Blackwater (27 page)

I nod and walk back down to the water where they're still fighting. I see lightning and sparks shoot from the waves. I have a remarkable feeling inside of me. I walk to the tree near the water and clasp my hands around a small branch. I close my eyes for a moment and when I look there is a branch in my hand.

I stand on the shores and call them, "Ancient witches, sisters and mothers, come to me. Fill me with the love and the light of the one power. I call upon you mother earth and father god; I call upon you mother moon and father son. Bless with the powers of the old." I take a step into the water and feel it as my feet hit the muddy banks. The water churns and stirs.

"Mighty mothers of old, witches of the earth and the fire and the water and the air, fill me." The winds pick up and spin around me. I see my momma and Maria stop thrashing. They bob in the murky waters, watching in silence. The water joins the spinning air and becomes a tornado of water. Dirt flies from the banks of the swamp and becomes debris floating on the water and air. Lastly a strike of lightning shoots from the sky, landing in the tornado surrounding us. We are locked within the huge electric walls of water and dirt and air.

My hair is whipping around my face and my dress is nearly being ripped off of me. The force of the winds is incredible. Momma is frozen with scratches and bruises on her face. Maria has beat the tar outta her.

It would make me smile if everything weren’t turning into a pile of crap in front of my very eyes.

I look at the faces of my momma and Maria and I know, instantly I know what I have to do. A slow smile crosses my face.

Maria sees it and nods once.

I hold the stick out at them and scream, "ETERNITY YOU SHALL SPEND AS THE SPIRIT THAT YOU BROKE. RETURN THE SOUL TO THE BODY THAT YOU STOLE!"

Momma's eyes widen. She shoves Maria and tries to shoot me with fire but the water leaps up and douses it. The tornado reaches into the circle we are inside of and grabs Momma and Maria. They spin and scream inside of the walls that are spinning. I catch glimpses of them flying past me.

The screams become shrieks and then they stop. The wind stops and the mud and water drops back into the swamps all at once. I see the white of my momma's leg fall into the water as the air stops.

My chest is heaving and my breath is the only sound in the whole swamp. I turn to see Whit's confused face and the peaceful look of Grandmamma.

"Lorelei?" I cringe when I hear my name spoken from her lips but when I turn to face her I see it instantly. She isn’t my momma. She is and she isn’t. She's my aunt Maria.

Momma stands up from the water and splashes. She screams and howls but the swamp forms into hands and they pull her down into the black water. I shudder at the sight of it all and start to back up. I want out of the water. The feeling of the power leaving me makes me shiver. I wrap my arms around myself and creep backwards. Maria smiles sweetly at me.

"You saved me." Her accent is thick. She ain't ashamed of it the way Momma was. "What time is it?"

I shrug.

"She killed me at 2:47 last time. I just wanna know what time it'll be that she is her strongest."

I shudder and remember waking at 2:47 every night.

I'm about to reply back when I realize what has happened. I turn back around and shake my head, "What about Emily? Is she being murdered right now?"

Whit nods, "We need to get back."

I run for the car. My aunt and Whit follow. I climb in and start it. Whit gives me a look. I frown, "What?"

He motions with his hand, "Shove over. I don’t ride bitch."

My jaw drops. The southern girl inside of me is stunned and the me from before is annoyed. "So you think I do?"

He nods and shoves me over. I sit bitch and fume. Maria/momma climbs in and laughs, "This is weird. My hands are so real - not like before where I have to force them to be real."

Whit gives me a sideways glance, "This is going to be fun, listening to all the new experiences she has."

I scowl as she climbs in the backseat of the car and closes the door.

He drives fast, revving the engine. I'm glad we aren’t in my truck anymore.

We skid into the driveway, under the oak alley. I smile when I see the house looking so nice until I see the smoke rising from the roof. My stomach starts to twinge and cramp. He stops the car.

I climb out and notice the way it feels, just like before. The night is dark and the air is thick. The romance of the evening lingers in the smell. The horrors linger in the thick smoke and fog that hover over the house like a blanket of bad omens.

I snap my fingers making the sparks - only now they are charged lightning bolts that strike the ground like my footsteps do. I climb the front steps, past the pillars of the front door. I can feel the pain and screams still lingering in the fog, like I can taste it there.

I open the front door and instantly have to fight the pain and agony of the sights I see. Em and Daddy are dead on the ground, both bled dry. Whit shoves past me and picks her up. He looks back at me and shakes his head. "We gotta get her to consecrated grounds. She needs to rest for a couple days."

He turns and walks for the doorway. When he gets to the front porch he slams into something I can't see.

He bounces back, staggering. I walk forward and through the spot where he was stopped. He tries again but again he bounces back.

I whisper, "The spell is still there. Momma cast the spell stopping her from leaving the grounds."

Maria is roaming the grounds, touching everything she sees and marveling at her body. I roll my eyes and walk to where he is. I take the limp, cold hand of my dead sister in mine and feel the words come. They rise up like they're crawling out of me.

"Mother earth and father god, come to me with love and light. Protect your child as I cast my will around her." Energy shoots from my hands into hers. Her skin warms slightly as I say it.

"Lands of mine and my kin, erase the deeds and magic within, take the words and deed done by one whose heart is cruel and transfer them all to her."

Energy and power shoot from the ground up my legs and into my hands. I feel my head snap back, as light shoots from my mouth and around the house. It makes a dome of light around the whole property. The dome lights up and sparkles like it's fizzling out. I'm instantly exhausted and hear a whisper inside of my mind about conserving my energies.

The spell becomes a single ball of light that shoots off into the distance. I look at Whit. He grins, "Spooky."

