NOELLE WISHED SHE COULD’VE skipped out on the bachelorette party, but being the maid of honor, she was stuck. Stupid traditions sucked balls. Her sister Merry lifted another shot in the air, cheers ringing out as the other ladies followed suit. Goddess, she really wished she could sneak back home, and binge watch some mindless television about house flipping or a Housewives show, anything other than being here in a bar with a bunch of women.
“Noelle, come on, have a shot. It’ll make you loosen up,” Merry yelled.
She barely kept from rolling her eyes at her older sister’s words. At twenty-four ,she didn’t want to be loosened up, thank you very fucking much. When she drank, she liked to have a glass or two of good, sweet wine, or a bottle of beer. She wasn’t a snob. She just didn’t like to drink just to drunk. Nor did she like to lose all her inhibitions. Nope, she was kinda a control freak, so sue her. “No thanks, I’m good. Besides, I promised your soon-to-be hubby I’d get you home safe.”
Which wasn’t a lie. Carlton had told her it was her job to make sure Merry and her bunch of wild women didn’t do anything stupid. So, yeah, she was the one in charge of the crazy ladies.
“Pfft, he’s not here. Besides, all these yummy men are just what we need.” Her sister swept her gaze over the men, before spinning in a circle, waving her arms around wildly. “I love this place,” Merry yelled, falling into Jessamina, her best friend.
Of course, she would. The men all seemed to be larger than your average men, and they were, as Merry had said, sexy as fuck, and on a scale of one to oh my gawd I’d fuck them, they definitely veered way over onto the sexy-as-fuck side. Not that she’d ever done that, but damn, a girl could drool.
She’d moved to Assjacket, VA after being found, once she’d blown them out of the hellhole Remdezevier had kept her and the others in three years ago. Her parents, Goddess love them, had followed her, saying they wanted to be near her. Luckily for them, Baba Yaga was very generous in her dealings and allowed her family to move into the small town as well. Not that she was a tyrant, well, not since she’d married Zelda’s father anyhow.
After twenty minutes of watching all the ladies dancing, gyrating, and all-around acting like fools, Noelle was in need of some fresh air. Her fingers tingled to zap herself out of the space. Only knowing it would freak the humans out if she up and disappeared before their eyes, kept her from following through with the impulse.
She pushed away from the wall she’d been holding up, her eyes catching on one of the largest, most dangerous men she’d ever spied in her life. Holy shitbugs...her breath nearly froze in her lungs as his electric-blue eyes held her spellbound. She wanted to allow her magic to flow from her to him so she could see who he was. Her body vibrated as if it had been electrocuted by a thousand volts from that one encounter. It terrified her that he could affect her with just one glance. Who was this man? She tore her gaze from his to see if her sister and the others had noticed him. Although she was the only one with any powers, she was teaching them how to feel with their intuitions so they wouldn’t be unaware of dangers. Zelda and Sassy had told her it was alright to do so since she wasn’t transferring any powers to them, only teaching them not to be...victims.
A shiver worked its way down her frame. She’d rescued them all from an insane doctor who’d thought they all were the answer to his prayers. He’d thought they were all witches, not realizing that the others were only pretending while she was the only true witch. It still pained her that they’d suffered. Although she hadn’t known the other ladies before Merry had been taken, she still had lingering remorse that she should’ve done more to stop Remdezevier from taking her and the others. He’d promised her he wouldn’t take anyone else if she complied with his wishes. At twelve, she’d been far more mature, and it had been her mistake that he’d found her out. She’d never told anyone how he’d come to acquire her. It was a shame she couldn’t admit out loud even to this day. For ten years, he never let her live her failings down.
The nightmares she suffered still had the ability to wake her up at night. She’d never tried to escape, even though she was more powerful, because he’d promised to leave her sister and parents alone. He’d shown her how easy it was for him to take what he wanted, when he wanted. Her best friend at the time had paid a steep price, her life, when Noelle didn’t listen to him. Merry was human like Lisa had been. All that had changed when he’d broken his promise after she’d collapsed from blood loss, lack of nutrition, and from his horrid experiments gone too far.
Noelle shook off the memory. Her parents had never stopped searching for her, but even now they treated her differently. She was like her grandmother who had similar gifts. Remdezevier had tried to twist her gifts, only he’d succeeded in making them more, almost uncontrollable. Zelda and Sassy had been working with her to where she now felt comfortable enough to venture outside of Assjacket, Virginia.
She watched the others drinking and having fun. With her powers, she wouldn’t risk doing the same. No, it was better to be safe and sober.
The blinking
