Burkheart Witch Saga Book 2 (9 page)

K
ayla stood in the kitchen
, sipping her herbal tea while she made two egg white omelets filled with ham and cheese for lunch. She and David had stayed in bed until almost noon, enjoying just holding each other and watching television.

David came downstairs after finishing his shower, to find his meal plated and ready to eat. Kayla sat down and poured herself a large glass of milk. She was determined to make this afternoon as normal as possible.

In between bites of cheese-filled eggs, David used the protection potion Kayla had brewed to anoint the top of his head and the soles of his feet. He helped Kayla do the same, since she had been unable to reach her feet for several months now.

She stood up to slip on her already laced tennis shoes, and that's when it happened. A rush of sticky liquid came flooding out from under the maternity tunic she was wearing. It seemed to her that a water balloon had hit the floor with a splash, but this was no regular water.

"Something's wrong," she said as she looked at David pleadingly. David surveyed the situation and looked at his panicking wife.

"Your water broke," he said with a smile.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. The baby is on its way."

"What the hell are we going to do?"

"Have a baby, I guess," David said, shrugging his shoulders.

"We have to get to the hospital."

"We can't leave, Kayla. They're already out there, and we have no way to get there or even to call."

"Whoa," she shouted suddenly, holding her belly as a contraction seized her body and squeezed her abdomen like a lemon in a press. David checked his watch, timing the contractions.

"We are going to have to do this here, like the old days, baby." He smoothed her hair back and took hold of her hand.

"Shit." The combination of pain and fear drove her to tears.

"The wolves are still waiting outside. I looked out the window, and I could see them hiding in the bushes. I can't figure out why they don't just smash the windows and come inside. What the hell are they waiting for?"

"Carolyn is what they're waiting for. Even though the wolves are here, Carolyn is running the show."

David retrieved some towels from the hall closet and began to clean the mess on the kitchen floor.

"Whoo!" Another contraction rocked her body and David checked his watch.

"Five minutes."

"What does that mean?" she yelled, on the verge of becoming hysterical.

"It means that we need to get ready, because this baby is coming soon. Just relax, babe. You can do this. Aren't you glad that we went to that natural delivery class?"

"Seriously? You are giving me a freaking
I told you so
right now?" Kayla snapped at him.

"No, honey, I was just saying it's good that I know what to do, that's all." He was trying to be comforting without being condescending. Kayla knew this, but she still found herself getting irritated with everything he was saying.

David took her elbow and began to lead her gently down the hallway toward the guest bedroom.

"I can walk, David," she snapped, again unintentionally.

"I know you can," he replied calmly.

"I'm so sorry. What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Nothing at all." He leaned over and kissed her forehead. This gesture of tenderness made her tears flow even faster.

"I love you, David."

"I love you." He led her into the guest room and made sure that she was situated comfortably in the bed.

"Ah!" Another contraction hit her. She squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth against the pain.

"I'll be right back," David assured her as he left the room to get the supplies he'd need to deliver his own baby. When he returned, Kayla was already in the grasp of another contraction. This time, she let out a small scream of pain. It broke David's heart to see her this way, and to think that his baby would be born trapped in this house by crazy werewolves. He didn't have a lot of time to feel bad, because it seemed that his child was ready to arrive.

Something else seemed to be getting ready, also. As Kayla shouted in pain with every contraction, the unwanted visitors outside began yelping and howling. David glanced out the window and saw the monsters outside making their full transformations as they assaulted the brick house. He wished for a moment that they had not chosen such a remote location for their dream home. A nice suburb would have made the beasts think twice about making such a racket.

The banging on the windows and the constant howling was making it difficult for both Kayla and David to concentrate. Soon enough, concentration was not an issue. The baby was making its way out, and there would be no stopping it.

"Kayla, I think it's time for you to push."

"I can't," she cried, suddenly not wanting any part of giving birth to this baby.

