A Witch's Trial (Witch's Path Series: Book 3) (10 page)

His eyes narrowed. "When did you cross paths with a clurichaun?"

I swallowed. "Um, yesterday."

Closing his eyes, he tipped his head back and took a deep breath before returning his gaze to me. "Clurichauns are dangerous."

"That's why the police called me."

"Of course it is. All right, if you are going to continue putting yourself in dangerous situations, you must learn to defend yourself."

"Magic, remember?" I wiggled my fingers and made the air sparkle. Maybe a visual would reinforce the words.
 

"Yes, magic. If I recall, magic failed to keep the werewolf contained."

"That was a freak event. Who knew there would be a demon, exploding house, and magical backlash?" I grumbled.
 

"You cannot know what the situation will involve, which is why you must be prepared." He silenced me with a look when I opened my mouth. "A method of physical defense is necessary if you continue this work. Do not again tell me of your magic. I am aware of your gifts, but no single skill works in every situation. There will be creatures that are immune to magic or attack you physically when you are unable to summon a magical defense."

"Fine, let's say you're right. I'll get a gun." I'd used a gun before, and I was more comfortable with that than with any of the things he had stashed in here.
 

Elron shook his head. "You may, but it will not get you out of these lessons. My fear is not what will happen if your adversary is far away, but what will occur if they are near." He stepped closer to me, leaving only inches between our bodies. "If you are within this proximity, a gun is not ideal. If your opponent is farther away, I trust you are a resourceful witch who has the police there to protect you."

I knew right then that I wasn't getting out of this. He was dead set, and his logic was sound. "What do you think I need in a weapon?"
 

He stepped back and started across the room, and I trailed along behind him. This wasn't how I'd pictured my afternoon. My plan had been to pore over that book until I found something and then do some paperwork. It should've been a low-key and lazy day.

Up close, I realized I'd underestimated the scope of the weaponry. The storage couldn't really be called a rack as all but six feet of the wall was taken up with armor for every body part, with varying levels of padding and weapons of every shape and size. There were long swords, short swords, claymores, rapiers, sabers, and swords I couldn't identity. Next to the swords was a collection of staffs, glaives, and halberds that flowed into an assortment of smaller things like axes, tomahawks, brass knuckles, batons, maces, and trays of knives.

Elron walked along the wall, touching and picking up different weapons. "You need to be able to hold off a stronger, faster, more skilled opponent. This must be done at close range, where their strength and size will be a disadvantage for you. Ideally, you'll be able to break bones or otherwise disable your attacker with minimum effort on your part."

He was going to hand me a sword, I just knew it, and I didn't want to learn the sword. There were so many different techniques and types of swords, and carrying one around would be a colossal pain. I'd rather pick up the brass knuckles and get in a brawl with a vampire.
 

With his back to me, he stopped between the swords and staffs. After plucking something off the wall, he turned around, twirling whatever it was in his hands so quickly that it was unidentifiable.
 

"With that in mind, I think the staff is a good choice for you." He finished whipping it through the air, and one end hit the floor with a thump.
 

"Staff?" If I'd thought the sword would be annoying to tote around, it had nothing on a staff.
 

"Yes, you will acquire a passing acquaintance with the polearm." He handed me a staff that was slightly longer than I am tall and took a second one off the wall for himself.
 

"Elron," I said nervously, "this is a bad idea. I'm a perfectly competent witch, but I'm not known for being overly coordinated in other areas."

He shot me a withering look. "I am aware, Miss Dances-with-Mud."

"Not all of us can be as graceful as elves," I muttered.
 

"Clearly." He slipped a hand behind my elbow and guided me away from the rack, positioning me so I was facing the plain wood-paneled wall. Stepping in front of me, he held the staff with both hands and said, "This is the basic stance. Look at where my hands are and how I have placed my feet. Now you."
 

