Amethyst Flame (The Flame Series Book 2) (20 page)

“The fuck you have.” Loghry scowled and lifted his arm once more in Vaughn’s direction. “Let’s see how you can handle this.”

Vaughn could feel Loghry loading his power into his arm. He also knew gathering that power would take the time Emma needed to attack.

He started the countdown.
This is it, Emma. Three … two … one … take him down!

Emma moved vampire fast, levitating to sling an arm around Loghry’s neck. She took his throat between her teeth. She didn’t have fangs, but she held on. At the same time, Loghry grew very still.

Vaughn had worried that Loghry would fight. Instead, the wizard couldn’t seem to move and his black eyes had filled with panic. Emma had him!

Vaughn moved swiftly to support Emma’s hold on Loghry, holding her waist with his hands. “You’ve got him. Draw blood if you can.”

Emma bit harder, and Vaughn watched a red stream glide down Loghry’s neck. “Good. That’s it.”

Vaughn, I won’t be able to hold him for long. Loghry’s building his power from within. I’m slipping. I’m not vampire enough.

Vaughn could feel it as well, that Loghry had started regaining his power.

Suddenly, the wizard twisted his neck, and he felt Emma lose her grip. Loghry then released a wave of power that sent Vaughn and Emma flying backward and landing hard on the dirt floor near the stone wall.

Furious, Loghry moved to stand over them, his eyes blazing with hatred and madness. He lifted his arms, conjuring a new spell, then let his wizard power blast them, this time with a different be-spelled power.

The force of the new spell, full of electric energy, sent needle-like sensations over every inch of Vaughn’s skin. The pain was so intense he writhed, Emma with him.

“So you thought you could take me, a dark wizard with more essential power than the pair of you could ever dream of.” He waved his arms again, and the air grew thick and dense as though filled with black smoke.

Vaughn couldn’t breathe. He heard Emma gasping for air as well.
Hold on, Em.

I’m doing the best I can. But this hurts like anything and there’s no oxygen.

I know.

Vaughn tried to rebuild the blocking spell, but couldn’t. The pain intensified.

Vaughn, he’s too powerful, and nothing I’m doing is working.

Suddenly, however, the spell broke, though Vaughn had no idea why.

He lifted up on his elbows and saw to his surprise that Beth had leaped on Loghry’s back, her fangs sunk deep into his neck. She was drinking, which helped to solidify the thrall. But at the same time, blood poured from the wound as she continued to savage him. She’d sliced through his vein. Held in this state, Loghry would soon bleed to death.

A vampire could always enthrall a spellcaster, even a powerful wizard.

Loghry slumped to his knees, his leather coat flaring around him, but Beth held on tight. She kept him upright as blood ran down his coat and began pooling in the dirt. The wizard couldn’t move a muscle, and he couldn’t stop Beth.

Vaughn contacted her.
Do you need me to do anything, Beth?

No. And if you try to interfere, you could break the thrall. Besides, he’s mine. For what he did to me and all those girls, he’s mine.

Vaughn turned his attention to Emma who moaned, but didn’t open her eyes. He put his hand on top of her head and using her witch power, let the healing flow. Her whole body relaxed and after a minute, she was able to sit up.

She recoiled, however, at the horrible sight of Beth draining the life out of Loghry. “What should we do?”

“Beth said if we do anything we’ll disrupt the thrall. And she wants this.”

With both of them sitting in the dirt, Emma slipped her arm through his. “This is the least she deserves, isn’t it? Yet for what she had to endure, it doesn’t seem like enough.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

A few minutes later, Beth released Loghry, and he fell forward in the dirt, his eyes open. He wasn’t breathing, and the dirt all around him was stained with his blood.

At the same time, the triplets appeared nearby, staring down at the man who had tortured them and taken their lives.

“Look at the girls,” Emma whispered. “I’ve never seen them so somber before.”

“They’re waiting for their killer.”

“They must be.”

Vaughn rose to his feet and lifted her with him. Beth was sitting against the opposite wall, shaking with exhaustion. The recent intake of more of Loghry’s corrupt blood had caused some of the mottled flames to reappear on her neck and face. Together, they crossed to stand near Beth.

