Read Do You Believe in Magic? Online
Authors: Ann Macela
Tags: #General, #Fiction, #Magic, #Fantasy, #Paranormal, #Romance, #Contemporary
Do You Believe in Magic? (40 page)
“Bullshit,” Kevin retorted. “NatChem loves me. I’ve been their top salesman for years. The new manager they brought in—he hates me, the jealous bastard. He’s the one who gave me that bunch of losers for a sales team and no help with our competitors. I had great plans for kicking him out—plans you and this blond bitch here ruined. Now I want some money, a lot of money.”
“Just how do you expect us to get it?” Clay asked. “It’s Sunday, the banks are closed.”
“We’ll hit every ATM we can find. That’s how.”
“You’re crazy, Brenner,” Clay replied. “I’m not giving you a cent, and neither are Tamara or Francie.”
The two men glared at each other and traded more threats and refusals, but Francie paid little attention. They had to get the gun away from Kevin, but he was practically screwing it into the back of Tamara’s head. If she jumped him, it would probably go off. What could she do to distract him?
Damn the man! What a slimebucket! What an idiot! To think he could come in here and order them around, gun or no gun. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. As she stared at Kevin, she could feel the heat of her anger rising.
Heat. Fire. That’s what she would like to do to Kevin—burn him good. What she wouldn’t give to be able to cast the
flamma
spell Clay had been trying to teach her. She’d charbroil the scumbag to a crisp.
flamma
spell Clay had been trying to teach her. She’d charbroil the scumbag to a crisp.
Or maybe just a small piece of him. How nice, how satisfying it would be, to set Kevin’s nose on fire. To place a little spark of red-hot energy right on the end of its rounded tip.
Her SMI center began to tingle slightly, then turn warm.
How dare Kevin pull a gun and hurt Tamara! How dare he threaten Clay! There was no way on God’s green earth she was going to let the bastard get away with it. She wished she could literally send him to hell. Let the damn man rot in all the devil’s flames till he roasted.
Her center grew warmer still as Kevin’s next words brought her attention back to what he was saying.
“Cut the crap, Morgan. You’re going to do what I tell you or else . . .” He grabbed Tamara’s hair and jerked her head back. Tamara cried out. “Or else, I’m going to hurt somebody,” Kevin snarled.
She had to do something, Francie decided. Where was all this magic when she needed it? What had Clay told her? To focus on the spot where she wanted the flame? She squinted her eyes and concentrated her gaze and her mind as hard as she could on the end of Kevin’s nose. She could feel heat building inside her, right under her breastbone. The tingling transformed itself into a feeling of excitement, then exultation. The joy and the heat grew exponentially into a rapturous conflagration inside her. She was on fire!
“Flamma!”
she cried and flung out her right hand, its finger pointed directly at Kevin’s nose.
she cried and flung out her right hand, its finger pointed directly at Kevin’s nose.
A tiny white-hot flash of flame appeared exactly where she was pointing.
“Aaaahhh! Shit!” Kevin yelled. He pushed Tamara away to bat at his nose with his free hand.
Clay jumped forward, knocked the gun out of Brenner’s hand, and punched him in the mouth.
Francie couldn’t see if the blood that spurted put out her flame, but she wasn’t going to take any chances on Kevin. She cocked her arm and waded in.
Clay’s blow threw Brenner backward. He hit the door, rebounded, and ran right into Francie’s fist, which she buried in his stomach. He bent over with an “Oof.”
“You jerk!” Screaming with rage, Tamara jumped on Kevin’s back and started pummeling him about the head and shoulders.
“Turn him this way, Tamara!” Francie yelled and wound up for another go.
“Holy hell!” Clay swore with disgust as he watched the women attack Brenner. Now he had to rescue the asshole. He plucked Tamara off Kevin and held her back with one arm. He used the other to pull Francie from the man, who crumpled to the floor groaning and bleeding.
Tamara kicked and screamed, “Let me go! I’ll kill him!”
