She clapped her hands together as if we were now moving to step two.
“Do you believe her?” Christa asked me, reminding me that she was still in the room. She was eyeing Bella with daggers.
I smiled at Christa, appreciating the fact that my best friend was so protective. Then I glanced at Bella and nodded as I approached her. “We can go in the reading room.”
“Um, you do have another client coming in soon,” Christa announced.
I gulped and nodded, thinking this might be an issue. “Can you just have him or her wait for a few minutes?”
“Her,” Christa corrected.
“Maybe offer her some coffee and make small talk,” I finished.
Chris nodded and glaring once more at Bella, returned her attention to the Vogue magazine that was spread out on the counter.
I started for the hallway, Bella just behind me.
“I’ll be out here if you need me,” Christa called.
“Thanks, Chris,” I answered as I faced the reading room. When I opened the door, the darkness seemed to accost me; it took a second or two for my eyes to adjust to the red lightbulb that fought against the otherwise pitch blackness. Approaching the reading table, I pulled out the chair for Bella as I took a seat on the opposite side.
She motioned for my hands. “I need to touch you in order for the spell to work.”
I nodded, giving her my hands. I felt a slight pinch of electricity flow through me, which automatically reminded me of the first time I’d touched Rand—how his electricity had jolted through me and how overcome I’d been by my feelings toward him.
Do you think this could be a mistake? I heard my inner voice.
No, Rand wants nothing more than to control me, and who knows how desperate he’ll get. Who knows what he’s capable of.
But what if what he said was true? What if you really should trust him? What if those feelings you get around him are valid?
They aren’t. Now stop talking, stupid voice!
“So Rand won’t be able to ever get near me again?” I asked, suddenly impatient to get this show on the road.
Bella closed her eyes and nodded. “That’s the plan.”
“How foolproof is this?” I continued, worry lacing my voice. Hey, it wasn’t like I’d ever been on the receiving end of a spell before …
She opened her eyes as she dug her nails into my hands. “I am an extremely powerful witch,” she barked, clearly offended. “It’s foolproof.”
I swallowed hard. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”
“Close your eyes,” she said, obviously still affronted. “And focus on receiving my power.”
“How do I do that?”
She shook her head and grumbled something unintelligible. “Just clear your mind, and for God’s sake, stop talking.”
I frowned but closed my eyes and did my best not to think of anything, which was damn hard to do. My brain instantly switched into overdrive with thoughts of everything from what I was going to eat for lunch to what relationship this woman had with Sinjin. Finally I was able to focus on the blackness of my eyelids.
“It’s done,” Bella announced and dropped my hands, standing up.
I glanced up at her in surprise. “That’s it?”
“Yes,” she said impatiently.
“I didn’t feel anything.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
Somehow I just couldn’t fathom that there hadn’t been any sign at all that I’d just been bewitched. I mean, she hadn’t even chanted or done anything resembling hocus-pocus. “Are you sure you did it right?” I asked and then gulped at her expression of pure hostility. “There wasn’t anything I was supposed to say or you were supposed to say or some potion I should have drunk?”
She started for the door. “I hope Sinjin knows what he’s doing,” she said and turned to face me, scowling as she exhaled her pent-up frustration. Then before I could respond, she walked out of the reading room. Moments later I could hear the sound of the front door closing behind her.
If I’d thought my dealings with Bella Sawyer were over, I was sorely mistaken. That evening marked meeting number two, and to say I was disappointed was an understatement.
After getting off work, going home and showering, feeding the cat and myself, I headed for Sinjin’s. I wanted to throw my arms around him and forget the stresses of the day in his embrace. So you can imagine my frustration when he announced we were due at Bella’s house momentarily. He escorted me to his Ferrari and, once we were en route, glanced over at me with that winning smile of his.
“Isabella is going to act as your teacher, love,” Sinjin responded when I gave him a pouty face that said just how much I was looking forward to this.
“I thought you were my teacher,” I replied.
He chuckled and shook his head. “There are only so many subjects I can teach you, my pet. Unfortunately witchcraft is not among them.”
I just nodded but didn’t say anything more. I glanced out the window, getting lost in the scenery as it blurred past, and wondered about my life. It was like I’d just woken up one day and everything was turned upside down. Well, more like inside out.
I felt Sinjin’s hand on my thigh and glanced up at him. He smiled over at me as his attention moved from my face to my bust and down to my legs. “I dreamed of you today, poppet,” he whispered.
“I didn’t know vampires could dream,” I said.
He just nodded. His eyes seemed to glow with the whiteness that meant that he was either angry or aroused. “I dreamed of being inside you, feeling you writhing beneath me.”
I swallowed hard and damned Bella to hell for even existing. “Why do you have to talk like that when we aren’t going to be alone anytime soon?” I demanded grumpily.
Sinjin chuckled. “All in due time, my pet, all in due time.”
Before I could say another word, he pulled up in front of a plantation-style three-story home that looked like something out of a magazine. “Is this where Bella lives?” I asked, shocked.
