by M. L. Briers
~
“I think we’ve got it…” Daniella announced with the same superior tone that made Morgana want to pulverise her into little Daniella pieces and hand them to the professor like a jigsaw for him to put back together again…
It was a nice thought, but they needed her if they were going to get Claudia back in one piece…
“Don’t give it to me…” Morgana muttered as she shimmied towards the edge of the table, dropping her feet down to the floor, and then she stalked across the room towards the professor and Jessica, who was still preforming eyelash pat-a-cake with the poor man…
Nathaniel turned on a grin as he watch Morgana go. He felt like an outsider in this part of her world – the Fae part – and yet, he knew everything about her that there was to know about a person – aside from the obvious sexual nature of her body and how they would fit together…
He should know her – he’d spent every moment that he could studying – stalking her, for her own protection, and making sure that there was nothing left to chance.
“This is the spell. It has the base spell and is interwoven with the simplicity of this one…” Harold was handing her notes, “and this.” He looked pleased with himself – like it was a moment to scream Eureka!
“And you think that this can do what? Charge straight through the dark shields?” Morgana asked and the professor shook his head…
“No. That’s the beauty of it – the way that’s it’s been woven together makes it act more like a worm, infiltrating the smallest flaw and crawling inside.” Harold told her.
Nathaniel didn’t know magic, but he knew when Morgana looked suitably impressed, and if she liked it – then he liked it.
“Let’s try it…” Morgana said and eyed Jessica for a long moment. The woman was smitten with the professor and it took a nudge from Morgana to bring her attention back towards her. “Ready to try?”
“Me. Yes. Sure.” Jessica looked a little taken back. She leaned in towards Morgana and whispered. “Was I staring at him, because he is a little…?”
“If you say dreamy I’ll punch you,” Morgana bit back.
“Dreamy? Why would I say dreamy? Who says dreamy?” Jessica frowned back at her.
“You just did, three times.” Morgana groaned.
“Not in the context that you meant,” Jessica snorted back.
“Let’s do this…” Daniella said, gathering what they needed and turning with the things towards a clean table in the middle of the room. She set everything out…
“Shall I pour tea?” Nathaniel asked; the sarcasm dripping from his voice as he leaned down towards Morgana.
“Well if you’re playing mother, I do hate to think what father would look like…” Morgana said, walking away from him to join the others.
The professor rested his backside against a table top and watched the witches with interest. Nathaniel joined him, folding his arms across his broad chest and watching the three woman assume their positions around the table…
“Chances of this working?” He whispered towards the professor, and Harold shot him a sideways glance.
“Actually, very good…” he offered back.
“Then I guess I should prepare to kick some butt.” He reached for his mobile phone and stalked away.
~
~
~
“You’re serious?” Julian said down the line and Nathaniel rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
“Deadly.”
“No really?”
“How more serious can you get than deadly?” Nathaniel groaned.
“Depends if you’re a vampire or not,” Julian offered back.
“Point taken.” Nathaniel sneered. “Michael’s in…”
“He would be.” Julian offered back.
“It’s a simple question, Julian – can I count on your help?”
Nathaniel waited while Julian preformed the customary moment’s silence while he considered it. He could just imagine the man counting down the seconds until he gave his answer.
“Yes,” he sighed.
“Meet me at the university…”
“Tasty students?”
“Not tonight, raincheck…” Nathaniel said, before he cut the line and Julian’s waffle.
He was lining up his own army against whatever was out there. He knew that Morgana would want to go after Claudia herself, and he couldn’t leave her with anyone else – so taking her was the best option, but he wouldn’t go into the were-lair alone…
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
~
Tom Deaton felt the pain in his gums as his fangs elongated and he embraced the animal side of him. He could scent the blonde’s fear in the air, see the disbelief in her eyes, the cold horror and the repulsion for what he was written all over her face, and hear her heart hammering inside her chest…
That made him feel like a God.
He wasn’t doing this to get off on it – well, maybe a little – but he was also doing it to teach them a lesson before he lured them into his net and sealed their fate forever.
Nathaniel thought he was a damn God. Vampires weren’t Gods they were an abomination. The dead that wouldn’t lie down and die.
But his own kind – werewolves – were classed as the lowest on the supernatural food chain – called mutts and hunted to their deaths, and nobody blinked an eye…
Nathaniel had murdered his brother at the bequest of his witch, and he would pay the ultimate price … but then, so would she.
“It’s alright…” Joseph turned towards Claudia inside the metal cage where they’d been held since they were dragged their kicking and screaming – more Claudia then him, but…
“No, it’s not…” Claudia shook her head.
She couldn’t take her eyes off the man that had grown fangs and was stalking towards their cage…
“He’s going to bite – not kill…” Joseph said in a low whisper that was almost against her ear.
“H-how is that better?” Claudia bit out.
