Chapter 29
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
The last time I talked to Soren was my response to his, YOU BITCH text after we left him to handle the oncoming spell cloud alone.
Saying he was less than enthused to see me was an understatement.
“Hi ya.” I sat on his porch enjoying a cup of lemonade his sexy Second had given me.
“What do you want?” Soren was looking decidedly less sexy than normal. Dark shadows had taken up residence under his eyes, and he’d lost weight. “I’d ask how you got in, but I smell Evie around here.”
Having the fae queen as a bestie came in handy sometimes. Plus, this was her land and her wards. She could walk through any meager protection Soren might be able to create for himself. Not that he had. He was still relying on everyone else to fix the problems he’d made for himself.
“The witches still on your tail?”
Soren glared at me. “I’m sure they’ll be back soon.”
“You sure? It’s been a few weeks. Maybe they’ve given up.” They hadn’t. Evie and I caught wind of them on our way in.
Mom wasn’t with them. She’d taken off to parts unknown, but I wasn’t foolish enough to believe she was gone for good. Mom was a snake in the grass waiting for her prey. She’d be back soon, I had no doubt.
Soren plopped down in the other chair and reached out to snatch my glass away. He took a long sip and sighed. “They sent a black cloud of death after me. I doubt they’ve given up after that kind of effort.”
“Well look at you and your magic penis driving witches to insanity.”
Soren leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Moira. Can you stop? Please?”
The poor bastard sounded defeated. “I’m here to help you finish the witches off.”
His attention snapped to me. “Seriously?”
“Why else would I be here?”
“I dunno,” Soren said, giving me the side eye. “To rub salt in the wound? Maybe put a tracking device on me so the witches can locate me 24/7?”
I clicked my tongue. “Oh ye of little faith. They tried to kill you. Several of us witnessed the attempted murder. We couldn’t very well exterminate them without true just cause. So I got an official document allowing us to kill them with just cause.”
Soren blinked. “Excuse me?”
I dug in my purse and waved the paper at him. “The Lords, minus you, convened and authorized us to use lethal force.”
“We never needed a piece of paper to put someone down before.”
“It’s a brand new world out there, Soren. And all this was kind of your fault. No one really blamed the witches for wanting to kill you.”
Soren let out a laugh. “You really are worse than Evie.”
I reached over and patted his thigh. “Yes, but the difference is the Lords like me, and I’m good at my job. Now we have a fancy piece of paper giving us permission to wipe out their entire coven.”
“How’d you get it?”
“Sending a black cloud of death at a Lord tends to annoy even the grumpiest of leaders. Once we notified the witch leaders or whatever the hell they’re called and threatened to reexamine their territory boundaries, they were more than happy to authorize the lethal force.
” I smiled sweetly at him. “You’re welcome. ”
“That paper is all well and good, but it won’t help us get through their wards.”
“Evie and Cernunnos are coming back as soon as we get your okay.”
Soren frowned. “My okay?”
“Yes. Aren’t you the Lord of this temporary land?”
A faint smile crossed his lips. “Sure doesn’t feel like it, but I suppose I am.”
“Then let’s go kill some witches. Cool?”
He scrubbed a hand through his hair and slowly nodded. “It’s true then, isn’t it?”
I stole the lemonade back. “Is what true?”
“You and the god.”
I still wasn’t comfortable talking about whatever this was I had with Cernunnos.
“I smell him all over you.”
I grimaced. “Living with shifters is not awesome.”
He grinned. “You look good, Moira. Really good. Whatever this is, it agrees with you.”
I never thought about how I looked in the past. Immortality tends to make any tendency toward vanity slowly fade away if you weren’t in the spotlight all the time.
But Soren was right. I was a child when turned and became a slender, almost skinny adult as a result of Mom’s experimentation.
Gaining weight had always been an issue.
It turned out I was accidentally starving myself.
I needed blood far more often than I thought, but it wasn’t human blood that fortified me.
I needed magical blood. How I’d deal with that if Cernunnos and I didn’t work out was something I couldn’t think about right now. He’d been happily feeding me, and we were slowly going further between feedings to see if I could keep my weight and energy levels up.
So far, we were up to five days with no ill effects.
I liked Cernunnos. A lot. He was funny and weird and sexy, and he’d given me something fae almost never gave up. Blood was hoarded because it contained power, and he’d given me his because he thought I may need it.
Even if things didn’t work out, I would always be grateful to him.
