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

by Kerrigan Byrne

  “Tierra?” Claire pleaded with her eyes for her sister to join her. “You’re eating with us, right?”

  Tierra shook her head as a repulsed look twisted her features. She placed a hand over her mouth. “Not much of an appetite this morning. I’ll take some tea with me. You eat this waffle. I’ll grab something later when my stomach settles.”

  She wanted to label Tierra a coward for deserting her, but the fact was, Tommy’s undead odor had grown stronger after the breaking of the sixth Seal. Claire had no idea what that meant, but it couldn’t be good.

  “I’m glad she’s gone,” Tommy said in low tones as he settled into the seat beside her.

  She glanced sideways, wishing she could un-see the vast amount of pale gray skin he exposed. “Where are your clothes?” She used the excuse of buttering her waffle to break the constant visual contact with him.

  His once-brilliant eyes had dulled to a matte blue. “Didn’t think I’d need them this morning.”

  The sight of him sometimes offended her, too. She couldn’t lie. Definitely did so now, but how could she complain? Seriously, how many people wished they could have one more moment with their loved ones? She was the one who’d killed Tommy, who’d separated his soul from his body in the first place. A bad side effect from a spell she’d cast had used unseen forces to piece him back together again. If he stunk, she was to blame.

  “It’s kind of chilly in here.” Not that he still experienced temperatures. She ate a forkful of waffles and tried to breathe through her mouth to lessen the smell of decay that had slaughtered her appetite, too.

  His chuckle spread throughout the room like a newbie trumpet player, grating against her nerves. “Remember when we lived together before? You’d make breakfast while I showered.”

  “Yes,” she said in an effort to encourage him to continue. He had just showered and still smelled like an old dog’s breath.

  He put a cold hand over hers where it rested on the table, and she tensed. She’d wished, had tried, to force herself to allow him to touch her, but each time he held her hand or caressed her cheek, she cringed. “You were always ravenous before breakfast, but not for food,” he continued.

  She closed her eyes understanding the direction of his thoughts. She’d wanted him desperately back then because, instead of food, making love had been her sustenance.

  The tables had turned, and he wanted her now.

  The few bites of waffle she’d eaten lurched in her stomach at the thought of them having sex. She expelled a large breath and prayed she could maintain her sympathy for him.

  “Tommy, that was back then, back before you were a…” She couldn’t bring herself to say corpse. “Before I killed you.”

  His smile grew bigger. “I know, Claire, and I think I understand your reluctance now.”

  But how could he possibly and still retain an expression that bordered on flirtatious and menacing?

  “You’ve been carrying around a shit-load of guilt. That would kill anyone’s sex drive.” He tightened his hand around hers, and she was again reminded that undead didn’t mean loss of physical strength.

  He stood. “I forgive you, Claire. You didn’t know what you were doing. I know that now, and I forgive you. With that said, there’s nothing to stop us from reconnecting.” With a glint in his dull eyes, he whipped the towel from his hips.

  She choked on a breath.

  He stood in all his sinewy, grim splendor with a shitty grin on his face. She fought to keep her gaze averted, but sick curiosity won out. Aw…damn. His once-glorious manhood remained nothing but a shadow of its former self.

  “It’s now a grower instead of a shower,” he reassured her.

  She lifted a hand as she pushed back from the table. “I’m sure it is. But I’m not…” Her guts rumbled like a blender without a lid, and she clamped a palm over her midsection as she ran from the room.

  “Should I meet you in the bedroom?” he called after her.

  Chapter Four

  Claire nearly flattened Tierra in her haste to reach the upstairs bathroom. She lifted the toilet lid and heaved nothing but air. “Open the window,” she said with a gasp when Tierra appeared beside her.

  Her sister complied. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine.” Claire stayed hunched over the bowl with her hands on her thighs, blessing the cool tendrils of rain-soaked air that rushed in to erase Tommy’s scent.

  “It’s not morning sickness, is it?”

  Claire turned her head and burned Tierra with a glare. “Who the hell do you think I’ve been having sex with?”

