I refused to respond to her comment. I knew she was talking about Owen and didn’t need her to clarify it; she was just enjoying this game of reminding me that she owned him and could send him to and fro, breaking my heart at a whim.
“Let’s say I believe you,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “Why would they take Owen if you don’t have Roane?”
“Spunky, but not terribly bright,” she said, reaching for the water pitcher beside the bench. I counted to ten in my head, remembering to breathe. After she’d poured herself cup of water, she glanced up at me and said, “Obviously to get you to help them. They took someone just as important to you as Roane is to them.”
“Owen is not important to me.” I added, “Not anymore anyway.”
“Yes, be sure to get those lies out where you can,” she said, lifting the glass to her lips. “We all know the dangers of lying to the Fae.”
“I’m not lying,” I snapped. Theo stared at me over the edge of her glass as she took a sip, and I closed my mouth, reminding myself there was no point in defending myself to her.
“I grow weary of this,” Theo said. She closed her eyes and let her head drop back, as if she were basking in the sun. I started to open my mouth to say something, but Theo snapped her fingers again, and in less time than it takes to blink, I felt Fletcher’s hands on me, ripping my scarf away from my neck. The last thing I remembered before the world went black was the pierce of his hot, sharp fangs.
Chapter 8
The room was uncomfortably warm so much so that my hair was plastered to my forehead. I kicked off my covers and stumbled out of bed, picking at my shirt to pull it away from my damp skin. It was difficult to open my eyes, and when I managed it, my vision was soft and blurry. I managed to get to the bathroom and find the sink. The cold water on my face went a long way to waking me up, but I had to scrub the crusted makeup off of my face before I could get my eyes fully open.
The girl staring back at me in the mirror was practically unrecognizable. Though I’ve always been fair skinned, living a nocturnal life, I looked sallow and underfed. Circles so dark they looked like bruises were under my eyes and the whites of my eyes were bloodshot. My hair was greasy, as if I hadn’t washed it in days. But none of that mattered, not when I looked at my neck.
I touched the raw puncture marks over my pulse. They were still swollen and red. My fingers came away with a smear of red. My eyes burned and I had to squeeze them shut against the tears threatening to fall. My knees began to shake and I had to brace myself on the sink to keep from collapsing. I would not curl up on this floor and cry myself silly because of that woman, that thing, that monster.
Light streamed in through the slats of my window as the sun set over the neighboring building. I slapped them shut and turned on the shower, making sure it was hot enough to fill the room with steam and fog over the mirror so I didn’t have to look at myself a moment longer. I stood under the water until my skin was pink, trying to remember how I got home. How exactly vampires had gotten in my house without my invitation, unless Theo herself brought me in, but I couldn’t imagine she would lower herself to do that. No, it was probably human pets that got me inside. But how had they broken my freezing spell? Unless someone had witch pet. Unusual, but not unheard of.
I was toweling my hair dry, scrubbing my scalp, when I heard the pounding at my front door. I wrapped myself in my robe, synching the belt tight with an angry yank as I stormed out the bathroom. A big part of me was hoping it was Fletcher, or any vampire really, as sparks of power snapped at my fingertips, just itching to be unleashed. My caller pounded again as I walked into the living room, and I had to keep myself from running at the door. Without bothering to check the peephole, I threw all the locks and wrenched the door open, flinging it against the wall, hands up, ready to attack.
“Well, good morning to you too,” Ronnie said as Artemis jumped from her arms and ran into the apartment. A pang of guilt went through me when I realized I hadn’t even thought about him since I’d woken.
“Sorry, thought you were someone else,” I said, reaching for the door and waving her inside. I locked all the locks and set the freezing spell before I turned around to face her.
“It’s about time you’re up,” she said.
“What are you talking about?” I said, flinging a hand toward a window. “The sun just set.”
“Mattie,” she said, her voice going soft and her brows contracting as she took a step closer to me to lay a hand on my shoulder. “You’ve been out for three days.”
