Dark Descent (Vampire Hunter Book 5) (8 page)

Benji didn’t come
back to school until Thursday. He had a bandage over his nose, and his entire
face was purple. One eye was swollen shut, and the left side of his face looked
about three times bigger than normal. I cringed when I saw him. I’m not sure
what I expected – but it was still a shock to see the results of the
damage I’d inflicted. I couldn’t help but stare.

Benji, on the
other hand, looked right through me when we first passed each other in the hallway.
Not even a menacing glare. It was a relief, in a way, to see him; it meant
Henry hadn’t done anything yet, and maybe,
just maybe,
he would let it
drop.

Henry and I hadn’t
talked about Benji since Monday. Neither of us had brought up the subject. And
all of the kids had been gossiping, trying to figure out who beat the shit out
of Benji. So far, the popular opinion was that Cody Elridge had done the
damage. He was the only guy who rivaled Benji in size and stature, and he had
missed homeroom on Monday. But Cody vehemently denied it, and he had no marks
on his hands, no sign of having hit anyone.

 I hadn’t
talked to Lucas either, but I knew, any day now, he’d be in contact about the
meeting with Magnus, or Tobias or both. And Henry hadn’t heard from Emmett
about this spell to close the gates. Everything was at a standstill.

But, as usual, the
shit hit the fan all at once.

I got a text
message from Lucas, midday Thursday, for us to come to his apartment after
school.

“Let’s cut Doc’s
study hall, get there early?” I suggested to Henry as soon as I saw him and
told him about the text.

“Sure,” he agreed.

When sixth period
arrived, we snuck out one of the back doors, keeping watch for any teachers.

“What do you think
he wants?” I asked once we were safely in the car.

“I don’t know,”
Henry replied. “Guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

“Benji looked
bad,” I ventured.

“No kidding.”
Henry laughed. “You did a real number on him.”

“You’re not still
thinking about…revenge?”

“I was going to
talk to you about that. After I had some time to cool off, I knew I couldn’t
kill him or do anything that would cause permanent damage.”

“Good,” I said, a
wave of relief washing over me. “But?” I prompted.

Henry grinned.
“How about a spell that turns the meathead into a wimp?”

“Meaning?”

“It’s temporary,
but maybe it will teach him a lesson. At least it will confuse the hell out of
him. If he tries to hurt anyone – it won’t matter if it’s a girl, guy,
animal, etc. – he will have
no
physical strength. You’d be able to
tap him with a finger and he’d fall over.”

“Ha! That’s
hilarious,” I said. “It’s mean, though.”

“He shouldn’t be
trying
to hurt anyone,” Henry argued. “It won’t affect him when he’s playing
football. I won’t screw with the tiny amount of talent he has, or thinks he
has, at least.”

“Okay,” I agreed.
“The stuff for the spell – is it hard to get?”

“Nah, this is
another one of those beginner ones. The only thing is we need a few strands of
his hair.”

“Yikes. How are
you going to get that?”

“That’s where you
come in,” Henry said. “If I try to pull out some of Benji’s hair, he’ll go
ballistic and kick my ass. You, on the other hand, he’ll be too afraid to mess
with.”

“But what if other
kids see me?” I asked.

“I’ve got it
figured out. We need to do it after football practice. He’s usually one of the
last to leave. He stays late to lift weights in the gym. I used to lift after
school, before you came back from the dead,” Henry explained. “He was there
almost every day.”

“So corner him in
the gym?”

“Yeah, and you can
threaten him. Push him up against a wall. Grab him by the hair and tell him if
he ever tries something like that again you’ll kill him.”

“That’s a bit
harsh!” I exclaimed.

“Then tell him
you’ll be watching him,” Henry suggested. “The words aren’t important. Just
make sure you get a few locks of his silky mane.”

I laughed. “I’m
in,” I said. “I’m actually really relieved that you aren’t thinking of
something worse.”

“I entertained the
idea of doing several different spells,” Henry admitted. “But at the end of the
day, I can’t live with myself if I ruin someone’s life.”

“Me neither,” I
said, pushing back the nagging thought that I’d already ruined several.

We arrived at
Lucas’ apartment and knocked on the door.

“You’re early,” he
commented when we walked in.

