Spellbinder

  “No,” Miranda and Tabitha said at the same time.

  “Look, I’m too weak, I’m slowing you down.” He pulled away from them, leaned against the wall, and slid down, until his butt hit the dirt floor.

  “Not if you had more blood,” Tabitha said. “You can have some of mine.”

  He looked up at her and made a funny face. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll eat your liver?”

  Tabitha made a funny face right back. Miranda chuckled.

  Tabitha huffed. “You weren’t unconscious? You were faking it.”

  “Faking what? That I’d been knifed? I was not faking. I was in and out of consciousness. Every few minutes I’d hear you two talking.”

  Tabitha stared down at him, and slipped one hand on her hip. “And you couldn’t do the polite thing and let us know you were awake. And you French people say Americans are rude.”

  He cut his eyes up at her sister. “Oh, yes, how ill-mannered of me. Never mind that I was on my deathbed. I should have used my last strength to warn you that I was not dead yet.”

  Tabitha frowned. “Fine. Maybe you couldn’t help it,” she snapped. “And now you know I was afraid of you, but I’m not afraid anymore. See!” She stuck her wrist in front of his mouth. “Bite me,” she said, in almost a teasing tone.

  He cut his warm brown eyes up at her. “You do not have to do that.” He pushed her arm away, but his eyes glowed as if he had smelled her blood.

  “I know I don’t,” Tabitha said. “But my sister here is too much of a soft heart. She won’t leave you. So I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it to help us escape. So just go ahead. Drink a little.” She pushed her hand in front of his face.

  “She means it,” Miranda said. “If you can get your strength back, you might be able to help us get out of here.”

  He reached up and wrapped his hand around her arm. Then he ran his finger across her vein. He inhaled and then looked up again. “You sure?”

  “I said I was, didn’t I?” Tabitha said and she dropped down to the ground beside him. He reached up and pulled her arm to his mouth. She flinched when his teeth sank into her wrist.

  “Not too much,” Miranda said when she saw him feeding as if starved.

  He immediately released Tabitha. When he pulled back, his gaze cut up to her, a drip of blood was on his lip and he licked it off. “Sorry,” he said and put a hand over his face, almost as if embarrassed.

  “You okay?” Tabitha asked.

  “Yes.” He let his hand drop from his face. His eyes stayed closed for a few beats of silence, then he looked up at her sister. “Thank you.”

  What about me? Miranda bit her tongue, then bit back a smile, sensing something blooming between these two.

  “You’re welcome,” Tabitha said. “Did it help?”

  “I think so,” he answered. “Give me two minutes and we will know for sure.”

  A loud clank sounded behind them. It sound like someone had opened the metal door. But the sound hadn’t come from the same direction they had, but through the tunnel.

  “I don’t think we have a few minutes,” Miranda said, fear sounding in her voice. Tabitha jumped up and reached for Anthony.

  “You two run back where we were, I’ll try to stop them.” He stood up, looking stronger.

  “No,” Tabitha said. “We fight together.”

  Anthony moved in front of Miranda and her sister.

  Footsteps, fast footsteps, echoed around them.

  Anthony lifted his face and took in a deep breath as if to catch the scent of the people coming toward them. “Vampire,” he muttered, and took a few more steps in front of them. “Stop!” Anthony warned when a shadowy figure emerged.

  “I’m not here to cause harm,” the male voice spoke.

  It was still too dark to see the newcomer’s face, but the voice rang all kinds of bells. Bells that played a familiar tune. She knew this person.

  He took a few more steps. Tabitha shined the light at him.

  Miranda gaped. “What are you doing here?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chase Tallman, Della’s Chase, stood in the catacombs. He nodded at Miranda. “I heard you were in trouble.”

  “You know him?” Anthony asked and his eyes, a bright protective yellow, turned to her.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you trust him?” Anthony asked.

  “I don’t know.” Miranda recalled how much this guy had hurt Della and remembered he worked for the Vampire Council, a group even the FRU didn’t trust.

  “Come on,” Chase said and took another step. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

  Anthony let out a deep warning growl. “Don’t come any closer.”