I gaped at her, my mouth opening and closing, but no words coming out. I closed my eyes and shook my head, sending cold wet hair swirling around my face. When I opened my eyes again, Ronnie was still staring at me like she was afraid I’d lost my mind.
“Three days?” I asked and she nodded slowly. “I don’t even… I can’t… three days?”
“Yeah, the vamps brought you back just as I was coming home for the day,” she said, taking my arm and leading me into the kitchen where she started to make coffee. I fell into a chair at the kitchen table, trying to concentrate on the hard wooden seat under me. Artemis jumped up on the table and sauntered over to my hand. He butted my fingers with his head before sliding onto his belly and rolling over on his back. I scratched his belly absentmindedly.
“Three days?” I asked, prompting Ronnie to go on.
“Yeah, they were standing at your door when I got off the elevator. I came by to check on you and the fairy wards,” she said, measuring out the coffee grounds. “They couldn’t get your door open because of the freezing spell. I told them to leave and that I would take care of you. And let me tell you, it was a bitch to get you into bed.”
“You could’ve used a charm,” I said, waggling my fingers at her.
“And what? Leave you on the floor while I conjured? Anyway,” she said, hitting the on button to get the coffee brewing, “what happened?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a sigh, running my hands over my face. “I saw Theo, and after she told me she didn’t have Roane, she had one of her vamps attack me.”
“I don’t get it. We’re not susceptible—” she started to say, but I stopped her with a hand.
“Not mind tricks,” I said. “He bit me.”
“Oh,” Ronnie said softly, her eyes going as round as her mouth. She recovered and tucked her red curls behind her ears. “You should probably eat then.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“But you’ve been out for days; your food probably isn’t any good.”
“I’ve got some canned stuff,” I said, waving at the cupboards. Ronnie started the search and finally came out with a can of chili. It really said something about how worried she was about me that she didn’t even sneer when she opened the can and spooned out the meaty goop inside. In a few minutes, I had a steaming bowl of chili and a cup of coffee in front of me.
“Thanks for taking care of Artie for me,” I said between spoonfuls. I knew I was feeling pretty anemic when that first spoonful of meat and beans tasted like the best goddamn thing on Earth. I gave up on eating slow after that and just shoveled the chili in my mouth.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ronnie said, waving away my thanks, taking a sip of her coffee. Artie pranced over to her, purring when she chuckled.
“Ham,” I said, shaking my head.
“Maybe,” Ronnie agreed, scratching the top of Artemis’s head, “but he reminded me how much I miss having a familiar. I need to find a new one.” I nodded in agreement, not wanting to push the topic. Ronnie had had the same familiar for twenty years, since she was two years old, but after Simon had passed away, she couldn’t even look at another cat for almost a year. Even being around Artie was too much for her.
“I can help you look,” I said, earning a smile. I sat back in my chair, lifting my hands over my head to stretch. “Have any customers come around?” My stomach twisted at the thought of how much money I might’ve lost this week thanks to all this fairy-va
mpire-politics-bullshit.
“A couple, but they were regulars,” Ronnie said, easing the knot in my stomach. “I told them you were sick and contagious and to check back in a couple of days.”
“Good.” I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thanks for that.”
Pushing away from the table, I got up and went in search for my phone, but before I could make it to my bedroom where the charger was, there was a new, frantic pounding on the front door. Ronnie and I shared a look before we both went for the door. Ronnie stood next to me while I lifted up on my toes to look out the peephole.
A petite girl stood on the other side of the door, her hands in the pockets of her brown leather jacket as she swung her head back and forth, watching both sides of the hallway. She bounced on the balls of her feet as she looked back at the door, lifting her bright lavender eyes to stare at me through the peephole, as if she could actually see me. Her blonde hair was a shock of white in the dimly lit hallway, with a jagged fringe falling over her forehead and into her left eye.
“Pixie,” I told Ronnie as I sank back to my heels and started to undo the many locks. I touched the door knob and felt the zing of power as I lifted the freezing charm and opened the door. The pixie girl darted inside, not waiting for an invitation. I grinned and shut the door, throwing the locks back in place and setting the spell with a touch.
