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© 2014 Gem Sivad LLC. All rights reserved.

Blood Stoned, A Jinx story

Chapter Four

 

I drifted in an in-between place where there was no measure of time. Maybe I’d finally found my qi. The thought cheered me up.

I was alive but not really aware of much for a while after Hunter brought me to his camp. He held me and, from time to time, stroked my neck and licked my cheek. It would have been funny if I hadn’t been swaddled in a coarse woolen blanket that made me itch all over.  Cat-like, he couldn’t resist rubbing his skin against mine and petting me.

I could feel his worry. Even through my haze of pain it pleased me that I was the object of Hunter’s concern. I pretended to be totally oblivious so I could rest. Well, actually, I was totally oblivious for a time.

And there was that jaguar padding across my mind again… Jade eyes… I knew those eyes… Hunter has amber eyes. The jaguar batted me with a paw. Wake up. Huh, I blinked, trying to remember—anything. I’d been dreaming about a jaguar that wasn’t Hunter.

“Cold,” I mumbled. Hunter’s arms tightened around me and became bands of steel. My head weighed too much for my neck and moving my lips had triggered an ache in my jaw I’d been unaware of before.

“So, is she awake now?”

I wasn’t ready for conversation. Every part of me hurt. Groggily, I looked at Hawk and Lynx. They were sitting across the camp fire staring at me.

But it had been Dire Wolf who’d growled the question. I could see he was agitated. He’d sprouted fur as he paced behind  the log the other two sat on.

“You are better?” Hunter turned me in his embrace and I squinted at him trying to fumble an answer through stiff lips. Inside of me, the aftermath of today’s healing, bubbled, fermented and bloomed, promising a giant conflagration when I loosed it.

“Not dead,” I tried to joke, but the words emerged as a feeble croak.

“What happened?” I murmured, and then wished I hadn’t.

“She can’t heal Langdon Mars, again.”

Since the she being spoken of was me, I tried to turn my head to see which one of Hunter’s friends had offered this ill-advised opinion. Moving though, proved to be the wrong thing to do. Suddenly, cold turned to heat and an inferno roared through my body.

“Hunter, let me go,” I panted, squirming desperately as I tried to free myself. It seemed certain that any moment I would burst into flames; it was likely he would too, if I didn’t get away from him. I sat up and shoved at the cloth binding me.

Seeing my struggle, he grabbed the outer fold, and in one motion, unfurled the blanket, rolling me free of it.

My hands burned from within and I struggled to breathe from lungs that already felt charred. As soon as I hit the ground, I staggered to my feet. Hunter wrapped his big frame around me and I leaned against him, stumbling toward the back of the camp where I’d do the least damage.

Power continued to grow inside of me until I couldn’t contain anymore. Gasping for breath, I looked for a spot to direct all that magic. A boulder the size of a small horse stood in my path and for want of anything better to focus on, I slammed my hands on the slab of rock.

“Don’t touch me,” I warned, shrugging away from Hunter’s support. Leaning in with all my weight, I pressed my palms against the cool stone and attempted to cast out of me the malevolent power I’d harvested earlier.

“From me to thee,” I chanted in a hoarse whisper over and over again.

From me to thee… from me to thee… from me to thee… Like a tea kettle pouring boiling liquid, the vessel that was me, shaped the excess power and forced dark magic out and into the stone. Time was of no consequence. Had I been alone, I might have remained fixed to the rock long enough to lose my essence in it, leaving me no more than a pebble in the New Mexico landscape.

But—I wasn’t alone.

“Maggie. Enough.” It took Hunter’s harsh command to jar me back into this world. I found myself kneeling on the ground where the boulder had been.

My arms trembled from strain. I tried to open my fist but my muscles were too cramped. Cupping my hand in his, Hunter gently straightened my fingers until we could see what I clutched.

On my palm lay a green rock marbled with streaks of dark red. I’d reduced the boulder to a bloodstone roughly the size of a silver dollar. Even after I slipped it into my pocket, the rock continued to pulse and radiate heat.

*

Hunter had always known if he found his mate, whatever or whoever she was, he’d be content. He had never expected happy. But in one day’s time, the little witch had shown him joy greater than anything he’d ever conceived of; and fear bigger than he ever wanted to feel again.

