My Link in Time (The Immortal Ones--Book Two)

by S. L. Baum

  BLOOD FOR BLOOD

  The long hot gash in my arm was spilling blood at an alarming rate. Much more than the usual trickle was pooling into the palm of my hand and then dripping from my fingertips into Elizabeth’s still open wound. The Witch seemed to be growing stronger by the second. My Immortal blood was definitely healing her at a pace that was faster than she could have produced on her own. A dagger to the heart is serious damage, and Witches (even extremely powerful ones) usually heal much slower than Immortal Ones.

  Nikola continued his chanting. The ancient, magical words were the source of his power and the means to my destruction. As the blood began to drain from my body, I could feel lethargy set in. A yawn escaped my lips and I shook my head from side to side in an attempt to keep my mind clear and my wits about me. Hope was not lost. There was reason to fight now. I could feel Lincoln... he was right outside the door. I closed my eyes and sent out a silent plea. Be careful, my love!

  I opened my eyes to small slits, so I could sneak a quick look at the door. I watched as it was carefully and quietly opened. I sensed that someone had entered the room, but the movement was too quick, and my eyes were unable to focus on any one thing.

  I looked back up to Nikola, his chanting had lowered in volume and the words were starting to slow. It seemed that he too was becoming aware of the blur of movement within the room. As the pace of his chanting slowed, so did the current passing through my body. I looked over at my arm and wordlessly commanded my body to heal. The edges of the wound started to move closer together, but the skin would not close up.

  A blast of energy came from the open door and moved through the room. The chair next to me, with Elizabeth in it, was thrown back from the table where I lay. Nikola kept chanting as he looked around the room in confusion. Another blast came. Nikola was lifted off his feet and flung backward. “Thank you, Eve,” I whispered, as she finally ran into the room.

  I flipped my head over to the other side and watched as she lifted Marcus from where he had passed out on the concrete floor. She positioned him on the chaise, kissed him lightly on the mouth, and stroked his hair. “Oh my darling,” she cried. “Come back to me.”

  As soon as Nikola’s back slammed against the wall of the room with a thud, Link was at my side. The chanting ceased, and I found myself able to move my limbs once again. Link cut the bindings off of my feet, and I brought my arm over to rest across my chest. I looked down at the gash, “Heal now,” I commanded my body.

  And it did.

  The Book of Spells, which was still resting on my stomach, slammed shut on its own. Seeing that book move by itself was an eerie sight, and I sat up quickly, pushing The Book off of me and onto the ground. I wanted that wretched book far away from me, and my friends. The spellbound book seared my fingertips at the spots where they’d come in contact with the leather cover. I sucked in a breath and shook my hands.

  “Charity, are you alright?” Link asked, and then grabbed onto me, hugging me tight.

  “Better now,” I sighed. “We need to do something to Nikola, quickly. He’s powerful, beyond your comprehension.”

  Lulach approached Elizabeth from behind, keeping himself out of her line of sight. She stood up from the chair and looked around to locate the source of trouble. Her eyes settled on Eve, and she took a step forward. Lulach reached out and grabbed her arms, pinning them to her sides.

  She struggled against him, sniffed the air, and yelled out, “Get off me, you bloodsucking leech!”

  “That, I am,” he sneered as his fangs sprung out.

  Lulach bent his head forward, sinking his teeth into the exposed flesh at Elizabeth’s neck. His open eyes rolled back in his head, as his body gave in to the pleasure surge that only fresh warm blood from the source could produce. He had explained the overwhelming flow of complete bliss to me once, when I’d asked him what it felt like to drink blood. But it was something that I could never fully comprehend.

  After slamming against the wall, Nikola landed on his backside, on the concrete floor. A few moments later he stood up and shook himself off. He turned toward Elizabeth, and immediately focused in on what Lulach was doing to her. The Caster flung his hands forward and sent out his own blast of energy. The blast knocked both the Witch and the Vampire backward, disentangling the two beings from an embrace that would have soon rendered Elizabeth helpless.

