by Ruby Raine
“I know.”
Those two words said it all.
He did not have her.
It wasn’t just this dream of his future struggle. It was Lizzy. She’d chosen the wolf. Not him.
“Lisbeth. I love you.” His breaths were getting heavier, the poison spreading.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, Grayson.” None of this was fair. She’d get a second chance to live out her life. He would not. “I love you. Forever.”
His eyes fluttered, his breaths getting shallow.
His body went limp.
“Grayson?” Lizzy sobbed out.
His body went still. A final breath stopping before it should.
One moment, he was lifeless, and in her arms. And in the next, he was gone. His body dissolved into nothing but air. Like he never truly existed. Lizzy looked around like she expected to see him somewhere. But he was gone. True death, at her hands.
She was shaking so badly she couldn’t get to her feet. She slumped over onto the ground, part of her wishing she’d died, too.
“Charlie...” she cried out.
What had she done?
She’d killed Grayson. She’d killed the vampire she loved, who’d loved her so much he’d suffered many long years for her. It had to end this way, but it still hurt more than anything else she’d ever felt, including Charlie’s teeth jamming against the bone in her shoulder. Physical pain was nothing compared to this mental anguish. Even when you were positive, it was the right choice.
“Charlie...”
HE’D JUST GOTTEN OUT of the shower and dressed, his brain befuddled that almost seventy-two hours had gone by since he’d somehow fallen into an insanely deep sleep. He suspected magic was involved, and although a little miffed, he felt more awake and alive than he had in weeks. But he was still shaking off the fog.
The only thing that had stuck with him, that dream. So life-like. Every detail remembered as if it had actually happened, and he’d bitten Lizzy. He let out a sigh. There was no use thinking about that right now. The sun was coming up, and it was time for coffee, and regrouping, in order to figure out what to do about this war to come. And the fact that Stricker, and the Feyk, were still hanging around the power source.
Charlie gasped and doubled over. Then grabbed his head. A voice was calling out for him. The pained echo of it ringing his brain like a bell.
“What the hell?” he pushed out of him. “Lizzy?” This made no sense. But the urgency surging through him sent him into instant panic mode. Lizzy needed him, but how the hell did he know this? He got upright, stretching his eyes trying to make sense of it all.
The silver of his wolf landed on a splash of red, staining the bed just below his pillow. He stared for exactly three long seconds before flying out of his bedroom door, pounding down the stairs and out of the mansion. Without even thinking his legs took him into The Demon Isle woods heading into White Pines.
He had no idea how the hell he understood where to find her, but it wasn’t even a question. He just knew. He ran and ran and ran until suddenly, there she was. Curled up on the ground like she hurt all over. And she did, but Charlie had no idea why. He approached her cautiously, getting down next to her and bringing her into his arms. “Lizzy?”
She just sobbed, and gripped onto him like her life depended on it.
He was ready to take her to the hospital, fearing this was some delayed response to the curse breaking, but then she uttered the words, “I killed him.” And that stopped him cold.
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
She pulled away so he could see, and understand. Her electric eyes fixed on his, and she watched the truth sink in. Saw the shock and reality freeze him up.
“I made my choice,” she whimpered.
Charlie set her back on the ground, stood up, and stepped back.
“It wasn’t a dream.”
She shook her head.
“You... you...” he didn’t finish. “Oh, fuck.”
“I tricked you. But I had to.”
“Why? Why would you do this?”
She reached out to him but he stepped further back.
“Charlie, I had to. It was the only way.”
“To do what?”
“Kill Grayson. Let him go.”
“What?” He shook his head and took a breath to remain calm, but his wolf was nearing dangerous levels of not okay. Thank God for the ring.
Lizzy got into his mind. Her wolf waking up inside his thoughts. He saw it all, their wolves’ connection getting stronger by the second. He saw Melinda’s prophetic dream. Lizzy’s choice, and that she’d chosen him even before she’d sentenced Grayson to death. That she held it as her own personal responsibility, to end Grayson. As kindly as possible. Just like they’d planned on doing with William. But it had to be her, and only her, to end this life she’d loved so much.
It made sense, on paper.
Charlie had felt the same way when it came to William.
But Lizzy had tricked him into biting her.
“Can you not understand why?” she begged of him. “I needed this to be me, and me alone. Biting him was the quickest and kindest way I could end his tortured existence. And... I chose you, Charlie. I chose a life with you.”
And what a hell of a way to start out!
“I didn’t get any say in that choice.” He deflated. “I thought it was a dream.”
“Are you saying if you’d known it was real, you wouldn’t have done it? You told me, if both parties were willing, the ring would allow it. I tricked you, yes, but you wanted it as much as I did.”
“It’s just not how I imagined it in my mind. I imagined it a bit more, consensual, in the, we are both alert and present, sort of sense. I would have done it differently.”
She heard the regrets in his mind. He was afraid he’d hurt her. He hadn’t been gentle, because he hadn’t thought it real. She replayed her memory of it, allowing him to see her view, to affirm it was exactly what she’d expected. And wanted.
