“Hi Flame.” The familiar hopped up to her, much like Bluebird had done to Ethan, and nuzzled into the palm of her hand. “But why?” She was almost too afraid to ask the question, but knew she had to.
“I have a guess.” He looked at her, an emotion in his eyes that she was too scared to name. She waited for him to speak again. She had her own ideas about what he was going to say, but she needed to hear it from him first. “I think it’s something to do with mating. Eurgh, that’s an awful word,” he said, pulling a face. Eliza giggled despite herself.
“Why don’t we go with bonding instead?” She wasn’t sure where the suggestion had come from, but something about it seemed right. Maybe she’d overheard her parents talking about it when she was younger.
“I like that,” he replied with a smile.
“So, you think we’re meant to bond?” She asked slowly, weighing up what that meant for the two of them as she did. Ethan picked up the tray and put it carefully on the bedside table closest to them, before slipping back onto the bed and crawling up to her. She leaned back, but even so their faces were mere inches apart. Not that she was complaining, his dark eyes and pre-shave stubble were a serious turn on. Not to mention the fact that he’d only put on a pair of pyjama bottoms when he’d got out of bed earlier, allowing her to see every inch of his toned chest.
“I think we already are.” He nuzzled into her neck, sending shivers down her, and making her arch up into him. Their bodies slotted together so easily, that there was no way she could dispute what he was saying.
Chapter 8
It felt like he was walking on air, or at least that was the only way he could think of to describe how he was feeling. Despite previously telling himself that he wouldn’t just forgive Eliza if he saw her again, and then completely disregarding that the day he did, he didn’t have any regrets. He’d always known that there was something special about her, and the last couple of nights had only proved that. While they hadn’t managed to cut out the lights again, the physical side of their relationship was only getting better.
But that wasn’t what had Ethan feeling so good. Instead, it was the little things; like watching her use magic to change the colour of her shirt that first morning. The landlord hadn’t turned up to let her in to her flat, and she’d needed to get to work. He was still in disbelief that she was a witch. Even if he’d seen her use magic too many times in the past few days for it not to be true. It’d surprised him how quickly the two of them had become comfortable using magic in front of each other in so little time; especially when he’d spent his whole life hiding it from anyone but his family. Though he was first to admit that he liked feeling at ease about magic.
Even stranger still was the way their familiars were acting. From the moment the two of them entered a room, both Flame and Bluebird whizzed around, chattering away in whatever language they communicated in, while completely ignoring the two witches. Which was fine by him. It gave him more time to spend with Eliza.
“Hey bro.” Ethan’s friend, Lukas, clapped him on the shoulder, making him jump. He’d been too engrossed in his thoughts of Eliza, and what they’d been doing the night before, and hadn’t been paying attention to his surroundings. Plus, he was nearly at work, and he never ran into anyone unexpectedly around here.
“Everything alright Luke?” He asked with a frown. He wasn’t sure why Luke was here, and it was very unlike him to turn up unannounced at the best of times. The fact that he was outside Ethan’s work, just days after a life changing event, made Ethan wary. Even if Luke was his best friend, and the person that had picked up the pieces of him after Eliza had left the first time.
Luke was the opposite of Ethan in almost every way, down to his insistence that everything be done in a specific way. Growing up, Ethan had pulled a lot of pranks on Luke, particularly once he’d gained a better control over his magic. Even now, he still found it funny to move anything that Luke set down. And it annoyed Luke just as much now as it had all those years ago.
“I’ve been trying to call you for three days,” Luke admonished him, a stern look on his face. Ethan cursed silently. He hadn’t been paying any attention to his phone. He’d had no reason to. Luke was the only person who ever called him anyway, and his friend hadn’t been the first thing on his mind since Eliza’s return.
“Sorry, I’ve been busy.”
“She must be pretty special to have distracted you that much,” Luke sneered. Anger rose up inside Ethan, and tell-tale tingles began to surround his hands. Ethan took a deep breath, knowing that the street was not the right place to start accidentally start firing off magic.
