Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers

by Piñeiro, Caridad

  “You’re lying,” she accused.

  Tilda laughed, the sound sending shivers down Miki’s spine.

  “I don’t have to lie. I have all the power here, all the control. I’m offering you a deal. A chance to save this pitiful town and a bunch of people who hate your guts. Take it or leave it. Either way, I win.”

  She glanced up at the darkening sky, then gave Miki a long look.

  “Don’t waste your time pining over Gideon. He’s mine. He always has been, he always will be. You snap those little fingers of yours and get yourself out of Rossdale tonight. Comfort yourself with the idea that you saved these people. Because that comfort and your belongings are all you’re taking with you.”

  And with a flash of ice-blue light, she was gone.

  Only after the smoke of her departure cleared could Miki pull herself together. Words jumbled in her head, but none made sense.

  She just knew she wanted to leave. It was time to go home. After all, without Gideon, there was nothing here for her.

  * * *

  Thanks to magic and the conjuring of a few dozen cardboard boxes, Miki had packed the upstairs, and was working on the living room when the pounding started on her front door.

  She didn’t want to see anyone. She had to leave, fast. It was time to go home, before it was too late. She struggled to grasp what exactly ‘too late’ meant, but it kept slipping away.

  The pounding wouldn’t stop. With an irritated growl, she waved a hand to stop the knick-knack dance, as she’d dubbed it, into the packing box and tossed her packing tape gun aside. She stomped to the door and flung it open, ready to blast whoever was there.

  “I can’t pack any damned faster, so you’ll have to just hold off on running me out of town,” she spat at Deloris. Miki looked past the older woman’s shoulder and rolled her eyes.

  “Great Goddess, did you have to bring the whole town to back you up?”

  “Actually, yes,” Deloris claimed. The only sign of her earlier booze-fest was the bloodshot glint to her eyes, otherwise she was her usual buttoned-up, fish-faced self. “They feel exactly as I do and we agreed you’d hear the message stronger if it was presented by all of us.”

  Trying to tamp down the scream building in her throat, Miki glared. At least fifty people spilled out over her porch and into the front yard. She was sure she hadn’t actually met half of them.

  “I don’t need this,” Miki said, swinging the door shut. Deloris’ hand shot out, halting the door, and Miki’s exit.

  “You will listen to us.”

  “Why on earth should I? You’ve all been nothing but ugly to me since I got here. Now, through no fault of mine, you’re all screwed and now you’re not only still ugly, you’re blaming me.”

  Deloris raised her chin. For the first time, Miki saw a resemblance to Gideon. She blinked back tears. No point in crying over another mortal rejection. She should be used to them by now.

  “We’ve talked and while we realize we can’t change the past, we’d like to discuss the future.”

  Miki gave a helpless laugh. “Future? That bitch is about to annihilate your town, and you want to have a discussion?”

  “Exactly. See, you’re obviously a bright girl.” Deloris reached into her straw purse and pulled something out, offering it to Miki.

  She automatically took it. The squishy soft doll filled her hand. Holding it up to the light to see better, Miki couldn’t stop her grin, even as she struggled with the shock.

  “Is this supposed to be me?” The black haired Spud Doll was dressed in traditional witch’s garb, but her gown and hat were a glittering white, and instead of a wand, she held a spatula in her little stick hand.

  “Even though that bitch, as you called her, destroyed the town’s collection of Spud Dolls, we did have one for every resident. You’ve proven you’re a part of the town, and you deserve a doll.”

  Miki hugged the ugly thing to her chest and blinked back the rush of tears. The fog that had pushed her so hard to run from Rossdale started to lift. Acceptance into a doomed town by way of a hideous potato with a head. Just what she’d always wanted.

  “Look,” Fred said, poking his own balding head over Deloris’s shoulder, “we know we treated you poorly. You might be willing to admit that the whole magic thing was a mighty big shock. Then we find out that Tilda, who we thought was long gone, is to blame? Her following it up with news that you’re a witch, too, well, that was just more than most people could take all at once.”

