Defender (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 11) Read online

  They got out of the Jeep and retrieved the groceries from the storage compartment in the back, leaving their luggage there for later. As they came up the stairs into the main part of the house, she could see what he’d meant about the home having a lot of nice touches — a lovely mural of the mountains had been painted along the stairwell, and the floors were gleaming red Saltillo tile. Off to one side she saw an “Arizona room,” or enclosed porch, perfect for enjoying those desert sunsets, while ahead was the kitchen, which clearly had been updated in the recent past, with its stainless appliances and mica countertops.

  “This is kind of amazing,” Kate remarked while pulling their various purchases out of the shopping bags and setting them on the counter. “When you said you rented it out as an Airbnb, I guess I was expecting something smaller.”

  “Well, like I said, I first bought it as an investment property.” He picked up several packages of meat and stowed them in the refrigerator, then did the same thing with the fruit and vegetables they’d purchased. “And I was thinking about maybe retiring here.”

  “‘Retiring’?” she repeated, eyebrows lifting in surprise. Jack Sandoval certainly didn’t look like a candidate for retirement.

  He grinned, as if all too aware of what she’d just been thinking. “I can retire with full benefits at fifty.”

  “That’s still a ways off, isn’t it?”

  “Fourteen years. I guess I just like to think ahead.”

  So he was eight years older than she. Kate had guessed their age gap was somewhere around there. It wasn’t that big a deal. Hardly worth mentioning.

  And hardly worth thinking about, she told herself, since nothing is going on here. Time to get a grip on reality.

  “There are three bedrooms,” he said as he closed the refrigerator door for the final time, all the groceries now put away. “You can pick which one you want.”

  “I don’t want to take yours away from you — ”

  “None of them are really ‘mine,’” he cut in. “I’ve only stayed here a handful of times, and I’ve used all three of them. So don’t worry about that.”

  Because Kate could tell he didn’t want to argue about it, she just said, “All right. I’ll go take a look.”

  Despite what Jack had said, she saw right away that one of the rooms was clearly intended as the master, since it was bigger and had an en suite bathroom, while the other two bedrooms shared a bath down one hall. She decided she wouldn’t take the master bedroom, but instead the larger of the two rooms that were left, with the warm terra-cotta-colored paint on the walls and a spectacular view of the Atascosa Mountains.

  “This one’s great,” she said, while Jack stood in the hall and gave her a quizzical look.

  “You can have the master. It’s fine.”

  “And this one is fine, too,” she replied. “I’m good.”

  At that point he shrugged and said, “All right. Let’s get our bags.”

  She followed him back down to the Jeep, where she waited as he handed over her weekender bag and toiletries case, and the rolling suitcase she’d filled with items from her apartment. Jack retrieved his own bags, and not too long after that, they were back upstairs, where they each went to the rooms they’d claimed and began to unpack.

  This was weird. It was weird, wasn’t it, to be staying in this house in the middle of nowhere with Jack Sandoval?

  Probably.

  But…strange as the circumstances were, at the moment she couldn’t think of anywhere she’d rather be.

  14

  It took longer for Kate to unpack than it did Jack, probably because she’d brought a few more things than he had. He took advantage of the extra time to call work and offer his own carefully manufactured lie as to why he’d have to take an indefinite leave of absence. Larry had been less than thrilled, but, as Jack had surmised, he really couldn’t protest too much when the excuse involved a murdered relative in California.

  “I’m sorry to hear of your loss,” Larry said, sounding uncharacteristically subdued. A second later, though, he continued with, “But it’s going to be a hell of a problem continuing with our own investigation here while you’re out of state.”

  “Grace and Ian can handle it,” Jack replied, which was no more than the truth. His assistants were both extremely capable people. No, they wouldn’t be able to make much progress with this particular case, but that was only because they simply weren’t equipped to track down a malevolent warlock with a desire for revenge. About all he could hope was that, once this was all over with, there would be some way to pass on the information about what had happened to Jeff Nichols’ murderer, so there would be some closure to the investigation and it wouldn’t end up as yet another cold case file.

  “Yeah. Maybe. Well, take care, Jack. Again, sorry to hear about what happened to your cousin.”

  At that moment, Jack couldn’t help feeling guilty over the lies he’d told, even though he knew they were necessary. “Thanks, Larry. I appreciate it. I’ll try to be in touch.”

  He ended the call then as Kate emerged from the room she’d claimed as her own. Once again he was struck by her casual beauty, somehow perfectly at home in this place of warm handmade tile and desert vistas, of how lovely she was in her jeans and embroidered top and flat-heeled sandals. When he’d first met her, of course she’d been shaken and horrified by what she’d just seen, but he’d also realized that she looked slightly out of place in her buttoned-up work clothes, like she was playing a part rather than being the person she truly was.

  Or maybe that was a load of horseshit. Maybe he just wanted to think about how at home she looked here because he wanted her to be a part of this house, a part of his life.

  He cleared his throat. “Well, I’m set with work now, too, so I guess we’re both free agents. Let me show you the rest of the place. Do you want some water?”

  If Kate was a little put off by these seemingly disjointed questions, she didn’t show it. “Sure, water would be great.”

