Magick (Immortals and Magick Book 2) (14 page)

“It’s a new situation for all of us, I think. No one here has ever been in this situation before. I hate the learning curve, but…” Noah trailed off, not finishing his thought. None of us like the learning curve but we had to figure it out, and fast. I had no desire to hang out a window again any time soon.

              “I’m telling you that I can’t get past the wards. He is a much stronger sorcerer than I, and he has her protected!” The words whispered from parched lips, and were painfully delivered.

              Padraigan studied his fingernails, eyes intently focused, but the tortured man knew better. He watched through swollen eyes as the vampire straightened slowly from where he was leaning against a black wall, brushing a piece of imaginary lint from his Hugo Boss-clad arm.

              Padraigan narrowed black eyes in his direction, and the tortured man cringed, a whimper escaping from his scorched throat.

              “I came to you because you led me to believe that you were stronger than the Jacobs’ strongest sorcerer. Did you know that Noah was stronger than their strongest? Or was that just braggadocio on your part?” Padraigan asked, his tone conversational. He flicked a finger in the direction of the man dangling from the ceiling, and a short burst of lighting raced to its target. The man screamed, a high-pitched cry that no one would hear, as the bolt landed on his upper thigh, singeing away skin and leaving behind scorched muscle.

              “No, I really didn’t know he was so strong! I swear Sir, I swear! Please!”

              “You know Charles, I really don’t like this nasty business. I’m a pacifist, truly, but I just can’t seem to find good help. I’m constantly being let down in one form or fashion every time I turn around. I will give you one last chance Charles, because deep down I feel that your intentions are true. Now I have to tend to Gemma. That little bitch of a witch scarred my pet very badly.” Padraigan sauntered toward the hidden door, painted the same unrelieved black as the rest of the room.

              “Thank you Sir, than-” Charles’ words were cut off as another bolt of lightning flew out of the darkness and seared across his face.

              “Oh don’t thank me yet Charles. Let’s not be presumptuous.” Padraigan looked back at the hanging man, dangling from his wrists that were bloody from the sisal rope. He took a moment to look around the room, lit only by one bar of fluorescents 12 feet overhead. Something passed across his features, something that made Charles cringe despite his burnt and scarred body. Then his features cleared and he spun around, pushing through the door.

              I came awake with a small scream, startling Noah who had been sleepy soundly next to me.

              “What, what is it? Are you okay?” He asked as he turned to me, running his hands over my body, checking for injuries. I caught my breath, calming my racing heart.

              “Yeah, yeah I’m okay, just…had a bad dream, I guess.” I frowned, not sure that was correct. I was there- but not there. It had been like watching a movie, where I was the audience and Padraigan and Charles were the actors.

              Noah stopped his injury check, and sat up straight, looking at me speculatively.

              “Were you at Padraigan’s again?”

              “Not intentionally.” I answered, my tone suggesting what I thought of that idea.

              “Well, it’s not like I thought you went there on purpose. What happened?”

              I thought about the room, Charles hanging by a hook in the ceiling, barely able to touch the floor. Shivers raced through my body and goosebumps rose on my skin. He was a wreck of a man, driven to insanity by pain and torture.

              “Can we only do this when we’re all together? I’d rather only relive it once.”

              Noah reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, and laid his hand on my cheek. I leaned into the comforting touch, my eyes closing. Only his touch could erase the images of the dream from my mind.

              “Yes, we can discuss it with everyone in the morning. You know though that my curiosity is going to eat at me?”

              “Well yeah.” I replied, twisting my mouth wryly.

              “At least tell me this. Did he know you were there this time?”

              I thought back to how Padraigan paused before he left the room, his features assembling themselves into a vile sneer. He had looked in the general direction of where I would have been standing if I were in the room, but I didn’t think he saw me. I slowly shook my head.

              “No, I don’t think so.” I answered truthfully, although I had my doubts. I didn’t want to tell Noah that though. Not yet.

              “That’s a small favor to be thankful for.” He said, running a hand through his hair. I reached out and trailed a finger down his chest, stopping just above where the sheet lay pooled in his lap.

              “I know something else to be thankful for.” I purred coyly, looking up at him from under my lashes.

              With a growl, he pulled me to him, and rolled me under him. I laughed, the happy sound dispelling the tattered remnants of the eerie feeling the dream left on my psyche.

              I was digging into another pile of water and smoke-logged books when I heard footsteps coming up the staircase to the second floor. I wasn’t expecting anyone, so I stood up quickly, sending out mental feelers to see who was there.

              I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized it was just the gang. I plopped back down and finished writing the name of the book I was about to throw out.

