“Witch!” Milena hissed out as she eyed Trina up and down. I glanced over at the girl and frowned. Okay, so she kinda dressed a little goth-slash-hippy, but a witch? Really? I smirked and opened my mouth to say something to diffuse the situation before I had to defend Trina. When I caught the look on her face, she looked...fierce...and powerful. Oh my god, Trina was a witch. Why hadn’t I figured it out? Probably because I’d been too wrapped up in my own drama to pay attention. Matt placed a hand on Trina’s arm and tried to move around her.
“Trina, I don’t need your protection.” He rolled his eyes and pulled her to his side. He didn’t seem shocked by what Milena had just accused Trina of being. My head was spinning. I didn’t know anyone as well as I thought I had. I was so clueless.
“So, you’re a witch?” I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It wasn’t time for you to know yet, Sage. We’ll need to talk in private. I’ve been waiting for the right time, and it looks like that time is now.”
I nodded. “Well, you might as well join us. I have a little meeting set up, and I’m guessing it will have to do with you anyway, so follow us.” I glanced at Matt and shrugged a shoulder.
“Matt comes with me,” she stated. I nodded. Who was I to argue? We all headed to the back of Club Strange to meet with the owner, a powerful vampire and my boyfriend, Soren Black.
When we entered Soren’s private, spacious office, Soren was sitting at his desk. He glanced up and gave a curious look when we entered. When we all were accounted for, there was a vampire, a time warper, two fae, a witch, and a human. At least, I thought Matt was a human—I wasn’t exactly rating high on the “know what my friends are” meter at the moment. I snorted and everyone turned to stare at me. I shrugged again.
“How much does the human know?” Milena asked. We all turned to stare at her. My mouth had flopped open. Could she have been any more idiotic? “What? Obviously he knows more than he’s letting on, or he’d be peeing his little pants right about now.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and I briefly imagined yanking her hair out of her head. Soren was by my side in a split second. He had a Sage violence meter built in. Matt cleared his throat.
“I know a lot. Trina filled me in a long time ago about vampires and, um, other things. Especially since I’d been hanging around Sage...and all you guys tend to hang around her.” He narrowed his eyes in Soren’s direction when he spoke. Oh boy...that meant he had an idea what Soren was back when we saved him. I was going to be having a little talk with Matt very soon.
“What part do you play in all this, witch?” Aldwin focused his unwavering attention on Trina, and to her credit, she didn’t cower or flinch.
“The name is Katrina, or Trina, twinkle toes!” She lifted her chin and I burst out laughing. Everyone turned to me and even Milena looked concerned. Great...they all thought I’d lost my freakin’ mind. Just what I needed.
“Let’s all try and keep the hostility to a minimum and try and get this sorted out like the civilized preternaturals we are.” I strode forward to the center of the room, uncomfortable being the center of attention, but ready to get to the bottom of everything. “Trina, please tell us what is going on.” I waved my hand in her direction.
“I’m a handler witch....” Her voice lowered, laced with power, and her eyes stared out at nothing in particular as if she could see something in the future no one else could. I could see shadows moving in them. “I have been searching for the warper, Colleen. Something has caused her powers to come under another’s influence. I have to help her gain control back before it’s too late. Too late for her and too late for all of us.” She blinked once and then shook her head slowly as if coming out of a trance. I gulped. That was a little freaky, even for me. Right. A handler witch—a witch with special gifts to activate time warpers and, evidently, help them when necessary.
“Okay. So...I was already planning on looking for Colleen anyway, so we can work together. I find her; you help her.” I nodded my head. It sounded like a good plan.
“Where do we begin this search?” Matt asked. “She could be with anyone.” I glanced over at Soren and met his gaze. Absalom. Wherever Absalom was—whatever he was up to—it had to do with Colleen. If we found him, we’d find her. And maybe, if I was very, very lucky, I’d get the extreme pleasure of putting him out of his miserable existence.
