A Wizard for Christmas (6 page)

She’d been beaten halfway to hell and was exhausted. She didn’t need to battle her own kind, too. Though he hoped she didn’t notice the building tension in the café, he knew she wasn’t stupid. She had to have noticed the scowls and heard the angry whispers.

“You said last night that you didn’t stop the creature, you only traded victims,” she said quietly. “At the time, I didn’t understand what you meant by that. Did you know it would attack Justin Davies?”

“I had a feeling that once it had tasted one of our kind it would seek out another.”

“He traded Justin’s life for hers,” Kara shouted from the other side of the room. The woman had eagle sharp hearing. “How does that help us, Stone? How can she do anything for us? She doesn’t even know what she is. She hasn’t been trained. She has no magic that we know of. Justin was powerful and smart. Why trade him for someone who can’t even defend herself?”

There were grumblings of agreement.

“Hadrian knew what would happen. He knew the consequences of saving her. I call for Hadrian to be brought up in front of the council to answer for this crime,” Kara said.

Holly looked as if she was wanted to crawl under a table. But she didn’t. Instead she grabbed Hadrian arm and pulled him behind her as if she was preparing to go to battle for him.

Stone held up his hands. Silence descended. “I ordered Hadrian to do everything in his power to protect this particular New One. He broke no laws.”

“He killed Justin!” someone shouted. Hadrian couldn’t see who.

“We’re all targets now,” Stone said. “Regardless of what happened last night, we cannot change the danger we are facing today. Like it or not, we need Holly. She’s the key to stopping the beast.”

“Key, my ass,” Kara scoffed.

“Key?” Holly paled several shades. “I-I don’t understand any of this. Kara is right about one thing. I can’t stop that thing. Even if I wanted to I wouldn’t know what to do. You have to be mistaken. And what a grave mistake, too. I’m not the one you’re looking for.”

She weaved on her feet. Hadrian caught her as her eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed.

* * * *

“The beast has weakened her,” Holly heard someone say in a hushed voice. She peeled open her eyes. The room was dark. The shades had been pulled, and she’d been undressed and put in a comfortable bed. It took a while to figure out where she was. Her suitcase was propped up against the wall. That’s what had finally clued her in. Someone had brought her to the apartment above the café. “Feel her aura. She’s so weak. Has she been drinking the tea?”

“Yes, but I’ll have some more brought up as soon as she wakes.” Hadrian wasn’t whispering, so his voice wasn’t as hard to recognize as the man speaking in a hushed tone.

“Frank was right to bring her in.” The man sucked in a long breath through his nose. “She smells like an old one. That’s why the soul eater wants her. She’s a rarity. Her powers, if they ever emerge, will tap into the elementals of the universe. We could do so many wonderful things with her, but the timing is bad. I wish we had more time, but the soul eater won’t wait.”

“How are we going to train her?” Hadrian asked “It takes years to master some of the most rudimentary skills, and you’re talking about sending her into battle as soon as she’s strong enough?”

“We don’t train her,” the man said.

“Then we’re sending her to die.” Holly didn’t like how that sounded.

“Would it matter that much if she was sacrificed to save the rest of us? She’s not even a member of our community.”

“Not yet,” Hadrian pointed out. “But she is one of us.”

“A New One. We don’t know if she would ever fit in.”

“She would. Stone and I have been watching her. And she’s strong. She didn’t break right away. Even with all that negative energy flooding toward her downstairs, she didn’t break.”

“You have feelings for her,” the man said.

Holly held her breath waiting to hear Hadrian’s answer. None came.

“You can’t let your feelings blind you.” If he hadn’t been talking about her life—or rather, death—she probably would have thought it funny that the man with a hushed voice sounded like a bad actor in a corny sci-fi movie. “Her soul’s been too badly damaged. It may never heal. Let her go. There will be others for you to save.”

Holly spent hours staring at the ceiling in that apartment above the café while replaying the conversation she was beginning to wish she hadn’t overheard. Every couple of hours Jake would check on her. He always brought the same special tea Hadrian had made for her right after the attack. Sometimes he had a snack or meal with him, too. Hadrian had been right; the chocolate croissants were really very good.

