Tegan's Magic (The Ultimate Power Series #3) (9 page)

“I don't need to learn anything from you, leech,” Finn retorts, putting the same emphasis on the word leech as Ethan did on slayer.

Both of them despise what the other one is and this tête a tête is giving them the opportunity to air their dislike. Things could go badly wrong here. If I weren't so exhausted from almost dying today I'd probably do something to kill whatever argument is brewing. They eye each other and the tension is palpable.

Suddenly, Ethan starts laughing and shakes his head. When his gaze lands on me I go tense. “Do you see what you've reduced me to? Squabbling in some white trash dump with a slayer, and not even a halfling slayer, but a human one, Irish scum at that.”

Finn slowly stands, his posture defensive and his face hard as steel. He doesn't say a word.

“You need to get over this, Ethan. I understand that you've lost a lot because of me, but what's done is done. You can get another night club, another swanky house. And one more thing, don't you dare call Finn Irish scum again or I'll tell him to stake you myself.”

Finn gives me an approving nod.

Ethan takes one step forward.

I lock my fingers together in anxiety and try to make my face look impassive. Ethan glares between the two of us and narrows his gaze. The moment drags out, while someone noisily opens and shuts the front door. Rita saunters into the room, holding several empty spray bottles in her arms.

“Um, am I interrupting something?” she asks, noting the heightened tension.

“No you're not,” Delilah announces, rising from her seat. She lets her eyes travel between me, Ethan and Finn. “I think you three should avoid talking as much as possible,” she says. “It only ever ends in drama.”

Ethan grudgingly agrees with his sister and Finn makes an obvious effort to calm down.

“So I was going to show them how to make the mixture,” Rita says to Finn, gesturing to Ethan, Lucas and Delilah.

“Yeah, good idea,” says Finn, before stalking out of the room. A moment later I hear him slamming shut his bedroom door.

“Don't mind him, he's had a rough day,” say Rita, excusing Finn's moodiness since she didn't witness the argument that happened before she came in. “Come on into the kitchen and I'll show you how to kill the mists. Tegan and I discovered a formula during our research this morning.”

Intrigued, they file out after Rita and I drop back down onto the couch, letting out a long stream of breath. About fifteen minutes later I hear them going into the back garden, probably to test out the spray on the mists captured inside the shed.

I go upstairs to take a shower, noting the steam on the tiles. Finn must have just been in here. I remember what he said to me before, about putting his mark on me like I did to him. The memory of his words makes me tremble.

I'm going to have to sort out my emotions. More and more often he makes me get all befuddled, especially when he says things like that. It feels like every little touch he gives me, however casual it might seem, means something. This is dangerous territory. Living with Finn is causing what started out as begrudging attraction to turn into a full on crush.

And don't even get me started on Ethan. My entire relationship with the vampire has been one massive clusterfuck from the beginning. Looking at the history of my sad little love life as a whole, I haven't had much luck. When you live in a world of sorcerers and warlocks, vampires and dhamphirs, you don't tend to have a lot of time to spend on matters of the heart.

I need to talk to Finn.

I take a quick shower, put on some clean clothes and go to knock on his bedroom door.

“Who is it?” he calls.

“Tegan,” I answer softly.

A pause. “Come in.”

Inside the room I find Finn stretched out on his bed in a t-shirt and lounge pants with a movie playing on his laptop. “
Inception
,” he says, when I lean forward to see what he's watching.

“Oh. I haven't seen that one.”

He grins, patting the empty space beside him on the bed. “Watch it with me then. It's only ten minutes in.”

I grab one of his pillows, fluff it up and lie down, making sure to keep a bit of space between us. We watch in silence for a half an hour. This isn't the sort of film you can just sit back and brainlessly absorb. It's good though, because trying to figure out what's going on in the story is keeping me from thinking about my blossoming feelings for Finn and what I should or shouldn't do about them. Unfortunately, once I realise that this is the case, I stop thinking about the film and start thinking about Finn.

I'm attracted to both him and Ethan, yet the way I feel about each of them is entirely different. Being with Ethan is exhilarating and thrilling. He makes my heart beat faster and for a while I thought I might be falling for him, but I can never relax around him. I never know what's really going on inside his head. Recent events have shown me that he can turn on me in an instant. He's just so...
other
.

