by Ruby Raine
“Why are you here?” Charlie questioned in return.
The reporter bellied out a frustrated grunt. “Look, I came seeking out the Howard Witches. I’m not here to hurt anyone, but I do need help. HEY!” she shouted at Finnegan. The gargoyle bumped its head against her thigh. “Watch it!” she warned Finn irately.
Melinda wished she knew more about gargoyles. She was certain William had meant to tell them more, but things had gone all chaotic before he had the chance. Regardless of her lack of knowledge, she knew what the gargoyle was thinking. She wondered if this is how her brother’s empathy worked. It was like the gargoyles sent out these silent signals that were easy to understand. Unsaid words and feelings sent in some type of telepathic frequency or something. Melinda was keen to sense them, although her brothers did pick up a little too.
“The gargoyles can’t decide if she’s evil or not,” Melinda informed Charlie.
“That’s what I was guessing,” he glanced at his sister. “How do you know, for sure?”
“I can’t explain it really, just do. Like they shoved the thought into my head somehow.”
They glanced at Michael, he shrugged. “Empathy doesn’t work on them. I get the same notion as Melinda though.” His arm was tight around Emily’s shoulders.
“Um, hello. Can someone please call these things off,” Courtney called out, less agitated and more determined.
“They won’t hurt you,” Melinda told her. “Unless they decide you’re evil,” she lied, instantly catching she should not reveal the fact the gargoyles were harmless.
“I’m not evil,” Courtney shouted back to them. “At least, I don’t want to be.” Her demeanor changed, a desperation replacing the demanding impatience.
Mack lowered her crossbow.
Charlie chanced closing the distance between them, motioning for the rest to stay put. This time for real. They did. The situation had changed, they had no idea what was going on.
The gargoyles backed away, disappearing one by one into the shadows.
Finn made a bunch of noise aimed at Melinda.
They’d decided she was not evil. It wasn’t like picking up a thought. Or an emotion. More like this vibration in her mind, that somehow wound into a coherent picture of what the gargoyles were trying to express.
“Thanks, Finn.” Melinda gave him a wave as he vanished into a shadow.
This situation was getting stranger by the second.
Courtney straightened out her clothes the best possible. Although it did little good. From the looks of things, she hadn’t showered in days, and if they’d had to guess, she’d been living in the woods.
Charlie approached, cautiously.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak everyone out,” the reporter claimed. “I need help. The kind only Howard Witches can give me.”
“How do you know who we are?” asked Charlie.
“You’re kidding, right? You’re famous, you know.”
“Only in certain circles,” stated Michael. He joined Charlie, having left Emily with Lizzy and Melinda not too far away.
“I think every other witch coven has heard tales of the Howard Witches. Including mine,” she admitted. “I’m a witch, too.”
“Impossible,” argued Charlie, thinking of when William had used his persuasion on her.
“I am a witch. I swear it. You probably don’t believe me because of your vampire...”
“You faked it,” Charlie surmised. It made more sense now. Her answers had been comical and flustered William; it had been rather humorous. Regardless, it didn’t mean he could trust this woman.
“Yes. Thought it was funny at the time. I need to talk to your vampire. I said you guys, but really I need him. He does work with you guys, right? I’m kind of desperate, really need his help.”
“Why his help?”
“To help find the bastard who did this to me?” she opened her mouth and hissed.
“Vampire,” Mack confirmed. “You’re the one killing everyone,” she charged.
Charlie’s eyes flashed silver, a growl building in his throat. Every nerve on high alert in an instant.
“It’s not me. I swear it.” Courtney put her hands up in surrender. “I haven’t killed anyone. But if I don’t get help, soon, it will be me. Please... I really do need help. And your vampire is the only guy I know who can help me track and kill the bastard who turned me.”
Charlie was getting a clearer picture, but his hackles would not go down.
“You’ve just been turned?”
Courtney nodded with a hard swallow.
“Have you drank any human blood?” he questioned.
