Joseph: Bentley Legacy (11 page)

“And they suck. You really think that you’re going to go out to their ranch and simply take the magic that no longer belongs to you? And what do you think her husband is going to do? Just let you?”

Jackson had forgotten about the husband. He was still amazed by that. So far as he knew, she’d never even dated. Chris certainly never gave him the time of day, and he was one of her kind. Not just a witch, but an attorney too.

“Who is the grand witch?” Tyron just rolled his eyes. “Are you talking about Myra? I don’t think…she’s pretty powerful, but she’s not—”

“Are you this fucking stupid all the time? If so, it’s small wonder that you lost your job. Chris is the grand witch, you moron. She’s been one since birth.” Jackson shook his head. There was no way. “She’s been dormant. Keeping herself safe, I would imagine, but once she met her cat, her match in all things, it came to light. And it really came to light. Not only is she the grand witch, but she might just be the most powerful one that has ever been born. And her husband? Christ, the man has no idea what his powerbase is, and he’s just coming into it.”

“Cat? What the hell are you talking about?” The man stood up and so did Jackson. But as soon as Tyron showed him what he was, the power that did indeed vibrate off him, Jackson had the overwhelming urge to bow down before him. He barely managed to keep himself from doing just that.

“Her mate is a cat. A panther. Joseph Bentley. Perhaps you might have heard of him. He is one of the most powerful and influential attorneys in the country. And one of the richest, thanks to his former boss and friend leaving him everything when he died this week.” Tyron laughed, but it was bitter and cold. “Who knew that a vampire who had reached such an age as him could die in a house fire that wasn’t even set to kill him?”

“Wait. Just wait. You’re saying that my Chris is more than just a lower grade witch, that she’s the grand witch of all. And her husband, this Bentley person, is rich and a panther? I just don’t think you have your information straight. At the most, Chris is a level five or a six, but a grand? And a panther would have been run out of town before being trusted as an attorney with anyone. I don’t think even a vampire would have anyone coming to him to use as one. How would he even make it to court? Those are daytime activities. Are you sure you have it all right?” Jackson felt himself being tossed away. His back hit the tree hard enough that he heard bones break before he felt them. “Please….”

Jackson watched Tyron come toward him. There would be nothing he could to do stop him from finishing the job; Jackson knew as surely as he was now laying on the ground that he was dead. It was difficult for him to breathe, his head felt…he was dizzy, he was sick to his stomach. He could even see that his legs were bent at horrible angles, and he could no longer feel anything but his mouth.

“You fool.” Jackson would have to agree with that assessment of himself. Tyron was right, he was a fool for fucking with a man like this one. “I need your help or I would simply let the buzzards pick at your bones. Anyone who came along could take your wallet.”

Almost as quickly as he’d been hurt, he was standing up, his body now feeling better than it had in days. He looked at Tyron and wondered if he would show him how he’d done that. Then he realized that to ask would more than likely get him hurt again. But this time, there would be no one to heal him.

When Tyron told him that they were going to talk, Jackson nodded. He’d do whatever he was told, when he was told, and that was it. At least until he could get Angel’s power and take this man out. Because no matter what he said, there was no way that Chris was the grand of anything. The woman could barely light a candle as far as he knew.

“You will call her. Have her invite you to the house. When you are invited, you’ll call to me and tell me when.” Jackson nodded and told him he’d have to wait on her to call him, he didn’t have her number. “I have it, and you will as well before I leave here.”

Jackson looked around and only just then realized they were no longer outside of the bed and breakfast, but in a nice hotel room. The large bed was made and looked as if someone had sat down on just the corner recently. He wasn’t a neat person himself, but the seat imprint bothered him more than he could say.

“Are you listening to me?” Jackson looked at Tyron and nodded. He hadn’t been and had to work hard not to glance at the bed again and again. “When you get there, you’ll summon me. Just say my name and tell me to come to you. You know how to do that, right?”

“I do. But I had no idea that warlocks could be called the same way.”

Tyron didn’t even bother answering him but went on about the plan. “Once I’m there, you’ll stay out of my way. I’ll have to…never mind, but you’ll get what you have coming to you. This I promise you. When do you think you can arrange this?” Jackson told him that as soon as he had the number and a phone, he’d call her. “Good. Then do it now. Try to arrange it so that it happens tomorrow. Or the next day. I want this over with.”