Finn I know I can trust. After everything that's happened I feel like he's probably the one person I can trust the most, even over Rita, and I adore Rita. A connection is building between us, and it's becoming more and more evident that I feel more for him than simple friendship. Ethan might be flawless and beautiful, but Finn is just so real. So warm and full of life – human life. The problem is, no matter how much I tell myself that Ethan is wrong for me on so many levels, I can't seem to get the vampire out of my mind.

My head starts to thump. Too much is happening all at once and I've never been a good multi-tasker. Perhaps I should just forget about my stupid heart for a while and focus on the important things; keeping Rebecca safe, rescuing my dad, and making sure the human population of Tribane doesn't end up imploding.

Finn's phone vibrates with a text message, drawing me out of my thoughts. He checks it and gives a soft chuckle, passing it over to me to read. It's from Rita.

Out killing mists with the vamps. So much FUN! Feel like a witch ninja :-D

“She's mad,” I say fondly, passing the phone back to Finn. Our fingers touch a little; it frightens me how aware I am of the contact.

“She is,” he agrees, but then his face turns serious. “What do you think of that thing Theodore said to her today, about not coming for her yet?
Yet
implies that he plans on coming for her later.”

“I'm not sure. Rita believes she has a dark half and a light half; the light half is from Noreen and the dark half is from Theodore. She's scared that the dark half will take over one day, but she's also determined not to let that happen. Maybe Theodore wants her dark half to take over so that she'll join forces with him. Can you imagine how powerful those two could be together?” I shudder involuntarily.

Finn purses his lips. “We'll have to keep an eye on her, make sure she stays light, as you put it.”

“We will.” I agree.

A silence ensues, the movie forgotten. I know I came in here to talk to Finn about my feelings, but I'm too nervous to broach the subject. He's staring at me now, frowning slightly. He reaches out and touches the small bruises on my throat, like he did back in the church.

“I suppose I kind of have put my mark on you. I hate that I put these here,” he says, his voice low. Both of his thumbs brush back and forth over the sensitive skin.

“They'll heal, and you don't need to hate it. You weren't yourself.”

Finn sucks in a breath and lets one hand slide down over my shoulder, skin touching skin since I'm only wearing a vest top.

“I liked it when you stuck up for me before,” he whispers, eyes focusing intently on the dip of my collarbone. I'm watching where his gaze travels, as though he's actually touching me with his eyes.

“Ethan is making my life miserable these days, and in a way I deserve it. I won't let him put you down though, because all you've ever done is try to help people. You keep vampires from killing innocents. Don't get me wrong, I think you're a little crazy to invest in such a dangerous vocation, but I admire your conviction nonetheless.”

He smiles at me, his whole face lighting up. “I never thought you regarded me so highly, Petal.”

I swallow and lick my lips. His eyes lock in on the movement. “I didn't before, but now I know you better.”

He leans up on one elbow so that he's hovering over me. “That's good to know,” he replies in a husky voice as his lips slowly descend on mine. He kisses me lightly, questioningly, and my whole body gets hotter. I move my lips softly against his and open my mouth a little for him to deepen the kiss. He takes the opportunity and dips his tongue in. The sensation causes a low moan to erupt from my throat and Finn kisses me more urgently.

The two of us drift into this frenzy that's all tongues and lips and pressing fingers. His desire for me is so different from Ethan's, who shows intense, focused appreciation when making love. Finn's kissing is almost vicious in its urgency and it makes my head go fuzzy, makes my legs fall open so that he can fit himself between them. Makes me grab his t-shirt and practically tear it over his head. Makes me break our kiss so that I can dip my mouth to his neck to suck on it. He groans and pushes himself hard into me. His hands fumble at my pants, yanking them down.

He stops for a second, his chest rising and falling with ragged breaths. “You want this, right?” he asks, eyes on my bared hips. “You're not just doing this to get back at
him
for being a dickhead, are you?”

I know exactly who he means by
him
. I take a second to think about it. No, payback has nothing to do with this. I've been attracted to Finn since day one, only now I've grown an affection for him too. Loving Ethan is frightening and hard. In this moment I can see how loving Finn would be so effortless.

“No, I would never...” I trail off when he pulls away a little.

“Why did you hesitate?”

“I didn't. Not really. I was just thinking about how I feel about you.”

“How
do
you feel about me?” he questions, a strange sort of vulnerability in his voice.

I let out a small laugh. “You make me feel itchy...with this need. I think you're one of the sexiest men I've ever met.”

