“The man you’ve been looking for. I don’t appreciate being hunted so I’ve decided to kill the hunter,” Ian said with a grin. Liam’s magic revved up and soon he held a bright green orb within his palms. His light brown hair stirred within the air that swirled around him; His brown eyes pinned on the vampire threatening his life.
“So, you’re the vampire responsible for killing my kind and you come to my home and think you’ll do the same to me?” Liam said the words and instantly cast the magic at Ian. Ian had anticipated the move though, and got behind Liam before the magic crashed into the fireplace. Without hesitation, Ian sank his fangs into Liam’s neck and greedily drank as Liam tried to fight him off. When it seemed Ian had had his fill, he released his hold on Liam’s neck, turned him around quickly and punched him squarely in the jaw.
Ian closed his eyes in concentration and soon held Liam’s same bright green magic. It seemed Ian was a sponge, absorbing the powers of those he drank. He shot a blast of magic through the window, strong enough that it would hit me, and jumped backwards through the broken pane. To Micah, Aiden and me, it looked like Liam had cast his magic at Ian and we were none the wiser to Ian’s game.
When the vision faded, I focused my eyes on Ian, who watched me with amusement. I quickly looked over to where Aiden had Liam by the throat and realized that Micah had called for backup. Wyatt and Micah sprayed Aiden with a liquid silver that burned through his clothes, searing his flesh. I screamed for them to stop but my pleas went unanswered. Aiden dropped Liam and fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Wyatt quickly cuffed his burnt wrists with silver handcuffs and carried him to the back of his police SUV.
“Ian, you son of a bitch!” I screamed as I watched the chaotic scene play out. The smile on Ian’s lips said that everything was going according to his plan. Micah cuffed Liam and escorted him to his SUV, then retrieved Ian from the ground and put him in Wyatt’s SUV. Once all three men were contained, Micah and Wyatt walked over to where my lifeless body lay.
I tried to run over to tell them I was still alive but in my haste, I actually floated towards them, my feet four inches off the ground.
“MICAH!” I screamed. Micah flinched like he was dodging an annoying bug that buzzed his head and looked around.
“Did you hear that?” he asked his brother.
Wyatt looked at him and then listened for a moment, shaking his head. “I didn’t hear anything.” Micah pursed his lips and looked behind him and then down at my body. I floated towards him and put my hand on his shoulder. He shivered like a chill had just crept up his spine and stepped back, looking around again.
“What’s wrong with you?” Wyatt asked. Micah was momentarily dumbstruck. He stared at Wyatt and then down at my body again.
“I’m here Micah, I’m alive. It’s Ian, Ian’s the bad guy,” I spoke loudly into his ear, praying that at least my last words got through to him.
“Gwen?” Micah said to the area where my voice had come from. Wyatt looked at the empty space and then at his brother, arching his eyebrows.
“Who are you talking to?” Wyatt asked.
“I just heard Gwen’s voice, twice. You didn’t hear it?”
“No, I think you might be losing it. I know how much she meant to you and it’s horrible what happened, but she’s dead, Micah,” Wyatt said slowly. Micah growled deeply in his chest and Wyatt growled back. Wyatt was in a higher position, next in line to become the alpha of the Flora weres. No one challenged him, not even his brother. I knew they wouldn’t start fighting; Wyatt was just putting Micah in his place.
“She’s a spirit walker; you don’t think that her spirit might still be here? How do we know this isn’t another one of Ian’s spells? He made us believe that Fiona was dead too,” Micah said, his voice strained with anger.
“You said that Liam attacked Ian and that his magic hit Gwen, how would Ian have had time to bewitch her?” Wyatt watched his brother with remorse, knowing that Micah was taking my death hard.
“I’M HERE!” I screamed as loudly as I could, so loudly that my throat burned with the strain. Panic was slowly consuming me at the thought of watching my body go through the process of embalming and then being buried. Even though I was in spirit form, I felt my emotions as if I were still solid. My heart still beat strongly and at the moment, it was like a battering ram against my chest. My lungs constricted with my panic and my hands shook with bewilderment. I had no clue what I was supposed to do to save myself. The one person who knew I wasn’t dead was the bad guy, who had no plans of letting it be known. I knew, deep in my heart, that I wasn’t, even if I were a ghost, trapped within the spirit realm. It was like I was Alice trapped behind the looking glass. I saw everything that was happening in real life but I couldn’t interact with it. The few times Aiden and Micah heard me was the closest I’d come to being noticed.
