Which Witch is Wild? (The Witches of Port Townsend Book 3)

by Kerrigan Byrne

The butler nodded to the man in understanding and didn’t look her way once after that.

  Claire gripped her glass and swiveled on her seat, her knees bumping Dru’s thighs as she came face-to-face with War. “Leave me alone.”

  He shook his head in slow succession. “You know I can’t do that.”

  By slow degrees, she became aware that, though few in number, each man in the room watched her. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “What did you do?” She couldn’t know for certain if they all really stared or if he’d conjured another illusion. Her clarity only came where Dru’s thoughts and body were concerned.

  “It’s not me. It’s you. You’ve given every guy in here a hard on. They sense the unfulfilled need pulsing inside you for me.” He grinned wickedly. “It’s only going to get worse if you don’t address it.”

  Anger flared. He’d done this to her, made her a spectacle to everyone in the room. “Fine. I’ll go home and fuck Tommy.”

  “The hell you will.” His voice boomed and rattled the glasses hanging above the bar.

  She gritted her teeth as a slender man with short blond hair stood and gawked at her with a lusty gaze. A portly man clad in dirty overalls did the same. She had to wonder for a moment if they would turn into fucking zombies.

  “Don’t you think about going for her,” the hefty man warned and blocked the slender man’s path. “She’s going to be all mine.”

  “Damn you,” she whispered to Dru.

  “If you weren’t so damn hot.” He grinned.

  “I hate you.” One of these days, she’d show him her prized Indian bowie knife. He’d soon learn he couldn’t always manipulate her.

  His snort fanned her irritation. “Grab your drink, and let’s take a stroll around the grounds before you drive these men insane.”

  He left her no choice, but she still wouldn’t comply like a lowly soldier. Instead of following his direction, she lifted her shot, downed it, and slammed the glass on the bar. With annoyance threatening to explode like a match hovering over gasoline, she pushed past him and headed out of the room, just as the portly man threw the first punch at her would-be slender suitor.

  The moment she exited the building, her lungs deflated in shock. She stumbled and grabbed for a nearby column to steady herself as a fearsome and wild sight exploded on the horizon before her.

  “Dear Goddess,” she whispered as she drew shaking fingertips to her mouth.

  Chapter Two

  Dru, obviously not expecting Claire to stop so suddenly, slammed into her with the force of a warhorse. She grappled for purchase even as he snatched her with a strong arm to keep her from tumbling down the stairs.

  “Oh…fuck.” His words rolled like a carpet of devastation. “I’ve seen some bad shit in my life, but this is…eschatological.”

  The scarlet moon hovered over the Puget Sound and bled into the water, mortally wounded and leaving the once-picturesque Port Townsend cast in an eerie red glow. If Claire had wondered if the end of times was upon them, she could no longer doubt its untimely arrival. An unwelcome tingle scampered beneath the surface of her skin, as though something buried deep had been awakened by the ominous manifestation. As though subconsciously she’d been waiting for this.

  Cold fear drained through her like embalming fluid. The innumerable hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornados were bad. Random murders, over-zealous ghosts and freakish zombies were bad. But this was downright scary as shit.

  She gripped Dru’s hand. “What’s happening?”

  “The spell you and your sisters cast in Julian’s room must have opened another fucking Seal.”

  She recoiled from the accusation hurled at her.

  “No.” Her voice shook as she answered. “We couldn’t have. Only three of us performed the spell, not four. It was supposed to only be Moira and me in order to keep things under control, but Tierra showed. Still, Aerin was out of commission.”

  He stared across the grounds toward the Sound, clenching the muscles in his chiseled jaw. “If the spell carried enough energy to boot Lucy from Aerin’s body, then who knows what kind of bad mojo came from what you did. Did you and Moira consider that before you charged ahead? Many good armies have been defeated by lack of forethought by their leaders.”

  She gripped the fear that coiled wildly through her, trying to control it before it brought her to her knees. Hell. Maybe that’s what she needed to do. Fall to her knees and beg the Goddess for mercy.

