by Isabel Wroth
“Oh. Well, if that’s all…” Kerrigan drawled. “Should we wait for Rowena and the others to get back?”
“No. The cards were very clear. We do this tonight or lose the opportunity forever.”
“Tonight it is,” Kerrigan decreed, hefting the basket of candles.
*****
Surrounded by a ring of candles, Kerrigan sat across from Astrid on her wooden stargazing deck. The sun had just set, and slowly the stars overhead came into view. The buffalo hide the two of them sat on kept the chill of the cold ground from touching them, the cloaks they wore held closed with Rowena’s enchanted pins, ensuring they’d stay nice and warm for the duration of their astral projection.
In their beautiful cat forms, Reece and Doyle sat in waiting, watching Astrid set everything up just so. Abel himself crouched on his haunches, completely naked, rubbing his jaw with a deep frown creasing his brow. Kerrigan looked up at the darkening sky, not wanting to see any more of him than she already had.
“I really don’t like this,” he told Astrid for the fifth time.
Astrid gave an impatient huff and set the final candle in place, a tall blue taper inscribed with special symbols.
“What’s not to like? We’re just going to sit here, close our eyes, and go for a little trip. All you’ve got to do is watch this candle, and if we’re not conscious and aware by the time it melts down here by this line, start roaring to help us find our way back.”
Abel studied the blue pillar skeptically, and whatever he meant to say turned into a growl when something caught his eye.
Kerrigan followed his gaze toward the treeline. Ivy’s brother leaned against the trunk of a huge oak, watching them impassively.
Ilex inclined his head when Kerrigan smiled at him, taking it as an invitation to approach. Half witch and half forest god, the self-deposed Fae prince was a sight to see.
Astrid always seemed to shine a bit when the sun went down, but Ilex positively shimmered. Part of it was due to the smooth, creamy whiteness of his flesh; the rest was completely due to his magical nature.
To look at him—all lean muscle and graceful movements, like a powerful stag having taken human form—was to feel the unmistakable tug of lust low in her belly.
He was beautiful in a completely masculine way, with fiery red hair, piercing green eyes filled with sexual promise, and a deep, warm tranquility that made people gravitate toward him as though he were the sun itself.
“Pardon my intrusion, I felt your magic moving through the wood and came to see what was going on.”
Even his voice was pitched to wet panties, resonant and pure, with the barest hint of a Gaelic lilt.
Abel pushed to his feet, encouraging Kerrigan to look straight up at the sky when he set his hands on his hips.
“Nothing that concerns you, you perverted voyeur.”
Ilex’s laugh was a tangible thing that made Kerrigan’s nipples pebble and an involuntary ripple of pleasure slither between her legs.
“Says the bare-arsed exhibitionist.”
“I am a shifter!” Abel declared hotly. “It’s perfectly natural to be naked with the pride, and I’ll have you know—”
“Gentlemen,” Astrid sang sweetly, interrupting Abel before he got on a roll about how great it was to be a nudist. “Kerrigan and I have things to do, and starlight is wasting. Ilex, you’re welcome to stay and watch if you zip up your magic. Abel, stop waving your dick around. We all know it’s a monster.”
Abel’s glare lost a bit of heat at what he no doubt took as a compliment, and after a few minutes, a honey-colored lion stood in the frost covered grass on all four paws.
Ilex hummed under his breath, inhaled, and the burn of arousal faded from one moment to the next, allowing Kerrigan to take an easy breath.
Incredibly observant, Ilex didn’t miss the way her shoulders eased down from around her ears.
“My apologies, Kerrigan. I didn’t mean to cause you discomfort.”
“No need to apologize,” she assured him with a quick smile. “It’s been a strange day, and I’m not shielding like I should be.”
His fey eyes searched her face for a moment before he gave another regal nod, crossing his ankles and lowering himself down to meet the knot of roots that burst up from the soil to provide a seat for him.
“I will not interfere, but I feel oddly compelled to stay.”
