Witch in Time: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Red Witch Chronicles 6)
Page 22
“The hell I am.”
“This isn’t something we’re arguing.”
Vic barked out a harsh laugh. “We’ve got two hours to go. That’s plenty of time to bicker. I’ll even use my fancy college vocabulary for you. Lamentably, your rapacity for obstinate self-sacrifice knows no satiety.”
“I want you to live!”
The bastard didn’t let up.
Their fight didn’t end until they arrived at his house. Relenting, Red barreled out of the van. He knew too much. He’d show up anyway. She’d find a way to ditch him.
“Fine, you can come. Stay away from Nadine. We’ll raid the cave in the morning.”
Seething, she texted Basil and Hannah that they were in Charm. She asked after Ortega, sending off a prayer to whoever was listening that the Gendarme survived the catacombs battle.
It only took a few minutes of watching Vic move boxes until she helped, grumbling the whole way. They were both in a mood when Zach joined them. She didn’t begrudge the empath for smoothing over their feelings with his powers. She’d been throwing silverware into kitchen drawers with a fierce clatter.
By the time they started the campfire and she’d gotten good news from Las Vegas, Red relaxed enough to appreciate the stars.
She lit a citronella candle with her magic once the mosquitoes started buzzing around her. Smiling at her mother’s ring, she reflected on one blessing to this whole fiasco. She’d made a breakthrough with her magic. All those hours in the van had really helped her move through her to-be-read pile of supernatural texts too.
Antonio appeared and stole the boys’ hearts with his wounded ankle. He fled quicker than he’d approached when Shackleford arrived.
Red invited the cryptozoologist to their fire and won him to their side. After getting him to promise to call the diner when he noticed Nadine return to the motel, she left with Zach.
Her date awaited. How could it be salvaged? She might have been able to reconnect with Basil and comfort Hannah, but she didn’t have a Hail Mary for Kristoff.
The whole ride back to the house, Red fretted over what to say. There was too much for a walk through the cemetery.
The internal monologue continued as she curled her hair, trying to get it to spiral like it had the first time. She slipped on the same white dress but accidentally dusted blush on the strap. Running late, she wiped the pink off her cheeks after another look.
She had done this night before. Why was she so nervous?
Kristoff was waiting when she rushed outside. He leaned on the back gate in a black undershirt and jeans. The moonlight gave his skin a faint glow. Outside of his usual suit, he was like a knight out of armor. His smile was too sweet to be a demon’s.
When she had first seen him, he’d been shrouded in Armani, lording over a nightclub with a model on his arm. She would never have expected who he’d become to her. He’d always known, even as he had given her the space to find her way.
She slowed, trying to retrace the steps of their original night. With the stars and the crickets and Kristoff’s secret smile, it had been nearly perfect. Until the end.
She touched his bicep, fumbling on her words. “I love seeing these tattoos.” She couldn’t recapture that magic. Even if he was the same, she wasn’t.
Red wrapped her arms around his neck, luxuriating in the now. Not the past or future. She said what was in her heart. Simple as it was. “I missed you.”
Kristoff stroked her cheek, that familiar sensual fire igniting under his fingertips. He’d conjured it better than she did the real elements. “What happened? You seem like you had a longer week than I did. Tell me all about it.”
“I said goodbye to LA, hello to Vegas, and everything in between was too strange to explain. The Bigfoot sighting was the most normal part of it.” She drew away, entwining their fingers, leading him toward the cemetery.
“Now you have my attention.”
“Good. How about you get me to that love shack of yours?” Red grinned as he lifted her and broke into a dead sprint. She stopped him outside his house, drawing him in for a kiss. They had only minutes before Arno realized they were here.
She overestimated.
“You left your phone off!” Arno yelled from the front door, tugging at his tie. “I’ve been calling for two hours. The helicopter is parked in a nearby soccer field. It’s important we’re both seen in Portland now.”
“What’s happening?” Kristoff asked, holding her hand.
