by A. B. Marie
Tears are falling from her sad blue eyes down her face. “I promise I didn’t keep anything from you to hurt you, it’s literally to protect you.” She sobs and tries to catch her breath. “A few hundred years ago, supernaturals, or witches and warlocks, had their last war with the humans, and our council decided to wipe everyone’s minds, ward our academies and protected areas, and go into “hiding”. Danika, I go to the Goddess University about an hour away from here. It’s warded against humans, so even if I did take you there, you wouldn’t be able to cross. You would just think you’re going the wrong way and need to leave. If someone brings you across the wards, you’ll automatically pass out.” I watch Danika’s face and she has her nose scrunched up and glares at Penny.
“I’m a witch. Everyone that lives in this mansion is a witch or warlock, except for Maya, but I’ll let her tell you that… The area in my car is warded so that human cops can’t find my grimore, school supplies, or potions and spelled items I keep in there.”
I look to both of them and put my hand up to stop Danika from talking. “Do not say anything you will regret. None of this is a lie. This is technically illegal to ever show you or tell you about anything. Both Penny and I can get into a lot of trouble, be arrested, and stand trial because you’re a human. This is serious and our LIVES. So please. Just keep your mouth shut so we can prove it to you.” She slowly nods but is still scowling at both of us. I nod to Penny and she starts chanting and waves her hand over the pillow that’s behind Danika and levitates it into the air above their heads and drops it to Danika’s lap.
“We can do a lot more than that, but I will let Maya do a few so that you don’t think we are playing tricks on you.”
I smile at her and think about changing Penny’s red hair to a white blonde and changing her blue eyes to green. Danika’s eyes bug out of her head and touches and smells Penny’s hair.
“Is this permanent?”
I shake my head. “No, I can make it permanent, but this spell will wear off in an hour unless I remove it.” She slowly nods and looks to me expectantly. I levitate all of the furniture that isn’t being sat on and move it around the room and rearrange it.
“What else can you do?”
I wink at her. “Anything you can imagine. Runes for anything from protection, wards, to healing, potions, bombs, spells for sleeping, invisibility… charms… You name it.”
“Wow. Okay.” She reclines back in her seat and closes her eyes. “I believe you. And I understand that you couldn’t legally tell me anything.” She looks over to me. “Can you make Penny normal again, I’d like to speak to her privately.
I nod. “Of course. Go speak in the backyard but don’t leave until I can put a geas on you. You never know who will be able to use a mind reading rune and find out if you know anything. You’re human so you can’t guard your mind, and I want Penny safe.” She nods and I change Penny back before they walk out the French doors and close them. I look down to Luna and pick her up.
“Relationships, huh?” She sleepily blinks at me. “Ah, finally tired? Hungry?” I lay her down and change her diaper from the supplies that are still in the baby bag next to the couch. “My little princess will never date, huh? I’m just going to keep you locked up in the estate forever.” I kiss her head and feed her until she falls asleep.
Penny and Danika finally come back in. “We decided to take a breather so Danika can wrap her mind around the supernatural world. She’s agreed to the geas.” I nod at her and look into Danika’s eyes and ask my magic to place a geas on her to never talk about anything supernatural she saw or heard from us at any point and her eyes glow for a few seconds.
“That’s it?”
I smile and nod. “That’s it. I’m not a witch. Magic works differently for me.”
Danika slowly nods. “Okay. Yeah. Too much information, maybe you can tell me next time?” I nod at her and she gives Penny a kiss on her cheek before leaving.
I look over to Penny, “Do you want to stay here tonight?”
“Yes please. I’m exhausted.” I give her a one-armed hug and I walk her up to my room to give her some pajamas.
