by Lynn Cahoon
“Buddy, if this was human error, you wouldn’t be here. Whoever warded this property hid the record in plain sight. My staff never saw the file. Everyone was digging through an old stack of boxes in the back office. Telling me the file must have been shredded. When I went to look myself, the file sat right where it should have been, yet no one saw it.” Raymond glanced nervously at the window. “My secretary keeps feeding the damn things. The birds give me the creeps.”
Raymond was right to be wary. If Ty wasn’t mistaken, the same pigeon had been bringing him messages from The Council the last five years. Answering his unspoken question, the pigeon nodded his head to Ty in recognition. The Master must not have shared his secret mode of communication with the rest of The Council.
“Birds, aside. Your staff is incompetent. Have you thought of that?” Ty faced Raymond. No need to feed his paranoia. Even if the old saying was true in this case–if it looked like a duck and quacked like a duck, it’s probably a duck. The Council set a watcher on Raymond Stone.
“Believe me, staffing incompetence was my first thought. Then I found the actual file.” He leaned to the left opening a drawer. Using a napkin, he threw the folder on the desk. “Touch that then tell me your little old lady is harmless.”
Ty smelled the mixture of herbs emanating from the normal manila file folder. Yew, cypress, hemlock, a faint touch of myrrh, covered the other herbs mixed with the normal paper and ink to form a protection spell. Matilda must have spelled every letter she sent in return to the bills, knowing eventually the spell would cause the file to become invisible to the human eye. Matilda hadn’t counted on a retired warlock wanting to spend his golden years as an overpaid department chief. He glanced at Raymond. Obviously denying Matilda’s meddling would be fruitless. Raymond wanted to know the story behind the file. Ty would have to give him part of the answer. He hoped his deception would be enough to get the man off Matilda’s scent.
He would have to explain The Council’s reach to the woman if she wanted to continue to live outside the notice of the magical world. She’d been lucky. However, it would take a minor miracle to put her back under the radar now. Bringing Parris here was another mistake. How would he have known the Department of Water and Lands was run by a witch? Ty felt caught in a web. A version of the truth was his only weapon to cut his way out.
He bent forward, putting his forearms on his knees. “You’re right. The woman who owns the property is a witch.”
“I knew it.” Raymond slammed his hand on the desk.
“A level five. Tested and certified by The Council.” Ty let the statement sink in before he continued. “A level five who over the year’s perfected one spell to save her home.”
“You’ve seen her papers?” Raymond seemed disappointed.
“This morning, after I met her. She recognized my role as hunter right away.” Ty tapped his fingers together, absently. “She’d hidden in plain sight for years. No one from our world even stopped or did a check-in for thirty years.”
“How did you find her?”
Ty smiled at the still sleeping Parris. “The girl came to me. I find her fascinating. Even though she’s human, she appears worthy of a few rounds in the sack. Frankly, I jumped at the chance to play Prince Charming. I’ll call in the favor later.”
Raymond leered over at Parris. “She is fine. Are you sure she’s human?”
“She has less talent than her grandmother.” Ty shook his head sadly. “That’s what happens when you breed indiscriminately. The power wans.”
“Such a shame, she’d be beautiful in circle.” Raymond glanced back at Ty. “Kind of like your Rowena.”
Ty scowled. He hated the thought of Raymond thinking about Parris or Rowena. But the witch had seen the resemblance, too. The two women didn’t look at all alike, but something in their aura mirrored each other. The attraction that had drawn Ty to Rowena in the first place was here in Parris too, only stronger. The potential she held was exhausting to even try to explore. “The girl is nothing like Rowena. Pretty, yes. I will have her. No one will replace Rowena.” Ty glanced at Parris dismissively. “She’s a play thing to be discarded after I grow weary of her charms.”
“You always were a son of a bitch.” Raymond chucked. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Chickie can pay her grandmother’s back taxes. Or are you going to pay them for her?”
