“There has been no eye-fucking, Melina Blackwood,” Evie argued.
“I’m with Mel,” I added. “He has been looking at you like he wants to strip you naked so he can lick you from head to toe and then back again.”
Evie closed her eyes and let out a small moan before replying. “Please, don’t put images of Rainer’s tongue in my mind.”
“Has Rainer Vigil licked every inch of your body?” Mel asked.
“If I tell you what happened, you have to promise not to tell anyone, especially Mom,” Evie began. “Seriously, this is so big, it can’t get out.”
“Just how big is it?” Mel asked with a wicked grin.
“Very funny,” Evie told her. “I was not talking about his dick. Although, his dick is huge. It should be illegal to carry a weapon that size.”
“How would my innocent older sister know how big Rainer Vigil’s dick is?” Mel asked in mock horror.
Evie grabbed both our arms and guided us to a table away from the crowd. Once we were all seated, she leaned in and spoke in a near whisper. “I’m bonded to Rainer.”
I waited for the punch line. With my ability, I should have been able to tell if they were bonded. Not to mention, you needed to get a witch with that skill and training to perform the ceremony. It wasn’t exactly easy for a witch to just run off and get bonded to a warlock without people finding out. On the rare occasion it happened, it didn’t stay a secret long, certainly not for more than a decade.
“You’re joking, right?” Mel finally asked.
“No,” Evie replied with a sigh. “This is such a mess. I was young and stupid and before I knew it, there was some demon bonding thing going on.”
That explained why I hadn’t picked up on it. “I didn’t know demons had any sort of bonding ritual,” I remarked.
“Some do,” Mel replied for Evie. “In this case, it would technically be a fallen angel bonding.”
“Rainer Vigil is a fallen angel?” I gasped.
“His mother is, so he has angel blood,” Evie explained.
“I know, but most children with only one fallen angel parent are demons,” I pointed out.
“Not Rainer,” Evie muttered. “He’s got the pretty black wings to prove it. I think it’s part of the reason I’ve always been so drawn to him. Angels are naturally beautiful.”
“Rainer isn’t beautiful,” Mel said with a laugh. “He’s not even really handsome. Can I be honest without you smacking me?”
“Probably not,” Evie replied. “You’re kind of a bitch.”
“I’ll take my chances, knowing I can always get even with you later,” Mel began. “I think you don’t want to admit it, but Rainer is your warlock. He’s the one you’re meant to be with. I’m not sure how this bonding with his angel side happened, but I can only assume Rainer recognizes you belong together.”
Evie was glaring at Mel, and I suspected she wanted to smack her sister.
“How did you meet him?” I asked.
“I met Rainer when he spoke at one of my college classes,” Evie began. “When he asked me out, I was excited. Back then, I still had that hopeless romantic streak.”
“Evie was my only sister who tried to tell me those stupid princess stories,” Mel added.
“They were not stupid!” Evie argued. “Those were great stories for little girls.”
“Those were stories about women who needed to be rescued,” Mel complained. “I’m not about to sit around and wait for any man to rescue me.”
Evie regarded her sister with a fond smile. “No, you aren’t.”
“No woman should,” I added. “Maybe we need new stories for little girls where the princess rescues the prince. Let’s finish discussing Evie’s prince first.”
“Rainer is no prince. Goddess, I was so young and stupid, I actually thought of him that way,” she admitted. “Fast forward three months into dating him, and he was telling me I had to move to the demon realm. He was against my plan to work with werewolves, claiming it was too dangerous for someone like me. What does that even mean? Why am I too weak to work with werewolves?”
“That was pretty messed up,” I agreed before glaring at Rainer. “How dare he tell you what to do? What right did he have?”
“I’d say he thought the demon bond thing gave him the right,” Mel added.
“Exactly,” Evie agreed. “Now, you also know why I don’t date. I’m bound to Rainer.”
“Why did you agree?” Mel asked. “I get the part about you being young and a hopeless romantic, but that is a huge step. Don’t you dare tell me it was his huge cock that made you agree. No dick is that magical.”
Evie shrugged, a sad smile playing on her lips when she answered. “I love him. I’m an even bigger fool for loving a man who’s incapable of respecting me.”
“Maybe you should give him another chance,” I suggested.
Evie quickly shook her head. “There is no way I can live with someone that domineering.”
“He might have changed,” I pointed out.
“While he may look young, he’s actually incredibly old,” Evie told me. “If he hasn’t changed by now, he’s not going to.”
Our conversation ended when the men approached our table. After that, Rainer was much more subdued. He did his best to avoid looking at Evie. Even after hearing Evie’s story, I still felt bad for them both. Rainer clearly had strong feelings for Evie. Too bad he was also a jerk.
Chapter 71
Gryph
“The car that followed Trevor here is still parked outside,” I told the others as we prepared to leave the club. This was the tricky part. We all needed to get to our cars safely, and we had no clue what was waiting for us outside.
“I’ll go out first and talk to them,” Rainer offered.
