For every woman…
* * * H a r c o u r t e * * *
To say she wasn’t nervous would be a lie. Showing up there freaked her out.
These were dark powerful creatures, and they reminded her of the voice in her dream. That energy was there, and she felt like it was familiar.
How?
She didn’t know.
She just felt like she knew him.
When she walked to the door, it was dark out. Night had fallen, and she would much rather be home in her bed, safe, alone, and dreaming about the mystery voice.
The cards said he was important.
They didn’t know how.
Time would tell, and it would be revealed when it was the right moment. Kiera had to be patient.
As she knocked, a blonde was there waiting.
“Come in,” she said, stepping back. “I’m Vanth. The mistress will be right down. She’s being detained, I imagine repeatedly by her mates.”
Kiera’s eyes got big.
“Both of them?”
Vanth giggled. “Yes, both of them.”
She followed the woman into the kitchen. It was sunny, bright, and looked to be filled with all new things. “Did you do some renovations? It didn’t look like this when I was here last.”
“Yes, we…moved some things around.”
Yeah, Percy had a free-for-all, and they had to fix it.
Kiera took a seat.
“So, Vanth is such an unusual name.”
The demoness hopped up to the counter. “It’s always been my name. I guess it’s old.”
“What does it mean?” she asked, sipping tea.
“It means born beneath a blood moon.”
“I’ve never heard it before.”
“Yeah, well, I’m the only one. You only get one demoness named Vanth.”
The tea sloshed over the cup rim. “Pardon? Did you say demoness?”
“Yes. It’s what I am. Can I eat your finger? It won’t hurt too much,” she said, hopping down. “They’re my favorite crunchy parts.”
Kiera did the only thing she could.
She screamed.
The three raced down the stairs and into the kitchen. When they arrived, Kiera was chanting, there was salt in a circle, and Vanth was hissing.
“What the hell?” Flynn asked, moving closer to the woman on the floor. As he approached, he, too, hissed in pain. She was casting a spell and the demons were the target. “Stop hurting her!”
She tossed herbs at him too.
When he stepped back, obviously in pain, Jolie rushed past him, kicking the salt out of the way so the circle was broken.
“She’s a demon! He’s one too! I have to get out of here!”
Flynn growled, and they heard all the doors lock. “What’s going on here?”
Vanth moved to his side. “Rinnon, I only wanted her pinky. I was only going to take one finger. She has nine more. That’s being selfish.”
“Vanth! We’ve told you to not snack on the guests,” Flynn stated.
Jolie pointed at him. “She’s your pet, and you’ve been feeding her people again. When you do that, she likes it. She needs to go Vegan.”
Jacques started laughing. “Our lives are incredibly weird as of late. Here’s the proof if anyone is doubting it.”
Flynn gave Vanth a dirty look. “If she’s guilty, you can eat her. If she’s not, then you don’t touch the guest. If you start eating the people we invite into our home, you’ll have to stay away.”
Vanth pouted.
“Yes, Master.”
Jolie held out her hand to Kiera. “Come with me. You’ll be safe. Your spell won’t keep them away from you for long. It just pisses them off. It’s like being stung by bees.”
Reluctantly, she took her hand.
“Are you going to kill me?” she asked, clutching the Celtic knot around her throat.
“If you don’t answer my questions, I am going to let Vanth eat you. I suggest you go with honesty.”
She felt ill.
They headed into the family room. Kiera looked at all the possible escape routes.
“They’re sealed. You’re trapped.”
“You’re not helping, Flynn!”
She began crying. “I don’t know why you’re doing this to me. I didn’t do anything. You asked to see me.”
Jolie gave her mates a dirty look. “Get the spell ingredients, and I’ll handle this.”
Flynn headed off to get the spell parts.
Hopefully, she wasn’t involved. If she was, Vanth was getting rid of the evidence. What better way was there to hide a witch?
When he returned, he placed it in front of Kiera and removed the towel that had been covering it.
“Explain please,” he said calmly, giving the woman a chance to confess or explain.
Kiera looked down at the tray and touched the root and powdery substance. “It’s the components to a spell.”
Jolie nodded. “What kind of spell?” she asked, watching the woman’s face. There was no fear, no trepidation, and she genuinely looked confused.
She was either innocent or a very good actress.
Kiera curiously glanced over at Jolie. “Where was it found?”
Jolie sat between the two men on the couch as she tried to figure out how much Kiera knew, and how much they should tell her.
This was tricky.
‘Careful,’ Jacques warned.
Flynn did too.
Jolie went with her gut. “It was found by the front door and also the garage door. Someone put this curse on our home, specifically the vampyres here.”
Kiera picked up the root and broke it in half. “It’s mandrake,” she said sniffing it. “This is highly toxic and also used in spells to bid someone harm.”
Yeah, they knew that part.
She then touched the crystal substance and rubbed it between her fingers before tasting it. “This is salt, and it’s used in a protective circle or to lock something inside the circle—like the one I used in the kitchen. Some witches carry it in pouches like I do—just in case.”
She began putting it together.
