Shamelessly Spellbound (Spells That Bind Book 2) (10 page)

That whore had to die!

When I’d followed Trevor from his house, I’d hoped to speak
to him alone, even if it was just a casual encounter. I’d had it all planned
out. He’d look surprised to see me, but his smile would be genuine as we
talked. I was dressed in a sexy black dress, revealing my impressive figure,
and he’d have to notice how much more fit I was than that demon cow. When I’d
seen him at the transport tube, I’d known right away he was going to see the
demon slut. He’d even stopped to pick up dinner for her.

Thanks to Zahrel’s power, I’d managed to slip through the
studio without being noticed. Then I’d had to listen to the bitch squealing
like a pig in her office. I’d known what was happening, and I’d wanted to burst
in and exact my revenge, which I would have done had Zahrel not insisted he was
still too weak.

I hated her!

I hated Zahrel!

“I want her dead,” I mumbled through my sobs as I sat in my
car several blocks from the studio.

“We can’t always have what we want,” Zahrel remarked,
sounding delighted with my pain.

When I glared at him, he laughed.

“Why are you so happy?” I demanded. “You just had to listen
to the woman you want, screwing another man.”

His shadowy form shrugged. “What do I care who she fucks
before I own her? If anything, this makes it even more exciting. She clearly
has feelings for your warlock, which means her misery will be even greater when
I make her mine.”

I couldn’t stop the shudder that ran through my body, and I
almost felt sorry for Melina Blackwood. Her fate would truly be worse than
death, not that I didn’t think she deserved it. “You should have taken her
tonight.”

“I need more powerful blood to build my strength. I’ll need
at least three powerful kills before I’ll be capable of binding your warlock to
you and taking my little demon back to my prison with me.”

“Three kills!” I screeched. “I need Trevor, now!”

“And I need blood and death magic to grow stronger,” he
growled. “I may need more than three kills.”

“Fine! We’ll kill them now,” I relented.

“It doesn’t work that way, my foolish mistress,” he purred.

I hated the mocking way he called me mistress. “Stop with
the games, and tell me what you mean.”

He let out a long-suffering sigh. “We can obtain our next
victim soon, but the kill should take place exactly one week after the first to
maximize my power. I’ll need to wash some of this human blood from my system.
I’m afraid if we don’t allow it to be completely flushed from my system, it
will diminish the power of the next kill.”

“I’ll find a suitable victim,” I assured him, annoyed that
he hadn’t told me a human would be a problem before. It seemed that, despite
his condescending attitude, he hadn’t known the human blood wouldn’t strengthen
him. “Any preference?”

“I’m told a witch, vampire, or demon would be best for our
first kill,” he said as his face faded in, becoming clearer so I could see his
sinister smile.

That confirmed what I’d suspected about him not knowing
about the human blood being weaker. I wondered where he was getting his
information.

“Will it be a problem to get what I need?” he pushed when I
didn’t answer him right away.

“That shouldn’t be too hard,” I said with a smile. “I think
we should continue to take out people from
Night High
. It’s easier for
me to gain access to them, and it hurts that bitch, Melina Blackwood, most. So,
we’ll wait a week to do all three kills. I think we can do them in one night.”

“No. The kills must be at very specific intervals,” he
insisted.

“Why?” I demanded angrily. “When did you learn about this
schedule?”

Zahrel held up my phone so I could see the screen. I still
had no clue how he could seem like little more than a shadow, yet still hold
items. Apparently, he’d been using my phone to do research.

“Wikipedia?” I asked incredulously. “You’re getting your
information from fucking Wikipedia?”

“It’s a useful research tool,” he argued.

I shook my head and started up my car, figuring I might as
well head home. This had been a very disappointing evening.

When I walked into the office the next morning, Sage wasn’t
at her desk. I hadn’t been sure if she’d come in this morning or not since I’d
originally cancelled all morning meetings for the week and forwarded the calls
to our service until noon each day. I’d figured we could both come in around
noon to check messages and emails before the first clients came in at one. I
couldn’t do that next week, because I had more important morning meetings, but
this week, it had been easy to rearrange my schedule.

Today was one of those days I’d have preferred to sleep
later. It had been shortly after three when I’d finally fallen asleep with
Melina in my arms, and I had not been happy about having to wake up early and
leave my sexy witch alone in bed.

