Visions of Skyfire

Chapter 4

The rain had kept most people inside and for that Teresa was grateful. As it was, she kept her head down as she half ran through the neighborhood toward Elena’s clinic. Now that she knew for certain the feds were after her, she realized that any number of others could be hunting her, too.

The Magic Police seldom worked alone. If they were here, then agents from BOW, the Bureau of Witchcraft, couldn’t be far behind. For all she knew, members of both agencies were already scattered throughout Sedona, looking for her. Even weakened by the white gold attacking his system, her Eternal had realized that the men in the desert probably weren’t the only ones here searching for her.

He was right.

She could feel it. There were others. Here in town. Looking for her.

Since the moment the world had been alerted to the existence of witchcraft, ten years before, no witch had been safe. Throughout history, but for a few instances, women of power had kept themselves hidden, letting the world believe that magic was no more than a legend. Until the day that one woman accidentally set loose a power she wasn’t even aware of and burned her former husband to death in front of hundreds of witnesses. That woman, Mairi Jameson, had in turn been burned at the stake a few months later.

Fear and panic had erupted all across the planet. In the last ten years, no woman suspected of witchcraft lasted very long. There were internment camps scattered across this country and every other nation. Women were jailed, without trial, without being able to face their accusers. And most of them were never heard from again.

Ironic, Teresa thought with a grim smile, that fear of a common enemy had united the planet in a way it never had been before. Religious wars had gone the way of the dinosaur as nations that had once considered themselves enemies joined forces to track down women of power. The only war today was the war against witches.

Teresa shivered again, dismissing her dark thoughts as she bolted through the cold, driving rain that drenched her. She sprinted across the street and hurried down an empty sidewalk. Stores on either side of the street were open, their interior lights splashing puddles of gold into the encroaching night.

Too many shadows, she told herself, sending uneasy glances left and right as she quickened her steps, her bootheels splashing in the wet.

She slammed into someone and jolted back, fear rising up, then sliding back down as she looked at the woman who had stepped out of a dress shop.

“Excuse me,” she muttered.

The woman looked at her as if she was crazy, then scurried away. These days, it didn’t pay for a woman to draw attention—even for something as seemingly innocent as a conversation with a stranger. You never knew who might be watching.

At that thought, Teresa sent a quick look around the rain-drenched street. She couldn’t see a soul except the woman she had just bumped into. That should have made her feel better. Instead, she felt a cold crawl along her spine, as if there were unseen watchers keeping tabs on her every movement.

She started walking again, flicking another quick look over her shoulder as a half block farther along, she ducked into the doorway of Elena’s clinic. The CLOSED sign was on the door, but there was a light on in the back of the building.

Teresa knocked, rapping her knuckles wildly against the glass. “Come on, Elena. Be there.”

As if she’d been conjured, Teresa’s friend stepped into view, irritation stamped on her features until she recognized Teresa at the door. Then she hurried over, unlocked it and pulled her inside.

“Teresa, what are you doing? Are you crazy or didn’t you notice it’s raining?” She took a step back, relocked the door and shook her head. “You’re soaked.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” As warmth seeped into her, Teresa looked out the window at the pouring rain and the deserted street beyond. Shadows loomed all around, but they were empty—nothing seemed to be hiding, biding its time. So far. She didn’t see anyone out there, but the tingle at the back of her neck that told her danger was close was only getting stronger. Yes, it was just a feeling. But it was one she couldn’t afford to ignore.

Turning back to her friend, she blurted, “Elena, I need your help.”

“What is it?”

“MPs.”

“Oh, my God.” Elena’s face paled and her dark brown eyes went wide in alarm. She threw a quick look at the street, then grabbed Teresa and pulled her deeper into the clinic, away from the windows and any prying eyes. She hustled her past the narrow coffee table scattered with magazines, past the waiting room chairs and down the hall into her own office. The scent of burned coffee stained the air along with the scent of fear and, of all things, Teresa thought with an unexpected smile, bubblegum. But then, Elena did treat a lot of kids at her clinic.

“Where are they?”

Teresa looked at her best friend and felt Elena’s fear as starkly as she did her own. Not surprising, since they’d grown up together, the two of them sharing every major and minor milestone along the way. They’d met in first grade and had bonded over their mutual disgust of boys.

