Witchcraft (#2 Witchblood Series) (6 page)

I shifted my shoulders, got comfortable
once more and had another go at raising the energy. I squeezed my
eyes shut, blocking out the room, concentrated on breathing and
imagined the tap root running down my spine, down through the
floors in the house, through the foundations then breaking through
into the dark clay earth. I visualised the root like a straw,
sucking up all the earth’s energy, silver traces zapping from the
ground, from the plants, from the trees, all drawn into my body and
zooming around my veins, making my fingers tingle.

I could feel it; it was working. I could
imagine the ball of energy, like a mini sun, bouncing between my
hands, faster and faster. My breathing increased and my pulse with
it. The energy hummed within me, raw power crackling all over my
body, like static electricity on a party balloon. I opened my
eyes.

Oh Hell!
The mini fireball I’d visualised so well was still there,
flying between my hands, faster and faster. Was that supposed to
happen? What if I dropped it? I desperately tried to remember how
to get rid of it, but I’d only read the chapter through once, so
instead I concentrated on not dropping it, and let the fiery glow
hypnotise me.

‘
Jess, what the hell are you
doing?’ Eva said, her shocked voice startling me and breaking my
concentration. Unfortunately, as we both soon discovered, you don’t
want to be the person who breaks a witch’s concentration. The
fireball went flying, straight across the room in the direction of
my distraction, Eva. Luckily for her, she was a vampire and saw it
coming. Had she been graced with regular human speed she would have
had no chance. As it was, she dodged the fireball which flew
through the doorway, across the hall and unluckily for me hit a
mirror. Mirrors it would seem, don’t absorb energy, they reflect
it. So a second later we found it hurtling back towards
us.

‘
Jess, stop it!’ Eva
yelled.

Unthinkingly, I put out my hand to catch
it, my theory being, that if the energy ball came from me, then
surely it could do me no harm? In theory I was right, but let’s
face it, I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing and a couple
of seconds later my whole body was fizzing, and from the look on
Eva’s face, I looked somewhat horrifying.

‘
I ca.ca..can’t hold it anymore
Eva,’ I stammered. ‘I…I…’

As I said the words my body let go,
releasing it, and as relief and a soothing chill settled over me,
the electric blast shot out across the room in all directions,
making everything explode. The light bulbs popped like corn
kernels, shattering tiny bits of glass all over my bed. The mirror
over my dresser cracked into a million tiny shards, which then
proceeded to fall out of the frame and scatter themselves across my
carpet. We both winced as we saw the window explode. It happened
slowly, like the first cracks on an icy pond, zig-zagging their way
across the pane, then more joining the race, until it formed a
beautiful starburst which gave a final sigh before its ultimate
destruction.

As we watched in horror, Daniel came
rushing up the stairs.

‘
What the...? Oh! Thank God you’re
okay,’ he said, as his eyes roamed the room, taking in the damage.
‘I knew this was a bad idea. Francesca should have stayed to help,
not left her alone like this.

‘
Oh, she’s fine Daniel. She had to
learn at some point. It’s me you should be worried about. She
nearly turned me into a vampire fireball,’ Eva said with a
grin.

‘
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.
Shit! Look what I’ve done to the room,’ I said, my body shivering,
as shock crept in.

‘
Hey, it doesn’t matter. You can
sleep in another room until we’ve got it fixed up. I’ll call
Sebastian - he’ll sort it out. There are always worse clean-ups
than a bit of broken glass Jessie,’ Daniel said, striding over and
wrapping his arms around me.

Chapter Five

That I keep secret, what I am asked to
keep secret,

That I will learn and try to master our
art,

But never forget our rule,

What good be the tools without inner
light

What good be the magic without pure
insight.

That I will never use the magic for
wrongful ends,

That I consider these vows taken before
the Gods,

And understand the threefold law.

