by Sariah Skye
“Are you sure?” Bash inquired carefully.
I nodded. “Yes…but I mean, like I said, half of it is scratched out…”
“We should get you out of here.” Trystan gripped my hand and scanned the room in defensive mode.
“Why? I mean this has to be old right?”
“No. According to my research and experiments, the paper itself? Old. The ink though is newly written. This appears to be the same,” Bash said, as Xander shined his cell’s flash light over it. “I am looking for you. I am kill… Doesn’t exactly read as love notes, does it?”
“Seeing as how you’re the only one to read them…chances are they’re meant for you,” Xander said, his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat with a nervous swallow. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Bash shoved Xander. “Take her. Just go.”
“Hey, I—” I protested.
“You wanted a clue? This is huge. Besides this, there is nothing else here, and if it says what you say? You’re in danger,” Bash said warningly. “We’ll meet you at the car.”
I sighed reluctantly and nodded. They were right, no matter how much big, strong Ava Dawson wanted to protest.
I didn’t want to die, even if it appeared no one was here right now. Why take chances?
For the second time in a month, Xander escorted me out of the Underground’s mysterious cavern; this time I was thankful to be walking of my own volition.
“Okay, for the record I dig being with you, Xan, but can we not make this a habit?” I quipped dryly, when we emerged from the club, and reached Mathias’ vehicle in the empty parking lot. I frowned as I reached for the handle of the backseat door, and remembered it was locked.
Xander pulled a set of keys out of the front of his jeans pocket and produced a long key and unlocked the doors. “We all have keys to each other’s cars,” he said, with a shrug.
My mouth parted in confusion. “I don’t have anyone’s keys,” I pouted. Then I groaned at myself stupidly. Of course, you don’t, Avie. We’ve only known each other a short time. These guys have known each other for years. You’re being dumb, Ava. I didn’t know why it bugged me so, anyway.
Without another word, Xander fumbled with the keychain and removed a blue key. Prying my fingers open, he placed the key gently inside, and closed my fingers around it, smiling warmly. “You can drive my car anytime you want, okay?”
I glanced down at the single key in my hand, rubbing the pad of my thumb over the edges before I thrust it into my pocket for safe keeping. Wait…what? My heart was heavy in my chest, my breath shallow, and a lone tear trailed down my cheek. Why was this a big deal? “Don’t you, uh, need this to drive?” I stammered uneasily, forcing a laugh.
“I have other sets at home. Ava?” Xander’s hand caressed my cheek wiping away the stray tear. “What’s wrong?”
“I…don’t know,” I sputtered, the words fighting my unknown emotions. I dared to glance up at his handsome, yet worried face, the skin between his brows puckering with confusion. His onyx eyes shimmered with something I couldn’t distinguish. But it was intense, made me avert my gaze. I turned towards the vehicle and I rested my forehead against a window.
A firm hand gripped my shoulder and spun me around. Xander’s chest heaved and fell rapidly, as subtly licked his bottom lip. His gaze was heated as he closed the small distance between us. Pinning me against the car with his body, his lips lowered near mine hesitantly. “I don’t like seeing you so troubled,” he said in honeyed tones, his face just inches from my own. “I know—we know something is up. More than you’re telling us. More than the magic. Please just tell me, or let me make you feel better,” he pleaded intensely. His face was clouded with concern, but his hooded eyes told another story. I dared to look into them, and his mouth slipped into his sexy, tilted grin.
I cocked my head to the side, inhaling deeply, trying desperately to ignore the waking fire deep in my belly. I knew what he wanted, because I wanted it too, but the buzzing in the back of my mind tapped into my subconscious, which had an opinion and a voice of its own.
They don’t really want you; it’s only the curse that draws them to you.
I gasped, as if I’d been slapped. The voice that was in my head, put there by my mother. I remembered what she said during the ritual. I couldn’t shake that voice.
It haunted my dreams.