"Yes, you can. Come on now, big push."

Kayla leaned forward, grabbing her knees, and pushed with all of the strength she could muster.

"Great job, honey. I can see the head!" David was crying tears of his own now.

Without prompting, Kayla pushed again, as hard as she could. Her reticence had turned into an overwhelming desire to get this baby out of her body as quickly as possible.

"Ah!" She yelled as she pushed a third time with strength that she didn't even know she had. That was when she heard the first cries of her newborn baby.

"Oh, Kayla! It's a girl!" David yelled from between her legs as he wiped his new baby girl clean and bundled her up in a soft yellow blanket. He used a pair of scissors to cut the umbilical cord and tied it off with a small clip he had retrieved from his office. Once he knew his little girl was breathing and safe, he stood up and handed her over to Kayla.

Kayla felt giddy and exhausted as she took her baby into her arms for the first time.

"Hello, Grace." She wiped away her tears of joy while she greeted the perfect angel that was now the center of her universe. As David finished up, Kayla took inventory. Ten toes, ten fingers, and a soft spray of pale blond hair. David joined her at the head of the bed and pressed his lips to Kayla's forehead.

"You did it. She looks like you, Kayla. She is so beautiful."

"We did it." She could hardly believe that this moment of perfect happiness was occurring in the midst of the cacophony.

Suddenly, she realized the noise had stopped. Besides the soft coos of her new baby, there was no sound whatsoever.

"David?" she asked, but stopped when she realized he had noticed it, too.

"What happened to them?" he asked, even more frightened now.

"I don't know, but I think they're watching us." Kayla reached down and took hold of Grace's tiny little fingers. A sudden jolt shot through her body, and a soft glow radiated from little Grace's fingertips. David and Kayla watched in awe as the glow faded.

Kayla couldn't believe how great she felt. All of the fatigue that had been wearing her down disappeared, and she felt as if she had all the energy in the world. There was no pain.

"Did you do this?" she quietly asked the now sleeping Grace. The only response was a deep baby exhale of contentment as Grace nestled in closer to her. Since letting her hand go, some of the exhilaration had faded, but Kayla still felt wonderful.

While she prepared for Grace's first meal, Kayla wondered what the wolves could possibly be planning.

"
P
lease
, let me go in. She's giving birth to that little monster right now. I can go in and take all three of them out in one shot," he pleaded with his mother.

"Not just yet. You need to be patient. We have to wait for the moon to be completely full for both of us to come into our power. We have no idea what that horrible girl is capable of, and I have no intention of going in there half-cocked," Carolyn scolded her son, making sure to keep a bit of gentleness in her voice. Wolves were volatile, and Carolyn knew that he could turn on her at any second, for any reason.

"I just want them so bad," he whined at her. "They are going to taste so good," he salivated.

"Soon, my darling little boy, the moon will be full in less than two hours, and we will get our revenge."

"You know best, Mother."

When he awakened in the bushes, he felt better about waiting for the kill. Mother really did know best. He treasured the time he was able to spend with her in his dreams, but she had never been able to put him to sleep like she had this time. He wasn't entirely sure that he liked anyone having that much control over him, but he trusted Mother completely. He would do as he was told and wait, as difficult as that might be. The vibrations that accompanied the change had begun. He knew he would begin changing within the hour, and he was having trouble containing his excitement. He lay back down in the bushes and waited for the full change to begin. His pack was in waiting, and they would take out the piece of shit husband. The bitch and her little spawn were going to be his.

Better than cakes and bread
, he thought then closed his eyes and waited.

E
ven though Kayla
didn't want to let her baby go, she knew there was work to be done. The sun was setting, and there wasn't much time to prepare. She got up from the bed with little effort at all. She felt as if she had never even been pregnant, like the stork had delivered a perfect little bundle and she had made no physical effort at all.

"Slow down, honey," David cautioned her, but she waved his concern away.

