“Put your phone away. She's lying,” Vance said sharply before I could speak, glaring between me and Damien.
“Is this true?” Damien asked. “One push of this button will easily take care of your dad.”
“She’d never do anything to risk her family. You should know that by now,” Vance said.
Damien didn't move, instead looking at me for some sort of confirmation, his finger still poised over the phone.
I gritted my teeth, my jaw flexing, as I forced out the words I didn't want to say. “Your prized artifact is in your safe.”
Damien pressed the button and lifted cell to his ear. “Give him the blood,” he stated before snapping it shut.
“What are you doing?” I screamed, lunging towards him, trying to grab the phone, but knocking it across the car instead. I scrambled after it, hearing my dress rip up the seams as I moved, but Damien grabbed me from behind, throwing me on the floor between the seats.
Vance was instantly on top him, trying to pull Damien off, but suddenly he was frozen by Damien's touch.
“Stop, or I’ll kill him!” Damien shouted forcefully, and I ceased my struggles instantly.
“You promised you wouldn't hurt either of them if I did what you said!” I rasped out, my breathing ragged.
“You were the one who lied about it, Portia, not me,” Damien replied, his nails digging tightly into the bare skin of my arms. “I was under the impression you had willingly broken our contract.”
“That's bull!” I cried out, and I lifted my hand, slamming a thick ice shard through his body. He slumped over on top of me, blood gurgling from of his mouth.
Vance was instantly released from the force field.
I evaporated from underneath Damien and wrapped my arms around Vance. I remembered what Hex had said about slipping into my head and giving an order to evaporate. I didn’t know if it would work with Vance because he wasn’t a jinni, but this was our only shot so I had to try.
“Hang on,” I whispered as I gave his mind the command. “Don’t fight it.”
I closed my eye and tried to pop us out of the vehicle.
We rematerialized in the middle of the hotel room I’d met the rest of the coven in.
“What the heck is going on?” Vance asked in complete confusion when he saw the others.
“Keep him safe,” I said, not even being able to take the time to relish in the fact that I’d transported him successfully. I needed to try to save the others. “I'm going after Dad and Krista.”
“Portia! Wait!” Vance called, lunging after me.
I closed my eyes and did something I had never attempted. I wished to be back in Krista's room at the house in Arkansas.
Chapter 16
I was as shocked as Krista when I suddenly rematerialized right next to her. Not having time to contemplate that I’d just evaporated over almost half the entire United States, I wrapped my arms around her. I slipped into her head long enough to control a thought and wished myself back to the hotel in Washington, D. C.
The room had erupted into chaos in the few moments I had been gone, everyone yelling loudly at each other. They stopped instantly as soon as we returned.
“It's not possible,” Hex muttered in awe. “You couldn't have evaporated that far and carried a passenger with you too!”
I collapsed to the floor, shaking violently. I was freezing and couldn't stop my teeth from chattering.
“I need to go back,” I said, standing. “I still have to get my dad.”
“Portia, you can't go.” Vance grabbed me by the arm. “Sean is in the cave. The crystals in there won't let you out again, and you’ll be trapped there.”
“I have to try!” I snapped, yanking my arm from his grip. “He's going to turn him into a demon!”
Somewhere behind me I heard my mom gasp.
“It's too late,” Krista spoke up.
“What do you mean?” A fearful dread ran cold through my veins.
“Damien gave the order to turn Sean before the three of you went to the airport. He's been fed demon blood since you left.”
My mother fainted, and everyone rushed to her aide as I sank slowly to the floor, unable to stay upright any longer.
Vance sat next to me, cradling me into his arms.
“He lied,” I said numbly. “He made me promise, and then he lied to me.”
“What did you expect, really?” Vance asked, not seeming surprised at all by this revelation.
“I still need to go get my dad.” I tried to climb to my feet. “He may have been fed blood, but he's still alive at least. Damien will have him killed now because we escaped.”
“He won't be the same person, Portia,” Hex said, turning to look at me from where he knelt next to my mother.
“I don't care what he is,” I argued. “He's still my dad, and I won't leave him to be slaughtered by Damien.”
Again my body was racked with cold chills, and I shivered violently.
“I don't know that you could successfully even make the jump by yourself right now,” Hex said, watching me closely. “You're showing signs of being depleted already. It's no wonder. I can’t believe you successfully covered that distance as it was, let alone carrying Krista with you.”
“How long will being depleted last?” I asked.
“I’ve no way to know for sure since your case is so unique. But you remember when I told you I’d get fatigued during training. It would sometimes take me a day or two to fully recover depending on how active I had been.”
“We don't have days. Is there anything we can do to help me regenerate faster?” I asked, still shivering violently.
“Not that I'm aware of. When you use your powers to this extreme, you weaken the blood. It needs to rebuild.”
“You need to drink, baby.” His teeth elongated, and he bit into his wrist before I could stop him. “Here you go,” he added, lifting his limb to me, and I heard horrified gasps from the others.
I was too tired to argue. I greedily placed my mouth over the bleeding wound and couldn't help the sigh that escaped me as his sugar sweet blood began to run inside of me.
