He looked up at her. “Hey.”
His steely gray eyes melted her. For a moment, she couldn’t remember why she’d even come in here. At least, not until Toby jumped up on the arm of the chair. Vaughn’s hand went to the cat’s back, and he pet him absently all the way down to his tail.
Vaughn’s eyes narrowed. “Everything okay?”
On some level, she knew she was behaving oddly since she hadn’t said a word. But it might have been the spell keeping her off-balance.
She could feel the brew working in her now as it hadn’t in the spellroom. Images began moving through her mind like a carousel, spinning round and round, similar to her experience in the Graveyard. Though she knew the future was right there, she couldn’t access the snapshots.
She took a step toward Vaughn, then another. The carousel began to slow and a couple of the images, this time of a pine forest, appeared very clearly. But nothing more.
“Emma?”
She lifted a finger. “Give me a sec.”
She took a few more steps in Vaughn’s direction and the spell tightened. More images fell into place. “I think I need you,” she said.
A soft smile touched his lips. “You do?”
She didn’t mistake the look of pure affection on his face. She realized her words had a second meaning. But rather than respond, she pondered the question.
Did she need him?
God, yes. To talk to her on the phone, to ease her, to sex her up, to make her time in Five Bridges bearable, and to help her feel safe when she was nothing but vulnerable because an evil wizard wanted her dead.
After a moment, she returned his smile. “I wish things were different. So much.”
He nodded slowly. “Me, too. But I’m guessing you have something on your mind other than our relationship.”
Back to reality.
“I’m sensing you’re needed in my spellroom. I know it doesn’t make sense, at least it doesn’t to me, but I think you might be able to help me access the future.”
He was on his feet and moving in her direction before she’d finished her thought. Her throat grew tight all over again. She’d spoken a handful of words about what she needed and he was right there for her, ready to help.
How was she not supposed to fall in love with him?
Her heart warmed all over again as he drew close. She liked so much about Vaughn already, but his willingness to support her witchness meant a great deal. She knew how much he hated and feared her kind. The dark covens routinely trapped vampires with their spells, then killed them.
Yet here was Vaughn, trusting her and supporting her.
The moment he drew within three feet of her, the carousel moving within her mind stopped and the future was right there. She felt dizzy and would have fallen, but he caught her arms with his hands and held her upright.
“What’s wrong?”
How could she explain? “Nothing. When you touched me, I finally had access to the future. I just don’t know why you’re having this kind of effect on me.”
“Are you saying you couldn’t do it on your own?”
“That’s right. Earlier, when I put all the ingredients into a potion for getting a look into the future, very little happened, not even when I opened myself up to my witch power. But when I came out here, the power increased incrementally each time I got closer to you. In fact, both Stormy and Toby encouraged me in your direction. For whatever reason, Vaughn, you’re connected to my abilities. Will you join me in my spellroom?”
He’d never looked more serious. “Of course. Whatever you need.”
~ ~ ~
Every vampire part of Vaughn resisted Emma’s request. Power vibrated in the air around her with more of those small bursts of electricity, though she didn’t seem to notice. And the closer he drew to her spellroom, the stronger the instinct rose to get away from her witchness.
When he reached the threshold, his feet refused to budge. He even looked down at them.
Emma turned back in his direction, her gaze sliding to his feet as well. “What’s wrong? Why are you still standing in the hall?”
“I’m a vampire, remember? My instincts tell me I’m walking into hell.”
She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She took a deep breath. “Remember when you bit me?”
Why was she asking that? “Yes. Of course.”
“You held me in thrall. You could have killed me. But I trusted you. Right now, I need you to trust me that I would never hurt you.”
He shook his head, fists on hips. “This isn’t personal, Em.”
His gaze fell to her hands, to the tips of her index and middle fingers. One touch to the temple of his forehead or to the base of his neck, a single jolt of power, and he’d be dead.
When he didn’t move, she drew close and planted her hands on his arms. “I need you in here. I can’t do this without you, and believe me, if there was any other way, I’d do it.”
Her touch sang with energy, but instead of recoiling, a strong sensation filled his chest. It felt strangely like a bond he already had with her, though amplified when her witchy power began to rise. After a moment, he realized something else was in play as well. He was experiencing not just Emma’s witch energy but her determination to do some good. The shift in focus away from her killing potential to what drove her right now, shoved his instincts into the background.
“Vaughn, all I care about is taking Loghry down.”
His lips curved. “I love that about you.” Without thinking, he moved inside her spellroom, then responded to a different kind of instinct and took her in his arms.
He kissed her hard, letting her know how much he respected her. She uttered a small cry as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He could feel she was on her tip-toes. She wasn’t short for a woman, probably five-ten, but he was damn tall at six-six.
When her lips parted, he deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue inside. She responded with a moan and pressed her body up against his. She glided her hips back and forth in an effort to feel his arousal. He helped her out by moving one of his hands, grabbing her bottom and pressing her up against him.
He drew back just enough to meet her gaze. “Is that what you want?”
