Of Witches and Warlocks: The Complete Series

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

I was shaking violently, and Brad wrapped his arm around me.

"We'll find him, don't worry!" he said, trying to comfort me while Dad peeled out of the parking lot and onto the dark road.

"Vance!" I screamed at him in my mind. "Don't you dare do this!" I knew he could hear me.

"I have to, Portia!" he answered immediately. "They'll kill her if I don't go!"

"Vance, they want to drink your blood! You could die, too! This is just a lure to get you there!" I argued with him.

My dad caught my expression in the rearview mirror. "Are you talking to him?" he shouted at me while we sped along.

I nodded.

"You tell him to pull that car over right now and wait for us! That's an order!"

I relayed the message, sure that Vance heard every word himself, but desperate to try anything to get him to stop.

"Portia," he said back to me, calmer than I'd heard him in a while. "I love you, baby, but I have to do this." The dreaded wall was instantly back in place between us, and I could hear nothing but dead silence.

"He cut me off!" I cried out, my voice catching. Glancing out the window, I could easily see the moon was almost in full eclipse on the horizon.

Speeding out of town, Dad drove recklessly. The road became increasingly narrower as we worked our way up into some small hills, finally pulling into a parking area. The car Vance had driven was parked in front of us, the driver's door hanging wide open.

Eyes following the trail, I saw Vance running up the hill at full speed toward the raised stone circle at the top.

"Get out!" I yelled at Brad, shoving him out of the car, and climbing over the top of him, taking off after Vance. I heard the others running behind me, but I didn't turn to look at their progress, only caring about Vance in front of me.

Black-cloaked figures stood around a raging bonfire in the center of the ancient stones. A white clad figure was draped, unmoving, across a large recumbent stone that resembled an altar. I was too far away to see who it was, but I instinctively knew it was Krista. Instantly, I wondered if she had been drugged.

Vance was approaching the steps that led up into the ring. Raising his hands, he breached the circle, streams of fire arcing from him, incinerating four demons instantly as he passed, two on either side. Not pausing, he ran straight to the recumbent stone, jumping up on one of the smaller rocks beside it. Quickly, he shoved Krista off the other side of the altar, out of the circle and out of harm's way, before turning to face the rest of his attackers.

A few yards away from the steps when he turned to face the others, I saw the flash of a knife, an involuntary scream ripped from my lips as Fiona slammed it into his chest, right into his heart.

Stumbling to my knees, I grabbed my own chest in pain as blood spray from him. Some of it gurgled up out of his mouth, and he registered a look of surprise, falling backward onto the altar.

I heard the others stop short behind me with a gasp.

Douglas flipped his hood back, leaning over to drink the pumping blood straight from Vance's chest. Fiona quickly produced the box we had been trying so hard to find, flipping it open and setting it next to Vance on the altar.

To my surprise, Vance slowly lifted his head, his eyes flaming red now. I watched in amazement as his teeth lengthened into uneven fangs, something I hadn't seen since his near conversion. It was also something we assumed he had been cured of. Apparently the demon blood in him was still running full and strong.