Chapter Seven

Witch hunter.

A collective uproar works its way through the coven, with witches shouting out questions. Witch hunters are problematic in the obvious way of wanting to kill us, but also in the way they’re typically humans. Humans who’ve had some sort of run-in with witches before and know how we operate. They know the basics of spell casting and, more often than not, have amulets that block a witch’s power.

Only a few other witches in the room have powers like mine, and all are twice my age at least. Manipulating energy came naturally for me, which is part of the reason I had a hard time fitting in back in my school days. Some witches study energy manipulation and conjuring for years and still can’t do it half as well I was able when I was just a teen. Those who can’t conjure and hold raw energy in their hands…who can’t telekinetically push attackers away…they’ll be the most vulnerable to a witch hunter’s attack.

“I assure you,” High Priestess Greystone goes on after she addressed some of the coven’s concerns. “We will find who is responsible and then we shall burn him at the stake and feast on his flesh!”

The coven breaks out in a cheer and Kristy turns to me, blue eyes wide with fear.

“If we stick together, we shall prevail.” High Priestess Greystone steps away from the podium, coming down off the altar to speak one-on-one with the members of the coven. I catch Evander’s eye and wave him over.

“Cal,” he says, opening his arms for a hug. “I swear, sister, you age a year backwards every time I see you.”

“I’ve perfected an anti-aging elixir,” I say so seriously that even I almost believe what I am saying. “I’ll sell you a bottle for a low-low price of five hundred bucks.”

He claps my back and laughs before releasing me from his bear hug. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” Evander is very much like an older brother to me, and we got into the habit of referring to each other as “brother” and “sister” back in our Academy days. It was easier to explain the nature of our relationship that way, since, after all, I lived with his family my first year at school. “Why do I feel there’s more to this than we’ve been told?”

“Because there is.” His black robe is lined with silky crimson material, matching the tie he has on over his black button-up shirt. Evander’s always had a need to be flashy and find a way to add color and style to the plain black attire we’re supposed to wear to coven gatherings.

He nervously shifts his gaze to his mother, knowing he shouldn’t be sharing what he’s about to tell me. “I overheard Mother speaking to the High Priest of the Circle of the Crescent Moon. These killings—”

“There’s been more than one?”

“Two women have been found with their throats ripped out and then their bodies burned. Both murders have happened under the cover of dark.”

“Killed at night and throats ripped out?” My chest tightens. “Sounds like a vampire.”

Evander shakes his head. “If the bodies hadn’t been burned, we would have assumed so. But vampires don’t typically burn their victims.”

“Right. That’s more the style of a witch hunter.”

“Whoever this is…they’re leaving a blood bath in their wake.” Evander’s jaw tenses.

“Almost as if they want to be caught.”

Evander grabs my hand. “Yes. To be brought to trial inside the Covenstead. It’s the only way to get inside.”

“And once they’re in…” I don’t have to finish my sentence. We both know what would happen if a witch hunter got loose inside the Covenstead. We’d stop them, I’m sure, but not before blood is spilled.

*

Kristy and I step out of the Covenstead, entering the woods in our hometown again. Clouds cover the moon, darkening the already black forest.

“Evander told me something.” I flip the hood of my cloak up, not to conceal myself but because the air has taken a chill to it. “He overheard his mother talking with another High Priest. They think the witch hunter wants to be caught.”

“And brought to trial.”

“Exactly.”

“But why?” Kristy tightens her cloak around her body. “They’d be surrounded by witches.”

“That’s what I thought, but that could mean—” I cut off when something rustles through the woods mere feet from us. I reach out and take Kristy’s hand.

“Cloaking spell,” I whisper. “Now.”

“That won’t keep you from me,” a raspy voice echoes through the trees.

“Who are you?” I ask the dark.

“Who are you talking to?” Kristy asks, squeezing my hand.

“That voice,” I tell her. “Someone is here.”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

I hold out my right hand and conjure a ball of white light. I toss it up and it illuminates the dark trees, casting shadows on the forest floor.

“Half-breed,” the voice rasps. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“I’m not a half-breed,” I shout.

“Callie, what’s going on?” Kristy reaches into her pocket and pulls out a satchel of black salt. “Who are you talking to?”

I take my hand from hers and move a few paces forward. My heart is hammering in my ears.

