I sensed motion behind me and spun. The smell hit me. Death and decay. Old blood and rotted meat. I gagged as vampires swarmed the campus.
So much for the Cazadores keeping the flow down.
Wolves jumped from the forest to meet the vampires in a clash of fangs and fur.
The alarm sounded, the soft wail alerting the students we were under attack.
It didn’t take long for the seniors to swarm out of the buildings in wolf form. I focused on the figures in black floating toward me. Hair like straw. Faces rotted and disgusting.
The wolves bounded toward the vampires, but I waited where I stood. They’d be here soon.
I knew enough about witchcraft to know that I didn’t need to say the words aloud. As the first vampire approached, I threw the vial. In the name of Jesus Christ, I purify you.
Nothing happened. I froze. With or without my magic, the words should work. Should I shift?
“In the name of Jesus Christ, I purify you,” Claudia’s clear voice rang out beside me as she tossed another vial. Night turned to day as the potion exploded and the vampire burned to dust.
Thank God for cousins.
I let out a shaky breath and Claudia stepped in front of me. “Careful, prima. Your magic must be sealed.”
Magic shouldn’t factor into throwing potions, but I didn’t have time to figure out the problem.
Three vampires had Dastien pinned down and the wolves were being pushed back as more and more of them flooded the quad. The other brujos were throwing vials as fast as they could, but it wasn’t going to be enough.
“Cover me while I get the jars out,” I said to Claudia.
I slipped off my backpack and grabbed the jars. I’d been hoping I’d be able to fight at least a little, but not so much. I needed these jars gone. Now.
Another vampire flew at us, and Dastien finally burst free—he jumped on its back, snarling.
Where in the hell were Luciana and Mr. Hoel?
A voice cried out. “Kill the wolves!” I didn’t need to turn around to know who had arrived.
La Aquelarre.
They wore all white. Luciana was wearing one of her long skirts. Really impractical.
She paused her jog to the quad. Her face turned red as she stared at me.
One down. One to go.
As helpless as I was, I needed to wait a few more seconds. As soon as I spotted Mr. Hoel, I could destroy the jars.
Luciana threw a vial in my direction, but it fell way short of me and shattered against the ground, sending off a puff of fire and smoke.
“You don’t want to do this,” I shouted. “Turn back now.”
She laughed. “You’re weak. I have your power.”
“Do you?”
She raised her arms, and the scent of sulfur filled the quad. The ground rumbled.
She was calling something from below the earth. My pulse sped. This wasn’t what I’d seen in my dream. This was way, way worse. If she managed to summon something from hell…
I’d been to enough church masses to know we were all doomed.
“If you do this, there’s no going back. You’re damning yourself and every member of la Aquelarre along with you.”
“Listen to her, Luciana,” Claudia said. “Think about what you’re doing. This is evil.”
Luciana didn’t even look at Claudia. She was too far gone. Magic flowed around her, like wind, raising her hair and making her skirts flow around her legs. But that wasn’t what had me scared. It was the look in her eyes. And the fact that they’d turned completely black. Not even a hint of white was left in them.
I had to stop her before she finished this spell.
A figure in white dashed toward us. I moved to meet him, but stopped just as he dashed between Luciana and me.
“Mother!” Daniel said as he ran in front of her. “Stop! You can’t do this. You’ll kill us all.” When she didn’t respond, he turned to us. “We have to stop her.”
When Daniel hadn’t shown up at St. Ailbe’s, I was worried I was wrong about him. It felt good to be right.
“Let’s knock her out,” I said. “If she won’t stop casting, then we just shut her up.”
Luciana’s lips moved rapidly as the wind grew around her. She raised her arms to the sky and a red light from the ground rose around her.
Daniel shook his head. “It’s too late. The spell she’s doing…it’s a chain reaction. Once it’s started…”
“So what do we do?” I shouted.
Enemy Weres streamed in from the parking lot, led by a certain wolf I remembered from my nightmares.
Now. I needed to smash the jars. They were both here, and if Luciana was using some of my power to call up whatever that was, then I needed to cut her off. Fast.
A vampire swiped at me, and I dodged out of the way and hit the ground rolling. The vampire lunged again, and I heard Claudia shout the incantation just before the vampire’s ashes rained down on me.
Shit. This was getting bad.
