Pop stood and slapped me on the back. “Well, it’s about time. I was wondering if I was going to have to shove it down your throat. You won’t be sorry, and checkmate by the way.” He pointed at the board as he walked away.
Staring at the chessboard, I wondered if it were even possible. I couldn’t involve Camille, Alena, or Hunter, but Grady and Tyler might be willing to help. Marcus owed us a favor, so I might be able to use him. I smiled at Camille across the room.
She glanced my way, and her cheeks turned pink as our eyes met. Each day she’d gotten stronger, her color improved, and I thought I noticed her eyes lightening. She tried using her magic, to no avail, but I knew the chelation therapy would work. It had to.
“Thank you.” Camille kissed my cheek as we took our seats on the plane the next day.
“For what?”
“For giving me this week. It was wonderful, and you made it happen.”
“No, you made it happen.” I bumped her arm with mine.
“I wouldn’t have come without you pushing me. You knew exactly what I needed.”
“A month in a godforsaken frozen tundra land and then another month as prisoners in a castle with someone will do that.”
“Iceland wasn’t that bad.” She traced circles on my hand.
“It was cold and dark.”
“And Italy was cold and dark.”
I looked out the window and back to her. “Yeah, Italy was worse.”
“I’m glad you decided we should rescue your dad.” She wrapped her hand around mine.
“We aren’t going to get my dad.”
“What do you mean, you said—”
Squeezing her hand, I bent down so we were eye to eye. “I said I was going to get my dad. You’re not going anywhere near that compound.”
“But, I could help.”
“Or you could get caught again. Both you and Alena have proved it’s not safe.”
When the flight landed, we exited in a hangar and loaded into a windowless SUV. They took us to an airstrip two hours away, and we transferred to the plane inside a hanger. Our flight took off at sunset, or so my watch indicated. We wouldn’t see the sun again for days if not months. But with Camille by my side and a clear mission in my head, I welcomed the next stage of our journey.
“You got here yesterday, and you’re asking us to help you rescue your father?” Alena slammed her hand down on the table. “It makes no sense. It’s not central to our mission. We’d be wasting time and energy.”
“I’m not asking you to help. I’m not even asking your blessing. I’ll gather a team on my own. Grady and Tyler are willing to join me. I’m just asking permission to use Marcus.” Pop’s words had picked at my brain for a week, and I blurted them out as a Hail Mary. “My grandfather said I wouldn’t be sorry. I think there was more meaning in that statement.”
Hunter shook his head. “You can’t know that. But until Camille has her magic back we’re in a holding pattern. I think”—he looked to Alena and back to me—“that if Anne doesn’t mind you using Marcus, it shouldn’t jeopardize our mission.”
“What?” Alena’s hand went to her hip, but she refocused on me. “You could be wasting your energy, getting your hopes up for nothing. I’ve been waiting for my dad to show up for almost eighteen years. Your grandfather probably meant that you wouldn’t regret rescuing your father from an evil coven of witches. That’s not a hard thing to guess.”
“Maybe my dad could be someone important, someone who knows something about the sword. I have no idea what he was doing in his travels.”
She turned to face Hunter. “We should at least have Chalondra read him before we decide. It would be good to know where his father’s alliances may lie. We don’t want to lose Jude for nothing. He’s one of the strongest on our team.”
I stood a little taller hearing the value Alena placed on me.
“That makes sense.” Hunter nodded. “You should have Chalondra read you.”
Finding Chalondra and Orm in the study, I asked her to take my palm. I’d avoided her like the plague in fear that she’d confirm exactly what I’d believed all my life: my dad was a deadbeat who left his son for months at a time to travel the world for his own pleasure.
Chalondra took my hand and closed her eyes. “You are of the house of Gabriel, and a member of the Alonso family coven. Like others of Gabriel’s line, the Alonso coven are messengers.” She opened her eyes. “But many of them became very resourceful and started to reap knowledge and store it for future use.”
“That’s it?” I cocked an eyebrow. “Sounds ambiguous.”
Alena appeared in the doorway, Hunter on her heels. “He could be a keeper of knowledge? Or a nobody?”
I spun to face her. “So, now you’re eavesdropping?”