“It is,” Sinjin said as he turned the car off and opened and closed his door, materializing in seconds at my side. He opened the car door for me and helped me up, offering a chaste kiss on my lips as he closed the door behind me. “We will not tarry long.”
I just frowned and accepted his arm as we approached the front door. He rang the bell and Bella opened it instantly, pasting on a smile as soon as she saw him. Once she saw me, her smile dropped.
“What a pleasant surprise,” she said in a way that made it pretty apparent there was nothing pleasant about the surprise at all. Well, about the me part of the surprise anyway.
“How did the spell go?” Sinjin asked and helped himself into her house. She stepped out of the way and looked pissed off.
“Do you doubt me?” she asked, obviously miffed.
He faced her and smiled. “Of course not.” Then he turned to me and motioned for me to come in. “Poppet, stop lolling about.”
I didn’t say anything but nodded a small greeting to Bella and stepped into her vestibule, craning my neck as I took stock of my surroundings. She breathed out what sounded like irritation and started forward, Sinjin just beside her and me bringing up the rear. We walked into her living room and she took a seat on her sofa, crossing her legs seductively as she stared up at Sinjin. I couldn’t catch his reaction since his back was to me, so instead I turned to take in the room’s furnishings. The ceilings were incredibly high and with the white tile floors, white slip-covered furniture, and bright white walls, the whole place felt like a hospital—antiseptic and cold.
“Isabella, I want you to cast a spell in order to judge the Lurker threat,” Sinjin said, all matter-of-fact and businesslike.
“And how do you propose I do that?” she demanded and stood up as if shocked by his request. “The spell requires more than one witch.”
Sinjin smiled and glanced at Bella furtively. “One,” he started and then turned to me. His smile broadened. “T
wo.”
“She’s hardly a witch,” Bella said and harrumphed.
“She has more power than you could dream of,” Sinjin responded, his tone icy.
Bella scowled at him and turned to face me. “Do you even know who and what the Lurkers are?”
I nodded, feeling like I was a student on the receiving end of a quiz. “Yes, they are humans with vampire powers and they want to kill all of you.”
“Succinct,” Bella said with distaste, as if I were a complete and total idiot. “Give me your hands.”
I obeyed and awaited more direction.
“Because you cannot visualize a Lurker, given that you have never seen one, all I need from you is your energy,” Bella started. “I want you to close your eyes and funnel your power, your energy into me. I will do the rest.” Then she turned to face Sinjin. “We will see if she has enough power within her.”
Sinjin said nothing but glanced at me with a wink.
“How do I funnel my energy into you?” I asked, facing Bella.
“Each witch has her own way of channeling her power. I find it easiest to imagine pulling my energy from all parts of my body into my center. Then allowing it to spill out into whatever requires it, filling up a void.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Do whatever feels natural.”
I nodded and closed my eyes, imagining any power that might actually be within me pulling into my center. It felt as if energy was suddenly springing up from my fingertips and feet, like tiny pricks all over my skin. It was akin to when your foot falls asleep and you have to shake out that feeling of pins and needles. I continued to imagine that energy moving to my middle; when I felt the busy hum of bees in my stomach, I then concentrated on sending the energy to Bella, bathing her in it.
I clenched my eyes shut as I felt the energy leave me—then I could suddenly see Bella before me, in my mind’s eye. There was a cord of white light joining us, which I imagined was my power going into her. Even though my eyes were closed, I could see her as clearly as if they were open, which was odd to say the least. How that was even possible I wasn’t sure, but I was also past the point of asking how and why. I mean, I had sort of accepted the fact that I was a witch. When my energy hit her, she jumped slightly and I could hear her intake of breath.
“I can see them, the Lurkers,” she said in an awed sort of voice.
“How many?” Sinjin demanded.
“It is difficult to say but perhaps hundreds. They are building their numbers, concentrating only on replenishing their army.”
“How are they building it?” Sinjin probed.
In my mind, I could see Bella shake her head.
“Dig deeper,” Sinjin demanded. “Find out how they are adding to their battalions.”
Bella nodded. “I need more power, more magic.”
I figured that was my cue, so I focused even more resolutely, scraping up every last inch of whatever it was inside me that was fueling her abilities and sent it over to her. The white light around her glowed even more brightly.
“By way of magic,” she said, sounding surprised. “It appears they blend magic with their own blood in some form of ritual.”
“Are the victims taken by force?” Sinjin asked.
I felt myself swallow at the term victims.
“I can’t tell,” Bella answered. “I just have this feeling that there are many of them and they choose not to attack us because they are focused on growing their numbers first.” She paused for a moment or two, then took a deep breath. “I believe there will be a battle, and it could be devastating for our kind.”
Then she dropped my hands and I suddenly felt like I was going to pass out. I started to swoon and Sinjin immediately caught me. I blinked a few times, trying to clear the stars from my vision, and gazed at him in shock.
“Are you well, my pet?” he asked.
I nodded. “I think so. I just feel a little light-headed and weak.”
Bella glanced at me and frowned. “It is to be expected. You just gave me all your power. It will take a few hours for it to return. Eat a large meal.”
