Yeah, like that was ever going to happen.
The van purred to life and I was off. I made it as far as the top of the promenade before the engine stalled and died.
Fuck.
Great.
I pulled out my phone to call a cab and stared at the blank dead screen. Oh man. Was it shit on Carmella day today or something? I could go back to the mansion and call a cab, or I could walk. It was probably fifteen minutes using the side roads. Asking snooty witches for the use of their phone or walking?
Walking it was.
Thank goodness for sneakers, because my legs felt all wobbly. I was definitely coming down with something. Damn Urvashi and Brenda, damn them all with their germs. Urgh. I needed my bed. The car headlights on the road made my head hurt, and then I was cutting down the side street which would bring me out behind the bakery and deliver me home. Something whizzed past me, black, sleek, and low—a cat in a rush.
The world lit up with a crack of lightning and then an ominous rumble filled the air.
No, no, no.
The rain fell in a sheet, smashing into me and soaking me to the skin in an instant. Seriously? After the day I’d had? Something hot and dangerous unfurled in my chest, and then it was rolling up throat. I threw back my head and screamed.
I hated this. I hated my fucking life! The way shit just kept happening to me, the way I had no fucking control.
A cool breeze blew across my face. Great. I’d probably catch a cold on top of whatever the heck I’d already caught. Hey, maybe I’d get really lucky and bloody die! Sopping wet and miserable, I hauled my arse up the steps behind the bakery to my flat, barely stopping to strip off my clothes before crashing on the sofa-bed.
Unconsciousness beckoned. A gust of chill air swept across my skin, like questing fingers, eager to know me. Mmmm...
“Nice.”
The world was spinning.
“You sure this is the one” a deep and resonant male voice said.
“Yes. Can you not feel it?” a feminine voice drawled.
“I don’t have much time. They could find me at any moment.”
“Then do it. Do it now.”
“Her consent …”
“Dammit Paimon, when have you shirked from breaking the rules?”
A deep sigh. “Yes, it is quite pathetic. I’d be doing it a favor.”
What? Who? There was someone in my flat … two people, but my eyes refused to open and my body was like a stubborn sack of potatoes. I was delirious. None of this was real.
“Do it. Do it now.”
A whisper over my skin. “Bedraggled creature … do you wish to live? Do you wish to wield power?”
Huh? Power? “Yes, power…”
“I am power. Invite me in.”
The voice was seductive, velvet, and soothing. My gut twisted but my heart beat faster. To have power … control …
“Yes, yes. Come in.”
Was that the sound of a door opening?
3
T he insides of my eyelids were red.
Crap! Bolting up I reached for my phone. What time was it? The room was bathed in golden sunlight and the heat of midday.
Shit, shit, shit.
The shop. I was supposed to … hang on … I was sick … Or was I?
No stuffy head, no aches and pains … well bang went that excuse. I needed to get downstairs and open the damn bakery. Scrambling off the sofa-bed I legged it into the washroom, reached for the toothpaste and froze.
Something glinted on my wrist, something metallic but weightless—a thick bracelet, more of a cuff really. Wait—there was one on the other wrist too.
“What the actual fuck?”
I stared at the cuffs, each about an inch and a half thick. I was either hallucinating, or this was one of those dreams where you thought you were awake but you weren’t. A quick pinch should do it. Ouch. No. I was still here and the cuffs were still on my wrists. Where the heck had they come from? The events of the day before ran through my mind. Was there something I was missing? Nope. Oh crap. There could be only one explanation.
Someone had done this to me.
Magick? Wait, did they come off? I ran my fingers over them, looking for a break or a clasp. They were way too tight to slip over my hands, then how … I needed to speak to someone. Malina. No, Malina was in Nagalok. Drake then? No. Couldn’t do that without admitting I was useless. I needed to figure this out myself, except my heart was trying to gallop out of my chest, and I really, really needed to sit the heck down.
Arse meet rim of bathtub.
Okay, I could—
A shadow flitted across the floor, blocking out the sun and momentarily throwing the room into darkness.
Something was here. Something … other.
Oh man.
No. I was a witch-blood. I could do this. Focusing with every ounce of my being I concentrated on my unique connection to the skein—the source of all magick. It was a tenuous connection, unpredictable and mostly useless. Come on … yes. There it was, fizzing away. If I just grabbed it and pulled. The connection snapped.
Fuck
The shadow passed across the mirror.
“Who’s there? Who is it?”
Silence
“I’m warning you I’m a witch and I … I have magick. I’ll … I’ll …”
You’ll what?
“Argh!” My butt lost its grip and slipped into the tub. Pain exploded across the back of my head as it made contact with the rim behind me. The world went dark.
_____
“Carmella? God, Carmella! Are you okay?”
“Wha …” Why was I in the tub fully dressed?
Urvashi helped me sit up. “I’ve been calling and calling and you didn’t answer so I used the extra key and … Oh hun, how did you fall?”
“Fall?” The shadow and the voice … My wrists! The skin was smooth and unshackled. Okay. I was going seriously crazy. “I … I must have slipped, or something.” I scanned the room, but everything looked normal.
