Witchromance: Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (Reluctant Necromancer Book 5) Page 8

  Van's lips twitched as he watched me get the book, but he managed not to smile.

  Ryan stood and went to pick up the book I'd thrown earlier. He took it over and put in on the bookshelf near Van. "You were just joking about the human skin thing, right?"

  I was surprised when the hunter actually acknowledged Ryan's presence, turning to cross his arms over his chest and glare at my half-brother. "Does that sound like a joke to you, witch?"

  I could almost feel the air crackling with the force of that blue gaze, and I was glad it wasn't directed at me, for once. Ryan swallowed hard and opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by a snort of laughter.

  I turned to find Jet and Toma standing just inside the living room. Jet had a smug look on his face. Toma was wiping tears from his eyes as he tried not to laugh out loud. "See," Jet said. "I'm right, aren't I? I'm always right."

  Toma reached up to ruffle Jet's hair. Then he pointedly looked from me to the two guys standing by the bookshelf. "What?" I groused, following his gaze.

  Van moved away from Ryan and went back to studying the books way too intently. Ryan was blushing. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at the floor. "I just wanted to tell you things are getting better at home, Esper," he blurted out. "I'm gonna get going now."

  He headed toward the door, but Jet snagged him by the collar. "Little witch? If you want to learn about magic, you should stay. As your sister's wise and majestic familiar, I would be pleased to assist."

  Toma patted Ryan on the back. "I can help too. And I'd love to get to know Esper's family." His grin was so bright I was momentarily blinded.

  Ryan glanced back at me, seeming at a loss for how to handle everything that was happening. I shrugged. "They're assholes, but they do know stuff. Trust me, you don't want to wait until you're thirty years old to start figuring this shit out."

  "Esper!" Ashton came barreling into the room, jerking to a halt just before he slammed into Ryan, just a hair's breadth separating their bodies from touching. "Oh, sorry, there." The blond vampire flashed a smile, complete with obvious fangs. "Who's this? He's cute."

  Ryan took a step back from the sparkly twit, his eyes round. "Uh. I'm Esper's brother, Ryan. You have fangs."

  Ashton tilted his head, his gray eyes sparkling. "Oh! A normie. Yes, they're real. Wanna feel?" He leaned in and opened his mouth wide in invitation.

  "Did you need something, abomination?" Van snapped, his cold voice making us all jump and look toward him.

  Bright red spots burned high on his cheekbones. He snatched up the book I'd dug out from under the planter. "I would like to read in peace." He flopped into a chair and buried his nose in the book.

  I blinked at Toma. The medium was laughing silently. Ashton rolled his eyes. "Touchy little asshole, isn't he?" He slung an arm around Ryan and hauled him out into the hallway. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of my nest. Oh—that's vampire for family. But we're not all related like human families."

  Ryan glanced back at me, but was pulled along helplessly as the vampire chattered endlessly, dragging him down the hall and up the stairs to where the vamps and occasional werewolf were camped out. I waved at my brother cheerily. At least now I wouldn't have to explain everything to him. Ashton talked a mile a minute, so Ryan would know everything there was to know in under an hour.

  Shaking my head, I followed Toma down the hall to the kitchen, while Jet shifted to crow form and flew back into the living room to keep watch over our captive guest.

  "What the hell just happened back there?" I muttered.

  Toma was still bubbling with laughter.

  The mage headed to the fridge to get out sandwich stuff. I knew he wasn't making a sandwich for himself. He was such a pushover when it came to Jet's demands. He glanced over his shoulder at me and winked. "I think your brother is about to save us a whole lot of trouble with vampire hunters."

  I stared at him. "No." But really, all that glaring and blushing. "Just because my brother and the surly hunter seem to want to suck face, that doesn't mean we're suddenly saved." And Powers That Be, I did not want to even think about my younger brother's love life. Gross.

