Counter-Hex (Covencraft Book 2)

by Margarita Gakis

  Seth leaned back, seemingly pleased. "You do entertain me. So," he said, voice becoming sharper, louder. "How are things at your Coven? Magic all wonky?"

  "Is that your technical term for it?"

  He grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "Yes, it is. Your magic's still fine though, isn't it?"

  "Why do you ask questions you already know the answer to?"

  "Answering a question with a question!" he exclaimed. "Ten points, possum. Tell me, does it bother you or relieve you that your magic is unaffected?" Seth raised an eyebrow at her, two of his fingers rubbing together. Sometimes he came across too much like a cartoon villain. If he had a handlebar mustache, he'd be twirling it.

  "I'm not dealing with you, Seth," she said baldly. Jade felt the need to put that out there. She had to keep it foremost in her mind at all times: Seth was only here for a deal. It was all he wanted from her.

  Well, she hoped it was all he wanted from her.

  "Because," Seth continued as though she hadn't spoken, "I have to wonder if you're pleased that your magic is unaffected or feeling rather left out. Like a stray cat in the rain outside a warm and cozy house. Sure," he shrugged, "maybe you didn't want to be in the house anyway, but I bet you wanted to know what it was like first."

  Seth was remarkably good at pushing her buttons. Jade wasn't normally good at keeping her impulses under control, but with Seth, losing control of her mouth and spouting off could get her in over her head fast.

  "And I bet that brain of yours is just tick-tick-ticking away with ideas. Who's responsible, for what reason, and how to figure it all out. Tick-tick-tick." The last three words were closer to a hiss than to regular speech and the hairs on the back of Jade's neck stood up. Bruce hissed in response, showing his fangs.

  "But what would you do even if you could figure it out? There's your conundrum, possum. What to do, what to do. Tell me, do you think your gallant English Coven Leader has any idea what to do with a problem like this?"

  "He's doing fine," Jade said quickly and cursed herself for being baited. It was one thing for Seth to taunt her but it was another to talk trash about Paris, who wasn't even there to defend himself. Not that Paris would care if Seth talked trash about him. Okay, he'd care that there was a demon in Jade's pantry and that she was standing there talking to it, but other than that he probably gave zero fucks. Or whatever the super-polite, highly-mannered version of a fuck was.

  Seth's pressed a hand against his chest, long fingers extended, nails sharp. "Defending his honor. Be still my heart. What's the female equivalent of chivalry?"

  "There isn't one," Jade said flatly. "Women didn't feel the need to make up a special term just for being a decent person."

  Seth winked at her again and she shuddered. "But come now, possum. Tell me what's going on in that lovely brain of yours. You know who's responsible, don't you?"

  Jade fought the urge to shift on her feet and fidget. Okay, so she didn't know, but she strongly suspected Dex. She didn't like him. She disliked him the moment she put eyes on him. It was so obvious to Jade that he had something to do with what was wrong with the Coven. He oozed when he walked. He was smarmy. It was the kind of smarmy that tried to hide behind charming, but just fell flat.

  And everyone seemed to love him. Dex this, Dex that. He's so wonderful, blah, blah, blah. It was weird.

  But what could she say about it? Hey I get a hinky vibe from him and I know you all like him, but still! Take it from the new girl, you know the one that didn't know she was a witch until this year? And the same one that isn't affected by whatever is jacking your magic? Let me tell you, that dude you love is bad news.

  She'd lose whatever good favor she'd managed to gain. Not that she cared about that kind of stuff.

  Because she didn't. Not really. Okay fine, Jade cared. She didn't want to be a social pariah. Jade wasn't good at all that social niceties and mingling shit. That had been Lily. Lily would know what to do, what to say and how to say it. People listened to Lily. If Jade said anything right now, she'd probably be lynched.

  Pass.

  On the bright side, if she did speak up and they wanted to lynch her, it's not like they could use any of their magic to do it.

  "I thought as much," Seth said knowingly and she wanted to scowl and reply that she hadn't said anything, but that was part of the problem. She'd been silent too long and it was more than a little obvious that she had her suspicions.

  "If you need help-" he started.

  "I won't call you," she finished flatly.

  "What if I gave you a freebie?"

