by Wendi Wilson
“I wanted it,” I said, cutting off his hurried words. “I imagined your teeth piercing my skin, the way it would make me feel. The way it would make you feel. I wanted it so bad, Levi, so I told you to do it.”
“I know, but—”
“No. No buts,” I interrupted. “Listen to what I’m saying. I made you do it.”
“Wait. You compelled me?”
I nodded. “I think so.”
I could practically see the guilt lifting off of his shoulders. His tongue pushed through his lips, licking from corner to corner as if searching for any remaining drops of blood. Heat flooded through me at the sight, but I tamped that shit down.
This was an important moment.
“I think my power is tied strongly to my emotions,” I said, turning to pace the small area. “Every time I manage to use my power, I’m all worked up—fear, anger, lust.” I felt a blush rise with that last word. “I think if I can learn to harness my emotions, I’ll be able to use my power at will.”
I smiled at him, and he returned it. This was it. This was the key to me unlocking Badass Witchy Piper for good.
And I couldn’t wait to get started.
Chapter Ten
I stared down the cliff’s edge, the rocks below looming large as if they were rushing up to meet me, before taking two careful steps back. Around me, the wind howled as Chef Zelda turned to True and I.
“Now, girls. It’s time. Begin the spell.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I pondered how my life had come to this: freezing, windblown, and standing on a rocky cliff about to cast some ancient spell that would supposedly lift boulders. One sat perched on the edge beside me. It was as tall as my waist and probably weighed ten thousand pounds. And I was going to hurl it into space? Not likely. Not with the wind pushing me around and the fear of plummeting to my death making me all jittery.
When True had brought out the grimoire, I knew we needed to train to enhance our witch powers, but did we have to train on the edge of a freakin’ mountain?
Turned out, I was afraid of very high heights. Like, really afraid.
“Piper,” Zelda chided. “Focus.” She shook a ringed finger at me.
Rubbing my forehead with my good hand I attempted to clear my mind, but, instead, my eyes darted over to Levi and Desmond. They stood like two quiet sentinels watching this insane attempt at magic from the far end of the ledge. They’d been our sexy Sherpas, carrying us up the sheer mountain cliffs like it was a walk in the park.
While I was happy they were here, having them watch my miserly attempts at casting spells was making things worse, but where could they go? There was nothing but gray rock and scrubby plants on this flat ledge we’d found about a quarter of the way up. Plus, I really wanted Levi around if I stumbled and fell. I didn’t know any levitation spells, yet. If I took a tumble, at least there was a chance he could catch me.
Or, if he couldn’t, he could turn me. I shivered and forced my mind back to the matter at hand.
It seemed spell casting was not my forte. After compelling Levi to bite me, I’d tried a few spells on my own, attempting to use my power to lift up cups like True or nudge paper napkins, but nothing happened. I couldn’t drum up a strong enough emotion merely sitting in the mess hall.
That was why we found ourselves mountain climbing. Zelda had said it might be a good idea to “solicit a fear response,” in her famous Irish accent.
It was working. I was terrified.
True didn’t seem to have any trouble casting spells, either on solid ground or up here on this death trap of a ledge. She’d already thrown several boulders over the edge, making them sail like missiles before they disappeared. She’d also learned to levitate things and hurl them across the mess hall without a hitch. She’d taken to spell casting like a fish takes to water. I was happy for her, but a tiny bit jealous too. I looked like the world’s biggest dud compared to her.
“Piper!” Zelda’s normally jovial face turned from sweet auntie to mean school monitor. “This isn’t gonna work if yer head is in the clouds.”
“My head is literally in the clouds,” I murmured, shaking out my working hand. I saw Levi and Desmond chuckle from the corner of my eye. Ignoring them, I added “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Close yer eyes,” Zelda said.
I did as she asked, reciting the words she had us memorize before our trek up the mountain.
