Pure Blooded (15 page)

Marcy knelt down beside me and said, “It’s called a flora.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means Selene marked her. She placed some concentrated magic into her body to use at will. They are rare, and hard to craft properly. They’re meant to do one thing very well, and they are very hard to break. This one looks like it was used to knock her out—like a sleeping spell? But that’s just a guess. Was she unconscious when you found her in Selene’s lair?”

“Yes, she was out cold,” I answered, panic edging my voice. “Please tell me we can break this magical flora on our own.”

Marcy bit her lip. “I’m not sure. How did she wake up before? Did Selene do it? Or did she wake up another way?”

“No, Selene was occupied.” I thought back for a moment. “I’m not entirely positive, but I think the first time she woke was when my brother gave her his blood.”

Marcy’s eyes widened. “Huh. I didn’t think wolves ever fed vampires willingly, but go, Tyler. Then blood must be the ticket here.”

“I’m not sure if it was only that, and how would blood break the spell of the flora? That seems too easy.”

“The only way it would work, in my mind, is if his blood was stronger than Selene’s spell. I don’t know that much about floras, since they’re incredibly hard to perfect, and they backfire like no ones business, so most witches don’t bother. But whatever Naomi needed, it came from his blood.”

“It makes some sense, since he’d taken some of my blood just before we got there. If his blood worked with only a trace of mine, full potency should do the trick.” I rolled up my sleeve and brought my wrist up to my mouth, slashing it open with my dull teeth, trying not to wince. It sealed immediately. “Dammit, I’m healing too fast.” As I made the second slash with my teeth, Danny growled, staggering to stand. Once he was up on shaky legs, he pushed his snout against my arm to move me away. “Danny, you need to settle down. I’ve already fed her twice. A third time won’t make any difference. And you’re in no way capable of feeding her yourself.” He snapped his jaws. “Do you want to risk giving her your curse? Either I feed her or she stays asleep, and that worries me. We all want to know if she’s okay. Let me do this without arguing with me.” He sat down with a thump and then laid his head on his paws, inches from her body, and whined. “I know. I hate this too. But I promise you she’s going to be okay. You’re going to have to trust me.”

I ripped my wrist open once again, this time making a huge rent, and brought it down to Naomi’s mouth.

Right as something rammed into me from the back.

I somersaulted headfirst over Naomi, rolling once, and then I was up. There was nothing in front of me. “Marcy,” I called, “can you see her?” When there was no answer, I turned my head around to look for my friend.

Marcy was lying facedown in front of the altar next to the sacrifice, not far from Naomi.

You think you can best me? I think not
. Blistering wind whipped by my face at top speed. At the same time, the air temperature around me dropped significantly.

Danny whined and tried to stand.

“No,” I commanded him. “Stay and guard these two and don’t let the bokor get near them if you can help it.” He growled and shook his head, trying to refuse my order and come to my aid. “I’m still your Alpha, Daniel Walker. Do as I say. I need you to protect them.” He whined, but sat.

You are strong, yet weak. You interest me
. The breeze ruffled my hair and I swatted at the space in front of me as I backed up.
I had
not thought you to be so young… and inexperienced. And you have no more spells to use
.

“Yeah, my age isn’t ideal, but I had no control over the timing of my birth.” She was right. I was out of spells. “What do you want?” I turned in a slow circle, edging away from Danny to give them ample space.

What does everyone want from you?
I shivered as my breath came out in a soft plume of white. The air temp had dropped to bone-chilling.
I want life. I want power. I want strength. My life was taken from me. I was immortal!
Currents of cold and hot air zipped around me.
But I will rewrite my fate and make up for the injustice that was done to me
.

“How do you know so much about me?” I asked, stalling.

The breeze was reaching a cyclone level. My hair began to sway and I was forced to close my eyes against the current. The loa was everywhere and she was pissed.

I know about you because I
am
you
. Laughter echoed on the wind.

“You’re going to have to be a little more clear.” I took a few steps backward. “How can you be me? You can’t be my reincarnate, because I already have one of those.” My wolf barked her agreement.

There was a whisper of mirth next to my ear, and just as quickly it was gone.
I am not she, but I
am
your creator, and a piece of my soul resides inside you
.

My wolf growled and snarled.

I maneuvered around the altar, making sure I stayed on the opposite side of my friends. Behind me and to the left there was a noise as the bokor stood. I turned to her. “This loa claims to be my creator,” I said to the sorceress, still biding my time, quietly willing Marcy to wake up. “Is that true?”

