by J. L. Weil
Chapter 4
That bitch.
I don’t know who she thought she was messing with, but she had another thing coming if she thought she could intimidate me.
Gavin had his hand under my elbow, guiding me out into the street. Night reigned, the moon hemorrhaging overhead, dripping in crimson and gold. A blood moon was never a good omen.
As soon as we were outside, Austin threw his head back and laughed. “Holy shit, Bri, that was…”
“Reckless, stupid,” Gavin interjected.
A frown pulled at my lips. He was right, but anger was still clouding my common sense.
“I was going to say really hot,” Austin informed. He was more or less bouncing down the street alongside us. “I knew you were a tiger, but way to unleash your tigress.”
My blood was still sizzling, but I let the evening breeze wash over my face and sucked in a breath of the crisp air. It helped. “I guess the party’s over.”
Gavin chuckled, weaving his fingers through mine. “Good grief, I can’t leave you alone for five minutes. But at least we got what we wanted.”
“And much more,” Austin added, smirking. “A drink and a show. It’s more than what I get on a first date.”
I let a short laugh. “Sorry. I hope I didn’t ruin your night.”
“Are you kidding? That’s the most fun I’ve had all week.”
“Glad one of us enjoyed ourselves,” I said, rubbing the side of my head, making sure I didn’t have a bald spot. Amara had one hell of a grip.
Gavin’s gaze snapped to mine, a slash of menace in the shadows. “I’m not even going to ask what happened back there, but stay clear of her, Bri. I know a witch with a vendetta, and that one has it out for you.”
Unbidden, I took a step closer to him. There was something in the air, about this whole night that had me on edge. “What else is new?”
“Hold up. I know a shortcut.” Austin forcible changed my direction.
Unease pricked down my spine. “A graveyard? Are you kidding me?”
“Wuss,” Austin persisted, taking a step toward the cemetery. “Don’t tell me you’re superstitious?”
When Gavin didn’t object, I wet my lips. “I’m a witch. Obviously, I’m superstitious, you idiot.”
Austin grimaced.
A dark mist drifted over the uneven ground, blanketing the grass and marked graves. Austin filled the silence with nonsense chatter, reliving how I so expertly threw my drink in Amara’s face. I just wanted to forget this night ever happened.
I was cursing Amara when something tight and inexorable tangled around my ankle and I stumbled. Thump. I went down with a scream, falling on my hands and knees. Clumps of dirt pitted under my fingernails. A few seconds went by before I got my bearings and realized the dark hole I was staring into was an open grave. The dirt was freshly turned over, as if someone had recently dug it.
A bone-chilling thought.
“What the heck,” I mumbled.
Heart racing, I pushed the hair out of my face and lifted my head. Gavin helped me to my feet, and I brushed the dirt and dust from my hands. At this rate, if I kept falling, I was going to be black and blue tomorrow.
Could this night get any worse?
Why yes, it could.
A moaning erupted a few feet from where I’d taken my less than graceful tumble. Gavin and I glanced at each other for a second, silently asking the other if they felt the sudden drop in temperature. If I thought I was cold before, now I could see the breath gather and freeze in front of my face.
His starlight eyes darkened. “Bri, we have a problem.”
No shit, Sherlock. I was tired, achy, crabby, and so cold I thought my tits were going to freeze off. My teeth were starting to chatter as I looked up and saw a form emerging from the evening fog. The smell of rotting flesh wafted through the crisp air. I wrinkled my nose.
What the—
A twig snapped as a man trudged into a ray of moonlight. His clothes were dirty and ripped, eyes sunken and sagging, and his skin the color of toothpaste. Mud, leaves, and debris were scattered into his matted, stringy hair. I swear a chunk of his scalp was missing, but it could have been the light.
And then it hit me.
This dude was really, really dead.
I sucked in a breath, pushing to my feet. “Gavin?” My voice trembled slightly.
“Is this a joke?” Austin said backing up. “This better be a joke.”
