He scowled. And shook his head.
“So help me God, if she found some way to rise from the dead! I’ll kill the bitch myself this time. Still, whatever this new power rising is, William sent it so we can be prepared. Hard to say mad at the vampire when even from afar, he’s still trying to save us. But he’s right, it’s not much to go on. And we had few viable signs when the Jordan’s were wreaking havoc, so I’m not sure what kind of signs we should be watching out for.” And his brain was too overwrought with worry and exhaustion to think about it clearly.
“Question now is, I’ve read the message from William, meant for you, and if I want to oblige William’s wishes, how do I tell my family I got this intel? I’m not sure how to honor his request and be upfront at the same time. So many secrets piling up,” he mumbled. “Sorry, you don’t even know what I mean by that. Even with my mouth not shutting up, there’s so much I haven’t told you, Lizzy. And I’m dying to. But I won’t. Some, I can’t. Things the Guardian, Nina, told me in strict confidence. But she spoke more about the war to come.”
Nina had spoken of a war, one brewing with her kind. The Guardians. Nothing about some kind of warning, or prophecy about some evil waking up on the Isle. But this was why William was reaching out, wasn’t it? Even with whatever the hell was going on with him, and his reasons for leaving, he was still looking out for them.
“Don’t worry,” he chuckled. “I know I told you Nina and I had a fling, but, it’s so very over. Her visit was incredibly eye-opening and totally professional. Damn, I think I told you that already.” He got to his feet and leaned over Lizzy’s lips. He pressed down so very gently. “You’re it for me, whether you choose me or not, I think you’re it. You’re my one chance. I fell hard, all in.” He trailed off and cleared his throat. “Shit. Sorry. That’s not fair of me. I really am getting a little delirious, and I don’t want to, but I might have to let Lucas stay with you for just a few hours. If I don’t sleep soon, whenever you do wake up, you’ll never want to hear me speak again.”
He fell back into his chair, leaning his elbows against the side of her bed, with his chin lazily propped up by his hands. “We’re good at working through supernatural problems. I’m trying to imagine what you’d say about this dark power rising, but really, I wish you were here to tell me yourself.”
Inside Lizzy’s brain, she was screaming at the universe.
She’d heard all Charlie said in this cryptic message from William.
And while his voice continued to calm her, it also worried her, as he was clearly killing himself slowly trying to not leave her alone, she’d horrifyingly put together, the why of it all…
The reason everything had happened to her, and Grayson.
The reason she’d been ghasted.
The reason Charlotte had needed a vampire.
Lizzy was the one person with the knowledge of how to stop this nightmarish prophecy about to come to life, and she was stuck inside a useless body. She’d give almost anything for her mind connection to Grayson to be restored. At the least, she’d have some way to communicate.
She prayed. Hard. Something she’d never done before in her life. Begging, pleading, making promises impossible to keep… if there was anyone who could wake her up even for just a few minutes.
Otherwise, they’d be too late. The dark power was going to rise.
CHAPTER 16
An ambulance pulled up in front of the hospital with Mack’s police car right behind. She, Melinda, and Lucas filed out as the various nurses and assistants raced out to help the mother and her pregnant daughter.
The sheriff turned off her emergency lights, so did the ambulance, and the world got much darker. Melinda hadn’t realized how late it had gotten but the moon was rising and stars plotted the inky sky overhead.
“Doctor Walter,” called out Mack. It was the same doctor who treated Melinda and was currently treating Lizzy. He met them at the front door and listened intently as Mack explained that the young pregnant woman needed her heart checked out. And that it was most likely the same condition her biological grandfather had suffered from. It helped tremendously that the doc was already aware that the supernatural side of the Isle existed, which kept Mack from making up some cockamamie story about how she came about this information.
