Consort of Fire: A Paranormal Reverse Harem Novel (The Witch's Consorts Book 4)

by Eva Chase

  It reeled me back down the street until I reached what looked like a posh nightclub, tidy brick exterior with a sleek black sign, the name of the place written there in graceful white lettering. Den of Spades. I shifted my hands in a quick casting, searching for any signs of magicking in or around the building, but there didn’t appear to be any spells laid in the area.

  I started up the front steps tentatively, expecting to send another testing spell before I entered, but the tug stilled as I reached the black doormat. Okay. I was here. Where was the page?

  I prodded the thread of connection delicately, and my hand lifted to a plaque mounted to the side of the door, proclaiming the building’s historical legacy. The barest tip of a piece of paper protruded from behind it. My heart skipped a beat.

  No unsparked person could have fished that paper out. I summoned it with a twitch of my fingers over the plaque, and it leapt from between the brass and brick with a soft rasp. I clutched it against my palm.

  Two men in business suits were coming up the steps now, one of them giving me an odd look. I slipped past them down to the sidewalk.

  “That’s it?” Ky said, glancing at the club. “You found it?”

  I nodded. “Let’s get back in the car to look at it. It’s safe enough. No magic on it.” Except the tinge my love had imbued it with.

  We piled back into the car in the same positions. Seth and Ky twisted around to watch as I unfolded the paper. My pulse thumped on at a frantic rhythm. There had to be some reason Gabriel had left it there, had told me to come for it. None of this made sense yet.

  It still didn’t make sense in the first instant my eyes fell on the open page. Gabriel had scrawled seven pairs of words—seven names, I realized after a moment—in the margins, his handwriting so messy I almost couldn’t decipher the letters. As if he’d been writing without even being able to look at what he was doing, I thought, a lump rising in my throat.

  Dorothy Meyer

  Vincent Wilder

  Justin Brimsey

  My breath stopped. The head of Unsparked Relations. One of the people in the Assembly we’d been hoping to reach.

  My gaze darted to the next name. Another I didn’t recognize. But the fifth was Gwen Remington of International Affairs. And the sixth Miriam Travers, a witch who was second in command in the Finances division who we’d also considered approaching.

  “What?” Damon demanded. “Can you even tell what he was trying to say?”

  “It’s the names of people from the Assembly,” I said. “Including three of the people we thought we could trust to go against the Frankfords if they knew the truth.”

  Jin’s eyebrows arched. “What do you think that means?”

  “I don’t know. I—”

  My gaze drifted back to the club. The men in their business suits who’d passed me going in—Charles Frankford would have fit right in with them, wouldn’t he? A sudden certainty closed around my chest.

  “Frankford met with these people here,” I said, shaking the paper. “Recently.”

  Ky’s eyes lit up. “Gabriel knew we needed a meeting spot to use Frankford’s code.”

  “Hold on,” Seth said. “Did Gabriel know we specifically wanted to talk to these people?”

  I shook my head. “We hadn’t come up with our list of trustworthy people until after he left. I don’t even know half the people he mentioned here.”

  “He was at the meeting,” Ky suggested. “He could tell they weren’t huge fans of Frankford, so they seemed like good names for us to know.”

  “We can’t just assume he was doing this in good faith,” Damon said. “He was brutal to Rose and then he took off. He went straight to those assholes. I don’t trust him for a second.”

  The memory of my last conversation with Gabriel made me wince. That pain ran deep, so deep I didn’t know if I’d ever quite heal completely. But Gabriel hadn’t been all wrong. I had been changing; I’d been acting in ways I never would have wanted to if I’d been able to think some of those situations through calmly.

  And I knew him. I knew the boy who’d drawn me into this circle of love when we were only kids. I knew the man he’d grown up into, who’d crossed the country at my call, who’d bound his heart to mine even after he’d seen the danger a loyalty like that had brought down on the other guys.

