by Anna Abner
It was already crowded with casters. Willow and her Raleigh witches were there, but Jolie didn’t concern herself with them. They couldn’t communicate with her. She focused instead on the necromancers in the room.
Holden.
Rebecca.
Cole.
Talia.
David.
Because they could hear her. Jolie really needed to be heard today.
No one noticed or reacted to her arrival. They were too focused on their own heated conversation.
One of Willow’s witches stood abruptly. “What are we supposed to do with this guy?” Sasha asked the room at large. “From what I’ve learned, he’s the son of a bitch who summoned a demon into Rebecca. But now we’re all going to kiss his ass? I’m not totally comfortable with that plan.”
“Look,” Holden spoke up. “No one wants to kiss his ass less than I do, but Jessa trusts him, and he’s the only member of the cabal who will speak to us.”
Derek was a bad guy? He had worked for the dark cabal? He’d cast a demon-summoning spell?
Cole asked, “How do we know he won’t turn on us first chance he gets?”
“Well, I have an answer to that,” Holden said. “When I cleared up the memory spell I put on him, I didn’t remove it all.”
“What do you mean?” Willow asked.
“After he was tortured by the cabal, I gave him some of his memories, but not all. Because I knew the Dark Caster didn’t really want to lose him. He wanted to teach him a lesson, but not kill him. So, I only restored about half of what I could.”
Jolie was not comfortable with the coven messing with Derek or controlling how his mind functioned. Maybe these weren’t the selfless heroes she’d believed them to be.
“Does he know?” Willow asked, sounding scandalized.
“Of course not,” Holden said. “It’s my failsafe.”
“You really think he would return to the cabal if he had all of his memories?” Cole asked.
“I do,” Holden said, sounding certain.
Derek opened the door of the diner, and Jessa strolled in.
“Get her away from him,” Jolie shouted, materializing near the soda fountain. “She’s not safe with him!”
Derek put himself between Jessa and the group as if protecting her, but at the appearance of a little girl’s spirit, he started to shake. A tremor in his hands he couldn’t seem to control.
“No one is taking Jessa anywhere,” Derek said. “Anyone tries to take her and they’ll regret it.”
Jolie’s mouth hung open. As she surveyed the room she saw similar expressions of surprise and horror. Finally, Willow cleared her throat and that alone seemed to calm the mood in the room.
“What do you really want?” Jolie demanded. “What are you hiding?”
“We’re leaving,” he said.
“Calm down. No one is trying to take Jessa,” Willow said. “I called this meeting because I know where the dark cabal is gathering.”
“Where?” more than one person cried out.
She rattled off an address in Richlands. “Derek Walker’s house.”
Several heads turned in his direction.
“They never took me there,” Talia said, diverting a few dirty looks her way. “I don’t know if it’s legit, or they’re just screwing with you.”
“Well?” Cole asked Derek. “Does the cabal meet at your house?”
Derek tensed. “I don’t—No. They never did before.” His shaking increased, crawling up his arms and wiggling the collar of his white button-down.
“Either way,” Cole said, “we have to check it out.” He glanced at Willow. “How did you find it?”
“I put a spell on all my casters.” Dots of color stained both her cheeks. “I’m sorry for not being upfront about it, but after you disappeared, Cole, I didn’t want to lose anyone else.”
“How can you trust him?” Jolie interjected. “The bad guys meet at his house, for God’s sake. Jessa is in danger right now. Give her to Holden. He’s stopped a possession before. He can protect her better than Derek can.”
Derek’s expression darkened, and a fire lit behind his eyes. “We’re leaving.”
And for the first time Jolie sensed how dangerous Derek really was. There was an intensity in him that even Holden’s memory spell couldn’t diminish.
Jessa laid a comforting hand on his arm and his shaking slowed, stopping altogether even after her hand fell away.
“But you had face time with the Dark Caster,” Willow said quietly. “Where did he take you? What did he say?”
“My old house,” Derek answered reluctantly. “He didn’t say anything important.”
“Let us determine how important it was,” Cole said. “What did he tell you?”
“Who else was there?” Willow asked before Derek could reply. “Did you see Beatrice? She’s a witch with red hair and green cat’s eyes. Was she there?”
“Yes.”
Willow made a distressed yelp. “What did she say? What did she do?”
“I don’t know anything,” Derek exclaimed.
“Was she there of her own free will?”
“I don’t know!”
“Fine,” Willow said. “We don’t need you anyway. I thought you could help us, but I can see you’re not ready yet. Is there anything we need to know about the property before we go invade it?”
Derek stared back, silent.
Willow murmured something under her breath. “Keep Jessa safe, and lie low. Stay off their radar. Text me if she gets worse.” She cast Derek an annoyed look. “Can you do that for me?”
Jolie glanced at Jessa, only partially visible behind Derek. She appeared scared and suspicious, but her hands clenched tight to Derek’s white shirt as if he was her saving grace. As if she trusted him.
It infuriated Jolie.
And then the coven let them go. They let Jessa walk out of the door with Derek.
“Are you all insane?” Jolie screamed.
