Visions of Magic

by Regan Hastings

  When she stared at her reflection, she hardly recognized herself. Her green eyes were glittering. Her long red hair was snarled and tangled and looked as if it had grown two inches in length. How was that possible? She laughed and told herself, “Magic.”

  It bubbled inside her, the power—growing and erupting. She felt the changes happening within her and gave herself up to them. Whatever came next, she would be ready for it.

  Torin came into the bathroom and stood behind her at the mirror. One of his tanned hands slid up and down the front of her body and she leaned back into him as new desire quickened. God, would she ever have enough? Would she ever reach a point where she would be able to say, No, thanks, I have a headache? She didn’t think so. And did she want to reach that point?

  No. She really didn’t.

  She met his gaze in the mirror and saw those gray eyes swirling with passion and secrets. His mouth, that delectable, delicious, talented mouth of his, curved a little at the corners as he watched her reflection. He lifted his left hand to cup her breast and his thumb and forefinger tweaked her nipple.

  “Seriously?” she said on a half groan, “I don’t know how we’ll ever get anything done if you keep touching me like that.”

  “It has been centuries, Shea,” he whispered. “Hundreds of long, dark years while I’ve waited for this time with you. For the true mating. My hunger will not be quickly eased.”

  She felt his erection rubbing against her behind, thick and hard and soft all at once, and her eyes slid closed as she parted her thighs for him. Again. And again. She would always open for him. Always welcome his touch, his invasion.

  “Hold on to the counter,” he told her, “and open your eyes.”

  She did, unable to help herself. She stared into the wide glass and watched as he took her. He hitched her hips higher to give him entrance and she leaned over the counter to make it easier for him.

  He thrust home and she gasped with the erotic sensations swimming through her. He took her quickly, fiercely, one hand at her hip to steady her, one hand at her left breast, continuing to pull and tweak her nipple. Over and over, he pushed himself into her depths only to retreat and push forward again. He took her higher, faster than he had before and Shea watched it all happen in the mirror.

  His features tight, his gaze locked on hers, he moved his hand from her hip to her core and the moment he touched her, she shuddered. Her body clenched around his and the rippling of her muscles tightened over him, holding him to her, forcing him to join her in another staggering release.

  When she was leaning over the counter, struggling for air, he smoothed her hair back over her shoulder, and lifted her chin so that she was staring into the mirror at him. “Look, Shea. Look at your body and mine. See what is happening.”

  She did and at first, couldn’t see what it was he wanted her to. Their reflections were blurred through her passion-glazed eyes, but at last she was able to focus. She looked at his hand on her breast and narrowed her gaze as his long fingers moved over a dark spot above her nipple.

  “What is that?” She leaned closer to the mirror. Just over the dark pink areola of her breast, there was a bloodred mark. Elongated, with a slightly teardrop shape, it was almost like an oddly shaped birthmark, but she knew it wasn’t.

  “The mating brand,” Torin told her, a satisfied tone to his voice.

  She shifted her gaze to his. “A brand?”

  He shrugged. “A tattoo of sorts, then. Our bodies, when mated, create this mark. I have a matching one.”

  Shea turned around to face him and looked at his left nipple. The same dark red mark was there as well. Her fingertip stroked the edges of it. “What is it? It looks like a teardrop.”

  Shaking his head, he bent to place a kiss on the mark above her breast. “It is a flame. A single flame to mark the beginning of the mating. Over the next month, the brand will grow and expand, marking each of us as belonging to the other.”

  She belonged.

  Finally, at last, she knew where she belonged. She’d spent her entire life trying to fit in. Trying not to be the square peg in the round hole and it had never worked. There was always something different about her. Even before her aunt had shown her that their family carried witchcraft in their bloodlines.

  She took a breath and slowly released it.

  “Over the next month?”

  “Yes. The mating is slow, giving witch and Eternal time to enjoy each other and the changes that happen between us.”

