Sorcerer: Witch's Woes: Power of Air (Book 3) (5 page)

I pondered that for a moment, “Have I been neglecting you?”

I tried to talk to her with my mind often during the day,
but there was no doubt we talked a lot less than when I’d spent a lot more of
my time alone.  I ran a hand along her leg curiously, it felt like compressed
warm air.  I paused for a moment, there was no sexual, or physical aspect to
the love I felt for Aitheria, but there was a certain spiritual intimacy in
what I was doing, and I’d done it without thought as if I’d the right to.

It had to do with whatever it meant when she showed me who
she was, and of course, she was leaning against me as well in absolute
contentment.  I wished I understood what passed between us and what it meant,
but I had no context to grasp it, and I knew me asking about it would just
frustrate and sadden her so I let it go.

She shook her head which felt like a swirling whirlwind
against my side, “No, of course not.  Like I said, I just want you to myself
for a while.  You don’t mind do you?”

“You stealing me away into your world?  No, I don’t mind.  I
feel at home here, or maybe that’s just with you.”

We spent what seemed like hours to me chatting comfortably before
she sent me back to sleep with a winds caress on my cheek. 

Friday, June 3
^rd
, 2016, 7:21 AM

The first few moments of waking up were peaceful, and I just
laid there holding Sierra, she’d sprawled herself over me sometime in the
night.  I knew we had to get up, and get to Tara’s store to relieve Gerald and
Carrie, but I was so comfortable, warm and satisfied it was hard to even
contemplate moving. 

My eyes snapped open suddenly, when I felt two people in the
kitchen instead of just one, Todd and Aiya.  I wasn’t worried about Aiya, but I
had no doubt she was subtly sucking information from Todd.  She was a detective
after all, it’s what they did.

I woke Sierra gently with a caress, and we took an
unfortunately quick shower while I filled her in on what happened at the
council.  Last night we hadn’t gotten around to talking at all, and I also let
her know that we had a visitor this morning.  Sierra didn’t like that I’d
linked with Diana, but the latter didn’t bother her at all.  I’d guess it was
probably because she could scent Aiya’s friendship with me, regardless of how
gorgeous the woman was, Aiya had no effect on my libido.

She threw on a light blue sundress and I went for my normal
business casual look before we went out to the kitchen.  Todd and Aiya were
chatting animatedly about weapons of all things, and I was hit by a vision of
the future, like a memory that hadn’t happened yet. 

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the vision of seeing Todd and
Aiya out on a date together, I felt that same strange mixture of jealousy and
protective feelings I’d had about her blind date two nights ago at Mike’s,
except it was also highly amusing to me for some reason.

I chuckled, “Good morning Aiya, Todd.”

Aiya looked up, “Morning, what’s so amusing?”

I shrugged, “Psychic thing, I wouldn’t want to spoil it for
you, what brings you by?”

Aiya grinned, “Figured I’d get one last breakfast in before
Sierra steals you away.  Besides I wanted to tell you the bust went well, not
one shot fired.  Allison Blare is back with her family, unfortunately it’s not
over for the other girls, but we had to turn them over to the feds.  Oh, and I
have a picture for you to look at, but sit down and eat first.”

“Right, always efficiently multitasking,” I said teasingly. 
“I’m glad it went well.”

Aiya winked as I sat down next to Sierra and I piled eggs
and sausage between two slices of toast. 

“So what’s with the weapons talk?”

Todd shrugged, “I told her I was in private security, we’ve
been talking about a lot of things.”

Sierra made a satisfied noise in the back of her throat as
she started in on her breakfast.  After swallowing she said, “Aiya, your
welcome to come out to the suburbs and cook whenever you want.”

Aiya laughed, “Thanks.”

The conversation moved to lighter things after that.  When
we were finished with breakfast she showed me the picture of a small girl.   

“Katrina Brown, her uncle has her,” and I gave her the
details and address.  Luckily the man still hadn’t done anything bad, merely
took her from her parents.  He was a sick man though, and was working himself
up to it.  The good news was Aiya and Mike would get there in plenty of time to
stop it from ever happening.

I felt a little bad on the walk over, Gerald and Carrie had
been carrying the store for fifteen hours now, but Sierra told me it wasn’t a
big deal, werewolves had a lot of stamina and needed less sleep.  I could
definitely relate to the more stamina part, and was happier for it.

I asked curiously, “How rare is it for werewolves to get
with humans or other races?”

