Burning Hearts (21 page)

“
It’s only temporarily. Come
on.”

His voice was soft, soothing, encouraging.
He’d swayed her.

Keeping her eyes closed, she lifted her head,
removing her hood. She heard him emit a deep, almost sexy
groan.

Her eyes popped open, confused. “What?”

He smiled and embraced her
in a hug, trailing his fingertips down her spine, to the small of
her back. She was burning with excitement. “You are the
sexiest
witch I’ve ever
seen.” He kissed the tip of her prosthetic witchy-poo
nose.

She giggled, lightly slapping his arm.
“Stop.”

“
Ooh and that mole!” He
continued pouring out adoration as he leaned down and kissed it.
Then he swiped his tongue across his lips. “Tastes like
glue.”

“
Don’t touch it again,
silly!” She giggled again. “They’ll have to reapply, and I’m about
to go on.”

He didn’t try to kiss her any more, but held
her close. “I’m excited to see your performance.”

“
I can’t act, so
beware.”

“
Oh, you’ll do great.
Besides, I had a little chat with Mrs. Thames.”

She furrowed her bushy
prosthetic brow. “What kinda
chat
?”

“
Let’s just say that when
all is said and done, everything is going to be
A
-okay with you.”

She gasped, and then smiled. “You did that
for me?”

“
Anything for
you.”

She crossed her fingers. “Can you put in a
good word for Pru and Riddick?”

He smiled.
“
Anything
for
you.” He kissed her lips that were thankfully, prosthetic
free.

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “What
would I do without you?”

“
You’d go on. Get over me.”
He was serious.

She shook her head. “Never. You know how you
said you’d kill yourself if I died?”

He nodded, but his brow was furrowed,
concerned.

“
Me too. I’d kill myself if
you were to die.”

He shook his head. “No, no, my love. Jenna,
please don’t think that way.” He cupped her cheek. “If I were to
die, I’d want you to go on living, to be happy. You can’t end your
life for me, someone who doesn’t even know his place in this
world.”

“
What do you
mean?”

He let go and turned,
keeping his back to her. “With the Jinn here, with Fatima and
Saladin here, I feel like I’m being pulled…
swayed
.”

Her heart almost stopped. “Do you...do you
wanna…leave?”

He whipped around. “No, no!”
He held her face in his hands and gave her a quick, but fiery kiss
on her lips. “I don’t want to go anywhere without you. But…I
can
feel
them…
her
…calling out to me. I’m half-human, so the Jinn’s persuasive
skills work on me, while at the same time, my half-Jinni side
yearns to be with my own kind.” He shook his head, letting his arms
fall at his sides, as if they’d been pulled down by a great weight.
“I’m tearing at the seams, Jenna. I’m being ripped in
half.”

She was almost in tears. “Oh, baby!” She
wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. “I won’t let them
take you.” She looked into his fiery blue eyes. “But I don’t
understand. If they can travel anywhere, why haven’t they or
her—”

“
Come to get me?” He sighed,
closing his eyes briefly. “I’m resisting them. I’m resisting her.
If a Jinni doesn’t want to be found by his own kind, he can create
a Mirage.”

She didn’t recall that from her grandpa’s
journal, but then again, half of it was gibberish.

“
What’s a
Mirage?”

“
I can distort the
environment around me, creating a sort of shield—an illusion of
invisibility. But I’m only half-Jinni. My Mirage isn’t that strong.
They can track me, but are blinded from my exact
location.”

“
Like my amulet.”

He nodded. “But I feel myself getting weaker.
I’m afraid that soon they’ll find me.”

“
And then?”

Pools of water formed around his fiery blue
eyes; he blinked, fighting back the tears, but one fell, trailing
down his cheek; it caught under his jaw, dangling, until finally
breaking away; it landed with a resounding splat on the wooden
floor.

“
They’ll take me away from
you.”

She shook her head vigorously. “I won’t let
them. I won’t let them, Malcolm.” She kissed him roughly; if he was
in pain, he didn’t express it. “Do you believe me?”

