A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums (Lilith and Co. #1)

Chapter 23

Chapter

Twenty-Three

W e waited for what felt like forever for someone, anyone, to greet us. Finally, a beautiful man with flawless makeup and eyebrows to die for stepped into the street from one of the homes. He wore a multi-colored, butterfly caftan and a long string of pearls knotted at his chest. He had on a gorgeous 1920s-esque headdress with a peacock feather. My mouth dropped open. I mean, I hardly considered myself Quasimodo, but this man upstaged us all.

“Hey,” I called out and he smiled. A smile. Thank you, Lilith. I needed someone to smile. Shafira and I still had so much to get done and a nonexistent amount of time to do it.

“Hey, girl,” he called back. “What’s up?” The man did not sound Australian. Like at all. He sounded American. West Coast/SoCal, maybe?

I sighed. “We need help.”

“Help? Ooh… spill the tea.” He watched me intently with his arms folded over his chest, waiting me out. He’d never even introduced himself, but okay.

“I’m Simone Lamia. This is”—I pointed to Shafira—“my friend Shafira. Shafira is a witch, but I’m—okay, this is always the hard part—I’m a Lilium.”

His mouth dropped open.

I mean, he had to wonder how we’d made it through the wards. So the idea of me being Lilium couldn’t have been that crazy.

“She is not just any Lilium,” Shafira helpfully put in. “She is the Lilium. CliffsNotes version.” She looked at me. “Is that what you said?” When I nodded, she smiled and went on. “She is Lilith’s granddaughter. She has to save the world, but we need to rescue her protector mate first.”

His eyes bugged. “You cannot CliffsNotes, long story short that, girl. Long story long. Now.”

We didn’t have time for long story long. His tanned skin glistened in the sun as he stared us down.

“Sorry, but we seriously don’t have time for more. I can fill you in while receiving the help, but this is pretty time sensitive.”

He waved his finger around in the air, suggesting he was about to refer to the rest of the coven. “It’s bad out there. Time sensitive or not, they won’t help until they trust you. Trust me . I know.”

I shoved my sticky, sweat-soaked hair away from my face in frustration. “They have to help. That whole ‘bad out there’ thing is exactly why I’m here. Do they want to die?” I ended on kind of a shout and his eyes bugged again. He used his hands to suggest I quiet down. “Oh,” I said. “I didn’t mean that I would do anything. I meant the bad guys out there.” I pointed behind me with my thumb.

“Listen,” he said placatingly as he moved to wrap an arm around my waist. He ushered us forward to the little thatch-covered bungalow that he’d stepped out from. “Why don’t you tell Uncle Karro all about it?”

“Who’s Uncle Karro?” I asked.

“I am.”

“Your name is Karro? I love that.”

“The one good thing I got from my father, aside from this flawless skin tone.”

“What did you get from your mother?” I asked as he opened the door to usher Shafira and me inside where it looked like a pink glitter bomb had deployed only moments ago. I’d never seen so much pink, glitter, and pink glitter in my life.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, but I could tell he meant it rhetorically.

“It is. I’m more of a lavender girl”—I pointed to my hair—“but this is amazing.”

“What did you get from your mother?” Shafira asked my question again.

He smirked wickedly. “Witchcraft. And my love of big, strong men. Though I didn’t know it, about the witchcraft. An imposing specimine of man always snagged my attention. Most of my life, stupid little things would happen, but I chalked it up to coincidence or told myself I was seeing things. I grew up in foster care?—”

“So did I,” I cut in.

He rolled his eyes. “Girl… then you know. It was a struggle just to survive. One of my foster dads liked to get a little rough, if you know what I mean. The other kids called him ‘Dad.’ I called him ‘Daddy.’”

“‘Daddy’?” Shafira asked. I shot her the ‘come on, put it together’ eyes and she blushed. “Oh…”

Karro held his arm out for us to sit and I flopped down onto the softest, fluffiest pink chair imaginable. I sunk into the cushion. The man could pick furniture, that was for sure.

“You were saying,” I said, “about foster care?”

