But then . . . I swear, part of me remembered Ash getting angry on my behalf. But that didn’t make any sense. No one ever got mad for me. I’m shunned for what I am.
I knew I wasn’t remembering things correctly. My mind had to be playing tricks on me. But . . . Damn it all. What if Ash hadn’t been trying to end things between us?
Okay. So that was about one chance in, well, I wasn’t sure I could even count that high, but the chance remained. A chance.
Spirits. Wasn’t that what I’d always searched for?
And if I did have a chance, what then? Ash had nearly killed me. Accidental or deliberate, the facts remained the same. I was either about to face an ex-boyfriend who wanted to kill me or a current boyfriend whose fiery nature had nearly done me in.
My choices sucked.
I pushed to my feet, walked around my bed and went out the other door in my tiny bedroom that led to my porch. Where Ash waited.
He was at the other end of the porch. As far away from my bedroom as he could get.
My heart sank. Of course, he wouldn’t want to be near me. I was mortal. A freak in two different communities.
What had I been thinking? I’d told him the truth about me and he wanted nothing to do with me. Nothing at all. He’d been so angry he’d tried to kill me. A simple break up text would have sufficed.
I took a deep breath. Shoved my shoulders back.
“Well, I’m alive.”
Ash jerked upright. The chair he’d been sitting in toppled over and crashed on its side. He took one step in my direction and then stopped. Froze. Stiffened from those incredibly broad shoulders to his rock hard legs.
He’d almost fried me, would walk out of my life in the next few miserable seconds and still I lusted after him.
Lust.
A paltry word, really, for what I felt. But I knew what was coming. I had to start protecting myself.
“You are unhurt?”
I’d noticed Ash would revert to a stiff and oddly formal manner of speaking when he was uncomfortable. Uncomfortable. Spirits, now I made him uncomfortable.
“Not a scratch.” I smiled widely, displaying more teeth than Al at his worst. “Just fine and dandy.” I stretched my lips until they hurt. “And mortal.”
My fingers twitched. A reflexive action in response to my currents thoughts on how Ash would look as a toad.
Anger suited me just fine. I relished it. No way was that demon going to reduce this witch to tears.
No. Way.
“You do not feel pain?” Ash clenched his hands into massive fists. I cupped my magic. Ready for any move on his part. His voice dropped to a bare whisper. “You were very injured when I brought you here.”
I cocked a hip. And managed to casually thrust my breasts forward. “No pain.” My shoulders twitched which shimmied my entire chest. “Like I said, I’m totally fine. And mortal.”
Wow. I’m not a rip the bandaid off type witch, but right now I could not help but dig at my wound. Exposing it, in all its awful glory, for both of us to see.
Ash grimaced. “I know.” He rubbed one large hand over his face. “I was so angry I . . .” He growled something under his breath.
There was a pause, a moment when it seemed as though we were both holding our breath. Waiting.
Then Ash thrust his shoulders back into a proud line. “Kate.”
He stopped. I dug my fingers into my palms and concentrated on that small pain. I would not cry.
I would not cry.
“I’m sorry.”
Yeah. Me too.
So Ash hadn’t wanted to kill me. Great. Wonderful. I should be happy, but since he was going to leave me, I’d almost rather he did want to kill me. I was good at anger and revenge. Not so much the total annihilation of my heart.
I braced myself for his next words. Clenched everything in me to hold it together. I would not cry.
And I waited.
I honestly have no idea how long we stood there staring at each other. It could have been seconds. Minutes. But finally it hit me that Ash was waiting too.
“Okay. You’re sorry.” His shoulders might have flinched. I couldn’t be sure. I could only focus on keeping it together. “I got that.”
“I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
Forgive him? Oh. Right. For setting me on fire. I’d deal with that later. At the moment I was still waiting for him to break my heart.
“You flame up when you’re upset.” Or when he was aroused. “I get that. I should have cast a spell first.” Damn it. I really should have. I’ve survived this long. I know survival techniques in dealing with the HC. My mom and aunt had drilled them into me every day as I was growing up.