Kiera glanced over at Jolie. “Were the spell ingredients found inside a circle?”
Jolie let Flynn handle this, since he’d been the one who tracked it down.
“Yes, they were.”
Kiera leaned back and thought about it. Finally, she got it. “You called me here because you think I’m trying to harm you?”
Blunt—Jolie liked that in a person.
“Yes, we did. Now the question remains, did you?”
Kiera leaned forward, facing them down. “I do no harm. Witches aren’t supposed to use black magick. So, NO, it wasn’t me, but then you don’t know if I am lying or telling the truth.”
“I can find out, if you’ll let me,” said Jolie.
“It doesn’t involve blood, does it? I’m really bad with blood, especially my own. It doesn’t involve the demon eating me either, right?”
Jolie laughed. “Not unless you’d like it to.”
“Uh, no thank you.”
Vanth cursed and popped out of the room in a huff. When she was gone, both of Flynn’s mates stared at him.
“I know!” Flynn said. “I’ll ground her later.”
Kiera stared at him. “Is she a pet? A child? What?”
They all said at the same time, “It’s complicated.”
Oh, and was it ever.
“Let’s focus on you, not Vanth,” Flynn offered. It was his signal to Jolie to get it started.
“To see if you’re lying, I can go into your mind and look around. If that’s okay with you.” Jolie raised an eyebrow waiting.
“Feel free, but then I wish something in return when you are done.”
Jolie didn’t like where this was headed.
“If I am innocent, I want to know what is going on here. If someone is using magick to harm, then they’re endangering themselves and others. I want to help stop it.”
If she wasn’t involved, having a witch in their pocket was a good thing.
Jolie approached the woman.
She looked nervous.
“This will be painless. I promise.”
Kiera waited with her breath held.
Jolie slipped into her mind, searching for everything. She looked in every crevice, corner, and dark spot in the woman’s head.
She saw it all.
The hardships.
The pain of being different.
The way she was ostracized from family because of her gift.
It broke Jolie’s heart.
She was a good person. Kiera was not guilty of the spell. What amused her was how Kiera was turned on by Jacques, her vampyre mate. She was curious what it would be like to have some sexy man suck on her neck.
She laughed.
“Sorry, I found something amusing,” she muttered when all of their eyes were on her.
It wasn’t as if she was surprised.
She didn’t blame the woman. Jacques was ridiculously sexy.
It was obvious they were in her mind because Jacques laughed, and Flynn was insulted that she was totally turned off by him because of what he was.
‘I think you’re sexy, my demon lover,’ she reassured.
‘She has shitty taste. Once you go demon, you don’t go vamp.’
Jolie was amused as she removed her hand from the woman’s head. “Thank you, Kiera, and we apologize for thinking you had anything to do with this.”
“I told you I didn’t. Now will you let me help?” she asked. “I meant what I said. I want to be part of this. I can help you stay safe. If they are targeting vampyres, I can make mojo bags.”
That was a good idea.
“May we ask some questions about the spell?” asked Flynn. “It might give me a hint as to who is doing this.”
“As I didn’t create it, I can’t really tell you more than what I already have. Only the person who sent out this dark magick would know exactly what its intent was, but feel free to ask. I’ll supply whatever information I can or make an educated guess.”
“Would a spell using these things,” she asked, waving her hand over the tray, “cause uncontrollable anger?”
Kiera sat back and considered the things before her. “One could use a spell like this to cause negativity to surround the individuals who crossed its path. You might feel hate or rage.”
She looked at the three.
“Has this happened?”
Jacques leaned forward. “Yes, it made me angry and made me hurt my family,” he answered. “I put my hands on my mate and I’m not happy that I was made to do that at someone else’s will.”
She didn’t blame him.
Flynn continued, “Vanth, Jolie and I weren’t affected. Why?” he asked. “Was it because we’re demon?”
She glanced over at Jolie. “You’re demon too? I suck at this. I thought I read you as a vampyre.”
Jolie pointed at her belly. “I have two demons on board.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t worry, they won’t have horns and glowing red eyes,” she said. Then she glanced over at Flynn. “Right?”
He snorted. “Wings—we already discussed this.”
The sound of his filled the room, and Kiera looked around. “That’s freaky.”
“Try having them,” he said. “I used to be a cop, and I carried a gun. Now I’m packing razor feathers and a demon gift. I’ve had to adjust to it.”
‘But it’s so hot,’ Jolie whispered into his mind. ‘Want to cuff me later?’
Hell yeah, he did!
“Well, if you are demon or in this case carry them, you’ll have extra protection. Since vampyres aren’t the same thing, if they focused this spell on simply the undead, you’d be safe.”
That gave Jacques and Flynn a little reassurance. As long as the witch casting the spell didn’t know the truth, Jolie would be protected.
It would buy them some time.
“We have protection tattoos, will that help?” Jolie asked.
“What kind?” she asked.
Both men stood. When they began unbuttoning their shirts to show the witch what it was they carried, the room got noticeably hotter.
Her mates started laughing.
“Hey, I’m pregnant. I can’t help myself. She’s the one ogling my men.”
