by M. L. Briers
“It’s for you…” Nathaniel said, holding out the phone and making her squint against the brightness of the screen…
“You don’t say…” Morgana muttered; her tone dripping with sarcasm.
She wanted to snatch the phone from his hand, and that would have been all well and good had she been able to see properly, as it was; their fingers played touchy-feely, and she felt her heart kick her ribs once more…
“If you wanted to hold my hand…” he started, and she let loose with her magic, zapping him just enough to make him grunt and release the phone to her.
“Speak or bug off…” She bit out into the phone.
“I hear you have something I might be interested in,” the very feminine voice started her pitch.
“And I hear you have information that I could use,” Morgana offered back.
She knew full well that the vampire could hear both sides of the conversation and that she wouldn’t need to repeat the witch’s side to him. He stood stock still in the darkness, ironically, still surrounded by that glowing halo of light…
“I’ll tell you mine if you show me yours and it’s acceptable,” Daniella replied after a thoughtful silence.
“Deal. Where do you want to meet up?” Morgana had a feeling that she knew.
“The Professor’s office, say, an hour?”
“I’ll be there.”
The phone went dead in Morgana’s hand and she tossed it down on the bed and groaned…
“We have time for a quickie…” Nathaniel said, and she just knew that the man was grinning from ear to ear, even if she couldn’t see his face.
She zapped him once more. Just for the poops and giggles of it.
Morgana figured that it was best to get out her aggression then, before she met up with the witch and the not so old professor again.
“Too soon?” Nathaniel asked, biting down on the shocks of pain that were chasing through his body.
“Hell freezing over would be too soon.”
“Never say never – witch.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
~
“It’s clear…”
Nathaniel had scoped out the shop and the area before he’d even considered letting Morgana out of his sight, and then it was only a concessionary thing. She was allowed to retrieve the amulet that she was hoping to trade with Daniella for information, and he had her back, guarding the space between her and the rest of the area.
“Turn around…” Morgana demanded.
“So, you have a secret stash…” he grinned.
“That’s protected by wards, so don’t get any ideas…”
“Then what are you worried about?”
“Vampire’s with big mouths.” Morgana cocked her head and just one eyebrow at him.
“Me?” He placed his hands on his chest and tried to look suitably shocked, but when Morgana rolled her eyes at him; he gave up the pretence and shrugged. “You know, for a witch – you have no sense of humour.”
“For a vampire, you have too much,” she shot back, and then flicked her fingers at him, motioning for him to turn away.
Nathaniel huffed, but did as she asked. He turned his back on her and folded his arms across his chest.
“Wouldn’t life just be one long chore without a sense of humour?” Nathaniel shot back over his shoulder as she went about retrieving the amulet… “Even a vampire, or should that be, because I’m a vampire and have such a long lifeline – sometimes a sense of humour is what separates us from the animals.”
“Hyenas laugh.”
“Yes, but they don’t really see the funny side of things. A bit like church folk…”
“I know some very nice church people…”
“Hmm, but secretly, and given half the chance – they’d probably burn you at the stake.”
“Speaking of stakes…” She tossed back at him.
“You’d miss me if I dried to ashes…”
“Not so much…” Morgana noted the quick flick of his eyes in her direction and grinned happily.
She liked to keep the man on his toes – it was best for everybody that way. It was best that they kept each other at arms length – they’d both found out the hard way in recent days just how dangerous their world was for the both of them.
“Don’t you have it yet?” Nathaniel grumbled.
“Yes. I just prefer looking at the back of your head.”
Nathaniel turned to find her sitting there clutching the amulet in both hands. The item had been wrapped up within a black velvet bag, and he couldn’t make out the contents.
“How dangerous in the wrong hands is that?” He asked.
“Only to your kind…”
“Morgana…” his tone was rigid. He wasn’t playing anymore.
“Relax, Dracula … its fine.” She informed him. “Unless you mess with the wrong witch.” She grinned when he gave her a look of pure exasperation, but the sound of a car drawing up outside stole his attention.
“Follow my lead,” Nathaniel said starting towards the curtain and running into an imaginary brick wall – held in place by a jolt of magic that came from the witch that looked as if she should have still been in school and it was way beyond her bedtime…
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be doing that…” Morgana chuckled, just a little, but enough to get his attention.
Nathaniel didn’t bother to struggle – it felt as if his whole body had been encased in concrete. Daniella’s crystal blue eyes took him in…
“Less of the Miss Judgemental … I’m not the enemy, ask her…” The vampire bit out.
“You’re not all sweetness and light either,” Morgana offered back with a small snort of amusement.
“Whose side are you on?” Nathaniel bit back.
“Mine…” Morgana shrugged.
“Good to know,” Nathaniel bit out with a roll of his eyes for Daniella’s benefit.
When the professor stepped inside the curtain behind the witch; Morgana had to wonder why the woman had brought him with her. Without the supernatural, be it a special power or magic, he was something of a liability and about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
“What about him?” Morgana asked Daniella. “He’s human.”
