by Bella Falls
Blythe shouted outraged words through her gag, struggling harder. If she broke free, the vampire would have a difficult time defending himself against both of us. I let a little power trickle down my arm to my fingertips, reaching my hand to touch the rope around her feet to free her.
“Stop right there, Charli.” Damien placed a hand on Blythe’s shoulder, and she stopped fighting, her eyes clouding with an eerie calm. “No fair cheating when you are unaware of the rules. You haven’t heard the pièce de résistance yet. Your part in all of this.”
“What about me?” The only advantage left to me was letting the man monologue for as long as possible until I could figure out a way to get me, my friend, and a dog out of here. Preferably still alive.
“It is a wonder that you do not recognize me.” He crouched down until his face rested in front of mine. “We crossed paths not that long ago. I had been taken in for questioning at a local warden station for suspicion of…other activities that aren’t relevant. When I was waiting to be processed, I overheard a young lady speaking to someone I found out possessed the very valuable abilities of tracking. This beguiling woman spoke so warmly about her hometown with such affection that I couldn’t help but visit the location.” He reached out to touch me, and I flinched away. “I thank you for the suggestion. It has been most beneficial in more ways than I could have ever expected.”
Blood rushed through me, and I almost collapsed under the weight of realization. I understood the nagging feeling that had plagued me when I was with him. A part of me had recognized seeing him at the station in my last days away from Honeysuckle. And because of me, so much had happened. I leaned on Blythe’s lap for support, trying to keep the last contents in my stomach from coming up.
Damien patted my head like he would an animal. “Don’t fret, dear girl. If you had recognized me, I could have used my influence on you to make you forget again. But I would rather not hold you in my thrall because it would benefit us both for you to choose to help me on your own.”
Moss joined us, giving me a dirty look and hovering possessively close to the vampire. I didn’t hear their conversation, too wrapped up in my own guilt. “What have I done?” I moaned.
“Chin up. Being maudlin does not become you. The added bonus of discovering my old acquaintance living in this quaint backward town allows me to concoct an even bigger plan than a quick fleecing. Raif,” Damien snorted. “The man liked to put on airs he didn’t deserve even back then. You understand, that is not his name. I knew him as Baines. Bartholomew Baines. Old Barty was a mere porter and a complete mumper at the social club for my kind in Victorian London, always looking for a way to move up in the social chain. The Claret served as a perfect setting to hatch schemes and make connections, but anyone with the right motivation could garner precious information and use it to their advantage.”
I didn’t know if Damien spoke of himself or Raif, nor did I care. Whatever past the two vampires held with each other didn’t help me at the moment. But the man enjoyed the sound of his voice enough to give me a chance to survey what existed around me. A broken chair lay on the floor close enough that if I dashed fast enough, perhaps I could break it and get a piece of wood sturdy enough to drive through the heart of the undead monster.
When Damien stood up, he grabbed me by my shirt, dragging me upright and dashing my hopes of hurting him. “Enough talk. The boys will be finished loading the goods soon, and I will need to leave. So here’s my offer. You come with me, and I will allow your friend and that blasted dog to remain alive.”
“And if I don’t,” I challenged.
He sneered. “Then I will force you to come with me and kill them both. But I think you will come with me. How could you not? There’s a wide world out there ripe for the picking for someone with your talents. Do you not know that you could have riches beyond your wildest dreams? If people do not pay you to use your magic, then you can find and take what you want. You could afford a life much richer than the meager existence you settle for here, and it would be my honor to show you how.” His eyes sparkled with passion, and he released me for a brief moment, caught up in his own reverie.
Taking my chance, I dove for the broken chair, the force of my body splintering it. My hand grasped the nearest fragment of wood and held onto it in a tight fist in front of me. “I like my life just fine, you arrogant unicorn’s behind. There are more treasures here in Honeysuckle than you will ever understand.”
