Chapter 33

Isleptuntilthe next day. My dreams were surprisingly pleasant, all things considered. Not a nightmare to be found. And when I woke, I figured out why. Hasumi was curled up beside me, gently stroking my solar plexus area, over the tank top that someone had put me in. I recognized the water weaver"s soothing ripples of magic before I even opened my eyes. They were nudging emotions my way. Feelings of contentment, vitality, wellness….

"Welcome back," that achingly beautiful voice whispered.

I covered Hasumi"s hand with my own and opened my eyes, turning my head on the pillow to gaze into sparkling turquoise pools. "How long have you been here?"

They just gave me a soft, enigmatic smile. "Long enough to make sure you were rested."

My gaze flicked to those perfect, chiseled lips, and I had the sudden impulse to kiss the water weaver. But I turned my head away to stare at the ceiling. I wasn"t sure if we had that kind of relationship, or if that was just a one-off thing, or if they were really more interested in Aahil and sex was something we were only going to get up to if Aahil was involved. Besides, I was pretty sure I had morning breath, since I"d slept like the dead for who knows how long.

Slender fingers touched my jaw, turning my head back to face Hasumi as those perfect lips brushed mine. "Do you always feel so conflicted inside?" they asked, clearly peeping on my emotions.

I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against theirs, surprised that I didn"t really mind if they peeped. "Honestly? Have you seen the shitshow that is my life? No, I don"t usually feel this conflicted—it"s usually about ten times worse. This is only me being a little conflicted. Mini-conflicted. Just this much." I held up my thumb and index finger with about half an inch of space between them.

Hasumi chuckled, the sound like ripples in the smooth surface of a still lake. Goddess, why did everything they did evoke such beautiful imagery in my mind? I wanted to touch. I wanted to ask questions about the beautiful body I"d barely caught glimpses of before. But reality was slowly seeping in, and my brain was demanding that we get up and do something productive.

"I"m not only interested in your jinn," Hasumi said out of nowhere. Probably mind-reading again, or whatever it was they did with their emotional sensitivity that made it seem like mind reading. "If that helps to ease your fears."

A small, mischievous smile graced their lips and their eyes twinkled with humor. "I admit to using the excuse to get closer to both of you. But my motives are pure. Mostly."

I laughed. "You know," I told them, deflecting all this talk about my twisted relationships. "You used to never talk to us. I think I"ve heard you speak more words in the last two days than the entire time you"ve been here."

I sat up, and Hasumi followed suit. "I was…acclimating. I learned to keep my thoughts to myself, before I met you, Oleander." They gave a graceful shrug. "Self-preservation, I suppose. Now I find my thoughts overflowing into words. There"s a lot to take in, so much movement and life around you."

I ran a hand through my hair, privately thinking I could do with a lot less "movementand excitement" in my life. "I"ve been wanting a nice, long nap for a while now," I told the weaver as I stood, dislodging a disgruntled Bis, who I only now realized had been sleeping at my feet. "Thanks for whatever you did to make me feel so rested." I still felt a little awkward around the powerful, ethereal beauty.

I think Hasumi picked up on that. They stood and ruffled a hand through my messy waves, then headed toward the door on silent feet. "I think I"ll check in on our jinn," they said easily. Then they were gone, slipping out the door before I could think of anything to say. I felt bad for making them feel unwanted. If I had. Who knows? Maybe they were just bored. It sounded like they"d been in here watching me sleep for quite a while. Not exactly a stimulating pastime.

I showered and got dressed in my most comfy "I"m a real witch" hoody and stretchy jeans that barely qualified as real pants. Then I made my way downstairs to the kitchen in search of breakfast. Bis just gave me a gimlet eye and went back to sleep.

Whatever healing Hasumi had performed worked wonders. My magic didn"t feel nearly as burnt out as it should, and I didn"t have the usual aches and pains that came with channeling too much power or working spells beyond your skill level. I made myself waffles and coffee, then filled a new insulin cartridge for my pump, all in peaceful quiet.

It was unusual to get the kitchen all to myself these days. Zhong liked to cook and take care of the rest of us, Niamh occasionally liked to try her hand at baking so she could use the herbs and flowers she was nurturing back to life out in the gardens. And Aahil was always pacing around the place, full of restless energy and the need to cause mayhem. Elijah usually floated in to chat with me when I had down time. But today, the place was deserted.

I frowned, hoping they weren"t all missing because there had been some new catastrophe while I slept.