  Toma straightened and set the sandwich stuff aside. Then he leaned against the countertop and pushed his long black hair out of his face, that impish look still plastered on his sharp features. "You don't understand, Esper. I can see their souls. That awkward interaction was more than just raging teenage hormones. Hunters have…well, a very different take on romance than the rest of the world at large." He winked. "They are strong believers in fate. So much so that they are magically primed to connect to their 'soul mates'. Sometimes it can be quite strong." He laughed. "Jet says the hunters choose life mates based on how they react to the hunter's personal indwelling magic."

  I blinked at him. Was he really spouting some sort of fated mates bullshit at me right now? "Ryan said…his fingers and toes were tingling."

  Toma grinned. "Isn't that cute? That was his magic responding to a potential mate. I wouldn't believe it myself, but I could see it in their auras—it was like they were tuned to each other." His gaze went wistful. "So pretty."

  I shook my head. "How does this change anything?"

  Toma stopped grinning and stood. "Simple. Van is dead set on keeping us all at arms-length. But he won't be able to treat Ryan like an enemy. We just have to make sure Ryan sticks around. To learn his magic of course." He winked. "And eventually, Van will see that if Ryan loves us, we can't all be bad."

  He spun and struck a dramatic pose, his purple eyes twinkling with laughter. "Love conquers all!"

  I covered my face with my hands. "We are so desperate, that we are now pinning all our hopes on teenage infatuation. We're so doomed."

  Chapter 10

  A few more days continued to pass in that weird, slow way that time moves when you know something is about to happen and you aren't sure if it's going to be good or bad.

  Toma and Jet were being absolutely ridiculous about this thing with my brother and the hunter, insisting that even if it didn't help with things now, having a hunter on our side would be invaluable in the future. They made sure Ryan spent most of his time with them, learning about witches and magic…and also being in Van's space as much as possible…since he needed a guard and all.

  It was dumb. Stupid. No way was this going to help with anything.

  Except…Van started to thaw. He started talking. He still glared at everyone like he'd rather put a knife in our hearts than look at us. But I caught him watching Ryan fumble his way through a rudimentary spell that Jet was teaching him, and the hunter looked…haunted.

  Just when I was thinking I had enough to worry about, Jazz showed up like nothing had changed, breezing into the house in a cloud of gross designer perfume and name brands. The resident monsters all looked at her like she was an alien. And my murder looked at her like she was a dog turd they'd stepped in.

  And suddenly…I understood. All that makeup and hair styling, the obsession with shoes and designer handbags. Her ditzy behavior and the way she tilted her head and gave people that vacant look. None of it was real. It was just like Van's grumpy posturing.

  This was how she did her job. By pretending to be an empty-headed, stereotypical girly-girl while she soaked in everything around her.

  I followed the clunking of her ankle boots to the kitchen, where I found her having a staring contest with Awan. The skinwalker stood just inside the back door, wearing a pair of winter boots and a parka, their big-assed automatic rifle gripped loosely in one hand.

  Jazz gave him the ditzy smile, as if she was too dumb to ask why he was carrying a gun. "Oh! Are you one of Esper's family?" She shook her head at me as she went about making hot cocoa. "I never knew you had so many uncles and cousins, Esper! Your house is just overflowing with them."

  I sighed. "Cut the shit, Jazz. Why are you here?"

  She blinked at me, the act faltering, flickering like bad TV reception. Then she heaved a sigh of her
own, her posture melting into something more edgy and petulant. Something real. "Because I can hardly pretend I'm doing my job if I never hang out with the person I'm supposed to be spying on."

  Awan took off their boots and coat, then laid the long gun on the table. "I can get rid of her if you want, puppeteer," they offered kindly.

  I waved them off. "Thanks, but not right now. Maybe in a little while, once she really pisses me off."

  Jazz raised her eyebrows and went back to making her cocoa. "So. What are you? Some kind of old Gandalf?"

  Awan snorted. "I'm Esper's BDSM lover. We tie each other up and practice blood magic on each other in the dead of night, down in the basement while she calls me Daddy."

  I gaped at the skinwalker. "You're not funny, you know that, right? Have you been spending too much time with Toma and Jet?"

  One corner of their mouth lifted in a smirk that was completely out of place on that urbane, cultured face. Brushing a hand through their thick, snow-white hair, they shrugged. "I thought maybe she'd go away if I shocked her enough."