“Now, picture the boulder at the edge of the cliff as yer enemy,” Zelda said over the howling wind. “It’s Warren, and he’s coming for yer ma. He’s gonna kill her.”
I did as she said, picturing Warren, his smug face, his lack of emotion other than lust for power. I pictured him grabbing my poor mother, his teeth sinking into her throat. The blood. The screaming. My heart seized, and my hand fisted.
“Now, Piper. Cast!” Zelda yelled.
I held onto that hatred and spoke the words. “Exalta. Siʻi i luga. Sollevalo. Ei godi!” Then I sliced my arms to the side, cast and all, aiming at where I knew the boulder to be.
It was amazing, feeling the energy come up from the ground, through my feet and up my legs before flowing out of my hands. My fingers tingled as the spell shot forward.
I did it. I cast a freaking spell!
My eyes popped open in time to see the boulder slowly roll three feet before plunging over the side of the cliff. With a thunderous roar, it picked up speed, increasing its descent down the mountain. Birds sprung up from the trees as the rock bashed its way to lower altitudes.
Great. Gravity was a better witch than I was.
“Good!” Zelda said, looking pleased.
“Nice work,” True added, clapping me on the back.
I smiled, but it didn’t feel like a victory. One dumb spell that pushed a boulder over a cliff wasn’t going to cut it. If that had really been Warren, my mother would be dead by now.
“It’s not enough,” I said, blowing out a breath. “It won’t stop a vampire, and you all know it.”
The group frowned and cast their eyes around, but no one corrected me. I didn’t want them to. It would be pure pity, and we all knew it.
I was a lousy witch.
“Maybe she should focus on compulsion.” Levi pushed off the rocky wall and took a step forward, leaving his position as mountain eye candy. “If she can compel vampires, we won’t need these other spells. We could stop Warren’s army in their tracks before they’ve even lifted a finger against us.”
“Only if she could compel many vampires at once,” Zelda responded. “And no witch has ever done something like that.”
“Well, she’s no ordinary witch,” Levi said, giving me a reassuring smile.
I returned it, grateful for his belief in me, but he had to say that, right? Boyfriends were like moms in that regard. They always had to have your back.
“I don’t know…” I began.
“She compelled me yesterday,” Levi added.
My eyes shot up. We’d both decided not to tell anyone about the little incident in the bunker where I compelled him to bite me. For one, we were getting pretty hot and heavy, something I didn’t want passed around to my parents or Dean Purty, and, for another, Levi had been so mortified I didn’t want to bring him more shame. All night and this morning, his eyes kept drifting to the band-aid on my neck where his teeth had sunk in. He hadn’t drunk human blood for decades, and I had made him do something he deeply regretted. His humiliation was palpable even now.
So why was he telling them? I gave him a questioning look.
He gave an almost imperceptible shrug. Anything to help me, even if it meant sullying his vampire name. God, I loved him. And I would not throw him under the bus to try to seem like a more adept witch.
“It wasn’t anything. I don’t think it even worked. Levi’s too strong,” I said with a dismissive shake of my head, but Zelda took a step closer.
“He’s right. Compulsion might be yer specialty. Let’s try it.”
My cheeks flushed. “Now?”
She nodded.
“On you?” I asked.
“No. Him.” She pointed towards Levi.
My stomach knotted. What kind of person would make their boyfriend do something against their will even for an experiment? But then, what choice did we have? We’d heard rumors that Warren was creating a vampire army the likes of which the world had never seen, and our numbers seemed to be dwindling. Two of Dad’s best mountain warriors had disappeared pretty quickly after the rumor spread.
We were desperate.
“Go ahead, Piper,” Levi said, his tone reassuring. “It’s fine.”
It didn’t feel fine, but everyone was staring at me and my hands were freezing and, frankly, I just wanted to get off this damn mountain.
I closed my eyes.
Instantly, I found Levi’s aura. In my mind’s eye, he glowed like a beacon, burning like a blue flame off to my right. Once I pinpointed him, it was easy to spot True, though her color was a faint lavender and further away. It took a moment, but I also detected a subtle shift in energy that must’ve been Zelda, though that was even fainter than True’s aura. I had nothing on Desmond.
