Kick The Candle (Knight Games) Page 18

  “Bought your house? You cannot sell your house. There could be horrific consequences.”

  I widened my eyes sarcastically. “No kidding.” I should have told him what was going on before, but he was MIA and then I was injured. “Get me a balm for this wound and I’ll explain.”

  He left for the kitchen and came back a moment later with a gooey concoction of herbs and a roll of gauze. As I ladled the stuff on Silas, I explained about the detective calling me to check out Avery’s house and how that had turned out.

  “Who is this Avery person?” Rick asked.

  “The woman who died in the ER last week. She coughed up a nightmare when she died. I thought you sent her.”

  “I did no such thing, mi cielo. I left town after our argument about Gary’s turning to obtain a magical object that I thought could help our situation. I did not return until Poe came to get me.”

  “But your kitchen floor was wet when Poe and I came by.”

  Rick thought for a moment. “The snow. The night I left, I’d tracked it in with me. I left quickly and didn’t clean up after myself.”

  “Oh. But if you didn’t find her, who did? No one has access to the lake except you and…Oh, the nekomata! You didn’t leave the woman for me to find, they did. They were sending me a calling card.”

  Rick rested his hands on his hips, calling attention to his naked flesh in a way that caused my blood to heat even though my arousal was completely inappropriate to the situation. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and turned my attention back to Silas’s wounds.

  “Why? If the Nekomata want to obtain the book, they should be avoiding your wrath until the solstice.”

  “I don’t know.” I felt for Silas’s pulse. He was breathing but his heartbeat was weak. “It’s clear the nightmares want me dead. They used Silas to lure me to Red Grove Lake and tried to kill me. I don’t think there were ever finfolk in those waters. It was a trap.”

  “Finfolk?” Rick shook his head. “Not in these waters. You are lucky to be alive. Werewolves are deadly.”

  “I had Nightshade drawn, trying to find the finfolk. Otherwise, it might be me on the couch.”

  Back and forth, I paced in front of the television I’d never seen Rick use even once, rubbing the palms of my hands together. “Let’s say the nekomata and nightmares are working together. They must be since the nekomata have overtaken Avery’s home. The nekomata wanted a place close to the book to case the area, so they made a pact with the nightmares to possess Avery and cause her death, thus leaving the house for their purposes.”

  “Sounds plausible.”

  “Part of me thinks they tried to kill me because my father pushed back the closing, but Silas requested that I investigate Avery’s house before I talked to my father.”

  “Which means they wanted you dead regardless of the sale.”

  “Exactly. When I was his prisoner, Julius said Anna would have killed me, thinking my death would break the enchantment around the house. It could be the nekomata are making the same presumption. If I’m dead, they don’t have to worry about the technicalities around the sale.”

  “Agreed.”

  I faced him and swallowed hard. “But beyond that, my death would make things…easier. Closing or no closing, you and I are the thorn in their sides. We are not going to allow them anywhere near that book, no matter what. They tried to take me out of the equation.”

  Silas moaned. We both rushed to his side. After shaking him gently and calling his name, it was clear he wasn’t waking up, although his pulse beat steadily against my fingers.

  “He seems stronger. Maybe when he’s conscious, he’ll tell us what we’re missing.” I stared at Silas, willing his eyes to open.

  Rick’s fingers stroked my hair, and I turned my cheek into his palm. Our eyes met. I came unglued. The stress of the day poured out of me in the form of tears I’d been hoarding for days, and I threw my arms around him, hiding my face in the crook of his neck.

  “I will protect you, mi cielo.” The thick muscles of his arms wrapped around me and his lips pressed into my forehead.

  I pulled away. “Fuck, my car! I left it on the road near the cabin. Will you fly over to get it for me? I don’t want the nekomata to know that I’m on to them.”

  He nodded, eyes lowering to his naked body as he spread his hands. “Still dressed for work.”

  With a reassuring smile, he disappeared out the door, and I took a seat on the floor near the sofa, watching the rhythmic rise and fall of Silas’s chest.

