by Jen Pretty
face. "I’ve never hurt anyone in my life.”
David's face was sincere, and we had no proof.
“I believe you,” I said.
Kai threw his hands up in the air in disgust.
“Are there any other witches or warlocks in the
building?” Nick asked.
David shook his head. “We used to have a nice
vampire couple, but they moved out last year. Now it's all
humans, except Selena.” He smiled at me.
I returned his smile.
“Ok, well, let’s go, guys,” I said swinging my eyes
around to the group. It was late afternoon, and I was tired
from all the running around town.
They followed me out and into the stairwell.
“I’m just going to crash for a bit at my place. Maybe
grab a snack,” I said when we reached my floor.
Kai nodded, and Peran grumbled, but the two of them
continued down the stairs. Nick and I padded down the
carpeted hall.
“Oh shit,” Nick said. I looked up and saw what he was
talking about before I could ask him.
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My apartment door was wide open.
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I stopped dead, but Nick pushed past me and stepped
over the mess into the apartment. The futon mattress was
shredded, stuffing everywhere. Someone had thrown my
clothes around and my kitchen destroyed. The fridge was
open. Food and broken dishes littered the floor.
I picked up a few pieces of torn clothing. Someone
ruined all of it. Everything.
Nick was on his phone a heartbeat later and a few
moments after that Kai and Peran sifted in.
I was still frozen, standing among the rubble of the life
I had built for myself. I didn't have much, but everything I
had, I’d worked for.
My suitcase lay discarded; it was empty. The book of
magic animals had been in it. I scanned the room but didn’t
see it anywhere.
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Crow cawed and hopped across the floor, picking up
things and turning them over. He hopped further and
plucked at something that was wedged under the fridge.
I stepped over the rubble and pulled out the book. At
least that had somehow survived. I curled it and tucked it
in my pocket. It didn’t fit comfortably, but I didn’t want to
lose it. I turned back to survey the rest of the damage.
“Selena.” Nick's face floated into my line of vision.
My eyes focused on his, but I couldn’t find any words
to say. Something glittery caught my eyes, and I turned to
look at whatever it was. It was Georgia's dress, tossed
among the rubble of my apartment.
I huffed and shook my head, then turned and walked
back out the door. The guys were discussing something,
but I didn’t care anymore. Someone had destroyed my life,
and it was probably the same person who was killing
people in my city. I didn’t know where I wanted to go, but
I had to go somewhere and do something. This was
crossing a line.
I heard footsteps behind me but kept walking not
wanting to be there anymore.
I walked down the street and crossed the road. Before
I knew it, I found myself in the grave yard — the one I
used to go to when I had to raise the dead. Now I didn’t
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have to raise anyone here if I didn’t want to, but something
was pulling me, anyway.
I let my feet follow the gentle tug. It dragged me along
the grass and towards the back corner. A tall statue stood,
covered in moss, its sharp edges worn away by time. I
stopped in front of it and fell to my knees. The marker said
“Katherine.” The magic inside me swirled and poured
forward as if it was practised and routine. It felt like coming
home.
The sun was just falling below the tops of the trees,
leaving long shadows on the dry grass. My magic spilled
and flowed to coat the ground in glittering blue. I felt the
rush as my magic soaked into the earth and chased some
unseen wraith to raise the long dead. A beautiful middle-
aged woman knelt before me. Her features were delicate
like a pixie, but her red hair reached her waist where her
plain peasant top met her long flowing skirt.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the knife,
slicing my arm without a second thought.
“Hello,” she said, smiling wistfully.
“Hi. How’s it going?” I asked.
“You are struggling.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes, I'm struggling. I’ve lost everything.” I glanced
behind me. Nick was leaning on a gravestone facing away
from me about a hundred feet away.
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“Selena, you have not lost what is important.”
“How do you know my name?” No Wraith had ever
known my name.
Crow appeared at that moment and landed on the
woman’s shoulder. She smiled softly and reached up to pet
the bird. He preened under her attention, lifting his beak
to the sky and closing his eyes. He didn’t snap at her like
he did when I tried to touch him.
“Hello, old friend,” she said.
“You are the Black Crow?” I asked, stunned.
She smiled at me. “I was once, now I sleep. I wanted
to talk to you though. Being the Black Crow is more than
being a necromancer. You have more magic than the
others. The dead may not tell you the whole tale, but they
can lead you to the guilty one - the source of their death.
Just follow the thread.”
She was fading. I had a lot of questions. I didn’t want
her to go, but I knew she couldn’t stay. Gripped the knife,
I sliced my arm to let her rest again. The magic evaporated,
and my head was dizzy. I sat for a moment longer and
considered her words. She said I could follow the thread.
