“What’s wrong, beautiful?” James asked coming over to me.
I gestured at the tv, and then wiped my face.
“Ah, yeah, good movie.” His eyes narrowed. “The ‘shoot the dog’ scene?” he asked, arching a brow and smiling at me.
Professor Singh turned the movie off and closed the wall panel. “Yes, yes, we all know how heart wrenching that scene is, James. Can we move on from fiction to reality now, please?”
I nodded and James took the seat next to me. “Did you find her? Is it over?”
“Unfortunately not. James was able to track her as far as Professor Ubel’s apartment, but she used a disappearing spell there.”
“Oh.” I sighed. “So we are on to plan B?”
James grabbed my hand and held it tight. “You don’t have to do this, beautiful. I can draw her out on my own—”
I gave him a half smile. “No. You know it’s me she wants to kill. You are just in her way.”
He sighed.
“As you said, Bethany, she is after you. So now we have to draw her out.”
I nodded. “What do you want me to do?”
“I think twilight would be our best time to lay our trap. The Strigoi will have their full powers, meaning James will be able to help defend you better. And I think you should use what Professor Ubel taught you against her.”
“But you said—”
“I know. It is dangerous, and if you drain her completely, you will kill her. However, I watched you unweave the spell on Noor. You have mastered absolute control of that spell, Bethany. You managed to take only the spell and not any of Noor’s power that was interwoven in it. Not only that, but once you removed the spell you changed it, rendering it useless and released it into the ground. That kind of control is usually only seen in master witches. People who have studied and worked at it for years.”
She stared at me and I felt my cheeks heat up. “I can see the different threads of magic, I just… did it.”
Professor Singh smiled. “It is because you have natural talent. A true gift, Bethany. A gift that needs the proper training to keep you on the side of light. And after seeing and releasing the two mimics, I am definitely against you training with Professor Ubel any further.”
“Did I hurt them?” I asked concerned.
“You didn’t know. I hold Professor Ubel responsible for their treatment. The mimics will not remember you practicing your skills on them. I removed their memory of you. They are in the care of the Librarian.”
“Thank you.” I frowned. I felt horrible about all of the draining I did on them at Professor Ubel’s urging.
“It’s not your fault, beautiful, if you had known, you would have released them, despite them being under Professor Ubel’s charm spell.”
“He charmed them?”
Professor Singh nodded. “Yes, he used a charm spell to hold them captive and do with them as he wished. I removed the charm and wiped their memory. I assure you, they won’t remember you at all, even if you see them again.”
I sniffed, feeling grateful for that, but I would remember. I would remember and I would make darn sure that I never did something like that again.
“Now, as I said, I think twilight would be best. You should return to your room, Bethany. James, I’ll cloak you and you may stay with her until we spring the trap. Are you sure you both are up to this?”
I nodded and looked at James.
“Yes, we’re ready.”
“Okay then. This is what we’ll do…”
Chapter 36
Bethany
“Argh!” I flopped back down on my bed and covered my face with my arm.
James laughed. “You knew it wouldn’t have changed much in the last three minutes since you checked.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Why can’t we use a speed up time spell?”
He grinned. “Because the only one capable of that would be the Ancient One and I’m pretty sure once a year turning day to night was enough for everyone around here.”
I sighed. “You don’t know that. Maybe the Ancient One wants to help us.”
Laughing he pulled me up and into his lap. “Pretty sure the Ancient One is just doing their level best to keep up with you.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder. “So the Ancient One is the Librarian.”
He nodded. “Going by everything we know and what Professor Singh said, yeah I’m pretty sure.”
“Can’t they just whirl up some magic and take out this Shadow Society?”
“Could they? Maybe. Will they? I doubt it. The Ancient One likes to stay behind the scenes. Helping keep the balance.”
I sighed. “That stinks.”
He grinned and kissed my neck.
“Mmmm,” I murmured, liking the feel of his lips on my neck.
“You sure you don’t want to stay here where it’s safe?” he whispered against my neck making me shiver at the pleasurable feeling.
It took me a moment to register what he said, and when I realized what it was, I pulled back and looked at him. “I’m going. You are not going to fight her alone.”
He sighed and nodded. “You know I just want to keep you safe, right?”
“I know.” I smiled and looked out the window. “Almost time.”
He nodded again. “I can feel it. About three more minutes.”
“Are we ready?”
“We should be. Professor Singh will have the Dusk Knights stationed at various points around campus. We are to sneak out and head for the clock tower. She’ll be there with a group of Knights just behind the ward, watching and ready to engage.”
I took another breath. “I should get my shoes on.”
He let me up reluctantly. “Only if you’re sure you want to go out there.”
I glared at him. “Stop asking that. I’m going. End of discussion. Okay?” I slid my shoes on and turned around to face him. Twilight had hit. James had his full powers; I could see it in his eyes.
“Ready?”
I nodded and took his offered hand.
Together we left my room, and once again I locked it behind me. I knew with the wards in place no one who wanted to harm me could get in, but still, I didn’t want any surprises. We moved quickly down the hall and into the main part of the building.
