“I thought we weren’t beating around the bush,” Harlow hissed through his teeth.
“Ha, don’t you worry,” Harris replied carelessly. “This will just take a second. I think you’ll find her very interesting. Georgina!” Harris called, with the unmistakable thrill of excitement in his tone.
A dark funnel cloud took shape beside him. When it cleared, a middle-aged woman with dark frizzy hair sporting a purple jumpsuit stood beside him.
Clasping her hands together she said, “How delicious!” Georgina paced in front of the brothers, looking them up and down. “Avery, you didn’t mention what a good-looking bunch they are!” She made an unpleasant face at Blake's injury. “I thought I told you I needed them intact,” Georgina commented, clearly annoyed. She flicked her wrist in Blake’s direction, causing him to clench his stomach for a moment then relax, visibly relieved. When Harlow pulled the t-shirt away, the wound was healed.
Dean sighed, putting his head in his hands. “Thank god,” he muttered under his breath.
“Georgina?” groaned one of the Venators as he clutched his injured shoulder—blood seeping out between his fingers.
The strange woman rolled her eyes. Curling her fingers in the air as if to summon something, a jar containing a dark green substance appeared in the palm of her hand. “Smear some of this on your shoulder and your pathetic friend’s leg. You’ll be fine.” The witch paused, gazing upward. “Now, where were we?” As she approached Harlow next and my heart plummeted into my stomach. She took one of her long, curled fingernails and traced the line of his jaw, clicking her tongue to make a tisk-tisk-tisk sound. “So handsome. Such a shame.” Looking back over her shoulder, Georgina spotted Sloan, now guarded in front of a pillar by two new Venators. “We’re missing one, aren’t we?” she asked, looking around again.
Harris cleared his throat. “So it would appear.”
“Not to worry, he can’t be too far behind.” Turning her back on the pack, Georgina faced Harris and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Well, I’m ready when you are.”
chapter twenty-two
NOW LET ME GUESS,” GEORGINA MUSED, STANDING before the pack. “Which two of you are the brothers, descendants of Francis Glenn and Cecily Till...” She paced back and forth in front of the boys, assessing them.
“Georgina,” Harris spoke her name in an objecting fashion.
Georgina held her hand up, cutting Harris off. “Please, Avery, don’t ruin my fun.” Poking Nick in the chest with her long fingernail she said, “You and…” Her eyes danced back and forth between Harlow and Blake—a wicked grin spread wide across her face. “I’m kidding! You of course!” she announced, jabbing Harlow in the chest. Georgina looked to Harris. “Now tell me I’m right,” she said to Harris, seeking validation.
Harris stared back at her unamused. “Of course you are.”
“How does she do it?” Georgina cackled, proud of herself.
“Let Sloan go,” Nick growled as he took a threatening step toward Georgina.
She snapped her fingers and muttered, “Vincula.” Harlow, Nick, and Blake were immediately placed in shackles, heavily bolted to the ground. Taking a step toward the now chained pack, Georgina clutched her hand to her chest, feigning emotion. “The beast has feelings. How utterly repulsive. No matter. You’re fooling yourselves if you think anything can protect you now.”
Dean turned to go, but Ivy halted him. “What are you doing?”
“I have to find a way to help them,” Dean explained.
Her eyes narrowed. “Um, hello?” Ivy retorted gesturing to the scene below. “You're just going to bail?”
Dean frowned. “I'm not bailing—”
“Then you're not going anywhere! Sloan can handle herself.”
“Focus please!” I hissed, hoping to end their little disagreement. And to my surprise, it actually worked.
Georgina stood at the podium, carefully inspecting both the necklace and the witches dagger in turn. Looking up, she nodded to Harris.
“Bring her here!” Harris ordered the two Venators holding Sloan. The two men dragged Sloan across the clearing, dumping her beside Harlow, Nick, and Blake. Nick tugged at the shackles, trying to get closer to Sloan and calling out her name. Blood trickled from his wrists. As one of the Venators walked past, Nick tripped him and head butted him, causing the man to stumble backward while clenching his face that was now gushing blood.
