A Witch's Dark Craving (A Distant Edge Romance Book 2)

by Chloe Adler

"Chrys." Alistair's hand was on my arm. I turned toward him. "Would you mind giving us just a few minutes alone with Carter? Then we'll head to the waiting room so you can have time too."

  "Of c-course," I stuttered, tripping over my words and myself. "W-whatever you need. Can I get you something to drink while I wait?" The words were out of my mouth before I realized they could be interpreted as thoughtless or even worse, offensive.

  There was a flash of annoyance in Alistair's eyes and then he managed a smile. "No, we're good on liquids here, thank you," he said rather stiffly, holding the door to Carter's room open for me and ushering me out.

  The hallway was deserted. I took out my phone to dial my sisters. But I didn't want to be "that" person, the one that stands in the ICU yakking on her cell phone. Thankfully, the waiting room was empty. I called Iphi. She shrieked into the phone when I told her what was going on and said she would grab Sadie. They would try to cast a spell for his well-being. Then I called Burgundy and Jared, in that order.

  I knew I should try to eat but I wasn't hungry and hospital food was horrible even at the best of times. The magazines were depressing or filled with gossip and I didn't have a book with me. The Kindle app on my phone was just opening when Alistair walked into the waiting room.

  "If there's anything you and your sisters can do . . ." he said without really looking at me. The weariness on his face was unmistakable. This man, this vampire, had been through a lot in the last few years. One grandson had been cursed and now the other was in a coma. I got up and walked over to him.

  "Alistair," I said and he finally looked up at me. "I called them and they're going to try a spell."

  Immediately he clasped my hands in his. "Oh thank you, thank you. I don't know how you could ever forgive us for trying to kill you, and now you want to help my family?" Were those tears in his blood-tinged eyes or was it just lack of sleep?

  "Yes, well, trying to kill me was pretty screwed-up," I said. He looked truly pained. "I get it, sir, I really do. You knew of no other way. Who wouldn't try to kill for someone they love?"

  A tear spilled then, a real one, dark red and thick. It rolled slowly down his cheek. He removed a black handkerchief and dabbed at it.

  "Thank you, Chrys," he said. "Now go to him. If anyone can reach him, it will be you."

  I cocked my head. "What does that mean?"

  "The fool is crazy about you. I thought you knew."

  Spark.

  "How could I know? He tried to feed me to Julian. I don't know how they do things in your neck of the woods but in mine, that's not usually a display of love."

  Alistair visibly cringed. Good. I clutched my amulet, closed my eyes and focused on my breathing.

  "I don't expect you to understand, but when Carter was looking for a powerful witch to help and he found you, he didn't know you yet."

  I snorted. "So basically he was looking for easy dinner for the kid without a thought to the person attached to the meal?"

  "The idea was something he fought for a year. It tore him up but you saw Julian. He didn't have much longer to live. Grief makes people do crazy things."

  "Whatever."

  "I'm sorry." His words came out slowly and stilted, as if it pained him to apologize. "But the truth is that Carter has been pining over you for days."

  "So? I'm sure I'm not the first girl he's pined over." I rolled my eyes.

  "That's where you're wrong." Alistair steadily held my gaze. "He's never had a girlfriend. You've heard stories of his fickle nature? A playboy, some of the townspeople call him."

  I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt. "I've heard." From my own inconsiderate sister. I kept that painful bit to myself.

  "Well, somehow you've affected him." He pulled his glasses down and peered at me over the tops of the rims. "Have you put a spell on him?"

  Clasping at my amulet again, I let out a barking laugh. "What? No. Of course not."

  Alistair clapped me on the back. He packed a punch for an old vampire. "Of course not, my dear, can't blame me for asking."

  Ignoring his outburst, I shook my head to clear it. "Should I send Julian back here?"

  "Yes, please do that."

  "Excuse me, Mr. Rees?" a doctor said, entering the waiting room.

  "Yes?"

  "I'd like to speak to you privately about your grandson." The doctor glanced at me. We were the only two people in the waiting room.

  "Say what you have to in front of her," Alistair said, to my surprise.

  "Very well, sir. Your grandson, Carter . . . He's in a . . . precarious position."

