by Claudy Conn
“Och, lass, but you’re not being on the up and up with me, nor have you been at any time. You know it as well as do I.” His hand waved a stop sign at her. “Come then, I’m starving—aren’t you?” The flirt was on his face and in the way he reached to touch her as they moved towards the door.
She made a grumbling sound as she scooped up her bag and stepped outside with him. He closed the door, but as she went to lock it he said softly, “A moment, lass, and I will do something better.”
He proceeded to say something in what sounded like Gaelic to her while he slowly waved his hand over the doorknob. “There. They’ll be no one—human or otherwise—getting through there, now. When we get back, I’ll be doing your windows as well. Your spells need some improvements.”
“My spells are just fine,” she snapped. His cockiness—his sense of self, his determination—to control made her insane.
“I spelled both this door and your backdoor.”
“Are you…some kind of sorcerer?”
“Not precisely.”
“What then…?”
“We’ll be taking my car. Here you go,” he said as he opened the door of his sleek silver Jaguar for her.
Just for plain old-fashioned orneriness she wanted to object and take her Jeep, but she chided herself for the momentary lapse into infancy and allowed him to see her situated in his luxurious vehicle.
He was determined to maintain idle conversation during their short ride to town and asked what her favorite food might be.
“Everything,” she answered on a smile as she realized how hungry she was.
“Ah—then I’m safe with a pub menu.”
“Uh-huh.” Shawna returned, determined not to give away more about herself than was absolutely necessary.
“And music? Being from New York, no doubt, you prefer rock ’n’ roll.”
“I do, among other music.”
“Like country?”
“I have favorites.”
He sighed heavily. “Do you mean to give me a clue?”
“If you make it past the evening, you might find out.”
“Ah, of course, because you intend to have a long-standing relationship with me.”
“You wish.”
“Do I, lass, now how would you know that? Perhaps I don’t wish it at all.”
She wanted to wipe the smirk off his face. He always seemed to ‘manage’ her, or at least their conversation. He never got flustered, yet he had her flustered all the time.
She sat rigidly, avoiding his eye as she stared fixedly into the darkness out of her window. She turned and looked out into the glow of his car’s headlights, frowning. It had gotten suddenly foggy outside, but that wasn’t what brought the troubled crease to her forehead. It was something else—something with a life of its own, and it was in the atmosphere just outside the car. She felt the atmosphere all around her vibrate with electricity…
She looked at Chad, but she could see he had not yet felt it; however, he must have been in tune to her sudden change of mood, for he asked anxiously, “What, Shawna—what is it?”
“Shhh…I…hear something…something almost like heavy breathing…”
He didn’t laugh or make the joke that immediately came to his head. Instead he peered through the windshield of his car at the dark shadows of landscape outside.
He slowed his vehicle, and both of them peered through the shadows the headlights created. All at once, they exchanged a glance that indicated they both knew something was very wrong.
An entity full with evil intent began to take shape, and they knew it meant them both harm.
Shawna couldn’t quite see it, although she strained with all her mana to make it out. She felt it move with a slithering motion as it crossed the road. Its undetermined form seemed to take shape as she watched it grow.
She heard Chad suck in his breath and curse. “Damn—if we don’t have black magic on the job, Shawna!”
Black magic? Her eyes opened wide. Why hadn’t she thought of that? When and why had black magic entered her life? Who was behind it, and did it have something to do with Pentim? That was her bottom-line question for every anomaly.
Chad pulled his car up short, and with the engine still running and the headlights set to bright, Shawna watched him step unafraid outside and scan. She made a grab to pull him back, and when she missed, she jumped out of the car as well and went to stand beside him.
He glanced her way, but he didn’t smile as he commented, “Ah, lass, got my back then, do you?”
She nodded but was busy scanning in the dark, and then when it came without warning, it startled her even though she had been expecting something.
Barreling like a force of measured wind, it hit them both with a jolt of electricity as it pounced and then quickly fled past them, out of reach.
Undeterred by the sudden, sharp pain, Chad had started forward before he turned and saw that Shawna was staggering. The electricity the entity had shot through her had taken a bit of a toll.
He reached out for her, pulled her in close, and his voice was at her ear. “Lass…lass…are ye hurt then?”
“No…no, I’m fine—come on, we have to see what it is.”
They both turned and started to give chase when they realized the thing had fled into the forest and vanished.
Shawna stood very still and whispered, “It’s gone.”
“Aye, but not before it accomplished what it set out to do,” Chad answered grimly.
“And what was that?”
“Declare itself, lass—it has declared itself.”
“But why—what does it want, Chad? Is it an extension of Pentim?”
“That is the only thing I am very nearly—and I am saying that I am not totally sure, but nearly—certain about. It has naught to do with Pentim and his clan. This feels…different.”
Shawna released an exasperated sound. “Damn it to hell. Isn’t it enough to have to deal with Pentim Rawley? Now some boogeyman is after me? Why?”
“Not a boogeyman,” Chad said on such a serious note that Shawna burst into laughter.
