“How?”
“Everyone in the supernatural realm does. It’s no big deal to them. Stuff like curses happen everyday. It’s just humans who don’t accept it so easily.” Compared to humans, supernatural beings were incredibly jaded. As much as Augusta tried to pretend she was the same, she was sweetly naïve in so many ways. “We need you to meet Nell.”
“So this blonde witch will help me?
Ah, still a tinge of jealously there. Excellent.
“You’re a witch, Augusta True.” Argon sat up and lifted one of her hands into his. “Nell will help you.” He wondered if she knew, despite her defensive pose, how incredibly sexy she looked with her breasts squashed up against her chest and the curls of her pussy visible between her crossed legs.
“What if I don’t want to do the whole witch thing?”
“You have no choice.” Like Argon. he had no choice in his long, immortal life until now. The coming of Augusta was the gaining of freedom and peace in his life. He wanted the woman and peace. He was tired of being all powerful. It brought him nothing but loneliness.
Augusta gave a long sigh. “Because it’s my frigging destiny.”
“Yeah kiddo, you, me and the witch thing.” As destinies went, it was one Argon was more than happy to follow. “W ill you see Nell?”
“I guess so. I have nothing to lose.”
* * * * *
Nell Fenwick was exactly like Argon described her. Blonde and beautiful and the sort of woman you hoped was cosmetically enhanced but knew wasn’t as her beauty was too natural.
“Everyone has flaws, Augusta,” Nell said as if reading her mind as they were introduced. “Some are hidden deep within and are never allowed out.” She led them through her modest, inner suburban Brisbane home to the place she called her workshop.
Augusta had seen the sudden deep pain in the other woman’s eyes. I am a judgmental bitch. She turned to Argon. “This is secret women’s business.”
“Yes, run away Argon, we’re not going to scratch each others eyes out.”
“Call me and I will take you home when you’re ready.” He kissed Augusta and left.
“Argon in love.” Nell shook her head in amusement. “Oh, how the mighty fall,” she misquoted as she smiled at Augusta’s amazed look. “Women have been chasing that man for years. And yes, he bedded many but none held his heart as you do.”
Hiccup, hiccup.
“You have a tell,” Nell remarked. “Most witches do. Like sharp-eyed poker players, we can spot another’s weakness and we try to hide our own.”
“Really? What’s yours?” Already Augusta was feeling at home with Nell. That was weird considering she had come expecting to hate her.
“That you must discover for yourself,” Nell replied enigmatically. “So what do you know about witches?”
“Well, I watched Charmed.” Even to her own ears that sounded dumb when dealing with a real life witch.
“Yeah? I like that show but you’re not a “charmed one”.”
“Bummer,” Augusta murmured as she looked around the room. For a witch’s workshop it was pretty average. There were lots of books, a couple of crystals and a lot of dust.
“I like dust.”
“You have a great collection of that.” But then Augusta was certainly no Mrs. Clean.
“Did you know dust is a form of protection?”
Augusta arched her eyebrow with interest. “Who knew I was saving my life all these years?”
“So, let’s get to the point of why you are here. “Your power and Argon’s combined make you an invincible force for great good.”
“Seriously?” Augusta had some vague theory that Nell would tell her a couple of spells and show her the secret witch handshake and she’d be on her way. Being a “force for great good” just didn’t seem like her. Augusta pushed her glasses back onto her nose, wishing she had gotten around to fixing them. She felt distinctly dowdy beside the beautiful Nell.
“Only those bonded by deep love can change the world.”
Change the world? Augusta just wanted to sort her little piece of it and move on without too many dramas.
“I’m not in love.” It no longer sounded convincing to her, yet self preservation made her keep saying it almost as it if was a mantra.
“Uh-huh. And you think you’re not beautiful.”
“Oh crap, you’re a mind reader.” Augusta liked to keep her thoughts to herself.
Nell laughed lightly. “No, but some people are easy to read. We all hide a lot inside us and it’s only the truly expert at hiding stuff who can read another.” She spread her hands out wide, rings sparkling on every finger. “So why are you here, Augusta?”
“Argon said I should come and…” She stopped. That sounded like she did what Argon told her to do, like he had some sway over her decisions. Actually when she was naked with him, he had changed her mind a lot. Note to self. Try to resist being naked with Argon.
“Yes?” Nell looked at her meaningfully.
“Look do you want to tell me something or not?” Augusta folded her arms impatiently over her chest.
“Who are you, Augusta?”
“What?” This was not a question she has expected to be asked.
Nell walked over to a full length, old oval mirror on a stand. “When you look in the mirror who do you see?” She motioned Augusta over.
“I don’t know.” She wandered over, thinking about the last time she stood looking into a mirror. She had been naked with Argon and he was telling her what he saw.
“Sure you do.”
Augusta blew out a breath, the air pushing her fringe up as she looked at herself in the glass.
“I see an average woman, with average looks and a big butt and—”
Nell interrupted her. “Close your eyes and look beyond the superficial.”
“Huh? Close my eyes and look?”
“Stop being so perverse. You are seeing the outer image. Look inside.”
Augusta turned to look at the other woman. “Oh my God, you’re a hippy.”
