Dead Girls

by R. L. Weeks

  A loud slam of the library doors halted our conversation as we all turned to see what was happening. A younger man, who looked the same age as Tommy and me, barged through the doors with a petite woman with long blonde hair on his heels.

  “He’s here. The crystals were activated!” the young man announced.

  “Where is he?” Tommy demanded.

  “The west side of the house,” the blonde girl replied.

  The west side of the house. That’s where the bedrooms were!

  Tommy barked his orders. “Pierce, stay here. Nicholas and Luna, stay with her. Trey and Zachary, come with me!”

  “I’m not staying here. He’s in the west wing. That’s were Jackson is!”

  Tommy stepped to me quickly and grabbed my shoulders. “I won’t let him hurt Jackie. Your magic is too weak right now. You can’t help. You’re the most important player in all of this. Everyone here has the same goal: to keep you alive. You have got to make that job easy for us so we can keep Jackie and Vera alive too. Do you understand?”

  I swallowed hard and nodded.

  “Good,” he replied, convinced I was telling the truth and would cooperate. He turned to give orders to Zachary and Trey. “Let’s go.”

  The three men disappeared from the room and left Nicholas, Luna, and me all alone. Luna secured the doors behind the trio and began marking runes on the door with chalk. Nicholas set to work marking the windows the same way.

  “What are those?” I asked, eyeing the mysterious markings, trying to make sense of them.

  “Protection runes, wards, curses, all sorts of different magic to try to keep Axel out of this room,” Nicholas explained.

  Axel.

  None of this seemed real still. He had been so kind to me, tender through his cockiness and wanna-be-rock-star attitude. Even now, when I thought about our stolen moments, I wanted to smile. How could I have been so naïve not to see what was happening? I frowned remembering all the times Jackson had asked where I had been all night and I’d lied to her because I couldn’t remember. I thought about the missing time, the terrifying dreams, the wounds on my neck, and Axel standing over me in the coffin in the woods, ready to kill me.

  I shuddered and let the building tears fall onto my lap. Nicholas and Luna were both still busy at work, and the longer the minutes ticked by, the more anxious I became. Why couldn’t we hear what was happening across the manor? Hadn’t they found him yet? I wondered where Jackson was… and Vera. Guilt sank into the pit of my stomach as I regretted leaving Jackson in bed. If Axel hurt Jackson, it would be my fault. I had to do something.

  My wooden chair screeched against the floor when I pushed away from the table to stand. Nicholas and Luna had both whipped around, hands up and glowing, magic at the ready.

  “Where are you going?” Luna sighed and lowered her hands.

  “I just need to stretch. I’m anxious. I can’t sit here anymore,” I explained, looking from one of my protectors to the other.

  “No, you need to stay put,” Luna warned.

  “Ah, let the girl stretch her legs,” Nicholas said, siding with me. “We’ve put up the barrier. He can’t get in this room.”

  “I’m just going to go pace up and down those stacks right over there.” I pointed at the rows of bookcases at the back of the library. “I promise I’ll just be right there,” I insisted.

  Luna was hesitant but responded, “Okay.”

  I fought to hide my smile as I scurried to the back of the library, leaving the two witches to talk to each other about their plan of action if Axel did somehow get in. I remembered the fireplace Vera had brought Jackson up through the night before and knew it was my only option of getting out and to my sister.

  I looked over my shoulder to make sure Luna and Nicholas were still talking. Both had their backs toward me, so I turned quickly down another row and made way for the fireplace. I pulled out the faux wood logs, and the back of the bricked fireplace sprung open. I ducked down, crawled through the opening, and nearly tumbled down the narrow staircase before me. The bit of light coming in through the fireplace illuminated a sconce on the wall with a candle in it. I cupped my hands around the candle and blew on the wick, concentrating on flame. The tiny candle burst to life, singeing my palm a bit in the process. I didn’t care though. I was proud of myself for getting so good at magic in such a short period of time.

