Charmed and Dangerous: An Appalachian Magic Novel (Appalachian Magic Series Book 1) (17 page)

One of these days she was going to kill Tanner. He kept setting her up, and she kept taking the bait. She went to her computer, entered ‘tantric magic’ and clicked on the first hit.

Wow. She wouldn’t mind exploring a little tantric magic with James.

James. He hadn’t made it to history class after all. Callie kept picturing Theodora and James in the library. Something was up there. Hmm . . . She’d call him and make sure everything was all right.

When he didn’t pick up or respond to her text messages, Callie called Skye. “Let’s go for a ride.”

“
T
ell
me again why we’re doing this,” Skye said as they drove up Booze Mountain. “You’re being ridiculous, girlfriend.”

She shrugged. “I have a feeling.” She found herself holding her breath as they rounded the curve to his house.

“Well, lookie there.” Skye whistled.

An Alabama-crimson-red Corvette was parked in James’s driveway.

“What is it with that woman?” Callie asked, jealousy vile and hot in her mouth.

“Are you going to knock on the door?”

“No way. Aunt Mallory warned me not to chase guys. They hate that.” Callie accelerated as they climbed the last stretch of the mountain.

“Now you know how I feel whenever I see Tanner and Emily together. It sucks. Of course, it’s got to be ten times worse for you since James is your boyfriend. I don’t have any right to get jealous.”

“You can’t help how you feel.” She turned her car around at the top of the mountain and headed back down. “Your brother knows how it feels, too.”

Skye’s brow wrinkled. “Michael?”

“You can’t tell? He’s as ate-up with jealousy as you when he sees Emily with Tanner.”

Skye chewed it over. “You might be onto something there.” She heaved a loud sigh as she looked into the gathering twilight. “What a mess. Why does love have to be so complicated and illogical?”

“You got me.” She slowed down as she passed the MacLauren house again.

The curtains were open and lamps were lit in the dining room. Inside, Theodora, James, and his dad sat at a table. Theodora was at the head, laughing and spooning up food on her plate. James was in profile, head down as he concentrated on his meal. The scene was intimate and homey.

She had never felt so alone.
This must be how James feels sometimes.
Always the outsider looking in.

“Maybe this Theodora is some kind of friend of his dad’s,” Skye said. “Don’t work yourself up over this. Bet he calls you back after dinner.”

J
ames followed
his dad into the kitchen, leaving Theodora alone at the table.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed. He placed the dirty dishes in the sink and rinsed them.

Carter bluffed. “Thought you’d be pleased.”

“Get real. Why is she here?”

“I already told you. A job happened to come open in town, and when she called, I offered our place to stay until she gets on her feet.”

“Right. We all know Piedmont is an employment mecca.”

Carter found three clean plates and got out the forks. “You bring in the pie. Look, you know I’ve always liked Theodora. She’s missed you and wants another chance. I hope you’ll come to your senses and see how perfect you two are together.”

“Stop it. What I really need to know is how she weaseled her way into this job at the college. A librarian? Really?”

Carter shrugged. “You know how persuasive she can be. A real go-getter.”

He frowned behind his dad’s back as they returned to the dining room. This was all too convenient.

“Dessert is served,” Carter announced with a flourish. “For your enjoyment, we have an apple pie by the famous Mrs. Edwards.”

“Yum. Dinner was marvelous, Carter.” Theodora helped herself to a slice. As she bit into the hot pie, she looked meaningfully at James. “Mmm” she murmured. “It’s
so
good.”

His mouth went dry, remembering hearing those same words during previous, more intimate encounters with Theodora. And by the knowing look in her eyes, she realized he remembered.

“You’re going to be bored to death living out here and working in a library,” he warned, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

“I don’t plan on being bored.” She took a second bite of the pie and then shoved the plate away. “Got to watch my figure.”

How different from Callie. She would have asked for seconds or thirds, he thought with a smile.

Carter spoke up. “I’ve always had a soft spot for this area. I spend a few years here every couple of decades. I appreciate that it hasn’t changed as rapidly as big cities like Atlanta and Nashville.”

“All I know about Piedmont is that one Palm Sunday, a tornado struck a church and killed a bunch of people during services,” said Theodora.

“That was back in ’94,” said Carter, taking a bite of pie. “The roof caved in and killed twenty people. Injured about a hundred.”

“How sad.” Theodora sipped iced tea and scanned the room, already dismissing the topic. Compassion wasn’t high on her list of attributes. “This place is nice but hardly up to the posh atmosphere of some of your past homes. Are you economizing this century?”

