Vampire’s Descent: Willow Harbor - Book Two

by Jennifer Snyder

  “I can’t believe I thought he’d commit suicide. What kind of father am I?” A sob shook his body. “Somewhere deep down, I knew Danny wouldn’t do something like that, and yet I let everyone tell me otherwise. I even allowed my own eyes to play tricks on me. There’s no way that thing could have been as neat as what I saw when I found him. What I want to know is who the hell covered up your brother’s death?”

  I didn’t know what to say because I hadn’t thought of it that way before. Who would want to cover up something like that? The chief of police maybe to keep panic out of Willow Harbor?

  “Maybe no one did. Maybe it was part of the hellhound’s magic,” Mason chimed in. “I don’t know much about them, but I do know they have some sort of magic residing in them. It’s possible their magic can also glamor the scene of their crime, making it appear to be something else.”

  “It’s possible. It could also explain why so little is known of them. They don’t necessarily leave a trail behind.”

  “I should have sensed something was off,” Dad muttered. “I should’ve known there was something else at play. Danny was my kid. My son.”

  I understood why he was feeling how he was, but knew no good could come from it. Making him feel like a crap parent hadn’t been my intention. I only wanted him to know the truth about Danny’s death.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, Claire. Jesus, I’m so sorry, honey.” Dad sobbed. “I can’t believe I thought your brother would do something like that. I failed you both.”

  Tears slipped down my cheeks. It was hard to see an already broken man break even further, especially one I loved.

  “It’s okay, Dad. And you didn’t fail us.” I sniffled as I reached out to hug him.

  “No. A parent should always give their kids the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t,” he muttered.

  “Don’t beat yourself up about this. Danny wouldn’t have wanted you to,” Mason said. His words were so sincere they sent a shot of warmth through my core. My gaze traveled to meet his, and I flashed him a small smile before mouthing the words thank you.

  An icy chill settled into the room. I knew it was Danny making himself known.

  “Think I’m going to step outside and give you some privacy,” Mason said. His gaze darted around the room. He’d felt Danny’s presence, too. He started for the door, but before he could leave, an aberration of my brother appeared in front him, blocking his path.

  “Don’t go, Mason,” Danny said. His voice echoed through the office in a creepy way, but there was a warm timbre to it that had a sense of familiarity buzzing through me.

  “Danny?” Dad breathed. “Is that really you?”

  “Yeah, Dad, it’s me.” Danny smiled and another river of tears began to flow from my eyes. I’d missed his smile. I’d missed him.

  “How?” Dad asked the question burning on the tip of my tongue.

  “I can’t answer that because I’m not sure. Just know that I’m here.”

  “Why are you here right now?” I asked. Why hadn’t he appeared to me like this before? Why now?

  “I had unfinished business. I couldn’t leave until you both knew the truth.” He crammed his hands into the front pockets of his ghostly jeans. It was a gesture he always did when he was nervous. “I wanted you to figure out what happened to me. I was pissed my death had been labeled a suicide and people were believing it. I didn’t want you two thinking you’d missed some silent cry for help from me and blame yourselves. Please know I was never depressed. I loved my life, I loved the store, and I will always love both of you.”

  My throat constricted as my tears of sorrow choked me.

  Danny stepped toward me. The chill coming off him seeped through to my bones, but I didn’t back away. I couldn’t. This was the final few moments I’d ever get to spend with my brother.

  “Don’t be sad. I’m not. I get to be with Mom. I get to see her again, and now I get to leave this earth knowing you both know the truth about my death. That was all that mattered to me, sis. Screw this entire town. I don’t care if they think I committed suicide. All that matters is you and Dad know the truth, and I get to say goodbye.”

  “I wish you didn’t have to go. God, Danny, I’m so sorry this happened to you,” I cried.

