Wolf Spell 1 (14 page)

Meadow’s face showed a minimal amount of discomfort as I gazed over her. The bite on her wrist faded. Her body was turning into the dark immortal creature she agreed to be.

Warmth enveloped me, and I realized Jarak still held me in his arms. I raised my eyes to meet his then rested my head against his chest.

“I didn’t think you were coming back. You went limp, and I yelled at you, trying to wake you, but you didn’t even flinch,” he whispered against my cheek.

I recalled being in a fog and hearing garbled voices. “So that was you? I heard someone but couldn’t make it out. It was so weird. I saw my dad… well… Bry.”

“What happened?”

“We’ll talk later, right now I just want to make sure Meadow’s okay.” I twisted to look over at her. Her face no longer looked contorted in pain.

“She’ll be okay. Victor’s known as one of the better warlocks still alive. He’ll stay with her.”

I believed him.

I nodded and rubbed my eyes with my hands, realizing how tired I was. “I think I’m gonna go lay down for a bit.” I lifted myself from his hold, standing with the help of the corner post of the bed. I held my head as the dizziness came from the quick motion. “I need to absorb some energy I guess.” My legs were like rubber, making me a little unsteady as I walked toward the door.

Jarak came up behind me. “I’ll help you.”

Grateful, I leaned on him for support. The hallway was dark. Only a small light from the pool lit up the back windows. I blinked trying to grasp the time change. I couldn’t believe I fought with Meadow’s turning for more than eight hours. It felt as if only minutes passed. No wonder I was exhausted.

Bright sunlight filtered through the white curtains onto my face. I moaned, and I realized how raw my throat was. A tickle in the back of my mouth made me cough, making the soreness worse.

“Drink this.” It was Ree’s soft voice. My eyes fluttered open catching sight of her black hair.

A cold glass pressed against my lips, spilling out an icy liquid. I gulped greedily even though the action made my throat throb. I held my hand to the glass, stopping the water from drowning me.

Ree pulled it away and set it on the nightstand. “I’m sorry about yesterday, you know, about leaving so fast.”

“It’s okay, I understand.” My voice was raspy.
Yesterday?
That meant I’d slept through the whole night.

Ree licked her lips. “We didn’t know how hard that would be. We weren’t prepared.” She slumped on the bed next to me.

I sat up in bed a little too fast, regretting the action as the pounding in my head exploded in my ears and behind my eyes.

“Oh sorry.” Ree jumped from the bed shutting the blackout curtains behind the lace ones, blocking out the excessive light then sat down with me.

“Thanks.” I massaged my temples, relishing the new darkness. “I don’t understand, you both fed first, that’s why we needed to wait until yesterday before you turned her,” I whispered, due to the jackhammer in my head. “You’ve turned people before.”

“Yes, we’ve turned many people before, but that’s just it, they were people, not witches. We did feed, but it wasn’t the same this time. ”

“Wait, you mean you’ve never turned a witch before?” I didn’t need more of a headache, but I swore it just gave into another depth of pain.

“No, in fact, your mom is the first witch to ever turn—in our entire history. Nicholas can’t even turn a witch because the vampire turning them would kill them. There are rumors he’s tried and failed many times.”

“What!” I cried out, even with the risk of worsening my headache. “You couldn’t tell me this
before
.”

“We didn’t think it would be
that
hard.”

“So, what, my mom was just a guinea pig to you guys?”

Ree ran her fingers through her hair. “No. Esmerelda you have to understand, you’re essential to our cause. She is important to Victor and you. We vowed to try.”

“I don’t care how valuable I am. This is all insane! What did you know about turning a witch?”

“We had some ideas; we talked to some of the older vampires about how it could be done. They told us that it would be one of the most difficult things to do. It would be harder than when we turned ourselves.” She lowered her eyes, avoiding mine.

“And you still chose to do it?” I couldn’t wrap that around my mind just yet. I saw the looks on their faces as they tried to detach themselves from her. Even visually, I saw it was painful for them.

Ree kept her face downward. “I would do anything to help you. At first, it was because of who you are, but now, it’s because you’re my friend. I haven’t had a non-vampire friend in years. I necessarily don’t trust myself, but I don’t want to lose your friendship either.”

She shifted on the bed, but it was enough for me to see her face. I could see blood red tears trickle out. I reached to wipe them away from her cheek. My fingers stained with the thick crimson fluid. “Your tears…” My voice trailed off as I stared at my hand.

“This is why vampires don’t cry, it makes too big of a mess.” Ree laughed as she tried joking with me.

“It’s actually… kind of beautiful.” I couldn’t explain it any better, but in a weird way, it was.

She rolled her eyes. “I think you need more rest.”

“Other than my head splitting in half, I think I’ll be okay.” I rubbed my temples once again to make my point. “Wait—how’s Meadow?”

Ree smiled. “She’s doing good. She went feeding with me last night after…”

“She’s already up?” I shoved the rest of the covers off me and stood up, careful not to move my head too fast.

