Jenna turned away, barely containing her grin, and jogged toward the water’s edge. This time, she stayed at the top of the bank. Right around the same place the wraith had appeared. She kept her head on a swivel and scanned for any signs of the creature. A few stars twinkled overhead, and here and there, the water caught the moon’s light.
A large blackbird landed on a big rock at the river’s edge. It was a beautiful bird, feathers iridescent and gleaming. Jenna looked more closely, realizing it was too big to be a blackbird. That was a raven. It looked up at her with a gaze that seemed wise beyond any typical bird’s. Jenna took a few steps toward the bird and kept her voice low. “Cole?”
The bird nodded.
Cole Van Zant was Pandora’s husband and her familiar. He was also a shifter who could take on this raven form. Most important, his presence actually allowed Pandora’s magic to work and work very well. In fact, since he’d entered Pandora’s life, her magic had been usable for the first time since she’d come into her powers.
Cole was also a professor at Harmswood Academy, where Tessa was the dean of library studies.
“I assume you’re here to help Pandora?”
He peered at her intently, cocking his head.
“And me?”
He nodded again.
“Thank you.”
He made a clicking sound, then took to the air. He let out a sharp caw as he rose into the darkening sky. The call seemed like a warning. Jenna turned in time to see the wraith lurching along the bank toward her.
Leif was still a ways out, but he looked more like a soot-covered man than a creature of smoke and shadow. Nothing about him looked even slightly nebulous. There was no doubt he’d gotten stronger, more solid. This had to happen now.
Good thing she genuinely looked forward to a battle, because she was definitely going to get one. What worried her was that practice, which she did a lot of, was no substitute for real in-the-moment fighting.
It was like riding a bike, though, right? She pondered the idea of drawing her sword here and starting without waiting for Sola to have the circle’s magic functioning, but they needed Sola fully engaged, or Bridget and Birdie were going to have a hard time freeing Ingvar from her clutches.
Besides, if Jenna got into trouble this far from the trap, her team wouldn’t know what was going on. And wraith killing really was best done in teams of two. Or more. Especially when that wraith had a warped seer on his side.
No, she needed to stick to the plan.
With that in mind, she took a few careless steps, deliberately displacing rocks and making noise.
The wraith looked in her direction. And growled. His eyes went red-hot.
Jenna went into full battle mode. She peered back at him with her chest out, chin down, and gaze fully engaged. “You ready to try again, wraith?”
The creature picked up speed, such as it was.
“Come on, then. See if you can catch me.” She crooked her finger at him, then made her way up the bank to the edge of the forest again. When he was below her, she started toward the circle.
She kept going, glancing over her shoulder every once in a while to make sure Leif was still following. He was. In a few more feet, Sola’s chanting reached her ears. Everything was proceeding as planned, except tonight there was going to be a very different ending.
“Ingvar,” she called out. “Ready?”
The seer wasn’t bothering to hide herself this time. She still stood near the back of the circle, but she was plainly visible. Arms outstretched, eyes black with the magic she was working, she nodded without breaking the rhythm of the words she was chanting.
Jenna hated being between Leif and the Sola-controlled Ingvar. She couldn’t keep an eye on both at the same time. Thankfully, Jenna wasn’t truly alone.
With that thought lifting her up, she began her slow retreat into the circle. Leif lumbered after her with all the grace of a drunken bull.
Helgrind quivered for release, but it wasn’t quite time, although her hands itched to grip the handle of her beloved sword.
The moment he was within the confines of the ring, two things happened.
The first was that Sola stepped forward, speaking the same words as she had before to close the circle. Light sprang up all around them, and Sola reached into the pouch at her waist and again drew out a handful of powder. She tossed it into the air.
Everything progressed exactly as it had the first time, but the circumstances weren’t the same as before because Alice had been here earlier and cast a spell of her own, to prevent Sola’s magic from working.
