by Casey Lane
“Fine. But I’m still keeping your jacket.”
“I never asked for it back,” he told her, leaning in and kissing her shoulder before he left.
She grumbled to herself as she rolled over in the bed. When her door opened again, she wondered what the hell he’d been doing that had taken less than a minute. Did vampires even pee? She didn’t bother to move, waiting for him to come back to her.
The hand that moved along her naked back made her shiver. Her eyes snapped open, and she jerked away as she realized it was warm and that the smell of hash had followed the owner into the room.
“It wasn’t nice of you to let your boyfriend knock me out, Skye.”
She moved away as he grabbed at her, her gaze on the lamp on the nightstand. His hand fumbled towards her over the sheets and something fell on the bed in front of her. The knife! She grabbed at the handle before she wondered why the hell he’d give her a weapon.
“Take your hands off me,” she warned, feeling him back off and breathing a sigh of relief.
She grabbed the cover to hide her nakedness from his wandering gaze as she pointed the knife at him.
He was smirking at her, his arms folded. He’d left the door open. Where the hell was Theo?
“You really think that’s going to save you?”
“Fuck you, arsehole. You’re never getting into this flat again. Ever.”
“Oh, yeah? Cut yourself.” He narrowed his eyes and she would have sworn they flashed before he whispered something under his breath that she didn’t catch.
She stared at the gleaming blade as she held it to her other wrist. The slice was fast, and it fucking hurt. Blood pulsed from the wound as she gritted her teeth against the pain. It throbbed like hell. “What the Fuck!”
Theo’s return only made the creep smile some more.
“Ah, yes. The boy who screwed with the all mighty Blackburn brothers. How is it that you’re still walking around, exactly?”
Theo’s eyes widened at the blood seeping from Skye’s arm onto the sheets. She wanted to hold the wound, but she couldn’t let go of the knife. Her knuckles were white on the handle.
“What the fuck have you done?” He moved towards her.
The guy who’d forced her to cut herself said something she didn’t hear and flames engulfed Theo. She gasped. It was like some kind of trippy nightmare. Theo lunged at the creep and he laughed as the flames flickered over his own skin.
Skye knew the exact moment when Theo snapped stoner-boy’s neck. It was when she was able to move again of her own accord. Her head was swimming as she moved, clamping her hand over her slit wrist and stalling when she realized she didn’t know what to do to help Theo. Something magical had happened. How the hell was she supposed to counter that?
Theo stood, picked up the knife, pricked his finger and spoke quietly. She watched dumbfounded as the flames shrank and dissipated. His clothes were dust, but he was okay. She ran to him, and he took her wrist to his mouth.
“I can heal this.” He shook as he ran his tongue over the wound. His eyes were glowing brighter than ever. He was starving. She was sure of it.
She was also sure she was going to faint if she had to stand for much longer. “I don’t feel too good.”
“We have to get you to a hospital.”
“And say what? You fixed me, I’m fine.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what he did exactly, but you’re not fine.”
He doubled over suddenly. “Shit!”
“You need to drink.” She pointed to the dead guy on her bedroom floor.
He sighed as he got to his knees and pulled the guy’s hand towards his mouth. He turned away from her, and she sat on the edge of the bed. Her head was spinning. She didn’t feel like she could have lost a lot of blood, but the bed-sheets seemed to debate that issue with her. It looked like something out of a horror movie.
She shivered and got up, throwing on a t-shirt and jeans. Chances were they were going to have to leave the flat and she was choosing comfort over style after the day she’d already had. Bra be damned. It wasn’t like her A-cups really needed the support.
“Are you done yet?” She found trainer socks and pulled her gym trainers from under the bed.
She was almost ready to go. Then she looked at Theo as he rose and realized he was going to need something to wear. Unfortunately, the only thing her ex had left behind she’d ripped to shreds and posted to him at his mum’s house. She didn’t even have an oversized t-shirt that she slept in. Most of her clothes were skin-tight.
