Witch Hearts (20 page)

“No.”

He looked up at her with surprise on his face. “No?”

“No,” Ruby repeated, her voice clear and strong. “You’re not leaving. We know they’re involved with the murders. If you leave, they’ll come after me to get to you. We’re in this together and I don’t want Ben Marshall staying in my apartment if a witch attacks. I want Cooper Wilson.”

Even as he gave her an incredulous look, a hint of a smile crossed his face. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure I’ve never wanted anything more.” Ruby bit her lip and looked down in her lap. Her statement meant more than just Cooper staying there for her protection. After this was over, if it ever did end, she still wanted him to stay. She didn’t want to bring the matter up now; they would cross that bridge when they got to it.

Cooper nodded. “Okay. I’m not going anywhere, then.”

“Good.”

He pulled her in to him, put his arms around her as she laid her head on his chest. They sat there for a few minutes in silence, Ruby considering the last few hours.
 

“Did you hear him? “Wait ’til I tell X?” How do we stop them?”

“I don’t know if we can.”
 

Ruby’s heart cracked a little at how defeated Cooper sounded. A surge of anger went through her at the evening’s events.
 

“I’m sick of feeling scared,” she said. She felt Cooper nod against her head in agreement. “We need to be on the offensive. Be prepared for any gangsters or killers that get impatient.”

“What’s your plan?”

“I don’t know yet,” she admitted. She closed her eyes, taking in the warmth that radiated off his body and breathing deep his cologne. Neither of them spoke for a while until Ruby broke the silence.
 

“Now what?”
 

Cooper played with a piece of her hair. “I say we turn on the TV and forget it happened, at least for tonight.”

“I’m not at all opposed to that idea, but good luck getting my mind off that.”
 

“I could think of a few ways to keep your mind occupied. Weren’t we talking about a second dessert?”
 

He flashed a devilish grin and despite the circumstances, Ruby’s stomach gave an excited little flip as he leaned in to kiss her. Then her phone rang, the shrill sound making her jump a little. Cooper was unfazed.
 

“Don’t answer it,” Cooper whispered to her, his soft lips grazing hers.

She had a hard time focusing when he was this close to her. Her voice came out in a breathy whisper. “It might be important.”

He paused to consider it. “In that case, I’ll give you fifteen seconds.”

She grabbed her phone and answered, immediately regretting the decision when the voice at the other end sounded.

“Hey, it’s me,” Michael said.
 

“What can I help you with?” Ruby asked. She hoped he could hear the frostiness in her tone over the line.
 

“Ruby, please, I…I need your help,” Michael said.
 

Ruby blinked in surprise. Michael was not a man who stammered or asked others for help. Even over the phone, Ruby could hear the worry in his voice.
 

“What, another one of Queen Rebecca’s spells backfire?” She rolled her eyes to Cooper, who didn’t bother hiding a smirk, his fingers busy tracing slow circles on her knee.
 

“She’s gone. I think,” Michael sucked in a deep breath before he continued, “I think he has her.”

“He who?” Ruby said absentmindedly, her attention floating to Cooper’s hands that were now sneaking up her leg.

“
Him
, Ruby. The killer or dark witch or whatever.”
 

“You think the murderer took Rebecca?” Ruby repeated in shock. Her jaw dropped and Cooper’s hand stopped on her thigh as he stared at her.

“I, um, I don’t know for sure,” Michael replied. “I went to the gym after you left. She called and she’s supposed to be here, but there’s blood in the kitchen and—”

“Oh, shit. Are you at your place?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll call you back.” Ruby abruptly hung up on Michael, tossing her phone on the coffee table with a clatter. She repeated the conversation back to Cooper.
 

“Why would he take Rebecca when all he’s done is stalk you?” Cooper asked.

Ruby shrugged. “I guess because he thinks I’ll come save her, take her place or something.”

A chuckle escaped him. “That must be the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard all week.”

She stared at her phone on the table, considered her options. Rebecca’s heart was going to get cut out soon if she didn’t do something. She heaved a large sigh. “Dammit.”

“What dammit?” he asked.
 

