The Moon Warriors Read online

The cat bows her head then her gaze flicks to Marcus and she freezes. Her hackles raise one hair at a time and she lets out a sharp hiss. I put a hand on her head and the hiss stops like she’s nothing more than a furry alarm clock.

  “I’m sorry,” I say to Marcus and open the door.

  Mushroom pads inside the open door but Marcus stays in place, peering after her warily. “Uh, that cat isn’t going to attack me, is it?”

  I shake my head. “She’s not a cat. Mushroom is my familiar. She’s actually really pleasant, she just gets crabby when she’s hungry.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Marcus says and takes one step forward before he pauses again. “Wait, familiar? As in she’s half human?”

  I nod. “Yeah, but she prefers to stay in her cat form. She won’t be any trouble for us.”

  He doesn’t argue again as I plod into the kitchen and pull a steak out of the fridge. I put it on a plate and set it on the floor. Mushroom purrs her approval and bounds forward, tearing into the food.

  “She really was hungry,” Marcus says, watching the tiny beast in all of her ferocity. “Will she tell I’m here?”

  I shake my head. “Her loyalty is pledged to me so I doubt it. I mean she won’t even eat without my okay, but even saying that, I can’t guarantee anything. She is a free being with a mind of her own so who knows.”

  Marcus leans his elbows on the kitchen island and glances around. “This place is cozy.”

  Mushroom looks up and a gob of food falls from her mouth. She meows once and Marcus freezes as if he assumes the cat is about to lunge at him for speaking.

  “She agrees,” I translate and Mushroom resumes her meal. “Come on,” I say to Marcus.

  I lead the way out of the kitchen and down the hall to my room. Marcus is uncharacteristically silent as he looks around again.

  “If you want a change of clothes, I have some old outfits of Ian’s in the closet.” I can’t even bring myself to look at the door.

  Marcus gets up and crosses the room so I distract myself by ruffling through my dress in search of one of my baggy, comfortable dresses when I hear the closet swish open.

  A moment later, Marcus says, “You really cared about him.”

  My hands clutch around the shirt I had been holding. “Yeah.” That one word has all the strength in the world to break me down.

  At the sound of my tears, Marcus is quick to react just like he had been the last time. He gathers me in his arms and I cry into his chest, not even noticing the natural odor that comes from a male going three days without a shower.

  He strokes my hair and I glance up at him, tears still in my eyes. Then he kisses me. His lips are soft and gentle as they press against mine and the next I know, we’re lying in my bed. He leaves a trail of kisses down my neck and I snake my hand up into his hair. When he meets my eyes, he freezes, as if he thinks he’s made some kind of mistake, but he hasn’t. I don’t want him to stop. I’ve only ever been with Ian and I want the memory to fall far out of my head.

  I pull Marcus back to me and press my lips to his as my fingers tug at the bottom of his shirt.

  “Talia, are you sure you—”

  “Shh,” I say and I urge him to sit up just enough to slip off his shirt before I move to kissing his neck.

  He lets out the slightest moan and I smile at the sound before I lift a hand to trace the band of his jeans. The skin on his stomach is warm, taut. The abs quiver under my touch and I take that as my cue to move forward. Not at all subtly, I shove my hand into his pants. He’s already hard and I grasp at the base of his penis, letting my fingers run its length to the tip. He shivers in delight and looks down at me through eyes narrowed with lust.

  “Did you really like this dress?” he whispers huskily into my ear.

  I shake my head and the tearing of fabric as he rips it from my body fills the room. I shiver as the cool air breezes across my bare flesh, causing my nipples to harden. Marcus sits back on his knees, admiring me as he undoes the buttons and zipper of his jeans.

  My breathing deepens as he pulls them down his thighs, revealing everything to me. His jeans land on the floor next to my battered dress and he lunges forward, kissing me again. One finger trails from my collarbone, over my left breast, across my stomach, and into the wetness between my legs.

  I let out a soft moan and my hands claw into his back. He flexes under my fingers, working his finger inside of me. He nibbles my bottom lip before he pulls his finger out of me and holds it up for me to see.

