Secret Of The Rose (Legacy Of Magick Series, Book 2) (11 page)

“... if it wasn’t for that Bishop girl, she would have made the Varsity squad,” said woman number one.

I zeroed in on the two women giving them my full attention.

“The girl is a high level competitive gymnast. By all rights she
should
have made varsity,” a dark haired woman declared. She had her back to me, and as she straightened her gold sweater, I tried to act casual, as I shamelessly eavesdropped.

Gossipy woman number one leaned into the second woman. “Well, who knows what sort of black magick that family does to get their way?” She wasn’t very quiet and I was shocked at her comment.

The woman in gold laughed spitefully. “Well keep watching dear, and you’ll see some real
magick
before the game is over.” She winked at her friend. I sincerely hoped they were only joking.

I worked hard not to have any facial reaction to what I had overheard. How many times had I been told that my face gave away my feelings?
Be calm... and listen.
I told myself. There were many families in William’s Ford with a legacy of magick. It seemed every time I turned around, I was tripping over more of them. I wondered who these women were.

A bit later, as I washed my hands, I saw in the mirror over the sink, the two women still talking like conspirators. I shook the water from my fingertips and noted that both of them were sporting decorated buttons with a picture of a cheerleader on it. Exactly like Aunt Gwen was wearing. Okay, so these were cheer moms.

“Excuse me,” I said politely as I reached past them for a paper towel. I glanced quickly at the photos of the cheerleaders that were on their buttons.
JV uniforms.
I confirmed for myself. I’d seen enough of the varsity squad for the past few weeks to be able to tell the difference. I got a good look at the photo button on the brunette’s gold sweater. It featured a girl with pixie length dark hair, and a sleek foxy face. It was Leilah Martin. The girl who was currently filling in on the Varsity squad.

The women seemed to take offense at my reaching for the paper towels and moved farther off to the side. “Well at least tonight Leilah will get to show everyone what she can do!” Woman number one insisted to her friend.

I tossed the paper towel towards the can, and started to walk past the two bitchy women. Seemed like these cheer moms had a bad case of sour grapes. Given their comments about magick, I wondered, were those grapes sour enough to make one of them start hexing the varsity squad? Gwen, Marie and Bran all agreed that the caster was powerful. It was a safe bet that it was also a female. What if it was an adult doing the hexing, and
not
a student at the school as everyone supposed?

My mind on getting back to the family with this newest piece of information, I almost didn’t see the group of teenage girls that came racing into the restroom. I tried to move quickly out of their way, and that had me colliding solidly with Leilah’s mother. I bumped into the brunette hard, and she teetered on her heels.

“Sorry!” I apologized and reached out to steady her. When I touched her arm I was hit with a hard, nasty snap of energy. I gasped in surprise and let go of her in a hurry.

“Idiot.” She glared at me, tossed her head, and sailed past.

I stood there for a moment holding my hurt hand. Leilah’s mother had
power
. The last time I had experienced something so nasty was when I’d had an unfortunate encounter with Thomas Drake at the University library.

I checked my hand, half expecting to see blistered fingers, but they seemed the same. I flexed my hand, blew out a long shaky breath, and started working my way through the crowd and back to Duncan and my family as quickly as possible.

I passed Gwen on the crowded bleacher steps. My aunt gave me an odd look, but was jostled past me by the crowd that was heading down. I eventually made my way back up, and sat down between Marie and Duncan. My butt had barely hit the bleachers, and Duncan was reaching for my sore hand.

“What happened?” he asked.

I cradled my aching hand to my chest. “I had a little run-in with some angry cheer moms.”

Marie whipped her head around her eyes narrowing. “You smell a little like sulfur,”

“What?” I asked horrified.

She leaned in and sniffed at my jacket. “Some negative magicks leave a trace. Particularly nasty juju smells bad— like sulfur.”

“So that brunette
had
been a Wi—” I was cut off as Marie gripped my wrist firmly, and yanked my hand over so she could inspect it.

“Be careful what you say in public,” Marie gave me a stern look.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“Which brunette?” Duncan wanted to know.