Taking my coffee, I headed upstairs to my workroom to find the bestiary. There was only one entry left in the book. The sooner I freed the last creature, the sooner I could get to destroying the book and getting my old life back.

But the thought wasn"t as happy as it should be. I still didn"t know how to keep Elijah here when I destroyed the book—the thing that was currently anchoring him to this plane of existence. I could try to transfer his binding to another object, but chances were high that I"d lose him in the process. And yet, I couldn"t let that book continue to exist once they were all out of it. I couldn"t risk someone finding it and using the residual energies to either re-imprison my friends or catch new victims. But I was getting ahead of myself. I had to free the last creature from the bestiary before I got around to destroying the book.

I was frowning and muttering to myself when I entered the workroom. I paused when I saw Zhong sitting at the desk off to the side, his imposing figure bathed in rose gold and greenish blue from the morning sun that spilled through the stained-glass windows. He lifted a hand to scratch behind one curling horn, then turned a page in the book he was reading, all his attention on whatever he was studying.

I crossed the room and peeked over his shoulder. "Whatcha doing?" I asked, taking a sip of my coffee.

The big guy started, turning to look sheepishly at me. "Andy! Wow, I must have really been absorbed, huh?" He held up the book for my inspection. "Did you know there"s a section in here about gargoyles and how to use them to reinforce protective wards on your property?"

I huffed as I glanced at the magic textbook. "No. Not information I"ve ever gone searching for." I wanted to tell him that it wasn"t information he needed to search for either. But I knew he wanted to feel useful, so I let it go for now.

He set the book aside. Then he turned his rolling chair so he could pull me over to stand between his knees, his big hands coming up to stroke up and down my upper arms. "How are you feeling? I wanted to stay with you, but Hasumi said you had been feeling overwhelmed lately. He made us all leave you alone."

"Ah," I said with a slow smile. "I knew it was too quiet around here. How did they get everyone to bug off?"

He shrugged, his wings flicking out then resettling against his broad back. We had altered some t-shirts for him to accommodate the giant bat wings, and he looked amazing, the stretchy cotton clinging to his massive shoulders and pecs. "Well," he said with a soft, amused note in his voice. "They didn"t say as much—you know how they are. But I think the implied threat was that if anyone bothered you before you came looking for us specifically, we might accidentally drown where we stood."

I huffed a laugh. I never would have actually asked for peace and quiet and some time off—I had too much to do for that. But I was still touched that Hasumi had felt my need and taken steps to make it happen. "They"re far sweeter than I ever gave them credit for," I mused.

Zhong patted my hip. "You have good taste in mates."

I rolled my eyes and cradled my coffee cup like it could save me from awkward conversations. But I guess it was bound to happen sometime. "Mates? Not really a witch thing. More like fuck buddies."

Zhong frowned. "No. You care about them. Us. All of us."

I sighed and side-stepped the whole feelings conversation. "Zhong. Does it bother you? Me being with Aahil and Hasumi? Or even Niamh, or Elijah?"

The gargoyle just gave me a confused look. "Why would it bother me?"

I waved a hand helplessly. "Because you seem like the type of person to be really…devoted. Committed. To one person."

He smiled, catching my hand and lifting it to press a kiss to the back with his marble-smooth lips. "I am prone to those things. You say the words devotion and commitment like they"re bad things. And like I can"t feel that way toward you." He shrugged. "I can acknowledge that those things have been used against me in the past. But I can also acknowledge that you are different than my other love. And you never promised me anything like a single mate bond. And of course others would find you just as amazing as I do. I"m just happy when you"re happy, Andy."

Then the big guy smirked at me, showing a slip of fang. "And besides, it"s sexy seeing you with the others. Imagining what it would be like to share you with them."

I fanned my face as my cheeks got hot. "Okay. Point taken. Have you seen the bestiary?" Because otherwise I was going to jump the gargoyle, and even though that sounded like a terrific idea…I did have one more trapped soul to free from the cursed book. No pressure or anything.

Zhong chuckled, the deep rumble of his voice making my toes curl. "Yes. I have it here."

We had all started keeping it in turns, making sure one of us had eye on the thing at all times, just in case. It was nice not to have it glued to me and have to lug it around all the time, but I admit, it made me anxious having it out of my sight when I knew it could still be used for no good.

