Endless Magic (Stella Mayweather Series Book 6) (12 page)

"I might know the wolf. I think he wants something," I said, moving towards the door. I slipped the key into the door, turning the knob to pull it open.

"Stella, don't!" cautioned Evan as I stepped forwards. I opened my mouth to call the wolf and felt the first blast of magic. It hit the house, the wards barely shielding us from its impact, and I stumbled backwards. Ahead of us, the bowing wolf swelled in size, its features morphing from sleek to something straight out of a horror movie. Its body swelled, its fur receded, and its eyes began to bleed before it emitted an unearthly howl, revealing the tips of very sharp teeth that glinted in its enormous mouth.

The grotesque monster was flanked by people appearing on either side of it. It suddenly lurched forwards, its misshapen limbs struggling to support the twisted body. It launched itself at the porch, whimpering when it hit the force field, then throwing itself at us again, its slavering jaws snapping as shouts of encouragement rang out.

"Let's get out of here," said Evan, echoing the very words I thought. He slammed the door shut and we dropped to a crouch.

"What was that?"

"An ambush."

"What did they do to the werewolf?"

"I don't think that was a local wolf, even if the markings looked familiar. Maybe something they experimented on..."

"There was a werewolf being held captive. I remember. He helped me escape. Oh no! What if..." I turned with horror towards the door, the words dying on my lips. What if that was the werewolf I left behind? Was that why his markings looked familiar? No, I decided, he had his fangs extracted and this werewolf still had his.

"It could be an illusion. Anything. Don't think about it. We have to get out of here. The magic out there is powerful, and I'm not sure the wards I put up temporarily can handle an assault like this." Evan grabbed me to him. "Hold on." The heat of his dematerialisation flashed around us and just as we disappeared, I was sure I could hear, in the distance, Georgia Thomas laughing.

We landed, panting, on textured carpet. My ears rang with snarls and laughter. I knew, in my rational mind, they were nowhere near now. "They were waiting for us," I said, still crouched in a defensive position. Perhaps if I made myself very small, no one could possibly see me. They sure couldn't with Evan bent over me. "Someone told them."

"Someone was watching, or they left magic to alert them if anyone entered. Somehow, when we shimmered into your house, we must have activated it. They must have planned for that. Here—" Evan released me from his arms and took one hand, pulling me up with him as he stood upright. Forcing my eyes to focus, I blinked and looked around. We were in his room again, as if we'd never left the calm and quiet. Except now, along with a ringing in my ears, I had a small, but very important, book.

"We have the book," I said, pulling it from my pocket, grateful I hadn't dropped it in the rush to escape. "Could they have known it was there?"

"I doubt it. I'm guessing they were waiting for you, expecting you to return at some point. After all, it's your home."

"As long as it's still standing." I heaved a sigh, wondering if my house was now a conflagration of flames. "Anyway, I'm starting to wonder what home is. I always thought it was a place of my own, but maybe I got it wrong. Maybe home is—" I threw my hands in the air, gesturing wildly. "Maybe home is all this. Maybe it's wherever I feel I belong. How do I know?"

"You get to decide," said Evan.

"Shouldn't it be a feeling?"

"A feeling can come after a decision. Or a decision can come after a feeling. Does it really matter if you end up with what you want?"

"I guess not."

"We need to tell Étoile about this."

"About decision making?"

"No," Evan laughed and the air around us lightened, making it easier to breathe. "No, we need to tell her about the ambush. She'll want to know."

"Fine," I agreed, following him to the door. I stepped out before him, the book wedged in my arms, and waited for him to pull the door shut and activate the lock.

"Thank you for coming with me," I said as he turned around. I stood on tiptoes to kiss Evan's cheek, ever appreciative for his quick thinking. "I don't know what I would have done without you there. I can't believe I opened the door. I can't believe I froze. If you weren't there..."

I expected him to say something practical about training for ambushes, and focusing harder, but instead, Evan caught the back of my head just as I was pulling away and drew me back to him. His lips landed on mine, a fierce kiss that instantly had the world revolving around us, spinning madly, until I was dizzily searching for more. It was like the intervening years never happened, and I was right back at the safe house, falling in love with Evan all over again, my heart pounding in a thrilling rhythm.

