“I don’t need protection,” I replied, irritated. “I’m not some damsel in distress—which I would’ve proved tonight, had Jett not thrown the fight.”
Seth held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, now. Back down a bit. I’m not calling you weak, I’m simply saying there’s safety in numbers.”
“Sorry. I just don’t like it when people think I can’t hold my own because I’m a girl. It’s such a crazy stereotype.”
Seth laughed heartily at my comment. “Don’t worry, Kenna. I’ve only known you one day and I can already attest to the fact that there is nothing that is even remotely stereotypical about you.”
“And that’s a good thing?” I asked, grinning.
Mirth disappearing, his expression softened. “That’s a very good thing.”
Chapter Eight
Anxiety levels shooting through the roof, I tapped the eraser of my pencil against the books on my lap, beating out a staccato sounding rhythm in time with radio.
“Are you okay?” my mom asked, glancing over. “You seem a bit on the nervous side.”
Nervous didn’t even begin to cover what I was feeling this morning. I had no idea how people might react after the fight I’d had with Jett. But mainly, it was Seth’s revelation about Jett’s family that had me in overdrive.
How was I supposed to act around Jett? Was it true? Did he know I was a witch? Was my family in danger because of him?
I mean, my dad was one of the most powerful warlocks anywhere, so we did have that advantage. My mom wasn’t magical anymore, so there was absolutely zero risk where she was concerned; so as far as I could see, that left me as the only vulnerable one. I knew I could physically take care of myself, and I also had my own magical powers I could add to the mix—but then, again, so did they.
Stopping my pencil movements, I rested my hands in my lap and sighed. “I’m all right. I’m just nervous about dinner. I’m afraid Dad will drill Seth all night long.” That may not be the complete truth, but it was one of the many reasons I was feeling antsy today.
Mom laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll do my best to keep your father under control. Don’t be upset with him, though. We love you more than anything, Kenna. He just wants to make sure you’re safe.”
“I know. I just hate that everything makes him so on edge. It’s like every decision made about our family is some huge discussion, even if it’s over the simplest of things. He sees danger everywhere.”
She nodded. “And had you lived the life he has, you’d see danger everywhere, too. It’s practically been bred into him. He’s been conditioned over the years to not trust anyone. That mistrust is why he’s still alive today.”
“Barely,” I muttered. “If it hadn’t been for your family and the Awakening, he’d most likely be dead.”
“And you would’ve never been born.” She reminded me. “You just have to remember, despite what he’s been through, his love for you out shines all of that. You are the joy in his life.”
A crazy sounding giggle burst from my lips. “I get what you’re saying, but I’m pretty sure you’re the joy in his life. He worships you every waking moment.”
Smiling, she continued to stare at the window. “It’s true, we are very much in love with each other; but you . . . you are the best parts of the two of us—made up into one beautiful person. Trust me when I say that you are the joy in his life—the one thing he’s constantly proud of.”
“No pressure there.” I grumbled under my breath as I stared out the window. “Just promise me he’ll be nice to Seth tonight. I get the feeling from Dad that he’d like to mess with him a little. I’d like it if Seth was still into me after dinner with you two.”
Laughing heartily, she nodded. “I give you my word. If your dad gets out of control, I’m sure I can find a way to distract him.”
“I’m sure you can—just make sure it’s in a different room and preferably one out of hearing distance, as well. Otherwise Seth may be scarred for life if you two start going at it on the kitchen counter. The kitchen terrifies me these days.”
Snorting, my mom tossed her long black hair over her shoulder and fixed her stare on me. “Would you stop? We are not that bad!”
“My eyeballs beg to differ. And I can’t count the times I’ve been traumatized by the two of you, mentally, before I could slam that door closed. I’ve taken to adding alarms to certain “key phrases” dad says, in an effort to keep the unwanted stuff out.”