  He puts it in his mouth, wiping away all traces of me with his tongue. “You taste amazing, witchy,” he says and I feel his member press against my stomach before he readjusts and the tip prods at my entrance. He pauses then and I groan.

  “You’re sure you want to do this?” he asks.

  I buck my hips in response, taking more of his penis inside of me, until he gives up on the question and plunges himself the rest of the way inside. He thrusts faster and harder, panting in my ear as I writhe and moan beneath him, rising slowly to climax until I feel him orgasm, a burst of warmth inside of me, and I join him in ecstasy less than a second later.

  Marcus gathers me in his arms and kisses me on the forehead but neither of us speaks. In the aftermath of what we had just done, it seems almost too quiet.

  “Is it okay if I take a cat nap?” he asks at last, peeking at me with a small playful smile on his face. “No Mushroom included.”

  “That’s fine,” I say and smile back.

  I sit up, wrapping myself in the sheet as I sit on the edge of the bed, suddenly self-conscious.

  “Where are you going?” Marcus asks and by the sound of his voice, I can tell he’s already well on his way to falling asleep.

  “I’m gonna get something to eat,” I reply but he’s already snoring.

  I sigh and get up, pulling on a sweater and pair of leggings before I drop the sheet to the floor and trudge out to the kitchen. Mushroom, still in her cat form, is sitting on the kitchen island. As soon as I step foot into the kitchen, she tilts her head to the side in her classic way of saying, “You have some explaining to do.”

  I fold my arms across my chest as her gaze settles on me. “He’s a friend.”

  The head tilt intensifies.

  I sigh. “Okay, I don’t know what he is now. I met him three nights ago when…when I crossed the border.”

  Mushroom’s eyes go wide and she holds up her tail—her way of telling me to wait a moment—before she disappears from the room. When she reappears, she’s in her human form, cloaked in a simple white dress. She is painfully beautiful to look at with her golden blonde hair and rosebud lips. Whenever I see her like this, I wonder why she hates it so much.

  Humans…lie to others, to people like me. As a cat, I can see who they are inside, without their intentions getting in the way, she had said once.

  Mushroom folds her arms across her chest to mimic me. “Now, you were saying?”

  “I crossed the border the other night.”

  Her mouth falls open. “You didn’t!”

  I nod and hold out my tattooed arm. “I wish I could say that.”

  “What is that?” she asks, tapping her slender finger to my skin.

  “A binding spell,” I reply and poke at it as well.

  Mushroom glares toward the bedroom, fire in her eyes. “Did he do that to you?”

  “In a way,” I muse and when the fire in her intensifies, I add, “He saved my life.”

  “How?”

  “Well, I tried to figure out where Ian had been on the night he died, and well, it led me eventually to this underground black magic shop. Marcus showed me the way and when the dealer all but killed me, he made the deal to save my life.”

  “He’s Marcus, right?” she asks for clarification.

  I nod. “We can’t break the bond until we get back what Ian stole.”

  Mushroom cocks an eyebrow. “So, he was the bad guy in this whole thing?”

  “It gets worse,” I say a
nd lean against the counter. “The Old Demon we talked to says that the book contained secrets of how to permanently kill demons and witches…not to mention a variety of other things.”

  “The book wasn’t with him when he died?” she asks.

  “No. Whoever killed him took it.”

  Mushroom purses her lips. “It’s gotta be another witch.”

  “Marcus thinks so too but I don’t know who it could be. Who would kill Ian, and if it is another witch, why would they do it?”

  “They wanted the book. To me, it seems as if Ian didn’t work alone. Maybe him and another witch had a plan but Ian had second thoughts and the other witch killed him to keep him from taking the book away. Have you considered the idea of a partner? Someone equally able to cross the border with minimal to no detection?”

  My mouth hangs open. Everything is so clear to me now that it hurts that I haven’t connected the dots sooner. “Abigail,” I breathe.

  Mushroom tilts her head.