  I pulled the fireplace door shut behind me and proceeded down the steps, lighting the sconces dotting the brick walls all the way down, the same way I had the first. The bottom of the staircase seemed to be hundreds of steps down, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the manor was under some sort of illusion spell.

  A large wooden door stood before me when I finally reached the bottom. I stopped and listened carefully for a minute for any noises of footsteps that had followed me down the stairs or anything on the other side of the door. I heard only silence.

  The door was heavy but opened easily. The room was dark, and I couldn’t see anything, so I removed the candle from the sconce before stepping over the threshold and into the unknown. I held the candle out and realized I was in a basement. The floor was concrete, and a large furnace sat in one corner of the mostly empty room. To the right was a large cage with thick floor to the ceiling iron bars. The door hung open and something lay in the middle of the cage. I ran over, slipped past the open door, and fell to my knees. The clothes Jackson had worn the night she killed me lay shredded like dirty rags. My sister, the werewolf. I still couldn’t believe it, though I didn’t know why it was so much harder to believe than me being a witch.

  I left the clothes on the floor and exited the cage. I felt sad my sister had to wake up there, that she had to be trapped in there all night under the full moon, having no idea what was happening to her. The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to leave her, but I knew I needed to sort out my destiny and who I was before I could be a help to my sister and her journey. Maybe I could even find a way to reverse her curse, make her human again. Although, it was clear neither of us had ever been 100 percent human.

  A dull throbbing was returning to my head. Worry filled me, and I somehow knew my time was short. The candle wax was dripping and burning the tips of my fingers, so I set it down and focused on drawing my powers to my hands. The blue glow that appeared in my palms was enough for me to see by, and I ran through the basement until I came to another door. I threw it open, and heard her scream,

  “Pierce! Tommy! Help me!”

  I sprinted up the stairs as fast as I could. The throbbing in my head got worse with each step I took, but I couldn’t stop now. I reached the top of the stairs and threw the door open wide just as Tommy, Zachary and Trey all zoomed past. I was stunned that I was in the foyer. I looked behind me and saw the door looked like a regular piece of drywall from this side. I would never cease to be amazed at the secrets this manor held, but there was no time to wonder about it now.

  I followed the three through the front door of the manor. Trey ripped his shirt off over his head as a bellowing growl sounded loudly from his throat. I watched as his limbs thickened while he hunched over, bounding down the porch steps in giant leaps as fur sprouted on his skin. He transformed in the blink of an eye into a giant black bear. I looked ahead and saw Axel, standing with Jackson in the middle of the yard, fangs protruded and poised to sink deep inside her neck. One arm was wrapped around her torso, holding her firmly in place, and the other kept her head bent to her shoulder so her tan neck was easily accessible.

  “Stop!” Tommy ordered.

  I stopped in the doorway, collapsing to the floor. The pain was almost unbearable. White spots were clouding my vision, and if I moved my head, the entire world started to spin. I groaned and Tommy looked over his shoulders.

  “Damnit, Pierce! What are you doing out here?” Tommy seethed.

  “I left her. I should never have left her,” I whispered painfully as tears streaked down my face.

  I was exhausted. I was dying. There
was no doubt in my mind anymore this pain I felt was my soul trying to break free from the mortal barriers of life and join the ancestors. I felt myself longing for something I couldn’t explain. I wanted to go home now but not to Manhattan, to somewhere else entirely. A place where there was no pain, only magic and love. I also felt a terrible sadness at being trapped within this body that was breaking down by the minute.

  “She’s dying!” Axel called from the lawn, drawing Tommy’s attention back to him and my sister.

  Axel laughed, and Jackson struggled against him.

  “Just give Pierce to me, and I’ll let this one go free, for now.” He smiled, making his fangs protrude out of his mouth and over his thin lips, lips I had kissed and longed for so many times.

  “You know that’s not going to happen!” Tommy shouted back.

  “She’s not going to be any use to you. Dead girls can’t fulfill prophecies!” the vampire countered. “She can still be of use to me though. I can drain her blood, make her a vampire, and she can live forever, happily ever after, with me. She doesn’t want any part in prophecies anyway. Isn’t that right, Little Red?”

