The Twilight Before Christmas (8 page)

A wreath of holly meant to greet

Looks much better tossed in the street

Matt sat in his car with the heater running and his favorite CD playing low. Joley Drake’s unique, sultry voice had taken her up the charts fast. He loved this particular collection, usually finding it soothing, but it wasn’t doing him any good now. He gripped the steering wheel and stared up at the blazing lights of the Christmas tree in front of the cliff house. The fog was beginning to roll in off the sea, stretching white fingers toward land and the house he was watching. There were no electric lights in the windows, yet he could see the flicker of candlelight and an occasional shadow as one of the Drake sisters moved past the glass.

The passenger door jerked open, and Jonas Harrington slid into the seat beside Matt, shutting the door against the cold.

“Dammit, Jonas, you scared the hell out of me!” Matt snapped. He hadn’t realized just how jumpy he was until Jonas had pulled the door open.

“Sorry about that.” Jonas sounded as pleasant as ever. Too pleasant. Matt turned his head to look at his childhood friend. “What are you doing out here? It’s cold, and the fog’s coming in. You aren’t stalking our Kate, are you?”

Matt studied his friend’s face. He was smiling, looking amicable, but his eyes were ice-cold. “Of course I’m stalking Kate. Do you think I’ve lost my mind? That woman belongs with me.” He grinned to relieve the tension gathering between them. “I just have to figure out how to convince her of that. What are you doing here? And why didn’t I see the headlights of your car?” He glanced in the rearview mirror and noted Jonas had cruised silently up behind him.

“I ran without headlights, didn’t want to scare you away. What happened tonight? Why are they all upset?” There was no obvious accusation in the voice, but Matt had been around Jonas his entire life, and he recognized the underlying note of suspicion.

“What the hell are you trying to say, Jonas? Spit it out and quit beating around the bush.” Temper was beginning to flare. “I’ve had a hell of an evening, and you aren’t helping.”

Jonas shrugged. “I did just spit it out. They’re upset. I can feel it. All of them, every single sister. Does it have something to do with you and Kate?”

“What kind of question is that? Hell, yes, I want Kate. And yes, I’d do just about anything to get her, but I sure wouldn’t lay a finger on her if she didn’t want me to, and I wouldn’t
ever
hurt her. Is that what you want to know?”

Jonas nodded. “That’s about what I was looking for. I’d hate to have to kick your ass, but if you hurt that girl, I’d have to do it.”

“As if you could.” Matt tapped his finger against the steering wheel, frowning while his temper settled. “What do you mean, you can feel they’re all upset?”

“I’ve always been able to feel when something’s wrong with the Drakes. And right now, something’s very wrong.” Jonas continued to look at him with cool, assessing eyes.

Matt shook his head. “It wasn’t me, Jonas. Something weird happened at the old mill, and Kate was very distressed. She asked me to take her home, and I did.” He raked his fingers through his hair, not once, but twice. “I didn’t even have a chance to ask her out again. I was just sitting here, trying to figure out whether I should go up to the house and ask her what happened, or go back to the mill and try to figure it out.”

“There they are!” Jonas muttered an ugly word beneath his breath. “What the hell do they think they’re doing going out in the middle of the night with the fog rolling in?”

Matt could just make out the three Drake sisters swirling dark, hooded cloaks around them as they hurried down the steps. The fog was heavy and thick, an invasion of white mist that hid the women effectively as they rushed down the worn pathway that wound down the hill toward the road. Matt leaped out of his car, losing sight of them in the curtain of fog. He was aware of Jonas swearing under his breath, keeping pace as they angled to cut off the Drakes before they could reach the highway.

Jonas beat him to the women, catching Hannah’s arm and yanking her around to face him. “Are you out of your mind?”

Kate’s expression went from startled to troubled when she caught sight of them. “Matthew, I thought you went home.” She looked uneasily around her at the fog. “You shouldn’t be out here. I don’t think it’s safe. And neither should you, Jonas.”

Hannah glared at the sheriff. “Has anyone ever told you you have bad manners?”

“Has anyone ever turned you over their knee?” Jonas countered. “If you don’t think it’s safe out here, what are you doing running around in the dark?”

Kate indicated the heavy wall of fog. “It isn’t like we’re going to get very far in this stuff. We have an errand, Jonas, an important one.”

