by Joyce Lavene
And he was gone.
I had no doubt that we were playing his game now—maybe we had been from the start. I still had to go through with this. There was nothing left if I didn’t.
Following the street map in my mind, it was a short trip to the warehouse where my surprise waited. I wondered if everything Abe and Lucas had told me would be of any use. It felt like I was on my own. I had to deal with my father by myself.
I parked the van behind the building. There were Enter and Exit signs on the doors. Broken bottles littered the parking lot. I guessed the building had been empty for a while.
As I got out of the van, the Enter door opened wide for me. I knew the Beretta was useless against Artemis’s magic. I started to take it out of the holster and leave it. But when I lifted it, I knew that I wanted it with me anyway. It was something from my past life—my normal life.
“It’s you and me kid,” I whispered. “Let’s do this thing.”
I marched into the empty building thinking about Kate, Jacob, Addie, and Lucas. I tried to stay focused. One thing I knew about sorcerers—they wanted people to be distracted. They didn’t want them to see what they were really doing. Watch what the left hand is doing while the right hand is doing something else.
Clearing my mind of everything except being there, I walked inside. I was surprised to see hundreds of people. They formed a circle around Artemis, who was on a raised platform.
Abe’s zombies. I recognized some of them. But they didn’t belong to Abe anymore. Each of them had a faint red glow about them.
No wonder Abe was so weak. That was a lot of magic to lose. I knew he depended on each person returning their life force to him when their twenty years was over. I had no idea how many people Abe had brought back from the dead.
“Welcome, Skye!” Artemis called out. “Come in. Come right up here.”
The people surrounding him moved apart so that they’d cleared a path for me to reach him. Each of them had a blank stare. They were completely under his control. It was different than what Abe expected of them. He allowed them to live their lives for the twenty years he’d given them. Artemis had taken their will.
I stepped up on the platform where he was standing. It was some sort of machinery that had been abandoned when the building was left empty. I faced him, and he stared at me for a moment before laughing.
“Did they really think I wouldn’t notice this?” He peered closely at the stone on the gold chain around my neck. “Really? Do they think me some hack apprentice sorcerer? I am insulted that this was the best they could do.”
I started to speak but recalled Lucas’s warning about lying. “Abe is nearly dead, but he still doesn’t think you’re responsible for it. He thinks Lucas and I have taken his magic. I was trying to prove to him that it isn’t true.”
His bright blue eyes widened as though my honest answer astonished him.
“It’s only a minor problem, my dear.” He snatched the chain and stone from my neck and threw it to the floor. “That’s better. Now let’s get that pathetic sorcerer’s magic off you.”
He walked around me several times, his eyes carefully scanning me. I kept my mind empty. I thought about him, about him being my father. His eyes met mine, and I knew without a doubt that he’d told me the truth about who he was.
“My little girl—all grown up. What they have done to you? It makes me very unhappy to see you this way. But don’t worry. Soon all of the trappings of the life you’ve led so far will be gone. It will be the beginning of a new awareness for you. The two of us shall do marvelous things together.”
“And my daughter, Kate?”
“Of course we’ll take her with us—after I’ve had a look at her. Sometimes breeding with humans doesn’t leave behind magic for the child. You’ll understand that we can’t take her with us if she doesn’t measure up.”
I bit my lip to remind myself that I had to stay in the present. I couldn’t get angry or lash out. “It’s difficult for me to imagine my life without her.”
“That’s only for this moment. When we’re finished here and we’ve absorbed all of Abe’s power, we’ll take what we can from Lucas. He may not understand the difference since he has forgotten who he is. Then we’ll decide about Kate.”
“Okay. What do you need me to do?”
“Nothing. Just stand right there, and I’ll take care of the rest. When the other magic has been stripped from you, I’ll tell you your real name. It is an ancient, powerful name that has been associated with magic in our family for a thousand years.”
I did as he said, just stood there as he used his magic to cover me in a red haze. I could feel something different happening to me. It felt itchy and hot. I took off my sandals. Both Abe and Lucas’s marks were gone. There was no mark left behind by Artemis either.
Did that mean I was free from all magic bonds that had been placed on me?
Artemis sagged a little when he was finished. “I didn’t realize Lucas had put so many protections on you. I’m surprised and not pleased. Never fear. They are all gone now. It only remains for me to place my charm on you. Once it is there, no one will be able to remove it because you are of my blood.”
I watched him cut his arm and take some of the blood that dripped from it into his hand. He rubbed his hands together so that both of them were coated in his life force, and then he came toward me.
Something surged through me at that moment. I don’t know what it was. But I knew I couldn’t allow him to put his blood on me. I was desperate—he was only a heartbeat away. I had to do something.
Without thinking about it, I drew the Beretta from the holster and whispered the spell I’d heard Lucas repeat several times while he was enchanting the weapons for the werewolf hunt. I steadied my hand and stared into my father’s eyes.
