Would-Be Witch

by Kimberly Frost

  “You don’t have a lot of bullets,” I told myself in a whisper. “Focus. Aim. Just like shooting cans with Zach for fun. You can do this. You can do this.”

  They rushed the doorway, but three turned back at the mirror.

  I pointed and pulled the trigger. I got one in the chest and another in the shoulder. They fell, scrambling toward us, knocking the mirror onto its side. Astrid stepped forward and slit their throats, making me wince. She stood the mirror back up.

  “Good!” she said with a quick glance at me. “The same way when they come again.” She said some words that I guessed were for another spell, but I didn’t even process what she was saying. My whole mind was focused on the doorway. I wanted to live.

  There were sirens, shrill and getting louder. And then I heard a car door slam and a motor start.

  “Do not move,” Astrid said, walking to the window behind me. “Ha! They go. Pendejos!”

  My arms burned from holding the gun outstretched, but I couldn’t seem to move. I wasn’t sure they were all gone. I couldn’t let my guard down.

  I saw flashes of light from the squad cars reflected off the wall.

  “The police. Bien.”

  I waited with the gun still gripped tight in my hand.

  “Tammy Jo!”

  I didn’t answer. I just stood where I was until Zach bounded up the stairs and appeared in the doorway. I lowered the gun.

  “What the hell?” he said, looking at the pair of dead men on the pale gray carpet. Those stains were never coming out.

  “They broke in and tried to kill us,” Astrid said.

  Zach looked at the pedestal mirror.

  “To block the door and slow them down,” she added.

  “Hey,” Zach said softly, stepping over the bodies. “C’mon to me, darlin’. C’mon.”

  The other deputies shouted to each other downstairs. They were sweeping through, I guessed. I dropped the gun into the tote bag that was next to my leg.

  Zach put his arms around me, and I put my forehead against his chest. “Easy there, baby girl. You did right.”

  I didn’t cry. The well had run dry, I guess. I just trembled, and my teeth chattered a little.

  “That’s all right. You just lean on me,” Zach said, and I did.

  “What the hell! They broke through the front and the back?” someone downstairs shouted to someone else.

  “How many were there, Jo?”

  “Too many,” I whispered. “They’re crazy psychos, and regular ammunition won’t stop them. You and the other guys need to load your weapons with silver bullets.”

  “Easy now. Don’t get yourself more worked up.”

  “I’m not kidding,” I said, pulling away. “And you will darn well listen to me.” I poked him in the chest. “I’m not letting any of you get killed.”

  He cocked his head to one side.

  “Something bad is happening in this town,” I whispered. “Was I right about the special medicine to get those people at Glenfiddle out of their comas?”

  He nodded.

  “Trust me again. You need silver bullets.”

  “Well, not having many visits from the Lone Ranger, we don’t keep a supply of them at the station.”

  “Bryn Lyons gave me some. He must know a supplier.”

  Zach clenched his teeth. “Lyons again.”

  “That’s a very good idea. Let’s go to Bryn’s house. He can help us,” Astrid said.

  I rubbed my tired eyes. I knew Zach wouldn’t go for that. “How’s that bite doing? Has it been bleeding a lot?”

  “Nah, it’s just a scratch. Here, sit down,” he said, maneuvering me to the bed. I sat, trying to figure out what to do. If the wolves were tracking my magic, I didn’t want to cast the astral-projection spell from anyone else’s house. But I couldn’t exactly stay in my house with its busted-in doors either.

  “I need help,” I murmured.

  “I’m here,” Zach said.

  I nodded. I wondered if the wolves would be brazen enough to attack the jail. If the cops had silver ammunition, they wouldn’t get far.

  I took a deep breath. “All right, I have a plan.”

  “A plan to do what exactly?” Zach asked.

  “I have to go to Bryn Lyons’s house. After that I want to stay at the police station. If I meet you there, will you put me in a cell for protective custody?”

  “In a cell?” he echoed. “You can stay at my house.”

  I shook my head. “They’re killers, Zach. You couldn’t shoot them all fast enough.”

  “Who are they, and what do they want with you?”

  “Revenge. They tried to kill me, but I didn’t let them, and they’re mad about it. I guess it makes them look bad if a girl like me can get away.” I didn’t even know what I was saying. I was just talking to get us where we needed to be, armed to the teeth and barricaded in the jailhouse.

  “Who are they?”

  “I’m not really sure.”

  “How many are there?”

  “I don’t exactly know.”

  “Well, we’ll call in backup from the surrounding towns. This ain’t the old West, you know. And if you’re going to Lyons’s house, I’m going with you. I’d like to have a talk with him. Seems like it’s been since you started spending time with him that all this trouble started.”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  “Good, I’ll join you,” Astrid said. “Let’s go now. You may ride over with me,” she said to me.

