Taken by the Wind

by Serenity Snow

  “Is Morgan ready to begin his dance with Juliet?” Voltaire asked.

  “Yes,” Tucker told him with a nod. “We’ll use him to get a sample of her hair or blood.”

  “Good,” Voltaire said distracted. Juliet was going to have to die either way, but he feared what had been a simple plan was about to become a little more complicated than he’d imagined.

  ****

  “Have you thought anymore about last night?” Andi asked leaning against the wall in Aria’s office that afternoon

  Aria finished off the sandwich Andi had brought along with the fruit salad and water on the coffee table before her. “What would that be?” she asked feigning innocence.

  “A woman was killed last night at the No Tell,” Andi told her. “And the Congress is investigating.”

  “Let them do their job, and keep your ass alive then.”

  Andi glared at her. “What if they let the killer get away?”

  “I doubt you fear a dark breed,” Aria muttered.

  “She was another witch victim,” she retorted. “I got a picture of her,” Andi said and walked over to hold the screen of her phone out.

  “Stalking the dead in morgues now?” she mocked angrily. She didn’t want to be dragged into another human conflict.

  Andi gave her a glare. “She was killed by magick.”

  Aria took a quick look and pushed Andi’s hand away. “She was a dark breed.” The woman had been feeding from her consort. Any kind of attack on Juliet was unacceptable and meant death to her attacker.

  “How can you tell by looking?” Andi demanded.

  “She attacked the woman I was with,” Aria replied coolly.

  Andi stared at her, the horror on her face filling her eyes. “What could she want with her? Power? Was she a witch?”

  “She’s aurai-marked.” The fact that the woman hadn’t been trying to kill her and vowed to go after her again meant the shadow had wanted the stones in the bracelet Juliet was wearing.

  The marked sometimes became nymphs by melding with the stone’s energies. Otherwise, they would meld with the stone to a degree and become mnemonic devices, knowledgeable in all things connected with the wind they were connected to.

  That made them dangerous to all aurai which was why in the past they’d been educated about their roles in the supernatural world early as well as their responsibility to the sisterhood of nymphs. If they lost the stones for any reason, they put the aurai in danger.

  “Who was she?” she demanded. “Which direction? She needs to be made aware of how important she is to our world.”

  “I know all this,” she said angrily. Given their attraction to each other, she’d prayed Juliet would take her offer. That would allow her to learn more about Juliet and teach her what she needed to know if necessary.

  “Her name is Juliet Hart.”

  “Her mother’s part of the local Congress,” Andi mused. “All thirteen families are known to be strong.” She shook her head and walked back to the wall where she propped up. “We need to find out about her family, what kind of powers she has. The dark breeds might attempt to track her down, secure the stones and eliminate her.”

  “A—”

  “Her power is part of our power,” Andi cut in quickly. “If they gain it they’ll gain access to information about us and how to kill us.”

  They were immortal, but they could be killed. They could even be made mortal. That information didn’t simply lie in the stones, but in the collective knowledge banks called the Wind Scrolls which was a limitless tableau of information accessed by a simple desire to know something contained within it.

  The knowledge could also be gained from an aurai, harpy, or venti.

  “I know, Andi,” she said tiredly.

  “What are you going to do? You have to see her again,” Andi insisted.

  “I have a plan, Andi,” she muttered.

  “Part of that plan should consist in contacting the reigning storm nymph,” she suggested.

  Their older sister was a storm aurai and harder to kill than other nymphs.

  Storms were the elders of aurai, and they were harder to kill but fewer in number.

  “If we need her help, I will,” Aria said coldly.

  She’d rather not have to work with that bitch. Storme had killed her twice in past lifetimes, and she was the reason Aria wasn’t the lead aurai in this area. Storme had chosen to come to this city, Windswept, because Aria was here.

  “But at this point I don’t foresee this turning into any kind of turf war with incubi and succubae as a race.”

  The upper level gods and goddesses wouldn’t get involved unless they were destroying the planet.

