The Witch and the Wolf: Part Two (4 page)

Rory went to sit between her mother and Jamie on the couch. As she neared, she could feel one of her protection casts snap like a twig.

“Someone…” she began to say, but Magda cut her off.

“We’re already casting new spells. You need to hide.”

The fear in her mother’s eyes made her look around without questioning the command. She had no idea where she was going to hide in the cabin since it had no basement or cellar. Her only option would be one of the closets. She went to the coat closet and shut herself inside. It wasn’t a good hiding place at all, really it was an exercise in futility. There was no way she could hide from a magical being. Magda knew that, Jamie knew that, and so did she.

There was total silence in the cabin as Magda and Jamie, she assumed, were both casting defensive spells. The front door was flung open hard enough to hit the closet she was in. She tensed waiting to hear who or what was coming for her.

“There’s a vampire headed straight this way!” It was Cross. Rory came out of the closet and fell into his arms involuntarily. In a moment of crisis, he was invaluable. When they had fought the Sun Riders in Cleary, having Cross next to her had significantly increased her castings. That was before she had accepted his claim. If there was a vamp coming for her, she could really use stronger magic.

“I’m glad you got back!” she told him
, resisting the urge to kiss him hello.

Grizzly ran into the cabin breathing hard. “It’s Violet Moore.”

“Sweet Goddess,” Jamie said, exchanging a look with Magda.

“Where’s Grimace?” Cross asked
, not letting Rory go.

“He stayed back to slow her down,” Grizzly said
, and shot Cross a dangerous look. There was something going on between them Rory could see and she imagined it was her fault. There was nothing else Cross could have done to annoy his father.

“You two need to leave now!” Magda said
, pushing Cross and Rory toward the front door. “Go now! He won’t be able to hold her for more than a second.”

“Who’s Violet Moore?” Rory asked. She knew Sven Summers was Olaf’s second
-in-command, and his brother and Melody Jobs were Olaf’s third-in-command, if that was a thing. He had sired Melody himself. That was about as much as Rory knew about the vampire organization. There was no need to know anyone else. They never had contact with vampires. The vampires stayed in their territories and witches left them alone. That had been the agreement for centuries.

“Violet is Melody’s
progeny,” Magda told her, still shoving them. “Leave now!”

“Where are we going to go?!” Rory asked.

“He’ll know somewhere,” Magda said, motioning toward Cross.

“Get out of here,” Grizzly told them.

Rory was frightened. She knew vampires were powerful, but she thought they would at least put up a fight. The three were acting like they were about to fight to the death.

“I’m not going,” Rory said
, resisting her mother’s hard pushes.

“You were so happy to leave before.” Magda’s eyes were wild with fear. “If you want to help, then go!”

Cross pulled on her arm and looked out the open door. “Come on. We can get a few seconds head start on her.”

“What’s the point?” Rory shook off his arm. “She can move faster than we can visually perceive. I don’t think we’re going to be able to out run her on a motorcycle.”

“Well, we can’t just sit here and wait for her!” Cross said, frustrated.

“Then we can fight her!” Rory said
, looking at each of them in turn. “There are three witches and two werewolves in this room. I think we can put up some kind of fight at least.”

“You haven’t ever seen a vamp in action I take it
, baby girl?” Grizzly asked.

“Of course she hasn’t,” Magda snapped. She grabbed Rory by the shoulders. “We are going to put up a fight. But if you aren’t here, she’ll be distracted with having to find you.”

“Please,” Cross added to the room’s plea. That was enough for Rory. If he was asking her nicely, it was a lot more serious than she had thought.

She grabbed her helmet off the table by the door.

“We’ll come right back when it’s safe,” she said, hugging Magda.

“Just go!” Magda was clearly
relieved. Cross pulled Rory to his bike so fast she had to run to keep up. He had the bike moving the minute her hands touched his waist. The quick movement almost made her fall off the bike, but she grabbed him even tighter.

As they sped away from the cabin further into the mountain, she looked back over her shoulder. She could see two figures on the road in front of the cabin as a wolf prowled around them. She could feel more magic washing over her, more magic than Jamie and Magda could conjure on their own. Ursula, Deanne, and Sarah must have been helping. They must have felt their casting break and knew something was wrong.

She couldn’t see the vampire yet, but she hoped Grimace was ok. She didn’t know him at all beyond seeing him at Jamie’s house when the Moon Brothers came. Still, he was Cross’ brother and she was fighting to help her. She didn’t know who Violet Moore was, but if she was Melody’s progeny, she must be a powerful vampire. If anything happened to anyone who was trying to protect her she would feel guilty for the rest of her life. She had wanted to stay and fight too. At least that way, if things went sideways, she could have given herself up to Violet. She prayed they would all be ok.