Crow hopped across the grass and blinked at me. A
soft breeze rustled his feathers. He looked serene and calm,
maybe majestic. I reached out to touch him as Katherine
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had. The sharp sting of his beak pecking my hand had me
recoiling so fast I almost tipped over.
Little shit.
He cawed at me, his little neck elongated and his beak
wide.
“Fine, let's go,” I said, standing up and dusting my
knees. The sun had fallen enough to cast the graveyard in
a twilight. I could still make out Nick’s shape, but someone
else was in the cemetery now too. Nick was watching my
approach as the person further away disappeared and then
reappeared behind Nick. The stranger's arm went around
Nick's throat, and I called out, but the man quickly
vanished.
Nick fell limp to the ground, and the man disappeared. I
burst into a run. Sliding on my knees the last few feet, I
rolled Nick onto his back and froze as I watched the blood
pour out of a giant gaping wound in Nick's neck.
The grotesque gasping noises he made only added to
my horror, but a loud caw broke my shock, and I wrapped
my hands around the slice. Blood ooze
d through my
fingers, making my grip slippery, but I held on.
“Nick,” I said. His eyes were wide, his mouth gaping
and blood bubbled from his lips. I looked around, but
there was no one else around. My magic rose. I tried to
hold his neck with one hand and rummaged through his
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pockets till I found his phone. My hand on the phone was
sticky, and I smeared the screen when I touched it, but I
flicked it on and found his contacts.
I clicked on a name that was under a smear of blood.
It rang, and I thought I heard a phone ring in the trees
behind me. I turned my head but there was no one there,
and the phone just kept ringing. I hung up and tried a
different number. My fingers smeared blood across the
whole phone.
“Hello?”
“Peran!” I yelled. His voice was easy to recognize.
“Nick is hurt!”
“What? Where are you?”
“The graveyard up from my apartment. Someone came
in, a warlock, and slit Nick's neck. Please, hurry!” I threw
the phone down and wrapped my hand back around the
slice in Nick's neck. It was slowly closing up, but there
couldn't be much blood left in his body.
Kai and Peran appeared in the graveyard. Peran
dropped to his knees beside me as Kai scanned the area
holding his blade.
“He was just standing there, and a guy popped up
behind him, and then he fell, and there is so much blood.”
My hands were shaking, but my grip on Nick’s ruined neck
didn’t falter. Peran covered my hands with his.
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“Selena.” His voice was firm and calm, my eyes caught
on his and I stopped. “Let go,” he said.
I looked down at Nick. Blood sunk into the ground
making a muddy blood puddle all around him. I took a
deep breath and took my hands away. A slow ooze of
blood came out through the small center of the slit before
it closed up and the blood stopped. My arms were red
halfway to my elbows and still shook as I tried to wipe the
hair from my face with the back of my forearm.
Nick’s breathing smoothed out, and his chest rose and
fell in a slow rhythm.
“What do we do?” I asked Peran.
“He just needs a meal.” Peran took his shirt off and
handed it to me. I tried to grab it with my arms, so I don't
get it covered in blood. “It’s for you to wipe your hands
on, Selena,” he said with a grin. I wasn’t sure how he was
grinning at a time like this, but I wiped my hands on it,
anyway. The blood was sticky and the more it dried, the
stickier it got.
I was watching Peran as he went through his pockets.
“Do you have a knife? I can feed him.”
I huffed out a puff of air. “You want to feed him here?”
I asked.
“Kai is looking around. I can get Nick back on his feet.
Unless you want to do it.” His tone didn't change. It wasn’t
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a challenge. It was a simple question. Did I want to slice
my skin for Nick?
I sliced my skin all the time. Reaching into my pocket,
my fingers found the knife, unfolding the blade.
“You need to slit your wrist, this way,” He indicated
with his finger a slice that ran up the inside of my wrist.
“He needs more than a few drops.”
I nodded and tried to stop the shake in my hands. One
last deep breath and I made the cut. It stung more than on
the back of my forearm and blood came out in a gush
instead to a drip. I dropped the knife and leaned forward,
resting my wrist on Nick's mouth.
After a moment, a steely hand slammed up, grabbing
onto my forearm. Nick’s eyes remained closed, but I felt a
pull as his mouth latched on and he sucked the blood out.
I let go of my magic too, pouring it all into Nick. I felt a
pinch and heat ran from my wrist, up my arm and directly
to my brain. Dizziness overtook me. I lost track of where
I was or what I was doing, but, next thing I knew, I was in
Peran’s arms, in a motel room.
