Spell Bound (Darkly Enchanted) (45 page)

He hoped Shea’s easy smile and more relaxed manner this morning was a result of their night together. He knew he sure as hell felt better.

When she glanced his way and the corners of her mouth curled up just enough to give the impression of a smile, he felt like he’d won the freaking lottery.

If his dad could see him now, he’d shake his head.

“You’re complicating things, Gabriel. Don’t lose focus. They need you to be the strong one.”

Emotion made you weak.

He knew that. But he couldn’t help himself.

Tomorrow, he’d be strong. Today…fuck it.

They sat there for the better part of an hour, talking about nothing. Carefully talking about nothing. Letting Leo guide the conversation. It felt like a truce between two parties who weren’t sure they were fighting. But it was better than being at each other’s throats.

Finally, his mother said, “So, Gabriel, are you going to show Shea the studio?”

Shea’s gaze found his. “Studio?”

He smiled at her, just to see her reaction. And wasn’t disappointed to see heat rush across her face again. “Come on.”

* * *

Shea followed Gabriel and Leo down the hall, trying not to overheat as she recalled last night.

Gabriel had gone to the bathroom to get a towel to clean her up after they’d had sex then rolled her onto her side, curled around her and fell asleep. His arm lay heavy around her waist, his body giving off so much heat, she hadn’t needed a blanket.

She should have slept like a baby. She’d felt completely safe and protected and she wanted to stay there all night. And most of today. But she’d stayed with Gabriel only a few hours, worried that Leo would wake and be worried because she wasn’t there. Leo came first. He had to.

Last night had been a stolen moment.

Today…back to reality.

But maybe not just yet, because the room Gabriel waved her into made her muscles quiver in anticipation.

Mirrors covered two facing walls and shiny wood covered the floor. The studio was perfect, complete with a small piano on one end and…a beautiful bar along the long front wall.

“Serena won’t tell you but she’s actually a decent dancer, though I’ve never known her to dance for an audience,” Gabriel said. “I only know because I used to sneak down here and watch when I was kid.”

She trailed her hand over the bar, drew in a deep breath of air scented with lemon oil. Her muscles twitched at the prospect of putting on a leotard.

“Sissy, look. A piano.” Leo’s voice was awed. “Hey, this box has your name on it.”

Leo held out a white shirt box he’d picked up off the piano bench. She took it, with a quick glance at Gabriel. His expression revealed nothing. Taking off the lid, she lifted out a delicate pink leotard and white tights.

A smile kicked up the corners of her mouth and tears formed. She had no idea where he’d gotten the leotard. She didn’t care.

She walked over to him, lifted onto her toes and kissed him on the cheek.

The heat in his eyes when she drew back scorched her to her bones and drew all the air out of the room.

“We’ve got time,” Gabriel said. “If you want to work out for a while.”

“Shea, can I play it?”

With an effort, she dragged her gaze to Leo, already sitting at the piano, looking at her with wide eyes.

She looked at Gabriel, who shrugged.

“Sure, kid,” he said. “But there’s a…”

Leo ran his small hands over the keys, getting a feel for the instrument. She knew nothing about music other than she liked to dance to it. But she did know Leo shouldn’t be able to play an instrument he’d never touched before.

After a few minute of pressing keys in different combinations, he started to play a melody she vaguely recognized. It took her a second but she finally—

“My Chemical Romance.”

Their second album. It had been a gift from another dancer in the last bar she’d worked at in Atlantic City. She and Leo both loved it. And he was playing it slow enough for her to dance to. The kid constantly amazed her.

She smiled back up at Gabriel.

“Where can I change?”

* * *

“I’m assuming this will be your first
treguenda
with the nail in your possession, Shea. Would you help me prepare for the ritual?”

Serena’s question startled Shea out of the peaceful mood left over from her practice. She and Leo and Gabriel were in the kitchen, having lunch in companionable silence, though Gabriel’s every glance made her body heat and her blood sizzle.

But Serena’s soft words doused her in cold reality.

Holy crap. With everything else going on, she hadn’t even thought about the fact that she would have to perform what would have been her mom’s duties tonight. It made her brain stutter to a complete stop for a few seconds as she blinked at Serena, her hand going to key around her neck.

Her mouth opened but nothing came out. She couldn’t form a coherent thought beyond the fact that her mom was truly gone for good.