Fumbling, I grabbed the staff and stuck my feet to the floor. Elron broke the pose, set down his staff, and walked over. He gently repositioned my feet and corrected my hip and spine alignment with gentle fingers. Lastly, he adjusted my hands and poked at my shoulders.
 

"This is how you should stand. Can you feel it?"

"Yes."

"Good," he said. "Now, set down the staff." After I did so, he continued, "Pick it up and find the stance."

I shot him an incredulous look and did as I was told, praying for the patience to make it through the lesson.

*******

Trudging up the stairs, I tried to figure out how spending an hour picking up a stick and swinging it a few times could exhaust me. It shouldn't have been tiring; we hadn't even exchanged blows. Over and over I'd dropped the staff, picked it up, and found my stance. It wasn't until the last twenty minutes that I'd been allowed to do anything else, and even then it was gentle movements under his watchful eyes.

We emerged from the basement, and I took a right to go back to my place and clean up. I was sticky. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Elron turn the other way. "Where are you going?"

He spun around and tried to cover up the dark eyes and sadness with a smile, but it was too late. With that look, I knew he was hiding his pain around me, trying to act normal. Underneath the facade there were emotions that I couldn't begin to understand. How could I relate to the reappearance of a lost love when I'd never loved that deeply?

"I was going to retrieve food for us and bathe at my place. I thought it would be better if we had dinner in your apartment, considering the topics we need to discuss." There was a plea in his voice, as if he needed to do those things.
 

"Thank you, that sounds good," I said, keeping my voice light.

Elron smiled, this one real, and headed down the hall.
 

I slowly walked back to my place, my thoughts churning. In the shower with water cascading over my shoulders, I let go. My tears joined the water as I grieved for Elron, for his pain, uncertainty, frustration, regret, and guilt. And in those tears, I cried a few for me and what might have been if only things had been different.

Elron deserved a chance at happiness, at a life where he could put the baggage aside and find joy. He couldn't have that until the demon was dead and things with Sylvia were settled, be that with her alive or dead.
 

If killing the demon was the only way I could help Elron, I'd do it. Not only would it help him, but neither myself nor my family would be safe until Gremory was no longer a resident of this world. Beyond that, killing the demon would be a public service. He hadn't exactly been the best citizen Gilmer County had seen.
 

After I got out of the shower and slipped into fresh clothes, I activated a small cosmetics charm. Elron didn't need to see my puffy eyes and red nose. A look in the mirror reassured me that the charm was doing its job, and I headed out of the bedroom. The dining room table was set with a pitcher of iced tea and place settings for both of us. Elron was bent over the kitchen counter, his wet hair pulled back in a braid that left a damp spot on his shirt.

"What's for dinner?" I asked.

Elron turned around with a tray in his hands. "Why don't you sit down and see for yourself?"

"Come on, please tell me?" I begged, wanting to see him smile.
 

He shook his head and stepped back into the kitchen, setting the tray out of sight. I guess he didn't think the high sides were enough of a deterrent to my prying eyes.
 

"Is dinner ready?"

"Perhaps you must sit down to find out." This time he smiled faintly.
 

I smiled back at him. "Oh, all right. I'll follow orders, for now."
 

Finally I heard him chuckle. That sound felt right, as if he was reclaiming the good parts of him. The sadness, hurt, and loss were still there, lingering under the surface, ready to suck him under given the chance, but a man who would laugh and smile was one who still had fight in him.
 

Even if Elron ran out of strength, I was there, ready to go to battle for him. Sylvia's return might have shaken him to his core, but the way I saw it, the two of them were more victims of the demon. Gremory didn't get to hurt Elron, children, or werewolves anymore. I was coming for him.
 

Now, if I could only figure out how to kill a demon, this would be easier.

"This is dinner."

I blinked, coming back to the here and now, bringing the table into focus. Elron set a small salad and an empty plate in front of me before setting a tray of meat, cheese, crackers, and olives between us.
 

After leaving a salad at his spot, he sat down next to me, cleared his throat, and said, "I hope this is satisfactory."

"It's lovely."

