He was right. Money and power were usually what interested sirens, but this one seemed different, and different in this case wasn’t good.
“Well, we did capture her and her twin sister,” I reminded. “I’m sure whatever prison they have her twin in is max security.”
Cass chewed at his lip. He only did it when he was nervous, which he rarely was. “This doesn’t feel right. We’re missing something.”
“I think you’re right,” I sighed. Something about this siren scenario was off.
Well, we could just go ahead and add our spidey-sense feelings to the shit list that was only getting larger. We hadn’t even met Willemena Worst yet.
Picking up the speed I settled on the highway. The sooner we got this over with, the sooner we could start dealing with the rest of the crap that was as tall as a mountain by now.
I tried to relax, gave up, and pushed the accelerator as far as I dared. I didn’t have time for human speed patrol. I couldn’t shake the itch that time was running out on me.
19 A Freaking Grimoire
Pulling the truck right to the front of Willemena’s cabin, I parked. I was happy to see I wouldn’t be needing my hiking boots; her place was fully accessible. Gazing around, I scoped out our surroundings with a certain wariness, which was inevitable when dealing with a witch of considerable power.
Cass was out of his booster, on his knees on the passenger seat, and looking everywhere while fogging up the windows. “How come she let us drive all the way up to her house? That’s not right. You know witches.”
Yeah, I did.
Witches were a paranoid lot. Granted, they had plenty of reason to be paranoid. Others could have the ability to do remote spells on them if they were careless enough to lose track of a strand of hair, a birth certificate, or a vast number of things I didn’t want to think about—lest I become paranoid myself.
“She allowed us to come all the way up here,” I informed everyone. “I sensed her magic once we entered the forest. She’s expecting me. She opened up the way for us, directing the truck.”
Cass slapped his butt back down on his booster seat, to give me his full attention. “You’ve never sensed anything like that before.”
Damn, he was right! My lips pulled into a frown. “Shit’s getting out of control fast.” My bestie understood what I actually meant by that, though I’m not sure Molly did.
“It’s okay,” he reassured. “Just because you’ve never sensed another witch’s magic before, doesn’t mean anything bad. It’s actually good, right? Your powers are growing. Now that your kitsune side is coming out, it makes sense.”
“I suppose... only how’s it going to work with my witch side?” After all these years, all this time, thinking I was a dud, to finally have my witch powers emerge was amazing. But without Gran here to train me… it didn’t seem all that great.
“I can’t wait to find out,” Molly announced. “There’s nothing on this in any of the supernatural books.”
No, there wouldn’t be. I was some kind of unique freak.
Yay.
“Lucky for us,” Cass added, “there’s a witch in this cabin that has answers.” He opened his door.
Right.
Hopping down, he flapped his small wings a couple of times to steady himself along the drop. “Come on, Ev. Let’s do this.”
Numb already, I pushed the door and got out, just as Willemena walked out onto her front porch.
‘Damn,’ Cass mumbled in my mind. ‘That’s one mean-looking witch.’
‘Definitely,’ I agreed.
Willemena Worst looked like she ate ground glass for three square meals a day just to keep her tough. Slender, with long silky strands of silver hair that reminded me of the moon, she wore one of those dresses you’d see at a Renaissance fair or something—crushed purple velvet, with an empire waistline.
“Well? What are you waiting for? I’m not getting any younger,” she hollered from the porch. The woman didn’t look a day over eighty, but in witch years she could be over a century old.
Cass, Molly, and I hopped to it; obviously this was a woman used to giving orders.
When we got within forty feet of her, she squinted, and held up a hand that crackled with unspent magic. “Halt right there.”
We ground to a stop.
“No humans, and certainly no demon imps.”
Cass squared his shoulders and tilted his chin upward. “I protect Evie. She’s not going in there without me.”
“Son, she doesn’t need you to protect her. Not anymore,” the witch assured.
Cass opened his mouth to protest, but the crone looked Cass up and down intently, silencing him.
“I am tempted to let you in. It’s not every day that I get company, and it’s certainly not often that I get visitors willing to dress to impress. I like your sense of style.”
“Hmph,” was all Cass said, but apparently her appreciation of his fashion sense mollified him enough.
“She’s in no danger from me,” the witch confirmed, looking between the three of us. “It’s the rest of the supernatural community you should be worried about. You two take a seat on the porch, if you like. Evie, let’s get to it. Time’s a wastin’.”
I nodded obediently and made my way inside, not even considering whether I should object. I was possibly under the influence of her magic, but if Gran trusted her with something this important, there was no reason to doubt her.
