Craving-Torment

by Claudy Conn

  Devin walked with us, talking at me the whole time, telling me he couldn’t let me go to the manor. Finally he got my attention. “Bobbie!”

  I stopped and turned to him. “You can’t talk me out of this, Devin.”

  “Lass, do ye nae see how helpless ye make me feel when ye make decisions I can do nothing about? I dinnae want ye to go, please. I cannae protect ye when ye put yerself in danger on yer side of this blasted wall.”

  My heart ached for him. In the world he was raised, a man, a real man was expected to protect the people—the woman he loved. I understood his point of view, but I couldn’t sit this one out.

  I said quietly, “Devin…you know, though I love your need to protect me, I am fully capable of protecting myself.”

  “Nae, ye were just with a Dark Warlock whose reputation is…”

  “Kitchen!” Jeremy said, and held the door open for me. “Let’s take this discussion with sandwiches, lots of sandwiches.”

  “You know, Jeremy, I can open doors for myself,” I told him as I walked through.

  He mimicked me, “Also I can open doors for myself.”

  I laughed and let it go. I was starving and at that moment, my stomach announced the fact. “Okay, food. I’ll get the bread and lay it out…you get the filling.”

  As we put some bread, cold cuts, cheese, and mustard together in several sandwiches, I had an uneasy feeling and said, “I don’t know if it is the hunger or if something feels off…really off.”

  “Yes, I felt it earlier when we were outside,” Jeremy agreed, and took a huge bite out of his sandwich before sitting at the table.

  Watching him, I realized that I had begun to think of Jeremy as an older brother. I suppose in a manner of sorts, he was. After all, I had learned today that we—our families, came from the same realm. It was as though our meeting here and now was an inevitable fate.

  Mrs. Tunny came into the kitchen and put on her apron. We cooed and coddled her but she shooed us off, saying she was fine and didn’t know what had gotten into her.

  Jeremy, still hungry, prepared a tray of the leftover sandwiches we had put together and we took off for the library.

  Between bites, Jeremy shot questions at me about Beyland—his behavior, the portal, the things the Dark Warlock had left unsaid.

  “There is something there…I’m not sure what, about the ancient, Ramon. I wish we knew more,” Jeremy said.

  “Dinnae tell her that,” Devin stuck in impatiently. “She’ll be all for going back to him for a visit to find out more!”

  I laughed. “Have to go back…or at least, as I have no idea how to do that, I have to prepare some day-walker notes to give him when he comes for them. I imagine he’ll give me a day or two to locate them, as he believes I am searching for them.”

  “Aye, and I’m nae liking that either,” Devin said somberly.

  “Look, we will have to assume that Beyland, from what Bobbie learned, has a deep-seated hatred for betraying him to Bobbie’s grandmother. Right then, if he wants the notes that Ramon so desperately desires…what then? Does he mean to hand them over?”

  “Probably means to dangle them at Ramon…and not hand them over. Torment seems to be the Dark Warlock’s thing,” I answered.

  “Aye, I’m thinking she has a point. I’ll make copies of m’notes and keep them stashed here. Bobbie lass, coom to me and I’ll give ye the first set.”

  I wiggled a brow at him. “Nice try, vamp! I know you don’t want us to go to Brently, but we have to. We honestly don’t have a choice and as soon as we get back, I’ll come then.”

  “I have a client I was supposed to see today. I’ll have to send one of my paralegals,” Jeremy mused out loud.

  “How do ye think ye’ll find what nae other has ever found at Allora’s manor home? Vampires on the run rest up at her place often, and as she continues to allow them to do so, we must assume nae one has ever found any of her hiding niches.”

  “Ooooh, but witches can often sense magical Hallows when they are near. I have one I found when I was just a child. I was with my parents at the beach and my mother told me to keep it close always,” I said, and tore off a piece of Jeremy’s fifth sandwich and stuck it in my mouth to chew. “Oh, that is good with the honey mustard. I should have put honey mustard on mine.”

  Both men shouted similar expletives almost in one breath.

  I laughed. “What?”

