Before the Storm

by Claire Ashgrove

  He looked at me for a long moment, scrutinizing me in that way that made me feel like I was suddenly naked. Just as I lifted my foot to shift my weight, he broke the disturbing eye contact and mounted the stairs again. I followed, feeling much like I’d just survived an earthquake. My legs sure felt unsteady enough to have been standing on violently shaking ground.

  Damn him. What was it about Kale Norwood that unbalanced me? He was just a guy. So what if he was good looking? At the core of it all, he was just a random, every-day, magic-wielding man, bent on turning the world I thought I understood upside down.

  Six

  We walked the rest of the way in silence. Three full flights of silence. I don’t know what went on in his head, but his steps seemed heavier, more reluctant, not the purposeful stride he’d started out with. What glimpses I caught of his face as we rounded corners gave me the impression he chewed on serious thoughts. Things that probably should have concerned me, but I was too busy mulling over my own matters.

  I liked this guy. Not in the sense of I wanted to jump in his pants. Not even in the sense that I wanted to explore something personal with him—personal wasn’t my thing. But on a human-to-human level, I liked him. He screwed up, he made no excuses, and he didn’t apologize. Yet he owned his actions. And that I respected. Too many people were too busy pointing the finger at others, or even society, and if they did make a poor decision they were too quick to dodge their ownership.

  Call it a begrudging like, because I certainly didn’t want to like him. That I did, after everything today, really baffled me, and I was too busy trying to figure out precisely how it happened to notice we had stopped.

  Until I smashed into his broad back with my nose.

  He stumbled a step forward. I tumbled into the space he’d occupied. We both snatched at the railing and caught ourselves before face-planting it into the ground. When I landed on one knee, I caught his bemused smirk. A laugh bubbled free, despite my irritation.

  The sound must have shocked him because he arched that solitary eyebrow again. Then, before I could tell him to can it, he let out a low rumbling laugh as well. In seconds, we were both chuckling pretty heartily.

  Kale offered me a hand. “Here. Unless that counts as touching, too.”

  “I think I got it.” I ignored his outstretched fingers and shoved to my feet again. “You could warn me next time.”

  “Warn you?” Amusement touched his voice. “I was standing there a good thirty seconds before you smacked into me. Where were you?”

  “In my head. Are we here?” Glancing around, I took in the recessed enclave. This resembled a cave. Much more so than the tunnels we’d walked through. Tall stalagmites joined with stalactites to form mineral-filled columns throughout the room. The same not-quite-neon lights reflected off the irregular formations, adding a bright turquoise luminescence to every surface it touched. As far as I could see, the corridor had no end.

  “Yeah, we’re here.” Kale stepped back and swept his hand across his body, indicating the enclosure. “This is the grand hall. Receiving room here. Over there—” he gestured right “—the chamber where the advisory council meets. To the left, behind those glass doors is where clan dignitaries used to meet.”

  “Dignitaries? Are we speaking the same language—you mean like heads of state?”

  He nodded as he indicated I should move toward the council meeting rooms. “Once upon a time, the magical community wasn’t so divided. We worked together on many things.”

  “You realize this is an awful lot to just…accept, don’t you?”

  “Oh, in time, Halle Rhoads, it will all seem like second nature,” a husky woman’s voice rang out from somewhere behind us.

  I could have sworn Kale flinched.

  I turned to investigate our eavesdropper. From a thick shadow alongside a glittering column, a woman with platinum hair down to her waist stepped forward. She didn’t smile, that I could see. I can’t explain it really—I could feel the smile, but nothing ever shifted on her face to show the gesture. And that smile, that feeling, wasn’t warm and friendly. Rather, it felt superior.

  “I’m glad you decided to join us,” she continued as she approached where Kale and I stood. “It’s about time, after all. You’ve been running loose for too long.”

  Loose? Like some dog without a leash? Suspicion gripped me hard. If coming here meant I suddenly had to check in about my whereabouts or activities, this little excursion was at an end.