He pressed his forehead against hers. “I’ve
been searching for someone to love and to be loved.” He brushed his
lips against her forehead in a warm featherweight kiss, and then
looked into her eyes. “And Kismet led me to you, a Mage of all
people.” He smiled at its mysterious workings. “My enemy.”

“
You say you’re half-Jinni,
half-demon, but that’s not true.” She held his face in her hands.
“You’re an angel.”

He emitted that low, sexy groan again. Then
he trapped her lips with his and delivered a passionate fiery kiss.
“I love you, Jenna.”

“
I love you too, Malcolm.”
She smiled. “Why aren’t you in the play? You could’ve talked your
way into replacing that other student and playing the son of King
Duncan.”

He tapped the tip of her fake nose and
smiled. “I’d rather watch.”

“
Where will you be
seated?”

“
With my aunt.”

“
Is she safe from
them?”

He nodded. “I make sure of it. I can sense
her at all times. I’d know if she was in danger.”

“
Sense? How?”

“
I think it’s the bonds of
blood; the King blood and my abilities as a Jinni. My senses are
heightened.” He twirled a few strands of her red hair around his
fingers. “I sense you the most out of everyone.” He breathed in and
out through his nose, closing his eyes. “Your scent is always with
me, and when you’re far, there’s this trail that only I can see”—he
opened his eyes, looking intoxicated—“that if I follow it, leads me
to you.”

She wrinkled her nose, somewhat disturbed by
his ability to catch her odor; humans could be quite stinky.
“Scent? So…what do I smell like?”

He smiled. “Cedar.” Leaning in, he breathed
again through his nose, and kissed her skin just below the ear,
threatening to leave a scorched hickey. “Roses.” He moved to her
mouth, pushing his lips against hers as he said, “And sun-baked
sand.”

They were about to kiss,
tongues and all, when Mrs. White yelled nearby. “Places, people!”
She clapped her hands three times in rapid succession for added
emphasis. “I’d like to get this done
before
I go into labor!”

