Mistfall (6 page)

Between the two of them, I was never alone.
Jack, the more playful of the two, kept me entertained, while John
insisted on my training. He trained me harder than Willa ever had,
working me until I bled or collapsed from exhaustion.

Elves are brilliant military strategists;
Obstacles and distractions vying for my attention while I defended
myself against the two of them were the norm. I can’t say I enjoyed
the training, but I did enjoy losing a dress size from it.

When Jack was away, John tended to relax and
show his carefree side. I never did understand why he was so
uptight around Jack and I never bothered to ask. Those were my
favorite times. We’d usually go for walks in the surrounding forest
where he would show me useful plants (magic or otherwise), picnic,
or just enjoy our surroundings.

John’s house was situated in the middle of
the forest, with no neighbors. He said he built it out here for the
solitude. It worked out for my situation as well, making it so I
wasn’t confined to the house. Let me just say that the house wasn’t
miserable to be in. It was a two story log cabin with a deck, built
as a tree house. Yes, a tree house! A wooden ramp, its railings
hand carved, led the way from the ground to the house. Torches
lined the ramp illuminating it at night.

John told me that he had dreamed of the home
as a young child. As an adult the dream stayed with him, always
lingering in the back of his imagination. One day, he simply gave
into it, choosing this magical forest as his new home.

About a month after I arrived, John and I
were hiking along a rather steep hill. He had held his arm out for
me to grab onto, to steady myself. I remember looking at my hands,
paler against his tan and unable to encircle his upper arm.

“Watch your step, the moss can be slippery,”
he warned.

Not even two seconds later, I slipped on a
rock and fell, bringing him down with me. He had braced himself
against the ground, but had fallen on top of me.

I looked up at him, an apology forming at my
mouth when my breath hitched. The sun, peeking through the trees,
embraced John in an otherworldly glow. I already thought he was
gorgeous and being around him generally gave me butterflies, but
this was different. Here in the forest, in his natural habitat,
John looked ethereal. There was none of the human pretenses we so
naturally put on. He was, in a word, breathtaking.

His eyes never broke contact with mine, but
there was a hunger in them I hadn’t noticed before. I was unable to
move, caught in the magic of the moment and the fact that he was on
top of me.

“Violet.” John’s voice had a low, husky, and
incredibly sexy quality to it. His fingers brushed a lock of hair
out of my face and slid it behind my ear. I opened my mouth to say
something, anything, but I couldn’t think of any words.

John took advantage of my hesitation and
crushed his lips against mine. The hunger that had played in his
eyes was translated into the passion on his lips as they moved
against mine. My inner self was cheering and doing cartwheels. I
ran my fingers through his thick head of hair. I pressed him closer
to me, deepening the kiss, our tongues dancing against each
other.

That was the moment I fell in love with
him.

Shaking my head, I brought myself out of the
daydream, ending it at the perfect point.
You have to quit
thinking about him, it’s been five years,
I told myself.
Besides, there’s a perfectly hot elf running around this house
somewhere.

Reaching for the glass at my bedside table, I
recoiled from the stench. “Brew,” I confirmed. Drinking this stuff
was never the highlight of my mornings. I held my breath and drank
it down in one gulp. “Ugh, you’d think otherworldly powers would
make for better tasting potions,” I said to myself.

I sat the now empty glass back down on the
table and left the confines of my cozy bed. Walking over to my
mirror, I checked out the damage. Sweet Goddess on Earth, I was a
mess! My face was healed, but I looked like a zombie. My hair was
matted and dried blood and dirt covered my body. There were no
traces of the punch I had taken last night, so I turned around to
look at my back.

It took me awhile, but I was able to take the
bandages off. Welts in the shape of claw marks where David had
attacked me still lined my back, but those would soon fade.

Blood, sweat, dirt, and dried tears do not a
good smelling Mags make, so a shower was first on my agenda.
Besides, Melissa would freak out if she saw me right now and I
wasn’t awake enough to rehash last night’s events.

