Chapter 32

Thirty-Two

I barely pass the city limits before red and blue lights flare in my rear-view mirror.

I consider—for half a moment—ignoring him. But the last thing I need is to lead him to Aphrodite, or her vampire. And I'm certain he'll be there this time.

One glance at my speedometer tells me why he's pulling me over.

If I knew exactly what Aphrodite had done to him, I could throw a sloppy spell at him and be on my way before I had my window rolled back up, but without knowing… I could do irreparable harm, or just kill him.

The crunch of the gravel under my tires makes my skin crawl and I roll down the window to the damp chill of the night air and whisper a benign spell that drags him to me quicker than he meant to move. I can tell that much from the confusion on his face.

"Miss Mathis," he says, that confusion still in his drawl. "Do you know why I pulled you over?"

"Yes." The word only seems to deepen his confusion. "Please just give me the ticket and let me go. It's a matter of life and death."

He blinks, lips twisted. "Whose?"

"The whole town." It's not a lie. If Aphrodite keeps going with whatever plan she's enacting, it won't be long before she starts bleeding everyone dry.

Still, he doesn't believe me…

I can't tell him the whole truth, but I can dance around it.

"Listen. Do you feel like you've been in a fog for the past month? Are your actions fuzzy and you don't remember doing things others have assured you you did?"

He looks uncomfortable.

"I'm going to put this in terms that will be easier to understand. There is a person in town who has been… drugging people, you among them. They cannot be stopped with a gun and they do not feel they are subject to the laws you're supposed to uphold. If you go after them, they will drug you again, or they will kill you. And you will not be able to stop them."

"Does this have something to do with those not-voodoo dolls?"

"Yes."

Eyes narrowed, he watches me for a long moment and I can tell he'd like to hold me for questioning.

"If I don't go, right now, I don't know if I can stop what's coming."

He doesn't move. Too many moments tick by…

"I am going to want an explanation after this. You know that right?"

"I may not be able to give it to you."

"At least you're not a liar." He doesn't look happy about it, but he says, "Get out of here. I'll decide if I need to give you that ticket later. "

"Thank you."

I don't bother to roll my window up before I pop the car into drive and punch the gas. My tires spin a half second before they gain traction again, and I clutch the steering wheel tightly enough my knuckles go white.

A glance in my rear-view mirror tells me the Sheriff might have let me go, but he doesn't plan to leave me to do this on my own.

I pull a small stone from the cup holder and, gently rubbing it between my thumb and fingers, whisper a three word incantation to reactivate the obscuring spell I placed on the car the day after I bought it.

I tie the car he sees to the highway, and when I turn off for the golf course, he follows after the shadow of the car he thinks I'm driving. It will fizzle and fade after it gets far enough away, of course. But by then, it won't matter.

There's a bright green beetle on the gravel patch by the substation when I get there.

And when I get out of my car, the darkness wraps tightly around me. The damp of the forest feels like mildew more than mist and the silence is sickly.

I don't have time to worry about why everything around me feels so wrong. I run through the overgrowth, the path so familiar, I don't need light, but I only get half way up it before a familiar, pale figure steps in my way.

"You don't get to interfere this time, girlie."

Aphrodite's vampire glares at me from beneath his stringy hair, but his eyes go wide a moment later when two wolves lunge at him.

They drop him to the ground and while they can't kill him, they'll hurt him. And they'll definitely slow him down.

As the other two join in, I have to leave them to it. He can't hurt them. His only hope is to get away. It's just a matter of how long it takes him to figure that out.

Slowing as I near the plot, I see Aphrodite standing over my grandmother's grave, her palms turned up to the dark sky overhead, her eyes closed. As she works the spell, her words coalescing in dark swirls, I scan the surrounding area. She didn't bring the guys with her.

Good.

The farther away from here they are, the better.

My first and only option is to break that spell. To stop her from finishing the exhumation. Right now, that means I have to get to her.

Her eyes are still closed when I rush from behind the tree. She doesn't move as I weave through the entrance to the plot.

The calm around her makes my skin crawl.

Her eyes snap open a moment before I can tackle her and the ground explodes outward, sending me flying backward. I land in the thicket of belladonna as the last of the dirt falls around me.

When I open my eyes, she's still standing where she was, smiling down at me like I'm a foolish child.

"You're too late."

My grandmother's coffin sits at a skewed angle half in and half out of the grave. It's bound by heavy chains, but the spell Aphrodite used has broken the lock.

Exhumed, I can feel my grandmother. Something strange and dark like desire emanates from that box, and I know Aphrodite has no clue.

I can't let her open it.

"You can't stop me now, Scarlette. Everyone thought you were so clever. And then you left and they whispered. But I knew." She takes a step closer to the grave, completely at ease. "I knew the illusion of your power was just that… a in illusion. You're a fake."

"Funny, I don't have to bleed people to do what I need to do."

Rage flares in her eyes.

"It's not my fault you and the rest of them are too scared and too weak to use this magic." Her smile is sharp when she points at the casket. "Your grandmother wasn't."

"I know. I've read her grimoires. How did you know?"

"Your family thinks they're so special, so clever ." Rolling her eyes, she glares at me. "They think they're above everything. But I knew you weren't. All it took was listening to the right conversations. It wasn't hard to connect the dots."

"I know what she was buried with. And once I have it…"

"Whatever it is, it's not worth removing those chains."

Each moment since the earth blew open, I've felt that darkness grow deeper, stronger.

I don't see Aphrodite reach into her pocket until it is too late. Don't see her flick the small red knife at me until it's too late to do anything but roll to the side and hope.

But hope does nothing for me. The blade slices past my leg and the burning sharpness of it immediately dies away… Along with everything else.

My leg is numb from the hip down.

If I get up, I'll fall over.

"You can't do this. She was buried here for a reason." I start to crawl toward her, the soft ground making it harder to get to her than it should be.

But she doesn't stop, despite my warnings. I can't reach her before she drops into the grave and throws free the chains.

And what meets her when she pulls the casket wide isn't a corpse.

Eyes open, dark red where they should be white, her skin pale as death with black veins running beneath…

My grandmother isn't dead.

She's Changed.

Aphrodite is just as shocked as I am.

And she's too close.

In the barest blink of an eye, my grandmother has her by the throat and she takes like a woman dying of thirst for nearly twenty years.

I feel Aphrodite's magic weaken. I can sense the guys somewhere in the ether and I could find them, if I go right now.

But if I leave…

I watch her drink from Aphrodite, the other woman struggles, but her thrashing is weaker now.

If I leave, my grandmother will get out and wreak havoc on the town.

Aphrodite wielding blood magic is dangerous.

My grandmother, the most powerful witch I've ever known and a vampire… No one would be safe.

I reach out, using the tiny fence that surrounded the belladonna and pull one of the pickets from the ground. The stake-like piece of wood was no doubt left for this very occasion.

"Saffrah," I say the name I've called her since I was a child unable to say "Grandma Saffron", hoping it is a strong enough tie to her memory.

And she does stop drinking long enough to look up at me.

Blood covers her lower face, her neck, and down the front of her burial gown… not that the black fabric looks anything other than wet.

Whether gaining her attention is a good thing or not, I don't know. But she stares at me like she's never seen me before and then, almost as an afterthought… she throws Aphrodite away. Strong enough and far enough, she lands outside of the Carraway plot entirely.

My grandmother stalks toward me, her steps the same juddering movements I've seen in old monster movements, but her face is a mask of confusion…

When she stops in front of me, I know I can let go of the picket.

"What?" she asks, voice thick and breathing sharp. "Is going on, cutie pie?"