Vampire Interrupted (Wicked Good Witches Book 8)

by Starla Silver

  William would still be utterly devastated once he discovered what he’d done. He still might have a death sentence hanging over him, one by his own design. But at least it was not today, and not because he’d gone rogue. Funny how accidental death was so much more acceptable than gone wild with bloodlust murder spree.

  Recomposed and ready to get on with things, Charlie rejoined the rest of his hunting party.

  He, Lizzy, Michael, and Mack exchanged sympathetic gazes, but said nothing more about William. It was going to take some time to sink in. How close they’d come to losing him. How much they realized they did not want to. How much they owed him. How much they needed him. And not purely for research, or the job, but in their lives, period.

  If he returned from wherever he’d gone to.

  Charlie’s gaze fixed on Courtney.

  “So… um. What now?” She twiddled the wooden stake in her hand like a plaything.

  “This doesn’t resolve what happened to you,” he told her. “I haven’t forgotten about you in all this mess, or the relief we’re all basking in at the moment. Our deal still stands.”

  “And that’s all I want. For now.” She wasn’t sure what else to say on the subject. Her feelings regarding William were mixed. She didn’t know him. Clearly he was loved severely by this family, who were good witches to the core. And even if she decided this becoming a vampire thing was the best accident to happen, shouldn’t punishment still be dealt out to the one who did it?

  He was under extreme duress…

  He took away my human life….

  Later, Courtney.

  Think about this later.

  Still a super scary vamp on the loose.

  Could just as easily kill you as anyone else here.

  Charlie aimed his gaze at Michael. It was time to hear what else his brother had to say. But his brother’s attention was flitting between the victim and Lizzy.

  “Um,” Michael eyed his brother. “Maybe we should talk alone.”

  Charlie wondered why he’d need to and out of pure instinct to protect, his body inched closer to Lizzy. Muscles hardening. Ears perking up for unfamiliar sounds.

  “You don’t trust me.” It wasn’t Lizzy, but Courtney who made the claim. Assuming Michael didn’t want to share with her around, the untested stranger. “I get it. It’s okay.”

  “No…” this time it was Lizzy. “You’re trying to hide something about me.”

  “What did you see, Michael?” Charlie growled, natural instinct kicking in, his body creating a shield in front of Lizzy.

  “Yeah, what he said,” stated Lizzy, popping around him. No way she was hiding behind the overprotective wolf.

  “The vampire mentioned your name,” revealed Michael.

  “What?” said all the others at once, including Lizzy.

  Charlie took his stance behind her, ready to pounce on anything that came close. His body an instant brick wall between the woman he loved and this vampire.

  “That makes no sense,” exclaimed Lizzy. “No one even knows I’m here, or alive. There could be a few Lizzy’s around.”

  Michael cursed under his breath. “He didn’t use Lizzy. The vampire claimed to be under some kind of curse, like my Lisbeth…” he’d used her formal name.

  Lizzy’s breath stilled like a countdown just finished and the world stopped spinning, and air stopped circulating.

  Michael continued. “I didn’t see his face. Only heard his voice. He claimed to be under a curse only my Lisbeth can break. Any idea what that means?”

  Lizzy’s legs faltered, she fell back into Charlie’s tensed muscle wall of a body, his hands gripping her shoulders to keep her upright.

  “Impossible,” she whispered in muted shock.

  “What’s impossible?” begged Charlie.

  What she was thinking was beyond absurd. He was dead. She watched him die.

  Burn. Jump. Die.

  He’d killed himself…

  “Grayson…” the name slipped across her tongue in a wave of solemn remembrance and devotion.

  Michael frowned. “That’s what the vampire called himself. Grayson Moone.”

  Lizzy’s head lifted upward, eyes fixed on Michael.

  The emotion pouring out of her was confusion. Utter confusion. Lined with adoration. Longing. Disbelief.

  Charlie’s senses were on high alert. Lizzy’s heart palpitations were trigger enough to tell him something was happening that was about to rock his boat… and not in the manner he was dying to.