  Eve saw Nikola use a blast of energy and brought her hands up to do the same. She tried to draw energy toward her, but she tried in vain. The Red Room transferred a Witch’s powers, and I had forgotten to warn Lizabelle of that very important detail. Eve stood next to Marcus, unable to tap into her powers, confused. Her face scrunched up in frustration.

  “It’s the room, Eve,” I explained. “He’s channeling your powers for his own use.”

  Nikola focused on Lulach once again, but the Vampire had become aware of The Caster. If he could stay out of Nikola’s line of sight, he’d escape harm. So Lulach used his speed to distract Nikola and race around the room, faster than he could focus his flaming red eyes.

  “Be still,” Nikola shouted.

  “I don’t think so,” came the answer from behind.

  But when he turned around to find the Vampire, Lulach had already moved to another part of the room. Nikola yelled out in frustration.

  Elizabeth stood back up, having recovered her senses. I still sat on the table with Link at my side, trying to gather strength. My body was reproducing blood cells quickly, but not fast enough for me. I watched as she came toward us. Her eyes, wild and crazed with anger, were focused on Lincoln.

  “You should not have come here,” she sneered.

  Link lifted the gun he held in his hand and shot at Elizabeth. She waved her hand in front of her chest, and the bullets curved around her, lodging themselves into the wall instead.

  I glanced at Link and noticed that his features froze for what can only be described as a micro-second. His nose twitched as his brain registered the scent of Elizabeth’s fresh blood. Two red dots glistened from her neck where Lulach had punctured the skin, and her chest was stained with both her blood and mine. Link’s innate self-defense mechanism had kicked in.

  Link’s lips pulled back in a snarl, and I gasped as I saw his fangs extend for the first time. Until that very moment, neither of us were sure if he would ever have them. Bagged blood had never resulted in descended fangs. He dropped his weapons and charged forward, grabbed Elizabeth by the shoulders, catching her off guard. I don’t think she was expecting “the mutt,” as she had referred to him, to have such a primal Vampire reaction to the scent of her blood.

  Witch blood wasn’t exactly a Dark One’s meal of choice. But Elizabeth had altered herself over the years. The result had made her exposed blood something quite desirable.

  Link leaned his head back and then plunged it forward, latching onto Elizabeth’s neck with an animal like ferocity. Link tore into her flesh, and began to suck and slurp at the artery he’d pierced with his fangs. The blood flowed faster than he could consume it and dripped out from the corners of his mouth. It stained his skin and turned everything red.

  While Nikola was trying to focus on Lulach, so he could use his powers on the Vampire, Catherine came over to me.

  “Can you stand?” she asked. “We need to get you out of here.”

  “Not without Link,” I replied, shaking my head. “Not without everybody. We all leave together. I need to know that everyone is safe from Elizabeth and Nikola, and then I have to find Summer.”

  “James and Christopher are seeking her out now. Don’t worry,” she said, and took my face between her hands.

  She placed a kiss on my forehead.

  I looked up and saw Nikola staring our way.

  “Catherine, behind you,” I warned.

  Catherine spun around and flung two throwing knives in The Caster’s direction.

  Nikola easily diverted the path of the knives. They clanged into each other and then fell on the floor. He lifted his hand
and Catherine’s whole body rose up into the air. He whipped his hands to the side, and her body went flying toward the fireplace.

  “Catherine!” I screamed, as I watched her fly through the air.

  Lulach caught her before she hit the brick of the fireplace and set her down safely on her feet.

  Nikola swore vehemently. Then, he saw Link tearing into Elizabeth. I stared in horror as his eyes narrowed with malevolence. This night was not going the way he had expected it to and his anger permeated his every pore. It flowed from his body like a tidal wave and I could feel his rage as it washed over the entire room.

