by Rhys Lawless
“Are they any good for battle? Should I remind you what happened the last few hundred times you went on a mission with nothing but a little flower spell and a fucking boner?” she said and walked over to the big bookcase lining up one wall and pulled a book out.
She opened the book, which was hollow inside, and approached me.
“Here,” she said. “These are one of Caleb’s most lethal spells. Take them.”
I stared at her and bit my lip. What was the point? I’d rather just slash my way through, and considering the new stretch of my power, maybe I didn’t need spells.
“Annabel, you know I can’t use them,” I said.
The troll scowled at me and offered the contents of the book to Troy, who picked them up one by one.
“It’s for both of you. And you might think you’re not ready, but if I’ve learned something from watching Caleb and the rest of the witches, it’s that magic never fails you witches. Not when it matters the most,” she said and put the book in front of me again.
There were two spells inside, two that Troy had left for me. I pick them up, unhooked two spells off my rosary, and attached the new ones. Even if I didn’t get to use them, the other witches could.
With Annabel’s blessing, Troy, Lorelai, and I left the house and headed for St. Paul’s.
There was supposed to have been a full moon tonight, but its light was hidden by the clouded sky as if someone up above knew the night was going to be ugly and tried to hide as much as of it as possible.
We got to St. Paul’s twenty minutes later and assembled at the front steps of the imposing building. Not long after, Winston, Hew, and Alyssa showed up.
“Where are the others?” Winston asked.
“You’re the first to arrive,” I told him, and I tried to suppress the feeling that no one was coming to help.
“Can’t you just do the same time-freezing crap you did before and get us in?” Alyssa asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I don’t think so. I still don’t understand how my power works. So it would be a gamble.”
“Gotcha.” Alyssa winked at me.
“Who is she?” Lorelai asked with a glower.
Alyssa placed her hands on her hips and bit back at the fox.
“What’s it to you?” She said.
“I want to know who I’m fighting beside,” Lorelai said, and her brow went further up her forehead.
“In that case…” Alyssa put her hands down and introduced herself.
“Do you have any intel on the building or the vampires protecting it?” Troy asked Alyssa after the girls’ social was over with.
“Building? No. I’ve never been there, and I don’t know anyone of our level that would have. The vampires? I think I have an idea who you might face,” she said.
“Do we stand a chance?” Troy continued. “No, actually. Don’t answer that.”
“It really depends on your backup,” Alyssa said.
Our backup. The one that wasn’t here yet. Had something happened? Were the witches being resistant to helping us out? Had Ash betrayed us?
No, Ash wouldn’t. Not after everything that had happened.
“We need to go. We’re losing precious time. And we don’t know how long they’ve got,” Troy said, the worry lines on his eyes making him appear older.
“Then you’re most definitely going to die,” Alyssa said.
“Then what are we supposed to do?” he shouted.
“We wait for backup, Troy. That’s what we do,” Winston reasoned with him.
“You don’t know what it’s like, okay? Losing your mate like that, not being able to feel them. Like you’re missing part of who you are. You just don’t know what that’s like. And I hope you never find out,” he said.
“I—what?” Winston growled and took a step closer to Troy.
“Win, baby, he doesn’t know. It’s not his fault,” Hew said and reached for my brother’s arm.
“I don’t know what it’s like to lose my mate? Do you mean feeling like your insides have been hollowed out? Spending every waking moment—and all moments are waking because sleep is a cruel bastard at times like that—wondering if you’ll ever feel complete again? If you’ll ever see the love of your life breathing again or if this is how life is going to be forever? You’re right. I don’t know how it feels,” Winston said, and his chest deflated.
“Hey, hey, hey. Did you call us for backup to save your partners or to take sides against each other?” someone shouted behind us, and we all turned to find Ash standing in front of an army of witches, most of whom I’d never seen before.
They were all dressed in black as if this was a black ops mission, and their spellbook belts were adorned with gemstones that I could imagine were as deadly as they looked.
“You came,” I said with, perhaps, a little too much desperation in my tone.
“Did you ever doubt I would?” he asked with a trace of a frown.
“I was starting to,” I told him, and he tutted.
Winston shook Ash’s hand and discussed how we would get in. We were completely blind on this mission, and there was probably a trap inside, but we had no time to get better acquainted with the building or what may lay inside it.
Troy kept his gaze to the ground, only ever looking up when someone asked him a question. Hew stood by his side and tried to reassure him it would all work out in the end, but he wasn’t convinced. And considering the row he’d just had with Winston, he probably felt guilty for acting out on his stress and anxiety.
I kept quiet for most of the discussions. Not only was I not in a condition to talk tactics, but I also didn’t want anyone to be relying on my power, me letting them down, and them losing their lives as a result. I would not have any of that.
“These guys are the best at dealing with vampires. And we’ve loaded on Graham’s spells to slow them down if needs be,” Ash said at the end. “So let’s go take this motherfucker down.”
