Poison and Potions: a Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by Erin Hayes

  Isaac’s confidence kept him from showing a moment of concern, not pausing as he continued on to ask, ‘Cause you’re finally done comparing yourself to Delilah?

  She gave a subtle head shake and turned her attention back to Delilah. No, she responded, because I’m finally done comparing myself to anybody.

  A wave of confusion cycled around him then, and Zoey sacrificed her focus to give a reassuring smile in his direction. In that instant, however, Delilah spotted another moment to use in her favor and twisted around at the hip to snag Zoey’s jacket and twist her claws into the leather to secure her grip. Less than a second passed as Zoey’s feet began to leave the floor, her therion opponent preparing to hurl her over her shoulder and smash her into the floor. It was only a fraction of a second, but it was a fraction of a second that Zoey was disappointed to offer all the same. Because that’s what Delilah getting even a hand on her was: an offering. Gripping the therion’s wrist in both hands, Zoey used what little traction her feet had left on the floor to jump in the same direction Delilah was pulling her in. In a fight, an opponent can expect a lot of things, but they rarely expect the person they’re yanking around to willingly (and actively) allow themselves to be yanked. The resistance Delilah had been prepared to outmuscle didn’t come. Instead, all the force she’d been braced for toppled her in the opposite direction. The direction Zoey was now heading in. Keeping her grip on Delilah’s wrist and tucking into a flip that carried her over the teetering therion’s head, she felt the captured arm snag as the shoulder reached its full extension. Then toppling and teetering turned to an all-out backwards fall. Only then did she sacrifice her hold and complete the flip, using her aura to stabilize her in midair and hold her there long enough to pivot so she could land facing her opponent as she crashed to the floor, knocking the wind out of her lungs.

  Delilah coughed—an animal sound that was, at the same time, strangely human—and fought to seize a decent breath of air to fill her lungs.

  “Are you ready to stop this?” Zoey asked, calm and diplomatic, though she knew that Delilah wouldn’t give in that easy. She’d had quite some time to know somebody like her, and it wasn’t in their nature to admit defeat without being legitimately defeated. And, since Zoey was finally being honest with herself, she realized that she didn’t want Delilah to admit defeat.

  Not until she was good and satisfied that every therion in that room respected her just as much as Isaac always had; respected her just as much as she was beginning to respect herself.

  Delilah didn’t disappoint.

  Still not yet breathing right, she pulled herself up and lunged, swinging her claws in Zoey’s direction like a razor-sharp windmill. The air hissed with each pass, but air was all that received the slicing motions. Zoey ducked, side-stepped, twisted, and dodged again and again, seeing where each frying pan sized hand was aimed before the attack was even put into motion. And with each evasion, she landed a blow. The punches weren’t meant to hurt—she knew better than to hope that she had any chance of physically matching Delilah’s strength—but, even if they only felt like annoying pokes from a tiny fist, they were undeniably felt. And that meant that each one was an unspoken “gotcha” chiming in the back of Delilah’s mind.

  Gotcha.

  GOTCHA.

  GOTCHA!

  But she couldn’t get Zoey. With all her muscle and all her bestial rage she couldn’t get a single attack to find the nimble little blue-haired vampire. And, all the while, she was starting to lag. To all the onlookers in the room, those who didn’t know any better, at least, they’d assume Delilah was exhausting herself, maybe putting too much effort into all those failed attacks. And while that might have been true to an extent, what none of them could see was the auric tendril wrapped around Delilah’s body. The tendril that pulled down on her with more and more force while simultaneously siphoning more and more of her energy. The tendril that Zoey was using to anchor her opponent while strengthening herself.

  The last swipe went wide, and Zoey easily ducked under it and let it twist Delilah into an awkward angle that forced her to one knee, panting and blinking against her growing weariness. Confused eyes, still clinging to the flickering shreds of rage, turned to look up at her. Even on her knees, Delilah’s therion form was almost as tall as Zoey, but she was looking up all the same.

