Awakening (Willow Creek Vampires Series Book 3)

by Stephanie Summers

  “That’s the weird thing. He acts a lot more now like he did when I first met him. Like he couldn’t care less, you know? I hate to admit it, but that’s when I started having a thing for him. I don’t know if it was the whole bad boy, forbidden fruit thing he had going on, or if I’m just a giant weirdo.”

  “We’re all a little weird sometimes. It’s what makes us unique.”

  Sabine flashed a weak smile in Mary’s direction. “Even though he does have that attitude, he’s just not himself.”

  “Believe me, the attitude he has is typical for vampires who don’t want a connection with anyone. It’s common among them. That’s also why most of them don’t have other supes for friends or even acquaintances. There’s always been folklore about vamps and witches or vamps and shifters not getting along because of some hatred that runs deep between the species, but it’s really because most of them are just dicks.”

  “Yeah, and Remy is their king!” Sabine laughed hard at herself until her eyes began to mist over. Careful not to spill her wine, she sat the glass down on the coffee table so she could really enjoy the moment.

  “Oh, honey, you got that right!”

  Mary joined in the hysterics with a loud cackle that made Sabine laugh even more once she heard it. Who’d have thought that laughter could feel so good?

  The doorbell rang and interrupted their good time. Mary grabbed a wad of cash off a table sitting next to the door and opened it, expecting the pizza delivery person to be on the other side. Her shoulders stiffened, and she spoke in a low tone, too quiet for Sabine to hear.

  “Give her some damn time to get settled. You aren’t welcome here right now.” She slammed the door and turned to Sabine with a forced smile on her face. “Damn Jehovah’s Witnesses… It’s like they know I’m a witch, so they’re all over me and my guests always trying to hand me pamphlets about Jesus. One of these days, I’m going to move to the country where no one can find me.”

  Sabine’s eyebrows crinkled as she studied Mary while she jabbered on about people bothering her. Raising the glass of wine to her lips, she inhaled the sweet smell before taking a sip. She was starting to feel it in her legs now as the calmness spread up her body from her toes.

  The doorbell rang again, and this time, Mary stormed to the door and flung it open. She was ready to go to battle, but she found a smiling young lady balancing a pizza box with a couple of plastic containers on the other side.

  Geez! She really has an aversion to solicitors. Sabine chuckled to herself as she finished her first glass of wine.

  Mary brought in the food and set it down on the coffee table. “No use getting all formal. Let’s just eat in here. I’ll grab some paper plates.”

  “Sounds good. Do you want me to pour you another glass? I’m getting myself another.”

  “Hell, yeah,” Mary said.

  Two hours later, they were thoroughly stuffed with pizza and chocolate cake, feeling pretty good from the two bottles of wine they’d managed to drink their way through.

  “I needed this. Thank you.”

  “My pleasure, honey. I told you that we had to stick together when we first met, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, you did.”

  “Just wish I hadn’t done that damn spell for Remy now. Maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

  “Don’t blame yourself. Bastian wanted me for his own. He just used that as an excuse to expedite the process. He would’ve gotten rid of Remy one way or another.”

  “You’re right… Before I forget, you can sleep up in Sam’s room. I’m sure she won’t mind.”

  Sabine nodded. “I might go to bed shortly, if you don’t care.”

  “Make yourself at home. It’s your home now as long as you’re here, so don’t worry about asking if it’s ok to do anything.”

  “What happened to the others staying here? Didn’t you have people here when Remy and I came over?”

  “They moved on when the vampire shenanigans in the form of Damen landed at the front door. It’s just you and me for now.”

  “Thanks for everything.” Sabine stood up, her legs shaking slightly as she tried to balance her weight. She bent down and kissed Mary on the head before going upstairs with her bags.

  She shucked her clothing down to her panties. As she fished around in her bag for her grey nightgown, the sound of a slight exhalation of air caught her attention. Grabbing her shirt and draping it in front of her, she whirled around to see a dark figure sitting in the corner of the room.

  “Don’t mind me. Nothing I haven’t seen before.” Remy’s fingers laced together as his hands settled on the back of his head.

  “What are you doing here?” Sabine pulled the shirt over her head, covering her naked torso.

  “Just checking to see that you got here safely.”

  “It was you at the door earlier, wasn’t it?”

  “It was kind of rude of Mary to slam the door in my face like that. I was only going to offer to pay for your dinner.”

  “How noble of you.”

  “I try.” The half-smile that made her go weak in the knees formed on his lips.

  “Why are you really here? You just had my blood last night, so it isn’t that.”

  “I missed you.”

  Putting her hand up, palm facing out, she said, “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what?”

  “Don’t do that. Don’t act like you care.”

  “But I do care.” His eyes softened into a pale green, not nearly as bright as they should be, but green nonetheless. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” His eyes shifted and looked away from her as his hands dropped to his lap.

  “Not falling for that one. Not after last night.”

  “You told me to pretend like I still cared…”

  “Yes, and it’s not a mistake I’ll make again.”

  “What if it wasn’t a lie, love?” Remy stood and closed the distance between them. Taking her hand, he peered down at her. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Beanie.”

