Witch's Soul

by Emma L. Adams

  “But you learned.”

  “From my brother, yes.” He nodded, sipping coke through a straw. “He taught me how to handle crowds, how to touch people without draining them… everything.”

  “Huh. I didn’t know.” Even the necromancers’ vampire-related guidebooks seemed to be written from an outsider’s perspective and gave no hints as to what it was actually like to live with the constant need to devour people’s souls. I reeled my curiosity in, figuring that was probably what he least wanted to discuss.

  “No, I expect not,” he said. “Do you have siblings?”

  Or maybe not. “Nope. Orphaned witch, remember?” I kept my voice low. “I had a few close friends growing up, though. Is your brother older than you?”

  “Three years older, yes.” He waved over a waiter for the bill. “We can head somewhere for drinks, if you like.”

  “I had enough of that yesterday. I’m still not sure if I actually sang karaoke or if it was a dream.”

  He grinned. “Do you usually sing?”

  “Hell, no. I’m tone deaf.”

  He tilted his head, studying me. “No, you’re an artist. I’d like to see those new spells you invented.”

  “Right here.” I lifted my wrist, my stomach swooping when he ran a finger over the spell’s curved edge, delicately brushing the underside of the skin.

  “What does this one do?” he asked.

  “Don’t touch that if you don’t want it to blow your testicles off.”

  He dropped his hand sharply. “Really?”

  “Nah, that was a joke. Isabel does have a spell that causes you to get boils down there, but that’s not much use on an undead.”

  He chuckled under his breath. “No, I suppose not. I have to say, this is the first time I’ve ever heard testicle-exploding spells mentioned on a date.”

  “I’m a winner at conversation, clearly.” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t date. Not really. Work is busy, and… never mind. This isn’t actually a date, right?”

  “Depends if you want it to be.” He turned a plastic straw over in his hand. “I don’t typically date either. I— and vampires in general—have difficulty settling down in one place.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  He looked at me. “Jas, I don’t want to give the impression that I’m going to just disappear again. It was a shitty thing to do, even considering the circumstances.”

  I raised a hand. “Say no more. Just give me a little warning if you decide to leave town like the other vampires.”

  “If I were sensible, I would,” he said. “Considering I’ve had to redo the wards on my flat to stop any more furies tearing holes in the walls.”

  “Oh, crap, I forgot about that.” I pulled up my sleeve. “I have another warding spell here, if you need one.”

  He smiled at me. “I might take you up on that offer. Want me to walk you home?”

  “Sure. Thanks for this.” I waited for him to leave the payment on the table before heading out into the darkening street. Then I handed him the warding spell. “I’ll have to brew up some more of these tonight.”

  Once I’d dealt with Lady Montgomery’s paperwork, that is. As tempting as it was to invite Keir to help out, there were several reasons why it was a bad idea, even if I’d had a genuinely good time with him this evening. For one, I might wake up in the night to find him chewing on my soul. Never mind that it might even be worth it.

  “Thanks, Jas,” he said, pocketing the spell. “I fixed the damage, but since I own the property, I’m responsible for security. It’s a little difficult to explain monsters that can tear through brick and plaster to the neighbours.”

  “You own the place? Seriously?” He must be even more well off than I assumed. Thanks to the invasion, property prices had skyrocketed, while most survivors had lost everything. I was lucky the guild’s salary covered my accommodation costs, otherwise I’d have had to live out on the street.

  “My brother used to own the property, and it became mine after he disappeared,” he explained. “I’m pissed that the bastards tore the wall down, but it might easily have been my skull they tore open.”

  “Yeah.” Worry crawled up my throat. The furies hadn’t initially gone after me, but after the vampires. “I can give you a defensive spell, but they don’t work on furies. And the vampire—the Soul Collector—I’m sure he can contact other vampires the same way he can psychics. What if he comes after you next?”

  “He can’t when I’m wearing this.” He pushed up his sleeve, revealing an iron band. “It somewhat dampens my own ability to control my vessels, but I’ve been having considerable trouble keeping a grip on them for a while.”

