Love, Blood, and Sanctuary

by Brenda Murphy

  Chapter Eight

  Hadassah had not brought a lover to her apartment in so long she couldn’t recall how long it had been. If Yael was judging the clutter, the clothes left piled on the chair, the dishes in the sink, she didn’t show any signs of it. She looked around Hadassah’s living room with interest, stopping for only a moment in front of the Velvet Elvis before turning her attention to the fake fireplace and the photos lining the mantel. She lifted a framed picture from its place of pride.

  “This is you. Who’s with you?” She tipped the photo toward Hadassah, who crossed the room to look at it.

  “That’s my teacher. Regina.” Hadassah touched the frame gently.

  Yael gave her a curious look. “Teacher?”

  “Mentor. Guide, if you will. She’s the one who helped me really learn how to harness and utilize my talents.”

  “Was she your lover?”

  Hadassah blinked rapidly. “What? Regina? No! She would never have taken advantage of me that way. And I wouldn’t have wanted her to either.”

  Yael put the picture back on the mantel. “I didn’t mean to offend.”

  “I’m not offended. Just startled you’d think that. I love Regina for everything she’s taught me, but she’s a friend. Not a lover.”

  Yael nodded as though she understood and touched the framed photo next to the one of Hadassah and Regina. “Your family?”

  “Yes. Mom. Dad. Two brothers.” Hadassah moved closer to study the photo along with Yael. Their shoulders brushed.

  “Was your mother a hemomancer?”

  “No. Or if she was, she never spoke of it. Nobody in my family ever did,” Hadassah said quietly. “We never do, even now.”

  “That must be…” Yael’s mouth worked, as though she were struggling to find the right words.

  “It’s hard, sometimes. It was harder in the beginning, when I was young. Didn’t know what the hell was happening to me. It’s better, now,” Hadassah said.

  “Do they know about you?”

  Her family knew much about her, and yet nothing at all. “Whatever they know, they pretend they don’t. It’s better that way. We get in touch for birthdays, holidays, things like that. The rest of the time, we live our own lives. I mean, they live their lives, and they tell themselves I’m the one who’s off on her own. Living her life.” Hadassah drew in a sharp breath. Old wounds. Scabs over scars. “What about you?”

  “I…don’t have any family. Not like that.”

  “A found family can be as important as the ones we’re related to,” Hadassah said, wondering if Yael was estranged from her family. Most of Hadassah’s friends had the same sorts of relationships with their folks and siblings as she did. Loving, but distant, to protect the ones they loved from having to face uncomfortable truths. “I have a lot of people in my life who aren’t technically family, but I think of them that way.”

  Yael looked at her. “I don’t really have anyone in my life.”

  “By choice?” It was a bold question, one Hadassah wouldn’t have blamed Yael for not answering.

  “No,” Yael said. “Just by chance.”

  Empathy pricked Hadassah’s heart with a tiny thorn. “I’m sorry.”

  “You have a nice home,” Yael said in reply.

  Fair enough. There were some topics that didn’t get covered until you knew someone for a long, long time. Some things were never shared. Hadassah spent her days digging into people’s most personal and private circumstances, and she understood how that worked.

  “Can I get you something to drink? I have red wine, but it’s not as good as the house blend. I have water. Soda. Lemonade,” Hadassah offered.

  Yael kissed her. Her hand slid to one of Hadassah’s hips. The other went to the back of her neck. The thrill of that touch wound its way through Hadassah’s entire body. Her lips parted. A sigh escaped. Yael’s tongue slipped inside her mouth to toy with her own. The kiss broke, but softly. Yael didn’t let go of her, not with either hand.

  “I’m sorry I disappointed you by leaving without making future arrangements to see you, Hadassah.”

  Hadassah shook her head. “I shouldn’t have expected you to. It was only meant to be a one-time thing.”

  “But here we are.” Yael kissed her again and then pressed her cheek to Hadassah’s. “You brought me into your home. You must trust me.”

