Paranormally Yours: A Boxed Set

by Alisha Basso

  Belinda frowned. “Why in the world are you looking for that book?”

  Tessa looked at Jan for help. Jan said, “Just tell her, Tessa.”

  “Um…I need to find the Cave of the Lights, and the book is the only place I can find the location.”

  Belinda stared at her for a moment. “You’re looking for vampire souls?”

  “Only one,” Tessa said.

  “And this vampire…does he mean something to you?”

  “I think so.”

  Belinda sighed and got up to pace the room. Tessa took a sip of her tea, trying to calm her nerves. She watched Jan’s grandmother move gracefully across the room, back and forth.

  “That’s how she thinks,” whispered Jan.

  Finally, Belinda sat back down in the chair and looked closely at Tessa. “You do understand there will be danger involved.”

  “I thought there might be,” Tessa admitted.

  “There will be danger just in retrieving the book. But the true danger lies in the cave. You’ll have to take the jar containing the soul away from the Keeper of the Souls. That won’t be an easy task. You could die.”

  Tessa gulped. “Do you have any idea how to fight this man?”

  “It’s not a man. It’s a creature; a strong one. Focus first on obtaining the book. If you survive that task, then you’ll be ready to find the cave. Are you up to this task, Tessa?”

  “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “But I’m willing to try.”

  “You must love this vampire very much.”

  The shock of the statement ran through her as she recognized the truth of it. Was she really willing to risk her life to save this vampire? Was he worth it?

  “I’m not sure how I feel about him. I think I love him. But, regardless, it saddens me to see him suffer because of the loss of his soul. I’m ready to help him. I haven’t done many noble things in my life, so I think I want to start with this one. Tell me how to get the book.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tessa and Jan watched as Belinda pulled down several large books from her shelves. She opened them all up at once, and the two friends were fascinated by the way she could read them all at the same time. Belinda noticed they were staring at her and she looked up from her books and grinned.

  “Magic really does have its perks.”

  Belinda finally looked serious as she picked one book up and put it on top of the others. She scanned several pages, her fingers running rapidly down each one. After several minutes, she looked up. “Here it is.”

  Tessa and Jan went over to the table and looked at the text she was pointing to. It was in a language completely unknown to the two women.

  Jan sighed. “Grandma, we can’t read that.”

  “Oh, sorry, I wasn’t thinking. This says the Book of Sacred Truths resides in the library of a powerful warlock named Gregor. He’s over two hundred years old and has had the book most of that time. I’m sure he has powerful protection spells on his house as well as around the book itself. It would be almost impossible to penetrate those wards.”

  Disappointed, Tessa said. “Well, I guess that’s the end of it then.”

  “I said it was almost impossible,” said Belinda. “I didn’t say it absolutely could not be done.”

  “But how am I going to break through something like that? And even if I could, I can’t fight a warlock.”

  “You aren’t going to do it. We are going to do it.”

  “I can’t ask you to risk your life to help me with this. You don’t even know me,” said Tessa.

  Belinda smiled. “Of course I know you. Jan has told me so much about you, I feel like I’ve known you for a long time. I don’t want any arguments about this. We’re going to do this together.”

  “What do we have to do?” asked Jan.

  “I’m going to need your help. It will take both of us using our powers to break those wards. Luckily, witches are stronger when working together with those we’re related to. Our bond will be strong, hopefully strong enough to break through the warlock’s protection spells. Tessa, you’re the one who’s going to have to get the book while Jan and I work our magic. It’s going to take all we have to do this, so you have to do everything else. Including getting by the warlock.”

  “Jan? You’re a witch, too?”

  She smiled sheepishly. “Yep. But I just found out recently, so I haven’t been keeping that from you for a long time. Grandma says I’m a powerful witch. It runs in the family, skipping every other generation.”

