Anathema (Causal Enchantment, #1) (30 page)

“
Besides being the witch that those
two twits hired to spy on me? They don’t trust me.” Smiling
sheepishly, she added, “With good reason, I guess.” She began
massaging her temple with her hand. “Ursula is the classic example
of a woman scorned, only she’s a witch so the fury is tenfold. She
fell in love with Nathan and ensnared him in a love spell to ensure
his mutual affection. She’s not pleasant, in case you hadn’t
noticed. Well, sorceress spells don’t work well on vampires. Nathan
realized what was going on, in effect rendering the spell obsolete.
He would have killed her if she hadn’t been so pathetic. He had a
compassionate streak in him.” She smiled wistfully. “One of the
reasons I loved him so. Anyway, not long after that, he and I met.
It was love at first sight. Ursula was bitter, believing that, if I
had not ‘moved in on her territory,’ he would have forgiven her and
fallen madly in love of his own accord.”

“
But that was over a hundred years
ago. Are witches immortal too?” I asked, recalling her mentioning
something about host bodies but not understanding this hocus–pocus
stuff.

Sofie shook her head. “It appears she found a
way to jump from one human to the next, taking possession of them
for her own form of immortality. She’s clever. That’s why I didn’t
recognize her. When Viggo and Mortimer discovered Max’s betrayal,
it seems they decided to hire a spy as another source of intel. I
had sensed a witch from time to time near me but I never put the
two together.” She smirked contemptuously. “I just thought I had a
fan.”

My head was spinning by now, trying to keep
track of all the different ways they had deceived each other. There
was small comfort in the fact that I wasn’t the only victim. “But
Ursula’s dead now, right? Viggo killed her?”

Sofie shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s not
the last we’ll see of Ursula in one form or another. I’m not
exactly sure how she possesses her host bodies, but it must use up
a lot of her powers. Don’t worry. She won’t get through these gates
a second time, now that those two half–wits know not to invite her
and her conjured leopards in.”

I nodded, working to digest everything. “Is
there anything else you need to tell me?” I asked, my eyes studying
Sofie’s eyes for any signs of a lie.

She met my gaze steadily. “Everything I’ve told
you is the truth. I swear it. On Nathan’s grave.”

Does that mean anything, considering she
killed him?
I wondered. It didn’t matter. I decided she was
now the least harmful snake in the pit of vipers. Her and
Max.

We sat in silence for awhile. Max came over and
hunkered down, resting his chin on my lap to look up at me with
soulful golden eyes. I looked from him to Sofie. “How am I hearing
Max?”

Sofie shrugged. “I don’t know, but … you have
no idea how pleased I am!” A goofy grin overwhelmed her
face.

“
Mortimer said something about him
lying to him?”

“
Yup! He’s been making up things and
leaving out details since you’ve come here. And after you snuck off
to the park, he just stopped talking to Mortimer altogether.” The
broad smile was still plastered on her face. “I guess all those
years of spying on you made him fall in love.”

She talks too much,
Max interrupted
inside my head, his irritation evident.

I couldn’t help giggling, even given the
bizarre method of communication. I hadn’t been wrong about Max’s
friendship, after all.
One
genuine thing around here, at
least. Patting Max’s head once, I stood up and walked over to
Veronique’s picture to study the catalyst of my curse. Gazing up at
those olive green eyes, I searched my feelings for resentment, but
found none. Rationally, I knew this was no more her fault than
being cursed was mine. Or even Sofie’s.

“
What a devastatingly beautiful
woman,” a relaxed male voice suddenly said from beside me. Viggo,
sliding in unseen like a ghost, as casual as ever. As if he hadn’t
murdered my mother.

I instinctively assumed a defensive stance, my
hands balling up into tight fists. A soft, wicked chuckle escaped
him, one that sent a shiver down my back. My anger morphed
instantly into fear. He was a monster.

“
I met Veronique at the Emperor’s
Royal Ball. I watched her glide down the O’Hara staircase with the
purity of an angel, wearing this very dress. I knew I had to have
her.”

“
And she settled for you until she
found something better,” Mortimer chimed in, appearing from a
corner, an edge of competitiveness in his voice.

I stood quietly, wondering what their new angle
was.

Viggo rolled his eyes. “One evening, Veronique
was traveling to meet Sofie in the next city when a group of
bandits attacked her carriage. They would have raped and killed
her, if not for the aid of Mortimer here, who happened to be
hunting in the nearby woods. I owed Mortimer for saving my true
love and, so confident in her love for me, I never thought my
lovely angel would fall prey to this rugged brute’s wiles. Alas,
Mortimer and Veronique grew close and, before I knew it, she was
professing her love to both of us. We became bitter enemies, ready
to tear each other apart, except that it would cause pain to
Veronique for one of us to die. So we waited, impatiently, for her
to choose—me, of course—so I could transform her and have her
forever. But then her witch of a sister had to go and mess things
up!” Viggo said lightheartedly.

“
Why are you telling me this?” I
asked bitterly. “You didn’t want to tell me anything before and now
you’re just brimming with true–life stories.”

“
To show you that we’re just like
you!”

My mouth dropped open in shock. “You murdered
my mother and destroyed my life. You probably snack on newborn
babies! You’re nothing like me! And you’re trying to win me over
with epic love stories, thinking I’m going to help you?” I trembled
with rage now.

He quirked a brow. “Are you saying you’re
not?”

“
Help my mother’s murderer spend
eternity with his true love? Hmm, let me see …” Uncharacteristic
bravery was yanking words from my mouth before my brain could
process them. But I didn’t care. I couldn’t hurt Viggo’s feelings
if I tried.

“
Well, then … there’s no reason to
keep you anymore, is there?” Viggo’s eyes had turned cold, his
smile menacing.

