Her Black Magic (The Dark Amulet Series Book 4) Read online

  He chuckled. “You’re great at denial. Why don’t you try acceptance for once?”

  “I accept these are fake.”

  “If they are fake, could I do this?” The bar lowered in her hand and the right wing spread out to the side.

  “That’s cool, but yes.”

  “This?” The left wing opened straight back and with both, he flapped them, the breeze lifting her hair.

  She got tossed around between them. For some reason, this made her giggle. “Yes.” Once again, she smelled marshmallows.

  “Really? Look where they are attached to my back.”

  Freya humored him and weeded through the feathers until finding…what the…anchor points? She pressed her index finger where the feathers met his back. She tugged on the wing and his skin stretched. “How are these attached? Glue?”

  His body tensed. “Ahh. Can you let go, you’re hurting me.” She released the wings and he relaxed. “Thank you. How and when would I have glued them on? You saw me take my shirt off, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know what you did earlier when I had my asthma attack.”

  “Panic attack. And they’re real.” He folded the wings flush to his back.

  “Whatever. Can you fly?”

  “Of course. Among other things.”

  “What kinds of other things?”

  “Teleport, and manifest objects as long as they’re not made from living things. Basically, anything but food and leather goods.”

  “So your jacket…”

  “Stolen. Actually.”

  She gave him a strange look. “You’re an angel and you steal?”

  “My best friend’s. I borrowed it without asking.”

  “Oh. Is he an angel too?”

  “Yep. I don’t have any human friends.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Elliott the Redeemer.”

  “Does he know you’re nuts or is he nutso too?”

  Groaning, Joelle rolled his head around. “What will it take for me to convince you? You know what? Never mind. You were correct all along. This is all an elaborate hoax to get you into bed.”

  “All right then, you’ve convinced me.” Freya stepped in front of him. She didn’t normally give in to men. They tended to be more of a hassle than not. However, Joelle may be what she needed: someone crazier than her to help her feel normal, even for just one night.

  “Convinced you of wha—” She put her hand around the back of his neck, cranking his head down, and smashed her lips to his. He didn’t return the kiss.

  Joelle clasped her biceps. “Hey, slow down, little red Corvette.”

  “Slow down? That’s rich coming from you.”

  Confusion crossed his face and he backed off. “I’m not sure what you mean. I was being sarcastic about the hoax thing.”

  “It’s obvious you want in my pants. Coming at me with this ‘I’m your guardian angel’ bullcrap.”

  “I’m not a Guardian. I never told you—”

  “Then what kind are you, supposedly?”

  “Forget it.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “What other kinds of angels are there? Hmm, let me see…archangel, seraphim…”

  He recoiled. “Not even close. And your smart mouth is starting to piss me off.”

  “And you’re not an angel.”

  “Oh, I am.” His eyes glowed for a moment. A heated glare. He licked his lips. Then he did the one thing that no longer allowed her to deny what he truly was, although later she would go the denial route again because this had to be some type of odd dream. Didn’t it? He held out her cell with the cracked screen in his hand. His other hand glowed and he passed the palm over the phone. The screen was no longer damaged, and he slipped it back into his pocket.

  “I need that.”

  “You’ll get it back.” He advanced on her, his wings moving in time with each step. He backed her into the kitchen wall. She placed her hands flat against it. He loomed over her. The sexual tension between them electrified the air. Shadows filled his green freckled eyes. They raked over her features, settling on her lips. That foreign pound in her chest started again. His crazy scared her just a little bit. The fact that this also excited her terrified her more. Freya swallowed hard. “Are you an angel of death?”

  “What if I am?”

  Oh, god.

  She gasped. “Are you?” Her shirt clung to the perspiration down her back.

  “I’m a Redeemer.”

  Well, that didn’t sound too bad. However, the more she thought about it the worse Hell sounded. “What are you going to do to me?”

  “That depends on whether you’re worthy of redemption.”

  “What if I’m not?”

  “You’ll go to Hell.”

  “W-What?” Her heart beat faster, so fast she thought it might explode.

  “Did you want me to sugar coat it for you?”

  “I’m scared.”

  “You should be.” Joelle’s body dissipated into a million different colored molecules which faded until nothing of him remained.

  What in the actual Hell? She waved her hands in the empty space he left behind. Had that actually happened or was she having a psychotic breakdown? People didn’t just disappear, did they? People didn’t, but demons possessed humans…

  She ran down to the basement to begin the banishing spell again. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she stalled and sat on the last step. What if he really was an angel sent to help her? She might be making a huge mistake getting rid of him.

  Yeah and what if he was a demon trying to win her trust?

  She went to her work table and lit the three black candles. Whatever Joelle was—a nut job, angel, or demon— it was better to protect herself, just in case.

  Chapter Five

  FREYA

  Freya flopped down into a mauve colored chair in Dr. Sato’s office waiting room. A woman’s sobs bled through the wall. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. The muffled crying added white noise, which was soothing.

