Poison and Potions: a Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by Erin Hayes

  "Get back to the Deific," he said. "I'll talk to Henry and the others. We'll find her."

  I hung up and gripped the phone tightly. I had to sit down for just a moment to catch my breath. Everything she was feeling poured into me and sometimes the wave would come so fast and hard, I was afraid I might lose consciousness.

  By the time I arrived at the Deific, Henry had already organized everyone into groups to search for Moira. He approached me and said, "You have the strongest connection with her. My guess is you will find her first. I'll go with you while Michael leads the others."

  I nodded my head. Now I just had to concentrate and find her. Never have I needed my abilities so much before. I hoped they didn't fail me.

  Henry and I were out the door before the others. He drove my car away from the Deific and asked, "Which way?"

  I stared straight ahead and concentrated. "I'm not sure."

  "Close your eyes," he said. "Think of Moira. No matter how difficult. Focus on that connection and just tell me the first direction that comes to your mind."

  I did as he asked. With my eyes closed, I thought of her. So many of her emotions were right there, but I needed to push past them so I could concentrate. I pictured her face thinking of her bright blue eyes.

  "Turn left," I said. The words felt right when they left my mouth.

  "Good. Trust your gift."

  For the next several miles, I told Henry when to turn. Soon we were leaving the city, and I grew nervous that maybe I was wrong.

  "Turn right," I said, with my eyes still closed.

  I felt the car move in that direction.

  "Right again."

  "There's no more road," Henry said.

  I opened my eyes. We were in the parking lot of a strip mall. Several shops were pressed together. Customers walked the sidewalk in front of them.

  "No, no, no." I clutched my head. "This can't be right. What have I done?"

  "We don't know that this isn't the place," Henry said, his voice gentle. "Let's get out and walk around. Don't be deceived by what's in front of you. You need to trust your gift."

  Henry exited the car. The sky was partly cloudy, but he still flinched and darted beneath a green awning in front of a printing shop.

  As I walked, I realized I felt Moira stronger than ever. She had to be here. I searched the stores, hurrying in and out of them, looking for anything that seemed out of place, but everything appeared normal. This shouldn't be a place for vampires. There were too many humans.

  We stopped at the end of the strip mall, and I stood there still feeling the connection. "I don't get it. It feels like she's all around me."

  Henry's gaze lowered to the sidewalk. "What about below you?"

  I don't know how, but as soon as he said it, I knew he was right. "How do we get down there?"

  "There must be an entrance somewhere." Henry opened the door to the nearest store and said over his shoulder, "Wait here."

  While he spoke to a clerk inside, I scanned the area again. Not far from where I was, there was a smaller building separate from the others. It looked like some kind of maintenance shed. I walked over to it and peeked in a small window. Inside was a power generator and a riding lawnmower along with several other lawn tools. But I noticed something else. A door. That had to lead to some kind of basement, maybe to a power grid that ran all the electricity to the strip mall.

  "You're on the right track," Henry said from behind me. "The lady told me this is the only basement she knows of in the whole area." He took hold of the door handle and jerked upward, breaking the lock.

  I slipped inside. The shed was dark and smelled like lawn clippings and oil. I snaked my way through all the equipment until I reached the door. Just as I did, another wave of pure terror washed over me. My hand came up to steady me against the doorjamb.

  Henry narrowed his eyes at me in concern, but I waived him forward. He opened the unlocked door and crept down a long staircase. I carefully followed after him inhaling deeply. A smell, like someone was burning jasmine-scented incense, wafted up. At the bottom, Henry pressed his hand to my chest to keep me from going further. I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to stay put while he investigated. He disappeared out of my view, but returned a moment later and waved me forward.

  Around the corner, a giant generator hummed quietly. Next to it was a long power grid with blinking lights and labels listing each store’s name. I glanced to my left when I felt a cold breeze chill my skin. A long, dark hallway stared back ominously.

