Chapter 42 #2
I staggered forward, but my legs gave out. On my hands and knees, I crawled toward him.
“Tell me, Karson.” Tears streamed down the witch’s face. “Please, I don’t want to do this, I just want him back.” She raised the blade again.
His breathing was ragged and thin. He didn’t move. Why wasn’t he moving? It had almost killed him last time. If she struck him twice …
My fingers felt numb as they curled around my blade and I reared up to my knees and hurled it.
It whistled through the air and slammed into the witch’s arm.
She screamed and dropped the blade as she staggered back, her eyes wide with shock as she stared at the blade that had driven right through her arm.
Her legs gave out and she cried out as she thumped to her ass.
With both arms out of action, all she could do was shuffle back on her ass, moaning and sobbing, “I just want him back, I just want him back.”
Fear, and for the first time uncertainty, pinched the other witches’ eyes. They erupted into chanting and more red powder boiled around the room.
I raised my palms, white-hot pain knifing through my head as what was left of my magic blustered through the room.
A witch shrieked as she flew out of the door into the night in a streak of black and red like a shooting comet. There was a thump, a sharp cry, and then silence.
I blinked. I barely had enough power left to move a leaf, let alone a person. That’s when I saw Rodney standing where the witch had stood, a small towel wrapped over his nose and mouth.
I crawled to Karson. His flesh was twisted over the raw meat and pulsing gore, his arms shaking as he pushed himself to his knees.
A shaky, relieved breath shuddered from my lips.
Janice rushed in from behind Rodney, a black mask over her face.
She moved in a streak of darkness, blades whistling as she spun and removed two heads. Rodney snapped the necks of the other two witches. They collapsed to the floor, mouths open, eyes perfectly still, their necks lolling at deformed angles.
The chanting stopped abruptly. The remaining witches froze, their eyes darting between each other.
The blonde-haired witch ran first, followed by the brunette.
They were quick, faster than the average human, but not as fast as a vampire.
Janice beat them to the door. They slid to a stop.
She smirked, her dark eyes glinting with anger and a promise of revenge.
They spun back, wild-eyed with terror. Dust swirled like snowflakes, drifting slowly to the floor.
Karson’s eyes hooked with mine, before he ran them over my body from top to toe, checking for injuries. More worried about me than his own pain. His skin was healing, the blisters slowly dissolving, but they were still red and swollen.
Relief relaxed his face briefly before it tightened into a deep, animalistic growl. He launched, and before I could blink, he held the nearest witch by the neck.
“Eric,” Rodney called out, ripping the towel off his face and rushing to him. Squatting down, he placed a hand on the pulse of his throat. He dropped his head, and when he looked up, there was a glacial rage in his eyes that sent shivers over my skin.
“Monique,” Kenneth rasped, his entrails beginning to move, slithering like serpents back inside.
Nausea flared and I fought back the urge to vomit.
He crawled along the floor to her, his gaping wound spilling blood.
Monique was still curled up, shaking all over, her entire body coated in red.
Tears poured down her cheeks, her nose looked flat, and her eyes were black and almost swollen shut.
“I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” he murmured, pulling her into his arms. She didn’t fight him off; she sagged against his chest and cried.
Michael rose shakily to his feet, his sleeves shredded and bloody, gouged wounds in his arms dripping blood. They were healing but slowly, far slower than usual. He blinked through dust-coated eyes, collected the witch’s knife off the floor, and tucked it in his pocket.
The witch Karson held by the neck clawed at his hand uselessly, her eyes bulging, her face turning red, then blue. He was slowly dragging the life from her lungs.
From above someone cried, “Stop. Stop!”
Through my watery vision, I could barely make out Georgie and Josh standing at the top of the stairs. Georgie’s hands were over her mouth, her eyes resting on Eric. She began to run down the stairs, Josh following her.
I whipped my head back to another sharp shriek as the blonde-haired witch yanked the blade from the other witch’s arm. It was a mistake unless she was a healer. Blood rushed out over her pale skin like the devil’s bride escaping her wedding.
The blonde turned back and held the knife in a trembling hand, her eyes darting around the room. She must have decided she had no hope against us now, and she threw it off to the side.
The witch Karson held by the throat was almost dead. Her eyes rolled back in her head.
“Karson, stop,” I rasped.
“As much as I’d like to see her suffer,” Michael stumbled to him and clutched at his arm, “she can’t speak with your hands around her neck.”
