The Vampire's Spell: The Vampire's Soul (Book 7)

by Lucy Lyons

  “Oh my God, Clay, you’re OK. That’s…that’s good news. That’s great bloody news, as a matter of fact. The lady you sent to us couldn’t tell if you were alive anymore. Nick blew a gasket and put us in battle mode.”

  “Great. Where is he?” Fin pointed down the hall toward the training room, and I clapped him on the back. He caught me up on Caroline’s baby status and the code red I’d inadvertently set off with my clumsy message to Maria.

  I knocked on the door, already half panicked about how angry Nick was going to be when he saw me alive and not in chains. Instead, when he opened the door, he stood completely stunned.

  “You’re OK?” he asked when I was seated in the same spot as the last time I’d come to counsel with him and Caroline.

  “Mostly,” I stammered. “I think I almost blew up my brain trying to get that message out, but everybody’s treating it like the pain and nausea and overwhelming dizziness were normal.”

  “Well, they were, for someone who’d just over exerted themselves. I’m glad you weren’t permanently damaged.”

  “Me too, Nick. Me too, though I think that probably remains to be seen. But can I count on some loyal men to help us tonight? It looks like we’ve stumbled on a pedophile alpha and we need some help making sure that if he brings hostages, they’re treated as such.” I shuddered and made a face at him. “Little angsty kid-shaped hostages who can turn furry and will probably try to kill you,” I muttered. “The truth is, I’m not the point man on stuff like this. I’m the one Caroline calls in for muscles or the Venatores called in to take out the lone crazy vampire.” I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees. “I don’t know how to protect my people from our own kind.”

  The opulent room was Nick through and through except for the small mountain of baby bedding, diapers, and clothes in the corner. I looked all around me and wondered if I’d ever have a chance to put my mark on the longhouse or a cabin of my own. I’d resisted making the previous cabin home because that was admitting I accepted what I was. Now that I felt like I was out of time and chances to do so, I wished I’d put up a picture or two and settled in for a little while.

  “You’ve made quite a home here, Nick,” I sighed. “How have you protected your people for so many centuries? How have you kept going when there were vampires trying to kill you, and your people wouldn’t listen to your probably very sage advice...” Nick snorted, and I glanced back at him.

  “We’ll help you, and hopefully some of your people are smart enough to survive.”

  “We’ll have to learn how to do the surviving thing without you, though. That’s why wolves lived in hiding for so long. Because it was the only way they could survive and keep their freedom. The only other option was owing someone bigger and badder, like you, their literal life’s blood. We need to defeat Gregor and his pack on our own or the wolves will never believe in who we are or what we can accomplish together.”

  “You’ll figure it out, Clayton. I wish I had the answers for you, but as you know, pack life is very different from humanity or living in a vampire clan. I can’t tell you how to do it for your people.”

  “Well, then I’d better hit Starbucks and then the road because werewolves are fond of feats of strength and cunning and duels to the death. As soon as the sun goes down, I get to fight wolf after wolf until I run out of opposition and get to claim the girl, unless I come up with a better plan.”

  Nick walked me to the elevator and waited with me as the car slid down to us on the sub-level. He looked back over his shoulder at the vampires who paused just long enough to nod or salute as they readied themselves to be our eye-in-the-sky backup.

  “I protected my people for centuries by being the most cunning, the strictest, and, sometimes, the most ruthless.” He rubbed his jaw and smiled at me. “But it wasn’t until I got the girl that I realized what I really had.” The elevator doors slid open. I entered then turned to face him. He bowed at the neck and said, “If Caroline was here, she’d say, go get ‘em, tiger. But since she’s not here, I’ll just say see you when the sun goes down.”

  The doors closed, and the elevator whirred its way back to the club dancefloor. The vampires wouldn’t interfere with my fights tonight, but they’d be out of just out of the range of preternatural canine senses waiting for me to give them the signal.

  Too bad it’s cheating to have them take out a few of the young wolves, I thought. This night would go a lot quicker if I could just limit the field of competition.

