Counter-Hex (Covencraft Book 2)

by Margarita Gakis

  But, she was in a public place, a crowded place right now. There were people all around her and though they weren't Coven members, they would still likely keep Dex at bay. He couldn't lay a hand on her without causing a scene. All she had to do was keep her cool. If she started yelling at him or lost her temper and hit him, that's what everyone would say - Dex and Jade had been having a lovely, perhaps intimate talk, when she suddenly lost her mind and belted him one.

  The whole goddamn Coven seemed to love him after all.

  "If I can fool my own mother, what are my chances against Paris, do you think?"

  "What did you do to the Coven's magic?" she asked, staring him straight in the eye.

  "You decided it was me the moment we met, didn't you?"

  "Yes."

  "Why?" he asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

  Jade ran through a quick list of reasons in her head. He'd been too nice, everyone seemed to like him too much. Maybe it was just that she was jealous - she wished she could elicit that kind of response in the Coven. Or maybe she just had a really good sense of people, one that she learned the hard way not to mistrust. It seemed entirely obvious to her that Dex was responsible. He showed up at the Coven right when things started going bad. It played out like a bad soap opera and Jade felt like the viewer at home, wanting to shout at the television that everyone else was blind. But, when Jade boiled it down and was really honest with herself, painfully honest, it all came back to how Dex had crowded into her space on that first day. He'd been oblivious to how he'd invaded her personal area, and that willful ignorance had set bells off in her psyche instantaneously. Dex ignored how she backed up and puffed up a bit to claim back her territory. He pressed forward, asking Jade for coffee, not taking no for an answer. It reminded Jade too much of another time, another person when Jade ignored the warning signs. At first, Dex was simply paying for the actions of someone in Jade's past, but the more she found out about Dex, the more she realized she was right to be suspicious.

  Jade owed him none of her reasons, nor any explanation so she shrugged. "You tell me."

  Dex chewed his chocolate bar carefully. "I'll make you a deal, Jade," he said slowly and she felt her skin crawl at the words, so similar to Seth's. "You stay out of my secrets and I'll stay out of yours."

  "I don't have any secrets," she lied baldly.

  "No? Then why is it when I look into your records, I see you listed for most of your life as Lily and only in the last couple of years as Jade?"

  She swallowed in surprise and hoped the gesture could be mistaken for just a natural occurrence and not a response to his words.

  Dex leaned in even closer, his face millimeters from hers. "Why is it you don't go by that name anymore?"

  The way he worded the question made her realize he was fishing. If he really knew about her and Lily, the question would have been phrased differently. Jade's lips curled in a small smile and she stared back at him.

  "Like I said, I don't have any secrets." She was far more comfortable in her bluff this time and she saw that she was right from the flash of annoyance and frustration across his face.

  Dex leaned back, popping the rest of the chocolate bar in his mouth and dropping the empty wrapper in her cart. "Fine. Run and tell Paris. I wonder whom he'll believe? His friend of many years, a fellow Coven ruler, or the stray cat he dragged in off the streets who didn't know a curse from a curio when he found her? I wonder how much persuasion it would even take to convince him that you're behind it all."

  Goddammit. He may not know fuck-all about her and Lily, but he sure knew where to aim his barbs. It was the exact thing she was afraid of - that she'd tell Paris and not only would he not believe her, but she'd somehow end up implicated herself.

  "Are you done? It's my turn at the checkout," she said, feigning a bored tone, jerking her chin toward the bewildered clerk, who was watching them whisper low and intensely to one another.

  "See you around, Jade," said Dex, tapping her cart twice with his hand as he left.

  Jade looked up at the fresh-faced kid behind the till who flicked his eyes from Dex's retreating back to Jade.

  "Um, are you gonna pay for the chocolate bar he ate?" he asked, nerves coloring his voice.

  Jade rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. Son of a bitch.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The knock at Paris' office door was completely unexpected. At eight o'clock on a Sunday night, he was certain he had the entire Covenstead to himself. The door creaked open a bit and Veronica poked her head in.

  "Knock-knock," she said with a smile.

  He blinked in surprise. If he was entirely honest with himself, he expected Jade and not Veronica. Although there was no reason why Jade would stop by so late on a weekend. "What are you doing here so late?"

  She came in, carrying a tray with coffee on it in one hand, a brown paper bag from the local bakery in the other. "I'm head of my own coven, Paris. I know what it's like to spend many a late night at the office. I come bearing gifts." She raised the tray of coffee and bag slightly.

  Paris gestured her in, pushing his chair back a bit from his desk. She set the tray down on his desk and he saw the familiar scrawl from the coffee baristas down the block, indicating it was his usual drink, with extra syrup, just as he liked it. Veronica had a plain black coffee for herself and as Paris poked into the bag, pulling out a brioche for himself, she kicked off her pumps and sat down in the chair opposite his desk, curling her legs under her like a cat. As usual, not a hair was out of place and she looked impeccable even though it was far closer to the end of the day than the start.

  "Still working on your Coven's magic problem?" Veronica asked, sipping at her coffee.

  He nodded, taking a bite of the pastry and chewing it a bit first. "Yes. I'm going over some land records for the preserve. I was out there with Jade the other day and she felt something off."

