All of a sudden, Dante reached out, snatching her wrist before she even saw him move, and brought her hand to his chest. “Here. Feel this.”
Beneath her fingers was the rapid pounding of his heart. “I know the consequences of what I’m asking. But I trust you.”
She shook her head. “I can’t risk—”
“When I was ten, I was in a car wreck. My parents and I made it, but my little sister didn’t.”
Claire took a deep gulp at the unexpected information. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because the person who hit them wasn’t a drunk driver. They weren’t reckless or speeding or driving on a suspended license. They were too damn cautious and accidentally merged into our lane on the freeway. They were looking at another blind spot, trying to do the right thing. The more scared you get about this thing inside you, the more power it’s going to have over you. Now I want you to take that power back. And I want you to take it back by touching me,” he moved her hand from his chest to the bared skin on his arm, “and doing what you were born to do.”
She closed her eyes and tried to take his advice. She concentrated, but nothing happened. “It’s not working.” Her frustration caused her to tighten her grip.
“Think about the last time it happened. What was different about that that made it work?”
She knew he was thinking about their dance, but that wasn’t the last time it happened. The last time she’d used her powers was when Jackson had— She didn’t let herself overthink it and reacted on pure instinct as she stood and pressed her mouth against Dante’s.
It only took him half a second to start kissing her back. His hands rested at her waist, right at the spot where her jeans stopped so his thumbs rested on the curve of her hips. As his lips moved against hers, she had to keep herself from falling too far under his spell and remembered what she was supposed to be doing.
Steal his magic, but not too much. Just. A. Little. Bit...
And then it was working. And he wasn’t screaming like he had been the last time it happened. Instead, he stiffened in her arms, his hands suddenly biting into her hips as he sucked in a breath.
Claire’s eyes widened as she abruptly stopped what she was doing and stepped back from him. Her entire body was filled with warm tingles. A little less than with Jackson, but that made sense because she’d been trying to control herself.
Dante’s eyes were closed as he caught his breath, but he wasn’t hunched over and screaming, so that was good.
“Dante?” she asked carefully.
“I’m good,” he said with a cracking voice.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”
He opened his eyes and shook his head. “No, I’m really good. I mean, it wasn’t pleasant, but it was better than last time.”
Claire couldn’t stop the smile. “So we did it? I did my first on purpose magic suck and I didn’t kill you!”
“You did it,” he corrected. “I was just here.”
“Modesty? I didn’t think that was a trait you possessed.”
He shrugged and grinned, the little dimple in his cheek way too attractive. “What can I say? I’m a man of mysteries.”
And the next thing she knew, she was right back in his arms, but this time when they kissed, she held complete control of herself. For the first time since she learned what she truly was, she started to think this could really work.
Sam was just about to give up on waiting when Claire finally came up the stairs. “For the love of everything you hold dear, do not mute your cell phone ever again.”
Claire stopped in her tracks, still well down the hallway. “What do you know?”
Sam waved her arms with an annoyed grunt. “Me? I don’t know a thing, a fact which is becoming more and more apparent to me every passing minute. What are you doing tonight? I need my research buddy.”
“Umm... nothing, I guess. I thought we went through almost all of your mom’s books.”
“We did, but Claudia has graciously allowed us to come on in and look at her collection. Which is something almost no one gets to see, so you better act damn grateful.”
“That’s how I normally act around your grandmother.”
“That’s because you’re smart. Ready to go?”
“I just got here.”
“My question stands.”
Claire let out a little laugh. “Hold on. Let me change my shirt and grab a bottle of water or something. We’re going to be there a while, right?”
“It could literally be days,” said Sam, wishing she was joking. Heather probably wouldn’t be happy if it took her longer than a few hours, but she didn’t know what to do about that. When she’d come back from her meeting with Claudia, Heather had been gone.
Derek said he didn’t know what set her off or where she’d gone. Considering Heather wasn’t known for sharing her plans, Sam believed him.
They’d decided to break while he at least got a few hours at the station to make sure Heather did clear his jobs off his plate, and Sam was going to collect Claire.
Which was supposed to be an easy phone call but turned into Sam basically stalking her best friend. So she’d stopped at the DMV, but neither Claire nor Dante had been there, which was a pain since the entire point of having two witches there was so one could always be accessible to do illegal things for the families.
Claire passed Sam and kept a careful distance. The hallway was plenty wide enough for the two of them, but Claire still seemed to arc around Sam on her path to the door.
Sam frowned at this new development. She hadn’t been around as much the past few days, so she could be imagining it, but something seemed... off. “Is everything okay?”
Claire finished unlocking the series of locks on the door and held it open for Sam. “I’m sure that compared to everything on your plate, everything is fine.”
“That is not an answer,” said Sam. “I know there’s life-and-death things going on, but I’m still here for you. And I don’t mean for that to sound as corny as it does, but the sentiment still stands.”
“Umm....” Claire pushed the door shut and pursed her lips together. “You know Dante?”