"I feel great, David. Really great." She smiled. "We need to get ready for them, quickly."

While Kayla carried Grace in her arms, David gathered the potions from the kitchen. The family headed upstairs to barricade themselves in the master bedroom. Kayla and David sketched out a quick plan to deal with the immanent attack and felt that they were somewhat prepared for the invasion.

As soon as the dark began to take over outside the windows, the howls began. Kayla held Grace tightly to her breast. She was so much more afraid now that she had this little person to worry about. Beginning to doubt herself, she took David's hand. They sat on the bed and waited for the battle to begin.

When the crash came from downstairs, Kayla knew the wolves had broken down the front door. Their howls got louder as they made their way deeper into the house searching for her family.

Kayla stood up and headed for the closet, where she gently nestled Grace into a pile of blankets, hoping to keep her safe. She kissed the baby's forehead and felt that electric surge of power once again. Kayla sniffed back her tears and gently closed the closet door as the pack of wolves made their way up the stairs.

"Little pigs?" that familiar voice sang from the hallway. Other raspy voices joined in with the obvious leader.

"Let us come in!" they said, scratching at the bedroom door.

"I can smell your bacon, bitch," the leader snarled.

"Well, then I will huff…," he continued while someone began kicking the bedroom door, trying to knock it down.

"And I'll puff…," he laughed in chorus with the rest of the pack. Another kick jolted the door, and the hinges began to separate from the thick wooden frame.

"And I'll blow your fucking house in!" One last kick and the door separated from the hinges and clattered to the floor in front of Kayla. Four semi-transformed wolves entered the bedroom in a flurry of teeth and fur. Each one of them was snarling, exposing their elongated teeth and transfigured snouts. They turned their attention away from Kayla and settled their sights on David, who stood his ground and showed them no sign of fear.

While the four beasts approached David, Kayla could hear the wet shifting and cracking of their bones as the transformation completed. David took a step back and away from Kayla. When the lupine quartet approached him, he pulled the bottles of potion from his pocket and threw the contents of two of them on the wolves.

The effect was immediate. As the liquid in the bottles came in contact with the four werewolves, it acted like an acid. The smell of burning hair and flesh was sickeningly thick. The first two wolves fell to their knees yelping and whining in pain as David continued to splash the remaining potion on them and the two others behind them.

The first wolf to enter the room had gotten most of the liquid directly to his face. He had covered his searing flesh with his clawed hands and was now trying to pull them away. Along with the flesh of his paws, a large chunk of his cheek also separated from his skull and dangled from his hand like a wet dishcloth. He howled in agony while the potion burned its way through the muscles of his face and ran a course to the inside of his skull. He placed his paws on either side of his head and let out one last deafening howl, falling to the ground in a quickly deteriorating heap. The second wolf had not had a better time of it, and he fell on top of his dead packmate. David continued shaking the potion bottle and found that it was now empty. The last two wolves had received a healthy dose of the potion, but it was not slowing them down as much as the first two.

The wolf on the left stepped on the dead wolves with a loud crunch of the corpses' remaining bones. Kayla felt sick as the bodies made liquid squishing sounds when the wolf's foot sunk into the rapidly decaying flesh. As this wolf reached out toward David, Kayla could see the flesh of his arm and the left side of his face falling off in clumps and sheets. She felt sure he would not be able to make the distance between them without falling apart, but to her horror, she realized she was wrong.

The last wolf fell to the ground, unable to make the journey, softly yipping in pain as his flesh landed in goopy puddles on the carpet. The only one of the four wolves left standing was still trying to close the distance to David, the skin of his leg turning a mottled red and cracking open, gushing more blood onto the carpet. When he reached the spot where David had huddled himself into the corner, he fell to his knees and lashed his claw through the air before finally collapsing, dead.

"David," Kayla yelled as she tried to find a way to reach her husband and make sure that he was unharmed without stepping in a caustic puddle of bubbling werewolf.

