Irresistible Magic (34 page)

I cringed away from the light, my eyes watering. Through my blurring vision, I made out David’s prone form, sprawled over Allcot as if he were shielding him. Neither moved. My chest constricted with a bolt of pain.

David!

He shouldn’t have been affected by the light. He was a daywalker. I pulled away from Tal to run to his side but was blindsided by the fiery onslaught of Asher’s vampire energy as he leaped in front of me and clutched at both of my arms. The fire burned straight into my chest, making my knees buckle.

A buzzing grew in my ears, blocking out all other noise. Then Tal was there, his face contorted with fury. He grabbed for Asher, trying to get him into a headlock, but the vampire sent Tal across the room with one punch, slamming him into the wall. Plaster buckled and rained down on Talisen.

Asher wrapped his hand around my neck and dragged me across the room. My feet twisted under me as I tried to scramble, but my limbs wouldn’t cooperate. Far too depleted, my body had started to shut down.

No!
I tried to cry, but my mouth stopped working and I couldn’t get the word out.

The French doors to the balcony loomed in front of us. Somewhere deep inside, I knew if Asher got me out of this room, I was never going to see my loved ones again.

With almost no feeling left in my fingers, I clung to his arm wrapped around my middle and dug my nails in as hard as I could, but the effort was useless. I wasn’t ever going to be strong enough to get away from a vampire. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to live the rest of my life in captivity.

So I did the only thing I could think to do. If I was going down, he was going down with me. Magic. It was my only hope. The familiar spark tingled at my fingertips and I forced myself to siphon as much of his vampire energy as I could.

Slashes of pain burned through my veins from the inside out. The room blurred as my vision turned hazy. The agony was beyond words or thought. I ceased to be me and became only the sensation of raw nerves. My entire body shook with the effort, but I couldn’t let go. His vampire energy, now consuming me, had turned me into a trembling, immobile statue. I was trapped in my own magic.

And so was he. The vampire stood stock-still, clearly unable to move a muscle. We were trapped together.

The room started to spin and darkness crept into the edges of my vision. I knew siphoning his energy meant I was killing myself. I couldn’t take in death and expect to survive. Not as a life faery. But I couldn’t let him go, either. It was as if my hands were fused to the master vampire now.

A growl sounded somewhere from the room. One I recognized. Link.

Wham!

Link slammed into us with such force that we collapsed with Asher on top of me. I was past pain, past feeling. Everything had gone cold.

I stared at Link’s massive wolf frame, registering only that he was covered in blood.

Why?

Oh. The fight. Right.

Then everything started to burn again. I curled into a ball, realizing Asher was no longer on top of me.

He’d gotten away. I’d failed. And I was going to die because I’d willingly taken in death.

Link’s long muzzle nudged me. I cried out in unimaginable pain as my muscles seized and spasmed. I thrashed, trying to get rid of the death swirling inside me. My hand hit something cold, hard, soothing.

The pain in my hand fled. The marbled surface beneath it acted as a balm against the death claiming me. On instinct, I clamped my other hand on the vampire’s arm. Instant relief claimed my fingertips.

I squinted, peering into Allcot’s blank, unseeing eyes. He appeared to be dead. But was he? The pain in my hand had stopped once I touched him. There had to be some spark inside him still.

I pushed myself up on my knees and focused. Allcot’s body was absorbing the foreign vampire energy I’d stolen from Asher. If I could just—

My magic started to flow toward my fingers, dragging the razor-sharp vampire energy with it. I wanted to cry out, to jerk away and curl into a ball, but my sense of self-preservation took over. And inch by inch, I forced my magic and Asher’s vampire energy into Allcot.

His stone body warmed beneath my fingers. Bone-deep weariness overtook me and I slumped, my head resting on his chest.

The world passed around us, me lying on Allcot, my body still incredibly raw, but I no longer felt as though Asher’s energy was eating away my insides. I was exhausted, battered, but not dead.

A whimper next to my ear made me turn my head. Link’s large wolf head dipped and his nose nudged mine. Tears of raw emotion started to slip down my cheeks. I reached up and ran my hand over his soft pointed ear. Link closed his eyes for a moment, then sat on his haunches and pressed his face into my hand.

“Willow?”

Phoebe. She was okay. Slowly, I turned my head and stared into the deep blue eyes of my best friend. “You’re alive,” I choked out.

A huff of surprised laughter escaped her lips. “So are you.”

“Barely.” I closed my eyes, taking in deep breaths, trying to steady myself. Then they popped open. “Talisen? Where—”

“I’m here, Wil.” His strong, quiet voice came from behind me.

I struggled to sit up and Phoebe helped me. I sat cross-legged on the floor with Allcot at my back, still unmoving. Whatever I’d done to him hadn’t seemed to have any effect. My eyes met Tal’s. He had blood running down the side of his face and he was cradling his left arm, the one he’d hurt hours ago, with his right. “You’re hurt,” I said.

He sent me a weak smile. “So are you.”

I got my feet under me and tried to stand, but my legs wobbled.

“No. Stay where you are.” Tal lifted two of his fingers off his arm, exposing the amethyst healing stone. “This will help until I can get my arm set.”

“Willow,” Phoebe started in a hesitant tone.

I met her troubled eyes. “What is it?”

“It’s Asher, he—”

The door of the destroyed bedroom crashed open again and David appeared in the doorway. Blood covered his mouth and the front of his white button-down shirt. His eyes were wild as he scanned the room. They landed on me and something softened in his expression.