“I went to this Renn Faire—this was after I aged out—and I saw these card readers. They said they were witches. And I was all, ‘Real witches? Yeah, okay.’ But then all three of them were like, ‘What are you?’ ‘What am I ?’ How rude, right? But they didn’t mean it how I thought they meant it.”

I understood. I’d felt it coming off of him from our first meeting outside. Those witches hadn’t known what he was, just like witches never knew what I was. Because Karro had Lilium blood. Welcome to the family, Karro.

“They asked me,” he continued, “‘What is your magic?’ But magic? I didn’t have any magic —well, not until it clicked. All those things I’d convinced myself were figments of my imagination or had been mere coincidence. Magic. But it was only a small amount and I didn’t know where it had come from or what to do with it.”

“How’d you end up here?” Shafira asked.

“You sound American, like me,” I stated helpfully.

“I’m from SoCal.” So I was right. Point to Simone.

“It’s a fun little story. This happened about a year ago. I was with the mayor’s son and we were in the middle of—you know—doing it. And as I was being ram-rodded, I shouted, ‘Plow me with your jackhammer!’ and well, I don’t have good control over my magic—or I didn’t until about a week ago. Then it sort of started settling. Anyway, I felt his member shift into the shape of a jackhammer, still covered in flesh. Hard and soft—greatest orgasm of my life. But when he pulled out, he had a jackhammer for a member, so I couldn’t let him leave until I figured out how to change it back. He was considered missing for a little over a week.

“Then he kind of cracked up and the mayor accused me of slipping him something. The town grabbed its torches and pitchforks, which is how I ended up here. Witch covens started getting hit, just the little ones back then. Once I’d let my magic in, I locked into the world witch web.” The world witch web? Why didn’t I get the world witch web? Any lingering bindings needed to be gone yesterday. Given I was the one who was supposed to save the world, I should’ve been the one with the most powers. “Anyway, I remembered my mom saying my dad was from here. So I pawned everything I could get my hands on to buy a ticket and poof ! That’s how Uncle Karro ended up in his ancestral home.”

“Can I let you in on a little secret?” I asked. Karro leaned way in from his seat kitty-corner from me on the sofa.

“I love secrets. The saucier, the better.”

“I don’t know that it’s saucy, but it will explain a lot about your life,” I replied. He stared at me puzzlingly. “You’re not a witch.”

“I know. I told you that.”

“You’re a Lilium. We’re cousins. I’m cousins with all Lilium.”

“I’m sorry?” Karro pressed the back of his hand against my forehead. “Are you feverish?”

I shoved his hand away. “I’m not feverish and I didn’t hit my head. Lilith— the Lilith, first witch, first wife of Adam, Garden of Eden Lilith is my grandmother. She time-jumped with me and my twin brother on the day we were born because Adam attacked. He killed my parents. I didn’t know any of this until I connected with my mate. He’s a hellhound.”

Karro’s eyes flared. “A hellhound? Are you trying to make me jealous? I’ve heard stories. A hellhound even slightly in the mood would make Jackhammer Boy feel like he was working with a floppy, dead fish.”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been with Connor while only slightly in the mood. He tends to go all in all the time.”

Karro clutched the pearls knotted at his chest, fanning himself with his other hand. “You don’t think he’d mind if we shared?”

My heart pounded in my chest. My nostrils flared. I cracked my knuckles.

Karro registered my response and I knew this by the way all the color drained from his face. “You know, just once.”

“You did hear her say they were mated, correct?” Shafira asked indignantly. “Do you want to die?”

“Sorry… Sorry… I spoke without thinking.”

Calm yourself, Simone. He was kidding. Probably. I willed my heart rate to slow by taking in long, slow breaths through my nose until I felt calm enough to continue speaking without ripping him to shreds like… like… didn’t Tasmanian Devils do that or was that just in Looney Tunes ?

“My apologies,” I said. “Connor isn’t just my mate. He’s my protector mate. Our bond is… strong . I can’t help my reaction. What do I need to do to get them to help me?”

