The Bewitching Hour

by Mallory Crowe

  He leaned forward, resting one palm flat on the table and the other arm around her hips. Then he started to move. He didn’t start slow and that was fine with her. He thrust hard and fast inside her and she reached back for every thrust. Her breaths came faster and faster and she closed her eyes, focusing on the sensations of him inside her and everywhere around her. Derek....

  His arm around her reached down and touched her clit. Sam jumped in his arms and he growled against her ear. Everything kept building up. The friction of his skin against hers. His cock sliding in and out. The thump of the table against the wall with every thrust. His breath against her ear.

  The orgasm hit her hard and fast. She threw her head back against his shoulder and screamed with her release. The orgasm combined with the energy already thick in the air, completely overwhelming her senses.

  Derek fucked her harder and faster, her orgasm pushing him further and further.... Not long after her, he groaned and bit her shoulder as he held her down tightly as he came.

  In the aftermath, they were both still except for their chests rising and falling as they tried to catch their breaths. Sam dropped her head forward to rest on the table. At this point she didn’t know whether any of her muscles worked anymore.

  “Sam,” said Derek from above her, still breathing heavily. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  She winced, glad he couldn’t see her guilty expression. She knew exactly what was happening, and as soon as the harsher effects of the potion wore off, she’d have to tell him. Instead, she just reached over and set her hand over his. They at least had a few hours before her family tried to barge through the door. And a few hours before the potion wore off. Until then, she’d just have to keep his mind busy with... other things.

  Sam blinked herself awake and sat up from the couch. The throw rug she’d slept under was still wrapped around her. It took a moment for the events of the previous night to hit her and she groaned. Not about the sex part. The sex was great. But what had caused it. There were so many broken pieces she had to pick up now.

  Not to mention Claire. Not only was the girl probably wondering where the hell she was, but the only reason Sam had come to this stupid party was to make sure she would be safe.

  “Morning,” said Derek. He was sitting at the chair next to the table they’d....

  “Good morning,” she said cautiously, trying to get a read on his mood. “How are you feeling?”

  He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and from where he sat at the window, the light streamed in, highlighting the dips and planes of his muscles. Yep. She was a complete hornball.

  “I’m doing okay. Are you—”

  “I’m fine.”

  He nodded. “Last night was—”

  “You were drugged.”

  “What?”

  “Last night wasn’t your fault. My mother slipped you a potion.”

  “Your sister.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “It was your sister who slipped it to me. In a sealed water bottle. It was sealed, so....”

  For the first time, she was discussing magic with Derek and he wasn’t looking at her as if she’d grown a second head. Well, after you’ve been mystically roofied, believing wasn’t too hard, she supposed. “Yeah. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “No, it is. If I’d never come up to you and warned you to stay away from the stupid Baker brothers, this never would’ve happened.”

  “You saved lives. You saved Claire.”

  Well, maybe she was meant to die. Sam didn’t say it out loud though.

  “What exactly did your sister slip me?”

  “My mother said it was Full Moon Potion.”

  “And why did it affect me? Your mom tried something on me at the station. The guys at the hospital too. But both times they struck out.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small jade turtle. “Does that have something to do with this?”

  “It’s a protection charm.” Sam stood and wrapped the blanket around herself as she crossed the room. “The most powerful witch alive today made it for me. There are probably less than ten of them in existence.”

  “And you gave it to me?”

  “You needed it.” She let out a deep sigh. “You still need it.” A thought occurred to her and she looked questioningly at Derek. “Can I try something?”

  “Something magic?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Will it melt me like the doorknob?”

  “What?”

  He pointed behind her to the door. “I’m assuming your family weren’t the ones who locked us in here to screw.”

  She looked over her shoulder at the door and realized the knob was now a blob of useless metal. Apparently her effort to lock the door had been a bit overdone. “It seems like you’re opening up more to the idea of magic.”

  “It seems like I almost killed a guy last night,” said Derek.

  “You might’ve stopped—”

  “I wasn’t going to stop. Every time I hit him, it just made me want to do it again.”

  “But you did stop.”

  He turned in the chair and reached out, taking her hand in his. “You stopped me.”

  “Guess I made quite an impression, huh?”

  “You were all I was thinking about. The other women were all you in my mind. And then I saw Jackson and it was like a switch went off.”

  “What are you saying?”

  He pulled her closer and looked up at her. The sunlight made his eyes look like a translucent blue. “I don’t want this to stop.”

  “The beating a man to death part?”

  “The you and me part.”

  Sam smiled. She couldn’t help it. Derek just looked so damn handsome and there he was, in all his shirtless glory, telling her that he wanted to be with her. “Hold still.” She bent forward and took the green turtle from his hand and held it up to his chest, right next to his heart. “This might hurt.”

  He rested his hand over hers. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

  She was not going to melt Derek. She would not melt Derek. Sam took a few brief seconds to center herself and then pushed. Luckily the magic of the charm did most of the work. Derek winced and tensed, but he didn’t stop her as she pushed farther and farther until the charm was no longer between them.

