"Um ... the moment I saw you in the exam room on Sat.u.r.day. You took my breath away."
"I"m sure I did," I say with an eye roll. "And nothing prior to then?"
He thinks. "No. It was like I was seeing you for the first time."
"You saw me in the lobby the same day. In-between those two times, did someone give you something to drink or a piece of jewelry or a little bag?"
"You mean the bracelet Sophie gave me?" He pushes up his jacket to the wrist and reveals a blue and pink braided bracelet I now remember her working on. You have got to be kidding me. That girl.
"Yeah," I say with a sigh. I signal d.i.c.kie over. "Hey. I need a gla.s.s of mineral water, a clean bowl, sea salt, some sage, and if the kitchen has it, cinnamon as well." He nods and walks away, leaving me with the lovelorn doctor. "I need to apologize for my accusations. I see now they"re unfounded. I also apologize for my niece. She will be punished for this."
"For what?"
"I"ll tell you in a minute. Just know I"m sorry, and I had no idea she did this to you." An agonizing minute later, d.i.c.kie returns with all my tools. All the other couples, who have been pretending not to watch since his declaration, glance over again. "Can you take off the bracelet please?" He does. "Do you feel any different?"
"How so?" Take that as a no. I light the sucker on fire with the candle at our romantic table. "What? Why are you-"
"Trust me." I set the burning cloth on the empty bread plate and add the salt, sage, and cinnamon to the mineral water. Mixing with my finger, I close my eyes and call the magic, infusing the water with it. When I open them, all eyes are on me and not bothering to hide it. A confused Guy watches as I dump the ashes into the water and mix again. "Give me your wrist." He reaches across, and I take it. I dab two fingers into the murky water then run them along the area where the bracelet touched. He grimaces but doesn"t pull away. I raise my fingers an inch above the area. "Look into my eyes." His eyes meet mine, and I savor this moment. This is the first and probably last time a man will look at me with love, false or not. It was nice while it lasted. I take a deep breath, then say, "Purgo," at the same time I touch his wrist, magic flowing out of my fingertips.
The change is instantaneous. Love morphs into shock, then confusion tinged with anger. I have no idea what to say or do except wait for him to lead the way. He blinks and moves as far from me as possible. With the "love" that was clouding his mind gone, he glances around the room at all the staring people. "What the h.e.l.l is going on?" he asks.
"It"s ... hard to explain."
"What did you do to me? I feel ... strange."
"I know, and I"m sorry."
"Did you drug me?" he hisses in a whisper.
"Uh, in a way. But you"re completely healed now, okay? I"m, uh, going to go now," I say as I move to stand.
Guy reaches across the table and seizes my hand, shocking me. "Sit down."
I obey. "I don"t know what else I can tell you."
"Ten seconds ago I wanted to marry you, and then you did that ... whatever and now ... " He shakes his head. "What the h.e.l.l is going on?"
I hate having this conversation. I"m only authorized to have it in circ.u.mstances such as this, when I have no choice. I"m about to override his entire belief system. It never goes well. "Okay, you"re going to find this very hard to believe. Just keep an open mind, okay?"
"Fine," he says gruffly.
I sigh. "You were enchanted. By a love spell. The bracelet sort of brainwashed you into thinking you were in love with me."
"That doesn"t make any sense," Guy says.
"It does if you believe in witchcraft. Real witchcraft, not just Wicca. I"m a witch."
Guy stares at me for a second, then breaks into laughter. "Yeah, right."
Ugh, I hate resorting to parlor tricks, but I want to leave. Now. I reach over toward one of the candles and call the fire. The flame does as I command. It rises in a spiral as I move my finger the same way. Guy"s eyes grow wide as it glides up inches. When I move my hand away, the flame dies. In case he still doesn"t believe, I do the same with the water in the centerpiece. The water carries the magnolia up and up in a column. When the water splashes down again, Guy jumps in his chair. He glances from the water, to me, eyes wild with fear.
"Believe me now?"
"Holy s.h.i.t." The shaking man stands, knocking over his chair. He backs away from me as if I was a rabid dog. "Fu-don"t ... oh f.u.c.k." He hits the table behind and it rattles, sending wine gla.s.ses rolling. The other couples murmur at the spectacle.
I stand and hold up my hands. "Guy, please calm down."
"Stay the h.e.l.l away from me you ... you ... monster."
"Son, there"s no cause to speak to the lady like that," Erica"s date says.
"She-she f.u.c.king put a spell on me to make me love her! She"s a f.u.c.king witch!"
