Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) (35 page)

“If you keep doing that, I may just lose my mind,” Jilly purred.

“Mmm, we wouldn’t want that, would we?” he asked as he moved on to the other one.

They were interrupted by a knock and Caroline’s voice, “Jill?”

“For the love of all that is good and holy, go away!” Jilly screamed. She heard her sister laugh.

“You two enjoy yourselves,” Caroline said as she walked away.

“Now, where were we?” William asked.

“I believe I was about to relieve you of your pants,” Jilly said with a seductive glint in her eye.

“I like the sound of that,” William said as he stripped off his shirt and pants. Jilly trailed her hands over the planes of his chest and down his stomach, pressing feather light kisses as she went. She finally shoved him back on the bed and climbed on top of him, letting her hair cover them like a curtain. When they finally joined together, Jilly could feel her power shimmering below the surface, calling to William’s.

Caroline was smiling when she went back into her room with Patrick. He, however, was anything but happy.

“Will you stop pouting? Hannah will come around eventually. You need to give her some time,” Caroline scolded.

Patrick made a face. “I am not pouting.”

“If you aren’t pouting, then what are you doing?”

Patrick sighed. “I am merely thinking about what my life would have been like if Hannah’s mom had never sealed me back into the tomb. You are obviously my match; but I wonder what would have happened with Angeline, when I met you.”

“That, my darling, is a weird thing to think about,” Caroline said with a laugh.

“I wasn’t just thinking about that. I was also thinking about what Hannah was like as a child. I missed so much with her, I don’t want to miss out on anymore of her life.”

Caroline smiled and sat down next to him on the bed. “Oh honey, you won’t miss out on anything. You’ll still be there for her. She’s just confused right now. Try and put yourself in her shoes for a moment. She’s lost her whole family this year to horrible spirits. Then, she was on the run by herself in a foreign country being chased by the same spirits. That’s a lot for an adult to go through, not to mention a teenager. She’s fragile, and she’s just starting to really come to life, again. I know that you love her. She knows that now, too. Just be there to protect her and show her that you’re not what everyone thinks you are. You won me over, didn’t you?” Caroline kissed his cheek, smoothing a lock of his wavy hair out of his eyes.

“Thank you for loving me. I know that choosing me wasn’t exactly easy for you, but I’m so incredibly lucky that you did. I hope she’ll see in me what you do. I’m not a monster.”

“I know you aren’t. And now that you have Jilly somewhat on your side, Hannah will know that too; just don’t go doing anything crazy on this trip.”

Patrick shook his head. “I never set out to do some-thing crazy; but crazy seems to find me, nonetheless.”

“I’ll try and keep you out of trouble then,” Caroline said and kissed him.

The plane landed in Romania and they all gathered on the tarmac to decide what they were going to do, first. It was late in the evening, closing in on 11:00 P.M., and everyone was tired from both flights.

“Sabine should contact Valdus and set up a meeting with him for tomorrow,” Patrick said.

“I agree,” William added. Patrick raised an eyebrow, surprised that his brother agreed with him.

“Let’s just get to the house and then we’ll worry about all of that,” Jilly said.

Patrick shook his head. “I think it should be now. If you want to go to the house, go.”

Nikolai and William stepped away to discuss matters further. “Okay, Nikolai and Liam will go with the women to my house and Patrick and I will go with Sabine,” William said when they came back. Jilly looked like she wanted to protest, but William shook his head.

Sabine was standing a ways back laughing at them. “All I need is a phone. This isn’t the dark ages. We don’t have to storm his castle.” William handed her a phone and she punched in a few numbers.

“Harding? It’s Sabine. Tell him I have the items he requested. I’ll find him tomorrow evening at sunset.” She didn’t wait for a response before hanging up. “It’s done,” she said as she handed William his phone. “Now, can we go to this house you keep talking about?”

Liam, who had been quiet for most of the trip, finally spoke up. “When will we look for Maggie?”

“Liam, how stupid are you? When we find Valdus, we’ll find your precious Maggie,” Sabine said with a sneer.

“Don’t be rude, Sabine. It’s not flattering,” Patrick chided.

“She does have a point, Liam. Valdus most likely will have Maggie with him; so just be patient,” Nikolai said in a reassuring voice. They all piled into the waiting cars and took off for the house. It was too dark to really see much of anything outside. Jilly had no idea which direction they were even heading. The house wasn’t far away, though; and before too long, they pulled up in front of an enormous house.

“Whose house is this?” Hannah asked.

“Mine,” William said.

Jilly whirled around to look at him. “You never told me you had a house in Romania.”

He laughed. “I have houses all over. I haven’t told you about even half of them, yet.”

Jilly shook her head and laughed, “I guess you learn something new every day.” As soon as they approached, the doors flew open and an army of servants came out to take care of the luggage.