  * * * * *

  I came awake to Rick shaking my shoulder. “Your car is here. You should go home and sleep.”

  In a half-awake fog, I reached for him, noticing he was fully dressed but his eyes were still black, a sign he’d recently shifted. I ran my hand down the vee of his button down, hooked my fingers over the first button and pulled him toward me. Instead of accepting my kiss, he stood up.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “I am afraid recent events have left me drained.”

  “I can help you with that,” I purred, standing in such a way that I was flush against his chest.

  “This time I need sleep, and so do you. Tomorrow is the solstice. It’s important I am rested.” His voice was firm and cold as ice. “I will call you if Silas wakes.”

  “You don’t have a phone.”

  “I’ll use our connection. You will be home?”

  “Yes.”

  Skeptically, I stared at him. Rick wasn’t himself. He’d never turned down an invitation for sex. I’d thought we were growing closer but he seemed distant and aloof. “Okay,” I whispered. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. We should be vigilant, just in case.”

  He nodded.

  I turned and began a slow, even walk toward the door but stopped short of opening it.

  “Rick, are you sure there’s nothing wrong? You don’t seem yourself.”

  “Maybe I am more myself than ever. I want to give you what you need, Grateful. I want to give you choices.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He scrubbed his face with his hands, suddenly looking weary. “I need my rest. You need yours. When the book is safe, we will talk.”

  Why did this feel like a brush off? I twisted the knob and let myself out, my chest heavy with longing, not just for sex but for the closeness we’d shared when he was caring for me. What had happened over the last, I looked at my watch, two hours? Why had it taken Rick two hours to get a car parked less than twenty minutes walk away? And he could fly.

  I climbed in behind the wheel of my Jeep, keys dangling from the ignition, and spaced out at the wheel for a minute. Was it possible that Rick was possessed? Had a Nightmare caught up to him in the woods and taken control? He called me Grateful; he only did that when he was angry. If he wasn’t angry, maybe he was possessed. Shit! If they could possess Silas they could possess Rick. Could I trust him tomorrow?

  Nightshade poked into my back as I straightened in my seat. She would know. I climbed back out, prepared to storm into Rick’s house and shove my blade into his face. I had to know he was the only soul in his body. I paused when the glint of metal on the passenger’s side floor caught my eye. I rounded the car, opened the door, and reached for the crushed metal object. It took me a minute to figure out what it was, but the key hanging off the little chain was a major clue. The crushed Valentine’s logo now looked like a piece of gum, chewed up and spit out.

  Ugh, Rick was jealous! He’d seen the Valentine’s logo and based on the story about losing my house, he probably assumed I was planning to live with Logan. I had to set him straight. All along, I’d been planning to live with Rick. I just hadn’t had the chance to ask him.

  I rushed toward the door, knocked lightly. There was no answer. I tried the knob. Locked. He never locked his door. I knocked again. “Rick?”

  Nothing.

  With a deep breath, I took a step back, and then another, until I was back at my Jeep. After seeing what
he’d done to the key chain, maybe he legitimately needed his space. Besides, before I broached this subject with Rick again, I had to be sure exactly what I wanted to say. After years of failed relationships and suffering from the blonde paradox, I’d sworn the next time I said I love you it would mean forever.

  And a night like tonight was not the right time to start forever.

  Chapter 25

  Knight and Day

  I went to bed with the curtains open, my eyes fixed on the silver white circle of the moon through the naked branches of the tree outside my window. I did not sleep. My mind played an endless loop of warnings. Protect the book. Move. Tell Rick you love him. Stop the nekomata and the nightmares. Kill Bathory. Beware Julius. Rinse and repeat.

  Poe landed on the branch nearest my window, tossing a mouse into the air before swallowing it whole. He tapped his beak against the glass, and I reached over to open the window and let him in, shutting out the blast of icy air that followed him into the room.

