She slipped in and out of consciousness, just as she sensed the door opening and someone rushing out to her aid. She wasn’t totally unconscious, just enough that she couldn’t see anything but blackness and stars in her vision. Yet, she was conscious enough to feel her whole skeletal structure vibrate feverishly. Her teeth rattled. The painful surge of power penetrated from her bone marrow to her cells as she thrashed.
Then she heard Alice’s shrill scream as the little girl battled with the force field. She also faintly heard Dad’s voice beside her. He tried to touch her but got electrocuted.
Emily tried to talk. She tried to fight back. However, she was rendered impotent. She hovered on the brink of death, her energy totally sapped by the surge of power.
As she remained lifeless on the porch, she could hear her father’s faint gasps. She had vaguely felt some of the power coursing through her fly into him the moment he’d touched her. She was also vaguely aware of a slew of heated arguments going on nearby.
She recognized Marion’s voice. It was tough and angry, and it seemed to be directed at Alice, who was defiant and threatening. Chandler’s voice was subdued and submissive to Alice.
It was difficult to hear what they said, since life was ebbing out of her. Yet, from the scatter of words she tried to piece together, Emily understood they were arguing over Marion’s sudden decision to warn Emily.
Was that what happened???
Marion had warned Emily—he was the one who yelled, “Watch out!”—and that was why she’d been able to dive out of the direct blast in time. If she’d been hit in the chest with the blast, she would have been killed instantly. Marion had saved her. But why?
“Emily!” screamed a voice. Strangely, the voice had a strange power in it that yanked her out of her stupor. She immediately jerked up to a sitting position and incidentally smacked her head into Michael’s face, who had bent down to help her.
“Ouch!” the guy yelped, staggering back and grabbing his nose. He tripped over her feet and fell on his butt. “What the heck is your problem?”
Emily would have been immediately put off if she wasn’t gushing with relief. She panted terribly, trying to get as much air into her body as she could.
She then remembered her father. She leaped to her feet and jumped through the hole she’d made in the banister, falling beside her father. He was awake all right, but he was paralyzed by the electric shock.
He smiled at her, tears in his eyes. He was happy to see she was alive, she could tell. Emily teared up, stroking his hair. “It’s going to be okay, Daddy.”
“What’s happening here, Emily?” Michael asked.
Emily looked up at Michael. He was standing beside her, looking out at the Alfreds. For a moment, she was stricken with the thought of Michael walking out to the evil roves. However, she looked and saw the barrier was still visible.
Whatever Alice had done to it had destabilized the cloaking spell thrown over it. Now, it revealed a shimmering blue dome that encased the cottage. Alice, too, was another curious sight. Her body was simmering and puffing smoke. Portions of her skin had been burned off. Her hand was a charred mess of black.
She didn’t even give her burned body much attention. Heck, she didn’t look to be in pain! She gesticulated wildly, arguing with Marion. Chandler stood to her side. He was less vociferous about the issue, but it was obvious he didn’t want to get on Alice’s bad side, so he supported his sister.
Oh, and Alice’s body was healing itself up. It was slow and might have been missed by less curious eyes, but it was happening. New skin was replacing the charred parts. Where there was no skin, fresh tissue materialized. That was beyond rove magic; her body was healing on its own. Emily began to suspect Alice was not really a little girl. At least not a human one.
This was enough to make Michael pause near Emily.
“What’s Marion doing with the vamp?” The usual venom shot from Michael’s tongue—the venom borne out of his anger for all things supernatural. Emily wondered how one person could be filled with so much hate for other living, breathing people.
Emily realized that getting Michael to accept who he really was, and falling in line with her to save the town, might be a taller order than getting rid of the Alfreds.
Then Emily realized what he had just said. “V-V-Vamp?” she stuttered, but not loud enough to be heard.
“Emily?” Michael looked down at her. “Why is Marion hanging around those two people? The girl, she’s regenerating. She’s not even in pain. She’s a vampire.”
Oooohhh . . .
Then his eyes focused in on Emily’s father. He frowned. “Is that your dad?” He went to John’s other side and propped his head in his hands. “How?”
Emily explained what had happened. She left out all the juicy parts about her being The Owl. She only told him how Alice had attacked her and how Dad had been electrocuted trying to help her. She didn’t tell him that it was his magic that had pulled her from the brink of death. He’d probably used his magic unwittingly.
“He’ll live.”
Emily and Michael both turned to the voice. It was Marion. He was calm and serious. His hands were in his pockets.
“Yeah?” Emily spat.
Marion’s grim eyes fell on her. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t need your apology!” she growled. “Why did you even warn me?”
“Why else?” Marion asked.
“You need me alive for the ritual?” suggested Emily.
“What ritual?” Michael cut in, drawing annoyed looks from both Emily and Marion.
Marion traded looks between Emily and Michael. “She hasn’t told you, has she?”
Michael frowned. “Told me what?” He glanced at Emily. “What’s he talking about?”
Emily remained silent. Her heart pounded in her chest. This was not how she’d planned for