She nodded with a series of quick, hungry jerks of her head. “Vaughn, this is crazy, the way I feel about you. And if we had time—”
“I know. But I’ll make you a promise that if we survive the night, I’ll take you to bed and I will be thorough.”
He watched her eyelids fall to half-mast. “Will you bite me again?”
Once more his lips curved. “Anywhere you want me to.” He lifted a hand and caressed her breast, thumbing her peaked nipple. “It can be very erotic right here.” He ran his thumb in a circle.
She gasped. “I never thought I’d want a vampire to do these kinds of things to me.”
She closed her eyes. He could tell she was making a real effort to compose herself. She chuckled softly as her lids flipped open. “Wish we would have met in the real world.”
He thumbed her cheek and offered another kiss, though this one was gentle. “I’ve thought the same thing.”
She pulled away from him completely, but took his hand. “I’m not sure how this should work except that I need to recline and focus.” She led him across the room.
Stormy sat on his perch, watching him. On the left, was a cabinet with a lot of glass canisters and beyond that a work area with a cauldron, very witchy.
On the right, was her chaise-longue with lit candles arranged at the top. Despite all the evidence of her alter species, his instincts remained very distant, and in their place was an odd kind of acceptance.
He watched as Emma reclined, then waved him forward. He joined her, standing over her like a sentinel and maybe that was the point. Maybe he needed to guard her while she summoned powers she’d admitted avoiding most of her witch life.
Toby once more flowed around his ankles, purring and rubbing his whiskered cheeks against his jea
ns. He didn’t know how, but he could feel the cat’s approval of him. Again, he smiled. The whole thing was way beyond anything he thought he’d ever experience as a vampire.
As he stared down at Emma, at her long, auburn hair spilled over the purple velvet, he knew that if they both somehow miraculously survived, he’d never want to let her go.
~ ~ ~
Emma had meant to sink into her witchy spell right away, but she felt something surprising from Vaughn. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. His brows were pinched tight together. He didn’t look concerned exactly, more like aware. “Everything okay?”
“It is. You do whatever you need to do and tell me where you want me.”
“You’re perfect right where you are.”
“I can kneel.”
“Not necessary, at least I don’t think so.”
This time when she closed her eyes, she let her arms relax beside her body and forced her feet and legs to lose their usual ready-for-action tension. She turned her hands palms up and summoned her power again.
What came this time felt like a whirlwind. Her back arched off the chaise-longue and she heard Vaughn call out her name.
She opened her eyes and saw the triplets had returned and were flying rapidly around the room, but they weren’t laughing this time.
Something else was going on.
She panted through the waves of energy that kept hitting her, then forced herself to focus on the seat of her power, deep within her body. The carousel of images had returned but flew way too fast.
She suddenly felt Vaughn’s hand gripping hers.
She didn’t open her eyes this time, but an amazing thing happened because of Vaughn’s touch. The images slowed and began to move in a steady progression through her head, more like a movie now than a series of snapshots. She also kept Loghry in the forefront of her mind and pictured his mansion in Elegance.
She was sure she’d soon see either the wizard or his home. Instead, the images showed the inside doors of a large delivery truck, the kind that could carry furniture or large crates.
She didn’t understand why she was looking at a truck until the images slowly pivoted so that she faced the interior. Her heart constricted. She could see five teen girls huddled together, with a sixth unconscious on the floor. Each bump in the road sent more than one of them slamming against the hard metal sides of the truck. Groans of pain followed.
So where was this?
The worst roads in Five Bridges were in the Graveyard and in Savage Territory, the latter being several square miles allotted to the alter wolf portion of the province. Wolves preferred a forested space to run when they shifted, so a lot of Savage had been planted with trees while the roads had been broken up and sent to a dump site.
The images suddenly withdrew from the interior so that she could see the lettering on the side: Willow Creek Office Furniture. She floated along with the truck, but felt the presence of the triplets as she moved.
The vision took her higher into the air. She was definitely in Savage Territory since the truck entered one of several pine forests planted by alter shifters years ago. Wolves preferred forests. It took a lot of water initially, but the city built a reclamation plant just to serve the acres of pine. Better to keep wolves happy than have them busting out of Five Bridges and terrorizing the Phoenix population.
The roads were rough and the original cement and asphalt city blocks long gone. The truck bounced like it did, because it traveled over a lot of dirt.
But what did this truckload of teenage girls have to do with Loghry?
The truck finally began to slow as it drew near a small strip center, though the area was still completely surrounded by pine forest. The driver got out and looked at his watch. “We made it just before midnight. We get a bonus.” He was a tall, lean warlock who did a happy dance in the middle of the uneven dirt road.
Rage rolled through Emma at his antics. The bastard was delivering human females destined for the Savage sex trade and he was smiling because he’d be paid extra for being early.
His partner, another warlock, called to him. “Get moving. You know I don’t trust these damn shifters to deliver on their promises. They’d as soon kill us as pay us.”
