After the clasp was done, I adjusted the stone so that it sat flat on my chest. There was a strange, tingling feeling deep within my body upon contact. When I tried to lift up the stone, it wouldn’t move. Hurrying to the bathroom, I stared in the mirror, my gaze focused on the object. It would move around like a necklace should, but when I tried to lift it up in attempt to get it off, it refused to budge.
“Well, shit!” The strange reaction was causing me to panic. Though, why not keep it on? The idea of something refusing to come off of my body freaked me out. I sighed, resigned, placing my hands on the sink. I should have known better.
Noticing some dark, vein-like lines forming on my chest, I leaned in closer to the mirror. It was so disgusting that I rubbed at them, hoping they would come off. Instead of disappearing, they grew more and more prominent, spreading to my arms and neck. A strange sensation came over me and I became lightheaded. I gripped the sink harder, trying to keep my balance, but it was becoming too hard. My knees were weak, unable to hold me up. I slid to the floor, resting my back against the bathtub.
The dark lines went down to the palms of my hands. When I lifted them up to see what was forming there, I frowned. What sort of symbol was that? It looked like an old design, almost Celtic in nature. My hands began to burn, turning a bright red as steam rose from them. I screamed, unable to handle the pain. It turned into fire, flames flickering about four inches in height from the surface. I tried to struggle to my feet so I could put them in water, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate.
What did I do? Patting them on my jeans, the fire continued to flicker, as if nothing was happening. Then it died out at its own volition. My hands were blistered and crimson. Tears streamed down my cheeks unchecked. How the hell was I supposed to do anything? I needed to go to the hospital, but then something else began to happen. My hands were healing. The marks were turning into smooth, white scars.
As the pain subsided, I struggled to my feet. Now what? The black veins were going away on their own. I watched in fascination as they faded, disappearing from my face and then down the rest of my body. I had no idea what just happened. Thirsty, I reached for a cup on the counter to get some water. But as I reached, the cup moved away, a puff of smoke coming from my fingers. What the fuck?
I tried to grab for it again, faster this time, but it slid across the counter, right into the wall. Fine, if I couldn’t have a cup, I would use my hands. Reaching for the knobs of the sink, they turned on from afar as more smoke poured from my fingers. I didn’t even have to touch them. Freaked out, I left the bathroom. Was my magic on the fritz? I usually I had to say words aloud to get it going.
Stella would have to wait. I needed to talk to someone fast. If my magic was acting up, then I needed to find a solution, stat. Reaching for my keys, they shot to my hand. This was getting ridiculous.
“You have the necklace on, don’t you?”
The voice startled me so much, I dropped my keys on the floor, spinning around.
“Merlin!” I gasped, surprised to see him.
“Call me Dad.”
“I would if you actually acted like one.” Shocked at my response, I covered my mouth. I seriously needed a filter.
Merlin waved me off. He wasn’t anything like the movies or pictures people knew. He was actually quiet dashing. The man never aged a day over thirty-two He had dark hair that fell over his forehead, and blue eyes that hinted at a bit of crazy. Rumor had it, that you never knew when he was actually sane. Merlin went through different phases; one he experienced more often than not was locking himself alone in room for weeks, practicing different spells until they were perfect. You never knew what you were going to get from him. Thankfully, the one time I had met him previously, he was lucid. Today, however, I wasn’t sure. There was mischief sparkling in his gaze. Should I run?
“How did you get through the wards?” I placed my hands on my hips.
Laughing, Merlin took out a cigar, lighting it up. “I can get past those easily. I’m the most powerful Wizard out there. Plus, that ward you’re using is one your mother learned from me. It’s a good one, so it will work, but I have my ways around it.”
Irritated, I gestured to his cigar. “This is a nonsmoking room.”
He took another drag of it. “I’ll clean my mess up.”
Deciding I might as well take the moment to get to know him better, I sat on the edge of my bed. “Where have you been? Weren’t you curious as to how I was doing all these years?”