  Miki eyed the crowd, noting the nods and downcast looks.

  “Okay, so what’s this? An apology posse?” She shrugged, even though a few of the bands eased around her heart, she didn’t see how much had actually changed. “Fine, I accept your apology.”

  “Well, you see,” Fred stumbled over the words, “that’s not exactly an apology.”

  Miki lifted both the doll and her brows.

  “It’s more of a... Well, it’s more of a point.”

  “A point? So you’re not sorry for your actions and nasty words?”

  “Oh no, we’re sorry for those,” Deloris replied. “But you need to get used to how we are around here, now that you’re one of us. We might get snippy and rude with each other,” she said, her words insinuating that Miki was now a part of that inner ‘each other’ circle. “But as a town, you’ll find we all band together when it counts.”

  Aha. Miki squeezed the stuffed potato, not sure why her head suddenly felt like it was going to explode. She blinked against the pain and struggled against the overwhelming compulsion to shut the door and go back to her packing.

  “What’s your point,” she asked hoarsely.

  “You’re a part of Rossdale now. We’re going out to fight that nasty woman, and we expect you to go with us,” Reba blurted out, her words all rushed together in a single breath. When Reba elbowed Deloris aside, Miki had to hold the potato to her mouth to hide her snicker.

  “You’re going up against Tilda?” Miki clarified. Had Reba fallen into Deloris’ bourbon bottle? Miki looked around to share her amusement with the others.

  But they all had that same serious, stubborn, ready-to-get-their-asses-kicked look in their eyes.

  Shit.

  “What makes you think you stand a chance against her? Not only is she a witch, she has no conscience. She won’t hesitate to send you all flying to Wyoming if you piss her off.”

  “She might have magic, but what we’ve got is more important.”

  Miki slanted Deloris a questioning look.

  “We’ve got faith, love, and with you, we’ve got magic. The foundation of what will keep Rossdale safe.”

  Suddenly, Miki heard Tilda’s voice whispering in her ear, reminding her that they only wanted her for what she was. They hated who she was. Was being rejected as a witch better or worse than being wanted only because one was a witch? Miki’s lower lip trembled as the emotions of the day surged over her in a tidal wave of exhaustion. When her knees buckled, a quick grab of the doorframe was the only thing that saved her dignity.

  “What?” Deloris yelped. “What’s the matter?”

  The older woman shot a dark look over her shoulder at the crowd, then shooed them back with her hands. “Go on, ya’ll. Go get in your vehicles. We’ll be heading out to Mage Lake in ten minutes, one way or another. We’ve got no choice. Go on, I need to talk privately here.”

  Gotta love Deloris’s control. Two minutes later and it was just her and Miki facing each other in the doorway.

  “My only use to you is my powers?”

  “Don’t be a drama queen,” Deloris snapped with a roll of her eyes. “Each one of us has something we bring to this town. I’m the glue that holds it together. Gideon is the natural-born leader. Fred is the one who keeps us all cozy with his store and reminders of what this town’s about. You’re a member of this town, you just plop your gifts on the table with the rest of us and help out.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “It is if you
want it to be.”

  Miki swallowed, her heart pounding like she’d run a four-minute mile. There was no guarantee Gideon would want her, no matter what she did. And she had no idea if she was strong enough, magically, to take on a woman as unprincipled as Tilda. But as she pressed her hand to her temple and forced the foggy mists aside, she knew she wanted to help.

  “Count me in,” she murmured, wondering if she was going to be sick. Before the nausea reached her throat, though, she felt a quick wrench. Suddenly, her head was clear, and her intention to kick Tilda’s sorry ass and do whatever she could to save the town returned full force.

  “She put a spell on me,” Miki realized aloud.

  “No surprise there,” Deloris said with a sniff, crossing bony arms over her chest and shooting a glare around the porch, as if Tilda might be hiding there somewhere. “She’s a nasty one, that’s for sure. I’m coming to appreciate that that witch thing is as individual as people, seeing as you’re nothing like her.”

