Josh turned to Don, “You feel the same?”
Don replied coldly, “Yes.”
Josh pulled out his phone and called Tony, the alpha of the wolf pack. They were on the phone for only a few minutes as Josh went over everything. He hung up.
“Alright, Tony said you can come out to the pack’s land tomorrow, during the day, and he’ll decide after talking to you. I’d advise you not to stick around if it doesn’t work out.”
The brothers nodded, and Tony and Celia stood and let themselves out. She hoped it worked out regardless, the pack was a little estrogen heavy, and despite their hatred of witches, the brothers seemed like good people. Maybe if Jennie took to one of them she wouldn’t feel guilty anymore about Jennie losing both her brother and lover in a few short days.
That hadn’t been her fault, but she definitely claimed some of the responsibility for it.
During the drive back to the store she wondered if Josh would ever relax. She smiled, probably in fifty years when he was his father’s age…
It was strange having Ed in the shop all day, but it didn’t get awkward until Dan came by around four thirty and picked up Berny. Mia wasn’t in tonight, so they were kind of… stuck in the store, together. She hoped nothing happened that required them to leave, although she was sure Mia would be able to get in if she called in an emergency.
After closing she opened the back door for her normal nightly run without thinking.
Ed brought her up short, “Where are you going Celia?”
She frowned back at him, “Running, I go every night. If I don’t I won’t be able to sleep.”
He pursed his lips, “Fine, give me a minute. I’d never be able to keep up with you so I’ll follow in the car.”
So there she was, jogging another twenty miles through the streets of Rock Hill with Ed following along in the car. It usually felt good, but she felt a little exposed being watched running twenty miles in just under thirty minutes. It was a lot to run, twenty miles each morning and evening. Usually she would be running in the morning and then training at night with Paul, but with him gone she had to dump the energy somehow.
Sitting in a store didn’t help with that at all.
She also had a random thought, and wondered if he was staring at her backside, which made her feel… self-conscious. What made it awkward for her wasn’t the idea that he was looking, but more the idea that she didn’t mind if he was. She was starting to get a handle on her new libido, but it could still be disconcerting at times. Confused kind of summed her up at that moment.
She’d never been a fickle person when it came to relationships, but it was harder to not notice Ed with the intense chemistry that Paul and her shared fading from her mind. Then she started to doubt how much she actually cared for Paul, and how much was just her bodies new cravings. Sure, Paul was nice, and solicitous at times, but there was always that intense overlay of sexual tension between them.
She thought it would drive her crazy, and on this subject Silva was no help at all, she’d be totally fine playing with either or both, which she’d never consider. She knew she’d regret it if she gave into the impulse, but at the same time it was getting harder to resist her new appetite that way.
She was living a life of abstinence, and she was starting to wonder why that was. Why shouldn’t she enjoy herself? It was hard to answer, except, she was still working out exactly who that was. And perhaps she was a little too stubborn to allow her proclivities to determine her actions. Then again, wasn’t she just fighting her own nature by doing that? It was a balance though, people fought their desires all the time, to stay faithful to a spouse, or stopping themselves from killing someone annoying.
Just because it was more difficult now didn’t mean it was right to just give in.
It was just so much more difficult now, when her emotions and thoughts pulled her in different directions she wasn’t sure yet where that balance should be. That’s what she needed to figure out, what her new limits were. She was different now, a shifter, a tiger that couldn’t be monogamous with one person her whole life. That didn’t mean she couldn’t be a serial monogamist though. Maybe that could be her new line. One person at a time, for as long as it could last.
The idea of one night stands didn’t appeal at all, it sounded to lonely, and empty. Well, on one level it did appeal, but it wasn’t hard to ignore.
When she finished the run she waited outside until Ed parked the car, and they made their way upstairs to her apartment. She got out some sheets, a blanket, and a spare pillow and piled them on her couch before jumping in the shower. She got dressed in comfortable shorts and a t-shirt, she refused to wear the new clothes in the comfort of her own home, and took a seat on the couch with Ed. He was watching the news channel.
Well isn’t this cozy.
She said tentatively, “So… I’m not sure how long this is going to take us to figure out, so make yourself at home. Feel free to grab food or drink without asking. All I ask is that you stay away from my ritual room.”
He said gruffly, “Thanks, I won’t invade your personal space. I’ll stick to out here and the kitchen. We need to go by my place tomorrow though, I need some clothes and to grab some toiletries.”
She frowned, “We should have done it earlier.”
He shrugged, “Its fine, I didn’t think about it until after Berny left, by then it was too late.”
She nodded, thinking about her safe in the floor a few feet away. She’d wanted to do some research, but that wasn’t happening tonight. She trusted Ed well enough, but not enough to risk her family’s legacy and spell books.
She fidgeted a bit, then excused herself and went into her private sanctuary and ritual room. Was she attracted to Ed? Had she always been and didn’t notice because she’d been panting after Paul so bad, or was she simply horny and Ed just happened to be there. She pushed that all down and lit her candles with her power and sat down.