  They went into the kitchen, where he got two plastic bottles of water from the fridge and handed one to her. “This way.”

  The covered patio and adjacent courtyard were, in their way, the most striking parts of the house, and so Jack took her there first, letting her smile at the cobalt blue paint of the walls along the covered patio, the star-shaped lights of pierced Mexican tin that hung from the roof. The switch for the pond fountain was hidden behind a potted palm, and Jack reached over and flicked it on so the soothing sound of bubbling water soon filled the space.

  “It’s absolutely gorgeous,” Kate said. “Like a little oasis. I’m surprised it wasn’t rented out.”

  “Well, we’re just past spring break for most places around here. It had been full up until about a week ago.” He took her to the covered area where the built-in gas barbecue and sink were located, along with the brick pizza oven.

  As soon as she caught sight of the pizza oven, her face lit up. “Now I see why you wanted me to get those pizza crusts at Trader Joe’s. Although you could’ve told me you had your own gourmet setup here. I thought I was going to have to wrangle pizza in a regular oven.”

  “Well, I didn’t want to give all my secrets away at once,” Jack replied.

  In response, her mouth quirked. “Do you have all that many secrets?”

  “Not really. You already know the biggest one.”

  “That you’re a warlock?”

  “That’s the one. It’s not exactly the sort of thing I can just drop casually at the water cooler at the office.”

  For a moment, she didn’t reply, only gazed up at him, brows knitted slightly. In the subdued light out here, with the sun filtered through the overhanging palms, her eyes looked almost pure green. “Is it hard?” she asked at last. “I mean, I know what it’s been like to keep the secret about Jenny’s family, about the McAllisters, but that has to be nothing compared to what you go through every day.”

  He hadn’t really been expecting the compassion,
the realization that being a warlock in a world of civilians wasn’t always a bed of roses. Clearly, Kate had done some thinking on the subject, and the unlooked-for perception only made him warm to her that much more. “It can be hard sometimes,” he said, although his casual tone belied the words he had just spoken. “But it’s something I’m used to. The de la Paz clan has always been one that mixed in with the regular population. We learn from a very early age how to conduct ourselves, since we know that one day we’ll have to ‘pass,’ for lack of a better word, in the real world. It’s not as big a deal as you might think.”

  From her expression, Kate didn’t appear entirely convinced, but she didn’t contradict him. Instead, she moved out to the edge of the patio, where a low stucco wall separated this small sanctuary from the rest of the yard. Not that it was a real yard, in the suburban sense, just a span of mesquite trees and artfully placed rocks and succulents that eventually gave way to the open desert. The true property line was actually quite far from the spot where they stood, since the lot comprised a good six acres.

  “And we’re really safe here?” she asked, studying the outline of the Atascosa Mountains, now starting to grow hazy as sunset approached.

  How was he supposed to answer that question? Right now, Jack wasn’t sure if any place was entirely safe, no matter what precautions he might have taken to make it that way. He said, “Much safer than being back in Scottsdale.”

  “That’s not what I asked.” Her gaze was level, unwavering. It was the sort of look that expected the truth.

  So he’d give it to her. “Can I guarantee that it’s safe? No, because the events of the past few days have proved that nothing is guaranteed. But our warlock would also have to be a gifted hacker to know that I own this place, so…I’d say it’s pretty safe.”

  “No one in your family knows about it?”

  “My brothers know I bought an income property somewhere near Tucson. That’s all.” And really, forty-five minutes away wasn’t all that “near,” when you got right down to it. The obfuscation had been a harmless one, but it could also help him and Kate now.

  “Why didn’t you tell them more details about it?”

  “And have all my nieces and nephews come down here and trash the place?” he returned in mock horror.

  That reply made her smile. “Okay, I think I see your point. But…what if the warlock has some other way of tracking us down?”

  It was a question that had worried Jack, too, but he’d also taken precautions against that sort of thing as well. “This whole place,” he said, indicating with a sweep of his arm the expanse of the property, “has been warded. Every couple of months I come down here and walk the perimeter, refresh the sigils I’ve inscribed on the stones, repeat the spells. Not,” he went on, as Kate opened her mouth to speak, “because I ever thought this place would actually be under attack, but because it’s what I do. This is my magic. Performing these spells helped me to keep in practice, if you know what I mean. And it doesn’t hurt to have the house protected, even if it’s just being rented out to civilians. Those spells of protection can also prevent mishaps in the microwave or stopped-up toilets.”

  She actually chuckled. “Okay, I can see how that might come in handy.”

  “So do you feel safe enough to eat something? It’s getting around that time.”

  “Sure. I’m dying to try out that pizza oven.”

  They went back into the house, where they assembled the ingredients on the counter. Since Kate announced that she wanted to make a concoction with goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes and olives, there wasn’t a lot of work for Jack to do, although he dutifully shredded lettuce and spinach leaves, getting the salad ready while she worked.

  Afterward they went back out to the patio, where he fired up the oven, then plugged in the strings of round, clear party bulbs that hung over the space. By then it wasn’t quite dark yet, a warm orange sunset lingering in the west, but the lights were still needed as the shadows grew on every side.