“It’s Eliza,” Ethan told him, keeping his face as impassive as possible, and watching as shock, and then disgust, crossed over his friend’s features.
“That bitch?” Luke spat out, surprising Ethan with the venom in his voice. “She broke your heart Ethan. And you’ve just let her back in as if she did nothing wrong? She must be one hell of a lay.” It took all Ethan had not to punch his friend there and then, but he knew that Luke was only trying to look out for him.
“It’s not like that. It wasn’t her that made them move away and you know it.”
Luke gave him a sceptical look.
“What is it about her?”
“She’s the one, Luke.”
Luke’s sceptical look turned into a frown, but Ethan didn’t care. Whether Luke liked it or not, Eliza was back in his life, and this time, she was here to stay.
“Don’t tell me you believe in all that shit,” Luke said, not sounding impressed with Ethan’s choices. “It’s not real Ethan, don’t let the woman fool you.”
It was Ethan’s turn to frown. He knew that Luke wasn’t exactly a romantic. Really the opposite was true, and if Luke was anything, then he was a bit of a player. One who had a different girl every week. Most of them were drop dead gorgeous too; models that he met through his job as a photographer, for the most part. Ethan had tried to be jealous of Luke a few times over the years, but he’d never been able to force the emotion. Maybe it was because he’d already met Eliza, and his heart was too tied up in her to appreciate other women.
“What did you want, Luke?” Ethan asked, having calmed himself down. He checked his watch as if to accentuate his point, though his office was suitably laid back that being late wouldn’t be an issue, especially considering the amount of over time he did. He was hurrying Luke along more so that he didn’t have to spend too much longer on the subject of contention.
“To take you out for your birthday.”
That stopped Ethan for a moment. He’d completely forgotten that his birthday was coming up, and that it was a tradition for the two of them to go out drinking and dancing. Or at least it had been once they’d turned eighteen, before that, Ethan had spent his birthdays with Eliza, even if Luke had been his friend longer. Normally there were also some failed attempts to pick up women, or at least on Ethan’s part there had been. Luke had never seemed to have a problem with it. At least this year, he wouldn’t have to worry about that.
“Sure, how’s Friday?”
“You’re not going to ditch?”
“I promise I won’t ditch.” He was almost hurt that Luke felt the need to ask, but then again, he probably would ditch if Eliza asked him to. It was a good job that Eliza wasn’t high maintenance.
“And you won’t bring her?” Venom dripped from Luke’s tone as he said the last word, making Ethan wonder what this was really about. Eliza and Luke had got on fine when they were younger, or at least they had as far as Ethan had known. Maybe they’d just been pretending for his sake, though he hoped not.
“I won’t bring Eliza.” He stressed her name as much as he dared. He’d have to work on Luke once they’d had a few drinks on Friday night.
“Good,” Luke said, a smug look on his face. He turned, waving once behind him as he did. Ethan rolled his eyes, not knowing what else to do. He shot off a quick text to Eliza, explaining about Friday night. They hadn’t h
ad any plans, but he still didn’t want her to be disappointed. Shutting down his phone, he turned and made his way into work, not looking forward to the day at head.
Chapter 9
Eliza cursed herself for giving in and coming out tonight. When she was with the right people, she loved going out drinking and dancing just as much as the next twenty-something. But Ethan had told her he was out tonight, and not having any other plans, she’d managed to get herself dragged on to a work’s night out. She couldn’t say that her idea of a good night was seeing Mary, the older lady who managed one of the accounts, squeezed into a bright turquoise halter dress that was at least two sizes too small. Or listening to Delilah, who did almost exactly the same as Eliza did, singing at the top of lungs, not to mention terribly off key. If she’d had her way, and she couldn’t spend the evening with Ethan, then she’d much rather spend it curled up with in front of the TV.