She took a deep breath and slipped into a trance. Separated from her feelings, it was a bit easier to sort out. She liked Ed as a friend, but that was it. That didn’t mean he wasn’t attractive, because he was, plus, she really… wanted sex, which was what confused things in her mind. She’d have to deal though, because she wasn’t giving in to a one night stand mentality just to scratch an itch.
Even if she did think she might be going a little more insane from resisting the urge.
She saw another one then, in the flames out of the corner of her right eye. Part of the flame looked darker… and somehow thicker. She couldn’t really make out the shape, it was too small.
She whispered in frustration, “What are you?”
“We are fire, daughter of magic.” It answered in a multi tonal voice directly in her mind.
Her head snapped in its direction in shock, but it wasn’t there. She turned her head back forward, still not there, it must have left. We are fire… and they called her daughter of magic… why did that send chills down her spine?
Crap!
She didn’t need to research what they were, because it was obvious. They were elementals. Air and fire, the two elements she had control over. But… she’d never dealt with, summoned or even considered summoning an elemental. So why were they watching her, and why didn’t they let her look at them directly?
Elementals were from other planes of existence. They weren’t evil like demons… more neutral as far as good and evil were concerned. But they were completely alien in thought, and amoral, in the sense that right and wrong had no meaning to them. It was risky for a witch to deal with them, almost as bad as dealing with a demon would be. As if she didn’t already have enough to deal with, and she still needed to do research, she knew a little of the elementals, but if they had an interest in her for some reason, she needed to learn more.
She snuffed the candles and went back to the couch, she felt a lot less awkward now. They chatted for a little bit about what might be coming and what more they could do. He laid down his own protect
ion spells over hers. She didn’t think a bug could get in her apartment without waking them up now.
It was getting close to midnight, so she said goodnight and went into the bedroom. Despite Ed on the couch, and the possibility of more assassins coming, she fell asleep quickly.
Chapter 5
She woke immediately and fully at the sound of broken glass and looked at the window. The pane was broken, and then she heard a few thumps and something rolling on the floor. She looked over in that direction in disbelief.
Someone had thrown a grenade in through her window.
That was a thought she’d never expected to have. She leapt from the bed screaming grenade so Ed wouldn’t run inside her room, while she hurtled her body out of the window.
It was only thirty feet or so, and she knew she’d fall on her feet. She felt a sting of impact along her side at the same time she heard the gunshot. Her wards held, but it couldn’t block many bullets before it cracked. Crap. She saw the guy, he was across the street and already dodging and moving randomly as if expecting magic.
Luckily that seemed to ruin his accuracy, at least enough to allow her to make it to the ground alive, as she landed she heard another shot but wasn’t hit.
She dove behind Ed’s car, then heard a low laugh, and another clunk followed be a roll. Shit, Ed was going to kill her. She dove to the side and pulled hard as hard as she dared on her magic while yielding control of their body to Silva. She was in tiger form and three quarters across the street before the grenade blew behind her. A secondary explosion, completely taking out the car, followed a second later.
Silva ran him down in a zigzag motion while she distracted the bastard with flares in his eyes, and small hits of air in his eyes, throat, and groin. The shifter screamed in anger at that last one, but Silva closed the distance before he could aim the weapon and lunged at him, took him down, and ripped out his throat. Silva felt a strong sense of satisfaction, but Celia was freaked out. She looked around, realized that she was on a main street, as a tiger, with a dead man, and her bedroom was on fire behind her with smoke pouring out the window.
Luckily, it wasn’t residential and there weren’t many people around at three in the morning. She cast a glamour over herself and the dead shifter, and then waited.
Ed stuck his head out of her window, “You okay? Fire is out, but… Your bed is dead I’m afraid, as is your dresser.”
She roared.
He jumped a little at the sound and Silva preened.
Ed frowned, “I’ll be right down to… let you in.”
Ed let her in and took care of the corpse as she went upstairs and got in the shower before changing back human. She took a fast shower, put on a robe and went to her room. It was a mess, the bed had chunks blasted out of it, and some mattress springs were sticking out of the mattress. Her dresser was full of holes as well. Surprisingly that was most of the damage outside of the little crater in the wood floor.
She had no trouble finding a pair of undamaged panties in the top drawer though, and the clothes in her closet were fine. She was dressed before Ed got back upstairs.
Ed sounded annoyed, “Nothing we can use, I mean the guy is from Virginia, but nothing on him to help us find out who’s behind it.”
She sighed, “I wasn’t expecting hand grenades.”
Ed shook his head, “It was a more common tactic than you’d believe during the war. Shifters realized early on a grenade would rip right through a witch’s wards, much faster than going through a magazine of bullets.”
She raised an eyebrow, she’d never heard that before. Of course, her mother had never really talked much about the war, Fran either.
“I need to get this window boarded up or something.”
Ed asked, “Do you have duct tape?”
She nodded.
Ed shrugged, “Just tape a bag over it, we can call for an emergency window replacement in the morning.”
She nodded, but where was she going to sleep? The couch was kind of small for two. She’d need a new bed tomorrow as well. Maybe she should just wait until it was over, or she’d be buying new stuff every night…
Ed seemed to realize the problem at the same time, “Let’s go to my house? I even have a guest room. We can come back here before you open?”
