5. Chapter 5
Chapter five
LUCA
What the hell is he doing?
More importantly, what the hell was I doing?
Stalking. That’s what I was doing. Stalking the very same man I said I was going to stay away from. Except I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was in trouble. Ever since the facility something had been off with Sage. No, maybe even before that, but I’d been too wrapped up in my own problems to notice before then.
And now I was following him around at night while he got into all kinds of trouble. It turned out sweet, nerdy little Sage was quite adept at breaking and entering.
A few days ago I’d watched him tailing two hunters and nearly had a heart attack when he literally walked right into them to plant a surveillance spell. He’d been in disguise at the time, but I was finding out that Sage was not careful with his own safety at all. He was completely reckless, focused only on getting the answers he wanted, no matter the risk.
So far, I’d managed to keep my distance, but this time he as literally breaking into someone's house. An occupied house. The former cop in me itched to go after him, but while it turned out I didn’t know Sage as well as I’d thought, I trusted that he wasn’t a bad person. Which meant this little jaunt into a life of crime was likely connected to the hunters.
Before he’d even approached the house, Sage had thrown something that hit the stone exterior and sent a rush of magic rippling outward. I hadn’t seen it so much as smelled it as it overtook the home, and I was willing to bet the purpose was to disrupt the security system. Sage couldn’t cast magic, but something like that would be pretty easy to buy with the right connections, and he slipped in through a window a minute later with no trouble.
Unable to resist, I followed after him, listening at the window as he crept through the house. Sage was surprisingly stealthy, I even lost track of him once or twice. There were two other people in the house, both sleeping in an upstairs bedroom and they didn’t even stir as he shuffled through a room on the first floor.
He was in that room for a surprisingly long time and I was about to go in after him when he let out a breath of relief. That was the same moment someone upstairs woke and made their way to the bathroom.
Sage was still on the other side of the house and he stopped breathing when the bathroom door clicked closed. His return trip to the window was nearly silent, but his heart pounded the whole way. The owner of the house finished in the bathroom and made their way down the stairs coming closer and closer to Sage. Any longer and he would be caught in the act.
I was about to slip in after him when something changed. Sage’s heartbeat steadied, and then disappeared. One second he was still on his way back, the next he was at the window. Before I even realized what was happening, he was outside sliding the screen back into place. His actions were quiet, but not silent and I heard the footsteps inside pause before changing directions to come our way.
Sage didn’t seem surprised by my presence and he grabbed my arm, pulling me with him. I blinked, and when my eyes open again, we were around the corner and the owner of the house was at the window. He stood there for a moment, looking for threats before he finally slid the window shut. Knowing that any sane person would check additional windows to make sure no one was around, I tucked Sage into my chest and ran at top speed until we were deep into the wooded area at the back of the development.
When we finally came to a stop, Sage blinked up at me in confusion. “Luca?” He looked around. “Where did you come from?”
I hesitated, watching the man carefully, but he genuinely seemed confused.
“Sage, if you are messing with me, it’s not funny at all. That stunt you just pulled was a felony and you’re not going to get out of it by pretending you don’t remember doing it.”
“I’m not messing with you, I broke into Graves’s house for information on the hunters, but what the hell are you doing here?”
“Are you insane? Do you understand what happens if you’re caught pulling that shit?”
He sighed and started walking away. “Do you understand what happens if I don’t get the information we need to deal with the hunters?”
“That’s not on you! You’re human and the last person who should be doing shit like that.”
The witch looked a little insulted. “I didn’t ask you to go in after me, it may have looked bad, but I always get out of situations like that eventually.”
“Sage… have you been having memory blackouts since the facility?”
He froze mid-step but didn’t turn to face me. He didn’t need to. His racing heartbeat gave him away. “What would make you say that?”
“I didn’t go in after you.”
He let out a shaky breath. “Like I said, I usually get out of situations like that just fine on my own.”
