Witch Way to Turn

by Karen Y. Bynum

  “The unnatural went to your apartment. He brought you some clothes. I’ll leave them outside the door.”

  She waited until he’d walked away before cracking open the door and dragging her duffel in. She dug out a pair of clean undies and slipped them on. Then she put on her favorite cobalt blue spaghetti strap sleep shirt with matching polka dot shorts.

  She left the duffel on the floor, flipped off the bathroom light and headed down the hall to the living room. No lights were on, except for the one from the muted TV.

  Not sure who all she’d find, she walked into the room with her head held high and her tongue laced with curse words for anyone who tried to claim her.

  Her pulse raced. She knew right away Myles was alone. She sat on the opposite end of the couch from him. “Where’s Orin?”

  “Something about making her pay.” He didn’t look at Breena. She didn’t even have time to respond, because he changed the subject. “I called to check on Jenny.”

  She hadn’t even thought to call. With everything that had happened tonight… She had to admit the vampire-assassin throwdown had been pretty distracting. Not to mention the whole near-death thing. Still, what kind of terrible sister was she that Jenny had come in last on the list?

  “How is she?”

  “She said Susan went to spend the night at a friend’s house, and Norma’d gone out. But she didn’t say where.” Myles faced her now. “I figure she went to Woody’s again.”

  Woody’s was a male strip club in Hickory.

  “So, Jenny’s home alone? Stan’s not there, is he? I should go.”

  She started to stand and suddenly Myles was there, pinning her hips to the couch. She gasped. He seized her waist and pushed down on her shoulder. Her heart beat in her ears and goosebumps formed where he touched her.

  This isn’t right. Not now.

  It took her a moment to remember the reason. His advances kept her away from her sister. “Get off me, Myles,” she demanded.

  Her tone must’ve rattled him because he shook his head and released a deep breath. As his eyes softened, her heartbeat returned to a normal rhythm. “Sorry. You’ve had my blood. I’m a little overprotective of you.”

  “Ya think?” she shot back.

  “Jenny’s fine. Stan wasn’t there. I would’ve heard it in her voice when I asked her.”

  He wouldn’t lie about Jenny. She felt it in his blood. When she nodded he let her go.

  He moved back to the other side of the couch. Slower this time. Human speed. “You need to rest. You lost a lot of blood tonight.”

  She scooted closer to the vampire. “Thank you. Not just for checking on Jenny.”

  “You’re welcome.” He maintained his distance, but didn’t stop looking at her. “I told you, Bree, I’d do anything for you.”

  “I know.” She leaned her head against his shoulder–slow, so he wouldn’t zip away–and laid her arm across his chest. He coiled his arms around her waist.

  She peered up to see his face and tangled her fingers through his jet-black curls. As she tugged at the soft waves, her heart raced and her blood boiled in her veins. Her lips ached to touch his. Suddenly nothing mattered except the desire. The hunger. Before she could stop, her lips moved to his. Devoured his.

  But his mouth remained frozen, his body stiff with tension. As she pulled away, she realized his gaze lingered on her throat. His lower lip began to quiver. Instinct drove her to tilt her head and expose her neck. The thought of his fangs deep in her flesh caused her desire for Myles to build until she didn’t think she’d ever catch her breath.

  She hadn’t even blinked when his lips parted and fangs shot out. They pressed against her throat, sharp points pricking her skin, ready to pierce her.

  “Bite me,” she breathed before she changed her mind.

  He didn’t move.

  She held her breath and sat so still her lashes didn’t even flutter. Those fangs stayed at her throat for what felt like forever.

  Then they were gone and, when she looked up, Myles was sitting in the chair closest to the kitchen. As if some unseen hand had ripped him away from her.

  With him seated across the room, Breena was able to think. She sat up, righted her pajamas, smoothed down her hair. Anything to kill time. What in the world had just happened? Why’d he stop? What made her want to be bitten? It’s not like she got off on hurting herself. Being gnawed on by a vampire probably wouldn’t feel the best. And for crying out loud, why had she come on to him like that? Yeah, sure, okay, she’d wanted to before now, but she hadn’t. She didn’t want to make the first move. It had to be something else. Was his blood in her veins the source of her desire?