Merlin flicked his ashes, but instead of falling on the floor, they spun around in the air. “I check on you often. I may not interact with you, but I have always made sure you were okay. Though, I’m not too keen on you investigating these murders. There’s danger out there, and my senses say that it may end up in a life or death situation for you.” He leaned forward, gaze serious. “This isn’t the first area that they’ve happened in. Check other cities and you’ll find them again. It’s been occurring over a span of several hundred years.”
Surprised, I questioned, “So, this has been happening for hundreds of years? How the hell have they been getting away with it?”
“It’s not often, but about every century or so there are batches of murdered women discovered. Each time, Drake was around.”
“So, it has to be Stella.”
He shrugged, not interested in the topic anymore as he flicked his ashes about. “Your mother demanded I speak to you about the necklace.”
I was on my feet, pacing. “Yeah, about that. I want this thing off.”
Merlin chuckled. “You can’t ever take it off. Not until you die.”
“Why?” I was beginning to panic.
“Because you’re the granddaughter of the Lady of the Lake. Any woman of her bloodline is trapped within the necklace until they pass on. Once the necklace is confident that you won’t throw it to the side, it will allow you take it off. But that’s rare, because it hardly trusts anyone.” He rolled his eyes, as if he had personal experience with it.
“You act as if it’s alive.”
“Oh, it is, and now it includes your grandmother’s spirit. It’s quiet powerful. It enhances your own magic, and then some. With the Lady of the Lake’s power added to it, you have additional magic at your disposal. I have yet to see that part of it, but she warned me about it for your sake.”
“I have no control!” I showed him by reaching for his cigar. It flew to my fingers.
“Because you’re not concentrating. It takes practice.”
Throwing my hands up in the air, I faced him, watching in fascination as the cigar went back to him. “I don’t have time for that.”
“Neither did your grandmother. She was a lover of mine. I taught her all the magic she knew.”
“You slept with her, too? And my mom? What the hell?” I stared at him, appalled by this new information.
Chuckling, Merlin motioned for his cigar and it floated back to him. “Your grandmother was a difficult one. She trapped me in a tree once. Her magic was very strong, but not strong enough to hold me.” Shaking his head, his gaze looked at if he was far away, remembering those times. “Then I met your mother later on. The daughter of King Arthur. I didn’t think he would actually have anything to do with the Lady of the Lake, but clearly I was wrong.”
The whole thing was confusing and unspeakable. Apparently, those times were different. I just had to accept it. Then his words hit me. I was the granddaughter of King Arthur? What? My mother somehow left out that bit of information.
I sat down on the bed again. It was information overload. Why was all of this kept from me for so long? My mother couldn’t tell me? Maybe she tried, and I just didn’t pay attention. Making a mental note to question her, I returned my focus on my father. He was busy making the ashes spin in the air, amused by the shapes they made.
“Well, I have to go. It was nice seeing you.” Merlin stood up, looking around the room. He made a face of disgust. “You must get a better room than this. Here’s some m
oney. Get yourself something nice.” He put a wad of cash in my hand and disappeared.
“What the—”
I didn’t even know what to say. I stared at the money, stunned by the amount. Parents didn’t just give their kids rolls of cash. You gave them ten bucks for gas. A movie. My father was definitely interesting. I wasn’t sure if he gave me helpful information or not. The visit was strange, but he did let me know that the murders had happened several times before, so it wasn’t all for nothing.
Grabbing my laptop, I spent the next several hours looking over case files that the Witches’ Council had in their database. I found that nearly three hundred female Witches had been murdered over a span of five hundred years. If I didn’t stop the killer now, there would surely be more deaths. Some of them were more gruesome, but generally identical to the ones I was working on. Why didn’t anyone notice it before? Was Drake involved with every investigation? It appeared that the Vampire Council took control of each of the cases, leaving the Witches in the dark. My mother wouldn’t have allowed that, so what really happened? I scrolled down one set of files and found a confidential section. I was blocked from that access. How was I supposed to do my job when they took away my rights?
