Vampires & Vinca (Hawthorn Witches Book 4)

by Tyler, A. L.

  So we worked, and worked, and kept on working. By the time the sun’s rays peeked over the horizon, we had a ring that extended thirty feet out in all directions from our living quarters.

  I had classes that day, but I wrote in sick to my first class so that I could sleep. I warmed myself in the shower before collapsing into bed, and then I dreamed about the cold ground and the vinca. It surrounded me on all sides as I stood alone on a hill, like I was standing at the crest of a massive wave of the stuff. And then Tristan was there, and he kissed me, and he wanted to take me away from the misery that the vinca had brought, but before I could answer I felt it wrapping around my ankles. It grew, and overcame me, and I was covered in the wet, slithery, disgusting roots. When they turned to worms and started to pull me under the earth, I could hardly breathe, and I watched the moon disappear.

  I awoke with a start, batting the sheets off as I tried to shake the feeling of the squirming bodies that had tried to suffocate me. Then I took another shower, dragged my near-corpse into something presentable for school, and started to walk.

  I barely made it to astronomy. Vince was there, and he looked as pale and sick as he usually did after the waxing moon was done with him. But he smiled when he saw me, and as I slid into the desk next to his at the back of the massive lecture hall, he gave me a frown.

  “You’re not afraid someone will see?” he asked, looking around like he expected to see Kendra pop out from somewhere and surprise us.

  “Charlie’s keeping his deal, and I made a new one with Kendra.”

  “For us?” he asked in disbelief.

  “No, we’re still illegal,” I said. “But I have tomorrow off, and I really need to see you.”

  He cocked his head and smiled impishly. “Miss me that much?”

  “I just had a dream,” I said, taking a deep breath. He didn’t need to know that he hadn’t featured in it. “That’s all. But I have the whole day, and Kendra swears she’ll respect my privacy. What do you want to do?”

  He took a deep breath, and the look in his eyes suddenly made the circles beneath them look much less dire.

  “I have an idea.”

  He drove me out to an area in the mountains, and then we walked.

  A long ways.

  I was surprised by how well he handled going such a distance while looking like he had just done a round with the flu. The late October sky was overcast, and a thin misting was beginning to thicken into larger drops of rain.

  “This is one of the camps Adeline set up, but they don’t use it anymore,” he said. “She sets up a new one about once a year, and then we use a different one every month to prevent anyone from planning an attack. They eventually tear down the old ones, but they haven’t taken this one down yet, so me and some of the others come here to run. It’s good for solitude, and it’s nice to have a little shelter when the shift keeps switching on and off.”

  Vince had learned, and later explained to me, that the werewolves who had been infected longer were only rarely forced to take wolf form for more than a few days and only once a month. But being new to the affliction, Vince was more unstable, and the wolf took control at random when the moon was waxing.

  As with the other camp I had seen, large amounts of wisteria grew everywhere. Most of it was dead now, the first frost having already come and gone, and the skeletal vines wavered uncertainly as their last tendrils fought to cling to the boards of the cabins.

  He took my hand and led me to a cabin with a more intact-looking roof on the outskirts of the camp. When he opened the door, it took my eyes a moment to adjust.

  He had made himself a humble living space in there, complete with a sleeping bag and an electric lantern. A few water-damaged books and magazines were tucked in one corner, and a small plastic container held a few granola bars, bottles of water, and a toothbrush.

  I turned to Vince, smiling in amazement, and he bent down to pick up a large coffee tin from the corner. I was afraid it was the latrine, but then I saw the candles and matches inside. He had made himself a makeshift space heater.

  Pushing his damp hair back, he lit the candle, and then set the tin down next to the sleeping bag as he sat. I went and sat next to him. Breathing heavily, he pulled off his wet jacket.

  “Sorry about the weather,” he said quietly. “I was hoping for a better day when I brought you here, but I’ll take what I can get. The roof doesn’t leak much.”

  I looked up, suddenly feeling bad for him. “They don’t have a better place for you to stay?”

