“You’ve been to the Haven, Monty,” Alec said. His strong jaw worked back and forth before his face took on a determined set.
“Charlotte…” Montague walked up to me and cupped my face in his hands. “I can’t let anything happen to you, that’s all.”
“What is the Haven?”
“It’s a huge place where witches and warlocks go for all sorts of reasons. But…none of them all that good.”
“It’s a sanitarium,” Harris said. “A mental ward. And rehab. It’s where Monty had to go to un-vampire himself as best as anyone can.”
“So…something bad happened to Ina, too. Samuel’s dead. And my mom is in Sinistral.”
“Yeah,” Montague said. “Not a good record.”
We stood in the common room, which was empty. I guess anyone who wasn’t roller skating was enjoying some quiet studying time.
“So how deep of shit am I in, then?” I asked.
“Charlotte, you’re going to be all right,” Firian said. He reluctantly admitted, “Maybe it’s a good thing that you’ve gotten so popular. I guess we might need a crew.”
Harris moved toward the stairs. “I’m going to go study,” he said. “It sounds like my work is done.”
“Harris!” I walked up to him but hesitated at the studied indifference in his eyes. “I mean…thanks for helping us. I mean that. I know your reputation means an awful lot to you, and you didn’t have to help us.”
“Just doing my old friends a favor,” he said. “University is the last hurrah, and…I know none of you are capable of getting past those wards.” He glanced at them and then tromped up the stairs.
I rolled my eyes a little, but if I was being honest with myself, that was just a cover for the uncertainty inside me. I mean, is he really going to just leave and marry Daisy and stop being friends with Alec and Montague?
“Well, I have what I wanted,” I said. “The dress and the picture should be enough to summon my mom.”
“Did you just hear me?” Montague said. “Drop it. This is dangerous. To answer your question, the shit is deep.”
“You think that if I summon my mom, she would actually hurt me? So far the demon has only hurt other people.”
“Are you ready for it?” Alec said. “Knowing that your mother is…a demon?”
“If that thing is my mother, we’ve already met.” I bit my lip. “Anyway, who can I trust? I don’t know whose side anyone is on. Out of all the people in that picture, who is still just fine? Master Blair. And I ask again, what the hell is Stuart?”
“I’ll support you entirely,” Firian said.
“Firian…you don’t think this is too risky?” Montague asked. He ruffled his hair with an agitated hand. “I get nervous when I hear the Haven is involved.”
“All the more reason we need some real answers. Is there a day that’s particularly good for summoning demons, the way the new moon was good for this?”
“Yes,” Alec said. “For that, we should look at the stars. Scorpio’s influence is good for demon summoning, and we definitely want to make sure you don’t have any negative aspects with the current moon and your own natal chart. Do you know your birth time?”
The next day Alec was buried in books of star charts in the library figuring out my birth chart. Then I realized—duh—I could just generate my astrological chart off a website. I slapped a print out in front of him and he gave all of his books a heartbroken look and said, “That’s…cheating.”
“Well, you can keep figuring it out this way if you want.”
He slammed the book shut and snatched the paper out of my hand.
He figured out that the best time for demon summoning was March 25th. So I had about six weeks to prepare before, hopefully, I would trap my own mother in a summons and could finally ask her…what had happened to my family?
Chapter Forty-Six
Montague
None of us knew how this dating thing was supposed to work. Alec and I were fine seeing Charlotte together, but it ended up feeling more like friends going out. Alec couldn’t touch Charlotte, so it didn’t seem fair if I touched her. At the same time, if we could both touch her, I wasn’t sure what would happen. Maybe it would be weird and we’d both get nervous. Or maybe our desire would feed off each other and we’d lose control. I could easily see that happening, because I knew it was in Alec’s nature to want sex all the time. And it was in a vampire’s nature to have sex with his prey.
They didn’t always—the vampire who turned me hadn’t. Thank God, because he was a guy. But I remembered how good he smelled. I was afraid if he had forced himself on me I might have enjoyed it.
