The Witch's Fantasy, page 2
“Thalia, I didn’t know you worked here,” I said, trying to keep my voice light and nonchalant.
She pursed her lips at me but didn’t respond.
The man—Khan—stood up. I had nearly forgotten him once he had faded into the shadows.
“I thought your name was Adelyn,” he said to me, returning to my side once more. This time, though, it wasn’t to threaten me back into bed, but it was more like to be a wall of support, or maybe protection. “Why is the doctor calling you Phaedra?”
“Because that’s her name, at least the one she was given,” Thalia said, glaring up at Khan.
“So you know each other then,” he said.
“She’s my sister.” Thalia and I spoke at the same time, which earned me another glare from her.
A tense silence grew between the three of us as we stared at each other. Thalia looked between me and Khan, trying to puzzle together how we knew each other without her having to ask. No doubt, she would report this back to our mother. I just wanted to be long gone before she got involved.
“So, Phaedra—”
“I go by Adelyn now.”
“Adelyn, then,” she said, frowning and looking like a mirror image of our mother. “Why are you here?”
“She was in a car wreck,” Khan said, when I had trouble finding the words. “I pulled her from the wreckage and then brought her here after she lost consciousness. She put up a bit of a fight comin’ here.”
“I see. What a hero. How severe were the injuries, Phae—Adelyn?”
“Minor lacerations and bruising, probably a bruised rib,” I said, listing them for her as she scribbled down on my chart. “I managed to heal the majority of them with my magic, though.”
My sister looked up at me disapprovingly before her eyes flickered up at Khan.
“You know Mother doesn’t like us to use our magic, especially in front of strangers who aren’t paying for it,” she said.
“Mother lost the ability to chastise me or control what I do with my magic the moment she kicked me out of the house and disinherited me.” The bitterness in my voice shocked even me. “Besides, what was I supposed to do? Heal normally or come to a hospital? No, thank you.”
Thalia stepped closer and looked into my eyes. She pulled out a small flashlight and pulled back an eyelid to shine it into each of my eyes.
“It was probably a good thing your knight-in-shining-armor over there brought you in,” she said, scribbling in my chart once more. “You may have healed your minor injuries, but you’ve concussed yourself and failed to heal it. It’s probably been a while since you’ve used your magic like that, hasn’t it?”
“You don’t know anything, Thalia,” I hissed, the truth she spoke stinging me a bit. “I heal people quite often, thank you very much.”
She raised her hands mockingly in surrender.
“Maybe I don’t know much about your life, but don’t forget, I’m the one who actually finished medical school,” she said with a smug grin. “And I do know that you not only have a concussion, but you also drained yourself of energy trying to heal too many of your injuries. It would have been better if you had come here straight away.”
“Trust me, I tried to convince her,” Khan said.
I turned to glare at him. He was in no position to say anything, not as the stranger who dragged me somewhere I didn’t belong nor wanted to be.
“That may be the case, Thalia,” I said, turning my attention back to her, “but since I finished enough medical school to know that this concussion is minor and the only thing you can recommend for me is rest and no screens. Can you fucking discharge me already?”
She raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow at the expletive, as if she were too far above the use of such crude words.
“In this case, you would be correct. I’ll send a nurse in with the discharge papers, but you better get a ride home sooner rather than later so you’re gone before Mother finds out you’re here.”
Thalia slammed the chart shut and walked out of the room without another word, shutting the door behind her with a soft click.
My shoulders slumped as I let out a deep breath and I lifted a hand to my necklace, a silver poppy Thalia had given me when I was little. My chest had always seemed tight around my sister, in some imposed need to be like her, if not better.
“So, you lied to me about your name and why you needed to avoid the hospital, and on top of all of that, you’re actually a doctor.”
I turned to Khan and scrunched my nose. I was really getting sick of this man and his lurking, his poking and prodding into my personal life.
“I didn’t lie to you about my name—I legally changed it a few years ago. I didn’t lie about the hospital—I simply didn’t see the need to tell you. And I’m not a doctor. I dropped out in the middle of my third year of med school.”
“Oh well, excuse me, Dr. Adelyn. I do apologize.” His lips twitched up into a smile again. God, that was annoying, and incredibly sexy.
“Shut the fuck up. Now, where are my things?”
“They’re in a bag over there,” he said. “Why?”
I swung my legs over the hospital bed, over the side that Khan wasn’t standing on. Walking unsteadily to the bag Khan had pointed at, I could feel his eyes on my back.
“You heard my sister. I need to get the fuck out of here before my mother finds out.”
“I was gonna offer ya a ride home once ya were let out,” Khan said, his voice softening.
I looked over my shoulder with a raised brow.
“Like I would get into a car with you again,” I said, digging blindly through the plastic bag. “I already broke the rule about going to a secondary location with someone. No way am I going to risk going to a third location with a perfect stranger.”
“But ya do have a way home?”
“I do. What are you, my father?” I asked as I finally wrapped my hands around my cheap phone.
