Craved (23 page)

“There are many secrets to our world
that we wish to keep to ourselves but every so often one gets out
and, as you know, it’s our duty to retrieve it,” she said, giving
me a look I didn’t fully understand. I nodded my head as if I
understood, but mentally I was as confused as a person with
Alzheimer’s.

“Well…um, it seems witches’ blood is
addictive and causes the younger vamps to feel high while it allows
the older vampires utilize its magic.” Ms. Ozland nodded her head
and frustration grew deep within me. Was I the only one new to this
information?

“And your vampire friend here is one
of the addicts?” she asked as she stared at Aiden. I nodded my
head. “And you want to know how to help him?”

“Yes. Is there a way to break
this?”

“There is, but it’s going to be
painful.”

“I can handle pain, I just want to
stop this,” Aiden finally chimed in. I wondered if he was having
second thoughts and would run out of the house. I really didn’t
want to see him in pain but if it would end his addiction, then I’d
suck it up and do whatever I had to.

“Not for you,” Ms. Ozland said to
Aiden. “It’ll be very painful for you,” she said looking at me. My
eyes widened as I wondered just how painful it’d be and why it had
anything to do with me, I wasn’t the addict.

“Forget it, I can beat this on my own.
I won’t see Gwen suffer for my sins,” Aiden said.

Ms. Ozland smiled sweetly at him and
shook her head. “I’m afraid once our magic intertwines itself in
your system; this is the only way to get rid of it.” Aiden looked
at me like he was tortured at the thought of me being in pain. I
tried to act like I wasn’t scared and that this would be a walk in
the park, but the truth was, I was terrified. There was no point in
trying to hide it from Aiden. He could feel my emotions ever since
feeding from me. I was a bit depressed that I wouldn’t be able to
experience his bite anymore. It had been one of the most amazing
sexual experiences of my life. Aiden chuckled and I shot him a
look, crimson coloring my cheeks. He may not have been able to tell
what I was thinking exactly, but he must have known I was thinking
about sex. He winked at me and I quickly looked away. I didn’t like
him knowing what I was feeling.

“So, what do we do?” I asked Ms.
Ozland, getting my mind back on more important things.

“You don’t have to do this, Gwen,”
Aiden said.

“You heard her, this is the only way.
If it’ll help you, I’m doing it.” I said, my voice saying that this
wasn’t up for debate.

The small coffee table that had been
sitting in the middle of the floor, instantly levitated and slowly
moved to the other side of the room.

“Both of you sit,” Ms. Ozland said,
pointing to the empty space. I sat Indian-style on the floor and
waited for Aiden to join me. I didn’t know if he was being stubborn
because he really didn’t want to see me in pain or because he
didn’t want to give up how the magic made him feel; probably a
little bit of both. Aiden reluctantly sat on the floor in front of
me, a look of chagrin coloring his face. He sat with his knees
propped up while his arms circled them, causing his shirt to press
tightly against his bicep. I admired his body while a heat stirred
in my southern region. Aiden’s eyes found mine and a devilishly
handsome grin made itself known on his kissable lips. It had been a
year since I’d slept with anyone, but Aiden had ignited a fire, I
thought was doomed to go out, courtesy of my crappy love life. Like
a real life Casanova, Aiden swooped in and rescued my forgotten
libido.

I realized we were staring hungrily
into each other’s eyes when Ms. Ozland’s tiny hand snapped in front
of me. The heat that had been building in my stomach quickly rushed
to my cheeks and showed my embarrassment.

“Give me your hand,” she said to
Aiden. He held his arm out, palm side up but his eyes were still
fastened on me.

“What the hell?” Aiden snarled, his
fangs descending and his eyes black. We looked down at his hand.
Ms. Ozland held a small dagger; with a red tip Aiden’s pointer
finger dripped a deep crimson where she had stuck him with
it.

“Suck on his finger,” she said,
thrusting Aiden’s hand towards me. I looked at her like she’d lost
her marbles and hesitated too long. Aiden’s finger healed as if
he’d never been stabbed. Ms. Ozland let out an annoyed sigh and
held the dagger towards Aiden’s finger again but he snatched his
hand away.

