The Witch and the Huntsman (10 page)

Who was kissing me even as these thoughts raced wildly through my mind.

Did I mention he was super-adorably hot?

Did I mention it had been a really long time for me?

Um...okay...I guess it’s no use pretending nothing happened, right? Especially since I could sense Millicent in a corner of my mind the whole time, which, quite frankly, was not the coolest sensation in the world. There are times you just don’t want your innermost thoughts and feelings being shared like a pizza. And I figured if Millicent was there, then maybe so was the mysterious entity that had lured me out into the night before. Or even the scary Regina Jaeger. Which was way too scary and kinky for me. So the whole time I was sort of chanting
Death Star, Death Star
to myself; you know, as a way of trying to keep some mental privacy. And I admit, Darth Vader isn’t exactly the sexiest thing to have on your mind during, you know,
sex
...

Plus there was his aura. I don’t know about you, but for me, the ultimate pleasure in the act of making love can only come when there’s a lot of love and trust between me and the guy. Now, in Eric’s case, there hadn’t been any time for love yet; you know, the
real thing—
true, everlasting love. I’d just been going on a gut feeling, an intuition on my part that maybe he was the one—along with the most insane physical attraction I’d ever felt for anybody in my life. But I still needed to trust him. And that just wasn’t possible, because of the weird aura thing he had going on.

And let’s face it: for a
giver
like me, nothing could beat the thrill of having a vein sucked by your lover at the moment of ecstasy. Nothing. Not even my sweet, oh-so-handsome Eric.

And he
was
sweet and gentle and thoughtful and amazingly ripped...and really good at
it
. Okay, maybe even too good. His moves were way too smooth, if you ask me, because that meant he’d had plenty of practice. However, I still wasn’t getting any sense of the
real
Eric, not even when we were locked in each other’s arms, kissing passionately. At times like that, your auras tend to sort of merge into one, and ideally, you feel like you’re floating on a tide of cosmic bliss, where you can’t tell where you end and he begins...

Ideally
. Only it didn’t quite happen like that, so we ended up having that ‘first-time jitters’ let down, where things didn’t flow together as perfectly as my dumbass heart had hoped for.

“
What’s up, Allison?” he asked after we’d finished, his voice a husky rasp in my ear. He sounded concerned and something else—maybe a little bit hurt.

You know how it is. When you’re in bed with somebody who asks you a question like that, you stall. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged. Damn it, even his shoulders were beautiful in the dim light of my little bedside lamp. In that instant, I knew somewhere in my heart I’d never be with another guy as hot ever again. Statistically speaking, it just wasn’t going to happen; lightning doesn’t strike twice. And, here I have to confess something. Just because the sex that first time hadn’t been that terrific, didn’t mean I still wasn’t pretty head over heels about him.

Because I was.

So I said, “Okay, Eric, I guess you deserve to hear the truth. The thing is...we’re still actually almost total strangers, you know? And acting on impulse hasn’t exactly worked out well for me, or I wouldn’t still be single at thirty-five, if I’m being brutally honest here. But the thing about what just happened between us is...it was great, really. No way I’m sorry we did it. It’s just that, well, it’s distracting for me being in this place—it’s like this room is haunted or something.”

I’d meant haunted by Millicent, but Eric immediately took up the idea and went with it. “Right, yeah, I was being totally insensitive—sorry. I’d forgotten about Marisa. And for sure, the lodge can be pretty spooky anyway. I remember when I was a kid, whenever my parents would bring me here, they had to drag me inside kicking and screaming.”

He smiled one of his melting smiles at me again.

“
Guess I’m used to it now,” he went on. Apparently, Eric was a chatter box after sex. Not necessarily a bad thing. “But you’ve got a lot on your mind—and we’re all upset about the way people keep running off. I wasn’t thinking. Of course, I haven’t been doing much of that since I first set eyes on you.” He reared up on one elbow and started stroking my hair out of my eyes. “I know what you think—that I’m too young for you, that the poor little rich boy just wants to screw the help, that kind of shit. But none of that’s true. You’re different from anyone I’ve ever met, Allison. Seriously. You’re funny and passionate and full of this awesome energy. And you’re already
important
to me, in my life. The moment I saw you, I knew I had to at least
try
to make it work out between us, to make, you know...something real and lasting between us.”

