The Protectors

by April Hollingworth

  “You would make an excellent poker player; you give hardly anything away,” I reply with a slight growl, “Now, once more, what were you told, and please, I can sense the lie, so don’t do it again!” The final words come out on a snarl, causing the man in front of me to widen his eyes slightly. I’m guessing he’s surprised that I knew he lied to me. What I can’t understand, though, was why he did.

  Chapter 11

  An hour later, we’ve explained to Rob everything, from finding the first body in Paradise Falls, leading Jasmine and I to meet Kheda and Victor, where we solved some murders, before being sent on a quest to England, Romania, and finally America.

  How we rescued Roísín, and freed the other supernatural being held captive and tortured by the humans. And finally, about the growing war between The Protectors and the supernaturals who dare to have a relationship with others of a different magickal race. Supernaturals just like my parents, who were murdered by The Protectors.

  Sitting on the sofa in the sitting room, I notice Rob is looking a little shell-shocked, to say the least. Mind you, with everything he’s just found out, it isn’t too surprising, and to be honest, he’s handling it rather well.

  “Holy shit…” Rob finally mutters, trailing off he looks around at us, opens and closes his mouth a couple of times before swallowing and trying again, “Are you serious?” Looking around again, he reaches a shaking hand toward his coffee mug on the table in front of him, before pulling his hand back as if he burnt it on the mug he never touched.

  “Yes, we’re serious,” I soothingly reply, feeling like I’m trying not to spook a nervous horse that is ready to bolt. I look at the others in hope someone will take over. I don’t quite know what to say.

  “I know how this all sounds, trust me,” Cedrix suddenly says. “It wasn’t that long ago that I had the crash course in the supernatural war that’s going on. I need you to come to terms with this. It’s real, and it’s happening. We need your help,” he finishes in the bluntest tone I’ve heard in a while.

  “What I want to know is why you think this is my problem? Don’t get me wrong,” Rob informs us, glancing at each of us in turn. “I get you’re all in a difficult and dangerous situation. I’m human, though, so it doesn’t affect me.”

  “You’re right,” I agree, “for the moment it doesn’t, but I’m not sure how long that will be the case. The people who held Roísín and the others captive, they were human too. The Protectors are recruiting humans, which means it won’t be long before this war spills into everyone’s homes, no matter if they’re supernatural or not, or even if they want in on the fight.”

  I watch Rob staring intently at Cedrix until, with a final look at all of us, he gives a slight nod of agreement. Determination seeps into his face, and his back becomes straighter as his shoulders uncurl from their hunched position. I’m glad to have him on our side, as I’m positive he would make a formidable enemy.

  Tension seeps out of the room as everyone exhales in relief. I have no idea what we would have done if Rob hadn’t agreed to help us. I’m just glad he has. After all, we need all the help we can get. Failing is so not an option.

  “So what now?” Jasmine asks, glancing between all of us with a determined expression on her face. An expression I notice the others have too.

  We’re all getting mentally ready for the battle coming. I only wish it could be avoided.

  “I think we should contact the rest of our old unit,” Cedrix informs Rob. He waits a split second for a firm nod of agreement from him before continuing, “They know how to fight and are definitely good to have on our side.”

  “If you think they’ll help, then call them. Before you do, though, Rob, who were you thinking of that made you pause before agreeing?” I ask turning to stare intently at him while sending out tendrils of power to poke his aura. “If you have any doubts about asking someone, say so. We can’t have uncertainty on members of a team joining us. After all, our lives will depend on each other defending one another’s backs.”

  “You’re right. Jacob Calico is who I have doubts about.” Putting a large hand up in the air to stop any interruptions, he continues, “Cedrix, do you remember how he acted toward women and anyone with the slightest difference about them? Even you with your intuition caused him to react badly, almost…”

  “As if he would happily throw me in a pit and walk away,” Cedrix quietly answers while rubbing the side of his forehead with two fingers, as if to rub away or bring forth a distant memory.

