by Liz Schulte
I spotted the bar. “Good thing Frost didn’t come,” I yelled to Leslie.
She nodded toward the bar. “Should we attempt it?”
“Absolutely.” I took her hand and we squeezed and pushed our way through. Suddenly a wide pair of shoulders clad in a dark gray suit was the only thing I could see in front of me. Around him, the room parted like Moses and the Red Sea. I glanced back at Leslie and there was another huge man in a suit behind us. “Our escorts, I presume.”
She followed my gaze and her eyes widened. She leaned forward. “Do you think we can keep them?”
I grinned. “I think they’re a loaner.”
Finally we came to a stop. “Move,” a deep voice rumbled and four seats vacated like magic. Leslie and I were put in the middle seats and the two suited men took the outside, nodding to a bartender who was with us in a flash. It totally paid to know people.
“Vodka cranberry,” I said.
“Margarita on the rocks,” Leslie said, turning around on her stool to survey the room. “It’s madness in here. Is it always like this?” she asked the man next to her.
He barely shifted his gaze. “Pretty much.” His fingers brushed the back of her hand and all of her muscles relaxed and she stared up at him dreamily.
“I like you. You have pretty eyes. How do you feel about cheese dip?” she asked breathlessly.
I laughed and looked back at my goon. “Don’t even think about touching me. I’ve met a jinni before. I’m wise to your tricks.”
“Is that so?” he asked.
“Yep.” I took a sip of my drink.
“You know, we aren’t all the same.”
“Well, you’re burly and grumpy.”
He nodded, an amused look in his eyes.
“And Holden was both of those things too. So far two for two.”
He picked up his whiskey. “You know Holden?”
“I’ve met him. I probably know Olivia better—and she is way nicer.”
His face blanched and he sat his glass down without taking a drink. “You’ve met the angel.”
“You don’t need to sound so surprised. I know people.”
He chuckled. “Those two aren’t people. They’re…” He shook his head and straightened his tie.
“Oh my dog, you are totally fan-girling over them. That’s so cute. Holden would totally abuse you for it. What’s your name?”
“Why?” He gave me a stern look.
“So I can tell him.” I rolled my eyes. “No, so I don’t have to call you ‘hey you’ all night.”
“Presley,” he said. “You really know Holden and Olivia?”
“It’s more of a passing acquaintance. It’s not like we have a weekly game night or anything. But I bet that would be fun. Do you think Holden plays games…you know, other than with people’s feelings?”
Presley’s thick eyebrows drew together in a single flat line. “I don’t ‘fan girl,’” he growled.
“Besides the point.”
“And what’s the point exactly?”
“No touching me.” I nodded my head to the right. “I’m not going to end up like her.”
“But we have orders to make sure the two of you have fun tonight.”
Presley was cute if you got past his brutishness. His eyebrows were thick and heavy over his eyes, his nose was masculine, and he had at least two days growth on his beard. Not entirely my type. “Then entertain me.”
A slow smiled crept over his face. “Without touching you?”
“Do your best.” I batted my eyelashes.
A wicked grin spread over his face as he leaned toward me, his mouth nearly touching my ear.
I was jostled from behind before the jinni could say anything interesting, however, and my drink sloshed onto the bar.
Presley growled and jumped into the fight that apparently broke out behind us. I motioned to the bartender for a new drink and watched poor Leslie fawning over her jinni. Maybe I should have let Presley touch me.
“Miss me?” a dark voice, all gravel and promise, whispered in my ear.
I knew exactly who it was. I had heard it in my thoughts and felt his lips in my imagination many times since Halloween. One very confusing evening with this man dressed as Jack the Ripper months ago and he was forever imprinted on my brain. I didn’t even know his real name. “Jack,” I said, turning around. “Took you long enough to find me.”
He flashed a sharkish smile. “What makes you think I haven’t known where you are the entire time?”
