by Casey Lane
Why the hell hadn’t she locked the door after Leith and Matthew had entered? Oh yeah, they were crazy and she’d been trying to get away from them. Suddenly, Leith and Matthew didn’t seem so bad.
Especially when the young man pulled out two guns, pointing one straight at Sunny’s head and the other at Leith’s chest. “I don’t think so. Seems you found your new fire handler.”
“Matthew,” Leith barked as he lunged for the red head.
As if he was responding to a command, Matthew flew at Sunny, flattening her against the wall and tucking her head under his chin.
Matthew’s body blocked her view but nothing muffled the noises. Fear flooded through her, nearly suffocating her. A shriek split the air and Sunny gripped Matthew’s shirt. Her heart pounded even harder than it had before, and she actually wondered if she was about to pass out.
A low, soothing voice started muttering in her ear. “It’s all right, Sunny. You’re safe,” Matthew crooned. Matthew sounded completely calm, which was entirely at odds with his previous demeanor.
Sunny pulled away and peeked around his shoulder. The hunter was on the ground, writhing in pain, both hands clutched to his chest. “What did you do to him?” she asked Leith, horrified.
“Nothing. You melted the guns.”
Sunny looked at the twisted mess of metal on the floor and shuddered. It seemed this was more than she could handle on her own.
“Oh, stop whimpering like a wee lass and get off the floor,” Leith said as he hauled the guy to his feet. “Ye’re snotting down your face, lad.”
The guy really was sobbing, tears streaming down his cheeks. Looking at him this way, Sunny could see the guy was maybe eighteen years old. When Leith pried his hands away from his chest, they were charred nearly beyond recognition.
Sunny gagged at the sight but managed to keep the chocolate bar in her stomach.
Leith said something in a strange language and the mangled hands started to heal. Soft, new skin replaced burned flesh and the kid looked up at the blond with a confused look. “Why would you fix my hands if you’re going to kill me?”
The bigger man snorted and shook his head. “I’m not a monster, lad. There was a time when your people and mine worked together.”
“It must have been a long time ago,” the kid said, flexing his hands experimentally.
Sunny watched Leith’s face carefully, surprised to see a flash of sadness pass over his rugged features. “Aye. A verra long time ago.” The accent was back, thicker than ever.
“I’m almost sorry I have to report you to the head of the hunters,” the kid said quietly.
“You won’t,” Matthew said from beside Sunny.
Leith said something else and a blank expression settled on the young man’s face. Gently, Matthew led him to the door and sent him on his way.
“We won’t have much time, Sunny,” he said softly. “Leith erased the hunter’s memory for the last couple of hours. He’ll figure out something happened when he realizes he’s missing some time. Not to mention the fact that seekers from the other clans will be searching for you as well. With the amount of power surges you’ve been causing, they have to know you’re alive. They’ll never stop looking for you.”
She experienced a single moment of hesitation but the knowledge that she would be leaving the room alive with these men, as opposed to ending up on the coroner’s metal table with a bullet in her brain, convinced her to take a chance.
Tossing her suitcase on the bed, she started emptying the closet and drawers, dumping the contents into the bag. “Do you have to call the airport or something?” She wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. Once she was safe from the immediate danger of stalkers with guns, she could figure out what to do about these two wackos.
“No need. We’ve a private plane at our disposal.” Matthew said the words private plane as if it was the most normal phrase ever.
Chapter Five
Sunny tried to control her excitement as she settled down in the plush seat. She’d never been on a plane before, let alone a private plane. The last thing she wanted was for these two guys, who acted like riding around in a private plane was an everyday occurrence, to look at her like she was some kind of naïve little girl.
Matthew pulled out a sheaf of papers and started looking through them, glancing up every once in a while. “We’ll be taking off soon. Is there anything you need right away?”
She shook her head. She was too busy trying not to stare around at the sumptuous surroundings to really care about anything else right then.
Leith was talking to the pilot, his voice so low, she couldn’t hear what he was saying. Whatever it was, it didn’t look he was saying particularly flattering things about her, if the nervous looks the pilot kept shooting her were any indication.
Not happy, Sunny stuck her tongue out at Leith’s back, earning a laugh from Matthew. “He’s a little intense, but he’s a good guy.” Matthew cocked his head and looked at Leith consideringly. “Okay, he’s a good guy if he’s on your side. If you get on his bad side, watch out.”
Sighing, Sunny flopped back into her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. She was well aware she was pouting, but she figured she deserved it after the day she’d had. “I guess I got on his bad side when I wouldn’t let him into my motel room.”
Matthew grinned and shook his head. “No. He likes you, I can tell. He actually talks to you. Do you know how long I had to work with him to get even a few words out of him at a time? Besides, he probably would have called you an idiot if you’d opened the door to two complete strangers.”
“Put away that lower lip, little girl,” Leith said without even turning around.
Little girl? “Hey. I know I haven’t exactly had the most mature attitude since you’ve come around, but give me a little credit. I’m twenty-five, not three.”
