by Melissa Marr
“We finished?” he asked in a light tone.
Anger burned like someone had detonated a flare inside me. “Not nearly.”
I charged him again, this time swerving into his sidestep. His overconfidence cost him, and I landed a punch that rocked his head back. When I went for another, he pivoted and swept my legs out from under me. My head cracked against the floor as I fell, hard.
Dammit! I should’ve anticipated the leg sweep. That was Fighting 101, and I’d fallen for it. I was still too sloppy, and he was taking full advantage, as any opponent would.
Ashael’s sigh as he stood over me stung more than my hitting the floor had. “I’m only fighting as if I’m a mere vampire, and you’re still unable to best me. Stop now, Cat. This is getting embarrassing.”
Rage briefly cleared the fog in my head. I’d been trained by the toughest, dirtiest fighter in the vampire world! Drunk and sloppy I might be, but I was not going down this easily.
I got up and lunged at him, not fighting my sloppiness this time. He saw it and went for the leg sweep again. Right before I reached him, I dropped low and slid beneath his kick while punching his other knee with everything I had.
It fractured with an audible crack. At once, I yanked at his still uplifted leg, throwing him off balance. His broken knee crumbled when his weight shifted onto it, and he crashed down on top of me hard enough for me to briefly see stars.
No problem. I didn’t need to see. All I had to do was think. Now, knife! Now!
An instant later, I felt a thud as something hit Ashael’s back. Denise gasped, and Ashael rolled onto his side, showing the knife handle now sticking out of his back. Thank God my fledgling telekinesis wasn’t sloppy drunk like the rest of me.
“Who’s embarrassed now?” I ground out.
Ashael threw back his head and laughed.
“By the gods, even high, you’re as vicious as you are beautiful. Are you certain you love your husband, my feisty little redhead? You and I could have such fun.”
His voice deepened until it felt like an acoustic caress at that last word.
I got up with a snort. “Not a chance, and believe me, I have plenty of fun. Bones isn’t just my husband’s name, it’s practically his life motto.”
“TMI,” Denise muttered, but Ashael laughed again.
“Then I’ll take my defeat with grace, if I must.”
He vanished, leaving the knife to land on the floor now that it no longer had a back to stick into. The blade was still coated with his blood, and I’d snatched it and licked it before it occurred to me how crass I was being. Then, I didn’t care as his blood lit my senses up even more.
Oh, that felt so good!
“Should I be worried about her new…enthusiasm for demon blood?” Denise asked Ashael when he reappeared next to her.
“Only if she seeks it out after you’ve defeated the witches,” Ashael replied. “Otherwise, this is only a temporary craving while she’s under the influence, although I strongly advise that you don’t let her drive.”
Denise gave him a look that said, Do you think I’m stupid?
Ashael grinned before his expression became serious.
“I’ll return later with more blood, and later again once I’ve found your witches. In the meantime, let Cat teach you how to fight. You have powerful abilities, but those witches have powerful magic, so if you’re going to survive, you need more than your shapeshifting skills.”
“I can fight,” Denise sputtered.
“Done!” I said with a jaunty wave at Ashael.
He nodded at me, and then vanished with a swirl of shadows that were much more impressive than the witches’ smoke trick.
Denise sighed and then turned to me. “There’s too many people who could get close enough for us to infect them if we stay here, so we need to leave.”
I nodded, trying to ignore how the simple gesture made the room swim. I’d felt much more focused while fighting with Ashael, but that must have been rage combined with muscle memory from all my years of fighting. Now, however, I felt downright woozy. Had that little amount of blood I’d licked off the knife made me so much worse? Or was I truly feeling how high I was, now that I didn’t have anything left to prove?
Either way, Denise was right. We had to leave before we infected anyone else.
“Yes, and once we’re somewhere safe, I’m going to turn you into a world-class ass-kicker.”
