Return of the Fae (6 page)

The blonde stood in front of him. He liked the way a row of piercings snaked up her ear lobe, like the piercing gun had stuttered. The girl’s long hair glimmered and reflected the neon beer signs lights. Her smile might have warmed his heart, if he had one.

“Honey, tell me you have this evening off.” He faked a country drawl.

April laughed. “Now you’re a southern gentlemen? What happened to your Boston accent?”

“Just trying something new. And there’s not a bit of gentleman in me.” He patted his leg and April slipped onto his lap. “Now, about tonight? I thought we’d start at one of those fancy restaurants where you have to dip your food.”

“Fondue? I would have taken you for more of a meat and potatoes guy.” April ran her finger up his forearm.

“Sometimes, I like variety. Anyway, if I could finish, I thought we’d start with dinner, maybe a walk on the river front, then back to your place and finish up where we left off this morning before you kicked me out.” He grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips, nipping at her fingers with his teeth.

“You are bad. I didn’t kick you out. I had to get to work.” April laughed. “Tonight, I’ll have to come back and close. Parris is out of town.”

“She goes on vacation, leaving you stuck with the late shift?” He ran his finger down her neck, stopping at the hint of cleavage she let show in her work clothes. He tapped the spot, looking into her eyes. “Where is she? Hawaii?”

“No. Not Hawaii. Although the girl could use a real vacation. I hope your boss realizes what a gem she is and decides to take her somewhere more exciting than Cincinnati next time.” April tossed her hair back off her shoulder. “She works too hard.”

“I wondered where he went. I should have known they’d be together.” Alex lightly nipped her arm with his teeth. “When the cat’s away, the mice will play. Tell me you don’t have to make a bank drop tonight. Tell me we can spend the evening naked in your four-poster bed, and I’ll tell you what I’ll do to you there.”

April laughed, a deep, throaty laugh making his groin ache in need for the blonde. Seducing her was part of his cover, a way he could keep tabs on Parris. April didn’t make that part of the job even seem like work. He enjoyed spending time with her.

“Okay, just this once. You’re not talking me into shirking my duties all weekend. Besides, I’ve got to be here early for a delivery tomorrow morning, I’ll do the drop before I open.” April kissed him, a kiss that took his breath away. The girl had talents in more ways than just managing a bar.

“I’ll not lead you into temptation, again.” He smiled and rubbed his hand against her cheek. “At least for a few hours.”

“Evil.” She slipped off his lap and headed to the counter where two customers stood, waiting for drinks. “I’m here until Jake comes at five. You going to stay around or do you have something you need to do?”

“Baby, you have my complete attention today. Hell, maybe all weekend.” He held up an almost empty beer bottle. “Bring me another one when you have a chance.”

“As you command,” April joked.

“You’re more on target than you even know, chicky,” Alex whispered under his breath. So the cousin and her warlock went to Cincinnati. He thought about what he knew of the area, not one known for magic hot spots. Only another muggy Midwestern river town. Nothing for him to worry about. His boss must be a cheapskate when it came to weekend getaways. He keyed the information into a text to his coven contact. Better to report even trivial things, than to not report and get banished.

Alex liked his life. The coven paid for his law degree. Soon, they’d set him up in a well-known law firm and he’d be in place, waiting for the takeover. First, his needed to take care of the one family tree blemish. The half breed named Parris.

He turned on his salesman smile at April when she brought him beer. Killing Parris should be his assignment. Not babysitting.

April’s perfume wafted toward him as she walked away to the bar. She was something. He took a swig of ice cold beer. Until he got the green light, nothing said he couldn’t have some fun.

Chapter 6

Banishment occurs when a witch fails to follow the law of the coven. Before a complete banishment, a witch may be put into a holding pattern, where they can spend some time, thinking about their missteps and planning for a more productive future. Reference the Medusa myth for additional learning material. –The Academy of Witchcraft Manual, Volume 3, page 559

“Total waste of a trip.” Ty held the door open for Parris as they left the hotel to walk around downtown Cincinnati before finding someplace to eat dinner. “Sorry I dragged you down here. I guess I should have called. The Council’s records are usually spot on.” Unless someone didn’t want to be found, Ty added silently.

He’d considered his mentor’s actions during the trip back to the hotel. The only clue to Robert’s disappearance had to be the student looking for Robert at the start of semester. Had Robert been hiding from this person? He’d tried searching Martha’s mind for a visual of the guy and came up empty. That fact alone made Ty’s internal warning bells clang like church bells after a wedding on a June day. Who wiped the memory of a visit to a former professor? Unless he wanted to hide his actions from someone like Ty who could read minds. A vision of Alex floated to the front of his thoughts, not for the first time today.

I would have known
. He assured himself. If Alex had any magical ability, Ty’s training and skill should have picked up on something. No one could hide from him.

Except for an entire coven in existence since the Salem witch hunt days
.

Tired of the internal fight, he focused on Parris’ chatter. She’d apparently succumbed to the hotel’s extensive room service menu, extoling the wonder of onion ring batter for the last ten minutes. Now, she’d stopped talking and sat staring at him. His lack of focus noticed.

“Sorry, I guess I’m trying to figure out where Nelson would have gone. It’s not like a witch of his level to completely vanish off the grid. And to not tell The Council? That’s impossible. He’d be breaking coven rules.” Ty sighed and ran his hands through his black hair.

“Maybe if you stop thinking about it, the answer will come. That’s what I do when I know I’ve forgotten something.” Parris took his arm, pressing her body close. “I could have distracted you if we’d stayed in.”

