Vampire Interrupted (Wicked Good Witches Book 8)

by Starla Silver

  Outside his room, Annie listened to him sleeping. She looked up when a wooden floor plank creaked under the pressure of a soft footstep.

  “He’s here. Seems willing to trust us.” She held up his empty beer mug. “Gave him a little something to help him sleep. He won’t wake for at least twelve hours.”

  A silhouetted face nodded. Satisfied.

  Jean and Annie had come through. Gotten the local sorceress to cast a spell, one to match the young man’s gift. To make him believe his ability had brought him here. That it was his destiny to be here…

  He had Riley Deane right where he wanted him.

  CHAPTER 10

  Charlie, Lizzy, and Melinda used the potion they’d made earlier that afternoon to track the missing reporter, Courtney Jessup. They started at her apartment, which was blocked with police tape. They were careful to take it down in a manner they could replace after leaving.

  Once inside, and the door closed, Lizzy threw the potion bottle onto the floor. It smashed on contact letting out a translucent veil only they could see, which snaked out searching the space for signs of Courtney being here. It never made it to the front door, after five minutes the veil poofing into nothing.

  “She hasn’t been here in over a day,” Lizzy told them. “This trail is cold.”

  A disappointing start.

  “We should try the TV station office next,” suggested Melinda.

  “Yeah, I imagine that’s where she spent most of her time outside of this apartment.” Lizzy was ready to go.

  “I’m not so sure about that,” disagreed Charlie. “This could end up a waste of time. I have a feeling the reporter spent most of her time out of the office.”

  “What are we going to do, potion bomb the entire island?” argued Melinda.

  Lizzy gave a closed mouth chuckle.

  Then got to thinking…

  “That’s not actually possible, is it?” Charlie questioned curiously.

  “No. Not without blowing our cover at least. And how to distribute something like that. Oh wait those flying thingamabobs… with the metal wings.”

  “Planes…” filled in Charlie.

  “Or there’s always the old fashioned way,” quipped Lizzy. They didn’t respond. “You know, broomsticks.”

  “Really?” Melinda responded. “I had no idea witches actually flew on broomsticks.”

  “Hasn’t been done in a very long time. And mostly only chicks did it. Most men found the experience quite disagreeable.”

  “Never going to catch me on a broomstick,” Charlie stated emphatically, shifting uncomfortably in the need to protect his manhood. “I suppose it only makes sense, though. That witches and broomsticks myth had to start somewhere.”

  “It’s fun though. Quite the rush, flying. Funny, I haven’t thought about riding a broomstick in forever.”

  Charlie cleared his throat at the unintentional innuendo.

  Lizzy smirked. Lecherous one track mind… and dang it, she liked it.

  Melinda scowled at her brother. “Way to ruin flying on a broomstick before I even got to try it…”

  “Sorry.” When it came to Lizzy, apparently he couldn’t keep his thoughts to himself, no matter how unspoken they were.

  Melinda wondered what it would be like though. Flying up high, seeing the world from that vantage point. Almost like riding a motorcycle in the sky…

  Lizzy left the apartment. “No more to see here. I am going to give this potion bomb some thought, for future endeavors. It will take some time and experimentation. But potentially make quicker work of a job like the one not going so well right now.”

  Out in the parking lot they piled back into the jeep.

  “So, TV station it is,” settled Charlie. It was second best option after the apartment. About fifteen minutes later they pulled into the parking lot and held tight. It was just after dark now, and the building about to close up for the night. Once the coast was clear the trio got out and Lizzy smashed another potion bottle near the front door.

  It didn’t go inside the building though, but rather snaked through the parking lot veering off the backside into a wooded area. They ran over and saw there was a pathway. The potion fizzled a few feet down, but it was a recent trail.

  “It’s a lead,” informed Lizzy, pleased the potion worked. There was a nervous excitement in her voice. It meant that the reporter had been on the Isle within the last day, which meant something fishy was definitely going on. Another stroke count for the odd column…

  Was she hiding? Was she really missing, or just off her boss’s radar?

