Curse of Night

by Emily Goodwin

  “This rhymes in English,” he says, reading the spell that I translated into Latin. “Why did you translate it?”

  I shrug and hold my hand over a candle. “Spells sound cooler in Latin? Though it’s harder to remember.”

  “Carne hic est animus. Et ambulabunt mecum modo per aerem. Toris et haedis me vinculum quo animo iacet,” he reads. “So you wrote this yourself?”

  “I did. It was my senior project at the Academy. I got high marks, of course. I think I got more points or something if the spell was in Latin, but I have a habit of rhyming my spells. I guess old Hollywood movies have rubbed off on me in that sense.”

  He sets the book on the couch next to him. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

  “No, I’m not, but we don’t have much time.” I push the lump in my throat down and look Lucas right in the eye. I won’t bring up that he drank water last night, not in front of Eliza. But he has to know what I’m thinking. My binding spell is temporary. The curse will progress and he’ll come to life only to die. “Guys!” I call and my familiars come running.

  So does Scarlet, and Eliza scoops her up just in time. The hellhound whimpers and whines, sounding pathetic, but quiets down when she sees what I’m doing.

  I lie down in the salt circle and place a large tourmaline stone on the center of my chest. Binx settles on my stomach, and Pandora and Freya sit at either side of my head, protecting me from anything that lurks through the astral plane.

  Closing my eyes, I realize how easily I could fall asleep right now. Lucas was right to ask if this is a good idea. I know it’s not. Astral projection has always come easily to me, but just because it’s easy doesn't mean I should do it.

  But for Lucas…I’ll do anything.

  I let out a breath, centering myself, and spend an extra few minutes really focusing on grounding my center. Then I bring my hands up, resting them on the tourmaline stone.

  “My body is here, my mind is there. Let me walk now through the air. Separate the bond that ties and send me to where my thought now lies,” I whisper aloud, saying the spell in English. I feel myself start to slip into the astral plane. I repeat the spell a few more times, envisioning Evander’s office in my mind.

  The room spins, and I feel like I’m being sucked down through a dark hole in the ground, twirling and free falling through the air. The sensation only lasts a few seconds, and then suddenly my feet hit solid ground.

  Flames crackle over fresh logs just placed in the large fireplace near Evander’s desk. I spin around and see both Evander and Kristy sitting on a velvet settee. Evander is holding a glass of brandy in his hand, and Olive is sitting on Kristy’s lap

  “Callie!” Kristy exclaims and then clamps her hand over her mouth. Right. I’m not supposed to be here. “What are you doing?”

  “I needed to talk to you, and neither of you answered.” I zero my gaze on the brandy in Evander’s hand. He’s dressed in traditional garb for teaching at the Academy: black dress pants, a black dress shirt, and a long, blood-colored robe. He probably has another class to get to…I think. I can’t even remember what day it is right now.

  “Though,” I go on, “it kind of looks like I interrupted a secret hookup or a secret meeting. If it’s a secret hookup, I’ll come back and we can discuss double-dates later.”

  Evander quickly gets to his feet, lips parting. “Sister, you shouldn’t—”

  The door to his office opens, and Nicole and Naomi step in. “We came as soon as we could,” Nicole starts and then comes to a dead stop, causing her twin to bump into her. Her eye widen as she looks at me.

  “This is a secret meeting!” I throw out my hands. “What the fuck?”

  Kristy tips her head and strokes Olive’s white fur. “We don’t have to worry about breaking it to her gently now.”

  “What?” I demand.

  Evander flicks his wrist, and the office door closes. “Settle down,” he tells me. Nicole goes to give me a hug but stops at the last second, realizing I’m not really here.

  “What’s going on?” she asks, knowing I’d only risk projecting myself into forbidden territory if it was absolutely necessary.

  “I need to know everything about the curses used to try to bring back the witches after they were turned into vampires,” I spit out quickly and then shake my head. “But why are you all here?”

