Darkness Haunts

chapter Twenty-six



“I’m sorry about your sister, Nik, but we have to save Aniya right now.”

Everyone eyes fell on me.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, frowning.

I outlined what had happened before we came to the mine as fast as I could, not wanting to waste a minute. Derrick, whose arms continued to hold me, tightened in comfort.

“Mel, I don’t think we can get to her in time,” he said close to my ear.

I pushed his arms away and stood. The cold wind struck hard without his warm body close, but I ignored the discomfort. I ignored all the aches and pains. None of them mattered in this moment.

“There has to be a way.”

Yvonne tapped her chin. “Do you know if the deputy had a charm on him to prevent the location spell?”

I reflected back to the scene and clued in on that small detail. “No, he didn’t.”

“Then we need only obtain the materials to place the spell on him.”

I groaned. How were we supposed to do that?

She smiled. “Don’t worry, I know where he lives. If I can get there soon, it will simply be a matter of gathering what I need.”

“That will still take time,” I argued.

“Not if I take her there,” Lucas said. I glanced at him in surprise. He still looked rather bloody and I had to hope Yvonne wouldn’t mind.

“You would do that?”

“I would, but you’ll owe me a debt for it.”

Of course, he wouldn’t do me any favors for free.

“Fine, whatever, but do it fast. Niya only has five minutes left,” I said after glancing at my watch again.

He nodded and turned his attention to Yvonne. “Tell me where you need to go.”

She explained the details and I could see him working them out in his head. Did he have some kind of mystical map in there or what?

After being satisfied he had a lock on the location, he grabbed Yvonne and flashed them away. I began to pace, hoping they didn’t take long. Every minute I glanced at my watch and let out an audible groan. A couple of times someone tried walking up to me, but I put my hand out to stop them. No one could calm me down and it wasn’t worth letting them try.

With thirty seconds left on my watch, Lucas and Yvonne appeared again. She had the supplies in her hands and set them down to get to work right away. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to how she did it, but my eyes willed her to finish as soon as possible. By the time she found the location, it was five minutes past the deadline and I was shaking with impatience and fear.

This time Lucas offered to go alone and get Aniya, saying he couldn’t take anyone with him since he would need to be able to move her back here. I hadn’t even known he could move a single person with him before tonight. After giving him my assent, he flashed off once again.

When he returned two minutes later, he held my limp friend in his arms. I gasped. She had a gaping wound in her stomach. She still breathed, but who knew for how long. She’d already lost a lot of blood if the deep red coating her faded jeans and cream sweater were anything to go by. I moved closer. Dread was closing my throat at seeing her olive skin with an ashen hue to it. Nik came to stand beside me and examine her as well.

“She has a thready pulse, Mel. Her heart is working too hard. I’m not sure she can be saved,” Nik told me with regret-filled eyes.

“What do you mean she can’t be saved?” I touched her cheek to find it cold. “Your blood healed me. It could do the same for her.”

He shook his head. “You weren’t this close to dying. She is dangerously low on blood and already in shock. If I give her my blood now, it will upset the balance.”

“The balance?” I asked in confusion.

He nodded. “I’m not sure how much you know, but to turn a human into a vampire they must be bled out to the brink of death, and then be fed our blood. She is at that point now and wounded to the degree I would have to feed her a great deal of my blood to heal the wound.”

“Okay,” I said, still not getting it.

“If she lives, Mel, she’ll turn into a vampire.”

I dropped my head, not liking the idea of having to make such a decision for my friend. What if she didn’t want it? There had to be another way.

“Wait,” I looked at Lucas. “Can’t you heal her?”

His eyes roved over Aniya still cradled in his arms and he shook his head. “No, she is too far gone for my skills.”

“But you were able to save Derrick,” I argued.

“He’s a werewolf. His body merely needed a nudge in the right direction to survive. Your friend requires far more than that.”

I turned away, frustrated. Would Aniya hate me for whichever choice I made? Was it right to not even give her the chance? Death was permanent, but if she didn’t want to be a vampire we could deal with that later.

I swung back around.

“Do it.” Resolve strengthened my voice.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded.

“You are aware that this may not work and she could still die,” he warned. “Not everyone makes the transition.”

“They don’t?” I’d known changing into a hybrid was risky, but not that it was for humans. Wanda’s teachings really left something to be desired.

“No, they don’t. The best estimate is about half survive.”

“I don’t understand. Why would that be?”

“No one is sure, but we believe some people are fated to die and their death can’t be cheated. A higher power decides, not us.”

“You mean God,” I stated.

He inclined his head. “That is what some believe.”

Lucas snorted, but said nothing. Nephilim weren’t in the best graces with heaven and didn’t appreciate mentions of “the Higher Power”.

Whatever the odds, she was going to die for sure if we didn’t do something. “I still want you to do it,” I told him. “We have to at least try to save her.”

Nik nodded and took Aniya’s body from Lucas. Her breaths were coming in too light and I felt guilty for delaying with all my questions. After he took care to lay her on the ground, he sliced his wrist for the second time tonight and eased her mouth open. His blood began dripping down between her pale lips.

With his other hand, he massaged her throat, forcing her to swallow. Within a minute, the cut on his wrist closed and he sliced it open again. This occurred several times as he worked to save her. The wound on Aniya’s stomach didn’t change at first, but after agonizing minutes of waiting the skin finally started to knit back together. I let out a sigh of relief.

Nik had paled considerably by the time he thought she’d had enough. One of the werewolves stepped forward and offered him his arm. He bit right into it.

“Will she live?” I asked Lucas.

He shrugged. “There is no way to know at this point. She took his blood well enough and continues to breathe, but the turning process is not easy. Your friend could die at any time in the next three days before she becomes a full vampire. All you can do is wait and see what happens.”

“Thanks for sugarcoating it,” I grumbled.

He lifted his brows. “Would you rather I lie?”

He had a point, even if I didn’t have to like it. Time to change the subject. “What did you do with the deputy?”

A smile twitched at his lips. “He had an unfortunate accident with his gun.”

I gazed at him in suspicion. “What do you mean…accident?’

He gave a light shrug. “His gun went off after I arrived. It happened to be aimed directly at his head when it fired, which was unfortunate.”

Trust Lucas to create an “accident”. The deputy had been under compulsion, and might have been innocent, but that wouldn’t have mattered to the nephilim. He didn’t see things the way I did.

“So what do we do now?”

Nik walked up and answered before Lucas could. “We take back control of my house.”

Sounded like a plan to me.