“The bite will change you, but you’ll be alive…” For now…
“Change me into what…?” Claudia was shaking from head to toe and she was sure that she was about to either lose her lunch – again, or pee her pants – not that she really gave a damn…
“A werewolf…” Joseph said, and she did drag her eyes from Tom then, and snapped them towards Joseph, noting instant recognition for the man…
“Your…”
“Shop next to Morgana’s … yeah…” Joseph spoke fast as the sound of the key in the lock of the door clanged inside his mind and echoed through his body like a death nail in his own coffin.
He was scared.
Hell, he’d never been more scared of anything in his damn life before, but for her it was worse – she was a human who didn’t know about the underworld, the supernatural, apart from Tarot cards and runes – he couldn’t imagine what was going through her head.
“Why are we…?” Claudia started to ask, but the sound of the creaky hinges grated on her nerves and made her turn her head towards the opening and the man who stood there…
“Blondie – up…” Tom pointed one clawed finger in her direction and she shied away, tried to make herself look smaller in the confines of the cage.
“Oh God…” Claudia shook her head and looked away from him … it was a stupid idea – like if she didn’t see him then he couldn’t see her – a childhood understanding of the real world.
“Now…” Tom stalked inside the cage, and Joseph pushed up to his feet, a challenge of sorts that made the werewolf grin.
His razor sharp fangs practically glinted in the uncovered bulb that hung in the dankness of the warehouse…
“Leave…” Joseph managed one word before the man’s hand circled his throat and squeezed – threatening to choke the life out of him…
“You first then…” Tom growled and then he struck without warning.
His fangs cut into the skin of Joseph’s shoulder, tore through the fl
esh, almost down to the bone … the werewolf venom was quick to enter the human’s bloodstream, and the sound of Claudia’s screams echoed through Joseph’s mind and bounced off the walls…
~
~
~
“I don’t like this…”
Daniella nodded her head towards the two new vampires that had joined the group inside the library. Harold had a permanent frown upon his forehead, and yet, he also knew the wisdom behind having backup should things go wrong.
“An unfortunate evil, I’m afraid,” he offered back to the young witch and watched her back straighten as she drew back her shoulders.
“I can handle the dark witch…” Daniella informed him. “I’d rather not be watching my back from my own side…”
“Do we have a problem?” Julian asked as he eyed Daniella and she sneered back at him.
“Are you serious?” Daniella shot back, eyeing the man from head to toe and back up again.
“No.” Harold assured him.
“Speak for yourself, Professor.” Daniella ground out.
Working with Nathaniel had been bad enough, but she’d barely had to interface with him on anything much, but now she was expected to go into a possible trap with three vampires as backup … it was insane.
‘Daniella can you hear me?’ Harold said through the link that the witch had provided to him via the amulet that he wore around his neck.
‘I can…’
‘You have to trust me and not them. I believe you’ll be safe, otherwise I would never ask you to do this…’
‘You didn’t ask…’
‘You know what I mean…’
‘I do. And you know how I feel about bloodsuckers.’
‘I understand, and I’ll be right there with you – watching your back…’
“No!” Daniella said as she turned her eyes on the Professor…
Julian had been paying attention. He’d thought that there was something going on between the witch and the professor.
They’d looked almost as if they were talking to each other without speaking a word, and now he knew it. The damn problem was that Morgana must have shared that spell that kept vampires from reading the minds of those beneath them in the food chain … he’d tried to connect, but it felt like a damn brick wall with a zinger of a punch to his brain…
‘Careful, Daniella…’
‘I don’t want you there…’
‘I’ll be carrying my gun and I have all the silver bullets that I could ever need…’
‘Still … I can’t protect you if something goes wrong…’
‘Good, don’t try – protect yourself and any humans that might be there … I’ll be perfectly fine…’
‘We have magic. The vampires have claws, speed, and fangs, and you have a gun … do the math…’
‘I’m a professor. The first thing I do is the math, Daniella.’
Harold assured her and brought her eyes back to his once more.
“Ready?” He asked and she nodded.
“Ready.” She assured him.
“Then let’s do this…” Nathaniel said.
The fact that the two of them had been having a conversation didn’t go unnoticed by Nathaniel either. He’d need to ask Morgana how that was possible – he was almost certain that the professor was fully human – but that could wait for another time.
Tonight they were on the hunt.
Tonight they would kill the werewolves, rescue the human, maybe more than one – and find and kill the dark witch.
And all before the sun came up and the bitten had turned into werewolves.
He hoped.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
~
“You look like someone crapped in your favourite shoes…” Morgana said as she flicked a look at Nathaniel across the small space in the front seat of his car.
Daniella had refused to ride with a vampire and Harold had taken his car. It wasn’t exactly fast, and looked like it belonged to a teacher, and the only other person that had agreed to ride with them had been Jessica, and that was because she was still flashing her boobs and fluttering her lashes at the professor for all that she was worth.