“What's going on here?” Grandma's voice permeated the air, and I glanced up to see her standing with her hands on her hips.
“We've been through a lot together since you last saw us, Milly,” Vance muttered in explanation, allowing me to keep feeding.
“I don't know what has happened to you two, but this is not good in any way, shape or form.” Her disapproval was evident.
“Well, I'm sorry if things aren't going according to plan for you,” Vance snapped at her, his demon features flashing. “But I did what I had to do to keep Portia safe. Okay? As long as she has the Awakening she's in no danger of turning, so just drop it, would you? She needs the blood.”
Vance suddenly swayed and closed his eyes. I knew I needed to stop. I was taking too much. I pulled away and used my healer's magic to heal the wound.
“I'm going to go get my dad,” I stated to no one in particular as I stood.
“You’ll stay here,” Grandma said emphatically, folding her arms over her chest.
“But ….” I was interrupted by Vance.
“I agree,” he said, lying back on the floor.
“Me too,” Shelly added, coming to stand next to me. “This is what your dad wants.”
I laughed. “Since when are you such an expert on what my dad wants?”
“Since you healed me after my car exploded,” she replied, lifting her chin a bit.
“What does that have to do with anything?” I questioned, looking at her in bewilderment.
“When you healed Shelly apparently your healer's magic awakened some sort of psychic ability in her. She must’ve had a natural tendency for it already, it just hadn't manifested yet,” Grandma explained.
“That's how we knew to find you here,” Brad, who had been quiet until this point, said stepping forward. “Shelly had a vision you would be here with Damien.”
?
??Wow,” I said, looking Shelly over, trying to see the change in her.
“Your dad would be very angry if you tried to rescue him. If he were in his right mind he wouldn't want you to risk your own safety. And if he's not, he will prefer where he is now. Bringing him here would be a danger to the fresh blooded witches of the coven. They’re already in grave danger from Vance. We don't need your dad here to compound that,” Hex said.
“You're in no danger from Vance. I’ll keep him well fed,” I said trying to reassure them.
Hex laughed aloud at me. “When did you become so naïve, Portia? Even as we speak he’s contemplating who he could feed on the easiest to help replenish what you just took from him. He's loyal only to you. Not to the rest of us.”
I looked at Vance and didn't need to read his thoughts to know Hex was speaking the truth, and I felt completely overwhelmed. How did I go about putting a coven back together that was thoroughly broken? We were diminished in numbers due to the recent slaughters that had occurred. Two of our regular members were human, unless Shelly being psychic added anything to the mix, and two others were full blooded demons. That was if anyone still counted Vance as part of the coven anymore. He severed those ties pretty well.
I began rubbing my temples. “I still think we should bring my dad here. Vance has been able to exercise some kind of restraint with me. Perhaps Dad could too if he were fed enough blood so he could think more rationally.”
“Leave him, Portia,” my mom's quiet voice broke in, and I saw her struggle to sit up. “Your dad always made it very clear if anything bad like this were to happen, he didn’t wish to be kept anywhere near the coven for their safety. In fact, he said for us to kill him if at all possible because he would never willingly want to live this way.”
“Are you telling me you're advocating dad's death?” I asked, unable to believe what I was hearing.
“Yes, I am,” she replied, her voice sounding small and tired. “Those were his expressed wishes.”
Anger streaked through me. “Well, are you ready for that, Mom? Because Damien will see to it that he's killed as soon as he’s able!”
“Actually, I think he’ll keep him alive,” Krista interrupted, looking at me. “It's the only real leverage he has against you now. Plus, it doesn't make sense that he would go to the trouble of changing him without your knowledge if he weren't planning on using him somehow.”
Large tears slipped over the rims of my eyes at the thought of my dad's entire existence being manipulated by Damien. It seemed impossible for me to do what they were asking and just step back and let things go.
“Baby, come here,” Vance said from his spot on the floor, weakly lifting a hand out to me before allowing it to drop back to his side.
“Is there somewhere he can rest?” I asked, glancing around at the others.
“You both can take my room,” Brad said. “I'll stay with Shelly.”
I lifted my eyebrows in question, surprised at his comment. It left me wondering, briefly, if certain things in their relationship had progressed since I'd last seen them. But I knew it was none of my business, so I dropped it.
“Thank you, Brad,” I said, and he came forward, reaching down to help Vance to his feet.
“Let's all rest for a little while and let everyone's emotions calm down, shall we?” Hex suggested.
“Just remember no one should leave this suite,” I cautioned. “Damien will be coming here as soon as he recovers from being stabbed by me. It would be horrible for us to escape, only to have him find us roaming the halls here. We need to make sure he’s gone before ever leaving the rooms.”
“Agreed,” Grandma said, looking at each of us in turn. “Now everyone off to sleep. I’ll take the first watch.”
Vance pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my neck.
“You need to drink from me now,” I said with a sigh. “I took too much.”
He shook his head, placing a kiss against my skin. “No. I don't want to leave us both vulnerable at the same time. Just rest with me, and I'll be okay.”
