The Cat's Meow (9 page)

Kale’s eyes narrowed on me before he turned to the dog and let the rope he held in his hand fall, keeping hold of the end. To my complete shock, he swan-dived at the dog, and a second later, a yelp sounded. I peeked out the window, but couldn’t see him or the dog.

A few seconds passed before Kale jumped to his feet with the dog in his arms and the rope bound over the dog’s mouth like a muzzle. He strode toward the back and placed the dog inside, the icky scent of wet dog overwhelming me. Then he slammed the hatch closed with a loud bang.

He plopped down in his seat before he shut the door with equal force. His hair was damp and a few strands hung off his forehead as water dripped down onto his nose.

Sexy as sin.

I forced myself to look past his image and reminded myself his appeal had the power to undo my plan. I needed to be stronger and not forget my intent to knock him off his game. With a snap to my voice and a sassy smile, I said, “Good job.”

“Nice try, Libby.” His eyes blazed with power. “Drive.”

Dammit!
My smile faded in an instant as I realized that my plan didn’t work—instead of my gaining the upper hand, he had just given me an order. More than that, though, what bothered me was the unexpected guilt presently tightening my throat.

Didn’t I like making a warlock look foolish? I’d taken pleasure in that before, but now I felt horrible. He hadn’t lashed out at me or done the
normal
things like hate me, except glare at me to show his disapproval. He, as always, stayed perfectly calm, and didn’t allow me to dig into him.

Instead of wearing my guilt, I intended to get rid of it because I had enough emotional crap to carry. “All right, I’m sorry. I should have told you about the dog, so you were prepared.”

“No need to apologize. I handled the dog without your assistance.” Kale didn’t look at me and kept staring out the window. “Just know, whatever worked for you before, is
not
going to work for you now.”

What the hell did that mean?

He turned in his seat to face me dead-on then, and a slow, deadly grin spread across his face. “One piece of advice—best not try anything like that again. Once, I can manage to forgive. But twice, you’ll force me to retaliate.” He leaned in close to my seat, and his eyes burned with wicked, lustful intentions. “My vengeance won’t come in the form of a dog attack. Take this as the warning it is, do
not
test me.”

Dammit
…again! How did he do that?

For a witch who wanted control, I seemed to let him steal it back effortlessly. I heaved a sigh, staring into his hard features, and hated—really loathed—that no matter what I did, he overpowered me. “You are annoying.”

He chuckled and then looked away.

I turned on the ignition and focused on the damn road. Trying to get him to back off only seemed to make him come at me harder, and in ways that would arouse me enough to make my head pop off. I officially gave up. Well, with that idea anyway.

Irritating me further was the stupid grin on his face that I should’ve worn for the entire drive.

Within minutes I arrived at the abandoned yellow brick bungalow with the white picket fence out front. When I parked the car at the curb and got out, the rain had stopped. Kale followed me out and made a quick trip to the back to grab the dog.

“Put him in the yard and close the gate.” I hurried to the hatchback and grabbed a hammer out of the spare-tire compartment. “Take off the rope.”

“Libby,” Kale warned.

“I’m not testing you,” I sighed, exasperated. “I really do need it off.”

The street lay empty. There were only two other houses on the quiet road, and both were pitch black, indicating the residents were asleep. Perfectly safe for my spell, since the last thing we needed was attention from curious humans.

The dog growled at Kale from behind the fence and he cursed, leaning over the gate to remove the rope. With hammer in hand, I settled in next to Kale, looking at Henry. He was a grumpy dog, but he was also a beautiful, healthy shepherd, and I’d give him a scratch on the ears if I didn’t think he’d eat my hand.

When Kale finally removed the remainder of the rope, Henry dove for the fence ready to kill, and I pointed at the dog. “Bite me and I’ll bite back.” Not like my threat mattered much—Henry snarled as if I planned to butcher him, or maybe as if he intended to rip me apart. I drew in a deep breath and shut my eyes to center myself as I tapped into the Goddess, willing her to bless me with her magic to conjure the spell.

