“Do you think your Dad will let us out by ourselves?” he asked sarcastically when he looked over at me.
“We won’t stop to ask him,” I said, pulling him to his feet after me, and he flashed the first grin I had seen him give all day.
We quickly exited the building, walking down the street, entering the first pub we saw.
“You know this is a bar, right?” Vance said when I pulled him inside.
“They serve food, too,” I replied, pointing to the writing in the window before I guided him over to a small table in a dark corner.
We ordered from a very friendly waitress, and before long we had been served our food.
I began eating with relish.
“Don’t eat too fast,” Vance cautioned me, watching me. “Remember what happened last time?”
“Yes,” I said with a sigh, taking care to eat slower and trying to actually enjoy the food.
The sun was dipping low in the sky before we finally finished, paid and headed back to the hotel.
The rest of the family had arrived by then, and Dad was frantic with worry because no one had been able to find us.
“You shouldn’t be out of the hotel!” he said to Vance. “Someone could’ve seen you.”
“Portia was hungry,” Vance replied, not stepping down. “I didn’t want her to get sick again, and I certainly wasn’t sending her off to find food in a strange town by herself.”
Grandma stepped in between the two of them then.
“Sean, did you tell him what we found out while they were gone?” she asked, trying to redirect their attention.
Dad let out a big sigh.
“We got online and looked up stone circles in the area,” he said with a hard expression.
“And?” Vance and I both asked at the same time.
“There are ninety such circles in Aberdeenshire.”
“That’s just great,” Vance said lifting his hands before dropping them to his side in defeat. “Is anything going to work in our favor?”
He spun around and walked down the hall into our room, closing the door behind him with a slam.
Dad just looked at me, shaking his head, his face reddening. “He’s really getting out of control, Portia.”
“He’s just nervous, Dad. We all are. That’s why everyone is fighting. I’ll go talk to him.” I left Dad standing there in the hall staring after me.
I went into the room, opening the door softly and closing it the same way behind me.
Vance was lying on the bed watching the news.
I walked into the bathroom to splash a little cold water on my face, trying to calm my own nerves down.
Things were coming to a head. I could feel it.
“What the heck?” I heard Vance say from the other room. “Portia! Come here quick!”
I walked to the doorway to see what he was talking about.
He was standing at the foot of the bed looking at the television. A news reporter was talking about a breaking news story on the screen. She was standing next to Douglas and Fiona.
“What happened then?” the reporter was asking Fiona who looked very distraught but leaned in to speak into the microphone.
“It has just been so horrible,” Fiona said, clasping her hands together and wringing them in a frustrated fashion. “We’ve been touring this part of the country with our daughter-in-law for the last two days. She went out to see the Easter Aquhorthies Stone Circle outside Inverurie yesterday.”
Vance was instantly on his laptop, looking up directions.
“She never came home last night,” Fiona continued. “She’s a diabetic, and we’re afraid that she’s sick somewhere.”
A picture of Krista popped up on the screen.
The reporter spoke up again.
“This woman was last reportedly seen on High Street in Inverurie. If you have seen her, please call our hotline number at the bottom of the screen. We need your help to return this woman to her family.”
“What is this?” I asked, confused, and I stared at the screen. “This doesn’t make any sense!”
“It’s a message for us,” Vance said while he began to write something down on a piece of paper. “Portia, go get your dad.”
“All right,” I said, hurrying out the door and down the narrow hallway to my parents’ room.
I knocked briskly on the door, and my mom answered.
“Did you see it?” I asked and pointed at the T.V.
“See what?” she replied.
“Douglas and Fiona were just on the news saying that Krista had gotten lost here yesterday after visiting Easter Aquhorthies Stone Circle. Vance said it’s a message and to come get Dad,” I replied.
Everyone jumped up in a flurry all at once and hurried down to our room.
“Dad is here, Vance!” I called out when I entered the room, but I didn’t see him. “Vance?” I called out, and I went into the bathroom. “He isn’t here!” I ran to the window. “The car is gone!” I yelled, and tears began to fill my eyes.
I turned to see Dad looking at Vance’s open laptop.
“Get in the car! I have the directions!” Dad hollered, and we all ran downstairs to pile into the other vehicle.
Chapter 24
I was shaking violently, and Brad wrapped his arm around me.
“We’ll find him, don’t worry!” he said, trying to comfort me while Dad peeled out of the parking lot onto the dark road.
“Vance!” I screamed at him in my head. “Don’t you dare do this!” I knew he could hear me.
“I have to, Portia!” he answered me immediately. “They’ll kill her if I don’t go!”
“Vance, they want to drink your blood! You could die, too! This is just a lure to get you there!” I argued with him.
My dad caught my expression in the rearview mirror.
“Are you talking to him?” he shouted at me while we sped along.
I nodded my head.
“You tell him to pull that car over right now and wait for us! That’s an order!”
I relayed the message, sure that Vance had heard every word himself but desperate to try anything to get him to stop.
“Portia,” he said back to me, calmer than I had heard him in a while. “I love you, baby, but I have to do this.”