  I stopped by the upstairs security kiosk and grabbed a few of the silver crosses that patrons sometimes checked in then drunkenly forgot to pick up on the way out. The vampires didn’t love them, but tonight, they were for the wolves. Watch a werewolf bite down on one of those silver bad boys and scream as his mouth sizzled and burned.

  The vampires who were upstairs wished me luck, and Colette stopped me before I left and kissed me on the cheek.

  “Caroline will be so mad when she hears stuff went down without her. I promise, I’ll be there to back you up for team ‘exiled Venatores,’ OK?”

  “Thanks, Colette. We who the Venatores deem dirty, salute you.” I made my escape before I could hear what she had to say next and texted Ashlynn from my phone. There was no response, but at least I knew that it probably meant she had made it back to the new camp. Hopefully, she had ordered a cellphone tower to be erected close enough for us to get a few bars when we needed it.

  I wracked my brain to think of any other task or chore I could use to justify not going back to the camp just yet, and like I’d made it happen, my cell phone rang with Dominique on the other end.

  “I thought you didn’t believe in technology where you live now, Dom.” I teased her. “I’m in the car. I can pull over and use the rearview mirror.”

  “Funny, Clay. I was told that you were in trouble with vampires from the line of Chronos.”

  Forgetting that she couldn’t see me, I shrugged before answering.

  “The vampire was after Caroline. She’s safe now. The pack has other problems though. We’ve been infiltrated by another pack, who hoped to weaken us and then take over. I don’t know what to do if they simply choose to not follow the laws of our people.”

  Dominique was quiet for a long time, long enough that I had to pull over to continue the conversation before I lost signal again.

  “You need to be ruthless, Clayton. You’ve got to be sneaky and conniving and be willing to break your own damn rules if you have to. Put your people first. You’ll live with the guilt of betraying your morals a whole lot easier than you will if you lose more people to the power play.” I didn’t say aloud how that explained a lot I hadn’t understood about Dominique.

  “Nick said something similar, without the part where I give up my moral compass to achieve the rest. But I would still really appreciate a little bump from the resident magical stallion. What do you say?”

  “I’ll do what I can from such a distance. It won’t be much, but I’ll help with cloud cover or a small earthquake or something, OK?”

  I glanced up at the cloudless sky through the windshield and chuckled. A change of weather could definitely even the score if I was the only one who knew it was going to happen.

  “Sure thing, Dominique. Just don’t give us much warning because wolves can smell rain before it happens.”

  “Just don’t be disappointed if I can’t. I haven’t tried anything like what you’re asking for with a lunar eclipse to gum up the works. If nothing else, know that the power boost you already got should make you immune to be forced to shift against your will. Good luck, Clay. Really. I’m pulling for you.”

  I put the car back in gear and headed for the camp. I wanted to see Ashlynn again before I had to fight for her hand. If I was really lucky, we’d even find a minute or two to enjoy the land we’d built on, a high plateau overlooking the lake we’d lived next to, thick forest, and no inviting trails for human visitors to trespass.

  There were two RVs and a couple
more cars with Oregon plates in the field we used for parking when I pulled in through the gate. I parked and went looking for Bernie and Ashlynn, relieved to see her Land Cruiser parked near the largest longhouse.

  The professor and a few other members of the pack were working on the grounds, bringing more logs to sit on around the fire and ringing the pit in stones. Still more were finishing the glazing work and painting trim on the windows and doors. As I got to the carved front door, Roger stuck his head out.

  “Hey, there you are. Ashlynn took off a little bit ago, said to tell you she’s heading north, if you wanted to catch up.”

  I froze, trying to keep my face neutral and not show him the seething hatred I felt at the sight of him. I backed away as my pulse jumped, and Roger frowned, sniffing the air.

  “Thanks, man. The place looks great. Tonight will be a feast to remember,” I chuckled lamely as I hurried off. Behind me, I heard raucous laughter as he told the wolves inside that I was rushing off to meet the alpha, and my heart slowed a bit.