  “I know you don’t want to work with her because of the past, but you have to look beyond that.”

  “Look beyond that?” she demanded icily. “She took this city from me just to rub her superiority in my face.”

  “You’re wrong about that,” Andi murmured. “She doesn’t have anything against you personally. We needed the extra balance and you know it.”

  “I could have handled things.”

  Andi gave her a dubious look. “She could probably arrange training for Hart because no matter how much she’s had, she’ll need more,” Andi murmured.

  “Maybe, but she’s mine, and I will be in charge of her training,” Aria snapped. The idea of anyone spending so much time with Juliet made her see lightning.

  Andi lifted her brows. “Yours? Soul-consort?”

  Aria sighed roughly and tucked a curl behind her ear. “Yeah.”

  “So we’re getting in the game,” Andi said.

  “No,” Aria snapped adamantly. “I’ve asked Jas to check her and her family out.” Jasmine was an aurai of the east wind, and made up their aurai quartet.

  There always had to be four of them to maintain the elemental energy balance in an area. They’d only met her five years ago along with her coven sisters, Simone and Bailey who were not aurai but witches.

  “What about her coven, Silken Cord?” Andi asked.

  “Covered, and she’s got Simone asking around about the dark breed I killed.”

  Andi nodded. “You do realize this could end in a war between us and that half-breed’s coven?”

  “Yes.”

  Dark breeds were always trying to collect more powers to be stronger since they didn’t get too much power from their demonic parent. It was like the demon world looked down on them and made sure they didn’t become powerful enough to be a threat.

  “When do I get to meet her?” Andi asked curiously. “How long have you known her? You never let on you were seeing anyone, but I guess I should have known something was up by the way you were watching her last night.”

  Aria snorted. “I saw her for the first time yesterday while I was waiting for you at McAllister’s.” She leaned back against the loveseat and gave her friend a pointed look.

  “I told you why I cancelled,” Andi said defensively.

  “Still, all this talk about helping the Congress makes me wonder if you weren’t doing something else,” she remarked. “Jas didn’t even seem surprised I asked for her services.”

  Andi shrugged. “I can’t account for that,” she said coolly. “Anyway, we can’t just turn a blind eye to this if we can do something.”

  “I can,” Aria said coldly. “I’m only going as far as need be to save and protect Juliet.” She had the feeling that once again that would be further than she wanted to go.

  Andi grunted and perched on the edge of the loveseat. “There was a time when you wouldn’t mind picking up the sword and swinging it.”

  She shrugged as her lips pulled into a line while her brows lifted. “Things were different.”

  She wasn’t going to become a warrior again not unless the goddess demanded it.

  Chapter Ten

  “He is eager to meet her,” Tucker said to Callie as he caressed the back of her hand.

  “Good. She’s real sweet, but she’s a littl
e skittish, so tell him not to push too hard. She’s looking for something serious.”

  “So is Morgan,” Tucker replied with a smile. “He’s not going to trample all over her heart, Callie.”

  “Good.” She beamed.

  “There he is now,” Tucker said, his gaze on the door of the deli they’d agreed to meet at. He knew this was an ambush tactic, but the sooner Morgan engaged Juliet the better.

  “Hey man.” Tucker stuck out his hand giving Morgan a smile.

  Tucker got to his feet to shake his friend’s hand. “Morgan,” he said with a grin. “This is my lady, Callie. Callie, my old friend Morgan Ladew.”

  Morgan turned his smile on Callie. “Hello, Callie,” he said warmly. “I’ve heard so much about you, but I have to admit Morgan didn’t do you justice. You’re absolutely gorgeous.”

  Callie laughed a little shyly. “Nice to meet you, Morgan. Tucker has told me a lot about you, too.”

  Morgan grinned. “It’s very nice meeting you.”

  “Callie?”

  All three pairs of eyes turned and Morgan smiled, but there was something about the girl that put him off and Tucker saw Morgan’s eyes darken as they often did when faced with danger, and he took a tiny step away from Juliet.