  He’d also brought out the plastic plates and cups he kept in the house for patio dining, and set the table as Kate planted herself in front of the pizza oven and kept an eagle eye on their meal. Last was a bottle of Sangiovese from one of the local vineyards; she arched an eyebrow at the bottle as he pulled out the cork and poured a measure into each of their glasses, but she didn’t say anything.

  And then it was time to get out the pizza, which Kate let him handle, maneuvering the wooden peel so it wouldn’t get scorched as he carefully drew the pie, all dripping with melted cheese, the crust a perfect golden brown, from within the brick oven. He put it down on the table, and watched as Kate sat down, her eyes shining. Right then, he could tell she was only thrilled by the novelty of the experience, wasn’t thinking about her estranged husband’s death or all the tragedies that had followed. And Jack was glad of that. He wanted her to forget.

  He wanted…her.

  “To the desert,” he said quickly, raising a glass. Across the table from him, Kate appeared somewhat nonplussed by the toast, but she lifted her glass as well.

  “Why the desert?”

  “Why not? It’s a good place to shelter, in a lot of ways. Anyway, you won’t be asking that question when we go look at the stars after dinner.”

  “Oh, right…the telescope.”

  “It’s a good time of year for star watching,” he went on, knowing he spoke too quickly, trying to cover up the unwanted surge of desire he’d just experienced as he gazed across the table at her. “During the winter, you can’t see the Milky Way because of the orientation of the Earth on its axis, but now we’re enough into the spring that you’ll be able to see it in all its glory.”

  She swallowed some of her wine, then said, “Really? I’ve never seen it. In person, that is. On Facebook I follow this photographer in Tucson who takes amazing night-sky shots of the desert, but I’ve never been able to see for myself the things he’s talking about.”

  “Well, you will soon enough, although we have to wait for it to be full dark.”

  “Then I guess we’d better eat.”

  That sounded like a good idea, especially now that enough time had elapsed for the pizza to cool a little and the cheese to congeal somewhat. Jack cut the pie into eight slices, then put one on Kate’s plate, and another on his own. She dished salad, and for a moment neither of them spoke, since they were too busy eating.

  No, she hadn’t been joking when she’d said she could cook. True, the pizza they were eating had been assembled from simple enough components, but she’d still needed to know which ones would work best together, and how much of each one to use.

  At length, though, she set down her half-eaten slice of pizza and picked up her glass of Sangiovese, then said, “You told me this property was warded, but…didn’t you do the same thing with your apartment in Scottsdale? No offense, but it doesn’t seem as if the wards you put up there did what you wanted them to.”

  He’d been wondering if she was going to ask that question. To fortify himself, he drank some of his wine, then responded, “Yes, I had signs of protection up in my apartment, and yes, an intruder still got in, but their real purpose was to protect whoever might be inside, not the property there. Since you and Caitlin and Alex were gone when the warlock showed up, the wards weren’t really needed. And actually,” he went on, as Kate took a swallow of wine and regarded him with a slightly skeptical expression, “who’s to say you didn’t all get the notion to leave because the spells I cast compelled you to do so? They would be protecting you by making sure you weren’t there.”

  At that explanation, she actually chuckled. “Well…that’s putting a spin on it.”

  Jack wasn’t offended. He knew he might have reacted in the same way if he’d been told something similar. “Magic is…well, it’s magic. It’s not science. It can have a mind of its own. The wards I have here” — with his free hand, he gestured out toward the open land surrounding the house, now all a sea of darkness, since the moon hadn
’t risen yet — “they’re meant to serve as a warning as much as anything else. If someone I haven’t given permission to be here crosses them, I’ll know.”

  “How? Does an alarm go off or something?”

  “Not exactly. More like…I’ll feel it, like someone poking me in the middle of the back. A twinge. And that will give me time to prepare.”

  For a few seconds, she didn’t reply, but swirled the wine in her glass, watching the ruby glints reflecting from the lights overhead. “If you feel that twinge, what will you do?”

  “To be honest?” he replied. “We pack everything in the Jeep and get the hell out of here.”

  “Well, that’s…brave.”

  Since the ironic inflection in her voice told him she was teasing…at least partially…he didn’t take offense. “This person is a killer, Kate. I’m not going to take chances with you. Yes, I know a number of spells to drive back a magical attack — and I know how to shoot straight, too. But since I don’t know exactly what we’re up against, it’s very likely that it would be safer to hightail it out of here and drive up to Tucson. Alex’s powers would come in very handy in a situation like that.”

  “I guess so.” She looked at him directly then, all traces of amusement gone from her face. Now she only seemed tense, and worried, and all too vulnerable. “But…am I always going to be running?”

  “No,” he said, his voice firm. “This is just temporary. Luz texted me to let me know that she was going to be meeting with Connor and Angela tomorrow, and I’m sure they’ll come up a plan to deal with the person who’s been causing all this mayhem. The prima and her primus working together are pretty formidable, and if they can figure out a way to connect their powers with Luz’s, then I have no doubt that they’ll take care of our problem.”

  “And what about the null in California?”