Warmongers and Wands

by Dunbar, Debra

  Cassie glowered down at the floor, her jaw set in that typical concrete firmness that told me she didn’t like our youngest sister’s suggestion one bit. As much as Cassie had chafed at having to raise the lot of us when she was only thirteen, she wasn’t one to give up her authority easily. She’d bitch and moan about it, but she liked being in charge. She liked taking care of us all. And she honestly didn’t trust anyone else to do as good a job as she did. It was like we were all little children still in her mind. Which was funny since I was only two years younger than her.

  I reached out a hand to grip her shoulder. “Tonight only, Cassie. Then let someone else take a turn babysitting your thirty-one-year-old sister if you’re that worried. You can come out when you get off work to check on me if you need to, just to make sure we haven’t all been slaughtered in our sleep by werewolves.”

  “Not helping,” she muttered.

  “I’ll be fine. Hadur and I will be fine. And by tomorrow morning, you’ll realize that and stop thinking I need to have my whole family standing guard outside a cabin.”

  “You’ve got a broken leg, Wynnie.” She reached out a hand to touch my cheek and I saw how worried she really was. “You’re hurt. I don’t know this demon. And if the werewolves really did cause your accident…”

  “I don’t know that. I’m just conjecturing, and maybe I’m a little overly paranoid because the werewolves are jerks and in the middle of a turf war. As for Hadur, I trust him. And my leg…well it will heal in twelve or fourteen or sixteen weeks.”

  “Four,” Glenda reminded me.

  “Four,” I corrected myself. “Ophelia and whoever else wants to help carry shit down a mountainside and through the woods can come back with medical stuff and clothing. Oh, and books. I need the books from the attic. I need all the diaries from two hundred years ago and any spell books that might have information on demons and demon summoning.”

  If I was going to be stuck here for four weeks in a cabin with my sister with no electricity, running water, or Wi-Fi, then I might as well get some research done. Besides, I was determined that by the time I walked out of this place, Hadur was walking out of here with me. Whether he chose to stay or go at that point was his decision, but I wasn’t going to have him trapped here for a moment longer than necessary.

  “And smoothies and sexy reading material….” Sylvie was writing it all down on a paper towel with a pen she’d managed to find somewhere.

  “And a porta-potty,” I added. “One of those portable ones. Chocolate. Wine.”

  “We’re gonna need more than one trip.” Ophelia rolled her eyes.

  “We’ve got it,” Sylvie said. “I’ll help Ophelia carry it all. And if we can’t get it all in one trip, I’ll come back later with more.”

  My sisters all moved toward the door—well, all of them aside from Cassie.

  “I’m staying here. Tell Lucien…” she appeared a bit flustered about what they should tell Lucien, and I knew why. The demon was going to bust a gasket over this whole thing. He barely let Cassie out of his sight. He’d even taken to lurking around the courthouse during her trials, and although she’d threatened to set his extremities on fire, I could tell she kind of liked the stalkerish behavior. Weirdo. Her, I mean, although he was plenty weird as well.

  “I’ll tell him you and Bronwyn are having a threesome here with another demon.” Sylvie grinned. “I’ll even go into details.”

  “No, you will not!” Cassie shouted at her back. “Sylvie! I mean it. Do not tell him that!”

  She turned to me with a groan once they’d all left. “I’m so dead. So. Dead.”

  “Lucien is a selfish, arrogant asshole, but I can’t see him killing the witch he bonded with,” Hadur commented. “You can make his life miserable, you know.”

  “Oh, she already does that,” I told the demon. “On a regular basis. They’re quite a good match, you know.”

  “I’m regretting my decision to stay here already,” Cassie told me. “And we didn’t even get to eat dinner. Please tell me there’s something to eat in this place.”

  “I think Hadur has a rabbit on the fire, although it’s probably a bit past well done at this point.” I motioned over to the shelf of cans. “Or you can take your pick. I think there’s some tuna over there if Diebin didn’t already have it for dinner.”

  “I had a pork loin in the oven,” Cassie muttered as she inspected the canned goods. “Pork loin. Fried apples. Roasted brussels sprouts.”