I looked around for her. “I’m pretty sure it was Leilah Martin’s mother. She had on a gold sweater.”

“I’ll be right back,” Duncan stood up, quickly went down the bleacher steps, and was soon lost in the crowd.

“What’s he going to do?” I asked Marie.

“He’s going to go scout around, I imagine,” Marie said discreetly, laying her hand over my sore fingers. I could hear her chanting under her breath while the majority of the people in the stands rose to their feet to cheer for the Homecoming Court.

A few moments later, Marie gave my hand a gentle pat. “That should do the trick.”

“Thanks Marie,” I said, looking down at my hand. I was impressed. It did feel better.

“You’re welcome,” she said, tossing me a wink.

“What about the sulfur smell, will that go away?” I asked.
God, I did not want to smell like sulfur, tonight of all nights!

“Trust me,” Marie stood up to applaud the Homecoming Court. “It will fade away before the end of the third period of the football game.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Duncan held open the little guesthouse door for me. The heavy wooden door made a loud creaking sound. “Very Halloween-ish,” I said.

“Enter freely of your own will,” he said with a slight leer.

“Funny.” I laughed in reaction to his quoting of
Dracula
. Despite the creaking door, the guesthouse looked inviting. The exterior had recently been painted white with blue trim, and it sat centered in the quiet backyard of the older home Duncan was currently rehabbing.

“It’s an old door, but it has character.” Duncan ran his hand along the stained glass in the heavy wooden door.

“I like the colonial blue color that you painted it.” I brushed my fingers along the door as I stepped inside.

“Blue front doors repel negative magick,” Duncan said and came in behind me.

“Oh yeah? That’s cool.”

Duncan smiled. “Let me take your jacket.” I shrugged out of it and he hung our jackets on a series of old antique hooks in the entry. When he flipped the lock on the door, my heart jumped against my ribs.

“I’m glad nothing else happened with the girls at the game tonight,” I said, as he reached past me to turn on the lights.

“Come on in.” He took my hand as we walked over into the combined living room/ kitchen area.

I ordered myself to settle down. Now that we were finally alone, I
was
a little nervous. It’s not like I was a virgin or anything... I’d had a few serious boyfriends while I had been an undergrad. But I’d been single for the last year or so, so I was a little anxious. My former partners had been college guys, while Duncan... was a man. He had accomplished a lot by becoming a contractor and running a successful business, and he wasn’t quite thirty years old.

God I hoped this went well. Please don’t let me do anything klutzy tonight...
I realized my thoughts were rambling, and remembered that Duncan could occasionally pick up thoughts if they were loud enough— and he was in close proximity. So, I made an effort to clear my mind.

Duncan moved to the kitchen alcove and got out a bottle of white wine. He poured the wine into two glasses as we chatted about the home team’s victory, and I took a deep breath and released it as slowly, and as quietly, as possible. The past weeks had been a slow build up to tonight, and I was torn between a little case of nerves and some serious sexual tension.

I admired the little guesthouse he would be calling home for the next few months. It was charming, really. The walls were painted a warm gray, and the charcoal colored sectional sofa appeared brand new. A huge flat screen TV was across from the sofa, and a little breakfast bar separated the living room area from the small kitchen. An artificial jack-o’-lantern was lit on the counter and cast a warm orange glow on the breakfast bar.

I saw a few weathered looking signs hanging on the kitchen walls, and went over for a closer look.

“These are great.” I told him as I studied a large, obviously vintage apothecary sign, and another old metal sign that featured an owl on a crescent moon.

He handed me a glass of wine. “How’s your hand?” He asked, as we sat down on the couch.

I glanced down at the hand that had gotten a good zap from Leilah Martin’s mother. “Better since Marie worked on it.”

Duncan took a sip from his glass, and set his wine aside on a table. He took my hand in his and studied it carefully. When he did, I felt that familiar rush of energy. My face felt warm and as I watched, he raised my hand to his mouth and pressed a slow lingering kiss to the center of my palm.

I hastily took a sip of wine and gulped... Hard. I tried to keep my focus, but he wasn’t making this easy. What I really wanted to do was to toss the wine aside and jump him. However, I really didn’t want to come off as some horny co-ed.