Before one more thing could go wrong, I threw the jars as hard as I could on the ground. Both jars bounced and started rolling away from me.
My heart dropped into my stomach. “No. Oh shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Claudia said.
“The jars.” I pointed at them as they rolled deep into the fight.
“Is that what I think that is?” Daniel asked.
“Yes.”
“I’ll get them,” Claudia said.
“No.” I grabbed her arm before she could go. “It’s too dangerous.”
“I’ll be okay.” She ran after the jars before I could stop her.
I didn’t have time to watch her. A mass of black fur headed my way and I took off running. I dodged around a tree, but it was still on me. I could hear it panting. I looked over my shoulder and it was already leaping into the air, teeth bared in a snarl.
I dropped flat on the ground, and the wolf soared overhead.
Before I could get up, a vampire was on me. I didn’t have time to think as anger heated my blood. I wasn’t going to get bit. Not again.
My hands partially shifted and I punched through its chest, ripping out the heart. It collapsed against me and I gagged from the vile stench. I pushed the body off and climbed to my feet, but I was covered in black vampire goo. The half-decayed heart still throbbed in my hand.
Thank God Meredith had been right. I was still a Were. Just not an alpha one.
I tossed the heart on top of the now-still vampire.
Daniel gagged, quickly covering his mouth with his hand. “That’s disgusting.”
“Understatement of the year.” I wiped the vampire goo on my pants and reached into my pocket with my clean hand, grabbing a vial. “Do you mind?” I asked as I held it out to him.
He took the vial and ignited the vampire. “You got any more?”
They weren’t doing me any good, so I unloaded my stash on him. “Be safe.”
Bright bursts of magic were flaring all around me as wolves and witches fought. I tried to find Claudia but it was chaos.
Where in the hell were my fucking jars?
I spotted Dastien’s gray and white fur. The battle had taken him farther away than I’d thought. If something happened, I wanted to be closer to him. I took a breath and started across the quad.
The earth rumbled again as Luciana’s chanting grew louder. I swayed on my feet, trying to stay upright, but something slammed into my side hard enough to break ribs. I hit the ground wheezing.
I couldn’t stop. I had to get it off me. I had to get to Luciana before she finished calling up that hellspawn.
Jaws snapped at my neck, but I managed to hold the mass jet-black fur off of me.
Oh shit. It was Mr. Hoel. It was happening.
I heard Dastien’s howl, and knew what was coming next.
I struggled to stop him, kicking at the mass of fur and muscle that pinned me to the ground, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe.
Mr. Hoel started to shift. It was disgusting. His face half wolf, half human. Grotesque.
This was why people were afraid of werewolves. Because of monsters like Mr. Hoel.
His claws dug into my neck. “You’re dead, mutt.”
“No!” Daniel shoved Mr. Hoel with all his weight, pushing the wolf away.
I gasped as the weight lifted.
Mr. Hoel snarled, swinging his claw-like paw. I watched as if in slow motion as Mr. Hoel’s razor-sharp nails went through Daniel’s neck like butter.
Hot blood rained down on my face.
Oh God. Oh God.
Daniel gave a sickening gurgle as he slowly crumpled.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears. It was all I could hear as Daniel hit the ground.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was the one who was supposed to die. Not Daniel.
Mr. Hoel, still frozen in his half-shifted state, snarled at me. “You won’t fight. That’s an order.”
For a second I froze. I couldn’t move. His alpha powers had worked, and I couldn’t disobey. He stared at me, his claws dripping with Daniel’s blood.
Then something amazing happened.
My whole body burned. My vision went white, blinding me, and my back bowed up from the ground like a million needles pricked my skin. But it wasn’t a bad thing.
This was good. So very good.
Cherie! Move! Now!
My powers. They were back.
If Claudia was the one who’d just broken the jars, I owed her big time. But I didn’t have time for thanks.
Luciana’s chanting grew louder and I spun toward her. The light around her was gone. Her back was to me, but I knew from the way her chanting had grown frantic, she was pissed.
And she still hadn’t seen Daniel.
Chanting back was the best thing I could think of. In the name of Jesus Christ, I cast you back to hell. I had no idea if it’d work, but I kept saying it. Hoping something would change.
The third time I thought the words, the ground stopped rumbling.
