Warlock's Fate: An Andrew Moore Novel 03 Read online

  She sniffled, and let Katia go, “Speaking of heirs, he’s going tonight right?”

  Katia said, “I think so, I know he doesn’t want to, but he’ll do it. I think it’s silly, he’s giving them what they want.”

  She shrugged, “I bet it’s more that he’ll never see them again, or meet his sons. I imagine he feels like he’s leaving a piece of himself behind. Although, there is some guilt I think, for taking advantage of the female’s situation, but your right, they’re getting out of impossible situations for it, and will be grateful. I know I am extremely grateful for what he did for me, and the life I now have.”

  Katia kissed her, and to her surprise it lingered quite a bit and she sighed softly into her mouth.

  Katia said softly, “That’s tonight, and he’s got a few hours left with Samantha, why don’t we go track down Lilith, and take a special nap. Some new toys I ordered for girl time just came in this morning, we should break them in.”

  She giggled, “Sounds like fun to me.”

  So, they did…

  Chapter Eleven

  I woke to strawberry blonde hair, and green eyes.

  I groaned slightly as my back felt broken, but Samantha’s heal spell took effect. One day I’d beat her in a duel, maybe in a hundred years or so, I must have fallen badly. I rolled back up to my feet, and rolled my neck.

  “What did I do wrong this time?”

  Samantha said, “I just overwhelmed your shields, by hitting four different protection spells at once. Honestly, I’d say you could at least defend from ninety percent of the mages out there right now, and possibly beat eighty percent.”

  I laughed, “Good to know, so… only thousands of them can kill me now.”

  Samantha snickered, “That’s what we’re here for, you can defend against all of them long enough for one of my spells to take effect, or for Julia to tear their head off. Really, we’re aiming for the top three to five percent, there’s always someone better, and that goes for me as well. We’re stronger as a team. You ready to try again?”

  She looked at me sweetly, with her head tilted as she twirled some of her hair on her finger. It was totally cliché flirting, but… it really worked on me. It also meant she was trying to exit her comfort zone, which I found sexy all its own.

  “Yes, stop being distracting though.”

  She laughed, “Distraction is a valid tactic in any…” she trailed off as my phone rang.

  I pulled my cell phone out and answered it.

  “This is Andrew.”

  “Andrew,” a pleasant female voice caressed my name, “It’s Annaliese. I just wanted to touch base with you about our discussion the other night. I am now head of the coven here in Seattle, and you have my personal word you won’t be attacked, spied on, or harassed by my kind again.”

  I replied, “That’s good news, it’s good to hear from you as well.”

  There was a slight pause on the line.

  She said, “I have another offer for you, that peace you wanted, if you can get the mages and the shifters on board with some kind of peace treaty, I’d show up if given an invite. Also, I… am still getting a handle on the coven, and undoing some of the things that Arthur had in place, but I would like to get together with you after that, to discuss something of a more personal nature?”

  I replied, “I’d be delighted to see you again Annaliese, perhaps dinner, once you have the time?”

  She said throatily, “I’d love to meet you for dinner. Give me… a day or two, I’ll call you?”

  “Of course, I look forward to it.”

  She replied, “Me too Andrew,” and hung up the phone.

  I looked up at Samantha, not sure what just happened.

  “Did I just flirt with, and make a date with, an ancient vampire and head of a coven of vampires?”

  Samantha laughed, “Yes, pretty sure you did.”

  “You don’t mind?”

  Samantha shook her head, “No, she’d be a hell of an ally. I also had a good feeling about her, once we got past the faux pas of her catching me at using magic on her. Julia didn’t scent anything to indicate she was duplicitous, or bad.”

  I grunted, “So you’ve all discussed this already? What did Lilith say?”

  Samantha said, “Nothing bad, but she’s protected from Lilith’s mind reading, that in itself doesn’t make her bad, I do the same thing. We didn’t discuss you dating her, not exactly anyway.”

  I frowned, was I that transparent, or that much of a male slut now?

  She said, “You’re not transparent, or a slut.”

  My jaw dropped open, and she giggled.

  She said, “Okay, you do kind of have an open and honest face, it’s part of your charm. Seriously though, none of us are jealous, and as a lone power you need, we need, as many allies as we can get. I’m not saying you should date her for that reason, but it’s a consideration. There is also the fact we know you quite well, it was obvious you thought she was attractive in that meeting, at least to us.”

  I nodded slowly. I did surround myself with intelligent, smart, and intuitive women, as well as lovely, each in their own ways, so I suppose I shouldn’t be that surprised by any of what she’d just said. They loved me, and they knew me well.

  Samantha said, “Oh, it might be awkward, but Julia will be chaperoning your dates until you can get Annaliese in a pact of some kind.”

  Yeah, should have seen that coming too, and it made perfect sense.

  “Another duel?”

  She frowned, “Probably not, don’t you have to make another heir tonight, we should probably call it a day.”

  I sighed, they’d all been pushing me on it, and I knew they were right.

  “Do you want to come this time?”

  Technically, she could still walk away and nullify our pact, but we were mated now, and she was having my child. I trusted her, with everything. Wise or not.

