Warlocks & Warfare_A Grimmer Legacy novel

by Eleanor Rousseau

  “Not today.”

  “Bye, cub.” I hung up, using an endearment that I knew annoyed him.

  Avon smiled as I turned to him. “He still not okay with you dating a Daemon?”

  “You don’t have to look so happy about it.”

  “Why not? You chose me over him. You must like me a lot,” he teased.

  “I like you a normal amount,” I insisted but I was smiling too.

  He stepped closer, “I would have hoped you’d like me a little more than that after I-”

  “Still in a public place, Avon,” I reminded him, blushing a little even though I’d stopped him before he’d actually was anything inappropriate. The look in his eyes alone was enough to make most people blush.

  He grinned, “We should finish eating, we can always finish this conversation when your brother gets here.”

  “Oh, I bet you’d just love that.”

  A happy light played in his eyes as he nodded, “I really would.”

  “Not happening. The day you talk to my brothers about our... private life is the day I’m sharing nudes of you with Grant.”

  He frowned, brow furrowing, “How did you get nudes of me?”

  I smirked, “I’m not saying you would ever take nudes of me and share them on the internet, I’m just saying that if you ever did I’d be prepared to retaliate.”

  He didn’t look even slightly perturbed by the threat. “I love that you’re kind of crazy.”

  “I like that you’re crazy enough to think that’s a good thing.”

  He chuckled, reaching to toy with a lock of my hair.

  Chapter Four

  “You just dunked his head right in the tank?” he asked, trying and failing to suppress a laugh.

  I nodded. “Oh yeah, it seemed like the only thing to do at the time.” We sat together in the corner of a booth, he had pulled my legs over his lap and was rubbing a hand absently up and down my calf.

  “And nobody was recording this? I just wish I could have seen his expression.”

  “It was priceless, half indignant, half full-blown rage.”

  He laughed and reached up to brush his fingers down my cheek. I leaned closer, enjoying his touch and the warm affection that shone in his gaze as he looked at me.

  The door to the small cafe opened and after a moment I glanced up.

  Wes raised an eyebrow at me. I blushed and pulled my legs from Avon’s lap, he squeezed my leg once but let me go.

  I rose to my feet and smiled, “Cas!”

  “You know we’re not identical, right?” he asked, pulling me into a hug.

  “All you supernatural creatures look the same to me,” I told him. That was a total lie, the twin’s father was Asian and they had inherited a lot of their looks from him, although Cas had darker hair and a squarer jaw.

  He squeezed me once before letting me go, then his eyes darkened as they turned to Avon. I had believed that they had bonded when they rescued me from the Underworld but apparently not all that much.

  Avon grinned, baring teeth, “Wes.” He inclined his head in greeting, the gesture itself was polite enough but the hand that rested on my waist was designed solely to antagonise.

  “The women whose daughter is missing is right over there,” I told Wes, pointing to the poor woman who was speaking frantically into a phone. I was hoping to distract them from their macho stand-off.

  “Might we return to our weekend now, little one?” asked Avon, again in an attempt to antagonise my poor brother.

  “No, we’re helping.”

  “I could convince you,” he whispered against my ear.

  I was almost certain he could indeed but this was not the time. “Behave. Remember you work for his father, he could probably get you fired.”

  “Then I must find other ways to spend my days.” The implication in his words was very clear.

  He really was trying to push Wes’s buttons. And succeeding if the green glow in Wes’s eyes was any indicator. “Behave, or we’ll go straight home after we help Wes.”

  “You are a cruel and unyielding mistress,” he teased, voice low and seductive.

  I shoved him lightly in the chest and he chuckled. Then I linked my arm with Wes’s and led him over to the woman, and away from Avon. She hung up and looked at me expectantly. “Mrs. Andrews, this is my friend, Wes. He’s a werecat and he would like to help. Why don’t you take us to where you last saw your daughter?” I suggested.