Ignoring him, she went to her room and returned after she’d slipped on her shoes. The smile on Cooper’s face died as she put her jacket on and slung her bag over a shoulder.

“Uh, what are you doing?”

“Going to save that dumbass witch.”
 

“What?” He stood and strode over to her in a heartbeat, his eyebrows nearly touching his hairline in surprise. “You’re kidding.”

She looked up at him. “I’m not. I can’t let her die for me.”

“After everything she’s done, you’re going to risk your life for her?” He shook his head. “No way. I won’t let you.”

“Let’s go ahead and skip the part where I tell you that there’s no “letting” me do anything.”

He took half a second to give her an exasperated look before arguing again. “Even if he does have her, that’s like offering yourself up on a silver platter. He might kill her anyway.”

“Maybe, but I don’t want her blood on my hands. Much as I despise her, I don’t want her dead because of me. Knowing my luck she’d come back to haunt me forever.”

“Unless he kills you, too,” he protested.

“I have to help her, Coop.”

Cooper looked at her, perhaps more serious than she’d ever seen him, even after the last several days. Those mesmerizing green eyes looked deep into her blue ones and for a second, her resolve wavered. She swallowed hard and set her jaw, tried to look determined. After another moment, Cooper groaned and reached for his leather jacket on the wall.
 

“You’re not going alone.” He adjusted the collar of his coat, giving her a dark look. “Better stock up on some tricks though. We’ll need to distract this bastard until I can take him down.”

“Already taken care of,” she said, patting her messenger bag. Inside the deep pockets were a handful of different potions that, while not as powerful as the coven’s botched protection spell, would hopefully give them enough time to get Rebecca out of that psycho’s grasp.

As they exited her building, Ruby realized that the nightmare might end tonight. The only true question now was the end result.
 

Ruby and Cooper pulled up to Michael’s building, parking her car on the corner. They went up to the entrance and Ruby buzzed for Michael to let them in. Rather than let her right up, however, silence greeted them. They saw the elevator lights click as Michael came down to let her in face to face. Panic seized Ruby as she realized Michael would do anything he could to annoy Cooper, including...

“I have to tell you something,” she said, her voice a nervous whisper. He gave her a curious look and the words spilled out of her. “When I came here earlier to get the spell, Michael tried to talk about getting back together. He kissed me and X saw us and called his phone to tell me he didn’t approve. He told me not to say anything to you or the cops about his call or I’d regret it.”

Cooper’s lips parted in surprise and Ruby winced at the angry vein in his temple. The elevator door opened and Michael came out to open the door. His eyes on the floor, he appeared defeated already. At his appearance, Cooper faced the front, clenched his teeth together so hard his jaw twitched. Ruby’s guilt at his expression sat heavy in her stomach and she turned her attention to Michael as he opened the door.
 

Ruby could see he was distraught; worry wrinkled his face and slumped those muscular shoulders. When he saw Cooper, however, his posture jerked upright to his full height. Scowling, he folded his arms across his chest. Clearly he’d been expecting only Ruby.
 

“What are you doing here?” he asked Cooper. Not even the usual polite British accent could hide his flat, uninviting tone.
 

Cooper held his hands palm up in truce, but his tone was far from friendly. “Ruby shouldn’t be making herself an easy target for this psycho, but she’s stubborn.”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Enough, thank you. Now how do we save your girlfriend?”

“We broke up,” Michael said. He made sure to add, “As I said when you were here earlier.”

She restrained another eye roll and repeated her question, much to Michael’s annoyance. He heaved a large sigh as he opened the door to let them both in.

“I’ve been preparing a location spell. We can scry for her.”

Wordlessly, they stepped into the elevator and went up to the fourth floor. When they walked into his apartment, Ruby bit her tongue to prevent a gasp. She’d never seen Michael’s beautiful, exposed brick loft in such disarray.
 

Stepping carefully around remnants of shattered glass, Ruby pretended to ignore the rest of the apartment, its usually tidy area covered in photos - Michael and Rebecca on a hiking trail, Rebecca striking a pose at the beach, Michael and Rebecca kissing in a field. It was a little overkill, really, as though Rebecca had made sure she was around even if she wasn’t physically in Michael’s space.
 