“We ditched last
period,” Henry explained.

“Emmett and
Nicholas are coming over. It’s easier to explain the new, um, developments with
everyone here,” Lucas said.

We sat down on the
couch. “Water?” Lucas offered Henry.

“No, thanks,” he
said.

It had taken Henry
nearly dying, but the two of them
finally
seemed almost at ease with
each other. It was most definitely not as tense as it had been before.

“How are you
feeling?” Lucas asked Henry, taking a seat on the floor.

“Normal,” Henry
replied. “Although I do have a question. I need you to be honest with me. I was
bitten. I know I’m not a vampire, but I’ve noticed something odd.”

Lucas nodded. “I
didn’t want to worry you,” he said. “I knew you’d ask me if anything happened.
But yes, there could be affects from the bite.”

“Permanent?” Henry
asked.

“Probably,” Lucas
said. “What are the symptoms?”

“Actually,” Henry
said excitedly, “this is great news! For the first time since I can remember, I
don’t need to wear my contacts. It didn’t happen until a few days after the
bite. But I woke up and realized I could
see
– perfectly.”

“Wow!” I
exclaimed. “That’s really awesome.”

“Good.” Lucas
looked relieved.

“Do you think
there’s more to come?” Henry asked him.

“Like I told
Aurora, I’ve never been through this before,” Lucas said. “I just don’t know.”

“Well, believe me,
not having to wear contacts almost makes the whole ordeal worthwhile,” Henry
replied.

“I know we need to
wait on Emmett and Nicholas,” I said, “but can you at least give us a hint
about why you wanted us all to come here?”

“I’ve got the
meeting arranged with Magnus – it’s tonight.” Lucas gave me an apologetic
look. “Sorry for the short notice. Will you parents mind?”

“They shouldn’t.
I’ve been doing damage control the past few days. I think they’re finally
starting to let up,” I said.

We didn’t have to
wait long for the others. Emmett arrived early, like he usually did, and
Nicholas was right on time.

“I’m glad you
called us all together,” Emmett said. “I was going to suggest a meeting.”
Emmett sat down on the couch next to me. I gave him a genuine smile. He looked
much better than the last time I’d seen him.

Nicholas sat down
on the floor next to Lucas. “Yeah, I told Lucas earlier today that I found out
where Tobias is staying.”

“Great,” I said
nervously. “Who wants to go first?”

“Tonight Aurora
and I will meet with Magnus,” Lucas told Nicholas and Emmett. “I called him
today. I said that Aurora was going to help him, but we needed to meet to
negotiate the deal.”

“What’s there to negotiate?”
I asked. “He gave me an ultimatum: let him push Tobias into Hell, and kill
Leon.”

“I know,” Lucas
replied. “But I refuse to let Magnus think he has control of you. I’m going to
tell him that he has to switch bodies, let the guy he’s possessing go.”

“But then he’ll
just go possess some other innocent person!” I exclaimed.

“Let me finish. If
a demon is in a body and that person dies, like you did during the fight with
Richard, the demon can still possess the body. I’m going to tell Magnus he has
to go to the morgue, get a body from there. If he chooses one that hasn’t been
dead for long, he can still possess the corpse,” Lucas explained.

“Gross.” I
wrinkled my nose.

“I can’t in good
conscience allow Magnus to push Tobias into Hell, then
we
push
him
into Hell while he’s possessing a
living
person,” Lucas said.

“What would happen
if a human went into Hell?” Henry asked.

“Probably get torn
apart by all the shit living down there,” Nicholas replied.

I shuddered.

Nicholas punched
Lucas playfully. “I hate demons possessing humans as much as the next guy, but
I can’t believe you’re going to actually ask the former King of Hell to switch
meat suits.”

“If I can save one
innocent person, I’m going to do it,” Lucas said. “We also need to know how
Magnus wants to deal with Leon,” he continued. “As far as I’m aware, Leon
doesn’t come to earth very often. Of course, Aurora won’t really have to kill
Leon – not if everything goes according to plan. But Magnus needs to
think that after she gives him Tobias, she’s willing to also kill Leon.”

“What time are we
meeting him?” I asked.

“At seven,” Lucas
replied. He turned to Nicholas. “You’re up.”

