Soulmates

by Nadine Nightingale

  I squint. “I’m what?”

  “Amanda Bishop?” JJ jumps to her feet. “The infamous witch who hornswoggled the great Alexander Remington?” She sounds downright impressed.

  Alex slaps his hands over his eyes and sighs. “Her ego is big enough. She doesn’t need you to go full-on fan girl over her.”

  JJ pays no attention to jerk-face. “Well,” she says, looking me over. “I can see what clouded his witch-detecting senses.”

  She’s really nothing like any hunter I’ve ever met. “Thanks?”

  She winks. “Never thank me for the truth, sista.” Then she ogles jerk-face. “Wanna tell me how I earned a visit from badass Amanda Bishop and her lame sidekick, Alex Remington?”

  “Sidekick?” Alex hisses. “You remember who kicked your sweet little butt in the ring last year?”

  She nudges me. “I’m gonna let you in on a little secret,” she whispers. “I let him win.” And that is the truth.

  Wow, if she kicked Alex’s ass, I don’t want to get on her bad side. Yet I have to speed up this reunion. “Look, JJ.” I hop on a barstool. “There’s no easy way to say this, but this isn’t a courtesy visit.”

  JJ walks behind the bar and grabs three sodas from the fridge. “You don’t say.” She shoves one bottle toward Alex and the other to me. “The jerk never just visits.”

  Alex narrows his eyes. “That’s not true, and you know it.”

  “It so is,” she says to me, popping the top off the soda. She takes a few sips and wipes her red lips. “Okay, I’m ready. What do you want, Remington? More importantly, why are you guys here together?”

  Alex stares at the whiskey bottles on the dusty shelves. He won’t spill the bad news anytime soon. Guys are such pussies.

  “Long story short,” I say when Alex’s lips stay sealed. “Alex has four days until the demon he sold his soul to drags him to hell.”

  JJ throws her head back and laughs. When she realizes no one’s laughing with her, she stumbles back, knocking her hip against the bar. “You serious?”

  I nod.

  Red-hot rage blazes through her hazel eyes. “You sold your fucking soul?” The panic in her voice is loud and clear.

  Alex shoves his hands in his pockets. “Surprise,” he says, eyes hooded.

  She stalks toward him like a lunatic. Then it happens…BAM. She slaps Alex so hard, his head jerks to the right. I don’t know what kind of reaction I expected, but it definitely was not that.

  “Son of a bitch,” she shouts, pulling all eyes to us. “How fucking stupid can you be? Selling your soul, Alex? Really?” Alex’s mouth snaps open, but JJ isn’t done yet. “You’re a fucking hunter. The best I know, and here you are with a ticket to hell?”

  Alex stiffens. His eyes grow darker than a forest at nightfall. “You think I don’t know what a disgrace I am to our kind? Remember the first thing I taught you?”

  She cups her elbows. “Never make a deal with a witch or a demon.”

  Alex had certainly done both.

  “Damn right. I broke my own rules, and there’s nothing worse than being untrue to yourself. So why don’t you quit the judgmental shit, because ain’t nobody can bring a harsher sentence on me than myself.”

  A deep, unforgiving pang hits me in the chest. There’s so much hate in Alex’s eyes. I think he wants to gut himself.

  JJ isn’t oblivious to Alex’s self-loathing. “I’m sorry,” she says, voice soft. “I didn’t mean to sound like a dumbass.”

  Alex rolls his shoulders back and manages a lame smile. “It’s okay. I would have slapped you, too.”

  She raises her brows. “Only difference? I would have hit back.”

  “Can we get our head back in the game?” I’m pissed. No fucking idea why.

  JJ’s dazzled eyes lock with mine. “What game? Thought a trip to hell was a one-way road?”

  “Usually is,” I say, shoving the soda from one hand to the other. “But we found a loophole, and we were hoping you might be able to help us exploit it.”

  “I’m listening,” she says, impatiently.

  Alex flings himself onto a barstool and waves JJ’s dad over. “Bourbon, please?”

  JJ and I both glare at him.

  “What?” He rolls his eyes. “I need to be wasted to have this conversation.”

  “That bad?” JJ asks.

  “Worse,” he grumbles before he downs the shot JJ’s dad passes him.

