by J. L. Weil
Chapter 14
It was wrong to play with his arrogance, but this time I actually knew what I was doing. My purple irises illuminated, and just as the massive wave reached the shoreline, threatening to sweep us both away, I threw my arms out to my sides. My head fell back.
I laughed as water sloshed around us, but never touching us. Contained, I kept the formidable surf from reaching past where we stood and sent it back into the ocean with rocky force. A light mist tickled my face. In all honesty, I really had not a clue how I had done the spell. There was nothing technical about it, my conjuring just born from feelings.
Once the water show quieted down, Gavin eyed me. “How did you do that?”
I shrugged, feeling exposed. “It’s weather related. I don’t have to think about it so hard, and the elements response to my emotions. Watch.” The soft breeze from the ocean swirled around me, picking up pieces of my hair. Smiling, I used the warm gust as a hand, stroking the side of his cheek.
He blinked, startled. “You never fail to surprise me.”
I caught my reflection in the water and gasped.
Oh God, I look like the Swamp Thing.
He gave me an appraising look. “I think we should call it quits for the day.”
“Gladly,” I agreed, thinking I needed a brush and a bottle of leave-in conditioner, pronto. “As long as I don’t have to hurt you anymore.”
He snorted. “You can’t hurt steel.”
That was an invitation I couldn’t refuse. “Oh, really?” A bolt of lightning sliced through the air, hitting the sand a fraction from his bare feet.
He gave me a wicked grin. “See, that’s what I’m talking about.”
I laughed. This hadn’t turned out to be such a catastrophe after all.
School dragged. The teachers all spoke Greek, and my mind was anything but focused. It was Friday, and I was ready to get my weekend on.
It had been too long since I had a night out with friends. After the recent attacks on my life, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but when Gavin insisted, and with Sophie tagging along, I relented. We all deserved some girl time, Austin included. He would not take offense in calling it such.
“Vampires, werewolves, and witches. Sounds like a concoction for a blockbuster,” Austin said, staring at the promotion for the paranormal movie premier.
We were standing in line at the ticket booth of Wilmington Theatre. It was one of those posh movie places with leather recliners, pillows, blankets, and free popcorn. Great, except the price of admission was a night’s shift at Mystic Floral. But I figured my friends were worth the splurge.
“Why does Tori always pick the films?” I grumbled, eyeing the pale, jaw-droppingly handsome vampire with his teeth sunk erotically into some lucky bitch’s neck on the poster.
Sophie raised her slender brows. “This should be interesting,” she murmured.
I knew what she meant. We were living paranormal. A ghost of a smile touched my strawberry glossed lips. “It always is.”
“What or who are we gossiping about?” Austin asked, squeezing beside me and draping an arm over my shoulder.
“You,” I replied, poking him in the chest.
“Hmm. My favorite topic.”
I rolled my eyes.
Austin and I walked through the doors behind Tori and Sophie who were scoping a guy who had apparently caught their eye as soon as they crossed the threshold. Boy-crazed Tori couldn’t go anywhere without checking out the goods.
“And she’s off,” Austin whispered in my ear, causing me to laugh a little too loud.
I covered my hand over my mouth.
“I’ll get the extra buttery popcorn, and you save us some seats?” Austin suggested.
Still smiling, I nodded, snagging Sophie along the way.
“It’s nice to see your aura so sunny,” she commented. “Your friends make you happy and carefree.”
That they did.
“But you still worry about them,” she added.
“I can’t help it. With everything that has happened lately, I don’t want them to get hurt because of what I am.”
She smiled, and it lit up her pixie eyes in the dim theatre. “It’s a good thing you have me. And my overprotective brother, I guess.”
“I’m really lucky to have you both. I think your family are the only witches not hunting me.” We climbed the stairs to the very top row, our preferred seating. The theatre was pretty much empty. “How come you aren’t trying to make magical mincemeat out of me? Not that I am ungrateful, I’m curious.”
“Are you planning on sucking me dry?”