  For the first time since he’d stalked down the road away from me, a glow of hope covered the wound inside me like a salve.

  I hadn’t lost him. Not completely.

  “No,” I said. “Everything about this feels genuine to me. He’s trying to help. I don’t know why he did everything else he’s done, but this—we have to listen to this. He’s given us the key we needed.”

  Now we had to make sure we used it well.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Rose

  “Are you ready?” I asked Naomi.

  She nodded where she was leaning against the van she’d rented when she’d flown into the state. We’d set up a little base of operations in this field, far enough into the middle of nowhere that no one would notice our little group but close enough to the Frankfords’ seaside property that we could get there in under an hour. The tall grass rustled with the warm summer breeze, carrying the scent of freshly reaped hay from a nearby farm.

  “Does this look good?” My cousin showed her phone to me. She’d already composed the text to send to her mother, my Aunt Ginny. I don’t know what to do! Rose is getting ready to make some kind of attack on the Frankfords’ grandson, and I don’t think I can stop her.

  “Perfect,” I said. “Go ahead and send it.”

  Aunt Ginny was in on the ploy. She’d invited my other aunt, Irene, over for lunch. She’d get the text, act distressed, and “accidentally” leave it where Aunt Irene could see the message. We were pretty sure Irene would pass on a warning about this latest crazy behavior of mine like she had before.

  We weren’t counting on a frantic message from Aunt Irene doing all the work for us, of course. I stepped away from the van to join Lesley where she’d been meditating in preparation for our casting. She could feel her spark wearing thinner, she’d told me, but she still had some power left. And the last thing she’d wanted to do was sit this effort out, even if she didn’t have the full picture of what we were fighting against.

  There were two-person and larger forms that witches could perform with each other too. I started to turn in a slow circle, fanning the flame of my spark with flicks of my fingers, and Lesley swayed through a larger circle around me. The tingle of her magic wafted over me, joining with mine to send it sparking even higher.

  With her help, I’d cast my illusion all the way to Seattle. All the way to the house the Frankfords’ daughter and husband lived in, where we expected the family to be home right now. I’d conjure a small real fire on the tree at the back of the yard to add a smoky realism—and the illusion of larger flames flaring around the house’s windows. Enough to scare them, I hoped. Enough to make them think I was trying to hurt them without putting them at the slightest real risk.

  The Frankfords and their faction believed I was dangerous? I could skew that assumption in my favor. A crazed witch might attack a child associated with her enemies. The Frankfords would have to respond to the threat.

  And while they were distracted by our bluff, we could put our real plan into motion.

  Heat whirled faster and hotter in my chest. I pressed my toes into the ground as I spun faster. My arms wove out through the air and up. Then I stopped, my hands clapping together with fingers splayed, every ounce of my will hurling the energy inside me across the state line.

  Even with Lesley’s support, the casting left me briefly exhausted. I stumbled, and Damon was right there to catch me. “Careful, angel,” he murmured.

  I turned in his arms, seeking out his mouth. He met my kiss without hesitation. I drank in both the sizzle of energy that generated between us and the warm glow of love that radiated from him.

  “Are you all right?�
� Naomi asked when I eased back from my consort. “I could have pitched in too if it was going to take a lot out of you.”

  I shook my head. “I want you fresh for when we’re out there at the Cliff. I’ll be pretty much recovered by the time we make it there.” I glanced past her to Kyler, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of the van, turned toward the open door. “Any word from Seth yet?”

  “They haven’t seen any movement,” Kyler reported. His brother and Jin were staked out closer to the Frankfords’ property, watching the security there. He rubbed his mouth. “How long do you think we should wait before we— Hold on.”

  He peered at the phone. The rest of us hustled over. A smile stretched across Ky’s face.

  “It worked,” he said. “The Frankfords must have called some of their lackeys onto other duty—to check things out in Seattle, probably. Six cars just left the estate. They couldn’t see exactly how many guards were in each of them, but that means the numbers there are down at least a little.”