Thank God.
I lay there for a second, and then I sat up.
Mr. Hoel was backing away from me. He couldn’t get away with what he’d done.
I didn’t hesitate. Rage swamped my body and I shifted fully.
“The jars!” Luciana yelled, but it was too late. “Where are you, you little bitch?”
Mr. Hoel spun around, toward Luciana’s angry tirade, and I took advantage, leaping at him. He glanced at me at the last second, but it was too late. My teeth sank into his neck.
The taste of copper filled my mouth in a hot wave.
Luciana was running toward us, screaming something unintelligible. I had seconds before Luciana closed the space. When she did, she’d see Daniel, and I didn’t want to know what she’d do for revenge.
I knew the second she’d seen him. She stumbled before changing direction. She’d glared with pure rage, but now her features twisted between rage and sadness. I wasn’t sure which was worse.
“No!” Luciana screamed as she knelt beside Daniel. Lightning crashed down around the quad as she sobbed. The ground had stopped rumbling, but the scent of sulfur still hung in the air. She might not be able to use my powers to finish calling up whatever demon she’d been summoning, but as she looked at me, hate filling her eyes, I knew it wasn’t over.
“You. This is your fault,” she yelled.
Dastien howled as he bounded across the quad. He slid to a stop between Luciana and me. Her hands glowed as she stared me down.
I spared a glance around. Fires burned throughout campus.
The vampires were all burning or already turned to ash. Their stench had begun to clear.
Wolves fought wolves. Brujos fought wolves. And the handful of brujos on our side fought their own coven.
It was bloody. Howls and screams of pain tore across the night.
“Wolves. Hear me,” Donovan’s thick Irish accent echoed, cutting through the chaos. “You will stop fighting. Now.”
At once, the wolves on both sides of the battle stopped their attacks.
When the Weres froze, the witches stopped in place. They looked to their leader for some direction, but she was still sobbing. Kneeling beside Daniel.
He’d saved my life.
Maybe all of our lives. Nothing but his death would’ve stopped Luciana.
Why had he done that? What was he thinking? I couldn’t breathe. I’d been imagining he was a traitor, but instead Daniel had traded his life for mine.
He was gone. It was my fault.
A brujo came to help Luciana stand. She whispered something to him, and the man bent to pick up Daniel’s body.
She held her head high as she turned to us. “I will bury my son, but I’ll be back. The covens are coming.” She pointed a long, bony finger at me. “You will pay for this.”
Two more coven members immediately flanked her, and the rest fell into place as their group hustled away.
No wolf dared to move as the witches left campus. Not under Donovan’s watch.
“You wolves who have fought against us are banished from the packs. Consider yourselves lone wolves who will be hunted and killed if you so much as sniff our lands again. You have thirty seconds to get beyond our boundaries before we start chasing. Run. Now.”
More wolves than I would’ve thought—at least thirty—took off running into the trees.
But one wolf stayed. His white coat was streaked with blood. As he shifted, I recognized his long, blond beard. “The old ways no longer work,” Ferdinand said. He was the one who’d pushed for the Tribunal. Who wanted me to go to the coven’s compound.
It wasn’t just Mr. Hoel who was directing the wolves.
It was Ferdinand. One of the Seven.
“I thought it was you,” Sebastian said. “You’ve grown power hungry over the last century.”
“And why shouldn’t I be? I’m the oldest of the Seven.”
“Not by much. And you’re the most full of ego. Pride. Anger. You’re not worthy to be a member of the council,” Donovan said. “We should’ve done this long ago.”
Donovan and Sebastian joined hands, and murmured something in Latin.
Ferdinand shifted with a snarl, and took off running. Donovan, Sebastian, and Mr. Dawson shifted and bounded after him.
I sat on the ground, still in wolf form. Exhausted. Dastien butted his head against mine with a whimper.
I wanted to check on my cousins and the others, but suddenly I was too exhausted to even move. I needed to change back and take a shower. I needed clothes.
After a quick look around the quad, I found the twins huddled together with the other brujos. They were crying, but otherwise unharmed.
Dr. Gonzales moved through the pack, checking on the injured.
Dastien bumped against me again, and then started toward his cabin.
This time I followed.
A little rest and then we’d figure out the next step.
Luciana would be back, and we needed to be ready.