  “It’s Abigail! It has to be her,” I say and touch Mushroom’s shoulder. “The first night I was in the demon’s territory, she came looking for me over the border. I never knew she could cross but…”

  “There’s your answer,” Mushroom concedes, her amber eyes boring into mine.

  As if an answer from the Gods above, the doorbell rings.

  19.

  MUSHROOM’S EYES ARE too big again. I blink and that’s all the time it takes for her to return to her cat form. She jumps up onto the sink, peering out the window to catch a glimpse of whoever it is on the porch. Her ears flatten nearly instantly and my blood runs cold.

  The Council of Elders, alerted by Abigail most likely. Mushroom nearly flies off the sink and I scoop her up into my arms before running into the bedroom to shake Marcus awake.

  “Marcus! Marcus! We have to go!” I say, throwing his clothes at him one by one.

  “Wha-why?” he asks through his daze of sleep.

  “The Elders are here. If they see you, they’ll kill us both. We have to get out of here.”

  That bolts him awake and he throws his clothes on with too much precision for the speed he moves and slings his bag over his shoulder as I half-drag him toward the bathroom window. I encourage him to go first and I pass him Mushroom—to which he’s too shocked to comment on—before I finally pull myself through.

  We dash into the woods just beyond the perimeter of my house as the sound of the door being kicked in rings out into the silence. I don’t look back again as we dash through the trees.

  “Where do we go?” Marcus asks frantically and I notice Mushroom is still in his hands. She jumps free then and bolts into the woods.

  “Only one place to go,” I reply and begin to follow her. “Abigail’s!”

  “Why? She can’t help us. Need I remind you of her threat?”

  “She’s the one, Marcus,” I say. “The one who stole the book, the one who killed Ian, it’s been her the entire time.

  “Witchy, you have no luck for friendship.”

  “I really don’t.”

  A minute later, I’m convinced we’ve gotten a good enough lead to afford to take some time to breathe. Mushroom’s tail wags anxiously as she looks around, sniffing the air. I wait until the redness fades from Marcus’ face before I continue onward once again, letting my anger take control of me this time. When I reach Abby’s house, I don’t bother to knock, but instead, I kick the door in.

  Her home opens into her kitchen and she’s seated at her dining room table as if she had been waiting for us, but at the sound of the door, she leaps to her feet. Her familiar, an orange tabby named Chase, bolts for cover.

  “You,” I say.

  Abigail’s eyes are still wide as she makes an attempt to regain herself.

  “You killed him,” I say. “And it was you who sent that demon to try to kill me, wasn’t it? How could you? I thought you were my friend!”

  Her shock fades away quickly, too quickly as if it had never been genuine. “The power he had? It really goes to someone’s head, you know? The boy couldn’t make rational decisions on his own anymore.” She shrugs. “I did him a kindness.”

  “And what did I ever do? Huh? Was my friendship such a burden you felt the need to eliminate me?”

  “No idea what you’re talking about, my dear. Witches die on demon territory all the time,” she says and smiles, a bright twinkle in her eye.

  “You think I’m stupid, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes, hear it in your tone. When your lips curve into that little half-smirk, I just want to split your face. It shows off the bitch in you too well.”

  “Oh, honey, don’t you get it? Ian would’ve done anything for me, including die.” She tips her head back to laugh and I stand rigid in place.

  “I get it too well. I’m smarter than anyone thinks but I guess it doesn’t matter now, does it? I always liked you for your independence, but I just realized you don’t have any. You…dabbled with black magic because it was taboo, right? Because the Elders said it was forbidden like so many teenagers before you. Well, that’s the problem with sheep. They follow.”

  She holds a hand over her heart, pretending to be hurt by my words. “You can throw some knives, Tally! But you know, for all the names you’re calling me, it doesn’t matter. Ian saw something in me. Something he never saw you in. He was always super creative in the bedroom, especially when it came to names, but I don’t need to tell you that. You know for yourself just how wonderful of a lover he could be.”

  My vision flashes red and I can’t stop my body from reacting to it. I lunge forward, Marcus’ cries for me to stop somewhere in the background, but not near enough for me to make sense of them or care.

