Queen of The Hill (Knight Games) Read Online Free PDF Page B

pinched throat and filled my lungs. Rick’s hands were on me in an instant, his wrist thrust between my teeth. I drank quickly and willingly of his blood. As soon as I was well enough, I got to my feet.
    “I am due blood!” Tabetha raged toward the thunderous sky.
    Another lightning bolt landed between us.
    With a pained sigh, she straightened herself and fixed me with a threatening glare. “It appears Mother wants you alive. Very well. An alternative price for a caretaker requires some thought. It will not be insignificant. Both of you will come to my home when I call you forth. I will tell you my price then.”
    “Your home? No. A neutral location,” I rasped.
    Her dark eyes flashed. “Mother may spare your life, but even she will not deny me my due, sister.”
    I had nothing left. I could barely hold myself up, even after Rick’s blood. Tabetha wasn’t going to back down.
    I nodded my acquiescence.
    She sneered at Rick, her mouth twisting in disgust as if he repulsed her. With a flick of her wand, she dissolved into thin air, the overwhelming scent of roses lingering in her wake.
    As soon as she was gone, I turned the full force of my stare on Rick. “Start. Talking.”

CHAPTER 4
Tabetha
    “T abetha came to my aid in your absence. I couldn’t have managed our ward for so long on my own without her help,” Rick said. The snow began to fall again, this time on its own. My magic was spent, and my chest ached.
    “In my absence?”
    “After you died but before you returned. Twenty-two years is a long time.”
    “When you say she helped you …” My mind immediately went to sex. Caretakers fed on sex and blood. “You told me you’d never had sex with anyone but me.”
    He jerked back as if I’d struck him. “I did not have sex with Tabetha.”
    “Then why did she look at you like that? You obviously have a history. The way she addressed you, it was almost possessive.”
    “I can explain, but come. You need to sit down.” With a sweep of his hand, he suggested we return to my house, and I agreed. The snow descended in earnest, big fluffy flakes that collected on our hair and shoulders. I followed him across the street.
    “As I was saying, Tabetha helped in your absence with particularly difficult cases. A caretaker’s magic is effective against the supernatural, but things become difficult when humans are involved. Some work requires a witch.”
    “For example?”
    “A demon possession near Manchester around a decade ago. Tabetha had to expel the demon so that my beast could sentence it to hell. I can’t separate the natural from the supernatural.”
    “I see. So Tabetha helped you because, as Salem’s Witch, she’s the closest Hecate to our ward.”
    “Not exactly. There was another—Polina, the Smugglers’ Notch Witch—but she refused me. She was reclusive and wouldn’t leave her ward. More recently, she’s gone missing entirely.”
    “Missing?”
    “Tabetha has been covering her territory for months. That was why she said she needed me, to manage Polina’s ward. At the time, Tabetha was sure she would be given permanent power over Polina’s realm.”
    “Why permanent? Polina will come back, right? If the Vermont witch is dead, she’ll regenerate like I did.”
    He shook his head, holding my door open for me.
    I stripped off my torn winter clothes and flopped down on the floral sofa. I didn’t even bother attempting a seated position. I stretched across the cushions ragdoll-limbed and closed my eyes.
    “Polina did not have a caretaker, which should have made her immortal, but unfortunately, even immortals can be neutralized.”
    My eyes popped open. “Wait, wait, wait a minute.” I spread my hands in the air above my chest. “Explain. I thought most Hecates had caretakers.”
    Just then, Poe flapped down the staircase, swooped around the banister, and landed on the kitchen island. “Caretakers are rare, Witcherella. Very few witches would give up their own immortality for the