James shrugged. “Suits me fine. It’s a nice change every few decades or so.”

“I had enough rustic living in the first hundred years of my life,” said Theodora. “Thanks to the financial magic of compound interest over several lifetimes, I can live wherever I want now.”

“I was afraid computers and the Internet were going to be our downfall,” Carter said with a chuckle. “As it turns out, it makes it easier for us to forge documents and create new identities.”

Theodora raised her iced tea glass. “Here’s to existing as modern techno-gypsies. May all our stocks continue to split and may all our hidden assets continue to grow.”

A loud
clink
resounded in the room as they toasted.

“After all the poverty during the Civil War, I never thought I’d be a rich man,” James said, slightly shaking his head. “This house, modest by Theodora’s standards, is a mansion compared to the one-room shack I grew up in.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, this is a beautiful place,” Theodora said in a rush. “You have the hot tub, the chandeliers, the spiral staircase, hardwood floors, not to mention the stunning mountain views.”

“Anything more would have been too suspicious for this area,” said Carter. “Alabama’s not exactly a rich state, and Piedmont’s average salary and housing costs are below the state’s average.”

“Since we’re talking finances, I have a few questions for you, Theodora.” James set down his glass. “Considering you don’t need to work, much less know anything about libraries, why are you here? Piedmont isn’t exactly your kind of town.”

Carter gave a disgusted sigh and stood. “I’ll leave you two alone,” he said, taking his plate and silverware.

“Thanks for everything, Carter.” Theodora touched his arm as he walked by.

“Our house is yours as long as you need it.”

James sighed inwardly.

When she was sure they were alone, Theodora stared at him with seductive, hazel eyes.

“Isn’t it obvious? I came for you.” She put a hand on his forearm and softly stroked. “Ever since we split last year, I haven’t been able to forget you.”

He stared down at the familiar, dainty hand with its perfectly groomed nails and expensive rings. The suggestion of desire was in her touch. A touch he remembered only too well. He forced himself to move his arm down to his side, away from her caress.

“You could have anyone you want, anytime you want.”

“I want you.” Her voice was velvety-smooth and husky. She leaned her head to one side and ran her fingers through the strands of midnight-dark silk.

“Me and every other man that catches your eye. Last time I saw you, you were in bed with someone I considered one of my closest friends.” The memory effectively wiped out the traces of physical desire her touch had stirred.

Theodora managed a small tear. “I’ve changed, James. Can’t we start over? I came to this podunk town and this crappy job to prove I’m ready to settle down. With you.”

He laughed with no humor. “You’re almost a hundred years old and you’ve only now learned the meaning of commitment? Excuse me if I don’t believe you.”

“I have. I really have.” She pouted and ran a finger over her full lips. “Don’t you remember the good times? We had plenty of those.”

“Unfortunately, my last image of you involved you lying naked on top of another man. That tends to erase fond memories.”’

A flash of impatience blazed in her eyes. “Yes, you seem rather stuck on recalling that particular day,” she said with a clip in her voice. With an effort, Theodora collected herself and resumed a soft, intimate tone. “What I mean is . . . I’m sorry. It will never happen again.”

“I know it won’t happen again because you and I are done.” He stood and gazed at her perfectly lovely face. “Maybe Carter forgot to mention I’ve got someone else in my life now.”

Theodora threw down her napkin and stood. “A mortal?’ she said, nose crinkling. “And a witch to boot. Stick with your own kind, James. I can offer you something she could never give you. A love that will literally never die.”

She knew his weak point and honed in for the kill. Theodora wrapped her arms around his neck. “Aren’t you tired of college girls?” Her voice lowered to a whisper, and he instinctively bent down to hear. Their lips were inches apart. “Besides, I know how to satisfy you. Completely.”

Before he could step back, Theodora kissed him with all the expertise of a one-hundred-year old immortal siren.

C
allie tossed restlessly
. Grendel’s cold paws padded up and down her stomach every few minutes, making sleep difficult. The kitten was as restless as the swirling night air outside. The patter of rain and the sudden flashes of illumination from distant lightening ignited a primitive wariness in him.

“It’s okay, little one.” Callie stroked his soft body, but the gesture failed to calm him. A crack of thunder rent the air, and Grendel dashed under the bed.

She sat up and watched the rain sporadically pound the windowpanes in sheets. As thunder struck and lightening lit the sky with a white electrical charge, black tree limbs swayed under the onslaught. The effect was hypnotic. Her focus softened, and the pitch-blackness of the windowpane shifted and came alive with an image.

James’s handsome face took shape. He gazed down at something with rapt attention.