“Just shut up and do it.”
Deciding to humor her, Augusta faced the mirror and closed her eyes.
“I see darkness, as one would expect having your eyes closed and all.” She heard Nell sigh in exasperation as she told her to look again. “This is not what I expected.”
“You have to know yourself before you can claim your power.”
“Why is everything so difficult?” Augusta muttered as she stared into the darkness of her mind.
“Relax and concentrate.”
“I have not been relaxed since I turned twenty-nine.” Augusta tilted her head from side to side and rotated her shoulders. She stood for several minutes seeing nothing until a sudden light appeared. “I see—”
“Who?”
“Argon.” He was smiling and reaching out her. Augusta had to stop herself from lifting her hand.
“Why do you see him?”
“Probably because he is plaguing me at the moment.”
“Is that what they are calling sex now?” Nell asked with a grin. “You see him because he is part of who you are and the power you have. If you accept him without question, without prejudice, then your power will come to you fully.”
“Well, I probably won’t be getting the power for a while then.” She was struggling with what she felt for him. Love was not as easy as all the greeting cards made out. “I think—” She stopped suddenly and held a hand her chest in alarm.
Nell moved toward her quickly. “What is it?”
“I feel extreme heat. I see bodies and another man.” Augusta could not make out his face but she could feel great evil coming from him in waves. It mixed with the intensity of the heat the scorched her skin. It was almost like the heat she had felt when the zombie had rushed her and Argon. She snapped open her eyes and staggered forward. If not for Nell she would have fallen down such was the uncontrollable weakness that rushed through her body.
“This is why y
ou need Argon.” Nell helped her over to a chair.
Augusta sank down into it. Whatever it was that had just happened made her legs shake.
“I’m not weak.” The inference that she needed Argon to make her strong annoyed her. She had been on her own, relying on her own strength for so long, that it was galling to admit that she needed help.
“No, you’re not, but what you have been called upon to do is not something you or anyone can do on their own. It takes two.”
Augusta knew she was right. Argon was in her life for more than just one reason and she had to let go and accept his help. That was a big thing to do when you weren’t used to relying on others. Sure, she and Tilly depended on each other but they had years together and a relationship built on that.
“Who was the man?” She remembered only a hazy shape to his face.
Nell shook her head. “I don’t know but I felt the heat coming from you. It was quite powerful.”
“You know, this is not what I expected when it came to being a witch.”
“Witches are sensitive to all around them. They are a link, a bridge. It’s not all hocus pocus and Macbeth’s three witches sitting around a cauldron stuff.”
No, Augusta got that now. This was much more than a television show or a Shakespearean play.
“I have felt that heat once before.” Her mind went back to the zombie who rushed them. Was the man a zombie? She had not smelled their telltale smell. “This is all so confusing.”
* * * * *
Newton Cadwalder paid the taxi driver and got out of the car in front of the building that was Augusta’s home. It looked so average and boring for one so powerful and yet he knew that was often the way. The most unlikely people held the greatest power.
He stiffened when he felt the wave of heat near him. The stench of garlic and moldy leather made the fine hairs on his neck stand up on end. Newton told himself to be calm. To show fear now would be his undoing.
“Hello, Andervarle, Warren.” Two zombies stood before him, their burning hot, red-rimmed eyes on his. One zombie scared the shit out of him while the other made him want to laugh. It was hard to take Warren seriously. He had been an accountant in his past life and still looked like one in his short-sleeved pale blue shirt, complete with pocket protector, and neat, striped tie. Though zombies were hard to spot normally, as they made it their business to blend in, Andervarle would never blend in anywhere. He had an elegance that made you look and wonder who he was. Although he was dressed simply in jeans and a leather jacket, the blond man with the burning eyes made Newton squirm with a need to flee the sheer, evil power that emanated from him.
“Cadwalder,” Andervarle murmured as if it was almost beyond him to be polite to a human.
“All is set?” Newton had a plan to get Augusta. Either she would come willingly with him or he would use the zombies of Brisbane against her. There were zombie enclaves in every city. One just had to make it worth their while to act.
“As you decreed. We have made it possible for the woman to chase us.” Andervarle loomed over the shorter Newton. “Now we had better get what you promised us.”
“Yeah,” Warren said as he added his puny weight to the other zombie’s.
If it wasn’t so deadly serious and life threatening, Newton would have laughed at the zombie accountant. Instead he bit back on his laughter and looked at Andervarle.
“Oh you will, that and much more.” Newton wasn’t silly enough to do a deal with zombies and not have an out to save his ass. The deal he had done with Hell guaranteed him protection as long as he succeeded in his task. And I have to succeed. The alternative was too frightening to contemplate.
“When?”
“When the time is right.” Newton had not even met and assessed Augusta in person yet. Email was a poor indicator of the person and their ability, as one could hide so much on email.
“Do not make me wait long.”
“And do not push me, zombie. You are only here because if me.”
Andervarle’s hands clenched in fists as he raised them toward Newton. “I could kill you now.”
“Me too,” Warren mimicked.
