Chapter 21
P aige gulped, her eyes going wide. “Wh-what do you want?”
The vampire tapped a long, yellowed nail against his colorless lips as he paced back and forth in front of the entrance to the cavern.
“Hmmm, what an intriguing question. The short answer is to stop you from doing your job. But what do I really want? Maybe your lives.” He stopped and narrowed his eyes at Paige. “You look quite tasty.”
Devon stepped in front of her, shielding her from the vampire. “I don’t think so, Caleb.”
The man rolled his red eyes. “Step aside, Devon. This is between me and the delectable redhead.”
Paige peered over his shoulder. “You don’t scare me!”
“Well, I should. I could drain you in one bite. Of course, then you’d rise as a vampire like me, and we could have a grand time together.” He winked at her, offering a devilish grin.
“Not if she wants to see the sun again,” Devon countered.
“Step off, Daddy’s Boy,” Caleb shot back. “You can’t stop us. Neither can your father.”
“We can,” Paige said, jabbing a finger at him.
“I doubt it, Red. You and Tiny will never get out of this cave alive.”
Devon scoffed. “I’ll never let that happen.”
He held the bulbs out toward Dewey, who snatched them before his skin rippled as he shifted into beast mode.
The shimmering vampire rolled his red eyes before his neck snapped backward at an odd angle, then cracked forward and hung low.
Fangs protruded beyond his lips. Giant red wings popped from his back.
Thick, throbbing veins stretched across them as they flapped in the air.
His body morphed into a shimmery, monstrous form.
Dewey’s eyes widened. “Wow, a vampire fight!”
“I think we should get out of here.”
“No way! This is epic.” Dewey handed her the bulbs before he curled his paws into fists and pounded them in the air. “Fight, fight, fight, fight!”
“Stop it!” Paige hissed.
“Why? This is going to make a great story when we get back.”
“If we get back,” Paige answered as Devon snarled at the other vampire.
The Transylvanian vampire opened his mouth in a wide hiss, baring his fangs further. Devon swiped at him. Caleb danced back, dodging the hit.
“I think we should go.” Paige winced and skirted around the two warring creatures. She smashed herself against the wall and inched forward.
“Look out!” Dewey shouted, thrusting a finger sideways.
Paige stumbled backward as the two vampires smacked into the stone, nearly squashing her.
Devon grabbed Caleb by the arms and flung him across the cave. The Transylvanian skidded to a stop in mid-air, wings beating hard before he barreled back toward Devon.
Devon roared at him and sprinted toward him before flinging himself in the air. The two collided and fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
“Go, Paige!” Dewey yelled. He flung his arms around her head and held on tight as she launched herself forward into the dark cavern beyond. She stopped running as blackness enveloped them.
“I can’t see a thing in here.”
“Me either. It’s dark. What happened to the flashlight?”
“I didn’t take it into the Astral realm,” Paige said, her nose crinkling. “I put it down. Ugh, it’s in the vampire fight club cavern.”
“Great,” Dewey muttered. “Let’s hope we can find our way to the stairs without you falling down and killing one or both of us.”
“I doubt we’ll die,” Paige answered, “just hurt ourselves pretty badly.”
“I can’t get hurt. The fate of my family and my entire village rests on my tiny shoulders.”
“Tiny, yet wise,” Paige said, grinning into the darkness as she inched forward.
Grunts, snarls, and hisses filled the chamber as the two vampires continued to battle behind them.
Paige stretched her arms out in front of her and continued to creep forward. “That sounds awful.”
“Probably sounds worse than it is.”
She ground to a halt and glanced back at the glowing chamber.
“What are you doing?” Dewey asked.
“I think I should go back and help Devon.”
“Help Devon?” he cried, fluttering off her shoulder into the darkness. “Are you crazy? He’s a big-boy vampire. He can handle himself.”
“Can he? I mean, in this match-up, who has the advantage?”
“Uhh, either vampire over you, the human, hands down.”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant, who is the more powerful?”
“This isn’t rock, paper, scissors, Paige. It’s not like day-walkers always beat Transylvanians like paper covers rock.”
Paige huffed out a breath and pressed her hand to her forehead. “Okay, you keep going and start on the potion. I’m going back. Maybe one human can give Devon the edge.”
“Or get yourself killed. Paige, don’t be stupid. He’s your bodyguard. Not the other way around.”
“Not if he gets killed or hurt!”
Dewey sighed. “Fine, you go back and put yourself in harm’s way. I’m going to save my family.”
“Okay,” Paige said. “Be careful finding your way up.”