“I’ll see if we happen to have any archived files,” said Dr. Walters. “If we can find Levi’s old files I’ll know exactly what heart condition to look for. Otherwise, we’ll do a full examination and won’t stop until we’ve got it figured out. Thanks to you two,” he aimed at Melinda and Lucas, “we’ll catch it before it’s too late.” He nodded in serious approval and darted back into the hospital to catch up with the assistants already wheeling the young woman inside an exam room.
“Good man he is,” expressed Mack.
“To deal with all the crazy on the Isle,” chorused Melinda. “We’re lucky there are a few people in this world who still do the right thing, and don’t make trouble.”
“A truer statement has never been said,” agreed Mack. “So now what?”
Melinda peered at Lucas. “Urgency go away?”
He let out a relieved breath. “Yeah. Totally went away the minute we drove up to the hospital.”
“Ain’t that somethin’,” whistled Mack. “Magic will never stop surprisin’ me.”
“Same here,” Lucas marveled.
“Well I’ll sure as hell take it as a win,” praised Mack. “We’ll take as many of those as we can get.”
They chuckled. Another truth.
“Let’s go check on my brother,” urged Melinda. “Make him rest. I need to get some blood from him too. Charlie’s gotta be ready to drop at this point, but he isn’t going to listen to me.” She eyed Mack.
“I’ll see what I can do. Hell, I’ll lock him in a cell for the night and use a tranq gun on him if I have to.”
“That might work,” Melinda agreed half seriously. “Although, you’d have to shoot him a few times. Stupid werewolf side will make it wear off too fast,” she added entirely seriously.
When they arrived at Lizzy’s room the door was cracked open and Melinda’s heart broke just a little. Charlie had Lizzy’s hand in his, his stare so intent it looked like it might strip paint from the walls. He was losing hope, fearing his choices.
It didn’t make sense. Her prophetic dream had seemed so certain. The outcome, decided. So why hadn’t Lizzy awakened yet, Melinda wondered. This wasn’t how it played out. It’s not done yet, she reminded herself. Lizzy was still alive, if not kicking. And dreams could change, futures could change.
Lucas held back. All the relief from solving his first case dissolved into anguish.
No change. His sister, recently returned to her human life, was dying because of this new gift. What was the point of saving one life only to lose another in the process?
Mack went in first.
Melinda held back a minute with Lucas. “It’s not your fault you know.”
“You can say that all you want, it doesn’t make it true.”
Melinda lifted her eyebrows in begrudged agreement. She’d said something similar to her brother Charlie not too long ago, in a hospital room just down the hall from here. Lucas grabbed his cell phone, remembering if had beeped earlier, but he’d ignored it.
He let out a sharp intake of breath.
“What?” Melinda asked him. Hadn’t they just solved one problem, wasn’t that enough?
But his shock wound its way into a relieved grin. He showed her the message.
“Riley,” she muttered in delight. “He’s okay.” It was such a heavy weight, lifted. Just this little thing. He wasn’t home, but he was okay.
“I’ll um, text him back in a few minutes. Let’s check on Lizzy, first.”
Melinda nodded, and Lucas followed her into the room. Mack was giving Charlie a comforting pat on the shoulder. He caught Melinda and Lucas and gave them a weak smile.
“Mack says you guys solved the case. Good job.” He meant
it, but didn’t have much energy to prove it in his voice. He was proud of his sister, stepping up like she did.
“Solved one,” said Lucas, shaking his head in self-disappointment at Lizzy in the hospital bed.
“You can’t beat yourself up over this, Lucas,” Charlie said as insistently as possible. “As difficult as it is to accept, all things do happen for a reason. Although I am struggling to hold that belief right now.” He was about to bring up the dark power rising, and Riley’s text message, when Melinda sidetracked him.
“I need more of your blood. For Grayson.”
“Oh, yeah. Right. How is said prisoner?”
“Irritated. Pissed. I’d wager pretty darn freaked about Lizzy. To be fair,” she added evenly, “I sort of feel bad for him. But you know, also a murderer.”
Mack grunted in agreement.
