Under Witch Curse (Moon Shadow Series) (2 page)

“Uh, yeah.” Whenever presented with a spell that needed undoing, I usually went for the opposite. In this case, the opposite presented a fairly large problem because I wasn’t about to beckon anything that was the opposite of the spirit I’d called. “Can you wedge yourself in underneath it?” I asked.

Patrick held out a hand towards the force. His face was nearly white at the best of times. It turned death gray as his hand met resistance. Muscles clenched, but the force did not bend.

I felt nothing, but apparently he did. “No.”

“Okay.” The problem was worse than I thought. I didn’t know how to cancel the spell.

Patrick spared me another glance. “Well?”

“This, uh,” I licked my lips. “This is tricky.”

“As in you can’t do it without harming me? Perhaps you don’t need me to remove the trash after all.” His unblinking stare regarded me as though he had never seen me before.

I ignored him for the higher priority. I could hold the beast for quite a while, but it was ten-thirty at night. Daybreak was a long way off. The vamp wouldn’t die from standing there; he was already dead. The creature snarled and slammed the wall again. Nope, no time for tea to while away the hours waiting for the sun to fry him.

If he beat his way outside my home, he would eventually come back. “He has to be destroyed, Patrick.” The throbbing bruise at my throat was more than enough proof for me. I wasn’t setting a rabid, insane vamp free. I wasn’t even certain it was possible because if I reversed the blessing, that would be condemnation, and he was already condemned. He had overcome the laws of Spirit and Nature. The only answer was annihilation.

“I know that,” Patrick said impatiently. He stepped back. “Can you destroy him?”

“I’d rather not.”

“You must cancel the spell then.”

“Are you faster than him? Are you very, very sure?”

An hour earlier, Patrick probably would have taken the bet with a laugh. Unlike me, he wasn’t shocked at the vampire form. But until a few minutes ago, he hadn’t known the spell I used existed. Neither had I.

“I’ll take care of it,” he promised.

If Patrick failed, I’d have two vamps to deal with. But it was impossible to hold a spell forever, even this one. If Patrick didn’t come out on top, I’d have to call the spell again, faster. “I’m going to get a stake. If he moves, assume he’s freed.” I backed towards my lab. “Strike that. Don’t allow him to move, Patrick. Don’t let him get that far.”

He gave me a single, perfunctory nod.

I scurried backwards. There was ash in the lab. It might not be honed to a fine point, but if faith continued to hold with me outside the room, I’d make sure the rogue vamp never showed up uninvited again.

Chapter 2

My lab was meant to withstand spells. Both the inside and outside walls were constructed with spelled chicken wire tucked inside the adobe. The double wall between the lab and house was capable of containing small explosions, thus keeping me from destroying the entire house if a spell went badly wrong.

The moment I stepped inside the haven, there was a loud roar followed by dead silence.

I stopped breathing and listened. One heartbeat...two. My silver went quiet. The ring...I held my hand in front of my face. No breeze. But the gold was warmer than expected. White Feather had designed the gift with my ability to channel power from Mother Earth in mind. The diamond sparked brightly as though the light energy wasn’t entirely gone either, but it could have been a reflection from the fluorescent bulbs in the lab.

The diamond was a new source of power, one I hadn’t dared tap yet. The very idea terrified me. For one, the ring was a precious gift, containing a stone formed millions of years ago. As if that weren’t enough, it also held the love from White Feather’s grandparents and even more importantly, love from him. “White Feather?” I kicked the door to the hallway closed. If that thing freed itself, it could follow me in here, door or no door, but I felt safer anyway. I said a prayer and scooted back.

The ring didn’t answer, but the tiniest bit of energy tingled across my hand. I was too practiced at witching to attribute it to coincidence. I was also too experienced to waste any further time trying to figure it out.

My lab was storage to raw magical elements that included spools of silver, stones, herbs, and wood, both new and ancient. Most of the tree material was for witching forks, but I never threw anything out, because with magic, you never knew what you might need.