“The toiletries are still in the guest room you used last time. See you in the morning.” She gives me a kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you for everything.” I nod at her and she takes her leave. I settle Luna down and check my phone and don’t see anything from the guys. I lay down and toss and turn thinking about tonight. I hope they can work everything out. I can’t imagine being with a human. Witches and warlocks can’t soul bond to humans or extend their lives safely. There’s dark magic that can do it, but it’s illegal and usually backfires if you don’t know what you’re doing. We learned about it in our early years in our courses – the consequences can be severe. One of the examples was a warlock who tried to extend his human girlfriend’s life, and ended up giving up his entire life force to her, and she died a week later from an aneurism. Essentially, it’s not worth it to even try, we should never mess with life and death.
Chapter 18
Markus
_______
We got home last night around four AM, it’s now just after nine and I’m exhausted. I stumble out of bed and see that Maya, Luna, and Collins aren’t in here. I take a quick shower and throw on some boxer briefs and my gray sweats and head down to the kitchen for coffee. I see Penny eating alone at the island just staring down at the marble countertop.
“Hey Penny. You and Danika spend the night?” She shakes her head and tells me what happened last night.
“Fuck, I’m sorry.” I sit down with my coffee and think about what to say. “Do you think she will accept you?”
She shrugs and she wipes under her eyes. “I don’t know. On one hand, I love her and want to be with her… but on the other… She’s human. I’m going to look around this age for hundreds of years. My grandma is almost four hundred years old and barely looks a day over thirty. She will be alive for several more centuries at least… What am I going to do after spending several decades with someone and watch them wither away?”
I sit on that and nod my head. “Did you know that Maya is immortal?”
Her eyes go wide and she shakes her head. “No. Fuck. She is probably thinking the same shit that I am. Even though you guys will live a long ass time, she will still watch you die. Holy shit.”
I nod my head. “Yeah, but that’s life.” I place my coffee cup into the sink and walk to the gym to see if I can find anyone. Luna is doing tummy time on the ground that’s covered in blankets while Maya spars with Collins. She’s panting for breath but keeping up with him fairly well. Nolan and Graham are in the ring by the weapons area fighting each other with swords, and I watch for a moment watching their stances, and see that they’re evenly matched. I hear soft pops coming from the gun range and assume the twins are in there. I decide to skip the gym for now and sit with Luna watching her get frustrated not being able to see anyone. I pick her up and hold her in front of my face and kiss her little button nose.
Her sweet, chubby face is pink from her frustration and her green-violet eyes are wide and bright. Her fuzzy multicolored hair is hidden under a purple cap that matches her onesie and I shake my head at what’s written across the front: My Daddies are Better Than Yours! Maya must have gotten this printed during one of her shopping trips in town. I lay down and place Luna on her stomach on my chest, so she still gets her tummy time in.
“Wow, this gym is amazing!” I hear a soft voice coming from the front doors.
Maya looks over and waves while she takes a water break. “You’re more than welcome to work out!”
Penny shakes her head. “No thanks, I’ll be a crying, sweaty mess on the floor within ten minutes.” She walks around to check out the space.
“You should be working out regularly, Penny. You can’t always rely on your magic.”
Penny shrugs her shoulders. “I have the basics down.” Maya rolls her eyes and gets back to sparring with Collins. I chuckle
to myself, if Maya had her way, she would have Penny in here twice a day to get her into top shape.
The twins come out of the range and stand to watch Maya, Ross sees me and walks toward me. “Hey, I can take the little nugget if you’d like to work out?”
“Nah, I’ll come in here later tonight.”
“Okay, well, I’m going to go up to the surveillance room and work on everything that downloaded while we were gone. Call me down when it’s dinner time.” I nod, and Troy follows him out to help. Luna falls asleep on my chest and Penny takes a seat next to me to watch the sword fight and the sparring in the corner. She still looks sad, but hopefully being around people will help. She jumps when her phone starts ringing in her pocket and gives me a grimace to make sure Luna is still asleep.
“Sorry.” She whispers as she gets up and walks outside to answer the call.
Maya makes her way over while she wipes her face with a rag. She nods to where Penny went to. “Poor thing, I hope Danika comes around.”
