36. Rule #36 Never Use Blood

Rule #36: Never Use Blood

Zoe

S itting in the library, I read through a book on memory retrieval. Lewis was right, this spell was for the living. But there was a way I could adapt it for the dead if I could just find the fucking book I needed. I raised my arm, summoning one from the bookshelf behind me.

"Whoa!" Lewis cried and I turned around in time to see him ducking.

I caught the book and he came to sit next to me. "Got your powers back then?"

"Yup!" I smiled.

He frowned, zeroing in on my neck. "What happened there?" He reached out to touch the bite mark and I smiled even more.

"It's Daniel's bond mark," I explained.

"Excuse me?"

I filled him in on the night before and what it meant.

"So you can feel him? You know where he is right now?"

"He's in the kitchen," I replied then burst out laughing at the shocked look on his face. "Relax, he's making coffee. I don't know where he is at any given time, but I can sense what he's feeling and he can sense what I am."

"How do you feel about that? You hate letting people in and this is… "

"I feel settled actually," I said. I looked up at my best friend and threw my arms around his neck, planting a kiss on his cheek. "I love you. You know that right?"

"Are you feeling well?" He placed a hand on my forehead. "Maybe the bite gave you an infection."

I pushed his head to the side. "It didn't. I put a healing balm on it. I'll just have a shiny bite mark to sport eventually."

"You sound pleased about that."

"I really am."

Lewis pulled me into his side, kissing the top of my head. "I'm glad you guys worked things out. And I love you too."

Daniel walked into the library holding two mugs of coffee and I felt a small spike of anxiety from him through the bond when he noticed Lewis. I pushed through some reassurance and his shoulders relaxed a bit.

Lewis stood to greet him and tears rose to my eyes when he engulfed Daniel in a bear hug. It was comical the way Daniel stood there, arms out holding the coffees and having no idea what to do. The panicked look on his face was priceless. I took the mugs from him, placing them on the coffee table while he wrapped his arms around Lewis.

"Thank you for loving her the way you do," Lewis said. "Welcome to the family."

"Thanks, mate."

Lewis patted him on the back in that manly way men hug, then let my bond mate go. Bond mate. I was positively giddy and Daniel smiled, feeling my elation.

"What are you guys up to?" Lewis asked.

"I think I've found a way to get that memory retrieval spell to work on Lexi," I replied, frowning down at the book in my lap. "But it's gonna take the whole squad. "

"So we're gonna wait for Rory to wake up and then try it," Daniel added.

The last rays of sun peeked through the large porthole window in Lexi's attic as I drew a giant chalk circle on the wooden floorboards. Daniel and Lewis had rolled up the large Persian rug and leaned it in a corner.

"You okay?" Lewis asked Lexi.

"I guess so? Nervous I think," she added.

"We'll finally get answers then you can move on," he said.

"I suppose," she replied.

"You don't want that?" Daniel asked.

Lexi looked around at all of us.

"I wanted to live," she whispered. "This wasn't fair."

"No, it wasn't," I agreed. "But do you really want this half-life you've been living?"

"I'd take any scraps of life right now. And I just found you guys."

"I get it," I said. "If you don't want to do this right now, we don't have to. We can wait until you're ready."

It should be her decision after all.

"No, let's do it. We don't even know if it will work. Or what we'll find out."

"Okay," I said. Lighting a bunch of dried sage, I handed it to Daniel. "Go do some cleansing, babe."

"Sure," he said, stopping to peck me on the lips before walking around the chalk circle in a clockwise direction, waving the sage around while I drew a diamond shape in the middle that faced north, south, east and west. I then placed a copper bowl in the center, dropping a sprig of rosemary in it along with black tourmaline for remembrance, lapis lazuli for concentration and focus, and pyrite for memory recollection. Walking over to a desk, I opened a draw rummaging around until I found a piece of paper and a pen, scribbling the words memoria mori .

The memory of dying.

I dropped it in the copper bowl along with the rosemary and crystals.

I turned my attention back to the chalk circle, I set up a white candle at each compass point. Then I had Lewis pour salt around the chalk circle for protection.

Footsteps on the staircase signaled Rory's arrival.

"What's going on? What happened to your neck?" she asked, zipping over to me.

"Bond mark, but nevermind that now. I think I found a spell to find out what happened to Lexi."

Rory's face split into a wide smile and she raised her hand in a high five.

"Yes! Finally!"

"To the bond or the spell?" I asked drily, smacking her hand.

"Both!" She laughed and threw her arms around me and I hugged her back tightly. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's do this. Where do you want us?"

I turned to Lexi. "You're in the middle of the circle, gonna need you to hover over the bowl. Everyone else, take a position at one of the compass points."

I sat at the north point, Daniel to my left on the east, Lewis, always my right hand man, sat on the west point leaving Rory to claim the south point.