  “Exactly, and he only stopped acting that way when you saved his neck. Personally, I don’t think it’s wise to bring him into this group and have him act that way until each of them gets a chance to save his ass, so he’ll trust them.” I watch Rob shake his head with a look of mild exasperation, and the tiniest hint of wiry amusement twists his lips in an upward direction.

  “Only call those that you both agree on,” I instruct them, before standing and pacing over to the window to stare out into the night. So much is happening, so many decisions to make that affect so many unknown people. I hope we make the right choices; after all, we’ll only have one shot at this.

  I drag my fingers through my hair, giving it a slight tug to release some of the tension building inside of me. When large strong hands land on my shoulders, dig in, and massage them, I can’t help leaning backward into the strength of the vampire who stole my heart, as a groan of contentment escapes me.

  A feather-light kiss lands on top of my head, before the chocolate decadence of his rich voice rumbles through his big body and whispers into my ear, “What do you need, my love? Tell me, and I’ll make it happen.”

  “I need—I need to go to the graveyard,” I reply, surprising myself of the certainty and desperate need suddenly vibrating through me.

  “What? Now?” Victor turns me to face him.

  “Yep, apparently, right now. Go figure, because I sure as hell can’t figure out the sudden urgency practically screaming through me,” I mutter in reply, just before transforming into my wolf and dashing from the room. I vaguely hear a startled gasp and assume it’s from Rob—after all, he’s the only one that hasn’t seen any of us transform before—and shouts of, “What’s going on?” as I dash into the kitchen and out the large dog flap.

  Jezebel must have had it especially made to allow her jaguar in and out, is my only thought before I dart through it. Hugging the trees and keeping to the shadows, I race through the streets toward the cemetery. I hear noises from behind me and wonder if the others are following. Before long, I’m approaching the gates and speed up to jump onto the nearest wall and scramble over.

  Urgency races through me, making me scurry around the tombs in a breakneck speed until finally I reach Marie Laveau’s resting place, where a group of colorfully robed people are casting a spell. Sensing malevolence, I transform into my human form, casting a spell as I go. My wolf shape slides from me as a ball of violet magick crackles and grows swirling around me.

  I feel my hair blow backward in a nonexistent wind and sense the presence of Jasmine in her Alsatian form and Victor coming up beside her.

  Jezebel in her jaguar form stalks forward, flanked either side by Kheda and Vivian in their werewolf forms. Bringing up the rear are Felicity and T.T. who are already casting spells, and Janna, with her sword, though I have no idea where the hell she pulled it from. The only time I’ve seen it before was when I travelled back in time and saw her fighting.

  “You?” hisses a male, whom I’m guessing is the leader of the group. The others are gathered around him and directing their energy into him. “You dare to disturb me with your unnatural magick?”

  “Say what? There is nothing unnatural about my magick, you pompous ass,” I growl back. I mean, seriously, what the hell? I watch in slight amusement as he splutters in shock. Going by his reaction, you’d swear no one had ever called him one before.

  “Silence!” Spittle flies from his mouth as he waves his arms about in a rather demented fashio
n, right before he fires a spell at me.

  Chapter 12

  My ball of fire bleeds outward and around my group, encircling us in a wall of protection, so when the pissed-off twit’s spell is fired, all it does is bounce off my protection shield and splutter out onto the ground.

  I’m surprised when I hear the group in front of me draw in a harsh breath as if they’re one entity, shocked by the sudden turn of events. Ignoring them, I let my power expand, stretch, and feel out the darkness that had me racing here in the first place.

  My magick encircles and prods at the shadows surrounding us until finally it wraps around an entity, latching tentively onto it and dragging it toward me. With a vicious wrench, it breaks free and darts away with a cackle of laughter echoing in the stillness.

  “What was that?” demands Janna from behind me. When I turn to her, she looks surprisingly spooked. I’ve never seen her look anything other than in complete control or worried.

