Casey was right behind her. I glanced down at her finger. “Nice Band-Aid.”
The blonde glared at me. “Bite me again and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”
“Ooh, I’m so scared.” Why was she even here? Two witches I didn’t trust were more than enough to juggle, let alone Raina’s Mini-Me minion joining the group. I swallowed hard and looked at Raina. “Are you really going to help?”
She hesitated. “Yes. I suppose I am.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding. “Thank you.”
“Do yourself a favor and don’t thank me until this is all over.”
“Maybe that’s a good idea.”
“Where is Thierry’s body?”
“Upstairs.”
“Bring him down here so I can do the transference spell and put your husband’s spirit back into his rightful body. Malik doesn’t get the chance to live again on my watch.”
My mouth was dry. “I hate to ask, but why are you doing this, Raina? Why are you helping us? What’s in it for you?”
Her eyes turned red, and magic crackled through the air. A sinister smile curled up the corner of her mouth. “Closure.”
Chapter 19
Ten minutes later, we all gathered around the table where Heather had done her previous séances. There were seven of us this time: me, Owen, Raina, Heather, Todd, Casey, and Rose. It was a tight fit around the small round table.
“The vampire looks like he’s about to croak,” Todd said uneasily. “And I don’t use that word lightly.”
“I’m conscious now, you know,” Owen growled. “I can hear you.”
Todd shrugged. “Sorry, but it’s true.”
Owen hadn’t fussed at all or tried to make a break for it when Todd and I went up to his room, unlocked his handcuffs, and helped him downstairs. He was pale, his energy low, and it worried me deeply.
“We’ll have to do a spirit summoning first,” Raina said. “We’ll need your husband’s spirit here, Sarah.”
I nodded. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Rose cast a wary glance at the rest of us, ending with Raina. “You’re not planning to double-cross us and resurrect Malik yourself, are you?”
She was giving voice to my worst fear, that I’d allowed myself to be manipulated by the alpha witch and that what she’d shown me of the past was all smoke and mirrors.
Raina’s lips thinned. “No double-crossing, but feel free to leave if you’re not comfortable with me here. Everyone who’s staying must now join hands.”
Rose stayed without further commentary. I took hold of Raina’s and Owen’s hands.
Raina cast her gaze straight forward. “I call forth the nearby spirits into the mortal world. Appear to us now and be bound to this realm until I say otherwise.”
I searched for any sign of Thierry. When a chill entered the otherwise warm room, I literally held my breath in anticipation.
But it was Lorenzo’s face that popped into view before me. “Oh, hello, everyone! I seem to be back once again!”
Raina hissed out a sigh. “Not you. Go away.”
Lorenzo disappeared with a frown.
A moment later, Thierry’s form shimmered into sight near the doorway. I almost leapt to my feet and ran toward him, but I forced myself to remain exactly where I was.
Concern twisted through me to see that he looked tense and tired. “Are you okay?”
He met my gaze. “I’ve been better.”
If he’d said he was fine I would have called him a liar. He wasn’t fine. Malik had stolen some of his energy just as Raina had warned he could. The proof was that Thierry’s ghostly form didn’t appear solid this time; it was translucent.
“Hurry,” I urged Raina, my voice shaking. “Let’s get this over with.”
She nodded, squeezing my hand. “I’ll set this right. I’ll undo the damage that’s been done and return your husband to his rightful body right now.”
From across the table, Casey rose to her feet. “Like hell you will.”
A crackle of magic filled the room, and Raina flew back from her chair and hit the wall, pinned there for a moment with sparkling bands of magical energy binding her wrists, ankles, and throat. She stared at Casey with absolute shock.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
Casey’s eyes were bloodred, and a sinister smile twisted on her face. “Do you know how sick I am of listening to you talk?”
“Why are you so powerful?”
“Been reading your grimoire lately. Found a spell to drain some of your magic.” Her smile widened. “And here we are. The apprentice becomes the master.”
“Stop this right now!”