  And that, Miki realized, was acceptance in Deloris’s book.

  She wanted to laugh, but felt too weak.

  “You’re really going out to face her?”

  “We’ve got no choice. Gideon stormed off muttering something about taking her on himself. It took us a whole half-hour to gather and decide you had the most at stake here, being all lovey-dovey with my son, and deserved to be included. But we’re running out of time, so you’d better come on. You can ride with me.”

  “Give me a second to get my breath and a quick shot of caffeine.”

  “We don’t have time to waste, so hurry it up.”

  No way was she dealing with Tilda without a clear head. Miki snapped her fingers for a strong cup of coffee. Nothing happened.

  With a frown, she tried again. Nothing.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “I don’t know,” Miki said, trying not to panic. Where was her magic? She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, opening herself to the energy. And felt nothing. It was like she was encased in a bubble, unable to feel the energy at all. Any energy.

  “No,” she groaned as her breath hitched.

  “She zapped you?”

  Her terrified gaze met Deloris’s. The older woman didn’t look surprised, though. Or even scared. Just determined. Miki drew on that, focused on Deloris’s lack of reaction and used it to calm herself.

  “She must have added a twist to her spell, so as soon as I threw off the compulsion to run away, I’d lose my powers.”

  Miki pressed her lips together and waited to hear they’d be better off without her. She was obviously useless to the town now.

  “Well, come on then,” Deloris urged with a shrug as she grabbed Miki’s arm and pulled her out the door. “We don’t have time to cry over spilled milk, and we need you.”

  “For what? I have no magic, I’m hopeless against Tilda.” Now that the fog had lifted, Miki remembered the other woman’s threats. “Besides, she said if I left town, she’d leave you all alone.”

  “Oh, for crying out loud,” Deloris said, shoving Miki toward the passenger side of her sedate Ford sedan. Miki climbed in the car, her head still spinning with emotions.

  “The woman’s a known liar, so why would you believe a word she says? As for that hopeless talk, pish posh. I told you, you’re a part of the town now. You’re a smart girl who knows that magic stuff, so you might see ways we wouldn’t to defeat that icy bitch. And most important,” Deloris said as she backed out of the driveway to lead the procession to the lake, “Gideon needs our help.”

  Was this what acceptance felt like? A combination of exultation and nausea? Miki didn’t know, and couldn’t worry about it right now. If Deloris was right, and unfortunately she usually was, then Gideon was alone out there facing Tilda. While Miki was pretty sure Tilda wouldn’t hurt him physically, she was clearly obsessed with him.

  Miki tried to send out a call to someone for help. Any of her family would be strong enough to wipe the floor with Tilda. But all she got was that same bubble blanketing her energy and keeping her from reaching out.

  She bit her lip and tried to steady her breath. Okay, so she was really going up against Tilda with a bunch of crabby mortals at her side, powerless.

  Well, that was just fine. Because Mikaela Lansing was ready to kick some butt, magic or no magic.

  * * *

  Gideon looked around and looked around the flagstone arena the cultists had built along the lake. The area was obviously set up for some kind of worship. He’d been shocked the day before when he’d come out in search of a few sympathetic old friends, and seen the phallic shaped tower rising up over this pseudo-worship site. Apparently, the town’s assessment was right and this was a cult, in every sense.

  Fortunately, it was a cult that realized its day was done. The people he’d talked to, including the huge dude who claimed to be in charge, had all been willing to work with him on the tournament deal. Unfortunately, nobody had seen fit to let him in on their most revered resident.

  Tilda, the bad bitch.

  “Have you been hiding out here all this time?” Gideon sneered at his ex-wife.

  He gave a disgusted shake of his head before glancing at the large rock that seemed to serve as an altar. After checking to make sure it wasn’t gross with dried blood or anything, he hefted himself up to sit on it.

  As he’d hoped, his act of disrespect combined with his nasty attitude was keeping Tilda distracted and off-balance. He’d considered an Uzi and a round or mortar fire, but after he’d got a look at the people, he realized that was serious overkill. His fight was with Tilda, and Tilda alone. There’d been enough collateral damage in that particular war already. Instead, he was settling for a little psychological warfare.

