Witchcraft (#2 Witchblood Series) (3 page)

‘
Be ready for the diversion,’ I
whispered, my lips barely making a sound, as I turned back to face
the witch.

‘
And if I was to go with you?
Daniel would track me down with Sebastian and Eva. They wouldn’t
let you take me,’ I said, taking a step towards the witch and away
from Luke.

‘
We can protect you better than
anyone else. Your vampires cannot help you learn our ways. They
don’t see the things you do. Give me the book Jessie. I can protect
it better than you.’

‘
But you need me to read the book,
don’t you? Only I can see the leaves move, because it’s my birth
right. You can’t, can you?’ I asked, taking another step towards
her, my hands fiddling with the book still tucked into my jeans,
jutting uncomfortably into my hip bone.

A swift look of anger washed across her
features as her eyes darted to Susannah, and I realised that my
gamble had paid off and Susannah had indeed imparted too much
information.

‘
And yet you cannot make sense of
it on your own. We need each other Jessie. Come, let me be your
mother,’ she answered, as she tucked her wand into her belt and
held her hands out to me.

It was the moment I was waiting for and
I jumped at it, literally. My feet left the floor and instantly I
knocked my quarry over and rolled her onto her front, burying her
face in the hard earth, as she struggled to wriggle her wand out
from her belt.

Within seconds the witches were crowding
round chanting and pointing their wands at me.

‘
Do or say anything and I will
break her neck,’ I shouted at them, as I straddled the witch’s
back, pinning her to the ground and grabbing her hair with my free
hand.

The coven took a step back and I thought
for a second that I’d won, until I heard the slow chant begin
underneath me and saw the dark thunderous clouds suddenly begin to
clear. The sunlight broke through and radiated down upon us.

I squinted through the bright luminous
rays to find Luke. Where was he? I felt the sunlight heating up
with every chanted line from the tall sorceress. The sun shone down
brightly and I imagined a thermometer rising steadily from a nice
eighteen degrees to twenty, twenty one, twenty five and up higher
and higher, hotter and hotter until I would burn, and slowly but
surely turn to ash. I felt a sweat break out on my skin. Now
vampires supposedly don’t sweat, but I certainly was. I could feel
the skin on my neck starting to tingle. How long had the Italian
vampire lasted under direct sun torture? I recalled Daniel’s famous
tale from the early days when he was teaching me about my new life.
Six hours, that’s right. It had taken six hours before he had
burned to death. A slow six hours of torture. I shook with fear and
felt a trickle of sweat run down under my t-shirt.

‘
Luke? Luke, where are you?’ I
shouted.

‘
Are you looking for someone? An
eye for an eye, an angel for a witch,’ Susannah said, suddenly
appearing by my side. Luke was standing by her side, seemingly
unbound, but his eyes were glassy and his face seemed dead,
paralysed.

‘
What have you done to him?’ I
shouted. Panic flooded my senses as I squinted through the light at
them, trying to ignore the pain now throbbing across my
back.

‘
Oh he’ll be fine, he’s just a
little spellbound at the minute. You see now Jessie, why you need
training. You can never beat us until you master your powers, and
by the time you have mastered them, you’ll want to join us anyway,
so you may as well save yourself the pain and join us now,’ she
said, smiling. ‘I really am your cousin, Jessie. I’m family. It
would be fun.’ She held out her hand, extending it towards me again
and as the sun beat down I looked at Luke’s dead eyes and felt
myself wavering.

What if they were right? I knew better
than anyone that ‘dark’ didn’t necessarily mean evil. I mean
vampires were supposedly evil and even Luke had called me vermin,
yet the vampires I’d come to know were more honourable than the
majority of humans I’d encountered.

The high priestess must have felt me
waver, for she jumped at the opportunity and with a powerful blast
she seemed to evaporate from beneath me, reappearing in front. I
felt the slightest touch from her wand, followed by wave after wave
of currents slicing through my body. I found myself hanging from an
invisible noose, stretched out like a star, several feet from the
ground as my body juddered an uncontrollable dance. The pain
brought tears to my eyes and I offered up a quick prayer as I
glanced at the immobile Luke, wishing he could see my tears and
realise I was not the monster he thought.

