BLOOD MAGIC

by Jennifer Lyon

  Carla's face tightened in sympathy. “I trust you. And in time, I'll make them see that you deserve to be in the Circle. But for now, I can be your liaison.”

  She'd spent her life on the outside of every circle. This wasn't any different. “Okay, thanks. If they'll work on finding out everything about soul mirrors, I'd appreciate it.”

  “I'll put out a request. There's a lot of knowledge in the Circle.”

  Her chest hurt but she refused to let Carla see her pain. “That'll be helpful.” Carla had been a good friend, was still a good friend. She was doing her best.

  “Darcy, you might have more connections than the Circle Witches. They are combining all our knowledge, but they can't talk to the Ancestors since the curse. You can hear the Ancestors. Once you get your mom's spells, start working on opening your sixth chakra. If you can do it, and maybe you can if your hunter has bonded to you, then you can ask the Ancestors about soul mirrors. With your third eye in your sixth chakra, you'll be able to understand what the Ancestors are saying.”

  Even now, Darcy could hear the voices, but not the words. The only time she'd ever heard distinct words had been in moments of absolute terror—like when the rogues had attacked. And then it was simple messages like “Run!” But if she could really hear and understand what the Ancestors were saying … her heart jumped in excitement, then thudded in fear. She would have to lie to Axel. Use him for the increased power to access her higher chakras, and then focus that power, but not tell him what she was doing. “I'll try,” she said absently, thinking she was headed for disaster with Axel. Heartbreak.

  Axel's voice cut in, “Darcy, you awake? Is something wrong?”

  She jerked at his voice and yanked the covers up to cover her nakedness. She'd been using magic to project her image to Carla and had projected only her head so she hadn't been worried about her state of dress. “Where are you?” She looked around.

  “Desktop computer. I'd be on the laptop but it seems to be blocked by magic.”

  Carla laughed. “I'll clear the airwaves. I'm going to call Morgan now and set up another appointment.” Her image faded out.

  Axel's face bloomed on the screen of the laptop. The green light of the camera blinked on. “I wanted to check in … wow.”

  Flushing to her roots, she realized she'd let go of the covers and exposed her breasts to him. She used magic to bring her clothes back from last night. They materialized on her body in seconds.

  “Impressive. But I liked you better naked. I like seeing you in my bed.”

  She sucked in a breath and tried to calm her racing heart. “You let me sleep. I meant to work on the tapestry. “

  His eyebrows furrowed over his hot green eyes. “You were exhausted. You needed sleep and this morning, you need to eat.”

  “Thanks,” she said dryly. “Not sure how I managed for twenty-six years without you.”

  He surprised her with a grin that lit up the computer screen. “It's a mystery.”

  Damn. He was sexy like this. Hell, he was sexy all the freaking time. “Arrogant hunter.”

  “Prickly witch.”

  She smiled. “I could probably cast a spell for you to hit yourself with your hammer. Repeatedly. All day long.”

  His eyes filled with laughter. “I'd have to get even for that. Want to test me?”

  She wondered what he'd do. Then she wondered what the hell she was doing. She had to focus and get the spells from the tapestry to heal Hannah. Not flirt with Axel. “Was there something you wanted?”

  His gaze shifted, sensing her mood change. “I felt, I don't know exactly, I just had a feeling you were upset or something.” He shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable.

  “I'm not upset. Just annoyed that being a half-breed keeps me out of the witch club.”

  His green eyes iced and he growled, “Fuck them, Darcy. You're not a half-breed anything. You are fully, one hundred percent earth witch.”

  “Actually, Carla is working with the Circle Witches for me. I need all the help I can get. I have to get those spells out of the tapestry today. I will do it today,” she added determinedly.

  He ran his hand through his hair, his face lined with worry. “I'll check in later. I'm at the club, call if you need anything. Later.” He clicked off.

  Even through the machine, she felt the twist of his increasing worry. She knew he was overseeing work on the club, but more important, he and his fellow hunters were tracking the demon witch that had cursed Hannah. And monitoring what the rogues were doing.

