by Lola Kidd
He was off the ground and on Violet before the second man had hit the floor. She and Melody were mid-turn to go after Rory when he grabbed her around the throat and pulled her to the ground. She was strong. Stronger than anything he had ever experienced. On the outside she looked like a thin-limbed supermodel, but she fought like a 6’7” bodybuilder on steroids. Still, he was able to keep her on the ground and his teeth firmly around her neck.
She was clearly in shock. There was no way a lone werewolf, a young one no less, should be able to take down a seasoned vampire. Cross didn’t know why he was able to keep his hold on her either, but he didn’t care. If he could hold on long enough, she would bleed out and have to accept her final death. He crouched lower to floor and tilted his head up so he could see the room. Melody was holding Rory by the arm and he could see blood falling to the floor from where she held her. That red-headed bitch would be next.
Olaf was surveying the scene from his seat. He was sipping from his wine glass like he hadn’t a care in the world. Cross' muzzle was covered in blood and the floor beneath him was slick with it. He could feel the life leaving Violet’s body.
Melody must have felt it too. She let go of Rory’s arm and flew at Cross full speed. She hit him hard enough to snap one of his ribs and knock his brain around. If he hadn’t just ingested buckets of vampire blood that would have put him out for the day. Violet’s blood was coursing through his body. Instead of killing him, it was making him stronger. He could feel his rib snap back into place as it healed itself.
“No no no no no!” Melody sobbed, scooping up Violet’s body. Cross was ready to pounce on her, but she ran for the door with Violet in her arms.
“Get here, Melody!” Olaf slammed his glass down on the table.
“You fight your own stupid battle,” Melody snarled. “I’m not letting my daughter die so you can add to your stupid collection. See if you can punish me for this stunt. You better hope she doesn’t die or you’re going to pay for this you stupid, old man.”
She hadn’t even glanced at Cross as she left the room, but he knew that her vengeance was a given. If Violet woke up, she would be coming after him too. It didn’t matter because Rory was fine. He went to her side and she threw her arms around his neck.
“You stupid, stupid wolf,” she said into his fur. “Why did you follow me? You were safe there far away from the vampires.”
But you weren’t, he thought. He licked her arm where there was blood as she held him. He was happy to see that the blood was from the original cuts. The wound on her arm was already healing. The vampire blood must be very potent if the effects of only a drop lasted that long.
“How sweet. A reunion for the love birds,” Olaf said from his seat. “You’re very lucky your story isn’t going to end like Romeo and Juliet’s.”
Cross felt Olaf’s push before he even saw him get up from the table. He was hurled against the far wall of the dining room with such force he would have been dead if not for the vampire blood in his body.
“You see,” Olaf said. “I’m under strict orders not to let any harm come to my Juliet. Romeo on the other hand I have no use for.”
Cuts appeared across Olaf’s face as he grabbed Rory by the wrists. “Nice try, honey, but a few little scratches aren’t going to stop me. You were right. You have proven to be quite a pain my ass. That blood-stained marble is going to cost a fortune to replace.”
“You son-of-a-bitch,” Rory said, stomping at his feet. “You know I’m going to come back and kill you if you hurt him. Hell, I’ll make a deal of my own with the Lost Tribe and have your head delivered to me on a plate!”
Olaf put his free hand on his stomach and laughed. “Look who found her attitude again. Come now. We have a very important appointment to keep. You’re going to be very sad you let my delicious meal go to waste once you leave here.”
Olaf was taking Rory from the room. Cross didn’t have the energy to stand as he watched her go but he would soon. He could feel his body repairing itself. It was only a matter of time before he was able to finish what he had started and get Rory back.
***
“You have no idea why they want me, do you?” Rory asked. Olaf paused for a moment, just a split second his face clouded. She was right! She had only been guessing, but he really didn’t know.
“What if they kill me?” Rory continued, dragging her feet as he tried to take her down the hall. She used a cast to make her body feel fifteen times heavier. He was having a hard time moving her now. “If they do, its going to be all out war between witches and vampires, you know? Are you really willing to bring all that down on your clan just to add to your stupid collection?”
“I’ve had enough of you’re mouth for tonight,” Olaf snapped. She had him rattled. Melody was already jumping ship. The minute an army of witches showed up in the area, the rest of his clan was sure to follow. Vampires were strong and could fend off one or two covens easily. She knew her mother, though, and Magda wasn’t going to bring just two or three covens to get her back. She wasn’t even taking into account the wolves yet.
She might die, but even if she did she was going to stick around long enough to watch Olaf’s long held kingdom come crashing down around him. His stupid, little obsession was going to finally be the cause of his final death. She just needed to make sure Cross got out alive before she was handed over to the Lost Tribe.
Her preference, of course, was to get them both out, but she wasn’t sure if that was going to be an option. Honestly, she didn’t even think she could get Cross out. Olaf was a lot better at the casting curse than his progeny. As soon as she had cut his face and made herself heavy, he had made it impossible for her to cast. Without her magic, she was as useless as a human in the compound.