  Her stomach fluttered when she heard the other name he used for her. He reserved this one for when he was trying to be sweet because he’d gotten it from her parents. She also hadn’t heard it from him since before his ‘death’.

  Studying his face, she tried hard to find any hint of whether or not what he was saying was true. “I don’t know what I can believe from you anymore.” Shaking her head, she looked away.

  “You must think I’m a nutter… Truth be told, I’m starting to question myself, too. The only thing I can say for sure is that I am still completely gobsmacked by you.”

  “English, please?”

  “That was English, love. Oh, wait… I forgot you want me to Americanize my speech. Let’s give that one a go again, shall we?”

  She nodded. “Uh-huh.”

  His long fingers touched just underneath her chin and guided her to look at him again. “You must think I’m crazy, and I’m starting to believe it myself, but the one thing I know for sure is that I am still completely amazed by you.”

  “I do think you’re crazy, Remy. You act as if you don’t know me or what we had. You’re downright mean to me at times.”

  “I am so sorry, love.” He dropped to his knees and pressed the side of his face against her belly as he embraced her. “I keep having blackouts where I don’t remember anything. Whole days have come and gone, and I have very little memory of them.”

  Running her fingers through his hair, she contemplated what to say or do. If he were being truthful, it meant that he wasn’t completely lost to her, but he could be lying, and that meant he was the same prick he’d been since he came back from the dead.

  “Remy…” Just as she spoke, his body stiffened and he fell to the ground into a fetal position. He gripped at his temples, trying hard to suppress a scream. “Remy? What’s wrong?” Sabine dropped to his side and tried to shake him.

  He rolled to his back and began laughing. His arms wrapped around his midsection as his eyes c
losed, and his body jerked from laughter. “Everything is fine…” he managed to say in the midst of the laughing fit. Remy sat up, his eyes peeping open.

  She backed away from him as she saw the color of his eyes—black like coal and as cold as ice. “Mary!” she screamed.

  “And just what do you think she is going to do, hmm?”

  Moments later, Mary burst through the door. “You aren’t welcome here anymore. Leave this house and don’t come back.”

  His face contorted as anger seethed through his body. In an instant, he was gone.

  “How did you do that?”

  “He’s not the only one with power around here. I have a spell on this house that will keep out those I don’t want here. He just made the list.”

  “He did it again. I believed him.”

  “What happened?”

  “Have you noticed he stopped using his weird words? The British slang, I mean. It’s been completely gone.”

  “You’re right. He’s too formal when he speaks sometimes. And those eyes just freak me right the fuck out.”

  “When he spoke to me this time, he used some of his slang and he called me ‘love’ and ‘Beanie’. He sounded like himself again, and his eyes weren’t so… black.”

  “Have they changed back to green at all?”

  “Twice before this… and his eyes have softened a couple of times. They were still dark, but not so black.”

  “When did they go back to green?”

  “Once when we made lo—had sex.”

  “Girl, don’t beat yourself up over sleeping with him. I can see it on your face. You regret it.”

  “I do, but only because I was fooled into believing I had him back when he was just pretending. The other time was right before we left. He kissed me and when he pulled back, his eyes were green. And then, just now, his eyes were pale green.”

  “So… during times when you two were getting physical and showing some kind of emotion, his eyes changed?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hmmm…”

  “I want so badly to believe that he’s still in there, especially after the couple of dreams I’ve had, but I’m not sure there’s anything left.”

  “Dreams?”

  “Yeah… It’s kind of our thing. We dream together,” she said, not wanting to reveal all the details of their dreaming history. “I’ve had a couple of them recently where there are two of him. One of them tells me not to trust the other one, and Remy was in chains in the last one. It’s probably just my subconscious trying to make sense of things, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s really him.”

  “Maybe it is him, though.” A twinkle passed over Mary’s eyes as she headed toward the door. “Come with me downstairs.” They made their way to the basement and over to a huge bookcase. Retrieving a thick, leather-bound book, Mary sat down in a chair and motioned for Sabine to sit beside her. “What if he’s been possessed by Nicas instead of just revived by his power?”

  “Holy hell, why didn’t I think of that before? That’s probably the real reason he kept talking like he was. He wasn’t talking about himself when kept saying ‘he’ and ‘him’.”

  “I don’t want to get your hopes up in case I’m wrong, but it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

  “How can we find out?”

  “I can try to conjure Nicas if I can find the spell I need. It should be in this book. If he’s on the other side where he should be, I’ll be able to reach him.”

  “Then what?”

  “Well, if he isn’t there, we exorcise the hell out of Remy and hope we can kick Nicas’ ass to the curb, but I need your help. You have to tap into the magic that lies inside of you because exorcising someone isn’t a task just one witch should do. It’s too dangerous.”

  “That could take years though. Doesn’t it take centuries for a witch to master her magic?”

  “That’s only partly true. It takes years to get to the point where a witch can create spells and use magic without really thinking about it, but anyone can take advantage of spells that are already made and tap into their natural magical abilities. It just takes more time and effort. They just have to believe. That’s how you were able to do the cloaking spell.”

  “But what if I can’t do any of that? I mean, how can anyone just become a witch?”

