“Did you mean what you said about writing our own vows? You seem more of a traditional kind of guy, that’s all.”
She sat so close to me I could smell her perfume, and the clean scent of her hair. I wanted her so much it about killed me to be near her, but it would kill me more not to be. I rolled onto my side and grabbed her, pulling her down with me. She giggled and the sound rushed over me, like warm water when I’m cold. My heart opened as wide as it could and took her in, all of her, and swallowed her whole. She smelled shiny and new, and old and comfortable, and I sank my face into her shoulders and drank her in, thirsty and sated, all at once.
“Serena, there is nothing ‘traditional’ about us. No wedding vow as it exists can capture this as I know it. I’ve heard the words ‘I Love you’ and I know what they mean and even that is not enough. I had a beginning and I thought I had an end, but I wasn’t even close. My story didn’t even start until I met you. You want to know what I want to say when I stand up in front of everyone and take you as my wife? I’ll say “I’ll never have another story that doesn’t end with you.”
I felt the dampness of her tears on my arms. I kissed those away, then I kissed her cheeks, then I kissed her lips. I held her face in my hands and remembered that once I’d been spellbound by my beautiful, crazy witch, my life had never been the same. And but for that wonderful twist of fate, I never wanted it to be again. I would always be hers, willingly, for now, forever, for Everspell.
About the Author
Samantha lives in Southern California with her husband and two beautiful children. When she's not writing, she reads, anything she can get her hands on, enjoys the Food Network Channel and her guilty pleasure is most reality television. She is fascinated by blogs, has recently conquered her fear of both facebook and Twitter, and if there was a flood, she would grab her lap-top first and her slippers second. She loves to write paranormal romance (mostly because there is nothing paranormal about her life at all!) as well as horror and sci-fi.
Her debut novel, Spellbound, recently won the Global Ebook Award for Speculative Fiction-Fantasy and Everspell is Book Two in that series. She also has a middle grade horror novel called The Detention Demon to be published in early 2012. Ghostly was her 2nd YA paranormal romance for Astraea Press. Everspell makes her third book with Astraea and she has many more in the works. You can find her short stories, too, if you look real hard. She is closer than ever to calling herself a full-time writer and the idea is both frightening and amazing.
Samantha LOVES to connect with her fans, find her on her facebook fan page, follow her on Twitter, and especially become a fan on her blog, samanthacombswrites.blogspot.com. She’d love to meet you!
Also by Samantha Combs:
Prologue
LOGAN
My girlfriend’s anguished screams pierced my soul and I spun around, frantic to find her. I spotted her across the barn, struggling against the clutches of the demon, Christophe. He had my Serena trapped in his arms and was headed with her across the party to the gaping tear in the air. If I let him get there with her and go through to the other side, I would never see her again. What could I do? I was only a teenager. But, I was her only hope.
Besides that, in the short time that I had known Serena, she had become my world. It didn’t matter that she was a witch. It didn’t matter that in knowing her, I had uncovered startling revelations about my own heritage, my own background. It mattered only that she was my destiny, my future, and that we were fated to be together. It mattered only that I loved her. I’d loved her from almost the first moment I laid eyes on her at school.
I remembered every second of that day like it had only just happened. I couldn’t have known it at the time, but that meeting was the first step on the journey that had brought me here today, fighting for our lives. The day my spellbinding life with Serena began.
Chapter One
LOGAN
I woke up with a start and realized I’d overslept. Great. Late again. I got dressed in a flash, grabbing clothes off the floor. I forged a quick note, jumped in my car and sped off. As a senior at White Mountain High in Lancaster, New Hampshire, I had an easy schedule, but I still hated to be late. I stuffed my car into the last spot in the school lot and raced inside. I jammed hard, hauling so fast past the administration office that I almost missed them. Almost.