"I'm good," David said as he stepped out of the corner of the room. The bodies of the four liquefied wolves created a dangerous acid barricade between the couple, but Kayla could see the ragged fabric of David's shirt as it turned from a light blue to a dark maroon.

"Oh, David," she said as he looked down at the spreading stain.

"Kayla?" David fell to his knees, obviously in shock. As Kayla scrambled over the king-sized bed to help her wounded husband, there was a knock on the ruined doorframe. Kayla jumped up, positioning herself in front of the closet door. David had used the entire werewolf potion, and she was totally defenseless. She assumed a defensive stance and waited for what she hoped was the last intruder. She thought she knew who was about to come through the door and attack her, but the sight of his face momentarily weakened her guard.

"Ray," she said matter-of-factly, glaring directly into his yellow eyes and remembering the attack at the mall, which she had thought mortally wounded him.

"Bingo! What's up, sis?" he said, smiling his bright white toothy grin.

"So, it's true then? Carolyn was a whore for a werewolf? I didn't think any witch would ever slum like that. Not even that disgusting bitch." Kayla was shocked by her own defiance and complete lack of fear.

"Don't you ever talk about my mother that way, you fucking pig!" he roared, obviously surprised by her newfound bravado as well.

"I will talk about her any way I want, fleabag," she taunted.

Ray's anger flared as he completed his transformation.

"Uh, uh." He waved a fur-covered claw in the air and laughed. "I know what you are trying to do, sister. I am not gonna get mad and kill you quickly. I'm going to take my sweet-ass time with you. You're going to get a first-hand look at what your own guts look like." He punctuated this statement with a snap of his powerful jaws.

"We'll see about that." Kayla concentrated all of her magic and waved her arm at Ray, trying to send him flying, but nothing happened. She waved her arm again, but still nothing.

"What's the matter? Your magic doesn't work, huh?" he teased in a mock baby voice.

"Let me tell you a little something, pig. I am wolf and witch. I have strength and power that you have never even dreamed of. Did you think that a tiny little bookmark,
not even silver
, was going to kill me? Nothing can kill me. Did you think that you would be able to do one of your stupid little parlor tricks and I'd just die? You are dead wrong, bitch. Now, you are just going to be dead." He chuckled at his own joke as he moved toward Kayla. She stiffened, not knowing what to do and worrying that Ray would find her baby after he finished killing her.

Ray stopped in his tracks, and his amber eyes looked into hers. He tilted his head, looking puzzled, and took a deep whiff of the air.

"Speaking of appetizers, where is that plump little mouthful of yours?"

"You stay away from my baby, you fucking mutt," she said, coldly staring him down. With what Kayla thought was the worst timing possible, Grace began to cry softly from inside the closet.

"Aha." Ray smiled greedily, once again baring his teeth.

Without hesitation, Kayla turned and opened the closet door, snatching Grace up from the bundle of blankets. She said a silent prayer that her plan was going to work. She pulled the little yellow blanket down, exposing the baby's tiny pink hand. Kayla touched her skin as the glow from Grace's fingers began to spread over the newborn's entire body. She had time to see what looked like a sweet little grin on her daughter's face as an intense power surged through her. Kayla waved her free arm toward Ray again, concentrating with all of her might.

This time it worked. With a look of shock, Ray's body lifted from the ground and slammed into the large dresser across the bedroom. The circular mirror came crashing down on top of him, and he hit the floor with a loud thump. He didn't waste any time getting back to his feet and pouncing at Kayla. She went down to the floor, careful to protect Grace from the fall. While Ray clawed his way to her, she turned over and tried to crawl out of the bedroom, but he caught her ankle in his powerful grasp.

"You bitch," he howled in as much frustration and surprise as anger. He pulled her back across the carpet, burning the elbow of her arm that she had wrapped around Grace.