Harlow reacted instantly, kicking the other Venator behind his knee, forcing him to stumble. And without anyone restraining her, Sloan ripped the bandana from her mouth, throwing it aggressively toward the ground and spitting in the direction of her captors. She took two staggering steps toward the tree line before stalling altogether, looking back over her shoulder at Nick.
“Leave, Sloan!” Nick urged. “Go!”
But before Sloan could flee, Georgina bellowed, “Enough of this!” Everyone froze where they stood.
Someone—Nick I thought—cried out in pain; a horrifying, agonizing sound that stirred a reaction out of Dean beside me. From below, I heard sizzling like oil in a frying pan.
“Bastards!” Dean spat, disgusted with the Venators.
I stared at him, my insides slowly draining away at the tension. “What’s happening?” I seriously wanted to know.
The two injured Venators began to retreat, revealing Harlow, Nick, Blake and Sloan slumped over on their knees, skin reddened and blotchy. Seeing their defeated state, I realized the sizzling sound I'd heard moments ago was their skin boiling in reaction to some unknown catalyst. Harlow groaned uncomfortably and when he was no longer able to conceal it, cried out in pain for all of Harbor Glenn to hear. My heart broke into a million pieces at the sound of it and it took every ounce of my being not to run down the hill to help him. “What’s happening to them?” I asked as panic set in.
“Wolfsbane,” Ivy and Dean answered in unison.
“Poisonous to humans, kryptonite to werewolves. They’re using it so they have the upper hand. The guys are powerless against it,” Dean elaborated.
“Do something!” I urged. Why did I even have to mention it? “We can’t just stand here!”
“Don’t move!” Ivy warned me before casting her gaze back downhill. When she looked at me again she said, “You can't just march down there guns blazing. You'll get yourself killed and then I'll have to hear about it for the rest of my life.”
“Knock it off!” Dean interjected, stepping between us and pushing us apart. “We're staying put until an opportunity to intervene presents itself.”
“And if that never happens, what then?” I asked.
“Then we'll deal with it,” Ivy chided.
“Bring him to me,” Georgina instructed the Venators, drawing our attention back to the clearing below. At her command, the men unshackled a weak Nick, and dragged him in front of Georgina. “Hold him steady!” she instructed the two Venators restraining Nick as she proceeded to step behind him with the witches dagger in hand. “I just need a sample from the alpha,” Georgina mused. Waving her hand over the podium a small cauldron appeared behind a tiny dark cloud. She snapped her fingers and in the blink of an eye, a candle appeared in her hand. “Lux,” she commanded and the candle sparked obediently. Georgina tipped the candle sideways, allowing the melted wax to drip into the bottom of the cauldron. Setting the candle aside, she walked around to the front of the stone podium and stood before Nick. Georgina smirked at him before leaning forward and placing her hand on his head, grabbing a fistful of his hair. She paused, enjoying the idea of her next move and without hesitation ripped the hair from his scalp.
Nick winced in reaction.
“Get up!” Georgina ordered Nick as she made her way past him to stand behind the podium once again.
Two Venators rushed over, pulling Nick to his feet as Georgina had requested and turned him around to face her. After dropping his hair into the bowl, she reached for Nick’s hand and pulled it toward her with his palm facing up. Taking the witches dagge
r in her right hand, she ran the jagged blade across his skin and he groaned in pain. Immediately, she forced his hand into a fist over the bowl, wrapped both her hands around it and squeezed.
“Shit!” Dean cursed under his breath.
Down below, Georgina took a deep breath and stretched out her arms, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. The flames atop each pillar reignited with a burst, burning almost twice as high. She began to utter a strange language that sounded similar to Latin but probably wasn’t. As she moved her hands in a circular motion over the cauldron, a light wind blew through the clearing. The sky above darkened further as an ominous cloud cover prevented any light from reaching the ground below.
“Ivy!” I hissed through my teeth growing more and more impatient with her.
“This is dark magic,” she explained, a noticeable edge in her tone. Taking a deep breath Ivy closed her eyes. “Ampere,” she began to chant, keeping her voice down.