He’d almost lost her. Dire was right. Although Hunter wanted to rip out the other man’s throat for trying to boss his mate, nevertheless, Maggie couldn’t be allowed to heal Langdon Mars again. She’d explained to him at least once during her long talks,  how she had no control over who she tended. Hunter knew how to fix that. From now on, he’d be the chooser.

“I’m hungry. Is their food?”

Lynx lunged for a plate, but Wolf intercepted him and growled, “Hunter feeds his mate.”

“Well someone feed me,” Maggie said, sounding exasperated. “I’m always hungry after a healing.”

Hunter slapped a steak on her plate and remembering that she ate vegetables, added one of Hawk’s potatoes.

“Thank you, Hunter,” she said when he gave it to her.

He didn’t understand why it bothered her when the others watched her eat; but he followed her from the campfire to the row of canvas shelters when she carried her plate there.

“Do you sleep in one of these tents when you’re here?”

I prefer your tree or a place in the wild. But he did use one of the tents and when he showed her which one, she ducked inside.

“I’ll get a lantern for you,” he offered when he followed her.

But it was unnecessary. A white light bobbed in the air making it easy for him to see her expression.

“What?” He asked because she looked both amazed and pleased.

“That’s a mage light,” she announced, pointing at the bobbing point of illumination. “I think this,” she held up the bloodstone she’d just made, “acts as a focus. I can feel the power in it. Here.”

He accepted the stone, but other than the streaks of red running through it, saw nothing remarkable. He smelled it and it still seemed nothing more than a lump of rock. Of course, he’d seen its original size, so that did make it special. Maggie reached for it at the same time he offered it back.

He felt the slightest pulse of heat and then, moving itself, the rock slid from his palm and into her hand.

“Magic,” she told him and grinned. “As my familiar, you’ll have to get used to it.”

© 2014 Gem Sivad LLC. All rights reserved.

Blood Stoned, A Jinx story

 

Chapter Three

Play Time

 

Obviously, contact with Hunter had benefited my magic. As if I’d been doing it all of my life, I created a big fireball, directed it to the center of the rock pool, and dropped it. When it landed with a hiss, steam drifted up from the water.  I tested the temperature, not wanting to cook myself any more than slide into a frigid pool.

“Ahhh…” Satisfied that I’d achieved perfection, I jumped in, deliberately making a big splash. As I slowly sank toward the stones lining the bottom of the pool, I captured a bubble of air beneath the thin chemise I wore.

Drifting downward, my hair fanned out above me and I gripped the material and held my arms stretched out by my sides, slowing my descent even more. The water was cool, not cold, and so clear, looking up I could see sunlight filtering through the sheer cloth.

As soon as my feet touched the floor of the pool, I raised my arms, released the cloth, and whispered the words to a charm I’d been practicing. It worked; a pocket of air surrounded me letting me breathe as I stood in absolute silence. I needed to think.

I cleared my mind of everything except Paddy’s bull and the identical marks on the dead animals I’d been asked to examine. I realized I’d been puzzling over the wounds ever since I’d seen them. Even without Sean Patrick’s assurance that there were no weeds or thorns in his paddock, I ruled out an encounter with a bramble bush because Sullivan’s flesh hadn’t been torn. There had been tiny cuts on his legs as though someone had taken a straight razor to the bull.The wounds on the fox had also been tiny straight cuts, different only in that the hair around each wound had been scraped away. A chill swept over me and a knot of fear formed in my belly as I remembered the noxious smell.

I was sure that no magic had been used. I was equally certain that the smaller animals had been drained of blood and Sullivan had been severely depleted. What sucked the blood from its prey?

A word whispered in my mind and I tried to shush it. I’d heard the stories about things living off the blood of others. Unbidden, an image of creatures streaming overhead toward their cave, popped into my mind.

Vampire Bats?  Surely not. How many would it take to deplete a bull Sullivan’s size? And would they attack people? I needed to find Hunter and share my thought. I hoped he’d discount the idea and would already have solved the mystery of the animal deaths.

I’d already pushed off, propelling myself back to the surface when ripples announced I had company. In another moment, a sleek golden body appeared and Hunter’s jaguar swam toward me.