“Me, too.”
Maya and I are still sleeping in bed when her phone starts to ring. I groan and roll over, not wanting to be awake yet. “Who is it?”
She grumbles while answering her phone. “Brant. Good morning, why are you calling so early?”
She places the phone on speaker next to me on the bed while she leans over and grabs Luna from her bassinet. The phone woke her up, damn it.
“Ah, sorry about that. Just letting you know that I’ve been working on the plans and they’ll be ready to submit after you look over the approval. The house is almost done, just some finishing touches, give me about a week. We should be able to start building on the lot within the month, depending on permits.”
She nods and settles Luna down to feed. “Mmm. Thanks. Anything else?”
He chuckles. “No, sorry, go back to bed. I’ll send you an email with the PDF of the plans.” He hangs up and she throws her phone down to the nightstand.
“Damn contractors. Good morning my sweet girl.” She lays back down and gets comfortable in bed.
I groan as I sit up and pad to the bathroom to shower. When I come out, Maya is getting Luna changed into a pink onesie with white pants, socks, and a cap. I walk up to my girls and give them both a kiss. “Breakfast?” She nods and I take Luna while she goes to shower.
We just finished breakfast and Ross stumbles into the kitchen in search for coffee. “We got a hit. We backtracked and listened to all of the phone calls incoming and outgoing from Justin and Jerome’s calls. From what we understood, Nathan went rogue and they’re bringing the other two back to the U.S. and sending a specialized team out to deal with Nathan. Not a word about you, Maya.”
“Mmm. Where was the hit?”
“One of the numbers that we have been tracking pinged at a foreclosed house that’s been vacant for about a year, it’s only about twenty minutes from here. I want to go there and check it out, place some hidden cameras just in case.” She nods and looks around the kitchen and all of the dishes go into the sink to be washed.
I look back over to him. “Let me know when. I’ll go pack a bag with some of our stock from the magic room.” I give Maya a kiss on the cheek and head upstairs. I see Troy making his way down looking like a zombie, they must have stayed up all night getting caught up.
The twins and I head out and drive to the address. “What do you think he’s gone rogue about? We already know the council has been after Maya and have sided with the Hell realm, I wonder what’s changed.” Ross shrugs his shoulders and we drive in silence on the rest of the way. Troy fell asleep in the back and is snoring loudly.
“Fuck, I’m glad I sleep like a log at night, I wonder if he’s the reason that Luna is up several times a night.”
Ross barks out a laugh. “I think most of us snore, except for Maya.” I nod and we get out of the car and I slowly walk around the edges of the property. I lay down a quick ward to let us know if anyone passes the wards and it’ll capture magical signatures. I place everything back into the bag and find the twins going through the house.
“Anything?”
Troy nods and Ross is looking through a backpack. “Yeah, some clothing and toiletries. Someone is obviously staying here. I’m going to place the cameras and we should get out of here before he’s spooked again.” We rush through it and drive back to the estate.
My phone dings with a new email, I open it up and curse. “Fucking Maya. Did you all just get a new email?” Troy pulls out his phone to look and he barks out a laugh.
“That little minx!”
Ross looks confused. “I’m not looking at my phone while driving, what did she do?”
Troy is still laughing. “Hello boys. Two things. One: Please reply within the next week of a place that you or your family would love to go to a few weeks per year. Two: Listed below is a list of an itinerary for packing by this date: November Twenty-third. Enough clothing and swimwear for a week, toiletries, sandals, jackets, and casual wear ONLY (looking at you Collins and Ross). Be ready to leave early morning on the Twenty-fourth. If you do not reply to this email by next week with a response to “Thing One” you will be tied up in the gun range and be my new prisoner for a weekend. Thanks, Maya.”
We all start chuckling. “I wonder what she’s up to?” We pull up to the house and walk inside, searching for her. Nolan and Graham are in the living room watching TV, and I bypass them to look upstairs. I hear two female voices coming from the master and make my way there. I knock on the door.
