Wicked Hunt

Chapter Fifteen, Part II

Victoria: A Gathering Of Witches 

"About time," Jillian remarked. She held Victoria at arm's length and nodded to her. She wore a clinging emerald dress, her sharp collar bones jutting out from her exposed alabaster skin like the side of a cliff. It seemed Victoria had not been the only one to be transfixed by the allure of Perry Gritt. Subconsciously, Victoria glanced down at her own gown of dull grey. She squared her shoulders and straightened her back.

"Have they reached the doors yet?" she asked her cousin. An obnoxious rapping made them both shift their gazes toward the hefty slab of wood on the opposite wall.

"Does that answer your question?" Jillian asked.

"Shall we let them in?" Lorik asked as he came up right behind Victoria. His sudden appearance had her skin turning crimson. Silently, she cursed herself.

"Theo," Victoria called as the tall guard stepped into view from around the corner by the entrance hall, "open the doors."

As the doors were cranked open, Gemma appeared, her fingers clutching the arm of none other than Perry Gritt. Victoria had to force her jaw not to fall open. What the hell was the man doing?

"He's everywhere," Lorik murmured into her ear. Victoria shook him off and shot a glare toward Gritt. The man was wearing a ratty garment, more attuned to the garb of a beggar, and yet he still came off as appealing and charming. His green eyes flicked around inquisitively, and Victoria wondered what sort of fantastical ideas were lurking beneath their glittering sheen.

The first person into the hall from the outside was a lithe woman, her hair hanging in ringlets the color of a dying flames. When she raised her head up, the smoothness of her skin accentuated her large, blue eyes. They blinked, slowly taking in the space. Leona Streamling, matriarch witch of the Streamling Coven met Victoria's gaze. She formed her lips into a crooked smirk as she took in the other people present. Two girls shuffled in behind her. Both had the same color hair as their mother, but their locks weren't nearly as vibrant. Poppy was the eldest of Leona's two daughters. At fourteen, she was nearly a woman. Arctica was only ten, but always accompanied Leona, especially to magical meetings like this. Each coven sent three representatives to each gathering.

"Gemma, darling." Like a panther, Leona slipped before Victoria's mother and grasped her fingers. She kissed both of Gemma's pale cheeks, then stepped back to study the man at her side. "Perry Gritt," she said with an elegant chortle. "A surprise."

"A pleasant one, I hope," Perry remarked smoothly as he took Leona's hand and politely kissed her knuckles.

"I'd heard you were traveling through the west with Donal." Leona glanced about for Donal's bald head, but the man was nowhere to be seen.

"Donal doesn't have an interest in all this magical business." Perry waved a hand about as Leona placed her hands behind her daughters and approached Gemma.

"Not like you?" Victoria replied sweetly, drawing Perry's gaze directly to her for the first time. He inched away from the reunion between Gemma and Leona and slid closer to her. She resisted the urge to recoil, sensing Lorik lurking just over her shoulder.

"Aye," he agreed with a wink. "Not like me." Victoria rolled her eyes and looked back toward the door, eager for the next person to come in.

Taking advantage of her eyes looking away, Perry came up beside her. "Excuse you," Victoria hissed as he clumsily stepped on the hem of her dress. Huffing, she jerked the fabric up, revealing her black shoes and pale ankles.