  “Did I mention that I just drank Glenda’s fish-oil and barf smoothie? So don’t be complaining about burnt rabbit and canned tuna.”

  “Your sister puts barf in her potions?” Hadur looked horrified.

  “No, she doesn’t,” Cassie assured him.

  “Yes, she does,” I countered. “Barf. Poop. Pureed slugs. Eye of newt.”

  “She does not.” Cassie glared at me then took down the can of tuna. “It’s not even packed in water. Oil. Who eats tuna packed in oil?”

  “Raccoons evidently,” I told her. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

  She ate the tuna while Hadur and I had ultra-well-done rabbit. Then while Hadur and I played a rousing game of go-fish, she roamed the cabin, picking up various objects until she had an entire handful of random household utensils, candles, and scraps of paper and napkins.

  “What is she doing?” Hadur hissed.

  I shrugged. “Spells. You’re going to see how incredibly paranoid my sister can be when it comes to protecting her family. Got any twos?”

  “Go fish. She’s doing spells with spoons?”

  “Yep.”

  “Are there any light bulbs?” Cassie called out.

  “Oh, yes, for all those lamps that we can’t use because Hadur doesn’t have any electricity. Got any sixes?”

  “Hey, it’s my turn. Got any fours?”

  “How about batteries? Oh, can I use this flashlight? And this packet of mouse traps?”

  “Take whatever you want,” Hadur told her.

  I handed him my fours. “You might not want to tell her that. She’ll strip the cabin. You’ll find all your belongings strewn along a perimeter enchanted with magical spells.”

  “I thought you did the enchantments of the family?” he asked me, putting down his set of fours.

  “I do. And I do them better than Cassie.” I glanced over at her, noticing that she didn’t refute my statement. “She’s the only generalist of the family, which basically makes her a jack of all trades.”

  “And master of none,” she added wryly.

  Cassie was master of plenty. She was the most powerful of any of us. And where I could out spell her when it came to enchanting metal, she was just as good at enchanting other objects. Well, she would have been just as good if she’d practiced her magic over the last few decades. Right now, she had some catching up to do.

  “Need me to help with any of that?” I asked.

  Cassie looked at her armful of objects. “How’s your pain level? Can you manage some of these spoons?”

  The pain in my leg was now more of a dull ache. Actually, the dull ache wasn’t as bad as it had been this morning. And it had improved quite a bit after I managed to choke down Glenda’s disgusting smoothie.

  “I can do the spoons right after I finish with the nippers I was working on,” I told her with far more confidence that I would have had just a few hours ago.

  I moved the cards aside, aborting the go-fish game that Hadur had been on the verge of winning anyway. She set the spoons down beside me next to the nippers, the frying pan, and the fork.

  “What are you planning for all these things?” I asked.

  “The mouse traps will be alarms. The flashlights are temporary blindness. These?” She shrugged. “I was thinking something defensive.”

  “Wouldn’t knives be better for that?” Hadur asked.

  “Probably if we were looking to stab someone.” I picked up one of the spoons. “Stabbing a werewolf isn’t really that effective. They heal f
ast. It just pisses them off unless you can somehow launch two dozen knives into them at once.”

  “And spoons work better?” Hadur was clearly perplexed.

  Actually, I was too. Normally I had all sorts of brilliant clever ideas for things to enchant, but I was tired, and despite my confidence just a few minutes ago, I was worried I wouldn’t have the strength to do more than the nippers and one of the spoons—whatever I intended on doing with them.

  Spoons. “I think I’ll do a sap energy spell,” I said. “Werewolves are absolute babies about that sort of thing.”

  “Sure you don’t want to do a towel spell?” Cassie asked.

  I didn’t have the strength to do one towel spell, let alone half a dozen. That thing was complex. Doing the one for Pete had taken me weeks, and I didn’t have weeks here.

  “No, I’ll do the sap energy.” I ran my fingers around the spoon, thinking of the incantation, the focus area, the sigil I’d need to trace, and the energy I’d need to somehow pull together.

