Huntress

by Taft, J L

  “That’s it?” Maybe his granny really was off her rocker.

  “No, there were other things that happened and that’s when we decided that we should keep you apart. It can be dangerous to have that connection. But it seems that fate has found you anyway.”

  Trent didn’t know what to say. He sat quietly, his head spinning and his stomach churning. She was right, he did have memories to support her being a witch. It seemed obvious now he knew the truth. So really he had no reason to doubt the other things she was telling him. But it was hard to believe fate really did exist and his choices were not his own.

  His grandmother sat looking at him, worry turning the small creases into deep lines on her face. Guilt overcame him. She had raised him from a baby and she had made many sacrifices for him over the years. He searched his mind for something that would ease the lines of concern on her face.

  “Telekinetic, Granny? Is that how you moved the rocks out front for the flowerbed all those years ago?” He had always wondered how she had done that.

  She smiled slightly and nodded. Then something else occurred to him. “Is Fiona telekinetic too?”

  “I’m not sure, it is possible. Why do you ask?”

  The memory that had shocked him before now brought a smile to his face. “I busted her in the kitchen this morning. She held her hand out for a spoon that was out of reach and it floated right to her.”

  “I would say she is then. There is no reasoning to what special talents we end up with. Fate has a design for us all and we can either accept what is given to us or ignore it. But it does tend to run in families,” she told him.

  Trent turned this over in his head. Then his thoughts scattered at his granny’s next question.

  “You spent the night with her, Trent?”

  Oh lord, here we go. He really didn’t want to talk about his sex life with his grandmother. No point in trying to lie about it now. “Yes, we spent the night together.” His ears went a little red at the thought of her legs over his shoulders.

  “Are you going to see her again?”

  He didn’t know how to answer. He wanted to but Fiona had made her feelings clear this morning. “I’m not sure. Why does it matter?”

  “We kept you apart for a reason, Trent. Fiona is intended to take Eleanor’s place as a hunter. To carry on where her grandmother left off. She is of age now and the vamps will be looking for her.”

  Startled, he stared at her. This was crazy, the whole idea of it, vampires and witches. But when he looked deep he knew it was true. “What does any of this have to do with me, Granny?”

  “Hunters are doomed to be alone, Trent, and I only tell you this to protect you.”

  “Protect me from what?”

  She heaved a sigh that made him feel like an idiot but he waited for the answer nonetheless. “Think about it. She is a woman hunter and if she was yours, would you not try and protect her? To put yourself in front of any danger that came her way? Walk away now and keep your life.”

  They finished their lemonade, he at a loss on what to say. Draining his glass, he stood to leave, his mind a jumble of questions. He needed time to think and to decide what to do.

  Granny made it sound as if, if he kept seeing Fiona he would die. He didn’t believe it.

  He was better trained than most and it hurt his ego to think he couldn’t protect a woman. He had been the commander of an elite task force for the Marines. He could protect one woman. But he didn’t voice the opinion. Not knowing what else to do, he kissed his granny’s cheek as he always had and climbed on his bike, heading for the sanctuary of his lonely apartment.

  Chapter Five

  Fiona spent the week absorbed in her writing, drowning out her thoughts of a tall, dark-haired man who had suddenly become more than just a fling. She wasn’t sure how it had happened but she missed him, she dreamed about him and she swore she could sometimes still smell him on her skin.

  She had spent time with other men but she had always been able to keep them at a safe distance. Granted she had also used her spells to make them stay that way. She still didn’t understand why the spell hadn’t worked on him. It had never happened to her before and she began to doubt her powers.

  While she admitted it had been wonderful to wake in his strong arms, after the initial shock of his presence had worn off she couldn’t make a habit of it. He had already caught her once with her little “kitchen trick”, as he called it, and she couldn’t let it happen again. Trent made it hard for her to concentrate when he was near.

  The pull she felt toward him was amazing. It was made of the stuff she had only read or written about. She had always wondered what it would feel like to have someone she could open up to. She hardly had time to get to know the men in her past, not that there had been many, before they were gone.

  Trent had made her want him and not just in her bed. She wanted him here with her. She was used to the calm life. Happiness came only from her writing. But the house seemed too quiet, too empty and she suddenly felt too alone.

  It was Friday night and she was home as she always was, hunched over her laptop with a glass of red wine close by and classical music playing in the background. When the words blurred on the screen she stood and moved to the couch.

  She needed to align herself again. It felt as if it had been years instead of weeks since she had taken a moment for balance. Everything was out of whack and she needed to get back on an even keel, mentally and physically. Her body was betraying her as it never had before. It was willing to give other parts of herself she had never considered giving away for the sake of having sex, even if it was mind-blowing, spine-tingling sex.

  Taking several deep breaths, she imagined herself standing in the middle of a huge garden. Her breathing slowed and the vision became clearer until she could see it all in her mind’s eye as if she were really there. The sweet scent of flowers surrounded her and the colors mimicked the most beautiful rainbow.

