Sticks & Stones Spell Werewolf Bones: A Why Choose Academy Romance

by Rae Stapleton

  “Giselle! What was that stuff?” He shook his head, trying to get rid of the dizziness. “I feel intoxicated but drugs and alcohol aren’t supposed to effect me.”

  “That’s because it’s a special concoction of Fae blood, magic mushrooms and who knows what else. That’s what Lennon uses to control everyone around here. For some reason faery’s blood mixed with a hallucinogenic compound makes supernaturals susceptible to Lennon’s charm—or lack thereof—it works on pretty much everyone.”

  “But she has no effect on you?”

  “I figured out what she was doing and I don’t take it?”

  “So, why did you agree to get it for her party.”

  “I don’t know, for my sister, I guess. It was a mistake. One that will never happen again. Of course, she’ll probably have me killed now, like poor Mags.”

  “You think she’s the one who killed Maggie? Evie asked.

  “Of course. Who else would have done it? The Fate Clique, they’re like the faerie mafia. They threaten everyone. I’m terrified for my sister but what can I do?”

  “Does she always serve this drug cocktail at her parties?” Evie asked.

  Giselle nodded, “Yeah. Maggie used to get her the mushrooms in exchange for stuff. I never should have agreed to help her.”

  Zephyr couldn’t take it anymore. His legs collapsed beneath him.

  Evie grabbed a pocketknife from her bag and opened it up. “Can you explain to me what it’s doing to him. Maybe I can tattoo a rune to sober him up.”

  Giselle nodded, “Sorry, I don’t really know. It’s magic. Fae blood is sort of like the fountain of youth. That’s why they look so beautiful. Somehow, their blood increases blood cell production. To be honest, I’m surprised Lennon gave you any. She has a strict no vampire rule. Faerie blood is highly addictive—especially the royal stuff. Little-known fact, the Fae are afraid of vampires which is why the Royal Courts are in another realm.”

  Zephyr nodded, “That makes sense. I’ve heard of Faerie Bordellos where Vampires pay to feed off the Fae.”

  “Like prostitution or something?” Evie questioned.

  “Yeah, the bordellos are supposedly safer because on the street, the vampires usually get too high and wind up draining the Fae.”

  “I’m confused,” Evie said. “You keep saying ‘they’ when you refer to the Fae, like you aren’t one of them. Aren’t you and Marigold Fae as well?”

  “We’re mixed. Only our mother is Fae, and Marigold pretty much stole all my magic in the womb, so I’m just a plain Jane.”

  Evie nodded, “Okay, so if you can’t explain it then maybe we treat it as an overdose. So, we pump his stomach.”

  “But if it’s drugs then wouldn’t it be in his bloodstream?”

  “Good point. I’ll have to bleed him.”

  Zephyr looked down and watched as Evie cut a patch of skin on his arm. In a matter of seconds, it healed.

  “Damn! He’s regenerating too quickly.”

  “Does the drug hurt?” Evie questioned.

  “It’s not altogether unpleasant unless you have too much and then the nerves can be overloaded with sensation which is why I was trying to stop Marigold’s doofus boyfriend. Why?”

  She shook her head and took out a pen, “Plan B. I’m gonna suck it out of his essence. Pass me that cup.”

  She sketched out something but he couldn’t make out what—everything was a blur. This time when she cut him, he felt her lips immediately follow and the room slowed. She cut him again and it slowed more.

  “He keeps healing, damn it!” She said, as he watched her spit into the cup.

  “No, it’s working. Keep going. I’m sobering,” he said, noticing his vision was coming back into focus.

  He closed his eyes while she went back to work. He could feel her slicing and then drawing the poisonous concoction from the wound. He just hoped the drug didn’t affect her.

  Eventually he opened his eyes. His thoughts were clear again and things felt solid beneath him.

  Zephyr sat up with Grimm’s help and hugged Evie to his chest, burying his face in her hair. “Thanks, babe.”

  She set the pen knife aside and hugged him back. “No problem, now please promise me you won’t take anyone else’s blood but mine from now on.”