Michael and Julian had chosen to ride together.
They had something of a convoy going on as they drove across town towards the abandoned warehouses on the south side.
“Did you notice the way that the professor and Daniella were talking with their minds to each other?” Nathaniel asked.
It was something that was niggling at him that he couldn’t drop.
“Yep. Neat spell – they must be using a very powerful amulet…”
“So, it can be done? They’re not like pod people or village of the damned…?”
“Now don’t reflect your shortcomings on others…” Morgana grinned.
Even while her insides were dancing to the tune of apprehension – tension – and plain old nerves at what could be waiting for them. She chose to concentrate on him.
Nathaniel made her feel safe in an uncertain world.
He wasn’t infallible, but he was the one person that she relied on to have her back. She didn’t know if the others would cut and run, but him … not in a million years.
“But, according to you I have so many…”
“I could write a very long list…”
“Ergo, deflecting…”
“Like tinfoil behind the radiator.” She tossed back and he gave her a very strange look. “Proved to send the heat into the room…” she backed up her story with fact.
“O-k-a-y…” Nathaniel took a moment to think about it, and then he leaned sideways towards her a little. “Did anyone ever mention to you – and stop me if you have heard this before – because I sense that maybe, just maybe, it’s been there in your past…”
“Oh for the love of timing get on with it!”
“You’re strange.”
“Says the dead guy that feeds on blood and is a walking – talking corpse…” She raised her eyebrows back at him.
Nathaniel snapped back upright in his seat.
“Ok, I’ll give you that.”
“You didn’t give it to me. I earned it.”
“Fine, brownie points for you.” Nathaniel shot her a questioning look. “Talk about peeing in corners and claiming your territory.”
“I’m sure that’s what you do on those nights that Julian says you sit on the roof opposite my house and watch like a creepy stalker…”
“Oh, I do a lot more than that, especially when your curtains are open and there’s this strange buzzing…”
Morgana slapped her hand over his mouth.
“Too far…” she hissed and he pulled his head away from her hand.
“Hmm, not far enough – is two your limit?” He shot her a devilish grin and his eyes flashed with amusement.
“I’m not …” she shook her head. “There are no words…” she bit out.
“There are some … along with the moans, want me to tell you what you say in the heat of the…”
“No!”
“I’m sure I heard my name a few…”
“Oh – my – Goddess. If we weren’t driving to rescue people and kill the bad guys I would so zap your backside to kingdom come right now…”
“Speaking of that kingdom called come…”
“Watch the road!” She snapped and Nathaniel chuckled.
“I am watching the road.”
“Then stop speaking – because everyone knows that men can not multitask.”
“I’m not an ordinary man – which leads me back to that Kingdom called…”
“I will kill you.”
“Not called that…” he said shaking his head.
“I swear … I will let the bad guy with the claws and the fangs and the fur eat you…”
“In a sexual way?” Nathaniel looked confused.
“Just … drive!” She bit out. Preferring the silence to him.
Nathaniel leaned back in…
&n
bsp; “Can we talk about this after the…?”
“No!”
“Sure?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, you’re sure or yes you changed your mind and…”
“Please make it stop…” Morgana bit out.
She wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to head butt the dashboard herself or make him do it to himself with her magic – either way it would be a lot quieter inside her swirling mind.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
~
“Tomorrow is the full moon – we can’t leave anyone behind and we need to kill the alpha tonight.” Nathaniel reminded them.
“Why don’t we just kill everyone we find?” Julian asked, inspecting the claws that he’d already drawn down, although, he did have the good grace to keep his fangs at bay.
“Because we don’t do that…” Nathaniel gave him a scathing look. “Rinse the humans and let them go…”
“What if we find a human that can’t be manipulated?” Michael asked with a small shrug off his shoulders.
“That’s different…” Nathaniel said, but Morgana snorted her contempt for that answer.
“No, it’s not. Bring them to one of us, we can find out why and work around it. No human has to die tonight if they haven’t already gone through one change under the full moon.” Morgana shot a dark glare at Nathaniel and he sighed and half rolled his eyes.
“Oh, fine. What she said…” he muttered.
“Ball and chain…” Julian muttered and Michael grinned.
“It does none of us any favours to have werewolves out there…” Nathaniel reminded the vampire. “And just remember – they’re messing with our food supply too.”
“Nathaniel…” Morgana shook her head.
“I’m just saying … who wants to feed from a werewolf …” he expanded his hands and shrugged his shoulders.
“Can we just get on with it?” Daniella was back to being Miss Superior attitude again, and Morgana eyed her, finally figuring her out…
It was a cover for her fears. Inside the witch was still that teenager who was dabbling in things that scared her – outside; she was Miss Frosty the Ice Queen.