Witch Fury

TWELVE

BAI LOOMED OVER HER, EYES RED. HIS BREATH smelled of old bones and hot blood.

Sarafina screamed and sat bolt upright in bed. Grosset cowered nearby.

Theo skidded to a stop in her doorway, his hair a tangle, wearing only a pair of boxers. He held a copper sword in his grip. “Where?” Her breathing came harsh in the cool night air. Sarafina held out a hand, watching it tremble. “It was only a nightmare.” Her voice shook, too. “About Bai.” “Fuck, Sarafina.” The words came out of Theo on a relieved sigh. He lowered his weapon.

She pushed a shaking hand through her pillow-mussed hair, then threw the blankets off of her and swung her feet to the floor. “I need a drink and I don’t mean Kool-Aid.” “Don’t.”

She stopped in mid-motion. “Don’t? You’re not in a position to tell me what to do, Theo.” Now her voice trembled more from anger than fear. She hadn’t forgotten about his reaction to her earlier. She was also more than a tad riled from her nightmare. Being terrified and out of control pissed her off.

“Alcohol can impair your judgment and slow your reaction time. It can also make your mind more open to Bai’s influence.” She sat back down on the bed, the thought making ice water course through her veins. “What?” “You have to consider that the nightmare wasn’t just a nightmare.” Great. Now she wouldn’t sleep for the rest of the night, maybe not for the rest of her life. “What? Like Freddy Krueger? They can do that?” He nodded. “He can’t actually hurt you, Sarafina, but he can mind-fuck you.” She ran a hand over her face. God, she was so tired. Grosset came to curl up next to her. “Unbelievable.” Theo fidgeted in the doorway. “Are you all right?” “Fantastic.”

“Do you think you can sleep anymore tonight?” She snorted. “That would be a no.” He leaned his forearm against the door frame and rested his head there. His voice was muffled when he spoke. “When I can’t sleep, I take a drive.” “On your motorcycle?”

He raised his head. “Yeah, the night air is good for you, you know?” “So, was that like an offer or something?” “Yeah.”

“Your generosity and verbosity overwhelm me.” He sighed. “You want to go or not?”

Anything to break the spell of the nightmare. “Yes.” Minutes later they were dressed and on Theo’s cycle, barreling down an empty early morning highway fast enough to blow the memory of her nightmare straight out of her brain. The cool air infused her lungs and spread a smile over her face.

It was like they were flying — like they were free.

Now Sarafina could see the appeal of motorcycles, whereas before she thought they were only the domain of the crazy, the stupid, or men having midlife crises. On the back of a bike, hurtling through the black, you could find freedom — if only temporarily — from everything behind you.

All the weight on her was gone, eradicated by the force of the road underneath the cycle’s tires. All the pressure of her past — for right now, anyway — had vanished, forced away by the vibration of the vehicle beneath her.

No wonder Theo loved his bike.

Eventually, they came to a park and Theo pulled over, bringing the cycle to a rumbling halt. It had to be around two or three in the morning. Sarafina released her hold around his midsection, pulled off her helmet, and dismounted. The trees stood tall and silent under a night sky strewn with stars. They were pretty far from the light pollution of the city, judging by the beauty of the sky.

“How long have we been riding?” she asked as Theo got off the bike.

“We’re about an hour out of Chicago. I come here sometimes to get away from the city lights. You can actually see some stars out here.” She looked up at the sky, the slight breeze cooling her head, which had been warmed by the helmet, and rustling the fine hair that framed her face. Sarafina closed her eyes and sank into the moment, letting it fill her up like water pouring into a pitcher.

When she opened her eyes, Theo was leaning against the bike and staring at her. “Do you feel better?” She smiled and nodded. The rage that had tightened her muscles earlier was absent now. “Thank you.” He stared at her for a moment, their gazes locking, then he pushed away from the bike and walked into the nearby copse of trees. Somewhere in the distance, a night bird called, breaking the near-perfect silence. “I like it out here at this time of night.” “You like it because there are no people?” It was an educated guess.

“Yeah, definitely.”

She walked over to stand near him. “Right now, I completely get that.” They stood in companionable silence for several moments. Finally, Theo spoke. “I love this park. If I ever have kids, I’ll take them camping here on the weekends.” The words had slipped from him as though he hadn’t meant them to, like a stray thought had been trapped in a bit of breath and set free by accident.