“I don’t have time for this.” I splay my fingers, and the ball of light grows bigger, brightening the forest. “Are you the witch hunter?”

“He’s not looking for a witch. He’s looking for the half-breed. I’ll be rewarded when I take you to him.”

“If you’re going to take me, then you better come out of the shadows, coward!” I shout.

The sounds of the night come to a stop. The gentle breeze intensifies, blowing dry dirt and dust into the air. It swirls around me, getting into my eyes. It burns, but it’s much more than the normal pain you feel when something gets into your eyes. It’s like my eyes are on fire. I cry out, falling back and tripping over my own cloak.

I squeeze my eyes shut and feel hands gripping my ankles, fingers digging into my flesh. I have to open my eyes. I have to see what’s attacking me. But when I do, all I can see is fire.

Embers rain down from the trees above me. The underbrush goes up in flames. Everything is so bright, so red, so hot.

“Callie!” Kristy screams. I can sense her running over. She takes my hand and pulls me to my feet.

“I can’t see,” I tell her, bringing my free hand up and rubbing my eyes. “Where is it? It’s here, I can feel it.” I hold out my hand, fingers crackling with magical energy. My heart races.

Then Kristy is knocked backward, falling down hard. Her hand slips from mine. I whirl around, still blinded by the fire, and try to feel for her.

“Watch out!” she warns right as something grabs my shoulders. Heavy energy comes off of it in waves, and I can feel it trying to get inside my head. It’s searching for something, and I’ll be damned if I let it in and find what it came looking for.

But then something else comes rushing into the woods, knocking whatever is on top of me off. The fire stops and I blink my eyes open. My vision is still fuzzy, but my head is now clear.

Lucas stands before me, fangs bared, arms out to the side, ready for a fight. He lets out a growl, staring down the thing that just attacked me. I run over to Kristy, pulling her to her feet. She whacked her head on a tree stump as she fell and is bleeding.

The ball of white light still floats above us, and little tendrils of magic rain down. They burn Lucas’s flesh when they touch him, just like sunlight would. Yet he ignores it, sidestepping so he puts himself between whatever the hell is after me and myself.

“I’m okay,” Kristy says, voice shaking. “What the hell is that?”

“I…I…I think it’s a man.” I inch over, needing to move in order to see around Lucas’s large frame. “And he’s possessed.”

The man is ragged—physically, that is. His clothes are soiled, and he smells like urine. His jeans are ripped, his nose looks like it’s been broken, and dried, crusted blood covers his face and chest. One of his arms is twisted at an unnatural angle. And his eyes are bloodshot.

“Speak, demon,” I say through gritted teeth.

Suddenly, the man drops to the ground, shaking in fear. “What’s happening? Where am I?”

“You don’t fool me.” I move next to Lucas, who shifts his gaze from the possessed man to me and back again. “What is your name?”

“Please, help me!”

“I know you’re possessing that body,” I go on. “Tell me your name.”

Lucas zooms forward, picking up the man by the collar. “I suggest you listen to the lady.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” the man whimpers.

“Maybe the demon left,” Kristy suggests quietly.

“Maybe,” Lucas agrees. “I know a way to find out.”

Before I can say anything, before I can stop him, he sinks his fangs into the man’s neck. My heart skips a beat and my eyes widen. As fast as he bit him, Lucas pulls away, blood dripping down his face. He drops the man to the ground and turns, spitting out the blood that’s in his mouth.

“He’s possessed,” he tells us, wiping his mouth with his hand. “His blood is rancid.”

“You can taste the difference?”

“Yes.” Lucas spits out more blood. “When a human is possessed, their blood tastes rotten.”

“Sulfur,” I muse.

“Yes.” Lucas tips his head, looking down at the man possessed. “Want me to kill him for you?”

“Not yet,” I say and Kristy tenses. Even if I had the power to exorcise this demon, I’m not sure the human will survive it. He looks like he’s been hit by a car, and, judging by the stench of human waste coming from his body, the demon’s had a hold of him for a week at least. Most humans won’t survive a full-body possession like this for more than two or three days.

I pull the ball of light down from above us and bring it close to the demon’s chest. White light like this burns demons. Enough of it will kill one…and the body they’ve possessed.

But there are always casualties in warfare.

“Tell me your name, demon,” I demand.