“No receptionist?” Demetrius Talbot asked as he strolled
into the office. Demetrius was an imposing warlock, even dressed in the jeans
and black dress shirt he had on today. Standing a couple of inches over six
feet tall, Demetrius had pale blond hair, intense blue eyes, sharp features,
and a muscular frame. Still, it was his presence more than his appearance that
made Demetrius intimidating. He was a warlock who knew how powerful he was and
demanded the respect of others.

“Our legal assistant has the morning off,” I replied,
correcting his use of the term receptionist in a much more polite way than Sage
would have. “The office was supposed to be closed this morning.”

Demetrius nodded, offering no apologies for making me open
the office early, which didn’t surprise me. What he did say completely shocked
me. “Taking some time off to enjoy your first week with Melina?” he asked
casually.

“Melina told you?” I asked, knowing I sounded like a
sputtering idiot. To the best of my knowledge, Melina hadn’t told anyone, and
while I knew she had a good relationship with Demetrius, I didn’t think he’d be
the first person she’d tell about our agreement.

Demetrius laughed at my reaction. “I like to know everything
going on with my daughters.”

“Melina isn’t your daughter,” I corrected him, gesturing
toward my office.

“If you think I love Melina less than any of my daughters,
you are sadly mistaken,” Demetrius began. “With that being said, let me make
this clear. If you hurt Melina, I will destroy you.”

When I met Demetrius’ eyes, I saw the threat of violence,
and I grinned. “I’m glad to hear you say that. Melina deserves to have people
looking out for her.”

“Don’t let her hear you say that,” Demetrius warned. “In
case you haven’t noticed, she can be very stubborn.”

“It’s one of her best qualities,” I said honestly.

“You know, I like you,” Demetrius told me. “When you were
pursuing Melina before, I was hoping you had the balls to make her give you a
chance. Glad to see you finally grew a pair.”

“I’m actually surprised to hear you say that,” I admitted.
“I figured her whole family would want to warn her to stay away from me,
considering my past.”

“Your past?” he asked with a raised eyebrow as he settled
into one of the chairs in my office.

“All the witches,” I explained.

He nodded. “I’m not exactly in a position to hold that sort
of thing against anyone.”

“Does the rest of Melina’s family know about us?” I asked,
wondering if I should warn Melina.

“No,” Demetrius replied. “I’d prefer that we keep this
between us. I’d hate to see Viv’s reaction if she realized I was having our
daughters followed.” He actually shuddered at the thought.

“Your secret is safe with me,” I assured him. “Now, what
exactly are you hoping I can do for you? I assume you have some big legal
emergency.”

“I’ll be heading out of town for a few days, and I wanted to
make sure we had a chance to talk first,” he explained.

“Are you honestly telling me you scheduled this meeting for
the sole purpose of talking to me about Melina? You barely said anything or
asked any questions.”

Demetrius chuckled. “What more needs to be said? You know
I’m having Melina watched, and you know I’ll kill you if you do anything to
hurt her. That covers everything.”

“I’m still charging you for the hour,” I told him. “I should
charge you for the whole damn morning.”

“I’d pay it to keep my little girl safe and happy,” he said,
standing and heading toward the door.

Shaking my head, I had to admit that this had been one of
the strangest meetings I’d ever had, and I was definitely serious about
charging him for the hour.

My phone buzzed, and I smiled when I saw that I had a text
from Melina.

MELINA: I need to go into work a little early, so I’ll be
gone when you get home. Bring me dinner?

ME: Of course. Any requests? Should I bring Mr. Whiskers?

MELINA: I’ll bring him in with me. Chinese?

ME: You got it. I’ll be there around nine.

Malik ran his tongue over his fangs and smiled seductively
at Cat. She stepped back, but then seemed to remember she was also a predator.
She bared her teeth, letting out a growl that was both scary and seductive,
something Cat excelled at.

Both were fantastic on camera tonight, and I knew this was
going to be one of those rare evenings when we got almost every scene in one
take. There were no rules that said I needed to be on set, but I figured that
since Cat and Malik were both annoyed about the direction the show was taking
with their relationship, it would be smart to be here in case either decided to
have a meltdown. My threat about killing off their characters had worked once,
so it might work again. There was also the fact that both were amazing to
watch.

“You aren’t so hot, Dante!” Cat huffed as she got right in
his face. “Just because you’ve dated half the girls in this school doesn’t mean
I’m dumb enough to fall for you.”