  “I’m not sure. Nothing good though. Whatever it was, it is what I sensed earlier,” I reply, turning back to face the others. “Did you call it?” I demand, narrowing my eyes at them and baring my teeth in an aggressive warning.

  Shaking his head in denial, the leader of the group splutters out a no, while doing a magnificent impression of a wide-eyed startled rabbit caught in the headlights, with nowhere to run.

  “Who are you?”

  Straightening his shoulders and raising his chin, he proclaims in a self-important voice, “I am the Voodoo Prince Jayden, descended from the Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau.”

  “Ugh huh, what the fuck were you doing?” I growl back. Please tell me you at least knew what you were doing I silently beg.

  “Calling forth Marie, of course,” replies a woman from behind Jayden, as if it’s obvious.

  “Yeah, I have this strange feeling you fucked it up, because whatever that was,” I inform them, pointing in the general direction of where the entity disappeared, “it wasn’t Marie Laveau. It was something…other,” I reply, as a trickle of unease slithers down my spine. What the hell was it?

  “How do you know it wasn’t Marie?” inquires another robed woman stepping forward and waving a hand behind her at the tomb.

  “Because, whatever that was, was never alive in this plane before,” I reply, staring at each of them in turn, while wishing they’d remove their hoods. “It was something old and dangerous. I’d advise you to remember exactly what spell you cast, and exactly how you did it. It’s the only hope you’ll have of catching and returning it to wherever it came from.”

  I turn away from them, pause, and turn back to throw one final comment their way. “Oh, and the sooner you do it the better. It’ll be hungry soon, and I’m guessing whatever it eats won’t be a burger.” As one, my group heads back the way we came, no one says anything. All I know though is, I can’t wait to leave this gorgeous city.

  “Wait!” hollers a scared-sounding Voodoo Prince, “Please, we need your help.”

  A groan of exasperation eases from me as I turn back to face him.

  “I don’t know how to get rid of it,” he mutters. “We need help, and apparently, you seem to know what you’re doing.”

  “Ugh. You have got to be kidding me,” I mutter in exasperation.

  “We gotta help,” pipes up Jezebel. “I love it here and don’t fancy it being destroyed if we can help it.”

  “I know you’re right,” I agree, feeling completely exhausted and wondering what the hell we can do that this group can’t, when a thought pops into my head. Turning to Jayden, I ask the question center in my mind, “Who is your necromancer?”

  “My necromancer…? Well, umm, yeah, we don’t have one. It’s not as if we’re raising the dead just…”

  “What?” I shout, causing everyone around me to jump, from the sudden loudness in the otherwise silent night. “What the hell do you mean, you don’t have a necromancer?” Sparks crackle to life, flickering around my fingers and racing up my arms.

  “We weren’t raising anyone from the dead, just…” stammers someone from the group of idiots before me.

  “Calling spirits, speaking to them, or raising them from the dead all need a necromancer to make sure you have control and are calling the right one forward. Otherwise, you can get anyone or thing answering and entering the void,” I thunder at them, as fury encompasses me. How can they have been so stupid?

  I can feel the color in my face bleed away as fear settles inside me. Turning to Victor, I say the only thing that bounces around my skull. “Can you please get Selene and Nancy and bring them both here?”

  He rubs his hands soothingly up and down my arms, easing the turmoil swirling around me. “I’ll be right back,” he informs me before flitting away.

  I turn back toward the group as a ferocious growl rumbles through it, causing the cloaked figures to look nervously at each other and scramble backward in a rather creepy tumble, reminding me of large beetles. I can’t stand bugs. They give me a bad case of the heebie-jeebies.

  “Candi, calm down,” mutters T.T, as she steps closer to my right side and grasps hold of my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

  Taking a deep breath, I hold it, count to ten, and release it. The fifth time of inhaling, holding, and releasing, I finally feel myself calm enough to talk. Closing my eyes, I let my magick search the surrounding air, seeking anything that either might help or at the very least might try and hinder us on our search for capturing the entity.

