The Shepard's Agony (16 page)

“
He’ll be just
fine
,” Elaine answered for
her
. They both gave a sigh of relief. “It looks like he banged his head is all. I’ll just clean him up and he should be …” she stopped before she could finish, the word “fine” hanging in the air. The truth was, he wouldn’t be fine. In fact, whether or not the crash did any real harm to him, the
odds
of him living for very long were against him.

Evey had said that he passed out at the wheel, probably feeling the first
effects of his change, making the accident partially John’s fault too. If he hadn’t been so
jealous
, he wouldn’t have scratched him and David wouldn’t have passed out.

Heart sick, Gwen decided that she could
n’t watch anymore and left the room. She slipped upstairs and
heard
rage filled yelling. She must have been too preoccupied with David to notice from
downstairs
. When she followed the sound to one of the spare rooms, she heard her father reprimanding John for lying to him about Gwen’s earlier whereabouts. Loudly.

Di was standing outside the roo
m looking freshly showered with her red hair pulled back into a pony tail, but she didn’t seem alright at
all
. Gwen spared her a sympathetic smile and padded out of the way.

She ended up walking right into Elaine who was ghost white and covering her
mouth with
her hand.

“
What are you doing up here? Who’s watching David?” she asked, a horrific thought occurring to her. “Something didn’t
happen
, did it? Is he alright?”

Elaine didn’t bother looking at her before shoving pas
t
her
and letting herself into the room Larry was
in
uninvited.

John was pushed out seconds later, still red in the face from his argument, only now with a confused look about him.

“What’s wrong with her?” Gwen asked.

“
She didn’t
say
,” John said, his normal color returning as he calmed
down
. The three of them were staring at the door now, but all they could hear was Elaine’s sobbing and Larry’s gentle questions.

“
That hunter didn’t bite
her
, did he?” Dianna said.

The idea hadn’t occurred to either of
them
. Gwen and John stared stupidly at each other before rushing back downstairs, expecting to see blood on the floor and an angry, burned up vampire.

What they found was nothing at all what they expected to see. Everything was the same as it was when Gwen left. The new vamp was still
lying on his cot and David was still unconscious, only his face was cleaned up of blood and his head was bandaged. Nothing appeared out of place or worth causing the scene Elaine had caused.

John wasn’t impressed, he marched toward Jimmy before grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him just close enough to
the window
for
the sun rays to scorch him.

“What did you do to her?”

Jimmy tried clawing his way free, to get away from the light that was burning his skin, but the werewolf holding him was stronger than he was.

“
I didn’t do anything! She just left!”
he screamed in pained panic.

“
Let him go
,” Gwen said. She may have given him some of the blame over David’s
accident
, but that didn’t mean she found torture to be acceptable.

John turned to look at her. “He had to of done something to her, he’s the only one in here that could!”

“
He’s also surrounded by rays of sunlight
! He can’t move without burning himself, as you can see!” She pointed to Jimmy’s head, which was smoking and ready to catch fire under the heat of the sunlight that touched his hair. The hunter was clenching his teeth and trying not to scream when John finally threw him back on his cot.

Gwen had never seen him like that
. He was usually so calm, collected,
perfect
, that watching him lose his temper was like watching another person entirely.

John stood for a moment in thought, careful not to look Jimmy in the eyes should he already know how to use his powers of hypnotism, trying to regain that calm demeanor he was known so well for.

“
Di, get the chai
ns,” he said
finally
. The red head moved immediately.

“Is that really necessary?” Gwen asked.

“
I don’t want to risk him going anywhere
.
Besides
, after tonight, he’s going to be the only one we can question about the hunters.”

Gwen’s breath hitched. With all the worrying she’d been
doing
, she completely forgot about how they wanted to question David for hunter secrets. Now that they had his brother, David wouldn’t be needed. They were just going to let him die without a care.

“
Do you even care if he lives or dies?” She knew she cared, the very thought made her want to burst into tears
.
But
, she’d done that already at the hospital and she wasn’t about to do it again.

John’s guilty silence was enough for her. “
Fine
,” she muttered, storming out of the
room
. Passing Di on the way up the stairs, she purposely averted her eyes from the chains Di held in her hands.

She went to her room and leaned her back against the door, slamming her fist into it to release some tension. That didn’t work, so she did it again, and again, not caring if someone heard her.

What was she going to do? She couldn’t just stand by and let him die, but it wasn’t as if there was anything she could do. It was completely out of her hands. He was changing and unless she could magically stop time to prevent the full moon from
coming
, there was no way she could—.

Majick
!

Gwen wanted to jump for joy. Of
course! Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner?

She slammed open her door and ran for Evey’s room.
While Gwen didn’t know if there were any spells that could save David, it was better to try something than
nothing
.
Plus
, it wasn’t like it would be the first time Gwen had gone to her asking to learn a few spells. Hell, if there was even a chance it could
work
, she would forgive her completely for taking off to rescue Jacob without her.

She knocked three times, her heart pounding louder than her knock. “Evey?”
she called.

The room had been prepared for her stay during the
day; it
had
only
one window covered with heavy curtains and blankets to prevent any sunlight from getting in. Gwen couldn’t open the door without letting all that sunlight in herself.

“What is it?” Evey called, not willing to open the door.