Jake tried to be friendly. He stayed with her while she ate, doing his best to keep her company. But still, there was a grim mood hanging in the room. She had a feeling that if she tried to leave, she’d be stopped. Two days passed with no sign of Hadrian. She was beginning to think he’d taken the other man’s advice and given up on her.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, she was still locked in the one-room apartment. What a banner Christmas Eve day this one was turning into.

She was the sacrificial lamb being prepared for the chopping block. The beautiful breakfast Jake had brought made her wonder if they weren’t fattening her up so she’d be more appetizing for that blasted soul eater.

“Stone is going to come and talk to you this morning,” Jake told her as he put the tray of food on the apartment’s dining room table. Holly eased herself out of the bed. Her muscles still ached, but she was getting stronger.

“And Hadrian?” She hoped she didn’t sound too hopeful.

Jake frowned at the floor and shook his head. For the past several days, she’d asked about Hadrian. She’d gotten the same empty response every time.

“He is okay, isn’t he? I mean, the soul eater didn’t get anyone last night?”

Jake shook his head again. “We were lucky. It hasn’t killed since Justin.”

Why wouldn’t Hadrian visit her? Had he really given up on her?

“There have been several close calls, though,” Jake was saying. “And several of us are experiencing headaches. I think it’s using all its energy to search us out. Something has to happen soon, or else I fear the worst.”

She didn’t want to but felt compelled to ask, “The worst?”

“It will go on a killing rampage.”

“I thought Frank said it could only make one kill a night.”

“For some reason, the rules have changed from the last time this creature was in this world. It isn’t killing humans. It wants us. And it’s suffering because we’re hiding from it. Something is going to snap...and soon.”

Jake left her with that chilling thought. She was still chewing on it and wondering if she wouldn’t be better off venturing out into the city on her own. They seemed to be planning to let the beast eat her soul. She wasn’t sure how that would stop anything. If anything, it would make the creature stronger. And more dangerous.

There had to be another way...

She closed her eyes and her perfect fantasy family came into view. No. Holly opened her eyes and shook her head. She needed to stay focused on the very real dangers facing her right now. But oh, if only she could be with her family. They felt more real to her than any of this craziness. Wizards. Soul eaters. Insanity.

If she were with her family, she could join them as they prepared for the Christmas Eve festivities. Holly closed her eyes and inhaled the clean, piney scent of Christmas greenery as she escaped her prison and let the fantasy envelop her. There would be midnight church services. Her mother would dress in a dark green velvet gown. Dinner would be served early. And the little nieces and nephews would be anxious, bordering on naughty...as their grandfather would warn. They’d be looking at their watches and wondering, once again, why Holly wasn’t there.

“I should be at Priscilla’s with her family. Or with Karen and her mother.” She got up, put on her best dress, and ran a comb through her hair before packing her bag. “One thing is certain, I have no business here. I still don’t even know who these people are. Wizards? Of sorts? What did that mean?” Never mind. She really didn’t want to know.

Dragging her heavy suitcase behind her, Holly climbed out a small window that opened onto a ledge. She edged her way halfway around the building before dropping down onto the building’s metal fire escape. She tossed her suitcase to the ground and then climbed down the rusty ladder that moaned and groaned with her every step. She’d never been comfortable with heights. Her muscles quivered like a nervous bird.

The wind had picked up. Snow swirled in the air. It was going to be another frigid day.

“I was wondering how long it would take for you to figure this out,” Hadrian said. He was holding her suitcase and wearing a wonderfully welcome smile.

“It took me this long to give up on you.”

“Ah...the damsel in distress awaiting her white knight to rescue her?”

She felt her cheeks heat. “Something like that.”

“But you never needed rescuing, did you?”

“I heard,” she told him. “I heard what you said and what the other man said. You intend to sacrifice me to that...that thing!”

“Knowing all that, it still took you this long to rescue yourself?” He shook his head. “I’m disappointed.”

“It’s Christmas Eve,” she said, hotly. “Give me my suitcase. I intend to find my perfect holiday. I probably won’t get the chance to live another one! I can’t pass up any more opportunities.”

