by M. L. Briers
That was when I heard it, a fast pounding in the near distance that sounded like horses hooves on the hard ground.
“Werewolves,” Malachi bit out, and I’m sure my heart stopped beating for the longest time.
I had a feeling that all hell was about to break loose, and as I snapped my gaze from the witch to my family – I felt the last piece of the puzzle click into place in my mind.
Why would the witch want all of us here together? The odds were stupidly in our favour; when she could have picked us all off one by one. Because of the blood, because of the power of three, because of Gran’s spell … our blood would release the darkness into the light.
It was a setup, but it was even worse than I could ever have imagined.
CHAPTER TWENTY
~
“I heard that,” Malachi said, taking me by surprise for a moment until my brain finally kicked into gear.
Okay, so there were times when mindreading was a good thing. I was still at a loss as to what to do.
“If I get you out of here then…”
“No!” I will zap you dead! I know I said that in my mind, but I also knew that he could hear me. “It’s stand as one or everyone falls.”
“And everyone might fall anyway,” he reasoned, but those pounding paws were getting closer, and we were running out of time.
“Some you win,” I said, pulling on my magic and getting ready to fry some werewolf backside.
“Witches,” he sighed, tossing up his hands, “let’s do this.”
“I like it when you do as you’re told,” I chuckled, but I didn’t think that enjoyment was going to last long, not judging by the sound of trouble coming our way. “Don’t die.”
“You either.”
~
Of course, Malachi stepped in front of me and made my magic practically useless for all of a few seconds as the wolves came into view and made my heart lodge in my throat once more. They were bigger than normal wolves, as Ross’ beast had been, and they looked like hell had sent them.
When Malachi grabbed the first beast and ripped him clean off the ground, tossing him away, I let loose with my magic. Those wolves weren’t all coming at us, some veered off and headed towards the rest of the family, and I would have loved to have given chase, but we had problems of our own.
The sound of snarling took my attention away from Malachi for one moment, and I noted the biggest beast that was circling toward him out of the shadows. If that wasn’t Mr Muscles, then I’d eat my hat, and I crafted an orb of pure energy within me and tossed it right at him.
He moved fast as my magic exploded into a bright white light. It caught his hind paw with nothing more than a hard thump that only threw him off course for a moment.
He was on Malachi a heartbeat later, and as the second wolf circled him, I had no choice but to use my magic to scatter them all like the winds. I figured it was better that I blasted Malachi out of there than let him become wolf food; I only hoped he’d see it that way when he landed.
Alone, I turned in the direction of my family and started towards them on fast feet. Ross was down on the ground, and he hadn’t shifted into his beast as one big wolf ripped into him.
I heard Moira scream over the sounds of battle, and we both aimed our magic at the werewolf that was attacking Ross. The beast didn’t stand a chance, fuelled by rage and desperation; we hit it hard and fast, tearing it away from the ground and ripping it apart in midair.
I heard a snarl behind me and tossed a look back over my shoulder. The sight of razor-sharp fangs and the wolf’s snapping jaws nearly gave me a heart attack, and I stumbled and almost fell, but that beast tore out a hearty yelp the moment that Malachi tore it a new one.
I kept going, racing towards my sisters, and the sight of Nena fighting with long-bladed knives in her hands, kicking werewolf butt, heartened me to the promise that we could beat them. We could do this – that hope died the moment that Duncan was practically tossed at my feet, his eyes were open, but it was a dead stare.
“No…” I couldn’t let this happen. I turned, changed direction and ran for that hooded bitch that was messing with my kin. I needed to cut off the head of the serpent that was fuelling this fight with dark magic.
I pulled on my magic and sent a blast of it her way. She raised her hands, and I felt Moira’s magic join with mine.
‘Eileen …’ I called on my sister with my mind and felt her pain, her sense of loss at Duncan’s demise. There was no time, no time to help her. I needed her magic. I needed the power that the three of us could bring down on that dark witch. ‘Eileen, now – now – I need you now.’
I felt it, it was muted, but it was there.
Then I saw him – Jack – lying on the ground by the roaring flames of the bonfire, his body was twisted in pain – his eyes were open, and he was staring into the distance, blood all around him.
I felt the rage come down in my mind like a red veil. I pulled on our combined magic and aimed everything that I could towards that witch.
A deafening crack of thunder hurt my ears and fuelled my hate – and as the magic left my body, it tore lightening from the sky.
In a blinding flash, it struck its target – there was a moment when I relished the thought of her being obliterated, but it didn’t happen – the witch was drawing on the power of the darkness beneath our very feet, and her shields were strong, but my hatred was stronger.
I pulled on the magic and hit her with wave after wave of our power. I collected everything that I could into the very heart of me and pushed it out on a long breath. One huge, sustained assault, and I watched as her shield got weaker and weaker before it finally failed.
A hearty scream of frustration came from the witch when she knew that we’d won and she’d lost, and with one final push – my magic tore her from the ground and sent her spinning back through the air.
Her body lay broken over the top of one of the gravestones, and I turned back to find devastation behind me.
