The Series that Just Plain Sucks: The Complete Trilogy

by Charissa Dufour

  “This was your idea,” he said, not even remotely affected by my withering stare.

  The others watched as my wounds began to heal just enough to stop bleeding.

  “Who will stay with Ashley for the first shift?” Mikhail asked.

  “I think there is something we haven’t considered,” said Josh before anyone could answer. “Sedgrave may try to take Ashley. In fact, that may have been his reason for attacking the seethe so directly. If he has control of her, he can keep her safe.”

  The others nodded their agreement.

  “I’ll have guards stationed at the door, as well as those who will be staying with her to keep her from feeding.”

  “When do the wizards arrive?” Emma asked after ushering Danielle out of the room.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. Danielle’s heartbeat had been driving me to distraction.

  “Tonight. Josh, Emma, stay with Ashley for the first half of the day. I’ll post guards outside. Tonight we will formulate a plan. Don’t worry Ashley,” he added as he patted my foot. “This won’t last long.”

  I nodded faintly before closing my eyes. I listened to the others tip-toe their way out of Mikhail’s office.

  This was going to be one long-ass day.

  Chapter Nineteen

  As the sun set I returned to the land of the living, and I didn’t enjoy it.

  Though the small tumbler of blood Danielle donated had managed to eventually heal my wounds, it had not sated my hunger. In fact, I don’t think it even got within the same state as my hunger. I woke up with my teethe already descended, ready to feed.

  “I need blood,” I croaked to Nik and Thomas who had taken over the watch for the second half of the day.

  Nik shook his head, though his eyes bespoke his concern. I growled at him and turned my gaze on Thomas. Thomas, who had no emotional connection to me, showed no signs of wavering.

  “This was your idea, Ashley,” Thomas said matter-of-factly.

  I sighed and nodded, trying to will my vampire teeth back into my gums. It didn’t work. I felt weak, even weaker than I had as a human. It was a strange sensation. I had grown accustomed to the mystical powers of being a vampire.

  “The wizards are gathering. Are you up to going to the meeting?” Nik asked.

  I nodded my head, not trusting myself to speak. I climbed to my feet, feeling as though I had fasted for three days. In a sense, I had. My body was beginning to shut down without fresh blood. My knees shook and I took a second before taking the first step. I refused to fall face first into Mikhail’s glass coffee table.

  Nik, Thomas, and the two guards followed me to the common room. Sadly, we hadn’t warned them that I was coming.

  Someone’s human was serving drinks to the group that had amassed.

  Even from outside the common room I could hear the heartbeat. Either the others weren’t as attuned to the sound, or they had forgotten just how desperate I was. The door was barely half opened before I barreled through it, pushing Nik off his feet in in the process. Thomas and my two guards would have caught me if Nik’s tumbled hadn’t pushed them farther back into the hallway.

  I charged forward, my need for blood giving my legs new strength. I had just reached the panicked human when I heard a voice shout strange words, sounding as though they were in a distant room. Before I could take another step, I was suddenly jerked off my feet. I looked down to discover that I was floating on my stomach nearly five feet in the air.

  “Ashley, calm down!” ordered Mikhail.

  I turned to look at him and growled. He glared at my audacity before turning to look at Helen. The old wizard had her hand stretched out as though she was using The Force to keep me aloft. I growled at her too, and she ignored me.

  The magical bindings that held me aloft felt as though I was floating in warm pudding, or something equally thick. In a way, I felt as though I was suffocating within Helen’s spell. My skin produced gooseflesh, even though the spell felt warm against my flesh, and a shiver ran up my spine.

  “Get Bridgett out of here,” said the primus unnecessarily; the human had already set her tray on the side table and scurried from the room.

  It was several minutes before the sound of her footsteps and heartbeat faded away. I growled some more, twisting and squirming in my invisible bindings, as though I could wiggle my way out of them.

  “Let me go,” I ordered in a guttural tone, as though they might actually obeyed me. “I’ll kill you all!” I added for good measure.

