With You In Spirit (The Bassinville Witches Series)

by Miranda Stork

  Susan shook her head again, giving Catherine the librarian stare over the top of her glasses. “I said no, honey. Now stop asking me.” She spun around on her chair, and began tapping away busily on her computer keyboard, ignoring the woman stood before her.

  Sighing in exasperation, Catherine shrugged, and began to walk over to the jail cells further back in the station. Susan stopped what she was doing, and jumped up, gasping in horror. “No, Catherine, I said you-Catherine!” As Catherine was ignoring her, she began to run towards her, teetering in her heels.

  Catherine looked back and held up her hand, raising her eyebrows to show she wasn’t planning anything untoward. Stopping Susan in her tracks, she pointed over towards the cells. “Look, I’m just going to be one minute, I swear. Joe and Ellis will never even know.”

  Susan wrung her hands in anxiety, glancing over towards the clock, and then the front door of the station. She gave another quick glance at Catherine’s intent face, and then nodded, sighing. “Alright. But just one minute, D’ya understand?” Smiling appreciatively, Catherine nodded, and made her way over to the cells, peering into them.

  As she came to the last one, she saw Caden, hunched over on one of the benches, his head in his hands. He appeared to be muttering to himself. Catherine gripped the bars on his cell, and pressed her face against the cool metal. “Hello.” She said, in a quiet voice.

  Caden’s head slowly lifted, and his stormy eyes met hers, filling with love and relief. He began to run over to her, but then stopped, pausing in the middle of the grey concrete room. A look of doubt fell over his chiselled features.

  Her mouth forming an ‘O’, Catherine shook her head. “What’s wrong? Come here.”

  Swallowing nervously, Caden took a glance to the outside of the cells, looking for any sign of the police officers. He turned back to her, running a hand over his mouth. “Do you believe I did all those things, Catherine?”

  “No!” Her lips curved into a brilliant grin, and she reached her hand out for him. “I saw what happened last night-you saved me, and you had all that time to hurt me and didn’t. No, I don’t believe it for a second. I feel it, in ‘here’.” As she said ‘here’, she pointed to her chest with her free hand. Caden moved forwards, taking her hand and kissing it tenderly, until he came to her lovely face, and pressed his lips through the bars, tasting her.

  Catherine pulled back then, and looked at him, beaming. “I found out who it was though-well, sort of. My mother told me that my father was part of this organisation called The Gathering. Whoever is after my mother and I killed my father because he was looking for this orb.”

  To her surprise, Caden nodded, and hung his head, leaning his hands on the bars. “I know how this will sound, Catherine, but I know all this. You see, I’m–“

  “What the hell is going on here!” The bellowing voice of Joe rang out, reverberating around the station, as a door slammed. Susan leapt up from her desk, and began stammering something about how she was sorry, and hadn’t meant to leave Catherine with him, but Joe marched on past, his face turning red.

  Catherine spun around, her mouth forming soundless words. Joe marched right up to her, and stopped. He looked from her to the vampire watching him intently from behind the bars, and his beard bristled. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, young lady, but you know damn well you don’t just barge into my station and start talking to prisoners. Especially ones that threatened to kill you!”

  “But I told you he didn’t do it! I don’t know how to prove it to you, Joe, but you’ve got to try and believe me!” Catherine pleaded, her mouth setting in a determined line.

  Joe’s eyes narrowed. Not the right thing to say to him. “Now I’m warning you, Catherine. Don’t make me put you in one of these cells as well.”

  Laughing at the absurdity of what was happening; Catherine rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head. “I haven’t done a thing wrong, Joe. Please, you must listen to me; whoever sent that note are still out there, and you’ve left my mother completely on her own-“

  The lights suddenly went out, their electrical buzzing vanishing one by one, as the fluorescents systematically switched off. Susan screamed in the dark, her computer dying down with them. Catherine heard a gun safety click, and Joe’s voice boomed out again.

  “Alright, what the hell is going on? Catherine, you still there?”

  Keeping her back against the cool brick wall behind, Catherine nodded, although it was pointless in the darkness of the station. “Y-Yes, I’m still here.”