I let the hot water run down my body, washing
away the grime, and soothing my sore muscles. The water, swirling
down the drain, was tinged with pink.
I walked away from this
fight; I wonder what Lassie looks like?
I thought. Fifteen
minutes and a generous lathering of conditioner later, I was back
to looking like my normal self.

Even though the Elf’s healing did wonders for
the repair to my body, I was still worn out. That kind of healing
draws a large amount of energy from the one being healed. My
ambition for the day was to hunker down on the couch and watch Jane
Austen movies in between naps.

I grabbed a pair of fleece jammy pants and a
long sleeved jersey shirt and dressed. I checked the mirror again
to make sure my eyes were blue so I knew the potion kicked in and
headed out of my bedroom door and into the kitchen to make some
much needed coffee.

I barely made it into the kitchen when
Melissa flew at me. I felt my ribs crack as she hugged me.

“Oh my God Mags, Luca told me what happened.
I can’t believe you were attacked by a wolf!”

“Melissa, I can’t breathe,” I struggled
out.

“Sorry. I’m just glad you’re okay,” she said,
releasing me.

“Yeah, well David might not be so okay this
morning,” I humored.

Melissa’s mouth drew itself into an O and her
eyes almost popped out of her head. “What? David? No Mags, are you
sure?”

“Call Owen, have him check on him. Mutt or
not, he won’t be healed yet without magical intervention.

Melissa ran to her room to call Owen and get
to the bottom of things. I turned my attention to the very handsome
Elf that was sitting at the kitchen table. He must have left at
some point, because he was wearing different clothes and there was
coffee and muffins on the table in front of him.

“Good morning Mags, I trust you’re feeling
better?” His brow furrowed as he showed genuine concern for me.

“Completely healed, just exhausted.” I gave
him a small smile and pointed at the coffee and muffins, “Are those
for me?”

Luca smiled back. “That they are. Have a seat
gorgeous and we can have breakfast.”

Beautiful? I felt the warmth immediately in
my cheeks. I know I’m not hideous, but a comment like that would
make any girl blush. I was only hoping he didn’t notice. I glanced
at Luca and silently sighed in relief. He was busy attending to the
coffee and muffins, not noticing my reaction.

Unable to resist the tantalizing aroma of the
coffee any longer, I grabbed the usual accouterments for coffee and
muffins, and then sat down at the table with Luca.

“Thanks again for last night and for
breakfast,” I told him.

His expression darkened. “Don’t thank me
Mags. If I had been anything of a gentleman, I would have made sure
you had gotten home in one piece.”

Gentleman? Those still exist?

“Luca, there’s only one person at fault here
and I’m hoping he didn’t have such a great healer like I did. If it
wasn’t for you, I would still be in that parking lot healing rather
slowly or possibly dead because of my secret. As it is, the
villagers didn’t come a runnin’ with their pitchforks and torches,
so I’m calling it a good day.”

His left eyebrow cocked up and a smirk found
its way to his lips. “Alright, I’ll let it go for now, but my guilt
has hardly been assuaged.” He handed me a coffee and a giant
blueberry muffin. “So if last night is any indication, how have you
made it this long in life?”

I snorted. “Right? If I was an outsider
looking in, I’d have to agree with you.” I paused a moment,
deciding on how much else I should tell him about myself. He wasn’t
running for the hills, but that didn’t mean I’d end up in trouble
with The Powers later.

I decided to stick with the bare minimum and
toss in a warning for good measure. “I was trained to defend myself
well.”

“So this is a normal thing for you Mags,
fighting off would-be suitors?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “No, not at all.
That is one problem I don’t have, need, or want.”

Melissa was the one who had a continuous line
of men vying for her attention. She rarely gave most of them the
time of day. It wasn’t as if she was a snob, she just had really
high expectations. I was not jealous of that kind of attention. If
I had that kind of attention, I would probably have been residing
in a satin lined box, six feet underground by now.

My mind started to wander over the next few
minutes while Luca and I sat in a comfortable silence eating our
muffins and drinking coffee. I was hoping he wouldn’t ask for too
much background information. That’s the kind of stuff that could
get other people killed.

