Deep Within The Shadows (The Superstition Series Book 1) (19 page)

“It wasn’t her. She’d have no reason to harm me. There’s never been any kind of bad blood between us. She wouldn’t use magic to harm me even if there was. Whatever you send out, you get back threefold.”

“Do you believe that too?”

“I do. Along with several million other people. But she lives it.”

Though Juliet no longer practiced the Craft, she still lived by that as well. It was going to take magic to end this, but she couldn’t do it in front of Chase. He’d lock her up for being a pyromaniac or something. And if there were other witnesses around—

He was furious. She could read it in his body language and the sharp tilt of his jaw. “I’m going in to interview her when we get there.”

“Fine. But she’s not a criminal, and if you go in treating her like one, you’ll end up feeling like a fool and looking like one, too.” At the sudden appearance of fine, spindly legs gripping the hood of the car, Juliet gasped. Adrenaline stormed through her system. “Chase?”

“That damn spider’s hitched a ride.”

“It isn’t a spider. Hit your brakes and try to throw it off.”

He argued. “It’s just a—”

The creature leapt and hit the windshield with the force of a rock.

Chase took her suggestion too late, throwing her against her seat belt. The tires squealed and the front of the car swerved toward the curb and settled against it.

A web of lines burrowed through the glass, shooting out from the point of impact. “Dammit!” Chase swore, released his seat belt and reached for the door.

Juliet gripped his arm. His muscles bunched beneath his lightweight jacket. She couldn’t protect him if he kept either ignoring the dangers or charging into situations before they were certain of what was happening. Though every nerve in her body screamed for her to get out of the car, she hesitated. The spider lay on the hood unmoving, but it might jump on one of them as soon as they got out. “Wait.” When she was certain he was going to cooperate, she reached for her seatbelt and her bag at the same time.

Suddenly the larger body of the creature started breaking apart into smaller spiders. No, it had been carrying them. They charged the crack in the windshield. A gnawing sound filled the car, like rats eating through a wall. At the first pinprick of air coming into the car from the opening she yelled, “Get out now.” She threw open the door and scrambled free of the car.

“Son of a bitch,” Chase yelled and bailed out the other side. Tiny spiders swarmed the inside of the vehicle, their bodies reflecting light like cut glass. They turned in mass toward her, scrambling over the console and onto her seat. If she hit them with her magic, the whole car would go up. She slammed the door and heard the satisfying crunch as she caught some in the seal.

The large spider still lay, legs sprawled on the hood, unmoving. Was it dead or stunned? She wasn’t sticking around to find out. “We’ve got to get out of here, Chase.” Juliet turned and ran.

*     *     *

Caleb curved an
arm around Miranda, holding her against his side. Bless Aubrey for giving them some privacy, but he could have used at least a week to make up for the number of times he’d wanted to kiss Miranda and hadn’t. Had they been truly alone he might have pushed for more. But though his cock still pushed against his zipper, aching with need, it wasn’t the time or the place. He’d just have to wait until all this crazy shit was over.

Whew. When Miranda lowered the walls, she didn’t just roll them down, she blasted them to smithereens. She pressed against his side, her head against his shoulder, her hand resting over his hammering heart. He turned his head to press his lips to her forehead, because he could. She wasn’t backpedaling away from him anymore.

He couldn’t say there hadn’t been other women in the years they’d been separated. But he’d never made a connection as deep as what he felt for the woman cuddled against his side. He’d felt passion for the others, sometimes affection, but never love. Never like this. She was it for him. She had been since they’d been in almost constant contact the last eight months he’d been in the Marines.

His chest and throat filled with emotion, and he murmured the words against her temple, “I love you, Miranda.”

“It’s about time you two got it together,” Aubrey said as she wheeled a wooden cart into the room from the kitchen. She placed a plate with sandwiches in the center of the coffee table. Napkins and paper plates followed. “The whole town of Superstition has been making bets waiting for it.”

“You’re teasing, right?” Miranda’s cheeks were pink.

Aubrey raised a brow. “I have it on good faith that the quilting circle at the Christian church has had a pot going since Christmas. And the whole crew at The Dish has one, too, that includes quite a few of the customers.” She placed coasters on the coffee table and set tall glasses filled with ice tea in front of them.

Caleb laughed. He knew he had a stupid grin a mile wide when Miranda leaned back to look up at him, but he couldn’t control it. Winning the lottery couldn’t feel this good.

Even with all the weird stuff they were going through, they were finally together as a couple.

But Miranda wasn’t smiling as she looked up at him. “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

He could see in her face that this wasn’t going be as positive a confession. Shit.

“I guess it’s better if I show you. You’re going to find out when Juliet gets here anyway.” She bowed her head and murmured. “Thank you Goddess, for allowing me to borrow from your bounty.”

She bent her elbow and extended her hand, palm up and parallel to the ground. “
Exorior,
” she whispered, almost gently. A sphere about the size of a softball appeared in her hand, its surface glowing with a rainbow-hued sheen.

Caleb’s mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. Was this some kind of joke? He stared at the clear globe, fascinated by its structure. Its surface looked as thin and fragile as a soap bubble.

“
Impluo.
” She spoke the word with authority.

Mist gathered inside, fogging up the entire shape like the inside of a shower. It slowly rose to the top, and the bottom half of the sphere cleared. The moisture condensed and began to take on indistinct forms that tumbled together into miniature clouds. A static flutter of light lit the bottom of them. A streak of lightning flashed down toward her palm.

Caleb stifled a gasp. In an instinctive urge to shield her, he raised a hand to hers. Miranda’s remained steady, but he jerked his own back, his fingertips stinging from a shock. Beneath her skin raced a power stronger than static electricity, much stronger.