The second thing was Jenna reached back and pulled Helgrind free. The blade sang out its joy, shushing through the air as Jenna brandished the gorgeous weapon. “This is what you want, wraith. Come closer. I’ll give you a taste.”
Leif snarled and swiped at her, but he was still too far away.
She moved back and forth from one foot to the other, staying light and ready. As she did, she danced to the right just a little every few steps. Slowly, she put the seer in her peripheral vision. In her current position, she could also see the spot where Pandora was hiding.
Tessa, Hank, and Titus were above and behind her now.
This was a stronger position than having Sola behind her. At any moment, Sola would attempt her second spell, the one that would freeze Jenna in place and allow Leif to land a killing blow.
She had to work fast, because as soon as Sola realized Jenna wasn’t frozen, she’d know the game was finished. Jenna said a little prayer that Birdie and Bridget had been successful in their quest, because things were about to blow up.
Jenna smiled a smile she didn’t really feel as she leveled Helgrind at Leif. “All right, wraith. Playtime is over.”
Leif charged, but he still didn’t have the speed of a living berserker. Jenna dodged him without too much effort. He kept moving forward, nearly going headfirst into a large oak.
He caught it with one hand and used it to pull himself back around, ember eyes crackling with anger. He came at her again, hands grasping for the thing he wanted most.
Helgrind.
Again, she danced out of reach.
“Blythe,” he growled. “You cannot escape me. I grow stronger with each passing moment.”
“Stronger, but also easier to kill.” Easier probably wasn’t the right word. More possible to be killed was a truer statement.
He swiped at her again, and again she evaded him.
Her time was ticking down. At any moment, Sola would cast the spell that was supposed to freeze Leif in place so Jenna could deliver the killing blow. Of course, Sola would once again attempt to freeze Jenna instead.
But it wouldn’t work this time. Once Sola realized her magic no longer had any potency, that would be the end of it. The house of cards that Sola had built would come tumbling down. Sola with it.
Until then, however, Jenna had to do her best to end Leif. It wasn’t impossible to kill a wraith who’d not yet achieved a solid state. But it was very, very hard.
Valkyries knew all about hard, though.
She was going to have to get his sword if she was going to transport his soul once and for all to the underworld.
He came at her. She ducked his swinging arm and sliced her blade across his ribs as deeply as she could.
He yowled at the cut, most likely at the indignity. Neither wraiths nor berserkers felt pain in a tangible way.
A dark, oily, sooty fog escaped from the wound before it closed. Not much change since yesterday, then. Odin’s eye. Was he still so insubstantial? What was taking him so long to become fully corporeal?
But maybe the wound had healed slower this time? And had there been a hint of actual blood? Possibly. He had to be closer to being completely solid. If so, the time for the death blow was coming. But he clearly wasn’t solid enough. Not yet. How much longer was it going to take?
She’d hoped not much longer, or her chance was going to pass. The thought occurred to her tha
t Sola might have done something to keep him from becoming fully corporeal in order to protect him from Jenna.
Sola stepped forward. Jenna frowned, knowing what was about to happen. She had to act now. One final attempt to remove the wraith from this plane of existence.
In that moment, time sped up, but it also stood still.
With both hands on the hilt of Helgrind, Jenna whipped around with the blade at chest level and drove toward Leif with every ounce of force she had.
Sola began to speak as Helgrind pierced Leif’s chest. The blade slid through him, and the momentum carried Jenna and the sword forward, pinning Leif to the first solid thing behind him. A pine.
A low, angry rumble vibrated out of him. “You think you can end me?”
She honestly wasn’t sure anymore, but he couldn’t know that. “I know I can. And once I do, I’m going to carry your soul straight to the underworld where you belong. There will be no Valhalla for you, Leif.”
Growling, he swiped at her.
She couldn’t let go of Helgrind, so she couldn’t escape. The best she could do was rear back. His ragged nails caught her cheek and caused a brief moment of searing pain before it subsided.
The wounds stung, but she’d suffered worse. And it was nothing compared to what she was going to do to him.
