“You’re late,” he said, but there wasn’t room for anger in his voice. His mind was too full and distracted with assessing her hunched shoulders and pale face.
“Sorry. I… wasn’t feeling well last night. I couldn’t sleep and I got a late start. Duncan waited for me. He probably called you.”
No. He did not, Gabriel mused. He stood and approached Raven, noticing that Agnes had leaned against the doorframe and was watching them as if she had a tub of popcorn in her hands. “Agnes, do you mind?”
The old woman got the hint and left with a roll of her eyes. He closed the door behind her.
“Are you feeling well now?” he asked.
“Fine. Just tired.” She rubbed her eyes.
“Is it the markings?” he asked, wondering if this was a symptom of the magic he saw awakening within her.
“No… yes… I need to tell you something, but promise me you won’t be angry.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “That would be an empty promise. I’m already angry. I have a feeling whatever you are about to tell me is something you should have shared with me a day ago.”
Her mouth opened and her words stuck in her throat. “You felt it down the bond?”
“Of course I did.”
“You didn’t come.”
“You told me not to. As I recall, you violently opposed my impinging on your freedom by trying to rescue you on your day off.”
“Uh, yeah. Thanks.” She frowned.
“What happened?”
“I went to see Kristina’s father.”
Gabriel’s fingers began to tap and he paced away from her, feeling the dragon rise and roil in his torso. “Why would you do such a thing, Raven? The man is dangerous!”
“I found that out the hard way.”
“I bet you did. Did he…” Gabriel’s voice cracked. “Was he violent? I will tear his throat out! I swear I will.”
“No!” Raven’s eyes widened. She placed a hand on his chest and steadied him. Instantly the crawling sensation ceased and he stopped tapping. “I’m not physically hurt, Gabriel. He pulled my hair but he didn’t hurt me. Actually, I may have hurt him.”
He stroked his thumb over her jaw and watched a trail of symbols ignite in the wake of his touch. “He’s twice your size. Are you secretly trained in the martial arts, or is there more to the story?”
“I pushed him away.” Her throat bobbed. “Without touching him.”
A smile spread over Gabriel’s face. “You used magic.”
“It felt more like it used me,” she said. She turned and paced the length of the office, rubbing her palms together in circles. “I didn’t try to do it. I could have killed him. And now, afterward, it’s like there’s a monster sleeping inside me. Do you have any idea how that feels?”
He tipped his head and gave her an irritated look. “I think I have an inkling.”
Color bloomed in her cheeks. “Uh, right. Sorry.”
“I’m excited for you. We can work with this. I can teach you. With practice, we can solve the riddle of your power. We’ll take it apart and put it back together until we understand it. Once you understand it, you can control it.” He rubbed her shoulders and moved in close.
She pulled away from him and put space between them. “What happened to Kristina, Gabriel?”
He groaned. “Why are we talking about Kristina?”
“Her father told me she came to live with you. You were the last person to see her alive.”
“Her father, the man who attacked you? You are going to trust him over me?”
“Why won’t you tell me? If Crimson took her, Crimson could come after me. If the magic killed her or made her crazy, that could happen to me too. Did she have symbols on her arms? Did you have a romantic relationship with her? Were you sleeping with her?”
Her voice grew more strained with her agitation, and tears formed in her eyes. Everything in Gabriel clenched. That note he heard in her voice was jealousy with an undertone of anxiety.
He was not a patient dragon. When he hated something, he killed it. When he wanted something, he either bought it or took it. He’d made exceptions for her because he thought it would please her. Now he could see that wasn’t what she needed at all.
“Raven,” he barked in a low sharp voice, “stop.”
She stopped. He swept into her, digging his fingers into the hair at the back of her head. Her lips parted at his hold on her, but she did not speak.
“I did not sleep with Kristina. I did not kiss her or love her. She never had symbols on her arms, even when I touched her to shake her hand or to nudge her shoulder. She was a medium and would have noticed any new powers. I cannot tell you what happened to her right now. You will have to trust me on this. But, if you are patient and drop it for now—”
“Gabriel, I—”
He kissed the words from her mouth, fast and hard. “If you are patient and let it rest this week, I will reveal all to you on Friday night. A date, Raven. No games. Come out with me, and I will explain everything I know about Kristina. I cannot answer what you ask here and now, but if you come with me, I will show you what you need to know.”
Her eyes searched his.
Everything about her turned him on: her lips, her closeness, the way her body conformed to his. He wanted to take her, here, now. To force the thoughts she was having out of her mind by filling it with pleasure, by filling her. But he wouldn’t force her. She was already his. She just didn’t know it yet. He had to bide his time, let her come to him when she was ready.
“Do you trust me, Raven?”
She lowered her chin and looked at him through her lashes. “Yes.”
“Friday. Come with me Friday. Until then, let this go.” When she didn’t answer him right away, he tugged gently on her hair.
She lowered her shoulders and slashed a hand through the air between them. “Yes, Gabriel. I will go out with you on Friday.”
“Good,” he said. He kissed her then, firmly. It wasn’t a question but a claim. Everything he gave to her mouth was a statement, a chant of You are mine. You will always be mine.