My lower lip trembled with sadness, but my body hummed with longing. All I wanted to do was melt into him and the ugly world around us would disappear, like that night we danced at the club. There was no benevolent magic. There were no crazy people around us. Just him and I, a dozen kisses and unspoken promises. And I wanted more.
But still, I hesitated.
It was ironic that the boys were worried about letting me make my choice, even though it was they who had no choice. What if they were only drawn to me because of the curse? Because I was the only one they could love, kiss, and be intimate with, without harm? Would that be enough for me?
As I silently deliberated, Xander had been inching closer, fighting an urge to kiss me, his lips ever so gently brushing over mine, until something called his attention elsewhere. His head snapped upward, body tensing as he surveyed our surroundings. I casually splayed my hand over his lean stomach, craving his attention back towards me.
He gripped my hand tightly. “Did you hear that?”
I raised a brow. “Hear…what?” I didn’t hear anything except for my bitchy inner monologue. I swallowed nervously. “A… voice?” I suggested awkwardly.
He shook his head once. “No…like a…breaking sound.” A surge of electricity thrummed through our hands, and Xander shivered. He opened a hand, his arm tensed, and small sparks released from his fingers.
The air reverberated around us with a hushed rumble. Panic washed over Xander’s face.
“Shit.” He turned to me, shamefaced. “Avie, do not take this the wrong way.”
“Take what—” I began to question, when he forcibly pushed me against the vehicle, pressing his hard body against mine, slamming his hands on the window on either side of my head.
I gasped, surprised with his forwardness. My heart began to race as he held my gaze, the passion of it, and the air of desire around us sent a shiver down my spine that trembled between my legs. Sweet Jesus, what the hell? He hasn’t even done anything yet, and I’m already—
I didn’t even finish my thought as he pushed his mouth to mine, and kissed me with such abandon my mind floated, and my knees went completely slack; I was thankful for steady the vehicle behind me, otherwise I would have melted to a puddle on the ground.
And just as he began, he was finished, pulling away quickly.
“Wh—” I started to protest, when he spun around deftly, arms out to the side, as a lightning bolt formed in one hand and crackled in an explosion of thunder, connecting with his other hand. Xander pulled his hands apart slowly, wind forming and blowing around him, tousling his black hair.
I flinched in disbelief, realizing what he just did. “Did you just use me to make yourself more powerful?” I spat venomously.
He threw me a baleful look over his shoulder, but there was no time to react. Out of nowhere, an unseen force warbled the air, and blew us backward into the hard steel of Mathias’ vehicle.
With a swift movement, Xander propelled his lightning like some kind of ancient god, straight ahead at the invisible force; causing the air in front of us to shimmer and wobble.
“Get in the car, Ava!” he ordered, releasing his lightning just long enough to open door to the backseat, and forced me inside, hip checking the door shut before another blast of unseen energy came plowing at him.
I tumbled onto the floor of the backseat, bracing myself for impact, clenching my eyes shut in anticipation. When nothing happened, I dared to glance up, Xander’s hands were raised high and his face strained like he was pushing…something. The air around him shimmered like a mirage on a hot day, bending in a sphere around him. Somehow with
his magic, he was holding the hidden magic at bay.
“Damn…” That’s when I realized just how powerful the magic of Avalon was. My magic.
Molten anger raised up in me, I felt used and deprived; mostly because he pushed me back like some sort of helpless, damsel in distress.
Fuck damsels. I wasn’t anything of the sort.
My eyes glaring, mouth set in a firm line, I concentrated briefly, searching for that buzz of magic inside; that’s when I saw it—felt it—a light blue haze in the back of my mind. I pictured myself pulling at it, and it welled through my body, tingling my arms and fingers.
I reached for the handle of the door, intending to open it, but instead, I mistakenly released an ebb of invisible magic from my hand, flinging the vehicle door open so forcefully it almost slammed against the side of the vehicle.
I cringed sheepishly—but especially when I noticed the magic had knocked Xander over, and right on to his ass.