“But you don’t remember it afterward?”
“I have to get back. We have a meeting tomorrow and I have a lot of work to do.”
“Wanna give me a ride? I came on foot.”
Sage’s shoulders fell, but he smiled politely. “It’s a bit of a walk back to my car.”
“Better than the walk back to Eastbend.”
“Right.”
I followed Sage through the trees for a while before we came out the other side and found his car parked on a random side street. Once we were safely on the way back to Eastbend, I tried to pick up where we left off earlier.
“How often have you been having blackouts?”
Sage sighed and glanced over at me. “You’re not going to let this go, huh?”
“If the hunters did something to you, we need to find out what it was.”
“They didn’t do anything to me.”
“Something is obviously going on.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think it was them. I don’t think they got the chance.”
“You’re saying something happened to you before that?”
His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “What happened at the facility was the first time anyone else was around when something like that happened. It was the first time anyone was able to confirm something strange was happening and it wasn’t just my imagination. I’ve always brushed it off as nothing, maybe even my ancestors looking after me. That happens sometimes with witches. But after what you guys told me, I started looking back at things with new eyes and realizing that whatever happened at that facility has been happening for a long time. Maybe my whole life. And it explains some other things, too. I think maybe… I think I might be haunted.”
“Aren’t there ways to make a ghost appear? Don’t you want to know who’s haunting you?”
Sage chewed his lip. “This conversation requires drinks. Your place or mine?”
“I’ve only got hard liquor at my place.”
“Yours it is. And I’m just realizing I don’t know where you live. I only harassed you when you were living with Silas.”
I’d only recently moved out of Silas’s house and I still had to go back whenever my house refused to let me in, so Sage hadn't had the chance to follow me home yet.
“I’m surprised you never tried to track me down.”
He shrugged. “I might’ve eventually, but I’ve been busy.”
“Yeah, I saw that,” I agreed dryly. “I’m renting a house in Heritage Pointe not far from Silas. And speaking of hauntings, it’s anyone’s guess if it’ll even let us in.”
Sage smiled. “Owned by witches, huh? Silas didn’t warn you about that?”
“He did, but the house liked me just fine when I was human and I'm too stubborn to give up on it even though I should. It’s too big for one person anyway, but I’d thought it was so interesting when I first moved to Eastbend so I couldn’t resist. Now it’s like a challenge and I’m not entirely sure if I’m going to win or the house will. I guess we’ll find out.”
I gave Sage directions and he went silent the moment we turned onto my street. He pulled into the driveway and stared up at the house for a long moment.
“Luca, how did you find this house?”
“It was one of the first available places I came across when I got hired on at the police department. They told me homes in this area rarely get rented out and I liked it too much to let it go. Why?”
“This was my grandmother’s house.”
Well, shit. No wonder it wouldn’t let me in after I’d fed from Sage. I was lucky it ever let me in again after that.
“My mother sold it after my grandmother died, but it was passed down through our family for generations before that.”
“Do you want to go in?”
Sage finally climbed out of the car and followed me to the porch. His fingers traced the wood as I unlocked the house and gestured for him to go first. The witch walked inside with no issue, but the door almost slammed in my face when I followed. Sage caught it before it could close and pulled me inside.
“That was rude. Luca was nice enough to let me back in here, wasn’t he?”
I led him to the kitchen and pulled down bottles from the liquor cabinet. “You're talking to the house?”
“Kind of. It's not really that the house is haunted, more that after so many generations of witches have left their mark here, the residual energy and magic and blessings tend to make it seem that way. It's not just our houses, any area that has been repeatedly exposed magic will start to take on characteristics of the residual energy. The house might seem fickle or even rude at times, but it's actually just a manifestation of the will of generations of strong-willed and over protective Blackwood witches.”
Sage kept walking until he found his way into the sunroom at the back of the house, behind the kitchen. He touched the houseplants Rowan brought over when I first moved back in.
