Tundra Witch

by SL Perrine

  “I need the others,” Anthony said.

  The bald man returned to the back of his vehicle and came back with an assault rifle mounted with a scope and a small automatic pistol. Anthony took the weapons and returned to the SUV.

  “My payment?”

  “Give me a week, and I’ll send it through the old channels.”

  The bald man nodded and climbed into the Hummer. The lights came back on, and the Hummer backed out of the warehouse. Anthony entered the SUV and placed the rifle just behind the center console with the muzzle facing down. He passed the small automatic to Gianna.

  “What’s this?” Gianna asked.

  “Glock 19 Gen4. You know how to use one?” Anthony replied as he started the car.

  “You point the end at who you want to kill and pull the trigger?”

  “In a nutshell.”

  “What am I supposed to do with it?”

  “Kill bad guys.”

  “I have magic for that.”

  Anthony had just placed the vehicle in drive but quickly ratcheted the stick back to park. He touched the central light overhead, and a soft glow illuminated the interior of the car. Anthony turned in his seat.

  “Gianna, do you have any idea how strong Giovanni is?”

  “Not as strong as I used to believe. He sure didn’t look powerful when I pinned his ass to the wall last night.”

  “He wanted you to believe that.”

  “Please,” Gianna scoffed. “I could have held you and Giovanni there all night.”

  “I hate to break it to you, Gia. Had I chosen to, I could have broken your power and concentration with a gesture. Giovanni could have achieved the same result with a negligent thought.”

  “So, why didn’t you? Why didn’t he?”

  “I have no idea why Gio allowed you to exert your power. Perhaps he was testing your strength. I can’t say for sure. As for me? One of my abilities is to measure the strength in magic-users, but I can’t do it until they’re actively engaging their power. I also can’t be in direct conflict with the user during the measuring.”

  Gianna’s eyes narrowed. “Is that why you were so quiet and compliant?”

  “It was.”

  “So, who’s stronger? You, or me?”

  “That’s what you want to know?”

  “You or me?” Gianna repeated.

  Anthony draped a wrist over the steering wheel and looked through the windshield. “We’re on an even keel.”

  “And Gio?”

  “If an individual contained the sum of both our powers within one body, it would barely exceed half of his.”

  Gianna rested the pistol on her right knee. “You’re sure?”

  Anthony nodded. “Without a doubt,” he replied as he faced Gianna again.

  “The guns?”

  “Giovanni is assuredly prepared for either of us to use magic against him. He may not expect a more normal attack. We may surprise him if things get out of hand.”

  “Jax, this is just a fact-finding mission.”

  “There’s something else you need to know.”

  Gianna looked out her window. “Really? You’ve been keeping something else from me? There’s a surprise.”

  “Gio and I had a confrontation the night before in his study. He threatened me and showed me his power.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I showed him mine in return,” he replied sheepishly.

  “Men.” Gianna rolled her eyes. “You had to play a game of whose dick is bigger, didn’t you?”

  “I think it caught him off guard,” Anthony replied while ignoring her comment and dropping his hand to the gear shift.

  She lay her hand gently on his. “I’m sure it did. For the record, yours is bigger in the mundane world,” she stated with a smile to lighten the mood.

  Anthony pulled his hand away from hers and looked through the windshield again without showing any emotion. When she pulled her own hand away, Anthony replaced his hand on the shifter and eased it into drive. He turned the dome light off a moment after.

  “I’m not a sensitive, but I have a distinct feeling that Giovanni means to hurt Mila.”

  “That’s not possible, Jax. He adores our daughter.” She said while shaking her head.

  The SUV exited the warehouse, and Anthony wheeled it left onto the road. “Then what do you think his end game is?”

  Gianna shrugged. “If I had to guess, I’d say he plans to brainwash Mila and turn her against my side of the family and tip the balance of power back to his family.”

  “Could be,” Anthony agreed.

  “He wouldn’t harm our daughter.”

  “If you say so.”

  Anthony got the vehicle back on course with the directions the GPS was giving, and they drove in silence for about an hour. As they neared their destination, Gianna turned in her seat to face Anthony again.

  “Yeti?”

  “A name from my distant, checkered past.”

  Gianna’s eyebrows rose. “Anthony Jackson has another secret?”

  Anthony flashed her an annoyed glance and looked away again.

  Gianna waited for an answer until her patience ran out. “Well?”

  “I’d prefer not to talk about it.”

  “And I would prefer you did. This isn’t a request, Anthony.” She glanced at the GPS. “We have a little time yet.”

  “Let it go, Mrs. Moretti.”

  “No. A strange man brings you firearms with a mere phone call, calls you by some scary nickname, and is very cautious around you as he does it. I think that gives me the right to know about your past. For fuck’s sake, Jax. It’s like I don’t even know you.”

  “You don’t know me, Mrs. Moretti. You won’t let me get close,” he says somewhat petulantly.

  Gianna ignored the dig. “All the more reason for you to tell me about yourself. I let you into my home, entrusted you with the care of my child and,” she looked down at her lap, smoothing the fabric of her pants, and dropped her voice, “I let you into my body.”

