Chapter 16

Aftermyshower,I got dressed in my favorite pair of worn jeans, a comfy t-shirt, and a hoodie. Fall was coming in the human realm, and I knew there would be a bite to the air. I found Niamh in the kitchen, an old cookbook splayed on the counter, surrounded by some of the herbs she had nurtured to life in the back garden with her fae magic.

I eyed the book warily. "I really don"t know about eating anything made using recipes from a book you found lying around in the Lovell House of Horrors," I told her as I edged around the massive center island to see what she was doing.

It looked like a harmless recipe for herb bread, but you just never knew around here. I scanned the ingredients for obvious poisons.

Niamh waved me away from the book. "Stop it. I"m not an imbecile, Andy. I do know a few things about herbs. This is just a mundane, run of the mill cookbook. It"s from the human realm."

I sighed, but I was relieved to see the little Betty Cooker label imprint on the book. About as human as you could get. I slipped an arm around the fae"s slender waist and tilted my head up in a silent request. She smiled fondly, the expression not at all hindered by her sharp canines, before bending to obligingly kiss me goodbye.

"Going out?" she asked when she finally pulled back. She cast a glance at the bestiary that was tucked into my armpit, then stroked my hair with a strong, graceful hand. It was so beautiful how Niamh could love, and cook, and garden, and murder prey at a couple hundred paces with her fae reflexes and archery skills. She was effortlessly female and a strong, skilled hunter and magic user, a combination that would probably blow a lot of human"s little minds, since they seemed to think "female" or "nurturing" meant soft and weak.

"Yes," I sighed in answer to her question. "I need to go to the Earth realm to take care of some things there."

Niamh frowned. "Are you sure I can"t come with you? I could wear a glamour." She waved at her antlers in frustration.

I shook my head. "No. Glamour is such a waste of magic. And it"s unreliable. You never know when some random human is going to see right through it. The last thing I need is one more reason for the Alliance to come breathing down my neck. And illegally transporting an unregistered magical creature to Planus would sure as shit do it."

A hint of incense and heat drifted to me, and my shoulders tensed at the sudden, inexplicable desire that rose up in me. Goddess damn the jinn and his seductive magic!

"Poor fae," Aahil said smoothly, having appeared in the room without our noticing. "It must be such a burden, looking like a beast. But don"t worry. I will accompany my pet, so she doesn"t get lost along the way."

I ground my teeth together and spun to face the little terror. He was fully dressed for once, wearing his human disguise of fitted jeans, a soft black t-shirt, and that stupid red leather jacket. He brushed his dark, silky hair back from his molten gold eyes and smirked at me. He might pass as human—barely—but he was still way too pretty to ever be considered "normal." He looked like the front man for a modern glam rock band. "Feeling okay, pet?" he taunted.

I tore my eyes off his compact hotness when I realized I had been staring. Fuck my life. "You"re not coming with me."

He shrugged one leather-clad shoulder. "You can"t stop me, witch. In case you forgot, you wear my marks. Not the other way around. Besides, I"ve already met your charming roommate and seen your quaint little hovel. What"s the harm?"

I arched a brow at him. "The last time you met my roommate, you possessed her and made her think I was dating you. You probably fried braincells that she doesn"t have to spare. That"s the fucking harm!"

He sighed. "Did I lie, Lovell? Do you often suck the cock of a guy you"re not dating?"

I ground my teeth together. Niamh snorted and I pointed a warning finger at the fae. "Don"t you start too. I can only handle one asshole at a time."

The jinn lifted a dark brow at me. "Now, I think we both know that"s not true, pet. You do have two hands. And a tongue. Besides, I doubt it"s her asshole the fae wants you to handle anyway. But, to each their own."

I threw my hands up in the air. "Yep," I said sarcastically. "Of course that"s what I meant. And my dating status is definitely what I was upset about. Not the whole possession thing." Shaking my head, I headed out back to the semi-permanent portal in the courtyard. "All of the magic books I read about jinn left out the little detail where when they use too much elemental magic, they fry their own damned braincells."

I gripped the bestiary and stepped through the portal without looking back. But I could still hear Niamh"s stupid laughter as I left the magic realm.

Goddess. The idiots.My face was still red from all the talk about what I might or might not be able to do with people"s asses, when I stepped out of the portal into the overgrown little backyard of my rental house in Planus realm.

