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  By the time we got to some Inigo Montoya’s final declaration, he turned to me with a triumphant smile. “It’s almost over, isn’t it?”

  “Watch and find out.”

  He pulled me onto his lap. I dropped the rest of the peanut butter M&Ms on the floor—there were only a few left. He finished the job of tugging off my clothes, my slip on shoes torn off in the process, and I felt completely scandalous wearing nothing but panties in a public theater, doors locked or not.

  “Char…you are so hot.” He trailed his fingers through my hair. “You’re always hot, but I like how during the day you almost blend in. And then it’s like magic when you turn into a woman.”

  I bit back a smile. I liked being called a woman. I liked the idea that it was something magical I could transform into, too.

  I twisted around on his lap until I could get ahold of his collar, and I gave him a slow, sensual kiss. Then I started working off his necktie, and the buttons of his shirt, and he spread his hands around my ass and tugged me closer until my legs were spread around him. I could feel his shaft throb as I kissed him and it drove me nuts. It was so sexy to me the way guys could act all tough like they didn’t care but when it came to the man bits, every little thing made them tremble and throb.

  “When I think about you with Firian, I feel so competitive,” he said, digging his hands in my hair. “I want to ask you everything he did. I want to be better than him.”

  “Don’t make me,” I said, my breath more urgent. “Can I tell you all that you’re the best?”

  “You know what? I think you’re a pretty lucky witch,” he said. “But I’m not sure I could handle being in your shoes. Because I know how much Alec wants you. I know how much I want you. And I can even guess how much Firian wants you. And then…you have to try your best…to keep it secret. Or even worse…explain.”

  “You’re right. It’s awful,” I panted, but the heat rising to the surface of my skin and the crazed yearning inside me suggested otherwise. I slid my hands down to his button and zipper. “Do you have protection?”

  “Vampires can’t have children,” he said. “Or carry diseases.”

  “Oh.” I didn’t question it. I knew he wasn’t lying. For one thing, he wasn’t like that. But if anything else, I knew because he didn’t sound one hundred percent happy. “Well…it’ll feel good tonight.”

  “Yeah.” His voice turned husky and he stood up and helped me free his erection. My bare feet hit the movie theater floor.

  “I hope this place is clean,” I said.

  “You don’t have to touch the floor anymore.” He scooped me up as I wrapped my arms around his neck and then he shoved me against the wall.

  “Oh yeah…” My voice came out breathy. “Wall sex.”

  “Do you like that?

  “It looks sexy on TV.”

  “We’ll find out, won’t we?”

  He lifted my knees a little higher and found my entrance so easily I gasped. He pushed right inside me. It certainly wasn’t hard, because I was so ready. His confidence got me even more excited. And yeah, he was kind of cold, but he warmed up really fast inside me because I felt like you could bake a pizza inside my lady cave.

  My hands clutched the contours of his back while I met his gorgeous brown eyes. He looked at me like he adored me and liked me and also, a little bit, like he could kill and eat me.

  Hot.

  As long as, you know, he didn’t.

  His teeth were getting sharper and he was really getting into it like the only way he could control himself was to satisfy himself in other ways. He broke eye contact and thunked his head against the wall, still holding me close, breathing in my ear. “Charlotte…oh man…”

  “Is it good?”

  “It’s amazing…” He held my knees against the wall and it was a good thing I was pretty flexible. “Is it good for you?”

  “You’re being pretty rough…”

  “Sorry.” He forced himself to slow down.

  “No. I like it,” I said. “I like the way you just…lose yourself. I want you to.”

  “Oh, fuck. That’s good.” He thrust deeper into me with a groan and I groaned too. Thank goodness no one could hear us over the din of bowling balls and pounding music out there.

  I didn’t think I was going to come, since he was being sort of rough and not focusing on my sweet spots, but I actually started getting really close and then he started coming and that turned me on more than I expected. He let out sort of an agonized scream, and even that was sort of sexy, like this brooding vampire cry that he was cursed to walk this earth with the desire to kill the woman he loves.

