by Deanna Chase
She studied me for a moment. Her eyes narrowed as she muttered under her breath and moved carefully past me to the Lexus. Placing a hand on the hood, she closed her eyes and said, “Release.”
The glow around the car shimmered brighter, flickered twice, and then rushed into her fingertips. She let out a loud gasp and clutched her chest with her other hand.
Unwelcome tendrils of energy crawled up my arms and grabbed on. I stepped back, clutching at my arms. “What the hell is happening?” I cried as the tendrils pinched and something vital was sucked right out of me. “Stop! Stop it!” I tried to call up my magic, but it only made it worse. Every bit of power I manifested was sucked away by the hold this witch seemed to have on me.
“Jade!” Kane called my name, but I couldn’t see him. My vision narrowed to the witch in front of me.
Her long, pale blond hair fanned out with what appeared to be static electricity. When the glow was gone, she pulled her hand away from the car and the hold on me evaporated.
My knees weakened as my head spun. If it hadn’t been for Kane, I could’ve collapsed right there in the street.
The other witch stared at me with wonder, her electric-blue eyes piercing me through the storm cloud shadows. “Wow. You weren’t exaggerating.”
I blinked, rapidly trying to focus.
“What did you do to her?” Kane demanded, anger streaming from him. It wrapped around me and made it hard to breathe.
“Kane,” I said weakly. “I need you to calm down.”
Guilt and frustration mixed with his anger and my vision started to fade to black.
“Please,” I said.
Reluctantly he let go of me. The relief was instant, and I sucked in air as if I’d been trapped under water. The witch came back into focus. She stood there in front of me with her hand held out. I eyed it but made no move to bridge the distance. “Answer him,” I said, putting force behind the words. A sputter of magic sparked through me and spread, fortifying my energy just enough that I didn’t feel like I was going to collapse.
“Impressive,” she said.
I scowled. “What? Giving me a magical smackdown?”
She laughed. “Oh no, honey. If that were to happen, you wouldn’t be conscious right now.”
I glared at her, acutely aware if we got into it, she’d kick my ass. Obnoxious witch. “What. Did. You. Do?”
“What you should have done.” She stalked forward until we were inches apart and with lightning speed, her hand darted forward, catching my neck in a death grip. Then she unleashed her power.
Chapter 6
“Jade!” I heard Kane call and knew he must’ve leaped forward, but the witch held up a hand, creating a barrier of magic he couldn’t penetrate.
My entire body seized. I couldn’t do anything except scream silently in fear and anger. Vibrant colors flared around me and then everything faded, and all I saw was white.
Sweet, cool relief rushed into my veins, filling me with my magic, the magic the witch had stolen from me. But still I couldn’t move. Whatever she was doing, she had me trapped in my own body. Flashes of being possessed by the ghost Camille took over my mind, leaving me almost broken with despair. Not this again. I couldn’t deal with having my will completely taken away. Not like this. With my own magic being used against me.
When the rush stopped, she leaned in, made eye contact, and said, “Don’t ever leave your magic behind. Any one of us can use it to control you.” Her hand relaxed and my body tingled back to life.
I stumbled backward and landed in Kane’s arms. He steadied me, holding me close to his solid frame. Sudden relief swept through me, making my eyes sting with unshed tears. The urge to climb back in the car and head back to Summer House was overwhelming. I didn’t want to do this. Not today. Not anymore.
The witch took off down the street. “Follow me,” she called over her shoulder.
I stared after her, fighting the instinct to flee. I wasn’t that weak. Something had to be done about Matisse. I turned my head and glanced up at Kane. “You okay?”
His stormy eyes searched mine. “No. What she did…”
I reached up and placed a hand on his cheek. And in that moment, I realized my bloodied arm had been healed. Had she done it? Had the magic transfer caused rapid healing? How strange. That had never happened before.
“Jade?” Kane asked.