Finn raises an eyebrow and smirks, but it's a warm smirk. “Does that include vampires?”

His question is meant to be light-hearted, but it makes my stomach drop. I have to be honest with him. “I slept with Ethan once,” I blurt out, instead of answering his question.

“Only once?” He sounds like he expected it to be more. All the same, I can feel him withdrawing from me, a certain coldness creeping in. I don't want him to withdraw.

“Yes, just once. It was obviously a mistake. I mean, look at how he treats me now.”

“So you
are
only doing this with me because he's not looking to get into your pants anymore.” He pulls away from me further.

I give him a soft whack on the shoulder. “No! That's not it at all. Despite what you might think, I'm not very experienced with men. I've had a few boyfriends, but none lasted longer than a couple months. When Ethan began showing an interest in me it felt amazing to have somebody so magnetic wanting me. I can see now that it was that feeling of being wanted that made me think I wanted him back. And I do – did...Oh God, this isn't coming out right at all.” I run my fingers through my hair.

Finn grabs my hand, holding it inside his own. “Just tell me how you feel now. Whatever you might have felt in the past doesn't matter.”

I meet his gaze. “I feel like there's something growing between the two of us here, and I just want to explore what it might be.”

“Okay, I can do that,” Finn replies after a brief pause. He brings my palm to his lips and kisses it, flicking his tongue out a little and I gasp. “You're so fucking beautiful, honey. You've got skin I just want to put my hands all over. But as you said, there's something growing between us and I don't want to rush it. Let's just take it easy for now. You've still got Marcel's lust potion in you and I want to be sure that you letting me kiss you isn't just somehow connected to that.”

I smile and lean into him, resting my head in the crook of his neck. “I didn't think you had such a romantic streak,” I grin.

His thumb brushes against my hip and he pulls me into a hug. “Wait and see, Petal. I'm just full of surprises.”

The way he says it makes me clench my thighs together. Finn rewinds the movie back to where we left off and we snuggle up to watch it.

Everyday I Love You Less and Less

The next morning I wake up surrounded by Finn, and not for the first time. Only now after our little heart to heart last night I'm in far more danger of giving in to my hormones. Finn's still sleeping, so I force myself to get out of bed and go to my own room.

Later on he doesn't question why I left. We eat a quick breakfast with Ira and then the two of them leave me at the house to head off to report to Pamphrock, who has apparently set his slayers to work on making massive amounts of Rita's chaos killing spray. Although instead of using crappy plastic spray bottles, they're putting it into modified fire extinguishers. Now why didn't we think of that?

Rita and I resume our studies in her RV, both searching for information on Rebecca's spell and saving my dad. It's when I come across the book from yesterday, the one about other dimensions and their inhabitants, that I stop and think.

I go to the page at the front with the publishing info. The date reads 1993. That was only two decades ago. Perhaps this E.J. Edwards guy is still alive? I could find him and question him about how he knows all this stuff. Has he been to another dimension? And more importantly, has he ever been to the hell dimension where my dad is currently suffering?

There's a hard knock on the door of the RV that startles me out of my thoughts. I shoot Rita a questioning glance.

“That'll be my new client. I told him to come over today.”

“Oh, you're taking clients again?”

“Yep. I haven't met this guy before, but a regular of mine referred him. Apparently he wants me to cast a spell that'll boost his self-confidence and help him to move up the ladder at work.” She rolls her eyes, pushing aside the stack of books she'd been looking through, and gets up to answer the door.

She opens it to reveal a tall, brown haired man wearing trendy black glasses and an immaculate white shirt.

“Hey, Damien isn't it? Come on in.” She stands aside and the guy steps into the RV. She's eyeing him in a strange way, like she's either suspicious of him or she's up to something. Or both. He's so tall that the top of his head is skimming the ceiling.

“I have something I need to do,” I tell her. “Do you mind if I borrow this book for a while? I'll return it later on.”

“Sure, have at it,” she replies, waving me off, and I leave her to her session with tall Damien.

I go into Finn's living room, borrowing his laptop. I skim down the front page of
On Other Dimensions and Their Inhabitants
again. When I type the publishing house into an online search engine I discover that it's actually some kind of offshoot of the Oxford University Press. Then I type in the name E.J. Edwards and the guy I'm looking for pops up as the first result.