Strange. I wondered what that meant.
“Piper, are you doing anything?”
Levi’s voice trailed away, as his aura shifted slightly. I focused on the movement, watching the blue image oscillate as he moved from foot to foot. Staring at it in my mind, I thought, Sit down.
The gravel crunched, and Levi’s aura shrunk down until the blue shape was sitting.
It was working.
Stand up.
His aura lengthened until he was standing again. True’s voice sounded in the distance. “I think she’s doing it.”
Zelda shushed her.
Sit again, I thought.
His aura shrunk once more. I opened my eyes. Levi sat on the ground, his gaze locked on me.
“It worked, Piper. I had no control. You did it.”
I wanted to feel good about it, but nothing about forcing him to do things he didn’t want to do felt right. And how would this work for our relationship if my thoughts alone could compelled him to do whatever I wanted?
A cold wind cut across the rocky ledge. I shivered, and hugged myself, feeling a special kind of miserable.
“We’ll work on this more, Piper.” Zelda hiked up her skirts and began to pick her way to the edge. “That’s enough for today. We should go back before the wee lasses turn to ice.”
Desmond squatted so that True could climb on his back. She seemed more than happy to wrap herself around his strong body. With a wave, they took off at an amazing speed back down the mountain.
“Don’t worry, Piper,” Zelda said, giving my arm a pat. “You’ll get it, dearie. Just give it time.”
With a smile, she took off after Desmond, her seemingly older body navigating the slope at a speed only a vampire could travel.
I turned, ready to climb onto Levi’s back, but he took my hand instead. “You’re upset.”
I shrugged.
“You’ll find your power, Piper. You’re already compelling me. It’s only a matter of time before every vampire within a hundred yards will bend to your will.”
“That’s the problem,” I said. “How will the vampires feel when they find out I can control them? You think those mountain vamps are going to stick around, knowing I can tell them to throw themselves off a cliff, and they’ll have no choice but to do it? Two have already defected. Once they hear I can make them do anything I want, they won’t stick around.”
“But you wouldn’t do that to them.”
“You know that, and I know that, but do they? They don’t know anything about me other than I’m Scott Williams’s daughter.”
Levi frowned, his perceptive gaze pinning me in place. “Are you really worried about the mountain vamps?”
I bit my lip. He was right. The mountain vamps weren’t my main concern. “What if I accidentally compel you again?”
He threw his head back. “Is that what you’re worried about? That’s not something about which you should give a second thought. I know I’m safe with you.” Gentle hands brushed down my arms, soothing me, but I wasn’t done.
“I made you do something awful, Levi. Yes, you’re fine with it now, but who’s to say you won’t resent me later for making you break your vow not to drink human blood?”
“I’m to say,” he replied, his hand coming up to cup my face. His thumb slid gently across my jawline as his eyes sought mine. “Piper, I could never resent you.”
“You don’t know that,” I said, pulling my lip between my teeth again.
“I do.” He bent down until his lips brushed mine with such tenderness it made my knees weak. Then he deepened the kiss until I was clinging to him, pulling him closer, wanting to cut the space between us until there was nothing but his body on mine.
“Not here,” he said, his lips smiling against mine.
“Then where?” I asked, as he pulled back. “How long are you going to make me wait?”
He chuckled, brushing an errant strand of hair from my face. “Piper, I’ve lived a long time. A few months or even a few years of waiting is nothing to me.”
“You’re only a few decades older than me, and wait a few years?! Seriously, Levi, you can’t keep pushing me away. I want this.” I clutched his shirt in my fist and pulled him to me. “I want you.”
“You have me.”
“And you know that’s not what I mean,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “I just think…” I pressed my lips together until I could find the right words. “I wish that the next time Warren saw me he’d know I was completely yours. I want to be completely yours.”