Theodora. She was in his arms and smiling up at him in a self-satisfied, feminine way.

Pain slashed through her. But what agonized most was not knowing if this was a scene from the past, present, or future.

The raindrops washed away the painful image like watercolor paintings melting on a sidewalk during a shower. But as that vision disappeared, another took shape. The drops of water fused and shifted until it formed a new scene worse than the first.

Men were engaged in physical combat. They attacked, clashing their broadswords like ancient Highland warriors. A battle from the distant past? She remembered James’s broadsword, and he’d said it was a traditional weapon with immortals even to this day.

Like a camera shifting its angle, she witnessed a group of people in white robes raising their arms in supplication to the night sky. Her coven?

She strained to carve out details and faces, but it was like trying to fine-tune an old black and white television screen full of static. The harder she tried to concentrate, the more it eluded her, until finally the static stopped and the screen went black.

Again, rain washed over the glass, and this time she saw herself standing by a grave. The view of the tombstone was from behind, so she couldn’t make out the etched name of the dead. Tears fell from the eyes of her future self, mingling with the present raindrops on the windowpane. She observed her future self raise an arm, holding what looked to be a scrap of paper. In the other arm, she held up a lighter and set the paper on fire. The burst of flame was brief and the resulting ash blew in the wind.

The view to the Other Side died as the flame burnt out. She was hyper-conscious of the sound of rain on the roof and her own rapid breath in the cold bedroom. No doubt the last vision was the future and the death related to the previous battle scene. She had tried to minimize her family’s fear of danger and hoped Lucas and his coven would leave her alone.

Now she knew the truth. A battle was coming, and someone was going to die.

And James might be lost to her already.

C
allie set
her lunch tray down and sank into the chair with a sigh. What a hellish kind of morning. It hadn’t taken long for word to get around school that Theodora Ansley was living at James MacLauren’s house. In the hallways, the girls’ room, and class, she was conscious of people whispering and looking in her direction, the conversations halting as she passed.

She picked up pieces of what they had said: “Did you hear? . . . Theodora staying with . . . Lucky guy . . . Do you think they . . .?”

She had kept her eyes down and focused on going about her day. Seeing James and Theodora together last night had been bad enough without the humiliation of the whole school gossiping about it. Her vision of them in each other’s arms replayed constantly in her mind.

“Chin up, girlfriend.” Skye slid into the seat next to her. “I should have warned you last night that James and Theodora would be the talk of school today.” She pulled the tab on her Diet Coke and dumped wheat crackers from a brown bag.

“Don’t you ever get sick of that lunch?” Callie managed a wan smile. “I would starve on nothing but crackers.”

“And if I ate like you, I’d weigh a ton. It’s so unfair,” Skye said, shaking her head.

Tanner and Michael put their lunch trays on the table and dug in with their usual enthusiasm.

“Well, are you worried about James and Theodora now?” Tanner’s tone was light, but his eyes were soft with sympathy.

Skye poked him in the arm while Michael shook his head slightly at his friend.

“Sensitive much?” Skye scowled.

“It’s okay.” Callie focused on the pizza. Her favorite lunchroom meal and she couldn’t enjoy it. She took a bite and chewed. Actually, she could enjoy it. Food was her go-to comfort remedy.

“Don’t mind Tanner,” Michael said. “You know he lives to tease. So what if Theodora is staying at his house? James has you; he’s not looking for anybody else.”

She was touched by his loyalty. For the first time today, a real smile tugged the corners of her mouth. She was being over-sensitive and grumpy from lack of sleep. After the disturbing midnight visions, she’d lain awake, unable to shake the battle sounds of clashing broadswords and the sight of the unknown tomb.

Skye was scowling again. Callie followed her gaze and saw Emily Singer headed their way with her lunch tray. Emily had an embarrassed, but determined, air as she made her way to them.

“Mind if I sit with you today?” She hesitated, glancing in Skye’s direction.

In the fraction of a second that Emily’s question hung in the air, Callie made a swift decision. It went against every witch code-of-ethics kind of thing, but in the grand scheme of battles and betrayals and death, what was a little push in the love spell department? She focused on Emily and silently willed the girl’s feet to move away from Tanner.

Emily stumbled slightly and sat beside Michael. A surprised silence descended on the group, but no one looked more startled than Emily who blushed and looked down at her food.

“Why aren’t you sitting at the mean girls’ table?” Skye asked with considerable hostility. “Aren’t you afraid Gina and your other friends will see you with the Goth Girl Weirdo?”

