Whiskey & Witchcraft

by Kiki Howell

  She walked out the door, then, wishing with ever fiber of her being that she could tell him the rest. Especially now that his secret was out, she wished she could share all of her own, with him, with the man she loved with all of her heart. It was stupid to try to deny that fact all of these years. Seeing him, kissing him, touching him, she couldn't deny it anymore. Still, what was the point? They could never, ever be together no matter how much they shared. This world, it seemed, and the other world, conspired against them.

  "What's the use," she said to no one but herself.

  She let her tears flow freely as she slid into her car.

  Chapter Five

  Ciaran sat in the lobby of the residence in Tribeca where Allanah had bought a loft a few years back. He'd come without notice or warning. So, he sat waiting with her out for who knows how long. Despite trying to occupy his mind many times already with the grand architecture of the place, his thoughts only went back to Allanah. He rehearsed what he'd say to her as his eyes blurred to the magnificent sights around him. Midday on a Wednesday, not many came and went to distract him either.

  As he sat as hunched as his build would allow, his body ached from the unfamiliar position. It fit, though. Everything about him hurt, inside and out, being put in such a precarious position by his coven. Though, thinking what was new, he knew the answer instantly. Having Allanah back in his life changed everything. She hadn't remained a dream to him. She'd appeared. He'd touched her. He'd let his heart open fully again. Yet, with the demon now, that hadn't gone well, to make the understatement of the year. Knowing what was to come, trying to convince Allanah to not only talk to him again, but to go away with him, too, didn't add anything positive or uplifting to the situation he found himself in. The task at hand seemed more daunting than any he'd encountered in his life, and he ran a billion dollar whiskey empire, among other things. Trying to do anything while being the High Priest of a coven full of shifters, while having a demon, or the spirit of one, who the hell knew exactly, living inside of him, had proven difficult beyond measure over the years. Yet, today, talking to her, this terrified him.

  As the footfalls of high heels came his way, he didn't look up. He sat, suddenly engrossed in the gold and brown pattern of the marble flooring. While the heels could have been on anyone, he'd heard the hushed whispers of the doorman, and noticed the angry way they hit the floor, not moving fast, but steady, like the death march of an angry prisoner. He couldn't blame her.

  "What the hell are you doing here?" she said, voice low, both in volume and tone.

  He looked up into her face, then, a mix at the moment of pale and flushed despite her golden tan.

  "I had to see you?"

  "All about you, then, is it? Did you consider at all what your family, if we have to call them that, might do if they found you here? I'd like the building, my loft, to stay standing. I'd prefer to not end up traumatizing any of my neighbors, many of which are famous."

  "They are not coming here. I promise. Can we please go up to your loft and talk?" he begged, the words leaving an acidic taste in his mouth. His demon didn't like it. He didn't like it. But, for her, he'd tried to make himself appear as docile, as downhearted, as he could look and sound for a big scary guy she'd last seen as a monster.

  "No. I need you to leave. Now. Or, I can have the doorman call in security. The fucking National Guard, if necessary."

  "Please, Allanah. I promise you, nothing is going to happen here. I spoke to all of them. I made my wishes clear, I am the High...their leader and boss, for... whatever's sake. They are not coming for you or me. I bought us some time. I have their word, which has to stand for something given my position."

  "No," she simply stated, the hands that had been clenched into fists at her side riding up so she could cross her arms over her chest.

  "Allanah," he said, standing to his full height, trying not to crowd her when she took a half a step back, but to get close enough to emphasize his words without alarming anyone else. "We need to talk. I know I don't deserve it after what they put you through at my place, but after what I found out you knew all of these years, don't you think I maybe deserve some time at least, to talk, to ask a few questions. Please. I will beg. I will follow any conditions you may have."

  "My condition is safety, for me and the others in this building. Kids live here. You can't guarantee me that."

  "I can. You just have to take my word on it."

  "I can't," she said, still standing to the side of him, talking in something just above a whisper, her hands clenched into fists still even wrapped up in her arms tight to her chest so that he had to ignore the way they pushed her breasts up and together. "Please leave."

  "What will it take, Allanah?"

  "There is nothing you could do or say to make me change my mind. I want you to leave. Now."

  "Is it your physical safety, or that of your heart, you are most concerned with? Do you not trust yourself with me? Can you not keep your distance," he egged her on, going for the part of her that took on any challenge, one of the things he first fell in love with her for, and the one thing he guiltily exploited to get his way with her, then and now. Whatever it took to get her to talk to him.

  "My heart is fine. And, believe it or not, I can keep my distance from you. I've had years of practice."

  "Yes, when I'm across the country, or even a few continents away. It is easy then. But, can you keep your hands to yourself when I'm in the same room? You couldn't the other night."

  "No, I couldn't, not until I was attacked."

  "And yet, even after that—"

  "Fine, not until I saw what you really were with my own eyes, then. I mean, I knew, had this vague idea, but to see it, to see all of them—"

  "Then, what is inside me, what I can become, has changed your mind?"