When I got home from a night with Charlotte, I’d been having some pretty intense memories.
Lisbeth and Rayner got to London and rented a small flat. Rayner was working some sort of manual labor job, taking advantage of his vampire strength. Lisbeth offered to get a job as a maid but he insisted that he could provide for her, sparing her those long hours of hard work. I saw all this in snippets, and much of them involved him having sex with her. She had this plain but very pure sort of beauty, but also seemed very determined for a girl of the 1600s, and he clearly loved her so much that the memories always turned me on. Then I felt awkward, like I was cheating on Charlotte by remembering Lisbeth.
Firian had Charlotte alone during their magic practice, and Alec shared a room with her. They both had private time with Charlotte automatically, so I asked her to study with me. We had some long papers to write for history and literature.
We would read and take notes in front of the fireplace in the library for a while, and then find some privacy in the stacks. She would slide her hands up my back under my jacket. I could feel her excitement in the way her fingers dug into me, feeling out my shoulders, working down my back muscles, giving my ass a squeeze.
By this time I was getting hard.
I kissed her face and neck. I squeezed her ass in return. If it was really quiet in the library I would let slide a hand up her front. Her breasts were just the right size for my hands. I could tell she liked it when my fingers brushed her nipples and I got even more excited thinking about the day when I could strip off her clothes and take those hard nubs between my teeth.
But when I tried to slip my tongue in her mouth, she would lock her lips down.
Finally she said, “Your mouth is cold.”
“It’ll warm up from contact.”
“Yeah, but…”
“So how do all these vampires in books get so much action?” I demanded.
“I’m sorry. I want to kiss you very badly, but when we actually do…”
“I don’t know how Alec can stand not touching you,” I said, nibbling her ear.
“Ohhh…!” she said, almost in protest but not really in protest at all. “Do I need to get Alec in here to protect me from you?”
I stopped and ran my tongue over my teeth. Sure enough, I was all fangs now. “I can’t help it. You smell so good.”
“You smell so good…”
“Is it so bad to kiss me, then? I can’t stand this, Charlotte. I never get to kiss the girl I’m so into…?”
“I want to kiss you. Believe me, I do. It’s just that you’re…dead.”
“I’m not dead. I’m undead. Which is just…a technicality.”
“I want to kiss you. I sooo want to kiss you, you tasty man. It’s just…your tongue is lukewarm. At best. Lukewarm tongue.”
I didn’t really even notice much that my body was cold. In some ways, I felt warmer than when I was alive, because cold weather didn’t affect me as much. “I do see your point.”
“Did Rayner kiss Lisbeth?” she asked.
“I actually don’t have any memories of that.” This was a crushing realization. My sire’s life seemed to be unfolding in front of me, in flashes that told me his story. But if I hadn’t remembered any kisses yet, maybe I wouldn’t. Surely a kiss would come before sex. So I just had to wait. Maybe I wouldn’t mind not kissing her as much if we were h
aving sex.
But they’re two different things. I want both. I want all of her.
Charlotte’s fingers brushed my chin. “Let’s try it. You’re right. I’ll warm you up.”
“No,” I said. “If it doesn’t bring you pleasure, I’m not going to do it. You’ll like it better when I can do other things to you.” I nibbled her ear again, and she let out a soft whimper. “And someday I will.”
“Mm…” She pressed her face against me so I felt her eyelash brush my cheek. I trailed my tongue down her neck and forced myself back before I was tempted to open a vein. “Wasn’t Alec supposed to protect me from you?” she murmured. “Do I need to call him?”
“With what? The Alec signal?”
We stood together, forehead to forehead, fingers entwined. The mixture of hunger and lust was heady. The smell of her skin gave me this possessive urge.
Rayner…if you promise not to kill me, I want you to taste me. When I shut my eyes, I saw a slender wrist offered up. Lisbeth’s trusting eyes. Swear to me, you’ll never taste another girl but me.