He frowned at her as he led her, still nervously laughing, back to his car and saw her seated. He got in and looked at her, waited for her to steady herself, and touched her hand, “I wasn’t joking, love. This…” He waved his hand in the air. “…is much more dangerous than some child’s idea of a monster.”
“Okay—got it, but I don’t understand what it has to do with me…you—us?” Her eyes opened wide. “Maybe it is because of you and whatever you are?”
“I don’t think so, lass.”
“I haven’t been here long enough to tick anyone off.”
“Who says you have? This has nothing to do with what you did or didn’t do. This is drawn to you…and now to me, because of the power we give off, and it senses.”
“Oh great,” Shawna exclaimed. She then sat in thoughtful silence. As it happened, Chad wasn’t doing any talking either.
A few moments later, he parked his car in front of a brightly lit and charming village pub. She watched him and couldn’t help but admire the height and breadth of the man…and the courage.
He had jumped into the unknown ready to face it, and it had made her feel safe and secure to be at his side. Should she let him into her life? Should she allow him to help protect her life? Bait—came the answer. He wants to use you as bait. How does that protect you?
This new thing had been at first an unclear mass without form. It had been a body without density. It was an electrical charge without wire! It was the thing she had seen outside her window, and it was time to tell him that.
After he helped her out of the car she stopped on the sidewalk. “Chad—there is something I have to tell you.”
“Right then—let’s get inside,” he said softly as he took her by the elbow.
She felt a wild desire to melt into his arms, but instead she pulled out of his touch. “No…now, first…I have to tell you that the thing we saw tonight�
�I think it was at my window a couple of nights ago.”
He rounded on her, towering over her, a hunk of fury with glinting green eyes. “What?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure…now I am.”
“Don’t be lying to me, Shawna—it doesn’t suit you, and lies won’t work between us.”
“You lie to me,” she snapped.
“I don’t lie to you. I just don’t tell you everything.”
“Me too—gander, goose thing.”
Suddenly he laughed and gently took her elbow once more. “Right then, lass…Let’s go in and order a pint and some food and see what we can make of this whole thing.”
~ Eight ~
SHAWNA HAD SHOWERED, brushed her long, golden hair into a loose pile around her face, and taken a look at herself in the mirror. Hmm, hair shiny, face not bad…
She didn’t want to admit why she was taking extra care with herself this morning. She pulled on a pair of Gap jeans and a soft black sweater, tied up her sneakers and moved to her bedroom door.
Timidly she opened her door a crack and peeked around to the view it allowed her on the other side. No sign of him.
She opened her door wider and stepped out. Still no sign of him. There was a small lavatory without a shower in the hall, and as that door was open wide, she could see he wasn’t making use of it.
She ventured further and looked into both the living room area and the kitchen—no sign of him, and all at once she realized (and with a sense of disappointment) that he was gone.
She told herself she was relieved he was gone and went to her kitchen, where she found a pot of coffee already made and a note with her name on it. She unfolded the paper to read:
Good morning to you, lass.
Didn’t think you’d be wanting me sharing the shower with you on our first morning together, and besides I had a few things I needed doing.
I’ll be calling you later, love—ah so I will.
He hadn’t even bothered signing it. She blew at her soft bangs, and her mind drifted to the previous evening as she poured her coffee and then slowly sipped the delicious hot brew.
Dinner had sped by so fast. They had talked—or rather she had talked, and he had listened. She didn’t know how it happened. Perhaps it had been the event they had tackled together earlier in the evening on the road? Whatever. She had opened her mouth, and all these words came gushing out, and she was suddenly telling him about her childhood…her college…her hopes…
She hadn’t learned a thing about him, other than his father and grandmother were both still alive. That was it; she had gotten exactly nada—zilch—out of him.
And then came their moment at her cottage door.
Geez, could she have been more stupid? She’d actually believed that when he bent towards her, it was to kiss her. She recalled the moment and was fairly certain her heart had sped up and then completely halted in anticipation.
She had felt a fluttering in her stomach and an ache that tickled her further down.. She had closed her eyes and got ready for that kiss.
Oh—she had been ready! She had even excused herself, arguing that she was entitled to a kiss…
There she was, no doubt looking the fool with her eyes closed and her breath (she was sure) escaping in pants of wanting, when she felt the door at her back flung open.
What? Door? Opened?
He had her by the forearm, and he led her inside. No kiss, not even a peck, nothing. She was so damn embarrassed because he had this smirk on his handsome, horrible face. He knew. He knew that she would have let him kiss her.
Shit, she thought to herself as her embarrassment swept through her insides. How had this happened to streetwise Shawna, she asked herself. She went inside and snapped at him, “Thank you for a wonderful dinner, and good-night.”
He was still grinning as he moved in on her. She stepped back. He took another tantalizing step closer. She moved back, but in truth, she didn’t want to. The next movement brought him closer, and she bumped into the large winged leather chair and had to stand her ground. He stopped right up close, and so personal she could feel his sweet breath just inches from her face as he bent towards her and whispered in that Scottish brogue that drove her wild, “I’ll be spending the night, lass—so if you could spare a blanket and a pillow, I think the couch will do me just fine.”
