Magick (Immortals and Magick Book 2) (13 page)

“Good, I’m hungry. Fix me a sandwich, woman.” He said to me, dropping one eye in a wink. I flipped him an indelicate finger, and he laughed, moving over to the basket of rolls and selecting one.

Harley eyed me, and I just shrugged, a sheepish grin on my face.

Good?

I heard her in my thoughts, and I nodded.

Yes, very good.

“Where
are
the resident vampires?” I asked, choosing my own roll. Noah handed me the knife to cut it, and turned back to build his lunch, singular intent in his eye.

“I do believe they are getting their own meal.” Harley responded, laying out the rest of the lunchmeat and taking the plate from Noah. He made a grab for it, and she danced away. “We’re going to eat at the table like civilized people, not standing at the counter.”

She had already put out a plate of lettuce and tomatoes, and bottles of condiments stood like little soldiers, properly placed and facing out so labels were easy to read. I smirked, seeing that. The old Harley was back.

Seeing the additional ingredients for a far superior sandwich, Noah gladly came to the table and finished building his lunchtime masterpiece, digging into it with a passion that almost matched what he displayed last night. He caught me staring at him, and stopped mid-chew.

“What?” he queried around a mouthful of bread and meat, and I mock frowned at him.

“Don’t speak with your mouth full.”

He swallowed hugely. “What?”

“Nothing, you just looked adorably cavemanish just then.”

He was about to comment on that statement when the kitchen door flew open, making all three of us jump out of our chairs, ready to defend.

Damien skidded to a halt in the kitchen, his gaze focused on Harley.

“Damien?” Harley looked at him, puzzled, wondering like the rest of us at his entrance.

“Oh God, you’re safe.” He choked on his words, then rushed forward, sweeping her into his arms and crushing her against him. She froze, arms held straight down, a statue in his arms.

Noah relaxed his own arms, where they had been held out in front of him, hands palm out. He looked at me, one eyebrow winging up in question. I shrugged, seeing Harley finally relax into Damien’s arms. Who knew what was going on between the two of them?

Should we leave them alone?

And miss the show? Hell no!
I replied, shaking my head slightly. He glared at me, but I stood my ground.

Harley finally untangled herself from Damien’s embrace and turned back to the table, motioning all of us to sit, hiding her discomfort at showing emotion in direction.

“So...what brings you here Damien?” I asked, wanting to break the tense silence at the table. I could feel the curiosity from Noah, the awkwardness from Harley, and Damien’s painful embarrassment; myself, I was insanely curious, but let it slide for now.

“I went to Written, saw what happened.” He sat down, and sent a green-eyed glare around the table. “I figured this was the best place to find you.”

“Oh no! Damien, I’m so sorry! It was just, in the chaos, I just...forgot.” Harley finished lamely, and I was amused to see her flustered again, but a twinge of guilt ran through me. We really should have called him.

Damien, not being too much on words around us, shrugged uncomfortably.

“You’re not hurt?” His voice was soft, the antithesis to the glare he had sent around the table. Now, though, he only had eyes for Harley.

“I’m fine, really. Not even a bit singed. The bookstore...well, it’ll recover.” She smiled at him, only slightly shaky.

“Whatever you need, you just let me know. I’ll get it for you.”

That made me think. What, exactly, did Damien do for a living? Independently wealthy? What kind of career allowed for someone to take three days off every month at the full moon?

“Damien, what do you do for a living?” I asked as I finally put the finishing touches on my sandwich. Harley glared at me in consternation and Noah kicked me under the table.

“What? What did I say?” I asked, incredulous. Was I being rude?

“Teagan, that was rude. You just don’t blurt out questions like that.” Harley admonished me, and I fought the urge to duck my head and apologize. I kicked Noah back, giving him a look that promised worse payback later.

“No, it’s not rude. I don’t mind the question, Teagan.” Damien replied, flashing a smile at me. He really was gorgeous, I thought, with those black curls and bright green eyes. I got another kick from under the table.

