Heirloom Magic: Every Witch Way (7 page)

“Did my grandmother
marry my grandfather for his blood?” Harper blurted out, and Jasper shook his
head.

“Come on now, you
know that could never be true,” he chastised her, and Harper shrugged.

“I don’t think I
know anything anymore,” she admitted.

“A lot of people
thought that, but they didn’t care. They were in love.” Jasper cleared his
throat. “I haven’t found anything close to that in almost 700 hundred years,” he
admitted.

Harper opened her
mouth to reply, but Jasper pushed his chair back and got to his feet. “It’s too
bad you couldn’t just magic these dishes to wash themselves,” he said with a
lopsided grin, changing the subject.

Harper frowned at
his back as he stacked stuff in the sink. “You can’t just drop a bomb on me
like, you’re part demon, and then just start washing the dishes!” she
protested, standing up as well and planting her hands on her hips.

Jasper turned
around and gave her a helpless shrug. “I’m a vampire, Harper. I’m not really
sure what to tell you, if you were part vampire, I could obviously be of more
help.”

A furious pounding
on the front door made her jump. Jasper’s fangs became more pronounced as he
curled his lip back and used his hands to cover his ear. “Infernal wolf,” he
cursed. Harper started towards the door, even though she didn’t want to let
Jasper off the hook so easily. She wanted to stay and wring every last bit of
information out of him.

She didn’t even
make it halfway through the living room before Mr. Bell met her, practically
running. He’d let himself in.

“What is going
on?” she asked, noticing how unkempt and wild he looked.

“Please tell me
your magic is progressing?” he demanded, not pausing to even say hi, and Harper
shook her head.

“She’s progressed
to lighting the kitchen on fire,” Jasper answered for her, having followed her,
and Harper shot him a frown.

“I haven’t gotten
very far,” she admitted diplomatically.

“Damn it,” Keaton
cursed, surprising Harper with his vehemence. Even Jasper looked startled.

“What’s got your
panties all twisted up in a knot?” Jasper asked bluntly, and Keaton growled at
him.

“Forgive me for
not being a barrel of laughs, vampire, but I have the Northern army camped at
the edge of town threatening a hostile takeover!” Jasper choked on his laugh
and suddenly looked more serious than Harper had ever seen him—that alone
scared her more than anything Mr. Bell had just said.

“What army?”
Harper spluttered. “This is America!” Both supernatural beings turned and gave
her a sardonic look.

“How many times do
I have to tell you, you’re in our world now? The regular rules don’t apply,”
Jasper lectured, shaking his head.

“Our town is rich
in magical properties—our location and magical resources alone make it highly
coveted,” Mr. Bell interrupted to explain.

Harper opened her
mouth to ask what the hell all that stuff meant, but Keaton shushed her.

“I don’t have time
to explain all of it to you now, but you have to come with me,” he told her,
reaching out a beefy arm to pull her along before she could even decide. Harper
dug in her heels, but she was powerless against his strength.

“Wait!” she spluttered,
confused. “What do you want me for?” Mr. Bell didn’t even pause when he
answered.

“The only thing
keeping us from war these last four hundred years has been the protection of a
Jones witch. The Northerners must have heard your gran passed. They don’t know
another one has taken her place.”

The idea that she
was the only thing standing between this town and a major war breaking out made
Harper’s stomach flip flop.

“But, I don’t even
know magic!” she yelped when he started to propel her forward again.

“Let’s hope they
don’t know that,” Mr. Bell said. Harper twisted to look at Jasper for help, but
the vampire was surprisingly silent and stony faced.

“Where are you
taking her?” he asked, just as she was being hauled out the front door, and
Keaton glanced back.

“Town hall. We are
meeting with their leaders.”

Jasper nodded.
“I’ll be right there,” he said, causing Keaton to frown.

“You’re not on the
council,” he snapped, unable to hold back his ire, and Jasper snorted.

