Witchling Wars

by Shawn Knightley

  I finally got Emily back up. She wrapped both her arms around me and refused to let go.

  “He’s one of them,” she whimpered. “He’s one of them.”

  ‘One of who? She knew Tobias’s name. Does she know about the Catach-Brayin? About the vampires? All of it?’

  “My name isn’t Georgeanna,” I blurted out, still struggling to speak without my chest erupting into a pit of fire.

  “Who are you then?” he grimaced, pacing around the two of us as if he were a vulture and us his prey. And to be fair, it wasn’t far from the truth. I could probably manage to stave him off for a few minutes, but I didn’t know how long my magic would last.

  It was then that it occurred to me that I used my magic in front of Emily. She had to have seen me.

  ‘Shit! If I make it out of this, Madison is going to kill me. Or force us all to move.’

  This was it. Over two hundred years of my family hiding away in a small rural part of Georgia, ruined. Because of me. My entire family would be discovered. Why did Officer Parker have to get me involved in this stuff? Why couldn’t he just handle his own cases?

  “Or a better question. Who do you think you are?” he said.

  The question took me by surprise. Was this guy delusional?

  “I always knew Nathaniel thought of you as some sort of pet,” he went on. “Is a vixra keeping you alive?”

  I stared at him in complete bewilderment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He was getting frustrated by my confusion. I saw a flame brewing from inside his palm. I knew what came next. But Emily didn’t.

  “Nathaniel should have killed you long ago.”

  “You mean the man I’ve known for only a couple days? He’s been practically holding me hostage?”

  There went my mouth again. But if I was about to die, I didn’t quite care what this asshole thought of me? He obviously knew I was a kruxa, and he also had me entirely confused with someone else.

  Emily’s grip around me only got tighter as she saw the flame in his hand erupt into a large ball.

  “Let her go,” I said. “Don’t get Emily involved in this. It’s not her fight.”

  “Isn’t it?” he said with a look of amusement on his face.

  “She’s not a kruxa. She has nothing to do with this. Open up the tunnel and let her go back. You can have me but send her back!”

  “Emily Larsen. The daughter of Congressman Larsen. The very same Congressman who’s been trying to block my coven master’s attempts to spread more vixra blood across the country. To use it for my coven master’s purposes. If anything, her death will make for a good punishment.”

  It took everything I had not to tell Emily to loosen her grip on me. My chest was screaming in pain from her landing on me and Isaac kicking me. But she was so terrified. I didn’t have the heart to shrug her off when there was a man threatening her life. So I shoved her behind me. At least that way, she could hang on and still feel as though I was trying to protect her.

  “You’re not hurting her,” I growled, raising my hand up and forcing the gold light of my magic to erupt once more from my hand. The flames in his palm fired toward me the moment my magic shot through the air, meeting it halfway and sending sparks everywhere in the alley. If there were onlookers nearby, I had no idea how they wouldn’t notice or even hear us. The alley was glowing, half red and orange, the other half bright gold, sending a stream of rays up into the night sky and terrifying Emily behind me.

  Isaac must not have counted on me fighting back because I saw the struggle in his eyes. He couldn’t maintain the flames. My magic started overpowering his and struck his body without warning. His body seized up with his fists clenched like he had been struck by lightning.

  He roared in pain and fell to the ground on his hands and knees.

  I couldn’t hold it much longer. And there was nothing I could do to get Emily to safety. Isaac was a vampire for God’s sake. Even if I disabled him for a while, he would still recover. He would still be able to smell my kruxa blood. And he would still hunt us until we were dead.

  “Run!” I screamed at Emily.

  “I can’t!”

  “You have to! Get out of here. I’ll find you!”

  I felt her arms unlatch from my waist as she took off down the alley and to the left. I didn’t know where we were. I didn’t know how to get home. And I didn’t know for certain that I could find her again. But all I could think of at that moment was getting her the hell away from Isaac.

