Hexed (The Gwen Sparks Series Book 4) (9 page)

Dorian rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. “You’re right. When it comes to you, I lose my fucking head. I don’t mean to and I don’t
want
to, but since meeting you it’s been one thing after another, and I keep wondering when things are going to give.” He took a moment to think. “All of this is my fault, Gwen. Maybe that’s why I’m so on edge. This time I can’t point fingers at anyone but myself, and that pisses me off.”

I took a step toward him. “How is this your fault?” Dorian’s eyes shifted and I knew he was looking past me to where Fiona stood. “She’s not going to tell anyone,” I told him.

“Gwen,” Dorian breathed, coming toward me. He clasped my hands and stared down at his thumbs as they caressed a path across my skin. “I think I’m the reason this is happening. I think…” He took a ragged breath and released my hands. “I think this has something to do with what I did after the rogue attacked you.”

I wrapped my arms around my body, needing some sort of security. “I’m not even going to ask what a rogue is because I think I get the gist of it, but what could you have done that was so bad that it would cause me to lose my memories?”

Dorian shook his head, just a slight movement that made me think he was fighting with his subconscious on whether he should finish his confession. Taking a step forward, I gripped his hand and drew his attention toward me.

“Tell me, please.” Was the man before me, my supposed boyfriend, really to blame for my predicament? A wave of nervous anxiousness settled itself in the pit of my stomach as I waited for him to reply.

“The rogue killed you, Gwen,” Dorian said. I heard Fiona gasp behind me, and her soft footsteps as she moved toward me. My eyes were locked on Dorian and the tightness of his jaw.

“I didn’t get there in time,” he continued. “I was too late. I have transported countless souls, but I couldn’t watch yours fade away. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t let you go.”

Out of my peripheral, I saw Fiona move to stand beside me but I couldn’t look away from Dorian. The weight of what he had said was slowly sinking in and immobilizing me. I was frozen with this knowledge. My brain added up what he said, and the conclusion shook me to my core. This was the rule he had mentioned breaking.

“You didn’t,” Fiona breathed with disbelief.

“You replaced my soul, didn’t you?” I asked him. “As the Angel of Death, you’re able to take souls, which means you can also replace them. Only, you’re not supposed to, are you?”

“It was as though I didn’t have a choice,” Dorian admitted. “I don’t know why I did it, Gwen. In all my existence I’ve never returned an expired soul before.” Dorian stared at the floor for a long moment, his jaw tightening. “The fucked up thing is that even if I had a redo, I wouldn’t change a thing.” His head lifted and my eyes met smoky clouds. “I just couldn’t accept your death.”

I thought I heard Fiona sigh beside me, just a slight wispy breath falling from her lips, but I chose to ignore it. Dorian and I stared at one another for a long moment before the phone rang. I jumped at the sudden noise, breaking my gaze from Dorian. Fiona rushed over to answer the annoying intruder.

“Hello?” She cupped a hand over the receiver and whispered, “It’s Micah.”

“No, Ms. Ozland said memory spells are tricky and that it was dangerous to just have her drink any ol’ potion. She suggested we coax her memories back by helping Gwen remember daily routines and recounting her life back to her.” There was a long silence as Fiona listened to Micah speak. Dorian and I stood beside each other, our bodies tense and my emotions totally wrecked.

“Ethan is with the NAWC right now,” Fiona replied, and I heard Dorian snort beside me. “They know about the problem and probably haven’t called you back because they wish to not include a werewolf in our business, no offence.”

“Yes, I know you’re a Detective, Micah,” Fiona shook her head. “What do you expect me to do? If the NAWC doesn’t wish to speak to you, nothing I can do will change that.”

“Oh, for the love of the Goddess,” Fiona said in exasperation. “I will call Ethan and see if he can talk some sense into them. Seeing as how I’m here in Flora, and not with the NAWC, it’s the best I can do. Bye.” She hung up the phone and spun around to face us with her arms crossed. The corners of her mouth were turned down in either worry or annoyance, I wasn’t sure.

“What was that all about?”

“Micah is freaking out because the NAWC hasn’t called him back and supposedly things are getting worse and weirder, whatever that means.”

“It is a little odd that the NAWC hasn’t responded yet,” Dorian said. “Maybe we should head into town to see what’s going on.”

“I’m sure they’ve looked into it already,” Fiona responded, “but I think checking it out is a good idea.”

“I’m game,” I told them, and then stabbed a finger in Dorian’s direction. “This conversation is not done.”

“Got it,” Dorian remarked.

WE DROVE THROUGH Flora in a red Jeep that Dorian informed me was mine. He drove while I sat in the passenger seat and Fiona sat in the back. We had just turned down Main Street and had yet to see anything out of the ordinary. I don’t know what we were expecting to see, but from how Micah reacted on the phone, I assumed the town would be in utter hysteria.

“What the hell?” Dorian pulled over to the side of the road and parked the car. Leaning toward the steering wheel, he stared out the windshield.

“What?” Fiona and I said in unison.

“The bakery is gone.” Dorian got out of the car, slamming the door behind him. Fiona and I looked at each other, shrugged, and exited the car too.

“The bakery where I lost my memories?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Dorian replied, walking closer to the building where it had been. It was now just an empty storefront with a ‘for sale’ sign in the window. Fiona and I peered through the window to find it bare inside.

“That is weird,” Fiona admitted and I agreed. Even if by some chance Ms. Willow closed the shop, there was no way she could have had it cleaned out that fast, or maybe she could.

“Could she have used magic to move out?” I asked, feeling a little silly for the suggestion.

“Not from a jail cell,” Fiona answered. “And why would she when the store just opened?”