  Way to go, idiot. If you’re lucky, he just thinks you were acting jealous, I reprimanded myself as I headed in the direction he’d indicated. Ahead in the trees, I caught wind of a cocktail of fragrances that made my head spin. Ashlynn and blood and a male I didn’t know. It was enough to make me run full out into the breeze crashing through the underbrush.

  It didn’t matter that I was announcing to the entire world that I was coming. In fact, I hoped they were ready for me. I gathered my power the way Caroline and Dominique had taught me, and I added the tingling pressure that their communication in my head had caused. I rolled it all up in a ball and held it inside me until I could see who I was facing.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I burst through a copse of Aspen trees to the bank of a stream and saw Ashlynn on the far side with her back pressed to a boulder, a dark-haired man pressed against her. Her dress was up and he gyrated against her, and for a split second I stupidly almost turned away from what I thought was my alpha having a tryst.

  My wolf half didn’t care if she was willing, and remembering the fear in her voice as she told me of her time with Gregor’s pack, I felt rage bubble up inside me. I started to shift and gathered up my power into a ball in my stomach, holding onto the form I’d taken between man and wolf. I bunched my legs under me and leaped, releasing that power as I flew toward my target. I plowed into the other wolf with my claws out and worried his shoulder as I tried to get my muzzle around his cervical vertebrae. He shifted under me, and we grappled until I felt the crushing weight of magic slamming me into the ground. The other wolf scrambled out from under me and backed away, panting as I dug my fingers into the soft, damp earth trying to claw my way to him.

  Ashlynn walked around the sinking earth all around me, fear in her eyes as she searched for an edge I could cling to. I snarled to warn the black wolf away from her and she spun to face him. Faster than I could blink, she shifted her hands at the same time as she swung and swiped thick claws across his face.

  “Let him go, Gregor. Your people were invited here in good faith. You’ve assaulted me, the alpha of the Rainier Mountain pack, and your witch has attacked my general. Cease immediately or leave.”

  The pressure on my body was so great I could no longer breathe. My lungs were pressed too thin to inflate, and my limbs felt like they were being pulled off my torso. My vision blurred, and the next thing I knew the pressure was gone, and Ashlynn was blowing air into my mouth to fill my lungs again. She kept breathing for me until I could do it on my own, then she sat me up. I rolled my shoulders and glared at the Beaver Lake alpha, who was pacing and growling as he stared at me with glacial eyes.

  “Gregor,” I said, standing up and shaking my hands and feet to get my blood flowing again. I glanced at Ashlynn who was flexing her claws like all she needed was an opening to finally get back at the man who had so much power over her. She was stronger than any female I’d met so far, and he had her sweating fear and self-doubt.

  He snarled and paced in front of me, muzzle pointed up as he scented the air. I clasped my hands in front of me and waited for him to attack. He feinted, but the moment he did I saw his eyes shift to the left behind me, and before Ashlynn could warn me, I ducked a fresh set of claws that whipped past my head. My ear stung, and I smelled my own blood as a claw caught the tip it and raked through my hair, just missing my skull.

  “Shit, Clay, are you OK?” Ashlynn gasped. She spun to face the newcomer as I dodged Gregor’s kick at my face. There was a snarl as I rolled to the side, and I looked up just in time to see a cinnamon wolf launch herself at a dusky-brown wolfman. She slid easily between his grasping hands and locked her jaws around his throat, refusing to let go when he tore at her and shook himself, trying to dislodge her.

  I ducked into the brush and raced around behind him. Claws at the ready, I sprang at him and clung to his neck as he howled his pain, a garbled, blood-choked scream.

  Let go, Ash, I pled with her, afraid he’d bleed her out before she could do the same to him. Of course you go and stupidly risk yourself for me, but you won’t fight for yourself. What is it, a death wish?