  He fell to the ground and landed on his back, seemingly unconscious. And thank goodness! My magic was just about spent. I was exhausted. And my chest hurt more than ever. I wasn’t going to let him just lay there though. In a proper fit of anger, I walked right up to him and gave him the hardest kick I possibly could. A small form of revenge after the way he kicked me when I was already down. Not that it mattered. He was totally out.

  I hobbled down the alley and to the left just as Emily had. The street was wider but completely empty. The buildings weren’t particularly tall, but they were old. And the grime on the cobblestone road smelled completely foul.

  ‘Where the hell am I?’

  It was then that I saw a man walking down the street. He was dressed as though he had walked right out of a period piece. Some Hollywood movie with a heart-throb guy from the 19th century. From his tailored coat to his shoes to his hair. Everything was styled to perfection. And not in a way that I really recognized. Other than being completely out of place.

  I stumbled along the road, doing my best to avoid the garbage in the streets.

  He saw me and started walking closer. There was a quizzical look to his brow and his step like he was more curious than really disturbed by a young woman with fiery red hair fumbling about during the night after what could have been described as a light show suited for the gods.

  “How are you here?” he asked me.

  I peered up at the overcast sky then back to him. “I honestly don’t know,” I said. And it was true. I didn’t really know how the vixra tunnels worked. Or how vixra magic worked.

  “You fled to the south,” he said in a thick English accent. Honestly, what was up with all the Englishmen invading my life?

  “Huh?”

  I was ready to laugh at him when I realized that something was very wrong. The dark alley, the cobblestones, and the strange way the man before me was dressed.

  Isaac hadn’t just transported us to another part of the world. He had transported us to another time.

  ‘Jesus. I’ll never find Emily here. I don’t even know where or when we are.’

  The man’s eyes shifted. He was puzzled one moment and anxious the next.

  “Go home,” the man said in a stern voice.

  “What?”

  “Go home,” he repeated.

  I started feeling like I was being sucked away.

  ‘Good lord, not again.’

  “Wait!” I hollered. “I can’t! I have to find-”

  It was too late. The man raised his arm up toward me as a bright green light erupted from a wand in his hand, opening up the tunnels once more and pulling me away.

  ‘Holy shit. He’s a witchling! A powerful one.’

  The man’s eyes were focused on me, stern and worried all at once. That didn’t stop him. He sent me back through the tunnel where I was sucked into a place I wanted to avoid at all costs. I covered my eyes as I was swept through it, tumbling around like I was in a washing machine with no control over my limbs. I wondered of vixra had more control over their bodies when they used the tunnel. Nathaniel seemed to. But then again, they were probably prepared for when the tunnels were opened. I wasn’t. In fact, I didn’t even have any warning, in my limited experience.

  I landed back home in front of my house. Only this time, I was let down gently. I didn’t crash into the ground like I had before.

  It occurred to me then that I had just had my first run-in with a high-tier witchling. Either a luxra or
a vixra. A man who had perhaps nearly pure witchling blood running through his veins. He managed to send me back to my home in small rural Georgia and out of whatever time I had been in.

  The remains of my damaged house stood behind me. I was half surprised to see it still standing.

  I got up and slowly hobbled over to the shattered window near my study on the front porch. I peered through it to see that the inside was in ruins. The wall to my study was completely blown away. Half the ceiling above my kitchen was lying near the fence outside. My refrigerator was lying in the guest bedroom on top of the bed. Or what was left of it. And not a single window survived the blast of the tunnel ripping open in front of my stove, which was nowhere to be seen.

  It was nighttime. I had no idea how much time had passed. Only that I was hurt. I was tired. And there was yellow tape outlining my house. The police had been here to investigate. My neighbors probably heard the explosive sound coming from my house and called them.

  My cell phone buzzed from inside my pocket next to the small reading cards that I kept on hand. Apparently, cell phone reception was lacking in whatever century I had just come from. I had thirty-two missed calls, eighteen unheard voicemails, and a completely frantic sister who was wondering what the hell was going on.