With a grunt of frustration, Karson released her and took a step back.
The witch clutched at her neck, red fingerprints staining where his hand had been. She hunched over, chest heaving, wheezing and spluttering.
Josh rushed to Monique, then hovered over her and Kenneth. “Are you … what can I do?” he asked, tears in his eyes.
Michael staggered. Josh whipped a chair out for him. Michael sagged down, sweat coating his brow. The effects of the poison were still in his system, but he seemed alright, at least. He wasn’t going to die. Unlike Eric.
Georgie rushed to him and rolled him over, her nursing skills kicking in. Her eyes widened at the sight of his darkened skin. She pressed her finger to his neck, checking his vital signs.
“He’s dead,” Rodney said, his voice snagging in grief.
Georgie used her sleeve to wipe the foam dribbling from the corner of his mouth and began heart compressions.
“He’s dead,” Rodney repeated.
“Hearts can be restarted.”
Georgie pressed on Eric’s chest in a fast, rhythmical beat, but when she went to blow into his mouth, Rodney moved in a flash, grabbed her arms, and hauled her back. “He’s dead!” he shouted.
“He’s a vampire, he can be saved!” she shouted back, struggling to break free, but he dragged her away, her feet sliding across the wooden floor as she struggled.
His jaw clenched. “He’s dead, and if you touch that poison you might be too.”
Georgie whipped her head to look at him, then moved her gaze to the doorway to the entertainment room, where the girls stood at the edge staring in, no fear in their eyes, nothing but a flicker perhaps of confusion.
Rodney let her go. Georgie stepped away, moving instead to the witch whose arm was fast bleeding out. She reeled back as Georgie approached.
“I’m not going to hurt you, I’m a nurse, let me help you,” Georgie said softly. The witch blinked up through her dark hair like a frightened mouse. “Josh, get bandages,” Georgie said without looking at him.
Josh looked at Karson for permission. He said nothing, so Josh whirled up the stairs and came back moments later with a medical kit, and Georgie began wrapping her bleeding arm.
“Where is he?” The witch Karson had choked straightened up, her eyes glittering with a mixture of fury and fear. “You son of a bitch, what did you do to him?”
“I do a lot to a lot of people, sweetheart,” Karson responded smugly. “As I’ve already told you, you’re going to have to be more specific.”
“Where’s Leon?” she spat.
Was it the same Leon who worked for Karson, or someone else?
“Oh, him.” He cracked his knuckles. The skin across his back was still red and bubbled, but it was healing. “He’s downstairs waiting for us to finish dinner to have a little chat to him.”
The business Rodney spoke about.
The witch Georgie was helping let out a sob of relief and her shoulders slumped.
“What’s in the poison, Janetta?” Rodney snarled, and the witch snapped to attention again.
“I don’t know,” she rasped. “Penra made it.” Her lips trembled as she took in the sight of Penra’s slumped body.
Rodney’s eyes met Janice’s in soundless communication.
She shoved the blonde witch in the back, and she gasped and staggered forward.
Rodney stalked in front of her like a lion, barely withheld rage smoldering from his body.
“What is in the poison?” His voice was soft, and somehow that was more terrifying than if he’d shouted.
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” she rushed out, shaking her head, fear making her voice squeak. “We didn’t mean to hurt anyone, we only wanted to get Leon.” She shifted her watery gaze to Janetta, tears rolling down her face.
He grazed a thumb down her cheek, wiping softly at the tears. The witch shuddered, but she lifted her chin. “Why, then, sweetheart, do I feel like you are lying to me?”
“Please,” she whimpered. “I don’t know, she dabbles in black magic, but I never thought …” She paused and swallowed, her eyes flicking again to Janetta, fury swelling behind fear. “I never wanted anyone hurt.”
Rodney grabbed her hair and yanked. The witch cried out and dropped to her knees.
“Answer me,” he roared, his grip tightening.
“STOP, please!” she cried. “I don’t know, I don’t know!”
“It was meant to just be dragon’s blood to disable you all.” Janetta lifted her voice and stepped forward, stopping a few feet away. “That’s all any of us know. Abbie had no hand in any of this.”
“I’d say she had plenty of hand in this, given she is here.” Rodney placed his hands on the sides of her head.
Abbie screamed an awful sound of pain as her hands shot to his arms, trying uselessly to pull them off. “What was in the poison?”
Abbie shouted through sobs, “I don’t know. I don’t know!”
“Show me what you have done.”