  "First one's free?" she questioned. "I'm sure just about every drug dealer out there has used that one and it never ends well." She eyeballed him carefully. "And I doubt anything with you is free."

  "For you, I'd make an exception. I do enjoy our little chats. Although it will be hard to top the one we had when you were about to get your heart torn out. The blood! The excitement!" Seth sighed. "Good times." He clapped his hands together loudly and she flinched at the noise. Bruce flicked up his Elizabethan collar again and hissed. Seth smiled at them both, sharp teeth pristine and shiny. "Well! As sorry as I am to go, I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome. Ta for now, possum. Keep using that noggin of yours. It's so wonderful to watch you work."

  There was a soft sucking sound in the air and Jade's ears popped as Seth shimmered and then vanished.

  Bruce spat in the direction of the pantry, his pink tongue flicking out with a crack. He looked up at her accusingly again, like he had the last time Seth had popped by.

  "I know!" she exclaimed, feeling the chastisement in Bruce's glare. "Let me tell you, that wasn't even the worst part of my day." The coffee had brewed enough for her to pour a strong cup, the liquid, dark and black with a few stray grinds floating on top. Her hands had been shaky while Seth was there and now she had to live with the result. The day had been a total bust, one of her worst yet. Dress shopping, lunch with Dex, circle casting gone bad, and then Seth. Blergh.

  Plus, there was that über creepy feeling she'd gotten in the forest, from the lake. Jade had a lingering sick feeling in her gut and she found the feeling increased just thinking about it. She swallowed hard, trying to will it away.

  Mug in hand, she headed back upstairs, crawling into bed. It was still early in the evening, but she felt wiped out. Some internet time or maybe a light read was all she felt up to. The coffee wouldn't keep her up - she was too used to the caffeine at this point - and she liked the ritual of tucking her feet under her sheets and blankets, blowing air across the meniscus of the coffee and seeing it puddle and whirl. Bruce hopped up onto the bed too, making it jiggle and shimmy a bit with his weight. He scratched twice at a spot near the foot of the bed and then flopped over dramatically, making the liquid in her mug almost slosh over.

  "Hey! A little delicacy when I've got hot liquids."

  He 'pfffft'ed at her, tongue flicking out over his lizard chops and he closed his eyes. Jade pulled out her e-reader and picked something light and easy - no intense plots, no double crosses, no heavy angst. Her eyes were drooping not thirty minutes later and she swirled the last bit of coffee in her mug and then shot-gunned it back quickly. She flicked the light off and settled down, feeling Bruce press up against her hip seconds later - a solid, warm weight along her leg.

  Jade dreamed of Lily that night. She ran ahead of Jade, through the forest, dodging past trees and under fat hanging branches. Jade struggled to keep up - her legs feeling heavy and thick. She could see Lily's hair bouncing through the foliage - deep brown and silky - strands getting caught on twigs and branches. Jade ran after her, feeling like she was running with her eyes partially closed. Branches nipped at her face, drawing scratches and she batted at them uselessly.

  Jade finally broke free of the forest and found herself staring at a large, smooth-surfaced lake. The forest and sky were reflected back at her from the surface and she found herself dizzy with the image - two skies, two wooden docks, two tires swinging lazily
from a long rope, two sets of trees bowing over the lake. She walked out onto the dock, the wood creaking and swaying slightly under her weight. The sick feeling from before churned in her gut, making a cold sweat break out over her upper lip and forehead. At the end of the dock, Jade got down on her hands and knees and peered into the murky green water. It had a strange glow to it, like it was lit from underneath. Her hands curled over the edge of the dock, knuckles white with force. She could see Lily under the water, her body vertical, feet trailing off into nothingness below her and her face turned up toward the surface, toward Jade. Lily's eyes were closed and her face still - a sleeping fairy tale princess, her hair undulating with silent underwater currents. Her arms stretched out above her, buoyed up by the water, reaching for the sky. Jade leaned in closer, her ponytail swinging over her shoulder and dipping into the water, disturbing the pristine surface and causing a slight ripple to cascade outward.

  Lily's eyes opened - shockingly green and sharp, even in the murky water, and directed right at Jade. Jade's heart thumped twice out of sync, the off-beat rhythm making her breath catch. Lily smiled and reached her fingers for Jade, uncurling them toward her, stretching out her hands. Jade reached back without hesitation, her hand breaking the surface of the water, feeling icy cold as it submerged beneath, straining to Lily.