“Charlotte…” I lifted her wrist to my lips, kissed it. Licked it. She laughed but I saw a little worry there.
“The way you look at me sometimes,” she said.
I remembered Rayner’s first taste of her blood. My God… Her eyelids fluttered in ecstasy. There was no pain, only pleasure, from a vampire. He wanted nothing more, in that moment, than to drink and drink until she succumbed to him, but he loved her enough that for her, he was always more human than monster. He shoved her wrist away and wrapped her skin in linen.
“Don’t be scared. I would never kill you…”
“Good to know.” She lifted her hand and flame leapt from her fingers.
“Whoa.” I jerked back before my clothes caught fire, but it worked. I was completely snapped out of the memory. “Damn, did I just tell you I wouldn’t kill you…?”
“Yeah. Very reassuring. You’re like a restaurant with a sign that says ‘Rat-Free!’ Good thing I have skills. I thought it might be a good time to show you how I’ve been learning control,” she said, with a wicked little smile. “Maybe there’s a spell I can learn to warm you up.”
I shook my head. This girl…
No matter how intense the memories got, I knew I would never want to find Rayner and serve him like other vampires. We all had our masters. Maybe I would have been susceptible, before. Not now.
A few days later, she came up to me in the library with a thermos. “What about that?”
“What?”
“It’s hot tea. When you sit by the fire your body gets all nice and warm, so I thought, maybe there’s a life hack. I asked Mr. Tranh in the conservatory if there was any tea that was good for vampires and he said chamomile is good for everyone. I put a lot of honey in it. He said that was okay too because honey is magical or something.”
“That seems almost too obvious.” I took a swig. It was hot, but not too hot. Or maybe I was tougher now. I held it in my mouth a second before taking another. It was also delicious. Very different from blood, but I hadn’t tasted anything else in months now and I didn’t realize I missed sweets. Vampires can still eat honey? Someone could have told me that.
“Okay?” she asked, perching on the table.
“Let’s see.” I gently pressed my lips to hers. They parted slowly, letting me in. She didn’t stop me, but instead put a hand to my neck and held me closer.
“Mmhm…”
My tongue inside her delicious mouth. It was a hundred times better than it had ever been before. Was it her? Was it my heightened sense? It seemed like both. Every kiss I’d ever had before was at some ball or impromptu outing. It was never with someone I knew like this. She was weaving her way into my life, and Alec’s life too. We could have been pulled farther apart and instead I felt like I was finding my own family.
But they will still age and die. Not you. You will come to me.
I stiffened a little, coughing. I’d breathed wrong or something.
“You okay?” Charlotte asked.
“Yes.” I shook it off. I wasn’t going to let this shit ruin my happiness. “It seemed like that was better.”
“Much better. I didn’t even need a spell. Sometimes an ordinary human is all you need.”
Lisbeth… I saw Rayner at her bedside, her face covered in pustules. I don’t think he even cared.
Lisbeth…I won’t let you go…
Lisbeth…!
“Yes,” I said, holding her so tight that she looked at me funny.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Charlotte
This demon summoning thing? I was doing it for me.
Still, because I had a stubborn streak, I sent Harris an invitation to my demon summoning party.
You dared me. Well, you’re on. Come to my demon summoning party, at Excalibur Theater, midnight. Be there, or shut up. Next it’s your turn.
I passed it to him as a note in class. Really fast, because my palms were sweatier than they should be.
Yep, at this point I’d been courted by three guys for the last three months but I still got stupid around Harris. He hadn’t said one word about our dare since the break-in. He didn’t say one word about the note either. But then, like the contrary person he was, come midnight and the door creaked open.
We were using the theater because the doors were unlocked, but it was never used. Merlin College used to have a drama department, but at some point someone must have decided that was a waste of time. Now the theater was only used for assemblies and the grand interior looked a little shabby. It had no windows, but a number of escape doors off the stage, which was another perk. I was nervous and I wanted a lot of doors.
“So. You’re going through with it,” Harris said. “I’m just here to make sure you don’t open the gates of hell or something.”