  “There’ll still be at least a couple dozen on the property,” Damon said. He cracked his knuckles. “But we’ll make sure they wish they’d left too, right?”

  “We’re not going to hurt anyone we don’t have to,” I reminded him with a nudge of my elbow. “We want it to be totally clear that they’re the bad guys here.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said, but he grinned at me.

  “Ready to call the Assembly in?” Ky asked me. “I’ve got the phone simulation running.”

  I nodded. “If the Frankfords are reaching out to their security, they’re already distracted. We’ve got to get this moving before they decide there’s no real threat in Seattle.”

  I came up beside him to type out the message I’d prepared. It’d appear on the phones of our contacts as if it’d come from the number they’d connect with Frankford. A lot has changed since the Den of Spades. I need your presence urgently at the coordinates I’m sending. We’re on the verge of catastrophe here.

  Ky shot off the messages and the location. We waited, my heart thumping, to see how Gwen Remington and the others would respond.

  What’s the emergency? Justin Brimsey wrote back. How does it involve my department?

  You really need to see this to fully understand, I replied. Hurry, please.

  All right. I’ll make my excuses. It’ll take an hour to get out there. This had better be as serious as you’re saying, Charles.

  Similar responses were coming in from the other contacts. They didn’t sound all that happy with Frankford, but that was a good sign for us. All that mattered was that they’d believed it.

  “They’re coming,” I said, and Damon let out a whoop of victory. Lesley bobbed excitedly on her feet. “The next part of the plan, then?”

  “We’ll head over and get in position,” I said. “We won’t want to start the next phase until our, er, guests are pretty close.”

  Naomi hopped back into the front to drive. Damon, Lesley, and I climbed into the back of the van. I ducked all the way into the third row of seats where Thalia was sitting in quiet meditation. She opened her eyes when I sat down beside her. The van’s engine rumbled.

  “We’re heading over there now?” she said. Her voice was tight. I couldn’t even imagine how many horrible memories she must have of that place. How many times she might have faced those demons down, been forced to pit her magic against their unnatural energy.

  “We’ll be there soon,” I said. “Are you sure you’re up to this?” Her powers weren’t the strongest after the way her experiences had rattled her nerves, but she was a wild card none of the Frankfords’ allies could have been prepared for. The people from the Assembly would know her—they’d respect her more than they might respect me with my now highly checkered past.

  “I’ll manage,” she said. “Just as long as I don’t have to go right into that place.” She shuddered.

  “You can hang back when we head to the cave,” I said. “I don’t want you having to face those things again.”

  She gave me a sharp but grateful smile.

  As the van pulled onto the main road, I took out my own phone and tapped in the number for Investigator Ruiz. This last bit of the plan might have been the riskiest, but I’d gotten a good feeling about that witch—and the more pieces we had in play that ended up being on our side, the more likely we were to come out ahead in what I hoped was going to be our final gambit.

  This is Rose Hallowell. You asked me to contact you if I could tell you more. Come out to this address as soon as you can make it, and you’ll find out why those witches were no longer safe at home. Bringing back-up might not be a bad idea of you have people there you trust.

  After I’d sent the address, I turned off the phone. She’d either come or she wouldn’t. The mystery would hook her more if I refused to say anything else.

  We turned off the paved road onto a bumpier dirt one. A few minutes later, we pulled up beside Jin’s Nissan. He used the car so little we’d figured none of Frankfords’ people was going to recognize it on sight.

  We got out for a quick conference. “Okay,” I said. “We should get moving. Do you all have everything you need?”

  Damon waggled the stick he was carrying, about the length of his forearm and half as thick. With Lesley’s guidance, I’d cast a spell on it with enough energy that it should be able to stun several people on contact, a lot like the batons the male enforcers carried. He patted his hip too. “And the pistol for back-up. Only if I absolutely have to, I know.”

