Fate Changer (The Lost Witch Trilogy #3) (15 page)

The small group of women stood around him in a circle, staring at him silently. He raised himself to a sitting position and ran his hands over his head and neck and arms, obviously healing the damage Sarah had just caused him. When he was done, he sighed in relief and stood up, still shaking a little.

He ran a hand through his dark wavy hair and then brushed the dirt and leaves off his pants before looking steadily back at the women surrounding him.

“Witch fights are lethal. I told you not to engage Charlie in one,” he said quietly. “I apologize for tackling you, but when I realized what was happening I did the only thing I could.”

Sarah tilted her head and studied her father, the man she had so quickly come to love. The man who now, meant to kill her if Charles was successful in attaining her. Sarah completely ignored him and turned to Gretchen and Agnes.

“Well, we got our distraction,” she said and then turned to walk to their car in the parking lot.

Charlie immediately followed her, along with Agnes. Gretchen stood where she was, still staring sadly at Race. Race glared at Sarah’s back and ran to catch up to her. He put a hand on the arm of her coat, jerking her to a stop. She immediately sent enough energy into his hand to kill all the nerves in his fingers.

Race screamed in shock and pain as Sarah slowly turned to face him. She lifted an eyebrow curiously at him as he shook his hand, biting his lip as he tried to heal the damaged nerves before the excruciating pain took him over completely.

“Don’t ever touch me again. If you value your life at all, you’ll stay away from me. I’ve found that I enjoy being alive and anyone who decides to kill me is going to be killed first. Do you understand me?” she said in a voice so hard and cold that, Race looked at her in shock.

He flexed his fingers a few more times and then shoved his hand in his pocket. “Sarah, don’t be like this. You’re my
daughter
. I love you and I know that you love me. At least you were letting yourself come to care for me. Don’t act like this. First you get into a witch fight with Charlie and then you fry my hand and threaten to kill me?
What’s happening to you?”
he asked sadly.

Agnes’s mouth fell open at the hypocrisy and even Gretchen looked stunned. Charlie lifted her eyebrows and stepped back, not wanting to get caught in the middle of a real witch fight.

Sarah looked at him unblinkingly and nodded her head. “I finally see the resemblance between you and Charles. I don’t know how I could have missed it,” she said and then turned and walked away from her father, getting into Gretchen’s car and shutting the door.

She stared at her lap as the three other women joined her quickly and remained silent as they drove back to the beach house. Silence remained as they walked into the kitchen.

Sarah sat at the counter and let her head fall into her hands as she thought of everything that had just happened. Family relationships were more of a pain then she’d ever realized.

“I’m starting to miss Lena,” Sarah said as Agnes pushed a mug of hot chocolate into her hands.

Agnes snorted and shook her head. “I don’t blame you,” she said tiredly.

Charlie and Sarah sat at the counter as Agnes and Gretchen stood on the opposite side. Gretchen sighed and leaned on her elbows.

“I guess I’ll be the one to say it. Zane is either dead or Race no longer means you harm. Which is it?” she asked no one in particular.

Agnes huffed out a breath and looked at Sarah before answering. “Zane isn’t dead. We would all feel it if that was the case. No, he’s alive still. But I don’t know that I believe Race has all of a sudden turned over a new leaf. I truly believe he’ll do what he says he will.”

Gretchen shut her eyes in pain and nodded. “Then something has happened. Either Charles is forcing Zane to change the lines, or Race has figured out how the line is working against him and he’s found a loophole.”

Sarah’s eyebrows knit together as she lowered her mug of hot chocolate. “Is it possible to mind control yourself? Like for instance, Race, who has sworn to kill me rather than let Charles have me. Could he mind control himself to not mean me any harm, but for that to lift if Charles does capture me?” she asked, knowing how weird it sounded.

Agnes looked at Gretchen and shrugged, her mouth pursing as she thought about it. Gretchen frowned and shook her head though. “It would take someone who really knew what they were doing, otherwise, you could mess up your mind and not be able to fix it.”

Charlie winced and looked back and forth between the three other women. “Race seems to me to be the determined type. I don’t want to be mean or anything, but I’m betting he did. I mean, did you catch how weird that was? He was so shocked that Sarah was willing to protect herself from him. That was super strange. Am I right?”