  Tessa shook her head, trying to process this new information. Her world had been forever changed after learning about what was really out there. It would take some time to accept it all. But for right now, she was going to have to put all her doubts aside and focus on getting Nik’s soul back.

  “So when do we start?”

  They agreed to meet back at Belinda’s house at eleven-thirty. They needed to arrive at the warlock’s house around midnight because that’s when a witch’s power was the strongest, and they needed all the help they could get. Jan and Tessa stopped at a magic shop…another new thing to Tessa…and got the supplies they would need. The time passed too quickly, and it seemed like just minutes before it was time to go back to Jan’s grandmother’s house.

  When they arrived, Belinda was waiting for them. She hurried out to the car, and Tessa noticed she was nervously fingering an amulet that hung around her neck. Following Belinda’s directions, Jan drove them to an old dirt road, and she turned onto it, slowing down to accommodate the rough terrain. When they had gone about half a mile, Belinda told Jan to pull over into the trees by the side of the road.

  “We don’t want to approach by car,” explained Belinda.

  The three women made their way in the dark, guided only by a full moon that kept being obscured by clouds. They were carrying all the supplies they needed to break through the warlock’s spells.

  When the house came into view, Belinda stopped them, and began taking out the items she needed from her bag. She set a red candle down on the ground and lit it. She poured salt around herself and Jan, but motioned for Tessa to stay out of the circle.

  “We need to keep the circle of protection around us while we work. That way, nothing can make its way inside and harm us. I’m pretty sure we can break those wards from here. I feel them already, so they’re pretty powerful.”

  “What am I supposed to do?” asked Tessa with dread in her voice.

  “You’re going to have to sneak in and get the book,” said Belinda.

  Tessa gulped. “So no one will be there to protect me.”

  “I’m afraid not. It’s going to take both Jan and me to break the spells on the house and the book itself.” She took out some herbs and placed them into a wooden bowl. “Jan and I will have to concentrate on our chanting while you go into the house. By the time you get to the front door, the wards on the house should be down.”

  “Okay. Here goes,” said Tessa.

  She heard Belinda and Jan chanting while taking pinches of the herb mixture and tossing it into the flame of the candle. Tessa moved slowly toward the house, her trepidation escalating as she drew closer to it. The floorboards creaked as she stepped onto the porch, and she winced at the sound. She peeked in the window, but she couldn’t see anyone moving about in the front room. Maybe she was in luck and Gregor wouldn’t be home.

  Tessa tried the doorknob and was surprised to find it turned easily. She guessed if you had strong protection spells on your house, there was no need to lock the doors. Which was good for her, since she had no lock picking skills whatsoever. Obviously, the spells the witches had cast were working because she had no problems when she entered the house. She stopped and listened for a few seconds but heard no sounds. Gregor must really be out. This would be a piece of cake. She tiptoed to what looked like the library and peeked inside before entering. She scanned the shelves, looking at the spines of the larger books, and she finally saw it. Written in gold letters along the spine of
a dark green book was The Book of Sacred Truths. She reached up and touched the book, feeling a sense of awe at what she knew were the truths contained in this tome. Now she could find the Cave of the Lights. She grasped the book and pulled it down from its resting place, almost dropping it because of its weight. Clutching the book to her chest, Tessa hurried out of the library. She had almost gotten to the front door when she heard a throat clear behind her.

  “Well, what do we have here?” asked a deep voice.

  Tessa whirled around and saw a very tall, muscular man with hair black as night, which was tied at his nape with a leather strap. He was as handsome as he was imposing, but his blue eyes were like ice. Terrified, Tessa stood rooted to the spot. She literally couldn’t move. And she was too scared to speak.

  “Come now, cat got your tongue?”

  “I…I’m sorry,” Tessa said, tears springing to her eyes. She had never been this frightened.

  “You come into my house and steal from me, and all you can say is ‘I’m sorry’?”

  “I needed the book. Please.”

  “If you needed the book, why didn’t you just ask?” he said, his voice like silk.