“Yeah, yeah, sit down and shut up,” I said, already on edge.
I was in the process of drawing the pentagram that would contain the demon.
“Take deep breaths,” Firian said. “It’ll be fine as long as you’re calm and in control, mentally.”
Calm and in control?
I was really trying. Deep down, I thought my mom must be scared. I knew she hadn’t left on purpose. Under the surface of the demon attacks had to be a cry for help. I knew I was doing the right thing. If I could just talk to her, maybe it would lead me to a way to save her. Montague said it was possible, and if there was even one tiny chance I could bring her back to the Ethereal world—and the human world—and us—well, I would take it.
I was already wearing the pink dress. Once I had drawn the pentagram, I lit some candles and placed the photo in the center.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Turn off the lights,” I told Alec, who was posted by the row of switches.
“Remember, just talk to her from your heart,” Firian said. “This isn’t just a demon you’re summoning. It’s a loved one. Love is powerful enough to reach.” He squeezed my hand before taking a step back.
Firian stood behind me. Montague and Alec were standing together at the edge of the stage, ready to back me up if something happened. Harris had taken the seat front and center, an audience of one. I had a slight regret about inviting him now.
“Mom…I want to summon you. I want to talk to you. I…I know you’re watching over me. I know you’ve tried to attack the boys you thought might be a threat to me. Thank you, for that, even if it was a little much. Please come.”
Nothing. Not even a candle flicker.
“More commanding,” Firian said.
“If she won’t appear, if something is holding her back, then…tap into a little anger,” Firian said. “She abandoned you. She owes you an explanation!”
Firian must miss her too, I thought. He remembered her more than I did. In a way my mom and her familiar must seem like his parents too, right? Even though we are not siblings whatsoever.
“Mom!” I tried again. “I command you to appear and tell me wha
t the hell is going on! Why did you leave me? Why did you break my dad’s heart? Mom—if you have to be a demon now, then—fine! If you don’t want to be my mom, you can at least leave the school alone! But we have a blood tie and you have an obligation to honor that, at least. Who are you?”
In some desperation, I added, “It’s your little goblin. Remember?”
The candles all went out.
I heard all of us catching our breath, afraid to make a sound, as a glow tore its way onto the stage in the center of my pentagram. The wolf demon jumped into the center of the pentagram. Its fur bristled. It hunched, defensive.
“Mom?”
“Don’t—do this,” the wolf said.
“Are you my mom?” I couldn’t help but think that if this was my mom, my mom sounded like a British man.
“Don’t call her. I’ve tried, Charlotte. I’ve tried. But the Withered Lord has her now and if you go down this path, he’ll destroy everything you love. Close the gate and never speak to Sinistrals again. She didn’t want you to be a witch.”
I took a step closer. “But I have so many questions! Who are you?”
“I can’t keep this passage safe long enough!” the wolf growled. “You need to close it!”
“You know, I’m at Merlin College because I was forced to be here by Ignatius Blair. And he won’t tell me anything. You can’t answer three questions?” I cried.
Why three? I remembered that Etherium and Sinistral had been described as the realms of fairy tales and magic. And everyone knew that sort of thing came in threes.
The wolf cursed. Right before my eyes, he transformed into a handsome older man wearing a stylish suit. But he still looked like kind of a wreck. He struggled to his feet. “I’m your grandfather,” he said. “I’m Emily’s father, Rhys. I have to be quick. When I was a boy, I was taken in by the Withered Lord. He’s a high demon, and my mates and I didn’t have an easy time of it, but your grandmother saved us from him. She gave up her powers to do it. And so, we kept your mother from the magical world. At least, we tried. But then Samuel came along, wanting to meet his aunt who had defied the rules of the witching world. Before long he brought his little sister Ina. Your mother adored her cousins, and she wanted to be a witch like them. We told her no, no…” He grimaced. “I suppose it is no use telling you no either.”
The Fairer Hex Page 24