  “Every human being has magic inside them. Magic is responsible for things that we sometimes take for granted.”

  “Like what?”

  “Emotions… Imagination… Imagination is magic. Learn to tap the power behind your emotions or imagination, and you’ve got it made, babe.”

  “Okay, new plan. We start this tonight. I don’t want to put it off another day.”

  “Alright, I want you to practice blocking everything out. That really is the best place for you to start. I can teach you all kinds of spells, but in order to use the magic within and master the more complicated spells, you have to be able to start there so you have no interference. The kind of magic you’re going to need to help me with requires it. Once you’ve got that down, we’ll start with some simple spells and work our way up over the next few weeks.”

  “Can you teach me a locator spell? Would that be an easy one?”

  “Sure. Who or what do you want to find?”

  “My family. They’ve disappeared.”

  Mary shook her head and snickered. “I do not envy you, girl. So much bullshit going on in your life. Time to change things for the better. The locator spell will be step two then.”

  CHAPTER 11

  A few days later, Mary had finally found the spell and almost everything she needed to conjure Nicas. She unlocked a large cabinet and began rummaging through its contents while Sabine waited patiently. She was torn between whether or not she wanted Nicas to come forward. On the one hand, if he didn’t, then that most likely meant their suspicions were true and Remy was possessed. However, if he did come forward, then maybe they could go the much easier route of simply binding some of his powers. They’d be able to see if restraining him would bring the true Remy forth.

  “I know that damn thing is in here somewhere. I really need to go through all this crap and organize it all.” Mary continued to rifle through papers, trinkets, and other random things. Her hand felt around the top shelf, too high for her to see if what she was looking for was there. “Ah-ha! There it is.” She quickly yanked down a deep crimson stone with white markings etched in it.

  “What is that?”

  “This is the talisman of the dead. Not many of them still exist, but this old witch is one of the lucky few to have one. I got it from my mother, of all people. I ought to summon her ass and see what she has to say for herself.”

  “Do it! You never know what she might do.”

  “That’s just it. I don’t know what she’d do. Even though she’s dead, she’s still very powerful. And she’d do anything for Bastian,” her eyes shifted away from Sabine, “even if that meant giving up on her own daughter.”

  “I’m sorry, Mary.”

  “I’ll just say I won’t rule it out.”

  “Fair enough. Do you need my help? Not that I can do all that much anyway…”

  “You can observe so you have a reference if you should ever need to conjure someone.” Mary grabbed a canister of salt and tossed it to Sabine. “Here is something you can do. Measure out two cups of that and mix it with two cups of sand. I have a big box of it over there under that desk. Go grab a mixing bowl from the kitchen.”

  Sabine did as she was told and returned to Mary with the mixture.

  “Take this book and sit down in the middle of the floor there.” Mary began making a thick line on the floor out of the salt and sand mixture. “This is for protection. Even though you won’t be helping me with the spell, I still want you safe. You never know what sort of devil might hitch a ride when conjuring the dead.”

  “Yeah, I have no desire to meet anyone or anything like that. I’ve got enough shit going on in my life at the moment.”
r />   Mary completed the circle, placed five candles in different places within the confined space, and sat down next to Sabine. With the flick of her wrist, they all lit. She grabbed the spell book from Sabine and opened it to the page she required. “All the words are in this book. All I have to do is tap into my power and say them as I hold the talisman of the dead over the flame. If Nicas is on the other side, he’ll show up pretty fast. If he isn’t, well, then we’ll have to figure out how to trap Remy so we can exorcise him.”

  Mary’s eyes darkened as she stared off at nothing for just a split second. She began chanting words that were foreign to Sabine. The only words she could make out was ‘Nicas Lordanescu’.

  A breeze began to blow through the windowless basement. Goose bumps spread over Sabine’s flesh as the hair on her arms pricked up. An eerie, vibrating hum radiated throughout the basement. As the hum became louder, she realized it was voices of the disembodied kind. She hoped like hell the layer of salt making up the circle really would protect them from evil.

  Mary’s eyes cleared, and the hum stopped. “He isn’t there.” She smiled widely at Sabine.

  *

  A quiet buzzing of her cell phone caught her attention as she tried hard to block everything out. Sabine had tried and tried to master this one simple step, but her thoughts were too busy. The lyrics to her favorite Ferrum song would play through her head or she’d hear a car horn outside and that was it. She’d lose it and then feel like she was failing Mary and Remy.

  She reached over to the nightstand and picked up the phone. Sam hadn’t called for a few days, so she wasn’t surprised to hear from her.

  “Hey chica, what’s up?”

  “Nothing much. Just wanted to check in. My mom and I have been hanging out doing a lot of mother-daughter things.”

  “That’s great! I’m so happy you two were able to reunite.”

  “Well, we have you to thank for that. If it weren’t for you, I’d still think she was dead… which is the real reason I wanted to talk to you.”

  Dread coursed through her body as she waited for Sam to continue.

  “Ok, so here it goes. I was thinking about your family and how they’ve just up and disappeared. I was telling my mom a little about it since my grandparents left with me right after she came here. I told her how you went to your house and they were just gone. She had some interesting things to say.”