Swearing, I slammed the laptop lid down. I had to find Stella, but when I looked down at my watch, I realized that Drake would be at my hotel room in ten minutes. Swearing again, I hurried into the shower, washing faster than I ever had before. By the time I got out, my heart was racing. There was a knock at the door, so I wrapped a towel around myself to let Drake in. He would just have to wait for me to finish getting ready.
Opening the door slightly to confirm that it was Drake, I smiled. He grinned, holding a bouquet of roses. A rush of pleasure filled my chest as I took them from him and allowed the door to come open all the way. “Sorry I’m not ready. I was searching through some earlier cases and lost track of time.”
Drake shut the door behind him. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt again, but looked freshly showered. I could smell his soap from where I was standing. My mouth began to drool. I didn’t know if I could refuse him anymore. Did I really want to? Was it even required, since he wasn’t a suspect? What I needed was definitive proof that he wasn’t the killer.
“Earlier cases?” he asked for clarification.
“Yep. Seems that our killer has been active for hundreds of years. Each one took place wherever you were living at the time.” I picked out some clothes, matching my look with his.
“How do you know where I was located?”
Biting my lower lip, I debated whether he should know what I did. Finally, I sighed. “The Witches keep tabs on most Vampires.”
Drake frowned, not at all pleased with that information. But then he relaxed. “I guess the Vampire Council probably does the same thing.”
I shrugged, heading toward the bathroom so I could get some clothes on. Drake stopped me by wrapping an arm around my waist. He pulled me into him, his body warm against mine. “I need to kiss you, Sophie.” Then without any other words, his lips pressed against mine. My knees went weak as I held onto him. I didn’t realize how bad I wanted him to until then.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I urged him on, tentatively touching my tongue to his. He groaned, running his hands down my waist to my ass. “I’ve missed you,” he said, pulling back. “I know things are hard and you have a job to do, but I don’t think I can keep my distance. I want you, and I don’t think I can handle losing you.”
“We just met, Drake. I don’t know if either of our feelings are actually real. Maybe we are just in love with the feeling of being with someone.” I pulled away, fidgeting with the necklace.
Shaking his head, Drake grabbed me by the towel near the top of my breasts. “No, I know what I feel.”
Yeah, he also knew how I felt since I had to announce it to him in the club. Who even did that? I was acting like a high school girl so crazy in love that she didn’t know how to keep that bit of information to herself. Who was the one moving too fast? Oh, right. Me. I might as well write his name on my notebooks and beg for his letterman jacket. He probably never had one because he was a freaking old Vampire! Our relationship was far from normal. I was probably considered barely legal in his Vampire years.
“I need proof that you didn’t do it so the Council will stay off my ass.”
I pulled away and went to the bathroom with my clothes. It was going to be hard to accomplish, but I was determined to put Drake in the clear and set the record straight. I knew I had deep feelings for him, despite the short time we’d been together. Even though I kept trying to deny it, deep down, I knew that I truly loved him.
*
For dinner, Drake and I went to a small fast food joint right outside of town. The food was fresh and tasted amazing. I could eat there every day. When I told Drake just that, he laughed, shaking his head. Even though he could afford it, I was a cheap date. Small things pleased me, and he seemed to like that.
The next stop was his house, where he invited me to stay the night. At first I said no. I didn’t have the evidence that I needed to put him in the clear. But at this point, did it really matter? Did I really need to worry about it after I had already been to bed with him? I was unsure. I was beginning to have problems with continuing down a path that everyone disapproved of. I wasn’t normally one to care what other people thought; they all knew that. Yet, I wondered what they would do for me professionally. My mother insisted that Drake and I were meant to be, but she had always been the type of woman that believed in the fairytale endings. She often said her and Merlin had that, but figured she was just as messed up in the head as he was. But there was nothing wrong with hoping for the happy ending. All of us wanted it, even me.