Damien clapped his hands together. “Such spirit. I shall have to make sure not to dampen it too much when I compel you to leave. Hold her,” he commanded a menacing presence behind me.
Strong muscles restrained me, and a rough grip forced the wood out of my hand. I resisted, fighting back hard with kicks and twists, but my captor clasped me close. My elbow contacted his stomach, and the man cursed. “You should have just come with us,” he grunted in my ear.
“Trey,” I identified him. “I thought you promised Dash to leave town.”
“I gave that idiot what he needed for him to leave us alone. It was an added bonus shattering his heart.” He buried his nose in my neck and took a deep breath, scenting me from collarbone to ear. “I wonder if it would hurt him more to know that I had you right now.”
“He means nothing to me,” I lied.
Trey snorted. “Sure. That’s why you listened in on our conversation in the alley. Not too smart, hanging around angry wolf shifters.” He brought his hand to my neck and squeezed. “A girl could get herself hurt.”
“Enough,” barked Damien. “She is not to be harmed, do you understand?”
Trey’s growl vibrated in his chest. “Then finish things and let’s go.”
Butch stood in the front doorway, and Damien addressed him. “Since Miss Charli chooses not to come willingly, then I need you to take care of them.” He pointed at Blythe and Raif’s dog.
I writhed in protest, building up a charge of power in my center and blasting the crackling hex through my body. It zapped Trey, who dropped me with a bark of surprise. Rushing to Blythe, I used what sparks I had left in me to do away with the ropes holding her. I set Sir Barklay on the floor, and yelled at him to run, watching his tiny body dodge the two shifters and escape into the night.
The room erupted into chaos. One second, Butch snarled at me and coiled his body, ready to spring on me. The next, a hulking form tackled him and threw him on the floor, beating and punching him until he stopped moving.
“Get outta here, Charli,” Dash ordered. “Now.”
“Not without Blythe,” I called out. Putting my arm around my friend’s shoulders, I attempted to lift her up, but Trey got to me first. He picked me up in his arms, holding me tighter than before, and I struggled to breathe.
“Back off, Dash, or I will hurt her,” he warned.
Both Damien and my wolf shifter attempted to plead with him. Trey backed away from both of them with me in tow. “This couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. First, I can take all the goods myself since Sir Vampy here values your life so much,” he explained to me. “And as an added bonus, I can finally get my revenge on you, Dash.”
“Why?” Dash growled.
“Remember when I told you about Dina? How she was doing okay in college? It was all a lie. The Red Ridge pack has her captive, and your brother forces me to pay him every month to keep her safe, as if I don’t know that he’ll take what he wants in the long run. But you…you hide out here and think you’re sheltered from it all, ignoring the destruction you left behind. Well, how about I destroy something you value while you watch it being taken away from you?” He strangled me with one hand, his fingers curling tighter, my gasps growing short and loud.
“Trey, stop. Don’t do this,” pleaded Dash, looking on in helpless conflict.
“And what did you do when we all begged you not to go? You didn’t listen either. I hope her death hurts you,” Trey snarled, squeezing. The world faded away and darkened.
In desperation, Mason cried out, “No
. Moss, contingency plan. Now!”
The fairy, who’d been hovering on the perimeter of the room, spun in tight circles, gray-green dust spiraling off her wings. A glow pulsed around her small body, and with a shriek, she exploded, hurdling power at all of us.
The old structure disappeared, and I collapsed on the ground of dirt and tufts of grass, gasping for air. When I got my bearings, I recognized the thick twisting branches hung with Spanish moss of the Founders’ tree with the last rays of the sun radiating through the lush canopy.
“What are we doing here?” I choked out, rubbing my neck from the pain.
Damien crouched next to Moss, who lay on the ground as still as a stone. “This is my last bet to place. My ace in the hole. You said I didn’t appreciate your town’s riches, but you are mistaken. I need you to help me locate the treasure that lays buried here. I will take it and you with me.” He still held enough threat in his tone to worry me.