He muttered something about preferring ‘daddy.’ I ignored him and rolled my eyes but felt a blush creeping over my cheeks.
Dialing the only number I knew by heart, I put the phone to my ear.
Once I heard the familiar voice answer with a tired “hello,” my chest was filled with relief.
“Hey, Lil,” I said quietly, as if Khan couldn’t hear me. “I’m so sorry to ask this, but could you come pick me up?”
3
KHAN
I rubbed my eyes with the heels of both my palms. A frustrated groan escaped my lips as I returned my attention to the screen. The chair next to me squeaked.
“Ya okay, Khan?” Thomas asked, turning to face me. “You could take a break if ya needed to. Hank said that ya hadn’t left surveillance since my last shift yesterday.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he froze in his tracks. He was a young vampire, one we had found on the streets, freshly turned. The new ones were fairly strong once they fed, but his strength was nothing compared to mine. And he knew it.
“So you’re gossiping with the other guards now?” I demanded. “Ya’ll find that’s not the best way to climb the ranks here.”
“I was just offering to help.” His voice was small, reminding me that he was more of a boy than a man.
I sighed deeply, and I relaxed, my shoulders and face dropping.
“I know, and I appreciate the concern, Thomas,” I said, glancing at the many screens along the wall from the corner of my eye. “But I’ll tell ya, one of the top rules in my book is to clean up after yourself. And that’s what I’m doin’. I let that rat get away, so now I’ve got to watch the traps I’ve set. I’ll sleep once I know we’re safe.”
Thomas thought for a moment, before nodding his head.
“Teaching my men that sleep is for the weak, are you now?” a throaty, feminine voice interrupted us from the doorway.
“Just because some of us could out-sleep a cat, doesn’t mean the rest of us have that luxury, Dahlia,” I said, not even turning around to look at my oldest friend.
The heels of her boots clicked against the cold wooden floors as she approached my side. A steady hand landed on my shoulder.
“We have other people who can do this, you know?” Dahlia asked in a staged whisper. “Don’t kill yourself over this.”
“It would take a lot more to kill me than this, Dahl, and ya know it,” I said without glancing up at her.
“Can you at least take a break to go out with me?” I could hear her pouting. “I’ve been so bored since you locked me up in the compound.”
I looked at her now with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s barely been two days.”
“Trust me, I know. I’m so boooooored.”
She leaned back, letting her head fall back, as she held onto my chair. She looked so much like a toddler when she did that. It reminded me of all the times she used those dramatics to get me—well, us—out of trouble with her father.
“Seriously, Khan, I got things handled here.” Tom turned away from the intense glare I shot his direction.
“See, Tommy boy’s got it handled,” Dahlia said, pulling at my arm. “You said I can’t go out unless you personally escort me, and I can’t do that since you’ve locked yourself up in here.
Please, please, pretty please. I’ll be your best friend forever.”
“You’re fucking ridiculous,” I said under my breath as I pushed myself up to my feet.
“I love you too, Khan,” she said with a cheeky grin. “Though I’ll deny it if ever asked.”
“Will the madness never end?” I asked Daniel, the driver, who gave me a half smile but didn’t take his eyes off the storefront. I did the same.
She had dragged us across half the city, and now forced Daniel and I to wait for her outside of an incredibly exclusive and stupidly expensive boutique. Melanie’s.
I clenched my jaw and flicked my wrist over to look at the time on my watch.
“What the fuck is takin’ her so long?” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else.
“What? You think perfection like this just happens?”
Of course, that would be the time she and her super hearing would come out.
“If that’s what ya call it, sure,” I mumbled, earning a well-placed, but not heavy-handed, smack on my arm.
She looked up at me, her mouth open and eyes wide, as if truly insulted.
“Come on, Short Stack, we really should be gettin’ home now,” I said as I opened the car door for her.
She put her hands on her hips and scrunched her face at me. I used to call her that when we were kids, growing up together. The only thing she would eat until she was a teenager and her father made her eat something else was pancakes.
Of course, there was also the fact that she was barely over five foot tall, when she wasn’t wearing her ridiculous leather boots.
“Well now, see if I treat you to anything else nice today,” she said, letting me help her into the car. I scoffed.
“We both know you weren’t really planning to get me anything nice,” I said, climbing in beside her so that she was sandwiched between me and another, younger guard who I didn’t know the name of yet.
Austin, maybe?
“How can you say that? I always buy you nice things.”
“Last time, you bought me the most expensive lady’s watch you could find in Melanie’s, and when the guys made fun of me, who did I give it to?”
She pouted slightly, especially since she knew I wasn’t wrong.
“Fine, but maybe I was planning on taking you somewhere really nice for lunch and paying,” she said.
“Were you really?”
“Yes, of course.”
I rolled my eyes but smiled.
“Alright, Daniel,” I said, leaning over Dahlia to place a hand on the driver’s shoulder. “Let’s go to the closest, nicest restaurant you can find. I think boss is tryin’ to say she’s hungry.”