“Is he dead? Asher? Did you get him?” I asked.

That muscle in his jaw pulsed and he shook his head. “No.” His entire body was taut with frustration. “I was unconscious for only a few moments, but that was enough time for him to get away.”

Son of a…I clamped down on my disappointment, too exhausted to think about it any longer.

Then David noticed Allcot next to me, still unmoving. His face tightened with something I couldn’t read. Anger. Pain. Fear. All three perhaps. He crossed the room in long strides and knelt before Allcot.

“Father?” His voice echoed with obvious pain.

I had to glance away as I recalled our conversation from earlier in the day. Eadric Allcot was David’s only true family. And coldhearted vampire or not, David loved him. My heart lurched. David and I weren’t together, but I’d loved him once. Maybe I still did. How did one turn something like that off? All I knew was I had an almost overwhelming urge to wrap David in my arms and comfort him.

“He’s still alive,” David said, his voice barely a whisper.

“What?” Phoebe got up and moved to David’s side. “How can you tell?”

Allcot still lay motionless on the floor, his eyes fixed on nothing.

“I’m not sure.” David raised his gaze to mine. “When I touch him, it just seems like he’s still there.” David didn’t possess any magical abilities. Not beyond his vampire speed and strength and his ability to heal quickly.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He placed a hand on Allcot’s chest. “I’m not sure. But it’s almost as if I can still sense his blood.”

I frowned. Vampires were sensitive to blood. It drove a lot of what they did, but I’d thought that was human blood, not vampire blood. “Are you saying you can sense when other vamps are around by their blood signature?”

“Not exactly. We usually sense other vampires due to our sensitive hearing. But there’s also a sixth sense. Something I can’t explain. And that’s what’s going on right now.” He locked eyes with me, his gaze suddenly pleading. “You have to help him.”

I jerked back. “What? How?”

He was quiet for a moment, his hand clutching Allcot’s. “Save him, Wil. Like you did for me.”

“Hell no.” Talisen stalked over to my side, limping the entire way.

That had been my initial response. Hell no. No way. Not ever. I’d almost died bringing David back to life after he’d been dusted by Phoebe. And I hadn’t been weakened by a vampire fight that night.

But Allcot had burst in and saved not only me, but Tal, too. He’d been watching over me for over a year. And he’d been protecting Carrie and Beau the last four years. This vampire, who hadn’t even known me, had been keeping my loved ones and me safe. It didn’t matter his reasons. It only mattered that he had. Even when the Void, the magical undercover agency I’d signed my life to, hadn’t.

Could I really just let him die, knowing I could do something about it?

The anguished expression on David’s face pushed me over the edge. Even if I could walk away from Allcot, I couldn’t walk away from David. Not after learning about his childhood. Knowing he’d lost everyone he loved. I couldn’t take Allcot from him, too. I just couldn’t.

I gave David a tiny nod and inched closer.

“Willow!” Tal moved, blocking my way. “No! You can’t risk yourself for Allcot.”

The outrage on Tal’s face only served to make me more determined. I knew he was worried about me. Of course he was. But Allcot wasn’t the enemy. In fact, he’d been one of my very few allies. As crazy as that sounded.

“I have to,” I said quietly. “I sort of felt what David’s talking about. I do think Allcot is in there somewhere. I can do this.” The last line came out a lot more confident than I felt. The only vampire I’d ever saved was David. And that had been pure luck and desperation. And I hadn’t been nearly as beaten and battered as I was now. It didn’t matter. I had to try.

Tal didn’t move.

Phoebe heaved a sigh and stood. She reached out and tugged on his good arm. “You have to let her do this.”

“I don’t have to let her do anything,” he snapped.

She quirked one eyebrow and then laughed. “Right. Because Willow is the kind of girl to take orders from a man. Or anyone, for that matter. If I were you, I’d get the hell out of the way.”

I gently pulled Tal to the side and whispered, “I know you don’t understand this and I don’t expect you to. But this is something I’m going to do. Allcot has kept my family protected when no one else could. I owe him something.”

“You don’t owe that vampire shit,” Tal spat. “And now that Asher is out of the picture—”

“Excuse me,” Phoebe cut in. “Asher got away. He’s weak and wounded, but he isn’t out of the picture. Not by a long shot. You can bet he’ll be gunning for us all soon enough.”

“Fuck!” Tal ran his right hand through his hair and winced at the movement.

A terrible thought came to me. “Beau!” I cried. “Asher must be going after Beau Junior.”

David shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. Beau is heavily guarded and so is Carrie. It would take more than one almost-drained vampire to get to either of them.”

“Right.” I’d drained him before I’d passed out. I squeezed Tal’s hand. “Please try to understand why I have to do this.”

He scowled and made his way to the open door. “Don’t expect me to heal you when you nearly kill yourself this time.”

“Tal,” I said softly, “you don’t mean that.”

He turned around, his lips pressed together in a grim line. Then his expression softened and sadness flashed through his darkened green eyes. “I do. I have to take care of myself this time. If you go through with this, you need to find another healer.”

I sucked in a breath but didn’t say anything. Tal was making me choose. Him or Allcot. I opened my mouth, clamped it shut, and then shook my head. I couldn’t. I’d already made up my mind. I wouldn’t let Allcot die if I could help it. Not after what he’d done for me. And what he meant to David.

Talisen glared at David as if he were to blame and then gave me a sad shake of his head and disappeared into the hallway.