by Amber Lynn
The patrons had all left and we were waiting for my coworker to finish up so we could close for the day. The afternoon had been just as busy as the morning, so time flew by for me. Clearly it hadn’t done the same for Abbie.
“I’d get bored if I didn’t have anything to do. Are you ready to get out of here? I hope you aren’t planning on spending the night.”
“Maybe I should. What time is the reading tomorrow?”
“I told you this morning it’s at two, so you’ll have plenty of time to have a nice sleep in your own bed before you need to come over.”
She made a big show of stretching as she got up. I was a little surprised she even complained about how the day went for her, since she managed to pick up a few phone numbers. I doubted she was going to make any calls, but she wasn’t going away empty handed.
When we’d first met, she’d teased me about the library being a hangout for hot guys. I’d never thought of it that way, but she’d quickly found out the statement wasn’t totally off.
“Yeah, I don’t know if you should be alone though. Whether the wolves scared him off or not, that thing is still out there lurking.”
I glanced up to where Maribel was finishing putting a few books away to make sure she wasn’t listening. Talking about readings was something I could explain. Talking about werewolves would’ve been a little harder. Knowing Maribel, hearing that werewolves existed would make her squeal, and my ears couldn’t take that.
“Did you happen to hear any of the conversation? I didn’t particularly like him, but you know how I can be around guys in the first place. Nothing he said seemed menacing. He acted like he was just looking for a friend.”
“Why don’t you ask the two dead women how much they enjoyed his company? I take that back, because they probably did enjoy it, right up to the point when they died. The point is, someone like that doesn’t have friends.”
She was going to be difficult. I knew eventually I’d lose her, I just didn’t know how long it’d take. I could stand maybe having dinner, but I was approaching my threshold for how much I could be around her in a day without going insane.
“You almost done over there?” I looked behind Abbie to Maribel to make sure she knew I was speaking to her.
There was a rule that no one was left alone. I understood that kind of thing in a store, but at the library it seemed a little silly. That didn’t stop me from following the rule. I merely scoffed at it every chance I had.
“Coming. I thought I’d make things easy for me in the morning since I’m opening. You have the day off, right?”
Maribel was nineteen and working her way through college. She was nice enough, but not someone I would ever hang out with outside of work. She was a cute, overeager blond, who had a voice that grated on my nerves.
The way she always dressed in skimpy little outfits at the library bothered me. I wasn’t a prude, but when I spent most of my day with children running around, I tended to wear a dark pencil skirt and a button-up blouse. Maribel thought a deep neckline and frilly miniskirts were more appropriate.
“I haven’t worked a Friday since I’ve been here, so I think it’s safe to assume I won’t be in tomorrow.”
It was a little rude, but she’d been dinking around for fifteen minutes and I wanted to be elsewhere. Plus, she’d worked there long enough that she should have basic knowledge of the schedule down. Every week it was basically the same thing.
“That’s right. I get you and Suzanne mixed up sometimes.”
Suzanne, who was about my age, but she actually looked it. There was no reason for her to mistake the two of us, but maybe she spent a little too much time partying with the other college kids.
“Okay.”
There were no other words for me to articulate, so I grabbed my pink messenger bag and settled it across my body. I didn’t like carrying bags around, but I sometimes found books I wanted to read or different plants I needed to replenish some of my witchy supplies.
The other witches I knew liked to keep herbs and stuff on hand for spells. I didn’t really need them, but I didn’t want to seem different, so I kept a small collection.
I let Maribel lead us out, since I was the one trusted with a key. Maribel had only been working a few months, and I didn’t think the experience was turning out as exciting as she expected.
Abbie and I watched as Maribel ran to a red sports car. I couldn’t see the person behind the wheel, but my money was on a boyfriend. Maribel flirted a little with some of the guys who came in looking for books, but she kept it from going too far.
“Again, why in the world do you put up with this job? I met Suzanne today, when she decided I was planning something nefarious. I would’ve killed that little tart for the comparison.”
“I’m starting to think it’s a really good thing you work at home.”
“Probably, but we can discuss the need to keep me away from stupid people later. I’m guessing that’s your ride.”
Unsure about what she was talking about, I followed her finger. I was within walking distance of my house, so I usually walked the few blocks without wasting gas.
Abbie pointed to a blue pickup truck that I’d never seen before that was parked across the street. As soon as I focused that way, Jack opened the driver’s door and slid out. At some point during the five hours since I’d seen him, he’d managed to change into a pair of blue jeans and a red crew neck t-shirt.
“What are the chances we can walk towards my home and pretend he isn’t here?”
“We both know that isn’t going to happen. He’s probably a little more equipped to protect you than I am. I guess that makes him useful. Try not to fall in love. I know I’m going back and forth on that, but he really isn’t right for you.”
“I don’t need you to tell me that, but thanks for the reminder. Are you going to stick around and make sure he doesn’t overstep the client and witch lines?”
