by L. Danvers
Hey—it was worth a shot.
So, it made sense to start at the beginning.
One of the spells Grace had performed countless times over involved her controlling fire. She’d even been the one to set the castle in Crescent Cape ablaze after my siblings and I fled to keep us from being discovered. What’s more, when she’d killed her father in order to protect me, she’d set his veins on fire. Yeah... she did some dark stuff. But her intentions were always pure. And she had never wanted to hurt anyone. Even Reed. We had confronted him intending for her to use a spell that would soften his heart and force him to change his ways. But it all went terribly wrong.
Anyway, being as that controlling fire came so naturally to her, it seemed like a good place to start.
While we had been drinking, Melissa had been busy thumbing through an old grimoire. Finally, she found one with the spell she had in mind. “Hang on a second,” she said, handing the grimoire over to Grace, who stared at the pages in bewilderment while Melissa rummaged through some cabinets. Sighing with satisfaction, she retrieved two white pillar candles and placed them on the table in the center of the common room. “Here you go.” She looked at Grace expectantly.
Grace’s eyes widened, realizing that everyone was now focused on her. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Reading the page would be a good start,” Melissa teased.
“Right.” Grace cleared her throat. Kneeling before the coffee table, Grace held her hands in the air while reciting the spell laid out for her. I watched with great interest as a hard line formed in the center of her brow. All at once, flames shot up from the candles—way higher than should be possible. What’s more, flames roared from the fireplace to her left. She jumped back, realizing what she’d done. The rest of us stepped back, too, in response to the intense heat emanating from the table.
“Okay,” Grace said breathlessly, laughing to herself as the brilliant light flickered across her face. “I have to admit... that was really cool.”
I took a step closer to her, hoping that performing a spell would trigger a rush of memories. She looked back at me, reading my thoughts, and shook her head.
“You always were a fast learner,” Uncle Ben pointed out.
“Yeah?” she asked.
He nodded. “It’s not normal, you know, for witches to pick up on spells so quickly. For many, it takes years of practice to hone their abilities.”
“To be fair, it sounds like I’ve done this one a time or two already,” she pointed out.
Uncle Ben chuckled. “True.”
While Melissa and the other Book Slayers were busy blowing out the candles, Grace clasped her hands together, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement. “So, what’s next?”
Grace
I’d spent the past days splitting my time between the upper level of Books & Brews and Ben’s place. Now, I could easily control fire, make objects move across a room and make things float, to name a few tricks. And for some reason, it didn’t freak me out like I thought it might. I felt powerful. More like myself than I had since... well, since I could remember.
I’d spent every waking second practicing spells and reading through the ancient grimoires, absorbing as much information as I could. I’d been told I was a fast learner. It turned out that was true. Naomi had spent countless hours helping me memorize spells, and Jasper ran drills with me, encouraging me to practice what I was learning.
While I couldn’t say that any of this had helped jog my memory, it did solidify my confidence that everything Xander and Ben had told me was true. Not only was I a witch, but with each passing day, it became clearer just how well these people knew me.
The Book Slayers hadn’t had much luck with figuring out a solution to my memory problem. Spells often had loopholes, they explained. But without asking the person who cast it, there was no way to know for sure what it might be. And it was possible Sofia Albright herself wouldn’t even know.
So... that was encouraging...
Meanwhile, Xander was on edge. He couldn’t figure out why Sofia and the others hadn’t tracked him down since his escape. From what I understood, Aiden, Ben, Jasper and Naomi had left behind a pretty gruesome scene at the Albright compound when they broke Xander out of there. Honestly, the details wreaked havoc on my psyche. I couldn’t sleep at all the first night I heard about it. I knew they were trying to rescue Xander (and me, even though I wasn’t there), but still... It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that I was now a part of the dark and twisted world of supernaturals.
Anyway, Xander had expected revenge. But he hadn’t noticed any sign of trouble, which somehow made him more worried. And an ancient vampire being worried made me worried, too.
Xander was driving Ben crazy with his various theories on what Sofia could be up to. So, Ben suggested the three of us take a trip out of town. He had Collector business to attend to in Virginia, and he thought it could be a good learning opportunity for me. A chance to practice magic in a real setting. So, we went along.
It turned out that Virginia was much more progressive than Maine when it came to supernaturals. Back home, even after supernaturals had been outed, they still lay low. You didn’t see rival wolf packs brawling in parking lots or witches casting spells in the streets. You rarely even saw vampires drinking the “red drink” out in public. We sold some at the Sunny Side Grille, but no one had ever ordered it. But it made sense. The Book Slayers, for instance, didn’t want anyone to know what they were. And neither did Xander. Anonymity was a form of protection.
But here, things were different. When we first got into town, we stopped at a diner. The place was crawling with vampires—one of whom was feeding on a waitress. The staff must have been compelled because no one even batted an eye. Werewolves were there, too, sitting at tables piled high with rare hamburgers.
Ben’s intel had been right. I just hadn’t expected the fact that there were supernaturals here to be so obvious.