“Are you okay?” Emma asked.

Beth nodded. “I will be, once the drug leaves my system. Please, don’t worry about me.”

She then shifted to look up at Vaughn. “Is Loghry dead? You have to make sure. It’s very important.” She glanced at Emma. “If the ghosts are here, ask them. They’ll know.”

Vaughn watched Emma turn toward the ghosts. She seemed to be communicating with them. Her resulting expression of horror told Vaughn what he needed to know.

Loghry had faked his death before. Why not now? “He’s not dead, is he?”

She shook her head. “Becca says he isn’t, but how is that possible?”

Vaughn opened himself up to the future, which showed him two things, the location of a weapon and Loghry rising as if from the dead.

He told Emma he’d be right back and headed down the opposite path. One of Dagen’s men had died nearby, his sword beside him. He took the man’s half-sword and returned quickly.

The women were holding each other as Loghry staggered to his feet, already recovering. Unbelievable.

Vaughn followed the snapshots, levitated and came up behind the wizard. Holding his sword with both hands, he drew his arms back and swung hard. He struck the base of Loghry’s neck and decapitated him. Both parts of the wizard fell to the dirt.

The women pressed their faces into each other’s shoulders.

Vaughn was breathing hard. Fury engulfed him for a long, difficult moment as he stared at the headless body, enraged by all that Loghry had done through the years.

It took him a few minutes to recover himself. He labored through a series of deep breaths, easing his anger down. Loghry was dead and Emma and Beth were safe.

Together, all three of them had done a lot of good. They’d not only saved the girls in the cage tonight, but all the ones Loghry would have gone after in the future. If the wizard had survived, there would have been hundreds more.

When he’d grown calmer, he moved back to Emma and Beth. “You two okay?”

They both nodded, but each face was pale.

“Sorry this was so messy.”

Emma rose to her feet. “It was the right thing to do. Maybe even the only thing you could do.”

Beth stood up as well. “Thank God, it’s over. There’s no way he can come back to life now.”

Emma placed her hand on Vaughn’s arm. “I just spoke with Becca. He really is dead now.”

Vaughn turned to Emma and slid his arm around her shoulders. He drew her close. “We did it, Em.”

Tears filled her eyes as she nodded. “With Beth’s help, yes we did.”

Vaughn opened his free arm to Beth. She arranged herself next to him, leaning against his shoulder. He held her tight as well.

They’d done it. The wizard was dead.

~ ~ ~

Emma savored the close connection to Vaughn as she watched the triplets. All three girls remained hovering near Loghry. They seemed to be waiting for something, perhaps for his spirit to leave his body.

Vaughn leaned close and spoke in a low voice. “What’s going on with them?”

Emma shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe they want to face the man who took their lives.”

“Can he hurt the girls at this point?”

“I don’t think so. I think this is something else.”

To Emma’s surprise, more ghosts began to arrive in the small space. Each was a teenage girl, no doubt victims like Becca and her sisters.

And they kept coming, on and on, silent and grim, their mist-like bodies overlapping one another.

“Vaughn, can you see the other ghosts? There are hundreds of them.”

“They have to be the girls Loghry killed over the years.”

Movement from the wizard’s body drew Emma’s attention. She watched as a confused spirit emerged, hunched and grotesque-looking. He glanced at all the faces and snarled, but none of the teens moved.

Near his body, a fiery red archway appeared. Loghry turned toward it and his snarls ceased. His spirit grew agitated and as the archway began to draw him in, he started to scream. Though he attempted to fight back, the power that had hold of him sucked him through the arch. He disappeared into a black abyss, the last of his screams echoing through the labyrinth.

Once he was gone, the arch vanished as well.

Silence followed.

Then, after a full minute, everything changed.

Emma found it difficult to explain the sensation that flooded the space, as though the labyrinth had been weighed down with a physical oppression, which no longer existed. Her heart felt light, and she was completely at peace.

The spirits of the girls began to celebrate. They gave what sounded like shouts of triumph at first. Then one after the other, the young women broke into a celestial, otherworld song.

Tears burst from Emma’s eyes.
Vaughn, can you hear them?