The oak plank was too flat to be of use. “Maple...pine,” I tossed them aside. “Is this ash?” It was darker than the maple and more gnarled. I hadn’t labeled most of the collection, foolishly assuming that if wood was required for a spell, I’d have time to research and identify. “With a prayer, it’ll have to work. If it doesn’t, I’ll stick it up his ass and light it on fire.”

At the lab door, my heartbeat ratcheted up a notch. I clutched the doorknob and prepared to charge out with my best rebel...prayer on my lips. As I twisted the knob, there was a whisper from the ring; an echo of metal against metal when it touched the brass knob that was coated with both copper and silver.

“White Feather?” This was surreal, even for me.

I waited for an answer, but didn’t get one.

Nothing had followed me into the lab, but when I yanked open the door, my heart expected vamps to be lined up along the short hallway. With the stake held high, trying not to think about the fact that it wasn’t all that pointy, I edged forward.

My own raspy prayer was the only sound in the hallway. Why hadn’t I grabbed my silver dagger? My extra crucifix?

Holy water! I back pedaled. My dagger was on the table in its protective leather sheath. Holy water was in one of two places; the small jar on the shelf filed in alphabetical order or a large gallon jug by the outside door.

I snatched up the gallon jug and braved the hallway leading to the living room.

This time, a real voice broke the silence. “Adriel?” The panicked growl in White Feather’s call was more obvious in real life than the whisper from the ring.

I charged forward. “White Feather! Vamps!” He had no way of knowing there were vamps afoot. I turned the corner, spear up, ready to defend him.

When White Feather used wind to search ahead for danger, it had a subtle caress. I was expecting it, but unfortunately for both of us, he was moving with his wind, not trailing along behind it.

“Mmmooof.” The breeze impacted me a fraction of a second before he did. Neither force was subtle or caressing. The wind jerked the spear out of my right hand. Holy water exploded from the jug with geyser force as it smashed between us. I careened off the wall before White Feather’s crashing weight bore me to the carpet.

We were blessed all over. The spear bounced off my head and thumped harmlessly onto the floor.

“Adriel.” The voice was in my ear. It was possible the ring tingled, but my arms and hands were throbbing from the fall, deadening everything else.

“Vamps. Living room?” I gasped out.

“Hole in the wall,” White Feather growled back. He lifted himself off me, his strong arms pulling me up with him. “Adriel—” He held my shoulders and inspected me from top to bottom. “He came in the wall? As a bat? I thought that was a myth, but that hole isn’t big enough for a vamp!”

I peered over his shoulder, scooting him sideways in order to see.

An opening over a foot long yawned like a jagged mouth across my outside wall. It was three yards from the door, which was wide open. “They’re gone?”

White Feather fingered the silver ring I had designed for him. It contained pieces of my own jewelry, including turquoise originally a part of my grandmother’s bracelet. “The silver in the ring froze as cold as ice right before I heard you scream. Only you weren’t there. What happened here?” His green eyes met my whiskey brown ones, flashing shades of the forest, winds that wanted to rip into something. His entire body was taut and ready for a fight, but the threat was gone.

“What happened here?” I repeated dumbly, shock immobilizing my brain.

He released a huge breath of air, gathered me into a fierce embrace and squeezed. “I was hoping you could tell
me.
”

Chapter 3

Wintertime in Santa Fe is often blessed with pockets of warm days, especially when the sun stretches across cloudless skies and gently warms the rocky desert. Even on a cold, crisp day you might find heat rising in a sun-filled canyon or bouncing off an adobe wall. Mother Earth could be cold and fierce, but the warm desert heartbeat was never far away.

The safety of White Feather’s arms was like that heat; steadying, a bit heady, a lot magic. I clutched the dark curls at the base of his neck, letting his presence calm me. His normally combed hair stood on end. The long-sleeved black shirt he wore as a jacket over a tucked in t-shirt was soaking wet.

My own arms, matching the color of his Native American tinged with Hispanic gold, were bare. Only goosebumps covered them against the air swirling through the open door and the hole in the wall. My thick fleece sweatpants, when dry, were cozy enough to double as pjs. I often worked late in the lab and was too lazy to change.

The desert night snapped at us, threatening icicles for anyone dumb enough to walk around bathed in holy water. “We should go in the lab,” I whispered.