“Then you should have called me,” Jonas snapped impatiently. Hannah stirred as if to say something but Jonas’s fingers tightened around her arm. “I’m really, really angry right now, Hannah. Don’t make it worse.”

“Jonas,” Kate’s voice was placating. “You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand, Kate,” he snarled.

Matt immediately stepped between Jonas and Kate. “I don’t think you need to talk to her like that, Jonas. Let her explain.”

Kate’s fingers curled around Matt’s arm. “Jonas worries about us, Matthew. We probably should have called him.”

Matt didn’t want her calling Jonas; he wanted her to call him when something was wrong. And something was obviously wrong. Before she could pull her hand away from his arm, he covered her fingers with his. “We’re already here, Kate. Tell us what you need to do.”

Her sea-green eyes moved over his face. He had the feeling she could see more deeply into him than most people, but it was always like that with Kate. He tightened his hold on her hand. “Kate. You trust Jonas. He can vouch for me.”

Kate closed her eyes briefly. Matthew Granite was her dream man, and after he witnessed what really went on around the Drake sisters she wouldn’t even be able to sustain the fantasy of a relationship with him. She sighed but she squared her shoulders. Some things were just more important than romantic dreams. She took a deep breath. “Something was unleashed today, something malevolent. We think.” She looked at her sisters for courage before continuing. “We think the earthquake may have awakened it or at least provided it with the opportunity to rise. It was the shadow you saw in the globe, Matt, and my sisters and I saw in the mosaic. It’s very real, and it feels dangerous to us.” She stared up at him, clearly expecting him to laugh.

Matt kept his face completely expressionless. He knew the Drakes were different; some said they performed miracles, some said they were genuine witches. Sea Haven was a hotbed of gossip, and the Drake sisters were always at the forefront. But not Kate. Never Kate.

“So it felt dangerous to you, and the first thing you do is rush out into the night in the middle of one of the worst fogs we’ve ever had,” Jonas snapped. “Dammit, Kate, Abbey and Hannah might rush headlong into danger, but you usually show some trace of sense.” He hauled Hannah back against him when she tried to squirm away. “I’m not playing around with you, Hannah. Keep it up, and I’ll lock you away for the night.”

Hannah’s beautiful face radiated fury, but instead of taking Jonas to task as Matt expected, she was gasping for breath.

Abbey leaped to her side. “Breathe, Hannah, very slow.”

Hannah shook her head, fear filling her eyes. Abbey extracted a paper bag from her purse and handed it to her sister. “Breathe into this.”

Looking alarmed, Jonas wrapped his arm around Hannah’s waist to support her as she doubled over, clearly unable to breathe adequately. “What the hell is wrong with her? Should we get an ambulance?”

“Would you please stop swearing at her?” Abbey snapped. “Be very careful, Jonas, or I’ll ask you questions you don’t want to answer.”

“Shut up, Abbey, don’t you dare threaten me,” Jonas growled back.

“Stop it, all of you, stop it,” Kate pleaded.

Seeing the anxiety on Kate’s face, Matt stepped closer to her and put his arm around her. Hannah breathed into the paper bag for a couple of minutes and lifted her head. She looked ready to cry. “Abbey, if you want to take Hannah back to the house, I’ll go with Kate to do whatever it is you all think is so important.” He made the offer before he could stop himself. Kate was shivering in the cold fog. She didn’t need to be out on such a night. He wanted just to pick her up and take her home and lie down with her by the fireplace.

Jonas pushed back Hannah’s wealth of blond hair. “Are you all right, baby doll?” His choice of words should have been insulting, but the gentle concern in his voice made them an endearment.

Hannah nodded but didn’t look at any of them, still clearly fighting for air.

“Maybe that’s a good idea, Hannah. I’ll go with Matt and just look around a little, and you and Abbey pull out the diaries and see if you can find anything that might help us figure this out,” Kate said. “Matthew, are you certain you don’t mind? I want to walk around town and just get a feel for what’s going on.”

“I don’t mind. Are you going to be warm enough?”

“Just how dangerous is this, Kate?” Jonas asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” she replied. “I wish I knew. We thought if we went out together, all of us might be able to pick something up, but I already feel it. I think I can track it.”

