Read Something Witchy This Way Comes Online
Authors: Veronica Blade
That didn’t explain why she hadn’t told me. Or why she quit.
Linton cleared his throat. “You two can work that out later. Shall I tell Boris that you’d be delighted?”
“Yes, please. Thank you,” Tessa answered.
“Lila and Frank,” I said, switching from Fawn to the principal, “are your real names, right? Mind if we use those? It’s less confusing.”
“Sure,” Fawn replied. “What happened last night? I understand they lost someone.”
“Yes,” Tessa answered. “Rena had been watching us at the park yesterday. She freaked over Boris being there. Apparently, he doesn’t usually take an interest in anyone so new. Why did he want to meet us?”
“He already told you. He’s curious why both you and your sister are witches.” Frank tapped the desk impatiently. “What happened with Rena?”
“A better question,” I interjected, “is why weren’t you guys there to protect Tessa? If it weren’t for Boris showing up at our meeting, Rena would’ve never attacked. If you’re going to put her in danger, make sure you’re there to clean up the mess.”
Frank’s eye twitched and he made as if to rise. He didn’t like me. Too bad.
“Take it easy.” Lila put a restraining arm on Frank. “Rena must have been a Blocker. And a damn good one. We didn’t sense anyone until Chait arrived. You must be worth a lot to them. Otherwise, why would they kill one of their own to save you?”
“Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with me. I think it was more a matter of Rena crossing the line.” Tessa shrugged. “Why would Boris make a special trip to see me? And I’m guessing he doesn’t live around here.”
“You have no idea why Boris would go out of his way for you?” Frank asked. He probably couldn’t figure out what his boss was up to any more than we could.
“I guess none of us do,” Tessa replied.
“We should ask Boris.” I smiled. “Over dinner tonight.”
Tessa
“He’s getting your lunch.” Nadia wiggled her brows. “Must be serious.”
“We have a long ways to go before we call it that.” I glanced at Hayden piling food on two trays. “We’re just hanging out.”
“You must feel safe with him,” Bryce added, taking the seat next to me.
I chuckled, remembering when Hayden had man-handled Bryce. “Yeah.”
“I’ve been exposed to him since ninth grade and I’ve never known him to spend so much time with one girl. Going on two weeks, right?” Corinne asked.
“We haven’t been together all that time though,” I said. “Only since the weekend.”
“So you’re
together
now?” Nadia grinned. “It’s official?”
I swallowed, the heat rushing to my cheeks. “Yes.”
Corinne squealed. Bryce groaned. He was a bit of a geek, but he was still a guy and I imagined the girl talk was getting a bit thick for him.
Hayden’s arms brushed my shoulders and a tray appeared in front of me. He dropped a kiss on my temple and eyed Bryce who scooted away. Hayden filled his spot.
“Thanks.” I smiled, aware of many eyes on us.
“Damn.” Hayden growled and took off toward Skyler and a couple of their friends. He pulled one of them off a smaller kid. “Guys, let him eat, huh?”
“I don’t like his attitude.” Sklyer straightened his own shirt.
“You’re not in kindergarten anymore,” Hayden said. “Try acting like it and don’t let me catch either of you picking on anyone again. I mean it.” He cuffed Skyler in the head and walked away.
I beamed at Hayden as he returned to our table.
That was it. I’d gone over the edge with him. Even Chait, with all his sweetness and physical perfection, wouldn’t be able to help me through the heartbreak once Hayden dumped me. And he
would
leave me. It was only a matter of time. My heart ached thinking about it.
* * * *
When Hayden dropped me off in front of my house, Mom’s car was parked in the driveway. He needed to check on his own mom anyway, so he left, promising to return shortly for our dinner appointment with Boris.
The aroma of pot roast met me at the door. Too bad I wouldn’t be staying. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetheart. Dinner will be ready in about an hour.” She wiped the cutting board and set it in the sink.
“Hayden and I are going out to dinner. Hope that’s okay.”
“You two are getting serious?” Mom still hadn’t glanced my way. Typical for me to get stuck talking to her back.
“It’s only been two weeks. We’re still getting to know each other.” I sat my purse on the counter.
She patted her hands on a towel, then pulled a large envelope off the counter and handed it to me. With her eyes still averted, she returned to the sink and faced the window. “Your father and I agree to all your terms, even the child support. We’ve declined visitation, as you suggested.”
What? I took the brown envelope and read the return address. Abrams and Abrams, Attorneys at Law. I pulled out the papers, slowly revealing them. Grandma had a hand in that, no doubt.
“We’re covering the legal fees, too,” she added.
When we’d spoken about it the other day, I didn’t think Mom would actually go through with it. But as I took a chair at the dining room table and flipped through the documents, I occasionally saw Mom’s and Dad’s signatures. Dad… how could he? My eyes were fixed on the papers, but I’d lost focus. “Really, Mom, is it that easy? You’ll just let us walk away?”