  Abigail laughs again, her eyes flashing ruby red as she throws out her hand, releasing a blast of energy that sends me flying against the wall. “Aww, sweetie. Are you mad that I took your boy toy away?”

  I gnash my teeth to try and ignore the pain that’s biting at me from my left arm, my shoulder, and the back of my head where the impact had been the greatest. “I’ll kill you.”

  “Will you?” she asks and closes the extended hand into a first. My guts feel as if they’re turning to liquid.

  I try to move to stop her, but my arms are stuck against the wall like shackles and I know that wherever Chase is hiding, he’s responsible.

  “I’ve learned a lot about witches and demons this week. A lot about what good and evil really means. Today’s the day you’ll learn the same and finally see for yourself that in the end, goodness always wins.”

  “God, don’t you ever stop talking?” Abigail asks sarcastically. “You always drive me crazy with that shit. It’s like, just close your mouth. No one wants to hear your speeches, no one cares what you’re thinking, and I just…” She holds her hand up to her head and swipes at her eyebrow before looking down at me again, her eyes blazing as red as the ruby around her neck. “No one cares.” The pain inside of me intensifies. It’s as if someone’s taken a blender to my stomach, my intestines, and my ribs and all I can think about is how much I want to die.

  “I was…only your friend…because I felt…s-sorry for you,” I rasp, sneering at her even through the pain. “Everyone else…hates you…th-that’s why you turned…where you did. If peop…people didn’t love you by choice…you’d force them to. Y-you did it to Ian. He never…would’ve gave a damn about you…otherwise.”

  Her heavy red lips turn up into such a sharp smile that I’m sure it has to hurt. “That’s where you’re wrong, I’m happy to say! He’s the one person I didn’t have to enchant.”

  “I…don’t believe you. I won’t,” I snarl, pressing my hand into the pain in my stomach to keep my focus on my ex-friend rather than the rising tide of nausea in my stomach.

  “The truth is always so bitter. That’s why you just gotta swallow it down. Besides, didn’t your Mama ever tell you to never lose your head over a boy?” Abigail sneers. “After all, he wasn’t everything you made him out to be. H
e was actually quite stupid, trying to pull one over on me? That was just no bueno.”

  I glare at her, a bit of blood running from my mouth to drip onto the floor as the information processes.

  “That bastard actually thought he could slip out into the night and I would never notice anything was amiss, but that book was everything. He just didn’t understand that by doing what he did, he put me in the position to choose, and it was never really a choice to begin with. He was a means to an end. So, I stabbed him in the neck and took back what was mine.”

  The rage comes in a swell of blinding grief and I try to lunge again but I can’t move. Chase’s magic is too strong so I resort back to words instead. “He turned on you…because the spell wore off and he realized…he’d rather die than be with an arrogant, stuck up, wannabe—” Another blinding flash of pain erupts in my stomach and as much as I want to finish that sentence, I can’t. I find it difficult just to breathe.

  Abigail is all smiles again as she watches every second of my suffering and I stare right back at her, hoping the Devil has a room specifically crafted for her in Hell. Then her gaze falls off of me and instead focuses on Marcus.

  “I wonder how compliant this pet will be,” she says, taking a slow step forward. “You know, for a demon, he’s really not that bad looking. With some work, he could be truly beautiful, like a statue. Imagine how good he would look with me. It takes so little these days to win a man’s heart. Just one kiss and he’ll be mine.”

  Marcus’ face twists at those words but he hasn’t been able to move the entire time that I’ve been immobilized. For the most part, his face has been impassive but as soon as he realizes the danger has turned to him, he’s desperate to free himself though he knows as well as I do that all the struggling in the world can’t break through magic like this.

  “You better not touch me, witch,” he growls through bared teeth.

  “Or what?” Abigail asks, tipping her head to the side so that her ridiculous pigtails fall sideways. “Seems you’d do better if you begged for my mercy.”

  Marcus scoffs. “That right? Well, I’d rather die than grovel to a witch, especially one as repugnant as you.”