by Mindy Klasky
James drank. His lips were still chilled. His tongue barely moved. But I leaned into him until he swallowed—once, twice, three times, four.
I was shifting for a better position when his hand closed over my wrist. His grip wasn’t iron—more like soggy cardboard. But he opened his eyes, holding me close enough that I could see his pupils adjust to the light.
“I should have told you then,” he said.
“Told me what?” He was so close I barely breathed the words.
“I should have told you that I needed you. That I wanted you. That I loved the courage you showed, agreeing to delete Richardson’s files. I loved your strength. Your faithfulness. I love you.”
My belly twisted, and my heart started pumping as if I were running a marathon. I felt James twitch, and I knew the wound on my throat was weeping fresh blood. But he didn’t attack. He didn’t even take what I had offered.
“You can’t mean that,” I said. “I killed Judge DuBois.”
“You were given an impossible situation, and you did your best to make it right.” His lips quirked, offering just a hint of a shattered smile. “If you’d known you were a dragon that night…”
I suddenly felt shy. He’d seen me in my animal form. He’d seen my whiskers and wings, my talons and the spikes on my tail. He knew that I was as large as a house, and as deadly as a napalm bomb.
“Sarah,” he said. He dropped my wrist, and I thought he was going to pull away forever. Instead, I felt his palm against my cheek, warm now with the help of my blood. “I understand,” he said.
“Understand what? That I’m a murderer? Or just a monster?”
His fingers shifted, keeping me from turning away. His cobalt eyes were earnest as he said, “I know what it’s like to have two forms. I live a life no mundane can begin to comprehend. Let me help you with this. Let’s learn together.”
I’d already made my choice, back in the cathedral. I knew it. James knew it. So the only thing left to do now was to pull my hair back over my shoulder. I tilted my neck again, offering myself, leaving myself open, exposed.
He licked his lips, then rolled them over his teeth, taking care not to catch his fangs. And then he returned to the wound on my throat.
This time, his mouth was warm. His tongue was supple, rolling my vein with a slow rhythm that made my breath come short. His lips were firm, demanding, making something inside me melt.
I moaned and pressed my body closer to his. There was magic between us, the blood magic of giving life, of taking life.
He cupped the back of my neck and shifted his mouth, drinking even deeper. Now, I felt my heartbeat as he pulled, faster and faster as urgency built within both of us.
I shifted my weight, longing to throw my leg over his body, to straddle him. When I looked down, I was astonished to see how fast his wound was healing. The rent in his side had already knit together. The charred flesh had faded to crimson. The blisters had disappeared.
He might have a vampire’s miraculous power of healing, but his body had been through the wringer. Daylight was only a few hours off. He should rest, get a full day’s sleep to heal all the sword’s damage. I leaned back with a rueful smile.
He caught my hands before I could pull away. “I have every right to decide what I’ll offer,” he said, throwing my words back at me. “And to whom.”
And then his fingers were working the buttons on my shirt. And my hands were returning the favor, unfastening his belt. We both laughed as we shifted for better angles, and I wasn’t sure whose clothes hit the floor first. I kicked the bloody towels away, consciously squelching my compulsion to fold everything neatly.
He must have seen my struggle to focus, because he used both hands to pull me back to the bed. We lay beside each other, face to face. He spread a possessive hand on my hip, giving a lazy grin when I shivered.
His eyes burned fiercely, and I realized he’d reabsorbed his fangs. “Sarah,” he said. “We don’t have to do this. I know you wanted to wait.”
I had wanted to wait. Chris had terrified me with his talk of the imperial birds and the bees. He’d made me fear creating a half-breed like myself, a creature not quite a sphinx, not quite another.
For just a moment, I remembered my vision with Sekhmet, when I’d caught her toddler son straying from his pride. I’d collected his toy for him. I’d held the doll in my arms like a baby, and it had felt good and sweet and right.
I wasn’t a sphinx. I never had been. I was a dragon, with whatever powers and secrets and abilities—including fertility—that identity brought. The inferno banked inside my imperial body could keep me safe from any harm.
Still, a human woman would have taken a break. She would have reached inside her nightstand. She would have produced a condom and guaranteed that she and her lover did the responsible thing.
But that was something else I’d never been—a human woman. Besides, everyone knew vampires couldn’t breed.
I pulled James’s face close to mine, and delivered my answer with a kiss.
39
Two weeks later.
I shifted the white paperboard box to the right, making it align perfectly with the keyboard on my desk. I’d already twitched my stapler back to where it belonged. Pens were in the proper holders. The phone cord hung straight.
Before I could docket the first case in my inbox, I slipped my finger under the flap of the white box. Earlier that evening, it had contained thirteen miniature cupcakes from the Cake Walk bakery. I’d already sacrificed the Berry Jumble and the Caramel Castle to my unusually sharp hunger pangs.
Two cupcakes down. Why not go for three?
