I blinked, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. “It’s so much easier to just give up though.”
“Life is full of easy choices, but often they are not the ones worthy of making. It’s the hard ones that become commendable and praiseworthy in the end, the ones that light the strength we would have otherwise never noticed lying dormant within ourselves, and allow it to burn bright.” He gripped my hips, and pulled me closer. The sensation of his touch warmed my insides and lit the fuse to live he was desperately trying to get me to find again.
I needed to feel this one last time in real life, to be wrapped in his arms. Things couldn’t end this way for me.
“There you go, put up a fight for him.” Randal’s fingers gripped my chin and tipped my head up until my gaze was locked on his. “Don’t let him win your soul.”
Darkness rippled through the clear blue sky suspended above us. I knew it was the wraith coming to steal me away from this haven I had created for myself.
“Focus on yourself lying in bed, scream, do something, Kenna,” Randal pleaded. “Losing you would break me. A man can only handle so much heartache and loss in one lifetime, and I’ve lived through many. Enough to know that another would shatter me in two.”
I swallowed hard while forcing myself to focus on the image of lying in my bed once more.
“There you go.” Randal leaned forward and kissed my forehead. I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation of his lips pressed against my skin, and when I opened them, his lips had been replaced by Lexy’s hand.
“Are you okay?” Her brows pinched together with worry as she stared down at me. “I thought I’d lost you to the wraith for a minute.”
“Me too.” My voice was shaky.
“What happened?”
“I fell asleep.” That should be explanation enough. Lexy knew what happened when I slept.
“The tea I made still isn’t potent enough?”
“No,” I said, even though there was no need for my reply; she already knew the answer.
Lexy moved to sit on the edge of my bed. Her hand came up to run through her blond hair, as her blue eyes met mine. “Kyra should be here in a few hours. You won’t have to deal with this for much longer, if you can hold on.”
I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. It was barely after seven in the morning. “What time will she be here?”
“I’m not sure.” Lexy chewed along her thumbnail. It was the first nervous habit I’d seen her display. “Soul Harbor is about an hour drive from Avalon Bay, so I’m guessing it will take her about seven hours to get here. I’m just not sure what time she left.”
A knock sounded at my front door, startling the both of us.
“Speak of the devil. That’s probably her.”
“I’ll answer it.” I pushed my blankets back and started down the hall. My heart thumped hard and fast as my nerves got the best of me.
If it was Kyra at the door that meant my time with the wraith was ending, but it also meant I would have to die soon in order for that to happen.
Chapter 23
When I swung the door open, the dark-skinned woman from Red River’s surveillance footage stood before me. The sight of her had my heart pounding even harder. Her honey-brown eyes stared at me as a smile twisted her red lips, making me feel as though she knew something about me I didn’t.
“You must be Kenna.” Her voice was full of seduction.
“I am.” I motioned for her to step inside. “Come on in.”
Her studious eyes shifted past me and to my apartment, as though she were taking in her surroundings before committing to walking through the door. I assumed, in her line of work, there was a level of caution you had to harbor daily. I could only imagine the amount of people a hoodoo practitioner could piss off in a single day.
“Please, make yourself at home.” I moved to close the door behind her, but something blocked it.
“Hey, guy carrying loads of bags coming through.” A blond guy with big blue eyes and a set of dimples made his way into my apartment.
“I hope you don’t mind.” Kyra slipped free from her red knitted sweater and draped it over her arm. “I brought my assistant with me.”
“Assistant? Is that what I am to you now?” There was a devious smile twisting across the guy’s face, causing him to appear even more handsome than he already was.
Kyra’s plump lips parted as a chuckle slipped free. She was amused by his words. I wondered if there was something going on between them. Then my mind dipped into the hows—how had this All-American-looking guy fallen into hoodoo practitioner waters?
“This is my boyfriend,” Kyra corrected herself. Her eyes never seemed to leave the guy’s. It was as though she was challenging him with her unwavering stare to counter the label she placed on him, or at least to respond. “Kace.”
“Hi, nice to meet you.” I held out a hand for him to shake, which was what I was supposed to do. Right? My nerves were bound to get the best of me now that Kyra had arrived, and things were about to get real. “I’m Kenna.”
“Ah, so you’re the one infected with the wraith, right?” Kace’s baby blue eyes skimmed over me as though he were searching for any signs of the vile thing residing in me.
“That would be me.” I tucked my hair behind my ears and started toward the couch. My legs suddenly felt like Jell-O beneath me. Lexy leaning against the hall wall caught my attention as I turned. “Oh, and this is Lexy.”
“The supernatural witch,” Kace muttered. There was an odd tone laced within his words. It was almost condescending, as though he thought Lexy and her powers were beneath him. Either that or he was jealous of Lexy and her abilities. I couldn’t gauge him well. My nerves were getting in the way.
As I situated myself on my couch, I studied him. He was attractive, but looking past that, I began to wonder what he could do. Was he a regular human male, or was he something else? His aura was a shade of green I had never seen before.