***

He didn’t know where he was going
, but he was going to drive like a bat out of hell until he got there. Cross’ Harley was a cruiser and wasn’t going to get high speeds like a crotch rocket would, let alone with the extra weight of Rory. Still, that didn’t stop him from pushing it up to 110 mph. He needed to get Rory as far away from Violet as he could. Rory may not have been familiar with the baby vamp, but he was.

He had only seen the vampire once during a werewolf party when he was a teenager. Her and a few other vamps had been invited by the guy who was throwing the party while his parents were on vacation. He could see why she was invited immediately. He didn’t know how old she actually was
, but she looked sixteen, seventeen tops. She was tall with long limbs, small curves, and deep black skin. She had a buzz cut, but that only made her delicate features more striking. She looked like a supermodel. 

Violet hadn’t done anything unusual
during the party. But when he asked around about her, he found out she was a bloodthirsty killer. None of it was substantiated but there were rumors of her killing truckers at rest stops just for fun. In the old days, that kind of play would have been no big deal. The vampire king forbade that kind of behavior in his territory. If all the vamps started doing it, they would start to draw the suspicion of humans. She let the rumors run rampant without even attempting to correct them. It was enough to convince him Violet wasn’t someone he wanted to run into any night.

He was heading deeper into the mountain. Hopefully, he would be able to put a lot of distance between them and Violet while she was fighting their parents and Jamie. The other coven members must have been adding to the protection magic because he could feel it hitting Rory as they drove. Good. The more magic around her, the better. Vampires could use magic
, but not much. If they could cloak Rory again, it would take time for Violet to use a locator spell to find her. He would only need a day to get them to another safe house. This time he would head for a Golden Bear hideout. The coven didn’t know about that one so they couldn’t follow them there.

Obviously that was how the vamps had found them. Their stupid ass parents had to come and protect them. It was a bad idea when he heard it. Had he and Rory slept together sooner, he would have been able to articulate why. Violet had probably been following Magda since the minute the Sun Riders lost track of Rory. They knew eventually, she would want to go see her daughter. And look at where the fuck that had gotten them.

His wolf was losing its mind. It desperately wanted him to shift but that was ludicrous at the moment. When they stopped for the night, he would shift and let his wolf take night shift. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but he could stay up for seventy-two hours straight if he needed to. It would be a breeze if Rory was in danger.

He was slowing down to make a turn when he and Rory were thrown from the bike. It felt like some
one kicked the front tire and he lost control of the bike. He felt like a ragdoll as he flew through the air and hit the pavement.

It was Violet. She must have gotten past everyone already. He said a prayer and thanked God he was going so slowly when they were thrown. He couldn’t tell if he was hurt because of the adrenalin coursing through his body
, but he thought he was fine. In the seconds after the crash, he let his wolf take over. It wasn’t dazed at all and would do a far better job protecting Rory then he could in his human form. The minute he let his wolf out, it went to look for Rory.

He found her on the side of the road with her helmet still on. He whined and nudged her. His heart didn’t beat again until she started to rouse. There was no way for him to tell her
, but he nosed her toward the ditch next to the road. There was nowhere else for her to hide.

“What happened?” she asked
, pushing up her visor getting up stiffly. She saw he was a wolf. “Oh God! Is she coming?!”

He nosed her toward the ditch harder. He knew it was risky having her move
, but there was no choice. He couldn’t leave her out in the open like that. Her pants were torn and there was skin missing from her arm. She pulled off her helmet and threw up next to the side of the road.

“I’m just scared,” she said
, reassuring him. Her one bloodshot eye told him different. She had some kind of head injury. He was such a fucking idiot. He should have known Violet would dump his bike. There was no reason for him to be driving that fast. He had been reckless and now Rory was hurt. He had to protect her better than this.

He didn’t know how he was going to
, but he was going to have to kill Violet. The minute she came close to him his wolf was prepared to go for her jugular. That was their only shot. They would have time to run again then. Provided his bike would start again. He wouldn’t worry about that yet. Even if it didn’t, he knew how to hotwire a car. First, he had to kill this vampire bitch. 

Rory’s head was spinning and she felt like she was going to pass out any second. She was sure she had lost consciousness when she had fallen off the bike. Cross was a wolf so she couldn’t ask him if he had just lost control of the bike or if it was the vampire. As unlikely as it was, she was hoping he had just lost control.