“No. Not a drop. But it’s getting hard. I’m getting so hungry, and I’ve got no clue how to control the cravings. I’m hoping your vampire can help me. I did not ask to be turned. I don’t want this.” She looked down at herself. “Look at me. I’m a goddamned vampire. This was not in my career plan.”
The Howards, Emily, Lizzy, and Mack all looked between each other. Uncertain.
Charlie wanted to believe her. But he’d been tricked one too many times and was not willing to trust so easily. He would not allow another Eva Jordan into their lives.
“I’ll come willingly,” Courtney insisted. “You can lock me up. You’ll get your proof that it’s not me killing people. Please. I don’t want to hurt anyone. Except the bastard who stole my life and changed me.”
Charlie sighed. Locking her up would solve the problem, whether she was guilty or not. But if this was some kind of trick to broker her way inside the house... even the gargoyles couldn’t seem to decide if she was evil, or not. In the end, they’d backed down though.
Melinda came up alongside her brothers. “The gargoyles don’t think she’s evil. It’s more like, they thought she should be because of what she is, but now, they think of her more like William. I think she’s telling the truth.”
Charlie nodded. “Fine. We can put you in William’s cell for the rest of the night.”
“I hope he can help me. I’m getting desperate.”
“Yeah. Um,” Michael started but stopped. He didn’t want to reveal that William wasn’t around to offer any help. And if Courtney had recently been turned, and there was another vampire on the Isle responsible, this took the situation to a whole new level of desperation for all of them. He saw the same fears in his sibling’s gazes too.
COURTNEY STEPPED PURPOSELY, forcing herself to take a normal human stride. She followed the direction Charlie told her to go. They brought her down to William’s cell and locked her inside.
“Melinda,” called out Charlie. “Do we still have some of William’s animal blood handy?”
“Um, yeah. He left most of it.” She hurried to grab one.
Courtney was a sharp reporter who didn’t miss a beat.
“I didn’t see your vampire hanging around, and you were not sure you had blood on hand. He’s not even here, is he?”
“Sorry. No.” Charlie shrugged, unsure what else to say.
She slunk down into a chair in a defeated slump. “I really hoped he could help me. I mean, there’s no cure for this. But he seemed to manage it well. The one that did this to me was... crazed. Wild. I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s got to be the one you’re searching for. The one killing people.”
Sympathy melted Charlie’s distrust, just a little. Something in his gut told him this woman was telling the truth. She’d been turned into a vampire against her will, and this is why she’d been in hiding. And she didn’t want to be a monster.
She was a witch, who knew enough about vampires to avoid drinking human blood. Once you did, it was so much harder to stop. And took many years of practice and determination to control the bloodlust. At least, this is what William had told them.
Charlie imagined the cravings were intense and wondered how she was coping with this sudden change. Christ, the change in diet and having to avoid sunlight alone must be nearly impossible.
He unlocked the doo
r as Melinda came down with the blood and stepped inside. He went in and told Michael to lock the door behind him. Everyone else waited outside, listening.
She accepted the blood eagerly.
“God this dredge is awful.” But she sucked it down anyway.
“I bet fresh deer tastes better.” He lifted an eyebrow in question.
“Ugh, the poor thing. I hated to kill it but I was so friggin’ hungry. It was either that or, you know.”
“I’m starting to get the picture.”
“I was still there, when you guys showed up and found my most recent meal.”
“That’s why the trail ended,” Lizzy pieced together outside the cell door.
“I thought about popping out right then, but I was afraid I’d scare you and end up with a stake through my heart before explaining myself.”
“A definite possibility,” concurred Charlie. “How did you stick around without getting caught by us or our gargoyle?”
“It’s a vampire thing. I think. I’m still figuring all of this out,” she drew her hands from head to toe. “But mainly, I hid behind a tree not too far away. It’s kind of fascinating actually, to be capable of such stillness. Not a breath. Not a movement of muscle. And I’m guessing the smell of that deer carcass probably worked in my favor. Kept the gargoyle confused.”