The dreaded wall was instantly back in place between us, and I could hear nothing but dead silence.
“He cut me off!” I cried out, my voice catching.
I looked out the window and could easily see that the moon was almost in full eclipse on the horizon.
We were speeding out of town, driving recklessly. The road became increasingly narrower as we worked our way up into some small hills, finally pulling into a parking area.
I saw the car Vance had driven parked up in front of us with the driver’s door hanging wide open.
My eyes followed the trail that led up the hill, and I could see Vance running up it at full speed toward the raised stone circle on the top.
“Get out!” I yelled at Brad, and I shoved him out of the car, climbing over the top of him and taking off after Vance.
I heard the others running behind me, but I didn’t turn to look at their progress, only caring about my husband in front of me.
I could see the black-cloaked figures that stood in a circle around the fire burning in the middle. There was also a white-clad figure lying across a recumbent stone on one side of the circle. I knew instinctively that it was Krista even though I was too far away to see for sure. She wasn’t moving, making me wonder instantly if she had been drugged.
Vance was approaching the steps that led up into the ring in front of me. I saw him breach the circle, throwing both hands out to his sides, launching a stream of fire, incinerating at least four of the demons present, two on each side of him.
He ran straight to the recumbent stone, jumping up on a small rock next to it, shoving Krista off the other side of the altar, out of the circle and out of harm’s way.
I was a few yards away
from the steps when he turned to face the others. I saw the flash of a knife then and felt the involuntary scream that was ripped from my lips when I saw Fiona slam it into his chest, right into his heart.
I stumbled to my knees, grabbed my own chest in pain, and saw the blood spray from him. Some of it gurgled up out of his mouth, and he registered a look of surprise, falling over onto the altar.
I could hear the others stop short behind me with a gasp.
I saw Douglas flip his hood back then, and he leaned over to drink the pumping blood straight from Vance’s chest.
Fiona quickly produced the box we had been trying so hard to find, flipping it open and setting it next to Vance on the altar.
To my surprise, Vance slowly lifted his head up, and I could see that his eyes were flaming red now. I watched in amazement as his teeth lengthened into uneven fangs, something I hadn’t seen since his near conversion. It was also something we assumed he had been cured of. Apparently the demon blood in him was still running full and strong. Vance reached out with one hand, grabbing Douglas around his neck. He whipped Douglas up against his mouth, sinking the sharpened teeth into his exposed throat. Douglas screamed as Vance began to drink heavily from him.
I could see the molten color seep into Vance’s fingers, and Douglas’s flesh began searing beneath them. He struggled desperately to rip them away from him, but Vance held him firm.
Fiona then surprised me when she turned to stab Douglas in the back with the knife. She pulled it out quickly, and he arched backward, out of Vance’s grasp. She swung the knife again in a wide arc, this time completely decapitating him, shoving his lifeless body to the side. Quickly then, she turned toward Vance, just as the moon began to move out of full eclipse.
A white light swirled up out of the box toward the sky before drifting down toward Fiona, but began to go into Vance instead since she had not yet consumed any of his blood.
Vance weakly tried to push her away, while attempting to roll onto his side to remove his blood-pouring wounds from her reach.
She struggled to control him for a moment before she raised her knife and stabbed him again, causing a fresh onslaught of blood to burst forth, desperate to devour it.
“I love you, Portia,” I heard his voice seep softly into my head. “I’m sorry.”
His features relaxed, and I saw his arms drop loosely to his side and his head roll to the left, his body going limp.
“NO!” I screamed, waking to the horror that was happening in front of me. I snapped out of my stupor, quickly regaining my footing and tore into the circle.
Several hooded demons moved to stop me from entering.
Without even thinking, I shot ice shards out of my hands at them, one after another, as if my hands were automatic weapons. The demons quickly fell to the ground. I didn’t bother to check and see if they were all dead, knowing the others behind me would take care of them.
As soon as I crossed through the stones into the circle, the Awakening immediately moved away from Vance and shot across into my body. I paused for only a moment when the initial shock hit me. It was strong but not painful. I could feel the energy as it moved through me changing things inside, but I couldn’t allow myself to slow down. I continued running to the altar.
I was moving in machine mode now, and I came up behind Fiona, yanking her away from Vance. I felt no mercy as I slammed a large ice shard right through her back with my hand.
She arched back against me in a scream, flailing with her arms into the air. I reached to grab her own weapon, the athame she still gripped in one of her hands. I sank the knife into her soft flesh, slitting her throat from side to side, until I felt the athame hit bone. Then I threw her blood-spraying body to the side, on top of Douglas. I hurriedly climbed up onto the recumbent stone.
“Vance!” the scream tore from my very soul as I looked into his dead eyes. “NO! NO! NO!” I said and I knelt over his body, covering my mouth over his, trying to breathe life back into his blood-slicked face.
I could hear the sounds of battle taking place around me, fighting, grunting, calls for help. I could also feel that the Awakening was still transferring into me from the box, but I didn’t care about any of those things, only pounding on his chest, trying to restart his heart.
I placed both of my hands over the gaping wounds and tried to focus my magic to heal him. Nothing happened. The wounds would not heal.