  I continued to writhe and curse until I ran out of energy. I went limp, though I’m sure my face still showed the hunger-filled rage that consumed me. I focused my attention on Helen. Her heart still beat, even if her blood smelled thin with age. Still, when one is this hungry, the blood of a sewer rat would have smelled appetizing. It was like craving White Castle burgers.

  “Why isn’t she calming down?” asked Lauren.

  I turned in the air, almost as though I was swimming, and growled at Lauren. She grimaced and stepped behind Travis. She was Edith’s apprentice and, while highly talented, the weakest of the three wizards.

  “Your heart still beats,” whispered Hemera, the creepy, half-asleep summer queen.

  The group of mystical creatures looked around, suddenly realizing that as hungry as I was, I would gladly drink from anything with a heartbeat. Other than the vampires, everyone present had a heartbeat.

  “With Edith and Lauren’s help, we can cement this spell in place. It will remain until we release her,” offered Helen.

  “Do it,” ordered Mikhail.

  I growled at him.

  Edith and Lauren joined Helen, and together they began to chant. The warm-pudding feelings of the spell solidified into cookie dough. I increased my growling, hoping to frighten them into flubbing up the spell. It didn’t work.

  The new spell rotated me until I was in a standing position, my feet still two or three feet above the ground. I tried to squirm again, but the bindings were too solid. Instead, I stood in the air, rotating against my will to keep Helen in view at all times.

  “There,” announced Helen as she lowered her hand and turned to look at Mikhail.

  The primus’ eyes were still on me as he nodded to the wizards.

  From where I stood I could see the whole array of those gathered. The usual collection of vampires dotted the room. Travis, the werewolf alpha, and Shawn, his second, waited a short distance from where I floated. Periphetes, a powerful winter fae and my friend, stood surreptitiously at the far end of the grouping. Last, but not least, were the two fae queens, who sat delicately on different sofas.

  How had we come to this place?

  The last time I had seen the fae queens we had been in an epic three-way battle. Though I knew Mikhail had spent endless hours negotiating with them since that battle, I was still surprised to find myself sitting peacefully in a room with both lunatics. Granted I wasn’t exactly sane either.

  Before anyone could say anything, the doors opened again and Jim led a string of vampires in, carrying the array of artifacts we had amassed from around the world. I glared at each one in turn. I was so hungry even inanimate objects made me angry.

  I was hangry, that’s what I was.

  Jim’s helpers laid the items on the pool tables and left. Helen, Edith, and Lauren approached the pool tables and examined each item.

  “Well?” asked Mikhail after the barest of pauses.

  Helen glared at him. “Give us a moment.”

  The wizards took a lot longer than a moment. Most of the group had consigned themselves to sitting by the time the three women had stopped muttering to each other in some strange language. Based on the curious look on the other’s faces, no one else understood the wizard language either. Finally, the wizards turned to the group.

  Helen and Edith looked confident, but I spotted Lauren gnawing on her bottom lip, her eyes focused on the floor.

  “Yes, we can remove the binding from Ashley,” Helen announced. “It wi
ll take us much of the night to do so though.”

  “Excellent. Once Ashley is released we will be able to move against Sedgrave.”

  “I suggest we do so with the next sunset. We do not want to give him time to regain his strength,” suggested Orythyia.

  I looked at the winter queen for the first time, and even my deep-rooted hatred for her couldn’t mask the shock I felt as I stared at her. She was dressed in a Pikachu footie-pajamas, yellow hood with ears and all. I shouldn’t have been surprised, considering her past outfits. The first time I had met her she had been dressed in a 1950s get up and had masked a large room of her lair to look like a 50s diner. The second time I had seen her she was garbed in an adult size Dorothy costume, except with a Rottweiler instead of a terrier. In a sense, the Pikachu onesie was sane for her.

  “Agreed. Jim?” began Mikhail as he turned to his assistant and right hand man. “Do we know where Sedgrave and the governor will be tomorrow night?”