“I’m fine. She didn’t hurt me.” Not physically, anyway. In reality, she’d done nothing but help me. It didn’t make the pill any easier to swallow.
“But she could have,” he said with a growl.
Another boom reverberated overhead and sunlight shone down between the parting clouds. I glanced up just in time to see the ravens scatter and literally disappear into the atmosphere. Holy cow. What the heck kind of witches were these chicks?
Across the street, both of the witches stood on the porch, staring at us. They were an odd pair. The older one was refined and elegant, the younger one relaxed and dressed as if she belonged in the seventies. The older one in the royal blue silk blouse made eye contact and said, “Come. Both of you.”
I sensed the magic behind her words and felt a small tug. But it wasn’t enough to force me into following her orders. Kane was a different story. His eyes glazed slightly and without speaking, he wrapped his large hand around mine and followed her command.
“Was that necessary?” I glared at the older witch. How dare she force her will on Kane?
She raised one thin eyebrow before turning and disappearing inside the house.
The blond witch smiled at me. A true, welcoming smile. “That was a formal invitation for witches. Our apologies that it affected your friend.”
The moment we stepped through the front door, Kane’s eyes cleared and he shook his head as if trying to clear the cobwebs.
The older witch turned to him. “The will of magic is extended to all witches so they can identify the type of magic we use. Witches can resist the force and make their own decision. Others usually have issues. Though she could have stopped you if she wanted to.”
Kane crossed his arms over his chest and glared. I couldn’t say I blamed him. We came here to help save one of their own and we’d gotten nothing but trouble.
The younger witch just grinned at Kane and then slowly raked her gaze over him, her smile turning wolfish.
“Whoa, there,” I said, holding up a hand. “Back off, honey. This one is mine.”
Kane turned and raised one quizzical eyebrow in my direction.
“What?” I whispered. “Did you see her mentally seducing you?”
He shook his head, clearly having lost all patience. Turning back to the other witches, he held his hand out. “We haven’t been introduced. I’m Kane Rouquette, and this is my fiancée, Jade Calhoun.”
The pair shared a glance. The older one nodded. “I’ve heard of you both.” Taking Kane’s hand, she added, “I’m Dayla Brinn, the Coven Pointe leader, and this—” she gestured to the blonde “—is Fiona Westin.”
I held my hand out to Fiona. When she grabbed it, I said, “I wish I could say it was my pleasure, but that remains to be seen.”
Her eyes sparkled as she laughed. “Understandable.”
“This way.” Dayla swept from the formal sitting room into the adjoining dining room.
Fiona waved a hand, indicating for us to follow. Dayla took us through the modern kitchen and then into a large great room. There were four wing-backed chairs and a loveseat positioned around a small coffee table. “Please have a seat,” Dayla said. The request was once again backed by a twinge of magic.
I held tight to Kane’s hand so he wouldn’t be forced to do anything against his will. I, however, embraced the magic. She’d said they issued an invitation so outside witches could sample it and gain knowledge of who they might be. I’d never heard of that before. An
d other than white witches and earth witches, I had no idea what witches with other talents might be like. The magic was warm, inviting. Nothing at all sinister about it.
Definitely no black magic. I’d have to ask Bea why our coven never did this when we encountered strange witches. Or did we?
I tugged on Kane’s hand and led him to the loveseat. When Fiona and Dayla were seated, Fiona perched on the edge of her seat and clasped her hands. “So tell me, Jade. What does my dear cousin expect you to do?”
“Chessandra?”
Dayla nodded. “Yes, Chessa is my sister’s daughter. It’s her fault Matisse is missing.” Her eyes clouded over and her irises flashed red the same way Chessandra’s had. But they faded back to pale ice blue almost instantly.
Kane and I shared a quick glance. He’d noticed as well. Did that mean Matisse was that much closer to death? A tiny shiver ran through me. “Kane and I are shadow walkers.”
Dayla eyed Kane, scrutinizing him. “And you’re a dreamwalker. Interesting.”
