Warlock's Charm (9 page)

A shudder went through Blanche and her hands trembled as she
nearly dropped the cup. “Oh heavens, I feel as if someone just walked over my
grave.” She gave a nervous little laugh. “As I said the visions can be quite
intense. I saw a wolf coming for you, Regan. A wolf draped in the holiness of
starlight and we all know how likely that is. Ah, well, it’s a good parlor
trick for what it’s worth, wouldn’t you say, my lovelies?”

“Yes, quite a good one,” Anya agreed, hoping to assuage the
tense feeling emanating throughout the air. She could almost slice it with a
knife.

“Would you like me to read yours?”

Anya considered it. She exchanged a glance with Damien who
gave her a slight nod.

“Why not?” she murmured, levitating her empty cup to where
Blanche sat.

Blanche took the cup and smiled as she went through all of
the motions she needed to do in order to make the cup ready for reading. She
looked down at the tea leaves. Her body shuddered as she went into her
trancelike state. Her body convulsed as if another force had taken hold of it.

This time when she spoke, her voice sounded like Anya’s
mother.

“A great force of darkness will come for you this night,
sweet Anya. A force that already had your mother in its viselike grip—but never
fear, I stand with you as does a man close to both you and your mother.”

Blanche’s body shuddered again, and then she gave them both
a perplexed expression. “What happened? What did I say? I blacked out…I have no
idea what just went on, I’m so sorry, my dears.”

Damien looked over at Anya. Her hands shook as she used her
magic to pull the cup back toward her. She wanted to touch it to see if it
would give her any kind of a vision.

When she touched its semi-warm exterior a vision swamped
her. A vision of Ebony, dressed in white and smiling lovingly. It was a far cry
from what she’d seen when she’d held the Ross Amulet. Shaken, she placed the
violet-patterned china cup on the nearest table.

“Are you all right?” Damien asked, coming to kneel down by
her. He took her hand. “You’re as cold as a sheet of ice,” he murmured, pulling
her hand up to his lips. He kissed it tenderly and then rubbed his hands over
hers as if to force some heat back into her body.

“I will be fine, love,” she said. “We needn’t worry your
aunt and your cousin. They’ll think you’re married to a witch who isn’t worth
her salt.”

“Nonsense,” Regan snorted. “You have a sensibility about
you, something that Damien’s other light fluffy girlfriends haven’t had. He
might have thought we didn’t notice what he was doing, but I’ve always had a
keen interest in what Damien was on about.”

“It’s nice to know I’ve been such a subject of interest to
the rest of the family,” he said wryly.

“It’s incredibly sad that you’re going to leave this estate.
It’s filled with such wondrous beauty.”

“I was going to ask my cousin Julian to move here and take
care of my business concerns. I rather thought he’d like to live here at Silver
Gables but I’m probably mistaken. Julian would most likely prefer big city
life, where the girls, parties and magic are not in low supply. If you’d like
to move in here, Aunt Blanche, you’d be more than welcome.”

She grinned widely. “I would love to retire to the country.
My apartment in the city just isn’t doing it for me anymore. Most of my old
friends are dead, and the city just reminds me of years gone by. I would love
to stay here at Silver Gables, thank you, my boy.”

They were one big happy family now—the question was, was
that a good thing or a bad thing?

Once their guests had left, Anya got up and started walking
to the staircase. She knew she should take advantage of the lovely day and go
out and walk the grounds but she didn’t want to—she only wanted to be with
Damien.

“You were very nice to them,” Damien said, following her.
“Thank you for that.”

She took a few steps up and then turned back around to him.
“I have no reason not to be pleasant to those in your family who have no blood
on their hands. I’m not that kind of person to hold it against them,” she
murmured.

“I know that,” he said, pulling her close. “You showed me
how forgiving you could be by taking me back into your life and by releasing
those poor sods I sent after you.”

“They’d only been hired to do a service for you. I admit I
retaliated against them a bit harshly. You should probably also know that I
have a collection back on Earth in the family home that Dallas lives in.”

“What kind of a collection?”

“What kind do you think?” she asked impishly, raising her
left eyebrow.

“You are a naughty witch. Maybe you need a spanking,” he
said.

She laughed and started running up the steps. “You have to
catch me first,” she called out breathlessly, as she ran from him, and he paid
hot pursuit.

She slammed the door shut behind her and waited with her
heart pounding excitedly in her chest. She smiled and rejoiced in their
reunion. She’d been kidding herself when she’d believed that she could cut
Damien out of her life. What had she been thinking?

He slammed against the door and then silence reigned. She
wondered if he’d given up and left.

“Anya,” he whispered.

“Yes,” she murmured.

“Let me in,” he said. She chuckled. He sounded like a hungry
wolf asking to be let into the little piglet’s house.

“Why should I?” she asked, waiting with bated breath for his
response.

“Because I can bring you unimaginable pleasures if you do,”
he replied.

She laughed. “You probably can. I’m just not entirely
certain I want that spanking you promised.”

“Ah, Anya, a little pain with the pleasure is sometimes a
good thing,” he mused.