  “Since me, right?” I said. “I don’t know if those books Ilsa gave me have any useful information in them, but I’m going to read them tonight. Might sneak into Lady Montgomery’s secret library, too, since apparently Ilsa and Morgan managed to and got away with it. There must be a way to undo what Evelyn did.”

  Keir shook his head. “Shades usually disappear fairly quickly or take over their host for good. Nothing I’ve read about them has ever mentioned vampires.”

  “That doesn’t seem like it’d end well for you either.”

  “No, I suppose not.” A smile bloomed on his mouth that didn’t reach his eyes, and coldness grew in the pit of my stomach. In letting him feed on me, I might well have ended his life.

  “Keir, I’m going to fix this,” I found myself saying. “I don’t know how, but I will. I haven’t given up on the idea of getting her out of my body. When she’s gone… maybe it’ll help. Do you know what exactly it is that caused your vampire abilities to bond to me? Is it just her, or me?”

  “I have no idea,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I was thinking particularly clearly at the time.”

  “No, you were half dead when we were in the tunnel. Maybe I should have let you snack on a human instead.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” He met my eyes again, and his were bright, intense. “I’m not blaming you for this.”

  I poked him in the chest. “It’s hardly your fault, either. If anything, I’ll lay the blame for this one on Evelyn, too. And the Hemlocks.”

  He caught my wrist. “Evelyn isn’t you.”

  My skin warmed as he traced the spell-bands on my arm. “No shit. I’m not a murderous power-crazy spirit trapped in the body of a necromancer.”

  “I’m glad I can tell it’s you I’m talking to.” He smiled at me and my heart dipped a little. Oh, boy. This was why getting attached was a bad idea. It made me forget things like common sense and oh, the slight issue of him being addicted to feeding on my soul.

  “Yeah, I’m way more charming than she is.” I didn’t move, not when his fingers moved to my neck, then trailed along the edge of my jaw. His fingers were cool to touch, but not freezing. Warmth pooled deep inside me as he leaned in.

  Oh, Jesus. Did I want to do this? Really?

  His face was inches from mine, and I closed the gap. He kissed me, his strong hands carefully cupping my face. His lips caressed mine, soft and inviting. I deepened the kiss, barely noticing when his hands dropped to my shoulders and the touch of his spirit swept over mine. He stiffened and broke his mouth from mine, an apology on his tongue, but I cut off the words with another kiss.

  “I have twice as many souls as most people, Keir. It’s fine.”

  He smiled against my mouth. “Good.”

  Coolness massaged my body down to my toes, and I gasped into his mouth. Maybe doing this in public was a bad idea after all. A shiver racked me from head to toe, a sense of opening, of release, and when he stepped back, his eyes were positively glowing.

  He breathed out, his chest rising and falling. “It’s lucky I still have some self-restraint.”

  Yeah, I’m not so sure I do. But did I want him, or his vampire’s touch? Or both?

  Equally breathless, I said, “Let me know if you need my help. I don’t want you to get chewed on by a fury.”

  “Sure, Jas.�
�� He stepped back, his eyes still glowing with silver-grey light. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Bye.” I turned my back before I lost what little control I had left.

  I walked through the lobby in an exhausted daze, climbed the stairs, and stopped at the weapons room to grab an iron band to wear on my wrist. No psychics would get into my thoughts that night—I’d make sure of it.

  Lloyd waylaid me in the upper corridor. “Jas, you left one of your sketchbooks in my room again.”

  “Oh. Bugger. Did I?”

  “Yes, you did. Must have left it there after our last movie night.”

  I released a breath. “I suppose at least Mackie didn’t get hold of it when she ransacked my room. She’s done enough riffling around in my head anyway.”

  He snickered, opening the door to his room to let me in. “Yes, since she knows you like Keir. Did you two have fun tonight?”