A thud against the wall pulled us apart. I gasped for air, wondering if I somehow forgot how to breathe. Evan's eyes burned into mine. Another gasp sounded further away, and I turned, halfway not caring, halfway prepared for another attack, but it was just a couple stumbling into the hallway. They were kissing intensely and pushing against each other as their hands grappled for a door. A low growl rumbled, and I squinted, noticing the woman's long hair as the man wound it in his hands.
Werewolves.
The door behind them unclicked and the female wolf stumbled through, reaching for her mate. He stepped forward, stopped, and looked directly at us.

Gage.

Gage was the one entangled with the female werewolf. So much for his earlier proclamations of affection for me! The sharp stab of indignation combined with the confusion I felt, the worry I endured, and the pain that trailed me when I walked away. Finally, I felt nothing but relief. I was glad I hadn't pursued him because now he had exactly what he really wanted: a female werewolf. A mate he'd never have to keep secret, and never have to try too hard for. He and I made the right decision not to pursue anything, and finally, I felt the last bubble of confusion and sexual attraction collapse.

As the couple fell through the door, it slammed shut behind them, and I turned away, looking up at Evan. There was only one I wanted, only one I ever wanted a future with, and he was standing in front of me, gazing down at me with an imperceptible expression. I reached for him, aching to tell him how much he meant to me, but he stepped backwards, using the smallest of movements to distance us. "Not like this," he said, his voice suddenly guttural.

"Like what?"

"Not out of anger. Not like this." He turned and walked away, leaving me alone in the corridor, wondering what the hell just happened.

Chapter Thirteen

Instead of following Evan as he stalked away angrily — I wasn't sure I wanted to run into him if he continued to see Étoile — I began my search for Astra. I was hoping she had some luck finding out the details of the other talismans. Plus, I wanted to hear what she thought of the new horologican.

On the way there, I ran, literally, into Chyler. We collided as we both rounded a corner at the same time.

"I was just coming to see you!" she exclaimed.

"What's happened?" I perused her face, my heart calming once I realised she wasn't panicked in anyway. Instead, she seemed pleased.

"The book landed in my lap five minutes ago." She pushed the horologican at me, then hugged it to her chest again. "That's good news, right? It helped you?"

"It did, but not in the way I thought it would."

"It's peculiar like that. Anyway, I'm really glad it was useful. I would have liked a heads up before it came back. I was at the desk, but what if I were in the shower?"

I laughed at her appalled expression. "I'm sorry. I left it in my room, and didn't even know it moved. I guess it decided for me."

"Just let me know if you need it again, okay?" Chyler checked her watch. "I have to go. I'm meeting my aunt in five minutes to start training. Can you believe I'm a witch again? All these years of being normal, and I was never normal at all!" She hurried off with a finger wave, leaving me no chance to congratulate her on rejoining the supernatural world, or warn her to get out while she still could. I was pleased, however, that she wasn't letting the earlier scare get to her. Instead, she seemed happy. I wished I shared it, but all I felt was confused. That, and relieved I wasn’t eaten by that spelled wolf. I hoped it was an awful illusion. Evan and Étoile would have to decide between them what to do about it.

Part of me ached to go after Evan. I wanted to tell him that my kissing him wasn't out of anger from seeing Gage fooling around with someone else. Kissing him again was merely confirmation of what I wanted. Unfortunately, it was just bad, damned timing that the two incidents happened within seconds of each other. A bigger part of me wondered if I should have been mad at Evan for assuming I wanted him because Gage didn't want me!

Pushing those thoughts aside, I headed to the room where Astra and I were holed up to read the research material she gleaned. I hadn't seen her all day, and I had good news for her. Plus, I wanted to know if we could work together to garner more answers from this new book. If she still didn't know where to find the three missing talismans, perhaps it would tell her. Without Evan on my team, I definitely needed Astra.

"I have called you and knocked on your door and hunted all over this building for you!" Astra looked up in surprise as I entered. "I thought you were avoiding me."

"I was on a secret mission," I told her as her eyes widened.

"For how long?"

"Just a couple of hours," I replied. Then I began filling her in on finding the new book and ended with The Brotherhood's attack. Her eyes grew to the size of saucers.