  Henry leaned over and whispered, "There are many voices coming from the end."

  "Should I call for backup?" I asked, reaching for my phone, but he stopped me.

  "We can handle whatever lies beyond." He turned away before I could argue.

  I knew Henry was an old and powerful vampire, even able to use magic, but I thought he was wrong in thinking we could take on many vampires, especially if the Dark Prince was down here. We knew nothing about him. He could easily be as old as Henry.

  We crept down the long, dark corridor. I couldn't see a thing, but I followed the sounds of Henry's footsteps, knowing he could see exactly where we were going. Eventually, a light appeared at the end and a wide room stretched long. We must be directly below the strip mall at the end section. It was an odd space, probably built with the idea of future expansion to the stores above. The builder would never have guessed vampires would one day occupy his vision.

  There must've been at least two dozen vampires scattered throughout the darkened room. Only a few lamps were turned on casting cold shadows throughout the large space. Boxes had been piled high along the sides. I couldn't tell their contents, but each one read: Bodian Dynamics.

  At the other end of the room, three couches were pressed against the wall most of them full of vamps all entwined with each other. I grimaced when I noticed something that made me ill. Three naked humans leaned against the concrete wall opposite the sofas. I thought they were dead, but then one of them twitched. Bite marks covered their arms and legs. Feeder humans. I wondered if they chose this fate, or if it was chosen for them.

  A cluster of vampires stood at the rear of the room gawking at something against the back wall. The crowd shifted slightly, and I nearly stumbled when I spotted Moira, her hands chained high on the wall, her head slumped forward.

  I lunged to go after her, but Henry held me back. I pulled out my phone to again call for backup, but he stopped me. I looked at him questioningly, but my eyes widened when I saw that his hair had become fuller and had turned jet black. His eye color had also darkened, from blue to gray. If I didn't already know him well, I would have thought him someone else.

  Henry had always been cautious about protecting his identity, only going out when the occasion demanded it, but even then he kept to the shadows. He never explained why.

  "Let's go," he said, not acknowledging the fact that he looked completely different.

  "Go?"

  He pulled me along into the room. I reached for the electric gun behind my back, but he shook his head. Whatever he had planned, I didn't like it. I needed to be ready to kill them, and not be put in a position where they could get the upper hand.

  We made it halfway into the room before anyone spotted us. There were so many vampires, and with the humans on the floor, they probably didn't smell us.

  Two vampires appeared in front of us blocking our path. "And what the hell do you think you're doing down here?"

  The vampire sounded tough, but his eyes shifted to his partner nervously. No doubt they could sense the power pulsing off Henry.

  "We've come for the girl, and those three humans should they choose it," Henry said.

  The other vampires slowly circled around us allowing me a better view of Moira. The flesh on her neck had been cut but only a couple of inches. Blood trickled onto her shirt. Her head lifted and her eyes met mine. I gave her an encouraging smile.

  "We can't do that," a tall, long-haired vampire said. "She belongs to the Dark
Prince and will remain that way."

  Henry looked around the room. "And which one of you is the Dark Prince?"

  "He will return shortly. I suggest you not be here when he returns," the vampire said.

  Henry clasped his hands behind his back and walked in a small circle, eyeing the group. "I sense most of you are new vampires. I can kill you easily."

  Several of them shifted their weight, their fangs drawn. They were feeding off each other's energy, an energy that filled the room with anger and aggression. At this point, it didn't matter how much Henry threatened them. They were going to fight us.

  "Let's make a deal," Henry said. "I'll leave the girl for the Dark Prince, but I want what's in those boxes."

  I looked at Henry, surprised. He cared about the stupid boxes? What was he doing?

  "You can't have those either," the vampire answered. "They are valuable to the Dark Prince."

  "What's in them?"

  The vampire let out a long sigh. "Do you really think we are going to tell you that?"

  Henry shook his head. "I truly hoped I wouldn't have to hurt any of you. How about I make one final deal? If any of you back away from us right now, then I won't kill you."