Three girls were leaning against the administration counter in the office, chattering back and forth and filling out papers. The prettiest one immediately caught my eye. She was tall and slender with long hair the color of honey and shimmering green eyes. A younger girl with red curls and smiling eyes stood close to her playing with the zipper on her backpack and next to her was an older girl, tallest of them all, with short, dark hair. She busily filled out most of the papers. Glancing up when I approached, she appraised me swiftly, her eyes clearly NOT smiling at me. That one leaned over and whispered something quick and sharp to the blonde one, who waved her off and ambled right over to where I still stood, motionless.
“Hi,” she said. Her voice was like soft music. “My name is Serena Starr.” She motioned to her dark-haired sister. “This is my sister, Elizabeth.” She indicated her other sister smiling widely at me. “And this is Tabitha. We call her Tabby.”
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Logan. So, you’re new here?” Great, I thought. I sounded so lame.
“Yes,” she answered. “Just transferred in. My sister is registering us.” And then she favored me with a smile and I thought of how dazzling and bright the sun had been this morning.
“Hey, Logan, what’s up!” My best friend Dave waved at me from across the hall. He thought he was better looking than me and secretly I did too. Not that I would ever admit it. And Dave’s radar was uncanny. He had probably sensed me talking to the new girls from clear across the parking lot and killed himself to get here before the first bell rang.
“So, who’s this?” Before I had the chance to answer, the first bell trilled. Dave gave me a pained expression that said I’d have to tell him everything later and trotted off down the hall. I wanted to say something to the girls but they were gone too. I caught just a glimpse of them as they rounded a corner. Their hair made me think of three different flavors of cotton candy.
****
I was hoping I would bump into the new blonde girl sometime during the rest of the day. I didn’t know what classes the new girl had, so it surprised me when I walked into my first class and she sat in the front row. She didn’t acknowledge me when I walked in, so I walked over to an empty chair across the room and sat down between two girls I have known since first grade. Patty and Tamera have been best friends and inseparable since they were in diapers. I went out with Patty a couple of times but that qualified as old news. My buddy Dave had been dating Tamera since the seventh grade. I’ll probably be the best man at their wedding.
“Hey, Patty. Hey, Tam.” I nodded at the two girls.
“Hey, Logan,” the girls said in their usual living stereo. I didn’t know how Dave put up with it. I had almost tuned them both out when I realized they were talking about the new girls.
“What?” I said. “Did you say something?”
“I said did you catch the new girls in the office?” Tamera heaved an exaggerated sigh at the end. “They’re gorgeous! What I wouldn’t give for hair like that.”
“I know, right?” echoed Patty. “Gorgeous!”
I tuned them out again when I realized this constituted the part of the conversation where I was in danger of falling asleep. Instead, I directed my attention to the new girl, Serena. I peeked at her to check if she might catch me and when I thought she might not, I took the opportunity to study her.
I decided Patty and Tamera were right; she was gorgeous. And she did have great hair. The color of golden honey, it went straight down her back in loopy curls. It was the kind of hair that begged to be touched. At least, I found myself wanting to touch it. I had a crazy need to verify if it was as soft and velvety as it looked. She
had on a sundress in pale colors my sister probably would have called pastels and a sweater in a purple color I’m sure she would have called eggplant. I stopped short a little when I realized what Dave would have called me for even knowing that. While I scrutinized her Serena uncrossed and crossed her legs and I almost stopped breathing. And then she glanced at me. I thought she would think I was some kind of perv for staring but she just gave the sweetest smile, and I found myself grinning right back. Then she lowered her eyes. I must have been holding my breath because as I exhaled I became aware of other sounds, which were growing louder. I realized the sounds were voices and chairs scraping the floor, and people gathering their books to leave the room. Had I missed the bell? The whole class? I scanned the room for the new girl but I never caught a glimpse of her. I did catch Tamera and Patty looking at me funny.
“Are you alright?” they singsonged.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “I’m fine. Where did she go?”
“Who?”
“The new girl. Serena.”
“You already know her name?” Patty was disbelieving, even hurt.
“Yeah. We met at the office this morning. I was late. Had to get a pass. So…” I repeated. “Where did she go?”