Sarah nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I think you’re right Charlie. So what does this mean? Now we have my father wandering around, free as a bird. I don’t have to worry about Mason anymore, but now I have to protect myself from Race. Which is harder now that, . . . ,” she said, stopping suddenly. It was harder now, without Zane.

Sarah sighed and shook her head and glanced at the clock. “Forget it. Lash should be back soon. On to the next phase of the plan.”

The women got busy making dinner and discussed different aspects of mind control as they waited for Lash. But when dinner passed and then a couple more hours passed, Agnes called it.

“You girls go to bed. I’ll stay up and wait for Lash. There’s no reason for everyone to get worn out. You both need your energy and your strength, now off you go,” she ordered as if they were both five year olds.

Charlie rolled her eyes with a faint smile before heading down the hallway. She was taking Beatrice’s room for the night. Sarah paused before leaving the kitchen, looking back at Gretchen. “Gretchen, I can feel something turning around in your mind, but I can’t latch on to it. Is something wrong?”

Gretchen looked at her in surprise and then winced before sitting down on a barstool. “I’ve decided to talk to Race tomorrow. It’s only right. Everyone’s putting themselves at risk in some way. I’m going to confront him and see what happens. I’m the one he’s least likely to harm, although the way he’s been acting, I wouldn’t put it past him. I’m going to find out if he’s bewitched himself. I’m going to do a little detective work. And you never know, maybe he’s had a change of heart? Maybe he really doesn’t mean you harm anymore?” she said hopefully.

Sarah tried to smile at her, but gave up and nodded before leaving the room. Agnes was already trying to dissuade her from going.

Sarah looked out her bedroom window and thought about Zane. She knew she should get some rest, but she had to try to contact him again. She closed her eyes but instead of reaching outward with her energy, she reached
inward
, towards her own heart and thought of the last time she’d seen Zane and the feel of his arms around her. She zoned everything else out and concentrated on the love she felt for him. She felt her power sweep up and out of her just like it did when Zane’s arms were around her.

She could picture him in her mind and she called out to him,
Zane? Zane, where are you? I love you
. She was surprised when she was almost immediately answered. Not with a bump of soft energy, but with a burning feeling inside of her heart.

I love you too. He’s coming now. Hurry. Please, please, please . . .

Sarah gasped in shock as her eyes flew open. She flung herself towards the door, so she could tell Gretchen and Agnes, but stopped before she could turn the door knob.
No
. It would just upset them and they wouldn’t be able to get any sleep at all. No, she would keep this to herself until tomorrow. Lash would save him tomorrow. Lash had to.

Sarah lay down in bed and smiled as tears slipped down her cheeks and wet her pillow. He was still alive. He still loved her. But the thought of,
He’s coming
, kept her awake well into the night. If Charles hurt Zane, she was going to make him pay.

Sarah woke up, dressed quickly in jeans and a velvety soft, gray t-shirt and ran down to the kitchen, to find Gretchen and Agnes hovering around Lash as he sat at the table, eating eggs and bacon and toast. He looked up and grinned at her tiredly.

“Hey there,” he called out.

Sarah smiled in relief and moved to sit next to him. “Hey buddy. What did you find out?” she asked eagerly, smiling her thanks at Agnes as she placed an identical plate of food in front of her.

Lash wiped his mouth on a napkin before speaking. “He’s holed up in a vacation beach house four miles away at the very edge of town. It had an amazing security system and he had three Rottweiler’s that would rip your throat out,” he said, pausing to take another bite of food.

Sarah tilted her head in confusion. “
Had
?”

Lash shrugged and took a sip of orange juice “Had. As in no longer.”

Sarah exchanged a queasy look with Gretchen, not wanting to ask what had happened to the three guard dogs. Yikes.

“And Zane? What about Zane, Lash?” she asked, forgetting about her food.

Lash winced and pushed his glass around with his finger. “There was some screaming. Not much though,” he said quickly when Sarah’s face turned white and her hands began to tremble.