He shot me an incredulous look. “Can you prove you’re Lilith’s granddaughter? That’d help.”

“Can you gather them into the town square? I can summon her and?—”

“‘Summon her’? As in Lilith?” Shafira asked.

“Yes. She’s my grandmother and my guide. I can manifest for the whole coven to see and hear her. Will that work?”

“Yeah, I think that would do it,” Karro replied. His voice squeaked on the ‘yeah.’

I chuckled, pushing up from the softness of the chair, and clapped my hands together. “Then let’s get to work. There’s not much time.”

We walked outside his cozy home to the town center where we stood when we’d first cleared the wards. As I looked around, I realized that Mr. Pooches had left us again. He’d led us into the town and that was the last I remember seeing him. The cat had to know I’d worry about him. Great. One more thing to add to the list.

Karro cupped his hands around his mouth. “Ladies. Atención . Simone here needs our help. We really need to help her.”

Slowly, I scanned the homes, watching eyes appearing in window after window. He’d gotten their attention, at least. The door of a bungalow at the far side of the town square opened and an older woman with flowing gray, black, and silver hair entered the square with us. The waves of her hair rippled. Her gown, similar to something the movies portrayed the Bride of Frankenstein wearing, rippled around her feet. There wasn’t any wind. She made the ripples, trying to look intimidating. It probably worked on most people. But hello —granddaughter of Lilith. Not much in the way of witches scared me now.

“Calm your tits, Adi,” Karro said, smirking. “Simone here is good people.”

The now-known Adi tore her glare from me, throwing daggers at Karro. He continued to smile that ‘I know a juicy secret’ smile.

“I am Adalaide,” she boomed in an echoing voice with a thick Australian accent, which, to be honest, took away from the intimidating factor because that Australian accent always sounded so friendly to me. “Leader of the Western Coven.”

“I’m Simone Lamia and this is my friend Shafira. Thank you for meeting us.”

“Despite his eccentricities, Karro has good instincts. If he says you need our help, I’ll give you five minutes to explain your situation.”

Whelp, it was now or never. I thought it best to let Grandma explain for me. “Lilith, I need you,” I said into the void between us. Lilith shimmered into her celestial form. Not human but not spirit. “I’d like for everyone here to see and hear you.”

“It is done,” she replied, smiling that loving grandmotherly smile that sometimes a person just needed to see. I heard the collective gasp from not just Adalaide, Karro, and Shafira. But others had joined while my eyes had been closed. Every member of the coven stood surrounding us.

“I am Lilith, first witch,” she started. “Simone is my granddaughter.” Lilith, always ready to give a good show, paused for effect. All eyes shot to me, then I nodded and she started to speak again. “Witches will save the world. We are the most powerful. We were granted the power of the Garden. Eden flows through all of your veins. Eden, the universal mother, is within all of you. Harness your collective power and take back what should have always been yours.”

“She’s good,” Karro whispered. “I’ve got chills listening to her.”

He was not prepared for what happened next. “Step forward, Karro.” His eyes went huge and his back stiffened. I gave him a little shove of reassurance to get him to step forward. He took these tiny steps and from our meeting today, I knew this man didn’t do anything tiny.

“Simone has explained that you are my many-times great-grandson. You are my family. Your destiny brought you here.”

“My destiny?” he asked timidly.

“I am proud of you, Karro. Your life has not been easy. None of my family has lived easy lives. I am sorry for this. You will see in the coming weeks how necessary, though heartbreaking for me, that it was. Simone will explain what she needs from you. She will explain what she needs from you all. It is a dangerous endeavor you face. Not all will live to see this end. But if you care for the world, for humanity, for your families, evil must not win.”

“I have theories,” I told my grandmother.

“I know. I am always with you, my dearest Simone. I hear everything. All you have to do is talk to me and I will answer.”

Lilith shimmered out of sight for everyone, but I felt a tingle on my cheek and I lifted my hand to touch the spot. I glanced around and noticed Karro lightly touching his cheek as well. He caught my eyes and said, “She said she loves me. I heard her in my head. Then she kissed my cheek.”

