Love's a Witch (11 page)

“Soooo, wherrre’s Craig?” I asked Amber yet again despite the frown it put on Jake’s face.

“He is outside testing the limits of werewolf sobriety. Bugger is going to have half his blood booze and still be able to walk a straight line. I don’t know why he doesn’t just give up the ghost.” Amber only stopped babbling to slam back the whole glass like a shot.

“Why eesss he tryin’ to drunk?” Wow. Slurry words were coming out where my voice was supposed to be.

“Amber…perhaps we should talk about this later.” Jake had a hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off. I could feel Jake’s light beam too. His had a low rumble of a sound. He was the tuba of our chord. I pictured his head turning into a bronze cone, like the instrument, and giggled.

“Nah…she’s a big girl. Craig isn’t sure you being in our Clan’s a good thang. I think it’s fabulous, and since I’m the queen…well it
is
. Ssso let it be written, ssso let it be…somethin’ somethin’.” More wine for both of us. But mine was sitting a little sour.

“He doezzzzn’t wan’ me?” My lips felt funny as I tried to pout. Then I tried to look at them and had to blink as my eyes crossed.

Amber fell over giggling. Literally. Off the chair. “Oh…girl…he wans you. Thas the problem.”

Oh.

Jake helped her back up onto the chair. “Mary, she’s drunk. Something I still don’t understand, but try not to take what she says to heart. Magic doesn’t always do what we expect, and Craig is someone who understands numbers and certainty. When things like this happen he needs some time to adjust.”

“But he went with yous guys the very night Amber turned without battin’ an eyes.” Damn wine.

“He did. But by that point, his magic had placed his loyalty in our Clan. A wolf follows his Alpha. There is less choice there than you realize.” Jake kept an eye on Amber. Even with my eyes crossed I could tell the wine was hitting her harder than usual. Jake started dumping out her glass in the plant in the corner of the room before she could drink it.

“But he has a choice in where
my
loyalties lie?” Anger is usually a sobering emotion. I drank more to compensate. “I’m talkin’ to ’im.”

Leave it to me to stumble after a werewolf I wasn’t sure wanted me around. Either that or he wanted me, but probably only for sex. I knew from Amber’s stories werewolves have a hell of a sex drive. There weren’t any other available ladies in the area. Maybe he was giving off some kind of sexy signal I was picking up on. That’s it. It was all chemical. Magic. We were two young…er…well he was probably a lot older, but still, our libidos were bouncing off the walls with no outlet. I just had to talk to him and let him know I understood. He didn’t have to feel awkward around me.

Craig was still out on the porch where he had been when I poked them with my light. An empty bottle of Jack, half empty bottle of Everclear, and a couple dozen drained beer bottles surrounded him like a redneck Wiccan circle.

He picked up the Everclear and took a swig. Then he popped his neck to the side and rolled his shoulders back. He had that the same black AC/DC tee on that he wore the night we left. I remembered holding onto that shirt when I was terrified my friend was dying. I shed tears on it. And he had been so warm and solid beneath the soft worn cotton. He had been more of a distraction than a comfort that night. My mind had kept wandering to what he looked like without the shirt, then what he’d look like without those jeans, then what he’d look like in those cowboy boots and nothing else.

“You are louder than usual when you’re drunk, Mary.” He didn’t even bother to look at me. He mumbled something about scent.

“Did you just say I ssssmell? And why don’ you wan’ me?”

His eyes shot back at me. They flashed that golden color I only saw before the Clan ran off to the woods in a wolfy blur. “What did you say?”

“In the Clan. Why don’ you wan’ me in the Clan?”

He huffed at the gravel driveway. I swear some of the stones shifted beneath his heavy breath. An image of the big bad wolf huffing and puffing down the little pigs’ houses came to mind. But this wolf didn’t go on a murderous rampage, he looked more defeated. And I wasn’t the only one who smelled. There was a cloud of alcohol wafting off him. Before he said anything else to me, he pulled some paper from his pocket, crumpled it up, and stuffed it into one of the empty bottles.