Chapter Twenty-Five
After a shower and some food, I collapsed on Dastien’s bed.
A towel was wrapped around his waist, but as water dripped down his abs, I found it hard to concentrate.
“Let me get dressed.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. We’d have time for us later. Now was not the moment. He opened and shut some drawers. “Dressed,” he said, and I opened my eyes.
You okay? He asked through the bond, and I felt his wave of concern.
The bond is back. I really like being able to do this creepy, silent-talking thing with you.
He leaned down, brushing a kiss against my forehead. “Now, tell me something.”
“What?”
“What did you know about the fight before it started? There was something—and now I feel your guilt through the bond. So, spill.”
I didn’t see what good it would do to spill, but it wasn’t like I could keep secrets anymore. “I dreamed that Mr. Hoel was going to kill me.”
Dastien jumped up, hovering over me as he shook my shoulders. His eyes flashed bright yellow. “And you still went into the fight? Without telling me? Are you insane? Do you not care about your own life?”
I jerked his leg until he sat back down next to me. “No. I’m not insane. I knew it was going to happen. I was going to do my best to avoid it, but the fight was coming. What was I supposed to do? Hide?”
“Yes. Next time something like that is even a possibility, you damn well better hide!”
“And if the situation had been reversed? Would you let me go off and fight while you hid?”
He growled. “That’s not the same thing.” His voice was gravelly. The wolf was close to the surface.
“It’s exactly the same thing.”
He squeezed me so tight I could barely breathe. “You okay?”
“No. I’m not okay.” He let up a little. “Are you okay? You’re the one who…Mr. Hoel.”
“I killed him.” I thought about it for a second. “You know, I thought I’d feel worse about it. Maybe I will later, but for now, I’m glad he’s dead. He killed Daniel. He tried to kill me. He tried to kill you before…”
Dastien ran his fingers through my hair, and I soaked up his touch for a second.
I could’ve stayed there forever, but we still had a whole host of problems to deal with. “We have to go check on the others.” I chewed on my lip as I thought back to the fight. “Luciana was summoning an actual demon.”
“Yes. I think she was.”
“How do we fight that?”
His breath was hot on my neck. “I don’t know.”
That was what I’d thought. I wasn’t sure how to kill one either, but I was Christian enough to know it wouldn’t be easy.
“Don’t worry. We’ll find a way,” Dastien said.
“Maybe Claudia knows something.” From what I knew about Claudia, it seemed like a long shot, but what could be the harm in asking?
“Doubtful. Not everyone knows about that kind of magic. And fighting it…depending on what Luciana was summoning, it could’ve been really bad.”
I squeezed my eyes tight. “We have to stop her.”
“Agreed.”
It was a good thing some of the coven members were going to be sticking around. A little witchy expertise would go a long way. “We need to go talk to Claudia and whoever else stayed on our side.”
I tried to sit up, but Dastien stopped me. He pressed a hard kiss to my lips before pulling back. “Don’t you ever put yourself in danger like that again.”
I tried to smile at him, but failed. “I wish I could promise that, but I can’t.” I swallowed. “I’m glad to be alive. Is that bad? Daniel died saving me. I should feel worse. He was a nice guy and I was busy doubting him, even when he’d been nothing but kind and helpful. I should be more upset. I’m just so grateful to be alive that it’s overshadowing everything.”
Dastien pushed a piece of hair behind my ear. “No. We will honor his sacrifice. We can’t bury his body, but we’ll have a service for him. I’ll always be grateful for what he did.”
I squeezed his hand. “Thanks.”
“Come on. Let’s go get this over with. And then lets come back. I’d like to spend the next day or ten in bed with you.”
I blushed.
“Mind out of the gutter. We’ve got time before the next full moon.”
I scoffed. “You’re so old fashioned.”
He kissed me again, and I lost myself in it. I was fully breathless when he pulled back. “I just want to be respectful. But that doesn’t mean I can’t hold you.”
“Deal.”
***
The cafeteria was always the place to meet on campus. Apparently, that hadn’t changed in the little bit that I’d been gone. Weres sat around eating, but one table stood out from the rest.
Claudia, Raphael, Shane, Cosette, and Elsa sat together, along with two other girls and one older lady.
Beth, Tiffany, and Yvonne.