Kayla desperately grabbed at the bedframe and the carpet, struggling to wriggle free of his iron grasp, but it was no use. She scanned the piles of creams and lotions that had fallen from the top of the dresser for any kind of weapon. Her hand randomly felt for anything she could use to make him let her go. With almost no effort, Ray flipped her body over so that she was lying on her back, clutching her baby. Her free hand searched blindly for purchase, when she felt something cold and hard with the tips of her fingers. Ray climbed on top of her, and she could smell his rotten breath as his face leveled with hers.

"This is for my brother and my mother, you worthless pig," he said, raising a clawed hand in the air, ready to strike.

Kayla closed her fingers around the handle of the rattle. Richard's words echoed through her head:
Use your gift
. She brought the silver baby toy up with as much power as she could summon and whacked Ray on the temple. He yowled as the ball of the rattle broke off the stem, taking a small patch of skin with it. Kayla could smell burning flesh as Ray stepped back. He seemed genuinely surprised that he was hurt by the toy. Kayla took the opportunity that his moment of weakness presented, and she jammed the broken end of the rattle as deeply into his throat as she could manage.

"That is for my father, you arrogant dick."

A rush of thick, hot blood coated her hand and ran down the screaming wolf's chest. He immediately jumped to his feet and clawed at the embedded silver handle that only slightly protruded from his oozing throat. Every time his claws touched the handle, the sizzling noises became louder and he yelped in pain.

Kayla scrambled away from the cooking werewolf and wrapped her arms tightly around Grace. She sat and watched for what seemed like an eternity while Ray writhed in agony and then eventually fell to the ground. He began turning back into a human before his body had even stopped moving.

Kayla sighed with relief as she stood up, checking her baby for any injuries. Finding none, she again looked down at her dead brother.

"That
was
silver, bitch," she said to his corpse, feeling like a heroine from an action film.

From the other side of the room, David whimpered.

"Kayla?" Another familiar voice called out from behind her.

She turned to see Carolyn standing on top of the dislodged mirror no more than five feet from her.

"Carolyn."

"Mom is more appropriate, isn't it?"

"What do you want, you murdering bitch?" Kayla snarled at her, deciding she'd had enough fun and games for one day.

"Hostile. I want to see my beautiful granddaughter, of course," Carolyn smiled sweetly.

"You mean you want her powers, right?"

"Well, yes."

"You killed my father."

"Technically, he was already dead. I did send him where he belonged, though," she said with a snotty smirk that infuriated Kayla.

"You will never get my baby."

"Let's not fight, Kayla."

"I'm done fighting with you,
Mother
," Kayla said as she pulled the spirit vanquishing potion bottle from her pocket and threw it at the mirror where Carolyn stood.

The look of shock on Carolyn's face made Kayla smile from ear to ear. The spectral witch doubled over in pain, the mirror she stood on turning into a dark black pool of smoke. As Carolyn was slowly sucked back into the mirror, she screamed in pain and fear.

"What's happening?" she bellowed.

"You're finally going to burn in hell, you monster," Kayla said with no emotion as Carolyn completely disappeared and the glass turned back into an ordinary mirror. She sighed with relief and jumped over the bed to where David lay face up.

"David, are you all right?" she asked him desperately. He closed his eyes and muttered a few unintelligible words. Kayla leaned over him and listened for a heartbeat. It was so faint she could barely make it out. She felt so helpless, even after defeating these monsters, she was going to have to sit here and watch David die. She leaned down again and put her forehead to his.

"Please, David, don't leave us," she pleaded, sobbing at the thought of losing her soulmate. As she wept, she felt a charge of electricity flowing through her hand. She pulled herself up and saw that little Grace was completely bathed in a soft white light. Kayla didn't know what to make of it, but she decided to place baby Grace into David's now almost lifeless arms. She pulled away, not knowing what to expect, and a rush of excitement hit her when David embraced his infant daughter. Her tears turned into laughter as David sat up from the carpet and took her in his arms.