Spellbound: The Awakening of Aislin Collins (31 page)

I stood back against the wall and watched
them. I had not seen Abigail smile with such sincerity since we
were young. Jack looked at her as though he would do anything to
make her happy, and my heart ached for them. This was most likely
the last time they would ever be in each other's arms.

Greer walked over to me, having to turn down
several offers for a dance as he maneuvered through the crowd.

“Dance with me,” he said, as he swept me into
his arms. His touch seemed to make me tingle, and even the way he
moved fascinated me. His steps were strong and powerful, but
fluid.

“What happened with Gillis?”

He grinned down at me, his white teeth were
gleaming and his eyes sparkling, “I have a feeling that he will be
a lot kinder to Abigail from now on.”

I looked over at the two young lovers and
then back at my own love, “They are breaking my heart.”

“Remember, this was their choice. Neither was
willing to stand up for their love Aislin.”

I knew he was right, but it was still
horrible to witness.

“Thank you for helping her.”

He brushed my cheek with his thumb and wiped
away a tear that had worked its way from my eye.

“Why was Gillis speaking so badly about
Spain?” I inquired.

“He was trying to place doubt in your
father's mind about us. That is why I let him know that I was aware
of his past. It threatened him.”

“Do you think it worked?” I asked, as we
swept around the dance floor.

“He is now aware that I can place an inquiry
about him. You see, if any whispers of piracy come to the surface
he would be completely ruined. I wanted him to know that I was
aware of his nature and was ready for any misconduct that he had
planned for this evening. I suppose this is what he and Zachariah
were conspiring over at the tavern. It makes perfect sense that
Zachariah would not take the direct approach and face me like a man
of honor.”

My encounter with Zachariah from earlier in
the evening pressed to the forefront of my mind and I knew I had to
warn Greer, “There must be more to this Greer. Zachariah to tried
corner . . . ” I began, but Abigail interrupted my sentence and she
asked if she could dance with Greer, pushing me aside.

I stammered backward to retreat from the
dance floor, but a hand gripped tightly on my waist and restricted
me from moving any further.

Exacerbated, I abruptly turned around,
“Zachariah will you please leave me alo . . . ” but I did not
finish my sentence.

We were eye to eye, the room started spinning
as he started dancing, pulling me along with him, spinning me at
such speeds that I became disoriented.

I tried to loosen his grip and pry myself out
of his arms, but to no avail. Searing pain coursed through my body
and I felt an invisible hand gripping my throat, slowly squeezing
it. I could not breathe.

“Hello Aislin,” Lamont said in a gruff,
triumphant voice, “I told you that you could not escape me.”

I could not respond, the pain was too great.
I spun my head around to see my mother doubled over in agony, my
father kneeling next her, pleading with her to tell him what was
wrong.

We spun faster now. I felt as though my head
was going to explode from the pain. I looked for Greer, but could
not see him.

“You know, you have been a thorn in my side.
Sending me on one wild chase after another, forcing me to kill poor
helpless little girls simply because you were too selfish to hand
yourself over to me. But that is fine. Your little games have just
given me time to think about how I really wanted to extinguish your
worthless life. Now I know exactly how I plan to kill you. It will
not be as swift as it was for the little girls or the Indian, oh
no. First I think I'll take your mother, and then perhaps your
sweet slave grandmother.”

My eyes widened in horror as I struggled to
catch my breath.

“Oh yes Aislin, I know all about your family
and if you think that any of you are more powerful then me, well .
. . just look around.”

At that moment, I felt my head forcefully
spun to the right and saw Martha on the floor.

“So sad, isn't it? To see all those you love
in such a state of torment?” he sneered, “After a long time
deliberating, I have finally decided. I will let you live just long
enough to see all those you love perish, and then I will have you
publically executed as a witch. A proper hanging would be nice, or
perhaps burning at the stake would better suit you? I have always
preferred the fires, but these days that technique is not
considered civilized. Still, I'll see what I can do about
that.”