  Did she? Hadassah couldn’t be sure that was an accurate description of how she felt about Yael, or why she’d chosen to bring her here. It had less to do with trust and more to do with foolishness, she thought. She thought of what Regina had told her.

  “Maybe it’s just fate,” she said.

  Chapter Nine

  Demons did not deal with fate, but humans did. Which meant that while she occupied this body, so did Yael. She wasn’t sure what that meant for her though.

  “You told me that my own choices would change whatever was going to happen for me,” she said to Hadassah, who nodded.

  “That’s true, at least as I’ve always known it.” She reached to tuck a strand of Yael’s tangled hair behind her ear and then let her fingers linger on Yael’s cheek.

  Yael put her hand over Hadassah’s, holding it in place so she could turn her face to kiss the palm. “How do you know what choices to make so you end up where you want to be?”

  “I have no idea. I don’t think anyone does. We all just sort of muddle along.” Hadassah laughed lightly.

  Yael didn’t laugh. “But you counsel people based on their readings.”

  “Yes. I mean, I try to. But I can only see what could happen. Not what is definitely going to. And,” Hadassah added, “it’s not my place to tell anyone what choices to make. I can only share what I see.”

  Before Yael could say anything else, Hadassah stepped close enough to kiss her again. Their lips parted to allow the sweet slip of tongues. Heat rose inside Yael, urging her to press her body along Hadassah’s. Her hands fit just right on the swell of Hadassah’s hips. Their bellies touched. Their breasts. Yael sighed out a small moan at how good it felt to touch and be touched, and at the noise, Hadassah broke the kiss.

  “I love the way you taste,” she whispered. “The way you feel. Everything about this, Yael, it’s not like anything I’ve ever felt with anyone.”

  “I have never felt this before either.” There had been sex, both in the demon realm and in her demon form, at the command of the witch, but it had always been solely physical.

  This time, the kiss was fierce, but brief, and Hadassah backed away, out of reach. She drew in a breath. Hadassah turned away, and her hair tumbled over her shoulders, hiding her face.

  “Did I say something wrong, Hadassah?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m just afraid…”

  “Of what?”

  Hadassah turned with a gesture. “Of this. Of us.”

  “Of me,” Yael said.

  “Yes. Of you. Because something that feels this good and right just can’t be.” Hadassah gave an exaggerated shrug.

  Yael dared to step closer, hoping Hadassah wouldn’t move away. She kept herself from reaching for her though. “Why not?”

  “Because nothing ever is,” Hadassah said.

  Emotion stung Yael’s throat and the backs of her eyes. The truth struggled up from her gut, trying to force its way out of her throat with words she couldn’t manage to form. She wanted to tell Hadassah she was a blood demon, that this bond between them had to be because of Hadassah’s talents pulling Yael toward her.

  “You said it was fate,” was all she managed to get out before her mouth closed tight against anything more.

  “Fate? Coincidence?” Hadassah crossed her arms over her chest and frowned in Yael’s direction. “I’m not sure I can put my faith in either of those.”

  “Then let’s make it a choice,” Yael said.

  Hadassah’s chin lifted, but she didn’t speak. Yael moved closer, this time enough to gently pry one of Hadassah’s hands from where she’d tucked it tight against he
r body. Yael linked their fingers, not forcing or pulling, but making an invitation she was desperately hoping Hadassah would accept.

  “You tell me it’s all our own choices that put us where we end up. So, let’s choose this. Choose us, whatever that means.”

  Hadassah sighed. “Regina told me something that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.”

  Regina, the teacher. Did she know the truth about Yael? Had she shared it with Hadassah? “What was it?”

  “I’m not sure I want to say,” Hadassah told her.

  “Then don’t say it,” Yael said bluntly, relieved Hadassah was holding back.

  Hadassah nodded and met Yael’s gaze. “You know what…you’re right. Caution is wise but fear only holds us back from what we otherwise might pursue to our benefit. I told you I was willing to see where this went with us, and you said you were too. So, let’s just do it. Let’s see what happens. Let’s…choose.”