Kane scooted forward on the loveseat, resting his elbows on his knees. “How do you know that?”
She leaned over, mimicking his pose, and placed her palm on his cheek. Her gaze was intense as if she was trying to read him. Then she sat back, saying nothing.
Fiona shook her head almost apologetically. “Mama can taste magic in the air. Her assessments are correct ninety-nine percent of the time.”
“Magic?” I asked. “But Kane isn’t a witch.”
“Of course he isn’t,” Dayla said dismissively and rose from her chair. She paced across the wood floors, then stopped and faced us. “You’ve seen Matisse.”
It wasn’t a question but a statement. I nodded. “I did. She’s stuck in another dimension, caught somewhere between the shadows and this world. It’s all gray mist and no one else is there.” Guilt and helplessness grabbed hold of me. Why hadn’t I been able to help her? “I’m so sorry, but I wasn’t strong enough to bring her back.”
“But she’s all right?” Fiona asked, her face pinched in worry.
“She is not all right,” Dayla snapped. Her eyes flashed red again. She blinked once and a single pink tear rolled down her cheek. Wiping it away, she said, “If she was all right, this wouldn’t keep happening.”
“She’s okay for now,” I said. “But she’s very thin and I don’t know how long she can last there. It’s as if the atmosphere is leeching her energy.”
Fiona jumped to her feet. “You need to take us to her.”
“Sit down, Fiona,” Dayla barked.
Fiona stared at her and clenched her fists. An angry steam cloud shot from her, aimed directly at Dayla.
Dayla raised her hand and the anger cloud dissipated into vapor.
Whoa. These witches were very different than the witches in my coven. They seemed much more powerful, working from will, not spells.
They glared at each other, but then with an unspoken understanding they both sat. I glanced between them and in my calmest tone, said, “I can’t take you to her. I couldn’t take Kane. For whatever reason, none of the other shadow walkers can cross over.”
Dayla picked a daisy out of a nearby vase and twisted it between her fingers. She raised an eyebrow in Kane’s direction. “You can cross. All you need is a nudge.”
Kane frowned, and I tensed, sensing something was off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “What does that mean?” I asked.
“You’re a dreamwalker, right?” Fiona asked, smoothing her skirt.
“Yes,” he said hesitantly, foreboding clinging to him. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
Dayla rose, her skin almost glowing with some sort of magical current. She placed a graceful hand on Fiona’s forearm. She frowned but raised one eyebrow in curious understanding. “They don’t know.”
“Know what?” I jumped to my feet, almost stumbling over a coffee table. “Seriously, someone needs to tell me what the hell is going on here.”
Dayla eyed me and gave me a look of impatience, then she turned and moved to the ceiling-to-floor window and gazed out.
I turned to Fiona, intending to demand answers, but she watched her mother with concerned eyes. Worry clung to her.
Well, son of a bitch. Now what? I turned to Kane. He sat, his back rigid and his jaw jutting out. Our eyes met and I knew he was thinking the same thing. Something is very off here.
“Jade,” Dayla said, still facing the window. “You obviously know you have angel blood.”
“Yes.” Fear took up residence in my chest. My whole life I’d been different. As a kid, being an empath had royally sucked. Not having the tools to shut off other people’s emotions had been a nightmare. Then finding out I was a powerful witch who attracted darkness wasn’t exactly a load of fun, either. And now the angel thing had doomed me to being a shadow walker—something I hadn’t wanted and had been forced to accept in order to keep my soul safe. If I found out one more life-altering secret about what and who I was, I was going to go postal on someone’s ass.
She turned around, focusing on the pair of us. “And you know it’s because you’re a witch with angel blood that you can shadow walk, correct?”
I glanced at Kane, but he was scrutinizing Dayla, no doubt trying to figure her out. “Yes.”
“And what about your dreamwalker here? How is it that he’s able to shadow walk?”
Kane’s arm slipped around my waist, his large hand resting possessively on my hip. His touch settled me.
