Queen of The Hill (Knight Games)

by Genevieve Jack

  “Rick!” I yelled. The thing’s petals folded in on me. “This thing is using me as Miracle-Gro!”

  Rick cried out. He was fighting his own battle.

  I yelled for Poe but didn’t sense his presence. He must have been too far away to hear me. I’d have to get myself out of this one.

  With effort worthy of a master Pilates class, I kept my face out of the acidic sap and reached for Nightshade. I barely had enough room to slide her off my back, but a yogi-contortion later, and I yanked her free. I hacked at the petal teeth of the plant, and then tried to use my blade to pry the jaws open. Nothing worked. Nightshade bounced off the bright green flower as if it were made of steel, and no amount of prying budged its bite. More than one way to kill a plant. I flipped the blade around and sank it under my arm, into the acidic goo under me. The thing emitted a screech like a dying animal.

  I twisted the blade, grunting with the effort. Success! The flower spit me out on the stone steps … at the feet of Tabetha Van Buren.

  “Grateful Knight, I would request that you please do not damage my landscaping. Have you no manners?” Tabetha looked down her nose at me.

  Speechless, I pointed at the sister-plant of the one that tried to eat me. Rick’s leg dangled from between the petals and its sunflower-like head was waving to and fro as he battled it from within. A wave of Tabetha’s wand later, and he was spit out right next to me, covered in steaming sap.

  “If you are done playing, would you like to come in?” Tabetha swung a hand toward the open door.

  “I don’t suppose you’d have a towel,” I said, watching the sap continue to burn a hole in my coat.

  She sneered and with another wave of her wand, the sap disappeared. I had no idea how she accomplished that trick. As a wood witch, did she control every cell of every plant here?

  “Thanks,” I said flatly.

  Rick helped me up, and we followed her into her home. The foyer was a tropical garden. Every type of plant known to man, and some varieties I was sure had never been discovered, grew from rows and rows of pots along the walls. Instead of a traditional chandelier, a multicolored blown glass sculpture in the shape of flowers glowed from above. It was covered in flowering vines, as were the walls and the staircase. The air was thick with humidity and an overly sweet floral scent.

  “May I take your coat?” a man said from beside us. He was tall, young, handsome, with glassy eyes and a distracted expression. I supposed if I worked for Tabetha, I’d be distracted too. I handed him my coat, as did Rick.

  “The dining room is this way,” Tabetha said. She led us into an area as big as a gymnasium with a long table and straight back chairs. The walk-in fireplace near the back of the room housed a blazing inferno, guarded on either side by winged copper gargoyles. Not the modern decorative kind, but the medieval versions meant to scare people away—all horns and teeth, pointy wings and claws. The décor belonged in a castle. Oversized. Stone. Stained glass.

  “Nice place you’ve got here,” I said. I’d meant it to sound polite, but it came out catty. I guess I wore my heart on my sleeve.

  “Please sit. Dinner will be ready shortly.” Tabetha took a seat at the head of the table, the light of the fire dancing over her olive skin.

  I glanced at Rick, who had pulled out a chair for me across from her. “Maybe we should get down to business,” I said.

  “Do not insult me, sister,” she said. “A friend has prepared dinner for us this evening. We will eat like civilized adults, and then you will tell me how you plan to satisfy your blood debt.”

  Rick pushed the chair in slightly so that it tapped the back of my knees. I sat. The food did smell good. Rick took the seat to my right, leaving the two chairs on either side of Tabetha empty. She didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she lifted her wineglass, the thick, dark liquid sloshing slightly, and looked directly at me. “To family. Wouldn’t Mother be proud to see us like this, around the same table?” She tossed the wine back.

  The service door behind Tabetha opened.

  A man entered, an enormous domed tray balanced on his shoulder blocking his face. When he reached the table, he expertly lowered the food to the center of the place settings.

  I gasped. “Logan!”

  CHAPTER 10

  Wicked

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded, widening my eyes at Logan.