As we drove, I noticed we weren’t going straight to his house like he’d said. We were taking another way, in the opposite direction. When I stared at Drake with an inquiring eyebrow, he chuckled, amused by me. “I want to take you to a place I like to go. It looks over the city. A beautiful sight.”
“Are you sure about that?”
He was about to respond when suddenly the car was moving in the air, turning like it was in slow motion. It slammed into the ground, jerking my body so hard that my head hit the passenger side window. It went up in the air again, and I used my hands to brace myself for the next impact against the ground. When it made contact, I screamed. We were rolling down the side of a hill—when would it end? The windshield smashed all over us as we rolled a few more times, hitting all over my body. Then the car finally stopped rolling, rocking hard before it came to a complete stop.
Drake groaned, holding his head. I stared, not sure what to do. My body was numb, and I felt lightheaded. Maybe it was shock.
“Oh my gods, Sophie. Holy shit. Oh, my gods.” Drake started to panic, trying to unstrap himself.
“I’m okay.” I laid my head back on the seat, glancing over at him.
He was extremely pale, eyes wide and filled with unshed tears. “You are not okay. Don’t look down, sweetheart.”
“If you say that, of course, I’m going to look down!” At which point, I did. Protruding out of my chest was a large piece of metal that must have come off of the car. It was exactly where my heart sat. Panicked, I moved to try to pull it out. Stabbing in the heart was one of the ways a Witch could die. I wasn’t ready to leave the world! What would I do as a ghost with my mom? That was a permanent hell!
“Don’t take it out!” Drake grabbed my hand, shaking his head in warning.
“I heal! I can heal!” I said, remembering the scars on my hands.
“You aren’t healing this.” Drake attempted to take off his shirt to put to my wound, tearing it in the process.
My vision started going dark. I could barely stay awake. There was a light. Was that what you saw when you died? Was I dying?
“Don’t leave me, Sophie. I can’t lose you now. You’re mine, you hear me?” He shook me, but my head lolled to the side. I tried to focus my gaze on
him, but the darkness was creeping in, making it hard for me to decipher him.
Forcing a smile, I lifted a hand to touch his face. “It’s been a short time, but I love you, Drake. I just want you to know that.”
“No! Don’t you dare leave me!” He searched around, looking for what I assumed was his cell phone.
I closed my eyes, but he shook me awake, apparently not caring about steadying the metal in my chest anymore. “Stay with me. Gods, please stay with me. I love you too, Sophie.” He took my hand, pressing his lips to it.
Smiling softly, I let the darkness take me over completely, unable to hold on any longer. My time had come, but at least I got to enjoy some of my life, in the end.
Chapter Fifteen
“She’s awake! It worked!”
Blinking several times, I stared up at a ceiling, wondering what the hell just happened to me. My entire body ached like I’d just been run over by a truck. My nerves were on fire, like someone injected gasoline into my veins and then lit a match. Why was I in so much pain? Tears rolled down my cheeks because moving hurt too much. It had to be the worst I ever felt, and I’d been in a lot of painful situations. I even dealt with my sister trying to suffocate me when I was ten. She had been a tiny human, but the girl was born with strength that would even impress a weight lifter.
Maybe Daphne had found me. I could be in one of her torture chambers, if she had one handy. Her escaping prison was inevitable. Afraid to look around, I turned my head slightly, finding two men staring at me with smiles on their faces. At first I didn’t recognize either of them. My brain wouldn’t connect. Then after a few long seconds, I realized it was Drake and Roark.
“What are you guys doing? What did you do to me?” I asked, groaning as I tried to turn onto my side. I was on the couch at Drake’s house. It was a beautiful living room, decorated with a lot of cherry wood. He had the fireplace lit up, even though it was probably ninety degrees outside.
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