I took the book over to the workbench and perched on a stool to study it while Zhong went back to his own book, leaving us to read in companionable silence. I sipped my coffee while I flipped the thick parchment pages of the book. The last entry was different than the others. The grimoire was formatted to look like it was just a bestiary at first glance—a text that described various magical creatures and their attributes. But the last entry wasn"t labeled. It was just a list of powers and affinities that didn"t make a lot of sense to me.

Most of the stuff was standard magic that most witches could perform on their own. And the additional items were worded in an obtuse way that could mean just about anything. There was lots of talk about shadows, and purpose, and rebirth. But none of it fit any creature that came to mind. How was I supposed to unweave the binds and let the poor creature out if I didn"t know what I was freeing? It kind of helped to use sympathetic or complimentary herbs and stones in my spells….

I was still frowning over the list of mundane powers when Elijah poofed into existence, shaping himself into a misty ball shape that hovered over my workspace. He had been doing that more lately—not bothering to take on his usual vaguely man-shaped form—and I worried that his essence might be fading. But of course, he"d never tell me. "Sorry to bother you, Andy. But the association people are here," his disembodied voice informed me. "They"re pounding on the front door as we speak."

I closed the bestiary with a thump. "Fuck my life."

The ghost nudged up against me and I felt his wry humor. Then he disappeared again.

I made my way down the ridiculous sweeping stairway and to the front door. Pulling my recently replenished magic in close, just in case, I pulled the heavy carved and warded panel open to revel the woman who stood on my doorstep.

"You again," I said in an unimpressed voice, before she could even open her mouth. "The Alliance must really hate you, to make you keep coming out here and risk getting murdered for no reason."

"Field mage 3765. I am here under the authority of the Supernatural Alliance to investigate—"

I interrupted her before she could even get a good rant going. "The Alliance doesn"t even let you have names, do they? That"s dicktastic of them."

She blinked at me, but I got a muffled snort from her partner. Hey, look at that. They sent more than one mage as cannon fodder this time. They must really be expecting me to go ape shit. Where field mage 3765 was short and muscular, with close-cropped brown hair, the woman beside her was tall and thin, with elven features and lavender hair that said she probably had some mix of fae and witch in her blood. She arched a pale brow at me as I looked behind them to the two others, one average-looking nerdy male witch and a centaur woman. All of them were wearing the Alliance"s preferred stretchy uniform in some shade between navy and black, and they all had belts of various potions, charms, and weapons. The nerdy guy and the centaur were fanned out behind the other two, looking nervous. Great, just what I needed. Nervous authorities with weapons that might "accidentally" go off at any time.

I crossed my arms under my boobs and leaned against the doorframe, like I was just having a boring chat with a neighbor. Not that I knew what that would be like. My neighbors didn"t even so much as look at me when I was here. They"d had the pleasure of living next to the Lovell estate long enough to know better. Wouldn"t want to accidentally offend a Lovell witch. Or worse—accidentally make friends with one.

"What do you want this time? Did I play music too loud? Too much dancing naked in the yard?" Which was funny, because the nearest neighbors were also situated on grand estates with plenty of space between us. They"d have to be spying on me pretty hard to hear or see anything.

Field mage 3765 crossed her arms as well, aping my posture. But she had her feet spread in a solid, ready-for-anything stance and her back was ramrod straight. "The Association recently received several complaints regarding your appearance at the Pentacle market in the presence of some suspicious paranormals."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, my goddess. No. Not shopping! How dare I?"

She wasn"t amused. In fact…her hazel eyes were a bit bloodshot, and she had dark circles under them. In fact…her whole team looked a little peaked. "In addition to these complaints," she informed me. "The Alliance monitors reported the sudden appearance of several powerful beings at this residence sometime yesterday afternoon, including two elementals, a fae, an unbound gargoyle, some sort of spirit, and one unknown entity."

Fuck. How had they suddenly homed in on exactly who was in my damned house? Then it occurred to me just what I"d been doing around that time yesterday. I"d been fucking with the damned wards. Shit. I had screwed something up. Just perfect.

I arched my brows at her. "Wow. That"s some invasive peeping you"ve been doing. I made some adjustments to my wards. But you already knew I was providing sanctuary to a few unfortunate people who have been wronged by my family. We talked about that last time. What"s got your panties in a twist now?"

Her eyes narrowed. "The neighboring five estates all report inexplicable episodes of fear and night terrors shortly after that time. They have accused you of harboring an illegal demon in your home and sending it out to torment them."

I rolled my eyes. "Of all the fucking dumbass nonsense. Like I"ve got nothing better to do than pick on my neighbors."

