by Ruby Raine
William wasn’t too far away. She could hear him lumbering through the woods to find her.
“Please help me,” implored Eva in the most frightened voice she could muster. “He’s right behind me. He’s trying to kill me.”
“What!?” Courtney ran to the white-haired woman and grabbed her hand, helping her to run. She found a ditch with an old fallen log that was hollowed out from rot, and told Eva to hide inside.
“What about you?” spoke Eva, innocently. “He’s a mad man. A monster...”
Courtney just grinned, smugly. “You were found by the right woman. Just stay in there. Don’t come out no matter what.”
Eva nodded meekly and worked her way into the log. She didn’t plan on staying though. She shimmied her way inside and headed towards the exit. The woman wouldn’t stop William for long.
Courtney held up her arm, her palm facing outward ready to strike the man approaching. What came out of the woods was not a man. Mad, perhaps. A monster, most definitely. One with fangs.
“Vampire...” she breathed out.
She did not recognize William from her previous encounter with him. Just how many freaking vampires are on this Isle? This one looked crazed, and hungry. Burned and scarred. Practically naked, his eyes seething with venom.
He snarled at the reporter, his fangs warning her to stay out of his way.
This was more than Courtney was prepared to battle. She came to kill Feyks. One in particular... Stricker.
“Get out of my way,” warned William. The human blood pulsing inside him cut away his control. He smelled the reporter’s blood, pumping hard and fast as adrenaline forced its way through. “Leave. Now!” he told her savagely. If she didn’t leave, he feared he would suck every last glorious drop from her body.
“I’m not going to let you kill her,” said Courtney, standing her ground.
William wasted no time. The blood rush was at its peak. It would burn out if he didn’t act and kill Eva now. He dashed forward with every bit of speed he could muster and shoved the reporter out of the way. Courtney went sprawling across the forest floor.
He hadn’t meant to push her so hard.
It didn’t matter right now. He needed to end Eva Jordan, fast.
Eva shimmied her way through the hollowed out log and got to her feet. She hobbled a few steps when William slammed into her, taking her to the ground. He pinned her arms underneath his, restraining her legs with his own. Ignoring the pain it caused him, with each touch and grab.
His breath was hot and close. His fangs rubbing down her neck.
Eva cried out, feeling a pinch.
A warrious cry resounded from behind William, the reporter landing on his back, kicking, hitting and punching.
“Leave her alone,” Courtney shouted.
William sat up on his knees, trying to stop her.
Eva pulled herself up, feeling her neck. He hadn’t broken through. She squirmed out from underneath him and got to her feet. Hobbling into the woods.
Courtney didn’t stop her attack.
William recoiled when teeth bit into his flayed skin.
She swiped the blood off her face, disgusted that she’d gotten his blood into her mouth. It tasted salty and rusty and a bit like burnt toast. Some of it slid down her throat even though she tried to spit it out.
William didn’t have time for this.
Eva’s frame disappeared into the shadows ahead of him. He reached over his back and with a fierce pull grabbed the reporter and threw her on the ground in front of him. She gasped, the wind knocked out of her.
Courtney eyed him, terrified. She tried to move, but her body would not obey.
William’s deadly stare focused on the vein popping in her neck. He licked across his teeth, his tongue craving to taste her. His throat hungry for the red slick. The fear in her gaze fed the monster, dared him to take her. His eyes lowered to half-mast, the vein in her neck throbbed, calling to him.
With a snarl he yanked her body upward and plunged his fangs into her.
“Please don’t,” Courtney cried out. She beat at him, but it did no good. Her body weakened underneath him. She tried to summon a spell, any spell, but the terror and the weakness was too much.
William pulled his fangs out of her, blood dripping down his chin.
And agonizing wail escaped his lips and he dropped her. Disgusted by what he’d just done. And yet the darkness inside him bathed in euphoria. Screamed in the pleasure her blood gave him.
