A Touch of Frost (3 page)

 
Chapter 4

Lacey gingerly set Alfred back down on the end table next to the couch. She made sure she kept one eye on the huge creature standing in front of her. She wondered which one of the kids created the spell this time. She bet it was one of Tory’s boys. The twins were always experimenting when her older cousin wasn’t looking. This looked like one of Joseph’s pet lizards.

Whatever they were trying to do, she needed to undo before Tory and Simon found out, otherwise the boys would be grounded for another week. With a wave of her hand, Lacey quietly muttered an enlightening spell to see if she could unwind what was done. She frowned when nothing happened. Biting her lips, she tried another spell.

“What are those two up to now?” She growled under her breath when nothing happened again. “Not even those two are strong enough to prevent a ‘Show me now’ spell from revealing which one they used.”

She stepped back when the nearly seven foot tall reptilian creature snarled again. Her natural protection immediately leaped out and shocked the thing. While it had the head of Joseph’s pet gecko, it did not have its body or temperament. It was almost like it was trying to say something to her and there was an awareness in its eyes that Larry the Lizard had never had before.

“Okay, I guess I’m going to have to do this the hard way,” Lacey muttered in frustration. “You have been a very, very bad lizard. You scared poor Ginger and me, crashed through my door, and broke the table Uncle Lyle made me for my wedding present. If Simon, not to mention Tory sees you, the boys will be grounded for life!”

The creature snarled menacingly at her again. Lacey rolled her eyes. The kids had gone to see the new Godzilla movie the weekend before. That was probably what gave them the big idea this time. At eight, the twins were getting more creative. With a flick of her finger, she snapped the huge lizard’s mouth shut so she could think of the best way to turn him back.

“Hush for a minute, please,” Lacey sighed. “I’m trying to figure out what they have done and your growling and snapping is not helping.” Lacey snapped her fingers and turned back with a large grin. “I know! Reverse the spell that has been done to change the shape to the original one.”

Lacey held her breath as the simple, but powerful spell slipped from her lips. Sometimes, simple was better. There was always a catch with the more complicated spells and the boys surely had to use a whopping one to get Larry this big!

A dark scowl crossed her face when nothing happened again. In aggravation, she glared down at Alfred who was swimming around in circles in his plain, clear bowl. With a click, fresh gravel, plants and a miniature castle appeared in the bowl.

“Well, it isn’t my magic,” she grumbled in frustration, looking back at the large green, leathery back of the lizard as he turned and walked into her kitchen. “Hey, where are you going?” Scrambling over the broken bits of coffee table, Lacey hurried after him.

*.*.*

Frost rose from where he had been kneeling. Taar’s footprints led to the small set of buildings. He knew there was trouble when three large mammals raced by him ten minutes before. He could practically smell the fear rolling off their hair-covered bodies. Tightening his hand on the small explosive charges, he stepped out of the shadows of the trees heading toward the large brown building first.

He stopped when a furry creature poked its head out of the rectangular hole cut into the bottom of the set of large, double doors. A moment later, the small round bundle of golden fur fell face first into the dirt before scrambling up on short legs to charge at him.

Frost bent and scooped the round ball of wiggling fur up with his free hand when it started making whining noises. He quickly had to use his other arm to contain it as it tried to lick his face. A grimace of distaste and a twinge of amusement went through him at the determination of the little mammal to mark him with its tongue.

He glanced at the closed door and deduced that if Taar had made his way into it, this creature wouldn’t have survived the first minute. Turning in a half-circle, his eyes swept the immediate area. He froze, his arms tightening on the creature in his arms, as he spied the drinking cup on the ground.

“Quiet, beast,” he murmured. “This is not a good place for you. Go back into your brown building until I have taken care of the situation.”

The small bundle wiggled again, but was quiet at least. Frost carefully set the creature back down on the ground and pushed it towards the barn. He walked over to the cup and picked it up, noting the dark stain in the soil and small footsteps mixed with Taar’s larger ones. The tracks led to the white building. His face darkened when he noticed the door to the front of it had been smashed in.

He sprinted toward the building, only slowing when he heard Taar’s sharp snarl followed by a soft, annoyed voice. He caught himself as he stumbled in surprise. It was not Taar that caused him to be startled, but the annoyance in the voice of the native inhabitant. It was obvious from the soft, lilting voice that it belonged to a female. A female that should have been screaming in terror.

Frost cursed when a tiny streak of golden fur flashed past him into the dwelling. He had been distracted by the cup and tracks and didn’t realize the small mammal hadn’t gone into the building as he ordered. He watched as it slid on the slick floor before bouncing off to the left. He was sure that was where he would find Taar.

