Chapter 15

Dave felt the blood drain from his face. His fork clanged against his plate when he dropped it. Richard the fucking first? That was roughly eight hundred years ago. Talk about an older woman. Trying to appear calm, he picked up his fork and peered at the beauty across from him.

"So you don't age."

"Not while I am inside the box. I do during the time I spend in the mortal realm outside it."

"Then you must not get out much." She looked to be in her mid-twenties, scarcely older than most of his students.

"I was fourteen when I was first ensorcelled and bound to the box. All told since then I have probably spent close to twenty years outside."

"Fourteen?" Dave had to fight to remain seated. He ground his next words out from between clenched teeth. "And this wizard put you in the box because you wouldn't have sex with him?" Maybe he could wish the bastard here, just so he could beat the shit out of him.

She stared down at her food, her tumbled black curls hiding her face. "Yes. At the time, a female of that age was considered mature."

"And you're still afraid of him, aren't you?" His fingers curled into fists.

She tipped her head, just a fraction of an inch, still not looking up to meet his gaze.

"How does he find you?"

Her shoulders lifted in a tiny shrug. "Magic."

"More details, please." It was hard to be polite when he wanted to smash something but he didn't want to scare her any further.

She sighed, then tilted her face up. Her lips were drawn thin and white and a small furrow had appeared between her eyebrows, aggravating Dave's rage. "His second wish. He can tell whenever I am free of the box. If I remain free for more than a few days, he finds me. Which is why you should make your wishes quickly. He is - not a pleasant person."

"What was his third wish, Anissa?" If the bastard had raped her, then he was going to die. Dave felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach. The one group of people on Earth he flat out hated were men who preyed on little girls. He remembered all too well the shattered look on his sister's twelve-year-old face as ten-year-old David had held her in his arms and tried to stop the bleeding.

"For riches. Murdoch wanted me to kill a powerful lord and install himself in the lord's place but he worded the wish too vaguely. Instead, I led him to a trove of Saracen gold."

The knot in his stomach loosened, just a little. Maybe, just maybe he wouldn't have to kill the sorcerer, just neutralize him somehow instead.

"And if I were to use my wishes to set you free, what could he do to you then?"

"If the box is not destroyed, he could trap me back inside. The Djinn are subject to summoning and he knows my true name. He might also become angry enough to kill us both."

Dave snorted. "He can try. So how do we destroy the box?"

"I do not know."

David continued to ponder as they finished their meal and he cleaned up the dishes. A glance at the clock told him it was after ten. Time to get moving.

"Well, we can think about that for a few hours. Tonight is New Year's Eve and I have a party to go to. You're going to need something to wear."

She smiled and the brightness of it damn near lit up the room. "You mean this is not the height of fashion for 2007?"

"No." He snickered and shook his head. "But since this is a college town, you can get away with wearing that to the store."

"I was only making a jest. I do not need to attend your party with you, Professor. If you have not made your wishes by then, I can simply wait here until you return."

Ha! Fat chance he was going to let that happen. Until he had a handle on all of this, she'd be lucky if he let her out of his sight. "You're going."

"As you wish, master." She pressed her palms together in front of her chest and bowed her face over them.

David growled, the sound coming from low in his chest. "Knock it off. I've got some friends I want you to meet. I think you'll find them - helpful, given the circumstances."

She tipped her head to one side. "I do not understand."

"You said this Murdoch dude could show up at any time, right?"

"Yes." She spoke slowly, drawing out the single syllable.

"What will he do if he finds you here, alone?"

"Nothing - permanent."

"But it won't be nice, will it."

A shudder rippled through her frame. "No."

"I'm not leaving you here by yourself. And these friends have faced down some pretty nasty stuff before. We need to talk to them." This was a sticking point and he wasn't going to bend on it.

Anissa sighed. "Couldn't you just wish for something, then allow me to go?"

"No." Just his luck to have the chance of a lifetime dumped in his lap, when his conscience wouldn't allow him to take advantage of it. "We're going to figure out how to set you free, without letting this Murdoch asshole get his paws on you."

"I appreciate your intentions but without magic of your own, you will never be able to stand against him."

"Who said we don't have any magic?"

"You said you were not a mage. It will take a very powerful mage to defeat him. Mayhap if you were a warrior, you could overcome him that way but it would still be a grave risk. You have been a very thoughtful master and I do not wish to see you hurt. So please, make your wishes and let me go."

David snorted out a laugh. "Sugar, I've faced down some pretty scary shit in my time. To tell you the truth, one mangy wizard doesn't even begin to trigger my alarm bells." He closed the door of the dishwasher and walked over to where she sat, then squatted down so his eyes were level with hers and took her hands. They were soft as satin, cold and dwarfed by his oversized paws. "We're going to fix this for you. I'm not sure how yet but I promise, you're not going back into that box and you're not going to end up with Murdoch. We just need some time to figure things out and arrange for some back up. So unless you can zap yourself a party dress, what we need to do now is go to the store. Got it?"

Her big, slightly tilted violet eyes studied his face, making him wish he was better looking for the first time in years. Most of the time he could not care less but someone as stunning as Anissa deserved an escort who was in her same league. Once she laid eyes on some of the other guys, she wasn't going to look at Dave twice.

Well, he couldn't do much about that but he supposed he could at least make time to shave. Wouldn't his friends get a kick out of that?

"Very well," she finally conceded. "We will go to this party and I will meet with your friends. Murdoch will not show himself at such a gathering. He does not care for crowds. And he will likely wait a day or two in any case. But you said it is winter, correct?"

"That's right." He pointed out the window to the light dusting of snow on the ground. "See?"

She nodded and wiggled her sock covered feet. "Then the first thing I obtain, professor, should probably be shoes."