"I'm not being protective. There's more to it than that. Kevin is the guy I told you about. He's the witch."
Her brown eyes lit up. "The guy she was spending all night with? That's him? He's the one that can make fire jump out of his hands, and make people forget? He's the one that cured Victoria of the sunlight?"
"Yeah." He put his hands on his hips. "So, what do we do?"
Cindy shrugged. "Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"They're both adults. They can handle it."
Alex looked down at the carpet. He wasn't so sure.
"Let's change the subject here," Cindy said. "I'm wearing one article of clothing under this sheet. Guess what it is, and I'll let you join me."
"Hmm. Thong underwear, I hope? No, high heels?"
"You can only guess one."
"Thong underwear. For the love of God, please let it be thong underwear."
She threw the sheet off. Cindy lay on her side, and seductively ran a hand along her thigh. She wore only her wedding ring.
"That's not fair," he said. "A ring isn't really clothing."
She feigned thinking it over. "I guess you're right. You can join me."
Alex had never stripped so fast before in his life.
Cindy let out a breath as they embraced. She hooked a leg behind his knee, and reached over to lower the light, for a romantic mood. Just hearing the noises she made quickened his pulse. She was his wife now.
They fiddled with the sheet for a moment, but Cindy simply pushed it off the bed. She wanted nothing in the way from feeling her husband.
"No wings," she said breathlessly.
Alex was surprised those words hurt him. He thought she enjoyed them.
"Okay."
She read his emotions easily. "No, I mean just not yet. They're for round two, or round three. They're dessert."
Alex froze, just for a moment, to caress her face. No one could make him feel like she did. She smiled at him and ran a hand down his chest.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too, Alex."
She pulled him to her, and they began what she would have called round one.
*****
Alex didn't know what time it was, and he didn't care. He'd spent much time in the company of demons, but was quite sure he was in Heaven.
He was in that wonderful state between awake and sleep. The room was bathed in darkness, a demon's favorite environment. His body was exhausted. A wonderful ache spread throughout every muscle. Cindy and he were both naked, lying in bed. He was on his back. Cindy lay as close as she possibly could. Her head was nestled on his shoulder, an arm over his chest and a leg over his waist.
His wings were out, one of which was wrapped protectively around her. She stirred slightly, trying to pull on the wing like a blanket. He smiled to himself and moved his wing to cover her more. Her bare leg peeked out, with a sheen from the lights of Baltimore outside. He reached down to gently hold her knee. He didn't want to start another round, merely wanted to touch her with every part of him.
Cindy stirred regardless. She shifted and squeezed him tight.
"Sorry," he whispered. "Didn't mean to wake you."
"It's okay."
She reached down below his waist. He had to let out a quiet laugh.
"I don't think you've got it in you," he said.
"Not yet," she said, with a wicked smile. "That's what I'm working on."
Alex felt his arousal stirring once again. Cindy gently pushed his wing aside and straddled him. They said nothing else. She merely put her hands on his chest and shifted her hips. He reached up to feel her.
Cindy was in danger.
The thought came quickly and quietly, but it could not be ignored. He never knew where the warning came from. The spirit realm? The demon realm? From somewhere deep inside him? He wasn't sure. The only thing he knew for certain was he had to act.
Cindy sensed the shift in his mood, and leaned down to touch his face.
"Baby? Are you okay—?"
Alex pulled her flat against him, and she let out a startled cry. He wrapped his arms and wings around her. The door to the hotel room burst open as he started rolling off the bed, taking Cindy with him.
"There!" someone shouted.
Alex landed on his back next to the bed, near the discarded sheet. Cindy was on top of him. The two men opened fire, putting holes in the mattress and sending pillow-feathers in the air.
Cindy shouted and tried to cover her head. Alex nimbly twisted, sending her to the bottom, and pulled his wings out from under her.
"Slide under the bed," he said calmly.
She did so, and pulled the sheet with her. The men continued to fire, directing their spray to the wall next to him. Alex reduced his profile and waited patiently. He noticed they weren't shooting bullets, but syringes of some kind. One fell from the wall and landed next to him.
The firing stopped, as they needed to reload.
Alex blinked, and his night-vision pushed away the darkness. Black was replaced with a soft gray.
He stood up and faced the two men, who were dressed in police uniforms. Stretching his wings, his face twisted in rage, assuming the shape of a demon, and his eyes turned red. He roared. A powerful, demonic roar, that nearly shook the walls.
Leaping across the bed, he struck the first man he came to with his wing. The man collapsed against the wall, his gun flying. The second cop, not having a chance to completely reload his strange weapon, stepped forward and swung the rifle at Alex. He connected, and Alex stumbled back a few feet, holding his jaw. The cop reared back to swing a second time, but Alex had vanished. His wings shrank into his back, and the rifle passed harmlessly through him, smacking the wall.
He reappeared right before his elbow struck the cop's nose. The blow only stunned the cop, and he threw a left hook. Alex vanished once again. The cop had no chance as Alex struck him repeatedly, and vanished through every counter he had. A kick to the stomach and groin finally sent him to the floor.