  Dru turned her to face him, and the sight of his eyes drilled into her like a thousand needles. “Are you sure Aerin didn’t help, Claire? She was inside, fighting to get out. She could have.”

  “I don’t know.” She could scarcely believe the world hovered on the brink of complete annihilation, and it was all their fault. Again. “We never wanted this to happen. You have to believe that.”

  “What you wanted doesn’t mean a damn thing when you can’t control what you’re doing. Every action has an equal, opposite reaction. It’s fucking physics, Claire. Now can you understand why I originally took your power? I couldn’t kill you, but I could find no other way to prevent the end of mankind.”

  His words devastated her, smothering the fire inside her until she could barely breathe. He was angry and rightfully so. Up until this point, she wasn’t sure if she’d taken the Apocalypse seriously. Yes, bad shit had happened, and it had frightened her and her sisters, but there had still been Seals between them and the end of times.

  Now they had only one. One Seal. Who knew how fragile it was? The whole fucking thing was a time bomb waiting to detonate. “We’re not trying to end the world, Dru. How can loving and protecting each other bring about such desolation?”

  “The four of you aren’t powerful enough to stop a prophecy.”

  He was right. Utterly and devastatingly right. She couldn’t continue to play with literal fire when she had no idea what the hell she was doing. There was a solution though. “Kill me, Dru. Carry out the command you were given. I was never meant to be with my sisters. Never meant to be with you.”

  Dru cursed beneath his breath. “Don’t get all dramatic on me.” He pulled her against his chest, and she accepted the solace he offered. “Stop counting bodies before the war is over. We still have a chance.”

  “I only ever wanted a family, a place to belong. Goddess finally granted it, but she’s cast our happiness with a plague.” She lifted her gaze until his dark eyes met hers. Intense shivers cascaded over her like acid rain leaving her cold inside. “What can we do? I don’t want to hurt my sisters, don’t want to bring about their or anyone else’s destruction. We have to take this seriously.”

  “Okay, then. There is another solution beyond snuffing out one of you.”

  She lifted her brows in hope. She would do anything.

  “Never cast another spell with any of your sisters. Intentional or accidental. Scatter across the globe and never see each other again.”

  He may as well have handed her a death sentence.

  “Goddess help us.” Tierra’s grave tone reached out from the lawn below them.

  Claire jerked her head toward her sister’s voice, surprised to find that Tierra and Bane had joined them. Death wrapped his arms about Tierra in a protective gesture. Tierra had folded hers across her expanded stomach, guarding the tiny treasure who grew inside.

  “Tierra,” she whispered and pushed from Dru as Tierra broke free from Bane. Claire opened her arms to her sister, and Tierra accepted her embrace, squeezing her as though it might be for the last time.

  “This is my fault,” Tierra said as her horrified gaze shifted to the havoc they’d wrought. “I should have stayed away. But I’d been gone so long, and I sensed you needed my help. I should have trusted you and Moira to handle this. I forget you’re not the same women who showed up on my doorsteps all those months ago. I’m so sorry.”

  Had it only been months? It seemed as though years had passed since she had climbed from the plane after traveling from Bali. “Don’t bla
me yourself, Tierra. It’s done. None of us could have known. For all we know, Moira and I might have caused the same without your help. We’ve been dabbling with things we shouldn’t.”

  “I knew what would happen.” A woman’s scratchy voice tumbled down from above like marbles of hail on bare skin.

  Claire nearly fell back as she tilted her head skyward, looking for the mother of all evil.

  “You’ve done this. All of you.” Lucy leaned over the rooftop balcony above them, her features as solemn as a pallbearer. Her once-styled blond hair hung limp about her shoulders, her perfect skin now cast with the grayish-tinge of the dead. Apparently, occupying another body took its toll. “You’ve brought damnation upon mankind. I’ve tried to help you. Tried to stop all of you, and look what you’ve done.”

  “You!” Tierra thrust a bejeweled finger at the Devil but failed to finish her sentence. Death held her tightly to him, as though afraid of what might happen if he let go.