“But what knowledge is the question.” Orm stood and shuffled to a shelf. “Maybe Jude’s father is more of an asset to Michael’s coven than we guessed. If he knew you were a herald, it could be why he went to great lengths to protect you.”
“Or he could be a nobody who collected useless pieces of trivia.” Alena plopped into the seat Orm vacated. “I still don’t want him using Marcus. We could need him for something else. What if his gratitude only goes so far?”
“I’m doing this with or without Marcus.” I stomped out of the room. Still, I wasn’t going anywhere until I knew Camille was okay. Finding her in the infirmary, I sat beside her bed.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were starting the chelation so early today.” I took her hand.
“It’s okay, I’m a big girl.”
“But, I want to be here.”
“What? So, you can be bored out of your brain? I’ll be fine.”
“Well, I’m sitting with you anyway.” I moved to the end of her bed.
The nurse brought an IV bag filled with clear liquid and explained the process. The compound in the fluid would bind to the toxic heavy metals, and her kidneys would filter the compound out.
“Fingers crossed.” Camille held up her entwined fingers.
We spent the two hours reading spells, and when appropriate, I practiced them.
“So, what now? I don’t feel any different. Are my eyes lighter?” Camille asked the nurse when all the solution had transferred through the IV.
The woman’s eyes cut to me and back to Camille. “It may take a while to see any changes. Perhaps up to twenty-four hours. Drink lots of water and come back immediately if you have any odd reactions to the medication.” She fitted a Band Aid over the injection site.
“You should take double your vitamins and calcium for the next week.” Reaching in her pocket, she offered Camille a handful of small packets containing two pills each. “Take one packet morning and night.”
“Thank you.” Camille pulled her sleeve down and stood. I followed her into the hall. “She was totally lying to me,” Camille whispered as we exited the infirmary.
“You don’t know that.”
“Are my eyes any lighter?”
“No, but you heard her, give it time.”
“I’m doing research.” She increased her pace, and I followed her to the computer bay. Sitting in front of a laptop, she typed in the keywords. After reading a page, she spun to face me. “There are six different chelating drugs.”
“Okay, so if this one doesn’t work, we try another.”
Pushing back from the table, she spun in her seat. I followed her back to the infirmary where she insisted that they order the other five chelating compositions.
“These aren’t cheap medications,” the doctor told her.
“I have to have my magic, order them.” Turning on her heels, she strode from the room.
“Sorry, she’s a little on edge.” I jogged to her retreating form. “Hey. Everything’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out.”
“And what if we don’t?”
“We will.” I forced her to face me. “You need a distraction. Let’s take a walk through the gardens.”
“I need a good hard run or a plate of chocolate.”
“I don’t think a run is good for you right now, but I’m sure we could scrounge up some chocolate.”
“The walk will do.” She rolled her eyes.
Janine and I kept her occupied. We strolled through the sunrooms and into the aviary. We read by the pool and soaked in the hot tub. I figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to rub everyone’s training in her face, so I avoided the gyms. The next morning, she beat me to the infirmary.
“It didn’t work. We need to try the next chelating agent.” I heard Camille speaking to the doctor as I entered the medical ward.
“I don’t want to tax your system. These drugs can cause kidney damage,” the doctor insisted.
“I’ll get vampire blood, anything, just give me the next one. You got it, right?” She jumped up onto the exam table and turned over her arm.
“Yes, but…” The doctor’s eyes cut to me.
“I’ll donate my blood. Does she need it intravenously?”
“No, she’ll need to drink it.”
Camille’s nose scrunched up, but not a second later, she jutted her chin out. “Fine, I can do that.”
“I’ll—” I wasn’t sure how to proceed.
“Greta will help you.” The doctor cocked her head to the woman across the room.
Greta injected a needle into my vein and drew a pint of blood while the doctor inserted the IV for Camille’s meds. Once she drank the blood, and took the vitamins, the doctor started the chelation IV drip.
“You’ve got to stay healthy,” I told Camille once the doctor left.
“Camille,” Janine’s eyes pleaded with her, “please, be smart, there’s no rush.”
“I need my magic back. What if they did something that is irreversible?”