  She widened her innocent gaze. “Not Tommy, I guess.”

  Claire’s abdominals contracted, threatening to heave once again.

  Tierra quickly rattled off a spell that quieted Claire’s uneasiness. She shrugged when Claire eyed her with a questioning look. “Something I learned out of necessity.” She slid a protective hand across her swollen belly.

  “Thank you.” Claire inhaled a deep breath and stood.

  “Dru, then?” Tierra probed, reigniting her ire.

  “No, Tierra. I, unlike the rest of you, have not slept with a man, alive or otherwise, since I’ve come to Port Townsend.” Unless she wanted to count the fantasy sex Dru had conjured when he’d held her captive. Which was better than any real-life sex she’d had, but… “I’ve had more important things on my mind instead of creating the Antichrist.”

  Seconds ticked past as tension overpowered the air. When Tierra spoke, her voice shook with emotion as the earth trembled and rattled the potted fern sitting on the counter. “Don’t get all sanctimonious on me. You and the other two are the ones who told me I needed to get laid. Remember?”

  Tierra volleyed another angry look before she strode out of the room.

  Ah, shit. Tierra was helpful one minute and overly-sensitive the next. Damned hormones. Not to mention Claire’s words were anything but sisterly. No one wanted her baby to be called Satan’s spawn.

  As Claire hurried down the stairs after her, Kai joined in, his bushy fox-tail almost tripping her in an effort to be first to the bottom.

  “I’m sorry,” Claire said as she caught up with Tierra on the porch. The rain had eased to a drizzle, and Claire gulped in the fresh, crisp air. Tierra dropped to a cushioned Adirondack chair as gracefully as a pregnant lady could, her bangles tinkling as she did. Claire folded into the seat next to Tierra, petting Kai’s fur as she tried to get her sister to look at her. “I didn’t mean what I said about buying into all that Antichrist nonsense. I didn’t think and just spoke out of fear.”

  When Tierra looked up, her eyes were dewy like the lush grass. “How am I not supposed to think about it, Claire? The idea haunts me constantly. When I close my eyes and try to tune into the little being inside me, everything seems fine. But then things happen…odd things, and I worry.”

  Even as she spoke, the bulge beneath her flowy bohemian blouse rolled hard enough to make Tierra catch her breath.

  Claire buried the uneasiness inside her and took Tierra’s hand. “Whenever I’m around you and the baby, all I sense is love and goodness. Just because Death is the daddy doesn’t mean a thing.” That much was true. The baby’s actions might be odd, but they didn’t seem evil.

  Tierra shook her head in distress. “How could I have fallen for him? Of all people? Death is everything I’m not. Yeah, the sex is great, but he’s constantly trying to control me, and I’m not having any of that. Plus, he collects dead things.”

  The fact that any of this could be happening blew Claire’s mind. Even so, getting all panicky wouldn’t help. “It’s all in the way you think about it, Tierra. Life is a cycle. There can’t be life without death, and really, death is the first stage in the rebirth of living matter. Killian takes what once was and allows it to be again.”

  Tierra thought on that for a moment, compressing her lips into a thin line. She blinked a few times as she nodded. Her anger at the unknown still burned, but Claire sensed the fiery emotions l
essening inside her sister.

  “Doesn’t mean I forgive him for everything he’s done, including impregnating me, binding me to him, and whisking me away from all of you. I needed to be here to help with Aerin, to support you.”

  Claire snorted. “Let’s be honest. Death doesn’t have the greatest timing in a lot of things.” Rarely did he take someone when they were ready to die. Most of the time his work was messy and painful.

  “Right?” Bashing her lover did seem to bring Tierra some relief, and Claire was all for that. She couldn’t imagine being pregnant…ever…but especially not when times were hard and uncertain. Bringing a child into this disastrous world was insane.

  “Men,” Claire said with a frustrated sigh. “It’s lucky we’re the physically weaker sex, or they’d probably all be dead.”