There was no time to process the surreal fact that this guy was a monster, and it wasn’t a hallucination, because more bodies were climbing out of the ground.
Oh, God. This was a nightmare, right? Nope, this was the end of me, of us. There was no way we could fight so many. And my eyes were still having a hard time believing what I was seeing.
“Move!” Gavin railed.
The three of us spun around to go back the way we came, but ended up staring directly into the faces of four moaning monsters, their bones brittle and eroded.
“Shit,” Gavin spat, eloquent as always.
Monsters. Monsters. And more monsters. They closed in around us, here, there, everywhere. A clammy sheen of fear slicked over my skin, mixed with the taste of acid in my mouth. Breathe in…breathe out…
“Bri, get behind me,” Gavin ordered, always trying to be the hero. “And try not to get killed,” he added.
Killed? I was just trying to avoid a panic attack. The thing was, there were too many for him to singlehandedly dispatch. He knew it. I knew it. Hell, even Austin knew it.
“Guys?” Austin said, quivering. His back touched mine.
Panting like I’d run a mile, I flipped out my hand, calling forth my power. “I guess running is off the table.” I needed to be brave. It was easier to tell yourself to be something than actually be it.
When it came down to my friends, to those I cared about, I knew what had to be done. These things had to die. The wind picked up, howling like a pissed off banshee. Throwing my hand forward, I had a straight shot. A burst of bluish-white light exploded from my fingertips and body-slammed into one of the walking dead.
Black goo oozed from where I’d hit him, and the smell of burning corpse filled the air. Then to my great relief, the monster teetered on his rocky feet and fell to the ground. In what could only be magic, a black mist drifted over his body and it disintegrated into dirt. I didn’t have time to appreciate how kickass that had felt.
“Bri!” Gavin roared.
“What?” I yelled, hardly believing he was going to scold me at a time like this.
His blue eyes were shining with magic. “I told you to stay out of the way.”
The putrid stench of death was everywhere, burning my nostrils. “We don’t have time to argue. I’m doing this.” I didn’t claim to be an all-knowing witch, but with Gavin’s help, I’d been able to learn a thing or two about using magic for other means. This was what I’d been trained for, to fight magic with magic. I could do this.
When he didn’t argue, I let my power build inside me, holding nothing back. I arched, giving my arms more space. Gavin’s green light streamed alongside mine as we sent blast after blast, sending the monsters back into the ground where they belonged. In dizzying intervals, the tiny light particles shimmered through the air, hitting the monsters, one after another. They weren’t fast or smart, which helped.
Much to my shock, the three of us stood in the center of the graveyard, alone once again. Other than my scratched knees, no one got hurt. The dark mist faded, taking the quiver of magic with it. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms, attempting to chase the icy cold that had taken up residency. Strange.
I couldn’t help thinking that the fight had been too easy.
Something to contemplate later, I supposed. After we got out of here.
“What was in that drink?” Austin asked hoarsely.
My fingers were humming with the aftereffects of using so much magic. I couldn’t seem to stop staring at the ground. Two fingers pressed under my chin, f
orcing my head up.
“You okay?” Gavin’s voice softened, edged with concern.
I swallowed. “Yeah.”
Dark hair toppled over his forehead. “Amara is a necromancer.”
Chapter 5
“A necromancer?” I echoed, the second we were inside the dorms safe and sound, thanks to a protection spell. “You’re shitting me!”
“I wish,” Gavin said. Thick lashes shielded his eyes, but from the strain in his voice, it wasn’t good.
“You mean like dark magic?”
He nodded. “She can raise the dead.”
Crap on a graham cracker. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”
“There is a lot you still have to learn.”
I moved my fingers, the tingles of magic finally ebbing off. “What makes you think it was her?” Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t Amara’s biggest fan, but it seemed biased to assume she was the witch responsible. Yes, she had a reason to get back at me, but she didn’t strike me as someone smart enough to pull off the kind of spell required to raise the dead.