Like angels singing.

It is.

Beth leaned her head against the well of Vaughn’s shoulder. She was shaking again so Emma put her hand on Beth’s forehead and let her healing flow.

“Oh, that feels wonderful. Almost as wonderful as hearing the angels sing.”

Emma glanced at her. “Can you see the spirits, Beth?”

“No. I can only hear their song. Wait, is that my name? Are they singing about me?”

“Yes.” Emma smiled through her tears. “They’re singing your praises, and I think they’ll be singing for a long time to come.”

Beth smiled. “I hear your name, too, and Vaughn’s, just as it should be.”

Emma was overwhelmed with the waves of gratitude that poured through the girls’ voices. She had no doubt the sound of all these combined voices, raised in celebration and thanksgiving, would forge her determination to do good in her world for years to come.

~ ~ ~

As Vaughn listened to the ghostly singing with an arm around Beth and Emma, his entire Five Bridges experience slipped through his head. What had been nothing but despair had transformed into an understanding of what this new world could be. From the beginning, he’d fought his
alter
experience, believing it could never be more than a struggle for survival.

Tonight, all that had changed.

He kissed the top of Beth’s head, then turned to Emma and dipped low to kiss her on the lips.

An ocean of love had arrived in his life, and he would never again be the same.

The spirits continued to sing, though they slowly began to vanish, one at a time, until only the triplets remained, three lovely brown-haired girls, each expression enrapt.

While Emma talked to them, Vaughn contacted Brannick telepathically to let him know what had happened and to ask him to bring in a search party to go room by room through the mansion. Brannick told him he would contact Connor, who was a Trib officer and who would know which of the uncorrupt TPS force he could ask to help with the search. Vaughn suggested they bring in a couple of trained police dogs as well.

Vaughn didn’t have high expectations about what would happen. No doubt as soon as Donaldson learned that Loghry was dead, he’d contact the cartels, and in turn oust Brannick and Connor from Loghry’s home. The best they could hope for was to discover if any other prisoners were on the grounds, then to release them before they could be taken somewhere else and funneled back into the sex trafficking underworld of Five Bridges.

Within fifteen minutes, Brannick and his team arrived, along with a pair of well-trained search-and-rescue dogs on the leash and ready to hunt. Every corner of the mansion was searched as well as two more hidden chambers within the labyrinth that Beth told them about. Loghry had been a deeply disturbed man and four more malnourished and tortured female vampires were found alive on the property. The dogs located at least a dozen corpses as well. No doubt more would be found over time.

Long past midnight, when word came that Donaldson was taking over the investigation, the team gathered near the guest house. Vaughn thanked Brannick and his men for their help. He shook hands with each of them.

As the team disbanded and headed their separate ways, he flew with Beth and Emma back to Emma’s home. Emma prepared a quick meal of vegetable soup, sour dough toast and red wine.

His sister ate ravenously, being nothing but skin and bones beneath her ragged dress. Her shakes had stopped, at least for the moment, in no small part to Emma’s intermittent healing touch. But withdrawal from any of the flame drugs was never simple and would require months to complete.

When dinner was over, Emma took Beth to the guest room where she would stay as long as she wanted. Beth was in good hands.

Vaughn, to his surprise, felt a strong need to be in Emma’s spellroom. He made his way there and found both Toby and Stormy present, eyeing him curiously. The room felt familiar and comfortable as though he were coming home after a long difficult journey.

He’d never thought to have a woman in his life again, and he took a moment to silently give thanks.

When Emma entered the room, he opened his arms to her. She walked into them, then surrounded his waist and held him tight, her head pressed against his chest. “I can’t believe all that happened. Vaughn, we made it.”

“We did.”

“And an evil man is dead.”

“He is.”

“And your sister is back.”

He leaned away from her just enough so that she could tilt her head up and look at him. He smiled down at her. “And I have you to thank for all of this.”

“I feel the same way. I wouldn’t be here, with your arms around me, except that you helped me save those girls two months ago.”

He caressed her face. “Emma, I could wait for weeks, even months to ask you this, but somehow this feels like the right moment and definitely the right place. You have come to mean everything to me, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”