  “Can I help?” Hadur asked.

  “That pen knife over on the table? I need to scratch sigils in each spoon just like I did with the nippers, only different sigils.”

  He shook his head but got up to retrieve the item. “I meant can I help as in can I contribute to the spell?”

  Cassie sucked in a breath. “No, you cannot.”

  I bit back a smile, knowing what she was thinking. When Lucien granted Cassie his energy for a spell, it was downright erotic.

  “Yes, he can. I was going to have him help me with the nippers as it was. If you want me to enchant all these spoons, then I’m going to need help. He can help.”

  She glared at me, then at Hadur. “Go outside while I speak with my sister.”

  He scowled back. “It’s my home. No, I’m not going outside.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Please step outside. Cassie’s going to give me a sex ed talk and she doesn’t want to do it in front of you.”

  There was a bit of a staring match between the two, then Hadur headed outside with an exasperated huff.

  “Has he…have you…” Cassie made a rude gesture with her hands.

  “We’ve gotten to second base. Or maybe third base. I didn’t really memorize what happened at which base, so I’m not really sure. Let’s just say up until this morning I’ve been naked, and there was some fun involving a bathtub.”

  My sister clapped her hands over her ears, then paced a few steps before lowering her hands. “He’s hot, if you’re into that muscled, mountain man look—”

  “I totally am,” I interrupted her.

  “He’s a war demon.” Cassie glared at me. “And you’re not…you’re not all that experienced with guys, Bronwyn. I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t trust him, and I don’t want to see you fall for some good-looking, studly, jerk of a demon who will break your heart.”

  “Like Marcus did to you?” I totally threw her ex-boyfriend, the ‘ho of a panther shifter, in her face. “Look, I get that you’re protective. You’ve always been that way to me, to all of us. And it’s kind of a sisterly obligation to warn us that we’re about to make a terrible mistake in the boyfriend department. Warning taken. But I’m a grown woman, Cass. I’m thirty-one damned years old. And just because I haven’t had a manly shaft breach the walls of my virtue doesn’t mean I’m a fool about men. Have some faith in my ability to make a decision, please.”

  She smiled, and her eyes glistened with something that might have been tears. “Okay. But if he turns out to be an asshole, if I find you crying out by the pond over him, then shit’s gonna get real.”

  “Pants-on-fire real?” I teased.

  “Oh, way more than pants-on-fire real,” she shot back. “No one hurts my sisters and gets away with it.”

  And now my eyes were glistening with something that might have been tears. “I love you, Cass.”

  She plopped down beside me on the bed, knocking spoons and the frying pan aside to put her arm around me. “I love you too, Wynnie.”

  We hugged for a moment. When we separated, I dried my eyes on what I hoped wasn’t the werewolf pelt. “Good. Now that we’re in agreement on all that, let’s get to enchanting some objects.”

  Chapter 10

  Bronwyn

  We both got to work inscribing runes on the odd assortment of objects. It went much faster with Cassie here than it had this morning. She instinctively knew the right order, the correct symbols, the added embellishments that would make the magic more precise. Hadur returned, making us tea and watching us work. When it came time for me to enchant my nippers and the spoons, he crossed over to my side.

  “I’m not watching,” Cassie proclaimed, although she didn’t seem prudish enough to actually leave the cabin. Or even avert her gaze. Hmm. Maybe she was going to watch after all.

  I didn’t care. I’d seen Lucien help her with magic before and while the energy exchanged sort of brought the emotional and physical nature of their relationship into clear view, it wasn’t as if they were naked and doing it on the kitchen table or something.

  “State the purpose of the magic, my witch.” Hadur’s voice was deep and rumbling and I shivered, wishing my sister would have gone to take a walk or something.

  “When the witch who holds the nipper-wand says the activation word, it will shoot a non-lethal shock of electricity into the being it’s pointed at,” I told him. “The handle is shielded so the spellcaster doesn’t get zapped. It’s a varying electrical shock, so if I point it at a werewolf, the nipper-wand sends a bigger shock than if I point it at a human.”