Suddenly, I noticed an instant relief
from the torture, as the sun stopped glaring down on us and the
clouds rolled in once more. As the sky darkened, I looked up and
noticed luminescent figures slowly appearing in a silent circle,
surrounding the dark circle that held Luke and I. The figures shone
with unearthly beauty, their skin glowing pink and their eyes
dancing. Some held their wings outstretched like beautiful sails
while others were already folding them inwards, behind their
slender, toned bodies.

It took me a good few seconds of staring
before the dark witches took the hint and looked behind them, and
when they did an unearthly war erupted around us. Bolts of
electricity flew from their wands as the angels jumped forward,
pulling beautiful silver swords from nowhere, ancient inscriptions
glowing upon the smooth blades.

The angels moved balletically, full of
grace and poise. They reminded me of shimmering versions of Eva,
and I wished she was here to help. As the priestess’s concentration
lapsed, her spell broke and I found my body was no longer being
used as an electricity pylon. Sighing as the convulsions stilled I
watched as she jumped into the fray and left me hanging in mid-air,
in an invisible trap. Luke was still standing immobile several feet
away, his eyes glassy. Great cracks and booms thundered in the air
and I wondered why the farmer didn’t come to investigate. Maybe he
had put it down to a bad electrical storm and wisely decided to
stay indoors.

I watched helplessly as swords swung and
wands spat out spells. The angels were pushing the witches back,
rounding them up like a collie rounds up wayward sheep. One witch
was slumped in a ragged heap, motionless and I wondered if the
angels were capable of murder.

I was fed up of being a helpless child.
I pulled at my invisible restraints and arched my body to no avail.
It would take more than superhuman strength to break these bonds. I
shut my eyes on the surrounding combat, and concentrated as Eva had
taught me to do. I dragged up every emotion, every scar, every lost
love and I condensed them. I squeezed them together, to form a ball
of pure emotion, fiery and full of frustration. I opened my eyes
and arched my back once again, sending the power ball racing
through my limbs. I imagined it tearing up my arms and down the
muscles in my legs, freeing me and breaking the magical bonds.
Twice I sent them tearing round my body, and twice I felt the bonds
tremble, but they held. I scrunched my eyes up one last time, sure
I was doing the right thing, and with an almighty effort I
visualised my freedom and screamed. Heat blasted through my injured
arm and bound legs, freeing them, and I finally slumped to the
ground panting.

As I did so, I felt a hand touch my
shoulder and I used the last reserve of energy to jump to my feet,
fangs bared. I found myself face to face with an angel. She was
pretty in a soft, almost androgynous way. Her dark hair was cropped
short in a pixie cut and her delicate features creased into a
disapproving frown, as she took in my defensive posture and
fully-formed fangs. I took a step back.

‘
I’m sorry. I thought you were one
of them. Oh Luke, we need to help Luke,’ I said, my fangs receding,
as I rubbed at my throbbing arm.

‘
Shhh! He’s fine. He’s here.
You’re safe, for now,’ she said, in a quiet lilting voice, with an
ancient accent I couldn’t quite place.

‘
Hey Jess, I’m sorry but your plan
didn’t quite work. Susannah jumped me, the second you jumped
Carrigan,’ Luke said, appearing suddenly from behind the girl. He
held out his arms to me in a gesture that brought back unchecked
memories. Memories of lying in his arms, curled up on the sofa
watching old films, flashbacks to the last Christmas and skating in
the temporary ice rink with the Christmas lights twinkling; of me
laughing and stumbling into his open arms. I was human… and he was
pretending to be human.

‘
We need to talk, Luke,’ I
said.

‘
I’ll leave you guys alone and
help with the round up then. Bye Jessie,’ the girl said, before
grinning at me and winking at Luke. I watched her dance over to the
circle of angels, who had finished rounding up the witches into a
huddle, under the same old oak I had rested beneath half an hour
earlier. Mesmerised, I watched as they held their swords
horizontally, each touching the next and then in the blink of an
eye a fiery circle encapsulated them all and they disappeared. I
looked around confused, but I was alone with Luke, in the middle of
a field, somewhere in England. The clouds began to clear and a
fresh breeze whipped my hair and tickled my face.