There was a ring of empty tables around them, like no one wanted to get too close. I was a little disappointed in my fellow Weres, but it wasn’t all that surprising. They’d just been attacked by a bunch of witches.
I spotted Meredith, Donovan, Chris, and Adrian at another table and they waved me over. I held up a finger. “One second,” I mouthed as I moved toward the witches.
As I pulled out an empty chair, their hushed conversation stopped. “Hey.” Dastien stood behind me, letting me take the lead.
“Hi,” Claudia said. Her eyes were swollen and ringed with red.
I stared hard at the linoleum for a second. I wasn’t sure what to say. I knew I should say something, but anything I could come up with felt insubstantial. Meaningless. “I’m sorry about Daniel. If I could’ve…if I—”
Claudia reached out to me. “Don’t. He knew what he was doing. He stayed back to get the three of them. They played along with Luciana. But he knew who you were. Who you were meant to be.” Her soft, understanding words only made me feel worse.
I wasn’t worthy of that. I’d cost Daniel his life.
A tear rolled down my cheek, and I quickly brushed it away. “I didn’t ask him to do that. Why would he do that?”
“Because he believed in what we were doing. Because he knew his mother had to be stopped and you were the only one who could do that,” Raphael said.
Dastien squeezed my shoulder. You okay?
I grabbed his hand. I will be. I cleared my throat. “I also wanted to thank you. You opened the jars?”
Claudia gave me a small smile. “Had to be done. Otherwise, the night would’ve gone very differently.”
I snorted. That was an understatement. “Does anyone here have any idea what Luciana was calling up?”
“A high-level demon,” the older woman, Yvonne, said. “Luciana went dark some time ago, but I swear, we here had no idea it was this bad. Daniel made his sacrifice just in time. Otherwise, we’d all be dead.”
I noticed the tables filling up around us, and fought back a smile. They’d come to like the witches. They just needed some time.
“We couldn’t have fought it?” I wanted to be extra clear.
She shook her head. “Not and lived.”
“So what do we do?”
“That’s what we’ve been talking about,” Cosette said. “The fey have magic, but anything that could counter demons was lost a long time ago.”
“We need to find ancient white magic again,” Elsa said.
“Where would we even start?” I asked.
“Peru,” said a voice behind me. I turned to see Muraco. His wrinkles were a little more defined today. Was it a result of the fight or was he aging that rapidly?
“Peru?” I asked.
“The Incas were supposedly deep into both the dark and the light. Some say their white witches fought the lords of the underworld, but there’s no way to know whether that’s true,” Claudia said.
“It’s true,” Muraco said. “But finding mages who know the old ways and getting them to show you their magic—that will be no easy task.”
I chewed on my lip. Going to South America sounded like a terrible idea. I’d been through an ordeal, and I needed to rest before Luciana came back with reinforcements. I wanted that time with Dastien. And when the full moon came, we needed to be here to finish our bonding ceremony.
Plus, I couldn’t leave with Luciana gathering more support. The vampires would be back. And who knew what was going on with the wolves who’d taken off.
There was no way I could go. “I can’t. It’s impossible—”
“Who says it has to be you?” Muraco pulled out an empty chair. His knees creaked as he settled down.
I opened and closed my mouth a few times. I’d been the one on the spot so many times these past few weeks, I’d just assumed it would be me. Which was totally egotistical. “No one.” I tilted my head. “Who then?”
“Claudia De Santos. You were born of magic. I think the mages will like you.”
She scooted away from the table, her chair screeching against the floor. “Me? No. I’m nothing special. I help others with their magic. That’s what I do. I enhance others.”
That was true. Back when I first met her, my bond with Dastien hadn’t been that strong. She’d helped me strengthen my own abilities so I could find him when he was in the vampires’ den. Plus she’d seriously come through for me with the jars. If I hadn’t gotten my powers back when I did, I might not be sitting here.
Yvonne laughed. “And you think that means you don’t have power?”
“I…I…yes?” Claudia said. Her face was pale as she looked from Muraco to Yvonne to me and back again. “But saving us is Tessa’s path.”
“No. Tessa’s path is to serve as the leader of all. An ambassador that each community can look to for guidance,” Muraco said. “But she can’t guide the packs and covens at the same time.”