Jack hadn’t made a move to cross the street. He leaned up against his truck and waited, apparently he didn’t have any fear that I’d run the other way. Chances were he could’ve caught me, but I thought I’d give him a run for his money.
“Between you two, those lines don’t exist. I will recommend that you do a reading as soon as your schedule allows. I tried to do one for you before I went to bed this morning and something blocked me. That’s one of the reasons I showed up at your house this morning, but I got distracted before I could tell you.”
I took my eyes off Jack to glance over at Abbie. Her only real ability was to do readings, and she’d spent years honing the skill since it was all she had. Since I was more powerful overall, I supposed I was better at them, but hearing that she’d been blocked was a little disturbing.
The news didn’t make me want to run home and try my own reading. I’d already made the mistake of using magic when it wasn’t Friday, and I wasn’t planning on using any more. There was a time when I didn’t restrict my magic and things got a little out of hand.
The saying about absolute power corrupting absolutely is very true. It took me years to find my way back from the dark place my power took me. Thankfully I found Abbie and she was able to help me get back into the light.
“I see where your mind just went there. You’re not going to become her again doing a simple reading on a Thursday.”
I shook my head and looked back at Jack. The sun was going down behind the building he stood in front of, making the sky a beautiful scene of reds and purples. It seemed a little early for it to be that far down in the sky, but I didn’t ponder the fact long.
“You weren’t there when she was at her worst. It’s bad enough I froze the deli today. My instincts will always be to use my magic to get what I want, and I need to fight those instincts any way I can.”
“It’s probably not the best time to go down memory lane, so I’ll let you deal with your wolf issue. I’ll make some calls tonight to the sisters to see if there’s anything we can do about the incubus situation. I highly do
ubt your detective friend ran him out of town today.”
The sisters was just a term we used to refer to other witches. I was a little worried about bringing them into the situation, but some of them were closer to a hundred and had more life experiences than we did.
“If I didn’t put protection on your house myself, I’d be worried about the fact you weren’t making friends today. Keep your eyes open on the way home.”
I thought about seeing if Jack would mind driving her home. Abbie would’ve thrown a fit if I made her seem that weak in front of him, so I kept the thought to myself. The protection I gave only went as far as the person wanting it allowed. If she invited someone in, there was nothing it would do to help her.
“My eyes are always open, Kennedy. Have fun.”
She waved at Jack and took off down the sidewalk. She was headed in the right direction, so I weighed my options as far as Jack went. The foot traffic was surprisingly light for that time of day. I had to wonder if people felt the wild animal across the street and decided to stay away.
“Jack does have that effect of people, but in this case, I’m the one keeping people away.”
The somewhat husky woman’s voice coming from behind me surprised me. I reached inside myself for a shield in case it was some kind of trap, but the woman immediately put a calming hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t worry, this isn’t an attack. I heard you wanted to meet me, and I decided to grant your wish.”
Seeing the goofy grin that had spread across Jack’s face, I didn’t need the woman to say her name to know it was the infamous Nikki. At that realization, she let me feel the real her, and boy was she strong. It had a different feel than the incubus, but it was just as strong, if not stronger.
I turned around to face her, a little hesitant to not have eyes on Jack. If there was a threat on that block, it was definitely her, so I wanted to size up the opposition.
I hadn’t painted a clear picture of Nikki in my head, which was a good thing, because anything I would’ve come up with didn’t do her justice. Her eyes were level with mine, making her about five-eight.
Our general complexion, eye and hair color were similar. She didn’t have any red streaks through her black hair, and her eyes matched Jack’s perfectly. I doubted anyone would confuse us, because other than those general similarities, Nikki looked like a supermodel.
Her nose and lips somehow fit her face so perfectly that I was surprised there weren’t more people made in her image. She somehow gave the appearance of being delicate, but I could feel the real strength bubbling underneath.
“You flatter me. We both know your power is enough to rival mine, and why you don’t use it. I think it’d get a little weird if I kept people away for much longer, so why don’t we head to the restaurant Jack picked out for dinner. I know you’re a vegetarian, so I made sure it was somewhere that had plenty of options.”
“I thought you guys were wolves, but you aren’t, are you?”
I was confused. She didn’t feel like anything I’d run into before. With the ability to hide the energy coming off her, there wasn’t any guarantee I didn’t walk by whatever she was every day.
“I’m sure Jack will eventually show you what he looks like when he gets furry. He’s learned a few tricks and I have some abilities I was born with, but underneath the magic, we’re just wolves. Obviously we won’t be able to talk much about that kind of thing over dinner, so you should probably get all those kinds of questions out now.”
“I don’t know what questions I should be asking. A lot of things have happened today that have caused more than just mild bewilderment.”
“I know. People like us tend to keep to ourselves, so we don’t know much about the other monsters out there.”
Before she could elaborate, I heard a grumbling that sounded like a growl from across the street. I glanced over at Jack, but he seemed to be in the same stance with the smile on his face as the last time I’d looked over.
“Don’t mind him. They hate when I group myself in with the monsters, but I think you understand exactly why I use that word.”
