Yew Queen Trilogy Read online

  Regardless, the day was wonderful and oh so normal. Other than that ongoing sensation that someone was watching me, I loved rolling phyllo dough alongside Hekla in the kitchen. The layers came out just right, and the customers loved the zucchini and feta filling. Being here, with my friends—it was heavenly. My whole body relaxed as we finished the day with a round of ginger-spiced carrot cake cupcakes and another argument with Nancy Striffer about Hekla’s brother—both gals cared too much about real estate ventures.

  In the dim kitchen, I hung my apron up and grabbed my keys and Hekla’s. Ami had already taken off and locked up out front.

  “Want to go to my Krav Maga class with me?” I asked Hekla. She’d gone twice and loved it, and I kind of wanted to kick the shit out of some things and get some frustration and fear out of me. The bakery had done the lion’s share of helping me feel like myself again, but working out would really finish the job.

  “I could be talked into that. Is it okay that I’m just wearing these?” Hekla snapped the waistband of her leggings.

  “Totally. Can we walk?” Titus’s place was only a block and a few turns away.

  The stars twinkled overhead as we walked down Main Street, enjoying the painted pumpkins and garden gnomes that decorated the windows of Yarrow Acres—a fabulous plants, bath goodies, and general feel-good gift store. I stared at one of the gnome’s pointed ears, my mouth going dry. How much of our silly mythology had its roots in reality?

  I shook my head, determined not to think about it tonight. Tomorrow and the next day were for planning.

  Hekla nudged me as we approached the crossroads. “Some dude is following us.”

  My stomach dropped. I whirled.

  “Holy crap, Coren. Calm down. I doubt he’s like a serial killer. He might just think we’re hot.”

  “I’ve had enough of strange men lately. I want tonight to be you and me. That’s it.” I didn’t see anything in the shadowed streets or behind the maple trees that grew at regular intervals along the sidewalk. I led Hekla to the next street.

  “I get that.” Hekla smiled. “Bitches before bros, hmm?”

  “One hundred percent.” I linked my arm in hers, and soon we were in Titus’s gym, ready to kick some targets and generally make idiots of ourselves.

  Titus met us at the door and opened it wide, letting out a blast of hot air that smelled like a blend of armpit and plastic. “Hey, Coren! I didn’t know you were coming tonight.”

  “Me either. Spur of the moment. Hope that’s okay.”

  Titus nodded his head of bleached-blond hair. “Oh, yeah. And good to see you again, Hekla.”

  “You too.” Hekla eyed the heavy bags hanging from chains across the room and raised her eyebrows at the pile of rubber knives and boxing gloves near the far wall. Titus wasn’t the tidiest.

  He led us to a row of folding chairs. “Set your stuff anywhere. The rest of the class will be here in a minute or so. We’re doing a little escrima stick tonight.” He handed us each a length of bamboo and began showing us the Modern Arnis strikes, his feet moving expertly on the soft, black flooring that covered most of the gym.

  For an hour, Hekla and I laughed our way through trying to wallop one another in the knee and attempting to block strikes to the head.

  “Watch your control, Hekla.” Titus jerked his chin at us. “You don’t want to accidentally pop Coren.”

  I extended my escrima stick at an angle toward Hekla’s temple, pulling back to an open stance.

  “What about her?” Hekla frowned at the near miss.

  Titus grinned. “Don’t worry about Coren. She is wild, but she controls herself really well.”

  It reminded me of the last time someone had mentioned my self-control. I was suddenly very warm, and it wasn’t only because of the stick fighting.

  A stick to the elbow snapped me out of thoughts of Lucus and his bedchamber.

  “Ow! Hekla!”

  She threw her weapon onto the mats and rubbed my elbow. “I’m so sorry! You spaced out, girl.”

  “I did. It’s okay. Hey, let’s finish up here and take in that rerun of Shawshank Redemption at the Franklin Theater.”

  “Really?” She jumped up and down, clapping.

  She’d been asking me to go to something there for months on end. She was obsessed with the vintage theater. “Sure.”

