Chapter Twelve
- Have been meaning to text. Saw you at the opening of Sincere. Congrats! I know you’ve been working hard for it. Sierra.
Soph read the text as she walked down the street towards El Pasco. Despite Eli’s statement that their appearance together had been a work engagement, Soph had remained under the scrutiny of the media throughout the week. Commentators pulled apart her appearance. They talked about her dress - now in the bin after Eli’s attack on it - and some loved it, some hated it. They remarked on her job, and how it was ‘great’ to see a down-to-earth woman out on the socialite scene.
At work, Bradley had her sit in on every new client meeting so they could see her face and make the connection between Paxus and the success of Sincere. Every text she got from Luie was accompanied by photos of magazines and newspaper clippings that held a picture of her face. She couldn’t get away from it.
The one blessing she did receive was that Eli kept his distance. He didn’t call or text. He didn’t look at her across the street and smile. He didn’t show up at her place, begging for protection inside her wards. Effectively, he returned to the way he had been before he’d burst into her apartment with vampires on his tail, and for that, she was grateful.
- Thanks x
She text back to Sierra before stopping outside El Pasco to look through the front window. She couldn’t see Marco yet. Her phone buzzed, and she glanced down at it.
- What are you doing tonight?
- I have a date with Marco.
- Oh lucky. What are you doing after?
Soph thought about it. Last week, she’d left her date with Marco and had ended up with Eli. She wasn’t going to get drunk tonight, though. She couldn’t foresee any… altercations coming up again.
- Not a lot. Why?
- The Night Queens are getting together for some drinks at Grimshollow Park. You should come.
- Yeah okay. Pick me up from El Pasco in about three hours.
“Hi, Soph.” She looked up to find Marco before her, his hands in his pockets and a disarming smile on his face as he waited for her to finish her text.
“Hi,” she replied, leaning up to kiss his cheek in greeting. At the last moment, he turned his head so that his lips met hers.
The kiss was brief but sweet and when he pulled away; she was gripping both his arms.
“Doesn’t that usually happen at the end of the date?” She teased, a little breathless. He looped his arm through hers and escorted her into the restaurant.
“Considering our last date was cut short by your drunk cousin, I didn’t want to take my chances.”
“Welcome to El Pasco,” the waitress greeted them. “Would you like a booth or a table?”
“Booth,” Marco said. “A private one, please.”
They slid into the booth, both on the same side, and ordered a few share plates and a jug of sangria.
“How’s your week been?” Marco began, and Soph’s stomach tightened. How much did he know? How much was he guessing? There was a chance he knew nothing at all. Entertainment news catered to a niche sort of person, and Marco didn’t seem like the type. He was a businessman, though, as was Eli. Surely he’d seen the bleed between the two genres of news.
But she’d resolved to not bring it up unless he did. This was only their third date - really only their second if they excluded a double date in a nightclub. They weren’t exclusive. She didn’t even want to be exclusive with someone. It never ended well.
And though Marco didn’t light a fire in her belly the same way Eli did, she was willing to see where things led them, if only to appease her grandmother.
“It’s been busy,” she poured them both a glass of sangria before fishing a wedge of orange out of her own to suck the pulp free. “SinCorp has been the biggest client Paxus has ever had, so after seeing the new nightclub open, there have been a lot of enquiries to field.”
She waited with bated breath to see if he said anything after she’d brought up the topic of SinCorp and the club opening but he didn’t react at all save to smile and nod, then he launched into the long-winded tale of how his marketing company came to be.
While they ate, they chatted about inconsequential things, but as the evening wore on, things became easier, the jokes flowing as freely as the sangria. Sitting on the same side of the booth as her had been a tactical move on Marco’s part. It wasn’t long before she was leaning against him, his arm slung casually over her shoulder.
“No, no, no,” she laughed as he poured her another sangria. “You’ve been out of the game too long. Advertising is not just about sales. It’s about making people feel things. It’s about connecting with their deepest desires and saying, ‘hey, I get you’.”