Casey cocked her head. “No, don’t think I will. Go to sleep.”
Raina gasped, and then her head slumped forward as the bands of light disappeared and the witch slid down to the ground. She was unconscious.
The rest of us witnessed this unfold in stunned disbelief. I waited for Raina to shake it off and kick her minion’s butt for stepping out of line, but she was currently out for the count.
I glanced toward Thierry, who still stood by the door, watching all of this with a dark expression.
Raina had been our only hope to fix this.
“Now, where were we?” Casey asked, glancing at the rest of us. “Oh, yes. The spirit transference spell. Another one of Raina’s useful spells.”
“I didn’t see anything like that in her grimoire,” Heather said in not much more than a whisper. “And I didn’t see the other spell, the one to transfer magic.”
“I tore out the ones I needed.” Casey shrugged. “What can I say? I wasn’t near a photocopier.”
“Why are you doing this?” I demanded. “What do you want?”
“Just what every girl wants,” Casey replied. “True love. A happy life. Absolute power over the entire world.” The air remained charged and Casey’s hair blew back from her face. “Malik, appear to me. Let me see you.”
There was a tingling sensation, like the air before a lightning storm. Then Malik appeared next to her, his black eyes glittering.
“Well done, Casey,” he said with a smile.
“Oh, hell no,” I whispered. I thought we’d faced the worst with Miranda and her quest for eternal youth thanks to the blood of her unsuspecting vampire victims. Looked like I’d been wrong. “You’re the witch who’s helping him. You’re in love with a ghost?”
Casey’s red eyes snapped to mine. “What I feel for Malik can’t be described as simple love. It’s much too epic for that. He’s my soul mate. My partner in all things, forever and always. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”
Malik looked smugly satisfied.
The others—Heather, Todd, Owen, and Rose—all looked on silently. Heather’s fingers dug into Owen’s hand and her grandmother’s on top of the table.
“How did you do it?” Thierry asked from the shadows, his tone holding both malice and curiosity. “How did you convince her? You’re nothing more than a ghost.”
Malik smiled. “Casey is a gifted witch who needed guidance and confidence. I gave both to her.”
Raina didn’t stir from her unconscious position on the floor six feet away.
“Did you kill me, Casey?” Owen asked, frowning. “But we didn’t even date. I hadn’t gotten around to you yet.”
“As if I would have bothered with someone meaningless like you, Owen. No, it wasn’t me. Who cares who did it? It’s done.” Casey turned those scary red eyes to me. “Now we need some vampire blood.”
“Leave Sarah out of this,” Thierry growled. “I’m warning you.”
Malik laughed. “As if you could stop anything in your current state. Why don’t you wither away now, vampire? You’re becoming an annoyance.”
It disturbed me how pale Thierry was, how drained. Worry now etched into his expression.
I had to find a way to stall them. At least until Raina woke up. Casey hadn’t killed her, although I wasn’t sure why. Maybe she w
asn’t quite strong enough to do a death spell.
Which meant she hadn’t killed Owen.
“Miranda was familiar with vampire blood magic, too,” I said. “She worked the immortality spell, leaving a few dead vampires in her wake. Did you guys share trade secrets during book club? Or are you all working independently?”
Casey didn’t seem particularly shocked by the “dead vampires” comment. “Miranda’s a vain, pathetic idiot. I know about the magic she plays with and who suffered because of it. If she doesn’t stay out of my way, I’m going to kill her.”
“Too late,” I said with a shrug, fighting to keep my voice steady. “Raina beat you to it.”
Casey’s eyes widened a fraction. “Unexpected. But I don’t really care one way or the other. She was a nuisance, always thought she was better than me. Little did she know I was the one meant for greatness in our coven. Not her.”
“You’re doing all of this because you’re in love with Malik,” Heather managed, her face pale.
“He’s the most incredible man I’ve ever met in my life.” She gazed at the witch hunter’s spirit.
Meanwhile, I was attempting to have a nonverbal discussion with Thierry.
What do I do? I tried to ask.