After that, I pretty much just melted. Can you blame me?

Oh, and by the way—it was much, much better the second time...

Chapter Fourteen

“
Allison, what were you thinking
?”

Eric and I had woken up early, and he’d snuck out of my room. He was supposed to come back for me in an hour with breakfast, and then we’d go out on the slopes and practice my crossbow shooting before it was time for my front desk shift to start. I also wanted to check out the crime scene we’d stumbled across yesterday and make sure the cops had gone over it.

But Millicent had other ideas. The moment I stepped into the shower, she materialized and started hissing at me from the other side of the vinyl curtain. In broad daylight! She was really drawing an amazing amount of psychic energy from somewhere.

“
There’s something dark and unknowable about Eric Jaeger; you sense that yourself! How could you give yourself to a man—a
boy
, in truth—who could so obviously be in league with our enemies?”

“
You don’t know him like I do, Millicent. He’s not like that!” Naturally, I had my own private doubts and worries about Eric, too, but I wasn’t going to give Millicent the satisfaction of admitting them to her.

Of course, knowing me as she did, she’d probably already glimpsed them in my mind.

“
Look,” I said, getting a mouthful of bath oil, “after you’ve been alive or corporeal or whatever you call it a while more, you’ll understand. The heat between us was amazing. And he’s a great guy—plus, I’m pretty sure he really cares for me.”

Okay, okay, busted. I knew I sounded like I was seventeen again. Just like the first time. I’d even had pretty much the same argument about it afterwards with my older sister Priscilla. But not in the shower.

“
Little privacy here?” I asked.

Fat chance. “I thought better of you, Allison. I never imagined, after all we’ve been through together over the centuries, that you would betray our triad this way.”

“
Whoa, you never said celibacy was part of the deal! Are we supposed to act like
nuns
or something?”

“
I meant emotionally, not merely sexually. There’s a reason why it’s traditionally believed that witches cannot fall in love. We have to put our loyalties to our sisters and our craft first and foremost. We can’t just
gallivant
with every handsome child who comes along! You and I and Sam have been married many times in the course of our many lives, but our husbands and even our children occupied a different, earthly place in our affections, one that never threatened our powers—or our reliance on each other. And we could never afford to draw attention to ourselves by behaving wantonly; in most of our lives, we saved our virginity for our husbands on our wedding nights.”

“
Well, that ship sailed a long time ago, soul sister. And I wasn’t gallivanting, whatever that is, and Eric
isn’t
a child.” I turned off the shower, which had been blowing as hot and cold as our conversation. “Hand me that towel, if you want to actually do something useful. Okay, I admit that Eric’s nine—well, actually only eight and a half years— younger than me. So what? This is the modern world, Millicent. Things have changed since we were hunted down in Salem like dogs back in the good old days. So stop bitching me out! I have real feelings for Eric, and I’m pretty sure he cares about me, too!”

Was I? Suddenly I felt like having a good cry.

I guess Millicent must have vibed that, because she apologized. “I’m sorry, dear. It’s just that I care so much—and I’m so worried about you. Your very presence here was dangerously vulnerable from the start—and now you’ve weakened yourself even more with your feelings for this—for Eric.”

It was like he’d heard his name being mentioned; suddenly Eric tapped on the door again and when I answered it, bustled in with a silver tray full of coffee and orange juice and almond croissants and even a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, because he knew somehow that was what I liked best.

“
Is somebody in here with you? I thought I heard voices.”

“
I
know—
right? That’s what I mean about this place being haunted,” I told him. “I keep thinking I’m hearing voices, too.”