“I don’t think you get it. The treasures that Blythe told you about aren’t exactly what you think.” I thought back on the recent Founders’ Day events, wondering what value the vampire would place on my late parents’ simple gold wedding bands or any of the other things each of the founding representatives used to cast the protective spell on our town.
“Then help me find them and let me be the judge of their worth,” he replied, attempting to scare me with a reveal of his sharp fangs. “I may have lost my hired muscle, but do not take my own strength for granted.”
Fearing what might happen if he took away even one of the foundational treasures, I stood firm. “There’s nothing you can do or say to make me help you.”
His lips widened in a smug smile. “Oh, I think you will.” He dug into his suit pocket and pulled out a folded paper, waving it in the air. “This will ensure your compliance.” He took a step forward. “You know how you were having the cleaning company go through your papers? I’m sure you were looking for something in particular. Time to find the treasures or say goodbye to your one chance at finding out who you really are.”
A battle raged inside me. The idea of possessing that first clue to my relatives and my magic had become my secret obsession since Tipper’s death. Knowing that a possible answer was so close made me question everything about me.
Damien pushed harder. “Do you know why those with your magical talents are rare? Because a few of your kind switched sides, choosing to use their powers to work with humans to hunt other magical beings down for nothing more than sport and wealth. Countless deaths littered the world due to hunters and trackers much like yourself. Tracker bloodlines of the guilty and the innocent alike were annihilated until only a few survived, going into hiding until the past was forgotten. Is it not an intriguing mystery to solve, whether or not you descend from traitors or the honorable who fought to survive? Help me, and the knowledge is yours,” he offered.
Others like me had made choices that cost lives, demolishing them in their wake and causing the destruction of entire family lines. And what about my family here in Honeysuckle? Not just Nana and Matt, but TJ and my niece to come, all of my friends…Mason and Dash. Was solving the mystery of my past worth destroying their futures?
My choice made, I crossed my arms. “Do what you want with the information. I still refuse.”
The paper crinkled in his hand, and Damien grunted in frustration, unable to follow through with his threat. “Your life is still not your own. I will tell those who employ me about you, and they will come and find you. They could destroy the entire town and take you in a single visit. As I said, talents like yours are rare and prized. If you won’t volunteer to use them, there are ways to force you that are less than pleasant. ”
Behind the vampire, Moss blinked and sat up, still groggy from her burst of power. A last-ditch plan dawned on me. “You used Moss to find my adoption papers, didn’t you? I’m surprised you would stoop so low as to rely on someone like her.”
Damien sniffed. “I never knew how convenient fairies could be. They do have a knack for getting in and out without detection if they are properly motivated. So simple. So elegant, and almost impossible to track, as you proved.”
“Did you compel her like you did Mrs. Kettlefields or Blythe?” I asked, watching Moss catch up to the conversation.
The vampire snorted. “No need to waste valuable energy on her. A few romantic overtures and she took the bait of my affections, becoming a willing participant. In fact, it was her idea to take what she had discovered at your house. The little thing proved to be quite useful in landing me the one thing I really wanted. You.” He shook the paper in his hand. “Give in, Charli.”
He never saw it coming. Moss fluttered to life, expending what magic she had left to blast him from behind and knock him down. “You said you wanted me,” she accused in her squeaky voice. “That she was inconsequential. A tool to be used.”
Damien grunted on the ground a foot away from where she collapsed again. “It takes one to know one, my dear.” He recovered, standing up and dusting himself off. “But now, I fear our time together has come to an end, as has your usefulness.” With a quick hand, he snatched her up by the throat. Looking at me instead of her, he spoke with wicked intention. “I take lives.” Moss’s wings dropped, and her body went limp.
What did I have left to fight him? With little effort, he could put me in his thrall and make me obey his every command, and then I would be lost forever. Or if I fought hard enough, perhaps he would end my life like the fairy’s. A sad resignation weighed on me. Either way, life as I knew it would be over.
