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

by Chloe Adler

  I probably could have figured Aurelia's trick out even if I hadn't been schooled by Sadie, but the look was so fleeting . . . maybe not. It was just a millisecond-long glance at the place where she had branded me, on the back of my neck. But I'd caught it. So what Carter had told me was true.

  In the kitchen I put on the kettle while Aurelia busied herself nearby, putting away dishes. We didn't speak for a few minutes.

  If the brand was like a witch's RFID tag, I had to get it off, but how could I do that without seriously disfiguring myself? Maybe there was a spell. This wouldn't happen before Julian arrived, however. And how was I to get out of the house with him under her watchful gaze?

  "I'd like peppermint tea if you're making some." My mother brought me two cups, which she filled with boiling water.

  I pulled the dried peppermint from overhead and threw some into a piece of cheesecloth, hanging it over the inside edge of the cup to steep. As children, we had been taught that metal leached the beneficial properties of the herbs.

  Once I'd prepared our teas, she grabbed the cups, walked them over to the kitchen table and sat down, waiting for me. I followed, head down and shoulders hunched over, awaiting a scolding. Why did I still revert back to a child so quickly around her? So easily?

  "I'm very disappointed in you, Chrys," she said.

  Great start. I waited, not saying a word as that little spark of anger flared somewhere deep inside.

  "You were always my favorite," she continued. "And I had the highest hopes for you."

  "How?" I couldn't help myself. "And as what? Your lackey? Your punching bag?"

  Her hand flew to her ample chest, the one Iphi and Sadie had inherited. "I have no idea what you mean by all of that. Obviously your sister has poisoned you against me."

  "No, Mom, you did that all by yourself."

  Her two differently colored eyes flashed. "I did everything for you girls. I gave up my life for you."

  "How? By treating us like second-class witches? Only teaching us enough witchcraft to barely get by? By cheating on my father? By practically imprisoning me in this house?" Why was I saying such things? I hadn't meant the last one at all but my anger had ignited and was burning slowly, like kindling.

  I thought this would anger her further, but she took a different tactic, leaning back in her chair.

  "It's obvious you're ungrateful and that's fine. When you have children of your own, you'll understand how difficult it is. What I don't understand is how you could fall for a vampire."

  How or why that angered me even more I couldn't say, but the kindling burned hotter. "Why do you care?"

  The breath she sucked in was audible. "You sound like Sadie."

  "And why is that such a bad thing?"

  "You know the answer to that, and because you're trying my patience, I'll punish you like Sadie too."

  "I'm twenty-five years old, you can't punish me anymore."

  Aurelia leaned forward and the look of menace on her face said otherwise. She raised a hand. It flashed in front so quickly I couldn't react. "Ranae!" she screamed.

  Frog? Frog! Instinctively I ducked as a white flash left her hand and sailed toward me, almost in slow motion. And then . . . nothing happened.

  "Ranae!" she said again, flicking her hand at me.

  Again, the white light and again, nothing.

  I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest.

  "What's going on?" my mother asked, as if I were the one trying to hurt her. She leaned closer, eyeing my neck.

  "You tell me. Why are you staring at my neck?"

  "Where's your amulet? Give it to me."

  "Why?" Then I remembered Iphi charging the thing. She hadn't used the same incantation or herbs as she had for the cheesecloth one. She must have cast another spell altogether. A protection spell? Is that why Julian hadn't been able to kill me? Why Carter hadn't attacked me? Why my mother couldn't turn me into a frog? Wow. I owed Iphi several times over.

  But that also meant that each time I'd thought the amulet had been controlling my temper, my spells, it had really been me.

  "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have it," I lied, which was never advisable when dealing with this crazy witch.

  "I know you have it on you. Give it to me," she held her hand out, "or I'll take it from you." She stood up so quickly that her chair toppled over. In an instant, she was next to me, grabbing at my arms. Wow, she was much stronger than she looked. Sadie had mentioned something like that in the past but I hadn't seen it myself--until now. I tried to push her off me.