He reached my side and bumped me with his head. Hoping I understood the invitation correctly, I set aside my worries, wrapped my arms around his neck, and let him pull me back to the surface.

I’d barely sucked in air before he dived, pulling me under again. I can’t remember ever playing and having so much fun. I chased him in the water, tagged him, went under, and swam away. He disappeared under the surface of the water, and reemerged beneath me to toss me in the air. We played all afternoon until I was so exhausted I dragged myself from the pool to stretch out on the rock ledge beside it.

The big cat climbed out as well, shook all over sending a cascade of wet drops flying, and flopped down beside me. Automatically I threw my arm across his shoulder, enjoying his warmth. Though the sun was bright in the blue sky above, evening chill had already begun to creep into the air. His purr of contentment made me smile and I scooted closer, using him as a pillow for my head as I closed my eyes. Meanwhile, the sleepless prior night caught up with me, and I slept. It wasn’t until much later that I remembered what I wanted to tell him.

When I woke, Hunter still cushioned me, although instead of my head on his shoulder, I’d draped myself across him during the afternoon. My nose, buried in his fur as it was, began to tickle. I raised my head and sneezed. “Sorry,” I mumbled and sat up.

The sound of his belly rumbling, reminded me I’d invited Hunter to supper. The eggs I’d been carrying to Willow Springs were still in the buggy. So were the rolls and the jar of honey. It would have to do. I looked at the big cat doubtfully.

“I didn’t make it to the El Diablo today, so I don’t have any fancy food,” I confessed. “But if you like, you’re still welcome to share supper with me.”

And just like that, he changed, wrapped his arms around me, and rolled onto his back, with me plastered over his body.

I might as well have been naked since my chemise didn’t offer much cover. He was naked. I stared into Hunter’s human face, at the same time I shared another kind of hunger as his arousal pressed against my belly.

He held my gaze and put his hand on my rump, pressing me down on the erection already cradled between my thighs.

“Don’t you ever talk?” I grumbled.

“Not well,” he answered and slid his other hand up my back to pull my head down closer to his. “Do you need talk?”

I thought of a hundred ways to say yes until his lips covered mine. After his tongue entered my mouth and our bodies fused into one being, I had little breath to spare for talk, but it didn’t matter; Hunter made words unnecessary.

I looked and tasted all of him, making him growl and groan. He licked and kissed his way down my body and made himself familiar with me too. While we played and made love, I didn’t notice how hard the stone ledge was we lay on.

But after we’d both found our pleasure, I slumped over Hunter, exhausted, satisfied, and sporting raw knees. I was content in body and ready to purr myself; but when my stomach rumbled, demanding food, he looked alarmed.

“Put clothes on, and we’ll eat at my camp.” He stood, pulled me to my feet too, and brushed his cheek along mine, before he changed and bounded toward the path leading away from my cabin where, I assumed, he’d left his clothes.

The invitation to go home with him was unexpected. I slipped into the water for a quick rinse off before I hurried to my cabin. It was a special occasion so when I emerged, I wore the blue dress Hunter had gifted me with. Granted, he’d only been replacing what he’d earlier destroyed, nevertheless, I favored the dress more than anything else I’d ever owned.

Hunter already had Clarence harnessed and ready to leave when I walked to the shed to get him. I’d been worried a bit on how I should act with Hunter now. I needn’t have worried. He was in cat form, curled up on the seat waiting for me.

As I drove the buggy, Hunter leaned against me and shoved his face in the wind, letting the breeze fan his whiskers. Watching him made me giggle.

I stopped laughing when we neared Willow Springs. “Darn it, Hunter. I have to go.”

He growled but I ignored him. My almost relationship was about to come to a screeching halt. Like I said before, I don’t get to choose who I tend or when it happens. As we neared the El Diablo Saloon my hands began to throb, and I knew what I’d sensed earlier to be true. Langdon Mars needed my attentions today.

The bar owner’s condition seems to be getting progressively worse, and though each individual healing temporarily replenishes him, the periods in between were getting shorter.

I know Langdon Mars, because his state of health was what called me from my last place of residence. And seeing that he’s not improving, I worry what will happen to him when I’m no longer here.

