Vampire Interrupted (Wicked Good Witches Book 8)

by Starla Silver

  Alone.

  I’m alone.

  Everyone she loved was on the once place she could not return.

  That life was over. Gone in the length of time it took to pack a bag, get in her car, and board the ferry.

  Emily’s head flicked to the side.

  A wisp of movement in the passenger seat.

  She sucked in. Eyes pinching in disbelief.

  There was no way… she was seeing a ghost. Literally…

  The billowing white energy settled into the front seat, a familiar face staring back at her.

  “Impossible…”

  Emily’s mouth draped open in shock.

  Her hands gripped the steering wheel, a ghostly arm reached out, its caressing energy flaking across Emily’s skin in a gentle buzz. In a flash of movement, the ghostly hand sank into her skin. The rest of the form seeping in behind it. Emily’s head fell backwards with a rough gasp, her hands fell off the wheel dropping down to her sides on the seat.

  Energy surged through Emily. Taking over. Taking control.

  Her body no longer obeying her commands. A new master taking the reins.

  It was like falling asleep. By force of the others’ will.

  Few thoughts squeezed through before complete blackness took her.

  All disbelief mixed with a hundred questions she had no way of organizing coherently.

  Emily’s head lifted forward. Two arms lifted and stretched outward. Fingers flexing. Eyes lifting and blinking, a smile forming.

  “Oh how strange,” a voice whispered. Emily’s, and yet not hers. The inflection similar.

  The driver’s side visor flipped down, the mirror opened. The act of touching something stole the first oxygen breathed in almost five years. This was going to take a few minutes to adjust. A body. No longer ethereal. No longer watching from the sidelines. Finally called to finish her business in the world of the living. All the things she could not do before her death.

  Brown eyes stared back at themselves, the visor mirror catching a flash of determination.

  “You hang in there baby girl. Take a nice long rest. Momma’s here to take care of you and I’ll get you right where you need to go.”

  She grasped the wheel, turned on the engine, and headed the car south.

  #

  Melinda stationed herself on the top step of the front porch of the mansion.

  Lucas soaked up the space right next to her.

  He was not an empath, and had no gift in reading what others might be feeling, or needing, like his brother, but anyone looking at the woman sitting next to him would have guessed, breaking. Cut wide open with little chance of gluing herself back together.

  He wished for some way to console her. Only a monster would feel no compassion, or their own heart breaking on her behalf. Lucas tried to get her talking, but each conversation went nowhere and ended fast.

  What torture.

  For all of them.

  No matter his reflections on magic, this was torture.

  Melinda’s half-dead gaze shifted between noises near the end of the driveway, and the screen of her phone.

  Waiting. Dreading.

  Waiting. Dreading.

  Waiting for permission to break apart.

  Dreading those long minutes after.

  Unsure how she’d survive the hours that would follow. The months that would whirl by in a blur of memory. The years she’d refuse to move on and forget the vampire’s existence.

  The hole already drilled through her heart, counting down for darkness to consume it.

  Kick-ass witch, why bother?

  Why did she think it would change anything? That she’d change?

  Helpless and powerless was her lot in life.

  Being alone. Watching people she loved, die, was becoming a hobby.

  Warmth on her thigh. Melinda forced her gaze off the phone.

  Lucas’ hand splayed across her leg, not because she’d been shaking it like she normally did when worked up. She was rather still. Almost as if she moved in any manner, even a deep breath, life would become unbearably real.

  Lucas’ intent was to grab her attention. Keep her mind busy. Make sure she remembered to breathe. Pass some of his life-force to her, so she’d not fade into the darkness trying to claim her.

  Melinda gave Lucas a noncommittal head shake that only meant she was there, with him, present in some form, but unable to speak, or think, or act, or anything else.

  “How about, I talk, you listen.” It wasn’t an option but a statement of what was about to happen. He hoped his voice would offer some solace, at the least, temporarily lull her into a false sense of security.

