Spell Bound (Darkly Enchanted) (10 page)

Because that bastard Fabrizio Paganelli had screwed them six ways to Sunday. Cursed them to this never-ending life, removed them from the natural order of life. Condemned them to wait hundreds of years for the rebirth of their blood-bound mates.

And set his son Dario on them like a rabid dog.

Rage rose like a storm-fed creek, boiled in her chest like the old friend it was until the force of it nearly buckled the floor beneath her feet. Five hundred years she and her fellow
streghe
had lived—cursed by a distraught father over the death of his beloved son.

With the floorboards still shaking beneath her, she released a scream that would have leveled trees in the forest if the house wasn’t warded to deny the passage of sound. She screamed until she was hoarse,
arus
swirling around her, threatening to suck everything in the room into a vortex.

Damn it, she didn’t want to have to buy new furniture. Not again. With a final sob, she fell into a heap on the floor, trying to catch her breath.

“Idiot,” she chided herself. “You need to get a grip.”

It was time to get off her ass and break this damn curse.

Her first attempt had failed nearly thirty years ago, when she’d made herself a whore for one night to seduce her most hated enemy.

She’d debased herself because the Goddess Menrva had promised, despite Fabrizio’s curse forbidding the
streghe
to ever bear another female, that one of the thirteen would indeed have a daughter who would end the curse.

The Goddess Menrva had sent a vision to the
boschetta
’s seer, Dafne, just before her death. Dafne hadn’t cried or screamed or begged for mercy when the villagers the
streghe
had cared for all of their lives had tied her to the stake at Fabrizio’s urging.

Instead, she’d lifted her face to the sky and closed her eyes. And when the flames licked at her feet, Dafne had looked straight at Serena and said, “Do not despair. The Goddess has promised there will be a daughter. Menrva has not abandoned us completely.”

Then Dafne had thankfully passed out before the flames consumed her.

Burning flesh of any kind still made Serena nauseous.

Rising from the floor, she dusted off her skirt and bowed her head. She wrapped her hand around the key again and fed just a bit of
arus
into it until she felt it return to its natural state. An iron nail.

“Great Goddess Menrva, She who guides us with her wisdom and entrusts us with Her most sacred possession,” she said. “I’m holding You to that promise. Please don’t let us down.”

Chapter Five

The alarm rang at four p.m.

Shea tossed her hand toward the bedside table to swat the clock into submission. The little black box emitted a sharp, bat-like squeak then went silent.

Without opening her eyes, she reached across the bed and laid a hand on Leo’s chest. Still asleep. She swore the kid would sleep through an earthquake.

Sighing, she rolled out of bed to a chorus of squeaky springs, walked the few steps to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Dropping her boxer shorts and tank top on the floor, she set the shower several degrees beyond hot to ease the dull ache in her temples.

Damn, she wished she could stay in here forever. Let the water wash over her skin, washing away her…what? Her sins?

To hell with that. She didn’t believe in sin. Only right and wrong. She didn’t steal, she didn’t cheat. She’d never taken another life.

But she would. To protect Leo.

Would that be so wrong?

Sighing, she dropped her head down and let the water soak her head, work some of the tension from her neck. It hurt like a bitch, but she couldn’t afford to call off work. They needed the money, especially if they were going to be on the road for a while. Especially after last night—

No. She shook her head and reached for the shampoo. She refused to think about last night. Or about what might happen today. She couldn’t change the outcome of one and worrying about the other would make her sloppy. And that could be deadly.

Leo needed her to be on her toes. She couldn’t bear to let him down more than she already had.

With a sigh, she raced the hot water heater to the end of her shower then walked back to the bedroom. Wet hair cool against her back, she pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, not bothering with underwear. Just have to take them off when she got to work anyway.

She hated to do it, but she was going to have to give notice tonight. Harry had been good to her these past four months and she’d been able to put aside some money. Not a lot. But it might be a while before she found a job that paid as well.

If you find one at all.

Yeah, probably not something she wanted to think about right now.

Instead, she dropped to her knees in front of the altar, opened the circle and began her daily devotional. Holding her mother’s lead athame across her palms, Shea lifted it to the sky and bowed her head.