“She wears the
ring now. You know the one that ties my life to hers, you think I’m gonna leave
her protection up to you?” Keaton didn’t rise to the bait, but finally, after a
tense moment, he gave a gruff nod, like it killed him to do it, and then he was
forcing Harper outside into his fancy sedan.

“I don’t want to
go!” Harper protested once she’d been pressed into the seat and Keaton was
speeding them away from the safety of the house.

“I’m afraid it
isn’t quite as simple as your feelings. Your family swore to protect this town,”
he told her, and Harper seethed at his words.

“My grandmother
and I are not the same person!” she said from between gritted teeth, like that
wasn’t already clear enough? Mr. Bell gave her an assessing gaze.

“That is true and
if you really don’t want to do this, there is no way I can force you, but I beg
you to reconsider.” Harper blinked at his change of attitude. “If you turn your
back on us now, every person in this town will be slaughtered. That is every
man, woman, and child—both human and supernatural.” Keaton pulled up in front
of a historic looking building with a large clock on the front and put the car
into park. “It is time to choose,” he told her seriously, and Harper cracked
under the pressure.

“Of course I can’t
say no when you put it like that,” she muttered, and Mr. Bell sagged in relief.
He had been praying that there was enough of Liz in her to make her rise up to
this challenge.

“Thank you,” he
told her sincerely as he got out of the car, and Harper had to run to keep pace
with him.

They skirted away
from the front door and went around to a smaller side door instead. It was
hidden behind some tall trees, and Harper nearly walked right by it. Mr. Bell
paused, pulled out a key card, and swiped it across the lock. “This way,” he
said, motioning for her to follow as he took off down a dark passageway. Harper
swallowed nervously but forced her shaking legs to step, one in front of the
other.

“This is really
creepy,” Harper whispered to Mr. Bell, causing him to grunt in acknowledgment.

“I can see in the
dark, don’t be afraid,” Mr. Bell tried to comfort her, but he was too worried
about the council, and Harper could tell his heart wasn’t really in the
reassurance. Also, it was a lie. According to Mr. Bell himself, there was
definitely a reason to be afraid.

Mr. Bell came to a
sudden stop, and in the darkness, Harper didn’t realize it until she walked
right into his back. It was like walking into a brick wall. She let out a soft
groan and started rubbing at her boob, which had been taken the majority of the
hit—until she remembered that the wolf had said he could see in the dark. She
yanked her hand away quickly and grimaced. She nearly said something, but the
slide of a dead-bolt interrupted her, and then a door was opened and light
flooded in. Harper blinked, looking around. They had been walking down a small
concrete pathway in some sort of boiler room. There were pipes overhead, crisscrossing
everywhere, and the path was only three feet wide at best.

Mr. Bell motioned
for Harper to go first, and she stepped out into an oval room that was well lit
by an enormous glass ceiling. “What is this place?” she asked, but Mr. Bell put
his finger to his lips.

When he stepped
through the doorway, having to turn sideways to fit, Harper was surprised to
see a bookshelf, not a door, when he shut it again. “It’s a secret tunnel?” she
exclaimed, and Mr. Bell nodded, though he still didn’t speak.

Harper followed
Mr. Bell across the circular room to three doors that were white and stood out
starkly in the richly decorated room. “Is this where I pick?” Harper asked with
a snicker, earning herself a frown from Mr. Bell.

“Door number one,”
he said as he pressed his thumb to a scanner and a red line scanned over his
thumb before turning green with a small beep. The door clicked open, and Harper’s
pulse sky rocketed. She knew this was serious, but all the secrecy and high
tech equipment was pushing her anxiety through the roof.

“After you,” Mr.
Bell said gallantly, and Harper balked.

“Not on your life,”
she told him, meaning every word, and thankfully he didn’t put up a fuss as he
went through the dark doorway first.

