Ryder on the Storm (16 page)

“Until your dear aunt passed on I seemed unable to cross onto the property. Strange things, protection enchantments, they don’t last once the conjurer is deceased.” So far, Storm’s father had not moved from his spot behind Keene, the now deceased traitor. His death came too easily for Ryder’s liking, but none of them had reacted quickly enough to stop it. Storm’s father arrived with a pop, directly behind Keene, and snapped his neck in one quick motion. Ryder had never seen anything like it and thought only Immortals capable of materializing in such a manner. Still, this man could not be an Immortal. Aside from having fathered Storm, his hair seemed to be graying and crow’s feet were evident around his eyes. The man dressed well, a fitted black turtleneck beneath a gray blazer and paired with stylishly cut black slacks.

He turned to face Ryder and the others suddenly as if he’d forgotten something. “Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself; I am Storm’s father, Jasper Whitforth, or if you prefer, Storm would remember me as Colin MacCallum.” He made no effort to shake hands in greeting. Something seemed familiar about him; Ryder could not put a finger on it. Lucian stepped toward Ryder and made eye contact, the inner flame flickering angrily for an instant. He shrugged – what kind of supernatural could this guy be?

“Storm, darling, have a seat. We can have a civilized chat and I am certain we’ll come to some sort of terms.” Jasper kicked Keene’s body out of the chair and sat down himself. The seraphs tucked their wings back in and grudgingly resumed their positions on the couch, leaving room in the middle for Storm. She still stood in the doorway when Lucian and Ryder assumed their former seats.

“Storm, don’t be obstinate, take a seat.” Jasper’s cool collection broke for a moment. He realized the mistake and altered his tactic, “Please darling, I have missed you so. Come sit with us.”

“No. I don’t believe I will. I think you should leave, Father.” Not good. Fury flashed over Jasper’s face but he managed to suppress it again. This time her turned to face Storm, lowered his voice to an even tone and spoke through gritted teeth.

“Sit down, please.”

“I am not five. I am not a child. I am not weak. Get out of my house the way you came and I will see to it that no harm comes to you in the immediate future. Should you choose to send your minions after me again I will consider it an affront and will personally hunt you down and end you.”

Impressive. He could not be sure she had it in her to follow through with the threat but Ryder could tell she believed it. Jasper laughed. A deep, chilling laugh that reminded him vaguely of the Vincent Price cackle on the Thriller album. He noticed Storm’s fingertips glowing. The longer her father laughed, the further the glow spread. Jasper didn’t even notice his daughter lighting up like the sun. The glow enveloped Storm before her father took notice. Her emerald eyes danced with amusement and fury.

“Storm, I didn’t remember you being so entertaining. I –“ Her appearance finally registered and Ryder noted the fear in his eyes just before Jasper Whitforth vanished into thin air.

They turned to face Storm in unison. The glow evaporated slowly and there she stood, smiling and relaxed. She started to walk toward him, he stood and moved in response, like two magnets. Could she have forgiven him? Just as Storm reached out to him, an invisible force grabbed at her waist, shock flushed her face and she threw something at him before vanishing. Ryder caught it in his good hand as he realized what happened. He had her. Jasper took her with all four of them standing right there. Ryder fell to the floor, his wounded legs groaning in protest. Raising his eyes to the ceiling he screamed out for her.

Storm

Storm reached out to Ryder but couldn’t touch him. He seemed to be screaming for her but no sound penetrated her ears. Had she gone deaf?

“You are on another plane. He cannot see you. It is so endearing to see the Immortal so smitten with you. Pity you will be his undoing.”

She spun around to find her father staring at her, smugness etched across his face.

“What did you do?”

“Just a little parlor trick. I shifted planes just slightly.” Her father, Jasper, she should call him Jasper, looked bored. “Are we done here? I have plans for you and we cannot linger, daughter.”

“I am not your daughter.” Storm jutted her chin out and folded her arms across her chest, “I am staying here, with them.”