I clapped my hands. “Thank you. Thank you. Finally someone with some sanity.”
“That’s not getting you out of your position,” Muraco said.
I stopped clapping. Now that was a major downer. “Right.”
“I will take you back with me to Peru, and then we will go our separate ways. You will find the answers in the mountains.”
“I’ll go with her,” Raphael said.
“The mages in my country appreciate spiritual quests, but those are solitary things,” Muraco said. “This is something Claudia must do on her own.”
Raphael narrowed his gaze at Muraco, but Claudia placed her hand on his arm, stopping the argument before it started.
“Yes. She’s been hiding her light,” Yvonne said to Raphael, patting his hand. “It’s time for her to find it. And in doing so, she’ll find the answers to save us.”
Claudia looked at me with wide eyes, slowly shaking her head. “I feel for you,” I said. “I really do. But I have to say, I’m glad it’s you instead of me this time.”
“This is going to be a disaster,” Claudia said, rubbing her forehead.
Two arms wrapped around my neck, nearly pulling me out of my chair. “You took too long,” Meredith said.
I laughed, and slapped at her arms. “You’re choking me.”
“Serves you right. Ignoring me.”
The rest of the gang pulled chairs up to the table as I made introductions. Dastien disappeared for a second, but came back with a plate of food.
“I’ve been watching how much the Weres are eating,” Claudia said. “You really weren’t getting enough food.”
“Tessa,” Dastien growled.
“Tattletale,” I said to Claudia. “I was doing fine.”
“Maybe that’s why you were feeling so dizzy,” Claudia said.
“Maybe. Or it could’ve been because of the gris-gris Luciana planted in my bed. Or the whole stripping my powers thing. Or the stress. I mean I’ve been told stress is hell on the body.”
Dastien pushed back from the table. “I’m getting you some more food.”
I rolled my eyes. “See what you’ve done. He’s going to be a pain in my ass.” I leaned back in my chair and watched as the two groups mingled.
They’d fought together, but when I got to the cafeteria, the witches had been sitting isolated. Now, I was back and everyone was hanging out like old friends.
Maybe Muraco was right. Maybe I did have a bigger role to play. Bringing people together didn’t sound bad at all.
Dastien came back with two trays. “Eat.” He was still growling.
“I’m already full. We ate before we got here aaaaand I already ate another tray full of food.”
He stared at me, eyes glowing yellow.
I’m okay. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.
He pulled me out of my chair and placed me on his lap. I don’t think you get it. I can’t do this without you. I tried, but I was a mess. I don’t know when my world started to revolve around you—around us—so much, but it does. And you almost died. So you’ll have to excuse me if I try to feed you a little more because I heard that while you were away, you’d been starving yourself.
That’s not true, I said through the bond. I wasn’t starving myself.
Well, you weren’t eating enough.
I sighed. His panic and distress beat against me, and I pressed my forehead to his. All right. I’ll eat.
He brushed his lips against mine. “Thank you.”
I tried to move back into my own chair, but he held me tight. “Okay. Guess I’m eating from here then.” I went to grab the fork, but he did it for me, making a huge bite of roast beef and some mashed potatoes. “Okay, mister. This is where I draw the line. You’re being ridiculous. Give me the fork.”
His chest rumbled with laughter, but he didn’t hand it over.
“Seriously. You’re not feeding me in front of everyone. It’s embarrassing. Give me the fork.” I tried to reach for it and he moved his hand.
His chuckled, and I dug my fingers into his sides. “Give me the damned fork.” He dropped it as I hit his ticklish spot. His chuckles turned into full-on belly laughs.
I snatched up the fork, and took a bite. Everyone at the table was watching us.
“You’ve made us a spectacle. I hope you’re happy.”
He nuzzled my neck. “Very happy.”
Claudia quickly looked away, but I caught the hint of sadness in her gaze. I couldn’t help remembering her douchebag fiancé. She obviously wanted what I had. Honestly, I wanted everyone to have what I had.
Okay, so maybe not the whole insane, dark witch after me or the vampire attacks or the werewolves on a power trip, but the mate thing…that was the best.
And the friends weren’t so bad.
All in all, I was lucky. Lucky to be alive. To have the family and friends that I did.
To have Dastien.
War was coming, and until it was here, I planned to enjoy every minute I had with the people I loved the most.