The October Trilogy Complete Box Set

by Heather Killough-Walden

  Eventually, the leaves ceased to glow and, as Meagan looked on, they browned and curled at their edges, drying out completely. The streams of light dissipated.

  “The poison in his system will no longer harm him,” Draper said, opening his eyes. “I have managed to neutralize it.”

  “Thank you for healing me,” Meagan said, “but who are you really and where did you come from that you know so much magic?” They were fair questions, she thought. It was dangerous to trust too willingly.

  “I told you,” Draper said lightly, as he stood from where he’d been kneeling. “My name is –”

  “Hugh Draper,” Meagan said. “I know. But that’s not what I mean.”

  “Oh?” he asked, throwing her a questioning glance.

  Meagan took a deep breath and stood as well. “I mean, you just popped out of time in the nick of time to save me, scared away a vampire, healed my broken nose, and stopped my teacher’s transformation into a monster. That’s a hell of a lot of magic.”

  “Well, actually I’m unable to stop his transformation,” corrected Draper, who was again watching Lehrer.

  Dietrich Lehrer looked no different now than he had twenty minutes ago. His skin was stone gray, circles further darkened the spaces beneath his closed eyes, and the tips of wicked sharp fangs pressed against both lips, upper and lower, of his closed mouth. “He’ll be physically changed until we can find a reversal spell. However, his mind has been restored.”

  “You mean, he’ll look like a monster and act like my grove leader?”

  “If that’s what he was before,” said Draper, “then yes.”

  Meagan ran a hand through her long black hair.

  “Now why don’t you tell me what exactly is happening here and we’ll figure out where to go from there?” Draper suggested. He looked at the ground, found a dry and relatively clean space on the low cement wall beside them, and gestured for her to sit.

  Meagan shook her head. “No thank you. I can’t sit still right now.”

  Draper nodded and sat down himself, folding his hands in his lap.

  Meagan met his brown eyed gaze and considered her options. So far, the stranger had only helped. She didn’t get any kind of creepy or negative feelings off of him, and she was really short of other choices. So she gave up and took a deep breath. “Okay, but you’re not going to believe it.”

  She told Draper about Sam, about the ritual she’d performed and messed up, about the blue moon this month and how it affected the door to Samhain’s realm, about the dance, about the spell she and Lehrer had cast to protect Logan – about everything. She hadn’t expected him to believe her, though she didn’t know why. Maybe it was that he was an adult. Adults never believed anything.

  But Lehrer was an adult, and right now, he was so entrenched in magic, he was a freaking monster. So her organization of adults and magic into separate categories wasn’t exactly valid. Plus, this Draper guy was clearly a magic user in his own right, a self proclaimed wizard. He had come from some other time, and had somehow scared away Shawn Briggs.

  Come to think of it, she wondered where the vampire was at that moment….

  All in all, she wasn’t overly surprised when she finished conveying everything she could think of and Draper nodded thoughtfully, placed his fingers to his lips in contemplation, and said, “So now we need to get this bard friend of yours some place safe until the final day of the month and then make certain to close the door to Samhain’s realm once more.”

  “The spell Mr. Lehrer and I cast on her should keep her safe for a while as long as the phylactery bottle we placed the other half of it in stays out of Sam’s reach.”

  “And that’s where your plan has gone horribly awry,” came a third voice from the darkness.

  I knew it, thought Meagan as she spun around and Draper jumped to his feet beside her.

  This time Shawn Briggs wasn’t alone. Nathan McCay was with him again. Meagan stared at them and decided that in a sick sense, Logan would have had a right to be proud of what she’d created. Never had vampires looked so good.

  Or so truly terrifying.

  “The bottle’s been found, the spell is broken, and Logan is Sam’s for the taking,” Briggs informed them calmly. Then his gaze zeroed in on Meagan, and the red in his eyes intensified. “Just like you are for mine.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  This will never work, Katelyn thought as she slammed the gear shift into reverse and turned in her seat to look behind her. She barely knew what she was doing. It was an act of desperation, of nonsensical hopelessness more than anything else. But it was all she could think of. It was all she had left.

