Taken by Moonlight (18 page)

“Hmm,
witches? What about witches? And warlocks? They’re your friends too, I’m
guessing.”

“No.”

She nodded
in an exaggerated way, a little smile lifting her lips. “So you don’t like
demons, witches, or warlocks? Isn’t that some form of discrimina—?”

She was cut
off by the ringing of her phone. He looked over as she pulled the object from
her purse and placed it to her ear.

“Hey, Max.
I’m sorry that I didn’t call—wait, slow down. What? Are you serious? We’ve been
what?” Her voice had gone from calm to hysterical in the span of seconds.
Conall’s ears perked up as he listened in to the conversation.

“Robbed,
Vivienne. Someone broke in and trashed the apartment. The cops are there right
now—”

“You’re
serious? Oh my God. Was anyone there? Were you hurt? Where’s Drew?”

“We’re both
fine. We’re staying at a friend’s place—”

“Where?
Where are you?” He gave her the address and she jotted it down on a piece of
paper she took from her bag.

“Where are
you, Vivienne?”

She looked
around and then said shakily, “I was heading back to the apartment. I’m just
going to come to you.”

“Are you
alone?” Max asked suddenly and Conall tensed. It was a typical question for a
friend to ask, but something about the way Max said it made him want to reach
through the phone and strangle the human. It was almost as if he were blatantly
asking about Conall and hoping she weren’t with him.

Vivienne
looked over to Conall with round eyes. “No, I’m with a friend. Do you know what
they took?”

She
remembered her mother’s jewelry and prayed they hadn’t gone off with those
pieces. Evelyn had left France with few things, her mother’s jewelry, which had
been in her family for generations, and her Bible. “Do you know if they took my
mom’s jewelry?”

“I don’t
think so.”

“Where’s
Drew? Can I talk to her?”

“She’s
sleeping, Viv. She’s traumatized.”

Vivienne
placed her hand to her head. “She’s not hurt though, is she? Max?”

“No, she’s
not hurt. We’re fine.” Something about the way he said it made her ask, “You’re
not just telling me this so I won’t worry?”

“No. I’m
serious. We’re both fine.”

“Okay.
Okay. Um, I’ll call you when I’m there.” She closed the phone and stared
blankly ahead.

“Someone
broke into my apartment,” she said as an afterthought. “Why would they even? We
don’t have anything—at least they’re both okay. Oh my God, I can’t believe
this.” She lifted her hands to her temples and began slowly massaging them. “My
mother’s jewelry. I hope they didn’t take her jewelry. It’s the only thing she
has left of her mother. Cassie has some too but I can’t believe—”

“Vivienne,”
he said, reaching out and taking one of her hands in his. She was still in
shock and her reaction was slow. “Vivienne.” She turned to look at him, or
rather look through him. “You’re fine, your friends are fine. Everything else,
we’ll deal with together.”

She nodded,
still in disbelief over Max’s call, and went back to staring ahead.

Conall’s
mind swirled with possibilities. Her home had been broken into and robbed the
same day he’d felt a witch searching her out. He didn’t believe in
coincidences, had never believed in coincidences. It was why he’d survived
centuries.

“Can you
take me to—?” Vivienne read the address in a little voice.

“Of
course,” he replied instantly, staring at her crestfallen face. “Vivienne, it’s
going to be okay.”

She nodded,
but he knew she didn’t believe him.

“If I
remove the gag, do you promise not to scream?” Max asked as he stared down at a
furious Drew.

After
minutes of trying to explain he wasn’t going to hurt her or Vivienne, with Drew
screaming obscenities he was sure had never left her mouth prior to that day,
Max had finally torn apart one of his T-shirts, and gagged her. With her voice
silenced, she’d taken to kicking and punching at him and so, he’d dragged her
over to his bed and tied her there. It wasn’t the way he’d imagined this
scenario when he’d thought of it countless times, but it was necessary to keep
her quiet. This was his safe house, this spacious, loft apartment with
protective charms at every corner and protection spells bouncing off the walls.
No witch would be able to find this place unless Max used his powers. And that
was the other reason he was in this predicament with Drew. He couldn’t pull her
memory of him killing the tracker without having half of his covenant,
including his father, at his door.

“Drew?”
Almost an hour had passed since he’d tied her up and gagged her, and she’d
stopped struggling with bindings during the last fifteen minutes.

She glared
up at him, and he could see the anger and scorn in her eyes. Finally, she
nodded.

Max bent
down and loosened the gag, waiting for the shrill scream to touch his ears.
When it didn’t come, he removed the cloth entirely, staring at her lips and
waiting to see them open as she breathed deep.

“What are
you?”

He drew
back slightly. He wasn’t expecting that. Hysterics, crying, screaming, those he
expected, but he should have known. Drew was always one to surprise him.

“I’m human.”

“Do you
think I’m stupid?” Her voice was harsh. “After all the time you’ve known me,
you really think I’m that stupid, Max? Is your name even Max?”

“No I don’t
think you’re stupid, Drew and yes, my name is Max.” He sighed and ran a hand
over his face. This was going to be hard. “Drew, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m
not going—”

“
What
are you?” This time her voice was low, almost a whisper.

Max looked
down at her. Her brown eyes were hooded, her lips loosening from the tight
scowl that had been there since she’d awoken in the apartment.

“Okay, I’ll
tell you. I’m going to trust you with this, and you’re going to trust that I’m
not going to hurt you or Vivienne?”

She was
reluctant, but eventually nodded.

“My mother
was born of a human and a warlock; my father is a witch.” His eyes were on hers
as that information sank in. Except for the slight widening of her eyes, she
did nothing else. “I’m all three.”