I laugh. He walks across the threshold and down the stairs.

The mound of dirt she is under bothers me. He swears she needs to be buried, but I'm not convinced.

"Three days," he whispers when he sees me eyeballing it.

I shake my head, "She's gonna be pissed when she wakes up and finds herself in a shallow grave."

He laughs, "Better than being dead."

I look at him and wonder, "You don’t remember anything from before? The way it was before the Ari girl changed the time?"

He shakes his head, "No. I've heard about them, the time changers. She must be half angel, especially if she's with the Roses."

My brow lowers, "Angel?"

His dark eyes flash, "If you only knew about the things out there. I've seen rogue killings so many times. The vampires are always clueless of the fact the Roses don't like what we are. As long as we kill the guilty and evil they don’t say anything, but rogue killing is frowned upon. They'll kill you, they have the right to. It's best to leave them alone and stay out of their path." He shakes his head, "I don't like that you're on their radar."

I frown, "That must be how I evaded them before; I never rogue killed anyone except the old people in the cabin. I was always careful to kill evil people. I could feel them, like their sins made their blood different."

He smirks, "It's meant to be that way. You aren’t meant to be killing innocents."

I look at the mound of dirt, "What if she doesn’t like killing evil and wants innocents?"

He lies on his back in the grass of the cemetery we found, "Not sure. What can we do? We have to keep her safe. We have to force her to feed the right way."

I nod and watch him lying there, "You killed Ramón."

"I did. I never said I was innocent of rogue killing. I try to keep it to a minimum. Besides he was a witch."

I chew my lip and think on it, "I never saved him. I saved Tessa and Maria and Angie and Em but not him."

He smiles and reaches for me, "You did your best. You only had one shot at fixing it."

I smile at him and notice the strangest feelings for him. It's like I can't help but love him, like it grew since the last time we were alone. I look around at the tombs and headstones and wonder if it’s the death surrounding us. Is the morbidity of what's in the air making me hot? Does that happen to witch vamps? My love for him is increasing by the second. I'm about to grin and say something risqué but I hear footsteps.

Maria walks up looking upset. "I've been looking all over the bayou for y'all."

"What's wrong?" I ask.

She holds her hands out, blood stains her white skin. "She killed me. She done killed me again."

I frown, "How?"

She shakes her head, "She came in the night and made me cut my own wrists. I think she has a claim on the body still, like she possessing me." Her bayou accent is so thick.

"Are you a ghost?" I ask, before I realize she is solid and not in the bayou where she most likely died.

She shakes her head again, "No. I died in the woods and then I woke and I'm this. My skin is burning and I could drink a lake dry. Feels like cotton's in my mouth." Her mannerisms are so different than my mother's were.

I give Whit a sideways glance. He groans, "I knew it. I felt you hours ago. Shit."

"She's a vampire?" I ask.

His red face and annoyed look answer the question for him. He has me and Em and Tessa and Angie now. Angie and Em are in the dirt. He will be able to track us all, sense us all. I wonder if it's like a constant noise in his mind.

He's up and dragging her away from the grave before I can say anything else. He seems grouchy about the whole thing.

I get distracted by the night that's dark and thick. I can feel it brushing against me like a painter on a canvas. Something about the dank air is making me get lost in thought, forget about the other problems we have.

A voice interrupts my thoughts, "Finally. I thought he'd never leave."

I gasp when I see the handsome face of Marcus. I frown, "What are you doing here?"

He grins and sits on the grass where I'm lying waiting for Em and Angie to wake up. He looks at the mounds of dirt and scoffs, "He is a brave man, four women to listen to at all times. That sounds rough." He speaks so refined like. His English accent is so opposite Whit's Scottish. I can hear the difference now. Marcus sounds like the queen does when she and her kin speak and Whit sounds like a rugged heathen.

I furrow my brow, "How did you find me?"

He grins at me and I can't stop staring at his lips, "Remember that little thing I got you to say?"

I nod.

"Well, when the switch happened I remembered you because we said those things to each other. Ari's little gift sends you back in time, but you never know what changed or happened. She sends you back blank unless a vampire compels you to remember."

I shake my head, "Why? Why would you want to remember me?"

His eyes light up. I'm lost in them, "You're a natural witch with vampire strength. You're blood can make me feel things I haven’t felt in a long time. You aren’t dead, you’re an unending supply of emotions." He smirks, "I have to admit I admire Whit for doing it. It’s smart, getting a witch to love you and changing her halfway. Not a lot of us would have thought of it."

My stomach starts to feel funny. It’s already sensitive since I changed the other night. I don’t know what he means, and for whatever reason; I can't defy him in thought or action. I want to obey him.

"What are you?" I ask.

He grins, "Dracula."

My brain works slowly, "Like the book?"

He nods, "Like the book." He holds a hand out for me, "Now are you going to let me taste that blood of yours?"

My hand is already moving towards his before he finishes the sentence. He takes my hand in his and licks up my wrist. I shudder from it. He kisses and bites in. Instantly I moan.

The feeling of him sucking is intense. His lips are magic. My eyes are closed and my thighs are pressed together before I realize how shameful I'm being.

He drags me to him, snuggling his body against mine. "That’s it, Lorelei. Let me have you," he speaks softly. I moan into his embrace as his fangs bite into my neck. He draws the blood and I nearly orgasm in his arms. "Did Whit make you wish anything before you changed?"

I nod into his embrace and warmth.

"What?"

My eyes open with force. I mumble, "He asked me to love him forever."

He laughs, "What a cheeky fucker," and suddenly I'm unaware of exactly what's going on. He's there one minute and then gone the next. His whisper hovers on the wind, "I'll come for you."