Bled & Breakfast

by Michelle Rowen

  “That’s right.” I raised my chin and glared at her. Only I wasn’t glaring directly into her eyes anymore. That was a danger zone if I wanted to keep from getting bespelled again. I stared at the point between her angry slashes of eyebrows. “You’re an alpha witch. And you’ve kept your collagen levels high for over three hundred years thanks to an immortality spell that uses master vampire blood. I know it. And I’m not the only one who does. If you kill me it won’t matter. Your secret doesn’t die here.”

  I waited, holding my breath for her reaction, hoping it wouldn’t be: “Well, okay then, smarty-pants. I guess I’ll kill you.”

  “Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?” she said through clenched teeth.

  “Frequently.” But I wasn’t dead yet. I was taking that as an encouraging sign. “But I just don’t get it. Why are you still here? Vampires leave a place before people start to guess they’re getting a little long in the fang. Pick up, leave town, start again somewhere new where nobody knows you. But you’re still here. Does Casey know? Miranda? They’re your covenous trio, right? Does anyone know the truth about who you really are and all the nasty things you’re responsible for that didn’t quite make it into the history books?”

  The fine hair on my arms stood up from her magic. It felt big enough to reach out and grab me by the throat without her making a move toward me. A remote death spell, just like what killed Owen. No need to get her hands dirty.

  But Raina didn’t unleash her magic. She did the opposite and caged it.

  Slowly, the charge subsided. I was able to notice how fast my heart beat and feel the cool slither of perspiration down my back.

  “Wait a minute,” I said, thinking it through. “It’s Malik, isn’t it? That’s why you stay here in Salem? So you can be close to your old lover’s trapped spirit.”

  Her gaze snapped to mine again. “You know nothing, vampire.”

  I think I’d found her Achilles’ heel—it had a witch hunter–shaped blister on it. “You shouldn’t feel too loyal to that guy. After all, he’s the one who told me where to find your grimoire.”

  The crackle of violence, the sheer alpha witch magnitude of her power, slid over my skin. I couldn’t help but shudder in fear.

  Then she swore under her breath, clenched her fists at her sides, and stormed out of the dungeon, slamming the door behind her.

  Finally, I let go of the breath I’d been holding and slumped down in the chair. I didn’t know how long I had before she returned, but I had to use that time to figure out how to escape.

  I pulled at the ropes and felt the burn of the silver. I forced myself to breathe, to somehow find the strength to ignore the pain long enough to break through the ropes. After all, they weren’t handcuffs. Ropes were just ropes, and I did have some extra vampire strength at the ready. It would be five, maybe ten seconds tops of sheer agony, and then . . .

  Then I’d pick up my severed hands from the floor and walk out of here with my head held high.

  Okay, bad plan.

  A few minutes passed and all I heard was the sound of my rapid breathing. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to hyperventilate.

  “Calm down,” I told myself. “All is well. You can figure this out.”

  “I have no doubt that you can.”

  A fresh, icy shiver coursed through me at hearing Malik’s voice.

  The ghost studied me from the far corner of the cavernous but very underdecorated dungeon. His arms were crossed over his chest and his black eyes glittered in the shadows.

  I shook off any dread and distaste at seeing him again. “What do you want?”

  “That’s not very polite, is it?”

  “I’m sorry. How are you today, Malik? You’re looking rather . . . dead.”

  His lips stretched. “Have you ever heard the saying about honey and vinegar? Why take such a vinegar-like tone with me? What have I done to deserve this?”

  “Do you want a list?”

  His smile held. “Do you want my help while the witches have left to run an errand?”

  I blinked, surprised he’d even suggest it. “How are you going to help me? Ghosts have no power in the mortal world, even chatty ones like you.”

  This comment made his smile fade just a little. “Tsk-tsk, Sarah. You aren’t doing such a good job with the honey.”

  “They left? How do you know that?”

  “I saw them leave through the front door.”

  “This is Raina’s house?”

  “It is.”

