by Nicola Rose
“Why?”
“Because Emory is getting greedy, and slightly crazier, in his age. The Bael are overstepping. What they plan for the human race will lead to its collapse and some of us don’t actually want that.”
“Fine. You go your way and run along to help the Unaligned, and I’ll go mine with Constance.” The finality of those words made my chest tighten. I tore my eyes from him and studied my hands.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily, darlin’. If the Bael get a single whiff of what you’re doing with Constance, they’ll come for you. I mean, they’re likely to come for you at some point anyway, but this would force their hand sooner, and more brutally.”
“You told me yourself that I don’t need a protector. I don’t need you here. Besides, I’m sure she’s capable enough of keeping me safe – it looked like she was about to kick your ass.”
“And what if the one you need protecting from is Zachariah? What happens when the Bael send him here to destroy you, and he obeys, because that’s what his very core is crying out for? Will you stand back and watch Constance kill him to keep you safe?”
“Will you?”
“I can’t let him die,” he shrugged. “If he dies, the Legacy bond is broken and my extra power is gone. So, unfortunately for me, it appears I have a burning desire to keep both of you safe.”
He’d left not long after that revelation. Or rather, I’d forced him to leave by explaining that I would simply sit there in silence until he fucked off. After twenty minutes passed I started thinking he was going to call my bluff and just stay all night, but eventually he got bored and conceded.
Of course, he couldn’t just walk out the door. Oh, no; he had to stand on the balcony, facing me, and calmly fall backwards with a little grin – so that my heart dropped out through my ass in a moment of pure panic. I had no idea how he did it, but when I looked over the edge he was gone.
I didn’t sleep. I tossed and turned, my mind running rampant with all the possibilities. I drove myself crazy, looping round in circles. By the time dawn broke my head was pounding.
I headed out, ignoring the hotel staff, despite the overwhelming urge to yell at them to stop being so nice. Between them all I got collared three times in the journey from my suite to the lobby doors – “Is everything to your satisfaction, Ma’am? Would you like a full clean of your suite, Ma’am? Would you like to make a dining reservation for tonight, Ma’am…?”
Fuck. Off!
I stopped in my tracks at the sight of a piece of paper taped to my Ducati.
No.
My core thrummed. I darted anxious looks all around.
He was dead. William was dead.
I couldn’t stop my fingers from trembling as I tore it free and read the words, expecting the worst – expecting William to leap out with chains and silver. His beastly, bearded form would appear from nowhere and he’d take me—
YOU’RE PLAYING WITH FIRE… LEAVE BEFORE YOU ARE BURNED (That’s Constance – never trust a witch)
HE’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK HE IS. YOU DESERVE MORE (Hmm… Zac is definitely showing his true colours now. Maybe I’m not what you think, either?)
VAMPIRE :D This was my favourite note! (and, fyi, you picked the wrong one.)
129 Alberta Avenue. (When you need me)
P.S – ever had a vampire suck on your inner thigh? Two words… Mind. Blown.
I would kill him. I would fucking kill him. He took every word that William had taped to my bike? Took all those words and turned it into a joke? After everything that had happened…
Memories resurfaced in a wash of anxiety – of Zac and Alex both chained up and bleeding out. Of the blade sinking into my abdomen. Of Anna’s face as Alex took her life.
Bile rose in my throat.
I rode to Sofia’s place, hoping to feel some sort of relief from making that decision, but instead finding tension hanging in the air between her and Constance. It felt like I’d interrupted something heated.
“We can’t train here,” Constance barked, buttoning the blazer of her navy suit and grabbing a bag.
“A little presumptuous, aren’t we? I haven’t agreed to working with you—”
“Of course you have, else you wouldn’t be here. We don’t have time to waste.”
She didn’t even give me a chance to say anything else – to her or Sofia – before dragging me back outside and driving us to a dilapidated building in a dodgy looking neighbourhood.
“Are all witches so abrasive?” I asked.
“All those that are fed up with a life in hiding.”
“So what’s Sofia’s excuse?”
“The same,” she scowled. “Your friend Eva might have thought she helped Sofia, but having your life saved by a vampire is shameful. It brought years of unwanted, negative attention to her coven.”
And yet she helped us. Did she think repaying the debt to Eva would finally allow her to move on?
“Why have you only just come to me? Why was Sofia training and protecting me, and not you?”
Was that guilt that flashed across her face? “I’ve had to keep watch on witches all over the world in anticipation of your arrival one day, all whilst trying to maintain a low profile. Do you know how hard it is for one woman to analyse all the possible candidates for your role? It was only William snooping around in our ancestry records that drew my attention to you. But I couldn’t just announce myself without being certain you were the one. I had to sit back and wait, watch, make sure…”
I followed Constance inside the building as her voice trailed off. Crudely painted symbols adorned some of the crumbling walls. The place stank of decay. It had been an office once, or a factory, but little remained to give any indication of what it had been like. The main room was stripped bare, no more than a few dusty tables and chairs, and a floor littered with trash and porno magazines.
“I must admit I’m disappointed, Constance.” I kicked beer cans to the edge of the room. “All these years and you couldn’t prepare for my arrival by finding someplace a little less… squalid?”