  She threw back the covers, got up—leaving the laptop on the bed—and headed into Axel's closet to the stairs that would take her to the bottom floor. She needed a hot shower, change of clothes, and then food.

  She turned into her room and stopped short. Joe slouched on the stool with his feet on her worktable, watching something on the laptop. He had a huge mug of coffee. It smelled delicious, but coffee left her too wired. She usually stuck with herbal teas. “Why are you in here? I know there's a TV in your room.”

  He turned to look at her. “I came to talk to you. Obviously, you didn't sleep here.”

  Joe looked tired and worried. There were taut lines around his deep blue eyes and mouth. “What's up?”

  He dropped his legs to the floor, set his coffee on the worktable, stood, and walked to the doorway. From there, he looked back and said, “Morgan's pregnant.” Then he turned left out of her room and went down the hallway.

  She stared at the tapestry. The cat was gone, the silver chest sat open and was full of sand. But she was thinking about Morgan.

  Joe walked back in holding a mug which he held out to her. “You knew she was pregnant, didn't you? That's what you saw in the bathroom yesterday?”

  She took the cup and inhaled the fragrant tea. She looked up at Joe and answered, “I saw it.”

  Joe went back to the barstool. “That's why her husband kept her alive, to breed his kid.”

  Joe's shoulders were stiff beneath the blue T-shirt he wore. Darcy said carefully, “You care about her.”

  Picking up his coffee, he faced her. “At first, it was the memory of her in high school. She was hot, and somehow untouchable.”

  “The one girl who rejected you.”

  He smirked. “Something like that. But then I went into the military.”

  Darcy forced her hand to bring the cup to her mouth without pause. Joe hadn't talked about his time in the service, other than funny anecdotes. She sipped her tea and waited.

  He shook his head. “It was hell, and after a while I lost myself. I lost my purpose. It was all so fucking pointless.” He shook his head.

  She went to Joe, putting her arm around him. She could sense his turmoil and deep emotions, the same ones she'd felt over the last few months. “What happened?”

  He took a breath. “I fell in love with a woman there.”

  Darcy stayed quiet, leaving it up to him to tell her what he wanted her to know.

  “She was an American Red Cross worker who was killed doing her job trying to help people.”

  Her chest ached for him. One of those deep emotions she'd been feeling from him had a name—grief. “I'm so sorry, Joe.” She hated that he'd gone through this, that he'd suffered, and she hadn't been there for him.

  His muscles clenched as he went on. “I wasn't there. I didn't even find out until after they'd shipped her body back home. I was out on a mission and she died alone. Without knowing how I really felt about her.” He reached up and closed his fingers over her hand.

  Setting her tea down, she hugged him with both arms. The grief and anger poured off him, and Darcy allowed herself to open up and draw it to her. She focused on bright healing light for him.

  He put his hand on her arm. “You're doing magic, aren't you?”

  She wouldn't lie. “Yes.”

  He turned to slip out of her hug, and took hold of her hand. “My world went gray the day I found out about her murder. I lost myself and my ability to see the lines between wh
at matters and what doesn't. Between right and wrong.”

  She shook her head. “That's not true. The part about your world going gray, okay, that I believe. But you have always been able to stand for right and against wrong. Maybe you're not my blood, but you are my family. I know you.” She wouldn't let him cheapen who he was like that.

  The pain left his blue eyes.

  She smiled. “Tell me about Morgan.”

  “She brings color to my world. With Morgan I can see the lines. At first, my feelings were based in nostalgia and plain male interest. Carla told me the same thing Axel did—most mortals who have endured what Morgan has completely lose their minds. But here's Morgan, alone and scared, but fighting. Refusing to let that bastard destroy her. She pulls at something inside me that I thought was dead. She makes me want to live again and be the man strong enough to match her courage.”

  Darcy's hand was still in his and she felt this one emotion more clearly than any other. “You're falling for her.”

  “I am.”

  Darcy believed him, but they had to deal with reality. “There's the baby now.”

  “Yeah.” Joe nodded. “Hell of a mess. And yet, I still want her.”

