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“No, I’m staying,” I answered.
Devin’s voice, when he finally spoke again, was laced with irritation. “Do as I ask, Bobbie Skye. Ye must. I can have Jeremy here terminate yer employment and thus, save yer life.”
“No, even if he does that, I won’t leave. I am going to help you. Look here, this Allora bitch hasn’t been here since she incarcerated you twenty-two years ago. According to Jeremy, you guys don’t even think the vampire yesterday was spying for her. So, if she hasn’t even checked up on MacLeod, then we have some time before she does. Right? Right. She wanted you to watch your home fall apart and into ruins. She didn’t know about your warlock brother-in-law here. So, she doesn’t know about me. For the time being, there are things we can do to protect ourselves and then begin the process of freeing you.”
Jeremy looked at Devin and they both sighed before Devin said quietly, “There is one thing ye haven’t taken into account. Surprise is something Allora does. When she cooms, we won’t be expecting it.”
“I will always expect it, so she won’t take me by surprise,” I answered. “Just give me a couple of days with the warlock, Jeremy, here. Let’s see if he can help me unlock some of my powers and then…we’ll see,” I told them both. “Besides, I do have some magical skills already and a brown belt in karate.”
Devin frazzled his thick black hair. “She is a stubborn lass.”
“She is also a MacForly,” Jeremy said thoughtfully.
I smiled. “There ya go. So, now, My Lord, you can go off and play with your pretty friend while Jeremy collects his things, returns, and we start the process of warding and training. Big schedule for today.”
“Play with m’friend…are ye talking about Loli?” He chuckled. “Is that what ye think I was doing? Nae, lass. I was helping her family and she has a habit of following me about, but why I should be explaining that to ye, I dinnae know. At any rate, I’ll get back to what I was doing and look in on ye later.”
He turned and marched off in something of a huff and I wondered at it.
What had I said? And why did the notion of him and the lovely Loli being an item disturb me so very much?
~ Nine ~
A NEW DAY LOOMED and it has been said by many people in the ‘know’ that if you can ‘make it’ in New York, you can ‘make it’ anywhere.
I think that is very true for mortals and immortals alike.
I learned a lot living in New York about human nature. I learned how to deal when given a lousy hand. I learned about immortals and all kinds of creatures that lurk about in and out of the city. By all that is witchy, I certainly have encountered any number of supernaturals willing to hurt or help, depending on their life experiences. I know the signs to look for.
The mission I have probably stupidly taken on, might, just might get me killed. I will have to look sharp and watch my back. However, I had no intention of giving up and going home. My grandmother raised my mom and my mom was the best of the best. Both of them would want me to free Devin MacLeod from a spell only our bloodline could undo. Besides that, I wanted to free him for reasons I couldn’t quite name.
A question came to mind. Was it a binding spell keeping him in his realm? Binding spells come in many forms. Earthly witches generally use their wand, or at the very least a familiar. I don’t use either…only my Shama, and my Shama wasn’t telling me anything until I had some training from another immortal witch.
Here is the trick. There are so many different types of binding spells and I would need the exact one my grandmother used in order to undo it.
I know a couple of earthly spells taught to me by Aunt Elle. They aren’t very strong and certainly would not hold up for years, let alone over twenty years, like the one holding Devin on the other side.
Right. So somewhere in my Shama was the answer and it was up to Jeremy to teach me enough to go back into my brain and find the answers I need. Ah, thinking of the devil, the library door opened and Jeremy stood, grinning and rubbing his hands together.
“Good morning, Bobbie. I trust you slept well?”
“Like a baby. With you down the hall, and his lordship on watch, I had no worries,” I answered, wondering where Devin was and if he was with Loli.
It didn’t take long for Jeremy and me to start our first session together, and as we worked on spells I had never even known existed, the morning flew by.
Then he decided we needed to do defensive training. He didn’t warn me.
He threw a ball of fire at me. I deflected it and smiled too soon as a snake wrapped itself around my ankles. I screamed and destroyed the illusion and put my hands on my hips and made a face at him.
He laughed. “Good, you are a very quick learner. Now, tell me, why do you call your magic your Shama?”
I frowned as I gave it some thought. “Hmm. Not sure, but I have since I was a toddler, and it stuck.”
“So, then, it was before you lost your mother?” he asked.
I closed my eyes. “Yes, as I said, when I was a toddler…maybe three years old. Mom encouraged me to store my magic in a safe place in my head where I could get to it when I needed, but never in front of glans— you know—humans.”
“Did your mother come up with the title Shama?” he asked, and he seemed intense.