I rested my elbows on the bar counter behind me and leaned back. “Well, that would be a travesty. Especially since I’ve been waiting for you.”
He placed his hands on either side of me. “I’m not buying it.”
“Careful. My bodyguard will be back before you know it. He’s a big guy. He might draw blood.”
“I’m not scared.”
I tilted my head so I could see Presley behind him, still fighting—how boring. “You have about two minutes to make me not care that you knew where I was, but never came to see me.”
Jack moved closer, making it hard to breath. The delightful woodsy smell of him mixed with something sweet flooded my senses. His lips were nearly touching mine, but they didn’t come any closer. Heat rose in my cheeks as I struggled with myself to not kiss him. “Oh, I get it. It’s all about anticipation. It’s better than the kiss.”
Humor glinted in his eyes as his lips brushed the corner of my mouth. “If that’s true, you’re doing it wrong.”
His mouth pressed against mine, both soft and hard and oh so warm. His fingers slid into my hair to cup the back of my head, and he nipped at my lower lip. I gasped, allowing him to take full advantage of the situation. He was right. This was so much better than the anticipation. I kissed him back, and the club and all my worries spiraled out of my thoughts. His other hand traced up and down my side.
Then he was gone and the room was black.
I blinked, trying to refocus. “What the hell?”
Presley picked that moment to pay attention to what I was doing. Freaking perfect. The club went dark and someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me off the stool. “Follow me,” Presley said at the same time Jack lit a match. Where had he gone?
“This about you, lovely witch?” he asked.
“Probably,” I said as Presley pulled me toward the office, but then he stopped abruptly. His body jerked, his shoulders slammed back, and he fell to the floor in front of me.
A scream lodged in my throat. The dark haired woman I recognized as Jessica’s companion smiled at his motionless body, and she flicked a black fingernail at him. His body jerked again.
“Stop,” I said, stepping in front of him. I wasn’t able to cast without a circle like Selene could, but I would be damned if I’d sit there and do nothing.
Her laugh pierced the room. “You are weak.”
I may not have had a spell prepared, but I had something else. I believe it was called gumption. I pulled back my fist and hit her squarely in the face. Pain shot through my hand, but I ignored it. I grabbed a beer bottle off a nearby table and hit her once more on the side of the head, shattering the bottle and dropping the witch to the ground.
“That was fantastic,” Jack said entirely too happily.
“Grab her,” I said.
He picked her up and carried her into Lily’s office where she was waiting with Leslie and her jinni.
“I’d give you a high five, but no time. Take my hand,” Lily said.
I shook my head. “We need to take the witch with us.”
“Who’s this?”
“Jack,” I said and he laughed.
“Do you trust him?”
“Trust him to do what?”
“Bring the girl to the castle.”
“No,” I said. “Jessica could be out there.”
Lily huffed and took the other witch into her arms. “Hold on to me,” she said, transporting us away from danger, but not before I caught one last glimpse of Ja
ck watching us thoughtfully.
The three of us half carried, half dragged the witch into the castle, Leslie finally bouncing back from her evening with a jinni. We dropped her just inside, and I looked up at the guard. “Take her to the dungeon and calmly get Cheney.”
He frowned and didn’t move.
“Do you speak English?” I asked. “Seriously, she’s gonna wake up and then we’re going to have a magical battle in the center of the great room. Is that what you want?”
“I’ll get Cheney,” Lily said.
“The cell for witches?” the guard confirmed.
“Yes, and sooner is probably better than later,” Leslie said. “Kat doesn’t hit that hard.”
“Pssh. Tell that to my hand.”
The guard at the door glanced up. Two more and Gudaer, the guard most often assigned to us, had entered the room. Gudaer nodded to him from the back. “Do as she says.”
The other guard picked up the dark haired witch and carried her out, the other two falling in step with him. Gudaer came forward. “It was my understanding you were not going to leave the castle this evening.”
