by E. M. Moore
“Mandy,” she said. “Mandy Shifborn. I go to Salem State, Kappa Delta.”
I blew out a breath, trying not to judge her as I did my guys at first. “That’s a sorority, right?”
Through the dark, I could just see her outline nodding. “Only the best at the college. Mary, my friend, was so jealous Jay had asked me out, too. She’d been there when I met him, at the Starbucks downtown.”
Her story didn’t sound like mine at all. Was this even magic related? Or did I just somehow fall into the clutches of a psycho as it seemed Mandy had done?
A door creaking open echoed down the hall. A scared cry ripped through Mandy’s throat. “Pretend you’re asleep,” she said quickly before laying down on the stone floor.
I doubted that would work, but I did it anyway. I tried feeling the magic inside me in case I needed to use it to defend myself. Slow footsteps echoed down the corridor until they stopped in front of our cells. It sounded like a decent length of hallway and I wished I’d asked Mandy if there was anyone else down here with us. Just my luck, I heard whoever had come down fiddling with the lock on my cell. I conjured my magic, trying to pull it from deep within me just like Randy had tried to do, but each time, it flared out before I could even get it to catch.
I froze as the cell door finally creaked open. Footsteps marched my way and then a sharp kick hit me in the side. I couldn’t help the groan that came from my mouth. “Good,” the voice said. “You’re up. I have someone who wants to talk to you.”
“Fuck you,” I said. It was of no use pretending to sleep now.
The guy kicked me in the side again and then hauled me up by the shoulders. His breath was putrid as he breathed on me, like stale alcohol mixed with garlic. “We might can arrange that. I know Jay has his fun so…”
There was a movement in the other cell and before the guy could look that way, I spoke up. “You’re disgusting.”
His lips curled up as he brought his attention back to me. “Thank you.”
He pushed me forward, and I nearly fell. My feet were banged up too, which I hadn’t noticed with the constant throb of my shoulder. By some miracle, I managed to stay on my feet and limped from the cell, trying to get a glimpse of Mandy as I went. No luck, she’d retreated further inside, right into the shadows. As I walked, I looked from side to side. There were other cells in there, but none of them were occupied. When I got to three stone steps that led to a door, the man behind me pushed past me, unlocking the huge metal door and pulling me inside.
The scenery immediately changed. I blinked at the sudden light that seared my irises. The man’s hand wrapped around my forearm and pulled me along beside him as we went up another flight of steps, a maroon-colored runner lining the center. Once at the top, he pushed open a door to our right and gave me a shove toward the center of the room. A man in front of us sat at a huge mahogany desk. He had dark hair that covered his features. When he looked up, he was still obscured by the mass of hair, but when he pushed it out of his face, I gasped.
The man’s face lit up with a grin. “So, you do recognize me?”
Son of a bitch. I tried to piece together his name, but came up with nothing. I only recognized him as someone I’d sold a weak voodoo doll to. He’d been creepy as fuck, but the money he was willing to pay was good. I usually didn’t mess around with voodoo dolls, and I told him as much, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I’d decided to make him up one with only a glimmer of magic that would satisfy him. Apparently, that didn’t work out.
“I bet you didn’t think you’d be seeing me again.” He steepled his fingers together in front of him, looking every bit as dangerous as the day he walked into my shop in New Orleans.
“How did you find me?” I immediately snapped my jaw shut after vomiting that question out.
“It wasn’t that hard, actually. Well, it was a little hard at first because you’d also charmed the doll to not remember who you were.” My mouth formed an ‘o’ and the guy laughed before standing and coming closer. “Good thing you’re not the only one who can do magic. I’m quite surprised at the number of you, actually. It didn’t take me that long to figure out the voodoo doll wasn’t the real thing, by the way. It just took me a lot longer to figure out how to fix it. That’s when I met someone more powerful than you with my same thirst for vengeance.”
“You seriously brought me here because I sold you a fake voodoo doll? Don’t you have better things to do?”