  Kristy gently sets the rabbit on the settee next to her and gets up, pacing to the fireplace. “Ruth’s trial just concluded.”

  “Good. How many years without powers did that bitch get?”

  Evander and Kristy exchange looks, and I instantly know this is bad.

  “She didn’t get any,” Evander tells me, face tightening. “She was found guilty of illegally administering a sleeping draft and was stripped of her position within the Grand Coven. But as for attempting to summon the devil…” He slowly shakes his head. “There wasn’t enough evidence. She’s been set free.”

  Chapter 11

  “That’s fucking bullshit,” I spit out.

  “Keep your voice down,” Evander whispers, eyes flitting to the door. “The Grand Coven is still here. They’re…they’re reviewing your case now.”

  “Great timing,” I sigh and close my eyes. There’s a good chance tears are spilling down my face back in my living room, and if they are, Lucas will probably shake me soon, trying to get my attention so I go back into my body.

  “What are you doing here?” Naomi asks, pushing her thick red hair back behind her shoulder.

  And now everything comes crashing down all over again. I open my mouth, but no words come out. “Lucas,” I start only to stop so I can regain my composure. “He’s…he’s been cursed, and I think he’s dying.”

  “Oh, Callie.” Kristy steps forward, brows pinching together. “Where are you?”

  “Home.”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her and feel a bit of relief.

  “We will, too,” Nicole and Naomi say at the same time.

  “And I’ll get Mother and will leave when we can,” Evander assures me. “But what was that you said about bringing witches back?”

  I close my eyes again, feeling my body react to my emotions. “Some crazy anti-vampire protestor stabbed him, and the wound isn’t healing. I took him to my sister, and she stitched and glued him back together, and she discovered a really faint heartbeat.”

  “Fuck,” Evander mutters. “You’re sure?”

  I can feel the tears running down my face now, which is a weird sensation since my astral self isn’t crying. “Yes. I figured out it was a curse, but that’s as far as I got. I bound it so it won’t progress, though I know it’s only a matter of time before the binding breaks.”

  “And you think someone is trying to bring Lucas back to life?” Naomi asks. “That’s why you want to know about the witches, right?”

  I nod. “Whoever cast this used necromancy.”

  Nicole gasps and leans back. “Holy crap. Callie, that’s intense. Please be careful.”

  “I’ve faced worse,” I offer with a shrug. “And going after me is one thing, but going after Lucas…” I narrow my eyes. “No one messes with my family or my friends.”

  “I just got a chill.” Kristy gives me small smile and then looks at the door. “People should know better than to mess with you.”

  “Right?” I fake a smile, but my expression falters. “I’m scared,” I confess to my friends. “Really scared. I can’t lose him.”

  “You won’t,” Evander presses, but I can see the worry in his eyes. “I’ll look up everything I can and may call on a colleague who is well-versed in breaking curses. Though if they did use the same spell our ancestors used to try and bring back turned witches and warlocks, it wouldn’t really be a curse, would it?”

  “It felt like one,” I go on. “It was dark and twisty and made it hard to breathe.”

  “That does sound like a curse.” Evander goes around to his desk and starts
writing something down. “Though necromancy could feel like that on its own. It’s a dark art. Very dark.”

  I nod. “Even Luci—” Shit. I shouldn’t have said anything. As far as everyone knows, I haven’t talked to my uncle since before the wedding. No one will understand how talking to him could help me, not only in this situation but in understanding my angel side in general. “Lu…Lucas. Even Lucas said so.”

  Footsteps echo outside the door, and Evander jerks his head up. “You need to go. It’s the Grand Coven.”

  I waste no time, not wanting to get my friends in trouble, and pull myself out of the astral plane and back into my body. Lucas is on the floor, kneeling down over me with worry clouding his handsome face.

  He has a bit of color to his cheeks, making him look oddly human. It’s unsettling. Things are perfect between us. I don’t want anything to change.

  “Callie,” he breathes. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah.” I slowly sit up, taking his hand. “Are you?”

