“It’s good enough.” I take the candle from her and move to the floor, shoving the coffee table to the side.
“How can I help?” Abby asks.
“Make a circle of salt on the floor big enough for Lucas to lay in.”
Abby nods and looks at Lucas, sizing him up. “Um, lie down first so I don’t make it too small.”
I offer him a hand, but he sets his jaw and gets up, one hand going to the wound on his stomach. My mind is still racing, trying to recall the hex-breaking charm that’s in my Book of Shadows. It’s funny, really, considering how much danger I’m in on a weekly basis, and I haven’t been cursed since my junior year at the Academy.
Lucas slowly lowers himself to the floor, and I grab a pillow from the couch and put it under his head.
“Try to lie still,” I tell him, kneeling down at his side. I put the candle in front of me and place one hand on his chest again, closing my eyes and trying to get a read on the curse.
I wish Pandora were here. She might know the right mix of ingredients to make some sort of potion or incense to send this curse packing. She’s bonded to me, just like Binx and Freya, and if she could hear me, I know she’d get the others—maybe even Scarlet, my hellhound, too—and would come here as fast as possible. But my mind is too scattered to call for them at this distance.
I try to clear my mind and focus on the darkness swirling inside Lucas. I can feel it but can’t get a grasp on it. I clench my hand, pressing my nails into Lucas’s chest as I concentrate. It’s right there…right in front of me…
“Revelare,” I whisper and feel myself slip deeper into the darkness. The curse reaches up and grabs me, pulling me under dark, murky water. It burns my skin and crushes my bones. I cry out in pain but don’t take my hand off Lucas’s chest.
I’m almost there…I can almost see it.
“Callie,” Lucas croaks. I know this is hurting him, too.
I squeeze my eyes shut and push harder. The curse is shutting me out, trying to block me off. Whoever cast this added a protective element, making a Return-to-Sender spell even more difficult than it already is.
“Revelare!” I pitch forward as pain radiates through me, traveling down my spine and making every single nerve spasm.
“Cal!” Abby shouts and stops making the salt circle.
“No,” I tell her, holding up my other hand. “The salt…keep…keep…going.” I turn my head, gritting my teeth. “There’s something there.” I push harder, sending a pulse of magic through my fingers, sparking Lucas’s chest. “It’s blocking me from seeing what kind of spell was used.”
Lucas brings his hand up and puts it over mine. It’s the push I need, and suddenly, I break through the barrier. Black fog swirls around me, and the smell of a bonfire mixes with the stench of death. Wind rustles tress in a forest and clears the fog.
The vision slips away, and I push harder, pressing my nails into Lucas’s flesh. He wraps his fingers around my wrist, and I’m there again, standing by the fire. A group of witches, all wearing hooded robes, grab hands and start chanting. Their voices are lost over the crackling flames, and the smoke makes it hard to see.
Come on…come on…
Suddenly, the flames quell, and the witches all bend down, pulling something apart. The pungent smell of death and decay fills the air, and one of the witches stands up, holding a mess of intestines.
“Oh my god,” I say, jerking my hand back.
“What did you see?” Lucas asks, still gripping my wrist.
I blink rapidly and turn to him, looking right into his gorgeous blue eyes. “Necromancers.”
Lucas’s brows furrow. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Holy shit.” I suck in a breath but get no air. “Holy shit.”
“Breathe,” he reminds me for the millionth time tonight. I would suffocate it if wasn’t for him.
“What does that mean?” Abby asks, stepping back and holding the canister of salt to her chest.
“Necromancy is a form of black magic that uses the dead to do their bidding. The Grand Coven has deemed it illegal. You’d get your powers bound if you were caught.”
“The dead, like vampires?” Abby’s hands start to shake.
I blink as her words hit me. Necromancers use blood and body parts to aid their spells. They summon spirits and raise the dead with the intention of using them for nefarious reason.
Necromancy makes my resurrection spell look like child’s play.
I don’t know why they’d go after Lucas. He’s not brainless like a corpse, who’s able to be controlled. He still has his own free will, and it would take a different type of curse to compel him to do their bidding.
I rock back on my feet, trying to figure out what to do next. I’m getting hung up on the why in all of this.
Why curse Lucas?
Why use necromancy?
It’s like the answer is right in front of me, blinking flashing lights, yet I can’t see it. My breath leaves me, and I look at Lucas again, resting my hand over his chest again.
And then I feel it, the weak, thready heartbeat that Abby was talking about.
His heart is starting to beat.
He’s not healing.
“Holy fucking shit.” My words tumble out of my mouth as it hits me. I know what they’re trying to do.
“What is it, my love?” Lucas grunts.
“They’re trying to bring you back to life.”
Chapter 4
“Back to life?” Abby echoes. “Can they do that?”
I shake my head. “No. It won’t work. His body has been dead for too long that it…it won’t work right.”
I thought I was desperate before, but now…now I’ve never been more desperate in my life. I had a year-long class at the Academy, teaching us all about vampires. And while Lucas has taught me more about his kind than the class ever did, I know one thing for sure: vampires die when you try to bring them back to life.
It’s been done before, many times. Before the witches killed most of the vampires in the war, vampires would turn any witch they could sink their fangs into. The hope was they’d create a vampire with magical powers, forced to obey their maker, that could be used as a weapon against the witches.
It didn’t work. Our magic dies with us and isn’t transferred through blood. The witches, desperate to get their brothers and sisters back, worked spell after spell trying to bring the turned back.
For years, witches and warlocks dedicated themselves to finding a magical “cure” of sorts.
And for years, they failed.
As far as we know, the only way to not be a vampire anymore is to be dead. There’s no coming back after your body has been dead, and resurrection spells are temporary, as I saw for myself a few months ago. The bodies deteriorate, and whoever you brought back dies all over again.
It’s dark. Messy. Fucked up.
No wonder it’s illegal.
“I have to stop it.” I’m trembling again, and I can’t form a coherent thought. I splay my fingers over Lucas’s chest again, feeling his slow pulse. His heart is only beating maybe twenty times a minute, not enough to sustain human life.
I won’t be able to break the curse now, but I can bind it in a sense and keep it from progressing. He’ll be like this, still a vampire but only at half power, but at least he’ll remain undead until I can figure out how to save him.