  "No. Yes. No. I don't think so. What the others become has, though. You are all connected somehow, I assume at least, and they come, they threaten. I don't believe for a second they wouldn't hurt me no matter how hard you fight them. I'm not stupid. I know you would fight to your death for me. I honestly believe that, but...listen, I know what you are doing here, this game you are playing to convince me to go with you. You are trying to force me to prove myself. You know me all too well, you think."

  "I did at one time," he said. "Maybe not now, but with everything in me, with every breath I take, I would like to again. Please, Allanah, give me a chance. I just want to talk. I know I'm asking a lot, but no one is coming after me. Not this time. We have a deal, my coven and I, which I will explain to you if you just let me come up and talk. Just let me plead my case. I have a proposition of sorts. Besides, do you really think with the position my family holds in the business world, that in public they are going to do anything here to chance exposing themselves? They haven't for centuries, why would they now? But, if you don't trust that, then trust me. Please."

  "How do I know I'll be safe after you leave?"

  "They know you are untouchable, or I would kill them all," he growled. "It only takes a snap of my fingers, per say, to have their demons turn on them, for good. Their lives can end at my whim. The irony here is that I control all the demons, and yet, I can't get the demon in me gone. But, back to your safety, they didn't touch you before, did they? And they had all the opportunity in the world. They know, and I reminded them, that I hold all the cards in the end. I can take them out, one by one, destroy the business, the group, it all. They didn't believe I would do such a thing before. I think they all still saw me as my father's son, the one who did whatever he was told for the family, as I was raised—no, trained—brutally, to do, but I've set them straight.

  "They foolishly thought I would give you up to protect the company, the family, but I won't. Sure, I hoped to have it all, to exorcise all the demons, to leave, get you back, and to leave them intact, but not anymore. Not now that I have touched you, tasted you again. I would destroy them all first, obliterate everything my father built, before I would let you go a
gain. I think I got my point across all too well to them.

  "I guess they thought they could counter my actions by showing up all beastly, but they hadn't considered I wouldn't go along with them after that. Fact remains, they can't overthrow me. My demon is stronger. It actually feeds off of theirs. They thought I had loyalty to them, but they know better, now, and they know they can't defeat me. I will strip them all of everything, their demons, money, influence, all of it to have you. My only issue is I want to be rid of the demon. I want a fresh start with you, but without the beast I can't keep them in line any more. I need to get rid of them all, and I don't know how yet. I mean, sure, I can destroy the company in seconds, but the monsters inside, that I'm still working on."

  "Keep your voice down. Follow me," she said, her face flushed even more as she spun on her heel, and walked off toward the elevators.

  When the elevator doors closed, trapping them inside alone, he added, "Listen, I didn't want to have to say that all there, but you wouldn't let me up."

  "No, you listen. You are coming up, saying what it is you have to say, just to shut you up, and then you are leaving. Got it?"

  "Got it. And, thank you."

  "Keep your damn hands to yourself. I don't trust you. I don't trust your family, no matter what you have said to them or they have said to you. And, though I think I am over it, after last time we saw each other, I'm not going to trust myself either."

  When she closed the door of her loft behind them, he asked, "Does it make it hurt less to stay away from me than to be with me?"

  "It just hurts right now, but at least I don't have to deal with them when I'm here. I'd thought I wouldn't have to deal with you either, because nothing hurts more than the walking away."

  "Your place is amazing," he said. Trying to shake off the brutal truth she'd presented, he distracted himself with his surroundings. To finally be in her space, the clean cut, yet warm feel of her spacious loft. The oversized, ten foot ceilings towered above white walls. Double hung windows trimmed in dark mahogany, along with the expertly crafted white oak flooring, made the room look endless. A few steps in, the seven foot windows framed New York's skyline, and some of the best of its cityscapes.

  "It's not a house on a cliff over the sea," she semi-hissed, seemingly more comfortable already than she had been downstairs.

  "It's still breathtaking, from the lobby to your residence. Fantastic architecture. The sights. I love it."

  "Thanks. I do, too. Now, sit down and talk. You have a limited amount of time here."

  "No tour?"

  "Sit and talk or leave," she grumbled out the words as she plopped down on a couch, gesturing for him to sit on the one opposite.

  "Allanah, first, let me apologize again for the other night," he stated as he obeyed her gesture. "My father had them all brainwashed that you were the enemy to me being there, running the business and taking my rightful place. While they were right, I would leave it all in a second to have you if I had that simple of an option, leaving that point out, I said what I needed to in order to assure them I have their best interests at heart. I outright lied, saying you were not a threat to them, and I reminded them I was the boss. What I say now, goes.

  "Most importantly, between you and me, what I want is you. I understand our lives complicate that. I am sure you don't want me the way I am, with all that you know. Although, I am confused by the why of you coming over in the first place the other night when you did already know. But, another discussion for another time. I still want out, of all of it. I want you. Seeing you, it just compounded that need. I don't have a full way out yet. I am trying to do it without honestly destroying all of them, but, they wouldn't just give me a clean break. I think because no one knows how. Given the option to take over the demons and the company, if they knew how, I know my brothers would. So, I have to come up with a way to disappear, and to get rid of this thing inside of me that alerts them not only to my location, but to everything I do and feel."