  She raised her arms to the sky, seeking the balance and a peace of mind that was eluding her. This special place was what she always imagined. It never failed to ease her mind. Everything else faded away as she walked the cobbled paths through the tall, vividly colored blooms. The long, transparent cloak that covered her from head to toe allowed the breeze and the sun to kiss her skin and she stood for a moment, drinking it in and calming her mind and body.

  Letting out a deep breath, she heard the bird singing overhead. She held a hand out palm up and a butterfly with iridescent wings landed there. Fiona smiled and watched it until it flitted off.

  Suddenly it all changed within a span of a second. The breeze turned cold and icy, slamming against her skin and causing her to shiver. Dark-black clouds blocked the sun and her sweet garden dripped away. The color from the flowers landed in puddles on the cobblestone and everything turned gray. The flowers withered and died as her garden disappeared right before her eyes.

  In its place she was standing at a sharp precipice of rock with nothing but air in front of her and raging water and jagged rocks below.

  The wind picked up, blowing her cape up her legs and subtly pushing her toward the edge. What was going on? This wasn’t what she had intended, this was supposed to be her place. But she knew she was no longer alone and that someone or something had invaded her garden. She was no longer in control.

  Then she heard footsteps behind her. She could feel the presence and turned quickly. Trent stood there and her name floated to her on the wind. He reached for her and she took an involuntary step back. She had nowhere to go and she refused to give in to the unspoken demand and go to him.

  As the internal war raged she watched in horror as Trent’s face faded away and a monster took his place. Not a monster, she thought. The glazed, red eyes and sharp teeth came into focus. It was a vampire.

  Abruptly she understood. Immediately she fought against the darkness and even though she knew there was no use she gave it everything she had. She pushed back with all her internal power, w
ith all the light she held inside her. Suddenly she found herself back in her living room, the wineglass lying spilled on the floor. The dark red was seeping into the carpet and a cruel laugh still echoed in her mind.

  She stared at the spilled wine, dazed, her body cold and still shivering. She was no fool and she had heard enough of these types of stories as a child to realize what was happening. Fate was stepping in.

  She had always listened to her dreams, knowing they were more than what they seemed. But this had been no dream, more of a feeling as to what was to come. She had always wondered how her grandmother had chosen to be a hunter and now she understood—she hadn’t chosen it, it had chosen her.

  Anger burned brightly within her. This wasn’t what she wanted. Wordlessly she picked up the glass and sent it sailing across the room to smash against the wall. Glass shards went everywhere but it didn’t make her feel any better.

  She made her own choices and she refused to believe fate was going to take them all away from her.

  Pushing the whole mess aside, her mind immediately turned to the one man she knew could block it all out for her.

  Within minutes her body was screaming for Trent and the release she knew only he could give her. She would be taking a huge risk but she could no longer deny the connection that was pulling her to him. Her body craved him as it craved to be fed and she was powerless to stop it.

  Without giving herself too much time to think about it she grabbed whatever jacket came to her hand as she walked out the door of her too-quiet house. She set off for the same bar she had met Trent at last week.

  Something was telling her he would be there, waiting for her.

  Trent nursed his beer, sitting on the same stool he had last weekend. But Fiona wasn’t next to him this time and he felt the loss like a physical dismemberment. He hadn’t been able to think about much else but her and what his granny had so nicely dumped in his lap. But he couldn’t blame Granny. She had only answered what he had asked.

  He had hung around his apartment and finally started rereading Fiona’s books. It made him wonder how much of them were true. If most of them were, and he suspected so, then her grandfather had been drained by a vampire as he had been coming home from work late one night.

  Apparently it was quite a prize in the vamp world to kill a hunter or her mate.

  He still didn’t believe he was destined to be with anyone and that fate would waste time on him. But he did believe there were witches.

  Maybe she had put a spell on him that made him think of nothing but her.

  If that was the case he would just have to make her remove it. Or maybe he just needed to have her again and get her out of his system. He was sure the lust would fade. It always did. It might take longer in her case but if that was what it took to be able to think clearly again without her invading his every thought then so be it.

  Trent finished his beer and headed for the exit, intending to pound on the front door of the little green house where Fiona lived for as long as it took. Déjà vu hit him full force when a woman wearing a long, dark cape slammed into him at the doorway.

  Reaching out to steady her, he caught her and pulled her against him, trusting his instincts that it was Fiona he was holding. He could smell her scent. It reminded him of his grandmother’s garden, sweet and intoxicating. He took a moment to just hold her, feeling her curves pressed up against him.

  Realizing what he was doing, he released her abruptly and stepped back. He had never felt the compulsion to just hold someone and it scared the hell out of him. All this talk with his granny about fate was leaking into his life and he was having none of it. But that wasn’t going to keep him from her bed.