  Sedgrave had installed himself as a page to the governor of Washington, allowing him unusual sway over the state’s political field.

  “He will be at Lone Star restaurant in Lacey at a fundraiser for the governor’s next campaign,” said Jim, responding from memory rather than checking any list or itinerary. Jim reminded me of Radar from the old TV show M.A.S.H. The seethe wouldn’t have run without him.

  “A lot of bystanders,” commented Travis, speaking for the first time.

  “We can handle that,” said Hemera, still sounding as though she were asleep. “Between both courts, no human will realize anything is amiss until long after the bastard is dead.”

  “The question is, how do we lure him out of the restaurant?” said Nik.

  “I have an idea,” I said from my floating restraints.

  It took a little negotiating, but I finally convinced them of the merits of my plan. When we had all agreed upon a plan, the group left me with the wizards. Nik and Josh remained to guard me, just to be safe. I was still ravenous, and the wizards’ hearts still beat.

  “This will take a while,” said Edith when the last of the others had left. “Are you sure you want to stay?”

  “If something goes wrong, Ashley will have no ability to stop herself from killing you all,” said Nik.

  I rolled my eyes—dramatic as ever!

  “We are not as weak as all that,” grumbled Helen, her eyes flicking to Edith. “But suit yourself.”

  Edith took the sun-shaped mask from the pool table and slipped it onto my head. They gathered the other items and I began to fear they intended to repeat the ritual just as I had suffered it three months ago. Thankfully they set the other artifacts in a loose circle around my hovering feet.

  The three wizards stood around me and the artifacts. I saw Lauren looking up at me with a worried look bringing her eyebrows together. I threw her a wink in the hopes of calming her fears. Strangely, she acted as though she hadn’t seen the wink, even though I knew she had.

  And then the chanting started.

  The mask blazed against my skin, searing my flesh. The bright glow from the mask blinded me.

  I blinked furiously, but when my vision cleared I was no longer in the seethe’s common room. I was standing on, well, nothing. Everything around me was white. The floor was white nothingness, the walls and ceiling the same. I expected dead Professor Dumbledore to approach me and discuss life and death.

  The strangest thing was I wasn’t hungry anymore. In fact, it was the first thing I noticed, which is surprising considering Sedgrave was standing only a few feet away.

  Fear gripped me, making it hard to breathe. I shifted to the balls of me feet, just as Nik had taught me, and prepared to respond to his attack. I had no idea how I was going to take him on all by myself, especially considering how our bodies were connected.

  He smiled at me.

  The worst was, it was a rather nice smile. I didn’t detect any ulterior motive in his smile. It was just a pleasant expression. Sedgrave was dressed in a basic suit. Nothing like the outfits I had seen on Nik or Mikhail. It wasn’t personally tailored. It was just nice, neat, and probably reasonably priced.

  Much like Mikhail, Sedgrave looked as though he was all of seventeen or eighteen years old. He even had a little baby softness still around his face. His sandy blond hair was parted on the side and flopped over in such a way I knew it would get in his eyes if he bent down to pick something up, or if the wind grew too gusty. Honestly, he looked like the type of boy I would have had a crush on back in high school—attractive but not prom king material.

  Slowly, I relaxed and looked around again. The room, or whatever you want to call it, was still all white and kinda glowy. Sedgrave remained silent and I began to rock back and forth on my feet.

  What in the world is going on?

  “Ashley,” the warlock finally said by way of a greeting, giving me a little nod.

  I nodded back, still unsure what I should have been doing.

  “Where are we?” I finally asked.

  Sedgrave smiled again, as though I had asked just the right question. “In your mind.”

  “Right. In that case what are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to show you something.”

  “Show me what?”

  “Take my hand,” he ordered, reaching out to close the distance between us.

  While I didn’t step away from him, as much as I wanted to, I didn’t take his offered hand either.

  “I give you my word, I will not hurt you.”

  I stared at him for a second before placing my fingers in his hands. I had to remind myself that Sedgrave came from a time when his word actually meant something. If a lad off the streets of Olympia had made the same promise, I would have laughed at him. A man from sixteenth century, on the other hand, kept his word.

