by Alicia Rades
“Maybe let the girl decide for herself,” Kieren suggested.
Ooh, what a gentleman…
Teagan’s expression remained static. Clearly, this guy didn’t scare her. Finally, she turned to Ryland. “Let’s go. We’ll find Cowen another way.”
Teagan started for the door, but Kieren’s voice stopped her.
“Come on,” he said. “I’m only asking for one night.”
Teagan whirled around. “And I’m saying no.”
“Fine,” Kieren said with a shrug, like it didn’t really matter to him either way. “But I know where to find him. If you leave, you might never know.”
“Stop pushing it!” Ryland snapped. He leaned over the bar until his nose was only inches from Kieren’s. “She said no.”
I held my breath as the two stared each other down. I half expected one of them to spontaneously combust under the other’s narrowed gaze.
Teagan stepped to Ryland’s side, breaking the staring contest between the two guys. “Name us another price.”
Kieren straightened. “I gave you my price. Take it or leave it.”
Teagan gritted her teeth. “We’ll leave it. Have a nice day.”
Teagan’s hand slapped to the counter to grab the wad of cash Ryland had placed there. In a flash, Kieren’s arm shot out to grab Teagan’s wrist.
And that’s when Ryland lost it.
5
Chaos broke out all within a single second.
One moment, Ryland was looking up at Kieren with a narrowed, challenging gaze, and the next, his legs lengthened so that he towered above Kieren. Ryland’s arms thickened, and brown fur sprouted all across his body.
Kieren dropped Teagan’s hand and jumped back. His body shortened and morphed into a black creature not much bigger than I was.
At the same time, Venn whirled around and spread his arms out, catching me and Fiona at the same time. I stumbled backward into the table behind us, and the edge of it slammed into my backbone. Fiona fell over one of the chairs and crashed to the ground.
I suffered only a moment of disorientation, but when my attention turned back to the rest of the room, Ryland and Kieren had already fully shifted. Teagan had her knives out in under a second, looking determined to use them if she had to.
A terrifying roar filled the room, sending a surge of adrenaline through my veins. Ryland had grown to three times his normal size, so big that four stools and a table had been knocked out of the way in his transformation. He bared his large, pointed canines as a deep roar erupted from his chest.
A bear. Ryland’s a freaking bear shifter.
That explained the tree trunk arms he had.
In front of him, a large cat with a black coat stood atop the bar, its lips curled back over its teeth. The t-shirt Kieren had been wearing hung from the jaguar’s body.
That tingle of shifter magic returned and traveled all the way up my spine. I was a split second away from shifting, ready to peck some eyes out if necessary. I stood farthest from the bar in human form, bracing myself. Venn and Fiona stepped forward, Venn in his wolf form and Fiona in her fox form. Alex raced through the door to the kitchen, running away from the fight.
Another beat passed as Ryland and Kieren bared their equally terrifying teeth at each other. Then, without warning, Kieren lunged.
It all happened in a blur. One second, Kieren was standing atop the bar in his jaguar form eye-to-eye with Ryland’s bear. The next, he was on top of him, clawing into the flesh on his neck. Teagan lunged forward, swiping one of her knives at Kieren. She just barely caught him in the back leg.
Ryland spun around. His head jerked from side to side as he tried to throw Kieren off of him. His body slammed into Teagan, knocking her off balance and sending her crashing into a nearby table. Ryland didn’t even notice.
I rushed across the room to Teagan and helped her to her feet. She shrugged me off but followed me in haste around the bar. Venn’s howls filled the air, as if he was trying to talk some sense into Ryland in his shifted form.
Ryland went wild trying to buck Kieren off of him, but Kieren’s claws dug into Ryland’s back. Table and chairs screeched across the floor as Ryland slammed into them. Beside me, Teagan popped her head up over the bar and pulled an arm back, a knife ready between her fingers.
I caught her wrist before she could throw it. “Don’t,” I hissed. “You could hit Ryland.”