Of course the portal didn"t immediately close, since there was a fucking jinn stepping through it behind me.

I sighed. He was right. I couldn"t stop him. He was way more powerful than me, even if I wasn"t wearing his damned bindings. Or his slave collar. So I did the next best thing—the one action guaranteed to get to him. I ignored him.

Opening the bestiary, I whispered, "You can come out now, Elijah. We"re through." I was fairly certain my roommate, Amy, couldn"t see spirits, even if Elijah wasn"t exactly your every day, run-of-the-mill spook. Even among witches, true mediumship abilities like mine were rare. Yep, most witches get cool affinities for growing certain helpful plants or making super-effective potions or something useful. I got the ability to see and hear dead people. Sounded about right.

Maybe the dead just had a whole lot more to say to a Lovell than any other witch—since we"d probably created a disproportionate number of ghosts, and all.

Mist poured from the book like a column of twining smoke before coalescing into a more or less man-shaped form. Elijah had seemed a bit more solid and opaque after our little…whatever you want to call it the other day, when he was inside my aura during sexy times. But the effect seemed to be fading with time. Now he was almost back to his usual see-through appearance.

"Why are we here?" he asked in his hollow voice. "Not that I mind traveling. But it is a bit disorienting hopping between realms without a body."

I grimaced. "Sorry. I just didn"t want to leave the bestiary behind." I hated having the book out of my sight. I was just too afraid of what might happen if the wrong person got their hands on it. They could probably find a way around the family wards, eventually, and use the book and the creatures still trapped within the pages for their own evil powers. And on top of that…I was scared that until the book was completely destroyed, there might be some way to re-capture the beings I had already freed.

Elijah drifted closer, lifting a misty appendage to brush a cool touch along my cheek. "You"re right to be so protective of the grimoire. I"m just happy it was you who found us."

I couldn"t help a small smile at that. Things were weird lately, but I couldn"t exactly say I was sorry I"d found them, either.

"You can"t fuck smoke, pet," the jinn commented in a bored tone as he brushed past me and stalked right through Elijah like he wasn"t even there. "So stop making those disgusting eyes at the spook." He glanced back at me over his shoulder. "I thought we had things to do."

I stifled the urge to chuck the bestiary at his head. "We don"t have anything to do. I have stuff to do. You just followed me like a little lost puppy. No one invited you. No one wants you here." I waved my hand at him in a shooing gesture. "Be gone, stray!"

He gave me a look that made me regret my words, his face blank and his eyes gone cold. The bottom dropped out of my stomach and adrenaline shot through my veins. Then the jinn just…disappeared.

I let out a long, gusty sigh, since apparently, I"d been holding my breath. "Great. I"ve lost the fucking demon in the human realm. Again. I"m so going to magic jail."

Elijah materialized by my side. "You hurt him. The elemental is more fragile than you know."

And didn"t that just make me feel like shit. Because I did know. But I couldn"t help sniping at him anyway. He just begged for it.

Tears flooded my eyes, and I slapped a hand to my chest as the emotions I felt went from zero to one hundred in a blink. "Wha—"

I sucked in a sobbing breath, then turned toward the strong magic signature that had materialized behind me.

The water weaver strolled barefoot through the overly long grass, their big turquoise eyes darting around the postage-stamp yard, taking in every detail. Then those eyes met mine and the elemental smiled gently. "I will find him."

My heart swelled with the beauty of the ethereal being"s voice. Then the water weaver was just…poof…gone in a soft shower of mist.

"Motherfucker," I muttered, sniffling back tears as my poor emotions tried to equalize, now that we were out of range of the water elemental and the creature"s amplifying magic.

"I daresay if anyone can handle the jinn, it"s the water weaver," Elijah said. And he sounded tired, even for a ghost.

I looked at him. "You realize that"s now two elementals I"ve let loose on the unsuspecting human population. That I"ve brought here without a license. And I"m the one who is going to be punished when they start murdering people or causing tsunamis, or fires, or whatever."

Elijah"s misty voice was full of dark humor when he spoke. "I"m sure it won"t come to that. The jinn can"t stand being away from you for too long. And the water weaver seems… adrift. I"m sure they will want to return to familiar surroundings once they"ve corralled Aahil."

I just stared at the ghost, my mind not able to tackle everything that was wrong with his statements. Aahil couldn"t stand to be away from me? Bullshit. "Whatever," I muttered, heading into the house.

