Twice Bitten (Love, Lust & Magic #1)

Pruitt

crossed the hardwood floors of his kitchen and took a seat next to Griff on his couch. Handing his guest a cup of water, softly rubbed his hand up and down the human’s back.

“So, let me get this straight. She’s some pissed off old witch?” Griff inquired.

“Not just any old witch,” replied .

“The First Witch,” came the voice of Uriah, who sat at the kitchen countertop with a drink in his hand. Griff had noticed that Uriah’s playful, coy, and nurturing nature had vanished. He seemed distant—not like the Uriah that squeezed him in his arms, played with his hair, and cuddled him as he slept. Not even like the Uriah, who hours earlier had kissed him, caressed him, and taken control of him.

“She’s the first?” asked Griff as he looked at Uriah. “We’re talking OG?”

could see that Uriah was trying to distance himself from the situation. ?Riah, you okay??

Uriah didn’t respond to the mental prodding.

With a sigh, reached underneath a nearby coffee table and pulled out a large textbook. “All right, I didn’t tell Uriah all of this, but I did a little digging.”

“What’s this?” Griff’s fingers traced the book’s cover.

“I think it says Original Magic in Latin,” said as he flipped through it. “I was hoping to do a little late night studying after our date—uh, after our night out, I mean. But as you all can attest to, I was a little preoccupied with more important matters.”

winked at Griff as he put his hand on his leg. Griff hesitated at first—initially surprised by the touch—but then placed his hand on top of ’s.

“It mention anything in there about her?” Uriah asked as he finished a glass of whiskey.

Now dressed in a maroon V-neck of ’s, Uriah pretended to look busy as he pulled his jacket over his shoulders, slid his arms through the sleeves, and flipped through the pockets. Even as he perused the book, the werewolf was keenly aware that Griff had his attention on the distant vampire.

“Actually, yes,” replied as he continued to sift through the text. “I thought I had marked the page. Let’s see…”

“Maybe I can help,” Griff replied, gripping his pendant in his free hand.

“I could’ve sworn it was right—” ’s sentence was cut off as a rustle of wind paraded through the apartment.

“ Here? ” Griff asked as the book flipped to a worn page with five images.

At first perplexed by what just happened, the werewolf and vampire made eye contact.

“You using magic to one up me now, huh?” teased as he turned his attention to the blushing freshman by his side.

“Maybe,” a surprised Griff responded.

“Here we are,” scanned the page in question, then cleared his throat as he quoted an earmarked passage. “ It is thought that to tell the story of magic, one must learn the tale of creation—for magic has always been and always will be. However, man did not learn to control it until it came to be that the First Witch appeared—and with her, four subservient magicians, each witch with their own unique talents and trades. Also, something about magical animals. But I didn’t read much further than this.”

looked from Griff to Uriah, who now paced the length of the kitchen with his hand on his chin. As the werewolf turned his attention back to the book, he realized it was now in Griff’s hands.

“ The most powerful of this group was the original conspirator of magic ,” Griff read aloud. “ Dubbed Odessa, it is said she received the darkest and strongest of magics through Satan’s kiss. She… ”

“She what?” blurted out Uriah.

was quick to interject. “Griff, I just want to preface this by saying we knew nothing about this—about this magic, about Odessa, about where we came from. Nothing?—”

“Until we met you, Griff,” interjected Uriah before taking a seat across from them both.

With a confused look on his face, Griff leaned forward to continue reading.

looked at Uriah as he bit his lip.

“ She used his powers for whatever she fancied, including plague, pillaging, and death. However, her most prized possessions were the very creation of two of magic’s most dangerous gifts—vampire and werewolf—the first of each whom she took as lovers… ” Griff’s voice trailed off.

The silence was deafening.

“Griffin,” said as he gently squeezed Griff’s leg. “The night we met you, something happened between Uriah and I.”

Griff looked from to Uriah, waiting for more.

“Not that something,” added Uriah.

“The owner of Witch’s Brew put a hex on us,” continued. “Uh, we think anyway. But it triggered memories neither of us can recall. Another life hundreds of years ago.”

“With Odessa,” Griff said as he realized the connection.

“Yes, her, ” replied Uriah. “She took two humans from the real world to pass as her sex slaves, and then cursed us each with our own special little dirty gift that just keeps on giving.”

“ Sex slaves , huh?” Griff asked.

“As much as we both didn’t want to admit it, there’s always been a connection between and I. Let’s just say our little rivalry has gone back a few centuries,” Uriah admitted.

“But we didn’t know that until the night I picked up your scent in an alleyway,” said .

“And I followed a sweet smell that I thought I’d never find again,” added Uriah.

Griff flipped to the next page. “It—it says they died. All the witches—well, the original ones, at least.”

“See, that’s what I had heard,” Uriah mused as he moved over to the couch and took a seat on the other side of Griff. “May I?”

Griff obliged, his hand brushing against Uriah’s as the vampire took the book.

“S-sorry,” Uriah stuttered, scooting away before reading aloud the next passage. “ As punishment for their crimes as witches, the five covens were hunted. Those that survived did so in secrecy. The First Witch, however, received a fate worse than death. She was placed between hell and this world—buried deep beneath the earth’s very core by those of her coven who survived and channeled her gifts against her .”