  “Oh, they do,” he said. “Yeah. The cabins that are actually getting used regularly have heat and everything. I just prefer to be alone sometimes, and the wolf doesn’t mind the lack of amenities.”

  A wind rattled the shutters on the window, and Vince reached up to test the rag he had used to tie them shut. My eyes followed his reach, and when I returned my gaze to his face, he was watching me with a nostalgic interest.

  “I’ve fantasized about having you here with me,” he said.

  I cocked an eyebrow. We were cold and wet, and I was exhausted after the hike. The cabin was old and weather-worn, and the wind kept finding its way through every pest-chewed crevice in the walls and floor.

  It was about the least romantic setting I could think of, but when he put a hand softly on my face and kissed me, I kissed him back. He pulled me back onto the floor, and then pulled the unzipped sleeping bag up over both of us.

  “Are you cold” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  He rolled me so that I was on top of the bag, and I slipped off my wet coat before he folded it over top of me.

  “You’re not cold?” I asked.

  “I’m used to it,” he said. “It’s a lot colder at night, too.”

  He held me closer, but the floor was uncomfortable, and I was still freezing. Vince didn’t seem to care at all, and he tried to kiss me again.

  “Hey.” I tried to push him away as gently as I could without making it seem like total rejection. “Maybe back at the car, okay? I really need to get somewhere warmer.”

  “You’ll warm up in the bag,” he assured me. “Just give it a minute. Okay?”

  I nodded, even though the tip of my nose felt frozen. “Okay.”

  He started to nuzzle against my neck, and I tried to get into it, but with the bag separating us and the cold already in my fingers and toes, I couldn’t. I let it go a few minutes longer than I should have, just hoping. Vince seemed to be enjoying himself, but I finally couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Vince…”

  He didn’t stop. If anything, he became more resolved, and unzipped the side of the bag to hold me closer. He let in a blast of cold, rainy air as he did so.

  “Vince,” I said more urgently.

  Something happened. I can’t say what, exactly, because I couldn’t see his face. He growled very suddenly.

  Then I felt the pinch of his teeth on my shoulder.

  Chapter 8

  I don’t know if it was frustration or anger, or maybe a total accident.

  I shoved him away. The look of surprise on his face was probably mirrored on mine.

  I remained as still as I could, but inside my mind, I was panicking. I was still mostly wrapped in a sleeping bag, and if it was needed, a speedy getaway wasn’t going to happen.

  Vince suddenly scrambled backward and got to his feet. Still staring at me without blinking, he raised a hand to his mouth. He ran from the cabin without a word.

  My heart was pounding, and the rain was really starting to come down. I hesitantly raised a hand to where he had nearly bitten me, and wiped away saliva with my shirt sleeve. I withdrew my hand and stared at it.

  No blood.

  There was no blood, but I had come that close. There was no cure for werewolfism.

  A noise outside made my veins flood with a new wave of adrenaline, and I looked up to see Charlie standing in the open door. The look on his face was one of pure shock and disappointment. The only mov
e he made was to snap his fingers.

  I was back in my apartment, and Charlie was nowhere to be seen. I was sure he had run off to tell Kendra, and I braced myself for the big fight.

  But when he returned alone, his first words surprised me. “You’re not going to stop, are you?”

  I opened my mouth to reply, and then I looked at the floor. I was too shaken to be making a decision like that.

  “Are you?” Charlie asked, this time sounding more surprised.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. Things are complicated.”

  He set something down on the table. It was a green plant adorned with white berries.

  “This is mistletoe,” he said. “It’s poisonous, but it stands a far less chance of killing you than Vince does. I shouldn’t be giving it to you, because it will make you sick. But if you make a tea from it, it can prevent the infection for up to a day afterward. I would prefer to give you a talisman or a satchel charm, or even a rune tattoo, which was Stark’s preference, but Lyssa or Kendra will notice any of those. If you’re going to keep doing this, and you’re going to try to keep it a secret, this is your option. If he had actually managed to bite you just now, there’s nothing we could do about it after the fact.”

