CHAPTER NINETEEN
~
Faith gasped in a breath she didn’t need. Her eyes snapped open, and her brain played catch up. The first person she saw was Lex. “I died!” she hissed out in disbelief.
“And not for the first time,” Lex said.
Faith’s hand shot up, and she gripped Lex around the neck, choking off the air he didn’t need in his lungs to survive. “You keep killing me!” Faith hissed with a level of anger she couldn’t seem to control as she tightened her grip.
The hard sting of magic ripped through Faith’s body, and her muscles locked up so tightly she was sure the screaming pain meant her muscles were ripping apart. She let go of Lex, and he backed off. “Enough!” Lex snapped with an overriding need to rip the witch limb from limb for causing Faith pain.
Faith bit down on the remnants of the magic as it left her body, washed away by the healing power of the vampire blood running through her veins. “Wow, now I know how that feels,” she said, pushing onto her elbow in the dirt and eyeing the witch with a death glare. On the bright side, the anger boiling within her was gone.
“Good, isn’t it,” Moira said, smirking.
“Not so much from this side,” Faith bit out, trying to resist the urge to take the witch down by whatever means necessary. “You had better have found something…”
“You have another squatting inside you,” Moira said in a tone so matter of fact that she could have been reading from her shopping list.
Faith looked to Lex, curious. “How is that possible when I’m a vampire? Aren’t we supposed to be immune to that sort of thing?”
“Not necessarily,” Moira said, bringing Faith’s attention back to her.
“So, vampire – not all it’s cracked up to be then,” she grumbled, pushing to sit up.
“Let me help you,” Lex said, unthinking that she was a vampire or she was Faith, little Miss Independent.
“I will break you,” Faith warned, anger flaring once again and biting down on the overwhelming feelings within her to do some real damage to someone in revenge. When she was confident that Lex had backed off, she turned her attention back to the witch. “Did you fix it?”
Moira shook her head. “It’s not something I’ve come across before; the Others don’t appear to be demons – just powerful entities…”
“Entities?” Faith asked, curling her top lip.
“Ghosts,” Moira said. “Mean ones.” Her eyes flashed with amusement, but Faith could see the worry there.
“And?” she asked.
“And a half coven would be good, a full one better,” Moira said, shrugging. “Know any witches?”
“Funny,” Faith said, bounding to her feet. Her enhanced senses let her know Lex had moved to block her from getting to the witch without even looking at him, but Moira hadn’t moved a muscle – not even a twitch – so she had to give her kudos for that. “We have a half coven, over half including Jennifer…”
“Ahh,” Lex said, wincing.
“Ahh,” Faith said, mimicking him, but not in a good way.
Moira sighed. “I fear that Jennifer might be the door from which the Others, as you call them, entered our realm and have taken a foothold – her and the ghosts I told you to send home. I’m reliably informed that hasn’t been done yet.”
“There were complications,” Faith bit out.
“Would stupidity be one of those?” Moira asked.
“The ghosts wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for your meddling spell.” Faith’s brain kicked her backside into gear, and all of her anger was focused on one place – Moira. “You did this!”
Lex anticipated Faith’s next move and blocked her before she took her first step toward the witch.
“Which is why I will help undo it,” Moira said. “I created the spell that brought the ghosts; you need me to break it…”
“Or I kill you, and it’s gone anyway,” Faith said, eyeing her over Lex’s shoulder.
“Be nice,” Lex reminded her.
“I do not play well with others,” Faith bit out. She could feel that red-hot anger within her and latched onto it, imagining choking it the way she had choked Lex until she finally had it under control.
Moira was right; it would have been better if she had helped, and killing the witch wouldn’t achieve that. She needed to think of Jennifer and what was best for her.
“Impressive,” Moira said, eyeing Faith for a long moment. “She seems to be able to control her emotions much better than most newbies I have encountered over the years.”
“I think so,” Lex said. “Having a purpose seems to have helped.”
“Control?” Faith said, biting off a snort of a chuckle.
Moira raised her eyebrows. “You took hold of your anger and batted it away, didn’t you?”
“Took me a decade or so to learn that one,” Lex sighed. “I’m jealous.”
“Bite me,” Faith said, sneering at him.
“Love to,” he replied. “But right now, we need to go see Nana and tell her what we’ve learned.”
“Rather not,” Faith said, folding her arms like a petulant child.
“Fine, you sit on the roof of the guesthouse and pout while I inform your grandmother of the unfolding situation.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Moira said, eyeing Faith again. “I’ll take my own car – wouldn’t want to have to kill Faith just yet.”
Faith sneered. “Witch blood tastes good, right?” she said to Lex while eyeing Moira like she was chocolate cake.
“Be nice,” Lex whispered in her ear, distracting her from the witch with a rush of excitement that raced through her body.
Faith wished she could get that emotion under control. Lex was her kryptonite and the last thing she needed when battling on all fronts – or was it? She’d controlled her anger with the need to help Jennifer, and Lex’s presence, however annoying, was also a good focal point to shift her mood.
She could foresee only one problem with that route: eventually, she would succumb to the feelings he aroused within her.
~
“Got it,” Zeke said, manhandling a crate of beer out the way so he could yank a different brand to the front.
Darcy flashed him a sexy, teasing smile. “See, and they say men aren’t good for anything.”