“I think you’re going to have to smell like a stoner,” she said with a sigh.
He looked down at the dead guy as he wiped his mouth. “I think I can handle that.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The plan was to go to the café and speak to Liv and hopefully Brody, too. Theo wasn’t overly familiar with Liv. He knew she was close to his friend, but not as close as Brody would like.
He really hoped she knew where to find him. The jeans he was wearing were on the tight side, and he’d gotten Skye to fork over a pair of underwear so his junk would need to touch anything the guy had worn. He’d seemed like the type to not change his clothes for weeks.
She’d refused to go to the hospital, and he wondered if sealing her wound had been a mistake. He put the thought out of his mind as he walked with her to the café.
The lights in the flat seemed to be on so he breathed a sigh of relief as they approached the café’s back door. It was wired to make Liv’s doorbell ring inside. He pressed the buzzer and stood back. It would be harder to ignore the doorbell if he kept ringing it, than the phone.
He glanced around the dark alley and gripped Skye’s waist tighter as she stumbled a little and mumbled about being fine again. She looked half-drunk and like she was about to fall asleep at any second. The first thing he was asking for was a spell to heal what had been done to her.
“Come on, come on,” he muttered, pressing the buzzer again and holding it in this time.
The door was yanked open, and he smiled the second he saw Brody.
“You might want to let go of the buzzer before Liv decides to send an electrical current through it.” He smiled wryly. “I wondered when you’d show up here.”
He took his hand from the buzzer. “Your father just paid us a visit. In spirit.”
“Shit. She doesn’t look so good. What did he do?” He stepped back to let them in.
Skye stumbled and fell against Theo. She’d passed out. He lifted her up. “He made her cut her wrist. I sealed the wound but I think she lost too much blood. She wouldn’t let me take her to the hospital.”
“Shit,” Brody said. “Not to be a dick, but how the hell are you even still alive?”
“I used blood magic, reversed his spell.” Theo had only heard of it in theory, but he’d listened very carefully when Brody’s father cast his fatal fire spell. “Turns out using the same word as the caster works to reverse it.”
“And he didn’t just throw another spell at you?”
“He didn’t get the chance to.”
Brody gaped at him. “Are you saying what I…”
“He was possessing someone else. He’s not dead if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Oh. Okay.” It wasn’t just his imagination, Brody definitely sounded disappointed. “Bring the girl up to Liv’s place, we’ll try out some spells.” He looked back. “I take it you didn’t catch the word he used on her?”
Theo shook his head. If only. He’d gone to get the guy in the hall utility cupboard he’d left him in, and the door was open, a bloody handprint on the wall by the stairs. He’d stupidly assumed exactly what the creep had wanted him to. He’d started bolting down the stairs before he realized there was a chance the guy had re-entered the flat while he was otherwise occupied. He should have checked the flat first instead of rushing down the stairs to see if he could find him lurking, but his anger had gotten the better of him. He didn’t want the arsehole to
get away with what he’d tried to do. Those few minutes spent trying to find the guy had almost meant Skye’s death. He’d missed the spell that had hurt her. But he’d be damned if he was going to just let her die.
“His spells are always fatal?” Theo had to know for sure. It seemed to be the consensus.
Brody nodded as he opened the door to Liv’s flat. He held it open and closed it once Theo was inside, with Skye in his arms.
Liv was standing, smoking, by the door to her bedroom.
“Theo. Long time.”
He nodded. He supposed it had been, thought they’d barely ever spoken to each other in the first place. She was kind of spiky, a strange choice for his good-hearted friend.
“Where am I taking her?”
She nodded to the bedroom.
Brody pushed open the door. Theo laid Skye down on the bed. She was breathing steadily and her heart rate seemed normal.
“So what did he do to her?” Liv had put her cigarette out when she walked in to the room. She had her arms folded.
“He got her to cut her wrist. She bled out some, but I don’t think it was enough to pass out like this.”