  He glanced in my direction and then leaned over the table to kiss Tabetha on the lips. Oh no, he didn’t!

  “Hello, Grateful,” Logan said. “When Tabby mentioned another couple was joining us for dinner, I had no idea it was you and Rick. What a terrific surprise.”

  He was smiling but his voice fell flat, and he wavered slightly on his feet like maybe he’d had too much to drink. As if to confirm my suspicion, he lifted his glass of wine and took a giant swig before removing the dome on the tray. “Venison roast with potatoes and vegetables,” he announced.

  I thought of the doe in the front yard and completely lost my appetite.

  “So this is the new girlfriend you were telling me about?” I asked.

  By his side, Tabetha was grinning like the Cheshire cat. “I stopped in to Valentine’s for a bite to eat a few weeks ago. He gave me a free cupcake for dessert. The rest is history.”

  Logan stared at her like she was the rising sun. I’d never seen him so obviously smitten with anything or anyone … even me. My jaw dropped.

  He served Tabetha first, doling out slices of meat and an assortment of vegetables. Then he reached out a hand for my plate. When everyone was served, he sat down and had another sip of wine.

  “Logan,” Tabetha said, “tell us about the meal you’ve prepared. It looks delish.”

  My friend began to talk about his method of marinating and cooking venison, but I wasn’t listening. Anger brewed within me; my head burned with it. Tabetha was Logan’s girlfriend, the one he wouldn’t talk about. That meant it must have been Tabetha who’d tried to get to The Book of Light in Logan’s apartment, because she was the only one he would have invited in. Logan was different since he met her, distant. She’d turned one of my best friends against me.

  Did he even know she was a witch? According to Poe, Tabetha was a dangerous man-eater. What if she used Logan and then spit him out?

  Sure, Logan deserved happiness, and he certainly looked happy chatting about his cooking while his fingers tangled with Tabetha’s on the tabletop. But something about this felt wrong. She’d met him at Valentine’s a couple of weeks ago. Their relationship kicked off around the same time she’d come to Red Grove and been snubbed by Rick. Too convenient. This felt like leverage, like another way to get under my skin. Then again, how would she even know that Logan and I were friends?

  I glanced at Rick, who met my eyes and gave me a guilty wince. The candle. Rick had told Tabetha about Logan when he came to her for help. Which meant that, while Logan may think this was real, Tabetha was using him.

  “Enough,” I said. “I know what you’re doing. This is between you and me. Leave Logan out of it.”

  “I have no idea what you are talking about.” Tabetha’s sickeningly sweet tone came through a toothy grin.

  “What is wrong with you, Grateful?” Logan asked, dropping his fork. “You’re being rude.”

  “You don’t know, okay?” I said to Logan. “There’s more going on here than you think.”

  Logan stood, pushing his chair back with a wood-on-stone grind. “Do you mean that I’m in love with a powerful witch?” He placed a hand on Tabetha’s shoulder. “One more powerful than you? Does it bother you that I’m happy without you, Grateful? Are you surprised that someone else, someone more beautiful, magical, and powerful than you, could appreciate me for what I have to give?”

  A sick feeling overcame me. Was he right? Was I jealous that he was cooking for someone else? In love with someone else? It was true I missed his friendship. I missed having him in my life. But in my heart of hearts I wanted the best for him. It was just hard for me to beli
eve that Tabetha was best for him.

  Then again, he was an adult who knew what he was getting into. He could make that decision for himself.

  “I’m sorry, Logan. You’re right. I was out of line.” I pushed my chair back a few inches from the table and glanced at Rick, who seemed markedly uncomfortable with the conversation. “I apologize that we can’t stay any longer, Tabetha. But before we go, I’d like to offer you compensation for the magic you gave Rick.”

  She swirled her wine in her glass and leaned back in her chair. “Go on.”

  “In return for your spell, the humanity candle, I will give you the only spell you can’t make for yourself—a spell to find and bind your true love. The positivity potion.”

