Into The Void (Vampire Hunter Book 4) (5 page)

The Sunday before school started back had always been the most depressing
day of the year. Not because I hated school, but because I hated what it stood
for.
The end of summer, which was my favorite season.
Soon
it would be too cold to go swimming and the outdoor pools would shut down until
next year.

No more freedom to stay up all night and sleep all day. No going to see a
movie with friends at 10 pm on a Tuesday night just because you felt like it.

Now all of that seemed so trivial, so unimportant. No, this Sunday, I
didn’t think at all about those things. My mind was reeling from everything we’d
found out last night. Was it possible I already had my secret power but just
didn’t know how to activate it? Surely I’d feel it if something was different
than from when I first returned?

The only thing I knew for certain was that I couldn’t go to another one
of Tobias’ meetings.
 
I hadn’t let myself
think it at the time, but with the night behind me, I could see what a risk we
had taken by going there.

 
Lucas brought me home that Sunday
morning, as he had promised. We didn’t speak much during the car ride back. I
could tell he was deep in thought, probably mulling over all the same questions
as me.

He dropped me off a block from my house and turned to me. “So tomorrow is
the big day. Back to normal life,” Lucas said lightly.

“I guess,” I muttered. “I’d rather work with you and Emmett and Nicholas.
Stopping Tobias and
Senara
seems more important right
now than graphing parabolas.”

Lucas had a funny expression on his face.

“A parabola is a,” I started, but Lucas cut me off.

“I’m aware of what a parabola is,” he said with a slight chuckle. “I just
didn’t peg you as a math nerd.”

“So what nerd were you in school?” I shot back. “Or were you too busy
playing sports?”

“Believe it or not, I loved science,” Lucas said seriously. “You’d better
go before someone notices us,” he said, changing the subject. “And I’d like to
get going as well. Much as I love your company I’d prefer it not be in the
blazing sun.”

“I really do appreciate you bringing me back here. And, uh, having
Nicholas there to protect me last night. It’s not until the light of the day
that it’s hit me how dangerous that was.”

“Why do you think I was so worried when I first got you from the party?”
Lucas asked.

I nodded and reached over to squeeze Lucas’ hand. “You had me terrified.
I had never seen you so frenzied. Thanks again for everything.”

“Anytime. Now go! I’ll touch base with you in a few days; hopefully by
then I’ll know more from my own research, or maybe Emmett will have something.
In the meantime…take care of yourself. Stay in groups of people. Don’t walk
around alone.
That kind of thing.
You know, what I
tell you every time we part ways.” Lucas grinned, but it looked a little
forced.

He must be worried about
Senara
. Or Tobias. Or both…

“I’ll be surrounded by my classmates for over half the day. What do you
think could happen?” I hopped out before I could hear Lucas’ answer. I didn’t
stop watching his car until he had turned off the road.

Now what?
I supposed I needed
to talk to Henry. The last text I had sent him said I would call him today,
that I had some shopping to do to get ready for classes on Monday.

I had just reached the block my house was on when a truck screeched to a
halt beside me. Emmett!

“Blast, I was trying to catch you and Lucas before he dropped you off,”
Emmett said.

“You could have called one of us,” I said. “We would have arranged a time
to meet and –“

“No, no, no,”
Emmett
 
interrupted
, shaking his head vigorously. “I hate using the
phone. It’s probably more dangerous now than ever. I figured that Lucas was taking
you back home and I could talk to you both then.”

“What’s going on?” I asked in exasperation. “You’re always so paranoid
about everything!”

“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you,” Emmett
said. There was something ominous in his tone. I quickly looked from left to
right to see if anyone was around, watching us.

“Get in the car. You can’t stand there all day!” Emmett was saying.

I hopped into the passenger seat and Emmett started driving. “After I got
home last night, I fell into the strangest sleep. I didn’t dream. It was almost
like I was drugged, knocked out. But when I woke up this morning I had clarity
on several mysteries of your situation.”

“Really?” I asked excitedly. “Emmett, that’s wonderful news!”

“Yes and no. Where to start?” Emmett paused, considering his next words.
“Remember when you called and told me that Henry had visited you in the middle
of the night? You wondered if his father put him under a spell.”

“Yeah, it was creepy as hell. He was definitely not himself.”

“You’re right – he actually
wasn’t
himself. The creature who came to visit you was a shape shifter who had taken
on Henry’s appearance.”

“Is Henry in danger?” I asked shrilly.

“No, nothing like that. You’re famous amongst the non-humans – the living
dead girl, they call you. And even though Tobias has successfully staged two
top secret meetings, there are rumors, rumblings, about an impending war.”
Emmett paused and let out a long sigh.