“Chessandra said it’s because he’s a dreamwalker and is my mate,” I said.
She let out a low, chuckle. “Well, that’s true enough. The dreamwalker part, anyway. I’m not sure him being your mate has much to do with it, other than he probably stores some of your power.”
“I’m not magical,” Kane said, his eyes narrowed as he studied her. “I can’t siphon her powers.”
“Not in a way that you’d recognize, you don’t.” Dayla walked back to us and once again perched on her chair, still holding the daisy. “Take a seat, Fiona. It’s time to educate these two.”
Fiona refreshed Dayla’s tea and her own and then sat back, saying nothing.
Kane and I glanced at each other before settling into the loveseat once more.
Dayla took a sip of tea before asking Kane, “Are you aware of the history of dreamwalkers?”
“No. Not really. I only know that I can and do dreamwalk those I’m close to. It’s not unlike those who can travel while dreaming, except I’m able to slip into the conscious mind of those I dream with.”
“Yes, that’s how it works,” she agreed. “But do you know why?”
He shrugged. “No. I don’t know any other dreamwalkers.”
“I see. There are only two possibilities as to why an individual has supernatural gifts such as yours. One is to be descended from angels like your fiancée here.”
Kane stilled and shifted his penetrating gaze between both Fiona and Dayla. “And the other? I’m guessing my family tree doesn’t include angels.”
She shook her head. “Definitely not angels. But a witch? You would have to. Not a white witch or earth witch. No, it’s likely she’d be a sex witch.”
My eyes all but popped out of my head. I’d recently been possessed by a ghost who’d been a sex witch. She’d even once lived at Kane’s family home, Summer House. They very likely were related. It had been one of the most awful experiences of my life, one I was still recovering from.
Dayla took a long sip of her drink. Then she tilted her head and said, “And she’d had to have attracted the attention of a demon.”
The blood in my veins turned to ice. Camille had been trying to get away from an evil entity. Had he been a demon? He’d had no humanity at all. And his presence had been chilling.
“Yes, it’s almost impossible to even think about,” Dayla said quietl
y, no doubt reading the horror in my expression. “But it happens. Though not as much as it used to.” She turned kind eyes on Kane. “I’m afraid you are indeed a descendant of a sex witch and a demon. The reason you can shadow walk is because of your demon ancestry.”
Kane’s face went white with shock. Revulsion mixed with betrayal and the primal need for revenge rumbled through his emotions, pouring into me through our joined hands.
“Kane.” I caressed his palm with my thumb, trying to soothe him. “It’s all right. You’re not a demon.” Then I snapped my head up and met Dayla’s eyes. “Right?”
“That’s absolutely correct, but dreamwalking is a trait of a demon and it’s the only way it’s possible. So Chessandra was technically telling the truth when she said he could shadow walk because he’s a dreamwalker. She just didn’t tell the whole truth.”
It was my turn to stand and pace. I walked the length of the room, trying to contain my frustration at being left in the dark. Why hadn’t she told us? I spun to ask just that but stopped when I saw Kane. He was standing next to Dayla, and she had both hands on his cheeks as if she was going to move in for a kiss.
“What the—” I started.
Fiona waved a hand and silenced me. I worked my mouth, trying desperately to get the words out. They wouldn’t come. Red spitfire consumed me and power built in my chest. How dare she spell me into silence? Danger or no, something snapped inside me and power crackled at my fingertips. If they’d silenced me, what had they done to Kane?
I tried to move forward, but my feet were cemented to the dark hardwood floor. I was one hundred percent trapped, mind and body, in this witch’s house and could do nothing. Again! My magic burned uselessly through my veins. Goddamned son of a witch! How dare she?
My gaze locked on Kane’s as Dayla leaned in and brushed her lips over his, not a kiss but a soft, loving caress. My stomach turned and more magic burned through me. I was going to fucking kill that dirty old witch. Get your hands off my man!