  The door opened abruptly. Freya jumped and rubbed her chest. A woman emerged. From the side she appeared to be in her mid-forties, although she had thick dark hair, no gray. She glanced at Freya with big caramel-colored eyes. Her face was a bit puffy and red from crying. Dr. Sato gave her a tissue and told her she would see her next week.

  The doctor stood in front of Freya and smiled warmly, like she supposed a grandmother would. She had no frame of reference since both sets of her grandparents were gone. Truthfully, she never met any of them. She often wondered if her life would have been different. Would either of them have been able to save her from her father?

  “Freya, good to see you.”

  “Hi.” Freya waved half-heartedly and followed the older woman into her office. While Dr. Sato sat behind her large desk, she paced in front of the dark wood bookcases that framed the door. All the shelves were filled with thick books except one shelf that was lined with angel figurines. Some of them were glass, others pewter, and three were made of ceramic.

  “Tell me how you’ve been since last we talked,” Dr. Sato said.

  Freya stared at one of the glass angels. The little statue was a male angel with long hair. She’d seen the thing countless times before but never paid that much attention to its details. The crests of the wings rose above the head, and in the mirror behind she could see they formed a heart shape like Joelle’s. O-kay, freaky. Or was it?

  “Freya, are you with me today?”

  “Yeah,” she said, her voice cracking. “I’ve been fine.”

  Dr. Sato cocked her head. “All right. The reason I ask is this isn’t our regular day for a session.”

  True, Freya had called her first thing this morning asking to see her today, although this wasn’t particularly uncommon for her. Some weeks were harder to cope with then others, and this week had ended on a bizarre note. She hadn’t slept well for two days. Her spell seemed to be working so far though. No sign of Joelle. Her heart flopped strangely in her chest. She hugged her middle.

  “Joelle,” she whispered. She wanted so badly to believe he was crazy. But the disappearing act and fixing her phone. Shit. He hadn’t returned her cell. She’d called Dr. Sato from her land line next to her bed.

  “What was that?” the doctor asked.

  Freya inhaled deeply. “Do you think I’m going end up in Hell?”

  “Do you believe you are?” The older woman clasped her hands on her desk and leaned on her elbows. “You often said you feel like you are already there.”

  Freya bit her fingernail. “Have you ever treated anyone who thinks they’re an angel?”

  The woman pulled her head back and lifted her eyebrows. “Why do you ask?”

  “I met someone who might be weirder than me.”

  “You’re not weird, you’re someone who has been through a great trauma.” She rose from her chair and went to the shelf with the angel figurines. Her concentration landed on the angel next to the one that resembled Joelle and she picked the piece up. “I knew someone who thought she talked to angels, or one angel at least,” she said distantly as she returned the angel to the shelf.

  “What happened to her?”

  The doctor cleared her throat. “Sadly, she took her own life.”

  Freya took a deep breath. The statement hadn’t been what she expected to hear. “Was she a patient?”

  “I can’t discuss specifics, but yes, for short period.” She straightened her blazer and walked back to her desk. “Tell me about the person you’ve met.”

  “Oh, you’d have a great time psychoanalyzing him.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “He’s nutso.”

  Dr. Sato didn’t respond right away. Frey
a shifted from one foot to the other as the woman eyed her. She refused to sit during their sessions. She’d met with her shrink for years, and never sat during their hour-long talks. An act of non-commitment or defiance since she’d been court ordered to see the doctor. However, these sessions were no longer required by law. So why was she continuing to come? The woman was a friend she didn’t want to lose.

  “Is this person someone you’d like to date?”

  “Did I mention he was nuts?”

  “You did.”

  “He’s…weird. I dunno, I kinda like him though. He scares me.”

  “In what way does he scare you?” Dr. Sato placed her hands on the desk near the edge like she was ready to jump up and call the police.

  “I’m not physically afraid of him. I actually don’t think he’s capable of hurting me.”

  “Then what scares you?”

  “That he’s crazy and I like it just a little bit too much. He thinks he’s an angel. I don’t know….” Freya laughed at how ridiculous that sounded out loud.

  “You don’t know what? Do you believe angels exist?”

  The correct answer would be no. She’d learned a while ago not say things around Dr. Sato like evil spirits exist or angels are real. “I dunno. Nnn—maybe?” Okay, she wanted to know more about this other person that thought she talked to an angel. Was this person certifiable? Was she anti-social? Was she telling the truth? What?

  “Are you asking?”

  “What did that girl you told me about say…how did she describe her experience?”

  Dr. Sato smiled at her patronizingly. She was about to end this conversation. Freya held her breath, waiting for the woman to change the subject. “She believed the angel was her aunt who had been dead for twenty years whom she had never met.”

  Whoa. “What did the angel say to her?”

  “I’m unsure of the specifics. But she was convinced the delusion was real.”

  “How do you know it was a delusion?”

  “As I explained before, she committed suicide. People who take their own lives suffer from an altered mental state.”

  Freya leaned her back against the wall. “I guess. But maybe she did talk to her dead aunt. How do you…how do any of us really know what happens after we die?”