“I can be very useful in a lot of ways,” Zeke replied, returning her playfulness as he lent a shoulder against the shelving and watched her with interest as she worked around him.
“I bet you can,” Darcy said, moving closer to him. She could almost feel the mood change within him. His eyes darkened a little, and they held a hungry look, but she didn’t think it was food he was craving. “Reach up and grab me a pack of serviettes from the top shelf,” she said, breaking the mood with a decidedly wicked chuckle.
Zeke felt the rush of disappointment zip through him. He wanted to kiss her and taste her lips before burying his face against her neck and taking her scent, storing it all in his memory so he could recall it any time he wanted.
But the big bad witch was on the other side of the door, and he knew that he needed to meet the challenge that Amy had set for him before he could woo Darcy into his arms and his bed and make her his. In the meantime, he would just drive himself to a special kind of crazy if he overstepped the line with his mate.
Zeke reached up, snatched a pack of paper towels, and handed them to her like crown jewels. “Look at me, useful again,” he said with a cocky grin that made her feel all soft and gooey inside.
“There is a little something else you could do for me,” Darcy said, catching her tongue between her front teeth and giving him a look that made his length beg to stand to attention.
“Uh-huh,” Zeke said, his eyes on the little pink tip of her tongue until it was snatched away along with that wicked smile she’d tempted him with.
“Go and stand the heck up to Amy and stop this whole challenge thing in its tracks right now!” she said, pointing the way to the stockroom door just in case he got lost.
Zeke snapped to attention at the hard streak of determination in her voice. “Now, sweetheart…”
Darcy took a long step back away from him, shaking her head. “Nope.”
“But, it’s a challenge…”
“Oh, screwballs!” she said, spinning on her heels, tossing the paper towels on top of the crate of mixed beer that she’d made up, and wrapped her hands around the crate, ready to lift them when Zeke stepped up and placed his hands on the crate.
“I have this…”
“I can do it,” she informed him, snatching it into her arms and scowling at him. “I can also summon the backbone to tell a challenge to go to Hades, along with a meddling witch, and for that matter – fate – if she thinks you are the mate for me, she’s cuckoo.”
“W-haaa…?”
Darcy spun on her heels, taking the crate with her, accidentally bumping the corner of the crate against the bulge in his pants, and tossed open the door with magic, walking through it before it had the chance to bounce back and slam shut behind her.
Zeke had to catch his breath, not only from the pain she had accidentally inflicted but from the speed change in his mate’s behaviour. “What the hell just happened?” Zeke wondered, looking around for answers before his brain kicked his backside into gear – his mate was gone. He shook off the pangs of pain, stalked to the door, reached out and tossed it back on its hinges – forgetting it was going to bounce back and smack him in the shoulder as he stormed out of the room with a purpose.
“Ugh!” he growled, elbowing the door so it bounced off the shelving and caught the back of his heel on the way out. “I’ll tell Amy what’s what, win my mate, and woo her into my arms and my damn bed,” he growled as he muttered to himself, walking out into the bar and grounding to a halt at the sight of a busload of school kids running around the place like little demons.
Zeke shot a look at Amy, who looked about as pleased as he felt and had something of a deer caught in the headlights about her. “Damn it,” he grumbled. He took a slow walk to the bar, keeping his eye on the short humans darting around.
“Right!” A frazzled-looking woman yelled into the mayhem as other adults came up behind her, looking equally grim. He guessed they were supervising the large group. “Take a seat, and we’ll get to ordering!”
Zeke stopped walking the moment the toe of his boot made contact with a barstool. A hand shot out and grabbed his wrist, and it was so unexpected that Zeke jolted in place. He turned to find Amy wide-eyed and noted the little twitch under her left eye. “I’m in hell, and there is no escape,” she hissed.
Zeke straightened. “You and me both,” he replied, curling his top lip. “I’ve got this; give me a notepad and pencil.”
Amy frowned in confusion, but she rushed to give him what he asked for anyway – anything to make the mayhem stop. While she could deal with a bunch of shifters having a barfight, kids were an entirely different matter – she couldn’t use her go-to, left fist, right fist technique to deal with them.
When a loud screeching sound of chair legs slowly dragging across the floor made Zeke’s teeth stand on edge, he snatched up the pad and pencil and stepped forward, pulling on the wolf within to show authority. “If you take a seat now, I’ll take your order; if you don’t, the door is over there, and your bus awaits. Food or hunger; your choice, make it now,” he said with an underlying growl of authority that had everyone paying attention, even Amy.
Everyone in the bar had stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him. Backsides dropped onto chairs at the tables, and even the adults guarding the group of little demons rushed to find a place, albeit with impressed smirks.
Zeke heard Amy snort a chuckle of glee as the children sat perfectly still, looking at him as though he was the missing link they needed in their lives, and in some cases, he probably was. He shot a look back over his shoulder at Amy, and when she lowered her chin and met his raised eyebrows with a smirk, he winked at her. “I’ve got this,” he said, starting for the tables.
“Yes, you do,” she said, impressed and grateful for the low level of chatter in the room. “Challenge complete – levelled up,” she added, making Zeke almost trip over his own feet.
Zeke whipped around and stared at the witch. He narrowed his eyes and questioned her with a look. “After you’ve dealt with the kiddies,” she added, shooing him away with the flick of a hand.
“Done,” he said, turning and sauntering off to take orders.