Page 74 of Blood Magic (Ariel Kimber 3)

Tyson moved even closer to my side until we were almost touching.

Oddly enough, I didn’t want to get back in the car. I wanted to get whatever this was over with so we couldthengo home. These people had been hovering in the shadows for a while now. It was time to see what we were up against here. It didn’t hurt that I really, really wanted to find Rain and if they knew something about him that they were hiding then the only way to find out would be to stick around.

Adrian held his hands up in front of him in surrender, his pudgy fingers spread wide. The jewels on his rings glinted off of the torch lights and I wondered if they were real jewels or fake ones. They were probably real. All of these people seemed to have more money than they would likely ever be able to spend in one lifetime. And they held onto things like furniture and probably jewelry as well and they passed it down the family line generation after generation.

“I meant no offense,” Adrian murmured. The small smile on his face was just a little too condescending for the words he’d said to be true.

Even without the smirk, I would have known he was lying. Another thing I suppose I had growing up with Vivian to be thankful for. Who knew? I guess she had had something going for her after all besides her impressive kidnapping skills.

“I’m so sure,” Tyson snarled. “Cut the bullshit, Adrian. Why are we here? Why have us bring her here just so you can insult her? What’s the point? To prove you’re an even bigger dick than we already know you to be? Mission accomplished. Can we be done with this now?”

I wanted to laugh because I couldn’t help but think about a meme I’d seen once about being a dick and how it wouldn’t make yours any bigger. I didn’t think this small, little bald man would have enjoyed hearing that come out of my mouth. I was learning that it wasn’t always wise to blurt out every thought that came into my mind. I could learn. Who knew?

“Now, now,” Adrian said in a voice that I was sure was meant to be placating. “There’s no need to be so rude and use coarse language. That’s no way to speak to me, and you well know it. I think we should take this little party inside where we can all get comfortable and I can have a chance to look the girl over and get to know her a little better.”

I shuddered. I didn’t want him to look me overorget to know me a little better. But, I was being brave and there would be no backing out now.

“I don’t think-” Quinton started.

“Sure,” I said, cutting him off mid-sentence. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can all go our separate ways.”

“Darling,” Adrian purred in a disgustingly sweet voice. “You will never be going your separate way. You are a witch and you belong with your people. You will always belong with us and as the guardians of our people, we will always be there to look out for your best interests. It’s our responsibility and something we will take great pride in doing.”

I was so sure. This man was absolutely not my guardian of anything and he could take his fake concern over my well being and shove it right where the sun didn’t shine. I did not need this man looking out for me. The rest of the Council I would make my judgment calls after meeting them in person. Maybe they would turn out to be decent people, but I had my doubts. Serious doubts.

“Well then,” he said as he stuck his hand out and gestured towards the motel. “Shall we? I know the others are eagerly awaiting your arrival. We’ve much to discuss and we are wasting time standing out here.”

Saying I was going to be brave was one thing. Actually going inside the motel with this man was a whole new level of bravery I wasn’t sure I was ready for.

I didn’t care who saw. I reached over blindly and felt for Tyson’s hand. I threaded my fingers through his and held on for dear life. He squeezed my hand back.

“Lead the way,” Quinton ordered in a low, unfriendly voice. I didn’t have to look at him to know his face likely matched his voice. Quinton gave good unfriendly.

Adrian looked around at all of us and beamed. He was having the time of his life and the rest of us were here to entertain him.

That pit in my stomach doubled in size and for a second, I debated the merits of bending forward and vomiting all over the small man just to get rid of it.

With my luck, it would land all over my brand-new boots and that would be a downright tragedy.

We followed him towards the motel, it was unavoidable.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Quinton led the way. Julian and Damien followed behind him. I walked behind them with Tyson on one side of me and Dash on the other. The Salt and Pepper twins brought up the rear, behind us.

I felt better knowing that they were with me and that I was not walking into there first. At least they knew who these people were. I, on the other hand, had no idea who they were and no clue as to what we were walking into here.

We followed Adrian to the third door from the right on the ground level. The dark green trim on the door frame was chipped in several places. In fact, the paint was chipped everywhere.

The windows were cracked and the one two doors down was covered up with a board.

A ratty, old doormat lay on the ground in front of the door. I had no idea what color it had started out life as, but it was now a dark, sickly looking grey and had several holes in places and it looked like it might be a little bit thicker than a sheet of paper.

I didn’t bother to wipe my boots off on it on the way into the motel room. I thought it might fall apart if I did.

The room we entered was surprisingly a lot bigger than I had been expecting it to be. A wall or two must have been knocked out at some point in time. Two motel rooms had been turned into one and it no longer looked like a crappy motel room.

The wall inside looked a whole lot better than the wall outside had. They had been painted a light coffee color and it looked to have been done recently. If my nose was working correctly, and it usually was, it also smelled like it had been painted recently as well.

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