Enchantment (31 page)

Gray frowned into the mirror. “What do you
mean reinforcements?”

Lee took a breath. “Well, Holloway for
one.”

“Holloway!” Gray’s expression looked crazed
in the mirror. “What the hell is he doing involved in this?”

“Holloway hasn’t been able to rest easy ever
since both you and Adrian left the country. You promised him
Adrian’s blood. Do you think he forgot?”

Holloway? Never! Though Gray had. Sorta.
She’d felt safe in a foreign country, speaking in a foreign tongue.
She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy to escape her
past.

“Holloway’s on his way . . . here?” Gray
asked uneasily.

“He’s already there. He left early this
morning—yesterday night your time. He’s meeting Marc Phillips
there. Mr. Phillips has been in Paris the past two weeks looking
for Ryan.”

Oh, happy reunion! Holloway, Marc Phillips,
and Ryan. What next? Nolan Knapp?

“There’s something else.”

Gray grimaced. Why did she bother wondering?
Hello, karma, it’s me, Gray!

“Raj left for Paris this morning, too.”

“What the hell?”

That was not what Gray had been
expecting.

Lee didn’t sound too happy, either. “I told
him not to go, but he insisted. When I said I’d come too he got Mom
involved to make sure I stayed home. They both said I was better
staying put—no powers and all.”

Was Lee looking for sympathy or something?
Well, she wouldn’t get it.

Gray grabbed the necklace off the counter and
stormed back to the bedroom. Unbelievable!

“And what is
The Plan
here?”

“To take Adrian’s powers away from him, of
course.”

Gray stuffed the necklace into her purse and
shoved the heels back over her feet.

“Don’t worry,” Lee continued. “Soon you’ll be
safe. We’ll all be safe. Once and for all.”

“I have to go,” Gray said, ending the
call.

She dumped her phone into her purse and
hurried out of the suite. The stupid heels slowed her down, but she
wasn’t about to teleport her way across Paris. She needed to
reserve her strength. Hopefully Holloway had decided to converge
with Marc Phillips first or, better yet, was jet lagged and taking
a nap.

Gray wasn’t leaving anything to chance. She
had to get to Adrian before Holloway.

Adrian didn’t stick around the
bateau mouche
for long. Once Gray left him, he got off at the next bridge. Thank
goodness for teleporting. If he walked into the dining room without
his date they’d probably assume he’d strangled then dumped her in
the Seine.

He returned to his apartment with heavy
footsteps, the hotel keycard stiff inside his left pocket.

So much for sticking to the plan. Now Gray
was out wandering the streets of Paris alone in heels.

She’s a witch, she can take care of
herself.

That thought did little to ease his mind.

Adrian stormed to his bedroom and pulled a
heavy text off his bookshelf. He set it on top of the bedspread.
“Protection spells,” he said in a commanding voice and snapped. The
book opened.

Adrian yanked the volume off the bed, resting
it on the backs of his outstretched arms. He peered down and began
to chant in Latin, envisioning a protective halo surrounding Gray
as he did so.

Once he’d finished, there wasn’t anything
left to do but torture himself by replaying their last moments on
the
bateaux mouche
.

Looks like he’d need another hit of the
smelling salts if he wanted to get any sleep.

It was still a bit early to turn in, so
Adrian fired up his laptop. Not only had Hugo De Vos responded
again, he sent names addresses and pictures of his ex and her
friends. Maybe it would help Adrian if he focused on another man’s
heartache. Trouble was, his work as an avenger had taught him a
little something about human nature.

The clients whose hearts had been ripped to
shreds always wanted the man or woman back. The ones who wanted
revenge right off the bat were fueled by an anger not inspired by
love, but humiliation.

Adrian scrolled through the pictures of the
four women together. It looked like they were on vacation. They all
wore shorts and skirts, arms wrapped around each other, smiling. He
wasn’t sure right off which one was the ex, until he came to the
last picture in the email. More than her blatant beauty, Adrian was
struck by the intensity of her gaze.

He swore the woman in the photo looked
straight at him.

“Hey, you’re the one who hooked up with the
scoundrel in the first place.”

Great, now Adrian was talking to
photographs.

