Nodding, Gerard sat back and put an arm around my shoulders. “Yeah. My gorgeous lady doesn’t want to relocate. Are you in London a lot? If you’re interested in my demo, it would be good to meet down there.”
Taking a swig of his beer, Keith looked between us. He decided something with a small scratch of his chin. “I always go on my gut instinct. If your voice is as convincing as you are, I’ll say that we can arrange a meeting in London. I like my acts to do a few live shows before recording anything. Need to prove that they can sing.”
Sitting forward again, Gerard rubbed his hands together. “I love a live show. Nothing like feeling the energy of a crowd.”
Giggling to myself, I rubbed Gerard’s thigh. Hopefully, I looked pleased enough. I was trying to listen out for clues at the same time as remembering to stay in my role.
“I do a little business for my coven in London every other week. There’s plenty of opportunities to see how it goes, don’t you worry about that. Now, let’s listen to that demo.”
Pulling out a memory stick from his pocket, Gerard handed it over. What? Where had that come from? And, whose voice had he stolen?
As Keith got up to take the stick, I thought about what he’d just said. He went to London every other week to do business for his coven. Good. That was a juicy bit of information. Justina could have him followed to see what that business was.
Taking my hand, Gerard squeezed it. I raised my eyebrows, trying to ask him who the hell would be singing on the demo. A lot of effort had gone into our little show.
“I’m picky about my artists,” Keith said as he plugged the stick into his laptop and pressed a few buttons.
Music suddenly filtered out from the walls, hidden speakers bursting into life. The melodic tone of the tune made me sit back against the sofa. When Keith came over, I switched into proud mode. A smile crossed my lips, my eyes forced to become sparkly.
“Who did the composition of the music?” Sitting down again, Keith leant back and closed his eyes.
Gerard said a name I didn’t recognise, but the director nodded, his mouth moving in one of those impressed expressions.
About to open my mouth to speak, I slammed it shut when Gerard’s voice came out of the speakers. It was husky, edgy, and instantly made my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth. My man was a sexy-arse singer. What? How did I not know he had such an amazing talent?
“Your tone is good. You control your range well. Who wrote the song?”
Keith’s eyes opened to land directly on Gerard. The small smug look didn’t go unnoticed. Gerard didn’t even need to answer.
“Gerald wrote it! He’s so talented. I’m so proud of him.” My outpouring of feminine wiles made Keith nod his head quickly, before looking away.
He wanted me to shut up so he could drink in the sulky hypnotic sound of Gerard’s voice. If the man didn’t have a hard on, I would be surprised. I certainly had the female equivalent.
“You say your coven doesn’t support this?” Jumping up from his seat, Keith went over to his desk.
Looking over his shoulder, Gerard cleared his throat. “No, they’re afraid of exposure.”
Coming back over, Keith looked at his watch. “I don’t understand the covens that hide who they are so drastically, they don’t live. I’m a very well-known businessman, but no one outside of the supernatural world knows I’m a witch. It’s easy to keep control of the humans. Well, you know.” He laughed, his cheeks turning slightly pink.
The colour that rose was so small, someone else wouldn’t have noticed it. I clocked it as he handed back the memory stick.
“Can we be part of your coven?” I joked, smacking Gerard’s leg. “Although, we might actually be killed if we were ever to swap. Is that even legal?”
The chattering distracted Keith as he got out his phone and looked down at it. “No, it’s not illegal. Right, I’m making a delivery in London next week. Why don’t we meet up then? We can talk about a show in one of the clubs I work with.”
Scrambling to his feet, Gerard took Keith’s offered hand. “That would be amazing, thank you.”
Not exactly any more elegant than my partner, I stood up too, shaking the man’s hand when he quickly grabbed mine.
“One of my biggest clients has just arrived, you’ll have to excuse me.” Keith made for the door before anymore could be said. “I look forward to potentially working with you.”
We scurried after him, smiling and thanking him profusely as he saw us out. I almost tripped when we reached reception.
