free chapter 3/7
Dani
I woke up with my entire body aching. I instantly remembered the rooftop, the wolves, and the nasty gash on my arm, which was still throbbing by the way.
Thanks Amelia.
My eyes snapped open and I sat up, my head spinning from the quick motion.
I caught my head in my hands to steady it, and then looked around.
This was not my bed.
Actually, could you call it a bed?
I was in a loft of some kind, with a giant mattress laying right on the wooden floor. The mattress had black silk sheets, but the similarities to an actual bed stopped there. On top of what had to be a custom sized mattress, was piled furs. Actual furs, from animals. Dangerous animals. And in lieu of pillows there was rolled up sheep fleeces. Weird, but comfortable. It all looked like a caveman's love den.
I moved a little more and the furs dropped from my shoulders. Air hit my skin and made me realize I was only wearing a bra and panties. Someone had taken my wet clothes off. And if they took my clothes of the may have removed...
My eyes widened, and my hand flew to my ankle bracelet.
Oh thank fuck.
I sighed. The charm from my mother was still intact. It was tiny, a thin gold chain with a pink stone in it. I'd worn it for most of my life and I wasn't supposed to take it off. Ever.
Charm aside, I took inventory on the rest of me.
I inspected my arm. It still hurt like a bitch, but it had been neatly bandaged and I could smell disinfecting chemicals at work. Who could have done it? And for that matter, where the hell was I?
Oh.
Oh shit.
That man. Creature. Thing.
I bit my lip remembering the teleportation circle, then the hot water, and then the hulking guy that just reeked with a deadly ferocity I wasn't ready for. I almost wish I had stayed to try my luck with the werewolves instead.
Yeah, he was more dangerous. Definitely not human, though nothing I had ever encountered before either. A demon maybe? They were huge, and very strong, but this guy didn't have any horns. Maybe a fae? They were intimidating, and moody and his eyes looked like something from another realm, but that didn't feel right either. A shiver ran down my spine. I hoped he wasn't either of those things or I was in deep shit. No human wanted to owe a fae any favors, and a demon...
No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to stay away from the magical world.
I shrugged off the rest of the furs, a chill racing across my bare skin in the cool air, and I dared a peek over the edge of the loft. I had to find out more about my surroundings and maybe a clue of what had caught me and bandaged me up.
The place was what real estate agents like to call 'rustic'. The fireplace was huge, taking up half the wall, but the flames were flickering dangerously low for being somewhere so cold outside. The walls were logs. Just, giant logs. No insulation, and the primitive windows barely had thin panes of glass in them. They would do nothing to tell me where I was, but they did show me it was night outside.
I ran my eyes along the walls and ceiling. No electricity that I could find. Instead, a series of lanterns burned in key places of the room, lighting it as brightly as one could expect from firelight in a heavy cabin at nighttime.
A bathroom wasn't promising either, as the sink's water was a manual pump shooting up right out of the floor. I grimaced at what the toilet must be. Some literal shit hole in the ground probably.
A simple wooden table and an out of place modern couch finished off the furniture. When all was said and done it was a pretty basic cabin.
I sighed through my nose and stood up. I climbed down the stairs carefully and my bare feet padded across the wood floor. I found my backpack, boots, and dress by the fireplace and began going through my things.
My backpack straps were cut, which was hella annoying but I could always get another bag. I yanked out all my clothes and laid them out to dry. The wad of cash I had somehow managed to save up was in a plastic bag and was dry, but the granola bars were ruined. I tossed them and the wrappers in the fire. I pulled the case off my pay-as-you-go phone and tried to dry it out, but I was pretty sure it was a lost cause. My charger and headphones were probably useless too, but I dried them out anyway in case they had miraculously made it through the dip in the spring.
I had a few charms with me for protection and good luck. Cheap baubles from crappy hedge witches, but they made me feel better. Not that they did anything for me this time and now they were ruined too. I tossed them in the fire and sighed, sitting on the stone fireplace.