  Maybe I was more twisted than I ever realized.

  “Montague…don’t stop yet, don’t stop!” My core was aflame with him, throbbing as he slammed into me and I practically convulsed with a quick, hard orgasm.

  That was when his fangs nipped at my skin.

  “Ow…,” I moaned. Although it didn’t really hurt. At least, not in a bad way. Actually it felt…um…hot. “Ohh…no, no, you have to stop.”

  His fangs sunk a little deeper and I knew I had to stop him. I was having trouble summoning as much panic as I should because it felt so good and right.

  His vampire magic must be doing things to me.

  Making me think, oh yeah…this would be a good way to go.

  “No. No…no! I call upon the winds!” I gasped out.

  He was thrown back by my magic and wiped my blood off his mouth. “Shit,” he said. “Shit! Charlotte, I’m sorry!”

  “It’s…it’s okay…” I felt kinda messy with blood and our mingled juices but really good. Euphoric. His bite was giving me almost a drug reaction.

  He was breathing hard, trying to control himself. I knew it must be bad when I heard him breathing so much.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  He wrapped a hand around my throat, gently. “Yeah.”

  “Did you see memories of Lisbeth and Rayner? Is that why…?”

  “Can I not answer that? I don’t want to think about them. I want to think about you.” He ran his thumb over the pulsing vein in my neck and whispered spell words to seal the wound. Then he wiped off this blood with his own shirt. “I want to taste you so badly. I never knew how…intense that need would feel. Maybe I do know why he would kill people to find her. Maybe I do…”

  “He never killed her, did he?”

  “No, he didn’t, but it must make him a little crazy. Like…to keep from killing her… I don’t know.” He dropped his hand. “I’d never kill you, Char. I do know that much.”

  “That’s really comforting,” I said wryly. “I hope you’re right.”

  Now his thumb traced my lips again. “Of course I wouldn’t. Then you would be gone. And that would be a nightmare.”

  “Mm…” I wrapped my arms around his neck.

  “Don’t tell anyone this happened,” he said sharply. “I would be in trouble.”

  “I won’t. I don’t want you to be gone either.”

  “I think we’d better not do this alone anymore.”

  “Alec wants to watch…”

  A slow, naughty smile spread across his full lips, and I had to give him another little kiss. He murmured, “I didn’t think about it before, but I have another reason to be glad you’re with Alec, too. If we ever got that far, I mean, we’re young so who knows, but Alec’s like a brother to me. If you ever got married, you could still have kids with him.”

  I smiled at him gently. “Yeah,” I said. “If we get that far, definitely.”

  As we were talking, I heard this little scritching and shrill sounds above us that quickly got too hard to ignore. “What is that?” I asked. “Bats?”

  “I’ve never heard of any problems with bats here—shit!”

  A flock of bats—or whatever you call groups of bats—suddenly swept down from the rafters. I screamed and tried to hide between the seats, because my first impulse was just not to get rabies.

  “These
aren’t normal bats!” Montague said, grabbing my hand. “We need to get out of here!”

  “I’m naked!”

  “Glamour up some clothes!” He yanked me toward the emergency exit like he was getting me out of here whether I had clothes on or not. I quickly summoned up the illusion of a sundress, but I felt naked.

  The bats were flying toward us and they were the size of rats. I thought I liked bats. I did not like these bats, however. They looked like bats you’d fight in a video game with huge ears, ugly wrinkled faces and glowing red eyes.

  I shot fire toward them, which they immediately dispelled.

  “Now they’re just mad.” Montague yanked open the door and shoved me out as a bat clamped onto his shoulder and bit his ear. He slammed it shut behind him while the bat was attacking him. I was completely freaking out, looking for a stick or something to hit it with.

  Montague tore the bat off of him and broke its neck.

