Broom with a View (27 page)

“Isn’t it?” Lady Wilberforce asked, sounding as if his statement was news to her.

“It’s about ridding the world
of the blight of the undead,” the professor raged. “The longer the war goes on, the more Vampires are wiped out until one day, hopefully very soon, the world will be purified. And then we Crafters can take the power that has been denied us since the middle ages.”

“Well, I see no reason to attack young women in the meantime,” Cyril said, attempting to pull the dead weight of Mr. B’s body off his fiancée. “It’s not like Violet has anything to do with it.”

“She has everything to do with it!” Professor Yog thundered, slamming the bottom of his staff against the floor and sending a shock wave across the room. “Her and that stupid Vampire she’s so in love with. Do you have any idea what would happen if she wasn’t engaged to you? Do you have any idea the magic that would be created if she were free to love whom she choose? The world that your mother and I have worked so hard to create would crumble. Is that what you want?” the old man croaked.

“Well, I thank you to remember she is my fiancée,” Cyril said rather stiffly, “and she has my protection.” He finally managed to roll Mr. B to one side and reached down to help Miss Popplewell to her feet. “Are you quite al
l right, my dear? I think, perhaps, I should escort you to your room.”

“Oh, would you stop that already?” Lady Wilberforce snapped at her son. “You’re acting the fool. Don’t you understand that the girl knows too much? We can’t have her blabbing everything she’s found out to anyone who will listen.”

The young man turned to look at his mother with an uncommon scrutiny. “You can’t mean…” he said, unwilling to even finish the sentence.

“I know you like her, darling, but it can’t be helped,” Lady Wilberforce told him in a sympathetic voice. “You’re still young. You’ll find another girl. And next time she can be a Mortal girl. Won’t that be nice?”

“But…” Cyril gasped, his hands trembling. “But you can’t.”

“I know it will be hard at first, darling, but you must trust me when I say, you will love again.” When her son still did not promptly move from Miss Popplewell’s side, the lady began to grow impatient. “Step away from Miss Popplewell, dear. Professor Yog will make it quick. I promise.” When Cyril still didn’t react to her words, she commanded, “Cyril, I said to step away from that Witch this very instant. Do as I say. I’m your mother.”

Looking down, Mr. Wilberforce removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. He released a long, soul-weary sigh. Then, looking back up and meeting Violet’s eye, he said in a quiet voice, “Miss Popplewell, however much this will cause me pain, I release you from our engagement.”

Chapter 26: Miss Popplewell Enjoys Her Newfound Freedom

It was as if a heavy weight had been pressing down on Violet’s chest and she didn’t even know it was there until it was lifted. “Thank you, Mr. Wilberforce,” she said while dusting the rubble from her skirts. “I hope that we can at least part friends.”

“But of course,” Cyril said, actually looking stalwart for the first time in the young lady’s eyes. “That goes without question.”

“Would you please do me a favo
ur and remove Mr. B to a place of safety?” Violet asked.

“It would be my pleasure to assist you,” Mr. Wilberforce told her with a small bow. “But what will you do?”

Miss Popplewell drew her wand from her pocket, a look of grim determination crossing her face. “I must attend to Professor Yog.”

Just then
, the old Warlock slammed the end of his staff against the floor again, the red angry eye at the tip emitting a fireball that went hurdling straight at their heads. Violet swiped at it with her wand, using a heavy blast of air to redirect it away from where they were standing; the glob of molten lava blasted a hole through the wall behind them.

“Professor Yog,” Lady Wilberforce said in a tone of remonstration. “I will thank you to remember that Cyril is my son
, and I would appreciate it if he wasn’t killed.”

“Well then
, get your boy out of here,” the professor hissed. “I have no patience for young men who don’t listen to their mothers.” With that, he rammed his staff to pound the floor again, the red ruby spitting another flaming projectile towards Miss Popplewell. She used her wand to split it in half, the flames passing within mere inches of either side of her head, licking at her face. There was the smell of singed hair all about her.

Realizing that the best way for her to protect Cyril and Mr. B was for her to move away from them, Violet made a dash for the stairs. She knew there was quite a bit of ivy along the south side of the house
, and she figured she could exit the mansion via a convenient window. Professor Yog had other ideas. He used his staff to obliterate the staircase when she was only halfway up. The girl barely had time to leap to safety, zapping a parasol out of thin air to shield herself from the falling wood and plaster.

“Stop it, this instant!” Lady Wilberforce commanded. “You are destroying my house.” Paying her no heed, the professor took out an archway that led into the dining
room, cutting off that avenue of escape. “Eggbert!” The lady stepped forwards and slapped the old man smartly across the face. “I will not stand here and have you destroy my home. There are other ways to dispose of Miss Popplewell.”

Professor Yog turned to engage Lady Wilberforce, his eyes black and shiny like the eyes of a serpent. He smiled at her
, and a forked tongue appeared between his withered lips. “I think you should leave now,” he said in a voice that echoed with an unspoken threat.

“Cyril, say goodbye to Miss Popplewell. We must be going,” Lady Wilberforce said with a business
-like air as she turned to head towards the front hall.

“Take this,” Violet said, shoving the protection parasol at Mr. Wilberforce.

“I’m not leaving without you,” Cyril said, thrusting his chin out to the point that it almost appeared prominent.

“Get out!” Professor Yog thundered, releasing a firebolt that blasted a hole through the side of the mansion revealing a patch of the
neighbour’s lawn. The aftershock caused the whole structure to quiver all around them for a moment, the way water ripples across a still pond when a stone is thrown.

“I should probably go,” Cyril said.