  Zephyr smiled. The sensory had been almost unbearable, but he could feel the potency waning. “You jealous?”

  “You bet your hot ass, I am. How would you like it if I let another vampire drink my blood?”

  “I didn’t know the drink had her blood in there but I promise.”

  He slowly unclasped his arms from around her. “I’m really tired still though. Am I slurring?”

  He was soaked in sweat all of a sudden, and chilled. And just so tired.

  27

  Midnight Witch

  W e headed next door to Maggie’s room not long after Giselle left to track down her sister who had most likely run back to their room. Zephyr had fallen into a deep sleep which Giselle said was normal post high.

  “Why are we here?” Grimm asked.

  “Maggie dealt that bitch drugs. She never once mentioned that to me. I want to know what else she didn’t tell me about.” I raised my hand and twisted the door handle until it opened.

  Grimm suddenly hunched his shoulders up and hissed through his teeth. He looked left and right. “Someone was just here; I can sense it.”

  I looked in the bathroom and he checked under the bed.

  “I don’t see anyone. How would they have gotten by us in the hall?”

  “I don’t know, but we should leave right now.”

  I walked around the bed, studying the shelves and work surfaces.

  Grimm said, “What are you looking for?”

  I shrugged. “I’ve no idea. Can you pick up on anything in here?”

  Grimm transformed, and then put his nose to the wooden floor. He moved along the floor continuing to sniff as he did so. He came to a stop further along and looked back at me. Suddenly I could hear his voice in my head. “There’s something here, Evie.”

  I went over to the window bench Grimm was referring to and opened it. Inside were extra pillows, blankets, and books.

  “Pull that stuff out,” he said.

  I nodded and did just that. Then I knocked on the bottom. Not only did it sound hollow, but the wood moved. “You’re right—this is a false bottom.”

  Grimm transformed to lift it out for me but before he could, we both blushed. Grimm’s hard muscles rippled before me.

  “What? Not like you haven’t seen it before.”

  I smiled and tossed him a blanket to wrap around his waist. “True. But I’m partly human with human needs and you, in all your devilish glory, are currently piquing them, so cover up.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Once he’d secured the pink blanket, he bent forward and lifted the wood out.

  “A trapdoor,” I said.

  “Not quite a trapdoor, but yes. Close enough.”

  There was a rail all the way around the bottom that had held the wood in place and underneath a stone staircase. “The last time we entered a stone tunnel, we were chased by an army of undead. Is it silly of me to worry that there could be something horrendous waiting for us beneath the trapdoor?”

  Grimm said, “No. As a matter of fact, my senses are on high alert. Why don’t we walk out of here right now? We can send someone else from the tracker team down. I don’t like it here. Something’s not right.”

  “I feel the same, but we have to do this.”

  I lifted my foot over the side of the chest and stepped down onto the first couple of steps. “You don’t have to come. I can go down and investigate on my own.”

  “No way. We’re a team.” Before I could stop him, he’d squeezed by me, disappearing down the stone steps.

  I whipped out my phone and hit the flashlight button. Not that I needed it. I could use my witch magic to create a light orb now—thank you Magic 101—but magic could be sensed by
other creatures and I had the feeling, in this case, that it was best to avoid the welcome wagon. I shone the light into the darkness and saw Grimm a few steps below, keeping a wary eye on our surroundings as we descended. “So far, so good. No walking corpses or hidden fairy pools to drown in. I can see a light pull string, though. Just a moment.” He ran down the rest of the steps and a moment later the area beneath the trapdoor flooded with light.

  I carefully lowered myself down another step and called out, “Grimm? Are you alright down there?”

  “Yes, it’s a big room. You’d better come and have a look at this.”

  I closed the trapdoor behind me, and found him standing in front of a wall which was covered in pictures of Maggie.

  “That looks like a police murder board,” I said.

  “Or the wall of a stalker,” he retorted.

  I stated the obvious, “Someone was obsessed with her.”

  There were red strings pinned from one picture to the next. I looked closer at one of the pictures and impulsively pulled it right off the board.