*.*.*

“Hey! Stop that! Bad Larry. Very, very bad, lizard,” Lacey scolded as the door to her refrigerator was ripped off its hinges. “I swear the boys are going to get an ugly old toad back if you don’t behave.”

Lacey threw her hands up to protect her face as a jar of pickles flew over one leathery shoulder. She gasped as another container, this time of yogurt, sailed past as well to splatter against the wall. Her cry of rage went unanswered as the green menace turned its attack to her freezer when it didn’t find anything it wanted in the refrigerator.

“No!” Lacey wailed in dismay as ‘Larry’ scooped out a pile of her Rocky Road ice cream with one claw before it tossed the container to the floor. “That is my favorite de-stressor! That does it,” she snarled. “I’m going to… to…”

Lacey fell back as the monster lizard turned. This time, it held a very long and very sharp knife in its claw. She had forgotten to take it out after chipping the ice when the power went out after the storm last night. By the time she discovered the breaker had also tripped, the freezer had begun to defrost, leaving the ice in the ice tray all stuck together.

“Larry, put the knife down now,” Lacey whispered in a soft, desperate voice as she raised her hands. “Lizards shouldn’t play with knives.”

*.*.*

Taar’s lips curled back. Nothing! There was nothing worth eating in the food preparation area. His mouth still burned from the bitterness and his stomach cramped from the rocks and water he had swallowed. Fury burned through him. There was no meat in the cold container. The only satisfaction so far was that he had found a primitive weapon. A weapon that finally brought the look of fear to the female’s eyes.

“Finally,” he growled. “Perhaps if I cut you up I’ll be able to eat on your flesh without you poisoning me. If not, at least it will shut you up.”

A rumble of pleasure escaped him when she stumbled backwards as he stepped closer. He would bury the sharp blade through the female’s heart and cut it out. Gripping the wooden handle of the long, thin blade in his right claw, he started to swing the blade when something grabbed the end of his tail.

Pain exploded through him as a series of sharp teeth sunk deep into the tip of his tail just short of the short, poisonous spikes near the end. The very tip of his tail was the only vulnerable area of his body. The flesh was softer and unprotected by the hard, leathery scales that covered the rest of him. Most adversaries avoided that part of his body because of the poison contained in the rigid spikes, unaware of the sensitivity in the lower tip.

A howl of pain and rage shook the kitchen as he lifted his tail in an attempt to shake off whatever was biting him. His eyes widened when he saw a miniature replica of the furry creature from earlier hanging on to the end. Only this one had a massive head filled with teeth attached to an extremely small body.

“Let go of me!” Taar roared, swinging his tail frantically as the creature continued to hang on to the end with its foot-long teeth. “Release me.”

With a snap of his tail, the creature flew through the air. Nausea and pain flared as the tip of his tail went with it. The loud cry of the female mixed with his as she grabbed the flying furry mass in midair, twirling on her heels to keep her balance as she caught it. Taar stepped forward, the blade clenched tightly in his hand. Now, it was time to kill.

 
Chapter 5

Frost stood in the doorway of the dwelling staring in shock at the female. He blinked several times to clear his eyes. Nothing else seemed to register in his mind except that she was glowing… with the bright, soft light of the early morning sun reflecting across a fresh snowfall. The brilliant colors swirling around her settled on her skin like the first touch of frost against the petals of the snow flowers.

He watched the patterns settle around her. As the twinkling faded, the delicate patterns caressed her skin dancing for him. Patterns only he could see. Patterns showing that she was his chosen one.

Time suddenly fast forwarded as he realized that she was in mortal danger. Panic and fear, two emotions that he refused to acknowledge, ricocheted through him as he caught the glint of cold metal and Taar’s massive form behind her.

“Taar!” Frost yelled, throwing his right hand up. “Freeze.”

The dark brown eyes of the female jerked up to his in shock. Her lips parted to form a small, delectable circle as she stared back at him. He barely registered that she had her arms wrapped protectively around the body of the golden-haired mammal. He did look twice when the tiny creature suddenly let go of the tip of Taar’s tail and grinned up at him.

“Move,” Frost snarled as he continued to shoot bursts of ice outward toward Taar.

A confused frown crossed the lovely face of the female as she tilted sideways away from where the icy stream was pulsing. She gasped as she saw the ice-covered mask of the lizard behind her. She stumbled against a chair that had fallen. The movement, combined with the extra weight in her arms, caused her to move backwards instead of toward him. At the same time, Taar’s enraged roar and the sound of shattering ice echoed through the room.