They both spun around to inspect the now empty room.
Tamera spoke first, Patty a half second behind, “She’s gone.”
****
I searched for Serena the rest of the day but I didn’t spot her. For some reason she wasn’t at lunch and she wasn’t in any of my afternoon classes. I didn’t locate her sisters either. I went to baseball practice and got home around six o’clock. My sister had made it upstairs to the phone already. No doubt talking to someone she had left at school a mere two hours ago.
“Can you believe she wore that?” my sister shouted into the phone. “Can you die? That is so last decade!” I made a slicing motion across my throat like off with her head and Jade rolled her eyes at me. She scooted forward on her bed and slammed the bedroom door shut with her foot. I threw my practice gear in my room and went looking for my mom. I found her in the kitchen, sitting at the table warming her hands around a cup of coffee. Hearing me come in, she looked up when she saw me and gave me a weary smile.
“Hi, Sweetie. How was practice?” My mom’s name was Lily, but my dad had always called her Lil. Since he had died she only wanted to be called Lily. She pushed away from the table and leaned her body over the chair. She seemed tired a lot lately. I sat next to her and she reached over and rubbed the top of my hair.
“Fine.”
My mom stared at me for a minute. Then she said, “Okay baby, out with it. What’s on your mind?”
I hated it when she did that, zeroed right in on me. She could read me like a book. Not such a good thing for a teenager and a parent, I’ll admit.
“There were some new kids at the school today,” I said, with a grin.
“Your sister told me some buzz about new girls at school today.” She gave her own little smirk.
“Remind me to strangle her later.” I clenched my teeth, grin all but gone.
“Logan,” she warned, but it was just out of habit. “I wonder if they are the ones moving into the house across the street.”
“Really?” I got up and strode across the room to the window. Sure enough, the house across the street, empty for so long, was all lit up and I could make out empty moving boxes in the driveway. How had I missed that?
“When did all that start?”
“I’m not sure, honey. I stayed up late last night, almost into morning. I must have been overtired since I slept in until almost eleven. I know you kids can get yourselves up for school, you’ve been doing it so long now.” She almost sounded guilty, but kept on talking. Jade and I both knew she hadn’t slept well since dad died. She thought we didn’t know. “I woke up when I heard the sound of the moving truck.” She blinked at me. “What time did you meet the new girls?”
I thought about it. I was late to school, but I wasn’t telling her that. “I guess maybe 10 or 10:30. I had just walked by the office.” I didn’t tell her I’d been there with another forged late note.
She seemed to consider that for a minute. “Mm-hmm, that’s about the time I heard their car pull away. They must have been leaving to go to the school.” My mom put her arm around my shoulder. “Looks like we may finally have some new neighbors, kiddo.”
“Yeah.” I wondered if this might be a good thing or trouble. “Looks like.”
Also by Samantha Combs
Chapter One
The weirdest week of my life didn’t start out as the weirdest week of my life. In fact, it started out as pretty normal. I woke up at the regular time, dressed in my self-prescribed uniform of baggy jeans rolled to my calves, dark hoodie, and black Chuck Taylor Converse high-tops. I pulled my short blonde hair into two little ponytails, and as an afterthought, defiantly swiped pink lipstick across my lips.
When I got to school, my friends were already there. I caught up with Jett, Sixx, and Creepshow hanging around at our usual spot, sitting on the wall. I nodded when they saw me.
“Hey Juice!” Sixx called out.
Sixx is my best friend. Her real name is Nicole. But she has always loved Mötley Crüe, and so, while we made fun of her, we also renamed her Nicky Sixx and after awhile only the Sixx part stuck. I suppose it had been in retaliation that she nicknamed me Juice. My real name is Lucy. Juicy Lucy. Get it? Our friend Jett has black hair and always wears Ray-Bans. And Creepshow is obsessed with horror flicks. I guess we’re not all that original.
