Wretched soul shall be gone
And all the devil’s deed be done
Return to where you should burn
And never again your soul return
It was difficult to recognize her voice, but the result couldn’t be denied.
With one guttural scream, Bohn twisted and warped into nothingness.
With the danger gone, for now at least, silence returned, so did calmness. When her magic receded, and her ears stopped ringing, it was obvious she had crossed the mirror never to return.
“Finn!”
It was Hunter’s sudden shout that brought Violet fully back to the present. The spartan room solidified, and she saw Hunter hunched over Finn, who was now lying on the floor unconscious.
If she had felt fury a moment before, now her panic was all consuming.
Before she could even register it, she was falling on her knees beside the vampire, taking his face in her hands. “Finn! Wake up.”
She pressed her ear against his unmoving chest, but couldn’t hear a thing, which wasn’t that unusual for a vampire if he was in a dormant state. The operative word being was.
Hunter shuffled beside her. “We were fighting that apparition, and then you went into some sort of trance. Finn collapsed when the ghost disappeared. I don’t know what happened. Is he all right?”
It was impossible for her to answer him or to speak. All she could think of was Finn. Was he even still in this world?
“What have I done?” Had her magic to get rid of the ghost affected Finn too?
Hunter made her look at him. “What are you talking about? You never even looked his way.”
“So why is he lying there, unmoving?”
“I don’t know. Vampires aren’t my forte, Vi.”
Violet wanted to cry as her heart slowly died inside her chest. He wasn’t dead, not when she’d fallen in love with him, not when she was the one who would be engulfed by dark magic in a matter of days. They had so little time; it was impossible that fate was so unfair.
“Finn, please, open your eyes. Tell me you’re only sleeping. I’ll give you blood if you need it, just come back to me.” Her tears started falling on his chest in an uncontainable flow. “Please don’t leave me alone now.”
Her fingers traced his face, each of the lines she hadn’t touched nearly enough. She caressed his short reddish hair, barely containing a sob.
“Did you hear that?”
Hunter’s words hovered just outside her consciousness until he started moving around the room.
“What are you talking about?” She wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve but couldn’t bear to leave Finn’s side.
The human moved slowly, head cocked until he jerked and went into the bedroom. Part of her supposed she should have followed him, protected him, but her body felt like lead and she didn’t want to leave Finn’s side.
There were a screeching sound and a hiss just before a low curse came from Hunter.
When he came back into the living room, holding a cage, Violet almost leaped in joy when she saw who was inside. “Layla! It’s you!”
Hunter looked at the white cat inside the cage before turning his baffled expression to her. “You are sure it’s the right cat? It looks like a stray to me.”
“Put the cage down and open the fucking door, stupid human.”
Violet thought Hunter would toss the cage when Layla spoke. With all the human had to process since he’d been drawn into their world, she had to give him credit for only flinching and putting the cage down.
“How were you put into that cage? And why on earth didn’t you just open the door with your magic?”
Hunter untied the piece of twine keeping the door from opening.
“I was following the humans, and they didn’t know who I was, so I infiltrated them. I saw it on television.”
Hunter smirked but kept his mouth tightly shut.
“I followed them around, acting like a cat. They must have drugged my food as I woke up in this cage a week ago. I would have escaped, but there is a trace of hematite in the metal, and it messed with my spells.”
Finally, the door opened, and she gracefully jumped out, stretching before moving to Violet’s side. “I’m glad you are alive and well, Violet. I was worried sick about you.”
When her friends looked down at Finn, fresh tears welled in her eyes. “There is so much to tell… I don’t know where to start… And now, I think I killed him.”
The last words were said in a sob Violet couldn’t stop. Hunter stayed back as Layla moved around Finn as if examining him.
Her cat friend and mentor returned by her side, and this time, her attention was solely on her. “What happened to you, my sweet Violet? I feel a battle inside you, one you are losing. And a new ally, too. Despite everything and a lot of uncertainty, you bonded with a vampire. I didn’t think you were capable of that.”
“Is that a reproach?”
Even if there was no way to guess her expression, Violet sensed a dose of amusement in her friend, and tenderness too. “It’s a relief. I was losing hope you would ever be at peace with the past. However, I also didn’t think a vampire would be the one to offer it to you.”
Violet looked at Finn, who was still unmoving. “Yes, I bonded with him despite everything. But he knew it would probably be for long, although I thought I’d be the one to go first.”
With a deep sigh, Layla sat and shook her white head. “We have a lot to work out, but Finn isn’t lost. The spell you did, to banish ghosts to the other world, obviously affected Finn as a vampire. He isn’t living after all, but you didn’t have another choice. You may have caused this, but he is still here with us because of you, too. Your bond has tied him to this world, preventing him from disappearing. I can sense him fighting, holding to that link.”
A newfound hope warmed
