by M. L. Briers
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“Perhaps if we substitute the base spell for this one…”
Harold showed Daniella the tablet, and the screen shot of the spell from the database that he had created from collected spells, and she hummed to herself as she scanned it and mentally broke it down into its purest form.
Morgana couldn’t say that she wasn’t impressed by what the man knew, and she was guessing that she was just scratching the surface with the spell thing. It was true to say that she still didn’t like a human messing around in her world and with all things craft related, but if the man was a walking – talking encyclopaedia of spells – that could come in handy at times.
Something about Joseph and the way that he’d looked at Nathaniel was still tapping at the back of her mind and trying to garner her attention, and she was trying to not let it.
Nathaniel was like a spare part, mooching around the shop and making sure that he didn’t get in anyone’s way; whilst eavesdropping on what was happening, and trying to make it look as if he wasn’t.
The front door to the shop burst open and Nathaniel was in front of Morgana in a heartbeat…
“I thought you locked that…”
“I thought I had too…” Morgana hissed back at his reprimand…
“Morgana … oh … what a damn night I’ve had, and my morning hasn’t been much better either…” Claudia announced. Her voice filled the void of the silence out back as everyone looked to Morgana for conformation of that voice belonging to a friendly…
“It’s fine…” Morgana shoved Nathaniel aside as she started for the front of the shop. “Just a little human drama.” She whispered back to them before she slipped through the curtains and drew them tightly closed behind her.
“There you are!” Claudia announced; her big blue eyes taking her friend in and she huffed, absorbed with her own problems. “I so need a reading, and like now.”
“You had a reading four days ago, Claudia…” Morgana reminded her.
“Yes, but that was before I caught that no good cheating, butthole of a boyfriend shagging Karen…” There was acid in her voice and her eyes pinned Morgana to the spot…
“Don’t look at me. I’m not psychic and the cards told you there was going to be problems…”
“Well, now they need to tell me how I can get rid of the body…” Claudia ground out.
“It doesn’t work that way…” Morgana teased her friend and Claudia rolled her eyes in her head and huffed once more.
“I should have listened to you.” She tossed up a hand in frustration. “You said there was something off with him…”
“It’s not the end of the world. You’re twenty three…”
“Twenty two and two thirds…” she corrected.
“And that extra third makes all the difference to those frown lines you’re creating on your forehead…” Morgana said and watched her friend immediately reach up with her fingertips and mentally snap her frown away. “I’ll give you a reading when the dust settles a little more…”
“I suppose I have to go to work…” She huffed with indecision.
“Yes, work is good … your cards said so, and you can’t put your life on hold for that butt munch.”
“True.” Claudia’s whole persona changed, from needy and whiny to business professional. “I’m going to work and I’m going to kickass at it today…” She nodded, cementing her resolve.
“Great … door’s where you left it on the way in…” Morgana grinned.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Claudia had the nose of a bloodhound when it came to iffy…
“Yes,” Nathaniel said as he appeared through the curtains.
Claudia’s appreciative eyes took him in. She grinned long and hard – then she leaned in towards her friend and whispered…
“Where do I find me one of those?”
“Trust me, you don’t want one…” Morgana offered back and Claudia gave a dirty little chuckle.
“Not even for a night or two?” she raised her perfectly plucked eyebrows and wiggled them.
“That would be a very long night…” Morgana bit out, annoyed that her friend had been so wrapped up in the drama of her cheating boyfriend one moment, and the next she was stalking her new prey and laying claim…
It was one of Claudia’s signature traits. Still, the good outweighed the bad, and when it mattered; she had a heart of pure gold…
“Just the kind I like…” Claudia batted her eyelids at Nathaniel…
“We were just about to have a quickie up against the wall before I have to go to work…” Nathaniel said, his eyes flicking to Morgana as the witch’s jaw moved like she was chewing a wasp…
“I’ll leave you to it then…” Claudia grinned and her eyes sparkled with mischief as she turned and headed for the door. Then she stopped, clicked her fingers, and turned back. “You might want to lock this.” She said before disappearing out the front door and pulling it closed behind her with a little giggle…
“A quickie?” Morgana turned her glare of disbelief towards the vampire and he gave a small shrug.
“She bought it,” he motioned towards the front door. “And where’s the harm?” He had that teasing tone in his voice again that made Morgana want to hurt him…
“The harm is that now I have to explain you to my best friend…” Morgana stalked towards the front door and locked it. She could have used her magic, but she felt that if she had the magic at her fingertips then she just might have released it on the vampire…
“I’m easy to explain – it’s all about the sex … I mean, just look at me…” he expanded his hands at his sides and Morgana groaned as she started towards the curtain…
“I swear one of these days I will stake you myself.” She bit out.