A bolt of lightning flashed across the dark sky so bright above the clearing it almost looked like daylight. Georgina looked toward the sky, a wicked laugh escaping her. A second bolt looked as though it might touch down, but it bounced back, streaking across the sky instead.
“She's blocking me,” Ivy announced gruffly.
“Hold her off as long as you can,” Dean encouraged before breaking into a run back through the trees before either of us could ask what he was about to do.
Ivy groaned in frustration at him and continued her attempts to thwart Georgina.
Turning my attention to the clearing below, I held my breath waiting to see Dean emerge; when he finally did, now in wolf form, relief and the tiniest bit of hope that we all might actually make it out of this came over me.
Dean bounded into the clearing at an impressive speed, but not before a Venator noticed him coming. He aimed his gun at Dean and before I knew what I was doing, I was running at full speed into the clearing, yelling and waving my arms wildly at the Venator. He turned his attention to me, startled by my sudden appearance which allowed Dean to close the gap between himself and Georgina. In one final leap, the Dean-wolf sunk his teeth into Georgina’s forearm and pure shock filled her expression. She screamed in pain, wrenching her arm loose from Dean’s grasp. Cradling her injured arm against her body, Georgina used her good hand to summon a gust of wind, sending Dean flying backward into a nearby tree where he slumped to the ground out cold. His body morphed back into his human form.
I stood dumbfounded at the edge of the clearing, unsure of what I’d just gotten myself into. Georgina turned to face me next, a threatening look on her face. She began to gesture toward me when Ivy appeared from behind me with flames coursing from her hands. The flames enveloped Georgina, but were quickly extinguished, leaving Georgina completely un-harmed. Ivy surged electricity next, but Georgina countered again. As the battle raged between the two witches, I ran toward Harlow who was still chained to the stone.
“Rayna, you have to get out of here!” Harlow yelled over the chaotic noise consuming the clearing.
“I’m not leaving you!” I urged, tugging at the shackles. No matter what I did, the chains wouldn’t come loose from their hooks.
From somewhere across the clearing, I could hear Harris yelling. “Georgina! They’re all here! You have to finish the spell now!”
With one swing of her good arm, Georgina bested Ivy, throwing her body to the side. Her arms shot up toward the sky as she proclaimed, “Ultima!”
At her words, the earth shook and I lost my balance, toppling over. The dark clouds above thundered with the quaking ground, and I could barely hear the screams. Every single one of the werewolves began to transform simultaneously, but this time was different than the other times I’d seen them shift. This time they were in excruciating pain. Each of them bellowed a gut wrenching sound unlike anything I’d ever heard, thrashing against the invisible force of Georgina’s magic. Harlow explained to me once that Harris wanted the pack to suffer. This was their suffering.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ivy begin to stir. “Ivy!” I called. “You have to do something! You have to stop them from shifting!”
Ivy slowly pushed herself up, looking around the clearing, her face filled with bewilderment when she noticed the members of the pack writhing in pain. Suddenly, just as she had the day in the clearing, Ivy palmed the ground and muttered something that sent a shockwave through the clearing. The wolves stopped attempting to shift.
“Avery!” Georgina bellowed, her anger apparent. “How did she do that? That should not have been possible...unless...You told me he was the alpha!” She thrust her finger in Nick’s direction.
“I...but...” Harris stammered, clearly confused.
“You imbecile!” Georgina smacked Harris across the face, her long fingernails drawing blood. She turned to Harlow and me, realizing her mistake. “You,” she snarled. “Subcinctus!”
In the blink of an eye, Harlow was replaced by his wolf-form, the only one of his pack fully transformed. I gasped in shock, tumbling backward away from the wolf.
The storm continued to rage over head. Georgina began to swirl her hand above the cauldron, gathering the mist into a pulsing ball of energy. “This is all your fault,” she said to me, contempt dripping from her voice. In one swift motion, she thrust the energy in my direction. It all happened so fast, I didn’t have time to move. Just before the spell was about to hit me, Blake shoved me out of the way and absorbed the blast, crumbling to his knees. He bellowed in gut-wrenching pain, his body jerking back and forth on all fours.
