by Shelly Bell
“Nude model?” Mitch asked as Pink Hair waved before closing her door on the first level.
“Stripper,” Raine said into her cup. She shrugged. “Psych major. Pays her rent on time.”
I was surprised we didn’t fall through the creaky wooden stairs on the way Raine’s room, which turned out to be more like a loft. By the time we reached the beaded curtain that hung in place of a door, Mitch had caught her up on the kidnapping.
The room was suffocating with three of us. Every inch of space was used by a bed, a keyboard, a small desk with laptop, a dresser, and a hanging rod for clothes. Stacked sheet music books and composition spirals filled the remaining space.
If I had to live here, I’d go crazy after ten minutes. But it somehow fit her perfectly. “Is everyone who works at Billy’s an other?” I blurted out.
“You too, huh?” Raine said. Mitch raised his eyebrow. “What? I haven’t had a chance to read him yet.” She took another sip of her coffee before setting it down on her desk. “And to answer your question, probably. Dean can talk to the dead and Alex is a powerful energy source. But I’m still not sure about Tiff. I just can’t get a good read.”
Without warning, she grabbed my wrist and held tight, closing her eyes. Warmth traveled up my arm and I tried to pull away. “Stop,” she commanded in a low voice.
A psychometric. Fucking great. With one touch, she could know every feeling I’ve ever had.
“You haven’t hunted in a long time, Lynch boy,” she said, tilting her head. I looked at Mitch, who narrowed his eyes at me and folded his arms. “And the thought of losing your brother is terrifying for you. But you’ve been warring with your feeling for Hazel. And yesterday was her birthday?!”
This was super creepy. Raine’s eyes snapped to Mitch’s. “Girl is in so much trouble for not telling us.” She closed her eyes with a frown. I twisted my arm and this time she let go on a gasp. “You’re her soul mate.”
“What?” I yelled. Or maybe it was Mitch. Or maybe it was both of us. Raine shook out her hand and reached for me again, but I took a step back, bumping into her clothes rack and sending a skirt to the floor. “What did you say?” I asked.
“You and Hazel are soul mates. That’s why you’re having such a difficult time destroying her. It’s also why you can see through her eyes.”
“Seriously? There is no fucking way.” I shook my head for emphasis, not willing to admit what I already knew was true. I had never, no matter how guilty I’d felt, had this much trouble completing a mission.
Then I remembered everything I’d felt last night, everything we’d shared and I had no doubt. It was as if her soul had reached out and melded with mine. Apparently, it literally had.
“Goddamn gifted people and their soul-melding bullshit,” Mitch grumbled, shifting his weight.
“You’re telling me,” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose against an impending headache. “So what do we do now?”
“We have to find a way to save Fenton,” Raine said matter-of-factly. “But first, we need to find our girl.”
Mitch pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’m calling Aurora.”
Chapter 12
Hazel
Where am I? I begged my arms to move, even just a little, but they refused to cooperate. Every movement made the burning strap around my wrists slide deeper into my skin. I bit back a sob. This was enchanted rope. Crap.
Don’t panic. Don’t panic. I wanted to scream. I took a shallow breath, thankful I could at least do that. I was caught in between unconsciousness and wakefulness and I was powerless. I fought to concentrate on what I could do instead of focusing on what I couldn’t.
I could breathe, a huge plus. I could...hear. Yes, I heard voices. And footsteps. One quick and heavy, the other rhythmical and light.
“Nate confirmed Ginger made contact with her daughter yesterday,” a low voice explained.
I screamed in my head. Of course she had something to do with this. I really needed to screen my calls better. My whole body flinched in anger and I felt my wrists strain against their binding. Fire licked up my arms.
“Do you think she’s awake?” A deep baritone voice asked. It sounded so familiar...like a voice I had known my whole life, yet not at all. I let my body slump, trying not to breathe or even think. I couldn’t let them know I was awake yet.
“No, sir. I expect her to be out a few more hours. We didn’t want to take any chances.”