White Feather gave the living room another quick inspection using the cold wind to ensure the danger was past. I couldn’t read his magic, but as he stirred the breeze, the chill of outside air mixed with the last of the inside warmth. A paper towel fluttered from the counter to the kitchen floor.

Finding no vampires waiting to pounce, White Feather strode to the front door and shoved one of the kitchen chairs under the doorknob. The top still sagged because of the destroyed hinge.

“Patrick snapped the door off the frame,” I said. A bit unsteadily, I approached the fireplace and hung the crucifix back over the chimney. It was a nearly useless gesture, a lot like shutting the barn door after a bull had ripped through.

My hands shook, but my rings, all of them this time, were quiet. I pulled my long black hair away from my face, but had nothing to fasten it with. White Feather hustled me in front of him and together we ducked into the lab and bolted the door.

Between deep breaths, I told White Feather about the rogue vamp making himself at home.

“That’s it. You’re moving in with me,” he said flatly.

I pictured White Feather’s house in its current state of almost-but-not-quite closed to the elements. It hadn’t been completely rebuilt after the incident with a malicious tornado. We had been working hard on it, but in the meantime, he stayed at my place a lot. We hadn’t talked about any permanent changes. Every time he hinted at me moving, I scuttled away from the topic. “Patrick took care of the vamp. I’m pretty sure he killed him. No one, not even the vamps, wants anything running around that has been infected with Sheila’s experiments.”

“You saw him kill the thing? No wonder I heard you screaming from miles away. I didn’t know a vampire would go so far as to stake another vamp.”

I shuddered. “I don’t know how he did it. I was in here getting a stake.”

The muscles under his shirt rippled as he reached for me. “So the vamp could still be around. Along with Zandy.” His eyes flashed as he evaluated the situation and found nothing to like.

I shrugged. When I swallowed, my throat hurt. “It’s not Zandy or the vamp that I’m scared of at the moment.”

White Feather growled a half question.

“Patrick didn’t pull the vamp through my wall from outside. I had to invite Patrick inside so he could dispose of the vamp.”

White Feather’s wind wrapped around me. “Why are we still standing here?” he yelled.

Air puffed out my lips, a half laugh. “My lab is practically a separate structure from the house. I couldn’t afford to do the whole house with some of the added protections in the lab. The room is right up against the adobe, but I’m pretty sure Patrick can’t get in here. The invite doesn’t include the lab, just like it doesn’t when I invite most people in my house.”

His eyes darted to the outside door. It was closed and locked, as was the inside door. He weighed my words, and then rubbed his jaw as if it hurt as much as my neck and shoulders. “You’re moving in with me.” He hadn’t been all that comfortable half living in my place, even though my home had walls and a roof and his place didn’t. He might also be growing tired of waiting for me to stop avoiding the discussion about where we’d live permanently.

Not one to over-argue in the face of logic and a vampire who could step inside my parlor anytime he wanted, I didn’t scream out my fears of losing everything I had worked so hard for, of not knowing how to be part of him and still keep me at the same time. Instead, I nodded. “I should probably move in with you, except for when I’m here, working in the lab.” It was a bit of a hedge, but far enough over the cliff that I hyperventilated.

Green rolled across his eyes right before he crushed my lips underneath his. He tasted of the rich sage desert, his lips warm and very welcome. Every part of him was breathing,
living
male.

The lab was really not the place for this sort of thing, but coming off fear and tension, I gave as good as I got, grateful he had arrived, even if I didn’t understand how he’d known about the danger. We’d never had that kind of connection before. Just like normals, we relied on a phone for long distance communication.

White Feather did a thorough job of making sure all of me was intact before finally letting some air between us.

I gasped, “How did you know I was in trouble?”

His hands rested underneath my wet t-shirt, heating me all the way to the core. “You called me. It was as if I searched with the wind, only this time the wind came to me.”

I lifted my hand from his chest, the one with the diamond ring. He had given it to me only a month earlier. It was my wedding ring, although we hadn’t officially gotten married via regular channels, a point my mother harped on. “Interesting. Mother Earth was definitely warning me, but this time was different. There was a sense of you—and your wind power.”