"Guy ... " I say as I take a step.
"Don"t come near me, you fat b.i.t.c.h!" And he storms off inside as fast as he can.
For a moment, I"m too shocked to move. I know all the people are staring and murmuring, but they"re far away from me. I feel nothing. Not the air, not the ground beneath my feet, not even my own body. I want to stay in this void forever. Then someone says my name and touches my arm. My head whips toward the source: a concerned Bethany.
"Are you alright?"
I don"t answer her. I can"t stand all those pitying eyes on me. They almost burn. I dash toward the door into the hallway, my panting mouth covered by my hand. I will not cry in front of anyone, I won"t. Bethany follows me out, calling my name, but I keep sprinting past the other partygoers. I can feel their stares as well and pick up the pace. Tears well in my eyes, but I keep them at bay as I hurry down the driveway to the parking lot. I"m an idiot. I am such a freaking idiot. What ...
Oh f.u.c.k.
As I walk over the bridge to the lot, the relief I should feel turns into sheer panic. My skin is stabbed with tiny pins, and my stomach lurches. It"s here. I gasp and shudder as I scan the area, but there"s n.o.body in sight, just trees, cars, and the night. "Oh s.h.i.t," I whisper. What the h.e.l.l do I do? Do I run back inside? Can I even make it? The car. Get to the car. I kick off my heels and run off like a flash. My protection amulet burns against my skin. He"s trying something psychic. I half expect trees to come alive or fall on me, but I make it to the car intact.
But I"m a moron. I left my keys in my purse, which is on the ground back at the country club. Worse, all four of my tires are flat. "Oh s.h.i.t, oh s.h.i.t," I mutter. I can"t stay out in the open. I pop the lock with a spell and jump in. If there"s a spell to start the car, I don"t know it. My whole body is quaking with fear and adrenaline. I can"t think. What the h.e.l.l am I going to do? I"m a sitting duck in here. Just focus. Focus.
Wait, I prepared for this. My trembling hands open the glove box and I pull out chalk, a crystal, and athame. There are three small crystals already in place in the car and when I put this one in the corner and energize it, the perimeter goes up. Even my amulet stops burning. Now I just have to wait. Adam"s on his way. He"ll get here in time. We"ll ... as I look around the lot, I notice Auntie Sara"s Monte Carlo. He"s here already. What ... I honk the horn in Morse code for S.O.S. Thank the G.o.ddess Mommy signed me up for Girl Scouts. With his werewolf hearing, he"s bound to hear this. He has to. Oh h.e.l.l, then what?
There is movement to my left, but I keep honking. The door of a pickup opens and a pretty girl about ten years younger than me climbs out. She"s wearing a black sweater and jeans, and she grimaces and covers her ears as she approaches. I"ve seen her before, but I can"t place her. "Are you okay?" she shouts.
I stop honking. "You need to get out of here!" I shout.
"What? Why? Open the window, I can barely hear you," she says.
"I can"t! Just go up to the club! It"s not safe here!"
She stops right beside the car and reaches for the handle, but the barrier won"t allow it. "s.h.i.t! f.u.c.king witches!" She hits the barrier with her fist, and the car tilts to the right from the sheer force.
Oh h.e.l.l"s bells.
Clarity comes too late. She was outside Cheyenne"s house with Cray Bradshaw. When the demon was there. When she was there. No, demons come as men. There"s only one female demon we know of that visits this plane.
"Lilith," I say.
She smiles. "Nice to meet you. Now get out of the f.u.c.king car!" she roars. She pushes against it and the car jerks again. I hate super-strength. I scream as I fall to the side. The chalk in the pa.s.senger seat rolls; it"ll have to do. I reach for it, and as she pushes the car again, I quickly draw a banishing sigil on the dash. She tries again, this time the car lifts a few inches off the ground. I stab my finger with the knife to draw blood as I bounce back to earth. She lifts again, but when I press my blood onto the sigil and scream, "Absentis!" she jolts with a scream and stumbles three feet back. She can"t touch the car now, can"t even get within a few feet of it. She shakes her head to clear it.
"s.h.i.t!"
"Who summoned you?" I scream.
"Get out and I"ll tell you," she says with a smile. I definitely see Cheyenne in her. Same cold blue eyes with a mocking grin. "Might as well. I"m getting bored being stuck in this town. I promise if you do, I"ll make it painless. Barely even feel it. It"ll be just like going to sleep. But if I have to come after you tomorrow, I swear after I"m done with you, I"ll go after those two brats of yours. They"ll keep me energized for weeks. Children"s life forces are so much more delicious."
