Jackson let out a scream and the lights above them started to burst; sparks sprayed down along the entire room.
“Get him out of here!” she called to the detective, Angela Parker, who Derek had her pick up on the way. She motioned to Dante and just like that, the woman got to work. The second she grabbed Jackson’s wrist, Dante’s eyes had opened and Parker managed to help the dazed-looking witch up.
Her dazed-looking witch. Who had almost died because of Jackson....
She held on even tighter, savoring the warmth as his magic flowed into her. She thought he’d collapse in pain like Dante had. Instead, Jackson pushed himself up and stared into her eyes. But she knew her powers were working. She could feel it. All she had to do was hold on....
The sparks were still raining down around them but she couldn’t take her focus off him. “All you wanted was to be understood and now you’re going to die alone,” she told him.
He let out a bitter laugh that turned into a grunt as he swayed on his feet, her drain showing more and more effect. “Alone? You think a part of you isn’t going to come with me? You think you can do a little bit of this and not change? You’re never going to get rid of me, Claire. You can run and you can hide but—” He cut off as he collapsed, but Claire didn’t let go.
Screw his warnings and threats. This ended now.
“Claire!” She could hear people shouting her name in the distance but didn’t look away. She needed to finish this and she wasn’t leaving here until Jackson was dead.
Derek ran over to Sam and turned her in his arms. He ran his hands over her face, neck, arms, and everything just to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, but her attention was still on Claire. “She’s killing him.”
The entire ceiling seemed to be falling around them, the balls of light exploding and raining down on them. One of the lights hit his neck, but it didn’t burn him.
“We need to stop her,” said Sam.
Derek watched as Jackson collapsed on the ground. “What is she doing to him?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” breathed Sam. But she wasn’t running there to stop Claire. Sam was staying right next to him. Whatever Claire was doing, Sam wanted to keep a healthy distance.
Then Claire and Jackson both collapsed. Derek had absolutely no way of knowing for sure, but he had the feeling that Jackson was never getting back up again.
He looked around but didn’t see Parker or Dante. Good. The plan was for her to either stop Jackson or get the hostage out and she’d done it. He had a hell of a lot of explaining to do and probably owed her lunch for the rest of her life too.
Derek gripped his Glock tighter. He still had a full magazine and one in the chamber. He had no idea whether he was going to need the gun, but he wasn’t about to holster it.
“Stay here,” he warned as he approached the spot where Claire and Jackson lay on the ground. He could see Claire’s chest rising and falling with deep breaths, but Jackson was motionless, his lifeless eyes open and staring at the rapidly dimming ceiling.
Couldn’t say he felt bad about it.
“Where is it?” asked Sam.
Derek glanced around the room. “Where is what?”
“The orb. The binding agent. He had it in his hand. Where did it go?”
“It’s in safe hands.”
Sam and Derek both whipped around to look at Heather. She held the glass ball and looked at it as if it were as valuable as a diamond.
“Heather....” said Sam carefully. “Give me the orb.”
Heather looked at Sam from under her lashes. “I have the binding agent. I have a dead witch. Sam, it’s finally going to happen.” She squeezed her hand and the glass cracked beneath her black nails.
Immediately the room was filled with a whipping wind and Heather started to chant. The words were in a language he didn’t recognize. They were ancient and lyrical, almost as though she were singing a song. The more words she spoke, the heavier the wind got. It stung his face and tugged at his jacket.
Heather’s eyes drifted closed and her head fell back as a black cloud started to escape the orb. It just kept coming and joined the wind to swirl around the room, making the already dimming lights above them even darker.
“Heather!” called Sam as she closed the distance between her and her sister.
Sam grabbed Heather’s wrist and when Heather opened her eyes, she didn’t look like a witch bringing forth the apocalypse. She looked... scared. “Sammy,” she breathed.
Derek had his gun drawn and pointed at Heather, but he had no idea what to do. He’d told himself he wouldn’t hesitate to stop Heather if he needed to, but with the binding thing already open, what did that mean?
Sam must’ve picked up on his confusion. “I can help her!” she called over the wind.
Derek shifted on the balls of his feet and kept his arms locked. Sam might think she stood a chance, but he had his doubts.