A look of shock crossed his face, but it quickly morphed
into a cocky smirk, which had me thinking that Trevor had the cocky smirk down
better than Malik did.

“You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, Maxi.” Malik
turned away from Cat and started to walk down the hall. Then he turned back one
final time. “You really are a bitch some days, and I know that should make me
want to stay far away from you, but I can’t.”

Cat snorted. “Can’t or won’t?”

Malik looked away from Cat, staring down the empty hallway.
“Does it matter?”

“Cut!” shouted Claude, the director, and I groaned, certain
my positive thinking had jinxed this perfect scene.

“I want to see more heat between the two of you,” Claude
insisted. “I want you to melt this camera with the chemistry between Dante and
Maxi.”

“More heat?” Malik shouted, in one of his trademark
tantrums. At first, his childish fits of temper had gotten on my last nerve.
Now, I was tempted to take bets on which direction he’d head with a tantrum.
One never knew where his screaming rants would lead, and I often found myself
agreeing with him, even if I didn’t like the way he expressed himself. “This is
a show for teens, not soft porn. Were you suggesting I dry hump her leg for the
kids watching? No, that might not be enough. Maybe we should both strip naked
and go at it in front of the cameras. That would set such a good example for
the kids.”

“Protecting the young viewers,” I mused, which resulted in
several snickers around me. I wasn’t the only one who watched these
drama-filled moments with eager anticipation. Two other writers and several
crew members had gathered around me to enjoy the show. This was one of those
instances where I whole-heartedly agreed with Malik.

“I’m not asking you to screw the werewolf,” Claude snapped.
On a good day, Claude was an asshole. On a bad day, he was insensitive and
obnoxious to the point where I was surprised none of the actors had tried to
tear his throat out. Then again, the actors probably weren’t that stupid.
Claude was nearly seven feet tall and a wall of muscle. When most people use
that term, they are referring to someone half Claude’s width. Half-demon and
half-Fae, he’d inherited the worst from both sides, and even I didn’t argue
with Claude if I could avoid it. There were times when I had no choice but to
confront Claude, mostly because I was the least intimidated by him. I was
almost positive Claude wouldn’t kill me, which was more than most people
working on the show could say.

Most people might wonder why we kept the scary pain in the
ass. Claude was a fantastic director who knew how to get the most out of the
actors, even if he did piss them off. While the actors might be somewhat
terrified of him, I’d never heard him threaten any of them with physical
violence. Then again, Claude’s mere presence was threat enough.

Malik was still ranting and stomping around the set, but
everyone else had gone silent, waiting to see what would happen next. In
general, I agreed with Claude on most of his decisions, but not today.

“I think Malik has a good point this time,” I interjected,
annoyed when Malik smirked at Claude. The idiot was going to create even more
drama if he started acting cocky.

“Are you saying I’m wrong?” Claude asked in a calm voice,
which generally meant he was about to have a tantrum more monumental than Malik
could ever hope to achieve.

I was getting ready to soothe Claude’s ego when Malik chimed
in again.

“Mel says I’m right!” Malik taunted. “She’s the head writer,
and this is her vision.”

“Actually, this scene was written by a different writer,” I
told Malik, ready to smack him for opening his mouth.

“So, you have nothing to do with this scene.” Claude gave me
a dismissive wave and turned his back on me.

I glared at Malik, who stood beside me as if we were making
a united stand against Claude. “If you don’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to
leave you here to deal with Claude on your own.”

“I’m trying to help,” Malik argued with a pout. His arms
were crossed in front of his slight chest. There were times, like now, when it
was hard to remember Malik was well over a hundred years older than me. I’d say
he acted like the teen he played on the show, but his character showed a lot
more maturity.

“No,” I said through my teeth. “You are trying to make the
whole situation worse because you are in one of those moods where you want to
argue. While I may agree with what you’ve said, I certainly don’t like how
you’re approaching this with Claude.” When he opened his mouth, I held up a
hand to stop him. “Don’t even think about arguing with me. We both know you’re
only going to make this worse. You are acting childish and disrespectful.”

Malik nodded, but he still looked pouty. As for Claude, his
shoulders had relaxed some, probably because he was happy about me chastising
Malik.

I approached Claude like I would any highly volatile creature
capable of ripping my head off. “Listen, Claude,” I began, waiting until he
turned to face me. “The show is geared toward teens, so we need to keep this in
the PG-13 range.”

