Arwen walked into the Circle and stood before the fire. The full moon parted the clouds overhead, and I checked my watch. Eleven thirty. I kept my gun up, pointed at her, as I walked around the proper opening of the Circle. "Get out of there. Now."

  "Or what? You'll shoot me?" She laughed and twirled, which made the flimsy dress she still wore fly out around her. "Don't you want to know the truth, Samantha? About what happened to your mother?"

  "You hired Medbh to kill her."

  Arwen laughed. "I did no such thing. I made a deal with Medbh to get rid of her. Whatever that bat-shit-crazy bitch did was up to her. She was something else during that time. Your mother, I mean. She was tough. A real heroine. And she was good with magic. There are a lot of Vampires out there that feared her. A lot of creatures you don't even know about yet that still say her name and tremble. The fact she was able to track me down, discover who and what I was is testament to her power. And to her Gift as a Tracker. When we learned she had a daughter…well…rumor spread you were just like her."

  I moved into the Circle, but didn't feel the usual pressure against my skin. There was no Circle cut in this space. No sacred ground consecrated. "You can stop now."

  "But I want you to know the truth, Samantha. How your mother tried to kill me in a Circle just like this one." She held out her arms. "But she failed the first time because she didn't have the power. She didn't have the Arcane spell necessary to exorcise me. So she went in search of that spell and found it with the help of a dear, close friend who was married to the local High Witch. They made an agreement that just this once they would learn Elemental Arcane."

  "My mother never used Arcane."

  "No. But she knew it. She practiced it. And she would have been good at it if she'd been allowed to continue. Eighteen years ago, this very night, her coven dragged me into a Circle and waited on their precious Elizabeth to come and destroy me." Arwen smiled, and the moonlight cast deep shadows on her face. "But she never did. Poor Eliza. She was never seen or heard from again. And what to do about that lovely child and grieving husband she left behind?"

  "Stop it."

  "Aww… Does it bring back bad memories for the little Sam? So alone now, with no mommy?"

  "Shut the fuck up."

  "Hard to hear, isn't it? That while you all believed, by a spell no less, that she'd died in the line of duty, I escaped those weaker Witches and killed all but one. The very one that gave your mother the spell to destroy me."

  I already knew she was talking about Inamorata.

  "So I made sure you were raised right, not knowing what you were capable of, learning only what I wanted you to learn, and sticking to just the basics. Hell, little Sammie, I even made sure you had a tender spot in your heart for Vampires. And it paid off. You've let a few of them live. Your mama wouldn't have done that."

  I fired. I wasn't sure I meant to, but I was angry and I wanted her to stop. The bullet hit her shoulder and spun her to the left. She fell and looked like a downed damsel in distress in the grass.

  And she was laughing. Just…laughing.

  I rushed to her and fired again…and again. One bullet hit the ground near her head, and the other hit her in the thigh. She was bleeding and laughing at me.

  There was only one way to stop this. One way to prevent her and Brendi from sacrificing Ina's soul. I turned to the altar and started to set my gun on it—but I couldn't. I couldn't let an instrument of death touch a sacred altar. I dropped it to the ground and kicked it under the altar as I pulled the Hello Kitty flash drive from my pocket and slammed it on the altar's surface.

  The thing exploded in a sparkling light of yellow and red as it projected the pages I'd written out of the book. I put myself into a slight trance as I read the instructions.

  "What…what are you doing?" Panic flooded Arwen's voice.

  I lit a small briquette of charcoal and sprinkled Frankincense over it. I lifted the long knife sitting by the Fire candle so she could see it in the moonlight and sprinkled salt over its hilt. "I'm going to finish what my mother started, Dionysus. I'm going to rip your soul from that body so hard it won't survive the trip to the Well of Souls."

  I passed the blade through the smoke that swirled into the air.

  "You can't do that! You're using Arcane! Witches can't use Arcane!"

  I ran the blade through the flame of the red candle on the altar. "Witches are told they shouldn't use it, because it will leave scars on them, marks that could cause bad things to happen to them."

  "And you'd risk that? To exorcise me? I didn't do anything to your mother! That was Medbh."