  The woman stopped in front of us, and vivid green eyes locked on Kale. “Did she give you much trouble? We all know how she can be.”

  Okay, bitch had seriously better watch herself. I opened my mouth to tell her she didn’t know the meaning of trouble, but Kale beat me to words.

  “That’s enough, Beth.”

  This time she did smile. She turned that bright and sugary expression on Kale like she had just pictured him as the main course on a dinner buffet. “That’s right, you wouldn’t have trouble. You’re far too talented.” She trailed elegant fingers ever-so-lightly up his muscular forearm.

  Her praise was so fake I wanted to gag. She might have never-ending long legs and curves like a wine glass, but if Kale fell for that pathetic flattery I was going to kick him in the shins. Hard.

  He stared, pointedly, at the place where her fingers rested on his skin. “My talents are my business, Beth.” Taking one deliberate step back, he separated himself. “And they’ll stay that way.”

  Go, Kale! It took every bit of discipline I possessed to not cackle aloud. But I couldn’t control a satisfied smirk. One that still lingered on my face when her smile retreated and she looked at me once more. Almost imperceptibly, her gaze narrowed. I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at her. Childish, maybe. But damn, it would have felt good.

  She pushed between us, long confident strides carrying her to the council room he’d indicated moments earlier. “I think they’re waiting on us.” As she slapped a palm against the door and stalked inside, the flimsy fabric of her silver dress ruffled around her knees.

  Kale waited for the door to clunk shut behind her before releasing a hard breath. “And that’s Beth. One of the most powerful sorceresses in the camarilla.”

  My smirk broadened. “Sorceress or seductress?”

  “So you noticed?”

  “Do I look naive? Cause really, only a virgin might miss that. Even then, she’d have had to been locked in a dungeon most of her life.”

  His laughter reappeared, low and rumbling, and really pleasant on the ears. “No, naïve doesn’t exactly come to mind. After you.” He gestured at the closed door.

  I followed his directive. “Bet she’s not used to someone being immune to her…magic.”

  His voice dropped to a confidential tone. “Would you believe she’s my stepmother?”

  As I stepped through the doorway, I muttered beneath my breath, “And I thought I had family issues.” Ironically, our issues weren’t that different, but I didn’t intend to volunteer that tidbit.

  I couldn’t hear his response through the sudden commotion in the room. Chairs pushed away from a small table in the center of the room, wooden legs scraping loudly over the stone floor. Murmurs broke out as six gathered people hurried to stand.

  A tall man, with sandy blond hair and features that identically matched Kale’s rushed forward from the group to greet us. He clasped Kale by the hand and gave a firm shake. “Kale. Nicely done. Thank you.”

  At Kale’s short nod, he released his hand and reached for mine. “Halle, welcome. It’s so nice to finally meet you. I’m Gerard.”

  I eyed his hand. Glanced between both men. The resemblances were like mirror images. One maybe twenty years younger than the other. And the pride that reflected in the older man’s eyes as he looked at Kale made the connection all the more obvious. Father and son.

  Well, shit. That little tidbit had been conveniently neglected. To express my displeasure, I refused
to take his hand. “I’m not sure I can say the same.”

  Gerard looked genuinely taken aback. But as the shock washed from his expression, he shook his head and concern reflected in his blue eyes. “I’m sorry you feel that way. I hope you’ll allow me to try and change your opinion.”

  I held onto Kale’s gaze. “Maybe if people would start telling me the full truth from the get go…”

  To his credit, Kale had the decency to look chagrined.

  Gerard studied his son. “Is there something you want to tell me, Kale?”

  He squinted at me. “No. Everything’s fine.”

  “Peachy,” I echoed with a tight smile.

  “Yes, well.” Gerard cleared his throat. “Would you like to sit down? Can I get you anything? Water, soda, something to eat?”

  I shook my head. “I’m good. Thanks.” I spied a chair sitting just outside the seats that encircled the table and dropped into it. With deliberate arrogance, I tossed my feet on the table and crossed my ankles. It wouldn’t do to let them think I wanted to be here. If they did, they could leverage me. If I acted disinterested, they’d work harder to convince me to hang around for a while. At least I hoped.