Georgina was about to send another surge of energy in my direction when Ivy sent one final burst of electricity at Georgina. She waved it off as if she were swatting a fly. “This isn’t over,” she growled.
With one final gesture, Georgina muttered, “Effectus,” and blew on the cauldron. The storm above ceased. I pushed myself up onto my knees in time to see Georgina smirk at me just before she and Harris disappeared behind a swirl of dark smoke.
Across the clearing, I found myself torn between the many scenes unfolding. To my left, Nick limped over to Blake and sat with him as he flailed and moaned on the ground; his body cracked and snapped like a tortured puppet. “Can you do anything for him?” I heard Nick ask in the background, melancholy filling his voice. But my eyes were fixated on Harlow.
There were only a few yards between us. I stood and took a step toward the Harlow-wolf. He bared his teeth and snarled, a clear warning. I took two more steps forward.
The Harlow-wolf stopped.
From where I stood a few feet away, the Harlow-wolf watched me. With my eyes locked on his, I took one more cautious step forward and kneeled to be on his level. A few seconds passed. “Harlow?” I whispered.
The wolf barked ferociously and jumped towards me. I screamed and fell backward on my butt.
“Rayna!” Ivy yelled. “Get away from him!”
I scrambled to my feet and was about to join Ivy when I spotted the iron moon necklace abandoned on the podium and ran over to snatch it.
“He’s agitated right now and that makes him unpredictable,” Ivy said as I came to stand beside her. “Right now, we have to help Blake.”
My hands still shook from the scare the Harlow-wolf had given me, but I put a brave face on. “Tell me what to do?”
“Stand back.” Ivy looked at Nick and nodded.
“Brother. Go,” Nick urged, his voice low. His hands stretched out in front of his body in a non-threatening manner and Nick crouched, ready to defend himself.
The Harlow-wolf growled in response before turning toward the trees and bounding off into the forest.
“We have to get Blake back to the house,” Ivy announced, her tone urgent.
chapter twenty-three
GRAB SOME BLANKETS. SET HIM ON THE TABLE,” IVY ordered and I ran to the living room to grab as many blankets as I could carry. By the time I reentered the kitchen, Blake was strapped down to the kitchen table causing me to do a double-take.
Blake’s body arched again and he bellowed in pain as he thrashed against the restraints.
“Can you do something for him or is he just going to stay strapped to my kitchen table forever?” Nick asked harshly.
Ivy’s expression hardened so much that if she blinked I thought Nick might just disappear. “I can try.” She moved around the table to stand directly behind Blake’s head.
Moving closer to Nick, Sloan placed a gentle hand on his arm. “Nick,” she said quietly, attempting to calm his fiery anger. She pulled him into an embrace.
“Are you all right?” he asked, caressing her cheek. It was strange to see him this way. I felt like I was intruding on a private moment and looked away.
“Dean,” Ivy called out to him in a take charge voice, Blake’s head cradled between her hands, “My bag is on the bench by the front door. Find the bottle labeled valerian root and bring it to me.” As Blake left the kitchen, Ivy's eyes landed on me. “You can drop the blankets, Rayna.”
I forgot I’d even been holding them. I let go and the blankets fell into a heap at my feet.
Dean returned with the bottle of valerian root and offered it to Ivy.
Shaking her head, Ivy instructed him, “Take a root from the bottle and shove it in Blake's mouth.”
Dean carefully pulled a root from the bottle, hesitating as he tried to determine the best way to get it into Blake’s mouth.
“You can do this, Dean,” Ivy encouraged.
I watched as Dean pried open Blake’s mouth, shoving the herb inside, proceeding to hold Blake’s jaw shut until he swallowed.
Ivy began to chant and within seconds Blake’s body slumped against the table.
“That’s it?” Nick asked, sounding as unimpressed as he looked.
Ivy responded with a silent glare.
“What did you do to him?” Sloan asked.
Iron Moon Page 24