“No one comes here. It was easy for me to ward. We should be invisible whilst we work here.”
“There must be other pla—”
“No! This is all there is for now. Emory has locator spells on you. He could show up at any time, but at least I know it won’t happen whilst we’re training, if it’s here. Now concentrate, I need to assess you. I was hoping you’d be stronger.” She gave me a disappointed look.
Gee, thanks Grandma. I’d have given anything for some Elwood power right then. To have been able to snap my fingers and watch her wrinkled old head explode. Hell, fuck the Elwood power, I wanted my Morena power. Where was it hiding?!
“I’m not comfortable with Alex being in Dallas, by the way,” she huffed. “You can’t keep in contact with him if you’re working with me. It goes against everything I’m trying to achieve. I want him undone. Erased. Deleted. I won’t help you if you’re going to maintain a relationship with him.”
Yes. I could definitely enjoy splattering her over the filthy floor.
“That’s funny, I thought it was you that needed my help? That you’ve waited hundreds of years for me, because I’m that important? My bad, I’ll be off then—”
“Don’t mess with me, young lady,” Constance hissed, and I felt invisible bonds around my ankles.
“I won’t be dictated to!” I yelled. “I’m sick of this shit. Sick of everyone thinking they control me. You should know that I have issues with authority outside the bedroom, and I don’t understand where Alex fits into my life at the moment, but he’s staying. If you want my help, you’ll have to deal with that.” I bit my tongue to stop the rambling. I hadn’t intended to say that…
He made a mockery of the William situation, as if it was all a big joke. He does not belong in your life.
He makes you feel alive. Go to him.
I groaned in anger at my own stupid head-fuck thoughts.
“You plan to use me f
or your own gain, and never actually help when it comes to the final stage?” Constance asked.
“I never said that.”
“But that’s surely what you must intend, if you love these Elwoods so much.”
“Elwood. Singular,” I lied. “And no, not if what we achieve leaves them both alive. I don’t care if he loses his precious power, he’ll have to get over that. So long as they both come out unharmed, then everyone’s a winner as far as I can tell. Except the Bael, and the more they suffer the better.”
She considered this for a moment. Then the tightness around my ankles released and I stepped back, treading on a used condom. Seriously?! She couldn’t have picked somewhere else?
“If Alex gets in my way… if he threatens me, if he tries to stop us—”
“Yes, yes, I know, you’ll deal with him. Good luck with that. But don’t worry about him, I’ll handle it.”
Would I? Could I?!
“I can’t be certain that they’ll live. Obviously, this has not been done before, I don’t know for sure how the final ritual will unfold. I can only promise that I will try to keep them safe.”
“Then I can’t promise that I’ll follow through at the end. If I trust you enough when the time comes, then I will. That’s on you. And you can begin forming that trust by telling me exactly what all this prophecy entails.”
“No deal,” she sighed. “I can’t reveal information about the Morena Legacy, or what I know of the final ritual – it’s too dangerous to put that knowledge out there. I’ve guarded it for centuries, I’m not going to jeopardize it now when we’re so close.”
I revisited the fantasy of throttling this infuriating woman.
“You’re nowhere near ready, Jess.” She turned away from me and touched a hand to a painted symbol. “Right now you can’t even locate your power easily. It seems to be locked down and I’m not sure why. Let’s just take one step at a time. We’ll get you stronger, and when you’re ready, I will tell you everything.”
Training with Constance was about as much fun as training with Sofia had been. She insisted on going back to basics, rehashing what I’d already been taught, and failing to hide her irritation when the truth surfaced of just how little control I had over my power.
After three hours I was frazzled, covered in a sheen of sweat, to which dust and grime had settled. We agreed to meet again the next day.
As I traipsed through the swanky hotel lobby, the nice staff from the morning were suddenly not so nice. Their faces dropped at the sight of the filthy, stinky girl who was renting their most expensive suite. I could see them clearly thinking about the damage I could do to their reputation if the other guests saw me. So I made a point of sauntering slowly to the lift and saying hello to everyone I passed.
After a shower, I fell on the bed and found myself staring at the crumpled note from Alex.
He was wrong. He was the bad guy. He was a vile creature for trying to steal his brother’s girl.
He was also here. Sticking around, when no one else was. Except Constance, but she didn’t count.
129 Alberta Avenue.
I would never go to him.
16
Jess
I went to knock on his door when a noise from nearby stilled my hand. I paused, straining to decipher what it was. Thumping sounds, accompanied by manly grunts – the sound of physical exertion. Was I about to walk in on him having sex? Killing someone? The thought of the former sent a shiver through me, and the latter made my stomach drop, but either way, I had an overwhelming urge to see what it was without interrupting.
The noise didn’t seem to be coming from beyond the front door, it was round the side. I moved around the building and found a garage with an open window. The whacking and growling was louder here. Feet shuffling, something heavy being hit. I moved swiftly round to the other side where a door was ajar. I listened again, expecting to hear the erotic groans of a woman as Alex pounded into her, but there was only his muffled grunting.
