It spun, a malignant grin opening into a fierce snarl as it pounced on her invisible form. Lizzy kicked at it, but its fingers found their way around her throat.
Charlie couldn’t see who was being attacked, but saw the Feyk fighting nothing and knew it was one of his own. He lunged over, knocking the Feyk off Lizzy. She got to her feet, grabbed a potion from her belt and slammed it into the oversized mouth of the Feyk, yelling for whoever had knocked him off her, to duck.
A split second later, bloody bits of Feyk rained down.
Lizzy looked up to see Charlie standing nearby. If she could see him, chances are he could see her. The cloaking potion had worn off. Michael and Jack came into view just a moment later; Michael, mid-shooting of a spell which nicked the Feyk he was aiming for, but didn’t kill it.
They worked their way towards each other, the remaining Feyk now able to see each of them. They worked back to back, blocking the firebomb of spells pummeling them.
“Toward the tree,” ordered Jack. It was just over the crest in front of them.
Lizzy grabbed another potion bottle and smashed it at her feet as they jumped over the crest. “Don’t look back,” she warned.
A ghostly wall of golden light burst upward, turning so bright, so fast, that it blinded anything looking into it. The Feyk giving chase to the Howards and Lizzy, went stumbling down the embankment. Piling up at the bottom, a pile of wiry arms and legs.
“Stop!” a commanding voice called out.
The Howards and Lizzy, stopped, but the order was not for them.
It was for the Feyk army. Stricker had told them to stop the battle.
Charlie’s chest heaved, his eyes laser focused on Stricker. Ready to transform at a moment’s notice to finish this battle.
Michael and Lizzy stood back to back, watching all sides.
Jack Howard stood in front of them all, his intention to speak to the Feyk leader.
He didn’t lower his guard when he saw his daughter, looking near dead, tied to a tree. He stuffed his concern into the back of his mind, staying focused.
Michael had a much harder time doing the same, when he saw his sister tied up with Emily lying at her feet, it almost became too much for him.
There was no sign of William, Lucas or Riley.
Jack looked back at them sternly. “Be ready.” He stepped forward to speak with the Feyk leader.
Melinda heard footsteps crunching on the ground, in the sudden silence as the battle paused. In the barrage of blasts, she had no idea if anyone in her family was injured, killed or all alive. She needed to see them and begged her eyelids to open. They lifted and closed. She saw the silhouette of a man. She forced her lids open again. I’m losing my mind, her thoughts mumbled deliriously. There was no way her father was standing just a few feet away from her.
She heard his voice, clear as day. Had she fallen asleep? Was she dreaming? Or was it all just a figment of her exhausted and delirious brain?
“I think you know who I am,” stated Jack.
“Daddy Jack Howard,” Stricker slithered in reply, taking a step towards Melinda and Emily.
Feyk popped in behind him as if to guard their leverage.
“I am Sir Tinkham Sickereaux. They call me Stricker.”
“I don’t plan on getting on a first name basis,” declared Jack. “How about we finish this?”
“Right to the point... I like that.”
“You want the doorway to the power source open, I want Melinda, Emily and anyone else you’re holding hostage turned over to us in exchange.” Jack already knew this is why Stricker had taken them, as leverage to open the door.
“Agreed,” was all Stricker replied.
He showed that he’d go through with the bargain by untying Melinda. Her hands were still bound and she could not maintain her balance. She fell against the tree, sliding down next to Emily.
It took everything her brothers and father had, not to run forward and help them. But they had to stick to the plan. If they did, and Stricker kept his part of the bargain, they’d all get out of this alive.
“And where are Lucas, Riley and… William?” Jack choked out. Hoping against hope that he wasn’t dead.
Stricker shrugged. “Off romping through the woods somewhere finishing off the shifter I expect. Last I checked anyway…”
Jack refused reply, wondering if Stricker was telling the truth. Had they let William go? Had Riley’s rage spell been broken?
Stricker clucked and let out an impatient sigh. “Why is it that people never believe what I tell them? We may be a cunning breed, but a bargain is a bargain. We do not break our bargains.”
Overhead, bursts of color erupted continually as the local’s fireworks show dragged on. It wasn’t far off from the big show. Jack’s gaze never left the Feyk leader.
“Open the door, show us how to get in, and you get all your precious ones returned to you,” Stricker retorted testily.
“Very well.” Jack turned to the doorway. He didn’t want to open it, but there was no other choice. He’d known it would come to this. It was the next step in the plan.
He walked over to the creek and cupped water into his hand, taking it and throwing it at the roots underneath the old tree. He reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt and rubbed it into the roots. He used his palm to shoot a blast of air, which was followed by a blast of fire.
“The four elements,” murmured Charlie. How simple it seemed. Jack took a quick side-glance at his sons, shooting them a knowing smile. There was a final step he was keeping to himself.
Lizzy sneezed, dramatically. It sliced into the tension and for the slightest moment, all eyes rushed to her and back to Jack. The enemy had missed it.
They stayed at the ready. Never lowering their guard, ready to strike or defend themselves at any moment.