  Dr. Sato rested her clasped hands on the desk. “I must admit, no one knows for sure what happens, but science doesn’t support—”

  “Just because there’s no proof of an afterlife doesn’t mean it’s not true. Do you believe in God? There’s no science behind that but people still believe.”

  “What my beliefs are don’t matter when treating patients.”

  Freya came off the wall and faced the older woman. She balled her hand into fists, although she had no inkling to attack the doctor. She just didn’t like the doctor’s vagueness on the subject of religion. “So do you think your clients that believe in God are wrong?”

  “No. Absolutely not. A strong belief system is healthy.” The woman’s stern assertion told Freya she’d touched a nerve.

  Silence filled the room.

  “Sorry. I wasn’t suggesting anything. Just wondering if there’s a God then it stands to reason that angels exist too. Right?”

  The doctor furrowed her brow. “Freya, this line of questioning is leading me to believe you think this man you met is an angel.” Dr. Sato jotted something in her notebook.

  “Forget it. I think he was just trying to get in my pants.” From the look on Dr. Sato’s face, she decided to drop the topic.

  “This is a strange way to, as you put it, get in your pants.”

  Freya shrugged. “Not really. You wouldn’t believe some of the pick-up lines I’ve heard.”

  The older woman smiled. “You came in today, so tell me what is going on?”

  “My father’s appeal hearing is coming up.”

  “You have concerns that he will be awarded a new trial?”

  “No…I dunno. I got a letter from his attorney asking that I attend as a character witness. Why does my father think I would be on his side?”

  “I can’t answer that.”

  “I know, but I’m afraid of going and I’m afraid of not going. What if the judge sides with him? I hate him.” Freya was tough when she wasn’t in the same room as her father. She could stand her ground. However, her heart fluttered with the thought of having to see him in a courtroom where there wasn’t an inch and a half of glass between them.

  “There’s a mountain of evidence against him. The police and the prosecutors did their jobs by the book with his case. You don’t need to attend. You never have to see him if you don’t want to. As your doctor, I’d advise you not to go.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  Dr. Sato wasn’t aware that Freya visited him in prison once a month, although she’d skipped the last visit. The visits were always stressful and made her feel guilty and full of shame. Why did she continue subjecting herself to that man? Penance? Yeah, she’d go with that. Nothing would wipe away the horror of leading innocents to their death. The I’m-a-victim-too credo didn’t work for her. She deserved punishment, and lots of it. Maybe she did need to be locked up in a psych ward for life. Or in Hell.

  “Let’s focus on you, okay. How has your anxiety been?”

  Freya shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

  “Have you been taking the Xanax I prescribed?”

  No. It made her feel numb. “Yeah.” She fiddled with the hem of her top.

  “Did you know you make it difficult for me to treat you if you aren’t honest with me?”

  “Are you accusing me of lying?”

  “I don’t have to do that.”

  What the hell was that supposed to mean?

  “I’m going to be late for work.”

  Dr. Sato raised her eyebrows. “I understand. Would you like to schedule a new appointment or keep the existing one for later this week?”

  “Keep it.” Gawd. Why did she want to see her again? Why did she need to? She could ask herself those questions over and over and never discover the answer. She headed for the door and stopped when the angel resembling Joelle caught her eye. Light glinted off the crystal. “Why do you collect angels if you don’t believe in God?”

  “Who said I don’t believe in God?” Dr. Sato came over to the shelves by the door.

  “Your non-committal response gave it away.”

  “I do believe in God.” The woman smiled and handed her the “Joelle” angel from the shelf. “Here. My gift.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you seem to like the idea of angels and for me they symbolize faith and peace. This one is quartz, which is said to have healing properties as well.”

  “I didn’t think you’d be into that sort of thing.”

  “I believe in the power of suggestion, and who is to say crystals don’t have the ability to work?” She winked. “Just because we can’t prove it scientifically doesn’t make it untrue.”

  Freya smiled. “I should’ve known you’d find some way to throw that back at me.”

  “Please, now don’t be late for work on my account. I’d like to hear more about this guy of yours next time.”

  Closing the door behind her, Freya slipped the angel into her pocket and held onto to the crystal.

  Chapter Six

  JOELLE

  Joelle knocked on Elliott and Amalya’s apartment door, grinning from the conversation with Freya two days ago. You should be. He’d even said that with a straight face like he was some badass. Ha!

  Killian’s voice came through the door. “I’m fully developed. I should be able to live where I choose.”

  The male wasn’t wrong, Joelle thought. However, he was a newly created angel born to his best friend and his mate.

  The door swung open and Elliott greeted him. “Hey, man, how’s the task going?”

  “Don’t ask.” Joelle brushed past him into the dinky apartment.

  “Great, I see.” Elliott chuckled.

  Amalya stood by the galley style kitchen with her hands on her hips. Killian mirrored his mother’s pose. “I’ll be right across the hall from you, and Jere will be there,” he said.