He's a professor of Physics at Oxford. When I look at his profile there's a picture of a little grey haired man of about seventy, but his bio is pretty normal for a professor. In other words, there's nothing at all that would lead you to believe he had an interest in the supernatural, or that he once wrote a book about other dimensions.

I do a little more digging to find the phone number for the Department of Physics at Oxford, and look up the international code for the UK before calling it up. I get through to a very chirpy receptionist, who informs me that Professor Edwards is currently on a year long sabbatical, but if I'd like to leave a message she'd be happy to pass it on to him.

“Um, would it be possible to get another number where I can reach him? It's sort of a private matter that I need to discuss.” This lady would probably think I was pranking her if I tried telling her why I want to talk to Edwards.

“I can't give out his personal contact information, I'm afraid,” she tells me. “However, I can give you his university email. I know he checks his messages there at least once a week.”

“Oh. Okay, yeah I'll take his email then.”

I scribble it down and we say our polite goodbyes. Then I open up a new document and try to form a coherent explanation as to why I'm writing to him. The words jumble around in my head, but then when I start typing it all spills out. I tell him how I recently came across his book, and in as simple terms as I can muster I explain my predicament. The worst that could happen would be for him to disregard the email or send me a message back telling me I'm a nut.

I copy and paste the message into an email and hit send. All I can do now is wait and see what happens. I shut down Finn's laptop and pick up the book to bring it back out to Rita. She's still busy with Damien, but she says I can come in and watch if I'd like. Damien nods, saying he's okay with it, so I decide I might as well stay and see what goes on in these sessions of Rita's.

She's currently sitting at the small table across from Damien, muttering in Latin and mashing up a bunch of herbs with a pestle and mortar.

“So, how do you two know each other?” Damien asks.

If I'm not mistaken, there's a little bit of a tremble in his voice. It's like he's nervous to be here with us, or maybe he's just wary of Rita's strange mutterings and herb crushing.

“Shush,” Rita scolds him for talking.

“Don't you need another two people for the spell?” I ask, ignoring her ministrations.

“No, not for this spell. I'm getting better and it's very basic. And I said
shush
!”

After another couple minutes of her quiet mutterings, she scoops up a spoonful of the herbs and hands it to Damien, telling him to eat up. He looks at her with wide, mistrustful eyes. In the end he takes the spoon and shoves it into his mouth. His jaw works as he chews and by the look on his face I'd say it tastes bitter. He swallows and Rita makes him open his mouth to ensure that he ate all of it.

“Now what?” he asks her.

“Now,” Rita begins, clasping her hands together, “you tell me why you're really here.”

Damien's eyes flick between me and Rita. “I – I don't know what you're talking about.”

Rita scoffs. “Don't give me that. You've been on edge ever since you arrived and every time I ask you a question your eyes flick to the left. Classic behaviour of someone who's lying. Now come on, spit it out. What are you up to? And more importantly, who are you working for?”

I sit and watch the exchange with rapt attention. I had an inkling there was something off about Damien, but I mostly put it down to him being nervous. It's a good thing Rita saw right through him.

“Look, I promise I'm just here for the spell. You came highly recommended from my friend Greg.” He reaches up and scratches at his neck.

“I do a lot of spells for Greg and he's never sent me a referral before. He's also one of the shiftiest guys I know, so it doesn't take much of a stretch to see him accepting a bribe to give you an in with me.” Rita states all of this in a cold, detached voice, and I get a brief glimpse of the witch she could have been if she had of been raised by Theodore instead of Noreen.

“You have to believe me,” Damien spreads out his hands, in a gesture that's kind of pleading. “I'm not up to anything.”

Rita laughs. “Deny it all you want. In a couple of minutes you'll be telling me everything.”

He eyes her now. “What do you mean?”

“You just ate the components of a truth spell, my friend. You'll probably be telling us what brand of underwear you like and who you lost your virginity to by the time it takes hold.”

At this Damien jumps up from his seat and makes a run for the door. Rita stands up and casually places her tiny self in his path, holding up a hand and muttering a quiet incantation. Damien stops in his tracks as though glued to the spot.

Sweat breaks out on his forehead as he struggles to move forward but can't.

“Oh just sit back down,” says Rita in annoyance. “You're not leaving here until I allow you to go. It'll be easier if you don't fight this. You'll only be wasting your energy.”

His shoulders slump. He lets out a long, dejected breath, turns on his heel and sits back down in the chair he vacated seconds ago.