"But you're not hurt?" She turned me in a circle, sending her magic around me as I did. Apparently satisfied that I was fine, her magic retracted and she nodded.

"No, but I did freeze; and without Evan’s presence, they might have... I don't know. Anything could have happened if he hadn't shimmered us both out of there."

"I just saw Evan with Étoile. He looked angry. I can see why."

I nodded, not correcting her. Sure, The Brotherhood annoyed him with their ambush, but I was fairly sure I was the one who currently pissed him off the most. There were more pressing issues than my floundering love life; the survival of the supernatural race headed the top of the list.

"We went to retrieve this," I told her, directing our conversation to the book. "The horologican I borrowed said this one had answers, but I haven't gotten the chance to open it yet. Do you want to look?"

"I thought you'd never ask! This is so exciting. These books are hardly ever seen, and I've only seen one before. Now, we have two!"

"How rare are they?"

"I couldn't say, but they are all priceless as there's so few of them."

"I hoped it would tell us where the other talismans are. The ones belonging to the demons, the shapeshifters, and the vampires. Unless you already found them?"

"No, nothing. I even went to the archives and tried a spell to retrieve any information on the talisman. And you know what happened? I nearly got crushed by a thirty-foot totem pole someone stowed in there a hundred years ago."

"I don't think this building was around a hundred years ago."

"Tell that to the dust. I didn't stop sneezing for an hour!"

"So..." I started, staring down at the book in my palms. "This is our only hope."

"Yeah."

We pulled two chairs up to the table where I carefully lay it down, almost reverently. That was not entirely due to its apparently priceless status, but because I was so nervous about what it could, or would, tell us. Everything seemed to rely on my opening the book and finding the answers. I knew it wouldn't be as easy as flipping to the index, running my finger down to the entry for talisman and then picking out demon, shapeshifter, and vampire from the sub-headings. Instead, I might have to wait for the book to guide me towards whatever it knew. I hoped it realised we were on a deadline.

"Okay," I said, giving Astra what I hoped was a reassuring look.

"That wasn't reassuring at all," she said. "My heart is thumping."

"Sorry." I opened it, brushing the bare page with my thumb as calligraphic words flowed across the title page.

Mayweather Family Horologican.

Owned by Estrella Mayweather.

"How did it know?" I asked. "I mean, I found it in my house, but I don't own it."

"It belongs to your family. You're the heir," said Astra. "Don't ask me how it knows, it just does. Turn the page."

I turned the page, waiting breathlessly for more writing to appear across the blank sheet. Instead of writing, the ink began to bloom over the page like an ink spot, retracting and guiding itself as if by an invisible hand until I began to see the outline of three people. The middle one had long hair and a smile. The features on the two people flanking her also developed until I realised who they were. "They're my parents," I said, confused, "and that's me; but it's the me now, not the little girl whom they knew."

"I think it's lovely."

The ink began to fade. Placing my thumb on the page, I whispered, "Stay," and the ink returned more vibrantly, this time with little dots of colour. The book even added flowers to my hair. When I raised my thumb, the drawing stayed.

I turned the page, glad the book obeyed me. I saw that as a good sign. If I had to give the book an emotion, I would have to say it
liked
me. What I wanted was for it to like me enough to provide the answers I sought. Instead, the following pages contained a number of spells, with tips written in several different hands.

"Ohh, these must be your ancestors. How exciting," Astra breathed, reading along as I did.

"Why aren't these pages disappearing? Chyler's book did that too. Some things were fixed and some things appeared and then swiftly disappeared."

"I guess it's the magic that was used to create these books. They would be impossible to carry if they had too many pages, and since it has been continuously added to over centuries, there could be hundreds of pages."

I glanced up. "It's an old-fashioned tablet?" I asked, without concealing the scepticism in my voice.

"Yeah, but without any need for a charger. Try asking it something."

"Like what?"

"Like who the superwitch is."

Holding the book firmly in both hands, I looked down at the blank page before me. "Who is the superwitch?" I asked. But no writing appeared.

"Try again. Try asking it something else."