Amy was in the living room watching classic movies and eating ice cream. She started when I spoke. "Bad breakup?" I asked. The scene before me was not new. Amy was a serial dater.

She blinked at me owlishly from an unusually make-up free face. "Andy?"

Then she set her ice cream on the coffee table and launched herself off the couch toward me. "Ohmygod, you"re alive!" she said in a rush. "You ran off with that boyfriend of yours, and no one could reach you, and I thought you were dead in a ditch in some exotic European village like that one movie we watched or something!"

I awkwardly patted her back. "Nope. I"m fine."

She pulled back to look me in the eyes, studying my face for something. Honesty, maybe? "And? Are you going to run off again? Rent was due on Friday, and I had to drain my savings to pay your share."

I did my best to keep the emotion from my voice, keeping my tone light. "What? No way. I just lost track of time. You know how it is. When you"re…obsessed with a new guy. Right?" Gag. Goddess save me from ever being that girl.

Amy nodded solemnly. "I get it. Men are a waste of time."

I stepped away and headed toward the door. "I"m going to the bank now. I"ll pay you back for this month"s rent and see if I can pull out enough to pay for next month too."

I slipped out the front door and headed down the sidewalk toward town. Toward the one pawnshop I trusted to handle antiques. "Goddess."

I had to face the facts here. It didn"t make sense to keep paying for an apartment I never visited. And let"s face it, I still had two more creatures to free from the bestiary. Strong creatures. Things of myth and legend—literal nightmares, if we were being honest. It was going to take some heavy spellwork. Probably some costly magical ingredients. And then—if I even survived—I was still going to have to figure out what to do with the flock of people who were currently depending on me for room and board.

Several of whom I was rapidly developing all kinds of unwanted feelings for.

I couldn"t continue to live in the human realm. At least, not for the time being. I"d need a few months to get things sorted before I could come back and stay. And…part of me was coming to enjoy using my magic. I enjoyed the challenge of stretching myself. Of testing my previously untested abilities. I…wanted to be a witch. A real witch. Not just a pale shadow of what I could be.

I wasn"t my ancestors. I didn"t want chaos and power. But…I was surprised to realize I also didn"t want to return to working at the local convenience store and pretending to be boringly ordinary, the way I had the last fifteen years of my life. Niamh was right, damn her fae wisdom. I had been cutting off a huge part of who I was by denying my magical roots.

Elijah drifted along at my side as I mulled things over. My fingers ran over the pile of pilfered jewelry I had pocketed before I left the Lovell Death Trap. It was all non-magical stuff. Pure adornments, nothing more. But the rings, necklace, and broach were all made from real gold and gems.

I was going to have to argue long and loud with the pawnbroker to get him to realize that what I had in my pocket was worth a small fortune. I would get more for it if I sold it to a reputable jewelry expert. But I didn"t want to deal with the questions and crap that would come with it. I knew full well the pawn guy had shady connections he could use to get three times the amount he was going to pay me when he re-sold the stuff. So he could just fork over a decent amount now if he wanted me to come back with more treasure in the future.

In the spirit of embracing my magic and stretching my skills… I just might have crafted a small charm that I wore around my wrist for just these kinds of interactions…one that enhanced my bargaining skills and made the other party more likely to agree to whatever terms I offered.

You see, sometimes coming from a long line of shady fuckers was helpful. Lovells often got their way. Usually using magic to ensure it.

Too bad that hadn"t helped my parents with the whole beheading business. But you win some, you lose some, right?

"Are you okay, Oleander?" Elijah said, his concerned whisper jarring me from my morbid thoughts. I must not be hiding my jumbled, conflicting emotions nearly as well as I"d hoped.

"I"m going to have to move out," I said, straightening my spine as I said it aloud. "I can"t live as a human over here while I"m working on the bestiary over there."

My newfound desire to connect to my magic didn"t quite overshadow the bitterness and anger I felt at having to give up the normal, human fa?ade I had worked so hard to build.

"I"m sorry I brought this burden to you, Andy," the dead angel whispered, brushing up against my shoulder and sending a little chill through me. "I could sense you were the one I should reveal the book to. But…I feel like I"ve wronged you. I"ve asked you to give so much of yourself. And now you must give up the life you wanted for yourself. I"m not sorry for your success, for their freedom. But…I"m sorry for your pain."