“Back off little man.” Newton glared at Warren. He was a vicious little nerd but containable. “Hurt me and you will get nothing. Keep me alive and you will get everything you want.” As will I.
“We must have the immortal.” Andervarle’s tone was uncompromising.
Newton couldn’t care less what happened to Argon Cardissan.
“You can have him. He only needs a little more time before he is sufficiently weakened by his love for the woman.”
“We want the witch as well.”
Never going to happen. You’ll be destroyed before you can touch her.
“After I’m finished with her.” Newton planned to extract every ounce of power from Rowdy.
Chapter Eight
Augusta looked at her desk calendar and grimaced. One more day to go until her birthday. Some people feared aging. Augusta didn’t. If she could skip thirty altogether and go straight to thirty-one she would have been more than happy to do so.
“But no, frigging life does not work out that way.” She pulled off her glasses and rubbed her face and thought about the dream she’d had last night. Argon had not stayed with her. It had been Augusta’s choice and he had accepted her need for time to think and to be alone. In retrospect she wished he had stayed because she may not have had the dream she did. “More like a nightmare.” It had been frighteningly real. She’d been faced with two possibilities—save his life by forfeiting her own or walk away knowing he would perish.
“I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself for me, Augusta.” Argon had been most adamant.
“But I love you.” To her, there was no choice. Augusta wanted to be with him no matter the cost. “I will fight Hell for you to be safe.”
“How sweet,” an unknown man had murmured as he watched the lovers. “Either way you are doomed. If you save him you only prolong his death. If you don’t he dies alone and you’ll spend your days agonizing over what you chose to do.”
“No, I will not allow you to suffer, Augusta True.” Argon vanished before her eyes.
No matter how much she called out to him he would not come back. Augusta woke up hiccupping madly as she tried to catch her breath.
“Just like the man to walk away and be all stoic,” she muttered as she placed her glasses back on and looked blankly at the computer screen. Hours later, Augusta could not shift that dream from her mind. “Not like I don’t have enough to think about.” The crazy thing was the dream had felt so real. It had her questioning what she would do if faced with losing Argon. Would she risk herself to save him? Yes, unquestioningly. But would he go and disappear before she had a chance to tell him what she really felt? Hmm…that was an interesting question. While Augusta acknowledged she had fallen in love with him, forever meant marrying Argon and fulfilling the curse. Did she want to do forever with Argon? Added to that she did not want to race ahead and fulfill Hester’s curse without thinking. But then time was against her and her thoughts. Tomorrow was her D-day.
Augusta snapped out of her daze as she heard the buzzing sound that came from the apartment’s intercom. Someone was downstairs. Augusta did not want to deal with anyone today, because she was supposed to be thinking up some cunning plan to get rid of zombies. Unfortunately Tilly was not answering her cell phone so she could not get any advice from her. Augusta ignored the constant buzzing for a full minute until she could stand it no more. She got up and stomped over to the intercom. “What?”
“Hello, Rowdy.”
It was a male voice that she did not recognize but obviously he knew her if he was calling her Rowdy. Maybe an old customer of Tilly’s agency? Augusta blew out a sigh as she tried to summon up her customer service skills. If she did not need the money she would have told them to push off.
“Can I help you?” Does that sound like I care?
“It’s me, Newton.
”
“Holy snapping ducks! Newton from Wales?” She was stunned and amazed. Hiccup, hiccup.
“One and the same.”
Of course he was. He had the lilting Welsh accent.
“What you doing here?” He was the last person Augusta expected to see.
He chuckled at her words. “Are you going to let me in?”
“Oh crap, sorry—hiccup—yes.” Augusta hit the button to allow him entry to the building. It seemed to be never-ending surprises in her life at the moment. Argon, zombies, being a witch and now a man she knew only by email was knocking at her door. A strange sense of almost dread rushed through her. It was crazy of course. Augusta knew it had to be excitement and nothing else for Newton Cadwalder was an old friend.
Augusta opened the door and the dread surged up within her again as she looked at the tall, thin, dark haired man before her. He is a friend. Why do I feel this way?
“This is such a surprise.” She looked into his pale blue eyes and felt a shiver run down her spine. It was crazy to feel this way after how much he had helped her over the years but Augusta was a great believer in following gut instinct. She avoided the arms that stretched out to hug her, instead preferring to shake his cold hand.
“What’s wrong?” He dropped his arms. Her hesitation was obvious to him. “Are you wondering if I am who I say I am?”
“Well, yeah.” Actually Augusta hadn’t been. She was more concerned with the tense feeling inside herself. Identification of any unknown person was always the thing to ask for, and she was annoyed she was more caught up in feeling instead of reasoning, to have demanded ID straight up. She pulled her hand from his, a cool shiver running down her spine.
“I understand, Rowdy. You’re going through a lot.” Newton pulled out his British passport and license from his wallet and handed them to her.
They proclaimed him as Newton Cadwalder. Augusta handed them back to him feeling a little silly but still tense.
“I’m just in shock. I never imagined we would meet.” And in some ways talking to someone over the internet was easier than face to face. This really unknown man knew too much about her. It had never occurred to Augusta that he would come to visit her.
Rowdy Page 9