Gerard’s hand wrapped around my waist as an entourage rushed past us. We were lost in the crowd as a pop princess was escorted through the lobby and into Keith’s office.
Staring after her, I stayed silent until Gerard nudged me in the ribs. Frowning, I turned to him. “What? I quite like her songs.”
“Really?”
His hand took my arm, almost dragging me away as we waved goodbye to the secretary who didn’t even look up from her desk.
“Devon?” Gerard asked once we were finally out of the building. “Did you see that?”
My mind was a bit blank. Yes, I had seen that. The pop star was as pretty in real life as she had been on the television. “Wasn’t she lovely?”
Shaking his head, Gerard marched us down the street. As the noise enveloped us, I suddenly became aware of my man. Mr Shaky-hands was still holding me, but his fingers were bashing against my skin. I had never seen him so nervy.
Forgetting my fake persona, I took his hand in mine to steady it. I was about to ask him what was wrong when he spun me into a side alley. My palms started to moisten instantly. Not so long ago, I’d used a crazy amount of magic to hurt warlocks in an alley just like this one.
We had called the other agents to clean it up, promising a favour in return. What if the warlocks were still around?
“Devon, stop spacing out.” Gerard took the top of my shoulders gently, forcing me to look at him.
“What’s the matter? Do you feel sad that you’re with me instead of her?” The pop star was still in my mind, he wasn’t going to distract me that quickly. Even if he had kept his singing a secret from me. I wouldn’t blame him if he was attracted to her. Hell, I fancied her.
“No, listen to me.”
Shaking me gently, he stared into my eyes. Seeing how serious he was, I snapped out of it. There was a small smile on his face, but his expression was laced with worry too.
“What is it?” I breathed, wondering what I had missed.
Blinking quickly, he took a deep breath. “When I shook Keith’s hand, I noticed something.”
Pausing, he waited for no reason whatsoever. Grrr, why did people do that?
“Get on with it, then!”
His sigh was uncontrolled as he tightened his grip on me. What he had to say would affect me more than I realised. It had to be the only reason why he was taking longer than Mary to get the words out.
“Devon, Keith had the same pentagram and vine tattoo on his wrist as Helena. He was part of the slave trade ring.”
Chapter Seven
“Justina will kill us if she finds out about this,” I said, fluffing my hair as we waited in line.
We had reported back the day before, asking Justina to check out Keith’s background even more extensively. Had my grandmother tattooed the main partners in her sick witch trade? It would make sense that he was the one putting magic drugs on the market. He probably procured them from Helena.
“That’s why we’re in disguise.” Gerard ran his finger down the inside of my wrist.
The shiver that went over me was barely contained. We had either been cooped up in Mary’s house or working on the case. We hadn’t been able to relax for a long while. Gerard’s idea to go for a dance made me all sorts of excited.
Disguise was a bit of a long shot. I had my hair tied up in a ponytail with a ton of makeup on. I also wore a dress that I had found in with my new wardrobe. A short baby pink strappy dress. Paired with my leather
jacket, it was okay to go dancing in. Not that I would ever get caught dead in a pink outfit in London. Or, anywhere for that matter. It wasn’t my favourite colour at all.
“You look hot.” Gerard winked at me when he obviously realised what I was thinking.
Maybe my face was a little screwed up as I studied the choice of clothes my boss had sent. What had gone through her mind?
“You have to look as far from you as possible without dying your hair and cutting it off,” Gerard said, touching the mousey spikes on his head.
He wore ripped jeans with a dark grey shirt. The tattoos on his arm popped out from the bottom of his long sleeve, but they weren’t completely visible. If we bumped into anyone from the mob coven, they wouldn’t know who we were.
“In you go,” a bouncer said as we drew nearer the door.
That was lucky, he didn’t even bother to ask for ID. Kurt had made us some false cards with our undercover names. I was not best pleased that both he and Gerard were the ones who had decided on the name Deirdre for me. Not that it was a bad name. I was just upset that I hadn’t been given the chance to name myself something really cool. Like Breeze or Athena.