Sierra frowned, “It’s not that common, but it happens
enough, and the pack doesn’t question another wolf’s choice unless it puts the
pack in danger, but even then we’ll just ask that wolf to leave the pack.  Why?”

“Aiya and Todd, they seemed to really hit it off this
morning, and I kind of got a vision of them out on a date.”

Sierra shook her head, “Humans are hardest of course, they
have to be brought in on the secret very carefully, and they can’t always
handle it.  I suppose that won’t be a problem for Aiya, she already knows about
you, and that I’m not human even if she doesn’t know exactly what I am.”

I nodded slowly, “Most likely, of course all I saw was a
date.”

Sierra shrugged, “The just one date part is much less
important than you think, he wouldn’t ask her on even that one date,
considering she’s a human police detective, unless his wolf wanted her.  Of
course, she might say no, but for him…”

We walked into the store a few minutes later, Carrie looked a
little tired, but not nearly as worn out as Tara had looked yesterday evening,
and Gerald looked crisp and alert.  Of course, he hadn’t been carrying the
wards, just physically guarding Carrie and the store.  I could feel Tara
working magic in the back.

“Morning,” I said while I slapped up a shield of air around
the store, and took over for Carrie, “Do you two want to go back to the pack
house?”

Gerald shook his head, “Might as well stay here in the city,
or you’ll have to leave the store to get us back if you need us.  Where is
Todd?”

I nodded, that was a good point, “Feel free to crash in my
spare bedroom then, and Todd should be along soon.”

Todd had stayed behind to help Aiya clear the dishes and
clean up, while we had come to relieve them as soon as possible.  Like I said,
I’d felt a little guilty about it.

Gerald nodded, and Carrie gave me a warm welcoming smile
before they left.  I could tell she’d wanted to give me a hug, or her wolf had,
but it would take time to get over what she’d gone through, I wasn’t in any
rush.

Sierra asked, “So what happens if Diana is attacked while
you’re on shift here?”

Well, that was a really good question.

“Tara should be able to hold the wards for a little bit if I
have to leave.  I was going to let her know as soon as we got here, but she’s
in the middle of a complicated spell right now.”

She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around me, “If you
get hurt, I’ll kill you.”

I laughed and kissed her hair, “I’ll keep that in mind.  I
assume you won’t be coming?”

Sierra sighed, “I don’t like the idea at all, but against a
fourteen-hundred-year old vampire, and a powerful fire sorcerer?  I’d be a
liability and split your focus.  Just be safe.”

I practiced my magic the next hour or so while chatting with
Sierra about moving plans and the future, feeding any strong stray emotions to
my shields, and trying to make my air and fire shield stronger.  I also tried
to stretch out my sphere of influence, by reaching out for both the air and
fire outside of their respective sphere sizes, but so far nothing.

Tara came out from the back a little while later, looking a
bit angry, she was also wearing an attractive flowing dress that clung just
enough to incite the imagination.  It was the subtlest thing I’d ever seen her
wear, and I tried not to think about the curves that I knew were hidden
beneath, but I failed completely.

“It’s not working.  They must have added to the coven,
enough power to block me even with personal items.  That must be why they
waited so long before attacking me,” Tara concluded.

Sierra asked, “Why didn’t you bind them a long time ago, or even
kill them?”

Tara shook her head, “When I ran I was sixteen, scared, and
I knew very little magic.  The idea of killing anyone was repulsive, and still
is.  I didn’t want to be like them.  Even now, the idea of killing doesn’t
appeal, but I don’t think I have a choice since its come down to self-defense. 
Will you help me find them?”

“I can try.  I also might have to leave in a hurry sometime
today, for a short time,” I explained briefly about what else was going on and
then added, “So be ready to fuel the wards at no notice.  I’ll need to see one
of the items, but you know the whole coven is probably shielded with earth
magic.”

Tara nodded, “Come in the back,” and turned and swayed
alluringly away from us.  The slits in the flowing dress showed very brief but
tantalizing amounts of her legs as she walked, which also made it a fight for
me not to look down at her… well backside.  The woman was an evil seductress,
surely it couldn’t be me right?

I felt Sierra’s nails dig into my arm, damned werewolf
noses, I also felt guilty.  Not that I could do anything about it though, I
could control my words and actions, but looking, or in this case wanting to
look, was pure male instinct.  Without that overwhelming seductive hunting aura
she’d had when we first met, that’d made me want to run away, I ironically
found it much harder not to feel attracted.

