Natural Witch

Her widened eyes were glued to mine. She nodded mutely. No one around us seemed to notice the exchange.

This was why skulking worked so incredibly well for me.

I straightened up, releasing the fire I’d been holding inside of me. Sparkles danced before my eyes for just a moment before settling and winking out. She blinked twice, and immediately reached for the phone.

“This way.” I grabbed Emery’s forearm and steered him around the couple still checking in. Near the fireplace, I chose a seat in which I was facing one direction, and gestured to the seat opposite me so he was facing the other. If someone came at us, we’d see them coming.

Then it occurred to me. I’d forgotten to look for a single closet on the way over.

I mouthed a swear, which didn’t really count as swearing, and glanced behind me in case one was hidden in the wall. Nothing. There was the luggage holding area that bellboys used, and the hallway disappearing behind me led to rooms, it looked like, so there were bound to be closets that way. Should the world fall down around me, I had options.

Satisfied, I turned back to Emery, only then noticing his steady, blank-faced stare.

“What? Is he coming?” I glanced around, looking at people this time. Well-dressed hotel guests roamed around the lobby, or headed to the bar and disappeared down one of the hallways. No one seemed unnaturally pretty or alluring, and no one noticed us, except for a teenage girl who wouldn’t stop staring at Emery.

“I have no idea what spell you did back there.” His tone was flat, giving nothing away.

“Oh.” I frowned as I thought back. A part of me had realized I was using magic, but it hadn’t occurred to me that I was doing anything constructive with it. “Did you see the weave?”

“Yes. It was extremely intricate, which comes with experience.” His eyes glittered and a smile broke through his stoic expression. “You are very tricky, Turdswallop. I am rather impressed. Have you ever used that with your mother?”

I waved the comment away, trying to ignore the horrible pet name he insisted on using. “I’ve tried to sweet-talk her. It never goes well.”

“Your mother isn’t strong in spell-casting magic, but she has hidden depths. Her strength of will is incredible. It has to be, to get out from under the kind of spell you just blindsided that poor woman with. No wonder your mother was able to match with someone like your father. And keep you in line. Fate has plans for you, Penny Bristol. I wish I could watch them unfold.”

“I have news for you—you’re going to get a front-row seat. Just as soon as danger comes our way, we’ll experience my reactions together, equally as clueless as to what I’ll do next.”

His smile slid away, slowly replaced by sadness. He averted his gaze.

That was when I noticed the handsome man gliding through the room in black slacks and a white button-down shirt, the top two buttons opened.

I didn’t need anyone to tell me. The vampire was on the scene.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Emery, hello,” the insanely handsome man said as he stopped near our seats. His expressive, deep brown eyes shone as he stuck out his hand. His smile curved perfectly shaped lips into a mouth-watering smile. “So good of you to visit.”

Emery stood, his face stoic but not any more so than usual. He almost seemed bored, which went against the warnings he’d given me earlier.

Then it occurred to me about his power and strife in what I assumed was the wilds—he strove to be the top of the food chain. In this room, he clearly thought he was.

“Hi, Clyde,” Emery said, shaking hands.

Clyde? What kind of a vampire name was Clyde?

“And who is your beautiful friend?” Clyde turned to me, his gorgeous features made even more attractive by a wide smile. But his eyes weren’t shining with delight. That sheen was something else. Something lurking. Predatory. Watchful.

I closed my eyes, unable to help it. My sleeping-while-standing-up look wasn’t exactly appropriate mid-greeting, but the vampire’s energy had changed the tune of my surroundings. I needed to know if my imagination was running amok, or if the magic within him was speaking to me.

I sucked in a breath. Though I could hear Emery’s deep bass mingling with the enchanting, alluring song of Clyde, the words eluded me. Spicy, silky, and masterful, the vampire’s magic caressed my skin and flirted with my senses. It soaked into my being and settled into my core, tightening my body pleasantly. But unlike with Emery, this wasn’t a natural feeling. It was magical in nature, and its intent was my ultimate submission.

Electricity rolled over my skin, spicy and hot. I opened my eyes and met the keen gaze of the ultimate predator.

