Embracing Magick: an Urban Fantasy Novel (The Witch Blood Chronicles Book 3) Page 3

  Vritra swung a massive sword, his bare torso glistening with perspiration. It cut a swath through the air and connected with his opponents shield with a clang. His opponent jabbed, and his sword made contact with Vritra’s abdomen, the flesh instantly turned black and the metal glanced off him with a scrape of ember. Armor skin. How was he doing that? Making it appear so selectively in the heat of battle, it was almost as if his body was reacting of its own accord. His opponent dived and swiped at Vritra’s legs and the dragon asura jumped back, bringing his sword down with crash that knocked the shield from his partner’s hand and sent the man sprawling. The asura picked himself off the ground, grinning amiably. Vritra inclined his head and then a frown marred his forehead. His nostrils flared and he turned his head to look straight at me. His eyes lit up and then flicked to something to his left.

  “Carmella, watch out!”

  5

  I heard it before I saw it—an errant arrow whizzing straight at me. It was as if the world slowed down into slow motion. I needed to dive out of the way, but my feet were rooted to the spot. Vritra was a blur headed toward me. He was doing the shift move thing I’d done unwittingly. And how was there so much time to think?

  The arrowhead hurtled toward my heart. My skin prickled and my armor erupted covering my skin just as the arrowhead slammed into me, propelling me back into the door. A flash of embers filled my vision, and the arrow fell to the ground with a chink.

  Vritra gathered me up into his arms, his scent filling my head. The doors swished behind us as he carried me out of the room. My armor melted and his skin kissed mine. Heat crawled up my neck. I’d just made a complete tit of myself. How would the demi-gods take me seriously now?

  “I’m okay. You can put me down now.” I tried to wriggle out of his arms. But he only held me tighter.

  A sharp pain lanced through my chest cutting off my breath.

  “Just stay still. It’s okay.”

  “It hurts.” I looked up into his face, but his jaw was tight.

  He carried me into his chambers and through to his bedroom.

  “Wait, what are you doing?”

  “You’re hurt and I need to heal you.” He laid me on his bed.

  I tried to sit up but the pain held me down. “What’s wrong with me? I thought the armor deflected the arrow.”

  He perched on the edge of the bed, and usually all that bare skin would have distracted the fuck out of me, but the pain in my chest was intensifying rather than abating.

  “Vritra, what’s happening?”

  “They were shooting armor piercing arrows. They don’t break the armor, but send a pulse through it which damages the organs within.”

  “But I heal. I can heal right?”

  He pressed his lips together. “Yes. But maybe not fast enough.”

  If I could come back from almost death, I could do this. “The skein. I need to tap into it.”

  “Do it.”

  Closing my eyes, I sought the connection to my power, the shining threads that linked me to the skein. There they were, all glowing and shit. I pulled on them, drawing power into my body and directing it to my chest. Heat crawled over my skin—pleasant and healing. The pain lessened. It was working. But there was ice beneath the heat, pressed up against it, battling the healing effects.

  “The bruise is blooming again.” Vritra said. “The power isn’t being channeled fast enough.”

  “I don’t understand. The skein saved me from death.”

  “Yes. But you’d just unlocked your power so there was probably a huge reservoir waiting to be unleashed. The backlash is what helped you heal so quickly.”

  He was right. There was no backlash this time.

  “Miss Hunter, do you trust me?”

  “Dammit, Vritra, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Carmella.”

  His amber eyes were bright in the gloom. “Carmella, do you trust me?”

  “Yes.” The pain was flaring again. “Please, just make it stop.”

  Vritra gripped the neck of my vest and yanked. The materiel gave way with a rip.

  “What...”

  “Trust me. I’m going to touch you now. I’m going to put my hands on your chest, and I’m going to lend you my power. We’ll do this together.”

  My heart, it was going for my heart. “Do it.”

  His warm hand pressed down on my chest, covering the spot between my breasts. Our gazes locked and the heat simmering beneath my skin intensified. The skein flared and my asura power unfurled. The ice gradually began to melt, and the pain steadily decreased until I was breathing easy again.

  Vritra’s shoulders sagged and he tucked in his chin, breaking eye contact.

  I was okay.

  It was over.

  “Thank you.” I placed my hand over his.

  He raised his head, fixing his gaze on our hands. His fingers flexed on my skin, thumb sweeping across the top of my breast. It was difficult to breathe again, but this time for a completely different reason. We were alone in his room—both half naked—and he was touching me. He hadn’t touched me intimately since the night in the vault when we’d fought in dragon form and woken up naked in each other’s arms. He hadn’t propositioned me or made any kind of advances. Relief should be my primary emotion, right? Wrong. Instead, I craved his touch and the look in his eyes that said he wanted me just as much as I wanted him. If not for Paimon haunting my dreams, this thing between Vritra and me would have been pretty clear cut. But until my heart and my body were on the same page, it wasn’t fair to make any decisions.

  But what if that never happened?

  Gah.

  Vritra slowly slid his hands from my skin, leaving a trail of sensitized flesh in his wake. I didn’t move, letting him feast on me with his gaze for a long moment and then I carefully sat up and pulled the torn fabric of my vest over my breasts. He turned away, his broad shoulders begging to be touched.