That"s right. The myth is that she"s a succubus, draining energy like a psychic vampire. Most do it with s.e.x, but she can probably do it with her mind. If I wasn"t wearing the amulet I would have keeled over days ago of an apparent heart attack. No one would even think let alone prove murder.
"You stay the h.e.l.l away from them!"
She isn"t paying attention to me. She stares off behind me and a huge grin forms on her face. "Or I can feed now."
I turn around. Three people, two men and a woman, walk over the bridge. The woman stops before the men do right under the streetlight. It"s Bethany with Clay and Adam. The relief I should feel is just bone-deep terror. The smiling demon closes her eyes and in the same instant Clay doubles over. No. No! Bethany grabs him to keep him upright. Oh c.r.a.p. Oh G.o.ddess no. She"s killing my best friend! Why the h.e.l.l didn"t I make him a f.u.c.king protection amulet too?
Adam is faster on the uptake than I was. He must see the woman by my car and just know. He takes off running as Clay falls to the ground with a hysterical Bethany beside him. No. I smash the nearest crystal. The barrier lifts. I call to the wind and she listens. Everything from the trees to the cars shake as a monster gale wind rushes through the parking lot aimed right at her. Anything not weighing a literal ton is knocked down then back as if on rollers into the wooded area. The demon smacks against a tree, her head lolling to the side. She"s knocked out. She won"t stay like that for long.
I leap out of the car, taking off in the opposite direction. A few seconds later I all but throw myself into Adam"s arms, hugging onto his gray sweater with all my strength. Why this makes me feel so much better, I don"t know. He squeezes back. "Did it hurt you?" he asks, breathless.
"No." I pull away and take his hand. "Come on."
Bethany is helping the still shaky Clay up when we reach them. "Was that the demon?" Bethany asks, voice quaking.
"Yeah. We need to get up to the club," I say. Bethany"s breath becomes ragged, and I follow her gaze. Lilith stands and brushes the dirt off her clothes. "Now."
"I got her. Go," Adam says.
"What? No! I"m not leaving you!"
He grabs my face, rough palms pressing against my soft cheeks. His hard blue eyes burn into mine. "Mona, help your friends. I"ll be fine, I promise. Go."
He"s right. I nod and he releases me. "Don"t let her touch you." I throw Clay"s arm over my shoulder like Bethany has, and we start running as best we can. Clay can barely keep his feet moving. My back, my arms, my legs all cry out in pain as we trudge up the hill.
"What did she do to him?" Bethany asks.
"Sucked out his life force," I pant.
"Will he be okay?"
Tears fall from my eyes. "I-I don"t know." He"ll be fine. We all will. If that b.i.t.c.h so much as musses Adam"s hair ... no. He"s strong. He"s got an amulet, he can take her. He has to. He promised.
A minute later, far too long, the bored valets spot us, immediately toss down their cigarettes, and run over to us. The boys take Clay. "What happened?" one asks.
"He collapsed," I say, now completely out of breath. "Call an ambulance."
Bethany follows the men into the club, but when she sees me staying put, she stops. "Mona, what-"
"Take care of him. Keep everyone inside. I have to go back."
"No, Mona, no. That"s suicide."
"Bethany, keep everyone inside," I say, my voice hard. "That is an order."
I grab a lighter from the valet stand, the closest thing to a weapon available. Maybe I can set her hair on fire. I spin around and sprint down the hill again. Nothing. There are no sounds beyond my footfalls on the pavement. No birds, crickets, not even the wind. This is so stupid. All I have is a lighter and tiny knife. I don"t even have my kit. My kit! It"s in the trunk. Salt, charms, potions. Good. A plan.
The p.r.i.c.kling starts sooner this time, right when the bridge comes into view. Where are they? If that b.i.t.c.h hurt him ... I full on run now, scanning the horizon for her. But I don"t find her, I find him.
Oh f.u.c.k. No.
As I run over the bridge I see a body floating face down in the creek. My pounding heart comes to a standstill. He looks dead. He is dead. G.o.ddess, don"t let him be dead.