  Charlie took lead and headed down the path, with Lizzy and Melinda right behind. They walked silently, each step taken as cautiously as possible. It was dark so they had to rely on Charlie’s sure footing and good night vision (thanks to his inner wolf).

  With the trees and moonless night thanks to cloud cover, it got dark, fast.

  Melinda’s head snapped to the right. What was that?

  A flutter of noise a few feet into the woods barely off the path…

  She stopped. Listened. Heart pounding. But there was nothing. Probably just a bird taking flight.

  “You okay, Sis?” Charlie called back in a loud whisper.

  “Yeah. Sorry. Was nothing.” She picked up the pace as fast as she dare with it being so dark. Her eyes adjusted, but even so, it was easy to miss a jutting branch or stone. She blinked a few times, trying to clear the dark haze, and focus. She glanced upward trying to get her bearings but inky splotches blurred everything.

  A shadow moving ahead of her… Charlie? Lizzy? Or something else? Her arms reached out in front of her feeling for anything.

  Crap… nothing to grab onto; just air. Dark, can’t-see-anything air that had no oxygen in it. Her next breath came out sharp and fast. Why was this happening? Her brother and Lizzy were right ahead of her. And yet she could not hear them. Or see them.

  Blood rushed to her ears, full panic attack hitting her. This dark wooded area was too similar to when she’d been captured by the Feyk. She spun around, gasping, afraid there was someone behind her. But only darkness…

  She jumped, and gave a start.

  Something brushed against her arm.

  A muffled voice said something she didn’t understand.

  She staggered back but a firm grip caught her before she fell to the ground.

  Lizzy and Charlie were in front of her, their faces dim in the dark.

  I’m not alone. There’s no one attacking. It took a minute for the panic to subdue enough to hear the concerned voice of her brother.

  “Melinda?” he called out for the tenth time.

  Her gaze finally caught his, seeing him clearly.

  “Ch-Charlie,” she stuttered through the chatter in her teeth.

  “What’s wrong?” he demanded of her.

  “I-I’m fine,” she lied.

  “Jesus. You’re having a panic attack,” he put together. “You’re not fine.”

  “Just give me a sec, and I’ll be fine.”

  Charlie glanced down at Lizzy, wondering if he should have her bring Melinda home and let him finish on his own here. Her silent response wondered the same thing right back at him.

  “I’ll be okay,” Melinda told them more firmly. She shook out of his grasp miserably. What the hell just happened? It was like the world caved in on her.

  “What happened?” Charlie interrogated calmly.

  “I got spooked.”

  “That was more than spooked, Melinda.” Lizzy matched Charlie’s level of calm concern.

  “I don’t know what happened. I was fine and then everything went all weird and blotchy. I looked up and couldn’t see you guys. Couldn’t see two feet in front of me and just… panicked. Everything closed in on me after that.” Disappointment weighed heavily as she spoke. “I thought…” she let the sentence dangle, not wishing to admit what she was thinking.

  “Thought you might get attacked again?” guessed Charlie.

 
She nodded gloomily.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t even think,” he returned.

  “You can’t be sorry about everything, Charlie. It’s not your fault,” Melinda’s voice snapped harder than she’d planned. He didn’t take it personally, she was angry with herself.

  “Would you like to keep going?”

  “I could take you home,” offered Lizzy kindly.

  “No. I’m not going home. I don’t need a babysitter. I’m fine, let’s just keep moving.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Charlie.

  “Yes.”

  Charlie stalled for a moment, unsure, but continued when Melinda didn’t argue differently. When he turned a second later however, there was a tug at his shirt and he looked down to see his sister had grabbed on.

  “Just in case,” she whispered dismally.

  He wanted to send her home, but she’d only refuse. Lizzy brought up the rear of the trio and Charlie kept going. Not too many more steps in, the path ended at a small clearing. It was enough time for Melinda to gather herself and get a calmer heart rate and breathe normally again. The clearing was a break area where people came for a quick lunch, or a smoke, as there was a pile of old cigarette butts and some trash near a burly, downed log.