Chapter Ten
Okay, so I might have been overambitious when I said I could turn Denise into a world-class fighter. Even under the best of circumstances, doing that in less than two days would be hard. Trying to do that while supernaturally sloshed? That was next to impossible.
It wasn’t easy on Denise, either. Imagine trying to learn to fight from a sky-high teacher. If Denise took a shot every time I said “See what I did there? Don’t do that,” I wouldn’t be the only one so intoxicated that I had to incorporate tripping into our fighting routine.
Still, we muddled through, after we found an Airbnb cottage up the coast near Dogtown; an unincorporated community in Marin County that used to be called Woodville. The place lacked every amenity we’d enjoyed at the Ritz’s beach house, and that was fine. It also lacked neighbors for at least a mile in every direction. The population of Dogtown was only thirty people, so the owner was all too happy to make the unexpected reservation, even at that pre-dawn hour.
The small, one-bedroom cottage had a fine layer of dust over the scant furnishings, plus the only scents I caught were must and mildew, but its neglect suited me. No one being here recently meant that no one would come into contact with our contagious magic. Also on the plus side, the little cottage had a flat yard bordered by the nearby forest. That’s where I trained Denise until I felt a lot more sober, which coincided with it being harder for me to move as the effects of Ashael’s blood wore off.
Denise helped me back into the house. I could still walk, but if I thought I was staggering before, it was nothing compared to how my muscles were seizing up now.
“Put me on the couch,” I said. “You take the bed. You need the sleep, and it won’t matter where I am once I freeze up.”
She gave me a pitying look, though thankfully, she didn’t argue. She just helped me onto the sofa.
“I’ll put your knives and your phone next to you,” she said, and briefly disappeared into the bedroom. When she came back, she set my knapsack near my feet.
“Thanks. I want to use my cell to record a message, while I can still speak enough to do it.”
Her expression clouded as she sat next to me. “You’re recording a message for Bones?”
“Yeah,” was all I said.
She was silent. Then, she said, “I suppose I should do the same for Spade,” in a tone much thicker from emotion.
I felt so awful, it took me a moment to reply. “I’m sorry, Denise. If I hadn’t gone after that scent of blood—”
“Then you wouldn’t be the person who saved my life the night we met,” she interrupted, her tone turning hard despite her eyes brightening with unshed tears. “If you remember, a vampire was turning my neck into an all-you-could-eat buffet. You heard my scream, came running, killed him, and saved me. So no, I won’t let you apologize for saving that boy tonight, either. Saving people is what you do, and I’m glad because I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t.”
Now I was the one fighting back tears. “I was the lucky one that night. Your friendship has saved me so many times.”
“Metaphorically, maybe,” Denise allowed, with a little smile. “Especially when you were so miserable while you were hiding from Bones. But that wasn’t the only time you saved my life. You also did it when a horde of zombie-like things attacked that New Year’s Eve, and you did it when a vampire drug dealer was trying to turn me into his latest sellable product.”
“I wasn’t alone any of those other times,” I protested.
She took my hand. “You’re not alone now either, Cat.”
My
throat closed up. Not from the spell overcoming me. From all the emotions welling up to take away my voice.
“Thank you,” I finally managed to say.
She squeezed my hand. “You’re welcome.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes. Then she said, “You shouldn’t just leave a recorded message. You should call Bones.”
Oh, how I wanted to! I’d give anything to hear his voice right now, but if I did, I knew how it would end.
“I can’t. No matter how I pretend, Bones will know something’s wrong, and if he knows that, he’ll track me down. Then, he’ll get infected, too. I can’t let him do that. If things go south, one of us needs to be there for Katie.”
Denise gave me a sad smile. “That’s why I’m not calling Spade. He’d insist on coming, too. We don’t have a child to worry about raising, but regardless, I don’t want him getting infected. Ashael’s power upgrade to my demon brands might protect me from the immobilization spell, but I’m still marked as a sea goddess sacrifice, and I’m still contagious, too.”
I squeezed her hand. “We’ll kill the witch who hexed us. That’ll reverse both spells, and we’ll both be okay.”