  War had no such reservations. He released Claire’s hand and faced upward. “You can blame no one but yourself, Lucifer. You want eternal power, and you’re willing to sacrifice everything to get it. If we’re going to save this fucking world, you’re the one who needs to be stopped.”

  Her shrill laugh split the fearsome night. “You can’t kill me, Dru. I own you.”

  “Do you now?” He surveyed the stone ledge above him. “Or are you weakened because of what you’ve done to Aerin? I’m going to guess the latter.”

  The confidence on her weary face flickered. For a long moment, no one moved. Then Lucy bolted away from the edge. Dru jumped and grabbed hold of the stone ledge and propelled himself up onto the balcony. His muscles bulged as he ripped his weapon from an unseen sheath and pulled out his immortal sword that had sent many souls to Death.

  The swift, powerful act blasted sexual heat through Claire. As much as she wanted to hate Dru, the ties that bound her to him were unbreakable. Might be the traces of his sword left in her system or the fact that he’d once housed her Fire.

  “How did he do that?” Claire mumbled beneath her breath. If she could manage to pull her knives from thin air…

  He flashed a darkened gaze toward her, striking quick as lightning. I’ll show you later, his promise echoed in her mind. When I have you in my bed.

  Dru bellowed a war cry that defied the ages and charged after the Devil.

  Claire eyed Tierra but didn’t move. Tierra did the same, her green-eyed gaze swishing between Claire and Bane.

  “Shouldn’t you go after him?” Tierra asked her Horseman.

  Death puffed out his chest. “And leave you and the baby vulnerable? No.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you? Stop making decisions for me and my baby.”

  “Our baby.”

  Anger flared in Tierra’s expression, and she growled her frustration. “I don’t need you to babysit me. Don’t need you to steal me away from my family. In fact, I don’t need you at all. You’re the one who put me in this damn situation in the first place.” She fisted her hands and propped them on her hips.

  Claire slid her gaze toward Bane to watch his reaction. She thought for sure he’d come back with a verbally defeating blow. Instead, he wrapped his arm about Tierra’s shoulders.

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “Yes, I do,” she ground between clenched teeth. “If I had Dru’s sword, I’d slice off those wings and punish you for good.”

  Death actually looked affronted.

  “You want to do some good?” Tierra continued. “Then stop this madness. Use your power to save the world so our child isn’t born into this Goddess-forsaken mess.”

  Tension tight enough to pluck stretched between them for several long moments. Then Bane nodded. “I’ll do this for you, Tierra. For you and our child.”

  His nostrils flared as he glanced at Claire, and she pondered the phrase “peaceful death”. There would be no peace when this massive man came to claim you.

  “Take her home, Claire,” he said. “Double…fuck, quadruple your wards. I’ll be back soon.”

  Pride flickered across Tierra’s face, but she remained silent.

  “I’ll take care of her and the wee one,” Claire promised.

  Death cast one more longing look toward Tierra and then spread his massive wings. Claire’s hair fluttered against her cheek as he disappeared into the hellish sky.

  “Think they’ll be okay?” Tierra twisted the bangles on her wrist as she stared at the space he’d just occupied.

  “I thought you were pissed at him.” Though Claire knew better than to dismiss the love her sister and Death had for each other. Tierra could deny it all she wanted, but Claire was an expert on fire in the veins. Those two definitely had it.

  “Just because I’m mad, doesn’t mean I want him to get hurt. It’s true nothing can kill him.” She paused to swallow. “But he can feel pain. They all can. When I found him locked in Hell… it was horrible, Claire. Truly horrible.” Tears welled in her eyes.

  Claire took Tierra’s hand as desolate fear rang hollow in her heart. “I know. I worry, too.” She silently prayed to the Goddess for their safe return.

  Chapter Three

  A heavy rain pounded against the windows in the kitchen of the cozy Victorian house Claire shared with her sisters. The skies might be the color of her stiletto sword, but at least they weren’t bloodshot at the moment. Unfortunately, the scarlet forewarning of the end of times would rise again that evening, just like it had each night for the past week, a looming threat that chased away any remnants of sun and Claire’s hope for a happier tomorrow.