  The other guys held up their own makeshift batons. Both excitement and apprehension shimmered in all their eyes. I dragged in a breath. “Good. Just like we planned, then. Seth and Lesley, you go around the south side in the van. Jin and Naomi, you go north with the car. Start your magicking to draw the guards away in fifteen minutes. The Assembly people should be here not too long after that.”

  The rest of us—Thalia, Damon, Ky, and I—were going to head right to the front entrance on foot.

  Naomi gave me a quick salute and a determined smile. Seth and Jin kissed me in turn. I wanted to linger in the warmth of their embraces, to hold on to them as if I could hold them away from the danger, but there wasn’t the time, and I couldn’t completely protect them. If this effort was going to work, it needed all of us.

  The two pairs drove off in their respective directions. The remaining four of us started toward the front of the property. I checked my watch every few minutes as we ambled along the road. Eight since we’d parted ways with the others. Twelve. Fourteen.

  I motioned us to a stop below the last low rise before the driveway would come into view. We didn’t want to be seen too early.

  Reddish light flashed toward the south. An unnerving screeching sound carried from the north. I’d left it up to the other witches what spells they cast, but both of those looked like they’d catch a lot of notice. Then they just had to ambush and knock out the guards who came investigating.

  We waited a minute, and then I sent out a testing brush of magic. The quivers that returned to me suggested there were still eight guards waiting near the property’s entrance.

  I could handle that many in one go.

  Thalia and the guys stepped back as I moved into the form I’d first used in a haze of panic when we’d escaped from the Assembly prison. It was my own construction, melded from bits of other spells I’d learned and the readings I’d done on magic to affect the mind. A whip of my arms, a spin of my feet, gathering all the power I could summon to me—and heaving it forward.

  The air crackled with that power. I hadn’t needed to throw it quite this far ever before. My heart lurched for a second as I wondered if it wouldn’t be enough, if it would just irritate the guards but not topple them. Even as the worry passed through my head, the questing spell I’d sent out ahead of time wavered. Those conscious presences I’d felt turned blank.

  “Come on!” I said, waving the others forward with me. We jogged over the slope and down toward the packed di
rt driveway that ran through the Frankfords’ seaside property.

  Bodies were slumped beside the sparsely scattered trees on either side of the driveway. “Over there,” I said quickly, pointing to a small wooden building not too deep into the property. “We can shut them up in there. Take any phones or radios off them first.”

  Damon and I grabbed the nearest guard and hefted her over to the building. The locked door opened at a twist of my fingers and a flash of my spark. We set her on the floor inside. I was just stepping out when a holler carried from the direction of the old farmhouse closer to the coast.

  “Return to position. Boundary breached. I repeat, all units return—”

  Snuff my spark. There’d been more guards farther afield than I’d been able to sense who hadn’t gone after either of the diversions.

  I didn’t have time to think. I launched myself into the magicking again, putting every bit of force I could into the spell, and flung it toward the house.

  The voice cut off. There was a thump somewhere closer by as I’d hit an approaching guard I hadn’t heard at all. I froze, reaching my magic out toward the house and the row of trees beyond it that hid the Cliff.

  “That’s all of them,” I said. As long as the others had dealt with the ones who’d come their way.

  We hurried to drag the other guards into the building. I sealed the door with a locking spell and a blanket of silence that should last at least a few hours. By then we’d be long gone or it wouldn’t matter anyway.

  Even with the intermittent shade of the trees, I’d started to sweat. I wiped at my damp brow. Kyler checked his phone. “The Assembly people could get here in the next few minutes if they left as soon as they said they would. Where do you want to meet them?”

  “Let’s wait by the farmhouse,” I said. “The closer they already are to the Cliff, the easier it’ll be for us to convince them to go look.”

  We sat ourselves on the chipped paint of the house’s porch steps. The Frankfords really didn’t keep this place up at all. How much time had they even spent in this house, rather than just leaving it up to hide the fact that their real use for the property was something very different?