shift happens 03 - no were to run (32 page)

“You’re talking about Hildy and Carol,” Damien stated.

“Yes,” Jezibaba confirmed. “I am speaking of Hildy and Carol.”

He nodded as he thought about it. “I knew those two were powerful. We always look out for those with that level of magic at their beckoning—mostly because they be a danger to everyone—but they’re only ten. Real power doesn’t manifest at such a young age. I find it hard to believe they’ve been singled out already.”

Jezibaba nodded and frowned. “Indeed. You echo my concerns, Professor Smoke. This early tapping of my prospective replacements is a strange situation. I’m sure in a couple of decades their power will make it obvious they should be considered contenders. Though it’s not unheard of to be singled out early. In fact, I was chosen before I was born. When I got my menses, I fully expected the warlocks to come get me, but they never…
what now
?”

Jezibaba stopped her story and shook her head at the rumbling and groaning going on behind her. Her gaze met the sexy dragon’s. “I could write a damn book about the fragile sensibilities of warlocks. They don’t like to think about the fact I’m female in all regards.”

Professor Hottie’s responding grin made her day. It was nice to finally have someone recognize the political agony she bore for the sake of doing her job.

“So you were chosen shortly after your passage into womanhood?” he prompted.

She snorted at his words. “More like I was expecting someone to come collect me. Passage into womanhood? You’re obviously much better with nice words than I am. Not surprising, given your profession, I suppose.”

“On the contrary, you might be more surprised by my past than you ever imagined. I wasn’t always a teacher. Perhaps we can have dinner sometime and share our stories. I would like that very much. But for now, let me tell Ms Turner to finish the lesson. We can go to my office and talk about what measures need to be taken for the children’s safety. Have their parents been told about the prophecy?”

“No,” Jezibaba said firmly. “And we have no intentions of telling them until it is unavoidable. There is enough drama happening. The Council of Witches and the Fates have chosen my successors, but I will choose their protectors. There is discord in both of the children’s families and no one is going to take their normal life from them a moment sooner than necessary if I can prevent it from happening. That is my firm decision about the matter.”

Her eyes blazed with determination and only softened when Professor Hottie bowed to her.

“I agree with you and it will be my pleasure to see your will about this manifest,” he promised. “Now excuse me for a moment and I will join you in my office.”

Charmed despite her misgivings, she fought off her urge to sigh in frustration. “Why did you have to be a damn dragon?” she whispered under her breath.

For a second time that day, she couldn’t stop herself from staring at Professor Damien Smoke’s perfect ass as he disappeared into the classroom.

Chapter 2

Always on guard, Nathaniel stared out of the room’s single window, while she stared at Professor Hottie. She was finding it very challenging to have a conversation about something other than the two of them running off alone.

No matter how much her inner witch chanted “no dragon, no dragon”. All she really wanted was to curl up in his lap and wriggle until his control snapped and he threw her across his shiny, neat desk, and…
damn it
.

Jezibaba sat up straighter in the chair, but it was hard shaking off her fantasy. It had been a long time since simple lust had taken her mind off her business so completely. Now she’d missed what Professor Hottie had said while she was imagining him naked on top of her.

Her frustrated groan garnered both Nathaniel’s and Professor Hottie’s full attention. Hellcat’s fury. Her sexual deprivation didn’t matter. Protecting her successors did.

“Are children their age allowed their familiars yet?”

Professor Hottie frowned at her question. Even that was hot. Dragon hot… but still… hot. She ran both hands through her hair and reminded herself of her purpose. Professor Hottie glanced behind him to study Nathaniel standing like a sentinel. The warlock’s attention seemed fixed on the manicured campus lawn, but she knew he was listening to every word that was said.

“Speak your mind freely, Professor Smoke. I trust Nathaniel with my life and do so every day. All day. He came with the job and yes… I had no say in the matter. However, he’s the only one of the warlock posse I bring into serious discussions like this. Now speak. I’m getting edgy and impatient.”

