My Magical Life to Live: Midlife Witchery Book 4

by Trim, Brenda

  It was enough to make me forget Thanos was watching for several seconds. The reminder slapped me across the face when I entered the lake and turned to face the house.

  He stood in the yard with his hands at his sides and his grey eyes glowing with appreciation. I licked my lips then ducked beneath the water. It was cool and refreshing. I surfaced with a gasp and proceeded to rub my arms.

  The water around me turned murky as I rubbed away the worst of the filth. I hadn’t realized how awful I had to have looked. The heated looks Thanos had thrown my way had to be fake. No way would anyone find a dirty buffalo appealing.

  Thanos didn’t move a muscle, making it impossible for me to linger in the lake any longer. There was only so much exposure I could handle. To my surprise, he approached me as I climbed to the shore.

  He snapped his hands and handed me a fluffy white towel. I wrapped it around me, painfully aware of his gaze on me. I dried myself without removing the terry cloth then wrung my hair out onto the dirt.

  I was so busy with drying I didn’t see Thanos close the distance. My head snapped up when I felt his heat less than an inch from me. Our gazes met and locked. My world narrowed down to Thanos and me for several blissful minutes.

  I forgot about demons and Tainted witches and having messed up magic. A shudder moved through me when he cupped my cheek. My lips parted, and he lowered his head to mine.

  I knew he would kiss me and lifted onto my tiptoes to press my mouth to his. I had no second thoughts about whether I should do it or not. We both wanted it, and nothing else mattered. One thing I loved about being my age was my confidence and going after what I wanted.

  Life was short, even for long-lived paranormals like us. If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. And if you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.

  His lips were soft and pliant. For a brief second, he allowed me to lead the kiss before he took over. His arms wrapped around my waist and his tongue ran across my lips.

  Arousal hot and heady ignited in my body, making me clench with need. No one had ever kissed me like he’d been starving, and I was a ten-course meal. Thanos’ hand traveled to my backside and tugged me against his body. His shaft was a hard length between us.

  I lifted a leg to wrap it around his waist and press our bodies closer together when the air thickened and popped behind me. Thanos let go of me and swiveled so fast I ended up on my ass. “Ow,” I blurted as I trained my gaze between his legs.

  The demon was standing five feet from Thanos with a massive sword in his hands. What the heck? For some reason, it never occurred to me he would use a weapon. I swore I had one of those black boxes with locator beacons from airplanes hidden in my body. I was doing my best to obscure my location, yet they found me anyway.

  “I’m practically naked, and I don’t have any weapons,” I called out to Thanos.

  A black sword appeared in Thanos’ hands, and he swung it at the demon. The demon dodged and darted away. Thanos waved his hand, and two things happened. I went from bare to clothed in tight leggings and a sweater with thick-soled boots. The outfit was great, but the shoes would be a problem.

  Not the biggest problem. No. That would be the fact that I wasn’t healed enough to take more damage. Thanos swung again and sliced a cut across the demon’s stomach. It lifted its head and roared.

  “There is heavy magic masking the witch’s identity. I can’t latch onto it. Can you try?” I stared at the back of Thanos’s head. I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t have a choice. I had to find the witch responsible.

  “Revelare,” I murmured and focused on finding the thread guiding the demon.

  The beast lunged at me with its claws out and aiming for my face. A scream left me, and Thanos’ sword knocked the creature away from me. I didn’t have enough time to lose my focus, and the air shimmered dark grey around the demon.

  A tug started in my mid-section, and I grabbed onto the thread, hoping to track it to its owner. Thanos was forcing the demon to take a defensive position and wouldn’t let it anywhere near me. He jumped and spun and sliced with precision.

  Black ichor dripped all over the long grasses of the cabin’s front yard. Smoke rose from each section as the plants withered. Right as I thought I would be able to get ahold of the signature, something scorched me from the inside out.