  In the restroom, we washed all the important bits we could reach with damp paper towels so we wouldn’t destroy anyone’s nose at the movie. Freshened to a degree, we paid Titus a twenty dollar bill for the class drop-in rate, then walked the block and a half to the theater.

  At the window out front, I purchased two tickets only to turn around and see Hekla chatting it up.

  With Kaippa.

  Chapter 24

  I stormed over, my gaze locking on Kaippa, but my words were for my friend, a friend who had no idea she was chatting it up with a vampire. “Get away from him, Hekla.”

  How had he ended up here? He couldn’t leave the castle without my fancy aura nearby, so he must have been following me since I’d left.

  Hekla paled at my tone and immediately took three steps back. She knew I wasn’t playing. “Who is he?” she asked, ignoring Kaippa’s grin.

  “Bad news, that’s who.” I got in Kaippa’s face. “You don’t have a lure, asshole. So all I have to do is outrun you, and you’re magical toast.”

  “Good luck with that, human.”

  “Freaking out over here.” Hekla gripped my sleeve and stared at Kaippa. “Please tell me what on God’s great green earth you are talking about.”

  “Vampires are fast.” Kaippa grinned, showing his fangs.

  Hekla jerked, shocked at his teeth. His hand flashed out, and he snatched her before I could even think about moving. A smear of blood showed where his fingers held hers.

  Whose blood? What was he doing?

  I grabbed Hekla’s arm and tried dragging her away, but Kaippa just laughed and held on.

  Hekla’s face relaxed into the smile of a drunk. “I think I want to talk to him for a minute, Coren. Just a sec. I’ll go into the movie in a bit. ’Kay?”

  “Not ’kay. This dude is not a good guy.”

  Kaippa pouted. “I’m hurt.” He stepped close and whispered into my ear. “I’ll only take a taste, like I did with you. And then I’ll release her, and you can escort me back to the castle. Deal?”

  “No deal. I thought you were good to go. And how are you doing this to her right now without biting her?” I looked around. Where had the ticket booth lady gone? Where were all the normal tourists and locals milling about? The street in front of the theater had become a ghost town, and I fully suspected Kaippa of somehow rigging that right up.

  “That’s my blood,” he said. “It is a bit of a…how would you say it? A stiff drink.”

  “That just soaks through her skin and intoxicates her.”

  “Yes.” He raised an eyebrow as if I should have been impressed.

  If I ran off and tried to outdistance my aura’s effect on him, I’d be leaving Hekla in his arms. But surely, he’d run with me. I would take off toward the castle and hope he left Hekla where she stood, grinning like me during the last Wine Down Main Street event.

  I glanced at him, then I spun and took off in the opposite direction.

  Panting, heart racing, I didn’t look back. I focused on getting around the back of the buildings on Main so I could reach my motorcycle. I had the keys in my pocket. If I got on that, he wouldn’t be able to stay close enough to avoid turning to ash, right? But if he flew, said plan would not work. But would he fly out here where Hekla could see him? I guessed no one else would see him because that’s how it had worked with Lucus, Hekla, and my blissfully ignorant neighbor. But why would Kaippa care about Hekla seeing his bat wings? He wouldn’t.

  Damn.

  But my motorcycle was the only thing I could think of. All the other Main Street businesses were closed for the night, and even if I could break in, well, Kaippa could to
o. There was no getting away unless I made it to my bike and burned some serious rubber.

  Fumbling with my keys, I flung myself onto my bike, chucking my helmet because there was NO TIME. I jammed the key into the ignition and started the engine without a hitch even though my hands were shaking like crazy.

  “Please be long gone, Hekla. Please just run,” I whispered into the wind that hit my cheeks as I tore down the road.

  Passing the stuffed parking lot behind Gray’s bar and restaurant, I tried to look over my shoulder to see if Kaippa was nearby or, even better, a nearby cloud of ash.

  But I didn’t see him. At all.

  “Where are you?” I hissed as I rounded the corner of a dumpster and headed onto 4th Street. I raced down Main, rounded the square in record time, and zipped up 3rd, trying to lose him. My bike tore past Cherry Manor and its supposed ghosts, and the traffic light turned red. Before the minivan at the cross street could get its bulky self moving, I dashed through the intersection, running the light and praying no cops would make this even more difficult.

