Wolf Spell 1 (37 page)

“I’ll take your silence as a no. I guess that means she doesn’t love you as much as you thought. Who did you say she was with?”

He goaded me. I knew it, but it still irked me. I let him get to me.
“Maztic, anytime you’re ready.”
I wasn’t about to let him go any further, and I sure wasn’t going to lead him to Es.

Maztic didn’t need anything more. He lunged forward, clamping his jaw down on Victor’s arm. I jumped and slid over the hood of the car. Clenching my fist, I forced it hard into his face, knocking him backwards. He stumbled, but came forward with strength I momentarily forgot he had. Magic.

He shot his hand out, palm facing me. A streak of blue hit me in the chest paralyzing me. I watched helplessly as Maztic flew through the air, landing on his side, sliding over the pavement. He was back up and running toward Victor when Hela raced with him and jumped on Victor’s back. Maztic clenched down on his leg.

He released his power and I was able to move once again. Torres was now running behind me, throwing fierce jabs into Victor. He was a well-toned man, and I knew those had to hurt. I took a step forward, waiting for my moment. Victor held his hand out again, throwing all four of us back. He used his energy to throw me back about a hundred yards, my back hit the building, and I slid down. I glanced around. Torres was about three feet away from me, but electric blue streak from Victor’s hands held him down.

Maztic was on the pavement, getting back up, but Hela was already attacking Victor’s back. It didn’t make sense. That kind of magic shouldn’t work on us, Guardians are immune to it.

“Enough!” Adonia’s voice rang out loud. She held her hands out, stopping the flow of any other magic other than her own.

Victor dropped his hand and Hela let go of him. Torres and I got up, first on my hands and knees, then pushed myself to stand and walked over to her with Maztic right behind us. I cringed, my back hurt from landing so roughly. It was still hard to breath from getting the wind knocked out of me.

“What is it exactly that you want from my daughter? Answer truthfully or I will strip you of all your powers. I have that ability with those who mean to do harm to my family.” She held her hands out and kept an unyielding look on her face.

Victor bent over, holding his arm where Maztic bit and blood trickled down his neck from Hela’s attack. His breathing was heavy and labored. “I need her to help me save my sister.”

His sister? “What is going on? You had better be telling the truth.” I still didn’t trust him.

He stood up straighter, cringing as he did. “About twenty five years ago, Nicholas took my entire family trying to create his crossbreeds. My parents died within two years of being turned, but my sister is still alive, barely. I have kept her hidden and gave her everything I could to keep her alive. Esmerelda is the only one who can break this curse over her and keep her alive. I promised her that I would help her. I won’t break that promise. That’s why I had Meadow turned when I realized I couldn’t save her. I thought maybe if Meadow went through and survived the process, then she could help me save Katrina, but she chose to follow Nicholas and left. It is so hard to know that everything I thought we had is gone.”

“Well you throwing us off from our meeting spot might get Es killed. Then what are you gonna do?” The thought of something happening to her made me grimace even more.

“Like I said, she was supposed to be with you. Not my fault you let her slip through your fingers.”

Maztic’s hackles rose again, and I lunged for him, only to be struck by the paralyzing electricity. I couldn't make any sense of how the magic held me.

Victor's eyes narrowed. “Did you honestly think, I would choose to fight you if my magic did not work?”

I strained to speak. The pressure from his power was so intense that my chest felt as if it would collapse.

Electricity surged around my body and I dropped to the ground. Adonia kneeled beside me. Her icy stare at Victor chilled even my blood. There was something unspoken about the way she looked at him. It was as if she knew the source of his power over us. The austerity of the situation became grave. Something was going on, and I believed Adonia failed to tell any of us about it.

She placed her hand on my shoulder. “I stripped his powers. Are you okay?”

I looked up. Victor was on his knees staring at his hands, and then he looked over at us. “What have you done to me?”

Adonia stood back up. “Until you are worthy I have taken your magic and stored it away.”

“You can't do that! You don't know what you're doing. I need my powers to help my sister.” His voice choked as he held back a sob.

“If what you speak is the truth Victor, I will restore your magic, but if you lie I will strip them for eternity.”

I looked up at Adonia. “That doesn't answer my question of how he was able to use his magic against me.”

“There are a few of us with that magic, and I mean a very few. We have what is called a Wolfing power. Myself included. We are able to use our powers against you in small amounts.”

“Well you, him and who else? This is kind of important if you want us to help.”

She hesitated for a moment. “Esmerelda.”

“Is there anyone else? Heck I didn't even know Victor had that power.”

She shook her head. “No.”

I looked over at Torres who stood with his arms folded across his chest.

“Did you know?”

He nodded. “I knew, I am the reason Victor has this power.”

“What! And you didn't warn me?”

“We'll talk about that part later. Right now I think we have bigger fish to fry.”