Charlie too. His werewolf senses hadn’t picked her up either.
“I think it’s time we get to the main point,” hollered in Mack. “How exactly did this happen to you?” She remained skeptical, unsure they were not harboring a wanted murderer.
“I guess I’d better start from the beginning,” Courtney exhaled.
Outside the cell, Emily tugged at Michael’s arm. “I’m going back to bed.”
“Do you need me to come with you?”
“No. Stay. It’s your job and all. I’m just tired. I don’t need to listen. Not tonight.”
“You sure?”
She nodded and gave him a peck, goodnight. He watched her walk upstairs into the kitchen and out of sight. He would stay long enough to hear out this reporter and follow as soon as possible. Melinda grasped his arm.
“She’ll be okay. Let the woman get some sleep.” She tried to sound lighthearted.
“Let’s just get this over with.” He surprised everyone by unlocking the cell door and joining Charlie. He was about to argue it wasn’t safe but Michael gave him a glare that said, don’t bother.
Everyone else joined him. Why not? They decided. The cell might have been a mini replica of William’s study, but it was nowhere near the size. It was a tight fit with all of them inside. Lizzy joined Charlie leaning against the edge of William’s desk. Michael and Melinda grabbed chairs and moved them nearby the desk, while Courtney started. Mack guarded the door in case their prisoner got the idea to escape.
Courtney laughed at that. “I could be through that door and out of this house before you even shot off that bow of yours.”
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve,” Mack returned flatly.
“I wouldn’t try it anyway,” the reporter claimed. “Believe me, this is the most comfortable I’ve been in weeks. I may be a wild woman willing to go the distance for a story, but I don’t want to live like an animal. Anyway,” she looked at the Howards and Lizzy. “I came to the Isle in search of a Firebrand Feyk named, Sir Tinkham Sickereaux.”
“Stricker,” Lizzy groaned.
Melinda winced, that name branded into so many of her bad memories.
Michael was glad Emily decided to go to bed; she didn’t need to listen to this.
“I tracked him here,” Courtney explained. “Took me months, but it was the closest I’d ever gotten to finding that spineless bastard.”
“Sounds like we’re of the same mind at least on one subject,” mumbled Michael.
“Why were you searching for Stricker?” Charlie questioned her.
The reporter scraped teeth across her bottom lip. “He killed someone I cared about.” She shook her head. “A few someone’s, not by his own hand, of course. The bastard never lifts a hand himself. But he’s responsible, and I will make him pay.”
“Another subject we all agree on,” Charlie returned in a dry timbre.
“I’m just glad turning into a vampire didn’t change my mind, or make me forget. If it’s the last thing I do, Stricker will die.”
“So you’re still yourself?” Melinda grilled the reporter. “Once you changed, I mean, you still feel like you?”
“Yes. Me, just, a little different,” analyzed Courtney. “More like me, 2.0. Or me, enhanced. With a side of constant hunger for the red crack.”
They each laughed bleakly at this.
“Sorry, it’s not really funny,” Charlie said.
“No. It’s not. And I’m kind of downright pissed off. But if I can’t have a poke at myself I’m done for, and might as well curl up in a corner and call it a day. Or have you stake me now.”
“I didn’t mean to get too personal,” Melinda apologized. “I’ve known a vampire my whole life, but never a freshly turned one.”
“It’s like seeing the world in a completely different way. Almost like you think you’ve seen things, but then really, you haven’t. Not that being human you’re missing out, I’d still take my human life back in a heartbeat. But I’m much stronger, physically. I can hear way more than I ever wanted to. Although that might come in handy for my job, if I can figure out a way to work in this condition. Oh, and I can run so fast, that’s actually kind of awesome. But I’d still prefer the option of being human me. I hadn’t planned on outliving my human timeline.”
“You think you’ll adjust to this life, though?” Melinda wondered curiously.
