Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1)

by Margo Bond Collins

  Chapter 13

  Lainey hadn’t been abed for long, before a noise penetrated her sleep-fogged brain. It was an annoying rattle, and it wouldn’t go away. When she’d finally managed to open both eyes and groggily look around, it was to find Mercer had managed to open the bay window in her bedroom, which always stuck solid in the winter and had just jumped through it.

  Racing across her bedroom, she stuck her head out of the window and found him trailing down the stone steps in jerky ragged movements. She knew he was heading to the woods at the bottom of the garden. Tearing around the bedroom, she picked up a pair of jeans and a thick angora sweater. Hopping about all over the place, she finally managed to pull them on and drag a pair of sturdy walking boots over her feet. Not bothering to search for a coat knowing she would definitely lose him if she wasted any more time, she jumped up onto the white cushions of the love seat, and then took a flying leap out into the garden.

  There was no one in sight just as she’d feared. Running as fast as her legs could carry her, she raced over the frozen grass and down towards the bare crooked hedge that lined the end of their garden. There was no need to open the gate, Mercer had left it wide open and it was flapping in the wind. Hurtling past it, Lainey plunged into the dark thicket beyond and wished to hell she had thought to bring a torch with her. There was a tiny sliver of moonlight to see by, but it was nearly useless as soon as she was under a thick canopy of yew trees that blocked out all the light. Her running ceased immediately and she had to feel her way around. Although she knew the path like the back of her hand, the darkness disorientated her and she knew from experience that it was better to be safe than sorry. Exposed tree roots, rocks and leaves littered the ground, and the last thing she needed was to go head first into a tree trunk. Besides, she had a good idea of where Kalliope would be leading Mercer.

  Half a mile down the wooded track, there was a little clearing where her grandmother had built her stone circle. It was carefully constructed with her magic in mind using several carefully balanced cairn stones. Each one specially chosen, in width and height, so they would balance perfectly with their counterparts. Her grandmother had always believed that everything could live in harmony if the right balance was achieved, and her circle was a monument to this. It featured an altar stone facing due north and there was a grass space inside the circle for three witches, but no more. Over the years, her grandmother had practised her rituals there and the circle had become quite powerful, intensifying with each spell and blessing she’d cast. Kalliope would want to use that to her advantage.

  As Lainey neared the spot, she slowed her feet down and began to creep forward, trying to make as little noise as possible. She knew she mustn’t be discovered if she could possibly avoid it. Any contest between she and Kalliope would be non-existent if her life were to end here, for there wouldn’t be a thing she could do to stop the stronger witch. Her heart rate accelerated at the thought, but then she calmed herself down. The witch wanted the serum and Lainey knew that. Yes, it was true that as soon as she had it, she would be able to recreate it herself but until then, she needed Lainey—alive. Of course, that didn’t mean she couldn’t deal out a whole world of hurt, so Lainey needn’t fear death just yet. That would come later.

  A crackle of twigs alerted her to movement ahead and Lainey froze. She could hear voices, one belonging to Mercer, although his seemed strained, while the other voice must belong to Kalliope and hers was anything but.

  Sinking to the ground, Lainey crawled forwards on her hands and knees, finding a spot between a pair of trees allowing her to see straight into the circle. Smothering a gasp as her eyes took in the scene before her, she just managed to stop herself from vomiting onto the patch of grass in front of her. Closing her eyes, she dipped her head towards the ground and let out a strangled breath. Mother of God.

  Kalliope was inside the stone circle and her outstretched arms were weaving an electrical storm all around her. Lainey saw frantically moving hands and swirls of colours. There were reds, purples, blues, and magentas, all combining together as the witch summoned the dark arts. The air around them almost seemed to flinch in horror. These were spells of pain, suffering, torment, and death. Spells that no self-respecting witch would ever learn, but Kalliope had never been any such thing. Lainey watched with sickened fascination as the witch spoke her incantations and the threads of magic interwove making the spell hum with power. That was the circle’s doing. Somehow, Kalliope had breached the protection spells surrounding it and had claimed it for her own. She was going to prove a fearsome adversary.

