Valleys, Vittles, and Vanishings

by Samantha Eden

  “Yeah, I kind of get that,” I answered, looking at him quizzically.

  “Well, that also means that Wes is down there, too,” Riley reminded me. “And given that we don’t know which side of all of this Crystal is on, it’s very possible that we could find ourselves fighting a very angry witch and vampire at the same time.”

  “I think the fact that she’s screaming is a decent indicator that she might not be having the time of her life down there,” I answered. “I think it’s safe to assume that she’s being held here against her will.”

  “Or she’s fighting with her grandmother,” Riley said.

  “Right,” I said, nodding at the man. “That’s definitely a possibility.”

  “A troubling one,” Riley said.

  “Do we have the firepower for that?” I asked, thinking things through in my head.

  “That depends on whether you can handle Crystal Mangrove,” he said, taking his hand from me and pressing a button on the handle of his gun that I hadn’t seen before. As he did, the gun shimmered a little. A bit of light shone from it, which displayed the words Everyday Use. Flicking his wrist at the light, it spun, as did the gun’s barrel. Words flashed in front of me, including Lycan and Dark Fae. Finally, it settled on Vampire. “There we go,” he muttered, pressing the light, which turned red.

  “What is that?” I asked, arching my eyebrows at the man.

  “The Order might not give me too much in the way of information, but they definitely don’t skimp on weaponry,” Riley said. “This gun has a lot of features, each one specified for a different scenario. This is the vampire setting. It has wooden bullets and a little something extra.” He pressed another button on the side of his gun and a wooden stake came jutting out of the end of the handle.

  “Oh, my goodness,” I said, looking at the pointy end and swallowing hard. “You’re going to kill him?”

  “Only if I have to,” he answered, looking at me pensively. “Only if he doesn’t give me any other choice.” He blinked. “Only if he tries to hurt you.”

  “Riley,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I know—”

  “He’s your ex. I get it,” Riley interrupted me, nodding. “I’m sure there are still some feelings there. At the very least, there’s the echo of feelings. I can’t take the risk that he could hurt you, though. I think, at this point, it’s clear that the thing that took Eloise Mangrove from her house and knocked you to the floor was Wes himself. Think about it. Something that moved so quickly you couldn’t track it. Something that could see in the pitch-dark. It had to be a vampire. It had to be him.”

  “You might have a point,” I said, my eyes still pinned on the stake Riley had just presented.

  “I know I do,” he said. “And that makes me nervous. It means that these vampires, no pun intended, are out for blood.” He shook his head. “We have to be ready for that, because I’m not prepared to lose you tonight.”

  My heart warmed, which was a welcome respite from the terror that had been running through it for awhile now.

  “I’m not prepared to lose you either,” I admitted, looking deeply into his eyes.

  “Good,” he said. “Then let’s not lose each other,” Riley said.

  Another scream, this time from a voice different than Crystal’s, a voice that had to come from Eloise Mangrove herself, cut through the air.

  “They’re both there,” I said, looking back down the staircase. “The only way to fix all of this is sitting at the bottom of this staircase.”

  “Then we need to move,” Riley said, nodding at me, his new weapon held in the air.

  And move was exactly what we did.

  26

  We ran down the staircase. As we did, I cast a little spell to keep our footsteps light enough so that we could move toward the group unheard. Even with my magic and Riley’s fancy weapon, we needed all the help we could get. The element of surprise definitely fell under that category.

  As we grew closer, I heard a voice cut through the air. The staircase had large brick walls on either side, and given the fact that Riley had closed the door after we entered in an effort to keep our location a secret should Queen Rubix find out she was being duped, the only light we had was coming from the still unseen room at the end of the staircase.

  “I hope you’re happy now,” a voice I recognized as Eloise said. She didn’t sound like she was in pain, but she was definitely less than thrilled with her current situation. “I hope this is what you wanted. I don’t know what I was thinking. To imagine that I could ever think you were even close to fit to be my successor is laughable.”