  Kale dragged a chair into the group, wedging himself between a stocky bald man with age spots on his forehead and a woman with grey hair bound into a thick braid who had to have been well into her seventies. Though when she moved her chair to accommodate him, her efforts were as graceful as a woman in her thirties.

  “Well, allow me to make some short introductions.” Gerard stood behind his empty chair, his hands braced on the arched wood backrest. “You know Kale. This is my wife, Beth.” He gestured to his left then indicated the pudgy brown-haired woman sitting beside her. “And Eloise.” Moving clockwise, he continued on to the bald man. “Jackson, and Maude on the other side of Kale. And the twins are Leaf and Spring.”

  Leaf gave me a boyish grin and tossed his untamed brown hair. “Pardon the hippy influence.”

  “Yeah.” Spring let out a light laugh, her wavy brown hair as uncontrolled as her brother’s. “Can’t control the parents.”

  They could say that again. Though I had to admit, if this was the council of elders, their youth didn’t quite fit. They couldn’t have been much older than me.

  Even Gerard chuckled. “Leaf and Spring’s parents were a bit eccentric. But their knowledge was exceptional, and the twins knew more about the camarilla and our ways by the time they were teens, than many of us have learned in lifetimes.”

  Ah. Kid geniuses maybe. Or bookworms. I nodded, gave a small wave with my hand. “I’m Halle.”

  “We know. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.” Beth trilled a laugh, but I sensed the venom beneath.

  She didn’t like me. Who knew why—I certainly didn’t care. The feeling was damned mutual. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was about her that made me want to squirm away, but it went beyond her grossly exaggerated flirtation moments earlier. There was something off about the way she looked at me. Some deep secret reflecting in her green eyes. Something I wanted to know, yet sensed I’d regret hearing.

  Gerard took a seat and continued talking, but I didn’t hear him. I was too busy studying Beth. I guessed her to be about ten years younger than Gerard. She was pretty enough that I could see why he would be drawn to her. Tall and slender, she wasn’t model beautiful, but she cut a very striking picture. A definite sense of power emanated from her; she was cool and collected, reserved and contemplative. And clearly the elders in the room respected her.

  “Are you agreeable to that, Halle?” Gerard asked.

  Oh, crap. Nothing like being caught not paying attention. I blinked and shook my head. “I’m sorry. Could you…repeat that?”

  If he took offense to my distraction, he disguised it well. He merely set his forearms on the table and clasped his fingers together. “Of course. I was saying that I presumed, given your presence here, that you’ve agreed to stay on and learn about your powers.”

  I nodded.

  “And given the significant amount of training you need to catch up on, I anticipate you’d need about six weeks to be effectively using your abilities.”

  “Six weeks?” I blurted. “Um, no. I have things to do.” In six weeks, the fall storm season would pass. I didn’t intend to wait until spring to deal with my uncle. No way in hell.

  As Gerard drew back in surprise, Kale leaned forward, rushing to an explanation. “Halle agreed to give it a shot for three days. Then we’ll regroup and see what she wants to do.”

  “I see,” Gerard murmured thoughtfully.

  “That’s understandable,” Spring interjected. “You can’t really blame her. This must be all so new. I think I’d be hesitant too.” She flashed me a warm, encouraging smile.

  “Right, right.” Clearing his throat again, Gerard drew his hands into his lap. “Well, we’ll make do and hope you’ll be inclined to stay longer.” He turned an affectionate look on Beth. “Beth is very talented. I’m sure she can give you a good foundation in three days.”

  Beth let out a quiet, mocking laugh. “Of course I can. I didn’t anticipate this would be easy when I agreed to take her on as my intermediate.”

  Wait. That woman was going to teach me how to use my gifts? No. Fucking. Way. I dropped my feet to the floor and pushed my chair away from the table. “I think I’ll pass after all.”

  Kale’s gaze snapped to me. His brow furrowed with puzzlement. “I thought we had an agreement.”