  Logan was out there in the woods, Sam hot on her trail, and if Sam had his way, not only would Katelyn lose the best friend she would probably ever have, Logan’s family would lose their daughter and their sister. And everyone Sam had killed would stay killed.

  It was better than doing nothing.

  With that affirmation rooted firmly in her mind, Katelyn brought the car around, tried to remember which way she’d come, and then slammed the gear into drive. She clenched her teeth together, gripped the wheel with everything she had, and floored it.

  *****

  “Exactly how much magic did those leaves give you?” Meagan asked Draper without taking her eyes off of Shawn and Nathan.

  “Some,” he told her. “And traveling restores much of what I expend. But I am not as young as I once was and therefore not as strong.” He took hold of Meagan’s wrist and pulled her back.

  She glanced down at Lehrer’s still unconscious form as they retreated step after step, and she experienced a moment of indecision. She didn’t want to leave her teacher lying there on the cold ground. She didn’t want to abandon him. But Shawn had already claimed he wouldn’t touch Lehrer. She could only hope he still felt that way.

  “Aging sucks, doesn’t it?” Nathan asked conversationally as the two continued toward them, stepping nonchalantly over Lehrer as they drew nearer. “All that joint grinding and aching, all those wrinkles and gray hairs, all those tumors that just seem to appear out of nowhere.” He looked at Meagan. “Lucky for you, Meagan, you won’t have to suffer any of it.”

  He smiled like someone who’d just figured out how to have his cake and eat it too. “You were right, Briggs,” he told his companion. “The spitfire’s a keeper. Imagine what a vampire witch might be capable of.”

  “It’s a real pity we’ll never know,” said Mr. Lehrer as he suddenly shot up from the ground so fast, he literally blurred into motion. Meagan could only watch in stunned disbelief as the man who had been all but dead only moments ago somehow grabbed both vampires from behind and spun, swinging them around with inhuman, monstrous strength.

  She felt her eyes go wide when Shawn and Nathan went sailing across the alley, two black clad blurs, to slam into the back wall of the supermarket. Bricks dislodged themselves beneath the impact. Mortar broke free and crumbled to the ground along with the vampires as they hit the cement and rolled.

  But Lehrer gave them no time to recover from the attack. He was on them so fast, it made no sense. Meagan heard growling sounds, monstrous and horrible, and the fight or flight instinct inside of her kicked in.

  Without thinking on it any further, she grabbed Draper by the sleeve of his sweater. “Run!” she shouted even as she was turning to sprint down the alley. But his hand firmly placed on hers stayed her where she was.

  “No!” he told her, “Your teacher is not a monster on the inside,” he said quickly. “And we need to make certain he does not kill your classmates!”

  Meagan looked from Draper to the growling mass of bodies moving violently through the alley and gave that one or two beats of thought. Then, quite hesitantly, she nodded.

  It was true that he certainly sounded normal when he’d spoken a moment ago. And Draper was right about Shawn Briggs and Nathan McCay. They’d been transformed by Sam, but underneath they were still Dominic’s closest friends. If they wer
e killed and Meagan and her companions were able to defeat Sam, it was possible they would come back to life, but that was a long shot. Why chance it?

  “Don’t kill them!” she shouted at her teacher, hoping to be heard over the commotion. “Just knock them out!”

  “I’m trying!” came the gruff and rather impatient reply.

  The struggle continued, and for a moment it looked as though the vampires might have the upper hand as Briggs back-handed Lehrer hard enough to send the teacher flying into the low-lying cement wall. But Lehrer was more resilient than Meagan could have imagined. Once he hit the wall, he leapt back onto his feet and charged his opponents head-on.

  A few minutes later, Nathan McCay lay sprawled at the base of the wall. A few seconds after that, Briggs followed. Both boys were unconscious.

  Dietrich Lehrer stood over them, doubled at the waist, his hands on his knees, his breathing deep and ragged. “I’m getting too old to wrestle with students,” he muttered.