“Will you require dinner, sir?” A tall grey haired servant asked William, who in turn looked around at the group to see if they were hungry. They nodded, so he turned back and said, “yes.” They followed the man into the house and Jilly’s jaw dropped at how opulent the house was. There was a huge crystal chandelier hanging in the massive entryway, the light glittering off the stones and making rainbows on the walls.

“Is the rest of the house like this?” Caroline asked, in awe of the splendor before her.

“I think so. I haven’t really been here in ages. I gave the decorator free reign to do as she pleased a few years back,” William replied.

“I can’t wait to see the rooms,” Jilly said with a giggle.

“If you will follow me, I will show each of you to your rooms,” the grey haired butler said, as he walked further into the house. “The bedrooms are on the second floor, the kitchen and dining room are through that door on your left, and the library is to your left.” He led them through the house to the grand staircase. All of the furniture they passed was extravagant, to say the least, done in gold and deep reds. All of the drapes looked like they were made of flowing blood, with a sheer quality to them.

“It’s a bit much, isn’t it?” William whispered to Jilly.

“Actually, I think it fits the setting we’re in. You almost expect Dracula to come and join us for dinner in this house,” she replied, and William laughed. They walked up the grand staircase, which was wide enough for five people to walk next to each other. The first room they came to was for Caroline and Patrick. The butler opened the door revealing an old-fashioned canopy bed with burgundy velvet curtains all around it. There was a matching couch in the same fabric in the sitting area.

“Oh, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Caroline said laughing. She grabbed Patrick by the hand and they wandered into their room and closed the door. They could hear her giggle from behind the closed door. They walked a little further down the hallway and came to another door. This room was for Hannah. It had a similar bed, but the curtains and couch were emerald green.

“Will you be okay in here?” Jilly asked Hannah as she walked her into the room.

“You bet! Wouldn’t you be? I mean, look at this place; it’s crazy nice.”

Jilly smiled. “Okay, I think we’re going to be somewhere down the hall, if you need us. I’ll see you at dinner.” Hannah smiled and closed the door. The next room was for Nikolai and Katya. It was done in a deep purple.

“See you guys at dinner,” Katya said.

The butler turned to William. “Will you be needing anything before dinner, sir?”

“No, that will be all, Armand. Thank you,” William replied

“Very good, sir,” Armand said and turned on his heel and left.

“Where are Sabine and Liam staying?” Jilly asked.

“Most likely in the servant’s quarters with Nik’s men. I’m not really sure,” William said with a shrug. “Now, let’s go find the master suite, shall we?” There was a mischievous tone in his voice. The master suite was at the very end of the hall. William opened up the double doors and let Jilly walk in ahead of him. She was in awe of how beautiful the room was. The bed was similar to the others, but it was bigger than king size. The fabric for the curtains was a soft champagne color. There was a chair and a couch in the sitting room, done in a ruby red fabric with champagne throw pillows.

“Let me show you the bathroom,” William said as he led Jilly further into the room. It was huge; the shower was a room by itself. It had a glass wall blocking it off from the rest of the bathroom and shower heads on all the walls that sprayed in every direction. The tub, if it could even be called that, was the size of a large Jacuzzi, located off to the other side of the bathroom.

“This is incredible,” Jilly said.

“The bathroom was the only area in this house that I designed myself.”

“I love it. I want to make good use of this room while we’re here. But right now, all I want to do is change clothes and eat dinner,” Jilly said, as she went to search for her bags. She found that all of her clothing was already in the dresser and closets. “How on earth did they get all of my things unpacked in the short time it took us to get up here?”

William gave her a look. “I employ only witches and warlocks. It makes life easier,” William said with an easy smile. “Now get dressed so we can eat.”

The dining room was nothing short of spectacular. Crystals dripped from every surface and there were candles everywhere. The color scheme was the same jewel tones as all the bedrooms. In what could only be described as right out of a book, the food appeared before them on heaping platters a few moments after they all sat down.

Hannah smiled in delight as the food appeared down the table. “Being a witch is so cool sometimes,” she said.

“Sometimes? It’s cool all the time,” Jilly said as she snapped her fingers and all the candles went out. She snapped them again and they all lit again. Everybody served themselves from the various platters. Dinner was enjoyable; the conversation was light as they talked about how amazing their rooms were. Once they were all finished eating, the plates and platters disappeared and the table was once again clean and pristine.

They were all congregated in the big entryway when the doorbell rang. William answered it, since they were right there. He opened the door and a tall man with black hair and black eyes stood staring back at him.

“Can I help you?” William asked the man.

“I think you just may be the one man who can help me,” the man responded.

William got an uneasy feeling. “Who are you?”

“How silly of me. Where are my manners? My name is Valdus and I believe you have something that belongs to me.”