September 12 | Morning
Air whistled through my parched throat, and I collapsed to the wet ground. Cold muddy water soaked through the knees of my pants, but I didn't feel it. I didn't feel anything except the excruciating spasms of a broken heart.
Kittie dashed from the idling car and grabbed me. I saw her lips moving, but I couldn't hear a word she said. My defeated cries blotted out everything else. I was pulled to my feet. My numb body was shoved into the car.
My vacant stare registered Haley crying and pointing straight ahead, Wallace scanning the woods for the she-wolf from the backseat. Kittie Cad threw up her hands in frustration and jerked the gearstick, and the car shot off with a splatter of mud.
Without my seatbelt, I slid, unmoored, into the dash, but I righted myself and leaned my aching head on the cool glass of the passenger window, still wracked by sobs. When my best friend tried to rub my shoulder in comfort, I shrugged Kittie off. There was nothing she could say or do. Nothing anyone could say or do.
My tingling hand fell upon the hilt of the enchanted Damascus sword, and the ringing in my ears faded to a buzz. It strummed deep in my bones. I throbbed with the fury that morphed from despair. Chest heaving, I cast a murderous glance at the plantation where the root of all my heartache was supposed to be.
"Change of plans. Find Aurie. Leave Darcy to me," I spat through clenched teeth. "Drive faster." Kittie Cad met my gaze and wordlessly accelerated. The speedometer needle kissed the redline as we closed the distance to the enemy.
My enemy. Darcy Cyprian was mine now. I knew he had destroyed everyone and everything that came up against him, but I had nothing left to lose. Justice no longer mattered. I wanted restitution for what he had taken from me, and he could only pay with his life.
The yowl of the engine blended with the din of the storm. Faster and faster, we flew along the narrow dirt lane with the house enlarging by the second. Just when it seemed the Nissan would crash into the marble columns, Kittie slammed on brakes. The vehicle whirled in a one-eighty-degree arc, tires spraying rain in a beautiful monochrome rainbow.
Haley threw open the car door mid-spin—as if the whiplashing action was in slow motion. Wallace, Kittie Cad, and I stared after the teen in awe as she launched from the moving vehicle and nailed her landing. Looming bigger than life, the vivacious teenager became something else in the hurricane gales.
She gathered an energy as ancient as time. The rain lashed her, but it didn't faze her. The gusts turned her hair to a black banner of defiance. Her balled fists at her sides emanated power. The gloves were off for all of us.
"Looks like someone's expecting us," said Wallace as he squinted at the open front door.
Kittie was skeptical. "Is it a trap?"
"It doesn't matter. He's in there. I can sense it." I leered at the house as I hit the switchblade of the Damascus short sword and found my place beside Haley. The steel gleamed in a flash of lightning.
Haley and I charged into the dark portal. She raised both hands, and a blast of wind preceded us as lightning illuminated the foyer. Swirls of damp white sand spiraled up from the wet hardwood. Salt, I realized when I wiped my lips.
"Aurie!" Haley's voice boomed over the thunderstorm. No more trying not to alert Darcy to our presence. I looked for him. Surveying the dimly lit interior, I tightened my grip on the short sword when I spotted Tegan Stoney hugging the wall near the front door. I tried not to resent her involvement in this fiasco, but I wasn't happy to see her.
"Where is she?" I snapped.
"W-we were nearly out the door when Darcy caught us," Tegan replied, her face devoid of color and eyes wild with fear. She was no longer the overconfident detective I had met. The vibrant corona of her hair danced in the wind and made her appear unhinged in her distress. "I'm so sorry, Mys. I tried to help her escape, but it was too late."
She pointed across the great hall at Aurie flanked by a man in a top hat and a woman in a pink and green dress. These were the voodoo loas, I realized. At that precise moment, Aurie saw me, and her face lit up. I braced myself to battle black magic if I had to just to, to get to her, but the loas made no move to stop her as she ran to me.
"Yokai!" I whispered in relief as I held her trembling Soul.
Aurie clung to my lips in a searing kiss before caressing my injury. "I thought she killed you," she whimpered. Shaking my head, I buried my face in her neck and breathed her in. Over her shoulder, I met Tegan's gaze. The detective appeared to feel genuine remorse, but my attention was dragged back by Aurie's emotions kaleidescoping colors in my Empathy. Gods, I had missed her.
"Alright, alright. Enough before they're forced to rate it R," Haley quipped behind us. Aurie jerked from my embrace and gaped in astonishment at her sister as Haley shoved me aside and threw open her arms for a hug of her own. "Remember me?" She laughed.
"What are you doing here? It's not safe for you!" Aurie exclaimed through tears of joy. She ushered us deeper into the shadows where she clutched Haley's shoulders and gave her a quick once-over and another fierce hug. "We have to go. Darcy thinks I'm some powerful witch. The thing is, he's got me mixed up...with you."
"Girl, there's so much I need to tell you about that," Haley said with a grin.
Tegan interjected, "Yeah, you two should catch up later. The clock is ticking." She reached for Aurie's hand, but her fingers went through her.
I pulled up short. "Wait, you can see Aurie?" I asked in surprise. She hadn't fumbled around for her blindly. She had reached for the ghost directly. That meant...
Tegan nodded slowly, and Aurie untucked from her sister's arms with a frown. "You can see me?" she repeated. As if in explanation, Tegan lifted her hair and displayed her unblemished ivory neck. Aurie inhaled sharply. "What happened to the bite marks? I saw him bite you. He..."
"He killed her," I whispered in dismay, recognizing Tegan's Supernatural type. I had been too preoccupied to notice at first, but it was clear. She was no longer a living human being.
At Aurie's concerned groan, Tegan's eyes clouded. "Don't feel sorry for me, okay? I've been given a chance to fix this mess, and that's what I intend to do. Now, get your family and go! While the wolves have Darcy distracted."
"What wolves?" My heart skipped a beat.
Aurie and Tegan directed my gaze down the hall, and there he was. Darcy Cyprian. The vampire was struggling to evade three ferocious wolves. Against the backdrop of the majestic house, Darcy moved like the howling winds outside, but the wolves were almost as swift and just as determined. Antique furniture and décor flew around them in the turbulence.
The red she-wolf took a bite out of air where Darcy had been a moment before. He materialized at the top of the gilded staircase on the second landing. With preternatural speeds, the grey wolf tore after him. The oversized black wolf jumped over the balustrade and landed a crushing blow before the vampire could flee again. Pinning Darcy to the floor, the feral canines ripped at his clothes and flesh, and he oozed stagnant blood.
"My god!" Tegan grimaced at the savagery.
We watched, enthralled. Until Darcy escaped. He backpedaled faster than the eye could detect. The wolves were briefly disoriented. Only my Empathy lit up with icy white impressions of his vampire sprint. I sensed him zip across the ceiling toward the front door. "Wallace!" I shouted. The angel slid into the house just as Darcy slammed the door shut.
"No!" Tegan wilted in disbelief. "How do we get out now?"
"I didn't plan on leaving without his head," I replied with a bitter half-smile.
I brandished the enchanted sword as Haley's hands began to glow in preparation of our last stand. Yet, Aurie didn't move; she was frozen to the spot. I followed her line of sight to the Guardian Angel who had spread massive white wings.
"Dad?" Aurie breathed.
Haley cracked a grin. "I told you, we have lots to talk about, Sis. After I kick this vampire's ass."