“Kinky. Will you be dressed up like a villager and carrying a torch and pitchfork too?”
Morgana shot him a glare a moment before she disappeared back behind the curtain. Nathaniel couldn’t help the chuckle that rolled through him. She brought out the angel and the devil in him, and he thought he liked that devilish side best…
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“I can’t work with that witch – I’m going to end up killing her myself…”
Morgana bit out on a whisper designed to be low enough not to be overheard by the professor and Daniella, but plenty loud enough for the vampire to hear…
“Calm down and take a deep breath in and…” Nathaniel’s voice was soothingly melodic, but still Morgana felt the need to rip Daniella’s head off and hand it back to her before her body hit the ground.
“And then kill her?” Morgana asked, tipping her head to one side and giving him a pointed stare.
“We need her alive…” Nathaniel reminded the witch and she sighed – looking everywhere but at Nathaniel or the others; who were still huddled together over a counter at the other side of the shop’s back room.
“How about I just maim her a little…?” Morgana grumbled.
“How about you find a way to relieve some of that pent up tension inside of you…”
“Are you offering me the means…?”
“I can think of a thing or two we could do to relax you…”
“Like bounce you around the back yard with my magic?” Morgana had an evil look in her eyes. She knew what he was talking about and she only wanted to zap him all the more…
“That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, no…”
“I think we need to look at this again tomorrow with fresh eyes…” The professor announced, and Morgana groaned as Nathaniel turned his attention back towards the others.
“That’s another night when someone could be taken…” he reminded the man.
“I’m aware…” Harold said with a bland tone to his voice.
“And uncaring?” Nathaniel offered back…
“Don’t be a … vampire.” Daniella sneered.
“Don’t be a meddlesome witch, and allow the grownups to talk,
” Nathaniel offered back, and noted the way that she raised her hands and prepared to use her magic, but the professor raised his hand to stop her.
Nathaniel knew right then and there that the witch truly was the teacher’s pet…
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
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“I have some more reading material back at the university…” Harold offered.
“Then I guess you need to get back to it…” Morgana said, breaking the standoff between the men, and somewhat grateful to be away at the thought of being Daniella for any length of time.
“Morgana…” Nathaniel warned and the witch turned her eyes up towards him.
“If they don’t have it, they don’t have it.” Morgana said.
“I’ll call you if I find anything I think might help us with the dark magic issue.” Harold informed them, before ushering the young witch towards the curtain and out of the front door.
“Every time we wait…” Nathaniel berated her.
“I know, but if he needs to be surrounded by his stuffy old books … besides, we can drop by the university later and make sure that he is where he says he’ll be.”
“Later?”
“I need to go home, shower and change, and I need to drop in on Claudia along the way…”
“Claudia?” Nathaniel frowned.
“Some of us have friends that we care about. I just want to make sure that she’s ok…” Morgana berated him; even as he took a breath and sighed it back out.
“I like the shower idea…” he grinned and she zapped him, and it felt good to let her magic go…
“I’ll lock the door this time.” She ground out.
“Spoil sport.” He whispered against her ear as she turned to leave, and she felt that shiver run her spine again.
The man was potent when he was in full charmer mode, and she needed to keep her shields up and the brick wall that she’d mentally built between them in place at all times.
Maybe it was spending so much time with him, but she felt drawn in, and that wasn’t a good thing. It would lead to complications, and how she hated complications.
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Morgana pushed open the door of his fancy car before he’d even got around to open it for her. He snatched it wide and offered her his hand.
“You’re showing your age…” Morgana said – her eyes laughing at him as he raised just one eyebrow back at her.
“I’m a gentleman, what can I say?”
“That my debt is paid and I’ll never have to see you again after this.”
Morgana pushed up out of the seat and ignored his offered hand…
“Perhaps I will…” Nathaniel teased.
In truth, he had no intention of doing something so stupid…
“Liar, liar, set the vampire on fire…” she tossed back to a devastatingly handsome smile that made her insides flutter like a schoolgirl.
“That would be a little harsh, don’t you think?”
“You mean like … overkill?” she teased back.
“A very crispy overkill…” Nathaniel liked it when the witch played along with him. It was few and far between when she truly let her guard down around him, and yet, to him – those moments were priceless…
Morgana spotted Claudia coming down the road. The clip-clip of her high heels on the pavement and the bounce in her step told her that she wasn’t walking like her world had just fallen out from beneath her. Obviously, something had happened to brighten her day…
“I promise to be gentle…” Morgana chuckled and the vampire gave her a playful frown…
“Don’t tease me, witch…” his eyes spoke of something that she wasn’t talking about. They also held a promise that said that she would enjoy the hell out of it, and she tried hard to push that rush of excitement that flooded through her body away…
A sudden yelp took Nathaniel’s attention and he flicked his eyes back to the spot where Claudia had been coming towards them … nothing…
Morgana saw the look on his face and turned her attention away from the vampire towards her friend … only Claudia was nowhere to be seen…
“Nathaniel…” Morgana bit out, but when she turned back towards the vampire; he wasn’t there anymore…
Morgana started off on fast feet. She could hear her heart hammering inside of her chest and feel the tingling sensation of the supernatural all around her as she rushed to the last place that she’d seen Claudia.