  A large, meathead-looking vampire with a buzzed haircut said, "You may be old and stronger than some of us, but you're not stronger than all of us together. We will tear you and your human apart."

  "Wait just a minute," a voice from the back of the circle said. "Let them take the girl. No one has to die tonight."

  The long-haired vampire whirled around and snapped," I don't know what you've been smoking, Jared, but we can't give them the girl, and you know it."

  The two stared each other down. Jared spoke first. "Let the old vampire take the girl, but in exchange, he must leave his human."

  "I'm okay with that," I said, a little too quickly.

  Several of the vampires laughed.

  "You hear that?" Jared said to the crowd. "He wants us to feed upon him."

  "Silence!" Henry roared. He glanced over at Moira. "Moira?"

  Her head slowly lifted again.

  "What do you think? Are these vampires being truthful?"

  I barely heard her when she answered, "The moment they separate you, they're going to attack you and kill Charlie. Don't trust them. Kill them all." Her head slumped forward again.

  Jared chuckled uncomfortably but backed away from the group. "The girl's crazy. We will keep our word."

  "I don't think so," Henry said.

  Faster than I could blink, Henry withdrew a dagger from his waist and darted around the room, stabbing a wooden dagger into the hearts of over a dozen vampires. Dust filled the air, coating my skin. I wiped it off my face to keep from breathing it in.

  The remaining vampires had backed up and were crouched low in defensive positions. I was about to grab my own daggers when I was snatched from behind. Strong hands clamped around my throat, and any second I expected my neck to snap. Henry lifted his hand, and a shockwave came toward us knocking us to the ground. Henry darted off to finish off the rest of the vampires.

  I sucked in a quick breath and rolled away just as the vampire who had fallen with me slashed his clawed hand at my stomach. I swung the dagger downward piercing his hand. He howled and jerked it free. I raised my hand to strike again, but his fist moved much faster and crashed into my face. Pain rocked my body, nearly making me almost lose consciousness, but I managed to stay alert.

  Using the only advantage I had, simply being a weak human in his mind, I pretended to struggle as I came to my feet. The vampire grinned and eyed me hungrily, as if I was a wounded deer. He scrambled toward me on all fours and lifted his head to bite me with his fangs, but I rammed the dagger into his heart instead. He burst into ash.

  I turned in time to see Henry lifting his hand and, using some kind of magical force, shocking three vampires at once. They flew back several feet. I had no idea his abilities went this far. I wondered if it was a power all vampires could do when they reached a certain age or if it was something only Henry could do.

  While Henry kept them occupied, I turned to help Moira, but Jared had snuck away from the fighting and had just undone her chains. She collapsed to the floor, and he grabbed her by the arm to pull her away.

  I couldn't let that happen.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I sprinted over to him, gripping the dagger tightly. When he saw me, he shoved Moira away and swung at me, but I dropped to the ground at the exact moment and stabbed the end of my wooden stake into his kneecap. He growled and kicked at me, but I darted out of the way and stabbed him again into his side. The sharp point slid right between his ribs.

  He snarled and swung a fist wide, but I dove again, thinking only of Moira who was still bleeding from the neck. Jared kicked back at me, a move I wasn't expecting, and caught me in the gut. Air exploded from my lungs, and I dropped the dagger. It slid away from me before I could grab it.

  "I've heard it takes seven seconds to crush a human's windpipe," he said, and gripped my throat. "Let's find out." He lifted me high into the air.

  Behind him, Moira rose, the dagger in her hand. She stabbed it forward into Jared's back and into his heart. His body exploded into ash, and I fell from his grip. Moira dropped to her knees, her eyes filling with tears.

  "Get her out of here!" Henry shouted. He was fighting against two older vampires who had slowed him down. He had already killed a dozen, but there were still more to kill.