“Relax,” Holden snapped. “He hasn’t hurt her, has he? You’re overreacting.”
“No, I’m not!” she railed. “He’s the bad guy. You just let my sister walk off with the bad guy.”
“Maybe he’s not the bad guy,” Rebecca said, all calm sincerity. Jolie hated her in that moment. The woman wouldn’t even speak to her most days, but now she knew what was best for Jessa?
“What if it were your sister?” Jolie returned, her voice dripping contempt. She was well aware Rebecca had a little sister she coddled. “Would you be so blasé then?”
“It wasn’t my sister,” Rebecca shot back. “It was me. He attacked me.”
“Okay, let’s all bring it down a notch,” Holden said, moving between Jolie and Rebecca, which only annoyed Jolie more. Like she was dangerous or something. No, the dangerous person just took possession of her sister. God knew what spells he was casting on Jessa to make her trust him. Maybe even love him.
“You’re all a bunch of idiots,” Jolie shouted. Her anger vibrated out of her like sound waves and the fluorescent lights above their heads exploded. “I hope you rot.” Before they could say anything else, she vanished.
Chapter Ten
Derek’s hands shook no matter how tightly he squeezed the steering wheel. For a moment back there, he’d thought the coven was going to take Jessa away, and the panic had twisted him inside out.
Paul had taken over his house, his glyphs, and now the coven was trying to steal Jessa.
Growling, he gripped the wheel until plastic squeaked.
He couldn’t lose her. She was the only bright spot in a very dark world.
In fact, he wasn’t sure he could pack his bag and run off to Alaska when this was all over the way he’d originally planned.
“What do you want with my sister?” Jolie demanded, blinking in and out of view. “What are you going to do to her?”
Derek didn’t answer. He was in no mood to deal with a volatile spirit.
“They’re not going to come af
ter us?” Jessa asked. “I didn’t get a good vibe from the coven. Not that the last time in Sparky’s had been all sunshine and rainbows.” She turned in her seat. “Those people were all necromancers like you?”
“And some witches.”
The Raleigh coven confounded him. So many casters gathering to do good in the world. Or at least try to protect the world. His experience in the dark cabal had been something different.
At twenty, he’d been recruited into the group and taken to it immediately. Maybe it had to do with being an only child of often-absent parents, but he loved being part of something bigger than himself.
He couldn’t help wonder, though, if he’d be as happy in the Raleigh coven as he’d been in the cabal. Maybe happier. Because casting black magic had never brought him anything but heartache.
“That’s so weird.” She laughed in wonder. “But they don’t hurt people?”
He met her gaze briefly. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.” He’d flown across the country and landed in a hornet’s nest to help her. He wasn’t going to screw it up now.
They pulled into a parking spot in front of her building.
“Liar!” Jolie exclaimed. “You’re the bad guy. And I won’t stop until my sister is free of you.”
“I am the bag guy,” he retorted, losing his last thread of patience with the ghost. “But I’m trying to help.”
“What’s going on?” Jessa asked, startling. “Who’s a bad guy?”
“You are!” Jolie screamed. “You are, you evil bastard.”
Derek peered through the windshield as a light rain fell. Thankful for the distraction, he said, “Hurry inside, okay? It’s starting to rain.”
“No.” Jessa not-so-playfully punched his arm. “Talk to me. Who’s a bad guy?”
Derek recognized the storm brewing behind Jessa’s eyes. She wasn’t going to let this drop, and his stomach lurched.
He sank low in his seat. This was it. The moment Jessa learned exactly what a piece of crap he was. He’d been a fool to think he could save her from the summoning spell without her finding out. Truthfully, it was a relief to confess. Concealing the truth from Jessa felt wrong, even more so than if he were lying to someone else.
At first, he’d feared she wouldn’t understand any of it even if he could explain it. And then as time went by, he didn’t want to scare her with too much truth. Now that he cared so much about her, there were no excuses left.
“I don’t want to hide anything from you,” he said. “I left because I hated everything about myself, Jessa,” he admitted. “I was so twisted up inside I didn’t even recognize myself anymore.”
“Well,” she furrowed her brow, “what kind of person were you?”
“I’m not going to sugar coat it. I was a monster. I was the bad guy.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, her voice quivering.
“I used to work for Paul.” Something gave way inside his chest, and he breathed easier.
“As an assistant?” she asked, sounding confused.
“Sort of,” he admitted. “I was in his cabal.” Oddly, the more he confessed the easier the words came. “I was one of his attack dogs.”
“But when you found out he was evil, you left. Right?”
Ah, now she was getting it. He was the bad guy. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “I knew he was evil, and I didn’t care.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It’s true.” He watched a couple exiting the building across from hers and spotted a shadowy figure sitting in a car about thirty yards across the lot. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing suspicious. “Now, go. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Would they come after us again?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Jessa conducted her own survey of the area. After a moment of careful observation, she hopped out of the car and ran for the stairwell.
Derek exited the car more slowly and stepped into the unprotected swath of space between the BMW and the apartment building.
But no one jumped out. No spirits appeared. Nothing. He climbed the stairs. At the landing, Jessa poked her head out the door.