  “I wish I didn’t have to go either, but I do. I can’t hang around here. It’s too lonely not being able to talk to anyone. It was depressing being chained to the bookstore and my apartment. I was trapped here.” His hand reached out, and by some sort of magic I didn’t understand, touched my arm. His touch was cold but bearable. There was a strange sense of comfort in it. “It’s because of you and your crazy impulsive ways I’m free. Thank you, Claire. You saved me an eternity of torment.”

  “It wasn’t all me.” I wiped my tears away. “You should be thanking Mason, too. He’s the one who helped me.”

  Danny glanced at Mason. He was standing near the office door, watching. “I know. I saw everything. I even saw you save my sister from the hellhound. Thank you. I swear I couldn’t say those words enough to show my level of appreciation for that alone. It was terrifying watching that thing come at her and knowing there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.”

  “It came after you?” Dad snapped. I could feel his heated gaze on me and knew I’d get a lecture on keeping something like that from him.

  “Yeah, but Mason was there. He killed it,” I said.

  “I guess I should be glad he was there, glad he saved you, but what I want to know is why it came after you in the first place. And why the hell did you wait so long to tell me all of this?”

  “She saw how much you were hurting, Dad,” Danny said before I could say anything. He always stuck up for me. Always. What would I do without him? “She didn’t want to hurt you any more than you already were. That, and knowing Claire, I’m sure she probably wanted to wait until she had enough proof to prove her case before saying anything. Am I right?”

  “On both accounts.” I smiled.

  Dad cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him. A deep-lined frown etched its way across his face. I thought I was about to get an earful, but instead he shifted to face Mason.

  “Thank you again for rescuing my daughter when she’d obviously bitten off more than she could chew,” he said. “And thanks for sticking with her through all this when you didn’t have to.”

  “You’re welcome, sir,” Mason said.

  “Come here,” Danny whispered to me. He reached out and pulled me in for a hug. Warmth I hadn’t been expecting enveloped me at his touch. “I have to go, but I want you to know I’ll always be with you, Claire. Don’t forget me, okay?”

  “Don’t be stupid,” I scolded him through my tears. “I could never forget you. You’re the best brother a girl could have.”

  “Live a happy, full, long life for me, all right? I don’t want to see you again for a long time. Do you hear me?”

  “Promise.” I squeezed him as tight as I could, inhaling his cologne and imprinting the moment to memory.

  Danny pulled away and kissed me on the forehead before moving on to our dad.

  “Don’t be sad for me, Dad. I already told you Mom’s got my back on the other side. She misses you, by the way. She wanted me to tell you she’s always watching. She’s tired of seeing you hurt. She said you need to get out of house more. You need to travel the world like you always wanted so that you have stories to tell her when it’s time for you two to be together again. She wants you to live,” Danny said as he pulled our dad in for a hug. “We both do.”

  “I can’t. I’m afraid if I leave, I’ll forget you both. The pain reminds me you were both here and ripped away from me too soon.”

  Another tear slipped down my cheek because I knew exactly how Dad felt. It was how I felt too. The pain of losing them was what kept them both fresh in my memory.

  “I know, but you have to. You won’t forget us. Deep down you know that,” Danny insisted. “Mom doesn’t want to see you anytime soon either,
okay? So you better get your shit together, old man. You have a lot of years left here. Make the most of them, or when you finally get to the afterlife, you’re never going to hear the end of it from Mom.” Danny grinned as he released our dad.

  “Okay.” Dad chuckled. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “Tell her I will.”

  “I will, and she’ll know if you’re lying because she’ll be watching.”

  Dad laughed harder. The chill in the room seemed to dissipate as my brother’s image faded around the edges. My heart thundered in my chest at the thought of never seeing him again. While I knew it wasn’t fair to ask him to stay, the words still danced across the tip of my tongue.

  Goodbyes were never fun, but this one sucked. It broke me in ways I’d never felt before.

  Why did he have to be taken from us so soon? Why had that stupid guide been given to us in the first place? And why the hell had he opened it?

  “Danny, wait!” I shouted. I needed answers, and he was the only one who could give them. “Was there a warning on the guide you didn’t listen to? Who wrote it? Why?”

