Wolves of Wrath

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

“I need to look at the situation from a scientific standpoint. There has to be a formula. X+Y = the birth of a witch. But what is it? And how many lives will be lost before I figure out what the X and Y variables are?” ~Jewel

Four months earlier

Jewel stared out the window of the hotel room. She hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night. Understandable, considering she’d been dropped off in Los Angeles with no more information than ‘Hey, make witches or die.’ Her mind wouldn’t shut off. She thought about Dalton and what he must be thinking and feeling since she’d left him—again. She thought about Anna and how she’d betrayed the poor girl by turning her into a witch. She thought about the two warlocks who acted more like friends than guards and wondered how exactly they fit into the grand scheme of things. They didn’t seem like the type to just willingly follow someone like Volcan. Jewel thought about her mom and whether she was okay. She thought about the other healers still in the pixie realm and wondered whether or not Peri would be able to get them out. Then she wondered if they should come out because, if they did, they would be vulnerable to capture by Volcan.

The worries and fears were never ending. And on top of all those concerns, she had to figure out how to turn innocent women into witches. After all, she couldn’t just walk up to perfect strangers and say, “I’ve got a proposition for you. I make you a witch, and then you serve a dark, sociopathic fae who wants to take over the world. Oh and, by the way, all those supernatural beings in books? Yeah, they’re real. So, want to jump on board?” Nope, she probably wouldn’t get any takers.

“Do you feel it?”

Jewel had been so lost in thought that Anna’s voice coming from behind her made her jump. “You mean his magic?”

“Yes. I can feel it moving inside of me, like it’s urging me on.”

Jewel nodded. “He said it would do that. He said we would feel compelled to make the witches, that the power inside of us was designed specifically for that purpose and would demand to be used,” Jewel explained, her gut twisting tighter and tighter as she remembered Volcan’s words.

“It’s a bit annoying.”

Jewel laughed. “That’s an understatement.” She heard Anna moving, so she turned around to face her and saw the other girl had climbed back up on the bed and was sitting cross-legged. Her elbows were resting on her knees, and her fingers were pressed together forming a steeple.

“I’ve been thinking,” Anna said. “And you can totally shut me down if you don’t agree with this. But we have to find women to turn into witches. And I’m pretty sure walking up and down Rodeo Drive is not the answer. We need to find people who are … outside the mainstream of society. People who immediately run the other way when we start talking. And I think I might have a couple of ideas that could work. What if we went out to some nightclubs in Los Angeles? I’m sure there are some underground places that cater to a crowd that has different tastes than the normal, high-profile clubs. Maybe in one of these underground places, we could find some women who are open to the idea of the supernatural? That’s the first idea. The other thing I was thinking was that we could look up some occult shops. A lot of the occult shops are owned by self-proclaimed witches, which we obviously know now can’t possibly be true. But maybe we can work some sort of angle with them.”

Jewel let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. “Anna, you’re brilliant.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re the genius in the room,” Anna replied.

“Maybe in some ways, but sometimes I miss the simple answers because I’m too busy trying to overcomplicate the issue,” Jewel admitted.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Jewel,” Anna said gently. “You’ve been through a lot in the past few months. You can’t expect your brain to function at its full potential when it’s under such a huge amount of stress.”

Jewel let out a small huff of laughter. “Again, a brilliant observation and explanation on your part.”

There was a knock on the door that joined their room with Sly and Z’s. Jewel walked over to it while contemplating the two warlocks. They had been nice so far, and even seemed to try and put the girls at ease whenever possible. But Jewel had noticed a melancholy sadness that overtook their faces when they thought no one was looking. It was this look that gave Jewel some hope that the pair wasn’t really in league with the evil fae. But even if they weren’t on Volcan’s side, that didn’t mean they were on Team Healer either. She unlocked and opened the door. The two, large males were standing inches from the door with a pair of identical grins plastered on their faces.

“What, exactly, are you two so happy about?” Anna asked, sounding a little wary.

“Are you kidding?” Z asked. “We are in Los Angeles, the city that never sleeps.”

“I thought that was Las Vegas,” Jewel said.

“Las Vegas, Los Angeles, really what’s the difference?” Sly asked.

“Are you guys planning a sightseeing day?” Jewel asked.

Z and Sly looked at each other, and the expressions on their faces made Jewel feel as though they were dealing with two teenage boys let loose on their own for the first time, rather than two powerful adult supernatural beings.

“We just assumed all work and no play makes witches grumpy all the long day,” Z answered. The smug grin on his face made it obvious he was quite proud of his little rhyme.

“Okay, first of all,” Anna said, her face scrunched up as she shook her head, “Never do that again. Warlocks do not make silly rhymes. I’m pretty sure it’s in some ancient book somewhere. Second, we have work to do, and if we don’t get it done, we will be gypsy healer stew, brewing in Volcan’s cauldron. So, you two” —she pointed at one and then the other— “need to get with the witch-production program.”

Jewel grinned at Anna. “I’ve never seen you so take charge.”

Anna raised her hands palm up in a what-can-you-do sort of gesture. “When there’s someone else who wants to be in charge, I’m totally okay with letting them take the reins. If no one steps up, I’m willing because I do not like feeling lost or unsure. I need plans and direction. I mean, if you’d rather—”

Jewel cut her off. “No, no. I’m more the behind-the-scenes, researching nerd who attempts to avoid physical confrontation as much as possible. In short, I’m a follower.”