If you don’t like what you’re hearing, stay out of my head
I spoke to Noah, but he looked at me blankly.

The kick was from me this time

I swiveled my head to look at Harley, shocked. She shrugged.

Damien, oblivious to this by-play, continued speaking.

“I deal in antiquities, actually. I may be able to recover some of the book collection.”

“Well, that’s handy, isn’t it Harley?” I commented, turning a smirk in her direction. Just as she was about to make what I was sure would be a patented Harley sarcastic comment, Anna and Gareth breezed in.

“Good morning. How was your night?” Anna asked with a knowing smile. Even Gareth had a slight smirk on his handsome face.

“It was relaxing, thanks.” I gave them all a bright smile, going with the flow. I could brazen out whatever they threw my way.

“Relaxing? Noah, I’m ashamed for you.” Gareth said, clapping him on the back with a laugh.

“Well, she’s really hard to please. Telling me what to do, where to touc-” I flew across the room and clapped my hand over his mouth.

“Don’t say that!” I hissed at him.

His mouth curved into a smile under my hand and with a smirk I removed my hand.

Gareth smiled, then noticed Damien.

“Damien, how have you been?” he asked, as Anna walked over to the werewolf and planted a kiss on his cheek. After they exchanged pleasantries, Gareth got right to the point.

“Anyway, what’s the plan? Have you found out anything else? Do you have an idea of who the arsonist is? It doesn’t seem like it could be the work of Padraigan, and besides, he was probably hurting from the sting you gave him.” Gareth asked, rubbing his hands together like an excited child. He out of all of us wanted payback.

“Well, I think that Teagan has some ideas about the torching.” Noah said as he put his arms around me. I didn’t know if he was giving me the strength I needed to tell them what I knew, or if he was just letting me know he was there for support, but I was thankful for it. He knew now who it was because of our connection, but he was going to let me do the telling.

“Well, let’s start at the beginning, shall we?” I gestured for everyone to move into the great room and after everyone had sat, I told them about my visit to Padraigan and the girl on the bed. I could see Noah and Harley nodding, Noah’s forehead drawn down in a frown. I could feel his anguish at not being able to protect me, and even though I knew it was pointless for him to feel that way, it still made me feel loved, cherished.

Leaving out the part with Noah in it, I finished, looking at Anna and Gareth expectantly, as if one of them were going to jump up with an exclamation and an answer.

“Why would you astral-project unconsciously, and into Padraigan’s lair, no less?” Gareth asked, his voice thoughtful.

“I don’t know, that’s the part that we can’t figure out. That leads us through to the next part of our saga.” I replied, telling them about the visit from Gemma, the fine details of Padraigan’s visit, and the fire. As I recounted each experience, I relived it in my head, the alien feel of Gemma’s skin, the pain of Padraigan’s bite, the terror of the fire. Not to mention the pleasure at Noah’s hands and even the heat of our argument, but that was for me only. Noah, being in tune with me, knew I was thinking about that too, and gave me a little smile.

“So, she came to Written? Like as a scout maybe?” Anna speculated, a frown marring her smooth forehead. Her eyes, like jade jewels, were troubled.

“I think so.” I answered, glad that she caught my thought process.

“But what about wards on the house? Did they not stand?” Gareth asked.

“I don’t know. A counter spell from a sorcerer would take care of those, but then we’re back to where we were months ago. Does he have a sorcerer on the payroll? We never found evidence that he was working with one.” I answered, looking at Noah. He nodded agreement, his expression thoughtful.

“I can do some discreet snooping around, see if anyone in the community knows anything.”

“But would anyone tell you? Even if they knew something?” I asked.

“Maybe, maybe not, but if he has a sorcerer in his pocket, I’ll find out. My family has a lot of pull behind it.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him, but he just smiled. Cocky bastard, but I loved him.

“How do you know it was Gemma that set fire to Written?” Harley finally spoke and it warmed my heart to see her face more animated, her eyes focused.

