Third Charm: A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 3)

by Jacquelyn Faye

  He sucked in lungsful of air, coughing and gagging from the heat and smoke he had sucked in, but he was alive. It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.

  "Jimmy?"

  "Yeah?"

  "You alive?"

  "Yeah."

  "Good," I said and slapped him before I threw my arms around him, burying my face in his wet, smoky neck.

  "Dot?"

  "Yeah?"

  "That hurt. But not as bad as the hunk of metal you're driving deeper into my leg…"

  I gasped and pulled away. There was a footlong shard of metal sticking out of his leg that must have hit him before he triggered his stoneskin spell. There hadn't been any blood until he released it, and then it had started gushing.

  "Artery!" Dennis shouted behind me.

  He tried to pull me away, but I wasn't going to lose Jimmy after just getting him back. I shot him an apologetic look as I reached down and tried to pull it from his leg. It was stuck in the bone and wouldn't budge.

  "Fuck," I said as he screamed. "Sorry!"

  "I'll pull it out, you heal him," Dennis said beside me as he squatted down.

  "It's really in there."

  He just nodded and grabbed it with both hands, looking at me and nodding. "On three."

  "Guys, maybe we should just get me to the hospital?"

  "One."

  "I'm ready," I said determinedly.

  "Guys?"

  "Two."

  "Clench your teeth," I said to Jimmy in warning.

  "Guys?"

  "Three," Dennis hissed and pulled, lifting Jimmy's leg off the ground as he yanked the shard free in a spray of blood. Jimmy screamed and punched Dennis in the shoulder. He fell backward and I clamped my hand over the wound.

  "Leigheas," I said through clenched teeth as Jimmy grabbed my wrists, struggling to get my hand from the wound. I poured as much power as I could into it and his grip immediately lessened as the pain ebbed.

  "Lord and Lady, that fucking hurt."

  "Big baby. 'Twas a mere flesh wound."

  He didn't even giggle. I sighed as I continued healing him. He let go of my arm and dropped back against the wheel, letting me do my work.

  When I felt the last of it close and heal, I let go, looking over my shoulder to make sure I hadn't drawn an audience. The other two firemen finally put the blaze on the vehicle out and were working on the building.

  "You're not very popular."

  Jimmy gave me a quizzical glance. "What?"

  "You get blown up and they keep going with the hose?"

  Dennis started chuckling behind me.

  "What?"

  "You can thank Chief. They were dropping everything when Chief told them to get the fire out first."

  "Oh. Good Chief."

  "You should thank him later," Jimmy said with a wink.

  "You get blown up and you're going there. Dennis, give me that hunk of metal, I'm putting it back in his leg."

  He chuckled and held his hand out to Dennis. His friend reached down and helped hoist him up to his feet. He gingerly put some weight on his leg and nodded in approval at my healing work. He took a step forward and nearly collapsed.

  "It's still bad?"

  "Not my leg. My back."

  "Not surprised with the dent you put in the truck," Dennis said and helped steady him. "I'll radio for an ambulance. Let's get you back down on the ground."

  "Let me heal it," I said concernedly.

  "I can't come out of this totally unscathed. Let me go to the hospital and see how bad it is. Probably just bruised a muscle. Just set me against the truck. It doesn't hurt to stand, just to move."

  Dennis leaned him against the truck, and I slid in beside him, giving him another anchor. The last thing he needed was to fall over.

  "Thanks, Dot."

  "You're welcome." I leaned in and kissed him gently on the side of the head, the tears falling freely again. This time they were out of relief. I hadn't lost him, but I'd come too close. Way too close. We stood there silently while we waited for the ambulance. I texted Nana to let her know what had happened. As soon as Jimmy was in the ambulance, I would pick her up.

  By the time the ambulance showed up, the fire was out, and more police had showed up. Something felt wrong. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I glanced around nervously, anyway.

  Two paramedics gingerly helped Jimmy onto the stretcher.

  "I'll meet you at the hospital," I told him and kissed him again as they rolled him into the back of the ambulance.