A rush of warmth mixed with a peace that only the Goddess could bring filled me, and tingles erupted through my body. I opened my eyes and hit the hammer against the gate. “Bark, dog, bark. Bryon Holt is missing and I need to find him.”

The dog sat back on his haunches and barked.

Kale snorted. “You’re kidding?”

“What?” I zeroed in on him. “Do you have any other bright ideas how to find Bryon?” At his silence, I continued, “Then hush. I’ve done this before to find my car keys and it worked.”

His eyebrow lifted. “A person is not car keys.”

“Yes, I realize that, smart-ass,” I countered. “But the Goddess speaks through the dog, and he’s her messenger.” Of course, I wasn’t totally confident this would work either, but we needed a place to start, and this happened to be my first idea.

I reached for the gate, but Kale grabbed my hand, tightening his hold around my fingers. While I believed he held it there because he didn’t want me to open the gate, heady emotion flared in his eyes and left me winded.

“Do. Not. Open. The. Gate. Libby,” he warned.

“He won’t bite now.” His death grip hadn’t lessened, so I added on a sigh, “Okay, so you have good reason to doubt me since I lied to you before, but he’s under my spell now and won’t attack you.” He didn’t move and his fierce gaze never wavered. “I swear on the Goddess.”

He squeezed my hand, or so I thought—maybe I imagined it. Then he slowly removed his touch and I opened the gate. Henry didn’t move, so I grabbed the dog’s collar and led him over to the SUV. At the passenger’s side door, I opened it, and Henry jumped in.

“Now I’m annoyed,” Kale grumbled.

“I need him up front with me for the spell, but come on, it isn’t so bad, it’s comfy in the backseat.” I headed over to the driver’s side while Kale got into the seat behind Henry.

Once I settled into my seat, I rolled down Henry’s window, partly because the dog stank and partly for the spell. The dog stared at me, engrossed. A bit of hope drifted up—maybe this might work after all.

“Prove your worth, pooch. Find the warlock Bryon Holt.”

He put his nose out the window for only a moment before he faced straight ahead and barked. On his instruction, I put the SUV into gear and booked it down the road. Seconds passed before Henry barked again with his head turned toward the west, so I took a hard left and carried on.

Kale scoffed. “This is by far the most absurd thing I’ve ever witnessed.”

“Absurd it may be, but it’s our best shot at finding him.” I glanced at Kale in the rearview mirror, and he scowled. “Let’s just hope Bryon stayed close so you can wipe that grumpy look off your face.”

“I’m not
grumpy
,” he muttered.

“Uh-huh.” Perhaps this wasn’t exactly revenge for his earlier win over me, but it was a damn close second, and I relaxed into my seat, enjoying it just a little bit. “Sure you’re not.”

Another bark from Henry had me turning right down a side street, and relief settled in. While I had used this spell to find car keys, it wasn’t the same as finding a person, but Henry’s barks were clear and focused. While it pleased me that I didn’t make an ass out of myself in front of Kale and give him something juicy to tell my coven, it made me happier that the Goddess was sharp and she responded to my wishes, and I sure appreciated her now.

Bryon, you’ve got nowhere to hide.

Chapter Eight

Henry faced the windshield, barking loud enough to hurt my eardrums, and his paws bounced on my dashboard, scratching the plastic. While it irritated me some, his excitement showed we’d found Bryon’s location. I pulled over to the side of the road on a dark stretch of highway beside a thick forest.

Once I cut the ignition, I patted Henry on the head. “Good boy.” He turned toward me, tongue lolled out, and I laughed. “You’re kind of cute like this. You should behave more often.”

Kale sighed from the backseat. “In there, then?”

“Appears so.” I spun in my seat to find his eyes twinkling, either in amusement over my interaction with Henry, or eagerness for the fight ahead. I wasn’t quite sure, but I did know I didn’t feel the same thrill.