“Well, that’s just my feeling. You didn’t talk to her, you didn’t see her, either at the store or at Padraigan’s. She’s out for revenge, and Noah’s little gift on her lover and master probably pushed her over the edge.” I shrugged my shoulders, knowing it was a weak conclusion but I knew it was her, felt it so strongly that I didn’t doubt myself.

“I take exception to the fact that you all keep calling my efforts to protect Teagan as ‘little’.” Noah remarked in a dry tone.

“You didn’t kill him, did you?” Gareth responded quickly, but there was a teasing light in his eyes.

“Just gave him a little scratch.” Anna threw in.

“Seems as though your fire wasn’t up to the challenge.” Harley snickered, which earned her a glare from Noah.

“Yeah, why didn’t he turn into a pile of ash?” I asked, half serious, half teasing.

He switched his glare from Harley to me, and instead of getting hurt, it made me smile. I loved him, but I kind of missed our sparring.

“Because it wasn’t a direct hit. I caught his arm.” Noah ground out.

“Oh, he just caught his arm.” I turned and gave a smirk to Harley, Anna, and Gareth.

“Very funny, Teagan.” Noah said, then spun me around and kissed me, effectively shutting me up. This time though, I didn’t fight him off.

“What do you know about past life regression?”

I popped up from behind the melted display counter at Harley’s question, my eyebrows raised.

“And you thought of this why?” I asked as I dumped a handful of melted jewelry into the garbage. We had come back to Written to meet with the insurance adjuster, who had just given us the go ahead to get back in the store to clean it up. The fire marshal had also cleared the building for us to be in it, but there were still men looking things over and places we couldn’t go.

“I’m trying to puzzle out your little night trip. What made you go to him? You’d never met him, you didn’t even know what he looked like until then. What made you go to him?” Her voice trailed off, her expression thoughtful.

I watched her work on it, turn it over in her mind and play with it.

“What does past life regression have to do with it?”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s a thought I’m working on, but it’s not fully developed yet.” She turned away and moved to the other side of the staircase, where the other display was. I stared after her, nonplussed.

“Um, Harley? Do you want to finish the conversation?” I slid out from underneath the counter and followed her to the other side, where she was looking down into a display case, her eyes troubled. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the ruined merchandise or the thoughts on past life regression, but she looked up at me and her eyes cleared.

“No, not right now.” She said with a smile.

“I hate it when you do things like that! Don’t ask me a question and then walk off without explaining.” I whined, but she just smiled at me.

“Noah is so good for you.”

I made an exaggerated show of looking around before I brought my eyes back to her.

“That came out of nowhere. What does that have to do with past life regression?”

“It doesn’t, but you have this glow about you, even through all the grime.” She waved her hand at my face, to better illustrate the fact that I was covered almost head to toe in ash and soot.

“I do not. What glow?”

She laughed at my tone, which went from indignation to curiosity in a split second.

“I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. You’re just always smiling; anyone can see that you’re in love.”

I looked down at the floor, hiding the smile that came to my face at her words. It was true. I was totally in love with Noah, and for once in my life, I ran with it. I was about to reply when the front door to Written opened and Noah and Damien strolled in. My heart performed a slow roll of happiness.

“Harley.” Damien nodded in her direction, hands shoved deep in his pockets. Harley inclined her head in his direction. "Damien."

I watched with an amused expression on my face as Noah came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

"Do either one of them realize it?" Noah whispered in my ear before taking my hand and heading toward the stairs. I muffled a snort in response.

When we had gained the second floor, I turned to him with a question in my eyes. He already knew what I was going to ask.

“I figured that he would want to come and help, after his entrance at Gareth and Anna's last night.”

I reached up and placed the palm of my hand on his cheek.

“You’re a good man, Noah Jacobs.” I leaned up on my tip toes and placed a kiss on his lips, but danced away with a laugh when he growled and leaned in to deepen the kiss.

“What’d you do that for?” He sent me a frown, but I just smiled at him.

“I have to work, Noah. I’ve got to see what’s salvageable here, and if I get caught up kissing you…well, let’s just say I wouldn’t get any work done.” I gave him a sirens smile, but kept backing away, to the pile of books in the back.