I was horrorstruck. “No!” I quickly replied.
Sitting in a seat smack dab in the middle of the row, she wrinkled her nose cutely. “I was only teasing. We were raised not to judge a witch based on gifts or power, but on the pureness of their light. Plus, Gavin loves you.”
I exhaled. If only love was enough. “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“I see your aura, and not once has there been anything that has given me alarm. I don’t care what other say about the powers you possess; I know you wouldn’t cause harm on purpose, but when pushed comes to shove, who wouldn’t defend themselves the only way they know how, and protect the people they love?”
I propped my feet up on the empty seat in front of me. “Thanks, Sophie. I don’t know what I would do without you guys.” Go out of my mind crazy.
Austin and Tori stumbled their way through the dark, arms loaded with junk food. Just as soon as they planted their butts, the theatre went black and the red curtains drew back. During the movie there was some thrown popcorn, (which got stuck in my hair) uncontrollable snickering, (my gut hurt) and really bad acting, but it was the best time.
Because we had arrived, as Tori put it, fashionably late, we had to walk a few blocks to get to where we had parked the car. You’d think I could have gone down a few streets at night without bringing out the freaks.
Wrong.
Tingles crept up my spine, and my skin prickled with coldness.
We weren’t alone.
Laugher exploded behind me, the haunting kind. I jumped.
“Just keep walking,” Sophie muttered under her breath, looping her arm through mine.
Easier said than done. My fight-or-flight response had kicked in. And flight was winning, marginally. She was more or less dragged me down the road as I fought the urge to peek behind me.
This wasn’t happening. Not now. Not with my friends. They could get hurt, and I would never forgive myself.
It took Tori and Austin a few steps to sense our uneasiness. They had been busy arguing about which werewolf had been smexier. Austin snuck a glance over his shoulder. “Oh. My. God. They are going to mug us,” he hissed.
Tori chewed on her lip, securing her Michael Kors bag closer.
I jabbed him in the side. “They don’t want our money, dinglebat,” I quietly snapped. I needed to think, and I couldn’t do that if my friends were spazzing out.
Austin’s manicured brows slammed together. “And what makes you so sure?” he whispered.
He might just find out. Dammit.
“Walk faster,” Tori barked, speeding up to a power walk.
The clomping of feet hitting the pavement increased behind us, and so did my heart rate. “Shit,” I muttered, turning the corner and coming face-to-face with a witch, blocking our only escape.
Sophie and I shared a look of oh-shit-this-isn’t-really-happening.
My worry spiked. I was going to vomit chunks of popcorn and gooey raisinettes. It wouldn’t be pretty.
The four of us stood back to back. There were three of them. Under normal circumstances, we might have been able to hold our own, but the humming in my blood and the warmth radiating from my tattoo pointed that these guys were witches.
I knew what I had to do, but it didn’t make my decision any easier. After this there was no going back, no backspace to erase my exposure to the two people who meant
so much to me, but I was left with no other choice.
Three against two wasn’t exactly fair odds. I was a novice, so I didn’t even think I counted as a full witch. Tori and Austin were about to get the shock of the decade, and I wanted them out of the crossfires.
“It must be our lucky night,” sneered a young woman, who was maybe in her early twenties with bright pink hair. Her eyes were trained on me, flanked by two very scary dudes.
Not very reassuring.
In a bold move, I stepped forward in front of my friends. “Do you have any idea who I am?” Stupidly, I thought maybe I could scare them off, threatening them with my magic vacuum powers.
It didn’t work.
The girl with the Powerpuff hair laughed. “Why do you think we’re here, bitch?”
Oh. This one had it coming.
Anger ricocheted inside me. “Good. Then you know what I am capable of.”
She gave me the stink eye. “That’s why I brought backup.”
Her two muscles closed in. One was bald, with crazy shimmery marks on the side of his glossy head. Enchantments like the tattoo on my back. The other looked like a shaggy dog with a mean snarl.