Insistent caws echoed through the evening air. A dark figure circled the tree until it settled on a branch not too far away. Biddy squawked at me, arriving to witness my end. She pecked at the bark underneath her talons, hopping on the limb in agitation.
“Fly away, you bird. Get out of that tree.” Damien waved his hands, distracted.
The tree. Biddy wanted me to notice where we stood. The giant live oak served as the beacon of power for our town. Power pulsed through it at all times, protecting all those who chose to live here. If I could tap into that magic, then I might be able to boost a hexing spell and at least stun Damien.
Knowing my spellcasting limitations, in desperation, I added the one thing I needed to give me focus. “The vampire wants to win his bet, by putting me and mine at threat. Give me magic to end his time, and stop him from his life of crime. So pretty please with sweet iced tea, to save the town, bring power to me.”
The tree hummed to life around me. A light shimmered and glowed, and a power unknown to me spread from the bottoms of my feet and up my legs, pulsing through my veins. All doubt vanished, and I gave in to the crest of magic filling me to the brim.
“What are you doing?” Damien cried.
“Making sure you do no harm to those who live here. Tonight, I act as the town’s protector.” Sparks crackled over my entire body.
Holding up the paper in both his hands as if to tear it, he countered in distress, all of his bluster gone. “If something happens to me, then you can say goodbye to this.”
I tilted my head at his empty threat. With a flick of my fingers, the folded paper caught fire in his hand. He dropped the smoldering remains on the ground, backing away from the blaze and cowering like cornered prey. If I could do that to the paper, what could I do to him?
“Spare me, I beg of you,” he pleaded.
The noise of several people joining us filled the air, but I kept my eyes trained on Damien, not willing to let him go. A large wolf sauntered to my side and bumped my hip, its lips pulling back in a fierce snarl.
“I’ve got this, Dash,” I said.
Mason joined me on my other side. “But you don’t have to do it alone, and I need to take him in. He has many things to answer for than the chaos he brought to our town. Please, Charli. I can’t allow you to destroy him.” The detective ignored the roar of protest from Dash.
Sensing his nearing defeat, Damien straightened and confront
ed those of us who could hear him. “You are all fools, hiding away from the rest of the world. Your lives will amount to nothing,” he spit out in defiance.
The tree pulsed again, and my magic surged. “Aw, bless your heart,” I gathered the power from my body into my hands and focused it, “and hex your whiny hiney.”
With a mighty cry, I directed everything in me at the vampire. Magic poured out of my body until nothing remained. A steady hand gripped me, anchoring me and pulling me back into myself. Exhausted and spent, I slumped over, a furry body breaking my fall before I slipped to the bottom of a deep well of darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I opened my eyes to the worst sight in the world. A tall glass full of gray sludge floated in front of my face. Whipping the quilt back over my head, I rolled over and shuddered.
“Charli Bird, you’ve got to stop makin’ it a habit of gettin’ yourself into trouble.” Nana sat down on the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping next to me. She patted my behind covered by the blanket. “Come on. No use hidin’ under there. There’s things you have to do, and I can’t keep them at bay for much longer.”
With caution, I pulled the quilt off me. “Who’s waiting at bay for me?”
“When you attack a wanted international criminal and almost take him out, you tend to attract all kinds of attention.” She shoved the glass in my face, the stench of it turning my stomach. “Drink all of this down, and then make yourself presentable. The detective will be bringing the other guests by in a hot minute.”
I groaned and attempted to hide again, but Nana held onto the blanket, preventing me. She stroked my hair. “Get up, sweetness. Morning’s here to greet you with her shining light.”
My heart warmed at our old wake-up game. “Nobody here but us chickens,” I joked.
Cupping my chin, my grandmother gazed at me with fierce love. “And I am mighty glad this bird did not fly to the great beyond last night, even when she put her own life at risk for the rest of us.” Her eyes pooled with wetness, and we both shed tears of relief and thankfulness.