  “That was a drunken interlude. You said so yourself.”

  “Don’t try to change the subject, Jax.”

  “You brought it up.”

  Gianna scowled at Anthony.

  “Fine, Gianna,” Anthony relented. “What do you want to know?”

  “Let’s start with everything from the beginning.”

  Gianna waited patiently while Anthony took several minutes to compose his thoughts. She noted they had exited the city and were passing through the suburbs into the countryside. Homes were gradually growing further apart. When he finally spoke, his voice almost startled her.

  “When I was younger, fresh out of high school, I met a vampire.”

  “A vampire?” Gianna interrupted incredulously. Anthony looked at Gianna with squinted eyes and pursed lips. “Sorry. Continue.”

  “Actually, she was more than a vampire. She was a hunter.”

  “Okay, assuming I believe you met a vampire, what’s a hunter?”

  “She hunts vampires, as well as other things.”

  “Other things?”

  “Monsters.”

  “Monsters,” Gianna parrots disbelievingly.

  “Werewolves, demons, things that go bump in the night?”

  “Look, Jax quit fucking with me. Those things don’t exist.”

  “Neither do witches.”

  “Point taken. Continue.”

  “Anyway, I helped her out of a sticky situation that she really didn’t need my help getting out of, but she found my chivalry charming. Her words, not mine. She took me under her wing and opened my eyes to a whole other world within our world.”

  “And how did she do that?”

  “By training me to hunt and kill the same things she did in ways that didn’t always involve using magic.”

  Gianna jerked her head at the weapon leaning between them. “The rifle?”

  “I can easily put a round through Giovanni’s eye from a thousand yards awa
y. Well, maybe. It’s been awhile.” He shrugs. “I can ventilate his skull should the need arise.

  Gianna gives a low whistle. “That’s a fair distance. And you hunted… monsters with this vampire?”

  “On occasion. Most of the time I provided her with back up, managed her office here on the east coast, and did a ton of research for her.”

  “She has multiple offices?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where?”

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “Jax.”

  “Seriously. I can’t tell you that. I like how my head sits firmly on its shoulders.” Anthony replied as the car pulled up to a stop sign.

  “Oh.” Gianna processed the relevance of his statement before asking, “So, what’s her name?”

  “Can’t tell you that either,” he replied as he looked down the road in either direction.

  “Why not?”

  “Same answer; I like how my head sits firmly on its shoulders.”

  “She entrusted you with a lot of knowledge about her and her activities.”

  “She did.”

  “Was she pretty?” Gianna asked unexpectedly.

  “Huh?”

  “I asked if she was pretty.”

  “I guess.”

  “You guess?”

  “I don’t think it’s relevant.” He said as the vehicle moved forward again.

  “Tell me what she looks like.”

  Anthony gave her a strange look and Gianna looked away.

  “Tall, curvy, hair the color of blood. Fashion sense that’s something between a dominatrix, a hooker, and a futuristic killer in a sci-fi movie,” he finally answered.

  “So, a sexy vampire hunter,” Gianna stated.

  “If you’re into that.”

  “And were you?”

  “Was I what?” Anthony asked.

  “Into that?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Don’t play stupid, Jax.” Gianna rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Did you sleep with her?”

  “More like… made myself available to her desires.”

  Something about his tone made Gianna drop her current line of questioning.

  “Yeti?”

  Anthony chuckled. “It was the name the monsters gave me.”

  “Monsters gave you a nickname?”

  “Big, scary, and cold; get it?”

  “Ah. So why did you leave?”

  “I wanted a simpler life. One without constantly looking over my shoulder or calling cleanup crews after exterminating some monster.”

  “What would your simpler life consist of, if you could speak it into existence?”

  “The unabashed, enduring love of the woman I adore, more children, and the happily ever after.”

  “More children?” Gianna asked in confusion. “You have children too?”

  “I misspoke. I meant I want children.”

  Gianna tried not to smile and was about to push Anthony for some clarification when the GPS announced their arrival. Anthony slowed the vehicle.

  “The GPS says we're here, but there isn’t anything.”

  “A little further down the road. There’s a dirt road leading into the property,” Gianna said while pointing.

  Anthony drove a good twenty feet and stopped in front of a paved road that ran into the property. “Here?”

  “Yeah,” Gianna intoned. “I guess it isn’t a dirt road any longer.”

  “I guess not,” Anthony replied as he turned into the drive.

  Trees lined both sides of the road and loomed over them ominously as they navigated its length. They drove for about a mile until the road opened into a large plot of land with a massive, imposing building made of black stone taking up a majority of the property. The many windows that populated its expanse were a strange, smoky-colored glass that did not show anything of the building’s interior and captured exterior light without reflection. Sinister, full-bodied gargoyles adorned the roof and glared down upon the property as if daring anyone to approach. The architecture was a bizarre cross between Victorian and modern.

  “I guess I know why it appraises for so much now,” Gianna said.

  Anthony hurriedly backed the vehicle down the road until he found a place he could pull off and hide the SUV. Grabbing the rifle, Anthony exited the car and met Gianna at the front. They made their way through the woods in silent agreement with Anthony taking the lead. A sound on the nearby road caused them to stop and hide behind some trees as a Gator utility vehicle with four armed men passed their position.