“Just me,” he said, hurrying into the living room and locking the door. His fingers itched to touch her, to feel for himself if she was all right. Instead, he kept his hands fisted at his sides. “Are you okay?”
“I am now.”
“Are you some kind of double agent?” Jolie continued through the open doorway, her voice cruel. “You pretend to care, but you’re only prepping her for the Dark Caster?”
Derek shut the door on the furious, disembodied voice.
Jessa brought his attention back to her with a touch. “Is it Jolie?” she asked.
“She doesn’t trust me.”
“Sounds like Jolie.” A wistful smile overtook her face as she removed her raincoat and hung it beside the door. “My sister was a total free spirit. She did whatever she wanted to do, and she didn’t care what anyone thought. But it was always difficult for her to trust people.” The smile melted into a frown. “She was protective of me, even though she was younger. I guess that hasn’t changed.” She swiped at her eyes, quickly, so he wouldn’t see, but not quickly enough. “It’s been a really long day,” she said, forcing a joviality into her voice he suspected she didn’t feel. “I need a drink. How about you?”
“Sure.”
“I’ve got a bottle of champagne,” Jessa offered.
“Okay.” He plopped onto one side of the sofa, and Jessa flounced beside from him. She poured two glasses of fizzy golden alcohol, and they clinked glasses in a quiet toast.
For a few moments, there was no sound between them except the pitter-patter of rain on the windows. He couldn’t face the shadow over her head so he fiddled with the buttons of his white shirt, pushing one out of its slot and then forcing it back in.
“Why don’t you like Holden?” Jessa blurted out.
Derek needed more alcohol for that question. He drained his glass and then poured himself another.
“It’s not that I don’t like him,” he began awkwardly. “No, scratch that.” He took a swig. “I don’t like him. At all.”
She giggled again, and her cheeks flushed pink. “But why?” she pressed.
“He took away the person I was.” Derek had fallen to pieces like wooden blocks scattered across the floor. “He stripped me down to my bones, and then left me like that.” He’d tried so hard to put the blocks back together, but they didn’t fit the way they used to.
“Your speech is improving,” she said, giving him a quick once over.
“It’s you,” he murmured.
“What did you say?”
Exhaling, he said, “It’s you, Jessa. Being around you makes everything better. But I won’t ever be the man you remember.”
Her brow scrunched. “What do you mean?”
Derek was too tired and too lightheaded from the champagne to dance around the truth. “I threatened Rebecca, and Holden took away my memories. All my memories.”
“Magic?” she clarified.
He nodded.
“You weren’t in a car accident? There was no head trauma?” Jessa asked, focusing on the wrong piece of information.
“No.” Derek slowly sipped. On the one hand, he couldn’t really blame him because he saw how much Holden and Rebecca loved each other. But on the other hand, his spell demolished Derek. The man he used to be was gone.
“When I woke up,” he continued, “the cabal abducted me and tortured me because I was the bad guy. Finally, I ran away. I wanted to be something different, and I couldn’t be anything other than a villain in Auburn.”
“Yeah, he did an awful thing,” Jessa said, “but maybe it was for the best in some twisted way.”
Derek made a face. “I don’t think so.”
“No, no, hear me out.” She wedged the champagne bottle between her legs and leaned over it. “You used to be kind of a pretentious jerk. Now, you’re a lot nic
er and a lot easier to be around. I mean, look at us now. You and I never would have waited out a storm in the old days. You would’ve made some snarky comment and left me to fend for myself while you ordered room service somewhere.”
He thought about it for a second. It sounded like him. “Hmm. Maybe.”
“So, Holden did you a favor.”
Derek chuckled bitterly. “When I woke up I couldn’t even dress myself.”
“But you learned quick,” she countered. “Maybe the spell he put on you was the best thing to ever happen to you.”
No, but he was beginning to think Jessa McAvoy was the best thing to ever happen to him. The light within her quieted the chaos in both his mind and body like no one and nothing ever had.
“Okay.” He lifted the bottle from between her thighs. “Now I know you’re drunk.” He drained the last of the champagne.
“Show me how it works,” she said, narrowing the space between them.
“Wh-what?” The images popping up in his thoughts weren’t appropriate, and there was no way they were thinking the same thing. He wasn’t that lucky.
“Magic. Show me how you cast magic.”
“Oh.” He’d cast in front of others before. The cabal had been an active group. But he’d never channeled magic in front of a normal human being before. His top lip began to sweat, and then the back of his neck.
“Make magic.” She mimed fireworks going off above their heads. “I want to watch.”
* * *
Jessa was bubbling over with excitement, and it wasn’t all due to the champagne. A lot of it had to do with spending so much time alone with Derek, like in the old days. She’d had a crush on him for so long it was disorienting having him dote on her all of a sudden, especially after his sudden departure in April.
She wanted more, for as long as she could get it.
“You can’t see magic.” But Derek knelt at Jessa’s feet and then transitioned into a cross-legged sit. “Jolie? I only need a little.”
Jessa joined him on the floor, but to be nice she didn’t crowd him. He was doing this for her, after all.