“
I need your help
,” she whispered, not willing to let anyone else in on her plan.

“What for?”

“
I need to know if you know any spells that can, well …” She didn’t know how to word it. Strengthen the spirit? Prolong life? Prevent the werewolf change? How did
majick even work?

Thankfully
, Evey seemed to know what she was asking for. The door clicked and
opened
. Evey was completely covered in a thick blanket to keep the sun from touching her. “Come in,” she sighed. Gwen did just that.

It was dark when the door closed and the blanket was replaced at the crack at the floor, but not so dark that Gwen needed her night vision.

The sight of Jacob sitting on Evey’s bed came as a shock.

“What’s he doing here?” She was sure he’d been given his own room.

“
Nothing that concerns
you
,” he snapped defensively, flashing her his fangs.

Evey put her arm around her shoulders. “He and I go back, don’t worry about him.”

“
Okay,” s
he said, still eyeing him carefully. She only knew who he was because of the hunter’s foolish talk out in the woods
and David’s own confession that his family had been blackmailing him to act as an insider for their hunts.
Personality wise, she didn’t know him at all.

“So
, you need a potion for your man, right?”

Gwen flushed. “Yeah.”

Evey leaned against a dresser. She’d changed clothes and looked much better wearing a red T-shirt and jeans that actually fit and hugged her hips. Jacob appeared better as well, freshly showered and
shaved
. He’d
also
been given clothes to borrow until he could get some of his own. Gwen vaguely wondered if they’d shared their shower before deciding it was none of her business.

“It’ll be tough. There aren’t many ingredients around here to work with and it’s not like I can go outside to get them.”

“
I’ll get them. Whatever you need, just tell me and it’s
yours
,” Gwen offered.

“This is for Shepard?” Jacob asked.

Gwen looked at him. His arms were crossed and he stared at her curiously.

“Yes
,” she replied, but it was also a question. She never thought about whether or not the vampire in front of her would be bitter for his imprisonment. Something in his demeanor suggested that he
was
. Gwen tried reaching out to feel his emotions, but the vampire closed her off before she could find anything.

After some thought, he finally said
, “Would a lock of werewolf hair help?”

Evey snapped her fingers. “That’s a great idea.”
Before Gwen could
blink
, Evey was before her with that unnatural speed of hers, holding a lock of her hair in her hand.

Gwen’s hand shot up to her head, thankfully Evey hadn’t taken too much.

“
Won’t I have to change for hair to work?” she asked.

“Not necessarily.” Evey waved her off. “A lot of people, wolves included, don’t know that to make a potion that kills, you need the actual werewolf fur, but to make one that heals, you can just pluck a few hairs off their head while they’re still human.”

“But
, there isn’t a way to actually heal him,” she said. “I need him to live through the pain of the change.”
Without going out of his mind.

“
Right,” Evey said, tying the hair with a piece of string. “
And this will help him with that.”

“
How? And how does he know anything about
majick?” Gwen tried not to get her hopes up, but it was just too hard when Evey seemed so damned confident in herself.

“
I told you, we go back. I showed him a few things back in our day.” She handed her the lock of hair. “Now what you’re going to want to do is get a pot, doesn’t matter what size as long as you can fit more th
an two cups of water in it.”

“Two cups, okay.”

“Then
, go outside and find some dandelion leaves, get some
parsley
, and crush up some Advil.”

“Advil?”

“For the pain, you’ll probably need six or seven pills, extra strength. Is there a blender here?”

“I-I think there is.”

“
Good, because you’re going to blend it all together
. Hair can be gross if it gets stuck in the
throat
, so make sure you blend it well.”

Gwen made mental plans to run out and buy a blender if there wasn’t one in the cabin. Bill only used it for
Moon Nights or whenever he wanted to go fishing, but that didn’t stop him from accessorizing the place like it was lived in every day.

“
When that’s done
, boil your water and mix in your
blend
. Stir it until it dissolves and you should have a few cups of tea.”

“And this will work?”

Evey sighed
. Gwen could tell that she wished the question hadn’t been asked. “There is still a chance, a very good chance, that it won’t. The only thing the potion will do is dull the pain, maybe even make him a little out of it with all the
Advil
. The rest is completely up to him.” She opened her hands as if to show her that there really was nothing else she had to offer.

Not exactly what Gwen wanted to hear, but it was so much better th
an nothing.

“
Thank you,” s
he said, to both her and Jacob.

“
I would rather he
lived
,” he replied, finally looking back up at her. “As for the others, I couldn’t care less, but he helped me find my Angela
again
. Regardless of how many broken promises he gave me, I owe him my respect.”

Now Gwen was confused.
Who was
Angela?

She looked to Evey for an explanation, but she shook her head and readied a blanket over her body to see her out. “I’ll explain later.”

The door was opened just enough to let her out and when it shut on her
, she felt a new sense of hope. There was a chance! A small chance, but a chance!

Gwen turned to go to the kitchen, but her father and Elaine were blocking her path.

Elaine was red in the eyes, her cheeks swollen and wet. She’d completely forgotten that the poor woman had run crying to Larry, who held a supportive arm around her shoulder.

“What’s going on?” Gwen asked. Maybe Jimmy did find a way to bite her, or at least scare her to tears.