He kept a tight grip on her luggage. “I’m coming with you. The soul eater is searching for you.”

“Fine!” Let Hadrian follow her through the snowy streets. As long as he didn’t try and stop her, she didn’t care. It wasn’t as if she was that upset over his abandonment anyhow. She’d only cried about it for a few nights.

“Why didn’t you?” she demanded.

“Why didn’t I, what?” he asked.

“Rescue me?”

“Oh.”

“Well?” Tears sprang to her eyes. A piece of her had wanted him to like her. Had wanted him to care.

“You were...and still are...weaker than a kitten. Up in that apartment was the safest place for you.”

That wasn’t good enough. He’d made her worry and fret and feel like a worthless piece of—

“I wouldn’t have let them feed you to the dragon.”

“You could have visited me.”

“I wasn’t allowed. The man you heard me talking to, his name is Beckley. He’s the head of the council in the United States. Very powerful. He kept me away.”

“The wizard council?” she asked.

“Something like that,” he replied.

“And Frank Stone?”

“I’m not sure what he’s thinking. I’m acting on my own. Have been since the day they locked you up in that apartment.”

He followed her down the block. Holly wasn’t sure how she felt about him or even if she trusted him. Unfortunately, she didn’t have many options. And deep down, she wanted to trust Hadrian. She truly did.

“So,” he said. They were standing at the corner of the street, waiting for the light to change. “What do you do now?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, it’s December 24th. I don’t know about you—I intend to celebrate Christmas.”

* * * *

She was adorable. Hadrian knew he shouldn’t be thinking that, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He enjoyed watching her scrunch up her nose when she was angry. And Lord help him, he wanted to kiss her when she was scolding him for not rescuing her. What a joy, a blessed joy, she was.

And most likely doomed.

He shouldn’t become attached. He’d told himself that time and again, yet it didn’t seem to stick. Whether he wanted to or not, he liked Holly Post. She was the first woman in his life to charm him and melt the ice that had surrounded his heart for as long as he could remember.

“What makes a perfect Christmas celebration?” he asked her.

“Family,” she said and kicked at a bit of snow. “But I don’t have any to speak of.”

Hadrian slipped his hand in hers. “I don’t either. Not a biological family. None of us at The Oblique Café do. Like you, we’re all orphans.”

“Is that what makes me one of you?”

“No.”

He didn’t want to tell her the truth. It would ruin her perfect day. But he needed to tell her something. “We weren’t born of this world, Holly. We’re not like the others.”

“I see,” she kept walking as if she hadn’t heard him.

“You don’t want me to explain how I’m a wizard with the power to...” He held his hands out and concentrated. A bright ball of energy formed within the nest of his palms. It pulsed with the heartbeat of the universe. It was a pretty damn impressive trick.

“What? Were you saying something?” She tilted her head and smiled innocently up at him. It was as if she couldn’t see the energy sphere he’d conjured or hear the truth. She wasn’t ready to hear the truth. She wasn’t ready to see the magic. “Did you know that Burl Ives was my uncle? My parents are going to hate that I’m missing this year’s celebration,” she said still looking beyond him as if peering into a distant window.

Her fantasy family. They were more real to her than he was. “I can see them now,” she whispered. “They’re gathering around a long table filled with home baked dishes.”

“Can I buy you lunch?” Hadrian asked. He took her hand, trying to break the spell she’d woven around herself. “I have a friend who’s a hostess at the Towers Hotel. No matter how booked they are, she’ll be able to get us a table.”

Holly nodded absently. “Yes, I’d like that.”

They were nearly through the lavish meal when Holly set down her fork and asked quite plainly, “Am I human?”

He finished chewing his steak. “Um....”

“I mean, what does it mean when you say that I’m like you and like everyone else at The Oblique Café? From what I’ve overheard, it sounds to me as if you and your friends consider yourselves to be not quite human.”

“We’re not.”

She closed her eyes. Her fingers tightened into a fist. After a long silence she asked, “Then, what am I?”

“A foundling. We’re all foundlings. No parents to speak of. Jake is convinced we popped out of a cabbage patch. Kara believes we’re fairies.”