“I tapped my
resources. I figured after that elaborate underground meeting, Tobias was
hiding out in a bunker somewhere. But the dude is seriously delusional –
and cocky. He’s living in a house! Like a normal person,” Nicholas said.

“What the fuck?” I
sputtered. “That’s weird. So Tobias is just ‘blending in’ as a human?”

“Yep,” Nicholas
said. “Well,” he amended, “blending in might be a bit of an overstatement. I
don’t think he goes out – no need to. Like you, he doesn’t eat or drink.
And he didn’t just up and buy a house, either. He
took over
one. Found a
little old lady with a paid off house and no family to wonder where the hell
she went, then killed her.”

Up until this
point, Tobias had seemed so stupid, so
comical
, that I hadn’t really
believed he was capable of killing.

“The way you
described him, a sort of bumbling idiot, I didn’t think he had it in him,”
Henry said, voicing my thoughts.

“Tobias means
business. Crazy or not, he isn’t afraid to kill to get what he wants,” Lucas
said.

“How do I get a
meeting with him?” I asked.

“You knock on his
door,” Nicholas replied.

“I don’t like this
plan, Nic,” Lucas said.

“It’s perfect,” he
argued. “Aurora will have the element of surprise on her side. Tobias will be
so shocked that she found him, turned up on her own and is
willing
to
work with him without his mind control, that he’ll agree to her plan.”

“When do you want
me to do it?” I asked.

Nicholas looked at
Lucas. “I guess after we meet with Magnus,” Lucas said, throwing his hands up
in resignation. “I’ll be outside when you go,” he added. “And keep your phone
right where you can get to it, in case he tries something.”

“I’ll be fine,” I
said, sounding a lot more confident than I felt.

“I’m coming, too,”
Henry announced.

Lucas shook his
head. “I don’t want you anywhere near Tobias. He’s too dangerous.”

Henry opened his
mouth to argue but seemed to reconsider.
Maybe he’s finally starting to
trust Lucas.

“My turn,” Emmett
said. “I’ve been doing research. As you can see, it took several days to find
it. But here it is. The spell that will close the gates – permanently.”
Emmett pulled a folded up sheet of paper out of his jacket pocket and handed it
to Henry.

As soon as Henry
unfolded the paper, I could see that it was actually multiple pages, not just
one.

“I can’t read it,
but I know that’s the spell you need,” Emmett added.

“How did you find
it?” Nicholas asked while Henry scanned the pages.

“It wasn’t easy,”
Emmett replied. “There were lots of references online to the spell, but no one
seemed to
know
where there was a copy. And, just like you said, everyone
talking about the spell claims there is nobody capable of closing the gates,
even if they were to get their hands on it.”

“Wait.” Henry
looked up from the papers. “Are you telling me that
I’m
the only one who
can do this?”

“That’s exactly
what I’m saying,” Emmett replied.

I hadn’t wanted to
divulge that part to Henry, had intentionally not told him, but now the cat was
out of the bag.
What does it really matter? Henry deserves to understand his
role in this.

Henry let out a
low whistle. “No pressure, right?” he said with a strained laugh.

“So where did you
finally get the spell from, Emmett?” I asked, trying to steer away from the
subject of Henry being the most powerful warlock in the world.

“After hours of
looking, I found an email address of a guy claiming that he had the spell. I
contacted him, thinking it would be another dead end. The man – he called
himself Z – insisted that we speak on a secure line, so I called him. He
wanted to know my name – I was hesitant at first, but then he told me
that there was only one person he was authorized to give the spell to,” Emmett
said.

“Authorized?”
Nicholas raised his eyebrows. “Who the hell is this guy?”

“I thought it was
odd, too. But my gut told me to give him my name. He said that I was the one
who was supposed to have the spell. That I would know what to do with it,”
Emmett continued.

“And you have no
idea who Z is?” I asked.

“He wouldn’t say.
He had the spell delivered overnight to me. Said it was too dangerous to email
it.” Emmett paused. “I think it’s the real deal.”

“What does the
spell say?” I asked Henry, who had been reading it the entire time Emmett was
speaking.

“There’s tons of
things I need to get,” he said. “This spell, it’s worse than the most complex
ones in my book. Not surprising, after what Emmett just told us. But still…”