Jack Howard backed up a few steps.
The roots of the tree started to move, almost as if coming to life. Its thick tendrils untangling themselves until an archway formed.
The way inside.
The door opened.
Stricker let out a jubilant cry.
Lizzy kept her pose while Charlie and Michael rescued Melinda and Emily. It was going to be difficult to finish the battle with two injured parties to keep safe. They had hoped they’d at least be conscious and able to walk.
One of those surprises they’d just have to maneuver around.
Emily was still out completely. Melinda barely conscious. She tried to mumble something, but it wasn’t audible.
Charlie returned to Lizzy’s side ready to fight. Michael stayed just behind, near the crest, just to the side of the tree and the doorway, guarding his sister and girlfriend.
It was time.
They hoped all their planning would not be for nothing.
Stricker crossed the meadow, meeting Jack Howard’s foreboding frame. He stared down Stricker.
“Agreement fulfilled,” declared Jack on the Feyk’s behalf.
“Agreed. And thanks,” slithered the Feyk.
He expected Jack to step aside and allow him access to the door.
He did not.
“I told you I’d open the doorway and show you how to get in. I never agreed to let you inside.”
Stricker’s grin caved into a deadly glare.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Where am I?” questioned the ghostly frame that was now Eva Jordan.
She peered down over her lifeless body. It took her a moment to remember she had died.
It angered her to see William Wakefield lying next to her, only nearly dead.
She looked up, feeling odd. Her spirit body was light, her long white locks floating around her body; and yet it was hard to move. She flexed her spectral fingers; there was a strange electric-like sensation as they moved. Energy. That’s all she was now.
There was a strange swishing sound and she spun around. Her ghostly form reacting on her behalf.
“Where did that come from?”
It w
as a wooden door. Just standing erect in the middle of the woods.
Eva’s ghostly eyes widened. She knew what it was, and what had to be waiting on the other side.
The door started to open, creaking under the pressure.
The current that was now her body zapped out towards the door, it wanted go through it. But her mind was still clear and her own. She refused, the electric tendrils retracting.
A familiar silhouette formed in the doorway.
“Dad?”
She floated towards him, just a little.
If she went through the door, could she be with him?
Would death not be as bad as she feared?
Her father’s shape floated just inside, he could not join her in the outside world.
“Don’t come through the door,” he warned. The look of fright in his spirit eyes scared her.
The current buzzed around her, her desire to go through the door mounting.
“You can still avenge our deaths,” he spoke of himself and his wife.
“Mom’s there, too?” asked Eva.
“Yes,” he replied. “But you don’t want to see her. You don’t want to come here.” His tone was filled with dread.
Eva had to fight the desire. It was as if her spirited body wanted to push her through the door. It was the energies’ instinct she supposed. To make it look and feel appealing, in order to get her through. To what? It obviously wasn’t any version of heaven.
“Wait, how are we talking? Ghosts can’t talk?”
“We can talk to each other, but not to the living. For that you need a vessel.”
A vessel... why did this sound familiar to her?
Eva looked up at her father to ask, but his form was fading.
“Stay out there,” he called to her. “You can save yourself. Avenge us. Make the Howard’s suffer for all they’ve done.” His voice wavered, his ghostly frame flying backwards, as if it being sucked inside.
“Save myself?”
The door slammed shut.
Eva had won that battle, for now. She forced her ghostly body to float back to her real body, lying dead on the ground. Her movements smoother.
She floated downward until the electric current sweeping through her hit the ground. It was a strange feeling, as if she was bouncing just off the surface, not really touching it. She punched her arm out in front of her. It moved in slow motion, leaving a wisp of misty-like essence as it came back to her.
She stepped over to a tree and reached out to touch it. Her ghostly skin caressed the outer edges, feeling a layer of energy in between her and the tree.
Eva heard a branch break and spun around as two shapes emerged in the clearing.
It was Lucas and Riley Deane. They froze upon seeing the bodies of Eva and William lying on the ground. Riley stepped right through her spirit body; leaving a warmth she’d never feel in her own body again.
“They can’t see me,” she realized.
Riley’s feeling subsided. Replaced by guilt. And shame.
He stared at William, the atrociousness of what he’d done threatening to overwhelm him again.
Lucas checked Eva’s pulse. “Dead,” he told his brother.
“I hope it hurt, a lot,” Riley spoke flatly.
“I suspect it did.”
“Not enough. Not enough to make up for…” For everything I did.
“Riley, what happened was not your doing. It was Eva and the Feyk.”
“And me… some part of this was me.”
Lucas had no idea how to make his brother understand. He leaned over the vampire.
William had no pulse to check, but a weak groan escaped when he heard voices over him.
Riley closed his eyes. His feeling had brought him here to redeem himself. If even just a little… “We have to help him. I have to try to save him.”
Lucas looked around, wondering if they could find something to use as a makeshift gurney to lug him out of the woods. After a moment of searching, he decided it was a waste of time, something they didn’t know how much William had.
“He needs more blood,” Lucas said.
“He can have mine,” offered Riley.
