The Witching Hour: 11 Enchanting Novels Featuring Witches, Wizards, Vampires, Shifters, Ghosts, Fae, and More!, page 181
She sighed.
“In Czech Republic we require good evidence before we pay. Goodbye.”
She turned back to her computer again, having left the grey lump of a finger for me to handle.
I turned and went to march out of the building, but I walked straight into the hard chest of a broad man in a dove-grey suit. I looked up and saw familiar ice blue eyes. The man that had ‘saved’ me stood looking down at me with that smirk as I looked down and saw my hand was back over his heart as the symphony of his blood washed over me.
“We should stop bumping into each other like this,” he said.
“Really? That’s the line you’re going with?” I said.
His eyes danced with laughter that didn’t reach his pretty mouth. I walked around him and out onto the busy street, where I restrained the urge to scream.
I’d headed home, where I could scream and rant to my heart’s content before I lost myself in an episode of my show. I’d already sworn blind that I wouldn’t work for the Czech enforcers again. ‘Not good enough evidence,’ my ass. Something was wrong when I approached my door. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but something was off. The door was locked, and there was no sign of its having been broken. I cautiously opened it and stepped inside with my dagger drawn as I crept into the living room.
A familiar mop of dark blond hair emerged from the top of my beanbag.
“Kane! Wait, how did you get in?” I asked as I put my dagger away.
All frustration had vanished. He was my best friend, and I was glad to have him around. He held out a lockpick set.
“I’ve been practising,” he said with a grin before he pulled me into a tight hug.
I hugged him back and looked up into his beautiful sea-green eyes, feeling the happiness of his presence. He was my anchor, the person I trusted without a shadow of a doubt. I reached up and brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. I’d taken to using a bobby pin to keep it back when we worked together.
“How did you hide your blood song?” I asked.
He lifted his blue t-shirt to reveal a painted sigil over his heart.
“I’ve been experimenting with sigils. There’s this really cool herb-infused paint I’ve been toying with. It doesn’t last more than twenty-four hours, but if I can get the recipe just so, I can make a fortune selling it.”
His smile was contagious. It had been too long since we’d hung out. He’d settled in Inverness, whereas I’d wandered, trying to find something, I didn’t know what, but my feet kept itching and so I wandered. The need to move on had been nagging at me as of late. Prague was losing its shine, but I didn’t know where I’d move to just yet.
“You could come and join me. We always did make a fantastic team,” he said, the Scottish lilt coming through a little stronger.
“You know I’d get bored and drive you insane,” I said.
He gave me a mock pout before he pulled out a pack of my favourite shortbread.
“You look like you’ve had a hellish morning, so how about I make us a cup of tea and we share this shortbread over an episode of Death in Paradise?”
“You know me too well,” I said with a laugh.
He brushed his lips over my cheek.
“You’re my little songbird. I’d give the world to see you smile,” he said before he rummaged in his backpack and pulled out my favourite brand of English teabags.
I yanked off my boots and collapsed onto my beanbag. All wasn’t lost; not just yet, anyway.
9
Kane treated me to a wonderful Chinese takeaway for dinner with enough spare to have left over for breakfast. I woke up feeling his warm body and the gentle caress of his blood song. For the first time in weeks, I’d slept past sunrise, and I felt amazing for it.
My phone rang just as I put the Chinese in the microwave. It was an unknown number, which made me debate whether I really wanted to answer it. I couldn’t very well swear at the enforcers, as they all talked to each other and I still wanted to work with the branches in other countries.
“Answer it!” Kane shouted through from the bedroom.
I answered. A rich male voice spoke.
“Wren Kincaid, I am a member of the Council. You are being summoned to resolve a problem for us. You will arrive at our headquarters in one hour. Dress appropriately.”
“Define appropriately,” I said before I realised I’d spoken.
I clamped my hand over my mouth and turned a bright red while praying that comment hadn’t lost me the job.
“Something that isn’t riddled with holes. You have fifty-nine minutes.”
Because the little countdown wasn’t ominous.
“Ok, thanks, see you soon,” I said before I hung up.
“Who was it?” Kane asked as he walked into the living room in just his boxers.
The phoenix tattoo that wrapped around his left side caught the bright sunlight and appeared to flicker with real flames. His dark blond hair was in that sexy-messy state that looked fantastic on him. His playful smile suggested that he knew that my mind was heading down filthy avenues. I pushed it all aside. He was my best friend. I’d gotten over that crush forever ago.
“The Council, they have a job for me,” I said, frowning.
He gently pressed his thumb against the creases between my eyebrows. “Don’t frown, this could be the start of something amazing. The Council pays really well, and if you rock this then you could secure future jobs.”
I smiled and pressed my hand to his chest. “You always know the right thing to say.”
He grinned at me. “Of course I do. When do you have to be there?”
“Fifty-seven minutes,” I said.
He raised an eyebrow and pulled the Chinese food out of the microwave.
“That’s a bit specific.”
I put the other carton of food in the microwave.
“Yea, he did this weird countdown thing. I guess they’re real sticklers for punctuality.”