  As my fingers slid into his, the glowing whiteness dulled until we were standing in a spacious apartment. Though I didn’t recognize the place, I did noticed framed poster-sized prints of my recent book covers, as well as a few of the posters from Josh’s room in the seethe.

  A door off the little hallway opened and Josh emerged from a bathroom, buttoning up his dress shirt. I glanced between him and Sedgrave, wondering how he would respond to the warlock being here. Josh finished buttoning his shirt and walked into the living room, acting as though he hadn’t seen us.

  “Babe, you almost done?” he asked.

  “Almost. Coming,” came my own voice from behind one of the other doors.

  A second later the door opened and another me hopped out, trying to walk and put heels on at the same time.

  Josh laughed at other-me’s failed efforts before vampire-rushing to other-me’s side. Other-me used his shoulder as a support and stopped to put the shoes on properly.

  I glanced at Sedgrave who was watching me, real-me.

  The doorbell rang and Sedgrave and I turned to watch Nikolai and Emma enter. As usual, they both made anyone else in the room look underdressed.

  “Ashley, you look lovely!” Emma exclaimed as she crossed to other-Ashley and straightened her necklace.

  “Heels and everything,” other-Ashley said, gesturing to her feet.

  “I’m impressed!”

  “Well, I try… sometimes.”

  “Jordan’s wedding is the perfect time to try,” said Nikolai, his dry voice laced with humor.

  Other-me glared at him.

  “Jordan’s wedding?” I asked, turning to Sedgrave. He smiled, holding a single finger to his lips.

  Suddenly other-me wavered on her feet, reaching out for Emma’s support. Josh was instantly at her side.

  “Are you okay?” Josh asked.

  “Yes,” other-Ashley said, a faint smile on her lips. “Just a little weakness. It will pass.”

  Josh ground his teeth together while Nik looked away, as though he couldn’t handle seeing other-Ashley in this state.

  “This shouldn’t be happening,” grumbled Emma.

  “No, he warned me he woul
d need a little more over the next couple of days,” other-me said as she waved away further assistance.

  “You spoke to him?” Josh asked.

  “Sedgrave called me today to warn me,” replied other-me.

  “That’s why you fed so much?” asked Josh.

  Other-me nodded, still looking a little shaky. “I’ll be okay. Let’s go before we’re late.”

  My friends guided her to the door, giving each other fleeting glances behind her back.

  Suddenly the apartment faded away like a mirage. An instant later and Sedgrave and I were standing in Josh’s old apartment. Josh had never been a tidy person, but this mess was on a whole new level—he could have been on TLC’s hoarder show. Piles of trash, dirty clothing, and old computer components rose up to my eye level. Mixed in with each pile were any number of empty blood bags, the remaining dribbles at varying stages of decay.

  Josh emerged from the back bedroom, dressed in cut-off sweatpants and nothing else. His face hadn’t seen a razor in days, and his hair was matted to the side of his head. He stumbled toward the kitchen, expertly avoiding the different piles. He opened the fridge, peered inside at its molding contents, and slammed the door shut again. Before he could do anything else, his front door opened and Nik marched in. Nik wore an expression that said “I’ve come for a fight.”

  “Josh,” Nik called from the entryway. “Where are you?”

  “Kitchen,” Josh grunted.

  “I have something for you to eat in my car.”

  “Why didn’t you bring it up?”

  “To get it, you have to shower, shave, dress, and come outside.”

  Josh’s shoulders dropped. “I’ll pass,” he said as he shuffled through the living room and headed back into his bedroom.

  Nik grabbed his arm at the last second and spun him around. “Josh, this has to stop. Mikhail is making threats. If you can’t pull yourself together, he’s gonna end this.”

  “Fine,” said Josh, shaking Nik’s hands away from his grimy shoulders.

  “Not fine,” growled Nik. “What would she say?”

  “It doesn’t matter. She’s dead, remember?”