I brought a few bottles and glasses over to the table. “Good memories?”
He smiled and joined me at the table. “My grandmother loved this room. She always had tons of plants and herbs growing in here. Sadly, I did not inherit her green thumb. Another witch trait that seems to have abandoned the family line.”
He grabbed one of the bottles and poured himself a glass, downing the contents in one go.
“Don’t witches have to pretty much dedicate their lives to their practice? Maybe your ancestors didn’t abandon you so much as you just didn’t grow up practicing.”
“It’s true for newer witch families because the power is almost cumulative to a degree. The stronger our ancestors, the stronger we should be. With a family as powerful as mine I should have been able to get results from simple spells pretty quickly.”
Sage got up and snagged the bottle of tequila I’d left on the counter. I’d expected that to be a bit much for casual conversation, but apparently this talk was a little more difficult for Sage than I’d thought. He threw back a shot and made a face, his nose scrunching adorably.
“My mother gave up magic when I was a baby and refused to teach me, but during a few rebellious periods in my life I managed to dig up some spells and attempted to practice. There’s just nothing. I seem to be completely cut off from my ancestors. For a long time, I thought I was adopted and it wasn’t my bloodline at all. But I looked into it and I’m one of them, they just didn’t want me.”
“The house welcomed you right in, so they can’t think badly of you, right?”
Sage smiled and took another drink. “That’s true. The house still feels oddly welcoming.”
His eyelids grew heavier with every drink while the distance I’d forced between us faded away. He tipped over in his seat until his head rested on my shoulder and his scent surrounded me.
I closed my eyes as my throat tightened. “Then I guess you’re staying here tonight.”
It was a terrible idea, but I’d stayed away for Sage’s safety and it was becoming clear that he wasn’t safe on his own at all. I should have known by the way he refused to keep his distance from me that the man had no regard at all for his own well being.
If I was being honest, the decision had already been made by the time I stole him away from that house tonight. The side of me that never quite let go of being a cop cringed at the idea of the shit this man was going to get me into, but that ship had sailed. I was going to keep his ass out of trouble whether he liked it or not. And I was going to unravel all of those secrets while I was at it.
SAGE
My body swayed and settled against a hard chest that smelled of sandalwood and leather.
“This is nice,” I mumbled, snuggling in quite comfortably. I wasn’t really drunk enough to need to be carried, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain.
My pillow rumbled with a chuckle. “We’re not done talking, but you were about to fall off the chair in there, so the couch seemed like a safer option. Tell me what was so important tonight that you risked prison to get it.”
I was laid out on the couch and the cushion over my head dipped. Luca’s fingers raked through my hair and I squirmed until I was able to rest my head on his lap. His fingers stopped and I grunted in annoyance.
“Are you going to answer the question?”
“What question? Why did you stop?”
Luca sighed. “If I keep petting you will you answer my questions?”
“Mmm, yes!”
“You sure you’re not a shifter?”
My eyes opened at the question. Not because I was actually considering the possibility, but there had been times when it felt like my body wasn’t my own. At least if I was a shifter, it would explain some things.
Luca must have sensed the change in my mood. “You okay?”
“I checked my history, remember? No shifters to be found.”
“And tonight? What were you after that you pulled something so dangerous?”
“The leader in charge of The Origin Order sect.”
“And you think it’s the candidate running for mayor?”
“No, but he’s the highest ranking hunter of all the ones we've identified. I planted a bug in the DA candidate's office so I know it’s not him, but I think I’ve got the ranking of the locals figured out now.”
“What about the blackouts?”
I sighed. “You’re trying to pull information out of me while I’m drunk.”
“Drinking was your idea.”
“Do you really hate being around me?” Two could play this game and Luca was so hot and cold it made me dizzy. But while I’d somewhat enjoyed our little push and pull at first, if he actually didn’t like me, maybe it was time to take a hint.