~
Eileen dropped to her knees in the dirt beside Duncan, and my heart ached for her. Ross was down, and Moira and Gran were rushing towards him. The bodies of dead werewolves lay scattered over the ground, and my father was cradling my mother in his arms.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t hear. I couldn’t think.
Gran was calling to me, but I couldn’t make out her words. My heart was hammering, and there was a rushing in my ears.
I jolted as I felt strong arms come around me – I looked up into his eyes – Malachi was speaking to me – I couldn’t make it out.
“… my … voice … focus … voice …” he cupped my cheek with his hand, and his touch made everything rush in at me all at once. I felt the jolt of reality go through me. “Focus on my voice…”
“I got – it,” I bit out.
“That’s my girl,” Malachi said.
“Love lies bleeding…” Gran called. “They can’t all die.”
“Jack, I need to heal Jack,” I twisted away from Malachi, but his arm wrapped around my waist and he lifted me against him.
A heartbeat later and he was placing me down on the ground beside Jack’s broken body. I dropped to my knees in the dirt just as Nena did the same on the other side of his body.
“We’ve got this,” she said.
“No, I’ve got this,” Malachi said, kneeling down and letting his fangs elongate.
Holy hell! I’d never seen him go full vampire before, even when he’d startled Jack with the big reveal he never looked like that, and when he bit down into his own flesh, I have to say I was mesmerised.
“What…?” I didn’t get to finish that question as he pressed the open wound against Jack’s lips.
“Vampire blood heals humans,” he grinned, and I couldn’t say I loved the blood on his lips from where he’d bitten a wound into his arm, but – we all have our faults, I guess.
“That’s … ha, go figure.” I think my brain farted again. “He’s
in no danger of becoming a…” I raised my eyebrows at Malachi.
“A bloodsucking, nightwalker leech?” he offered back.
“Those were your words,” I shot back.
“Not unless he dies,” Malachi shrugged.
“The others,” I said once Malachi had stopped force-feeding Jack his blood.
“A vampire’s good deeds are never done,” he said and shot off.
“He…” I was lost for words as Nena scowled at me.
“Grows on you?”
“Like fungus on untreated wood,” I bit out, pushing up to my feet. “I need to…” I motioned towards my family.
“I’ve got this,” she said and turned her attention down to Jack.
~
Malachi was with my mother, and I raced over to them as fast as I could, especially when I saw that he was pulling that feeding trick on her.
“Dad?” I called, just as Malachi pulled back from her and turned to catch me in his strong arms once more.
“She’ll be fine,” he assured me.
“She just drank…”
“I know – I’m surprised she didn’t roast me with just her eyes alone.” He grinned.
“Just help the others,” I said, not even wanting to think about how my mother was going to freak out when she was back to normal.
I turned and started towards Moira, but she waved me away.
“He’s fine,” she called, and I immediately started towards Eileen. She was still next to Duncan’s lifeless body and the closer to her that I got; the louder her sobs became.
“Eileen, come…” I bent over to hug her, just as Duncan gasped in a hard breath and shot upwards like a vampire rising from his coffin – all he needed was the coffin. “Holy farting eejit!” I jumped like a cat on a hotplate.
“Duncan!” Eileen squealed, and I swear – I was glad that the man was alive but I could have killed him myself for scaring the bejesus out of me.
“He’s a vampire, what did you expect?” Malachi chuckled beside my ear, and the man was lucky that my magic batteries were low and needed recharging and that I didn’t have a fork.
“A little warning!” I bit out.
There was one thing left to do. I wanted to see the face of the witch that I could have killed ten times over right then.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
~
I stalked towards that twisted and broken body of the witch, and with each thud of my feet against the ground, I imagined bringing her back to life and killing her all over again. Each death was different, and each one just made me more miffed.
“Remind never to get on your bad side,” Malachi taunted me.
“Stop reading my damn mind.”
The unnatural position of the body over the gravestone didn’t repulse me as it should have. I was glad she was dead. I was going to see who she was and then never give that witch one more moments thought.
I reached out and fisted the thick hood of her robe, with one determined yank I pulled it from her face, and my world came crashing down around my ears once more.
I let go of the material and tossed myself back away from her. I stumbled over my own feet and crashed down to my backside with a startled cry just as Malachi rounded the gravestone. He was on his knees beside me in a heartbeat.
“What the…?” Malachi bit out, looking just as shocked as I felt.
“Who is it?” Gran’s voice snapped me out of it. I fisted Malachi’s torn jacket and used him as leverage to push up to my feet. Then I was headed towards Gran on an intercept course.
“No,” I said, shaking my head, determined that she wasn’t going to witness what I had. I had killed the witch, and it was my nightmare to pay witness to and not hers.
“Margaret?” Gran stopped in her tracks. I hadn’t realised that I was crying until she reached up and brushed my tears away.
“It’s … Aunt Kenzie.”
~
I’d never seen Gran so withdrawn. Nothing ever knocked the stuffing out of the woman, until now.