The dorm was quiet for a Friday night. Austin had gone up to his room. Too much excitement, he proclaimed. Gavin raked a hand through his hair. “Remember how I’ve said that magic has a distant signature? It’s kind of like a scent or a stamp. Like Sophie can see auras, I can see Amara’s autograph all over those guys. It was her. I got a quick glimpse of her magic when she zapped you earlier.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” I said, sinking down onto my bed and kicking off my flip-flops. College no longer seemed like the safest place. If she could raise the dead, what else could this witch do?
Nothing good came to mind.
“Geez, all I did was throw my drink on her.” I couldn’t imagine what the repercussions would have been if I’d done something truly wicked. She clearly hadn’t been joking about destroying me.
Gavin jammed his hands into his pockets. “It’s the darkness. It feeds into a witch’s emotions, twisting the mind. She’s more dangerous than she appears. Don’t let her fool you. And keep your guard up around that one. I have a feeling tonight was only a warning. She’s showing us what she can do.”
“I get it. She’s the big witch on campus. I’m not looking to get her way or be part of her little coven. I’ve never been a groupie.” The frustration was evident in my tone.
Gavin stared at me, his jaw curving. “You know, Austin was right.”
Tiling my head back and forth, I worked out the stress kinks in my neck. My brow crinkled. “About what?” I asked.
A glimmer of mischief crossed his expression. “It was hot.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re warped.”
“And you’re cute when you’re all worked up.”
“If you think that was cute, just wait until you see what I have planned next.”
He tugged on the ends of my hair, rocking back on his heels. “Honestly, I don’t know if I should be intrigued or scared shitless.”
“Probably a little of both.” I noticed the empty bed on the other side of the room. My roommate, Kylie, was out for the night. She had a boyfriend a few floors above. The chances of her coming home tonight were slim. “Did you put that protection spell on your room?” I asked.
Gavin cast a sideway glance. “Um, of course.”
“Good. I don’t want to have to worry about Austin.” Something came over me. Maybe it was the near death experience. I more or less tackled Gavin, throwing myself at him. “Stay,” I whispered, raining kisses over his cheeks and chin.
His eyes roamed over my face in a slow perusal. “What took you so long?” he whispered, backing me into a wall and making me gasp. His gaze centered on my lips, before he closed the little distance between us.
My pulse exploded. So hot, his kiss short-circuited my brain. I wasn’t thinking of anything but him in that moment. Amara and her monsters was the furthest thing from my mind.
Wonderfully dazed, I couldn’t get close enough. His lips meshed against mine, his tongue sliding into my mouth. Sweeping his arms around my waist, we landed on my bed. Our legs tangled as his body pressed into me, and somehow my hands ended up under his shirt, my nails marking his skin. Shivers raced up and down my spine, and I clung to him like ivy.
He pushed the sleeve down my collarbone, exposing my skin and pressed his lips to my shoulder. “Promise me you’ll be careful,” he murmured.
“I can take care of myself,” I assured. There was no need for him to worry. He taught me to be cautious, and how to use magic to defend myself.
“I know you can, but it only takes one careless mistake. Don’t make a mistake.”
My fingers dug into his shirt. “I don’t want to talk about her. Actually, I don’t want to talk at all.”
Gavin brushed my hair back, his fingers lingering over my cheeks. “What did she say to piss you off?”
“It was stupid,” I said, lowering my lashes.
“That wasn’t an answer,” he insisted.
“I saw her hitting on you and…I lost it.”
He leaned forward, sweeping his lips over mine. “You’re amazing.”
My mouth tingled from his kisses, making my belly flipped. “That’s what I’ve been telling you.”
He chuckled against my mouth. “What am I going to do with you?”
“I can think of a few things,” I replied, twisting in his embrace and placing a soft kiss on his lips. He ran his fingers lightly over my hip, returning the kiss. There was a tenderness that made me ache.
But the thing with Gavin, he always left me breathless. One minute he was sweet and gentle and the next, my hands were captive over my head as he changed angles, deepening the kiss. He left me no choice but to meet him heat for heat. The weight of him was delicious.
