Slightly Spellbound (34 page)

“A lot of good that’ll do you when he rips out your throat,” Edie said.

“Stop!” I yelled at the blond vamp. “I don’t want to have to shoot you.”

He didn’t slow. I took a deep breath and shot him in the leg. He screeched with fury, and Rollie, who was trying to subdue some of the other vampires, clucked his tongue at me.

“Sorry, Rollie!” I hollered. “He was going to kill me.” I tied the rope onto the end of an arrow and shot it into the second-story windowsill.

I pulled on the rope to be sure that the arrow and rope were secure. “I hope this holds,” I mumbled, going hand over hand up the rope while walking up the wall. The sill creaked. I clenched my teeth. “If I fall, I’m going to break my neck,” I said.

“Then hurry up,” Edie encouraged.

My foot slipped and I swung into the brick, scraping my arm. “Ow!”

I struggled to get my feet back against the wall. My palms sweated, and I slipped down a few inches, burning my hands. I gripped the rope hard, glancing down. The ground was about twenty feet below me. I inhaled and held my breath, looping the rope around my wrists to keep from slipping farther.

The looped rope strangled my hands and slowed my progress but steadied me. Rain blurred my eyes.

“Come on!” Edie said.

“I’m not Batman. Or Spider-Man . . . or Mercutio.” I blew hair out of my eyes, frowning. “I was never the best climber. Just ask my high school gym teacher.”

“You’re doing great,” Edie said. “You’re almost there. Pull yourself up. You can do it!” She vibrated with excitement and encouragement.

My arms shook, but I gave Edie a lopsided smile. I never thought I’d see the day when she’d do the perky cheerleader routine. It was sweet of her.

I finally reached the top and dragged myself up. My arms wobbled, and I thought I might lose my grip on the slippery sill. I tightened my muscles and clenched my teeth, determined not to fall. If I wanted to climb ropes in the future, I’d need to add some chin-ups to my fitness routine. I’d also need to add a fitness routine.

I put one knee on the arrow and one on the sill, balancing precariously. I hooked the bow over my shoulder with the quiver of arrows. My damp fingers tried to burrow under the window frame to lift it, but it turns out the outsides of windows don’t have any handles.

“I can’t get a grip.”

“Tammy, the window’s locked.”

“Locked?” I snapped, grabbing the frame to steady myself. “Then how am I—?”

“Break the glass. Hurry! He could see you any minute and one blast of magic will knock you off the ledge.”

“Swinging my bow will also knock me off the ledge!”

“Tammy Jo, please! There’s no time.”

“I think there’s a reason successful people make plans,” I mumbled, getting my bow free. “Improvising is dangerous.” To break the glass would take a hard swing and if the window didn’t break so that I could fall into the room, I wasn’t sure I could keep my balance. My heart thumped and my lips tingled. I wished I’d had my feet in the dirt to give myself a power boost.

C’mon, Earth, help break this glass.

I need some power to save my ass.

I swung the bow and as it connected, I felt a blast of Bryn’s magic. The glass exploded into the room and I plunged forward.

I landed on the floor and tiny shards of glass cut into my skin in at least a dozen places.

I rolled and sprang to my feet, raising the bow. Jackson Greer leaned over Evangeline’s body. As soon as he saw me, he brought his arms into an
X
across his chest and literally faded before my eyes into the lych.

What?

I froze for a moment and then let an arrow go. It whizzed through him, splattering some goo on the wall. The lych lurched forward and slammed into me. I flew backward and hit the wall. The bow dropped and so did I. He landed in front of me and I rolled away between his legs and darted forward. I grabbed the bow and swung it. It knocked against his bony legs. The translucent part of him melted away to leave only bones. He clattered against the floor like a giant white cockroach and then rose. I swung at him, but he knocked the bow from my hands.

“Breathe, Evangeline!” Edie yelled.

The lych spun around and waved a hand and then closed his fleshless fingers in a fist. Edie grabbed her throat as if he were choking her.

I clambered to my feet and barreled into him. We both fell forward into the wall. I turned. Free of his death grip, Edie rose to the ceiling.

“Go, Edie. Go back to the locket where you’ll be safe.”

“I won’t leave you alone with him.”

The skeleton hands closed around my throat in a crushing grip. I grabbed the bones and pried at them.

