by Sean Stone
“Oh, and you think you are?” Brent said before Henry could reply.
“You think I’m not?” Toni shot back.
“No! You don’t know how to run the coven. You’re not even from this coven!” Brent said aggressively.
“Neither was Genevieve! I did some digging and found out that she left this town before it got cursed! And I was Adam’s right-hand woman,” Toni argued. “I am a member of the town congress.”
“Genevieve’s past is not relevant any longer and the town congress is hardly of importance here,” Marlon said. Few of the coven’s members thought much of the congress created by SIT to give all of the factions a say in the running of the town. Most of them believed it was a manipulation to create the illusion of control but really SIT were pulling the strings. Henry was inclined to believe them. SIT had the whole town whistling to their tune in the fight against Blackwood.
“So you think Elizabeth should be dynast too?” Toni asked. She was clearly worried. Marlon seemed to hold a lot of sway over the coven and if he gave one of the candidates his endorsement then many others would too.
“No. Genevieve was only standing in for Adam. The title cannot be passed down under those circumstances.”
“I am the oldest member of this coven. Without a clear heir to take over I should be appointed dynast,” Eleanor said. As far as Henry was concerned she was too old. She was well over seventy and her brain was probably addled with age. She’d make a poor dynast. He kept his mouth shut, though. That’s what Elizabeth would do. Keeping quiet was the hardest part; he’d always been rather outspoken.
“Elizabeth is the best candidate,” Brent said as if his comment disregarded all others. Such a pompous old fool.
Henry stood up. He had to take himself out of the running before he ended up leading this rabble of morons. “I don’t want to be dynast,” he said as timidly as he could manage. “I am honoured that some people want me to be dynast but I am not ready for the responsibility.”
“It is noble of you to admit that,” Marlon said and smiled sweetly. “So, we have two candidates remaining.”
“Why don’t you step up?” Brent asked him.
Marlon shook his head. “The position does not appeal to me.”
Henry glanced at his watch. It was getting late and he was long past bored.
“Clara Winters is the true dynast of this coven,” Laurie said. “She led us against Nickolas Blackwood. If it wasn’t for her then he would still be free.”
“Clara isn’t interested,” Toni said. “You can’t pick her.”
“Well I’m not going to be voting for Adam’s mistress,” Laurie said snootily and frantic whispering followed.
“I never slept with Adam,” Toni said, glaring.
“You expect us to believe that?” Laurie scoffed.
Maybe things were going to get a little interesting. Henry sat up in his chair and watched eagerly.
“Enough!” Marlon shouted above the noise. “We have two candidates to vote for.” Henry slumped back down. Spoil-sport Marlon.
“No we don’t,” Max said from the back of the room. Max was one of the sorcerers who had been given to SIT as a recruit. Part of the inter-species truce had been that each faction provide agents for SIT.
“Did Phil Gatling send you to make sure his choice gets elected?” Laurie said snidely.
“No. Phil doesn’t care who takes over.”
“What are your objections?” Marlon said.
“Coven law. All the time Adam is still alive he remains dynast. The only way that changes is if he dies, appoints a new one, or is deposed by coven vote which can only happen if he does something to break the coven laws,” Max said.
“You’ve been brushing up on the rules. I’m impressed,” Marlon said.
“Hang on. Are you saying we have to let a potato rule the coven?” Henry asked. He didn’t see how Adam could continue in his role as dynast from his coma.
“How dare you?” Toni said in horror.
“That was very disrespectful, Elizabeth,” Marlon said giving her a disappointed look. Henry glanced around and saw a few more similar looks round the room. He’d misstepped and been himself. He needed to keep his thoughts tucked away if he was going to convince them he was Elizabeth.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me,” he said. He kept his eyes trained on the floor. Attention quickly returned to the matter at hand.
“We can vote on an interim until Adam recovers,” Marlon said.