“I’m sorry about that. I know the mental connection between the two of you must make it difficult. But, we also want you to know that sex is natural and healthy. Once you find the right person, it can be a beautiful thing.”
Yay! A sex talk—fairly sure I’m dying right now. “I’m pretty sure if I ever find the right person that Dad will kill him before the guy ever gets the chance to touch me. I’m afraid to even kiss a guy. And you know how old-fashioned Dad is. He made the two of you wait until you were married.”
“I know. And that was a hard thing for us to do; which is why we ended up married so young. But we were already bound together magically, also. Marriage was inevitable. There was no way it wouldn’t have happened.”
“So, if I go out and bind myself to someone, Dad will be okay with him sneaking into my room to sleep with me every night? And I can marry him right away since I’m already two years older than you were when you and dad got married? Dad will be okay with all of this?”
“I think it’s quite safe to say that your Dad will castrate any guy he ever finds in your room. I don’t think he will be nearly as generous as my parents were.”
“But why? I’m eighteen already. That’s so not fair. Legally I could live on my own right now, you know.”
“He knows what guys are thinking, sweetheart. He’s been in that place.”
“He’s still in that place,” I reminded her and she actually blushed.
“Do you want to move out and live on your own?” An ever so slight wrinkle of concern appeared between her brows, showing my comment made her nervous; but her question gave me pause.
Did I want to live on my own?
My thoughts immediately drifted to the local demon coven. It would be stupid for me to do anything of the sort with them in the area. I’d be a sitting duck and all for what? So some guy could sleep with me? I hadn’t even kissed a guy, yet, so that seemed like it would be jumping the gun a bit.
“No. Regardless of how irritated I might get about Dad and his extreme overprotectiveness, I do love him and have no desire to watch his head explode if I gave him news like that.”
“Just give him time, Kenna. He’ll warm up and come around eventually. Don’t forget he’s been living in the middle of a forest for almost two decades with you. He’ll get the hang of normal life after a while, and he won’t seem so ‘out there’.”
“I’m just happy we were able to convince him to move. That was a feat several years in the making. I didn’t think he was ever going to agree.”
“See? You’ve already won one big battle. Just give him time.”
Yeah, one battle that I’d immediately lose if he had any clue of demons around. I had to prove that they weren’t a threat, somehow. I mean, yes, Seth said they’d been trying to recruit him for their coven, but they could’ve just attacked him and forced him to comply; so maybe there was hope. The family had a respected business in the community, too. It wasn’t like they could go around killing people whenever they wanted. That would draw too much attention. Maybe they were even more refined and in control than the Cummings family had been.
Vance Cummings, not Mangum, was the name my dad was born with. When his mom, my grandma, Krista, discovered that my grandpa, Damien, had been regularly drinking my dad’s blood and using him to perform dark magic, she’d run off with my dad and changed their last name to avoid detection. After Damien had been defeated, or so they thought, his parents, my grandparents, stepped in, trying to use my dad’s then uncontaminated blood to steal the Awakening for them
selves. After they failed, one of my dad’s cousins, Catriona, had tried to kill both of my parents so she could claim the Awakening that was inside them. Fortunately, Cat met her own demise, as well; but the celebration was short lived when Damien reappeared, touting that he had regenerative capabilities and he’d genetically passed them on to my dad. He even killed my dad, just to prove that he’d come back to life.
To say I was the direct descendent of demonic lunatics would be an understatement. And even though my dad had eventually completed his forced demonic conversion, somehow he’d managed to keep hold of some thread of sanity inside himself. According to the stories my mom had told me, it had been very touch-and-go with him on several occasions. So while he sometimes irritated me with his choices, I knew, without a doubt, he always had his family’s best interest at heart.
In fact, he’d researched the Salem area so thoroughly, I was surprised he hadn’t turned up the demon coven, himself. Dad was loaded, as in crazy-rich loaded. He’d inherited a lot of it from his father’s estate after Damien was destroyed—for real this time—but there was still plenty my dad had made on his own, both working as a research doctor, building and selling custom motorcycles, and investing. He had plenty of resources at his disposal, not to mention how his years on the run had taught him to be good with money.