Teagan didn’t have a moment to respond. A split second later, Kieren’s teeth sunk into the back of Ryland’s neck, and Ryland shot to his hind legs. If I hadn’t stopped Teagan, there was a good chance Ryland would have a knife sticking out of his back right now.
Ryland fell sideways. The nearest table crumbled beneath his weight, and the two shifters crashed to the ground. Ryland twisted his massive head, and his powerful jaws snapped at Kieren, who still hadn’t loosened his grip.
This was way out of hand.
I didn’t think. I just acted. In a mere second, my five-foot-four-frame shrank. The clothes I’d been wearing dropped around me in a heap. I flapped my wings and shot across the room until I was in Kieren’s face, clawing at any flesh I could find and blocking his vision with my wings.
While I had him momentarily distracted, Venn jumped forward. His weight slammed into Kieren, knocking him several feet away from Ryland. A high-pitched whimper filled the air. Ryland regained his footing, but Kieren collapsed under his front paw when he tried to right himself. Venn stood between the two, growling at Kieren.
Finally, Kieren dropped his gaze in surrender, and Venn’s growl died down. Ryland shifted back into human form and wiped the blood from the puncture wounds left by Kieren’s teeth.
I landed behind the bar and shifted. Teagan’s eyes went wide. Fiona rushed around the side of the bar while I was pulling my shirt back on. Luckily, I’d kept my enchanted underwear on from earlier, so I didn’t have to flash anyone. Good thing, too, because Teagan’s wide eyes were still on me. I would’ve felt a hundred times more uncomfortable if my tits were hanging out.
“Are you two okay?” Fiona asked in a rush, kneeling down beside us.
Teagan ignored her. “Why didn’t you tell us you were a shifter?”
I stood to pull my pants back on. “I didn’t realize I was obligated to.”
“A raven?” Teagan hissed.
I ignored her. I snatched up my bag and hopped over the top of the bar. By now, Venn and Kieren were back in human form, but Kieren was still on the ground. He wore nothing but his ripped t-shirt, leaving all his goods hanging out in the open. He didn’t even seem to notice as he clutched his left hand with his right.
“You broke my hand!” Kieren roared at Venn before proceeding to call him a slew of horrible names.
“Yeah, well, you deserved it!” Venn snapped back.
Kieren sucked in deep breaths as he got to his knees. “Leave! All of you!”
Ryland didn’t waste a second. He took Teagan’s hand and started for the door.
“Alex!” Kieren called on his way to the kitchen. “Lock the doors and get the car. We’re going to the hospital.”
Ha! The hospital. Too bad he didn’t know a good witch. Though, healing spells could be just as costly as hospital bills, but at least he wouldn’t have to suffer through the pain. Which, judging by this guy’s use of colorful words, could really brighten his day.
“Wait!” I blurted before I could stop myself.
Everyone froze to look at me.
Oh, crap. I couldn’t go through with what I was just about to say. Sure, I could heal myself from time to time, but I’d never healed someone else before. He could end up with boils across his skin or something gross like that. There was a reason I didn’t conjure magic for profit.
But... the chance to find Cowen—to find my sister—was far more valuable than any monetary payment. Could it really hurt to try?
Yes, I told myself. Everyone was eyeing me, waiting for me to explain my sudden outburst.
I can’t believe I
’m doing this, I thought, my hands shaking.
I cleared my throat. “I’ll help you.”
“Help me?” Kieren asked skeptically. He was behind the bar now, struggling to pull on his pants with one hand—thank God, because I didn’t think I’d be able to look him in the eye otherwise.
“I’m a witch,” I explained. “I’ll heal your hand. It will save you a trip to the hospital, emergency room bills, and weeks of recovery.”
Kieren hesitated. “You’ll do all that if I tell you where to find Cowen?”
“Yes,” I replied.
Kieren scoffed. “Screw you.”
“Seriously?” I snapped as he turned away. “The information is that valuable to you?”
“No,” Kieren barked, spinning back toward me. “But pissing you people off is pretty damn satisfying. Now get out of my bar.”
