Chapter 35

Thirty-Five

My car is totaled. If Aphrodite hadn't lost as much blood as I just witnessed, I'd have thought she'd done it with magic… but it's more likely she rammed it with her own car before speeding off back to town.

Crunched, the driver's door doesn't come off until I force it. The recoil of the spell sends it hurtling off into the woods. I don't look after it.

But the car won't start.

I'd be more surprised if the gibbous moon didn't cast long streams of light down on a pool in the gravel. The mixing fluids are all the wrong colors.

It's going to be a long walk, but I can't stay here.

I pop the trunk and look down at the few things therein I can't leave behind.

There's salt everywhere.

I pull out the shovel with all its engraved spellforms and the emergency kit with a touch too potent of spells to leave for someone else to find.

They're more dangerous than an unlocked hand gun.

And then, I slam the trunk closed, just a little harder than I need to, and head for the highway.

Chase's wolf is gone. Back—I hope—to look for him, or look after him.

There are no lights on this stretch of road, but the moon is full, and I can light a small torch with the right kind of pine cone…

Light fills the air around me and I turn into the glare. Only to be met a moment later by flashing red and blue.

I hate how familiar that is.

And I hate that I'm going to have to ask him for a favor.

"What happened to your car?"

"Someone crashed into it."

One brow rises up his forehead. "You okay?"

"Aside from being stranded, I'm fine. But I do need to get back to my house so I can finish what someone else started."

I don't trust the glare he turns on me. "Get in. I'll take you home."

I throw the shovel and the bag into his back seat and sit in the passenger, happy when he turns off his lights, but not happy enough I don't drop my head back to the seat.

"You look like you went muddin'."

"Something like that." I lie. Grateful we're already to the turn off from the main highway.

Even more grateful when he drops to silence a few minutes later.

But it doesn't last.

"Ready to tell me what's going on?"

"No."

He's quiet for a moment, but I know he's just thinking of something to get me talking.

"There are some rumors going around town… which one of them are you actually dating?"

"You know? I never was very good at picking and choosing."

"Lucky them." But even though he says it, I'm not sure he believes it. "Just remember, it is a small town and Thomas' job is going to field any questions. He might lose it."

"I've mentioned it to them." A silence stretches and I feel his censure. "You can rest assured, Sheriff. I will do everything I can to protect them. No matter who from, or how high the cost."

He doesn't say another word until he stops the car, tires crunching in the gravel in front of my house.

"What the?"

I look up, and the ghostly forms of the wolves shift in his headlights.

"I don't own a dog, Sheriff. And you can't ticket me for having those hang around."

He grabs my arm before I can get out.

"Listen, I'm willing to trust you, but only so far."

"And I wouldn't expect you to. I know your family history sheriff. Maybe you should start thinking a little more deeply about the stories your grandaddy told you as a boy." I take a deep breath. "Just remember. We're not all bad."

His hand loosens and I get out, grabbing my things from the back before I rush inside.

The fact that the wolves are here means they didn't manage to find them… or Aphrodite found a way to send them back to me.

I hear the sheriff's tires crunch in the gravel and I know he's leaving. I send a quick thanks to the Goddess for that.

I move through the house with a duffel, grabbing everything I think I might need. More of it is for dealing with her vampire—like the burlap sack of coal I grab from beside the fireplace.

I have a piece of it in my hand when I step out the front door and find him waiting for me.

" Arde " the word is a whisper, but the coal knows what to do. Spelling any object is easier when you're asking it to fulfill its purpose.

It bursts to life, the bright flames licking harmlessly against my fingers.

He sees it, eyes wide. "Mother f—Stop!" In a blink, he's behind a tree, peeking out to glare at me.

The wolves can't kill him, but witchfire could.

"I'm here to help, damnit!"

The fact that the wolves haven't attacked his helps me believe that.

Clenching my fist, I kill the coal with a single whispered word, muri , but I don't put it away.

He carefully steps back out into the drive, hands up, movements slow. "I came to tell you I'm leaving."

"Why should I care?"

"I didn't know who you were and I wanted to make sure she knew I wasn't going to hurt you."

The terror I'd seen on his face at the Carraway plot is gone, but I can sense the feeling lingering.

"I'll see about putting in a good word next time I'm out there, is that good enough?"

Pushing past him, I pull open the door to the barn and set everything I think I'm going to need on the rack at the front of my dust covered four-wheeler.

Keeping half my attention on him, I check the tires and the fuel gage. I left it ready to go. Time and neglect haven't taken that from me.

"You aren't going to find them at Mrs. Miller's house."

"But that's where they were."

"Yes. She got the old lady to give them drugged lemonade and tricked that witch that runs the store into helping her get rid of your protection stones. I don't know if he survived."

"He did."

He nods, but I don't think he cares.

"Where are they now?"

"I don't know. She only tells me things when she wants to brag. But she was frantic when I caught up to her. And you're not going to like what she said."

"Why not?"

"She's moved up her timeline… forcing it."

That stops me and my skin goes deathly cold. "How?"

"I don't know. She's panicked and I don't know how sloppy it's going to get. But her spell requires a blood moon… How would you get around that?"

There wasn't going to be a blood moon over this part of the planet for a few years. But Aphrodite wasn't patient even when she was at her best.

"I wouldn't. Taking shortcuts makes it too easy for the spell or someone else to screw everything up for you."

"You've already been doing that. I'd bet she's willing to take the risk. Desperation is a particularly sickening scent."

"Where'd she go?"

"There's a boy scout cabin just south of the park… You'll find her car there."

I strap the duffle bag down and take a deep breath.

The vampire is still there. "I thought you were leaving."

"Right." He dips his head in a curt nod. "I'm heading east."

"I don't care."

He mumbles something else, and then, he disappears. Racing away. Hopefully for good.

If Aphrodite needs a blood moon and has wolf-napped the guys, there's only one thing she'd be doing.

I dig my phone out from the pile on top of the ATV and dial my mother's number one more time.

"Hi mom. I was not joking when I said I needed your help. Since my last message, grandma woke up from a nap. Don't worry, she's back to sleep. But Aphrodite is the one who woke her up and now that she's realized she can't count on gran for support—oh, and her vampire has left her—she's trying for a massive power grab. And she's doing it tonight. I don't know how many sacred laws she's going to break to get it done."