“No!” Evie nearly shouted before struggling to seem unaffected by his suggestion. “It just seems foolish for only one person to go out there to talk to them.”
“I’ll go with him,” I told them all. “Before anyone argues, we also have security outside.”
“You should let me come, too,” Melina insisted.
I nodded. “Good idea, Melina. There are few people who aren’t afraid of you.”
I looked at Trevor to see if he was going to argue about his witch confronting the people in the car outside.
Trevor raised an eyebrow. “I’m not about to argue that Melina can’t take care of herself. She’s much more powerful than I am. This also doesn’t strike me as all that dangerous.”
“How do you figure that?” I asked.
“LaCroix isn’t likely to bring someone with him to kidnap Julia,” Trevor replied.
“I’m not ready to assume he didn’t hire people to help him,” I told Trevor.
As I walked out of the club with Melina and Rainer, tension was radiating through my body.
“I know those guys,” Melina stated as we neared the car. I recognized them, too.
These weren’t the two men who’d followed Trevor’s car. The outside security hadn’t noticed them change places with the original occupants of the car. I was certain that would bother Joey later. I suspected they’d done their best to keep an eye on the car, but the activity outside the club had kept them busier than any of us had expected.
In the car sat two shade detectives. Both had been assigned to Melina’s case when she was being threatened by a crazy half-werewolf. Unlike Detectives Hardy and Mason, Detectives Anson and Morelli were a true odd couple. Detective Anson was watching us with beady brown eyes. He was stuffing a donut in his mouth, looking very much like the cliché cop. As for Detective Morelli, he regarded us from the passenger seat with a smirk. His green eyes seemed to glow in the dim lighting.
“What are you doing out here, detectives,” I asked from the side of the car.
Detective Morelli’s eyes moved along Melina’s body. “Would you believe me if I told you we were hoping the lovely Miss Blackwood would come out to see us?”
Detective Anson sighed h
eavily as he dusted donut crumbs off his rumpled shirt before climbing out of the car. He leaned his arms on the top and looked across at us. “Sorry for Morelli’s lack of professionalism. As you can see, he hasn’t learned much since the last time you saw him.”
Detective Morelli’s face sobered as he stepped out of the car. “I apologize for my unprofessional remark, Miss Blackwood,” he told her with sincerity. “Considering what we’re investigating, I shouldn’t be joking around.”
“What are you investigating?” I asked.
“Mr. Dupree called to tell us about your concerns involving Desmond LaCroix and the possibility of him having infiltrated the police department,” Detective Anson explained.
“Trevor knew you’d be here?” Melina asked irritably.
“No,” Morelli replied. “We had our doubts about his story at first.”
“After we met with the detectives involved with Miss Dupree’s case, we decided it was worth looking into. Mr. Dupree mentioned his concern that something might happen when you went out tonight, so we arranged protection. Two other officers followed you here, and we took their place as soon as we could.”
“We needed to run all this by our lieutenant,” Morelli added.
“So, you think we’re right about LaCroix posing as one of the detectives?” I asked.
Anson shook his head. “I’m not so sure about that. It’s obvious neither detective cares much about doing their job, but this doesn’t seem to be new behavior for them.”
“No one’s had any personality change?” Melina asked skeptically. “Desmond must have someone inside the police.”
“I agree,” I added. “LaCroix is posing as someone at that police department.”
Anson nodded. “I agree, but we still have no proof. We’d like to make sure Miss Dupree has protection while the investigation is going on.”
“You aren’t going to push for protective custody, are you?” I asked.
“Why would we do that?” Morelli asked, looking baffled.
“The detectives working her case tried to insist she go into protective custody,” I explained. “They said she’d be safer with them.”
Anson studied me for a moment. “That’s unusual. We generally only recommend protective custody if we believe the person is staying in a particularly unsafe area.”
“It’s perfectly secure,” I assured him. “She’s staying with me. Since the detectives don’t know where I live, they can’t use that as an argument.”
“This just keeps getting stranger,” Morelli mused.
“There has to be something else going on,” Anson mused. “Why would both detectives push for Miss Dupree to go into protective custody?”
“Maybe LaCroix convinced the real detective that this was a good idea,” Rainer suggested.
“They’d also need to convince their lieutenant, at the very least. There’s a chance they’d need to convince the Captain,” Morelli explained. “We don’t simply put people in protective custody. It’s too costly and hard to manage.”
“They do it all the time in movies,” Melina mused.
“Human police might do it more than we do,” Anson began. “We deal with too many variables involving all the preternatural beings to come up with an adequate safe house.”
“This just keeps getting stranger,” I grumbled.
“Would it be possible to meet with you tomorrow afternoon?” Anson asked. “We still have a lot of questions, but this isn’t the best place to talk.”
“Sure,” I agreed. “Let me give you my number so we can arrange a place and time.”
“We already have it,” Morelli told me with a smirk.
“We also know where you live,” Anson added. “I agree it’s a safe place.”
I was honestly shocked by their admission. “How did you find out?”
