Magick (Immortals and Magick Book 2) (8 page)

The two men stared each other down, Padraigan never leaving his crouch.

“What can you do to me, sorcerer? I’m more powerful than you could ever be.” Padraigan growled, but he made no move toward Noah. I knew that he could call lightning, and direct it through his hands. He had blown a hole in Gareth that had been the size of a Louisville Slugger, and it had taken him a good month to recover from it.

Something was stopping him, and Noah knew it.

“At full strength, you may be stronger than me. But I know that you’re hurting, still recovering from the damage we did the last time you bothered us.” Noah’s voice was steel, his expression hard.

Padraigan growled again, but his eyes never strayed from Noah’s.

When Noah attacked, I didn’t realize it until Padraigan flew backward out of the window. One second he was standing there, arms crossed, and then the next second fire was exploding from his fingertips, his arms extended toward Padraigan’s shifting form. His aim was only slightly off, and caught Padraigan in the arm as he twisted toward the window, the force of the fire knocking him outside.

Noah ran to the window and approached it cautiously, making sure that Padraigan wasn’t hovering outside, but he was gone. Noah brought the window crashing down with too much force, and it made me jump. He twisted the lock viciously, as though the window was to blame for Padraigan’s visit, and not my own stupidity.

He turned toward me, his hard façade crumbling as he took in my disheveled state. His eyes lost their glittery coldness and his hands started to shake.

“Oh my God, Teagan, what did he do to you?” He was on the bed and next to me before I could fully comprehend that it was over. He raised a hand to brush back my hair from the wound on my neck, and I could see the tremors running through him like a low-grade electrical current.

“What happened?” Harley ran into the room and skidded to a halt, her eyes growing wide at the sight of me bleeding on the bed.

“Harley, do you have a first aid kit?” Noah asked, not taking his eyes from my neck. I could feel his hands probing gently at the edges of the puncture wounds and I winced, though he was being as tender as his shaking hands would allow.

“In my bathroom Harley, under the sink.” I answered for her, my voice none too steady and she nodded mutely, turning quickly to retrieve it.

My senses were heightened by the adrenaline surging through me and I could hear her digging through the mess that was my vanity, murmuring to herself. I could feel Noah’s breath on the sensitive skin at my neck as he tried to see the damage that Padraigan had done.

Harley came back to the bedside and sat on the edge, reaching over to turn on the bedside light.

“A little light might help, don’t you think?” Her voice was a calm port in a stormy sea, and both Noah and I reacted to it. Noah took a deep breath and gathered himself. A dangerous sense of calm settled over me that was probably the onset of shock, but I would take it if it meant my body would stop trying to shake itself apart.

Harley and Noah worked quickly to clean and dress the wound, taking care not to hurt me too much. I sat passive, staring at a spot on my wall. I wasn’t letting myself think about what happened because if I did, all the loathing I felt for myself at the moment would come crushing down on me. How could I let myself be so stupid? Easy-I was distracted by Noah, and to an extent, Harley. Harley and I wouldn’t have been fighting if it weren’t for Noah, so in my befuddled state I put all the blame on Noah’s shoulders.

For the first time since Padraigan had gone out the window I turned my head and looked at Noah. It was a hard thing to do because his head was right next to mine, so I shrugged out from underneath his hands. They hung there for a moment, as if he was shocked that I moved.

“Harley, could you finish up? Noah, I need you to leave.” I spoke quietly but I leaned farther away from him, turning my head away from his pained look. I could feel him trying to breach my mind, pushing gently to gain entry to my thoughts and I closed my mind like a steel trap, so strongly that I could feel him wince.

I got up from the bed slowly and he reached for me, but I continued toward my bathroom, my body on autopilot. I needed to get clean. My own flesh seemed alien to me, dirty, defiled, and I wanted to scrub every inch of my body raw.

“No, Noah, leave her alone. She’ll be fine if you can just give her some time. I’ll go with her.” I heard Harley murmur, then she was with me in the bathroom, sitting me down gently on the toilet. She knew what I needed, and set about running a bath, gathering the cleansing herbs, oils, and salt that I would want in the water with me.

I stared into space again, fighting my thoughts. I didn’t want to think, didn’t want to feel anything that would remind me of what had just happened. My neck throbbed with every heartbeat, and although I knew that one vampire bite would not a vampire make me without the exchange of his blood, I thought I could feel him inside me. How was I to scrub that out? I let out a whimper and Harley turned towards me, her eyes filled with unshed tears.

“Oh honey, you’ll be alright. I know that’s cold comfort right now, but it’s over and you’re safe. We’ll take care of you.” She put a comforting hand on my shoulder; she knew me too well than to try to hug me. 

