Page 14 of Warrior Witch

“Come with me now or die.”

Harlow threw her head back and laughed. The sound was slightly hysterical, but still filled me with warmth as she reached her hand toward the wall of water. Lightning arced from her fingertips, racing through the water and knocking the biker backwards over his bike.

In an instant, the rain stopped, and Harlow cursed as the water crashed down over her. Running her hands over her face, she stepped around the bike and crouched over the twitching form of the biker.

“I bet she’s saying something cool, like I told you I chose option C,” Addie whispered as we all watched in awe.

Harlow straightened and strode toward where we all huddled in the backseat.

“Should I have made popcorn for you?” she snarked, ruining the attitude with the affectionate smile she sent to the two beside me.

“That would have been great. Why didn’t you think of it earlier?” Lindsay asked, opening the back door so we could all pile out. He headed straight toward the trunk and pulled out a towel. “Here. Do your best.”

Harlow accepted the offering with a grunt.

“I think we need to take him with us. Can you guys move the bags to the backseat?”

I wasn’t about to argue with the woman who’d just dropped someone with lightning, but I was curious if they were in the habit of kidnapping people. Or maybe it was just a kidnapping kind of day. Either way, now the weather had cleared, it took a relatively short amount of time to move the bags to the backseat and the unconscious man into the trunk.

Once everything was situated, Lindsay looked up the nearest motel, and we made a plan to meet there. Harlow slipped into the driver’s seat and Addie called shotgun, so I squeezed in with the luggage as Lindsay mounted our new friend’s bike.

“See you soon.” He saluted and took off with a roar as we followed to find somewhere to dry off and get ready for an interrogation.

How the hell had my life changed so much in a matter of hours?

Harlow

The sun had just begun to sink below the top of the tree line by the time we arrived at the Roadside motel. Spells Hollow was only a few more miles down the road, and the urge to continue on rode me hard, but with the delays we’d dealt with, it would be dark by the time we arrived. It was better to take the time to figure out who this biker was, rest, and start fresh tomorrow.

The motel was a sickly yellow color. Its walls looked thin as cardboard with wallpaper straight out of the seventies. Groovy. It looked like the setting for every road trip serial killer mystery ever written.

Spoiler alert, it was always the creepy owner.

“I can’t believe this motel doesn’t have a pool,” Addie whined from where she’d flopped face down across the floral bedspread.

“We’re lucky this place had adjoining twin rooms, let alone a damn pool.” I huffed as I pulled a change of clothes from my duffel with shaking fingers.

While my explosion of energy on the highway had left me with some serious pep in my step, I was also soaked through and cold. It was just lucky Lindsay had taken the bike, or his splash back jokes would’ve been relentless on the ride here. Despite the Camry’s heaters running full blast, the cold had settled into my bones. A hot shower and cup of cocoa were in my immediate future. I couldn’t fucking wait to feel my toes again.

“You okay staying here a few minutes?” I asked her.

Without lifting her head, she flashed a thumbs up and snuggled up to a pillow. At least she couldn’t cause trouble if she was taking a nap.

After double checking the room’s locks, I left a trail of wet clothes to the bathroom and hopped in the shower. The water wasn’t anywhere near as hot as I’d like it, but it was enough to get my joints moving again. Once dressed in a pair of sweats and a loose tank top usually reserved for sleeping, I finally felt more like myself. I was squeaky-clean, and the build-up of excess magic I usually had bubbling inside me was gone. If it weren’t for the biker gang trying to kill me, I could skip to Spells Hollow.

A knock came at the motel room door as I was towel drying my hair. I stepped out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam as Addie hauled herself to the door to admit Lindsay.

“Lemme tell you, I think I understand bikers now,” he announced. “Like, I could get used to having something that powerful between my thighs.”

Addie made a gagging noise as she jumped back on the bed she’d claimed. “Ew. Please, say less before I have to surgically remove my ears.”

“You spoil all my fun.” Lindsay pouted at her before turning to me. “I’ve chained the bike to a tree at the back of the building.”

“Thanks. Hopefully, our ‘drunk buddy’ won’t get loose.” I said, chuckling at the memory of Lindsay and Kylen dragging his unconscious body inside past the motel owner.

“Kylen’s secured him. We got a name from his ID, by the way: Bruin. Not sure if it’s a first name, surname, or just one word like Cher, but it’s something.”

“How’s he doing in there?” I nodded to the adjoining room.

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