I stared down at the mess I had created, shaking my head. I didn’t know what could have been worse, leaving them on the shelves for the sprinklers to take care of, or this jumbled mess.

“The ones on the bottom may be okay. The bulk of the books on top may have sheltered them from the worst.” He came to stand beside me, sliding an arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him briefly then dropped to my knees on the sooty floor, not sure where to start.

“Just grab from the side.” Harley said as she came up the stairs, Damien close behind her. She knelt down next to me, and I looked at her, concern in my eyes.

“You going to be okay to do this? You don’t have to, you know. I can do it.”

She switched her gaze from the pile of books to me and nodded.

              “I need to do this. It’ll help heal me.”

Noah and Damien moved to the other side of the pile, and began picking up books, examining them for damage.

With big sighs from both of us, Harley and I each grabbed a book. The ones on top were completely lost; water-logged and covered in ash, some started to crumble as we touched them. Harley, whose love of books eclipsed mine, had silent tears running down her cheeks at the thought of throwing away the precious volumes. As we tossed, we logged titles and authors, keeping a meticulous record of what we needed to replace. Some were irreplaceable, old tomes handed down for ages through families, books we acquired at estate sales all over the world in languages that were dead, spells that would never be recovered, histories that might be forgotten. We had some books in a fireproof safe, the exceptionally old ones, but most of these were meant to be sold, cherished.

Once we broke through the top layer, the books started to be in better condition, the top layer of books having sheltered them from the worst. By the time we got halfway through the pile, Harley started to perk up, finding much loved books in decent condition.

All the while I watched Damien watching her. Not once did she look up at him, not even when he would call out a title and the books condition.  Yet I knew how she felt about him; it wasn’t something that she could hide easily from me, and since I was in much the same condition with Noah, I wanted her to be happy with her choice too.

“I’m so glad this one made it. There’s a spell in there I’ve been wanting to work, and kept putting it off.” Harley said as she held up a book bound in leather with uncut pages. There were no markings on it, no title, so I didn’t know which one it was.

“How do you do that?” I asked, picking up a half-sodden book and writing down the pertinent information. I chucked it at the big industrial garbage can sitting next to me, which earned me a frown from Harley.

“Don’t disrespect the books. And how do I do what?”

“The book is already damaged, Harley, I’m not going to hurt it anymore. How do you know without having a title or author what book that is?” I asked again, nodding toward the book in her hand.

“You hurt the memory of the book…ok; I know I’m being silly. As to how I remember them, they are sacred to me, so I remember them all.” She looked down lovingly at the book, ran her hand lightly over the worn leather cover. I cast a glance at the guys, who were watching Harley with a mix of concern and wariness. I laughed, shaking my head.

“This is normal for her men, don’t freak out.”

At my words, Harley glanced up sharply, cocking an eyebrow at us.

Damien and Noah turned their attention back to the pile, taking a sudden deeper interest in it than before.

“What were you going on about earlier? About past life regression?” I prompted, grabbing another book.

“I told you, it’s not fully developed yet. I want to work it out first.”

“Well, you have us as a sounding board. Bounce your ideas off of us.” I made a motion with my arm, encompassing the guys, who looked up again. Noah was looking at Harley with interest.

“It’s not exactly past life regression, but a hypothesis born from the idea.” Harley said, her whole attitude conveying that this was something she was not ready to discuss.

“Ok, so what is it?” I prodded, but I got a quelling look from Damien, which surprised me.

“She’ll tell us when she’s ready, not before.” Damien said, his voice soft.

“Thank you Damien.” Harley gave him a regal head tilt, along with a small smile. He nodded and turned back to the book pile, and I had to keep my mouth from falling open. I shot a glance at Noah, and he just shrugged, shaking his head.

I turned back to face Harley, but she had turned her attention back to the pile.

It seemed as though they were a team now, and Damien’s obvious concern for Harley was touching. Why the sudden change in Harley, though?

