Of Witches and Warlocks: The Complete Series

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

One injection and a nap of an undetermined amount of time later found me in a place I'd hoped to never be again—aboard a private plane with Damien. This trip was slightly better since Vance was restrained in the seat next to me, but the view in front of me was exactly the same as before, and I still hated it.

Attempting to call on my jinn powers, I immediately noticed the brightening of a glowing white crystal that was hanging from a thick chain around my neck. Leave it to Damien to plan for everything. He was always thorough. I had to give him that.

"Good afternoon, Portia," he said cordially. "I'm so glad you finally decided to join us on this lovely Samhain."

I chose to keep my expression neutral. I'd already played this game with him, and I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of toying with me again.

"Are you doing okay?" Vance's voice whispered into my head.

"I'm fine," I replied in the same fashion, glancing at him. "At least as much as I can be considering we've ended up right where we started."

"We'll figure out something," he said. "We have the rest of the coven on our side this time around, and they're watching his place now."

I turned back to Damien. "So where do we have the luxury of going with you this time?"

"Back to Arkansas, of course. Did you miss it?" Smiling, he lifted his chalice to his lips, and I held in the sigh of relief that wanted to escape.

"I miss my dad. How's he doing?" I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from spewing all the hateful things I wanted to say.

"Sean's doing just fine. I've been very pleased with his progress."

"And what kind of progress is that exactly?" I asked, my stomach churning.

"You'll find out soon enough. I'm planning a nice family reunion for the two of you when we get back."

"That sounds good," I replied evenly, truly meaning it. If I could get him to let me see my dad then there was always the chance I could rescue him somehow.

Damien laughed. "I bet it does. I'm anxious to see how it will go."

"What did you do with Bels?" I asked feeling concerned for the shop owner who had clearly been distraught with her role in aiding our capture.

"I didn't do anything. She's resting comfortably in the seat behind you."

Making an effort to look, I momentarily forgot I was restrained and unable to do so.

Damien laughed again. "Portia, you'll just have to take my word for it."

"But it's so difficult to trust anything you say," I bantered back. "What about her mother?"

"I never had her mother," he replied with a wink. "I just used a little trickery to make her think I did. It saved me a whole lot of hassle."

Vance spoke up. "Then why'd you bring Bels with us? What purpose could she serve?"

"That's also something you'll find out soon when I perform a ritual in the near future. But you can blame yourself that she's here. My plan was to use Portia in the beginning, but you contaminated her when you fed her your blood." He shrugged. "No worries, though. It was a situation easily remedied."

"Don't hurt her," I said, feeling guilty.

"What ritual?" Vance prodded, diverting Damien's attention as he tried to get more information.