My head swiveled to the left and right as I scanned the desolate park. The residents of Flora were tucked into their beds safe and warm, not knowing a battle was about to break out at Willow Creek Park. Aiden rounded up some of his vampires to aid in the capture, and Holly ordered the witches living in the surrounding cities to fight. The VC hoped to capture Ian without a fight, but I knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Nothing pertaining to Ian ever was. He wouldn’t just show up empty handed. The crunching of snow under footsteps brought me out of my thoughts. Looking over my shoulder, my eyes met with Ian’s. He was wearing jeans and a long wool dress coat. A smile curled his lips while his eyes moved to observe the surroundings. I wondered if his magic alerted him to the heaps of vampires and witches waiting in the shadows. When he walked over to where I sat on the park bench, I figured he didn’t know this was a set up—yet.
“Little witch, you look breathtaking with snowflakes in your hair and pink coloring your cheeks.” He lifted his hand to my face and caressed my cheek. I was proud I didn’t flinch at our contact. I remained silent and calm.
“I’m surprised you wanted to meet here,” Ian said as he draped an arm on the back of the bench. Willow Creek Park was where
Amy Harper,
one of Ian’s victims, was found. Before he tainted the beautiful park with the murder, I enjoyed coming here.
“Before I throw my morals out the window, I want to know what you and Aiden have planned for me,” I told him.
Ian looked over at me. “Does it matter? Your life isn’t much to speak of. Your best friend has moved on, your business is failing, your boyfriend has been lying, and your own kind think you’re no better than a low-life, dirty witch. What do you have to lose?”
He was trying to smash my self-esteem into dust, so he’d have control over me. His words did touch some sensitive areas. My life had taken a wrong turn somewhere, but then again, so did most peoples’ at one point or another. It wasn’t important that I fell, it only mattered that I got back up. My kind may have thought I was scum for dating and feeding a vampire—so what. Aiden may have lied for the past month, but
all of
it
hadn’t
been bad. And my shop, well that was just the risk you take when you start your own business. All of my problems were trivial in the grand scheme of things.
“I’m not broken yet,” I told Ian with more confidence than I felt. “I will be by your side, embrace the bond, but I want the details. I think I deserve that much.”
Ian considered me for a few moments, his electric blue eyes shining like orbs in the darkness. “You do indeed. Can you imagine being turned into something so frightening even your family thinks you’re a demon?”
“Uh,” I
stammered
unintelligently. His statement caught me off guard, but if my mouth wasn’t confused, I would have told him I knew exactly what that felt like. When I received my powers my parents thought I was evil, I had lived with that feeling for a long time.
“It’s frustrating, isn’t it?
Not having control
over your instincts or emotions,” Ian continued. “
When my sire turned me into vampire, I was studying to become a priest. We’d heard of the bloodthirsty
demons
that haunted the night and left the streets stained in red. I never imagined
I’d become one. But when
Pernis
La’rue
found me, he thought it would be comical to change me rather than kill me. Perhaps, he thought being changed into something so vulgar would challenge my belie
fs enough to drive me insane.” Ian sneered as he thought about his past.
“If that was his goal, then he succeeded. I spent my first ten years as vampire hating myself. I refused to eat, which you know will drive a vampire insane. I tried to walk into a church, but the religious meaning no longer held my interest. Instead, all I focused on was the blissful rhythmic flow of blood rushing through the occupants’ veins. I killed all of them that night: six adults and four children. Anger consumed me
, I
was sure the God I devoted my life to had let me down.”
Ian bent over and rested his elbows on his knees.
“Do you know what it’s like to have your beliefs yanked out from underneath you? To become the very thing you feared the most? Times were very different then. You would’ve been burned or hanged just for knowing magic, and now the humans embrace us, even if it is from a distance. It’s funny how time changes
their perceptions
, isn’t it?”
I stared wide-eyed, mouth hanging open. Who would have thought there was a time when Ian
Despereaux
w
as scared and weak, let alone
a seminarian.
“So, you’re probably wondering where I’m going with this.” Ian said with a grin.
I nodded.
“Revenge, little witch. I’ve been searching for the perfect way to achieve it, and you’re the answer. I had someone l
ined up, but when I realized a spirit
walker would produce the results I needed, I let her go. You may be surprised to learn that—“
Ian didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. The wind gained speed, turning into a wild vortex that encased us. Snow and debris flew inches away from my face. Out of instinct, my hands went up to block my head.
“What’s going on?” Ian snarled.
“I don’t know,” I yelled to be heard over the roaring wind. I didn’t think the weather change was part of the ambush plan.
Squinting, I could tell the park was disappearing. It washed away like it was nothing more than
a glamour
. Ian grabbed ahold of me, his arm going around my stomach as he held me tight to his chest.
“Stop or I’ll rip your throat out!” he ordered.
“I’m not doing it,” I
shouted
.
The vortex slowed, making the new scenery more visible. Trees replaced the open space, my eyes roamed right and then left. We were transported into the middle of a forest I didn’t recognize as part of Flora. When the air dissipated and Ian and I were free, he didn’t loosen his grasp on me. His body shifted from side to side
as he guarded himself against an unseen
threat. I stumbled over my feet as he moved with me in his arms. I expected the cavalry to jump out of the tree line and attack, maybe this was a part of the plan, but when Holly appeared before us, a wicked smile curling her lips, I knew it wasn’t that simple.
“Hello, Ian,” she said with vehemence.
Confused, I stared at her. She addressed Ian like she knew him—well.
“This is your doing then?” Ian snorted.
“What’s going on?” I questioned.