“Has anyone ever told you it’s very
dangerous taking blood from a vampire without their permission,”
Aiden said, his tone deadly calm. I shot Ms. Ozland a worried look,
afraid Aiden might attack her. She seemed unfazed by Aiden’s
unspoken threat and grabbed his hand again.

“It’s dangerous to take a witches’
blood as well,” she warned.

“Maybe you should explain what we’re
doing,” I said to her, hoping that would calm the tension that
suddenly intruded into the small space.

“You will need to drink his blood in
order to reconnect with the magic you gave away. When the blood
hits your tongue, withdraw the magic from it and take it back into
yourself.”

I wrinkled my nose in disgust.
“Exactly how do I withdraw the magic?” I was a young grasshopper
next to Ms. Ozland and I could see the smile in her eyes as she
observed the ignorance of my magical knowledge.

“When the blood hits your tongue, your
body will recognize the magic that’s in it. Claim the magic as your
own.” Ms. Ozland explained. She held the dagger towards Aiden’s
hand and, with the nod from Aiden, pierced the tip of his finger
again. She didn’t need to throw his hand at me this time because
Aiden willingly held it to my lips. I reluctantly plunged his
finger into my mouth and sucked the blood that spilled from his
wound. It seemed a little too intimate to have witnesses and I’m
sure my cheeks were the color of the very blood I was
drinking.

“Now, do you feel the hum of magic in
his blood?” Ms. Ozland asked. I concentrated on the metallic,
slightly salty taste and tried to pick out the magic that lay
somewhere beneath the normal tang. It was subtle at best; Aiden
definitely hadn’t been drinking brew for very long. My tongue
became tingly, almost numb as I connected with the familiar hum of
my magic.

Come back to me. I’m
willing you to return to my body.
I
thought over and over, feeling absolutely ridiculous. Luckily, Ms.
Ozland and Aiden couldn’t hear my lame attempts at reconnecting
with my magic. When I thought all hope was lost and that this
wasn’t going to work, I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through my
entire body. I fell back onto the floor and withered under the
intense pain that seemed to be coursing through every inch of my
body. My body shook with convulsions as a war raged within it, like
my magic was a virus my body was trying to fight off.

“Make….it…stop,” I begged through
clenched teeth. I was sure that if someone didn’t save me, I’d be
dead within the next couple of minutes. It felt like my body was
going to explode all over Ms. Ozland’s quaint little living
room.

“What’s happening to her?” I heard
Aiden ask harshly. If he decided to attack Ms. Ozland, I couldn’t
do a damn thing but watch her die. Tears streamed down face and my
heart beat like a drum against my chest. My skin felt hot like my
magic was sizzling me from the inside out and my muscles cramped as
I fought against the pain.

“She’ll be fine in a couple of
seconds,” Ms. Ozland said.

“She better be,” Aiden
warned.

“If not for you, she wouldn’t be in
this pain, vampire.”

Aiden didn’t comment on Ms. Ozland’s
words but knelt down beside me and brushed my hair out of my face.
His eyes were terrified as he watched me.

Suddenly I was levitated in the air
four feet and a strong burst of energy blasted into my stomach. I
let out a bloodcurdling scream that I was sure the whole town
heard. I felt weightless and at peace as soon as the energy settled
itself within me.

Great, I’m
dead
. I thought. I didn’t feel any of the
pain I’d been subjected to just moments before and a strange calm
washed through the entirety of my body. My hair flowed out from
around my head like it was floating in an invisible pool of water I
couldn’t see. I stared up at the ceiling and wondered when the
bright light would make itself known. I wasn’t sure if supernatural
creatures experienced the same death experiences as humans, but I
had hope, and felt too curious not to see what lay behind the
bright light.