Charlie got out of his chair and stretched. “I’ve been thinking about that. I can’t bring myself to like the guy or anything, can’t really think of him as anything but a killer… but I found myself feeling sorry for him. Regardless of what he is now, he wasn’t like that once. And if it were me locked up in that basement while she was locked up in her body and stuck in this damn hospital… I’d be losing my fucking mind. Not that I’m not nearly there, being here, even being with her.”
Poor Charlie, he looked wiped out. Melinda took out the vials. “Why don’t we do this in another room?”
“Yeah. I need some coffee anyway. Lucas, you’ll stay with her?”
“Of course. Actually, I just heard from Riley, I was about to reply.”
“I was going to bring it up later, he texted Lizzy’s phone too. I didn’t reply. Wasn’t sure what you’d want to tell him about Lizzy.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure about that yet either. It might be one way to get his ass back here.”
Charlie nodded weakly. He’d let Lucas decide. He kissed the back of Lizzy’s hand gently and promised to return soon, following Melinda and Mack out of the room. Unhearing of the silent and desperate screams of warning Lizzy was shouting at them.
CHAPTER 17
Courtney decided it was time to give up. Darkness had fallen, and there was no sign all afternoon of anything supernatural in the area.
Her head cocked and she froze, listening to… nothing.
Her surroundings had slid into an eerie silence. A quiet, where all intelligent life scrambled into hiding because something ominous roamed nearby.
A predator. Danger. Something to hide from.
The silence pricked at her ears, unease rippling through the woods around her. Good thing she wasn’t afraid of a little danger and refused to hide from a good chase.
She gasped, twisting in a flurry of movement.
Hideous snickering. It filtered like a vile echo surrounding her on all sides.
Courtney snarled.
This snickering was a sound that belonged to only one trickster, a Firebrand Feyk.
Not Stricker, of course. One of his minions no doubt. Still, she’d take out any Feyk she had the chance to, one by one, until finding the bastard who’d killed her coven. And made a mockery of The Demon Isle. And tortured the vampire, William Wakefield, which in turn had ended her human life.
She stilled herself, letting her vampire senses reach out and surf through the echoes. A flash of movement later she’d dove into the woods chasing that hideous laugh. Darkness did not hinder her vision, every shape or shadow clearly defined in her field of vision. She stopped, a whirl of ground debris swooshing around her feet.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Minutes later, still nothing.
She refused to let her guard down. It was a sure way to get caught in a trap. She might be stronger than she had been, physically, as a human, but she did not have the mental fortitude to survive the kind of torture William had suffered. She wouldn’t even pretend she could.
The woods birthed to life once again.
Her shoulders sagged a little.
Forest life returning to its usual state meant the threat had gone, and she was alone.
“Huh,” she barked out. It dawned on her that nature did not see her as a threat. Vampire didn’t automatically equal evil in the eyes of nature. It was a comforting thought, that even in this form she had some measure of control over her path.
She didn’t like this whole thing with the Feyk though. Not one bit. Imagined the Howards would not be thrilled either. The Feyk were still hanging around White Pines. Which meant Sir Tinkham Sickereaux had not given up his quest for the power source.
##
Michael finally hit send on his reply to Emily. And almost instantly went into panic mode. Not that he’d ever fully gotten out of panic mode. Was his response to Emily too needy? Should he have responded at all? Or faster? Or waited longer? Did he say too much, or too little?
“Son of a bitch! I can’t even think straight when it’s only my thoughts in my head!” He’d spent the better part of his afternoon, into evening, trying to reply to Emily’s text in the right way. All the while listening to Grayson ranting in the basement. It was dark outside now. “Shit. It’s way past feeding time.”
He’d been so preoccupied with Emily and her message he’d been ignoring the vampire. Michael grabbed some animal blood packs and headed down to the basement to feed the ravenous vampire.
Grayson snarled murderously. “If you think that cold-ass animal blood’s going down my throat, you are mistaken. Screw that shit. It won’t feed the damn curse!”