As the energy of the club hit me, I grinned to myself. It had been a long time since I’d gone for a dance. In fact, it was probably when Theresa had chucked me out of the London coven. So much had happened since then, including my mother and her best friend catching up. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that, but my mother needed a friend.
The music drummed a rhythm through me as we weaved our way to the bar. A drink or two wouldn’t go amiss. Not that we could get raging drunk, we still had to be on the lookout.
“Good,” Gerard shouted in my ear. “Mostly humans.”
He was right. The club was packed, but there were hardly any supernatural creatures in the room. That made me very happy indeed.
“Drink!” I shouted as the barman came towards us.
He was a big fella. I wouldn’t want to get in a fight with him. No amount of magic would floor the giant, I was sure. Although, maybe my magic could.
Sobering, I turned to Gerard as he ordered us two beers each with two shots. Four drinks. That wouldn’t make us wrecked. It would just take the edge off.
“So, Mr Handsome Man,” I started, toasting my bottle with his. “Are you ready to show me your dancing skills?”
Frowning as he sipped his drink, Gerard looked down at me. “What happened to Mac-whatever?”
The corner of my lip lifted into my cheek. “Ever since Mackenzie came into our lives, I’ve not been able to use the same nicknames. It just doesn’t sit right with me. So, from now on, you’ll be Mr Something.”
“Okay. How about Mr Big D-?”
Putting my finger over his mouth just in time, I shut him up. No, that was not how it worked. “No, no, no. You cannot come up with your own nickname. Especially not that one!”
Sticking his bottom lip out, he quickly flicked his tongue out to lick my finger. It wasn’t a sexy move. In fact, it was pretty gross.
Tipping the beer into my mouth, I shook my head at him. A smile blossomed as he wiggled his eyebrows. What had happened to Mr Broody?
“I’ve had an idea,” he suddenly said, his eyes lighting up. “We can get his and hers tattoos. You can get a silhouette of me.”
His hips started to sway ever so slightly as he finished his first beer. Was he…? Surely he wasn’t moving in time to the music.
“I don’t think so,” I said, taking his hand. “Let’s dance.”
“Wait.” Releasing me, he indicated that we do our shots.
Once both were done, he turned to me again. Not once had he looked around the room to check out any women. Which was respectful. And, crazy. There were so many hot people in the club. Humans letting their hair down was always fun to watch.
“She’s pretty,” I said, pointing at a woman who was on the dance floor.
Gerard nodded, his eyes finally looking around. He was respectful as he shrugged, looking at me again. I didn’t want him to perv at other people, but I didn’t want him to pretend that men and women didn’t appreciate other people. I wanted to be open with him about everything.
“Let’s dance.” Taking my hand, he dragged me across the room.
A grin split my face when he glanced down at me. The happiness in him wasn’t something I would ever get used to. I almost missed the bickering.
“You can’t dance, can you?” I asked as I started to move with the music.
Instead of answering, Gerard swept me into his arms and grinded his hips against mine. Gasping, I almost fainted in shock when he moved us in rhythm to the beat. Boy, he really knew how to dance. Dirty Dancing style!
The beat of the music matched my heartbeat as an emotion that I wasn’t very familiar with shot through me. A smirk crossed Gerard’s lips as he looked into my eyes. He suddenly sobered when our gaze locked.
“Are you okay?” he shouted into my ear as he bent down.
Holding him tight, I nodded, unable to comprehend the feeling that was uncurling inside of me. His green eyes were searching mine, almost worried.
“Damn it, Mr Nice Guy, you…” I almost choked when he swung me around, pulling me off the dance floor.
Forcing him to stop, I wound my hand around his neck and pulled his head down to my face. Kissing him on the lips, I giggled to myself.
“What’s got you all weird?” Gerard sounded genuinely worried.
The giggle turned into full blown laughter as I hugged his waist. “Nothing. I… you shocked me with your singing, and now your dance moves. Gerard Freshwater, I think I bloody love you even more with all your talent.”