She harrumphed and crossed her arms but didn’t correct me. Once I sat back in the seat, Daniel pulled away from the curb in front of Melanie’s and fought downtown Kell City traffic.
It didn’t take him long before he found something that was relatively suitable for our esteemed boss’ taste.
I hopped out as soon as the car stopped, held the door open for Dahlia, and offered her a hand again.
She used to insist that I didn’t have to do that every time we rode in the same car. But it almost seemed wrong, disrespectful not to. She still rolled her eyes at me, but she let me help her down.
“Come on, Special K, lunch really is on me this time,” she said, her tone turning serious. “This will probably end up being more of a business lunch anyway.”
4
ADELYN
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay home, one more day at least?” my roommate Lillian asked as she tied her black apron around her waist. “It’s only been a couple of days since the accident, and you’re still concussed.”
“I’m fine,” I lied.
My head hadn’t stopped pounding since she picked me up at the hospital the other night. I tried not to take too many aspirins, but I definitely needed a new bottle of pills.
I took a sip of water as our manager, Tonio, walked through the swinging kitchen doors.
“Look alive, people,” he said, clapping his hands with each word. “Ah, Adelyn, glad to see you’re back, and not looking worse for the wear, I see.”
His eyes lingered a little too long on my chest as he inspected me. I cleared my throat.
“Yes, sir. I only had a concussion. You know, minor brain damage that can’t be seen with the naked eye. That’s all.”
He cleared his own throat and tore his eyes away from me, though I felt gross where his eyes had been staring. I suppressed a shiver as he looked down at the worn clipboard in hand. I nervously played with my necklace.
“Alright, folks, let’s get back on track before we open,” he said. “We’re still pretty short staffed for an opening shift, so everyone needs to make sure we’re team players, have each other’s back, alternate who gets tables, and hustle for those tips.”
With another clap of his hands, he dismissed us to go open the doors.
Lilly rolled her eyes so only I could see it, and only once Tonio was safely out of sight.
That man had nothing short of a Napoleon complex. He gave the team the same pep talk every single morning, even though all of us had been working there longer than he had. Not to mention the fact that it was usually only Lilly and I waiting tables.
At least it was a small bistro, and we could handle things well on our own.
The rest of the morning went by in a rush, but uneventful at least. Besides my ever-growing headache, that was. A couple hours in, Lilly found me leaning on one of the metal prep tables, eyes firmly shut.
“Seriously, Addy,” Lilly said, placing a comforting hand on my back. “If you need to go home, go home. I’m good. I can manage well enough, and I can hitch a ride with someone.”
I shook my head vehemently, which only made black spots dance across my vision.
“Seriously, I’m fine, Lil,” I said as I shrugged her hand off. “We can’t afford for me to take off another day from work. You know we wouldn’t be able to make rent again if I did.”
Her silence was enough of an answer for me. Even though she was worried for me, she also knew that I was right.
“Just… promise you’ll take it easy then, if you insist on staying. Sit down and drink water when you need to,” she said, rubbing my arm.
“Hey, Adelyn.” Roxanne, the new hostess Tonio had hired to try to sleep with, popped her head in through the door. “I just sat a couple in your section.”
“I’ll be right there,” I told her with a fake smile. She was content with this and disappeared back to the front.
I sighed and straightened myself up, even though my entire body was aching now, pulsing with each heartbeat that pounded into my skull.
“What were you saying about taking it easy when I need to?”
Lilly opened her mouth, thought better, and closed it again, instead offering me a sympathetic “wish I could help you more” look. The food order she had been waiting on came up through the little window and she turned to take it to her table.
I walked out while she was occupied, wishing she would stop looking at me like that.
Taking measured steps, I arrived at the table Roxanne had assigned me—when it definitely wasn’t my turn—much slower than I usually would have. I’m sure Tonio would bite my head off if he had seen me taking my time like that.
Fortunately for me, he hadn’t seen it. And I had to admit, Lilly was right about this. I had to take it a little easy on myself. The couple—a tall, dark-haired man and a short, pale woman, both equally radiating power—were in the middle of an intense conversation.
“Afternoon, you two,” I said, plastering on my server smile as I pulled out my notepad, “what can I get you to drink? Would you like any appetizers to go with that?”
The woman stopped in the middle of a word to glare up at me. “Who taught you that it was alright to interrupt people when they were talking?” she demanded. She looked at me as if she wished looks could kill, or at least maim temporarily. My typical smile wavered for a moment.
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” I said, hating that I had to grovel like this to people who clearly didn’t deserve it. “I didn’t mean to—”
The woman sighed dramatically and turned away, holding up a single hand to silence me. If I hadn’t been at work, I might have slapped her silly.
But of course, I refrained and kept my smile wide.
“Just get me a glass of water, not from the tap, and with plenty of ice,” she said, turning her attention to look at the menu. “What do you want, Khan?”
I turned my attention to the poor man with her and found the man who had saved me from the treacherous mountain road only a couple of days ago. He was staring at me with wide, disbelieving eyes.