The guy’s eyes narrowed, his southern accent slipping through. “You ruined something for me, then made it so I couldn’t punish you for it. You deserve to pay.”
A niggle of ‘I told you so’ formed in my chest. Granny was always telling me I might mess with the wrong person. I hated it when she was right. But that didn’t make sense as to why the guys were involved in this? Or did I bring them into my shit and then left the only ones who could protect me? “Who are you?” I asked, fed up with the whole situation. A quick check around the room told me that there were two windows. I had a brief glimpse of me running full force toward one, turtling into a ball, and bursting through the window. Then again, I’d only seen that attempted on TV and I wasn’t sure if I could even break the window like that or where I’d end up once I did. For all I knew, we could be on the tenth floor and I’d fall to my death.
“You messed with the wrong person, Norah Darbonne. Did you think it was an accident I came into your shop?” He shook his head. “No, I’d heard of your grandmother. Even tried to work with her, offered her a mighty sum of money, but she turned me down. She was a lot stronger than you. But when you said you couldn’t make me the voodoo doll, I knew you were lying. No descendant of your grandmother could deny her ability to make a voodoo doll. Now, isn’t that right, Child? It’s too bad you didn’t keep up your end of the bargain.”
He stepped toward me and I matched him, taking a step back. Mandy thought these people were extremely dangerous and I didn’t want to be anywhere near them. “What do you want? Is it a doll? I’ll make you a real one now if you just let me go.”
His crack of laughter thundered through the room. My gut clenched. “It’s too late for that, Darbonne. I got what I wanted thanks to someone else. It just so happens, he needs you now more than I do so it was my job to bring you here. I just wanted you to see my face so whatever happens to you while you’re here, you know it was because of me. You know it’s because you messed with the wrong person. Don’t think your witch friends will save you either. I’ve been assured that whatever ties you together won’t be working as properly.”
He motioned toward the guy behind me. Strong fingers clutched my forearm again and pulled. Desperate, I looked around for a way out, but it was too late. The guy from the cafe had a death grip on me and he was already leading me out of the posh room and back to the crisp, dark area with the cells in it.
He pushed me down the hall and then threw me inside my cell. I fell to my knees and skidded, making another round of raw injuries on me. To my utter horror, the guy didn’t leave though. He followed me in. He pulled at the waistband of my pants and forced me to my back. “Considering how much Mr. Dupre hates you, I don’t think he’ll mind if I just…” His voice trailed off as one of his slimy fingers trailed down my chest to my navel. My stomach clenched. I tried to kick out, but he tucked my feet under his knees and leaned over.
“Don’t,” I said, trying to sound as powerful as I could, but it came out begging anyway. All his weight on my toes sent searing pain up my legs.
Swirls of emotion surrounded me, and I tried to grasp on to the ones I recognized as magic, but fuck if I couldn’t. It didn’t come as easy as when Randy was standing there next to me.
His hand slipped underneath my shirt and started to rise. I tried to slap him away, but he took both my hands and pinned them over my head, holding them with one hand while his other returned to my bare stomach. “You are a sight,” he said, taking a second to stroke his dick through his pants while I watched.
&nbs
p; I squeezed my eyes shut. “Please. Don’t. I’ll give you whatever you want. You heard Dupre, I have powers.”
He paused for a second. “But I also heard you’re a tease with those powers, making up fake spells.” He leaned over, his breath dangerously close to my neck. “I don’t like teases.”
“I won’t,” I told him. “I’ll give you the real thing. What do you want?”
His soft chuckle started a tremor in my hands. Again, I searched within myself. My magic was there, just trying to break through the surface, more than what I’d felt before, but it still wasn’t enough. “Just you,” he said. “There’s no way I could let you go. Mr. Dupre’s scary enough, but you haven’t met the other one yet.” The big guy on top of me shivered before tracing his lips up my neck.
“Please, don’t.”
His lips roamed higher and higher, over my neck to my chin and then hovered at the corner of my mouth. His hips moved forward and I screamed.
“Don’t!”