Somehow the image of Theo having children, let alone camping with them, didn’t jive. Roasting marshmallows over a fire? Backpacking in the woods? It seemed odd, yet in some ways Theo would make a great father. He’d be protective, that was for sure. If he ever had a daughter, her boyfriends would have to tread very carefully.

She gave him a sidelong glance. “Do you want kids?” He glanced at her and shifted a little. “Yeah, maybe. One day.” “I just thought that—”

He turned toward her. “What? That a person with an upbringing as fucked up as mine wouldn’t want to risk parenthood?” “No!” She held out a hand as if to ward off his belligerent tone of voice. “I wasn’t thinking that at all. It just seems like your life is all about your work. You seem so hell-bent on taking the Duskoff down and not really all that interested in dating, let alone building a family.” He rubbed a hand over his mouth. “Yeah, well, maybe one day we will take the Duskoff down and I can concentrate on other things.” He paused. “More important things, like marriage and a family.” “I hope so.”

“Maybe,” he said again. “If I can ever find a woman crazy enough to stay with me.” She laughed. “You have your charms, Theo, even if they’re a little buried under a crust.” He grunted, turned, and walked toward the cycle. “You ready to head back?” His tone really didn’t invite disagreement. Apparently, it was time to go.

She turned toward him. “I would like to be your friend, Theo.” He halted with his back to her. His shoulders tightened. “That’s nice. Do you want to hold my hand, too?” Sarafina blew out a frustrated breath and walked to the bike. “I’m trying to extend an olive branch here.” “I didn’t know we were fighting.”

“It’s just that, things seem tense between us after what happened, you know, in the hallway. .” “You mean when I kissed you, Sarafina?” He turned toward her and she stilled like a deer in a hunter’s line of sight. His voice had gone a shade lower, a bit more velvety. Almost. . seductive.

She couldn’t take another kiss-and-run.

“Yes, you kissed me, then pushed me away.” Theo turned back toward the bike. “That was a mistake.” “What was a mistake, the kiss or pushing me away?” He fiddled with the helmets lying on the cycle’s seat. “The kiss, Sarafina.” “Not from where I was standing.”

“Your perspective might change if you knew that every woman I become involved with ends up dead somehow.” “What?” She put her hand on her hip. “That sounds really ominous, Theo. What exactly are you saying?” He turned toward her. “I didn’t kill them, Sarafina. I’m just saying they have a habit of turning up dead.” She opened her mouth, then closed it. “I have no idea what to say to that.” “Don’t say anything. I don’t want to talk about it.” “Okay.”

“Come on, I’ll let you drive for a while.” “Huh?”

“I’ll teach you how to drive a motorcycle.” “Oh.” She eyed the huge heavy. . hog. Isn’t that what they called them? “Um.” “It’s not hard. Come on.” He extended one of the helmets toward her.

She took it, knowing this was his olive branch.

ADAM’S BLADE MET THEO’S AND REVERBERATED down the length of his arm. Theo pushed back with a grunt and sent Adam backward. Adam swung around, slashing upward with his sword and forcing Theo back into the defensive.

Theo whirled, his tail of hair lashing him in the face, and blocked Adam’s powerful swing. Adam was one of the best swordsmen in the Coven and Theo loved to engage him. It was a challenge. Today he craved the burn in his muscles and the state of mindlessness that combat gave him. It provided a much-needed escape.

Sweat poured down Theo’s chest as he took the offensive again, pushing Adam back in a flurry of flashing copper blades and ringing metal. Channeling all his current frustration and rage into the battle, Theo pressed Adam farther and farther back. His muscles straining and his arms and legs screaming, he gave a loud bellow and forced Adam to stumble backward onto the mat.

Adam threw his sword to the floor and swore at the top of his lungs. He shook his sweat-soaked hair and yelled, “All right, enough! I give in! Gods damn!” Theo let his sword dangle at his side. He tipped his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, savoring both his rare victory against Adam and also the satisfying physical strain in his body from the exertion it had taken to gain it. Then he reached down and offered Adam his hand. Adam took it and Theo hefted the other man to his feet.

“Good fight,” said Theo.

