Julie Leto - Something Wicked

Regina’s smile was only partly reassuring. “Mundane witches are the backbone of our community.”

“Then why didn’t I know you and the others existed until six months ago?”

“Because the knowledge often does more harm than good,” Regina insisted, her gaze slashing toward the door. “Look at Rick. Look at what he’s become.”

“I can’t,” Josie said, “you’re blocking my way.”

After a long pause, Regina stepped aside.

Josie had learned about sacred witches like Regina—those who possessed real, active powers—around the same time Rick had, but the idea that such magic existed still boggled her mind. Regina could materialize from nowhere. She had the ability to produce deadly bursts of energy from the palm of her hand. It had been hard enough for Josie to swallow the fact that Lilith St. Lyon, Josie’s best friend and Regina’s younger sister, was a powerful psychic who’d recently mastered the ability to project her thoughts into the minds of others. And there were other witches out there who could conjure items from nothing, stop time, create doppelgängers and hold sway over the dead. Certainly made Josie’s skills with aromatherapy, candles and, to some degree, potions, pale in comparison.

But no matter their magic, none of the witches could find a human who did not want to be found, particularly a former cop with impressive street smarts. Luckily for her, Josie had been raised on those same streets. Her mother, a longtime con, and her various “uncles” of dubious blood relation had taught her a few tricks of her own. Together with finely honed computer skills and the ability to persuade just about anyone to talk to her and give her information they didn’t want to share, Josie had finally tracked Rick down. She wasn’t going to turn around and hand him over to Regina without giving herself a shot at bringing him home.

“Thank you,” Josie said, placing herself firmly in front of Rick’s door. “I won’t let you down. I won’t let Rick down. I promise.”

Regina’s amethyst eyes narrowed. “This isn’t about you, Josie. This is about Rick. You may care about him deeply, even think you love him, but he’s descended to a place you might not be able to rescue him from.”

Josie lifted her chin defiantly. “I won’t accept that.”

Regina seemed neither surprised nor dismayed. “Then accept this.”

From her pocket, Regina removed a necklace—a green stone flecked with red and set within a gold, heart-shaped charm. She handed it to Josie, who gasped at the instant warmth of the gem against her palm.

“What is this?” she asked, shifting so the dim glow from the single working hallway light washed over the pendant. “A Valentine’s Day present?”

Regina snorted. “Guess again.”

She pushed aside her impatience to reach Rick and looked down at the necklace a second time, running her finger over the reddish-green stone. “Heliotrope?”

“Very good,” Regina complimented.

Josie might not be a sacred witch, but her knowledge of magical herbs and stones was unsurpassed—when she could clear her mind of worry over Rick long enough to think.

“It’s also known as bloodstone,” Regina went on. “A stone of this quality is very rare and very powerful. We use them for protection.”

Josie eyed the Guardian witch warily. “You didn’t add a touch of something else, did you?”

“Well, it is nearly Valentine’s Day,” she replied, a twinkle lightening her unusual eyes.

It was Josie’s time to laugh derisively through her nose. “Last time I checked, the cherub and chocolate holiday was not on the official Wiccan calendar,” Josie charged.

Regina grinned. “Not the official one, no. But St. Valentine’s feast day is tied to pagan fertility celebrations. And since I now know exactly what you’re planning to do to entice Rick back to Chicago…”

“I’m not planning on getting pregnant,” Josie reassured her. Quite certain her mother had never intended to be saddled with a child and knowing the aftermath of such carelessness, Josie had been practicing safe sex since she’d lost her virginity. Without exception. She’d use every weapon in her feminine arsenal to entice Rick home to Chicago, but she would never resort to involving an innocent baby.

“Good to hear,” Regina said, patting her hand. “But I didn’t think you’d go that far. I just know that Wiccan holiday or not, romance is in the air this time of year. Use it to your advantage.”

Josie laughed. “That’s exactly what I intend to do.”

At one time, Josie had doubted she’d ever have even half the self-confidence of either Regina or Lilith. But since meeting Rick—and then losing him before they’d barely had a chance—Josie had tapped into a determination she hadn’t felt since she’d left her grifter mother and started her own life in Chicago. So far, the cockiness had served her well. It wasn’t magic that would save Rick. It was love.

She held out the necklace. “I don’t need amulets or charms. Rick will come back with me in spite of magic, not because of it.”

Regina crossed her arms, ignoring Josie’s offering. “You think so?”

Josie stepped closer and pushed out her words through a determined mouth. This wasn’t the time to show anything but strength. “I’m not your minion, Regina. I don’t have to do things your way.”

Regina eyed her keenly. “No, you don’t. I’m a Guardian, Josie, not a queen. It’s my job to protect and defend.”

Though Josie had practiced the craft as she’d been taught by her aunt and her grandmother—embracing the power of herbs, scents and stones because they connected her to the Goddess and to Mother Earth—she was just an ordinary woman. She had no real magic. No power beyond her own wits. And from the intense look in the Guardian’s eyes, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Josie swallowed thickly and placed the amulet around her neck.

“Rick is a mundane, like me. You’re part of the world I suspect he’s come to hate, for whatever reason.”

“You know the reason,” Regina insisted.

Josie shook her head. “Covering up for Mac and Lilith wasn’t enough to push him this far. There has to be something more. I’m going to find out what happened. And then, I’m going to bring him home.”

“What if you can’t?”

Josie sighed. She’d languished over this question every minute of every day since she’d set out to find Rick and stem the rampage he’d been on, hunting and killing the demons and warlocks better left to soldiers in Regina’s magical army.

“Lilith told me,” Josie admitted, hardly able to speak the psychic’s distressing premonition, “that I was the one who had to save him. Right after he disappeared, she tried using her psychic powers to find him and, instead, she saw me. She said if I didn’t succeed, he might kill someone who wasn’t supposed to die. And then he’d be lost. Forever. I can’t fail.”

Regina pursed her lips, clearly thinking over all Josie had said. “Lilith’s premonitions are terrifyingly accurate, but the future is never written in stone.”

She laid her hand on Josie’s shoulder, and then stepped back into the shadows. Her disembodied voice echoed through the dingy hallway and chased a shiver up Josie’s spine.

“You have one week. If you can’t stop him, we will.”

ONE WEEK.

One week?

Josie wrapped her arms tightly across her chest and leaned her forehead against the wall. She’d come so far. She wouldn’t stop now, not when Rick’s life was at stake. Any battle between the Guardian witch and the rogue cop would result in serious casualties. Stretching, she slid her hand, palm flat, against the door, hoping and praying he hadn’t escaped while she and Regina argued.