She wanted to hit him. Fooled again? Twice in one night? She sucked it in and growled ferociously at him, in a voice she didn’t even recognize as her own, “You can’t spend the night here.” She stomped her foot before she could stop herself. “I won’t have it, and besides, you won’t fit on that couch.”
“Aye, so you say, and still it is what I mean to do. Don’t you worry about me, love. I’ll be right and cozy, I will.”
She could see his eyes alive with amusement, and it made her all the more irritated. “No—absolutely not. You have to leave. Don’t you have a home to go to?”
“I do.”
“Then—go there…”
“I will, but not this evening, I won’t,” he said softly but firmly as he moved towards the couch and began taking it apart, carefully situating the cushions on the floor. This done, he turned and looked at her quizzically.
“Blanket…pillow…please.”
Shawna stood in stunned silence for a moment before exclaiming indignantly, “Humph!”
She stormed off like a child and went to her linen closet, retrieved the items in question. and threw them at him.
He caught them both easily, ignored her hissy fit, and began setting them in place.
She closed her eyes now as she recollected how she had behaved—like an idiot. Why did she always turn into a fool when he was around?
He didn’t try and make conversation and she had nothing further to say, so she stormed off to her room and attacked her bed. However, no amount of tossing, turning, punching her pillow, throwing it off the bed, and then picking it back up again had helped her to sleep.
She had been so determined not to think about him—which of course led her to think about nothing but him…only a short distance away, sleeping soundly she had no doubt, in the next room.
Ridiculous. She was ridiculous—he was certainly like no one she had ever encountered before in her entire life, and it was throwing off her game.
Who was he really—and better yet, what was he? What was his story, and why did he really want Pentim Rawley destroyed?
And for some unknown reason the next question loomed large and heavy—was he really seriously worried about her? Well, yeah…had to keep his bait intact.
At some point, she had managed to shrug off all clear thought, pulled the blanket over her head, and fallen fitfully asleep.
Ugh. What an awful, nightmarish night. Wayward dreams turned into ghoulish ones, and when she opened her eyes, it had been with relief that the night was over.
This was a new day, a new morning, and she decided to set all her concerns aside, or at least consider them from another point of view. And just as she had decided to try and make her peace with him—he was gone!
The blanket was neatly folded and placed with the pillow back on the sofa. She huffed as she picked them up and put them away, thinking of what she would say to him the next time she encountered him.
What she needed was a nice long walk. She pulled on a warm and fitted navy parka, wrapped a red scarf around her neck, tucked her long blonde hair inside her collar, and made her way outside.
The sky was a mass of gray clouds, and a fine mist touched her face, but oh, she sucked on the air with relish. She pulled out a knit cap and tugged it over her head. It was spring, but the Scottish weather hadn’t yet agreed with the calendar.
The air was filled with the scent of pine and wildflowers, and she didn’t mind the damp at all. Without another thought, she headed for the trail she had taken the day before. She was armed, and she was ready if anything meant to get in her way.
As she hiked over a craggy area at the edge of the forest, a tickli
ng sensation at her neck made her come to attention and frown. She gave the surrounding area a scan but could see nothing.
Suddenly all forest music—birds, bees, and the gentle breeze—stopped. The air was deadly still. Something filled the atmosphere with electrical tension.
She stopped for a fraction of a moment before making her way down the narrow weaving trail through the trees. She wanted to draw the thing out. She wanted an encounter—because she knew something that Chad MacFare did not, and in this instance she wanted to confront the entity in the light of day.
She heard a hiss at her back and spun around. She felt a sprinkle of fear hit her stomach, but she got it under control. She had her gifts…abilities—magic if you prefer—but she knew her limitation was that she was untried against anything like this entity.
This was no training session—this was for real. Something was there, hidden, but certainly there and aware that she was calling it out for a lookie-look.
She backed away from the next hiss, which was closer now, angrier…
All at once, it was there and in her face, sniffing her from her neck to her arms and then back again. She stood perfectly still.
“What do you want with me?” Shawna whispered.
Electricity charged through her as it touched her with its tentacles, and even as she used her magic to push it off, it was gone.
Shawna stood, unable to move as she scanned the woods, when a sudden movement at her back made her turn on a scream “Yiiiii!”
“Oh Shawna, I startled you. I am sorry.”
Shawna swallowed her gasp, making a slight choking sound, and then almost immediately, visibly relaxed. It was only the squire.
He frowned and came towards her. “Shawna…what is it? What is wrong? You are white…”
It occurred to her that the thing had vanished because the squire had appeared. What did that mean? Was it afraid of witnesses outside her circle? Yes, but it hadn’t been afraid to take on Chad MacFare. Why would it be leery of the gentle squire? She was certain that the thing could have nothing to fear from an ordinary human. Or was it marking time?
