by Holly Evans
With that, he shifted into his small cat form and curled up on his bed. The conversation was over.
I couldn’t imagine what he’d been through. Blood brothels were nightmarish establishments. They catered to the darkest, most sadistic clients. The inhabitants of the brothels were used to vent the client’s need to inflict pain, be that through blades, their fists, teeth, claws, or whatever else they could think of. I took a calming breath, pushed the images that knowledge formed from my mind, and wished that Tyn could have done the same.
28
The local magic crept into my dreams, adding sharp edges and biting winds to the periphery of my otherwise-mundane dreams. Something shifted unexpectedly, the world tilted before it solidified. An increasingly sharp pain blossomed on the sensitive part of my throat. I couldn’t quite decide if it was pleasure or true pain. Suddenly, the dream dissipated, and I opened my eyes to find that I was freezing cold and no longer in my bed. I frowned and realised that the pain in my neck had been Gunnar biting me, not hard, more akin to something I’d have enjoyed at a more appropriate moment.
The wolf familiar smiled at me, his calloused hands running over my bare arms as I wrapped them around myself, trying to warm up while I figured out where I was and what had happened. The darkness felt as though it were draped over me, clinging to my skin, almost suffocating. The dirt and small stones dug into the bottoms of my feet, and my eyes slowly adjusted to the night.
“The magic was calling to you, wasn’t it, alchemist?” Gunnar asked softly.
I frowned at him. “You bit me.”
He laughed. “You didn’t respond to your name, and we can’t have you stepping foot over the boundary, so I took a more… fun approach.”
“The boundary?” I turned around slowly and took in the broad-trunked trees before me, the barren rocky ground behind me, and the narrow dirt track that I was standing on.
“I’m at the forest?” I asked, a flicker of fear forming in my stomach.
“Gunnar caught your scent as we were heading home for the night. You were lucky he did,” Dante said from behind me.
I’d never been called by magic in such a way before. I swallowed down the increasing fear and put on a brave face.
“Thanks, remind me to return the favour,” I said to Gunnar with a grin.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and guided me away from the forest. Each step felt far more difficult than it should have been, as though small weights had been tied to my ankles. Something deep within me desperately wanted to run into that forest. I leaned against the sturdy strength of Gunnar and focused on the feel of his muscles and his musky scent of wolf and pine.
A small voice said that I should hit on Gunnar, to lighten the mood and take control back. It felt wrong, though, as much as I desired a distraction and didn’t want to leave the safety of his embrace. I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings on the walk back. I was too focused on keeping my feet moving and how I was going to make sure nothing like that happened again. The feeling of something else controlling me scared me more than I could possibly put in words.
To my surprise, Dante walked up to me and brushed his knuckles over my cheek in a slow affectionate manner.
“Don’t worry, alchemist, we’ll keep you safe,” he whispered with a gentle smile.
In that moment, I saw there was far more to the witch than sharp edges and ice.
I woke up feeling tired and drained. Tyn had already shifted back into his human form and gave me a sympathetic look before he went looking for coffee. Taking a long slow breath, I calmed and balanced myself. When I opened my eyes, my vision was clearer and my head with it. I was in control, and I was not going to bow to some deep-seated desire in my psyche.
Erin woke up with far less bounce than she’d had the previous morning. Her hair stood up at every angle and she blearily joined us at the table, where Tyn had placed a pot of coffee. None of us spoke. It was still dark out. Words came after the sun had risen, ideally a few hours and pots of coffee after the sunrise.
Wispy didn’t wake. He had slept in his cage on the pillow next to me. I didn’t want to risk the magic getting to him, too. I decided it’d be best to leave him behind rather than risk him upsetting the head witch. He’d be safe in his cage.
We were all packed up and got ready to greet the witches. Well, as ready as you can be in that situation. Dante walked through the door looking wide awake and ready to tackle the day. Whatever he’d had, I wanted.
“Come along, Roslin is ready for you,” he said.
Even his voice was crisp, without a trace of half-asleep gravelly-ness. Damn him. His gaze held mine for half a beat longer than was entirely necessary. Sympathy filled his expression before it was gone again.
“I think it’d be best if I left Wispy here for the meeting,” I told him.
He looked at the small copper cage in my hand as though seeing it for the first time. Slowly his eyebrow rose before he gave a sharp nod.
“One of the younger wolves will put it in a café for you to collect later.”
He reached for the cage. I didn’t like the idea of leaving Wispy in the hands of a stranger, but I couldn’t risk losing the opportunity to speak with this Roslin. I handed him the cage.
We followed Dante down the stairs and out into the city, where the sun lazily returned to reclaim its dominion above us. An eerie quiet filled the streets and put me on edge. Silence had never been my friend, and it was no different then. A large wolf with a dense pale-grey coat and smudges of slate along its lower legs and muzzle emerged from a side-street. It trotted over to us and greeted us with a large toothy grin. Tyn dug his fingers into the wolf’s scruff and held its eye as he did so. Dante glared at him with an intensity that suggested he was trying to explode Tyn’s heart in his chest. The Cait Sidhe ignored him and continued to pet the wolf until he relaxed.