  I let the door close behind me. “There’s not much to tell.” Or rather, there was too much. Because I still hadn’t told Lloyd I’d accidentally messed up Keir’s vampire powers. “We wandered around looking for vampires. Had a run-in with some vessels and then picked up some food at the café, since the boss wasn’t in. And now I get to spend the night doing paperwork.”

  “You don’t,” he said. “I dealt with it for you. Asked the boss to let you off for once.”

  I sagged against the wall. “Lloyd, I could kiss you.”

  “Not after you locked lips with that vampire, you won’t.”

  “Lloyd—” I began, but he cut me off.

  “It’s fine. I don’t like the guy, but it’s not personal. I have something against people who suck out souls for a living. But I don’t exactly have a great track record when it comes to relationships either.”

  I frowned at Lloyd. “What, you like someone?”

  He half shrugged.

  “Someone living? Who, me?” I doubted it. We’d established early on that neither of us harboured any romantic feelings for the other, but there was a lot I’d missed over the last few weeks.

  “No, you’re not my type. Too many souls.”

  He yelped as I shoved him in the shoulder. “Lloyd, it’s lucky I like you. Otherwise I’d have punched you in the nuts for that comment.”

  He mock-punched me back, turning it into a wrestling match which ended with me pinning his arms above his head on his bed. “Now you have to tell me who it is. River?”

  “No. He has Ilsa.” He attempted to free his arms from my grip, but I was stronger than I looked.

  “The guy who cleans the training room?”

  “He’s half troll.”

  “I have no bloody clue what your type is.” I climbed off him. “Never mind. I’m not one to talk.”

  He tossed my sketchbook to me. “Yeah, your type is the living dead.”

  “He’s not exactly dead. Did I mention things are a little complicated?”

  Lloyd stuck his tongue out. “Please, Jas, keep me out of your romantic drama.”

  “It’s not romantic. Believe me.” I pocketed the sketchbook and told him about Keir’s revelation.

  “You broke the vampire?” he said. “Jesus. Is there anything you haven’t broken this week?”

  “Lloyd.”

  “Okay, just saying. Considering I found out about vampires the day after you did, this is not my area of expertise. But I do have those books Ilsa told me to give you.” He walked to his desk and picked up three dusty volumes.

  “Thanks.” I took the textbooks from him. “But Evelyn isn’t like most shades. The rules don’t seem to apply to her. I don’t know if the issue is her being a witch, or stronger than normal shades, but how do you go about undoing a link with a vampire?”

  “Nope, there’s no cure. Luckily, I know a dozen ways to help you hide the body.”

  “Lloyd!” Keir would kill me for laughing. Oh, who knew, he might find it amusing as well.

  “Joking,” he said. “Want to watch Zombie Armageddon Part 3?”

  “I think I’ll get an early night, to be honest.” I tucked the books under my arm, stifling a yawn.

  “Right, you have some new reading material.”

  “Yep.” I also needed to replace my spells, and check that Mackie hadn’t moved anything else when she’d swiped the device from my room.

  I wasn’t sorry the illegal contraption was gone. I was concerned that the vampire who’d orchestrated the attack hadn’t seemed to care he’d been thwarted. While the iron band I’d borrowed ensured nobody would see into my dreams that night, a sense of foreboding followed me to my room.

  After dumping the books on my bed, I cleared a spot on the floor to sketch out some chalk circles and re-make some of my most valuable spells. Healing spells, knockout spells, locking, unlocking, shielding, shadow spells for illusions… I knew each pattern by heart. I’d cleaned out half my stash of ingredients by this point, but Isabel had taught me you could make a variation of most spells with almost anything if you knew what you were doing.

  Mechanically, I moved through the well-practised motions for a fire charm. Let’s face it, I wasn’t planning to hang up my metaphorical broomstick anytime soon. The Hemlocks’ magic felt as natural in my hands now as it had when Evelyn had moved my body like a puppet, and—

  A sharp breath tore through my lungs as my hands jerked sideways, glyphs flowing from my palms to the circle. The spell ignited, and when the light faded, the band-shaped spell lay in the circle. Yet for a second…

  Evelyn?