She melted in his embrace, her arms going around his neck and one of her feet skimming up the outside of his lower leg. It took all his strength to pull away, but now was not the time or place. Not the way he wanted her. He smiled, steadying her on her feet. “Friday night.” He walked to the door and opened it for her.
It took her a moment to gather herself. She smoothed her hair and straightened her clothes. “Yes. I— I’ll be in the library if you need me.”
Chapter Fifteen
Raven needed a glass of ice water. Not only to drink but to dump over her head. The way Gabriel had kissed her had ignited something inside that she was having trouble extinguishing. Her body ached for him. The brush of her clothing against her skin was oddly arousing. Her bra felt tight, and she squelched the urge to strip out of it. If he hadn’t stopped, she would have let him have her there on the desk in his office. No way could she have stopped him. It had been over five years since she’d been with a man. There had never been any man like Gabriel.
Didn’t that make her an idiotic female? As far as she knew, Gabriel had done something hideous to Kristina and was going to do the same to her Friday night. Only, she no longer truly believed he had hurt her predecessor. Oh, he was capable of killing. She admitted that much. But he wasn’t a killer. He was her defender and protector. He’d always backed off when she asked him to. Didn’t it mean something that he’d respected her wishes to stay away Saturday night?
With a sigh, she unlocked the library and propped the door open. She plodded to the kitchenette and filled a glass with water to dribble on the soil of the African violet Gabriel had brought her. She drank the rest, trying her best to quiet her mind. All her desire for Gabriel would be pointless if she didn’t break his curse. He’d turn to stone. Even if her cancer didn’t come back, she’d never be the same. He’d scored a mark across her heart, awakened in her a love of mystery
and a belief in magic. How could she return to a world of drink orders and essay exams? The life she’d left behind didn’t fit her anymore. Her family’s love had become a too-tight hug that threatened to crush her wings.
“Fix him,” she whispered to herself, scanning the grimoires. She needed more time, time to solve the puzzle that was Gabriel. She was in a room full of magic. There had to be a way. Approaching the shelf where she’d left off, she ran her fingers down the spine of the next book on her list, then pulled it from the shelf. Opening it on the desk, she instantly noticed it was different. There were no lists of ingredients like before. Instead of being a recipe, the spells in this book were a combination of symbols and incantations. She couldn’t read it—this one was written in Spanish—but she stared at the page and something occurred to her. She returned to the last grimoire she’d reviewed. She knew what these were. Potions, she thought. The entire section she’d been working on contained books about potions.
Rushing back to Kristina’s log again, she found that, yes, every book she’d flipped through so far was in the same section. She hadn’t put it together before. Light flooded her brain and she laughed. It was so simple, so obvious, but she’d completely missed it. This was the system Raven had been looking for. The books weren’t sorted alphabetically or by language or by the Dewey decimal system. They were sorted by the type of magic contained within them.
The Casket Girls had said that the cure for the stone had to come from the snake whose venom infected it. What if they meant the type of magic? Crimson was a voodoo priestess. She hadn’t cursed Gabriel with a potion, she’d used… well, whatever it was that voodoo practitioners used. A voodoo doll? A spell brought about through dance? Raven knew almost nothing about the religion. But she was willing to bet there was a section in this library dedicated to the practice. That’s where she needed to start.
She paged through the catalog until a word in a title caught her eye: vodou. Raven went to that section of shelf, noticing the titles were familiar. This was creole. She didn’t speak the language, but so many things around New Orleans borrowed from it that it was instantly recognizable. She pulled the first grimoire from the section and opened it on the desk.
Her fingers tingled as she touched the pages. This magic felt different. It rippled through her and made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. What was happening?
She yanked her hand back from the book and lifted her head. Someone was in the room. There was a shadow beside the bookshelf, long and thin. Squinting, she leaned over to see who was there. There was no one. The light was wrong. The window was behind her, but the shadow was stretching toward her. She stared at the dark thing. It blinked at her.
With a start, she realized the thing was not human. Maybe it was one of the oreads. She hadn’t asked Gabriel what they looked like.
“Hello,” she said to it. “Can I help you with something?”
The two circles of light that were the thing’s eyes widened, its mouth forming a perfect o. It shot like a dart straight toward her. She screamed, more out of shock than fear as it passed through her like an icy wind. She spun around to see it dive into the ventilation shaft.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” Gabriel stood in the doorway staring at her. “I heard you scream.”
She rubbed the place where the thing passed through her. “What do oreads look like?”
“Like mountain nymphs.” He shrugged.
She spread her hands.
“Er… similar to your human depiction of fairies. Pale. Large eyes. Gossamer wings. That is, when they allow you to see them.”
Raven tore a sheet of paper from the back of the ledger and sketched what she’d seen. She held it up in front of his face. “Do you know what this is?”
Gabriel grimaced, his eyes darting between her and the drawing. “You saw this?”
“I couldn’t have drawn it if I hadn’t. The thing flew straight through me.”
“Raven, I’m not sure how to tell you this.”
“Quickly. You’re freaking me out.”