  Tabetha’s eyes widened. “Worthless to me,” she said. “I’ve already found my true love.” She waved a hand toward Logan. “What else can you offer me in exchange for your true love?”

  My eyes flicked down to the table.

  “I thought so.” She tapped her fingers together in front of her chin, then turned toward Logan. “Darling, would you gather dessert while I talk business with our friends?”

  He nodded, pecking her on the lips before shooting a nasty glance in my direction and disappearing through what I assumed was the kitchen door.

  When her eyes turned back in our direction, they were as cold as ice. “I am owed blood, and blood shall I have. Positivity potion. Hah! You insult me.” She stood, bracing herself on the table. Behind her, the gargoyles came alive, the copper melting, moving with her anger. Rick grabbed my hand. “I have not lived more than one thousand years to put my faith in such inconsequential emotions as love. There is only one thing that truly matters in this world: power. An experienced caretaker like Rick would have increased my power exponentially.”

  I recoiled with disgust.

  “But since you find the idea to be so unsettling, there is only one alternative.”

  I was still speechless from her admission of using both Rick and Logan. She was a monster, a godforsaken fiend. The gargoyles bared their teeth in a silent growl.

  Rick spoke up. “What do you want, Tabetha?”

  She looked me straight in the eye. “Your territory.”

  “My territory?” I looked at Rick in confusion. “You mean, like my cemetery? I didn’t know that was something I could give.”

  Rick straightened, his eyes darkening black as night, and the bones of his face shifting to take on an animalistic appearance, almost feral. “Unacceptable. Hecate will never allow it.”

  “She will.” Tabetha pointed one long red nail at me. “Mother will allow it if you petition her to release you from your obligation.”

  I laughed. “You must be joking.”

  Her expression was as serious as sin.

  “You want me to petition the goddess Hecate to relieve me of my territory and give it to you? Why would she agree to that? Why would I?”

  Rick shoved his chair back. “It is not simply your territory, mi cielo. The source of a Hecate’s power is the dead. Without your cemetery, you will lose your power. You will become human again, and she will gain what you have lost.”

  Human again. The thought of it wasn’t as terrifying as you might think. There’d been lots of times I would have given anything to be a normal human being again with normal problems. But the power shift nagged at me. Tabetha’s motivation went beyond my territory itself; I just knew it. She was after something more.

  My mind flashed to The Book of Flesh and Bone. No, even she couldn’t break Soleil’s fae magic. Unless she planned to kill her.

  “No,” I said quickly. “Unacceptable. I made you a fair and equitable offer. If you don’t want the love potion, that’s your choice, but the terms of the contract are fulfilled. You turn your nose up at it, you get nothing.”

  Tabetha crossed her arms over her chest, drumming her nails on her forearm. The gargoyles behind her echoed her movements, their talons tapping on the brick hearth. “You will petition Mother for release of your territory, or else,” she said through her teeth.

  “Or else what?”

  “Or else you will find the head of the man who is about to walk through that door boiling in a pot on your stove.”

  I wobbled on my feet. Rick caught me around the waist and tucked me into his side. Tabetha was a wicked witch. I’d never been in the presence of someone as evil. With new eyes, I could see the darkness in everything she did. This had never been about Rick. The candle had always been about gaining power.

  The gargoyles froze into their menacing shapes as Logan returned with a tray of pastries in his hand. “Are you all right, Grateful? You look pale,” he said, the first notes of concern I’d heard in his voice all night coming through.

  “Don’t worry about her, darling. Have a pastry,” Tabetha said. She ran the tops of her nails along his jawline and then cupped his chin. Before she removed her hand, she looked at me, her fingers making a subtle cutting motion across his neck before returning to her side.

  Oblivious, Logan set the tray down and took a seat. He served her and then himself.

  “You have until the spring equinox to convince Mother.” She circled one hand in the air. “New beginnings and all. I know you can do it, Grateful. You’re a strong woman.” She smiled a broad, toothy grin.