“I thought you said you were no longer a child? Stop behaving like one. You will go with me or I will kill the seraphs.” Jasper withdrew a dagger from inside his blazer. Ivory-handled with a blood red blade. Dammit. Storm remembered that blade from her studies. She even saw one at a black magic market in Bangladesh once.

“No! You will not harm them.” She tried to call on her power but it would not respond.

Jasper laughed again, that eerie, awful cackle. “I manipulate this plane, you cannot call on your power here, daughter. So, you see, come with me willingly or I take you after I sever their wings.” He made to walk toward Dan and Shane whose wings had unfurled when she vanished. Dammit.

“Alright. I will go.”

“I thought you might see it my way. I have a van parked at the end of the drive.”

They walked in silence. Storm had many questions but didn’t really want the answers from him. Pac Man bounded out the door behind them, sniffing at the ground. She pretended not to see him.

“So, where have you been all this time? I mean, where did you go after you left?”

“Oh, here and there. Do you really wish to know?” Jasper looked at her, somewhat surprised, maybe even suspicious.

“Well, since I am stuck with you, I might as well find out what you have been doing since you abandoned me.” Storm knew Pac Man had her scent, the vision of him saving her kept flashing through her head, though the setting didn’t fit. Regardless, she hoped he could help and visions were not always accurate.

“Very well. After your aunt and mother drove me out, I traveled extensively seeking a way to free you. I knew that once I left your aunt would bind your emotions and in turn, your powers. I did not wish that for you so I sought a way to unlock it. Then you took off and I followed you for a while but I did not have a way to break the binding spell. Why did you take off? You were perfectly safe here.” Jasper seemed genuinely perplexed though Storm wished for the seraphs’ lie detection talents.

“I had a vision of my own death.” The words were out before she realized it. They just slipped off her tongue. The first person she’d ever confessed it to and he was kidnapping her. Dammit.

Jasper stopped beside her but thought better of it apparently and began walking again. His mouth open and closed a time or two before he finally spoke, gently like he did when she was a girl, “Are you certain you died?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“Perhaps you didn’t really die, could you have been comatose or having an out of body?”

“No, I don’t think so.” This line of questioning seemed unusual, even for Jasper. Storm felt the hair on her neck rising again. She remembered Trin’s words.

Jasper exhaled and smiled. “Everything will work out, daughter, you will see. How old were you in the vision?”

Lie. The word formed in her head as clear as if it has been spoken to her. “I am not sure, forty maybe?”

His face fell. Tension rose from him in palpable waves. “Impossible.” He paused briefly as if realizing his error, “I mean, you will not die so young. It is not possible.”

They’d managed to get halfway down the drive without Jasper noticing Pac Man trailing them. When he grew angry Storm managed to push a small hole in the fabric of the enchantment. Pac Man noticed, recognized her and bolted back toward the house.

“Maybe fifty? My hair had grayed a bit. I cannot be sure.” She watched his fists clench and unclench, ripples appeared in the magic. They were not in another plane; he had not lied about the parlor trick though. Storm just couldn’t figure out how he’d managed to block her power. That would have to wait.

Jasper started muttering to himself, clearly growing more agitated. Ripples in his magic grew larger. He paid her less attention. Just a little angrier and she’d be able to push right through his illusion without much difficulty.

“I was seventeen when I had it so I couldn’t be sure. After that, I started writing everything down but I haven’t had that vision again. So, maybe you are right, perhaps I was simply having an out of body.” Storm kept her voice even, the lying seemed to come easier with each one she spun for him, “I don’t intend to go anywhere anytime soon. Especially now that I have taken a lover.” Storm let her sentence trail off and sink in.

Jasper whipped his head around and looked at her, his eyes narrowed into slits. “What did you say?”

“I might not have been dead?” Storm feigned ignorance and watched the illusion dissipate a little further. Pac Man had returned, a mere ten yards away. He trotted closer but she waved a hand to stay his progress without breaking eye contact with Jasper.

