Game of Sinners

Chapter Twelve - Nearly

"For he would be thinking of love

Till the stars had run away

And the shadows eaten the moon."

― W.B. Yeats, Selected Poems and Four Plays

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"So who's the witch we're going to see anyway?"

We had been driving for miles. The Texas State sign had long since disappeared in the rear view mirror, giving away to cooler temperatures which I actually considered pulling a jumper on for.

The only times we had stopped were for gas and food to keep us going. I was concerned for Leo as he had driven all through the night and well into the next day. He assured me that he was fine every time I asked him, but even he couldn't hide every yawn from me.

"Her name is Eleanor but I haven't seen her for a long time." Leo scratched his chin thoughtfully. "A few years ago she got into some trouble with the Council and was effectively ex-communicated from their society."

He saw my confused look and shook his head. "The Council is an age old order consisting of justice keepers of our world. It is supposed to have a representative leader of each supernatural dominion to make up a ruling body, but that premise quickly went downhill since the Atlas Pack took over. Now there are just the Fae, Dwarf, Vampire, and Werewolf leaders left to pass judgement."

"What did Eleanor do to be ex-communicated?" I asked, intrigued by the thought of a rogue witch but I couldn't help the shiver of fear run up my spine.

"She killed a man," Leo said with a shrug and moved the car to overtake a rather slow pickup truck. "She is still allowed to practice magic, just not with another witch, nor sell any spells or potions to anyone else."

"Damn," I fell back in my seat and let out a puff of air. "How do you know her?"

"We were childhood friends..." He trailed off with a faraway, slightly sad look in his eyes. I felt sorry for him, but that was probably the last thing he wanted to hear right now. The car was quiet for several minutes as Leo continued to gaze absentmindedly at the road.

Suddenly the car started to drift sideways to the guard rail. I glanced at Leo quickly whose eyes were drooping and back to the rail which was three feet away, two feet, one-

"Leo!" I screamed as I prepared for the impact. He snapped out of his trance and spun the car quickly away from the rail just as we were about to crash. A flurry of car horns followed us like blaring alarm clocks in my ear.

"Jesus Leo, are you trying to kill us?" I spluttered, breathing fast and slowly moving my hands away from the dashboard so that I didn't resemble a startled cat anymore.

"I'm sorry, I must have dozed off," He shook his head and blinked furiously at the road as if to keep it in focus.

"That's it, let me drive," I demanded, but Leo shook his head.

"You don't know the way." He dragged a hand through his hair.

"Fine, pull over to a motel then."

"I'm okay, really. I'm wide awake now." Leo tried to assure me.

"Oh sure, and I really love car crashes." I saw Leo wince a little bit at my words so I softened my voice a little. "I understand your need to get away but you have to rest too."

"Reece will catch up with us if we stop." He shook his head. "I have to keep going to make sure you're safe."

"Then that's just a chance were going to have to take," I argued despite the shiver that ran up my spine at his words. Whether it was fear of Reece or Leo's protectiveness of me, I don't know. "Please Leo, you can't carry on like this."