Francie drew back her foot and shouted, “Rot in hell, you bastard!”
Just what he needed, a redheaded berserker in one hand and a blond amazon in the other. “
Ladies!
” he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Ladies!
” he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Panting, the two women subsided.
“Francie, call the cops,” he ordered and gave her a little shake. “And tell them to alert Bill Childress.” He let her go.
Francie took a deep breath, shook herself, nodded at him, and went for the phone in the kitchen.
“Tamara, don’t move, just stand here,” Clay said. “Are you all right?”
“Almost.” She made a move toward Brenner, but Clay pulled her back.
“He’s not going to get up. Now, stay put, okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed grudgingly and, glaring at Brenner, crossed her arms over her chest. Her body remained stiff with anger.
Clay let her go and bent to pick up the gun. Brenner for once had the good sense to say nothing; all he did was turn over on his back and groan again.
Francie came back in with some paper towels in her hand. “The police are on the way. Here, Kevin, use these.” She dropped the towels by his head.
“Go on and sit up, Brenner,” Clay said, “but don’t do more than that.”
Kevin gingerly sat up and pressed the towels against his nose. Clay was pleased to see the moron didn’t try anything else. He himself was still angry enough to let Tamara finish the job of beating the jackass to a pulp—and he wouldn’t mind getting in a few licks of his own.
“I hear sirens,” Clay said. “What did you say to get them here so fast?”
“A man with a gun forced his way into the place and was threatening to kill us.”
“What did you do to Kevin that he started yelling and pushed me away?” Tamara asked. “I was looking at Clay because I was thinking I should faint or something and give him an opening to attack Kevin.”
“I don’t know,” Francie said. An expression of wonder spread across her face, and she said again, “I don’t know.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The police arrived in a cacophony of sirens that brought out the neighbors, and a pool of spectators formed at the bottom of the stairs. The officers took charge of Brenner, who demanded to be taken to a hospital. He claimed his nose was both broken and burned. They sat him in a squad car instead and told him to shut up.
Clay, Francie, and Tamara were sitting in Francie’s living room when Bill Childress walked in. As the police lieutenant went straight to Tamara, Francie exchanged an eyebrows-lifted glance with Clay.
“Is everybody all right?” Bill asked, his eyes on Tamara.
Tamara nodded, and Clay said, “Everybody but Brenner.”
“Good. What happened?”
“Before we start again, I’m thirsty,” Francie announced. “Would anyone like some coffee or a soft drink?”
“Coffee for me,” Clay said. Several officers nodded.
“Tamara?” Francie asked and couldn’t help grinning when she had to ask again. Tamara’s attention had been totally on Bill.
Francie excused herself to make the coffee as the redhead said, “I had just come home from the shop, and Kevin came up behind me as I opened the door.” She then launched into her tale.
Clay followed Francie into the kitchen and took some cups from the cabinet while she fixed the coffee. “So what did you do to Brenner?” he asked in a low voice. “I was thinking about popping a light ball in his face, but then his nose seemed to catch fire. I know that wasn’t my spell.”
“I’m not sure what happened,” Francie replied in a whisper. “I was so furious with him, and my anger made me feel hot. Then I started thinking about the spell you tried to teach me, and my center began to tingle, and then it got hot, really hot, and it felt like something inside me was trying to get out. So I said, ‘
Flamma!
’ and pointed at his nose. And this flame appeared! I don’t think I’ve ever been so shocked in my life.” Her center itched, and she rubbed it. “Now it’s bothering me again.”
Flamma!
’ and pointed at his nose. And this flame appeared! I don’t think I’ve ever been so shocked in my life.” Her center itched, and she rubbed it. “Now it’s bothering me again.”
Clay stared at her with a speculative look. “Darlin’, we have to get you tested. I think you may just have become a practitioner.”
“What? From the First Mating? But I thought it was impossible.”