“Charlie...” there was nothing in her voice but misery, and the need to know that in the end, she’d chosen right. She had nothing left. Was starting out at zero. One new life, waiting to begin.
And she’d been courageous beyond belief.
And he’d be the largest fool in the world, to hold this small treachery over her.
In the end, what she’d done was so perfectly, Lizzy. And exactly what he’d expect from her. To do the right thing, even if it meant it would hurt. Or might be to her own detriment. And still the biggest reason why he loved her so fucking much.
She felt his mood shift, heard it in her own mind.
This was going to take some getting used to, but right now, she’d not give it up for the world. With Grayson, the vampire had access to her mind. But now, she had access to Charlie’s, and he had access to hers. This was about to bring a whole new meaning to the word, intimacy.
He got down on the ground and dragged her onto his lap; the beautiful mess that was the woman he loved. It was hitting him, hard. Like a deadweight grounding him to the earth.
Lizzy’s ordeal was finally over.
She had chosen him to spend her life with.
It was... overwhelming. And this gift, not to be accepted lightly. She’d given up many precious things in exchange for this life.
She sniffled and lifted her head, and wow, those electric eyes were easy to look at. Something he could easily get lost in, a lot.
Mine... his wolf growled out. The silver of his wolf stared back at her, reveling in the truth. He kissed her forehead, softly. His lips forever branded with the taste of her. But he did not smell her. He sniffed again. And saw the explanation in her mind. Mathew had helped her, by giving her a potion to mask the wolf scent from the vampire. It would wear off in a few days.
His little wolf had visited hell, more than once, and survived.
All he could offer was himself. Fully. In return.
He pulled her up so her electric eye
s were even with his.
“I love you, Lizzy Deane. You never have to doubt that. Ever.” He kissed her, starting at her forehead, to her nose, making his way to her lips, getting lost there for a few minutes. There was something leveling, holding the woman he loved, knowing she was really his.
“Always yours,” she promised. “You are my life now. And I plan on loving you, to death, Charlie Howard.”
He chuckled. He could agree with that sentiment. As long as it was many long years away when they were old, and gray, and had great grandkids hanging around.
“That sounds like a perfect plan,” she whispered. This mind connection thing was kind of cool. Today, at least. When she was angry at him... they’d have to see how that all worked out. She sniffled again, he pulled back, sensing her mind getting thoughtful about something that made no sense to her.
“Is it weird, Charlie, that all I want to do right now is take off all my clothes, roll around on the ground so I’m covered in earth, and run in the woods?” She sniffled again, this idea coming out of nowhere, and making no sense, whatsoever.
Charlie breathed out in befuddled disbelief.
“Oh, my little blue-eyed wolf. You’re going to be so much trouble. Aren’t you?”
And he was looking forward to every single minute of it.
WICKED GOOD WITCHES BOOK 11
Total Eclipse of the Vampire's Heart
Supernatural Protectors: A Legacy of Magic
COURTNEY JESSUP WAS about to finish her first night watch in White Pines, keeping an extra lookout on the area around the Power Source on behalf of the Howard Witches—people she was eternally grateful to, for helping her out with her new predicament—becoming a vampire. And people she was so quickly falling in love with and held great respect for.
She didn't blame them at all for what had happened to her.
More and more, as each hour passed, she had begun to blame herself more so than anyone else. It was her own blind determination to seek revenge for her murdered coven that had gotten her into this mess. She could have come to The Demon Isle and sought her revenge differently—well, there were much smarter ways she could have gone about things. Ways that would not have ended with her sneaking into the woods and getting into a fight with a tortured vampire on a rampage.
Had she bothered to get involved and find out what was happening, and get off the revenge wagon for just a minute, she'd have known Eva Jordan didn't deserve saving and Courtney would still be walking around as a human.
The Howards, and those they held company with, really lived up to the expectation and the rumors she'd heard over her lifetime. And were now her lifesavers and anchors as she tread the waters of her new life. One she was adapting to almost too easily, but it wasn't without its hardships.
Mostly, all the damn blood.
Sniff sniff here—blood.
Sniff sniff there—blood.
Sniff sniff everywhere—blood blood blood.
It was like a constant track playing over and over and over.
Keeping busy helped.
Keeping super busy helped more.
But being out here in the woods was far easier than trying to be around too many people—erm, human blood bags. The Howards were used to dealing with vampires and they trusted her. But she didn't hold that same trust in herself yet. But she'd offered to do this watch to give them a much needed reprieve.
Lizzy Deane dying and coming back to life, to almost be possessed by a super old and powerful witch who'd gotten into dark magic. Only then to mate with werewolf Charlie, and use this new power to kill her fiancé, Grayson Moone. A once good vampire who'd killed too many innocents to count.
And never mind the Feyk attack and battle, and just overall nonstop supernatural trouble.
But being out here in the woods all night so close to where it happened, also gave Courtney too much to mull over. Mostly, how it had all happened—she'd been trying to take out the bastard Feyk, Stricker, otherwise known as Sir Tinkham Sickereaux. But had accidentally gotten in the way of the vampire, William Wakefield, and his attempt to take out the bitch, Eva Jordan. A woman Courtney had mistaken for an innocent, and therefore gotten into a fight with the vampire, died, and been turned.