Adam eyed him warily. “You’re only saying that because you won.” Theo grinned. “Maybe. Want another go?” Adam rotated his shoulder. “Hell, no. You’re out for blood today. I want to keep my head on my shoulders. I have a woman at home to think about.” Yeah, Theo had a woman at home right now, too. That was a turn of events he’d never counted on. At first he’d figured it wouldn’t be a big deal. She was his job. Sure, she was pretty, but there were lots of pretty witches in the Coven and he’d been able to resist almost all of them. Theo wasn’t like how Adam had been pre-Claire, chasing after every woman he came into contact with.

But after just a week of living with Sarafina, his resistance had been worn to a nubbin.

Her constant presence — the subtle, sweet scent of her invading his nose at every turn, the sight of the nape of her neck when she twisted her hair up onto the top of her head, or the curve of her calf and her small bare foot when she sat in the recliner and rocked herself while she read a book. All of those tiny little things had added up. Now her presence in his apartment was all a tease to him — foreplay. It excited him. Like waving a steak in front of a starving tiger.

He’d had nothing but contempt for Jack McAllister when he’d begun sleeping with his charge, Mira Hoskins, way back when. And when Adam and Claire had fallen into bed while Adam had been helping to keep Claire safe from the Atrika a year and a half ago, Theo hadn’t been surprised, but he had been a little disgusted. He’d sworn both times that if he were Adam or Jack, he’d never follow the whim of his dick and nail the body he was supposed to be guarding.

Now here he was trying hard to think with his big head and ignore the little one.

“So what the hell is with all the extra energy?” queried Adam, rubbing a towel across the back of his neck. “You always fight hard, but that was exceptional.” He raised an eyebrow. “Sexual repression, maybe?” “Shut up, Adam.”

“Yeah, well, if it is sexual repression, keep it away from me, all right? I don’t swing that way.” Theo readjusted his grip on the blade. “I just wanted a good fight today, that’s all. Knew I’d get one from you.” “Everything going okay with Sarafina? She seems like a really cool chick. Claire likes her a lot. Shouldn’t she be training with the copper blades by now?” “She is training with the swords, but she’s doing it with Isabelle.” He paused. “Everyone likes Sarafina.” He glanced at him. “You including yourself in there? I know you two got off to a rocky start. You know, what with you dragging her through the cornfield and all.” Theo lifted the blade and examined the edge. “Yeah, things were rocky back when I thought she was a warlock. There was something suspicious about her.” “Suspicious?” Adam shook his head and snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, well, she’s never looked like much of a warlock to me. An angel, maybe, not a warlock.” “Sometimes people who look sweet and innocent really aren’t.” “Yeah, true. Okay, got me there.” Adam glanced at him. “She’s kind of hot, too. Don’t you think so?” Theo rested his sword against the wall and pulled a bottle of water from the small fridge nearby. “You think every woman is hot,” he said with a snort before uncapping it and taking a long swallow.

“I don’t,” he protested, turning toward him with sword in hand. “I’m committed to Claire now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t notice an attractive woman when I see one. I just don’t think any of them hold a candle to my wife.” Theo just grunted. It was true that Adam was a different man now that he’d met Claire.

“You never answered my question.” Adam danced toward him playfully, sword in hand. “Admit you think she’s cute.” Theo took a step backward and was forced to set his water down. “Adam, I’m not in the mood for games.” He danced closer, blade at the ready. “Fuck, Theo, when are you ever? Come on, admit you think she’s cute. It’s not a hard thing to do.” Adam feinted, making Theo duck and back away.

Theo was forced to take his sword back up and block Adam’s jab. “Gods damn it, you’re a fucking pain in the ass.” “Like that’s news.” He slashed upward toward Theo’s chest and Theo blocked his swing. Metal clanging on metal filled the air anew. The hit reverberated down his arm. “Admit it already.” “Don’t make me hurt you, Adam.” Theo growled.

Adam took a swing that Theo blocked at the last second. “Just admit it.” “Yeah, okay, fuck! She’s cute!”

Adam raised an eyebrow and turned on his heel, bringing his blade down fast and hard toward him. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” Theo had only a moment to wonder why Adam cared what he thought about Sarafina before he was on the offensive and back in the battle again.

* * *

THE IMPRINT OF THEO’S KISS STILL WEIGHED ON Sarafina’s lips. The time that had passed since he’d pressed her up against the wall hadn’t diminished it. In fact, every time Theo looked at her — which was never directly these days — the memory became even heavier.