  She rose to her feet, clutching the phone to her chest. “Of course, thank you so much.”

  “No problem, mam, happy to help.” His quite look of a man plotting another man’s murder was gone, as if he had never been there and he smiled kindly, eyes shining with compassion.

  I wasn’t sure how he could go from sixty to zero so quickly but I got the impression that the anger wasn’t gone it was just suppressed deep, deep down. She led us out the door and we followed, Avon with some reluctance.

  It wasn’t nice of me but I did take some pleasure from his displeasure. I couldn’t help it, for a short period of time he had made it his mission to become a nuisance in my life in retaliation for the fact I had deceived him.

  I would have been a lie to have said I hadn’t found some small satisfaction in his attention. Maybe it was just our way, we liked to rile each other up. I was a Witch and he was part Demon, after all, a healthy normal relationship was probably way out of our stratosphere.

  We followed Mrs. Andrews down the street. It was a small town and the walk to her home wasn’t taxing. She led us inside and we found a man pacing in the living room.

  “May I see her bedroom?” asked Wes politely.

  “You’re the shapeshifter?” asked the man, his wife must have called him while she was out.

  He nodded, “And this is my associate Kai.” He gestured to me, ignoring Avon completely, which was probably for the best.

  The man glanced at Avon but didn’t comment, “It’s right this way.”

  We followed him into the bedroom. Wes stood in the middle of the room and took a deep breath, then he took off his backpack and handed it to me. “Do you mind if I change?” he asked the parents.

  Then nodded their consent.

  “This being her room it’s probably heavy with her scent, it’ll be easier to tell which scent trail is the freshest in animal form,” I explained for their benefit as Wes began to undress, placing each item of clothing in the bag I held.

  When he got to the boxers Avon placed a hand over my eyes. “Worried I’ll compare?” I murmured under my breath. The twins were shifters so growing up I’d seen way more of them naked than I ever wanted to and eventually I’d gotten to the point where I could ignore it. “Don’t worry, you’re almost as ripped.”

  He growled and the sound was echoed by a feline rumble. Avon took his hand away to reveal an irritated-looking jaguar. I smiled innocently, he just gave me a dark look.

  “You know, I hate the fact that most people I know have supernatural hearing,” I murmured.

  He just growled menacingly before putting his nose to the ground. He followed his nose to the window by the bed and huffed then he turned and headed for the door.

  “Is there any reason she would just run off? Any problems she was having?” I asked as I followed Wes out of the room.

  “None at all, she’s a perfectly happy child,” insisted her mother.

  I didn’t doubt she believed that but sometimes mothers wore rose coloured glasses when it came to their children but if this wasn’t the first child to go missing it indicated a bigger problem. “How old is she?” I asked as he reached the front door.

  “Eight, she’s just a little girl, she can’t be out on her own,” said Mrs. Andrews.

  “We’ll find her,” I said seriously as I hurried after Wes. He walked around to the back of the house and sniffed at the window that looked into the bedroom. A growl rumbled through his chest and he glanced at me, clawing the ground three times.

  Shit. Three times meant a super
natural threat.

  “Vampire?” I whispered.

  He shook his head. Thank God. There was a good chance she was still alive as long as it wasn’t vampires. “Track them, and don’t hold back.” Then I turned back to the parents. “You stay here in case she comes home or anyone calls having seen her. We’ll be back as soon as possible.”

  Wes nudged my hand.

  “Yeah, buddy, we can run.” I patted his head.

  He gave me a feline grin before running out of the garden. I sprinted after him, vaulting over the fence a second after he had. It had been a while since I’d gone running with my brothers, they were inhumanly fast but then I was also faster than your average human.

  I could keep up with them for a little while but they often held back thoughtfully because they enjoyed the company. He moved through the small wooded area behind the house and I was right on his tail.

  After a moment he stopped, so suddenly that I tripped trying to avoid knocking into him. He pounced on me and pinned me to the floor with a paw on my chest. “Now is not the time to negotiate, Wes,” I informed him.