  Jazz snorted. "Look, buddy. I'm kind of beyond shocking at this point."

  I took Jazz's mug out of her hands and claimed it as my own, earning me a glare that was at once familiar and foreign. How many times had she glared at me over the last fifteen years, while begging me to just act normal? Now she was still glaring at me, even though she knew I'd never be even remotely normal. "This is Awan. You've met before. They were just wearing a different body at the time."

  She blinked at me. "Okay. I don't really want to know what that means." She hiked a thumb at Awan. "Is Sexy Grandpa over there going to eat me or suck my soul out of my body or anything like that?"

  I shook my head. "No. Not today."

  'Sexy Grandpa' shook their head at me. "You don't owe this traitor any explanations. And I would appreciate it if you do not share my secrets with nitwits, puppeteer."

  I shrugged. "Sorry. If she blabs, you and 'ol Bess can use her for target practice," I said, gesturing at the stupid gun.

  Someone started knocking at the door and Jazz sighed. "That's probably for me. Damn it. I thought I got rid of him." I watched her stalk out of the kitchen to the front of the house, confused.

  Awan stepped closer to me, looking down into my eyes through the face of the newest stranger. "I know you miss your old friend," they said softly. "But please be careful, puppeteer. I don't think it's wise to trust her too much."

  I nodded and took a sip of my cocoa. Awan was right. It was stupid, but I wanted to just let Jazz go right back to being my friend. Even if I knew that had never been real to begin with.

  I lowered my cup and realized Awan was still standing right in my space. They were currently tall and broad, in good shape, despite the white hair. The lines on their face only added to their character. This was the face of a man who had worked hard, taken care of himself, and smiled often.

  Awan reached out and cupped my jaw, swiping a thumb under my lower lip to wipe away a bit of cocoa. Their touch was cold, and electric.

  And what the fuck was wrong with me? For a minute there, I had actually started to lean into the touch.

  Until I remembered I was being touched by a corpse.

  I jerked backward, sloshing hot cocoa everywhere, cursing when I looked down and saw that I'd managed to soak my shirt with the brown liquid. "Damn it!"

  "I'm…sorry."

  I glanced up to find Awan staring at me with a look that felt like daggers through my heart. It was a combination of pain and desolation that I'd never seen. Then they looked away. "I don't know why I did that. How disgusting of me." They snatched their gun up and stuffed their feet back into their boots, rushing out the back door in a blast of icy winter air. "I'll just go…patrol some more."

  The back door slammed shut with a bang and I looked up to see Jazz walking back my way with a frown on her face. "What the hell did you do to your shirt?" she demanded. "I mean…it was bad enough with the holes and the ketchup stain. Now you look like you rolled in crap."

  I blinked at her, my mind still falling over itself in a jumble. "Who was at the door?"

  She shrugged and looked way. "Jarred. He won't just take a fucking hint and get lost."

  I went and got a dishtowel and mopped up the worst of the cocoa mess. "I thought you were head over heels for him. What gives?"

  She crossed her arms and looked at me like I was a complete idiot. "Are you serious? I love him more than I've ever loved anyone besides your awkward ass. Which is why he has to go before the council finds out I'm lying to them and they decide to use him as punishment like they did my parents. Your guess was right, before. I’m afraid they’ll use him for leverage."

  I straightened and stared at her, only now really wondering how much freedom she’d ever had.

  “The council took the only family I knew away like it was nothing. And that was only because they suspected I wasn't telling them about everything you could do. What do you think they'd do if they knew all the crap I'm not telling them?" she said softly.

  "You think they'll actually hurt Jarred? Aren't these people supposed to be like…the police or something?"

  She huffed a laugh. "Sure. Only they play for higher stakes. If they don't neutralize a threat the way they should have, there's a chance a whole lot of humans get injured or killed. So, they tend to be a little…heavy handed."