There were several items laid out on a white cloth on a
table, the floor was covered with arcane designs, and I could feel the power
coming off the circle, or at least the air, fire, and water parts of it.

I asked curiously, “If you were raised by a dark coven, how
did you learn light spells?”

Tara looked full of pride as she said, “A lot of research
and experimentation, I was also able to adapt many of the benign spells that
called for sacrificial energy, using my own instead.  Often the only difference
between a light and dark spell is where the magic comes from.  Obviously
curses, sacrifices, and other dark ends aren’t included in that.  Lastly,
though I never joined another coven, I have dealt with light covens and some of
them will share and trade tidbits of knowledge with visiting witches.”

I took a closer look at the objects, I didn’t have to touch
them, they were within the influence of my sphere of air.  I couldn’t find the
coven, they were protected from that, but I was able to learn a few things
about their past.

“There are nine of them now, they added four new people, so
there were originally seven including you and your mother?”

Tara nodded.

I grunted, “They’re after the book you burned, they believe
you still have it.  They also want to eliminate you as a threat, they assume
you practice dark magic and want revenge.  Cyndy’s been obsessed with it for
the last ten years.  I’m getting all this from the past, Cyndy is still in
charge, and she has the others… not controlled, but conditioned by spells
against betraying her, like she did to your mother.”

While I was at it, I reached out for the fire sorcerer and
Christopher again, they were closed off as well, but it was different.  I
couldn’t feel the earth magic blocking me from the coven, but I could feel the
fire magic blocking my magic from the other issue.  It was very subtle, but it
was there.

“Can we find them through their attack on you?  Trace the
magic back somehow?”

The coven’s magic was still blasting against the shield I
put over the store, it was a stalemate at the moment.  I should have asked
Carrie last night if it had let up at all, didn’t the coven need to sleep too?

“How are they maintaining this attack?”

Tara frowned, “Probably a sacrifice to fuel it, a slow
bloodletting of a supernatural would do it, they’d only need one witch in the
coven to maintain and direct the power of the spell once it was cast, so they
could switch off to rest.  But all their power is still tied up in it as well,
so they will eventually tire.  I
could
try a spell to trace the magic
back.  That will find the ritual space used though, not necessarily the coven. 
They don’t have to be present there anymore.”

Yes, because life isn’t complicated enough.

Sierra and I watched as she got out ingredients and ground
them together with the mortar and pestle, and poured them into her own ritual
space.  Then she stepped inside and raised a circle.  She turned back to look
at us.

“Ben, you’ll have to lower your shield, I need the
connection of their spell hitting my own wards to track it.”

I dropped the shield over the store, and tried to understand
what she was doing.  It occurred to me that I could probably back trace the
spell with my air magic as well, if I understood how.  I’d never done anything
like that before, but if I could pull knowledge, and information on people and
objects, did that mean I could do it for magic as well?

I could still feel the attacks, inside the power of my air
sphere, and I tried to pull information from the magic, the same way I’d do it
from an object.  I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, perhaps a location of where
it originated, but much like an object or picture, what I got was information
on the owner of the magic.  If there was a way for me to do a trace, what I’d
just tried wasn’t it.

I tried to reach the information on how to do it, and was
blocked.

It hadn’t been a total loss though, and I was able to get
the location in an alternate way. 

Barry Dinmore.  Two-hundred-year old vampire, and slowly
being bled to help power the spell, an ongoing blood sacrifice.  Barry was also
in a house on the south side, in a basement.  He was lured in by a witch named Amber,
a part of the coven and twenty-three years old, and almost as beautiful as Tara.
 He was no doubt suckered in by the promise of a nice meal and hot sex. 

So I suppose what I had done had worked, just not the way I
expected.  Either the coven hadn’t thought Tara could trace a random sacrifice,
or blocking him with a ward would interfere with the spell.

Tara was already casting, so I kept my mouth shut.  I felt a
little sheepish that she didn’t really have to bother with her spell at this
point.

Tara finished and said, “In a basement in south Chicago.  I
don’t have an address, but I can lead us there.  Can you get Carrie back here
to cover the wards?  I don’t want my shop to burn down when we get out of range
and I can’t directly support my wards.”

Sierra frowned, “I suppose, do we have a plan?  Or are we
just going to charge in?”