“It’s too late.” I heard my dad’s voice beside me, and he dragged me off the altar.
“NO!” I screamed, sobbing when I felt Grandma grab my other arm, and they pulled me kicking and screaming out of the circle.
“Wait, Portia!” my dad yelled at me after we passed through the stones.
I realized what they were doing then when the Awakening instantly left me and reverted back to Vance.
I sank to my knees and watched as the remainder of the power moved into his body. As soon as it had stopped the transfer, I ran back into the circle, climbing over the dead bodies and onto the altar.
“Vance!” I cried, and I shook him, not looking up when I heard the others approaching us. “Vance!” I screamed at him again. “Wake up!”
I could hear Dad and Grandma on the other side of the altar checking on Krista, but I didn’t care about anything except him.
“Vance Mangum, you wake up this instant, do you hear me?” I whispered through gritted teeth into his ear.
Nothing.
I started pumping on his chest again not knowing what else to do. One, two, three, four, five, I counted, not sure if I was even doing it right. I leaned over and blew into his mouth twice. I repeated the action, tears rolling down my face.
“Wake up. Wake up. Wake up,” I said through clenched teeth, continuing to pump against him.
I could hear Shelly whimpering beside me, and Brad climbed up next to me to help. He took over the compressions while I continued the rescue breathing.
The minutes wore on, but I couldn’t stop.
After several minutes had passed, Brad finally sat back on his haunches, looking at me with a haunted expression.
“I’m sorry, Portia. I think it’s too late.” He slowly slid down off the stone.
“Don’t you dare stop!” I screamed at him, and I continued pumping on Vance’s chest.
Over and over again I worked on him while the tears rolled down my face, falling onto his open chest wounds. I could feel the sweat dripping from my forehead and the exhaustion beginning to seep into my limbs.
After several more minutes, I felt my dad’s hands cover mine, stopping them with a firm grip.
“Pumpkin, you need to stop now. He isn’t with us anymore, honey. He’s gone,” he said softly, his voice barely loud enough for me to hear.
I looked over at him in confusion, seeing the tears that ran down his face and his trembling lips.
“No!” I said shaking my head in disbelief while I watched him. “It isn’t possible. Not Vance!”
He struggled to hold his composure before he could speak again.
“Honey, look at him. He has bled out. There’s nothing left to save,” he tried to explain so I could understand. “Come down, and let’s get him off the altar now.”
“NO!” I screamed, sobs wracking my body. I reached down and gathered Vance’s limp form up against me, crying into his hair. “You promised!” I yelled at him. “You promised you wouldn’t leave me!”
I rocked his body back and forth in my arms.
“You promised. You promised. You promised,” I whispered against him over and over again.
I could see Shelly sobbing into Brad’s chest, as my mom and Grandma held each other, letting the tears flow freely down their faces, Krista lying unconscious and unknowing at their feet.
“WE WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HIM!” I screamed at the top of my lungs while I looked at all of them staring at me. “DOES THIS LOOK LIKE PROTECTION TO YOU?”
I clenched my teeth together and threw my head back, screaming into the night air,
and the sobs threatened to overtake me.
“Please take me with you,” I said, and I kissed his dark wavy hair, my voice shuddering. “I can’t live without you.”
“Come on, Portia,” my dad called out to me again, and he held his arms out to me. “Let’s take him home.”
I held him to my chest, and I looked up to the heavens and shouted, “Can anyone hear me up there? Please God, I beg you, don’t take him. Not yet! Please don’t take my life from me!”
There was no answer from the star-filled sky as I sat rocking Vance against my body.
I held him for a few more minutes before I gently laid him back onto the stone altar, laying my head against his bloody chest. As I wiped at my swollen eyes, I spied the box that had caused all this misery still lying open on the altar.
I snatched it up, jumped off the stone and threw it in the fire. I watched it burn until there was nothing left of it.
“There!” I said turning to face the rest of the group. “Now this will never happen to anyone else.”
I felt the rage flowing through me, and I stalked around the circle, in my blood-soaked clothes, glaring at the dead bodies that were lying there. I began picking up each demon body by myself, dragging it over to the fire, and throwing them one by one into the flames.
My family just watched me, not helping me, knowing somehow that I needed to do this.
I put all of my frustration into the task until I finally came to the last demon body. It was Fiona’s. When I reached out to pick up Fiona’s body, another set of hands came to join mine.
“I can do this myself!” I shouted, looking up into the face of the offending individual.
My dad looked at me with sad eyes before he released the body and stepped backward.
I dragged Fiona over to the fire, not using any magic, choosing to exert myself physically as much as possible. I tossed her unceremoniously into the flames, watching without emotion while they licked up and devoured her corpse. The air filled with the acrid smell of burning flesh.
I stood like a statue, in complete silence, and waited until every figure in the inferno disappeared, leaving no visible trace behind.
My dad and Grandma came forward then and began using some of their magic to extinguish the flames. When the fire was out, they cast a spell out over the ground, making it appear completely untouched in the moonlight. One would never know there had been a fire here.