“Hey, Sixx.” I unslung my backpack and let it drop to my feet. Claiming a spot on the wall, I joined my friends on our morning perch. We sat there watching everyone stream into the school and successfully ignored them all.
“What’s going on, girl?” Jett leaned over and gave me a hug. As always, he enveloped me with the smell of salt air and board wax.
“Not much. How were the waves?” Jett and Creepshow surfed every morning before class. If I woke up early enough, I rode my bike down to the beach and watched them. Afterwards, they’d put my bike in their beat up old van and give me a ride to school.
“Sweet. Better than yesterday. Not as good as they’ll be tomorrow.”
“You know Jett’s never satisfied with his ride, Juice. He always thinks there’s a better one coming.” Sixx fished around in her giant bag for something. “I’ve got something for you. Aha! Here it is.” She pulled out a dark wad of material and handed it to me. “Found this over the weekend at a thrift shop. Screamed your name at me.” I unfurled the wad and almost stopped breathing.
“Sixx! Where did you find this? It’s awesome!” I flapped the vintage t-shirt open so Jett and Creepshow could see it. I read the words printed on it out loud. “Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy. Tour dates and everything.” I twisted back to Sixx and hugged her hard. “You are unbelievable, Sixx. Thank you!” Sixx knew my all-time favorite song had always been “Ten Years Gone” by the mighty Led Zep, and I didn’t care who knew it. She was the only one who knew that I had been known to say I needed to “get the Led out” whenever I felt in dire need of a Zeppelin fix. I was unapologetic in my dorkdom.
Sixx shrugged. “Whatever. The tool at the shop didn’t even know what he had. Plus,” she looked at me with a glint in her eye, and I knew she would say it, even though she promised me she wouldn’t. “I had to get you something for your birthday, didn’t I?”
Creepshow nearly fell off the wall and Jett actually lowered his shades.
“Seriously, Juice, is it really your birthday?” Jett looked at me as if Sixx had just told him I might be a secret agent or something.
“Jett, I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you.” I glowered at Sixx, who always enjoyed being the whistleblower. “I just didn’t want anyone to make a big deal of it.”
“Yeah, well, now Sixx is the only one who got you anything for your birthday.” Creepshow almost pouted. “We look like cheap tools.”
�
��No, you don’t.” I punched him in the arm.
“Well, I still want to get you something. What do you want?”
“How about a good-looking boyfriend and an A in chem?”
Sixx made a face. “Ugh. Have you seen the boys at this school? Present company excepted, of course.”
“Right,” muttered Creepshow.
“Sweet,” said Jett.
“Most of them are Neanderthals.” Sixx rolled her eyes. “Jocks and geeks and dorks and freaks. This school is a breeding ground for idiots on parade.”
“I know.” I nodded, then held up one finger. “So, maybe instead I’ll just have an ice cream cake?” Sixx and Creepshow and Jett all looked at me and cracked up.
“That’s what I love about you, Juice,” said Sixx, throwing her arms around my shoulders. “You’ve always been willing to set your sights low.”
****
When the morning bell sounded, I went to homeroom. My last name is Zander, the end of the alphabet, so I didn’t get to be in the same class as any of my friends. Nicole “Sixx” Montgomery and Jason “Creepshow” Monroe were in the same class, and Jett Abbott’s first one happened to be on the other side of the building. We always got together again at lunch. So, of course, in the mornings, I got left alone again with the assorted freakage.
I walked into the classroom and assumed my place in back, then pulled my hoodie up and slumped down low in my seat. This had worked for halfway through the semester as long as I got to class early. Everyone left me alone. But today I noticed something different in class. Or rather, someone different. A new guy now sat two desks to the right of me. He had floppy blond hair and wore a hoodie, same as me. I looked at him and our eyes kind of locked. His were a beautiful blue color and he stared right back at me. Stunned, I realized the new guy was smiling at me. Boys of any kind smiling at me, or even looking in my direction, constituted such a foreign occurrence, my mind almost couldn’t process the correct response.
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