“My office will send you a check. Who I bill and how I bill is none of your business.” Ty stood buttoning his suit jacket. “So we’re done here?”
“Done. All you have to do is wake your sleeping beauty.” Raymond leaned back in his chair watching Ty pull Parris to her feet. “One more thing.”
Ty froze, not looking at the man. “Yes.”
“Tell your level five she messed with the wrong person. This time, she got lucky.” Raymond pushed the file into his desk drawer with the pencil.
“I think she realizes that.” Ty put his arm around Parris who wasn’t quite awake yet to get her out of the office.
When the door to Raymond’s office closed, Parris’ eyes opened. “Tell me more about my grandmother being a level five witch.”
Chapter 6
Ty didn’t respond until after they were in the car. “The wards on the car won’t hold Raymond’s curiosity out long, not this close.”
“The what?” Parris glanced around the tight compartment.
Ty started the engine. Not meeting her gaze, he growled, “Not here.”
Parris waited while he drove them to the nearest drive-thru coffee shop, ordering a large black coffee and a mocha, without asking her what she wanted. A few minutes later, they were parked in the front lot of a local park. The only car in the lot, the park felt deserted. Ty shut off the engine.
Finally, he answered. “Wards keep people from listening in on our conversations. It’s standard magic. Stuff you should know already.”
Parris felt energy flowing off him like a turbulent waterfall. If even half of what she’d overheard while pretending to be asleep was true, her carefully constructed world had turned upside down. Many things made sense now in this new reality. Why hadn’t her grandmother told her? Parris sighed, Grans had tried.
The smell of coffee mixed with chocolate filled the car’s interior. She glanced at Ty, waiting for him to talk. He seemed to be looking around the park. Parris followed his gaze seeing only empty playground and rolling hills. The park was an after school teen hangout. At eleven on a weekday, no one sat on the park benches or walked the trails.
“I guess we’re parking?” Parris asked.
Ty turned toward her. “Sorry, habit. I like to know if I’m being overheard.”
“Someone would have to have some pretty sophisticated spy gear to hear us talking in this deserted park.” Parris took a sip of her mocha. “Or not? Why don’t you explain your conversation with the tax office troll?”
Ty looked at her, appraising, before he spoke. “How much did you hear? Or were you awake the entire time?”
“At first. I leaned back, suddenly I felt like I sat on Gran’s window seat on a sunny winter afternoon after a cup of hot chocolate. My eyes closed. Then I heard your voice.” Parris glanced at Ty. “You told me to keep my eyes closed and my ears open.”
Ty laughed. “You’re good. I didn’t know if you picked up on my instructions. You looked like you were asleep. Hell, you felt like you were asleep.”
“I take it that was the plan?”
Ty nodded. “I needed to throw Raymond off your trail. Convince him you and your grandmother were low level talents not worth his time to examine. Raymond spent years on The Council, specializing in testing. I played on his pride and comfort in the system. If The Council rated Matilda at a level five, he’d believe the rating even with the results of her spell sitting right in front of him.”
“You realize I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Parris felt nervous. She didn’t want to know what he was intent on telling her, even if the knowledge made her less of an oddity.
/> “Yet you’re not freaking out.” Ty sipped his coffee. “I’m wondering why?”
“I saw this coming.” Parris played with the hem of her dress. “I’ve always been a different. Kids teased me at school because I was shy. I remember playing at this park, over at the sandbox, when another girl came over to play. We were happy until her mother came.”
“I hate to even ask.”
“We’d built a castle.” Parris looked over at the empty sandbox lost in the past, imagining the scene.
“Don’t most kids?”
“Ours sported a working moat, stained glass windows twinkling from the fires in the hearths inside and a wooden drawbridge.” Parris smiled. “The girl kept suggesting new stuff to add. I was working on the dragon when her mother came to get her.”
“A dragon?”
