Something Witchy This Way Comes: A Jolie Wilkins Novel (19 page)

“No,” he said, shaking his head adamantly. “I am here to save you, but you must take my hand. Time is running out.”

I shook my head, or at least I wanted to shake my
head. I was so tired that I had no control over my body.
I don’t trust you
.

“You will die if you do not take my hand! Do you understand?” he insisted. “My power is not strong enough for me to stay here much longer.”

Who is in there with you, Jolie?
Rand demanded, sounding frenzied.

It’s a Lurker, a Lurker elder
, I thought back.
Luce
.

Stay away from him!
Rand railed.

I’m dying, Rand
, I thought the words, realizing what I had to do in order to save my child. It was the only option left to me.
I have no other choice!

Jolie, no!
he screamed again, his voice ringing through my head.

Luce’s outline was beginning to waver and he started to grow more translucent. I swallowed hard at the same time as I reached out and let him grasp my hand in his.

I wasn’t sure what I expected when I took Luce’s hand, but as soon as I did, I felt a swoosh of air against my face, which caused me to close my eyes. When I opened them, I was no longer in the guesthouse of Kinloch Kirk. Where was I? I had no clue.

That thought scared me to death. No one would know what had happened to me or where I was. At least I’d been able to tell Rand that a Lurker came for me. How that information would benefit me, I didn’t know, but it seemed a step in the right direction.

Don’t focus on that now, Jolie
, I chided myself.
Focus on surviving!

I took a deep breath and realized I was bent over on my hands and knees. There was green grass below me, which told me I was outside. I glanced to my right, taking in what seemed to be miles of chain-link fence topped with two rows of barbed wire. On both sides of the fencing there was a perimeter of pine trees that towered in the air above me, their dark green contrasting against the brilliant blue of the sky.

I sat back on my haunches and craned my neck to
the left, where I noticed that the chain-link fencing ended in a little white tollbooth (or guardhouse) type structure. Was I in a prison? An unpaved road led up to it and disappeared into an alcove of trees. Standing in front of the tollbooth structure was a man dressed in a gray uniform, armed with what looked like an Uzi. Before him were orange traffic cones, lined up in front of roadblocks that were three feet high and wide. The obstacles would force any persistent drivers through a minicourse in order to slow them down. Talk about high security. Wherever I was, it was apparent that outsiders were meant to stay out and insiders were meant to stay in. Either way, it didn’t leave me with the warm fuzzies.

“Welcome to our training center,” Luce said, and shock whirred through me at the thought that he had been standing just behind me the entire time. I’m not sure why I was so surprised, considering he was the one who brought me here. He offered his hand to me, his eyes gentle, echoing the same sentiment behind his easy smile. I shook my head, righting myself as I stood up and took a deep breath. The pine scent of my surroundings reminded me of Christmas.

Then I remembered everything. How could Bella have attacked me with a power that should never have been hers? “What happened to Bella?” I demanded, feeling sick to my stomach as I remembered her sightless eyes.

Luce shrugged as if it were of no consequence to him, and started walking away from the barbed wire–topped fence. I had no choice but to follow him. Once I caught up, he turned to face me. “You killed her,” he said, “but you did so purely in self-defense.”

I shook my head, letting his words sink in. But I knew better. I hadn’t killed Bella. Maybe I’d underestimated my final blow, but she’d still had enough life left in her to brutally attack me afterward. She’d died after Luce appeared. That had to mean something. “Her power should never have been enough to do what it did to me,” I said, eyeing him suspiciously as I tried to understand who was truly responsible.

Luce didn’t respond right away, he just continued moving forward with me by his side. We walked up a grassy knoll, surrounded on either side by more grass and pine trees. Then he paused, facing me earnestly. “It is what it is. Bella is no longer a threat that you need to concern yourself with.”

But I wasn’t going to let it go that easily. “Why did she seem to think you were going to make her Queen?”

Luce chuckled without humor. “You put too much stock in the words of a lunatic. Who knows what her motivations were? She was sans intellect.”

I shook my head, knowing there was more to Luce’s story, but also knowing it wasn’t a good idea to pry. Now more than ever before I was keenly aware that I was at his mercy. But I wasn’t finished with my line of questioning—it seemed like a good idea to learn as much as I could about my enemies. “How were you able to transport me here just by touching me?”

Luce paused and shrugged, and his white hair and beard almost glowed in the sunlight, like an angel’s. “I merely relocated us,” he answered. But the power involved in such a stunt was hardly simple. It just pointed to how strong he was … whatever he was.
“What are you?” I asked, sounding awed, keeping pace with him as he began walking again.

He chuckled, as if my confusion were an award he could wear proudly. “I am an Elemental.”

“Does that mean you’re a witch?” I asked. Looking ahead, it seemed we were walking toward a forest, and I suddenly felt afraid. I stopped walking.

“No, I am not a witch,” he said, giving me a curious look. “What would make you ask me that?”

“Well, I don’t know what ‘Elemental’ means,” I said, irritated. “And you seem like a witch to me.”

He frowned, as if calling him a witch were the equivalent of calling an Aussie a Brit or vice versa. Well, excuse the hell out of me!

“Elementals and witches are only similar in that they both possess magic,” he explained. “An Elemental, especially an aged one, is much more powerful than a witch or a warlock.”

“How so?”

“We live longer and are more physically powerful. Our magic is purer.”

“How is that possible when you are basically descended from witches?”

He glanced at me with an arched brow, as if impressed that I knew that much about his race. “We are sprung from witches, yes,” he started, then took a deep breath. “But similar to your prehistoric man, we became like Cro-Magnon—stronger, smarter, and better able to survive—quite dissimilar to Neanderthals.”