He stopped. Mercifully, his whole body froze. I opened my eyes to find his wide and panicked. At the end of the hall, the big metal door clanged open and footsteps thudded against the stone. I waited with my heart in my throat. Were these people going to help me? Or hurt me?
The man on top of me looked as if he wanted to move, but he was stuck in one place. Suddenly, a voice called out, “Norah?”
Randy! “Here!” I screamed. “Help me! Please, help me!”
The cell bars next to me rattled. A spark of green crackled from his fingertips and the doors flew open. He ran inside, barreling himself toward my captor and sending him flying toward the stone wall. The guy hit it with a thud and then rolled down, collapsing in a heap.
I sat up, pulling my shirt down, and clasping my hands around myself, pulling Liam’s hoodie tight around me. Strong hands pulled me to an even stronger body. “Shh, baby girl, we’re here.”
A sob tried to escape, but I tamped it down. I stood on shaky legs, Randy helping me the entire time. Gabe stood by the cell, his face stricken as he looked on. “A girl,” I said, pointing to the next cell over. “Mandy, she’s in there. We need to help her.”
Gabe immediately turned and unlocked Mandy’s cell using magic. My body surged as his sparked to life. The cell creaked open and a body soared into his arms, nearly toppling them both over. “Okay, okay,” Gabe said, trying to comfort her.
“Are you guys coming or what?”
Randy walked me out into the hall and I saw Travis ahead next to the door that was now off its hinges. His face was hard, but as soon as he saw me, he softened a little. Just a tiny bit, but it was there. Gabe and Randy escorted Mandy and I out of the hallway. We bypassed the stairs the guy had taken me up before and went deeper down a hallway that led to a back door. They ushered us outside and to a white van that waited on the street. The door slid open and Liam was right there. He held out his hand to help me in the van and I willingly took it. He held me close to him as I curled into a ball at his side. Gabe, Travis, and Mandy came in next while Randy hopped into the driver’s side. Within moments, we were pulling away from the curb. Mandy sobbed into Gabe’s chest and he did his best to comfort her while also peeking at me.
After about a half an hour, the van pulled over. Liam helped me down from the van and I frowned. We were in the middle of nowhere. “We’re not home?”
“No. We’re hours away yet still.”
I watched as Randy and Travis made their way to two vehicles that were stored in the woods. Headlights flashed as they unlocked the car doors. “Where are we?”
“Maine.”
“Holy shit.”
“No kidding, Love,” Gabe said. “If it wasn’t for Travis, we’d never have found you.”
“What?” I almost choked. Travis? The one who hated me?
“Someone named Granny came to visit him in his sleep and told him where to find you,” Liam said, his fingers teasing through my hair.
“Granny visited Travis?”
Travis walked up to our group. “I wasn’t happy about it either.”
None of this made sense. Granny visited Travis, too. Half the time I thought I was losing it when I saw her, but maybe she was the real thing?
“She said she’s sorry for telling you to leave, and that she’s old, so…” He shrugged. It was as if he’d just spoken those words right from her mouth.
“Fucking A.”
Liam took my hand and led me to the sedan Randy was driving. Travis, Gabe and Mandy got in a Jeep. Before she got in, I whispered to her, “You can trust these guys.”
She nodded into Gabe’s spotty t-shirt where she’d left tear circles. He looked at me longingly but got in after Mandy. As much as I would’ve loved to have all of us in the same vehicle, I knew that couldn’t happen. Instead, I snuggled up next to Liam in the backseat, loving the way his even breaths calmed me.
Chapter Sixteen
My eyes started to drift shut when I’d heard Liam speak. I’d already given them a rundown of what happened and they asked their questions. Not as many as I was sure I was going to get but enough to satisfy them for the time being. “She’s pretty banged up,” Liam said, his voice tense.
“Will she live?”
“Well, y-yeah.”
“Then we’re not stopping anywhere. We need to put as much distance between us and them as possible.”
“I’ll be alright,” I said. “I can wait.”
Liam nuzzled me. “You’re shaking, and your wounds look like they really hurt.”