  "Precarious?" I couldn't help gawking. The hairs rose on the back of my neck.

  Alistair made a sideways hand motion, shushing me without looking at me.

  "He's sustained massive injuries," the doctor continued.

  "Fix him then," Alistair commanded, his voice tinged with anger. "Whatever it takes."

  "The boy is fighting for his life, sir." He turned to me, "Ma'am."

  I bristled.

  Alistair dabbed at the corner of an eye with a black handkerchief. The doctor stiffened at the sight. Then, discarding the pretense of empathy, he blurted, "In his current state, he probably won't make it until morning."

  Carter's room was quiet when I entered. Julian was sitting on his bed, clasping his hands. A pang shot through my heart. How could I ask the child to leave?

  "Maybe you can get through to him," Julian choked out.

  "You don't have to go," I said as he got off the bed and came toward me.

  "I want to. I need to make sure Grandpa is okay."

  "I understand. But if you want to come back in at any time, please do."

  Julian nodded at me and then threw his arms around me.

  "Oh, sweetheart." I hugged him back.

  "Please don't let him die." He pulled away and stared up at me with bloodstained cheeks.

  For Julian's sake, if for no other reason, I'd do whatever I could to bring Carter back. I bent down and placed a kiss on the boy's forehead and ushered him out of the room.

  Carter. He looked hauntingly beautiful wrapped in the white sheet, unmoving. Why didn't they adopt black sheets for vampires in hospitals? Maybe it had something to do with the semblance of sterility. White seemed sterile. White could be bleached.

  The chair next to his bed looked uncomfortable, plastic and angular. I sat down on his bed instead, in the same place Julian had. Carter's hand was dry and pale. Grabbing it, I held it to my breast and then brought it up to kiss it. His dark hair was uncombed and tousled, almost covering one eye.

  My phone rang. It was Iphi. "Hello?"

  "Chrys, how is he?"

  "The same. Did you figure anything out?"

  "We did. Sadie found something in the Walkers' Evan's grimoire."

  "Let's hear it."

  "You have to be in the same room as Carter. Alone."

  "Done and done."

  "Okay, great. Grab both of his hands in yours, like we do when we form a circle."

  "I have to put you on speakerphone," I said.

  "Of course."

  Pressing the button for the speaker, I placed the phone down on the bed and held both of Carter's hands in mine.

  "We're going to cast our circle here; you just wait a few minutes. Sadie thinks we need to do it with you on the phone."

  I waited while they went through the circle casting. Then Sadie started mumbling something in Latin. Iphi said a few words and then they asked me to repeat after them. I did as I was told. The whole process took about thirty minutes. At the end Sadie asked me to kiss Carter on the lips. I did, listening to my sisters chant more.

  "Any change?" Sadie asked me over the speaker.

  He looked no different from when we had started. His pupils beneath his eyelids were not moving. There was no reaction whatsoever. "No, nothing." My chin trembled as I pressed a fist to my mouth.

  "Shoot," said Sadie. "I was afraid of that."

  "What?"

  "We may have to pe
rform the spell at his bedside. That's what Ryder suggested in the first place."

  There was a knock on Carter's hospital door. Thinking it was Julian, I said, "One minute." But the door opened and a nurse stepped inside.

  "I'm sorry, Miss Holt, but visiting hours are over."

  Snatching up my cell phone I heard Sadie whisper, "Tomorrow," before I disconnected.

  "Excuse me, Miss . . ." I said to the nurse.

  "Adeline, my name is Adeline."

  "Thank you for taking care of Carter. I'd like to bring my sisters tomorrow so we can cast a spell here in his hospital room."

  Adeline's lip curled and she made no apology for it. "This is an equality-sanctioned hospital."

  "What does that mean?"

  "It means that we don't allow witchcraft here, or shifting, or anything else that Signum can do and humans cannot. It's simply not fair to elevate one race over another in the healing arena." The nurse moved her hands to her hips, jutting out a hip.

  I tried, unsuccessfully, to wrap my head around this. "Excuse me? Are you saying that if a member of my family were dying here and we had the power to save them, that it wouldn't be allowed?"

  "That's correct. What about all the humans here that don't have Signum friends?"