Walking to the closet, I pulled a clean shirt off a hanger. A shower would have to wait, seeing Meadow was more important. I chose a low neck lined green shirt that was a little stretchy and a new pair of jeans.

Victor was right. I now thank him for breaking into my apartment and grabbing some clothes and things for me. Slipping on my favorite boots, that he managed to snag, I made my way to the door. Ree stood outside in the hall as she promised.

“You look beautiful, but you could use a good brushing.” She handed me a brush. I’d forgotten about my hair. It must look as if I’d gotten into a fight with a mountain lion. It sure felt like I had.

“Ugh, thanks.” I ran the brush through my thick red tresses as fast as I could make my hand move. Cringing as I pulled too hard on a tangle. I’m glad I didn’t embarrass myself in front of Jarak with my snarled mess. He might not ever look at me the same.

“Esmerelda.” I spun around to Meadow’s voice, my hand to my forehead, applying pressure to my temples. It was strange to hear her call me by a different name. It was even stranger to see her appear younger, more porcelain looking, except her skin was pale—almost translucent, but with no imperfections. She was flawless.

She ran up the stairs faster than I could have run down them, moving quickly but not quite as speedy as Ree and Trevor. Within seconds, she enveloped me in a tight hug, but it was short and unfeeling. “Thank you so much.” Her voice cracked. “How are you?”

She sounded too loud and excessively chipper. “I’m so happy you’re okay.” I squinted. The light hurt my eyes.

She took one of my hands and squeezed. “We did it.”

I peeked with one eye. “Well, you did.”

She shook her head, and let go of my hand. “No, we did. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I shrugged, unsure of what else to say. “I’m glad you’re not dead.”
I should have stayed in bed. The noise hurt my head so much I was now sick.

“Not completely anyway.” She laughed as she helped guide me down the stairs to the open living area. “Victor and Jarak are already outside waiting for you.”

“Waiting for me? You’re already pushing me out the door?” I slumped, and I could feel whatever was left of my mood depleting. She didn’t act the same. I thought she’d hug me and not let go, but instead she was ready to push me out the door as if I was nothing more than her ticket to the dark side, not a daughter. I guess now that I knew what happened she dropped her act of a mother. Either way, I was disappointed.

Ree stepped forward and grabbed my other arm. “Now that Meadow is better, you need to train.”

“Train? What am I doing, joining the Olympics?” Did everyone forget I battled a monstrous headache? Whatever they planned for me was not happening.

“All these years we kept you in the dark about who you are, you never learned what you’ll need to survive. Or who you’ll have to fight…” Meadow stopped talking. Her eyes focused outside the sliding glass door.

I gave a quick look with my other eye to see what was so fascinating; I smiled and knew she’d made the right decision. Victor stood outside of the door, holding a long stem rose. I never saw her smile this much in one day.

“Then what are we waiting for?” I stepped forward into the blinding light of the sun and stepped back again, grasping my head and bent over. Dry heaves started, and I held my hand out to stop anyone from coming too close. “Please tell me there is magic that can take this horrible migraine away?”

Meadow snickered. “I wish I could have shown you this as you grew up, but…” She picked up my hands and placed them at my forehead.

“Visualize a pool of cold water cleansing and cooling your pain. Repeat after me. ‘Magic mend and spirits yearn. Let this pain end and energy return.’”

I opened one eye and raised my eyebrow. “You’re serious? Those words?”

“Oh just behave and repeat them.”

I repeated the words and I smiled in relief as the pain reduced. Three more seconds passed, and then I felt brand new. All signs of my pain disappeared. She stepped away with a smug look.

“Can you do magic, even though you’re a vampire?”

“Yes, but not as much. I lost most of it during the turning process, but I can still do basic things, such as call on my earth element. Except, it doesn’t come through as full as it used to. So, in other words… I can make the earth tremble, but can’t split it open in a full quake. I am a little thirstier than usual too. I feel different. A little detached from who I was. Ree says it’s normal for me to feel that way.”

“What about me? How do you feel about me?” I was already certain I knew the answer, judging from her attitude toward me.

She glanced at Ree before answering. “I don’t feel connected to you. At least not the way I did. There are things I have to tell you, but I can’t right now. I’d rather drink your blood than to talk to you.”

I held my hand up. That was more than I wanted to know now. “That’s enough.” Ree and Meadow laughed together in unison. “So—you drank blood?”

She nodded. “It tastes a lot better than I thought it would. It’s very satisfying.”

I gagged, and fought the urge to throw up—again.

“I think the guys are getting restless outside.” Ree pointed to the door, bringing me back to the task. I think she knew I couldn’t talk to Meadow any more. She wasn’t the same person I grew up with and that alone made me sick. I didn’t know whether to cry or vomit.

I held my breath. I wasn’t sure what I would be expected to do, and I was leery, to say the least.

Magic in the Water