Courting the Darkness (16 page)

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” Standing, she raised her arms, facing the east. “Hail to the Lords of the Gates to the East. Thank you for attending me. I respectfully release you.” She turned, facing the south. “Hail to the Lords of the Gates to the South. Thank you for attending me. I respectfully release you.” She turned, facing the west. “Hail to the Lords of the Gates to the West. Thank you for attending me. I respectfully release you.” She turned, facing the north. “Hail to the Lords of the Gates to the North. Thank you for attending me. I respectfully release you.” She knelt down on her knees, grabbing a hand full of earth, letting it slip through her fingers. “Thank you, Spirit of Earth; I release you.” She looked up, spreading her arms wide, and the wind whipped around her. “Thank you, Spirit of Air; I release you.” She picked up a burning candle, and the flame grew. “Thank you, Spirit of Fire; I release you.” She scooped a handful of water, letting it dribble on the ground. “Thank you, Spirit of Water; I release you.” She stood, looking to the heavens, raising her arms. “Goddess and God, I know you. Please bestow your blessings on this work. I came to this circle true and free. I do so will it, so mote it be!” Dropping her hands, she picked up a candle, blowing it out. All the flames extinguished at the same time. She stepped out of the circle. “It is done.” She smiled brightly at Mica.

His anger grew stronger by the second. “It’s done. Is that all you have to say for yourself?”

Her mouth dropped open at his tone. “Say for myself? I have nothing to explain. I was just doing what Drake was demanding of me.” She slammed her hands on her hips. “You remember him. The one who sent you to rescue me in the first place?” She shook her head in irritation. “What’s your problem?”

Suddenly, she found the whole situation amusing. Hiding her smile behind her hand, she turned away from him. She knew he was very angry, and she did not want him to see her laugh. Her shoulders shook with her silent laughter. “Just leave me alone for a while,” she remarked in a choked voice.

Mica did not know what to do. His anger was replaced by a sudden concern that he had hurt her somehow. “Desiree…”

She continued to look away from him, throwing up her hand. Her amusement tried to take over. “Don’t…”

“Desiree, please look at me,” he whispered softly. She shook her head violently no. His irritation came back. “Desiree… Look. At. Me.” He enunciated each word.

She turned to him, her hand still covering her mouth, tears streaming down her face. She looked up into his eyes, and that was where she lost it. Her laughter rang out, to his shock.

“I’ve been practicing magic for over a hundred years.” She threw her hands out, shrugging. “It’s like breathing air to me. I just found it funny that you were upset with me for doing the one thing that will make Drake happy and assure my freedom from him. I wasn’t in any danger.”

He took her shoulders in a firm grip, glaring into her eyes. “I protect what is mine,” he remarked possessively. “All I could see was you in danger. If you must conjure Spirits, as you call it, please don’t do it in this cave. Do it outside under the stars, and I won’t have to worry about you being buried alive.” He let go of her shoulders, pulling her into his arms.

Smiling, she gazed into his eyes, reaching up her hand to caress his face. “I protect what is mine as well.” She placed an amulet attached to a heavy gold chain in his hand. “You will now be safe in the sunlight.”

He looked at the amulet in his hand and then back into her eyes. “Desiree, I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything.” She closed his fingers over the amulet. “Just put it on and wear it. Let me protect you for a change.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

With the sunrise, Caleb slowly opened his eyes. They burned intensely and felt like they were filled with gritty sand; his head felt three times its normal size. “Where am I?” he groaned. He lifted his head, looking around. “How did I get in the back of the van?” The smell of alcohol was almost overpowering.

Opening the back hatch, he stumbled out onto the pavement, going straight to his knees and taking huge gulps of clean fresh air. Closing his eyes to the brightness of the rising sun, he hung his head. His head felt like he had a jackhammer doing a happy dance behind his eyes. Placing the heels of his palms over his eyes, he applied pressure.

“How’s your head doing, partner?”

Caleb whipped his head around to the voice, which caused it to hurt worse. Squeezing his eyes shut, he winced miserably. “Not so good.”

“What kind of great plans did
we
concoct last night?” He swallowed back his dread. His stomach was suddenly queasy.

“We made plans on how you were going to steal the little lady back away from your buddy Mica.”

“I told you about Mica?” he asked hesitantly, feeling apprehensive. He had way too much to drink last night and didn’t remember a thing.

Johnny bobbed his head in agreement. “Sure, sure, you said that you and Mica have been buddies for years.” Caleb felt relieved. “You said he didn’t normally date human girls, that he dated vampires because he was one himself.”

Closing his eyes, dread washed all over him. Apparently, he had done way too much talking last night. He opened one eye, looking at Johnny. “What else did I tell you?”

“You said that the little lady in question was, in your words
‘so
hot
.’”

Caleb nodded; he could hear himself say something like that about Desiree. His stomach wrenched, and he scrambled to his feet. He stumbled behind the building; going to his knees, he heaved.

