~BOOK 4/PART ONE~ Paranormal: The Battle's Only Just Begun (Multi-Bandom FanFic)

Chapter 23

Rachael's eyes fluttered open and pain immediately shot through her entire body, her stomach in knots and a pounding in her head. She groaned and wrapped her hands around her torso, her body curling up and falling to the ground with a thud.

"Rachael," Patrick's voice hit her ear. The witch turned her head and watched him stand up from the office chair he had been sitting in, setting aside what she recognized to be one of their many photo albums and rushing over to her. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Like I'm being eaten alive," She croaked, hugging her body even tighter as the pain intensified. Rachael screamed in pain and Patrick jerked forward, wanting to reach out to her but refraining from doing so. Her breaths were rapid and short, and she had broken out into a cold sweat.

"W-What do you want me to do?" He stammered as the love of his life moaned and tried to pull herself up from the ground, only to have another shot of pain surge through her veins and freeze her in place on her hands and knees. "Rachael, what's going on?"

"Guilt..." The witch choked out, "...spell...guilt eats..." She never finished her explanation, her back curling like that of a cat's.

"What?"

"There's a spell that only elite witches can cast that makes a person's guilt eat them alive, literally," Rachael rattled off before closing her eyes shut in pain, tears streaming down her cheeks. She'd never experienced such pain in her entire life, not even when she gave birth to Halsey.

"W-Well how do we reverse it?" He inquired. The witch shook her head, biting her lip to keep herself from shouting again so hard that it began to bleed. "Rach, come on, you've got to talk to me."

"I CAN'T!" She screamed at him, punching the ground so hard that the wood beneath her fists sunk in, the old planks breaking.

"Yes you can. I have faith in you."

Rachael ripped her hands out from the ground and turned, placing them on the edge of the couch as she tried to - once again - bring herself up. "You're a liar!" She shouted, using the anger that ripped through her to gain her footing, "You lost faith in me years ago!"

The vampire heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "You know, Rach, now's not a good time to bring that bullshit up."

"Brendon!" The witch yelled, tilting her head down as she tried to control her breathing and stop the sweat dripping out of every orifice in her body.

"Or him," Patrick muttered.

"No, he...he's...he's one of them!" She cried, her knees shaking.

"Rachael, you're not making any sense!"

"I NEED HIM!" The witch screamed before coughing up a clump of blood and spitting it onto the couch. She held onto the back of the piece of furniture, trying to catch her breath and explaining, "He...He can reverse this."

"How can he reverse this? He doesn't know shit!"

"Patrick," She warned him not to start to argue, glaring over her shoulder at him, "Don't question me. You're the one who doesn't know shit, now go get him for fuck's sake!"

*****

"Finally," Patrick stated while opening the door, allowing Brendon to walk in holding an old-fashioned doctor's bag. The wizard instantly looked into the room, the furniture covered in Rachael's blood, an odd mix of red and black, her dark side coming out once or twice while Patrick had left the room to call Brendon. The witch was sitting before the desk, leaning against the front of it with the side of her head resting on the smooth cherry wood and her legs extended out to the side.

"Holy shit, what happened?" He questioned while rushing up to Rachael and checking the areas where blood was escaping.

"I think Nat..." She tried to explain before choking on more blood and spitting it out, this clot being black. Rachael tiredly wiped her wrist across her mouth, the black liquid smearing across her cheek, and muttered, "...I think she cast a spell on me...or slipped a potion into my drink or food. One or the other."

"Why would she do that?" He inquired, pulling a few herbs out of his bag.

"Probably so she could have you all to herself," The witch mumbled, the corner of her lip perking up into a weak smirk. His eyes narrowed as he met her gaze.

"I know you like to make jokes when things get serious, Rach, but now's a really bad time for your jokes," He scolded her while plucking a few leaves and petals off of the herbs and placing them inside a mortar, crushing the leaves up. Rachael rolled her eyes and sat there as he took a silver liquid out of his bag and poured it in with the ground materials. Her eyes found their way to Patrick's to see him standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest and an almost jealous expression marking his face. "So you think Nat did this?" The wizard asked her.

"Who else would?" Rachael replied bluntly, returning her attention to him.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe it was me."

"I'm sure it was," The witch murmured sarcastically, causing a small grin to appear on the wizard's face as he poured a new potion into a shot glass then handed it to her.

"Just drink up, Rach."

She slowly brought her hand up and took the small cup into her possession, looking at the cure for a little before shifting her gaze up to Brendon.

"What are you waiting for? Drink it."

Rachael swallowed the lump in her throat and brought the shot glass up to her lips, downing the concoction in one swift sip. The witch shoved the glass back to him as she brought her knees into her chest and buried her face in between them, instant relief washing over her.

"Quite a nasty spell if you ask me," Brendon mumbled as he dropped the empty glass back into his bag.

"Real question is what I did to deserve it," Rachael whispered, refusing to look up at him.

"You can go now, Brendon," Patrick interjected, attracting the wizard's attention, "Your services are no longer needed."

"Well I have to wait and see if the antidote actually works," He argued, zipping his bag up and sitting back, using his arms for support, "Sometimes they don't work and I don't want to leave Rachael here all alone. You don't want me to leave you here all alone, Rachael, do you?"

The witch remained silent, not wanting to give an answer.

"I'm sure we'll be fine, Brendon," Patrick stressed.

"Are you sure, Patrick? Because there's a lot of blood in here. What if you lose yourself again? It's happened once before, in fact, it's happened lots of times before. I don't think it's safe for me to leave."

"Guys, stop," Rachael mumbled, lifting her head up and looking at the two of them, "Please."

"What were you even doing here, Rach?" Brendon asked her.