  When he turned his eyes to Link, I channeled his rage and brought it into myself. I somehow made it flow through me. His fury gave me strength as I took it for my own. No harm would come to the man that I loved. I would not allow it.

  Nikola paid no attention to me as he went after Link. He’d used The Book too much in one day, it had weakened is senses. His advance was swift, but somehow I was quicker. I snatched the knife he’d used to pierce my heart from where it still rested on the table beside me. I followed Nikola, with the ceremonial dagger in hand. I steeled myself behind him as he paused in front of Link and Elizabeth. He was utterly unaware of my presence.

  As he reached out to grab Link, I raised the dagger above my head and brought the blade down hard, stabbing the sharp point into Nikola’s neck, severing his spinal cord.

  I removed the blade and swung the large dagger like a sword. I used every ounce of strength that my body could possibly muster... and somehow removed The Caster’s head from his body.

  I took a few steps backward and then collapsed. Everything went black.

  *****

  Link had depleted Elizabeth to a point that had rendered her nearly comatose. It would take weeks, if not months, for Elizabeth’s body to reproduce all the blood that he had drained from her. The Witch’s eyes closed as her heart slowed to the point of almost stopping. Link detached his fangs from her flesh and released her body, letting it slump to the ground. He ran the back of his hand across his mouth and looked up.

  Nikola stood in front of him, arms stretched out, as if to grab him. His eyes were black, vacant, and wide. Then suddenly, Caster gasped in pain.

  Link looked beyond Nikola, and saw Charity’s form. Her dirty, bloodstained, wedding gown moved behind the Caster’s body. He saw her arms jerk, the flash of metal, and then Nikola’s head lay at his feet.

  Charity opened her hand and let the long dagger drop to the floor. She gazed at Link over the headless body in front of her, stepped back, and then closed her eyes.

  She fell to the floor.

  Link, Lulach, Eve, and Catherine stood in a sudden whirlwind. The air in the room spun in frenzied circles. A brightly glowing red mist exited The Caster’s body. Each and every thread glowed with pure power. It hovered over Nikola’s lifeless, headless form and then spun around the entire room.

  The glowing threads twisted and twirled together as they rose up to the ceiling. The entire house began to shake. A long crack started to form in the cement floor near Nikola’s shoulders. The crack snaked across the floor and over to the wall. It continued running up the wall, splitting the red paint open as it reached the ceiling. The crack went across the corner, overhead, down the connecting wall, and across the floor. It ended at Charity’s head. A deep red, bloodlike, thick liquid began to ooze out of the cracks.

  The glowing threads swirled even faster.

  “Charity,” Link called out. He tried to move, to run toward her, but was frozen in place. “What’s happening?”

  “I’m not sure,” Eve answered. “Whatever it is, it is drawing tremendous power from the earth.”

  “But, The Caster has died,” Catherine puzzled, straining to be heard over the sounds of the swirling wind and cracking plaster. “His power is no more.”

  “Power of that magnitude doesn’t just dissipate, Catherine,” Lulach shouted over the sounds of the moving earth and the swirling power overhead.

  The light from the mist brightened even further. The red light gave way for a white light that punctured the darkness and washed out the room. It was a cyclone of power and it flew through the room encircling each of their bodies, one after the other. When it neared Charity, it paused, stretched out to a long angular form, and then plunged into the top of her head.

  A brilliant flash of light appeared and then the whole house went pitch black.

  ****

  chapter fifteen

  SOMETHING NEW

  I could hear voices shouting, but the sounds were muffled and in the distance. I didn’t know where they were and I didn’t care about them. The voices meant nothing to me, so I turned from them, and let myself float away.

  I felt a warmth spread throughout my entire being. It was comforting... and caressing... and consuming. I was drained, extremely tired, and the warmth felt so good. I let it consume me. It was too overwhelming in that other place. This place didn’t feel that way at all. There was no stress, no crushing sadness, and no devastation.

