CHAPTER NINE
~
It wasn’t just the seawater that slammed against Faith’s hastily constructed spell to hold the water back; it was something far more sinister and prolonged. Dark magic battered and probed the shield, looking for a way in.
What she wouldn’t give to have Nana and True’s magic joining with hers now to hold the line.
“Faith?” Jennifer’s voice was filled with terror, and Faith’s arm gripped her tighter as the young witch’s death grip around her waist brought home the point that the magic was all that stood between them and whatever wanted to claim them.
“Don’t let go, Jen, but if we are parted, I’ll come for you…” Faith’s rushed promise died on her lips as the magic found its way through her defences and crushed the shield.
The water engulfed them, swirling, battering, and pulling until it ripped them apart. Tossed, turned, and submerged until Faith didn’t know which way was up; it carried them away from the beach and out to sea.
Faith held on to the one thing that mattered most with all her might: finding and protecting Jennifer.
~
“Witches, help!” Lex called over his shoulder back into the empty bar before jumping the deck railing and heading for the open sea.
Heath, Zeke and Drew had been pulled into the water along with Faith and Jennifer, but whatever had taken the witches didn’t want the shifters, and they bobbed and swam along the top of the waves, the sea calmer now, searching around them for a sign of the witches.
Lex headed for the rocks and the submerged wreck, swimming against an unusual riptide that fought against him and reaching his target against all the odds.
“Lex?” Heath called.
“Hunch!” Lex called back, not turning, not letting anything stand in his way of reaching the ship and diving below the water.
Through the vortex of bubbles, he spotted Faith in a desperate fight with a heavy plank that had trapped her ankle and locked her against the ship’s ragged stern. His touch jolted her to awareness, and wide, fearful eyes met his.
As Lex reached for her ankle, she batted his hands away, frantically motioning close by where Jennifer rested, eyes closed, no air bubbles coming from her mouth, seemingly asleep against the ship”s deck like a fallen figurehead.
Lex had no choice. He grabbed a raged board jutting out from a gaping hole in the ship”s side and propelled himself towards Jennifer.
When he wrapped a strong arm around the child, she didn’t move, didn’t protest, and he knew she was gone to this world. There was still hope, there was always hope, and he was torn, knowing that if he left Jennifer and rescued Faith, she would never forgive him, but everything inside him screamed to protect his one true love.
Lex kicked with all his strength to the surface. The instant he hit the air, he started for the rocks with Jennifer held against his body for protection against the jagged edges that threatened to batter them as the waves pounded.
“Going up!” Heath said, reaching the rocks and hauling his body onto a ledge. “Pass her up.”
Lex felt Drew at his side, and between them, they lifted Jennifer out of the waves into Heath’s care.
“Faith?” Drew asked, turning back to Lex, but the vampire was already gone. “Jennifer?” he asked, watching Heath start work on the child; his hands looked impossibly large for such a delicate creature as he began CPR.
“Don’t know, help Lex,” Heath growled, willing the seawater out of the child’s lungs, willing air in and a sign of life to stop his heart from trying to escape his chest.
Drew was reluctant to leave, but Jennifer was safe, and Lex might need his help. He gulped air and dived down and away from the rocks.
“Breathe…” Heath growled with a flick of a look at the noises coming from the beach as the witches headed their way. If he ever needed help, it was now. “Damn it, Jennifer – breathe!” he commanded.
Water pooled inside Jennifer’s mouth, and one more push on her chest had it spurting upwards. A gurgled cough and a gasp for air followed. “She’s alive!” Heath yelled to the frantic band of witches as he continued to work on her, thanking every God he had ever heard about for the child’s survival.
~
Drew swam through the bubbling, swirling water, heading for the wreck, and found what he was looking for. Faith looked as if she was standing on the wreck, her hair floating upwards, her arms lifelessly swaying to the movement of the water. Her eyes were closed.
Lex was frantically ripping apart the rotten wood that seemed to hold her in place against the side of the boat. Drew’s hands came down next to Lex’s, and they managed to pry her ankle free between them.
Lex turned, wrapped an arm around Faith’s body and headed for the surface with Drew not far behind. It seemed to take a lifetime for Drew to reach the surface, a lifetime Faith didn’t have if they were to save her.
Drew hit the surface, gasped for air, and turned in the water to the sound of the commotion raging behind him. Jennifer was alive! His heart kicked his ribs in delight, but the shouting and commands activated his body.
Zeke was up on the rocks, reaching for Faith, and Lex hauled her from the water toward the shifter. Drew headed toward them. A trail of witches was heading toward the scene, scrambling over the rocks to get to them, and Heath was caring for Jennifer.
Lex scrambled up the rocks, oblivious to the world around him, and reached Faith’s side when Zeke placed her carefully down on the flattest place he could find.
“Move!” Lex commanded Zeke with a hand on the shifter’s shoulder, tearing Zeke away from Faith, his inner demons seeing Zeke as a threat and not a friend. He knelt beside her lifeless body.