  “Seriously?” chided Lizzy. “Since when do people treat this island like a garbage bag?”

  “God, and what’s that smell?” Melinda let go of Charlie, plugging her nose. The breeze had picked up blowing a terrible stench their direction.

  Charlie sniffed. And growled. There was something dead nearby.

  Lizzy and Melinda caught onto that fact too. There were few things with a smell so pungent or putrid.

  Nerves made breaths heavy again, and muscles trembled even though Melinda begged them not to. Charlie didn’t want her getting any closer.

  “I’ll look. You stay with Lizzy.”

  Melinda had wanted to be brave, but finding a dead body tore that desire right out of her. She nodded, giving in. Lizzy shot him an agreeing look. She wasn’t in a hurry to find a dead body either, and wouldn’t argue with Charlie right now.

  All three prayed hard it was not another dead body, drained by the vampire. In this case, a body they assumed would belong to Courtney Jessup.

  Charlie stepped purposefully, his wolf hearing taking in every sound. Nothing out of the ordinary. Silver filtering through the darkness. He saw nothing but a few birds, high up in the trees. An owl, hooting. A buzzing stung at his ears. Insects, close to whatever dead thing lay ahead. The smell sickened him. Left bile churning in his gut.

  He approached the log, held his breath, and leaned over to look with a hardened swallow.

  Melinda and Lizzy waited with bated breath as he straightened his body, twisted his head to see them and breathed out, “Deer. Not human.”

  The two women’s bodies relaxed in simultaneous relief.

  “Oh thank God,” Melinda let out.

  He searched the carcass and surrounding area for any potential clues. The reporter had still recently been here. His sister and Lizzy made to join him when he growled. They froze in place as he spun around throwing his silver glower their direction.

  “What?” both women asked at once.

  “The deer… this was a vampire kill.”

  “Recent?” gulped out Melinda.

  “I’d guess last night, possibly this morning.” He motioned for them to come see. He hunched down and pointed out the fang marks. It was a bloody mess, similar to the human bodies, with blotches of red blotting the carcass. There was no misidentifying the distinct and identifiable marks where fangs had punctured a vein and sucked the poor animal dry.

  “So this vamp has a wide variety in its diet,” noted Lizzy apprehensively.

  Not unlike William… was what both Charlie and Melinda heard in between the lines.

  Most vampires either drank from animals, alone, or purely humans. But rarely ever both.

  They investigated the surrounding area, sticking close together, but found no additional clues. Lizzy smashed the last potion bottle she’d brought, in attempts to locate a continued trail from the reporter, but there was nothing. Had the reporter found the dead deer? Or worse, interrupted the vampire, mid-meal? It was odd that the trail didn’t continue when the reporter had clearly been in this spot, recently.

  “Maybe she went out the same way she came in?” suggested Melinda.

  “Only option,” agreed Lizzy.

  Other than the dead deer, it was a dead end, just like this lead.

  Charlie called Mack and explained the finding.

  She in turn, called Josh, to get the deer mess cleaned up so no tourists could happen across the scene.

  “You’re certain Josh will be safe?” Mack needed to know.

  “I can’t actually say that,” replied Charlie. “I’ll stay and help. I’d bury the damn thing myself if I had a shovel.”

  “Alrighty then. I’ll contact Josh. Hang tight.” Mack hung up.

  “You want us to stay?” asked Lizzy. She nodded ever so slightly at Melinda, silently asking him if he wanted his sister to stay or go home.

  “No. No need to stay. Nothing can hurt me,” he waved his ring. “Although, on second thought, the two of you walking home alone…”

  Lizzy rolled her eyes. “I am capable of looking out for myself.”

  “I don’t doubt that,” he readily agreed. “But it still makes me nervous.” He pleaded with her not to be mad, and comply this one time without argument.

  Lizzy grinned, amused, but caved. “I guess we’re staying.”

  Melinda didn’t argue. And this pissed her off. She didn’t want to be afraid anymore and here she was, minutes ago, in the throes of a panic attack. With another just waiting to bubble up. So much so she’d rather stick it out here with Charlie, than chance the walk home.