I shrugged. “We brought back a witch.”
He shook his head. “Shall I get Sebastian?”
“Nope. We’re good. Lily is getting Cheney.”
His eyes strayed to my hand. “Perhaps something for that.”
“That would be great.” I smiled.
“Kat, what’s happening? Why are you putting people in the dungeon?” Sebastian said, striding into the room.
I looked at Leslie and rolled my eyes. “Sebastian, my hand is practically broken, it’s been an extra weird night, and I really don’t want to explain more than once. Let’s wait for Cheney.”
Concern briefly replaced irritation on Sebastian’s face and he stepped forward, while Gudaer silently slipped out of the room.
“She punched someone,” Leslie said. “I was actually pretty impressed.”
“Yeah, right. Like you were thinking about anything other than that jinni.”
Sebastian glowered. “You were with a jinni.”
“Two of them,” Leslie said brightly. “It was super fun—right up until we were attacked anyway.”
“Yeah. That’s always a fun killer.”
Sebastian’s jaw clenched. “You’re going to need to start over. Why did you even leave the castle?”
The front doors burst open with a gust of wind and Jessica and her two muscle men stormed through the doors.
“Sebastian, I think you better find Frost,” I said backing away. Jessica couldn’t use her magic on me or Leslie, so Sebastian was the only target she had left.
But instead of leaving he pushed us behind him and drew his sword.
“A sword to a magic fight?” Jessica smiled. “I like my odds, but I don’t want to hurt any of you. I want my witch and I will get her.”
The spell Frost had been working on popped into my head. The odds of my casting it and making it work were pretty close to nil. First I would have to muster up enough strength to do it without a circle. Second, I would have to break through the blood oath we swore when we became a coven to not use our magic on each other. Third—
Jessica muttered words under her breath and a bolt shot at Sebastian. I shoved him out of the way. Who cared about third? I didn’t have a choice. I stepped forward.
Taking three deep breaths I visualized a blue light surrounding Jessica as I let my shoulders relax. “Magic strength and power, this is your final hour. Magic, strength and power, this is your final hour. Leave the dark witch be and come to rest in me.” I repeated the words over and over again until they were all I could hear and Jessica was all I could see. She threw spells at me, but they glanced off the edges of my protection. I didn’t even feel them. The blue light around her grew bolder, but her magic wasn’t weakening. Leslie came up beside me, took my hand, and joined in the spell. The light around Jessica flared and she stumbled, eyes widening. We were doing it. We were really freaking doing it.
Then a power unlike any I had ever felt knocked me and Leslie forward a couple steps and Jessica fell back.
“Enough,” Selene’s voice boomed, and the chandelier crashed to the floor just in front of Jessica who was already scrambling to her feet. Her two henchmen took her by the arms and dragged her to the door where they all faded into nothing more than shadows.
“It was working,” I told Selene. “We just needed more time.”
“Sebastian didn’t have more time to give,” she said, nodding toward where Sebastian was unmoving on the floor. Selene gasped and the room violently shook, cracking the marble floors as Selene fell. “Cheney,”
Cheney’s face blanched as he knelt down beside her. “Find the vampire,” he barked.
As the earth shuddered and trembled about me, one thing was painfully clear. We never should have left the castle.
A relentless stabbing pain behind my left eye woke me up. My entire body hurt and all I wanted to do was sleep—something I’d done precious little of lately. Opening my right eye then my left, despite the increase of pain, I had no idea where I was. I bit back a groan as I tried to sit up.
“You probably shouldn’t do that,” Selene said.
I looked away from the window. Selene was in her bed, propped up on multiple pillows, sipping tea. She smiled brightly. “I figured so long as the two of us were the worse for wear we might as well be together. I had them bring in an extra bed for you.”
I forced myself to sit up despite the pain, though Selene grimaced for me. “I’m in your bedroom?” I asked when I was able to draw breath again.