“What is going on? Who are you?” The female shouted in exasperation. “Larry,
let… me… go
!”

Frost clenched his fingers into a tight fist as Taar wrapped one of his hands in the female’s long dark brown hair while the other raised the sharp blade to her throat. The sound of the Learian’s loud hisses rubbed against his senses like sand against glass.

“Star Ranger!” Taar hissed, ignoring the sharp stinging in his tail and the pulsing shocks burning the palm of his hand where he gripped the female. “I should have known the Passion would send you. This is going to make my escape even sweeter knowing I’ve killed yet another one of you.”

“Let her go, Taar,” Frost responded in a cold, hard voice. “This is between you and I.”

“Not any longer,” Taar sneered. “This one is going to die.”

Frost’s mind worked frantically at a way to get the female away from Taar. Fear and rage burned inside him as the blade in Taar’s fisted claw rested against the pale skin of the female. He fingered the explosives in his other hand. They would stun Taar briefly, but they might kill the woman.

His eyes moved to the slender figure that had become very still. The look of uncertainty and confusion was still in her eyes, but there was something else as well, as if she was trying to understand what they were saying. Her eyes locked with his and he saw she was studying him with a frown. He rolled the small explosives in his left hand. Her eyes moved to his hand before rising to look at him again, this time with disapproval. She gave a tiny shake of her head.

Frost couldn’t hold back his growl of frustration. The stupid female had no idea of the danger she was in! Stiffening his shoulders, he slipped the explosives into the pocket of his trousers. The likelihood of him surviving a hand-to-hand combat with the Learian was slim, but he had no choice. He could not let Taar kill his female.

“Fight me,” Frost demanded in desperation. “Hand to hand, no weapons, just you and me.”

Taar’s bark of harsh laughter resounded through the room at Frost’s challenge. Frost took a step forward when Taar jerked on the female’s hair instead, pulling her back a step and drawing a cry of pain from her. His hands instinctively tried to reach for her before his mouth dropped open as she suddenly turned around in fury and pressed one hand against Taar’s chest. The blade Taar held against her throat vanished into a puff of smoke as she twirled to face the Learian.

He fell back a step when her voice rose in a commanding tone. He didn’t understand a word she was saying, but whatever it was had a profound effect on Taar. The Learian’s eyes widened in shock before he began to shimmer. One second the huge reptilian species stood in front of the female, the next he was gone.

Frost stood frozen in disbelief watching as the woman lowered the golden mammal in her arms to the floor before she grabbed a small, clear container off the floor. With another series of mumbled words, the contents of the container disappeared. When she finally stood straight again, she was holding the container between the palms of her hands with a look of disgust on her face. Inside was a miniature replica of Taar, now only about five inches high.

His throat worked up and down as the female turned her heated gaze on him. He started to stumble backwards when she took a step toward him, her eyes glittering in determination. His vision blurred as she waved her hand at him. Panic gripped him as the world began to grow around him. He tried to turn on his heel, but found he was unable to move as trillions of sparkling lights danced around him for several long, eternal seconds.

His eyes closed as he fought with his frozen muscles, trying to get them to obey him. When he opened his eyes, the golden mammal was looking at him, nose to nose. He grimaced when a pink tongue swept out to lick the fur covering his face.

Fur! I don’t have…
Frost thought for a brief moment before his eyes lit on the reflection in the smoky glass of what looked like a cooking device. With a tentative hop forward, he gazed at his reflection.
I… I…
His brain rebelled at the same time as he felt a firm, but gentle hand, grab him by the back of his neck and lift him.
I have long ears!
He thought before his mind shut down and he slipped into an exhausted slumber as soothing words washed over him.

*.*.*

“Lacey, what the hell do you want me to do with a rabbit?” Theo asked in exasperation as he studied the slumbering bunny. “Make a stew out of it?”

Lacey sighed. She didn’t know what to do. Technically, the rabbit, aka male intruder, hadn’t been the one to threaten her. In fact, it was as if he was trying to protect her, which was totally ridiculous as she could protect herself from most things not that the man would have known that.

She bit her lip as she thought of the other creature in her house this morning. She hadn’t brought him in. He was still sealed in the plastic container in her Jeep outside. She debated whether to bring him in as well, but thought twice about it.

She decided that this was a much more serious situation when she realized that the creature was not Larry, but something far, far different if his karma was anything to go by. She felt like a fool for thinking it could have been Joseph’s pet lizard in the first place with all the negative energy it was putting out. She blamed her irrational thinking on not getting enough sleep last night.