“Jesus, did you give her the whole bottle?” Fingers brushed my chin and lifted my head up before letting it drop. “If you killed her, I will be very angry,” he warned. The tone of his voice sent a chill down my spine. I knew who he was.
Don’t react.
Don’t react.
“We used the maximum amount as directed, sir,” the other man said after a long pause. “I’d say another hour or two before she’s even aware of us.”
I listened to them walk away before I tested my eyes. The room was blurry, but at least I was conscious. Kind of. I shook my head, blinking several times. My head was killing me and I vaguely remember hitting the doorframe when they’d carried me in. They had drugged me enough for three days.
But someone had forgotten I was a witch and therefore metabolized chemicals faster than humans. The room grew clearer and I concentrated on a window, wondering if I could get through it before anyone noticed. I swore I saw a flash of gray reflected back at me.
There was a small tug in the back of my mind. I startled, the chair creaking at my sudden movement. I had been around the block enough times to know when someone was in my head.
Grayson.
He felt warm and welcome, despite the fact that he was a hunter trying to steal my power. Despite the fact that I was tied up. Something in me knew, just knew that there was a reason he hadn’t hurt me last night. That whatever I was trapped in wasn’t his idea.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. Help me! I repeated over and over again. I saw a brief impression of him behind my dark lids. And I felt his promise.
Something cold and sharp brushed against my cheek. I jerked, my eyes flying open. They met eyes as black as night.
“Time to wake up Sleeping Beauty.”
Chapter 13
Grayson
“Raine, I’m one-hundred years old right now!” I called from the back seat of the rust boat that Raine had the nerve to call a car. Despite Mitch’s perfectly good truck, she’d refused to get into a vehicle with only two bucket seats and seat belts. I promised her she could have my belt and I’d sit in the bed, but no dice.
So I was trapped in a car older than me, held together with bungee cords and duct tape, with a top speed of thirty miles an hour. She glared at me in the rearview mirror until I turned away. She was really scary. We pulled over to the side of the road, Raine unbuckling her seatbelt and climbing out quickly. “Man, is she that mad?”
Mitch frowned and shook his head. He unbuckled and opened his door. “Let’s go.” I was right behind him, following Raine through the long grasses surrounding the forest. Thankfully it was hovering just above freezing, which meant the bees’ nests in the ground were less of a threat.
Raine looked exactly like what you think a woman named Raine should look. The ends of her long hair were tinted blue, whipping in the wind as she held her bare arms out. “I can feel her,” she explained, not turning to us. “She’s in the forest. But I can’t seem to pinpoint her.”
My heart leapt to my throat in hope. “She’s in an old hunting cabin, or something. I kept seeing wood and antique tools on the wall,” I added.
Hazel was still groggy from whatever they had given her. I was only getting sporadic images and feelings. It was both terrifying and amazing.
I tried to keep my feelings locked tight, not wanting her to feel the guilt that was eating me away. In the last twenty-four hours, I had barely thought about Fenton in the exact same situation. But I couldn’t. Not yet, not at the same time. It was too much and I knew that it w
ould break me.
“There’s an old park about two miles down,” Mitch said. “Let’s give it a go.”
We rushed back to the car and crawled our way to a chained-up yellow gate covered in no trespassing and various animal warning signs. Raine was out before she remembered to put the car in park and we leapt forward for one terrifying moment when she took her foot off the break. Mitch pulled up the emergency break and Raine smiled sheepishly before reaching back in to shift the gear.
She ran out and touched the yellow gate, gasping. She shook with the effort and I wondered how many memories she had to shift though. How many people had ever touched that gate?
“Hazel, Hazel, Hazel,” she chanted, trying to isolate the information she needed. I paced, running my hands through my hair over and over again. Mitch stood close to Raine, but didn’t touch her.
“Old ranger’s shed, three miles west,” Raine called out, releasing the gate and turning to us. “They drugged her. She was almost awake when they passed by here. There’s a truck you can use that will help you get away.”
Mitch hugged Raine and then motioned with his head. “Lynch, let’s go.”