The big man turned around and pinned her with a stare so intense, she squirmed in her seat. Wanting to make sure he knew she wasn’t about to be pushed around, she stuck her chin out and met his gaze steadily. His eyes softened and he strode over to her, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “You remind me so much of my Elizabeth. You’re going to be the death of me.”
Stunned, Sunny simply sat there. What was with the sudden tenderness?
Before she could say anything, Leith walked away again and pulled the plane’s phone off the wall. He waited a few moments until someone obviously picked up the other end. “Raven? Matthew and I are on our way back with the new fire handler. Have Anna and Sloan ready to train her right away. Her magic is too strong for either you or me to train her for very long.”
He listened for a few minutes before hanging up the phone. He didn’t turn around when he spoke again. “I’m going to the back office to get some work done. Try not to set the plane on fire, lass. Matthew, if you need anything, just shout.”
He didn’t wait for a reply, nor did he actually face them. He simply rushed to the back of the plane and shut himself away.
Wow. Weird. Sunny turned to Matthew, only to find the man staring at the closed door of the office with a sad look on his face. “What?” she asked. “Who’s Elizabeth?”
Matthew cleared his throat a couple of times before looking at her. She could have sworn she saw the shimmer of tears filming over his blue eyes. “His daughter,” he said huskily.
She had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn’t be meeting this Elizabeth any time soon. “He doesn’t look old enough to have a child,” she said instead.
Matthew’s mouth twisted in a wry smile. “He’s the oldest witch in our clan. He once told me he was born in the same year Columbus set sail for the new world.”
Sunny could only blink. “That would make him more than five hundred years old.”
Nodding, Matthew cleared his throat again. “Yeah. Witches live for a really long time. We age slowly after our twenty-fifth birthday. Most of us live well past our nine hundredth birthday before we start to age again. Then, the process is relatively quick fr
om there.”
Sunny chewed on the information for a few minutes, until the engines on the plane started. Buckling her seatbelt, she turned again to Matthew. “What happened to his daughter?”
“Ah, picked up on that, did you? I don’t really know what happened, but Leith’s entire family was slaughtered three hundred years ago. He’s never told anyone more than that. I suspect our clan leader, Raven, knows but I don’t think anyone else does.”
Sunny suddenly felt like crying over people she hadn’t even met. At least she had no memories of her parents. Some would say not having those memories was horrible, but she felt like knowing them would have made the pain of their loss even more acute. What must Leith be going through right now, having experienced love and then having it ripped away from him?
Matthew sniffled a little and handed her a tissue. “It’s sad, I know. But, if you remind him of his daughter, then you’re definitely in his good books. You might find yourself with a new father figure, actually.”
She leaned her head back against the seat as the plane started taxiing down the runway. It might be nice to have some sort of father figure in her life for once. She’d never had someone care for her like that.
She turned her head to speak to Matthew again but stopped when she saw he glanced behind them at the office door. Understanding suddenly dawned on her. “You like him, don’t you?” she said softly.
Matthew smiled again, a slow, sad smile. “Probably more than I should,” he admitted. “But it won’t amount to anything. He’s never been anything but friendly to me, and sometimes I wonder about that. Besides, even if he was into men, I’m far too young for him. He’d never see me as anything other than a kid.”
Sunny frowned. Now that she knew witches aged slower, she had no idea how she would judge someone’s age. Matthew seemed very mature though, so he was probably older than he looked. “How old are you? One hundred? One hundred and fifty?”
Laughing merrily, Matthew threw his head back and gasped for breath. “I’m only twenty-seven.”
Oh. Well. That was sort of embarrassing. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Don’t worry about it,” Matthew said, slinging an arm around her shoulders and giving her a little squeeze.
They were quiet until the flight attendant came around with drinks. Clearly, Matthew took this plane often because the attendant handed him a cup of coffee without even asking him what he wanted. The woman looked at Sunny expectantly. “Um, do you have some kind of cola available?” she asked.
“Not a good idea,” Matthew said. “Caffeine tends to intensify the effects of your magic. Until you learn how to manipulate your power to your will, you might want to avoid it.”
Nodding, Sunny pointed to a bottle of orange juice. “I’ll have the juice, thanks.”
The flight attendant looked relieved and poured her the juice. “Dinner will be served in a few hours. Just call for me if you need anything else.”
Sunny turned to Matthew as she took a sip of juice. “Can I ask you some questions?”
Putting his papers in a briefcase, Matthew turned to her and smiled. He seemed happy to have something other than Leith to talk about. “Sure.”
She fiddled with her glass for a few seconds while Matthew patiently waited for her to speak. “Can you tell me about my parents?”
Sighing, Matthew linked his fingers and stretched his arms over his head as if he was searching for the right words. “Twenty-five years ago, there was a very bloody battle between the three witch clans. It was the same battle we lost our previous fire handler in. We also lost our earth handler. Anyway, we took heavy casualties and Raven decided it would be best if the members of our clan scattered for a few decades. He was trying to make sure the whole clan wasn’t together in case there was another massacre.”
She could see the wisdom behind the leader’s thinking. It would have made protecting them difficult but would also have made killing the entire clan harder for the enemy. She wasn’t sure what it had to do with her parents though.