  “What Hallow, Bobbie?” Jeremy asked, and I could see he was restraining his excitement.

  “Don’t you have any?” I was surprised.

  “No, all I have are my journals…”

  “What about that ring?” I pointed at his right ring finger. I sensed it held great magic. “You can’t tell me you aren’t aware that it is a Fae artifact.” I had realized this days ago. His ring gave off vibes of Fae magic. My mother had taught me early on to identify Fae magic. As we had the ability to see supernaturals, she would point out visiting Fae in the city. Fae love activity and often visit Manhattan. After I lost her, I wasn’t much interested and scarcely noticed them.

  “Yes, I have always known the ring held magical qualities. I suspected it was a Fae artifact because I once rubbed it as I was thinking of a contract I had left at home, and voila, that contract appeared…and I knew I hadn’t used a magic spell to accomplish that.”

  “Hmm, you have to rub it…telekinesis, or something in that vein. Yes, the Fae are superior at such things,” I repeated my mother’s words and then shrugged it off. “At any rate,” I pulled out the pendant I had found on the beach, and which I always wore as per my mother’s instructions, “I have this…it looks like bronze, which the Fae are fond of using. It glows when I hold it. However, I have no idea what I can do with it.”

  Devin asked quietly, “Will it protect ye?”

  “I don’t know,” I said as I brushed off some crumbs from my lap and stacked my dish and mug on the tray. “Are you ready, Jeremy? We need enough daylight, don’t we?”

  Jeremy eyed me and then Devin, who was shouting again. I looked at Devin and realized again just how much I was in love with him. I had to go ahead with our plan, but I so wanted him at ease. “Devin…we will be fine. We need to do this, and we will be back as fast as we are able.”

  “Do ye? Do ye really need to do this? Why? Ye cannae hope to find anything that will help ye. She wouldna leave it where it can be found. I know ye haven’t given me the right to forbid ye…but…”

  “Whoa, forbid? Not in my world,” I said, one brow arched. “Never happening.”

  He shook his head. “Aye then…I’m begging ye, lass. Dinnae go.”

  “Devin, I must,” I told him, feeling my heart ache. He couldn’t follow us, join us, or even watch us to shout out a warning.

  “Dinnae ye see if anything happens to ye…‘tis on me! I brought ye here…I made ye m’own and now…”

  I had been sitting apart from the wall, but I got up now and once more put my palm against the invisible cold wall. He matched mine with his immediately. Those bolts of energy charged through us both and held us palm to palm, staring at one another.

  “We won’t be long,” I whispered. “And when we return, I will come to you.”

  He sighed heavily and with some effort I turned away from him. I understood his point of view. I knew how I would feel if he were stepping into the mouth of the beast and that is just what we were doing.

  “Okay,” I told Jeremy, “off we go. You know the way, so you drive.”

  “Right,” he said, and I saw that he too was concerned. “You know I could do this without you,” he offered.

  I laughed. “Not happening, bud. We are better as a team. You’ll have my back. I’ll have yours.”

  ~ Six ~

  THE DRIVE TO BRENTLY MANOR took us on a winding, treeless, lonely road that was badly rutted in spots. “Wow, the town needs to pave this…”

  “No one has any interest in coming here. Brently Manor is at a dead end,” Jeremy answered.

&nbs
p; “Oh, that isn’t good,” I said from the gut. I was beginning to think this might be a bad idea.

  As we approached the long winding drive at the end of the road, overgrown shrubbery and trees with mangled branches, whose trunks were lost in overgrown weeds, formed a spooky forest on either side of what was becoming a dirt road.

  “I’m not liking this,” I said quietly. “I have a bad feeling.”

  “Shall we turn around? It might be the smart thing to do,” Jeremy offered.

  “But not the brave thing. No, we better push on, Jeremy. We really need to keep Allora out of MacLeod. In fact, I am surprised actually that she hasn’t made another attempt to get at us. But she is bound to…and soon, so we have to do this.”

  “Risk versus cost might not be wise,” Jeremy said as he pulled his dark SUV to a stop and turned into a narrow path in the woods at a distance from the manor’s drive.