“Yeah, Grandma Lilith is always watching over you.”

He blanched. “I hope not always .”

“I said watching over you, not watching you. That would be weird and creepy and trust me, nothing she wants to see. I know, I asked. Connor and I have gotten a little freaky-deaky ourselves.”

“Do tell,” he said.

“There was this time in Lucifer’s office?—”

“Lucifer? As in the Lucifer?” Shafira asked.

“He’s a great guy. Connor works for him and they’re best buds. Luc is hotter than any guy you’ve ever seen—guaranteed.”

Karro bit his bottom lip. “Ooh—do tell.”

Laughing, I went on. “I adore him. He gives Connor crap all the time and anyone who gives Connor crap is okay by me.”

“Connor, as in your protector mate, Connor?” Karro asked.

I nodded. “I love him. He’s good to me. The sex is off the charts, but he can be a bit… ornery with people.” When Karro looked a little taken aback, I went on. “Don’t worry. He’s a puppy underneath all that sexy hellhound. Anyway, giving Connor crap is one of the great joys in my life.”

“What do you need of us?” Adalaide asked, interloping on our little bit of fun.

I let out a breath. Time to work. “Okay, first… I need help rescuing my mate. I escaped capture, but he wasn’t as lucky. They have him in a black salt cell and I’m worried I won’t get back to him in time.

There might’ve been a collective gasp from the other witches when I said ‘black salt.’ Apparently, they all knew its effects on hellhounds.

“And you need more numbers to rescue him?” she asked next.

“No. I need to find him again. I don’t know where he is currently.”

I kid not, the woman looked at me like I had horns growing out of my skull. “Can’t you home in on his location? He is your mate, correct?”

“Oh, he’s definitely her mate. I was a second and a half away from being ripped to shreds when I teased about sharing him,” Karro so helpfully put in.

“Then what is the problem?”

Now I felt incredibly stupid. “Um… I didn’t know I could do that. This whole Lilium magic is fairly new to me. My powers had been bound until I connected with him. So… yeah…” I ran my hand through my hair uncomfortably. I hated admitting to not knowing, well, anything—but I especially hated not knowing about my magic or the mated bond. I felt like a poser. Like Lilith had put her faith in the wrong person.

Adalaide approached me, placing her hand to my back. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I’ll help you to home in on his location. What can we do while you’re hunting him down?”

“This is so important. I need you to get in touch with a woman named Victoria Rivers. She runs Weik Laboratories in Birmingham, England.”

She nodded. “I know the name. The Rivers witches are old blood. Strong witches.”

“She knows to expect contact from other witch covens. Once I rescue Connor, we’ll have to reconvene. We need to plan our attack or defense. I haven’t quite figured out which would be the best course of action.”

“I will work with my most trusted sisters here and we’ll contact Victoria Rivers immediately. But to home in to your mate’s location, close your eyes and concentrate on him. On his face. On his smell. You will be able to connect with him like a call connects with a cell tower.”

“It’s that easy?”

“Easy and difficult.”

I didn’t want to hear that. But Connor needed me, so I could do this. I closed my eyes and thought of him. His face. That smell of his—the one that got me all hot and bothered. And… nothing.

Nothing?

“It’s not working,” I whined.

“Try again. Don’t let your mind wander. Don’t get distracted. He’s your mate. I know your mind wandered.”

Oh, man… called out by the coven leader. Just Connor… Just Connor … I repeated this over and over in my head. I felt my consciousness zipping around the world in an instant. It felt like the fastest rollercoaster ride I’d ever been on. But finally, after more aggravating minutes, I locked on his location.

Only I could hear him, but when he saw me or felt me—however he picked up my presence—he sighed. “ Simone …”

“Connor, we’re coming. Please hold on.”