All four dogs leapt forward to form a wall
around me, but not before Viggo had my pendant within his grasp.
“You may tear my heart out, Max, but not before I rip this pendant
from Evangeline’s neck,” he said, his eyes locked with
mine.

“
V
iggo,”
Mortimer warned, a wary eye on the dogs. He still seemed
flabbergasted by Max’s new allegiance to me.

Viggo ignored him, standing fast with my
pendant in his hand, hysteria twitching on his face. “You are going
to help us because you want to help yourself. You’re going to bring
these friends of yours back, right?”

I stood frozen.
Caden. Amelie. Fiona.
Bishop
. Their faces flashed in my mind.

“
You’re going to go out and look for
this portal for the pendant,” he continued. “Check every rock,
every cave, every city.”

“
The place is crawling with
vampires. I’m dead if they get hold of me,” I replied
warily.

“
You’re dead if I get hold of you.”
Viggo’s lips curled into a hideous smile.

A chorus of deep, menacing growls sounded but
no one paid any heed.

“
How many vampires are left on this
Ratheus, anyway?” Mortimer interjected.

“
I don’t know. I don’t think there’s
been a census done lately,” I answered sullenly, my eyes glued to
Viggo.
Murderer
.

“
My, someone’s finally found her
tongue. When did you become so grating?” Viggo asked with an
infuriating smirk.

“
When I found out you murdered my
mother.”

“
Didn’t you explain, Sofie?” Viggo’s
eyebrows lifted, but his focus remained on me. “That was Sofie’s
fault. She deceived me.” The gleam in his eye turned my blood ice
cold. “Don’t ever deceive me.”

“
You want to be free of us, don’t
you?” Mortimer added, a hint of desperation in his
voice.

I faltered. “And will I? Be free of you once I
bring them back?”

“
Absolutely.”

I don’t believe you.
But it didn’t
matter. Either I refused and Viggo wrenched the necklace off me
right here, right now, leaving Caden and the others in Ratheus for
eternity, forever beyond my sight, or I risked dying by going along
with this. Highly probable risk but just a risk, all the
same.

“
So you want me to just wander
around until the necklace starts talking to me? What if I get
caught? So far, the two run–ins I’ve had with the vampires of that
world haven’t exactly ended well. Remember? I almost died both
times.”

“
But that was before. You are so
much wiser now, and the necklace has properly adjusted. I’m sure
you’ll do just fine,” Viggo assured me, smiling. He stepped away,
releasing the pendant. “So it’s settled?”

If I release Veronique and she chooses
Mortimer, then this will be worth it.
“I’m glad you’re feeling
good about this plan, given you’re not the one who’s going to die,”
I grumbled. “And if I die then this whole plan is finished and you
have no hope of ever turning Veronique.”

Mortimer raised an eyebrow at Sofie.

She sighed. “If the lapse in time continues as
it’s been going, with you staying longer and longer away from here
… I’m afraid you’ll one day—soon—simply not return. Then it won’t
matter. You can’t survive long in a place like that.”

“
That’s why I was hungry … and
tired,” I thought aloud. It also explained all the supplies for me
that Sofie had packed.
She had known it would happen. That or
she took the ‘be–prepared’ Girl Scout Motto to a whole new
level.
“So every time I go over now, I’ll be there for longer
and longer and eventually I’ll stay there forever?”

Sofie nodded.

Would that be so bad?
I wouldn’t have
to help my mother’s murderer find true love. And I could stay with
Caden, Amelie, Fiona, and Bishop. In a cave, with no electricity,
no running water, no food.

Four vampires and one human, living together in
harmony. No, five vampires. Ugh. Unless this Rachel thing ended and
she went back to whatever crypt she belonged in. Who was I fooling?
She wouldn’t go anywhere. Not before she tore the flesh right from
my bones as I watched, screaming.

There would always be the constant threat of
death. No, not threat.
Inevitability.
Even if I evaded
death by Rachel or some other vampire, it would catch up to me
eventually with age. A vivid image popped into my head then—a
wrinkled old woman in a black string bikini struggling to shuffle
into a hot spring lake, watched with disgust and pity by four
young, beautiful vampires. It made me shudder. That’d be worse than
dying.

Unless …

“
What would happen to the necklace
if I stayed there forever? Would it keep protecting me? Like, from
their venom?” I asked Sofie.
Could I be … turned?
The very
idea made my skin crawl, but I had to know.

Her eyes flashed knowingly. “It could keep
working, not realizing that you can’t return to Earth anymore.
That, or kill you. Which one it will be … it’s a
toss–up.”

Old or dead.
I sighed. Well, that
ended that idea. I could handle the caveman life if it meant
spending it young and with Caden, but the alternatives—old and
wrinkly or with Rachel—were unthinkable.

So that left me helping the vampire who’d
murdered my mother or letting him kill me.
Could I get away?
Could I bring them all over then escape?
Hope sparked for only
a millisecond; he’d hunt me down. I’d spend the rest of my life
being the prey of a desperate two thousand–year–old vampire. “The
rest of my life” would prove much shorter than expected.

I swallowed the painful lump in my throat.
“Okay.”

“
Okay?” Viggo’s brow rose
incredulously.

I nodded.

“
Fabulous!” That deceptively
charming smile was back. I saw through it now, though.

“
Is there anything you need?” Sofie
asked softly, sadness in her eyes. “I can go pick up some
supplies.”

I hesitated. “A wet suit.” Viggo and Mortimer
looked at me suspiciously. “In case this portal is underwater,” I
quickly added. Or in the cave with the Merth, which was exactly
where I was headed. I was going to bring back as much Merth as
possible so I could wrap myself in it.