Alex heard a cocking sound from the floor, and looked down to see the first cop had finally found and reloaded his weapon. Alex vanished just before the syringe would have struck him. It smacked the window behind him, shattering it. The sounds of outside Baltimore joined them in the hotel room.
Even in the dark the cop could see Cindy, who was now huddled next to the bed, wrapped in the sheet. He trained his weapon on her.
Alex roared again as he reemerged from the spirit realm.
He grabbed the cop with his wings, forcing him away from Cindy. The gun fell to the floor. He punched him once in the jaw, and shoved him against the wall. Covering the cop's mouth and nose with his wing, he kneed him in the stomach. The cop tried to bend over in pain, but Alex wouldn't let him. The fight slowly left his body as he struggled to breathe. His wings were stronger than any one man.
"Alex."
He turned his head to see Cindy. She wanted to calm him down, but seeing her in the state she was in didn't help. Tears ran down her cheeks. She was naked, vulnerable, with only a sheet barely around her. She gently grabbed his wing and pulled. Slowly, his face changed back to human.
The first cop fell to the floor next to his partner. One moaned in pain, while the other was out completely, but they were alive.
Alex heard voices in the hall. He motioned for Cindy to stay back, and carefully leaned his head out.
A cop was escorting a couple out of their room and around the corner. Near the other end of the hallway another cop was ducking inside an open room, a gun at his side.
He turned to face his wife. She was the most important thing, the top priority. Cindy needed to be safe.
Grabbing her hand, he led her across the hotel room, toward the broken window. It was nearly large enough to step through.
"Let's go," he said.
She held the sheet to her chest with one hand, while letting him lead her with the other. Before getting to the shards of broken glass on the carpet, Alex scooped her
in his arms. It was the same position when they first entered the hotel room, but the situation was far different.
"Hold on tight."
She sighed, and laced her arms around his neck. The wind outside brought goosebumps across her entire body.
Alex walked across the glass and stepped through the window. Cindy closed her eyes and clutched him tighter. They sank for only a second, until Alex's wings adjusted to the new weight. He aimed straight for the closest building, which was the neighboring Bank of America building. The wind tried to push them around slightly, but his wings were more than strong enough to handle it.
He landed on the roof, and Cindy relaxed slightly at feeling something hard under them. He set her down and held her close. She shivered, from both the cold mixed with fear. He pulled back to look into her eyes, holding her face.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded slowly, and Alex checked her for injuries. Besides only wearing a sheet and standing on top of a sixteen story building, she was fine.
Cindy looked over his shoulder at their hotel room. Through the broken window they could see three men searching their room, the lights finally on. They looked under the bed, and in the bathroom.
"Who are they?" Cindy asked. "What do they want?"
Alex barely hid his anger. "I don't know. You stay here, okay? I won't be long. I'll go find out."
She grabbed his shoulder, looking at his naked body. "Wait."
She adjusted her sheet and tore off a section on the end. He accepted it from her with a half smile, and wrapped it around his waist. He felt like Tarzan.
"I'll be right back."
"Alex, be careful."
He held her by the shoulders. "Baby, you know they can't hurt me. Don't worry."
She kissed him. "I know. That's what I mean. Go easy on them."
He nodded before running to the edge of the roof and jumping off.
*****
Two men searched the hotel room while a third stood at the door. The man guarding the door was the one Alex nearly suffocated with his wing. He half stood, half leaned in the doorway.
"He's not here, I'm telling you."
"Well, he didn't get past us in the hall. We've got the elevators and stairs covered. Everyone on this level's been taken downstairs. He's on this floor."
"He didn't leave this room."
"And how would you know, Jackson? Did you see where he went after he beat the shit out of you?"
"No, but he didn't step over me."
"Oh, so, where did he go? Out the damn window? He got the jump on you—don't ask me how—and the lights were out. You don't know what the hell you saw."
"He was wearing a suit or something. There was this noise, and I thought I saw wings—"
"Nice. You thought you saw wings. Go tell the boss that. Just shut up, and stand there. He's in this damn room, him and his woman, and we'll find them."
"What do we do with the woman? The boss didn't say anything about her."
"Whatever we want, I guess."
Alex watched, barely keeping his emotions in check, as the three men scoured the room. He stood in the corner with his arms crossed, invisible to the living. He wanted nothing more than to beat the men, and drop them off in the demon world for his pets. But he'd never learn anything if he did that.
There were six men in total. Three searched his room, while two more watched the stairwell and elevator. The last man wandered the hallways, pushing open the random unlocked door to look for him. They were dressed as cops, but were obviously the furthest thing from law enforcement.
He still didn't understand why they were using empty syringes as ammunition. There was no fluid in them, no solution of any kind.
He tried to think of some of the enemies he'd made recently. Could the men work for Don Summers? Don was wealthy, so the thought of dangerous men working for him wasn't impossible. But Don had seen what waited for him if he didn't walk straight. Demons, ready to rip him from limb to limb. Was it the vampire Victoria was after, Anatol Grigori? That was also a possibility.
"Alright, guys. I don't have a damn clue how, but they're not here. They have to be on this floor. Let's check the other rooms. The first one to find them gets ten minutes with the woman."