I tried to will another dancer to push into
him, or for a platter to hit him in the head, but nothing happened.
An unseen force was constricting my throat and my strength was
dwindling.

Around and around we spun. Chaos was
everywhere. The music picked up tempo to an unnatural speed and was
blaring at a deafening volume. The dancers were moving erratically,
and things became fuzzy as I began to lose consciousness.

I could not look at him any more. My head
slumped forward and my vision was about to fail me, when in my last
fleeting moments of sight, I happened to look at his neck. There on
his collar was an amulet. It was a dark, red stone, very much like
mine.

I reached for it and he recoiled, but I
lurched forward and clutched it. I recalled the vision I had of my
necklace in Zachariah's hands, and I knew what to do. I slammed it
to the floor and it shattered like glass.

I saw Martha stand again. Lamont looked
shocked by my calculation, but he reached forward and clasped me by
the throat and then took a deep breath, WITC—” he started to
scream.

However, his voice was drowned out by someone
else's cries. One woman screamed, followed by the cries of many
others, until panic filled the ballroom.

“Dead! He's dead!” the woman wailed.

The band stopped playing and people starting
running toward the front door, where the woman stood pointing to
the entranceway. Lamont lost his grip on me as the stampede
overcame us.

I felt a hand on my arm. Greer picked me up
and began carrying me away from where all the onlookers were
headed. We swiftly moved through the kitchen and out the back door.
In an instant, we reached the back porch and stopped. He placed me
down on the steps and put his hands on my shoulders, searching my
eyes, “Aislin, are you hurt?”

My head throbbed and my throat hurt, but
before I could respond to his question, I heard a strange
popping
noise.

Greer's expression changed, he gasped and
then looked down to his stomach. I followed his eyes downward and
there, between us was a blade.

I looked down at the silver object that came
from Greer's stomach and then I looked up and studied his face. His
expression was frozen with shock and pain. The blade then receded
and Greer lurched forward into my arms. I felt the warm, sticky,
sensation of blood on my hands and gown.

Behind Greer stood Zachariah, a cutlass in
his hand, he kicked Greer in the back, forcing us both to the
ground.

“Greer!” I screamed.

He was unresponsive. His eyes were open, but
he did not seem to hear me or see me.

“Did I not warn you to dance with no one but
me?” Zachariah snickered, as he circled around us.

I rolled Greer to the side and knelt over his
body, determined to protect him from Zachariah.

“Greer! Please, please don't leave me!” I
sobbed.

His body lay motionless. I placed my hand
upon his throat and searched for a trace of life, but there was
none to be found. My mind struggled to make sense of this madness.
Only moments before we were together, happy, laughing—and now he
was dead.

I could hear Zachariah walking around us, his
feet
thudding
clumsily on the hard winter ground.

“It isn’t nice when people take away what you
want, is it Aislin?” his voice oozed with condensation.

“Why don't you just kill me and get it over
with?” I said through my sobs. “I have nothing to live for now . .
. you have won. You have taken everything from me.”

The boy threw his head back triumphantly,
flicking his hair from his eyes, “Oh no, I have other plans for
you. By the end of this night, your request for me to take your
life will be granted…but I’ll take everything else from you first,”
he rushed forward, reaching out with his sword as he
approached.”

Greer remained lifeless in my blood-drenched
arms. I had enough. Magic surged through me and anger strengthened
me. I did not want to live, but I would not let Greer go without
justice. I inhaled deeply and muttered a spell under my breath.
Great power coursed through my body and rushed toward Zachariah.
The invisible force lifted him from his feet and slammed him
backward against the wall of the mansion.

The power from the spell made my head throb
and I felt as though a dagger had hit me between my eyebrows. I
slumped down in pain.

Surprise and terror spread across his face,
“Witch!” he screeched at me, his eyes wild.