But if Helgrind piercing his heart wasn’t enough to finish him, she was in trouble.
He sneered at Jenna as he wrapped his hands around the sword sticking out of his chest and pulled, seemingly oblivious to the blood spilling from his hands as they were cut by the blade.
His hands were bleeding.
Encouraged by that realization, Jenna kept her grip firmly on the hilt. She dared not let Helgrind go, or Leif would take control of it. His eyes were already fixed on the resurrection stone.
If his hands could bleed, that meant he was becoming corporeal. Just not fast enough. And with every wraith, the heart was the last thing to solidify. She was just going to have to be patient.
Not the easiest thing to do.
Behind her, Sola chanted louder now. Almost angrily. But any second, she would realize her spell wasn’t working. Jenna had to move faster. Still holding on to Helgrind, she kicked her feet up and planted them on Leif’s chest on either side of the blade, then yanked the sword free and backflipped away from him.
At least he’d been solid enough for her to do that.
The hole in Leif’s chest where Helgrind had been spilled black smoke. A second later, it started to close. She snarled in rage. Stupid wraiths. So hard to kill. At least he was contained in the circle.
Unfortunately, so was Sola.
With a thunderous roar, Leif came away from the tree. He reached back and unleashed his own blade. Finally. Kirsgut was free. The sword made Helgrind look like a child’s toy. A large child, but still. Berserker swords were legendary and sized to match the men who wielded them.
He raised the sword to strike.
“My spell,” Sola snarled. Realization had come to her.
Blade up for protection, Jenna spun away from Leif, putting Sola between herself and the wraith. If he struck now, he’d hit Ingvar’s body, and Jenna didn’t think he’d do that with Sola inside her.
But the game was over. There was no reason left to pretend that everything was as it should be. She only prayed that Bridget and Birdie were successful on their end very soon. She pointed her weapon at Sola. “Not working, is it?”
“No, it’s—” The seer’s mouth pulled back in a sneer. “What have you done?”
Jenna brought her blade up slightly, enough to push Sola closer to Leif. “Realized the truth, that’s what.”
Unable to use his blade in such a small space, Leif let it go. It disappeared, no doubt returning to his back.
Jenna supposed that was one less thing to worry about, but she couldn’t spare a glance to see where the rest of her team was. If they hadn’t already started for the circle, now was the time. “Titus, Pandora, Tessa, now.”
“I’m here.” Pandora reached the circle first, but the howl of wolves accompanied her. She threw her hands toward the seer and began a spell of her own to break the circle.
Titus and Hank, in their wolf forms, ran up to flank Pandora. They snarled and snapped at Leif and Sola, pulling the pair’s attention away from Jenna.
Then Tessa showed up, sword raised.
Leif snarled at them, but Sola retreated.
The light that encircled them, protecting Leif and Sola, began to waver.
Leif stopped snarling the second he noticed the magical glow sputtering like a flame about to go out. He looked at Jenna. “I will kill you, valkyrie. I will kill you and take that stone.”
Then he glanced at Sola, eyes wide and edgy with fear. He shook his head at her. A second later, he disintegrated into worms of smoke that burrowed into the air and turned to nothing.
“No,” Sola shouted.
The light vanished, the magic broken. Titus, Hank, and Tessa all lunged forward, but the wraith was gone.
Instinct drove Jenna’s actions. She grabbed the seer’s arm and shoved the tip of Helgrind under her chin. “I know it’s you, Sola. I know what you’ve done. How you’re using Ingvar. How you’ve enchanted Leif to keep him from becoming fully corporeal to spare him from my blade.”
“You know nothing.” Sola tried to pull away, but Jenna held firm.
She looked at Pandora. “Any word from Birdie and Bridget?”
Pandora nodded. “They got her. Taking her to Alice now. Which is where we need to bring Sola. Ingvar. Whoever this is.”
Hank and Titus returned to their human forms. Hank unhooked a pair of handcuffs from his belt. “These’ll help.”
