Authors: Vicky Burkholder
“Yeah. He’s got an accident to clear up.”
“Oh. That’s okay then.” She paused as she realized how her words sounded. “I mean, it’s not okay someone had an accident, but that he’s not here. Shards. I mean…Oh, forget it.”
“Cass? Are you okay? You’re awfully pale, even for you. I didn’t think these files bothered you anymore,” Greg said.
“They don’t. They tick me off.” She stepped into the office and attempted to get her anger under control. Counting rarely worked, but she tried anyway. She’d barely passed five when a crack appeared in a ceramic candleholder on her desk. She glared at the piece.
“Thanks for coming, handsome.” Minerva gave Greg a saucy wink and pulled out the chair at Cass’ desk for him. Even standing, Minerva was barely as tall as Greg was when sitting. Cass sat at Minerva’s desk as Greg worked at hers.
“Cass, you sure missed out on this one!” Minerva said.
Cass rolled her eyes. “Aunt Minerva, he’s married—to my best friend—who just happens to be your goddaughter! Besides, Steve isn’t so bad. We get along well. Most of the time. I mean, I know we have issues, but who doesn’t?”
“Pah. Steve isn’t right for you and you know it. That’s why you refuse to commit to him, and rightly so. You’re just too stubborn to admit it. Doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun, even if Greg’s not the one for you!”
“Aunt Minerva!” Cass saw the red creeping up Greg’s neck, along with the grin plastered on his face, and shook her head. She couldn’t wait to hear Dori’s take on this conversation.
“But he’s right. You
are
looking a little peaked,” Minerva said. “Do you need some tea?”
Cass relented and smiled at her aunt. Minerva’s answer to everything was a cup of tea. Stub your toe? Tea. Broken heart? Tea. Cass rubbed her amulet. “No, I’m fine. Guess the file bugged me more than I thought.”
“Relax, honey. Greg will figure out what’s going on.” Minerva went out to the shop shaking her head and muttering about modern wizardry.
Cass watched Greg work. “How did he get through? I thought the firewall and spam alerts and other security stuff you added would stop him.”
Greg swung around to face her, his handsome face wrinkled in concern. Cass had to admit, if not for him being married to her best friend, he would be hard to turn away. The man exuded charm. She shook her head. Forbidden territory. She brought her attention back to what he was saying.
“I tried several ways to get in before I got here. My security measures work. I know all the holes, and I couldn’t breach this machine.”
“So how did he?” Cass asked.
“Cass, how good is your security here at the store?”
“What? We have alarms on all the doors and windows and motion detectors. You know that. You helped Steve install everything. Why?”
“Because the files originated from this computer. Here. Inside the store.”
* * * *
“She’s playing with me, pretending she doesn’t know me.” William Raynes paced the opulent hotel room, stabbing at the air, his steps making no sound in the plush carpeting. “She thinks she’s smart, trying to confuse me with all those copies. The one she wears is close, but it has to be a fake. The guardians would never allow her to wear the key in the open.”
He stopped and stared out the window at the sweeping gardens and fountain in the foreground. The scene filled him with a modicum of peace, though he knew if he turned to the other side of the huge room, he’d face an entirely different scene. Fences, large equipment, building materials, and trucks surrounded the back of the property. The place was supposed to have been completed by now. Unfortunately, he could do nothing about the weather and the delays it had caused. Not yet, anyway. He dropped the heavy drape and turned back to the room. At least his suite had been completed to his specifications. There were some advantages to being the owner.
“I’ll have to go back and search the place. The first key is there. The others can’t be far. I can feel their power.”
With the four keys, he’d be able to do what no one had been able to do for millennia. Once again the door to the guardians’ realm and all the power there would be open to him. But first, he needed the keys. William snapped his fingers, snorting at the tiny spark that jumped. “This world has no magic. I need to bring back the magic. And she will be the one to help me do so.”
He swept out of the room. First, he had to put on his act for those who’d come to see him, learn from him. They believed in him, in his power. They adored him. So he would pull them in. Them and their lovely money. He’d drain them dry, and they’d thank him for it.