She nodded in agreement and covered the window before they left. As they pulled away from the curb her phone went off. It was Fran and she got a bad feeling.
“Hey, what happened?”
Fran sounded a little frayed on the edges, “We were attacked tonight, by a vampire. He just walked in through the wards like he owned the place, doesn’t make no sense. He… was after Elaine. She’s alright, we got almost everyone to the ritual room, for some reason those wards stopped him. It just doesn’t make sense, he shouldn’t have been able to get in at all.”
She choked out, “Almost?”
Fran cleared her throat, “Sharon… didn’t make it. He umm, drained her in the chaos of the fight. It was a mess, our spells just seemed to not affect him at all, even fire was just absorbed. That’s… not right, a vampire should have gone up in flames faster than anything. More of us would have died, but Berny used her telekinesis against him indirectly, using the couch, and held him against the wall long enough for us all… the rest of us to make it.”
She said softly, “I’m sorry Fran, how do you know he was after Elaine.”
Fran’s voice was more fragile than she’d ever heard, “He taunted her, said she’d been a bad girl and he was here to take her back to Gerald, but that he’d have plenty of time to play with her and her daughter first. I can’t repeat what he actually said, it was vulgar and… sexual in nature. Said no one could stop him. When he was stopped by the circle, he just smiled, like he was just having fun, and said he’d be back for her later. It was… creepy, and his voice sounded wrong. Then he left.”
She frowned, “Could it have been a demon Fran? One possessing the vampire? It would explain the magic part, and the passing through the protection wards. Only a spell circle against evil like the ones protecting a ritual room can trap or keep out a demon right? And even the binding spells only work if the demon actually agrees to a deal.”
It was why dealing with Demons was so dangerous, if they escaped the summoning circle, or somehow got around the deal, a witches magic was pretty much useless to stop them.
Fran gasped, “Do you really think Gerald sent a demon here?”
She wasn’t sure, but it kind of made sense.
“I can’t say for sure, but it would explain why he waited so long to try again, he needed the full moon from a couple of nights ago to summon it. It’s probably why he put out the contract on Ed and I at the same time, revenge and a distraction so the demon would have a relatively free hand here. Of course, I’m assuming he’s the one that sent assassins, but it’s looking a lot more likely by the minute.
“Based on what Elaine has told us about him, I certainly wouldn’t put it past him to use evil magic like this. Do you need Ed and I to come there?”
Fran asked, “Is that a good idea?”
She sighed, “Maybe not, I’d be adding assassins to a vampire demon to what might be attacking. But then, I’d have a better chance fighting the demon, since magic won’t work. My shifter side has the speed and strength to match a vampire’s. If I harm his body enough, he’ll lose the connection and get sent back to hell.”
Fran asked, “What about your store?”
She replied, “Well, I can leave in the morning, the demon might have a stronger host, but it also has a vampires disadvantages. It won’t be able to bear the light of the sun at all, so it won’t be attacking during the day. We can figure something out, and if I have to I’ll close the store early and get back before sunset.”
What she really wanted to do was drive to Albany and rip Gerald’s throat out. But that would be a mistake. He’s strongest on his home ground but she’d have to figure something out. The bastard had sent assassins after her and Ed, and
a demon into another coven to reclaim Elaine as property. She’d find a way to make him pay for it.
She filled in Ed as they went to his house first so he could pack a bag. Then as he started to head for the coven house, he called the council. Ed agreed with her on pretty much all of it, but wasn’t ready to close his mind to other possibilities yet. It could be two unrelated things, though she didn’t think he really believed that. Either way, by sending a demon after a local coven, it would be more than her that Gerald would end up facing, the council wouldn’t stand still for it…
Chapter 6
The coven house for the Rock Hill coven wasn’t nearly as grand as the coven house in Charlotte. It was still large however, an eighteen room mansion with currently twelve coven members in residence. There were more than that in the coven of course. Some lived separately with their own family, but close by in the neighborhood.
When they pulled up in front of the large white mansion Celia had herself at a high alert level. There was nothing that said the demon couldn’t come back tonight, or even that it wasn’t waiting patiently for something to change before it attacked again. They wouldn’t be safe until daybreak, which was still over two hours away. She half expected someone would foolishly come outside to greet them, and was glad when they didn’t.
She and Ed got out of the car and felt the glamour on the front door. They both ignored the illusion and walked right through it, as the real door had been kicked in and damaged. She felt… strange as she walked back to the ritual room. She knew where it was from the few times she’d visited the coven house, but she’d never seen it before not being a part of the coven.
It felt like a violation, so she stood by the doorway and noticed Ed looked equally uncomfortable as they looked into the room stuffed with frightened and tired witches. Sharon was around her age, just twenty six, and missing from the circle. They didn’t see her body on the way in, had the demon taken it? She was so angry she swore internally she would get Gerald for this, and then Silva’s soulful howl invaded her inner mind it solidified the oath.
Demon's Moon: A Celia Winters Novel Book 2 Page 3