  Derek hunched over and she pulled her hand away. He rested his hand over his chest and looked down where there was just unblemished skin. “Is it inside me? I can’t feel it at all.”

  “This way no one can take it from you.”

  “That’s a nifty trick. Why didn’t you have it implanted in you?”

  The corner of her mouth hooked up. “Merged is a better word. The charm is a part of you now; it’s not just sitting under the skin. And I never merged with it because there are some times I want to be influenced by magic.”

  “When would you ever want to be influenced by magic?”

  “When I want to change my appearance or get somewhere fast, a spell would do it. With that charm, I’m as good as human.”

  “Is that so bad?”

  “No. But it’s also not who I am.”

  Derek stood and suddenly he was towering over her. Even though she was closing in on six feet herself, she had to crane her neck back.

  “I happen to like who you are.” He leaned in to kiss her and Sam kissed him back, keeping her eyes opened.

  Once she pulled away, she glanced around the room. “I should get dressed.”

  “Probably a good idea. We need to get my gun back. Someone swiped it out of my holster while I was, um, distracted.”

  “Sounds like my family.”

  “Maybe after we get out of here we can grab breakfast.”

  Sam nodded as she backed away. Where had her bra gone? They’d been on the table and— there it was! She snatched it up and put it on quickly. Not too far away were her panties.

  “Are you okay?” asked Derek.

  The proble
m with cops—they were too damn attentive. “I’m just looking for my clothes.”

  “No. It’s more than that.”

  “Derek, can we talk about this later?”

  “You don’t want to continue this, do you? The thing between us.”

  Shirt! She pulled it on and was able to drop the blanket. She still hadn’t found her skirt, but it was short enough that it really didn’t cover much more than her panties did. “Want is a relative word.”

  “Stop fucking around, Sam. Just tell me what you’re thinking.”

  “I’m thinking that my family just roofied you. I’m thinking that you’re a cop and, no matter how I look at this, I don’t see a happy ending. Maybe lots of good sex, but besides mutual attraction, there’s nothing here.”

  “So you don’t even want to try?”

  “Let’s get you back home first, okay?” She found her skirt and pulled it on, not looking at Derek as she finished getting dressed. “I’m going to go out and find out what happened to your gun.” Except when she got to the door, she remembered that the knob was now a useless blob of metal. She stared at the door for a second as she tried to figure out a way out of this one. She could try to use her powers, but her track record wasn’t great at the moment. The only reason she’d been able to merge the charm with Derek so well was because the charm was from her grandmother’s magic and that had done half the work.

  The locking spell had been a bust. Her attempt to push Garrett out of the way blew him completely across the room. There was one thing that had gone right. When she’d tried to get to Derek in the middle of the party, she’d pushed someone away and they’d gone the perfect amount of space away. Also, she’d shocked Claire through the door at the hospital, but that was so small it could hardly be called a spell.

  So... fifty/fifty odds that she could get the door down without destroying the whole house. Great.

  Derek set his hand on her shoulder and she jumped in shock. Maybe she wasn’t in the right mindset to be taking any chances.

  “Why don’t you step back?”

  She frowned even as she did what he asked. “You really think you can—”

  Derek, who had apparently put his shoes on while she was busy looking anywhere but him, braced himself as he lifted his foot up and slammed it into the door. The hinges creaked and groaned, but the door didn’t open. That was soon rectified when he gave one more solid kick and the melted lock stayed in place while the rest of the door slid open.

  Sam set a hand over her mouth. That was one way to do it. “I thought kicking down doors was one of the things they only do in movies.”

  Derek gave her a cocky smile. “It’s basic training.”

  “Basic?”

  “You just have to know where the weak points are.”

  “And work out.” Even though he was wearing his shirt now, she distinctly remembered what his body looked like.

  “Working out helps.”

  Sam bit her lip. Maybe one or two dates wouldn’t hurt....

  “Is everything okay in here?” Heather stood in front of the now destroyed door.

  Derek stiffened and Sam remembered that Heather was the one who slipped him the potion. “Stay here,” warned Sam as she went through the door and grabbed her sister’s arm. “Heather, walk with me.”

  Heather gave Derek one more amused glance, but she came along with Sam as she dragged her down the hall. “I trust you had a fun night.”

  “Where’s Abigail?”

  “Just call her Mom. She hates it when you call her Abigail.”

  “I hate it when she slips potions to my friends. Now, where is she?”

  “Kitchen. She’s overseeing the cleanup. Now, I’ve never been with anyone who took the Full Moon Potion. Was it, like, the hottest thing ever? When Mom told me to give it to a detective, I had no idea he was going to be so hot. Honestly, I was going to try to get in on that, but it looks like he only had eyes for you. Want to tell me when that started?”

  “I don’t want to tell you anything.”

  They reached the kitchen and Abigail stood next to the large island as three members of the cleaning staff worked on dishes and organizing the kitchen. Abigail turned as they walked in and smiled at Sam. “I’m so happy you’re awake! I can have some pancakes and sausage made up if you’re hungry.”

  “Not hungry. I’m pissed. What the hell were you trying to do last night?”