Ahh! Why couldn’t I get it right? And
this was only half of it. I’d been attempting to memorise the
ritual all morning, after I’d had a pretty good sleep in one of
Daniel’s guest rooms. The vampire world being what it is, it didn’t
shock me when two guys turned up to replace the window at about
eleven-thirty that night, a couple of hours after my little
accident.

‘
We need a secure house, now more
than ever Jess, especially now that news of you and your book has
inevitably leaked into the community,’ Daniel had
explained.

So whilst the men fixed the window, Eva
lured me into the back room for a bit of ‘America’s Next Top Model’
viewing.

‘
You can’t keep your nose stuck in
a book all night, Jess,’ she complained.

‘
I need to have all this
memorised, and somehow I think I should practise that grounding
again. I need to be able to do it by tomorrow night,’ I
said.

‘
There’s not a chance I’m letting
you do anymore witchcraft tonight Jess. We need a house to sleep
in, and Daniel’s only got so many guest rooms. You need a break.
You’ve got all day tomorrow to practice.’

‘
Okay, okay!’ I had relented, and
the remainder of the evening passed without mishap.

So far this morning, I’d spent three
hours reading and saying the lines in my head, but I’d never been
any good at learning things word for word, and being a vampire
didn’t make me any quicker. I wondered if I should try the
power-raising and grounding again instead.

‘
Jess, can I come in?’ Daniel
said, as he popped his head round the door.

‘
Sure.’

‘
How’s it going?’

‘
Fine, I guess. I just keep
messing up this last verse,’ I said, with a shrug.

‘
You don’t have to do it, you
know. I’m a bit concerned that Francesca hasn’t told us all there
is to tell. We don’t know what effect it will have on you. I want
you here with me Jess. I don’t want to lose our
connection.’

‘
I know, but Daniel, you know I’m
not doing so well as a vampire. I have to try this,’ I said,
wondering if I should tell him what Franny had told me the previous
night. ‘Anyway, Sebastian’s not worried about it, otherwise he
would have stopped Franny, but he’s authorised it,
right?’

‘
Sebastian and Eva both want you
to learn to control your power. You will be much more useful if you
become the vampire they foresee. What they aren’t taking into
account is that you are barely a vampire anymore.’

What do you mean by that?’ I said, stung
by his words.

‘
You know what I mean, Jess. You
are all but starving. You won’t feed from me anymore, the reason
for which I can only presume is something Luke has said to you, but
he doesn’t care about you anymore. He left you to me and then
deserted you.’

‘
It’s nothing to do with that.
Sure, Luke knows I fed from you, but he said he didn’t care anyway,
and I don’t care what he thinks either,’ I said, my words sounding
hollow, even though I desperately wanted to believe in them. Luke
was not my future any longer. I had to forget him.

Daniel sat down on the bed next to me,
pulling me into to his arms as I breathed out, feeling the welcome
comfort that always came from being next to him.

‘
Jessie, you know I’m not like
Sebastian or Eva. I care about you, and only you. I don’t want you
to do this ritual if it’s going to take you away from me,’ he said,
his fingers finding my chin and gently turning my face to
his.

‘I’m not going anywhere, and that’s for
sure!’ I said. ‘I plan to stay here, with you.
You saved
me
!’
He leaned in and tingles shimmered down my spine
like a waterfall, as our lips touched. The tip of his tongue sought
mine and I found myself reaching in, pulling him, and raking my
hands through his hair, as I pulled his face even
closer.

We lay back on the bed, his hands
expertly running up and down the length of my body, increasing the
tingles as he covered me in kisses. My fangs appeared with my
increased heart rate and everything went a little hazy. I hadn’t
fed in so long. I was hungry.

Our souls were paired, so Daniel needed
no request. He knew what I wanted and he yearned for it as much as
I. He rolled onto his back and pulled me on top so I could feel his
heart thrumming and a hardness pushing against our jeans. Turning
his head to one side, he bared his neck and pulled my head down to
it.