And it took one demon to forget them all.
I couldn’t take this anymore. “Just get it over with.”
Ash frowned. “Get what over with?”
“Ending this.” I waved my fingers back and forth between us.
“Ending this?” He repeated the words back to me as if I hadn’t spoken them in English. “You think I am going to end our relationship?”
I had never taken him for a slow demon. Hot, hunky and loads of trouble for my heart, but never dim witted.
Or it could be I was the slow one. Maybe in the demon realm setting someone aflame was the same as a break up text. Maybe we were already done and he’d just stayed to . . . What?
“Yes, of course.” I scrunched up my forehead, trying to remember exactly what had happened after Ash grabbed me in the parking lot. “Unless you already did. I don’t remember much after I told you I was mortal.” I shrugged. See? I don’t care. I am not upset about this. My world is not ending.
Abruptly, Ash appeared to grow taller. Bigger. His shoulders swelled. Flames tipped his horns.
“This is about you being mortal?”
Duh. It always came back to that.
“You think I don’t want you because you are mortal?” The flames flew down his horns and exploded over his entire body. Hellfire out of control.
And it all came back to me. Ash, engulfed in flames, shaking me. Burning me. Yelling at me. To never say . . .
“You are not less because you are mortal. You are more because you are part of both worlds. You are unique.” The flames went out as if someone had doused him in cold water. His body shrank back down to his normal size. Massive, but not scarily so.
“And I hurt you.” He turned away. “Lock your door behind me.” Ash opened the door that led into my hall and walked inside.
The sound of Al barking ferociously jarred me out of my daze.
I reached my front door just as I heard Ash’s truck pull away from the curb outside. I slowly shut the door, turned the lock and sank down to the floor.
Al jumped into my lap, licking frantically at my face. When his tiny tongue shot up my nose, I pulled him away and tucked him under my arm, grateful he was just a Chihuahua right now.
My entire brain had frozen right up. Every once in a while a word or a phrase would surface and make sense.
Never.
Mortal.
Hurt you.
“I don’t think he broke up with me, Al.” I whispered, scratching him behind his left ear.
I should call him. I should chase him down. I should have yelled at him for setting me on fire. I should probably be doing a lot of things other than sitting on my floor. I just didn’t have it in me. Couldn’t quite get my mind to stop spinning in circles so I could focus. I needed a distraction. Something to get me off the hamster wheel.
A flash of purple caught my eye. I set Al down, stood and walked into my office.
I pulled the scarf off my mother’s Book of Spells. My body moving independently. My brain still spinning out of control.
I flipped quickly through the book, too quickly to study it, but giving me something to do.
Until I came to the last page. It just about jumped off the page at me.
She’d written my name and a question mark. The ink was blurred
as if something wet had fallen on it. Like tears.
I closed the book and stared out the window, seeing nothing.
Ash had not broken up with me. He knew I was mortal and he still wanted me.
I pulled my mother’s Spell book into my arms, hugged it as tightly as I could. And I cried.
18. My Issues. Oh, My Issues.
I plopped into the chair Morgan kicked out for me and set my beer on the table. Sunday evenings were usually quiet at Got Fangs?. Lolly never hired a band on these nights and he and Terry usually took the entire day off.
I’d spent most of the afternoon as a total mess. Alternately sobbing and then laughing.
I’m not usually such a total weenie. I’m also not in any way used to people accepting me, much less the demon of my dreams still wanting me after he’d learned my true nature.
I’d considered texting him to come back over, but we still had some items to work through. Like Ash setting me on fire and killing his father.
These were fairly big items and I wanted to make certain I had a clear head on my shoulders and was not acting like a total boob.
Morgan’s text about a drink at Got Fangs? had been the perfect solution to stop my craziness and add a little normalcy back into my life.
And maybe I could figure out what she was hiding as well.
