Witchcraft (#2 Witchblood Series) (24 page)

I struggled some more with my chains,
feeling the metal burn further into my ankles, feeling every second
as the skin on my wrists scorched and sizzled. I closed my eyes and
concentrated on my remaining magic, drawing it to me and sending it
down into my arms, my hands, my fingers. I needed the chains to
uncoil. If only I could change them into something else, make them
fall off me…

But my magic was disappearing and I was
losing my grasp on it. I frowned, scrunching my eyes together,
imagining the chains changing density, losing their metal
properties, and then suddenly the burning began to recede, the
chains felt softer, had a little give in them. It was working!

‘
Ooph,’ the air whooshed out of my
chest as Cole suddenly landed on top of me.

‘
You spoiled my game darling, so
before I leave you to burn in the pyre of your own making, I reckon
on having a last few minutes of fun.’

With horror my concentration lapsed and
I watched as the vampire on top of my stretched out body slithered
down over my hips, his hands running the length of my calves,
stopping a cautious distance from my chained ankles. Here he reared
up and sat smiling at me, like some psychotic version of a Justin
Bieber doll. After a quick pause for dramatic effect, he popped
open the button on my jeans, pulled down the zip and exposed my
naked hips. This was not good!

With a last struggle on my chained
wrists I tried to ignore him, as I once again focused on the last
dregs of magic. I felt his lips touch my hips and I jerked away,
but he held me fast and sank his fangs into my flesh. I screamed as
pain and pleasurable tingles simultaneously coursed up my spine.
With his hands he pushed my sweatshirt up over my stomach, withdrew
and then sank his fangs into my side, just underneath my ribs. I
yelled out and screamed some more, bucking and convulsing my body
beneath him. It would not end like this. He pulled back and sat up,
smirking at me.

‘
Relax darling, you’ll enjoy it
more,’ he said, before glancing quickly at the vampire who had now
stopped screaming and was keening quietly, as the flames had
consumed the lower part of his body so that he could no longer
move.

‘
I believe we haven’t got much
time left, so I shall give you the option dear, as I do like a girl
with attitude. Either I leave you here to a fate of your own
making, or I can rip out your throat.’

‘
How about one more bite? I always
liked it by my collar bone,’ I said, suddenly deciding that if
there was no escape, I would take him with me. For a second he
paused and stared at me, unsure why I had suddenly given in, but
then his ego took over and he smiled and sank down over me once
more. With a last mental push I focused on the now softened chains
coiled round my wrists and smiled grimly as I felt them dissolve.
My ankles were still firmly tied, and I had no strength or magic
left to do more than one last thing, and that wouldn’t be enough.
There would be no escape for me, but I would make sure that
whatever pain Cole had put Alex through, he would pay
for.

I wrapped my arms round him as he bit
into my neck. He jerked back shocked, but I locked my hands
together firmly round his back pulling him down on top of me,
holding him tight, and then I chanted my spell. The one I had been
saying in my head as I torched the previous vampire.

In seconds his whole body was consumed
in flames and he was howling. I pushed him off me as fast as I
could, but it was too late as I knew it would be. He rolled on to
the floor where he stumbled to his feet and ran blindly across the
cell, his body burning and blackening before my eyes. As I
frantically attempted to pat out the flames which were now slowly
snaking their way across my sweatshirt and down onto my blanket, I
saw him stumble into the other remaining vampire, who was still
struggling to free himself from the bars.

Now there were three vampires burning in
my cell, it wouldn’t take long before the whole place caught. I had
managed to put out the worst of the flames across my chest, but I
could feel my skin still smouldering and there were more flames
licking the corners of the blanket. The second blanket had fallen
on the floor during the earlier struggle and its far corner was now
dangerously close to the vampire pyre which burned only a few
metres away.