“You should take better care of your familiar,” Tyn said sharply to Dante.
Dante turned to face him fully.
“Fein isn’t on those good of terms with us,” Dante warned.
Tyn lifted his chin.
“I shouldn’t have needed to balance him like that, that is your job as his witch,” Tyn spat.
Dante looked down at the dire wolf. Its shoulder reached the bottom of the witch’s ribs. The wolf walked to his witch and rubbed its face against Dante’s hip.
“Thank you,” Dante finally said quietly.
“My lack of connection to the other side allows me a stronger connection to those like me, familiars and such. It’s not something I indulge or acknowledge very often, but the familiar was suffering,” Tyn said quietly to Erin and me.
“Why didn’t Dante realise?” Erin asked as we continued down the road towards wherever Roslin was waiting for us.
“Because I have been very busy dealing with witch business,” Dante ground out.
He rubbed behind Gunnar’s ears and along his cheek as the wolf walked at his side.
“I would never knowingly harm Gunnar.”
“He wasn’t suggesting you would,” I said, trying to smooth over a potential issue.
Tyn tensed, but said nothing.
29
The building that Dante led us to was much like the other buildings we’d passed on our way there. It stood apart from the other buildings, but maintained the white walls and small square windows of its brethren. Dante handed Wispy over to a rangy young woman and said something in Icelandic to her. I watched her jog down the road before following Dante through the wide hallway into a large open room, where a remarkable blonde woman stood with a stunning white wolf at her side.
“Roslin, the alchemist, the Cait Sidhe, and the assistant,” Dante said gesturing back to us.
He kept his eyes lowered, as did Gunnar. They stopped some ten feet before Roslin and waited for her response. She smiled.
“Come, I have tea, we will discuss the matter Fein sent you here about.”
Her voice reminded me of the waves cr
ashing against the rocks on the coastline. I smiled and focused on Roslin’s collarbone, hoping that would be appropriately polite without showing too much submission, thus losing any negotiating power I might need. She led us through to another smaller, and equally sparse, room. Three paintings hung on the white wall, each of dense pine trees with one under a full moon, another under a crescent moon, and the final under a lunar eclipse.
Roslin took the seat at the head of the oval table with her wolf lying at her side. Dante and Gunnar took the seats to her right, and so I took the one to her left. This was supposed to be my retrieval mission, after all. I waited patiently for Roslin to pour everyone some of the pale gold tea. Once everyone had a cup of tea, I smiled and began.
“We were told that you have information about the Seers Stone.”
“You cut straight to the chase, I like that. Yes, we have information. Unfortunately, your journey does not end here. The stone is no longer with us. Had you have come to us last week, we would be negotiating the transfer of ownership,” she said.
I took a sip of the golden tea and found it light and refreshing.
“You had the stone as recently as last week?” I asked, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.
The door to the main room burst open and a young man was thrown into the room with us. He landed hard on his knees and remained there with his head bowed.
“His accomplice is no longer in the country, but we caught him trying to steal the moonstone,” a gruff male snarled.
I looked between the man on the floor and Roslin, trying to understand what we were supposed to do.
“If you’ll pardon us, I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your names…” Roslin said.
“Kaitlyn.”
“Erin.”
“Tyn.”
“I’m afraid we have witch business to deal with. Gunnar will sit with you in the main room,” Roslin said.
I didn’t miss the ice in her voice or the fact her gaze never left the man on the floor.
My curiosity had kicked into overdrive. I desperately wanted to know what was going on. I’d never had a chance to deal with those witches before. I could learn so much, if they’d let me. I stood. Erin and Tyn did so as well. No one said a word as Gunnar shifted into his human form. Thankfully, he was able to shift his clothes; the social situation was awkward enough as it was without my trying to figure out where to look.
The door slammed shut behind us, removing any chance for me to catch what was being said. Gunnar directed us to sit in the stiff-backed chairs that were lined up against the longest wall.
“Witch business can be messy,” he said with a growl.
I smiled politely and hoped it didn’t take too long. I hated waiting. I wasn’t made to wait. I was meant to be out in the world exploring.
30
It was incredibly difficult to remain calm, quiet, and still while we waited. Tyn relaxed back into his chair and half-closed his eyes. Waiting was nothing for a cat. It was Erin who did something about it.
“Why don’t we play a little game? We’ll give you a piece of information, in return for information from you,” she said to Gunnar.
I didn’t miss the sugar in her tone or the way she smiled at him, her nymph blood shining through. Gunnar matched her smile and stretched, flexing his well-developed muscles.
“You’re in my world, so I’ll ask the first question,” he said. “What are you?” he asked Erin, his eyes fixed on hers.
She didn’t look away, and to her credit her smile didn’t falter either. I knew she despised that particular topic.
“My mother was half nymph, half puka; my father a fire elemental. Now, tell us what’s going on in that room.”
Gunnar laughed a hearty laugh that lit up his entire face.
