The Rose Witch (The Coven: Old Magic Stand-Alone Novel Book 1) Read online

  The hellhound plopped its belly down in the sand beside him. For a long, long moment the incubus – Malachi – just stared at me. Like he was weighing his response before giving it.

  He cocked his head to the side. “Do you know who Lilith is?”

  My pulse skipped beats. “As in the Lilith? The mother of demons and mistress of the devil?”

  “I assure you, my father has never touched her.” He snarled and shook his head. “She likes to suggest otherwise.”

  “Bloody hell. Why are you asking then?”

  “She wore a locket, and that’s what I’m after.”

  I looked to my right as he moved to that side of me. Our noses almost brushed. “And you think I know where this locket is?”

  “I do.” His breath swept over my face.

  I licked my lips and stared at his. “Why – why do you think that?”

  He reached up, and with his long fingers he lifted the clear quartz crystal off my chest. The tips of his fingers brushed over my skin. He looked down his nose and leaned closer. “Because you’re wearing it. This is Lilith’s locket.”

  I gasped and leapt back. “WHAT? No. No way. You’ve been misinformed.”

  He closed the distance between us once more, then ducked down to meet my eyes. “Chloe, I stole that very locket off Lilith’s neck myself. I took it. I gave it to your father for safe keeping. And then he put it on you because he knew Lilith wouldn’t suspect it.”

  I turned away from him and started pacing. My thoughts and pulse were going out of control. “Hold on, hold on, slow down. My father gave me this the last time I saw him when I was four years old. And then he died.”

  “Correct.”

  I cried out. “If this is her locket then why are you just now coming for it? I’ve had it for eighteen years.”

  He grimaced, like actually grimaced. “Michael told me I could not take it until the Lancaster bloodline was restored.”

  “Archangel Michael?”

  He nodded “When the Lancaster magic was taken to hide his sword, it cloaked the magic inside of the locket.”

  I shook my head and waved my arms. “Wait, wait…that magic came back to the Lancasters this morning—"

  “Which is exactly why I was there. I knew the power of the locket would awaken—"

  “Awaken?” I shrieked. My whole body went cold. “What does that mean?”

  “She is the mother of demons. Her locket attracts demons.”

  “WHAT?” I pinched the bridge of my nose and started pacing again. “What do you mean this attracts demons?”

  “The magic in it attracts the demons.” His gaze ran down the crystal. “Because that locket is where Lilith used to store the souls she stole—"

  “Stole? I’m sorry, did you say she stores souls in this necklace?”

  He nodded.

  I sprinted to him, freaking out and pointing at my chest. I pulled my hair to the side. “Get it off, get it off, get it off, get it off.”

  He sighed and took my hands in his. “I tried, but someone kept running from me.”

  I groaned and bounced back and forth between my two feet. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. Not running now. Just get it off of me please. Wait, is that why you kidnapped me?”

  “The Lancaster Estate sits on Holy Land so I could not take it off there. That’s why I took you just off grounds. But when I tried, it would not come off.”

  “What, why?”

  “I don’t know. So I brought you to my place where I could safely try again…but then you were attacking me and squirming and have you seen the length of this dress? I tripped on it and accidentally fell on top of you. I tried again to get the locket off, despite you attacking me with magic, yet it would not come off. I then went to the other room to grab some books to see if there was an answer in them—

  “But I ran,” I whispered.

  He gestured around us. “And got attacked by demons. Twice.”

  I cried out then tapped on the necklace and electricity shot up my arm. “Can you get it off of me now?”

  He stepped forward so our bodies were flush to each other. His fingers traced the collar of my dress then over the cool skin of my nape, sending goosebumps across my body. The necklace tugged on my skin but nothing happened.

  “I don’t know why it won’t come off.”

  I stood up straight. “What do we do?”

  “If you’ll trust me, and stop attacking me or running from me, I’d like to take you back to my place where we are safe to try a few things to get it off.”