He’s an interesting patient. We have a reciprocal relationship. I’m a healer who can’t charge for my gift. He’s a rich business owner who needs my help to stay alive. But, I am never quite certain when I accept a gift of food he’s directed the El Diablo cook to provide, if I’m breaking laws governing magic.

As I mentioned before, Mars isn’t getting better. Usually, by the time I exchange all the malignant energy for positive balance inside him, I’ve harvested so much magical power I practically float out of the building.

It was dusk, but the crescent moon already hung in the sky as I parked my rig behind the saloon.

“You can go on without me,” I told the big cat when he jumped down from the wagon seat. He flashed his teeth at me and stalked away.

I shrugged and went inside preparing myself for a prolonged healing. If he was in a bad way, the magic I’d reap from Mr. Mars would be enough to put most fixers in an early grave.

On a more positive note, I wasn’t most fixers. If all things went well, Hunter and I would share a very nice meal tonight.

When I came through the backdoor, I immediately met the gaze of Langdon’s most popular dancehall girl. Looking glassy-eyed and feverish, Sarah sat on a beer keg, a full glass of spirits in her hand.

Either she was drunk from the night before or getting an early start this evening. Whatever the occasion, she’d changed greatly since the last time I’d visited the El Diablo.

Less than two weeks before, she’d been robust and healthy. Even seated as she was now, I could see her once voluptuous figure had become skeletal. And it must have happened quickly because she hadn’t visited a seamstress yet to alter her clothes, and that wasn’t like Sarah at all.

Instead of her usual elegant appearance, her dress bagged and hung in an unbecoming manner on her more slender form. She didn’t explain why she sat in the storage area. I didn’t ask. But, the evening’s entertainment had already begun. Through the thin walls, I could hear the tinny notes of the old piano and the shuffle many feet.

“Sarah, you look a might peaked,” I blurted.

She dropped her eyes and focused on the glass in front of her, twirling it around and round. I had no social skills and realized my inept greeting probably deserved being ignored.

Least said soonest mended. I headed for Langdon’s office door without commenting further.

“Stay out,” she said, finding her voice as soon as I changed direction. “The doctor said you’re not to treat Langdon again.”

I didn’t know he had a doctor. That was definitely startling news. But the way my hands pulsed and throbbed, it didn’t matter what Sarah or the doctor said.

I kept walking and she hopped from the keg, hurrying toward me as if she intended to block access to the office. When we collided at the door, she grabbed my arm. Her grasp seemed surprisingly strong for someone so obviously ill. I put my hands on her shoulders to hold her back.

Mother’s Mercy! The surge of death magic that jumped from her into me was staggering. I couldn’t speak, could barely breathe. Her eyes rolled back in her head, she moaned, and before I could question her about her circumstance, she slumped to the floor in an unconscious heap.

Though I’d arrived with the intentions of helping Langdon Mars, the healing magic pouring out of me seemed determined to pull Sarah from death’s grip. Hearing her struggle for breath, I fumbled with the plackets at her throat. Her opened collar revealed an ugly bruise marking her neck.

I grasped the front of the shirtwaist at the collar’s opening and sent one of the pearl buttons flying. After unbuttoning the rest and parting the material, I shoved the front of the blouse aside to inspect Sarah’s shoulder.

Sarah what got hold of you? Two deep wounds, surrounded by the lighter imprint of teeth marks, punctured her flesh. Her ripped and torn skin appeared bruised as well. I had no time to look more closely at other areas because already my fingers pulsed against the savaged flesh.

I hadn’t viewed my own shoulder wound when Hunter had first nipped me. By the time I’d had access to a mirror, the puncture had healed itself and disappeared. I had nothing to show from his mark other than an irritating itch that came and went.

As my hands sent healing warmth into my patient, I studied the width between incisor entry points, considering if the bite had been made by a jaguar. Even as I tended her, my stomach lurched at the idea of Hunter sinking his teeth into Sarah. Instead of horror, which I should have felt, outraged jealousy flooded me.

That was certainly an inappropriate and troubling emotion considering I was looking at a wound that might kill Sarah, and setting our recent coupling aside, I had no real claim on Hunter.