“Did the police question you?” She didn’t bother to whisper. We had the whole bar basically to ourselves. A troll and two dwarves sat at the counter. Two gargoyles claimed a table near the wall. No one was anywhere near us.
“Yep. Two detectives came by my office this morning. They questioned me and then they left.” Morgan raised one red eyebrow. That’s the thing about being best friends. Undead or otherwise. You can’t hide things from each other. I coughed into my hand and spat out the rest, “And I may have cast a small love spell on one of the detectives.”
She paused with her glass of blood raised halfway to her scarlet lips. “You cast a love spell on a detective you’re hoping will solve a murder and clear you of any wrong doing?”
I winced. “He mocked my profession.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
Morgan scowled. “He did?” I nodded. She took a sip, licked a small red stain away from the corner of her mouth. “Good thing you’re a witch then.”
Morgan has rather bloodthirsty tendencies. I usually think it’s part of her being a vampire, but to be brutally honest, I think it’s more of Morgan simply being Morgan. She holds a mean grudge. It’s one of the many things we have in common.
“So, who did you spell him to fall in love with?”
I squirmed in my chair. I really don’t like using magic in the falling-in-love process. It doesn’t help. People either fall in love or they don’t. Love has a magic all its own.
“It was more of a nudge spell.” Morgan arched the same brow again. “Look,” I waved my hand around, “I’d already seen the truth when I shook hands with them. It’s not like I was forcing them into something they didn’t want. Deep down.” I coughed. “Deep, deep down.” I slapped one hand on the table. “And I put a time limit on the spell.”
“You spelled one of the detectives to fall in love with the other one?”
Since Morgan’s even tone didn’t waiver, I figured it was my guilty conscious that made me want to yank on my curls. Or do some sort of penance. Hadn’t Hercules labored to make up for some horrible sin?
I’d have to email him and ask.
“They were in denial,” I huffed.
“Is the other detective male or female?”
“Male.” I recrossed my arms. “It’s not my fault there are so many human prejudices out there.” Idaho is not what you’d call a liberal state.
The HC don’t have any hang ups about homosexuality. They’ve sort of seen it all - and done it all - over the centuries and could care less. Like I’ve said - strength and power are the most important things for them.
That thought had me sighing. Ash knew I was not strong or powerful and he still wanted me. At least I was pretty sure he did. We hadn’t really resolved anything before he left. Sigh.
I’d have sighed again, but then I remembered he had also set me on fire. Not intentionally. More like an occupational hazard. Except the occupation in this case was being my boyfriend.
Our relationship didn’t need any more hazards.
“What’s the sigh and look for?” Morgan set her empty glass down on the table.
Shit. I hadn’t planned on bringing up the events of this afternoon. Morgan already had issues with Ash.
“Um,” I couldn’t lie to her. Yes, she had lied to me, but when it comes to my UDBFs I’m not a tit for tat witch. Plus I needed to talk to someone about what had happened.
I couldn’t go to Aunt Tabs. She wasn’t likely to be open minded after healing me.
And I certainly couldn’t talk to Big Al. More than likely he was already planning some sort of revenge on Ash. I’d have to watch him once he channeled back.
“Okay. What’s Ash done now?” I frowned at her. “Unless Big Al has managed to get into your love spells, there is only one demon you sigh over these days.”
See, what did I tell you? It’s impossible to hide anything from your best friend. At least for long. They know all your secrets and where all the dead bodies are hidden.
Less than ten miles from where we sat.
“I told him that I’m human and he didn’t dump me.” I nearly squealed the words out. As a young witch, I’d never had a boyfriend. And the ones I’d had as I got older had either dumped me or died.
Either way, I didn’t have much experience in dating.
I figured I was allowed to squeal. A little.
“He didn’t?” I scowled at her. Morgan shook her head, sending red curls fluttering over her pale shoulders. “It’s nothing against you, Kate. I just know how the immortals think.” Okay, I’d give her that one. “And your track record.”
I didn’t care for that reminder.