The coven elected Eleanor by two thirds to one. Eleanor remained standing at the front of the room whilst everyone else took their seats. Max made sure she appointed two people to join her on the supernatural congress and she chose Toni and Marlon. Toni was already a member so it would have been rude to remove her. A fair few people seemed to think that Toni should have been removed, however.
“With Nickolas locked away and Henry Montford returned to the spirit world, we have no enemies to fight,” Eleanor began. She spoke so slowly that they’d probably be here a few more hours at least. If that happened then Henry would definitely kill her.
“What about the disciples, they’re still in town?” Brent said. Many people were still concerned about the disciples. SIT had them locked away but all the time they were still breathing people would be upset. Henry would love to get near them to suck away all that delicious power. Not that he’d be able to beat any of them with Elizabeth’s power. She was supposed to a be strong sorcerer but either Genevieve had permanently taken most of her power or somehow Elizabeth was keeping it from Henry. The rest of the power he’d gathered was currently stuck with Adam as it had been Adam’s body he’d used to gather the power. As much as Henry loved magic he bloody hated the way it worked sometimes. Of course, there was a simple way to retrieve said power.
“We’re taking care of them at HQ,” Max said. “They are locked up and not a concern.”
“I’ll decide what to be concerned about thank you very much!” Brent said.
“I will decide what the coven is concerned about, though,” said Eleanor. “And we are not concerned about this. Our one and only concern is finding away to heal and revive Adam. This is all we will focus on.”
And that was that. The coven would be hard at work trying to recover Adam and Henry had to get his magic out of Adam before they woke him up.
Henry sat in Elizabeth’s living room, gazing at the small spot of black on the edge of Elizabeth’s little finger. Gangrene. He’d noticed it an hour or so after the coven meeting and his moderately good mood had been killed in an instant. Soon the gangrene would spread and take the hand. Then the arm. Then… Henry doubted it would stop. Her body was reacting to having the dead in it. Adam’s had not reacted this way which was peculiar. Perhaps because Adam had given up and let Henry take his body and Elizabeth was still fighting him. Her attempts were pathetic but she tried nonetheless.
Henry had tried to go to Alistair for advice but he was gone. The shop was shut and there was no way in. It was probably for the best; Henry had been planning to trap Alistair in the Horus Sarcophagus for all time and knowing the old man he had probably known Henry’s plan. Henry was lucky there had been no repercussions.
There was no-one else to turn to. He knew that if the body died then he would be forced out of it and this time he would be unable to possess another. He would be dragged back to his house kicking and screaming. It was times like these that he regretted lingering in the world of the living. He should have passed over when he died but he had been too scared of what came next. Scared of any punishments he might incur in the afterlife. Plus, he was too angry with the coven to move on. He could not recall ever being faced with the option to move on. As far as he could remember he’d always been trapped in the house. Maybe moving on was something that happened of its own accord rather than being a choice. Henry did not know. What he did know was that he needed to find a way to fix the problem. Luckily Genevieve had a vast supernatural library. He got straight to
work sifting through the books on her shelves for a solution and soon enough he had one. And it was better than he could have possibly hoped. He’d only been looking for a way to stop the gangrene but what he found was phenomenal.
If he could retrieve his remains then he would be able to perform a ritual to restore his body to a living state. Then all he would need to do is get in it. His own body would not reject his spirit and he would be able to live in it until it died naturally. But he would find a way to stop that from happening. The town was currently full of immortals; surely one of them could be useful to him.
All he needed to restore his body was one blood relative and a lot of power. The relative would be his descendant; Frederik Montford, who lived in town and served on the council. He didn’t have enough magic yet, but there was plenty in his athame which currently belonged to Adam. Easily fixed. All he needed to do was kill Adam with the athame and the power would transfer to him. He had the athame and he knew where to find Adam.