She shifted on the small couch she sat on and tried to focus on Thomas’s update and not on Theo, who leaned against a nearby wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

They’d gathered in one of the Coven’s general meeting/ receiving rooms. All of them were lushly furnished with overstuffed couches and chairs and had fresh flowers on the tables.

Somehow, some way, she’d been admitted into the Coven’s inner circle. She’d gone from non-magickal office worker, to being a suspected warlock, to being a confirmed fire witch who was intimately involved in the most powerful witchy organization of the realm.

She couldn’t think about it too much without seriously doubting her sanity, so she didn’t. Going with the flow seemed the best way to proceed at this point.

Sarafina assumed she’d been included in the inner circle because of her as of yet unknown special status. That she was of interest to Stefan Faucheux and his pet daaeman, Bai, was not in question. But for whatever reason they’d decided to include her, she’d been summoned along with about fifteen other witches to listen to periodic updates made by Thomas and Micah.

Even Isabelle’s perfectly groomed and highly fashionable mother, Catalina, was here for this discussion. Catalina, so Sarafina had been told, was doing her best to mend her relationship with her daughter. Apparently, when Isabelle had been growing up, Catalina hadn’t parented her well. However, now she was trying her best to make it up to her daughter, and so spent a lot of time at the Coven.

Today there were representatives from the East and West Coast Covens, too, an occurrence she’d gathered was rare. The Chicago Coven was not only the witchy headquarters for all the Midwest and the South, it was also the largest coven in the United States. However, there were smaller covens in Boston and San Francisco as well. Today Eleanor Pickens, an earth witch, had come in from the San Francisco Coven, and Darren Westcott, a water witch, had come from the Boston Coven.

The news they’d borne had not been comforting.

“There have been two killings that seem daaeman-like to us,” said Eleanor. She nodded at Darren, who sat on a chair not far from Sarafina. “Darren says they’ve had one in their area, too. Now, it could be a sick serial killer, but seeing as how the murders are scattered all over the country, it seems unlikely. The victims weren’t witches, but they were dismembered and disemboweled like an Atrika would do it. Not killed for blood magick, but likely for sport.” “So you’re suggesting Atrika are loose all over the country?” Micah interjected.

Eleanor shrugged. “You tell me. I’m just stating the facts. We’ve already established that the warlocks are getting rowdy everywhere, kidnapping more often, and taking bigger risks to build up their ranks. We’ve already established that there’s at least one Atrika Earthside.” Eleanor jerked her chin at Sarafina. “The one that’s so interested in her.” What a depressing thing to be known for.

Eleanor continued, “We don’t know how that one came through, so it’s not really a big leap to assume that others came through, too.” Silence.

Sarafina shivered, imagining more than one Bai loose in the world.

Micah cleared his throat and sat forward in his seat. “I think we should dangle a few juicy prospects in front of the Duskoff, hope they take the bait, and get some of our people in there to see what’s going on. There are a few Coven witches who look younger than they are, and who have backgrounds that would make them seem like good recruitment material. We should talk to them and see if they’re willing.” Thomas shifted and drew everyone’s eye. He walked from where he’d been standing by a wall into the center of the room. “We talked about this before and I have misgivings. First, there’s no telling if we managed to get witches undercover into the Duskoff whether they’d be privy to any of the warlock’s sensitive information. They’d be considered merely soldiers, nothing special. Second, it’s too big a risk. If the witches who go in are discovered, they’re dead. Simple as that.” “You talk about risk, Thomas,” Eleanor interjected. “What about the risk to all of us if the Duskoff have somehow allied with the Atrika? Imagine a world overrun with the most violent daaeman breed, led by the warlocks? Try to imagine the carnage to both witch and humankind.” Sarafina hadn’t been around when Erasmus Boyle had terrorized the Coven, or when the other two daaeman had come through hunting Claire. Yet she knew all too well what a creature like Bai was capable of. She thought about Maria, Robin, Nick, and the rest of her friends. What if Atrika ran amok on Earth? What if a daaeman got their claws into one of them?

The thought was terrifying.

“You’re right, Eleanor. I know what you’re saying,” Thomas answered. “But it’s too much to ask—” “I’ll do it,” she announced. The abrupt words made even Sarafina jump in surprise. Theo’s head swung toward her, his eyes going dark. “I’ll go. I’ll do it.”