  I had to make it to Hillsboro and a long straight run where I could speed up. At the turn onto Hillsboro from Bridge Street, I veered around a Jeep and a green Porsche and hit the gas.

  Dodging cars and trucks and running red lights, I practically flew down Hillsboro with no chance to peer backward to see if Kaippa was on my tail. A siren started up.

  “No, Mr. Police! I have no fight with you, sir!” I called out despite knowing the cop barreling down on me couldn’t hear a thing. I had gone full crazy lady.

  Police lights flashed blue and red in my side mirror, but I didn’t slow at all. I raged down the street, heart racing as the Publix grocery store and Walgreens whizzed by in a blur. Then something else appeared in my side mirror.

  A swath of black. A grin.

  And then I was lifted from my bike and into the air.

  My beautiful motorcycle careened into the median and spun across two lanes, causing a lifted pickup truck covered in Confederate flag stickers to smash into a Range Rover.

  Kaippa’s fingers dug into my arms as he flew into the cloudy sky. A saucer of moon splashed watery light over his pale face and red lips. “Nice try, mage.” He snickered like me nearly killing him was a cute joke.

  “I almost ruined your day, vamp.”

  “Sure you did.”

  At least I’d drawn him away from Hekla.

  Kaippa was flying us back toward the castle, and hope lit inside me. If we returned to the castle, Lucus would rein Kaippa in. But Kaippa flew past the castle and set us down in the old cemetery. As we landed beside a crumbling tombstone, I tried to jerk away from him, but he held me as easily as I would a hamster. I did not enjoy being the hamster in this scenario.

  Frustration and fear threw words out of my mouth. “Just what is your plan? If you kill me, you’re screwed. I can’t exactly work a spell on the curse if I’m dead, dude.” I rolled my eyes at him, even though I was shaking and my knees were like two pudding cups.

  “I am not going to kill you.” The scent of decay rose on the October wind as he pulled me under the big tree that dominated the cemetery. Roots stretched through graves, literally uprooting the dead’s resting places. I shivered hard. “I’m just going to have a better meal than what your precious, stingy fae lord permitted. Yes, he will punish me when we return. I don’t care. I’d rather grab some pleasure and endure pain than suffer dull misery for another one hundred years.”

  I opened my mouth to snark back at the jerk, but a tremor rocked my body, and I fell, his fingers still tight on my arm. Magic sparked through me like a lightning bolt, unchecked power blasting through my veins. My heart was going to burst. My head pounded as my muscles clenched and spasmed. My teeth jammed together. I couldn’t see a thing.

  Was this it? The end of me? I knew zero about this magic hiding inside me, and I hadn’t even had the chance to figure out how to use it before it killed me.

  But as I lay flat on the cold cemetery grass, the spasms slowed, then faded, and my sight returned. My heart was still a rabbit running from my neighbor’s dog as Kaippa studied me.

  “You are going to die if we don’t get you to a mage to train,” he said. “Lucus thinks he can help you learn how to control this, but I don’t know. I think you need someone who has experienced this level of mage power.”

  Then he lifted me into his arms, and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it because I was still super weak. I couldn’t even lift my arm. I could wiggle a finger, so I raised the middle one and scowled at him.

  “If you hadn’t attacked my friend and me tonight,” I whispered hoarsely, “I probably wouldn’t have had this…attack or whatever it is.” My voice was rough, my throat raw.

  He snorted a laugh. “This isn’t my doing. This is all your magic. Would’ve happened anyway. You’re actually lucky I’m here.” And without warning, he ran a few steps, leaving the tree’s dark shadow, then took off, flying into the weak moonlight. “I can’t feed on you now. That’ll only finish you off.” A phrase in a foreign language pealed out of his mouth like drums and bells. Was it the vampire language?

  “Did you just curse in vampire?” I asked.

  Before I could hear an answer, my body gave up, and I passed out.