He was trying to nudge her toward the side of the road
, but she couldn’t get her body to cooperate. She rolled over onto her back and just lay there. It was pointless. She didn’t have the energy to cast a healing spell even. Cross was suddenly thrown away from her. She heard him whine as he hit the ground, but there wasn’t anything she could do to help him. This had gone horribly wrong very quickly.

“Sorry about that.”

Rory could just see a shadow out of the corner of her eye. It could only be the vampire.

She leaned over Rory. “You look like hell
, woman. Olaf is going to be very unhappy with me.”

The pretty face frown
ed and then she put her finger in her mouth and bit down. She put a single drop of blood to Rory’s lips. Rory was repulsed but Violet dropped the blood right into her mouth. It was such a small amount it went straight down her throat. Violet put her hands on Rory’s shoulders as she began to struggle.

“Calm down,” she chided. “I can’t bring you back to Olaf like this and I’m not about to risk traveling with you like this either.”

Rory had heard all the rumors about vampire blood. Only a single drop would kill another sup…or it would be like taking a million hits of ecstasy. It all depended on who you were talking to. From the way Rory was feeling, it sounded like neither of those rumors was true. She was feeling pretty great actually. She could feel her magic growing as she got stronger.

“The
re’ll be none of that,” Violet said. She muttered a few words Rory couldn’t understand and it felt like someone had dunked her in an ice bath. She felt numb and her thoughts came slow as molasses. “I’m glad you’re feeling better though.”

Violet smiled at her and it was hard to remember this was the same creature
that had likely just hurt her mother terribly. It was obvious Melody had chosen her for her beauty. Becoming a vampire had only heightened everything nature had graced Miss Moore with…and Rory hated every inch of her stupid, perfect body. The vampire was lucky she had acted quickly to disorient her because Rory was going in for the kill.

Rory could feel strange magic swirling around her. Violet was about to teleport! Another thing she didn’t think was possible. Vampires didn’t travel that way. Most of them flew if they needed to get somewhere in a hurry. Their magic wasn’t strong enough to transport them anywhere safely. Rory had never even tried doing it herself and she had planned on never doing it. There
were so many things that could go wrong and leave the caster dead in pieces.

Cross. She hadn’t heard him moving since the vamp had thrown him. She prayed h
e was alright. So many people had been hurt today because of her. It was for the best that Violet was taking her somewhere. Regardless of what happened to her from this point, at least the people she cared about would be safe. Her Mom and Jamie may have been hurt, but she knew they had to be alive still. She and Magda had a magical bond. She hoped the same was true with her and Cross since he had claimed her.

If it was, he was hurt
, but not dead. She would feel it if he was gone. As the magic enveloped her, she closed her eyes. She didn’t want to have to see her body snapping into pieces if the stupid vampire messed this up.

In a flash it was over. Even with her eyes closed, she could see the light the casting gave off.

When Rory looked around again, they were in a jungle. “What the fuck?”

“I’m not going to make it easy for your little witch friends to follow my trail,” Violet laughed. “Now try to stand up. I want to make sure you
're ok.”

Rory obliged the vampire
, but only because she wanted to see if she would be able to cast now. She was able to get to her feet fine, but when she tried to think of a spell her thoughts scattered. Damn. She was going to have to wait for the vampire to drop her guard.

Violet nodded. “You seem to be fine. You know this is why your mother always warned you to stay away from boys with motorcycles.”

“Why are you after me?” Rory asked. She was stalling and trying to think of spells.

“The King can explain it to you if he wants to or not. My job is just to get you to him in one piece.”

“Great job you’re doing there,” Rory sneered. “You almost killed me back there.”

“Almost.” Violet smiled
, her fangs showing. Rory felt the magic hit her again. They must be moving again. Rory closed her eyes again. When she opened them they were in the middle of a field of corn.

“Last one.” Violet said
, before casting again. When they touched down again, Rory hit the ground. The casting had been too quick. Her body couldn’t handle it. She threw up on the sleek marble floor.

“It’s just the teleporting!” Violet said quickly. “She isn’t hurt.”

“She better not be, Violet,” someone said in a very heavy French accent. “We’ll need to clean her up before we take her to Olaf.”

“Can’t have your King thinking you mistreated me
, huh?” Rory wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“I didn’t mistreat you
.” Violet pulled Rory roughly to her feet. “Now, let’s get you looking nice for your audience with the King.”