“Did you bite her?”
Brody rolled his eyes. “Theo’s sex life is none…”
“Please,” Liv said, staring at Theo. “There’s blood loss, and there’s blood loss. How much did she lose?”
“I bit her twice. Barely a gulp of blood the second time. The first, maybe a few. I’m not sure.” He didn’t give a shit what anyone thought of him right now. He just wanted Skye to be okay.
“Not enough for this.” Liv looked her over. “There are a few common spells for this kind of thing.”
“It won’t be one of the common ones,” Brody said, a bored tone in his voice.
“Of course not,” she snapped. “But they’re a jumping off point. He has to use a word that conveys the exact meaning of what he wants. We just need to find the right word.”
He nodded slowly, his gaze drifting over Liv as she moved to the other side of the bed. He shook his head slightly and rubbed at his eyes as she turned hers on him. “Right.”
Theo glanced at them as they squabbled over Skye’s sleeping form. “How long does she have?”
They regarded him blankly. Neither of them had an answer, and that did nothing to calm him down. He rubbed at his jaw.
“You have to save her. I don’t care what it takes.”
“It looks like you interrupted whatever he did to her,” Brody said. “We can work this out. We’re going to start.”
He barked some words in a weird language at Liv, none of which were familiar to Theo, which was probably the point. Liv screwed up her face before nodding and glancing sideways at Theo. He knew that look, even if he didn’t know her very well. Things were as grim as he feared.
“Okay, I have a few combinations to try,” Liv said, her gaze back on Brody.
“One at a time, and give them thirty seconds to trigger a response.” Brody folded his arms as she started to cast. The atmosphere in the room began to change. Magic seemed to carry a vaguely smoky scent to it as far as Theo had noticed since he’d become a vampire at least. He wasn’t sure if it was something humans could pick up on.
Every thirty second break seemed to last a lifetime. He watched Skye’s serene face as every spell was cast over her, his nerves building every time they moved on to another. The final words that dropped had Theo praying this would be the one that worked. That the spell would reverse and bring Skye back, safe and sound.
“That’s it,” Liv said after a measured thirty seconds had passed. “That’s all I’ve got.”
Brody frowned. “There has to be something we’re not thinking of.”
“Oh, why don’t you just go ask Daddy Dearest what spell he used?” She glowered at him. “And while you’re at it tell him to stop fucking with our brothel. It’s not his anymore.”
Brody sighed. “You know he would never tell me.”
She shrugged. “Then we’ve done all we can.”
She left the room, cursing under her breath.
“She’s just pissed that we have no control right now,” Brody told him. “Give me a minute. I’ll try a few more spells.”
He sat on the edge of the bed and started to cast.
Theo waited, somehow knowing before his friend even made it through the half dozen attempts that he hadn’t locked on to the right one. He didn’t know what their time limit was, but he knew there was a timer ticking down to ending Skye’s life and if the strongest witches he knew couldn’t save her…
“I could turn her,” he said, knowing as soon as the words were out that it was the only way to save her now.
Brody got to his feet. “If you’re sure about that we can…”
“It has to be me.” Other than the fact that Skye felt like his, he didn’t want Brody’s father to ever find out they’d escaped his clutches and the best way to do that was to turn her without their help. He wouldn’t know Theo had broken his spell. He wouldn’t know about this.
Brody nodded slowly. “You haven’t done this before, so I’ll talk you through it.”
Theo sat down next to Skye. He’d already bitten her, twice, but she would have to die to be reborn as a vampire. His choice was to wait for that to happen by this spell or to take too much blood from her and force it to happen faster. The first option would have been his choice if he trusted that no nasty surprises lurked in the spell. He couldn’t rely on that. Brody’s father was too twisted. He wouldn’t risk Skye losing her soul. He propped her up to drink from her throat. The sound of her heart beat fading as he drank caused panic to rise within him. He forced himself to keep going, flashing back to the night Leah had died right in front of him, against his will. It was agony to do this to Skye, but he had no other choice. Her last breath left her body, and he retracted his fangs from her neck to slice them across his wrist. He opened her mouth and dripped blood onto her tongue. Brody whispered the words to the blood magic spell, words he repeated out loud as he tried to hold himself together. He’d helped her to die, but he was bringing her back. He’d had no other choice. This was the only way to save her.