  Nothing. The feeling had gone as quickly as it’d hit me.

  I shook my head. “Evelyn?” I whispered.

  Silence answered. I got to my feet, shaking spell residue from my hands, and sank wearily onto the bed, my head resting on the textbook I’d thrown onto the pillow. I needed to read up on vampires… but my eyelids were too heavy.

  Blissful oblivion claimed me.

  15

  Frantic knocking on my door woke me from slumber. “What?” I groaned and rolled onto my back, and the spine of a textbook dug into my ribs. Right, I’d crashed before I’d had the chance to read them, and I’d left a mess of spell ingredients all over the floor.

  Another knock. “Lloyd, I swear if you don’t have a good reason for this, I’m test driving my boil spell on you.”

  “Jas,” said Lloyd. “Your friend’s here.”

  “Keir?” I reached for my phone and saw a message.

  Not from Keir. Isabel.

  Oh shit. Did something else happen at home?

  I scrambled off the bed. “Tell her I’ll be down in five.”

  “Will do.”

  I stripped off yesterday’s clothes, threw them in the laundry basket and tugged on a fresh outfit, grabbing my necromancer coat for good measure. Leaving the books Ilsa had loaned me on the desk, I left the flat and locked up.

  Pulling on my coat as I walked, I hurried downstairs to find Isabel waiting in the lobby with Lloyd.

  “There was another spirit line attack,” she said. “In Glasgow. The Mage Lord has been watching the official channels for anything odd, and it seems this attack was a mirror of the one you saw in Edinburgh. The mages found fliers advertising the Ley Hunters at the scene. Seven dead humans, one dead vampire.”

  “Crap.” My stomach dropped. “We never could have warned them in time.”

  “I know,” she said. “I expected the news to reach the guild, but I thought I’d come here and tell you first. In case you need a witch handy.”

  “I might do.” I rubbed my tired eyes. “Not sure what the boss wants us to do today, but we’re not patrolling.”

  “You can start by explaining why you keep bringing your friends to the guild,” said Lady Montgomery, approaching from the stairs. She looked Isabel over. “And you are?”

  “Ah, I’m Isabel. I came here because Jas told me to let her know if there was any other spirit line trouble.”

  “You heard about the attack, then?” asked Lady Montgomery. “Yes. I have a m
eeting with the council at the Mage Lords’ headquarters today. Jas, if you aren’t on today’s rota, it would be a great help if you could write me a list of places where the next attack is likely to occur. I’m assuming you have some idea of the patterns the attacker is using.”

  “But it could be anywhere in the UK,” I said. “At a key point. Wait, was it the same spirit line as before?”

  “It was,” confirmed Isabel. “I borrowed a map from the necromancer’s guild at home, and checked.”

  “Use the guild’s resources to look for the other key points which are likely targets,” said the boss. “And do try to stay out of trouble.”

  And she was off, thankfully without asking Isabel any more questions.

  “I take it I’m allowed to stay?” asked Isabel. “She doesn’t know I came up from England...”

  “Best not clue her in on that one.”

  With no choice but to do as the boss said, I headed to the archives, where the guild’s biggest map of the spirit lines was fixed to the wall. Ilsa was on desk duty this time, and waved at me when I entered with Lloyd and Isabel.

  “Hey,” she said. “Who’s your friend?”

  “This is Isabel, my mentor,” I said. “Isabel, this is Ilsa.”

  Isabel nodded to her. “I saw you at the council meeting in October.”

  “Speaking of council meetings, that’s where the boss is,” said Lloyd. “So we’re meant to use our powers of deduction to figure out where the next attack on the spirit lines will be. Where’s a psychic when you need one?”

  “Not even a psychic could predict the pattern,” said Isabel.

  If they have a direct link with the enemy, maybe they can. But I doubted the boss wanted Mackie to end up close to the enemy again. “We can start by marking where the last few attacks took place.” I moved to the map on the wall. “Ilsa, can you look in the desk drawer and see if there’s anything I can use to mark this?”