  “Susan?”

  “Over here, Joe. What just happened?”

  Joe coughed in the dark, and sniffed. “I reckon the fuse box must have gone. Don’t panic, I just need to go down into the basement and switch it on again.”

  There was a sudden clanging from the bars near Caden’s cell, and then his rich voice rolled out of the blackness. “No, wait! Joe, you can’t leave Catherine here on her own. This is a trap. They’re going to come in!”

  Joe laughed derisively. “Alright, Mr Rouquette. I happen to think Catherine will be just fine as long as she is on this side of the bars, and you are on that side.” There were more muffled sounds as he shuffled around, fumbling for the door to the basement, which was near the cells.

  Everyone’s eyes suddenly blinked in unison, as a strange light flooded the far end of the station, near Susan’s desk. As their eyes got adjusted to the brightness flooding into the depths of the black, a figure started to appear within the glow. If Catherine had been made to say what colour the light was, she would have simply said ‘white’. But although it was white, it also seemed black the longer you looked at it, as if it were some sort of black hole that was giving off light, a contradiction to itself.

  More figures started to materialise behind the first one, as the first one began to become clearer. It was a young man, dressed in black trousers and jumper. He had strange, cruel black eyes that fixed themselves straight on Catherine, and a slow smile curled his thin lips.

  “Fuck! Joe, it’s THEM!” Caden roared. He began pulling as his cell bars, and to Catherine’s amazement, they slowly began to arch under his strength. The man with the glow still emanating around him lifted his hand, a bolt of glowing energy flying from it, and hitting the bars with force. They began to straighten up again, undoing Caden’s efforts to bend them.

  Joe looked, horrified, from the glowing figures, to Caden, to Catherine’s frightened face. He shook himself, as if to clear his thoughts, and began to chant. Water started to flood into the station, beating against the walls, picking up speed and force as it came closer to the glowing figures. Closing his eyes, he brought his arms together, hard, and the water followed suit, crashing into the figures, covering them.

  Everyone held their breath, expecting to see them at least gasping on the floor; as the force of that water was harder and faster than anything even found in nature. But to their shock, the water split, revealing the figures within, all of them holding their arms back. Before anyone had a chance to react, their pushed their arms forward, and more of the white-black light shot from them, and raced towards Joe. The light pummelled into him as if it were a fist, knocking him clean against the wall behind. He groaned, and slumped onto the floor, holding his stomach.

  Catherine ran over to him, and helped him to his feet. He gave her a quick glance, mumbling, “Sorry, Catherine…I should’a listened to you…”

  “Shh, don’t worry about that now! Have you got a key for Caden’s cell?” She gave a worried glance over to the main figure, who was now gliding slowly across the floor towards her, still grinning maniacally. Joe felt frantically around his pockets, and shook his head, wide-eyed.

  “No! Hell, I must have left it on my desk!”

  Susan stepped in front of both of them. She came across as such a quiet, gentle person, but she was actually a very powerful fire elemental. It came in pretty useful if any prisoners ever acted up in the station. Removing her glasses, her eyes began to glow yell
ow, reflecting the flames that lived within her. Drawing a pentacle in the air, she focussed her gaze on the man who was gliding along the floor. Flames erupted around him, licking hungrily at his clothes.

  He growled, and beat furiously at himself, pausing in his travel along the station. As the flames died down a little, he looked straight at Susan, narrowing his eyes. He threw his arms out, sending a black light spinning towards her. Not missing a beat, Susan readied herself, and closed her eyes, concentrating. A wall of flame suddenly burst up, separating the small group from the evil figures. A shield of protection.

  Susan turned back and smiled at Catherine, dusting her hands as if she were finished. Catherine went to say something, but then her mouth dropped open. The man was slowly making his way through the wall! As if he were being carried in a glass bauble, his light stretched its way through the flames, slowly. He had his eyes squeezed shut, and sweat dripped from his brow.

  Now Catherine was scared. She had never seen anyone break one of Susan’s protection spells. Her stomach dropped to her feet.

  “Catherine! Here, quickly!” Looking up at Caden’s shout, Catherine made sure that Joe was leaning safely, and then ran over to him, grasping his hand tightly. Caden kissed her hand, his face twisted with not being able to protect her. “Catherine…I know about your father. I know you have his powers…you need energy, life. And the best energy I can give you is in my blood.” He bent his head, and slid his fangs out, slicing into his own wrist.

  Catherine shook her head as he thrust his wrist forward, offering the red liquid to her. “But...but…I don’t want to turn-“

  “No turning. I’m not doing a ritual, Catherine. But you need to drink, now!” Caden took a terrified glance at the man forcing his way through the fiery shield. He growled, and the demon inside himself roared at the bars, his instincts telling him to pull them open. But the spell placed upon them was too strong, even for him.

  Following his gaze towards the figure, Catherine still hesitated. Biting her lip, she looked back at the blood, before taking a deep breath and bending her head. As soon as her tongue touched Caden’s wrist, it was like liquid fire had rolled into her throat. She could hear her own heartbeat-or perhaps Caden’s-as she drank, loud and deafening in her ears. His blood tasted like magic and spices, rolling down her throat like silk. The more blood she drank, she could feel a strange tingling flying its way through her veins, making her feel more and more powerful.

  Finally she felt his hand on the back of her head, pulling her away. Reluctant to leave, she latched back on, gripping his wrist tightly. The same hand came again, gently pulling her away, and the wrist disappeared. Looking up, she saw Caden’s breathless face; to her shock he looked…turned on? She couldn’t see, but her eyes were now dancing with sparks, the way she had always seen other Wiccan’s eyes doing. Caden smiled at her proudly, and pulled her towards him, kissing her hungrily, passionately. As he left the kiss, he licked his lips, tasting both her and his own blood. “Get him.” he whispered.

  Get him? How? I have no idea what to do!

  Catherine turned herself to face the figure. Susan had been trying to hold him back with more flames, but she was now weakened, kneeling on the floor, gasping for breath. Her arms were shaking as she held the wall of fire up, and the figure smiled, seeing her caving in. His gaze fixed on Catherine once more, and he crooked his finger at her.

  Jutting her chin proudly in the air, Catherine stood and flicked him a ‘v’. His face fell. Catherine smiled to herself, enjoying just that one moment of being able to disgust him. Still unsure as to what to do, she held her arms out like she had seen other witches do, and drew on the tingling, racing feeling she felt through her body, willing it to come out of her arms.

  A strange, crackling mist began to form at the end of her hands. Wanting to jump with excitement, Catherine watched with wide-eyes as the power she was calling upon began to grow larger and stronger, until a white mist pulsed from her hands, the crackling sounding like thunder now, sparks flying in it like lightening. Energy. Spirit.

  The figure roared with anger, and began to move towards her, more swiftly now. He broke through the flames, and they vanished as Susan collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. Catherine gave her a worried glance, but then turned back to the man, who was nearly flying towards her. Not really knowing what she was doing, she flung her hands towards him, hoping for something to happen.

  The mist jumped from her hands like a flash of electricity, and wrapped itself around the figure, crackling and whipping around his light. The energy began to whip into his bubble, large holes appearing. He cried out in anger, and tried to pull his shield back together, more light rushing to fill the holes in. Catherine grinned, and thrust more energy at him, the hold on him getting stronger and stronger. Pleased with herself, Catherine glanced over at Caden and grinned.

  The man noticed. And his lips curled again.

  Turning in his bubble, he caught the eyes of the other figures behind him, and pointed towards Caden. Silently, they glided forwards with their arms outstretched. All their palms began to resonate, as they aimed at Caden. He growled and drew himself up to his full height, viewing them square on. Catherine saw this and her face fell in fear. “No! Caden!” Without thinking, she turned herself, and aimed the energy at the other figures.

  Caden spun at her shouting, and his mouth fell open, as he ran to the bars. “No, Catherine! Keep it on him!”