“Hey babe. Give us a minute?” I nod and leave them to it. I go out to the gym and work out while I think about a vacation spot I’ve always wanted to go to. My family and I never really traveled, but I’ve always wanted to go to a Disney park, mostly because Maya always begged as a child. I grab my phone and reply back to the email before I forget over the next week.
“All of the Disney parks. Hope you’re not up to too much trouble.”
I finish up and head inside to grab some food and find everyone sitting around staring at Penny like she’s got two heads. “What did I miss?”
Collins looks at me, then back to Penny. “This little one asked Maya for a soul bond for her and Danika so that they can stay together longer. But if Maya does it, they’ll both be tied to her. There’s no guarantee they would love each other more than they would love Maya. I don’t understand this thought process.”
Penny starts to cry. “Danika won’t stay with me after I explained our life spans. She wouldn’t know how to explain anything to her family since they wouldn’t be able to meet me anymore after about twenty years when they’ll notice I’m not aging. She said it’s too stressful.”
Maya gives her a sympathetic look. “I don’t even know how to do a soul bond, Pen. And there’s no guarantee, just like Collins said. You can’t force these things; they have to come naturally. I won’t mess with bonds like that. You’ve only been together for a year, who knows what could happen within the next twenty. You can’t remove a soul bond.”
Penny nods and relaxes into the couch. “I know, it was just a thought, I wasn’t demanding it or anything. And I didn’t even bring it up to Danika. I just hung up on her. I need time to process this loss, I guess.” She stands and gives Maya a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you all, for everything. I’m going to go take a nap then I’ll head back to campus to get out of your hair.”
Maya smacks her ass. “Don’t be an idiot. You’re always welcome here. Take a few days off school and stay here with us.” Penny shrugs and makes her way upstairs.
“Well, fuck me, right?” Maya grumbles and leans her head back and closes her eyes.
Troy smirks at her. “Lovely email you sent us, what are you up to?” She smirks back and ignores him while she scrolls through her phone. She reads something on her screen and winks at me and sets her phone down.
“We all deserve some relaxation time; I’m just putting together some shit.” All of the familiars come strolling in and Lola’s tiny body is trying to jump to
play with the twins’ owl familiars that are flying around. We chuckle and sit back and watch. Collins’ snake is slithering in between them all, and Nolan’s small rat is bouncing around, chasing after Lola and copying her moves. The only one not really paying attention to anything is Graham’s otter, Ollie, who is staring intently at Luna who’s in Graham’s arms.
He looks lovingly at his otter and nods at him. Wonder what they’re talking about. Maya gives us all a look. “Take my email very seriously. I’m not afraid to keep you as my prisoners.” Collins, Graham, and Nolan look confused and take out their phones.
“I know I heard you talking about an email but what the hell is this about being prisoner?” Collins scoffs and scrolls through. “Interesting. I’ll bite.” He starts tapping and puts his phone away.
Maya stands up and claps. “Okay! I want to get out of the house. Let’s all go to dinner in town.”
Penny comes walking out when we get back to the estate after lunch. “Hey, thank you guys for everything. I’m going to head back to campus. That nap wiped me out even more. I think I just need some time alone.”
Maya nods at her and gives her a hug. “Call me when you get to your dorm.” She nods and walks to her car and leaves. “Ugh, I think I need to call Danika. If I can’t stab her, I might as well figure out if there’s anything I can do to help.”
After dinner, Maya is rocking in the hammock and pulls out her phone when it starts ringing, she groans before she answers.
“Hello?... Yes, Amelie, I heard this the first time you called… Yes… No… You need to stay there for treatment and get the help you need… I can’t force them to talk to you, you put them through the ringer for over a year, and that was just when I was here. Who knows what you’ve been putting them through for two decades… Why?... Ah, okay, thanks… Bye.”