The priestess turned her icy stare on me and grinned. She
looked no worse for wear from Marcy’s spells. “Marinette is infinite. She is all. She graces us with her own free will.”

“That’s not helpful,” I grumbled as I moved forward. “Nor was it an answer to the question I asked. I want to know if she was the one who was responsible for creating the first werewolf.”

Yessssss
drifted by my ear.

The bokor was clearly old, but not nearly as old as the spirit who was harassing me at the moment. The bokor finally said, “She is the creator of all.”

“All
what
? All shifters? All wolves?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, still not helpful.” I edged closer to the sorceress. I couldn’t fight the loa without any more spells, but I could take down the bokor with physical strength.

I am Marinette, goddess of wolves
.

“So only werewolves, then?” I asked. I had to grab my hair and pull it out of my face because the wind wouldn’t stop. Marinette was clearly gearing up for something.

The bokor opened her arms and spread them wide, her robe gaping, arms opening like cloth wings. She pinned me with her gaze as she intoned, “We have been awaiting your arrival. And now we will do what is necessary.”

“And what exactly is necessary?”

“Marinette will rise again.” The bokor’s voice was firm and unyielding. She believed exactly what she was telling me.

“So she’s going to ride me, then what? And that’s really not going to work for me in the long-term, because I’m kind of attached to my body.” I bent down to a fighting stance. This sorceress was nothing more than skin and bones. One snap of the neck and I had one adversary down.

“No, she won’t ride you. She will
become
you,” the bokor cackled.

A noise pinged in the air.

My head snapped to Marcy.
That was her phone!
I told my wolf. Juanita wanted to chat. Not an opportune time, but since I had no idea how to win against Marinette, I knew I had to get to that phone. I spun, lunging over the altar. But before I could fully clear it, something struck my side.

I rolled and came to a stop—right into the jaws of a rabid wolf.

I tried to wrench my body away, but it was too late. The grimy wolf embedded its broken teeth into my left thigh before I could scramble out of the way. The pain was immediate, searing, and intense.

White-hot lightning shot up my leg.

I brought my fist around and crashed it into the beast’s head, hard enough to knock its jaws loose. I unsheathed my knife, and with another stroke and the wolf went down. I had to yank hard to get my knife out of its skull.

The priestess screamed behind me as I killed her wolf, but I ignored her.

Marcy’s phone was still beeping and I had to get to it even if my leg was engulfed with the curse. It seared through my bloodstream as I crawled toward Marcy. My wolf urged us to shift, her instinct to protect us rearing its head. But shifting was the wrong choice. That’s what the bokor wanted. She wanted us in wolf form.
We aren’t going to shift
, I told my wolf.
We need to get to Marcy’s phone. If we pass out, the loa and the bokor have us where they want us. Juanita is the only shot we’ve got
. I maneuvered onto my stomach and started crawling.

The bokor had crumpled to the ground when I killed her wolf. She must have to regenerate something when one of them was killed. I’d have to remember that. As I moved, I told my wolf,
Focus on cutting off the flow of poison
. Immediately she threw magic over the creeping yellow masses growing in our system, but it didn’t do anything.
Keep trying
.

The temp around us was still ice cold, and it was only exacerbated when another hot wind blew by my face.
Do you like the feel of my blood settling into your bones?
the loa said on a long breath.
My blood will change you, and once you succumb, you will be free for the taking
.

“I’m not down yet.” I gritted my teeth as I moved stubbornly forward. My leg was now immobile and the pain was shocking. My wolf was having some luck getting the creeping yellow to stop by erecting up a magic barrier around my upper thigh.

The loa nudged by me again.
You cannot ever recover from my blood, you know. You are doomed
.

“We’ll see about that.” I was almost to my friend when the bokor stepped in front of me, a rabid wolf on either side of her. Marcy’s phone was still beeping. Juanita wasn’t giving up, and neither was I.

“You are ours now,” the sorceress said. “Marinette is right. You cannot recover from her curse. It flows through you now, and once you are under its spell, I will add my control and it will be finished.”

I glanced up, giving the bokor a cynical look. “Nothing is ever really finished, is it? Don’t you wonder how my father escaped this same curse? According to your logic, he should be dead right now.” I was still doggedly moving forward, but at a snail’s pace, which was maddening. “I know you’ve seen him here. He’s alive and well, despite your best efforts to control him. And, I shouldn’t have to point out, he didn’t die.”

The bokor looked mildly surprised, but just as quickly her face clouded. “Your father is the Alpha of his kind. He is very strong. But make no mistake, if he hadn’t escaped, the result would have been much different.”