“Yeah. He’s the one I asked to get you your job.”
“I might have kissed him today.”
Sam physically stepped back at the news. “You.... Really? The green hair guy?”
Claire let out a little awkward laugh. “You have blue hair.”
“Subtle blue hair,” she pointed out. “But... Dante’s cute.”
“Don’t kid yourself. Dante’s gorgeous.”
Sam smiled as a little blush crept up Claire’s cheeks. “You really like him, don’t you?”
“I... I think so. I don’t really do this, you know?”
“As long as you don’t have any bum ex-boyfriend we need to be worried about.”
Claire rolled her eyes. “I was homeless, not a bum.”
“I’m sorry, if you want a politically correct friend, you’ll need to hit up someone else. But, seriously. You’re not going to be on a date and then see some guy panhandling on the corner who is going to get all jealous, are you?”
Claire bit her lip before saying, “You’re going to have fun with this, aren’t you?”
“You have no idea.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”
“You’re enjoying it too, right? It’s the beginning of a new relationship. That’s, like, the best time.” Sam thought back to all the little moments she had with Derek. How she felt when he touched her or when he looked at her in just the right way to let her know he was imagining them doing activities with considerably less clothes on.
“I’m enjoying it. We had a great morning. But after I left, I realized that I....” She trailed off for a moment and shook her head a bit as though preparing herself for what she was about to say. “He doesn’t know I’m a virgin.”
Sam shrugged. “So?”
“So.... The way things are going now, I feel like it�
�s going to move fast.”
“Do you want it to move fast? Because if he pressures you even the tiniest bit, I’m not afraid to cut a bitch.”
Claire snorted and covered her mouth as she laughed. “Oh my God, never say that again, please.”
“You don’t want to know what I’m capable of. You tell Dante.”
“I will not do that. But it’s nice to know. Give me two minutes and we can get going.”
True to her word, after a quick change of clothes, Claire was ready to go. Sam was driving her BMW now and Claire got in the passenger’s seat. “Sam, can I ask you a weird question?”
“We’re looking for a way to kill my sister who is possessed by dark magic. I thought we’d passed the point in our relationship where you’d have to ask me that.”
“You’d think. But, yeah, I was wondering, how old were you when you lost it?”
Damn it, she knew this question was coming. “Young.”
“How young?”
“You have to remember, where I grew up, sex wasn’t a demonized thing. STDs aren’t really a problem and birth control isn’t an issue and since the more sex you have, the stronger you are....”
“Sam, come on. I’m not going to judge you.”
She sighed. “Let’s just say I was in my teens and not that far into my teens.” And that was all she was going to say about it. Apparently there were still weird questions in their relationship.
“Was it to Jackson?”
Sam’s hands tightened on the wheel. “What?”
“I know you dated him on and off when you were around that age.”
“Yep, it was him. And we’re not going to mention that to Derek, okay?” Actually, he could already know. She didn’t remember what she had told him already and what she hadn’t.
“I make it a policy not to discuss your sex life with your boyfriend.”
“I knew I was friends with you for a reason. Why are you asking about me and Jackson?”
“I wasn’t,” said Claire really fast, earning her a little side eye from Sam. “I mean, I was wondering how old you were because you were confirming my fears. Dante has been having sex forever and I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Sam shrugged. “Some guys like the virgin thing.”
Claire winced. “Somehow that makes it worse.”
“Seriously. If you like him and he likes you, just go with it. I can almost guarantee that thanks to the stuff we’re involved in, you’re going to have much bigger problems than your virginity and him being a manwhore.”
“Wait, you think Dante’s a manwhore?”
Sam’s eyes widened and then she realized Claire was kidding. Good, because almost every man and woman with magical powers was known for sleeping around. Sam’s personal list was rather short, but that was thanks to her unfortunate bad history with magic.
They were quiet for a few minutes as they fought through the city traffic. “I like this,” said Sam suddenly.
“The traffic?” asked Claire. “Because this is the one thing about this city that makes me want to go back home to my parents.”
“No. Traffic is a universal hatred. I mean us. Talking about boys. I don’t have a lot of girlfriends. When I went on my magic cleanse, I cut everyone out of my life and I haven’t really had time to reconnect with anyone. Or haven’t wanted to make time, at least.”
“I’ve had plenty of girlfriends,” said Claire.
“Gee, thanks. I’m pouring out my heart to you and you shut me down,” said Sam dryly.
“Well, you didn’t let me finish. I’ve had plenty of girlfriends. You know, back when I was trying to be a cheerleader and all. But I’ve always had to keep things from them. The truth about who I am. What I am.” Claire was quiet for a moment and Sam waited for her to go on. “I don’t want to have to keep anything from you, Sam.”
Sam tried to figure out whether Claire was just saying things or whether there was actually something she was keeping from her that she wanted to get off her chest. “I will listen to anything you want to say. And I want you to remember that with my history, there’s nothing you can tell me that will make me judge you, okay? Unless you tell me that you sleep with Dante your first week on the job. I’ll totally judge you for that.”