  “I’m fine,” he presses, already annoyed. Get used to it, buddy. Hopefully, this will be the one and only time I have to worry about him like this. “Did you find your friends?”

  “I did, and Kristy will be here shortly. Evander will get away when he can, but the Grand Coven is at the Academy again.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “It is.” I blow out the candles and set the tourmaline on the coffee table. “Ruth’s trial concluded, and she was found not guilty of all things devil-related.”

  “You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

  “I wish. She got her Grand Mage title stripped and has probably been excommunicated from whatever coven she belonged to before. But whatever. There’s nothing I can do, and you’re much more important.”

  “I do agree with you on that.”

  Once I’m on my feet, Lucas pulls me to him and puts his lips to mine.

  “Are you hungry?” I ask him.

  “Thirsty,” he whispers and slowly shakes his head.

  “Then get a drink,” I say back just as slow. “Want me to water down some blood?” I wrinkle my nose as soon as the words leave my lips. “Never mind. I’m going to get myself a glass of water.” I arch my eyebrows, silently telling him that he needs to take a drink, too.

  We both go into the kitchen, and Scarlet comes running, needing out. I fill up a glass of water, give it to Lucas, and then wait until he’s in the living room to open the back door. I watch Scarlet do her business from the porch and call her in as soon as she’s done.

  I go back into the living room and find the glass of water empty. My stomach tightens again. Lucas’s body won’t be able to maintain this weird half-alive, half-undead state for long.

  Fuck, I hate this.

  “Want to go upstairs?” Lucas asks, wincing as he gets up.

  “As much as I’d love to have sex, I don’t think we should risk tearing your stitches.”

  Lucas wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of my head. “I was actually going to suggest watching all the Star Wars movies together.”

  “All of them?” I pull back and look at him incredulously. “Aren’t there like six?”

  “There are more.”

  “Which one has that Jar Jar Binks?” I smile. “I like him because of his name, of course, and he’s funny.”

  Lucas’s face goes blank. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

  I shake my head. “No, why? What’s wrong with Jar Jar Binks?”

  “What’s wrong with Jar Jar Binks?” Lucas echoes, looking at me in horror. “How are we married again?”

  Laughing, I take his hand. “I cast a spell on you.”

  “I knew it.” He slides his hands down my body. “But for real, watch Star Wars with me?”

  I take his hand. “Make me a super fan.”

  “Callie, wake up.” Lucas’s large hand lands on my shoulder. “Your friends are here.”

  I sit up, blinking, and stretch my arms out in front of me. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

  “You needed it.”

  Lucas and I are both in bed, tucked under the covers. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I laid down next to him.

  “Yeah, I guess I did.” Slowly, I pull my feet out from under the covers, earning a growl from Freya for disturbing her, and pad down the stairs. I open the front door moments before Kristy and Tabatha step onto the porch. Evander is right behind them.

  “I got here as fast as I could.” Tabatha opens her arms and folds me into an embrace. “How are you, my darling?”

  “I’ve been better.” I step back and let everyone in. “Where are Nicole and Naomi?”

  “Albert invited them and their gran out for dinner. They went to keep up the ruse that everything is normal here.” Tabatha takes off her robe and folds it over her arm. She’s wearing a long black dress with crimson-red stars and moons stitched along the hem.

  I always loved the way Tabatha dressed when she was at the Academy or when she was leading a gathering. She looks so elegant with a hint of gothic, and I remember wanting to look just like her when I grew up.

  “Evander relayed what you told him, but tell me everything from the start,” she says. Nodding, I take a step to go upstairs, but Lucas gets to the top of the landing first and comes down.

  “Hey,” Kristy says, scanning him. “How are you holding up?”

  Lucas makes a face, again uncomfortable with people gushing over him. “I’m fine.”

  “He keeps saying that.” I shake my head. “Come into the living room.” Eliza is still in there, sitting on the edge of the couch, listening to us all talk.