Eric thought I was just kidding. I guess he must have thought the same thing about an hour later, when we had our first fight. This happened because, after he’d been tutoring me with the crossbow for a while, I asked him what the cops had said yesterday. He got that look that you’ve probably seen on the face of pretty much any guy you’ve ever been with. Or raised. Or been raised by. Or even just been waited on by at Starbucks—you know, that “uh oh, I’ve been busted” fake-innocent look.

“
Actually, I never called them,” he said apologetically. “The thing is—when I came back up here to look for it, the bloodstain was gone.” At least he had the decency not to be like, “What cops?” or “Technically, I never actually
promised
you I’d call them.” You know, the usual lame male excuses.

“
Show me,” was all I said.

And when we got to the spot—if it really was the same spot; how could anyone be totally sure in those acres of whiteness—I saw he was right. The blood was gone, as if it had never been there. Was the area around it disturbed? I couldn’t tell that, either; the day was brightly sunny, and there were pockets everywhere where the snow was melting, revealing wet brown earth beneath them.

Another thing I couldn’t be sure of: Eric. Had he come back up here yesterday, and just cleaned the blood up himself? Then again, how the hell do you clean blood of out snow? I didn’t know, but something happened.

As if he could read my thoughts on my face, he said, “Look, Allison—I know you’re upset about this, but realistically, what else could I do? All traces of the kill had disappeared when I got back up here, and honestly, we had no proof it was even human blood, unless you know something you’re not telling me. What was I supposed to say to the cops? Besides…” He paused, looking guilty. “Regina tears me a new one every time the cops get called up here.”

For the first time, I felt like his mom, not his girlfriend.

“
Okay. So tell her this time, it’s all my fault.” I took out my iPhone and turned it on—I’d killed it while I was with Eric overnight and this morning because I didn’t want any interruptions, but now I was furious at him. Instantly my scroll filled up with all my missed messages, mostly from Sam, Ivy, and Bernice—and Smithy. I called up Sergeant Doberman’s number at the Government Camp State Police office and dialed it before I could change my mind.

“
Wait a minute!” I said to Eric. “You mean there have been other times? How many? Hello—Sergeant Doberman? This is Allison Lopez at La Chasse. You know; Detective Smithy’s friend?”

“
Of course I remember you, Allison. To what do I owe the pleasure? Found any dead bodies up there lately?”

“
No, but we found a huge bloodstain in the snow yesterday—and it was human blood, I’m pretty sure of it. It looked like someone had been killed and dragged a little ways.”

“
What made you think it isn’t just game trace? One animal killing another?” Doberman’s tone had turned
patient
, like he was dealing with a crazy cat lady.

“
Wasn’t
. It’s gone now. Somebody removed the evidence. But if you’ve talked to Smithy again, then maybe he’s told you that I can tell the difference.”

“
Yeah, he said you have a real
talent
for investigative work.”

“
It could be connected to Marisa. Also, we’ve had a second disappearance here—the receptionist, a young Slavic woman named Ivanka. She went AWOL the night before last.”

“
Jesus Christ. Okay, I better swing by. See you in about an hour.”

When I got off, I found Eric staring at me—with a mix, his aura suggested, of anger and betrayal. “You’re a
cop
?”

“
No, no, of course not,” I said. “Haven’t I been totally honest with you about
everything
? Like my age. And, you know, my preferences in bed. Trivial stuff like that.”

“
But you’re working with the police? That’s what it sounded like from your call.”

I sighed. “Look, I admit I came up here looking for Marisa. She and I were...well, friends, sorta. And it’s true, I have helped the LAPD out with a few cases. But seriously, I’m
not
a policewoman or a PI or anything else in law enforcement. I promise! I haven’t been leading you on, Eric. You really think anybody as flaky as I could get through the Police Academy?”

Our gazes caught and held.

“
Right,” he said. “Sorry. You’re not the only one with trust issues here, Allie.” Sometime during the night, he’d started calling me that. I decided I could get used to it. He took my hand and pulled me into another of those dreamy kisses of his.