Instinct took over and seconds later I
was clamped to his body, rocking myself, grinding against him as
his sweet blood poured into my mouth and nourished me. It felt like
molten lava pouring down my throat, thick and fiery. All my senses
awoke and I suddenly realised how dulled they had become. His scent
was exhilarating, driving me on to feed further, bite harder and
consume more. I could hear the cleaners chatting in my bedroom
across the hall, the television was still on in the front lounge,
and the students were stirring in the house next door.

‘
Jessie, sweet Jessie, you have to
stop, my love. Ohhh…’ Daniel moaned, as I reluctantly withdrew and
looked down at him.

‘
Oh God! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.
I didn’t mean to. I…’

‘
Hey, it’s all good. I’m fine. You
stopped just when I asked you to. Many wouldn’t be able
to.’

‘
But you look so pale,’ I
said.

‘
It’s nothing. I will go to the
club in a few hours and feed. There is nothing to worry about. But
look at you; you are beautiful again.’

I began to pull away from him, but he
pulled me back into his arms. His lips found mine once more and I
found there were other things to do but feed.

Soon the majority of our clothing was
strewn across the bedroom floor and I realised it would only take a
couple more items of underwear between us, before we took that
final step. There had been a couple of times when things had got
pretty steamy between us, but my memories of Luke, and a misguided
urge to remain faithful to him had stopped us going any
further.

An image of Luke flashed across my
eyes, Luke as he had appeared when he thought I was in danger with
Susannah, how he’d said he was sorry, and how he would protect
me.
Then
, there had been
something in his eyes, something I recognised, love. It was only
once I was safe that he returned to the cold, new Luke I had come
to know, the Luke who wanted nothing to do with me. I did however
know one thing. I couldn’t have sex with Daniel when I was still so
confused about Luke.

I gently pulled back from Daniel, and
leaned in to kiss him one last time.

‘
I’m sorry, I…’

‘
Jess it’s okay. There’s plenty
more fun things we can do,’ he said grinning and pulling the duvet
cover back, as he clambered underneath and held it open for
me.

I looked at my open Book of Shadows,
looked at the book of Wicca which I’d discarded on my desk and
looked at the clock, twelve-thirty. I shrugged and smiled. I had
another twelve hours before Franny would be back.

Chapter Six

‘
May I come in?’ Franny asked,
popping her head round my door eleven hours later.

‘
Sure, come in.’

‘
My dear, I heard about the
accident with your room. I feel responsible, and I know Eva holds
me accountable for leaving you unattended.’

‘
No, it’s fine. Look, I’m back now
anyway. They fixed the new window straight away and the cleaners
came in today. I had it back by five,’ I said.

‘
Hmm, but maybe it would have been
best if I had been here. I’m a little surprised by your sudden
change of plan regarding diet,’ she said, staring at my restored
glow and glittering dark eyes.

‘
That’s none of your business. I
am who I am. I didn’t hurt anybody.’

‘
Yet… Well, let’s hope it doesn’t
affect our ceremony tonight. I suppose it had the added bonus of
Daniel not being here to hang around. I believe he has gone to the
club?’

I nodded, unable to think of a suitable
retort, especially as I was worrying about quite how much blood I’d
taken, and how hungry I’d left Daniel.

‘
Right then, let’s get on with it.
We need to prepare and be ready to start the ceremony just before
midnight. Have you learnt your part?’ she asked.

‘
Yes, I think so, and I had
another go at channelling energy before. I think I’ve got
it.’

‘
Good. First I’m going to run you
a cleansing bath, then while you are in there I will cleanse this
room and set it up.’

‘
I did actually have a shower this
morning, not that I really needed one. You do know that vampires
don’t really get dirty… or smell?’ I said with a smile.

‘
Of course dear. This is a
ceremonial bath to cleanse your aura. Your aura is too entangled
with Daniel’s currently, and when you attend a coven ceremony you
must always be cleansed in honour of the gods.’

‘
Okay,’ I said. I didn’t really
see how a bath would change my bond with Daniel, but hey, I’m a
girl that loves a good soak in a hot, scented bath, so I was
not
going to complain!