  “Cursing a vampire is a tricky thing.” Tabatha rests her robe over the back of the couch and motions for Lucas to have a seat. Evander sets a large book and a leather bag of magical supplies on the coffee table. Eliza must have cleaned the room up after I astral projected, and I make a mental note to thank her later. “Especially one your age.”

  She takes a crystal out of the bag. “Lie back.”

  With a sigh, Lucas stretches his tall form out on the couch, looking at me and silently pleading for this to stop because it’s unnecessary and stupid.

  I wish it were, and any other day, his confidence would be a turn-on.

  “Now tell me everything.”

  Perching on the arm of the couch, I let my eyes fall shut and think back. “We went to Lucas’s bar in Chicago because—” Pandora jumps onto the back of the couch and meows, reminding me of something. “You’re right.”

  I open my eyes and look down at Lucas. “The night you were stabbed, you woke up, remember?”

  He raises one eyebrow. “Do I remember waking up? I’m here, aren’t I?”

  “Of course. I mean in the middle of the night. You woke up because you dreamed about witches in the woods having some sort of ritual.”

  “And then you saw necromancers in the woods casting a curse,” Lucas goes on.

  My heart skips a beat. “Do you think it was the same ones?”

  “The chances of you both having some sort of random vision is unlikely.” Tabatha holds the crystal above Lucas and slowly drags it down, reading his energy. “Curses leave scars, and witches with advanced powers are able to detect when they’ve been cursed. I suppose a vampire with advanced age and powers could as well. What do you remember about the visions?”

  “Mine is hazy. I couldn’t even make out what was being said.” I bite the inside of my cheek and watch Lucas as he thinks back.

  “It was dark and the woods. There wasn’t anything identifiable. It was the correct season, and I remember the moon. What phase is it right now?”

  “Waxing gibbous,” Evander says.

  “That was correct as well.”

  “So the curse probably happened that night?” I ask.

  “It would appear so.” Tabatha sets the crystal down and puts her hand on Lucas’s chest. “Then what happened?”

  “We went about our day, and I met A
bby in Chicago. Lucas came up once the sun set, and that’s when we went to the bar.”

  “You said the air felt funny,” Lucas tells me. “And it did.”

  “Right, but we couldn’t tell why. It was the curse settling in, wasn’t it?”

  Tabatha nods. “Your binding is strong. What spell did you use?”

  “I don’t know. I just made it up, and Lucas told me whatever I said was spoken in Enochain.”

  “That’s probably why it worked. The curse has been halted in a way I’ve never seen before.” Her eyes meet mine. “You saved him, Callie.”

  I get hit with emotion, terrified of how close I came to losing the love of my life.

  “I will reinforce it with another binding as we figure out the curse. Is Professor Harrison on his way?” she asks Evander.

  “Yes, he won’t be here until nightfall, though.”

  “Who’s that?” Eliza asks, not liking the idea of a stranger coming into the house.

  “A professor from another Academy who’s spent years researching dark curses and how to break them.”

  “I don’t want to owe anyone a favor.” Eliza crosses her arms.

  “He’s quite eager to expand his research,” Evander assures her. “And he’s an old friend. Witches and warlocks help one another without expecting anything in return, unlike vampires.”

  I set my jaw and give Evander a pointed look. Not now.

  “Did you tell him the curse is on a vampire?” I reach down and run my fingers through Lucas’s hair.

  “I did, and I trust his discretion on this. A curse strong enough to affect a nearly two-thousand-year-old vampire is one hell of a strong curse. If—” he cuts off when Kristy elbows him. “—when we break this, it could offer much insight onto how to break curses on our kind.”

  Tabatha straightens up and turns to me. “Your turn. I need to make sure the curse didn’t rebound on you when you reached in and bound it.”

  “It can do that?” Lucas asks, sounding worried.

  “An active curse can be thought of as a living entity,” Tabatha explains and scans the crystal over me. “Your aura has changed.”

  “In a bad way?” Lucas asks and sits up too quickly. He winces and puts his hand over the wound.