“That’s fine,” Astrid said, rolling up her sleeves with a flick of her wrists. “Tonight isn’t a night for ignoring instincts. Except you,” she told Abel, pointing at him with a stern finger when his ears perked forward.
“You hush until it’s time to roar.”
Abel gave a leonine chuff but went to lay beside Reece and Doyle. Astrid took a deep breath and waved her hand over the blue candle to light the wick. “Back to back.”
Kerrigan nodded and turned around, leaning against Astrid, sitting Indian style with her hands resting on her knees.
Astrid instructed her on how to breathe, painting an image with her voice to help Kerrigan slip into a meditative state, relaxed and open to Astrid’s magic.
Kerrigan wasn’t used to someone else driving the supernatural bus, but Astrid’s guiding hand was deceptively powerful.
Kerrigan felt the pop of her consciousness separating from her body, like a piece of bubble-gum being snapped, when Astrid gently captured her astral form to take them both flying.
It was a first for her, and Kerrigan hadn’t expected to be floating above her own body with Astrid’s shining figure right beside her, glowing like a star in the deepening darkness.
Astrid smiled, her shine brightening to the point where Kerrigan had to squint her non-coporeal eyes.
“Okay?” Astrid asked.
“I think so. This time is definitely different from our eighth grade expedition.” Kerrigan waved her hands out in front of her and watched vapor trails form in front of her. “It’s usually a lot darker, mistier when I go hunting for spirits.”
“That’s because you travel through the spirit realm,” Astrid agreed, moving around Kerrigan like she was ice skating. “We’re surfing through the cosmos right now. Focus on staying right here with me; I’m going to check over your astral body for any blockages or damage.”
“Wouldn’t I know if it was there?”
“Not necessarily. Arms up.” Kerrigan obeyed, feeling cool tingles where Astrid moved her hands just above Kerrigan’s arms.
“Sometimes it’s blatantly obvious. Phantom pains where you haven’t hurt yourself, bruises on your physical body that show up for no reason, or when you try to cast but can’t channel the magic like normal.
“Sometimes, it’s not obvious. Sometimes, it’s a side effect of our spells; sometimes we take on damage from energy our clients put out, and sometimes, the evil is so concentrated it leaves a psychic bruise on your soul.”
Astrid made a full circle all the way around Kerrigan; the cool tingles focused on Kerrigan’s left cheek.
“Found it.” Astrid leaned in almost like she was going to give Kerrigan a kiss, but stopped after a minute of examination and raised her hands to Kerrigan’s face.
“Don’t panic. You’ll be violently jerked back into your body. It hurts like a bitch, so just breathe for me.”
“Well, tell me what it looks like!” Kerrigan squealed, pissed to have been tagged, presumably by Vivica or one of the other Silver Wives.
There was a lot Kerrigan didn’t remember about leaving their compound after throwing down her curse.
Her parents were the ones to get her out; they’d taken her to some cheap motel off the main road and left her there with a fat stack of cash, too scared the Wives would be coming after them, saying it was best they split up and Kerrigan go back to school where she would be protected by Haggara’s boundary spells.
Kerrigan hadn’t seen or spoken to her parents since that day.
“It’s faint. A vague handprint shape,” Astrid answered, distracted as the pressure of the tingling on K
errigan’s face increased. “Like a scar that’s gotten smooth with age and packed with magic. It probably happened when that hag slapped you; the violent energy left something of a burn mark behind. Or maybe it was intentional. I don’t know.”
Kerrigan remembered the slap that knocked her to the ground vividly.
“I’ve never noticed anything abnormal on my face. No bruises or pain, no weirdness…”
“I don’t know that you would, honey. It feels like raw, unhinged sadness that I imagine only flared up whenever you were thinking about Maksim. It’s a special kind of evil, making you feel worse about what happened, keeping the emotions fresh as the day it happened. A lesser witch might have gone down a seriously dark road. I’m going to try and peel it off; you might feel some pressure. Close your eyes.”
Kerrigan obeyed, but Astrid’s glow only got brighter as she worked.
“Okay, done. Breathe, girl.”