He held her as she slept, waiting for her to wake up. He hoped against hope that she wouldn’t hate him for what he’d done to save her. Only time would tell.
Chapter Twenty-Three
It was dark in the room when she opened her eyes. Confusion clouded her thoughts as she realized she wasn’t at home, and she wasn’t in Theo’s room either, though his arm was draped over her. She moved it gently. That he slept without breathing still kind of freaked her out. Her brain still had trouble reconciling that to what he was. That he wasn’t entirely alive, an honest to god vampire still seemed surreal to her, even after everything she’d experienced.
She looked at her wrist as she moved out of the bed. It was healed, he’d healed it. She remembered that.
Her dreams had been bloody and terrifying, but her memories of what happened would fade once enough time had passed. She got out of the bed, her stomach cramping as she moved. Shit, she thought. This so isn’t the time to be getting my period.
She walked into the hallway and spotted the guy who’d brought her to Theo through the open door to what looked like a kitchen. She moved swiftly, about to ask insistently where the bathroom was, when she was driven to distraction by an odd, painful feeling she could only compare to extreme hunger. Not menstrual cramps at all then. She wondered if it would be bad manners to demand food.
He looked up from the kettle, his eyebrows rising.
“You’re awake.”
“I am,” she said, wondering why the hell he smelled so damned good. She’d never noticed that before. What was that? It didn’t seem like aftershave, but it was alluring as hell.
“Theo’s still asleep, I’m guessing?”
She nodded, taking a step closer and trying not to make her sniffing too obvious.
“Okay, here’s the thing, we had no choice.” He loo
ked guiltily at her.
She frowned at him. Whatever he was talking about wasn’t getting through. She didn’t understand a word. She could only think about how good he smelled. Damn it, she was actually salivating over it.
He rolled up his sleeve and held his arm out. “You should probably do this before he wakes up.”
She blinked, opened her mouth to yawn and realized something was going on with her face, primarily with her teeth. The yawn she’d started wasn’t a yawn at all. “Holy shit!” She sounded strange, and her sharp teeth pierced her lower lip when she tried to close her mouth. She opened it again and Brody come closer, pointing out a place on his exposed wrist as he did so.
“Bite here, and I’ll tell you when to stop.”
She pulled his wrist up, closer to her face, and bit him. The sensation of piercing his flesh, followed by the rush of euphoria as the blood hit her tongue was all too strange to take. She swallowed a few times before she removed her teeth from his skin and backed off. He didn’t need to tell her to stop, she was too freaked about what she’d done to keep drinking, even if it tasted good. It did not taste good, she told herself. Don’t be disgusting.
“What the hell?” She watched him do something to the puncture wounds, cast some kind of spell that smelled like burning wood. They healed right in front of her eyes. She remembered Theo licking hers and that having the same effect.
“What am I?” She felt stupid asking, but she had to do it. Someone else had to confirm it to make it real.
“You’re a vampire now.” He went back to making coffee as if her change of species was no big deal.
She wiped at her mouth as the fangs retracted. “This has to be a dream.”
Maybe if she went back to bed and slept, she’d wake up and everything would be normal again. When she got back to the bedroom and slid in beside Theo, she knew she didn’t really want that. Normal was boring. Normal was dating guys she was never really sure about and wondering how much longer until she threw in the towel at work and ended up evicted from her flat for not being able to pay the bills. Normal was uncertainty and bullshit at least five days out of seven. She didn’t want that, not anymore. She touched Theo’s arm as she lay down beside him.