Xander and I slid into a booth together, situated across from Ben. After taking a long sip from my milkshake, I said, “Go over it with me one more time, will you?” This was just a typical day for Ben, but I had no memory of trying to steal magical objects out from under the noses of supernatural beings. Granted, I was just tagging along as backup. And I didn’t know how helpful I’d be if we did run into trouble. Practicing with Jasper was one thing... but this was on a whole different level. Ben had given us a vague gloss-over of the plan before, but if I was going to tag along for this, I wanted to know exactly what I was walking into.
Obliging, he slid his milkshake away. “We’re looking for a woman named Ruby Drake. She’s a werewolf. It turns out that she and a local witch had some beef.”
My brow wrinkled with intrigue.
“You know how most werewolves can shift at will?”
“Yeah.” It had been mentioned in one of the books Melissa had encouraged me to read.
“Well, ever since supernaturals were outed, Ruby and her pack have taken over this town. So, a witch named Isadora Wenbrook cast a spell to bind Ruby to the moon once again.” He glanced around before leaning in to continue the story. “Understandably, Ruby wasn’t too pleased about that. So, she ransacked the witch’s place, getting her hands on anything she could find in order to hold the items as ransom until Isadora undid the spell.”
“And Isadora refused?” Xander guessed.
“She didn’t have to. A vampire got to her first.”
I gulped. It made sense that the vampires would want Ruby to be a slave to the moon. Vampires and werewolves weren’t known for getting along. They tolerated each other at best. “So, she was murdered?”
Ben nodded somberly.
“How did you find out about this, anyway?” Xander asked.
“Believe it or not, I’m not the only person in the world amassing magical objects. There are others like me. There’s a whole network of Collectors.”
“How many magical objects are out there?” I asked. His attic was
filled with them. All kinds of crazy things...
“Plenty,” he assured me. “They’ve been around as long as supernaturals have.”
“And these Collectors? Are they all descendants of supernaturals?”
“Official Collectors, yes. Of course, now and again a human will get wind of what we’re doing and try to get in on the action. But you’ll notice that we’re called Collectors, not users. We have the option to use the objects when necessary for protection. But for the most part, we try to stay out of the supernaturals’ business. We look after our loved ones when we can, but we don’t insert ourselves unnecessarily.”
“That must be hard having immortal relatives.”
“Sometimes, they forget that no one is truly immortal,” he said, now making eye contact with Xander.
Xander merely gave a coy smile and sipped from his milkshake.
I swallowed hard, not having ever considered that before. “So, the whole vampire and werewolf rivalry is real?”
Ben nodded. “You have to remember, Xander’s family situation is a unique one. He and his siblings weren’t turned, they were made.”
I nodded, remembering the story. I thought, too, about how his brother Julian’s bite had turned Aiden into a human again. Curious, I turned to Xander and asked, “Would you ever want to become human again?”
Ben leaned in, intrigued by the question. “I think he’s forgotten what it’s like to be human,” he offered.
Xander leaned back against the cushioned seat, casually draping his arm across the top. I scooted forward a bit, not liking being so close to the vampire. “Oh, I remember,” he said. “I remember what it was like to be weak. Helpless. Useless. I can’t fathom a reason I would ever subject myself to that willingly.”
I gaped at him. “Wow,” I said sarcastically. “I didn’t realize I was such a waste of a life. How kind of you to enlighten me.”
The corner of his mouth tugged into a grin. “First of all, you’re a witch through and through. And second of all...” He started to say something, but he stopped himself.
“What?” I asked, growing annoyed by his smugness.
He wagged his finger at me. “That. That right there.”
I blinked, having no idea what he was alluding to.
“It’s good to know you’re still in there.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that. So, I decided to ignore the comment entirely. Turning to Ben, I asked, “Anyway, where do we find this Ruby Drake?”
Grace
It turned out that Ben had no intention of finding Ruby. Last he’d heard, she’d taken a trip out of town. Something about recruiting wolves that didn’t belong to a pack and bringing them back to her hometown. From what I gathered, werewolves looked after their own.
Being a werewolf was usually an inherited trait. But not always. And “packs” could mean many things. Sometimes people turned without having anyone around to guide them.
That’s where Ruby came in.
Which was why we were here now. Because with her gone, we could make our move.
While we were in town, Ben had discreetly asked around about Ruby—making sure he was questioning humans and especially not werewolves. He learned that she worked the night shift at a local bar. We decided to go and check the place out for ourselves. What we really needed to know was where Ruby lived, but, unfortunately, we hadn’t been able to dig up anything about her current residence online. So, we were going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.
Rather than just barging in the place and demanding information about Ruby, which would only draw unwanted attention, we sat at the bar and ordered a round of drinks. Plus, with Xander here, he could compel the information out of people if needed. He’d offered to do it straight away, but Ben insisted it would be good for me to watch and learn how he did things.
The bartender brought our drinks to us but had forgotten to return our IDs. He assured us he’d grab them and bring them right back.
Ben was nearly done chugging a bottle of an IPA when a striking woman with catlike features appeared behind him, resting her hand comfortably on his shoulder. “Ben Sullivan, is that you?”