And it was.

I awoke to a roar, a deafening sound that could only have come from Ty. Bolting upright, I hurried to jam my feet into slippers. I was ready to bolt out the door when a hair-raising screech came from my window. Lunging sideways, I flipped on the outside light as another scraping screech emanated from my window. The light flickered on, illuminating a shambling, half-rotted body gripping a large rusty nail in the three fingers that remained on its right hand. Its jaw swung open as if to grin, and it set the nail against the window again.
 

Screaming, I snatched my wand off the nightstand and scrambled into the living room, plowing headfirst into Elron. My momentum pushed us over, and we landed in a heap. In my struggle to stand, I stepped on Elron a few times, but within seconds I was facing my bedroom, arm up and wand ready.
 

"What is going on, Michelle?" Elron demanded, rubbing his belly where I'd accidentally planted one foot.

"Thing, outside my window."
 

"What is this thing?" He twisted his hand and was suddenly gripping a sword. I was going to have to make him explain that trick one of these days.
 

"Not sure. Some type of an animated corpse."
 

There was another roar, and the lodge shook.
 

Elron walked into my room and then quickly walked out. "There is nothing outside your window."

"Well, there was," I snapped.

"That I believe."
 

The building shook again, and I bit off a nasty word. Before Elron had a chance to question me, I was out the front door and sprinting the few steps to the outside door.

"What are you doing?" Elron's hand closed over the doorknob.
 

"Going outside to deal with that thing."

"Why? You are safer in here."

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I'm not letting it destroy Landa's Lodge. And, frankly, it may scare me out of my slippers, but I've got the best chance of stopping it." I shoved past him and burst outside.
 

It was quiet. There we no roars from Ty, sounds of battle, or crickets, frogs, birds, and other normal night sounds. The hair on my arms stood up—the night felt wrong. I started down the path that would take me around the corner of the building to my bedroom window.

My wand was in my hand, but I didn't know what I'd do when I saw the corpse. Spells that work on living people seldom worked on the dead. Rounding the corner of the lodge was anticlimactic. There was nothing there. The spill of light over my bedroom window illuminated a flowerbed and some short shrubs. Past that, it was difficult to see, but nothing caught my eye.

Elron stepped beside me, sword still in hand, curved dagger in his off hand. He surveyed the garden and tensed. I was about to ask what he could see when Ty charged out of the tree, roaring. An indistinct shape moved in front of him, managing to avoid teeth and claws.
 

The two of them raced into the garden, and I could see enough to cast. Flicking my wrist, I said, "
Fehu
."
 

The corpse slowed to a stop. Ty skidded to keep from running into it.
 

I walked over, talking in soothing tones, but my eyes and wand never left the body. "Ty, you were a good boy. It's okay now. You can calm down. You did such a good job."
 

Ty pranced over to me, sniffed me, and rubbed his cheek against me.
 

I leaned my head against him. "You were a very good boy. Can you keep watch?"

He bobbled his head and moved back.
 

Elron and I stood about six feet from the decaying remains and surveyed my attacker. I was grateful dinner had been hours ago, because it was a fight to keep the remaining food where it belonged.
 

The clothing he'd been in when he died hadn't fared well. The fabric had rips and missing sections. Luckily, his pants were mostly intact. Flesh and sinew hung off him in sections and strips. All but the sturdiest tissue had been stripped off his left arm, and most of his chest cavity was exposed with some of the intestines hanging out. His right arm was in better shape, but two of his fingers were missing.
 

"Do you know what it is?" I asked.

"No, there are many types of animated corpses. I do not have enough information to classify this one." Elron's eyes never left the body, and both weapons were still in his hands.
 

I nodded and rolled my shoulders. This wasn't going to be fun. Carefully, oh so carefully, I pushed a strand of magic out to explore the body. I bit the inside of my cheek to distract myself from the feeling of brushing against the corpse. Not only did it give off a spine-tingling feeling of discord, but it tasted foul, for lack of a better term.