  I wrapped my arms around his body. I looked up at him with my face basically in his chest. “I’ll go anywhere. Just please take this soul sucking locket off of me.”

  He grinned and chuckled. Black smoke wings popped out.

  He whistled. “Spot, let’s go home.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Chloe

  Darkness wrapped around me and the sand vanished beneath my feet. The air turned ice-cold. I shivered and huddled into the warmth radiating off of Malachi’s body. With my face pressed to his chest, that smoky scent was overpowering. I didn’t know what was happening or for how long I was in the dark. It could have been minutes, hours, or even days.

  When light finally pierced through the blackness, I winced and closed my eyes. Malachi stepped away and warm, clean smelling air swept over me. I inhaled, sucking the air deep into my lungs. With every breath I felt the daze lift a little more. The effect Malachi had on me was alarming. Before I’d just assumed it was his incubus magic but now that I knew he was an angel? A good guy? The way I felt around him was terrifying. I needed to sort that out, yet I definitely didn’t want to think about it any further.

  I rubbed my eyes and then opened them — and gasped.

  I knew this room. It was the same room he’d taken me to before, when I thought he was trying to kill me. Though, looking at it now, it wasn’t scary at all. Sure, the room was made of gray stone – like floor, ceiling, and walls – but I grew up in a castle. I went to uni in a castle. It didn’t phase me.

  The walls were lined with books, stacks and stacks of books. Black and red candles sat all over the room. Some were on pretty candelabras, some on stands, but most were randomly sat on top of things. Perhaps he moved them often. He’d made his space much cozier than I had expected. The furniture looked soft and mushy, like a properly worn in sofa made for cuddling on. The rug on the floor covered almost the entire room and it looked soft. It made me want to take my shoes off and walk barefoot.

  I resisted. Barely.

  A huge shadow passed by me in a blur — and then Spot lunged onto the sofa. He walked in a tight circle then threw himself down and stretched out. I giggled. Spot, the hellhound, was just a dog like any other. Under all the shadow and smoke coiling around him he looked like a big black wolf. A fuzzy, fluffy black wolf. He was actually adorable. Unable to stop myself, I walked over and pet his head. His big mismatching red and gold eyes looked up at me and his tail wagged.

  I giggled again. “Who knew you were so sweet?”

  Malachi chuckled behind me. “Pull yourself together, mate. She just got here.”

  Spot groaned and whined and then threw his head back, flipping upside down.

  Malachi sighed. “You know, if you had just shown her your belly back at the bookshop, things might have gone a tad smoother, bud.”

  Spot wiggled, his tail thumping hard against the soft suede sofa.

  I snorted and sat down beside him to rub his belly. I peeked up at Malachi and found his gold eyes glowing, his face entirely unreadable. My cheeks warmed.

  I cleared my throat. “So, um…where are we?”

  He smiled down at me. “My home.”

  “This is your house? This is where you live?” My eyes widened, I hadn’t expected that. “This is where you brought me…”

  “Yes, yes, and I wanted to bring you somewhere safe.”

  “So you brought me home…and I attacked you,” I whispered. Regret filled my lungs, choki
ng the oxygen out of me. I wished so badly that I had known the truth.

  He sighed and shook his head. “You behaved as any sane person would have. The fault was all mine…sometimes…sometimes I go a long time without speaking to people and then forget I have to.”

  I frowned. That’s so sad and lonely.

  “You get used to it,” he said softly, his eyes locked on the stone floor. “And I have Spot.”

  I grimaced. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud but now I felt the need to comfort him in some way, except I had no idea what to say. Before I could stop myself, I jumped off the sofa and walked back over to him, then I reached out and put my hand on his forearm and squeezed. “I’m sorry that that’s something you’ve had to get used to…but you can talk to me any time.”

  What? What is happening to me? I was giving myself whiplash with the change of emotions. I’d gone from terrified to now…friends? If possible, his eyes blazed even brighter. He stared down at me and silence fell between us. I had no idea what he was thinking and it was killing me. The air seemed to pulse between us like there was an electrical charge.