“When her mother screamed, yanking the girl away, I started to cry. The entire castle turned back into a pile of sand. That was the first time I realized, not everyone built sandcastles the way I did.” Parris smiled sadly. “My mom ran over and picked me up. Walking home, she whispered she thought the castle lovely. I was a special princess.”
Ty ran the side of his finger down her face. “You are a special princess.”
Parris smiled but her heart wasn’t in the gesture. “The next night, the accident happened. The two of us walking home that day, then eating ice cream directly out of the container is my last clear memory of my mom.”
“She sounds nice.” Ty’s glance swept the park again before coming back to focus on Parris’ face.
“Mom and Dad were great parents. Even in the short time we were a family, I knew I wanted to be a mommy exactly like her.” Tears formed in Parris’ eyes. “Even if she was different.”
“So why didn’t your grandmother teach you magic?” Ty’s question gave her a lifeline. No way would she fall apart in front of him or any man.
“I didn’t want anything to do with magic. I blamed myself. I’d gotten in trouble for making the castle. Looking back at it, my mom seemed pleased. My dad, though, he was scared of what people might think. They fought the night they went to the theater. I was mad being left at home.”
“Being mad doesn’t cause accidents.” Ty gently reminded her.
“When you can make a sand castle come to life, you think you can do anything. Things like causing an accident or killing your parents, especially when you’re mad.” Parris stared, not seeing the park. “Gran came and got me in the middle of the night taking me to her house. I don’t think I spoke for a month.”
“So you gave up the magic?” Ty’s voice felt warm like country gravy, comforting. Kind of like the chair. Parris sat up straighter, fighting off the calming effect he was throwing her way.
“Don’t do that.”
“I don’t like seeing beautiful women upset.”
“Then don’t ask me to tell you a past I can’t change.” Parris sighed. “After a few months, Gran tried to tell me I was special. I ran away screaming. She tried a few more times, each time, I shut her down. I wanted to control the things happening around me. To be normal.”
“A typical reaction. You know the accident wasn’t your fault now, right.”
“My mind knows it. There’s a small, frightened kid in my soul who only remembers how mad I was. I even told Toki I never wanted to see my parents again.”
“Who’s Toki–your babysitter?”
Parris smiled. “My imaginary friend. When I said that about my parents, Toki started to cry. I never saw her again.”
Ty sat quiet a long time before he responded. Parris didn’t even want to know what he thought about Toki. “You should have been sent to academy. The instructors there would have eased your fears, teaching you how to use your power.”
Parris shook her head. “You still don’t get it. I don’t want to use my power. Ever.”
Chapter 7
Derek Chandler perched in the leather lobby chair watching the pretty blond secretary ignore him. Veronica always played this game of cat-and-mouse when he arrived at the chamber to get a new assignment. She’d be sweet as caramel syrup on the phone calling to arrange the meeting. After he showed up at the scheduled time, she’d barely talk to him. Glancing around the room, he noticed more than one camera hidden in the walls. The girl knew more than he gave her credit for.
He drummed his fingers on the chair arm. He thumbed through the magazines carefully arranged on the coffee table…history rags. History created by humans to hide the existence of the witching world for centuries. People tended to believe history was the truth. Really, every historical fact human children learned in school was tinged with an element of fantasy. The fantasy the human powers wanted their masses to know as true.
He heard a chuckle from behind the desk. Veronica must be tuned into his thoughts. Although, if she knew what he wanted to do to her, she’d either have him kicked out of the Center or jump him right here in the chair.
“In your dreams.” Veronica took the bait.
“So you are listening.” Derek sat up, gripping the chair’s arms. “I wondered if you have any interest?”
“In you?” Veronica’s words drawled out. A southern girl? Another reason Derek foamed at the bit to bed her.
“In an evening. I like to take commitment slow.” Derek smiled. The week was turning out amazing. These two extra jobs, the research project from Ty and now the unplanned Council work, would bring in enough cash to pay for his scheduled vacation next month. Two weeks on an almost deserted Caribbean island. Just him, the hotel staff, and two hundred of his closest friends. Veronica would love it.