I counted about twenty heads on Ash’s team, and so did Winston because we exchanged worried looks.
Considering how many vampires had ambushed us, the number wasn’t great, and it didn’t give me much confidence. I was just hoping when Ash said they were the best witches he had for the situation, he knew what he was talking about.
We walked away from the courtyard at St. Paul’s and went past Paternoster Square and came out the Northern side. When we crossed the street, the imposing building that belonged to the most imposing man greeted us.
The fact that this building was so close to Caleb’s cafe terrified me. Caleb had been working next to the man who wanted him dead all these years, and yet Christian had never spotted him. Maybe Christian had bought the building recently, or maybe he never visited. Knowing the man, he probably had a lot more aces up his sleeves that we didn’t know about. Perhaps it was all part of his game. One could only take a wild guess at what this game could be.
There was a small park in front of it, with trees, bushes, and benches as well as a fountain of a lotus in the very middle.
Good.
It would offer some cover between our attack and the innocent human bystanders.
We walked through the park, and both Winston and I came to a stop as soon as we saw the detail protection outside the building.
“What the fuck are they doing here?” Winston cursed.
The missing witch hunters were not missing anymore. Because they were all standing outside, with their blades out and ready to fight.
“This doesn’t look good,” I pointed out the obvious.
Had they changed sides? Why would they go back to Christian after everything he’d done?
Or was he holding something against them? What could he possibly have that would make them betray Winston’s trust and turn their backs on all the work he’d done to try and get them embraced by the witch community instead of feared and persecuted?
“What do we do?” Ash asked.
“You do nothing. I’m going to talk
to them,” Winston replied and stepped forward.
“I’m coming with you,” I said.
He glared at me, but I didn’t back down.
“What? You think they are going to hurt me, but not you? They’re our friends Winston,” I said. “Besides, they couldn’t take me even if they tried.”
Winston huffed but kept walking towards the people we’d worked with most of our lives. I saw Lloyd standing near the middle, in front of the entrance, and Cora was at the far right. The closer we got, the steadier their stances got.
When we were only a few feet from them, they all changed their stance in unison and readied their swords for swiping like it was a well-rehearsed, coordinated dance.
“Guys, what are you doing here? I’ve been worried sick,” Winston said looking from left to right. No one responded.
Winston took another step, and Lloyd swung his sword at him. His eyes looked glazed. Like he was doing something mundane instead of trying to kill his best friend.
“They—they look...” I started, but Winston cut in.
“Possessed? Yeah, they do,” he agreed.
The way that all of them seemed more and more like marionettes than real humans washed me with fear. Was that what I had looked like my entire life living under Christian’s rule? Had that been me only a few months ago before Caleb saved me from myself and the monster that controlled me?
“How? Why would they agree to this? Who in their right mind would want to be controlled by that asshole?” I asked.
“Maybe you don’t know your friends as well as you think you do,” Troy said, and I turned to find him standing behind me.
“We know our friends, all right,” Winston said. “There’s something seedier going on.”
“I can try and take them down,” Ash said and joined our little group.
“No,” both Winston and I shouted.
“We can’t hurt them,” Winston said.
Ash glowered. “I know. I was going to try and use my power to get them to give up,” he said. “You think they’re being controlled by Christian, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I said. “But he’s powerful.”
“So am I, baby,” Ash said and turned his attention to the witch hunters.
He opened his mouth, and it was like the lights went out in the entire world and the only light was him. His voice was pure harmony, a melody I didn’t want to end. Whatever he desired, I would give to him. Whatever he craved, I would provide. All he had to do was ask.
“Listen now, hunters,” he spoke, but his voice was not his. It was that of a siren’s, begging to be heard. “Put your swords down and walk away from here. This is not your battle.”
I wanted to look at the blades, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. From my peripheral vision, I could tell nothing was happening. How was it possible? How could they say no to this man?
Ash tried again, phrasing his want in a different way, but the results were the same. Nothing changed. Christian’s hold was too strong for Ash to erase.
The world returned to normal when Ash closed his mouth, and I had to shake my head to get it working properly again. I’d only ever experienced the strength of his power once before, at the British Library when we were trying to steal the book that would tell us how to stop the demon couple from ruining the world.
It made me sick that I felt like I wanted to hear it again. His song. Become enthralled by it and let him order me around.
I had lived that life once, and I didn’t need it to happen again. I shouldn’t be craving for the power or the man who yielded it.
Caleb’s words rang in my head, remembering what he’d told me about Ash’s powers.
His siren song was addictive, which explained my need to hear it again. But it only worked for so long until it drove people insane.
“Fuck! He is strong,” Ash said when he turned to us.
“What the hell did you just—” Troy said. “Can someone explain what the hell is going on?”
Ash told him how his power worked, and Winston told him about Christian’s mind control blood magic, and he seemed to regain his composure once it all made sense to him.