“You have spirit. They are dealing with a traitor. The stone you seek was stolen by a dismissed witch and familiar. He is the familiar in question; the witch got away with the stone. Tell me of alchemy,” he said, turning his attention to me.
“Alchemy is the science of weaving various magics together to form something new. It requires a good understanding of the core components of each item,” I said.
He growled at me, “You know that is what we were taught in school.”
“Then you should have worded your demand better. What did you mean ‘dismissed witch and familiar?’” I said.
Tyn tried to restrain a grin at Gunnar’s frustration.
“Not all witches or familiars are worthy of status. They may be offspring of a strong pairing, but the goddess didn’t bless them with enough ability to stay within our ranks, thus they are dismissed to live outside in the city or wherever they please,” Gunnar said with a nonchalant shrug.
“If you’ve quite finished, Roslin is ready to continue speaking with them,” the gruff male from earlier said to Gunnar.
Gunnar flashed his teeth at the gruff male and nodded towards the room where Roslin sat.
“This young familiar was partly responsible for the Seers Stone leaving our protection,” Roslin said, as she pointed at the very sorry looking young man stood with his head bowed.
“Tell them,” Roslin commanded of him.
“It was worth good money, and we deserved better. They threw us out like rotten meat, so we took what we were owed.” Dante cuffed him around the back of the head.
“Give them details about the stone, not your bullshit whining,” Dante snapped.
The familiar lifted his eyes and stared at Tyn.
“There are buyers in Barcelona. Jan has taken it there. You don’t have a chance of stealing it away now, it’s already gone,” he said.
“Tell us about these buyers,” I said.
His hard gaze shifted to me. I stared him down and waited.
“There are many options. Jan didn’t tell me any more than that.”
“You have your information. Now kindly leave us to deal with our problems,” Roslin said.
Gunnar escorted us out of the building and firmly closed the door behind us.
“Looks like we’re heading to Barcelona,” I said to Tyn as I pulled my phone out.
Logan and I had worked together on many previous hunts, and I wasn’t going to let him waste his time chasing a bad lead. He had been hired by Fein; I saw no reason why we couldn’t meet up in Barcelona and work together. I texted Logan.
KAITLYN: Stone confirmed Barcelona. Many buyers. See you there?
Tyn stepped away to speak on his phone, I assumed with Fein. Erin frowned and stepped closer to me.
“I’ll be glad to leave this place. I’d expected something wild, but it’s an unrelenting wild that chills me to the core despite the sun shining,” she said, her eyes fixed on the horizon.
“You and me both,” I said.
Tyn returned with a resigned look on his face.
“Fein is making arrangements for us to get to Barcelona. We’re to work with Logan there.”
I smiled. It seemed Fein had thought the same as I.
“Do either of you know which café we’re going to, to collect Wispy?” I asked.
“It’s on the ocean-front road. Keep going straight, you’ll see it,” the woman who had taken Wispy earlier said.
I smiled and thanked her before heading off that direction.
My phone buzzed. Logan had texted back.
LOGAN: On my way there this afternoon. Fein confirmed. See you there. Xx
I smiled and Erin nudged me with her elbow.
“You look happy to be working with Logan,” she said.
“I haven’t seen him in three months, I’ve missed his company,” I said.
Tyn muttered something.
“You really should just speak up,” I said sweetly.
He rolled his eyes.
“We’re supposed to be bringing back the stone. I don’t expect us to have much time to screw your lover.”
I understood his tension around sex, and I felt bad about it, but that wasn’t going to dampen my happiness to see Logan agai
n. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed him, and I definitely missed his talents in the bedroom.
“The airship will pick us up in two hours. We’re free to wander until then,” Tyn said.
I looked around the city and felt the tug in my lower abdomen towards the outskirts. My feet practically itched to take me inland. I got the impression it was the forest calling to me. The magic there must have been incredible, and what an opportunity it would have been if I could have explored it. No one other than the witches knew what was in there. I gritted my teeth and headed towards the coast. I was not going to give in to the forest. I was stronger than the pull of magic. I was better than that.
31
We had found the small café without too much trouble, but Wispy wasn’t on a table or the counter as I’d expected. I tamped down the growing panic and asked an employee about him. He smiled and said that an older man with a scar on his hand had taken the wisp; he’d assumed the man had been sent to collect him for me.
“Was there anything else about this man?” I asked, trying to stay calm.
“Sure, he was one of those merchants,” the employee said as he gestured towards the dock.
I thanked him and walked out of the café, where I took long deep breaths. The fear merchants had stolen Wispy.
There weren’t many things that scared me, but those merchants were one of them. They were almost literally fear personified. They dealt in courage, too, and there were stories of the amazing things they’d done, but my mind had firmly latched onto the fear end of things. There was a black spot in my memories from when I was a little girl, and I was quite sure a fear merchant was to blame for it.
“I am going to get Wispy back. I’m not going to ask either of you to join me,” I said as I began walking over to their boat.
I had sworn to care for Wispy on that dark night, and I was going to do whatever it took to get him back.