Levi began to shake his head. “You’re not stuck on that Inamorata thing, are you? It means nothing to me.”
I slid my hand up his chest seductively. “It means something to me.”
His eyes grew heavy-lidded as my hand did some exploring. “Piper, we have to go.”
“Fine.” I blew out a frustrated breath. “But this isn’t over.”
He smirked happily. “It never is with you.”
After I climbed onto his back, Levi descended down the mountain, going so fast I had to close my eyes—even with the protective goggles—and grip his neck tight. Boulders and trees whipped by so fast, I was dizzy by the time we reached the base.
The run across even terrain was much better. With the wind whipping my hair back, the sun warming my shoulders, and the scent of autumn on the horizon, I couldn’t help but enjoy myself as the trees zoomed past.
But as he tore up the camp’s driveway, and I spotted all the vamps in a tense circle near the office, my good feeling drained away.
“What is it?” I asked as I jumped off Levi’s back.
The dean and my father turned to me, both their faces serious, but Dean Purty was the one to answer.
“It’s the council, Piper,” he said. “They’re here, and they want to see you.”
Chapter Eleven
“Me?”
I stood stock-still, waiting for the dean to tell me he was joking. Why on earth would the council want to see me? I wasn’t a vampire, and I really didn’t have any business meeting with them. Did I?
Dean Purty shook his head, jabbing a finger toward the office before pointing at his ear. Right. They could hear us, so there was no way to get me out of this or even coach me on what to say.
Dad reached forward to take my hand, slipping a small scrap of paper to me before pulling away. I palmed it, looking down to read it in what I hoped was a casual, unsuspicious way.
Do not mention your ability to compel vampires, no matter what.
My eyes flew up to meet his, and he gave me a small, almost imperceptible nod. “The council is waiting,” he said aloud.
Placing a calming hand on my back, Dad steered me toward the steps that led up to the office. I tried to make my breaths calm and even, hoping to slow my pounding heart before the council vampires heard it.
My fe
ar would give them even more power over me, and I was tired of being perceived as weak.
So I shook off my nerves, raised my chin, and walked through the front door with confidence. Dad mumbled something under his breath that sounded like, “That’s my girl,” and warmth bloomed inside me. Dad believed in me. Levi believed in me. So did True, Dean Purty, Coco, Zelda, and the others.
It was high time I started believing in myself.
I looked back as the door swung open behind us. Dean Purty strolled in, alone. It looked as if he and Dad would be my only back up. Taking a deep breath, I turned back to face the vampires standing in a loose semicircle in front of me.
I was surprised to see only four vampires in the room. Didn’t councils usually consist of more people? Or, at least an odd number so their votes would never end in a tie. Maybe this wasn’t all of them. That made more sense.
“Piper, I’d like you to meet the members of the Greater Northwest Vampire Council. This is Silas Merryweather, Margaret Miller, Samuel Johnson, and Walter Ward.”
Each vampire nodded at me in turn as the dean said their names. There was something about them that confused and intrigued me. They seemed… ancient, yet timeless. Frail, yet I knew them to be strong. They were vampires, after all.
“Nice to meet you,” I said. “I’m Piper Williams.”
“The witch,” Silas said, his voice raspy like his vocal chords had been rubbed with coarse sandpaper. His face looked young, yet something about him screamed primeval.
“Not a very good one, I’m afraid,” I chirped in response, flinching at the squeak in my voice.
“We shall see,” Margaret, the only woman in the group said in a monotone cadence, her white-blonde curls bouncing around her face.
“Sirs. Madame,” the dean said. “We asked you here to file an official complaint against Warren Thornberry and the Shadow Lake Society.”
“On what grounds?” the one called Walter asked as he twirled the end of his mustache, even though I was pretty sure they knew. “I’d like to hear it from the witch.”
“Warren Thornberry is responsible for the death of my father,” I said, pointing toward Dad, “as well as my mother and my best friend.”