“Yes. I can tell. You get all glittery when you get tense.”

Jezibaba snorted when Professor Hottie’s gaze fell to her ample cleavage before rising back to her eyes. It sent her off into another fantasy. She pulled her mind back with a hiss. “I’m still waiting, Professor…”

“At the risk of offending you, I don’t think you heard what I said just now. The girls have been attacked twice already. One attack was a swarm of insects which they took care of themselves without even understanding the danger.”

“And the second attack?”

“It happened just a few hours ago and I had to incinerate a vampire assassin disguised as a giant bat. The girls thought I had killed a real bat. When you arrived, I was taking his ashes to the high school science lab to see if they could find out who sent him.”

“But we just found out about the girls two days ago…” Jezibaba stopped her defense. It was useless. There was only one real explanation for the attacks. “Someone on the Council must be trying to kill them. Whoever it is wants to end the cycle. Without a witch protectoress, the Council of Witches’s combined power would rule the magical world. I can’t let that happen, Professor Smoke. No Council will protect the magical community as me and my predecessors have done—not to mention what could happen to all the humans in our lives.”

She leaned back in her chair. Nathaniel’s gaze turned to her. He was thoughtful for a moment and then nodded in agreement with her rant. She swore internally. Damn. There went her easing into retirement plans while she pretended to babysit.

She nodded back that she accepted his judgment in the matter. The truth did not make her happy—not at all. Now she had no choice but to get involved.

Professor Smoke put an elbow on his desk and leaned forward. “After the insects, I called up my horde and got some of my old guards to come watch over the girls. Dragon warriors are pretending to be janitors, teachers, assistants, and the younger ones are college placed student aides. What they don’t have to pretend is how deadly they are, especially since they’d be immune to shifters and vamps. Whoever is after the girls is in for a big surprise the next time they try something.”

Jezibaba stood because she needed to pace. It helped her think. Nathaniel’s eyebrows rose when she put her hands behind her back. He knew it meant she didn’t trust her hands not to conjure up something to match her darkening mood. The idea of the children being targets went way beyond them being her replacements. They must be truly powerful… which meant they had to be protected until they came into full use of their magic.

She stopped and glared across the room. “Is this why you wanted to take the children and lock them away? You knew they were in trouble, Nathaniel?”

Nathaniel shook his head. “No. Only suspected, M’lady. Being in danger was merely conjecture on my part without any evidence to back it up.”

“
Conjecture?
You’re the most proficient seer who’s ever lived,” Jezibaba declared sharply. “And we’ve already had this ageist discussion. You and I might be waning in some ways, but trust your magic, old friend. Use every ounce up until it’s really gone. Don’t let self-doubt rob you of a single second.”

She frowned and shook her head when Nathaniel turned back to the window without answering. She hadn’t meant to lecture him in front of an audience. It had just slipped out.

Worry made her tongue sharp and her brain irrational. That hadn’t changed for her in over three hundred years. She’d just learned to work around it. But even her Goddess had given up trying to tame her bossiness.

She would have to do something to apologize to Nathaniel later. Making personal amends when she was wrong was more of a challenge than killing a thousand evil magicals.

Mind returning to the task at hand, she felt Professor Hottie’s gaze on her again and turned to meet it. “With death threats happening, I can’t avoid being involved in all plans for their safety. I want the girls to have their familiars. It is my intention to talk you into this, Professor Smoke. How hard is it going to be?”

His lips twisted into a sexy grimace as he considered it. She’d love nothing more than to bite that lip he was punishing with his very sharp-looking teeth. She’d crawl into his lap, plant her ass over his rising… shitballs. What was wrong with her freaking mind today? Lust never did this to her—never.

“The other children are not going to like the situation,” Damien warned.

Jezibaba shrugged. “Tell them Hildy and Carol earned their familiars because of their progress. We’ll let one or two other exemplary students have them as well. That should lay rumors to rest and give them all a goal worth striving for. This is only a year or two earlier than it is usually done. I will take care of the bestowance.”