“Matilda Kavanagh?” the girl asked, her wide eyes darting back and forth between me and Ronnie.
“Mattie, please,” I said, bringing her eyes back to me. “This is my friend, Ronnie.”
“Charlie, Joey’s cousin,” she said, hitting Joey’s name like it was the clue to a secret I should know.
“Okay, how can I help you?” I asked, going to put my hands in my pockets and only then realizing I was still wearing my robe. Well, if that wasn’t professional, I didn’t know what was.
“Help me?” Charlie said, her voice pitching. “I’m not the one that needs the help, yeah? It’s Joey.”
“She tried to give the Were the potion, didn’t she?” Ronnie asked, and for once she didn’t sound caustic.
“Oh yeah,” Charlie said, bouncing on the balls of her feet again, making the leather of her knee-high boots squeak with every move.
“What happened?” I asked, gripping the neck of my robe, clutching it tight in my hands.
“I’m not sure,” Charlie said. “I haven’t heard from her or seen her in three days.” Her lower lip trembled and she sniffed as the first tear spilled over, rolling down her cheek. I thought I was going to be sick. All those phone calls, I just thought Joey was losing her nerve and was afraid to give the guy the potion, but maybe she had given it to him and he’d lost control? Weres were so unpredictable with their body chemistry.
“Oh gods,” I whispered and ran for my bedroom. My phone was on the charger, I assumed thanks to Ronnie. I snatched it off the cord and saw on the screen the list of missed calls, the vast majority of them were from Joey. Ronnie and Charlie walked in as I started to play the first voicemail. Ronnie reached over and hit the speaker button, but I wasn’t really sure I wanted them to hear this.
“Mattie?” Joey’s squeaky voice trembled. “I know you said you’d call me when you had time, but this is really important. Please, please, please call me.”
I closed my eyes and went to the next one.
“Mattie,” Joey whispered, pressing her mouth too close to the phone. “Mattie, I think I did something wrong with the potion. Malachi, he’s,” she paused so long that I thought the call had dropped until she said, “he’s not himself. Please call me.”
“Mattie,” Ronnie said over my shoulder.
“Shhh!” I hit the button for the next one.
“Mattie, are you sure you gave me the right potion? Did I do something to piss you off?” Joey’s voice cracked in the middle. I had to sit then, falling onto the edge of my bed.
“Mattie, why won’t you take my calls? I can’t come see you. Malachi won’t let me out of his sight, please,” Joey’s voice cut off as a man’s voice could be heard in the background, but I wasn’t sure what he said.
“That’s Malachi,” Charlie said, glaring down at the phone.
“Mattie, I don’t know what to do,” Joey was whispering again, but her voice was so low, I had to turn the volume all the way up on my phone to hear her. “Malachi has lost his mind and I think it’s the potion. I snuck it to him because, you know, because your friend said he’d be able to smell it.” Ronnie and I shared a worried glance. “So I put it in his flask so he couldn’t see it and I thought the whiskey would cover the smell. But I don’t know, maybe you didn’t mix it right?”
“Joey!” a man’s voice roared over the phone and I nearly dropped it in surprise.
“That’s him!” Charlie squeaked, her hand flying to her mouth.
“Are you calling him again?” Malachi demanded. We heard Joey shriek in surprise over the muffled sounds of two people struggling. The phone hit the floor with a thunk.
“No, baby,” Joey pleaded. “I told you, there’s no one else. I love you.” She was sobbing then. The sound of a smack stopped her.
“Oh no, no, no,” Charlie whispered, reaching toward the phone as if she could touch her cousin through it. The last thing we heard before the call ended was Joey’s whimpers and a low, threatening growl.
“That’s the last one,” I said, sagging forward over my knees, clutching the phone to my chest.
“Mattie,” Ronnie said, touching my shoulder.
“You have to help her!” Charlie cried out, dropping to her knees in front of me, reaching out to grasp my wrists. “Please!”
“I know,” I said, lifting my face to meet Charlie’s terrified eyes. “I’m gonna try.”