Run, he seemed to be urging.
No way. I can’t leave everybody here at her mercy.
She means to bleed you, to use your blood in her magic tonight.
Yeah, got the memo. But there has to be another way.
You saw how powerful she is, how focused. Raina isn’t waking up anytime soon. Run, Sarah, while you have half a chance.
At least, this was what I assumed he was trying to tell me. And I knew him well enough to think I was pretty darn close.
But I wasn’t running. Not yet.
I sent a withering look at Malik. “How many women in town have you been having a ghostly romance with? Just Casey? Or is she just one on a longer list of potential witchy helpers?”
Malik raised an eyebrow. “Jealous, Sarah? I could have added you to my list of helpers if you’d been a little more—”
“Gullible?” I finished. “Sorry, but that’s the old me. The new me can see through a womanizing jerk from a mile away. Even the dead ones.”
“And yet here we are.” He glanced toward Thierry, who had faded even more since he’d first appeared. “And I’m the one with all the power.”
“Hold on. I don’t understand,” Owen murmured, his voice weak. “Who killed me?”
An excellent question.
“I didn’t kill him,” Casey said bluntly. “Neither did Miranda. She actually liked the idiot and refused to spill even a drop of his blood. Not Raina, either. She bled him every time they were together, then made him forget.”
“What?” Owen said, surprised. “I mean, the sex was great, but she was bleeding me, too?”
Malik’s expression darkened significantly. “You were sleeping with Raina?”
Owen frowned. “Dude, I sleep with everybody. It’s kind of my thing.”
I worked it over in my mind. “A witch killed Owen. And if it wasn’t Casey, it wasn’t Miranda, it wasn’t Raina . . .” I shot a look across the table at Heather. “It had to have been you.”
Her eyes bugged. “Me? Why would I do that? I was in love with him!”
Todd groaned. “Infatuation, not love. Trust me, there’s a difference. Love is eating cat food for two months without complaint.”
“Heather didn’t kill me!” Owen exclaimed. Then he frowned. “Or did you?”
She shook her head, her face pale. “Of course not!”
“Enough of this,” Casey snapped. She drew a dagger from underneath her jacket. Before I could do more than stand up from my chair, she was right in front of me and grabbed hold of my face to direct my gaze to hers. “I need your blood.”
“Let her go,” Thierry snarled. “Malik, tell your witch to unhand my wife or she will be joining you in death.”
Malik just coolly stared at him, unaffected by the dark threat in Thierry’s voice. “Just fade away, vampire. It’s time for you to be on your way.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Malik snorted. “I’m afraid you’re wrong. In fact, I’m surprised you’re still hanging on to this mortal coil. Let go, my friend. Find your way to the afterlife.”
Thierry’s gaze flashed. “I did not die. I will not leave, not unless I get to take you with me.”
I didn’t like ultimatums like that—not ones that put his existence at risk, even if it might be for the greater good.
Currently, however, I couldn’t look anywhere but into Casey’s red eyes as she held the dagger to my wrist.
Raina had to wake up. She was the only one I knew who could stop this before it was too late.
“Todd, Owen,” Thierry snapped. “Do something.”
“Would if I could,” Todd replied. “But I . . . um, can’t stand up. Damn witches.”
“Ditto,” Owen said tightly.
“Tell me what to do next, Malik,” Casey urged. The blade pressed to my arm, but she hadn’t cut me yet. “We need to do this right. You know the spell better than I do.”
“You’re right, I do know it.”
“How much of her blood do we need?”
“None. We have enough vampire blood already.”
The blade eased off and a frown creased Casey’s forehead. “I don’t understand.”
“I know.” A fresh smile drew the corners of Malik’s mouth upward. “You have been very accommodating, my dear. Thank you for your help. I’ve appreciated your attention to detail.”
Her face lit up. “Anything for you, Malik. Anything at all.”
“Your services, however, are no longer required.”
Bewilderment crossed her expression. “I don’t understand.”