“What are your plans for Chris?” Jackson still didn’t think the man knew what he was talking about, but he’d play along. So long as he got what he had coming to him, the other man could do whatever he wanted.

“You let me worry about her and that mate of hers. Once I have what I want, no one will be able to take from me again. And Myra will be the first one I take care of.” Jackson reminded him about his promise and that he’d get what he wanted. “You’ll get what you have coming to you. For this I make you a promise. Just get me to the house and inside. You have to be inside when you summon me or it will not be worth it for you.”

“And why do you have to be in the house?”

But Jackson was talking to air. And he had been returned to his room at the B&B. Lying next to the phone was a small dark piece of paper, and on it was a number written in white. Jackson, for some reason, found himself not wanting to pick it up, and called the number without touching it. When someone answered, Jackson had a terrible thought.

This could be another trick of Myra’s.

Chapter 11

Nolan wasn’t thrilled with this. He knew that should anything go wrong that he was right there to help, but since he had not one clue what might happen, much less go wrong, he was a little afraid for his big brother.

“You are not to touch him unless it is necessary for his life. If you do so, then it would transfer some of the magic that comes from him to you. And as we have no way of knowing how much there is or how much you’ll receive, then you are best to stand back.” He nodded to Myra. She smiled at him. “You’re a good man, Nolan Bentley. Your father would be most proud of you for what you’ve done. But you should tell your mother. She should know as well.”

Nolan felt his body tense up. “I don’t know what you’re taking about. And I want you to stay out of my business.”

“As you wish. But she should know.”

Nolan said nothing as the woman moved away. Glancing around the room, he wondered if anyone else had heard her words, and decided that they were much too busy trying to ignore what was about to happen. He looked at Myra as she seemed to float around the room rather than just walk.

Today the woman was dressed in orange. But it wasn’t just the color orange that had him turning away when she moved, but the big black dots that were all over her dress and hair. He wondered if she had her outfits made for her or if she, like most things, made them magically. Whichever it was, there were times that he was glad that he didn’t live here anymore. Seeing her as seldom as he did, Nolan had a feeling that her costumes got stranger and stranger daily. He made his way to the deck to get some fresh air.

Nolan had no idea how or why Myra would bring up what he’d been doing lately. It wasn’t like he was harming anyone for what he was doing. And he certainly never meant for them to find out. It was his…project, he supposed he could call it, and it made him feel good just knowing that it was his.

The shelter was already there when he hit upon the idea that the homeless, like the ones that worked for Reggie, needed health care. There was a clinic downtown that served a great many people, but where his shelter was, there was a higher population of them. He’d only had to go to the city hall offices and inquire about buying the building next to it, and had ended up with the entire block. Nineteen buildings and a warehouse that was still fully stocked with something. That had been a huge surprise as well.

The warehouse had been a surplus for a now-debunked mattress and bedding store. There were nearly six hundred mattress and box spring sets, over a hundred beds in varying sizes, including cribs and bunk beds, as well as dressers, rocking chairs, and even a few dinette sets. And just the other day they’d unearthed enough towels and sheets to supply even the largest of department stores. They were still sorting through those even as the builders were dividing the place up into small rooms.

The building that he’d planned to buy in the first place was opening their doors in nine days. He had a list of doctors that were coming in to help out, and a list of others that would like to be called should they be needed. And not just general practitioners, but obstetrical-gynecological doctors, optometrists, and two dentists. He’d been able to get enough supplies and equipment to have an x-ray room, a small surgery should it be needed, as well as a birthing suite. And Nolan was broke.

“I think they’re ready for you.” Nolan turned to look at Reggie when she came out to get him. “Are you all right? You know that if anyone should be nervous, it’s me, but I’m surprisingly calm.”

“You’re never calm, honey. I know that.” She grinned when he did. “But I’m not so much nervous as I am uninformed. I know that I should have come to the meeting, but I just couldn’t get away. Things needed my attention.”

