~

 

“I’ve got you,” Duncan said, over and over as he held Eileen in the relative safety of his arms. She didn’t seem to notice the fact that it was the vampire holding her, or maybe she did, and whatever had made her scream was just far scarier.

Moira and I were the first outside, and somehow Jack came after us. I guess he might have lifted or steamrollered my mother and gran out of the way, but by the time that we were all outside, scouring the darkness of the night, there didn’t appear to be anything to be seen.

“I felt it touch me,” Eileen mumbled, and I felt a cold shiver run through me.

If she’d felt what I had at the Point, then it was little wonder that she was happy to be in Declan’s arms. I might just have hugged Ross’ werewolf up on that cliff top – probably not.

“What?” Jack asked, and I grimaced at the fact that I’d invited him here.

I couldn’t exactly get my grove on and illuminate the area with my magic, now could I? That was taking things a little too far and expecting Jack not to have a fit of the vapors.

“Take her inside,” Duncan said, passing my sister onto my mother. “I’m going to have a look around.”

“Be careful,” I warned him, and for a moment his eyebrows pinched together.

“She cares,” he chuckled.

“I don’t want a mess to clear up tomorrow,” I lied.

I did care, sort of. Vampire or not, the man had no magic.

“I’ll come with you,” Jack said, sounding all big and macho like.

I opened my mouth to say it was a horrible idea when Moira screeched, and everyone but me turned to look. I’d heard Moira scream like I’d heard Eileen scream, and trust me; the girl had lungs when she wanted them. Nope, she was just covering for Duncan’s escape, and with a grin, the vampire was gone.

“What?” Jack demanded as he started towards Moira.

“Squelchy,” she said, lifting her foot and wiggling it.

I tried not to laugh at the look on Jack’s face, but when he turned to find Duncan gone, he bit down on a curse and started after him. My heart leaped as I lost sight of Jack in the darkness.

I lifted my hands and clicked my fingers, forcing my magic out and turning on every light inside the house, so it looked like fairyland. We were no longer in darkness, but those lights didn’t reach nearly far enough.

“Take Eileen inside,” I nodded to Moira, and she turned, and half dragged our younger sibling with her.

“You’re not going out there,” my father said, knowing me well enough to know that I was itching to do something.

“They’re practically family,” I reasoned.

“A vampire and an outlander?” he whispered back.

“But still…”

“You’re needed here,” he said, and I chewed my inner cheek.

Only when I heard the sound of a car coming up our road did I finally feel as if I wasn’t a jumping bean held down with glue anymore.

“I go run them off,” I said, and before I got another lecture, I was heading on fast feet toward the front of our house.

 

~

 

Helena McCrae stepped away from her car and started towards me. I knew her as one of Gran’s acquaintances, but I wouldn’t call her a friend of my grandmother’s, at least they never appeared to be on best terms when they did meet.

She was a witch from another clan, and when I say witch, she could be a real peach. She eyed me like a rattlesnake about to launch an attack all the way up the drive, but I didn’t flinch. I had the power of three, and while she might have been an elder, she was no match for my magic.

In truth, I kind of hoped the woman tripped on a squishy patch and face planted a pothole filled with water, but I wasn’t going to wish for it.

“Margaret.” Her chilly tones told me she hadn’t had a personality transplant while she’d been off the Isle on her little jaunt.

“Mrs. M” I replied with, what I hoped were the same qualities in my voice.

“Fiona left me some rather confused messages, but the one that caught my attention was when she warned me not to come back home,” she looked as if she was sucking a plum and a lemon at the same time.

“For your own good, no doubt…”

“Not a decree then,” she raised an eyebrow at me.

“Hardly…”

“Hard to tell. I had to wonder if age had gotten to her mind.”

Cheeky … witch. My gran could run rings around this old hag, and better her with magic any day of the week.

“Same age, aren’t you?”

“I still have my marbles…” she snapped off the last word when I lifted my hand and pointed my index finger. She eyed me with suspicion and flinched when I brought it up in front of her face.

Then I inspected my nails, and she seemed to relax slightly. She was lucky I didn’t bounce her bonny, bony backside down the drive.

“Gran too, in fact, she’s sharpened her skills lately,” I said, pretending not to pay the woman any mind, even though I was watching her like a hawk.

“Is she here?” Helena eyed our house; all lit up like we were expecting a plane to land in the croft out back.

“She is,” I said, and nodded towards the front door. That was when Gran appeared as if by magic, and Helena swallowed her tongue.

“Fiona, I got your messages and came as soon as I got back,” she said, and her tone was much improved, and just a little sweeter for my gran.

“I told you not to come back, Helena, why do you never listen?” Gran berated her and I had to smile. It sounded as if she was telling off a child.

I’ll bet that went down a treat with Mrs. M.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she started towards Gran, and mindful that Jack was around the area somewhere my Gran waited until Helena was right up close and personal before she started explaining in whispered tones.

Back and forth those whispers went, getting more hissy by the moment on Helena’s side, as Gran filled her in. I knew the moments when Gran told of Mr. Croon and Leonna’s deaths because of the over exaggerated way in which Mrs. M reacted, and then there was more hissing, just like when my parents were arguing in their bedroom.

I caught a few words on either side, but if Jack had overheard them, then he couldn’t have garnered much from the broken conversation. Speak of the devil, and there he be.

“I lost Duncan,” he admitted, and I could have chuckled. Jack not being able to catch the vampire was no real surprise to me. “I couldn’t see anything. Who’s that?” He nodded towards Helena who was still standing with Gran at the doorway, but now the two of them were relatively silent, eyeing him back.

“An old friend of Gran’s,” I offered with a small shrug.