  Time for Plan B.

  Zoey kept the statement—and she made certain Delilah knew it was a statement made in absolute certainty without a shred of doubt what she had been intending all along—between the two of them, and the confusion and lingering rage fell away into total shock that, no, Zoey had not been fooled. With the last of her strength, Delilah let out an angry wail that filled the entire club with the wordless command.

  ATTACK!

  Recognizing the sound for what it was, Isaac stepped back—giving the therions around him enough room to transform—and finally started to laugh.

  “Enough.”

  The calmness in Zoey’s voice earned an unsettled reaction from the six therions who remained standing. Delilah, who was among the six, had been able to regain enough strength in the few short minutes she’d been free of Zoey’s aura to step back into the fight. But in that time enough of her pack had fallen to ensure there wasn’t much of a fight left to step back into. Driving her foot upward in a side kick that caught an incoming therion in his throat, Zoey used her aura to slam another two headlong into one another behind her before letting all three drop—two unconscious and one gasping for air—around her. Then, using her aura like a giant broom, she swept the three aside like she had all the other fallen opponents to clear the space for her and the remaining three.

  Delilah growled at the display, baring her teeth at Zoey before nodding to the two remaining and gesturing with shaky claws. Following the commands, one of the three, who Zoey recognized as the “detective” they’d consulted regarding the first set of bodies, circled around to position himself behind Zoey while the other, flanking Delilah, started towards her in the front.

  “Did you not hear me?” Zoey sighed, not even bothering to put on a defensive stance anymore. “I said ENOUGH!”

  The emphasis on her last word spurred the three to attack just as her aura snapped out from her body, two light-blue tendrils snaking out from her chest and a third rocketing out from her back. Each tendril found its mark, slamming with enough force to earn a pained grunt from all of them before yanking them upward and holding them aloft. Though he’d been chuckling at the show for the whole time, seeing the three hulking beasts float just below the club’s ceiling, eyes blinking with the same bewilderment and futility as wolf pups yanked from their feet in mid-play threw Isaac into a fresh bout of cackles. Though the other two seemed quick to accept there was nothing they could do and resigned to hanging limply in their invisible binds, Delilah continued to thrash and snarl.

  A room full of therions in the throes of a bloodlust that nature had yet to trump… and she’d neutralized all of them, most without so much as lifting a finger.

  With the exception of those who weren’t conscious at that moment, they all saw it. Even Delilah, who even then refused to forfeit, had the truth bobbing about in her mind.

  Zoey had won.

  If she wanted it, she could have crushed the life out of Delilah and her colleague before they’d even registered that their goals would go unfulfilled. Instead she’d incapacitated each and every one of them, and all without dealing any injuries past a few broken bones and minor lacerations. A few days of healing, a week at most, and they’d all be back on their feet. Less if their leader humbled up, in which case Zoey would gladly help heal them all in less than an hour.

  But that all depended on Delilah and if she was ready to change her tone.

  “Can I trust that this little pissing match”—she finally decided to channel a bit of her inner Serena and use a phrase she’d heard once or twice from her—“is finally over and done with?” she called up. “Because I’d love to put this all behind
us and finally get the sons of bitches we’re both after.”

  Delilah growled and tried once more to thrash free of her invisible binds. Zoey rolled her eyes and tightened the grip again, squeezing until the growl choked out and became a whimper. Then, hoping to drive the point home, she gave one more squeeze to show Delilah that the pressure was hardly the zenith of her abilities and that was still being polite by not breaking any of her bones. The therion beside Delilah gave a concerned look in her direction, but it was the therion behind Zoey, Dick, who dared to rattle out a growl of his own at the sight of Delilah whimpering and flinching. Without shifting her gaze, Zoey entered his mind and delivered the only warning he’d get:

  Keep it up and yours will be the last one to touch this floor, dick, she decided then that, whether it was his name or not, the title was more than appropriate, and if you’d like your heart to be beating when that happens I suggest you learn to muzzle yourself.