Ben’s eyes widened in recognition. “Jessica? What are you doing here?”
She shrugged coyly, tucking her short black hair behind her ear. “Following up on a lead.” Her eyes squinted. “I’m guessing that’s why you’re here, too.”
“The ring?”
Her bright red lips curved into a smile. Jerking her head to the side, she asked, “Who’s the kid?”
Ignoring the dig at my age, I offered her my hand. “Grace.”
“A friend,” he added. “She’s tagging along for the trip.”
“And Mr. Handsome over there?” she said, lifting her chin to gesture toward Xander.
“My nephew. Sort of.”
Her eyes sparkled with understanding. “I see,” she said, keeping her obsidian eyes locked in on Xander.
“So,” Ben chimed in. “How’s this going to go down? Two Collectors? One ring? Whoever gets to it first gets to keep it?”
She chuckled at that. “May the best woman win,” she said with a wink. She turned on her heel and started walking away, her curvy hips swishing with each confident stride.
Rolling his eyes, Ben took another swig. I was just about to say something to him when the bartender approached us. “You’re Grace Addington,” he said, eyes bugged out as he handed me my ID.
“Yes... And you are?”
“The name’s Jason.” He propped his elbow on the bar, and, eyeing Ben and Xander with suspicion, said to me, “I knew you looked familiar... We went to the same high school.”
As if on cue, the door to the bar burst open, the harsh light from the streetlamps in the parking lot pouring inside. Police officers swarmed the building. Xander stood, getting ready to intervene. But Ben cautioned him against it. “Your anonymity is everything,” he reminded him.
Scanning the room, I realized just how many people had their phones out, obviously recording what was about to go down.
Xander didn’t like holding back, but he decided to play along. At least for now.
And before I knew it, Ben, Xander I were being taken in for questioning. The officers led us outside toward their vehicles. But, with no more witnesses around, Xander broke free from their hold. He tried compelling them, but another officer fired a wooden shot into his stomach. I instinctively lurched toward him, and Ben cried out in horror.
Xander drew his hand to his stomach and groaned in agony as he plucked out the wooden bullet. The officer standing over him placed a hand on his hip, staring Xander down as he said, “We live in a town crawling with supernaturals. You really think we don’t have ways of making you comply?” With that, he fired another shot for good measure. Then the three of us were separated and shoved into the backs of their vehicles.
Grace
There was no way our stories were going to match up. We never prepared for this scenario. What were the chances that someone from my hometown would recognize me?
Maybe it was stupid of me not to change my name. But it was too late to worry about that now.
I considered my options. I could always tell them the truth. Now that vampires had been outed, I wouldn’t sound like a certifiable crazy person if I told them that I’d been kidnapped and taken to Crescent Cape.
But I didn’t want to connect Xander to my disappearance should his identity ever be discovered. What’s more, I didn’t want the truth of what happened to me getting back to my parents. I had succumbed to a worse fate than even their worst imaginations could conjure. I had no clue how they would take learning that their adopted daughter had been serving as vampire convenience food for years.
The other option was to lie. To say that I’d run away.
I hated pretending like I would be so heartless to the people who raised me. We didn’t have the best relationship, but I would never up and leave without saying goodbye.
But I didn’t see anoth
er feasible option. I didn’t want the police thinking Ben had taken me.
It’d been so long, though. Maybe he could just tell them that he didn’t know anything about me and my disappearance. After all, why would he? For all the police knew, we could have just met a few days ago...
The questioning dragged on, and I was becoming emotionally drained. Coming up with lie after lie was exhausting. I tried to think about what Ben would tell me to do if he were here beside me. I figured he’d remind me that I was a witch and to use that to my advantage. So, because I could, I started messing with my interrogators. The spill of their coffee here, the flickering of the lights there. Little things like that. I didn’t want to hurt them. I was trying to throw them off their game to give myself more time to think.
I worried about what they must be doing to Xander. If they knew how to incapacitate a vampire, his supernatural abilities were useless.
Finally, when they felt like they had all the information they needed, one of the burly officers told me they were going to go give my parents a call. They asked if I wanted to speak to them.
Warily, I nodded.
This was not how I was expecting my day to go.
I got up and followed the men out the door and rounded the corner. I was busy scrambling to come up with a way to explain this to my adoptive parents when, of all people, Jessica cut us off. Her red lips twisted into a satisfied smirk. And as quick as a flash of lightning, two men appeared at her side. “Eddie, Jackson,” she said, speaking to the vampires. “Do your thing.”
Before the men had the chance to draw their weapons, the vampires split up and compelled them to let me go. They told them not to question who any of us were or why we had been at the station.
Hurrying to get away why still could, I scrambled down the hall. Panting, I found Ben, who had been released, too. I glanced over my shoulder while Jessica held an object in her hand that looked like a glass ball. Securing her hands around it, she started to give it a twist, but then she stopped. Realizing we were still standing there, she shouted, “What are you waiting for? Get out of here! We’ll handle the rest.”