“Even after stealing some of Raina’s magic these last few weeks, you don’t have nearly enough to complete this particular spell. But that’s all right. My true love will finish up just fine.”
I exchanged another confused glance with Thierry.
“Your true love?” Owen repeated. “Excuse me?”
Casey’s red eyes brightened with anger, and magic crackled in the air. “What are you talking about?”
Malik’s smile turned wistful. “She’s been with me for so much longer than you have. That kind of loyalty means everything to me.”
I sent a wary glance toward Raina on the floor, expecting her to rise to her feet and laugh maniacally about how fabulously she had us all fooled. That she and Malik were still together, and that this had all been a part of her devious plan, three hundred years in the making.
“Who is it?” Casey demanded. “Who is—?”
Her knife flew out of her hand, hovered in front of her in midair for a long, horrible second . . .
And then it plunged directly into her heart.
She gasped, her eyes widening with surprise, pain, and bitter disappointment, before she fell forward onto the table.
I literally yelped with surprise and staggered back from the dead witch.
Heather shot up from her seat as if the spell holding her there had been broken with Casey’s death, her chair skittering backward.
“It was you,” I managed. “You’re helping Malik!”
She just stared back at me, fearful and frantic. “What? What are you talking about?”
“No, Sarah. It wasn’t Heather.” Thierry wasn’t looking at me; his gaze was focused elsewhere. I followed it around the table.
Owen appeared stunned, Todd in utter shock, but then my gaze fell on Rose.
Rose was smiling.
“I’ve wanted to do that for the last ten minutes.” She shook her head. “That girl was a royal pain in the butt.”
“Grandma,” Heather said shakily. “What’s going on? What is this?”
Rose glanced at her. “A love story, darling. One for the ages.”
“You were involved with Malik,” Thierry said, his voice jarringly ho
llow and echoey. He’d become even more translucent than before. It hurt to see such strain on his face, as if he was fighting to stay visible. “It was you all along.”
“Yes,” Rose agreed. “I love him. I have since I was young. Many men used me, left me, but he never did. He taught me, he showed me how to use my powers as much as I could. He introduced me to Raina’s hidden grimoire many years ago and the knowledge of vampire blood magic. And here we are.”
Rose. It was Rose. The grandmother who’d seemed so helpful, so pleasant, so . . . harmless. The elderly witch who had a grimoire full of gardening and doggy spells. It didn’t seem possible, but the proof was right before me. She didn’t try to deny it. She seemed happy to finally have it all out in the open.
“Crap,” Owen murmured. “Didn’t see that coming.”
“I gardened with her for two months,” Todd said under his breath. “Never had a clue.”
Owen glanced at the other guy. “Who are you, again?”
Todd grimaced. “Hoppy.”
Owen blinked. “Hoppy the toad?”
“My beautiful Rose,” Malik said, his expression now peaceful. “It’s finally time for us to end my suffering. For me to be reborn.”
“In the body of a master vampire,” I said, stunned.
Of course. This was the plan all along. To resurrect Malik in Thierry’s body. It was all so much clearer now.
I’d figured if anyone, it was Heather—young, pretty, ready for true love, even if it might be with an evil spirit.
But Rose . . .
Eighty years old, but still willing to throw it all away for some incorporeal gigolo.
“I’ve tried the spell several times before,” Rose said with a nod, “but humans are too frail. And vampires . . . they have to be older—very old, in fact, to withstand the pressure of a foreign spirit taking over. Thierry is absolutely perfect for this.”
Thierry had drawn closer so he now stood next to me. His gaze moved from Casey’s body to me. His gray-eyed gaze didn’t overflow with optimism.
Current standings: him a ghost, me a fledgling—against a ghost who could drain a spirit and cause bodily harm to the living, and a witch of indeterminate power.
Not good odds.
Then again, Thierry had always been the glass-half-empty to my glass-half-full. Together, we made a full glass. We balanced each other. Light and dark, fledgling and master. We could figure this out. Because there was no damn way I was giving up his body without a fight.