“Ok, I’ll let it go for now. But it was my visit that we’re talking about here, so if you have a clue, I would really appreciate a little light on the subject.”

I sat back down, curling my legs under me, and dug back into the pile of books.

We both lost ourselves in the sorting, and I barely registered Harley getting up and letting me know she was going out to run an errand. The guys got up to go downstairs for more supplies, and I just kept cataloging and sorting, until I heard thunder. I glanced up at the window and saw the rain coming down hard. Thinking it was odd that a storm had come up so suddenly, I got up to shut the window that had been left open to clear out the smoke smell. I didn’t want to leave it open and add to the damage in the room.

I reached out to grab the window and that’s when she grabbed me. If I hadn’t been so short, she would’ve pulled me right out the window, but I hip-checked it and once I realized what was happening, threw myself backward with all my might.

“So help me Goddess, you bitch, I’m going to kill you!” I screamed at Gemma, tugging hard on my arm. She was floating outside the window, as if she were using the storm wind to keep her in place.

She pulled harder in response and I came a little farther out of the window. With a scream I pulled my arm back and gained a little ground. Gemma laughed.

“Oh I like this game. Tug of war was always one of my favorites when I was a little girl. I’ll keep pulling until your arm tears from your body.”

With a grimace I tried to pull back, but it wasn’t working. She was so much stronger than me. I had to think of something to do. I had no idea where the guys were and Harley had left the house altogether.

“Come out and play little girl. Padraigan would like your audience. He won’t care if you’re missing an arm.” Gemma tugged a little harder, a smirk lifting the corners of her mouth. She was just playing with me, I realized. She could’ve already had me out the window. I had to do something before she got bored. Then the fact that she really was floating registered. If she was still in flux, she wouldn’t be able to float. She had gone full vampire.

Still attempting to pull myself back in the window, I looked up at the clouds and focused, calling all the power at my disposal. It was hard, because I was trying to not die, but the clouds started to part, and sun started peeking through. Just not where it could hit Gemma. I had to try harder, but my focus was split between hanging out the window and trying not to be vampire chow and making the sun shine through strong.

I heard shouts behind me and then steel bands were around me. I panicked at first until I realized it was Damien and Noah.

“I’m stronger than both of you. I’ll have her.” Gemma cackled, and pulled me harder. Pain shot through my shoulder and stomach where one of the guys held me, but knowing they were there I was able to focus completely on the weather.

I brought the sun.

The first ray hit her and she hissed. Then the full light of the sun hit her and she was gone, just like that. Not disintegrated, but she flew backward and disappeared into the shadows of the forest.

Without the pressure of her pulling on my arm, me and the guys went flying back into the room and landed in a tangle.

“Are you alright?” Noah ran his hands over my shoulder and before I could tell him it hurt like a bitch, I could feel the heat from his healing penetrating the joint, soothing away the ache.

“I am now. What the hell? How did she get past the wards? AGAIN?” I yelled, pushing up from the floor and shaking off the feel of her touch on my skin.

“She didn’t. She couldn’t come inside.” Noah said and I almost smacked my forehead at my idiocy. Of course. That’s why I was still standing here, and not filling up a goblet with my blood at Padraigan’s hideout.

“This can’t happen again. We need to get more organization for protection.” Damien finally spoke up, just as Harley came dashing up the steps.

“What happened?” She asked, throwing bags down on the floor.

I filled her in as she ran her hands over my shoulder as well, but seemed satisfied with Noah’s healing.

“Wow, we really need to get more protection in place.” Harley exclaimed, throwing up her hands.

“Which is what Damien just suggested.” Noah said with a nod in Damien’s direction. Harley and Damien shared a look that I couldn’t decipher.

“Okay, then we make a rule that two people always have to be together at all times. Unless there’s a way to extend the wards?” I looked to Noah, who nodded.

“I can put up perimeter wards that, no offense to the very capable witches in the room, will be stronger than what you currently have. No one will get through them unless we want them to.”

“Why hasn’t this been done before?” Damien asked, and rightly so.