Tundra Witch

by SL Perrine

  “What are you talking about?” Gianna stood. Matteo moved nearer backing her to the desk.

  “I’m talking about eradication. With you out of the picture, Gio will be able to focus on the task at hand.”

  “You can’t mean…?”

  “Oh, but I think I do.” He moved closer and the flush of heat beaded against her skin.

  The room kept closing in on her the closer he got. Darkness crept out of him she’d never seen before. He smiled wickedly, the white of his teeth making his face look sinister. She was scared. She could admit it to herself. “He’s going to kill me,” she thought. A flash of her daughter’s eyes at the news of her mother’s death made her shoulders square, and her back become rigid.

  Gianna moved from the front of the desk, slipping behind it. She narrowed her eyes and focused on the beating of Matteo’s heart. “There’s something you are forgetting.”

  He laughs and tips his head to the side with curious indignation. “What might that be?”

  “I’m no novice.” She feels for the veins and arteries around his beating organ. “And I do have talents, all of my own. Enjoy your end, knowing I’ll beat him, too.”

  Matteo’s face turned to stunned shock as Gianna’s power pinches off the blood flow into his beating heart. Just as she does with the electrical lines in the air conditioning panel, veins and arteries begin to collapse under her power. His pulse starts to slow, and his body begins to fall under his weight.

  When he lands on the floor his eyes staring up at her coldly, Gianna sighs and releases the hold on her power.

  “You can’t do it, can you?” He asks her with a whispered breath. He pants, and raises himself from the floor, pushing one of the chairs across the room.

  “I don’t need to. I just need you to know I can.”

  “As long as you know, I can and will kill you.” He lashes out and Gianna fumbles. Matteo moves to his knees, his hand clutching his chest. His steely eyes glaring at Gianna. Her throat starts to close, the force of his magic pummeled into Gianna pushing her backward. “You can’t do it, and I knew, even if you had the strength in you, I'd never die at your hand.”

  With his magic he throws her across the room, slamming her back into a bookshelf. Its contents fall to the floor with the weight of her body. A pang of fear passes through her once more. Not even the thought of her child’s sad face was helping to stave it off. Breaths came harder, the pain wracked through her body as Matteo constricts the movements of her lungs. The force of his power tightens around her. He reached down with his hand and grabs a fist-full of hair, pulling her to her feet by the nape of her neck.

  He was right, she could never do it. Not until she stopped hiding her power. Not until she stopped hiding, period. Gianna smiles at Matteo, and then as forcefully as she can, brings her knee to his manhood. He doubles over releasing his hold on her. And she moves away from him. She waves a hand at Matteo, and he stumbled back. His eyes widening once again as she stepped forward, a hand in the air. Her fingers moved as if she were wrapping them around his heart, her thumb dipping down to the space her fingers cup.

  He pushed back, and she stumbled; one foot moving backward. Her other hand waved the air in front of her, and his body flew into the closed and locked door. Banging erupted from the other side, shouts as inaudible as the thoughts in her head.

  "You don't have the balls." He moves a hand sending the lamp flying through the room at Gianna 's head, and she turns. It catches her on the back, shattering against her.

  “You want to see strength? Here you are.” She moved her free hand moving Matteo with it, so he was dangling from the ceiling. “You’re right, you won’t die by my hand because I’ll never lay a hand on you. It’ll look as if you simply had a heart attack. Only, I’m sure your precious Gio will know I’m responsible.”

  “He’ll kill you for this.” His cries grew weakened by the blood moving up his throat and into his mouth. Struggling for breath made him sputter and cough.

  “I’m counting on him trying.” She squeezed her hand, and his heart stopped beating. I’m not weak or alone anymore, she thought to herself as the veins and arteries fried out like an electrical panel, and a large hole formed where his mitral valve should be, causing blood to move through the organ in the wrong direction. His body convulsed in her grip and Matteo’s limbs fell, hanging freely toward the floor. Gianna moved his body slowly to the carpet she had seen Matteo fuck her husband on and sauntered to the door, flinging it open. The three men stood outside in the hall, and before they could rush her she moved her hand in a sweeping motion toward them, and Matteo’s body slid from the room, into the waiting men.