Sam reached out and he wanted to warn her not to touch anything having to do with what was happening in front of him, but he kept quiet. If Sam wanted a chance to save her sister, he’d give it to her. But how long could he really give Sam?
“Heather!” she called. “Look at me. I believe you. I think you can control it. We’re going to do it together.”
Heather gave Sam a smile that quickly disappeared. Derek had no idea what was going on, but Heather didn’t seem to be in control of anything. His finger sat on the trigger and he was ready to go. And if he waited too long... what would happen then? Was Sam’s happiness worth the risk to the rest of the city?
“Stay with me!” said Sam. “You were right! If anyone can do this, it’s you!”
Heather was trembling under the effort and her neck was straining as she tried to contain whatever magic was escaping from the glass ball.
Something touched his shoulder and just like that, he pulled the trigger. All at once, the wind stopped and Heather collapsed on the ground. Derek held his breath, hoping he’d imagined it. But even in the near darkness of the basement, Heather’s lifeless body was all he could see.
The hand stayed on his shoulder as the newcomer showed herself. Claudia. He should’ve known.
Sam stood there in shock, gasping for air as the last of the light disappeared. Derek pulled the flashlight out of his pocket with a shaking hand. He flipped it on, but he might’ve just left it in his pocket because a second later, Claudia snapped her finger and the old light bulbs that had to have blown out ages ago flared to life somehow.
And he wished it was dark again. Sam still stood, stock-still and staring down at Heather. Except the worst part was that her face was speckled with red droplets of blood spatter.
“Damn it,” he said under his breath. He took Sam’s arm in his and gently urged her away from her dead sister. “Hey, hey,” he whispered as he angled her face toward his. He pulled his sleeve lower until he could wipe away all visible evidence of what just happened.
“I.... She had it,” said Sam, her voice barely audible. “She was strong enough. I know it.”
“No, she wasn’t,” said Claudia in an eerily calm voice.
“Can you leave us alone?” snapped Derek. He might be the one who pulled the trigger, but he knew what happened. He had been Claudia’s weapon. One touch from her and she made him do exactly what she wanted.
And she’d wanted Heather, her own granddaughter, dead.
“I just saved you,” she pointed out. Her long black dress dragged behind her as she walked through the dirty room. She picked up the glass orb that had fallen out of Heather’s limp hands, but when she picked it up, there were no dramatics. No wind, flickering lights. Claudia simply picked it up and gave a quick blow, the cracks all disappearing in seconds.
Sam wasn’t talking so he turned his attention to Claudia. “What now? Are you going to erase Sam’s memory of this? Erase me again?”
Claudia looked at him, not bothering to hide her disdain. “You’ve already p
roved to be a useless endeavor. You two ended up together no matter what I did.”
“She’s your granddaughter. You’re supposed to want her to be happy!” He knew he shouldn’t yell at someone so powerful, but he was so sick of being powerless, and the very idea that he’d been used to kill someone, no matter whether they deserved it or not, made his skin crawl.
“I do want her to be happy!” Claudia shouted back in a deep, inhuman voice that made the walls tremble. “What do you think is going to happen in this little fairy tale of yours? Look around you, Detective Pierce. If you want to be a part of this family, you’ll be dead within the year. And since you’re worth a lot more to me dead than alive, you can trust I’ll be there when you go.”
“The body.”
Claudia and Derek both jerked to look at Sam, who seemed to be coming out of her shock.
“What are we going to do with the body?”
“Bodies,” corrected Claudia. “You have been through more than enough tonight. You can have your... boyfriend,” she said, the word getting stuck in her throat, “take you and your friend home.”
Sam looked at Claire and back at Claudia. “Okay.”
“And the detective outside will have to be dealt with too.”
“I don’t want her mind messed with,” said Derek. He knew Claudia was going to do what she damn well pleased, but he wasn’t going to sit back and let it happen.
“You do not call the shots here.”
“No, but magic has been worming its way into the city and into the precinct more and more. I need someone else on my side.” Then he added the only leverage he had. “She saved your ass tonight.”
Claudia considered him for a second. “Her life is on you.”
“Fine,” he bit out as she effectively passed the blame to him.
“I think you’re right. The city is only going to become more dangerous.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Sam. “Heather and Jackson are gone. For the moment, isn’t the darkness gone?”