Kerrigan hadn’t realized she was holding her breath, and for a good long while, she couldn’t see anything but blinding white spots dancing across her vision.
Kerrigan reached up to cover the spot on her face that throbbed slightly, trying to gauge whether or not she felt any different.
“Now what?”
“Now, I want you to think about Maksim.” Astrid’s glow intensified with her smile until she looked like she’d swallowed the moon. “We’re not going to hunt his spirit the way you’re used to doing; we’re going to try something different. Tell me what he smelled like, how you felt when you heard him laugh, what it was like to hold his hand.”
Kerrigan gave a ready nod, opening herself to the flow of memories. “He smelled so good, like cognac and warm amber. I always accused him of wearing cologne. He swore he didn’t, that it was just the soap he preferred from this place in Venice. Vampires are insanely habitual, almost obsessively sticking to a brand or a smell they remember from their life before.
“He was serious so much of the time it was always a shock to hear him laugh. He made heads turn when he let loose, and it wasn’t some stilted chuckle. He laughed from his gut, and it lit up his whole face. The first time we held hands… I remember his palm was cold. It didn’t put me off, but I commented on it, and from then on Maksim offered me his elbow first. His hand was never cold again.”
“The more you tell me about him, the sweeter he seems.” Astrid sighed warmly.
Kerrigan managed to smile, missing him with every molecule.
“He loved the opera, the elegant illusion and the intimacy of it. He took me on my eighteenth birthday.”
Astrid’s soft laughter made a shower of sparks flare out around her.
“A special night?”
“For every reason, except what you’re thinking.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Haggara, Kerrigan’s 18th birthday…
“Witch, I know it’s your birthday, but one of these days you’re gonna tell us about this guy who keeps sending you flowers and jewelry.”
Juliet’s blunt words made Kerrigan come up short just inside the door of the dormitory bedroom they shared with four other girls.
Juliet was sprawled out on her twin bed, her cotton-candy pink shirt, yellow pants, and acid green boots clashing violently with her turquoise and crimson paisley bedspread.
She had books spread open in front of her, her chin perched on her fist as she pointedly looked from the bouquet of black dahlias in a cut crystal vase on Kerrigan’s bedside table to the gift box beside it.
The sight of the flowers made Kerrigan’s heart flutter wildly, and her cheeks flame with a mix of embarrassment and happiness.
Twice a year, for the last two years, she had received a vase of dahlias that weren’t truly black so much as a deep, dark maroon, and a gift. On her birthday, and on May 19th, the night Kerrigan broke into a tomb to summon a spirit for a class project and met a vampire.
Maksim promised it would be a lifetime tradition, and Kerrigan would have reciprocated, she wanted to, but he didn’t remember the exact day of his birthday and would never tell her where he was so she could send him the gifts she bought for him.
So, her birthday became their birthday, and they celebrated together.
He sent her other presents and flowers randomly throughout the year, things he’d seen on his travels and thought she would like.
Rare herbs for her spells, flawless crystals, beautiful hand-drawn Tarot cards, black gloves made of the finest lace, a golden pair of scissors with finger holes made to look like a skull, a hair stick topped with bat wings, a box of black chocolate skulls filled with raspberry cream, a shirt that said, ‘Practice Safe Hex,’ and a moonstone pendulum just to name a few.
Excitement shivered through her as she crossed the room to brush her fingertips across the soft blossoms, her belly whirling like a cyclone because after months of waiting, she would finally get to see him tonight.
“Well, what’d your secret admirer send this time?” Juliet demanded, books thumping loudly to the floor as she bounced on her bed.
Kerrigan put down her own books and carefully peeled back the silky black paper, opening the large, flat box. Nestled inside on a bed of black velvet was a stunning necklace.
As all vampires had a toxic allergy to silver, the pea-sized beads had to be made of platinum. A Y-shaped chain was gorgeous, a jet black stone the size of her thumbnail connected the three strands at the center, and a matching black spear dangled from the end of the Y.
When Kerrigan lifted it out, she was surprised by the heaviness of the piece. It felt wonderful on her skin, cool, and she smiled to see the onyx spike came to rest perfectly between her breasts.