Claire shook her head and ran her hand through her hair. “Remind me never to double date with you.”
“Yes! Oh my goodness, can you imagine Dante and Derek at a table together? The double Ds! I don’t care how quickly you have to sleep with Dante, but we are going to make this happen and it’s going to be amazing.”
Derek flipped another page and glanced around the room. Sam, Claire, and Bastian were all spread out on the sofas and chairs in Claudia’s lavish library as they looked through the ancient books.
The whole ordeal had been awkwardly silent and Derek blamed Bastian for that. The normally stern sentry was now downright surly. Claudia said she was going to use magic to make sure he survived the serious wound to his side and, although he was still alive and kicking, he was favoring his side as if it still hurt like a bitch.
From what he knew, Claire had never met the man, and Bastian wasn’t Derek’s biggest fan even before Derek had to stab him in the gut. So the four of them had been diligently studying ever since.
Except Derek had always sucked at studying, so he found himself glancing up every few pages and would have to force himself to get back into it. He was just about to go to the next page when Sam looked up and met his eyes. She glanced to the hall behind them and then back to Derek.
Thank God, she wanted to step out. He nodded and softly shut the book before he stood. Sam did the same and they both headed for the door. He saw Claire and Bastian look up out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t say where they were going. The less he said the better, and he was guessing Sam wasn’t just standing to stretch her legs. Once they were out of the room, she motioned for him to follow her.
“So I took a peek at Claudia’s calendar. She should be out for the next hour,” whispered Sam as they got closer to her office.
“What are we going to say if she’s there?” he asked.
“We’ll say we’re striking out and ask her to give guidance on which books to focus on.” Questions they’d already asked when they first arrived, but it would make sense to ask again if they were getting frustrated.
Derek had never seen Sam lie to her grandmother. She always mentioned how stupid it was to try to get away with anything in front of Claudia and here the two of them were trying to steal things from right under her nose.
Though Derek had to admit that after hours of getting nowhere with research, he was having a hard time imagining how they could get around Heather without giving her exactly what she wanted.
But that didn’t mean he wanted Sam to get caught breaking into whatever magical vault they were trying to get to. “Maybe you should hang back and I’ll go in.”
Sam stopped and turned around to stare at him. “You want to get into the locked magical vault without me?”
“They train us how to get into locked rooms.” That was a lie. He knew how to pick a lock, but it wasn’t official training that taught him that.
“Magical rooms?”
“I thought you said there weren’t any magical guards on it.” What Sam had told him earlier that day was that magical guards were great for keeping things out, but if Claudia ever needed to allow someone else in when she wasn’t nearby, they could backfire. Which meant it was something he could get into.
“I appreciate your bravery bordering on stupid, I really do, but I think I have to take the lead on this one.”
“You’re not really calling me the stupid one....” He could name off at least ten different ways she’d risked her life since he met her, each one giving him a separate little heart attack.
She closed her eyes and the corners of her mouth tugged up in a small smile. “We’ll be stupid together then.”
“Deal.”
They walked to the office and
some of the worry had been for nothing because Claudia wasn’t there.
Sam led the way to a door that was perfectly camouflaged into the room and let him inside. It was a small sitting room with bookshelves on lots of the walls. There were sections of the bookshelves that were empty, which made Derek think that some of the books they’d been digging through had been stored there.
“This is the vault?” he asked. It didn’t seem all that magical.
“No. It’s over here.” She opened a door in the corner that opened up to a wall. No, not a wall. Just a spiral staircase so steep that it was barely visible.
“A hidden room inside a hidden room? This is the perfect metaphor for your family.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Sam as she started down.
Derek pulled the flashlight out of his jacket pocket and flipped it on. There was lighting, but it was really dim and he already felt as though he was at a disadvantage here.
Once he reached the bottom, he bounced the light around the room. There were a few metal shelves that were all full of various items that appeared completely random. Lots of ornate-looking boxes, which he was guessing stored items he didn’t want to think about.
Sam went to the corner of the room and started to study the items on the shelf.
“What exactly are you looking for?” he asked.
“I have no idea.” She brushed her fingers over everything.
“That works.”
“It’s a binding agent for dark magic, right?” she asked, knowing full well he had no idea. “I should be able to feel something.”
Should be. Words that didn’t exactly fill him with confidence. He decided to take a page out of Sam’s book and he went to the other side of the room. There was a jewelry box, a vase, a bowl of coins. It was like some strange antiques store. He picked up a little handheld mirror and turned it around. He saw himself staring back at him, but suddenly the eye sockets appeared larger and turned into black swirling holes. Derek jumped back and dropped the mirror, the metal clattering against the iron shelf.
Sam was glaring at him. “What the hell?”
“I.... Sorry. I think the mirror might have some dark something going on.”
Long and Lost (The Bewitching Hour Book 3) Page 15