  “Oh. Hey, Juliet,” Callie said excitedly. “This was last minute, so don’t be upset.” She got to her feet and pulled her friend into a hug.

  Tucker groaned inwardly, wondering if Morgan would be able to charm the girl despite whatever it was about Juliet that was so off-putting to him.

  Morgan had keen senses and was one of the coven’s clairvoyants.

  His empathy allowed him to not only know what people were thinking, but use their emotions against them. That’s partially why he’d been chosen for this.

  “Juliet this is Tucker and his friend Morgan.” Callie made the introductions and Morgan gave her a smile.

  “Hello, Juliet,” Tucker said, keeping his tone friendly. “Callie has told me so much about you I feel like I know you already.”

  Juliet gave him a nervous smile. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing,” she said throwing Callie an irritated look.

  “Hello, Juliet,” Morgan said warmly as he reached for her hand.

  “Hi.” She allowed him to take it and the disconcertion Morgan seemed to have experienced earlier was gone, replaced now by confusion.

  Morgan usually got hits off a person within seconds of meeting or seeing them, so what was happening here? They needed his insight into this girl. It would be important to gauging the potion’s effectiveness.

  They all sat down at the small round table that barely accommodated the four of them. Juliet seemed nervous at first, though she appeared to warm up a bit after they ordered.

  “This always officially kicks off the season,” Morgan said. “So, I’d love it if you’d be my date tomorrow night, Juliet.”

  “To the Fire Hop?” she asked.

  The Fire Hop was the first summer social thrown at the Seasons Country Club, a social club for witches.

  “Yes.” He chuckled. “I bet you’ll be lovely in the traditional garb.”

  The women wore summer-colored dresses while the men wore greens and blues.

  “Oh. I have plans,” she said.

  Callie laughed. “To go alone? I don’t think so,” she said in a chiding tone.

  Juliet gave her a pained look that made Tucker smile. The girl was a little shy of men as far as he could tell at past events, but not socially awkward. Maybe she’d been hurt, so Morgan would have to be careful not to scare her.

  “We can meet there,” Morgan murmured.

  “You can come with us,” Callie said brightly giving her friend a grin. “It’ll be fun.” She looked at Morgan then and he smiled his agreement.

  “No, I’ll come on my own.” Juliet acquiesced.

  “We wear yellow normally, so you two dress accordingly,” Callie warned giving Tucker a look that made him chuckle.

  “We’ll be the two best-looking couples there,” Morgan said and leaned toward Juliet to whisper something to her.

  Tucker smiled to himself, glad Morgan wasn’t allowing his charm to lapse. Keeping the girl off balance was probably just what was needed to get her interested.

  When lunch was finally over and the ladies were driving off in their separate cars, he and Morgan headed to his car. Morgan had taken a cab because his car was in the shop.

  “Something’s wrong with that girl,” Morgan muttered. “She feels off and I couldn’t get any real hits off her emotions.”

  Morgan glanced at him, brows drawn. “What do you mean? I thought you were doing fine.”

  “At first I thought it was because Callie was so bright, she’s like a damn hundred-watt bulb, but then I realized it wasn’t all her energy I was picking up.”

  “What was it then?” He climbed into his car and waited for Morgan to get in. It was hot out so he’d left the window down and quickly cranked the car and turned on the air conditioning.

  Morgan sighed. “I don’t know, but when she first came up it was like a gust of cold air just washed over me.”

  “She’s always wearing that bracelet which contains the stones,” Tucker told him. “According to my source she hadn’t yet tapped into their power, maybe she has now. South winds can be prickly, right?”

  “How the hell do I know?” Morgan gave him an irritated stare. “Could just be it’s that time of the month which will only make her more powerful if she suspects we’re trying to spell her.”

  “She won’t if you keep being your charming self,” Tucker told him. “She seemed open to you.”