“What if that’s not enough, and you’re too weak to help me get him out of here?”
“We’ll have to carry him out then,” decided Riley.
He stared down at the helpless William, in disbelief that he had done this terrible thing to him. Some of William’s wounds had begun to heal, but many had not.
“I’m sorry,” mumbled Riley. It wasn’t enough. Two stupid fucking words were not enough. Could never be enough. Sorry seemed so meaningless.
Lucas came over. “Let’s get him some help.”
Riley nodded.
Up above them, Eva’s spirit mind was getting clearer, working faster. Her human memories and emotions returning to her in full measure. How could she save herself? How could she avenge her parent’s deaths when she was dead now too?
She gasped. “Oh, of course…” Her ghostly face lit up in nefarious intent.
It was almost too easy. Too perfect. She could save herself and hurt the Howard’s at the same time. Maybe even get a chance to take down the vampire again.
Eva willed her ghostly form to start moving. It flitted across the ground like a veil of white that faded and popped in again a few feet later. She floated right through Lucas, laughing as she did. She was getting a handle on this being dead thing, fast.
Lucas shivered, an icy chill enveloping him. He looked around as if expecting to see something.
“What’s wrong?” Riley hoped the Feyk hadn’t followed them.
“I don’t know. It’s the weirdest thing. I swear something just touched me.”
Riley scoured the area, seeing nothing. With the fireworks still exploding overhead, he could not hear anything making any noise nearby.
Lucas squinted. “What is that? Can you see it?”
Riley looked where Lucas had pointed but saw nothing.
“It’s gone now,” he told him, shaking his head.
“What did you see?”
“I don’t know. It looked like a white veil moving across the ground but then it disappeared. I think exhaustion is making me see things.”
“C’mon, let’s get William out of here,” bid Riley, grabbing one of the vampire’s arms. Lucas grabbed the other, and they yanked him up off the ground. “What about Eva?”
“We’ll tell them where her body is, I’m sure the cleaners will handle it,” said Lucas.
“How about we just leave her to rot. Give the wildlife a free meal,” Riley suggested as they pulled William up between them.
“That’s one idea,” quipped Lucas darkly.
They made their way through the woods, heading towards the entrance of the park, where he hoped they could catch a ride into town. But where exactly did you bring a near death vampire who needed medical assistance?
CHAPTER TWELVE
Jack, Charlie, and Lizzy took aim at the Feyk closing in. Michael was a few feet behind them protecting Melinda and Emily.
They were outnumbered. They’d expected this. They’d prepared for it.
Jack called out, “Work your way to the tree, get through the doorway.” They didn’t know how they were going to get Melinda and Emily inside with them.
Stricker popped out of the center of the ravine with a shrill order for his Feyk to attack. He popped onto the safety of the embankment, overlooking the battle. “I guess the word of a Howard Witch is not as good as the word of a Feyk.” His beady eyes narrowed in on Jack.
The onslaught that followed, came on frenzied and furious.
A slew of spells shot out of the Feyk’s hands towards the Howards, from all directions. Jack thrust his palm over his head, casting a spell to block the attack raining down over them.
Charlie crouched, willing the wolf to freedom.
He shed his humanity, his wolf stretching upward, towering over the Feyk.
Their lips parted in retaliati
on, snarls erupting through knife-like teeth. Charlie met every snarl with one of his own. His muscular frame soaked up blow after blow from their attack. The spells did nothing. The ring acting like a barrier of protection around him.
Lizzy blasted over Michael’s head, sending a Feyk flying backwards into a tree trunk; it had attempted to creep over the crest behind him.
Charlie’s eyes zoned in on the closest Feyk in front of him; he lunged, taking him down with a single bite.
Lizzy ran to aid Michael and grabbed hold of Melinda. She started towards the doorway with Melinda in tow, but just a few steps in had to veer towards the creek; there were too many Feyk popping in her path to keep going toward the doorway.
Michael picked up Emily and gasped, nearly dropping her when her eyes suddenly flew open, a deep inhale rushing into her lungs. She grabbed him to steady herself, suddenly awake and alert.
“Emily…” he wrapped his arms around her, relief washing through him.
“Michael,” she cried softly in return. “I’m okay. I got knocked out.”
Reality came crashing in when a spell whizzed by his ear. He grabbed her and they ran towards the doorway after Lizzy.
She hadn’t made it very far and had veered off course, trying to fight and move Melinda at the same time.
Michael and Emily stopped short, three Feyk popping in right in front of them. Michael pushed Emily to the side, diving with her to the ground. The spells flew across the meadow straight at Stricker. His eyes widened, but his palm raised and with a flick, the spells fizzled.
Michael grabbed a potion from his belt and threw it at the three. He shielded Emily with his body. The spell exploded upon impact, ending the three Feyk.
As Emily lay shielded by Michael, she glanced down at her wrist letting out a short gasp, covering it before he could see it.
Michael bounded upward, grasping her, working towards the doorway. In the chaos of the battle, he did not notice her grasping and covering her wrist.
Bite Me Baby! (Wicked Good Witches Book 7) Page 9