“You’re a wonderful doctor, Nolan. You and Burke both are the very best. Joey is going to be happy with his new job and the horses, not to mention him and Chris. Tony has his own practice as well and is doing very well for himself. Garth can make millions out of nothing, and he has for all of us. And we all understand that duty comes first.” He didn’t tell her it wasn’t work but the warehouse, but she hugged him. “Burke just showed up. He is going to be with you. I think Micah will be fine, but you have no idea how glad I am to have you all here.”

“We’re family, you know.” Reggie nodded, and they moved into the house. His mom and grandma were in the kitchen, and he hugged them both before his grandmother asked to speak to him. Nolan told her that she was his forever.

“Behave yourself, young man.” He grinned at her, and he could see how hard she was fighting not to laugh with him. “I’ve some friends in the most odd places.”

“Because you’re married to Grandda. He has oddities coming out of the woodwork. So when you say that, you’re going to have to be a little more specific.” She nodded and asked him to have a seat. “I think they’re ready for me to help out with Micah.”

“They can wait five more minutes. He’s had this thing in him for over two months, and a few minutes now won’t matter a hill of beans.” Nolan sat down. “This friend I was talking about is mine, not Howie’s. But he does have a strange group of them. She works as a nurse for Doctor Barlow.”

Nolan wanted to try and play it off as he had no idea what she was talking about, but he couldn’t lie to her any more than he could his own mom. When he got up to put the tea kettle on the stove, she just watched him.

“You haven’t said anything to anyone, have you?” She told him she had not. “I would be really happy if you didn’t. It’s not something that I want…I know this sounds really crass, but this is my project for now, and I’d like to see if I can do it without their coming in to save me.”

“You need saving, Nolan. I know that.” He nodded. “How much do you have in the bank? You can’t have much.”

“I don’t. In fact, I might not be able to swing my next rent payment. It’s why…after this is over, I’m going to see if I can move in with Mom for a few months. Just to get back on my feet.” He turned to her. “It’s well worth being broke over. When we open in a few days, there will be so much that can help these people. And Barlow is just the tip of the iceberg in the amount of help I have coming in.”

“I’m sure you’re going to be a great success, but if the rest of them find out—not from me, but you know that they will—they’re not going to be happy to find out you didn’t ask for help.” He knew that and told her. “Also, here. I want you to have this.”

He didn’t have to open the envelope to know that it had a check in it. And when he tried to return it to her, she told him to not be silly.

“I can’t…I don’t know when I can pay you back.” For an answer she kissed him on the cheek and walked away from him. It wasn’t until then that he looked. It was for a hundred thousand dollars. And Nolan stood in the kitchen and sobbed like a small child at what this meant to him. He’d not even asked, and she had just helped him. Nolan had the best family in the entire world, bar none.

When he thought he could go and see them without them teasing him, Nolan moved into the living room. He kissed his grandmother on the cheek and then went to stand by Micah. He was nervous as hell, and he thought everyone in the room knew it. When Myra asked him to lie on the floor, Micah hugged each and every one of them hard and told him that he loved them.

“You’re going to be fine, young man. Just fine.” Myra winked at him, then looked at Chris as she continued. “Come now. Let us get this over with. There is things brewing here that must be taken care of soon.”

As soon as Micah was laying on the floor of the dining room, both Myra and Chris began to encircle him in a white line of sugar. When Burke asked why sugar, Myra laughed.

“Haven’t you heard that you draw more with sweetness than you do with bitterness? It’s true of magic as well. Salt is good for bringing someone to you that you want to keep safe or in some cases, hold them, but sugar will be better for what we must do to young Micah here.” Grandda asked her why she kept calling him that, young. “Because to me, you all are young. Would you be surprised to know that I have been around for centuries? Not just centuries, but millennia? I know a thing or two about magic.”

“Will we live that long too?” Myra only smiled at Chris. “That’s not an answer. Will we? I’d really like to know.”