  She didn’t let go, and I tried putting a picture in her head. I showed her dropping to the ground and running to safety, then repeated the sequence. Ashlynn dropped to the ground, and I closed my teeth until I felt bone crunch against them. I released him, and he fell to the ground, bleeding profusely from the gash she’d torn in his throat.

  Gregor didn’t make a move toward us, and Ashlynn crouched on the ground between the dying wolf and the water, licking her jaws nervously as she watched him. I felt panic rising in my throat and turned the wolf over, trying to staunch the bleeding with my hands. The wolf pushed at me weakly, and frustration boiled over in me. The last of the power that I’d pulled to the surface, I forced into him. I held his throat as long as I could as his bones snapped and reknitted and his body reformed as a full wolf, lunging away from him just before his throat closed over my fingers.

  The wolf tried to stand then shuddered and fell to the earth, too weak to hold himself up. Carefully, I slid my hands under him and hoisted him into my arms in a cradle carry and followed Ashlynn back toward camp. A twig snapped behind me, and Ash yelped a warning and swung around to snarl at Gregor. I shot him a glare over my shoulder and adjusted my grip on the trembling, whimpering wolf.

  “Let it go, Gregor. You touch one of my wolves outside the ring again, I’ll kill you where you stand.”

  “You think you’re that fast?” He scoffed, and I turned back so he could see my face properly.

  “I think I can pull a trigger with the best of them, yeah,” I retorted. I let my eyes slide to my waist, and his followed. He curled back his lips and showed me his fangs but backed away as he did it. Ashlynn chuffed and sneezed, a wolfish chuckle at my threat, because she knew where I came from and what I was capable of. She’d only let me stay with the pack those first few weeks because I had almost a dozen confirmed vampire kills.

  “Too weak to fight like a wolf,” Gregor growled, the words slurred as he forced them through his elongated muzzle.

  “I only fight worthy enemies,” I countered. “Any dog can be put down.” I turned my back on him, deliberately indicating I had nothing to fear from him. Ashlynn watched him as I forded the icy stream, and I paused on the other bank for her to catch up. She led the way back to camp stopping and snuffling at my arm occasionally, as though she was checking on my burden to make sure he was still breathing.

  The noise level in the camp went from Fourth of July barbeque to dead silence as I carried the wolf up, and a couple of teenagers I’d never seen before ran up to take him from me.

  “What happened to Mike?” one of them asked, her face pale around heavy black eye makeup.

  “He attacked the wrong wolf and was badly injured in the fight,” I said, my voice cold inside my head. “He’ll live, and now he knows his place among our people,” I finished. I handed her his body, and he whimpered
again. My hand went to his head and a stroked between his ears. “You’ll be OK. I promise.”

  Before his pack could squirrel him away on a ratty old RV, Henny raced up and directed the teens to the longhouse. We had a triage set up, and we could hold court for him, as well as keeping him alive. I knew I wasn’t the only one wondering if Gregor would’ve given him that chance if he wasn’t with us.

  The sun continued to sink in the sky as I got cleaned up and met Ashlynn on the king-sized bed in her room. She was back in human form and wearing a sun dress with flowers, almost identical to the one she’d shredded when she shifted.

  “Still think bringing them here was a good idea?” I scoffed as she sat hugging her knees to her chest.

  “I can admit that I wasn’t expecting him to try to rape me, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m not in his pack anymore. Wolves don’t do that to the leaders of other packs. I’d already warned our females to stay away from him. When he requested an audience, it was a perfectly normal thing to do.” She flexed her fingers, back to their slender, caramel-skinned human form.

  “I guess that’s what happens when a psycho leads the pack.”

  “Gregor used to be a decent alpha, Clay. I heard all the stories about how things went south from wolves too afraid or too beaten down to fight him and Petra. I don’t…”

  “Yeah. I get that, Ash, I do. But let’s be real. He’s not running the pack. I felt that magic. It leached from me. That witch wife of his is feeding off the pack. She turned him into whatever he is, and there’s nothing worth saving there. He’s married to a vampire who’s destroyed so much of his mind that there’s no sanity left to appeal to.”