Michael actually believed him, but until they figured out how to break the curse, which they were all sure they needed Lizzy for, they were stuck in this holding pattern of keep him sedated and fed. They needed to up the dose of werewolf blood again. It was burning out of his system too fast. And Michael wasn’t in the mood to play nice.
“It’s this, or starve, asshole.”
“That is starving! You don’t understand. It only makes the hunger worsen.”
Michael opened the pack ready to shove it down the vamps’ mouth. “C’mon. Don’t fight it. Just open your damn mouth.”
Grayson locked his jaw, gritting his teeth and growling.
Michael stepped back. “Fine. Don’t eat it. It’s your funeral.”
“Tell me of Lizzy.”
“Nothing’s changed.”
“I need to see for myself.”
“Yeah, right. That’s so going to happen. Did you hear that sarcasm?”
“I can save her. I can turn her, and she’ll live. Let me free.”
“Um, yeah, also not going to happen.”
“You think I’m going to let that wolf bite her? None of you will live until morning if that happens.”
“And you’re crazier than I thought if you believe for a minute, my brother would do such a thing. I can guarantee you he will not choose that for her.”
“Bullshit. If it comes down to losing her, he’ll give in. He’ll bite her. I’d bet my life on it.”
Michael opened his mouth to argue wondering why he was even bothering. He grabbed the blood pack again, determined to get it down Grayson’s throat.
CHAPTER 18
Charlie was just handing Melinda his filled vials of blood so she could take them home to use on Grayson, when two nurses and Doctor Walter scrambled by the room. Followed seconds later by another two nurses.
Then Charlie heard it. An alarm. From Lizzy’s room.
He raced out with Melinda and Mack at his heels only to freeze at Lizzy’s door.
“Pulse is getting weaker. We’re losing her.”
Losing her… Charlie’s vision went blotchy, his body swaying against the doorframe.
Melinda dialed Michael.
Mack tried to steady Charlie who was nearly impossible to steady being so much larger a human being than herself. Lucas scrambled to them, getting out of the way of the nurses and doctor.
“What happened?” demanded Charlie in a croak.
“Se-seizure,”
Lucas stuttered. “Out of the blue and then…”
“Pulse still dropping,” one of the nurses was shouting.
Out of sheer misery and the need to save her Charlie’s wolf teeth threatened to make an appearance. Not the place he needed that to happen. Biting her be would be too late now anyway. His bite needed time to kick in. Time to heal her. And turn her, he reminded himself harshly.
Fuck. This. Shit.
Shouldn’t he do it to save her? Rather than let her die?
He should have done it right after the accident.
He’d hesitated, and now she was dying.
All his talk of doing the right thing for Lizzy. God, he was losing his frigging mind.
Michael answered Melinda’s call.
“Lizzy’s had some kind of seizure, it’s not looking good,” she bellowed into the phone.
The only reply she heard came in the form of an agonized wail from the vampire. Followed by a ruckus of movement, and swearing, and crashes, and smashes.
“Michael,” Melinda hollered into the phone. “Michael!” Stares blazed her direction as the line went dead. “Motherfucker.” If that vampire got loose and hurt her brother…
Barely three breaths later Grayson screamed to a stop in the waiting room. A two-legged starving menace with a one-track mind.
Charlie growled, guarding Lizzy’s door. Adrenaline surging his exhausted body and mind to life.
Grayson snarled. No one needed words to understand his warning. He’d come for Lizzy. He was not leaving without her.
Mack grabbed innocent and confused onlookers and scooted them out of harm’s way, while Melinda and Lucas dove behind a couch in the waiting area.
Getting in the middle of this battle was a death sentence.
And it was about to take place in the middle of a public hospital.
Mack hollered for people to get back, ordering a nurse who’d shown up to block the hall and get everyone out of the building who could leave.
Dead Witch Walking (Demon Isle Witches Uncut): Hi-Ho Black Magic-O, A Cursing We Will Go (A Wicked Good Witches Paranormal Romance Book 10) Page 12