“Damn, girl.” Juliet whistled appreciatively, suggestively waggling her hot pink eyebrows. “What did you do for platinum and diamonds?”
Kerrigan felt a little dizzy when Juliet brought it to her attention that the stones weren’t onyx at all. Awed by the clearly expensive gift, her fingers played down the polished beads to the long diamond drop.
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Uh-hu, shurrrrre,” Juliet drawled dubiously, adding a lascivious wink for good measure. “You gonna go see him tonight?”
Kerrigan nodded, but that was all the information she was prepared to share with her friend. Juliet was the absolute best, but she couldn’t keep a secret to save her life.
If she learned Kerrigan was being courted by a vampire, it would be all over the school and flying with the speed of darkness straight into her parents’ ears.
Kerrigan was going to tell them. Eventually. Hopefully, after Maksim gave her his blood to seal their mating bond, but lately, Mother had been hounding Kerrigan to participate in a Pairing Ritual.
Something Kerrigan wanted desperately to avoid and needed to discuss with Maksim, because Mother wasn’t going to let it go.
“You gonna wear the little black dress or the little black dress?” Juliet teased, playfully reaching out to flick the gem flirting with Kerrigan’s cleavage.
“It’s A black dress, but it’s nicer than the usual. We’re going to the opera tonight in the city.”
“The city! Are you planning on getting laid for your birthday?” Juliet asked with a hopeful leer. She even went so far as to rub her hands together gleefully.
Kerrigan blushed clear to the roots of her hair and hurried into the huge walk-in closet Rowena had magically created for the six of them.
Kerrigan’s section of the closet was obvious, nothing more than a slew of black outfits and wicked black shoes.
“No-wah!” Kerrigan declared loudly, as she went right for the garment bag keeping the special dress safe.
“Dressing in HOPES of getting laid?”
“NO!” Juliet gave her an arch look that made Kerrigan squirm and finally confess in a rush, “I wouldn’t say no if it happened. But it probably won’t. He’s the epitome of a gentleman. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to wait until after we’re married.”
“YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED?” Juliet s
hrieked, leaping up and down like an insane rabbit, clapping and squealing.
It took Kerrigan a good ten minutes to calm her down enough to speak. “I’m not getting married. I’m just saying I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to wait.”
Two years since that night in the cemetery, and Maksim hadn’t done anything that could even remotely been misconstrued as inappropriate.
Not even a hug or a kiss on the cheek. He’d taken her hand and tucked it in the crook of his elbow while they walked, and that was the extent of their physical contact.
He hadn’t come right out and said it, but Kerrigan knew it was because Maks still thought of her as a child.
Tonight, she was legally an adult, and Kerrigan planned not only to dress like the classy, elegant lady Maksim deserved but to behave like one.
She’d painstakingly chosen the dress she would wear tonight, not hoping to provoke a wild display of lust from her vampire, so much as silently communicating to him she was ready for whatever came next.
She showered, shaved, buffed, and primped, then blow-dried her hair in record time. Her makeup was softer tonight, less black and more ‘Marilyn Monroe Bedroom Eyes.’
Naturally, she slicked her favorite shade of red lipstick on and then twisted her long hair up into a quick up-do.
She picked out a very grown-up pair of high-waisted lace and mesh panties, complete with garter straps, and slid on a pair of whisper-light silk stockings. Juliet said nothing, but her knowing grin spoke loud enough.
Kerrigan’s dress was cut low in the back, strapless, with a pointed sweetheart neckline that perfectly cupped her breasts, and it’s daringly low V left no room for a bra.
It was an edgy 50’s style, a wiggle dress with folds and pleats that made it look like the upside-down flute of a flower and gave her the perfect hourglass figure.
On went her necklace, earrings, a simple pair of strappy black heels, and she was done. Kerrigan slowly twirled for Juliet.
“Well?”
Juliet gave Kerrigan a slow once over, her head cocked to the side, eyes narrow, tapping her pursed lips with an orange-tipped finger.