  Chase stopped and glanced at Miranda. “Whatever you think of me, you know I’m not the bad guy here. In just a few minutes, they’re going to be coming to collect you all for dinner. And I don’t think they plan on you three sitting at the table.”

  “Are you part of their gang?” Tabitha asked.

  “No.” Chase’s expression spoke of his impatience. “I’m here to help Miranda. She’s close to someone I care about and if something happens to her…” He stopped talking, frowned, and stared back at Miranda. “Do you really think I would hurt you?”

  No, Miranda realized, she didn’t, but something wasn’t making sense and finally she realized what it was. “But you came here before I even won the competition. So you didn’t come here for me.”

  “True.” He nodded. “I came here for another reason, but I’m here now. You have to trust me.” He cut his eyes off to one corner. “And this place gives me the creeps, so can we leave … now!”

  She recalled that Chase, like Della, could sense spirits. And suddenly Miranda wanted out of here. She looked at Tabitha and then Anthony. “I trust him … not to hurt us.” Her gaze shifted back to Chase. “But I’m gonna kick your ass for hurting Della. If you know anything about her father’s case…”

  “I’m trying to fix that.” He appeared insulted. “Now come on.” He waved his hand for them to move forward. “There’s a way out of here.”

  They had only taken a few steps when she heard clanking sounds coming from the direction they’d left. Then voices echoed in the distance.

  It must be dinnertime, Miranda thought and her stomach turned rock hard.

  “Friggin’ hell,” Chase said. “Let’s run.”

  “Wait.” Miranda took a deep breath and found hope in the fact that the black curse didn’t smell so strong. “We might be able to help.” She reached for her sister’s hand and chanted.

  “Protect us now. Keep us safe. Build us a barrier of ironclad stakes.”

  A loud bang sounded and Miranda saw the bars appear. The voices in the distance rang closer.

  “Not bad,” Chase said. “But that’s not going to hold them for long. Let’s get out of here now. There’s another door at the end of this tunnel.”

  They took off. Chase ran behind them, as if to protect them if the rogue vamps got through the gate.

  Tabitha still held the flashlight, and they ran hard, the thumping of their feet pounding the hard dirt mingling with the voices of the rogues. Voices that seemed to grow closer.

  The tunnel curved to the right, then the left. Ahead, Miranda saw the blackness fading to a gray. The exit must be close. She prayed it was, because now she could hear the footsteps of those behind them.

  All of a sudden a loud clang rang out, and the gray ahead went pitch black again.

  “Shit!” Chase seethed. “Someone closed the door.”

  “Faster,” Anthony said and Miranda felt him breathing down her neck.

  “There.” He snatched the flashlight from her sister and pointed it up to the metal latch. “Can you two throw up another gate and give me a few minutes?”

  Miranda didn’t even take the time to answer, she grabbed Tabitha’s hand, and they repeated the chant together. Behind her she heard Chase struggling with the heavy metal door.

  The clattering of
steel falling into place filled the air and not a second too soon, for the crowd of eight vampires turned the corner at the same time.

  “We are so good,” Tabitha said.

  They were good, Miranda thought, but as Chase had said earlier, the gate wouldn’t stop these rogues, just slow them down. Miranda looked back at Chase. Both he and Anthony worked to get the thing opened. And it wasn’t happening fast.

  Miranda grabbed Tabitha and moved a few feet back. The dirty vamps growled and they all grabbed ahold of the bars and started pulling. The eerie screech of metal bending filled the air.

  “It’s not going to hold long,” she called out.

  “Then put up another one,” Chase yelled. “We’ve almost got it.”

  Right then one of the bars gave. Not even thinking of what she was about to do, Miranda twitched her pinky at the vamp. And there where the vamp had been was a kangaroo. A pink one. And then a couple of large pimples appeared on the animal’s snout.

  The vamp started jumping up and down, craning his pink nose to look down at himself. All the other vamps released the bars and stared in horror.

  Tabitha burst out laughing, and then, holding her own pinky up, said, “Who’s next?”

  “No one is!” Miranda didn’t recognize the voice, but her eyes lifted up, and she recognized the woman from a few of the competitions she’d attended.