  "How is that even legal?"

  "The Distant Edge Council voted this in almost two years ago. Where were you?" She let out an exacerbated breath and glared at me. "You have every right to remove your loved one from our facility and perform whatever spell you'd like in the comfort of your own home."

  Spark. "Let me guess, Adeline. You're human, right?" Deep breaths, Chrys. The air made a whistling noise as I inhaled through my nose.

  The flash of her blue eyes answered my question. Adeline twisted her blond braid absently. It hung prettily over her shoulder. "Like I said, Miss Holt, visiting hours are over. Shall I see you out?"

  The nerve.

  "You can come back tomorrow and visit again. Be sure to confer with Mr. Rees's grandfather and his doctor. If you move him, he'll likely die. Though he may die either way." Her eyes darted away from mine. A hint of remorse she was trying to hide?

  "What are we supposed to do then? If he's too unstable to move. What do other Signum do?"

  She rocked back on her platformed nursing shoes and folded her arms across her chest. "You'd have to ask them."

  Fizzle.

  The wind was blowing like mad when the three of us got out to the hospital parking lot. Leaves and debris caught in mini tornados whirled around us. Julian held his arms out at his sides in mock imitation, but he wasn't smiling. The wind tousled his hair, and the resemblance to his brother's disheveled hair as he lay in that hospital bed was uncanny. He blew out his cheeks, moving to the back door of my Honda.

  "We're going to do all we can to help your brother," I said to him, opening the doors with a button click.

  "I know." He got into the car without making eye contact with me. He didn't believe me; it was written all over his face.

  "I promise," I said as I slid into the driver's seat.

  We drove back to the docks in silence. Alistair stared out of the car window and Julian played on his gaming device.

  After I dropped them off, I sat in my car for a minute, trying to gather myself before calling Iph.

  "What do we need?" I asked when she answered.

  "I've gathered some ingredients from Sadie's. I'll meet you at your house?"

  "Sure."

  "We need several things from your cupboards and then . . ." Silence.

  "Iphi, hello, did I lose you?"

  She cleared her throat. "I'm here but . . ."

  "What?"

  "You're not going to like it."

  Chapter Nineteen

  By the time the three of us pulled up to Aurelia's, it was close to two in the morning. We exchanged nervous glances.

  "She should be asleep," Sadie said.

  "Yeah, I thought that the other night too, but she wasn't. Remember?" I asked Iphi.

  She nodded, biting her lip. "Why don't I go in alone? I still live here. I can grab what we need and sneak out."

  We both looked at Iphi and together shook our heads.

  "If you get caught, we all get caught," I said. "Besides, this entire thing is my idea. I'm not letting you take the fall."

  Iphi opened the door quietly and got out. Sadie and I did the same, closing our respective doors with a whispered click.

  The house was dark. I used my phone as a flashlight as we all tiptoed into the kitchen. Sadie went straight to the herb cupboard and Iphi shined her light above, into the rafters. Hanging from the beams was Aurelia's arsenal of drying herbs. Iphi reached up and began pulling down various bundles while I opened up the muslin bags we'd brought to put them in.

  Armageddon rubbed against my legs and I almost shrieked but held it together.

  "The cat," I whispered. My sisters kept working but, inevitably, Sadie sneezed. She'd been allergic to cats for years.

  "Shh," I said but it was too late.

  "I know you girls are in here," said Aurelia, standing in the kitchen doorway. "And what do you think you're doing?" She flipped on the light and we all froze mid-stance, like the thieves we were.

  Aurelia looked from Sadie to me and then to Iphi, where her gaze remained. She put her hands on her hips.

  "My only good daughter is being influenced by her naughty older sisters now?"

  "Mom--" Iphi started but I swept in front of her.

  "It's my fault," I said, waiting for the tongue-lashing. Instead, her hand snaked out and slapped me across my face. Hard.

  "No!" screamed Sadie, who rushed to my side. The hit knocked me off my feet, but before I could hit my head on the hard kitchen counter, my sister caught me.

  "Mom, why?" Iphi was sniffling but she quickly gathered up the bags, looked above her and pulled something else down.