Ian let go of my waist, but kept a hold of my arm. He and Holly stared at each other, energy building in the air until the electricity sparked against my skin. The
hairs on my arms stood on end.
“Did you think I’d just let you throw me away like a piece of trash?” Holly said in a calculating, calm tone. Whatever was going on, her pride was evident in her smile and the gleam of her eye.
“Your dear High Priestess was the one who was picked for my plan. When she told me of you, however, I knew she wouldn’t make the cut. Imagine my surprise that a spirit walker lived, unaware of her power. As you may know, spirit walkers are a coveted commodity. How you managed to stay free all these years, I’ll never know,” Ian spoke to me, but kept his gaze on Holly.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked Ian. “You were scheming with Ian this entire time?” I directed the question at Holly. All of her actions, the war, her thinly veiled hatred of me, the reaction to my bond with Ian, it all made sense
now
.
Kye
told me she’d loved one man, was that man Ian
Despereaux
?
“Don’t think so highly of your spirit walker,” Holly laughed. “Did you know there was an army of witches and vampires in the forest ready to kill you? Gwen set the whole thing up, yet you pick her over me?”
I gaped at Holly. “Are you kidding me?”
“She’d be stupid not to have backup,” Ian interjected. “I knew they were there, but you were a surprise. I presume you cloaked yourself?”
“Couldn’t have you anticipating my plan,” Holly said, almost flirtatiously.
“Hold the fuck up!” I threw my arms in the air. Ian released his grip on me, and I walked a few feet between the two of them. “Will someone please tell me what in the hell is going on? And don’t speak cryptically about ’the plan‘.” I bent my fingers and mimicked air quotes.
“What do you see in her? She’s a dimwitted twit,” Holly added.
“Hmm,” Ian agreed. “But she’s nice to look at, and she tastes marvelous.”
I shot Ian a disgusted look.
“The plan is this, little witch.” Ian ignored my murderous glare. “I told you how I became a vampire, and I’ve been searching for revenge ever since. As a
spirit
walker you are connected to this reality and the dimension of the dead. As you know, vampires were created from demons, and since demons live within the realm of the dead, you are thereby connected to vampires—at least enough for my plan to work. You will be the first of its kind, little witch, a mixture of vampirism, witch, and spirit walker, a hybrid.” Ian looked almost giddy at the prospect of his ridiculous idea.
I watched him for a few minutes, processing everything he’d said before I started laughing. “You’ve had over eight hundred years to plan your revenge, and that’s what you came up with? Everyone knows witches can’t absorb the vampire virus, and even if they could, how would that help you extract your revenge?” I was smiling ear to ear pointing out the flaws in his
idea
.
Ian’s hand
wrapped around my throat before I even realized he moved. My smile fell off my lips as I coughed and gasped to catch oxygen.
“Holly is right. You’re a daft little bitch.”
I
clawed at Ian’s
hands
and kicked against air as he lifted me off of the ground. I was sure if he squeezed any harder my larynx would be crushed.
Spots dotted
my vision as darkness crept along the edges. Just when I was sure I’d pass out, he dropped me. I crumpled to the ground, my throat burning and already swollen.
“Silly man doesn’t like to be laughed at,” Holly advised. Her tone was more amused than concerned.
“Holly thought the same thing, that witches couldn’t be turned into a vampire hybrid,” Ian picked up hi
s story like he didn’t just lose his cool and almost kill
me. “It was her pla
n to unleash the secret of the witches
blood in hopes that once vampires obtained magic, we’d be connected enough to transfer the virus.” Ian clasped his hands behind his back and paced the area in front of me. I kept my head down but watched his shoes move back and forth. I looked in Holly’s direction, astounded to hear she was the one who’d shared the secret of the
witches’
blood. From what I’d heard around Moon, it took a very dark spell to break the protection the Goddess set in motion to protect us from the vampires. How she found a way around that was beyond me.
“It didn’t work, of course,” Ian continued. “It
almost
killed your High Priestess. Her body rejected my blood, but it wasn’t all a waste. A new drug was uncovered. You have no idea how boring it gets to drink the same thing over and over. Brew, I came up with the name, is more powerful than I ever imagined, and magic is exhilarating. I feel alive with it coursing through my body.”
“It will work. I just need to take small doses at a time, build up a tolerance,” Holly
interjected
, stepping forward. Her auburn hair framed her alabaster face. Wide green eyes almost pleaded for Ian to agree with her. If I had any doubts before, I didn’t now. Holly was in love with
him.
“How long have you been involved with Ian?” I asked, my voice raspy.
“Ten years,” Holly answered, her voice distant as she thought about some reserved memory. “We loved each other, at least until the plan ruined it. Ian became obsessed with the idea of creating a hybrid.”
Ian must have discarded Holly when he figured out she wasn’t able to change, and Holly struck back by gathering her followers and declaring a war. It was nothing more than a lover’s quarrel. They made the perfect couple; Holly was just as heartless as Ian.
“The council will kill you for your betrayal,” I growled. Multiple witches
and warlocks
had already been killed. Those lives were on Holly’s hands. She was responsible for everything, the witches’ deaths and the addiction.
“They’ll never find out because you, my dear, will be dead.”
“You aren’t going to touch her,” Ian warned and stepped in front of me.
“I’ll kill you too if I have to,” Holly said.
They stood ten feet apart, both ready for the other to make the first move. Holly’s hands blazed a brilliant blue as she geared up to strike Ian.
“Wait,” I said as I picked myself up from the ground. Holly and Ian glanced at me. “What part did Aiden play in this plan? Or were you lying?” I asked Ian.