“Oh yes,” said Claudia. “But what happened here tonight will reverberate throughout all corners of the world. The families are going to come and they’re going to want answers from me. Prepare yourself, Samantha. We’re about to go on trial.”
The rocking boat could’ve been soothing, but nothing was going to calm Abigail. The sun had set hours ago, and it was only a few moments before she’d be putting this chapter of her life to rest. The chapter where she was the mother of two girls.
Her beautiful, talented, beloved Heather. Where had things gone wrong? Where had she gone wrong? Now Samantha wanted almost nothing to do with her, and her mother would retreat far into her tower until she almost forgot she had a family.
The lights of the city barely flickered in the distance and she knew they were far enough out. She leaned over the rails and looked at the pitch-black churning waters. The last thing she could do to honor her daughter was this. Get rid of what had caused her downfall.
She pulled the orb from the pocket of her jacket and held it over the water. She knew it would sink. This kind of darkness was dense in every way. Not even she would ever be able to find exactly where it fell. Hopefully the sands would cover it soon enough and it would be lost forever.
All she had to do was let go....
“You don’t want to do that.”
She should be surprised. Scared. Something. But the numbness running through her veins was dulling any and all sensations. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
Jackson, the son of a bitch who had ruined her life, stepped into focus and leaned next to her on the railings. “I’m not dead. I’m not alive. I’m not anything. But I can offer you something.”
Abigail tightened her lips. “You’re not Jackson.”
“I could be anyone you wanted. Your husband, maybe?”
“Why didn’t you come as Heather?” The only one she wanted to see.
“Oh, no. That one you have to earn. But you can see her again.”
Abigail imagined how easy it would be to open her fingers and drop the darkness into the abyss forever. “A fake aberration of my daughter won’t help me.”
“No. Not a ghost or me playing dress-up. You can bring her back.”
Her fingers tightened on the orb. “That’s not possible. I’ve tried to bring someone back from the dead before.”
“But you’ve never done it with me.” He leaned forward until he could speak into her ear. “I have the kind of power you could only dream of. And it’s all at your fingertips.”
“I’m not a fool. I know what you do.”
“You don’t know a goddammed thing about me,” bit out the darkness masquerading as Jackson. “You’re going to toss me away for what? Your mother? She just killed your daughter. A mother should never have to bury a child, Abigail. Now, how are you going to pay her back? By doing all of her errands. Everything you want is in your hands. All. You. Have. To. Do. Is. Take. It.”
She wasn’t going to. She was going to drop it into the water and watch it disappear.
But then her hand tightened and all of a sudden it was in pieces, biting into her skin.
Jackson’s hands fell on her shoulders. “We’re going to make a great team, Abigail.”
~~~Book 4: A LITTLE WICKED is coming July 2017!~~~
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Check out Book 4 in The Bewitching Hour Series. A LITTLE WICKED!
They thought the evil was gone, but the true danger is closer than they ever knew...
Now that Sam and Derek's relationship is in the open, everything should go smoothly. But New York City hasn't gotten that message.
As the families arrive, they leave a trail of bodies behind them, leaving Detective Derek Pierce and his unofficial witch partner (but official girlfriend), Samantha Harris, to deal with by hiding the bodies and finding the killer. Except seeing Derek compromise all of his morals to protect her family makes Sam see that no matter how happy he says he is, she might be the worst thing that ever happened to him.
If she wanted to do the right thing, she'd let Derek go. But after everything that's happened to them, doesn't Sam deserve the chance to be a little wicked?
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Check out all of Mallory Crowe's Books!
Bad Boys of the Underworld (A Paranormal series)
Finding Fire
Daring Fire
Binding Fire
Ruling Fire
Stealing Fire
The Bewitching Hour Series (A Paranormal series)
The Bewitching Hour
Burning Gold
Long and Lost
A Little Wicked (Coming July 2017!)
Billionaires In The City Series
Teaching The Boss
Teasing The Boss
Tempting The Boss
Devereaux Billionaires Series
Touching Jace
Trusting Michael
Testing Luke
Taming Rourke
Fractured Farrells; A Damaged Billionaire Series
Ruthless
Reckless
Remorseless
Restless
Relentless
The Stolen Hearts Series
The Cocky Thief
The Beautiful Thief
The Dangerous Thief
Long and Lost (The Bewitching Hour Book 3) Page 18