  A bright light came toward me. Misty threads of red and white intertwined and danced around me. It was beautiful to watch. I tried to reach out my hands, to touch the silken threads, and found that I had no hands... no arms, no legs, no feet, no body at all actually. I had departed the physical world.

  If I had no body, didn’t that mean I had no eyes? How could I watch the glowing threads as they danced? I wondered.

  I pushed that thought away from me, banished it from existence. I just wanted to enjoy a few moments of tranquility and forget about The Caster who was now with one less head, my almost husband sprouting fangs and devouring a wicked Witch, my good Witch friend nearing his death, my other friend being zombified. It was all too much.

  The misty threads came closer, they seemed to be everywhere. I couldn’t escape them and didn’t really want to. Let the mist in, came a whispered caress.

  *****

  When the darkness fell across the house, Link found that he was able to move once again. He used his blood bond to guide him forward and locate the spot where Charity had collapsed onto the floor. He found an outstretched arm first, and grasped her hand. Link ran his hands up her arms, then shoulders, until he reached her face. He held onto both sides of her face and brought his mouth down to kiss her lips, but there was no response.

  This isn’t a fairy tale, he inwardly scolded himself. But he so desperately wanted to kiss the sleeping princess and wake her from her magical sleep.

  “Wake up, Baby. Come back to me,” he whispered against her lips. “I love you so much,” he choked. Tears fell from his eyes and onto Charity’s face.

  Catherine stood with Lulach by her side. “What has happened to her?” she asked.

  “I’m not quite sure,” Lulach answered. “I can feel her heartbeat, but I can’t feel her.”

  “She’s in there,” Link cried out. “She’s gotta still be in there somewhere. She can’t just be gone.”

  The sounds of movement in the hallway startled them.

  “Eve,” Cozmo called out. “Is everyone alright? Is Marcus with you?”

  Hands were being dragged across the walls, as Cozmo, Lizabelle, and Barbie guided themselves through the darkness.

  “Marcus is here,” Eve answered. “But he is not well.”

  There was more movement. It came from behind Cozmo.

  “Catherine,” James yelled.

  “In here, love,” she answered. “Did you find Summer?”

  “I left her with Christopher,” he said as he guided himself through the dark house. “She is safe, but not aware. What has happened?”

  “Charity has defeated The Caster, but she is unresponsive,” Catherine explained.

  It took another moment for their eyes to adjust to the dim light. Soon they were able to discern shapes, then figures, and finally faces and expressions.

  Link was sitting on the floor and had pulled Charity into his lap. He was stroking her hair and her face, wi
lling her to wake up, to not leave him. Without her, he would be lost.

  “She’s so warm,” he told James.

  “How warm?” James asked. He knelt down next to them and placed his hand on her forehead. “She’s quite feverish.”

  “She’s getting hot,” Link gasped.

  Charity’s skin started to reach higher and higher temperatures. Link released his hold on her and laid her down on the cool concrete floor.

  “She is literally burning up,” he grimaced.

  Lulach came forward and touched the girl’s forehead as well. His hand sizzled as it came in contact with her flesh.

  It was then that Charity began to glow.

  *****

  The warmth inside of me intensified to the point that it was no longer a comforting warmth. It was just plain HOT. It was worse than those years we had spent in Arizona, with the furnace blast I’d encounter every time I opened a door to go outside. I wasn’t walking into a furnace... I was becoming the furnace.

  I wanted out of here. It wasn’t calm and serene anymore. I grasped out for that physical feeling I’d floated away from. I wanted to know what the voices were saying now. Maybe they could save me from the burning. I opened my eyes as a jolt of fire surged through my blood.

  I stood up and looked around the room. There were several people staring at me. I should know those people, I thought. Something was wrong with my vision. I realized that I was seeing everything in black and white, with shades of grey. There was no color. It was as if the color had been bled out of me.

  “Charity,” Link breathed.

  “Link?” I asked.

  “It’s me,” he smiled, but worry was behind his eyes. “What’s happening to you?”