  She shook her head, “I’ve got a new idea in magic I want to try and develop, something that will be very helpful to us now, and much more helpful in the future. I want to work on that, Lilith and Julia will keep you company.”

  “Can I ask what it is?”

  She shook her head, “No, but if it works, I’ll be sharing it with you.”

  I walked over and kissed her breathless.

  She said breathlessly, “Still not telling.”

  I laughed, “That wasn’t an interrogation technique my love. Just a see you later kiss.”

  She giggled, “Oh, right,” and she kissed me back…

  Jessica Duffy was nineteen years old. Her parents were just teenagers in high school, it hadn’t worked out between them, and Jessica’s mom gave her up when she was two, and put her in the system. Jessica grew up with a determination and dream to have her own children, and a large family. A long-held wish that started when she was five and had been given her first doll, and she’d never let go of that dream, even as she went through her teenage years.

  When she was fifteen, she started working and saved every penny for college. She knew she couldn’t expect her foster parents to send her to college, and was determined to do that as well. By the time she turned eighteen, she had over twenty thousand dollars saved up for college. It wouldn’t pay for Ivy league, but a four-year local college was well within her means with assistance from scholarships.

  Then her gynecologist had screwed up during a routine exam, and as a result she’d gotten scarring and would be unable to carry a baby to term, ending her number one dream. She was understandably angry, and had been approached by a lawyer who told her it would be an easy win in court, the least the doctor could do would be to send her through college, and get her money for damages.

  Of course, to win she’d need to pay for the lawyer’s services. She was told it was a sure thing, and believed him enough to put her college money on the line, for the promise of a larger payoff. She was angry, and wanted the doctor to pay for his incompetence, and for ruining her life.

  The ins
urance companies brought out their bright and shiny lawyers, and long story short, she lost the malpractice suit.

  So here she was two years later, no college money, no college, no chance to have a child, and she was living in a crappy one room studio apartment on the bad side of town. She couldn’t afford anything else with the job she was working, since she was saving most of her money again, to start up college two years late.

  I was supposed to offer her a shortcut, to both college, and giving herself back her dream of having and raising a child with love and stability. I’d also give her a large nest egg, and a very nice condo near one of the colleges. After all, once I knocked her up, concentrating on school and raising a baby would be more than enough to keep her busy, she’d need the money to support herself and my son.

  I knew I was restoring her dreams, although her own determination would have eventually given her back the college route. It also made me feel better about things. Jessica Duffy wasn’t a quitter.

  Jessica had a petite athletic body, like a gymnast, a cute pixie face that made her look naturally mischievous, and light brown hair with gray eyes. I also didn’t expect this to be easy, life hadn’t exactly been kind to Jessica, and my offer was probably a little too good to be true, even if it was, true that is. She would be skeptical to say the least. But, the divination magic hadn’t steered me wrong yet.

  I knocked on her door and waited. Lilith and Julia were down the hall and around the corner in the apartment building.

  “Who is it.”

  “Andrew…” I trailed off. Giving her my full name wouldn’t be a great idea, I wasn’t supposed to see her again after this, and it would make it far too easy for her to track me down. Then again, maybe not, I wasn’t exactly in the white pages, and the building my home was in was listed under a company name.

  She opened the door a crack, I could see the chain was engaged.

  “What do you want, I don’t know you Andrew. I have a gun.”

  I smiled, “Good to know. I have an offer for you…”

  “Not interested,” she said coldly.

  She’d have slammed the door shut, if I didn’t have my foot in the way.

  “This isn’t about your money, it’s about mine. I’d like to hire you for a special task.”

  Wow, I’d never thought of it that way before, but really that was about right. Of course, put that way it meant I was asking her to whore out her womb, but not really? I really hated this part of what I was, worse, there was a small part of me looking forward to it. She was much cuter than the impression I’d gotten in the divination, and much feistier.

  It was clear to me by now that strong women were very attractive to me.

  She said, “I’m listening.”

  I cleared my throat, “This would be easier if we were both inside?”

  She laughed, “I bet it would Casanova, now what do you want, two minutes or less.”

  Casanova? Did that mean she thought I was attractive? Not that it seemed to be helping at the moment.

  I said, “It really would be easier, it’s a bit of a shock. In short, I want to perform a service for you, give you college tuition, and I’ll give you a nicer place to live near the college. It includes spending money.”

  She snorted, “I see, what service, and what is this special task you want me to do to make all my problems go away. I’m assuming you’re not setting me up as your mistress.”

  It’d be so much easier if I could command her, to at least open the door, but pacts have to be made with free will. Better not to chance even that small thing. This was going to be awkward to say the least.

  “No, you’ll never see me again after tonight. The special task is to raise a child, the service I would perform is to repair the damage done to your body.”

  Her eyes widened in hurt and anger, “You son of a bitch, who put you…”

  Her voice cut off when I channeled balefire around my hand, green flames licked my fingers and palms as a small ball of roiling fire formed above it.

  “Magic. I’m not…”

  I got cut off this time, by her scream.

