The Witch Is Back

  I felt a cry sounding in the depths of my body as the reality of what was happening dawned on me.

  If I were to lose her …

  “Christ,” I whispered as I inspected her wound. At the feel of my fingers, she winced and pulled away from me. She was just so frail, so frightened.

  “Rand, it hurts!” she cried and I forced myself to smile down at her, hoping my expression would convince her that everything was going to be okay, even when I could recognize my smile for the lie it was. I put my hand on her forehead and she was scalding hot, which meant one thing. I wasn’t certain why but I turned to face Sinjin.

  “She’s turning,” I repeated the obvious and nearly choked on my own voice.

  “Stop it from happening!” she squealed and began to shake. Tremors seized her middle until it looked as if she were suffering from a self-induced earthquake. It was a sign that the canine virus was taking hold of her, morphing her blood cells, asserting its control as it stampeded through her. I took her in my arms and wanted to curse myself for the fact that she was turning too quickly—that I had been too late in reaching her. It was possible that she was going to transform into a wolf right before my eyes—that is, if the change itself didn’t kill her first.

  “I can suck out the toxins,” Sinjin said in a calm voice, as he took a step closer to the bed.

  “No,” I said, shaking my head, unable to stomach the idea of Sinjin drinking from her. I was a warlock, a master of witchcraft; my powers would be enough. “I can heal her myself.”

  “You do not have time,” Sinjin continued as he glanced at her. “She is turning too rapidly.”

  Jolie gripped my hand and her eyes were wild, frightened. “Please, Rand.”

  I gulped hard as I weighed my options. Sinjin was correct—there wasn’t time for me to charm her, to conjure up a spell that would reverse her metamorphosis. As a rule, I deal in black and white and the reality was that Sinjin was the only option we had. Without him, she would succumb, possibly to her death. It was a chance I wasn’t willing to take.

  I faced him and narrowed my eyes. “Do it quickly.”

  Sinjin smiled and it was the expression of victory. “You must charm her so she will not feel it.”

  As I mentioned earlier, vampires and witches are immune to one another’s powers—Sinjin’s ability to bewitch his prey, to remove any pain associated with his attack, would be useless on Jolie; his bite would be excruciatingly painful. While it might seem that Sinjin’s request was innocent enough, such wasn’t the case. I knew what it meant for a vampire to bewitch his prey and I’d be damned if I allowed the same to happen to Jolie. What was more, I imagined she would never forgive me.

  I gritted my teeth and shook my head. “No, I can’t allow her to succumb to you,” I said, tightlipped. “My magic will …”

  “Very well but this will be incredibly painful,” Sinjin interrupted with an unconcerned shrug and sat down beside her, leaning over as he inspected the wolf’s bite. He watched her and his eyes focused on the blood still pumping from her wound. His fangs lengthened. She closed her eyes as another eruption of shaking seized her. Time was now an extravagance we couldn’t afford.

  “Please, Rand, please do what he’s asking!”

  I couldn’t watch her hurt. That’s what it amounted to. I couldn’t watch her writhe in agony before me when I could stop her pain. Yes, I also knew what would happen once Sinjin bewitched her but I would just have to suffer through it and hopefully she would understand why I made the choice I did.

  I knelt down, taking hold of either side of her face, forcing her attention to me. “Look at me, Jolie, and don’t break eye contact.”

  She nodded and although another spasm seized her, she forced her eyes open. She was strong; she always had been. I didn’t say anything as I gazed at her, but focused on the charm in my head, focused on the words that would allow her to submit to Sinjin’s powers. I imagined a shell of white light surrounding her, sinking into her, sending its potency to every inch of her body to bathe her in my magic.

  Seconds later, I released her head and stood up. “It’s done.”

  Sinjin grasped her hand. “Look at me, poppet. This will not cause you pain, do you understand?”