“Well, we best get you to the hospital,” Urvashi said. “Get you checked out for concussion or—”
“No. No I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”
She pressed her lips together. “Well, if you won’t go get checked out, then I’m staying with you to keep an eye on you tonight.”
“You don’t need to.” What if the shadow came back? “Actually, that would be nice. Thank you.” Man, I was such a pussy.
Urvashi helped me into the living room where the late afternoon sun bathed the carpet in an orange hue. How long had I been out? The bakery closed early on Sunday, so it must be around five in the afternoon by now.
“Here, sit. I’ll get you some water.” Urvashi bustled over to the sink. “Banner called today to thank us for a wonderful spread of delicacies. I can’t believe you managed to pull it off solo.”
I rubbed the back of my head. “Yeah, to be honest, neither can I. I was feeling pretty crappy by the end of the day, I tell you.” Maybe I was still sick? Maybe that’s why I’d heard voices. “Um, so, you’re feeling better now?”
Urvashi winced. “Yes, about that.” She handed me the glass of water and perched on the edge of my only armchair, her hands clasped between her knees. “I wasn’t sick. I was with someone.” She winced. “I didn’t expect everyone else to call in sick. If you’d called me to let me know …”
“You would have come in.” I sighed.
“I promise I’ll never play hooky again.”
I chuckled. “It’s your bakery, Urvashi, you can do whatever you like, but maybe not on days when we have such huge orders? If I hadn’t pulled it off the bakery reputation would have been ruined.”
She gnawed on her bottom lip, her dark eyes huge. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”
This was Urvashi’s only flaw—her flighty nature and the fact she was so easily distracted by a manly chest and a dimpled smile.
“I promise if I’m playing hooky I’ll let you know,” she cont
inued. “And I won’t do it on days with big orders due.” She clapped her hands together. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
Hours later, Chinese food eaten, we’d settled in for a good old fashioned chinwag.
“So who were you with?”
Her eyes twinkled and she caught her lip between her teeth. “I really shouldn’t say.”
She so wanted to. It was always like this—the coy secretiveness and then she’d spill her guts. I’d play along, because her stories were always so entertaining, if somewhat x-rated. It wasn’t as if all apsara were obsessed with sex, they just saw it as a natural act, recreational like tennis or golf, but with orgasms.
“Oh, come on, Urvashi,” I nudged. “I put together a huge order by myself and banged my head real hard. I think I deserve a treat, don’t you?”
“Well, if you want a treat I can set you up with the Pandavas, those boys know how to rock it.”
“Guys? As in plural?”
She blushed. “Five, well there should have been, but Yudi was out, so it was just the four of them, five including me. We played the food game.”
“The food game?”
She looked at me as if I’d grown two heads. “You’ve never played the food game?”
“Um … I assume this is a sexual thing?”
“Oh honey, is it ever.” She licked her lips. “You want me to show you?”
My nether regions tingled “Stop that!”
She giggled and retracted her mojo. “Sorry.”
“So, the food game. How does it work?”
“Well …”
Why did I always forget Urvashi’s penchant for graphic detail. My cheeks were on fire by the time she reached the climax of her story … several climaxes if she was to believed, and no way was I doubting her.
She was watching me speculatively. “You really need to get laid.”
“What? I do not.”
She sighed. “Look honey, love is great, but sex can be so much better. If you worry about getting your heart broken you’re vagina’s gonna dry up, pack its bags, and leave. Trust me. What you need is some no strings attached fucking. If you want I can set you up.”
“No! I mean. Thank you, but I’m fine.”
She stretched and lay down to stare at the ceiling. “I suppose when you’ve lived as long as I have you see the world in a different way.”
It was easy to forget how old Urvashi actually was, how old all the apsaras’ were, because they never physically aged. They all looked to be between the ages of 18 and 25. Kinda freaky because sometimes, when I looked into her eyes, there was something ancient staring back at me. But never take an apsara’s flippancy for weakness. These females were powerful spirits, vengeful if crossed, so although Urvashi had never been anything but kind to me, I knew pissing her off may not be conducive to living.
She had a faraway nostalgic look on her face.
Propping myself up on my elbow, I poked her arm. “Have you ever been in love?”
She swallowed and a small wry smile played on her lips. “A long, long time ago.”
Was that all she was going to say? If so I wasn’t going to press. But a moment later she continued.
“Back then I would come to the earthly realm to visit from time to time. I’d distract yogi’s with my sinuous dance, and stop to feel the dew on my feet. There was never any desire to stop or stay. And then I met him. Pururava. He saved me from the clutches of an asura.”
“A demi-god?”
“Yes. They’ve made themselves known to you recently. But there is so much people don’t know about them. With asuras, you have the okay ones called the Adityas, and the Danavas, who are the malevolent ones. I was attacked by a Danavas, and Pururava saved me. We fell in love and I remained with him under three conditions.” She sighed. “We were so very happy, but the Ghandarva, the male nature spirits, those nosey messengers of the gods in swarga, got fed up waiting for me to return. Back then I was the most revered apsara, their favorite entertainment. Long story short, they manipulated it so the three conditions were broken and I was forced to return.”