"Well," I said tiredly. "Somebody"s gotta pay the piper, right? The Lovell bullshit karma just happened to land on me. I won the shit lottery. It is what it is."

Then I pushed open the shop door and went to haggle with the proprietor.

An hour later, I had paid Amy back for this month"s rent and delivered a check to the landlord for next month. I waited until Amy retreated to her room to nap, then I packed up as much as I could carry. I couldn"t exactly hire a moving truck to take my shit to another realm. I could use a magic mover service, but there would definitely be some questions from my human roomie. And I didn"t want her involved in my magic life. It could end badly for her. Not because it was expressly forbidden to tell our secrets or anything—there were quite a few humans in the know. I couldn"t tell Amy anything because of who I was. It was better if no one thought I had a weak human friend to use against me.

I carried one load of crap through the portal and returned for the remaining two suitcases. Then I impatiently waited near the rickety trellis that hid the portal. "Where the fuck are they?" I muttered.

I couldn"t just leave two unlicensed elemental terrors in the human realm. Portals like this were strictly monitored and activated by witch magic. And even if they somehow managed to coerce a witch into making them a portal, the two elemental creatures couldn"t portal themselves back to the mansion. The Lovell estate had far too many wards and protections laid on it for any intruder to survive an attempt at unauthorized entry. Even beings as powerful as Aahil and the weaver.

Just as I was really starting to worry, there was a sudden sizzling sound, accompanied by a wave of mixed magics. Aahil and the water weaver appeared before me.

I blinked at them. "About fucking time! Where were you?"

Aahil was still steaming—hence the sizzling—as he burned away what must have been a colossal drenching. "Miss me, did you, pet?"

I rolled my eyes and ignored him, turning to the water elemental. "Thank you for retrieving my wayward little demon. Goddess only knows how he"d manage to live without me."

Aahil sneered. The water weaver just smiled and patted me on the head. "Home?"

I nodded, giving the ethereal being a smile in return and reaching up to grasp their hand just to piss Aahil off, since he really did seem to be weirdly possessive of me in his own odd way. "Absolutely."

I stepped through the portal with the elemental at my side, knowing the jinn would have to follow just so he could get the final word. He hated being ignored.

I grinned to myself when the jinn stepped through right behind us. Then I turned and closed up the portal with a wash of earth magic. "See?" I said to the jinn. "Was that so hard? Good boy."

He had me pinned up against the fancy French doors of the courtyard in a heartbeat, his burning hand around my throat. "Do not speak to me as if I am a dog meant to follow panting at your heels, witch."

His eyes flashed, and his voice held that dangerous tone that said I had pushed him right up against the knife edge of his trauma. Oopsies.

I had dropped the bestiary and my overstuffed bags when he grabbed me. I wrapped both hands around the jinn"s wrist, knowing I had zero hope of stopping him if he decided to cross over from domination into straight up murder mode. "Aahil," I managed to choke out. "I"m sorry."

He blinked, some of the darkness in his eyes receding. I knew he was about to make some flippant sex joke and pretend he hadn"t just shown me all his pain and insecurity.

But he didn"t get the chance.

A long arm snaked around the jinn"s throat from behind, and he was pulled back against the water weaver"s tall, slender body. "Peace," the water elemental whispered. "Bank your flames."

I saw the panic in Aahil"s golden eyes as his grip on my throat immediately loosened. As he was no doubt magically overpowered by the being behind him. I was afraid for him, for a second there. If the water weaver stirred up the jinn"s already unstable emotions the way they did mine every time they spoke…that would be a living nightmare for Aahil with his past trauma. It would be torture.

But whatever the water weaver was doing to the jinn seemed to have the opposite effect. The coiled tension in Aahil"s body lessened. He dropped his hand from my throat. "No…" he whispered, his smooth, seductive voice breaking.

Then the water weaver lifted their free hand to cover the jinn"s golden eyes, shielding him from me. "Go," the water elemental said to me, those turquoise eyes staring into my soul.

I went. But not before I noticed the silvery tears that had begun to fall from under the water weaver"s hand, leaving wet tracks on the jinn"s red-gold skin.

I knew Aahil"s need for independence, his anger, and his bitterness so well that it seemed almost obscene to witness his weakness and vulnerability. It wasn"t fair. He hadn"t chosen this. He wouldn"t want me to see.

Tearing myself away from the intense, terrifying depths of the water weaver"s eyes…I turned, grabbed up my suitcases, and ran away.