whiskey witches 01 - whisky witches

by blooding, s m

  Pain. Light. Blasting. Rending. Fear.

  She latched onto his wrist with both hands, dropping the gun. She fought, trying to figure out what he planned on doing with her.

  He picked himself off the ground, his face twisted in victory. His hand never left her chest.

  Piercing, stabbing, shooting pain.

  Rip. Burst. Raze. Rent.

  The power ripped through her, tearing at her limbs, threatening to rip her into pieces.

  She reached within herself and found her gift.

  What was an angel but a different kind of demon?

  Her fingers clawed, fighting the wind and the surge of power surrounding her. Her nails dug into his arms. Blood pooled and slowly dripped, running down her fingers, along her palm, to her wrist before falling, falling, falling to the rich earth below.

  Mike stared at her, his eyes widening in horror.

  She yanked. Hard and fierce, pushing him toward the gate he’d opened.

  A single sound. A piercing scream.

  And then absolute silence.

  Paige fell to the ground. The bright blue sky greeted her, the slight breeze dancing upon her skin. Mike was gone. Where? She had no clue, nor did she really care.

  Holy shit. She’d done it. She’d actually done it.

  Holy shit.

  PAIGE LAY ON the ground, spent. After all the worrying, all she’d had to do was send him back nearly the same way she would a demon. She really needed to get into magickal shape. She couldn’t afford to be taken so off guard again.

  For now, though? She turned her head, scanning the grass. She should have the key.

  Lucius picked himself off the ground, his arms out as he took stock of himself. With a frown, he stooped, retrieving something off the ground, and then stood. “The key.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. She really needed to get off the ground, but it felt good to lay there for a second. “Lucius, would you do me a favor?”

  He met her gaze, his fingers folding around the knot work key.

  All she wanted to do was close her eyes and fall asleep for a year. “Take Fanny back to town and make sure she’s safe.”

  “I’m not a messenger and I’m not a delivery boy.”

  “The way I see, I just saved your life from being sucked into that key.”

  He opened his hand. “We have to find a way to get my brethren out of it.”

  “If we can.” She swallowed, raising her palm. “Give it to me.”

  He licked his lips.

  She flicked her fingers, beckoning. “Give it to me and I’ll protect it, make sure it’s safe.”

  “You’re not even able to stand, love. I don’t believe you’re quite capable yet.”

  She released a breath, and then pushed herself to her feet, immediately wishing she’d gone slower as her stomach rolled, threatening to spill. “I’ll take it home.”

  “To the Whiskey house?”

  She nodded.

  He released a breath and handed it over. “My brethren.”

  “As soon as I figure out how, I will release them from the key.”

  He spun on his heal, disappearing into the barn.

  “Pea.”

  She jerked. “Bal. Crap. You scared me.”

  Balnore had appeared near Jackie’s shining hood. He surveyed the area. “Did we win?”

  “Surprisingly? Yes.” She held up the key.

  “Mike?”

  She shrugged deeply. “Other side of the gate.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Thanks for the support.”

  He gestured with his hands. “I have faith in you, Pea. It’s not blind, though.”

  “Confidence.” She took a step toward Jackie and paused as her hip complained. Getting old sucked. How the hell had she hurt her hip? “How’s Dexx?”

  “Not good.” Balnore shifted to the side, making room for her on the hood. “He’s not healing and he appears to be getting worse. Do you have everything taken care of here?”

  “Lucius is taking care of Fanny. I have the key. It’s time to get out of here.”

  “And the other demons?”

  “I think once they realize I have the key, they’ll leave.”

  “Problem solves itself.”

  “Sometimes, the easiest solution is best.”

  “It’s not my favorite.”

  “Nor mine.” She opted not rest on the hood. If she did, she was afraid she wouldn’t get back up. “But I can’t deal with them. I’ve already gone through Lucius and Roxxie as shields. That leaves me with Xael, and I’m not ready for that.”