  “Must be hard to sleep with your eyes open,” he said. “Something keeping you up?”

  I told him about Silas and what I saw at Avery’s house. “Where were you anyway?” I asked him. “As my familiar, aren’t you supposed to sense when I’m in distress and come to my aid?”

  “Sure, if I know you’re on witchy business, but you hadn’t come home from work. I thought some human was giving up their ghost in the ER, so I didn’t respond.”

  “Nice, Poe.”

  “Hey, you wouldn’t want me flying into the hospital windows every time your heart raced during the day. If you want me on the job, give me a heads up.”

  Harrumph. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at the ceiling. Why in the world did the woman in the garden give me a raven as a familiar?

  “Do I need to remind you that I saved you from the troll and delivered Rick to rescue you from Julius? It’s not as if I haven’t earned my keep.”

  “Sorry, Poe. You’re right. I should have stopped home and got you before I went to Avery’s.”

  He waved his wing. “Exactly my point.”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.” He hopped from the windowsill to my nightstand.

  “Who was the woman who gave you to me? The one in the garden?”

  Poe cracked his beak in a movement I’d come to interpret as a smile. “Hecate, goddess of the dead, otherwise known as Santa Muerte depending on where you are in the world, and a host of other names. She’s your first mother and the source of your power.”

  I closed my gaping mouth and raised my eyebrows. “Truly? That was her?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you, like, hang out with her when I’m dead?”

  “Something like that. She remakes me each time for you, but a part of me is always with her.” He nested down next to my lamp.

  “Why a raven? Why did she think I needed you, Poe?”

  He twitched, blinking his eyes.

  “Sorry. No offense. I like you a lot; I’m just wondering why you weren’t a cat or an owl.”

  “I don’t know for sure but I can tell you my honest opinion.”

  “I want to know.”

  “Cats are for manifestations who need independence. A cat won’t come when you call it. It will help you only when it comes to respect you.” He paused, taking me in. “You didn’t need independence.”

  “No?”

  “No. An owl is for manifestations who need wisdom or common sense. An owl familiar is perfect for an uneducated lass trying to make it in the world. You are not uneducated, nor lacking in wisdom.”

  I smiled. “I’d like to think I’m smarter than the average witch.”

  He nodded. “Ravens on the other hand are given to those who lack self-worth. A raven will intervene only when a witch can’t do something herself and then only when she decides what to do. I will tease you within an inch of your life, and I will expect you to take care of yourself. I will also make you brave and strong, trusting in your intuition. I’ll challenge you to know what you want and to take it. A raven as a familiar will make you a warrior.”

  “Are you saying I have low self-worth?”

  “I’m not saying anything. Don’t shoot the messenger, m’kay. But since we’ve met, have you done more on your own?”

  I thought about that. “I guess I have.”

  “And do you know what you want?”

  My head immediately filled with images of Rick. “I think I do.”

  Poe shook his head and coughed. “Don’t think, know!”

  “Okay, I do! I know what I want.”

  He met my eyes. “And do you feel you are worthy of what you want?”

  I searched Poe’s face and my innermost thoughts. “Yes. I’m worth it. I deserve Rick. I deserve this house. Gary wasn’t my fault and neither was the financial situation he put me in. I’m a great witch, Poe.”

  “Very good.” He hopped back to the windowsill. “Then I was the right familiar for you after all. Big day tomorrow. I recommend you get some sleep.” He tapped on the glass.

  I obliged by partially opening the window again. “Thanks, Poe.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  * * * * *

  ... take a walk with your sister the moon... Bono’s croon of Mysterious Ways popped my eyes open. My ringtone. I pried the phone from my bedside charger; the screen read 11:00 a.m. My heart started to palpitate. How had I slept so late? One hour until the winter solstice and I still had sheet marks on my cheek!

  My dad’s face filled the screen, his real estate agent smile promising unicorns and rainbows. I punched the screen and brought the phone to my ear. “Dad?”

  “Grateful, I’m glad I caught you.”

