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Chapter 2
Eamon
Daniewasn’tanythinglikeI expected.
On the phone, she’d sounded scatterbrained and scared, almost paranoid. I’d expected a mousy young woman, plain and unsophisticated. This woman was anything but plain. I sat a little straighter in my chair.
I had the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen in my office. She’d tried to obscure her perfect form beneath a dark green, oversized hoodie, and hidden her blonde hair in a braid that hung down one side of her neck, but no amount of frumpy clothing could hide her perfection from me.
She’d explained a few things to me on the phone but had refused to go into detail until we were in private. She’d specifically asked for a warded room with soundproofing. Unsure if her requests were warranted or due to paranoia, I’d asked her to come down to the Redrock Protective Services offices for a chat.
“Hi, I’m Danie.” She held out a hand to me. “Thanks for meeting with me.” She smiled awkwardly, but it didn’t do anything to lessen her beauty.
Wanting to put her at ease, I stood and reached across the heavy cherry wood desk to shake her hand. “I’m Eamon. Nice to finally meet.” I gestured to the leather high back chair across from me. “Have a seat and tell me why you need our help.”
She eyed the window warily, and I leaned over in my chair to close the blinds. The light in the office brightened to make up for the change as she sat down in the seat, her hands folded on the desk in front of her.
“It’s a long story and a strange one,” she warned, “but here goes nothing. It began a few years ago with the fall of The Wall. I found out that my mother wasn’t who I thought she was. She was much older than her proclaimed fifty-odd years. Much, much older. And she’d been using a spell to hide it.”
I took two glasses from the cabinet as she spoke and set them down on the coasters on the desk.
“I should have questioned how she managed to have me at her advanced age, but I didn’t.” She rolled her eyes. “I tried to deny all the bits that didn’t make sense. I pushed it back until I couldn’t anymore.”
“Water or whiskey?” I asked when she paused.
“Wa— no, whiskey. The story needs it.” She smiled wryly, then continued her story as I dug out the ice from the mini fridge and poured her a glass. “A few months ago, I found out that not only is she not my mother, but she’s a powerful sorceress who steals the bodies of young women so she can live forever. The hag has been around for hundreds of years, and lucky me, I was her next victim.”
I grimaced, and not from the whiskey. “Beings who use magic to live indefinitely are few and far between. From what I know, there are two types. One uses magic to extend the use of their body, while the otherismagic, their souls able to hop from body to body.”
She nodded as I spoke. “That’s her. The second one. She groomed me to be the perfect vessel.” She gestured to her body and her face.
I had to agree; she was perfect in every way. She sipped from her glass, leaving faint lipstick marks on the edge, which had me thinking about her leaving lipstick marks on me, which was totally unprofessional.
“Mother made sure I kept a perfect body and had a good education but no real-world experience. After the fall of The Wall, she had me practice magic but only taught me useless spells. It all makes sense now, but I was oblivious to it for years. I was so stupid and trusting.”
“She was your mother. Of course, you trusted her.”
“I found out just in time, too.” She took another sip, then leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “I left the first chance I got. I packed everything I could in my school bag, and when she dropped me off for classes, I ran.”
“School? How old are you?” I couldn’t possibly be lusting over a teenager. That would be totally wrong. She looked fully grown, a voluptuously gorgeous woman.
“Oh, I’m in college, not high school. But she treated me like I was a middle schooler. She dropped me off in the morning and picked me up every afternoon. I wasn’t even allowed to go to the library unless I told her. I’m not a child, though she tried to keep me as inexperienced as one. I’m 23.”
“I see.”Thank you!Wait. Why did I even care about that? She was a potential client, not a potential date.
“Anyway, she dropped me off for classes one day, and I took off. I went into our joint bank account, because I didn’t have my own, and I took out everything I could in a day. Then I bought a train ticket with cash and got as far away as I could.”
“And now you’re here,” I finished for her. I saw why she needed our protection. I also understood why she wanted a warded location; she didn’t know what she was up against.
“Here in Darlington? Yes. Here in your office? No. That was a while ago.” She looked apologetic, then nervous.
“Go ahead; tell me everything. The more I know, the more I can help you.” I smiled, trying to get her comfortable.
“Are you sure?” She wrung her hands, and the uncertainty and paranoia returned to her voice, reminding me of the way she’d been on the phone. “This—you probably think I’m crazy. I’m sorry. I should probably go.” She stood up.
“No, sit down,” I said, a little too roughly. I lowered my voice. “I don’t think you’re making it up.”
“You believe me?”