The best part of the plan was the bit about his old power. All the power he’d gathered when he’d been alive in the nineteenth century was stuck in his house, but if his body was restored then the power would return to his body. He’d have all the power in Adam, plus his original power, plus Elizabeth’s. He’d be unstoppable. And then he could finish getting his revenge on the coven. There were only two names left on his list. He’d kill Elizabeth as soon as he left her body and that would only leave Clara Winters and once he had all that power again she didn’t stand a chance.
Henry grabbed his athame, the one which was currently ruled by Adam, and headed for the hospital. Killing Adam was his top priority because he couldn’t risk him coming out of his coma and ruining everything. Best to get rid of him now.
“Hello, I’m here to see my good friend Adam Kent. Could you tell me which ward I might find him on?” Henry said, smiling sickeningly at the hospital receptionist.
“I’m afraid visiting hours are over,” she said apologetically.
Henry stared at her intently whilst thinking of what to do next. Killing her would draw too much attention. Threatening her probably wouldn’t work, she’d just call security. He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a twenty pound note. Most women tended to carry handbags but after attempting it for one day he couldn’t do it again. It felt more alien than the girl’s body he was currently inhabiting. He placed the money on the counter and smiled again. “How about now?” he said. She took the money and gave him the directions he required.
Henry found Adam in a shared room but luckily the other beds were all empty. He was laying in the bed, his eyes closed and his hair flopped over the pillow. Several wires and tubes were hooked up to him and a computer was beeping away next to the bed. Henry glanced at it but had no idea what any of the information on the screen meant. He could probably kill Adam by unplugging the machines but if he wanted the power then it had to be with the athame.
“Adam, Adam, Adam.” He stood next to the bed, holding the metal railing in his hands. “Apparently some coma patients can hear what’s going on around them. I wonder if you can hear me now. I wonder if you even know who I am. The voice you hear is not mine after all. It is Elizabeth’s. I am not Elizabeth, though. I can feel her inside. She makes feeble attempts to take back control but she is weak. Weaker than you ever were. Which is odd because her magic is stronger than yours was, though not by much. It’s all about force of will I imagine. I suppose you’ve figured out that I’m Henry now.” The computer caught Henry’s attention when one of the green lines suddenly zagged upwards on the screen. It immediately returned to normal and Henry returned his concentration to Adam. “Are you in there, Adam? Is there anything left of you? Last time I felt a stirring from you was when I killed your boy.” The green line spiked again. Henry narrowed his eyes. “You are in there aren’t you? Well, I’d best get on with this before you do wake up then.” Henry pulled out his athame.
“Elizabeth, what are you doing here?” a voice said from behind Henry. He turned and saw Toni standing in the doorway. He shoved the athame back in his pocket. Stupid woman.
“Just visiting,” he said. He wondered how suspicious he looked.
“It’s quite late,” Toni said suspiciously. He’d cut that suspicion right off her face.
“I know, I just… I wanted to see him,” he said. “Why are you here?”
“I come by most nights.” Toni walked in and took a seat at Adam’s bedside. Henry wondered if she’d had to bribe the receptionist.
“Because you fancy him?” Henry said before he could stop himself. Elizabeth probably didn’t know that. Henry only knew because of the time he’d spent in Adam’s body.
Toni blushed and looked shocked. “I… Why do you think that?” She wasn’t suspicious; she was just embarrassed.
Henry shrugged. “It’s obvious.”
“I hadn’t realised.” Toni looked away.
“Most of the coven know,” Henry informed her. “Why do you think Laurie accused you of sleeping with him?”
“Good point,” Toni said looking away. “I’d rather not talk about it. Not with him right here.” She nodded at Adam’s feel body.
“Fair enough,” Henry said.
“Elizabeth, I wanted to ask you something.”
“Okay,” Henry replied. He was considering killing her too. There was no reason not to. Killing Adam would draw enough attention from the coven that killing Toni would make no difference. And as he liked to say: in for a penny, in for a pound.
“Was there anything odd about your mum’s death?”