  The shock of being burned by someone that wasn’t even there made me lose focus. The demon was paying attention and jumped over Thanos’ head to get to me. I would be mincemeat pie if Thanos hadn’t acted fast and grabbed the demon’s foot as it was airborne.

  The creature was sent back to the ground and managed to catch me with its claws on the way down. Deep furrows traveled the length of my right arm. My legs were spared. I just wish that made a big difference.

  Bile filled the back of my throat immediately, and spots danced in the corners of my eyes. It was hard to focus on Thanos trying to thrash the demon. I saw the grey body flop this way and then that. The attack made the ground shudder under my feet.

  “Tether the demon,” Thanos called out.

  I bobbed my head up and down and conjured an image of the demon being tied to Thanos. He would be the one taking it back to the Underworld. “Petulans!” The energy exploded out of me, and I saw Thanos then the demon fly into the air.

  Oh crap. My magic malfunctioned, and I couldn’t clear my eyes enough to see them. I heard a thud and a masculine groan. That had to be Thanos hitting the ground. The yowl that followed made the tiny hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

  I shook my head to clear it and saw the creature sprint forward. Thanos was drug behind it for several feet before Thanos somehow got to his feet. I had to run after them as they dashed through the trees.

  I bounced from trunk to trunk more than I ran in an attempt to catch up to them. The demon was moving as if it hadn’t been injured at all while Thanos was having trouble keeping up. I wondered if he was injured when I slammed him against the ground.

  I tried to think of a safe way to stop the demon from dragging Thanos through the forest. I cringed every time I saw his body hit trees. I screamed a warning when I saw a boulder ahead of them.

  It got the demon’s attention, as well, and he slammed right into it then bounced off. Thanos didn’t slow at all, and I thought he was going to hit the thing, as well. At the last second, he leaped through the air and landed on the demon’s back.

  The creature roared and bucked, trying to dislodge Thanos. The sword was no longer in Thanos’ grip. Cuts and bruises marred his handsome face, but that only made him sexier. I couldn’t help it. I was one sick woman for finding his skill in fighting the demon hot.

  I tried to feel for the magical bond holding the demon without using magic. I didn’t want it to backfire on us again. I wasn’t able to do much beyond seeing the dark grey thread. It throbbed and flared red every once in a while.

  The poison from the claws was stealing my remaining energy and draining the adrenalin that had gotten me this far. For the second time in a matter of days, the demon had beaten me.

  This time I had toxic goo coursing through me while I slowly bled out. Once again, Thanos stuck by my side and fought to protect me. Alright, so technically, he fought to capture the demon, but he was watching me simultaneously. Not many would risk their lives like that for anything. So, regardless of his motives, he was a hero in my book.

  All of a sudden, the demon stopped trying to get away. It turned to me and grinned, its grey skin stretching and revealing black fangs. The thing vanished before Thanos could pull himself to his feet. Thanos was left holding a blue ball of light in his fist and cursing like a sailor.

  Chapter 15

  “I’m not so sure we’re facing a witch after all.”

  My jaw dropped, and my eyes flared. What the hell was Thanos talking about? What else would we be facing? I couldn’t think of a witch that had an ax to grind with me, let alone other creatu
res. Fae were the only ones that might be pissed at me.

  But they wouldn’t be mad at just me. They’d be angry at Fiona, Aislinn, and me. And they’d have to be supporters of Voron. We had no idea what happened to them after we helped kill the king, and we didn’t care. That was for the new leadership to deal with. Not us.

  “You’re going to have to explain that. You’re the one that said it had to be a witch. You thought it was me at first. What else would be able to crack my spell?” Something had shattered the enchantment I had cast tying the demon to Thanos.

  He kept his head down as he held his hand above my bleeding arm. After the demon vanished, I fell to my knees, and Thanos had to help me back to the house. We’d run a long way during our chase through the woods.

  It hadn’t seemed all that long to me, yet when we kept walking and walking, I wondered if the witch had tried to teleport the demon and ended up grabbing all three of us because of my tether.