“What is it? Why are you grinning like that?” Aldwin narrowed his eyes in my direction.
“I need to find a vampire named Absalom. He will lead us to Colleen. I’m pretty sure he’s the one who has her. I will find him and then I’ll kill him.” No one argued with me.
“So, what are the two dark fae doing here?” Trina asked, staring Aldwin and Milena down as she twirled a blue strand of hair around her finger.
“There is an ancient book that I need to have translated. It seems that Aldwin is the only person anywhere that understands the text. The book is important....I can feel it.” I spoke through clenched teeth. No one was liking this situation, but it had to be done, and I was going to see it through. Everything else could wait. I could feel an invisible clock ticking down, and I didn’t want to find out what would happen if we didn’t find out what was going on before time ran out.
“I’m going to suggest we all meet tomorrow night at a place I have on the outside of the city. It will be more private. There are weapons, vehicles, and other things that might come in useful over the next few days.” Soren flexed his jaw, his gaze piercing mine. “Sage, you and Aldwin should go there ahead of us and see if you can find out what’s so important in that book.” I opened my mouth, and Milena began to protest. Even Aldwin was arguing when Soren cut everyone off with an ear-piercing hiss, flashing fangs. Matt and Trina flinched at the sound. The entire room became quiet. “If we are all there arguing and acting like children, they will never figure it out, and I don’t know about everyone else, but I’d like to get this over with as soon as possible.” He walked over to his desk and withdrew a set of keys and tossed them to me. “The car is waiting outside for you. The address is loaded into the GPS system.”
“Soren...” I bit my lip. I didn’t want to be alone with Aldwin. I knew we’d have to talk about things eventually, but not any time soon. Soren was in front of me before I could blink.
“You have to, Sage. It has to be done, and I trust you to be able to accomplish the job. I have a feeling this needs to happen anyway.” He kissed my forehead lightly. I closed my eyes. He was more trusting than I was. I smiled up at him as he backed away.
“Aldwin?” My heart skipped a beat just saying his name. Soren’s jaw hardened. Aldwin nodded once, a quick, jerky movement. I walked to the door quickly, making sure not to even look at Milena. The need to taunt her was way too strong. I glanced over at Matt and Trina and they both nodded in my direction. Soren would make sure they would be fine and would find their way the next day to Soren’s little hide-a-way.
The “car” outside was actually a fully-loaded Dartz Kombat painted in matte black. I stood there for a moment and took in the armored SUV and fell in love. Give any other girl a Lamborghini, but this vehicle was made for me. I smiled as the driver’s door was held open for me. I slid behind the wheel and sighed. All the buttons were a little bit intimidating, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to push them all. The passenger side door opened, and I remembered that I wasn’t going to be alone and I sobered up pretty fast. Aldwin shut the door and looked at me questioningly as I was trying to figure out how to work what I thought was the radio.
“Let me,” he said softly. His hand grazed mine as he reached for the knobs. I jerked my hand back like it had been bitten by a rattler. The twitch in his cheek muscle was the only indication that he noticed. I pulled out into traffic just as the unmistakable voice of Frank Sinatra crooned out the words to “Witchcraft” over the speaker system. I glanced over at my silent companion, but his face was turned away from me, staring out the window a
s we drove down the highway.
It turned out to be a relatively short drive—only forty-five minutes on the highway and another fifteen until we pulled onto a well-hidden dirt road. The house was set back away from civilization and was almost completely dark when we arrived. The only light on was a dim porch light. I could have missed the house entirely if it wasn’t for that tiny glow. The area was pitch black and eerily quiet. I rubbed the goose bumps on my arms as we stepped out of the SUV.
“Where are all the animal sounds?” I mused out loud, half whispering to myself, afraid to speak too loudly. Aldwin’s voice almost gave me a heart attack.