So full. So full of life. Scouring through him, healing, and strengthening. Awakening desires so long asleep and controlled. He wanted more blood. To sink his teeth and suck her dry.
You can’t... kill this woman, a small voice, somewhere deep in his mind told him. Melinda... you have to get back to Melinda. You must kill Eva Jordan... a low snarl slipped through his lips. His eyes lifted, peering into the woods with deadly intent.
He wanted more blood.
But wanted Eva Jordan, more.
William got to his feet, bloodlust heavy in his breath.
Courtney saw this one chance to stop him, before he either killed the girl with the white hair, or someone else. She pulled herself to her knees and lifted her palm, ready to strike a close blow behind him. She wasn’t even sure it would work.
A twig snapped under the pressure of her movement.
William spun around, his eyes wild and unrepentant. A feral preservation took over. He reached down and thrust his fingers around her neck and yanked her into the air, tossing her like a doll. He spun around taking off after Eva, ignoring the cracking snap, as Courtney’s body slammed into a tree.
His bloodlust wouldn’t be satiated until Eva Jordan was dead.
William tore into the woods following Eva’s trail.
She wasn’t far. And the reporter’s blood was allowing him to move faster.
Eva had no breath left. Her wounds were taking too long to heal. She stumbled, grabbing for anything within reach to keep herself standing.
William whipped up behind her, exhaling exuberantly. A rough hand snaked around Eva’s shoulder, yanking her head to the side while his other hand snaked its way down her stomach where he viciously pinned her against him. “Farewell, Eva.” His fangs sank into her milky white skin, sealing her fate.
She gasped. The first pang of his venom punching through her.
It was over. He’d bitten her.
The vampire had won.
She expected him to let go and revel in her slow and painful demise. But he did not stop. William did not care that he was sucking in werewolf blood. He knew it would weaken him. Maybe even kill him since he was only steps from death already. But he wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
He was going to kill Eva Jordan until she was totally fucking dead. Until she’d taken her last breath, her life fully spent. Even if it killed him to do it.
Eva Jordan would be one problem the Howards never had to fear again.
He heard Eva’s raspy breath. His venom spreading through her, shutting her down. William listened to her heartbeat, pumping hard to stay alive. She inhaled, her breathing constricted. Her muscles convulsing, unable to fight the poison killing her.
He released his bite with a lurching sway, losing his grip on her. His body ravaged with werewolf blood.
Eva slumped to the ground. She lay on her back fighting for every breath. Each attempt growing harder and more painful. The vampire venom spread like wildfire, burning her insides like the fire that had burned William’s body for an entire night.
She’d only suffer for minutes.
William’s knees buckled and he landed next to Eva, falling to his back. His head turned toward her. It was his final movement. His body seized, the werewolf blood paralyzing him, effectively killing the healthy human blood he’d gorged on to finish the job.
William struggled to stay conscious. The world spinning around him. His eyes froze open. Still able to see. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Eva Jordan’s last exhale...
No life in her eyes.
No breath in her lungs.
No beating of her heart.
It was finished.
FIREWORKS BOOMED ACROSS the Isle. The Howards and Lizzy Deane were closing in on the old tree in White Pines. If what they expected to happen, happened, they’d be ambushed at any moment by the Feyk.
The attack came just seconds later, spells shooting at them from every direction, including overhead.
“Now,” ordered Jack.
Charlie and Lizzy downed their vials of cloaking potion, followed by Michael and his father. Within seconds, the Feyk didn’t know what to aim for as the foursome disappeared.
Charlie used the silver eyes of his wolf to spot the silhouette of a Feyk sitting up on a tree branch overhead. Charlie lunged upward shaking the branch. The Feyk dropped to the ground with a startled grunt. Before it could pop out, Charlie seized him, pinned him, and tore the evil grin off his face. The ring allowed just the right amount of his wolf free to do the job.
Lizzy planted her palm square at the back of the head of another, shooting off a spell that blew it to bits.