“Fuck if I know. The masters are assembling in Portland,” Arno grumbled. “Donal is being a serious prick about the audit. Our bookkeeping is suddenly not up to his standards after a century. You do something, because my charm isn’t working.”
Red squeezed Kristoff’s hand, about to tell him everything. If she did, he’d stay. It would deepen the crack between the two brothers. The words transformed in her mouth. “Sounds serious.”
Arno nodded. His tone softened, “It’s none of your business, but yes, it is.”
Kristoff glared at him. “Be nice.”
“He is,” she said, chuckling. She understood where Arno’s peevishness came from. It made empathy easier. She handed over a peace offering that an ambitious vampire might appreciate as much as gold—information. “I don’t know if this helps, but I heard a rumor in Vegas about O’Sullivan. He bet the house on beating the academy and lost it all. How long before they need a new Supreme down there?”
“Now, that’s intriguing.” Arno stroked his chin, a grin stretching to his ears.
“I told you she was unexpectedly useful.” Kristoff smirked at his brother, then led her aside. Conflict narrowed his blue eyes as he caressed his mark on her neck. “I’m sorry for another aborted date. My brother was supposed to handle my one night off.”
Red took his hand and nuzzled his palm. “We’ll make it up another weekend. Maybe the three of us can all do dinner or something.”
“You mean it?” His dimples deepened as he smiled, revealing the elusive one in his cheek.
She gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Yes. Tonight, your brother needs you. Tomorrow, we can try this date over.”
He swept her up into her arms. “I’ll escort you back then.”
Arno sprinted after them, taking the lead once Kristoff slowed to kiss Red again and again.
Lips tingling, she waved after the Novaks at her back gate.
The light in the kitchen stole her post-date afterglow. Someone was home.
In over ninety loops, this had never happened before.
16
Time Loop #95 – July 3, Late Night, Charm, Oregon
Red opened the exterior kitchen door, reaching for the weapons rack under the coat hook. She stopped once she got a look at her late-night visitor. The katana would be useless against the waiting demigoddess.
Elianna drank tea at the table. “Did you have a good day?”
“As good as I could make it.” Red flopped into a chair, debating if she should chug another energy drink. The day wasn’t over. “How about on your end?”
“I have the reliquary.”
“We’re ready then. The guys think we’re doing this in the morning.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if we did?” Elianna thumped her cup down and cracked the saucer. She flushed, setting the dish aside. “That assassin could be prowling the caves to shoot you.”
“I could have a stroke in my sleep too.” Red tapped her head. “You told me this was the last loop. That we couldn’t be precious about it.”
“I know. I merely…” Elianna sighed. “Do you really think I can do it?”
“Huh?” Red rubbed her ear, not sure if she had heard that right. Sure, the chick was squirrelly from social anxiety, but she had gods in the family tree. “What do you mean?”
“Open the doorway for Chronos,” Elianna confessed. “I strained to carry the four of us a few miles. I bumbled around this town for so many days and never even noticed this frightful Nadine woman. I tried to be like the gr
eat detective Columbo, but instead I failed.”
“You studied my culture, and that’s what stuck—a 1970s TV show? What decade did you stop your media binge?”
Elianna gazed into her teacup as if imagining Columbo looking back at her with words of wisdom. “I came here to prove…It doesn’t matter because I’ve proved nothing. Can you actually believe in me?”
“You’re a wonder woman who teleported me across the country and has been to worlds that I can’t even imagine. Sure, I can believe that and more.”
“That’s because you’re mortal.” Elianna dropped her face in her hands. “I shouldn’t even be here. It would have been wiser to keep sending missives to my superiors.”
“Not from my point of view. I couldn’t have done this without you, even if you didn’t do anything but bring the skull.” Red jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Chronos can hitchhike home. We know the relic will knock out the God Trap. He can get off his divine butt to do the rest.”