The rasp of her breath caught my attention and I focused. Good in… ugly out… Magic poured in waves from me into her. And then the ugly I harvested filled the vacuum inside me with power and more power.

I gasped for breath, my throat and stomach burning as if I’d swallowed molten iron; the terrible taste of dark blood coated my tongue, gagging me. When I tried to withdraw my essence from hers, I found we were bound soul to soul. I saw nothing but a red haze surrounding us; my hearing was reduced to the erratic thump of Sarah’s heart.

The beat of my own stuttered as her need pulled me into a tunnel of darkness, consuming me. I was me and yet not me as I swayed on my knees, bending low to cradle her head for an immeasurable time.

I was lost until the roar of a big cat jerked me out of the downward spiral. Jade eyes glared at me as a big paw scraped across my mind, pulling me away from the smothering death magic.

My heart resumed a steady rhythm. The pulsing in my hands ended abruptly, and I slumped to the floor where I lay stretched out beside my patient. I had no notion of her state. I couldn’t rouse myself enough to see if she was alive or dead.

When she moaned, I lost my concern for her health, and worried about my own. I wasn’t certain I could rise from the floor and leave. A door clicked open and I tried to turn my head to see who…

So tired… I’ll close my eyes for just a moment…

* * * * *

“What’s wrong with Maggie?” The snarled words woke me. I forced my lids open and stared into Hunter’s face as he lifted me from the floor of the El Diablo.

“What are you doing here?” I mumbled, trying to manage my thoughts as well as my thick tongue and numb lips.

“Waiting for you,” he growled. “When you didn’t come out, I came in.” I snuggled closer in his arms, grateful for his protection.

“Where’s Sarah?” I asked from the safety of his embrace.

“I’m right here, dear,” she answered and stepped into my view.

“What happened?” I felt fuzzy brained as I tried to remember.

“After you tended to Langdon, you were on your way out the door and collapsed.”

“And you?” I squinted at her through light sensitive eyes. If anything she was more beautiful than usual. One of the buttons near her collar was missing. Why that bothered me eluded my aching brain.

“I’m fine. No problems with the old condition.” Sarah made extra money by selling sexual favors to a select clientele. I’d once cured her of a bad case of the pox. But I didn’t think I’d meant that…

I couldn’t remember seeing Langdon Mars. I turned my head, pressing my face against Hunter’s chest and breathing in the scent of his wild magic. Though he made no discernible sound, I could feel the rumble of an unleashed roar beneath my cheek.

He’s in a rage. I could sense his leashed anger but he didn’t say a word more as he carried me across the saloon and out the back door.

I’d arrived at dusk, tied my buggy to the rail behind the saloon, and entered. About that much I was sure. After that, I couldn’t seem to account for my time because when Hunter stepped outside, I could see it was full dark.

The feedbag I’d hung on my horse before entering the El Diablo was gone. Clarence opened his eyes and cast a baleful look my way as Hunter carried me to my buggy.

“I didn’t get my basket of food,” I muttered. Per the owner’s orders, the El Diablo cook always sent a box of staples home with me. That reminded me that I couldn’t remember healing Mr. Mars; my hands were quiet, but my head hurt too much to wonder why instead of being filled with power, I was drained.

“Don’t need ‘em.”

“What?” For the life of me I couldn’t recall what we were talking about. What didn’t I need?

“Your box of groceries.”

Oh, that’s right. “I do need them,” I asserted. I almost remembered why but that thought trickled away too.

He ignored my half-hearted protest and propped me on the buggy seat. When it seemed as if I couldn’t hold myself erect, he quickly climbed up beside me, put his arm around my shoulders pulling me close before he took up the reins.

I closed my eyes and curled my body against Hunter’s, assured that he and Clarence both knew the way home. I didn’t open my eyes again until later. When I did, I discovered I wasn’t in my cabin. He’d brought me to his home—the camp where he and the other beastmen lived.

*

Something was very wrong with his rainha. Hunter cuddled her next to his body and tried to warm her flesh with his own.

He’d brought her back to camp because he needed help. He didn’t know what to do to make her better. His jaguar snarled at him, frantically trying to get out. But what could the cat do? For the first time in memory, Hunter was glad for human hands that could hold and stroke, rather than paws with claws that could tear and rend.