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Malik had shown me where to find the grimoire. My disgust over what he’d done in the past clouded my opinion now—I’ll admit it. And if Raina and Casey had left the building, I needed to use this opportunity any way I could. “Okay, fine. If you’re serious—if you really can help me—then please do. I could use all the help I can get.”

  He eyed my ropes. “Raina brought you here.”

  “Your girlfriend is a problem.”

  His expression darkened. “You know about us.”

  I glanced back at the locked door, fearful that it was going to open at any second. “I know what you did, Malik. I know you hurt a lot of people—with Raina’s help. That’s why you’re trapped here now, right? One of those witches you murdered managed to trap your spirit here to punish you.”

  He didn’t speak for a moment. “You’re right. This is a punishment. One I entirely deserve. I am responsible for everything you believe I am. And I regret it to my very soul.”

  Okay. This I didn’t expect. “You regret what you did? Seriously?”

  “I can’t change what has happened. I am trapped here, forever reliving my dark decisions, but I believed what I did was right. I see now that witches come in many different forms—both evil and good. Just as vampires do. I truly believed I was helping humanity. But I wasn’t. I was ignorantly harming innocent people I assumed were demons. I harmed them with Raina’s help. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do now to make amends.”

  It couldn’t be possible. Was he being serious? He existed with regret, having enough time as a ghost to see the wrong in what he’d done.

  He was just like Thierry. Thierry had also been responsible for his share of darkness, but now I knew that time had made him into a different man entirely from the one I’d met in the past.

  Three hundred years was a very long time. Maybe it was enough to change someone from evil to good.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I don’t expect you to say anything. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I know I’ll never get it from anyone.” He glanced toward the door. “I don’t have much time. She doesn’t want me in her house—I can’t stay here for more than a few minutes before I’m cast back into the spirit world. I remind her of what she’s done. And who she was. She’s evil—one of the witches who should have been executed. Instead, she directed me toward the others, the good ones who didn’t deserve death. She used me to gain more power through the blood of fallen witches.” His voice broke. “I loved her and she betrayed me. She was not the woman I believed her to be. She must be stopped.”

  A shudder of fear and revulsion went through me. “How do I stop her?”

  He looked down at his hands to see he’d started to fade. “Damn it.” His gaze shot to mine. “You must free yourself and disable Raina tonight, any way you can. Tonight is very important for me, and she can’t try to stop me. There’s no other—”

  And then he was gone. Vanished. As if he was never there to begin with.

  I stared at the spot where he’d been standing, my mind reeling from what he’d told me.

  Or, rather, what he’d all but confirmed for me.

  Raina Wilkins was an evil witch. One I was 99.9 percent certain was responsible for at least four vampires recently going the way of the dodo here in Salem.

  And I was currently at her mercy.

  Chapter 15

  Malik had left me with an encyclopedia full
of information to consider. But I didn’t have time to contemplate his regret over his past actions, compare his path to Thierry’s, or consider where Raina and Casey had gone and what torture device they were going to bring back. Bottom line, redemptive ghost or not, I was still tied up in the dungeon of despair, and at this rate I wasn’t going anywhere unless I went back to the “severed hands” plan.

  I sent a bleak look toward Hoppy. “I’m going to die here, you know. And so are you.”

  Hoppy croaked mournfully.

  “Yeah,” I said under my breath. “Exactly what I was thinking. But how about a little less croaking and a little more help?”

  It wasn’t bright down here, so I figured my eyes were playing tricks on me when, a moment later, Hoppy suddenly seemed bigger. Just a little.

  Then a little more.

  The next croak he let out was deeper, louder.

  “What are you doing?” I asked uneasily. “Are you going to explode? Please don’t be an exploding toad.”

  He didn’t explode. But he was still . . . changing.

  Or, really, I guess a better word would be “shifting.”

  Shape-shifting.

  My eyes widened. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

  Hoppy grew larger and larger, his form turning less toad, more something else. Something taller and broader. His brownish green mottled skin became less mottled and much less green. And there was a lot of it.

