“Now, we’re all together for Anna, to help her, and to figure out what to do about Padraigan. Hopefully we can all act civilized.” Harley finished, with another pointed glance at Noah and Teagan.
“Fine.” Teagan said sulkily.
“Fine.” Noah was more upbeat in his answer then he turned to Gareth.“That asshole giving you trouble?”
Gareth nodded and brought Noah up to speed as to what happened not just yesterday, but from the beginning, starting with the break-in at the lab, and ending with the destruction at my house. They both moved over to the huge dining room table and sat down, Noah listening intently. Teagan came over to Harley and me, but her eyes trained on Noah, drown down to slits with annoyance.
“I don’t like him.” She muttered, grabbing an orange and ripping the rind to shreds.
“Uh, we noticed. You were not subtle.” Harley said. She turned up her nose at Teagan’s glare.
“I think he’s cute.” I said, pitching my voice low, but Gareth heard me anyway and glanced at me, a slight frown marring the smooth skin between his brows. I shook my head, giggling. Damn that vampire hearing.
“Ugh, you disgust me.” Teagan groaned, but I knew she didn’t mean it.
“He’s not that bad, T, just give him a chance. He was willing to come to a stranger’s aid, so he can’t be a complete asshole.” Harley cajoled and I could see Teagan fighting the logic.
“Until this is over. I’ll give you that much. Then the gloves are off.” She growled, casting him another scathing glance.
Chapter Sixteen
“I can’t do much more.” I whined, bringing my hands up to squeeze my head.
“I feel bad for you, really.” Noah answered my whine flippantly and I made a face at him. He grabbed my hands and closed his eyes, not even giving me a chance to protest again.
We were in a big room over the garage, and despite Harley and Teagan’s protests, and Gareth’s reticence, we were alone. Noah had cast a protective circle, thankfully not skyclad, and this is where we sat.
“Relax.” He murmured, his deep voice soft, and I closed my eyes and tried to do what he asked.
We had been up here for what seemed like hours, and he had been probing at my mind the entire time. He had asked me tons of questions, about my back ground, things that I had seen as a child, when had I started to repress what he called my talents.
He was very soothing, really, and I came to realize that the cocky attitude hid a gentle nature.
I concentrated on what he was telling me, and did as he asked.
“Now, picture moving something in this room, but picture it moving by itself. You’re going to move it without touching—okay, but not so forcefully.” He laughed as a folding chair went crashing into the wall.
My eyes popped open, surprise on my face.
“Did I do that?” I gasped and he nodded.
“You did, all by yourself, but you need to learn control. I think that’s going to be the hardest part for you. I don’t think that I’ve come across anyone other than my family who has as much power as I can sense in you. If you could gain control, there’d be no stopping you.”
“But Noah, how do I have it? I swear to you that I don’t know anyone in my family that could have been a sorcerer.”
He stood and strolled around the perimeter of the circle, whistling a low tune. He seemed to be thinking hard and I followed his rangy form. He really was quite attractive, and now that I knew that he wasn’t a jerk, I could see how he would make some woman very happy, if he didn’t already have one.
I heard that.
Have no fear, handsome, I was thinking about him for someone else.
Gareth sounded jealous and it made me laugh.
“You two have a very special bond.” Noah said from where he stood at the opposite side of the circle.
“Did you hear that?” I asked, surprised. I hadn’t sensed him touch my thoughts, but he was stronger than me, so I might not have been able to tell if he had or had not read my mind.
“No, I didn’t hear your words; you really are good at blocking, but I knew you were talking to him. You kinda light up when you’re near him, and that’s what you looked like just now, all lit up.” He gave me a wink.
“He’s everything to me. I would give anything to be able to be by his side always.” I replied, not finding it odd that I would tell him that. He was a friend of Gareth’s and that made him my friend, too.
“It’ll help then if you guys find a cure.”
He came to sit down in front of me and I nodded. “Or he could just turn me. Then even if we don’t find a cure, we’d still be together. Oh good God, not you too.” I exclaimed at his horrified expression.
“Why would you want that? It’s not a good life, Anna.”
“No, but neither is life without him.”
“He isn’t going anywhere. I’ve known Gareth a long time, and I’ve never seen him this crazy about a woman before.” He lounged back on the floor, leaning on an elbow, legs crossed at his ankles. A sorcerer in repose, I thought, and sighed.
“So, have there been many other women? And how long could you have possibly known him? You’re how old? Thirty? Thirty-two?”
“I’m thirty, a month ago. And I’m not going to tell you anything about other women. Guy code and all that.”
“Whatever. So how long can you possibly have known him? I know he said you saved his life from a werewolf, but how long ago was that?” I pulled my knees up and rested my chin on them, watching him intently.
“I was ten.”
“What?” I exclaimed. It seemed ludicrous to me that a vampire that was centuries old had to be saved by a ten year old boy.
“You have to understand something though.” He went on as if he heard my thoughts, “Gareth was hurting, bad. The wolf had done some serious damage to him, and although he had gotten a few good licks, I think he had been weak even before the wolf got to him.”
“But you were ten? What could a ten year old do?”