“How did we get here?” I slurred; my voice didn't
sound like my own.
“Kai brought us back. He is just grabbing Nick.”
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Kai appeared in the room a second later, Nick's arm
was over his shoulder, but the vampire was standing
upright, mostly.
“I’m sorry, Nick,” I said.
“It's not your fault,” he said with a crooked grin as he
eased down to sit on the bed. He peeled his sticky shirt off
and tossed it in the small garbage can beside the bed and
then stood, a bit wobbly.
“I’m just going to have a shower.” Nick Chuckled as
he made slow steps towards the bathroom. When the door
snicked shut behind him, I turned my eyes to Peran and
raised an eyebrow.
“What is wrong with him?” I whispered.
“I heard that!” Nick called from beyond the door.
“He is drunk on blood and magic. He’ll probably have
a hangover tomorrow.” Peran smiled, and Kai chuckled.
God, I just watched him bleed out, and now he was
drunk. I was getting whiplash from the drama.
“Is this your motel room?” I asked.
“Hold on, I’ll get you one,” Kai said, disappearing. I
wanted to sit down, but I was disgusting and didn’t want
to put more blood on the bed. There was already a smear
from Nick.
“Do you want to borrow some clothes?” Peran asked.
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“Yeah, that would be good. I have none left.”
Remembering my ruined apartment was the icing on the
cake.
Kai appeared as Peran was rummaging through his bag,
holding a keycard in his hand.
“They don’t have adjoining rooms, but this is for the
one next door,” Kai said handing me the card.
“Thanks.” Peran handed me a bundle of clothes which
I tucked under my arm and then stumbled into the next
hotel room. I dropped the clothes on the soft blue covered
bed and turned on the shower in the small bathroom. The
motel room wasn’t as nice as the hotel in Canada, but it
was clean and tidy. A queen-size bed, tv and tiny glass-top
table with two wicker chairs and a minibar. The mini bar
was looking good right about now, so I popped it open and
grabbed two tiny bottles.
The alcohol burned down my throat as the hot water
burned my skin. When both tiny bottles were empty, I
stepped out of the shower and stumbled forcing a small
giggle out. I got dressed in Peran’s t-shirt and jogging
pants. Pulling the drawstring as tight as it would go, it was
still a fight with gravity to keep the pants on as I stumbled
out of the bathroom and fell face first on the bed. A
chuckle from behind me made me roll over and look to see
who was laughing at me.
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“Hey, Nick. Are you still drunk? Cause I'm getting
there,” I said, holding up the two tiny empty bottles in my
hand.
&
nbsp; “Nah, I’m not drunk,” he said as he swayed before
joining me on the bed. He collapsed on his back and rested
his hands beneath his head. The long lines of his body were
on display through a t-shirt he must have put on before
drying himself after his shower. It was damp and clinging
to him.
“How do vampires get fit?” I asked. “Aren’t you dead?
You shouldn't be able to get nice muscles.” I rolled onto
my back, matching his position on the bed.
“You think I have nice muscles?” he asked with a snort.
“You know you do.” I could see his silly smile out of
the corner of my eye. I realized my hair was still wet and
soaking into the blanket on the bed, but was too numb get
the towel.
“Well, you see. Vampires stay as they were when they
became vampires. Since I was a smoking hot dude, I will
stay that way forever.”
“Smokin’ hot dude?” He was so old. I got a case of the
giggles. I got them under control, just to lose it again and
laugh till I had to curl up on the bed because my stomach
hurt.
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“How many of those tiny bottles did you drink?” he
asked, looking at me with one eyebrow raised.
“How do you do that?” I reached out and touched his
eyebrow, feeling the muscles underneath relax as his face
when back to normal.
When I moved my finger, he raised it again. I tried to
do it but just ended up closing one eye and opening the
other. I probably looked like a crazy person, but it made
him laugh. His laughter was deep and ridiculous. A big bad
vampire, drunk and laughing at a necromancer. What a
strange pair we were.
When we finally settled into a comfortable silence. I lay
on my back, staring at the plain white ceiling and twisting
my hair around my finger. It was still damp and cool. I
thought back to the graveyard, and a chill ran up my spine.
I envisioned Nick laying there in a puddle of blood. And
the way the blood smeared across Nick's phone from my
bloody hands. That was the moment I remembered the
ring I heard in the trees after the first call I made.
I sat up on the bed. “Where is your phone?” I asked.
“My phone? I don't know. It wasn't in my pocket.”
“We have to go get it! I called someone before I got a