A few minutes later, he strode to the front of the meeting room to thunderous applause. He bowed to the gathering, then took his place behind the podium.
“My brothers and sisters, I welcome you to our annual conference. I’m glad to see so many of you could make it because this is going to be a very special year. This is the year we will finally see a conclusion to events set in place millennia ago. This is the year that will see our ultimate triumph. This is the year when true power becomes ours.”
William drank in the cheers and applause like an alcoholic in a free open bar. When the noise tapered off, he smiled and held up his hands for quiet. “All of you will have particular assignments. Your group leaders will pass them out to you. If there are any questions or problems, discuss them with your leaders. But understand this. Everything must be in place by the solstice.” He held up his hands at the groans and other noise. “I know the timing is short, but the auspices are perfect. Our time is now. And with your help, we will succeed.”
He noted several people in particular as they moved around the room. He’d checked out their credentials thoroughly. They would be his top aides. His leaders. And the ones to get the job done. All was finally in readiness. “I know the hotel is not yet complete, and for that, you have my apologies. Unfortunately, I cannot control the weather.” He waited for the few chuckles to die down. “But we do have the meeting rooms and some of you have suites. I apologize to the rest of you for the alternative accommodations, but we will adapt. Now, let us get down to the business at hand.”
The crowd broke up into smaller groups and he strode among them, touching them all with his power. They adored him, as they should. He was their leader. Their guru. Their savior. As he moved from section to section, he noted which ones emitted the most power. Unfortunately, there weren’t many. Most of them were all too human. Hangers-on who probably couldn’t summon enough magic ability to do a simple sleight of hand trick. Those would be the first to be sacrificed.
Cass grasped her necklace at Greg’s words. Her stomach tightened, churning. “Someone did it from here? How?” Her jaw clenched when a mug on top of her desk wobbled. Fortunately, Greg hadn’t seen her lapse.
“That’s what I’d like to know. The break-in is enough to bother me, but what worries me is the rest of the file.”
“The rest? What do you mean?”
“You didn’t see it?”
“No. I tried but couldn’t get past that damned graphic. Besides, you told me not to touch anything so I didn’t.” Cass twisted her hands in her skirt hoping to get some warmth into them. Willing them to stop shaking. She needed to control her anger. “Goddess, help me,” she whispered.
Greg nodded. “Good. Maybe Nic can get some traces.”
“What are you talking about? Who’s Nic? You’re starting to scare me, Greg.”
“You should be. There’s an embedded file within this file—a picture of you.”
Cass shrugged. “That’s nothing new. All these files have had my picture. I’m the corpse.”
“Those are nothing more than photo renderings. Anybody with a good graphics program can do that. This is an actual photo. Taken here in the shop. And another of you in your car. And there are others.”
Cass’ lungs refused to work. The mug spun and teetered on the edge of the desk. Cass grabbed for it before Greg could see. “So what do I do?”
“I call in a friend of mine.”
“Steve knows what’s happening. He thinks it’s just some hacker playing a prank because of what I sell here. Besides, who else on the force other than you knows how to deal with this?”
“Not the force. Nic is a security expert and an old friend. I’m trying to get him to join me so I can do investigating full time. I want to bring him in on this.”
“Come on, Greg, it can’t be that bad. Like Steve said—a prank. A nasty one, but still just a prank.”
“Cassandra?” Minerva stood in the door.
“Yes?”
“Your last customer—did he want anything in particular?”
“He wanted to know about my pendant, but he left when Greg got here.” Cass rose from the chair, forcing her fears to the back of her mind. “Is there a problem?”
Minerva glanced from the door at Greg, then lowered her voice. “You felt the safety spell?”
“Yes. He left almost immediately after it settled. Didn’t you see him?”
“No. Strange. I felt something I haven’t in a very long time.” She shook her head. “I’ll set some extra wards out and cleanse the place. You relax. I’ll take care of this.”
Greg emerged from the office. “How long until you close?”
Cass checked the big round clock on the wall above the office door. “About a half hour.”
“Okay, I’m going to stay here with you and call Nic. He’s up the street looking at some property. Then we’ll figure out where you’re going to go. You are not going home alone tonight.”