  No.

  Surely not. Right? Myles hadn’t even kissed her back. Had he? The moment seemed like a blur.

  Anyway, she’d liked Myles long before today. But now she also liked Orin. So could his blood be trying to stop her from liking Orin? She dropped her head into her hands. This was getting too complicated.

  Time to uncomplicate it.

  Something needed to be said, and if he wouldn’t say it, she would. She’d already been the one to make the first move, so why not take it a step further? Besides, maybe she could regain a little control if she initiated things. “I want to be yours.”

  There.

  The words had finally come out. Breena and Myles had been dancing around their feelings for a while now. She didn’t want to dance anymore.

  “What about the unnatural?”

  Orin. Damn.

  Those four words equaled a loaded question. She hadn’t even thought about him when she’d jumped Myles. Maybe she’d gone into a trance or something. She wasn’t herself. She hoped.

  When she was with Orin, he dazzled her, made her feel important, sexy. She needed to be around him…be with him. Feel the connection his presence wrapped her in. As if he were the only one who could fill the emptiness in her soul. The problem was her heart wanted something different. Someone different.

  Myles tugged his hand through his curls. “Breena.” He’d gone into serious mode again. “It’s my blood talking. You–”

  “Good Lord, Myles, I’m talking. Not your damn blood.” Rejection hurt worse than the car accident. At least she’d been passed out through most of that pain. Right now she was very much awake, as her lonely lips and shaking hands sadly confirmed.

  As they sat in silence, she asked herself if Myles was right. Was it his blood speaking so insistently within her? It would fade. That’s what Orin had said. She hadn’t known quite how much she looked forward to that until this moment. There was still more she hoped to explore with Orin. She had a thing for him. What exactly that meant or where it might lead, she didn’t know. He’d gotten under her skin, and she liked him there. But, dammit, he’d pissed her off. She couldn’t abide liars. If he wanted to get with her, he’d better start coming clean.

  At least Orin and Breena hadn’t exchanged blood or anything. So it was the real deal with him. No question. No second guesses.

  She leaned her head back on the couch and tugged on her earlobe. This was all too much. Especially coming just after she’d almost died. When she lowered her hand, Myles was inches away from her, staring at her with wide eyes and dilated pupils. “You don’t want me, Breena Cross.” He leaned even closer. “Stay away from Orin Heider.”

  What the hell?

  “Don’t tell me what I want. And why are you talking about Orin?”

  His brow creased and he looked at the wall then back at her. This time he touched the sides of her face with his hands while his once-blue eyes turned red. “You don’t want me, Breena. Stay away from the unnatural.”

  Okay, so she’d admit it–the red freaked her out. But Myles would never hurt her. Intentionally. She gave him her best stink eye. “Hell’s bells, Myles, what’re you doing?”

  He threw his hands in the air and leaned back. “Obviously not compelling you.”

  “Compelling me?”

  “Yeah.”

/>   “What’s that mean?”

  He was super irritated, which caused annoyance to flow through her veins. “I was trying to replace your memory.”

  “Dammit, Myles.” Then her mind flashed to the time Orin made the campus rent-a-cop leave them alone. “Can preternaturals compel?”

  Breena felt Myles’s surprise at her abrupt flip from anger to curiosity.

  “No, they can only confound.”

  “Which means what?”

  “They can confuse a person long enough to do whatever they need to, but it doesn’t replace the person’s memory.”

  “Oh.” She yawned, exhausted. She glanced at the clock on the cable box: 5:30 AM. The sun would rear its ugly head soon. Breena and Myles needed to be at work in less than four hours. “Hey?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You should probably pop a pill. Unless you wanna be a Kentucky Fried Vampire.

  “It’s all right. I take one every day at sunset. I’ve got time.” He looked down at his hand. His tone was wary as he said, “I will need my ring back though. Where is it?”