With my hands released, but blistering
badly from patting out the flames, I reached forwards and tried
untying the silver chains around my ankles, but I didn’t have
gloves and my hands were already burnt. I screamed as the silver
sizzled against my new wounds, and felt myself go faint, as it
further drained my energy. The fire was creeping ever nearer to the
blanket, so I pulled more frantically, ignoring my poor hands and
desperately trying to stay conscious while the thick fumes now
swirled around me, and the last of my magic disappeared.

The fire, which had been stumped
momentarily by the cold stone flooring, eventually managed to make
the leap to the blanket, which it consumed quickly, racing across
its fibres, ever closer to my bed. I screamed, hoping someone would
hear me from outside. I knew there were no residential houses
within sight of this old church, but I was hopeful that someone
from the club above would hear my screams. I tried to keep my eyes
from the flames licking around the edge of the bed frame, and
returned to the task of freeing my ankles.

With a last tug I freed one side and my
left foot was out. There were dark burn marks circumventing my
ankle, but I could move it. As I turned my attention to my right
foot the flames found my mattress and within seconds I was sitting
in the middle of a bonfire. I screamed and leaving my last foot
chained to the bed I leapt off the bed and half hopped, half
dragged the bed, still attached to my burning foot, halfway across
the cell, away from the burning vampires, but wherever I went I
pulled the burning bed behind me.

My strength was gone, the flames had
begun to travel up my leg and my jeans were already smouldering.
I’d always known it was unlikely that I would escape, but now my
time was up. I let a tear escape and run down my cheek. Pain began
attacking me viciously, consuming me and tiring me. I took a last
look at the dying Cole and managed a last smile. Weirdly, he was
lit up by a strange bright light which was getting brighter, coming
through the bars from the direction of the cellar door, but I lost
focus and lay down in my corner, taking a moments respite from the
cool stone. I drifted off into unconsciousness, thinking only of
the coolness against my skin.

Chapter Eighteen

I was awakened by someone wrapping
something round me, furiously patting out the flames and then
scooping me up. The material rubbed against my burnt skin and
sizzled where it stuck, and I let out a scream of pain.

‘
Sorry Jessie, but I’ve got to get
you out of here. It’s okay now, you’ll be fine.’

As he stood up and jostled my body
against him I screamed some more, feeling the fire burning within
my body. The flames may have gone, but the fire raged on within my
flesh.

‘
She’s not going to make it,
Luke,’ I heard a female voice say from behind him. I opened my eyes
again and glancing over his shoulder and saw another angel. I
thought I recognised her, but my vision was hazy. She was dressed
in the same plain yoga style pants and tunic, this time black, worn
without the robe, which was probably a good thing, as I was sure it
would be a fire hazard. She was throwing strange, shimmering grey
cloths over the various fires, under which they sizzled and went
out. When she reached the remains of a vampire she drew her sword
and with one clean swipe beheaded it.

With every step, pain jolted through my
body, and each time Luke’s arms rubbed against my skin, I felt it
begin to flake off, and knew I couldn’t take anymore.

‘
Luke, please end this, I’m dying.
Put me down. It hurts too much,’ I said, my voice barely more than
a whisper.

‘
Luke, I need to go and secure the
building before the nuke. Ten minutes okay?’ the girl said, who I
now remembered was Caoimhe, the angel who had come to my rescue in
Lancashire.

‘
Sure,’ he said, watching as she
left the room and ascended the steps to the ground
floor.

‘
Luke please, stop,’ I asked once
more.

He had carried me out of my original
cell and he was now standing with me in the narrow passageway
between the two cells. After a quick look down into my face, he
seemed to come to a decision and he took a couple of gentle steps
into the opposite cell and laid me gently on the bed.

‘
Are you still burning?’ he asked
quietly.

‘
Yes, I don’t think it will be
long. Stay with me,’ I said, and then, ‘Where’s Daniel?’

‘
He’s coming. They’re a couple of
hours behind us. They had to get Sebastian’s permission, as there
was a whole mess of legalities around threatening their territory.
Anyway, I believe they’re here now, so you hang on okay? He can
help you heal. You can feed from him, and then you’ll heal won’t
you? I’ve just got to get you out of this building.’