“So much for a Disney ending,” said Griff in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“I think you’ll want to see this, little witch,” said Uriah with a gulp as he turned to the next page.

“What?” asked Griff.

Propping the book up so that Griff and could see, Uriah showed off a haunting illustration. Odessa, her hair white as snow, stared back at them from the page. Although the detailing was faded, in her hand she clutched a silver rose medallion identical to Griff’s—even down to the purple gem.

“W-well, then,” Griff stuttered as the color drained from his face. “I guess we all really are connected after all.”

“Hey,” removed his hand from Griff’s leg and instead wrapped his arm around the freshman’s shoulders to provide some comfort. “You’re— well, you’re not wrong.”

“ Mind equals blown , as the kids say,” Uriah said with a shrug. Putting down the book, he resumed pacing the length of the apartment.

“Am I having another nightmare?” Griff asked.

No one could answer.

“So, let me guess how the long-anticipated sequel to this musty book that absolutely reeks of old librarian goes,” began Uriah. “By some obscene act of whoever the hell knows, the only living descendant of the oldest witch in the world is accepted to college in the very spot where his evil great aunt Odie was buried alive. Coincidentally, the two handsome blokes she ‘loved so much’ that she turned into monsters are here, too. Cue unbelievable Hollywood chemistry, which pisses that jealous hag off so much that she’s purposefully trying to have you assassinated so she can reclaim her full powers and put us back in chains.”

“Yeah,” replied a wide-eyed Griff. “That sounds about right.”

“It might explain our attraction to magic,” said .

“You mean your attraction to me, right?” asked Griff, swallowing hard as it dawned on him.

“Hey!” was quick to reply. “It’s more than that, okay?”

“Uriah, what do you think?” Griff shrugged ’s arm off of him and got to his feet.

“Me?” asked Uriah. “Well, uh, I think is right. I mean, we were created out of magic. We’re immortal because of it. Like it or leave it, it’s part of who we are.” Uriah paused for a minute as he bit his lip. ?What if she brought him here just to fuck with us? What if this is all some plot to get what she wants??

“Uriah,” began, a serious look on his face as he studied the vampire’s expression.

“Griff has a point,” Uriah interjected.

“So, now what?” Griff asked. “We’re all some kind of pawn in a game of magical chess?”

“Look, it’s not—” started the vampire.

“The one time I think I have something going for me and it’s all just because you guys were literally programmed to worship my bloodline,” continued a visibly upset Griff. “And here I thought it had something to do with —I don’t know— me.”

“I’m not sure that’s what Uriah meant,” said as he moved to put his hand on Griff’s arm.

“No?” asked Griff.

?Riah?? asked.

The vampire paced nervously. ?What? I don’t mean to hurt his feelings. But to be honest, we don’t know what or who is under her control. He’s—Pru, I like him, but he’s part of the same exact coven. Same bloodline and everything.?

“I can so tell when you guys are talking about me behind my back,” Griff said as he moved away from .

“I’m working on this honesty thing, okay?” Uriah finally spoke aloud. “And if I’m being honest, Griff, I don’t know. I don’t know if Odessa set this whole thing up. How could I? I don’t know if your ancestral line is out to get me, or him, or you. I don’t know if this old witch is in a nursing home somewhere playing bridge and laughing, or watching us from some ancient tomb all jealous that we had our way with you, or if this is all part of her plan. I also can’t honestly say that magic has nothing to do with our attraction to you.”

The vampire instantly regretted his words when he saw the freshman’s misty eyes. “Had your way with me, huh?” asked Griff. “So, now I’m either a magical booty call or a supernatural sleeper agent, is that it? And your interest in me is strictly magical?”

Uriah remained silent, his eyes on Griff’s pained face.

could tell that they both were hurting. “Look, Uriah is right to be concerned, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t trust you—that we don’t care about you,” said as he got to his feet.

“And the blood?” Uriah asked. “What of it?”

“I don’t know,” said Griff. “I had a dream I was back home. That none of this was real. I was with my mom, we were back home, and she took my pendant away. But somehow, it wasn’t her. It was someone pretending to be her.”

“Odessa is playing mind games,” intervened.

“Yeah,” said Uriah. “Well, I’m not. Not no more.”

“Uriah,” Griff spoke softly through trembling lips as he stepped forward.

could feel Uriah emotionally retreating. ?Hey, talk to me. Talk to us. No one in this room is responsible for anything except our own actions.?

Uriah shook his head as he walked across the kitchen to the loft’s entrance, his hand on the doorknob. Griff nursed warm tears falling down his face as gently touched his shoulder.

The werewolf telepathically pleaded with his vampire counterpart. ?Riah, we’re finally getting somewhere. Maybe this is the future we’re supposed to have; where destiny is supposed to take us. Don’t be afraid of your emotions, even if you don’t understand them.?

His back turned away from them, Uriah stopped in his tracks and looked down. He turned back to them briefly, an expressionless look on his face. “Sometimes—sometimes it’s better for vampires to not have emotions.”

With that, Uriah pulled open the front door, closed it behind him, and disappeared into the night.