  Lainey began to worry if she even had the courage to face such a witch in direct challenge, but then frowned at the negativity filling her. This had been the whole purpose of her life up until now. To fail at the final hurdle because she was a coward was not an option. Mercer would help her—if he survived.

  Wincing, she directed an eye back to her vampire. She could hardly look at him without wanting to scream. Kalliope had nailed him between two trees just above the altar stone. She had driven large cast iron stakes through each of his hands to pin him up, and his blood was spilling in a long river to the ground beneath. Mercer’s eyes kept rolling back in his sockets, but he was trying hard to keep his head up. All his weight rested on those two pinions and it must have been excruciating. Feeling bile begin to bubble back up in her throat, she looked at the ground once more. That was safer. If she kept her attention on Mercer, she was shortly going to do something she would regret. Perhaps there was a chance she might develop a taste for death after all. If an opportunity to kill the witch presented itself, Lainey didn’t think she’d need to consider it too carefully. That woman was running on borrowed time. As if she’d sensed Lainey’s presence, Kalliope took that moment to swing her body around, looking through the trees intently but hearing nothing amiss, her attention quickly refocused on Mercer.

  “They’re crucifixion nails, sweetheart. I had them replicated carefully. I thought they would bring back fond memories for you.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “You will be soon, and I’m thoroughly looking forward to it. Now, where were we?”

  The air began to quiver and tense as the spell took form. With a few more soft words uttered, the colours flew. Lainey didn’t shut her eyes fast enough, so the effects were blinding. The lights were so bright, they imprinted dark afterimages upon her retinas and everything went blurry for a moment. Streaks of glowing lightning entangled themselves together and headed directly for Mercer’s body. Lainey’s breath froze solid inside her. She knew this was going to hurt him horribly, and as much as she didn’t want to watch, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the impending carnage.

  Sure enough, when the force of the spell hit the defenceless vampire, his whole body buckled as the sharp splinters of energy tore through him and waged war. There was a shocked expression on his face as the burn hit, but Lainey knew from experience that it had barely begun. The spell was a virulent one. Entering through his chest, Lainey watched as the colours merged into one and began to melt the exterior of his skin. She had no idea how he held back his screams but somehow, his mouth remained closed as his blood began to fizz. However, he could not contain the tears that poured freely from his eyes.

  “Feel good?” Kalliope sauntered over to his body, now racked with tremors, and ran her fingertips down his chest. He did scream then, and the effort of holding the noise in had cost him dearly. The sound was fierce and desperate.

  “I need you to take my blood again, Mercer.” Her fingers continued to wreak a path of destruction, drawing blood wherever they touched and his continued cries of agony had Lainey wanting to bury her head in the ground.

  Heaven help her, there was nothing, she could do to stop this. If she made a move, Kalliope would flatten her, and then she would become useless to everyone, especially Mercer. She needed to be in one piece in order to restore what was left of the poor vampire when the witch finished with him. How she was going to endure
watching his pain was beyond her. She felt it resonate through her entire being and she would have wrenched her own limbs off to stop it.

  Risking another look at the horrors befalling the vampire in front of her it was to find that Kalliope had her head pressed against the vampire’s chest. Her fingers were continuing their line of damage down his stomach. When the witch put a hand behind his neck and pulled his head forward encouraging him to perform his task, Mercer managed to spit out a single word. “Won’t.”

  The witch’s laughter trilled in his ear, and it was clear that she was not upset with his response. Turning her back to him, she walked away then stopped to retrieve something on the floor of the circle. Her lilac skirts rose up her leg as she bent down exposing a long creamy thigh, and then the cloth abruptly closed around her as she began storming her way back to him. In her hands were two more wicked-looking nails. She caressed them in her hands and bent, allowing her lips to caress them. Looking back up at him, she separated them a nail in each hand and let her gaze fall to his legs before she once again met his eyes.