“I’m not so sure,” Jenna said. “She poofed away just like Leif did last time. Her magic skills are obviously pretty strong.”
Hank dangled the bracelets off his index finger. “These aren’t my regular cuffs. These are the ones Alice fixed up for special circumstances.”
“In that case, be my guest.” The sooner Jenna could put Helgrind away, the better. Not only were the runes still open, but having the sword out would only further entice the wraith to come back. She wasn’t ready to face him again. Not without a plan.
Titus came to Jenna immediately. “Are you all right? Your cheek is bleeding. You’ve got some pretty nasty-looking scratches.”
“It’s just a flesh wound. I’m good. Should you be in here? What about the wolfsbane?”
“It’s been neutralized. And Sola, thankfully, didn’t add more when she rebuilt the circle.” He frowned, his gaze still on her cheek. “If it’s just a flesh wound, why hasn’t it healed yet?”
“A wraith’s touch contains death. Just means it’s going to take longer to heal. But it will.” She sighed and scanned the surrounding woods. “I am not happy about Leif getting away, but it couldn’t be helped.”
Hank cuffed Sola’s hands behind her back. She hissed as the metal touched her skin and instantly seemed to shrink down inside herself.
Jenna turned to her, staring into her friend’s eyes, looking for any glint that Ingvar was still in there. “Ingvar?”
“Jenna.” The word was a whisper, and a second later, her knees buckled, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she went down.
Hank caught her. “You think the bad one’s gone?”
Jenna shook her head. “No. At best, she’s been subdued by whatever magic Alice put in those cuffs. At worst…she’s licking her wounds and planning her revenge.”
“She won’t get that far,” Pandora said. Cole, in raven form, landed on her shoulder. She reached up and stroked his head. “The coven will see to that.”
“Speaking of…” Hank walked out of the circle with Ingvar in his arms. “We should get her to Alice’s as soon as possible so whatever needs to be done can be done.”
Pandora nodded. “Yes. Removing Sola may not be easy. I’m thinking she’s had possession of that body for far too long.”
“Don’t
forget,” Jenna said. “Alice needs Sola’s blood to break the spells we’re under.”
“Right.” Pandora gave her a quick smile, but it turned to concern. “Your cheek doesn’t look so good. You should get that checked out.”
Jenna waved her concern away. “It’s fine. I’ve had wraith damage before. Just needs time. But I will go back to the house and clean it. That’ll help. Then we’ll meet you at Alice’s. We’ll just be a few minutes behind you. Go ahead.”
“Why don’t you come with us?”
“Because you need to get Ingvar to Alice’s, and I need to close these runes. This circle may be broken, but it’s still open. The last thing we need is a portal in the middle of the Nocturne Falls forest calling wraiths in from all over the place.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a bad idea.” Pandora’s brows lifted. “You want help?”
“You know how to close ancient Norse runes by writing their opposite over top of them?”
Pandora shook her head. “Not even a little bit.” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “I’ll go with Hank. See you guys at Alice’s.”
Titus waved. “See you there.” He turned to Jenna. “We’ll get him next time.”
“I hope so.” She went to the first rune. This was typically the job of the seer, but as a fell maiden, she knew the runes. It had been a long time since she’d used them. Really long. She had to think hard to remember which rune closed each successive rune.
Finally, she had them all finished. “Okay, we can go.”
Titus was looking around as they started walking back to the house. “Is he still out here?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. But if I had to guess, I’d say probably not. He’s more likely to seek out Sola at this point. Especially if she’s got him enchanted to keep him from turning corporeal.”
“If she does, and the coven strips her of her magic, breaks the spells we’re under, and removes her control of Ingvar, what happens to the spell she’s protecting him with?”
“It’ll go away.” Jenna already knew his next question. “So then what becomes of Leif?”
He nodded.
She smiled. “He becomes a lot easier to kill.”
The Werewolf Dates The Deputy (Nocturne Falls Book 12) Page 21