Raine’s hand grazed my shoulder. “Good luck.” She turned back to Mitch. “I’ll let Aurora know, then head back and get to Zee’s Stats class. Scalzi doesn’t allow makeups, but he’s afraid of me so he won’t mark her as absent as long as I’m there. I’ll see if Tiff can get her notes from Marketing. Hutch or Blake will grab Law. I should make it to my test in time.”
I rubbed my chest at such a remarkable display of such friendship. They all knew how important school was for Hazel, how much it had already cost her. I couldn’t think of a single person who would do half as much for me.
“Thanks, Rai,” Mitch said. “Tell Dean I’ll be in when I can. He’ll just have to work late and put Alex on the grill. I’ll pull a double next week to make it up to him.” He eyed me.
“And see if Tiff is good without this one tonight.” Mitch gestured at me with his thumb. “I have a feeling he isn’t going to make it back in time.”
Raine nodded once and flitted back to her car. She waved out the window and headed at a snail’s pace back to campus while Mitch and I took off running.
Chapter 14
Hazel
My eyes locked on my captor. In front of me stood a man so similar to Grayson, I had no doubt he was related. “Another Lynch brother,” I sighed.
Where Grayson was dark, his brother was darker. His eyes were like clouds before a tornado, his hair was buzzed closed to his head, his mouth was unsmiling. “The only sane survivor of the Evanora line. We finally meet.”
I put on my best “bored and annoyed” expression, hoping he didn’t notice my shaking. “Yes, what a lovely surprise! And you even brought a gun. How thoughtful.”
“Lucian, at your service.” He bowed his head.
Dammit. “Are you for real? If you’re Lucian, then that means...”
He smiled. “Yes, that means Grayson’s real name is Baelfire.”
“Awesome,” I sighed. You have got to be kidding me! Not only had I fallen for a witch hunter and gotten kidnapped by another witch hunter, but they were all part of the most successful witch hunter family in centuries. “Too bad you couldn’t have killed my parents instead, Lucian.”
He smiled. “Yes, a shame. And please, call me Loren. It’s so much less...ancient.”
I snorted. “So you’d rather be called a girl’s name? Whatev.”
Loren leaned closer and ran the gun along my cheek. “Happy birthday, witch. Any wishes?”
I smiled sarcastically. “A glittery rainbow unicorn that sings.”
He pushed the gun against my temple. “Let’s skip the games.”
“Please,” I fake-yawned. “I’m missing my statistics class right now, undoubtedly messing with my hard-earned A, and I’d really like to know why.”
Without moving the gun, he flipped open his phone and showed me a picture of a man suspended by chains, bloodied and bruised. I had to turn away. Images of Romi’s body, her blood soaking the car seat, her unblinking eyes locked on mine, tried to worm their way into my consciousness. I wished she was here, but I knew why she wasn’t. A hunter would be able to see her, destroy her.
“That is Rune, my little brother. And the ransom is you.”
“I see. I’d assumed that was why I’m bound to a chair with a gun against my head. Is this a dead or alive hostage situation?”
Loren flicked the safety off. “Nothing so mundane. I need your powers.”
My heart stopped. Literally. It didn’t beat for five seconds. I couldn’t catch my breath. Grayson. Grayson had tried to get me to sell my powers. They must have been working together. And once Grayson had seduced me and failed to get my powers, Loren was brought in to finish the job.
I closed my stinging eyes. My heart broke. I honestly swore I felt it crack. I can’t believe I’d fooled myself into thinking that Grayson actually cared about me. He was just trying to save his brother. For some reason, this upset me more than being tied up. I trusted him, and he was just another person using me to get what they wanted.
Not that I blamed him. I would have done anything and everything to save Romi. But it still sucked.
I wanted to cry for days. Sorrow blurred into resentment, then roared into anger. My muscles tensed and my breathing grew heavier as I prepared to fight. They didn’t know what this witch was made of.
With a scream, I started pulling against the bindings, not caring if they peeled my skin off. I had to get out of here with my powers.