He closed the email and fetched himself a
bottle of red wine. Adrian uncorked it and began drinking straight
from the bottle. Who needed smelling salts? He’d do things the
“normal” way.

Adrian couldn’t say what time he passed out,
but he knew what time he woke up—five fucking a.m. Way too early
for a hangover. His brain beat like a drum against his skull. At
least a headache, however unpleasant, was pain he could deal
with.

Adrian tried to fall back asleep, but all he
saw when he closed his eyes was the women in the photos. Their
faces had haunted him all night.

Eight people. That’s how many hearts he’d
break if he went through with the job. These women had real love.
He could see it in their smiles.

Adrian didn’t want to make eight people feel
as miserable as him. He wouldn’t wish this kind of soul-tormenting
heartache on his worst enemy.

He could’ve given the witch gray hair and
wrinkles or never-ending hiccups, but this . . . he couldn’t
do.

Adrian groaned as he threw back the
bedspread, stumbled on his first step out of bed, then righted
himself and pounded his way to the laptop. Or maybe the pounding
came from inside his head. He snapped the laptop on then winced at
the sharp echo it caused inside his ear.

Adrian opened the email. In his half-asleep,
half-hungover state, his fingers slipped on the keyboard, garbling
every third word.

This was how Adrian saw the message:

Dear Mr. De Vos:

On closer evaluation, I have come to the
conclusion that your request does not meet with my approval. I
suggest you watch your back as I am now offering my services at no
cost to Ms. Lambert.

Adrian the Avenger

Adrian’s lips curled with humorless laughter
as he typed. His head pounded, but he stood over the laptop,
shoulders squared, enjoying every
clack
of the keyboard.

True, the job would have covered a month of
rent, but hitting “send” gave Adrian way more satisfaction.

He opened a new email addressed to De Vos’s
ex, Sophie Lambert. It wasn’t an offer of services so much as a
warning in case De Vos had the bad idea to find another avenger or
take matters into his own hands. At least Lambert knew what her ex
had been willing to do to get back at her.

Everyone deserved a heads-up.

Adrian closed the laptop, wincing as it
snapped shut. He eyed the kitchen sink across the counter. He’d
given himself a hangover the old-fashioned way, and he could flush
it out the old-fashioned way.

But before he could move, he felt a presence
behind him. Not a woman’s, but a man’s. One of his own kind, he
knew instantly. Before Adrian could turn around, the intruder
clamped a damp cloth over his mouth.

Guess he wasn’t the only one doing things the
old-fashioned way.

Adrian caught a light whiff of sweetness
before losing consciousness.

If Adrian had the use of his brain, he would
have noticed the absence of pain and thought. But that was the
beauty of chloroform—it knocked out all feeling.

How rude of Adrian’s attacker to then wake
him up by banging against the wall. With the knocking came the
return of Adrian’s headache in addition to now being parched.

Adrian opened his eyes to slits. He saw his
living room sofa, the dining table, and kitchen beyond. He hadn’t
been moved far.

He couldn’t locate his captor.

He heard the pounding again and realized it
was the front door. In a moment of panic, Adrian feared it was Gray
coming for her things.

He tried to stand up, but his body had been
tied to a chair. Adrian squirmed and attempted to teleport, but it
wasn’t just ropes binding him.

“Come in,” a voice boomed.

Adrian’s heart sank. Ah, Holloway. What an
unwelcome surprise, especially since Adrian was tied to a
chair.

“I thought we were waiting until tonight,” a
male voice quipped.

And Marc Phillips. Oh, joy. No doubt the
third henchman, Curry, wasn’t far behind. The three warlocks had
once removed Adrian’s powers, binding the spell with Adrian’s blood
in three tiny vials they wore around their necks at all times.

A third voice spoke, but it wasn’t
Curry’s—far worse—Ryan Phillips.

“Did you get him?” the twerp asked. Adrian
could picture Ryan practically jumping up and down.

“He wasn’t asleep like I’d hoped, but I got
him,” Holloway said.

Phillips senior didn’t sound so assured.
“Where is he now?”

“He isn’t going anywhere.”

When they shuffled into the living room,
Adrian made sure the first thing they saw were the whites of his
teeth.