  She nodded and I could see her losing control of herself as she gazed into the vampire’s eyes. I watched him too; I wanted him to be fully aware of the fact that I was standing over them, that I wouldn’t allow him any transgressions with Jolie. His pupils dilated until the black swallowed the ice-blue only to immediately return to blue again within a blink. And, instantly, a smile spread across Jolie’s face as her eyes took on a heavy-lidded appearance. She was relaxed now, even though her body continued to shake, continued to attempt to fight off the canine virus; it was as if her brain were not aware of the fact. Her pain had subsided, that much was obvious.

  Sinjin smiled as his fangs sparkled in the moonlight. He grasped her neck and maneuvered her head to the side. All the while my heart beat frantically in my chest and it was all I could do to not pull him off her. The breath caught in my throat as I watched him sink his fangs into her already torn flesh. She inhaled slightly as if there were just the smallest hint of pain, but then her shoulders relaxed and her eyes glazed over as if she were feeling … pleasure.

  Sinjin squeezed her shoulders as his fangs sank deeper and more blood began dripping from her wound. His hands palpated her arms, plying her flesh as he continued drinking her. As if that weren’t enough for me to grab him and throw him off her, a moan escaped his lips. And Jolie responded to him immediately, groaning when he withdrew from her. She wrapped her arms around him as if begging him to return.

  I felt sick.

  I had to remind myself this wasn’t real. Jolie didn’t feel this way for Sinjin—it was merely his powers of persuasion working on her confused mind. Whatever she felt for him was of his doing, not hers.

  She didn’t want him. She couldn’t want him …

  “Jolie,” I said but she wouldn’t look at me. It was as if I wasn’t even in the room. I felt my hands fist at my side and I had to close my eyes against the image of Sinjin above her with her bare legs wrapped around his waist.

  If he didn’t get the toxins out of her, she would turn into a wolf or worse yet, she would die. I had to keep reminding myself of that.

  I opened my eyes to find Jolie running her fingers through Sinjin’s black hair as she pushed his head back onto her neck. He pulled up from her and his eyes were bright with an unnatural light. He licked his lips, which were covered in her blood, and sank his fangs into her again. She screamed out in pleasure and it was the sound of someone in the throes of an orgasm.

  “Stop, goddammit!” I yelled and took a step forward. “What the bloody hell are you doing to her?”

  Sinjin didn’t respond but merely withdrew his fangs again. Blood dripped from his mouth onto her face and he licked it off before apparently remembering me. “Do you want her to turn?”

  I was panting, torn between killing him and realizing he was saving her. “No.”

  “Then let me finish.”

  Sinjin turned back to face Jolie and his eyes dilated again, weaving another round of bliss within her. She tilted her neck to the side and closed her eyes. “Please, Sinjin, please,” she begged in a breathless voice.

  I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to force the sound of her voice from my mind, tried to banish the image of her begging Sinjin. What was she begging him for? To bite her, to heal her? To touch her, become one with her?

  It was a memory that would never leave me, a memory that would haunt me from here to eternity.

  Sinjin bit into her with renewed zest, sucking her blood feverishly. She wrapped her legs around him again as her body writhed with pleasure beneath his. He groaned slightly as she screamed out another orgasm. I turned and faced the opposite wall, not able to watch anymore.

  “I want you, Sinjin, please,” she moaned.

  And that was when I lost control. Ther
e was only so much I could willingly take, so much I could witness and this was too much. I felt anger encompass me, a mad rush of jealousy and pain washing over me until I thought I’d suffocate on the still air. My fists were so tightly clenched, I could feel my fingernails digging into the palms of my hands. I glanced down and before I could stop myself, I smashed my fist into the wall, feeling pain ricochet up my hand and into my arm. I turned around to face Sinjin. “Enough!”

  Sinjin pulled away from her and his body heaved as he licked the blood off his lips and closed his eyes, as if he were savoring the taste of her, as if she were the sweetest nectar. He had no right … he had no bloody right!