“Please take a little, Vance,” I continued to encourage him. “I don't want you to attack someone else because you haven't been properly fed.”
He considered this for a moment before he lifted a hand to stroke his fingers over my lips. “Then kiss me, Portia, and let's make this as painless as possible.”
I leaned over him, running my fingers into his thick hair before dipping down to place my mouth against his.
I couldn't decide which was worse, the tension we had shared while living with Damien, or the tension we were living under now while we waited for him to leave the hotel.
Most everyone was leery of Vance—and with good reason if I were being honest with myself. It hadn't been my brightest hour when I decided to dump him in the middle of coven with fresh blooded witches roaming about in it. It was like I'd placed him in front of a buffet and then told him he wasn't allowed to eat.
He fed often from me to try and help curb his desires. Even though he only took enough to take the edge off, it was still depleting for me. I felt tired constantly, as if I were swimming with just enough strength to keep my head above water. It didn't help that Hex had resumed his training with me, as best he could in our current location, taking what little energy I had left, until I felt like a bag of jelly walking around trying to hold myself together.
I lay flopped out on the couch next to my mom. My head was in her lap, and I was watching Vance as he sat across the room talking with Brad about something that had him more animated than I'd seen him in weeks. They were playing chess together at the table.
Vance spent a lot of his time with Brad and Krista. There was no magic to tempt him in their blood, and he was most comfortable with the two of them, so he was able to relax and be more like his old self.
I was grateful Brad continued to treat him as if he were the same Vance he'd known all along. Maybe he was to him, but whatever the reason, Vance needed all the stable relationships he could get right now.
“See, Mom,” I said quietly, nodding in Vance's direction. “If Dad could learn to control himself he could be like that. Would you want him dead then?”
“I don't know, Portia,” she answered, looking away from where she was stroking my hair to the scene across the room. Vance and Brad both suddenly broke into laughter and gave each other a little high five slap of the hands. We both smiled involuntarily, but I heard her let a deep sigh. “It wouldn't be like it is with you and Vance. I wouldn't be able to feed him, to keep him and others safe from harm.”
“Hmmm, that's true,” I mumbled, continuing to watch the guys. “But I bet we could set something up where we could have the coven donate a pint of their blood or something to help him.”
“That's an awful lot to ask of them, Portia,” she replied with a shake of her head. “And it would drive your father crazy to be tied to something like that. If he's still like himself in any capacity,” she amended.
I couldn't argue with her about that. I knew it drove Vance insane to be beholden to someone else for blood. Even though he loved the taste and feel of it, I was pretty sure he would at least consider an alternative if one became available.
“I don't know what he will be like, Mom,” I said honestly. “This is Damien we are dealing with here. I wouldn't put it past him to drive him crazy with need just to mess with him. It all depends on what he wants to use him for.”
My mom flinched visibly at my words, and I felt bad for being so blunt with her, but I was done trying to sugar coat things for people. If they couldn't accept the truth of the way things were, then they didn't need to be here.
“Love you, Mom,” I said, slowly rising up to kiss her cheek. “Hang in there. We'll figure something out.”
She gave me a slight smile of encouragement before I stood and walked over to Vance.
“Hey baby,” he said when I bent to slide my arms around his shoulders. “What's up?”
“I'm going to lie down and t
ake a nap for a bit. These sessions with Hex are wearing me out.”
“You're working yourself too hard, you know?” Vance replied, reaching up to pat my arms. “Go on. Get some rest. You deserve it.”
He turned so he could give me a quick peck before I slipped from his reach, but I could feel his stare following after me, as well as the worried aura he had about him. Something was concerning him, but he wasn't quite ready to explore that conversation with me yet.
At that moment I didn't care either. I just needed some sleep. I flipped back the covers, snuggling instantly into the comfort of the bed and let oblivion claim me.
Chapter 17
The scream that cut through the night caused me to bolt straight up in bed. I struggled to throw the bedding off and jumped up before I even gathered my full faculties. I stumbled for the door, dragging tangled blankets haphazardly along behind me as I rushed out of the room.
I stopped in shock when I found Vance kneeling on the floor, holding a crumpled Shelly in his arms. She appeared to be unconscious.
“What’s going on?” I asked, frozen to the spot, wondering why Vance might’ve attacked Shelly. Her blood held no power he would crave.
“She had some sort of vision,” Brad said, hurrying in from the other room with a wet rag, followed by Hex and Grandma appearing from two separate doors to the right. “This happens to her often with them. When she comes to she’ll be able to tell us what she saw. Thank goodness Vance’s reflexes are so fast. He caught her right before she hit her head on the coffee table.”
I felt horrible as his words sunk in. I should’ve known Vance was rushing to Shelly’s aide, not trying to hurt her.
He looked at me, his glance speaking a thousand words—I’d broken trust with him. He knew exactly what passed through my mind in those few moments, and now we both realized what my subconscious had kept hidden for a long, long, time.
I was afraid to trust him. I sighed in frustration, moving closer to stand by them.
“I’m sorry, Vance,” I whispered to him mentally, but there was no reply or acknowledgement he’d heard me, even though I knew he had.