“That’s an interesting way of putting it,” he agreed, and she sat up straighter so she could see his face.
“Take Sincere, for example,” she explained. “She is honest. You know what you’re going to get when you go there; good drinks, a good time. An opportunity to be a little promiscuous. Sinners is all about adult entertainment. There are boys there for the girls, and girls there for the boys. You can indulge your fantasies and sin until your heart’s content. See, it’s all in the name. When you see it, it speaks to you. You know you’ll get what you deserve when you go there.”
“Get what you deserve?” He raised his eyebrows and laughed. “That’s taking it a bit far, isn’t it?”
Soph didn’t think so, but then, she’d got exactly what she’d wanted out of her night at Sincere.
“What about Sinister?” He prompted.
Soph smiled coyly. “Ah well, I can’t tell you about Sinister yet. All will be unveiled.” Her phone buzzed on the table and Sierra’s name flashed onto the screen. Soph groaned. She’d been enjoying her date with Marco so much that she’d forgotten that Sierra was picking her up.
“I’ll tell her I can’t make it,” she said, letting the call go to voicemail before picking the phone up to start a text.
“No, don’t do that,” Marco said. “I should go anyway. I have an early start tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?”
He smiled, then pulled her in and kissed her. “As much as I want to continue this, I really do have to go.”
“I’ll set up the next date,” Soph assured him and kissed him back.
Marco settled the bill, and they left the restaurant. After a last kiss goodbye, Marco headed off down the street and Soph climbed into Sierra’s waiting car.
“That’s Marco?” Sierra asked, tilting her head to watch the broad-shouldered man walking away from them. Soph nodded, her fingers finding her lips where they still tingled from his kiss. “He’s hot!” She gave Soph a sly sideways look. “Between Damiani and Marco, you’re pulling all the good ones.”
“Ha ha,” Soph responded dryly as she buckled her seatbelt. “Let’s get going.”
* * *
The witches gathered at the edge of the clearing, where tall evergreens cast eerie shadows across the moon-silvered grass. Soph counted about thirty or forty of them as she and Sierra approached. The coven didn’t sit in a traditional wiccan circle, rather they were spread across the clearing in little groups, clustered on picnic rugs or cushions.
She could hear them talking too; the cheerful chatter of women who knew each other. Despite the sangria she’d drunk, Soph was suddenly nervous.
“I should have brought something,” she said to Sierra as the two of them traipsed over the grass towards the group. “A bag of chips or a bottle of wine.”
“No need,” Sierra informed her. “Adriana likes to provide for the group.”
They came to a halt at the edge of the gathering and Adriana, who had been standing close to the trees with Darcel, waved to them. Sierra and Soph waved back, then Sierra motioned that they should sit down. They found space on a rug with two sisters, and Sierra introduced them in a hushed tone as Adriana stepped forward.
“We’re all here, my beautiful Night Queens,” the coven matriarch began, and the chatter died away. Soph pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms over them. Adriana moved through the group, smiling down at the women as she passed. She twirled a dark rose between her fingers. Both petals and stem were black and shining like glass. “It’s with the Founders’ Blessing that we find ourselves here, able to share our passion for magic together. Let’s take a moment.”
It seemed to be a cue. The other witches closed their eyes, falling utterly still. A breeze flushed across the clearing, lifting the hair from Soph’s neck. Her skin tingled, as if her blood was singing to the energy of the others around her. For a few heartbeats, she knew all the women there; sisters, mothers and daughters. All with unique stories, but all inherently the same. This is what she’d been missing out on by being a lone witch. These women were kindred spirits, and she could feel them calling to her from the very depth of her soul.