“Ah, but he was able to escape,” I said. “He bested your spell even if he couldn’t cure the yellow masses himself. But he had help with that. And I do too.”

“By the time your aid arrives, it will be too late,” she said, dismissing me. “You are already going through the first transformation. Feel how it takes from you, eating you from the inside out. It’s meant to be painful, so you realize every second that your life is ending.”

I was almost to Marcy. The phone was still going off, its beeping rhythmic and constant. I wondered for a moment if only I could hear it.

She cannot help you
, a breath whispered by my ear.
This is inevitable
.

That answered that question. “What are you waiting for, then?” I yelled, still grappling forward. I was to Marcy’s shoe. “Why not strike me down now?”

There was soft laughter.
Why take you now when I can wait until my blood incapacitates you and does my work for me?

Danny whined, nosing toward me. “Stay back, Danny.”

Instead of listening, he got up on shaky paws and stumbled toward Marcy, knowing my intent was to reach the phone. I hadn’t seen what took Marcy down, but I assumed it was a spell from the bokor or something Marinette did.
She couldn’t have been bitten, right?
I asked my wolf, my voice filled with anxiety. I hadn’t thought of that. If Marcy had been bitten, it would be dire. I was to her leg when I heard a soft moan. “Thank goodness,” I muttered. Once I got to her, she lifted her head up. “I thought you might’ve been cursed.”

“What happened?” Marcy said slowly, still fully waking. “I had the advantage. I was sure of it—”

The bokor hit her with another spell and Marcy’s body lifted with the impact and collapsed back down, out cold.

I was furious, but there was nothing I could do to retaliate. “Was that really necessary in the scope of things? She was barely conscious.”

“Keeping her incapacitated is easy,” the bokor crooned. “I will not allow her to aid you again.”

The phone was still beeping, bless its heart. But now it was facing the ground, since Marcy had flipped over. I had to roll her. Danny tried to help, whining as he pushed his muzzle into Marcy. I slid my hand under her to reach it when something grabbed my ankles, yanking me sharply back.

I kicked my legs as I turned.

A rabid wolf snarled over me. I saw the sorceress’s careful attention in its eyes. I peered over at her and she was smiling a gruesome, broken-toothed smile.

“I will not allow her to help you.”

Danny snarled and started toward the wolf. He was going to protect me or die trying. His growl was ferocious, and he was huge. Much bigger than the wolf hovering over me. Another wolf sidled over to stand next to it, but the one who had been over my body stepped back. The bokor wasn’t going to take any chances. She had only these two left, as far as I could tell. We’d killed all her others.

“Daniel Walker, stand down,” I ordered. “This is not worth getting your neck torn out over. Plus, I’m getting out of this myself.” With a little help from Juanita.

He ignored me in favor of half stumbling, half walking to stand guard over my shoulder. Instead of moving him out of the way, which I could have done, I brought a hand up to his fur, letting him know my intent. I pressed him lightly, indicating where I wanted him to go with my fingers. He obliged and moved, and I casually rolled with him, reaching under Marcy to get the phone that was still beeping with Danny as my shield. My fingertips plucked the side of it right as the loa entered the bokor in front of me.

The change in the sorceress was immediate.

Her eyes flickered as the loa began to speak through her. The earth around us began to vibrate and the temperature dropped yet again, which seemed impossible since it was already so cold. “You cannot escape your fate. I will inhabit you and finally seek my resurrection.”

The ground began to shake in earnest, and I watched in horror as the bokor’s body began to convulse. Her eyes rolled back into her head, leaving only the whites, and she collapsed to her knees, her arms held wide.

There was another gurgling sound, and the two rabid wolves fell at my feet.

“Danny!” I yelled. “Get over to Naomi! I think this is Marinette’s last hurrah. She’s gathering power—”

A horrid scream pierced the air as the bokor keened, her body withering before my eyes as Marinette sucked every last drop from her.

Danny dove for Naomi, sensing the danger. The temperature was so cold my fingers were numb. I pulled myself up on my knees, ignoring the searing pain in my thigh, and I picked Marcy up under the arms, dragging her backward away from the spectacle.

The priestess’s cheeks hollowed out, her fingers began to shrivel, and then one by one her teeth fell out. Marinette was greedy in her taking, and once she was finished, she would be even more powerful.

And I was her next target.

I had to get my friends out of the way. “Danny, follow me. Pull Naomi out of the circle, but be careful not to prick her with your teeth. When Marinette is done, she’s coming after me.” If I was overtaken, she wouldn’t spare them. “Once they are out of the circle, I need you to go try to find help!” Danny began to tug Naomi along, whining as he went, fearful he would hurt her.