  “You and I had an agreement.” I tipped my head toward Beth. “She and I didn’t.”

  He stared at me for a long moment, his frown deepening with each ticking second.

  “Perhaps I could work with her,” Maude offered hesitantly.

  Kale arched an eyebrow at me.

  I shook my head.

  “I think we could work with that, Maude.” Gerard pushed his chair away and stood. “There’s an empty room down the hall from yours, isn’t there? You wouldn’t have the adjoining door, but—”

  I nudged Kale’s foot and shot him a look, silently ordering him to do something if he intended to have me stay at all. He pursed his lips and glanced at Gerard, who was outlining plans in full swing.

  “I’ll teach her,” Kale interrupted.

  By George, I think he got the message! I relaxed significantly. Kale I could take for three days. We’d already established ourselves. No way was I going to be stuck for three days with someone I had said a mere three words to. Certainly not a magic-wielding someone I’d said three words to.

  The entire room hushed. No one moved, though every gaze fastened on him. I suddenly got the feeling he’d said something very taboo.

  Gerard broke the silence first. “You?”

  “That’s not done!” Beth objected.

  Yep, definitely taboo. Odd. I didn’t exactly picture him as the rule-breaking kind.

  The bald man, Jackson, shook his head, disbelieving. “Kale, you’re a warrior. We need you elsewhere.”

  For the first time since my arrival, Eloise spoke up. Her voice held all the grace that Beth’s should have. “You know how things are going, Kale. Your talents are better suited—”

  “No.” He stood and pushed his chair into the table. “I made the agreement with her. I’ll see it…”

  He trailed away, his attention riveted on the wall behind me. Maude turned in the same direction, and her eyes widened. One by one, every other gaze pulled to that same spot. Slowly, I looked over my shoulder, half expecting to see some horrific creature looming over me. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Iron sconces lit the wall with the same bright colorful glow as the columns in the large hall beyond. Another magnificent picture radiated against the stonework. And a large glass orb mounted in the center of the wall glowed a brilliant crimson color.

  “Dear me,” Eloise murmured. “They’ve found a way in.”

  No sooner had the words left her mouth, than a vicious
, bloodthirsty snarling reached my ears.

  Kale snatched me by the hand, jerked me to my feet. “Come on!”

  Before I could squeak out a single syllable, he bolted for the door, dragging me in tow.

  Seven

  We descended the stairs twice as fast as we’d come up. I didn’t have time for questions; it took all my concentration to keep from tripping and breaking my neck. We passed people, going both directions, most of them, however, ascending. He led me all the way down, past the landing we started on, into the residential quarters.

  The garden wasn’t an exaggeration. In fact, garden didn’t do it justice. It was more like an oasis, and Kale headed straight for it. He raced around the gazebo, across an ankle-deep creek, beneath the shade of a huge old oak, and through a decorative cast iron gate into a long hallway that dead-ended in a flat, undecorated, stone wall.

  A stone wall he wasn’t slowing down for.

  “Kale wh—”

  “Kravetch!”

  It hit me then—the almost painful prickling of my skin. In an instant, the odd sensation vanished, along with the wall, and we barreled into a dark recess. Kale finally slowed, then stopped all together. As I doubled-over, gasping for breath, he turned back the way we’d come, muttered two more words I couldn’t comprehend, and a faint light filled the blackness.

  “What…the hell?” I managed to ask between gasps. A sharp pain snaked up my side, and I pressed my fist into it, still bracing one hand on my knees. He was seriously going to pay for this once the burning in my lungs stopped. How the hell wasn’t he panting like I was?

  “Yaksini.” He slid down the wall, took a seat, and braced his feet in front of him. He rested his arms on parted knees. “Your uncle’s clan.”

  My uncle’s what? My head snapped up, all annoyance forgotten. “Did you just say my uncle’s clan?”

  “Yeah.” He let out a sigh and rested his head against the wall. “Dark magic—we’ve been opposed to them for years. But recently your uncle has made it his personal mission to destroy us, the Tovenar.”