  I wanted to watch them drive away, but the nagging feeling wouldn't let up. I closed my eyes and sent out a few tendrils of thought as my feet followed the feeling.

  "Dot?"

  I opened my eyes. Chief was staring at me with a bewildered expression on his face. "Something's wrong," I managed to say and kept walking toward the building in front of us.

  The back door was slightly open. With everything going on, neither of us had noticed. Gingerly, I reached out and pulled it open all the way. The scent of blood wafted over me and I let out a little gasp of surprise.

  "What is this place?" I asked Chief over my shoulder. He had followed me out of curiosity.

  "Lou's Sandwich Shop. The propane delivery was probably for him. You smell that?"

  I nodded. "Blood."

  He drew his gun and slipped in front of me, pointing it into the kitchen, the lights overhead flickering.

  He walked forward, pointing his weapon wherever he looked. The smell was coming from someone I assumed was Lou. He was lying on his back across a stainless-steel prep table, his chest shredded and glistening with every flicker of the overhead fluorescent lights.

  "What the hell?" Chief holstered his weapon and closed the distance, grabbing Lou's wrist and vainly feeling for a pulse. There was no way in hell he survived having the front of his chest turned into coleslaw. It wasn't as bad as Frank Dunbar's body had been, but it was still pretty gross.

  "What could have done that? Don't tell me the bears and wolves moved downtown?"

  "Those aren't wolf or bear tracks." He pointed at a set of bloody foot and hand prints on the white tile, leading away from the body and into the restaurant.

  I moved closer to get a better look. Whatever it was, had three toes on its feet and hands. They were bigger than a human child's but smaller than an adult's. The feet, closer together, had wider toes than the longer hand prints. It almost looked reptilian in appearance.

  "Either we have a velociraptor on the loose or the nuke plant is leaking," I said half-jokingly.

  Chief nodded, grabbed his phone and took a few pictures. I turned to look around when I heard the crash. Spinning, I saw the thing land on Chief's back, acoustic ceiling tile falling around them. It had been hiding in the ceiling above us. Four-inch fangs glistened as it opened its mouth to bite the back of Chief's exposed neck.

  "Tintreach!" Without thinking, I had cast my spell…

  Every outlet in the kitchen sparked and shot electricity at me. My shield coalesced visibly as all the power I could call arced around me and filtered into my outstretched hand, shooting the creature about to bite through his neck. It struck its side and blasted it into the wall across from me. The problem with using a magical taser is the properties of electricity. The thing had been touching Chief when I hit it and he caught a jolt of power, too. It knocked him forward onto the blood covered floor. He skidded to a stop and looked up at me over his shoulder, shaking.

  "D-d-dot!"

  "Sorry. You okay?"

  He shot me a death glare, but spun over as soon as he was able, staring at the smoking, hairless creature groaning pitifully on the floor in front of us.

  It shook its head, looked up, and snarled.

  Chief shakily reached down for his holstered gun, trying to calm his fried nerves enough to actually draw it. I raised my hands again, ready to unleash fire when the door behind us blew open. A black and brown streak leaped through the room and landed on the mutated gremlin, jaws
clamping securely around the creature's throat as it began shaking its head violently, snapping the creature's neck.

  "Dar?"

  My familiar let go, dropping the thing from his jaws with a sickening thud, black blood dripping from his muzzle.

  "Good boy!"

  Good boy? You get attacked by an imp, don't kill it, I save you, and get a good boy? You owe me a steak.

  Chapter 9

  I dropped a very quiet Nana, and a disgruntled Dar, back at the house, hopped in the shower, and headed over to the hospital. I'd been texting Jimmy the entire time, with no response. My nerves were frayed. I'd even resorted to texting Dennis, but he was just getting off work himself. He told me he'd meet me there.

  I found a relatively close parking spot and practically ran into the ER. The receptionist was less than helpful, and I was about to magick her underwear into a knot when I spotted Doctor Shapiro walking behind her.

  "Doctor!"

  He looked up and saw me, recognizing me instantly.