  She lifted her gaze to his and it hit him like a sucker punch to the stomach. His breath left his lungs in a big whoosh. Without taking her eyes from his she flipped her hood off her head and her hair spilled free.

  He stood there tongue-tied, much as she had been that first night. Finally she took pity on him, with a small smile took his hand and led him from the bar.

  Chapter Six

  They walked silently through the dark streets, holding hands. But she didn’t want to bring up the sticky subject of their parting the previous week. Fiona chanced a quick glance at him from beneath her lashes and found his brow furrowed and a distant look in his eyes.

  “What are you thinking about?” she asked quietly. He didn’t say anything for a moment and she thought he wouldn’t answer her at all.

  But then he stopped walking and tugged her close with their joined hands. “I was thinking about us.” The words washed over her and her heart picked up the pace before she tamped it down.

  “There is no ‘us’, Trent. Just because we had sex doesn’t mean you have any obligation to me any more than I have to you.”

  His green gaze turned hard and she waited for him to object to her statement but he surprised her. “You’re right, but that doesn’t change the fact that I want to get you to the nearest bed.”

  “So what are you suggesting?” she asked him as she trailed her fingers down his chest, leaving no doubt what she wanted from him.

  He smiled slightly and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Let’s have an affair,” he said in low tones.

  “An affair? What do you mean?”

  He glanced around him on the sidewalk and pulled her along again. “Let’s get to your place and talk about it.”

  She nodded her agreement and he released her hand when they got to her door. Fiona hung her cloak and kicked her shoes and socks off. They moved to the kitchen in unison and Fiona pulled a couple of beers from the fridge before she sat across from him at her breakfast nook.

  Nerves put a small tremor in her hands and she took a couple calming breaths to still them. She wanted him more than she wanted her next breath but she refused to share that weakness with him and beg. It would give him control over her and once a man had that control he would use it to get what he wanted.

  So if he wanted to use her telekinesis as his own personal freak show to brag about to his friends, he had another thing coming. She had played that game before and was never going to do it again. Because she still wasn’t sure if he knew or not. Some people had strange reactions to gifts like hers. Most would pretend it never happened.

  It had backfired on her last boyfriend and when his buddies began to fear her and what she could do they avoided them both. When he had seen his perfect, popular world going down the drain he had dropped her faster than she could keep up.

  She had trust issues, she knew that, but it was more than that. Her greatest fear was being used as someone’s lab rat. She had kept the walls around herself strong and impenetrable, until now.

  She drank her fill of his face, staring at his deep eyes that gazed at her relentlessly while she desperately tried to hold it together. He was reclined back against the bench, his elbows hooked over the solid back. Her eyes traveled over the ripples in his chest and down over the length of his tight stomach, displayed by his close-fitting black shirt.

  Her eyes widened when his muscles clenched under her gaze. He was tense and coiled and she suddenly wondered if he was going to pounce on her. Her belly gave a slow roll and she wished he would do it, that she could let him do it.

  He leaned forward and rested his arms along the tabletop. It made him look even bigger in her small kitchen.

  She reached for her beer, taking a big gulp, hating the tension that was thickening the air around them.

  He gazed at her intently and she stared back, waiting for him to say something. After all, he was the one who wanted to talk.

  “I want you to agree to an affair, Fiona,” he finally said.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea, Trent.”

  “Why not?” he demanded.

  She was at a loss on what to say to him because she certainly couldn’t tell him the truth.

  “Give me one good reason why we can’t and don’t tell me that you don’t want to,” he told her, so
ftening his voice.

  He leaned closer, crossing his arms over his wide chest and waiting for an answer. She didn’t know what to say. She did want to and her reasons for not were fading fast. She wished she could just trust him.

  “I don’t know,” she told him hesitantly.

  “Look, I’m not going to search out all your secrets and expect love and commitment. I just want to be with you until this attraction between us fades. So I can think straight again.”

  “Why me? You can’t tell me that you have a hard time getting a date. Why are you pushing me on this?”

  He hesitated and then reached for her hand. “I’m not the same man I was before this,” he said, gesturing to his scars. “Plus, I have things I want to do to that sexy body of yours that aren’t acceptable on a first or second date.”

  Fiona’s body betrayed her and immediately she felt the heat of desire coursing through her veins at his words. Being strong and keeping Trent at arm’s length was feeling overrated. “What kind of things?”

  A shameless smile cut across his mouth. His appeal was beyond her realm of experience.

  “We can discuss that after I talk you into seeing me again,” he said as he raised her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “And again and maybe again after that,” he whispered.

  She could see he wasn’t going to give up easily. He would use every trick he had up his sleeve to get her to agree and she knew that some of his tricks were going to be hard to resist. Practically impossible to resist.

  Maybe she could do this if she talked him into some rules to protect herself. He was only asking for a short tryst. If he agreed then she could give in and oh how she wanted to give in.