I closed my eyes and searched for my magic. I felt it at the surface, ready and willing. “I um, I might be able to heal myself…” I ventured.
“Say that again?”
“Heal myself,” I repeated. “I’ve only ever done it once when Granny was around to help me. I’ve never done it since. Never had to.”
I tried a small smile, but Liam had on his research face as if he was trying to figure me out. “If you can, I think you should do it. You must be in pain. You looked a lot worse than the other girl.”
“Yeah, well, the other girl didn’t get taken from a bus crash. She was on a date with some guy named Jay.”
Liam shook his head. “Okay, one thing at a time. Do you want to try to heal yourself?”
I nodded, and Liam helped me sit up a little. I closed my eyes and pictured my magic like Randy had said to the other day. I pictured it reaching out over my entire body like vines, roping and twisting and turning all over my limbs. Over my shoulder and head, the magic felt as if it was pooling.
“Shit,” Liam said.
My eyes opened. The car was glowing purple. I pulled my arm out of Liam’s hoodie and pulled my shirt down. In front of our eyes, my skin was stitching itself back together again, much like when I was sixteen and accidentally cut myself with a knife when I was making dinner. Granny liked to make everyday things a lesson in magic when she could. When it was fully healed, and the lights dimmed again, Liam just stared at me.
“You’re amazing. I can’t believe it. Randy, she just healed herself. I saw it.”
Randy’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror. He was smiling, looking at me.
I couldn’t bask in it for too long because shortly after, my body started to go haywire again. It shook and shook as if I’d drunk too many energy drinks. My limbs started to hurt. I sucked in a breath. “Ow.”
Liam’s hands hovered over my body. “What’s wrong? It didn’t work.”
I shook my head. “No, it worked too much. It’s like the other day when Randy and I did magic together. I must have used some of your guys’ magic to heal myself.” I hissed, breathing through a particularly painful jolt through my body.
“Oh. Ohhh,” Liam said as it finally sank in. He’d seen the very aftermath of what Gabe and I had done to calm me down, to expend some of the energy coursing through my frayed veins. “Randy?”
“I’m driving,” he said. “Do something, Liam. She shouldn’t be in pain like that.”
Liam pulled
me closer to him and wound his arms tight around me. Though that made me feel a little better, it wasn’t what I needed. I lifted my hand up and touched his chin. He had a bit of stubble there that wasn’t there the other day. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up,” I told him.
His eyes turned from fear-ridden to soft. “It’s okay. I got your letter explaining everything.”
I smiled, then arched up, catching the corner of his lips. My body surged. I did it again, and Liam responded, pressing his lips to mine.
Humming, my body wanted him closer. I pulled at his shirt and planted my full lips on his. He growled deep in his throat as I let him in. His tongue swept between my lips sweetly, but I needed more. I bit his lip and he pulled away, his eyes wide. “I don’t know if I can be what you need right now, Norah.”
“It’s okay,” I told him. I cringed as a shiver rocked my body.
“I want to,” he said, his fingers gripping me. “I just don’t know if I’ll be enough. Randy…”
“Damnit, Liam. Just do it.”
I hissed in pain and Liam looked back and forth between Randy and me. “You would be better at it.”
“Dude, she’s into you. She wants you right now. Not me. It doesn’t matter how you do it. Just take care of her.”
Liam swallowed as he caught my gaze. “I’ve never done it with an audience,” he whispered.
“Neither have I,” I offered. Not that that idea didn’t turn me on. Especially Randy being able to watch us through the rearview mirror.
I bit down on my lip at the thought and Liam groaned. “Why do you always have to be sexy as hell?” He shot forward, his lips landing soundly on mine as he took control. His hand came up to cradle the back of my head as he kissed me thoroughly. With one hand holding me there, his other ventured down, cupping my breast.
“Oh fuck,” I gasped, hissing my pleasure.
“Aw, shit,” Randy said. I peeked over and watched as he shifted in his seat.
“Sorry,” I breathed.
“Just don’t mind me while I get fucking turned on about my best friend fucking you.”