“She’ll stay with me,” Minerva said.
Greg shook his head. “Minerva, I don’t think that’s any safer. The two of you together weigh less than a feather. You need protection. This has gone beyond a prank. I’m not comfortable leaving either of you alone right now.”
Minerva glared at him. “We’ll be fine.”
While they argued, Cass went back to the jewelry. “Time for a little power.”
She picked up a framed, dark mirror and stared into its depths. A deep cold slammed into her palms, startling her, but she held firm. The man’s face appeared in the mirror, yet with a difference. Instead of a casual smile, the lips curled into a sneer. As more of him came into view, she saw different clothes. The modern jeans and sweater had been replaced with an oddly-fashioned suit of white pants and a long tunic with a high collar and long sleeves. It reminded her vaguely of something from India, but the man didn’t look or speak as if he came from there.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at her, then he threw back his head and laughed. A blinding flash shot through Cass’ mind and she gasped as she dropped the mirror. Never before had anyone ever been aware of her “seeing” him or her. Never. Granted, she didn’t do it often, but she’d had the basics in training. Ever since her aunt had taken her in as a child, she’d been teaching Cass how to control her powers—and warning her not to use them in front of people. She’d need to tell Minerva about this.
The front bell dinged and Cass turned to find a new man at the door. In a small town where everybody knew everybody, he was a dark-haired, dark-complexioned, sunglass-wearing stranger. Everything about him said “dangerous,” but not in the same way as the jewelry customer.
He stood maybe an inch or two shy of six feet with a powerful build, military-cut short hair, and the shadow of a beard staining his jaw. He probably had dark eyes, too, she guessed.
The man removed his sunglasses and studied her as intensely as she’d studied him. She’d been wrong about his eyes. They were green—the green of deep forests in the midst of summer. He had a tiny scar across his right eyebrow giving him a permanently sardonic look and it appeared as if his nose had been broken a time or two. He’d never win any beauty contests, but his face had character.
She could swear she’d never seen him before, yet even with the sun behind him, she knew every line and plane of his face. Knew the way his longer hair would curl around her fingers and his eyes would darken to almost black when aroused. She knew how gentle his hands could be—and how strong. She knew the timbre of his voice, whether in laughter, anger, or the throes of passion.
She also knew how much he could hurt her.
But she had no clue how she knew all this.
* * * *
The shadows across the street hid William as he stared at the store. Too many people surrounded her, especially that old witch. He’d need to take care of the old woman first. But that could prove difficult. She had strong witch blood, almost pure. He could sense it in her—along with something else. Something odd, and very old. Unfortunately, he’d sworn a blood oath to protect her kind a very long time ago. He tapped one finger against his lips while the others curled around his chin. “But who’s to stop me from having someone else handle it? I am the last of the line so nobody will know if I bend the rules. And the first one I will bend is that the old witch has to go.” He headed back to his car. “The question is, how?”
William paced around his car, then stopped, smiled, and patted the hood. “Accidents do happen.”
Whistling a light tune, he drove back to the hotel. Once there, he ran through the list of his followers, selecting three and making the calls. Thirty minutes later, he’d put everything in place. He would protect the Keeper and, once his people took care of the witch, control the full power of the key.
He looked over the list one more time, using his abilities to ferret out the one he wanted. The one person who had more power than the others. His finger stopped on a single name and he smiled. A woman. And she lived nearby. The fates must really like him. Of course they did. How could they not? He picked up the phone and put the call through to her, then sat back and waited for the knock at his door.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we’re closing.” Cass needed to get the strange man out of her store. He scared her more than her earlier customer and the e-mail file together, but in a different way. Those merely threatened her life. This man would swallow her soul.
Steve arrived almost on the customer’s heels. Cass couldn’t help comparing the two men. Steve had classic good looks, sandy hair and a slender build he kept trim by working out when not on duty. But, although the stranger didn’t have model good looks, he had an aura about him she couldn’t dismiss. Like a moth to a flame, she felt drawn to him. But unlike the moth, she knew he could burn her.