I didn’t want to have to explain Melissa and
her involvement in my life. What if he slipped one day and
accidentally told someone about me? I’d like to be the only one to
have to deal with the repercussions and the less he knows the
better, at least for now.

“You don’t have to tell me anything about
your situation Mags,” Luca said, interrupting my thoughts.

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

“You were wearing your thoughts on your
face,” he smiled. “Besides, we’ve just met and I’m asking some
rather personal questions that I’m guessing, because of those
lovely eyes, have sensitive answers.”

I let go of the breath I was holding.
“Thanks, I appreciate that.”

Melissa came back into the kitchen with a
duffle bag, her face ashen. “Mags, I thought you said that you left
David alive.”

“I did. There wasn’t any permanent damage, my
daggers weren’t even silver. Why?”

She threw the bag at Luca. “Clothes, now.” He
got up and rushed to my room understanding the situation before I
did.

“Melissa, what’s going on?”

“Mags, David’s dead.”

I dropped my muffin onto the floor and shook
my head in disbelief as it rolled away from me. “That’s not
possible.”

“It doesn’t matter and that’s not the worst
of it,” she told me. “They know what you are Mags, I don’t know
how, but they do. Right now Owen and his pack are on their way and
they want your head. I’m guessing they’ll call The Powers That Be
and the Aelfadl won’t be too far behind. You’ve got to get out of
here.”

Melissa headed to the basement while I helped
Luca pack clothes and the small cache of weapons I kept in my room.
He had the top drawer of my dresser open and gave me a questioning
look when I walked in.

“The short version is that it’s how I’ve
stayed alive this long. I only have about ten minutes to pack and
go, so that’s all the explanation I have time for. Sorry.”

I went into the closet without giving Luca a
chance to respond. Grabbing a pair of jeans, tank top, hoodie, and
hiking boots, I hastily changed into them.

“Mags,” Luca called from the room.

“What?” I walked out of the closet fully
clothed to find a perplexed Luca

“Where are you going to go?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know
yet.”

“You don’t…what?” The flabbergasted look on
his face turned upset at my lack of a plan.

His eyes turned an electric shade of
turquoise as his jugular bulged slightly.
Good grief, even
furious this man was good looking.

“What?” I laughed a little. Did you think the
craziness over the past twelve hours was over?” I waved him out of
the room. “Come on, I need to find Melissa and get out of here.

Back in the living room, Melissa was waiting
for me with my favorite sword. “Here,” she handed my weapon along
with an envelope to me.

“What’s in the envelope?” I asked.

“A contingency plan and that’s all I can tell
you about it. You need to head east of here for twenty miles on
this side of the Mistfall. Once you’ve found your destination, open
that envelope.”

“And what would that destination be?”

“You’ll know when you find it,” she replied
sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

I raised an eyebrow. “Rather melodramatic,
don’t you think?”

She looked a bit uncomfortable with what she
said next. “It’s not my plan and I don’t have time to get into
that. You need to go, now.”

I hugged Melissa as if it was the last time I
would see her. I turned to Luca, not too sure what to say to him.
Hey, thanks for taking care of me last night. Sorry we can’t see
where this is going because everyone seems to think I killed
Alpo-breath.
Then again, it is straight and to the point.

I grabbed the handle of the duffle bag Luca
was still holding. “Luca, I’m sorry I dragged you into this. If you
leave now, no one will know you had anything to do with me.”

His grip around the handle tightened. “The
last time I let you out of my sight, you were nearly mauled to
death. I think I’ll feel better if I at least drive you to your
destination.”

I started to argue, but Melissa cut me off.
“Go with Luca Mags. No one will recognize his vehicle. It’s your
best bet, now go.”

I couldn’t argue with logic. Not only would I
be hidden, but I could cover a large amount of area more quickly in
a car than on foot.

Once in the driveway, Luca started rummaging
through his trunk. I walked over to help him, but he quickly shut
the trunk door and came around the car with a blanket in hand. He
had become a man of action.