  A flinty echo raged through the mist and fog.

  “Lisbeth…”

  She gasped, hand clutching her heart. That voice… there was no way…

  “Lisbeth,” it rang out again. Bouncing around the night. “I need you… my Lisbeth…”

  Through the shock and disbelief, there was something else…

  Familiarity. A closed flower blooming to life. Sparks reigniting.

  Charlie released his grip, touching her a sudden sting upon his hands. She spun around, fixed on him. Too many unsaid words right then, the only ones that mattered to him: I’m not yours… I belong to someone else.

  Somehow, in the matter of a few blinks, he’d lost her. He didn’t have all the pieces put together… but Lizzy didn’t truly belong to him. Walls he’d dropped too fast threatened to rebuild themselves. Begrudgingly so.

  Blast it all to hell. Maybe he was reading this all wrong. More like hoped he was reading it all wrong. Even with those words coming through so perfectly clear a few seconds ago were no longer present in her silent conversation with him now. But it was more like she didn’t have a clue what was going on and was caught in the middle of something.

  The rest of this conversation would have to wait.

  The voice flinted out at them again. Begging Lizzy for help.

  Charlie crouched down letting out a snarl. He’d protect her no matter what crazy ideas were going on in her head right now. Or his.

  He readied a vial of the werewolf blood in his palm, scouring the area for their vampire opponent. Mack darted to the trunk of her car and grabbed her crossbow. Taking aim. Everywhere and nowhere. Michael put his back up to hers, left palm raised and at the ready, right hand with a vial of werewolf blood. Courtney gripped her stake, ready to strike. Her keen vampire ears listening for the first sign of movement. Lizzy in the middle of them all, silent. This wasn’t the type of speechless Charlie enjoyed.

  A flash of movement.

  A rush of breath.

  Courtney sprinted at the shape only to grind to a stop a second later.

  Snap. Crack. Her new vampire body slumped to the ground in a heap.

  She was too new to this life. Charlie shouldn’t have asked her to help.

  A second later… she’ll heal. Bigger problems.

  They’d have to leave her for now as there was no room for error in dealing with this killer. Courtney had been their best chance at catching this thing without casualties and she was already down.

  Charlie had his ring. He assumed this meant even vampire venom would not harm him. And even if this were true, Michael Lizzy, and Mack were still at risk. God, if he could find a way to slide his Guardian ring onto Lizzy’s finger…

  Another blaze of movement.

  The vampire, this Grayson Moone, was toying with them, thought Charlie.

  Grayson had taken out the other vamp, the only one capable of potentially capturing him. But he hadn’t attacked or hurt anyone else. Yet. What was he trying to do? What was his plan?

  Other than protect Lizzy, and take out the vamp, nothing else came to Charlie’s mind.

  His body twisted, silver scouring into the fog. He’d take the bastard down with his teeth if he had to. Hopefully he was right that the ring would keep him from getting poisoned with vampire blood.

  Mack and Michael breathed heavily, searching and searching for a target. All they caught were shadows dancing under cloud cover and fog.

  “Lisbeth…” the voice called out again. “H
elp me, Lisbeth…”

  “Grayson,” she muttered under her breath. That voice. His voice. She’d never dreamed she’d hear it again. It was impossible and yet, happening. Her gaze caught a sharp movement near the edge of the woods.

  Charlie went to lunge, he’d seen it too.

  “I’d stop if I were you,” a voice warned. No longer an echo of flint. Clear. Crisp. Edged with desperation. And behind them… bodies swung that direction, aiming and on high alert. Charlie stood erect, a towering powerhouse ready to smash anything that came close to Lizzy.

  “Let’s be nice witches now, and put down the werewolf blood,” the voice didn’t so much ask, as instruct. “Unless you want to join your vampire friend…” They all glanced at Courtney, her head bent at an uncomfortable angle.

  He didn’t want to give up their best weapon, but even being just one vampire, he overpowered all of them, even together, simply with his strength and speed.

