by C. J. Pinard
Nothing came to me, so I changed into my workout clothes, grabbed some water and a protein bar, and went to the gym down the street. I had been thinking over the past few weeks, and especially after the incident at the club, that I needed to get stronger.
It had been a while since I’d been here, and I had forgotten about the overwhelming smell of humanity in this place. I signed in at the front desk and tried to breathe through my mouth as I found an empty treadmill.
I had my MP3 attached to an armband and I turned on Five Finger Death Punch, blasted the volume, and began the treadmill at a slow jog. It was only about five minutes before I moved the speed up to a run and started to feel the adrenaline and burn.
I glanced up at the TV and almost tripped and lost my stride as I saw the footage from last night playing on the evening news. But this wasn’t the same video I’d been shown earlier. This was a different one with much better views and angles. I pulled the headphones out of the MP3 player and plugged them into the treadmill as I ran so I could hear the audio.
“...in front of the popular LGBT club downtown last night. The strange events were witnessed by at least a dozen passersby. In this video, you can clearly see the young man in the green jacket’s eyes turn red, and then back to blue.” The footage shifted to me about to pull out the dagger and Kellan rushing to me, but this view was from the opposite side as the one I’d seen earlier. In this one, and someone had so helpfully slowed down the video, I could clearly see the vampire I was about to stab get whisked off his feet and thrown by Kellan. The camera then panned to another vampire grabbing a large human man’s fist as he attempted to punch the vampire. He squeezed it so hard, it broke, and the sound of the human screaming made me wince. The man was on the ground, the vampire standing over him and sneering. His wrist was turned at an odd direction, and his fingers did not look as if they should be bending at those angles.
“It was like the Justice League had appeared right here in the middle of downtown,” the voice over the phone said as the news people interviewed the cameraman.
Then the pretty female news anchor said, “Well, maybe the government really is working on their own version of the Justice League.”
The male anchor next her said, “Or maybe the Avengers.”
They both laughed.
“Next up...”
I yanked my headphones out and put them back into my MP3. Superheroes? That was what people thought?
I chuckled and looked around, hoping nobody had recognized me from the video, and kept running. Maybe it really would blow over soon.
How wrong I was.
Chapter 24
Evan looked disturbed and concerned after hearing about my dream. He finished tying his tennis shoe and stood up from the bench surrounding the boxing ring inside our training warehouse.
“But normally those premonition visions come while you’re awake, and not asleep, correct? Maybe it was just a regular dream—your subconscious.”
I shook my head and pulled my bottom lip between my teeth.
“What?” Karina asked.
“About that. Sanja and her mom put some kind of nightmare spell on me. It’s supposed to make the visions come while I sleep, if they are going to come at all, instead of while I was awake.”
“Oh... my. Well, I suppose they were just trying to help. We all know how disruptive and embarrassing those were for you in public,” Karina said.
Evan nodded. “That was very nice of them. So now we have to treat this like a true premonition.”
“But it really did feel like a dream, since I was interacting in it and not just a spectator.”
“Still, we need to prepare you. Between the dream and what the BSI agents told you, there’s a real possibility you may be forced to meet with Linden. And you’ll need to be ready,” Evan said.
“But how can I be any more ready than I already am? I mean, I did decide to hit the weights today after I did some cardio. I need to be stronger, I guess.”
Karina looked at me, almost sympathetically. “I think that’s smart, but I’m not sure you’ll ever be as strong as a pure vampire.”
I lifted my chin. “I disagree. Wolves are strong, too. I have the strength of both.”
Karina hadn’t been standing ten feet away from me, when she suddenly blitzed to me and picked me up. I found myself flying over the ropes and into the boxing ring. I landed on my back and all the wind whooshed out of me—all in the span of about three seconds.
“Bitch,” I wheezed out. I popped to my feet and drew in a big breath.
Evan flipped the switch on the speaker in the gym and Eminem’s voice began to bleed out of the speakers.
“Two trailer park girls go ’round the outside...”
“Asshole.” I glanced at Evan, who was chuckling next to the speaker.
I lunged at Karina but she sidestepped me and I fell to the floor of the ring. Before I could get up, she pinned me down on my stomach.
“Get off me,” I said, trying to buck her off me.
I reached down, trying to grab for my dagger where it was throbbing against my leg after landing on it when she pinned me.
She made a tsking noise in my ear as she was on top of me. “You’re not going to get that dagger.”
I smiled, still trying to catch my breath. “That’s what you think.”
She had me caged in with her arms and legs, all her weight on me. Although, thankfully, she didn’t weigh as much as a man. I arched my back as far as I could and was able to get to the dagger. I drew it up lightning fast, and while my face was still pinned on its side, I could see her pale, freckled hand and grinned. I reached my hand out from under us and brought the dagger down between her thumb and first finger, the dagger’s point embedded into the floor.
She gasped and pulled her hand away, and that was all I needed. I raised my head and smacked it into her nose and jumped up. She hollered, and with preternatural speed, I snatched my dagger where it was protruding from the floor and pinned her on her back. I pretended to drive it into her chest, as Evan yelled, “Don’t!”