  I looked across the lawn and into Axel’s eyes. The stormy gray clouds which had once made his eyes look exotic and otherworldly were blood red and black now. Nothing was left of who I thought he was. I had read about vampires being manipulators, how they could deceive almost as well as Lucifer himself, and I knew I had been played. I just didn’t want to believe it until now.

  “You’re not getting Pierce!” Tommy shouted, his hands up and armed with magic if things ended up going the way I knew they would.

  “Don’t you care about your little girlfriend anymore?” Axel teased.

  “Tommy, please!” Jackson pleaded with snot and tears running down her dirty face.

  I watched Tommy’s jaw tighten. He ground his teeth, and I knew he was trying to make a decision. Me or her.

  “Tommy, choose Jackson. Choose my sister. Save her, please,” I whispered.

  “Don’t you dare, Thomas!” Zachary spat over his shoulder. “We have a duty to fulfill. Your parents are relying on us to bring your sister back!”

  Sister?

  Tommy groaned and looked back at Axel. “You’re not getting Pierce!”

  “Have it your way.” Axel pulled Jackson’s head back, and his fangs pierced her flesh just as Tommy sent a ball of light from his hands straight toward both of them.

  “No!” I tried to scream, terrified Tommy would kill Jackson to get to Axel.

  The power ball hit them both, sending each flying in opposite directions across the yard. The bear bounded across the yard toward Axel with Zachary in tow. Tommy raced to where Jackson’s body had fallen with a hard thud on the grassy lawn.

  I stood, barely able to steady myself, tripped down the porch steps, and fell to my hands and knees.

  I looked over my shoulder and saw Zachary holding Axel in the air with magic. His fangs gnashed at the air as his fists pounded against the energy field holding him in place. The bear stood on his back legs and growled loudly, spit dripping from its jaws. Axel suddenly looked over and locked eyes with me. I couldn’t look away as much as I tried. A smile slowly crept across his face as his fangs retracted back into his mouth and he stopped struggling. He held his arms out wide and tilted his head back as Trey lunged forward, and in one swipe of a paw, Trey’s long bear claws cut a clean line across Axel’s neck.

  I gasped and watched Axel’s head rolled off his shoulders onto the ground as Zachary lowered his hands.

  Trey was shifting back into a human as Zachary turned and ran toward me. His arms were around me as he helped me off the ground and dragged me with him to where Jackson lay across Tommy’s lap.

  “Oh, no, no,” I whimpered as Zachary gently helped lower me to the ground in front of Tommy.

  Tommy’s hands were glowing a bright white light as he worked over Jackson’s body with tears in his eyes.

  “Tommy? Pierce?” a girl’s voice called from the porch.

  “Over here! Hurry” Tommy called.

  Luna and Nicholas joined our group, but I couldn’t focus on the millions of questions they were asking me about how I’d escaped, where Axel was, and other inconsequential things.

  “Help Jackie” was the only response I gave them. I was too tired to say anything else.

  “Put her up on that slab.” Luna referenced part of the stone fountain left crumbling in the gardens. It had a large flat surface.

  Nicholas helped Tommy gently carry Jackson to the slab while Luna and Zachary each lifted me under my arms to help me along. Trey, who now had on gray sweat pants and a white tank top, joined us and took over helping me up while the four witches surrounded my sister. Luna and Tommy laid hands on her, working their magic into her muscles and bones while Zachary and Nicholas recited words in an ancient language over and over again.

  “They’ll save her, don’t worry,” Trey whispered into my hair.

  I nodded, but my gut told me he was wrong.

  “It’s not working!” Tommy cried, suddenly backing away from Jackson’s body in frustration.

  “I can’t. I can’t do it. My magic hasn’t regenerated yet from bringing Pierce back!”

  Tommy was angry, pacing back and forth in front of my sister’s body.

  Luna looked at him with pity. “She’s just a wolf, Tommy—”

  “Jackson isn’t just a wolf!” he snapped at her.

