Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

My scream was stifled by the bone-chilling fingers that pressed against my mouth. I thrashed in the cold grip as I was being dragged backward. My feet bounced over the uneven, stick-covered ground and I had an idea. I waited for a particularly thin, long one and slammed both feet against it.

The resounding crack rang across the clearing.

My captor released me just as Ben shot out of the shack. His eyes were ablaze with fury and fear, especially when they noticed me stumble toward him from further down the path. He was at me in an instant and caught me in his gentle arms.

"What happened?" he asked me.

I brushed my trembling fingers over my mouth and shook my head. "Somebody grabbed me from behind and tried to drag me into the woods."

Ben scanned the area behind me and pursed his lips. "Then they've escaped. I can't even smell them due to the heavy dew in the air." He returned his attention to me and looked me over. "Are you alright?"

I smiled up at him. "Yeah, but remind me never to listen to my woman's intuition again. She was a little off with the location."

"But perhaps not the source," Ben mused as he half-turned to the shack. "Werd isn't home."

A little color drained from my face but I tried to tamp down my rising fear. "Maybe he went for a walk?"

"In this rain?" Ben reminded me as he tilted his head back to watch the raindrops come down.

"Maybe he's a masochist?"

"Pardon?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. It was lost in translation. Maybe he went to the house and we missed him."

Ben nodded at the path behind me. "That's the only way to the house."

I growled and I waved a hand at the trees. "Well then, maybe he's lurking in the woods waiting for unsuspecting and stupid people to let themselves be left alone so he can grab them and drag them into the brush for a little snack."

"The thought did cross my mind," he mused as he studied the area around us. "But any further speculation would be better thought in the safety of the house."

I straightened and frowned. "Why? You can handle a vampire, can't you?"

Ben looped an arm around mine and tugged me down the path away from the hut. "I've never had the displeasure and I'd rather not test my strength against one when he has the light advantage."

I matched his hurried stride and together we soon emerged from the trees. The courtyard of Rookwood Manor was less inviting than I remembered because of the fog. The white mist had floated closer to the house and was now only a few feet away from the walls. Not a thing could be seen beyond its wall-like body, essentially blotting out all the world around us.

Ben and I were forced to scurry along single file close against the siding. Even then, the fog brushed against my arm. The bone-chilling sensation I had felt in Werd's hut crept into my limb and I nearly threw myself against the wall of the house.

We reached the front corner of the manor and found the mist gliding perilously close to the front door. Some of the dangerous air even brushed against the entrance before retreating just slightly.

I looked behind us at the wall for an open window and my heart nearly stilled. "Ben!"

Ben whipped his head around and saw what had so frightened me. The mist had followed our path and now crept up on our heels. We were boxed in.

Ben had a grim look on his face as he caught my eye. "You'll have to use the staff."

My face drooped and I nodded at the door. "But what if they see the light?"

"I would rather figure out an explanation than not see them at all."

". . .Point taken." I pulled out the flute and set it to my lips before I closed my eyes. "Please let all that practice with Elias not be a waste. . ."

I took a deep breath and blew the simple melody he had taught me. I could just hear his voice now during one of our lessons explaining this very song.

"Is a simple tune like that actually going to help me?" I remember asking him as I looked doubtfully at the sheet of music.

Elias folded his arms and smiled. "It isn't so much the intricacy of the melody as the effort behind the notes. One could have a song perfectly memorized, but if the person lacks the passion then the song will simply be a jumble of notes played together."

Think passionate thoughts I internally spoke to myself as the music floated around us.

The instrument in my hands glowed brightly and strands of light flowed out of the flute. The brilliance twisted about our bodies before gliding ahead of us toward the door. The lights expanded outward with every foot, creating a glowing path from which the fog retreated. Ben tugged on my arm and together we moved toward the door with me still blowing.

We had nearly reached the entrance when something flew out of the thick mist. That something shoved Ben out of the way and crashed into me. I was pushed hard against the house and a cry of pain escaped me as the wood dug into my back. The flute clattered to the ground at my feet as cold hands pawed at me. One of them loosened the ribbon on my wrist and I felt the cloth slide off my arm.

I also felt a horrible chill fall over me. It was as though the warmth of life was being drained from my very being. I couldn't find the strength to breathe, much less scream. All my strength was used to look into the pale, hungry face of my attacker.

It was Werd, or the semblance of Werd. His features were distorted with a feral famine which wasn't helped by one side of his face being red like it had been scalded by boiling hot water. The hunger in his eyes was slowly satiated with each moment of deepening of my exhaustion.

A shadow of pure anger fell over Werd and the man was yanked back. I caught a glimpse of Ben in his partial dragon form before the pair tumbled into the encroaching mist. Their struggles could be heard but not seen.

The fog didn't sit idly by while a fight commenced inside itself. The mist floated across the ground and toward the flute. I leapt forward and snatched the instrument from its greedy tendrils just as the white stuff glided over the staff.

I shoved the flute mouthpiece against my lips and blew. My song was shaky and the notes unclear, but a faint glow emanated from the instrument and the mist shriveled away from me.

Shouts came from inside the house and the door was flung open. My first instinct was to race toward the light, but the stream of safety revealed my ribbon on the ground. I stooped and grabbed it, and in doing so came into the light for a brief moment.

The figure in the lead of the house party jerked to a stop and my heart nearly gave out before I jerked back. I fumbled with the ribbon before I finally managed to get it tied on. The flute no longer glowed and the mist floated ever closer.

What was worse was the sound of Ben's fight had ceased. I leaned in as close as I dared and squinted into the white evil.

The emperor and Edouard hurried up to my side with Dreda close behind, and the royal himself grasped my arm. "What is the matter? Where is Ben?"

I nodded at the fog. "He's in there. Werd attacked me."

The color drained from Dreda's face and she whipped her head to the fog. "Werd!"

The emperor stepped to the front of our group and lifted his arms. "Begone!"

A great wind blew up more powerful than any Ben could conjure with his wings. The gust blasted the fog and pushed the mist back to the far edges of the courtyard. His magic revealed Ben and Werd. Ben himself knelt on one knee beside the prone body of Werd. Callidus dropped his hands and the wind likewise dropped.

"Werd! Ben!" Dreda yelled before she rushed forward.

I was neck and neck with her to Ben. He had a grimace on his face and one hand placed palm down on the ground. His breathing came in short, quick gasps as his chest heaved up and down.

I dropped the flute to the ground beside him and grasped Ben's shoulders. "You okay?" I whispered to him.

He managed a strained smile. "I. . .have felt. . .better. . ."

"Let's get him into the house," Dreda instructed me as she looked up at the men. "Please bring Werd with us."

The two men hurried over and the emperor knelt to grasp Werd's shoulders. Edouard, however, paused and stooped near me. My heart nearly faltered when he picked up the flute and turned it over in his hands.

"What an unusual instrument."