  “What are you doing? I don’t think I can poof us this far into the house,” I said, sizing up the distance.

  “Poof us?” he asked.

  “Poofing, sir,” I laughed. “Yes, I developed it when I was still very young. My mother taught me the knack and I have improved it so I can transport a guest, like my Aunt Elle, now and then. She doesn’t like it, but you might. I can’t travel long distances, but it takes me in a cloud of purple smoke to the place I think about.”

  “Indeed, as it is, I know a great deal about that particular traveling skill,” he said, and frowned. “But I have one of my own…Fae shifting. I have only been able to master short distances, so I can’t take us all the way to the house, and your…er…poofing, even if it could take us that far, would leave a telltale smoke. No, we’ll have to use another method.”

  “I could be a cocky New Yorker full of fun and tell you I am always ready, but hell, a part of me is shaking in my pretty boots. This place reeks of dead things,” I answered as I looked around.

  He nodded. “Indeed, so our goal is to do this as speedily as we can. Ready?”

  “Ready? What do you mean?” I eyed him, somewhat surprised.

  “To walk right up and inside,” he answered, and gave me a wink.

  I snorted. He waved his finger and mumbled some words. “Right,” he said when he was done. “Come on.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “We are cloaked. Invisible. We can see each other, but if there are any vampires or other supernaturals lurking about, they won’t be able to see us.”

  “Oh, I like that. Holy good gosh, you have to teach me,” I said excited, and hurried after him.

  “Yeah, I will when I get it down pat. Now, shhh, they can’t see us, but they can hear us, and vampire hearing is very, very good, so no talking,” Jeremy cautioned.

  “What do you mean when you have it down pat?” I asked.

  “Shhh,” he snapped.

  As we got closer to the forlorn sandstone house, I couldn’t help but stare at its broken shutters and weathered window casements. What had once been a medieval home of some beauty, had fallen into such disrepair. I wondered why Allora allowed this, but, of course, it would keep people away.

  There were some trees lining the long straight drive to the manor house, but most of them were dead and gave the place a completely abandoned ‘feel’.

  What had once been stables lay in shambles, with half its roof crumbled into the heart of the building.

  If there had ever been grass, it had turned to weeds, overgrown and dry. In truth, the place gave me the heebie-jeebies. Yeah, I’m a witch, but a Witch of the Light. I don’t like dead, decayed, broken, dark and creepy.

  Jeremy and I stared at one another, but he immediately put his finger to his mouth. I wanted to ask how it was we could see each other and made a mental note to ask him later.

  He bent and took my hand before whispering into my ear, “Now, I will Fae shift us inside.”

  * * * * *

  Well now, that was better than stepping through a portal. When you go through a portal, it is like stepping into a tunnel of sorts and you aren’t sure just where or how you will end up. Some portals are easier than others, like the silver portal to Devin. It isn’t sticky or gooey like some of the portals I have hurriedly created while I was growing up, but it is slippery.

  Fae shifting is neat, clean, and quick. One moment, we were a hundred feet away from the front door, the next, we were on the inside with the front door at our backs.

  “Whoa,” I said out loud.

  “Shhh,” Jeremy whispered again, and I thought his ‘shhh’ was louder than me. “Vampire hearing,” he said.

  I rolled my eyes.

  We looked around at the central hall we were standing in. Cobwebs decorated everything, the staircase railing, the large opening to the room to the left and the one to the right of the hall in which we stood.

  But I didn’t have time to consider the spiders lurking in the webs all around us because right at that moment, I heard something I wished I hadn’t.

  “Uh-oh,” Jeremy said.

  “What?” I asked, but knew from the way the vampires were coming right for us.

  They could see us. Our cloaking had worn off already. I looked at Jeremy. “Really? It only lasts a couple of minutes?”

  “I haven’t had the time to really perfect it. It usually lasts longer…I was sure it would last longer.”

  Stupid me, cocky New Yorker me. I just never thought we would immediately incur trouble as soon as we stepped inside the damned manor, but here we were…in trouble!

  Oh, and not just a little trouble.