  Chapter 28

  We retreat to a table near the windows. Alex and I take turns filling JJ in. She doesn’t cut us off, but stares at us as if we’ve lost our minds somewhere along the interstate when we mention the ritual, and occasionally downs some of the bourbon Alex insisted on bringing along.

  Exhausted, I prop my elbows on the table and steady my chin on my folded hands. “That’s pretty much all there is to tell.”

  JJ downs some bourbon and shakes her head. “Do you have any idea how insane all of this sounds?” She leans back, tapping her fingers on the table. “Going on a cross-country trip to find an alleged soulmate”—she scrunches her nose at the word—“so she can get him out of a deal God himself can’t break?”

  I see where she’s coming from, but the grimoire has never failed me. “I know it sounds crazy. Believe me, I do. But our only other option is to sit back, buy nachos, and wait for the screening of Drag Alexander Remington to Hell.”

  She pulls her thick ebony hair into a high ponytail and frowns. “All right, let’s say this plan isn’t complete nonsense, and it could actually work. I’d like to know”—she looks at Alex—“why the fuck I am on that stupid list?”

  That supposed to be a rhetorical question? I knit my brows, completely dumbstruck. “Have you met yourself?” I ask, tongue faster than brain. “You’re like the R-rated version of Snow White, girl. There’s no guy on this planet who wouldn’t have put you on his list.” Hell, I’d put her on my list.

  She laughs. “I think I just fell in love with you.”

  “Just being honest.”

  “And I appreciate it. I do. But I don’t think good looks qualify for being someone’s true love.” She inhales sharply. “I mean, come on.” Her hazel eyes pierce through me. “You’re the chick he couldn’t get over. If you’re not it, then I doubt I’ll be the one.”

  Alex almost chokes on his own salvia. “You think Amanda is on the list?” His voice trembles with…anger? Disgust? I can’t tell.

  JJ’s eyes go wide. “Sweet baby Jesus.” She leans over the table. “Don’t tell me the possibility never occurred to you?”

  “You high or something?” Alex barks. Valid question. Little Remington rooting for Team Amanda and Alex is one thing. JJ, a hunter who just met me, believing fate could be twisted enough to make natural born enemies star-crossed lovers? That’s something entirely else.

  “I wish I was high, Alex. Especially after the bomb you just dropped on me. But”—she tilts her chin at me—“after everything I’ve heard about the two of you, I’m surprised she wasn’t the first name on said list.”

  “After everything you’ve heard?” I blurt out, shocked. Am I in a parallel universe? She’s a hunter. Alex would rather die than have his pals know he’d screwed a witch. I think of the hunters at Lady Amelia’s. They, too, sounded as if they knew what went down between us. Did I miss the Alex screwed Amanda announcement in the Hunter’s Times?

  JJ peers at me as if I’m from another planet. “You really don’t know, do you?”

  “What don’t I know?” My voice is an octave higher than usual.

  “JJ,” Alex warns, eyes like flint.

  She couldn’t care less about jerk-face’s threatening tone. “Every hunter on the face of the planet talks about you,” she says, looking me in the eye. “Hello. A witch saving two hunters? That’s like a Christmas miracle without Christmas, like Satan kissing puppies, or—”

  “We get the message,” Alex growls.

  I snap my head in his direction, murder on my face. “Did you know about
this?”

  His attention stays glued to the bourbon bottle.

  “Oh God, you did, didn’t you?” I grab the bottle, hoping to drown my wrath. It doesn’t work. Being on the radar of freelance hunters because they think I killed a girl is bad news, but this is…I can’t find words to describe how fucked up it is. Not only do hunters all over the country know I exist, my kind has probably heard of it, too.

  JJ reaches over the table and squeezes my hand. “Relax. Most of us think it was pretty heroic what you did.” Her face is lit up with a big smile. “You didn’t just save Alex and Jesse’s asses. Damn, girl, you saved those kids, too.”

  “Relax?” I hiss, jaw clenched. “Do you have any idea what happens to witches who betray the code? They ain’t getting an award for bravery, JJ.” They’re expelled and shunned at best. Tortured and killed at worst.

  Alex drums his fingers against the table. “Always concerned about yourself, huh?” He faces JJ with a smug smile. “May I introduce to you the one and only, selfish, stab-worthy, unlikeable Amanda Bishop. And you’re surprised she didn’t make it on the list? Think again.”