  He growled and licked my face.

  “Ew. We’ll talk about it when you’re in a less slobbery mood, now keep going,” I ordered.

  He growled again but let me go and padded on.

  Avon stood over me and offered me a hand, “For the record, I don’t like it when other people pin you to the ground.”

  “There’s an implication there that it’s okay when you do it.” I accepted his hand and he tugged up hard enough for me to fall against his chest.

  “You seem to like it when I did it,” he breathed, kissing my neck.

  I pulled free of him and walked after Wes. “You’ve got to stop hanging out with Grant,” I murmured.

  He laughed, “He gives very good advice.”

  “If you’ve been following his advice so far it seems like it’s going to get you eaten by a jaguar,” I muttered and I jogged after Wes.

  Shapeshifters where creatures who liked to know the hierarchy and where everyone stood in it. Wes didn’t know where Avon was in our Pride and frankly, he didn’t want him in it at all. But as he saw it being with me made Avon my mate and a part of the Pride. He really didn’t want that and neither did his twin. Too bad I wasn’t the submissive, compliant sort.

  I followed Wes through the trees. Whoever had taken the child seemed to be avoiding any populated areas. That was sort of good, this way they seemed less likely to incite panic in the population. On the downside, what protection did the children have from the elements? Was there a cabin tucked away somewhere.

  It was probably gnomes, gnomes were weird creatures. They were little things who liked to come out to steal flower pots and put up tiny flags. Stealing children would be a large step up but it wasn’t altogether improbable.

  We reached a stream and started following alongside it. It could have been forest Nymph’s, those gals were even worse than the Fey and they didn’t have a glamour. They could talk you into sleeping with your own brother if they chose to.

  Well, luckily their powers didn’t work on me. I was immune to the seductive powers of both Nymphs and the Fey. Which was fortunate because Avon’s friend Grant was a Fey and if he had his way he would have had his way with me shortly after we’d met.

  We followed the stream to a large natural pool. The pool shimmered in a way that was almost enchanting. Maybe a Kelpie had taken the kids, no, it would have had to leave the water to get them in the first place and Kelpies didn’t stray far from their home.

  Wes’s head tilted inquisitively to the side and I followed his gaze to the two children playing at the edge of the pool. I shoved the bag at Avon, “Wait here until he’s done changing,” I ordered.

  Chapter Five

  I climbed over a large boulder before making my way to the children. “Excuse me, are you Becca?” I asked the young girl.

  She didn’t appear to hear me. I sat on the grass besides the water, less than ten feet from her and the young boy. Neither of them noticed me. Their eyes seemed glazed over but their faces were not void of expression.

  They looked just like two normal kids playing in a pool, except they were wearing only pajamas. “Is it some kind of witches spell?” I mused aloud but then I probably would have sensed my kind of magic.

  “They definitely look bespelled,” said Wes as he moved closer.

  “What did you smell?” I rose to my feet.

  He rolled his shoulders, “Nothing I’m familiar with. It wasn’t a scent so much as the absence of a scent. If you weren’t so human you’d understand.”

  “Don’t get smart with me, whiskers, you shapeshifters aren’t any better than Witches.”

  “Tell me that when you can bench press a car.” He shot me a smug look.

  “I don’t need to, that’s what I keep you around for,” I told him.

  He slapped my ass, making me yelp. “Witch.”

  “Furry ass,” I grumbled, rubbing my sore ass and shooting Avon a glare.

  He gave me a knowing smirk and stepped up to me. His hand rested on my butt, I was about to growl at him when I felt him heal the bruises that he had left there. I relaxed instead and made a soft sound of gratitude.

  “Now, what are we going to do about the tykes?” asked Wes.

  I glanced around helplessly, then I knelt and leaned over the pool, “Maybe it’s the water,” I said skeptically.

  “One way to find out.” Avon plunged his hand into the water.