Except… she wasn’t. The voices murmured softly behind her mental shield.

 “Shea.”

Closing her eyes, she saw her mom giving her the key for the first time and teaching her how to make it transform into its natural shape as a nail. Saw her mom show her how to perform the yearly ritual that charged the nail on the summer solstice. Saw the nail clutched in Leo’s hand as he slowly woke in that hidden room in the basement.

“Shea? Are you alright?” Serena asked.

Slowly, she shook her head. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” She looked Serena in the eyes. “Of course, I’ll help.”

Shea felt Gabriel’s gaze on her as she rose and she gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile before she turned to Leo. “I’m going with Serena, bud. You stay with Gabriel, okay?”

Gabriel gave her a look before saying, “No problem. We’ll go work with your knives, again.”

Leo gave her a quick smile because Gabriel had said the magic word. Knives. He loved training with Gabriel. Which was good, because if anything happened—

“Shea?”

Serena stood in the doorway, looking back at her. Waiting.

She followed Serena through the house to her private altar room. A tree stump sat in the middle of the room, only about four feet in diameter and two feet high, but carved over every inch with pictures of the Goddesses and Gods and Etruscan writing. Someone had put many years of hard work and loving attention into the altar.

“This is beautiful,” Shea said, running her fingers over the smooth top.

“Gabriel’s father made that for me.” Serena walked around to the other side of the altar. “Davis was a master craftsman.”

Shea looked up, catching the look of utter devastation that crossed Serena’s face.

“I’m sorry.” Shea shook her head. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Serena quickly wiped the expression away with a forced smile and turned to gather her moon bowl and other tools from a table on the far wall. “I know. Please, don’t feel you have to walk on eggshells around me. Davis and Nino have been gone a long time. Sometimes, I actually like to talk about them. To remember them.”

Shea nodded. She knew exactly what Serena meant. “Is Gabriel a lot like his dad?”

Some other emotion crossed Serena’s face now, something Shea would have sworn was fear. But that made no sense. “Gabriel idolized Davis. By the time Gabriel could talk, he was finishing Davis’ sentences. They never fought, never butted heads. Not over anything.”

Unlike Shea and her mom. They’d constantly been at odds. And when she met the hiker, it’d gotten so much worse. They’d barely been speaking when she’d finally left.

Tears rushed to her eyes, and she tried to blink them away. They’d only give her a headache.

“Shea?”

“How do you think the curse will be broken, Serena?” Shea looked the other woman directly in the eyes. “Do you have any ideas?”

Serena sighed as she sat on the floor before the altar, waving Shea down opposite her. “I’ve had many ideas over the past centuries. Most of us believed the curse would be broken the second you took your first breath. Most of us wanted to believe that. Now that we know differently, I’d like to say I’m at a loss.” Serena paused as she set the moon bowl on the altar. “But I won’t lie to you, Shea. I think… I think it’s going to require sacrifice. One that involves blood. Your blood. I think your parents knew that, and that’s why they disappeared.”

Yeah, she thought that too. But hearing someone else say it made it that much more real.

And, strangely, that much more acceptable.

She looked into the moon bowl, at the green liquid Serena had put there, then back up with raised eyebrows. “You want to induce a vision with vervaine juice? Didn’t Gabriel tell you about my headaches?”

The spell Serena wanted to try would definitely bring on a migraine. Vervaine was a powerful herb in its natural leafy state, but distilled down to a juice, it was capable of producing a hallucinogenic state that could last for hours. Or days.

Serena nodded. “Yes, but you’re not doing the spell. I am. I just need a bit of your blood.”

Foolish hope made her hands clench into fists and still she had to ask. “Do you think you’ll be able to see anything?”

“I honestly don’t know.” Serena held out her hand. “I’m not a foreseer. But we don’t have many options, do we?”

Shea only hesitated a few seconds before placing her hand palm up in Serena’s, wincing only a little when the other woman cut the tip of Shea’s index finger with the sharp athame then dripped a few drops of blood into the bowl.

Rising and stepping away from the altar, Shea wrapped her cut finger in the hem of her t-shirt and watched as Serena took the blade and mixed the fluids together. Chanting in Etruscan, with an accent that reminded her so much of her mother, Serena made pleas to the Goddesses Menrva and Uni for their strength to see what would be.