  Meagan could only stare at him. It was beyond strange to hear his perfectly reasonable and normal voice coming out of the beast that he’d become.

  “Aye, my friend,” said Draper as the wizard left Meagan’s side and made his way to Lehrer’s. Lehrer looked up and met his gaze. Draper smiled warmly. “The greatest insult to the human race is that we age. Even dying holds more dignity.”

  “And who are you?” asked Lehrer as he straightened, rubbed the back of his neck as if to work out a kink, and eyed the stranger warily.

  “Draper,” the wizard said amiably. He held out his hand to shake. “Hugh Draper. And may I say, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I know it was only the Hell Hound’s bite that made you thus, but even so, I’ve never actually met a goblin before.”

  A goblin? Meagan thought. But as Mr. Lehrer reluctantly shook the older wizard’s hand, she realized that an explanation was in order – and that if Shawn had been telling the truth about the potion bottle, then she had very little time in which to do it.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  He could feel himself inside, split as if in half, one part of him railing madly against the other. But he was almost there, Logan was almost his, and separating from Maldovan at that moment was impossible. Maldovan had to be killed for Sam to leave his body, and Sam couldn’t do the deed himself. Once he was in his own realm, he would have the bastard murdered a dozen different ways.

  Right here however, right now, all that mattered was that Logan was literally in his grasp. She sighed softly against his lips, caught up in his magic, and relaxed beneath his touch. Finally. Finally, she was his for the taking.

  Sam’s mind filled with images of his home. He saw the long shadows, the mist-covered grounds, the endless forested trails that led to hollows, and he saw himself walking them alone. He remembered the solitude that came with the passage of eons and a throne that no one else could fill. He saw pumpkin patches of muted orange and orchards where the apples never quite ripened. He felt the loneliness of a never ending rule, a mountaintop with a view of forever and no one to share it with.

  And he tasted Logan’s sweet lips beneath his. He felt her warmth, her softness. He infused her color into his bones, inhaled her innocence, her power, and yearned to cradle her soul next to his. And he realized, with the first moments of sheer joy he had ever experienced in his life, that all that was before was no more.

  He would never be alone again.

  I will show you forever, he told her, his heart to hers. And we will rule it together.

  He pulled back, breaking the kiss, and exposed his fangs. Her eyelids fluttered, long lashes brushing against her cheeks as she opened her eyes to gaze up at him.

  So beautiful….

  With a gentle grip beneath her chin, he tilted her head, exposing the long, slim column of her throat. One last kiss, one final piercing of flesh. As he swallowed her down, her precious heart would slow. When it came to a stop, she would cease to be the young girl, the student in a small-time town, the unsung hero, and the writer whose words are never read.

  She would become his queen.

  Sam felt his body go rigid, each of his stolen human muscles flexing in preparation for the rush of pleasure he knew he would experience. His heart quickened, his breath stilling in his lungs as he opened his mouth and hovered over Logan’s throbbing vein. His grip on her tightened as he moved in, pressing the razor tips of his fangs into her neck.

  He heard the softest sound come from her lips and felt her fingers curl into his waist. Her touch electrified him. He wanted to demand she touch him more, to shout to the world that she alone would ever lay a finger on him – and that he alone would ever do so to her. He wanted to own her, claim her, make her his in every way.

  With barely contained desire, Sam sank his teeth deeper.

  And then he froze. Alarm shot through him, red hot and wrong. Pain reverberated through his core, burned his blood in his veins, and forced him to retreat. He yanked his teeth from Logan’s throat and backpedalled, releasing her.

  Agony enveloped him, casting his vision into stark, pulsing reliefs of red and gray and black. He cried out and clutched at his stomach and head as both suddenly felt like they would explode.

  Logan leaned against the tree trunk, shocked and dazed, one hand pressed to the side of her throat. She stared at him through glassy, confused eyes, a part of her clearly in pain. From where it hung around her neck, the Celtic life pendant Lehrer had given her days ago pulsed a bright green warning.