Bryon could only be in a dark forest for two reasons: he had died, or his involvement hadn’t ended and he remained up to no good. Both sucked, and I fought against my deep desire to tell Kale to look into it alone since I didn’t
want to see Bryon again. Not only because finding out that someone I once loved had been involved in this evil would hurt, but it’d been so long since I faced him. My wounded heart reminded me again that the damage hadn’t healed completely.

Kale must have seen the concern on my face, because his eyes softened. “It’ll be all right, Libby.”

All this warmed-eyed business from him made it
very
hard to stay on track with my plan to ignore him. Why did he show such a deep-rooted concern for me? And how real was it? I wished I had a sassy retort to come back with, but with the emotional trauma that I expected awaited me, I could only manage, “I know.” Bryon might have been a total ass, but I remembered being wrapped in his arms and his sweet smile, and for that I held onto the hope that his involvement had been minimal and wouldn’t result in his death.

Kale stared at me a moment longer before he gave a firm nod at whatever he saw cross my expression, and then he opened his door and exited. I glanced over at Henry and scratched his ear. “Stay here. I’ll take you home soon. Promise.”

Henry barked.

After a long breath to gather myself, I exited the car and slammed the door behind me. Kale waited by the edge of the forest. On my approach, he gave me a once-over as if he was regarding me cautiously. “Have you been trained in combat?”

I gawked at him, and my voice was exactly as I intended it to be—clipped. “Why would I be?”

“None at all?”

“I’m an Enchantress,” I defended. “Warlocks handle the whole kick-ass bit, and my coven doesn’t expect that from me, so no,
none at all
.”

He heaved a sigh in exasperation. “Figured as much.” He bent, raised the leg of his jeans, and took out a thin dagger from his boot. Jewels encased the black handle and the silver blade sparkled in the moonlight. “Another time, I’ll teach you to use this to better defend yourself.” I glared at the knife and wasn’t sure I liked that he carried weapons. Sure, I
suspected
he had them, he
was
a warlock, but seeing the dagger was a whole different story. He offered the knife to me with a shake of his hand. “For now, use it without pause, if needed.”

I shook my head adamantly. “Thanks, but no, I don’t kill things—moral code and all.”

He took my hand in his warm grip and squeezed as raw emotion sped through his expression. “Morals mean nothing if you’re dead.” He placed the handle of the dagger in my hand. “Do not fight me on this—take it.”

While his desire to have me protected showed, and I found myself trapped in the kindness he portrayed, I also had no doubt that if I refused him he’d somehow get it into my hand. I didn’t want to give him that power because he’d already had way too much of it already, so I accepted the damn knife and placed it in the side of my knee-high boot. “Don’t expect me to go murder-crazy. If it’s me or you—you do it. Got it?”

“Of course.” He drew in a long breath as his shoulders relaxed, and he did seem relieved, proving he thought I actually might need the dagger.

Oh, joy!

“Stay in close next to me,” he murmured. My heart discouragingly pitter-pattered at his distress over me, but then he continued, “And don’t do anything stupid.” The latter statement erased the sentiment.

I narrowed my eyes, more than done with him pushing me around, and more annoyed because it just happened again: him domineering me into agreement, my ridiculous womanly response, and then the realization that I had no control over any of it. “You don’t do anything stupid, warlock!” I strode past him, knocking my shoulder into his arm. Big arrogant warlock could take his attitude and stuff it right up his sexy ass.

He chuckled. “You sure you want to be out in front?”

“Damn right, tough guy,” I retorted.

Leaves crinkled under his feet as Kale caught up with me. The forest was dark, too dark, but I shoved my nerves away to keep myself sharp and ready. I’d seen enough trouble to hold my ground. I also wasn’t dumb. I’d never been involved in this kind of trouble before.

As we hurried along the trail that I suspected had been maintained by humans to enjoy on a sunny day, low hums sounded around me. I stopped, listened hard, and struggled to identify the sound.