‘
Where? What on earth...Luke, what
happened to them? Was that the witches?’ I asked.

‘
No, they’re fine. That’s how we
transport undesirables back to the courts. Surely the vampires have
explained to you about the supernatural court? Well, we’re like the
police, I guess,’ he said, with a wry smile. ‘Come on, let’s get
you back.’

‘
We need to talk Luke. There’s so
much I need to know. Daniel said he thought you were with me the
night I died, but he said you were gone before he got there. Is it
true Luke? Did you leave me, knowing Daniel was on his way?’ I
said.

His face said it all, and I saw pain and
resentment flash across his features, before he looked at the
floor.

‘
So it’s true then? Why? Why did
you leave me? I thought you loved me?’ I whispered, his pain
mirrored in my soul.

‘
I’m sorry Jess. I’m so sorry. I
was weak, selfish, everything an angel should never be. I meant
what I said on that bench. I did fail you in every way.’

‘
Why? How? Tell me. I need to
know. Why did you leave me?’

‘
Because I loved you too much and
I couldn’t bear to let you go. I knew I should let you die. I knew
I should block the vampires. I had a sudden vision of the future
and knew I should stop it. I should have let you die and shown you
the path to the spirit realm, but I’m an earthbound angel Jessie,
and I couldn’t leave you. I saw you in that vision, beautiful and
full of life. Your eyes sparkled and laughter bubbled from your
lips. I wanted you to live. So I left you, knowing he would give
you a new life,’ he finished in a soft, broken voice.

‘
Oh!’ I didn’t know what to say. I
was shocked, rendered speechless, but then his harsh words from the
cricket club came back to haunt me.

‘
You called me vermin! I saw the
hate in your eyes at the cricket club,’ I accused.

He winced, and I watched as the corner
of his mouth twitched upwards.

‘
Vampires and angels don’t exactly
get on Jess. You bite humans, we protect them.

‘
I
don’t
bite humans. I have never bitten a human and I don’t intend to,’ I
retorted.

‘
Jess, you’re going to have to
feed. You can’t live off banked blood forever and if you feed much
more from Daniel it will only weaken him, pushing him to feed more
than necessary. It’s a no-win situation. You’re a vampire Jess and
I’m to blame for that.’

‘
I will find a way, Luke,’ I said,
not wanting to accept the inevitable.

‘
No you won’t. We can’t be
together and you are forgetting your bond with Daniel. He cares for
you now, and you care for him I think,’ he said.

‘
There is still more I need to
know. You’ve hidden so much from me,’ I said, frowning at his
beautiful face.

‘
Not now. I need to get you home.
They’ll be sending out the vampire search party soon. Things are
out of our control. You belong to Sebastian, and for now all we
need to do is to get you home safely.’

His wings suddenly opened out and I
watched, dazed as the individual feathers shimmered in the late
afternoon sunshine and fluttered slightly against the breeze. I
forgot all my questions as he took me in his arms, cradled like a
baby and we soared up, high into the sky.

Chapter Three

The sun had all but vanished
behind the horizon as we took to the sky and I clung on, squeezing
my eyes shut as we climbed higher over the Lancashire farmland.
Within seconds we were in a dark cloud mass and I had no idea how
Luke knew which way he was going.
Maybe
they had a homing instinct like pigeons? Or maybe x-ray vision like
Superman!

A giggle escaped and I realised I wasn’t
far from losing it. It seemed that my life consisted of a series of
increasingly unbelievable and often terrifying events. And whilst a
mere six months ago I would have been sitting in my university hall
bedroom, probably with my best friend Alex, discussing how we could
inject a little excitement into our routine, I now found myself
yearning for a little normality, and yearning for Alex. I tried not
to think about her, how the last time I’d seen her she was with
Luke attending my father’s funeral, whilst I stood hidden and
restrained by Daniel, their scents wafting under my newly sensitive
vampire nose.