  "Let go of me!" I yelled but she wouldn't. She pulled one of my arms back, twisting it behind me while her hand plunged into the pocket of my jeans. "Ouch!" I cried out. "You're hurting me." And luckily she had searched the wrong pocket.

  "You're hurting yourself," she growled into my ear, wrenching my arm back even farther.

  There was a searing pain in my shoulder and I snapped. How dare she abuse me like this? The anger ignited and burst forth like a wildfire. As always, it was sudden and swift. "Ranae!" I screamed and a deafening roar filled my head. It was so loud I had to cradle my head in my hands, which is when I realized that Aurelia was no longer holding me. Nor was she in front of me at all.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I looked around for her. Surely the spell hadn't worked. Maybe she'd let me go and run out of the room. Who was I kidding?

  "Ribbit," came the sound of my mother, now a frog, hopping up and down at my feet, on the hardwood kitchen floor.

  Even in a frog's body she was angry. Well, I had turned her into a frog. I bent down to pick her up but she hopped away, which is when Armageddon made his entrance. Always the wild card, that one.

  "Meow." He leapt across the floor and pounced on Mom. She barely escaped, hopping toward me.

  I lunged for the cat as he made his next move and caught him midair, which propelled me backward. In slow motion. If I let go of the cat, I could catch my fall but he'd likely get free and kill Aurelia. If I held onto the cat, I would hit my . . .

  "Ouch," I landed with a hard thud, the cat squirming beneath me. Without any time to register what I'd hurt, I leapt up with Army in my arms and ran to my room, where I threw him in and closed the door.

  Entering Iphi's room, I looked around for something to put Aurelia in. There in her closet was an old metal birdcage that she’d kept long after her pet canary had died. I ran back to the kitchen and placed it on the floor. If I were her, I'd have jumped into it of my own volition, at least for safety's sake. But not Aurelia. She hopped away. I didn't know frogs could be so fast and ran after her. As soon as she entered the hallway and headed toward her room, I practically jumped on top of her, closing my hands over the slick body. If she had made it to her room, there would have been little hope of capturing her without moving the bed and all of her heavy furniture.

  Angry ribbits emanated from the cage and even in frog form she was giving me the evil eye. The latch had a locking mechanism which I secured so she couldn’t escape and after a few more hops she actually settled down. Probably too tired. Rummaging in the linen closet I found an old twin sheet and threw it over the cage.

  Now what?

  I looked around for my phone. Surely Aurelia had gotten it from the police station but I couldn't find it. She must have hidden it. I checked her clothing, which remained on the floor in a heap. Nothing. The bureau in her room. Nothing. I was starting to pull open her closet when the doorbell rang. Strange. Who could be here?

  "Who is it?" I asked, looking through the peephole and seeing no one.

  "Chrys, it's me, open up," Julian's little voice rose.

  Julian looked around worriedly as Alistair hustled us both into the waiting cab. I was the one who should be worried. I was holding the cage with Aurelia.

  "Where to?" the cabbie asked us.

  "Langdon Dock," said Alistair.

  "No!" I practically shouted and gave the driver Sadie's address.

&nb
sp; "Why there?" Alistair asked.

  "Because that's where Carter will be."

  Julian, sitting between us in the back seat, cocked his head to the side. "What's in there?”

  "Later," I said and put my arm around him. "How are you holding up?"

  "We're worried about Carter," answered Alistair for him. "What have you done with him?"

  "Grandpa, Chrys is trying to help us, remember?"

  "I'm sorry." I leaned back in the vinyl seat. "I only wanted to bring him out of his coma."

  "What happened?"

  "We performed a spell and it backfired I guess. I don't know, I don't have any experience in this particular area. We thought we were doing the right thing."

  "What. Happened." Alistair spoke slowly, enunciating each word like I was an idiot.

  "He's gone mad."

  Alistair dropped his head into his hands and Julian looked back and forth between us. "What's that?" he asked.

  "I don't really know."

  "No vampire has ever recovered from madness. Not one. Ever," Alistair choked into his hands.