One of the warlocks cleared his throat. “So, do you two Wheelers have some sort of plan for this witch-production program?”

“Here we go with that word again,” responded Jewel. “Yes, we are both witches and healers, but Wheelers? C’mon on.”

“If the shoe fits,” retorted Sly.

“As a matter of fact, we do,” Anna offered. “Just need to do a bit of research, which I vote we do over breakfast.”

“I second that vote,” Sly said, raising his hand.

“And clean clothes would be nice, too,” Jewel added.

“So breakfast, planning, shopping,” Z confirmed.

Jewel and Anna nodded and followed the two males out of the motel room.

They hadn’t walked more than a quarter of a mile when they came to the first fast-food place—a burger joint. It looked less than appealing to Jewel, but then, they were sort of in a hurry and, she didn’t have time to be picky about the food.

Jewel began to speak. “Did you know fast food restaurants have—”

Anna held up her hand. “If you give me some fact about how gross, unsanitary, or unsavory fast food restaurants are that is going to make me want to puke, then I’m going to have to put a spell on you.”

“Theme song,” Z and Sly sang at the same time. “I put a spell on you.”

Jewel was quickly figuring out that they would have to ignore the warlocks at times in order to keep from encouraging their Weasley-brother antics. It struck her as funny that there she was comparing them to Harry Potter when she and Anna were indeed real-life witches. Pot, meet kettle.

Anna couldn’t stop wondering what it was Jewel was going to say. She stared up at the menu, trying to determine what food would be the safest to eat. A sausage patty at least was cooked on the stove so that probably killed all the germs, right? By the time it was her turn to order, she still didn’t have a clue what she wanted so she just said a number. “I’ll take a number six, with a soda to drink.” She stepped away from the counter without looking up at what she’d ordered and tried to ignore the employees making the food. She figured it would just be safer for everyone involved that she remained oblivious.

When they were all seated with trays of food in front of them, she discovered she’d order the chicken biscuit and decided it was acceptable. Hopefully the grease it was fried in was at least under a year old.

“So, let’s hear this plan.” Z spoke up just before biting into some sort of breakfast biscuit containing meat she couldn’t identify.

“Do you have a cell phone?” Anna asked him.

“Actually, I have one for each of you.”

Jewel’s eye’s widened. “He’s letting us have phones?”

Sly shook his head. “The phones are from us. We figured if we got separated at any point, we’d need a way to contact each other.”

“Ah,” Jewel said, looking as surprised as Anna felt. Sly and Z were a mystery. Working for an evil fae, but so far, not showing any real loyalty. She wondered what their angle was.

They both took the phones Z handed them. Anna immediately pulled up the internet and began searching for night-clubs near her. She took screenshots of the ones that looked promising, and then she did a search of occult and New Age shops. She took screenshots of those as well and then set her phone down so she could eat.

“We want to go to some night clubs that cater to a darker crowd and also some occult shops. A lot of those shops are run by self-styled witches. We know they aren’t, of course, but they might be open to gaining real power.”

Both warlocks looked impressed. “So, when we go shopping, we need to make sure and get you some club clothes,” Sly said, waggling his eyebrows at them.

“Remember we have werewolf mates,” Jewel said, smiling sweetly.

Both their smiles fell. “That totally takes the fun out of this,” Z grumbled.

They finished their breakfast in relative silence, with the warlock twins occasionally making comments about what they hoped the clubs would be like. Anna was beginning to think they should figure out a way to go to the clubs without the Duke brothers.

An hour and several cab rides later, both Anna and Jewel held a couple bags each of clothes, toiletry essentials, and necessities for the nightclubs, namely, make-up and fake piercings. The fake piercings had been Z’s idea, and his grin had been a little too devious for Anna’s liking.

They found another motel and rented a couple of rooms. They’d narrowed their options down to two clubs. However, if they found someone at the first location, then they would probably forego the second place.

“So, which one first?” Jewel asked Anna. “Pure Indulgence or The Snake Pit?”

“Indulgence,” answered Anna as she pulled on the black skirt she’d bought for the night’s activities. “The Snake Pit just sounds … scary.”

“We are making witches, here,” Jewel responded. “Maybe we need scary.”

“I’ll make nice witches, thank you very much. If Volcan wants scary witches, then he’ll have to make them himself.” Once Anna had pulled her skirt all the way on, she frowned at herself in the mirror. “I feel like this was longer in the store when I tried it on.”

“It looks good,” Jewel said as she walked in a circle around Anna. “It’s a little short, but not … give-the-world-a-show short.”

Jewel slipped on the dress she’d purchased. It was a deep green that complimented her red hair and clung to every curve. The material was incredibly soft to the touch. It had a plunging neck line with an Elizabethan collar that rose up in the back, framing her neck.

“Are you nervous?” Anna asked.

“Only because I know we are going to fail horribly and probably get murdered very painfully by a psychotic supernatural being. Statistics are not on our side. If I get into the math behind the likelihood of finding a girl that we can turn into a witch tonight without her thinking we are crazy, then, yes, I’m very nervous. Also, I feel like a weirdo going and searching for someone to turn into a witch.”