  When he opened his eyes, he glanced at her again and it was the expression of someone hungry, of someone who had gorged himself on her blood and still wasn’t satisfied. Then it occurred to me that perhaps it wasn’t blood he was seeking. Over my dead body …

  I took a step closer to him, my chest rising and falling as I tried to prepare myself for the fight that would surely ensue. There was no way in hell I would allow him another touch, another feel of her. And what was more, he was now in the throes of blood lust—the most dangerous moment for a vampire because it meant he was on the brink of losing himself to the power of his victim’s blood and, possibly, draining her entirely.

  If he so much as moves another inch closer to her … I couldn’t finish my thought. I was too focused on his body language, paying close attention to whether or not he would defeat his primordial urges to drain her.

  After another few seconds in which Sinjin did nothing but watch Jolie as a hawk would a field mouse, his fangs suddenly retracted, revealing the fact that he had bested the blood lust, that he was in command of himself. Jolie seemed to protest, grasping his head and trying to bring his face back down to her wound.

  He chuckled. “No, pet, you must keep the rest.”

  “Get away from her,” I said in an exhausted voice and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back.

  “I want more,” she whimpered, still refusing to even so much as glance in my direction.

  “No, Jolie, you’re going to be all right now,” I crooned in her ear. “These feelings are just temporary.”

  Sinjin chuckled from behind us; he’d already started for the door. It was as if he knew he was no longer welcome, that he’d done the deed to save her and now I wanted him gone. He paused just before the door and narrowed his eyes as he watched me. “Randall, do not outstay your welcome. It is clear whom she prefers.”

  “I don’t have the patience to deal with you now, Sinjin,” I said and faced him, anger beginning to boil up within me again. I was at the end of my tether and if Sinjin so much as looked at Jolie, I would burst.

  Jolie suddenly began writhing before me, acting as if she was in the throes of pain. I grabbed hold of her flailing arms, afraid that perhaps Sinjin hadn’t sucked enough of the poison from her.

  “Did you get all the toxins out of her?” I demanded, glancing over my shoulder at him.

  “Yes,” Sinjin responded. “She will heal.”

  She opened her eyes and clutched me, trying to pull me down toward her. “I need you, Rand, right now!”

  Although there was something in me that wanted nothing more than to feel her lips on mine, feel her body bucking beneath mine as I claimed her for my own, I ignored it. Jolie needed me, she needed me to see her through this, and dammit, that was what I intended to do. I would be her beacon. I faced Sinjin again. “When will this wear off?”

  Sinjin smiled. “Another ten minutes or so. I had to charm her twice to ensure she would not feel pain.”

  I grumbled something unintelligible as Jolie continued to wiggle beneath me, rubbing herself against me as if she were a cat in heat. “Rand, please.”

  Sinjin’s chortle was deep. “Apparently I awakened some dormant feelings in her. If you are not up to the challenge, I can satiate her.”

  Sinjin took a step toward us as if he would make good on his offer but, breaking Jolie’s hold, I stood up, facing him. “I’ve had enough of you and your ulterior motives.”

  “Ulterior motives?” Sinjin questioned, feigning innocence.

  I inhaled deeply. “Don’t think I’m unaware of your interest in Jolie and it extends past mere physical attraction. I’m not a fool, Sinjin.”

  Sinjin shrugged. “I never accused you of being anything other than a gentleman.”

  “Just be aware that I’m on to you,” I finished in a constricted voice. “Now leave us and send someone for him,” I said and motioned to the lifeless corpse in the corner of the room. It was the first time I’d spared a thought for him since entering the room and noticing him lying in the corner.

  Sinjin bowed and left the room and I breathed out my relief. Just being near him caused my blood pressure to escalate. And now with a new batch of memories that sickened me, I wondered how I’d ever rid myself of the bloody vampire. But Sinjin wasn’t the one who deserved my attention. No, Jolie needed me and it was Jolie I wanted to focus on. I glanced down at her and watched her exhale. She closed her eyes wearily as the beginnings of a smile took control of her mouth. I held her more tightly, suddenly only too aware of the fact that I’d nearly lost her … again. Granted, there was a good chance she would have survived the transformation but the idea of Jolie as a wolf left me nothing but cold. No, she was a witch … she was my own kind.