“They know a predator lives in this area. Also...I’m pretty sure Soren had a witch put a ward around this property—a keep-away spell.” He came around to join me in front of the truck with a duffle bag in his hand. He wouldn’t meet my gaze, which was probably for the best. I sighed and headed for the front porch. One of the keys on the key ring opened the front door without a single sound. It was weird. Aldwin grabbed my arm as I stepped forward and all the air rushed from my lungs. “Let me go in first.” He stepped past me, and all I could do was stand there like an idiot wishing his hand had lingered longer on my arm. I shook my head. God, I was such a moron.
Lights flooded the front room as Aldwin flipped on a few switches. My eyes widened. I guess I was expecting a log cabin or some kind of fall-out shelter, but this was so much more than that. Off to my right was the main room that one had to step down into. It had masculine but comfortable furniture covered in over-stuffed throw pillows, a huge fire place with a beautifully hand carved mantle, and a piano sitting off to one side. I wondered idly if Soren played—he must have.
There were beautifully depicted drawings hanging on the walls. I walked over to get a better look at them and blinked in surprise. The first one was the curve of a woman’s neck and the profile of her face. It looked like me. The second one was similar to the one hanging in his office—a young woman peacefully sleeping in an old-fashioned bed with just a sheet covering her, her hair spread out around her on the bed like a halo. It was beautifully intimate, and I had to stand there for a moment to let it sink in that his walls held several more pictures of me: me dancing at a ball, my eyes laughing up into the face of the man I danced with; me with a dagger drawn, looking fierce and powerful, ready for battle; and then a more recent drawing of me, wearing a hoodie and looking a lot lost and a little frightened. I gulped back the sudden threat of tears. The pictures showed a small piece of my soul in each one. Did Soren know me that well? Aldwin cleared his throat from behind me.
“I’m going to get comfortable. I’ll be ready in a bit to get started.” I nodded and followed behind him as he turned down a hallway. He pointed to a door at the end of the hallway. “That’s probably yours. I claimed this guest room for the night.” He rubbed the back of his neck. My hand twitched.
“Okay. I’ll be ready in a few,” I said as I shuffled off to my room.
“Sage...” I turned around and met his eyes. I could see the indecision flare before they became frigid and hard once again. “I’ll see you in a little while.” He closed the door as I stood in my doorway, holding my breath.
When I’d changed into a soft gray tank top and pajama bottoms, I padded out into the main room in search of Aldwin. I found him staring at a picture on the wall, unaware of me being in the room. I saw the longing and passion on his face as he lifted a finger to trace the curve of my cheek on the drawing. I stepped back quickly and made sure he would know I was coming by shutting a door loudly. When I entered again, his mask was back in place, and I found I couldn’t meet his gaze.
“Let’s get this started, shall we?” he asked in clipped tones, sitting down on the couch in front of the book already opened on the coffee table. I didn’t know if he would be comfortable with me sitting beside him, so I grabbed a huge throw pillow and sat in front of Aldwin and the book.
“Haven’t you read this before?” I asked, curious why he couldn’t just tell me what the book contained.
“I’ve read some of it, but not all. I found this book not too long ago. It was hidden with some other artifacts a very old member of Cerberus had managed to hoard to himself. It wasn’t until he died, that this was unearthed. Luckily, I got to it first and hid it away.” He ran his fingers lightly over the ancient, brittle pages.
“But why send it to me?” I asked.
“Because I knew you’d know how important it was and could keep it safer than I could. Because I knew it had to do with time warpers. And because I wanted any excuse I could find to contact you...even if it was to send you an old, musty book.” His eyes flicked to mine and for a second they were unguarded and the pain I found there left me feeling entirely too breathless.
“And the rose?” I whispered.
“I couldn’t help myself.” He shrugged, like it was no big deal. He stared into my eyes for a few moments longer before he abruptly broke eye contact and began turning pages in the book. I tucked my hair behind my ear before leaning forward to get a better look at the book. Some of the pages had beautifully intricate hand-painted illustrations, and I found myself oohing and ahhing over the priceless tome. Aldwin shook his head.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing...it’s just you’re like a kid in a candy store when it comes to books. I should have sent it to you a long time ago.” His smile vanished and his lips flattened into a hard line.