  Dick went silent and still.

  Somewhere in the back of her mind, imaginary-Serena whistled and applauded.

  At that moment, Delilah’s breathing began to steady and the frantic thrashing of her aura calmed and Zoey said again, “Can I trust you?”

  Delilah’s foxlike head ducked once in an embarrassed nod.

  By the time her and the other therions’ feet reached the ground, Delilah was back in her human form, though the ferocity in her lupine eyes didn’t have Zoey entirely convinced at first.

  But then it happened:

  Delilah, naked save for the few bits of shredded clothes too stubborn to fall away during all they’d endured, shivered despite the heat and twisted to hide not her body, but her face. Head still bowed and gaze averted, she seemed more ashamed to meet Zoey’s eyes than of her nudity. Taking everything into consideration, Zoey realized that this was probably the first time Delilah had ever known what it was like to feel exposed.

  “I’m sorry,” the sincerity in her voice mirrored that of her aura, and Zoey was suddenly reminded of the last time she’d seen that sort of mortified shame and weakness; a time she wanted to forget and didn’t want to relive. She suddenly wanted to hug Delilah and tell her it hadn’t been personal, but that would have been a lie. While the ends justified the means, however, it wasn’t something that she wanted to make last longer than it needed to. “I won’t step over any lines anymore. You’ve proven yourself as my better.”

  Zoey nodded, more of a reassuring gesture than an acknowledging one, and retrieved her jacket before slipping it over Delilah’s shoulders. “I’d rather think of us as equals,” she offered, pulling the jacket to help cover her breasts, though it offered little in the way of coverage for the rest of her. Delilah didn’t seem to mind this, however. “In fact,” Zoey went on, giving her shoulder a gentle pat, “I’d like to think that, all differences set aside, we might go so far now as to call ourselves ‘friends’…”

  She let that hang in the air, neither a statement nor a question. She’d earned Delilah’s respect and, by extension, the respect of her pack, and while that would help to benefit the mission it wasn’t something that Zoey was content in settling with if she could help it. That decision, however, wasn’t hers to make at that point.

  Delilah looked around for a moment, taking in the sight of her packmates. Those who were still conscious and saw that the brawl had come to an end were beginning to pull themselves to their feet and working to rouse those who weren’t. It was then that Zoey saw there were less of the former than there were of the latter; those standing certainly had their work cut out for them.

  “That was most of my pack,” Delilah announced, her voice not giving away a thing as she did, “all the ones that could fight worth a damn, at least.” She shook her head, lingering on one unconscious therion in particular whose arm was clearly broken and bent at an angle that, even with the form misshapen in its own rights, seemed unnatural and wrong.

  Catching sight of it, as well, Zoey reached out with her aura, lifting the therion enough to reset the bone.

  Delilah smirked at the gesture, seeming more entertained by the feat than thankful.

  “Most of my pack,” she repeated with a shake of her head, though it showed no sign disapproval, “and you wiped the floor with us.” She motioned with her arms to mimic the sweeping process Zoey had used to clear the makeshift battleground during the fight. “Literally!”

  Despite the tension hanging between them at that moment, they both laughed at that. The sound made the therions around them jump and glance over nervously.

  “You take out most of my pack and shake me around like a ragdoll,” Delilah finally said when the laughter subsided, “and you want to call yourself my friend.” She let her gaze slip past and watched as Isaac finally joined Zoey at her side, smirking as she watched him take his lover’s hand in his own and nodding slowly at the sight. “I see now why he sees you as a worthy mate, vampi—” she stopped herself and shook her head at herself. “Zoey,” she corrected, then nodded once more. “And if one of our own can see you in such a light, then I can, too.” She extended a hand to Zoey, which she slipped free of Isaac’s hold to accept. “But I will not call you ‘friend,’” she added with a smirk, “for now I see that we are sisters.”

