I trod as quietly as I could until I got to my room, opening the door only as much as I had to and pressing it shut quietly.

  I should have just been able to pull off my clothes but when I stepped into my room, shock rooted me to the floor.

  The mattress was half-tipped off my bed; the pillows and covers scattered across the floor. The bathroom and closet doors hung open. Some of my clothes were on the floor and others only just on their hangers. The nightstand drawers hung open and the books had been swept onto the floor. My dresser had been rifled through. The drawers were only half closed; my t-shirts mussed up and the blue box with my parents’ paperwork pulled out. Someone had searched through it and discarded it. Everything was in disarray. Tipped over, rifled, searched.