Red rolled her eyes. “Thanks, Hannah.”
The bouncer muttered into his walkie talkie, “Some redhead and her annoying underage friend is here. Is this the one…?”
“Yes. That’s the one.” Smirking, Kristoff appeared at the door, looking as if he’d stepped out from the pages of GQ. Under a tailored black blazer, a cobalt V-neck shirt brought out the blue in his eyes. Party lights strobed over his dark blonde hair. He beckoned them inside.
The club bumped from the loud rhythms, a DJ in the aloft glass booth casting his own spell. Any trace of the fight with the wolves was gone as if nothing had ever happened. Kristoff said once he could be like a genie. The place looked like he had fulfilled the wishes of his investors.
“This is so cool!” Hannah squeezed Red’s hand, dragging her along to strut behind him to the edge of the packed dance floor. Flashing lights pierced the darkness, shifting over the bouncing throng, illuminating blissed-out revelers.
A self-satisfied grin spreading on his face, Kristoff turned around, pulling a VIP pass out of his suit jacket. “I assume you want to go backstage before the Mr. Hyde show too.”
Pure joy radiating from her doe eyes, Hannah boggled at him. “Of course we do!”
“I saved him from poltergeists once, so…” Red started to say.
Hannah bolted forward to snatch the pass out of Kristoff’s hand.
Amused by the speed of the excited teenager, he pointed to a stern-faced hipster with a clipboard and a septum piercing. “Pia will take you to the meet and greet.”
“Do you mind?” Hannah asked Red, trotting in place, clutching the backstage pass.
“I’m good.” Laughing at the puppylike enthusiasm, Red waved her off. “Go. Enjoy celebrity spotting.”
Hannah muffled her shriek and darted away.
Tossing her sleek hair back, Red crossed her arms. A teensy smile cracked through her unimpressed façade. “That was a Machiavellian maneuver.”
“I see it as a win-win for both parties.” Kristoff put his hand on her lower back, caressing gaze scanning her outfit. “That is my favorite color. You look beautiful. I’m arrogant enough to think you dressed up for me, but I get the feeling Hannah pushed you into coming.”
“She was rather forceful with the mascara.” Red fiddled with the halter dress’s collar. His claim mark was exposed on her neck, but she didn’t hide it. Her belly tightened a little at the interest lurking behind his effortless cool.
“I’m grateful for the rough treatment. I was wondering when I would see you again.” His presence parted a path through the dance floor, the dancers subconsciously recognizing the predator in their midst. Kristoff walked her to a raised platform to sit down at a table among the VIP guests.
In the premium section with the best view of the upcoming performance, Red fell silent as she studied the closed stage curtains. Flashing back to Gloria taunting them about her daddy’s good luck charm there, she still hadn’t figured out how it had defended her against Trudy’s last spell or given her a boost of power. It wasn’t something she had told anyone but Vic and her own journal.
Her skin tingled as Kristoff idly stroked the back of her shoulder, regaining her concentration. She rambled some observation about the place looking bigger now with all the people, feeling him return the banter more than hearing it.
He leaned in to face her, a thoughtful furrow deepening between his brows. He rubbed his thumb in circles over her tattoo. His scent surrounded her, charcoal soap and wintry forests. “I bounced the name Emma Peters to Nedda for the DVA to run. Nothing has come up yet. Charm’s townhall had a mysterious fire around ten years back so their records are scarce. I’ll have her keep digging. She’s busy, but you’ll be the first to know what I learn.”
The openness in his expression made her heart pang. Red had said he didn’t have feelings, but she could see the depths in his gaze. She relaxed against his hand. “I said thank you, but I didn’t tell you what it meant when you took me to the diner. You pep talked me into finding Charm. You helped me go home. It’s all I ever wanted. If I met a genie, that would be my only wish.”
“You would have found it on your own.” Kristoff chucked, brushing a stray lock of hair off his mark on her throat. “You’re persistent like that.”
Red bit the inside of her cheek to stop the sigh he provoked. She looked down, avoiding everything she saw in his soft expression. “Stubborn. I didn’t ask you to come to Battle Forge, but I’m still alive because you did. I guess I was worried about owing you again.”
Somber, he tipped her chin up. “You have to know that we’re beyond favors now.”
“That’s what worries me.” Goosebumps on her arms, Red whispered a confession. “I don’t know my intentions when it comes to you.”
Blue eyes twinkling, Kristoff ran his fingers down her arm. “You don’t need to know everything. Jump into the unknown.”
Red shivered as he leaned in, lips hovering over hers. It would have been so easy to let him kiss her. Her mouth already sought his. Corralling all her willpower, she pulled back, hand on his chest to pause his advance, fingers spreading over the soft fabric hiding his firm muscles. “I don’t know if I can. I just have this feeling that if I do…”
“That you won’t get it out of your system.” A knowing smirk on his strong jaw, Kristoff traced the curve of her cheek. “Can you tell me I’m completely wrong?”
She couldn’t. Not without lying. The racing heart in her chest told the truth anyway. Banging her knee on the table as she stood, she fled the question and the temptation. Disappearing on the dance floor, she hid herself in a nook behind the staircase to the DJ booth. Hand over her heaving chest, she tried to catch her breath. What the hell was she doing?