Ruby at least admired that Rebecca appeared to have put up quite a fight. Several of the frames were broken, glass strewn across the shiny hardwood floors. A side table had gotten knocked over, taking down a vase of red roses and white baby’s breath that mixed in a brilliant color with broken glass and spilled water.
 

Rebecca had clearly been preparing dinner - maybe her attempt to win Michael back? Vegetables lay scattered across the granite kitchen counter, while a pot of water on the stove sat waiting to boil. Perhaps the worst part, however, was the giant kitchen knife that still lay on the tile floor, covered in a sticky red substance Ruby was growing all too familiar with.
 

Ruby’s jaw clenched at her favorite painting that now hung in a different spot from its original position Ruby had chosen when living here. Swallowing her pride, she turned to face Michael, who was watching her with a peculiar intensity. Perhaps he’d expected her to break down at the sight of their old place together. She focused her attention back on the situation at hand and couldn’t help one last snarky retort.

“Thought you said you broke up with her.”

“We did,” Michael replied. “Like I said earlier, Rebecca and I are through.”

Ruby didn’t dare sneak a look at Cooper, but she felt him tense next to her. “So why does it look like she was playing Susie Homemaker with no idea of said breakup?”

Michael sighed, his wide shoulders coming up to his ears and back down again in a defeated shrug. “I guess she thought she could convince me we’d work it out. She called, told me she was here and wanted to talk, so I headed home.”

“Where were you before then?” Cooper asked, his tone and gaze both sharp with suspicion. Ruby gave him a warning look.

“After Ruby left my building, I went to the gym. I cut my run short but there’s plenty of video evidence, I’m sure. Maybe you want to go check that out right now,” Michael replied in an even tone. His voice may have been smooth but his hand twitched into a fist at the implication.

Cooper held back a grin at Michael’s anger and Ruby directed the conversation back on track.

“Let’s do this tracking spell. I assume you’re ready to go.”

Michael nodded and they followed him into the living room where he’d set up his magic station. Ruby sat on the couch, ignoring the gorgeous photo of Rebecca on her left, and faced the coffee table. A map of the city, a crystal on a leather strap, and a bowl of herbs sat waiting to be used.
 

“You consider calling the police?” Cooper asked. Michael didn’t bother hiding his dirty look.

“I thought it unwise to involve them with magic.”

Ruby cut him off. “Once we get a location, I’m calling Ben.”

“Who’s Ben?” both men asked at the same time.

Ruby didn’t have time to consider it amusing. “Officer Marshall,” she reminded them.

“Since when is it Ben?” Cooper mumbled. Ruby caught Michael’s small smirk. At her stern glare, however, both of them gave her a nod to get to business.

Michael took a swift step around Cooper to sit down next to Ruby on the couch. She didn’t miss the slight satisfaction on Michael’s face, but he began crushing the herbs in the cauldron on the table so she kept quiet. Seconds later, he placed the amethyst in the bowl, muttering an incantation. He took the crystal back out, held it above the map by the worn leather string until it held completely still.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He muttered Rebecca’s name under his breath a few times and Ruby resisted glaring at the photo next to her. She and Cooper sat patiently, waited for the magic to come and help them save Rebecca. For over a minute, Michael continued to hold the crystal above the map, but it didn’t so much as twitch in any direction.

He finally looked up at them, confused. “It’s not working. Why can’t I find her?”

“Let Ruby do it,” Cooper suggested. “She’s good at scrying, more powerful than either of us.”

Michael’s jaw twitched at the notion, clearly annoyed that he might not be the best one in the room. Instead of arguing, however, he silently handed her the crystal and got up to sit on the other end of the couch to watch her.

Ruby copied Michael’s exact ritual, held the amethyst over the center of the map and waited for it to reveal Rebecca’s hiding place. She tried her hardest to focus on the venomous redhead, but even with Ruby’s power behind the ritual, nothing happened. Finally, she gave up on the map idea.
 

Ruby shook her head. “Get a bowl of water. That might help since the guy’s MO involves the river.”