  “Sisters?” Zoey’s eyes widened at the compliment, understanding what such a statement represented for their kind and looking up at Isaac, who smiled back down at her. “I…” she chuckled nervously and shrugged, nodding, “I like that.”

  “As you should,” Delilah said, looking out again at the aftermath of their fight. “After all, you might use your vamp magic tricks and all that, but you fight like a therion,” she grinned.

  “I suppose after spending so much time with one it’s kind of rubbed off on me,” Zoey said, nodding towards Isaac.

  He nodded at that, offering his own smirk back. “Took you long enough to accept it, though,” he teased.

  Of Rabbits and Wolves

  With the tension between them broken, Zoey and Isaac found that working with Delilah and her pack was a totally different process than it had been. Even the therions who’d been knocked out and suffered more injuries than the others regarded her with grins and kinship when they’d awoken, and it was with this newfound peace that they carried on for the rest of the night, putting the temporarily closed Blue Moon back together and discussing the matter of the club’s patrons who’d been murdered the night before.

  Delilah had mentioned that the victims’ bodies had shown signs of both rape and torture, and though it was too late to help them it was clear that she was eager to prevent any further suffering for those whose only “crime” was going to her club.

  “They could’ve demolished the building or painted the walls in pigs’ blood or something,” she’d snarled, “but they chose to take out their issues on our customers—innocent bystanders! This… it’s not just an act of war anymore, they’ve crossed that line! Now it’s the lives of everyone in this city that are on the line, not just ours! If we were still living in the woods they might have just poisoned our water or wiped out our hunting grounds, but they might as well have just set fire to the whole forest with this move!”

  Nodding, Zoey considered what they knew and what she’d seen from the one rogue they’d already seen, Ezra. “They rely on intimidation,” she thought out loud. “When the one came in here, he used his assets to scare me and Trey. I don’t think he realized at that time that Isaac was with us—he was seated at the bar like a customer at the time—but it wouldn’t have mattered either way. With us caught off guard and on the other side of the bar and everyone else facing away and seated, nobody would have had a decent vantage to fight back. It was practically a guarantee that any demand he made would be met.” She blushed and shook her head, “It was a good tactic, good enough that I didn’t even think to look further into it when he showed up. I was just as eager to just give him what he wanted so he’d leave us alone.”

  “What’s your point?” Delilah asked, sounding curious
over the bitter tone she would’ve offered before.

  “I don’t think it was just the actions of a bully,” Zoey explained. “These rogues have been doing this for a long time, and they were effective in the late forties when they first began. Suffice to say they’ve only gotten smarter and more efficient. If they’d gotten this far being subtle then Ezra would’ve used subtlety to get what he wanted; he would have either done all he could to avoid attention or avoided any direct content with this club altogether. But he didn’t. He stormed right up, stared us all in the face, and made his size, his strength, and his desires known. That’s not just their nature, it’s their tactic! They want to be the biggest and baddest when it comes to all things so that any conflict that arises is already leaning in their favor solely from the fear they’ve put in the other side.” She shook her head and motioned her arms to encompass the entire club, “But they’re also smart enough to know that a direct attack against all of you would be too risky, so they’re using that intimidation tactic to get you nervous and angry—attacking you where they know it’ll do the most damage while turning the entire city against you.”

  Delilah nodded slowly, considering this for a moment before she asked, “So what are you proposing?”

  “I propose giving them a bigger and badder target than they’ve seen so far,” Zoey answered. “So long as they feel they have the upper hand on the entire city, whether it’s your pack and the humans, then anyone and anything is potential prey. You’ve all worked so hard to rid this city of any other threat so that you’d have both a good record to show The Council to validate your plans as well as a safe place to set up your business, but in doing so you took out any other threat that Ezra and his partner would have had to deal with, too. They entered this city with the road already paved for them, so they’ve had the freedom to choose any target they wanted to make their point. So long as they’re unopposed, they’re going to keep going until they’re confident you’re all broken down enough to not survive an attack, so…”