Elianna giggled at the blasphemy, then sadness washed over her again. “It’s not that simple. I vow to use all my strength, but I wish Hekate had answered my prayers.”
Red touched her new friend’s long tapered fingers. They felt different from her own—smoother and finer. It was hard to imagine insecurity from a being who could throw her across the room then jet off to Tahiti. “What did you ask for?”
“The best Daughter for the job.”
“Maybe that’s you.
Elianna took a fortifying sip of her tea. “It has to be.”
---
Dressed in black, the two women stuck to the shadows on their march to the cliff caves.
A full moon sparkled overhead, casting dappled light through the trees and over the hilly coast. Sea salt scented the breeze. The statue threw off Elianna’s internal navigation, sending them closer to the cemetery than they’d hoped, but Red knew these woods. All they needed to do was spot the ocean, and she’d orient them north or south.
Elianna sweated, pushing through discomfort with every step. Her bangs stuck to her forehead. It wasn’t the walk. They were past the steep incline, even if it could have winded a demigod. Strain sharpened her features. A capillary had burst in her left eye, blood staining the white around her sea-blue iris.
She stayed silent, but Red couldn’t take it anymore. “Should I open the box?”
“No, we mustn’t be defenseless. If I can’t make it…”
“You can! Take it one step at a time.”
“If you’re right, I might not ever see you again. I’d feel terrible if I didn’t apologize for mangling this operation.” Elianna grimaced. “And the hair pulling.”
Red laughed. “Hey, I punched you in the face. We’re even. Time loops make you crazy.”
“I’m the one with a goddess for a grandmother. I should be in control. This is why I was banished to the archives. I was deemed unfit for the field. I thought it was merely that my teleportation skills were weak, but now I see the wisdom in the ruling.” The realization wasn’t bitter, merely factual.
“You didn’t die, did you? That’s something.”
“I’m immortal—”
“We’re getting out of this.” Red fixed a resolute stare on the other woman. “You got us this far. You navigated my world. You dealt with me. Maybe you didn’t pass those tests, but you’re passing in the actual field.”
Elianna groaned, clutching her stomach. “I couldn’t even get us to the cliff.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” Red touched an oak tree. The trunk had a fresh scrape like a sharp marble corner had edged it. They were close.
“I can’t go any farther,” Elianna panted.
“I’ll take it from here. Start building the doorway.”
Elianna thrust out her arms, fingers spread as if pushing a wall. A pure glow haloed her body. She grunted, slamming her body forward. Her shoes slipped in the dirt, and she collapsed to her knees. “Please, Hekate, let me do this deed,” she begged.
“What’s wrong?”
“The spell. The star alignment. My pathetic powers. I don’t know! How can I forge a gateway?” The demigoddess wilted. “I’m the least of my kind, and now you finally see.”
Red didn’t want any of that talk and helped her up. Magic wasn’t like turning on an engine. Belief powered it. This could end tonight, but they both needed faith. It was ironic to ask that from a godling.
She reassured Elianna, concealing her worry. “Hey, you came pretty far, and we’re both tired. Breathe, and try again to loosen the doorknob. It’ll take me a few to get to the statue.”
Elianna hid her face as if she’d entered the data and found it lacking. “We need the doorway open when you release Chronos. What if we misjudged the radius of the saint relic? If I can’t do it now, can I ever?”
“We’ve got all the time in the world, theoretically. We’ll try, try, and try again.”
“I’ve seen your television programs. I know this is a pep talk!”
“Then take the pep!” Red wrinkled her nose, protectively closing her mouth on her next words against the sudden stench in the air. It was Sasquatch on max intensity.
Elianna propped herself on a tree. “We’re not alone.”
Dark, lanky forms disturbed the forest shadows. Dozens. Green auras outlined the beings. They loped to the west.
“It’s a migration,” Elianna said, eyes closed as if homing in on the herd. “They seek more peaceful lands.”
“Shackleford was right.” Red groaned. “He’ll gloat if I tell him.”