She decided in the end it would be best to separate the two males until she could figure out what the hell was going on. Since she didn’t want to take a chance on Theo getting hurt, she decided to keep the one putting off the bad mojo where she could see him. Maybe if she got some rest, she could figure out why they were at her house.

“He isn’t really a rabbit,” Lacey said again. “I just turned him into one… he’ll change back in a few hours. I just need you to keep him here until he does, then you can release him.”

Theo leaned back against the lone desk in the small office that contained two jail cells, one filing cabinet, the desk and a bathroom. Magic didn’t get a lot of criminal activity. Those that broke the law were almost always strangers to the town.

The only local resident that had spent any time in the jail lately, was Jerry Jenkins. Jerry liked to run through town once a month in the buff when one of his distant ancestors came to visit him. Jerry ignored the fact that no one else could see the ghostly figure but him. Theo had finally quit arresting Jerry after his ancestor unlocked the door in front of him. Now, everyone in town just got the unpleasant pleasure of seeing a bare-assed Jerry if they happened to be in town on the third Thursday of each month around noon.

“Should I even bother asking why you turned him into a rabbit in the first place?” Theo asked as he glared at the sleeping rabbit nestled in Lacey’s arms. “If he was bothering you or trespassing, you should have called me, Lacey. You know I would have come out immediately.”

Lacey smiled at the concerned tone in Theo’s voice. Theo had been the one to come out to Touch of Magic after Sean’s accident. He had just moved to town a few weeks before. He had held her as she wept uncontrollably as her aunt and sisters repaired the damage she had wrought in her grief. It was the one and only time that Lacey had used her magic to destroy anything. Fortunately, none of the animals, Theo or her aunt and siblings had been injured.

“I know, Theo,” Lacey replied quietly. “I… I had a bad night, and well…”

Theo watched as Lacey ducked her head until her hair fell forward to shield her face. He heard the whispered hesitancy in her voice. She was holding something back. He could hear it in her voice. She was telling him the truth about having a bad night, though. That was one of the things he discovered about himself since he moved to Magic and took the position as their sheriff.

For years, hell, his whole life he had always known when someone was lying to him. He thought it was because he was such a damn good detective, but since he moved to Magic he knew it was more than that. He had never known his birth parents, but he suspected they would have fit in with the other residents of Magic.

This town was the craziest place on the planet, but for the first time in his life he felt like he was where he was meant to be; Streakers, ghosts, witches, fairies, trolls, shape-shifters, and all. Magic, New Mexico had everything and more.

“I’ll take him,” Theo said gruffly. “When he turns back, I’ll take him to his vehicle and make sure he leaves town.”

Lacey raised her head, her fingers brushing in a gentle, soothing rhythm through the brilliant white hair of the rabbit nestled against her chest. For a moment, her fingers stilled as a wave of loss and loneliness washed through her as she remembered the vivid, icy blue eyes of the man. With a long sigh, she carefully handed the sleeping form over to Theo, who had straightened and held out his arms.

“Thank you, Theo,” Lacey whispered. “I couldn’t understand him, so he isn’t from around here.”

“Don’t fret about it, Lacey,” Theo said as he held the fluffy white creature away from his uniform. “There are some gestures that are universally understood and a badge and the tone behind ‘Get out’ is one of them.”

A hint of a smile danced around the corner of Lacey’s mouth at the exasperation in Theo’s tone. She could sense the questions burning a hole through him. Some questions were better not asked. She didn’t know why, but she knew deep down that she needed to put as much distance as possible between herself and the blue-eyed stranger. Hopefully, Theo would be able to convince the man that everything that had happened had just been a delusion.

“Oh, I didn’t wipe his memory,” Lacey added as she opened the door to the office.

“Don’t worry about it,” Theo commented as he dropped the sleeping form on the bed in one of the cells. “I’ll convince him that it was the result of too much liquor.”

“Thanks again, Theo,” Lacey called out as she stepped outside and into the mid-morning sun.

“No problem, Lacey,” Theo muttered as he locked the cell door with a shake of his head. “It isn’t like this is the first time this has happened.”

He glanced up and watched as Lacey climbed into the dark blue Jeep Wrangler parked out front. He ran his hand over the back of his neck.

Something was going on. That little itch at the back of his neck always started when something big was about to happen. He wondered what in the hell it was going to be this time. He hoped it wasn’t any more ghosts. Those were one thing he was more than happy to do without.

“Hell, I’d rather fight with a pile of aliens, than with one vengeful apparition,” he muttered turning away from the window. “Thank God that isn’t likely to happen in my lifetime.”