  She stroked one finger across his warm, muscled chest and smiled when he hissed in a breath at her touch. “Changes?”

  “We will gain strength from each other, Shea.” His hands moved up and down her body as if he simply couldn’t touch her enough. “The brand begins it, linking our bodies and souls. As the thirty days pass, the brand will spread across our bodies and with each new flame that appears, the bond between us will be that much stronger.” He dipped his head to claim a quick, hard kiss. “When we touch, we will be able to combine our magic to increase our joined strength.”

  “And when the thirty days are up?”

  “My heart will beat and if Belen is pleased with me, I will gain more power.”

  “What kind of power?” she asked, leaning into his hands.

  “I don’t know,” Torin admitted. “The mating is something of a secret even to us. None of us knows what will be until it’s finished.”

  “Your god didn’t give you many details.”

  “What god does?” he asked, one corner of his luscious mouth curving upward. “The goddess Danu, your goddess, was no more generous with information.”

  “Danu?” Shea shook her head and tried to think. But it was so hard with his hands on her.

  “The Mother goddess,” he told her with a shrug. “She who created witchcraft and chose the women to wield it.”

  “There is so much I don’t know,” she whispered, leaning her forehead against his chest, listening to the silence where there should have been a heartbeat.

  “I will share with you everything I know,” he promised. “But for now, you must know we have only until the next full moon to complete our mission. To find what was once hidden and get it to safety.”

  “What is it?”

  “Black silver,” he said and those two words dropped like icy stones into the room.

  Shea swayed unsteadily as images raced through her mind at his words. A dark element created by witches, she thought. Black silver was imbued with power that had grown quickly and completely out of control.

  “The Artifact,” she whispered, not sure where that word had come from.

  “Yes,” he said, stroking his fingertips along the side of her breast. “You remember?”

  She shook her head, frowning as her mind turned away from the memory. “No. Not really. It’s just that when you said ‘black silver,’ I got a flash of something—but it was gone too soon for me to grab it.”

  “You will,” he said. “You must.”

  “Right.” She nodded and looked down to where his fingers stroked lazily over her newly born tattoo. “You said there were others, like me. Awakening witches. Will we all have this tattoo?”

  “Yes,” he said, bending now to flick his tongue across the tip of her nipple. “And each branding will be unique to that witch and her Eternal. Each of you will be marked according to your karma.”

  “And what about you?” she asked, struggling to hold on to her thoughts despite the fact that Torin had taken her nipple into his mouth. “What do the Eternals get from this, besides a matching tattoo?”

  He stopped what he was doing, pulled his head back and blew a gentle stream of air at her breast. The dampness from his tongue, followed by his soft breath, caused a shiver of chill delight on her skin. “We become one with the other halves of our souls. We stop merely existing and begin to live.”

  His tongue stroked the tip of her nipple and Shea sighed. So much had changed in her life so fast that it was almost impossible fo
r her to imagine that it was her life anymore. She looked down at his mouth on her breast and sighed again as another tiny red flame erupted from inside to appear just beside the first of the branding.

  She was part of something now.

  Permanently.

  There was no going back. There was no altering her decision even if she wanted to.

  Already, Shea could feel herself changing. It wasn’t just the tattoo, burning itself into her skin. It was something more elemental. More basic.

  As she accepted who and what she was, the woman she had tried so hard to be—the everyday, ordinary middle school science teacher—fell more to the wayside. She wasn’t ordinary.

  And she wasn’t going to pretend she was, ever again.

  Not even to herself.

  Chapter 28

  Rune felt the wash of magic in the air. Sanctuary was close.

  Thank the gods. Eight hours in a car with a curious, frightened little girl and her mother and grandmother were almost more than an Eternal could take.

  Amanda hadn’t stopped talking since they left Vegas in the predawn hours. Her mother, Terri, was the opposite. Hardly spoke a word. But Terri’s mother had kept up a near constant litany of rosaries and prayers all along their route.