“Mean girls? What mean girls?” Tanner rounded on Skye. “Who’s the Goth Girl?”

Emily’s blush deepened and she said nothing.

“Leave her alone, Skye.” Michael was talking to his sister, but his eyes never left Emily’s face. “Emily’s not like those other girls.”

“What other girls?” Tanner asked in bewilderment.

Honestly, he could be so dense.

Skye blushed. “The girls who make fun of me all the time.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter in the least and crumpled up her paper bag.

“Who’s being mean to you?” Tanner was clearly outraged.

“It’s no big deal. I’m used to it. They’ve never liked me.”

“Gina and her gang of tag-alongs gave Skye a really hard time in junior high,” Michael explained. “She used to come home from school crying almost every day.”

“
Michael
! That was a long time ago. I don’t care anymore. Besides, they haven’t been so bad since you and Tanner became the stars on their beloved football team.”

Tanner shook his head. “They must be jealous.”

Skye looked at him, dumbfounded. “Jealous?”

Tell her
, Callie silently willed him.
Just tell her
.

“You’re the prettiest girl in Piedmont,” Tanner blurted.

Callie wanted to scream in triumph. She wasn’t sure who looked more surprised at the pronouncement, Tanner or Skye. It was all she could do not to burst out laughing. Nothing she’d done had made Tanner think or say anything not already there in his mind. She merely gave him a little push to speak up.

“Sorry, Skye. I hope I never did anything to hurt your feelings,” said Emily.

Skye swung her rapt gaze from Tanner’s face to stare blankly at Emily. “What did you say?”

“She says she’s sorry.” Michael said. “Like I told you, she’s not like those other girls.” He turned back to Emily. “Let’s take our trays outside for lunch and get some air.”

Callie watched them leave with a self-satisfied smile. She glanced at Tanner to see if he minded Emily being with Michael. She didn’t need to worry. Tanner and Skye were staring at each other, unaware of the drama around them.

Callie took a few last bites of pizza and rose. “My work here is done,” she murmured quietly, putting her water bottle on the tray and gathering her books and purse. If only she could easily smooth out the wrinkles in her own love life.

L
ast period history
was lonely without James. She hadn’t seen his car in the parking lot this morning or seen him at school all day, but she had secretly hoped he’d come for this class.

Callie gazed unseeing at the blackboard as the professor outlined the history of the Gulf War. Talk of war only made her think again of the upcoming battle in her vision.

For months, she’d deluded herself into believing her father would eventually disappear. She had buried her head in the sand and let her love for James distract her from reality.

And reality totally sucked.

Truth was, if not for her, there would be no battle and resulting death, and James would be free to love Theodora or find an immortal female.

Letting him go without a fight would be the right thing to do. More than anything, James wanted someone to love him and never die and leave him alone. The one thing she couldn’t give him.

A sudden thought chilled her. What if the tombstone in her vision was James’s? In a battle with other immortals, he was vulnerable to having his head chopped off. The one act that could kill him.

Getting mixed up with her was the worst thing ever for James. Callie’s vision blurred with tears. She knew what she had to do. If he didn’t break it off with her, she would have to end it.

She wished she had never left New Jersey and come to Piedmont. Never found out her father was alive.

A knock on the classroom door startled the professor.

“Come in,” he called out in annoyance.

A student aide entered and waved a pink slip. “Note for Callie Bradford.”

Her heart involuntarily skipped as she walked up for the note. A message from James? She opened the paper with eager hands. ‘
Meet me in the library--Theodora Ansley
.’

She sucked in her breath and gathered her books. Ignoring the questioning looks from Skye and Tanner, she followed the aide out the door.

The library appeared deserted, and Theodora wasn’t at her desk. Callie went to the periodicals and absently started thumbing through
National
Geographics
.

“Witch.” The word was a hiss, the sound of loathing unmistakable.

She dropped the magazine in her hands and found Theodora standing a mere foot away. How had she managed that trick?

“Who says I’m a witch?” She tried not to show that Theodora’s venom rattled her.

“I know everything about you, Caledonia Bradford. How your family thinks you’re some kind of special witch, and your father is a rogue warlock who wants you to join him in black magic.”

Callie stilled, instantly alert. “You know Lucas?”

Theodora’s face went blank. “Lucas?”

“My so-called father. Do you know him?” Her voice sharpened.

“No. I don’t associate with witches.”

Then James must have told Theodora about her family. The thought of the two of them discussing her hurt almost as much as the vision of them embracing. What else did James tell Theodora? She bent down to pick up the dropped
National Geographic
, needing a moment to collect her emotions.