She sat next to me, turned away and gazed out the window. “Easy? You think it’s easy to lose a child? You think it’s easy to have two others around, constantly reminding you of your loss?” She spoke softly and I knew she didn’t mean it in a bad way. Still, she had two other children who were very much alive, but apparently meant nothing to her.
Things were the way they were and I couldn’t change any of it.
“You fed and clothed us, nursed us when we were sick.” I rose and kissed the top of her head, a kind of goodbye. “You did your best. I know you did.” As I glanced back, I saw her head drop into her hands and heard her weeping softly.
* * * *
Hayden insisted we drive his Viper to Boris’s, in case we needed to make a quick getaway.
The grounds outside the gate to the palatial estate were exquisite. Various shades of salmon-colored earth surrounded huge, perfectly arranged cacti that partially obscu
red the high stone wall. The security man nodded from his cubicle and the immense iron gate slowly opened, welcoming us into all that it protected. Smiling faces greeted us outside the front of the house.
As usual, Boris was surrounded by bodyguards, most of whom I recognized from the park. Boris, with his easy wave and casual stance, reeked of impeccable moral fiber. But as the car rolled up the driveway, I didn’t feel like we’d entered a safe haven. Anything but. If I hadn’t already spoken to my grandmother and gotten an inside view of Boris and his people, I would have bought the innocent act.
My stomach knotted and I reminded myself that this was a friendly meeting. Dinner. That’s all. Hayden and I still had time.
Boris show
ed us to one of the salons and made small talk. Hayden sat close to me on the settee, squeezing my hand occasionally as if to comfort me. But by his clammy hands, maybe he was the one who needed assurance.
After what seemed an eternity, a well-dressed man, Boris’s butler I assumed, announced that dinner was served. Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief at the lowe
red expectation of conversation while eating.
Diane and Kyle, who Boris had introduced us to at the park, sat at the long table with us while ten guards inconspicuously lined the walls of the room. The topics of discussions remained light and everyone laughed at the appropriate times.
The food was to die for. I was spearing the
last bite of chicken when Boris dabbed the sides of his mouth with the white linen retrieved from his lap. “You’re probably anxious to meet with Kyle,” he said.
Hayden lit up and took my hand as he stood. “You have no idea.”
I couldn’t wait either. Anything Kyle had to offer, I’d take. Things would heat up soon and I needed any skills I could possibly learn. Besides, working off the tension from our visit with Boris didn’t sound like a bad idea to me.
Flanked by his usual goons, our host led us through the labyrinth of tastefully decorated rooms and hallways to the spacious training area. Weapons of every sort lined two of the walls; mirrors covered the other two.
Hayden grinned as his eyes devoured the shapes and metals. “From now on, you should bring all your recruits straight to this room and bypass the ‘getting to know each other’ crap. They see all this and you own them. No real man can resist this kind of temptation.”
I remembered Chait’s stories about his mentor and seeing those fancy bullets. I wondered what else Chait had. I suspected that once Hayden spent some time at Chait’s house, Boris’s toys would be long forgotten.
“Kyle, work with Tessa first. But be careful. She’s much stronger than the average newbie.”
My head whipped around. Why would he say something like that? “What do you mean?”
Boris smiled. “Just assuming you’re like your sister.”
I blinked, too taken aback to say more. “Oh.”
Hayden
Boris watched from a spot in the far corner of the room, probably keeping his distance so he wouldn’t distract us. But his presence still weighed heavily on me, even after the thirtieth time Kyle knocked me down. Why such an interest in us?
Even with my back to him, I knew when Boris approached.
“You’re going about it all wrong, Hayden,” he said. Kyle backed away and Boris took his place. “Martial arts, especially aikido, can be very spiritual compared to, say, boxing or wrestling. As a sorcerer, you can take it to the next level. Let me give you a demonstration.” He dropped his arms to his side, feet together. “You try to take me down.”
I struggled to get past the fact that he knew which of the martial arts I used. He clearly knew his stuff. He also knew I had zero chance of getting the better of him on the mat. A guy like Boris only took bets he would win. But if I didn’t put myself out there, I’d never learn.
In an attempt to fool him, my arm shot out, but I put the real power behind my favorite kick. With a grunt, I ended up face down on the mat. I hadn’t gone down so quickly in years. But then I’d never sparred with a guy like Boris.
A week ago, the concept of protecting Tessa seemed as easy as making coffee. Now, the idea of failing at that scared the hell out of me. And the possibility of losing her was all too real. If I didn’t improve by leaps and bounds quickly, Tessa could die. And I would be at fault — because I couldn’t protect her.
“That should give you something to think about. I’d like to work with Tessa now.” He nodded and I knew I’d been dismissed. I stepped off the mat as Tessa replaced me.