  Their emotions and fears were battering Rune’s energies, eating at them like water on rock. He’d be glad to have this chore over and done with. Battling evil and searching out Awakened witches were beginning to sound like a damn vacation.

  “Damn it.” He stomped on the brake, sending the SUV into a skid that had it sliding sideways on the narrow mountain road.

  “You’re not supposed to cuss,” Amanda told him from the backseat.

  “What is it?” her grandmother asked, fear ratcheting up her voice until it sounded as squeaky as an old gate.

  “A roadblock,” Terri muttered from the front seat, sliding a quick look at Rune.

  “That’s what it looks like,” Rune told her, then said, “Quiet. Everybody.”

  Even Amanda closed her mouth. Not really surprising, since the child’s world had come tumbling down around her over the last week. She was probably ready for another crash to hit. And, he thought, it might have.

  Boulders lay strewn across the road, blocking passage. At first glance, it looked as though it was just a rockfall from the mountainside. But Rune didn’t trust it. Seemed bloody convenient for a landslide to hit just before the boundaries of Sanctuary.

  “I’ll check it out,” he told them, his voice soft but determined. “You three stay in the car.”

  He reached for the gun on the seat beside him and pulled the slide back, sending a bullet into the chamber. Whoever was out there, they wouldn’t be taking Terri and her family back. Not without a fight, anyway. He had magic as well as bullets to draw on and he wasn’t above using either of them.

  Before he could open the car door, though, women dropped from the trees. At least a dozen of them. Some simply jumped down to the road; others slid along ropes that snaked from higher branches like tentacles.

  “What the . . .”

  “Rune—” Terri shrank back in her seat and threw a guilt-filled glance at her daughter. “Whatever happens, save Amanda.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to any of you,” he muttered, keeping his gaze locked on the women stalking ever closer to his car.

  Some of them held automatic weapons and looked way too comfortable with them. Others held their hands out, palms up, invoking magical powers and preparing to use them. He sensed the magic in all of them and knew he was dealing with witches.

  The question was, were they reasonable or were they more apt to fire first and ask questions later?

  “Who the hell are you?”

  A tall woman with long, dark hair pulled back into a braid that hung to her waist shouted at them as her fellow soldiers moved into position around her. She wore faded blue jeans and a black sweater and held an assault rifle as if it were an extension of her arm.

  To answer her question, he simply flashed into fire and appeared again outside the car. Weapons shifted to him and he felt the women’s hard, suspicious gazes as if they were knives slicing into him.

  “You’re an Eternal.” It wasn’t a question. The dark-haired woman, clearly the leader, shifted to look at the car. “Who are they?”

  “Humans,” he said. “Who the hell are you?”

  One corner of her mouth lifted into a half smile. “You’re in no position to be asking questions, Eternal. There are at least a dozen guns on you—not to mention the magical weapons.”

  “Immortal,” he reminded her, with a small smile of his own.

  “But not immune to injury. I figure we can put you down if you make a wrong move, so don’t tempt me.” Her gaze narrowed on him, she said, “I’ll ask one more time. Who are the women traveling with you?”

  Rune was as disgusted as he was furious. Felt like a damn fool. He’d stepped into a well-laid trap and couldn’t see an easy way out. He glanced at his surroundings, taking the measure of the situation. One side of the road was a steep, rocky face of the mountain. The other side was covered in trees so thick he couldn’t see beyond them. Behind him stretched a road that led back to civilization and danger for those whose safety had been entrusted to him. And ahead lay Sanctuary . . . if he could get past the witch guard.

  Thoughts and options raced through his mind, but as long as he had Terri and her family to protect, there was only one choice. Truth. “Like I said. They’re human. One of them escaped from Terminal Island detention center a couple of days ago. The others are her mother and daughter.”

  The dark-haired woman lowered her weapon and gave a silent signal to the other Amazons lurking close by. As one, they eased into a posture of cautious watchfulness. At least, he thought wryly, the guns weren’t aimed directly at him anymore.