  The last fragile Seal remained intact, but who knew what slight spell might shatter it and send them all into oblivion. As it was, the world crumbled around them, showing the wear and tear of the last days. At first, she and her sisters had been glued to the TV watching reports on horrific floods and earthquakes, failing countries and pervasive wars, but the devastating news was too much, especially knowing they brought about the unimaginable catastrophes.

  Watching a shocked child covered in blood, the sole survivor in her family after a bomb decimated the rest of her kin nearly undid Claire.

  But here in the kitchen, closed off from the rest of the messed up world, the simple, mundane task of making breakfast provided a respite Claire desperately needed.

  Tierra stirred honey and buckwheat into waffle batter, her usual humming absent. Claire allowed herself a small bittersweet smile as she brewed chai tea. She and her sister had finally agreed upon a morning drink that they both enjoyed.

  “Good thing I stored away all that flour in the cellar,” Tierra said.

  “Not to mention all the vegetables in the garden. No one grows them like you.” Food had become a scarcity in their small seaport town.

  Tierra beamed at the compliment. She had used her magic to create a community garden where anyone could harvest what they needed since desperate residents had long-since looted the local grocery stores. With Tierra’s verdant thumb, no one in their community went hungry, except those few who refused to accept help from a witch. As soon as someone picked a tomato, another would grow in its place.

  Witchcraft could create good things, too, and if Claire wasn’t mistaken, her powers had increased since the opening of the last Seal.

  When the teakettle shrilled, Claire lifted it but quickly returned it to the stove as the floor beneath her rumbled, rattling all the dishes in the cupboard. She slid a worried gaze to Tierra who mirrored her emotions. When it stopped, Tierra poured batter on the griddle and closed the lid as though minor earthquakes were an everyday occurrence in Port Townsend. Which they sort of were now that the sixth Seal had been shattered.

  “Breakfast will be ready in a minute,” Tierra said a little too brightly, trying to cover her concern. Neither of them had seen or heard from Dru or Killian since they’d taken off in the night after Lucy.

  “Great.” Claire smiled and tried to focus on the moment and not what
hovered on the horizon. She gathered the plates, cups, and silverware they would need.

  Happy whistling brought Claire’s head around sharply.

  Tommy appeared in the doorway of the kitchen clad only in a towel. Her jaw slackened as her eyes bugged in disbelief. The man…er, zombie wouldn’t quit.

  He lifted suggestive brows and grinned as he walked with a sexy swagger to the stove, lifted the tea kettle, and poured a cup.

  Oh…Goddess. She forced her mouth closed and glanced at Tierra, hoping she wouldn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Tierra lifted a hand to her nose and rolled her eyes. Aerin or Moira wouldn’t have been so nice.

  Claire refocused on the undead love of her life. Make that her previous life.

  No…she still loved him. Death didn’t kill a love that strong.

  “What are you doing?” she asked cautiously, working to keep her gaze from drifting to the towel slung low on his hips. If he had been alive, she would have melted on the spot, but there was something about the sickly color of his skin that didn’t quite do it for her.

  He stared at her for a long, languishing moment as though to mentally communicate his thoughts. “Getting tea.”

  She snorted softly. “You know you can’t drink that.” It would go right through him, and her sisters had long since lost patience with Tommy and the messes he created trying to live a normal life.

  “It’s for you, love.”

  Love? Tommy hadn’t used that endearment once since she’d accidently brought him back from the dead.

  “Come, sit down.” He set the cup on the table and pulled out her seat.

  She kept her footsteps slow and measured, trying to piece together his intentions. Instinct warned her something was off, but she couldn’t pinpoint what.

  He’d caught her off guard once when he’d been possessed by a vengeful ghost. The butcher knife he’d stabbed her with had hurt like a bitch, but he seemed to have all his faculties today. At least as best as he could. With his lack of clothing, the only place he might have a weapon would be under that towel, and what he had there would only shoot blanks.