I started to turn so that I was now
hovering vertically rather than horizontally and I wondered if I
looked like Bridget did to me, all gray and ghostly. At least I was
wearing a cute outfit for eternity and not my rubber ducky flannel
pajamas. Aiden was kneeling on the floor with hands bracing him and
Ms. Ozland was sitting in her favorite floral chair, watching me. I
arched my eyebrows at the thought that Ms. Ozland could see
me.

When my feet hit the floor, I decided
to try out my new ghostly advantages. I walked over to the nearest
wall and started to go through it, only to run face first into it
instead.

“Son of a bitch!” I yelled as I cupped
my nose. Ms. Ozland’s laughter made me turn my head and I saw that
Aiden was now looking at me too.

“You guys can see me?” I asked with
disbelief.

“Why wouldn’t we be able to see you?”
Aiden asked. I looked down to where I had been lying, and then back
at my audience. “I thought…” I started but had to suck in a deep
breath as realization set in that I wasn’t dead at all, somehow I’d
survived through the torment. “I thought I was dead,” I told them,
visibly relieved that I was wrong.

“You are very much alive my dear,” Ms.
Ozland said. My hand went to my heart as relief washed all over
me.

“What happened?” I didn’t know why I
was so shocked, I mean I was warned that it would be painful, but I
expected maybe a stomach ache or a headache. I hadn’t expected it
would feel like I was being burned from the inside out. The only
evidence that I’d just been tortured by magic was the thin layer of
sweat that lined my forehead and the rats’ nest that sat atop my
head. I conjured a rubber band and ran my fingers through the
knots; then drew it back into a ponytail.

“Your magic was in a foreign place, a
dark place so to speak. Magic is from nature, the energy that makes
up everything, you see. It’s not natural for it to settle into
something so dark, such as vampire. We all know that the vampire
virus is the devil’s work, whereas magic is Mother Nature’s. The
dark and light cannot coexist together harmoniously. When you
accepted the magic back into you, it was angry and had to reconnect
within yourself,” Ms. Ozland explained. In the grand scheme of
things, it made sense, but to think of my magic as something
capable of having feelings, such as being angry, was tough to
swallow. It made it seem like I was possessed by my
magic.

“Is he cured?” I asked, nodding
towards Aiden. He had been unusually quiet since I came out of my
torture. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and
looking down at his feet with ire burning in his eyes.

“You took your magic away from him
which I suspect was the strongest he’s had?” She asked and I nodded
my head. “The rest of the magic is weak and will be out of his
system by tomorrow night. He’ll have to feed on regular blood
tonight and tomorrow but should be fine afterwards.” I shot him a
look to get his approval but he wouldn’t look at me. I sent him a
glare that went unnoticed and then glanced back at Ms.
Ozland.

“
Thank you for helping us and I’m
sorry we bothered you so late. I’ll be happy to pay you for your
time.” She waved off my attempts at paying her and ushered us to
the door. Aiden pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket and placed
it on the coffee table and then walked out the door. Ms. Ozland
looked at the cash and then up at me. I shrugged my shoulders and
smiled and then followed Aiden outside. Before Ms. Ozland could
close the door, I turned around and said, “The other vampires, the
ones who are addicted to our blood, would the same process work on
them?” It was painful, sure, but it’d be worth it to clean up a
horde of vampires to prevent them poaching on witches
anymore.

“No,” she said sadly. “Those witches
aren’t alive anymore to reclaim anything. I’m sure the NAWC is
working on solving this problem, we’ll just have to leave it in
their capable hands.”

“The NAWC knows about
this?”

“Of course, dear. The NAWC knows
everything where witches are concerned.” I bit my lip and nodded my
head, wondering what the North American Witches Council had planned
for cleaning up the mess. I was also hoping word about Aiden’s
small trip down brew alley didn’t get out.

“Goodnight Ms. Ozland and thank you
again.”

“’
Night, dear.”

I walked down the small pathway and
out through the gate to where Aiden waited for me. He didn’t look
at me when I reached him and when I grabbed for his hand he pulled
away and walked over to his car after opening the passenger’s side
door for me. I hopped inside and he appeared in the driver’s side
almost instantly, starting the car and pulling away.