The Feyk army popped in and out, hissing when their counterparts were torn limb from limb, or blown up, knocked into trees and killed off. All by an invisible foursome, they could not see or fight. They had not expected this.
So far, the plan was going smoothly. The Howards and Lizzy were taking control of the battle. Keeping their enemy on the run.
Another Feyk went down, this one at Michael’s hand.
Fireworks boomed across the Isle, covering the sound of their footsteps.
Michael backed off after doing away with the Feyk, only to crash into his father. Jack yelped, falling over. Michael called out, unable to see his dad to help him.
“I’m fine,” said Jack, back on his feet. “Quiet now.”
Michael obeyed, relieved, and searched out the closest Feyk.
OUT AT THE ENTRANCE of the park, Mack heard the blasts of the battle through the fireworks bombing across the Isle.
“So it begins,” she muttered. She looked up to see an ambulance driving in. “Good. Alex is here. Not a moment too soon.” She was surprised when a few vehicles followed behind it.
A few of the locals got out, offering their help.
She shook her head. “None of you should be here.”
“We just knew that your deputies were in town managin’ the holiday crowd. We figured you might need a little backup.” It was old Freddy Collier.
“From you, Freddy? You’re liable to go needin’ the dang ambulance,” scolded Mack.
He laughed at that.
Another vehicle approached. This one Mack was expecting.
“Hiya Earl. Josh.” She climbed up the side step, leaning in on the window of the cab. “Just park it for now.”
“Hellofa final job,” Earl jested in a rough voice. He was retiring that week.
A thunderous boom echoed from inside the park. Mack let out a low whistle.
“Sounds like a war zone in there,” said Josh, his eyes wide.
“That it does,” Mack responded glumly.
Earl reached out and touched Mack’s hand. “They’re gonna be okay.”
Mack wanted to agree. Desperately.
She looked at Earl unable to say it.
It was the first time she wasn’t sure they would be.
THEY HAD JUST MINUTES before the cloaking spell wore off and their invisibility advantage would end. Each of them searched out the Feyks, killing them off one by one. It was getting harder as the Feyk were catching on and dematerializing much faster, leaving plumes of smoke in their wake, which served as a screen to block them from view when they rematerialized a few feet away.
Charlie took out four, Lizzy four, Jack three, and Michael, two.
Lizzy was about to sneak up behind another when her foot caught a branch and she tripped, making too much noise and alerting the Feyk to her presence.
It spun, a malignant grin opening into a fierce snarl as it pounced on her invisible form. Lizzy kicked at it, but its fingers found their way around her throat.
Charlie couldn’t see who was being attacked, but saw the Feyk fighting nothing and knew it was one of his own. He lunged over, knocking the Feyk off Lizzy. She got to her feet, grabbed a potion from her belt and slammed it into the oversized mouth of the Feyk, yelling for whoever had knocked him off her, to duck.
A split second later, bloody bits of Feyk rained down.
Lizzy looked up to see Charlie standing nearby. If she could see him, chances are he could see her. The cloaking potion had worn off. Michael and Jack came into view just a moment later; Michael, mid-shooting of a spell which nicked the Feyk he was aiming for, but didn’t kill it.
They worked their way towards each other, the remaining Feyk now able to see each of them. They worked back to back, blocking the firebomb of spells pummeling them.
“Toward the tree,” ordered Jack. It was just over the crest in front of them.
Lizzy grabbed another potion bottle and smashed it at her feet as they jumped over the crest. “Don’t look back,” she warned.
A ghostly wall of golden light burst upward, turning so bright, so fast, that it blinded anything looking into it. The Feyk giving chase to the Howards and Lizzy, went stumbling down the embankment. Piling up at the bottom, a pile of wiry arms and legs.
“Stop!” a commanding voice called out.
The Howards and Lizzy, stopped, but the order was not for them.
It was for the Feyk army. Stricker had told them to stop the battle.
Charlie’s chest heaved, his eyes laser focused on Stricker. Ready to transform at a moment’s notice to finish this battle.