  “What’s up?”

  “I just wanted to give you a heads up, Mr. Nekomata is going to stop by the house this afternoon. He was completely fine with you living there another week but he wants to survey the property.”

  “Wait. What? Today is not a good time, Dad.”

  “He said it would only take a few minutes.”

  “Call him back and tell him he needs to come a different day. Today, is bad for me. Very, very bad.” My heart was threatening to jump out of my mouth. Down deep, my intuition was playing a dirge, throwing up caution flags like confetti.

  “Nekomata is a very busy man, Grateful, and it is his house now.”

  Across the inside of my arms and down my sides, a prickling sensation scampered like an army of tiny bugs had invaded my skin. I forced myself to swallow before confirming what I knew to be true. “You sold the house.”

  “Don’t worry, Honey, I got it in writing that you have permission to stay there a few more weeks.”

  “But you sold it. The house is no longer legally yours.”

  “Correct. We closed this morning. The paperwork is still being processed but he effectively owns the house.”

  “Oh Dad. Why? Why!” I screamed into the phone, but I knew, the nekomata would make it impossible for him to deny them. If they couldn’t convince him the human way, they would simply have a nightmare possess him, like Avery. Nothing was going to stop these guys from reaching the book, especially not a human man.

  Silence. Our call was still connected, but Dad didn’t respond to my screaming. After a few awkward moments, he finally said, “I’m sorry. If it makes you feel more comfortable, Seraphina is with him. You won’t be alone with a strange man in the house.”

  “Seraphina? Why would Seraphina be with him?” I thought my Dad was breaking up with her not sending her out with clients.

  “She’s his niece, Grateful. That’s how we met.”

  A series of images seized me, causing my fist to clench around the phone. Her superhuman beauty and grace, the way she made my chest tighten. How could I have missed it? Seraphina was a nekomata. The whole time, she wasn’t interested in my father, she was interested in making sure he sold my house.

  “I’ve got to go, Dad,” I mumbled.

  “Call me when y
ou’re ready to look at apartments.” He hung up on me without saying goodbye.

  Okay, I probably deserved that. After all, Dad didn’t understand that he might have signed my death certificate. He was just doing his job.

  I needed a plan. Every cell in my body pinged against my skin in warning. My heart raced. My palms broke out in a cold sweat. Coping skills first, plan second. I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly to the count of three. And again, slow breath. I wiped my mind of every thought and simply listened to my breath. Once I was in control, I focused on the task at hand.

  Priority one, determine if the protective enchantment around the house was still in place. I tapped my Book of Light app and searched for a spell to detect enchantments. Thankfully, the magic was there; Michelle and I had made it past “E”.

  With one last deep breath to steel my nerves, I stripped out of my pajamas, fetched Nightshade from the corner, and strapped her to my back. Then I dressed like a ninja, black stretchy pants, military boots, long sleeved black shirt with a large neck to give me access to my blade.

  I rushed from the room, stopping in the attic for some things from my chest. Salt, silver bowl, a sprig of St. John’s Wort. Down to the kitchen. One part salt, one part lemon juice, a drop of my blood, a cracked egg with the yolk broken by my blade. I placed the bowl next to the front door. When nothing happened, I opened the door and placed it on the threshold. The yolk of the egg swam a little in the concoction, reaching for my drop of blood. It didn’t mix with the spot of red, but surrounded it. I checked my app, then gawked at the bowl like a pregnancy test with an unwanted result. The enchantment was fading. Fully in place, the yolk would not be able to touch my blood. I’d know when it fell completely because the yellow would blend with the red. Already the yolk pressed against the outside of the bubble of blood.

  “It’s only a matter of time,” a deep voice said, snapping my head up from the threshold. Mr. Nekomata stood at the base of my porch stairs, and what do you know, Seraphina smirked at his side. “Give yourself over to us and we will let you live. We only come for what is rightfully ours. Invite us in, give us the book, and we will consider you a friend of our clan.”