I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts, so I asked her to stay with me while I bathed. She nodded mutely and turned her back while I threw off my nightshirt and climbed into the tub, feeling the hot water seep into my muscles. I sat with my arms curled around my legs, my head on my knees. I wanted so badly to recline in the soothing water, but that was too much like relinquishing control and I couldn’t bring myself to do that. My mind was working a thousand miles an hour, poking and prodding, wanting to dissect everything that had happened. I was losing the battle though, control slipping away like a thief in the night. Despite my best efforts, the tears hit, strong and hard. I felt Harley’s hand on my head, a comforting presence as I fell to pieces.

I heard the light tapping on my door, and I turned my head to look at it. I didn’t want to let him in, but I knew I had to at some point. The unreasonable blame that I placed squarely on his head had not dissipated despite the fact that I knew it was not his fault. He had saved me, and for that I should be thankful.

With a sigh I told him to come in and he did, turning to close the door behind him quietly. He leaned his forehead on the door before turning to me, and his face looked drawn, tired. My heart wanted to reach out to him, but my mind viciously beat it down. I stared at him dully, not knowing what to say.

He moved to the bed and sat on the edge, and I moved myself away from him, like a child would do.

“I know that you’re hurting, Teagan-” He started to speak, but I cut him off with a slash of my hand.

“You…don’t…know…how…I…feel.” I ground out, irrational anger flooding through me. I hated myself even more at that point than I hated him. I knew I was being unreasonable, but was powerless to stop myself.

“It’s because of you that I put myself in such a vulnerable position. If I hadn’t been so concerned over why you didn’t speak to me when you came in the house, then I wouldn’t have gotten into a fight with Harley, which made me so scatterbrained that I completely forgot to cast my circle!” I yelled, my voice gaining in strength with every word. I still wouldn’t look at him, still kept my back turned to him. I didn’t want him to see the tears that were coursing down my face.

“Teagan, that’s just plain ridiculous.”

I gasped in indignation, although I knew he was right. I wiped my tears away, rubbing my face raw to get rid of the evidence of my weakness before I rounded on him.

“Really? Ridiculous? You weren’t the one who was bitten Noah! You have no right to judge me!” I could hear the hysterical edge creeping into my voice, could feel the tremors wanting to take up residence in my tired muscles again.

“You’re right Teagan, I wasn’t bitten, but I failed you. Don’t you think that the torture I’m putting myself through is enough?” I could hear the anguish in his voice and my anger started to dissipate. It was one thing for me to blame him for what happened, another for me to think he was putting himself through unnecessary pain thinking that he failed me. Which made no sense.

“I should have double checked your protection. I shouldn’t have taken it for granted that you had done enough.”

I actually saw red. His words, though not said with the intent to belittle me or my ability to protect myself, sent a fresh surge of fury through me. With a growl that came from deep within me, I turned and kicked him off the bed, using both feet and all the torment that was built up in me from the night. I connected solidly with his back and with a grunt he fell off the bed.

“Get out!” I screamed at him as I knelt on the bed, my arm outstretched and my finger pointing at the door. He sprung up quickly, his hands fisted at his side, his expression thunderous. I glared back defiantly, not caring that his feelings were hurt, not caring that I had thought he and I could have a fresh start not all that long ago. At the moment he was annoying, obnoxious Noah and I just wanted him gone.

He didn’t budge, just stood there, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. I could see his jaw flexing as he ground his teeth, and I could imagine the restraint he was employing to keep his mouth shut.

I didn’t want him restrained, though. I needed more of a reason to get him out of my room, out of my life; I wanted him so angry that he would turn around and storm out and not come back. There was, however, a small part of me that wanted him to stay, to fight me, to yell at me, to take me by the arms and shake sense into me, because I knew how irrational I was being. 

But it was a small part, and I fought to keep it from growing out of control.

“Get out!” I yelled again, shaking my arm hard, my finger stabbing the air.

“I will not get out. You obviously need to have a baby sitter to keep you from being killed, and apparently I’m the one that has to do it!” His voice was raised, but the anger he was obviously feeling was still under lock and key.

“You bastard! I am a grown woman who can take care of herself. I don’t need any man to take care of me, let alone you. If you were so capable of doing a good job, why did this happen?” I pointed at my neck, tilting my head to the side. I could feel heat building in me as I stared at him, but I thought it was the building heat of a righteous temper tantrum.

“We can argue this point all night long, little witch, but the fact remains that you screwed up. You didn’t take the time to double your protection and I was stupid to put my faith in you. Because of your slip-up, we could’ve all been killed.”