I stared into her eyes. “Between all the brilliant, supernatural minds here, we’ll find something.”
“What is everyone else up to?” Camille asked.
As we waited for her IV bag to empty, I reviewed how Tyler and Grady were training together, and Alena and Hunter studied the compound’s layout to look for weaknesses.
“Are my eyes getting lighter?” She widened her lids and leaned towards me after an hour.
“The bag’s only half empty. The doctor said it could take a day for the medicine to spread through your whole system.”
She slumped back against the cushion. “That means no.”
“We’ll figure it out.” I laid my hand on hers.
After the treatment, we ate a big brunch and settled in the library to study spells.
“You probably should be training with the others,” she noted as I picked up a third book.
“I’ll run later.” I’d waited till she went to sleep the previous night to go to the gym.
My days had taken on a rigid schedule. In order to ward off the dreams, I worked my body to exhaustion in the evenings and woke early in the morning. The kitchens were stocked with human blood, and no one except Camille questioned me drinking it. When she asked, I told her all the vampires had made it a regular item in their diets, and I figured I should stay strong too.
Camille’s leg bounced beside me, refocusing me on her problem. “You’re a patient person.”
I shrugged. “When it comes to you.”
“So, what do you feel impatient about?”
“Waiting to hear if we can use Marcus to get information to my Dad.”
“You should call Anne yourself.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. It’s your dad.”
We spent the day as we had the last. By nightfall it became obvious the chelation treatment had failed again. I’d been so sure of the outcome, it took me by surprise that she was facing this hurdle. Camille seemed in good spirits, and I tried to follow suit. The next morning when we entered the medical ward, the doctor insisted on testing Camille’s kidney function before giving her another chelation drug.
“Your labs still look fine,” the doctor reported an hour later.
“See!” Camille told her. “The vampire blood is working. I’m good to try another.”
“Are you doing anything to keep up your stamina?” the doctor asked when she hooked me up to an IV.
“I’ve been drinking human blood and taking vitamins.”
“Good enough for me.” She inserted my IV needle and then turned to Camille. “Give him a few minutes. I want you to be in tip-top shape before we start the drug.”
Camille amused me with stories of her childhood antics. I grew sure that they were more for her benefit than mine, as her eyes never strayed from my face. As I watched the blood flow through the tube to the bag, and her smell wafted to me, I remembered the sweet taste of her blood. Thinking I might be the most perverted person on the planet, I shook my head.
“What are you thinking?” Camille cocked her head.
“That I love you.” I mentally slapped myself for not being able to come up with anything better.
She rolled her eyes. “You’re going to tell me you love me in an infirmary.”
“I’ve told you I loved you a thousand times.”
“More like ten.”
“Really? I’m sorry.” I tucked her hair behind her ear and lifted her chin to meet her eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you too, and I’m sorry.” She kissed my hand. “It’s my fault I’m in this mess. If I’d listened—”
“Hey.” I ran my finger down her arm and clutched her hand. “No regrets. Everyone’s safe now.”
“Except your dad, and I don’t have any magic.”
“We’ll fix it.”
Tears formed in her eyes. “What if we can’t?”
“We will.” I squeezed her hand and pulled her to me, kissing her. Her lips were soft and warm, her skin smelled of honey, and I wished we were alone.
The sound of someone clearing their throat erupted from behind Camille. “Do you want to donate all your blood?”
Camille’s faced turned blood red as she backed away. “Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “Don’t give too much.”
“I’m fine.” I winked at Camille as Greta approached.
Camille returned to her exam table as Greta lifted the bag of blood from the table. “I told you to come get me when it reached this line.”
“Sorry, I got distracted.”
“Oh, I could see that lover boy. I guess your girl over there will have some extra juice today.” She put a cotton ball to my arm and slid the needle out. She retreated to find a Styrofoam cup for the blood.
I crossed the aisle to sit next to Camille. “Do you think it would be better chilled?”
“It’s better to get it down fast.” She crinkled her nose, and I wondered how one person could be so sexy and cute at the same time. I would never tire of looking at her face, black eyes and all.
She picked up a lock of her hair. “Do you like it darker?”
I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me. I’ll always think you’re beautiful.”