I slanted my head. “This is your last chance to leave here intact. I suggest you take the opportunity, because I won’t offer a second time.”
Austin grabbed my arm. “B, are you crazy? What are you doing?”
“I second that,” Tori agreed. “Let’s just give them whatever they want.” There was fear quivering in her voice.
“They want me.” I shook Austin’s off hand and glanced over my shoulder at them. “No matter what happens…stay behind me and stay close,” I growled to Austin and Tori. Their eyes widened, and I knew that mine had begun to illuminate.
Obviously, reasoning with these witches wasn’t going to work—I don’t know why I even bothered. It was time to brew up a nice pot of kick-ass.
Sophie was at my side. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Probably not,” I muttered.
The leader of the pack cast the first strike. Sophie reached out like she was catching a ball and closed her fist around the neon pink light. When she opened her fingers, it was empty. “Nice try,” Sophie said like a bad ass.
Poo hit the fan. Sparks started to fly.
Unison gasps of “holy shit” came from Tori and Austin as they got their first glimpse of magic. I couldn’t believe this was happening, but I didn’t have time to dwell on their reactions, not when psycho in pink had her claws out.
“I’m just getting started,” she hissed, and then she let it pour.
Sophie was quick on the draw, deflecting what she tossed our way, but when I felt the air tremble with combined power of dickhead one and dickhead two, I realized I was going to have to do something.
Maybe they didn’t think of Sophie as much as a threat and would be able to take me down without a fight. I was more than a little surprised myself, knowing that it was her brothers that were the fighters. Still, she wouldn’t be able to ward off three witches alone.
My gaze zeroed in on rocker-wannabe-witch. I did what I did best. I weaved a mother of all storms, letting the fear of my friends feed my rage. “Why don’t you give me a shot? I’m what you really want.”
“With pleasure,” she snarled.
The winds picked up, howling. Lightning slashed across the black night. Thunder crashed above me, in a deafening roar. And my hair thrashed around my face from the strength of the gusts. It was all a very impressive display, until a rainbow laser beam smacked me, rocking my head back in what felt like the perfect execution of an invisible bitch slap. The storm I just started to create died.
Hell bells.
I saw stars.
Blood dribbled down from my lip. I swiped it with the back of my hand, glaring at the skank responsible for my soon to be swollen mouth. She was smirking as if my pain gave her pleasure. To my right I heard the cracking of spells colliding.
Before I was able to get my bearings and throw the counterstrike I was building, she hit me again—a lash across my cheek. It stung like a muther trucker, bringing tears to my eyes.
“You’re not nearly as dangerous as I anticipated, Brianna.”
She knew my name. That could not be good.
Tori and Austin had gone into shellshock, frozen, with their mouths hanging open, dragging on the ground. Suddenly the pink-haired crazy was in my face, light blue eyes blazing. She reminded me of an anime with an attitude problem. I resisted the urge to back away. What in my right mind had made me think I could take on a seasoned witch?
This was turning into a disaster, and I’d had enough.
Power surged to the surface, humming though my entire body. I felt like I was electrified from head to toe. Blankets of rain fell from the dark purple sky, assaulting the witches who wished me dead, while my friends and I stood in a pocket of dry ground. Isolating the storm, I let the fierce winds keep the two lackeys at bay. There was no turning back now. Blinded by fury, fear, and protectiveness, I unfurled the darkness I promised I would never let loose again.
I latched onto the source of the girl not more than a few years my senior. “I’ll show you just how dangerous I can be.” A sliver of her magic trickled into me, and I closed my eyes. The arousal of such supreme power was vivid and potent in my blood.
“Your kind deserves to die,” she wheezed, pain slicing across her face as she dropped to her knees, drenched.
Tight-lipped, I towered over her. “Are those your final words?”
The voice that yelled over the pounding rain wasn’t hers. “Bri! Don’t!”
Chapter 15
I didn’t immediately stop ripping the magic from her soul. It took more effort than I wanted to admit, but hearing Gavin’s voice reminded me of what I had done to him—what I was doing to this witch.