“Believe me, you’re doing a fine job of it now.” Ty leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Let’s play human tourist couple.”

Parris consulted her map. “If we walk down Fifth, we’ll be at Fountain Square. The room service guy said Taste of Cincinnati is being held this weekend. There should be lots to do there.”

“Sounds good.” Ty smiled. They were on a real date. No magic. No looking over their shoulders for the enemy. No training. A man and a woman exploring an unfamiliar city together. He could get used to this.

As they got closer to the festival, people started filling the street. The home team had a game at the Great American Ball Park tonight so a lot of the crowd wore red, showing their support. Ty’d never understood the fascination of human males with sports. He ran and lifted weights to stay in shape but never played an organized team activity, even in high school. The Academy studies kept him too busy to join the football team or even run track. When witch kids left normal school for the day, they went to the Academy for another session. Ty hadn’t seen his folks except on weekends during the entire four years of high school.

He glanced at Parris who loved passing through the crowds, snapping pictures of buildings and for some reason, large decorated pigs.

“So did you play sports in high school?”

“Are you kidding? High school was hell. I kept to myself, mostly, hid in the library reading so the other kids would leave me alone. One girl made kicking my ass a priority on her daily to-do list. Brittany, of course, ruled the school like a queen bee. Cheerleader, volleyball captain, student body president. The only thing she didn’t get was valedictorian. No one got better grades than I did.” Parris sounded satisfied, wistful. “Now, I don’t know if the award came from me studying, or this other part of me.”

“Don’t worry, there are plenty of stupid witches, don’t you remember Raymond?” Ty thought about Raymond Stone, one of the first witches Parris met, before she’d known her own heritage. “You can glamour your way through classes. Tests, however, are on you. Magic won’t let you cheat.”

“Good, because beating Brittney academically, including acing her out of the National Merit scholarship is the only good memory I have of high school. I would hate for it to be fake.”

“Just because magic is involved doesn’t make something fake.” Ty saw the frown start on Parris’ face. “But I’ll say it again, you can’t glamour or spell your way out of stupid. So yes, you earned those grades.”

Parris stayed quiet while they crossed the street, joining the crowds around the booths lining the cordoned off area. Food smells, mixing Thai, German, and, assorted fried delights, overwhelmed his senses, as they stood, stuck in the middle of an unmoving crowd. Parris looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

“Thank you.” She gripped his hand.

“For what?”

“For helping me see not all of my other life had been a lie. Sometimes, I feel like I woke up into a different world after meeting you. A world I never wanted to live in.”

“It’s not bad. Not once you get used to it.” Ty hugged her, pulling her close. “Let me buy you an ice cream, little girl, and tell you about my secret castle hideaway in the Idaho mountains where I keep my past loves, frozen in stone.”

“Again, if that’s true, not the strangest thing I’ve learned about you so far.” Parris smiled through her tears, wiping her face. “Find me really good vanilla ice cream and you can tell me anything.”

* * * *

Parris sat on the bench facing the fountain waiting for Ty to come back with her ice cream. They’d only been walking an hour yet already her feet felt swollen from the heat of the day. The sun had started to set. The concrete buildings and streets would start cooling off soon. Right now she breathed in the cool air running through the fountain’s water.

“Why don’t you use a cooling spell?”

Parris turned, expecting Ty sitting next to her. “You really have to stop that.”

Ty wasn’t there. A tall, black man sporting a basketball jersey and shorts frowned at her and kept walking.

Great, now she heard voices and talked to herself. The day was getting better and better.

Parris kicked her legs out, stretching her back, reached for her feet. Maybe she needed some sugar.

“You’re going to eat ice cream in this heat? Water would be better for you, not as heavy.”

This time Parris didn’t turn, or react. She kept her head down and continued stretching. Quietly she asked, “Who and where are you?”

Parris heard a giggle. “Right in front of you, silly. On top of the fountain.”

Parris looked up the black marble fountain, knowing she wasn’t going to see a human. The fountain tiered with statues of two men on the bottom and a woman standing on top, water pouring out of her outstretched hands. “Great, now a fountain is talking to me.”

A young mother glanced her way and pushed her stroller faster, away from Parris.

Parris didn’t blame her. She probably looked like a loony sitting here alone, talking to no one.

“But you’re talking to me,” said the stone woman. “I wait for months, maybe years, for a witch to visit with me and you’re worried about what humans think? Priceless.”

“Until last month, I belonged to that group,” Parris muttered, glancing around at people milling nearby, not close enough for them to hear her. She put a hand up to her ear, mimicking talking on a blue tooth and getting too much noise.

“Not my problem. Besides, your hands-free trick should protect you. I swear, technology is so amazing now-a-days. Tell me, what year is it?”

“2012. Why?”

“Just wondering how long I’ve been a water girl. This place sucks. Sure, on weekends I get a lot of company during the different festivals, and in summer, humans bring their lunches here to eat. Winters are brutal. The city shuts off the water. My arms just hang, stretched out like this. I look like an idiot.”

“If no one comes to see you, why do you care?” Ty’s voice broke into the fountain’s complaint.

“Well, if it isn’t Ty Wallace, the most handsome of The Council’s flunkies. How are you? Is this your latest conquest? Or a rogue witch you’re taking back for The Academy to break?” The fountain laughed. “Should I ask if Rowena knows? Maybe I’ll keep your secret, maybe not.”