  “Many are capable of breaking witch spells while Fae spells are a bit more challenging to unravel. Others like me don’t do magic in the same way your kind does. We’re far more limited. I can’t cast a bomb, but I can conjure fireballs. I don’t understand it all. I know just enough to help me control a situation.”

  Meaning he knew his strengths and weaknesses. That wasn’t surprising at all. But it exhausted me. I wasn’t cut out for subterfuge and deceit. I came at you head-on and dealt with problems in the same way. “Are there Lords of the Underworld that could be behind this? You know, baddies right under Hades.”

  He chuckled and lifted my arm with a gentle hand. “I can’t tell if you’re thinking of Lucifer or Hades. Lucifer is the one with hordes of mindless killing machines at his beck and call. Hades' Lords help him keep order, but they’re closely monitored. He can’t afford for any of them to get ideas. Aside from the Four Horsemen, they’re the only ones that might pose a threat to Hades. None of them are missing or have gone missing for even short periods. Besides, this magic doesn’t feel like it originates in the Underworld.”

  “You’re right. I didn’t sense any malevolence.’

  He tilted his head and looked up from my bleeding arm. “Do I feel evil? Does my energy terrify you?”

  That was a loaded question. I thought of death when I looked at him. It wasn’t that he came across as malicious, just lethal and not afraid to cut his enemies down. “You’re not evil. And, you made your point. I can’t assume the Underworld is nothing but pits of fire where the dead are tortured and eaten by demons.”

  He smiled and went back to focusing on my injury. “I don’t know. We have some pretty big bonfires on the hill where Aidoneus and I built our houses.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Har har. Is the poison coming out?” By the time we’d gotten back to my cabin, I was ten shades of green, and I’d thrown up twice. I felt something coursing through my veins.

  “It is, but it’s slow going because it traveled throughout your entire body. Are you always this hot?”

  “I had a quip ready about me being hot enough to melt a man’s brain with my smile, but I know that’s not what you’re referring to. What exactly do you mean?”

  He pointed to the blood dripping from my wound. “Your blood is practically boiling in your veins. I’ve never come across this with a witch and am curious if the poison is too far gone or if it’s normal for you.”

  I cleared my throat, trying to buy time to think of something to talk my way out of this one. Of all the times to come up empty, this was the worst. No matter how hard I tried, no excuse came to mind.

  “Ever since I returned from Eidothea, it’s normal for me. Not that I like it. It feels like I’m going to be incinerated from the inside out.”

  “Does anything make it worse?”

  Let’s see. Just about everything. Except kissing Thanos. That had been the one time I didn’t feel my magic boiling beneath the surface, waiting to erupt and take me with it. “Just about everything, but mostly stress. Can you get the poison out?” I was getting weaker, and it wasn’t just from the blood loss.

  My mind was fuzzy, and I had to lean my head back on the rocking chair while I watched for the telltale green goo Thanos had told me about. It would trickle down my arm and into the salted, cast iron pot right below me.

  “It’s almost there, but it’s hard to grab onto it all.” Thanos’ words were followed by grey-streaked green goo seeping from one corner.

  My racing heart skipped a beat then slowed to a more normal rate. I wasn’t going to die of demon venom today. “What’s the grey stuff?”

  Thanos ran a finger through it and pressed it to a device he’d pulled from a bag I hadn’t seen earlier. He had a few of them and ran them over my injury before starting to remove the venom.

  The palm-sized black box had a screen on the top half with a spinning circle before it beeped and revealed the results. “Ash? I have ash coursing through my body?” The thought made me want to throw up and get it out of me.

  There was another beep. “Your body is incinerating the venom. That’s not something your kind should be capable of doing. Perhaps it has something to do with that flaming bird on your chest.”

  My hand flew to my breast, and I jerked my arm out of his hold. I didn’t like him knowing anything about that. I didn’t understand it. All I knew was it appeared after a Fae cut me. I killed him ten minutes later. It had exhilarated me, even though I couldn’t move my arm for hours after that.

