Page 36 of A Deeper Blue
Episode 17
The Warlocks
Azure
Azure crouched in the underbrush at the crest of the hill, looking at the blockade of Warlocks on the road below them. The orange Warlock patches on the back of their leather jackets stood out even at this distance. As she watched, the dark form of a wolf loped up the hill toward her. The will-o-the-wisp spell she had just cast buzzed away at the back of her mind. Rafe pushed through the shrubs and stood, tongue lolling out, but a smile obviously on his face. Then a shiver ran over his body, and he began to change. She watched in fascination as his body elongated and shift. There was a painful-sounding series of pops and crunches, and hair puffed out like dandelion seeds. His face was twisted in a grimace, and then everything seemed to settle, and he was human again.
“Did it work?” he asked, stretching out his neck. Azure took in an eyeful of his naked body. It was not a view that got old.
“Um, right. Yes. The will-o-the-wisp has the hook well in. It will be miles before they question whether or not what they’re following is you.”
He had lured away three of the Warlocks, and Azure had sent the will-o-the-wisp to take them even further. The bobbing little ball of light was one of the most ancient glamour spells designed to lure travelers into the fairy woods to their doom. It would only fade when it got at least ten miles away from her.
Rafe bent over and picked up his jeans, and Azure took another shameless ogle of her boyfriend’s ass. Then she paused. She had given up having boyfriends at some point because they didn’t benefit her life much. They took too much effort, and a one-night stand was a lot fucking easier than having to care about what someone liked on their toast or whatever couples did. But she was pretty sure that as soon as you were screwing each otherandtaking on magical menaces together, that crossed into some sort of relationship territory. She just wasn’t sure what that meant.
Rafe shook his head as if trying to get some water out of his ear.
“What do you like on your toast?” she asked.
He made a confused noise.
“Sorry,” said Azure. “I just thought I should probably know… Never mind.”
“If it’s just toast, then I want peanut butter and honey. If it’s a meal, then I want eggs and bacon.”
“Oh. OK.”
“What do you like?”
“Jam and butter. Does changing hurt?” she asked and then blushed. It was such a rude question. This conversation had fully gone off the rails. This was what she got for thinking about him naked too much.
“Shifting? Yes, and the longer it takes to shift, the more it hurts. That’s why the old and the young have a harder time. Mature shifters have greater control.” He flexed his hand, and his fingertips grew claws. “The most powerful place for shifters is actually mid-shift. We heal the fastest then because our cells are already in flux. But it takes a lot of control to stay in that space.”
Azure blinked. He had just displayed the most amazing amount of trust. She wanted to meet his trust with something of equal value.
“Pouring water on witches actually works,” she blurted out.
“What? How the hell do you take a bath?”
“We don’t melt. But spells are created through markings or by hand gestures that leave what we call air runes. By throwing water on them, you can disrupt the spell, but we don’t like to talk about it.”
“Well, sure,” said Rafe. “Don’t want to tell people how to stop you.”
“Well, that and it’s kind of embarrassing,” said Azure, and he laughed. “Rafe…” she trailed off, uncertain what she wanted to stay. “I’ve never really done something like this with anyone before. Or at least not with anyone I wasn’t related to.”
“Sweetheart, neither have I. We’ll figure it out, though.”
Azure felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. He was obviously not talking about fighting warlocks.
“Want to talk about Warlock bikers now?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.
“Yes,” she said. It was a good thing Rafe appeared to be able to navigate their evolving relationship because she felt out of her depth. “It’s, um, it’s still a lot of Warlocks down there.”
“Yup,” he agreed. “Looks like fifteen. What do you want to do?”
“I want to take a minute and….” She felt awkward talking about the second sight. It wasn’t something she usually dropped into conversation. “Do my thing.”
“Is it hard to do when I’m staring at you?” His eyes were twinkling again.