  “We saw the news coverage of that escape. Report is, two men made of fire broke in, killed some guards and stole two witches.”

  “One witch,” he corrected. “One human suspected of witchcraft.”

  She smiled then and Rune took a second for pure male appreciation. Not only was she mean as a snake and comfortable with weapons, but she was a damn beauty, too. He liked that in a woman.

  “Now you want to tell me who you people are?” he asked.

  “I’m Selena, commander of the Guardian Witches,” she said, then looked at the women surrounding her. “These are the Guardians.”

  “Impressive,” he said, shifting his gaze from one to the other of the witches watching him with less than welcome expressions on their faces. “Now, how about you let me through so I can get these women to safety.”

  “Not so fast,” Selena told him and called out, “Rachel!”

  A woman dressed completely in black approached and handed off her weapon to Selena. Her dark eyes caught Rune’s briefly, then shifted to the car and his passengers. “I’ll take care of it,” she said.

  Rune moved to intercept her and she snarled at him. He didn’t much care. “Take care of what?”

  “Relax, Eternal,” Selena said. “Rachel’s going to check them for transmitters. Her magic will pick up anything that shouldn’t be there.”

  “I already got the tracker out of Terri,” he said.

  “Might be more than one.” Selena nodded at Rachel, who stepped around Rune as if he were a pile of shit and she didn’t want to risk getting her boots dirty.

  Then the witch approached the car and Rune saw that her features relaxed a bit. She smiled at Terri and the others. “Don’t worry. This will only take a second or two.”

  He watched as Rachel laid both palms flat on the roof of the car and closed her eyes. What looked like campfire sparks shot up as a wind ruffled her bright red hair and buffeted the heavy sweater she wore. Magic sizzled in the air around her and dropped over the car like a golden blanket that shimmered and shifted as if it were alive.

  Seconds ticked past.

  “Tracer!” Rachel shouted the warning and in
stantly, the other Amazons surrounded the car, backs to the machine, gazes fixed on the trees, mountain and sky.

  “No fucking way,” Rune insisted, already starting for the redheaded witch. “I got the tracer out myself. Cut it out of her neck.”

  “There’s one you missed, Eternal,” Selena told him. “And until it’s out, nobody goes any farther. As it is, if they’re following her, they’ve come too close already.” She glanced at the other witch. “Rachel, find it.”

  “Right.”

  “Just a damn minute,” Rune shouted.

  “It’s okay,” Terri called out, stepping from the car. She looked at all of the women standing ready to protect her and her family and then glanced at Rune. “If there’s another one, I want it out, too.” She looked at Rachel. “Just do what you have to do.”

  The witch called on her magic again and ran her hands up and down Terri’s body. Sparks flew and power shuddered in the air. Intense focus etched lines into Rachel’s expression until she stopped at last. “Found it. Here. Under her breast.”

  “Impossible.” Rune shook his head. He’d checked Terri personally. No way would he have been able to miss a silver tracker.

  “Rachel’s never wrong,” Selena told him flatly, then said, “Get it done, Rachel.”

  “Trust me,” Rachel said, staring directly into Terri’s eyes.

  Once again, Rune was impressed with the human’s strength of will. She only nodded and closed her eyes. He wouldn’t look away, though. He watched every move the witch made, ready to jump in and protect Terri even if it meant every weapon in the place would be turned loose on him.

  Rachel lifted Terri’s shirt, bared her breast and then laid her palm beneath the full curve. “I can feel it. It’s deep. I can get it but it’s going to hurt like a bitch.”

  “More good news,” Terri murmured. “Do it.”

  He could only watch and wait. Not things Rune was good at.

  Rachel held her hand beneath Terri’s breast, closed her eyes and drew on her magic again. This time, the sparks flew like fireworks. Her hair lifted in that magical wind again and she chanted beneath her breath as Terri moaned softly and bit into her bottom lip.