She whirled about and opened the door, throwing herself into
his arms. He lifted her up so she stood on his boots, and they both stumbled
into the room. She raised her arm and used her powers to shut the door firmly
behind them.

They stumbled together until he held her pinned against the
wall. He turned her around and dropped his warm hand to the crease behind her
knee. She inhaled deeply as anticipation and want coupled together, making her
quite warm. Brushing his hand up from her knee, he stopped when his hand cupped
her bottom. “You’re very naughty, Anya, to walk around with no knickers on.”
His hot breath caressed the back of her neck.

“That’s the way you like it,” she murmured.

His husky laugh rumbled through the room and made her sigh
deliciously. She really had been punishing herself by staying away from Damien
for so long.

“You’re right, I do like my wife as a wanton witch and a
naughty one to boot. It does make life more interesting but your habit of
turning men and women into waxed dolls really does need to stop.”

“Some deserve it,” she said, forming her mouth into a pout.

“I don’t doubt it but some might have just been on the wrong
end of your mercurial temper. Now, you’re trying to lead me astray. You have a
spanking coming, my love.” His hand flattened against her left cheek. “Your
skin is like silk,” he murmured, massaging her gently.

She rolled her eyes. He was talking about her leading him
astray? He didn’t need any help!

“Maybe you need more than one spanking…good things come in
threes you know,” he murmured.

“Don’t even think about it,” she said, as his spanking hit
home.

The startling pain mingled with the desire sweeping through
her. His threat of giving her two more resonated within her and she actually
found herself waiting for them!

“Oh hell,” he muttered. “I can’t wait for you any longer.”
He whirled her around and kissed her hard.

“I love you, Damien,” she said breathlessly.

“My heart and soul belong to you, Anya,” he said, his eyes
cloudy with scorching ardor.

His want for her was evident. He pushed up her skirt, and
she clumsily helped him release his cock, which strained against the trousers
he wore. He kissed her hard as he entered her slick entrance wet with her want
for him. He groaned against her cheek.

“Do you know how much I wanted them to leave once I saw you
in this fetching outfit?”

“An outfit you picked out for me. I can pick my own clothes,
you know,” she murmured as he began thrusting inside her channel.

She closed her eyes against the pleasure coiling through
her. Damien knew how to push all of the right buttons when it came to making
love to her. From slow and sweet to fast and hard, he was an expect at his
craft. Her hands raked through his already disheveled hair as he continued
plowing into her. She was near that point of no return when her entire body
would shake from the powerful climaxes he aroused from her.

Her legs were snaked around his waist and she held him so
tightly she wondered why he hadn’t commented on it yet. She wanted to cherish
this moment forever and hold it in her recesses of her mind to call upon
whenever she was irked at him.

He continued to move inside of her, the intensity of the
moment shining in his eyes.

“I love the way you look when I’m inside of you,” he
murmured. “I’m going to come soon, sweet Anya.”

She smiled as her own climax shuddered and gripped his cock.
That was all he needed, and he let out a roar as he filled her with his
glorious seed. She sighed against his ear and he kissed her gently before
lowering her to the floor.

Anya was just where she’d always been meant to be. She was
with her Damien and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

* * * * *

“Anya, wake up,” a woman’s voice sounding suspiciously like
her mother’s called her out of dreamland.

Her eyes opened wide and she turned her head to stare at an
apparition that had floated in on the moonbeams shining through the balcony.

“Ebony?” she asked as her vision focused.

The ghostly woman floating a few feet away from her was the
spitting image of her. Same black hair and same almond-shaped dark eyes.

“Yes, Anya.” The blank expression on her face softened and
her lips curved into a soft smile. “I’ve come to warn you that this night will
bring danger to you—a great peril that will end in tragedy if your and Damien’s
love doesn’t emerge triumphant.”

The night was deathly quiet and she looked to the clock—it
was quarter to midnight. The witching hour—if any trouble was coming it would
come their way after midnight, of that she was certain.

She needed to know what kind of trouble was coming her way
in order to fight it. She doubted more witch hunters would come for her unless
a contract of Damien’s hadn’t been fulfilled, in which case they were both in
trouble.

“I am here to also put your heart at ease, I know how much
my death has troubled both you and your mother—and I know the burden you carry
because you feel as if your heart betrayed you. Fear not, Anya, your heart is
true, as is Damien’s… Damien is not responsible for the sins of his
grandfather. His heart is true when it comes to you, dearest granddaughter. So
embrace his love and cherish it for the rest of your lives.”

Urgent footsteps approached the bedroom door. Anya was just
about to ask another question of Ebony when the bedroom door flew open and in
entered Damien, levitating a tray of food in front of him.

He grimaced. “It feels like a bloody freezer in here,” he
said, making a chattering noise through his teeth; he moved to the doors
leading out to the balcony and shut them. “For being late October it’s awfully
chilly out there, maybe I should light the fire,” he murmured, moving toward
the fireplace.

“Why don’t you just come back over here, climb into bed and
we can warm each other up?” she asked, her skin prickling with gooseflesh. “The
rush of cold air is probably just from Ebony’s ghost; she paid me a visit while
you were down in the kitchen.”