I grabbed my dress, thankfully it was dry and warm. I pulled it over her head and heard a crunch of twigs outside.
I spun, twisting my body, yanking the dress down and facing the doorway as he came through the door. The man from the spring leaned on the wall watching me.
My heart raced, he was even bigger than I remembered. I swallowed and tried to think of something to say that wouldn't make me out to be a scared little rabbit.
"Pervert," I said, clutching the bottom hem of my dress.
The man raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his massive chest. "You're welcome."
That dropped some of the fight right out of my shoulders. Of course, he had saved me. "I suppose I deserved that."
But I had still woken up in my underwear. He was still a pervert.
I ignored the mixed feelings I had about the giant dude before me and looked down at my boots. I kept eye contact, ready to run if he made a move as I sat to put them on. They were still a bit damp and I wrinkled my nose but kept going. I had certainly had worse problems than damp shoes before.
"What is your name?" he asked, his gravelly voice running a chill down my spine. Like the kind of voice you get after a long stretch of smoking, but a little different. Whatever it was, it was sexy as hell. Too bad I don't fuck with supernaturals.
"Danica," I said, tying my laces. "You?"
He was quiet a moment and I didn't think he was going to answer. Finally, he murmured an answer. "Ryker."
I didn't think he was lying, and even if he was there wasn't much I could do about it.
"Well, I appreciate it, Ryker. I didn't mean to drop in on you, so I'll get out of your way now." I stood, gathering everything back into my damp backpack.
"Where are you going?" Ryker asked.
I frowned a little. Did I want him to know where I was going? He had some kind of interest in me, and it wasn't comfortable. It would be best to keep it vague.
"The nearest train station maybe. Or a U.S. embassy. Damn, I should have packed my passport." I shifted through my belongings and pulled out a wallet. "Maybe my driver's license will work."
As I rummaged through my belongings, Rker chuckled.
"The nearest village is about a hundred kilometers that way." Ryker jabbed his thumb out the door behind him. "And I suggest you have a seat, because I'm going to get a few answers from you before you go anywhere."
I sighed. I had hoped he would be glad to get rid of me, especially after our weird first interaction, but as suspicious as I probably seemed I wasn't surprised he wanted answers. Hell, I'd want them too. "What do you want to know?"
"How is it you got here?" He came into the cabin and closed the door behind him. He walked slowly towards me, looking every bit like a predator. I. Did. Not. Like. That.
I straightened, my muscles on high alert and the hair on my neck standing up straight. I answered, but maybe a tad sharper than I meant to. "I told you, a teleportation circle."
Ryker raised an eyebrow at me and I swallowed, taking a step back.
"I know how they work, and this isn't it. Unless you have been here before and this was your intended destination, you aren't telling me something." He narrowed his eyes as he watched me and slowly sank onto the couch. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
When he sat down I felt a bit better. It was hard to concentrate with a giant looming over you.
"Well, there was an accident and part of the circle was torn up. I patched it up with, uh..." I brushed my fingers over my bandaged shoulder. "With blood."
"That alone wouldn't have done it," Ryker murmured to himself. "What was your incantation?"
"How do you know so much about magic?" I licked my lips and crossed one leg over the other, still seated on the stone fireplace. "Are you a warlock or something? Like, just a really beefy one?"
That brought a smirk to his face. "No, I'm not. Answer the question, Danica."
"At least call me Dani. The incantation is 'suscipe me in toto corde meo vult esse' according to the witch that set it up."
Ryker frowned. "Take me to where my heart wants to go. Hm. That's a weird way to do it, usually they are more straightforward than that."
I shrugged, I didn't know shit from Latin. "Like I said, I didn't set it up. I don't do spells."
Ryker frowned. "You're a witch, aren't you?"
"Not a practicing one," I mumbled.
He sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Well where were you trying to go?" Ryker sat back now, his posture more relaxed though his eyes still sharp. I had no doubts he could claw my ass up in about two seconds if he wanted to.
"My dad's bar. It's my safe house," I mumbled.
"Were you running from something?" Ryker asked. He looked expectant, like he was waiting for me to say something in particular.
I tilted my head and answered truthfully. "Wolves."
He nodded slowly and scratched his scraggly chin. "Alright, wolves then. Do you know why they were chasing you?"
"No idea," I lied. A small grin tugged at Ryker's mouth, but he didn't say anything. It was unsettling.
"Is that all you wanted to know?" I asked.
"For now," he said. "Why don't you stay here for a few days? I have a friend stopping by and he can take you to Moscow. That is, unless you want to go on your own?"
I clenched my jaw. "Is there even a road from here to that village?"
"Not for forty or fifty kilometers," Ryker shrugged. "And it's going to snow tonight. Really you came on a lovely day, I don't expect another one like it for weeks."
I leaned back and rested my head against the stone fireplace. "Guess I'm taking you up on your offer then."
"Why don't I make us dinner and you can use the bathroom," Ryker offered. "You smell like human misery. It's that door over there, I'll have food when you're done."
"Thanks, but it's called smelling like an awesome night at the bar," I mumbled. I grabbed my toothbrush and a clean set of clothes and headed toward the door Ryker had pointed to.
To my surprise, the bathroom was something out of a magazine. There was a giant claw footed tub and a toilet. A real toilet, not a hole in the ground like I was expecting. There was a sleek sink, a mirror, and a modern light fixture. I squealed despite myself and stuck my head out the door.
"You have plumbing? And electricity?"
"I have a generator for it. I haven't upgraded the rest of the cabin in decades, but the bathroom I fixed up when I heard about indoor plumbing," Ryker called from the kitchen.
I rushed back inside to draw a bath. While it was filling up, I brushed my teeth. I cleaned off my face and sank into the water with a sigh. After a short soak and some ferocious scrubbing, I felt much better.
Dinner, huh? I guess I was a house guest for a bit. At least he was willing to let me stay here at all. I tried to decide how I felt about Ryker before I got out of the water. He was scary as hell. He was being sort of nice though. And he did save me in the spring. He could have let my ass drown. In the end, I was still torn up about how to feel when I left the bath.
I re-bandaged my arm and put on a clean black cotton dress. Walking out of the bathroom I felt refreshed, until the second I opened the door and the cool air hit me. "Fuck!"
"What is it?" Ryker frowned, setting two plates on the table.
"It's so cold here," I complained. "Aren't you freezing?"
Ryker smirked. "Guess I'm used to it. I'll throw some more wood on the fire."
I sat down to my plate, and stared. One steak took up the entire plate. It was thick and looked like it was cooked quite skillfully, but that was it. Just, a steak. No salad or potatoes or anything you might expect to go with it. I raised an eyebrow at the plate, but since I was the one crashing his space, I didn't complain. Maybe he just wasn't big on vegetables or something.
"That should do it," Ryker said as he sat down across from her. He picked up his utensils, masterfully cutting his meat into large bites.
I followed his lead and began to eat. It was a strange, silent dinner at who-knows-when o'clock. The stars twinkled outside and a light breeze rustled the plants. Just as Ryker said it would, snow began to fall as we were finishing dinner.
When I couldn't take the silence anymore, I scooted my chair back and stretched.
"Well, I don't think it's been that long since dawn for me, but I guess I'll try to get used to the schedule in this part of the world," I said. "Can I have a blanket for the couch?"
"I can give you something, but you're going to freeze down there. You'd be better off in the loft." Ryker took the plates to the sink.
"Uh, no thanks. Not sharing a bed with a... whatever you are, of unknown origin. I'll take as many blankets as you will give me and the couch will do just fine."
Ryker shrugged, a smile wide on his face. "Suit yourself, little witch."