by Cheree Alsop
The black marks on her arm writhed as if in pain. They looked like parasites battling to stay attached to their host. I realized that in order to survive, Isley wasn’t just an elemental of light, she was becoming the light itself! She would leave this life entirely and be light instead of a being with a human form. In essence, she was dying as much as I had been with the silver coursing through my body. In another moment, she would be gone entirely.
Save her, the voice in my mind urged.
Without thinking my actions through, I ran forward and broke through the circle the witches had created with runes made of salt and dirt around the perimeter where they stood. A tingling ran through my skin when I crossed the border. I tripped on something I couldn’t see and fell forward.
“Zev, no!” Madam Anna shouted.
But my momentum was too great to stop. I landed hard against the edge of the table and threw my hand out. My fingers closed around Isley’s arm where the black marks from the felgul bite writhed. Fire burned my palm from our touch, but I refused to let go.
As if anxious to escape the light that flooded Isley’s body, the marks surged down my arm. The moment they left her, the light around Isley dimmed and her form returned to a solid state.
The twining poison wrapped up my arm and around my neck. I fell to my knees as they tightened like a noose.
“Zev, hold on,” Virgo shouted. “Anna, the chant!”
The voices that had stopped at my appearance began again. I could feel the poison trembling as their words became louder. I forced my fingers beneath the noose and sucked in a breath.
“Louder,” Madam Anna commanded.
The poison began to break to pieces beneath my hands. It gave one last squeeze, then vanished with a hiss.
I collapsed onto my back in relief and drew in a full breath. Virgo fell to his knees beside me.
“Zev, are you alright?”
I nodded and forced out past my bruised throat, “I think so. Is Isley?”
Everyone looked at the table. From my place on the floor, I could hear the steady breath of someone caught in a deep sleep. The candles had returned to their normal friendly glow, and the light from the table appeared to come only from the faintly pulsing runes.
A smile spread across Mrs. Stein’s face. “She is, thanks to you.”
“What made you do that?” Virgo asked.
I shook my head and put a hand above where my heartbeat thundered in my chest. “I don’t know. Instinct, I guess. How did that happen?”
Madam Anna walked around the table to stand above me. She crossed her arms and look from Isley to me. The way she loomed and her sparking green gaze made her appear even more intimidating than before. The kittens on her sneakers failed to lighten the view.
“Werewolves are creatures of darkness. Given the chance at a host that couldn’t destroy it with light, the poison from the felgul gladly leaped at the opportunity.” Her brow furrowed. “And your touched grounded Isley. As an elemental, the evil of the poison was destroying her soul. We had to imbue her with pure power, but we risked losing her to the light.” She shook her head. “It was a risk we had to take.”
“Like the silver,” I said.
The hint of a smile touched the witch’s lips and she nodded. “Just like the silver.”
I let out a breath. “So she’s herself again.”
“In a manner of speaking,” Madam Doxy said. “Look.”
Virgo helped me to my feet. The warlock kept a hand on my shoulder when I stood as if he was afraid I would fall over again. I leaned against the table and stared at Isley.
Her body had returned to normal, but a slight, pulsing light emanated from her. My ears locked onto the sound of her heartbeat. The light surged in time to the soft rhythm. It was hard for me to look at.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means that we’ve unlocked her elemental powers,” Madam Anna replied. “She can learn to use them now.” A smile spread across her face. “She’ll be powerful enough to help us.”
My instincts bade me to turn away from the girl, but my heart wouldn’t let me. I reached out a hand.
“Zev, don’t,” Mrs. Stein whispered.
I touched Isley’s arm. The light surged and heat ran up my fingers with such intensity that my skin felt as though it was burning. I sucked a breath in through my clenched teeth and jerked my hand back.
Madam Henrietta put a hand on my arm. “You can’t touch her, dear. You’re a creature of darkness. Being around her too much could actually kill you.”
My mouth fell open. “What?”
Madam Doxy gave me a kind smile. “Remember what we told you about werewolves? And why we shot you?”
“You shot Zev?” Mrs. Willard said. She had left her position near the door and joined us at the table. Her searching gaze found the bullet holes on my chest on either side of the white handprint. Her forehead creased. “Are you alright?”
I nodded, then looked at Isley again and shook my head. “I don’t think so. I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“This might be hard to hear,” Mrs. Stein said from my left. “But with Isley’s elemental powers unlocked, her affinity to light makes her the exact opposite of you. Your soul and hers cannot be around each other.”
“You’re like magnets,” Madam Doxy said. “You repel each other in a potentially deadly way.”
I took a step back. “So if I’m near, it could hurt her?”
Madam Doxy gave Isley’s sleeping form a thoughtful look. “Maybe, but she’s more a danger to you than the other way around. Elementals are strong, and she’ll be even stronger without the bite slowing her down. It’d be best if you avoid each other after this.”
The thought that being near her could potentially hurt Isley worried me more than the thought of her light powers burning me. My hand still throbbed from touching her. I closed it and opened it again as I took another step back.
“Good idea,” Madam Doxy said. “Go back in the living room and rest. You’ve been through a lot.”