“What exactly do you know about me?”
“That I’m not prepared to delve into right now. I don’t know everything, but I know quite a bit, and I think you should be the one who explains your past to Jack.”
I didn’t expect there’d come a time when that was necessary, so I planned on pushing, but my stomach muttering moved Jack into action. There was no reason for him to take my hunger as a personal cause, but evidently he thought I’d die if I didn’t get food in me immediately.
He made his way across the street, grabbed ahold of my hand and dragged me over to the truck. It was a crew cab, so he opened both doors on the passenger side and pushed me into the front of the cab.
“Is he always like this?”
I hadn’t agreed to go anywhere, so in a way I was being kidnapped. Nikki had climbed into the backseat. I was intrigued to learn more about her, so I decided not to make a big scene about the rough handling.
“We butted heads for a number of years, so I know how he can be, but he’s mellowed a lot these past few years. I think the incubus getting away from him has put him in a certain mood.”
“I’m still unclear about what’s going on with him. Jack said he’s killed a couple people.”
Jack was quick to move around the car to get in his seat. I hadn’t buckled myself in, because I was still puzzled about what was going on, so he reached over and helped secure me. I had a feeling being buckled in with him behind the wheel was a good idea.
“It’s what incubi do. As far as I know, there isn’t anything that can make him stop, but I’m hoping we can get him to take his soul-sucking self elsewhere. It would take an awful lot of power to put him down permanently.”
It sounded like maybe it wasn’t Nikki’s first run in with an incubus. I was surprised she didn’t think she could handle him with all the power she had. I didn’t think incubi were that common, so I was a little worried about what I was missing while I lived my daily life.
“I’m still looking for a way to kill him. I’ve spent years tracking down murderers, and I’m not going to be happy if one gets away from me.”
“None of those murderers could actually kill you, Jack. As much as you hate to admit it, you’re mortal and he might not be. I wish I would’ve seen your little stunt earlier today coming, so I could stop you.”
The dynamic between the siblings was fun to listen to. Because I was an only child, I didn’t know if that was how all siblings acted, or if there was something that caused the bit of animosity I felt.
“It’s better that he chased after me than spent the day ogling Kennedy. You said we were supposed to keep him away from her, and I found a perfect way to do that.”
“I know we just met, but do either of you really think I need protecting? He walked right into the library today and I didn’t see anyone jumping in to fend him off, nor did I see a reason for it.”
Jack took a corner sharply. We’d made it two blocks after he’d started the truck and tore off down the road. I was a little worried about his driving style, and thought about suggesting walking if they weren’t going to let me go home immediately.
“Jack, you’re letting your feelings show. You should probably try a little harder not to get aggravated when she barely knows you. She’s convinced that we’ll be out of her life after the reading tomorrow.”
“Even after that amazing kiss today?” Jake asked, taking his eyes off the road to look at me.
I couldn’t deny I enjoyed the quick kiss, but it didn’t mean anything. He was just taunting the incubus. I assumed all the concern he showed was because of what he did for a living.
Nikki chuckled in the backseat. “You two are going to be lots of fun. I’m glad I got to witness this firsthand before tomorrow. It’s going to be a little chaotic when my brood shows up and you’re more open.”
I didn’t have any response, so I sat and waite
d for the chaos already going on in my life to be over for the day. I figured I’d let them take me out to dinner, and then I’d escape to my house to try to forget all the perplexing things I’d heard throughout the day.
Chapter Six
The brother and sister duo continued a little banter, but the restaurant they’d picked wasn’t far away, so within five minutes Jack was pulling into a parking spot. I liked to make food at home, and very rarely ate out, other than my Thursday lunches, so I wasn’t prepared for the ritzy looking place.
“I know I scared you when I snuck up on you, but just like Jack, I’m in jeans and a t-shirt. This place isn’t as ritzy as you think. It does, however, have an amazing apple glazed pork tenderloin that I craved during my third pregnancy.”
“Which made that pregnancy just as expensive as the one before, where all you wanted to eat was steak. It got to the point we needed to start raising our own cattle to cut down on costs.”
“He’s exaggerating. Jack, you know that was all Niklaus’ fault. That boy is going to be bigger than his father because of all that protein.”
Jack hopped out of the truck without me hearing his door open. I watched him walk around the front of the vehicle. Getting out of the vehicle was something I was still weighing when he opened my door.
“I wasn’t around much for the steak pregnancy because I was off trying to save the world. I have it on good authority from both of her husbands that it was a scary time to be alive.”
“Both?”
Jack’s hand was waiting to help me out, but I was still considering options. Having never been pregnant, I was curious about the scary cravings they were talking about. I wasn’t sure if that was a wolf thing, but craving steak and pork tenderloin would’ve been an issue if I ever decided to have a baby, not that those plans had ever even started to form.
“One has an ex in front of his title, even though we still live together. Frankly it was a nightmare having both of them around during the seven months.”
“Aren’t you guys kind of one and only when it comes to marriages?”