He looked at me with those bright blue eyes and shook his head.
“I was already very powerful as a ten year old, if maybe not so cautious and in control as I should have been, but that’s me. Arrogance runs in the family, and we’re nothing if not full of ourselves.”
“Okay, I’ve met my share of snot-nosed ten year olds, but come on.”
“Ask Gareth if you don’t believe me, but his pride might still be hurting.”
“No, no I believe you. What did you do?”
“I just got its attention to me, enough to allow Gareth to get away, then I burned his ass.” He snapped his fingers and a spurt of flame issued from their tips.
“Did you kill him?” I whispered, completely enthralled.
He chuckled, shaking his head. “No, I couldn’t kill him, but I wanted to try. Anyway, that’s how Gareth and I met, and we’ve been friends ever since. He’s an odd vampire. I’ve met plenty, but none like him. I understand the whys of vampires, and I realize they gotta eat like the rest of us, but most of them stick to the dregs of society, hunting serial killers, career criminals, people like that. He won’t even do that.”
“And what do the others feed on?”
“Innocents.” He ground out and leaped to his feet, this time to pace around the circle.
“Gareth didn’t tell you why I hate Padraigan as much as he does?”
I shook my head. “Maybe he thought that was for you to tell me.”
He paced around the circle like a caged lion, his body tense. It fit him wrong, the edgy movements and lean body held stiffly. Despite his arrogance, he seemed very easy going, as if his feathers didn’t get ruffled easy, but something in the way he spoke about Padraigan set him on edge, so it must be very bad indeed.
“Well, that’s a story for another day, not now. But believe me when I say that I want him destroyed and I have sat back and watched him and waited for the perfect time, mostly because of Gareth. He really hates to see useless deaths.” He sai
d it in a way that sounded like that was a regrettable quality.
“Um, I’m not too keen on useless death either, but the man has screwed with my life one too many times and now is threatening everything that I love. If it means his death, then I am all for it.” I almost didn’t recognize my voice. It was fully of savagery and anger, but I meant the words. This creature had come in to my life and ruined my house, threatened my life, and had us stuck in limbo while we tried to figure out his motives.
“Ah, spoken like a true sorcerer. We’ll turn you into one yet.” Noah sighed, the devil-may-care grin back on his face.
“Teagan said something last night…don’t roll your eyes, how old are you?” I cast him a glance, my expression full of exasperation when he cast his eyes to the ceiling at the mention of Teagan’s name. “Anyway, she said last night that witches are sworn to harm none, but although she didn’t say it outright, I got the impression that sorcerers are not bound by that rule.”
He stopped just short of rolling his eyes again at my stern glance, and chuckled instead.
“The little witch is right.”
“You know, Gareth calls me that too, but funny, I don’t hear warm fuzzies in your voice when you say it. It’s almost derogatory.”
“She annoys me.”
“Okay, I got that, but can we put aside the animosity until all this is over? Then you two can tear each other’s throats out for all I care.”
He reached out and ruffled my hair, like a favorite dog. “Oh, you care. You’ve got a soft heart. That’s why me not liking her bothers you.”
I waved away the comment. Whether my heart was soft or not wasn’t the issue.
“Anyway, the whole ‘An it harm none’? Why aren’t sorcerers bound to it?”
He sighed and sat back down, sitting lotus-style, but true lotus, with his heels on his thighs. I joined him, mimicking his pose. He seemed impressed, but most guys liked a flexible woman. It was my turn to roll my eyes.
“Are you sure you’re happy with Gareth?”
I didn’t bother to answer. He shrugged. “Can’t blame me.”
He went on, “Well, we are bound to it, if we have morals. It’s choosing right from wrong. What have they told you about the differences between witches and sorcerers?”
“Just that sorcerers are born and witches more or less have to learn their magick.”
He mulled this over for a minute.
“Yes and no. Sorcerers are born with the innate ability to do magick. If I wanted to light a fire, or alter the weather, or call to an animal, it’s there already; I just think the command.”
“I did that last night, with the fire. I just thought, Fire, and pointed at the fireplace and it lit up.”
“Exactly. A witch, who might have certain gifts, like the ability to control the weather, or to read minds, has to learn spells and rituals for other abilities that we take for granted. It’s like you have an athlete that is just the best he can be without even trying, and you have another athlete who is good at what he does, but has to work eight hours a day, seven days a week to maintain that edge.” He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Make any sense?”
“Since I’m not big into athletics, would it be comparable to someone who has an eidetic memory to someone who does not?”
“Eidetic, eidetic…oh, photographic memory? Yeah, that’s a good analogy. Except we’re,” he gestured to the two of us, “born with the knowledge and power.”
“Okay, I can see that. One last question and you can go back to prodding my brain again.”
“I live for it, really.”
I gave him a dry smile. “If I am so strong, or powerful as you people keep calling me, how was I able to suppress what I am?”
“I guess because your will was stronger.”
“Is it really that simple?” I asked, my voice skeptical. I knew I had a strong will, and I was more stubborn than a mule, but it seemed to me that couldn’t be all that helped me suppress my talents.