Yellow green and forest green were both colors I had seen on human males before. They each meant different things, but neither of them seemed to fit with the shade surrounding him. However, it also didn’t fit with the sage green of a witch I’d come to know either, but it was closer to it than any other. Darker.
“That’s right.” Lexy’s voice pulled me back to the conversation between the two. I shifted my eyes to her. Her glaze slipped over him, taking in every inch, but not in a savoring way some might when eyeing a life-size Ken doll. She was sizing him up. “You must be the elemental witch.”
Elemental witch. Jasper’s explanation floated through my mind. He had mentioned they were a different breed than what he and Lexy were.
Kace’s chest puffed out as he set a few bags on my couch beside me. “That I am.”
Being an elemental witch was something he was proud of, anyone could see that much.
“Cloaking spell. I’m here to remove mine.” Kyra didn’t beat around the bush; she cut straight to the chase. It was something I admired.
“Yes,” I piped in. While there was a level of intimidation surrounding Kyra, now wasn’t the time to be quiet and mousey. She was here to help, even though her helping meant killing me in the end.
Locating Randal with her help was what I chose to focus on instead.
“Since I’ve already received half of my payment, I’ll go ahead and get started with the reversal spell first.” Kyra moved to where Kace had tossed her bags on my couch and began digging through their contents.
“Anything you want me to help with?” Kace asked. He seemed like a little puppy, so eager to please. My mind shifted back to thoughts of Trent. If Kyra hadn’t mentioned already that Kace was her boyfriend, I would have thought from his statement he was indebted to her in some way. Who knew, maybe they had a screwed up story like my mom and Trent did? I bet it would be interesting.
“You know how this works.” Kyra didn’t look at him when she spoke. I thought I detected a small semblance of sadness embedded within her wo
rds. “All you can do is watch.”
“I like the sound of that,” Kace muttered in a husky tone that would have made even the strongest girl blush…except for Kyra. She only smiled. “You know I’m down for watching you create magic anytime, baby.” The dirty innuendo lingering in his words was not lost on me.
Kyra kept her composure and pulled a small wooden bowl from in a bag, along with a silver dagger etched with markings I’d never seen before and a few bottles filled with powders in various colors. She positioned everything on my coffee table, before settling herself in front of it.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I continued to stare at her, unbelieving she was about to reverse her own spell behind Sage’s back. Shouldn’t there be some sort of rule or code that kept her from doing something like this?
When Lexy moved from her position along the wall to sit in the recliner, I took that as my moment to ask. “Isn’t it against the contract or whatever you have with Sage for you to remove the cloak you did for her without notifying her?”
“No.” Kyra uncorked one of the small vials and sprinkled its brown contents into the wooden bowl.
I waited for her to say more, but she never did. “That’s it, just a no?”
She paused in her movements to glare at me. “Anyone who works with me knows my ties are not with them, but with the money they offer.”
I was flabbergasted she could speak so candidly about such a thing. There wasn’t even the slightest level of worry or fear in her that Sage might attempt to retaliate in some way. The woman was fearless.
“Basically, what she’s saying is money talks, sweetheart,” Kace added with a charming smile. He seemed a little arrogant in his demeanor. I knew then if I hadn’t been able to see his odd witch aura, I would have seen an orange one for sure.
“I got it the first time,” I muttered, sounding more snappish than I had intended.
He tossed his hands up in surrender and backed away to sit on the armrest of the couch. His mouth opened as though he was about to say something, but Kyra cut him off.
“Quiet. The cloaking spell I used was a strong one, and I’m going to need silence to concentrate on breaking it.”
My eyes shifted to Lexy. I figured I would take my cues from her on this situation. She seemed engrossed in the ingredients spread on the table. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to figure them all out, or if she knew what they were for and didn’t care for their potency. Her expression was difficult to read.
Movement drew my attention back to Kyra. She had picked up the ritualistic dagger. I wondered if it was some sort of magical compass, or if she intended to use it to slice open her hand. I hoped not. Although, blood did seem as though it would be a main ingredient a hoodoo practitioner would use for a spell.
While I waited to see if I was right, my mind continued to a new train of thought, breaking down how blood might pertain to this spell. Blood to find a vampire. Dirt to find a werewolf. Saliva to find a succubus. All seemed fitting. Either I was getting good at figuring out supernatural stuff, or I had read one too many paranormal books.
I released a long breath, pulling my focus back to what was happening in front of me. Exhaustion was creeping in fast, but after my last encounter with the wraith, I wasn’t about to fall asleep and have a repeat anytime soon.
Focusing my gaze on Kyra, I forced my mind to think of nothing more. Her eyes had closed, and her breathing seemed to be slow as she concentrated. Her lips began moving, but I couldn’t make out any of the words. The difference between this situation and the way Jasper seemed to have gone about removing her previous cloak on Red River was like night and day. I kept waiting for her to begin moving her hands about as though she were feeling the energies the way Jasper and Piper seemed to, but she never did. She remained motionless.
My gaze drifted to Kace, his attention seemed drawn to Kyra, the same as everyone else in the room. He chewed his bottom lip as a light glistened through the baby blue of his eyes. Excitement was the best way to describe the emotion flickering in their depths. I wondered if his magic made him feel this way, or if it was only Kyra’s. A sense of marvel and wonder emanated from him as he watched her.