“Come on,” Venn said to me in a low voice, encouraging me to follow him. “You don’t have to do this.”
Kieren cursed under his breath.
“I can make the pain go away,” I stated confidently. The truth was, I had no idea if my healing spell would work on someone else. But it wasn’t like I was above conning a guy who clearly had worse morals than I did.
Kieren grimaced, like he was fighting an internal battle on whether or not to save his hand or save his pride.
“All you have to do is tell us where to find Cowen,” I pressed.
Kieren’s jaw remained tense. “So you break my hand to use it as a trade for information? You should be fixing it without asking anything in return.”
“Hey,” I said like it didn’t matter to me one way or the other. I was totally bluffing; I really wanted the information. “I’m not the one who broke your hand. If you don’t want to take my offer, you’re free to go to the hospital on your own.”
A long pause passed through the bar. My shoulders tensed with each passing second.
Finally, Kieren spoke. “Fine.”
Yes!
“First you give us what we want,” I demanded.
“No way,” Kieren protested. “You’ll just walk out of here without helping me.”
“I won’t,” I swore. But I needed him to fulfill his side of the bargain first in case my spell didn’t work.
“How do I know you’re not lying to me?” Kieren asked.
Good question.
I held my head high. “I guess we’re just going to have to trust each other.”
Kieren didn’t look like he trusted me one bit, but he did look desperate.
“Okay,” he reluctantly agreed. “Cowen lives with a group of vampires on the corner of Cramer and Valander. It’s the big white house with red shutters. Now will you fix my effing hand?”
A sense of victory washed over me. One step closer.
My excitement didn’t last long. If this spell didn’t go well, I’d better be ready to run.
“Sit,” I instructed Kieren, pulling out one of the stools next to the bar.
Kieren glared at the group of shifters—and one human—behind me, but he rounded the bar and sat anyway. I took one glance at Venn and his family to see they all had a look of intrigue in their eyes. They were probably just as curious as I was to see how this was going to pan out.
I ignored their stares and pulled a second stool up beside Kieren. I grabbed my spell book from my bag and flipped it open to the spell I’d used last night. My eyes scanned the incantation. I should’ve had it memorized by now, but I had a terrible memory when it came to spells. That was probably one of the reasons I was such a bad spellcaster.
“Are we gonna do this or what?” Kieren asked through clenched teeth. “Because this hurts like a mother—”
“Yes,” I replied quickly. “Give me your hand.”
Kieren’s bruised hand hung limp as he extended his arm toward me. Gently, I took his wounded hand in mine. He didn’t show any emotion, like he was too tough for that.
Seconds ticked by, but I couldn’t bring myself to mutter the incantation.
“Let’s get this over already,” Kieren mumbled.
Right. Okay, Rachel, just say the incantation, then you can get out of here.
I began reading the spell from my book, focusing only on the words and Kieren’s hand in mine. I neared the end of the incantation, but Kieren’s face remained expressionless. I couldn’t tell if he was still in pain or not.
Here come the boils.
Just as I thought it, a sharp, stabbing pain shot through my left hand. It hurt so bad that I sprang up from my chair and let out a high-pitched squeal. Kieren’s face lit up with alarm, but by the time he spoke, the pain in my hand was already gone.
“What happened?” he demanded.
I didn’t have an answer. I’d never experienced something like that before. Had my spell backfired? Could it do that?
“It didn’t work!” Kieren roared.
“It—it didn’t?” God, I sounded like I had no idea what I was doing. Which, to be fair, I didn’t. Not really.
“No, it didn’t!” Kieren cried, shooting up from his stool. He looked like he was two seconds away from going all maniac-jaguar on us again. “I gave you the information you asked for. You owe me a good hand!”
Venn rushed forward before Kieren got mad enough to punch me out with his good hand. “Let her try again. Sometimes it takes a few tries.”
Kieren paused, but he didn’t look convinced.
“I saw her perform a healing spell last night,” Venn said in an attempt to calm Kieren down.