Madam Anna nodded from behind her. “Get some rest. We owe you, Zev.”
I shook my head. “You saved her life and mine. I’m just glad I happened to be in the right place when she needed me.”
Virgo walked with me back to the living room. Though he didn’t make a point of it, he kept a hand up as if ready to catch me if I fell. I must have looked as bad as I felt.
I sat on the closest couch with a thump. Virgo lowered more slowly next to me. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Half of his hair had escaped its usual ponytail. When he buried his face in his hands, it hid him from view.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” he admitted, his voice muffled.
“Me, neither,” I replied. “I’ve read that witches are strong, but I didn’t realize how strong.”
What I had learned of Isley turned over and over in my mind. I needed to learn more about elementals, but I didn’t know where to start.
Virgo glanced at me with his chin still in his hands. “They expect me to be like that, you know.”
The trepidation in his voice pushed past my thoughts of Isley. “Like what?” I asked.
He made a vague gesture toward the dining room. “Strong like Madam Anna. A chanter, a spell maker.” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug and a hint of despair showed in his voice when he said, “Even though there’s enough witches, warlocks are rare. With my bloodlines, I’m supposed to be some sort of super powerful warlock able to do things like that and more.”
I watched him closely. “And that bothers you?”
“It worries me,” he admitted. “It really worries me.”
“Why?”
Everything I had learned in the Lair focused on making strengths stronger, hiding weaknesses, and learning how to harness power for both self-preservation and to makes oneself unbeatable. I couldn’t imagine having the type of power Virgo spoke of with such ease.
Virgo shook his head and
buried his face in his hands once more. “It’s too much power.”
I stared at him. “I know I’ve almost died a few times today and that’s probably affected my thinking, but I don’t get it. Why don’t you want to be powerful?”
Virgo sat up. He glanced at me and then his gaze shifted away as if he was embarrassed. He rubbed his eyes beneath his red-rimmed glasses and said, “I don’t expect you to understand, but what if that was me in there? What if I was supposed to do what Madam Anna did, and I messed up?”
“You’d be human?” I replied as more of a question than a statement.
The barest hint of a smile ghosted across Virgo’s lips and he glanced at me again. “Did you just make a joke?”
An answer smile spread across my face. “I think so. Was it a good one?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it was. And I needed it.” He let out a pent-up breath. “I just don’t know if I’m ready.”
I looked toward the doorway where the soft talking of the witches and Mrs. Willard drifted in. “Well, at least it doesn’t look like they’re ready for you yet.”
Virgo nodded. “That’s a good thing.” He gave me a searching look. “Did they really make you drink silver?”
I gave a shudder that wasn’t faked. “Yes. It was horrible.”
His expression was sympathetic when he said, “Sort of like fighting fire with fire?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Except if you swallowed the fire and let it war out inside of you.”
He grimaced. “You okay?”
I nodded. I debated whether to ask him about my failed attempt at phasing, but the thought of admitting such a weakness was difficult.
“What is it?” he asked.
I cursed inwardly at the ability of humans to read expressions. I let out a breath and admitted, “I tried to phase when I woke up here.”
“And?” he pressed.
I shook my head.
I was grateful the warlock got the point without making me say it aloud.
He whistled through his teeth the way his mother often did and studied the wooden floor at his feet for a moment.
“So maybe the silver’s keeping you from phasing,” he said. He glanced at me. “It could just be a matter of waiting for it to leave your system.”
He sounded as unsure as I felt.
“Yeah, maybe,” I said. I cleared my throat and forced a lighter tone when I suggested, “Should we get out of here?”
Virgo looked toward the doorway. “You don’t want to stick around for Isley?”
I opened my hand and looked at the burns on my palm. “You heard what they said. I don’t want to be dangerous to her.”
He studied the blisters I revealed. “Looks more like she’s dangerous to you.” He hesitated, then suggested, “Why don’t you try the moonlight?”
The way he paused before saying it echoed the fears I felt. The moonlight had always been the one constant in my life. Through the beatings and tortures of my youth, the nearly deadly hazing of the werewolves at the Lair, and the punishments of the Master, the moonlight had been the one thing I could count on. No matter what my aches and pains, I was always able to stand in its light and feel relief.
Yet the moonlight had dropped me with such pain that I had thought I was dying. Instead of healing me, I had felt worse than I ever remembered feeling. Mrs. Stein’s betrayal combined with that of the moonlight to create such a heavy weight on my shoulders that I wasn’t sure I could take much more.
But I was a werewolf. I couldn’t avoid the moonlight. It was a part of my soul. Something within the white caress that cast away the shadows completed me. It made the wolf side, my true side, surge to the surface. It healed me when nothing else could. It was the one go-to in my life. I had to trust it. I just had to.
I reached my hand out toward a single beam that fell on the cushion of the couch between Virgo and me. My fingers shook slightly. At the sight, I closed my hand, took a steeling breath, then opened it again and set it in the small glowing patch.