  I crossed my arms and looked down. Somewhere, Vince was roaming the woods in the rain, and I didn’t know why I was the one feeling ashamed all of a sudden.

  “Thank you,” I said. “You’re not going to tell Kendra?”

  He gave short laugh. “She understands. If I start telling on you, I’d have to start telling on her. And if we’re keeping score, she’s done worse than you have.”

  I wanted to know what he meant, but I just smiled and let it go. He wasn’t going to tell Kendra that I actually had screwed up this time, or very nearly so, and I was immensely grateful.

  “Do you need anything?” I asked. “Anything for your spell?”

  “It’s your day off, Thorn,” he said with a wink. “Try relaxing. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  He left me alone in my apartment, and no more than thirty seconds later, my cell phone rang. It was Vince, and I wasn’t ready to answer. I let it go to voice mail.

  Then I got myself a burrito, sat down on the couch, and tried to forget.

  He left me seven voice mails and at least a dozen texts before giving up. I didn’t want him to feel guilty, but I knew he did. It wasn’t his fault.

  Adeline had warned me this would happen.

  I didn’t know what to say to him, and I was afraid of saying the wrong thing, so I kept my silence and waited for my head to clear.

  I avoided him clear into the next day, when I found myself miserable and sitting alone as I tried in vain to make the vinca grow. Kendra stood by, sighing as she held a hand to her mouth.

  She shook her head. “You’re the least natural witch I’ve ever met, Annie.”

  “Thanks,” I said bitterly, standing up and brushing the dirt from my jeans.

  “I don’t mean it as an insult,” she said lightly. “It’s just a fact. Where are you going?”

  I spun on her, frowning. “To get some water. It’s been two hours.”

  As I left, I heard Charlie telling her to lay off. I had never been able to work a spell on command, except for summoning Charlie, and he thought the key was to just let me be. I quietly thanked him, and hoped he heard.

  Grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator, I looked down to see Martha standing by my feet. She gazed up at me and gave a quiet meow.

  “Huh,” I said with a weak smile. “You’re the lucky one here. If you had hands, she’d find a way to make you work.”

  Martha meowed.

  “Why stay, anyway?” I asked. “You’ve got to know somebody who can help you out. I mean, I get that only Charlie can remove the cat skin, and he’s not likely to do that, but I bet you know someone who could give you your voice back, right?”

  Meow.

  “Is she keeping you here with a spell? I bet she is.”

  Meow.

  I sat down in the chair behind the desk, and Martha jumped up to face me at eye level. Someone had bought her a new, red collar and strung it with a silver bell. I stared at her, wondering why she had remained so good-natured toward all of us, even in her cursed state.

  “I met another vampire,” I said to her. “His name was Samuel. You know him?”

  Meow.

  I shook my head, taking another drink from my water. I wondered if she missed talking with people; she had been a very social person in the time I had known her.

  “He thinks we stole you from your house,” I said. “Sounds like a pretty crappy place you come from, if you can steal a person instead of kidnapping them…”

  Martha turned her head to the side and ducked it a little this time, and I smiled lightly. She was trying to shrug.

  And that was when I remembered.

  “He said you had a sister, too,” I said, furrowing my brow. “Alice?”

  Meow.

  “My mom’s name was Alice, too.”

  Meow.

  Martha was staring at me intensely, and then she started to bob her head. She wanted me to ask, and I felt my stomach sink. I already knew the answer.

  “They’re the same Alice, aren’t they?”

  Charlie appeared behind the desk, lifting Martha up to set her on the floor as she let out a series of hisses and growls. Kendra came bursting into the office, and Martha went running out, her little bell jangling all the way.

  I frowned at Charlie. “That feels an awful lot like taking sides.”

  “That feels an awful lot like an explanation is owed,” Charlie growled.

  I had never heard him so angry, and as he turned toward Kendra, I realized it wasn’t me he was angry with. Kendra shrank back against the wall.