Oh god, poor Urvashi. “What happened to Pururava?”
She smiled softly. “He grew old and died, surrounded by the sons I’d bore him.”
“Did you ever go back?”
“No.”
We lay silently for the longest time, wrapped in our thoughts. She’d been in love, serious leave-the-celestial-planes kind of love, and she’d lost him. My heartache seemed miniscule in comparison.
Urvashi glanced at me with a cheeky grin. “So, did he ask you out?”
“Huh?”
She smiled slyly. “Banner. Did he ask you on a date?”
“How did you know?”
“I know men like him. I know what they like and I knew, as soon as you walked through the doors for an interview, Banner would love the fuck outta you.”
“Well, I turned him down.”
“For now.”
Was there any point arguing with her?
“Get some rest, babe, but I’m gonna be waking you every hour to make sure you’re alive.”
The concussion drill. Great. “Well, be warned, I may growl at you.”
As I drifted to sleep, a breath of air whispered across my skin and a gentle weight settled on my wrists.
4
“B abe, I’m gonna go open the store.” Urvashi whispered in my ear. “Come down when you’re ready.”
I groaned my assent but didn’t open my eyes. The sun wasn’t up yet and the room was blissfully cool. Just a few more minutes of oblivion before facing the day …
Carmella …
My eyes snapped open. No. No, no, no.
Do not panic and become unconscious.
My heart tried to rocket out of my ribcage. Do not engage the disembodied voice.
Can you hear me?
No. Fuck off.
A chuckle.
No. I sat up and slapped my cheek. I was still concussed. I was—
Fine. You’re fine. Do not make me regret choosing you.
My wrists tingled and the metal bands materialized around them. “Argh!” I shook my arms. “Go away.”
A deep sigh. I knew this was a bad idea. Easily spooked, nervous dysfunctional, irrational …
What the fuck? Was he talking about me?
… Pathetic creature. No use at all.
“Oi, who you calling … all those names?”
Silence
“Yeah, you. Voice thingy. I’m talking to you.”
So you accept I’m here now, do you?
If I didn’t accept it, then I’d be accepting I was insane. Plus there was so much shit in our world, this was hardly impossible. Improbable maybe, but not impossible.
“Yes. I accept you’re … real. But what the heck are you doing in my head?”
Hiding.
“From?”
There’s something after me, and so I’m hiding until I can figure out what it is and stop it.
“So you decided to hide in my head?”
Yes.
“Why me?”
Another sigh. Your body is acceptable for a symbiotic merger. His voice was a smooth rumble in my head. Believe me, if I’d have time to find something sturdier, I would have. This isn’t ideal.
Had he just insulted me again? “Wait, symbiosis? Like a parasite?”
He muttered something I didn’t catch.
“Think up will you.”
A parasite is something that simply takes and gives back nothing. Symbiosis is when both parties receive a benefit from the binding, he drawled, sounding almost bored.
My hackles rose. “Okay, so I’m hiding you, but what are you giving me, aside from a concussion and these fucked-up cuffs?”
The cuffs are only visible to you. And I offer power. My power, should you desire to wield it. His tone was a seductive purr.
Power … I’d had a dream about power … a velvet voice asking me to let it … oh my god. “Y
ou tricked me into letting you into my head didn’t you? When I was sick and delirious.”
I sensed an eye roll. How was that even possible? How did you sense an eye roll? The urge to scrub my brain was overwhelming.
I shuddered. Urgh. “No. I can’t do this. You need to leave. Now. Just get out of my head.”
No
“No? No! What the fuck do you mean no?” My pulse was racing again, and the edges of my vision darkened.
Dammit, woman. Pull yourself together.
His voice was a slap. It had me rocketing back into the driver’s seat of my emotions.
“Look. I don’t want your power. I just want my body back to myself.”
A long beat of silence. It no longer matters what you want. You invited me in, and I will stay until I have fulfilled my purpose.
Like hell he would. “If you won’t leave willingly then I’ll have you torn out.”
A low chuckle. Be my guest little human.
Okay, so I’d said I wouldn’t turn to Drake, but desperate situations called for desperate measures. I dressed quickly, ignoring the scratch at the back of my mind, grabbed the keys, and headed out.
I had to see a witch about an exorcism.
5
T he aerial tram from Piccadilly to Soho was rammed with jostling bustling bodies. The noise outside kept me from dwelling on what was inside. There was something in my head, something bound to my body. Crap, I hadn’t even asked it what it was. Shit, could it hear me thinking? Quick think about something else, like feet. Yeah, think about feet, sweaty feet, fresh feet. Huh? Fresh feet?
The tram came to a smooth halt. The doors slid open, and I allowed the surge to carry me out onto the station high above the city. The scent of croissants and bacon filled my head making my stomach grumble and reminding me I’d skipped breakfast. The steps were clogged up with people eager to get to wherever they needed to be to start their day, but I eventually touched down onto the street and broke away from the crowd.
Binding Magick: an Urban Fantasy Novel (The Witch Blood Chronicles Book 1) Page 3