  "What about me?" asked Julian.

  "No, child," Alistair mumbled, "that was different. You were cursed."

  "There has to be a way," I said, "and if there is any chance at all, even a small one, we will find it."

  When we pulled up to Sadie's house, I grabbed the cage containing Aurelia and leapt out of the cab, not even waiting for the other two.

  Sadie and Ryder had personalized their doorbell chime. When I pressed it, high-pitched cackling rang out. Great choice, Sadie. Not.

  Burgundy opened the door. She did not look like her usual put-together self. There was dried blood on her cheek and her hair was matted on one side. I was ecstatic to see her alive and almost threw my arms around her but--I was holding the cage o' frog. "What happened?" I gawked.

  She turned her face away and exhaled. "It's been a rough night but everyone survived."

  "Are you okay? Is Iphi?"

  "She was hurt pretty badly. Your boyfriend chomped a big hole in her leg."

  I shuddered, wrapping my arms around myself.

  "No," came Julian's shrill voice as he rushed up next to me. "Not Iphi, can I see her?" He pushed the door open and darted past Burgundy, whose eyebrows snapped together.

  "What the--?" she said looking at me, hand raised in a question.

  "A crush," I whispered.

  Alistair cleared his voice behind me and Burgundy looked over, noticing him for the first time.

  "You must be Alistair." She nodded toward him brusquely.

  "Ma'am." He nodded back.

  "I'm Burgundy." She extended a hand. Alistair shook it politely.

  "I've been trying to call you . . ." I started.

  "Sorry, we were dealing with a lot. Come inside." She swept her hand toward the door, gesturing.

  I stood aside, inclining my head toward Alistair out of politeness. He entered but as I tried to follow, holding the cage containing Aurelia, an invisible force field pushed me back.

  "Why can't I--?" I asked Burgundy, who looked perplexed.

  "Dunno."

  "Wait a minute." Burgundy disappeared, returning a moment later with Sadie who wore a bandage on her neck. Carter's teeth had found purchase on both my sisters after all.

  "What's wrong?" Sadie asked. "Come in."

  "I can't." I tried again to show her, which was not very bright since it hurt my nose.

  "What's in there?” she asked me.

  "Aurelia."

  Sadie's eyes narrowed. "You brought her here? To my house?"

  "I'm sorry, Sadie, I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't leave her."

  "What did you do to her?" The tiniest of smiles crept across her face but she made no move to look.

  "I accidentally turned her into a toad."

  Sadie's hands clapped together. "Awesome."

  "Sadie." I wanted to sound like I was reprimanding her but I finally truly understood how horrible Aurelia had been to my sister all of her life.

  “What are you keeping her in?” she asked and I lifted part of the sheet to show her. “Leave it on the porch." She waved toward the side table and turned to walk back inside.

  "But . . ."

  "No buts; that woman is not allowed inside my house."

  I set the birdcage on the table next to one of Sadie's cushy deck chairs, keeping the sheet over it and walked back to the front door, holding my hand out, feeling for the invisible force field. It was gone.

  Iphi was lying on one of the couches, her leg elevated and covered with bandages. I rushed to her side.

  "Are you all right?"

  Her eyes shown brightly with the answer. "Ryder fixed me up." She motioned toward her leg. "I'll be fine."

  "What did he do?" She was peeling back the gauze. "No, no, that's fine," I said quickly.

  "I packed the wound and taped it," Ryder said, crossing to my side.

  "What about stitches?" I asked him.

  He gestured with his thumb. "Not for puncture wounds. I'll just change the packing every few hours to make sure it doesn't turn into an abscess."

  "The benefits of having a paramedic for a fiancé." Sadie giggled and kissed his cheek. Ryder beamed.

  "Go check on your guy," Iphi breathed.

  Jared was hunched over a form on the other couch, which was opened up to a bed. He looked up when I approached, pain in those eyes.

  "Jared," I reached to touch his face and then pulled my hand back. "I kept trying to reach you."