  To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed when I find nothing except a distant trace of the path it took, almost as if it left a footprint in the air. Something I’ve never felt before.

  Turning to T.T. and Felicity, I ask them if they have ever sensed such footprints and receive blank stares for my trouble. Guessing that means no, I ask them to sense the ether and find them. After all, this could be very handy in tracking.

  “I can’t find them,” T.T. replies five minutes later, rubbing the furrow marks in her forehead with her fingertips. The way she was frowning in concentration, I wouldn’t be surprised if she gave herself a headache!

  “Me neither,” admits Felicity a moment later, shaking her head in frustration. “It must be another talent that’s just yours,” she adds, shrugging her shoulders while a grimace pulls her full lips down. “I gotta admit; I’m feeling a tiny bit jealous of your new abilities.”

  “Me too,” pipes up T.T., giving me a shrug of her shoulders when I turn to gape at her.

  “What, why?” Looking between the two of them, I feel surprise at their admission. Not because they admitted it, as we have a habit of saying what we think or feel to one another; it’s more of the fact that they feel that way that confuses me.

  “Don’t worry; we’ll get over it,” Felicity reassures me. “It’s just you always were different with kickass magick and—”

  “It can be hard to see how much further you’ve progressed, while we haven’t,” T.T. interrupts to add. “Don’t get us wrong, though; I’m excited for you. I just wish we had the abilities too.”

  “Exactly,” Felicity agrees with a grin spreading across her face.

  Before anything else can be said, Victor, Nancy, and Selena arrive. The moment Selena stands in front of the tomb, she stiffens. “What the hell happened here?” she demands with a trace of fury lacing her voice.

  “Ah crap, it must be worse than we thought!” is the only thing I manage to exclaim in reply.

  Chapter 13

  “Does a bear shit in the woods?” is Nancy’s unhelpful reply, making me feel slightly baffled.

  “Umm, yeah, is this a trick question, because I don’t see the connection?” T.T. replies, staring in confusion at Nancy.

  “I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling confused,” I mutter to her, only to receive a relieved look back.

  “No, it’s not a trick question,” Nancy replies, giving us both a look of wry amusement. “I only meant you were stating the obvious. This whole situation is
a major clusterfuck, if ever I saw one.”

  “Ahh, okay. Why the hell didn’t you just say that?” I demand before raising a hand to stop any further comment. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter.”

  “What exactly happened here?” Selena asks, staring at each of us as if we’ve all grown a couple of extra heads each.

  We haven’t. I know this because I check. Can’t help it, pure instinct takes over. Apparently, I wasn’t discreet, for I hear a couple of groans and a distinctively delicious male chuckle.

  “Don’t worry, there’s still only one beautiful head on your shoulders,” Victor informs from directly behind me, as he caresses the back of my neck, causing an instant ripple of desire to ripple through my body.

  “They fucked up.” Felicity points at the group in front of us, just to make sure who “they” are is understood.

  “All right, who are you, and what the hell were you trying to do?” Selena growls at the cowering group.

  “I am the Voodoo Prince Jayden, and these”—Jayden waves a hand about indicating the people in his group—“are my followers.”

  “Right…I wouldn’t go declaring yourself a Voodoo Prince if I were you. It gives the impression you know what you’re doing and are the best at it,” Selena bluntly informs him. Taking a moment to loosen her muscles, mainly by shaking her hands and rotating her head, she closes her eyes and suddenly goes still.

  “What is she doing?” demands Jayden, sounding slightly worried and curious at the same time.

  “Preparing to get to work,” I reply, glancing at him for a split second before turning my gaze back to my friend.

  A second later, Selena gives a barely noticeable nod, before folding herself into a sitting position in front of Marie Laveau’s crypt, resting her hands flat on the ground either side of her crossed legs.

  Nancy steps up behind her, placing both her hands on her shoulders, while T.T., Felicity, and I stand behind Nancy, clasp hands with one another and raise a circle of protection around us and the tomb.