So I thought I’d try and go for sophisticated, and have some conversation.

Before.

I hastily chose a safe topic. “I thought it was cute when Kellie’s and Viviane’s boyfriends scooped them up and carried them out to the center of the field, when they announced the candidates for Homecoming Queen.” I smiled, remembering the gallant football player and marching band member from half-time.

“It sure made it a lot easier for both of the girls than trying to get across the field with their crutches,” Duncan said as he reached out and began to toy with my hair.

“Bran sure seems nervous around Lexie,” I said in my bid for intelligent, adult conversation.

“He’s attracted to her.” Duncan continued to stroke my hair.

“He is
not
!”

Duncan smiled. “Yes, he is.”

“But he’s dating that Angela chick.” I made a face.

“Have they gone out recently?”

I thought about that. Since Ivy’s abduction, I hadn’t seen Bran go out... and come to think of it, he never mentioned Angela anymore. I glanced at Duncan, and he was studying me in a way that made my mouth go dry.

My heart thudded against my ribs as I took another careful sip of the wine. “So what do you think about all of the recent weirdness?” I asked him.

“Could you be more specific?” he said.

Good point. This was William’s Ford, where weirdness seemed to happen on any day of the week that ended with a ‘Y’. “I meant,” I explained, “the poppets, the injured cheerleaders, and what I overheard at the game.”

Duncan smiled at me a little, before he answered. “I think it bears looking into... But not tonight.”

He took the wine glass out of my hand, set it aside and stood. He held his hand out to me, I took it, and rose to my feet. We stood facing each other for a moment. He slid his arms around me and kissed me.

I wrapped my arms around him and our chests bumped. Just like the first time we kissed, I felt a blast of energy from the full body contact. After a moment I saw a
flickering
behind my closed eyes. Distracted, I pulled back. I frowned up at the overhead light fixture, as it blinked from dim to bright, and back to dim.

“I think you need to have...” I gasped a little as Duncan’s mouth cruised from my mouth, to my cheek, and down my neck. “...the electrician back in here.”

Duncan paused and raised his eyes to the blinking fixture. “It’s not the wiring. It’s us.” He ran his hands from my waist, under my shirt, and up. He bit gently down on the spot between my shoulder and my neck, causing me to jump. The lights flickered again.

“Oh.” I figured it out. I had seen what happened at the manor when my cousin’s and I got into a fight. When our magickal energy raised from strong emotions, the lights flickered and sometimes blew out.

Pay attention.
Duncan’s voice sounded in my head.

You want attention?
I projected my thoughts back to him, as I reached up and gave the side of his neck a playful little bite.

Duncan yanked back from me a little bit to meet my eyes. “I heard you. You sent your thoughts clearly that time.” His eyes seemed a darker blue, as he swooped down and kissed me harder than before.

I wrapped myself around him, relieved that I had managed to avoid bumping noses, or do anything else uncoordinated. After a few momentsI projected my thoughts again.
Duncan?

Yeah?
He was kissing down my neck and unbuttoning my lacey blouse at the same time.

Show me your bedroom.
I thought at him, and the overhead lights went out with three soft pops of sound.

I would have laughed at the lights blowing out, if I hadn’t been gasping at the sensation of his hands peeling my shirt aside. He unhooked my turquoise lace bra, pushed it and my blouse off my shoulders, tugging it down my arms. The garments fluttered down to the floor as he trailed more urgent kisses from my throat to my breasts.

I tangled my hands in the hair at the nape of his neck and hung on. Duncan reached down, and firmly grabbed ahold of my backside. He boosted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. His mouth met mine again as he carried me across the living room, and into the small dark bedroom.

***    

I laid in the dark with my head on his shoulder, running my fingers across his chest. A cool breeze fluttered the curtains at the bedroom window, making me shiver a bit. Duncan shifted, pulled the sheet up for me and I cuddled in closer to his warmth.

“What time is it?” I asked around a yawn.

Duncan reached out, fumbling for the clock on his night stand. He turned it around. “4:15.”