Luca’s fingers stilled against my temple and an unpleasant feeling unfurled in my chest at the thought of what he might say. “Do you want the truth?”
My heart fell, but I refused to let it show on my face. “I am a journalist, we’re always after the truth, aren’t we?”
“The answer is more complicated than yes or no. It would have been so much simpler before, but now…”
“Now you want to eat me?”
He shook his head. “You don’t mince words, do you? But you're not wrong. I crave your scent, your warmth, your taste. The truth is I don’t hate being around you at all, I want it a little too much and it scares me. It should scare you too.”
“It doesn’t.”
“I’m starting to learn that a lot of things that should scare you don’t.”
“Is it the same with everyone else?”
Luca was quiet for a long moment. “It’s not only you, but it is especially you. I don’t know why. Silas said I’ve had enough time to be in control, that I need to learn to trust myself, but I don’t. There’s something dark inside me, I can feel it. It drives me toward you, makes me want to taste every part of you. It’s powerful and terrifying, and there are times I wonder if it’s stronger than me. All I could think to do was resist it, to stay away as much as I could, but that hasn’t been easy.”
I rolled to my back on his lap to look up at his face. Luca’s jaw was tight and his face was turned away, but I knew exactly what he was hoping for when he told me that. It was the only reason he would have finally opened up to me after all this time.
“So you’re hoping I’ll do it for you if you scare me enough?”
He huffed. “Does anything scare you?”
“Of course, but fear is just an obstacle to be overcome, right?”
“It’s also the thing that’s supposed to keep you alive when you’re being stupid.”
I waved him off. “I’d never get anything done if I let fear stop me. But if you want the truth, the blackouts scare me. You say there’s something dark inside you and I know exactly what you mean because sometimes I feel exactly the same way. Like there’s something inside of me that is so full of darkness and pain that’s not mine. Aside from being denied my birthright, I’ve lived a perfectly normal, happy life. I have nothing to be angry about. I’ve been loved and protected, maybe a little too much. So where is it coming from? And if it wasn’t for the times that I seem to be missing seconds of my life, maybe I could brush it off as stress, or something mundane like I’ve done all my life. It would be easier to live in denial, but that’s never been who I am. At this point I have to wonder if there’s something else going on. I’m terrified of what I’m going to find out.”
“Do you have any ideas what it is?”
“I’ve got a few theories. The top runners are possession or haunting. But I also have to consider the possibility that there may be a more human cause.”
Luca shook his head. “It’s not in your head, if that’s what you mean. Do you remember that day at your house, when I didn’t release you right away and you grabbed my throat?”
“What?” My heart pounded a little harder as I sat up and turned to face him. Not because of what Luca admitted, but because I didn’t remember that at all. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, the point is I could’ve hurt you. You were so warm and willing, and I just didn’t want to let go. I was struggling to control my instincts when you grabbed me and made me release you. I was relieved, but when I pulled away, I swore your eyes were black. It was barely a split second before they were normal again and you seemed fine so I figured my head was just a mess. But then I also talked to Levi about what he saw at that facility, and he said that when you walked out of that room he thought he saw that your eyes were black for a second before you collapsed. Tonight when you slipped out that window, you already knew I was there and you grabbed my arm without even looking my way. Somehow in the span of a second you’d pulled me around the corner of the house, I didn’t even see how it happened, but I don’t think any of us are imagining it.”
Sensing my unease, Luca pulled me into his side and I eagerly soaked up the comfort while he was willing to keep me close.
Pieces of the puzzle were coming together and while it was pretty fucking scary facing the idea that something else was lurking inside me, not knowing the truth had always made me feel a little like I was on the verge of losing my mind. The truth was something I’d always chased after with a relentless focus and this was no different. But I also had a lot of people counting on me to finish the other work I’d started.
“I’ll have to look into it. Whatever this thing is, it’s been with me a long time. Definitely since before my grandmother died, maybe since childhood. I can’t believe my grandmother never noticed.”