I let it go for now, but I wouldn’t give up on that. I deserved a truthful explanation.

“Enough. I will find out the truth, and then we can go from there.” Adonia walked closer to Victor, placing her hands on his head. “With the truth shining through, the lies stay in the dark.”

She stepped back closer to Torres. “Victor I will ask you one more time, what do you want with my daughter?”

Victor looked up, his eyes rimmed with tears. “My sister, Katrina, she needs my help. It’s just as I said before. Nicholas turned her, and she has fought to stay alive, but she doesn’t have much fight left. Please, please help me find Esmerelda. I need her. Kat needs her.”

Adonia looked at Torres, then me. “He’s speaking the truth. He can’t lie right now.”

He was still down on his knees. “Victor,” I said to get his attention first. “Are you going to hurt Es?”

He shook his head. “No. I mean that. I just need her to break the curse. She’s supposed to have the power to do it. I started her training, so she’d be ready, but Nicholas pushed her away before we could get that far.”

I snickered. “I think you forgot the part where she needs to awaken the dead witches before she can break the curse.”

He furrowed his brow together. “The five witches? That’s impossible. I don’t understand.”

“We need them to help carry out the Reaping Spell. Only Esmerelda and I together can awaken them from their sleeping deaths.”

“So she can’t break the curse…” Victor looked forlorn, staring at something behind me.

“The curse cannot be broken without her. She is the key, and the witches with myself are like the door. We need her to break through the spell used to create crossbreeds.”

“So where are the witches? Where is Esmerelda?” Victor stood up, brushing his black pants off. “I can’t believe you lost her. Didn’t you do some sort of tracking spell before traveling?”

Adonia’s eyes flashed red. “Of course I did! I did a joining spell.”

“That works with the spirit, so one of you must know something. That’s how it works, whoever the spirit deems worthy or of most importance to the person will have full knowledge and sometimes even visions.” He scanned each of our faces, “So who is it, which one of you knows where she is?”

I clenched my jaw. “Ian.”

“Great, where is he?”

I opened the front passenger door to the car. “With her…”

“Why would the spirit do that?” He asked.

“My thoughts exactly.” I slammed the door after getting in.

The other three doors opened, and they all climbed in. “Why is he coming?” I asked, pointing my thumb back at Victor.

“We are taking him with us. We might need him.”

Slamming my fist down on the dash. “I refuse to just hand her over.”

“You won’t have to. She will have a choice.” Adonia looked over at Victor. “Right?”

“Talk about a daytime soap opera,” Ailaina said as she buckled her seat belt. She’d been so quiet I almost forgot she was with us. “I’m glad I stayed out of that one.”

The Tomb

– Esmerelda –

November 20, 2012

“Get out.” I slugged Ian playfully in the shoulder. I hated to admit it but I honestly treasured being around him. I felt more like myself than I had in a long time. He reminded me of Nevada and home. He was fun, and I enjoyed myself with him.

“I’m serious.” He laughed.

“I can’t believe you threw doughnuts at the police department building! Were they maple or chocolate?”

“I think they were cream filled.” We both laughed. It felt so good, so natural. I didn’t want to lead him on because honestly, I wasn’t sure what was happening between us. At this moment, I’d say I have a crush—or something more. Flirting couldn’t hurt, could it?

We were about an hour or so away from Bradyville, on the outskirts of Nashville. Butterflies flew around in my stomach knowing my time alone with Ian would end soon. Would I be able to act normal around Jarak? My feelings confused me so much that I could only hope to sort them out quickly.

“Has Jarak called?” I needed to remind him that in some small way, I still thought of his brother. Oh man, that sounded even worse. I had feelings for two brothers, what a sick woman I turned out to be.

“No, I haven’t heard from him.”

“Hum, I thought he’d check on me more.” I rested my head back in the seat and flipped the visor down blocking the morning sun. Why I had to runaway without my bag was beyond me. I could magic my stuff to me, but my mom could grab it just as easily. I could handle not having a phone for a while—right? At least I had my debit card in the back pocket of my jeans. Thankfully, my parents had set up an account for me with a large sum that they transferred into it. I just hated using it. It was still strange to have access to money like that. I hadn’t even asked how they acquired that amount of money, and didn’t intend to any time soon.

“I’m sure he will be there when we get there.” Ian slid his dark shades down over his eyes making him look mysterious and oh so hot.
Stop it Es!
I chided myself.

“I hope so,” I said more under my breath than actually speaking and let out an exasperated sigh.

– Ian –

I tried not to look her way, but it was hard. She had fallen asleep. We were close to Bradyville, and I would need her to find the tomb location. This time alone with her made me realize that I would fight for her. I would no longer sit off to the side and just let Jarak have her. He didn’t deserve her. She didn’t even know his past.