“No!” Edie screamed. She moved into the empty cage of the lych’s skeleton and stretched along his bones.

The hands released me and reached inside the lych’s rib cage for her soul. I wheezed out a breath and rolled to Evangeline. I flung myself on her body and scattered the gardenia petals and feathers away from her.

The lych spun toward us and breath roared from him. Magic blistered my skin and he squashed Edie’s essence.

A coppery mist rose from Vangie’s body, and her spirit materialized next to her body.

“Oh, no! No, Vangie! Get back in your body.”

The lych flung me against the wall. I slammed into it so hard the plaster crumpled. Pain roared through me and my vision blurred.

A moment later, the young human form of Jackson Greer reappeared. Edie glared at him.

“Please,” I whispered. “Please, Edie, go back to the locket.” She faded slightly but didn’t disappear.

Jackson Greer stared at her. “Hello, Edith. I always knew I’d find you again. A killer never forgets his first.”

“You bastard.”

He raised his hands as if he could take her by the arms. She recoiled, floating away from him. “It’s been so long. At first, I wasn’t sure the magic I sensed was yours. I followed it and waited. You weren’t at the house, but I spotted you eventually. How did you get out of your sparrow?”

“You couldn’t hold me. You’re pathetic,” Edie said, then turned to Vangie.

“Pathetic?” he yelled. “I’m immortal.”

“Thanks to me. Thanks to power you’ve stolen rather than earned.”

“I wrote a spell capable of things that have never been done before or since. It could have gone wrong and killed me along with my victim. I’m a master wizard, one of the greatest who’s ever lived. I committed the perfect crime. Over and over! The police never came close to catching me, nor the witch covens anywhere I’ve been. I created a form that didn’t exist before my spell. A shape-shifting lych! It’s a spell-casting triumph.”

“Congratulations. You’re a freak and a parasite,” Edie said dismissively. I swear she could rub the shine off an Olympic gold medal. For once, it was satisfying to see her do it.

Jackson, who’d probably been waiting years to brag to someone, reddened like a boiled lobster.

“Evangeline, let’s go.” Edie stretched out a hand, but Vangie’s ghost turned dazedly toward Jackson, who walked stiffly away from them and bent to rearrange the flower petals into a star chart on Vangie’s body. “I have to finish this, Edith, but don’t think I’ll forget about you after this is done. ‘A locket,’ your niece said. It won’t be hard to find. I always suspected Lenore had used an object to tether your soul to her. Back then, I didn’t dare get close; she had the sight. I had to conceal myself around her. I’m more powerful now. None of the witches in your family stands a chance.”

“Vangie, he’s trying to get your soul,” I murmured, staggering to my feet. “You have to get back in your body. And, Edie, you have to warn Aunt Mel about him. Go now!”

“You never loved me,” Vangie screeched. “You tricked me. Liar!” she yelled. “You killed me!”

“Go back to your body, Vangie,” I cried. “You can still survive,” I said, stumbling toward her body. I shoved Jackson away and pumped on her chest and blew breath into her mouth. “Don’t die.”

Greer’s eyes were as hard as glass beads. “Beautiful and strong. You taste of McKenna magic, too.” He leaned forward and a cold fishy tongue licked my cheek. I jerked back and punched him right in the face. Blood squirted from his nose.

He backhanded me, but I launched forward and knocked him to the ground. We rolled over and over, and he took the lych form again. He was unbelievably powerful as Skeleton Guy. He slammed a bony fist into me and pain exploded in my chest. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move.

He changed again and returned to Vangie’s body.

Get out
, I mouthed. “Go to the locket with Edie,” I whispered.

Vangie’s spirit was pale with shock, but she kept circling Greer, accusing him of betraying her.

“You have to go. He’ll trap your soul and destroy it,” I said, holding my ribs, trying to catch my breath. A black haze settled on the room as he rearranged the petals, and sparrows flew in on an icy wind. They tweeted, cheerfully sinister.

I realized that he had to be in human visage to complete the ritual, otherwise why would he keep changing back to his human form? The lych form was much more powerful. Once Vangie’s soul had been taken, he could stay a lych and kill me, too.

Greer began to cast a spell over Vangie’s body.

“Tammy, stop him,” Edie said, her essence incredibly faint.