  Her voice was dangerous as she said, “I loved that about your brother, sweetheart. He was so damn stubborn. It was such fun to break him. He had a tolerance for pain that I’ve not seen before, and you seem to be remarkably like him for some reason.”

  The nails flew up in the air, and then her hands rose turning them in the correct direction, their sharp points facing forward. “Are you sure you won’t reconsider, darling?”

  Mercer spat at her feet in response. Raising her eyelids in warning, she shook her head at him. “Uh, uh, uh.”

  Then the same fingertips, which had left cuts all over his skin, flew forward and the horrible nails followed suit burying themselves in each of his legs, and pinning him firmly to the trees behind him. Mercer’s head slammed forcefully against the tree trunk and he hissed through the excruciating pain before his eyes turned dark red. The loss of blood was beginning to affect him. Lainey wondered if this had been Kalliope’s plan all along. If Mercer entered the point of no return, he wouldn’t care who she was, he’d just take the nearest warm body available.

  Stepping back until she was once again in the middle of the stone circle, the witch began weaving another spell. Using the same colours as before, the spell looked similar but the threads were thicker and more powerful. The air all around began to quiver in anticipation of its release, and the wind began whipping up a storm. A break in the clouds revealed a shaft of light spilling down from a pearlescent full moon. It lit up the witch’s body in stark relief. There wasn’t a chance in hell that Mercer could win this battle, and Lainey had a feeling that Kalliope would continue to throw everything she had at him, until he was sobbing for forgiveness at her feet.

  As his head lolled against the tree trunk, the same thought must have occurred to him for he whispered only one word. “Stop.”

  Kalliope considered his plea for a long moment, while holding the spell in shape as if in two minds of what to do. It continued to revolve around her hands, sparking, and hissing with an unpleasant ferocity.

  “Please stop. I’ll feed,” he croaked. Lainey couldn’t listen to the fear in his voice but instead, buried her head against the frozen ground beneath her and covered her ears with her hands. She told herself she was not going to watch this. In the next moment however, she was determined to watch every second of Kalliope’s atrocities. It would make it far easier to kill her when the time came.

  “You’re spoiling my fun, vampire.” As she said the words, the spell began to lose its concentrated glow and the streaks of colour slowly diluted into the atmosphere before evaporating altogether. “But I suppose I need you in reasonable shape if I want you to stand a chance of completing your task on time. So, I might take it easy on you. But just so you know, I don’t do the second chances thing. You obey. Period.”

  Sidling up to his body once more she presented her neck to his head, which hung low as if ready for her. Her fingernails gashed a line in her throat, and then she pressed the bleeding wound to his lips. Mercer didn’t hesitate. His fangs burst forth and he plunged forward gripping her neck. If the rage radiating from his eyes was anything to go by, he was hoping to do some damage. If only.

  The witch fell, lost in the throes of her orgasm for a moment but managing to claw her way back to reality with surprising speed. Touching her fingers to his chest, she pushed away from him and he pulled back as if stung.

  “Greedy boy. You’ll be able to have plenty more of that, but all in good time. For now, you need to get your little witch to fix you up, which I’m hoping will exhaust her, and then follow the instructions I give you. Remember, I want both the witch and the serum. Don’t disappoint me…or else your brother’s life, such as it is, will be forfeit. Do we understand each other?”

  “Yes.”

  Kalliope smiled and tapped her finger condescendingly against his nose. “I knew we would.”

  Blowing him a kiss, she rose gracefully into the air and promptly disappeared. The moon immediately hid behind a thick band of clouds and the wind dropped to nothing more than a murmur. The ground below seemed to sigh in relief, and bar the occasional leaf rustling through the brush, the earth seemed to have stilled once more.