Theodora laughed in a throaty, gleeful way. “And you’re practically a virgin—as pure as the
partly
driven snow.”

That stung so bad she forgot to breathe. Blood drained from her face. She closed the magazine and put it back on the shelf. “What do you want, Theodora?”

“I want James. And I intend to have him.” She crossed her arms under her much-admired, anatomically-gifted breasts and ran her eyes up and down Callie’s body. “What does he see in you? You’re an inexperienced little school girl.” Theodora shook her head in disgust. “Even worse, you’re a witch. Immortal men are usually gun-shy around your kind.”

“Then you should have nothing to worry about.” Callie tried not to show her surprise. This woman even knew about James’s immortality. And here she thought it was a secret between the two of them. “If you’re through insulting me, I’ll head back to class.”

Callie walked away. She was almost at the door when, for the second time, Theodora noiselessly appeared in front of her. That was one scary woman.

“Think of James, Callie. Imagine how devastated he’ll be when your mortal life ends and he’s alone again. Is that fair? He should be with his own kind.”

Fair? The question stopped her cold, in a way the personal insults couldn’t. “Are you telling me
you’re . . .
an . . . immortal?”

“I’m over a hundred years old.”

“But . . . I thought females were rare, something new.”

“The concept of new to an immortal isn’t quite the same as it is to a
human
.”

She winced at the derisive way Theodora said
human
. As if mortals were inferior creatures. Did most immortals share her contempt for witches?

“Well?” Theodora pressed sarcastically. “Don’t you see James would be far better off with me? I understand him in a way you never could.” She lowered her voice and shot straight to the crucial issue. “And I will
always
be there for him. Forever.”

She stared into Theodora’s penetrating eyes. Hadn’t she been thinking the very same thing in class? James needed someone like Theodora. But that didn’t mean the woman had to be such a damn bitch. Theodora had no right to slam her because she was a witch, and she certainly had no right to laugh at her sexual inexperience.

“About the semi-virginity thing,” Callie began. “I’m sure James prefers it to your hundred years of experience in the sex department. You’re like a doorknob—everyone’s had a turn at you.”

This time, Theodora stepped aside and let her leave.

The text message had arrived as she drove home. For the first time, she felt no joy in getting ready to see James. She brushed her long honey-cinnamon curls methodically and surveyed her sober expression in the mirror. “This hellish day keeps going on and on,” she muttered. Either he was going to tell her he was back with Theodora, or she was going to have to convince him she was wrong for him.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to relive the vision of the upcoming battle and the graveyard scene. Was James killed in that immortal fight? Someone was going to die because of her. She had to try and stop it. Today would be the first, and hardest, step.

She laid the hairbrush on the dresser. No sense putting it off any longer.

The climb up the mountain trail failed to charm her as normal. Each footstep brought her closer to losing James. The dread weighed on her physically, suffocating and heavy as a thick, wool blanket.

She saw him before he spotted her. He stood on the rock ledge, staring into space. His handsome profile made her breath catch. He pushed back a stray, dark strand of hair that blew in his eye. She knew him so well, down to the smallest detail. James was so perfect, so beautiful; it was amazing she even had him a brief time. He already seemed out of reach.

She hardened her heart and stepped forward.

J
ames smiled
when Callie walked out of the woods. But she didn’t return the warm welcome, just kept walking in his direction until she came to an abrupt stop several feet away.

He raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”

“Tell me about Theodora.” Her voice was flat, cold.

Ah, jealousy. That he could understand. He’d feel the same if their roles were reversed.

“I should have told you yesterday. Theodora’s an old girlfriend. I had nothing to do with her coming here. Dad has this ridiculous idea of trying to get us back together.”

“And what’s her reason for coming?”

He sighed. There was no way to get around it. “She has this crazy notion of us reuniting.”

“How hard are you trying to discourage her? I mean c’mon, James, she’s living in your house. It’s got to be tempting.”

The memory of Theodora kissing him in the dining room made his face heat with a guilty flush. He stepped toward her. “Whatever we had is over. You’re all I want, Callie.” He bent down and kissed her. Her lips, her body—it just felt
right
, something he never felt with Theodora. Her body softened against him, and the knot of tension in his gut relaxed.

She abruptly pushed him away. “You kissed her last night, didn’t you?”

“How . . . how did you—?” He realized his mouth was open, and he shut it with a snap.

“How did I know?” Her eyes narrowed. “I didn’t. It was an unlucky guess.”

He groaned inwardly. You would think at his age he’d have seen the trap. “It was more like
she
kissed
me
. And it didn’t last but a minute.”