“Trying…” he said. “Hurts…”

I knew it hurt him. I pulled back enough to take him in and my strong, virile Connor appeared gaunt with dark shadows under his eyes and the palest skin. If I didn’t move fast, I’d lose him. I locked in my Lilium or mated pair driving directions into my internal GPS, then said, “Hang on, babe.” To my friends, I said, “I have to go— now .” To Adalaide, I said, “Once you connect with Victoria Rivers, start spelling your asses off. Offensive spells, defensive spells, counter-spells—anything and everything you can come up with. I’ll contact Luc and his demons as soon as I can.”

Adalaide’s pretty face hardened as she locked her hands in front of her with an air of power. “Are you sure he’s trustworthy?” she asked.

“Absolutely. You’ll get it once you meet him.”

Her eyes grew huge and yeah, I forgot given all the time I’d spent with him, that the idea of meeting Lucifer freaked most people out. But I didn’t have time to reassure her. She believed me or she didn’t. “Victoria Rivers,” I reminded her. She startled but nodded.

Then I took off running toward where we’d entered the town. Hopefully, I remembered where the portal to the catacombs was located. Otherwise, I’d be screwed and Connor— no, Simone, don’t even think it. Connor has to be okay .

Shafira and Karro caught up to me. He grabbed my arm to stop me. “Where are you going?”

“I have to find the portal to the catacombs that we arrived here through.”

“Catacombs?” he asked.

I nodded. “Under Hades.”

“Wow. Okay, I don’t know about any catacombs, but if you need to get to Hades, I can get us in.”

‘Us’? That concerned me. It steadily became harder to protect the people in my sphere. Still, I asked, “You can get us into Hades?”

“Okay, when I first arrived out here, it’d been months since I’d gotten any and I’d found myself in this out-of-the-way bar in this two-bit town. This man approached me. He wasn’t hideous and I saw what he was packing through the outline of his trousers. So I said, why not? I needed a bit of stress relief. He led me down into the basement of the bar where they kept the alcohol. Then he opened a door and led me down another set of stairs and we ended up in this office. People everywhere looking miserable. And I thought, It must be hell working here. But then I saw flames on the walls and I knew it really was Hell. He took me into this empty office—and let me say, he wasn’t the best lover I’d ever had, but the size of his meatstick made up for his lack of skill. He calls me or I call him whenever one of us needs a little stress reliever.”

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open.

“What?” he asked. “I’m young and it’s not like I’m getting any in a coven of witches.”

“So what happens if he’s not in the mood?” I asked and Karro gave me the ‘ are you serious ’ eyes. “Okay, so what happens when he realizes that you aren’t going through with it?”

Karro’s gaze shifted to ‘ oh, you sweet, summer child ’ and I gasped.

“You are not pimping yourself out for us.”

“Girl, you need an in and I can buy us that time. Plus, Uncle Karro could use a bit of stress relief, so it’s a win-win.”

“Will you come back here, then?” Shafira asked him.

“No, I’m coming with you.”

“How will you find us?” she asked.

“You said you can manifest, right?” he said to me, but before I got the chance to answer, he went on. “I mean, I know you can. You brought Lilith in to talk to us. So give me like twenty-five minutes and then manifest me to you.”

“Twenty-five minutes?” I asked.

“It gives us both time to get into it. But he doesn’t last long once he is. So that should work.”

Without any other plan available to us, I gave in. “Okay, call him.”

In a perfect world, I’d have been able to manifest myself to Connor. But that black salt disrupted my ability to get to him. Now that I thought about it, black salt was probably the reason that mates had this honing thing to begin with. I still had so much to learn and no time to study.

Karro pulled his phone from the pocket of his caftan and pressed a contact. “I could use some sexual healing today, how ’bout you?” he asked into the receiver. The man must’ve said something intimate because Karro smiled. “Great. Meet you in about ten minutes, lover.” Then he hung up. “Right. Other way,” he directed us and then he turned to start jogging to the far end of the town, where Adalaide’s bungalow sat. Both Shafira and I followed. He led us around the bungalow and we passed through the wards on the other side back into the desert. I cloaked Shafira and me, but I manifested for Karro to be able to see us. About ten minutes of walking and we ended up in this two-bit town exactly as he’d described. There were maybe three broken-down buildings. A grocery/gas station type of store. A mechanic’s garage and the bar. Karro led us to the bar and we walked inside.