‘
Luke, there’s no time. If you
move me now, I’ll die. I can feel my insides burning,’ I whispered,
before a series of nasty coughs spat blood across our shirts. I
smiled weakly at him.

‘
Thanks for coming for me. I
didn’t think you would,’ I said.

‘
Why? Why wouldn’t I come for
you?’ he said.

‘
I got Alex out. She’s safe, isn’t
she? I’m just a vampire and when I die you won’t have to feel like
you did the wrong thing every time you see me.’

‘
Yes, it took us hours to find
Alex, that’s why we were so late, but why would you think I want
you to die?’ he frowned and looked away.

‘
Luke, you hate me. I know you
can’t stand what I am. When I’d dead you won’t be reminded of that
every day.’ Another series of coughs shook my body and left me
panting in shallow breaths. I closed my eyes.

‘
No, Jess you’re wrong, and you’re
not going to die. I saved you once, and yes I may have regretted
it, but there’s no way I’m letting you die here in this cell…like
this. Here,’ he said, and I opened my eyes in shock as a wet,
sticky wrist was pressed against my lips.

I pushed it gently away, ‘Luke what are
you doing? You can’t do this,’ I said.

‘
I can, and I will. Just drink,
right. Get better.’

I didn’t wait another second, but drew
his wrist to me and lapped up his blood. My fangs bit through
deeper and I felt the immediate relief as the internal fire blazing
in my body was dampened.

‘
Careful Jess, remember I’m an
angel, my bloods different, pure,’ he said, as a quiet moan left
his lips.

I nodded as much as I could to show I
had heard, but not willing to remove my mouth from his wrist. His
blood had the same deep, chocolatey taste that human blood had, but
his carried the same floral notes that I could smell whenever I was
around him. It felt like ice - slushy, pouring through my veins,
healing and revitalising, soothing and refreshing.

‘
Wow, Jess you’re healing. You’re
skin’s going pink again,’ he said.

I opened my eyes and stared up at him. I
didn’t feel the insane, animalistic urge to keep feeding this time,
but then I wasn’t starving hungry, just burnt to a crisp. Now my
body was cool again, the raging fires stilled, my skin re-growing
before our eyes. I could stop, pull back and smile at him.

‘
Why save me, Luke?’ I
said.

‘
I told you, I saved you once
before, and there was no way I was going to let you die here in
this dump. I couldn’t…’ He stared down at me, his eyes wet with
unshed tears. I reached up, and with a hand on either side of his
face, I pulled him down, a little closer to me.

‘
Luke, thank you. I
know…’

But I was interrupted by two things,
firstly a weird, low decibel gong resounded quietly around the
space, and at the same time two vampires burst down the steps and
skidded to a halt outside our cell.

‘
Oh right, I see! You don’t
need
me
then. But why does it
always take you almost to the point of death, Jess, for him to
decide he can’t live without you,’ Daniel flung at me, his eyes
full of hurt as he turned on his heel, Eva scowling at
me.

‘
Daniel, wait! It’s not what you
think. He saved me, or I’d be dead by now…’

‘
Of course he saved you, that’s
what angels do isn’t it? But forget it, I’m not interested,’ he
stormed, walking back towards the steps.

I sat up too fast, struggling to pull
myself together , my head still reeling, but not wanting to let
Daniel rush off.

‘
Daniel wait, it’s not like that.
Listen to me…’ I started to follow him, but Luke grabbed me from
behind and held me, struggling in his arms.

‘
Jessie, seriously, that gong
means we have about thirty seconds to get out of this building,’ he
said, half pulling me, half carrying me across the cell to the tiny
window.

‘
What are you talking about? I
need to find Daniel,’ I said.

‘
No, Jessie! If you go after him,
you are going to die, and this time I won’t be able to save you,
because I will die too. Anyone still in this building in,
what?…twenty five seconds time is gone, dust,’ he said, pulling his
sword from the leather holster slung around his hips and thrusting
it towards the old stone around the window.