Then I pulled the trigger.
Chapter Thirty-two
The shot was loud in the large, empty space. It echoed around us until it was all I could hear. Artemis’s elated expression faded as his hands dropped to his side. The bullet had pierced his chest, blood gushing from the wound.
“No!” He yelled as he stepped away from me. “No. This can’t be. I’ve taken your protections. I’ve given you no magic of your own yet. You can’t hurt me, girl. What were you thinking?”
But he crumpled to the metal platform beneath us, his blood soaking his gray suit and pristine white shirt. I realized it was over and put the Beretta back in the holster.
From around us, Abe’s people began to awake as though they’d been in a dream. Some of them cried, while others screamed and ran out of the building. A few became hysterical and began to tear at their clothes and hair. I tried to talk to them, to calm them, but it was as if they couldn’t hear me.
What had just happened?
Dozens of zombies sat on the dirty concrete floor and didn’t move. The rest ran out the door and into the street. The cell phone Brandon had given me rang.
“You did it, Skye!” Abe’s voice was jubilant. “You’ve given them back to me.”
“How do you know? He took the necklace away.”
“I didn’t need it. I knew I’d feel the return of my people when it happened. That was just subterfuge for Artemis’s sake. Is he dead?”
I looked down at the metal platform. Artemis was gone. A part of me felt bad about that, and a part of me was glad. How would I ever know who I was or what my real name was without him?
We weren’t ready for each other, it seemed. He had underestimated me—I had surprised myself.
And I knew we’d meet again.
“No. Artemis escaped.”
“But you weakened him. It will take him some time to rebuild his power, and I’ll be ready for him. Thank you, Skye. I’m sorry I thought you had done this. It’s Lucas. You have to get rid of him.”
“I don’t think so, Abe.” I smiled as I thought about telling Lucas what had happened. “I’m going home.”
“Not so fast. I’ll need you to round up
my people and bring them here to me. They’ll need to be reconnected.”
Why wasn’t I surprised? “I’ll get as many as I can.”
“Fine job.”
The connection went dead in my hand.
I gathered up all the zombies who were readily available in the old building. It was as much as the van could hold anyway. The others had disappeared and would have to wait until I dropped these off at the mortuary.
It wasn’t going to happen today though. After my load of people was Brandon’s problem, I went home. I ignored Abe’s dozen or so texts and voice mails. I wanted to know how it had happened. I wanted to tell Lucas everything and hope he could put my mind at ease.
I was excited about having used his spell against Artemis—and it working. Did that mean I had magic of my own, as Lucas had told me, even though my father hadn’t believed it? I had so many questions.
Besides, it was the last day of school. I was going to pick Kate up to celebrate. I hoped Lucas would join us on our boat trip around the lake.
I got Kate and headed toward Apple Betty’s Inn. She was out of the van and in the house before I could even get my door open. I smiled as I took her book bag and posters with me.
Lucas and Addie greeted me at the back door, wanting to know what was going on. I filled them in with the basic details as Kate bounced around the kitchen, eager to go.
It wasn’t difficult to convince Lucas to come with us. It seemed he had as many questions about what had happened as I did. Between Kate’s excited comments about her school day, we spoke is short whispers about my meeting with Artemis
We drove to the marina and bought tickets for the ride around the lake. We’d be stopping for lunch during the trip and wouldn’t be back until dinner.
Kate was in the pilot house with a group of other children, listening to the captain tell them everything about the boat and the lake. Lucas and I stood near the front of the boat, staring at the water, trying to get out the last of the details about Artemis and Abe.
“I can’t explain what happened today.” He wrapped his arms around me. “But I’m glad you came back safely. I told you that you have magic.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I admitted. “Can a person have magic and not know it?”
“I would say Artemis found that to be true today.”
My phone rang again. I looked at the number. It wasn’t Abe, so I answered it.
“Hello? Is this Skye Mertz?” A pleasant female voice asked.
Probably wanted to sell me something. “Yes. But whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested.”
I was about to hang up when the pleasant voice continued. “I’m so glad I can finally speak to you. This is your mother, Skye. We have so much to discuss.”
About the Authors
Joyce and Jim Lavene write award-winning, best-selling mystery and urban fantasy fiction as themselves, J.J. Cook, and Ellie Grant. They have written and published more than 70 novels for Harlequin, Penguin, Amazon, and Simon and Schuster along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications. They live in rural North Carolina with their family, their rescue animals, Quincy - cat, Stan Lee – cat, and Rudi - dog.
Visit them at:
www.joyceandjimlavene.com
www.Facebook.com/JoyceandJimLavene
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorJLavene
Amazon Author Central Page: http://amazon.com/author/jlavene
Table of Contents
Dead Girl Blues
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
About the Authors