I jumped off her, sheathed the dagger, and put my hand out for her to take. She stood and put her hand to her bleeding nose. “Good job.”
I winced at the sight of her nose. “Sorry.”
She shook her head and said in a nasally voice, “It’ll be better in a couple minutes.”
I then looked at Evan. “You didn’t seriously think I would stab her, did you?”
I pulled Karina in a hug and kissed the top of her head since I was a lot taller than her. “We need to play a real joke on him one of these days,” I whispered so low only she could hear.
Evan came over to me, grinning. “I underestimated you.”
I looped my arm around his wife’s neck and fingered one of her auburn curls. “You shouldn’t ever underestimate me. Or her.” I bit down on her hair and let it go, and walked away.
They both laughed.
“We’re gonna be training most of the night, so take care of your business and then get back here,” Evan said.
“Okay, boss,” I said, making my way to the bathroom to regain my composure and get ready for an all-nighter.
After my nightmare, I had made sure Kellan was okay before Jeffrey had driven me to Magik’s Books & Coffee to meet with the BSI agents. Kellan had even kissed me and wished me luck with the agents, and I had to resist the urge to rip his clothes off and demand a toe-curling encore of the night before. But more than that, I had needed to see him to make sure he was all right and still living... existing. It had offered me little comfort, though, as the thought of him being killed by Linden constantly occupied my brain, and I hated it.
It was for this reason that I went into Moon Chasers at three a.m. after my exhausting and grueling training with the Grants, hoping he would be nearby so I could see the sexy vampire. I needed to be wrapped in his arms so I could know that he was still alive and okay. I cursed myself for not getting his phone number, for the hundredth time.
Like, when was I going to do that?
This special bar, that seemed to be immune to the two a.m. closing time the city imposed, was teeming with vampire patrons. Some were sitting around talking; others were on the small dance floor, writhing to the music; others were in corners, kissing and sharing blood. Very few humans were in the establishment, and how I knew which were humans, I couldn’t explain.
“Are you here? Are you nearby?” I asked him, hoping he was somewhere close as I sat on my barstool and waited to be served my drink.
I still wasn’t sure how the whole weird telepathy thing worked. At first, it was like we had to be in close proximity to one another, but after my row with Fiona the vampire in the stairwell of that office building—which was nowhere near Moon Chasers—and then the riot two nights ago at the Love is Love Lounge, he had heard my distress calls. Did he only hear me when I was in trouble if I was far away?
But the Love is Love Lounge was only around the block from Moon Chasers. Had he been in here that night?
Argh! This was so frustrating.
Janine set my drink down and smiled. “Catch me if you need another.”
“I will teach you how to control it,” Kellan’s whisky-smooth voice replied.
I whirled around on my barstool to see him standing in the doorway of the bar. I jumped down and blitzed over to him, not caring who saw.
What part of keeping a low profile do you not understand? I could hear Jessica’s mom-like voice in my head.
I launched myself into his arms and he chuckled as he caught me. “I missed you, too, little wolf.”
I pressed my lips to his full, sexy ones and gave the entire bar a show. I didn’t care one bit.
He broke the kiss. “Have something you want to tell me?”
I pulled back from his face, my legs still wrapped around his waist, my arms securely looped around his neck. I shook my head and whispered, “No. But I have plenty I’d like to show you.” I waggled my eyebrows.
He set me down and led me outside, where he put me in his Porsche and drove very fast to his house.
We stayed tangled up in each other until mid-morning when we both crashed out, exhausted.
Thank the Lord for blackout curtains.
“Dude... the shop is bangin’!” I said, looking around at all the new décor and how everything was set up in Sanja’s mom’s new shop. They had decided to call it A Touch of Magic and it had a fancy, new, eye-catching sign outside. The grass was coming in nice and green out in front. It looked pretty against the white post that held the sign as the setting sun lit it up in pinks and oranges.
I turned from the window and looked at Sanja’s mom. “You guys did great. Have you had much business?”
She nodded. “Yeah, we’ve been doing a lot of print ads and online ads. It’s costing me a fortune, but ya gotta spend money to make money, right?”
I nodded. “I heard that.” I looked at Sanja, who was gathering up her purse and phone. “You ready?”
She nodded. “We’re going to dinner, I’ll see you later.”
Samantha smiled. “Have fun, girls. I’m gonna close up shop here then head upstairs and catch up on my shows.”
We walked out the door and made our way to my new little Lexus sports car I’d just bought last month. Yeah I’d used most of the twenty-five grand as a down payment, but it was worth it.
I put the car in reverse and steered it in the direction of lower downtown where all the fun stuff was happening.
Sanja put her visor down to try to block out the sun, but it was too low in the sky.
“It’ll be behind the mountains in like two minutes. Annoying though, huh?”
She nodded and put the visor up. “So did you bring the necklace?”
I jerked my thumb toward the backseat where my purse sat. “It’s in there. I was gonna wear it, but you and your mom said not to...”