“Always is a bold statement for a seventeen-year-old.”
“It’s true.” I picked up her hand.
“Okay, no more lovey dovey.” Greta appeared at the foot of Camille’s bed. “This girl needs to drink this so we can start the chelation therapy, take three.”
I took the cup from Greta and handed it to Camille. While she drank, I poured ice water into a glass. When she’d finished the blood, she took the cup of water and swished her mouth and swallowed the rest.
“That bad?”
“I don’t mean to be offensive, but yes.” Camille covered her mouth.
“No worries.”
“Okay, let’s get you hooked up.” Greta hooked a fluid-filled bag on an IV pole.
We read from a spell book I’d brought from the library. When we got to a healing spell, Camille asked about the canaries she’d kept in the castle. With a sigh, I explained how I’d used one to hide my vampire nature from the elders at the initiation ceremony.
I couldn’t look at her and crossed to the other side of the room. “I’m sorry.”
“Will you come here?” Camille demanded.
Eyes aimed at the floor, I approached her. Folding my arms over my chest, I looked into her dark eyes. “I did a lot of things I don’t want you to know about.”
“Dad told me about the guards.” She tugged at my arm, and I relinquished it to her grasp.
“When I was younger, I had a lot of rage issues. My anger would come out of nowhere, and I had a hard time controlling it. That’s why I started martial arts. It gave me a way to vent my energy. I hated how the feeling seemed to consume me. Wanting to hurt the people who did this to you, to your dad, brings all that to the surface.” I took her hands. “I will never hurt you or anyone you love.”
“You think I ever thought you would?”
“I don’t know. I’m not even sure I can forgive myself for taking those lives.”
“My dad and I are alive because of you.”
“The end doesn’t justify the means.”
“Was there any other way?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop.” She lifted my chin so I had to look at her. “I love you. I trust you. It doesn’t matter.”
“I will always protect you.”
Greta approached us. “So, what are we thinking? Is it working?”
I took a step back. Camille looked at me. “Is it?”
“Remember the doc said it took a while to get through your system.”
“So, no.” Camille slammed the book shut. “So, we’re zero for three.”
“There are three more drugs.” Greta’s eyebrows shot up. “We’ll repeat the blood test for kidney function tomorrow. If it still looks good, we can try again.” She unhooked the IV line and slid the needle from Camille’s vein.
All the praying and hoping couldn’t change the fact that the chelation drugs weren’t working. Over the few days, the color drained from Camille’s cheeks as the drugs took more and more of a toll on her. The doctor had wanted to stop, give her a rest between the treatments, but Camille begged until the doctor caved. On day six, the team gathered around Camille as the last of the final chelating agent drained into her system. I’d held them off for the first five days, but I couldn’t stop the influx when they learned the final drug seemed to have failed.
“She has to have her magic.” Alena paced the room.
Hunter grabbed Alena’s shoulders. “Everyone knows that. Rehashing the problem isn’t going to help.”
“Okay, what will?” Alena approached Camille. “Can we pull the toxins to one spot with magic and drain them out?”
Orm shook his head. “I tried that.” I can’t get a hold of them.
“Maybe we need more power. Everyone link hands.” Alena put her hand around Camille’s wrist, and the rest of us linked hands. We started a chant designed to draw out toxins.
After thirty minutes of the incantation, Camille looked the same.
“Leeches?” Alena asked, looking to the doctor.
“We’d have to place them all over her body. They are usually used at the site of a wound. These toxins seem to be widespread. It would be very painful, and I’m not sure it would work.”
“You have morphine, right? Or some other—”
“Alena.” Tyler stopped her inquisition. “We’re not putting leeches all over my sister. Look at her, she’s wasting away as it is.”
“I’m fine.” Camille pulled down the sleeve of her sweatshirt as Greta bandaged the latest IV sight.
I walked away from her bed, thinking. Turning, I pointed to Orm. “We think they used a fine powder of loadstone, right?”
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“And the loadstone is magnetic. We can draw the toxins to a site using a magnet from another loadstone and then drain them. We were wearing bracelets in LA. We have plenty of them.” I ran out the door and down the hall to my room. Finding my bracelet, I jogged back to the infirmary.