  She shook her head and looked at me. She chastised me all the same, but seemed to know that the gig was up.

  “You shouldn’t be her friend,” she said, deflated. “I’m letting her roam free on the grounds because I feel she’s been punished enough, but she could still turn spy. Don’t tell her things.”

  “You’re her friend,” I said. “You do an awful lot of ‘do as I say, and not as I do,’ you know that?”

  “Yes. I’m her friend, and look where it got me. I’m probably the most hunted witch in the world right now, Annie, and you shouldn’t aspire to that.”

  “Kendra,” Charlie growled again.

  She slowly turned back to him. “Get Lyssa. Now. I’m not telling this story more than once.”

  Chapter 9

  Lyssa wasn’t happy to be dragged back to the greenhouse so soon. She sat on one of the stools at the workbench, holding her head in her hands as Kendra went to get Gates out of the side yard, where she had been trying to pull a natural spring up from the ground.

  “Has she been spying on me?”

  The question caught me off guard, and I looked over at Lyssa in surprise. She looked thin and exhausted, and having been brought back early seemed to have frayed her every nerve.

  “No,” I said cautiously. “Why?”

  “No reason.” Lyssa took a deep breath and tried to sit a little straighter. It made her appear more alert, but there was no hiding the bags under her eyes.

  Kendra was walking back toward us with Gates and a miffed Charlie in tow.

  “What’s up?” Lyssa asked in an upbeat tone.

  Kendra gave her a wary look, and then gestured for Gates to grab one of the empty buckets nearby to use as a chair.

  “A little more than thirty years ago, Draven Luthor approached me about the Hawthorn Grimoire. Necromancers are witches at their core, though we’re on different sides of the spectrum. He kept it very private, which I appreciated, but his father was very a well-known vampire—necromancer royalty, in a fashion—and I knew he wanted something. He wanted the book, to bring glory to his family and destroy rival families, or some nonsense like that. But he was willing to play by our rules, so I let him. He wanted to make an arran
ged marriage between my brother and his sister.”

  I groaned, burying my face in my hands. Lyssa continued to stare.

  “And?” she asked sharply.

  “And, they went on several dates, and the dates went very well. House Luthor was powerful and a valuable asset back then, and I thought having them as allies would be good for the Hawthorns of future generations. I explained to Draven that I would pass the book on to my brother’s children one day because I did not have a desire to have children of my own. We had an understanding,” she said, suddenly looking sad. “And when he demanded I give him the book on the day of the wedding, things went bad.”

  Lyssa looked baffled. “Are you saying my dad—our dad—was married before?”

  “Oh, my god,” I hissed under my breath. “She’s saying mom was one of them, Lyssa! Try to keep up!”

  Lyssa looked back at Kendra, dismayed. “But that can’t be right. Mom didn’t know any magic. She was a normal human. She didn’t practice anything, not what you do, and certainly not what they do. Dad doesn’t even know about any of this. That can’t be right—”

  “He used to.” Kendra said shortly. “They both used to. When I wouldn’t turn over the book, he demanded an annulment and declared war on us. But your mom and dad didn’t want an annulment, and when your mom refused to go along with Draven, he threatened to kill her, too. Vampires have a sort of vaguely interconnected memory as part of a spell. An oath of loyalty that they make to their family. They can find each other very easily for that reason, and that meant that I had to take extraordinary measures to get your parents to safety. The only way I could hide them was to erase their memories, so that Alice wouldn’t inadvertently call out to her family, and your dad wouldn’t do or say anything that might risk jogging her memory, and put bring here. It was close enough to Stonefall that I knew I would be able to hide in the crowd and keep a watch over them.” She cast a mournful glance down at the floor, and Martha. “But the spell was complicated, because one can only do it on a blood relative, and the closer the relationship the better. I could do it for my brother, and I had to ask Martha to do it for your mom.” She took another deep breath, and looked angry even as her eyes started to well up. “And it worked, all of these years, until Martha decided to come and lay eyes on you, because the moment she did, Draven knew where we were!”