  "Really? Off how?"

  Paris hedged. "She wasn't able to articulate it well. Her magic's still quite fresh."

  Veronica made a low kind of 'hmmm' sound. "You do have your hands full with her, don't you?" She poked at the lid of her coffee with one of her nails, punching half moon circles in the plastic.

  Paris took a drink of his coffee, feeling the sugar run over his tongue. "She's extraordinarily powerful. I'm damn lucky she decided to stay with the Coven. I'm not sure what I would have done otherwise."

  "How committed is she to the Coven?"

  "What do you mean?" Paris asked, frowning.

  Veronica shrugged. "From what I hear, she hasn't officially moved here yet. She still has her old apartment, hasn't brought any of her things here. Her clothing, her car..." Veronica trailed off. "Are you worried?"

  "No," said Paris, a bit slower than he expected. "I don't think Jade's had a home for a long time."

  "Did she tell you that?"

  "No. It's just a sense I get from her. Her introduction to the Coven was shaky at best," Paris said, wincing slightly at the simplification - having a Coven member try to tear out your heart and also finding out that she either had to join the Coven or be stripped of her magic was a bit more than 'shaky.' He hadn't been lying to Veronica when he said he'd been lucky Jade stayed. If she'd decided to leave, Paris would have been the one tasked with breaking her magic. He hadn't thought he could do it without killing her. Now, knowing how strong she was, he was sure of it. She would have died if he'd tried, and he probably would've burnt out his own magic as well.

  "You don't think she had anything to do with what's happened to your magic here, do you?"

  "Absolutely not." This time Paris answered quickly, firmly. "I trust her."

  Veronica took a long drink of her coffee. "I just worry," she said quietly, staring at her cup.

  "About Jade?" Paris asked, incredulous. "No, she's not behind this, whatever it is. She hasn't been here long enough to learn something of this magnitude. Granted, at first I wondered if she stumbled across something by accident, with the demon grimoires she's
got, but she hasn't done this. I don't think she would have even if she could."

  "She's quite familiar with them, is she?"

  Paris nodded. "Yes. She picks up demon magic faster than normal magic. Doesn't get headaches or blurred vision. I've yet to crack any of the spells and I'm quite familiar with my mother's magic. Jade has already figured out how to lock her front door with them."

  "Interesting," said Veronica, pushing herself back into the chair, keeping her posture perfect even as she made herself more comfortable. "Do you think it's a good idea for her to have those books?"

  "I doubt I could get them away from her if I tried." Paris took a sip of his sweet drink, rolling it around his tongue. "In all honesty, though, despite her newness, I think she's the best person for those books."

  Veronica made a low sound of agreement, sipping on her own coffee. "I only met with her briefly, and I thought I maybe overwhelmed her a bit."

  Paris held back a wry huff. "She's not easily overwhelmed. I'm sure she was fine."

  Veronica eyed him for a moment. "How high did she test for power?"

  Paris paused for a moment. "High. Higher than anyone else in the Coven."

  "Except you of course."

  Paris tipped his head slightly. "For now."

  "Are you serious? That high?" Veronica blinked a few times, "It's a wonder she doesn't just blow holes in stone with that much power."

  "She doesn't know how to use most of it and she gets these -" he made a motion around his face and head, "headaches and nosebleeds. We don't know why."

  "I've never heard of that happening before."

  "Neither have I. Nor Hannah." He sat back in his chair, rubbing a hand over his face.

  Veronica waved her hand at him. "It's late. You're tired. Pack it up and go home. It will all still be here tomorrow."

  "Is that an order or just friendly advice?" he asked, a teasing tone in his voice.

  Veronica paused and leveled him with a look, the air suddenly feeling a bit sharper than it had been moments before. "Is that what we are? Friends?"

  Paris took a moment to form his thoughts. "I have always considered you a friend. You know that."

  Veronica tapped her nail on the top of her cup thoughtfully. "For a while you considered us more."

  "For a while," he said slowly, nodding a bit. "But that was a long time ago."

  She smiled at him, face warm and soft. "You make it sound like we're eighty. Surely it can't be that long."

  He huffed, a dry sound pulled from his lungs. "No. Not at all, but..."

  Veronica held a hand up to him, breaking her gaze for a moment and looking away, pausing before looking back. "Let's leave that one unfinished and simply say that sometimes history repeats itself and sometimes it doesn't."

  Paris nodded again. "Fair enough."

  She stood, pushing her feet daintily back into her pumps and he rushed to stand at the same time, coming around his desk to stand before her. He'd never felt awkward around her until this moment, when she leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek like she normally did. He froze with uncertainty, not sure now how to respond. Paris couldn't remember ever paying attention before, always just accepting the gesture, but now, after the words they had just spoken, he almost wanted to pull back, but felt it would be even more awkward and strange. The politician in him kept his body still, his hand coming up to cup her elbow, while not truly engaging in any motion forward toward her. He felt her lips press against his cheek, felt her casually swipe away at the color she usually left behind and then pull back.

  "Good night, Paris."

  He managed a smile. "Good night, Veronica."