“That shape shifter came to you as Henry to find out what you know about
the war. They think you tell Henry everything, and they obviously know that I’m
helping you. That’s why the shape shifter specifically asked if you’d talked to
me recently,” Emmett continued.

“Oh, no!” I wailed. “That means you’re in danger, too.” Emmett and I had
our differences, but I could never forgive myself if he was injured, or worse –
killed
– because of me.

Emmett nodded grimly. “This is why I didn’t call. Maybe Lucas knows how
to secure our phone lines, but I do not. We have to be extremely careful about
how we communicate.”

“But there is a bright side to this,” Emmett continued. “It’s not really
my area of expertise, but I began researching how to keep a shape shifter from
taking on your form. There’s some items to gather and a spell – a ceremony or
ritual, if you will, where the person gets anointed with holy water and no
shape shifters will be able to look like him or her again.”

“That sounds promising,” I said. “And you already seem like an expert on
the subject! Maybe you can arrange it all?” I asked.

“I’m afraid not. There is one small catch I haven’t mentioned yet,”
Emmett said. He shot me a nervous look out of the corner of his eye.

“Is it bad?” I whispered. “Like do we have to hurt people or animals to
get the stuff for the spell?”

“No, no, nothing like that.”

“Good.” I leaned back in the passenger seat and forced my rigid body to
relax. I had been holding my entire frame tense from the second I got into
Emmett’s truck. I looked over at Emmett. He was still staring straight ahead
with a pained expression on his face.

“If we don’t have to hurt anyone innocent, then why are you so pale?
What’s the catch?” I asked.

Emmett didn’t immediately speak. I could tell he was weighing his next
words carefully. “Well, the spell has to be performed by a warlock.”

“Mr. Matthews?!”
I asked incredulously.

“God, no, I would never suggest
that
. But you’re on the right track,” he added grimly.

“Surely you don’t mean…?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I do mean Henry.”

“How could you say something so completely stupid?” I asked angrily.
“Henry doesn’t practice magic! He’s not a warlock. I thought you said it had to
be performed by a warlock?”

“He’s coming in to the same magic abilities as his father; he just hasn’t
had any guidance on how to use them yet. And I know you don’t want to hear
this, but he may not even need training. I have a feeling he’s a natural.”

“So what, we just hand him a book and tell him to read some shit? And you
think he’ll do it, no questions asked?” I demanded.

“Of course he’ll have questions, Aurora. This is why we need to get our
stories straight. Everyone – you, Lucas, Nicholas and I have to be on the same
page.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, staring daggers at Emmett. I couldn’t
believe he was suggesting we pull Henry farther into this mess. I’d been trying
to keep him out of it -
safe
from his
father,
safe
from the upcoming war.

“If we need his help we’re going to have to tell him
why
we need it,” Emmett replied.

“You said last night, before we got to the cabin, that Henry would
believe anything I said because he was
in
love
with me. Why can’t I just make up something half-plausible if you’re
so certain I can convince him of anything, no matter how ridiculous it sounds?”
I crossed my arms in front of my chest triumphantly. I’d like to see Emmett try
to counter
that
.

“You could lie to him again, yes,” Emmett said. “Make up some story that
has nothing to do with the truth. But is that really the route you want to
take? At some point, Henry is bound to find out at least
some
of what we’ve been keeping from him. And do you think if,
when
that day comes and he’s already a
powerful warlock, he’s not going to run to his father when he discovers that
his best friend betrayed him?”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” I muttered. I groaned. “So what do you
propose?”

“That we tell him about the meeting – minus his father, of course.
Explain the need for Henry to help in this shape shifter repellent spell. Hell,
you can even tell him you’re supposed to come into some huge power and kill
Tobias’ enemy
Senara
. Really, you can tell him
everything about the truth except for one small detail.” Emmett glanced over at
me to gauge my reaction.

“It’s a pretty big detail and if he ever finds out that I kept it from
him, he’ll hate me forever,” I whispered.

“So he won’t find out.” Emmett’s voice was hard. “None of us will tell
him, and there’s absolutely no way Henry will ever see a meeting for himself.
You just tweak the details. Say it was some cloaked figure reading from the
book. He’ll never know.”

“And if for some reason he does discover the truth, you plead complete
ignorance,” Emmett continued. “You’re supposed to be in a trance at these
things, anyway. David won’t know you recognized him, and Henry won’t find out
the warlock reading the spells is actually his father.”

“Until the war happens and he sees what side his father is on,” I added.

“That’s down the road a little ways, I imagine, if at all,” Emmett said.
“I’m talking about the here and now. Ensuring our own safety. If Henry’s as
talented as his father, he can probably help us in other areas too, like
protective spells for your family.”

I could feel my resolve cracking. The way Emmett was selling this, it
would actually be beneficial not just to us, but to
Henry’s
safety as well.