  I stared at Logan, my stomach clenching with fear for his life. “I’ll try,” I mumbled. I had to. If I didn’t agree, she might kill him now, or tomorrow, or the next day. At least if I said I’d try, she might give me until the equinox.

  “Oh, you will succeed, one way or another.” Tabetha scraped a large bite of pastry into her mouth with her teeth. “Ba-bye now. Do be careful on your way out. I wouldn’t want to have to rescue you from the landscaping again.”

  “From the landscaping?” Logan laughed around his pastry.

  “It’s a long story, darling,” Tabetha said.

  I wanted to kill her. I wanted to leap across the table and plunge Nightshade into her black heart. The fantasy played out again and again in my head. Rick ushered me back the way we’d come by the waist. “Easy, mi cielo. This entire house is her living weapon. We will never survive a fight with her here.”

  My fists balled with rage. I’d have to give her what she wanted. I had no choice. And I wondered once she had what she’d asked for, would that be the end? Somehow I didn’t think so. Tabetha believed the only thing that mattered in this world was power, and like a drug, those addicted to power never had enough.

  CHAPTER 11

  Power Source

  Poe met us at the door, landing on the porch railing with a noisy flap of wings. He’d opted to fly home while we drove. “How’d it go with the Wicked Witch of the East?”

  I groaned as I turned the key and pushed the door open with my hip. “Crappy. She wants me to petition Hecate to relieve me of my responsibility for my realm so that she can take it over.”

  “Sacrilege.” Poe shook his head. “She is violating the natural law.”

  Rick scoffed. “I do not believe Tabetha has any reverence for natural or any other law.”

  I grabbed an open bottle of Shiraz off the counter near the fridge where I kept it and poured myself a glass. “She says if I don’t do this, she’s going to kill Logan.”

  “Logan? How is he involved?” Poe asked.

  “He’s dating her. That’s why he was acting so weird. They’re an item, only he has no idea that she’s using his life to bait me into doing her will.” I sipped the wine, enjoying the dark symphony of flavors in the full-bodied red.

  Rick rubbed his forehead and smoothed one eyebrow with his thumb. “This is my fault. This is all my doing.”

  “Stop,” I said. “I forgive you, all right? We had a fight. You overreacted and pressed the self-destruct button. But I get it. I might have done the same thing in different circumstances.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t understand. I should have known this was her true motivation. When she told me she was taking over Polina’s
realm, I should have suspected yours would be next.”

  “Are you saying that Tabetha played a part in Polina’s disappearance?”

  Rick paced to my cupboard and removed a wineglass. After rinsing the dust out in the sink, he picked up the bottle of wine. “Anything stronger?”

  “Above the sink. I keep Scotch for Dad.”

  He put down the bottle and retrieved the Scotch, pouring a shot into the wineglass and tossing it back. I wasn’t sure that alcohol did anything for Rick, but maybe he needed the burn in his throat to give him the courage to say what he needed to say. “Did you notice the gargoyles next to Tabetha’s fireplace?”

  “Yeah, they came alive when she got angry. Creepy as hell.”

  “That’s not within a wood witch’s natural power.”

  “Meaning?”

  Rick’s eyes darted around my kitchen. “Do you have a pen and paper?”

  I dug a pen out of my junk drawer and grabbed an envelope from a stack of unopened mail next to the fridge. Electric bill. The great equalizer. “Here, use this.”

  He drew a five-pointed star with circles at each of the points.

  “A pentagram,” I said, thinking aloud.

  “Yes. The symbol of ultimate power. Each point represents one of the five elements.”

  “Five? I thought there were four: earth, wind, fire, and water.”

  “For the children of Hecate, there are five.” Inside the circle resting on the top point, Rick wrote Wood, then inside the circle to the right Air, then Earth, then Metal, then Water. “You are an air witch. Your power increases with the night air, you can control the weather, and you can create fire without using a spell—like when you light a candle with your breath.”

  I nodded. “Okay. And Tabetha is a wood witch. She can make things grow and animate plants to do her bidding.”