Loren pushed the gun harder against my temple as the front door collapsed. I nearly cried when I saw Mitch storm in. Grayson ran in right behind him. “Loren, put the gun down.”
“Someone has to finish what you couldn’t do. I’m cleaning up your mess yet again!” Loren snarled.
Mitch rushed Loren from behind, twisting the gun out of his hand and letting it clatter to the ground. The sound of skin punching skin and bones and moaning filled the small room. Grayson ran over to me, intent on releasing me.
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” I screamed, trying to back away, but only making the straps on my arms tighter. A warm wetness trickled down my hands and I knew I was seriously bleeding.
“Please,” he begged on an almost sob, his eyes wide with fear. “I promise, I won’t hurt you. I won’t let him hurt you,” he pleaded.
And I couldn’t say no. Something inside of me knew that he was telling the truth. I nodded once and he breathed a sigh of relief. My eyes focused on Mitch’s fight. It really was going to be over soon, Mitch was definitely the better fighter.
But as Grayson started to untie me, a booming voice filled the room. “STOP.”
My jaw hit the floor. Years and years of memories and emptiness made my head swim. I hadn’t seen him in so long, I honestly had forgotten what he looked like.
“Hello, pumpkin,” he crooned in his charming voice. I wanted to vomit. He was grayer, frailer than the last time I saw him. His wrinkled skin was almost translucent, and a slight hunch made him look much older than his fifty years. “Happy birthday.”
“Fuck you.” The man who had walked away from our family, who had left Romi and me to fend for ourselves against our crazy mother stood ten feet away from me. Grayson stopped pulling at the ties and stepped in front of me.
“A hunter protecting a witch. Now isn’t this amusing? No wonder you failed.”
“Don’t come any closer,” Grayson warned. “Mitch, could you please bring Loren over here?” Mitch dragged a partially unconscious Loren over. “Here’s the deal. You’re going to tell us where our littler brother is, or I’m going to tell the black magic dealers where you are.”
Blaze Evanora stared at me incredulously. He was as pretentious and powerful as his name. “They already know where I am. All I need to do is collect Hazel’s powers and it’s all over. They will stop bothering me for payment from Ginger’s filthy habit.”
“Are you s
erious?” I asked, unable to contain my anger any longer. “Do you know they killed Romi? Do you know that if you take my powers, you’ll destroy both of your daughters permanently?”
My father stared at me like I was missing the point. “Of course I know, why do you think I had to employee the Lynch bothers? It’s not like you’d voluntarily give up your powers to help your old man. You and your sister were always so selfish.”
“Selfish?!” I screamed. “We had a psychotic mother and no father! And after they killed Romi, I was completely alone, because of your choices! So fuck you, Dad. You’re not touching my power!”
Loren was struggling to stand up straight, having partially revived from Mitch’s beating. “I’m still willing to trade. Let’s do this, Blaze.”
“You can’t,” Mitch said, gripping his shirt tighter. “Hazel and Grayson are soul mates.”
Loren let out a snort. “Hearts break, he’ll get over it.”
But Blaze started laughing a sick laugh. “Oh, how Romeo and Juliet of you.”
My stomach switched places with my lungs. Soul mates. That’s why I’d been floating above the bed, why I could feel him in my thoughts. “No,” I whispered, my eyes locking on Grayson. “No, Loren. Because if he takes my power, it’ll destroy anything linked to my soul. And not just Romi...”
I trailed off. Soft sobs unable to stay buried burst from my mouth. I was going to lose too many people today, including myself. I could see Grayson’s entire body tense and I knew he was restraining himself from making any rash movements.
Loren’s eyes moved from Grayson to Blaze. “Wait, what?”
“You Lynch brothers are such goddamn idiots,” Mitch growled. “If you take Zee’s powers, which are connected to her soul, both Romi and Grayson’s souls will be destroyed since both of their souls are linked with hers. Since Romi is only soul, she’ll evaporate. And Grayson? That’s it. He’s gone. Vegetable until his brainwaves fade away. Jesus, keep the fuck up!”