  Did I just offend him? Did I just make it weird?

  Quick, say something. Anything. Change the subject.

  I opened my mouth and said the first thing that came out. “Wait, you did say something to me. After Tegan summoned you…I didn’t know the language—”

  His face fell. He cursed and glanced away, breaking the hold he had on me. “Okay, that makes sense now. I’d said to you that I wasn’t going to hurt you, just needed the necklace…I said it in the arcana ancient language. You don’t speak it?”

  My jaw dropped. “That’s what you said? Bloody hell. No, granny says when Lancaster magic was lost so was the language. Pippa thinks it will return to us. We’re not sure.”

  “That makes sense.” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I should have thought of that.”

  I smiled because my body seemed to want to smile at him. My chest tightened and I realized my hand was still holding on to his arm. Heat rushed through my body. I pulled it back then gestured around us. “So…you brought me here before…and tackled me to the ground.”

  He closed his eyes and shook his head, then he pointed to small chest on the ground. “Spot here likes to rearrange furniture and therefore I did not see that with your dress being everywhere…Spot thinks it’s funny when I trip.”

  Spot picked his head up and made a playful groaning noise. Malachi walked over to his hellhound and ruffled his ears.

  I chuckled. “You named your hellhound Spot.”

  “It’s an inside joke with my father.”

  I looked up at him and bit my lip. “So…you’re really an angel?”

  His eyes met mine. “Yes.”

  “So angels don’t have white feather wings and halos?”

  He stared at me for a long, long moment with the strangest expression. Like he was perplexed. Then he stood and his black smoke wings popped out of his back. He took a step forward and they changed into massive white feather wings that looked exactly like I thought they would – but bigger and softer looking. He took a few more steps and then a golden light seemed to shine from within his body, illuminating his skin. With every step he took toward me, the light grew brighter, warmer.

  Two steps later his black jeans changed into a pair of loose, low slung white pants that looked like silk. Another step and his shoes disappeared, leaving him crossing the room barefoot. His black long-sleeved shirt vanished, and to my horror, I gasped at the sight of a whole lot of gloriously tanned skin stretched tight over chiseled muscles. My face lit on fire and I knew I was blushing. He was almost all the way to me. I needed to pull myself together but my pulse had taken a crazy bumpy road.

  Faint dark golden lines spread across every inch of his body from the neck-down. They looked almost like vines – wait. Those are the same lines Tegan had. Her soulmate glyph. Does he have a soulmate? At the thought, my stomach tightened and nausea bubbled up my throat. My heart did flips in my chest. He stopped right in front of me. That smoky scent I’d come to know him for now smelled like fog in the rain on a cold winter’s morning.

  Up close, his wings shimmered and swayed like there was a breeze sweeping through them.

  I reached out to touch them then froze. I peeked up at him and whispered, “may I touch?”

  He nodded.

  With hands that trembled for reasons I didn’t want to investigate, I ran my fingers through his wings. I gasped. They were the softest material I’d ever touched, I didn’t even know how to describe the softness. Like cashmere’s softer sibling. They twitched under my touch. A low pulsing energy radiated into my fingertips. Heavens, he’s an actual angel.

  I swallowed roughly and licked my lips. My chest was so tight, I needed to step away to get a good breath. “So you were born an angel? Like in Heaven?”

  “I was born fae,” he said with a rough, raspy voice, like my touch was affecting him, too. “In Seelie.”

  I jumped. My hand froze.

  “My mother is a high member in the Seelie Court.” He smiled a sly, sideways grin. “My father is, as we’ve discussed, Lucifer.”

  My stomach tightened. His mother is a Seelie Fae, a court member. No wonder I thought he was an incubus. “Lucifer…the angel of death.”

  “Samael is the angel of death.”

  I frowned and pulled my hand back before I embarrassed both of us. “Oh…then…”

  He shrugged. “The workings of the afterlife are complex and not meant to be understood by mortals. My father was chosen to oversee that process, and it is not always pretty.”