  Charlie raised his hand in a deliberate effort to show the vampire they’d cooperate. He nodded for the others to follow his lead, and let his arm drop, the vial falling to the ground with a soft thud, nowhere near hard enough to break.

  Lizzy said nothing, her face a blank canvas, staring in the direction of a figure inching his way out of the woods. She staggered a little, pushing her arms out to steady herself.

  “Hello, my Lisbeth. It’s been a long time.” Coal gray eyes flashed hungrily underneath a disheveled swab of black hair. Perfect white teeth, fangs at the ready…

  Lizzy approached as if seeing a ghost. Someone not real. He was ice cream… going to melt in the summer mist.

  “You’re dead. I watched you die.”

  She gasped, in an unseen dash Grayson loomed over her, just inches in front of her breathless body. Her hand lifted of its own volition, she needed to touch him. Feel him. He wasn’t real. He was going to melt away…

  Grayson closed his eyes longing for her touch. Growling out in approval.

  It didn’t come. His eyes flew open and darkened.

  She had dropped her hand and taken a step back. His temporary enthrallment over her, lifting.

  “Lizzy,” rumbled Charlie. Every tormented question gathered on his tongue went into her name. She spun around to look at him, hearing each one but unable to answer. Her silent words now stated, I’m not sure who I am at this moment. She looked pulled apart, torn in two. Stretched between two worlds. In shock.

  Grayson closed the space between he and Lizzy, hands snaking around her chest pulling her against him. Her breath hitched. Heart pounding hard. For so many reasons she feared she might pass out trying to think of them all. Her gaze lowered, ashamed and unable to lock into Charlie’s.

  He was focused on the vampire.

  “Release her.” His voice remained calm, but firm.

  Grayson ignored Charlie.

  “We have much to discuss, my darling Lisbeth. Thanks to that little bitch of a witch, Charlotte Howard.”

  Charlie opened his mouth to demand Lizzy’s release again, at the same time wondering who Charlotte was and what she’d done, when too many things happened all at once, stopping him cold.

  Courtney healed, awakened, grabbed her wooden stake, and threw it at Grayson. It should have been a direct hit. Straight to his heart, a few inches above Lizzy’s shoulder.

  In simultaneous response, Lizzy shouted in a warning that should have been too late, but Grayson already heard the whistle in the air as the wooden death missile launched, and ducked out of the way. The stake flung through where he’d been standing and straight into Mack’s chest.

  The world turned to winter. Everything frozen. Lifeless. Breathless.

  Her crossbow plummeted to the ground.

  Air sucked out of her lungs. Legs faltering. Body slumping downward.

  Michael reached out for her, falling to the ground with her. Unable to hold her dead weight. No, not dead. She couldn’t be dead. Not Mack.

  In movements that felt weighted and sluggish, Charlie bounded over with a shout on his lips.

  Courtney stared in total horror at what she’d done.

  It was a sure shot.

  Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.

  She fell to her knees certain she’d just murdered an innocent.

  All eyes on Mack, none of them saw Grayson vanish.

  Summer arrived back with a chaotic fervor.

  Winter melting into mist, and fog, and blood. So much blood.

  They needed an ambulance, fast.

  My God! Lizzy…

  Charlie’s head flicked to where she’d been standing, imprisoned in Grayson Moone’s icy grasp.

  Gone.

  He’d taken her.

  “Go after her,” Mack blubbered.

  Charlie ground his teeth together.

  Michael disagreed. “You can’t rush in. Remember about planning. Doing things smart.”

  Charlie’s gaze hardened.

  Courtney shuffled over, hand over her mouth. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. What can I do?” Her eyes darkened at the sight of the blood pouring out of Mack. “Oh, God.” A wave of hunger hit her like a semi-truck.

  “Leave. Now.” Charlie ordered, vial of werewolf blood ready to subdue her if the blood craving was too much.

  Courtney vanished in a half-blink.

  Mack gasped. Michael fumbled to dial for an ambulance on his phone.

  Charlie calmed himself.

  Whatever the hell was going on, this vampire wasn’t going to hurt Lizzy.