  I was a bit proud of that. Many hours this afternoon had been spent in figuring out the correct rune combination to make sure if I accidently shot one at an innocent bystander in a fight, I wouldn’t fry them. It was a pretty cool magical weapon, in my opinion. And they would still function as my favorite pair of nippers. Trimming hooves and zapping werewolves all in one handy-dandy tool. What more could a girl want?

  Hadur nodded. “Seems straightforward. I’m ready when you are, my witch.”

  I shot a mischievous glance at Cassie. “Then put your strong, virile hands on my nippers, you sexy hunk of demon, you,” I told Hadur in a breathy voice.

  Cassie made gagging noises in the background. The war demon smirked, then took hold of the nipper-wand, his hands overlapping mine.

  I began to chant, the magic leaping to my skin, swirling around me with increasing speed. Hadur’s deep voice joined in, and I gasped as his magic flooded me. Everything tingled, warmth settling down low in my core. Wow. I might not be the most experienced woman in the world, but this felt totally erotic.

  I closed my eyes, falling into the feel of his magic as I mixed in my own and chanted the energy into the nipper-wand. Once it had been charged, I changed my words, sealing and holding the magic to the object, and ended the spell.

  Instantly I felt the loss of his magic. I still tingled with magical aftershocks of the experience, awash in happy satisfaction, but I definitely wanted more. More of his magic, more of him.

  I’d not even known this demon a week and I was falling in love with him. It wasn’t just the sexual attraction, or the magical attraction, it was him. I couldn’t imagine not having him near me. I wanted to wake up with him in my bed, to share meals with him, to play Yahtzee in the evenings, to just be together.

  In the back of my mind was the worry that things might not work out, that once I freed him he’d return to hell, or that he’d get bored with me and one day he’d be gone. But I couldn’t worry about that. All I could do at the moment was think about the now, and how this felt so right, how it felt like the beginning of something amazing.

  We went on to charge the spoons, which had a far simpler and less sexy magic attached to them. And when we were done, I felt oddly invigorated. Normally this much magic would have completely exhausted me and sent me to my bed for a good eight hours, but I felt ready to do more—well, not much more, but I probably could have managed another spoon or t
wo. And if those werewolves stormed into the cabin tonight, I would be ready with spoons and a nipper-wand.

  “Well, at least I know what Lucien and I look like when we’re doing it,” Cassie drawled. “I feel like I need a shower, now.”

  “Thought you weren’t going to look,” I reminded her.

  “Kinda hard not to look with you two moaning and gasping like a budget porno over there,” she teased.

  I brandished a spoon at her but couldn’t help smiling.

  “My turn.” Cassie turned to face her objects and began with the flashlight, wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead when she’d finished. “Whew. This is harder than I remember. I’m so used to having Lucien help me that I forgot the toll this sort of magic takes.”

  Cassie was a powerful witch, the only one of us who could perform magic on the fly, but enchanting objects wasn’t her strength like it was mine. She could do it, and with practice probably do it better than I could, but it still took more effort.

  “Do you want me to finish?” I pointed to the other objects.

  “No, I’ve got it.” She motioned toward my leg. “I don’t want you to overexert yourself. Drink more of Glenda’s smoothie and relax.”

  I grimaced at the half-empty glass by my side, the second one I’d had so far. It was soooo bad. How could Glenda make the most amazing meals, each one a culinary delight, but her potions always taste like a dirty gym sock?

  Cassie finished her magical work and I finished the smoothie. We were discussing whether or not to open the bottle of wine when Hadur abruptly stood.

  “There is a demon at the edge of my circle.”

  For a second I panicked, thinking that the werewolves had managed to add a demon to their attacking army, then I relaxed and laughed.

  “Cassie, your stalker has arrived.”

  She shook her head, but there was a hint of a smile curling one corner of her lips. “I’m going to kill Sylvie. She probably told him that threesome story like she threatened.”

  Maybe. Maybe not. Lucien wouldn’t have liked the idea of Cassie spending a night away from him, let alone a night in a cabin with another man…demon. I looked at the door expectantly, but no demon flung it open.