“No, you can’t try, you just have to,” Charlie said, her fingers curling into my wrists until the skin ran red.
“Okay, okay,” I said with a nod. I got to my feet, pulling Charlie up with me. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her out of the bedroom and back into the kitchen with Ronnie following behind.
“I’ll help you,” Ronnie said and I threw her a grateful, if albeit tired, smile. I urged Charlie into a chair and went into the cupboards and pulled out my canister of calming tea. While I filled the kettle under the tap, Ronnie started pulling out spelling supplies to brew a seeking spell. I seemed to be using a lot of those lately. Might be prudent to just have a few on hand like my medicinal spells.
“What if he killed her?” Charlie asked, watching us move around the kitchen. The burner tick-tick-ticked until it caught fire and I set the kettle over it to boil.
“Let’s not think about that,” I said, measuring out the tealeaves in the infuser.
“But—” Charlie pressed.
I stopped her by saying, “I think he’s become enthralled with her. It’s a possible side effect for some breeds when they take something like a love potion. He would only kill Joey if he was planning on killing himself too, like Romeo and Juliet.” A low whistle had started and I turned off the burner and pulled the kettle off to pour the steaming water over the leaves.
“It’s been three days. If Malachi had gone missing, his pack would be looking for him already,” I said as I stirred two tablespoons of honey into the tea. Bringing the cup to Charlie, I said, “They would’ve found him by now, right?” She nodded, sniffling before she took the cup from me. “Right, and if they had found their bodies, everyone would know about it by now. I mean, a murder-suicide is hard to cover, even for people like us.”
“She’s right, Charlie,” Ronnie said, joining the conversation now that all the supplies were prepped and laid out on the counters. “It’s very possible that Joey is fine, I mean, as fine as she can be right now. So we need to act like that and just find her.”
“But you will find her, right?” Charlie asked. Her voice was stronger now, and her hands had already stopped trembling.
“Yes,” I said, laying a hand on her shoulder. “We are going to find her.” Ch
arlie nodded, staring into her teacup. I knew it was a piecrust promise, but there was just no way I was going to tell her that yeah, there was a very strong possibility that her cousin might be dead at that very moment. And if she was dead, that it was every bit as much my fault as it was hers for giving a Were a love potion that had driven him crazy. A potion I had brewed for her because I needed the goddamn money.
***
Charlie felt strong enough to leave after her second cup of calming tea. We called her a cab, and Ronnie watched her get in and drive off while I went into the bedroom and put on some real clothes. It’s amazing how much more secure you felt with underwear and pants. I was pulling a purple sweater on when Ronnie came back inside.
“All right, you’re the boss, where do we start?” Ronnie asked as she threw the locks and spell into place.
“I don’t have anything of Joey’s in the apartment, so…” I sighed and glanced around. My eyes fell on Charlie’s cup, the tealeaves plastered to the inside. “This might do.” I said, snatching up the cup.
“But those are Charlie’s leaves,” Ronnie said, shaking her head at me.
“Yeah, but she’s Joey’s cousin, so they have a blood bond,” I said, scraping the leaves out of the bottom of the cup with my finger, making Ronnie grimace. “And she has a strong desire to find her. So, blood and desire, two of the strongest magical elements there are.”
“Wow,” Ronnie said, closing her eyes and placing her fingers to her temples. “You were always more creative with magic than I ever was. All right, let’s do this.”
I flung the tealeaves into the caldron on the stove that was already bubbling away, the liquid inside an ironically happy blue. The potion fizzled and bubbled as the leaves broke the surface. I pulled a wooden disk out of the drawer and dunked it into the caldron, letting it soak up the potion until the wood shifted from the near white color of pine to a dark indigo.
“Now,” Ronnie whispered just before I pulled it out of the liquid and set it on the counter. I grabbed the teacup and dragged my finger along the lip, caught the last leaves that had touched Charlie’s lips, and smeared them onto the disk.
Wytchcraft: A Matilda Kavanagh Novel Page 11