  "I shifted back to help Iphigenia, and I couldn't shift back to my griffin form in time to pick up any of you," he said sullenly.

  "What about your phone?" I asked him.

  "Can't keep it on me when I shift." He shrugged. "No pockets. Sorry."

  "How did you two get back?" I asked Burgundy.

  "I ran here, carrying him."

  "Oh, Burgundy." I didn't know what to say. "Is that how you got so messed up?"

  "The bleeding, the mess," she motioned over herself, "was from the jump. I barely made it."

  "Thank you so much," I gushed, "I'm so grateful to you all."

  "As am I," added Alistair, who was standing over Carter, staring at him and looking despondent.

  "Me too," sniffed Julian. He was sitting next to his brother, crying softly.

  I finally allowed myself to look. Carter was still bound in his straightjacket. When we made eye contact he stopped being docile, writhing slightly on the couch-bed. His head thrashed about and there was a wild look in his eyes, which had slipped from my face and were no longer settling on anything. Julian reached out to touch him and his head snapped toward the boy, trying to bite him.

  "Carter," Julian cried out, tears flowing harder down his pale cheeks.

  The vampire did not seem to recognize his own brother and kept snapping his jaw, looking for leverage.

  Sadie and Ryder walked over, having collected a variety of herbs and candles from the kitchen.

  "We need to try another spell with the three of us," she said, placing the herbs and candles on the coffee table. Ryder and Jared followed suit. "Chrys, can you please light the candles?"

  "Can't you just use your magic for small tasks like that?" I asked.

  "I need every last bit of it for the biggest task at hand." She motioned to Carter.

  "Of course," I said, moving to help. Iphi tried to stand and Ryder ran over to support her after checking the dressing on her leg.

  I set the candles out in a circle and lit each one as Ryder positioned Iphi inside the circle, patting the end of the couch for her to sit. Then he stepped back, gesturing Jared, Alistair and Julian out of the circle before I lit the final candle, closing us inside.

  "Is this a different spell?" I asked Sadie.

  "It is," she responded, removing the grimoire nestled under her arm. Opening to a page, she held it out and tapped it with her finger. The title read "Vampire Madness." Jared came to stand outside of the circle, craning his neck t
o read the book but Alistair pulled him back.

  "How is this even in Ryder's book if no vampire has ever been cured of madness?" I asked. "It makes no sense."

  "It's not Ryder's," Sadie said. "It's Aurelia's." She motioned for me to take it, I did, studying Aurelia's unmistakable handwriting.

  "Why would she keep this from the vampire community? Why would she keep it from me? I was just at her house, she knows what's happened." Spark. Bowing my head, I took several deep breaths to assuage the anger that had begun to rise. Fizzle.

  Sadie moved next to me. "Maybe she wasn't finished with the spell yet, or maybe she's never been able to try it on anyone and doesn't know if it would work."

  That made sense, but it was more likely Mother had found a cure for vampire madness and then kept it to herself out of prejudice.

  "We can ask her," I said, starting toward the door but Sadie reached for my arm, shaking her head at me.

  "No way. She'd take the book and disappear with it. You know she would. We have to try it ourselves." She motioned to Carter. "We don't have much to lose."

  Standing around Carter, looking down on him, we properly cast the circle and chanted our magic incantation, but nothing changed. Nothing. He wasn't trying to bite anyone anymore but he still looked half crazed. Those eyes kept darting back and forth, not focusing on anything.

  "Why isn't it working?" I asked Sadie.

  "I don't know." She retreated to the couch, holding the book open on her lap, reading.

  "I have an idea," said Julian, standing outside the circle.

  "What?"

  "Well, your blood helped heal me when I was cursed, so maybe . . ."

  "You want him to feed on me?"

  "You could try. Burgundy and Jared can stop him if things get out of hand."

  I shook my head. "I'm willing to try but I don't think it's a good idea."

  "Neither do I," said Burgundy, coming out of the kitchen.

  "Why not try?" asked Julian. "Don't you love him?"