She nodded. “And you have been all night. So scandalous.” Her eyes widened slightly with teasing. “You were hurt, and I had an episode. Now they have me on lock down until the baby comes. You know how boring that’s going to be? Please stay and keep me company.”
I shook my head. “There’s too much to do. I can’t—“ Her face fell. “Maybe for a little while.”
She grinned triumphantly and tossed me a couple pillows.
I leaned back against the headboard. At least a few ribs had to be broken, my left eye still wasn’t opening well, and in general it felt as if I had been trampled. “What happened to Jessica? Did Katrina’s spell work?”
She was quiet for a few moments. “I interrupted it.”
“Why?” I asked, turning my head too fast. “She had her.”
Selene scowled at me and sighed. “I’m getting really tired of having to justify saving your life. Jess would have killed you before Kat took her powers. I had no choice.”
I was beginning to understand. Selene said she had an episode. More than likely she overextended herself to save me and was catching grief for it from all around. “I would do it again too.”
I laughed. “Thank you.”
She nodded once, her eyes turning glassy. “I thought she might have … you know. You weren’t moving.”
“It’s not worth your and Cheney’s life,” I told her gently. “You can’t keep casting. You have to let other people handle this.”
She took a sip of tea, wrinkling her nose. “That’s what Cheney says.”
I held back a laugh. I had no doubt Cheney had said just that. Unlike her, Cheney was well aware of the value of his life and there was only one person in this world he would sacrifice it for—and it wasn’t me.
An older, but still beautiful, blonde elf came through the door. “And how are my patients?” she asked.
She wasn’t the regular doctor the castle used, but she looked somewhat familiar.
“Bored,” Selene said. “Well, less so now that Sebastian is awake.”
“No one likes a whiner. Drink your tea,” the woman commanded, and to my sheer and utter shock Selene actually followed the order without arguing.
The woman directed her attention to me. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” I told her. “Do you work in the castle?”
“He’s not fine,” Selene said
between drinks. “He can hardly move.”
The blonde’s eyes narrowed. She came over and sat on the edge of my bed, then her cool hands touched above my left eye causing a new round of pain that made me suck in a breath. “Do you remember what happened last night?” she asked, leaning in closer. One long strand of softly curling hair fell over her shoulder and brushed against me.
I cleared my throat. “Of course I do.”
She straightened back up. “Lift your arms,” she said. “Tell me what you remember.”
I glanced toward Selene.
“Don’t look at her. What do you remember?” she said.
Selene snorted into her cup.
“Who are you?” I asked, removing the woman’s hand from my side.
“Lorelei,” she said. “Selene and Sy’s mother.”
Her words took me aback. Selene didn’t have a mother…but she had been raised by an aunt. I noted that Selene didn’t try to correct her either. In either life that she had lived, elf or human, she had always been an orphan. It seemed to be a destiny she couldn’t escape. One that hopefully her child wouldn’t share. “And you are a healer of some sort?”
She shook her head. “Not really. I’ve been a midwife for many centuries, though. I know my way around a body,” she flashed a grin that Sy had inherited, “mostly.”
“She’s not going to give up until you answer,” Selene said. “You might as well just do it.”
“Katrina, Leslie, and Lily went out and brought back a witch. Then Jessica came to get her partner and Katrina started casting something. When Jessica’s was unable to hit her with any of her counter spells she began firing them at me. Satisfied?”
“About how many spells do you think you were hit with? What did you feel as they hit you?”
“I don’t know. Five, maybe six. Mostly I felt pain.”
Lorelei looked at Selene as she took my wrist and pressed two fingers against the inside of it. “Does that sound about right, Selene?”
“I really didn’t see the battle. I stopped it when I came out, but he was unconscious by then and Jessica was still hitting him.”
“And this is your friend?” Lorelei asked.
“She’s possessed,” Selene said. “Obviously I wouldn’t be friends with someone who attacked my other friends.”