  “That’s hurtful, Grandma,” Crystal answered, also sounding upset, though not hurt. “I made a mistake. I know that, but I was trying to make it right. Do you think this is what I wanted? Do you think I wanted everything to end like this, down here in some vampire’s basement?” She coughed. “We deserve more than that. The Mangrove coven doesn’t deserve to end this way.”

  “This is about more than just us, Crystal,” Eloise said. “You do understand what they want to use this magic for, don’t you? They want to expand the spell that makes this place permanently dark and spread it all over the Smokies! They want to take over the entire mountain range!”

  My heart dropped. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The idea of Queen Rubix taking the sun away from the Smoky Mountains permanently made the idea of our house being tossed off the peak of Spell Creek Mountain sound like a Hallmark card. With this place forever dark and one of the most powerful covens in the area stripped of their powers, there would be nothing to stop Queen Rubix from taking over the mountain range entirely.

  I heard a door slam, and then a voice sounded from below. Though I still couldn’t see what was going on, I knew without a doubt that I was listening to Wes.

  “You ladies are thinking on much too small a scale,” he said as my body tightened with stress. “The Smoky Mountains are just the beginning. Queen Rubix has been planning this for a long time, and she’s got her sights set on the entire world.”

  “How could you do this to me, Wes?” Crystal shouted as Riley and I edged closer. “I thought you cared about me. I thought that was the reason we were going out!”

  “I went out with you for the same reason I went out with Izzy Lockheart,” he said, and my stomach dropped out. “I wanted access to your magic. With Izzy, though, the security surrounding her powers was too much. I couldn’t get through to it. What was more, Rubix knew the Lockhearts would never agree to do something as stupid as the Ancient Transference. She knew only you guys would do that, and she was right. Even better, given all the time that’s passed, Queen Rubix has learned enough to make the spell unbreakable. As soon as the sun sets here, it’s never going to come up again.”

  “Oh, no,” I said, looking at Riley and swallowing hard. “We have to stop this. We have to—”

  “What is that smell?” Wes’s voice sounded from below. “There are more humans here.”

  My muscles locked.

  “Get to the Mangrove women,” Riley said, staring at me intensely. “Move quickly and don’t look back. Get them out of here.”

  “What are you going to do?” I asked, my heart racing. “What are you—” My eyes widened as I realized what he was talking about. He was going to throw himself at Wes all alone, and even with a weapon like the one The Order had given him, that was little more than a suicide mission. “Riley, no!” I yelled, but it was too late. He was already gone. He had already rushed down the stairs and out into the open.

  I took a deep breath and darted forward. This was happening now, and I had to make sure we came out on the winning side.

  I rushed down the steps, looking around at the room I found myself in. To my surprise, it was a makeshift apartment. A couch sat on one side, along with a bed and a pair of chairs (that Crystal and Eloise were tied to). On the other side, where Riley was charging Wes, was a small mini-bar and a television set. My heart was racing as I moved toward Charlotte and
Eloise.

  Trying not to look over at Riley because I couldn’t deal with the thought of Wes hurting him, I flicked my wrist and cast a little spell to undo the ropes binding Crystal and Eloise.

  “What are you doing here, Izzy?” Charlotte asked, her eyes wide and her mouth turning downward. Insanely, she seemed aggravated to see me.

  “Saving you,” I muttered, twisting my hand again, because for whatever reason, the spell didn’t seem to work the first time.

  “Not like that, you’re not,” Crystal said. “The ropes have been enchanted. Otherwise, we’d have been able to get them off ourselves.”

  “You can untie them, though,” Eloise said, swallowing hard. Her eyes were planted on what was going on behind me, on what was happening with Riley and Wes, and they were filled with dread. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to see what was going on. I had to know.

  Turning, I saw Riley on his back with Wes standing over him, his fangs bared. Riley’s weapon had been knocked away. He was about to get bitten, and a bite from a vampire wasn’t something he’d be able to come back from.