              “Don’t you throw that book!” Harley admonished as she came into the room, Noah and Damien trailing behind her. I paused, my hand in the air, arm cocked back.

              “I wasn’t going to throw it, per se. Just gently toss it.” I was obviously bullshitting. I was primed for an overhand throw, the free throw points and glory I had been imagining from an invisible crowd dwindling away. Harley arched an eyebrow, her foot tapping a beat on the scorched floorboards. I slowly lowered my arm.

              “I can get so much done when you’re not here.” I mumbled under my breath, but now low enough. She narrowed her eyes.

              “How many of these books have you ‘tossed’?” She asked, her tone exactly the one my mother would take when I had done something I knew I was going to get in trouble for.

              I tried to brave it out.

              “How old am I? I mean, really, Harley, they’re ruined. If I toss them on the pile, it’s not hurting them anymore than the fire did.”

              “I can’t believe I opened a bookstore with you. You have no respect for the written word.” She shook her head sadly and moved to the staircase leading up to our living quarters.

              I watched her go for a moment, completely at a loss. I turned back to Noah and Damien, a question in my eyes.

              “I don’t know. Don’t ask me.” Noah held up his hands in surrender. I switched my gaze to Damien.

              “She really loves her books?” came his puzzled reply.

              “Hold that thought, I’ll be right back.” I pointed a finger at them, then turned around and followed Harley up the stairs. I didn’t see her in the kitchen or living room, so I went down the hallway toward her bedroom.

              “Hey, what was that all about?” I asked as I came into the room to see her digging through her closet. She straightened up slowly, and I didn’t have to read her mind to know that she was crying.

              “Hey, hey, what’s going on?” I went to her and put my arm around her shoulders and moved her to the bed. We sat there for a moment, both of us quiet and studying our feet. I knew better than to press her when she was like this, so I waited patiently.

              After another minute or so, she straightened up and wiped off her cheeks with her fingers, and sighed.

              “Nothing is really WRONG, other than everything is wrong. I don’t know how to explain it better than that. And that is so very frustrating to me.” She grumbled, the frustration evident in her voice.

              I nodded my head slowly, getting the gist of what she meant. Our lives had changed dramatically in the past year, and not just because of the fire. We had gone from being solitary witches to belonging to a circle of friends, from having no problems other than paying bills to fighting off a douchebag vampire, and from being single and carefree to Noah and Damien. It was a mind-fuck, to be sure.

              “Look, this totally sucks. I mean, there isn’t any way to change it, and even though it does suck, we have to keep our heads up and deal with it. Make the most of the future and all that.” I said, even going so far as to raise my hand in a rah-type gesture like a cheerleader.

              Harley looked at me steadily for a moment, then burst out laughing. It hurt a little, honestly. That was my best-ever attempt at bolstering!

              “Teagan, you crack me up! Oh my goodness that was fantastic!” she laughed, holding on to her stomach. I sat next to her as she rolled on the bed in very un-typical Harley fashion, her laughter slowly subsiding into snorts and coughs.

              “Are you done?” I asked, slapping her leg lightly. She sat up, fresh tears rolling down her face, but at least they were happy tears.

              “Yes, and thank you. I needed that. Oh Goddess, it’s all just a big mess isn’t it?”

              “Yeah, but we’ll get through it. We’ll rebuild and make it better. Maybe put in a little café. Sell cappuccinos and shit.”

              She leaned toward me, bumping my shoulder with hers.

              “I don’t think ‘shit’ would look appetizing on a menu, but maybe croissants?” She suggested, her tone mock-sincere.

              “Yeah, you’re right. No ‘shit’, just coffee and pastries. Are you okay to go back down? I promise not to throw any more highly damaged and unreadable books.”

              She shot me a patented Harley sarcastic look, her mouth twisted wryly and an eyebrow raised. Then her face cleared, and became thoughtful.

              “No, you’re right.” She said, even though I hadn’t disagreed with her about anything. “You’re right in that the books are destroyed. I’m just hiding my emotions about the fire in what is left of them. You can make all the free throws that you want with them. Just don’t judge me if I wince when you do.”

              I nodded, thinking I probably would stop tossing them anyway. I knew how the books were her children, the love of them passed down from her father and one thing they bonded over when she was a kid. I should respect that, and honor his memory. Wow, I really had started to change, I thought to myself ruefully.

              “Do you want to talk more? I mean, the guys know what to do, for the most part. They don’t have to be supervised.” I hoped they didn’t have to be supervised. Damien I wasn’t worried about, but Noah…

              “Noah is good. He’s good for you. I’m glad all is well there.”