“Through the classroom hallway, down to the cafeteria and then out into the courtyard, right?” I whispered as we walked.
James nodded. “Yeah,” he sighed.
We followed the course he and Professor Singh had come up with to give Sara De Abrew a chance to see us. “Anything yet?” I whispered.
I watched him draw in a breath and then he gave me a slight nod. We hurried through the rest of our planned course out of the building and made it to the courtyard. As soon as we hit the grounds, a pack of vampires swarmed from the doors leading to the vampire dorms.
My eyes widened. There were about twenty of them. “James!”
He nodded and we moved faster, with him tugging me along. We were almost there. I could see the clock tower and the warded headquarters beyond. “They can’t come out until De Abrew is here. We’ll have to deal with these guys on our own. Can you stun them?”
“I think so!” I turned and used a modified version of the spell I’d used against the automaton spiders last semester. It blasted several of the vampires back from us and knocked a couple of them unconscious.
“That’s working, keep doing that,” James called as he tackled one of the vampires who was in a frenzied state.
I blasted the rest of the vampires, sending them back and in some cases hitting them hard enough to hit a tree or another vampire, taking them out of the battle. Then I saw her, slowly making her way toward us. She had a smirk on her face and it had me worried.
“Such trouble from such a little witch.” She shook her head. “Let’s see how well you react when your vampire hero turns on you.”
“James would never!” I shouted at her.
She laughed. “You think he has a choic
e? That is so cute.”
I sent a blast of magic at another vampire who had been creeping up on me and then all of the vampires stopped, including James.
“James?” I called.
But he just stood there, his arms wrapped around the neck of one of the frenzied vampires.
“James…”
Sara laughed darkly at me. “James! James! Help me, James! Save me, James!” she mimicked using my voice.
“Stop it!” I screamed at her.
“Stop what?” She grinned at me. “This?” She aimed her fingers at the vampire tangled with James.
The frenzied vampire pulled out of his arms as if he were a statue whose arms he’d simply stuck his head through, and then began moving toward me.
My heart raced. I quickly set my hands into the siphoning position and did the movement before aiming my fingers at the vampire. I pulled on the thread of magic that was making him frenzied, draining it, but instead of releasing it, I let it melt into my magic and give me more power.
The vampire slowed down and then stopped.
“Oh, you clever girl,” Sara muttered. She quickly worked her own magic, this time bringing the vampires I’d already knocked out back to consciousness. “Let’s see how you do against a horde.”
The vampires rushed toward me and I aimed the siphon at the closest ones, draining the threads of magic that were red and causing their frenzied behavior. One by one they started to slow and I started to get stronger. I’d managed to slow five of them, but the others were headed right for me and then my heart stuttered to a stop.
James.
James was infected with the evil witch’s magic as he joined the horde coming toward me.
“Awww, just noticed your deranged boyfriend joining in the horde?” she mocked me with an exaggerated pout. “Poor little witch with no defenders available to help her. What ever will she do?”
I pressed my lips together and aimed my fingers at James, draining the spell from his mind and then turned to another closer vampire. Where are the Dusk Knights, I thought desperately. Shouldn’t they be out here by now? I glanced toward the warded headquarters and frowned.
Sara cackled, her laugh mocking me. “Waiting on those useless Dusk Knights, princess?” Her grin was malevolent.
“What did you do?” I practically growled at her as I aimed at a few more vampires who were trying to get to me.
“Who? Me? Why would you think I had anything to do with their wards being rewoven so they couldn’t leave their cute little headquarters?”
My heart pounded desperately in my chest. They were stuck. The Dusk Knights and Professor Singh weren’t going to be able to get through the wards to help me! I was all on my own. I would have to drain the spell completely, not these quick little bursts if I was going to make any headway, but in order to do that, I’d need to blast the vampires back again.
I dropped the siphon and went back to blasting the horde away. I aimed one powerful blast at the ground in front of the vampires and it sent an echoing wave of power up into the horde blasting them back another thirty feet from me. Once they were far enough back, I quickly slid into the siphon spell and aimed it at James, working diligently to drain all of the strings that was causing his frenzy.
“James! Wake up, please! It’s me, Bethany! You don’t want to attack me!” I called as I sent a wave of pure white energy into him, boosting his own vampiric powers, hoping beyond hope that I was making the right choice.
Sara began laughing. “James, save me! Wake up, James!” she mocked and then laughed at me again. “You aren’t strong enough to overpower my spell, little witch, give it up!”
I had no idea if that boost of white energy would work to override the spell she’d cast or not, but I continued to work on unraveling the last of it. “Please, James,” I begged, sending my love and energy into his mind, telling him how much I needed him.
Suddenly I noticed a change. James stopped, gripping his head. I could see his own energy pushing the remaining strands of the red spell from his brain. I quickly latched onto it and pulled it in to my own magic, allowing it to change and melt with mine, boosting my power.
“Bethany!” James looked up at me, relief crossing his face. “I’ll keep them back, drain De Abrew!”