  Tierra’s lips twitched, hinting of a smile, bringing about the lighthearted feeling Claire had experienced earlier before Tommy had walked in all naked and disgusting.

  “Speaking of death and men…” Tierra’s brief happiness dimmed as she pinned Claire with a pointed look. “I don’t want to be rude, but you have to do something about Tommy.”

  Tierra rubbed knuckles across her nose. “He stinks worse than ever. I think he’s rotting…more than he already was…not that I know exactly how these things work. I’ve tried cleaning spells and cans of air freshener, but nothing takes away the stench.” She inhaled a quick breath and continued. “I know you love him, but Moira and Aerin have practically moved into Manresa Castle just to be away from him. This is their home, our home, and, I’m sorry, but Tommy can’t stay any longer.”

  Claire dropped her hands into her face, well aware her boyfriend, such that he was, had become an issue she could no longer ignore. She’d kind of hoped the smell of rotting fish had all been in her head. “I know. I know,” she mumbled through her fingers before lifting her head. “I just don’t know what to do about it. I made him this way, Tierra. I stole his life from him, and now I’m supposed to kick him to the curb because he’s a little stinky?”

  Tierra snorted. “He’s more than a little smelly. He’s killed what appetite I had left. And Goddess knows if you don’t do something quick, Killian will use it as an excuse to try to kidnap me again.”

  “Okay.” It had to be done. “Just give me a couple of days to figure it out, okay?”

  “Two, Claire. I can’t tolerate more than two.”

  She released a sigh laced with toxic worry and rested her head against the back of the chair. Sea birds torpedoed each other in the distance, sending feathers flying and bodies dropping as the salt-tinged air swirled around her. Ominous clouds hovered like a battalion catching its second breath, promising a blister of rain before the day ended.

  “Do you ever wonder what might have happened if you hadn’t sent out that call to us or if one of us had chosen not to come?” She shifted her gaze to Tierra who sat with her eyes shut and her hands resting on her swollen stomach.

  A silent moment stretched between them. “I’ve thought of that so many times and wondered if there’s anything we could have done differently that might have kept us from where we are now.”

  “And? I only ask because I’m feeling awfully selfish for wanting to be with my sisters. Dru said we should separate and never see each other again.” The idea was a dagger to her heart. She’d never known love like she had with her sisters, never realized how deep the hole was until they filled it. Asking her to leave was beyond cruel.

  “Aunt Justine and the coven did exactly that when we were little. Then I brought you back.” She lifted her green eyes to Claire, resurrecting that odd feeling Claire had when she’d first looked into faces so similar to hers. “I couldn’t deny what burned inside me any longer, Claire. We couldn’t fight something this strong, even if we would have known in advance what might be in store.”

  That’s what she was afraid of. “If what you’re saying is true, then at some point, it’s fated we’ll open that last Seal.”

  “I pray to the Goddesses that won’t happen, but I worry that it’s already too late. Do you sense it, Claire? A strengthening of the elements? More fires, storms, and earthquakes? Mankind grows weaker as they increase, and I’m not sure how long until we succumb.”

  “I don’t feel weaker, Tierra. Even now, an inferno roars inside me as though my human shell can barely contain it.”

  “I thought it was the baby doing that to me.”

  Claire reached over to clasp her sister’s hand, needing the strength and solidarity Tierra offered. “Maybe the change is helping us, too. Maybe it’s not about lessening our powers to avoid the last Seal. Maybe it’s about strengthening them to help control what happens afterward.”

  Tierra pondered that for a long moment. “And if you’re wrong?”

  “Then we’re all dead.”

  Chapter Five

  “We can’t just sit here, Tierra.” Frustration thundered through Claire. “We need to do something.”

  Tierra spread her hands and gripped her head like a basketball. “But what? My head already feels like it’s going to explode. I agree we’ve grown stronger, but what the hell do we do with it? I keep thinking the answer is on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t spit it out.”

  Claire was about to respond that she felt the same when a fiery rock the size of a grape whistled through the air like a bullet, hit the house with a thump and landed near their feet, hissing as it made contact with the lush grass.