“You are where you’re meant to be. Magic’s like that. Clan, Pack, Family, whatever… magic goes where it should.”

“Why are you tryin’ to sssteal all tha boozze then?”

Craig’s long legs had him towering over me in an instant. His hands held my arms, but it was a nice guy trying to make sure the drunk girl didn’t fall down the steps, nothing more.

“I just need a minute. Maybe more than a minute. A lot of my concrete reality has been shattered by a wrecking ball named Amber. Now that you are Clan, hell…” Craig let me go and flung open his arms. His voice started to rise. “Is there nothing that is structured anymore? No rules? Don’t know if you know this, but werewolves have a pretty structured hierarchy. Rules and definites are comforting. Amber, this Clan, you, all of it has me feeling like I don’t have ground beneath my feet anymore.”

I slammed my hands against his chest. “You?” He didn’t move, but from the look on his face, he knew I put more force behind it than usual. “This has been hard on
you
? Are you freaking kidding me?” The buzz was receding as my anger grew.

“Easy, Mary.” Craig took another swig of Everclear.

“Fuck easy. I went from thinking I was just a human who needed psychiatric help to knowing that I was the least wacked out of my friends normal-wise. All the crap that I paid money to see in movies was true and living next to me. And now some of it wants to capture me and other witches to be their walking snack bars. Fuck easy. None of this is easy, or natural, or…easy!”

He let me push him away. I went for flourish, but my return to the house was more of a flop as I nearly bounced off the two big hybrids blocking the doorway. I wasn’t only the weakest, I was also the smallest. And I felt all of five inches tall as Amber sought to protect me like a mother bear.

I wonder if there were bear shifters? And most importantly, would they have those prehensile lips?

“You, fffuckin’ apolgize now!” Amber’s angry finger came out and she wagged it at Craig. “She’s my bessst friend!” I had seen Amber drunk before, but she wasn’t usually this loud.

“Amber, relax. I am sure our Beta knows that he should welcome our new Clan member, and not make her feel like a freak. Especially in this Clan, where we are all freaks.” Jake had his stern dad voice firmly in place. It was a shame no one wanted to settle down just yet.

“I’m not a freak. I’m one hundred percent wolf. I love you guys. I follow you
because
you accept even what you don’t understand. You’re like the fucking United Way for misfits in the making. That doesn’t exist in our world. It should. I
know it should. I just need a fucking minute!” Craig flung his hands out with the last word. The bottle of Everclear shattered on the porch post. He held up the bottle neck and drank the few drops that clung to it before tossing it on the ground.

I bent down to pick it up, but his fingers dug into my forearm and stopped me.

“Are you trying to slice up your good hand? Knock it off. I’ll clean it up. I did it. I…” Everything stopped. The super-sensory among us—meaning everyone but me—stood stock-still and lifted their noses in the air. Nostrils flared and curse words flew.

There was a blur. My hair lifted in the wake as they rushed past me into the house.

Oh no…Kari.

Nothing new had been disturbed. The only sign that something was wrong was a bottle of wine spilled on the table. I grabbed a nearby rag and started wiping it up, but the rag was yanked from my fingers.

“Where did you find this?” Craig held the scrap of grey jersey to his nose. His brow furrowed. Maybe he didn’t like wine? But my gut told me it was far worse than his taste in alcohol.

“It was on the floor. Kari must have dropped it when…when whatever happened…happened.”

Amber and Jake walked into the dining room. The look on their faces told me they found no one else around. I knew Kari was gone. Taken. Harvested while I had a fit about Craig. I put my hand on the table for balance. If I hadn’t been outside arguing with Craig, Amber and Jake would have been inside the house with Kari. They could have stopped this.

My knees buckled and the floor seemed like a much better place to be. I leaned my temple on my hand that still clung to the table. Tears began to trek down my cheeks. Useless soldiers in a battle I could fight, but never win.

“She’s gone.” The words were sticking to my tongue, but I forced them out anyway. “It was the harvesters, wasn’t it?”

