Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
A fter borrowing a phone from one of the coven members, I called Mom to tell her the witches were free. Mom called her boss who sent a couple of vans to pick up the coven for what Mom referred to as a debriefing . It was a military term and sounded very unpleasant.
I was watching them being loaded into big vans when a terrible realization hit me. I turned to glare at Tony. “Is Gigi still a zombie?”
He lifted both hands. “I don’t know. Unless our rescuers freed her that spell is still in place. The Shadow Breakers covered her entire house with it.”
I blew out a breath. “Well, we have to go back to Ireland and release her. I can’t leave her in that condition. If she’s come out of the spell at all, she’d going to be worried sick about what’s happened to me. If she shakes the spell off completely, she’ll go after the Shadow Breakers and curse all of them. That would be bad because not all of them are bad.”
Tony nodded. “Agreed. And I’m glad you’re finally starting to see how difficult this job is going to be at times.”
“Don’t imply I’ve been a selfish person until now.”
“I wasn’t implying that. Get off your jump-to-conclusions mat. We need a portal to get back there. I’m assuming you no longer have your passport or wallet because they took your identification before tossing you in that cell. You’re not ready yet to fly with your new wings. Well, really, we don’t know for sure that you can fly with them. They could be symbolic or merely etheric.”
“They’re real wings, Tony. I’ll learn to fly. Eventually.”
Tony pretended not to hear me. “That leaves portal travel as the only option to use to get back to Ireland. Can your mother make one?”
“Yes, but...”
I thought of all Mom was dealing with and sighed. Making a portal took a lot of magick. I’d seen her make one, but afterward, she conked out for hours. If Mom got attacked because of the wicked fairy, she would need all her energy to protect herself.
I looked at him. Tony was prettier than Colonel Benson, but it wasn’t just his looks that made me lust for him. It was more than that even though I couldn’t explain it.
“If the witches aid you, can you do that thing you did with Jessing and make a portal?”
Tony grinned. “You get an ‘A’ for original thinking. I would be willing to try so long as you don’t make me throw you through it this time. Portals use a lot of magick. In the mortal realm, all creatures are limited to some degree. I try not to expend that much for something so trivial.”
I narrowed my eyes and glared. “You are the worst trainer ever. I was afraid of the portal, so I hesitated. Your job was to reassure me. Throwing me through it was not an acceptable way to convince me of its safety.”
“The portal was closing, Fiona. The owl was not strong enough to hold it open. You need to learn to take risks.”
“And you need to improve your people skills.” I stalked away from him and stopped. When I turned back, I glared. “Don’t follow me. I’m going to talk to the witches. If you talk to them, we might end up in prison again. This is Salem, you know.”
Tony crossed his arms and glared at me. I pointed my finger in warning.
I was heading toward the van when another large van pulled up. An enormous gorilla leaped from the back and knuckle-walked over to me. My eyes widened when I saw his. “Colonel Benson?”
“Yes. Pardon my gorilla-ness. I was practicing in my beast form when your mother called. Thanks for breaking the spell on the witches. Can I give you a lift home?”
My sigh was loud. “I wish I could say yes, but I need to get back to Ireland as soon as possible. I was going to ask the witches to help us make a portal.”
I stepped back a bit when the gorilla laughed in a high-pitched animal screech. His creature form was frightening. Colonel Benson beat his chest once, which made me jump backward.
“How about I charter you a flight?” he asked in an almost normal voice.
“Would we need identification? We used a magick portal to get here. All of mine is back in Ireland. The Shadow Breakers there confiscated it.”
I felt stupid asking but the colonel shook his head. “It travels in Shadow Breakers stealth mode. You’d be invisible. And we’d land you near Shadow Breakers headquarters. It will be like you never left.”
Before I said yes, it was only fair to tell him I was heading back to take some Shadow Breaker heads if that’s what it took to save Gigi. If Benson tried to stop me, I would go anyway.
“You need to know that the only reason I’m going back there is to save my grandmother. Some of them spelled my grandmother because Prince Ezra of Airingdale ordered them to capture me. I was locked in a cell. Two arbitrators who work for the Shadow Breakers broke me out.”
The gorilla moved away from me. He stared at the trees that had hidden the coven’s activities from view.
“Please don’t tell my mother about this. She has enough to worry about. I...” I blew out a breath. “I’ve got this covered. My angel trainer will help me.”
The gorilla turned back to look at me and beat his chest twice. Was I supposed to see that as a sign that he would tell my mother? Or that he wouldn’t ? I needed to know.
“I’ll keep your secret if you will keep mine,” he said.
I guess Mom didn’t know the colonel had a monster side. “Done,” I mumbled.
Tony chose that moment to come stand beside me. “Got things covered, do you?”
“Stop mocking everything I say. Tell Colonel Benson that you’re going to help me rescue my grandmother.”