“Maybe she did,” Luca suggested.
“You think she knew something was clinging to me and never did anything about it?”
“Every time something strange happened, it seems to have protected you. Escaping that house, breaking out of the facility, forcing me to release you. If something is attached to you, maybe it’s just self preservation on its part, but it hasn’t harmed you, has it?”
Maybe, but... “I’d still like to know what’s haunting me. Even if it was my grandmother or something, why deny me magic only to cling to me? Why not give me the ability to protect myself?”
“I don’t know. And I’m not implying you should ignore it, just that I don’t think it’s actively trying to harm you.”
A conversation I’d completely brushed off at the time came back to me. “Lancaster said something to me when we first met. Something happened when he grabbed me by the throat that made him realize I’m not entirely human. He warned me that black magic is rarely overlooked by the council. At the time I figured he was making false assumptions, but it worked in our favor so I didn’t question it. Now, I’m wondering what it was he saw.”
“From what I’ve heard, the council wouldn’t hesitate to kill you if they suspected a threat. He’s probably not the person to ask.”
“Maybe not. But we can recreate the test.”
Luca’s eyes darkened and a low growl abruptly cut off when he cleared his throat. “You are not going to let someone choke you just to see what happens.”
Even if he’d tried to suppress the vampire’s initial reaction, the growl still lingered in his voice and the danger lurking in his eyes sent a little thrill through me. Human Luca was sexy and sweet. A gorgeous man with a hero complex and a bright smile that could put people at ease. Vampire Luca was hot as hell, darkly beautiful with an air of danger that made him irresistible.
They were both Luca, and his human side wasn’t as gone as he pretended it was. Otherwise he wouldn’t still be coming to my rescue every chance he got. But the dark and dangerous Luca made something deep inside of me tremble with want. I’d always been attracted to him, but I’d only started having those deep resounding urges to play with fire since he turned. What did that say about me?
Knowing that he’d be able to scent my arousal anyway, I plopped myself in his lap and leaned forward to nip at his ear. “You’re so hot.”
Luca let out an exasperated sigh and dropped his forehead to my shoulder. “Why on earth would that turn you on?”
“Don’t know. Maybe it’s the bossy, demanding thing.”
“You don’t exactly strike me as the type who likes being told what to do,” he said dryly.
“Well, I’m definitely not the obedient type and I’d probably never actually do what I’m told, but that doesn’t mean it’s not sexy when you get all growly.”
“So you just enjoy driving me nuts.”
I nipped at his ear again. “You could pin me down and take all your frustrations out on my body.”
Luca groaned and pressed back against the couch, putting a little distance between us. It was obvious I was affecting him, but his hands snagged mine and kept them from roaming.
“You’re killing me. But you’ve been drinking and feeling vulnerable, this wouldn’t be right.”
Great, the vampire was a boy scout. But maybe he wasn’t wrong.
I sighed and slid off his lap, dropping to the couch. “I’m barely buzzed, but fine.”
“You drank enough to be more than buzzed, but you’re also exhausted.”
That part I couldn’t argue with.
“Why don’t you take the bed?”
“Will you be in it?”
He snorted. “I can sleep on the couch.”
“No, I don’t need to steal your bed. I’m fine here.”
Luca scooped me up and was settling me in his bed before I could even protest. “You’ll be more comfortable here. The house locks me out of the bedroom randomly anyway, so I’m used to the couch.”
“Luca?” I called as he stepped away. “Thanks.”
He shook his head. “You have nothing to thank me for.”
Yes I did. But mostly it was for not making me feel like I was losing my mind when I’d been starting to question it myself.
I stripped out of my pants and curled up under the covers. Luca’s scent was everywhere and the room was so comfortable and familiar that a deep ache formed under my breastbone even through I’d never slept in my grandmother’s room even once. I’d barely spent any time in there at all, and yet… it felt like being home.