“You ain’t shitting on my good mood. I’ll have money to spend in the clubs tonight. You ever been with a shifter female? They’re real animals in bed.” He laughed at his joke.
The images took Emma over the top of the truck. The men went inside a rundown building that used to be a real estate company. Half the lettering on the glass window was faded. Pine needles covered most of the landscape in a reddish brown haze.
The warlocks returned a moment later. A shifter came out with them, a burly man chewing on a cigar and wearing a stained, white tank top. He moved to the truck, opened the doors and peered inside, then immediately afterward slammed the door shut.
“Next time, use the damn delivery entrance, morons.”
The warlocks hopped back in and drove the truck around the corner.
Once more, the image sent Emma into the air and over the building. The rear area was a short alley with what looked like storage rental units behind. The truck maneuvered and began backing through the gates.
Her heart rate rose as she saw the sign inside the yard: Daniel D. Loghry, Proprietor. No Trespassing. All Violators Will Be Prosecuted.
Suddenly, the images scrambled like her neurons started misfiring. Pain rushed through her head, and she sat up screaming.
Vaughn dropped to his knees beside the chaise-longue, then wrapped her up in his arms. She clung to him, shaking.
“You’re okay. You’re okay.” He repeated the words over and over until she began to calm down.
The ghosts hovered nearby, barely moving at all. She had a sense they’d been affected as well.
“I feel like something evil pressed on me and disrupted what I was seeing.”
She rested her head on his shoulder until the trembling passed and the pain was gone. Even then, she stayed put because it felt so good to feel his hands rubbing up and down her back.
She slipped into telepathy. Thank you. I don’t know what happened. I could see all the images as clear as anything. Then suddenly, it felt like I had an electric eggbeater inside my head.
She felt him chuckle. I don’t mean to laugh, but that’s some picture you just painted. And I could tell it hurt.
She sighed heavily. It did.
Was it possible another witch or warlock had messed with her spell? Some of the covens were deep into dark magic and she was so untried, she had no clue what she was doing. Vaughn, what if it was Loghry?
He didn’t respond right away but continued to rub her back gently. Maybe he’s been hunting for you through his spellcasting ability and found you.
I suppose it’s possible, but this is uncharted territory for me. She squeezed her eyes shut and once more opened up to her power. Reluctantly, she focused on Loghry, but she needed to figure out what happened.
As she reviewed the moment her foray into the future got disrupted, she could feel the nature of the magic that attacked her. It felt very male, not a witch at all. And it felt old, as in it had been around for a while.
Recognition and understanding arrived. Emma could see what Loghry had done. First, he’d disabled her ability to see the future, then he’d sent a mountain of pain to force her out of her spell completely. She could almost taste the nature of his dark magic.
Vaughn, it was Loghry. I’m sure of it now.
That doesn’t surprise either of us, does it?
Not even a little.
From her sitting position as she leaned against Vaughn, she was able to see the ghosts. They were finally moving around better.
Becca, were you hurt?
She shook her head. We can’t feel pain, but we felt shut down, unable to move or even to see for a long time. We’re all okay, but what happened?
She explained about Loghry.
Becca’s expression grew grim
. I am soooo not surprised. He’s a monster.
Emma couldn’t have agreed more.
All three ghosts hovered in the air, watching her. They were so lovely and wore the same outfits, which helped Emma to know which one was Becca. She was still sporting her jeans and red tank top.
Many ghosts stuck around for a while, especially those killed in a violent way. She suspected Becca and her sisters needed some sort of closure before they could pass permanently to the next life. Maybe they even needed to help get Loghry.
So, when do we leave?
What do you mean?
To rescue these girls, of course. I can see the clock above your couch and it’s only 11:15. The driver of the truck spoke about having arrived just before midnight. You and Officer Vaughn have plenty of time to save the girls.
Emma drew back from Vaughn’s embrace then rose to her feet.
He stood up along with her, but met her gaze, frowning heavily. “What’s wrong, Em? What’s going on now? Did you see more of the images?”
She met his gaze. “I think we have a job to do, but it doesn’t involve Loghry, at least not directly. We need to go to Savage Territory.
“Savage? You’re kidding.”
Emma relayed the movie-like images to him, of the truck transporting teens through wolf territory. She was also explicit about the ghosts and what Becca had suggested they do next.
When she heard glass clinking on the hutch, she leaned around Vaughn. “Hey, girls, don’t mess with the canisters.”
Vaughn turned as well. “What the hell?”
“What?” Emma wondered if he could see something she couldn’t.
“I don’t know how this is possible, but I can see the triplets. This is weird. Vampires don’t usually see ghosts. And I definitely couldn’t before.”
“Then how are you doing it now?”
“I have no idea. And they’re wearing clothes, each of them, or what looks like clothes.”
Emma’s brows rose. “Yeah, that was actually the first thing they did. They got dressed, probably for my sake.”
Becca intruded. Emma, please tell Vaughn that we need to get going. We’ve already wasted three minutes. Tick-tock.