Witch Way to Turn (30 page)

“Gee, thanks.” She tried to smile back, and her ears retracted. Her inner beast seemed satisfied for the moment but now Breena had become fully aware of the excruciating pain of her open wound.

“Shit,” she cursed under her breath.

“Here, let me help you.” The vampire moved in closer to Breena, her sharp white fangs sliding down. Dandi brought her own wrist up to her mouth and bit. Two small holes appeared and red dotted her skin. “Drink.” She offered her wrist.

“Um, no thanks.” Breena knew she was in no position to refuse, but she shuddered at the thought. The last time she’d taken blood from a vampire it had saved her life, but at a cost. “I’ll heal. I fed already.”

“The little bit of soul you ate isn’t going to do the trick, not on a werewolf bite. If you don’t drink my blood, you’ll take forever to heal.” Dandi rolled her eyes. “Sheesh. Just do it, Ash.”

The blood mocked her as her arm throbbed. Some of the oozing liquid from her injury had dried around the skin. The wound went deeper than she’d first thought. She saw bone.

Her heart sank at the sight.

Bone!

Breena staggered sideways, but Dandi grabbed her good arm and held on.

“I don’t want another blood-bond with a vampire.” Breena gritted her teeth against the pain.

“For goodness’ sake, Ash, it doesn’t work that way. We’re not exchanging blood. I’m only giving you some of mine. It’d be an entirely different story if we swapped three times. Besides, do you want Jenny seeing you like this?”

It was too much for Breena to think about, but she knew Dandi was right about her sister. “Fine.” She held out her hand.

“Don’t thank me or anything.” The vampire stared down at her arm. “Oh, now look what you’ve done. You waited too long.” She bit her wrist again and placed it quickly in Breena’s outstretched hand.

The smell of blood turned Breena’s stomach, and putting her mouth on Dandi’s wrist made her think of licking a weathered swing-set. Bitter, rusty iron. At first she gagged as she swallowed, but then Breena’s skin tingled around the wound. She drank harder, faster. Breena thought Dandi was enjoying this a little too much–the vamp’s fangs shot back out.

The pain of muscle and flesh re-growing took Breena to her knees. Dandi squatted on the ground with her, keeping her wrist pressed to Breena’s mouth. The vampire’s other hand flattened on Breena’s shoulder. It was a sentiment she hadn’t expect from Dandi, but it helped her feel safe. She could see them being friends. Someday.

After a few minutes, Dandi pulled back. “If you don’t want to have a blood-bond with me, you’d better get out of my way.” She looked over at the ghost-white body. “It’s not as potent when they’re already dead, but it’ll have to do.”

As she stood there watching Dandi suck the blood from the albino’s neck, the final bit of flesh spread across her arm. The fat and muscle grew back, puffing her skin out to normal size. By the time the vamp finished and wiped her mouth off on his shirt, Breena had a nice pink color on her otherwise perfectly healed arm.

“You should bottle the stuff,” she joked. “It works wonders.”

“Yeah, kinda illegal. Duh.” Dandi walked toward Breena. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“What about the body?”

“I’ll call a cleaning crew.” Dandi reached into her pocket for her cell. “Oh, crud muffin.”

“What?”

“I must’ve left it back at the apartment.”

“Here.” Breena handed the tan vampire hers.

Dandi looked at it in a disapproving way. “This thing is a relic.”

“I just got it last year.” It had been top-of-the-line when Larry sold it to her.

“Exactly. It’s not even touch screen. Pitiful.” Dandi shook her head and mashed digits like she’d never pushed a button before, hitting each one with her index finger. Finally, she dialed the number. “You realize you’ve got voicemail and a ton of missed calls, right?”

Dang
.

Breena had meant to listen to the message, but other things had gotten in the way. She nudged Felix’s foot. Yup, still dead.

Dandi handed the phone back to her. “They’re on their way. We should go.”

As Breena spun around to follow Dandi’s lead, she noticed a flash of something bright green in the bushes across the street.

“Did you see that?” Breena pointed to where she’d seen the eyes.

“See what?”

A blur of silver fur sped off into the night.

“Oh, she’s one of the president’s bodyguards. Looks like someone else was checking up on you.”

Hmm. Green eyes. Silver hair…“That wolf is Rae?”

“Yeah, why?”

“She was one of the weres who attacked us back in Rhodhiss.”

Dandi looked puzzled. “Myles never mentioned her.”

“He didn’t see her. She was gone by the time he got upstairs.”

“So, does that mean the president is out to kill you too?” The vampire cocked her head at Breena.

“I don’t think so. Maybe.” She sighed. “I don’t know.” She tried to remember what she’d heard at Norma’s. “No, the president couldn’t be the one because Rae said ‘he.’
He
wants me dead.”

“Who’s he?”

Breena didn’t have to think about it long. The pieces were falling into place. She knew who wanted her dead. “Victor. My father.”

But why?

The walk back to the Betty Lou compound seemed to take eons. Breena hadn’t realized how far she’d run until they walked the same path back to The Gathering. Dandi seemed to have decided it was her duty to keep Breena company and protect her from herself, so she matched her speed–only complaining every other minute about how slowly the
halfling
walked.

Between the preppy vampire carrying on about how Breena needed to do at least a hundred Hail Marys for taking the albino’s life and her shame over what she’d done–even though he’d deserved it–Breena pretty much had the guilt complex covered on all sides.

She couldn’t believe she’d ended his life. She had sucked the very last breath out of his body, taken every shred of his soul. Would she ever be the same?

Talk about hitting rock bottom
.

How could things get any worse?

I’m a murderer.

“Breena Cross. Are you even listening?” Dandi zipped in front of her and she smacked straight into the girl’s outstretched palms.