“No, it’s probably just never been recorded as happening before. We’ll talk to Daria and my mother. They’ll know what to do.”
Francie looked at him helplessly. She was flabbergasted. One minute she didn’t believe in magic, the next, she could make it happen. As if to punctuate that thought, her center vibrated, and happiness seemed to spread throughout her body. All she could do was shake her head.
“Come on, the coffee’s done,” Clay prompted her. “We’ll talk it through later.”
Francie nodded and busied herself with the mugs.
The police finally took Brenner off to the hospital, and Bill walked Tamara back to her apartment. The neighbors who had come out to investigate the hullabaloo also departed.
Francie shut the door and turned into Clay’s arms. They hugged for a long moment, until Francie took a deep breath and leaned away from him. “Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“For being here when we needed you.”
“Francie, you and Tamara didn’t need me.” He started laughing. “I thought she was going to kill the son of a bitch, and that was a mean body blow you gave him, not to mention setting his nose on fire. He’s lucky I was here to save him.”
Francie had to join in his laughter at that last claim.
“Now,” Clay said, “let’s get this place cleaned up and decide what we’re going to do about dinner. I’m starved, and it looks like Tamara has other plans.”
Francie mopped the entryway tiles, washing away the smears left by Kevin’s bloody nose, while Clay put the coffee cups in the dishwasher and rinsed out the pot. When she had replaced the cleaning utensils in the closet, she turned to him. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I agree. Throw what you need for tonight in a bag. We’ll go to my place and order pizza.”
Within ten minutes, they were on their way.
At Clay’s they ate and then called Daria and Bent. Both couples switched on their speakerphones. Clay explained what had happened, including the multicolored light show, his attempt to teach Francie the spell, and her successful casting of it against Brenner.
“Lights?” Daria said.
“A rainbow?” Bent asked.
“Yeah,” Clay replied. “Around us when we kiss.”
“I don’t remember lights, do you, Bent?”
“Neither do I,” Bent said, “but I do remember ‘internal fireworks,’ so to speak. Remember the first time we touched each other’s magic center?”
“Oh, that’s right,” Daria said. “Have you two tried it yet?”
“Yeah, but it was internal
and
external fireworks for us.” Clay grinned at a blushing Francie.
and
external fireworks for us.” Clay grinned at a blushing Francie.
“This is embarrassing,” Francie whispered to him. She hoped he wouldn’t go into any more details.
“It’ll be okay,” he whispered back and kissed the back of her hand he was holding. “You know,” he continued in a normal voice, “that particular instance may be the moment when Francie actually became a practitioner, when she received the true enhancement from the First Mating. She couldn’t cast
flamma
before it. I know because I tried to teach her the spell. Her ability to see my spell aura—like you, Bent, can see Daria’s—could be just a secondary enhancement.”
flamma
before it. I know because I tried to teach her the spell. Her ability to see my spell aura—like you, Bent, can see Daria’s—could be just a secondary enhancement.”
“Man,” Bent said with a wistful note in his voice, “I’d really have liked to have seen Brenner’s nose go up in flames.”
“Clay,” Daria interjected in a worried tone, “you tried to teach her the spell
by yourself
?”
by yourself
?”
“Yeah, well, I thought we’d see if she had gained the ability. Wishful thinking at that point, but it paid off later.” He shrugged at Francie.
She thought he looked very smug and sure of himself, but she had nothing to add to his statement. He was correct.
“Whatever else, Francie, you must be tested and quickly,” Daria said. “When I was undergoing all my magic studies, and the master teachers were trying to help me cast
flamma
, the one thing they all impressed on me was that an untrained practitioner is dangerous, both to herself and others. Don’t try to cast it again by yourself, or even with Clay. I saw novices with the power to burn down a building.”
flamma
, the one thing they all impressed on me was that an untrained practitioner is dangerous, both to herself and others. Don’t try to cast it again by yourself, or even with Clay. I saw novices with the power to burn down a building.”
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