“What exactly did they say?”
“I’ve been summoned for a job, and I have to dress appropriately,” I said as I took the first carton of Chinese from Kane and started eating.
“Do you have anything appropriate?” he teased.
“Well, he said it had to be something without holes in… so no,” I said with a harsh laugh.
He put his arm around my shoulders.
“They’re not going to reject you because you have a hole in your jeans.”
“This is the Council we’re talking about…”
His mouth twisted into a bright smile.
“They’re not so bad,” he said, pulling his Chinese out of the microwave.
“You hate the Council,” I said.
He’d vehemently ranted about them and their interfering ways when we’d lived together.
He shrugged and gave me a half smile. “I’ve learnt more about them.”
I laughed. “You mean you’re screwing someone who’s on or connected to the Council.”
“Past tense - it was just a fling.”
“Anyone I know?”
“No, he’s new, he came over from Canada, but he moved to Geneva after about a month.”
“You scared him off!” I said as I laughed and pointed my chopsticks at him.
He glared at me, but it soon turned into a laugh.
“No, the Scottish Highlands just didn’t have enough action and adventure for him.”
“I thought Geneva was as boring as it got?” I asked as I threw away my empty carton.
“It used to be, but there’s been a lot of fighting between the sidhe and the Norse elves up that way. The witches have been stirring things up, too.”
I rolled my eyes. “The witches shit-stirring, that’s new.”
He poked me gently. “Hey.”
I stretched up and ruffled his hair.
“You love shit-stirring,” I said with a grin.
Male witches were very rare. There were plenty of boys born to witches, but they were usually entirely without magic. Kane didn’t have as much magic as his female coven-mates, but he had enough to get himself into trouble and back out again.
He opened his mouth to argue, but a grin spread over his face instead.
“What can I say, Inverness is a very quiet city, and sometimes I have to make my own fun.”
I laughed and headed to the tiny bathroom to get a quick shower before I ran over to the Council headquarters. I dropped my clothes on top of the washing machine. Czechs put their washing machines in their bathrooms. I supposed it was because the water line was already there, and it reduced the noise some. Either way, it made the tiny bathroom even more cramped.
Once I was fresh and smelling of lilac, I pulled on my jeans and a clean t-shirt. It was a little snug, but it was the only clean shirt I had. That just left my boots and daggers before I ran to catch the tram and hoped I made it there in time. Someone needed to buy me a motorbike; public transport was a pain in my ass.
Kane handed me my boots as I emerged from the bathroom. I didn’t miss the sly smile that formed when he looked me up and down.
“Knock ‘em dead - just not literally. Save that for the bad guys,” he said as he pulled me into a hug.
“Take my spare key if you head out, I don’t want the neighbours catching you picking the lock,” I said.
“Spoil sport.” His grin remained firmly on his face.
I rolled my eyes, double-checked I had my transport card and daggers, and headed out into the hallway to hear the sound of my tram leaving. Well, this was off to a fantastic start.
10
The Council building was a grand affair with angels standing tall and proud on the corners. I paused for a moment and took in the building. There were so many little details, such as the almost delicate pattern around the upper windows. It looked like an elegant fortress, imposing with its height, thick stone walls, and windows that were set deep within the stone. The main walls were smooth, making them difficult to scale, unlike a lot of the buildings in the city which had faux stone blocks at convenient intervals. Not that I had taken to climbing the buildings late at night when I couldn’t sleep.
I lifted my chin and reminded myself that they had called me, and if they wanted to take me out, they would have done so by now. It was a good opportunity, potentially a life-changing opportunity. I just had to hope that the hole in the upper thigh of my jeans wasn’t going to lose it for me.
The inside was every bit as grand as the outside, if a bit more understated. Dark wood floors had been polished to a bright sheen, and the off-white walls were bare in the entryway. The ceiling had intricate patterned crown moulding where the walls joined the ceiling. It had been engraved with what looked to be an array of sigils and runes, although I couldn’t be sure, given the ceiling was three times as tall as I was. A man cleared his throat behind me, making me spin around to see who had been watching me inspect the room around me.
“Ms. Kincaid, I assume,” an older shifter with deep green eyes said.
He stood rigid and straight, his hands behind his back, his wolf rippling just below the surface. His blood sang a rich song of old victories.
“Yes, yes, that’s me,” I said, entirely at a loss with what I was supposed to do.
Did I try and shake his hand?
He dipped his chin and gestured for me to follow him down the wide hallway that had intense portraits of people I didn’t recognise hanging at even intervals. The shifter led me into a room on the left behind a tall, dark-wood-panelled door. Inside was more dark wood and off-white; they really committed to a look.
A man stood in front of the open fireplace that was easily big enough for me to stand in. The fireplace stood empty, but the broad mantel over it held a number of small silver ornaments. The man wore a navy-blue suit with fine white pinstripe patterning. The suit hugged his broad shoulders and the pants were rather snug around his very nice ass. He turned around to reveal it was my ‘saviour’. I didn’t hear a single note of his blood song until he faced me with that smirk. Then it hit me like a tsunami.