  Charlie read the disappointment in her eyes.

  “Hey, Kiddo.”

  Her eyes found his. Compassion staring back at her.

  “It takes time,” he told her.

  “We don’t have time,” she balked dejectedly. “Why is it so hard? Why is it as natural for me to be afraid as it is to breathe?”

  “It’s not that it’s easy or hard,” Lizzy answered on Charlie’s behalf. “Being afraid is as natural as breathing, Melinda. It’s human. Being a witch doesn’t change that. And we all have fear, we just show it differently.”

  “Well I’m tired of how I show it. I’m tired of wearing it like some wet blanket that’s too heavy to take off.”

  “Don’t be ashamed of letting your feelings show. It makes you stronger than you realize. Some people could learn a lesson or two.” Lizzy aimed a somewhat humored gaze in Charlie’s direction. “And then there’s those like myself who need to rein it in a little.”

  Melinda laughed nervously. She hadn’t spent much time with Lizzy but understood why her brother had fallen for her. It was easy to forget she was only a few years older than herself. But much wiser for all her years cursed to live as a ghast, Melinda guessed. And much better trained in her profession than she or her brothers. Melinda wondered when things had changed. Why they had changed? If it was on purpose, or just one of those things that happened over time? A slow degradation of how they trained for the job, due to the passing of time. More like the passing of too many Howards, she guessed.

  Charlie’s ears perked up. “Josh is coming.” He appeared a minute later with a couple shovels in tow. After a quick handshake, they set into burying the deer, deep enough nothing else would come along and dig it up.

  Charlie’s muscles pulsed with each shovel and it got hot fast, so he pulled the thin tank over his head to wipe the sweat off his brow. He caught Lizzy in a lip lick that mind-tasted him from head to toe.

  Damn, he looks good a little dirty… Rugged. Strong. Virile…

  She wondered if a look was enough to knock her up. She was thrilled it could not, very much looking forward to the traditional method. It shocked her a little, how badly she wante
d a baby all of a sudden after never being interested in her old life. Now, her hormones were screaming for it.

  Lizzy was making it difficult to behave himself. Charlie craved every dangerous act that would put her safety in jeopardy. Her gaze sank into his; he sent a silent warning she was treading in dangerous waters. The corner of her mouth turned up in a defiant grin. She wasn’t about to back down.

  Josh cleared his throat, amused. “Flirt on your own time, wolf. Dig…”

  Charlie smirked, caught in the act. He’d always liked Josh. He was easygoing like his father, Earl. If he ever considered anyone a friend, it would be him. It helped he knew about the Supernatural side of the Isle, and they enjoyed the same beer. The skunkier and cheek-sucking the better.

  Another twenty minutes later, they had the deer buried and hole refilled and smoothed over. They started out of the clearing back to the parking lot of the TV station.

  Josh went first, with Lizzy right behind him. Melinda in front of her brother this time, so he could keep an eye on her. They didn’t get more than a few steps when forced to stop in their tracks.

  A snort.

  A wheezy inhale and exhale.

  Heavy feet shuffling in the shadows.

  Gargoyle…

  Everyone let out simultaneous relieved breaths, Melinda a few. These panic attacks and getting freaked out at things so easily needed to end! The gargoyle came up to her; it was the one that had taken a liking to her.

  “Hey, Boy. What are you doing here?” she reached out her hand to pet its big head. When she pulled away it shook like a happy puppy. It sniffed the air, investigating the area. Melinda wondered if she shouldn’t just give him a name.

  It left her and sauntered down the path to where the dead deer had been. It smelled around, and she got this sense it was confused about something. But she did not get the impression it had found anything evil. It returned to Melinda, but kept glancing back into the woods as if trying to decide something. It gave up a few seconds later and butted its head into her side.

  She grinned and petted him again. There was something soothing about its presence. It sensed evil and it didn’t sense any nearby right now. She was safe with it near. So all I have to do is stay near the gargoyles every minute of every day, problem solved!