  A slow smile crept across my brother’s face. “I figured you had questions, sis. I was just waiting for you to ask. Jimmy thought we could protect it. Yeah, there was a warning, but you know I never listen to those things when it involves a book. It was written by Thomas Harlow. He was a vampire hunter in love with a vampire. She was power-hungry, and the ritual was the one thing he knew he could offer her that no other could. He researched the ritual, hoping to learn every detail so he could win her love by helping to make her as powerful as she desired. After he wrote it, one of Jimmy’s great grandfathers—who happened to be a vampire hunter as well—realized what he was doing. Thomas was in love and didn’t see any fault in what he was doing. Before the vampire he loved could get her hands on the book, Jimmy’s great-grandfather and Thomas fought. Thomas was killed. Jimmy’s great-grandfather took the guide and had it linked with a hellhound. He had a vampire with the gift of compulsion compel the hellhound to kill anyone who opened it.”

  “Why did you open the book if you knew all of that?” I demanded.

  “Curiosity killed the cat, sis.” Danny smirked as he shrugged his shoulders. “The note attached by Jimmy didn’t tell me what was in the guide. It didn’t say what the ritual was for exactly, only that it could give a vampire more power. The guide became Pandora’s box to me. I had to know what the ritual did, Claire. I had to. Please forgive me…”

  Danny flickered in and out of existence. My heart kick-started.

  “I forgive you,” I whispered just before his form blinked twice and then faded away for good.

  Danny was gone. Truly gone.

  All that was left was my dad and me. I rushed to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. Sadness swallowed me whole, but there was also a tiny sliver of relief residing inside of me. I’d done what I’d set out to do. I’d proved Danny hadn’t killed himself to the one person who mattered most.

  My dad’s arms wrapped around me, squeezing me into a bear hug.

  “Thank you for making me see the light about Danny. Thank you for bringing me here tonight, and for forcing me to step through that door. I would have never been able to say goodbye if you hadn’t pushed me,” Dad said as he kissed my forehead.

  “You’re welcome. I’m glad you were here tonight, too.”

  “And you.” Dad released his grip on me and shifted to face Mason. “Thank you again for supporting my daughter through this and helping as much as you did. And, I can’t thank you enough for saving her from the hellhound. I could’ve lost them both. I’m not strong enough to survive something like that. I know it.”

  “You’re welcome, sir, but your daughter is strong and hardheaded. She could have done all this without me,” Mason insisted.

  “You’re probably right.” Dad chuckled. “Strong and hardheaded describes her best, impulsive too. She’s just like her mama. Oh, and I haven’t forgotten about you dropping out of college. That’s a conversation we still need to have.” He scolded me.

  I rolled my eyes. “I know. We have plenty of time though because I’m not planning on leaving town anytime soon. I think I’m going to stay here and take care of the bookstore. Maybe make sure you’re keeping your promise to Mom and living your life outside of this town. Besides.” I glanced at Mason. “I think I’ve finally found somebody worth staying for.”

  An adorable smirk made its way onto Mason’s face. My grin widened at the sight, but when I noticed his body tense, everything I felt disappeared.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  Mason clenched his fists at his sides. “It’s her. Aurora’s coming. I can sense her. She’s near.”

  “Who?” Dad asked.

  My eyes fixed on a woman with long red hair standing outside the bookshop door. We’d run out of time.

  Or at least I had.

  Seventeen

  Mason

  Aurora was here for the guide. I could hear her whispered desire for it buzzing around my skull. The blood of hers in my veins burned. She was close. Too close.

  “You have to get out of here,” I insisted. “Both of you. You have to go. Now.”

  I could take her, but not if I had to worry about Claire or her father’s safety at the same time.

  Claire’s eyes widened. “You’re crazy. I’m not leaving you alone with her.”

  I ignored her and shifted my attention to her father. “Get her out of here, please. This isn’t going to end well, and I don’t want to see her hurt.”