  I held the blade out as I poured water over it and let the excess spill on the grass. I didn't answer her this time. I didn't have anything to say. The blade was now consecrated by the Elements and infused with my will as it glowed a soft blue and white. All I had to do now was set the symbols. Ten of them. I had them all memorized.

  I approached Arwen, who tried to move away. But she was sluggish and weak with the loss of blood. A normal human would have passed out from the loss of blood. But not a monster like this, keeping the body alive while it fought to live.

  The gown she wore, the silk now hardened with dried blood, exposed her arms from the shoulders. Her skin was as pale as the moon above us. There was very little blood as I carved the first symbol into her flesh with the knife.

  She struggled harder and managed to wrench her arm from my grip. I got it back again and this time shoved her down on her side with her carved arm up. I managed the second, then the third, fourth and fifth symbol as she struggled. Running out of arm room, I moved the point of the blade to whatever bare patch of flesh I could find as I carved the next five symbols. She screamed and yelled, but I forced all of my will, all of my power into making the symbols just right. No one could hear her, because nothing could get past the barrier on the house.

  When I was done, I sat back and held the knife up over my head. Lightning flashed across the sky, followed by thick, loud thunder. Was it finally going to rain?

  "No!" Arwen screamed as she put up a hand.

  I spoke the words of the spell as I plunged the knife through her ribcage and into her heart, where her foul, demonic spirit was fused.

  Arwen writhed and kicked with the knife sticking from her chest. Only the hilt was visible. Blood seeped over the Circle grass. It hissed and smoked where it touched the earth. Her mouth opened wide as her chest arched and she nearly levitated. Thunder shook the ground beneath me as the Leviathan finally collapsed. Her open eyes stared at the sky as it opened up and rain came down in large, cold drops.

  I sat close by as the rain fell, plastering my hair to my head, washing the blood away from my hands, my face and everywhere it had touched me. The fire sizzled and finally went out as the pit filled with water. I half crawled, half stumbled into a standing position as I moved out of the Circle and back into the house. I dripped water over the floor and mud from my boots as I moved around the dining room table and into the kitchen. It was time to free Ina and see if I had any energy left to heal what Dionysus and done.

  But the chair was empty.

  I picked up the handcuffs and held them out as I slowly looked around the kitchen. The house was eerily quiet, except for the tapping noises as water dripped from my hair and jacket.

  "I think," came a familiar voice behind me, "thanks are in order. It took long enough, but I'm finally free."

  TWENTY THREE

  Ina stood in the doorway from the kitchen to the herb room. Her hair was down around her shoulders and gave off a radiant glow. She looked beautiful…except for the pentagram in the center of her forehead.

  She looked up, almost cross-eyed, when she realized what I was looking at. "Yes. I have you to thank for it."

  I stood in the middle of the kitchen, dripping, unsure what had happened. "Are…are you free of him? Of Dionysus?"

  Ina laughed. "Am I free of him? I'll never be free of him." She approached me, her hand out to touch my face. "And I'll never be free of this body because of the mark on my head. But I think if I drain your blood, I could eventually make it fade enough to do the trick." She moved her hand from my face to my hair. "You still don't see it, do you?"

  I did see it.

  Too late.

  She grabbed a hunk of my hair and yanked me backward seconds before she sank a knife into my stomach. Ina stepped back and smiled as her eyes turned black, and I saw her teeth. Her long, sharp teeth.

  "You…escaped into Ina…"

  "You can't be that dense, Samantha," her dual-toned voice said. "I've been inside Inamorata all along."

  I flailed as I tried to stay upright. I grabbed at the center island with its apples, but I didn't have the strength and collapsed in a heap on the floor. I put my hands to my middle and felt the knife still buried deep. I didn't dare remove it, fearing I'd bleed even faster. I was dying fast enough as it was.

  Ina knelt beside me and ran her long tongue against my cheek seconds before she sank her sharp teeth into my neck and drank. I moaned at the pain, but it seemed like such a little thing when weighed against the agony in my gut. She pulled away and whispered into my ear, "So easily manipulated. Since you were a child, I've been there. And your mother knew I was there, but there was nothing she could do about it."