“He’s on my side,” Daniella said; eyeing her brethren as if she didn’t much trust her.
“In what?” Nathaniel asked.
“Life …” Daniella offered back. “Human life, and preserving it.”
“Then at the moment we are on the same side,” Nathaniel assured her.
Daniella looked towards Morgana; searching for answers. The witch took in a breath and huffed it back out.
“He’s trying to stop whatever is taking, and the seer says killing, the humans…” Morgana offered.
“They’re not dead.” Daniella offered back, and Morgana’s eyes flicked towards Nathaniel as the man shot a quick look back at her.
“Come again?” The vampire asked.
“We believe that someone is snatching them and turning them into werewolves.” The professor offered.
“You couldn’t have said that when we met earlier?” Nathaniel asked… “Can you let me out of this…?” he would have motioned around him, but he couldn’t move a muscle.
“No,” Daniella offered back with absolutely no sign of any emotion upon her face.
“Do you know who?” Morgana asked and the witch shook her head.
“Whoever’s doing it is using powerful black magic to cloak their presence that Daniella hasn’t been able to break through…”
“Yet,” the young witch said as if the professor had insulted her abilities.
“But with this …” Morgana held up the velvet bag, “and with me…”
“I work alone,” Daniella shot back.
“Well, excuse me – Miss Independent,” Morgana snorted her contempt for the witch.
“Daniella is a solitary…” Harold started…
“Tell her to get over it and move on.” Nathaniel bit out. “I�
��m sorry if that hurts your sensibilities … actually, not so much … but we need to put a stop to the abductions, and if it is as you say – somebody turning them into werewolves…”
“It is,” Daniella shot back.
“Well, then we need to act fast before the next full moon – or don’t you care for human life?” Nathaniel asked.
Daniella turned her dark glare on the vampire and Morgana was surprised when the man didn’t disappear within a puff of smoke.
“Okay – let’s play nicely…” Morgana said, trying to cool egos and temperaments.”
“It’s not an entirely bad idea…” Harold said, and Daniella shot a surprised look back at him over her shoulder.
“You want to work with them?” She bit out as if the idea itself was an affront to her abilities and left a bitter taste upon her tongue.
“We could use the help, and as they say, we only have until the full moon if we have any hope of saving the recently bitten with…” he twitched his nose at the sheer thought of it.
“Vampire blood,” Nathaniel announced with a little too much glee.
“Do you have any other volunteers to open a vein for your purposes?” Morgana asked.
“We weren’t looking for volunteers,” Daniella shot back. The meaning in her glare towards Nathaniel was clear – they had planned to take what they needed from his kind.
CHAPTER TWENTY
~
“It’s not a bad plan, but it’s one more link in the chain – why bother when he’s ready to help?” Morgana offered back.
Daniella shot a quick look back over her shoulder at the professor.
“Like I said – we could use their help,” Henry offered the witch.
A heartbeat later and Nathaniel was released from the magic that held him in place. He practically took a header towards the floor before he saved himself and shook it off…
“I feel lighter…” he announced and Daniella snorted her contempt for him.
“Remember, I can do that to you at any time of my choosing,” she warned, and Morgana spat out a laugh, because she knew the young witch meant it.
“Oh, I’ll remember,” Nathaniel offered back as if he was talking to a petulant child.
“Play nice…” Morgana bit out to the vampire. The way that she looked at it was simple; they needed Daniella as much as she needed him.
“Don’t want too,” Nathaniel sneered back.
“And where do you come into all of this?” Nathaniel asked, turning his attention towards the professor.
“I’m …” The man considered his answer for a long while. “Sort of a mentor.”
“Without magic?” Nathaniel enquired.
“Yes,” Henry said simply, but he didn’t bother to explain what they already knew about him.
“That’s mine now,” Daniella motioned towards the velvet bag still clutched in Morgana’s hand.
“So it is,” she offered it, and the witch held her hand out towards her and used her magic to snatch it right out of her hand.
Morgana said nothing. The young witch needed a few lessons in humility and manners, but she wouldn’t be delivering those just yet.
Daniella opened the top of the bag and stared inside. She lifted her hand and ran her fingertips over the amulet, nodding with satisfaction, before she closed the bag once more.
Then her gleeful eyes flicked towards Nathaniel and Morgana wondered if the witch was going to test the artefact’s power there and then, but she held back.
“Hmm, and there I was thinking that you were joking,” Nathaniel turned his gaze on Morgana.
He’d read the young witch’s mind and he wasn’t too keen on what he saw, or too impressed with Morgana offering that amulet up to the teenager.
“Sorry,” Morgana shrugged back at him, and then she turned her attention towards the witch. “I can show you a spell that will keep the likes of him out of your head.”
Daniella looked more than interested at the prospect of that, and she flicked a gaze back over her shoulder at the professor.
“It exists?” Harold asked, somewhat surprised.