  “You have a delivery to make? I suggest you get to it; before he starts to smell.”

  “What have you done?”

  “He wanted me to prove myself. I think I’ve done that, and then some.” Gianna pocketed the key and sauntered back to the front door, waiting for the men to follow. One carried Matteo over his shoulder and slumped the lifeless body into the back of the truck just as Anthony pulled into the drive to circle around back. “I sure hope Gio kills the messengers.” They looked at her with something akin to fear and shock, then turned away, hoisting Matteo into the truck. Gianna slammed the door and locked it.

  “Why did I bother with shoes?” She kicked them off and ran through the house. Her nerves shot; worry crept into her body almost as soon as the front door closed, but she couldn’t stop to think about it.

  Anthony met her inside the back door. She just about flew down the stairs and ran into him. “Gia, what in the hell is the matter with you?”

  “You need to go back.” She tried to catch her breath. “You need to get Mila.”

  “I just dropped her off at school.”

  “Matteo is dead. Go get Mila, now!”

  “Gianna! Get ahold of yourself. What are you talking about?”

  “He’s dead, Jax. I killed him. Those goons are going to take him back to Gio, and he’s going to do something. I need my daughter here. Then, we can place wards on the property to keep him out. Go! I’ll explain it all once I know she’s safe.”

  Jax, thankfully, didn’t question her. He looked over at her, worry filled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll be back soon,” he said heading back to his truck. She watched him stop outside to talk to Nico. The two men nodded at each other and Anthony left.

  “What the hell was I thinking?” She slumped to the floor. When she looked up at the sound of the door, Nico was standing in front of her.

  “Miss?”

  “Yes, I fucked up. I’m sorry.”

  The man reached down and lifts her from the floor by her arms, then helps her into Anthony’s apartment. He sits her down at the counter and puts a pot of water on the stove.

  “You sure did but beating yourself up about it isn’t going to do any good. What you need to do now is wait for Mr. Jackson to get back here with Mila, and I’ll help the two of you ward the house. In the meantime, you’re going to settle your nerves with a cup of tea.”

  “I need to go upstairs and search his study.”

  “How?”

  “Matteo had men in there to get something for Gio. It’s unlocked, as far as magic goes. I have this.” She produces the small key she still clutched in her hand.

  “Give it to me.”

  Her eyes grow wide. “Why?”

  “I’ll go look for information on the property.”

  “How do you…?”

  “Clairvoyance isn’t just your field of expertise, ma’am. You can bring it about in a vision, I can with a thought. A picture forms in my mind, not a mirror.”

  “Huh. That explains so much.”

  “I hear that a lot.” He took the whistling kettle from the stove and pours her a hot cup of tea, then opens his hand for her to give him the key. “I promise you. I only want to help. Ms. Mila means a lot to all of us.”

  “Do you know what he’s up to?”

  “No. Sadly I haven’t been able to find out.
I will, however, do all that I can to help.”

  She nods at that and offers the key to him, resigning to wait there in Anthony’s apartment until he returns with Mila.

  I’m sorry Mr. Jackson, but Mila has just started class.” A brunette with thick glasses says as he glares at her from the other side of a desk.

  “I understand that Miss, but there has been a family emergency. I need to take her home.” Anthony smiles at the woman, his mind at work in a way she can’t detect. “Go get Mila Moretti and bring her to me,” he thinks in his head while holding eye contact with the receptionist.

  “Fine, Mr. Jackson. Wait here.” The woman stood and, upon moving from behind the desk, Anthony got a look at her knee-highs that had rolled down to her ankles and had to laugh. Being under his spell she didn’t take notice of it, but the Rossi’s nanny standing behind him sure did.