  I turned my head and spit blood. "Mom…" I tried to gather my power, call on the Elements one by one, but I'd exhausted myself in the Circle.

  Ina grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a sitting position. My head lolled around as my strength left my body and made garish, scarlet puddles on the ground. "Arwen was my puppet all this time…and you never even suspected." She smiled. Blood coated her teeth and lips. My blood. "And she would serve as my soul. Don't you see? You ripped the soul out of an innocent and gave it to me. Now I have a fresh soul—one I can ride wherever I want to go, and it's all because of you!"

  My own soul felt nauseous for what I'd just done. I literally just murdered an innocent human. And now I was dying. Was this the punishment of Arcane? Was this my punishment? That I would die at the hands of my mother's enemy?

  She moved behind me and propped me up against her front, her breasts a cushion for my neck. "There, there, Samantha. Your purpose is done. You were to be my salvation. And you did your job perfectly. Now, I'm going to drink what's left, and then I'm going to leave. First, I think I'll Ghoul that cute little Cyber Witch of yours, the one that uploaded the book? That's a nice trick, don't you think? Yes, I heard every word the two of you said. He'll be my next servant, so I can use his power. And then I want a crack at that little Hedge Witch. He could be a very nice Major Domo.

  "Oh…and then I need to do something about that damn fire breather. You do realize he's in love with you, and his kind doesn't love often. They don't let go either. He's going to cause a lot of—"

  Something shook the house. I thought at first it was Ina moving, until she literally disappeared and I fell backward. I stared at the ceiling as my thoughts meandered in and out of where I was. There were spots on the white, speckled ceiling. They looked like grease spots.

  And who was yelling?

  I could hear all kinds of yelling. Something vibrated beneath me again, and I slowly blinked as the edges of my world turned black as if burning inward.

  Something wet licked my face. I heard Grey whimper and saw her staring down at me, her tongue hanging out and her fur coated in Vampire blood. "You need to wash that off," I said, slurring my words. "Don't want no Ghoul doggie."

  A man laughed and I looked to my left. Crwys was looking down at me, and there was something really weird about him. He had this red and yellow glow all over his body. He put a hand to my cheek, and his eyes looked…gold. "Trust me when I tell you Grey is incapable of that kind of transformation. Now, I need you to keep quiet."

  I think I smiled. I wasn't sure if I was really doing anything. I wasn't even sure if Crwys and Grey were actually there.

  "Hey Crwys, it's gonna take an ambulance twenty minutes to get here and she looks bad. You want me to…you know..."

  I recognized Levi's voice, but I couldn't see him.

  "No. I can handle Samantha."

  Handle me? Ha…nobody could handle me!

  Not even me.

  I felt his arms beneath me, and then I wasn't on the cool kitchen floor anymore. I was in the air and I was warm. So very, very warm.

  I'm proud of you, baby girl.

  I closed my eyes as I became weightless and just too damn tired.

  "Thanks, Mom," I said, or I think I said it, before I drifted off into a nice red-amber dream.

  TWENTY FOUR

  I heard voices at first. Lots of them. Laughter. Then some smells that made me scrunch my nose. Something soft brushed my cheek and I batted at it. Damn flies.

  "I think she's finally coming back to the land of the living," Kyle said.

  I opened my eyes to look into his brown ones. He was way too close. I put my hand on his face and pushed him away. "Personal space, dude."

  "Oh, she's fine," Ivan said, and he appeared behind Kyle. He looked as adorable as ever as he waved. "Welcome back."

  Just past Ivan was a flat screen TV on the wall. I recognized the show, but couldn't remember ever putting a TV in my bedroom.

  I wasn't in my bedroom.

  "Aw, no…a hospital?" I blinked several times to look around, and yeah, it was a hospital room. Semi-private. A curtain separated me and some other poor schmoe. I touched my stomach, but it was wrapped really, really well. "I'm assuming I survived my first stabbing?"