As I slid out of the vehicle, he glanced up at me, his eyes wide with shock. I fully intended to help him up, but I took a brief moment to put hands on hips, tap my foot against the pavement, and glower at him. “That is what you get for treating me like a helpless female!”
Xander let out a bashful chuckle. “Sorry?”
“Hmph.” I grumbled, reluctantly holding out my hand for him. When he reached, I yanked my hand away quickly, and turned on my heels away from him.
He groaned, and I heard a slapping sound; I knew he was facepalming himself. “What was that for?”
“That is for using me for my power. Don’t ever do that again!” I threatened, glaring at him over my shoulder.
A long, strangled sigh escaped him. “Ava, if you had any idea how bad I always wanted to kiss you—to do everything with you—you wouldn’t be thinking that!”
“Whatever.”
My skin began to crawl, and I felt an uncomfortable, sickening tension slam throughout my body. Out of instinct, I raised my hands to guard me, feeling another shock of magic escape my hands.
The air twisted and warped around us, and a black, jagged crack began to form in the air above us.
“What is that?” I squealed in terror.
Xander scrambled to his feet, raising his hands. “I don’t know, but we do this together then, right?”
I nodded once with appreciation. “Right!” Raising my hands, I was ready for anything—but not really, judging by the sickened feeling in the bowels of my stomach—I cringed and awaited whatever would come bursting through the strange tear before us.
A vaguely familiar, deep voice shouted a foreign language, and several males came bursting out the heavy black doors. Link was front and center, flinging a silver, sparkly dust that flew in the air towards the tear. It hissed and crackled as it met the mysterious rip, dissolving it in a puff of greenish and purple smoke.
I stared in amazement, as Link shoved a black sachet in the front pocket of his pants, and dusted his hands off on his pants.
Xander and I glanced at each other in bewilderment, as Link, Mathias, Bash, and Trystan closed the distance between us.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded, pointing at the faint trace of the sickly green magic that still hung in the air.
Link’s upper lip curled in a sneer. “Tainted magic.”
“Tainted—what? What!?” I babbled belligerently.
“It almost looked like a portal, or something,” Bash said thoughtfully, scratching at the stubble on his chin.
“That’s probably exactly what it was.”
I smacked my hand against my forehead. “Fuck me.” I clamped my eyes shut, rubbing at the tension in my temples. A slight breeze danced across my shoulders, followed by the quiet rustle of—paper in the wind?
“What the—” Mathias said, as Xander nudged me.
I pried my eyes open as he tapped my shoulder and pointed up.
A few feet in the air over us floated dozens of pieces of parchment. They appeared out of nowhere and fluttered to the ground. I swiped at the air, to catch one.
It was the same scrawled handwriting as we found in the woods before, and just underneath the cloak today. “Is this—”
“It’s the same paper, maybe same ink but…” Bash grabbed at a slip of paper that floated in front of him. “However, it all appears to have been written at different times.”
“How can you tell?” Trystan inquired, grabbing his own fluttered paper, and scowled when he couldn’t read them. He thrust them at me. “See if you can read.”
I stacked them together and squinted at the top page. The words slowly came into focus. “Cast to become invisible.” I stuttered, as I read aloud.
“Och, what?” Trystan asked, confused. “I didn’t understand you. You weren’t speaking English.”
I gave him and odd look. “It says ‘spell to hide,’ basically.”
“You can read that?” Link, appearing flabbergasted, snatched the page away from me, mouthing the words I just read silently. “I’ll be fucking damned.”
“What about this one?” Xander pointed at the next one in my hand.
I shrugged casually. “L’ie eths-e. It says ‘life’.”
“How…” Link grabbed that page from me too.
My eyes widened as I read the next page.
“What is it, Avie?” Mathias asked softly, obviously sensing my distress.
“It’s an…address.”
Bash peered over my hands. “Ink looks new too.”
I gulped. “455 Elm Creek Drive.”