“Uni, Mother Goddess, give me the strength to fight should I be called on to do so. Menrva, Vessel of all Wisdom, grant me the knowledge I need to defeat our enemies.

“Great Goddesses, let me not falter in my duty.”

Please don’t let me get my brother killed.

With that cheerful thought, she felt eyes on her and turned to find Leo watching her from the bed.

She dredged up a smile for him. “Hey, bud. Did I wake you?”

He tilted his head to the side. “You look like Mom.”

Her mouth dropped open but nothing emerged.

Those four little words were so sweet and so devastating. Like he’d taken the athame and stuck it in her heart.

She forced herself to hold the smile, wanting him to continue but almost afraid of what he’d say next. “I’m taking that as a compliment, babe.” She tried to keep her tone light, but it was so hard. They never talked about their parents. It was just too difficult for both of them. “Hungry?”

Those wide, dark eyes regarded her with…what? Anger? Fear? Despair? She waited for him to say something else. Anything. But after a silent minute, she caught back a sigh.

“Leo, come here.”

She opened her arms and he bounced off the bed, throwing his arms around her waist and squeezing tight. She hugged him back just as hard.

Her heart pounded almost painfully. Goddess bless her, she loved this little boy with all her heart. He was all she had left of family and she was terrified of losing him. Terrified of screwing up and losing him to the monsters that chased them. Of getting herself killed trying to protect him and leaving him alone.

Without help, how long did they have until the men who’d killed their parents—who’d been so much stronger and had still gotten caught—found them?

They had to run.

“I love you, Leo.”

He squeezed tighter but didn’t say another word, his small body warm against her own.

Damn that bastard Brown for refusing them. They needed to get the hell out of Reading. Tonight. After one more night of work to get her last check.

Then they’d go. And maybe…maybe there was something she could do to help them get away.

“Hey, Leo. You want to help me with a spell?”

Pulling out of her arms, he looked up at her, eyes bright as he nodded.

She smiled, trying to look excited. And confident. Yeah, right. “Alright, bud. You sit here for a sec.” She pointed to the space in front of the altar then grabbed her backpack from beside the bed and pulled out their mom’s grimoire.

She paged past spells to cure warts and heartburn, spells to induce comas and even one titled Love Potion. She’d had a few private laughs over that one.

But now… There it was, near the back. Concealment Spell.

Glancing through, it didn’t look that difficult, and she had all of the ingredients they needed on the altar. Of course, nothing ever looked difficult until you were ass-deep in frogs, as her dad used to say.

Oh, Daddy…

Shaking off those thoughts, she grabbed what she needed and sat in front of Leo, placing the abalone moon bowl between them.

“Okay, bud. Let’s do this.”

In the bottom of the bowl, she placed the bloodstone and sprinkled dried heliotrope over it.

With the grimoire on her lap, she held out her hands and waited for Leo to place his in hers. She’d been teaching Leo as much as she could about spell casting. Which wasn’t as much as it should have been.

She’d been a lousy student, which was why she hadn’t attempted this spell before. It took a lot of power and an equal amount of control. And she didn’t have much of either.

She closed her eyes, knowing Leo would follow her lead.

“Great Goddess Uni, Mother of all, protector of the Etruscans. We, your children, beseech Your aid.”

Their hands warmed as power built between them, causing goosebumps to coat her arms. Lowering their hands, she wrapped Leo’s around the edge of the bowl, then did the same with her own, funneling the power into the bowl and the bloodstone.

“Danger follows us. Evil tracks us. Bless us, Great Goddess, with a veil to hide us from those who seek us and mean us harm. We beg You to answer our plea.”

The bowl shook beneath their hands, rattling against the floor, making the moonstone dance like a Mexican jumping bean in the bottom.

Shit, that was so not good. They were drawing too much power. She wouldn’t be able to contain it for much longer.

Please, Goddess, just long enough to charge the stone.

“For your aid, we thank you, Uni, Lady of the Sky, the Earth and the Water.”

Okay, time to release the spell into the stone.

“Leo, let go of the bowl. Slowly, bud.”