“Now you try it,” Boris told her.
She backed up. “Seriously? Spar with you? Maybe we should start off a little lighter. Like on a day when all my energy isn’t being funneled off to digest my dinner.”
He chuckled. “I understand you don’t have Hayden’s experience and I will spar accordingly. I want you to come at me with all your strength, but don’t forget that the result will be in direct proportion to what you do here.” Boris pointed to his head. “You haven’t even begun to tap into your abilities. And while you’re concentrating on your physical skills, don’t forget that most of your battles will be won by out-powering your opponent mentally and spiritually.”
Watching Boris knock Tessa around the next half hour made me want to pummel him. I concentrated on gauging his powers and looking for weaknesses. I didn’t find any.
* * * *
Tessa had warned me about Chait’s collection of weapons but I couldn’t imagine, even in my wildest dreams, anything like it.
“This…” Chait gingerly lifted a sword from its place on the wall. “Is a Scottish basket-hilted broadsword, circa seventeen hundred. The baskets were designed to protect your hands in battle. This particular sword belonged to my mentor.”
I ran a finger reverently along the blade. “I’m speechless.”
“Hey.” Tessa squeezed between Chait and me. “Enough with the foreplay. I want to see the modern technologically advanced stuff. Like those bullets. Let’s hurry though because it’s getting late and I want to make sure I have time to see your library.”
“Hey.” I held her hand a moment. “Guess you’re not getting much time with Bree, huh?”
She shook her head. “No. But in the long run, maybe I’ll have more. I can hope.”
“You know,” Chait began, “our records are meticulously updated. Well, every few years anyway. We’d have everything from ten years ago, for sure. We log everyone by their original name and whatever they used later. Everyone changes their name eventually and since your grandmother is older, she’d have to be there somewhere.”
“Your grandmother?” I asked. “Why would she be in their record books?”
“Oh, yeah. Uhm…” Tessa squeezed her eyes shut a moment. “She was a witch. With everything that’s been going on, I didn’t get a chance to tell you.”
“Your grandmother was a witch and you forgot to tell me?” I shook my head, remembering that she’d also forgotten to tell me she’d quit her job. “But you found time to tell
him
?”
“Hayden,” she said, resting a hand on my wrist. “Chait and I had lot of time to talk on the way to the cemetery last night.”
My mouth dropped open. “And all the rest of the time, you’ve been with
me
.” I held my hands up in surrender. “You know what? Forget it. I don’t want to get into it.”
“Can we have a minute, Chait?” she asked.
“Sure.”
The door closed and Tessa draped her arms around my neck. “It doesn’t have to do with anything, Hayden. You and I have been doing other things like playing with Bree and… kissing. I wasn’t trying to keep it from you. I swear. In this whole mess, you’re the one I trust most.”
I nodded. Of course, I believed her sincerity, but it still bothered me how Chait had been getting so much quality time with her lately.
“Okay.” It wasn’t okay, not really. But I knew she meant what she said. I buried my face in her hair and tried to forget how screwed I was. I’d never before worried about my relationship with a girl or been jealous. Because the other girls never truly mattered.
“How do you know she was a witch?”
Tessa grinned, then pressed closer and whispered in my ear. “Actually,
was
isn’t accurate. Grandma visited me the other night, but it’s supposed to be a secret. I left that part out when I told Chait that she was a witch. And she’s insisting on helping me financially, so I can spend more time with Bree. That’s why I quit Delia’s.”
“Hey.” Chait cracked the
door open and peeked his head through. “All safe?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Why don’t you show me to the library, then you and Hayden can go crazy on each other?”
Chait came inside the rest of the way, then ducked his head back out. “The thing is,” he whispered, “you’re not supposed to be in the library. Not until you’re one of us. I’m going to get in trouble if I get caught. We have to be careful.”
“Let’s go,” Tessa said.
I kissed her goodbye, then returned to the wall of joy and fondled a thirteenth century poignard. Of course, I’d never have known what the dagger was called if not for the plaque below telling its history. Over six hundred years old, complete with a jeweled sheath. I sighed in longing for the dagger, then returned it to the display case on the wall.
“David would kill me if he knew I let you touch that stuff,” Chait told me, reappearing.
“Then why’d you let me?”
He laughed. “You would’ve done it anyway once I left. Same thing I did as a recruit.”
As much as I disliked Chait… oh, hell, I didn’t dislike him at all. If I were going to be honest, I’d admit — at least to myself — that Tessa wouldn’t be doing badly if she hooked up with a guy like him. She’d probably be better off with him than me.
Christ, I needed to beat the hell out of him. I was in the perfect place to do it, too.
It took me only five minutes to learn that I had a ways to go before kicking his ass. He gave me bruises to prove it.