“I know what I’m doing,” the dragon said, his voice already moving away from her.
Paige bit her lower lip as she stared at the glowing chamber. She forced herself to move toward it. She didn’t know what she could do to help, but she’d try. Maybe she could trip the other guy or something.
“Just don’t get yourself killed, Paige,” she murmured as she approached the entrance.
The battle continued to rage inside between the two creatures.
Paige followed their wrestling across the ground for a moment before she spotted the flashlight.
She raced toward it and scooped it up. Her fingers tightened around it, and she flexed every muscle in her body in preparation to spring forward and smack the opposing vampire with it.
With a thrust of his hips, Caleb tossed Devon off him and into the ceiling above before he rolled away. Devon slammed to the ground in a heap. He pushed himself up to a half-sit, panting for breath.
The red-eyed Transylvanian set his gaze on Paige. His forked tongue licked his fangs, while he stalked toward her.
She raised the flashlight overhead, earning a chuckle from the creature. Devon hauled himself to his feet and charged toward the other vampire. Caleb swiped a clawed hand at him, scratching his arm. Black blood oozed from the wound.
Paige used the opportunity to close the gap between them and land a blow to Caleb’s head with the flashlight. Caleb bent forward as he clutched at the wound.
With her lips parted, Paige backed away a step. Had she harmed him enough?
He whipped around to face her, his features in a menacing snarl. Paige’s lips tugged back in a terrified wince, and her heart pounded in her chest.
Devon wrapped his arms around him and dragged Caleb back. The Transylvania dug his claw into the wound on Devon’s arm, eliciting a shriek of pain and causing Devon to let go of him.
He lowered his chin, offering Paige a devilish grin as he stalked toward her. She raised the flashlight again, her only defense against him.
“Looks like I win,” he growled at her.
“I don’t think so, Fangs!” Dewey shouted as he sailed through the door with a large rock. He dumped it on the vampire’s head as he flew past. A large gash tore his shimmery skin open, and red blood poured down Caleb’s disfigured face.
Paige raced forward and clunked him on the head again with her flashlight. Devon, who recovered from the painful hit he’d taken earlier, stormed toward him with a roar.
The beleaguered vampire struggled to his feet. With an angry glare, he burst into a cloud of bats and fled the chamber.
Paige doubled over, allowing her heart rate to slow as she steadied herself against her thighs. “Ugh.”
Devon morphed back into human form. Blood dripped from a scratch on his arm. “Paige, are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, straightening to stand and flicking her gaze to Dewey. “Thanks to Dewey.”
Dewey landed on her shoulder and nodded while patting her head. “Anytime, partner.” He glanced at Devon and stared expectantly.
“Whew,” Devon said, running a hand through his hair. “You shouldn’t have come back in here.”
“I had to do something. He could have killed you.”
“Let me worry about that,” Devon answered.
“Given that you’re supposed to be around to protect me while I get the Bronze Ring, I am going to worry about it.”
“Paige–”
“Umm, hello,” Dewey interjected. “Can we all just take a minute to be thankful that tiny Dewey saved big, bad Devon’s life?”
“I mean, you hardly–”
Paige and Dewey shot him a stony glance, and he flung his hand in the air. “Thanks, buddy. You’re awesome.”
“That’s more like it,” Dewey said. “Now, let’s go back to the house so I can whip up this potion and save my village.”
“You got it, buddy,” Paige answered, pointing a finger at him before she flicked her gaze to Devon. “Are you okay?”
He glanced down at the blood trail staining his skin. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll get cleaned up, while Dewey makes his magic potion.”
They trudged back through the caverns, collecting the purple Astral soda bulbs as they snaked to the entrance.
“Be talking to you soon, Mom,” Dewey shouted over his shoulder as he buzzed past her frozen form.
“You sure you’re okay?” Paige asked as she stepped into the waning light of the still-warm jungle.
Devon twisted his arm to hide the angry scratch. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just need to clean it.”
Paige studied the red stain still visible from her angle.
“Seriously,” he added, “it’ll be gone in a few hours. He’s not poisonous.”
“So, he’s not a Venompire like Ivy?”
“Not even close,” he said as they trekked back into the village.
She scratched her head and puckered her lips. “Why do they all turn into a bunch of bats when they want to disappear?”
“That’s pretty common for vampires,” he answered.
“So, can you–”
“No,” he said, with a shake of his head. “Just beast mode and this form.”
“Oh,” she said, nudging her glasses up on her nose, “that seems inconvenient. Also, way less cool.”