I rolled onto my side, the pain like a lance through my chest. Jackson turned and grabbed my quiver of arrows and yanked it from my grasp. Blood still gushed from his nose, and he tried to stem the flow with one hand while he kicked me in the ribs.

“Stay still!” he screamed. “You unworthy quiff. You’re all whores. Sucking the magic from the earth.”

I felt another rib crack and my insides bruise. I reared up and hit him in the gut with my fists. He doubled over and roared.

“I’ll haunt you the rest of your life!” Vangie screamed at Jackson. “I’ll never let you rest.”

“If you stay here, he’ll trap you,” Edie said, trying to catch Vangie’s phantom hand to entice her to leave.

I rose to my feet, coughing. Blood splattered from my lips and I realized I was bleeding inside. I swayed from the pain and the fear.

“He needs her body for the final draining,” Edie said, her voice barely a whisper in my head. “We must not let him have it.”

Jackson turned into the lych. I staggered back, watching Edie’s green orb drift toward Vangie’s body.

The lych had lost some of its quickness, but his hands were still strong. They choked me, squeezing my neck until the world spun, blackening.

Vangie’s body rose behind him, ashen as a corpse. The eyes held a glint of life, and a hint of green glowed from Vangie’s sockets. Edie! Edie, who barely had any energy left, had animated Vangie’s body to help me!

The body fell forward, its entire weight landing on the skeleton. Startled, he released me as he fell to the side.

He righted himself and grabbed Vangie’s body, dragging it over his shoulder and slamming her head against the floor.

I tried to roll away, but he caught me and struck me in the face. I lost consciousness.

When I woke, the pain in my chest and belly was unbearable. He’d stabbed me and left the knife buried to the hilt. My mouth worked, but no sound emerged.

Jackson Greer’s battered face hovered above mine. He whispered over my mouth, and I felt my soul being ripped out.

My vision wobbled, and I saw the green hills of Ireland. I raced along a path on the back of a horse. My hair was encased in vines and cascading behind me. I smelled rain and moss.

My fae hands came down on the dagger’s handle. The blade was lodged right under the tip of my breastbone. He’d killed me.

At his command, the witch part of my magic ripped away. In the distance, Bryn fell to the ground, his magic being drawn into Jackson with mine.

No!

Despair swallowed me.

Greer howled in delight.

I felt Bryn’s stolen breath rush in through the window on a wave of cool celestial energy. I sucked in a wisp, but Greer dragged away the rest. Tears sprung to my eyes. I’d let Greer kill me and kill Bryn, too, by default, robbing the world of Bryn’s brilliance and all that he was and could be.

Bryn reached out for me. For a moment I saw his face as clear as the room around me. A cold fury at the thought of him dying balled in the pit of my stomach.

No
, I thought.
I won’t give him over to a murdering parasite.

Help me
, I called in my mind. I saw myself on horseback. Hazel green eyes stared directly at me.

Stab him
, the me on horseback said.
Kill him.
My voice held a note of Ireland, a bit of Bryn.

I closed fists around the dagger hilt, locking eyes with Jackson Greer. I think he saw that a piece of me remained, a fae piece that couldn’t be ripped out by wizard’s magic. His eyes widened.

He should’ve fled. I wasn’t strong enough to chase him. But he stayed and spit out a spell, his nose dripping blood in an endless faucet. He’d tasted my fae magic and wanted to consume that, too.

Frail, diseased human
, I thought in disgust.
Like so many of your kind, you’re a greedy fool.

In his lust to stay young and alive forever, he grasped for more, for faery blood. He should’ve been satisfied with what he’d already taken.

You should’ve run
, I mouthed.

He didn’t see my hands.

I dragged the blade from my body, and my arm struck, lightning quick.

Words died on his lips, his mouth falling open in shock. He struggled to speak, to finish the spell, but I’d scored him too deep. I’d cut right through his windpipe. Air rushed out through his neck, spraying blood everywhere.

He grabbed his throat, his lips moving wordlessly. He wanted to call the lych, but he couldn’t change without the spell being spoken. The form that helped him heal and kept him invulnerable was out of his reach now.

Bryn’s magic brushed over me and gusted out the window and back to his body. I felt the pulse of our connection in the ring on my right hand. Bryn drew in a deep breath, awake and alive, though perhaps not for long.