Dad wasn’t flashy at all. Other than liking a decent size house and nice machinery to drive, he didn’t flaunt his assets. He was very down to earth, even in what he wore—the bulk of his wardrobe consisting of jeans, t-shirts, and two or three favorite leather jackets that he like to go riding in. The only time I’d ever seen him dressed up fancy, like in a suit or a tuxedo, was for work related charity balls.
As far as powers and abilities, he had many—both those he’d been naturally born with and those he’d assimilated from sucking the magic out of his father and my mother. But his basic, natural, magic was fire—something I’d inherited from him.
While Dad liked the convenience of magic, he taught me the importance of doing things the “real” way. Feeling that witches often got themselves in trouble by using their magic too much, he’d have me do things the same way anyone else would. While there was nothing, in particular, wrong with using magic, he simply felt that the magical community had too much free time on their hands because they used their powers to take care of the everyday, mundane things. All that extra time allowed minds to wander; and often witches found themselves caught up in playing with, or messing around with, things they had no business being involved in.
Dad warned me, repeatedly, to be careful about experiments I tried with magic, telling me it should never be used to bring harm. It was there to help defend and protect—to do good for us and for the world. True, he was always teaching me how to strengthen my powers and how to manipulate things, but it was all for my own protection and for the greater good.
The words he was constantly drilling into me suddenly popped into my head. “The world should be a better place because you are in it.”
Those were the words I measured everything by. Was I making the world a better place, now? Or was I contributing to the delinquency of it by not informing him of this other coven? It was driving me mad.
Last night, I’d finally fallen asleep after deciding that I’d do my best to find out everything I could about this coven before I took the information to him. If they were able to nicely co-exist with others, then there was no reason for me to raise the red flag, right?
“Well, I hope you have a nice day. Your dad is working late at the lab today, so give me a call and I’ll come pick you up after cheer.”
“Do you think there is any chance I can convince him to let me have a car? I know we’ve been working on the motorcycle, but I won’t always be able to drive it once the weather turns worse,” I blurted out as we pulled up to the curb. “Not that I don’t appreciate the rides, I just think it would be more convenient for all of us. I’m willing to get a job and make the payments and everything.”
Leaning over, she placed a kiss on my cheek. “We’ll, discuss it tonight. I’m sure we can work something out.”
Excitement infused me at her words, giving me the exact pick-me-up I needed. “Thanks, Mom. Love you. See you later.”
Bounding out of the vehicle, I closed the door and waved as she drove off before turning and searching the masses of kids strolling toward the building, looking for Seth.
“Well, look who it is? Kick Ass Girl.”
Turning, I found Jett staring at me. His eyes traveled slowly over me as my mind scrambled for something—anything—to say to him that might diffuse the awkward situation. “Where’s your sidekick?” I finally said, referring to Megan as I started walking in the direction of the school; but he followed me, shrugging.
“Who knows? Maybe casting her wiles over some other poor unsuspecting fool.”
Narrowing my gaze, I stared at him. “The two of you aren’t exclusive?” That would explain his proposition last night.
He chuckled. “We are. There’s no way in hell I’d let some other guy be all over my girl. I’d have to mess a dude up.”
“Oh, so she’s exclusive and you can do whatever you want then? I get it.” This guy made me sick. I had no idea how someone as kind and caring as Seth had become best friends with this punk.
“I’ve never cheated on her.”
“Not yet.”
“When you say yes to me, I’ll dump her. See? No cheating.”
Stopping, I turned to face him full on. “You really are an ass, you know that?”
“Why? Because I like you?”