  Sienna’s mother. And she didn’t appear happy. Dressed in some hideous-looking dress, she reminded Miranda of Cruella de Vil in the cartoon 101 Dalmatians.

  “Why are you doing this?” Tabitha asked her.

  The woman glanced at Tabitha. “You think you are the only ones who can put up bars?” She twitched her finger and suddenly behind them appeared another iron gate, separating them from Anthony and Chase.

  And right then the smell, the stench of a black curse filled the air.

  She heard Chase let out a curse.

  Tabitha, suddenly looking more angry than scared, took a step closer to the gate. “Does Sienna know her mother is a murderer?”

  The woman glared at Tabitha. “I’m doing this for my daughter.” Then she glanced back at the vamps. “You let me down,” she sneered. “I told you to kill them.”

  “We were going to, but why waste their blood?” one of the vamps snapped. “We were going to feed off them in our celebration.”

  “Then call this day a celebration and feed on them now!” She raised her hand as if to remove the bars Tabitha and Miranda had brought forth.

  So Miranda put up another one. And removed the bars behind them.

  Light suddenly spilled into the darkness. Miranda glanced back and saw Chase and Anthony push open the iron door to the outside. Sunlight spilled into the darkness in soft rays.

  “Let’s go,” Chase yelled and shot forward along with Anthony.

  Miranda felt Chase grab her and saw Anthony snatch up Tabitha. Then all four of them flew out of the opening in the ground.

  With almost the speed of light, Chase set her on her feet.

  He ran over to the iron door to the catacombs and shut it. The loud clank sounded and still in a bit of panic, Miranda jumped.

  They were safe. Safe. Safe. She repeated the word in her head.

  “They won’t be getting out anytime soon.” Chase turned back to Miranda and then raised his nose. “And … here comes the cavalry. Which means, I’d better go.”

  Cavalry? She suddenly understood. Burnett and the others. She knew they would come for her.

  “No,” Miranda said. “You can’t treat Della this way. You can’t let her father pay for—”

  He shot closer to her. “I’m not. I’m going to fix this. Tell Della I will be in touch as soon as I have answers. Tell her … I send my love.”

  Then he was gone. A blur racing across the sky.

  “I want to know what he ate for breakfast,” Anthony said, no doubt awed by Chase’s speed and strength.

  All of a sudden the metal door on the ground leading to the catacombs creaked open.

  Miranda jumped back; Anthony moved forward.

  Out of the ground came a beam of light. Miranda blinked and saw Kylie.

  She glowed like she always did when she was in protective mode.

  Beside Kylie appeared a fierce-looking bird from the Dark Ages. His blue eyes met Miranda’s briefly and he flapped his wings as if in warning to Anthony. Then flashed two other vampires. Two Miranda loved: Burnett and Della.

  Miranda saw Della lift her head up in the air as if testing for scents.

  Burnett, his eyes glowing the same lime green as Della’s, shot forward. “Friend or foe?” he asked Miranda, staring at Anthony.

  “Friend,” Miranda said.

  Della moved closer and lifted her face into the air again. “Was…”

  “Yes,” Miranda said and tears filled her eyes. “Chase was here. He saved us.”

  Della, looking confused, took off, no doubt hoping to find Chase.

  Burnett moved in. “Are you okay?”

  Miranda nodded and she couldn’t stop grinning, but she couldn’t stop crying either.

  “But I need a hug,” she said and grabbed Burnett.

  * * *

  “This is ridiculous,” Tabitha said, sitting beside Miranda at the supernatural doctor’s office. “We told him we were okay. We don’t need treatment!”

  By him, Miranda knew her sister meant Burnett. He’d insisted on taking them in to be checked. Anthony, too. The good-looking French vampire just happened to be in with the doctor now.

  She looked over at Burnett and Perry, along with Kylie, Della, and Shawn standing right outside the waiting room. Della had returned only a few seconds after she’d taken off. Chase had gotten away. Miranda had passed on Chase’s message. Della hadn’t been happy, but something in her eyes told Miranda that Chase wasn’t the only one who still cared.