Shit, was she already dead?! I knew I shouldn’t have come. If he was fucking a corpse…
Nudging the door further, I peered beyond into the garage. There were no cars, no tools, none of the usual things you’d expect to find. The room was empty, dark and cold, apart from a punch bag suspended from the ceiling. No women tied up waiting to be abused. No blood.
Alex moved around the bag, attacking it from all angles with fists and feet, spinning and thrusting. With each heavy blow another grunt escaped his lips. He was wearing only his faded blue wranglers, sitting low on his hips, a hole in one knee. Tattooed muscles flexed, tightening and rippling, as he threw blow after blow into the bag.
With a deafening snarl he suddenly dipped low and planted a fist into the bag with such force that the chain shattered and it flew across the room. It was then that I noticed there was something else there, in the darkened corner. I stifled a gasp, thinking for a moment that it was a pile of bodies, but it was a collection of battered and discarded punch bags, leather split open and their rubber pellet innards spread across the floor.
He stood, his heavily inked back to me, and clicked his neck from side to side. He hadn’t even broken a sweat, his breathing relaxed.
“You planning on standing there ogling me all day, darlin’?” he asked in that southern drawl that did funny things to my insides.
I startled, taking a step back, snapped from the mesmerising moment. “How long did you know I was watching?”
He scoffed, “Since before you even got here. I could hear you coming a mile away.”
Of course he could. Bloody vampires.
“Why are you training?” I moved back into the doorway. “As if a vampire needs to train to fight or keep strong.”
“It’s a good stress reliever.”
“So’s yoga.”
He laughed and pulled a fresh punch bag from an adjoining room, roping it up to the ceiling bracket as if it weighed nothing. It was never possible to forget what he was. He didn’t try to hide it like Zac.
“Seriously? You, Alex Elwood, get stressed?”
“I’m not devoid of all emotion, you know. Sometimes the fucking and killing just isn’t enough to take the edge off. And for some reason, beating the shit out of a punch bag is therapeutic,” he shrugged, bemused.
“Maybe that’s what I need. It’s been years since I trained. I used to love martial arts.”
“So come at me.” He moved into a space, gesturing his hands for me to give it to him.
This time I laughed.
“I’m not kidding. You’ve got a massive target on your back from all different places. You need to learn to defend yourself as best you can, and not just with magic. Let’s go old-school and get you fighting like a UFC warrior. I might not always be around to protect your cute little ass—”
I raised my brows, “I thought you weren’t doing the protector thing? That I’m strong enough without you?”
“I’d like to maximise that potential. Fight me. Show me what you got.”
“You’re a vampire. An Elwood-bonded, motherfucking vampire. Let’s get real here…” I turned to leave and he caught my wrist.
“Fight me now or I’ll stop pretending that you didn’t just offer away my power to Constance, and I might feel the need to take her out.”
“The note on my bike wasn’t funny,” I said through clenched teeth, shrugging away from him. “That was poor taste, even for you.”
“Yeah, but it got you here.” His eyes were too blue. Oversaturated. I couldn’t look at them without feeling like my head was turning to slop.
“Was that your plan? To get me angry enough that I’d want to fight when I saw you? You just happened to be here—”
He cut off my words with an arm around my throat. Instinctively I raised my shoulders and tucked my chin down, taking a step back into him and twisting. I sank down with bent knees and kept my back curved forward, stepping again, this time slightly to the side. Turning away, I leveraged enough room betwee
n us that I could stomp on his foot and slam a fist into his nuts.
He set me free with a laugh, cupping his balls. “Not bad, what else you got for me?”
Lunging for him, I moved as fast as I could, aiming to grab his shirt and wrestle him. Except he ducked away, and I couldn’t halt my forward momentum. Tripping over my own feet, I flailed through the air, clutching wildly for something to break the fall. The only thing I caught was a cup of steaming coffee on a table, which drenched through my top as I landed on my ass in a messy heap.
“Fuck, fuck… twatting fuck! It burns!” I yelled, ripping my top off to examine the pink skin across my stomach. Memories of my back burning in red-hot flame threatened to break through. But anger and embarrassment ignited within, my cheeks flaming at the indignity of not only falling, but now sitting there in my bra.
Fucker hadn’t even asked if I was OK. He just stood there, pressing his lips into a hard line, attempting to stifle the smile that was twitching at the corners of his mouth.
“Why the hell did you even have coffee in here?” I snapped, finding my feet.
“I told you, I heard you coming. Thought you might like some refreshment after our fight.”
“So you did plan it all…”
“Well, I hoped to get you sparring. But even in my wildest dreams I hadn’t anticipated the joy of seeing you flying across the room, arms flapping like a crazy chicken—” he lost his words under the laughter that broke free.
And despite myself, despite everything, I couldn’t hold back the smile that formed in response. Or the chuckle that left me. Followed by the guffaw, because his own laughter was so fucking infectious. Free and easy.
Before long we were helpless, snorting and gasping for breath. Eventually, when my ribs and cheeks were hurting, we settled down. My hands travelled to my exposed stomach, the pinkness fading, and then to my cleavage, suddenly self conscious. He never made any comment. No pick up lines, no seduction. He simply fetched me a shirt of his own.