by Nova Nelson
“I wish there were more people like you in Eastwind.” I stepped closer and put my arm around him, initiating a side hug.
But before I could pull away, I found myself wrapped up tight in the werebear’s thick arms. “Thanks,” he said into my hair. “And if you ever tell anyone you saw me emotional, we will no longer be friends.”
“Got it,” I muttered into his left pec.
He released me and then we parted ways—he headed straight for Fluke Mountain, and Grim and I made for our next rallying point to finish up the last bit of insanity I had left in my day off work…
Chapter Twenty-Two
Grim lagged behind, the poor guy’s gait looking even more off-kilter than before, while Donovan and I strolled toward Widow Lake to pay a little surprise visit to Eastwind’s most lovable and only vampire.
Donovan wasn’t totally sold on my game plan, though. “We just tell him we want to go through the portal, and then we shut it?”
“Yeah, how is that so hard?”
“Uh, do you know how to shut a portal?”
I waved my hand vaguely. “I have an idea of how it works… sort of.”
He groaned. “What does that mean?”
“It means I read up on it.”
“You read up on it? When?”
I felt slightly guilty as I answered, “At the end of last year. I might have spent a little bit of time in the library researching how to open one.”
He didn’t seem bothered by the new information, though. “And it said how to close them, too?”
“Maybe? But I didn’t see the point in learning how to close one until I learned how to open one.”
The number of passersby thinned as we reached the outer rings of the town proper. Donovan said, “I take it you never learned how to open one, did you?”
“No, I never did figure it out. But I learned a lot about the concepts.”
He sighed and his head drooped. “And you think that’s enough to—”
“It’s your fault I stopped!” I snapped. “You distracted me with all that New Year’s Eve talk of new beginnings, and I figured life might be better without any portals at all.”
“Considering what we’re on our way to do, I couldn’t agree with that sentiment more.”
“And that’s why we’re doing this. To carry on portal-free!”
“Except for the one to Avalon.”
I nodded. “And the one through the tree tunnel in the Deadwoods.”
“Ah yes. Can’t forget that one, can we?” he said, sliding an arm around my waist. “Why don’t we just take a little trip into the Deadwoods right now? We could practice our portal-closing techniques on that one first.”
It wasn’t a bad idea, all lethal threat of the Deadwoods aside.
“Maybe I want to leave that one open,” I said.
“Why’s that?”
“I have pretty good memories of that cliff’s edge. I might want to revisit it.”
He groaned softly and stepped in front of me, putting his lips to mine.
I was lying, of course. I had zero desire to return to the place where a drought demon possessed me, the place where Donovan almost died, and where the pungent scent of Grim’s urine still undoubtedly haunts the nostrils of all who dwell there.
PTSD anyone? A little making out with Donovan there wouldn’t undo that.
But his suggestion did raise a good question. Why was I rushing into this before I was completely ready?
The smart thing to do would be to take Donovan back to the library with me and enlist his help finding out how to close a portal. Bonus points for figuring out what sort of ramifications might go along with closing a portal after nature had already balanced itself.
But I was anxious. No, that word wasn’t strong enough for what I felt. Every fiber of my being felt like it would grow legs and run off in a different direction if I waited another day to make this decision. Or worse, I wouldn’t choose this option at all. I would pick another one. The one a large part of me had wanted to make since Malavic revealed the gateway to me.
Images of me walking through the portal and being reunited with Tanner had been flashing in my mind at odd times over the last couple of days, challenging my resolve.
And shutting the door behind Dmitri had been a thing of relief, even if it was also painful. It was ripping off a band-aid, a moment of intense pain that fades surprisingly fast, and you know you’re better off having gone through it.
I wanted that. Closing the portal and saying goodbye to both Eva and Tanner would be the hardest thing I’d ever done. It would hurt so terribly—I could already imagine the nausea, the dizziness—but I would have Donovan with me, and it would pass. The painful sore wouldn’t continue to fester. I would lance it and move on.
Was I concerned we couldn’t shut the portal?
Oddly, no. Because I had faith in my powers, especially my Insight.
And I had faith in myself, which was no small feat. It had taken me a long time to get there, but I felt like I held within me the ability to accomplish something this difficult, and my Insight would guide me, step-by-step.
Or, that was the theory, anyway. And perhaps a shade of desperation helped me buy into it. Take my money, theory! Take it all!
We made the long walk down the peninsula to the castle, Donovan and I, hand-in-hand. I was inappropriately calm, given the situation. But maybe that goes to show how much fear in a given situation is simply created by not having made up one’s mind about how one will act.
I’d made up my mind, and so everything else seemed unimportant.
I banged on the iron front doors, channeling Stu’s authoritative knocks, and minutes later, Count Malavic opened up. He didn’t say a word, only stared down his nose intensely at the three of us, putting together the pieces.
And then he threw his head back and laughed.