As the years passed, they’d seen each other through misery and laughter, triumph and pain, and each of them had grown into her own gifts. Teresa’s was a legacy of power, while Elena had the gift of healing. They were true sisters. Not of blood, but by choice.

They were family.

Elena was short, a little too curvy for modern fashion and far too smart for her own good. If she asked all the questions Teresa knew she wanted to, it would only make things more difficult for her. Her wide brown eyes were worried and her short black hair looked as if she’d already shoved her hands through it a hundred times that day.

“I lost the guys chasing me in the desert,” Teresa finally said in answer to Elena’s question. Though she wouldn’t tell her friend just how she’d left those feds behind. Even knowing about the existence of witchcraft didn’t negate the fact that a man made of fire was pretty hard to believe. “But there’s no reason to think those guys were alone in this. There are probably more of them here in town.”

Her friend sent a wary glance toward the front of the clinic, then said, “You’ve got to get out of here, Teresa. Don’t even go back to your place. I’ve got some money here. It’s not a lot, but—”

“No.” Teresa pulled in a breath and said, “Money’s not what I need.” If she needed it later, she’d find an ATM somewhere far, far away from here and make a withdrawal there. “What I do need is some medical stuff. The … man who saved me was shot. He’s still got the bullets in him and I have to get them out.”

“Bullets? As in more than one?” Elena shifted into practicality in the blink of an eye. “How bad is it? Major organs?”

She moved to get her black bag that she kept fully stocked at all times. All her neighbors knew that if they had a problem, even in the middle of the night, they could go to Elena and she would help. With her credentials, she could have practiced medicine anywhere. But she’d chosen to come home. To be a permanent part of the neighborhood where they’d grown up.

“I’ll be ready in a minute and—”

“No.” Teresa stopped her with one quiet word. When Elena looked at her in question, she continued. “You can’t come with me. It’s too dangerous. Too risky. If they know about me, then they’ve done their homework and they know you’re my best friend. Elena, they’ll be watching you.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Elena admitted grimly, then narrowed her eyes. “Which means they could be watching the clinic right now.”

“Possibly,” Teresa said, feeling that odd prickle of danger at the back of her neck again. “But I had to risk coming here. You don’t have to risk your life.”

“It’s my life.”

“I won’t let you,” Teresa told her.

After several long, tense seconds, Elena muttered a curse and said, “Fine. I’ll give you what you need.”

“Thanks. I owe you.”

“No, you don’t.” She walked to the clinic supply cupboard and started rummaging around. “You said he’d been shot. How badly?”

“Bad.”

Elena looked at her. “Is he dying?”

“No.” Teresa was sure about that at least. Her Eternal was immortal. Shot to hell, in pain and losing his magic to the cloying pull of white gold, but he wouldn’t die. “I just need something to dig the bullets out with and—”

“Right.” Elena continued to riffle through the contents of the cabinet, tucking surgical implements, gauze bandages, alcohol, antibiotics and pain pills into her bag. Then she handed it over. “Take this and get moving.”

“Thanks, Elena. Knew I could count on you.” She started for the door, then stopped, turned and came back. Throwing her arms around the other woman, Teresa gave her a hard, fast hug. “You should disappear for a week or two, Elena. You don’t want to be around here when they don’t find me.”

“Don’t worry about me. Just make sure they don’t find you.”

Teresa hugged the bag to her chest. She had to leave, but there was more to say before she did. “Have you seen any strangers in the neighborhood today?”

Elena rolled her eyes. “You mean besides the dozens of tourists hoping to step into a vortex and find the answers to the universe? No.”

“Right.” Teresa frowned, glanced warily down the hall at the front windows and at the rain-drenched street beyond the glass. No one was out there now, but that didn’t necessarily mean a damn thing.

“Elena …”

“Save it. I’m not going to run out on my patients, Teresa.” She folded her arms across her chest and shook her head for emphasis. “You have responsibilities—well, so do I.”

She had known even as she suggested it that Elena wouldn’t run. “I don’t want you getting hurt because of me.”

“If I’m hurt, it’s not on you, Terry,” Elena said, reaching out to take her friend’s hand. “It’s on the freaks who are chasing you.”

