Bloodspell (38 page)

"What did you do to Holly?" she gasped. "What drugs? She could die."

"Relax, it's just a mild sedative. She'll be fine," Gabriel said.

"If anything happens—"

"Oh, watch out Gabe, she's getting upset!" Charla taunted.

Charla didn't have time to react when Victoria vaulted to her feet, propelled by instinctive rage, and punched her in the mouth with all the force she could muster. Charla went sprawling backwards. Victoria felt a curious satisfaction as she saw blood spurt from the corner of Charla's lip, and she could have sworn she saw the beginnings of a smile on Gabriel's lips. He was enjoying this. She started to turn toward him and saw him shake his head, smiling slightly and moving his index finger back and forth in warning.

"Evincio," he said, and her arms fell obediently to her side, the magical binding charm holding them securely in place.

Victoria couldn't move, not even when Charla got up, her bleeding face murderous, and slapped her several times. She tried to keep her expression blank in spite of the sting of the blows. Her blood helped unbidden, assuaging the painful areas almost immediately. Charla moved in again.

"Enough!" Gabriel said, and Charla backed away. "Get her phone. I don't want her getting any other ideas," he told Charla, who removed the cell phone from Victoria's pocket roughly.

"Don't think you're going to need this, sweetie," she snarled, as she smashed the phone on the floor. "Gabe, wrap this up. I'm bored."

"Give me one minute," he said. Charla walked away sourly, and Gabriel moved to stand in front of Victoria. "Aren't you sad you didn't choose me after all? What a marvelous couple we could have made, witch and warlock hand in hand."

Victoria noticed the flash of naked pain on Charla's face as she turned back at his words. Still second best, she noted—that would explain the fleeting look of envy she had seen on Charla's face earlier. Charla was human. Gabriel was a warlock. Now she knew who really held the cards.

"I would have made the same choice even knowing what you are," Victoria said. She saw his eyes harden.

"Even knowing what
you
are?"

"Especially knowing what I am." And then as if she couldn't help herself, she asked the question. "How did you know?" Gabriel laughed.

"Angie!" he shouted, and one of the doors in the back of the room opened. Angie skulked in and refused to look at Victoria. Gabriel slapped her on the back roughly, and she flinched from the pain. "Did you know that my
sister
can see who people really are?" he said. "Her gift!" He looked at her with undisguised loathing. "Born without magic, but somehow given this incredible ability ... what a waste. She should die, but she's proved herself useful." Angie didn't raise her eyes but Victoria could see her shoulders trembling.

Gabriel turned to Victoria. "Don't you want to know why your magic doesn't work?" he asked.

"I'm sure you're going to tell me," she said, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she wanted anything at all from him.

"My little sister here can identify your magic, but I'm sure you knew that already." He smiled. "We can do so much more than just control your power, you know," he said. "She knows it all, the information of its entire makeup."

"I'm still not sure I know what you want from me, Gabriel."

"Come now, let's not play games, Tori. I want the Cruentus Curse."

Victoria faked derision. "Please, don't tell me you believe in superstitions now, Gabriel," she said. He smiled again.

"Angie told me who you are Tori, those black lines are pretty distinctive. So you can stop pretending, because it is trying my patience!"

His cold words sent a shiver of alarm down her spine but she knew she had to pretend she wasn't afraid. "So what now?"

"The million dollar question," he said. "You know what I want, Tori."

"I will never give myself to you."

"And I will kill everyone you ever knew, ever loved. Holly will be the first. Then I'll finish off your familiar. It was my pleasure to toy with him," he said. "But her end will be worse, far worse. And Devereux will die an excruciating death."

"It's too bad I'm not with him." Victoria almost smiled as Gabriel looked into her eyes and read the plain truth in their depths. The slow pleasure that dawned across his face made her feel almost sick, but some small part of her still felt comfort that at least Christian would be safe. She would find a way to protect Holly too. Charla and Angie were on their own if they were with Gabriel. Victoria noticed that Angie had looked up at her briefly as if she'd said her name aloud.

Angie.
She saw the frail shoulders shake and realized that Angie could somehow hear her words even in the warded room.
I know you can hear me.
Please don't let anything happen to Holly.
Please
...

Charla chose that moment to re-enter the room even as Gabriel shot her a look of displeasure. She sat on a chair staring pointedly until he sighed and walked over to her. Victoria seized on the opportunity that had presented itself.

Angie,
I know he forced you.
I know you are my friend,
and that you are good.
Please help me.
Don't be ruled by Gabriel.
Please don't have Holly's death and my death on your conscience.
Help me.
You're not like them.
I know you're not.
Victoria was going all out, she had nothing to lose.

Angie raised tear-filled eyes to Victoria, and her mouth moved soundlessly. Victoria struggled to understand the words and as she saw Gabriel turn and start walking back, she grew desperate.

Please,
Angie.
Find Christian.
His number is in my phone.
Get the SIM card.
Please,
you have to try.

Gabriel wasn't stupid, he had picked up on something, a sensation maybe, but he was far too arrogant to even consider that his magic-less sister could hear thoughts from another witch. Still, he kicked Angie roughly, his blow sending her flying.

"Stop your sniveling, I can hear you from here. Get out of my sight!"

Victoria suddenly realized what irked Gabriel. He despised Angie because he feared that Angie's gift made her more powerful than he was, and he hated that. He hated needing her, and knowing that everything he had accomplished had been because of her, because of
her
gift. Victoria saw his intent clearly. As soon as he was sure of the blood curse, he was going to kill Angie. He wouldn't need her anymore once he had Victoria's power. Gabriel gritted his teeth and half raised his hand like he was going to do it right then and there, and Victoria's stomach dropped.