  “Doubt it. This is a scar from war. It appeared during a battle in the Fae realm.”

  Thanos watched me for several seconds then extended his hand to me. He wanted to continue clearing the poison. After a few tense seconds where we stared at each other in silence, I laid my elbow on his palm.

  “At least we know why you’re not unconscious. You’ve got some amazing power that is working hard to protect you.” Thanos fell quiet, and a second later, the green and grey crap was once again oozing from my wound. I was really tired of getting hurt.

  My phone startled me and made my heart race. It was in the kitchen, and we were on the porch. It was probably Fiona, worried about me. I stood up to go get it, but Thanos was gone and back before I could blink.

  He held my cell out with a smirk. “It would have gone to voicemail by the time you got to it. And I want to know who it is.” His voice took on a growl at the end that made me shiver. He wasn’t jealous, was he?

  It was Camille. I swiped the green bar on the screen. “Hey, Camille. What can I do for you?”

  “You should get to the meeting house. Derek is ready to sentence you for Faye’s death.”

  I gasped and nearly dropped the phone when my hand went slack. I caught it before it hit the ground. “She’s dead? When did it happen?”

  Camille’s sigh held the weight of the world. “She’s not gone yet, but she started having seizures about half an hour ago, and they haven’t stopped. Zreegy said we needed to prepare ourselves. Please tell me you found evidence to support your claim.”

  “I’ve been too busy being attacked by the demon to do much of anything. Dammit.”

  “Tell her stall anything official until we get there,” Thanos interjected. I wasn’t surprised he could hear the entire conversation.

  “What? Who was that?” Camille asked.

  “That was the Underworld agent who is sucking demon venom from twenty-inch claw marks on my arm. Don’t let them do anything until I get there. I have something that will shut Derek up for good about this issue.”

  I hung up and looked at Thanos. “You’d better have something that will get me out of this. I’d like to keep breathing.”

  Thanos grabbed an ointment from his bag and smiled. “You’ll just have to trust me."

  * * *

  We pulled into the parking lot two hours later, and I jumped out of my car and headed to Thanos’ truck. “You sure about this?”

  We’d driven separately, so I hadn’t had a chance to ask him what he had planned. I wanted to believe his stat
ement alone would do the trick, but I knew better. Derek would make an argument that I was sleeping with him, and that was why he was standing up for me.

  “I’m hurt you don’t trust me.” He feigned a frown and made a show of pouting.

  I smacked his shoulder. “This is my life, Thanos. I have kids and friends and a life. I don’t want to lose it.”

  He cradled my face. “I would never do anything to put you in danger.”

  I needed to break contact. I was about to kiss him again. Instead, I started walking to the doors. “Unless it helps you get your quarry. Then you’d stake me in the middle of a snake pit if necessary.”

  He chuckled. “As long as you know where you stand with me.”

  I pushed the double doors open and entered the council building. Sweat slicked down my spine, and my heart rate shot into the stratosphere. The chatter stopped immediately, and the group parted.

  Faye was laid out on the table, and the council was surrounding her. Zreegy was amongst the group as well.

  “What’s this?” Derek demanded as he broke away from the group. “You bring an outsider into our chambers? When you’ve been summoned to answer for her death?”

  My mouth was dry, and my throat hurt. These people had the power and ability to imprison and kill me. The fear that held me in its grip wasn’t irrational. They wanted to do both of those things.

  Thanos stepped forward. His muscled body moved fluidly. He didn’t have to do anything to radiate lethality. It was in his legs and arms. It was in his eyes. It poured from him and made your fight or flight kick into gear. Several council members took a couple steps back.

  “I’m an agent of the Underworld Investigative Services, and I’m here to help this woman.” Thanos gestured to Faye, who looked gaunt where she lay on the table.

  Derek narrowed his eyes. “You’re in this with Violet. We will have you arrested.”