Without a second thought, I leap off the bridge and wade into the creek. The cold water only reaches my knees but people have drowned in less. I put the lighter into my cleavage, grab his body, and hoist it up onto the creek bed. There"s a gash in his head that"s still bleeding and the beginnings of a black eye, but his head is otherwise intact. Except he"s not breathing, and he doesn"t have a heartbeat. He could have been in the water for ten seconds or two minutes. I have to do CPR. I- A hand touches my bare shoulder, and all the air is sucked out of my lungs. I don"t think, I react. The ground violently shakes while the wind gusts. The hand is gone, but I fall flat on my back on the muddy creek bed beside Adam"s cool body and my athame. I reach for the athame. Lilith is up before me, slim hand once again reaching for me. One swift upward movement and the blade jams through that hand. Screaming, she stumbles away as I find my feet. She pulls the blade out of her hand, tossing it to the ground. "b.i.t.c.h."
Crouching, I let loose another gale, knocking her down again, before I spring up and take off running. There is nothing else I can do but pump my legs as fast as they"ll go away from her. I used to make fun of people in horror movies who ran into the creepy house or an isolated area, but I never will again. When a psychopath is chasing you, it"s very hard to strategize. The only two words that cycle through my head are run and faster. My feet are taking me up the hill to the club. I have maybe a five-second head start, which from her nearby cussing I quickly lose because she"s in better shape than I am. "Stop running, Mona," Lilith calls, "you"re just p.i.s.sing me off!"
I keep going but don"t get far. Since my life has become a horror movie, I do what the victim always does. I trip and fall. I"m so shocked I scream until the wind is knocked out of me when my stomach hits the ground. That"s it. I"m done. My body won"t move. I"m going to die. The girls will be orphans. Cheyenne will take over the coven and ruin it. I"ll never get married or have children of my own. No man"s ever truly loved me. It"s so f.u.c.king unfair.
The demon grabs my wrist and flings me onto my back with a triumphant grin on her pretty face. The air is sucked out again like a vacuum. My heart rate increases ten-fold from overwork. I watch as my veins rise to my skin like worms, and my skin turns to ice as she pulls the life out of every one of my cells. She glows like a lantern as my life becomes hers. If I had breath, I"d scream. Did Adam feel like this when she killed him? Oh, Adam, I"m sorry. I"m so sorry.
Within moments the world becomes fuzzy, and I have the strongest urge to fall asleep.
"What the ... " Lilith says, staring behind me. I don"t have the energy to look but there"s no need to. What looks like a battalion of super-bright fireflies glides over me like a wave toward the demon, swarming her.
"This way!" I hear a woman shout.
Lilith releases me to swat at the horde enveloping her. Sprites. She"s being attacked by spirit energy. I gulp the air back into my lungs and cough. "They"re here!" Bethany shouts.
Four people-Bethany, d.i.c.kie, cousin Julie-Ann, and Erica-all run into the clearing toward me. Bethany rushes over to me, cradling my coughing body, and the other three move toward the overwhelmed demon. There isn"t an inch of her that isn"t engulfed by light. Erica waves her hand, and the sprites fly off. That"s when I notice the Glock in her other hand, which she raises like Dirty Harry. "Ruin my party?" Erica fires twice into the demon"s head. I almost vomit over Bethany as the back of Lilith"s head explodes, tiny particles of blood and skull flying like fairy dust. The body crumples to the gra.s.s in a heap beside me. h.e.l.l"s bells. "We don"t have much time before she recovers," Erica says.
"Cut off her head?" d.i.c.kie suggests.
"What with?" Erica asks.
"Cleaver from the kitchen?" d.i.c.kie asks.
"Look at her! She"s already healing! We don"t have that kind of time!"
"Does anyone know a ritual to un-summon it?" Julie-Ann asks.
"Dear Lord in heaven," Erica mutters. "Yeah, I carry all the ingredients in my bra!"
The fog has cleared from my head enough to actually form a thought. "I have an idea." Bethany helps me up, and the world spins a little. "Erica, I think I"ll need your help. I"m a little weak right now." She hands the gun to d.i.c.kie, before I take her hand and fall to my knees on the ground. She does the same, and we place our hands on the gra.s.s. "Call deep, deep into the soil and ask it to part." She nods. We close our eyes and push our power into the earth. Within seconds, it starts to rumble and fall in on itself. I open my eyes just as a slim crack parts in the gra.s.s. It"ll do. "Push the b.i.t.c.h in."
d.i.c.kie picks up the still unconscious demon and chucks her down into the abyss. Erica and I close the crack. That"s the end of that. She"s either crushed flat or it will take her a hundred years to claw out of there. It"s over. "Thank you," I say to Erica, who nods.
"Is it over?" Julie-Ann asks. "That wasn"t so bad."
"Are you okay?" Bethany asks me. "Do you need a doctor?"
"I"m fine. I"ll be fine."