  “That is so gross!” I reeled back and bumped into another person, which sent me whirling in renewed panic.

  “It’s just me,” Firian said.

  “Oh—thank god!”

  “You’re naked.”

  “Gah! I lost the illusion spell…”

  Firian waved a hand and put me back in a properly magical version of the school uniform. “That will do for the moment,” he said. Firian had a vaguely judgmental look and I wondered if he knew Montague had bit me. I had a feeling he didn’t. He would freak out if he knew. Ha ha, I could keep secrets after all.

  “Montague, are you okay?” I asked.

  “I guess I’d better go to the infirmary and see if that thing was poisoned…”

  The bat let out one last screech and Firian stomped on it. We all stared at the dead bat in shocked silence.

  “So…demon bats? I guess your mom is still going to be protecting you this year,” Firian said.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Firian

  Naturally, Master Blair wanted to see all of us after this incident, the latest craziness in the world of my witch. I could tell that, yet again, a good moment had been interrupted for her.

  “When the bats attacked you, you assume they were sent by your mother because you were in danger?” Master Blair asked. “Weren’t you watching a film with Monty?”

  “Yeah,” Charlotte said. “We were watching a film. We just thought, you know, maybe she doesn’t want me alone with a vampire.”

  Master Blair nodded like he was enjoying this. “Are you two seeing each other?”

  Charlotte looked at Monty. He lounged in his chair in a way I found sort of overconfident. Then she carefully nodded.

  “Well. Color me surprised. I really thought you would end up with Alec.” He didn’t seem to notice Charlotte’s slight squirm. “All right, well, I have recorded the incident. Maybe you should be more careful about going on dates for now, but…keep working on the wand of yours and studying hard, and…well, just don’t summon any demons this year. I can’t say that enough.”

  “Thank you.” I saw Charlotte let out a visible breath of relief as she stood up. She probably thought she was at risk at having her magic blocked again but Master Blair seemed impressed with her this year.

  “Firian, actually, while I have you here, can you stay there? I’m working on a class on the Ethereal Realm and maybe you can answer a few additional questions for me. Miss Byrne, Mister Xarra, you can see yourselves out. Get some sleep.”

  I stayed put, but I was instantly suspicious.

  There was no reason for a grown warlock to ever speak in private to another warlock or witch’s familiar. Familiars had such a strange status in the magical world. I’m sure I would never have thought so if I had grown up among these rules, but since I was instead hiding out in a cabin, playing computer games and sometimes hanging out with Charlotte’s very normal dad when she was at school, I was aware I had turned out very strange myself. Familiars were supposed to be private and sacred to their witch but I just felt more like a second-class citizen. At least Master Blair talked to me.

  Still, I doubted he just wanted to shoot the breeze.

  Maybe I was a little starved for company because a part of me hoped he did. Would we have anything in common to talk about? Maybe I could ask him how magical New York City was back in the 70s and just let him entertain me for a little while.

  “Firian,” he said, shutting the door behind us. “I think the council is spying on Charlotte and this entire school. I would bet you they sent those bats.”

  “The Ethereal warlock council sent bats?”

  “Not real bats, or real demons. But they already know Charlotte’s mother was sending demons, so…if they wanted to make Charlotte nervous and even drive her out of school, they could cover their ass that way. You assumed it was more of the same. A reasonable assumption.”

  “Yeah, I did.” I shrugged. “How do you know otherwise? I’m sure her mom hasn’t given up on wanting to protect her daughter.”

  “For one thing, we gave the wards some tweaks that should have helped keep her out. But Ethereal witches and warlocks, meanwhile, can come in anytime. And then, one of the bats bit Montague without leaving any trace of demon venom. Besides that, there is the fact that I know the St. Augustine coven is buzzing about her behavior and the warlock council is furious at me for letting her in, so I expect consequences at some point. It adds up to a gut suspicion on my end…”

  “Fair enough. That all sounds bad,” I said. “You think they’ll make her leave?”

