Page 20 of Stolen Magic
From the corner of my vision, I noticed Damian frowning at me. He never asked any questions about why we needed the call traced or anything else. All the druid knew was that our lives were in danger, and we needed to know where a call came from on the burner phone. Idly, I wondered how the druid managed to trace it, but it was a distant and a momentarily fleeting thought.
“He fooled me too, Allie.” Char beseeched me to stay calm with her gaze. “I believed he was sincerely asking who wanted to steal from him, as well.”
Damian again surprised us by not asking any questions.
The anger finally brought me back to myself, and I clenched my teeth. “If Dimitri Bell thinks I’m going down without a fight, he has another thing coming.”
“Didn’t he just become a member of MPO?” The first question Damian uttered was like a bucket of cold water dousing my rage.
And just like that, any hope I had of staying alive died.
Chapter Sixteen
Damian sent us on our way with a demand that Char called him as soon as we found a motel. He gave her a phone, one that definitely couldn’t be traced according to the druid, and a wad of cash he pulled out from under the desk in the basement. Our stealthy way of sneaking around turned out to be incredibly dumb since we’d used a credit card to book the motel room. I had no idea why we didn’t think of it, but there it was.
On wooden legs, I walked to the narrow bed on the right in yet another dingy room and plopped on the edge with a grunt. The duffel dropped at my feet with a heavy thump. On a good note, there were no extra odors in this one apart from bleach and laundry detergent. One of the walls, however, had a yellowish stain of an unidentifiable nature, and the mud brown carpet had a few rips fraying like sprouting grass on the floor. The second narrow bed had a bare mattress with linen dumped in a pile on top of it. Char busied herself with that while I watched her dispassionately.
“I’m sorry.” Her head snapped up when I muttered my apology.
“Why are you sorry exactly?” A line formed between her perfectly shaped eyebrows. I could see the strain and stress at the lines, which were more prominent on the outside corners of her eyes.
“For getting upset with you every time you called me daft, to start with.” Scrubbing a hand over my face, I sighed. “All of it makes sense, you know.”
“That you are daft?” I could tell she was worried that I’d lost my mind.
“That too, but I was talking about Dimitri. Now that I go back to that night when I stole the cursed book, it makes perfect sense, actually.”
“How so?” Forgetting the linens she was tugging over the mattress, she sat with one leg curled under her, leaning one arm on the still-unmade bed.
“A week before he made that call, he was accepted as an honorary member of the MPO.” Char’s eyes widened when she caught the direction of my thoughts. “What better way to show your worth than killing a witch in the first month of your membership? Well, he could’ve done it in a week, but I have a feeling he is toying with me.”
My friend was grinding her teeth.
“Both attacks were just added proof he needed that I was indeed what he claimed me to be. And like an idiot, I didn’t just confirm that I was a witch in plain sight, I actually did a spell a handful of witches from olden days were capable of performing.”
“I always told you that you are more powerful than you think you are.” A sad smile curled her lips. “He is not going to win this, Allie.” My breath caught at the determination brightening her dark eyes. “I won’t let him.”
“It’s a battle I don’t think we can win, Char. MPO wiped almost all witches from the face of the earth. What can one witch do against them?”
“You assume he announced his plans to his new buddies, my friend.” Doubt was evident on her face, but she kept going. “Dimitri is too arrogant to share anything. He would want to kill you first before parading you around like a pouched kill in front of everyone.”
“You and the Alpha are that close you know how his mind works?” My jab had the desired effect. She snorted.
“I know his kind.”
“Apparently you know many kinds I wasn’t aware of.”
“I deserve that.” With a sigh, she jerked back, hitting the mattress hard and throwing an arm over her face so I couldn’t see her. The dusky red of her blush was visible, however. “It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you because he is a druid, you know.”
“You don’t have to tell me now either, Char. Your life is your own, regardless of the fact that we are best friends.” I liked talking about her instead of my upcoming death, but I didn’t want her to feel like she was obligated to tell me everything. I lied to her about a job, for goodness sake. I had no right to demand any honesty from her.
“And this is why I tell you that you are daft, Allie.” Forgetting about her embarrassment, Char propped up on her elbows. “Me not telling you about Damian had nothing to do with you and everything to do with me.”
“You are half druid?” I squeaked, gaping at her.
“What?” Char laughed so hard that tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. “No.” Gasping for air, she rolled on the bed.
I glared. There was nothing funny about what I’d asked.