“Why didn’t I think of this before?” I fitted the bracelet on Camille’s arm.
“Still, we can’t drain all her blood,” Janine commented.
“We can give her more.” I spun to face the doctor. “You have her type, right?”
“I have everyone’s type.”
“Good, get it. Tyler, Grady, bring your bracelets. Maybe a stronger magnetic pull will draw the toxins faster.
Camille spun the stones on her arm. “Are my eyes light yet?”
I leaned down to look into her eyes. “Not yet, but this is going to work. It’s the best idea yet.”
“Let’s hope so.” Alena put her hand to her hip and paced away.
“Look.” Camille pulled the bracelet away from her skin. A black ring had appeared under where the stones touched her skin. “It’s working.” She flung her arms around me.
I could have held her forever, but with the room crowded with her mom, dad, and brother, Alena, Hunter, Chalondra, and Orm, I squeezed her shoulders and released her. Greta hooked up a bag of new blood to her right arm and another IV to her left arm to drain the toxic blood. When we fit the additional bracelets on her arm, the veins around them turned black. Minute by minute, the color spread up her arm.
“My hand feels numb.” Camille lifted her hand and curled and extended her fingers.
“The toxins are building up in her arm. What if it clogs her veins?” I asked.
“Perhaps we should use a couple different sites.” The doctor slid two bracelets from her arm and fit one around each ankle.
“Isn’t it dangerous to draw so much blood at one time?” Janine asked as she prepped two additional puncture sites on her legs.
“Not if we’re replacing it. At this point it’s like a blood transfusion.” The nurse hung the extra bags.
“Maybe we could filter her blood instead?” Tyler asked. “Run her blood between the stones.”
“We already did a transfusion. The toxins are in her cells,” I told him.
“Right. I forgot how many different medical procedures she’s had in the last three weeks.”
“It’s working. Give it time, Tyler,” Camille told him.
“Have you looked in the mirror? You’re wasting away.” He ran his fingers through his hair.
“When we’ve exhausted every possibility, I’ll stop. You guys should go. I’m fine here.”
One by one those gathered left until it was just Camille, Janine, me, Greta, and the doctor. They hooked her up to a heart and blood pressure monitor.
“We should keep studying.” She held up a spell book.
I forced a smile and took the book from her, opening to the page we left off on.
Camille wound her hand around mine. “I’m okay. I’m going to be okay.”
“I know you are.” I took a deep breath.
Camille sighed. “That was convincing.”
“I don’t like seeing you like this.”
She cupped her hand to my cheek. “When this is over, we’ll lay on the beach in the sun for a month.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
She reclined on the bed, and I read to her. One, two, three, four hours passed. The others came in one to two at a time to check on her. They hung a new blood bag as each one drained until they’d replaced her blood with six pints of donor blood.
“I think we should stop for the day,” the doctor announced mid-afternoon.
“How are my eyes?” Camille looked wide-eyed at me.
“I can see a little green.”
“Please keep going.” She batted her lids at Greta and the doctor.
“Fine, two more hours. After that I need a break.” The doctor spun and walked from the room.
“Let’s try to push her to six.” Camille winked at me.
By six they’d given her eight pints of blood. Deciding it would be a good idea to monitor her overnight, we stayed in the infirmary. Grady and Tyler brought us meals as the night staff trickled in.
“The red meat should be good for me,” Camille commented as she lifted a bite of steak to her mouth.
When we’d finished eating, she shoved me off the bed. “You should go work out.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“I think I’m safe with my mom, dad, and brother. You need to stay strong. I know you’ve been working out every night after I go to sleep, so go. That’s an order.” She pointed at me.
“Fine, but you’ll call me”—I looked to Janine—“if anything happens.”
“Yes, I will.” Janine held up her phone.
“Okay, I’m off.”
I jogged to my room, changed, and headed to the gym. After I warmed up, I started my run. About ten minutes in, Alena joined me.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without Hunter.”
“We do stuff apart.” Her nose shriveled up.
“Okay, just an observation.”
“How is Camille?”
“Good, the color is coming back to her eyes. They’re going to do another round tomorrow.”