  Shoot! Rookie forensic mistake again. When would I learn?

  “What’s that?”

  “I don’t know. It looks like a doctored photo but maybe not. There’s two Maggie’s in this pic. Is it possible someone did a duplication spell on her?”

  Grimm took the picture and studied it. “The girl on the right looks slightly older. Her boobs are definitely bigger, and her nose looks like it’s been broken sometime in the past. This is definitely a different girl.”

  “Boobs, really, Grimm? Have you never heard of padded bras?”

  “Fine, but you can’t fake that nose bump and look at the slight height difference.”

  Grimm was right. The more I looked at the photos, the more I realized these weren’t all just of Maggie.

  My attention was drawn to a photo set to one side of the others. A wolf and two pups. The werewolf had long, black-colored hair.

  “I think that’s Razor Howl,” Grimm said. He looked at me. “It seems he had two pups?”

  I pulled a plastic baggie out of my pocket and turned it inside out, placing the picture inside along with the other one I’d touched of Maggie and her doppelganger.

  Grimm disappeared. I assumed to check out the rest of the cave-like room while I snapped photos of the picture board—just in case someone messed with it before we returned with the rest of the team.

  “Evie! Come here. Quick!”

  I followed the sound of Grimm’s voice and found the pink blanket at his feet. “What the—” I didn’t bother to finish my sentence, as I found him. There was a little alcove tucked away at the other end.

  “Grimm. Jeepers, now you’re just showing that thing off.”

  Grimm winked. Cheeky bugger. “But seriously, look at this?”

  “It’s a portal,” I said, stepping forward to get a closer look.

  He nodded. “Where do you think it leads?”

  I shot him a side-long glance. “Only one way to find out.” And I stepped through before he could stop me. The portal led to a windowless five-sided room. Basically, it was a black-mirrored pentagon that smelled of sage. Thanks to my new spell casting class the academy I recognized this place as a spell room, created to enhance magnetic fields sympathetic to the needs of the supernatural. There was a long table draped with a blue cloth, and everywhere I looked there were charged stones, mirrors, and charms on shelves and bundles hanging from the ceiling.

  Grimm arrived at my side, instantly bitching as soon as he passed through. “Seriously, woman. Look at this obsidian nightmare. Must you be so impulsive. I told you! I had a bad feeling about what was down here… and this portal was what I was sensing, damn it! Now we’ve landed inside a witch’s trap.”

  “Relax, Grimm.” I inhaled deeply and allowed the magnetic forces to flow through me, rather than fighting or blocking them. “We won’t stay long.”

  He put his hands on either side of my face, “Yeah, well you’re forgetting about the rest of the boys.”

  “What about them?”

  “The ones connected to you, remember? They can track you now—sense you in the world. If we just stepped off the grid, so to speak, they’re going to lose your beacon and think you’re dead. So, you have about five minutes before they go berserk.”

  “Shit! I didn’t think about that.”

  “Hold on. This place is set up for channeling. Let me see if I can use your power to connect to one of them just to let them know we’re alright.” He bent his head down to mine. Forehead to forehead. Eyes closed. Bodies close, almost touching.

  A long moment passed. I could feel him reach inside me, so I let my guard down. The sense of him was overwhelming.

  Grimm’s energy was mesmerizing. He wasn’t like the others. From the first moment I met him I had felt a strong attraction to him; it was only later I’d learned that I’d summoned him as a child. It had been innocent enough. I’d killed my pet ferret and was unknowingly using magic to try to revive him. Instead I summoned a demon into my pet’s body. Though we’d been apart for many years, there was something profound between us. Sometimes, I felt like it made the others jealous, but they were learning to deal with it.

  Grimm kissed my lips slowly. His hands upon my cheeks felt electric-charged. He lifted his head, looked into my eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t reach them. . .”

  “Maybe I should try.”

  “Good idea. You draw on my energy this time.”

  I took another deep breath and nodded.

  He flashed me a crooked grin. “If it doesn’t work, we could try the cave method again.”