  "So what is the demon telling them now?"

  "It doesn't matter. I told them I was coming here, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I told them I needed time to see you, alone, to figure things out, but I also threatened them, everything they love. At the same time, I also assured them their interests were safe. I didn't lie, not exactly, I merely bent the truth to get what I wanted right now, and that was to go away with you. Just don't say anything yet. Let me finish. Please hear me out," he said when she went to protest.

  "Fine!" she said, the short word falling off at the end, maybe exhausted from the shock of seeing him in her building he thought.

  "I have a place secured for us in the Maldives. A water villa. It's advertised as a place to escape reality. The family, if you want to call them that, is giving me some time to spend with you, to figure things out, how to make it all work. They think they will have a say in our decisions once I get back. They think they are giving me time to scratch an itch, so I can say goodbye. It's all they understand of relationships, never having loved themselves prior, and now their demons supporting that.

  "What I want, though, what they don't know, is I want you to go away with me for a week so we can make a plan, a way to be together, a way for me to escape for good. All of it. Since they think I'm coming back, they are going to leave us alone, at least for this week. I let them assume my plan is to talk you into my life, the life I share with them, when in reality, it's to find a way to get away from them for good. Again, though, they believe, because they know no better, I will simply screw you a few times and get over this. Regardless of them, they won't bother us, I promise, just please, give me a chance. Give us a chance. I believe together we can figure this out. There just has to be a way. That is, if you are willing to give up your life to be with me, too."

  "Ciaran. That is a lot to ask. Now and then."

  "I know it is, and I'm not asking you to decide your whole future this minute. I'm not even saying it will all work out in the end. I'm just asking for a chance to brainstorm together, to spend some time away together, in order to discuss our possible options. That gives us a chance to think things through, to make some decisions away from distractions. Don't we both deserve that? And, if that is all we have, at least we will have had one amazing week together in paradise."

  He watched as she stood there biting at her lower lip, on the right side, as she used to whenever she was thinking something through. The whole thing, the whole picture of her wrapped in intimate memories, brought a smile to his face.

  "Don't go getting cocky, thinking I will just do whatever you ask," she said, a huff in her voice. "I can read that smile of yours; you think you have won."

  "I'm not. I was just remembering, watching you nibble on your lip like you always used to. Something about some things never changing, I guess. It gave me hope. Or maybe just the happiness of the memory got to me. Whichever. I can't remember the last time I actually smiled. Wait, yes, I do. It was in imagining this very conversation and then imagining you said yes, you agreed to go with me. Just come with me. Nothing else has to be decided now. We can discuss it all until we are too tired to talk anymore once we get there. Here, let me show you pictures of the place. If nothing else, just think of it as an amazing free vacation," he continued on, rambling he knew, not at all his usual. He rambled for no one but her, and he was okay with that.

  He could feel her gaze on him as he focused on not letting his fingers shake as they poked at his phone to find the images of the place he'd reserved for them. He could barely breathe in her presence. Never could. He'd have thought she had magic of her own the way this woman had bewitched him from his youth, from the first moment he'd ever laid eyes on her.

  "Here, look," he said, standing up, moving over to the couch she sat on across from him.

  He didn't give her a second, though he saw her flinch and then tense as he moved in close, let his thigh touch hers, their arms meet, as he leaned in to show her the whole gallery of pictures. A selling point, he hoped, both the i
mages of this paradise on earth, and his touch, the promise of more, thanks to the electricity moving between them. He knew she could feel his magic coming to the surface, especially as he tried to pacify his demon with all the deception it took to even get to this point. He'd finally figured it out. If the thing thought being with her a wrong, something he shouldn't do, it would be appeased. It had no loyalty of its own except to further facilitate the spread of evil.

  One after another, he showed her the different rooms in the private resort on water. Her eyes did widen, which he took as a good sign. He'd take any glimmer of hope at this point. He could feel the heat rising from his neck. Though his stomach churned, his dry mouth and frazzled nerves begged for a good gulp of his whiskey. His chest tightened as she continued to look with interest at the images on his phone. The longer she took in refusing him, the more he grew hopeful she wouldn't. In fact, he had no intention of taking no for an answer, so the sooner she relented the better; the further away from his plan to kidnap her if need be.

  "This is for real? A place like this really exists?" she exclaimed, a smile brightening her eyes.

  "Seriously? You've never heard of it?"

  "I don't really vacation. I travel for business, which has taken me some amazing places, but no, I'd never seen such a place. It would be all ours?"

  "Yes, except for a caretaker couple who lives in one of the rooms. But, I already planned on having them set the place up and then leave for the week. I wanted you all to myself."

  "I have appointments, work to do this week," she countered, but rather weakly in his opinion.

  "We both know rescheduling it all only takes one phone call to the right assistant. How often have you done that?"

  "Never, really. At least, not for this sort of reason."

  "Then come with me."

  "You really think we can come up with a way to get you away from your family? You have a demon that tells on you. I don't see how it's possible, and if you are being honest, you've had years and not come up with a viable option. While wonderful, it just seems like putting off the inevitable, our separation."