“You have no idea what I’m planning,” Olaf said. His fangs were showing. He stopped trying to pull her. “This is close enough. We can wait here.”
Rory tried to think of any spell, but it was useless. She hung her head. She wasn’t going to cry. She felt like crying, but she wasn’t going to. She didn’t know why any of this was happening, but being afraid wouldn’t help. Maybe Olaf wasn’t lying and the Lost Tribe weren’t going to hurt her. She didn’t know anymore. The only thing she was sure of was that Cross was going to die and it was going to be her fault. She was sure he was still alive now, but she didn’t know for how much longer.
She had treated him so terribly the last few days. It wasn’t his fault his wolf had claimed her. He hadn’t even done anything wrong. He was only trying to protect her and her response had been to berate him. If she had another chance she would apologize. Once the claim was lifted, maybe she would even let him take her out. But that was all a silly fantasy. She wasn’t even going to get a chance to do any of that now.
Magic she didn’t recognize started to hit her.
“What the hell is that?” she asked Olaf.
“You know very well what that is,” he muttered, backing away from her. He didn’t need to hold her anymore. There was a vortex forming in front of her. It looked like a portal like Violet had brought her through except twisted and opening much slower. She let go of her heavy cast, but it didn’t make a difference. It felt like she was wearing cement shoes. She couldn’t get away as she struggled with all her might.
“This took a lot of planning, you know,” Olaf said from a few feet away. “Your little head witch? That didn’t go as planned at all, I’m glad to say. If it had, they wouldn’t have needed me.”
“You can still change your mind, Olaf!” she yelled to him. “If you do this, you’re signing your own death warrant.”
“This took months of peeling away the layers of reality in my compound to make the line just weak enough,” he said, looking very smug. “Now it’s so thin, they’ll be able to pull you right over with no problem.”
The hallway was so windy Rory had to sit down to avoid being knocked over. Whatever they were doing, it was generating a lot of fallout on this side.
“If they had been able to pull you over on their own I would have done all that work for nothing!” Olaf said, stepping closer. The wind was having no effect on him and he was getting bolder, coming closer to her. She didn’t know how he had done it, but there was a portal to the other dimension opening in front of her now. A pale hand was reaching out for her leg.
She tried to scramble away, but it was no use. The tunnel was pulling her in. The cold hand clasped around her ankle and dragged her through.
“Don’t forget what you owe me!” Olaf called after her as she screamed.
***
He was too late again! Wind was whipping down the hall hard enough to rip patches of his fur off. He had no idea how Rory still had skin. He had followed her scent the short way to the hall, but was having a hard time going up the hall to her.
A hand was reaching out of the portal that was causing the wind. It had to be the Lost Tribe. He put his head down and ran into the wind. Rory disappeared into the tunnel when he was closing in on it. Her screams cut straight to his heart. The vampire king was yelling something into the void, but Cross couldn’t understand over the wind.
This portal was different from the one Violet had opened. The magic felt corrupt. He only had one shot to get this right. He ran past Olaf and leapt into the rapidly closing portal after Rory.
Ten
Magda’s eyes were red from crying. The coven was gathered at Jamie’s house for a strategy meeting. They were joined by Beatrice who had come when she heard Rory was taken. The uneasy and sorrow made for a heavy atmosphere in the living room. Since Magda and Jamie had gotten back from Nevada, it had rained every day in Cleary.
“She isn’t dead,” Jamie said. “That’s the important thing to remember.”
“What do the Moon Brothers have to say?’ Deanne asked.
“They’re very angry, as you can imagine,” Jamie explained. “They’re probably going to go get their allies together and go after Olaf.”
“Really?” Ursula asked. “That’s really going above and beyond. This isn’t even messing around in their territory anymore.”
Jamie looked at Magda.
“Go ahead, tell them,” Magda said dabbing at her eyes. That was the most troubling part of the entire day for the rest of the coven. Magda was their rock. They had never seen her cry, not even when her own mother’s ghost passed on. If she was this sad, was there any hope at all of getting Rory back?
“It appears that while Rory and Cross were alone, his wolf claimed her and she accepted,” Jamie said looking at the ground. “In taking Rory, the vampires inadvertently took a member of their pack.”
“Hold on!” Sarah said with a small smile. “That means they’ll help us. I didn’t know mates got an automatic in to the wolf packs.”
“They don’t exactly, but they do get the protection of the pack. We aren’t sure if Rory actually wants to be Cross’s mate and to be honest I’m not even sure how this happened, but we’ll take all the help we can get.”
“I’m going to burn that compound to the ground the moment I get my Rory back,” Magda said with fire in her eyes. “Help or no help. I’m going to make them pay.”
“We want to help too,” Beatrice offered. “It’s not right, a vampire taking a witch. I thought it was funny before and I’m sorry about that. But I’m going to make up for it. My people will help in any way we can.”
“Thank you, we appreciate it,” Jamie smiled at the apparition. She was still weary of Beatrice since she was a ghost. It sounded like she was much more connected and important in the temporal world then she had originally let on. Jamie wasn’t about to burn any bridges at this point.
“Do you think they’ll come back?” Sarah asked.