“Come to see the wizard?” he said.
Only I got the reference, of course. “Close. We’re here to see the portal behind the curtain.”
“I knew you’d be back,” he said, still grinning, “but I hadn’t guessed you’d bring him with you. Is this some sort of couples vacation? Vacationing to another realm to save the ex? Kinky, but I’m not judging. Just didn’t know that’s how you preferred it.”
Ugh. The sooner we could get this over with, the better. “Are you going to invite us in?”
“I think you’re confused who the vampire is here.”
“That’s not even a thing,” I spat. Then I added, “Is it?”
“It is in your old world, but not here.”
“The rules change from realm to realm?” For a brief moment, my faint understanding of magic was shaken to its core.
But the count said, “Of course not. However, my kindred living there like to say the rules are such because it creates a false sense of security that they can then exploit at will.”
Sheesh. When people said Sebastian Malavic was one of the nicer vampires, they may not have been exaggerating after all. “The ploy doesn’t work, though. People don’t believe in vampires in my world.”
“Maybe not in Texas”—he said the word like a slur—“but where I frequent, they do.”
I considered taking the bait, but before I could ask him where he frequented, he said, “Why are you still standing there? Come on in.” He stepped to the side, but not very far, meaning we had to enter single file and pass way too close to him.
What a creep.
He closed the door behind us and then lead the way toward the staircase heading down into the dungeon-like study.
As we started our descent, Donovan said, “What happens when the rest of the High Council finds out about your portal? Or do you think they’ll never find out?”
“You assume they don’t already know,” the count replied over his shoulder. “You assume I don’t already have an agreement with them where they allow it to remain open so I have a place to properly hunt, and in return they keep it secret and continue receiving m
y monetary support for their public programs.”
“No way,” Donovan said. “Siobhan Astrid and I go way back. There’s no way she would go along with this. At the very least, she would have told me about it.”
“I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you that you are not as close with the elf as you’ve believed. Because she does know. But clearly she’s smart enough not to let it become public knowledge.”
“Is that what you use it for?” I said. “To cross into my world and hunt people?”
“Of course. But don’t worry. I only prey upon willing victims, and I never kill them. Can’t risk creating more of my kind. I’d be responsible for their care and would have to bring them back here, and then I would lose my coveted status as Eastwind’s most rascally vamp.”
This new revelation certainly didn’t decrease my desire to close the portal.
Donovan, Grim, and I paused when we finally reached the bottom of the staircase. But Malavic glided on and unceremoniously yanked the curtain from the portal.
The light from it flooded the dark room. Through the gateway, it was either late dawn or early dusk, and the shadows from the visible tree stretched long.
When I was finally able to tear my eyes from it, I turned to Donovan, who was similarly transfixed.
Was he having second thoughts?
I’d been functioning under the assumption that he’d want it closed forever. Certainly, it benefitted him for me to no longer have the easy option to return to Tanner, but did that mean he was one hundred percent on board with the plan? After all, he’d lost the same people I had. He cared about them, too.
I saw him swallow hard before he jerked his head toward the count. “We’re not going through. We’re here to close it.”
Count Malavic sneered at him. “Of course that’s why you’re here. I knew it the minute I saw the totality of your group darkening my doorstep. It’s too bad all four of you don’t appear to be of the same mind.” He tsked. “You really should have come to a consensus before you came.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. “We have a consensus. And there are only three of us.”
He moved away from the portal and took a seat in one of the nearby chairs. “There you are wrong. I smelled four distinct flavors of blood.”
Could I have gotten some of Dmitri’s blood on me back at the station?
I didn’t have long to puzzle over that before Grim yelped and reared up onto his back legs. And in that moment, my breath caught in my chest as I discovered the true cause of his discomfort. He didn’t have a crick in his neck, he had a Monster hitching a ride on his stomach.
“No! Stop it! You promised!” Grim shouted.
From the shaggy fur of his belly sprang the fluffy nightmare. And she made a beeline for the portal.
“Monster! No!” I shouted.
But she would never listen to me. Not when her witch was somewhere on the other side.
That’s what real loyalty looks like, scolded a stern voice inside me.
Grim leaped and caught her in his jowls by the scruff of her neck a moment before she could make it through. I would have breathed a sigh of relief, but I decided instead to use my breath to shout at my familiar. “Why would you bring her?”
The munchkin cat flailed, screaming and clawing to get free.
“She promised she wouldn’t do anything rash. She said she just wanted to see it.”
“For fang’s sake! And you believed her?”
“Of course not! That’s why I was ready to pounce as soon as she—” He yelped again when one of her swipes finally managed to catch him just under the eye, and that was all it took for her to wriggle free and dodge through the portal into another world.
“Sweet baby jackalope!”
I stood frozen in my spot next to Donovan. “Don’t do it, Grim!” I didn’t trust the look in his eyes.