Jenna and Malcolm kept looking at each other,
trying not to laugh. When Mrs. White waddled off, he gave her a
quick kiss and said, “Good luck,” before departing.

~~~

Her heart had been racing with Malcolm, but
now it was about to crash knowing that she was about to head out
onstage, with everyone looking on, judging. She was grateful not to
be alone. Pru, one of the most uncomplicated people she knew, would
be by her side. But Riddick? Would he deliver his lines, play his
part? Or bring the whole production down by his real life
sorrow?

“
Don’t screw it up,” said a
nasty voice nearby.

Jenna turned to see Sadie, all made up as
Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. She was wearing a prop mask that
combined the facial part of a human skull with the long
curved-backward horns of a goat. Very menacing…to most.

“
Or what?” asked Jenna, not
afraid, who battled real-life monsters.

Sadie looked confused from behind her mask.
“Just…whatever, loser.”

“
You know, back in the day,
the performers were all male,” Jenna informed casually.

“
And?” asked Sadie with an
attitude.

Jenna smiled. “I’m glad Mrs.
Thames kept some traditions. You fit the part
perfectly
.”

Jenna left a confused Sadie and went to meet
Pru and Riddick, standing behind a large black cauldron made of
plastic with nothing inside.

“
Where’s our brew?” she
asked them.

Pru rolled her eyes and
handed Jenna a long wooden stick. “We have to
pretend
.”

Jenna groaned. “They could’ve at least thrown
in some fake frogs.” She playfully jabbed Riddick in his side with
the stick. “And some eyes of Newt, am I right?”

He smiled. “It’s an Oasis High School
production. We should be glad we’re not wearing witch masks from
the clearance aisle at Walgreens.”

Jenna and Pru laughed. Jenna felt more at
ease, glad that Riddick was back to his old self.

They waited in silence as Mrs. Thames stood
before the curtain, giving the audience a bit of back story: “In
the year ten-forty, Scotland…”

Before she was almost finished, Riddick
turned to her. “Kiss for luck?”

But when she showed him her cheek, he grabbed
her face, and smashed his lips against hers, kissing her madly with
his tongue sloshing around hers; he pulled away, just as the
curtain was raised, exposing them to an anticipated audience.

Pru saw the whole assault, but was able to
redirect her focus, and deliver her lines. Riddick went next,
calmly and prepared, as if he hadn’t just forced Jenna to kiss him
against her will. In defense, she didn’t really fight back, finding
the kiss sloppy, but satisfying at the same time. Also minty.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as
Riddick continued to talk, Jenna scanned the audience for any sign
that they somehow knew she’d been naughty behind the curtain. No
one seemed aware. No one except Malcolm. His senses were always
heightened, and she just knew that he’d heard the kiss, heard
Riddick’s plea. His fiery blue eyes were narrowed, and his fists
were clenched on his knees; he sat next to Ms. Daphne, who was
unaware of anything but three high school students giving a
performance of a centuries-old play. Malcolm’s fury was on Riddick,
but he must have sensed Jenna was staring at him because he shifted
his focus to her. As their eyes met, he seemed to calm down,
relaxing his fists.

Pru nudged Jenna from behind with her prop
stick. Jenna was jolted in action, remembering her lines, but she
recited them without feeling, distracted by what had happened and
what may come. When Act one, Scene one ended, the curtain went
down, and the floor rotated to reveal the setup and actors for the
next scene. Pru, Riddick, and Jenna went backstage as the curtain
was raised, and the play resumed.

“
What the
hell
is wrong with you?”
Jenna almost shouted at Riddick. Pru pretended to read over her
lines.

Riddick smiled. “What? I needed a lot of
luck.”

“
Did you forget that my
boyfriend is a Jinni? He heard you kiss me. He heard all
the…
wetness
.”

Riddick continued smiling. “Yeah, it was
nice. We should do that more often.” He smirked. “You seemed to
enjoy it. Didn’t fight me off.”

Jenna pointed a cautious finger at him. “I’m
serious, Riddick. You don’t wanna mess with Malcolm. He can hurt
you.”

Riddick’s smirk disappeared.
He snarled at her. “Some boyfriend you’ve got, Jen. When he gets
jealous, he
kills
.”

She put her hands on her hips, frustrated. “I
didn’t say he’d kill you.”

He advanced toward her,
their faces inches apart. “He’s a demon, Jen. It’s in his blood.
And one day, he’s gonna snap.” Riddick struck his fingers near her
face for emphasis, causing her to slightly jump. “And you’ll wish
you never
slept
with the enemy.”

“
I haven’t
slept
with him,” she
corrected, but wished she hadn’t told him anything of her personal
life.

His face muscles relaxed, anger vanishing.
“You haven’t?”

“
It’s none of your
business,” she spat, not ready to cool down.

Jenna heard someone
approach. It was Mrs. White, fanning herself with the playbill. She
waved her free hand at them. “I don’t know what kind of teenage
drama you two got going on, but deal with it after the play. I
don’t have understudies to play your parts if you decide to have a
mental breakdown and storm offstage. So
puh-lease
for the time being, pretend
you’re witches in Scotland. Thank you.”

When she finally left, Pru approached. “Hey,
Riddick,” she said in a gentle voice, “let’s run our lines
again.”

He nodded and turned to Jenna. “Let’s read
them together.” He smiled. “You always know how best to deliver a
line.”

Riddick seemed like Riddick again. Jenna
relaxed, and joined him and Pru, as they quietly acted out their
upcoming scenes backstage.

~~~

Time seemed to fly as the play progressed.
When they’d been called onstage, they’d rushed out. Jenna had
performed a better job; she’d avoided looking too much at Malcolm,
who’d made it known with his narrowed eyes and snarled nose that he
hated the male witch of the group (Riddick had seemed
oblivious).

After each of their scenes together had
ended, the trio had retreated to a secluded area away from the
stage and chatted about the play or just relaxed. She’d expected
Malcolm to suddenly appear as he magically could, but he’d been
staying away; she’d been kind of glad, afraid of what damage he’d
do once he got Riddick, alone, in a dark corner. Then there’d only
be two sister witches brewing up trouble.