  Balnore’s head bobbed up and down as he studied the barn. “Things are as buttoned up here as you can make it.”

  “There’s still too many loose ends, but, Bal, I’m not leaving without Dexx.”

  He leveled a hard look at her. “He may not make it home. He’s in critical condition. The doctors say he won’t survive the night.”

  Paige stared up at the sun high overhead and let the information settle over her. She pressed the fingertips of her empty hand against one eyelid, her heart clenching. “Will you drive me to him? Please. I can’t. I need sleep.”

  Balnore gripped her arm. “You do,” he said, his voice a quiet murmur. “Fine. You see him. You say your goodbyes, then we get you and that key to Highland Park and in that fortress Alma calls a home.”

  “Agreed.”

  Paige remembered getting in the car after placing the key in her pocket. The next thing she knew, the car was still and Balnore was nudging her awake. “We’re here, Peanut.”

  She breathed, feeding oxygen into her brain, willing it to wake up. If she were really, really lucky, Sven wouldn’t try anything and the demon population in and around St. Francisville would disappear.

  If only she were that lucky.

  They exited the elevator on the third floor. Few people walked the wide, bright hall. A woman’s voice called over the intercom, paging a doctor to a room. Otherwise, she couldn’t see or hear anyone.

  Balnore led the way to a glass enclosed room with a single bed.

  Paige’s breath lodged in her throat. It was so cold. Dexx laid there, tubes and wires coming from his body. Machines beeped all around him, and a single fluorescent light shown on him from the wall above his headboard.

  Balnore pressed his arm onto hers, giving her support or a nudge. “Are you ready for this?”

  The thought of facing her future without Dexx in it? He’d become a partner she’d never realized she’d needed, a best friend she could tell almost anything to. She shook her head. “When he came here, he was fine.”

  “He was.” Balnore released a breath and stepped closer to the bed. “He was talking one moment. I left the room—I was pushed out, actually, and then he flat lined. He’s been in a coma ever since.”

  Paige couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that Dexx might disappear from her life. For good. Forever.

  “I’m—” Balnore paused, clasping his hands in front of him. “I’m going to give you some time.”

  Paige didn’t hear him leave. He could have evaporated, traveling however demons did, or he could have simply stepped quietly out of the room. She didn’t know. Didn’t care.

  Dexx was . . . gone.

  She sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. She was afraid to touch him, though she didn’t know why. Nothing she could do would hurt him.

  How was she supposed to say goodbye?

  Easy. Just say it. Then walk away.

  If only she didn’t care about him. What would it be like to wake up alone? Or to jump into another situation like this one without him as backup? She felt stronger, more confident, more capable with him in her life.

  She ran the palm of her hand along his arm. “We never had that epic sex, you know. Seems like a cop out, you leaving like this.” She didn’t really feel the humor. She didn’t want to joke around. She wanted to bring him back. She wanted to talk to him, to touch him, to hear him laugh, to have him make fun
of her.

  Something caught her eye under the sleeve of his gown. Something white and stark. Raising the sleeve further, she saw a handprint.

  Licking her lips, she touched it.

  Sven. His name, his purpose swarmed over her.

  Paige.

  His voice echoed through her mind.

  You received my message. I can bring him back.

  Her heart paused in its beating.

  For a price. Meet me in the courtyard.

  Paige knew she shouldn’t consider any offer he might provide. Dexx wouldn’t appreciate knowing that she’d traded—what? Her soul? Her life? Her . . . what would she be willing to trade for one more moment with Dexx? Not her life. No. She liked him well enough, but her life? When she knew she had to live for Leah? No. She didn’t have that luxury.

  She’d at least see what Sven wanted. What was the harm in listening?

  A great deal, actually.

  Paige took the main doors outside and walked around, looking for the courtyard. She found it. Or at least she thought she did. A group of young, flowering trees huddled within a concrete circle in the bay of three buildings.