“And think about it, Aurora,” Emmett said softly.

I expected him to continue right away, but he didn’t. “Yes?” I finally
prompted him.

“If Henry’s fated to become a powerful warlock, wouldn’t you rather be a
part of his transformation? Otherwise, he’s likely to start practicing on his
own, or worse, with the help of his dad. At least if you know about it you can
influence him not to use his ability for evil.”

“But Henry would never hurt anyone. He’s nothing like his father.” My
voice was barely above a whisper. I wasn’t arguing with Emmett. I was trying to
convince myself.

I wasn’t sure if I should call Lucas after what Emmett said about the
phone lines not being safe, and I didn’t know if he was even at his apartment
or still with Nicholas at the cabin. I really wanted his advice before I
waylaid Henry and talked to him about the shape shifter spell, but there was no
time to waste!

After Emmett dropped me off, I texted Henry to see if he wanted to come
hang out at my house. I was tempted to say that I needed to tell him something,
but Emmett’s paranoia was rubbing off on me.

Sounds good. Or do you want to come
here instead? My parents are at work,
Henry texted back.

I’ll walk over now,
I replied.
That was even better. My house was so much smaller than Henry’s and my parents
and even Kayla were home. It would be difficult to talk in private.

During the walk to Henry’s house, I rehearsed what I was going to say to
him, how I would convince him that this was the right thing to do.

But I couldn’t help feeling a tiny twinge of guilt. What if I didn’t push
him in this direction and Henry never decided to practice magic? Did I really
have the right to lead someone’s future down a certain path? Henry was Ivy
League bound; he’d probably study law, just like his parents, and become a
successful attorney within the next ten years. If that’s what he truly wanted,
who was I to ruin it?

By the time I got to his house, I decided all I would do is feel him out
on the subject. If Henry was dead-set against it, I’d just have to tell Emmett
that we needed a plan B.

“Hey, Henry,” I said, walking through the garage and into the kitchen.
Henry was sitting at the kitchen island, drinking a huge glass of some murky
looking liquid.

“What’s that?” I asked, pointing.

“Protein shake,” he replied, taking the last gulp and getting up to place
his glass in the sink. “It’s supposed to help with muscle recovery after
training. I played basketball for three hours this morning.”

“Wow,” I said.

“Yeah, I’m trying to pull out all the stops. I really want to make the
team,” Henry said.

“You’ve got no idea how good you are!” I exclaimed. “They’ll probably
make you team captain.”

Henry grinned. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. So what did you want
to do this afternoon?” he asked. “Did you finish your back to school shopping?
We could go to mall if you need to, or just hang here and watch a movie or
something.”

“Let’s just chat and then decide,” I replied.

“Yeah, I want to know more about what happened last night! When I saw you
leaving Bunny’s party I thought you were ditching me for vamp boy.” Henry’s
cheerful expression had darkened.

“Nothing like that. Come on, let’s go sit down.” Avoiding looking him in
the eye, I walked past Henry and headed into the family room, then flopped down
on one of the long couches. Henry sat down next to me. I kicked my shoes off and
sat cross-legged on the couch, facing Henry.

“The reason I left actually had nothing to do with Bartholomew and
Thomas,” I said nervously.

“Ah, so you really did ditch me for Lucas then?” Henry’s tone was light
but I could hear the hurt in his voice.

“No, no, nothing like that,” I said quickly. “Remember when Emmett told
us about that underground meeting?”

Henry nodded.

“Well, they had another one of them last night, and I had to go to it.”

Henry’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What for?” he demanded.

“Tobias thinks I’m going to kill his nemesis,” I replied.

“This is getting weirder by the second,” Henry muttered.

“Let me start at the beginning.” I proceeded to tell Henry everything,
except the one thing he could never find out. I also pretended that yesterday
was the first I knew of me being involved in the underground meetings. I didn’t
want Henry thinking I was keeping things from him.

“You could have told me last night,” Henry said. “I would have gone with
you! Protected you.”

“No, you couldn’t have,” I argued. “That’s why Nicholas was there. I
agree – it was really dangerous, but nothing bad happened; we’re all still safe.”

Henry let out a long sigh. “Well, I’m glad you told me today. I hope
you’re not planning to go to any more of these things!”

“Not if I can help it,” I said grimly. “Basically, it’s a race against
time. I need to figure out this power I’m supposed to have before
Senara
finds out a prophet said I was going to kill her. And
before Tobias gets a hold of me again.” I shuddered.

“There’s something else I need to talk to you about, too,” I said,
changing the subject.

“Really? I can’t believe there’s more!”

“Yeah,” I replied nervously. “Remember when I said you came to my bedroom
window and threw rocks at it?”

“Let me guess – that wasn’t a bad dream? Did Emmett say I was
sleepwalking or something?” Henry asked.