“You are not worthy to speak my name, unclean witch!” the demon growls back. White foam starts to drip from its mouth. It’s not the man I saw in the vision, I’m sure of it. I press the energy ball into his chest. It sizzles, burning up the demonic powers that have taken possession of the body.

“What do you want with me?” I don’t give him time to answer before pushing the light in farther. He cries out in pain, writhing on the ground before us. Lucas draws closer, a low growl coming from deep inside his throat. The demon is moments away from death.

I wait a beat, and then pull the light back. The body the demon is possessing will give out soon. The man inside should be dead already but instead is stuck watching from the inside out, feeling the physical pain and living through every single horrible thing the demon has forced his body to do.

“Can you hold him spellbound?” I ask Lucas. “Try to get into his mind and make him talk?”

“I can try. There might not be much of his mind left.” Lucas kneels down, leaning dangerously close to the ball of pure magical energy. He looks deep into the man’s eyes, compelling him to obey whatever he says. A moment passes and I think it’s not working. Then Lucas asks, “What is your name?”

The man opens his mouth, more frothy saliva dripping down his jaw.

“Why did you attack Callie?”

A gargled noise comes from the man’s throat. He twitches, trying to break the hold Lucas has on him. “Gate…gate…”

“Gate?” I repeat, looking at Kristy. She shakes her head, not knowing what that means either.

“Keep talking,” Lucas commands.

“Gate…gate…keep…gatekeeper,” he finally spits out. Then he closes his eyes, and Lucas loses his hold on the man. Instead of attacking or trying to get away, the man lurches forward, pushing the energy ball into his chest. His entire body sizzles, and the smell of charred flesh fills the air. Light glows from his eyes, and then his body goes limp. The light slowly fades, and we’re all left standing around his body, more than a little stunned.

“Motherfucker,” I grumble. “What the hell does that mean? Gatekeeper? Gatekeeper of what? For all I know he’s here looking for the Key Master.”

Lucas turns, swiping his thumb over his lips, wiping away more of the demon blood. “Now that reference I did get.” He flashes a smirk, and dammit, it’s not right how he can look so hot right now. We’re standing around a rotten dead body and he has drying demon blood on his face. Crouching back down, he rolls the body over, checking for ID. There’s none.

“What should we do with him?” Kristy asks. “He’s somebody, you know?”

I nod. “Yeah, but we can’t exactly leave him. The last thing we need is a bunch of nons walking through here. These woods aren’t the safest.” The Ley line running through attracts all walks of life…and leads right to our Covenstead.

“I’m still not wearing the right shoes for burying a body.” Kristy lets out a sigh. “These boots are new.”

Lucas watches us, entertained. “Excuse me, ladies,” he starts. “But if disposing of the body is what you want, perhaps I can further lend my assistance. I’m probably better at it than you anyway.”

Right, I’m sure he is. He’s been getting rid of bodies for centuries.

“You know what?” I say before my better judgment takes control. “That would be really helpful.”

I take Kristy’s hand. “Let’s go. You’re still bleeding, and I need to search my book for anything and everything on Gatekeepers.”

*

I bring my cup of tea to my lips, looking out into the dark. I’m sitting on the back covered porch, waiting for Lucas to come back. Because somehow, I know he will.

And I want him to.

A blanket is over my lap and my Book of Shadows is on the table in front of me. All three of my familiars are around me, and they won’t be leaving any time soon. Kristy is back at her place, searching through her own books for anything about Gatekeepers.

“It just seems so…so vague,” I tell my familiars. “And almost hokey.”

I flip through another few pages and then come to the last quarter of my book. It’s all blank pages. I feel a little pang when I see the emptiness. Since I don’t come from a long line of witches, I don’t have a book that’s been passed down through the generations. The book I have is old, and about half of the spells and information in it was already there when I acquired it.

Kristy’s book is much more impressive, and if there’s nothing in hers about Gatekeepers, we could always go to the school and search through the books in the Academy’s massive two-story library full of magical tomes.

Pandora growls, fur standing on end. I look out into the night, heart racing.

Lucas.

I close my book and Pandora jumps on top, protectively lying on it.

Lucas moves like a blur in the night, stopping right in front of the steps to the back porch.

“You changed.” I run my eyes over Lucas. He has on a black t-shirt and dark jeans. There’s no more blood on his face, and even his hair looks a little neater.