  “Anthony,” she gave him a knowing smile. “It’s nice to see you again.” She tosses her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

  “Hello, Eva. Twin one misbehaving already?”

  She didn’t really answer him but gave a short giggle. While she fought her shyness she always seemed to exhibit around him, he took in the tightness of her blouse and the way her jeans hugged her hips. She’d dressed differently than she did while working for the Rossi’s.

  “Mr. Rossi sent me down here to deal with him,” she looked down following Anthony’s gaze. “It’s actually my day off.”

  At that moment Mila burst through the office door and ran over to Anthony, her face full of fresh tears. “Mila? What’s the matter?”

  “Jax, my head hurts.”

  “Okay, well come on. I’m here to take you home anyway.” Eva Fontana forgotten, Anthony rushes from the building with a steadily crying Mila in his arms. He pulls open the back door of the SUV and buckles her in.

  Once in the driver’s seat and pulling away from the building he questions Mila further. “Do you know what’s making your head hurt? Did the Rossi boys bother you again?”

  “No. It feels like, I don’t know. Papa…” She cries. “Jax! It hurts, Jax. Make it stop.”

  Anthony speeds down the road; Mila reduced to sobs in the back seat. He finds his way to the park and pulls over, turns to Mila and takes her hand. “I can’t heal. I don’t have that gift, but maybe I can block whatever is hurting you.”

  She slowly nods her head, willing him to try. Anthony holds her hand in his and concentrates. A buzz of electricity zaps him in the front of his mind. When he tried to block Mila’s pain, he accidentally transfers it to himself instead. Wincing he looks at the girl, and she closes her eyes, her little body exhausted.

  For a small child, the pain would have been excruciating. For Anthony, it’s a slight annoyance behind his eyes pushing against his temples. An inconvenience that quickly grows as he puts the truck into drive and speeds his way to the manor.

  He stops at the back of the house and jumps from the vehicle. Nico is nowhere in sight, so he grabs Mila from the backseat of the car and pulls her into the house. Gianna rushes from his apartment and reaches out for her child, but he continues to the first and then the second floor, placing her down only when he finds her room; laying her on her bed.

  He motions for Gia to go to the hall and she looks at him strangely as if she can sense his discomfort. When they are in the hall with Mila’s door closed, he explains what happened.

  “I can’t get it to go away. I don’t know if I do that it won’t go back to Mila. I can’t let that happen.”

  Gia moves to him, placing her hands on either side of his face. A look of worry in her eyes as she searches for a magical signature.

  “He’s a rotten bastard. Come with me.”

  Anthony has never been on the second floor before, and probably never thought to go up to the third. She’d expressed not to do so when he first started working in the manor, and he’s never attempted to break his word that he wouldn’t.

  “We all have our secrets, Anthony. I’d like to finally show you mine.”

  After ascending the small staircase to the third level, he enters the room behind her. It’s small, no bigger than a master bathroom. A large table in the middle holds herbs, candles, and an antique mirror. Gia sits in front of it and starts mixing. The pain increases in his head making his vision blur.

  “What the fuck? How could he be doing this? He thinks this is affecting a child right now. Guess you were wrong.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If he thinks this is affecting Mila, then your assumption he wouldn’t hurt her was way off.” Before he could finish his thought, his vision goes black. “I can’t see anything. Gia. Whatever you’re doing, can we hurry it up?”

  “Hold on, Jax. I don’t know what will work.”

  “Please.”

  Gianna’s hands grab him and she moves him into the middle of the room, pulling her down to where she was sitting. The sound of mortar and pestle hitting each other make Anthony focus more on Gia and try to push away the pain. After a moment he can smell the rosemary, thyme, and lavender in the air.

  “A witch’s brew?”

  “With a little Adders tongue.”

  “A healer’s brew. So, you’re a healer too?”

  “No, I’ve just studied since childhood to do everything. My family is very affluent in Wicca. We have studied everything possible since the beginning of time. Something Gio has forgotten about.”