Drew scrambled up the rocks as Heath collected Jennifer in his arms and started for the witches. “Help Lex!” Heath growled, but one look at Lex and Drew knew there was no way in hell that the vampire would let anyone but a witch near Faith.
Drew followed Heath. He knew Heath was the only one who could get to Lex, and his place was there. “Give me Jen, you help Lex,” he said, catching up and practically snatching the child from the alpha’s arms.
“Get her to the hospital; check her out,” Heath demanded as he turned on his heels and started back across the rocks to Lex.
“Don’t you die on me!” Lex demanded, working on Faith’s chest to try to rid her lungs of the seawater. “You made me leave you – damn it.”
Heath didn’t know what help he could be now, but Drew was right; if Faith didn’t make it back, Lex would need him to control the worst of his demons from taking him over. Zeke looked lost, unsure what to do or how to do it, and Heath felt the same way.
Waiting was the cruellest beast, helplessness a close second in times like these, and neither man could help Faith now.
~
“Move!” Amy said, clambering across the wet rocks, trying to keep her feet but determined to get to Faith.
Zeke jumped out of her way. Her sheer look of determination and raging anger could end badly for him and anyone else who stopped her from achieving her goal.
“It’s too late for magic,” Lex said over his shoulder. He’d tried and failed to bring her back, but he was a realist and knew there was no hope.
Amy rounded the vampire and crouched down beside Faith. Heath at her side. “It’s never too late for…”
Faith’s eyes snapped open like she’d been shocked by unseen forces. She coughed out water and gasped in a breath from instinct.
“What the hell?” Heath jumped back away from Faith.
“Ah, yes,” Lex said, wincing. “Here’s the thing…”
“That’s not a thing; that’s a vampire,” Heath said.
“Oh, damn, you”re in trouble now,” Zeke said, shaking his head at Lex. “The witches are gonna fry you.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Lex said, eyeing Amy.
“Jennifer?” Faith demanded, grabbing a handful of Lex’s shirt and ripping it as she yanked him towards her.
“Fine, hospital as a precaution,” Lex informed her. “Beware your strength.”
“Who the hell is with her?” Faith demanded.
“Evie and Drew,” Lex replied, cool, calm, and collected, while the buzz around him was none of those things.
“Faith?” Amy said, cautious at being that close to a newbie vampire if that was what she really was. Amy pushed out her magic towards Faith to see what would ping back.
Faith turned a curious look on her friend. “Not now, Amy…”
“Now might be a good time,” Amy said, poking her with magic and not getting a reaction back. “A really good time…”
“I need to see Jennifer,” Faith said, rising to her feet without any effort at all.
“That’s not a good idea,” Amy said, pushing to her feet and stepping back beside Heath. She elbowed him in the side. “Right?”
Heath was thinking five steps ahead. True was his main concern; how the hell was he going to tell his mate that her sister was a vampire? “Sure – right, not good.”
“Hospitals, blood,” Zeke said, eyeing Faith with mistrust. “I predict some sort of carnage will ensue.”
“Ensue?” Lex said, cocking an eyebrow at the man. “Did you swallow a dictionary since you’ve been gone?”
“Can we not?” Faith snapped. “Jennifer needs protecting, and we’re all just standing here…”
“Honey,” Amy said with an air of caution mixed with disbelief. “Do you feel a little different?”
“Like baby lambs would taste better, au natural?” Zeke said, half-muttering, amused by his brother’s warning growl. “What? Say it ain’t so.”
Lex reached for Faith’s arm, but she anticipated it and pulled away before he took hold. “Don’t touch me…”
“I bet you’ve heard that a lot lately,” Zeke said.
Lex held up his index finger to Faith. “One second,” he said. Then he moved fast; in a heartbeat, he reached Zeke, and a moment later, the shifter was flying through the air from the rocks and heading for the waves. “Now,” he said as if what had just happened was normal. “Back to…” Lex looked around, but Faith was nowhere to be seen. “Where’d she…?”
Amy snapped to attention. She’d been busy watching Zeke’s expulsion from the rocky outcrop to notice that Faith had disappeared. She turned in place, as did Heath, but Faith was gone.
“Down here!” Zeke called.
Amy peered over the edge of the rocks, not keen on the idea of joining Zeke in the water. “We know,” she called back.
“Not me,” Zeke called back. “Faith!” He motioned wildly.
Heath, Lex and Amy stood at the rock face and turned in the direction Zeke was pointing. “Ah-huh,” Amy said. “How fast is she – exactly?” She glared at Lex, and in return, the vampire grimaced.
“Gotta go,” he said, taking off on fast feet across the rocks, following Faith as she swam below.
“I believe she’d break all swimming records,” Heath said, folding his arms across his chest and mulling it over.
Amy slowly turned to stare up at him. “Hey, Lucy, you’ve got some explaining to do to your mate,” she said, in her best Ricky impression.
“Not if you get to her first and explain…”
“Ohhhh!” Amy said with a hearty chuckle. “You want me to explain? Not on your life.”