“So, what did you already translate?” I asked to change the subject and to get down to business. Aldwin had actually already translated the majority of the book. The first half of the book was a telling of the first time warpers, their journeys, their powers, and their triumphs. He gave me a brief run-down and promised to send me his handwritten notes some time so I could read all the accounts for myself. The second half of the book was divided into two distinct parts, and that’s where things started to get interesting. The first half spoke of a trio of time warpers known as the “time trinity.” This trio was destined to stop some kind of ancient evil from basically wiping out the human race. I glanced up at Aldwin as he recited the passage he had just read. An ancient evil sounded bad enough but wiping out the human race sounded like a big no-no.
“Wait a minute...a trio of time warpers?” I asked. Aldwin nodded his head. “Well, we only know of two right now. Do you think Absalom has another warper against her will? Or maybe these events are a long way off?”
“It’s hard to say,” Aldwin yawned and then stretched his arms over his head, exposing a very muscular stomach in the process. I shamelessly stared. It still looked just as perfect as it had to me back in 1904. “It could be any time in the future, but what do your instincts tell you?” he asked, unaware I had been oogling him.
“My instincts say we need to prepare for one hell of a fight,” I murmured. Aldwin nodded his head.
“That’s what mine tell me too. Just the fact that there are two living warpers alive at the same time...well, that alone is enough to convince me that these prophecies are already being fulfilled.” I frowned. Rarely did prophecies coming true equal a good thing. I glanced over at the clock on the mantle. It was already two o’clock in the morning. I jumped up off the pillow I’d been squatting on and stretched my aching muscles. The next thing I knew, warm hands were spread across my stomach and all my senses flew out the window.
“What the hell happened to your stomach?” I blinked rapidly, trying to concentrate on the question Aldwin was asking me. Oh yeah...the stitches. I yanked on my shirt and tried to push Aldwin away from me, but it was like trying to move a small tree—impossible.
“It’s just a few scratches. Not that big of a deal, Aldwin.” I waited for him to move away, but instead a shaking hand clutched me by the waist while Aldwin’s finger gently traced over the healing wounds across my stomach. I sucked in a breath and couldn’t suppress the shudder than ran through my body. “Aldwin...please,” I whispered roughly as he held me in place. His eyes met mine, and I coul
d see the storm he had held in check for so long threatening to loose itself as his cerulean blue eye searched mine. He squeezed them shut, his face a mask of pain and suffering. He gently lowered my shirt, his eyes still closed as if he couldn’t bear to look at me.
I caressed the side of his face and ran a finger over the scar on his cheek. “Why did you never come to me, Aldwin? Do you love Milena...are you happy with her?” I asked softly. When his eyes popped open, his mask was back firmly in place and the stabbing disappointment was almost too much. I cleared my throat and backed up a step. “Are you hungry? I’m going to go see what’s in the kitchen.” I turned without waiting for a reply and fled. I could feel his gaze like the red beam of light from a sniper’s rifle on my back as I walked out of the room.
“No.” I jumped, almost dropping the dozen eggs I’d just pulled out of the fridge. I set the eggs on the counter and looked up into Aldwin’s serious face, waiting for him to elaborate. “I don’t love her. She knows I don’t...but I think she hopes that eventually I will.” I turned around, thinking about what he just said as I found a red bell pepper and an onion. When I turned back around, Aldwin was searching through the cabinets closer to me.
“So, why do you stay with her, then?” I asked softly. Aldwin sat a large skillet on the stove top and poured a little olive oil into it. He handed me a bowl and a whisk. I whipped up half a dozen eggs as Aldwin chopped up an onion, red bell pepper, and a small jalapeño.
Relativity (A Sage Hannigan Time Warper Novel #2) Page 11