Jake looked blurry as he crouched down in front of me.

“I do not know, but Kari could not have made it out of here so fast without supernatural speed. I am so sorry, Mary, but we will protect you. They will not take you.” Jake’s voice drew Amber’s gaze and she nodded in agreement. Craig’s eyes were still trained on the piece of fabric.

Jake’s voice was loud in the silence around us. I realized even the normal ambient noise from the wildlife was gone. They must have been scared off by all the shouting, or whoever had taken Kari.

“I want to know how they got so close.” Amber was finally sobering up. “We weren’t even fifty yards away. We should’ve heard them. Should’ve smelled them at the very least.”

“They have a witch working with them.” Craig said to the fabric.

I just stared at him. “How could a witch keep you from smelling someone?”

“Kari showed us there are many masks a witch can create,” Jake said. “She knew how to battle a lot more than most witches. For them to get so close…” Jake was rubbing Amber’s arms as he stood behind her. The touch seemed to strengthen both of them. They truly needed each other. I rubbed my own arms as he continued.

“Vampires can dazzle people and mask their existence to a point, but when they get close their smell still alerts us. Werewolves have even fewer tricks up their sleeves.” Jake had his back to the wall. Nothing was sneaking up on him now.

“I know some who have trained with witches and learned some basic magic, but most weres feel that earth magic is beneath them. They believe it is unnatural and wrong.” Craig held a lot of anger in his words. His knuckles turned white around the grey cloth he wouldn’t put down.

“But we did smell them. Something broke the spell, or whatever it was,” Amber thought for a second. “How do you think we finally got a whiff? You think Kari fought back and it dropped their defenses?”

I hoped Kari was still fighting. She seemed to know there was something bad coming. Did she know it was coming so soon?

Craig held up that rag I’d found.

“She tore their clothing. Their clothing must have been treated, even a small tear and we could smell them. There’s also a small amount of blood. She scratched them.” Craig pointed to the floor. Now that I looked, a little bit of red dotted the edge of the area rug beneath the table.

“Maybe we can get an idea of who took her and track the scent. Let me see that.” Amber leaned forward with her hand stretched out.

Instead of handing over the scrap to his Alpha, Craig crumpled it up into his palm. Then I felt the most sickening snap. The break came from that other plane I had seen. It wasn’t a physical pain, but with how much it hurt my soul, it might as well have been. Our harmonious chord wasn’t full anymore. Craig stole his loyalty back from the Clan.

“Craig, what the fuck?” Amber pushed her power out, but the disconnect was already there. Amber wouldn’t force him to return, but she would damn sure let him know she was pissed.

Jake held Amber by the arms. She was a force of nature right now. The last remaining fumes from the alcohol were the only reason he could hang on. Power erupted from her body and I felt the press of her through our Clan connection. My head dipped in submission before I could stop it. Any being would bow before her right now if they were smart. Her fangs had popped out, and her starburst eyes were shooting daggers. Craig was either really strong, or really stupid.

“I have to go. This isn’t what I signed up for.” Craig’s aura was troubled. The lightning from the Clan magic was gone, and empty cracks filtered through the angry black. He was shutting down. He ran his tongue along his teeth and the little bit of red I was able to get from his aura was gone. His had hidden his emotions, even from himself.

“So when we were all being hunted by vampires it’s okay, but when we have to deal with Harvesters wearing fancy clothes you can’t man up and take it?” Amber barked the words.

“Amber!” I was supposed to add to this Clan not tear it apart. How could I stop this?

“Fuck it, Mary. He’s already decided to leave. What you felt…that was him turning his back on us. Watch, now you get to see his physical back as he leaves.” Amber was right. His feet started to pivot. His focus was on nothing but that fabric in his hand.

“I’m not going to stare longingly at his back. I’m leaving first. If the ass wants back in he can kiss mine.” The anger made up for her metabolism and burned through the remnants of her buzz. “Jake, if you let Mary out of your sight I will castrate you. I need cookies.”