Red felt him before she saw him rounding the corner to her hiding place.
Broad shoulders squared, he strode to her. Determination graced his grin. Amber glinted in his blue irises. He inhaled as if he relished her conflict, knowing it was tipping in his favor.
She knew she should move, but it was like the first time she had seen him. That echo of déjà vu enthralled her. Her feet planted to the ground even as she shivered.
“You couldn’t lie to me.” Kristoff stopped in front of her, hands clasped behind his back. A slight tremor ran through his biceps as if he were fighting himself not to touch her. Head tilted, his gaze devoured her trembling form. “Good.”
“Why does it feel like this between us?” Red needed him to be honest. He remembered their last life together. This connection had nearly destroyed them both.
“Because we were meant to spark.” Kristoff touched her arm. Fingers summoning fire under her skin drifted up to caress his mark on her neck. His thumb swirled over the claim. “Even if it burns us.”
Red lay her hand on his. It was the detonator button. She pulled him closer by his jacket collar. Head tipping back, she wrapped her arms around his neck. She had one second to think it over. Instead, she flung fuel on the flames. Her lips brushed over his softly.
His blue eyes widened. Smirk curving on his mouth, he pulled her tighter against him. His hands conjured goosebumps in their wake. Their bodies pressed together, fitting like puzzle pieces. Every inch of him felt like a recovered memory.
Eyes slipping fully closed, Red slipped her fingers through his hair. He had always been the one to touch her; she had shied from initiating contact. Now, she couldn’t get close enough. Her lungs hitched in her chest. Breathless, she didn’t want to stop. She kissed Kristoff deeper.
“Red!” Hannah called out, muffled and unseen from the dance floor.
Reality pierced the lust. Red panted against Kristoff’s lips, breaking away from him. Her touch lingered on his face as she drew away. Swallowing thickly, she flattened the bunched-up skirt on her thigh. She felt his gleaming gaze stroking over her curves as much as his hands. Good sense finally in the driver’s seat of her brain, she backed away. Her body resisted like it was magnetized. She didn’t trust herself to look at him.
Popping out from around the staircase, Hannah grabbed her hand. “Lashawn, woke up!” She bounded through the clubbers, towing Red along.
Red touched her kiss-bruised lips, glancing over her shoulder.
Kristoff regarded her with the seductive patience of Lucifer, knowing the sinner would be back.
Lost in her thoughts, she barely heard Hannah’s chatter as they sped to a private room in the academy infirmary.
Hat pulled down low, Vic leaned against the doorsill, a bittersweet twist to his smile. “You’re in time. They just put his pants on.”
Propped on pillows, Lashawn sat upright in regular clothes. A few nurses fluttering around him, taking his blood pressure and whisking away a mirror to hang on the wall. He smiled, putting on his glasses. “I’ve never felt more rested. Is every coma like that?”
“You’re positively glowing.” Red laughed, hugging him, mindful of the IVs ducts still in his arms.
“Ooo, what was it like?” Hannah sat on the other side of the bed, kicking her high heels off. “Was it like that one movie…”
Red floated away from the conversation to lean her shoulder against the wall next to Vic. She faced him, poking his shoulder. “Hey, you’re quiet.”
“Just thinking of what happens next.” Vic glanced away.
“Enough of that,” Red said. “You got your brother back in the here and now. Leave the future where it is.”
“Everything’s changing.” Vic squinted over at the bed, tugging his hat brim up, then crossed his arms. “I’m going to have to wait to find out how much. Not like you, you already found what you were looking for.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t think it was going to be my grave.”
“Emma Peters.” Vic sucked at his front teeth, audibly mulling it over. “I don’t know, I’m probably just going to keep calling you Red.”
“I’m not her anymore.” Red lifted her chin, catching her determined reflection in a hanging mirror. “But I’m going to find out who she was.”
This Red Witch Chronicles continues in Small Town Witch.
Life took Red to unexpected places, death brought her home.
After finally discovering her real name, Red travels to a seemingly idyllic seaside village to understand her origins.
She uncovers high school friends that introduce her to the girl she had been. The reunion is derailed when Kristoff comes to enforce order over the local vampires. Torn between her past and her future, small town secrets threaten to destroy the life she has created.
As the bodies start piling up behind the white picket fences, Red starts to fear that the reason you can never go home again is that, once you’re back, you can never leave… alive.
Pre-order a copy here: https://storyoriginapp.com/universalbooklinks/270ed0f0-c598-11ea-af14-bb5604cace80
About the Author
Sami Valentine is an urban fantasy writer who grew up in the desert and now wanders in search of Wi-Fi and coffee.
Formerly a mild-mannered librarian, she had a quarter-life crisis and shook everything up. She started working in an LGBT homeless center, shaved some of her head, and got really into tarot. After realizing that her goal in life was to get out of her small town and she had only made it thirty minutes up the highway, she filled a bag and left. That was three years and a dozen countries ago. Find out more at samivalentine.com
Witch On The Run: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Red Witch Chronicles 4) Page 34
