© 2014 Gem Sivad LLC. All rights reserved. Blood Stoned, A Jinx story
Chapter Eight
Undoubtedly, sunrise had chased away some of the bats, but the thick ring of ash circling the ambit testified to how many of the blood-sucking creatures had died during the attack.
Waiting for the backlash of death magic to hit me, I sprawled limp as a noodle next to Hunter. But nothing more disturbing than the rumble of my empty stomach interrupted the silence.
The scrape of Hunter’s rough tongue along my cheek cleared a little more fuzziness from my brain and reluctantly, I staggered to my feet. I couldn’t stifle my groan, as every bone and muscle in my body protested the movement.
“I am really, really, hungry,” I muttered.
Clarence stomped his hoof, agreeing that breakfast was in order, the wolf bared his fangs, snarling at me, and the naked man crouching next to Hunter suddenly changed into a hawk, flapped his wings and flew away.
The other cat in our circle stalked closer and shifted, becoming Lynx, the man.
“Are there others like you?” he asked, ignoring Hunter’s rumbled warning.
I frowned, trying to figure out what he meant.
“I would have a mate too,” he explained.
“No,” I admitted wryly. Lynx, I realized, wanted me to introduce him to some of my witch acquaintances. It was the last thing I expected to hear from a member of Hunter’s pride. Usually the beastmen treated me with surly suspicion.
“There is the owl girl,” Hunter offered.
“Do you think the mating of a bird and a cat wise?” I asked, and frowned.
“She likes to play.”
The memory of Hunter playing with my friend Huza made my fingernails feel like claws. La Lechusa, The Witch Bird, had a siren’s call and had tried to use it to enthrall Hunter. He was proud of the white, long tipped, tail feathers he’d plucked when evading her. I, on the other hand, had an unnatural urge to incinerate his prize.
“Enough. I have other things to think about right now than matchmating.” I waved my hand as if to shoo away the subject and Hunter put a plate of food in it. Happily, I turned my attentions to eating. I tried not to explore why finding mates for Hunter’s pride members made me feel grumpy. Admittedly, their unique abilities made my life safer; a fact that was underscored when Hawk returned to camp. After he’d shifted into manform and put on clothes, he delivered his information.
“Nobody got hit but us.” He squatted by the fire and poured a cup of coffee, which he pointed at me before he took a sip. “I figure they were after the witch.”
Why would vampire bats choose a specific target to feed on? That made no sense. I started to denounce his idea as ludicrous when a pulse of heat from the rock in my pocket distracted me. I pulled it out and stared at it.
The bloodstone sat like a bloated tick in the palm of my hand. I no longer wondered where the death magic had landed as I studied the thick ropes of red almost obscuring the background color of green.
The power radiating from it frightened me. When Hunter sat down next to me with his plate, I used his presence as a distraction and lodged a complaint.
“Your jaguar invaded my dream last night,” I told him grimly.
Hunter looked away from me but not before I glimpsed his guilty expression. His silence wasn’t the correct response, though.
After creating and holding a protection charm to ward off attacking blood sucking creatures, Hunter’s deed or misdeeds should have been the last thing on my mind. My mild irritation suddenly changed to fury, washing over me and bringing out a cascade of complaints.
“Don’t go jumping into my dreams,” I said, poking him in the chest to emphasize my order. “Stay out of my head.”
Hunter grabbed my hand and pressed his mouth to my palm, scraping his teeth over soft flesh. I gasped and began to tremble; instead of pulling my hand away, my fingers curled up to stroke his cheek.
Before I could muster wits enough to scold him again, he moved from my hand to my lips… and kissed me silent. I didn’t realize I was sobbing until he began to rock me in his arms and comfort me. Now that I was safe, fear flooded me and my mind became a gibbering mess of what-ifs.
I shuddered, remembering the ugly faces with glowing eyes and white fangs that had stared back at me. Disgusting, vile, horrible… “I killed,” I muttered. Nothing good would ever come of that.
I thought of the boulder I’d dumped my harvested power into, and the amulet it had become. I’d used the bloodstone to focus my protection spell and power the fire that had saved us from the bats.
I didn’t know whether it was good or evil; I’d been glad enough to have it while we were being attacked. Afterward, I tucked the stone bloated with magic into my pocket and could feel the pulse of its heat on my hip.
I pulled it out again and held it in front of Hunter.
“What do you feel when you hold this?”
He shrugged and reached for it. The rock moved without my help, sliding backward away from Hunter’s grasp.
I halted its escape and put it into Hunter’s hand, closing his fist around it. “What do you feel?” I asked.
He turned it over in his hand, rubbed it with his thumb, and bounced it on his palm, before he handed it back and said, “Nothing. What do you feel?”
“Death magic,” I mumbled.
“Good mate,” Hunter grunted interrupting my self-recriminations.
“Hunter, it’s not good to kill,” I snapped, exasperated that he didn’t feel my remorse.
“Not good or bad if necessary.” He hugged me to him and nuzzled behind my ear, before he added, “Necessary is when it’s you or them dead.”
His practicality made it impossible for me to sustain my depression. Stripped of guilt, I pondered the event, considering what I’d done and how I’d done it.
We sat on the log in front of the fire for a long time. But when the coffeepot was empty and my nerves calmed down, I decided it was time to get on with the day.
That’s when I announced my intentions of going into Willow Springs to check on Langdon Mars. I’d thought our conversation private, but quickly discovered I was wrong.
“That’s a bad idea,” Lynx yelled across the fire at Hunter.
“The mate should stay here and regain her strength while we protect her today,” Hawk chimed in.
“Tell her no,” Wolf growled.
I ignored the opinions of the others since they’d directed their words at Hunter. His words I couldn’t ignore, though.
“Healing him made you sick.” Hunter’s contented purr had changed to a howl of outrage.
“I don’t need you to trail along when I do a healing,” Maggie protested.
Hunter clamped his lips shut, swallowing the jaguar’s growl; he was determined to avoid an argument. In fact, he had a feeling that not saying a word was his best strategy.
Cat didn’t stalk dreams, little witch. You came to me. Hunter’s jaguar rumbled his thoughts and on the seat next to him, Maggie jerked in surprise.
When she’d insisted on going to Willow Springs to check on Langdon Mars, Hunter and his crew decided they were going too. Hawk glided in the sky above Lynx and Wolf, and Hunter drove the buggy toward the man she was determined to check on this morning.
She opened her mouth to argue and then paused, turning to stare up at him with wonder in her eyes. “Did I just hear you speak to me in my head?”
It is our bond. Hunter met her gaze, using their link to communicate without moving his lips. And then, when she didn’t shriek at him or seem afraid, he held her hand and flooded her mind with the images of their hunt.
“I don’t understand,” she murmured. “I don’t have a cat living inside of me. I’m Maggie Jenks a healer.” The words echoed eerily in Hunter’s mind as he remembered her stubbornness in the shared dream.
Hunter bumped her shoulder with his, then slid his arm around her back, liking the way she fit against his side.
“Listen to me, Hunter.” Her voice was stern as she delivered her message. “The way my gift pulls me from pillar to post, I can’t form permanent relationships.” But her body curled closer to his, denying her words as they rode in silence the rest of the way to Willow Springs.
Hunter jumped from the buggy, tethered Clarence, and returned to lift Maggie from the seat once they reached the El Diablo. Before she could begin her protest, he swept her along toward the back door. They’d already had the argument and as far as he was concerned, she’d lost. Hunter would be with her when she healed Langdon Mars.
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