He tried not to smile, but it spread anyway. His kiss was short and sweet, tantalising. He had no idea of the magnitude of emotion that had flooded through me. There was just something about a hard agent moody guy turning into a creative man who could dance. What was going on?
“Help!”
The shout made us pull apart instantly. A girl was screaming nearby. Instantly switching into agent mode, both of us rushed over. A man was on the ground, his whole body convulsing.
“Call an ambulance,” I said to the girl as I tried to pull her away.
She was still screaming, her human face contorted in fear. Placing a hand on her head, I cast a calming spell over her. “It’s okay. I need you to go and call an ambulance. I’m first aid trained. I’ll look at him.”
Gerard was already manoeuvring the man into the recovery position. Blood lined the foam that was coming from his mouth. Taking his arm, I wished Kurt was there. What would he do?
“What do you think it is?” I asked Gerard when he took a pillow that someone just randomly offered.
Who would have a pillow in a club? Ah, the VIP section. It was literally right next to us. And, so was Cameron Fieldman. His back was to me as he disappeared into a booth. What was he doing here?
“Is he going to survive?”
Shaking his head, Gerard held the man’s head. He was younger than me. His T-shirt read ‘Drink, Drug, Dead’.
Shuddering as I connected to the earth beneath my knees, I pulled up the healing magic. If Helena could cure my broken back, surely I could help the man.
Closing my eyes, I squeezed his arm with both hands, sending the pulse of energy to run through me and into him. As soon as it connected, an electric shock jolted me back. My hands came away from the man. About to grab him again, I paused. Leaning closer, I looked at the veins in his arm. There was a tiny pinprick in the crease of his elbow.
“He’s taken magic drugs,” I muttered to Gerard.
Another shout came from the other side of the dance floor. As if on command, people cleared the way, revealing a man carrying a woman.
“Help her!”
She was making the same jerking movements as the man in front of us.
Gerard took control as I steadied the guy on the floor, trying to think of a way to save him. If he didn’t stop fitting soon, his brain w
ould give out.
The music cut off abruptly as the alarm was raised. People started filing off the dance floor, being guided by bouncers who worked there. Tipping my head to the side when I saw movement by the VIP section, I kept my head down. If Cameron recognised me, he may start asking questions. Especially if Keith had told him about Gerard’s audition.
“She’s got the same symptoms.”
As Gerard put the girl into the recovery position, I placed my hands on the man’s shoulder, ready to try and somehow heal him. He suddenly jerked and stopped still, his eyes wide open. No.
“He’s dead,” a male voice said behind me. “Has anyone called the police?”
People started to rush away, scared that they could catch whatever had caused the man to die. My skin was lined with perspiration as I shook my head, unable to believe that he had died right in front of me. I’d been useless, unable to do anything to help him.
“She’s gone,” I heard Gerard say.
My breathing deepened as I stumbled to my feet. Surely, they both couldn’t have died? What-?
“We’ve got another one,” someone called.
Rushing over, I bent down to the young woman, grasping her shoulders in my hands. Allowing my feet to connect to mother earth, I pulled on the ley line, allowing pure magic to enter me. Whispering a spell to draw out the magic from her body, I steadied myself. As the energy from the drugs she had taken filtered into me, my stomach rolled. Oh, boy, something about it was toxic. No wonder it was killing the humans. Although, this woman was a witch. Which made it easier for me to drag the bastard nasty stuff out of her.
“Are you okay?” Gerard was beside me, his hand on my elbow to support me as I fell forward.
The woman stopped fitting as I released her. A paramedic asked us to move as he bent down to examine her. My whole body shook as the toxic magic coursed through me. I needed to get out of the club before I puked over someone.
Ducking away before the police reached us, we walked up to the last lot of people leaving the building. A bouncer went to call out just before we walked through the door, but we managed to slip away before he could draw attention to us.
Hunted Witch Agency Box Set Books 4-5 (Hunted Witch Agency Set Book 2) Page 6