  Devin had been correct. We should have listened to Devin.

  Ya, fools do go rushing in, and that is what I am, because there were a whole lot of ugly vamps coming down those stairs!

  Yeah, some seemed more cautious than others as they made their way down the long wide staircase. They were hissing, and some were growling, fangs on display.

  They had picked up our scent and knew we were supernaturals…maybe they even knew we were of the witchy variety. Not sure.

  What I was sure of was their fangs were out and their eyes were glazed red, and man, they sure were ugly!

  My Shama immediately took over. Every now and then I know things are really bad when my Shama just grabs hold and starts up my magic.

  First, I suddenly could see better in the darkened hall than I had been able to a moment before. Jeremy and I looked at one another and I knew we had to work as one.

  He grinned at me and held up his ring finger and rubbed!

  Two sharp wooden stakes appeared right there in the air, ripe for grabbing. I was a bit off my game so I didn’t grab one, but Jeremey took them both and handed me one.

  It dawned on me. Jeremy wanted me to ram the stake into one of the vamps charging at us. Okay. I could do this, I told myself.

  One makes simple decisions in life and death situations. Kill or be killed. Most of us will kill.

  Jeremy whispered, “Bloody good deal! I didn’t know if the ring would work. I had the stakes in my car, you see, and actually forgot to bring them…”

  No time left, a female vamp, her eyes nearly glazed over with blood thirst, was on me, hissing like an angry cat.

  Just as she hugged me to her and bent to bite my neck, I brought up my stake, hard and fast, and she slapped it powerfully out of my hand. Uh-oh.

  Damn, didn’t see that coming. Maybe it was because her fangs were dug deep into my neck?

  Jeremy staked his vamp and was on her, pulling her off me. He took up my wooden stake from the ground and as she lunged at him, he rammed the stake into her heart.

  Like the other one, she burst into flames.

  One of the vampires still on the stairs watching, and holding back three male vampires of the ugly breed with his outstretched arms said, “Witches. They are witches.” He looked at us hard and asked, “What business have you with us?”

  “None,” Jeremy said. “We came for something we need. It has nothing to do with any of you.”

 
A female vampire appeared down the long hallway and said, “If you leave now, you leave with your lives. We have no quarrel with you.”

  “We can’t leave just yet,” I told them, and marveled at my boldness. “We need something. Allow us to find it and we’ll let you live.”

  Jeremy chuckled and then bellowed with anger as a vamp dove at me and took my throat in his long-nailed hand.

  Life and death situation. He never saw it coming. I rammed that pointy wooden stake as deep as I could, however, not being a natural born killer, I missed his dead heart and caught him somewhere in the chest.

  It didn’t kill him, but made him stagger backwards. He, of course, threatened to take me apart, piece by piece he said. Didn’t like the picture that conjured in my mind.

  I put out my hand and called the stake back to me and once more I was on the attack while he was still recovering and Jeremy was fending off the other three with his magic balls of pain. Those magic balls look like fire and burn the vamps from the inside out—ooh, so cool. Another thing I’ll have to learn how to do.

  Out of nowhere, another four vampires appeared on the stairs.

  They watched their pals suffer in agony before turning into ash, and stopped in their tracks.

  Jeremy said, “Want us to stop? We don’t have a fight with any of you.”

  A female vampire in a slinky silver cocktail dress took a step towards us. Her expression told it all, but she just had to scream, “You filthy bastards! I will suck every…” She didn’t finish her sentence, as the next thing we knew, she was climbing the walls like an insect and throwing herself at me.

  She landed on me and I went backwards hard onto the floor. She was on top of me and I felt her nails tearing into the flesh of my throat.

  “I’m going to rip out your insides and feed them to my friends,” she growled.

  Jeremy had her by her auburn hair. He threw her off as though she were a feather weight and shouted at her, at all of them, “Enough!”

  They began arguing amongst themselves as I jumped to my feet and dusted myself off. Damn, but I had thought I was skilled in karate. Hmm. I was going to have to really practice because vamps were fast and they were strong…and apparently could climb walls!