Antonio trotted out of the gloom to stand before Red. He must have dodged Vic and Zach’s attempts to corral him. A taller pair of his kind followed, stopping behind him with nagging chirps. It sounded like parental recriminations. Insistent as a teenager, he bellowed back, pointing at the women.
Elianna translated in a whisper, “He wants to help us.”
“How?” Red asked as the Sasquatches debated.
“They travel in their own fashion. The box has no effect on them. Their grandfathers were old when the first spell was cast. He wants his clan to join with me.” Elianna shrugged at Red’s confusion. “Zach told him the plan.”
“Of course.”
Come forward. Red winced at Antonio’s silent order but obeyed.
He nudged her toward his elders, a male and female, who watched her dubiously with their black eyes.
Red held out her hand for a shake, brain fumbling and falling into instinct.
The nine-foot-tall female hovered her fingers over Red’s. She darted immediately away, clinging to an oak. Her auburn fur fluttered from her shaken breath. Head craned back, she howled to the rest of the clan, then disappeared with the big male.
Red asked Elianna, “Is that a yes, they’ll help us, or do we have to fight them off now?”
The demigoddess sagged in relief, hope shining in her smile. “I can leverage their strength for our doorway. It won’t last long, but fate guides these gentle beings. We’re fortunate that we didn’t meet their less pleasant cousins.”
Antonio nodded. His head drooped as he worried the dirt with his toe. A mournful sigh escaped his mighty frame.
“He wants you to give his farewell to the empath. May their paths cross again. He will treasure their friendship.” Elianna wiped her eyes. “It is quite beautiful, really. I can’t capture the linguistic intricacies. He’s only a few centuries old, juvenile, and quite sentimental.”
A few centuries? Red held the question and nodded. “I’ll make sure Zach knows.”
Elianna took Antonio’s furry arm as if they were at a cotillion. “Depart to the cave and dispel that curse. I’m far superior with a team, I assure you.”
“You’re a demigoddess. I’m not worried,” Red only half lied.
Antonio chirped sadly at her.
“It was a pleasure, big guy.” Red waved at the creature. She didn’t understand the divine mechanisms behind their meeting, but she was happy that they’d both made it.
Retrieving the reliquary out of her backpack, Red walked down into the tunnel, disappearing into the pitch darkness to confront a God.
17
Time Loop #95 – July 3, After Sunset, the Sea Caves in Charm
Red crept through the tunnel, using memory as her guide instead of a flashlight. A heavy presence weighed her every step. Chronos waited for her. Who else?
The air felt like sludge, with the full moon amplifying the statue’s magic. Once she opened the box, she’d lose her own. She couldn’t take the risk yet. Her steps echoed even as she tiptoed.
A metallic click, the release of a gun’s safety mechanism, bounced off the walls.
Clutching the reliquary, Red summoned an air dome. She visualized it as seamless and impenetrable; her will materialized in less than a second. A bullet pinged off the barrier. She pushed the hardened air forward in a shock wave, controlling the blast to keep on her own feet.
The thump in the darkness told her she had hit something.
Footsteps rushed deeper into the tunnel.
She didn’t need Shackleford to tell her that the woman in black hadn’t returned to the hotel. This was their last match.
Red followed, maintaining a shield. It burned through her magic supply, but she wasn’t going down now.
Diffuse moonlight outlined a stocky figure at the end of the tunnel. Nadine whirled around, hands in the air. “You’re here to destroy it, aren’t you?”
Propping the prison box on her hip, Red waved her ring hand and tossed the woman against the cave wall. It took most of her remaining energy, but it looked cool. She marched to the statue, fighting instinctive panic in its presence, avoiding the dead man at its base. “Be grateful I’m not here for you.”
“You have no idea how valuable that thing is.” Nadine rubbed the back of her head. Her thickly lashed eyes fluttered. She said weakly, “You know what it does? It can change time.”