“What are you?” he asked. His voice was not quite back to normal, but it was close.
“I’m a will o’ the wisp,” she answered and smiled when she saw his flinch. “You know, everyone thinks we’re harbingers of bad fortune or even death,” she said, taking a step toward him.
This time, Ulrich was the one to back up.
The blue lights around her bounced toward him, almost touching his skin, but not quite. Blue light began to pulse and emanate from her skin.
“What they don’t realize is that we can make bad things happen. We aren’t always just a warning, sometimes we’re the cause.”
His skin paled as he stared at her.
“Now, do you really want me to give you another chance? Do you want me to decide that not only are you not my type, but that you should be punished? Because I can be your curse, Ulrich, if you want to continue this.”
He backed away two more steps before he turned and ran down the hall toward the dining room.
Nova watched him vanish from sight but, before she could calm herself and pull her magic back into her body, Torin appeared in the mouth of the hallway.
He jogged toward her, his eyes burning with blue fire.
“Are you okay?” he barked.
Nova took a deep breath and nodded. The blue light faded from her skin and the orbs that bubbled around her slowed and finally disappeared.
“I’m all right,” she answered.
“What happened?”
Nova made a face. “Well, it seemed that the guy I went on a date with a few weeks ago didn’t like the way I left things. He wanted me to give him another chance.”
Torin made that same barking-growling sound she’d heard him make before. “He what?” he asked, his voice low and rumbling.
“I doubt I’ll see him again,” Nova said. “He tried to intimidate me with his magic, and I had to explain to him exactly what a will o’ the wisp is able to do.”
“He tried to intimidate you with his magic? How exactly did he do that?”
Before Nova could answer, Torin shook his head. “You know what? You can tell me later. After I find that asshole and rip his goddamned head off.”
Torin turned on a heel and started down the hallway, stomping as he went.
Nova ran after him, grabbing his arm as he drew even with the men’s room door. “Torin, I’m okay. He won’t be back. I promise.”
He glanced at her, his bicep hard as granite beneath her touch. “He tried to scare you. He could have hurt you. He needs to learn.”
Nova stepped closer, desperate to keep him from doing something that might cause him problems for a very long time.
“Please don’t hurt him,” she said.
He reared back. “You’re protecting him?”
“No!” she yelled, her temper bursting out of her once again. “I’m trying to protect you! I don’t want you to do something that will get you in trouble with the cops or anyone else.”
Little blue orbs zoomed around his head. Torin blinked at them.
“Are you going to hurt me with your little blue lights if I don’t do what you want?”
“Maybe,” she threatened.
Torin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. I won’t go after him, but you have to do something for me.”