Well, one thing I could say about Luce was that he sure had an overinflated sense of self-importance. I harrumphed but said nothing more, figuring any disagreement
I voiced would end in a “no, you’re not/yes, we are” argument.

“There were two lines of ancestry for our kind,” he continued. “Those who are descended from the humans who were attacked by vampires in Gratz, Austria, and those who are descended from the humans who were attacked by witches.”

This part of his story actually stoked the furnace of my memory, because I’d heard it before. Though I knew next to nothing about the two sects of Lurkers, I had been told about their origins. Centuries ago, during a massacre of ordinary humans in the woods of Austria, some of the surviving humans had ingested vampire and witch blood. The resulting offspring were super humans, known as the Lurkers. Well, we called them Lurkers, anyway. Apparently they didn’t refer to themselves as such. “Then you
are
descended from witches,” I pointed out. “So why do you say you aren’t a witch?”

“Because I am not,” he said curtly as a breeze embraced us both, lifting my hair so it brushed my cheek. I refastened it back behind my ears.

“If it looks like a witch and acts like a witch …” I said with a frown.

He just smiled. “Is a spaniel the same as a wolf?”

I shook my head, realizing where he was going. “No.”

“Ah, but a spaniel is the descendent of a wolf?”

“Okay, I get it,” I said gruffly, holding my hair in place as another breeze attempted to pull it free. Then something occurred to me. “So, as an elder, you’re still a descendent of the original Elementals from Austria?
That is, you didn’t experience the beginning of your race firsthand?”

Luce smiled knowingly. “Oh, yes, I lived it myself.”

I felt my jaw drop. This had to mean that Luce was centuries old. And that said something about his powers and abilities.

Given his origins, I still wasn’t convinced that he was really that different from witches. My skepticism must have shown because he cleared his throat and eyed me speculatively.

He continued with his explanation. “My powers and abilities are quite different from those of the prophetess, for example. And similarly, our citizens of the ‘fang’ persuasion can walk in the sunlight.”

“So they aren’t real vampires?” I finished.

“No, quite different. You will learn all of our ways in time.”

That was when I remembered the dire predicament I was in. I didn’t want anything to do with “in time.” “I need to go back,” I replied as he stopped walking and turned to face me. I couldn’t help the tone of my voice, which sounded hurried and nervous. But even as I said the words, I realized how moot they suddenly were—Luce had me right where he wanted me. There was no way he would just bring me back to Kinloch. I had to find out what he wanted from me, and I needed to be sure any decisions I made were for the safety of not only myself, but my baby. Our survival was at stake.

“In good time,” he responded, holding out his arm to me.

Figuring I needed to play the game, I wrapped my
arm in his and allowed him to escort me forward again. “Where are we going?”

“To our community,” he answered, glancing at me with arched brows. “Don’t be afraid.”

“I’m not,” I answered quickly, maybe too quickly. I mean, it had to be pretty obvious that I was completely and totally freaked out.

“No one will do you any harm,” he said softly.

I didn’t respond, focusing instead on the trees ahead as feelings of nausea worked their way through my body. Rather than magicking them away, at the risk of possibly drawing attention to my condition, I just dealt with the sickness and focused on my surroundings. I could see the outline of what looked like homes through the trunks of the enormous pines. As we walked through the darkness of the forest and emerged on the other side, I noticed rows and rows of white, single-room dwellings that reminded me of something you might see on a military base. Each house was the exact copy of the one next to it, and each had a perfectly manicured grass lawn delineated by a white picket fence. People walked to and fro, some disappearing over the horizon of the hills, going God only knew where. All of them seemed busy. I mean, I didn’t catch a glimpse of anyone kicking back on their front porch or taking a catnap in the sunshine.

“Are these homes?” I asked, realizing how stupid the question was as soon as it came out.

But Luce didn’t belittle me. He just nodded. “All of our people are well provided for. We believe in community. We exist for one another.”

That was when it hit me—I was in enemy territory.
I was a prisoner in the Lurker camp and wasn’t going to be getting out anytime soon.

You need to learn as much as you can, Jolie
, I told myself.
Ask questions and find their weaknesses. You’ll never get another chance like this
.

“Where are we?” I asked Luce, figuring it was as good a place to start as any.

He heard me but just shook his head. “Although you are my revered guest, I am certain you will understand my hesitation in revealing our whereabouts. It is highly confidential and very few know our specific location.”

I looked around us again at all the white houses, which suddenly looked like giants’ teeth. “You mean that the people who live here don’t even know where ‘here’ is?”

He nodded. “That is exactly what I mean.”

I shook my head. “Then everyone is being held captive?”

Luce chuckled lightly and then tsked me as if I were completely clueless. “Of course not. They are all here of their own free will.” I was about to ask another question, but he shushed me with a shake of his head. “We will have ample opportunity to answer your questions, my Queen,” he said, and I couldn’t tell if he was patronizing me or not. “In the meantime, if you would allow me, may I use this opportunity to take you on a tour?”

I nodded, figuring I needed to buy myself as much time as I could while gaining as much knowledge about the Lurkers as possible.

Jolie!
It was Rand’s voice in my head.

Rand
. I said his name and relaxed as relief began
welling up inside me. I’d been worried that our mental telepathy wouldn’t work here—wherever here was.

Where are you?
he asked.

We can’t communicate like this
, I thought in return, all too aware that Luce could probably listen to my thoughts.
I’m in the Lurker camp and I’m afraid our conversations are being overheard
.

Are you okay?
he asked, his voice quaking.
God, just tell me you’re okay, and as soon as I get my hands on those fucking bastards—