  I didn’t know if I could bike all the way to Madison’s house. My chest hurt too bad. I sat down on the front porch and called her. She answered on the first ring.

  “Harper! Where the hell have you been? You scared me to death! Are you okay? What happened to your house?”

  My head was spinning from all her questions, among other things. I rested it against the beam on the porch, finally feeling my use of kruxa magic catching up with me, only to feel panic surge straight through me once more.

  Isaac knew where I lived. Meaning if he recovered, he could find me again. And if he lost interest in me, he was probably hunting for Emily. I couldn’t stay here. But I also couldn’t put Madison and her girls in more danger. Where the hell was I supposed to go?

  “Uh… I don’t really know where I was. It scared me too. Yes, I’m okay. And as far as the house, I don’t think I bought coverage for an incident quite like this.”

  She sighed in relief as I heard her get up from her chair. “Tell me where you are. I’ll come get you.”

  Was that a good idea? Would I lead Isaac straight to her? Did he know about her already? Why had he called me Georgeanna? There were too many questions running-a-muck inside my head.

  “I..uh…I’m not sure-”

  “There’s a man here,” she said. “He says he knows you. That he was the gentleman who escorted you to the Congressman’s party. His says his name is Nathaniel.”

  However bad the pain in my chest was only a moment ago, now it was worse. Considerably worse. Nathaniel was at my sister’s house? Did she invite him in?

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered.

  “Tell you what?”

  “Never mind, just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.”

  Screw it. I was exhausted and about ready to pass out. I had to rest somewhere and this wasn’t the place to do it. Using so much of my magic completely drained me.

  “I’m at my house. Or what’s left of it.”

  “I’m coming to get you. Stay there!”

  “No problem,” I said.

  “And stay on the line. I don’t want to lose the sound of your voice again. You really have no idea how much you made me worry.”

  “I might pass out before you get here, Maddie.”

  “I knew it!” she grunted. “You are hurt. What’s wrong? Do I need to take you to the hospital?”

  “I don’t think so. Just get here.”

  She must have broken a few traffic laws to get to me because she was there in less than ten minutes.

  The sight of her made me breathe a sigh of relief. The sight of Nathaniel getting out of the passenger seat, however, was almost as unsettling as another trip through the tunnels. Had he threatened her? Lured her? Did he force her husband to invite him in her house? Surely she knew what he was. Were her girls alright? And Emily. Good god, how was I going to get back to Emily? I told her I’d find her. And I wasn’t accustomed to making promises I couldn’t keep.

  Madison ran over to me. She reached for my arms which were firmly wrapped around my wounded chest.

  “Let me see,” she said.

  “There’s nothing to see,” I mumbled, nearing the point of blacking out and shocked that I managed to stay awake as long as I did.

  “Move aside,” Nathaniel said, brushing her away with a tenderness I wasn’t aware he possessed.

  “What happened, Harper?” Madison cried.

  “Isaac happened,” I muttered from under my breath, barely able to keep my eyes open.

  “This is going to hurt, Harper,” said Nathaniel.

  ‘What are you going to do now?’

  My chest erupted in pain as Nathaniel lifted me up in his arms and carried me to the backseat of Madison’s car.

  “You better not have lured my sister,” I muttered.

  “You’re in no condition to make idle threats,” he whispered in my ear.

  “I’ll get us to the hospital,” Madison said as she rushed back to the car.

  “No. Take us back to your house,” he said.

  I could tell with the smoothness of his voice that I was one hundred percent correct. He was indeed luring her to do as he pleased. She would never have helped him otherwise.

  “She needs rest,” he said. “Not a bunch of doctors and nurses waking her up every half-hour.”

  He sat in the back seat of the car and cradled me. I mean, he actually cradled me! Mr. I’ll Kill Your Family If You Don’t Do As I Say was actually cradling me in his chest in the back seat of my sister’s car.