  Shoulders, arms, a torso, legs, and feet.

  Human form. Hoppy had human form now. Six feet tall, well built, broad shouldered, dark haired—very attractive for someone who’d been a palm-sized amphibian two minutes ago. Tall, dark, and handsome for sure. Less toad and way more . . . Toad Prince.

  Did I happen to mention he was totally naked?

  Hoppy gave me a sheepish look while strategically shielding part of his body with his hands. “Right. So . . . you probably have some questions for me, huh?”

  My mouth was open so wide by now that my fangs had dried out. “You’re . . . you’re a—a weretoad?”

  “I’m not a weretoad,” he said, as if insulted by the suggestion. “I’m a shape-shifter. We can change into lots of different animals.”

  I blinked. “And you chose a toad?”

  “Yeah. This time.” He gave me a distraught look. “I only changed so I could help save you, so please spare me the judgment.”

  I could barely form words. I literally shook my head to try to clear it. “Save me. Yes, excellent plan, um, naked toad shifter man. Ropes?”

  “I’m on it.” He scrambled to untie the tight knots holding my hands behind me. Finally, the painful silver-infused ropes fell away.

  “Thank you . . . Hoppy.” I averted my gaze so I wouldn’t get too much of the floor show when he moved into my view again.

  “The name’s actually Todd.”

  “Todd,” I repeated.

  “That’s right.”

  Todd the toad. Okay.

  I swallowed hard. “Does Heather know?”

  He didn’t reply to this.

  “Does she?” I said it louder as I shakily got up from the chair I’d been stuck in for far too long. I needed to get the H-E-double-hockey-stakes out of here.

  “No, and I’d really, really prefer that she doesn’t find out.” His hands currently were doing a great and much appreciated impression of a fig leaf. He cringed at my sharp look. “It’s not as creepy as you might think. Heather—she needs my protection. That vampire she had the hots for was big trouble.”

  “You mean the dead one.”

  “Yeah, him. He’s still trouble.”

  I couldn’t argue with him there. “If you wanted to protect Heather, then you could have shifted into a Rottweiler. Or a grizzly bear. Or a sharp-horned unicorn.”

  He shrugged. “She found me when I was a toad. I didn’t have much of a choice. It happened. And”—he swore under his breath—“now it’s over.”

  “And you sacrificed this . . . this—whatever it is you think you have with Heather—all to save me.”

  “Yeah, well, if those witches come back, I’ll be sacrificing a lot more. So let’s get out of here.”

  An excellent suggestion.

  I swiftly moved to the door and tried the handle, but it was locked. Not a huge surprise.

  “Stand back,” I said, giving him a sidelong glance. “Don’t want any splinters to, um . . . well, just stand back. You’re vulnerable right now.”

  He did as I asked without comment.

  I focused myself, tapping into more of my vampire strength, and kicked the door as hard as I could. It splintered and flew open on the very first try.

  It was the second door of Raina’s I’d broken today. I might have to start running a tab. However, since she’d kidnapped me and tied me up in her dungeon, I currently considered us even.

  The dungeon was in the basement of Raina’s house. I raced up the flight of stairs, found another door, which happily wasn’t locked, and we were suddenly in the kitchen. Todd grabbed a dish towel from its holder next to the stove to semicover his nakedness. The next room was the living room, where the coven’s book club meeting had been held.

  Todd followed me, his bare feet squeaking on the hardwood floors.

  I quickly got to the front door, peeking outside before I let myself out. It was definitely unlocked, hanging on its hinges from earlier. I eyed Todd as he also emerged onto the porch. “You need clothes.”

  He looked around nervously. “I know you think I’m some sort of weirdo, hiding out in Heather’s home, Sarah, but you don’t understand why I do this for Heather.”

  “So tell me.” I glanced over my shoulder with surprise as I left the porch and hit the sidewalk. The evening air was cool, the skies darkening. Streetlamps flickered on all along the street. Freedom felt fan-frigging-tastic.

  His breath hitched. “I love her.”