  “I’ve decided to let Lizzy teach me stuff,” he started.

  This isn’t how she expected him to start.

  “I know, right. Anyway, I guess you’ll have to put up with me in your lessons. I’m not thrilled with my choice, far from it. But thinking over everything, I can’t say any of you are wrong. Or right. I suppose I have to accept learning magic, for now.”

  Part of Melinda wanted to tell him to do whatever the hell he wanted. That none of it really mattered. The other part of her fought that sentiment, because of course it mattered. And she still needed to learn if she was going to toughen up enough and get smart enough at the craft to help Courtney take out Stricker.

  The best she could muster was a sympathetic frown.

  He went on. “I think the final straw was this new gift of mine. If I’m stuck with it, I can’t ignore it. Magic is easy to ignore, it’s not attached to me, per se. It’s optional, at least to me. But when Riley’s gift hit him, I encouraged him to listen to it. To follow where it took him. I’d never hear the end of it if I didn’t heed my own advice.”

  Melinda freed a blunt, uneasy, closed mouth chortle. She still couldn’t speak, but grasped his hand, thanking him for trying. Encouraging him to continue. He kept her hand wound in his.

  “I still don’t like magic. It’s ruined so many lives,” Lucas continued talking. “Still is ruining people’s lives. But I’ve been miserable denying it. I can see that now, however much I don’t want to. Maybe I’ll be less miserable embracing it.” He let out his own disgruntled laugh. “I’m not exactly the poster boy for yay, magic. I guess I’m giving in. A little. Trying things out. See if it fits me. I’m clueless as to what I’m supposed to do with this new gift, however. What good is seeing flashes of the past? I’ve gone over and over those little blips I’ve seen, and there’s just nothing of value there. Nothing that needs fixing. Nothing that needs to change. And how could I? It’s history. Oddly, a subject I enjoy. But these moments don’t appear to hold any specific value, or meaning.”

  “I- I’m sure,” Melinda got out shakily, “you’ll f-figure it out, Lucas.”

  He smiled kindly.

  His hand in hers kept her connected to something. Kept her from flying away. The Deane brothers were both talented comforters of the soul. She was sure neither of them saw this as a talent, but it was like second nature to them. They must have had parents that loved them, and taught them well. They were good people who deserved better than they’d gotten in life, and certainly better than they’d gotten since coming to the Isle.

  Grasping to Lucas like her life depended on it brought equal amounts of security and despair. He was holding on. Keeping her from falling into darkness. She would be falling if it were not for him doing this.

  Powerless, again.

  Relying on someone else, again.

  Neck deep in a pit about to suffocate her, someone other than herself the only way she’d dig out of it.

  Doomed. To continue this vicious cycle of falling, breaking, and someone else picking her up and piecing her back together.

  Lucas opened his mouth to start up the mostly one-sided conversation again when both gazes flew to her phone. It rang and vibrated ominously.

  Charlie…

  She let out a rush of air. Her fingers unmoving even as she ordered them to answer the phone
. The first ring setting off a chain reaction of memories flashing before her eyes as if it was her moment of death. It wasn’t, it was William’s, but it was their death. The end of them.

  William caressing the side of her face after a prophetic dream almost two years ago. Each stroke of his icy fingers soothing the terrible things she’d witnessed and wanted to forget. So many times since her prophetic dreams began, had he seen her through the aftermath of these dreams.

  The second ring… William laughing. Such a heartwarming thing to hear as it rarely happened with any gusto. So many fleeting moments they’d shared. So many long nights talking… the moment everything changed between them, after her first dream of him. Of them.

  The third ring… William, telling her to close her eyes as calmly as if tucking her into bed and cradling her to sleep in his arms. While his body hung useless against the torture surging at him… his concern Melinda’s well-being. Always this first.

  Him, a day later, feral determination to take out the evil responsible. Fighting through the pain and bloodlust from the human blood he’d drank to break free and save her life.