“Hey. Watch it, vamp.” Breena tried to regain her balance.

“Well, excuse you, halfling. See if I try to remind you about anything else.” Dandi huffed, did an about-face and soldiered on.

Breena grabbed her arm. Dandi spun around with fangs extended, hissing. If Breena hadn’t already been wallowing in her own murky pile of pain, she would’ve been terrified. But in order to be scared, your life has to be worth losing and, as it stood right now, death by fang didn’t seem like such a bad way to go. “Sorry, Dandi. What were you saying?”

Flicking her silky hair over her shoulder, Dandi
humphed
before moving to Breena’s side. They started walking again. “I said, you should probably listen to your voicemail.”

“Oh, right.” She’d completely forgotten. Again. She wasn’t exactly with it today.

Breena pulled the cell out and look at her missed calls, each from the same number, with the same 828 area code. So they were from home, or at least close by. Only a handful of people even knew her cellphone number.

After listening to the message, a sense of dread hung over her like a depression cloud about to burst with a bad-news-storm. Breena flipped the cell shut and tapped her thumb against the cover. “Shit.”

“What?”

“Jenny’s social worker called. She went by for her check-in with Norma.”

“Only to find an empty house.”

“Yup. She says if she doesn’t hear back from one of us by tomorrow morning she’ll report it to her supervisor. They’ll take Jenny away from me.”

Maybe that’s what Breena needed.
For Jenny’s own safety and Breena’s peace of mind, maybe her sister would be safer without her. But how would she survive without Jenny?

She couldn’t even consider it.

* * * *

The tension crept down Breena’s spine the second she and Dandi walked through the apartment door.

Myles sat on the couch. He rested his chin on his fist and propped his elbow on his knee. His eyes were flat and emotionless. She waited for the familiar rush of emotions to rock her to the core. Nothing.

Holy hell
.

It was gone. And in the one moment she fervently wished for it back. Did he hate her? Did she disgust him? Of course. Of course she did. She disgusted herself.

“Ash, I had a blast watching you get your feed on, but it’s nearly one AM. I’m outta here. Three hot witches are waiting for me to fang their brains out.” Dandi opened the front door.

“Don’t you mean
bang
their brains out?” Breena furrowed her brows.

“Probably a little of both, if they’re lucky. I already did my preemptive Hail Mary strike.” She smirked, showing fang.

“Did I really need to know your feeding plan, Dandelion?” Myles weaved his way over to the door, giving her a disgusted, and very fatherly, look.

“Just because you’re not getting any, doesn’t mean I can’t.” She looked around him to see Breena. “Ash, don’t forget to tell him about the voicemail.” A second later, she’d disappeared into the hallway.

Myles shut and locked the door behind her then turned to face Breena with those dark, empty eyes.

“I can’t believe I left you alone with her. You could’ve killed her.” He tore his hand through his curls.

Oh God.

If Myles had lost faith in her what hope did she have left? He was right. Of course he was. She
knew
that. She’d almost killed her sister. She’d have to…she’d have to leave. Get as far away from Jenny as she could.

She didn’t want to start crying in front of him. Swallowing hard, she squeezed her eyes shut and crossed her arms, holding them tight to her chest. Didn’t help. She blinked and the tears slipped out. It only took a few drops before she broke down sobbing. She fell onto the couch, pressing her palms to her temples. Her body shook as pain ripped through her.

Then Myles was next to her. With a soft sweep of his fingers across her cheek, he wiped away her tears before wrapping his arm around her.

“Bree, look at me.” He sounded forceful, but patted her knee gently.

Choking back a tear, she turned to face him.

“That’s not what I meant.” He pushed back the hair from her face.

She sniffed. “Wha…what did you mean?”

“I meant it was my fault for leaving. I should never have left you alone. I knew how bad off you were.” He took her hands in his. “I still can’t believe you stopped. I’ve never known another newly awakened preternatural who managed to control themselves that way.”

Myles pulled her close, held her tight against his chest.

He didn’t hate her. Now, if she could find a way not to hate herself…she snuffled into his shoulder. “I need help, Myles.”

Chapter 25

Her body a dead weight dragging her down, Breena flopped back on the couch. This had been the longest day of her life. She wanted to crawl into bed and pass out but she knew if she lay down, all she’d think about would be Jenny’s terrified face and the werewolf’s dead body.

She needed to talk to Jenny, to apologize, but her bedroom door was shut and no light spilled through the crack beneath it. The thought of going a few more hours without begging her forgiveness seemed like an impossible feat. Maybe she could use the time to figure out how to makes things right. She only wished she had even the slightest hope that, come tomorrow, she’d know how to do that. It wasn’t like she could nip out and get a bunch of balloons and a Hallmark card–
Sorry I tried to eat your soul
–and all would be forgiven. Were there enough acts of repentance in the world to bridge the gap she’d made between them?
Could
she bridge it? She thought of the light of trust in Jenny’s eyes, and her heart broke a little more.

Myles sat on the coffee table facing her. “What happened tonight?”

She told him everything, from the second he’d left the apartment to the silver wolf taking off through the bushes.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Rae is doing Victor’s dirty work.” Myles laced his fingers together behind his head, the action showcasing the flexing muscles underneath his snug blue t-shirt.

How could he be so calm? “What’s the connection?” Breena asked.

“Rae and your father had a fling years ago. The president put a stop to it, though, or at least everyone assumed she did.”

“Why?”

“Lucinda is a purist. She feels the races shouldn’t be mixed. Witches with warlocks. Weres with weres. You get the picture.”

“I wonder what she
really
thinks of me, then,” Breena mumbled to herself.

“Frankly, I’ve wondered that myself. She only looks out for her best interests and protecting her agenda.”