  I understood her ploy. Bryn had turned her away, and she thought if I was with her she’d have a better chance of getting in. I could’ve been annoyed at being used, but I didn’t blame her for being scared. I was scared, too. And I wasn’t sure why he didn’t want her in his house, but it seemed pretty low to leave her running around town without a place to go.

  “We’ll caravan over there,” I said. “But I’m going to ride with Zach.” I stood and reached for my tote bag, but Zach grabbed it and shouldered it.

  “Remember when I used to go out shooting with you all the time?” I asked. “I just did it to keep you company because I wanted to be near you.”

  “I know.”

  “And you used to say it was a good skill for a girl to have, just in case.”

  He nodded as we stepped over the bodies in the doorway.

  “You can go on and say ‘I told you so’ if you feel like it.”

  “I don’t.” He grabbed my hand and held it as we walked down the stairs.

  “Sutton, you taking her to the station?” Sheriff Hobbs asked as we passed him in the living room.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You go on and let someone else drive her. She’s your ex-wife, and we don’t want it to look irregular in the reports.”

  Zach nodded. “We’ll be outside.” I didn’t need to ask. I felt the purpose in Zach’s step.

  “You’re going to get yourself fired,” I said as we crossed the lawn.

  He opened the passenger door of his prowler, and I slid inside.

  We drove across town to Bryn’s house, where security let us in after a short delay. Astrid and Zach parked, blocking my car in, which was still there from earlier.

  Bryn stood in the door way when we got to it. “Astrid, you’ll stay in the guest house with Lennox.”

  “It’s under your protection?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  “Is Lennox armed?”

  Bryn nodded again as Security Steve pulled up in a golf cart.

  “All right,” she said. Astrid climbed in and was whisked down a dark path.

  “Bryn, my house was attacked,” I said.

  “I heard. Are you all right?” he asked, waving us into the foyer.

  I nodded. “I shot three of them using the silver bullets you gave me.”

  He shook his head and smiled. “You’re full of surprises.”

  “What can we do to make them go—”

  “Who are they?” Zach cut in.

  Bryn looked at
Zach. “A gang.”

  “Yeah, I got that,” Zach said. “Biker gang? Street gang? And where from?” As he waited for Bryn to answer, sweat popped out on Zach’s forehead and upper lip. My head tilted, and I opened my mouth to ask him if he was okay as crimson blossomed on his upper shirt.

  “Lie down on the bench, Sutton,” Bryn said, motioning to an expensive-looking settee in a small alcove near the door.

  “I’m fine,” Zach said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Git to talking. I don’t have all night.”

  “You’re right about that,” Bryn said grimly.

  “Zach, honey, let’s sit down. I’m dead on my feet.”

  Zach let me maneuver him to the bench. I took the keys and tote from his grip and set them down on the floor.

  “Don’t fuss. I’m all right.”

  “I know.” I pressed my hand over the fabric, pushing down on the wound. As the cloth touched his skin lower down, blood seeped into it. The blood was running down his chest.

  Chapter 21

  “Lay him down,” Bryn said.

  I looked at him sharply. “What can we do? You healed yourself with that energy we created. If we were to—”

  “No. Scratches are one thing. A bite’s another.”

  Zach leaned back, putting his head against the wall and closing his eyes.

  “We can give him a blood transfusion,” I said. “Like Lennox did for—”

  “It won’t last.”

  “I’ll be all right in a minute,” Zach said, but he looked pale.

  I got up and pulled on Zach. He was heavy and hard to move. I panted with the exertion of positioning him flat and turned to Bryn, feeling helpless and overwhelmed.

  “If you know anything, please . . .” I clenched my fists at my sides and blinked back my tears. “Please.”

  He sighed. “Keep him flat. There’s something that can be done to slow the bleeding, but I’m telling you it won’t solve the problem.”

  “But it’ll keep him alive while we think of something else?”

  “It’ll keep him alive awhile, but there’s nothing I can do to save him.”

  He walked to a wall phone and picked it up. He spoke softly and quickly, then hung up.

  “What language was that?”

  “Gaelic.”

  Gay-lick? What in the world? Sounded like something Johnny Nguyen would be interested in.

  “Keep his heart lower than his legs. There are some cushions on the couch,” he said, nodding to the room down the hall. “Lennox only has two packets of blood left. He’ll be up to give the transfusion. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He walked past me to the front door.

  “Bryn, thank you.”

  He didn’t answer as he walked out. I hurried down the hall and stopped in the incredibly opulent living room, which was decorated in shades of purple from dark blue-violet to periwinkle with silver accents.