  Chapter 25

  I shot upright, panic clawing at my chest. When Lucus sat forward in a chair made of roots and wrapped in ivy, I realized I was in his bed. The scent of pines was everywhere. I inhaled and tried to keep my heart from exploding.

  My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. “I need water.”

  Lucus must have foreseen this need because a filled cup sat on the bedside table. He handed it to me, and I sucked the little pottery cup dry.

  “How long have I been out?”

  “Three days.”

  Blood slushed through my veins, fatigue and fear teaming up to ruin me. Hekla. The spell book. My plans. Kaippa. “But that means the spell book is open, right?”

  “It is.” A ghost of a smile crossed Lucus’s lips, and something like hope lit his eyes.

  “How am I alive if I had no food or water for three days?”

  “A combination of my magic and yours.”

  “I knew you were going to say that.” I blinked down at the green velvet robe I was wearing. A robe that was not mine. My mind was foggy, but worries sprouted like weeds. Hekla. Yes. Not a weed. My greatest pal. “I need my phone. Where is my phone?” I beat the duvet around my legs, searching wildly.

  Lucus’s hand appeared in front of my face. He was holding my phone. “Here is your communication device. It is magic too, but of a different sort. I used the square of power you had in your back pocket to give it more life.”

  My charging bank. Good. I had one hundred three unread texts. Ignoring them, I texted Hekla as quickly as my fingers would let me. She probably thought I was freaking dead or at least kidnapped by Kaippa. Titus and Ami would be worried. The whole town might have been looking. Yeah. Definitely. Hekla would’ve called the police. I swallowed, finishing my text.

  I am okay. Very long story. REALLY sorry I’m just now telling you. Just give me another day. Of course, I had no idea what was going to happen in that one day of trying spells, for God’s sake. What a batshit crazy life.

  “Where is Kaippa?” I asked. “What happened?”

  Lucus paced the floor, his hands behind his back and his eyes narrowed. His boots made a dull knocking sound as he walked over roots and across the stones, between the carpets. He moved so gracefully, making such little sound for such a big dude.

  “He has been punished.”

  “Ooh. Good. How exactly? He didn’t somehow go back for Hekla, right?”

  “He didn’t. I locked him in his resting place.”

  “What does that mean?” I shivered even though Kaippa deserved all the bad things for attacking my friend.

  “He sleeps in a stone coffin, a sarcophagus…something of that sort. I’m not certain what you would call it. My vines
strapped it shut for the time being.”

  My skin went cold, and I gripped the velvet duvet. “He’s locked inside a coffin.”

  “Yes.” Lucus spun on his heel to face me, his emerald cloak whirling. “Did you have another punishment in mind?”

  “I…no, that’s fine. I guess that’s what you do with vampires. He doesn’t need to breathe. Right?”

  “No. Breathing is a luxury. Did he feed off you again?”

  “I don’t think so. My attack happened before he had the chance, and I think he was pretty sure I’d die if he tried.”

  “Correct. You very nearly did pass. If you don’t learn to control this magic of yours, it will take your life.”

  I hugged myself, letting that info soak in. If I didn’t get some mage training, I would die. The magic had already almost killed me. This rosy new development meant I couldn’t work against Lucus and the others until I had my magic in hand. Because I didn’t want to perish. Raising my knees, I squeezed my legs, really glad I was still around. I liked me. More than I liked a lot of people.

  “Thanks for taking care of me,” I said to Lucus. Sure, he was doing it only for his own purpose, but still.

  “I did nothing aside from keeping watch over you.”

  “And possibly undress me.” I lifted the edge of the robe and raised an eyebrow. He grinned, and my heart turned over.

  My phone began buzzing like a swarm of bees, and I picked it up.

  Hekla, Ami, and Titus all were texting me.

  Since you’re not dead in that creep’s basement, I plan to murder you myself. What the F is going on? Hekla said.

  Titus had included ten red hearts with his text. Glad you’re okay. Just let me know who I need to throttle in your honor and get your tail over here asap so I can see you with my own eyes.

  Ami just sent three shocked emoji faces and a boatload of swears.

  Then Hekla texted me again. This might not be you. Tell me your favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer character.