  Their fingers touched, Lily's skin frozen and soft against Jade's. A loud crack echoed in the space, reverberating in Jade's ears.

  Jade startled awake, weight pressing down on her and she struggled to get her arms free, feeling them trapped by something. She instinctively kicked with her legs, finding them equally trapped and she panicked, thrashing about wildly. She hit something soft and dense with her foot and Bruce let out a 'yip' kind of sound. Her hand connected with the closet door, making it rattle.

  Closet. She was in the closet. Trapped under her own bedclothes. Bruce was in the closet with her. She stilled and felt Bruce press his lizard muzzle to her shoulder, knocking against her plaintively.

  "Sorry, Bruce," she whispered, catching her breath and untangling her arms carefully from the blankets. Now that she wasn't thrashing wildly, it was perfectly simple to break free. Her hair was in her face and she pushed it aside, cracking open the closet door to see the nightstand clock.

  It was already morning. She must have slept through her migration to the closet, having no memory of making the move. It was mildly troubling. She would have gotten out of bed and had to drag all her blankets with her, settling herself and Bruce in the dark interior, before managing to get the doors closed. Bruce stuck his triangular muzzle in the crack Jade had opened in the doors and pushed them the rest of the way open, trotting out into her room.

  Jade scrubbed her face with her hands and managed to half-shuffle, half-stumble out of the closet, yanking her blankets with her and depositing them on the bed in a big heap. She put her hands on her hips. Bruce scurried under her bed and Jade bent down far enough to ensure he was all right. She had kicked him rather soundly when she'd woken, not realizing where she was. He was curled around her special shoebox - the one she filled with mementoes and knick-knacks, and kept close to her always. Bruce gave her a bit of an indignant look, wrapping his body tighter around the box and Jade sighed. "I'm sorry," she repeated, a little exasperated. "I didn't know it was you." He smacked his tongue a bit and then settled his chin on the ground, closing his eyes to her and feigning sleep. The big faker. She pushed to her feet, hands on hips.

  Right. Sunday. Time for a little demon magic studying, laundry and groceries. Maybe some house cleaning. Jade had come across a few spells while she was fielding calls with Counter magic that may be helpful with that. A few of the incidents logged had been cleaning spells gone wrong - ones Jade hadn't even known existed. Since there was nothing wrong with Jade's magic, it looked like she'd just found her project for the day.

  #

  The spell Jade found for cleaning the shower was a bust. A horrible, hard-water encrusted, soap-scum-film bust. She was totally bringing it up with Paris next time they talked. What was the point of all this power if she still had to get down on her hands and knees and scrub the damn thing?

  Being a witch was supposed to be way cooler than this.

  At first, when it hadn't worked, she worried that her magic was finally starting to fall apart, like everyone else's in the Coven. Several fire balls later, she had to admit defeat. Her magic was fine, she was just unable to cast the spell.

  Fucker. She hated cleaning the bathroom.

  Which was how she found herself at the local supermarket chain standing in the cleaning supplies aisle wondering which product would do the most work for her. She needed groceries anyway, so it wasn't a total loss of a day. Jade's cart was already laden with her coffee, fruit and vegetables. God she hated people who said they genuinely liked vegetables. Jade herself did not, but she ate them because that's what adults were supposed to do. Plus, she needed to ensure she would fit into all those clothes she was planning on going back to her apartment to get, packing up and bringing to the Coven.

  Someday.

  She picked up a canister that promised all Jade had to do was spray it on, and then wipe it off twenty minutes later and presto-chango! No soap scum. She placed it in her cart, next to her hair dye and dishwasher tabs. She was careful about how she packed her cart and it irked her when she unpacked it at the till in a particular manner and the clerk would toss groceries in the bags all willy-nilly. Bread with cleaning supplies. Meat with bananas. Dryer sheets with grapes. Sacrilege. After picking up some diet soda and yogurt, she surveyed her list and finding it complete, headed for the checkout, trying to gauge which of the impossibly young clerks was least likely to toss her cheese in with the hot roasted chicken.

  "Jade, fancy running into you here."