I grabbed a matchbox that lay next to my candle and lit it, passing it around as everyone did the same .

When Lewis handed the matchbox back to me, I struck one and tossed it into the copper bowl where the paper shriveled up and burned with the rosemary, sending a white smoke up through Lexi.

I held my hands out to Daniel and Lewis. "Everyone join hands."

I didn't miss the slight blush on Rory's cheeks when Lewis slipped his hand into hers.

Clearing my throat, I started the incantation.

" Somnia verita sum ."

My magic thrummed through my veins, drawing on the power of my family. A bright white light flashed and when it receded it was as if we had stepped into a black and white movie. We were still in the attic but everything was chaotic and messy again.

"Where are we?" Lewis's voice echoed.

"A memory," I replied as I stood.

The attic door slammed open and Lexi ran in sobbing.

"I remember this," she whispered.

She wore the same school uniform that she did now. Past Lexi stood in the middle of the room sobbing and searching the attic for something. She must have spotted what she was looking for because she darted to a corner, pulling a sheet off a standing mirror. Swiping the tears from her face, she reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper. Another sob tore from her and I slowly made my way over to where Past Lexi stood. I looked over her shoulder but I didn't recognise the spell written down on it.

"It was supposed to be a spell for beauty," Lexi whispered behind me.

"What do you mean?" Rory asked.

"I…um…well…" she stuttered then sighed. "Look at me. I'm mousy. No boobs. Glasses. A nerd. "

"The fuck you talking about?' Lewis growled. Lewis was stupidly protective over the people he cared about. And someone making Lexi believe she was anything less brought out his angry side.

"I'm not beautiful, Lewis!" she yelled. "I wasn't beautiful enough. Why didn't he ask me to prom then? Why did I see him kissing Kelsey behind the bleachers?"

"Firstly, fuck him. Whoever he is. And secondly, bullshit. You're beautiful, Lexi," Daniel said.

Before she could reply, Past Lexi started lighting some candles. Black ones. Not white like we had used. Then she drew a small chalk circle with a pentagram in the middle.

"No!" I cried out instinctually, but she couldn't hear me. I didn't know what was going to happen but nothing good came from the combination of a pentagram and black candles.

"Shit," I swore when Past Lexi drew a knife across the palm of her hand, squeezing a few drops onto the pentagram. "Blood magic," I muttered.

"I didn't know!" Lexi exclaimed, a mournful wail tearing from her as tears flooded her face. Rory and Lewis stood on either side of her.

"It's okay Lex," Lewis said softly.

"It's not!" she screeched. "Hecate below! It's not!"

Before anyone could calm her down, Past Lexi started chanting in a language I didn't recognise. Usually incantations and spells were spoken in Latin or Greek. But this was something else. A long forgotten tongue that whispered of darkness and dread. A chill raced across my bones and she chanted the same three lines over and over again.

I nearly jumped out of my skin and I swore Lewis screeched behind me when a shadow creature lunged out of the mirror with a blood-curdling scream and grabbed Past Lexi by her throat. Its black skin seemed to glisten like crude oil, and where there ought to have been eyes, were empty sockets filled with orange fire. The creature was halfway through the mirror and Past Lexi was being held up, scratching at the creature's wrists but it had her in a death grip. The toes of her shoes scrabbled against the floorboards. The sound of her struggle had me moving but this was a memory and we couldn't change it, so I passed right through her. I spun around, and everyone looked on in horror as the scene unfolded. In the next second, the creature was sucked back into the mirror and Past Lexi fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. I ran over to her, sliding to my knees when I noticed that one of her shoes had scuffed a break in the circle. That's what must have broken the summoning. A deafening silence filled the room, and Lexi's sobs came from behind me. We all turned to look at her and a blinding white light filled the room again. When it faded we were back in our places around the chalk circle with all the candles extinguished.

A heavy silence settled over the room as we all stared at Lexi.

"Who gave you that spell?" I asked.

"Vivienne," she whispered.

"The mean girl?" Daniel asked. "Why would you trust her?"

"Because she said it would make me beautiful! That he would pay attention to me then!"

"Bullshit!" Lewis cried out. I'd never seen him so angry. "I'm sorry, Lexi but that is bullshit. You're so fucking beautiful and cute and any guy who didn't see that wasn't worth it. And I say that in a respectful way as a twenty-eight year old man speaking to a sixteen-year-old girl."

I sighed. "Well, I guess we know what happened now."

Suddenly, a booming sound shook the house, making dust float down from the ceiling.

"The fuck is that?" Daniel swore, standing up. He moved over to the round window and looked outside. "Shit! "

"What is it?" I asked scrambling to stand after him. I wobbled when the house shook again.

"The wolves are here."