  “Yes,” said Yael, grateful, relieved, overwhelmed with another surge of those emotions she was too slowly learning how to experience and control. “Let’s choose.”

  Chapter Ten

  You were never in love with anyone before.

  Regina’s words echoed in Hadassah’s mind again as they’d been doing over and over again for the past two months. She set her purse on its place on the shelf and opened her appointment book. It was a light day, so far, but she knew she was going to have a hard time concentrating as much as she should this morning. Too many distractions.

  Five feet and approximately eight inches of distraction. Two glorious handfuls of soft breast sort of distraction. Tight belly, luscious thighs…

  There was really only one distraction, Hadassah admonished herself. All of it was Yael. Since the incident with the posturing man in the park, everything had been about Yael.

  She hadn’t specifically asked Yael to move in with her, but essentially that’s what had happened. Hadassah went off to work at her office every day, while Yael went, most days, to her job with the landscaping company, and at night, she returned to Hadassah’s apartment. She hadn’t moved in any of her belongings other than a toothbrush and some clothes, and even then, around the house she preferred nudity or borrowed one of Hadassah’s caftans.

  They’d gone through countless bottles of red wine, ordered in every variety of takeout food they’d been able to, and made love for hours all over the house.

  Made love. Hadassah laughed under her breath as heat stole through her cheeks. When had she stopped thinking of it as fucking and started imagining it as making love? Somewhere around day two, she guessed, when she’d made Yael laugh so hard she cried by doing an impression of a dolphin singing a country song. Or had it been the day before that, when Yael had fed her sweet and spicy sauce from the tip of her finger?

  Maybe, Hadassah thought, it had been that first moment when she’d spun around on her stool to spy Yael sitting at the end of the bar.

  Maybe it had been this way from the start.

  Maybe, maybe, maybe. Everything was maybe and might be and what if. She should know better than to pin too much hope to any of it. All she could do was keep making choices.

  “Hello? Good morning?” Hadassah’s door had eased open to reveal a woman looking around it. She took a hesitant step into the room.

  She was early. Hadassah pressed her lips together against the annoyance she felt and stood to gesture a welcome. “Mary?”

  “Yes.” The woman didn’t move. She looked around the office with wide eyes before focusing her gaze on Hadassah’s. She wrung her hands.

  “Do you need some time to compose yourself? You’re early for the appointment,” Hadassah said. “You can wait in the lounge until you’re ready.”

  “Oh, I’m ready now. I’m all ready.” Mary snapped out the answer like she was on a game show trying to win a prize.

  Hadassah sighed inwardly. So much for a few minutes to herself to prepare for the day. “You can have a seat right there.”

  Mary nodded sharply and moved, each motion jerky and robotic, to the chair Hadassah had indicated. Hadassah hadn’t yet had time to set it for the reading, so she did that now, quickly. She took her own seat across from Mary.

  “Have you ever had a reading like this before?” Hadassah began the same way she did for just about every client.

  “Yes. Many times.”

  Hadassah hesitated at the tone of Mary’s voice. The woman’s demeanor was not what she would have expected from someone familiar with the process. “A blood magic reading?”

  “Yes, yes. I said I have.” Mary waved an impatient hand and scooted her chair closer to the table. She offered Hadassah her other hand.

  Hadassah didn’t take it right away. Something was off about this woman. Something she couldn’t identify. It wouldn’t have been the first time she’d cancelled a reading before it began, based on a weird vibe. She studied Mary carefully, but she couldn’t pinpoint what it was about her that felt so wrong.

  “Before we get started, I like to learn a little bit about you. It helps with the reading.”

  This was not untrue, although Hadassah most often only needed a minute or so of assessment before she was ready to start. Most often, clients had already submitted what they were interested in learning with their online appointment forms. Some didn’t, of course, the ones who wanted as much anonymity as possible. Mary hadn’t, and Hadassah hadn’t given it a second thought…until now.