  She dropped Joe's hand and picked up her tea. “So what now?”

  “I'm not walking away, Darcy. Crazy as it sounds, this world, you being a witch, the witch hunters, Morgan being knocked up by a rogue—it makes sense to me. I know my line, and it's to protect and care for Morgan and her kid.”

  When he said it like that, she understood. Hadn't she spent her life not knowing what she was? Where to fit in? What her purpose was? Learning that she was a witch and taking on the job of healing Hannah whatever the cost—that made sense to her. So if Morgan was what made sense to Joe, then he had her support. “So what's next with Morgan?”

  “Carla wants to see her again today. I'm going to take her. We'll deal with each day as it comes, I guess.”

  Darcy considered it. She had seen a fraction of the torture and fear Morgan suffered, so she told her cousin another truth. “She's going to be physically skittish of you, Joe. Any woman who has been through what she has would be.”

  His eyes burned a bright blue. “You're sleeping with a man who is cursed with a drive to kill you for your blood. And yet I assume you just came from his bed.”

  Heat washed through her, not embarrassment, just heat. She trusted Axel with her body. So much. It was the emotions that scared the hell out of her. In the past, she'd always been rejected because of who she was. She hadn't known she was a witch but the men had always sensed her difference and grew scared of her. “Axel won't hurt me. Not like that. He won't give in to the curse.”

  “And you know this how?”

  The way he touched her, protected her, so many things. “I just do.”

  “Exactly. Morgan had another nightmare last night. This time, before I could get out of bed and go into her room, she came into my room. I pulled back the covers and she got into my bed. Where she feels safe. Where she is safe. When she's ready for more than that, she'll let me know.”

  Morgan had grown up in a small town and gone to school with Joe. She had to know, somewhere in her brain, that Joe was a man she could trust. “She's a lucky woman to have found you.”

  Joe's face twitched in embarrassment. “Yeah, well, after growing up with a witch for a cousin, Morgan is downright normal.” He picked up his coffee and stood. “You have some serious bed head going on there, cuz. Go take a shower.” He strode away, looking ten pounds lighter as he raised his cup to drink.

  Darcy lifted her hand.

  “Hey!” Joe said, turning empty-handed to glare at her. “You stole my coffee!”

  “Sometimes, it rocks to be a witch.” She went in the bathroom and closed the door.

  Axel walked into the house in the late afternoon. Hannah was huddled under a blanket on the couch with Minnie, watching cartoons. She looked up at him; her eyes were sunken into her too pale face. “The TV keeps blinking.”

  It took a second to get his breath. His lungs burned with fury at how sick she looked. How thin her voice was. How much he loved her. Finally, he asked, “Say what?” Just then the TV flickered, went to black, then flashed back on.

  “Blinking.” Hannah coughed, curling into a ball with the spasms.

  “I see that.” He reached down and rubbed her sweaty back until the coughing subsided. Crouching down beside her, he helped her take a sip of water. Then he brushed back her bangs.

  The death mark was the color of a port-wine stain. Her head felt hot, her lips were dry and cracked. The anger rushed him in a violent fury.

  The TV flickered again.

  Taking his hand from her head, he straightened out her blanket. “How long has the TV been … blinking?”

  “All day. Mommy says Darcy is doing it.”

  “Ah.” He assumed she was having trouble focusing her powers to get the spells out of the box. A familiar had never shown up, and without a familiar, high magic was hard for her to access and control.

  But Hannah needed the spell to heal her. And quickly.

  “She's talking to herself, too. I heard her say a bad word.” She blinked up at him with a serious expression.

  “You snuck downstairs?”

  “Darcy makes me feel better. She makes me tea and talks to me, too. She makes Minnie dance, too. Minnie likes her.”

  So did Hannah. Axel could see that his little sister adored Darcy.

  The TV flickered and he actually heard Darcy swear through the sound on the TV.

  Hannah giggled, then coughed.

  It was less violent this time, but she still looked exhausted. His mom walked in holding a half-filled mug. “I made some of Darcy's tea for you.” She set the cup on the table, helped Hannah into a sitting position, then handed her the cup. “Okay?”