  “Sink.”

  She’d barely finished the word before he had it on his finger.

  What was the deal with the ring? The question formed in her mind, but that strong hold over her tongue claimed her words before they could be asked. It was beyond exasperating. She went with the next question in her arsenal instead. “How do the pills work, anyway?”

  He scooped her into his arms and walked to his bedroom. “Powerful magic.”

  Well, that was informative.

  Didn’t seem like she would get any more from him though. “I can walk, you know.”

  “I know.” He waggled an eyebrow.

  “Gonna have your way with me now?” She half-joked.

  “Don’t tempt me. Been way, way too long. I do have needs, you know.” His sexy grin exposed a touch of fang.

  He pulled the covers back and she crawled between them, thankful for their warmth.

  “Get some rest. I’ll let work know you’re not feeling well.” He tucked her in.

  “No,” she protested. “I’ve got to work. I need the money.”

  “No you don’t, Bree. I’ll give you whatever you need.”

  Um, okay?

  “Thanks, but I can take care of myself. Just wake me up ten minutes before we need to leave so I can get ready.”

  “Fine. I’ll be on the couch.” He left the door open on his way out.

  Finally, silence lulled her to sleep.

  * * * *

  The blood-bond thingy got old, fast. Like a piece of her hung outside her body, floating around somewhere. Even though she went out of her way to avoid Myles, Breena spent the day knowing exactly how he felt and how close by he was.

  Maybe it would be different if they were dating but, for whatever reason, she and Myles seemed to be stuck in friend mode. Which was fine. Even if he didn’t want her, Orin did. The preternatural wasn’t afraid to show he cared.

  As she worked the register she caught glimpses of Myles across the store. He stood behind the counter in the pharmacy with his back hunched, head buried in his work. She knew–would’ve known even without the blood–that he was counting pills. But had it not been for the blood, she wouldn’t have realized how much he enjoyed his job. He relaxed in a way he didn’t around her. Maybe the ordinary task was therapeutic for him, a way to set goals, to accomplish something. She guessed deadlines didn’t mean much when you were facing eternity. The thought of being immortal wasn’t something she could cope with at the moment. She didn’t want to imagine forever.

  Someday–probably–she would die. What she wanted was to be okay with death because she knew she’d done everything in her power to make a better life for Jenny. If, somewhere along the way, she got to live a normal boring existence that’d be peachy-keen but it wasn’t the most important thing. She wouldn’t be doomed by the hand fate had dealt her, and neither would Jenny.

  After she straightened and re-straightened the batteries hanging on the wall behind the register, she moved to the front of the counter. The candy bar selection looked a little sparse because of the three-for-a-dollar sale...not to mention she’d been eating them like they were free.

  “Tammy, I’m runnin’ to the back to get more candy bars. Anything else we need?”

  “Yeah, I drank the last caffeine-free Diet Coke.”

  “Okay.” In no hurry, Breena shuffled back to the stockroom. Her shift was almost over. Soon she’d be on her way to see Jenny. She’d called her at lunch and Jenny had told her Norma hadn’t come home from her night out at the strip-club, and Susan had spent the day at her friend’s house.

  Breena pushed open the stockroom door, and a shiver ran down her spine. A box of scented candles to her right bombarded her with the woodsy odor of pine. The smell brought back the memory of finding baby Jenny in the woods, alone, crying.

  Jenny was still alone, though she’d long since learned not to cry. Why had her parents abandoned her? Why had Breena’s, for Pete’s sake? Who were they? Did they care that Jenny suffered? That Breena suffered?

  Legal custody felt like her only hope to end the pain, for both of them. She grabbed a cart and put a couple boxes of Kit-Kats and Butterfingers into the push-out seat, where a little kid would sit. Now for the caffeine-free Diet Coke. She walked over to the other sodas but there was no caffeine-free to be found, so she scanned around until she spotted them.

  Terrific.