Lash looked cautiously at Gretchen and Agnes who motioned for him to continue. “He’s being held on the top floor, so I couldn’t get very close. I was able to climb a tree and hop onto the widow’s walk, but I wasn’t close enough to hear exactly what was going on. It’s weird though. I get the strongest feeling, he’s holding back. Zane isn’t letting loose on the guy. I’ve seen him let loose and I promise you it’d be a pretty fair fight between those two. Zane is freakin powerful. But he’s just sitting there, taking it, you know? I don’t get it,” Lash said with an angry shake of his head.

Sarah swallowed thickly and took a sip of her juice, wondering what Zane’s motives were. His thoughts to her last night,
He’s coming
, must have come to her right before Charles began his assault on him.

“I’m sure he has his reasons,” Agnes said briskly, although her eyes were sad and worried. “What else Lash? What else were you able to find out?” she urged.

Lash finished chewing his bite of toast and shrugged. “Not much to be honest. I know where Charles is. I know where Zane is. I just need a little blood from Charlie and I’ll be on my way. I thought about rushing in last night, you know, but something held me back. It’s was weird. I was ready to jump through a window and go ape . . . , I mean, go crazy on the freak, but this feeling came over me, so strongly, that I should wait. I don’t even know how to explain it,” he mumbled, looking embarrassed.

Sarah closed her eyes and smiled. “It’s Grandmother. She’s been giving me feelings here and there ever since she died. She’s on our side and she’s helping out in her own way now. No Lash, don’t feel bad. You were right to listen to your feelings.”

Gretchen nodded in agreement. “She’s right Lash. Let me go wake up Charlie. I don’t want Zane to have to take any more pain than he has to,” she murmured before rushing out of the room.

Agnes and Sarah looked at each other before looking back at Lash with grim smiles on their faces.

“So um, how do you want to do this Lash?” Sarah asked, wincing as he looked up from his breakfast and caught her with his bright blue eyes.

He looked away after a moment. “Sarah, I know my drinking blood makes you sick. You look like you want to throw up right now. If I’m going to do this, I don’t want you here watching it. I don’t want you to look at me like I’m a monster,” he said.

Sarah closed her eyes and sighed before leaning over and hugging her friend. “You’ll never be a monster to me Lash. I’m sorry, it does make me a little sick. I can’t help that, but I have to be here. I’m going to take the pain from Charlie and heal her. I insist,” she said quietly.

Agnes walked around the table and hugged the other side of Lash. “Sweetie, you are our hero. Don’t you dare call yourself a monster. If this is what it takes to save Zane, then we’re all for it,” she said and stood up as Charlie walked in with Gretchen.

Charlie waved at the table before yawning loudly. “Hey guys,” she said tiredly and then plopped down on a chair and looked at Lash. “Okay, let’s do this,” she said and pulled her sweatshirt to the side, and stretching her neck out.

Lash looked at her puzzled for a moment and then laughed. “Oh, you think I’m a vampire or something?”

Sarah looked back and forth between Charlie and Lash and grinned at his amusement and Charlie’s confusion.

“Well, you drink blood right? Don’t you drink from someone’s neck? I kind of think puncture holes are sexy,” she said with a tired grin.

Lash shook his head back and forth with a big smile on his face. “Let me guess? Twilight fan?” he asked.

Charlie shrugged and smiled back. “I always liked Edward better than Jacob. So where do you take the blood from then?” she asked curiously.

Lash glanced at Sarah with a frown before moving to sit by Charlie. “It usually, um, depends. For you though, I’m just going to slice your hand and we’ll have the blood drip into a glass. I won’t need that much. Sarah will take your pain and heal you when we’re done, okay?”

Sarah frowned and looked at Charlie who looked confused too. “What? I thought you were like, going to drink from me. You’re not going to suck it from my life giving, vibrant veins?” she said sounding disappointed.

Lash grinned at her and shook his head again. “You know, you kind of crack me up Charlie. And no, I’m not going to sit here in front of Agnes, Gretchen and Sarah and feast on you. I, um, don’t feel very comfortable doing that,” he said.

Charlie shrugged and held out her hand. Lash asked Agnes for a sharp knife and thirty seconds later, Gretchen was squeezing blood from a deep cut in the palm of Charlie’s hand. Sarah took all the pain from Charlie as she held onto her other hand. Charlie ended up looking bored and even asked Agnes if she could watch TV while they drained her.