  I loaded my arms up with pillows and went back to Zach. He was too tall for the antique bench, but I got the pillows under his thighs while his calves dangled off the end of it.

  “Better flip those burgers ’fore they burn,” he mumbled.

  I bit my lip and unbuttoned his shirt. I grimaced and pressed the heel of my hand over the wound where his blood was draining from it.

  “Oh, Zach, I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

  A few minutes later, Lennox arrived. He put an IV in each of Zach’s arms and let the blood run in. It was just finishing when Bryn came back.

  “All right, Tamara, hold the door open for me.”

  I rushed to the door as Bryn and Lennox pulled Zach up, and Bryn lifted him in a fireman’s carry.

  I started to follow them out, but Lennox caught my arm. “No. You’ll stay here until we’re done.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t argue! You owe us more than you can repay already,” Lennox snapped.

  I went as still as if he’d clocked me with his fist. I kept my mouth firmly shut and my feet planted as I watched them load Zach into the golf cart. After they left, I closed the front door and paced back and forth, still shaking from having been yelled at. When I stopped to think about it, I knew it was just plain silly to be worried about that with so many worse things going on, but I couldn’t stop. Lennox made me feel like I was pushy and ungrateful, and that just wasn’t the way girls in Duvall were raised to be. Lennox could be a terrible jerk, but he had helped me. I’d try to remember to use my best manners even when I didn’t feel like he deserved them.

  Finally, I sat down with the spellbook and started searching for strong healing spells.

  A half hour later, Bryn came into the house. He was soaking wet and smelled like a shrimp salad gone bad.

  “How did things go?” I asked.

  “The bleeding stopped better than I expected, and he’s awake.”

  “Thank goodness for that.”

  Bryn walked past me to the laundry room, and I trailed after him.

  “He’s in bed in the guest house. It was closer. And he walked in there under his own power. He’s tough. I’ll give him that.”

  “Thank you so much for your help, Bryn. So what are we going to try next? I’ve got this old spellbook. It’s powerful, and I found a couple of healing spells that might do the trick. Nothing that mentions werewolves, but—”

  Bryn yanked his shirt off, and something that sounded like hail on a tin roof fell to the floor. I bent, but he picked up the pearly white bits and tossed them in the garbage.

  “Crushed seashells,” he said, unbuttoning his pants.

  I turned to face the door but didn’t leave. “So, what do you think? Use the book I’ve got or one of yours?”

  “We can’t spell-cast. I’ve done everything I can to cloak this property. There are still twenty-eight angry werewolves looking for us. The minute we cast a spell, they will track us here. I can’t risk it. Not for Sutton or anyone.” He reached past my shoulder and grabbed a bathrobe from the hook. “I’m going to take a shower, then I have to drive somewhere far enough away to draw power without compromising this house. The highest priority now is survival for the maximum number of people, which includes the townspeople. Werewolves aren’t especially patient. Sooner or later, if they get frustrated enough that they can’t find us, they’ll start attacking innocent people.”

  “Zach is innocent,” I said.

  He turned me to face him. “I’ve done what I can for him. Now, I need you to share power with me to help me do what has to be done. Are you with me or not?”

  I needed to find the locket and to heal Zach. Edie was always a wealth of advice. She’d been around more than a hundred years now. She might know some rare cure for a werewolf bite that we didn’t. I couldn’t take a chance that Bryn would steal too much energy from me and leave me without enough juice to power the spells I was determined to cast.

  I looked at Bryn, who was waiting for my answer. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

  “Saving it for Sutton, huh? He doesn’t deserve it.”

  “Maybe not,” I said softly. “But I got him into this.”

  Bryn walked out of the laundry room.

  “Hey, I’m real sorry. I’ll make it up to you,” I called.

  He didn’t slow his stride. “I hope you get the chance.”

  Just as I was leaving the laundry room, Mercutio ran up and darted past me.

  “Hey, where have you been?” I demanded as he careened into the hamper and knocked it over.

  He rooted around in its spilled contents.

  “No crab legs in there. Just stinky clothes. And I don’t know why swimming in seafood bisque would help a wolf wound, but I don’t have time to think about it. I’ve got to cast a spell and find a locket. I can’t go home. I can’t do it here. I can’t go to any of my friends’ houses. What do you think?”

  Mercutio ignored me. He was intent on licking the fabric of Bryn’s damp clothes.

  “Easy!” I said as he began chewing, putting puncture holes into the jeans. I sighed. �
�Great. You don’t think he’s mad enough at me?” I paced back and forth, and Merc cocked his head, looking at me. Then he walked over and rubbed his furry body against my legs. And just like that, I had to forgive him.