Drew
swallowed and cleared her throat, twice. “So, you’re telling me you’re part
human, part warlock, and part witch?”

He nodded,
wondering if she would accept that truth. It wasn’t as if humans found out
daily that creatures from horror stories actually walked the earth. She blinked
up at him as an odd expression took over her face, and then she asked in a doubtful,
but curious tone, “Witches and warlocks exist?”

Max nodded
and smiled a bit. “Yes, they do.”

She tugged
at the binding that connected her wrist to the headboard and Max leaned forward
and touched her skin, which was chafed from her pulling against the bindings.
The position had him half-leaning over her body. His chest was pressed to the
side of her body, his head directly over hers. “If I untie you, will you try to
run?”

His gaze
was on hers as he asked the question. Her eyes seemed to touch every inch of
his face before her lids lowered. Taking her lip between her teeth, she shook
her head.

Max looked
away from her face immediately. She couldn’t know how good she looked, tied to
his bed, her lashes fanned out against her cheeks and her teeth biting down
against her full bottom lip. She couldn’t know. He made quick work of the
bindings at her wrists and then undid the ones at her feet, moving away from
the bed as she pulled her knees up and placed her arms around them, her eyes
locked on him.

“So you’re
a….” She let her voice drift off and shook her head. “The men in our apartment,
they were after you, weren’t they? They were like…you?”

Max
contemplated that answer. He could lie to her but that would be a betrayal of
what little trust she now had in him. Still, he couldn’t exactly tell her they
were after Vivienne because he would then have to explain why, and though he
knew his father wanted his friend to restore the immortality of the witches, he
was sure that Maximilian had left something out. He’d been told Vivienne was a
powerful witch who, like himself, could easily pass as human. His father had
had told him she was somewhere in New York City, that she was slightly younger
than he, and that he was to find her, and bring her back to the covenant. He’d
packed his things and had left New Orleans for New York, excited to be away
from those who looked down upon him because he was, as they termed it, a
“halfling.” He’d been welcomed in the human world. The first female to lie with
him had been human, his first date, his first friend, his first everything.

Almost on a
whim, he’d enrolled in college. He’d watched enough television programs to know
that was what guys his age did with their lives. It had been easy enough, a
spell cast on the Director of Admissions and he had a student file under the
name Maximilian Carter at NYU. Money had never been an issue because his father
kept him supplied. And then he’d glimpsed Vivienne, practicing for a
track-and-field event, and he’d been drawn to her. In hindsight, he realized
his instincts were telling him that she was the ‘girl’ he was tracking. Still,
he’d never seen a woman more beautiful, and so he’d followed her, grew to know
her, like her, admire her. Because his emotions were involved where Vivienne
was concerned, he’d failed to read the signs until finally, after four years of
knowing her, he’d had to accept that she was the one.

It had all
happened because of a nightmare. Their first week living together, he’d awoken
to Vivienne’s voice. Feeling unnaturally weak, he’d dragged himself to her
room, only to find her sitting up in the bed, her eyes closed, whimpering. Even
now, he could remember the waves of power coming from her unconscious body.
Dragging himself over to the bed, he’d awoken her before getting under the
covers and holding her as she slept. His heart had raced that night with the
knowledge she was the one, that if he told his father where she was, they would
kill her, one of his only friends. He couldn’t let that happen.

“Yes, they
were after me,” Max heard his voice say and he mentally shook his head. “And
yes, they were witches.”

She nodded
and pulled her drawn up knees under the long T-shirt she wore. “Did you kill
them?”

Max nodded
once. Drew shuddered.

“Drew, they
were going to kill us. I couldn’t let that happen.”

She inhaled
deeply. “This doesn’t even seem real, Max. Witches trashed our apartment, and
you…killed them. I feel like I’m caught in some nightmare. Witches and warlocks
aren’t supposed to exist outside of TV shows and movies.” Drew shook her head,
and then her brows crinkled. “But I know what I saw and I saw you…sucking
something out of that man, and you were blue. Is that how witches look?”

Max shook
his head. “No. That isn’t how witches look.” Another reason why he was scorned
by his covenant. While the children were learning to cast spells and incant
rituals, he’d been learning how to control his body. He could still remember
the laughter and jeers when he’d grow angry from them calling him “half-breed”
and his skin would turn sheet-white, revealing blue veins all over his body.
When he’d reached puberty, the change had been stronger, with his eyes changing
to electric blue, his skin to pale blue and his hair bleeding to black. His
father had sequestered him, training him as he learned to control it. Years had
gone by without any interaction with children his age, and when he was finally
able to be around them, their views on him hadn’t changed for the better. “When
I lose control of my emotions, it happens.”

“Oh,” was
all she said.

Feeling a
twinge of scorn at himself, he turned from her. “Are you thirsty or hungry?” It
had been hours since he’d brought her to his safe house. He doubted she’d eaten
for the morning, what with his covenant breaking in and destroying the place.

Drew
nodded. “Can I have some water, please?”

Max nodded
and was heading for the door when he turned to look at her over his shoulder.
“Don’t try anything, Drew. I’m not going to hurt you but I will gag you and tie
to the bed again if I have to.”

He waited
for the nod and then without a backward glance, walked from the room and pulled
the door closed behind him.

Conall
pressed his hand against the small of Vivienne’s back as they walked toward the
building. His eyes scanned the bustling downtown area, taking in the faces of
already tired humans as they trotted about their days at work. They stopped
before the tall apartment building in lower Manhattan and she pressed the
intercom button for the floor Max had given her.