  “Would you have given it to me?” Had they been rash to break in instead of asking?

  “Of course not,” he said, smiling like a tiger about to pounce. “But it still would have been polite to ask.”

  “I really need the book,” said Tessa, trying to move, but to no avail.

  Gregor moved closer to her, and she cringed, waiting for something to happen. Would he strike her? Or something worse?

  “What would you be willing to trade for the book?” asked Gregor, reaching out and twirling a lock of her hair in his fingers.

  “Trade? I have nothing to trade,” she said.

  “Ah, but you do. How about this? I’ll loan you the book for one week for just one night in my bed.”

  Shocked, Tessa recoiled from him. But she couldn’t move far since her feet were still planted firmly on the ground. He had magic on his side, and she had nothing to fight him with.

  “Please don’t ask that of me,” she whispered. “Something else, please.”

  “There’s nothing else I could possibly want. I have everything I need right here. But, alas, I can’t do either love or lust spells. Although, I usually don’t need spells to get what I want.”

  Gregor pulled her roughly to him and lowered his head to nip at her neck. She tried to push him away, but he was too strong. And she couldn’t move away from him because of the spell.

  “I could take what I want, book or no book. If you give it willingly, you can borrow the book. If I have to take it, you won’t get the book. A fool could see the better choice.”

  She sobbed as she fought him, but she was losing the battle. Her efforts to claw him were useless; he had some sort of protection spell on his skin. How could she fight that? Just when she was about to give up, the door burst open and Belinda and Jan rushed into the room. Their eyes were black as night, even as sparks seemed to fly from them. They both chanted as they threw energy at Gregor. He batted most of the glowing balls away, but a few hit their mark. While the warlock was distracted, he lost control of the spell that was holding Tessa to the floor, and she moved backwards toward the door.

  “Run!” shouted Belinda.

  Tessa hesitated only a moment, but she knew staying wouldn’t help her cause or the two witches. She ran out the door, clutching the book tightly to her chest. She ran until she got to the car, and she jumped inside and locked all the doors. She realized she was still sobbing and fought to gain control of her emotions. She was terrified for Jan and Belinda. They had done all this for her, and now their lives were in danger. Tessa felt so helpless sitting there in the car while her friends were fighting for their lives against a powerful warlock. She sat there in silence, her whole body shaking. It seemed like she waited there for hours until she heard footsteps running toward the car. Her stomach clenched in fear, just knowing it had to be Gregor coming after her. Then she saw the forms of the two witches running toward the car. Tessa unlocked the doors, and Jan hopped into the driver’s seat, quickly starting the car. Belinda got quickly into the back seat, and the car took off just as she got her door closed. Both women were breathing hard, their faces red with exertion. Tessa burst into tears of relief.

  “I didn’t know what to do!” she wailed. “I knew I couldn’t help you, but I felt so awful leaving you there!”

  Belinda said, “The important thing is the book. I would have been mad at you if you had stuck around and lost the book after all we went through to get it. Now we’re both okay, although we now have a very angry warlock after us, but things will be fine. We have the book, and that’s what we came after.”

  “What happened after I left?” asked Tessa.

  “Well, we had a few spells up our sleeves. Let’s just say a long dizzy spell and a nasty rash might keep a certain warlock out of commission for a while,” said Belinda, grinning.

  Tessa snorted in laughter. She couldn’t help it. After all they had been through, it was a relief to think of something funny. Soon, all three women were laughing, although it was more a release of pressure than anything.

  Soon, they were back at Belinda’s house. She insisted the two friends sleep there for the night, so Tessa and Jan agreed. Belinda did a protection spell on her house, plus a spell to alert her of any intruders. When the three women went to bed, they all slept like babies.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The next morning, after sleeping late, the three women sat around the table drinking coffee.

  “I’m glad this isn’t a work day,” said Jan.