Emery hadn’t needed to tell me what vampires were capable of. I could see it plain as day—and, for better or worse, feel it in every fiber of my being.

It would be so good.

I knifed the thought curling out of my consciousness.

Yes, they were the ultimate predators—turning their prey against themselves.

But I was not prey. And he’d die before I submitted.

Emery took two quick steps to my side and grabbed my wrists, holding them low. Our electricity merged, as it always did, amplifying the power and energy dancing around us. Within us. He took my wrists in one hand and wrapped his other arm around me, holding me tightly to his body.

It was his Penny is not stable positioning. And he was exactly right: I was far from stable. I felt threatened to my very being, and every fiber in my body wanted to meet that challenge. Wanted to show this vampire that I would end him if he tried to move in and take what was mine: my body, my choice, my freedom.

“Take us to somewhere private, Clyde. Now.” Emery turned me away from the people passing us. “Deep breaths, Penny. Deep breaths. Try to calm it.”

The energy changed again, now supercharged. The vampire’s magic screamed destruction. Clyde’s demeanor had changed, as well, the cultivated grace from a moment before turning fluid and deadly. Fangs dropped down from blackening gums and his pupils enlarged until they filled the whites of his eyes. A strange, gristly hue coated his once-flawless skin.

“Wow. He turns really ugly when he’s amped up.” I hadn’t meant to say that. I’d meant to breathe. But the vampire’s magic licked at me, knives slicing down my skin. The fire inside me raged. Streams of magic started to weave around the vampire.

“I’m not doing this,” Emery said urgently, looking down at my hands. Then back up at me. His eyes widened, and his head snapped toward Clyde. “And she is untrained. She’s reacting to your magic in ways I wasn’t taught. You’re out of control, Clyde, and so is she. Fix this!”

The vampire blinked twice, his brow furrowing and that ghastly hue diminishing slightly.

Emery bent down to me, his lips by my ear. “Breathe, Penny. Just breathe. Focus on my touch. On my voice. He won’t hurt us here. But you can’t release that spell.”

“I don’t know how to keep from releasing that spell,” I said through clenched teeth. “I don’t know how I’m making it. I’m just reacting to what I feel.”

“I know. But remember, if a spell is woven too slowly, it’ll dissipate. Just slow it down. Slow everything down.”

I closed my eyes, focusing on his hands holding my wrists. On his arm tightly around me. His comforting feeling and smell.

I remembered how soundly I’d slept the night before, wrapped in a near-stranger’s arms. When I’d finally roused in the morning, Emery’s eyes were already open and staring at the ceiling. He’d lain still for who knew how long because he hadn’t wanted to wake me up.

My mind shifted to his admissions of not feeling good enough. His belief that he was evil. He’d trusted me enough to tell me all of that. I realized that the trust was mutual. So if he said I could relax and still be safe, I believed him.

As though a valve had been turned, pressure whooshed out of the situation. The spell fizzled and the energy slowed, no longer boiling around us. The spicy danger was still there, the vampire’s magic, but I ignored it, instead focusing on the positive feeling of Emery’s touch.

I opened my eyes, taking in the scene—people moving around within the hotel. When Emery shifted a little, I once again caught sight of the vampire, his eyes and skin back to normal, his fangs pulling up into his gums.

His hard brown eyes studied me before he adopted a disarming smile. “And here we are. Back to normal.”

I leveled him with a glare. “Don’t try to charm me, bub. I’ve seen you without your makeup. It’s not pretty.”

To my surprise, his smile spread. “And I have seen you without yours, so to speak. I will take the opposite assertion. You are breathtaking. Please, come with me.” He spared a glance for Emery, a sparkling, excited sort of thing, before leading us toward the bar area. Once there, we continued down the hall, past the dining area, and descended the stairs. “Are you hungry? I can have something brought to us now, or you can order room service later.”

“We won’t be staying.” Emery released my wrists but not my shoulders.

My stomach growled and I put a hand over it. “Will he try to drug us? Because I’m starving.”

“I will not try to drug you… I did not catch your name.” Clyde turned at a crossroads in the hall and bent slightly, as though readying for a bow.