Witch Fury

TWENTY-THREE

SARAFINA’S HAND CLOSED OVER HIS SHOULDER. “I’M sorry, Theo. You don’t have to talk about it.” He turned to her. “No, it’s okay. It’s just that while I don’t feel responsible for Ingrid’s death, I do feel responsible for Colleen’s.” “Sometimes talking helps.”

He snorted. “I like pretending it never happened. That helps me.” “Yes, but it never makes it go away.” “Nothing makes it go away, Sarafina. You just have to learn to live with it.” He studied her eyes for a moment. They were such a clear, pretty shade of blue. He reached out and smoothed his thumb against her cheek and she turned her face to his calloused palm and laid a kiss there.

When she did that, look up at him with all that emotion in her eyes, Theo could deny her nothing. He would do anything for her.

“Colleen was my girlfriend when I was a teenager.” Understanding swept over her features. “She was your high school sweetheart and when you—” He shook his head. “Not high school. My life at home was unstable. I never made it through high school.” “Okay, I didn’t know. But she was involved when the Duskoff kidnapped you somehow, wasn’t she?” “Colleen was my first love, my only love.” He didn’t elaborate on the fact that he thought he might be falling in love with Sarafina. It was too soon for that and the circumstances didn’t need to be any heavier than they were. “She kept me sane when my father was beating my mother up.” Anger arced through him as memory flooded his mind. His voice was hard when he spoke next. “Eventually, I beat him up.” “I’m sorry, Theo.”

“It’s over now. My mom took off, and I haven’t heard from her since. My father’s gone, too. Colleen was the one solid person I had to hang on to. Strangely enough, she was also a fire witch. Anyway, she was with me when they kidnapped me, so she was caught up in it.” Theo closed his mouth and went silent, fighting the unwelcome recollection. Images of Colleen under the brutal hands of the Duskoff, tied up and given to Reece, the bastard who’d cut him.

Reece had done much, much worse to Colleen.

Theo shut his eyes as if he could make the memories disappear. “You don’t want to know what they did to her. I’ve spent close to twenty years trying to forget. She didn’t deserve any of it and I was the one who caused it all.” He shook his head. “She tried to fight them.” Sarafina didn’t say anything for a long moment. “She sounds like a hell of a girl.” He pressed the heel of his palm into his eye socket, but that didn’t make the mental pictures go away. “She was.” “But you weren’t responsible for her abduction or her death, Theo. Tell me you know that.” He looked down at the floor. “I do know that. Ultimately, she was caught up in the situation because of me, but it was the Duskoff who were responsible. Reece. I’ve been making them pay for it every chance I get, too.” He gritted his teeth. “I made Reece pay long ago. Slowly. Then I threw his ass in Gribben. He’s there right now, suffering every single day.” “And now here I am, a fire witch and involved with you. Does that slate me for death?” He smiled at her, but he knew it had a bitter edge. “Can you see why I resisted? I’m bad luck.” She laughed. “Yeah, but I’m not superstitious, Theo. I believe we make our own luck.” Gods, he needed to change the subject. “So, I told you all about my exes, sad stories all. Tell me about Alex.” She snorted. “I don’t even miss him.” He caught her chin and tilted her face to his. “Good. That’s what I like to hear.” Someone pounded on the door. Theo answered it, using the peephole first.

Thomas stood on the other side along with Micah. “The front desk told me what room you were in.” Thomas had two sword sheaths in hand, which he handed to Theo. “I brought these for you and Sarafina.” Theo backed away, allowing the two men to enter. They said their hellos to Sarafina and then settled onto the couch.

“So did you find anything interesting in the building?” asked Sarafina, settling back into one of the armchairs and crossing her legs.

Thomas and Micah exchanged The Look. Theo knew what the The Look meant and it wasn’t anything good. He set the sword sheaths down next to a chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

“We found evidence of daaeman magick,” said Thomas. “No big surprise there since we could all smell it once we entered the building.” Micah spotted the room service cart and got up to peruse it for leftovers. “Either Stefan is brewing a really big pot of herbal tea, or he’s planning a very strong spell against all of witchdom. I’m going with the second thing.” He turned and wagged a French fry at them. “You guys going to eat this? I’m starving.” “Go ahead,” answered Sarafina. “How do you know it’s targeted at all of witchdom?” Micah picked up the plate of lukewarm fries and replied with his mouth full. “I strongly suspect. The combination of herbs that were found there suggest it. Not all of the herbs were from Earth, by the way.” “Any idea what kind of spell?” Sarafina asked.

“If I knew that my life would be all kittens and sunshine.” Micah threw the remains of a fry back onto the plate, his voice turning sour. “Instead it’s all daaeman blood and warlock guts. I’m sifting through it all now.” He speared Thomas with a look of disdain. “It would have been nicer to have a tidier site to investigate. Acidic blood melted a lot of the evidence.” Thomas coolly looked away from Micah to Theo. “We’ll be staying here in Louisville for a while until we can get a handle on what’s going on. We’ve got Claire and Micah analyzing the building and have sent for more witches from Chicago to guard the place if Stefan returns. I want you to go with Mira and Jack back up to Chicago. We have reason to believe that Stefan might be there. Jack and Mira are your backup if Bai shows up prematurely.” Thomas paused and seemed to choose his next words carefully. “But it seems clear that Bai won’t come for Sarafina until Stefan’s plan, whatever that is, plays out.” “And when that happens, we’ll be ready for him.” Theo growled out.

“When the Ytrayi Cae came here to collect Claire, he offered us an alliance,” Micah ventured, his gaze on Thomas.

“Yes, and I refused him, said there was no reason for one and there never would be.” Thomas passed a hand over his face. “Rue told me he hoped I never regretted those words. With so many Atrika Earthside. .” “You regret your words now,” Micah finished.

Thomas sighed. “The Cae of the Ytrayi obviously doesn’t know what’s going on since he hasn’t contacted us. There’s no way he wouldn’t show if he believed Claire might come to harm.” “And there’s no way to contact him,” Theo added.

“You know as well as I do that it’s impossible to open a portal from this side.” Thomas shook his head. “Somehow the Duskoff managed it, but short of killing seven witches in an intricate blood magick spell, it’s unfeasible. And it’s not like we have an interdimensional telephone.” “So we find a way to defend ourselves against the impending threat,” said Micah.

“Or we take the offensive,” Theo asserted. “And attack them first.” Thomas met Theo’s gaze and smiled. “Or we take the offensive. You reading my mind now, Theo?” “Yeah, well, first we need to find Stefan,” Micah said. “I’ll bet anyone in the room five hundred bucks he’s gone underground again.” Thomas smiled bitterly. “Bet you five hundred bucks Mira has heard him whispering.”