“According to our demographics, we have many adult viewers,”
he argued calmly. “I know you don’t think I consider anything beyond my
artistic vision, and I will admit that it is always foremost in my mind, but
that’s not all I’m thinking about. I want this show to be great, and I think we
need to cater to our adult viewers. The show should be edgier, and there should
definitely be more sexual tension.”

“I see your point,” I agreed, impressed that he’d thought
this through so thoroughly. “Do you think it’s possible the adult viewers are
watching this show because they want something more innocent than the adult
programming is currently providing?” That was what our adult focus group had
said, but I didn’t want to make it sound like I was dismissing Claude’s
thoughts or implying he hadn’t considered all the facts. It was entirely possible
he hadn’t been told about the adult focus group.

He opened his mouth to argue, and then closed it, a
thoughtful look replacing his irritation. “I hadn’t considered that. Perhaps,
you should have someone look into this more before we make any drastic changes
regarding the sexual content on the show.”

I nodded. “Have I mentioned that you’re the best director in
the business lately?”

He snorted. “You don’t have to tell me I’m good. I know how
good I am.”

“Should I stop telling you how good you are?” I asked,
already knowing the answer.

“Of course, not,” he said with an impish grin. “It’s a good
way to remind yourself of my greatness. I would hate to have you forget how
lucky everyone on this show is to have me here. Some people seem to need more
reminders than others.” His eyes narrowed as he glared at Malik.

“You know Malik is a major drama queen,” I told him loud
enough for the temperamental vampire to hear me.

Claude nodded and turned away to bark orders at Cat and
Malik. Thankfully, it appeared he wasn’t going to have them shoot the entire
scene again.

My phone buzzed in the back pocket of my jeans, and I
stepped away from the set as I pulled it from my pocket.

“Hello,” I answered without looking at the Caller ID.

“Ms. Blackwood?” a somewhat familiar male voice inquired.

“That’s me,” I confirmed, heading out of the filming area to
make it easier to hear.

“This is Detective Giovanni,” he explained.

“Please tell me Leo didn’t suggest you call me for help with
the case again,” I grumbled.

Detective Giovanni chuckled, apparently in a much better
mood than the last time we’d spoken. “It’s nothing like that. I just wanted to
let you know that we’ve made an arrest, and the murder had nothing to do with
the show. I’ve already contacted the network executives, but I figured you’d
want to know, as well.”

“That’s a relief,” I told him. “And, yes, I do appreciate
you calling me. Is it okay to let the cast and crew know about Amber’s death
now?” I asked, even though it seemed that, thanks to the rumor mill, everyone already
knew.

“The executives said they’d be making an announcement
tomorrow,” he began. “It will probably be all over the news within the hour, so
you can do whatever you need to.”

I’d have to think about that. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be
the one to make the announcement and field the questions. “Thank you for
letting me know, Detective.”

“No problem. Have a good evening, Ms. Blackwood.” He ended
the call, and I tucked my phone into my back pocket, unsure if I should make an
announcement or let the executives handle it.

“What’s wrong, Mel?” asked Lindsey, one of the witch
actresses who played a ditsy cheerleader. Her blonde hair was cascading down
her back in beautiful waves, and she was dressed in her cheerleading outfit
since we were filming a scene involving the cheerleaders tonight.

Like most of the witch actresses, Lindsey kissed my ass
until she believed I couldn’t hear what she was saying. Then she would insult
my weight, my hair, my attitude, and anything else she could think of. If I was
the sensitive type, my feelings might be hurt.

“Nothing’s wrong,” I assured her, but she didn’t leave. “Did
you need something?”

“I heard you were dating Trevor Dupree,” she chirped loudly,
and the background noise stopped almost immediately.

Damn nosy people! Of course, I’d known people would be
talking about Trevor coming by with dinner last night. I’d even kissed him
goodbye in front of several people.

“I can see by the look on your face that the rumors are
false,” Lindsey added with a condescending look. “I told everyone you weren’t
exactly his type.”

I matched her condescending look. “I’m not sure how this is
any of your business, Lindsey. To the best of my knowledge, you have a scene to
film tonight. Shouldn’t you be worrying about that?”

She huffed. “This isn’t exactly a difficult question, Mel.
Why not just answer it so I can tell the others that they’re insane for
thinking Trevor would date you?”