"Gabriel, why couldn't I tell what you were?" she said, trying to distract from Angie. He turned slowly, an arrogant smile spreading across his face.

"I know you tried. I felt it the last time. But it's like painting a picture that you want someone to see. Easy enough to convince anyone, if you know how to do it."

"And Angie? How did you do it with her?"

"She's weak. It was easy to remove any thoughts about us other than the usual mundane things," he said, as Charla walked over and draped herself around him.

"I'm hungry, Gabriel," she whined. "You promised to take me out for sushi." She stared at Victoria. "Not so scary after all are you Tori, all trussed up like a pig." Victoria's urge to inflict pain hadn't gone away.

"What do you get out of this Charla? He doesn't want you, you know. You're not like him, like us." She spat the word like a dart, and it found its target easily. "You're human, nothing but a means to an end, so enjoy it while you can because it's not going to last." Charla's face had turned a hideous splotchy red color, and her eyes blazed with hatred.

"It's going to last because you're going to die. Painfully!" She raised a hand to hit Victoria, and Gabriel caught her arm in mid-flight.

"Stop," he said. Charla's face grew even redder, but she tossed her head, giving him a look of disgust and stalked off.

"You're right, you know," he said almost lovingly to Victoria. Her skin crawled. "It
is
about us, and you'll come to your senses soon enough. Think long and hard about whether you want Holly's death on your conscience because her life is in your hands, Tori." Gabriel hauled her by the arm to one of the small rooms at the end of the big hall and shoved her into it. With an enigmatic expression, he stroked her face and the bile rose in her throat. "Would it be so bad? You and me? We were a couple, weren't we? We could be so good together."

"I trusted you, Gabriel," she said. "How could you do that to Leto? To
Holly
? She's a person, not some pawn in whatever game you're playing. You can't just hurt people to get what you want."

"Why not? My power gives me the right to take whatever I want. If you appreciated yours more, you'd agree with me. We're the same, you and I."

"I'm
nothing
like you," Victoria hissed. "I would never hurt my friends."

A cold, calculating smile. "Wouldn't you? What about your friend, the one you told me about? Brian? Brett?" The smile widened into something that no longer resembled a smile. "Or your parents ..."

Victoria's eyes flashed fire. "Don't you dare—"

"Don't I dare what? You know exactly what happened in that car and why you survived and they died. They died because of you and you know it. You did what you had to do, just as I did."

"It was an
accident
!"

"Was it, Tori?" he taunted. "Didn't you want to punish your parents for putting your grandmother in that place?
Didn't you
? You killed them when you made the car run off the road."

"No, that's not what happened!" she said, backing away her hands outstretched as if warding off something horrifying.

"Yes. It. Is." He snapped the words through his teeth. "Face it. We are the same, Tori. You know why?" He leaned in. "I set the fire." Victoria's eyes widened. "I set the fire because they were going to send me away, and they weren't exactly talking Hogwarts." His mouth twisted into an inhuman grin, a rictus grin. "So I killed them."

A stifled gasp drew her attention as Angie clapped a hand to her mouth, her face frozen in horror.

"You're a monster," Victoria whispered.

"Am I? All's fair in love and war, Tori." His voice turned hard. "Make your decision."

"I'd rather die than be with you."

"That can be arranged. Don't push me, Tori. You won't like the result. Your cat was just a taste of what I am capable of. What did your friend Tony say in the bar? We can do this the easy way or the hard way. You decide." He paused, his voice almost gentle. "Think it through and you'll see ... you don't have a choice."

The echoing of the door closing was ominous in the silence, like the toll of a death bell.

CHRISTIAN STARED DULLY at the ringing phone. The caller ID said "private number." He stared at the flashing screen for several seconds before flipping it open.

"Hello?" a voice said, "may I speak to Christian Devereux please?"

His voice was dry and curt. "Who is this?"

"My name is Angie, I'm a friend of Tori's," she said. At the sound of Victoria's name, Christian clenched the phone so tightly that he almost crushed it.

"Do you know where she is?" he rasped.

"I can't talk long but she's in danger. She asked me to call you. Meet me at sixty-eighth and Madison tonight in New York at midnight and I'll explain. I know you have no reason to trust me but I'm begging you to. I got your number from her phone. She needs you. I'm sorry. I have to go. He'll kill me if he finds out. Please come."

The call disconnected.

Christian stared at his cell phone with unseeing eyes. He'd come back from France a day after Victoria, and ever since then, he'd been haunted by the feeling that something was wrong. He'd gone to Victoria's apartment, and when he'd seen Leto, his heart had dropped to his feet. Christian had gently brushed his mind, finding nothing but pain-filled, glazed green eyes for his efforts.

It was at that soul-destroying instant that Christian's world crumbled, because he knew that Leto's unresponsive deadness, could only mean one thing—something or someone very powerful had hurt him on the
inside.

Until Christian had received the phone call from Angie, he'd even considered enlisting Lucian's help! In his momentary panic at not even being able to communicate with Victoria mentally and after seeing Leto's crippled state, he had been teetering on the brink of revealing to Lucian that Victoria was the witch from the prophecy just so that Lucian would want to find her.

Christian had never been more terrified in his life that something unimaginable had happened, and he didn't care that Angie's mysterious call could possibly be a threat. It was the only lead he had after days of waiting. He would follow it even if it cost him his undead life.

Christian arrived in the city in not much time at all, and waited a block away from where Angie had told him to meet her. He recognized her as she walked to the corner looking for him, glancing at her watch and looking around as if she were afraid of something ... or someone. Christian observed her carefully for several minutes to see if she was alone.