Free The Witch and the Huntsman by Rod Kierkegaard Jr J.R. Rain Page A
Authors: Rod Kierkegaard Jr J.R. Rain
party out late.”
His face broke into a smile, and my knees almost buckled at the sight. Was I ever smitten. But I wasn’t so smitten that the witchy part of me wasn’t still busy reading his aura when he answered. Because it was kind of a trick question.
“ A few of the guests got pretty wasted and wanted to come after the nocturnals.” He looked sheepish. “It’s a service we offer, and I couldn’t exactly say no. I guess they must have made a lot of noise—and all we ended up bagging was a couple rabbits and a pole-cat. But we broke it off pretty early.”
He’d started moving while he talked, and I turned so we could walk back side by side.
“ It was a funny thing, though. I kept having this feeling like I’d left a few of the guests behind or something. You know? Like there were more hunters out there in the night or something. And I kept hearing weird noises from up the mountain—so I didn’t end up getting much sleep. Restless night. So I figured, why not get up early and check the hunting blinds out, just to make sure everything was kosher? Glad I did—or I wouldn’t have run into you.” He glanced over at me and smiled.
The whole time, I was keeping an eye on his aura, and it was what we professional psychics with the gift of sight call ‘occluded.’ In other words, it was just like yesterday when we first were alone together; his colors were radiant when they flowed from his etheric or astral spirit, which showed that he was as amazing on the inside as he was on the outside. But then, after it projected a certain distance from his body ‘mantle,’ Eric’s aura darkened and turned inward again. I’d never seen anything like it before. Maybe Millicent could tell me what it meant.
But I knew something wasn’t right.
To cover my confusion, I kind of babbled at him, asking him questions about how long he’d been here and whether he got along okay with his stepmom. To, you know, try to figure out whether or not he was really having a thing with her, like Kev and Brittany seemed to assume.
“ Sure,” said Eric in reply to my question about his stepmother, and his aura did that weird thing again. “It’s been good having her here. And I think she was good for my dad.”
“ You don’t sound German like her,” I said.
“ Austrian. But yeah, I guess I am. We came over when I was twelve, though. Back when my mom was still alive—she died about ten years ago. Then my dad married Regina.”
I was hoping his answers would also give me some kind of clue about how old he was, because I totally could not tell, but no such luck. My best guess was he was just pushing thirty, which would make him six or seven years younger than me.
Which could have been a deal-breaker, but somehow wasn’t. Let’s face it, the chemistry between us was just too awesome. So it looked like the Oregon mountain lion—not to mention Regina Jaeger—wasn’t the only cougar roaming the Cascades these days.
“ Was she always in the hotel, I mean, hospitality , industry?” Which was a laugh; the bitch was about as hospitable as a cobra, as far as I could tell. “And what’s with this guy Schreich?”
Now, it wasn’t just his aura that seemed cold to me; so was his tone of voice. “Regina’s led a very interesting life, but I can’t tell you much about it, because I don’t know much. I can tell you that she’s a herbalist and a healer and comes from a noble family. Mr. Schreich is an old family servant of hers. I guess they still have those in Austria. If you’re curious, just ask her.”
Before I could put my foot in it any deeper, we came across a blood red stain smeared for a few feet along one of the ski paths. We both stopped and knelt beside it.
“ Looks like a predator kill,” Eric said. “Something big, too. Maybe a wolf took down a deer.” He glanced around, looking baffled. “But I don’t see any tracks.”
I dipped my finger in it. The blood had frozen and congealed like crimson
His face broke into a smile, and my knees almost buckled at the sight. Was I ever smitten. But I wasn’t so smitten that the witchy part of me wasn’t still busy reading his aura when he answered. Because it was kind of a trick question.
“ A few of the guests got pretty wasted and wanted to come after the nocturnals.” He looked sheepish. “It’s a service we offer, and I couldn’t exactly say no. I guess they must have made a lot of noise—and all we ended up bagging was a couple rabbits and a pole-cat. But we broke it off pretty early.”
He’d started moving while he talked, and I turned so we could walk back side by side.
“ It was a funny thing, though. I kept having this feeling like I’d left a few of the guests behind or something. You know? Like there were more hunters out there in the night or something. And I kept hearing weird noises from up the mountain—so I didn’t end up getting much sleep. Restless night. So I figured, why not get up early and check the hunting blinds out, just to make sure everything was kosher? Glad I did—or I wouldn’t have run into you.” He glanced over at me and smiled.
The whole time, I was keeping an eye on his aura, and it was what we professional psychics with the gift of sight call ‘occluded.’ In other words, it was just like yesterday when we first were alone together; his colors were radiant when they flowed from his etheric or astral spirit, which showed that he was as amazing on the inside as he was on the outside. But then, after it projected a certain distance from his body ‘mantle,’ Eric’s aura darkened and turned inward again. I’d never seen anything like it before. Maybe Millicent could tell me what it meant.
But I knew something wasn’t right.
To cover my confusion, I kind of babbled at him, asking him questions about how long he’d been here and whether he got along okay with his stepmom. To, you know, try to figure out whether or not he was really having a thing with her, like Kev and Brittany seemed to assume.
“ Sure,” said Eric in reply to my question about his stepmother, and his aura did that weird thing again. “It’s been good having her here. And I think she was good for my dad.”
“ You don’t sound German like her,” I said.
“ Austrian. But yeah, I guess I am. We came over when I was twelve, though. Back when my mom was still alive—she died about ten years ago. Then my dad married Regina.”
I was hoping his answers would also give me some kind of clue about how old he was, because I totally could not tell, but no such luck. My best guess was he was just pushing thirty, which would make him six or seven years younger than me.
Which could have been a deal-breaker, but somehow wasn’t. Let’s face it, the chemistry between us was just too awesome. So it looked like the Oregon mountain lion—not to mention Regina Jaeger—wasn’t the only cougar roaming the Cascades these days.
“ Was she always in the hotel, I mean, hospitality , industry?” Which was a laugh; the bitch was about as hospitable as a cobra, as far as I could tell. “And what’s with this guy Schreich?”
Now, it wasn’t just his aura that seemed cold to me; so was his tone of voice. “Regina’s led a very interesting life, but I can’t tell you much about it, because I don’t know much. I can tell you that she’s a herbalist and a healer and comes from a noble family. Mr. Schreich is an old family servant of hers. I guess they still have those in Austria. If you’re curious, just ask her.”
Before I could put my foot in it any deeper, we came across a blood red stain smeared for a few feet along one of the ski paths. We both stopped and knelt beside it.
“ Looks like a predator kill,” Eric said. “Something big, too. Maybe a wolf took down a deer.” He glanced around, looking baffled. “But I don’t see any tracks.”
I dipped my finger in it. The blood had frozen and congealed like crimson