***

Violet used magic to toss Cross like he was a ragdoll. He hit the ground hard and was dazed for a few seconds. A few hundred feet away the vampire was leaning over Rory and talking to her. He wanted to get up and help, but it was like someone had tossed a cold, wet blanket on his back. His wolf was having trouble even standing up.

He watched in horror as the vampire bit her finger and put it to Rory’s mouth. She couldn’t! He didn’t know what vampire blood did
, but it sure didn’t have any place in his mate’s body. The vampire was up to something. He could feel the magic even this far away. It was something big. A bright light started to envelop her and Rory.

Cross summoned every ounce of strength in his body to get to his feet. He had heard of teleportation portals before. If he let Violet escape with Rory, it would take him a full day just to get to the vampire king’s compound. He would have to come up with a plan on the way and hope that his brothers would be willing to help. He didn’t want to have to entertain that scenario. He needed to get to Rory before Violet teleported her way from him.

They were disappearing before his eyes. He ran full tilt and jumped as soon as they were close. It was no use. He hit the ground where Rory’s body had been a second before. He howled in the air. They were gone! He sniffed the spot and circled a few times. The spot was vibrating with the powerful magic Violet had just used. He could still smell Rory. The scent was moving away from the spot she had been in even though she had never gotten up.

Curious he followed the scent trail. After running after the scent for a mile, he saw a shimmer in the air in front of him. It was moving fast in the same direction as Rory’s smell. It had to be the portal Violet used to transport them. It was his only chance. He wouldn’t be able to follow it forever and it would be out of his reach in only a few precious seconds. If he waited, there was no telling what would happen to Rory.

He jumped into the shimmer and was inside a bright tunnel. The magic was so strong he felt sick again. He had expected the portal to act like the ones in a movie. As soon as he went in one side, he thought he would fall out on the other. Maybe that was how it worked when you went through right away, but Cross was inside a bright white tunnel. He could still smell Rory so he forged on.

He left the tunnel without warning. His claws sunk into the soft dirt of a jungle floor. He didn’t know where he was
, but it was nowhere a wolf should be. All the new smells disoriented his wolf. Once he had his bearings, he looked around for Rory and the vampire. They should have been right under the portal, but there was no sign of either. He smelled the jungle floor around the area until he picked up on Rory’s scent again and followed it through the jungle. He could feel the magic again and realized Violet must be portal jumping.

He was having a hard time following these portals
, but a witch would have been able to pick up on them weeks after the portals had closed. Magda and the coven would have been able to find Rory easily if Violet had gone through only one. She was a very smart girl. He spotted the next portal moving through the jungle and leaped into it. This time he was prepared for the onslaught of magic in the tunnel and ran full-tilt to the other side.

This time he was in a corn field. This was more his style. He couldn’t have been very far behind them this time. The portal was closing only a few hundred feet away from him.
He ran through this one and when he got out on the other side he skittered on very expensive-looking, black marble. He fell down before he could get any purchase on the slick stone floor.

He smelled the air and growled. They had reached their destination. He could smell vampires all around him. It had to be the vampire king
's home. Who else would have marble floors in a hallway? It was over-the-top, just like Olaf. The Norseman had very expensive tastes. Cross clung to the side of the wall and followed Rory’s scent into a room just down the next corridor. It was a small bathroom. He sniffed around outside the room but couldn’t find anything.

Panic crept up along his spine. They must have washed her. He couldn’t smell her anywhere. He couldn’t even guess where they would have taken her in this huge compound. Maybe they had even put her in a car and left. Maybe they had already handed her over to the Lost Tribe. He paced in a circle. He didn’t know what to do. Fear paralyzed his mind. Where was she?! His wolf was no help in the situation now that the trail was gone. He circled a few more times. There were only two options left.

He could tuck tail and try to escape the compound. He couldn’t go back the way he had come. The only way to get help would be to find a phone somewhere to use. It was much better if he did that outside of the compound. Going full speed, he could be in a human town in a matter of hours. Then he would have to sit tight until his brothers and the witches got to him. Hell for all he knew, they were already on the way to him. Their first guess would be the vampire king's compound too. Though he hoped they weren’t stupid enough to try to storm the compound themselves.

His second option was much riskier. He could find a vampire and let himself get caught. Maybe they would take him to the same place they were holding Rory. Or they could kill him on the spot for trespassing. That was a crazy idea and a long shot. The second option had a lower probability of working and much higher probability of instant death.

To Cross, the choice was clear. Whichever option brought him to Rory fastest.