She squeezed back. “I know we will. And, hey, in the meantime,” her tone brightened, “I get to learn how to fight. I’ve wanted to do that for years, but Spade kept brushing me off when I’d ask him to teach me.”
“Why?” Her husband was notoriously overprotective, and the vampire world was frequently violent. Because of both, I would’ve thought Spade would be all over teaching Denise how to defend herself if she asked him.
“I think he…took it personally.” Denise sounded bemused. “Like I was implying that he wasn’t doing a good job protecting me when it wasn’t that at all. I wanted to learn how to fight for me. It had nothing to do with him or his abilities.”
I found myself scrunching into a smaller shape even though it was hard for me to move. Wow. This was hitting close to home.
“Well, you’re learning now,” I said while wondering if I owed Katie an apology for how I might have misinterpreted her reasons for training. “And you’ll learn again tomorrow, once Ashael drops off more blood.”
Denise rose. “Speaking of that, I’ll go summon him so he knows where we are. I’ll do it outside so you have some privacy while you record your message for Bones.”
She left, taking a bottle and a glass with her. I waited until I couldn’t hear her anymore, and then I placed my cell in front of me and hit record.
Or I tried to. It took two attempts before I pressed the right button. I didn’t have long before I froze up like a mythical gargoyle turning to stone in the sunlight.
“Hey, Bones,” I said when it was finally recording. Then, I forced a smile. “If you’re watching this, things didn’t go as planned, but I want you to know that I love you. So, so much. That’s why I couldn’t tell you what happened until now…”
Fifteen minutes later, Denise returned. I was still recording, but I’d stopped speaking. I couldn’t talk anymore. I couldn’t even move to shut off the phone. At least I’d said what needed to be said, even if it felt woefully inadequate. The truth was, I’d never be ready to say goodbye to Bones, even if I had over a thousand years with him. And Katie…How did you begin to say goodbye to your child?
Denise shut off the recording. Then, she swung my legs up over the side of the couch until I was lying on it instead of sitting. Finally, she tucked a blanket over me.
“Ashael didn’t answer, but I’m sure he’ll be here soon. In the meantime, try to sleep. There’s nothing else to do anyway.”
There wasn’t at the moment, but I doubted I’d sleep. I had too much on my mind.
We just have to kill one vampire, and this will be over, I reminded myself. Just one. Easy-peasy.
Except this vampire was also a powerful witch, so it wouldn’t be easy. She also probably wouldn’t be alone, so we’d have more than her to contend with. Plus, we had no guarantee that killing her would nullify our spells. Ashael had said that it should. What he didn’t say—what he couldn’t say—was that it would. Sometimes, killing the spellcaster didn’t end a spell. Only the spell’s completion did, and our spells would only be complete when we were sacrificed to the sea goddess.
“You know what I’m going to do, once this is over and we’ve won?” Denise said in an admirably confident tone. “I’m going to start the adoption process.”
If I had any movement, my eyes would have widened. Denise must have sensed my surprise because she let out a soft laugh.
“I know, I didn’t tell you that Spade and I have been talking about adopting. It was too serious to discuss over the phone, and I was still undecided. Sure, I could technically have a baby since I still get my period, but Spade’s sperm has been dead for centuries, and I didn’t want to go the in vitro route. I’m demon-branded. What if the kid came out with demon-y powers? Or I miscarried because I accidentally shapeshifted in my sleep? I did that once, you know. I blame you because I was thinking about you when I went to sleep. Then, a few hours later, Spade woke up to a friggin’ cat in his bed.”
I couldn’t laugh out loud, but on the inside, I was wheezing with humor. Poor Spade, and poor Denise! Aside from the obvious issue of suddenly waking up as another species, Denise was also allergic to cats.
“So, no pregnancy for me,” she went on. “But I always did want to be a mom, so why not adopt?”
Why not, indeed? She’d make a wonderful mother, and Spade would be a great dad, though he’d probably spoil his kid rotten.