“Thanks,” I said finally. “I feel really good.” And my powers were…
Well. I no longer believed I was much of a vampire, that’s for sure. I was far more than a creature who drank blood to survive.
He slid a curious look my way. “And Ethan?”
Unsurprisingly, he’d heard the rumors. He was a Lord. “We’re both professionals and can work with each other when we need to.”
Never mind that Ethan did all his communication via email and text these days. I’d smelled him on Keep property, but he’d kept a wide berth from me. While his absence saddened me, maybe it was for the best.
I cherished Ethan’s friendship, but things had always been complicated between us. With the promise I made Cernunnos, I intended to be very careful in any future dealings with the Lord.
Soren grunted. “I’m surprised Ethan’s taking this so well. He’s level headed, but he’s a shifter. We all knew he was more possessive of you than he should be.”
“Ethan and I are, to quote my favorite show, workplace proximity associates. That’s all.”
The edges of his eyes crinkled with amusement. “Sure, Moira. Keep telling yourself that.”
He took the lemonade back and finished it off. “For what it’s worth, I realize I was a complete asshat to you.” He paused and winced. “To many people. All I can do is apologize and try to be a better person.”
“You’ve already apologized. We’re good, Soren. As long as you survive the witches, you’ll get your second chance to make amends.”
Soren cracked a laugh. “Always so uplifting and motivational, Moira. Can’t wait to see your show on the road.”
I winked and stood. “Half-price tickets for you because you need it the most.”
“Ass.” Soren rose and stretched. “Want to call your people? I’ll send for Seth.”
I texted Evie and summoned Cernunnos mentally. Now that we were closer, I could feel his presence around almost all the time, even when we weren’t together. Weird.
As an afterthought, I texted Ari and let her know what we were doing. Mom more than likely had the weapon, but if she popped in while we were getting rid of the coven, Ari might miss her chance to grab it if she wasn’t here.
Within seconds, Evie and her dad popped in, followed directly by Ari. Evie gave her an odd glance. The wards were up, and Ari, if she were merely a jeweler, shouldn’t be able to bypass Evie’s wards.
I met Evie’s eyes and shook my head once. We could get into it later.
Evie frowned but nodded. She was still getting used to all the weird things just like I was.
Seth sauntered over, his brows flicking up when he spotted all the women. He dipped his head when he spotted Evie. “Hello, you stunning creation.”
Evie snorted. “Glad to see you’re still the same, Seth.”
He grinned. “I can’t go around disappointing my favorite woman, can I?”
When he spotted Ari, his eyes narrowed. “Another fae? We really are going hunting, aren’t we?”
Soren jogged inside and came back a few minutes later with a backpack. “Water and some food in case we get stuck out there for longer than planned.”
“Let’s hope not,” Evie said. “I can’t stand dealing with witches. If I get stuck out here, I’m going to get cranky.”
“No one wants that,” I assured them all.
Evie gently shoved me. “You should see what happens when Moira gets cranky. Worlds will fall.”
Ari nodded to Evie. “Nice to see you again, Lady.”
“I’m surprised to see you here. Is there something I should know?”
“Later,” Ari promised her, after a quick glance at me. “I may need to renegotiate the terms of my move.”
Meaning Rowan didn’t know who the hell she was either, and she was living in Emberwood under false pretenses.
Most Lords would kick her out upon finding out who she really was, but Rowan was understanding of people hiding their true origins as his wife had done the same thing for years.
If Ari had done nothing wrong, Rowan would have no quarrel with her.
Time would tell, I guess.
“Soren can’t get through their wards. I’m hoping our fae friends today can take those down while we come in from the back.” I nodded at Cernunnos, who was staring at me with intense scrutiny.
We’d met up this morning for some fun times, but from the look in his eyes, that might not have been enough.
Heat touched my cheeks. “We do not need to take prisoners. Our license authorizes us to use lethal force on every witch we find.” I paused. “No children, even if they’re witches.”
“There’s a pregnant witch there,” Soren added.
“Take her into custody. The no children rule applies to anyone pregnant as well. We’ll figure out what to do with them once we handle all the other witches.
If you’re not good with what we’re about to do, leave now and no one will say a word.
If you hesitate when we get there, I will not allow you back on any other missions. ”
Missions seemed like the wrong word considering I was just a rando vampire about to clean out a witch coven, instead of a commando with an assault rifle about to take down a world leader, but the witches had proven both deadly and dangerous.
Which reminded me, I’d forgotten to tell Soren something. “As a result of Soren’s extracurricular activities—”