  They both jumped out of their seats, looked at the offending stone, and then at each other. Together, they cautiously made their way from beneath the protection of the porch.

  “What the hell is that?” Claire peered at the smoldering gray rock that spit and hissed as stray raindrops pelted its uneven surface and evaporated.

  Tierra glanced skyward. “I’m not sure. A piece of a comet, maybe? I’ve heard others in town talking about the sky falling, but I assumed they were kidding.”

  Claire wished. “I thought we’d warded the yard to keep out zombies and flying fish. You’d think it would work on missiles comprised of ice, rock and stardust.”

  “Agreed.” Tierra reached for a stick lying on the ground near them. Before she could grasp it, the slender wood rushed toward her hand, and Tierra wrapped her fingers around it.

  “That’s a neat trick.” Claire eyed her warily. “But I thought we agreed not to do magic for now.”

  Tierra looked at her with rounded eyes. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I swear. Maybe it was the baby.”

  “Oh, sure. Blame everything on the kid.” As Claire spoke, a large evergreen a few feet behind Tierra moved, seeming to take a step toward them.

  Claire blinked, realizing the shrub hadn’t moved, but a camouflaged man had emerged from the greenery with a lethal-looking dagger in his hand. “Tierra, drop!”

  Her sister didn’t hesitate to curl onto the grass protecting her child.

  “The spawn of Satan must die!” The ominous figure lunged for Tierra with his knife outstretched.

  Claire thrust her leg into the air. A loud grunt escaped the assassin’s throat as Claire’s boot connected with his sternum. She shoved again and knocked him on his ass.

  “Get inside!” She yelled at Tierra and stalked toward the man as he clutched his chest with one hand and grasped for the knife he’d dropped a few inches from his fingers.

  “I can help!” Tierra cried.

  “No,” she ground out. “Protect the child. I’ve got this.”

  Tierra ran for the porch as two more camouflaged men emerged from the bushes. “There are more, Claire!”

  “Shit,” Claire hissed as she pressed the heel of her boot on the man’s wrist, keeping him from reaching the dagger. She needed to take care of this one first. “Threatening me with a knife is a fatal mistake, asshole. That’s like trying to use my best friend against me.”

  She wrapped her fingers around the hilt of the assassin’s knife and found herself on the ground a millisecond later.
Dark eyes glittered behind his black ski mask as he gripped her wrist with powerful fingers and straddled her. She struggled to keep her hold on the knife.

  “Bastard,” she groaned as she wrapped her legs around him and tried to throw him off.

  Kai shot out a tremor that knocked the other two to the ground before they reached the porch, but that would only deter them for a bit.

  A small rock sailed out of left field and slammed into her attacker’s cheek, surprising them both.

  “What the fuck?” he growled.

  Claire twisted her head in time to see Tierra conjure another from the safety of the house and send it sailing toward him. “More!” Tierra’s tactics just might tip the scales and save her ass.

  Her plea increased the frantic struggling between her and the assassin. With amazing strength, he pried the knife from her hand. She gripped his beefy fist with hers as he used the weight of his body to angle the knife downward.

  The ground rumbled, but the rolling movement didn’t dissuade the bastard on top of her.

  In her peripheral vision, Claire caught sight of the next rock flying toward her and focused her energy on it. The brief lapse in attention allowed her assailant to bury his knife into her bicep, but by the time the rock slammed into his head, she’d turned it into a flaming fireball, just like the comet that had landed a few minutes ago.

  He screamed in pain as he scrambled off her and struggled to get to his feet. Another hit him in the back, and he tripped.

  After that, Tierra’s rocks came one after the other. Claire set them all aflame while she struggled to pull the knife from her arm. The second and third assassins clamored to stay upright as they dashed and stumbled toward the gate, screaming as Tierra’s fireballs nailed them with precision, but the first attacker seemed determined to complete his mission.

  He loomed toward her, now blocking fireballs with his gloved hands.

  “You’d better run while you can,” Claire said to the man as fear mounted inside her.