“We’re good detectives,” Morelli boasted. “I simply hacked into the Council of Witches’ records. You had to provide your address and phone number when you applied for your security clearance.”
“We’ll be in touch to arrange a time to meet tomorrow,” Anson told me. “We’ll also stay out here to make sure you don’t have any problems when you leave.”
I nodded and started back toward the club when Melina’s voice stopped me. “You had better find out what’s going on. I’m going to be seriously pissed if Julia gets hurt.”
I grinned, grateful that my witch had so many people looking out for her.
Chapter 72
The Gentleman Warlock
Thankfully, my energy had returned. I wasn’t certain why I was getting so drained from multiple changes in one day. The witch schools hadn’t talked about shapeshifters, and my parents had always been too clueless to realize they needed to teach me anything. That left me mostly learning by experimentation. Annoying as it was, I needed to talk to my parents. They’d moved twice and changed their numbers since I’d last spoken to them, leaving me with no idea how to reach them.
My plan to start looking for my parents when I arrived at the police station was delayed when I saw everyone gathered. For more than an hour, I’d listened to the newest development. Apparently, there were detectives from a different department asking questions about the handling of Julia Dupree’s case. I wasn’t the only one angry about their interference. If anything, I was the most outwardly calm. Inside, I was thinking of all the ways Julia Dupree would pay for the problems she’d caused me. The bitch should already be dead. It’s what she deserved.
This new development created an even bigger problem. It was always possible I’d need to abandon my position at the police department now that other, more competent detectives were investigating things. This was that blonde bitch’s fault. It was too much of a coincidence that she and her wolf guard had insisted I was posing as someone from the department shortly before police from other departments started making inquiries.
I was finally able to escape the others and get to work. All the commotion made it much easier to find a quiet place to do my research.
Sitting in an office far from where the others had congregated to complain, I began doing searches for witch licenses. This was the easiest place to start. While not all licenses had a home mailing address, they were all required to contain the witch’s current city of residence. Some got around it by using the city they worked in. That would get me close enough. If I was lucky, my parents had filled out the optional section on their licensing forms to include their phone number.
It didn’t take me long to find my father’s license, and it had a phone number. Using the prepaid phone I’d picked up just for this occasion, I dialed the number.
“What do you want?” my father snapped into the phone.
“Hey, Dad,” I greeted him, trying to make my voice sound as close to normal as possible.
“Desmond?” he asked.
“Yep, it’s me,” I replied. “I need to ask you a few questions.”
“The police are looking for you,” he hissed. “What have you done to your sister?”
That asshole hadn’t even bothered to ask how I was doing. All he wanted to talk about was poor missing Beatrice. It was typical of him. “Did you give them any ideas of where to find me?”
“You know I don’t trust those shades,” he spat out. “Where are you?”
“Somewhere safe,” was my response. “I’ve been having some trouble after changing forms. I’m really tired and unable to do much of anything for at least two days. That’s never happened before. I need to know what’s causing it.”
“Before we talk about your problem, I need to know if you’ve hurt your sister,” he insisted in a shaky voice.
“I honestly have no idea where Bea is,” I assured him. “This whole thing with the police is a misunderstanding. I’m going to get this mess cleared up. Bea may be hiding so the police will stop harassing her.”
“Poor girl,” my dad said with no feeling. He knew the words he was supposed to say, but he’d never really cared that much about me
or my bitch sister. “How’d you pick the form you’re using?”
“I’m using a dead body,” I replied. “It seemed more expedient.”
“How long have you been using it?” he asked.
“About four weeks,” I replied. I’d had to buy a chest freezer to put the body in because of the stench. “I thought I might be using up too much energy by changing forms too often in one day.”
“It’s the body,” he told me.
“What’s wrong with the body?” I asked. “Do you think there’s a spell on it?”
“It’s been without a soul too long,” he explained. “As time passes, it will require more energy to maintain that form. It’s worse if you take on a different form for even a short time.”
“I’m not a shade, so I don’t need to use the body. I’m not sharing space with the soul,” I argued. “What you’re suggesting doesn’t make any sense.”
“Neither does the magic that allows us to take on the form of another,” he pointed out. “It makes no sense that I need more energy to change than your sister does, or that she can change forms with no body, while you need to mimic a living or recently deceased creature in close proximity.”
I was angry at the reminder that Bea could change forms easier. Her transformation into a falcon still enraged me. She’d done it in front of me to rub her ability in my face.
“Where are you?” my father asked again.
I ended the call without answering. My father was really curious about my whereabouts. I was certain he planned to tell the police where to find me, a thought that brought a smile to my face. If he was considering betraying me, he’d contact the police to provide them with my phone number, not that it would do them any good. Pulling the chip from the phone, I destroyed it. I’d incinerate the phone as soon as I got home.
Calling my father had been the right decision. I’d need to use another form if matters with the blonde bitch weren’t resolved soon. With a sigh, I decided that if I was going to have to kill someone anyway, I might as well give Katya her wish. Then a thought occurred to me and I laughed. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before.
Seductively Spellbound (Spells That Bind Book 3) Page 27