“No because you’re the kind of guy who treats girls like playthings made strictly for your amusement. Use one and toss her aside once you find something new. Girls have feelings, you know, and I happen to be on the cheer team with your girlfriend; so please stop trying to cause me any more drama. I don’t need it.” I resumed my irritated march toward the school.
Jett matched my pace. “What can I say? You’ve already made up your mind about me.”
“There’s nothing you can say to change my opinion of you. I see what you are—it’s written all over your aura.” I waved my hand over him.
“My . . . aura?”
“Oh, quit playing dumb. I know you’re a warlock. I know your parents are demons, too.”
A low growl escaped him. “I see Seth hasn’t been able to keep his mouth shut around you. Damn it. He’s known you all of twenty-four hours and he’s already spilling secrets.”
“He had to tell me. My dad knew he was a warlock as soon as he showed up.” Damn it, damn it, damn it. I didn’t mean to tell him that.
“Interesting,” he replied. “In fact, it’s extremely interesting. I wonder if that means your dad knew he was a warlock the same way my parents knew you were a witch?”
Wisely, albeit too late, I kept my mouth shut, refusing to acknowledge my dad was a demon like his parents.
“Is your mom demonic, too?” he asked in a low voice.
I swung on him, wagging my finger in his face. “You stay away from me; and you stay away from my family. Do you hear me?”
Laughing, his extremely beautiful blue eyes sparkled excitedly. “I like that you have fire inside you. It’s sexy.”
“I have more fire than you can handle,” I replied, irritated even more that he didn’t seem to be bothered at all.
“I’d love to take a shot at handling it.”
“And I’d love to blow you into kingdom come.”
“Hey now. You barely know me.”
“I know enough.” Turning, I resumed my path into the school, but he caught me by the arm and dragged me off several paces to the side.
“I think the two of us have gotten off on the wrong foot. Let’s call a truce shall we?”
Fuming, I didn’t answer him.
“Did I hurt your pride by asking you to fight me?”
“No, you hurt my pride by throwing the fight. And who asks to fight someone the first day they s
tart school? You didn’t exactly put out the welcome mat, did you?”
“I was just measuring you up. I had to make sure you were what you claimed to be. I couldn’t have my boy, Seth, getting all enamored with a fake, now could I?” He stroked his hand briefly over his ever present five o’clock shadow.
“If anyone is a fake here, it most certainly isn’t me. I didn’t fight someone just so I could rub up against them.”
“Not gonna lie, that felt super nice. It got me excited for more.” His eyes drifted over me, again.
“Are you deaf? There isn’t going to be any ‘more’. I’ve only known you one day and already I’m tired of playing your games.”
His grip tightened on my arm as he pulled me closer. “You don’t know what you’re missing. There’s a reason none of the girls ever turn me down.”
“Really? None? Well, please then, allow me to be the first.” Yanking my arm out of his grasp, I started to walk away.
“I’m not gonna stop, you know?” he called after me, apparently not caring who could hear him. “I always get what I want.”
Like hell, I thought, refusing to acknowledge him. Quickly making my way inside the school, I was thankful when he didn’t accost me any further. Hopefully luck would be on my side and I wouldn’t have to deal with him in the future.
Chapter Nine
My hope was short lived.
“Hey, Kenna. How’s things today?” Judging by the confused semi-scowl on Seth’s face and the way his eyes bounced between something over my shoulder and me, it was fairly easy to deduce that Jett was still following me.
“I’ve been better,” I replied honestly, refusing to acknowledge Jett. “How are you? I enjoyed hanging out with you last night.” For some reason I couldn’t seem to resist rubbing my time spent with Seth in Jett’s face.
Seth’s face brightened a bit. “It was nice. I’m looking forward to dinner tonight at your house.”
“Wow. You’re already meeting the parents? Isn’t this only day two?” Jett asked, casually leaning against the lockers as he stared at Seth and then me. “What happens tomorrow? Picking out diamonds together? Buying a house? And before you know it, someone’s gonna have a little bun in the oven.”