“There’s only one way for this to end happily for everyone, Caleb.” He hoped.
Possess her?
“Yes.” He would force her to call the meeting to order. He only prayed it counted. “And while we’re in there, you can search her memories for bits of your past. Sound good?” If he had to bargain with the soul, he would bargain.
You won’t force her to do anything to harm herself?
“I didn’t punch her when I had the chance, did I?”
All right, then. Yes.
“What are you doing?” Marie’s struggles increased. “Stop. Don’t come any closer!”
“I thought you wanted me to approach you.” Aden crouched down, grabbed her wrist and closed his eyes so that he wouldn’t accidentally be ensnared. He shouted as he turned to mist and tried to push his way inside her, but there was some type of block around her, keeping him out.
A ward.
Damn this! He solidified again. “Looks like we will have to hurt her,” he said on a sigh, “but it’s only to save her, Caleb,” he added before the soul could protest.
No!
Undaunted, desperate, he searched every one of the witches. He confiscated every ring he found—only four—and returned to Marie. “Tell me which ward to burn away or I’ll destroy all of them.” A vow. “And it will hurt, Marie. You know it will.”
Aden…
She saw the rings in his hand and stilled, panic filling her eyes. Panic and fear. He would do it; she had to realize that. He didn’t want to, but he would do it.
“No,” she said. “I—I won’t. I can’t! Try to understand.”
There was a ward tattooed on her wrist. “I don’t have time to understand.” He latched on to her arm and poured several drops of je la nune on the ink. She screamed, her body bowing as the pain slammed through her. The scent of burning flesh rose.
He tried again to possess her, but met the same block. Steady. “One more chance, Marie, then I’m not stopping until they’re all gone.”
“If I…call the meeting…will you vow to release us? Alive.”
“Yes,” he and Caleb said at the same time. Though Aden didn’t dare to hope. Yet. “If you will vow not to cast any spells on your way out.”
“I do,” she gritted out.
Thank God. Thank God, thank God, thank God. This might work. This might happen. “Then call the meeting, and I vow upon my life—and death—that you and your coven will have free passage from this cave.”
“No one can follow us.”
“I vow that no one will follow you.”
She pushed out a breath as her head fell to the ground. She stared up at the ceiling, tears leaking from her eyes. If she meant to waste time, to wait until it was too late…
“Do it now! Or I start pouring.” He took hold of her other arm, revealing the ward tattooed there.
She squeezed her eyes shut. “This meeting is…called to…. order.”
He waited several seconds, but nothing happened. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but this certainly wasn’t it. “That’s it? That’s all you have to do? All you have to say?”
“Yes.”
“My friends are saved?”
“Yes, damn you!”
His knees gave out. Thank God. His friends were safe. They were finally safe, free of their curse. He stayed just as he was for an eternity, shaking, basking, relieved, shocked, numb then excited, numb then sick—how close they’d come to losing—then, finally, blessedly, accepting.
Another battle, another victory. Only, this one was so much sweeter. They. Were. Safe.
“You can release her now,” he told Chomper, and the beast instantly obeyed. “Will you please guard the vampire while I take care of the witches?”
Another nod, and the beast was clomping off to hover over Victoria, teeth bared at all the witches in warning.
“Carry the ones who can’t walk on their own and follow me,” Aden told the women who’d almost destroyed all he’d come to love. Without waiting for a reply, he stood and stumbled his way to the cavern’s opening. Footsteps soon echoed behind him, some dragging, most heavy. He snaked left and right through a long hallway, but finally reached the outside.
What he saw shocked him anew, and he stilled, the witches slamming into his back. Fairies littered the ground. Wolves and vampires stood around them, all staring over at Riley, in wolf form, who was in front of Mary Ann and growling. He was…protecting her? From his own people?
Meanwhile, Mary Ann was pale and clutching her stomach, as if in pain. “Aden,” she said on a moan.
All eyes swung to him, and then the vampires were kneeling. The witches gasped and took a collective step backward.
He’d find out what was going on in a minute. “Allow the witches to pass. Don’t look at them. Don’t touch them. Don’t follow them. Just allow them to pass.” He waited until both the vampires and the wolves had nodded before stepping aside.
Though hesitant, the witches filed out, their unconscious sisters propped between them. The vampires parted, creating a pathway, and Aden released a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. No one reached out, no one attempted to stop the robed women.
Now for his friends. “Riley, take Mary Ann home.” She was clearly sick and in need of rest.
“But, my king,” a vampire covered in blood said as he rose. “She’s a Drainer. She must be killed.”
Someone was going to have to explain the drainer thing, and soon. As for now, he said, “I don’t care what she is. No one touches her, and no one follows her, either. Riley, take her home like I told you. Now!”
The guard moved behind Mary Ann and nudged her forward. Again, the vampires and wolves heeded his command—though all of them were stiff and clearly eager to act. More so than they’d been with the witches.
Such blind obedience. In a sudden moment of clarity, he realized these were his people. And he…he was their king. Yes. Yes. The admission felt right, so unbelievably right. He’d earned the title with this victory. More than that, he had somehow tamed their beasts. He was king, and he wasn’t going to fight it anymore.
“The rest of you…stay here. Don’t move.” He turned and strode back to the cave. Chomper and Victoria were exactly where he’d left them, only Victoria was now sitting up.
“Better?” He squatted beside her and cupped her jaw. He gently moved her head left and right, gaze intent on her skin. The burns were already fading.
“Better.” Those blue, blue eyes regarded him with concern. “Are you?”
“I’m just fine.”
“I’m so glad.” She threw her arms around him, placing little kisses all over his face.
Chomper snorted to remind Aden of his presence. Grinning, Aden reached up and petted his new protector behind the ears. So much could have gone wrong tonight, he thought. He could have lost everyone he loved, but with this creature’s help, things had turned out okay.
Better than okay.
After he convinced a reluctant Chomper to go back inside Victoria—where he could better protect them both, Aden explained—he and Victoria walked back outside, hand and hand. This time, he wasn’t surprised to discover his orders had been obeyed. The vampires and wolves hadn’t moved.
Aden looked over at Victoria, and she looked over at him. They shared a grin, happy to be alive and with each other. “I’m king,” he said.
“Yes,” she agreed. “You are.”
He faced the waiting crowd. “Return home. Rest. I’m proud of each of you.” Next week, after he had rested, he’d hold a meeting of his own. Things were going to be different now.
As they began to teleport, disappearing from view, Victoria said, “Now I’ll take you home.”
A moment later, he was standing in his bedroom, Shannon snoring softly from the top bunk. Aden peered up at his friend. He would stay here a while longer, he thought, before moving into the vampire mansion with Victoria, where he would rule as was expected. There were a few things he had to do first. For the boys. For Dan. He wanted to make sure they were forever taken care of, forever safe.