  I bent down and scooped up Moira, cradling her to my chest. Keeping to the edge of the room, I snuck by the chaos. When one of the vampires caught us leaving, he lunged for us, but Henry tossed him across the room by an invisible force.

  I traveled the length of the long dark hall keeping my shoulder next to it to help us through the darkness.

  "Thank you for finding me," Moira whispered.

  "Just rest," I said. "We'll be out of here in no time."

  I carried her up the stairs and out the door, squinting when sunlight hit us full on.

  "Can you walk?" I asked her. I didn't want to draw any attention to us. The last thing I wanted was a bunch of humans to go down into a lair of vampires.

  She nodded, and I slowly lowered her. With my arm around her side, I practically carried her to the car while she limped from exhaustion. I placed her in the backseat, but she could barely remain upright.

  "Go ahead and lie down," I encouraged, but she just slumped into the seat.

  I quickly opened the trunk and removed a first-aid kit. I had to know how bad her wound was, as she may need stitches right away. And blood. She had clearly lost a lot of it by how weak she was.

  I blotted her neck with a bandage. The cut was deep but not life threatening. I taped a bandage to the wound. Henry could fix her up when we got back to the Deific.

  "What about Henry?" Moira asked.

  I looked back toward the utility shed. "He will be okay."

  I hoped I was right.

  I was about to get inside the drivers seat when a dark, depressed feeling washed over me. I looked to my left to find the source and across the parking lot I locked eyes with the nicely dressed vampire I'd seen before. His dark energy was overwhelming and made me suck in a breath.

  His eyebrows drew together in anger like he knew what I had done. He turned directions and walked toward me with two vampires behind him. Devon was one of them.

  I jumped behind the wheel and shoved the key in the ignition, my hand trembling. The key fell from my hand, and I cursed. I quickly picked it up again. There was something about this vampire that terrified me.

  I pulled away from the curb just as he reached me. Not wasting a second, I called Henry to warn him. I prayed he would answer.

  "What?" his voice yelled, as if he was in the middle of fighting.

  "The Dark Prince is coming. Get out of there!"

  The phone went dead. I hoped it was deliberate and not because someone had taken the phone from him.

  I drove all the
way back to the Deific and helped Moira inside. Henry was already there, back to looking like himself, and took her from my arms. He laid her onto a mat and pulled back the bandage.

  "It could be worse," he said, then looked up at Terry who had come over to help. "Get my suture kit."

  Terry did as he asked and returned a moment later. I smoothed back Moira's hair and stared down at her. I could no longer feel her fear.

  While Henry cared for Moira, I asked him, "What happened after we left?"

  He wiped at the blood on Moira's neck with an alcohol wipe. "I managed to kill most of them, but when you phoned I disappeared quickly."

  I frowned. "I'm surprised you didn't try to fight him."

  "My identity needs to stay hidden from certain vampires in the world. Since I don't know this Dark Prince, I need to remain careful."

  "There's a lot I don't know about you, isn't there?" I asked.

  He didn't respond as he continued to work on Moira. After a few minutes, he said to her, "All done. You'll be sore and may have some bruising, but it will be better in a few days. During this time, drink plenty of fluids and this."

  He handed her a small vial full of a clear liquid. "It will restore your energy."

  "Thank you, Henry," she said. Her eyes had been closed this entire time, but no doubt she'd listened to our conversation.

  "Did you learn anything while you were there?" Henry asked her.

  "It was difficult. There were too many voices and they did things to me…"

  My hands curled into fists, and I ground my teeth together. I would kill the Dark Prince for this.

  "Don't worry," he said, and patted her on the hand. "I learned enough for both of us. After the Dark Prince returned, I snuck back into the hallway and listened in. The old vampire was not happy with what had happened there. It also made him nervous that we had gotten too close to those boxes he had down there. So much so, that he moved up his timetable. Whatever they have planned, it's happening tonight."

  I lowered my gaze to Moira feeling sick. We still had no idea what he was planning or where.