Witch Way to Turn (17 page)

“There has to be a reason you’re here. Other than to torture me.” He twisted the copper ring on his finger.

The redheaded witch shifted on her feet. She’d suddenly snapped into professional mode. “All work and no play, I guess. Fine.” Sandy pushed out her chest, crossed her arms under her breasts. “Tell him, Doris.”

“You’ve become a little too willy-nilly with the blood exchange.” Doris clucked, waggling a finger at him.

Myles should’ve realized they’d know. After all, they’d been watching his every move since he’d been sent here with Breena. But he’d only done it to heal her, to better look after her. He was fully aware of what would happen if they exchanged blood three times. “I’ve only taken hers once.”

Sandy’s heels clicked on the cement floor as she walked over to Myles and planted herself in his face. “But you’ve given her yours twice now. The president isn’t happy. Keep your fangs in your mouth, Big Bad, if you know what’s good for you.”

“Yeah,” Doris echoed.

“Consider yourself warned,” Sandy taunted as she began to spin in a controlled circle, gaining speed. Doris did the same, until they’d both whirled themselves invisible.

Chapter 13

Breena’s cell vibrated in her lap as she pulled into the Hardees’ parking lot to get supper for her and Jenny. Edging up to the drive-thru line, she read the text:
Norma drunk as a skunk
.

Apparently mom-of-the-year had finally stumbled into the house.

Guess it’s only one cheeseburger then.

She ate her meal in the car with the windows rolled down while Nirvana’s
Come As You Are
played on the radio. She considered herself an equal opportunity music listener for the most part, although she drew the line at country–how many beers could you cry into about your dead dog? Grunge wasn’t exactly her favorite genre, but listening to the despair and anger in Kurt Cobain’s voice lifted her mood in a warped kind of way. Maybe because, deep down, she felt the same sometimes.

It wasn’t until Jenny came into her life that she had wanted to live. Her sister had given Breena a purpose. A goal. And nothing and no one would keep her from reaching it. She wouldn’t accept defeat. Somehow, Norma had to be out of the picture. Was it too much to ask for her to drink herself into oblivion? A part of her thought that might be a little harsh. The other part thought,
If I were twenty-one I’d buy the whisky.

Breena decided she’d taken a nose dive into uncharted and overly-cynical waters. Maybe a walk on her dam would help her refocus, because dark and depressed wasn’t who she wanted to be. She dumped the garbage and took off.

When she reached the gate, she pulled off the road, parking on the verge, though she didn’t know why she bothered. No one ever came here after the plant shut down for the night, and–at nearly seven o’clock–it had been closed for almost two hours.

The cement structure towered over her. Carefully she climbed the ladder fixed to the side.

At the top of the ladder, a chain-link gate bore a sign reading:
Danger Electric Shock
. She climbed over it without a moment’s hesitation. Stupid thing hadn’t been on once in ten years. Breena strolled until she came to the middle of the dam and leaned against the rail.

Up here, looking over the Rhodhiss River, her river, a sense of contentment flooded her veins. She connected to everything at once. Sky. Water. Earth. The sun dipped below the tree line, casting orange and pink light across the river. Dark shadows danced in the distance, tempting her.

The silence shattered as a scraping sound–like nails down a chalk board–rang out in the still night air. Without even thinking about it, she turned and the blue light shot out of her palms.

Orin stood on the other side of the chain-link gate. Shocked, almost literally. The lock swung loose. She’d apparently hit it with the crazy-fast blue-light-thing-she-couldn’t-control.

“If you’d been properly trained in magic, I might actually be scared,” Orin joked as he flicked open the gate and walked to her side.

“Why didn’t you use the apparition thingy?”

“We can only apparate to places we’ve been before.” She could almost hear the
Duh, Breena
in his voice.

“Oh, right,” she said and turned back to the water. “Why are you here? I’m still pissed at you.” Really she wasn’t. She wanted him to take away the pain. Needed him to. Needed him.

“Look at me.” His voice was gentle.

She glared at him.

“I know you’re angry, and I recognize what a complete ass I am. But I have a surprise for you.”

“Now I expect you to throw me into the river,” she mocked. “You’ve ruined the surprise.”

“I’m not here to kill you, Breena.”

“How am I supposed to believe you?”

“I want you,” he said, his voice low and husky.

“That’s not a reason. It’s an excuse.” She threw her hands in the air.

“It may have been my excuse to begin with, but now it’s my reason.”

“You barely know me.”

“I know you better than you think.” He stayed close but made no move to touch her.

Crossing her arms, she stared at him. “Okay. Wow me.”

“You’re loyal, kind, surprisingly fierce.”

“That’s the best you’ve got?” She rolled her eyes. “You described a golden retriever.”

“You hate country music.”

“Who doesn’t?” She shrugged.

He laughed. “Funny,” he said, though it seemed he was talking to himself. “Don’t you want to know how I know you hate country music?”

She kind of liked to see him try so hard. “Yeah, sure. Why the hell not?”

“That’s the spirit.” He smiled, and read her face with his gaze as if she were a book he’d devoured a hundred times before. His favorite book. “Every time a country song came on the jukebox at Mama Rosa’s your forehead crinkled and your eyes narrowed.”

Well rock my world, Captain Observant.

Fine, he’d nailed that one but it wasn’t enough. “What else?”

“You want me too.” His gaze seemed to bore into her soul. “We belong together, and you know it.”

“What makes you say that?”