She stopped, jutting her arm out to stop my progress. “You shouldn’t give her hope.”
“What do you mean?”
“She might not get her magic back even if they can siphon all of the toxins out.”
“So, I’m guessing you’re more of a glass-half-empty type?” I shook my head and jogged away from her. I wouldn’t believe that there wasn’t some way to get her magic back.
Alena caught up to me. “I’m a realist.”
“So, what if she doesn’t get her magic back? Then, no go on the sword thing?”
“Actually, we’re not sure. This is kind of a wing-it thing.”
“I’ve noticed. Why is that?”
“Supposedly somewhere the spells and directions for how to use the sword are written down, but we haven’t found them yet.”
“So, there’s another piece after getting the sword? What if it doesn’t happen? What if you can’t find it?”
“That’s the beauty of living a thousand years. We’ve got all our lives to look.”
“I wasn’t thinking of this as a lifetime commitment. You really think it’s worth it? I mean witches and vampires have been living for six thousand years this way. What if nothing exists? No God, heaven, hell, Sheol, no actual angels. What if witches are like vampires and we’re evolved humans?”
She slowed to a stop and looked me in the eyes. “Who can do magic? After becoming a full witch, you still doubt?”
I shrugged. “I’m a realist.”
“Funny.” She jogged away from me, and I forced all my energy into my legs and arms to match her stride.
“We didn’t do religion in my family.”
Her eyes bore into mine. “A woman I knew all my life, who was like a mother to me, is gone. I will never see her again. How is that right? Vampire souls should be just as eternal as humans. Think about your mother. We don’t know if half vampires have souls or not. Can you live with her ceasing to exist?”
I cut my eyes to the track and back to her. “I don’t know.”
“This prophecy will finally end the feud between our peoples. I’m going to do everything in my power to see it fulfilled. So, you are either with us or against us.”
I blinked, and she was gone. Wondering if I could be satisfied spending my life in search of a prophecy that might be a huge farce, I channeled the angst into my run. A puff of air made the hairs on my neck stand up, and Alena appeared beside me again.
“You need to let this thing with your dad go.”
“What? If your dad was being held, you would be doing the same thing.”
“I wasn’t given the choice to know my father. Do you see me searching for him? No.” She made bug eyes at me.
“Are you sure you don’t believe that if you complete the prophecy he will come?”
She didn’t answer, and I let her stew with her thoughts for a lap. Then, proceeded with my questions. “So, who created this loophole in the curses? God?”
“I don’t know.”
“How do we know it will work?”
“Faith. Obviously, the sword has some power. Sonia is immortal.” She shrugged. “You know we could rescue your father when we go in for the dagger.”
“We don’t know the sword will be in the castle. Plus, having two missions at once will jeopardize both. We need all hands on deck when we go for the sword.”
“And you are willing to go in when we extract the sword?”
“I go wherever Camille goes.”
“What if Camille doesn’t get her magic back? Will you still be on the team?”
I took a quarter lap to think about it. “Yes, I would help you.”
Alena cut her eyes to me and back to the track three times. “You can use Marcus.” A gust of wind caused my skin to form chill bumps, and Alena disappeared as fast as she had appeared. Wishing I had her speed, I called to the wind and tested my power.
Tyler found me in the weight room two hours later.
“Exercise much?”
“Like you don’t work out three hours a day.”
“True. Mom, or Janine, I guess, is ready to turn in, she wanted me to tell you.”
“Okay.” I set the bar on the ground. “Let me shower, and I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Camille’s smile was all I needed to realize that I wouldn’t leave her. If she committed to this quest, then I would too. Sitting on the bed, I took her hand. “You didn’t have to wait up for me.”
“I wanted to see you before I went to sleep.”
I glanced around the room. Seeing we were alone, I shed my shoes and lay down beside her. “I love you.” I kissed her nose and then her lips.
“Someone could walk in at any time,” she whispered when the kiss ended.
“I don’t care.” I gave her another quick kiss. “But you should sleep.”
“Will you stay with me?”
“I never want to be away from you.”
She closed her eyes, but they popped open again. “Do you think this is going to work, that my magic will return?”
I took her hand. “I think that one way or another, we are going to get your magic back.”