  I glared at him, “That’s just reckless.”

  “But effective, it’s just water, there’s no enchantment.” He pulled his hand back out quickly, in a motion that caused the water to come up and soak me. He grinned. “See?”

  “This is why you’re a busboy while I have a real job,” I informed him, deadpan.

  He reached over, clearly intending to push me into the pool but Wes caught his wrist in a death grip. Avon shot him an annoyed look and he glared right back.

  I smiled and glanced at the children who appeared to be trying to catch fish in the pool.

  “We got a problem, shifter?” asked Avon when Wes didn’t release him, his voice was low and dangerous.

  “We’ve got a problem,” he confirmed.

  “I’ve got a problem,” I growled, gesturing to the children.

  “Later,” Avon promised, his eyes narrowed at my brother.

  “Later,” Wes agreed.

  I didn’t want to be anywhere close when later came. If Wes beat Avon he would view him as unworthy and never let me forgot it. If Avon beat Wes... well, I didn’t really want to contemplate what might happen then.

  The worse thing was that I had no idea who would win such a fight. I had sparred with Wes for most of my life and he could beat me any day but I had also seen Avon slaughter full blooded Demons without breaking a sweat.

  They were both lethal and that was what worried me.

  I looked at Wes, “Go see if they’re okay, you could use a cool down.”

  In his mind, he was my superior so I was surprised when he complied with only a grunt of annoyance. He waded over to the children. “Physically they’re fine, the water’s not too cold but it could become a problem if they stay in for too much longer.” He touched the girl's arm gently.

  She turned to him then and showed him a rock she held in her hand.

  “Yes, it’s very nice. Would you mind stepping out of the water, cub?” he asked, his voice gentle and deep.

  She didn’t hear him, either that or she just ignored him. She bent over to pick up another stone that had caught her interest.

  I frowned, “Try taking her hand and leading her out,” I suggested.

  He took it carefully but she casually pulled it free and went back to what she was doing. Then he tried lifting the boy up and carrying him out of the pool. The boy didn’t protest but the moment his feet were on the ground he walked back into the pool.

  “Well I don’t understand, it must be some kind of en
chantment, or they’re under a glamour,” I murmured.

  “But why, why would anyone do this?” asked Wes.

  “People are weird,” said Avon.

  “You’re dating one of the weirder ones,” said Wes under his breath.

  Avon chuckled. This was an unsettling development, the only thing worse than having them at each other's throats was having them team up against me.

  “Maybe they’re being kept here until something has time to come back and eat them,” I suggested.

  “It would have to be something powerful if it was able to hide its scent,” Wes commented. “Unless its scent is just naturally messed up, like yours.”

  I blinked, “What’s wrong with my scent?” I asked defensively.

  “Most witches smell like humans,” he stated as if that answered the question.

  “I don’t smell human?” This was news to me.

  “No, you smell... like the moon.”

  I gave him a look, “You can't smell the moon.”

  “You smell how the moon looks,” he stated, in a way that made it seem like he was starting to question his own response.

  “Super.” What the hell was I supposed to make of that? I was learning new things about myself every day. “The problem still stands, how do we undo such an enchantment when we don’t know what kind of magic is causing it?”

  “I can have Amy send copies of all enchanting spells for the books that are likely to be used on children.”

  “There’s no point. I’ve read the books.”

  He raised an eyebrow, “And you committed them to memory?”

  “There’s a story behind that which I need to share with everybody but not right now. I can list off the spells but short of trying every single one there’s no way to guarantee we’ll snap them out of it unless we know what we’re facing.”

  His eyes narrowed at me and he took a deep breath as if my scent would tell him my secrets. Maybe it would, apparently I had a weird ass scent anyway. “Okay. Chances are whatever has them will come back for them, we could try waiting it out.”

  “Or we could inform the parents the location of their children and let them handle it,” suggested Avon. I’m sure he was trying to be helpful but it was a swing and a miss.