“Hotty alert,” Delilah said loudly. Eliza felt guilty for being relieved that the singing had stopped. Delilah pointed towards a tall, dark, and broad man leaning against the bar, making Eliza’s heart sink. The last thing she needed was Todd around. Even though she’d told him it was over, she’d received a barrage of texts from him in the past couple of days, and she doubted that her silence had made the message any clearer to him; even if it should do.
Slowly, Todd turned around, and eyed up the women looking at him. When he caught sight of Eliza, his eyes took on a predatory glint and she shivered; she really didn’t want to have to deal with Todd. There’d always been something a little off about him, more than just the fact that he wasn’t Ethan. And the last thing she wanted was to get on his bad side and discover exactly what that off thing about him was. If only she’d listened to her gut instinct and not dated him in the first place; but she’d been lonely, and he’d looked enough like Ethan to fill the void.
“Let’s get a drink,” Eliza half-shouted over the loud music, grabbing Delilah’s hand. She attempted to pull the other woman towards the bar at the opposite side of the dance floor, and far away from the one Todd was standing at. But Delilah wouldn’t budge, her eyes locked on Todd stalking towards them. Eliza wasn’t sure how she could tell, but she knew that his eyes were locked on her and not the woman next to her, and she found the sensation rather disturbing. She was at the point of leaving, when she realised it was too late. There wasn’t a massive amount of space between where they were and the bar that Todd had been standing at, but there was enough that it should have taken longer for him to get to them than it seemed to have. Maybe she’d let the alcohol affect her more than she’d meant to. She’d never had the same level of control over it as most paranormals.
“Eliza,” Todd half growled.
“You know him?” Delilah asked, her words running together in her excitement.
“Unfortunately,” Eliza muttered darkly, but far too quietly for either of them to hear. Especially over the noise in the club. Despite that, Todd smirked, almost as if he’d heard.
“You’ve been ignoring me,” he said. Eliza refused to acknowledge the comment.
“Delilah, this is Todd. Todd, Delilah. Have a nice night.” She plastered on a fake smile and attempted to slip away, only to be stopped by a tight grip on her wrist. She tried to break away, but he was surprisingly strong; almost too strong for a normal human. “Let go.” She glared at him, and he chuckled darkly.
“Not a chance,” he said, not loosening his grip.
“How do you two know each other?” Delilah asked, oblivious to the undercurrent of tension between Eliza and Todd.
“Now, Todd,” she demanded, hoping he’d let go of her wrist this time. She felt bad for ignoring Delilah, but it had to be done. She wasn’t comfortable with this situation, and didn’t want the other woman involved. Especially as Delilah was just human, not to mention likely to get hurt if she was caught in the crossfire. Which actually gave Eliza an idea. She glanced around quickly, to make sure that no one other than Todd and Delilah were paying any attention; Delilah was drunk enough that she probably wouldn’t remember what was about to happen, and if Todd said anything, then it would just be his word against hers.
Summoning up her magic, she focused on where Todd had hold of her wrist, and let the sparks go. She felt the jolt of magic travel from her skin to his, but nothing else happened. She frowned, and began the process again, summoning more magic this time and hoping for a bigger shock.
“That’s not going to work, little witch,” Todd sneered, making Eliza’s blood run cold. If he knew what she was, then that meant that he probably wasn’t human either, and that she hadn’t been able to tell. Worryingly, that left very few options for what he really was. And as far as Eliza knew, none of those options were good news for her.
Todd turned to Delilah, but his grip on Eliza’s wrist still didn’t loosen. Eliza could tell that he was doing something to the other woman, but couldn’t make out what, especially as he wasn’t making a sound. Which ruled out him being a necromancer at least. And considering the rumours going around about them, that was probably good news for Eliza.
Delilah’s eyes glazed over, and she turned away from the two of them and wandered off into the crowd. Relief washed through Eliza as she realised that her work mate was at least safe from whatever was going on now.
