"What makes you think that?"
"I smelled your blood. What the hell possessed you to go out there? I said I was handling it."
Oh, that was rich. "Handling what? I asked you to take care of it. You blew me off and decided to limit your involvement to poisoning my apples."
"Poisoning? Really?" He actually sputtered.
I'd wanted him to handle it because I hadn't wanted to break my neutrality and he was uniquely suited to killing things. But now that ship had sailed, and given his attitude, I was better off without his so-called help. I leaned forward so we were eye to eye. "It's being handled. Your involvement isn't necessary. You're free to continue on your serial urination spree."
"I don't think so."
"Sean! Go. Away."
He locked his jaw. "I don't know what the hell is going on here, but I'm not leaving until I get it sorted out."
Of all the rude, arrogant morons... "Is that so?"
"Yes. You will show that thing to me and from now on, I will deal with them."
I opened my eyes really wide and fluttered my eyelashes at him. "I'm sorry, I must've missed your coronation ceremony. Silly me."
"Dina!"
Ha! He remembered my name. I waved my fingers in the direction of the door. "Shoo. Leave, and don't slam the door on your way out."
He planted himself, arms crossed, muscles bulging. "Make me."
He didn't deserve a warning, but I gave him one anyway. "I've had about enough. I'm serious, Sean. Leave or there will be consequences."
"Give me your best shot."
Fine. "Your welcome is withdrawn."
Magic smashed into Sean. He went airborne. The side door swung open just in time and he flew through it and into the orchard. The orchard was a safer bet. The bulk of the house shielded it from the passersby and traffic, which would hopefully let us avoid pain-in-the-butt questions.
I heard a solid thud, then got up, and looked out through the open door. Beast joined me.
Sean lay unmoving on the grass. Ouches.
I glanced at Beast. "I did warn him."
Sean raised his head, shook it, and rolled to his feet. His face gained that feral, predatory look.
"Uh-oh. We better brace ourselves." I sipped from my coffee cup.
Sean took a running start and charged through the door. It started to close, and I flicked my fingers, telling the inn to keep it open. The door would cost money to replace. Sean thrust through the doorway, got a foot and a half inside, and the magic punched him again, hurtling him backward. Sean flew, rolling on the grass as he fell.
He shouldn't have made it that far in. He shouldn't have been able to enter, period. True, the inn had stood abandoned for a long while and wasn't as strong as most yet, but it should've kept him out.
Sean jumped to his feet. His eyes had gone completely savage. He gathered himself into a tight ball and sprinted to the door with inhuman speed. I felt the inn block him. He smashed into the invisible barrier and tore through it, managing to get two steps inside.
The magic hit him, throwing him backward. He caught the doorframe with his hands and hung on.
Whoa.
Sean growled like an animal. It was a bone-chilling sound that no human being had a right to make.
I picked up my broom. The inn would need some help. "You know what the definition of insanity is, Beast?"
Sean strained. The muscles on his arms and body bulged, taut like ropes under his skin. Slowly he gained an inch. Another inch. Wow. He was remarkably strong.
"According to Einstein, it's doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." I brought the butt of the broom down on the floor. " Out."
My magic boomed through the inn like the toll of a huge bell. It had no sound, but I heard it all the same. Sean flew out of the house like a fleck of dust caught in the current of a fan and smashed into an apple tree forty feet away. I heard the crunch all the way from where I stood.
"Karma," I said, petting the doorframe.
The house creaked.
"You did well," I murmured to it. "He's just freakishly powerful."
Unbelievably powerful. I've handled werewolves before. They were psychotic and homicidal, but none could've done what he did.
Sean wasn't moving. Maybe the impact had broken something. Not that he wouldn't heal --he would, and at an accelerated rate --but still, snapping his spine hadn't been my intention.
Beast brushed against my ankle.
"Should we go investigate?"
The magic tugged on me. I leaned back to glance through the front door. A black-and-white was parked by my driveway and a man in a tan uniform marched up said driveway to my house. I was about to get a visit from Red Deer PD. I spun back around.
The grass under the apple tree was empty. Sean Evans had vanished.
*** *** ***
"Can I offer you some tea, Officer?"
Officer Hector Marais peered at me. Solid and fit, clean-shaven, his dark hair cut short, he embodied the very essence of his profession. If you saw him dressed in jeans and a hoodie, walking toward you at dusk, you wouldn't cross the street, because you would know he was a cop. He radiated that air of wary authority, and as he crossed the threshold into the inn, he surveyed me and then the interior of the inn as if he was looking for weapons.
"No, thank you, Ms. Demille. There was a disturbance in your subdivision last night, around one in the morning. A woman was attacked. Have you noticed anything unusual?"