Movement from the corner of my eye captured my attention. Kyra had positioned her hands above the bowl with the dagger pointing toward one. Blood. I was right. She was about to use blood in the spell.
I held my breath as I watched her align the tip of the dagger with the pad of her index finger on her other hand.
“Reveal!” she shouted, startling me, before stabbing the tip of the dagger into her finger. Droplets of blood dripped into the wooden bowl. Her eyes opened, and she glanced into the bowl. “There. It’s broken.”
That was it? I assumed there would be a strange breeze blowing through the apartment, or a clap of thunder, something ominous that shook my nerves and rattled me to the core. Hoodoo had always seemed scary, even if I didn’t know much about it, but that had been a letdown. Walking through the door to The Midnight Cauldron in New Orleans had been ten times scarier.
Lexy propelled herself forward the instant Kyra spoke and was gazing into the wooden bowl. I didn’t move as quickly, the shock from the anticlimactic spell still barreled through me.
“I still don’t know where this is.” The frustration in Lexy’s voice was palpable.
“I’ve done all I can do for the price I was paid.” Kyra wrapped a paper towel around her punctured finger. “Give the reversal a little time; let it fully dissolve before you say it isn’t enough.”
“Kenna, do you know where this place is?” Lexy called to me.
Her question snapped me out of the frozen state I was in, and I moved toward her side. As I gazed into the bowl, all I could focus on was the way the powders I had seen her use had managed to turn to a thick liquid when mixed with her blood. It was a brownish fluid rippling in the bottom of the bowl.
“What about that sign?” Lexy leaned forward, almost blocking my view. “Can you make it out?”
There was a weather-beaten sign hung askew on the outside of the building, but I couldn’t make out what it said. I scanned what little I could see, unable to find anything familiar. Disappointment rattled my insides.
I had no idea where Sage was keeping Randal, which meant finding him might not be as easy as we had thought, even with the cloak removed.
Chapter 24
“And we’re done.” Kace rubbed his hands together as though he was wiping his palms free of dirt, and stood.
“That’s it?” Lexy asked. “We still don’t know much more than we did before you came.”
While I knew she was right, I didn’t think pestering a hoodoo practitioner or her boyfriend to get more answers was the best way to go about things.
“I’ve already said I did what I was paid to do,” Kyra repeated. “If you would like for me to do more in regards to this situation, then it will cost extra.”
“How much?” Lexy was quick to ask, but I could tell from the waver in her voice she didn’t sound comfortable paying a large sum.
“As I have said, give the spell time to dissolve. If afterward you still are at a loss for where the place is, contact me and we can go from there.” Kyra replied.
Kace moved to gather the vials and dagger from the coffee table. “Listen to her.” He wasn’t being smug; he was serious. “Sometimes magic takes time for dissipate.”
Lexy ran her fingers through her hair. “I don’t have the luxury of time. I need to find Sage so I can get Randal’s whereabouts to Bianca.”
I wondered if Lexy was hoping doing so would gain her an upper hand with Bianca, and that she might release Luke because of it.
“Not my problem,” Kyra said. She placed a hand on her hip and glanced at Lexy. “Look, I’ll leave the bowl here with you. Take some time to calm down, and then look in it again. The image won’t fade for a while; you might find something you missed from before that’s of use.”
“Thank you,” I offered up when Lexy didn’t speak.
“This is my information.” Kyra handed me a red business card with her name and cell number printed beneath an image of a mortar and pestle. “Let me know if you decide to go forward with another spell, one that would help locate Sage and Randal.”
Another spell? No wonder Jasper and Kyra were in the magic business. It was a never-ending cycle. Once you had one spell broken, there was always something else that needed an answer it seemed.
“I will.” I took the card from her. “Thanks.”
Kace chuckled as he grabbed the bags he’d tossed onto the couch earlier and slung them over his shoulder.
“What’s so funny?” Kyra asked him.
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “Just the situation. It’s like some screwed-up paranormal vacation we’re on.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kyra started toward the door.
“I know you’re here to work, but we’re also here for a mini vacation from Soul Harbor and the others.” He shrugged as she followed behind her. “It’s just weird is all.”
“Everything always seems weird to you,” she said. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew she was smiling.
“Nice to meet you two,” Kace called over his shoulder. “We’ll see you at the waning moon. Unless you call before then.” He winked as he closed the door behind him.
“Well that was disappointing.” Lexy fell back against the cushions of my couch and crossed her arms over her chest. “And those two were annoying.”
“Yeah, sort of.” I sat beside her and moved to gaze into the bowl once more. Still unable to spot anything familiar about the vison reflected inside, I leaned back against the couch too.
“So, what now? We still know nothing. Bianca is not going to be happy she wasted her money on that.”
“Let me call someone who might be able to help.” I reached for my cell. There was only one person I could think of who might know the area where Randal was being held based off a sign. He’d done it once before for me, which led me to have high hopes he could do it again.
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