Gabriel shook his head. “That is a demon.”
Crimson rolled over and rubbed her eyes. It was early. Not even ten in the morning. She’d been up most of the night performing a completely fake ritual for a couple that had renewed their vows. It was exhausting making that shit up. It had to look real without actually doing anything at all. Ironically, it would have been easier and less draining for her to do the real ritual, but no way was she going to call on the spirits to help every traveler who tossed a few C-notes in her direction. She needed to save her real power for herself.
“This better be good,” she said to the demon standing over her. She’d nicknamed this one Chuck. Not that demons used names. These entities, she’d learned, weren’t identities in and of themselves, but hollow and dark energy. They absorbed, drained, and fed off human experiences, creating none of their own. No personality. No soul. If you took raw desire and coupled it with a bottomless pit of need, you’d have a demon. Still, she’d named each one for her own purposes. It helped her tell the demons apart. This one seemed oddly shaken. That worried her. There wasn’t much on this side of heaven and hell that could shake a demon. She reached out to touch the thing so it could show her what had happened.
Images flashed through Crimson’s brain. The girl, Raven, sat behind a desk, a massive book open in front of her. She looked up, straight at the demon. Her blue eyes flared. Crimson felt what the demon had felt, a tug of immature power deep in its torso.
“Hello. What can I do for you?” Raven said, addressing the demon directly.
Whoosh. Chuck passed right through her on his way back home, and what he saw inside her was the most terrifying part of all.
“Interesting,” Crimson said, stroking the back of the demon’s head. “Not only can the girl see demons, but her body possesses a strange mixture of raw magic. It seems Gabriel’s tooth has awoken something in her. Something I haven’t seen before.”
The girl wasn’t entirely human. Raven had power, power she hadn’t yet learned to use. After the way the demon had reacted to the name Tanglewood inside the Three Sisters, Crimson suspected that Raven came from a long line of powerful beings. She hesitated to use the word witch. The traces of magic the demon had sensed as it passed through her were broader than traditional witchcraft. Perhaps sorceress was the better term. Perhaps something more.
“Tanglewood,” Crimson said, and the demon hissed as if she’d burned it. She narrowed her eyes. “What do you know about that name? Show me.”
The demon refused, squealing and drawing away. Crimson grabbed a white ash root from her nightstand and stabbed it through the demon’s toe. It cried out, but now it wouldn’t be going anywhere. As it twisted and thrashed, she removed her nightshirt and began massaging her breasts, tracing around her nipples with the tips of her fingers. She spread her knees. The demon settled its full attention on her again.
This was why it was important to use names. She remembered Chuck’s desire was sex. The demon couldn’t get enough of it.
“Show me what you know about Raven’s family,” Crimson demanded, arching her back.
The demon reached out an oily hand and touched her. As the images flashed through her head, Crimson’s eyes widened. Even she hadn’t expected this. The demon was wise to be afraid.
When she’d seen all of what it had to offer, she removed the ash root from its foot. It crawled to her, its hands slithering around her breasts. She allowed it to mount her. What she paid the beast was well worth the information, and it would keep him coming back to her. It would allow her to bend the demon to her will. It had always been this way. Her natural ability to seduce demons had informed her magic on all levels. After all these years, they were a part of her and always would be.
As the dark thing filled her up, she thought it was about time she got to know Ms. Tanglewood better. Much better. She might be the answer to swaying Gabriel into giving her what she wanted. More, the girl m
ight be the permanent solution to her little aging problem. A dark and wonderful idea filled her mind. But it would be tricky. Crimson would have to find a way to lure the girl to her, and then she’d have to make her an offer she couldn’t refuse.
Chapter Sixteen
Gabriel rushed to Raven’s side. Her knees gave out, and she sat down in the chair behind the library desk as if she was testing the sturdiness of the legs. He’d never been so relieved that the antique was stronger than it looked.
“Please tell me you keep demons on staff to clean during the night?”
“No. Demons aren’t friendly creatures. It shouldn’t have been here. Before the curse, it couldn’t have been. My protective wards are failing.” He held up his ring to the light.
Her eyes snapped to his. “Why was it here? Why was it watching me?”
“I’m not sure.” Gabriel knelt down in front of her and took her hands in his. “But the bigger question is how were you able to see it?”
She scoffed. “It was right there. How could I miss it?”
Putting this off was no longer an option. Gabriel had to make her see what she was. As much as he feared how she would take it, that she might even leave him, she had to face the truth. “Ordinary humans can’t see demons, Raven. You did. You saw the demon because the Casket Girls were right about you. You have power.”
She shook her head. “No.” Her eyes darted around the room and then settled on his. “What kind of power?”
“You are just what they said you are. A witch. When I fed you my tooth, I was hoping you were psychic. I had no idea you were a sorceress. But those markings on your arms? Those are symbols, writing. That’s your magic coming to the surface, magic that was always inside you.”
For a long while she said nothing. She stared at the book, then at her hands. Gabriel braced himself. He would not stop her if she tried to leave. He’d promised her freedom, and he would always be true to his word. But his chest ached at the thought of losing her.
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