“Commitment slow, sex fast?” Veronica’s gaze seemed to undress him, a feeling he’d caused in women before, not one he’d experience.
Yes, Veronica would be very enjoyable. “What can I say, to know me is to love me.”
The door to the chamber opened with a long squeak. An older man with salt-and-pepper gray hair dressed in an Armani suit glided through the opening. “Mr. Chandler, come this way.” The man turned to Veronica, barking an order without raising his voice. “No interruptions.”
Derek straightened his suit jacket. Even though the suit cost him in the high hundreds, he always felt underdressed walking into The Council room. Today was no exception. He followed the man through the black hallway and passed the double doors swinging open to admit them into the inner sanctum. Great trick. The Council knew the effect the magic show had on subordinates. Fear was a great motivator. Even though Derek knew the man behind the curtain so to speak, each time he visited the chamber, fear seeped down to his bones.
When he found all The Council seats positioned around the room filled, his heart sank. He’d never spoken before the entire quorum before. Today, The Council wanted something from him. Something he couldn’t deny them.
He sat in the lone chair in the middle of the polished red floor. Flashing them his best ‘I’m here to help’ smile, Derek asked, “What’s my assignment?”
The Council chairwoman stared hard at him before answering. Her pale face watching him for any reaction.
“Tell us about Parris McCall.”
Chapter 8
Ty focused on the road driving back to the city. Now Matilda’s house wasn’t being foreclosed on, nothing kept them together. The woman clearly didn’t want anything to do with the magical world so much a part of Ty’s life. He lived and breathed his work with The Council. Magic made him feel powerful, alive, in control. Parris believed magic killed her parents. No wonder Matilda tried to shield her. In shielding her, Parris was left to make up stories on the cause of the accident. Her stories ran back to her anger.
He was slowing down on the road to her condo before she noticed where they were. “Hey, my car is still at your office.”
“I’ll have someone drop it back at the bar tonight.” Ty turned onto her street. “Which one of these boxes is yours?”
“Who told you I live here?” Parris asked.
“Seriously?” Ty shot a re
d hot look at her. “After today, you can ask that?”
“Sorry. I keep forgetting you’re not a normal boy.” Parris smiled. “So why can’t you tell which condo is mine.”
Ty growled. “Your mind rejected me when you noticed I was looking for something.”
He was surprised at how fast he’d been expelled. Apparently, Parris had no clue she’d done it.
“So there are limits to your powers. That’s comforting. Although I’ll never feel comfortable hiring a lawyer again. Do most lawyers have your kind of gifts?” Parris pointed to a building on the left. “You can park in front.”
The white building looked more like an English cottage than the Spanish-style condo buildings surrounding the building. “You been doing some remodeling?”
“Actually, the condo looked like this when I bought it five years ago.”
Ty cocked his head, not believing a word. “And I’m the Prince of Wales.”
“Funny thing is, if it’s true, that’s not the weirdest thing I’ve learned today.” She laughed. “Seriously, this was one of the first buildings in the complex. The developers planned on building four different styles, a multi-cultural community. The next one was built to a Spanish theme. And the next, and the rest. I guess the money men realized it was faster and more cost efficient to stay with one type. I have an original in this group of copies.”
“And you got your castle.” Ty picked up her hand gently rubbing her fingers.
* * * *
“Not quite a castle, but I like it.” Parris watched his hand, distancing herself from the feel of his skin. The hot touch seemed to burn into her bones. The man was good, very good.
“Do you have a dragon?” Ty’s voice sounded deep, raspy with desire.
“Would you laugh if I said yes?” Parris tried to lighten the mood flying around in the car. Going to bed with Ty would be dangerous. He wasn’t a casual one night stand. She’d met guys like this before. Guys that could break her heart in a flash without even taking off the jacket of his expensive suit. Even though she told herself it was just sex, she knew her heart wanted more of Ty than only sex.