  Stop it!

  “You could have been killed,” Vritra said. “What possessed you to come to the training room? I told you, you weren’t ready. Do you not trust my judgment?”

  I sighed. “Of course, I do. I just...” Maybe it was time to tell him how I was feeling—the aggression, the need to hurt something. It was getting worse by the day. “I need to fight. I mean, I need to fight. There’s this pent up aggression inside me. This swirling shit storm of emotion that needs to be expelled. Training with the younger asura just isn’t working. The sparring matches are over in less than five minutes and I’m constantly scared of hurting them.”

  He shoulders tensed. “How long have you been feeling this way?”

  “Two weeks, maybe three. Why? Is this not normal?”

  He turned his head slightly, offering me his profile. “It makes sense now.”

  “What?”

  He faced me and cupped my cheek, running his thumb across my mouth. A wave of desire rose up to choke me. He hadn’t touched me like this in weeks. I grabbed his hand and took his thumb into my mouth, sucking on it, my eyes locked with his. His tawny gaze darkened to golden honey.

  His jaw clenched, and a vein throbbed in his temple. “Fucking hell, Carmella you have no idea.” He tensed and, for a moment, I thought he would pull away, but then he pressed his thumb against my tongue before sliding it out to replace it with his tongue. I sucked on that too. And a moan tore from his throat. He pulled away, holding me at arms-length. “This is why I’ve been keeping my distance.”

  He didn’t want to want me? Well, this was new. Anger surged up to replace the desire. No. Not replace, but to mingle with it.

  It’s not a fight you need.” Vritra said. “It’s sex.”

  My core throbbed. “Then fuck me.” My voice was breathless, and husky, and where had those words come from? I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”

  His expression was hooded with desire. “But I do. I’d hoped with your hybrid nature you’d be spared this, but I caught the scent in the training room. No
w that you’re no longer in pain, it’s there again.” He inhaled, his fists clenching until his knuckles were white. “Soon they’ll all be able to scent it.”

  “What scent? Wait, are you’re suggesting I’m sexually frustrated?”

  He stood up and walked across the room to stand by the window. “It’s not sexual frustration. It’s called the needing. It’s something unique to the female dragon asura. There haven’t been many females of your kind, but every female dragon asura who has existed has passed through the needing. It’s a time where they choose their mate.”

  “No. This isn’t the needing, or whatever you call it. I want to hurt someone—to pummel and smash. Trust me there is nothing sexual about that.”

  “Maybe not to your human side, but to my kind it’s perfectly normal. Dragon sex isn’t soft and gentle, Miss. Hunter. It’s violent and wild. Dragons that are needing become increasingly aggressive until they find their mate. This feeling you have will only get worse until you pick a mate.”

  “What exactly do you mean by mate?”

  “For our kind, mating is for life. Like marriage without the divorce.”

  Well, at least I wasn’t like the black widow that ate her mate. But a shiver of apprehension clamped the back of my neck regardless. “What if I don’t want to pick a mate?”

  “Then be prepared for pain. If you fight the needing, it will fight back. There are tales of old wars where the females were the most formidable warriors. It was after most of our female population was wiped out that the needing manifested itself. The natural cycle will do anything to be preserved, and the needing served an important function of keeping the dragon asura species alive. You are the first female dragon asura in a long time. I can only imagine how strong the needing will be for you.”

  Panic shot through me and the hot pulse between my thighs died. “We have to do something. There has to be a way to make it stop, or calm it down or something.” The last thing I wanted was to be mated.

  His gaze was speculative. “I’ll see what I can do. But until then, it might be best if you avoid Shaitan Enterprises.”

  “What?”

  He smiled tightly. “I’m able to resist your pheromones for now, but the other male asura may not be so strong willed. Best to keep your needing a secret. If we find a way to mask it and soothe your symptoms, then all will be well.”

  “And if not?”

  He swallowed hard. “You will have your pick of mates from the unmatched asura males

  on the top floor.” He ground out the words as if they were painful to say.

  My pick of... Did he think I wanted any of them? It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that if I had to choose it would be him. But I bit back the words. Not yet. Not until I was one hundred percent sure that my wants weren’t just physical. I had to want him with my heart too.

  “If we can’t find a way to stop or stem the needing, how much time do I have?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “So, I can’t come here. I can’t see you?” Why did that hurt so badly?

  His expression softened. “I’m a strong willed male, Miss. Hunter. But even I have my limits. If you come back and ask me to fuck you, I won’t be able to say no.”

  Great, I was a horny dragon who wasn’t ready to settle down. Fanfuckingtastic. “Just do what you can and find me some kind of cure.” I swung my legs off the bed, suddenly desperate to get away from him before I threw myself at his hot muscled form. “And can I please borrow a shirt?”

  6

  The movie was playing and the lights were dim. I had a blanket to combat the autumn chill and a hot chocolate for extra warm fuzzies, but all I wanted to do was leap up and run a lap.

  Mira held out the bucket of popcorn. “I’m here for you if you need a little relief.” She offered for the third time.