“The Lost Tribe,” Deanne said. “Let’s not make them into bogeymen. They’re flesh and bone and can be killed just like any one else.”
“A witch accepting a wolf’s claim,” Ursula circled back in the conversation. “That is very strange. Is there any way to break it? I’m sure we can figure it out, but I think she’ll really appreciate being free of the wolf once she’s home. If we wait, he’ll never leave her side.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Sarah was indignant. “He followed her into the lost dimension. We should let her decide what she wants to do.”
Ursula opened her mouth to respond, but Jamie held up her hand. “Let’s not do this now. We’ll search for spells to break the claim, but that isn’t our priority right now.”
They both nodded.
“What about the vampire?” Deanne asked. “She gave us the information about Cross and Rory. Do you think she’ll help more?”
“Hard to say,” Jamie admitted. “Melody only does what’s going to benefit her. I don’t think she’d go against her maker, but I do think she wouldn’t stand in our way if we came to cut his head off.”
“It really is all Olaf’s fault,” Ursula said. “The vampire’s daughter got hurt, the wolves lost their alpha’s son, we lost Rory, and the entire supernatural community is at risk now. What did he even get out of this?”
“As far as we can tell, nothing,” Magda said. “He did all of this for nothing!”
“That’s why you can’t trust a fae,” Beatrice said before disappearing again.
“I think we should ask for more help,” Sarah said. “One of us should go to the council.”
Jamie shook her head. “We have something else in mind.”
After Melody had found them and told them that the Lost Tribe had taken Rory and Cross, Jamie had contacted the US representative to the witch council. There would likely be another all supernatural meeting called again. Whatever the Lost Tribe was up to, it would affect their entire supernatural community again. Of course, witches were the most at risk. The witch council had yet to offer help in getting Rory back.
“The council is only interested in keeping the Lost Tribe away,” she explained. “Our interests don’t overlap here. We need to get a portal open to get Rory and Cross back to our side.”
“I knew this was probably the plan, but wow is that risky,” Ursula admitted. “What if one of them escapes?”
“We can’t worry about that,” Deanne said. “I support your decision. If it was one of my little brothers over there, I would do anything to get them back. I would hope my sisters would back me up.”
Sarah nodded. “I agree. God forbid it was one of my kids, I would stop at nothing. If they’re going to get over, we’ll take care of it.”
“Good,” Jamie looked at Ursula. “If you don’t want to take part in this, I would completely understand and wouldn’t force you to participate.”
“I never said I wouldn’t help,” Ursula said quickly. “I will help, but I want us to think about each choice we make. This will have major consequences.”
“I appreciate that,” Magda said. “I’m really going to need someone to keep me grounded in all this. The need for vengeance will overrule all prudent judgment on my part.”
“Well, if we’re all in. What’s the plan?” Deanne asked.
“We’re going to try to open a portal, of course,” Jamie said.
“How the hell do you plan on doing that?” Ursula asked. “Didn’t it take an army of witches to do that last time?”
“No. The army of witches was to force the Lost Tribe into the dimension,” Jamie corrected. “Opening the portal's a cinch really. The hard part is opening it near Rory so she can hop through.”
“That’s where I come in,” Beatrice said, reappearing. “I can go over and recon for you guys. There are only a few hiccups, it should be easy.”
“Hiccups?” Magda asked.
“You know the time difference,” Beatrice said. “It passes much faster over there. Once I find her. We’ll have to agree on a time and place for you to let her hop through.”
“I didn’t know about this time difference,” Magda said sharply. “How much is it?”
Beatrice screwed her face up as she thought. “It will seem like a few w
eeks to her by now already. It could take a month or two their time for me to get back here and another week or so before you can do your thing.”
Magda fell back in her chair. Who knew what would happen to Rory in all that time.
“Why did they take her?” Ursula asked. “I still can’t see any reason for them to take Rory of all the other witches in the whole world.”
Magda got up and left the room. They heard the front door open and slam shut.
“Don’t take it personally,” Jamie said. “She didn’t want to be here when I told the rest of you.”
The women looked at each other and then at Jamie.
“Is it bad?” Sarah asked.
“Not at all,” Jamie said, smiling for the first time since she came back to Cleary. “I think Magdalena is embarrassed and blames herself for this. It really isn’t that big a deal. I think by not telling anyone, she’s built it up in her mind as a huge event.”
“Well, spit it out already!” Ursula said. “I’m on pins and needles over here.”
“I’ve been around for a lot longer than a few of you and remember, but Rory’s father was a member of the Lost Tribe. I’m sure that’s why she was taken.”
No one said anything.
“I think that might have been mentioned earlier in this whole fiasco,” Ursula said finally.”
Jamie shrugged. “Maybe, but it wasn’t my secret to tell. It doesn’t change anything either. We needed to get working on this portal immediately.”
Coming Soon
The Witch and the Wolf: Part Three
Rory and Cross are about to face the biggest challenge their budding relationship and their lives. Stranded together with a mysterious tribe of fae, they don’t know who to trust or how to get home. They’ll have to rely on each other now more than ever.