  His suit smelled of sandalwood. And I didn’t even mind that his hands were so cold this time around. It just felt nice to be held as sleep began to overwhelm my exhausted senses. Just before I drifted off, my mind thought of Caleb. The way he would roll over at night and hold me close to his chest. The way his arm would wrap around me and I’d fall back asleep to the steady sound of his breathing. Well, Nathaniel certainly wasn’t breathing. But I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be held. And not in the way Madison held me at Caleb’s funeral, or the way her girls embraced me when I came over for dinner once in a while. To be held in such a way that evoked memories I had been trying to keep away.

  I only managed to say one thing before my eyes refused to open again.

  “Georgeanna,” I whispered.

  “What?” Nathaniel asked, sounding slightly perturbed.

  “Why does Isaac keep calling me Georgeanna?”

  Chapter 10

  The sound of giggling reached my ears. A sound I didn’t even realize I missed until it woke me up from a deep sleep. I stirred from the bed only to have something heavy collide with my already aching chest.

  “Ooof!” I groaned as Alissa landed right where Isaac had kicked me. I jerked up from the bed and collided with Alissa’s shoulder.

  She erupted in laughter. “You’re ‘it’ Aunt Harper,” she said.

  ‘Oh, to be a kid again. A time when being ‘it’ in a game of tag was the height of my worries.’

  I took her into my arms and started tickling her, unwilling to stop until she begged me to. It was our little game. A game that filled me with just as much joy as it did her. Until my chest started begging for mercy before she did.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, seeing the pain my eyes. It was then that I realized I didn’t remember falling asleep here. I was in Madison’s guest bedroom. The last time I slept in this bed it was the week Caleb died. Madison insisted that I stay over so I wasn’t alone.

  Madison. The girls. Nathaniel! Reality came crashing back as my groggy mind started waking up. Nathaniel was here in Madison’s house. That meant that Madison’s husband Ted must have invited him inside.

  “Where’s your sister?”
I asked.

  “She’s still sleeping,” she said.

  Their rooms were attached. I recalled a game they had played together where Claire started crying because Alissa had locked her out of both rooms before she could reach her to continue their game of tag. Alissa didn’t exactly fight fair. She and her mom had that in common.

  “Go to your room and lock both your door and hers. Don’t come out until you hear my voice telling you its okay.”

  She looked at me with strange, not really understanding. But she got up and did it anyway. Aunts have a strange power that mothers don’t have. Madison’s kids always preferred doing what I said over their mom.

  And yes, I knew a locked door wouldn’t stop a raging vampire if he wanted to get to them, but it was all I could think of.

  I grabbed the fluffy light blue robe hanging from the hook on the door and slowly stepped out from the guest bedroom.

  ‘How could Madison be so stupid? She spends all this time worrying about vampires discovering us then she goes and shows up at my house with Nathaniel in tow? How could she not sense he was luring her?’

  I took the steps slowly down the stairs, holding onto the banister the whole way. I would definitely need an Advil. Or two. My chest hurt like hell and I was already breathing hard, anxious to get to my sister but too nervous and too sore to come running down the stairs to investigate.

  I heard two distinct voices coming from the kitchen. One English. One American. The American one I knew. Madison was speaking calmly. Collected. Not at all alarmed. But the other one. Nathaniel was gonna have hell to pay for getting my sister involved in this. Maybe he thought I hadn’t done what he asked properly and he was waiting for me to wake up so he could torment me with the prospect of hurting her. Or worse, Alissa and Claire.

  I urged my magic to come to my hand. I wanted it ready in case he threatened anything. It barely pierced through my fingertips. I had used too much of it yesterday.

  ‘Damn it! Just give me something to work with.’

  As I inched closer, a small spark of my magic weaved over my palm, allowing me only a sliver to protect myself. But did I really need it?