Protector (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 5)

by Christine Pope

“And was there?”

  Alex shook his head. “Not exactly. Turns out the place is owned by a couple of snowbirds from Chicago. They’d just gone back up north the week before, had the house listed with a rental company that specializes in short-term vacation rentals of houses and condos. But there’s no record of anyone renting it yet, which means the warlocks were just using it, knowing it was vacant.”

  It would have been so much easier if Matías and his goons had rented the place legitimately. But that would have meant leaving some kind of paper trail, something Caitlin knew they would have worked hard to avoid. “So…do you think they were keeping an eye on available rentals in the area, knowing they could use one if the opportunity presented itself?”

  “That sounds about right.” Alex ran a hand through his thick, dark hair, pushing back the one bit that always seemed to droop over his forehead. “I mean, pretty much any witch or warlock can get into a locked house, so it would be easy. And since it’s spring break for ASU — U of A is off next week — no one would probably think twice about seeing a group of college-age guys going in and out of a house that was up for rent.”

  There wasn’t much Caitlin could find to argue with in that logic. But still…. “I suppose that makes sense. What I don’t understand is how they were able to target us. I mean, the only people who knew Roslyn and Danica and I were even coming here to Tucson were your mother and Maya. I kind of doubt they’d be spreading that information around.”

  “No,” Alex said at once. “I mean, your travel plans were your business, and if you’d come across any de la Paz witches or warlocks while you were here doing your thing in Tucson, they would have known you were here with permission and wouldn’t have thought much about it.” His brows drew together, as if he was mentally attempting to put the pieces together, and he continued, “But if any of those warlocks has the kind of talent my abuela has…had…they might have been able to sense you from much farther away than a regular witch or warlock could. I don’t know why they would have been hanging around here in the first place, as you’d think they’d have better hunting up in the Phoenix area, but if one of them did have that gift, they would have felt you three as soon as you came into town. And then….”

  Caitlin could tell he didn’t want to finish the idea, so she did it for him. “And then they came after us because we were three witches a long way from home, without the support of our clan anywhere near us. Easy pickings.”

  Somberly, Alex nodded. “Yeah, I’m afraid that’s pretty much exactly how it must have happened. And it never would have happened, if my grandmother still commanded the powers she once did. I’m sorry.”

  On an impulse, Caitlin reached out and laid her hands on his. He didn’t try to move away, but rather wrapped his fingers around hers so they were intertwined. His skin was warm, his grasp strong. A tingling heat went through her, telling her that maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all. No way would she pull her hands from his now, though.

  She cleared her throat and said, “Alex, that’s not her fault. No one is going to put that on her. She’s ill.”

  “I know, but — ”

  “But nothing,” Caitlin said firmly. She gave his fingers a squeeze and let go, then picked up her iced tea, as if that was the real reason she’d lifted her hands from his. Of course it wasn’t; she was just too ruffled by the way his touch made her feel. He didn’t need to know that, though. “The only people at fault here are Matías and Tomas and Jorge, and maybe Simón Santiago, if it turns out they really are from his clan, and he knew what they were capable of but didn’t stop them from coming over here. That’s it.”

  “I’m glad you see it that way.” Alex didn’t look particularly cheered up as he said this, however, and went back to stirring his undoctored coffee, which had to rapidly be going cold. “But will other people?”

  “I know Connor and Angela will, and that’s the most important thing, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe.”

  If she’d been in his position, maybe Caitlin would have felt similarly disinclined to cling to false hope. Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing how anyone was going to react to all this, just because nothing similar had ever occurred. At least, not that Caitlin knew of. Yes, Damon Wilcox had kidnapped Angela, stolen her right out of her bedroom, but that had turned out okay in the end, because of Connor. Somehow Caitlin doubted such a happy ending awaited her friends at the hands of Matías and his cronies.

  It wouldn’t come to that, though. Danica was…well, clearly Matías was using her as his personal sex toy, but the vision hadn’t shown any cuts on her arms, or anywhere else. She seemed to be okay physically, although Caitlin prayed with all her might that her friend wouldn’t remember anything of what she’d done with the renegade warlock once this was all over. At any rate, she didn’t seem to be in any immediate physical danger.

  Roslyn…Caitlin didn’t want to think about that, because they had cut her. Did her absence from last night’s vision indicate that she was already dead?

  No. That couldn’t be true. Caitlin wouldn’t let it be true. The only reason she hadn’t seen her cousin in the vision was that she’d been off in another room somewhere, probably with Jorge and Tomas. Then again, that wasn’t a very encouraging thought, either.

  She pushed away the remnants of her scone, appetite gone, and Alex asked, “All finished?”

  “I think so.”

  He dug in his wallet and dropped a couple of ones on the table for the tip. “Then let’s go. Maybe some more fresh air will clear both our heads.”

  * * *

  Alex decided to take Caitlin out of Tucson proper and over the hill to the Old Tucson Studios park, partly because it was a nice drive, and partly because they needed something to fill up the time while waiting for her next vision to show itself. She gazed, wide-eyed, out the car windows, staring at the saguaro cacti that marched up and down the hillsides, standing there like silent sentinels.