  Anthony and Gianna shared a concerned look before continuing. After a while, they heard the Gator pass by on the road again. When they reached the edge of the tree line, Anthony shouldered the rifle and peered through the scope. He slowly raked the sight over the property.

  “I think we’re done for the day,” Anthony said as he dropped the weapon.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We came at the wrong time to properly recon the area.” He pointed towards the building. “There are armed guards along the roof, armed guards at the entrances, and numerous perimeter guards are patrolling the edge of the woods. They’ll be on us in a few minutes. We should go while the gettin’s good.”

  “I want to see,” Gianna said as she reached for the rifle.

  “Two minutes,” Anthony warned.

  Anthony passed the weapon to Gianna, and she raised the scope to her eye. She swept the area much as Anthony had done and confirmed his observations. Handing the weapon to Anthony, they made their way back to the truck. Gianna smiled at Anthony when he got the door for her. Anthony climbed into the vehicle and placed the rifle between the seats as he did before. Putting the car in gear, he navigated onto the road and down the long drive. Turning onto the street, Anthony put some distance between them and the property presided over by Giovanni Moretti before he spoke again.

  “Gia, what the fuck was that?”

  “I have no idea, but it doesn’t look like a nice place to be.”

  “I can agree with that.”

  “When are we coming back?”

  “Give me a few days to process. Let’s see what further information you can dig up and what Mila might give us. I don’t believe for a second that Gio is taking her to etiquette school. I know one thing for sure.”

  “What’s that?” Gianna asked.

  “When we come back here, it will be in the proper attire and at night. Maybe with some serious backup.”

  “Finally, something we can agree on.”

  Chapter 17

  Morning did not bring clarity. Gianna woke with a migraine and was just as angry and frustrated as she was the night before. For one thing, she had to deal with her husband doing shit behind her back. When they bought that property for their daughter, it was a plot of land with a dirt road. Now it is paved, with a building, and guards? That was a lot of guards. Anthony was right; they would need backup, but who?

  Anthony. She had to deal with him too. Not so much him, but his memory of a curvy redhead he made himself available to on more than one occasion. Something about the way he spoke about the woman ate her up inside. She doubted this redhead was someone he wanted to just be available for. The look on his face said it was more than that. Maybe it was something he inherently didn’t believe?

  “What the hell did he mean by more children? Everything he said up until that point made sense. Even wanting to find someone to settle down with. Someone he could adore.” She asked herself this question over again. It was pressed into her mind.

  Gianna just had to face the facts. Jax wanted what every person with any sense in the world wanted. The same thing she wanted before getting handed a husband who would only ever look at her as a baby factory and a trophy wife. He wanted to be in love with someone that loved him. He didn’t just want it, he deserved it. All of it.

  More than ever Gianna wanted to just leave it alone. Let it be a drunken tryst. She didn’t want to be jealous of a woman that wasn’t really
a woman. She couldn’t even fully wrap her mind around the fact that such a woman even exists, a vampire who hunts her own kind.

  She pushed the covers from her body. Cold air hit her first, then the realization. She pushed out her senses, following the wires in the house down to the control panel in the foyer. Someone had repaired the thermostat. “Well, Gio, you certainly wasted no time getting that done.”

  She moved into the bathroom and jumped into the shower. The hot spray hit the floor, and the heat filled the room. Gianna looked at the mirror as the steam filled the space around her. Someone had written ‘hi’ and put a happy face next to it. Gianna smiled to herself and jumped in the shower. Her daughter often left her little notes; it was their way of keeping in contact even when they had busy schedules. It was four o’clock. She would be getting up in an hour for school. Gianna wanted to be with her at breakfast, so she washed quickly.

  Instead of going straight to her study, Gianna stopped at Giovanni’s. He’d be working out of the house with his study locked tight. He had all kinds of wards on it. After what Anthony said about his powers, she wondered how that had happened. He’d been weak when they married. She could tell. She would have paid more attention to him, but she couldn’t. She was blocking her own strength from everyone. She wanted Giovanni to believe she was weak. She would let Jax think he knew all he could about her strengths and her weaknesses until she had no choice but to trust that he wouldn’t turn on her. Everyone in her life usually did. Either by Giovanni’s hand or another. He was a man to be feared, that was for sure. She thought she could let her guard down around Jax. She had. Though she was still uncertain.

  Wondering why Jax shared any information about his own talents, she thought to share a bit more with him on their trip. When she held his hand, it wasn’t merely just a way to try and measure his power, but because she craved his touch. However, when he pulled away from her, she knew both were a bad idea. She trusted he told her the truth.

  A moment passed, and she heard the open and close of Jax’s door downstairs. The treadmill didn’t start up, and she wondered if she should go to him. They still had things to discuss, and it was best to do it while Giovanni wasn’t at home.

  A few steps down she thought she heard him speaking to someone, not that she could make out the words. Who the hell could he be taking to at such an hour? Instead of bothering him she turned left and headed for the kitchen to talk with Mila.