  The fourth ring… Lucas picked up the phone, tapped it on, and slid it up to Melinda’s ear.

  “Melinda.” Charlie’s voice trembled. “It’s not William. It’s not him…”

  She did not hear anything else.

  Charlie might have continued talking, or hung up, she had no idea.

  Blood rushed to her ears, heart strumming in full orchestral performance.

  Charlie might have told her the world was about to implode in on itself, but she didn’t hear a word. A sob pushed out of her and Lucas dropped the phone, surrounding her with himself.

  “I’m so sorry, Melinda.”

  She sobbed, unable to tell him. Her brain soaking in this news. Trying to put meaning to the words Charlie had spoken.

  It’s not William.

  It’s not William.

  It’s not William…

  Melinda wanted to tell Lucas but only sobs came out of her. She collapsed against him, relief seeping into her veins. The pain and relief of it all falling out of every tear. Lucas embraced her tightly, wishing there was some better way to comfort her. How did you keep someone who’d just lost someone they loved from slipping away, a bit of them dying too.

  He’d lost his parents and still had no answer for this.

  So much loss.

  Death was a reality of living. But never easy to accept even you’re expecting it.

  Melinda lifted her head.

  Lucas put some space between them.

  What the hell?

  Melinda was smiling. Weakly. So exhausted she might pass out. But smiling. Eyes a blue ocean of softness and relief. She opened her mouth to say something, but it took a minute for the words to reach her tongue.

  “Not. William…” she finally articulated with great effort.

  “Oh my God. Um… that’s… wow.”

  “I was so sure I’d lost him,” she let out breathlessly. “It’s not him.” The reality of this still swam around the surface, barely sinking in. She pulled back to clean her face. It took a few more minutes to get the tears to subside.

  Lucas let go of her, baffled. Thrilled. Shocked.

  “Sorry, Lucas,” she cried a minute later. “I didn’t mean to make you think he was gone, I was just so…”

  “Relieved,” Lucas imagined.

  She sniffled. “Relieved doesn’t even come close. More like, I think I can keep living.”

  Death… it’s what Melinda had looked so close to minutes ago. Like a piece of her had already died, and the rest was waiting to catch up.

  “It doesn’t fix everything,” Melinda sniveled. “There’s the whole Courtney thing. But he’s not the one killing all these people.” She’d given up hope it wasn’t him. There had been too many coincidences. Too much evidence pointing to William.

  She sighed, happily. Eyes closing from blissful weariness.

  She wasn’t losing her mind. Not completely. William really did come to her and say goodbye. He did leave the Isle. She hadn’t dreamed it all up. He wasn’t gone from her for good, she hoped. At least for now, cleared of this heinous charge and alive. Somewhere.

  But this also revealed an equally deadly truth: there was another vampire loose on the island. Which meant everyone was in danger.

  But life could move forward. It hadn’t come to an abrupt stop as she’d fully expected it to. Even with this killer vampire on the prowl, and the task of that hanging over them like a volcano about to erupt, she’d never been so relieved in all her life.

  Her William was not a coldblooded killer.

  Courtney was an accident. One they still had to deal with, but he wasn’t out killing because of a cold hard need for blood. He hadn’t transformed into the monster he was always reminding her he was.

  A wet snout pushed against her arm. Her eyes fluttered open.

  “Hi Finn. I’m okay.” It was like the gargoyle was checking up on her, just to make sure. He pushed his head into her and she chuckled lightly, petting his giant globe of a head.

  “You’ve named them now?” asked Lucas.

  “Just this guy. He’s the only friendly one.” Finn shuffled away after a minute, off into the shadows rejoining the other three gargoyles.

  “So what happens now?”

  “I guess we wait. My brothers had a plan, if we go in now we’ll somehow get in the way and disrupt things. I’m guessing they’ll be home soon to regroup if they haven’t caught the vampire yet. Charlie may have said but I didn’t hear anything beyond… well, you know.”