  She returned his smile, grabbing her purse from where she'd dropped it on the floor and heading to the door. "Don't work too much later."

  "I won't," he promised.

  Paris packed up quickly after Veronica left, sliding his laptop into its carrying bag and pulling in some reports he wanted to read over before he went to bed. He paused while folding up a map of the nature preserve, staring down at it thoughtfully. He'd outlined the path he and Jade had travelled the other day, including the lake area she wanted to avoid. He hoped to visit the area the next day with Hannah and Jade together and see if Jade could narrow down what had caught her attention. It didn't escape his notice that Jade was the only real lead he had. He'd read reports from department heads, read theories and suggestions, reviewed all the logged reports of magic going awry before he'd banned it from being used and nothing seemed to point to any pattern or known anomaly. So far the only real hope he'd had for solving the problem was when Jade stood in the forest and declared she heard something. Something that Paris himself did not, or could not. Somehow Jade not only remained unaffected, but could possibly find the source of their problems.

  It also made him wonder in how many other ways she was different from the rest of the Coven, including himself. From her birth outside a Coven, to her atypical physical reaction to magic and now to her pseudo-immunity from and ability to detect something affecting Coven magic, she was continually being set apart from the Coven at the same time that he was trying to integrate her into their ranks. He'd studied too much about nature, learned too much about it while he was learning his magic skills, to be foolish enough to trust that it was merely happenstance. Nature had a way of showing things it wanted seen, pushing the roots of them through the solid concrete of the world until someone paid attention.

  He just wished he knew what it meant.

  #

  Jade had a plan. Sort of.

  Okay, so it wasn't so much of a plan as a half-formed idea, but she'd worked with worse and she was willing to go with it.

  While working with the demon grimoires, the ones from Paris' mother, Jade had come across several notes on demon runes. Jade had seen Paris uses runes before when creating a scrying mirror and she'd been intrigued. Their strange shapes and forms had seemed both mystical and knowing. Sure, Paris hadn't gone over runes at all with Jade yet (and certainly not demon runes), but she stuck by her personal motto: How Hard Could It Be?

  Jade flipped to the section she recalled seeing a bit about demon runes in one of the grimoires and started reading over it again. While she generally had an excellent memory for printed material, the demon grimoires were not like any other books she'd read. She could read them longer than Paris and didn't suffer headaches as quickly, but she found her mind wandered while she read them. It wasn't like her. Certainly not when she was interested in something. Her brain became unfocused and chaotic while she worked on the books and she often had to take notes to stay on task.

  Jade found the rune she remembered, sketching out her thoughts on a small notebook. Deception Detection. She snorted. It made her think of video games or laser tag at the mall. It seemed straightforward. Paris cautioned her against doing any of the demon magic, and especially against doing any without consulting him first, but again, personal motto: How Hard Could It Be? Besides, rune work seemed like small stuff - no big flash bangs, no shiny lights, no smoking...anything.

  First step, she needed fir tree ash. Since she wasn't really the outdoorsy type, she had to google what fir trees looked like. It was a pleasant surprise to realize there were several Douglas Fir trees in her neighborhood, assuming she could rely on the pictures from the internet. Ah, internet research! It could all be true or it could be akin to instructions for turning lead into gold. Looking shiftily about in case there was some kind of neighborhood tree watch, she clipped some branches, gathering them tight in her fist. Bruce sniffed at the foliage as she came back inside and she held it out for him to sniff, like a dog. His lizard snout went up one side and down the other before he let out a mighty sneeze, his entire body giving a shimmy. She considered it an approval of sorts.

  It was tough not to whip out her power to set the branches ablaze and get the ash she needed, but Callie had once mentioned that burning items using matches kept things 'magic free' and it seemed to Jade that the demon rune was something she
didn't want to contaminate with her own magic - if such a thing as demon runes could be contaminated. She wasn't sure and it wasn't like Jade could pick up the phone and ask. The quick-sulfur smell of the match-strike burned her nostrils in an oddly pleasant way. The branches were still a little wet, not yet drying out over the short fall season; in seconds her kitchen was full of dank, grey smoke. She waved a hand in front of her face ineffectually while Bruce coughed plaintively from the corner. Jade got up and opened a window for him and he hobbled over, sticking his face in the screen, breathing in the crisp late autumn air dramatically. She rolled her eyes.

  "You big sook," Jade said fondly. He responded with a sharp 'pfffffft,' and she went back to the table.

  She read over the rune casting three times to ensure she had it correct and then pushed up her sleeves. Right. Rune-making time. Jade dipped her finger into the still-warm ash and then, trying to focus her mind on what she wanted (Dex is such a liar, a lying liar who LIES and I'm going to prove it) she sketched out the rune. Once done, she slapped her palm on it.

  Nothing.

  Jade frowned, looking at the skin of her palm which had a dirty mirror image of the rune she'd drawn, the ash soft and sooty on her hand. She slapped her palm down once more thinking of her intent, willing it to work. Still nothing.

  Jade chewed the inside of her cheek, reviewing the instructions, looking for any words she might have missed. It seemed simple - ash from a fir tree, intent, rune drawing and presto-chango! Lie detection rune.