  I nodded even though I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, except that he wasn’t going to elaborate. “But you were born Fae?”

  He flicked his wrist and then a book lifted off the shelf on the far wall and floated over to him. When it landed in his open hand, he opened it and started reading to himself. “Yes. I was born and raised as a Fae, pointy ears and all. When I died—"

  “Died?” My voice rose like fifteen octaves.

  He nodded and flipped pages. “During the One Hundred Years’ war—"

  “You fought in that?”

  “Not in the way you’re thinking.” He looked up from the book and grinned. “The truth is that war was a war between Lilith and Earth, more specifically The Coven. The humans had their version of the war, which was provoked by ours. In 1453 I assisted Edward Proctor, son of angel Uriel, to take Lilith down. This is when I took her locket. Unfortunately, the Seelie King did not approve of with whom I placed my allegiance since he was on Lilith’s side…so he killed me.”

  A strangled kind of choked gasp left my mouth. I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling the heavy beating of my pulse below. “What? But how?”

  He grimaced and shrugged. “When only one of your parents is an angel, you are born the other species. The only way to become an angel yourself is to die. So I died…and then I came back.”

  “As an angel.”

  He grinned. “As an angel. As you see me.” He gestured to himself.

  Oh, I bloody well see you. Lookin’ fit as fuck – CHLOE. I blinked and peeled my eyes off of his body before I gave myself an aneurism. “And…um… the black smoke wings? And hellhound? Prince of Hell things?”

  He shrugged and let go of the book and it floated in the air. “Being an angel of Hell has its perks.”

  Light flashed and then his wings were back to the black smoke. The golden lines vanished from his skin. His white silky pants were back to black denim. He rolled his shoulders and all of his muscles flexed. He hadn’t put a shirt back on yet and I was not complaining. It had felt wrong to drool over an angel of Heaven…but this was a Prince of Hell.

  No angel would wear jeans that indecently low.

  I looked up and my heart stopped. His gold eyes were watching me, his pupils dilated. My breath left me in a shaky rush. His nostrils flared. The muscles in his jaw flexed. I licked my lips and his eyes dro
pped to my mouth – and stayed there. Heat rushed through my veins. Butterflies danced in my stomach.

  The air between us sizzled and cracked, like electricity between metal. My whole body seemed to hum. My chest was on fire and I knew I needed to breathe. In that moment, that initial version of him that I’d been afraid of vanished from my memory. Sure, Malachi was deadly. Lethal. But he was tender and kind…and I liked this version of him more than I had any right to.

  He was an angel.

  I was human. Sure, I was arcana, a witch, but I was mortal. I needed to put a stop to this feeling brewing inside of me before I destroyed myself and my heart. I’d only just met him and the intensity was dangerous. Nothing could ever work between us.

  “I’m sorry I ran away from you,” I whispered while twirling my hair around my finger.

  “I’m sorry I scared you,” he whispered back.

  The question I needed to know but had no right asking burned on my tongue. I needed to just ask it, to get it out of the way. “Do you have a soulmate?”

  He frowned and cocked his head to the side. “Why would you ask that?”

  “The lines…on your body…they look like Tegan’s soulmate glyph.”

  “Ahh…all of Heaven’s angels have these lines…” the dark golden lines appeared on his bare chest and arms. “It is our divine connection to Heaven and the Creator. Not all souls have soulmates, and I’m not quite allowed to get into the reasons of why. But for those that do, the soulmate glyph is a visual representation of that connection to both each other and Heaven, which is why it looks similar. Each of Earth’s species has a different version of their glyph, but witches are most similar to angels because they came from us.”

  Silence.

  “But do you have one?” It was killing me. I had to know.

  “No.” He grinned and tapped on his chest. “If I did, there would be a heart-shaped crystal on my chest and the back of my right hand. As you can see, I have neither.”

  The relief I felt was so intense I actually swayed on my feet.

  I am so screwed.

  It’s just a crush, Chloe.

  Get ahold of yourself.