  “Sven?” she whispered. She wiped her damp palms on her jeans.

  A shadow of a man headed toward her from the parking lot, his gait confident. He smiled as he grew closer. “I’m so glad you got my message.”

  “Did you do something to him? Are you the reason he’s in a coma?”

  “Gave him a virus.” Sven chuckled, well-pleased with himself. “A plague, if you will.”

  “Why? What was the point of that?”

  “Oh, if only you could see the big picture. You’re bloody brilliant, you know. You really are, but, I gotta say, you’re well off your game this time around.”

  Paige licked her lips. She wasn’t really interested in the big picture. She wanted to get Dexx, the key, and get the hell out of there. “I can tell you where Lucius is.”

  Sven smiled, saying nothing.

  “Save Dexx. Take back whatever you did and I’ll give you Lucius.”

  Sven took Paige’s arm and led her to the bench, pushing her gently towards it. “I’ve given you quite the scare, I see. I didn’t really mean for all that. To get your attention? Yes. That. But this desperation? No.”

  “You gave him a plague and you didn’t want me to be desperate?”

  “Well, when you say it like that.” He sat next to her.

  She scooted away from him. “What do you want?”

  He searched her eyes for a long moment. He blinked and leaned back. “You really are off your, aren’t you? You’re near done in, and that’s not what I need. Not at all.”

  “Sven. Tell me what you want.”

  “You, of course.”

  She frowned at him. “As what? A lover? An adversary.”

  “Oh, this—” He sighed. “This will never do. What do you need to be patched up? I need you healed, on your toes. We’ve things to do, you and I, and we can’t do that with you this close to knacking your face.”

  “I want Dexx back.”

  “Ah, yes. He is quite the partner, isn’t he? Lover?”

  She flinched.

  “Not quite. Excellent. Well, I look forward to that one. But another time. Yes. Fine. But first, I have to pay a visit to a certain angel to retrieve a certain artifact. I’ll try to keep it from being bloody. I want you home and rested. And not Denver. Really. Move back home. It’s where you’re strongest, and we need you strong.”

  For what? “I have the key.”

  Sven tipped his blonde head to the side. “What?”

  “I sent Mike back and took the key.”

  He chuckled, biting his bottom lip. “Why, you do so surprise me. Oh, Paige. You’re quite the dear.”

  Paige pulled the mangle piece of broken metal from her pocket. “Why do you want this?”

  He shifted his focus from the key to her face. “I don’t want to open the gate, if that’s what you’re askin.’ I was interested to see what Mike’s plan was. I mean, after all, the angels had gone to an awful lot of trouble to kill off all the guardians and myself to get their hands on that.”

  Paige swallowed.

  “How are you going to protect it?”

  “At Grandma’s.”

  “Ah. Wise choice.” He ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek for a moment. “Let me offer my protection instead.”

  Paige frowned. “Why would I trust you?”

  “Think about it, Paige. Alma has children who live in that fortress. There’ll be more very soon. The key brings the kinds of people she can’t beat. Not on her own. Are you moving back? No? Didn’t think so. Besides, even if you did, you’re broken, what with that sigil on your chest.”

  “What is this?” She gestured to her scar.

  His eyes softened. “Not my idea, unfortunately. Though, I must say, I’m not opposed to the result. Learn to work around it, though.”

  Work around it? She couldn’t even conceive how that was possible.

  Sven held his hand out. “Give me the key and I’ll protect it.”

  “And Lucius? What do you want with him?”

  “To talk. I have questions for him.”

  Paige glanced down at the key, turning it slightly to catch the overhead sunlight.

  “I’ll even clean up the demons in St. Francisville for you.”

  “You killed innocent people.”

  “To—” He released a breath. “I see now that what I did was wrong. You weren’t ready. You will be.”

  “So I can expect more dead bodies?”

  “Would you prefer something else?”

  “I’d prefer to be left alone.”