But tonight, all was quiet around the Source. Nothing nefarious going on at all.
And yet there was something else lingering in the shadows. Not an evil presence, but just that general sense that she was being watched, and was not alone. She sniffed outward, darting here and there, but smelled nothing living but a few scurrying woodland creatures.
She checked Michael's alarm system for the tenth time, it was still working fine. But she couldn't scratch the itch that someone or something was close by. Watching her. Even as she moved at vampire speed around the Power Source.
What possible thing could keep up with her?
And that's when she saw it. A wisp of hazy white off in the distance amongst the trees. Or was it just a silvery shadow from the moon overhead?
Courtney shoved off to find out and slammed to a stop right in front of the thing.
She stilled herself, eyes peering at something impossible.
Her mouth fell open in shock.
A ghost.
Hovering in the woods like it was waiting for her.
"Bree?" Courtney breathed out in ragged disbelief.
The ghost smiled and lifted its arm as if to caress the vampire's cheek, but of course, it slipped right through her skin like an icy sleeve.
"Is it really you?"
The ghost nodded serenely. But there was no way for the dead woman to speak. And yet Courtney saw relief in the spirits gaze.
"Were you—looking for me?" Courtney's vocal chords faltered. She hadn't even imagined such a thing. Bree nodded, and though satisfied that she'd finally accomplished this, there was a clear mark of stress in her ghostly gaze.
Damn. Courtney never wished so hard for a ghost to be able to speak.
"Oh, Bree. I didn't even think any of you would stick around. I thought you'd all moved on. Shit. I guess I wanted to believe you had moved on and were at peace. Are the others here too?"
Bree shook her head.
"Just you. Okay. Why haven't you moved on? If it's because of me, don't stay here for that. I got myself into some trouble but I'm going to be okay. Promise."
Bree smiled, but shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I know. I can't ever stay out of trouble. But I came here for all of you." She spoke of her murdered coven. "I tracked that bastard here. I was so close to getting him. But I fucked up. And now look at me."
Bree glided ever so close. For a ghost, the stress lines lining her eyes were prevalent.
"You didn't just stay behind for me, did you? There's something else?"
Bree nodded. But she had no way to share this information.
"Too bad Emily Morgan isn't still on the Isle. She's a Spirit Vessel. You could have used her to speak to me. And I—" Courtney clipped herself off. "Oh, hell, Bree. I miss you so damned much. I'd give almost anything to hold you one more time. We didn't really get to say goodbye."
Their once bright future stripped down to nothing.
Bree, dead.
Courtney, a vampire, who'd live for a very long time. Maybe even forever.
This has been weighing on her more than she realized. Along with human feelings and memories, still quite present in her vampire mind. Her need to seek and fulfill this vengeance—to make that bastard, Stricker, pay for his crimes. For taking away the woman she had planned to marry and live out her life with. For stripping away her coven—her true family when her own had pushed her away.
Oddly enough, they hadn't tossed her out on her ass because she was into chicks. Not that they were totally down with it, but they'd handled it. Mostly. But when she came out to them as a witch, it tipped the scale to some previously unrealized level of too fucking far.
And her being a witch made no sense because neither of her parents were witches and sh
e had no idea how this had happened. It was the only reason she'd even tried to talk to them about it, trying to figure out which side of the family came from a witch bloodline. Instead, they called her an abomination they wished they'd never taken into their family. It was also the day Courtney learned they weren't even her real parents, she'd been adopted.
But it wasn't long after this that her coven had been murdered and she'd been so focused on revenge, she hadn't spent any time at all trying to find out who her real parents were.
"Will you move on now?" she asked Bree in a soft whisper.
The ghost shook her head. She lifted her hazy fingers and kissed two of them, then placed them against Courtney's lips. It was their see you soon goodbye that they'd used daily, whenever they spent any time apart, for work, or whatever.
Courtney closed her eyes wishing to feel those fingers as real against her lips. It was partly encouraging to know Bree was still around and wasn't leaving today. But equally heartbreaking as Courtney wanted her to be at peace, and she wasn’t.
The vampire opened her eyes to silvery shadows of the moon. Her beloved Bree was gone. If she still had a living, beating heart, it would have broken through her chest with the pure ache of this visitation. As it was, it still hurt deep within her soul and she hoped Bree was able to find closure on whatever was keeping her here so she could move on.
A vehicle door slammed shut in the distance.
Her watch was over and her relief had arrived.
Putting her human life behind her was proving difficult. She had so many unfinished things to deal with herself. Revenge for her coven. Finding her real parents. And now Bree...
And don't forget her new life, too.
Don't feed off humans and adjust to life as a vampire.
Which might last forever.
She had a sick thought about Bree sticking around, even as a spirit... perhaps life would be bearable in a hundred more years if the ghost of her fiancé was still with her... but it wouldn't be fair or right to Bree. As painful as the thought was, Courtney would do anything she within her power to make sure Bree moved on.