She looked her years. There was no get up and go inside of her, it had got up and gone, and I didn’t know what to do to bring it back, none of us did.
It wasn’t like finding out that one of your own was a raving lunatic that was hell-bent on raising pure evil from the earth and was happy to kill you all off to get what she wanted – power – was an everyday occurrence, and you could just shrug and say; whatever.
How do you come back from something like that? There was a big black rain cloud hanging over all of us, but Gran had lost a daughter.
Isla wasn’t talking either. She seemed as shocked to find out what had happened as the rest of us, and she wasn’t opening her front door to anyone, not even my father.
“What do we do about Gran?” Moira asked as we stood in the doorway to the greenhouse and watched her just sitting in a chair staring out at the sunset.
“I don’t know – tell her you’re pregnant?”
“What?” Moira squeaked.
“See, if it shocks the hell out of you, it might just snap her out of it,” I offered back.
“Not even remotely funny.” Moira glared at me.
“Would you like me to bite my tongue?”
“Oh yeah,” she hissed, and I did.
I didn’t wish the patter of tiny feet on Moira just yet because I thought she had enough having Ross’ big stomping ones around, but someday soon I could see her with babies, lots of them.
“Gran, Moira wants to learn the art of matchmaking, and she’s serious this time,” I called and heard my sister squeak again. She offered me a death glare but bit down on her annoyance.
“I am,” she announced, trying to sound like her feet weren’t already running for the hills.
“Soon, maybe,” Gran said absently.
“It’ll be grand,” I declared, and Gran gave a slow nod. “You know it’s not your fault, right? I was the one who…”
“I should never have done the spell,” Gran said as if to herself.
I headed right for her and knelt down in front of her, but she wouldn’t look at me – anywhere but at me. It was only fitting; I had just killed Aunt Kenzie.
“Then Moira and Eileen might not have been here. I would, because, I’m your favourite, and fate would have blessed you with me, but the others?” I teased her and saw the corners of her mouth trying to raise a smile.
“I wronged my own family,” Gran said in a half-whisper. “Be careful what you wish for.”
“You blessed us with life, and the power to defend ourselves, how wrong is that?”
“At what cost, Margaret?” At least it wasn’t my full name, I guess.
“You’ll mourn Kenzie, and then you’ll move on with life because that’s the way of it. You have too much to teach Moira; you can’t leave the girl half-baked.”
I heard my sister mutter something from the doorway.
“Aye, she can’t even speak up for herself,” Gran said, and I caught Moira rolling her eyes.
“She’ll be grand once you’re done with her, and we still have how many more holes in the wall filled with magic to discover in here?”
“Nice try, keep your grubby paws off,” Gran said with a little more steel in her tone.
“That’s Ross, I’m Maggie,” I teased.
“I’m not senile yet, young lady,” she scowled.
“Cool, then let’s go make dinner,” I said, pushing up to my feet and waiting for her to do the same.
“I’ll just be resting here for a while, you go get it started,” she said, and I sighed inwardly. But it was a start, and I wasn’t giving up until Gran was back to her butt-whooping self.
~
“No, no, no,” Malachi said, but I knew I could get him to cave. It would be like taking candy from a baby – a baby with razor-sharp fangs and a taste for blood.
“Just go in there and be your usual, charming self that should get her blood boiling.” I pointed to the greenhouse, and he scowled.
“And
get zapped.”
“Hopefully…”
“Gee, thanks. I think I’ll pass.” He went to turn away.
“Name your price, Chicken Little.” He stopped and turned back towards me, narrowed those sexy eyes on me, and gave it a long hard thought.
“No.” He turned again.
“Blood!” I rushed out without thinking, and he stopped in place, turned and folded his arms across his chest, and considered it.
“Hmm.”
“That’s it? Hmm?” I’d have thought he’d jump at the chance to get his fangs into a live one.
“I can get blood anywhere.”
“Well, yeah, but…”
“How about you really make my pain and suffering worthwhile?”
“I’d say tread carefully.” If he was thinking what he looked like he was thinking with that smirk, then he was going down in a blaze of glory, and when I say blaze…
“Dinner,” he said, and I frowned.
“Dinner?” I didn’t know if I should have been insulted or disappointed.
“And…”
“Watch it,” I hissed and felt a rush of stupid excitement within me.
“Turn off your magic, permanently.”
“What?” I must have misheard him. He reached up and tapped his temple. “Oh.” That magic. Hell no. Having him inside my head the first time was bad enough, and I still didn’t know what he’d found out. “Anything else?”
“The rest we can play by ear.” He looked smug, too smug.
“I’ll give you one and three, but two we can play by ear.” I countered, because who folds at the start of a negotiation?
“Deal.” He looked like he’d won the prize and that made me suspicious.
“Huh?”
“You always ask for more than what you’ll get, so the other side gives you what you really want,” he said in a tone that dripped of victory gloating.
I might just have zapped him myself if I didn’t need him to be Gran’s sacrificially lamb. I’d been conned.
“You’ll pay for the smugness.”