Her features had taken on the look of deep concentration, her eyes lightened from within to a tawny gold. A strange breeze ruffled her hair and his, and the wind was warm, almost balmy. He inhaled it deeply, and tasted moisture and ozone in the air around them.

Dear God, no wonder she had held him at arm’s length. His throat was dry with fear. Yes, he was afraid, not of her, but of this power that seemed to have taken hold of her. She turned her head and looked directly at him. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes aglow with not just power, but joy. The reserved, controlled woman had vanished, and Miranda had never looked more beautiful or more alive.

This was who she was, what she was.

His heart beat inside his ears so hard the sound of thunder was strangely muffled. The miniature clouds seemed to roll and shift, crashing together. It started to rain inside the bubble, the water gathering at the bottom.

“
Desino
,” The rain stopped and the water ran in streaks down the inside of the globe.

He heard rain dripping, and his gaze shifted to the window. The evening sun was going down and the light had dimmed, but there was no rain falling.

She tossed the globe up into the air, “
Ut Liberum
.”

The bubble popped, but no water hit the carpet beneath.

She had set the clouds and water free, and they had returned to wherever they had come from.

For long silent moments they continued to look into each other’s eyes.

Caleb swallowed, his throat working against the dryness. Shock didn’t even begin to describe what he was feeling. It was a lot to take in, this part of her he’d never known existed. “So you’re the real deal too?”

“Yes.” She swallowed. “My element is water, but we all have the power to harness a small portion of the others.” She raised a hand to his cheek. “Can you still love me, Caleb?”

C
hase hit the
key fob to lock the car. If someone opened the door, would they be attacked? He leaped over the shallow curb, ran across the street, and jumped from asphalt to the other sidewalk. The skin-crawling image of the spiders scrambling inside the car hounded him. Juliet was running full out, her arms pumping unevenly, her heavy purse gripped in her hand, throwing her balance off. Who would have known she could make tracks like that? She turned the corner and out of sight.

Putting on a burst of speed, he whipped around the curve of the sidewalk after her. A boy of about twelve on a bike popped up from the shrubbery. He dodged to one side, avoiding a collision, but hitting the grassy strip between the curb and the sidewalk. He lost his footing and went down on one knee. Cursing the uselessness of leather-soled dress shoes, he caught himself with one hand, shoved himself back up, and got his feet going again.

Juliet had a half a block lead. Damn, she was either freaked out and running on adrenaline, or all those hours behind the bar had built some serious leg muscles.

Her ponytail swung back and forth with every stride. He concentrated on that as he poured on more speed and closed the gap to a quarter block. She zipped across the next side street. He followed, feet pounding, his breath rasping. He was a jogger, not a sprinter, and was really feeling it as he slowly inched up behind her.

From five feet behind her, he yelled, “Juliet—stop.” As frightened as she’d been of the spiders, he didn’t want to scare her any more. He wasn’t pursuing a perpetrator, just a distraught woman. If he could match his pace to hers… He eked out a few more feet. “Juliet—please, just stop” He stretched to get a hand around her arm and put some drag behind it to slow her.

“We’re clear of the car. Ease back.”

She showed no resistance as she slowed, then stopped. She gasped for air and sweat beaded her forehead and upper lip. Her hair was wet, clinging to her face. His was soaked, too. Running in this heat and humidity was insane.

“You—need to—move your ass, Chase,” she complained between gasps.

“We’re clear. The spiders are two streets behind us.” He wiped at his face with a coat sleeve and silently cursed about having to wear the damn jacket.

She dropped her purse on the sidewalk, bent at the waist, and gripped her knees, her chest heaving. “We need—to get off—the street.” She pointed west. “Aubrey’s house is two blocks down.”

“I agree. But we’re both going to drop from the heat if we don’t slow down.”

She finally straightened though her breathing remained ragged. “You’re still not getting it, Chase. There’s something happening here, and it doesn’t involve your normal bad guy with a gun, or hyped-up junkie. Whoever they are tried that first, and when it didn’t work they moved on to something harder to fight.”

He had been resistant to the idea before, but he’d never seen anything like the huge dead spider lying on the hood of his car. He knew some spiders carried their young on their backs, but the swarm that had rushed into the car was unbelievable. And they had
eaten through the windshield
. What kind of spider did that? And what kind was covered in a glassy shell?

What the hell was going on here?

Exactly what she’d been trying to tell him.

And how the hell did she know about this stuff? Obviously there was more to Juliet Templeton than she had allowed him to see so far. Maybe much more.

“All right.” He raised a hand in surrender. “I believe you.”

Her face brightened, and she bent over again to take a few more deep breaths. “I think I just got lightheaded with disbelief.”

She was afraid, he could read it in how she obeyed her flight instinct, but she wasn’t cowed.

“Stop being a wise ass. Let’s just walk it off and get where we’re going. I need to contact headquarters and get someone to go get the car and process that damn spider.” They’d left the scene of an accident, and he’d left his vehicle only partially parked against the curb.

And how the hell was he supposed to report this? He flipped his thumb over the face of his phone, and, finding the number he needed, phoned in the attack. He settled on an unknown assailant had thrown something against his windshield and busted it while he was transporting the witness home. He told the dispatcher where his car was parked, and that he was taking the witness to a safe location.

He hoped to hell it was.

“Just what was it you really saw that night?” he asked.

Juliet swallowed. “A demon.”

His Catholic upbringing had introduced him to the concepts of purgatory, heaven, hell, and the possibility of other spiritual beings capable of possessing and tormenting you here on earth and beyond. All organized religion was based on the use of guilt and fear to keep you in line and to make sure you followed their construct of God and His rules without question. But to hear Juliet so calmly acknowledging the physical presence of an entity capable of true evil gave him a jolt.