  "Miss Blackwell. What are you doing here?"

  "My boyfriend, the fireman, was brought here after an accident. I'm trying to see him."

  "I explained to this woman that he was being prepped for surgery and that she couldn't see him," the nurse interrupted, testily.

  "Yes, well… Let her in, please. I'll take her back."

  I tried not to give her a snide, shitty look. It was really hard not to, though. At least I didn't say, "Ha! In your face, bitch."

  The doctor opened the side door and ushered me into the ER. "It's dangerous being your boyfriend, isn't it?"

  "What?"

  "Well, he was shot a couple of weeks ago. Now his back is broken in three places…"

  I gasped in shock. I knew he was hurt, but I wasn't expecting a broken back. His leg had been the least of his problems. "I didn't know."

  "You healed his leg?" He whispered his question.

  I nodded.

  "He mentioned the shard. I couldn't even see a scar and the x-rays are clean. Nice work. I'm assuming you want to heal his back?"

  "If I can."

  "I'll see if I can get you in the room. He's not in the OR yet."

  "Thanks, Doc."

  He nodded and lead me to the ICU. A nurse was taking Jimmy's blood pressure when we walked in. She looked up and narrowed her eyes at the doctor.

  "Give us a minute, would you, Karen?"

  "He's about to go in–"

  The doctor sighed. "I know. Just give us a minute."

  She shrugged, wrote something on his chart and removed the cuff from his arm before leaving us alone with Jimmy, who was out of it completely.

  They had him lying flat on his stomach, ready to go. Thankfully, we wouldn't have to flip him over. I sincerely doubted my healing ability would be able to repair a severed spinal cord. I couldn't even fix a dishwasher.

  "Go. I'll cover the door."

  He stood in front of the glass square in the door, blocking most of it with his head and shoulders. I took what little time I had and put my hand over Jimmy's spine, just below his neck. I'd work my way down since I had no idea where the breaks were.

  I started slowly, sending tendrils of power and whispering the canting for healing. I found the first one between his shoulders. It took a lot of power to heal it. It wasn't just a break, it was almost a shatter. I had a feeling he hit the side of the firetruck there first. Hopefully, the other two spots wouldn't be as bad.

  Luckily, I was right. For once.

  The other two vertebrae had a slight fracture going through them. Thank the goddess, none of them seemed to do any damage to the spongy cord running through them. Jimmy had been very lucky. Insanely.

  I was working on the third break when the door handle behind Doctor Shapiro started rattling.

  "Dot?"

  Jimmy woke up.

  I started to panic and forced the last bit of healing energy into him. "Shh, sweetie. You're okay now."

  "Again?"

  "Yes," I managed to say before passing out in a heap on the ICU floor.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  I woke up getting lightly slapped on my face.

  "You awake?"

  I blinked and Jason was standing over me. "Jason?"

  "In the flesh," he said with a little smile. "Jimmy had the doc call me when he couldn't get a hold of Chief."

  "Where is Jimmy?"

  "Getting x-rayed for the thirtieth time since you healed him. They don't quite believe the story that his back was never broken…"

  "Where's Doctor Shapiro?"

  "At the center of an investigation."

  "What investigation?"

  "How a civil servant who showed up with multiple fractures in his spine was miraculously healed without surgery."

  "What do they think happened?"

  "You. The nurse who got kicked out of the room is mouthing off how Doctor Shapiro brought you into the room. She thinks you're some kind of nanite-wielding mad scientist or something."

  "I'm something, all right. I was monumentally stupid and deserve to get caught. I just couldn't let them cut him open."

  "The doc feels the same way," Jason said reassuringly, putting his hand on my leg. "He feels the healing is worth the investigation. Good guy, that doctor."

  "Yes, he is."

  "So, what is he saying?"

  "That Jimmy woke up feeling a hundred percent better and that you fainted when he got up and started walking."

  "Good story."

  Jason nodded and handed me a glass of Pedialyte. "He said to give you this when you woke up. Something about electrode lights or something."

  "Electrolytes."

  "Yeah. Those."