  This idea alone frightened him to death.

  Because the meaning behind it wasn’t one he wanted to hear or accept. It was also not his sibling’s fight. He’d handle it. No planning, or waiting. If what he thought was happening, truly was… holy crap the idea crushed him.

  Save Mack. We have to save Mack. Then I’ll go find Lizzy. Save Mack…

  Muscles uncoiled themselves. He would be rushing in, but he’d be clear headed when he did.

  There was a gasp from Michael.

  “Charlie. Look.”

  He did. His hands… they were doing that same glow thing they’d done when he’d saved Emily. How? How the hell was it happening again?

  It didn’t matter right now. He eyed Mack. “Sorry, this first parts going to hurt like hell.”

  She nodded, gripping Michael’s arms tight.

  Charlie gripped the stake, it had to come out before he could heal the wound. He yanked quickly and evenly, only a single gush of pain from Mack, and it was out, lying on the ground painted in red. He brought his glowing hands over the wound, they hovered there, healing. Sealing her up.

  It didn’t remove the bloodstains, but a minute later, the gaping hole had sealed itself. Like it never happened. Her skin perfectly fixed. No wound. The only remnants, drying blood atop her skin and a punctured uniform.

  Perhaps, in the near future, it was time for full body armor. She caught her breath with a what the Demon Isle just happened to me rolling off her tongue.

  Michael and Charlie helped her sit up and then to her feet, letting her body regain its balance. She looked down at herself, astonished. Hands running down her chest.

  “I know you told me you’d done that but ho-ly shite.”

  “Charlie,” called out Michael, unwilling to waste another minute. “I can see it in your eyes. Let’s regroup. Plan. Do this together. It’s Lizzy and you love her, and you might have the ring but…”

  Charlie held up his hand to stop him.

  “I think I know what’s going on. Not all of it. Whoever this Grayson is, he isn’t going to hurt Lizzy. I am…” he struggled to say it. “If I had to bet, I’d put my money on long lost dead fiancé.”

  “Um, what?” Michael’s voice stalled out.

  “Lizzy’s a nice girl,” argued Mack, shaking her head in a manner meant to say no way in hell she’d be caught dead with that thing. That monster. That murderer.

  “It doesn’t make sense,” conceded Charlie. “And my task has not chan
ged. Protect the Isle.” He sighed, his entire body deflating a little. “I have a feeling there’s more to the story than what meets the eye. And I need to find out the truth. Don’t follow me.”

  He tore into the night, Lizzy’s scent striking his path.

  CHAPTER 21

  Lizzy came to an air-stealing stop, landing in total darkness. The icy grip speeding her across the island breaking away, detaching himself from her body.

  A burst of flame. And then another. And another. And another. Torches lighting against walls of stone and dirt.

  She clutched her sides, having hoped never to step foot inside this unholy cavern again. The place where her life had been altered so permanently. When the witch, Charlotte Howard, had cursed her out of her body. Hoping to claim Grayson as her own, and in return, he’d give her the immortal life she so desperately was after.

  Which hadn’t happened.

  Because Grayson was so lost after losing Lizzy, he’d killed himself.

  So she thought and believed so firmly all these years.

  Cool breath behind her. Close enough to chill her neck.

  Her body moved smoothly, her eyes soaking in every inch of his face. One she’d never believed she’d see again. Feel again. Kiss again.

  Oh my God. Her thoughts consumed her ability to speak. Charlie… she’d all but married herself to him. Grayson’s sudden reappearance a stilling divorce she wasn’t prepared for.

  But my God, what a sight before her. The man… the vampire… she’d promised to marry so many years ago.

  “I cannot believe it.” Lizzy’s palms came to rest on his cheeks. The need to feel him against her skin and prove him real. There was a long stretch of silence, filled only with breathy inhales and exhales.

  Grayson’s eyes closed, the act of feeling her hands upon his skin like heaven on earth. A moment he’d waited so many long years for. Here at last.

  Lizzy’s hands dropped.

  Her feet taking her back a few steps.