  Tabitha clutched her hands together and moaned, bringing Miranda back to the present. “He’s the most stubborn and—

  “Lovable,” Miranda said, glancing back at Burnett. “He’s amazing. They all are,” she said, and felt emotion tightening her throat again. She didn’t know why she suddenly was so weepy. Maybe getting kidnapped and almost becoming some rogue’s dinner was her breaking point.

  Tabitha stopped talking and followed Miranda’s gaze. “He doesn’t like me. None of them do.”

  “They just don’t know you,” Miranda said. “And you did the horse-crap spell on me. They’re very protective.”

  She heard Tabitha sigh. “You act like they’re family.”

  Miranda smiled. “They are.”

  “What does that make me?” Tabitha asked, almost sounding jealous.

  Miranda looked at her. “Family, too.” She smiled and noted how matted her sister’s hair was. “You look terrible. You got mud—”

  “You should see yourself,” Tabitha said and chuckled. She reached over and squeezed Miranda’s hand. “I’m glad we didn’t die.”

  “Me, too,” Miranda said.

  “You know, I realize it was mostly that other vampire … Chase, who helped us, but I think we saved ourselves, too.”

  Miranda nodded, liking her sister’s point of view. “We did save ourselves, too.”

  “I’ll bet our dad and moms are worried,” Tabitha said.

  “Yeah,” Miranda agreed.

  The door of the examining room opened and Anthony walked out and looked at them.

  But he mostly had eyes for Tabitha.

  “Next,” he said.

  “I’ll go,” Tabitha said and she leaned close. “Maybe you should go talk to Perry, he keeps looking at you.”

  Miranda sighed. She’d noticed Perry staring. Normally, she could read him and at least kind of know what he was thinking. Not now. He almost looked scared to talk to her. Did he think she blamed him for leaving her on the roof?

  How could he think that?

  She’d heard someone say that it was because of Perry that they’d been found. He’d left Miranda on
the building after he’d seen a vampire flying away with Tabitha. He’d gone to help her, not knowing the other vamp had been around. Unfortunately, he’d lost sight of the vamp and Tabitha about a half mile from the castle. But that had been when Chase had spotted him flying overhead and followed in his direction at a vampire’s speed. So it was because of Perry that Chase knew where to find them.

  Tabitha walked back into the doctor’s office. Anthony dropped down in the chair next to Miranda.

  “I know you are the one who first wanted to save me,” he said. “I owe you a big thank you.” His French accent was kind of nice. Even sexy if you were into accents.

  She looked at him. “It was just a little blood. I donate to the blood bank at Shadow Falls.” She looked down at the two tiny marks on her wrist where Anthony’s teeth had sank into her skin. “But it’s not a direct deposit like it was with you.”

  “You and your sister are good people.”

  “Thank you,” Miranda said.

  “Tell me, is your sister … how do you say…” He paused. “Sorry, my English is not too good.”

  Miranda smiled. “It’s better than my French.” She sighed. “And Tabitha doesn’t have a boyfriend,” Miranda said, knowing what he wanted to ask. “But we’re leaving to go back to the U.S. in two days.”

  “Well, lucky for me, I have an uncle who lives in Texas. Is this not where you two are from?”

  Miranda smiled. “Yup.”

  All of a sudden, voices rose outside of the waiting room. Miranda looked and saw her mom, dad, and Tabitha’s mom all barreling inside. Her mom was yelling at Burnett, Tabitha’s mom was yelling at her mom, and her dad stood there running his hand through his hair as if the two women were more than he could handle.

  Miranda looked at Anthony and frowned. “Here’s a lesson in English for you. Ever heard of the saying, the shit just hit the fan?”

  “I do not think so. What does this expression mean?”

  “Just watch and see,” Miranda said. “Just watch and see.”

  * * *

  The doctor had given all of them a clean bill of health, but insisted they all needed a day of rest.

  Thankfully, that meant Burnett sent her dad, mom, and Tabitha mom’s away. The talk her father had wanted to have with everyone had to be postponed. Not that Miranda or Tabitha minded. They went back to the apartment and crashed together in the bedroom where Tabitha and Sienna had slept the night before.