  He was referring to sex magic. We’d used it once before when a man-eater had trapped Demas and Eleutian.

  I smiled. “I’d rather not get it on inside a witch’s spell room, especially when she could return at any time.”

  “Fair enough,” Grimm said. “Hold onto me but concentrate on the black mirror. Empty your mind and think of...”

  I faced the mirror and felt Grimm’s energy wrap around me. I didn’t even have time to hear what he was saying before a wobbly, mirage-like vision of Grand-mère Delphine appeared before me. There was a wolf at her side and, in her arms, she carried a body wrapped in tulle. When she set down the body, I realized it was my dear sweet friend, Maggie.

  I yanked back. I was freezing cold.

  “What is it?” Grimm stood right behind me. His arms wrapped around me and I leaned into them, relishing his heat. “What did you see?”

  “I know who killed Maggie.”

  “Who?”

  “Grand-mère.”

  Suddenly I noticed the long, wooden box under the table. If I hadn’t seen it before, I never would have thought to look twice. The walls seem to momentarily close in on me. I had a feeling I knew who’s lair this was.

  I lifted the lid as much as the table would allow, and my heart sank as I saw the familiar body. I whispered, “Sarah?”

  Grimm followed me and peered inside, “Is that a dead body?”

  “Yes, and its one I’ve seen before. It’s my grandmother, Sarah.” I closed my eyes and smelled the room. I should have recognized her scent, “This is Grand-mère’s spell room.”

  Grand-mère was Sarah’s sister and, though I called her Grand-mère, she was actually my great aunt. A fact I’d only discovered recently.

  Grimm looked into my eyes and said, “It can’t be. We’ve been tracking her lair to make sure she doesn’t return.”

  “No, this is obviously her new set-up.”

  “I think we should go now, Evie.”

  I concentrated on the magical signature in the room. Freshly baked bread and peanut butter. Hadn’t I been craving that non-stop lately? I felt a familiar tingle running through my hand, and I continued to concentrate on the magical tug.

  “How could I have been so blind?”

  “What do you mean, Evie?”

  “Grand-mère. She’s been in the New York house. I recognize her perfume and her
magical signature. She tried to cover it up but I can see through it now.”

  In a hushed voice, Grimm said, “She’s been inside the house. How is that even possible? Our security is airtight. We made sure of it.”

  “Well, she found a way around it. Trust me.”

  28

  The Gargoyle

  A barrage of bullets peppered the air. Colten lurched up, his elbow pressing painfully against something hard as he snatched for the handgun beneath his pillow. The sound of bullets grew steadily louder—along with the shouts and screams and the soundtrack of the action movie blaring from the flat screen television on the wall in front of him. He shifted and, with disgust, retrieved the remote he’d rolled onto to turn it off. Nothing like adrenaline mid sleep. Being an assassin followed by being part of the tracker team, his actions were ingrained.

  Scooping up the remote from under his arm, he clicked it off and sighed, placing it on the nightstand beside him. His cell phone was flashing with a missed call. That must have been what stirred him enough to roll onto the remote. Why was Z calling him at three in the morning?

  He hit the button to call him back, then wedged the phone between his shoulder and ear and grunted, “Yeah?”

  “Colten?” Z sounded as if he wasn’t sure he was who he had intended to call.

  “Yep. Who were you expecting?” Colten’s pulse was still pounding from his rude awakening, but he finally succeeded in pulling on his pants. “You better not have butt dialed me.”

  “No.” His voice wobbled. “Do you…uh…have eyes on Evie?”

  “No. What’s wrong?” Colten’s irritation turned to alarm, and he shoved his feet into a pair of motorcycle boots while plucking a shirt from the floor.

  “I don’t know,” Zephyr said. “I was asleep here in the dorm and then I just suddenly felt empty like she’d been poofed from existence.”

  “Poofed?” Colten questioned. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “You know what it means. She’s disappeared. She’s gone.”

  Colten snagged his keys and wallet, sprinted into the garage, and slammed his palm on the button to open the door.

  “She’s not in her room?” Colten questioned.