  “Gideon, darling, I simply couldn’t stay away from you,” Tilda said in what he figured was supposed to be a seductive tone. He’d been immune to her wiles for so long, though, all he wanted to do was roll his eyes. But it was probably too soon to send her over the edge.

  “Right. So after blowing our house to smithereens, you stormed out here where you’ve been living for the last six years?”

  “Hardly. You know my power. I come and go as I please. But I do make a point to check up on you, of course.” She sidled over, looking up at him with a kittenish look at odds with her patrician features. “After all, we might be divorced, but you still have a great deal that I want.”

  “I never had anything you wanted. That’s what I just can’t figure out. You were after something, I know that. But it wasn’t me. So what was it?”

  “You sell yourself short, Gideon,” she said, her voice low as she trailed her hand over his thigh. She gave him a look under her lashes, then walked her fingers up toward his zipper. Gideon slapped his hand down over hers and shook his head.

  “Does this crap actually work with other guys?”

  Tilda’s eyes frosted over and she snapped her hand out from under his. He thought he actually heard her teeth grind.

  “Look, let’s cut to the chase. What’s it going to take to get you to leave Rossdale alone? Completely alone. As in you’re gone, and the town is left to grow again without your interference.”

  Apparently finished with the seduction act, Tilda sneered and rolled her eyes.

  “After the horrible way they treated me,” she scoffed. “Why on earth would I let that town off scot-free?”

  “Get over it, Tilda. That was over six years ago and you don’t give a damn about those people. Besides, we both know you want something else. You didn’t stick around all this time just to mess with a few people who pissed you off. You could have done that any time, so why now?”

  “Because you had the nerve to bring that little witch here, to let her have access to my pool of power,” Tilda burst out, her words the most animation he’d ever seen from her.

  Aha. There was the reason she’d stuck around. A pool of power? Could it have to do with Rosalee Wenton and her blessing to Rossdale? His mind raced. Had
Miki’s arrival, her magic, somehow blunted Tilda’s powers?

  “Any power here belongs to Rossdale,” Gideon said, trying to buy time to think. If Miki was a challenge to Tilda, was she in danger? Gideon swallowed to clear his suddenly dry throat and forced himself to ignore the worry climbing up his spine.

  How far would Tilda go to eradicate a challenge? Had she done something already? He shouldn’t have ignored Miki’s calls, should have made sure she was safe. But he’d figured this was his mess so he’d rushed out to the lake to play hero.

  He had to go. Had to make sure she was okay.

  No longer caring about dragging the confrontation out to get information, he pulled a quarter out of his pocket and flicked it across the stones, a signal for the man waiting. The coin hopped across the rock, then landed in the lake with a loud popping sound.

  “Trying to make a wish to save your silly little witch?” Tilda asked with a sneer.

  He didn’t bother to answer as a loud clatter of shoes against the flagstone alerted her to company. Tilda drew herself up and flexed her fingers like a soldier gripped a gun when going into battle.

  “Antonio,” she exclaimed, her gaze taking in the Fabio-looking beefcake. The guy was wearing linen pants, sandals, and a flowing shirt. The granola-style peace and love looks were at odds with his obvious antagonism. “You’re supposed to be out of town making arrangements. I told you things had to be taken care of this week.”

  “I guess you’re not in charge of everything now, are you?” the beefcake sneered at her.

  Gideon snickered. It wasn’t looking like Tilda’s night for getting much respect.

  “I warned you not to try and screw me over. You obviously thought you’d move while I was gone this week. What was your plan, Tilda? Destroy the town, move the thorium, and collect the profit all for yourself before you disappeared with this boy toy here?”

  Gideon knew the beefcake had used the term ‘boy toy’ to make Tilda think he was jealous, but he tried to look offended. But, damn, how many insults was a man supposed to take in order to save his town? Wasn’t it bad enough he’d had to sit on his ass all this time? Now this?