  Morgan snorted. “What book were you reading? She was being civil and nothing more.”

  Now that could be a problem and if she was on her period, no spell could overcome her natural feminine mystique.

  “I did get a hair from her blouse though, so we can use that in the potion, but I might just have to feed off her and get her addicted to me,” Morgan murmured.

  “We’ll get that potion made at midnight and into her tomorrow night. It’s worth a shot considering our window is closing fast.”

  Chapter Eleven

  As Aria finished her preparations for dinner, she wished she could take this slow, spend time getting to know Juliet as she had in their other lifetimes together, but the fact was, if dark breeds were after the south wind stone, then Mid-Summer was the best time to take it. Unfortunately for the dark breeds, though, it was also the height of mating season for southeast and south wind aurai.

  As a result, sealing her connection to Juliet wouldn’t take much. Last night the energy of the stones had connected to her energy. So, once she and Juliet emotionally connected, the stones would be out of reach of anyone. They would come to her if Juliet was killed.

  “I just have to get my consort back.”

  She’s pulling into the driveway now. Simone’s telepathic voice was clear in her mind.

  The aurai had natural telepathic abilities, but Simone and Bailey had had to learn the skill.

  Aria had asked Simone to tail Juliet so Juliet wouldn’t be unprotected on the drive over.

  Aria lit the citronella candles on the deck that formed a barrier against mosquitoes and added ambient light to the dark. She went back inside in time to hear the doorbell.

  With butterflies in her stomach, Aria headed for the foyer, going over in her mind just how she’d bring up Juliet’s family’s ties to the aurai.

  Pulling open the door, her lips curved into a smile at the sight of Juliet in the simple pale yellow dress and sandals. Juliet’s hair was pulled back from her face in a French braid with a tendril curling at her nape.

  Her sweet little bow mouth was tinted with a hint of pink though she wore no other makeup to Aria’s delight. A fresh face got her motor revved quicker than the unnatural colors that created a mask rather than allowing natural beauty to shine through. Besides that, she hated the scents of the products.

  “Wow, you look like
a model,” Aria murmured. “Come on in, beautiful.”

  Juliet smiled and held up a small bouquet of carnations and a white box. “Thanks,” she said.

  “Are those for me?” Aria asked taking the flowers.

  Juliet laughed, her gaze falling briefly on the faint lines of an infinity symbol on Aria’s wrists. It looked like a tattoo. It captivated her but she shook it off.

  “Doesn’t smell much like any cooking’s been going on in here?” She lifted a brow giving Aria a teasing look.

  Aria chuckled. “Are you hungry? Dinner’s all ready.”

  “Starving—it was a busy day and what little of lunch I did eat is long gone and the rest tasted like cardboard.”

  “Where’d you go?” Aria asked curiously. “I’ll make sure not to check it out.”

  Juliet laughed as Aria led her through the corridor tinted with shades of blue and silver to the kitchen, her shoes making a dull sound on the wood floor.

  “The food was fine, but my best friend was trying to fix me up with some guy,” she confessed. “As it turns out, he’s the same guy my mother wanted me to meet.”

  “A witch?” Aria asked putting the flowers on the counter in the kitchen before opening a cupboard door to remove a pair of wine glasses.

  “From a good family, according to my mother who thinks he’d be perfect for me,” she muttered, a chill in her tone. “I can’t believe her. I think she knows I’m a lesbian, but she just can’t accept it. All she sees is no grandchildren, no legacy to carry on the family name.”

  “What’s his name?” Aria asked casually.

  “Morgan Ladew from the Whiteall Coven. The high priest is Voltaire Whiteall. Have you heard of them?”

  She’d met members of the coven at the country club during various witch holidays, and she knew they weren’t light witches. She could smell a demon breed from ten miles away. They held a hint of sulfur in their skin that the spell they used to create the human body couldn’t hide. Only a small percentage of the group consisted of demons though, the rest was made up of the seductive half-breed succubae and incubi.