I’m so happy for you, Denise, and we will win tomorrow, I wanted to say. We have so much to live for. No murdering, sea-hag-worshipping bitch is going to take that away from us.
Shadows suddenly leapt from the corners before stretching into the familiar form of a tall, startlingly handsome man. Ashael wasn’t wearing a suit this time. He was in a fluffy white robe and nothing else, as a breeze revealed when it lifted a corner of his short robe.
“Sorry for the delay,” he said. “I didn’t expect your summons so soon.”
“Sorry if we caught you, ah, entertaining,” Denise replied. That’s when I noticed the lipstick marks on his neck. Guess he wasn’t in a robe because we’d disturbed him from his bath.
He waived. “They’ll wait.”
They. So, not just one. No wonder he’d taken more than half an hour to respond.
“I brought you more blood,” he said, pulling two bags out and handing them to Denise. “Give one to her before training tomorrow, and the other when you leave to meet the witches, but you’ll need to hide the second one until then.”
As if I would risk our lives by stealing it early! Then again, no sense trusting the willpower of someone trashed. After all, I’d licked a knife coated in his blood mere hours ago.
“I’ve also found some of the witches,” Ashael said, snapping my attention back to him. “They appear to be prepping for a special ritual. There are several covens in one place, yet thus far, I haven’t seen the one you described as Morgana.”
Bad news on top of more bad news. Our luck this trip wouldn’t have it any other way. We couldn’t attack until we knew Morgana was there. She was the spellcaster, so she was the one we had to kill.
“But don’t worry,” Ashael went on. “If Morgana is as high-ranking among the coven as you suspect, she wouldn’t be involved in the preparations. Royalty never sullies itself with menial labor. She’d wait until the end to appear.”
Plausible. Morgana hadn’t been at the sea cave, either. Guess some events really were too lowbrow for her. At least this ritual sounded important, if it had multiple covens. She should show up for the end of that.
“Remember, once you attack, any new spells the witches hurl at you shouldn’t fully stick while the power in your brands is increased, Denise,” Ashael continued. “They also should mostly bounce off Cat because she’ll be so newly filled with my blood. The witches won’t expect that, so be sure to use it to your advantage.�
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“Oh, we will,” Denise said, and took the new blood bags with a glint in her eyes that I hadn’t seen from her before. Sure, I’d seen that same look from many dangerous opponents in the past, and it had doubtlessly been in my own eyes several times, too. It was the look of anticipated violence.
“So, where do we crash this ritual?”
Ashael smiled. “Check your phone. I sent you a pin.”
Chapter Eleven
“Watch where you’re going!” Denise said for the third time.
If I didn’t love her, I’d be annoyed. Had I flown us into the cliff face yet? No, so she should quit bitching. Sure, I’d come close to the rock walls to our left, but that was because we were being stealthy as we approached the rendezvous point.
Normally, you needed to hike almost seven miles to reach Alamere Falls. But I could fly, so we were arriving the easy way. Or, at least, it would be easy, if Denise didn’t keep screeching in my ear and distracting me.
I had to give it to the witches; they’d picked a beautiful place for their ritual. The forty-foot falls landed on Wildcat Beach, where the surf was rapidly covering the sand as the tide started to come in. At this hour, no tourists were around since it was already a tough hike to Alamere Falls during the day.
It was only an hour before high tide on the full moon, when the second spell would kick in and the sea goddess would come for us. We were cutting it close, not that we’d had a choice. The witches hadn’t been here earlier. I’d done multiple fly-bys and hadn’t seen a hint of them. I’d started to worry that they’d concealed themselves with glamour—or that I was too drunk to spot them—when I finally saw a line of blue-robed figures hiking up the final stretch of trail leading to the falls. I tried to do a quick head count, and lost track after the mid-twenties. Whatever. I only needed to find and kill Morgana. She had to be here. This was the big shebang. Morgana wouldn’t miss it.