  I knew how witches felt about wolves, and it felt good I wasn’t the only witch who would stand up for my sister. I leaned into Trey, and he gave me squeeze around the shoulders.

  I coughed, and everyone’s attention suddenly shifted to me. I coughed again and again. I looked at my hands, which were covered in the blood I had coughed up.

  “Guys!” Trey yelled and backed away from me to let the witches help me.

  Tommy dropped to his knees and put a hand on my chest. I looked at him and saw the terror in my heart reflected back at me through his eyes. We both knew what was happening.

  “Are you really my brother?” I asked him, needing to know the whole truth about who I was before I joined the ancestors.

  “Yes. I’m your big brother,” Tommy admitted.

  “Oh, this is going to be so messed up for Jackson.” I laughed through the sputtering cough that started again.

  “What do you mean?” Tommy asked.

  Luna’s hands were working over me, and Nicholas and Zachary both recited spells and incantations, but I couldn’t feel their magic, and their words made no difference in what was happening to me.

  “Jackson, my little sister, and Tommy, my big brother, in love and all that. I hope she can deal, even though you two aren’t related or anything,” I said, teasing my big brother.

  “Jackson’s dead, Pierce,” Tommy whispered, barely able to get the words out himself.

  “No! We can bring her back, just like you saved me.”

  “We don’t have enough magic to get her soul back.”

  I dragged myself to the mess of brown hair covering her face. I pulled her hair back. Her hand was draped down the side of the slab, the charm from the silver bracelet dangling from it still.

  “Jackie?” I asked, my voice breaking in parts. There was no way she could be dead. There was still time. There had to be.

  “Someone help!” I bellowed and squeezed my sister’s hand until my knuckles were white. “Jackie!”

  My screams were loud against the dead silence around us. My entire body went numb. In the distance, I saw her briefly—a flicker of Jackson, covered in blood, before she disappeared. Within seconds she was gone, now one of the dead girls of Ridgeview.

  I fell backward. I let the darkness take me away, hoping more than anything when I woke up, this would be a bad dream.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Pierce

  Two years later

  “You ready to go?” Tommy stood next to me in my old bedroom at Mendoza Manor for the final time. Two years
had passed since Jackson’s death, and we were back now to put Vera to rest.

  The house wasn’t as cold now, since the ghosts who had lived within it had crossed the veil, no longer trapped here. It was the first time I had felt any warmth in the house.

  I hadn’t wanted to come back. I wanted to have her body brought back to Canada, where Tommy and I lived with the Black Lily Coven now, but the coven wouldn’t allow her body to be buried on coven lands. There were some traditions the witches wouldn’t break for anyone, not even the woman who let them use her family lands as a stash house for decades.

  “Sorry, I was just thinking about everything, you know?” I could already hear the murmur of voices downstairs at Grandma’s wake. I wondered what they would all think of the manor now that it was emptied and cleaned. It was almost restored to its proper glory, though I doubted complete restoration would ever be truly possible.

  The library and cottage had long been cleared, only days after Jackson’s body had been laid to rest. Nicholas, Luna, and Zachary were sent back to help Tommy clear out Mendoza Manor of any signs of the coven, as well as the Harrison family history of being werewolves and hunters. To me, it felt like they were trying to erase the fact that Jackson had ever existed.

  The voices in the room all stopped, and everyone stared as Tommy and I descended the grand staircase. Some people lowered their heads when we passed them to acknowledge respect toward me, the chosen one.

  I had met the new leader of the Black Lily Coven, Kathryn. She was nice but plagued by the death of her loved one. A darkness shrouded her, like it did with me. We’d bonded over it. She and I had both lost someone. I guessed it was a part of the prophecy that had not been talked about. We both hated the prophecy. Because of it, we had lost the person who was most important to us.

  She had lost her newlywed husband, Nicholas, and I had lost my sister.

  I walked out of the house with my big brother, leaving behind the people who had come to say good-bye to Vera and, along with them and the house, the last memories I had with Jackson. I knew this was it. I would never go back to Mendoza Manor.