“She’s my best friend! She’s going to be eaten in under half an hour! I have to.”
“But I’m your witch! You’re going to choose her over me?” Finally, my feet became unglued and I stomped forward, clapping my hands and shouting, “Bad dog!”
He tucked his tail and lowered his head.
“Do not go through that portal, you hear me? She made her choice!”
“And I’ve made mine.” He sprang and I lunged for him in that same second, but I came up with nothing but a handful of his fur.
“No!” I yelled. “Grim! Come back!” But I wasn’t sure he could hear me anymore.
It had happened so fast. Again. My gut clenched as I watched him disappear into the dense line of trees. I felt like I might throw up. My familiar had abandoned me.
Sebastian Malavic cackled madly, as well he should. For someone who loved a real swirlfest, he must have felt like he’d won the lottery.
The ugly realization crept in: I couldn’t close the portal now. Being separated forever from Tanner was bad enough, but Grim? I wasn’t even sure if I physically could intentionally do anything that would result in that. The same systems that allowed a witch to talk to her familiar surely had to have some failsafe that kept us from separating ourselves like that once we were bonded.
I couldn’t speak, only stared unblinkingly at the place where Grim had just been. And then hands grabbed me and spun me around, and I was staring up into Donovan’s endless blue eyes. “You have to.”
“Have to what?” The sound of Malavic’s maniacal laughter felt like a scalding poker in my brain, keeping me from understanding much of anything now.
But when Donovan kissed me, I understood what he’d meant. The kiss said everything in a language I couldn’t misinterpret.
How had it all gone so wrong? So terribly, terribly wrong? I’d made up my mind! I’d decided! And there I was, about to overrule myself.
I wanted the kiss to last forever, but I knew it wouldn’t. I just didn’t think it would end so soon.
He pulled away first. “I love you. More than I even knew I could. And we had more time together than I ever expected. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“You wouldn’t?”
He hesitated, then conceded, “Okay, I might. But now’s not the time to get nitpicky, Nora. I’m trying to give a speech.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“You have to go.”
“You’re not coming with me.”
“I can’t leave Gustav behind.”
“I know the feeling.”
His arms tightened around me. “There’s no way to know how this will turn out, but I’ll wait for you. And if you don’t want me when you come back…”
I wanted nothing more than to assure him that I still would, that nothing would have changed.
But I couldn’t. I was going to find Tanner, and I knew myself too well.
“Come with me,” I begged.
“I can’t. Not now. I told you why.” He let go of my arms and stepped back. “Be safe, Nora. Find our friends and bring them back.”
I nodded, and stepped back from him, and it took all my willpower to tear my eyes away from his.
Then I shot one last dirty look at Malavic, called him an incredibly rude name from my own world, which I knew he’d understand, and stepped through the portal to chase after my hellion of a hellhound.
Epilogue
Three days later…
The truck slowed to a crawl, kicking up gravel from the road beneath its tires. My impromptu chauffeur, Steve, nodded at me from below his cowboy hat. “This is where we part ways.” His skin was tanned and wrinkled from farm work, and I knew more about his family’s deep roots in the South than I really cared to. But listening to him was the least I could do to thank him for a ride I had no way of paying for. And as any woman would know, keeping him happy kept me safe.
For someone who’s already managed to die once, I have a pretty strong survival instinct.
When I opened the passenger-side door of the pickup, a feisty little munchkin cat sprang off my lap and landed soft as a fea
ther on the ground.
“Don’t forget that hound of yours,” Steve said.
I forced another smile. “I couldn’t if I tried.”
I walked around to the back and undid the hatch.
“About time,” Grim said as he leaped out of the bed. “I think that ride jiggled a few teeth loose. People around here really use those buggies to get everywhere?”
“It beats walking all that way,” I said.
I gave Steve one last wave as he drove off, leaving us in a cloud of dust and exhaust.
“You spend two hours in the back where I was and I bet you’d change your mind.”
I did feel for the poor guy. It was May in Southern Louisiana, and even though the sun had just dipped below the horizon, it was still hotter than a dragon’s mouth, and about as humid.
“Come on, you two,” I said, as Monster hopped onto her best friend’s back. “Let’s find us some water and a place to stay for the night.”
Two days to locate Grim and Monster, and one day to find a ride this far south. I had no ID, no phone, and no money. And I was bone tired with miles to go.
But I did know where I could find Eva. Or at least I had a pretty good idea, and that was better than no idea.
We walked down the dark road toward the city, passing quietly beneath a thick canopy of trees. I was going back to where it all started, where I’d had a fight in a restaurant with a man I didn’t care much about. Where I’d left in a hurry, speeding through the rain on the night I’d died.
We passed a sign reading, New Orleans 2 miles.
Not much farther, and then our search for our lost friends would officially begin.
Book 12 of the Eastwind Witches is coming soon. In the meantime …
* * *
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