“Don’t have a choice, do I? I’m just glad the craving for human food vanishes because being unable to eat my favorite foods, but dying to have them, would drive me into loony land.”
“Do you still have your witch powers?” questioned Melinda.
Charlie’s wolf senses tingled, disquieted over his sister’s interest in this subject, but he held his tongue after a caustic glare from Lizzy. And actually, was curious about this specific answer himself.
“I did, right after I was changed,” Courtney answered. Her tone darkened some. “But as the last of my living human blood was taken over by the vampire blood,” she raised her palm. “Nothing.”
“No, it wouldn’t stick around,” Lizzy said softly. “A witch’s power is tied to life and passed down through bloodlines. Once that life is ended, so is the power. That’s why in the old days witches were often hunted, and their blood stolen for its power. I don’t know if it still happens today.”
Melinda gave a shudder. She had never heard of such a thing. So much I don’t even know about my own heritage.
“Oh, it does,” informed Courtney ominously. “Maybe not recently here, but out in the rest of the world, it’s still a problem. Although not as rampant a problem as it used to be. I guess it’s easier to be a witch in today’s world.”
Michael grunted, rejecting that theory.
“So if someone drank witch’s blood, could they become a witch? Even temporarily?” Melinda wondered.
Charlie had never seen his sister so full of questions.
“No,” answered Lizzy. “It doesn’t work like that. Once it’s out of the body, the blood starts to weaken. To be a true witch you must be born with it. Witch blood can be used to add power to, and enhance spells, and curses and the like, if used when freshly taken. But the strength starts to taper off within a few hours.”
Courtney sighed gloomily. “It’s going to take some getting used to. I’m not a witch anymore.”
“Wait, so how was Eva able to still use her powers after she died and took over Emily?” Melinda asked no one in particular, still stuck in trying to understand it all mode.
“She wasn’t a witch for one thing,” said Charlie. “So her ability wasn’t just tied to her blood. I think being a shapeshifter and a werewolf born from a werewolf moth
er, takes it a cut deeper than bloodlines. At least, that would be my guess.” He eyed Lizzy to see if she knew more.
“Not a subject I’m too familiar with. If you think about it in these terms, say you were not from a witch bloodline, you wake tomorrow just a guy...”
Charlie finished catching her point. “I’d still be a werewolf.”
“So I guess there’s your answer, the easy form of it anyway,” said Lizzy.
Courtney’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t known Charlie was a werewolf he assumed.
“And you guys are in with a spirit vessel,” Courtney chimed in, beaming. She missed nothing. “Wow. I’ve never met one. You’ve got quite the list of secrets here on this little island of yours. Surprising with how legendary your family is.”
Charlie lifted a brow. “Secrets we do prefer to stay on the island, as long as possible,” he reasoned with gentle firmness. “The locals are loyal to our secrets.”
“Of course. I may be a nosy reporter, but my loyalties to my profession always come first, did come first.” She frowned.
“If you don’t mind my asking,” began Charlie, “who did Stricker kill?”
She looked at each of them, before finally letting out, “My coven. All of them.” She eyed them uneasily, a dry swallow stuck in her throat. “I’m all that’s left. They may not have been my blood family, but they were equally important to me. In some cases, more so.” She looked like she wanted to say more but held back.
“I’m sorry for that loss,” commiserated Charlie. The Howards were a recognized coven, although never called themselves such. Regardless, his family was everything and he could not fathom losing any more of them. Especially to the hands of a slimy prick like Stricker.
Michael asked her, “If revenge is what you were seeking, why come here and take a job as a reporter?”
“It’s what I do. Did. In the real world. A girl’s gotta make a living, right? And I would have never actually given real secrets away. My boss wanted to stir up business. The reporter position opened up just as I’d tracked Stricker to The Demon Isle. I used a bit of hoodoo on the station manager and got the job. It was a good cover. And once I’d finished taking out Stricker, I’d have made some excuse, and quit, and left.”