Both Micah and Wyatt reacted to my bloodcurdling scream and looked at each other with perplexed stares.
“You heard her, didn’t you?” Micah asked Wyatt. Wyatt nodded his head, too confused to speak. They both looked down at my body and then at the space where I hovered.
“Maybe the vampire can give his blood and heal her, maybe she’s not all the way dead. I’ve heard of people having out of body experiences when close to death,” Wyatt said with a shrug of his shoulders. I knew that they were both at a loss of what was happening and I loved them for not giving up so easily on me. Vampire blood could heal a human but I wasn’t so sure it would do anything for me or the fact that I was just having an out of body experience.
“Gwen?” A female voice said from behind me. I turned; stunned that someone was talking directly to me. Standing only a couple feet away was Bridget.
“Bridget, what are you doing here?” I asked. I only saw her when I was sleeping and I knew I wasn’t currently asleep.
“You’re in my world now,” she said, her voice somber as she watched me. I knew I was within the ghostly realm, the world seemed gray from this point of view and the air blew an icy chill along my skin.
“I’m not dead,” I said matter-of-factly.
“You don’t have to be dead, spirit walker, to be in my world. I was drawn here, I don’t know why,” she said.
That was the first time I’d had a lucid conversation with the ghost who haunted my dreams. She was clear in her spirit form. I could make out her features and her clothes just as clearly as I could my own. Confusion no longer colored her eyes and her image didn’t flicker in and out like before. She had either come to grips that she was dead, or my acceptance of what I really was helped me to see her more clearly.
While I was talking with Bridget, I noticed that Wyatt retrieved Ian from the back of the SUV and brought him over to my body. My eyes shot wide at what was about to happen. When Wyatt mentioned the vampire giving me blood, I thought of Aiden, not Ian. I did not want Ian Despereaux’s blood in my system. Obviously, Aiden didn’t either; he slammed his body against the door of the SUV and soon the door popped off the hinges as easily as a dandelion head. Aiden fell out of the SUV and I gasped at his appearance. Where he’d been sprayed with the liquid silver, his body was burned so severely that it looked like his skin had melted. Tears flowed down my cheeks at the mess of what was once his perfect, creamy skin and I wanted nothing more than to bash Micah’s and Wyatt’s skulls in.
Aiden stumbled over to where the men were gathered around my body, his hands bound with silver handcuffs.
“Get..away..from..HER!” He spat out, as if it caused him pain to speak.
“Aiden, I know you’re upset about this, but I’m trying to save her. We think Gwen might be alive but very close to death’s edge. Ian’s blood holds magic, something that could save her life,” Micah replied. Aiden was so weak, they didn’t even try to put him back in the SUV. My tears fell harder as I took in Aiden’s state. I didn’t understand how Micah and Wyatt could be so cruel as to watch him like he was beneath them.
Aiden fell over onto his side right in front of my body and stared at me with unblinking eyes. Eyes that held so much emotion, my heart literally skipped a beat. Warmth filled me as I watched Aiden’s love for me. Even weakened and beat, Aiden would not give up on me. I floated over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He shuddered but remained still. I leaned down so that my lips were close to his ear and whispered the words I had feared saying since Micah. “I love you.” Aiden closed his eyes as my words floated on the air and into his ears. Bloody tears fell from his blue eyes and he screamed a bloodcurdling scream filled with despair.
“That’s him!” Bridget said as she peered around Micah’s large shoulder. I looked up and noticed she was staring at Ian.
“Ian’s the man responsible for killing witches?” I asked her although I already knew the answer, ever since overhearing the conversation between him and Liam.
“Yes! I’d recognize his aura anywhere. He hid his face from us but I know it’s him,” Bridget said with urgency. I nodded my head, unable to do anything until I was back in my body. Relief washed over me though, knowing that Bridget would finally see her killer captured.
Ian bent down on his knees and lifted my body into his lap. He peered at me through his eyelashes and grinned. He bit into his wrist and held it to my still lips, all the time watching my spirit form. Our gazes were locked as his blood poured into my mouth. I tasted the coppery electric fluid and let it fill my mouth until my chest rose and fell heavily at our connection.
Ian finally closed his eyes and whispered something no one could hear. Micah and Wyatt stood behind him, unaware that Ian was chanting.
My body began to feel lighter and I looked up to Bridget with worry. I was slowly slipping away and it scared the shit out of me.
“Thank you, spirit walker, for helping me, I won’t soon forget it,” Bridget said with a small smile. She turned and started to walk away, her body fading into the gray.