“Not that part. You have taken a lover?” His voice went into a higher pitch as he said the word ‘lover.’

“Yes, of course. I am an adult, you didn’t think I would still be a virgin after all this time, did you? Don’t worry about the talk, Aunt Trin had that with me a long time ago. Don’t worry about grandkids right now either, I have been on the pill for years.” She looked up at the sky and changed to a more passive tone, “Not that grandkids could count on you to stay around, I mean you weren’t the fatherly type so how could we expect you to be a grandfather.” Yep, that did it. Storm had to struggle to suppress her smile as the last bit of magic evaporated from around them.

“What have you done?” Jasper seethed. His face turned red and purple, his eyes became black discs. “You were to remain a virgin. With no emotions you could not possibly have developed a connection to anyone and then the other curse had to be broken.” Jasper calmed, “Nice try, daughter. You lie. I know cannot feel anything for men. I cursed you myself, you cannot see a man as sexual, I don’t even believe you can be aroused.” That explained a lot, the Hardy Boys thing to start. That didn’t explain the dining room with Ryder. Perhaps it was an Immortal thing? She didn’t feel anything for the other Immortal. Hm, another puzzle for later.

“Funny story, when you decided to murder Aunt Trin, her binding spells shattered. I am no longer a virgin, Daddy. Is that a problem for you? Are you disappointed that I am no longer Daddy’s little girl?” Storm felt her own rage rising inside, though she kept it out of her fingertips for the moment, “I never was a Daddy’s girl though, you never looked on me as your daughter, did you? I don’t think I will be accompanying you at this time, Daddy.” She took great joy in enunciating the last syllable as she raised all of her power and blasted Jasper a good fifty yards out the front gate. The gate broke in the process but it mattered little, she would not be relying on the wrought iron structure for protection anymore. Jasper would return and she would be prepared.

Ryder

Ryder heard the gate break before he saw it in the dim light. The sound echoed through the night. They had followed the dog out the front doors but did not see anything until Storm’s glowing form materialized about halfway down the drive. The glow faded and she dropped her arms, turning to face them. She looked so tired. Ryder strode down the drive, ignoring his protesting limbs, and caught her with his good arm as she fell unconscious. Ignoring the screaming pain in his bad shoulder, Ryder lifted her and headed for the house.

“Take Storm to her room.” Dan stood at his elbow, “She has a natural protection there when she sleeps. I don’t know how it works but it kept us out until we flew in through the window. We can take turns standing guard with her, inside and out. If we couldn’t get in then I doubt Jasper will.”

“I will stay with her in her room. Lucian can call Kell and Pollux to help guard the perimeter. We do not know what he is capable of.” Ryder nodded to Lucian who already had his phone out. The seraphs did not argue. He almost lost her, no way would he let her out of his sight again. She smelled amazing. Having her so close sent his body into overdrive, he could hardly control the urge to sniff her hair.

The path to Storm’s room should have been painful, but holding her, feeling her warmth, and breathing in her scent seemed to drown out the ache. Ryder laid her gently on the bed and brushed the hair from her face. She appeared unharmed, probably just drained from expending so much energy at once. Ryder covered her up and settled at the foot of the bed, watching the world out the hole he left in the window not so long ago. He watched her sleep all night, too concerned for her to sleep himself. Years with Lucian as a tracker and enforcer had prepared him for this.

Storm stirred and sat up, her eyes wild and exhausted. Then she recognized him and smiled. She actually smiled at him. “Hi.” Her voice came out sleepy, soft and seductive all at once.

“Miss Sullivan, I am happy to see you back with us.”

Storm’s face fell slightly, replaced quickly with her usual haughty expression. “What are you doing in my room?” She made a show of pulling the blankets up to her chin. “Where are Dan and Shane? Hell, I would even prefer your friend, what’s his name again?”