  “Yeah. I get it. Waiting. More waiting. The two of us seem to do that a lot,” he noted bleakly.

  “Yeah, but look what happened the last time we ran in all unprepared…”

  “Right. Waiting. Sounds like the safe plan. The smart plan.”

  Melinda let out a long sigh.

  “We won’t be like this for much longer, Lucas.” She patted his thigh. “Not if Lizzy has anything to do with it anyway.”

  Lucas cast her a despondent frown.

  They were really going to do this, weren’t they? Study magic, together.

  A little more of that newly resealed dam broke apart, the water hovering around his ankles. Man, this was a bad idea. He wondered if there was any way out of it at this point. The water rose to above his ankles. Nope. He was stuck. Hoped he didn’t drown. Pictured himself already treading water.

  Melinda leaned back, the cool Demon Isle mists a welcome blanket soothing her wracked nerves. Easing the tension in her muscles. The ache in her bones. William was out there somewhere. And when he returned he’d find a whole new Melinda Howard waiting. No longer in the sidelines. But a kick-ass, revenge taking, witch extraordinaire.

  She could do it.

  Right?

  She glanced at Lucas.

  He looked as discomforted as she felt.

  At least they’d be hovering on the verge of utter failure together.

  CHAPTER 20

  Charlie’s brother had stood up from the death reading, stared at them all, eyes wide as his baby-faced skin permitted, stunned by the truth. They were wrong. They had pieced together all the evidence incorrectly. William had been the easy answer. The obvious answer.

  Then Michael uttered the words, Not William…

  Chop. Chop. Chop. Chop.

  Someone cut the ropes and a house-sized brick lifted off Charlie’s chest. Relief splicing through him, so deep he swore everyone watched him fall in two different directions at the same time. He excused himself silently, walking away, needing a few minutes to sew himself back together. Make that a week. Or a month, to rise up from that dark place he’d made himself go.

  This might require a double or triple stitch to sew up this wound properly.

  The very moment he was capable, Charlie had dialed his sister and spoken the words to her. It’s not William. All he heard in response was a sob, followed by her phone going dead. There
was no need to explain anything else. Not yet. She’d be okay. Her world wasn’t ending. Or crashing in on her. And she wasn’t alone since Lucas was with her.

  William was cleared of killing these tourists.

  And what to do about Courtney Jessup? He had killed her, by accident, and now she was forced into life as a vampire. Charlie would focus on that later, they still had a murderer on the loose. The Isle’s first vampire other than William or now Courtney in longer than he could recall in Howard history.

  Protective instincts kicked in.

  Like it should have when he’d believed William their enemy.

  Charlie would have done the right thing, fulfilled his duty… ended his friend’s life.

  Now that it was not William… surprising how much easier it is to wipe out a nameless face. Almost too easy. With no regard to the person and life behind that face. Killer or not, even a vampire was a human being at one point, most likely with family and friends who loved them, as dearly as they loved William.

  It harkened back to when William killed Eva Jordan’s mother, and the chain reaction of events that unfolded over those years after. Their actions had consequences, but so did inaction. They’d have to take out this vampire threat and make sure the island and the power source remained safe.

  Damn his wrong choices. He should have let Michael do a death reading sooner. It was never a sure thing, to see the killer. Sometimes only the manner of death. The timing had been so messed up and none of them ready to see the truth until they’d had no choice, plus the evidence all pointed William’s direction. They’d all but condemned their friend, needlessly.

  When Charlie’s heart beat normally again, he picked up his head and gazed back at the others, still surrounding the dead victim. The young woman, her life snuffed out. They were standing around letting the news sink in, same as him.

  Not William…

  Courtney looked forlornly down at the lost victim. Charlie imagined it was a bittersweet moment… glad she herself, had survived, and yet sad this other woman had not, and then still completely lost and stuck in the middle of a new life she didn’t ask for. To her credit, she was being a good sport so far. And helping them. He had no idea how to make it all up to her, how to make this unasked for change, okay.