I nodded and turned my siphon on De Abrew before she could think to aim a spell at me. It happened too fast for her to even realize what I’d done. I started draining her magic directly, and she gripped her head, trying to fight it.
“Bethany!” Professor Ubel came charging toward us. “What on earth are you doing, my dear girl?”
“Professor, Sara De Abrew is part of the Shadow Society! She’s got you under some kind of spell! She is the one causing the vampires to go into frenzied states and the witches to attack without cause!”
“Is she?” He stood at my side watching me for a moment. And then he sent a blast of power at the vampires James was struggling with. “Drain her, Bethany, do it! All of it! We can’t have her sabotaging things! You must completely drain her! All of it!”
I glanced at him and noticed a manic bit of glee in his eyes as he directed me to drain her completely. “No, Professor, I won’t drain her completely! I know that will kill her and I won’t do that!” I said in frustration. “I’m just going to incapacitate her!”
“What? No! She must be drained completely!” He started to position his fingers into his own siphon.
I felt Sara weaken and her hold on the vampires was gone. I turned my siphon at the wards on the headquarters and drained the rewoven parts from it. After a moment Professor Singh and the Dusk Knights swarmed the courtyard from all quarters.
Looking at Professor Ubel, I realized he was draining Sara further and I purposely bumped into him allowing Sara to recover for a moment. I glanced at her and before I could shout for Professor Singh to stop her, Sara disappeared. Everyone just stopped in mid step as we realized not only had she disappeared, all of the magic she’d used was gone as well. She’d used that last moment to draw what was left back into her. It had probably saved her life because Professor Ubel had been prepared to take it all.
I looked over at him. He seemed bewildered for a moment and then angry as he caught my eyes. I blinked at him, wondering if he was mad that I stopped him or because she’d gotten away.
“Why didn’t you finish the spell!” he demanded. “She’s gotten away and it’s your fault, Miss Welch!” he huffed at me. “Useless, silly little girl. Teaching you is pointless!”
“Professor Ubel! That is enough!” Professor Singh stormed up to him. “Sara De Abrew getting away is far from Miss Welch’s fault! If it were not for her, the school would be shut down. She has saved not only the vampires, but also the Dusk Knights and you, you lumbering idiot!”
“And I refuse to kill anyone, Professor, why would you ask me to do that?” I questioned, really hoping he had an answer.
He had the grace to look away and then issued a muttered apology. “I’m sorry, I must have lost control of my senses for a time.”
“I think, perhaps Professor Ubel, you need to take a few days off. Perhaps a vacation to clear your mind and get your priorities back in line with the function of this school!” Professor Singh suggested. “I will speak to Professor Zin about it immediately.”
“What on earth is going on around here? Why are there vampire students milling about the courtyard when I gave strict orders for everyone to stay in lockdown?” Professor Zin railed at us as she came flying across the courtyard like a pint-sized hurricane.
I watched Professor Singh perform that calming spell of hers on Professor Zin, who immediately settled, still seething, but not about to fly off the handle as she was moments before. I swallowed a smile and turned to James who was holding his side as if it hurt. “Are you okay,” I whispered.
He nodded and wrapped an arm around my waist. “I’ll be fine.” He kept his voice low, so the teachers could continue with their conversation.
“…so as you can see, th
ey are all now perfectly healthy once more. Thanks to Miss Welch who was able to unravel Sara De Abrew’s spells.”
Professor Zin looked at me. “Well done, Miss Welch, though once again, I wish you would not make a habit of defying my orders. They are in place to keep you as well as the rest of the students safe.”
“Yes, Professor.” I nodded.
“That was my doing, Zin. I asked her and Mr. Barrett to serve as bait to lure Sara De Abrew out into the open. We discovered that Bethany was her intended target. Miss Welch and Mr. Barret were doing as I asked.”
Professor Zin frowned. “And where is Sara De Abrew now?”
Professor Singh sighed. “She managed to escape.”
“So she could return?” Professor Zin gaped at her.
“I believe that she will stay away as she came very close to death here. I can’t imagine her wishing to come back for more of the same treatment. In any case, I will send a unit of Knights out to search for her. We’ll do our best to bring her to justice.”
Professor Zin sighed. “Very well. We should make sure these students get to the infirmary to be checked.”
“Yes, and I believe that if Miss Welch is up for it, she can visit with the students under sedation and make sure that when Sara De Abrew drew her magic back in, she took all of it. If she didn’t, Miss Welch is capable of unwinding the spellwork De Abrew performed.”
Professor Zin looked at me and arched a brow. “Well, Miss Welch?”
I nodded. “Of course, Professor, I would be happy to do so.”
She tilted her head and said, “Then let’s get started, shall we?”
Chapter 37
Bethany
James and I walked with Professor Singh to the witch infirmary first. I wanted to check on Helen and the other witches because I figured they would be the easiest to undo if they were still bespelled. On top of that I had questions for her about Professor Ubel.
A Witch’s Immunity: Supernatural Academy - Book 3 Page 17