Michael and Lizzy stood back to back, watching all sides.
Jack Howard stood in front of them all, his intention to speak to the Feyk leader.
He didn’t lower his guard when he saw his daughter, looking near dead, tied to a tree. He stuffed his concern into the back of his mind, staying focused.
Michael had a much harder time doing the same, when he saw his sister tied up with Emily lying at her feet, it almost became too much for him.
There was no sign of William, Lucas, or Riley.
Jack looked back at them sternly. “Be ready.” He stepped forward to speak with the Feyk leader.
MELINDA HEARD FOOTSTEPS crunching on the ground, in the sudden silence as the battle paused. In the barrage of blasts, she had no idea if anyone in her family was injured, killed or all alive. She needed to see them and begged her eyelids to open. They lifted and closed. She saw the silhouette of a man. She forced her lids open again. I’m losing my mind, her thoughts mumbled deliriously. There was no way her father was standing just a few feet away from her.
She heard his voice, clear as day. Had she fallen asleep? Was she dreaming? Or was it all just a figment of her exhausted and delirious brain?
“I THINK YOU KNOW WHO I am,” stated Jack.
“Daddy Jack Howard,” Stricker slithered in reply, taking a step towards Melinda and Emily.
Feyk popped in behind him as if to guard their leverage.
“I am Sir Tinkham Sickereaux. They call me Stricker.”
“I don’t plan on getting on a first name basis,” declared Jack. “How about we finish this?”
“Right to the point, I like that.”
“You want the doorway to the power source open, I want Melinda, Emily, and anyone else you’re holding hostage turned over to us in exchange.” Jack already knew this is why Stricker had taken them, as leverage to open the door.
“Agreed,” was all Stricker replied.
He showed that he’d go through with the bargain by untying Melinda. Her hands were still bound and she could not maintain her balance. She fell against the tree, sliding down next to Emily.
It took everything her brothers and father had, not to run forward and help them. But they had to stick to the plan. If they did, and Stricker kept his part of the bargai
n, they’d all get out of this alive.
“And where are Lucas, Riley, and... William?” Jack choked out. Hoping against hope that he wasn’t dead.
Stricker shrugged. “Off romping through the woods somewhere finishing off the shifter I expect. Last I checked anyway...”
Jack refused reply, wondering if Stricker was telling the truth. Had they let William go? Had Riley’s rage spell been broken?
Stricker clucked and let out an impatient sigh. “Why is it that people never believe what I tell them? We may be a cunning breed, but a bargain is a bargain. We do not break our bargains.”
Overhead, bursts of color erupted continually as the local’s fireworks show dragged on. It wasn’t far off from the big show. Jack’s gaze never left the Feyk leader.
“Open the door, show us how to get in, and you get all your precious ones returned to you,” Stricker retorted testily.
“Very well.” Jack turned to the doorway. He didn’t want to open it, but there was no other choice. He’d known it would come to this. It was the next step in the plan.
He walked over to the creek and cupped water into his hand, taking it and throwing it at the roots underneath the old tree. He reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt and rubbed it into the roots. He used his palm to shoot a blast of air, which was followed by a blast of fire.
“The four elements,” murmured Charlie. How simple it seemed. Jack took a quick side-glance at his sons, shooting them a knowing smile. There was a final step he was keeping to himself.
Lizzy sneezed, dramatically. It sliced into the tension and for the slightest moment, all eyes rushed to her and back to Jack. The enemy had missed it.
They stayed at the ready. Never lowering their guard, ready to strike or defend themselves at any moment.
Jack Howard backed up a few steps.
The roots of the tree started to move, almost as if coming to life. Its thick tendrils untangling themselves until an archway formed.
The way inside.
The door opened.
Stricker let out a jubilant cry.
Lizzy kept her pose while Charlie and Michael rescued Melinda and Emily. It was going to be difficult to finish the battle with two injured parties to keep safe. They had hoped they’d at least be conscious and able to walk.