Harper followed
him in and then peeked around his massive girth to see a well-lit sitting room
where a woman, wearing a business suit, was pacing back and forth. She stopped
when she saw Keaton and Harper.

“She came,” she
exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief.

Keaton nodded.
“She did, but it’s not all good news.” The woman’s face fell.

“She doesn’t know
her craft?” she guessed, and Keaton nodded. The woman frowned and returned to
her pacing, and Harper began to feel a prickle of annoyance.

She wanted to
shout at them that she was right here! They didn’t have to talk about her like
she was invisible, but Harper was also shaking in fear and didn’t really want
to draw too much attention to herself either.

Mr. Bell turned,
like he suddenly remembered she was there. “Harper, this is the Mayor, Mary
Porter.” Harper stepped out from behind Mr. Bell and gave a small wave when the
woman looked at her.

She really wanted
to ask Mr. Bell what the woman was, but she thought it would be too rude.
“She’s a wolf,” Keaton told her like he could read her mind. It was a bit
unsettling.

The mayor stepped
closer and leaned in close to sniff her. Harper froze. “Her aura is powerful.
It might be enough to fool them,” she said to Keaton, and he nodded.

“That’s what I was
hoping,” he agreed.

Mary stood with
her arms crossed and examined the pale, shaking girl in front of her. She
didn’t look like a powerful witch at all. “She needs a cloak,” she decided, and
Keaton nodded, going to the closet and pulling out a black, hooded cape.

Mary shook her
head. “Not that one. The green one. It will match her eyes,” she commanded and,
like a well-trained puppy, Keaton pulled out an emerald green cloak. The
material shimmered and almost seemed to come alive under the light.

He handed it to
Harper, and she took the slithery material in her arms and stared at it. “Put
it on dear. We will protect you, but you’ll have to do exactly as we say,” Mary
spoke directly to Harper for the first time.

Harper’s stomach
flip flopped, but she had already given her word that she would do her part to
protect the town, so she threw the cloak over her clothes. It fell to the very
tips of her toes, and Mary flipped the hood up. “That will do very nicely,” she
murmured, though Harper had no idea if she was speaking to herself, Mr. Bell,
or Harper.

A knock came at
the door and Keaton went to answer. A young man wearing the garb of a roman
soldier poked his head in the door and eyed Harper curiously, but he spoke to
Mary.

“Excuse me, but
they are growing anxious. They think you are trying to stall them.”

Mary nodded. “We
are on our way. Return to your post.” Harper watched as he actually bowed
before turning and leaving with a military march to each step.

“We can’t keep
them waiting any longer,” Mary decided, taking a deep breath and motioning for
Keaton and Harper to follow her. They went back into the oval room, but instead
of going to one of the other doors, or even the hidden bookcase door, they
walked to the very center of the room. Harper looked around in confusion as
Keaton bent down to inspect the carpet. He felt around, found a nearly
invisible seam, and then pried a trap door up with his fingertips. It took a
lot of brute strength, which was obvious by the grunt of exertion he gave as he
finally got it free.

Harper peered down
into the hole and saw rough stone steps that disappeared into blackness. Harper
gave a shiver, imaging how many spiders were probably lurking around down
there. Mary began her descent, and Harper grudgingly followed, being careful
not to trip on the robe and leaving Keaton to take up the rear. He paused just
long enough to pull the massive trap door shut again. Harper thought it would bathe
them in darkness, but was surprised to see a faint light up ahead.

The stairs curved
and Harper could see torches burning along the stone walls. It lit their way
and reminded her of every medieval movie she’d ever seen. This was entirely
surreal and a huge leap from the fancy finger scanning equipment up top.

They went down the
stairs, deeper and deeper into the earth, until Harper began to feel her legs
burn, and her hair was sticking to her head from sweat. She wanted to pull the
hood back and get some air, but she was too frightened. Mary and Mr. Bell
didn’t seem the least bit affected, she couldn’t help noticing bitterly.