She moved her hand to the taser on her belt, the other hand pulling a small, folded piece of paper from her pocket. "We have a warrant to search the mansion for illegal demons, and to detain anything we might find."

I took the warrant and read it. Fucking Supernatural Alliance. I didn"t really have anything to hide. But I also didn"t want people poking around in my creepster mansion and finding some relic or booby trap I hadn"t gotten to yet. "This so dumb," I muttered under my breath.

Someone in the pack of Alliance goons coughed to cover a laugh. I looked up and searched their faces. I was surprised when I saw nerdy guy hurry to smooth out his smirk. Goons with a sense of humor. Who knew?

"Look," I said tiredly. "I have one demon class creature here, but he"s a jinn and they have free travel privileges, right? One of my ancestors had him bound to a…lamp. You know how the older generations were." I gave her a "what can you do" look. "I can give you the lamp so you know I"m not holding him against his will, if you want." Sure, I could give her a jinn lamp I"d found in a pile of junk when I was cleaning. Wasn"t sure if it had been Aahil"s at some point or not. Nor was I entirely sure it was clean of dark magic. But why fuss over details, right?

"As to the searching," I said, barring their entry until I made myself clear. "I need you to put on record, right now, however you need to do it, that I am letting you inside my home in good faith. I haven"t been here long, since I live mostly in the Planus realm, and I take no responsibility if you or one of your people trigger some nasty thing I haven"t gotten around to cleaning out yet.

She arched a brow at me. "Are you saying your house is boobytrapped, Lovell?"

I shrugged. "I"m saying I"ve almost died a few times myself, bumbling around here. And that"s with Lovell blood in my veins. You know how these old houses are."

She sighed, her shoulders slumping a little, but waved a hand at her fae-blood companion. "Put a note in the file stating we were warned the premises might not be safe but chose to proceed anyway."

Her companion"s lavender eyes stared into 3765"s for a second, and I got the fleeting impression that they might be more than just work partners. "You"re sure, Jacki? What if this is all just a set up?"

Jackiwaved a hand. "Just note it. You know as well as I do how they want this to turn out." I took a brief look at her aura. Yeah. She was tired and ragged.

"Higher ups giving you grief, Jackster?" I sniped.

She turned those hard, tired hazel eyes on me. "Just let us do our job and try to warn us if we"re about to get blown up? I haven"t had a day off in two weeks."

I snorted, but once her partner held up the mobile device showing the logged warning, I stepped back to let the Alliance people into the house.

I"m pretty sure my Lovell ancestors were out back rolling in their graves right now. The last time an Alliance person had set foot in this house was when they came to help me get some clothes before they shipped me to the orphanage. Right after they beheaded my parents for crimes against witchkind.

"Holt will interview your…guests," Jacki the field mage said in a tight voice, waving the nerdy witch forward. "He"s good at detecting lies, so please save us the hassle, and don"t fuck around. The rest of us will sweep the residence for illegal demons. Just tell us what parts of the place are potentially hazardous."

I snorted. "It"s all potentially hazardous if you aren"t a Lovell," I said dryly.

Niamh nodded to the curious fae-blood in passing as she headed to the formal dining room. "Come on, you can interview us in here." She met my eyes and shook her head. I agreed. Bunch of bullshit.

But we complied. Refusing would only arouse their suspicions even more. And I"m sure if they really looked hard enough, they"d find some reason to lock me up, or castrate my magic, or something.

"You"re the jinn she mentioned?" Jacki asked, looking at Aahil.

He was leaning against the knoll post at the foot of the stairs, looking like sin incarnate in his silky harem pants and a skintight black t-shirt, barefoot, with bits of gold and piercings sparking everywhere. His eyes flared with inner fire, and I could just feel his need to fuck with her.

"Please don"t, asshole," I said in a flat tone. "Not the time."

Jacki arched a brow at me, and I shrugged. "Some of my new friends still have a tiny chip on their shoulders from all the ways my relatives fucked with them. You"re better off treating them like they"re feral." I couldn"t quite keep myself from smirking.

She rolled her eyes. "Because of course you couldn"t make this easy."

I shrugged. "I"m not the one being an invasive pain in the ass. I was just over here minding my own business."

"And yet, The Association is convinced you"re building an army so you can finally have your revenge. Maybe pick up where your family left off with the whole witch supremacy thing." She waved at me. "Lead on. I"m about as sick of this shit as you are."

I huffed a laugh. At least we had that in common.