“Oh yeah!” Nathaniel grumbled. “I can attest to that.”
Morgana grinned, and for the first time it looked as if Daniella and the professor were more than interested in working with them.
“I’d be interested in that,” Daniella admitted.
“He’s got big ears,” Morgana nodded towards the vampire. “I’ll write the spell down and you can do it at your earliest convenience.”
Daniella cracked a small smile. She was pleased to have gotten the amulet, but she seemed more pleased with Morgana’s surprising offer of help to defend herself against the prying mind of a vampire.
“Could you give her that after we’ve worked together?” Nathaniel asked, inclining his head towards Morgana and glaring at her.
“That would be … no!” Morgana offered him a smug smile and he rolled his eyes once more.
“It’s called keeping her honest,” Nathaniel offered.
“Relax,” Daniella said. “If you really are on the same side as us then you have nothing to worry about from me.”
“And yet I still feel a tension…” Nathaniel grumbled.
“Perhaps more bran in your diet,” Morgana offered back sweetly. “You aren’t as young as you used to be.”
“Oh, I’m laughing on the inside,” Nathaniel offered back.
“Stop pouting, it’s not pretty.” Morgana said and watched Daniella snort a chuckle at the vampire’s expense.
“I could say the same about gloating,” Nathaniel tossed back.
“Right,” Harold announced. “So where do we start?”
“Your witch and mine need to work together to try to break through those wards guarding the alpha wolf doing the biting, and then I need to hunt him and kill him.” Nathaniel announced.
“That simple?” Harold asked.
“If it was that simple you could do it,” Nathaniel offered with a small glare of annoyance. “Why do we need professor coattails and top hat again?” He asked Morgana and she shook her head in disbelief.
“What part of play nice don’t you understand?”
“All of it.” Nathaniel offered back with a shrug.
“Just stand there and look pretty while the grownups work out a way to penetrate the wards.” Morgana offered back. “Professor…?”
“Yes, yes, more than happy to help.”
~
~
~
Morgana opened the door to her shop and walked out into the bright light of the early morning – she practically ran head first into Joseph; who had been coming from the opposite direction – the man only just managed to sidestep her rather than mow her down.
“Geez, Morgana – give a guy some warning!” He blurted out, almost falling over his own feet in the attempt to get around her.
With a coffee cup in one hand and carrying a stack of CD’s balancing on top of a larger stack of Vinyl records in the other – he was lucky that his backside and everything else hadn’t landed in the gutter. Although, Morgana had acted quickly to make sure that the CD’s stayed put with just a little of her magic…
“Sorry!” Morgana offered back quickly, as he straightened up and checked to make sure everything was where it needed to be…
“I accept hugs – but if you could wait until I put everything down…” he said as he raised his eyes to hers and she could see that teasing smile and the sparkle of laughter in his eyes…
“New stock?” She deflected his comment.
“Old new stock, or new old stock…” he narrowed his eyes and considered it. “Old stuff I just took home and checked for scratches and stuff. Why are you here so early?”
“Early morning Tarot reading…” Morgana offered from the top of her head. “My client wanted to get it over with before work.”
“Little weird, right?” Joseph offered back and Morgana gave a little shrug…
“Paying customers … not
gonna say no, right?” she offered back and he snorted a chuckle and nodded in agreement.
“I hear that,” Joseph leaned in and whispered.
She found it odd that she never managed to get a scent of anything much from the man. No soap, no shampoo, no aftershave … the man was practically a ghost…
“And I’ll probably hear those in about five minutes…” she pointed to the stack.
“There are a couple of personal favourites of mine in here. You might well hear them…” he grinned. It was one of those grins that she was sure would have made panties drop, given the right circumstances, although, not hers.
Nathaniel yanked open the door behind her and she jumped a little in place. She didn’t turn to look at the vampire, instead she kept her eyes on Joseph and hoped that the vampire would either go away, or at the very least – not manage to put his foot in it with her human neighbour…
Joseph’s eyes narrowed just a little at the sight of Nathaniel – just enough for Morgana to notice…
“I need you…” Nathaniel said in a tone that meant he was both annoyed and more than ready to have a little meltdown.
“Paying customer…” Morgana mouthed the word to Joseph as she shrugged her shoulders. “On my way.” She offered to Nathaniel in the hopes that both men would get the message and leave her alone…
After all, she’d gone outside to get a moment’s peace from the petulant Daniella and equally annoying professor.
“I won’t hold you up,” Joseph said, turning on his heels and starting down the road without looking back over his shoulder once. Which was strange, because Morgana knew that the man usually did it as often as possible at other times.
“See you later,” Morgana offered back and got a backwards wave from Joseph for her troubles.
“I get the feeling he doesn’t like me,” Nathaniel said sounding somewhat smug, before he turned and disappeared back into the shop again.
“I get the feeling he knows what you are,” Morgana muttered to herself as she watched Joseph open the door to his shop and disappear inside.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE