“No that little bitch is mine. Padraigan gave her to me.” Gemma said to Helene, and I started to wonder if all this was going to be resolved by a vampire catfight in my parent’s front yard.
We couldn’t be that lucky.
“Helene, we came looking for you. There was nothing there. Gareth thought he killed you. Your body, obviously, was gone. We thought you were dead!” Ben finally found his voice, but there was so much pain in it that brought a sob from Amity.
“I’m supposed to believe that my powerful sorcerer parents couldn’t feel their daughter in pain, being tortured from the wounds that bastard inflicted? Not likely.” She snarled and launched herself at Ben. He was taken off guard and didn’t have time to protect himself, so she plowed straight into him.
Amity screamed and instinctively threw out her hands, twin balls of flame leaping from her palms. They landed uselessly as Helene jerked her father up into the air. I couldn’t tell if Ben was stunned that he didn’t try to protect himself, but he dangled helplessly from Helene’s arms.
“Teagan!”
I turned back to Noah as Gemma rushed at us. Noah threw his own flames but she moved so quickly that nothing hit her. My head snapped back as she passed us, and I felt blood pour down my cheek. I brought my hand up and it came away tacky with blood. I looked at it, not comprehending.
“Get down!” Noah yelled and pushed me to the ground. He flung more fire at Gemma and I heard her scream, but then she was in front of me again, her face close to the ground and right up in mine. I felt another pain, this time across my neck and then Gemma was gone, flinging herself back with incredible speed, out of the way of Noah’s fire. I heard Amity scream behind me, but I couldn’t turn around to see what was going on, focusing on where Gemma twirled herself around the front porch bannister, like some sick, demented stripper on a pole.
“Oh, what’s this? We’re too fast for you sorcerer? That’s too bad.” Gemma taunted, just as she launched herself back at Noah. This time she connected with him hard and he went down, almost on top of me. He pushed off with a grunt of pain, and I saw his left arm hung awkwardly at his side. The bitch had dislocated his shoulder.
“Keep her off me.” I snarled at Noah and he nodded. I stood and threw my hands up to the sky and called on the weather.
I heard it when Gemma hit the wall surrounding us. I heard Amity scream again, Ben’s name this time. I also heard the wind as it kicked up. I drew energy from the ground, from the air. Clouds started to build in the sky.
“Teagan, I can’t hold her for much longer.” Noah ground out, and I knew between the pain he had to be in and the fear for his own parents had to be bearing down on him.
I closed my eyes and dug deep. Thunder crashed and the first flash of lighting lit the sky. From somewhere outside of my head, I heard voices raised. Gareth and Damien. Then I felt a hand on my ankle and knew Noah was pushing whatever he had left in him at me. I felt it flood through me. I focused on the electric in the air. I felt the bolt forming. I opened my eyes and stared right at Gemma.
“So long you fucking bitch.” I said as I brought the bolt down.
It cleaved right through her, the energy from it throwing me and Noah backward. We collapsed in a heap, against the base of the oak tree in the front yard. Noah groaned as I shook off the impact. Gemma was gone. There was nothing left of her but a pile of blackened earth and ash.
“Teagan, my mother and father.” Noah’s voice was heavy with pain and I spun around to see Gareth and Damien picking up Amity.
“Your mother is with Gareth and Damien. Did you see where Helene took your father?” I asked, bending down to assess his shoulder.
“No. Find him, please.”
“Teagan, stay with Noah. I’ll look for him.” Damien said and then took off towards the side of my house.
“Do you want to do the shoulder thing the old fashioned way?” I asked Noah but he was two steps ahead of me. Drawing from somewhere deep inside of him, he wrenched his shoulder back in place, then slumped back against the tree, exhausted. I quickly put my hands to it, running the last of my energy into healing.
“Your parents. Go.” He pushed me away and I looked up as Gareth brought Amity to sit next to Noah.
“Gareth, they’ve got nothing left. Can you keep an eye on them?” I asked Gareth as he crouched down.
“Teagan, you have nothing left either.” He observed, correctly. I shook my head in negation.
“I have anger. That’s enough for now.” I stood and took a deep breath. That was all I had. I couldn’t call the weather when I was in my house. My fire was nothing compared to Noah and Amity’s and Helene and Gemma moved so fast. I had no idea where Helene was, but my parent’s still needed to be found.
I turned toward the house and climbed the steps, looking warily about me. Helene could be anywhere or she could be gone. I reached the front door and gave it an experimental twist. It opened quietly, and I slid in, only opening the door a fraction. I quickly searched the downstairs but they weren’t there.
I approached the staircase next, moving as quietly as I could. My heart was thumping loudly in my chest, and I knew that if there were a vampire in here, I probably sounded like a heard of elephants to them. I moved slowly up the staircase, slightly sideways so that I could keep the upper hall in view. My bedroom came in to view first, the door closed. Then my brother’s room, door also closed. The hall bathroom door stood open, and I could see from the light thrown by the landing light that there was nothing in there.
I stepped onto the landing and eyed the two bedrooms doors to my right, then looked towards my parents’ bedroom, door also closed. Crap. I had to check each room. I tiptoed to my old bedroom door and put my ear up against it. Then I reached out with my senses. Nothing. Not even that oddness that we felt earlier. I repeated the process at my brother’s door and got the same result. I turned to my parent’s room.
I pressed myself to the door and immediately felt the change in the air. She was in there.
“I can hear you out there Teagan. I heard you when you came in the front door. Why don’t you join us?” Helene’s voice came from the other side of the door, almost sounding bored.
I took a breath and turned the knob.
The first thing I saw when I opened the door were my parent’s. Alive. Helene, or Gemma before she was turned to toast, had tied them up and put them on the bed. They both turned terrified eyes to where I stood in the doorway, and I felt a bit of relief flood through me.
“They’re fine. For now. Well, Gemma may have had a little snack.” Helene said and I snarled at her.
“Oh, you’re feisty. A good addition to the powerful Jacobs clan. I’m sure my parents are thrilled. My mother, anyway. She likes strong women.” She laughed as she stepped down from where she was perched in the window.
I came a bit farther into the room but she stopped me, her hand out, finger moving back and forth.
“That’s close enough. I’m only here long enough to deliver a message, as much as I’d like to stick around and take care of the rest of the trash.”
“I can fry you where you stand. I don’t need to be closer.” I said, my voice full of the disgust I felt for her.
“Now, is that any way to speak to your future sister-in-law? We’re not getting off on a very good foot.” She pouted coquettishly and it made me want to wipe the pout right off her lips.
“Stop with the bullshit. What do you want?” I demanded. I studied her, trying to get an idea of how to attack her. I had to be sure I could hit her.
She lost the pout and replaced it with a snarl.
“I’m the one with the leverage here. Don’t demand anything from me. I can kill your family in a blink of an eye, before you can even bring a hand up. Don’t think I won’t.” Her voice changed from menacing to matter of fact. “When you can kill your own father, what do two strangers mean?”
Her words punched right into my heart. I could hear our sounds of battle again, Amity screaming her
husband’s name. Did they know yet? Had they found his body?
“If you’re just here to give me a message, give it to me and leave. My parents have nothing to do with any of this.” I flicked a look at my mom and dad, prone on their bed, hands and feet tied, mouth’s gagged. Seeing them there, all it did was feed my anger.
“I know. I just like seeing you squirm, seeing them there. Very well, the message.”
I could feel the fire building in my hands and I cupped my palms to hold it, shifting my hands as much as I could behind me. I had to take her by surprise.
“When I leave here, as I will in a moment, I’m taking your parents with me. When you all surrender yourselves to Padraigan…” Her voice was cut off as I hit her with twin balls of flame. Her words turned to screams as she flung herself backward out the window. I ran to the window but could see nothing. I stared as hard as I could into the darkness but there was nothing out there. No screams, no piles of burning ash, nothing.
“Fuck!” I cursed, then spun around to my parents. I practically flew to the bed and untied my father first, and as he reached up to untie his gag, I turned to my mother. I quickly untied her and she grabbed me in a death grip.
“What was that? Who was that? What did you do?” Their voices warred against each other as my mother held me and I held her.
“It’s ok, you’re ok now. She won’t be back anytime soon.” I assured them, sitting back on my heels and checking them over. My mother had a bite mark on her neck, likewise my father. That fucking bitch. Well, she was dead now, even if Helene wasn’t.
“Its fine, we’re all fine. I’m so sorry.” I got out before the tears hit me.
“Teagan, what is going on? Does this have to do with your witchcraft?” My mom asked, and I gave a watery laugh. Tied up, bitten by a vampire that she never knew existed, and yet she could rally enough to put on a mom tone. My strength came from her, definitely.
“I’ll explain everything. I promise. I have friends downstairs. We should go.” I crawled off the bed, suddenly and inexorably exhausted.
“Was that…was she a vampire?” My father asked as he helped my mom off the bed. I could tell by his voice that he couldn’t believe he was even asking the question.
I stopped at the door and turned back to them.
“Yes, she was a vampire. And you’re about to meet two sorcerers, another vampire, and a werewolf. It’s my life.” I shrugged my shoulders as they exchanged a shocked look. I turned back to the door and went through it, confident they’d follow me.
As I came downstairs, Noah was carrying in Amity, with Gareth coming in right behind him. He laid her down on the couch, placing her head in his lap. I moved over to him as my parents trailed into the living room behind me, giving Gareth a wide berth.
“He’s ok. He’s one of the good guys.” I said to them before I knelt next to Noah.
“How is she?” I asked Noah as I pressed a hand to Amity’s forehead. He just shook his head. His eyes were haunted, underscored by dark circles of pain. I leaned toward him, pressing his forehead against mine. We sat that way for a moment before I heard Damien come in.
“I’ve moved him to your house Noah.” Damien whispered and Noah just nodded slowly. Damien moved to take up guard by the front door and Gareth crossed over to the other side of the living room, where he kept watch by the doorway leading into the kitchen. My parents looked completely lost in their own home, at a loss as to what was going on and why supernatural creatures were in their house.
“Mom, Dad…let me take you somewhere safe, and I’ll explain everything. I can’t protect you here right now.” I turned to them, and they just gave a small nod.
“Noah, are you ok to head back to your place?” I asked gently. I didn’t want to rush him. He had been attacked by a sister he thought dead and lost his father. All for me. I pushed that thought away. I’d wallow in guilt later.
“Yeah.” He replied, throat clogged with tears, but he wouldn’t give in to them.
“Mom, can you get up?” He asked Amity and she didn’t reply, just stood up.
“This is a horrible thing to say to future in-laws but I just want to get away from your house.” Amity stated, and then followed Noah out the front door.
Chapter Twenty
The light in Harley’s room was diffused and ethereal, completely generated by candle light. I sat by her bedside, finally, having left Anna in charge of the people downstairs. I needed the quiet, the solitude of the room. Too much had happened, too much to process. Noah’s dad, Noah’s sister. Harley in a coma. Possibly no way to bring her back out. No way to sustain her without hospitalization, which put her in harm’s way.
I sat forward and slipped my hand into her lax one, hating that there wasn’t a return grip.
“What am I going to do? How do we move on from here? We’ve had casualties this time. Noah’s dad, you…I just don’t know how this is going to play out. What happened to our nice sedate life that we had, running the bookstore?” I asked Harley, not expecting an answer.
“You met me. I turned your life upside down.” Anna spoke quietly from the door. I wearily turned my head in her direction, and gave her a wan smile.
“Not you, Anna. This isn’t your fault.”
She moved to the bed and stood looking down at Harley, a silent tear coursing down her cheek. It seemed all we did lately was cry. How much more could we take?
“I know, but I can’t help but think how everyone’s lives would be different if I hadn’t walked into Written that day. Harley wouldn’t be in a coma, Noah would still have his father. His mother wouldn’t be heartbroken.” She trailed off, staring down sightlessly.
“I wouldn’t have Noah, you wouldn’t have Gareth, and you might actually be dead. We wouldn’t know Damien. There’s bright sides to every bad side.”
Anna looked at me sharply, her mouth dropped into an O of surprise.
“Wait. Did I just hear a pep talk from Teagan? I think I need to sit down.” Which is what she did, sitting down gently on the side of the bed. She reached out and took my other hand.
“I can be positive. Even after all this. I need it after this. It helps to make sense of all the tragedy.”
“Gareth is beating himself up, I know it. I can feel him. He’s doing the manly thing and patrolling the property with Damien, giving Noah time with his mother and your parents, but he’s hurting.” Anna replied and I smiled at the irony of it all. Everyone was blaming themselves but none of us seemed to be blaming the one behind all this.
“Everyone needs to stop blaming themselves and place blame where it belongs, and that’s with Padraigan. None of us have done anything wrong. Not you for walking into our lives, not Gareth for failing to kill Noah’s sister, not Noah, not me, not Damien. We are blameless. We’ve made mistakes, like me not protecting my parents, but this mess is on Padraigan. And he will pay.” I said matter-of-factly and Anna smiled back at me.
“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. Shall I leave you? I want to go give Gareth your pep talk.” She stood to leave, and I squeezed her hand one last time.
“It’s going to be ok Anna. We’ll make it ok.”
She gave my hand and arm a little shake, her light jade eyes glowing in the darkness with unshed tears.
“I know it will.”
Damien relieved me an hour later and I came downstairs. Noah was passed out on the couch, his mother leaning up against him. I walked over to them and put a blanket over them, not wanting to disturb them. I followed the hushed tones of my parents into the kitchen, where they both stood at the kitchen counter, coffee mugs in hand. My father, tall and trim, had his arm around my mother’s shoulders. They both jumped a little when I came in.
“Teagan, please tell us what’s going on.” My father asked, although I noticed he didn’t come towards me. I guess I couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t every day that you watched your daughter shoot balls of flame from her hands.
“Well, there’s things about me that you didn�
��t know.”
“It’s the witchcraft, isn’t it?” My mother asked, her voice tremulous.
“Mom, Dad, let’s sit down and I’ll try to explain.” I motioned them over to the table in the solarium. They moved, a little warily. I felt a stress headache start to pound. Great.
I sat across from them and started to talk. I told them about being able to control the weather and read minds, how old I was when I realized it. I told them about Harley too. They never knew either one of us was gifted, and after their initial shock, they took it all surprisingly well. Tom and Brenda Callahan were resilient people.
“So, you’re telling us that you can control weather. Literally can make it rain or shine?” My dad asked, and I nodded. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then frowned.
“How many little league games did you rain out?”
I hung my head. Guilty.
“A lot. I also caused snow days. That’s neither here nor there though. The rest of the story involves the other people here tonight.”
“You said they were vampires?” My mother asked timidly, absently raising her hand to the wound on her neck.
“Yes, two of them are, but they’re good vampires. They don’t…feed on people. And you won’t be turned Mom. Unless she gave you blood?” I asked, panic almost breaking through. She shook her head quickly.
“Okay, you’re fine then. I’ll fix you both up, and you’ll heal faster.” She looked relieved at that, and the panic lessened.
“Who are the other people Teagan, and what happened tonight? We were at home, then the doorbell rang, and I opened the door, and those two women came in and tied us up. Why did they do that?” My father asked in quick succession, so I explained about Gareth and Padraigan and their past and how we were all connected together now, family.
Magick (Immortals and Magick Book 2) Page 19