Growing impatient, I wanted the feel of him against me, skin to skin, no barriers, nothing getting in the way. I sat up and raised my arms. Gavin didn’t hesitate. Bunching his fingers at the hem of my shirt, he lifted it over my head. His was next, joining mine on the floor.
With nothing standing in our way, his hands roamed everywhere, along my slender neck, down the curve of my shoulder, over the dip of my stomach. I sucked in a sharp breath and bit my lip as he followed each touch with a whisper of a kiss. The metal of his lip ring cooled my scorched flesh.
I was positive that at this point in my life, there was no other moment as perfect as this. Maybe it was the walking corpses. Maybe it was Amara. Maybe it was the thought of losing him.
Regardless of the reasons that propelled me, all that mattered was that he was here, with me. “I love you,” I whispered.
His eyes were radiating, casting a starry light into the darkness. “Not as much as I love you.”
I wound my arms around his neck, reaching for him. “Don’t think about stopping,” I said in case he had any ideas.
He flashed me a grin, his head dipping. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” Then he was kissing me again.
My body flushed, and my heart was pounding too fast. I could feel his beating with mine.
This was true love.
This was magic.
Chapter 6
I was in line at the small coffee shop on campus, rocking a pair of dark shades to cover the circles under my eyes. The last few nights had been restless. Even with Gavin lying beside me, I hadn’t gotten much sleep—if any.
I spent the weekend holed up in the dorm, catching up on homework and binge watching Netflix with Austin and Gavin. But no matter how much drama there was on TV, it paled in comparison to my real life. I was hiding out, not only because I didn’t want to have a run-in with Amara, but also because I was embarrassed by my behavior.
What had come over me?
Jealousy was an exhausting emotion, and one I wasn’t proud of acting out on. My anger had always been a trigger for me, evoking my powers before I even knew I had them. It had made for a very interesting childhood.
Sometimes it was hard to ignore how effortless it would be to simply ex
tract Amara’s magic. Why did it always require more effort to be good than to be bad? Knowing Amara used black magic made me want to stop her. That kind of power was no joke. I knew firsthand the consequences and allure dark magic had. Like a drug, it was addictive to the point of self-destruction.
Or in my case, soul destruction.
As I waited for my caramel macchiato, I thought about skipping astronomy. The prospect of seeing Amara’s face gave me hives, in no small part because I was afraid of what I might do. As much as I practiced control, I wasn’t feeling extremely confident today in my ability to resist the urge. If she provoked me, I was afraid I would strike back in the one way I knew would truly stop her.
“Brianna,” the barista called my name.
I grabbed my cup of joe and glanced at the clock. There was still twenty minutes before class started, so I found an empty seat in the corner. Digging out my phone, I passed the time scrolling through my Facebook feed. Sophie had posted a silly picture from Homecoming.
I sipped my drink, feeling a bit nostalgic. Seeing her face made me think of home and Aunt Clara. I made a mental note to call her tonight, to check in and make sure she was remembering to eat.
“Bippity-boppity-boo,” a voice sang behind me.
My fingers tightened around the warm paper cup and I closed my eyes. For the love of God. I lifted my head, meeting Amara’s cool light green eyes. “Are you stalking me?” I accused. Probably not the best way to start a conversation, but this chick was trying my patience.
Her dark denim jeans were painted on as she slid into the empty seat across from me. “You wish.”
My hands flattened on the table. “Since you’re not drinking coffee, what is it you want, Amara?”
She giggled, clearly taking sick pleasure in tormenting me. “Did you enjoy the party?”
Yep. She got her rocks off screwing with me. What a witch. And that wasn’t a compliment. “Honestly, it was kind of stiff.” Like those walking dead bodies, I added silently.
The fake-ass smile on her lips flinched ever so slightly. “I’m a little surprised. I sort of thought you’d be the kind of witch who would dabble on the other side. You’re not exactly Glenda the Good Witch, are you?”