“If we do not do this now, I’m afraid that we will have to wait a while longer. I wasn’t kidding when I said that things are brewing. Jackson has made contact with a warlock. And if it’s all the same to you, I think you’d do better with fighting them both if you had your sister’s magic, don’t you?” Chris nodded and Nolan thought it was a good idea too. Living long or not at all? It wasn’t really a question in his mind. “Now then. Let us begin.”

~~~

Joey watched them. He’d been warned, as the rest of them had, not to touch each other during the ceremony. Myra was only going to assist Chris in this, not do it for her. She mentioned that someday she might need to do it again, and it would do her well to know how to do it on her own.

Micah was clad only in his boxers. He had been warned that he should be naked, but he told Myra that it wasn’t going to happen. Then she laughed. Joey had a feeling that not only did he not have to be naked, but he could have been bundled in a thick suit of wool with blankets all over him and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Still, it was fun to see Micah so nervous.

He’d helped them move the dining room furniture out that morning, and had also helped with gathering the things that Chris would need. He had it in his head that they’d be given a list of things like eye of newt and some dried herbs they’d have to travel to some foreign country for. But it had only been things like heather and sage, as well as a root that grew in the back yard. Myra had said that as a white witch, as Chris was, she could use things that were natural to her. And this was all where they could get it.

The herbs, several bundles of them, were laid on his chest. Myra explained to them what it was to do. Nolan wanted to take notes and even to record what was happening, but he knew that no one would believe him, so all he did was listen.

“The herbs will keep him calm. The heather is made to keep him in a state of rest, the sage will allow him to answer us without pain, should there be any. But there shouldn’t be. Chris will do fine.”

Chris stood in the circle, then sat on her knees next to Micah. Her dress was as white as the sugar that surrounded them both. She asked Micah if he was ready.

“Yes. I trust you.” Chris nodded at Joey’s brother and then when he winked, she laughed. “You’re going to do this right, Chris. I’m not worried.”

“I’m glad one of us isn’t.” He took her hand and brought it to his mouth for a quick kiss on the back of it. Joey was surprised when his cat purred like it was all right with him. He looked at Reggie and could see that she was fine as well.

The daggers that were laid across Micah’s chest were beautiful. He’d gotten to look at them earlier when Myra had brought them to Chris. Each one of them had a different purpose, and Chris was going to have to use them now. When she looked at him, he nodded. All of a sudden, he knew that everything was going to be just fine.

Chris picked up the first of five blades.

“For this I take from you a sample of your flesh to bring Angel McKenzie to me whole.” Taking a deep breath, Chris used the knife to slice a small tip off Micah’s finger. Taking the small slither of skin to her heart, she then laid it on the smallish wooden table that was beside her. Picking up the next blade, she looked at Micah and at his nod, took it to his hair. “For this I will take from you a part of your being, your cat and you.”

The hair, very little of it, was lain next to the skin. The next two blades and samples that she took from Micah were nothing much more than a piece of his fingernail and a drop of his saliva from his mouth. At her look at him again, Joey told her to finish it. Picking up the last of the knives, she told him that she loved him.

“With this blade, enhanced with the blood of my ancestors and magic from their hearts, I take from you, Micah Bentley, holder of my sister’s magic, a part of you that no other’s seen. I take from you the blood of your heart.” When she took Micah’s hand in hers and laid it over her thigh, she closed her eyes for only a second before she plunged the knife through his palm. The knife, Joey knew, not only cut through his brother’s hand but into her thigh as well.

“Hello sister.” Joey, like the rest of them, took a step back from the circle when the woman appeared above Micah’s still body. It took Joey a second to realize that she wasn’t actually talking to Chris, but this was instead a memory of what had happened the day she died. “I’m sorry about everything. You have no idea how much…I wish I had more time. I’m saving this man, who gave his life for not just me but for you as well. I want you to have this and no other. You are the stronger of the two of us anyway. Go to the building where we were queens and you’ll find the rest that I have given you. Tell Dad…tell Dad that I loved him more than I ever did my own father, and that I will miss him as much as I do you.”

Joey watched through Angel’s viewpoint what happened that day. Micah was there as well, his body covered in blood, and the wound in his back, they could see now, had been fatal. Angel healed him at a great cost to herself by pushing her magic into him. The wounds sealed and he breathed again. When his body disappeared, so did the vision. But this was far from finished.

Joey started to reach for Chris, and the second that he did, Nolan touched him. To more than likely warn him, he was sure, but his connection to him made them both become a part of the storm that seemed to come out of nowhere in the circle. As they were sucked in, Joey felt as if he were being sucked through a straw, but held onto Nolan when his hand suddenly appeared in front of his face.