  I claw the wooden table before I do something stupid like scratching his fucking eyes out. “You are such an—”

  “Asshole,” JJ cuts in. Alex’s mouth snaps open, but the hunter girl I’ve grown to adore is on a roll. “Seriously,” she says, shooting daggers at him. “We both know you and your brother would be dead now if it wasn’t for her.”

  Alex crosses his arms. The grin on his face is gone. “Thanks for reminding me.”

  JJ straightens. “Know what? It’s a damn shame you actually needed a reminder. Maybe someone should tattoo ‘Saved by Amanda Bishop’ on your forehead. Just in case you forget again.” Her hazel eyes blaze. The girl’s temper is worse than mine.

  Why am I not gay, again? Because I have the hots for a guy who acts like I’m the worst creature on the face of the earth, that’s why. Fucking shame they don’t sell dignity at Walmart. I’d be the first in line.

  Alex curls his hands into fists. “You done preaching?”

  She’s not. Rage flashes in her eyes. I, on the other hand, have heard enough insults for one day. “Let’s focus on the real issue,” I suggest, not sure why I sound so calm.

  JJ’s gaze travels over my face. She, too, must wonder why I haven’t gone crazy witch-killer on Alex yet. A moment of silence passes. “Sure, let’s concentrate on saving a prejudiced jerk-hunter.”

  Man, can I marry her? I smile. “You’re really not a typical hunter, are you?”

  She inclines her head at Alex. “If that’s typical in your book, then no.”

  “Does that mean we can have your blood?” Being straightforward seems to work best with JJ.

  Alex nudges me in the ribs. “Fucking smooth, Manda.”

  I glare at him, ready to bite his head off. “It’s not like we’re on a clock or something, right?”

  JJ grins from ear to ear. “Sweet baby Jesus, I like that one.”

  Alex arches a brow. “Of course you do.”

  “So?” I say, paying no attention to the hostility in Alex’s voice. “Are you in or out?”

  JJ presses her index finger against her temple. “You seriously think I’d give my blood to a witch so she can do some eccentric ritual that’s supposed to determine if Alexander Remington is my soulmate?”

  I sigh. “Yep, that’s pretty much what I thought.”

  “Hm.”

  “Well?”

  “Well,” she says, getting on her feet. “Do you have a knife?”

  I beam at her. “You in?”

  She winks at me. “It’ll be my genuine pleasure to be the great Amanda Bishop’s blood bag. And”—she cocks a brow at Alex—“if we can save him in the process? Well, I guess that’s not bad either.”

  “You guys wanna get a room?” Alex murmurs.

  “Don’t tempt me, Alex.” I had a feeling she was flirting with me before. Now, I’m certain of it. She faces Alex. “I need a favor, though. Preferably before we get started.”

  Alex’s hunter senses are reeling. I can tell by the excited look on his face. “What’s up?”

  JJ folds her hands in her lap. “I’ve been working a bad case. Could use a set of fresh eyes.”

  “What case?” For a guy who’s turned his back at the PAU, he sounds thrilled at the prospect of working a case. Once a hunter, always a hunter, huh?

  JJ scans the bar, making sure no one eavesdrops. “You remember Old George?” she asks, once she’s sure I-take-a-nap-in-a-bar dude and my-life-is-so-fucked-I-get-wasted-before-noon fella are busy with something else.

  Alex nods. “What about him?”

  JJ sucks in air. “He’s dead. Was killed two days ago.”

  Alex’s eyes almost pop out. “You serious?”

  Judging by the look on his pale face, we’re stuck here until the curious case of Old George is solved.

  JJ scowls. “You think I’d joke about the death of a hunter?”

  Perplexed, Alex shakes his head. “What happened?”

  JJ’s smooth features harden. “A week ago, George comes in shit-faced, as usual. Talks about how he had a breakthrough on a case he worked years ago.” JJ points over her shoulder at her dad. “My old man asked him what he was talking about, but George said he couldn’t tell anyone, that he didn’t know who to trust anymore.”

  Alex sinks a little in the chair. “What does that even mean? We’re all hunters for Christ’s sake. If we can’t trust each other, then who?”

  JJ presses her palms against the table and leans back. “Don’t know, man. But George kept saying my dad ought to be careful. That nothing is as it seems. Couple of days later, he was found dead in his cabin.” JJ swallows hard. “Slaughtered like a pig, Alex. Never seen anything like it.”