  “They’re kind of creepy, don’t you think?” she asked at last.

  “The saguaros?”

  “Yes…like they’d shift their positions the second you turned their back on them or something.”

  Well, that was a nice friendly image. He really hadn’t thought about the cacti one way or another, even though he’d grown up with them all around him. His father grumbled about the saguaro, just because they were protected plants, and you couldn’t cut them down or dig them up, even if one did happen to be in the way of your current landscaping project.

  “That’s quite an imagination you have,” Alex remarked, slowing down as they began to wind their way up and over the crest of the hill, down into the valley where the studios were located.

  She didn’t smile, though, but only shrugged and said, “I suppose so.”

  Now, what was that about?

  But the small frown that had been tugging at her pretty arched brows faded as she gazed out at the vista ahead of them. “Wow, it’s….” She broke off, stared out the windshield, then said, “It’s so beautiful. I guess I hadn’t expected it to be like this.”

  “Because the southern part of the state is supposed to be hot and dry and dusty?”

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  Well, at least she was honest. “You’re coming at a good time of year. It was a nice rainy winter, so things are pretty green. But I’m glad you like it.”

  “What’s it called?”

  “The Santa Cruz Valley. We’re not going too far into it, though, just to the studios.”

  “I still can’t believe there’s a movie studio out here.”

  Alex said, “Why, because we’re not in Hollywood?”

  “Something like that.” Then she did smile, just a little. “But we have a recording studio in Jerome, so I suppose it all evens out.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. It’s on the lower level of the old high school. The other floors are rented out for artist studios now.”

  That sounded very cool.
When he’d gone to meet Angela, to see if he was “the one,” he’d driven straight in to Jerome and met her, shared that one ritual kiss, then basically turned around and headed for home. At the time he’d been fighting his disappointment and really didn’t want to stop and look at any more of the town.

  Now, though…now he didn’t feel quite so disappointed.

  “I’d like to see that,” he told Caitlin, and her expression brightened even more.

  “And I’d love to give you a personal tour.”

  “I’ll take you up on that.”

  It would be good to get past all this, to spend some time with her without the fate of her two friends hanging over her head. What he was doing now was only a small stopgap, something to lighten her mind, if only for an hour or two. Last night’s vision had come while she was sleeping, but who was to say one might not intrude when she was awake? He supposed he’d just have to hope it wouldn’t hit her when she was out in public. Maybe coming here wasn’t such a good idea….

  Nothing he could do about it now. Alex pulled into the parking lot at the studio, which was moderately more full than it usually would be during a weekday. Tourists from the Phoenix area, most likely, visiting because their kids were out of school. He hoped the place wouldn’t be completely overrun.

  There was an open parking space not too far from the entrance. He stopped the Pathfinder there, and then he and Caitlin both got out. A warm breeze ruffled his hair, but that’s all it was — warm, not hot. A perfect day for coming out here.

  He turned toward her, and she came around the front of the SUV, her own hair blowing around her face in a cloud of brilliant copper. God, he wanted to run his hands through that hair, feel its silky strands slip through his fingers. Who knew he’d have such a redhead fetish? Before now, he wouldn’t have really admitted to a preference when it came to hair color in women.

  Or maybe it was just that it was Caitlin’s hair, rather than its particular color.

  “This way,” he said, hoping his voice didn’t sound as strained to her as it did to him. He really did need to keep it together.

  She smiled and followed him into the park, eyes bright, interested. Clearly, she didn’t think it was hokey or silly that he’d brought her here. And she maintained that wide-eyed appreciation the whole time, during the stunt shows and the staged gunfights and the tour that talked about all the movies and TV shows filmed in the facility and its environs.

  Since Alex had been here several times before, he found himself focusing on Caitlin and her reactions to what was going on around them, rather than the shows and displays themselves. It was good to watch her forget, if even for a little while, the real reason why she’d come to Tucson. She needed this, he could tell. And he needed it, too. How long had it been since he’d gone out and done something for fun, just because?

  Way too long.

  And how long had it been since he’d felt like this when he looked at a girl?

  Even longer. No, that wasn’t exactly true. He wasn’t sure he’d ever felt like this. Not really.

  Just what he was supposed to do about it, he had no idea.

  10

  The afternoon was gone, and Alex was driving them back into Tucson proper after suggesting that they go downtown for dinner. That sounded good. Walking over the old movie sets and watching the shows and yes, even panning for gold like a silly tourist, had worked up quite an appetite.

  “What’re you in the mood for?” he asked.

  By then she was so hungry that even the greasiest fast food would’ve sounded good. “You choose. It’s your city. Whatever’s your favorite. Except sushi.”

  “What, you’re not into raw fish?”

  She made a face, remembering the one time Danica had talked her into trying some sashimi. “Not really.”

  He grinned. “That’s okay — neither am I.”