Within 2.2 seconds I understood the noise. I glanced over at Kale, my heart skipping beats. “Ritual.”

“Sounds like it.” His expression seared with an emotion I hadn’t seen from him—an anger so intense it darkened his eyes. Without another word to me, he strode forward, shoulders high and posture tense.

This time I allowed him to precede me.

I’d never admit aloud that it worried me we might discover the warlocks doing an evil ritual. But I didn’t mind one bit that he walked ahead and faced the danger first.

Trotting up behind him, I noticed that Kale didn’t grab any weapons from hidden places. No gun tucked into the back of his pants or sword under his shirt. He might pack a good punch, but I questioned how he expected to fight his way out of this.

When the low hums grew louder, Kale held out his arm and I stopped behind him. A second passed before he grabbed my hand and towed me over to a large fallen tree.

A few feet away, warlocks conjured magic. Not once had I seen a dark-magic ritual used in this manner before. I might have seen the aftereffects of the murder, but being face-to-face with this evil horrified me.

The hairs on my neck stood straight up and the Goddess sparked to life within, pointing out the danger of this moment. Her alarm made me nauseated, and my stomach rolled with sickness.

Scanning the crowd of four warlocks, I spotted Bryon immediately, and my heart sank. Perhaps I’d hoped Edwin and the ghost had gotten the name wrong, yet there he stood in the middle of an evil ritual.

In the five years since I’d seen him, he’d gotten more muscular, which no doubt came from training through the Alchemy. His blond hair wasn’t short like I remembered, but now tied back in a ponytail, and his ocean-blue eyes were still the color that once dazzled me. Bryon had always had a boyish charm, and now he’d grown into a strikingly handsome man.

Oddly enough, the difference in his appearance made it seem like I didn’t even know him anymore, and maybe I didn’t. In fact, I hadn’t really known him, had I? If I had I would’ve anticipated what he’d do to me.

My heart felt a stab at the reminder of our past. I’d loved that idiot warlock from the age of fifteen until I turned twenty, and he’d walked away from me as if I were nothing but a disposable piece of trash.

With that reminder, the solid wall of anger shoved away the hurt, even stronger knowing that he’d be involved in this. What had happened that made him turn against his magical roots? Had Kale been right; did Bryon crave power? Enough bad history had passed between us to prove that well enough. If he could do what he did to me without the blink of an eye, it came as no surprise that he could do the same to white magic.

Shoving away the personal attachment, I scanned the other three warlocks: all were in their early twenties by the looks of it, and none seemed familiar to me. However, the magic they used wasn’t young. Truth be told, my experience with dark magic lacked. I’d been trained with thoughts of the Goddess, not the Devil, but I knew enough to identify the symbols. The intricate runes that lay out on the ground, drawn in what looked like the blood of the man who lay in the middle, spelled out the worst kind of trouble.

I squinted, searching for movement of the man’s chest, and a second later it rose and fell as if he were deep in sleep. I sighed in relief—at least we had a chance of getting the man out alive. That was, if Kale had a way to stop this, because I sure as shit didn’t.

He remained stony next to me, and his pause worried me. “If we wait any longer, the man will die. We have to stop them.” My muscles bunched as I readied myself, but as I prepared to move, to do
what
I had no idea, a firm hand gripped my arm.

Dark eyes tight with controlled rage stared back at me, and Kale raised his finger to his mouth as if to hush me. My eyes narrowed—as if I’d stand for that. “We need to save him.”

He shook his head, and his grip on my arm never lessened. “It’s more important to discover their plan—the information we learn now can give us a lead. We’ll intervene when the man’s life is in danger. Right now it’s not.” My lips parted, and he sighed. “Libby, trust me, these warlocks are not a threat. We need to wait.”