“There’s your exit,” Violet told him, nodding towards the opening.

“Goodbye, darling,” Mr. Wilberforce said before hot footing it after his mother, who was already waiting at the front door.

Say what one will about Lady Wilberforce, but she wasn’t going to leave her house by crawling out of an opening in the rubble. There was no servant to attend her, which vexed her greatly, so she turned to her son and stared him down until he remembered himself and opened the front door so she could leave with dignity.

With the Wilberforces out of the way and the house already starting to burn, Professor Yog saw no reason to be burdened with self
-restraint. He began relentlessly pummeling Miss Popplewell with fireball after fireball. “This is all your own fault, you know,” the professor shouted at her during the onslaught. “You couldn’t stick to your own kind. You couldn’t fall in love with a nice Crafter. Instead, you had to taint yourself. The thought of you makes me sick. You and your fanged lover.”

Violet was able to repel blast after blast from Professor Yog’s staff, but it was taking a toll. She was being driven back step by step, her dress half seared off, her hair charred and smoking. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she protested. “I have no Vampire love. You know yourself that up until a few moments ago I was engaged to Mr. Wilberforce
, and he is a Mortal.”

Professor Yog slammed the end of his staff onto
the floor again, but this time, instead of aiming the ball of molten rock towards Miss Popplewell, he blasted a hole in the ceiling over her head. Violet had not anticipated this move and was caught off guard. She had given away her parasol and was not prepared to deflect the lumber that came crashing down on her. She only managed to fire off a weak deflection spell that barely saved her from the worst of the rubble. A large piece of timber crashed onto the shoulder and arm of her wand-bearing hand. The wand itself was knocked free and went skittering across the room.

“I’m as good as dead,” Violet thought
—she had never been any good at doing magic without the aid of her grandmother’s wand.

The creature that was Professor Yog released a gleeful laugh. “This will be the end for you, young lady,” he rasped, his serpent
’s tongue slicing the air like a whip. “There’s nothing I enjoy more than snuffing out a Vamp lover. Except for maybe staking the undead themselves.”

Blood was pouring from the side of Miss Popplewell’s mouth and
from a wound at her temple. She couldn’t move her arm that had been hit by the falling wood and could see a bit of bone protruding at her shoulder. Not that it mattered at that point; she knew in another few seconds she would be dead. She felt the protection charm she had placed on the house starting to crackle and fade; the pin fell off the back of Lady Wilberforce’s brooch; the roses in the garden started dropping petals; her magic was slipping away, and so was her life.

Standing over her, Professor Yog was apparently enjoying watching her die. Violet could tell that a part of the creature was feeding off her suffering. “Goodbye, Miss Popplewell,” the demon said. “I hope you make better choices in the next world than you have in this one.” He raised his staff high in the air, apparently intending to smash it down upon her. Violet closed her eyes and prayed to the Mother Goddess that it would be over quickly.

The professor let out a mighty roar, but it was the sound of frustration not the sound of a being about to deliver a death blow. Violet could not help but open her eyes. She did so just in time to see Sebastian flying through the air with the professor’s staff clutched in one hand. The Vampire flapped his beautiful bat wings, rising higher in the air. Then he smashed the end of the staff against the ceiling, shattering the red jewel into dust.

“You imbecile!” the demon professor howled. “That staff has been in my family for a thousand years.”

“Then it’s a good thing the world is finally rid of it,” Sebastian told him, snapping the wood of the staff across his knee and flinging the pieces to the ground. The Vampire flashed a triumphant smile, his fangs fully extended.

An ugly laugh parted the professor’s shrivelled lips. “Did you really think that silly trifle was the source of my power?” he asked, causing Sebastian’s grin to slip. “That staff was nothing. Just an heirloom I used as a wand. But I don’t need it to do magic,” he informed the Vampire. “For me, one wand is just as good as another.” Stooping, he snatched Violet’s wand up from the floor. “Oh
, look,” he crowed. “Now I have another one. And your poor little girlie is helpless without it.” With that, he directed a beam of sunlight directly at the Vampire.

Sebastian dodged the blast, but he wasn’t quite fast enough and took part of the ray to his face, shoulder
, and right wing, which shrivelled and caused him to tumble to the ground.

“No!” Violet gasped, dragging herself over to where Sebastian lay crumpled. “Professor Yog, you don’t need to do this. He doesn’t know anything. He’s just trying to protect me because…” she looked down at Sebastian, who was gazing up at her, eyes wide with pain, “because he accidentally got caught up in a love charm.”

“But I told you,” Sebastian whispered. “Love charms don’t work on Vampires. I do truly love you.”

“I know,” Violet said, a silver tear sliding down her cheek. “I love you, too.” And she knew, deep within her heart of hearts, it was true.

“Love charms?” Professor Yog asked, scoffing at the notion. “Is that what you think magic is for? You little idiot.” He was standing over both of them, Violet’s wand clenched in his hand. “You waste your powers on spells and enchantments. That’s not why we Crafters have magic. The only pure use of magic is to kill Vampires. Let me demonstrate.” With that, he raised the wand high in the air and sent a powerful incineration spell directly at Sebastian.

“No!” Violet shouted. During that split second, Miss Popplewell realized what she was about to lose
—a love so rare and pure that most Crafters only got to read about it in fairytales.

She had no wand, it was true, and she was known to be hopeless with magic, but Miss Violet Popplewell had something to fight for and that gave her a strength she never knew she possessed. At the exact moment that Professor Yog released his searing ray of sun at Sebastian, Violet reached deep within herself and summoned the ultimate protection spell.