  “A part of me wishes they would so she would be safe. But now that she found the tree, I can’t deny it… I think we might have foisted her destiny upon her, but it’s too late to take it back.”

  “Cool,” I said dryly. I was never sure what to make of this guy. We knew now that Ignatius and his best buds had been planning a witch and warlock revolution and they chose my Charlotte to be the guinea pig because she was their cohort Emily’s daughter.

  Charlotte never asked for any of this. And as her familiar, I had to protect her from all the danger they were putting her in. And yet, the irony was, if not for Ignatius and Samuel, she would have blissfully gone to the University of Georgia and never known me as anything but her internet friend.

  Unless…I had decided to live as a human. Unless I asked to meet outside the game. The council would have taken my magic away and I could have asked her to be my wife someday.

  Lived a normal life.

  While her dad and I kept that secret from her forever?

  Damn it.

  “Firian, you share my interest in keeping her safe.”

  “Of course.”

  “You can go places I can’t go.”

  “Oh, I see,” I said. “You want some dirt on Etherium but you don’t want to go yourself.” Witches and warlocks could go to Etherium, but it wasn’t really human turf, just like this world, which Ethereals called ‘the Fixed Plane’, was not a place they enjoyed going either. Their magic didn’t even work in the human world, outside of in-between places like the Merlin College campus. “What about your familiar?”

  “I need to keep my familiar out of council business,” he said.

  “Why?”

  He slapped the desk and gave me a penetrating look. “You can say yes or no.”

  “Ignatius, since we’re chatting like this, I must tell you, you seem kinda shady. I believe that your intentions were good, but…Charlotte can handle the truth.”

  “I’m not ready to tell her. I have my own stuff to deal with.” He lifted a finger. “Madame Solano, you met her, right? She’s on the council. All I want to know is where her familiar is and if they seem up to anything suspicious. Don’t put yourself in danger. Just poke around.”

  “If that’s it.” I shrugged. “Sure. I’m there often enough anyway these days.” I was a tiny bit bitter I had to banish myself to Etherium so often.

  “That’s it. Just let me know what you see.”

  “Will you reward me with some kibble at the
end or something?” I said sarcastically.

  He paused and opened a drawer. “I have an unopened bag of assorted Lindt truffles.”

  I had to admit, I liked a guy who actually knew when there was a little truth beneath my jokes.

  All I really wanted, I think, was to be acknowledged.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Charlotte

  I was almost done stripping all the bark off my wand and smoothing it out. It was taking so much longer than everyone else’s smaller wands that I kept having to work on it after classes. We had a big Samhain/Halloween party and everyone was showing off their wands to each other with their costumes, and I was still working on mine. I was missing yoga and playing Fortune’s Favor, and I was starting to get a really strong whittling arm. I usually sat under a nice shade tree so I could freely scatter tree bits everywhere.

  All the guys carried their wands around in little pockets or loops built into their jacket, pants, cloaks or whatever. (Everyone had their own style.)

  I had no idea what I was going to do with this monster. It was more of a magical walking stick.

  But I was proud of it. I’d never done anything like this before, working with my hands to create something from raw materials. I bragged about it to Dad on the phone a lot, because I knew he would appreciate wand crafting. I sent him pictures. He said school seemed to be good for me.

  “You’ve been working on that thing for weeks.” Harris walked by and I immediately bristled.

  “Okay. Yes. It’s been fourteen days now, so I guess you’re right. Were you counting the days until you could say, ‘It’s been weeks’?”

  “It truly felt like longer.” He took a sip of the energy drink in his hand and walked closer. “Do you need help, O Chosen One?”

  “Help!? No, I don’t, Prince Asshole. I’m almost done. And this is my wand. My fancy tree wand.”

  “I’m not jealous of your clunky wand.”

  “Sure you’re not.”

  “Your wand is Duplo while my wand is Technics,” he said, taking another insolent sip. And yes I swear you can sip insolently.