  Abigail sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. Even though it couldn’t be later than seven in the morning, she was already dressed in a gray pencil skirt, heels, and a black blouse. “I was doing some old-fashioned blackmail. Get him laid, get some cocaine in him. That way I’d get him off our back, get our charm back and, most importantly, keep you out of jail. Though after last night, I’m starting to think that he wasn’t planning on arresting you.”

  “Ya think?”

  “Garrett tells me that you two are neighbors? Exactly how long have you been working against your own family with the police?”

  “I haven’t been working against anyone.”

  “Except Tommy Collins,” chimed in Heather.

  “Not helping,” bit out Sam. “I thought the murders were suspicious and I offered to help Derek. I was just trying to do the right thing.”

  “The right thing is sticking with your family. The family who has stuck with you no matter what. No matter what mistakes were made or the decisions I didn’t agree with, I have always looked out for you, Samantha. Is it really so much to ask for the same in return?”

  Sam opened her mouth but nothing came out. This really was all her fault. She’d just handled everything wrong. Instead of saying that, considering her mother hadn’t exactly been doing everything right, she changed tactics. “What about the girl who was with Tommy? Sentries came to the hospital looking for her. I want to make sure she’s safe.”

  “I don’t know anything about what the sentries do.”

  “Well, she is at my apartment right now and terrified. She didn’t even know she was a witch until I told her. Obviously someone is trying to sacrifice one of us and I can’t even tell Grandma because no one will let me see her.”

  “If she’s one of us, we’ll keep her safe.”

  “I wish I could believe that right now.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that there is something going on. Whatever Tommy was doing, it was big. Except I don’t think he was the one behind it. He was killing because he enjoyed it. He liked causing pain. He got off on the suffering. But the bigger picture, the ritualistic placing of the bodies, the fact that a witch was the last one chosen... this all points to some sort of ritual, right? So we need to figure out who Tommy was working with. Tommy was just the puppet.”

  Abigail stepped forward and set her hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Go home, honey. I’ll make some calls, try to secure some housing for the young witch. Let me take care of this.”

  “And you’ll leave Derek alone?”

  “I’m going to protect this family one way or another. If you think this... Derek isn’t a threat, I’ll trust your judgment for the moment. But you better believe that the situation will be closely monitored.”

  “I live right under him. Aren’t I the most qualified to monitor it?” Abigail raised a brow and Sam understood. “You’re monitoring me too.”

  “I’m your mother. You can’t blame me for being concerned.”

  “You’d be surprised what I can blame you for.” Before Abigail could give her another self-righteous speech about her good intentions, Sam asked, “Where is Derek’s gun? He said someone swiped it when he was distracted last night.”

  “Right. I almost forgot about that.” She turned and walked over to a locked drawer. She took off her necklace that had a skeleton key to various hiding spots all over the house. She pulled open the drawer and took out the black handgun. “It’s loaded with one in the chamber, so please be careful.”

  Sam took the gun, carefully, from her moth
er and pointed it at the floor. “Thanks. I’m going to go home and I’ll call you about Claire as soon as I’m—”

  Footsteps sounded from the hallway. But not the soft, stumbling footsteps of partiers making their way home. Sure, steady steps of a coordinated force. Judging from the look on Abigail’s face, she didn’t know what was happening either.

  Abigail pushed past Sam and Heather and both of the girls followed her out. It didn’t take long for them to catch up with the team of four sentries. “Can I help you?” asked Abigail.

  They glanced at her but didn’t answer the question before they continued down the hallway that ran along the ballroom. The one where Derek was. “Hey!” screamed Sam as she ran forward. Heather reached for her, but Sam dodged. “What are you doing?”

  They didn’t even look back at her and she kept running until a woman appeared in front of her. Not appeared like she walked out of a room unexpectedly. Appeared as in materialized out of thin air. Sam stumbled back as she recognized the woman. “Grandma?”

  Claudia looked like a distinguished fifty, but Sam knew she was much older than that. Her black hair streaked with gray was pulled back in a tight bun, and her immaculate black pants and shirt were detailed with a delicate lace that fell perfectly over her slender frame. “Stop, Samantha,” she ordered.

  Sam stopped and looked desperately over her grandmother’s shoulder. She heard a grunt and the crashing of furniture breaking and she shook her head. “No.” She tried to run past Claudia, but with one stern look, Sam was thrown back and into a wall.

  The gun fell by her side and clattered against the marble floor. Sam ducked for the gun, and her grandmother just frowned. She snapped her fingers; one of the sentries was suddenly behind Sam and pulling her back with a hand above each of her elbows. “What are you doing?”

  The grunting and crashing sounds from the room stopped and one of the sentries walked out, cocky look firmly in place, while the other two followed, dragging Derek with them. There was a trickle of blood down his forehead and he was fighting every second of the way.

  The sentries dragged him closer to Claudia, but he kicked one at the perfect place in his shin to mess with his balance. Just enough to loosen his grip so he could free his arm and swing a punch at the sentry still holding him. Derek pushed him back into the wall and slammed his elbow back as the other one came at him.