              I felt a little stab of guilt. It wasn’t all well, at least not where my dreams were concerned. We hadn’t told anyone yet about my dream, waiting for the moment when we were all together again.

              “Yeah, he’s a good guy.” I smiled, thinking back to breakfast in bed, brought to me on a tray with coffee made perfectly, and then the dessert that came after. A little shiver of pleasure ran up and down my spine at the memory.

              “What about Damien?” There. I put it out there. My curiosity was eating away at my sanity.

              Harley sighed. “I don’t know Teagan. I really don’t. There is something there…yes, yes I know that everyone knows it. I mean, there is something much deeper there. Something that speaks of lifetimes. It makes me uncomfortable. You know how in cheesy romance novels, the hero and heroine always say they felt like they’ve known each other before they ever met? Yeah, well that’s how I felt when I first saw Damien. And…I think he feels it too. I know that he’s a werewolf, and they are immortal like vampires are, but I think we were something to each other in former lives.”

              A light bulb went off in my head.

              “That’s what you were talking about the other day. It had nothing to do with me traveling to Padraigan.” I said, a little shocked. I had thought maybe she had an idea of why I was visiting the bastard and a possible way to stop it.

              “Well, yes and no. I thought about it for a while in regards to you, but then it made no sense to me, so I discarded it. However, I then got to thinking about it in regards to my own…situation, with Damien.”

              “So you think that you and Damien knew each other in a former life?” I asked, although I knew the answer. It would make sense. Harley’s behavior toward him, now that I looked back on it, was her typical response to something that makes her uncomfortable. What could be more uncomfortable than feeling bound to a stranger? One that happens to turn into a massive beast once a month, or whenever he got angry. Or hungry for a deer sandwich.

              “I’m positive of it. I just haven’t really explored it yet.” She stood from the bed and went back into her closest. I sighed, since I knew what that meant. Conversation over.

When we went back downstairs, Anna and Gareth were there, looking around at the destruction. Anna’s face had such a sad expression that I just wanted to go over and hug her. I had no idea where this new and possibly improved, nurturing Teagan had come from, but I wasn’t comfortable with it yet. So I just walked over to her and rubbed her shoulder a little bit.

“Oh god Teagan, this is just so sad.” She whispered, reaching down and grabbing my hand. More like crushing it.

“Anna, ease up please.” I gasped as I felt my fingers grinding together.

              “Sorry! I’m still getting used to this.” She explained sheepishly.

“It’s okay, just pretend you’re holding a butterfly.” Gareth coached her.

Her grip eased up immediately, and I breathed a little sigh of relief.

“It IS sad, but we’ll recover.” I replied, looking around the room. The wall closest to the staircase was the worst, charred and blackened beyond the reach of soap and water. The further away from the staircase, the better the walls, until you came to the back staircase that lead up to our living quarters. There was just some smoke damage in the stairwell, nothing that couldn’t be cleaned up.

“Teagan, wasn’t there something you wanted to tell everyone once we got them together?” Noah asked, crossing his arms and looking stern. I felt five pairs of eyes land on me. I frowned at him.

“There…is, but I don’t think that this is the place to discuss it.” I said slowly.

Harley and Anna looked at me, concern in their eyes.

“What’s going on?” Anna asked, looking from Noah to me.

Gareth added his penetrating stare to their own, and I squirmed under the weight.

I took a deep breath. I didn’t like being put on the spot, and Harley knew that. I looked to her for support.

Is it something I should be immediately concerned with?

I heard her question in my head and gave her a terse head shake.

Something to do with Padraigan but nothing that is going to set the place on fire again?

I smiled…a little one, and shook my head again.

Harley nodded. “I’m sure we’ll find out later. Teagan and I have some cleaning to do.”

Everyone knew at that point that I wasn’t going to say anything, not right then. Noah gave me a slight nod, and I sent him another frown.

Coward

Am not!

We’ll see about that. I’m going to make dinner plans for everyone tonight. We’ll go over it then.

Fine, Mr. Sanctimonious-know-it-all-buttinsky…

He cocked an eyebrow at me, then started laughing.

Everyone turned to stare at him, taking the spotlight off me. Harley looked at me, a question in her eyes. I just gave a slight nod. She knew I was talking to Noah, but she didn’t question me about what was going on.

“Well, what can we do to help? That’s why we’re here.” Gareth rubbed his hands together, looking around at the destruction. Anna nodded, smiling at her husband.

“Yes, slave drivers, put us lowly laborers to work.” Noah said, sketching a mocking bow in my direction. He winked though, and gave me a tiny devilish smile, so I didn’t jump all over him. He knew what I liked.

I looked over at Harley and smiled my own devilish smile.

“Time to crack the whip!”