“Gentlemen,
bienvenue
,” Adrian called
out. “If I’d known I was having company, I would have made a pot of
coffee. It is very rude to call on one so unexpectedly.”

Marc Phillips gave a little jump. Even his
nitwit son had more backbone.

“You can’t take his powers away,” Ryan said,
jabbing a plump finger in the air. “Not until he reverses the spell
he put over Charlene.”

Adrian narrowed his eyes at Marc Phillips.
“Seems to me you ought to get control of your son before you go
about policing the magical community.”

The look of unease was quickly replaced with
indignation. Marc’s chest puffed up. “How I discipline my son is
none of your concern.”

“Discipline?” Adrian snorted. “Way I hear it
you can’t even keep track of his whereabouts.”

Marc’s face turned beet red. “We ought to
leave your powers and take your tongue. How much good would you be
if you weren’t able to mutter your spells?”

Adrian’s eyes flashed. “Oh, you’d be
surprised.”

“Enough of the banter,” Holloway said,
reaching inside his pocket. “We’re here for one reason—to reset a
spell that should have never been broken.” Holloway pulled the
pendants from his pocket and dangled the tiny vials from his
fingers.

Adrian couldn’t stop his eyes from widening,
nor his heart from speeding up.

“How did you get those?” he demanded.

Holloway smiled wolfishly. “Graylee Perez, or
rather Stacey Lee Morehouse, as she’s now known, came forward. She
told me everything. Apologized profusely for her grave mistake and
handed me the pendants.”

The diabolical double strikes again.

To think Adrian once had one of the pendants
in his safekeeping. What an idiot, what a complete fool, to leave
his on the doorstep of the Perez house for Gray.

Holloway’s grin widened as he searched
Adrian’s face for distress.

“I considered punishing her for her part in
last February’s debacle. That spell of yours put the entire coven
in danger; a spell which wouldn’t have been possible if Graylee
Perez hadn’t stolen those pendants and freed your powers. Then I
learned that not only was she inhabiting a new body, but that she’d
lost her powers. I’m willing to overlook Miss . . .
Morehouse’s
misdeeds since she came forward so willingly and
gave me these.” Holloway dangled the pendants over Adrian’s
head.

So Lee had betrayed Adrian again. And what of
Gray?

If Lee was involved Gray must be, too. They
worked together. They were one and the same. And funny timing
having Holloway show up right after they broke up. He must have
been Gray’s first phone call. Him or Lee. And Holloway, in his
eager glee, had caught the first plane to Paris. Probably came
straight from the airport rather than waiting for later as Phillips
wanted.

He knew Gray would be angry, but to go after
Adrian so quickly and in such a cruel manner was beyond
forgiveness.

The front door opened then slammed shut.
Everyone turned to see who’d come in. To add insult to injury, Raj
McKenna had joined the fray. Gray’s knight in shining armor come to
slay the dragon.

Adrian’s lips curled back into a sneer.
Holloway and Ryan didn’t look too happy, either.

“I thought you were waiting till tonight,”
Raj said.

Adrian’s glare was wasted on Raj. The boy’s
eyes were fixed on Holloway’s.

“What are you doing here?” Holloway asked in
annoyance.

“I’m here to help, but it’s a little hard
when you leave me out of the loop.”

“I don’t need
your
help.”

Raj straightened. “Well, you’ve got it all
the same.”

A dark look passed over Holloway’s face
before his shoulders relaxed. He smiled. “Very well, McKenna. Since
you insist, you can do the honors.” Holloway nodded at Marc, who,
in turn, pulled a needle from his coat pocket and handed it to
Raj.

Raj stared at the needle in his palm.

“Go on then,” Holloway said impatiently.
“Since you’re so eager to help. Get me his blood.”

Raj glared at Holloway. A moment later he
stepped toward Adrian. Their eyes locked for the first time since
Prince Raj
had rode in to stop the villain. Now to see if he
had the balls to go through with it.

To Raj’s credit, he didn’t flinch, not even
when Adrian fought the binding spell, causing the chair to groan
and scratch at floor below.

There was an uneasy expression on the boy’s
face, one that said he took no pleasure in what he was about to do.
But it didn’t matter. What mattered was that he planned to do it.
Big mistake, McKenna. Big bloody mistake.