“No, it wasn’t you,” I whispered. “It was a shape shifter.”

“O….
kay
,” Henry said slowly. He looked
skeptical.

“It really wasn’t just a bad dream,” I said defensively. “I talked to
Emmett about it and he said we need to do this spell that will make it where
shape shifters can’t take on our form.”

“We?” Henry questioned.

“Well, yeah, ideally we wouldn’t want a shape shifter to be able to
mirror you, me, Lucas, Nicholas, or Emmett.”

“Makes sense.” Henry nodded slowly. “How can I help?”

“You kind of need to be the one to say the spell,” I hedged.

“Me? Why?”

I couldn’t bring myself to say the word warlock. I refused to believe that
was Henry’s future. “Emmett said it has to be you because you have a natural
talent for casting spells.”

“Wow. That Emmett guy freaks me out sometimes,” Henry said.

“I know
,
it’s silly, right?” Henry was taking
this much better than I’d imagined. He hadn’t laughed in my face. At least
Henry seemed
receptive
to the
suggestion.

“No, he freaks me out because he knows so much without ever being told,”
Henry replied.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I didn’t want to tell you, Rory,” he started.

“Uh-oh. Tell me what?”

“It’s nothing bad,” he said quickly. “I just felt weird about it. Or
embarrassed. Maybe a little of both.”

“Even though Lucas thought you and I were safe from the twins, I couldn’t
shake this nagging worry that they were going to come kill us – or just our
families – to settle the score with Lucas,” Henry continued. “And they probably
have a vendetta against me now, too, since I staked one of them.”

“It’s also crossed my mind,” I admitted. “Although not so much after I
found out the order to kill me was called off.”

“
That made me feel
better, but only slightly.
Anyway, I was just so sick and tired of sitting around feeling helpless, that I
decided to do something about it. I’m not dumb enough to think I can go find
the twins and kill them myself – and honestly I have no desire to even
try
that. But I realized there was
something else I could do. Magic. Spells. That kind of thing.” Henry paused.

“Really?” I asked in surprise.
Before
I approached Henry he was already thinking about casting spells?

“I found someone online advertising a book they claimed would help you
cast any spell you could imagine. I figured it was a scam, but there was
nothing to lose except a little bit of money. So I called the guy and he
shipped the book to me.”

“Can I see it?” I asked.

Henry hesitated. “Maybe in a minute.”

“Sorry,” I said. “I want to hear the rest of this. Have you tried any
spells from it?”

“Yes, and I didn’t think it had worked after I got your text last night
that the twins were around.”

“What was the spell for? Banish them from the city or something?”

“No, better than that.” Henry grinned. “It was to turn them into
blubbering idiots any time they thought about you, me, or Lucas. If one of
those names popped into either of their heads, their thoughts were supposed to
immediately go cloudy and doing even simple things, like driving a car, would
seem like a monumental task. The cloudiness would pass after a few hours, but
if they got our names into their heads again, it would come back.”

“That’s awesome! So basically thinking of us makes them stupid and they
can never come after us?”

“That was the plan. I was hoping it was working – I really had no way to
test it, unless I tracked one of them down and got in his face.” Henry laughed.
“It was quite satisfying to cast that spell, to be completely honest.”

“How did you do it?” I asked him.

Henry shrugged. “It was so odd. I guess I can show you the book. I – I
just don’t want you to think I’m some weirdo.”

“Henry, I would never think that! Why would you even say such a thing?” I
demanded.

“Because the entire book is in a different language – I have no idea what
language – but I can read it.” Henry was studying his hands when he spoke.
“Even I think I’m a freak.”

“You’re talking to a reanimated corpse,” I joked, hoping I could make
Henry feel better. “Nothing you could say is going to make me think you’re a
freak.”

Henry looked relieved. “Thanks, Rory. I was scared to tell you. I guess
Emmett figured out I had a knack for this type of stuff?”

“He must have,” I said vaguely. “So you’ll do it?”

“Of course! It’s for a good cause, and to be honest, it’s kind of fun.”

Not too much fun I hope,
I
thought, picturing Henry reading from that giant book in the underground
meeting instead of his father.

“I’m really glad you know now,” Henry was saying. “I can’t stand keeping
secrets from you.”

“I don’t like keeping them from you, either,” I admitted.
But there’s still one secret that’s
necessary to keep.

“Let me read up to find the spell we need, then maybe we can all convene
later this week? If it’s like the last one, I’ll have to get some odd items and
prep stuff, but it shouldn’t take too long. It will be much more enjoyable than
studying the boring subjects they teach in school.” Henry grinned.

“Definitely,” I said. I knew I should be happy that Henry had jumped at
the opportunity to perform the shape shifter spell. So why was I filled with an
uneasy dread?