Johnny followed him behind the building. “That’s right, let it all out.”

When Caleb was sure he had nothing left in his system, he stood back up on shaky knees, eyeing Johnny suspiciously. “If all this happened last night, why are you still here?”

He cringed, wanting to kick himself in the ass because he definitely said way too much. “How much did you see me drink last night?”

He nodded. “Yeah, you told her to pretend to be still in love with Mica. You told her that it would make the little lady mad, and she would be yours.”

Caleb rolled his eyes in disgust with himself. Desiree was not going to be the only one mad. He could add Mica and Denise to that list. He gulped, suddenly feeling sick again. “Did I say what she said?”

“You sure did. You said she’d be here in a couple of days.” He turned and walked quickly to the van.

Caleb watched him walk away suspiciously. “Hey, Johnny, you seem to be in a big hurry all of a sudden. Where are you going?”

“You didn’t hear my name right, partner.” He climbed in the van, speaking through the open door. “The name’s Jason. Jason Hargrove.” He laughed hysterically.

Whipping his head around, Caleb was instantly consumed with anger. Charging for the van, he stripped his clothes off as he went, making a leap for the vehicle as a black panther as the van sped from the parking lot. He heard Jason’s laughter echoing in his head as he chased the van for about ten miles before finally giving up. Turning around, he headed back to the bar.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Caleb arrived back at the bar a short while later. Luckily, there were no cars on the road this early in the morning. Picking up his clothes with his teeth, he jumped into the open hatch of the van, morphing back into a human form. Sitting back, he stared dejectedly out at the open road. He pulled his clothes on in jerky movements, oblivious of the February chill. How dumb could he be? The one time he needed to keep his mouth shut, he blabbed everything to the one person they were trying to hide from. He felt foolish, as if he had the word “sucker” stamped across his forehead.

Jason played him and he’d fallen for it. It would not happen again because now he knew what Jason looked like and what he was driving. Hargrove was going to pay for this. He would see to it personally. That was if Mica did not kill him first. He hit the back of the seat with his fist. “Mica’s going to kill me.” He shook his head dismally when a thought struck him.
I don’t have to tell him. How will he ever know? He’ll find out I called Denise, but he’ll never have to know I blabbed everything to Hargrove.

He immediately felt better. Crawling out of the back of the van, he slammed the hatch shut. He climbed in behind the wheel and headed back to the cavern.

* * *

Caleb parked the van in the usual spot. Climbing out, he started to walk the short trek around the corner to the cavern. Rounding the corner, he saw Desiree and… “Mica?” he remarked in astonishment. “Am I hallucinating?”

Mica flashed him a huge smile. “No, you’re not hallucinating. It’s me.”

“How—how is it possible?” he stuttered, looking around, blinking a few times. “The sun is up, isn’t it?”

Mica laughed, and Desiree stood back proudly. “She did it, Caleb,” he remarked excitedly. “Her spell worked. I can be outside in the daylight.” He walked right up to Caleb, stopping short. Fanning his hand in front of his face, he backed away. “You smell like you took a bath in a brewery.”

He looked down in guilt. “Yeah—I—uh…tied one on last night, and—uh—slept it off in the back of the van.”

Mica was not going to let his good mood be ruined by Caleb’s strange behavior. He slapped him on the back in good humor. “Well, I’m glad you’re back with the van. We want to go back to the truck stop and take a shower, and from the smell of you, I think you might like to join us.”

He would not meet Mica’s eyes. “Yeah, a shower would be good, and maybe some breakfast too.”

His instincts were suddenly on high alert. Mica stepped back, making a quick assessment of his friend, sensing Caleb was hiding something from him. Mica exchanged a worried look with Desiree. She inclined her head to him in agreement.

She forced a smile for Caleb. “A hot meal and a hot shower, sounds good to me.”

* * *

Desiree stepped under the stream of hot water. She luxuriated in the feel of it kneading her tired muscles. Closing her eyes, smiling to herself, she thought of Mica. He was genuinely pleased with the gift she’d presented to him today. Her heart filled with delight that she could make him happy. She told Mica that she’d cast that spell because Drake commanded her to, but that was not true at all. She’d cast that spell for him.

Wrapping her arms around her waist, she hugged herself, thinking about the ways he made her feel. He made her feel protected. He made her feel hot. He made her feel sexy. He made her feel wanted. He made her feel…loved? Her eyes flew open when her true feelings hit her. She loved him; she was in love with him. How had that happened? She certainly was not looking for it, but now that she found it, she wanted nothing less.

Reaching outside the plastic curtain, she grabbed the scented lavender soap from her bag. She had refrained from using it last time because they were camping in a cave, but now she wanted to feel pretty. She wished they had bought some less practical clothes. These heavy flannel shirts and jeans were good for keeping warm, but did nothing for her vanity. The way she had to dress, she felt like one of the guys. She missed her fashionable outfits that flattered her figure. She sighed wistfully, rinsing off.