“Are you stalking me?” I demanded, trying to hide the way his blood called to me.
He took a step towards me, his gaze holding mine.
“Ms. Kincaid, this is Mr. Caspari, your partner on this case.”
My blood ran cold.
The Caspari brothers were very well known in supernal circles. The man before me, the one I was going to have to work with, was the result of a union between a demon prince and one of the most powerful witches in the Americas. At least I now understood why his blood sounded so good. Demon blood was supposed to be addictive. I had no doubt that it would be far more addictive to someone like me. The gods were taunting me.
The smirk remained on his pretty mouth, his eyes sparkling with amusement at my horror, the asshole. I lifted my chin and held my hand out to shake his while I tried to block out the song of his blood. It was washing over me in seductive waves, damn him.
“The pleasure’s all mine,” he said with a toe-curling purr.
I was screwed.
“Yes, I expect it is,” I said.
That only deepened his smirk.
The shifter cleared his throat and held out a pale cream folder. “This is your assignment. You have been given an expense account. I suggest that you use it to invest in some suitable clothing, Ms. Kincaid. You will be representing the Council, after all.”
“Are you capable of a normal smile, or will your face only twist into a smirk?” I asked Mr. Caspari, ignoring the jibe from the shifter.
His face lit up with laughter that filled his eyes and formed a huge grin on his face. He was stunning when he really laughed like that, and of course his blood song only got brighter and more potent with his happiness.
“Call me Dante. We’ll be working very closely together,” he said before he took the folder from the shifter.
“I’ll leave you to make the appropriate arrangements. I trust you can walk Ms. Kincaid through the paperwork,” the shifter said.
“Of course,” Dante said, his face a mask of professionalism again.
I held back a groan. I hated paperwork. That was the problem with working for anyone but the gods, there was so much paperwork to fill in. I didn’t like having that sort of paper trail, but Kane helped me hide my identity as much as possible.
“Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it. I didn’t catch your name,” Dante said as he put his hand on my lower back and guided me towards a table with paperwork on.
“What’s the assignment?” I asked, nodding towards the folder.
His hand was warm and comforting on my lower back. My mom’s voice popped into my head: Never trust anything you trust immediately. It’s a trap.
“We’re going to be working together. I can’t call you Ms. Kincaid,” he pushed.
“Wren.”
It would have been so easy to lean into him, to flutter my eyelashes and give him whatever he asked for and plenty that he didn’t. I couldn’t afford to do something so foolish. He was a demidemon and a very powerful witch, to boot. Why couldn’t I have something nice for a change?
I started filling in the forms, which asked for every scrap of information three times. There were plenty of tick boxes to make sure that I understood the Council wouldn’t be held even slightly accountable for any injuries I might incur. Dante’s presence was a distraction the entire time. I couldn’t block out his bloodsong, and I swore he was using it against me. He couldn’t be, though. That would mean he knew what I was, wouldn’t it? I chewed on my bottom lip as I tried to ignore the gentle waves of his bloodsong washing over me.
“I’m not going to bite,” he whispered in my ear.
I glared at him.
“I should hope not. It would be very unprofessional,” I said.
He smirked at me, and I resigned myself to the fact he was going to drive me mad in the best and worst possible ways.
11
Dante didn’t understand the concept of personal space. He sat next to me with his thigh pressed to mine on the leather sofa as we looked over the details of the assignment. I was struggling to focus past his bloodsong. I needed to get myself under control, else I’d lose the job.
“It looks like a simple enough case. People have gone missing in Dubrovnik. They suspect a new cult that sprang up earlier this year is involved.”
I’d never done a missing persons case before, so it was all new to me. I was usually strictly a hack-and-slash girl.
“Do we know anything about the cult?” I asked.
That was an intelligent question, wasn’t it? I was completely lost and hoped Dante didn’t notice.
“Not much. They’re very reclusive. We haven’t been able to find out who or what they worship. I’m sure you’ll have no problems getting them to talk,” he said with a seductive smile.
What did he mean by that? I gave him a weak smile and looked over what we had for the missing people. They were all supernal, but there wasn’t anything I could see that tied them. One was a solitary witch, another was a fox shifter, the third was a part-bred fae. None of them looked to have many close friends or family, but that wasn’t surprising. It was much more difficult to kidnap people with strong ties.
“I’ll book us a flight to Dubrovnik and arrange the accommodations, then we can get you some more suitable clothing.”
I nodded in acknowledgment and texted Kane that I was heading to Dubrovnik for the job with Dante Caspari.
Kane replied a few seconds later saying he’d been planning on going to Dubrovnik soon for some witch business, so he’d join us. I relaxed some knowing Kane would be close by. He’d helped me out of some sticky situations in the past. It probably wasn’t the most professional thing I could do, but he was Dante Caspari. He was as dangerous as the entire Council combined. Well, that might have been an exaggeration, but the fact remained that he was half demon and an incredibly talented witch. If he found out what I was, I’d be screwed, and not in the good way.
“My best friend will be joining us in Dubrovnik,” I said casually.