  Hannah took the cup in both hands and nodded.

  Eve turned to Axel. “Darcy's been working all day trying to get her spells to transfer. It's not going well.”

  The two lamps flickered on. Axel wondered what she was doing to all his electronics with her wild energy. “I better go down and check on her.”

  His mom followed him into his bedroom. “Did you hear about Morgan?”

  “Darcy told me last night.”

  Eve touched his arm. “Her husband is going to come after her. He'll find her. I know he will.”

  Axel knew she was right. She had stayed with his dad for Axel's sake until his dad tried to force him to turn rogue. Then the two of them had taken off. Evidently, during the thirteen or so years after that, his dad tried to get other women pregnant to replace Axel. It never happened, so his dad tracked down his mom while Axel was gone doing private security for a club. Myles managed to seduce her, which sounded ridiculous for a woman as sophisticated and strong as his mother.

  But Axel knew it happened all the time. Witch hunters gave off special pheromones to attract women and fulfill the sex part of the curse.

  He also suspected that his mom had been afraid Myles would track down Axel and kill him if she didn't cooperate. She got pregnant with Hannah. His dad was disgusted when he found out the baby was a girl and had left them alone.

  But Eve was right about Morgan. Eric Reed would find her.

  Axel put his hand over his mom's. “I hope he does, so we can send him to his eternity as a shade. What he did to Morgan … I look forward to killing him.”

  Tears made her blink, but they didn't fall. “That's what the Wing Slayer wants you to do. I'm sure of it. Protect the innocent. It's what you were born to do.” The passion strengthened her voice.

  She was so sure. “How do you know?”

  “Faith. Sometimes you have to have faith to make the right choices. It's always a choice. Before the curse, your dad and many of the hunters were refusing assignments from the hawk. They were making selfish choices, getting lazy in their duty. I don't think it was always like that, Axel. I think the hunters were making fewer and fewer good choices befo
re the curse. Quinn Young wasn't the first hunter to get sidetracked in his duty, he just was the first to actually get caught by demon witches. And now, here you are, making hard choices and you're no longer struggling with the bloodlust even though you had Darcy in your room all night.”

  Axel wanted to believe. “I can have faith as long as Hannah survives. If we lose her, then I'll know it's a crock of shit.”

  The passion that colored her face drained into a stricken look. “She won't die!”

  “No. She won't. We have leads on demon witches. I won't let Hannah die.”

  “Axel …”

  “No. You don't get a vote in this, Mom. If Darcy can't uncurse her, I will. And if the Wing Slayer wants to take my soul for that, then he's as bad as rogues and demon witches.” He softened his tone and added, “Have faith. Darcy is powerful, she can do this.” He turned and walked through his closet then down the stairs.

  As soon as he hit the bottom of the steps, he felt the wave of power. It spread over his skin in a scattershot of mild shocks, moving through him and dissipating.

  Totally unfocused. He felt that instantly. Axel strode down the hall and turned into the room. Darcy stood in the middle of what looked like some kind of windstorm. Sand dotted the floor, bed, desk, and worktable. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. She wore a shell-pink tank top, a denim skirt, and no shoes. It tended to be cold on the bottom floor, but she looked warm … and hot.

  Warm with a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead and upper arms. And hot from the curves of her breasts against that top, and her bare legs. Darcy had muscle in her legs, he loved the feel of them wrapped around him, her thighs tightening and clenching as her orgasm approached.

  She whipped her head around as if she'd heard his thoughts, or felt them. “Axel.”

  Her voice was low and throbbing. He could feel her energy swirling, touching him, dancing away. It was maddening. He moved toward her, his shoes not making a sound on the sand-coated tile. Her scent filled him, and drew him like a charm. All he saw was Darcy.

  “I've tried, but I can't do it myself. Carla has been coaching me as best she can.” Darcy shook her head. “I can get my fifth chakra to open, but I can't control it. Maybe I need my sixth chakra, but it won't open. I can't reach it.” Her frustration bled through her words.