  Too late, Catherine realised that the figure had drawn next to her, chuckling evilly. Before she had a chance to react, he had grabbed her, bringing her inside the white-black bubble. He raised his arm, and there was a sudden explosion of light, searing and hot that blinded all that looked at it. Caden was flung against the wall of his cell, and his closed his eyes in pain. He may have been able to go out in daylight, but his eyes were incredibly sensitive to it.

  There was a ringing in the air; much last the sound left after a bomb has gone off to close to someone’s ears. Caden opened his eyes, still blinded from the light. As his sight began to clear, he looked across at the space where Catherine had been stood. Susan was groaning, slowly picking herself up from the floor, and Joe was still leaning against the wall; looking as though he had been hit by a train.

  But Catherine was gone!

  He growled in anger, and flung himself towards the bars. The spell now gone, they twisted easily under his weight, and he pulled and clawed at them until there was a large gap in them, to allow him to jump through. As he landed on the cream tiles, Susan looked up in shock. Caden held his hands up, to show he meant her no harm, and walked over to Joe.

  Bending down, he checked his pulse, and sighed in relief. Turning to face Susan, he said, “He’s going to be okay, don’t worry. He’s just knocked out, he’ll come ‘round soon. I have to go and find where they’ve taken Catherine, okay?”

  Susan nodded, and shuffled over to Joe, flipping out a phone and dialling in 9-1-1. She glanced back up at Caden, noting his sharp fangs. “W-What are you? Why are you helping us?”

  “A vampire. And I’m helping because I’m supposed to protect Catherine.” And with that, he spun on his heel, and ran from the station, flinging the door open to the cloudy afternoon outside.

  Chapter 11

  “Jackson, I don’t give a damn, you showed everyone up last night.”

  “I know I did, I acted like a jackass, I know!” Jackson ran a hand through his hair, looking mournfully at Shawna. She looked a lot calmer than she had last night, but the memory of how he had acted was still fresh in her mind. She knew he hadn’t meant to act the way he did, it had just been the shock of seeing Catherine wrapped up in Caden’s arms.

  He sighed at himself. “I should probably find the guy and apologise.”

  Shawna raised her eyebrows over Jackson’s shoulder, placing her hands on her hip. “Well, now’s your chance. Here he comes.”

  “What?” Turning around, Jackson saw the looming figure of Caden running up to him along the paveme
nt. They were stood in the centre of town, with the grass of the town green waving gently in the breeze that had finally picked up. The sun shone down warmly, but black clouds were covering the sky, threatening one of the high-powered electrical storms they often got. It had that strange quality of a black sky with brilliant sunshine. Caden stopped right in front of Jackson and Shawna, and grabbed them both by the shoulders.

  “You two know Catherine and this town…you have to tell me where there are places someone could hide around here…they won’t have taken her far.”

  “Who won’t have taken her far? Has something happened to Catherine?” Shawna was immediately on the defensive, her face tight with worry. She glared at Caden, and grabbed his shirt, bunching it in her fist. “I swear if you’ve done anything to that girl-“

  “Relax, I haven’t.” Caden removed her hand from his shirt, placing it back by her side. “But if we don’t move fast, someone will. She’s been kidnapped by the R-err…by the ones who left her the note. They’ll have taken her somewhere nearby here; their magic was weakened.”

  Jackson raised an eyebrow, and scoffed. “Okay, and we’re supposed to believe you? You’re probably going to take us out back and beat the crap out of us. No thanks.”

  Caden’s temper snapped. He grabbed Jackson by the collar, and lifted him into the air, leaving his feet dangling. Shawna shouted, and began beating at his arm to make him drop Jackson, but he ignored it, letting her carry on. Glaring into Jackson’s terrified eyes, he snarled, “Now listen. I know you care about Catherine as much as I do, and you would not want her harmed. Now we must find out where they are taking her, or they’re going to kill her!”

  Jackson’s eyes opened wider in alarm. “Kill her?” he whispered, his face growing cold with worry. Caden growled, and let him drop to the ground, landing uneasily on his feet. Jackson rubbed at his neck, and gasped for air, coughing. Looking back up at Caden’s face, he could see that his expression was serious. He was telling him the truth.