  “Not today,” I murmured, stretching my hands out and casting a spell that sent Wes flying hard against the wall. As the vampire hit the wall and slid down, I looked down at Riley. He was breathless and panicked, but he was okay.

  With that off my chest, I turned back to the women in the ropes. Deciding to start with Eloise, because it was just the polite thing to do, I asked her a question that had been weighing on me ever since it happened.

  “The spell you cast,” I started with my heart in my throat. “Can it be reversed?”

  “The spell with the flower?” Eloise asked as my fingers worked on the knots. “I never meant for that to actually happen.”

  “I know that, ma’am, but it did,” I said. “It took my grandmother.”

  “Winnie!” she gasped, and there was obvious hurt in her voice. “Y–Yes,” she stammered. “As long as I do it before the sun sets on the day it happened, I can undo it. I need my hands to make that happen, though.”

  “I’m on it,” I said. “We have hours before the sun sets.”

  “We had hours,” Crystal said. “Part of the magic the vampires are using speeds that up. My guess is we have minutes, maybe less, before all the Smoky Mountains plunge into unending darkness.”

  “Really?” I asked, looking up at Crystal. “Your boyfriend is kind of awful.”

  “You think?” Crystal asked. “And he’s not my boyfriend anymore. Just get my grandmother free.”

  “Almost there,” I said, pulling at the final knot.

  “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that almost doesn’t count?” a cold voice said from the staircase. I looked up and saw Queen Rubix glaring at me. The jig was up. We had been found out. “I’ve been wanting to make a snack of you for years, Izzy Lockheart,” she said, her fangs bared and sharp. “I guess there’s no point in waiting any longer.”

  And with that, the queen of the vampires ran toward me at the speed of light, my death at the forefront of her mind.

  I swallowed hard, watching the queen of the vampires rush toward me in an effort to kill me where I knelt. My entire life flashed before my eyes, all the love, all the jokes, all the awesome times I’d spent in these mountains with friends and family. As they did, it occurred to me that I had a pretty amazing life. Magic aside, I was one lucky woman. I had a home I now knew I couldn’t live without, a family I loved more than I’d ever admit to them, and friends, Riley chief among them, who would give their lives for me.

  I was truly blessed, and if my life were to end tonight, I could only complain about the length of it, certainly not the content. I pulled at the last of the knots holding Eloise. If I was going to die, the least I could do was try my best to ensure the Mangrove coven didn’t end down here tonight, taking the sun away from the Smoky Mountains forever.

  I felt a rush of energy run past me. Opening my eyes wide, I saw a shimmer of light solidify between me and the quickly approaching Queen Rubix. I saw with a start, as the light took shape, that it was none other than my Grandma Winnie. She stood before me, as she had done my entire life, shielding me from harm’s way.

  I sighed the hugest sigh of relief of my entire life. Watching with wonder, I saw Grandma Winnie throw her hands forward. As she did, the queen of the vampires flew against the wall, too. Though, where Wes had slid unconscious down to the floor, Queen Rubix stayed awake . . . awake and pinned to the wall via my grandmother’s magic.

  “Are you all right, my dear?” Grandma Winnie asked, turning back to me.

  “Me?” I asked, standing up and wrapping the woman into the hugest hug ever. “You’re the one who vanished into thin air. You scared the life out of me, old woman.”

  “It wasn’t exactly my choice, Izzy,” she said, smiling as she pulled away from me. “Though, I have to admit, I’m more than a little flattered. I never dreamed that I’d be the person in your life you treasured the most.”

  I saw tears building up in my grandmother’s eyes and I couldn’t help but hug her just one more time. “You should have,” I said, clutching her for dear life again. “You really, really should have.”

  “You’re all fools!” Queen Rubix screamed, still pinned to the wall. “You’re too late. The spell is already in effect! You can’t stop it now! There’s too much magic at play here! No single witch could ever undo it.”