He stretched his legs, leaned back on his hands. “Sure it’s that simple. People do it on a daily basis. Alcoholics find it in themselves never to touch another drink. I gave up smoking three years ago, and haven’t had a craving since. If someone wants to quit something, or forget something, the will is there, they just have to use it.”
I nodded absently. It made the most sense out of everything that I heard over the past week.
He sat up and clapped his hands together, rubbing the palms together.
“Now let’s get to the real stuff, shall we?” he cocked that eyebrow again, giving me a stern look to accompany it. It made me feel like a student that had acted up in class.
“Fine.” Here we go again.
We came down after about three more hours of sheer torture, Noah gleefully amused at my state of exhaustion, but he was happy with the progress I had made. If I hadn’t been so exhausted, I probably would have been too. He had me call fire, cast a circle, levitate and move objects, and what turned out to be my favorite, how to do a glamour. This especially would come in handy when I was running late for work. The one thing that I didn’t seem to be able to control was my visions. He had me try, and I concentrated so hard a headache started to pound behind my eyes, but nothing came to me.
“That’s ok, clairvoyance is not exact, and even we can’t control it very well, just because of the nature of how the future works.” He said to me as we came down the stairs from the loft room above the garage.
“Can you control it?”
“It’s not what I work on exclusively. I prefer to hone my other instincts.” He replied with that arrogant tone in his voice.
“In other words, no, you can’t.” It was my turn to laugh at him.
“It’s not an exact science.” he insisted.
I patted his shoulder. “You just keep telling yourself that, Chief.”
The look he shot me was full of haughty disdain, which only made me laugh harder.
We walked back into the house and Noah was immediately rewarded with a glare from Teagan, which he eagerly gave back to her. Harley and I looked at each other in mutual sympathy.
“Get over it, you two. This is getting old.” Harley said wearily.
I glanced over at the window wall and saw that the snow was still falling and the wind was still moaning, but it had dropped from a banshee scream to a low howl and seemed to be tapering off.
“What are you guys doing about the store?” I asked as I wandered into the kitchen to stick my head in the cabinets. I was starving; practicing was hungry work and my stomach was grumbling. I grabbed a granola bar and banana and set about demolishing them.
“No one is out in this, and if they are, well they just shouldn’t be. The place is locked up, the closed sign is up. Not much we can do.” Harley replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Did you want me to go check on it for you?” Noah asked, and both women looked at him, shocked.
“That would be wonderful!”
“Why? Because you think we can’t?”
Harley’s answer was heartfelt and full of gratitude; Teagan’s response was a verbal representation of the chip that you could see on her shoulder.
“No, because maybe, just maybe, I’m a nice guy and I would rather put my life in danger instead of yours, although I can rethink my decision.” He took his keys out of his pocket, jangled them in Teagan’s direction. “You can take my truck, it’s fully insured.”
“And you expect me to believe this why?” She narrowed her eyes at him, her head tilted to the side.
“Listen little witch, I really don’t care what you believe, but I do know this; someone needs to teach you some damn manners.” He moved toward her, but she stood her ground. Brave girl.
Harley and I watched in fascination; it was like a train wreck in slow motion. Noah stood in front of her, and if they had been of the same height, their noses would be touching. As it was, Teagan had to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact.
“You think you’r
e man enough to teach me manners?” she jeered and then she actually reached out and poked him in the chest, hard. I don’t know who was more surprised, Noah or Harley and I. From where we stood we could see Noah’s eyes narrow to slits and his hands curl into fists.
I tensed, ready to throw myself at him if he raised a hand to her, and I could sense Harley ready to do the same, but instead of hitting her, he reached out, grabbed her shoulders, and brought his mouth down on hers in what could only be described as a very hot kiss. Teagan made a strangled sound and her whole body tensed under the onslaught.
I stood there, my mouth hanging open, Harley’s expression identical to mine. We were both shocked speechless.
After what seemed like hours, Noah set her away from him, and with a flick of his finger along her bottom lip, he walked towards Harley and me with a satisfied grin on his face.
“I’ll go check the store for you. It’s Written, out on St. Anselme’s, right?”
All Harley could do was nod, and with a wink Noah strolled out, hands in his pockets, whistling a tune.
The three of us were as still as statues, Harley and I staring at Teagan, her face bright red, her body still tensed up.
“Oh my.” Harley broke the silence with her breathy words, and I could only nod.
Teagan looked at us, her eyes wide, face flushed. “Did you…” We nodded.
“Did he just…” We nodded again.
She came alive with a vengeance. “The effing nerve! I’m so gonna kick his ass when he gets back, the jerk. I knew we shouldn’t bring a sorcerer in, you just can’t trust them. Present company excepted.” She was a whirlwind of movement after her stillness. She moved around the room like a dervish, picking things up and setting them down again.
“Teagan, I have to tell you something and I don’t think you’ll like it much.” I said, mentally girding myself to say what I had to say.
She stopped her manic pacing and looked at me, her eyes wary. “What?”
“I say this out of all the love and affection I feel for you, but you are…” I searched for words that wouldn’t seem too harsh “horrible to him and you’re lucky that he didn’t hit you. It’s just a testament to the kind of guy he is that he didn’t.”
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