  “I’m fine,” I ground out. “And can we please drop the subject.” Why the heck had I told her?

  She snorted. “Fine. Just trying to be useful. You do realize that as a Hinn, I can be whatever you want me to be right?”

  I sighed. “As a Hinn can you shut the hell up so we can watch the movie?”

  I caught her sly smile. “Oh, look they’re about to have sex.”

  “That’s it!” I flicked off the television and stood. “We’re going out.”

  She stared up at me, genuinely perplexed. “But I thought you were waiting for an important call?”

  “I am. But that’s the beauty of a mobile phone.”

  Kevin had been trying to crack this darknet thing for two days now. I’d combed through files, smoothed the victim’s family’s feathers and done enough laps of the IEPEU building to have given me super calfs. If I sat around watching this movie with Mira, I’d end up throttling her. Vritra better come up with a solution to my problem soon. This needing thing sucked.

  Mira leapt up alert and ready for action. “Where are we going?”

  “Dancing. We’re going dancing.”

  She frowned. “Sentinels don’t dance.”

  “You’re not a sentinel anymore. You can do what the fuck you like.”

  She blinked, absorbing that bit of information. “I’ll get dressed.”

  I grabbed my phone and dropped Honey and Urvashi a text. Victor was working the kitchens tonight, but maybe he could get one of his friends to take over. I dropped him a text too. It had been ages since we’d all just hung out. And if my gut was correct, then the future was filled with cases and complications—best to grab the joy where you could. The possible aliens, the needing and the damn High Witch and her secrets could wait for a few hours.

  It was time for some fun.

  ◆◆◆

  “You’re not having any fun are you?” Honey said.

  I sipped my lemonade and stared out at the dance floor. Urvashi was strutting her stuff, and Mira was proving to be a pretty good dancer while Victor stood trapped between them with a desperate look on his face.

  “You should go save him.” I jerked my head toward the dance floor.

  Honey smiled. “Nah, this is way too much fun.”

  The music was loud but with our super hearing it wasn’t hard to hold a conversation.

  “So are you two...”

  “What?” She studied my suggestive expression and then shook her head. “No.”

  “But you like him.”

  “What’s not to like? But Victor is...he isn’t the relationship kind of guy.”

  “The no touching rule?”

  Her brow crinkled. “Yeah. I can’t help but feel there’s a story there.”

  “Me too.”

  She nudged me with her shoulder. “I’m glad you called though. I’ve missed you. I thought the asura had stolen you away.”

  “The asura and the IEPEU, between the two I’ve barely had time to take a dump.”

  She laughed. “Hey, I’m not judging. I’m just glad you called.”

  “We should grab a bite to eat. The cafe on the corner looks cozy. We can have a proper chat and—”

  My pager buzzed against my hip. It was Kevin calling me in.

  “You got to go, eh?”

  I winced. “I’m sorry.”

  She pulled me into a hug. “Don’t be. Just call me if you need anything.”

  “Can you let the others know I had to go?”

  She gave me a mock salute. “Yes, sir.”

  ***

  Kevin swiveled in his seat to face me, a huge grin plastered on his face. “Just call me a goddamn fucking genius.”

  “Okay, you goddamn fucking genius, what have you got for me?”

  He patted the seat beside him, and I parked my arse.

  The door opened and Melody walked in. She looked rumpled, as if she’d just woken up from a nap. “Please, tell me you’ve cracked this.”

  I shot her a smile. “Of course, he has. He’s a goddamn fucking genius.”

  Kevin coughed. “Okay, now it just sounds like you’re taunting me.”

  I patted his back. “
Never.”

  Melody snorted, and smoothed back her hair. “What have you got?”

  “I located the IP address but then it moved. So, I tracked it and zeroed in and it moved again.”

  “And this is good news how?” Melody asked,

  “Because then I got frustrated and got to thinking. This site finds people based on their internet activity, so using our most recent kidnapped family profiles, I constructed another.”

  Where was he going with this? “O-kay. And?”

  “And it’s not live yet. I have to do some jiggerypokery to back date the history of the browser, and make it look like our phantom kid has been using these sites for some time. We need to create fake messages and emails. Probably another couple of days’ work, but that gives you time.”

  “Time for what?” Melody asked.

  “Time to put together a fake family that fits the profile.”

  And just like that it clicked into place. “You want them, it, whatever, to come to us. To track us and find us.”

  He nodded. “We can put a tracker under each fake family member’s skin, and when they get taken, bingo, we’ll have a location.”

  I turned to my boss. “Melody, I want in on this. I want to be part of the family.”

  Melody shook her head. “You’re a supernatural. Everyone taken so far has been human.”

  “Then un-supernatural me. Can’t we mute my powers using the tech and spell we have on the cages. Like a smaller version? Can’t we turn it into a chip to go under my skin?” Oh, God! That was it—the solution to my needing problem. If the IEPEI could modify the tech, and the independent witch could modify the runes, then I may have a muting chip for the needing. I’d have to speak to Patrick, the head of the magitech department.

  Melody’s fingers tapped against the console as she considered my proposal.

  “Look, it’s my case. I know the families and I know what to look for. I need to be there.”