“What do you mean?” If she gave even the slightest inclination that she thought Henry was still around then he would kill her where she stood.
“Of all the sorcerers to face Nick she was one of the most powerful. It just seems odd that she’d die of magical exhaustion and nobody else would,” Toni said. She kept her eyes focused on him the whole time. She knew. Henry was certain. Or was he just being paranoid?
“Magic is weird,” he said. Toni seemed to accept his reply and nodded. He reached into his pocket and wrapped his hand around his athame again. One good shot and she’d be dead. He was about to pull the athame out but stopped. If he killed them both here then the coven would know he was about and hunt him again. He wouldn’t be able to hide in Elizabeth long. They’d test each member of the coven and find him easily. He would never have the time to restore his body; it was a process which took weeks at least. If he waited he could cover it up better. He could wait until Toni was gone. Kill Adam and then take the body away. He could make it look like Adam just got up and left. The coven might look for Adam but they would not know he was dead. They’d try a locater spell and when he didn’t show up they’d assume he’d cloaked himself. If need be, Henry was sure that he could convince Eleanor that Adam was still alive. She seemed somewhat dim. It was a much better plan.
“Well, I’ll give you some time alone,” he said smiling politely. Toni gave him a thankful nod and then he left. He’d be back soon enough, though.
5
“Nat, calm down,” Eric said as softly as he could.
“How can I? In four days, I’m going to…” she stopped talking, unable to finish. She’d been getting more and more fretful the closer they got to the full moon. Understandable. Eric remembered his own lead up to the first transformation. At least he had been brought up with werewolves. Natalie had had the curse forced on her by Eric’s mother. Her own twisted way of making her acceptable as his girlfriend. Eric had drowned her for her crime.
Eric stood behind her at the window, put his hands around her middle and pulled her into him. “In four days it will be the full moon, you will change into a wolf and you’ll be fine. It’s nowhere near as bad as you think,” he whispered into her ear. He was lying though. His first time had been excruciating but he couldn’t let her go into her first transformation expecting the worst.
“You’re just saying that,” she said sulkily. She didn’t pull away.
<
br /> “Why would I lie?”
“To make me feel better.”
“I’m not lying.” He let go of her middle and turned her around to face him. “It is going to hurt but it won’t hurt as much as you think. The transformation will ease your pain. And each time you change it’ll hurt even less.” Eric’s first transformation had been the most agonising experience of his life but now he barely felt it in comparison.
“I don’t care about the next time or the time after that. I only care about this time. My first time.” She stomped into the kitchen. Eric followed dutifully.
“You’ll have me with you the whole time. I’ll be right beside you,” he assured her.
“Going through your own change.”
“I’ll hold it off as long as I can. So, I can help you,” he said.
“How can you help me? Supportive words won’t ease my suffering,” she snapped. She was scared so he forgave her bitchiness. “Surely there’s something else you can do?”
“What do you mean?” Eric knew what she meant. She’d been talking about a way to make herself human again for a few days but she hadn’t outright asked him for one yet.
“There must be a way to reverse it. To stop me from changing,” she said. She looked at him pleadingly.
“You know there isn’t. You said so yourself when we discovered your bite.” She’d been braver in the beginning but the closer they got to the full moon the more frightened she became.
“You said James Tenson could hold off the change,” she argued.
“Because he’s a warlock. He uses magic to do it. Even if you were willing to murder however many sorcerers it would take to get enough power the pack would never allow it. I wouldn’t be able to stop them from killing you.” Since leading the first wave of attacks against Nickolas Blackwood and helping imprison him things had changed in the pack. Eric was now a hero and nobody challenged his position as alpha. They’d even accepted Natalie as his mate. Although now that she was a werewolf they had no reason not to. “Killing sorcerers would start a war with the coven as well,” he added. They’d only just managed to agree to a truce. It wouldn’t be a great move to break the agreement so soon.