“No, he didn’t.” I mulled that over. “At least I’m pretty sure he didn’t. We didn’t exactly talk it through.”
Morgan frowned, tilted her head to one side. Flame red curls shifted and floated lovingly over one perfect shoulder. “Why not exactly? I don’t mean to beleaguer the point, but there isn’t anything much more,” she paused. Eyed me closely, “significant than your heritage,” her eyebrows knit together as if in pain, “when it comes to relationships.”
Within either the HC or the human population. She didn’t have to elaborate. I knew it all to well. I was totally screwed. Plus I was cursed.
Normally, I’d be defensive, sarcastic and have my wand in hand if it was anyone but Morgan. She knew me inside and out - all my secrets, hopes and fears.
“Uh, well,” I cleared my throat, stared over her left shoulder. “Ash sort of set me on fire.”
“He did what?” An arctic breeze drifted over our table.
She also loved me and wasn’t a big fan of Ash.
“He didn’t mean to set me on fire. It wasn’t deliberate at all. He got upset, lost control and I didn’t cast a spell.” The words flew out of my mouth so quickly I could barely understand them.
Morgan’s hair started rising around her head. Her skin began to glow like moonlight off the water. I’d have been overwhelmed by her ethereal beauty if I didn’t know just how enraged she was.
“Where is he?”
“No. No way. You are not going to kill him.” Morgan doesn’t do anything halfway. “It was an accident. Aunt Tabs healed me. I’m totally fine.” Okay, maybe not totally. I still hadn’t worked everything out in my mind yet, but I wasn’t going to let Morgan kill Ash before we had a chance to talk.
If he dumped me later on and broke my heart, I’d consider it.
Morgan’s eyes flared to a brilliant emerald life as if lit by some internal light.
“Where. Is. He?”
The sudden avalanche of emotion blindsided me. I shoved away from the table, toppling my chair over
backwards. My body shaking under the chaotic force holding me captive. “I said NO, Morgan. You are not going to kill him.” I slammed my hands down onto the table. “You are not going to do anything to hurt him in any way. He doesn’t care that I’m mortal.” I pressed my hands over a heart that was beating too rapidly. “He doesn’t care. He didn’t turn away.”
I don’t know who was more shocked by my outburst.
Morgan’s skin and eyes ceased glowing. Her hair fell gracefully back down along her neck, spilling over her shoulders. Her beauty undiminished in any way. She blinked slowly.
“Well.” She pursed her red lips into a soft bow, arched her perfect brows. “Looks like you do like him.”
A half-laugh/half-scream bubbled up and out of my chest. I picked up my chair, set it to rights and collapsed onto the seat.
A whisper would have echoed throughout the bar, the silence was so strained.
I could have cared less. I didn’t know how I felt by my outburst since I had never screamed at my UDBF before, but the rest didn’t matter. My scene wouldn’t make a difference in the way anyone in Got Fangs? viewed me. Besides, I was still riding high on the fact Ash hadn’t dumped me.
“I’m not used to . . .” I rolled the beer bottle between my palms. I didn’t want to apologize. Which felt both entirely weird and utterly right. But I couldn’t cause a rift between us either. I loved Morgan. I settled on, “being accepted.”
“I know, Kate.” Morgan sighed, an exhale of breath soft and nearly inaudible, like the flutter of butterfly wings. “I don’t want to see you hurt.”
And Morgan loved me. Sometimes life was simple.
“I won’t do anything right now.” Morgan tapped one coral nail against her wine glass. “But if Ash does anything that hurts or harms you, I will hunt him down and eviscerate him.”
I could accept that. I’d do no less for her.
“Unless it’s accidental.” I tagged on. I definitely needed to have that little asterisk included until Ash and I figured out a way to control his tendency to catch fire when he got heated.
Scratch that. I sort of liked his passionate give aways. Insert: it turned me on in a huge way when he flamed up. I just wanted to avoid him setting me on fire. Ever again.
Bigfoots Don't Do Mini Coopers (Kate Storm Book 1) Page 12