I expected pain. Instead, a tingling sensation ran across my skin. The ache of the burn eased and the vanished as the healing sensation I knew so well filled my hand with warmth. The breath I realized I was holding rushed out. Embarrassed at the sign of doubt, I shot Virgo a quick look and saw his shoulders bow as he relaxed. The realization that we had both been worried it wouldn’t work eased my tension somewhat. I didn’t know when the warlock had started to think of me as a person instead of a beast, but his relief at the easing of my pain touched me.
When the tingling stopped, I lifted my hand and opened and closed it. “As good as new,” I noted.
“That’s neat,” he said, staring at the healed flesh. “I wish I could do that.”
“You could be a werewolf,” I suggested.
Virgo tipped his head as if considering it. The action was wolf-like enough to make me smile.
He finally shook his head. “Nope. I don’t like fleas.”
I punched at him. He jumped off the couch and dodged my fist, then held out a hand. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”
A strange pang went through my heart. He meant the Willards’ house, but the word rang hollow. I had never wanted a home, or never really needed one. But the though sent a sharp surge of longing through me I had never felt before.
I shoved the feeling down and went to the front door. Virgo crossed to the doorway of the other room and spoke quietly to his mother and sister. A few moments later, Jemmy returned with him. Her relieved expression said she was as ready to leave as we were. Silence followed us and the enchantment over the house shifted from the beautiful mansion lawns to the grubby little walkway. I climbed onto the seat of the truck and stared out the window while Virgo drove us away.
Chapter Four
Virgo parked in the driveway and Alia and James hurried out of the house.
“Is Isley going to be alright?” Alia asked.
“We think so,” Jemmy said. She threw me a look. “It was touch and go, but she pulled through.”
“Thank goodness,” Alia replied. She hugged Jemmy. “It’s good to see you.”
“You, too.” Jemmy turned her smile to James. “And you.”
Red touched James’ cheeks, but his grin left no doubt how he felt about her words. “Do you guys want to come in?”
Virgo shook his head. “We’re just dropping off Zev. He’s had a rough night.” The look he sent me was stern. “Get some rest. You need it.”
I gave him a salute. “Will do. Thanks for the ride.”
“I need to swing by the store,” Virgo told James. “A book I’m waiting for was delivered while we were casting.”
“Jemmy could stay,” James offered. He gave her a quick look. “That is, if you want to.”
“I’d like that,” Jemmy said. She glanced at her brother and continued with, “If you think Mom wouldn’t mind.”
Virgo nodded. “Stay. You deserve a break.”
James hurried around the truck and opened Jemmy’s door for her. Jemmy accepted his assistance getting down with a blushing smile, then slipped her hand into his. When Virgo backed his truck up, the pair walked around us, lost in their own little world.
Alia’s smile at the couple made her face glow in the moonlight.
I swallowed past my suddenly tight throat. “Where’s Mitch?” I asked.
She motioned toward the trees behind their house. “He said something about going running with the other werewolves.”
The thought of phasing sent a whisper of pain through my body. I rolled my shoulders beneath the shirt Virgo had lent me. Virgo’s blue truck pulled out of the driveway. Its headlights bounced off the mailbox and then the trees across the street before he turned onto the main road. I regretted not going with him. Steeling myself, I turned back to the house.
When I walked past Alia, she said in surprise, “You’re not going with the werewolves?”
“No,” I said without looking at her. “I’m going to take Virgo’s advice and g
et some rest.”
I had reached the porch and put a hand on the doorknob when she said, “Zev?”
I closed my eyes to center myself, then opened them again and forbade my face from showing any emotions when I turned around.
“Zev, what’s going on?” Alia asked.
I tried for an innocent tone and said, “What do you mean?”
My eyes flitted past her to where James and Jemmy stood talking in the moonlight halfway across the yard. From their position, they couldn’t hear our conversation. By the look of complete rapture on their faces, there wasn’t anything else they wanted to hear but each other.
“You won’t even look at me,” Alia said.
I made myself focus on her face. Her hazel eyes stared up into mine insistently. The hand on her hip and the way she flipped her long brown hair back behind her ear showed her agitation. The voice in the back of my mind noted that life was easier before I began to read human body language.
Her stance said she wouldn’t let it go until I explained. The only problem was that I didn’t know how to explain because it didn’t make sense to me, either.
I sucked in a steadying breath and went with, “Alia, you and Mitch have feelings for each other.”
Her gaze lowered so that her eyes were hidden by her eyelashes. The slight rise of red to her cheeks was enough acknowledgement of my words that my stomach twisted. I shouldn’t have felt it, not really, not given the fact that we had only known each other for a week filled with enough danger, death, and pain to last a lifetime.
The detached voice in my mind noted that maybe that was my problem. I wouldn’t have survived something like defeating my vampire Master, the other imposter vampire, and reasoning with the werewolves we had freed from the Lair by myself. I owed Alia. I owed her for patching me up when her brother Ian hit me with his car on my escape from the Lair, I owed her for talking me into staying when I wanted so badly just to run away and be a wild wolf, and I owed her and her family for giving me a place to stay that was safer than anywhere I had ever been.