As if he could read her mind, Matthew continued with his explanation. “Anyway, your parents relocated to Canada. For whatever reason, they never reported your birth to Raven. I suspect they were killed by members of another clan but can’t confirm it. Obviously, whoever killed your parents didn’t know they’d had you, since you would have been killed too. If Raven had known about your birth, he would have brought you to MacAlister castle and raised you himself instead of you being raised in foster homes.”
Sunny always expected that when she found out what really happened to her parents, she would feel something. Anger, sadness, rage or even relief. Instead, she felt numb.
A little disturbed she didn’t feel anything at all, Sunny shook her head and changed the subject. “Will I be able to do the cool healing thing once I learn to control my magic?”
Matthew shook his head. “Sorry, you’ll probably be able to do basic spells, but your magic is pretty much contained to creating and manipulating fire. By the way, Leith’s healing magic only works on people who aren’t part of the MacAlister clan. Which sucks, but it is what it is.”
Sunny pouted for a couple of seconds before she thought of another question. “So, if I’m the fire handler, and you’re still missing the earth handler, it means you have a water handler?”
“Yes. The water handler’s name is Sloan Shirer. And we have an air handler too, Anna Carrow.”
“You said every witch knows when a handler comes into their magic. How?” Sunny was fascinated.
“There’s a kind of shock that runs through a witch’s body when there’s a big surge of magic, I guess. The clan’s seeker, that’s Leith, can use the energy as sort of a homing beacon. The rest of the clans send out scouts to try to beat the seeker to the new handler,” Matthew answered.
“So, I’ll know when the earth handler comes into her powers?”
“Yes. And the handler might be a guy.” Matthew rubbed the back of his neck and glanced out the window as if he was uncomfortable with something.
Sunny gulped, afraid Matthew was reliving some kind of painful event. “What does it feel like?”
Matthew rubbed his neck again and sighed. “I don’t know. I was born without magic. That’s why I became a lawyer.”
No wonder Matthew suddenly looked so uncomfortable. She didn’t know quite what to do to make him feel better.
Leith rushed over and leaned across Sunny to look Matthew in the face. “I came out of the office and saw you were distressed. Are you all right, son?”
Matthew rubbed the back of his neck for a third time. “Yeah. Thanks, Leith.”
“Mmm. Okay. Do you have those papers ready for Raven?” Leith asked.
“I do.”
“Good.”
“Right.” Matthew’s voice was cheerful but Sunny could hear right through it.
They both watched the blond man collect his coffee and strut back to the office, once again shutting himself in.
Sunny gazed at Matthew, her heart breaking for him.
Matthew blinked once and focused on her again. He gestured to her cup and raised his own. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” As she clinked her cup to Matthew’s, Sunny couldn’t help but wonder what there was to cheer over.
Chapter Six
The flight seemed to take forever and Sunny yawned. All the sleepless nights had caught up with her, and she was having trouble staying up.
There was only one problem.
Every time she started to drift off, Matthew, who was bent over his work next to her, would yelp at her to wake up, yelling about how she was about to blow up the plane. Apparently, the closer she got to the clan headquarters, the stronger her magic became, which resulted in small sparks flying from the tips of her fingers.
She started to rethink her decision about not having caffeine, but Matthew’s horrified expression when she’d asked the flight attendant for a Red Bull convinced her not to risk it.
Leith’s reaction wa
s not much better. He kept rushing in, looking more and more worried each time.
Finally, it seemed Leith had had enough. “Sunny,” he said with a thin, somewhat stressed smile. “Why don’t you come to the back? There’s a bed you can lie down on. I can help control your magic if we’re in the same room, but I really can’t work at these dreadful trays.”
She wanted to say no, if only to show these men, who’d kidnapped her for all intents and purposes, she wasn’t a pushover. The thought of a soft mattress and the idea that she could let go of some of her rigid control on her magic, however ineffective it had been so far, was too much to deny.
Dragging her tired body out of the chair, she shuffled down the hall a little, only to stop when she heard Leith talking again.
He wasn’t speaking to her though. “Matthew,” the blond giant said sternly. “Where are your glasses? You know you get headaches if you read without them. And you’re all hunched over. Why don’t you come in the back with us and work at the desk? There’s more than enough space for both of us.”
She heard Matthew agree, and both men asked the flight attendant for more coffee, just as she pushed open the door to the back room and froze in amazement. If she’d thought the plane was luxurious before, this room upped the ante.
The bed turned out to be a queen sized mattress with what looked like silk sheets and a sumptuous, blood-red bedspread.
The desk Leith had talked about was actually a long counter jutting out from one of the walls with enough space for three people to work at comfortably without bumping elbows. The work surface had indentations on it where papers could be placed so they didn’t slide around if the plane hit turbulence. There were even recessed pen holders built into the desk.
The chairs that were lined up at the desk, including the one Leigh had obviously been sitting in and pushed back when he’d rushed to the front of the plane, were cushy and made of leather, clearly meant for the user’s comfort.
On the other side of the room was a bathroom, just visible through a half opened door, complete with a shower stall.