  I sighed and set my mug in the sink with a thunk. All this, and I didn't even get to drink the damned cocoa. "What are you doing here, Jazz?" I said tiredly, half of my mind still wanting to chase after Awan and wipe that tortured expression off their borrowed face. "Why don't you just tell them I'm on to you? Make something up, so it isn't your fault and you're off the hook."

  She stepped closer, hesitant, but determined. "Because I'm your friend, Esper. I can't protect you from vampires, or monster hunters or anything, like all the rest of them. But maybe I can protect you from the supernatural council. For at least a little while." She gave me a hesitant smile. "Seems like the least I can do, after I lied to you all those years."

  I stared out the kitchen window as Awan paced by, gun in hand and the icy wind clawing at their borrowed skin and hair, their face a blank mask. It hurt to watch them. But it would hurt more to look at Jazz. To see that hopeful expression. To believe that she just might be telling the truth. I had no way to know for sure. So I stared out the window. "You got your intel," I said softly. "Now you know I'm harboring a nest of vampires and a pack of wolves. How long before the council comes knocking on my door to get rid of this big, nasty, threatening necromancer?"

  She sighed. "A long time, if I have any say in it. You might be amassing an army of weirdos. But you aren't actually doing anything right now that would spark their fear. Just keep your head down, and you'll be fine."

  I laughed, the sound bitter and harsh. "Keep my head down?" I did look at her then. "You aren't the only one who has been lying all these years, Jazz. My whole life has been a fucking lie. It's always been me pretending I'm a normal human being, hiding who I am from everyone around me so people will just leave me the fuck alone. All I ever wanted was to fit in. And since that was impossible, all I wanted was to be left in peace."

  I threw up my hands. "You think you know everything about me, just because you know I can make the dead walk. But you don't know shit, Jazz. You don't know the things I don't do. The things inside me that I shove down every day just so I can sleep at night. You don't know all the shit that I've been through in the last few months. You don't know about the real monsters out there. The ones who are kidnapping and torturing, using, and killing people every day. The ones who are on their fucking way to my doorstep right now."

  I shook my head. "You want me to keep my head down. Keep pretending. Play normal. Should I just step aside, then? When all hell breaks loose here in Hellsfork and the real monsters come to murder innocent people or to capture more pawns they can use to become even more powerful?"

  She gaped at me, her eyes
wide.

  I thrust out my hand, finger pointing and dark energy unwinding from my core, rippling up the base of my spine and wreathing my hand in a black cloud. "Get the fuck out of my house, Jazmine. Before I let you see what the supernatural council is so afraid of."

  The darkness pulsed inside me in time with my anger. It was a live, swelling thing, about to burst out of me and destroy everything, just so I would be left alone.

  Drake stepped out of the living room and into the hall, his brows drawn together and eyes silver. "Esper?" he said, his deep voice full of caution as he walked slowly toward us, palms out in a nonthreatening posture.

  Ryan came out to stand next to him. "What's going on?" He caught sight of me and visibly paled, his brown skin going ashen. "Esper?" He started to move toward me, reaching out in concern.

  I tried to remember that these were my friends and family. That even though loving them was difficult, tiring, frustrating…I did love them.

  A pair of arms wrapped around Ryan's waist from behind and he was bodily jerked off his feet by the shorter auburn-haired hunter. "Leave her be!" Van said firmly. "She needs her familiar."

  Toma spoke from my side. He'd somehow snuck up on me. His cool energy snaked over my body, stronger than before. "Jet's coming," he whispered. "Hang on, Esper." I felt his aura, his soul touch mine and I got a little bit of control back.

  Jet pushed past Ryan and Van and breezed around Drake, who was slowly, carefully siphoning energy from me.

  The tall, cat-eared man reached me and stepped between me and Jazz, shoving the human back a few steps. "Stupid necromancer, I was trying to take a nap. Can you please stop all this racket?"

  His gold eyes glowed as he took my hand. The black energy crawled toward him and he winced, but he didn't let go, just absorbed what I gave him, all the excess that was trying to drown me.

  I drew in a gasping breath and the army of insects and small animals I had summoned outside went back to being dead. I could feel them all around the house. I had almost swamped us in dead things. I blinked at Jet. "I…it…."