  "Yeah. It looks pretty good considering. And you survived a pretty nasty Vampire bite, but I wouldn't go telling the nurses that's what's on your neck." Kyle put his hand on the side railing. "You lost a lot of blood."

  "Yeah, that's what happens when you fight a Leviathan." I looked around again. "Where are Crwys and Levi?"

  "On the job." Ivan shoved his hands into his pockets. He looked sad. "It didn't work, did it?"

  Oh, it worked. I just didn't know if he knew it worked on the wrong person. I shook my head before I cleared my throat. "Did Inamorata…"

  "She got away," Kyle said. "I'm so, so sorry, Sam. We didn't know."

  "None of us did." Ivan looked really upset. "And what she did to Arwen…did you get there before she did that, or did Dionysus do that after she stabbed you?"

  I didn't say anything.

  Kyle spoke up. "Come on. Fill us in. 'Cause Detectives Vague and Whut had no idea. Crwys thinks you got there after Dionysus had already killed Arwen. I mean…you tried to stop her, and that's the best you could do."

  I still didn't say anything. I should, I knew that. I should tell them the truth. Tell them I was the one that killed her. I was the one that used Arcane. I was the one Dionysus tricked into doing his dirty work.

  Kyle and Ivan continued talking, and I didn't…say…a word.

  Kyle held out his finger at me. "I know about you translating that Arcane stuff. Just be glad you didn't do any of it, okay? You need to rest and you need to heal." He moved back. "Sam, don't let this get you down. We'll catch her. Him. The Leviathan. And we'll banish it the right way, okay? You've got Ivan and me, and Crwys and Levi are willing to help. Oh, and Grey…she's already chewed a hole in your couch."

  I forced a smile. "Thanks for taking care of her."

  "Seven days," Ivan said. "You've been in here seven days. Just so you know."

  My jaw dropped. Seven days? I made an internal sigh. That meant Dionysus could be anywhere by now. And luckily she hadn't touched Ivan. Or Kyle. I needed to talk to Crwys and find out what happened while I lay on the floor bleeding to death.

  Ivan stepped to the curtain. "So, you want to meet your roommate?"

  "Sure?"

  Ivan pulled the curtain back.

  Robin sat on the edge of the other bed, wearing a red flannel robe, looking as beautiful and awesome as ever. He stood with help from Ivan and made his way to me where he leaned over and gave me a big kiss. He was alive and healthy and warm next to me.

  I thought of Arwen's body on the ground, dead in the rain, and her soul now owned by Dionysus.

  At some point the other two left the room, but I didn't notice until Robin kissed my nose. "A Vampire, huh?"

  "Mmhmm."

  "Downloading magic files?"

  "Mmhmm."

  "And exorcising demons."

  "All in a day's work."

  He nuzzled in next to me. "You better get overtime for this."

  TWENTY FIVE

  In the aftermath, and there was always aftermath, the insurance rejected the claim on the window. And the company I ordered a lot of the destroyed product from also refused to take my claim. They wanted to be paid for the order, even though I didn't have the product to sell to get them the money.

  A month after Dionysus escaped, I stood by the computer in the shop, surfing the Internet for cheaper digs. The way things were going, and the drain on my bank account, made it impossible to keep the doors open. I was facing the loss of everything I'd worked for.

  I'd asked Ivan and Kyle to take a few days unpaid after Thanksgiving so I could sort out my next step. Robin was busy getting his remaining niece settled in with his parents in Gulfport. No one had found the missing children yet, and I suspected they were somewhere in Alfheim. I planned on asking the Silver Queen if she knew their whereabouts. I didn't want to give Brendi any ideas about trading their safety for my head.

  Tourists moved back and forth outside, but no one stepped into Bell, Book and Candle.

  Not with that huge foreclosure sign tacked to the window.

  I'd talked to Crwys and Levi, together and separate, after I was released from the hospital, to find out what happened. And they told the same story. They got Ina's address from Kyle, who was worried because I hadn't returned his call. When they got there, they found me bleeding and Ina about to bite me.

  The two of them fought the old bitch, who was very spritely for her age. Something happened and she was gone.

 

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