  “No!” Claire shouted through gritted teeth. “I’m not going anywhere, and I’m damn sure not standing by while you kill yourself like a martyr.”

  The sound of the front door to the bookstore opening echoed to where we stood. Aurora had entered the shop, and she wasn’t alone. I could sense there were two others with her. Vampires. Their strength rippled off them, but so did something else—a connection to me.

  Aurora was their maker as well. We were all bonded.

  I shifted my attention back to Claire and her dad. Time was running out. They needed to leave, especially now that I knew Aurora wasn’t alone.

  “You have to get her out of here,” I pleaded with Claire’s father.

  “No! Dad, we can’t leave him! He can’t go up against his maker and her minions on his own. They’ll tear him apart!” Claire insisted, shifting her attention from me to him.

  “Go. Now. I’ll be fine,” I insisted. “You need to slip out the back door before it’s too late.”

  “My darling?” Aurora called out to me. “Let your little friends stay. I’ve brought friends of my own. I bet they would love to play…”

  Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

  Claire’s dad gripped my shoulder. His eyes locked with mine. There was a dangerous level of determination festering in their depths. “We aren’t leaving. You saved my daughter; you supported her through a tough time. I can’t abandon you. It’s my turn to help you.”

  No. He should be running. He and Claire both. They should leave as fast as they could without looking back.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said.

  Claire’s dad held my stare. “And I don’t give a damn what you think.”

  “Fine,” I gritted out before shifting to face Claire. “Remember our agreement from earlier. Don’t stand in my way if I try taking her out, okay?”

  Claire didn’t have a chance to respond, because before she could, Aurora entered the office. She was flanked by two beastly vampires with crazy eyes and even crazier smirks plastered on their faces.

  “Afraid I’d get the best of you again? Decided to bring backup this time?” I taunted. Maybe it wasn’t the brightest idea I’d ever had, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted her to remember I’d nearly taken her down once already, and I could do it again. I had the blood of a hellhound pumping through my veins.

  “Whatever it takes to get what I came for,” Aurora said. She placed a
hand on her hip, but kept her eyes on me. “Speaking of what I want, where is my book?”

  “It doesn’t matter where it’s at because you’re never going to get your hands on it,” Claire spat. Damn, she was fiery when she wanted to be. I liked it.

  A snarl slipped past Aurora’s curled lips, and her fangs became exposed. Hatred simmered through her green eyes just before blackness overtook their color.

  I lunged toward Aurora without hesitation and chaos exploded inside the tiny office.

  In seconds two panthers and four vampires were going at it. I dodged blow after blow from Aurora. She was fast, but she not fast enough. Her face twisted with rage. I landed a couple of hits to her, but none seemed to do any damage. When she nailed me in the side of my head, a sick sense of excitement slipped over her face.

  An animal whimper distracted me for a split-second. I hoped it hadn’t come from Claire. I took my eyes off Aurora for a second to check, and it cost me. Aurora landed a powerful blow alongside my jaw, causing me to sway on my feet. Her hands reached out and gripped my throat. She squeezed, crushing my windpipe and caused a gurgling noise to slip past my lips. I was locked in her death grip, which was much stronger than the last one.

  I pulled at her hands, struggling to tap into the strength I’d gained from the hellhound, but it seemed as though there wasn’t anything left. The well of power and strength had run dry. Fear clogged my brain. Had my body metabolized whatever I’d gained from the beast? Could that happen?

  Another whimper rushed to my ears, this one sounding deeper than the other. It was Claire’s father. He must be losing against the vampire he’d been paired with. Things weren’t looking good for any of us, which meant things weren’t looking good for Willow Harbor either. Once Aurora got her hands on the guide, this would be the first place she sucked dry.

  The edges of my vision grew dark as her grip around my throat tightened. Muscles and ligaments tore and popped like rubber bands stretched too far inside my neck. A growl of pain erupted from Claire’s father behind me, and I knew his battle was almost over too.