A rather beefy man whom I could tell right away was a demon leaned against the bar. His tight pants showed exactly what he was working with. Karro smiled. “Hey, lover,” he cooed. The demon stood straight.

“No one here yet. Let me take ya over the table.”

My Lilium cousin shook his head. “Anyone could walk in. I’d rather go to our regular spot. You know how I like to get loud.”

“You know how I like to get rough,” he replied.

“Do I ever. Your desk is far sturdier than these old tables. You can ram me rough.” Karro approached the demon to run his finger along the man’s jawline. The demon’s eyes heated and he grabbed Karro’s hand, pulling him behind the bar. Shafira and I followed.

The demon hurried us down into the basement. It was dark and old with cobwebs and that dank basement smell. But he opened a second door behind the stairs we’d just come down to reveal a stone stairwell that I recognized very well. An entrance to Hades. We descended the step at a pretty quick pace and once we’d reached the bottom, the demon dragged Karro to an office down the main hallway.

A middle management demon.

“Will he be okay?” Shafira whispered.

“He’ll be fine. Come on.” I picked a different hallway. The setup was similar to Luc’s, so it made sense that I’d find the stairs to the catacombs if we went that way. We walked and walked, getting farther and farther away from the office setting and that was where we found the stairs. Hallelujah! Or you know, whatever a Lilium was supposed to shout.

“I don’t like the look of that.” Shafira pointed to the place we had to go. “It looks danker than the last tunnels.”

Getting a big wiff of mildew mixed with rotten eggs, I wrinkled my nose. “You won’t like the smell, either.”

But I felt Connor. My internal GPS kept me going in the right direction. At the twenty-five-minute mark from when we left Karro, Shafira said, “It’s time.” I hadn’t been keeping track. Good thing she had.

I closed my eyes, manifested keeping Shafira and me invisible while bringing Karro to us. He popped into our bubble. His eyes looked glazed. “Did he give you something?” I asked, horrified.

“Oh, he gave me something, all right,” he replied. “You caught me cleaning up. That man upped his game. I think I might be in love.”

“Seriously?” Shafira asked.

Karro pursed his lips. “With his penis.” He chuckled to himself still with that glazed, dreamy look in his eyes. “Oh—and I found out who he works for.”

News. Good. News helped. “Who?” I asked at the same time as Shafira.

“A man named Belphegor? I never heard of him, but apparently, he’s a big deal demon, too.”

“You’ve never heard of Belphegor?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I’ve heard of Lucifer, Satan, and what’s his name”—he snapped his fingers to help him remember—“Beelzebub. After that…” He shrugged.

Now the big question was: What did I remember about Belphegor? Oh—it hit me. No wonder Mr. Middle Management had time to play snake in the hole with my cousin. He wasn’t in a hurry to get work done. Sloth. Belphegor’s sin was sloth. Sweet.

“Okay, I think he’s one of the tamer rulers of Hell. I’ve never met the man, but I don’t think he’s one of them that Luc has a problem with.”

“Who does Luc have a problem with?” Shafira asked.

“Well, Connor said Satan is a nasty piece of work and both he and Luc agree that you don’t want to mess with Leviathan.”

“Leviathan?” Karro asked.

I nodded. “His quadrant is the oceans. All the oceans. But we don’t have to worry—we aren’t going in the water at all.”

“You know what would be nice?” Shafira asked. I shook my head. “If we could get out of this dampness. It’s frizzing my hair.”

“We have a long way to go.” I replied, as I thought that was her way of spurring us on. I got you, Shafira. Closing my eyes, I focussed in on Connor.

“Simone?” he asked again.

“It’s me, babe. I’m still coming.”

“Not until… I get… my hands on you…” He tried to laugh, but it came out so frail that tears wet my eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’m in need of a little sexual healing.”

“I’m in need of healing, period.”

Dammit.

“Connor,” I said softly.

“Hm?”

“Don’t die.”