  “Maybe not,” Grandma Winnie said, solidifying her stance and looking over at Eloise Mangrove. “But we’re not alone, not unless we choose to be.” She nodded at her lifelong rival. “What do you choose, Eloise?”

  “For the first time in forever, Winnie Lockheart, I choose peace. I choose peace and forgiveness, and maybe even friendship.”

  The woman extended her hand, and my grandmother happily took it. They turned to Queen Rubix and started emitting a radiant light. It grew brighter and brighter as I scurried to untie Crystal.

  Doing so, I offered the woman, a rival of my own, my hand. To my surprise, she took it too. It wasn’t long before our light joined the light created by my grandmother and Eloise. Soon enough, it was all you could see. The light we’d created, the little sun we were making with our newly-ended feud, was going to save everything. The sun wouldn’t set on the Smokies today. This was a new day, a new beginning.

  And it sure was bright.

  27

  “I can’t believe how full this place is,” I said, smiling over at Riley as he helped me set up another platter of food. It had been almost two weeks since we’d stopped Queen Rubix and Wes from bringing eternal night to Spell Creek Mountain and the Smokies at large. In that span of time, things had changed more than I could ever imagine.

  “I can,” Riley said, looking back over at me with a twinkle in his eye. “I told you we were going to get through this. I told you we were going to open your restaurant, and I told you we were going to throw the biggest party this place has ever seen. And look at us, Izzy Lockheart. We did it.”

  I beamed, setting the food down and watching my home cooking get greedily grabbed up by the throngs of happy, hungry potential customers. If this party was any indicator, my new restaurant was going to be a gigantic success.

  “We did do it, didn’t we?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest and looking out at this place with pride. And the pride was for more than just an open and seemingly successful business. It was for more than even saving this town and the Smokies from the machinations of a corrupt vampire queen.

  I looked at the long center table, at the table my grandmother sat at, and I saw Eloise Mangrove beside her. I saw Crystal beside her, giving me a wave and even a smile as she dug into my food. I saw Gayle, whose power had returned to normal, looking at photos of Dallas, Jasper, and the kids at Dollywood. Heck, she even seemed interested in them. I saw Lucas and Savannah giving each other googly eyes from across the table when they thought no one was looking.

  There we were, the Lockhearts and the Mangroves, together at last. A feud t
hat had started hundreds of years ago was finally over, and I was at least partially responsible for that. We’d done well, and with any luck, the good times were just starting.

  “I’m going to make sure no one needs any refills,” Riley said, looking over at me.

  “I want to thank you,” I said, warmth running through me.

  “It’s nothing,” he answered, shrugging. “I told you I would help you get this place open and I meant it.”

  “It’s absolutely not nothing,” I answered. “It’s not nothing at all.” I shook my head. “That isn’t what I meant, though. At least, not just that. You’ve done so much for me since I came back home. I could never repay you.”

  “I wouldn’t ask you to,” Riley answered. “What good is a gift if you only give it expecting something in return? Besides, you do a lot for me too, Izzy Lockheart. I’d say we’re closer to even than you think.” He shrugged again. “Not that we should be keeping count or anything.” He winked at me. “See you soon,” he said, and then he drifted off into the crowd to act as a host and server.

  “You totally want to kiss him,” Charlotte said, sidling up to me and nudging me with her elbow.

  “Shut up,” I muttered.

  “That’s not a denial,” she said.

  “No,” I murmured. “It most certainly isn’t.”

  “This place looks amazing,” she said. “I can’t believe we got it fixed up so quickly.”

  “It’s amazing what can happen when you have two covens working together,” I said. “I even heard Grandma Winnie talking to Eloise about alternative treatments to her sickness. Apparently, the doctor gave her two years to live, but you know Grandma Winnie. She said doctors don’t know everything, especially where magic is concerned.” I nodded. “I bet we’ll be seeing Eloise Mangrove for a long time, still.”

  “It is nice,” Charlotte said. “Though I have to say, I’m not sure our little cease-fire will remain for much longer.”