"Okay, fine, but I don't think this is going to work. So much for answers." I heaved out a frustrated breath and continued to fix my attention on the blank page. There were several things I wanted to ask, but it made sense to try for the most important information first. After all, Chyler's book said very succinctly: this was the book for answers. It had to know something. "Who has the witch-made vampire talisman?" I asked, waiting breathlessly for its response.

A small dot of ink appeared on the page, then a swoop before the book spelled out a name.
Francis Hale.

"Who is that?" I asked.

"I have no idea," replied Astra, while the book ignored the question.

There was only one vampire I knew well enough to ask for help, and even then, I didn't know him on a very close personal level. But Étoile did. If she trusted him enough to watch over me, I hoped I could too. "We need to find Matthias," I told Astra.

"It's not sundown yet."

"Then I guess I'll leave a message," I said, reaching for my phone.

~

Matthias found me shortly after sundown. He wore a simple black suit and an open-necked white shirt, looking as if it were casual day.

"Drinking alone?" he asked, his English accent very much evident as he signaled the barman.

"Not anymore." I raised my glass and smiled before taking a sip. I told him to meet me at the bar, situated on one side of the building's restaurant, and waited no longer than fifteen minutes after sundown for his arrival. His promptness was no surprise. I wondered where he was when I left a message. Étoile never told me if he slept in a coffin, or deep underground, away from sunlight, or was holed up somewhere in The Amethyst for his daylight rest. Truthfully, vampires remained a mystery to me. I'd only properly known one, a lady who turned when she was already elderly. I liked her.

"I'll have what she's having," Matthias said, nodding a finger at my drink as the barman approached. He was a shapeshifter, I could tell, but I wasn't sure what kind. He busied himself away from us, leaving us and our conversation in peace. "I was surprised to receive your message. It sounded like it might be urgent. How may I be of assistance?"

"You don't seem surprised."

Matthias smiled, apparently amused. "We are not exactly social buddies."

"No, we're not." I tried not to be anything but matter-of-fact about his assertion. It was true: we weren't exactly friends, although we socialised from time-to-time with Étoile. I was sure he visited my house in Wilding a number of times while she was there. Publicly, we were never more than polite to each other, but I knew I made him curious and his brethren were equally interested in me. I was never entirely sure why, so I simply put it down to the curiosity I felt from witches and other supernaturals. I was an enigma to them all, after a very public defeat over a powerful witch when I was little more than a neophyte. Plus, The Brotherhood made no attempt to disguise their hatred toward me. I couldn't blame anyone for their interest. "Why are the vampires interested in me?" I blurted, not thinking. "I mean, why are they so curious?"

"I don't think that's what you asked me here for," said Matthias, dropping money into the barman's tip dish, which he presented at the same time as his martini. He sipped, then caught my eye. "Yes, I can drink. I eat, too. Neither benefit me for anything more than enjoyment."

"Then why do it?"

"Sometimes enjoyment is plenty. As to your question, yes, my brethren find you interesting."

"But why? Because I killed Eleanor Bartholomew?" I asked, lowering my voice so as not to be overheard. Eleanor's name was not a popular one, but I didn't want to have to launch into another story about how I acted in self-defence.

"There's that..."

"It was self-defence," I said, beginning the story anyway.

Matthias held up a hand. "We are aware, as is everyone else, that you acted in a way any being would have when threatened. The power you hold casts an interesting shadow over you. We vampires that sense it even find it attractive."

"Eww." The feeling popped out before I could catch the insult. I hoped Matthias didn't take it that way.

"Not necessarily in that sense, Stella, but I've no doubt some do. You have your demon and werewolf admirers too," he pointed out.

The whisper of Evan's spine-tingling words, and then his anger, flashed into my mind, swiftly followed by a flashback of Gage pressed against the werewolf female. I wasn't sure I could count either of them as admirers at this moment. Evan hadn't contacted me since his rejection, and I figured Gage was probably too busy.

"But that's not what you wanted to ask, is it?"

"No, I'm looking for something and I think you can help me."

"You're looking for a talisman," he said.

I blinked. "Yes. How did you know?"

"Don't worry, I haven't been snooping. Étoile mentioned it two nights ago. She thought I might know of one, and I assured her that while I have heard of such a thing, I had no idea where to locate the item."