“Yeah,” she replied. “Not yet. But tonight it’ll be okay after I make some tweaks to it.”
I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and shot a sideways glance at her as I stopped at red light. “You sure you don’t need your mom for it?”
She shook her head and pulled the visor down again to smear more lipstick on her annoyingly perfect, full lips. “No, it’s a simple invisibility spell.”
My eyes went wide and I turned my entire upper body to look at her. “What? You’re going to make me invisible?”
She chuckled and put the visor back up. “Huh, you were right, sun is behind the mountains now. That was fast.”
“Answer my question!” I demanded, right as the car behind us honked at me since the light was green.
She pointed to the green light and said, “You drive, I talk.”
“Fine,” I said, hitting the accelerator. I blew a kiss to the angry driver who weaved around me and gave me his one-finger salute.
She shook her head and laughed. “No, not you, just your dagger.”
I had told Sanja about my dream/vision, of course, and she said she had an idea, so she told me to pick her up tonight.
We were almost to the bar when I started looking for a parking spot. There were people everywhere, walking down the streets and riding bikes. “Hey, what did your mom ever say about that place in Oregon with sacred ground?” I asked.
“She said she already knew about it, but it was just some kind of urban legend. A supposed vortex or something. But it doesn’t have the magical properties we have heard about in stories.”
I snorted. “Tell that to Jessica. I can’t believe she would make up a wild story like that. I mean, why would she?”
“I agree,” Sanja said. “Mom didn’t get to see the magic in her like we did, but I do believe Jessica used to be or is part vampire. I can’t explain how I know.”
I saw a car pulling out of a spot and I quickly snagged it. “Well, she will get to judge for herself soon when they come and pay your shop a visit.”
“True,” she replied, getting out of the car.
I locked the car and armed the alarm after pulling my purse from the backseat. We waited in a short line to get into the bar, and went and sat at a dark corner table. I pulled out the necklace and handed it to Sanja. She ran her finger over the ruby in the center of it.
She looked at me. “Give me the dagger.”
I reached into my leather jacket and pulled it out of the inner pocket, still inside its sheath. I knew they would have never let me into this club if it was visible, so I broke the law and hid it in my jacket pocket.
Hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.
She looked around and could see nobody really paying any attention to us, and the music was blasting some kind of 90s rock so it was exceptionally loud in this place. It was the type of club you had to order drinks from the bartender—there were no waitresses or servers.
She set the necklace down on the tabletop next to the dagger and hovered her hand over both, and closed her eyes. “Et invisibilia.” She opened her eyes and looked at me. “Give your hand.”
I handed over my right hand. She pressed it down over both items, and closed her eyes again. “Videri nisi per exercitum. Non lamia.”
I gasped when I felt a fizzle of hot magic shoot through my hand, up my arm, through my shoulder, and to my chest. I could feel it zing underneath my skin. I squealed when it stopped just below the base of my throat and one final zap of power shot right into the area underneath the center of my collarbone.
I reached up to touch the spot and felt warm metal there. I looked down with shock to see the necklace magically secured around my neck, the pendant resting against my skin. The skin still tingled under where it rested.
“How did you...?” I murmured, still trying to catch my breath.
She wiggled her fingers. “Magic.” She pointed to my Dagestan dagger. “Now put that away. It’s not invisible yet. It will be, though, when you get into the direct presence of vampires.”
I nodded and quickly shoved it into my jacket pocket.
My fingers went to the necklace again. “That was so cool. How come we couldn’t do this at your house?”
“This club is run by warlocks. There’s more magic in this place than at my mom’s shop, if you can believe that. Plus, it’s best to do it after the sun goes down.”
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “Okay. If you say so.”
She lifted a shoulder and let it fall, and then gave me a weak smile. “I don’t make the rules. But hey, I’m gonna go to the bathroom and splash some cold water on my face.” She huffed out a breath. “That drained me a little. Whew.”
“Of course, girl, do what you need. I appreciate it.” I put my hand on her shoulder. “I’ll get us drinks. What do you want?”
“Surprise me,” she said, waving a hand.
I reached inside my jacket and pulled the dagger out. I slid it into its thigh strap. I wasn’t sure why I was so uncomfortable with it in my pocket, but I just was. Much more accessible this way, anyhow. The security was only at the door anyway, it seemed. I looked around for the bar, and spotted two. The one at the back of the bar seemed way less crowded so I headed toward it.
I stopped short when I saw Maurice standing near the back door to the club, talking to someone. He wore a plain black tee and some fitted dress slacks and shiny shoes.
What was he doing here?
I headed toward him, and once I reached him, I smiled and put my hand on his massive forearm. “Hi, Maury. Fancy meeting you here. Whatcha doin’?”
The woman he’d been talking to wandered off, and I realized that maybe he was just here for a good time.
“Just kickin’ it. What about you, girl?”
“Getting some drinks with a friend. She’s in the bathroom.” I wasn’t sure why I needed to disclose that last part.