  He’d forgotten about the pendant. How could he have forgotten about it? He’d been so wrapped up in Logan, he’d forgotten about everything.

  And now it glowed emerald with pure protective power, its magic sparing the life of the one who wore it and keeping her from the destiny Sam had chosen for her.

  A growl arose from deep within Samhain. It shook the ground he stood on. Nearby in the forest, a flock of ravens took to the pre-dawn sky in fright.

  He’d pierced her skin, but spared her vein. He’d stopped short of taking her blood and taking her last breath. He couldn’t kill her – not as long as she wore that necklace.

  Fury swirled in his midsection, rose into his brain, and fired away like shooting stars behind his eyes. The pain he’d experienced ebbed and receded, replaced by an ever growing rage. He straightened and leveled his gaze on his prize, knowing the red glow he could feel pulsing through his stolen eyes would only scare her.

  It couldn’t be helped.

  He had to get that pendant off of her. Right now. He raised his right hand palm-up. A light pulsed above it, and when the light receded, he held a dagger firmly in his grip. He would cut the pendant’s cord just as he had with Dominic Maldovan’s.

  As he took his first step toward Logan with plans to do just that, another light sliced through the forest, this one much brighter. Sam stopped and turned. A car horn sounded loudly in the night, and the lower bushes and trees a few yards away suddenly exploded outward as a ruby red Volkswagen Beetle burst into the forest clearing.

  Sam’s eyes widened. The car’s headlights zeroed in on him, and the vehicle suddenly picked up even more speed. Without thinking, he leapt to the side, barely rolling out of the way in time as the car rushed him. He dropped the dagger in the process.

  The car sped past, dirt clods spraying and leaves flying. Sam rolled to a stop, looked up, and watched as the Beetle came to a skidding, messy halt just before it would have slammed into several trees. He heard the gear being shoved into reverse.

  A blurred motion to his right drew his attention from the vehicle. Sam glanced over to find Logan diving for something on the ground. She got to her feet again and metal flashed in her right hand. It was the dagger he’d just dropped.

  He stood. “It’s no use, Logan,” he told her while he hastily decided what he had to do. “You can’t beat me, and you wouldn’t want to harm this body anyway.” Anger made his tone harsh. Disappointment coiled inside of him like a lead snake.

  He raised h
is left hand, spoke a series of ancient, powerful words, and without taking his eyes from Logan, he opened a door into another realm.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Wind rushed across the clearing, the sound howling through branches and whispering through fallen leaves. A few yards from the red Volkswagen, a rip appeared in space and time. It wavered and warped, like soft-edged lightning, and the wind grew stronger. Sam immediately felt the drain of power from his body and mind. It nearly buckled his knees, it was so sudden and so severe. Somehow, he remained standing.

  He could sense the driver of the Volkswagen, Katelyn, watching the opening portal as it slowly pulsed and grew, expanding the passage he would take into October Land. Dizziness swept through him and his head felt light, but he remained focused on Logan. “Drop the dagger and come to me,” he told her.

  If he hadn’t been so suddenly weak, he would have simply willed the knife out of existence. But he could not afford to waste any more power. This portal was not supposed to exist. Not now. Opening it was unnatural, and Nature wasn’t pleased.

  “Get out of Dom’s body, you coward,” Logan hissed, clearly no longer even slightly under his influence.

  “There’s no time for this,” Sam hissed, feeling the weight of time pressing in on him. He needed to get Logan through the portal.

  He started once more toward her – and like a bloody nightmare, the red Volkswagen again came roaring after him. This time, it sped toward him in reverse, Katelyn behind the wheel, teeth clenched, arm slung over the back of her seat. She glared at Sam as she floored the gas pedal, and Sam dove wildly for safety.

  The car missed him by a hair this time, sending dirt, leaves, and small rocks cascading over him in a painful shower. He covered his face and head, gained his bearings, and shot once more to his feet.

  The portal wavered, shrank a touch, and held steady.