  There was that clicking sound in her jaw again when she ground her teeth. Jade turned slowly toward the voice. "Dex."

  "Getting groceries?" he asked, indicating her cart.

  She raised an eyebrow. "Cracked that nut, did you? I can see why they gave you your own coven."

  Dex smiled, seemingly unperturbed.

  Jade made a move to push her cart past him and he moved in step beside her.

  "I tried to stop by and see you the other day, but your house is strangely warded."

  "Yep." She got in line at one of the checkouts, waiting for her turn.

  "I've never come across warding like that before," Dex prodded. "Demon magic? From the demon grimoires?"

  Standing there looking at the tabloid magazines and the chocolate bars, she decided to go for broke. It wasn't like they were friends. Jade didn't want to be friends. Giving a quick glance around, she didn't see anyone she recognized from the Coven, so if she was going to stir some shit up, at least no one was around to witness it.

  "Why do you keep talking to me, Dex?"

  His brows furrowed. "What do you mean? I simply want us to be friends."

  "But we're not friends. And we don't have to be. I've made it pretty clear I don't want to be and you keep pushing me. Why?"

  "Maybe I like you."

  "You don't even know me. You probably know a hell of a lot about my power rating and I would take you being interested in that over you pretending to be friends."

  He smiled at her and she got the same feeling from it that she got when Seth smiled. It made her cold and a little afraid.

  "I had hoped we could be friends, Jade," Dex said, staring off a little ways and she got the impression it was the first honest thing he'd ever said to her.

  "Why?" Jade pressed.

  "Your powers are extraordinary. Easily a match for Paris or myself. You could lead your own coven. Perhaps you should. And you've got quite the knack with demon magic along with the grimoires."

  The idea didn't interest her in the slightest. "I've got nothing invested in being a bureaucrat. Possibly less than nothing."

  He turned back to her, his dark eyes intense. "It wouldn't have to be that way. Maybe that's the
way Paris runs things, but it can change."

  She shifted her weight a bit, cocking out one of her hips. "Really? And how could it be, Dex?"

  "You could do so much."

  "For you?" she questioned.

  He shrugged. "Or for yourself. Anything you wanted. Especially if you have those demon grimoires." He leaned in closer. "What's in those books, Jade?"

  She snorted. "You must be certifiable if you think I'll tell you a damn thing about those books." Paris had repeatedly drilled into Jade how dangerous those books were. She wasn't about to share them, or anything about them, with Dex.

  His jaw clenched, making a muscle in his cheek twitch. "They're too much magic for a novice like you. They should be with someone who can handle them."

  Jade's creep-o-meter had its needle buried again. His voice, his face, his words.... everything about him screamed 'Danger! Danger!' She'd made a mistake once in her past, not trusting that voice inside her and she wasn't about to do it again.

  "Were you always a psychopath or did you just become one once you got your own coven?" she asked.

  Dex smiled again, leaning forward and plucking a chocolate bar off one of the shelves. He unwrapped it and took a bite, chewing carefully.

  "Who will you tell, Jade? Callie? Henri? Paris? Will you go running and tell them I'm a bad, bad man and I've got tricks galore up my sleeve?"

  She jutted her chin out. "Maybe I will."

  "You let me know how that goes. You know, I remember being seven, playing in a field and I caught a hummingbird using a spell I'd just learned. I broke its neck. My mother found me then, with a dead bird at my feet. I cried as I told her how I found it, wanting to help it and realizing it was already dead. She helped me bury it and even said a few words, resting her hand on my shoulder for comfort. I had to bury my face in my hands so she wouldn't see me laugh. I imagine she thought I was too sensitive, overcome with emotion." Dex took a step closer to her and Jade willed herself to stay put, staring up at his eyes. He was using his height to tower over her, physically using his bulk to press in on her. Though she was tall for a woman, Jade was no match for him physically. He was broader in the shoulders, had more lean muscle mass and stronger legs and arms. The way he used his form and his bulk to bully into her space made her heart rabbit-beat. Jade was more than well aware that she wouldn't win, couldn't win, a physical fight with a man. Not if it was dependent on outlasting him. She might be able to win in the first few minutes if she played fast and dirty, but after that, a man would simply out last her, waiting until she tired out.