Tony raised an eyebrow as he turned to look the gorilla up and down. “Your military people shouldn’t be allowed into a science lab.”
Colonel Benson blew an awesome raspberry with his thick gorilla lips. I snorted and covered my mouth. “Very funny,” Tony said to us both.
I giggled as Colonel Benson motioned us to follow him. I climbed into the back of the van, which had been modified to fit the giant gorilla man. He sat on one side. Tony and I found seats on the other.
Colonel Benson studied Tony for a moment and then moved his gaze to me. “He’s no angel.”
“I never said I was,” Tony said flatly.
I looked between the two men—or creatures—or whatever they were. Then I realized that none of us were merely human. “I’ve decided not to judge. The artifact and I have reached an agreement about Tony.”
“You have?” Tony asked in surprise.
We have? The ring echoed his question in my head.
I laughed at them both. “Yes, Tony. I’ve decided not to care what you are. Angel. Demon. Guardian. So long as you train me to fight and take care of myself, you can call yourself anything you want... or nothing at all.”
Colonel Benson covered his fanged mouth with a giant hand. I would have loved to know if he’d ever used those sharp incisors of his.
I grinned and shrugged. “This is the part where you tell me how much I sound like my mother. Go ahead, Colonel. Everyone else already has. I don’t care about that anymore, either. I’m going to consider any comparison to Mom to be a compliment.”
Tony looked at me and snorted loudly in disbelief.
I narrowed my gaze. “Some people grow a pair of balls when faced with giant problems. I’ve grown something else. You may not get it. The ring may not get it. But I get it. And I will learn to use what I was given. Until that time, I will use my scary voice on anyone who gets in my way.”
“One success and she thinks she’s invincible,” Tony grumbled.
“Silence,” I bellowed at him.
The sound echoed around the walls of the van. I winced and hoped the van drivers hadn’t heard. Feeling the van still moving us forward relieved me of some of my fears.
Or it almost did.
Across from us, a gorilla man monster now sat frozen in his seat. I groaned and palmed my face. “Well, shit. I didn’t mean to do that to Colonel Benson. I thought he’d be immune to my voice like you are.”
Tony snorted. “I’m immune because I’m special. You do realize that we won’t be going anywhere until the good Colonel Benson wakes up, right?”
Benson’s monster body flashed and changed with a nearly blinding magick. When my eyes adjusted, I stared at a naked man who was muscular and well-endowed.
And also old enough to be my father.
I covered my eyes and giggled over my wicked thoughts. “When she gets done laughing, Mom is going to kill me for using my powers on her boss.”
“She’ll never know what you did to the man because we’re going to lie to the good colonel. You’re going to have to get used to people not knowing the truth about you. If too many people discover your secrets, the demonic djinn will learn of it. Trust me. You don’t want to deal with him.”
Forgetting Colonel Benson’s man parts were still on display, I removed my hands from my eyes to stare at Tony. “Who’s the djinn?”
“He’s a demonic version of me who guards the other ring. I’m way easier to deal with.”
I snorted. “Sure, you are. Everything useful I’ve discovered about my magick is because the ring told me—not you. All you do is fuss and complain.”
Tony grinned at me. “I believe in tough love.”
“And I believe in the ring more than I do you, which isn’t saying much because I don’t like it either. I’m a person who plans. I need to know what I can do going into a fight, not learn it all in the middle of the first crisis that comes along.”
Since I’d rendered Colonel Benson unconscious with my scary voice, we rode the rest of the way in silence. Finally, we arrived at an abandoned mall in one of the worst parts of Salem.
Colonel Benson was coming around by then. One of the van drivers told us to look in a compartment under the seat. We found sweatpants that seemed like they would fit him. I held his shoulders while Tony wrestled him into them.
I sighed with both relief and regret when he was covered.
Mom and Mulan turned into women my age whenever a naked man was around. I found male bodies artistically beautiful and hadn’t minded the view of such a prime specimen during our trip here.
Tony had seethed beside me the whole way. Like my Dad, he got mad at me over everything. Colonel Benson looked better to me than most naked men I’d seen in my life, but I felt no lust for him. Partly, I’m sure it was because Mom said her boss was happily married. I wasn’t into breaking up relationships.
The other reason I wasn’t lusting for the handsome colonel was that I was monogamous by nature. I still lusted for the being who irritated me every moment I spent in his company.
It made no sense to desire someone so cynical and emotionally unavailable as Tony. I knew that from experience but knowing it didn’t stop me from enjoying his kisses and his touch. Even knowing sleeping with him would be nothing more than a casual exercise didn’t deter my libido from its goal.
The moment my brain lost to my body, the fight I’d been waging would be over.
A naked Colonel Benson had brightened my day, though.
And a little eye candy never hurt.