They pushed through the door into the house. Dewey poked a claw at the second level. “You can use the upstairs bathroom. Second door on the right. There should still be some of my towels in there for you to use.”
“Thanks,” he said before morphing into beast mode and flying to the second floor.
“You’re with me, Paige,” Dewey said as he buzzed toward the kitchen.
She followed him into the massive room. A nails-on-chalkboard screech echoed, and Paige clamped her hands over her ears.
“What are you doing?”
Dewey tugged a step ladder backward and waved her toward it. “Got you a stool to stand on.”
“Oh, thanks,” Paige said as she clambered up to reach the counter as Dewey gathered bowls, measuring cups, and ingredients.
He pulled a bottle of thick, brownish liquid from a cupboard and eyed it. “Should be plenty.”
“Do we have everything?”
“Yep. Power pepper, Jalapeno juice, Golem goo, Harpy heat, Astral soda. First things first, you smash up the Astral soda for me.” He offered her a mortar and pestle before shoving the bulbs over toward her.
“How many?” Paige asked as she lifted the large crushing instrument with a wince.
“Crush them all, and I’ll measure out what I need.”
“Right,” she said, loading all of the bulbs into the bowl. Splintering cracks sounded as she pounded them with the pestle.
Dewey flew around the kitchen, measuring out the power pepper and dumping it into a mixing bowl before he squirted in the appropriate amount of Jalapeno juice.
Devon shuffled back into the kitchen, wiping his barely scratched arm with a light blue towel emblazoned with rubber ducks. “How’s it coming?”
Paige continued to smash the bulbs into a light powder. “It’s coming.”
Dewey hovered over the bowl and studied it. “Keep at it, Paige, it’s got to be really finely ground.”
“Got it,” Paige said as she flicked a bead of sweat from her brow.
Dewey grabbed a wooden spoon and mixed the juice into the power pepper. Smoke curled toward the ceiling as the two ingredients combined.
Paige side eyed the concoction as she attempted to concentrate on her own work.
“So,” Dewey said, “you knew Paige’s mom, huh?”
“Dewey!” Paige hissed.
“What? Seems like a perfect time for this conversation.”
“Yeah,” Devon answered before he flew up to the counter and returned to human form. “Right before she disappeared.”
“You mean before Drucinda murdered her.”
“Drucinda didn’t murder her. She was trying to help Reed. Right until the very end, but your mom, she–” Devon pressed his lips together and shook his head.
Dewey’s stirring slowed, and he snapped his gaze to the man. “She what?”
“Took off without telling Dru. She just left. Took you somewhere and left you, then jetted off to follow up on a lead herself.”
Paige slammed the pestle into the blue dust. “Where Drucinda killed her.”
“That’s not true,” Devon said, with a shake of his head. “We were trying to help her.”
Dewey grabbed the Golem goo bottle and a measuring spoon before flicking his gaze to Devon and arching a thick eyebrow. “We?”
“Yeah, I told you before, I met your mom when she was investigating something at the library.”
Paige let the pestle smack against the mortar. “What?”
Devon lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know.”
Paige scoffed and retrieved the crusher to continue her work. “How can you not know? Were you paying no attention at all?”
Dewey jabbed the wooden spoon toward Devon. “Just tell us what you know, Muscles.”
“She didn’t share a lot of information with me. She didn’t even want me involved,” Devon answered. “Dru called me and asked me to find a few items quietly, and a woman.”
Paige slowed her action as she processed the information. “My mom?”
“No, this was before Reed disappeared. Your mom was pretty mad she involved me, especially after she found out I was a Durand.”
“No, I thought…never mind,” Paige said with a shake of her head, continuing her smashing task.
“What woman were you supposed to find?” Dewey asked.
“A fortune teller.”
Paige screwed up her face. “What?”
“Your mom had seen a fortune teller just before she went into her coma.”
“Wait, wait, back up,” Dewey said, flinging the measuring spoon around and splattering some of the brown goo across the backsplash tile. “Explain this coma thing.”
“I really don’t know that much about it,” Devon admitted. “Dru said something about a magical teapot that caused her to get stuck in a book. She was in a coma for months.”
“When?”
Devon ran his fingers through his hair as he blew out a breath. “Uh, she woke up, like, a few days before I met her, I think.”
“So she spent most of her pregnancy in a coma?”
“I guess so, yeah. She was ready to pop when I met her.”
Paige and Dewey exchanged a glance before he returned to measuring the Golem goo. “Okay, so did you find the stuff, or the lady?”
Devon bobbed his head up and down. “I found the fortune teller. She was dead.”