  “Do you think they would help you, and Mila?” He winced in pain again, and Gia flinched.

  “They’ve never been the type to put themselves between anyone. That didn’t stop me from calling and asking while you were picking up Mila. They refused. They won’t go up against Gio. My father can sense whatever it is he’s gotten himself into is dark. He’s right. I saw it seep out of Matteo like a sickness attached to his body. It was awful.”

  Gia continues with her mixture, trying something different each time she pushes something to him and he cringes in pain again. “I don’t know what more to do.”

  “It’s ok. It’s not your fault. I took this on.”

  “You didn’t have to, but I’m glad you did. I just wish I could help you.”

  “I would do anything for Mila, you should know that by now.”

  “I do.” She turns throwing ingredients into the bowl again without thinking about it. Her hands working methodically. When she’d finished, she throws a bit of Anis into the bowl and a cloud of smoke emanates from within. Steam rises to meet Anthony’s nostrils, and he breathed in deep. The pain moved to the back of his mind while she spoke. She seemed to have that effect on him. He could tune out everything except her. The steam lifted the pain from him; pushing it out and blocking its path back to him or Mila was the lit blueberry scented candle in the middle of the room.

  “How’s the pain?”

  “Gone. Thank you. We should check on Mila. Ward the property and the house.” His mind raced.

  “Nico is on it. Cook is missing. Sarah will sit with Mila for the rest of the day. You should rest.”

  Gianna stood to leave, and he noticed her dress - bright red. Not a color he’s seen on her since the night they’d met. He reached out and took her hand before she could walk away from him. “You said you were going to tell me all your secrets.”

  “I said I was going to show you. This is my secret. Another is what you can find in me now that I’m not hiding anymore. It’s there for your viewing pleasure.” Her hand slid from his, and she opened the door.

  As much as he wanted to dive into her, in more ways than one just then, he wanted to make sure for himself that Mila remained unaffected after the pain receded from his head.

  She lay curled up in the middle of her bed. Much too big for a ten-year-old girl. Giant stuffed animals arranged around her as if they were watching over her, protecting her as she slept. Anthony could tell one of those massive beasts had a protection spell cast into it, so it was doing just that. Protecting the girl as she slept.

&nbs
p; When he sat on the edge of the bed next to her, Mila opened her eyes. They sat there just looking at one another until she moved to sit up.

  “You should sleep,” Anthony urged.

  “Me? You took that out of my head into yours, didn’t you?” Anthony couldn’t answer her, so he just nods his head. “Thank you.”

  “I’m here to protect you, kiddo.”

  “I know. I knew I needed you with me. That night in the park. I knew you had to come.”

  “Mila, I need to ask you something.”

  “Okay.” She squeezed her arms around a giant white bear.

  “What did you do at that house with your dad? Why did you yell papa in the car?”

  “He said I couldn’t tell mamma. I told him he couldn’t keep me from telling you and he got upset.”

  “When did you speak to him?”

  “While I was at school. He talks to me all the time.” She points to her head. “In here. He was mad at mamma and thought you were going to tell her what he wanted me to do.”

  “What did he want you to do?”

  “He made me say weird words. It’s a language I don’t know. He gets real mad when I pronounce things wrong. Like how you and Nico teased me, but he yells and makes my head hurt until I get it right.”

  “What’s in that house?”

  “The one in the woods?”

  Anthony nods.

  “A lot of candles. In the big room, there’s a large circle on the floor with a star in it, but it has horns.” She yawns and pushes her face into the bear. “I’m tired.”

  “Okay, kiddo. You sleep now.”

  Chapter 19

  Anthony sat on the edge of the bed watching over Mila until she dropped into a deep slumber. He pushed a stray lock of hair away from her face before leaning over to kiss her forehead. Mila mumbled incoherently and rolled onto her side clutching the white teddy bear to her chest as she drew herself into a ball. Anthony covered her with the blanket and stood up.