My mouth worked silently, words having failed me. Did he really feel that way? His eyes were shuttered, closed. I could re-open the connection I had made earlier with him, but if he was really that angry, it would be unforgivable of me to do that. His words had taken my fury to a new level, beyond seeing red and into the realm of full-body tremors.

I had never experienced the surge of raw emotions that I felt while I was staring at him, emotions that were in direct opposition to each other. I trembled with the urge to slap him, while my body flooded with the heat of desire. I felt flushed, like I was running a low grade fever.

His eyes caught mine, the hostility in them making me shudder, though from what, I couldn’t figure out. It wasn’t fear; I knew Noah well enough to know that he wouldn’t lay a finger on me in anger. It hit me like a ton of bricks in a moment of insight; I wanted him, wanted his hands on me, wanted to feel his mouth on my body.

Something must have changed in my expression, because no sooner had I thought it than he was on the bed with me, kneeling in front of me, his hands raking down and then back up, taking my night shirt with them and over my head.

I did not protest.

Like a mad woman I drove my fingers into his hair, pulling him down to my mouth and he met it with a hunger that surpassed my own. I bit down on his bottom lip, drawing it into my mouth, sucking on it hard. He groaned and the sound reverberated through me, running down nerve endings leading to the very part of me that was on the brink of pushing me over the edge into territory I had no idea I was ready for.

I yanked his shirt up and over his head, tossing it to the floor, and brought my mouth to his chest, biting and licking. He bit down on my shoulder, his hands skimming down my sides to grasp my hips. With one effortless movement he lifted me and wrapped my legs around his waist. I leaned back, my hands locked around his neck, and watched as he lowered his head to my breast.

My head dropped back at the first touch of his hungry mouth, a gasp of pure pleasure erupting from me as his teeth nipped and his tongue rasped. His hands slid around my hips, fingers probing, finding me already slick with need. I keened as he slid a finger inside me, setting a rhythm that matched the movement of his mouth. My body ground against him, wanting more of him. I rocked forward, moving with him as he brought me higher, his fingers weaving magick in me.

“Oh my God! Fire! Teagan! Noah! Oh fuck!”

Harley’s voice raised in panic hardly broke through my desire clouded mind, but it intruded enough into Noah’s head that he set me away from him quickly.

“Did she just say fire?” he asked, his voice thick, just as the fire alarms went off in the bookstore below.

“Shit, she did! Harley!” I screamed as I flew off the bed, snatching my nightshirt from the floor and yanking it over my head viciously. Noah was out the door in a flash, not even bothering with his shirt. We both almost collided with Harley as she ran down the hallway.

“What the hell? Where is it? In the store?” Noah asked, running into the living room, his head swiveling from side to side.

“I had just turned off my light and was looking toward my window and I could see the glow from it. It’s directly below us.”

Noah snatched my hand and then Harley’s with his other hand and ran toward the stairs that led into the apartment. The stairs looked clear so we started down them, moving quickly but cautiously. As soon as we gained the second floor, we could see flames licking up the first floor stairs.

“No! Not my second floor! The books here are irreplaceable!” Harley was losing her composure, the threat to her life taking a back seat to the possibility of losing everything we had worked for. In the distance I could hear the sirens of the fire trucks responding to the alarm, and I sent a prayer to the Goddess that they could get here in time.

Harley tore loose from Noah and ran to the nearest bookshelf, ripping books down and sending them skidding towards the back wall, away from the advancing fire.

“Harley, we have to get out. Your life is worth more than these books!” Noah roared, but she ignored him, running like a mad woman to shelf after shelf. I knew what she was trying to do, and she wouldn’t be able to do it. I closed my eyes and slipped into a trance, tuning out Harley’s screams and Noah’s voice imploring her to stop. I briefly thought about extinguishing the flames with a rain shower, but I couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation as to why it had rained when there were no clouds in the sky. I called power to me, raised the quarters, and spread my arms wide. It would be hard to direct the wind to only encompass the shelves, but I was going to give it my all. An unearthly howl filled the room as I built a maelstrom of wind in the room. Books flew off shelves, fluttering like crazed birds through the dimly lit room. Most landed in a pile in the back of the room just as the fire sprinklers came to life, sending down a deluge of water on us. I snapped out of my trance as the cold water hit me, and came around just as Noah grabbed my hand again. He had Harley over his shoulder and we pounded down the stairs and ran through the store, headed for the front door.

As Noah threw the door open I stopped and turned back to the store, my mind dead to the chaos that reigned. Flames licked up the walls in dying spasms as the sprinklers dampened them, but I could see a lot of damage, even in the smoky haze created by the emergency lights. My life’s work, up in flames.