Alex seethed.
"Hey, check this out." One of the men pulled Alex's digital camera from his suitcase and scrolled through the pictures. "Looks like someone got hitched today. What a dumbass."
He reappeared, his shadow stretching across the room. "Put that down, right now."
The three men looked in his direction, shocked. They lifted their weapons and fired, but Alex was already gone. Glass syringes shattered as they struck the wall behind him.
Jackson took a step backwards into the hall. "The boss didn't tell us about this."
He was the first one to run. His two partners nodded at each other, and were right behind him.
Alex chased. He didn't bother using the door, or running through the hall. He took the path of a straight line, running through the bathroom and cutting through the adjacent room. He popped through the wall right next to Jackson, and reappeared once again to tackle the man to the floor.
His two partners tripped over them, landing awkwardly in a heap. Alex snaked his arm around Jackson's throat from behind as he kicked the next closest man in the face. Jackson fought and struggled to reach his gun, which lay only a few feet away. The third man made it back to his feet and leaned over Alex, ready to strike. Alex popped his wings and wrapped them in front of himself. The man struck the tough skin of his wing, hurting his fist. Alex shoved him back easily.
"Hey!"
Alex looked toward the voice at the other end of the hallway. Two men dressed like their partners stood, side by side, and lifted their weapons. Alex used his wings to spring to his feet, and vanished as they fired. The glass projectiles passed through him and struck the man standing behind him. He shouted in pain as he collapsed, syringes hanging from his neck.
He reappeared once again and sprouted his wings. His back felt like it was on fire with the constant use. He gripped one of the men under the arms with his wings and held him up easily, using him as a human shield. He ran toward the two men, steadying his shield by holding his belt. The men fired, and the human shield cried out.
When Alex drew closer, he reared his shield back and tossed him like a missile, colliding with the man on the left. The man on the right was distracted, and didn't see Alex launch forward, feet first. He planted his wings on the floor and propelled himself, kicking him square with both feet, catching him in the nose and cheek.
There was noise behind him, and he spun to see the men at the other end collecting themselves. They pulled each other to their feet and ran. Alex took a few steps to give chase, but changed his mind. He turned around to see the other two men running away. The only one left was the man he knocked unconscious with the kick.
His mind raced, trying to think of the next step. He stood in a hotel hallway, nearly naked, over an unconscious man who attacked him, with his wife on the roof of the next building.
It wasn't how he saw his wedding night ending.
CHAPTER 11
Victoria awoke to the sound of pans rattling in the kitchen. A mortal wouldn't have heard it, but even asleep, her ears were sensitive. She swatted red hair from her eyes and glanced at the clock next to her to see it was nearly two in the morning.
She nearly left the room wearing only her bra and underwear. It was easy to forget she had a house guest. She seldom entertained overnight company. She slipped into a robe and tied it tight around her waist, making sure she wasn't showing any unnecessary flesh. Modesty was a trait she lacked, but she didn't want Kevin's cheeks to turn red more than they already would.
Her nose wrinkled at the strange scents as she descended the staircase. She thought she recognized several, but then they changed. Cinnamon, sugar, salt, but then those scents became something else. What was Kevin doing?
She leaned in the kitchen door
way, not making a sound. A smile crossed her face as she watched Kevin work. He was dressed in only a pair of shorts and a white tee shirt. She was certain Alicia would have enjoyed the view.
He had four pots on the stove, but only two with the burners on. What looked like the entire contents of Victoria's kitchen was spread on every counter. There was a single sheet of white paper with the language of the witch on the refrigerator, and he paced with his spell-book in his hand.
"You didn't get enough to eat earlier?" she joked.
Kevin jumped, and put a hand to his chest as he looked at her. "Damn, Victoria."
"Sorry. Vampires are quiet by nature. I see you've made yourself at home in my kitchen."
"Yeah. Hope you don't mind. I couldn't sleep, and figured I'd make more potions."
"Are you gonna sell any of these?"
"Why? You interested? You're a friend, so you get a discount."
Victoria playfully wagged her finger, and Kevin rolled his eyes.
"No. These are for me."
She joined him and gestured to the paper on the fridge. "What's that?"
"A recipe that's slowly coming to me. If I keep anything new close to me, keep thinking about it, sometimes more will come. Hey, you don't happen to have any baby powder, do you?"
"Uh, no. Can't say I do."
Kevin nodded, and grabbed more random things. Baking soda, garlic, pepper. Victoria leaned against the counter and watched, fascinated. She was in the unique position to be able to learn more about witches. Witches were the only supernatural creatures that were always evolving. The nature of a potion's ingredients changed over time, and witches were in tune with that. What made up a fireball potion a century ago was far different than the present times. On the other hand, a vampire was always a vampire. Their rules never changed.
Given a witch's rarity, and the general kill-on-sight rule, knowledge about them had been lacking.
"So," Victoria said. "What exactly are you making?"
He pointed to each pot. "Invisibility. Short term memory loss. Long term memory loss. And a disorienting potion. Makes them think they're on fire. After that I'll work on an ice potion, maybe a delayed-healing potion."
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