  I downed the glass and handed it back to him. The room actually started spinning when I sat up. "Whoa."

  "How many times did you use your magic today?"

  I briefly did a tally in my head and winced. "Quite a bit."

  "Well, if anything else needs to be magicked today, I'm doing it. You're cut off, boss."

  I nodded, not even wanting to argue. My channels were a little raw and I had about enough power left to flip on a light switch. "How long was I out?"

  "Three hours. That's how I knew how drained you were."

  "Shit."

  "Yeah."

  The door burst open. I was expecting a team of medical doctors, security, maybe even the police. I wasn't expecting a pissed off Asian vampire to come storming into my room.

  "Hey, Yuki."

  She just glared at me and sat down on the green cushioned chair by my bed.

  Jason shot her a questioning glance. He didn't know she was my familiar. I think he had only met her once, at thanksgiving dinner. Not the best impression, either.

  "You two haven't been introduced, have you?"

  "No," Jason said curiously.

  Yuki remained silent. She was pouting. She usually did when I was in danger and she couldn't be around. I don't know why, but daytime was usually a lot more dangerous for me than nighttime.

  "Jason, this is Yuki, my vampire friend."

  "I met her at Thanksgiving, but nobody introduced us." He reached across the way and held out his hand. She stared at it.

  "Yuki, introduce yourself to Jason, my personal assistant…"

  She stood up, taking his hand in hers and pumping it. "I am Yuki, vampire and familiar to Lady Dorothea," she replied almost forcibly. She had let it slip she was my familiar, but I don't think she had a choice. I told her to introduce herself. As soon as she was done, she shot me another dirty look. I just smiled apologetically.

  "Familiar?"

  I nodded, not explaining. I'm sure he knew what a familiar was. Every witch did. If the ritual wasn't so goddess damn complicated, we would all be walking around with kitty cats following us around. When I was younger, I wanted a black cat, but kept screwing up the ritual enough to warrant police intervention. Mother had been less than impressed. So had the mountain lion…

  "Well, it's a pleasure to meet
you," he repeated and flashed his dazzling smile at her.

  "What are you doing here?" I hadn't been hurt, so I wasn't really quite sure why she'd shown up. I assumed it was because I passed out.

  "You fought a demon. Your boyfriend was blown up. You had to heal him twice and then passed out. Why do you think I'm here?"

  "Demon?" Jason took a step back.

  "Yeah. It killed the guy who owns the sandwich shop across from the diner and probably ignited the propane tanks on the delivery truck."

  "Lou? Why?"

  "That's what imps do," Yuki answered. How she knew it was an imp was beyond me. I didn't even know it was an imp.

  "How did you know?"

  She looked up at me and furrowed her eyebrows. "Dar told me."

  "He knew what kind of demon it was?'

  "Yes," she answered.

  "That's one smart dog."

  "Dog?" Jason looked totally confused. "Who is Dar?"

  "My other familiar. He's a German Shepherd."

  "You have two?" He sighed and sat down next to Yuki. She patted his thigh.

  "Her ladyship is hard to keep up with. It's kind of frustrating. Especially when you can't go out in the sun, you know, when shit tends to blow up."

  I sighed, my head hurting way too much to deal with her angst.

  "Well, I'm fine now, guys. You can take off if you want."

  They both shook their heads violently.

  "What?"

  "Dar and I talked it over. We are your familiars and neither of us has been acting like it. We are going to be by your side at all times. Him during the day and me at night. I already let George know, not that it matters to them. They're busy with the blood bank takeover and my father has pretty much disowned me."

  "He did what?"

  "Yeah. My bank card was declined. He cut me off. I thought our discussion went pretty well, but since I am now the property of a witch…"

  "You became the witch's problem."

  She nodded and I saw the tear roll down her cheek.

  Fuck me. I need a bigger house.

  "Move in with me."

  "What?"

  "You heard me. If you're mine, you are mine. I take care of mine. We'll set up the spare room for now and I'll find a bigger house, or buy the one next door. We'll figure something out."