Professor Hottie’s beaming smile had her hand coming to her stomach to calm the flutters it evoked in her. She had a feeling she could chant “no dragon” all day long and it would never lessen the power that flash of white teeth would have over her.

“Jezibaba—I think you’d make a damn good teacher,” he said sincerely.

At the praise, she favored him with a beaming smile herself. He leaned forward on his desk, his own smile fading. She knew it was to hide what was happening in his lap and she enjoyed the feeling of getting a little even with him. The wickedness conveyed in her twinkling gaze affected every male she encountered to some degree, but she was thrilled to know Professor Hottie—the off-limits dragon—wasn’t immune to her.

“I’m so glad you think that, Professor Smoke. Because there’s a second part to my plan.”

***

Damien couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he introduced her. All eyes were glued to the mesmerizing witch at his side and he hadn’t had to chastise a single student to get their complete attention focused up front.

“Class, this is the Jezibaba. I’m sure you’ve heard your parents talking about her. She’s started a new education project here at Witchery U and will be one of your teachers for the rest of this academic year. One of her many specialties is magical protection, so you’ll be learning all sorts of ways to protect yourselves in her classes.”

A student raised their hand. Damien sighed and nodded. “Yes, Rory?”

Rory squirmed in his chair, but finally mustered up his courage. “My dad said the Jezibaba turns people into toads when she gets mad at them. Is she allowed to turn us into toads if we’re bad, Professor Smoke?”

“What’s so scary about that, Rory? Hildy does that too when she gets mad at us,” Carol blurted out. “It just doesn’t last long because she’s a magical wimp.”

“I am not a wimp,” Hildy declared. “I just don’t want to hurt people. All I try to do is stop them from making me angrier.”

Jezibaba narrowed her eyes at Carol who shrunk down in her seat under her stare. She turned a smile to the original questioner.

“That’s a very good question, Rory. I suggest you don’t make me angry enough to test the theory and get a personal answer. My spells last quite a bit longer than Hildy’s—like hundreds of years longer.”

Rory’s eyes widened as he nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Jezibaba, ma’am.”

Damien fought back a smile when Jezibaba’s twinkling, amused gaze met his. She shrugged her elegant shoulders.

“I hope my honesty with your students doesn’t offend you, Professor. I used to incarcerate magic abusers. But the jails got full and there was all that overhead to feed the prisoners. There’s so much more room in nature. I find a few days catching flies and croaking as a toad work just as well as a few years spent behind bars,” she explained.

He covered his mouth so the students wouldn’t catch him smiling. He wiped it away before removing his hand, but it was difficult. “Your restraint in my classroom will be appreciated, Jezibaba. We don’t have that many flies around campus,” Damien said gravely.

Jezibaba turned and faced all the frightened stares. “Fear, such as you are feeling about me, is a healthy response. My power is great and yours is not. All strangers with magic require approaching with caution. I’m going to show you some tricks about how to protect yourselves, but today’s not a day for those lessons. Today, four of you whose power has manifested greatly already will receive a first line personal protector. We are assigning familiars a bit earlier than usual.”

Her gaze zeroed back to her questioner. She motioned with a hand. “Come forward, Rory. You’re on my list.”

Rory’s eyes widened in alarm and his classmates drew in a breath as they turned to stare at him. Jezibaba enjoyed knowing he wanted to pee his pants, but that wasn’t going to serve her purposes. She didn’t want to spare the time the boy would need to change clothes.

“I promise not to turn you into a toad today. Witches Honor,” Jezibaba said sharply. “Now come here. When a challenge is presented, a confident witch or warlock should never hesitate. In your hesitation, your adversary will have ample time to finish a spell. Disrupt their thinking in any manner possible as you challenge. Can you walk a little faster, boy? I’m aging as you dawdle.”