First off, four warlocks against one—since I wouldn’t go kick ass—was a threat, and if he thought for a second I would help with the dagger in my boot he was out of his sexy warlock mind. Yet, at the same time, his confidence weaved a spell over me. For reasons I couldn’t pinpoint, since believing in his word probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, I couldn’t find deception in his eyes. Maybe he had an automatic weapon tucked into his pants, which would solve the matter fast enough. I hoped he did.

At least we were on the same page about the man’s life being of the utmost importance. I understood the need for answers, but my job was to stop evil before it ever went this far, and to save human lives, and one hung in the balance now. I held my tongue and trusted the assurance in Kale’s expression that if he could save the man he would, and focused back on the ritual.

The scent of spicy incense drifted through the air, all wrong and rich with evil. Five black candles set at the five points of the pentagram showed what the warlocks were up to.

Summoning a demon.

One warlock raised his hands to the sky as he chanted words in a language I’d never heard, but Kale’s fingers tightened around my arm, indicating he understood. By the looks of him, what was said wasn’t good.

The smoke from the incense swirled faster, a shape forming within. My heart skipped a beat, and then I’d bet my life it didn’t beat at all for a few seconds.

Not in all my years with the coven had I ever come face-to-face with a demon. Charleston didn’t deal with stuff like this. Sure, we had warlocks trying to tap into demonic power, but no one had ever succeeded and raised a higher demon from the pits of hell…

With the Goddess’s rush of hot worry through my veins, I pushed away from the trunk to run, but Kale kept his grip on my arm. He took my hand as if to comfort me and raised his finger to his mouth again to silence me, and his tight hold told me not to move.

“Why have you summoned me?” the demon’s voice hissed as it carried across the wind.

The warlock trembled, bowing his head in a show of respect that made me want to hurl a rock at him. “We’ve brought a message.”

Within the smoke, the body became more defined, yet still had no features, only an outline enough to see a nose and mouth. “Tell me.”

“Beltane will be the night,” the warlock stated.

“Ah, the plan solidifies, then?” The demon made a sound close to laughter, but the noise was so evil it couldn’t be construed as that. “What do you need of me tonight?”

“Strength.” The warlock still hadn’t looked up at the demon, and the admiration he showed made me ill. “The fight has become harder and the tasks drain us. We need more power to see this through.”

“What will you give me for this power?” the demon demanded.

The warlock pointed down at the unconscious man, and even though he didn’t raise his head I witnessed his smile. “His soul.”

Before I had a chance to comprehend what that meant for the man on the ground, or think of a way to stop the inevitable, his body lifted off the grass, and he screamed a horrified sound I would never forget.

I glanced at Kale in terror and tried to pull away from him, but he held me firmly in place. “Demon,” was his hushed response.

One word said it all. Kale
might
stand a chance against these warlocks, but against a demon he hadn’t summoned we were, simply put,
fucked.
One command from the warlock to the demon to kill us and we’d be six feet under.

All I could do was watch as smoke circled the man’s body, raising him three feet off the ground, and whipping around him so fast it created a thick wind. A loud gasp from the man followed before his body hit the grass with a loud thud, and the hazy cloud then circled around the warlock in the same manner.

“Yes,” the warlock shouted. His voice high and exuberant as his body convulsed. “That’s it. More.”

With an ear-splitting crack, the smoke left the warlock, sweeping back into the ground. I blinked and attempted to believe what I had witnessed. The warlock was bent over, hands on knees, and panting.

“Did it work?” the brown-haired warlock asked.

The warlock with the newfound power rose and smiled a grin no warlock should possess, evil to its very roots. “I’m ready.”

I jerked my head to Kale, and thought it wise to step away and regroup, or at least go to the coven. There were others who held much more knowledge than me when it came to demonic magic. Right now I was in way over my head with this new development, and only a stupid witch would continue without guidance.

Kale, though, didn’t look fearful. Tension radiated out of him. “Bryon?”

“He’s that one.” I pointed with hesitation at Bryon, who stood next to the demon-powered warlock. “You’re not—”