Frowning over the fact that I probably wouldn’t be acquainted with a large meal in a long while, I tried to focus on the conversation and not the fact that I felt completely wiped out. “We will need to locate the prophetess,” Sinjin said as he took a seat on her sofa, with me in his arms. He ran a hand through my hair as I relaxed against his chest, still feeling like I wanted to pass out.
“The prophetess?” Bella repeated, obviously surprised. “Impossible.”
“Not impossible,” Sinjin replied, smiling down at me as he did so.
“There are those who doubt her very existence,” Bella continued.
Sinjin finally glanced up at her and there was impatience in his eyes. “I am not one of them.”
The next day, I was back to feeling like myself—aka not about to pass out from sending all my life energy to the bitch, Bella. After we’d left Bella’s, I’d questioned Sinjin about this so-called prophetess, but he hadn’t admitted to much—just that she was some sort of super-witch and we needed her talents to help us combat the threat of the Lurkers. He’d also said that contacting her would be a feat and I wasn’t up to it just yet: I’d need more lessons with Bella. So for the time being, I wasn’t supposed to be concerned with prophetesses or Lurkers.
I took a deep breath as I stood behind the counter of my store while Christa prattled on about her last date and what a disaster it had been. I actually had been paying attention to her until I caught sight of a woman walking down the street. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have looked twice at a passerby, but this woman seemed out of place somehow, dressed in a white-and-yellow dress that skimmed the ground, the high collar and wrist-length sleeves looking like something out of Little House on the Prairie. Her incredibly long, flowing silvery hair seemed just as odd. She appeared to almost float down the street even though she looked old and frail, like she was in her eighties. The closer she came, the more I realized her aura was beaming out of her in an exquisite bright blue. That had to mean one thing …
“Oh, fuck,” I said under my breath.
“Are you listening?” Christa persisted as she took a seat on the stool behind the counter and stared at me with irritation on her face.
“No,” I said rather absentmindedly. My mind, instead, was wholly focused on what to do about this woman. She was clearly a witch, or something similar. Her aura was the same color and intensity as Bella’s and Rand’s.
Rand.
Something warm flowered within me at the mere thought of his name. It was a feeling I couldn’t categorize and didn’t have time to, because the witch opened my front door.
“Hi, are you …” Christa glanced down at my appointment book, tapping her long, fake orange nails rhythmically. “… Mathilda?” she finished with an expectant stare.
The old woman nodded with a sweet smile at Christa before her gaze fell on me and she smiled even more broadly. I saw something like recognition passing through her intense green eyes. “Yes, I am,” she said in a soft voice, the cadence of which sounded like the trilling of bells.
All at once the panic that was welling up inside me evaporated, leaving me with nothing but a feeling of complete trust. I felt sure this woman would never harm me. ’Course, by now I was also well aware that anything I might be feeling could be due to her witchcraft.
“Hi,” I said, sounding a bit too harsh. I decided right then and there, however, that I didn’t want this Mathilda woman to know that I knew what she was. Better to play it safe; and by safe, I meant dumb. “Are you ready for your reading?” I asked in a much friendlier, softer voice.
She nodded and offered me a charming smile. I forced a smile of my own, but all the while, anger was bubbling up inside me as I wondered what in the hell she wanted from me. All I knew was that I had to remember every second of what happened here today because I would report it back to Sinjin tonight.
I led her into the reading room and wondered if I shou
ld alert Christa to the possibility that this might turn out to be unpleasant. But then I thought better of it. It wasn’t like Christa could do anything to help me; furthermore, I could be endangering her. No, I was just going to play it cool—find out what this woman wanted and send her on her way.
Once we entered the reading room, I shut the door behind us and lost sight of everything in the darkness for a few seconds until the glow of the red light overhead illuminated our surroundings again. I motioned to the small table in the center of the room and said, “Have a seat.”
“Thank you,” she responded, pulling out the chair. Her gnarled hand confirmed that she had to be pretty old. It was strange, though, because despite her advanced years, she appeared so statuesquely beautiful and serene. It was almost like her age made her more beautiful.
“Is there a particular person you were hoping to make contact with? Or did you want a card reading?” I asked as soon as we were both seated comfortably.
She smiled at me. “I was interested in you reading my cards.”
Hmm … That surprised me but whatever. Besides, reading cards was way easier than trying to make contact with the dead. I grabbed the stack of tarot cards, unwrapped the red silk scarf from around them, and handed her the stack. “Please shuffle the cards, then choose seven of them, and hand them to me.”
She nodded and separated the deck between her gnarled hands, carefully shuffling them four times. She cut the deck and then shuffled them another four times as if she had OCD or something. Then she removed two cards from the top, cut the deck again, and removed four cards from the middle, then the remaining card from the bottom, before handing them back to me.
When her skin touched mine, I felt a wave of electricity course through me, much like what I’d experienced with Rand. I abruptly pulled my hand back and realized I’d given myself away.
“I am not going to harm you, child,” she said in a soft voice as she stared at me with her beautiful green eyes.