  She was mine …

  “I think I might be back to normal,” she said as the whiteness of her pallor began to give way to her ordinarily rosy hue and the vivaciousness that was Jolie began to come back, little by little.

  I smiled as I held her in my arms. “You feel okay?”

  “Physically, I feel better than okay, actually,” she admitted shyly and I realized she was embarrassed. No doubt she was remembering everything she’d said and done with Sinjin. And as if those memories weren’t awkward enough, I’d witnessed the entire episode. I didn’t say anything but gave her an understanding smile and tightened my hold around her.

  “I can move again,” she announced, in an obvious change of subject, as she focused on her legs and wiggled her toes. Jolie’s battle against the fairy, Dougal, had left her basically paralyzed. That is, until Sinjin had come along …

  I nodded, none too comfortable with the realization that I now bore a deep debt to him. It was entirely because of him that she was lying here in my arms, that she wasn’t canine or dead. “It’s Sinjin’s saliva. It must have healed not only the wolf’s bite but the rest of you as well.”

  “It’s that strong?” she asked and glanced up at me with her doelike eyes. The freckles that decorated the bridge of her nose gave her a youthful essence, a purity that was so uniquely hers. She’d seen and experienced things that would have caused a lesser person to crumble, would have ripped away any innocence they possessed. Yet Jolie was still the same woman I’d first encountered when I’d wandered into her fortune-telling store a year or so earlier. Well, she wasn’t exactly the same. She’d learned so much, experienced so much, she’d come so far and yet her eyes were wide with a virtuousness that surprised me.

  “Yes.”

  She seemed to suddenly remember the wolf and glanced toward the dead body heaped in the corner. “Do you know who he is?”

  I shook my head, not wanting to be reminded of the fact that I’d failed in my part to keep her safe. Jolie was wanted—her ability to reanimate the dead had garnered attention from all creatures of the Underworld. It was no surprise that Bella, eager for power and domination, had desired Jolie for herself. I’d been so foolish to think Pelham Manor was secure—granted I’d employed guards and, with the help of fairy magic, constructed invisible magical nets along the tree line, designed to keep our enemies away. I’d still failed and in the process, I’d nearly lost Jolie …

  “No, but I do know he’s one of Bella’s.”

  “He was?” she almost choked. “But how did he get through the fairy nets and all your soldiers?”

  “In
side job,” I said with a sigh, my mind elsewhere—on the fact that I’d nearly lost her, for example. “This is her way of saying she’s agreed to our war.”

  We were both interrupted when one of my men appeared in the doorway. “Apologies for disturbing you,” he started in a deep southern accent. Even though we were in England, our soldiers were from every section of the globe. This one, like Jolie, was from America. “I’m here for the wolf.”

  I cleared my throat, slightly embarrassed by the fact that he’d stumbled upon Jolie and me in an intimate moment. “No worries,” I said and motioned to the corner of the room. His eyes followed my lead and he merely went to the wolf, picked him up, and hurriedly exited. Not wanting any other visitors, I focused on the splintered remains of the busted door and, narrowing my eyes, imagined the door mending itself, pictured the wood seaming itself together again. When I blinked, it was as if Sinjin had never destroyed it in the first place.

  I glanced down at Jolie and found her watching me. “I imagine that whole situation with Sinjin was difficult for you to watch?” she asked.

  I exhaled, not wanting a reminder. “More than you know.”

  “Rand … thank you for doing what you did.” She glanced away and exhaled, as if remembering what had just occurred. “I really don’t even know how to verbalize what I’m feeling. I’m just … very grateful to you and Sinjin.”

  You and Sinjin … I didn’t allow myself to complete the thought. Without Sinjin’s assistance, Jolie wouldn’t be here, in my arms, as if she hadn’t just skated over extremely thin ice.

  “Yes, well …” I started, not exactly certain what my point was.

  “I’m sorry you had to witness what you did,” she interrupted. “I’m a little foggy on what happened but every time I think about it, I get embarrassed, so that must mean something …”