“Christian is playing games with us. He knows we won’t kill our friends, but he knows you’d do anything to get Caleb back,” Winston said.
“And Easton,” Troy added.
“Exactly,” I said. “He’s a manipulative bastard. I should have seen this coming.”
“How? How on earth could you have seen this coming?” Troy asked. “We need to get through them, one way or the other. Tell me more about this mind control stones Christian has. How do they work?”
Winston and I took turns explaining what we’d found out while Troy inspected the hunters one by one. He walked from the first to the last one of them, stepping closer to some of them to find them reacting the same way Lloyd had just a moment ago with Winston.
“So you’re saying he has to be able to speak to you in order to tell you what to do?” he asked, and he came to stand next to me.
I nodded and so did Winston.
“Then, for starters, let’s cut the communication. Maybe that will help convince them to stand down,” Troy said, and he closed his eyes.
“What—” I started, but then I realized what he was doing.
All of them were wearing earpieces. It was most likely linking back to Christian so he could tell them what to do. Troy wanted to jam the signal, but was he even able to do that? Wasn’t his power technopathy? Could he also control radio waves?
A buzz cut through the air and all the hunters’ ears sizzled and smoked.
Or he could also do that.
“They should be fine now,” Troy opened his eyes and said.
Winston stepped in toward Lloyd, but Lloyd took a swipe at him again, and Winston backed down.
“It’s the line,” Troy said.
“What line?” Winston asked, but I saw it.
It wasn’t really a line per se, more of the end of the sidewalk and the start of the marbled floor that covered the entire front of the building.
“He must have given them instructions about this line or something. He can’t talk to them anymore, so it must be a specific order he gave them,” Troy said.
Ash rubbed his hands together.
“In that case, let’s try again.”
The alluring song permeated the space between us, and while I did my utmost best to resist it, Ash tried to convince the hunters to stand down.
Even though my eyes were blurry and I could only see Ash in focus, I could hear metal dropping, and when the song stopped, I found that all the blades had surrendered to Ash’s will.
Hew ran in front of us and started to herd them to the little park in front of the building, swapping safety and coverage with Ash’s witches who stepped in from the shadows.
“Let’s go,” I said and walked through the front door.
In all fairness, I should have seen it coming. Of course it was a trap. Christian never took his chances. This place was full of booby traps. He didn’t want me to get Caleb back. He wanted me killed. He wanted to give me the false perception that I could save my Caleb, but in reality, that was never going to happen.
The vampires came for us in an instant. Of course they did. They’d been waiting for us.
What they didn’t expect was my power to return full mode and slow them down so I could take them one by one. This time, my team didn’t freeze. Instead, they looked in awe at the frozen vampires.
“What the—” Lorelai started.
“Hell?” Ash completed her sentence.
I just shrugged. There was no time to explain something I didn’t have a clue about.
“Can I try to save them?” Alyssa asked behind me. “You said you were different. So prove it.”
I looked into her eyes, and I saw the same worry in them as there probably was in mine. She didn’t want to see old friends and new, her made-up family, destroyed for the sake of a monstrous man. I couldn’t blame her.
Nor could I stop her from trying.
“Okay,” I said. “But you better hurry. I don’t know how long it will last this time.”
Alyssa wasted no time. She used her speed to go at each and every one of the vampires and whispered in their ears. It was so confusing to watch as some vampires came back to life under her command. Everything was confusing without Caleb to explain it to me.
Like, how did my power work, and why could I freeze time? Why was someone able to whisper in their ear while they were frozen and make them change their mind?
Not all of the vampires backed down, but enough of them did. When Alyssa stood next to me again, more than half the room was empty.
“You can take them down,” she said.
“Why? They didn’t want your ass?” I asked her.
“Baby, everyone wants this ass. But these guys are assholes, so they deserve what’s coming to them,” she said.
Ash didn’t need to be told twice. He and the other witches attacked the vampires and Winston, Troy, Alyssa, and I had our path cleared so we could find Christian.
As soon as I stepped away from the fight, the frozen vampires unfroze and gave the witches a run for their money.
“We better take the stairs. You don’t know what they can do with us inside an elevator,” Alyssa said as soon as we came to stand in front of three lifts.
Troy cracked his knuckles and closed his eyes.
“Is he going to meditate again?” Alyssa asked.
In response, the lift doors opened, and Troy urged us in.
“Nothing’s going to happen to us under my watch,” he said.
The lift took us to the last floor. It was the only place Christian could be. The farther up we climbed, the more resolute I was becoming.
Tonight was going to result in a gruesome death. Either Christian was dying, or I was, and there were no two ways about it. But it needed to happen. I needed to confront him even if it was a trap.
I should have been scared. Terrified for what might happen to Caleb, my dad, and all my friends. But I wasn’t. I was ready for what was ahead.
The elevator doors pinged, and they opened into a spacious corridor. There was an empty desk in the back right next to a double set of doors and a seating area next to a plant on the opposite side of those.