  She slammed the door against my foot twice in a panic, and I pulled it back, the door slammed in my face.

  “That went well,” I muttered under my breath.

  I looked around, no one had come out to investigate. I shrugged, cast a spell on the door locks, and walked in.

  She was rocking on the bed, that wasn’t a good sign, but at least she didn’t have a phone in her hands. She didn’t have that gun either. Her apartment was tiny, bed, couch, television, and a tiny stand up kitchen. But, it was spotless, clean, and tidy. I closed the door, and locked it.

  “Are you alright?”

  She snapped out of it and glared up at me, “You’re one of them.”

  I frowned, “One of who?”

  I slowly walked toward her couch, which was at least fifteen feet from the bed, and took a seat. I figured it was less threatening that way.

  She rolled her eyes, “The ones who took everything from me.”

  I asked, “Are you saying the doctor, or lawyers, had magic?”

  She nodded, “The lawyers.”

  I sighed, “Well I’m not with them, I’m their competition.”

  She looked at me, “How do you know that?”

  “Because I’m alone. The only one of my kind in Seattle, there are a shitload of the others. That’s actually why I need your help. One day they may turn on me or come after me, if that’s the case then I need a hidden heir to my power. One they don’t know about.”

  She snorted, “So where is he?”

  I tilted my head, “Where is who?”

  She rolled her eyes, “Your son.”

  “Oh, had I not gotten to that part yet? After I heal your scarring, we… it will be our son. That’s why I’m willing to put you through college, and give you so much money and a nice place to live. I know you’ll be a good mother, but you need the resources.”

  She frowned, “So you’ll magic up…”

  She stopped talking when I shook my head.

  “Old-fashioned way.”

  She turned red, and checked me out again.

  “You… you’re serious.”

  I nodded, “As you said, I’ll make all your problems go away, make it so you can have children again, and in return you’ll raise our son. It will only take the one time together, the magic will make sure you conceive.”

  She still looked a little freaked out, of course I didn’t blame her for that. It was really fucked up that mages were involved in her situation. Did they try to intimidate her or something? I wondered if that’s why she lost the case, did they use magic on the judge?

  I pulled out a piece of paper, and sent it her way with magic.

  “Read that, that’s… our contract.”

  She asked, “So I sign this or something?”

  I shook my head, “No, the magic will bind us in a contract, that’s merely so we both have the same understanding of what each of us owe to each other. The magic won’t work otherwise. I’ll warn you, the pact is unbreakable, if you try to back out after you’re healed, it wouldn’t be good, at all.”

  She sighed, “I’d be a single mother.”

  “Maybe. You can still get married, and have more children.”

  She snorted, “Yep, the men line up for single mothers.”

  “It happens.”

  She sighed, “Yes. I’ll do it.”

  I walked over and held out my hand. She hesitated a moment, and then reached out and took it. I evoked the spell in the amulet, and the infernal magic surrounded us and sealed us in a pact while Jessica fell over onto her side in an intense orgasm.

  Awkward as a description just doesn’t cover it. After she recovered, I healed her, set the heir spell, and we both stripped down and I took her gently on her bed. Don’t get me wrong, even bad sex feels good, but we didn’t really have a spark between us. No… chemistry. Despite the orgasm that primed her, our kisses were
a little flat. Mechanically, she knew how to fuck, it felt wonderful as our bodies found a rhythm together, we just didn’t connect on any other level outside the physical.

  Maybe that was my fault, the guilt I felt I mean, because she was the kind of woman I was usually attracted to. She had no power, but she was strong, stubborn, intelligent, and had a tight supple body she knew how to use, and an attractively cute pixie face. When we finished, I could see in her body language there wasn’t going to be a second time, which was fine with me. Then that made me feel guilty too, as if the least I could have done was connect to her in some way, given her a memory to remember, and I’d failed at that too. Stolen that moment from her because of my own guilt.

  This part of being a warlock really was a mind fuck.

  I put a packet on the side table.

  “A man will come by tomorrow morning, he knows nothing about our deal, or magic. He’s a relocation specialist that usually works for corporations, moving their high-level VPs around painlessly. He’ll have the keys to your new place, and arrange moving any of your stuff over there. There’s a temporary bank card in the folder, you just need to go into the bank and sign some forms, they’ll issue you a debit card, and the moneys and trusts will be set up. There’s also a number in there for a lawyer if you have any questions.”

  She said, “Got it. I feel a bit conflicted about this, but thank you.”

  I nodded, and got the hell out of there…

  Chapter Twelve

  Julia took one look at my face and pursed her lips. Then she pulled out her cell phone and sent a text.

  I raised my eyebrows.

  Julia said faux innocently, “It’s been almost a week since you checked the wards.”

  Her phone beeped, and she looked at it and smiled.

  “What are you up to?”

  Lilith giggled as Julia shrugged, as if she didn’t have any idea what I was talking about. Then shadows rose around us, and took us straight to Gina’s master bedroom in the cat shifter mansion.

  Julia kissed me, “Be back in a minute,” and disappeared in shadows.

  Gina said sultrily from the door, “Andrew, it’s good to see you again. You should visit more often.”