Just tell the whole world, why don’t you, Venn? Everyone’s going to want me to heal them. The joke’s on them, since I can’t cast a decent spell to save my life.
“She can do it,” Venn said. “Let her give it another shot.”
Okay, maybe I could cast a spell to save my life, but I wasn’t sure I could cast a spell to save someone else’s.
Kieren slumped back into his stool. “Fine, but if this doesn’t work…”
I was incredibly grateful that he didn’t finish that sentence.
Venn stood behind me and squeezed my shoulders. Warm tingles spread down my arms, calming me. It was almost as if he had magic of his own, though I figured he would’ve told me by now if he was a witch. My shoulders relaxed beneath the weight of his comforting hands.
“You can do this,” Venn whispered in my ear. “You cast the same spell last night, and it worked. You can do it again. I know you have it in you. You just have to believe in yourself.”
I took a deep breath. He’s right. I can do this.
Taking Kieren’s hand in mine again, I reread the incantation. This had to work.
“It’s not working,” Kieren said, disgruntled.
Or not…
“Remember why you’re doing this,” Venn whispered from beside me.
I’m doing this to find Cowen, I told myself. Because without him, I’ll never find Jenna. I’m doing this for my sister.
I read through the incantation a third time. All my thoughts turned to Jenna. I pictured her soft blue eyes and long brown hair. In my mind, she hadn’t aged a day since I last saw her. She was still eighteen and drop-dead gorgeous, with long lashes and a dimple on the right side of her face. I imagined the smile that would spread across her face when I found her. I pictured her pulling me into a tight hug. She’d squeeze me until I couldn’t breathe, like she used to do when we were kids.
I missed you so much, rugrat! Jenna would say.
I would cry, even though I’d try not to. I missed you, too, Jenna-Bean.
Before I realized it, I’d already reached the end of the incantation. Kieren continued to stare at me in skepticism.
“Better?” I asked. I couldn’t read him.
“Better,” Kieren said bitterly, “but not fixed.”
I could hardly believe my ears.
“Then it worked,” I told him, standing and scooping up my spell book. “The pain will start to go away slowly, and it should be completely healed within a couple of days.
”
Kieren didn’t look happy, but he couldn’t deny that I’d held up my end of the bargain. Which I still couldn’t believe.
“Thank you for your cooperation,” I said before turning to leave.
Kieren scoffed, like he didn’t think of it as cooperation in the slightest.
Venn, Ryland, Teagan, and Fiona all headed to the door with me, no doubt as eager as I was to escape this place as quickly as possible.
“I don’t want to see any of you back here!” Kieren called before we stepped outside. “You hear me?”
Obviously, I was never going back there. He’d probably demand we pay for the broken tables, and I certainly didn’t have that kind of cash lying around.
Outside, Fiona rammed into me, pulling me into a tight hug.
“Ohf.” A breath of air escaped my lungs.
“Thank you so much!” Fiona continued to squeeze me.
“For what?” I asked on our way to the car. “All I did was heal the guy’s hand.”
And I probably didn’t do a very good job of it, I told myself.
“You did more than that, though,” Venn insisted, pulling out his keys. “You got him to tell us where to find Cowen.”
“Yeah,” Fiona agreed. “Teagan wasn’t any help.”
Teagan slugged Fiona as she ducked into the car.
“Ow!” Fiona complained, holding on to her shoulder.
“You seriously expected me to sleep with that guy?” Teagan asked in disbelief.
“No,” Ryland said firmly as he slid into the passenger seat. “None of us would’ve let you do something like that.”
Teagan’s expression softened, but it only lasted a second before she turned to me with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you said you were a low witch.”
I shrugged. “Mostly. I guess I just have a gift for healing.”
“And a bit of shifter magic,” Fiona pointed out, gazing at me in admiration. “You’re the Ravenite, aren’t you?”
I sighed. There was no point in denying it. There weren’t exactly hundreds of raven shifters running around Nocton.
“I do what’s necessary,” I said, adding a hint of warning to my tone. “So… are we gonna go get this vamp or what?”