“You want a relationship even though you act like you don’t. You want one with a take-charge kind of guy. Someone who can admit he cares for you.”

She gave him her best skeptical look.

“The vampire isn’t that guy.”

“Who? Myles?”

“What other vampire have you met?”

“True. But I never said I wanted Myles.”

“Don’t you?” Orin cocked his head to the side and his brows furrowed.

“No.” Who was he to tell her how she felt? Of course, she didn’t exactly know how she felt. Which was the problem.

“Good. Because he isn’t your soul mate.”

“And you are?” Breena could play this game.

“Yes.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“You’re the answer.” He sounded as if he chose each word with extreme care.

“To what?”

“Everything.” He smiled, but his expression was sober.

The idea of being someone’s solution gave that balloon on a string a much-needed lift.

He wrapped an arm around her and drew her to him, hip to hip. Lacing his fingers in her hair, he caressed her neck in a way that felt familiar and safe, but somehow also hot and dangerous. She wanted to lose herself, surrender to him. Give herself over to the desire. She wanted to free herself. To be his answer.

His face was inches from hers and the gold in his eyes had turned liquid. He leaned the barest fraction closer, and when he spoke she felt his breath on her lips. “Kiss me,” he whispered.

Her lips found his. Passion consumed her. Any other thought seemed a thousand miles away. The way his lips moved with hers urged her to be in the moment, made her forget he was an assassin and she half-anything. With his lips on hers, she was complete.

He wanted her.

Draping her arms over his shoulders, she clasped her hands behind his neck.

At least she knew where she stood with Orin, unlike a certain black-haired vamp.

Holding her tight, he leaned her gently against the railing. He trailed his lips up the length of her neck until they found her mouth again. God,
this
was heaven. But kisses weren’t enough. She needed the chilling ache inside her gone. Abruptly she pulled her lips from his.

Though her heart pounded like a jackhammer, she needed to say it. “Take away my pain.”

His ears shot through his perfect hair. He lifted her hand and began to stroke her palm, slowly tracing a cross. “Are you sure that’s what you want, baby?”

“Yes.” Her breath caught in her throat. She parted her lips, ready for him to taste her soul.

Leaning down, he gently nipped her bottom lip. His ears retracted. “Not here. First, your surprise.”

Her heart dropped to her stomach. She tried not to show her disappointment, so she focused on the second part of what he’d said. Surprise. She loved surprises.

Orin stepped away from her. Taking her hand in his, he led her back to the ladder.

“Can’t you poof us back to the bottom?”

“Doesn’t work like that, love.”

Breena’s cheeks heated, despite the chill inside her. It was the first time he’d called her that. And she liked it just as much as when he called her “baby.”

He smiled at her as if he knew, but kept on with his thought. “If you knew how to apparate then we could apparate together somewhere we’d both been before. But since you don’t, we’re stuck doing it the human way.” He winked and squeezed her hand.

Breena took one last look across the river. The sun had disappeared. The only light came from the full moon and the faint yellowish glow of the lights on the side of the dam.

They walked through the gate. Orin bent the lock back into place. It looked almost normal, as if a weird blue streak of light hadn’t zipped right through metal.

Orin climbed the ladder first and led the way down the ramp.

“How’d you find me?” she asked.

“The dam makes you happy, so it was the first place I looked.”

“And you just thought to check the top?”

“Not exactly. I followed your sound.”

“My sound? Was I humming or something?” The dull light of a streetlamp illuminated the path as they walked to her car.

“You weren’t, but your soul was.”

“My soul hums?”

“It’s more like a melody I can’t get out of my head.” His shoulder brushed against hers.

“Do you want to?”

“No.” He smiled.

“So when your ears pop up, you’re listening to my soul?”

“Intently.” His gaze found hers. “All the better to hear you with, my dear.”

* * * *

“Where’s your car?” Breena asked Orin as they walked to her VW.

“I apparated into yours.”

“Oh.” She nodded. “Hey, didn’t you say you had a surprise for me?”

“I did.”

She got in the car and waited while he slid into the passenger seat. Waited as he fiddled with the seat belt. Waited while he stared blankly at her. After a moment, she realized that was all he was going to say.

“So?” she said.

“So what?”

“Where is it?”

“Back at your apartment.”

They drove in silence for a few minutes until it grated on her nerves. “You never told me. How did the original preternaturals go from fangs to pointy ears?”

Orin stared intently out the window as if remembering. “A number of the oldest vampires grew bored with the mundane world and unforgiving life. They decided they wished to regain their humanity and their souls, and die naturally. They went to the Witches’ Council with their request.”

“Even in stories, I’ve never heard of a vampire becoming human again.”

“That’s because it isn’t possible. It’s
unnatural.
” His tone made it clear this was an insult and she cringed as she remembered Myles calling him that. “The WC cast spells. Did rituals for days. Finally, it happened.”

“They thought they’d done it?” She parked in the lot outside her apartment and shifted in her seat to face him.

“Yes. The vampires’ hearts had started to beat again. They were breathing. But they weren’t human. The blood-lust turned to soul-lust. Fangs became pointed ears. And speed morphed into apparition, though we didn’t find that one out until later.”

Orin talked as though he knew this from firsthand experience.

She took a deep breath then blew it out slowly. “Were you one of the vamps who wanted to be human again?”

Chapter 14

Breena chewed on her lip. At first she thought he wouldn’t answer.

He stared down at his hands, turned them over, cupped them and stared at his palms. When he looked up at Breena, his eyes were haunted.