“You didn’t. Though I have to admit I like the whole dark-Amish look on you. It leaves a lot to the imagination, and trust me, I’ve been imagining what you look like under those clothes since the moment I laid eyes on you.”

“It’s the traditional dress code for gatherings.”

“You witches haven’t modernized much, have you? Criticize the vampires all you want, but at least we don’t make our women wear high-collared dresses,” he says, eyes glinting. He likes pushing my buttons, almost as if it’s a game for him.

“Most covens stopped the whole human sacrifice thing at least.” I pull the blanket off my lap and stand. “I happen to like black, and not every black dress I own is this high-collared. This one just happened to have the least amount of cat fur on it.”

Lucas nods. “Very well.”

“So, the body…it’s taken care of? No one will find it?”

“You act as if I’ve been drinking animal blood my whole afterlife.”

“Fine. I get it. You’ve done this before and know what you’re doing.” I inhale, trying to take slow, steady breaths to keep my heart from racing. I know Lucas was a killer. He’s a vampire, after all. And I know he very well still could be a killer. “And thank you.”

“You can thank me by letting me take you out to dinner.”

I move to the edge of the porch, hesitating before going down the stairs. “I think I’d like to go, but it’s just, uh, it’s been a long night.”

“I suppose being attacked by a demon is tiring.”

“Nah, that’s more annoying than anything else. Mostly because he killed himself before I could kill him.”

Lucas tips his head up to me. On the porch, I’m a few feet taller than him, but he still looks intimidating down at the base of the stairs. Binx follows me when I move onto the top step.

“Want to walk with me?” I ask, scanning the woods behind my house. “It’s the last day of the full moon phase and something about the moonlight always calms me.” I go down the rest of the stairs, stopping right beside Lucas. I look into his eyes, heart hammering away in my chest. This time, I don’t care if he hears it.

We don’t speak as we walk through the yard and head into the woods. Binx runs ahead, chasing a mouse.

“What else happened to make this a long night?” Lucas asks.

The wind picks up and I tip my head up to it, letting it rustle my long hair. “Somebody is hunting witches.”

“That’s a pity. Can’t imagine why someone would want to do that,” he says sarcastically.

I glare at him. “How do I know it’s not you?”

“You don’t. But I have no reason to kill witches.”

“Really? An old vampire like you has no reason to kill witches?”

He darts forward so fast he’s just a blur, pinning me up against a tree. “How old do you think I am?”

“Twelve hundred,” I guess, and push him away. Physically, there’s no way I’ll ever overpower him.

“I’m older than that.”

“Thirteen hundred?”

“Older.”

I swallow, aware that my heart is speeding up and a flush is covering my cheeks. I try to shove Lucas away again, and he responds with pressing his hips into mine.

“Keep squirming, I like it.”

Dammit. I do too. He feels surprisingly human against me like this, and he’s making me have a very human response. He parts his lips, tipping his head down toward mine, and grabs both of my wrists in one of his big hands, bringing them up over my head.

“Sixteen hundred,” I pant as heat rushes between my legs.

“Bingo.”

My mouth opens, but no sound comes out. Sixteen hundred years old. Damn. No wonder he’s so strong. I close my eyes in a long blink, and when I open them again, his face is right there in front of mine.

I see it again, the emptiness reflected in that brilliant blue. Sixteen hundred years on this earth. That’s a long time to live…especially when you’re not really alive.

“You,” I start, voice coming out all breathy. I twist my wrists and he releases his grasp. “You lived through the War of Light and Dark.”

“I did, but I was not part of it.” He brings his head in again, studying my eyes. He holds me against him for another moment, and everything inside of me wants to cave and give in to him.

I want to close my eyes and tip my chin up toward his. I want to run my fingers through his thick hair and pull his face to mine. I want him to put his lips against my lips, to kiss me like I’ve never been kissed before.

“I am sorry about your fellow witches,” he says softly.

“Thanks. I didn’t know any of them, but a witch hunter is never a good thing.”

“No,” he agrees. “It is not.” He breaks away. “I imagine this news makes you sad.” He looks at me almost as if he’s afraid I’m going to burst into tears.

“Of course, but it pisses me off more than anything. I’d love to find this motherfucker and burn him at the stake.”

“You have had a long day. Are you sure you don’t want to get something to eat? I hear humans raving about comfort food.”

My lips curve up into a smile. “I’m never one to turn down comfort food.”