Someone grabbed hold of her around the waist, taking her by surprise, and lifted her up easily. Eliza tried to kick and scream, but nobody seemed to notice. Todd was looking around him now, and the crowd were gaining the same dazed look as Delilah had a moment ago. Which meant only one thing; he was a vampire. And an old one at that. She’d heard rumours that only the oldest could successfully perform mind control. Not that any of that would help her, only other paranormals would be unaffected, and most of them would stay out of it. Even if they heard her scream.
Chapter 10
The moment he heard the scream, Ethan knew that something was desperately wrong. To make matters worse, something in his gut was telling him that it had a direct impact on him. Mere seconds later, both to his and Luke’s surprise, both Flame and Bluebird appeared in front of them, whizzing about frantically. If the club had been quieter, he was sure that he’d be able to hear the twittering away. He exchanged a worried look with Luke, his heart sinking as he realised what the familiars’ appearance probably meant.
“Oh, hell no,” Luke said after seeing the look on Ethan’s face. But this time, Ethan wasn’t going to stand for it.
“She’s in trouble, Luke.”
“How could you possibly know that?” His friend growled back.
“That is her familiar,” he pointed sharply at Bluebird. “Do you think she’d have appeared in front of you, or the rest of the people here, if everything was alright?”
“And she wouldn’t have a problem appearing in front of you?” Luke seemed sceptical, as Ethan guessed he had every right to be. This wasn’t normal in the slightest.
“She has been all week,” Ethan said, trying his best to keep his calm. But, now that the two familiars had appeared, he was getting more and more anxious by the second. “Look, Eliza’s in trouble and I have to help her. Are you coming or not?”
“I’m coming,” Luke replied, though Ethan could hear the reluctance in his voice. Not to mention see it in the way the other man was standing. But working on Luke’s opinion on Eliza would have to wait until after she was definitely safe.
“Lead on,” Ethan said, turning to Flame and Bluebird. The two familiars stopped their frantic whizzing, and faced the same direction. They moved forward quickly, stopping every few moments to make sure the two witches were following. For whatever reason, the humans around them didn’t seem aware of the two magic fuelled birds flitting around, which was making Ethan even more worried. Very few paranormals had the skill to make humans oblivious, and it wasn’t one that was used often even by those who could. Unless they were up no good. And considering Bluebird and Flame’s behaviour, that wasn’t a good sign.
It didn’t
take long for them to travel through the club, though to Ethan it felt like an age. His every thought was focused on Eliza, and the danger that she was probably in. No longer caring who he risked revealing himself to, he summoned magic and his hands crackled with red sparks. Beside him, Luke followed suit, his own more orange sparks, lighting around his tightly clenched fists. No matter what he might have to say about Eliza, Ethan knew that Luke had his back.
The two familiars led them to a scruffy door, clearly one not meant to be seen by the general public. Ethan pushed it open without hesitation, too caught up in the potential ideas of what he might find on the other side. The two witches stepped into a dingy alley, filled with a pregnant silence and nothing else.
Ethan created a ball of light between his hands, and sent it into the air in front of him. The red tinge like that tainted all of his magic, made the alley glow unnaturally. But the benefits of being able to see where he was going, far outweighed the eerie lighting.
Flame and Bluebird had disappeared from sight, making Ethan think that, despite the unnatural silence, there was someone about. Taking a step forward, he followed his gut instinct, growing more concerned by the second about what he was going to find. He turned a corner, with Luke hot on his heels, to find Eliza being held in place by a closely shaved thug, and a second man speaking close to her face. She was putting on a brave face, but Ethan could see the fear in her eyes, even from this distant.
"Have you heard what they say about witch blood, Gunter?" The thug shook his head and Ethan's heart sank as his suspicions were confirmed; the men that had Eliza were vampires, and the slighter of the two was likely to be fairly old and powerful. Things weren't looking good. "Apparently, the magic in their blood gives a buzz like no other. I can't wait to find out." The man moved forward and Eliza whimpered, but didn't scream.
Spellbound: A Second Chance Paranormal Romance Page 4