“Does this belong to one of you?” Duncan asked as he appeared through the darkness with Ross at his side.

I heard Gran hiss something to Elenor and the woman clicked her tongue against her teeth. I guess she’d just been informed that Ross’ werewolf gene had been triggered.

“Well, I must be going,” Helena announced. I guess she didn’t like werewolves, or vampires, or policemen, or us.

That was no skin off my nose. In my opinion, the woman was up her own backside.

“Moira,” I said in answer to Duncan’s question, making sure that Helena heard me and got my meaning. Ross was family, and as long as his beast never hurt anyone then, he was protected by our clan.

“Protective, aren’t you?” Duncan whispered as he walked by me.

“I came to see your Gran, Maggie. Tell the man,” Ross bit out, and I could see that he was none too happy.

“But does Fiona want to see you?” I heard Duncan say as he marched Ross towards the door.

“I wondered when you’d come,” Gran said.

“See, expected,” Ross bit out as if he was dying to go a few rounds with the man.

The alpha gene in men was a wonderful thing – not.

“I still need to interview you, Mrs. McFae,” Jack put in his bid, and Gran’s eyes flicked to me.

“Why don’t I answer some of those questions you’ve been dying to ask me, first?” I offered, waving my imaginary red flag right in front of him like he was a bull. Bull-headed.

I could see him considering it, so, I did what Isla suggested and pushed my girls out. Jack blustered.

“I do have a few…” he started, and I mentally groaned.

Still, I couldn’t really expect Jack not to be male, now could I?

 

~

 

“This sign,” Jack flicked through the photo’s on his mobile, before flipping it in my direction, and I knew what I was going to see even before the picture flipped over and corrected itself. I’de seen it for myself at Leonna’s house.

“It’s not a sign…”

“Symbol, magic emblem…”

“It’s several symbols together.” I reached for the phone, and he snatched it back. “Like a dog with a bone. I’m not going to keep it, you numpty.”

“There are some photo’s on here that you don’t want to see,” Jack said, and I got the idea.

“Leonna…”

“The scene, but it’s a little distressing…”

“For a girl?”

“For anyone, Maggie. I’ve seen a lot, and it still turns my stomach sometimes,” he said, looking suitably genuine.

He was probably right. None of us knew how we would react to death.

“Well, you hold it, and I’ll point,” I teased him.

I did just that, but when his hand moved, I admit, I stupidly touched him to hold it still. His skin was warm and soft, nothing like the man himself then, with his rough around the edges character.

Still, I regretted that moment’s touch because it made something that wasn’t my magic burn a little brighter within me.

“That there,” I pointed and waited for him to look back at the picture. I hadn’t looked at him, but I could still feel his eyes on me. “That’s the symbol for Water. That one is Air. That’s Fire, and that one is Earth.”

“Those are all elements,” he said, and I was impressed.

“You’ve read Eileen’s book.”

“Google is my friend,” he admitted. “Your sister’s book is…”

“Compulsory reading for all witches…”

“Really?”

“No.”

I looked at him then, with a big old teasing grin on my face, and regretted it immediately. He was close, so close that if he hadn’t of been him, and I hadn’t of been me then we could have quite easily kissed.

That thought shouldn’t have thrilled and excited me as much as it did, but the man was a sex God. I suppose there was an attraction there. I might have liked to deny it, and yet, I couldn’t seem to brush it away like I had on my hands the other day.

We hadn’t yet begun, so how could we be finished?

“The…” he tried, bless him, but he seemed just as lost in my eyes as I felt in his.

“The?” I urged him on, snapping my gaze back down to the picture with a brain like mush.

“Other – one?”

“Other symbol?” I played for time. Did I really want to tell him what that symbol meant?

I knew it was old magic, and it might even have been lost in the pages of Eileen’s book somewhere, but I think he’d be hard-pressed to find it on a search engine.

“Aye,” he still sounded a little lost.

I did contemplate kicking him in the shin. Pain tended to wake most folks brains up.

“A claim, but for what?” I shrugged my shoulders. I told half the truth. I was a cup half-full kind of a witch.

“Would your Gran know, do you think?”

“Probably not. You see, the thing with magic is that it’s very personal. There are symbols like the elements that denote the basics, but we can all incorporate elements of ourselves, of flair and uniqueness into our spell work. And then there are people that believe they know what they are doing who know nothing at all.”

“So, this could be someone playing at magic?”

“Aye, could be.” I lied, and I think he knew it because he went all quiet and narrowed his eyes at me for a wee bit.

“Interesting.”

“Yes, I am – it is,” I corrected myself, and I no longer wanted to kick him, but I did want to boot myself up the backside.

Talk about eejit.

“Indeed,” he grinned, and I mumbled something to my boots. “I’d still like to speak to your gran.”

“Look at the time,” I blustered. “It’ll be her off to bed by the time she’s done talking to Ross about him and Moira.”

“Moira?” He showed more interest than the gossips, and I had to wonder if he’d been thinking of throwing his hat in that ring.

Yes, the green-eyed monster jumped up and bit me, so sue me.

“You’ll be wanting your bed, soon enough,” I said.

“I’ve more stamina than that, woman-Maggie,” he winced as he corrected himself.

“And what makes you think that I needed to know that, Detective Mackie?” I blustered again because I was deflecting from his attempt to see Gran, from his attempt to make light conversation with me, and from the fact that my cheeks had gone hot and redder than a scarlet woman’s panties.

Jack grinned; it was a lazy grin that held my attention. It was also kind of cocky in the way that it was designed to make me hotter than the sun.

“I like to share,” he said, and those sexy eyes of his were sparkling with laughter at my expense.

“I’ll share a walk with you to the front door.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then, Maggie.”

Deflection complete – bonus points for me.