Kiera stammered.
The men dropped their shirts. Flynn turned around, and he could feel Jolie’s fingers stroking his tattoo. Her touch made it come alive, and he could feel the heat.
“You carry a Celtic knot from the Gods of the Underworld. You take life and reap it on the battlefield. Do you want to kill?”
“Yes, I do.”
Kiera moved toward Jacques’s chest and studied the design beneath Jolie’s fingers.
She really wanted to touch him, but that would have been very inappropriate. There was something alluring about the romanticism of a vampyre.
Truth be told, if anyone looked at her bookshelves at home, she’d be caught red-handed.
She liked sexy, dominant vampyre smut.
“You have the Celtic God of protection. Does it make you overly protective of your mates?”
“Yes.”
“May I see yours, Jolie?” she asked.
Gently, Flynn lifted her shirt. He revealed her belly for the woman to see.
“The Earth mother symbol was an interesting choice. She protects, fights, and she has a very lusty side.”
Flynn slapped her on the ass. “That’s our girl.”
“Flynn Xavier Brogan! I will make you sorry you did that. I am not your sexy plaything!”
“Isn’t that my line?”
She blushed.
Kiera laughed. “I’m taking it that you find yourself all hot and bothered around these two.”
“Yes, around all men. In fact, I may start jumping random strangers if my mates don’t stop slapping me on the ass like a tavern wench.”
“Do we have a costume for that?” he asked Jacques. “Can you snap her into one?”
He did.
“FLYNN!”
Both men grinned. Jolie made a hot tavern wench, especially with her belly and the very revealing breasts sticking out.
“She had an outfit like this when we were first starting out,” Jacques admitted. “She’d lure them out, and I’d drink from them. It’s how we survived.”
Flynn snapped his fingers, and he was dressed like some pirate who would frequent a tavern.”
Jolie started laughing. “You are out of control, but oddly, I find that sexy in a man.”
“What about me?” Jacques said. “I want to be on a pirate ship too.”
Flynn grinned.
Jolie pointed at him, but it was too late.
When he snapped his fingers, Jacques was dressed like a parrot in an eye patch.
“I’m going to hurt you.”
Flynn dropped down on the couch and laughed his ass off. Then he pulled Jolie into his lap. She was even snickering.
Kiera watched them.
“Do you mind?” she asked, pulling her tarot cards from her bag. “I feel compelled to do something. Will you humor me?” she asked.
Jolie watched her carefully. “What do you feel you need to do?”
“Not so much your cards but theirs,” she admitted, motioning toward the men. “Please shuffle them and let each mate handle them equally.”
“I’m not shuffling them until he puts me back in my clothes. Then I’m going to hurt him.”
Flynn snapped his fingers again, and this time, Jacques was dressed almost identically as Flynn.
“Better.”
He sat and took the cards from the witch.
Jolie touched his hand. “Are you okay with this?” she asked, needing to make sure.
“I don’t really want to, but what choice do I have?”
“He’s not doing it,” Jolie stated. “Flynn?”
�
�She can try.”
Flynn began shuffling them. He wasn’t sure he believed in them, but he would humor the woman who just offered to help them.
What could it hurt?
He handed the cards backs to Kiera, and then focused on the beer wench in his lap. She was rubbing against his body, and he was incredibly aroused.
He couldn’t wait to get her naked.
Oh, and alone.
Jacques had his little sex fest, and he was going to have his. She was going to be dressed just like this too.
Kiera flipped over the top few cards, signaling that she was going to begin. When she looked up at the man, she saw the cards were right.
“Why are you suddenly nervous?” she asked curiously.
“I’m worried they say I won’t see our children born. I’m afraid the Tueur will kill them and Jolie,” he said simply.
Kiera turned over two more cards and looked back up, “You feel something is missing in your life. Part of you is incomplete.”
“Yes.” He gave no other info and could feel Jolie watching him curiously.
How could he tell his mates he was missing being a detective? He tried to go back to work, and then they had to leave, it just wasn’t meant to be anymore.
He had to let it go, but it was damn difficult.
“You also are mourning something that you took for granted before you changed,” she said being vague for his sake.
“Yes,” he verified, thinking of how he wouldn’t ever get a wedding and could never call Jolie his wife.
It may seem silly, but it still wounded him.
If his mother was alive, she would have slapped him silly for knocking Jolie up without marrying her. Even his upbringing told him this was wrong. Flynn couldn’t help it. He had been Catholic at one time.
Now he was a demon.
Oh, the irony.
“Unless you fulfill one of these, the cards indicate you will always carry this sadness.
“I’m willing to carry it,” he said honestly. He was beginning to think that this card-reading thing was a very bad idea. He was sure any minute Jacques or Jolie would be touching his mind, asking him what the problems were.
He didn’t know if he should tell them.
Kiera flipped over the next card and all three looked at it.
It was the death card.
Jolie squeezed his hand in panic. She hoped it didn’t mean what she thought it meant.
Dangerous Sacrifice (The Harcourte Vampyre Society Book 6) Page 26