His face went ashen. “Is this some kind of a joke, Anya?” he
asked, his voice trembling.

She’d never seen him look so apprehensive before. Nothing in
the physical world might shake him, but the spiritual world was another thing
entirely it seemed.

“No.” She shook her head solemnly. “My grandmother was here
in her ethereal form. She told me to trust you and to trust the love we share.”

His face went brilliant with a beaming smile. “Well, then
I’m not too spooked by having a spook in the house after all. Now I wish I’d
been around when she made herself known.”

“I think that was the point—she only wanted to appear before
me. I wouldn’t take offense at it, Damien. She is my grandmother, after all,”
Anya said softly. Rushes of love kept spiraling through her. Tonight was going
to be her undoing, she’d never felt so full of love in her entire life.

He set the large tray between them. Mrs. Beetle had baked
potatoes and grilled steak. PurpleVanguard asparagus and red wine accompanied
the meal.

“I hope that’s a wine from Earth, I can’t stand wine here on
Vanguard. And I pray that the coffee is decaf,” she said pointing to the coffee
percolator on the tray.

“I considered brewing us some caffeinated coffee to keep us
awake so we could continue through the night but you look exhausted. I guess I
never thought about how much sleep you’d lose while trying to be one step ahead
of the agents from the Triple Hexed Agency. They must have put you through your
paces. Even after the night of sleep you got last night.”

“Darling husband, if you think I had much sleep with you
around, you are sorely mistaken. Besides, those you sent after me, well, I
wouldn’t exactly call them agents,” she snorted. “They were hacks, the lot of
them. The only one who really had a modicum of talent was Oliver White and he
ended up all dolled up like those before him. I guess none of them could handle
the magical hotness of
moi
,” she said, giving him a cheeky smile.

“Oliver and I went to the Academy together. He isn’t that
bad of a warlock. Why, he bested me on various occasions,” Damien said.

“Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

“There didn’t seem to be a need to tell you all about my
past at the Academy of Sorcery and Enchantment here on Vanguard. You already
knew I was a warlock—but I was surprised you got the upper hand against Oliver.
He used to best me in sword duels quite frequently and no one could best me
save for him.

“Come to think of it, he was the one who directed me to the
auction where I bought Ebony’s portrait. He also used to frequently ask me
about the Ross Amulet. I thought he was just interested in the items my family
had stolen from yours, but now that I think about it, I wonder if there was
more to it.”

“Maybe he was either fascinated with your family or with
mine—although a man like him being in the position of training to become a
witch hunter well, I’d warrant he was obsessed with your family, not mine. Men
like him ruined my family.”

He quirked his eyebrow and set his mouth in a thin line. “I
don’t know, Anya.”

“What about the amulet, what did you do with it after I
threw it in your face?”

He chuckled. “You pelted the damn thing at me and it bloody
well smarts when it makes contact, you know. It’s not a small gemstone.” He
looked over to the jewel case sitting on the dressing table he’d bought for
her. “I placed it in there for safekeeping, secretly hoping you’d always return
to me.”

She smiled. “Thank you, but I doubt there will ever be a day
when I will be able to pick it up without seeing Ebony with flames licking
around her, suffocating and then burning her… I can’t wear it. I’ve woken up
too many nights sweating and screaming. In fact, I’m not ashamed to tell you
that was how I got the upper hand against Oliver. He must have stolen into my
hotel room in the dead of night, bypassing my magical charms that should have
told me an intruder was near.

“When I woke up screaming, he was sitting in the chair next
to my bedside. My screams affected him deeply and when everything fragile in
the room started exploding it really scared the hell out of him. At that point
I don’t know who was screaming louder, me or him. I managed to regain my composure
and threw the first hex at him. It immobilized him long enough for me to recite
the spell that transformed him from six-foot-three witch hunter into a tiny
little doll.”

“I’m sorry my gift caused you such pain. I wish I could take
it back. I wish I could make your nightmares disappear,” Damien bemoaned, pain
dripping through his voice.

“I know,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion. “We’ll
get through it somehow, lots of people get night terrors and manage to cope.
I’ll do the same…but you might want to remove anything in the room that I could
possibly damage…”

“Anything that you damage can be fixed…either with magic or
with some good old-fashioned glue.”

She laughed. Trust Damien to think of things that way. He
didn’t mention that he could just buy another one to replace the one she broke.
He hadn’t flaunted his wealth in her face since they’d reunited. Of course, he
didn’t need to. His staff of servants talked for themselves.

“Why did you send the witch hunters after me in the first
place when you could have pursued me yourself?” she asked softly.

She fancied she already knew the answer given the way her
husband thought—but she wanted it confirmed for herself.

“And miss the fun of you thinking you were one step ahead of
me? I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away for long. I knew you’d be drawn
back to me or at least I hoped I had predicted your proper reaction to doing
such a hasty thing as leaving me at our wedding reception. Aunt Blanche told me
to sit and wait and you’d return to me—in the interim I had to give you some
distractions to occupy your time gallivanting around the solar system. After
all I know you hate being bored.”