“No…”
“Plymouth, Minnesota.” I finished, my voice strangled. “It’s my address.”
“How does an ancient piece of paper have your address on it, Ava?” Link mused out loud, for once appearing confused as all the rest of us.
“Someone is looking for me,” I said, hushed, nervously biting my lip.
“But who?”
There could be only one answer. I knew that Mathias, Trystan, Xander and I were thinking the same thing as we looked at each other. Bash frantically collected all the parchment that had fallen and tucked it under his arm. When he finished, he stood and snarled, obviously having the same idea.
Morgaine. There could be no other explanation.
Mathias jangled his keys in front of himself. “Lock up, Mr. Abrams. We have an errand of sorts to run.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lachlan
“I will meet you as soon as I can.” I swiped the display of my cell phone, disconnecting a phone call. I sighed, tossing the device onto the simple wooden end table next to me.
“Who was that?” My partner—you could almost say wife—Nadina, climbed off of me, and reached for a long, gray t-shirt, tossed aside on the bed, and pulled it over her long, curly brown hair, and let it fall over her chest and hips.
I sighed out a long groan. “Septimus.”
Nadina frowned. She brushed her delicate hand over my bare chest, gently fingering the hair between my pecs. “I hate that this keeps calling you away so much. Do you really think Ava is in danger?” Nadina—really Nadia—but she added the ‘n’ years ago to give herself more of an American-sounding name. With her deeply tanned skin, shapely lips and dark hair she appeared almost Middle-Eastern if not for the eyes; they were slightly almond-shaped, but fuller at the far edges. She wasn’t sure of her heritage, as she was abandoned by her parents at birth years and years ago. She was raised by fae and lived in various supernatural safe-havens all around the world before she and I met.
I nodded. “Yes,” I said, sitting up slowly, even as she draped herself over the top of me, smiling widely and flirtatiously. I squeezed my eyes shut as the warmth and softness from her body made me tingle all over, making me think things I definitely didn’t want to be thinking of when dealing with your daughter being in trouble.
Taking a deep breath, I centered myself, and kissed her cheek. I rolled out from underneath her, reaching for my pants that had been tossed to the ground.
“Did
you tell her yet?” She asked, twirling a long ringlet of her perfectly-formed curls around one of her long fingers.
I grumbled. Did I tell her yet? It was bad enough Nadina knew, but I couldn’t help it; she’d overheard me talking to the silhouette at the table. I had to give her an explanation; albeit a very vague one. I told her it was just a spell, and I needed Ava’s magic for it; and she probably wouldn’t be willing to help if she knew what it was. And, she certainly didn’t know about our…connection with each other.
“No, she doesn’t know yet.” I said, my words having double meaning, because I was keeping secrets. A lot of secrets. If she knew—if either of them knew—it was quite possible neither of them would speak to me, ever again. But, if I told Ava, she and the guys would more than likely screw up my plans and eliminate the one thing that could get me home.
Not that anything could happen yet, as her magic was still out of control. Because, despite my urging that Ava allow herself to be with the incubus guys—to help release her magic, so it didn’t control her—Ava resisted. She claimed she was afraid it would hurt them, but they were built like Trojan horses. Very little could hurt any of them, especially when she gave herself to the magic, and relaxed. I knew there was something else on her mind that prevented her, but I hadn’t figured it out. Yet.
Nadina grumbled, flumping down on the simple bed. She was out of place—exotic, and indulgently beautiful in our strange, simple, demure cabin in the woods—but it was better that way. For safety. For now. But I knew Nadina craved a different life.
She knew about Mathias’ offer to move us to Wild Township and live on the property. She only knew because she overhead a conversation I had with him on the phone, while I stupidly had him on speaker. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to keep them apart; but I had reasons. I felt ashamed of my intrigues, but it was essential.
I pulled my pants up over my hips, and reached for my button up, black shirt she twirled around her hand. I grinned playfully, as she pulled it further from me, inviting—beckoning me to re-join her on the bed. “Please, baby…”