Slowly, the feeling loosened, and the breeze died away. There was a single moment of silence and serenity, then Adriana smiled and raised her arms. Wind whipped in and around the woman, creating a whirlwind of leaves that almost encased her. Soph held her hair out of her face and watched Adriana’s spell in amazement. She’d never seen such advanced use of magic, except from Nona, who could make a room dark with indignation alone.
Adriana let the spell go with a flourish and the other witches applauded, Soph along with them. Adriana laughed and waved to Darcel, who opened a picnic hamper, extracting bottles of wine and plastic cups.
“Now.” Adriana continued her walk among the witches. The wine made its way to the back of the group and Soph poured herself and Sierra a glass. Sierra sipped it and sighed contentedly.
“I needed this,” she whispered. Soph sipped her own, then looked into the glass. It tasted a bit odd, as if it weren’t quite mature enough, but also overly sweet. No one else seemed bothered by it, so she put it down to her palate needing to readjust from the sangria earlier.
“Tonight I want to talk about vampires,” Adriana continued and Soph started. Vampires? Seriously? “I know it’s often a topic of discussion for us. We talk about how to protect ourselves from them, about how to identify their powers, but tonight I’m going to get specific. Walk with me.”
The women before them stood. Soph drained her wine in two grimacing mouthfuls and followed suit. She got to her feet and a flash of heat passed over her, crawling down her shoulders and along her arms, creeping up the back of her neck and over her scalp. She blinked the sensation away and followed the witches before her as they started into the forest. Ahead, Adriana’s voice carried through the trees, ladened with power.
“There is one vampire who has gone against the harmony of the Founders. He is unknown to us, but he is close. You can smell him.”
And Soph suddenly could; a luring scent that both enticed her, yet made her blood boil. She wanted to find it and destroy it. Adriana continued.
“He has defiled the Founders by taking what is not rightfully his. He was gifted one power, but by force took three! The Founders want their powers back! It is our duty as witches who serve the Founders to find this vampire and kill him!”
The words echoed in Soph’s head, and she reeled. Her skin was on fire, but she couldn’t stop her forward momentum, weaving through the dark trees, following the shadows of the witches before her. The scent of the vampire with the stolen powers led the way.
“Si,” she groaned at one point. “I feel sick.” But Sierra was no longer at her side. For a moment, she blacked out.
When she came to, she was moving at an impossible speed; the trees whipping past in a blur and her feet barely touching the ground, yet the path forward was forged in perfect clarity. She was feverishly hot, but the wind dried the sweat before it could fully bead on her skin. Others ran with her - the other witches - and ahead, the smell of the vampire with the stolen powers was stronger than ever. She had to find him and kill him so she could get the Founders’ powers back. Maybe it would stop the burning of her skin.
Another witch got up close beside her and Soph turned her head, a snarl of warning ripping from her throat. The witch backed off. Ahead, through the trees, there was movement. A man’s back, dodging between the trunks as he fled towards Grimshollow Peak.
Soph needed to get him. With a guttural shriek, she surged forward, faster than the other witches, leaving them behind. She dogged the vampire through the trees. The speed at which she moved was incredible. Everything around her faded, and only her prey mattered. She gained on him, close enough that she could hear his footfalls and his quickened breaths.
He reached the edge of the trees where the rocky bluff began, then he swung around. His abrupt halt took her by surprise and she hurtled into him, feeling like she’d run headlong into a brick wall. Didn’t matter. She still wanted him dead.
She screamed at him, trying to get her arms around his neck. In her persistence for murder, she barely noticed that they were tumbling in a wild fray of limbs back down the hill. They slammed into a tree and came to a halt. He was on top.
They scrabbled together for a second, each trying to get the other’s throat. Then he had her pinned.
“Soph?” He said incredulously, and for an uncertain moment, Soph stopped fighting. His eyes were blazing red and his fangs were bared, but still she recognised him.
Her voice was hoarse as it left her lips, and in it she could feel her irrational hatred of him warring with her bone-chilling fear. “Eli? What’s happened to me?”