The air was thick with magic and something else … mutts … werewolves…
“No … no, no, no…” Morgana bit out as she turned left and right, her eyes scanning the area.
Then she reached out with her magic and tried to sense Claudia in the area – tried to home in on where she was – knowing that the woman couldn’t just vanish into the night around her; she searched for some residue that would give her a direction to follow…
Come on … come on …
Where are you, Claudia …?
Speak to me… show me the way…
Morgana felt the panic rise within her. Claudia was human and it was too much of a damn coincidence that she was targeted out of the blue …
This is my fault…
I will not let this happen …
Not now … not ever…
Come for me if you want me, damn it …
“Take me…” Morgana bit out into the chill of the night air…
Take me not her…
“Come for me … show yourselves…” Morgana called as she turned in place and looked for any sign that her words might just trigger an attack…
Cowards…
Taking a human that couldn’t defend herself…
Morgana’s heart was racing and it ached inside of her chest. She knew that in a screwed up way she was responsible for what had happened, and she needed to make it right…
I’ll find you … and I’ll kill you…
One damn hair on her head…
One damn broken fingernail…
She made that promise because it was all that she could do. The magic that had hung heavy in the air was gone, like it had been swept away by a fast moving twister, and yet there wasn’t even a damn breeze…
Whoever had done it had been suing dark magic – that she could still feel like a brush against her shields…
“Morgana…” Nathaniel was back in front of her, and she looked up at him with so much hope in her eyes that he wanted to head-butt a damned wall and rip someone’s head off at the same time… “She’s gone…”
“What have I done?” Morgana stumbled back a couple of paces from him like she’d been blindsided, and he reached for her.
He didn’t have to feel the torment of emotions within her mind, because they were written there all over her face, all over the way that her shoulders were hunched and her face twisted in self-loathing…
“This isn’t your fault…” Nathaniel made short work of the distance between them. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her towards him as her brain became too occupied with everything else to barely notice the intimate contact between them.
“I did this…” Morgana bit out… and for the first time in her life she hated her gift, her path in life, her destiny…
“No – they did this, but we’ll get her back…” Nathaniel didn’t know if he could make a promise like that, but he’d damn well try to move heaven and earth to do it.
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“What’s happened?” Harold asked as he looked up and noted the approach of the vampire and twisted look of anguish on Morgana’s face that hadn’t been there when they’d left her earlier.
Nathaniel led Morgana towards where the pair were brainstorming, surrounded by musty old books in the library of the university…
“That human at the shop today…” Nathaniel started…
“The needy one?” Daniella said raising just one eyebrow…
Morgana’s head snapped up and her
eyes locked with Daniella’s. For one long moment something passed between them, but then she lunged for the young witch…
“Watch your mouth…” Morgana bit out, wanting to take her anger out on someone with her fists instead of her magic…
“Calm down…” Nathaniel grabbed Morgana around the waist and hoisted her back against his hip. The witch was a handful, but he’d soon locked her in place with an iron grip around her body… “She’s been taken.”
Nathaniel informed them, and Daniella’s lips parted as she bit down on the rush of guilt within her…
“Damn it…” Harold bit out.
“Morgana…” Daniella started, but Morgana was in no mood to listen. She just wanted to find a way to get Claudia back…
“I can’t track her – it’s like she’s cloaked…” Morgana bit out and Daniella nodded her understanding.
“If we join our power as one – you have the essence of your friend within you and we can look together. I’ll follow your lead.” Daniella said, and for the first time since Morgana had met the witch – she felt a connection with her…
Morgana nodded.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
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“It’s not working…” Morgana bit out as all of the frustration of not being able to find her friend swept through her.
It had been back building for a while, and it seemed that the harder she tried to reach out for Claudia; the more that anxiety grew inside of her that something bad was happening to her friend that she couldn’t stop…
“We need a third for balance…” Daniella bit out.
She could feel the frustration within Morgana and it wasn’t helping her concentrate on the task at hand, but the one thing that she knew was that they didn’t have enough juice between them to break through the dark magic that was cloaking the human.
Morgana thought of Maxi, but dismissed it just as easily … better to be someone without such a dominant personality as the seer and a giant chip on her shoulder where Nathaniel was concerned, and yet they needed a powerful witch in her own right…