  “You love her?”

  He nodded. “We were involved—I thought we had something really special. But then two months ago she broke things off. She couldn’t let herself be with me since she was too busy imagining herself in love with that loser.”

  Aha, so this was Heather’s ex she’d mentioned in passing, the one who’d left Salem without saying anything. “But little does she know, you never went anywhere.”

  “No, I didn’t.” He cringed as he kept pace with me. “And it’s not just that vampire. I need to watch over her because of her magic. You’ve seen what it does to her—those nosebleeds. That’s not normal, Sarah. Something is wrong with her.”

  Concern spiked inside me. “What’s wrong? Do you know?”

  He shook his head. “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.”

  A passing car beeped at the sight of a half-naked man walking along the sidewalk. To Todd’s credit, he didn’t move his tiny dish towel and give anyone the full monty. “Damn it. I need clothes. I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

  The next moment, he ducked through a fence into a backyard.

  I didn’t wait. I had to get back to the inn and get my hands on a phone so I could call Markus. I had to get Thierry back in his regular body. And then the two of us had to escape from this dangerous, witch-filled town as soon as vampirically possible.

  Still having trouble believing I’d managed to escape Raina’s dungeon without too much opposition, I got two blocks from the witch’s house before I saw a huge crowd ahead. It took me only a second to realize it was the street festival—my original destination, but now the last thing I needed. However, unless I took a time-consuming detour, the best way would be to go straight through it on my way back to the Booberry Inn.

  The festival had closed off an entire tree-lined street, and there were at least a hundred booths offering everything from palm readings to used books to portraits and caricatures done on the spot to homemade perfumes. There were also costumes to buy for the thousand-plus attendees, everything from cloaks to capes to pointy witches’ hats. The scent of hot dogs and o
ther street food wafted through the air.

  For a moment, I paused at a booth that sold reproductions of old portraits of former Salem residents. One was of Jonathan Malik himself—no doubt about it. I stared into his dark eyes for a moment, transfixed, comparing what he’d told me about his past to what I knew about Thierry’s. Were they really similar?

  I wished I knew what to believe. He’d asked me to disable Raina any way I could. Disable her? Did she plan on stopping him from doing something? Contacting someone? Ending her quiet but steady reign of terror here, right under the noses of the general public, which had no idea there was an alpha witch in town?

  It didn’t make any sense. And knowing that alpha witch had it in for me kept me from lingering very long.

  “Thirty dollars and I’ll throw in the frame,” the man in the booth said. “Handsome guy, isn’t he? They say his ghost haunts this town to this very day. It’s my most popular print. The ladies think he has that mysterious quality—a dangerous edge.”

  “He definitely has that.” I grimaced, turning away from the booth. “But no, thanks. I have to go.”

  But then, as I started to swiftly walk away, I saw her. And she saw me.

  “Sarah!” Miranda waved at me and my footsteps slowed. The blonde wore a low-cut, tight red dress, which, just as Heather had suggested earlier, did show off both her beaded necklace and her breast implants to their full advantage. Standing next to her was Hoppy. Or, rather, Todd. He’d made it here fast. Or maybe I’d been staring at that portrait of Malik for longer than I realized.

  Todd had managed to find something to wear very quickly, although it wasn’t what I would have expected.

  “Nice kilt,” I told him.

  The shifter was wearing a Scottish tartan kilt that came a few inches above his knees. And, well, nothing else.

  Oddly enough, with the other costumed people milling about the crowded festival, he didn’t look entirely out of place.

  “You two know each other?” I asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” Miranda said, putting a hand on Todd’s muscular biceps. “We go way back.” She cocked her head, studying me. “Everything okay with you?”

  I considered my words before they left my mouth. My original plan had been to come here and find Miranda, to gauge if she might be willing to give me more information about Raina that could somehow secure the powerful witch’s help. Well, here I was—and maybe I was now the one with the useful information. If I revealed the truth about Raina, Miranda might be able to help stop the witch from hurting anyone else. But I knew I had to be careful.