I nodded in reply.
Let him be afraid of
me
, I thought as I swiftly used my magic to hurl his body
through the air and slam him hard against the wall of the shed next
to the mansion. His body slumped down. He seemed to be, at the very
least, unconscious.

I returned my attention to Greer. I turned
him over so his head was in my lap and I stroked his face, “My
love? Are you with me?” I asked in a shaky voice. He did not
respond. I sobbed deeply as I stroked his hair and brushed the
strands from his eyes.

My hands shook violently as I caressed his
face. He was pale and cold. Every dream that I had longed for, all
the hope that had sustained me through these past months, died
away. Emptiness filled my soul as I watched my beloved fade into
darkness.

I should have paid more attention to
Zachariah. I was weeping so loudly that I did not notice that he
had snuck up behind me.

I felt the tip of his blade upon my back. I
looked one more time at Greer. He was dead and he was not coming
back. I had nothing left to live for. I closed my eyes as reality
gripped me. I knew what I had to do. I could save everyone else
that I loved by this one act. I turned swiftly and pulled the blade
towards me.

As I lurched forward, I felt another force
pull the blade away from me. I looked up to see Greer holding
Zachariah in the air. He had the boy's head wrenched back with one
hand. Zachariah's deeds had finally come full circle against him.
He groaned and thrashed as Greer fed upon him. I watched in shock,
as I had never seen Greer feed before.

When Greer finished, he dropped Zachariah's
lifeless body to the ground and staggered towards me. His eyes were
as black as the night that surrounded us.

I stayed still on the ground, quivering as I
tried to form a sentence. Stunned by all that transpired, I was
immovable and speechless.

“They are coming,” he growled, blood still
trickling off his lower lip.

He lifted me with one arm and leaped high,
pulling us up into a tall evergreen that hung over where
Zachariah's body now lay motionless.

He kept one hand over my mouth and the other
gripped so tight on my waist that I thought my ribs would
crack.

His breath came in low growls, while mine
were sharp and fast. I took both my hands and wrapped them around
his arm until I was clutching his wrist. He had not changed back to
my Greer yet. He was still the dark eyed creature that had killed
Zachariah. I did not know what would happen next.

We watched as two people came across the
boy's corpse below.

“No!” a high-pitched voice screamed. “My
baby! My son!” she yelled into the darkness of night.

Mrs. Marthaler threw herself over his body
and screamed into his chest. The other person paced back and forth,
occasionally looking at the woman.

“This is your fault!” she bellowed at the
man.

He halted and faced her, “Mine?” Lamont
responded in an offended voice.

“You incompetent bastard! How many times did
I hand her to you? I sent her to a port far from the town so you
could kidnap her by the roadside. I arranged for her to walk back
to town through the forest at night with only a female servant as a
guardian . . . I even pointed out her house to you! I could have
killed her myself by now,” she hollered at him.

“She is a powerful witch. I wish you luck
trying to get close enough to touch her,” he growled back.

“The deal is off,” she replied.

“What?” He was enraged now, “For generations
the Coven has rendered our services to your family and cleaned up
your messes. You forget far too much Catherine. Must I remind you
that it was I, who killed your husband's childhood sweetheart so
that he would marry you instead? It was I, who killed your
husband's father and increased your wealth. And now, after all I
have done for you, you are going to break our covenant over one
girl?”

“My son is dead,” she said flatly, “You will
not receive compensation.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Midnight

We were in a small, dimly lit room. The bed
creaked underneath me as the ship swayed back and forth. This was
the same spot Greer had taken me once before, where we embraced for
a time, and he had promised to marry me.

Now, I was lying on my side gasping for air,
as Greer lay lifeless beside me. I rolled over and scrambled to get
up and care for him. I pulled at Greer's shirt until it came loose
and pulled it over his head. He groaned as I poured water on the
wound and I was startled when the water revealed his current
state.

“It has started to scab over! How can this
be?” I gasped.

“It will be healed in a week or two,” he said
through pained breaths.