Matt cleared his throat. “Track a shadow?” If they weren’t all so serious, he would be thinking it was a Halloween prank. He glanced up at the house. The fog was a heavy shroud, almost obliterating the house. He could see the lights of the Christmas tree, but only as pale, orange-glowing haloes distorted by the blanket of grayish white. He went still. The fog was changing color, darkening from white to a charcoal gray. Just as the fog had done in the snowglobe when he’d picked it up to examine it.

“The fog is bad, Kate. I’ve never seen it like this,” Jonas said. “Stay close to Matt. I’ll take Hannah and Abbey back to the house.”

Hannah stiffened and looked at Abbey. Abbey smiled. “We’ll make it home fine, Jonas. It’s just up the hill. We know the path.”

“I’m coming with you, Abbey, so don’t argue.” Jonas turned resolutely toward the house. “Matt, if it feels wrong to you, or you think Kate’s in any danger at all, get her back here and don’t let her give you any nonsense.”

Kate smiled at Jonas. “I never talk nonsense. You take care of my sisters because if anything happens to them… ”

“I know, I’ve heard it all before.” Jonas waved at her, and the fog swallowed them up, even muffling the sound of their footsteps on the path, leaving Kate alone with Matt.

She looked up at him. “You don’t have to do this, you know. I’m capable of walking up and down the streets of Sea Haven.”

Matthew stared down into her beautiful sea-green eyes. “But I’m not capable of leaving your side when there’s even a hint of danger near you.” He lowered his head slowly to hers, drawn as if by a magnet, expecting her to pull away, giving her plenty of time to think about it.

Kate watched his eyes change, go dark with desire, right before his mouth took possession of hers. It didn’t matter that the air was cold, and the wind chilled them, their bodies produced a remarkable heat, their mouths fused with fire. He dragged her against his body, his muscular arms enveloping her, holding her as if she were the most precious person in the world to him. He was exquisitely rough, yet impossibly gentle, voraciously hungry, nearly devouring her mouth, yet so tender he brought tears to her eyes. She had no idea how he did it, but she wanted more.

“You’re not good for me,” she whispered against his mouth.

His tongue slid along the seam of her lips, teased her tongue into another brief, but heated tango. “I’m absolutely perfect for you.” He tugged at her cape until her body was pressed tightly against his. “I was born to be with you, Kate. You’re supposed to be some kind of a magical woman, filled with the second sight, yet you don’t see what’s right in front of you. Why is that?” He didn’t give her the opportunity to debate, he just kissed her long and thoroughly.

Kate felt her insides melting, turning to a warm puddle and settling somewhere in her lower region as a frustrating and unrelenting ache. Her knees actually went weak. “I can’t think straight when we’re kissing, Matthew.”

“That’s a good thing, Kate, because neither can I,” he answered, his lips drifting into the hollow of her neck and back up to find her ear.

Heat pulsed through her, but she forced herself to pull away from him. He wasn’t for her. She knew that, and once he found out what she was really was like, he’d know it too. She might seem courageous and strong, but when it came to losing him, she knew she’d be very fragile. Starting up with Matthew Granite was a decidedly ridiculous thing for her to do. “Matthew, really, I have to find this malevolent shadow and hopefully help it find some peace or get my sisters to help me seal it back up.”

Matt silently cursed dark shadows and evil entities and every other thing that went bump in the night. She obviously believed they had let something harmful loose on the small town of Sea Haven. He was certain it was a pocket of gas; but if it meant walking around town with her at night, holding hands and kissing her every chance he got, well, hell, he was her man. He could do that. And he would even try to keep an open mind.

“Then let’s go.” He wrapped his arm around her. “I’ve got a flashlight in my car. This fog is really thick.”

“We won’t need a flashlight, Matthew. I have a couple of glow sticks. My sister Elle makes them. They work very well in the fog.” She pulled several thin tubes from the inside pocket of her cape and handed him one. “Just shake it.”

“I forgot about little Elle and her chemistry set. She blew up more missiles on the beach than any other kid at Sea Haven. Didn’t she get a full scholarship to Columbia or MIT or some other very prestigious school? One very brave to take her on?”

Kate laughed, warmth spreading through her. “They were very brave, but fortunately they turned out a remarkable physicist able to do just about anything she wants to do. Elle is a genius and utterly fearless. She’s not afraid to crawl around in caves looking at strange rock formations, and she’s not afraid of taking apart a bomb when she’s needed. Unlike me.”