  “Then what?” I hate my damn curiosity. But something about this story makes the hair on my neck stand, and I’d like to know what caused the creepy sensation.

  “I started digging through the old man’s files,” she explains. “Found at least a dozen cases in which the victim had been killed the exact same way.”

  “Serial killer?” I ask.

  JJ flashes a half-hearted smile. “Unless serial killers are immortal, I doubt that. The oldest case dates back to the eighteenth century.”

  Alex explodes out of his chair. “You got the files here?” Hunter-heroic is in his element. Nothing is gonna stop him.

  “They’re at my place.”

  JJ and jerk-face would make a pretty good match. Both have a heroic streak, both love hunting, and both are smoking hot. They’d have an unconventional life together. Instead of going to the movies or on a date night, they’d probably kill a few witches or kick some demon ass, but they’d never get bored.

  Alex is already halfway to the door. “Whatcha waiting for?”

  JJ is on her feet in no time. “C’mon,” she says to me. “I live right around the corner.”

  And be the third wheel at a party? I don’t think so. Some alone time can’t hurt them. It could help re-ignite their old flame.

  I examine my chipped nail polish. “I think I’ve ruined my reputation badly enough. No need to add to the myth of the witch that helps hunters.”

  Alex shakes his head. “You are—”

  “Selfish? Not exactly news.” I tilt my head at the door. “Now get the hell outta here and hurry the fuck up. In case you forgot, we’re here to save you.”

  “We won’t be long,” JJ promises. Alex’s annoying mouth opens, but she puts a hand on his shoulder and shoves him out the door.

  ****

  I have no idea what JJ’s definition of “not long” is. In my dictionary, it’s much less than six hours. The waiting is driving me nuts, and I start to wonder if I should have gone with them.

  Holding the candle while they get all sweaty?

  Who says they’re having sex? For all I know, they lost track of time while digging through Old George’s files.

  Coming up wit
h lame excuses because you can’t handle the truth? It’s called denial.

  “Hey,” JJ’s dad barks from across the bar. “How much longer you gonna occupy my table? I’ve got paying customers here.”

  I look around. No one. Even I-take-a-nap-in-a-bar dude and my-life-is-so-fucked-I-get-wasted-before-noon fella fled the sinking ship. Unless his customers are invisible, it’s his way of telling me to get the hell outta here. I shouldn’t have offered him a lesson in Sicilian ties.

  I press a palm against my leg to stop it from tapping and smile. “Chill, old man. Alex and JJ should be back any minute.” Or not.

  He casts me a sidelong glance. “Sure hope so. Witches are bad for business.”

  As much as I like his daughter, I can’t stand the guy. Hellbent on staying calm, I pull my phone out of my bag and type a text to B. How is it going?

  Takes five seconds till my phone rings. “Hey.” I sound grumpier than usual.

  “You okay?” she asks, already knowing the answer.

  “Any news?” A long period of silence follows. Not a good sign. “B?”

  Her voice is unnaturally listless. “Good news is I didn’t kill anyone while preforming the ritual. Bad news is Sarina is definitely not Alex’s soulmate.”

  My heart drops. “You sure?”

  “I did it twice, Amanda.”

  We’re fucked. Sarina and JJ had been our best bets. Now we have to scratch one girl from the list, leaving only JJ.

  “Have you guys been luckier?”

  Sharp pain slices through my right eye. I put pressure on the eyelid before it turns into a full-blown migraine. “Dunno. We’re in Winter Harbor at a bar. JJ’s dad owns it. Well, I’m here anyway.”

  “What do you mean, you are? Where’s Alex?”

  Oh, you know, he’s off solving some stupid case or screwing JJ. “He should be back any minute,” I say, because the truth infuriates me.

  “That Manda?” I hear Jesse say.

  “The one and only,” Bonnie replies.

  “Tell her to wait for us in Winter Harbor. We can be there in less than twenty-four hours.”

  “Amanda,” Bonnie starts.

  “I heard him,” I grumble. “But unless you rented the Batmobile, I can’t see how you’ll be here that fast when it’s a fifty-hour drive from Poulsbo.” Besides, Alex is going to freak. What was it again he said? I don’t want my brother to watch me die?