Around me a small monsoon still poured. I took a few long, deep breaths and quieted the elements that answered my summons. Slowly the downpour became a light drizzle. The lightning disappeared behind the dark clouds. And winds died down.
Lifting my gaze, sapphire eyes met mine.
Where the hell did he come from?
“What are you doing here?” I croaked.
Dark hair was plastered to his face, curling at the ends. His ripped jeans and dark shirt clung to his formidable form. He hadn’t faired the rainstorm as well as we had. “Sophie texted me that you were in trouble. I was a couple blocks away with Jared.”
I frowned, feeling disorientated. “How did you find me?”
He stepped in front of me, eyes glued to mine. “I followed the storm.”
My face tensed. “Oh.” Later, when I wasn’t shaken up, I was going to ask just what exactly he and Jared had been up to. Nothing good, I am sure, and probably dangerous.
“I got here as soon as I could,” he said, an unspoken apology in his eyes.
But it hadn’t been soon enough. I lowered my eyes and turned around, needing a few minutes to collect myself. Frenzy was swimming in my veins.
“Holy fuck!” Austin exclaimed, his eyes as large as an owl. “That. Was. Sick.”
He didn’t even know what ‘that’ was, I thought to myself.
“You really think so?” I heard Sophie ask, sounding surprised.
Excitement laced Austin’s voice. “Hell, yes! What, did you guys get bit by a radioactive spider or something?” Just like Austin to think we were from a comic book.
“Or something,” Gavin muttered. I could sense his eyes on me. “Bri,” he called my name.
I shook my head vigorously, keeping my back to him as I tried to fight the power that consuming me. There was this bad aftertaste from stealing a witch’s power. It left me feeling frazzled and hungry for more. I didn’t trust myself. “Don’t touch me,” I warned, dark and raspy.
He didn’t listen. His hand touched my shoulder.
I spun around so fast, colors swirled. “I said, don’t touch me,” I growled, eyes blazing in the darkness.
Didn’t he get it? I just needed a few minutes to absorb this huge amount of energy I had stolen. Stolen. The word rolled around in my head. I had never stolen anything in my life. I could feel the witch’s essence inside me, flowing through my veins. It was a high like no other. Euphoric. Supreme.
I was afraid that if anyone got too close, I might lose control. It was a valid worry. A growing darkness fluttered inside me, inciting me to take more. Devour them all. Once I had a taste, I felt starved. I needed time to get the craving under control. Problem was…I just didn’t know how.
Damn it.
Brow arched. “You won’t hurt me,” he said. Reaching out, his hand brushed alongside my cheek. A spark ignited.
His touch changed everything. I sighed. The buildup of power evaporated into wisps of smoke, no longer enchanting me. Clear eyed, I shifted my gaze to the figure still lying on the ground, her wet pink hair splayed on the blacktop. A heavy weight settled inside me, knowing that I had done the unthinkable.
“What did you do to her?” Tori asked, stepping forward. “Is she dead?”
I had almost forgotten about my friends.
Gavin never took his eyes off me, but shook his head. “No. She’s not dead. Bri stripped her soul of magic. Every last drop. She was a witch.”
Every last drop. Those words ricocheted in my head. I thought I had stopped in time, that I hadn’t taken her to the cleaners, but looking down at her pale face, I could no longer sense the tingles of magic. Her two cronies had bolted at Gavin’s arrival and seeing me suck their friend dry. Lucky for them…but not for me.
They had seen my face. They knew my name. It was only a matter of time before they or others came looking for me. And that was really bad. My aunt. What if they stumbled upon her instead of me? What if they hurt her to get to me?
I couldn’t let that happen, but what was I supposed to do?
Slurp the magic from every witch?
That was the exact thing I was trying to avoid. Using those powers was going to destroy me, but if I didn’t…I was toast anyway.
Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. I was too drained to think, let alone plan. The magical high was dropping fast.