‘I’ll be fine. I’ll let you know if anything weird goes down,’ I reassured Cass.
‘Fine,’ he grumbled with obvious reluctance.
“Take a seat,” Willemena offered as she closed the door behind her, and gestured to a pair of chairs at a small table in the corner of her dining room. “Tea?”
“No, thanks…” I started, before catching her wicked smile.
“Tea is for pussies,” she added before I could beat her to it. Her grin and sparkling eyes made her look a decade younger—not a day past seventy.
“Right,” I agreed, wondering how out of my league I was. I hadn’t wanted tea because that was one of the rules of bounty hunting, never eat or drink anything a mark gives you. The witch wasn’t a mark, but it was still prudent not to ingest a thing while I was here.
“I see you’re smarter than you look,” she admitted, taking a seat across from me at the small table. “There are a hundred different ways I could have incapacitated you if you’d taken the tea.”
Swallowing, I cataloged that frightening piece of information in my holy-shit file.
“Let’s get right to it, shall we?” she added. “I don’t think it’s news to tell you that you’re in deep trouble.”
“No, it isn’t.” My life was definitely not flowers and flitting butterflies at the moment.
“I hadn’t realized you were pregnant through the smoke though. That definitely adds a certain... complication to things.” She stared intensely at my belly.
I opened my mouth to ask how she knew, when my body hadn’t changed at all yet—on the outside, at least—but I didn’t bother. The magic around this witch was strong, as intense as I’d ever sensed it. She was more powerful than Gran, and that was saying something. Gran was one of the better witches of the Black clan.
“And by a werewolf?” She arched both dark eyebrows. “You don’t do things halfway, do you, girl?”
I shrugged. “Never saw any point.”
“And spunky. I like it. Never could figure out why people bothered being insipid. What a waste of life.” Her eyebrows came back down and the lines of her face softened for a moment. “I’m very sorry to hear of Belinda’s death. There weren’t many like her in the world.”
“No, there weren’t.” The heaviness of my heart was in every single one of my words.
Willemena studied me so intently that I was certain she could see into my very soul. Finally, after far too long for courtesy, she reached across the table and patted my hand. “Belinda was a dear friend. I’ll do everything I can to help you along your path.”
Painfully, I swallowed yet again. “Thank you.” Gran never mentioned Willemena, but then, what Gran had failed to mention was enough to fill a house.
Suddenly the woman was all business. She leaned back in her chair, and pierced me with gray eyes that didn’t miss a thing. “I see that you already know you’re a kitsune.”
“Yes, I do. I only just found out, though.” I’d left my katana in the truck.
“Before or after you became pregnant with a werewolf’s baby?” She raised an eyebrow again.
I chuckled. “After.”
She nodded. “But you’ve shifted already. How many times? Hmm, twice?”
“Yes, exactly twice.” This woman was a mind reader! Goosebumps broke out onto my arms and I swallowed hard.
“And did you sprout a second tail?”
My mouth dropped in shock, though it shouldn’t have. Clearly I was out of my league with this witch.
She smiled sympathetically. “I see you didn’t know that was coming.”
“Not at all. I didn’t know about any of this.”
Willemena’s face was all serious lines again. “You can expect to eventually grow nine tails, assuming that you’ll take the path of your father’s kitsune powers.”
“Nine?” My voice was the faintest of whispers. Was I not freak enough already?
She tilted her head to one side. “Actually, maybe not. I’m not exactly sure how your kitsune magic will interact with your witch magic. I don’t think anyone knows. The mating of a witch and a kitsune is forbidden for a reason.”
“It’s forbidden?”
“Oh yes, since the beginning of the kitsune and witches, so many centuries ago. It was theorized that the witch magic might be strong enough to combat the magic of the kitsune, and vice versa. It’s essential that a being’s magic be balanced within themselves. If not...” She clucked her tongue. “All sorts of problems can come about. Your mother was a remarkable witch. Her magic was as strong as Belinda’s, even though she died young. I never met your father, but if his magic was as strong as your mother’s, we’re in for a surprise.”
What she really meant was that I was in for a shitstorm. “Why did they marry, then? Why’d they have me?”
“Don’t you know? It’s the oldest answer there is, something I suspect you’re starting to have a notion about.”
What on earth was she talking about?
“Love. Your parents loved each other so fiercely that no one could stand in their way. Not even Belinda, and there weren’t many who could stand up to her,” the witch explained.
No, there weren’t. Gran had been a bit of a bulldozer when she needed to be.