“I hope that was rhetorical,” I said, “because I have no clue how people operate in Flora.” I wanted to remember this quirky little town, remember all of my experiences while living in it. What I didn’t want was to go down the rabbit hole further, and it seemed that’s where we were headed. The worried expressions on Fiona and Dorian’s faces warned me that they were troubled by this news. And, while I thought it was odd that a new shop would close up so fast, I couldn’t connect with the severity of the situation. What did it mean? Why would Ms. Willow have a grand opening one night and then close a few days later? I stopped processing my thoughts and gasped.

“I remember.” I said this to no one in particular, but I knew Dorian and Fiona would hear me. “I remember her mentioning it was her grand opening.”

“That’s right,” Dorian urged, taking a step toward me. I didn’t know if he was waiting for all my other memories to surface, but I couldn’t concentrate on them when he watched me like a science experiment.

I shrugged and threw my hands out in front of me. “That’s it, that’s all I remember.”

A hint of a smile ghosted across Dorian’s mouth before it disappeared. “That’s good.”

I found myself smiling, that little bubble of hope growing tenfold with the resurfacing of the memory. In my mind, I could picture Ms. Willow greeting me as I came into the bakery and announcing that it was the store’s grand opening. Then the scene faded into black and static noise spiraled through my head.

“Isn’t that Jillian?” Fiona asked.

I was still staring at the storefront and spun around when I noticed Fiona faced the street. She pointed to a young woman with short blonde hair. She stood on the other side of the road, her arms outstretched and her head tilted back as through relishing in the warmth of the sun.

“Who’s Jillian?” Dorian questioned. I half smiled because that was exactly what I had been thinking.

“Gwen hired her to help Penny out with the shop,” Fiona explained. “She’s a vampire.”

I looked back at the girl, taking in the fact that the sun was high in the sky and she stood beneath it without fear. “Vampires and sunlight is a bad thing, right?” I asked.

“Should be,” Fiona said. “But that man with the hole in his chest, the one Micah told us about, he was a vampire. They said he walked in the sun as well.”

“It’s the energy being off balance,” Dorian added. “It has to be. Micah mentioned that no one could die, which would explain why Jillian isn’t a pile of ash right now.”

I tipped my head up to stare at Dorian. “Is this because of me, of what you did?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Maybe, I don’t know.”

Just then, the young woman’s head snapped back down. A big smile stretched her cheeks wide, and as her eyes opened, they connected with the three of us. I shrieked and jumped back when she appeared in front of me. One minute she was across the street, and the next she was a foot away from me. Dorian’s arm came around my shoulders to steady my jumpy feet.

“Whoa, didn’t mean to scare you,” Jillian laughed. “Isn’t this amazing? I’m walking in the sun! After changing, I didn’t think I would ever see it again.” She beamed, her eyes going up to stare at the sky. “It’s strange to miss something I used to take for granted. When I was human I never thought about daylight, but now that I have had five years of darkness, I miss it.”

“Jillian,” Fiona started, getting the young woman’s focus back on us. Jillian’s eyes landed on our faces again. “How did you hear about being able to walk in the sun?”

“Oh, every vampire knows. The news started to spread after Linus tried killing his boyfriend. He expected the sun to carry away his ashes, but as the moon fell and the run rose, nothing happened. Linus had been watching from the safety of his home and, after determining that his boyfriend wasn’t burning, he stepped outside. It’s a miracle!”

“So vampires have like a phone tree or something?” I immediately felt stupid after asking that question. Jillian’s smile didn’t falter. She was smiling so much that it was sort of creepy, all white teeth and gums.

“This is the biggest thing that has ever happened to vampires,” Jillian explained. “I’ve only been one for five years, but can you imagine living hundreds of years in utter darkness? This is the first time we’ve been able to walk in the sun since we were turned. That sort of news spreads.”

“Aren’t you guys worried, though?” I asked. “What happens if it’s only temporary and you’re caught in daylight when it wears off?” As I watched Jillian’s excited features, I worried that something would shift and all this bizarreness would cease. Eventually, things would go back to normal, right?

Jillian shrugged. “It’s worth the risk. You have no idea how depressing a life of night can get. Besides,” she shrugged again, “we don’t turn to ash right away. If it wears off, we’re fast enough to get somewhere safe before it becomes fatal.”

I nodded, all the while wondering if what Dorian had done was enough to produce these substantial side effects. How would replacing my soul cause vampires to be able to walk in the sun? Then it hit me; it didn’t have to do with vampires frolicking in the sun. Just like Micah had told us no one was dying. All of the vampires soaking in the daylight should have died the moment their feet stepped outside their homes this morning. Since Dorian had ignored the laws of death, it was malfunctioning—just like a piece of machinery that breaks down. Unfortunately, I was the defective part in this scenario. Once we straightened me out, the world would run smoothly again, and all the laws that bound supernaturals, such as vampires burning in the sun, would go back to normal. As long as I was alive, Jillian and the other vampires were safe.

“I have to go,” Jillian said. “Gwen, call when you open Broomsticks.” She headed down the sidewalk, her head tipping back to stare up at the sun peeking through the clouds.

“Okay, that was weird, right?” Fiona asked as we watched Jillian disappear around the corner.

“I’m going to say yes,” I told her. “I may not be able to remember this world, but even I know vampires and sun don’t mix.” Turning toward Dorian, I asked, “It’s because of what you did, isn’t it? You said the balance was off and because of that no one is dying.” I stared at the space where Jillian had disappeared. “Will they be okay, the vampires enjoying the sun?”

“Yes, I suppose it is,” Dorian replied. “As far as their wellbeing”—he shrugged—“I don’t know. They’re cheating death.” His shoulders bobbed up and down as he exhaled a deep breath. “I’m out of my comfort zone here. There is no protocol for this sort of thing.”