I chose the White Hot Chili Pepper. Before I peeled off its decorative paper, I looked again at the card that had been taped to the top of the box. “Happy second first day at the new job!” Allison’s perfect handwriting made me smile.
The previous Sunday, I’d entertained her at brunch, offering a highly edited version of how I’d been fired and hired again. This coming weekend, she and I were supposed to take Nora on an adventure. I’d told Allison I was game for anything but the National Museum of Natural History.
My phone rang before I could take a bite of the third cupcake. “Yes?” I asked, feeling unreasonably guilty.
“Could you come back to my office for a moment?”
I typed a quick code to lock my computer screen and headed through the door that said Staff Only. It still felt strange to be back in the office. I half-expected Eleanor Owens to be waiting in the hallway, ready to haul me back to the booking desk.
I sighed in exasperation as I reached the sign that said Director of Security. Once again, it hung crooked. I edged it back into place with a fingernail and stepped into my boss’s office.
If only it were that easy to organize the kaleidoscope of papers inside said office. Stacks covered the desk and the credenza. Three different piles spread across the couch.
“I don’t know how you make such a mess!” I said.
“Vampires aren’t very good with paperwork,” James retorted.
“You’ve only been back for a week,” I pointed out. “You haven’t had time to generate this much chaos.”
“Do I have to remind you that Angelique Wilson was fired for cause? Maybe this mess is her fault.”
“Angelique Wilson was railroaded.” I didn’t like the woman, but I had to speak the truth. “She was dosed with Lethe when an outside force took control of her computer.”
James shrugged. “She wasn’t fired for giving up computer access. She was fired for lying about it, when she was questioned. And maybe she kept her files in worse shape than you thought.”
I shook my head, letting him win. “You want some help straightening things up?”
“Later,” he said. “I just received something you need to see. It’s from Judge Finch.”
My stomach dropped. I’d told him it was a bad idea for him to hire me back as clerk of court. The man had spent every day for the past two weeks in my basem
ent apartment. Someone had to shout nepotism, and the results wouldn’t be pretty.
He’d told me it wasn’t nepotism if I was the best person for the job. I wasn’t sure about that. But I’d had a lot of fun letting him convince me.
But now, something from Judge Finch. A vampire who had plenty of good reasons to tell James he had to find another clerk. I was still awaiting trial on multiple criminal counts.
James passed me a piece of paper. Automatically, I noted the heading at the top. Clans of the Eastern Empire v. Sarah Jane Anderson.
I reached behind me blindly, fumbling until I found a chair. Safely seated, I glanced at the case number. There were actually two—my murder case and the action for trespass.
I read the title below the heading: Dismissal of Prosecution.
“What?” I asked James, as if he’d said the words aloud. He merely gestured for me to read on.
There was the usual mumbo-jumbo, the legalese that indicated the court was issuing an official order. I skimmed through a recitation of the facts, how I’d allegedly murdered Judge DuBois, how I’d allegedly destroyed files concerning legal actions against Maurice Richardson, vampire, deceased.
And then I got to the heart of the matter:
Therefore, with all evidence files missing in both of the above-referenced cases, this Court has no choice but to dismiss all charges against Defendant.
My fingers numb, I let the papers drop into my lap. “All evidence files missing?” I asked.
James shook his head. “I don’t know what happened around this courthouse while I was gone.”
I had a pretty good idea. I’d become a reluctant expert on exactly how evidence went missing when James Morton got a notion to work behind the scenes.
“What if those files reappear?” I asked.
“They won’t,” he said flatly.
“James—”
“That’s a legal document you’re holding, Sarah.” He spoke with all the authority of the Eastern Empire Night Court Director of Security. “Can you see that it gets filed on the appropriate dockets?”
I nodded and climbed to my feet, heading back to the front office.
“Oh, and Sarah?” A smile twisted the corners of his mouth. “One more thing.” He pushed back his chair and walked around the corner of his desk. “Could you close my office door for a moment?”
“Yes, sir,” I said, unable to keep a matching grin from spreading across my lips.
The files on the couch got a lot more disorganized before I managed to return to my desk.
Thank You
I can’t thank you enough for choosing High Stakes Trial from among all the cozy paranormal books out there! Without readers like you, I would never have my writing career.
I’d love to keep in touch with you. Please sign up for my newsletter, Virtual Cocktails. It features five “ingredients” in every issue—everything from book giveaways to deleted scenes to announcements of new books. And I always include at least one thing that made me laugh out loud in the previous month! Of course, I promise to never, ever, ever sell your email address to anyone else.
You may not realize it, but you’re in the best position to help authors by telling your friends about books you love. Honest reviews for High Stakes Trial are especially valuable, because many advertisers require authors to have a certain number of reviews before we’re allowed to buy advertising.
Whatever you do, don’t be a stranger! I’m mostly online at Facebook, but I’m on Twitter too, and I keep a blog on my website. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
www.mindyklasky.com
[email protected]
More Magical Washington
Sarah and James are finally together, but there are more magical adventures afoot in Washington DC. Check out these other books in the Magical Washington universe!
Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft
Jane Madison has a problem. Or two. Or three. She’s working as a librarian, trapped in a job that can’t pay what she’s worth. She has a desperate crush on her Imaginary Boyfriend. Her grandmother wants to reunite her with her long-absent mother. And then, she finds out she’s a witch! Will magic solve Jane’s problems? Or only bring her more disasters?
Buy Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft today!
The Library, the Witch, and the Warder
David Montrose has a problem. Or two. Or three. Fired from protecting Washington’s witches, he’s stuck in a dead-end clerical job. His father says he's disgraced the family name. And instead of sympathizing, his best friend is dragging him into an all-out supernatural war. When David is summoned back to warder status, he must figure out how to juggle work, warfare, and warding—or all of magical Washington will pay the price!
Buy The Library, the Witch, and the Warder today!
The Witch Doctor Is In
Dr. Ashley McDonnell, a witch, has lost her magical powers and the supernatural hospital she manages is threatened with being shut down. Life becomes even more complicated when Secret Service agent and newly turned vampire Nick Raines appears in the ER. Can Ash regain her magic when the vampire making her hormones hum may be the man sabotaging her career?
Buy The Witch Doctor Is In today!
Also by Mindy Klasky
You can always find an up-to-date list of Mindy’s books on her website.
A Mindy Klasky Sampler (a free sampler containing the first chapters of 24 books)
The Washington Witches Series (Magical Washington)
Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft
Sorcery and the Single Girl
Magic and the Modern Girl
Single Witch’s Survival Guide
Joy of Witchcraft
The Washington Witches Series, Volumes 1-3 (a boxed set containing Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft, Sorcery and the Single Girl, and Magic and the Modern Girl)
Capitol Magic (a cross-over with the Washington Vampires Series)
“Dreaming of a Witch Christmas” (a Yule short story)
Nice Witches Don’t Swear (a crossover with the Magic and Mayhem Universe)
Magical Washington: Four in Hand (a boxed set containing Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft; Fright Court; The Library, the Witch, and the Warder; and The Witch Doctor Is In)
Magical Washington: Witch and Warder (a boxed set containing Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft and The Library, the Witch, and the Warder)
The Washington Vampires Series (Magical Washington)
Fright Court
Law and Murder
High Stakes Trial
The Washington Vampires Series, Volumes 1-3 (a boxed set containing Fright Court, Law and Murder, and High Stakes Trial)
Capitol Magic (a cross-over with the Washington Witches Series)
“Stake Me Out to the Ball Game” (a short story)
Magical Washington: Four in Hand (a boxed set containing Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft; Fright Court; The Library, the Witch, and the Warder; and The Witch Doctor Is In)
The Washington Warders Series (Magical Washington)
The Library, the Witch, and the Warder
Magical Washington: Four in Hand (a boxed set containing Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft; Fright Court; The Library, the Witch, and the Warder; and The Witch Doctor Is In)
Magical Washington: Witch and Warder (a boxed set containing Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft and The Library, the Witch, and the Warder)
The Washington Medical Series (Magical Washington)
The Witch Doctor Is In
Fae’s Anatomy
The Lady Doctor is a Vamp
The Washington Medical Series, Volumes 1-3 (a boxed set containing The Witch Doctor Is In, Fae’s Anatomy, and The Lady Doctor is a Vamp)
Magical Washington: Four in Hand (a boxed set containing Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft; Fright Court; The Library, the Witch, and the Warder; and The Witch Doctor Is In)
The As You Wish Series
“Wishful Thinking”
Act One, Wish One
Wishing in the Wings
&nb
sp; Wish Upon a Star
The As You Wish Series (a boxed set containing Act One, Wish One, Wishing in the Wings, and Wish Upon a Star)
The Diamond Brides Series
Perfect Pitch
Catching Hell
Reaching First
Second Thoughts
Third Degree
Stopping Short
From Left Field
Center Stage
Always Right
Triple Play I (a boxed set containing Perfect Pitch, Catching Hell, and Reaching First)
Triple Play II (a boxed set containing Second Thoughts, Third Degree, and Stopping Short)
Triple Play III (a boxed set containing From Left Field, Center Stage, Always Right)
Grand Slam (a boxed set containing the complete Diamond Brides Series)
The Harmony Springs Series
Harmony Christmas
Harmony Hearts
Harmony Hero
Three Part Harmony (a boxed set containing Harmony Christmas, Harmony Hearts, and Harmony Hero)
Harlequin Special Editions
The Daddy Dance
The Mogul’s Maybe Marriage
The Glasswrights Series
The Glasswrights’ Apprentice
The Glasswrights’ Progress
The Glasswrights’ Journeyman
The Glasswrights’ Test
The Glasswrights’ Master
The Glasswrights Series (a boxed set containing The Glasswrights’ Apprentice, The Glasswrights’ Progress, The Glasswrights’ Journeyman, The Glasswrights’ Test, and The Glasswrights’ Master)