  Lainey found herself holding her breath. She felt as if her limbs had frozen solid in the frigid December air, and she was beginning to wonder if she’d ever move again. Then she heard a strangled noise, and it finally managed to cut through the glue that seemed to have held her in place. Scrambling to her feet, she rushed forward stumbling through the trees and into the stone circle. All evidence of Kalliope’s power had now left, and all she could feel was her grandmother’s protection surrounding her, its warmth penetrating the cold stone that her body had become.

  Looking up at the vampire, his body dripping with blood, she couldn’t stop her gasp of horror. He looked awful. His skin was almost translucent, and his irises were orbs of blood red surrounding massive black pupils. She didn’t know what to do first. Pull the nails out? Pulse some healing energy through him. Go and get help? Paralysed for a moment, she felt her hands begin to shake.

  Mercer raised his head as if he’d finally sensed she was there and with some considerable effort, he looked straight at her.

  “Hello, princess.” He gave her a wry smile that must have cost him, and said, “Do you think you can you get me down?”

  “How?” Lainey’s mouth hung open as the question took shape. She truly had no idea where to begin. What she needed was a large claw hammer. It wasn’t something she’d find in the house and she could hardly go ask the neighbours to borrow one at this time of night. Looking down at her hands, she frowned knowing they would not be up to the task but she rushed over to the tree anyway. She gave it her best shot, pulling upon the big cast iron spikes with all her might. However, it was like trying to move a mountain with a shovel. To make matters worse, the nails were slippery with his blood and trying to get a grip on them for any length of time was virtually impossible. In the end, she stamped her feet and let out a yell of frustration. Already angry with herself for her poor magic skills during Kalliope’s cruelty, she now felt helpless to free him. Tears stung her eyes.

  “No.” His voice was calm now, and the ragged desperate lilt of earlier had left. “You need to use magic, Lainey. Focus. You can do it.” His eyes bored into hers as if trying to give her the courage to perform such a feat but Lainey wanted to wail. If she tried and failed, her confidence was going to take a nosedive that no amount of counselling could ever restore.

  “But I’m no good at magic, Mercer. My talents lie in healing. I can’t even perform the simplest of spells. I never have been able to.” Grabbing a hold of one of the nails again, she frantically tugged upon it with all her weight but it was wedged in far too deep, and all she managed to do was rip off a fingernail in the process.

  “You can do magic. You shot out a tire in a moving vehicle with a gun you’d never seen before. That wasn’t luck. At the chateau, yo
u asked the rain to pour and it crashed down from the heavens. You focused on what you wanted to do and made it happen. You can do this. Try for me. Please.”

  Unable to ignore the pleading tone in his voice, Lainey bit her lip and felt her stomach drop. She owed him a shot at this, though the thought of failure was more than she could bear. Stretching her arms out in front of her, she tried to remember what her grandmother had said all those years ago when she’d first been instructed in the art of magic.

  Feel the power ripple up within you. Channel it through your body, from the tips of your toes all the way through your hands, and then wait. You’ll know when you feel it. Concentrate. Believe.

  Therefore, she concentrated trying desperately to channel the mystical power inside her that she had never seen, or sensed. Closing her eyes because others had told her that helped, she tried to imagine the nails shrinking in size, flying out of the tree, and landing harmlessly on the ground below. She felt nothing as she flicked her fingers in Mercer’s direction—no tingle, no fire, and no threads of energy or colour. Swallowing hard, she bit back a sob of distress. This was never going to work. She wasn’t strong enough. At this rate, the pair of them was destined to be sitting ducks for Kalliope to torment and destroy. They might as well go crawling to her now.

  “I should go and get Gran,” Lainey mumbled, unable to look at him as she turned around and started walking away with her shoulders slumped in defeat. Shuffling through the mud, she heard no sound for a few long moments until he let his head fall back and screamed a harsh cry of anguish. Spinning around, she found his arms and legs pulling at the nails, ripping his flesh open as his body sought to free itself from its imprisonment. She knew she had to do something or he was going to tear himself in half. He’d already lost far too much blood and if she left him like this, he was going to try his best to kill himself.

  “Stop! For the love of God, please stop!”