Southern Charms

Worth

"Looking for this?"  Jemina asked, continuing to run her fingers along the glistening gemstone. I followed every stroke of her finger. "Daddy is going to be very disappointed in Abuela when he finds out she's the one who sent you here."

    Ash burst from his hiding place. "What did you do to her, Mina?"

    The girl's face turned a shade paler when she spied her brother. Her expression of monstrous glee hardened to something icy. She spit  at Ash's feet.

"You know brother, there aren't many behaviors I condemn, but there is nothing worse than betraying your own family."

"Stop it. This isn't you. The girl I remember was kind."

I looked at Ash with raised brows. Funny, I didn't remember that version of Jemina ever existing, but some people wear blinders where their family is concerned.

"Key word: remember. That's the only place she still exists. I'm going to give you one chance here. Daddy only wants Rose." She rolled her eyes. "I don't understand why, but he does. So, if you go now, I'll tell him you were never here."

The siblings squared off, magic furling around their fingertips. I watched with curiosity as Jemina's magic drifted closer to me then moved around me as if encountering a barrier while  Ash's  slipped around my body, the sensation almost intimate. Until I sneezed. Clearly, my charm didn't see Ash's powers as a threat--or my allergies.

"You're really going to do this?" Jemina demanded, raising her hand to cast the first spell.

    Bolstered by her magic's inability to touch me as well as desperation, I muttered, "We don't have time for this."

    "What did you sa-"

    Jemina never finished her question because my fist took up precious real estate in her mouth. My second hit caught her in the nose, and the crunch and warm rush of blood coating my hand made me think I'd broken it. Before she could react, I ripped the necklace from her throat and shuffled away.

    "You bith," she lisped, holding her face.

Ash said nothing, his body stiff with shock. Jemina rose and lifted her hands, but I balled my fist up as if preparing to swing again. With a squeak, she covered her head.

"Not so bad ass when you're on an even playing field, are you?" I shouted, lunging again.

I just wanted to hit her. Really, hit anything again. Adrenaline raced through me, and made me feel big. Powerful. And now, I understood why it was so addictive. Just like- I swallowed hard as the thought struck me- I understood a bit about what drove Luis. Maybe the distance between hero and villain wasn't as far as we'd been taught.

"Come on, Rose," Ash said, grabbing my hand and pulling me back to the woods.

Right. We needed to get the Vampire Stone to Southern Charms.

"They'll find you," Jemina screeched, a green fireball engulfing her hand. She threw it, striking a tree next to Ash's head. "You're both dead."

The next one whooshed by my arm, and the third was a direct hit. Only, it dissipated into nothing more than a warm rush of air across my back. Spinning around, I flipped her the bird just before Ash wrapped me in his arms to teleport across town.

He released me with a whoop and then pressed a hard, fast kiss against my mouth. It wasn't quite what I imagined my first kiss to be like. No awkward, bumbling adjustments. No clacking of teeth. Just a swift touch that had me rising on my tiptoes chasing after more.

"Does it make me a terrible person that watching you punch my sister made me want to kiss you?" he asked, his words falling into the air in a breathless rush. "God, that was freaking amazing. You're amazing."