  They were stacked on the top shelf underneath a box of Ace bandages. Larry must’ve done this. He didn’t care where anything went as long as it was off the floor and not near his Radio Shack inventory.

  The top shelf stood a good eight feet from the ground.

  Even better.

  The stepladder wouldn’t reach. She looked around until she found the six-foot ladder. Heaving it across the room, she propped it up against the wall next to the shelf. To reach the soda she’d have to lean to her left because she couldn’t put the ladder directly against the shelves, which had wobbled alarmingly when she’d tried.

  As she climbed, the rungs dipped beneath her. When she reached the top, she stretched as far as possible without upsetting the ladder.

  She yanked on the box of soda with one hand while balancing herself with the other. The ladder tipped. She grappled for the edge of the shelves. Missed.

  The entire thing lurched then started to fall sideways.

  Oh God.

  Her stomach dropped to her feet as the long slow slide of the ladder brought her inevitably closer to the floor. Her head would’ve smacked into the concrete had it not been for the strong arms that caught her, set her on the ground and placed the ladder against the wall in a matter of seconds.

  His approach had burned like a fire in her veins, even before he’d actually touched her.

  “How’d you know I was–”

  Holy hell.

  She’d had his blood, so she felt his emotions, his presence… “You drank my blood.”

  Myles avoided looking directly at her. Instead, he climbed up the ladder, got the caffeine-free Diet Cokes and put the box in her cart.

  “When?” Her voice hitched.

  “The night I found you in the woods.” He dipped his dark lashes down to hide his eyes.

  “My hands…” That’s why she’d healed so fast. “So you just drank my blood?” She hadn’t thought Myles would ever take advantage of her. She had trusted him with her life. More importantly, she’d trusted him with Jenny’s life.

  “Yes.” He stared at the cement floor.

  “Look at me,” she said, hugging her arms to her. Damn chill. “You gave me yours that night too.”

  “Only a few drops to heal the cuts.”

  Her thoughts ran rampant. Myles taking blood-liberties had started a domino of questions. One being the way she felt about him. Okay, she’d liked him from the moment they’d met in the pharm. Fine, she’d thought about him as boyfriend material. But she hadn’t gone all hot-
and-lusty until after he’d given her his blood and taken hers. Like and lust. Blood and soul.

  Could she still trust her judgment?

  What else could she say? She left him there and pushed the cart to the front of the store.

  “You okay?” Tammy watched Breena shove the last of the caffeine-free into the cooler next to the registers.

  “Sure.” Breena tossed the empty soda box onto the empty candy bar containers in the cart. “Confused,” she mumbled to herself.

  Ever since the blue-light-thing shot out of her hands, she’d realized how alone she felt. Everything she’d thought she knew about herself, about her life, about her and Jenny, about her and Myles, had somehow changed.

  She needed something. Someone. She wanted to get carried away. To ease the pain. Forget.

  Hadn’t Orin said he’d take away the pain? Myles had punched him because of it. Why–when she needed relief more than ever–would Myles want to deny her?

  That settled it.

  She glimpsed the clock behind the front counter. Five thirty. Thank the heavens. “Night, Tammy.”

  “See ya tomorrow,” Tammy called as Breena hauled the empty boxes back to the scene of her near-death fall. She tossed them into the compacter before walking into the break room to get her bag.

  “Breena, we need to talk.” Myles stood by her locker, arms crossed.

  “Move.”

  There was nothing he could say. He’d kept the truth from her. Taken advantage of her.

  “Not until you hear me out,” he pleaded.

  Chapter 12

  Breena bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something she’d regret. If Myles would just admit what he felt. Or tell her how she should feel so she could bite his head off and be justified doing it. Either one would be good.

  “I’m not the enemy here.” His voice sounded smooth but icy.

  She knew who he meant and, frankly, she wanted him to say it. “You think Orin is?”

  “He’s dangerous.”

  “Like you’re not.” Her turn to crank up the cold.

  “I’ll do whatever it takes not to hurt you, Bree.”

  “You don’t think your lies hurt me?”

  “He lied to you, too.”