“Small consolation if you’re dumped in a prison,” Teresa told her. Just the thought of her friend becoming one of the disappeared women terrified her. She could take fear on her own behalf. That was the legacy of witchcraft. But Elena’s only crime was knowing a witch. Sadly, these days that was all it took.

“God, you’re stubborn.”

Elena managed a weak smile. “There’s a news flash. Look, I know you’ll be leaving. But once you’re safe, find a way to let me know, will you? You don’t have to tell me where you are.” She paused and admitted, “In fact, it would be better for both of us if you don’t. But at least let me know you’re alive.”

“I will,” she promised, hugging her best friend as if it were the last time. And maybe it would be. When she stepped back, she said softly, “Elena, don’t tell anyone you saw me tonight.”

“Who would I tell? Not like I’ve got a social life.” She tried to smile again, but nerves, sorrow and fear chewed at the edges. “Where will you go?”

Good question. Teresa didn’t have a clue where she and her mystical bodyguard would end up. Her grandmother’s visions had predicted the rise of her magic. The coming of a tall man who would protect her. And a dangerous task whose ending was unclear.

Thinking about the Eternal waiting for her sent a ribbon of heat winding through her system and she really didn’t want to so much as acknowledge it. She hadn’t expected to feel such an immediate draw to the immortal meant to be her mate. And it worried her.

Right now Teresa would have given a lot to talk with her abuela. To get some advice. Maybe another peek at one of her visions. But her grandmother was home in a tiny village in Mexico. Another bright flash of fear shot through Teresa at the thought of her grandmother alone and unprotected. What if the feds went after her? Sure, her visions would probably alert her to incoming danger, but she would still be alone.

Alone.

“Oh, God,” she said suddenly as something else occurred to her. “Chico. He’s alone at my house.”

Elena stared at her, clearly stunned. “You’re being chased by armed nutcases who have already tried to kill you and you’re worried about your bird?”

Yes, she was. Okay, sure, he was given to her by Miguel, her abusive bastard of an ex-boyfriend. But that didn’t change the fact that she loved that little rainbow lorikeet. Chico was family, too. Besides her grandmother and Elena, Teresa was pretty much on her own. Her parents had died five years ago in a car accident and being an only child meant she had no close relatives. The multitude of relatives she had in Mexico and Spain didn’t count with her, since she didn’t know them well and never saw them. She couldn’t leave town and let her lorikeet starve to death inside her empty house.

“I could go and get him,” Elena began to offer.

“No. No, you stay away from my place,” Teresa told her quickly. “I mean it, Elena. In fact, I want you to act like you hate my guts. Spit on the street if someone says my name.”

“I will not,” her friend huffed angrily.

“You will, too,” Teresa told her, reaching out to grab her hand in a hard squeeze. “You’ll tell anyone who will listen that you found out what I am and tried to report me but you didn’t because I threatened you or something. Do whatever you have to do to stay safe. Do you understand me?”

“You expect me to—”

“To stay alive,” Teresa finished for her.

“Damn it, Terry …”

“Please, Elena,” she said softly. “If you love me, then do this for me. And don’t worry about Chico. I’ll get him before we leave.”

“You can’t go home—”

No, she thought, but Rune, her immortal Eternal, could go there for her. And she planned on making him do just that.

“Don’t worry.” Teresa headed for the front of the clinic, but before opening the door, she peered through the window and shivered at the thought of stepping out into that cold rain again. Added to that misery was the very real possibility that someone was watching Elena’s clinic right now, hoping to spot her.

“At least go out the back door,” Elena said as if reading her mind.

“Good idea.” She should have thought of that. Would have, she assured herself, if there weren’t so many wild and frantic thoughts racing through her mind. After all, why tempt the fates any more than she had already?

She followed her friend through the clinic, their footsteps echoing on the floor tiles. Rain drummed on the roof and at the windows, pounding a beat so quick and steady, it urged Teresa to move faster.

At the door, which led into a short alley, Elena reached out for another hug. “Be careful,” she warned unnecessarily.

“I will,” Teresa promised, still clutching the black medical bag to her chest. “You watch your back, okay?”

Nodding, Elena opened the door as quietly as possible; then Teresa slipped through without a sound and lost herself in the drenched shadows.