  Well, thank the Goddess for that. True, most Japanese restaurants had teriyaki and tempura, and she was okay with eating either of those. That didn’t seem to be an issue now, though. She did have to wonder where they were going to end up, however, as they zigzagged off the freeway and headed into the heart of the city. They wound through the streets of downtown, some of which ran one way, and ended up opposite a structure that appeared to be an official building of some sort, maybe a courthouse. That clearly wasn’t their destination, as Alex instead led her to a brick-fronted building with no obvious signs. It didn’t look like a restaurant from the outside, but once he ushered her in through the front door, it was clear that’s exactly what the business was.

  And obviously it wasn’t the first time he’d been here, since the girl performing hostess duties greeted him with a “hey, Alex!” and led them right to a table off in one corner, much to the disgust of the people who’d been waiting there ahead of them. True, they were a party of four, and Caitlin guessed the hostess could use that excuse as to why they hadn’t been seated first, but….

  “It’s good to know people, isn’t it?” she said to Alex as the hostess made her way back to her spot by the entrance.

  He managed to look embarrassed. Sort of. “Yeah, I might have eaten here once or twice.”

  Caitlin decided to leave that aside for now. Her stomach had really woken up when it got a whiff of the savory smells that filled the restaurant, and pretty much everything on the menu sounded good — it was Mexican food, but an artsier kind than she was used to. “Do you recommend anything?”

  “Their mole is really good, and pretty much any of the tacos, depending on what you like. And we definitely need to have some of their sangria.”

  That did sound good. A few glasses of sangria, the two of them tucked into this intimate corner…anything could happen.

  And nothing should happen, she told herself. You’re eating because you’re hungry. This is not a date.

  Then she remembered that she had no I.D., no money. Alex had paid for everything at Old Tucson Studios, and she hadn’t protested because she didn’t want to make a scene, but she couldn’t let him keep on doing that indefinitely.

  “And what about me having no driver’s license to prove I’m of age?” she asked in an undertone. “They’re totally going to card me.”

  “No, they won’t,” he replied, apparently not worried by the situation at all. “It’ll be fine.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t have a chance to protest further, since a waiter showed up right then and asked for their drink orders. “A mason jar of the sangria de rosé,” Alex said without batting an eye, and the waiter just nodded and said, “Sure,” before heading off toward the bar.

  “What, do you have Matías’ mind-control abilities or something?” she inquired. “I always get carded. Always.”

  “Like I said, they know me here. And they know I wouldn’t be out on a date with someone under twenty-one.”

  A date. He called it a date. But had he really meant it, or just used the word as shorthand for whatever they were actually doing? “So have you brought a lot of ‘dates’ here?”

  His gaze slid away from hers. “A couple.”

  Of course he had. Someone like Alex, good-looking, with a good job and an awesome house? He was probably knee-deep in girls wanting to go out with him. But had they been civilians, or the kind of distant cousins it was okay to have a relationship with? Probably a mixture of both, if her own experience was any indication. Having to hide the truth about who you were from a civilian could be a real pain, but having an ex who was also part of the extended family could be even trickier….

  She was distracted from that line of thought by the arrival of the chips and salsa. Thank the Goddess. At least she’d have something to munch on along with the sangria.

  Which appeared almost immediately after the chips, forcing her to make a quick scan of the menu and decide on the carne asada tacos, while Alex got the mole. He poured some sangria into her glass and then into his. She waited a second after she lifted her drink, wondering if he was going to clink glasses with he
r or something. But apparently he thought that wouldn’t be in the best taste, considering their current situation, so she continued bringing the glass to her lips as if her hesitation had been for some completely different reason.

  “So what now?” she asked.

  He was munching on a chip, and waited to swallow before he replied, “I don’t know — there are a few places nearby where we can listen to live music after dinner, if you want.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “No, I guess not.” His fingers wrapped around his sangria glass, but he didn’t drink. Instead, his dark eyes watched her steadily as he said, “What are we supposed to do? Obviously, my mother’s working on it in the background, since she has Miguel snooping around and doing what he can, but I don’t know how much that’s really going to help. Even if someone saw Matías and the other two guys when they took you to that rental house, what good is that going to do?”

  “I don’t know,” Caitlin responded. She’d never been much for reading mysteries or watching detective shows, preferred science fiction and fantasy instead. Head in the clouds, her brother used to tease her. It certainly hadn’t prepared her for this sort of situation. Still, she wracked her brain, trying to think of something they might have missed. “Maybe…maybe if someone did notice the warlocks, then saw them drive away with Roslyn and Danica?”

  Alex’s expression brightened somewhat at that suggestion. “Okay. Did you see a car when you went to the house?”

  Time for more brain-wracking, as little as she wanted to revisit those harrowing memories. She’d been sort of out of it at the time, thanks to Matías’ grip on her mind. But she’d noticed what the house looked like, more or less, and as far as she could recall, she didn’t remember seeing a car in the driveway or parked out front. She supposed they could have hidden it in the garage; even if they didn’t have a remote, they could’ve opened the door from the inside once they had access to the rest of the house.

  “I don’t think so,” she replied slowly, shuffling through her memories as she spoke. “It might have been in the garage. Or maybe they parked it a few streets over so they wouldn’t be obvious.”