  “Yeah, me too. Not only because we slept in, but also because we have so much to do. Or at least I do. We need to look in the book and see what it says about the cave. Then I need to tell Nik what’s going on.”

  “You can’t talk to Nik until tonight,” Jan reminded her.

  “Oh, that’s right. I keep forgetting. Or maybe I just want to forget.”

  “It’s all going to work out,” said Belinda, patting Tessa’s hand. “You just have to have faith.”

  “That’s easier said than done,” said Tessa with a sigh. “I hate to even think about what I’m going to have to do to get Nik’s soul back.”

  “Let’s take a look at the book and see what we can find out.”

  Belinda went into her bedroom to get the book and brought it back to the kitchen. She set it on the table, and Tessa ran her hand over the odd green leather. How she would love to have this for her collection at the museum.

  Belinda opened the book. “Look at all this information. No wonder the warlock protected the book. With this much knowledge, someone could be very powerful.”

  “Can I see?” asked Tessa.

  “No, I think it’s best we just move on to the pages we need. It’s not a good idea to learn too many Truths. Ah, here it is. Let’s see what this says.”

  This book was actually in English, which surprised Tessa, but Belinda was holding the book close to prevent the other two women from seeing the words.

  “This says the Cave of the Lights is in another dimension. To get to the gateway for that dimension, you have to travel to Isla de las Almas. You can ask the locals where to find the portal. Once inside, you’re in the other dimension. The cave shouldn’t be far from where you come out. There are three challenges you have to face before you even get to the part of the cave that contains the souls. Once you’ve met the challenges and found the souls, then you have to fight the Keeper of the Souls. He’s a very powerful creature, so the best way to fight him is probably through trickery. But I’m not sure how. And here’s something very important. You have to take the vampire with you. Otherwise, it would be impossible to determine which soul belongs to him. He will know his soul and it will know him. It’s imperative that he be there.”

  “I’m sure he’ll go with me. That’s not the main problem. What are these challenges?”

  “It
doesn’t say what they are.”

  “Then how can I possibly prepare for them?”

  Belinda said, “The book says a pure heart will understand and can overcome the challenges.”

  “But what if I don’t have a pure heart?”

  “If your heart wasn’t pure, you wouldn’t be doing this for someone else. A pure heart doesn’t mean a perfect person. It means you put others before yourself and try to do what’s right.”

  “I’m scared, Belinda. Even if I make it past the challenges, there’s no way I can fight the Keeper. Maybe Nikolas can defeat him.”

  “It doesn’t really give any clues on how to fight this creature. But I’m sure you’ll find a way.”

  Tessa swallowed hard. Her stomach was fluttering with hordes of butterflies and she felt like she was going to be sick. She and Nik would be going in blind, not knowing what to expect. But she was going to do this.

  “Well,” Tessa said. “I guess I’ll have something to tell Nik when he wakes up tonight.”

  ***

  When sundown finally came, Tessa called Nik. She had come home after lunch and had been pacing the floor off and on, waiting for the time to get here. Now she was listening to Nik’s voicemail. She tried again and again to call him, but his phone went to voicemail every time. Frowning, she realized she had no idea where he lived. She opened up her laptop and did a search for Nikolas Petrou. Bingo! She found him. He actually didn’t live too far from her, so she decided to walk to his house.

  When Tessa arrived at Nik’s place, she knocked on the door with the old-fashioned knocker. This house was really big, and also very beautiful. She stood there for a while, then knocked again. Where was he? Wouldn’t he have just gotten up from his daylight sleep?

  Taking a chance, she reached for the knob and turned it slowly. To her surprise, the door wasn’t locked. She hesitated for just a moment, but curiosity as well as urgency spurred her on. She peeked into a couple of rooms, wishing she was here under other circumstances so she could admire everything. But she was on a mission, so she kept looking for Nik. She was a little apprehensive because she didn’t know if vampires were different when they first arose. Would he need blood immediately? Was she in danger?