  He frowned at her. “I’ll do something else for you instead. I’ll give you back your lover, and I’ll bring you back your daughter.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “They’re both needed. I just didn’t realize it till now. Didn’t put the pieces together. Hand me the key and go to your hunter.”

  Her fingers flexed around the metal.

  “And then heal and practice. Something big’s comin.’ Bigger’n what I brought to you. Beef it up a bit.”

  She really wanted to get out of there. “You won’t open the gate.”

  “No.” He raised his eyebrows, the corners of his eyes drawing down. “No. I absolutely will not do that.”

  “And there won’t be any more killings.”

  He winced. “In St. Francisville? No. Not . . . yet.”

  She needed to buy time. Time to regroup, to get tougher, smarter, play harder. She dropped the key in the palm of his hand.

  He folded his fingers around it and rose. “Go to him. You’ve won a reprieve, my pet. Take it.”

  Paige watched him leave the same way he’d arrived. A reprieve? Why didn’t that sound good?

  DEXX WAS SITTING up in bed, an army of nurses surrounding him, by the time Paige made it back to his hospital room. She paused at the door, hugging herself. Had she made the right decision?

  She pulled her phone out of her pocket and searched through her recent calls list.

  “White.”

  “Whiskey. Have there been any problems?”

  She could hear several people around him. “No. It’s pretty quiet. Did you fix it? Are we safe?”

  She rubbed her forehead with her thumb and forefinger. “I hope so. I don’t know.”

  “Is this done?” he asked his voice quiet.

  She let her head fall against the doorframe. “I hope so. Time will tell.”

  Over the course of the next few days, Dexx was released on light duty, and things were indeed calm in St. Francisville. Lucius disappeared, going after the key and his brethren. Paige could understand, but his brothers weren’t her main responsibility.

  Paige’s boss wasn’t too happy with her extended leave of absence. “Are you planning on returning sometime this year, Whiskey?”

  Paige pulled the phone away from her ear momentarily, lowering the vo
lume. Everyone in the diner could have heard him. “Yes, sir. I should be back in Denver by tomorrow—”

  “Uh, probably Wednesday,” Dexx said around a mouthful of hamburger bouncing slightly in the aqua colored bench in the diner. “We’re driving.”

  Paige shook her head.

  “Who was that?” her boss demanded.

  “No one, sir. There’s still a few things I have to wrap up here. I should be back in a couple of days.”

  “You might not have a job to come back to.”

  The line went silent.

  Paige cringed and placed her phone face down on the table.

  “That conversation didn’t go well.” Dexx shoved another three fries in his mouth.

  “Didn’t they feed you in the hospital?”

  “That’s a joke, right?”

  She raised an eyebrow and shoved the lettuce in her salad around.

  “So, where’s the key?” He stabbed a fry in ketchup. “We’ve been sitting around for two days now. What’s the plan to get it back?”

  She released a tight breath. For two days, she’d done nothing but think of what to tell him. Should she admit to the truth? What would that do? “It was destroyed. When I sent Mike back through the gate.”

  “Really.”

  “Yeah.” She set her fork down with a clank and stared out the big window, watching traffic pass on the highway. “I think we’re safe for now.”

  “And Lucius?”

  “He’s searching for the key. He thinks he can get it back. Try and get the other guardians out of the key.”

  Dexx narrowed his eyes at her, setting his burger down without a bite. “Sven?”

  She shrugged.

  “And you don’t care?”

  “Look.” She gestured with her hand. “We solved the case, like I was supposed to. The killings are going to stop, and we managed to keep the gate closed.”

  “Why do I get the feeling there’s more here than you’re telling?”

  “I don’t know. Really. I don’t.”

  A shadow fell across the table. “Can I sit?”

  She looked up to find Brian standing at the table, scooting over in the bench seat.

  Brian sat, perched on the very edge. He grimaced, running his hand over his head. “So, the reports are written like you said.”