Rita gives me a wink and pulls out the seat closest to Damien. She leans one elbow on the table and stares at him intently. “So, feeling chatty yet?” she asks cheerfully.

Damien cuts her a cold glare. “Piss off, witch. You can't make me talk.”

“I believe I'll be proving that statement wrong in – oh say about two minutes time.” She makes a show of checking the non-existent watch on her wrist.

“Have you ever done this before?” I ask her.

Her lip quirks just slightly. “Once or twice.”

“And it worked?”

The lip quirk transforms into a full-on grin. “Oh yeah.”

Damien, who was unassuming and a touch nervous when he first arrived, now stares hatefully at Rita. “It would be wise to let me go,” he grits. “My mistress won't be happy if you hurt me.”

“Oh really? Who's this mistress then?”

His eyes turn to slits and he turns his face away from her. Rita claps her hands.

“See? It's starting to work already. Come on honey, tell me who she is, you know you want to.”

Damien makes a move to spit in Rita's face, but she holds her hand up again and his jaw stills. “Don't do that, it's no way for a gentleman to behave.” She sweeps her hand downwards and I see Damien swallow the saliva back down his throat. Had Rita always been
this
good at magic? I know she was brilliant before, but it seems to be becoming even more effortless to her nowadays. When Damien turns his head again I catch a small glimpse of a wound on his neck.

“Oh my God,” I whisper, getting up and walking over to see if my suspicions are correct. I take a hold of his collar and pull it down further, revealing several fresh bite marks on his neck and a few old ones that have healed up. They remind me of the ones I'd seen on Amanda when I'd first come back to Tribane. I look to Rita. “I think he's a vampire blood donor.”

“Oh,” she says, like she didn't expect that. “I thought it might have been Theodore or Marcel who sent him.”

“Not judging from the bite marks all over his neck.”

Damien's whole face tenses up, as though trying so very hard to keep from saying anything. A vein in his forehead bulges out with the effort.

“My mistress sent me here to spy on you,” he says in a rapid gush, the words spilling from his mouth involuntarily.

“Oh yeah? I repeat, who's your mistress?”

Rita gives me a smug look that says,
I told you it would work
. His face goes tense again, but no matter how much he tries to stay quiet, he can't fight Rita's magic.

“Eliza Whitfield, daughter of the vampire governor, Jeremy Whitfield,” he sputters the words out against his will, before swearing, “Fuck!”

A shiver of fear runs through me. I'd hoped Eliza would move on from her hatred, but evidently she's still gunning for me.

“Why did she send you here?”

“She told me to get as much information as I could about your routine, and to find out a time of the day when
she
would be alone.” He nods his head to me. He's not bothering to try and fight against talking anymore.

“When Tegan's alone? Why?”

“Because she wants me to take her and bring her across the river to be killed in front of all the vampires. She wants to make an example of her for deceiving them.”

Rita reaches out and slaps Damien hard across the face. She's absolutely fuming, even more so than I am and I'm the one Eliza wants to murder.

“What kind of person are you, allowing vampires to use you to kill an innocent woman?” she spits harshly at him.

I still her hand as she moves to slap him again. “Hey, Rita, it's okay. You don't need to hit him. It's not his fault, he's just an addict. I remember when Amanda was like him. She would have done anything just to have Lucas feed from her one more time.”

She looks at me and for a split second her brown eyes seem almost black. She shakes off her anger quickly and replies, “Yeah, I suppose you're right.”

She turns back to Damien now.

“So you're a blood donor of Eliza's, eh. Tell me, what are the vampires planning? They've been very quiet.”

Damien lets out a derisive snort. “How would I know? Eliza only uses me for my blood and my body. Occasionally she gives me daytime tasks – like this one.”

I suppress a shudder at his mention of her using his body. He doesn't even sound like he's annoyed over it. He just states it as fact.

“Well if you don't know then you're no use to me. I'll give you the poison now I suppose,” says Rita with a flippant sigh, dusting off her hands and standing up. She walks over to one of the cupboards and opens it, making a show of searching for something.

“Poison?” Damien asks, with a slight quiver.

Rita peeks her head around the door of the cupboard. “Yes, arsenic to be specific. I like to think it adds a certain historical touch. You didn't think I was going to just let you walk out of here, did you?”

“But you said before that you'd let me go once you were done with me,” Damien argues in desperation.

She points a finger at him. “I did. But that was before you told me you were going to help kill my friend. For that you get the poison.”