  “Sure. Ask me anything.” Mary’s grin stretched wide and wider, thinning her lips over the bulge of her teeth but not showing them at all. The effect made a skull out of her face, her smile a rictus.

  Unsettled, Hadassah sat back in her seat. “How did you find me?”

  “You advertise.”

  All right then, Hadassah thought with a frown. “Why did you choose me?”

  “You had fair rates. You got good reviews. I place a lot of weight on the opinions of others. I’m easily led. Do any of those answers please you?” Mary cocked her head, her gaze steady and piercing.

  The faintest tingle of something unusual ran a feather-light touch along Hadassah’s spine, and she suddenly understood. Mary was a witch. Why would a witch require the services of a hemomancer? More importantly, why would she also be trying to work some kind of persuasion spell on her?

  “You can’t magic me,” Hadassah told her. “It’s not allowed here. Besides, I’m warded.”

  Mary laughed, a low, vicious chuckle. “You think your little wards could stop me?”

  “I don’t know if they could or not. But I know that you’re not allowed to do it here, in Sanctuary.” Hadassah kept her voice calm, even as alarm rose quickly inside her. The poke and prod of whatever spell the witch was trying to cast rubbed against her like barbed wire shielded with linen—protected for now, but eventually it was going to stab right through.

  “Do you think I really care about the rules here?” Mary gave the room a scathing look around before focusing her attentions back on Hadassah.

  Hadassah had no problem with witches, but she did take affront with entitled bitches like this one. Mary was the sort who’d wear a face covering made out of tulle during quarantine season—the sort who didn’t think the rules applied to her. She slipped one hand beneath the table, ready to press the buzzer that would call the Sanctuary security team to her office. Another swell of power pushed at her, prying at the wards.

  “Get out,” Hadassah said. “I don’t know who you think you are—”

  “I know who you think you are,” Mary interrupted, “and I couldn’t give a single damn. What I want to know about is your new ‘friend.’”

  The persuasion spell encircled Hadassah like a noose, pressing at her throat. She didn’t give Mary the satisfaction of reacting to it. Her fingers pressed the security button, or tried to, slipping off the slick plastic as Mary’s spell made her clumsy.

  “What new friend?”

  Hadassah’s mind raced as she tried to think of a way to break the i
ncreasing hold Mary was placing on her. An image of Yael rose in her mind, and she forced it away, unwilling to give the witch even a second’s satisfaction that she’d managed to get something out of her.

  “You know exactly who I mean. Don’t play dumb—”

  “We’re done here.” Hadassah finally managed to press the security button.

  Mary stood and leaned across the table. Her fingers curled into the tablecloth, tugging it. Her eyes glittered as her smile pulled across her lips, twisting them. Her teeth bared, briefly.

  “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” she breathed.

  The office door opened to reveal the tall figure of one of the guards, who wasted no time in taking Mary by one arm. “C’mon. Let’s go. You know the rules.”

  Mary didn’t struggle. She sneered and spat without turning her head, but Hadassah had stepped far enough away that the spittle missed her. “You think you’ve got yourself a fun new lay? Wait until she decides to—”

  “C’mon,” the guard said, shaking the witch as though she were a naughty puppy that had chewed on its mistress’s shoes. “We don’t allow for that sort of thing here. Keep it up, and you won’t be allowed back.”

  With that, he forced Mary out of the door and paused to look over his shoulder at Hadassah, who nodded her agreement. He didn’t close the door behind him, and so she followed him to watch. To Hadassah’s surprise, Yael stood in the hallway, her eyes wide. She pressed herself against the wall, hands flat against it, to stay as far away from the guard as she could.

  No. Not from the guard. From Mary.

  “She’s not what you think she is!” Mary shrieked, fighting the guard’s grip.

  The guard shook her again. “Enough! Let’s go!”

  By the time they’d turned the corner, out of sight, Yael had begun to shake. Hadassah went to her but hesitated before putting a hand on Yael’s shoulder. She could still hear Mary hollering.

  “Yael?”