  "Oh no, my girls will not thieve from me like common criminals." Aurelia snatched one of the bags out of Iphi's hand. There was a short tug-of-war before Sadie, making sure I could stand, walked over to them.

  "Aurelia, stop."

  "I will not. These are my herbs. My tinctures. My . . ." She looked between the girls and gasped, spotting our family's grimoire nestled under Iphi's arm. The bag was immediately dropped before she reached for the book. "Don't you dare."

  "We have to, someone is about to die," Iphi argued.

  She was wasting her breath, but Iphi always saw the good in everyone. Aurelia, however, did not. She shoved Iphi to the floor, the book sliding out of her grasp and somersaulting across the wood floor. Aurelia leapt for it. Time slowed as the rest of us grabbed hands. No time for a long circle casting. I looked at Sadie. She was the most powerful of all of us.

  "Between the sisters, the circle is cast," she said.

  Aurelia stood up, holding the book, and barked out a laugh, short and cruel. With the book in one hand, she approached, slamming it down on our clasped hands.

  Boing. It bounced off.

  "Repeat," Sadie said. "Curabit nos videbimus illam."

  "Curabit nos videbimus illam," Iphi and I diligently repeated in unison.

  The grimoire floated upward. Mother chased after it for just a moment, then stopped, fury clouding her features.

  "Don't you dare," she said to all of us. Then, pointing at Iphi, "You still live here. Don't do this, Iphigenia. You're breaking my heart."

  Tears sprouted from Iphi's eyes but she didn't let go of our hands. "Mama, I have to help if someone is in need. It's my nature. Please don't hold it against me."

  Aurelia snarled at us. "I understand that Sadie and Chrys want to hurt me. I am ashamed to have raised such insolent children. But you . . ." She reached her hand toward Iphi, torment plain in my sister's eyes.

  "Iphi, don't," I said, and not a moment too soon. I knew my sister well. She was beyond sweet and easily manipulated. I couldn't blame her. When I had been Aurelia's favorite, I'd done everything I could to stay in her good gr
aces too.

  "Iphigenia. Mind your mother. Please don't destroy our family."

  Aurelia knew how to lay it on thick; Iphi was about to cave.

  Sadie spoke another incantation but I was the only one to respond.

  "I'm so sorry," Iphi said aloud before she let go of our hands.

  Sadie and I had a fraction of a second to look at each other, grab the book and the bags and run out of Aurelia's house. We needed Iphi for the spell but if we'd stayed a minute longer, none of us would have left. Maybe it could work with just the two of us.

  "Quick, get in the car." I pushed the unlock button.

  Sadie slid into the passenger seat, holding the book and bags of herbs on her lap. I jumped into the driver's side, fired up the ignition and actually peeled out of our quiet neighborhood.

  "What are we going to do?" I asked Sadie. "Will the spell still work? With only two of us?"

  Sadie was staring straight ahead. She didn't respond.

  "Sadie," I barked.

  Her red waves flew around her face, those bright green eyes pinned on me. "What is wrong with our mother?"

  "We don't have time for a therapy session right now," I said, and it worked, Sadie laughed.

  "Let me think for a minute and see what we have."

  I waited while she rifled through the bags.

  "Good, Iphi was able to grab the bloodroot."

  "Do we have everything we need, besides Iphi herself?" I peeked at the grimoire as Sadie thumbed through the book.

  "We do," she affirmed with a quick nod, not returning my gaze.

  "We're going tonight, right?"

  "It's better if we wait until morning, get Iphi and go in during visiting hours."

  "We can't." I wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans.

  "Why not?"

  "The doctor said he may not make it till morning. Plus the antagonistic nurse may be done with her shift."

  "Why would the nurse be 'antagonistic'?"

  I let out an exacerbated sigh. "The hospital is equality sanctioned."

  "What? Why would they put him . . ." She scrunched up her pretty features, rapidly shaking her locks. "Forget it, drive to The V."

  "Why?"

  "For an ESH, we'll need help."

  I waited in the car while Sadie ran inside. I couldn't bring myself to go in. Too much nudity didn't feel like a big issue anymore. Not seeing Carter behind the bar did. Plus, oh yeah, banned for life.