The Trouble With Spells (33 page)

“You saved me. It
worked!” he replied with a wide smile.

“What worked?” I
was confused, unable to figure out what he was talking about.

“The binding
spell, the healer’s magic. All of it.” He laughed and hugged me tightly to him.

“Healer’s magic?”

“You’ve proven to
be a very powerful healer witch.”

“Then why am I
still sleeping?” I asked suspiciously, narrowing my eyes at him.

“You still need to
rest for a while. Your body was very depleted.” He leaned down to nuzzle his
face into the crook of my neck. “I’m sorry about that.”

I wasn’t sure what
he was talking about, so I just relished the feel of him for a few moments, too
happy to try and straighten things out in my head. But I became very tired all
of a sudden and wanted to go to sleep. I closed my eyes.

Wait a minute,
wasn’t I already asleep?

I started to feel
the physical pain that only happened when Vance was away from me. I opened my
eyes to look at up at him, but he wasn’t there.

“Vance?” I called
out. “Vance! Where are you?

My heart was
pounding in my chest, and I twirled in a circle, searching for him.

When his voice
finally came to me, it was in a distant whisper.

“I’m leaving you
for a while, baby,” he said apologetically.

“What? No! Don’t
go!” I ran in the direction I thought his voice had come from. “Don’t leave
me!”

“I have to—just
for a little while. I’ll see you again someday though. I promise! I love you!”

I knew he was gone
then because I couldn’t feel him anymore, and I sank to the ground beneath me. I
curled up into a ball and allowed the tears to overcome me until I fell asleep.

When I awoke
again, I was still lying in a heap in my field of flowers. I sat up and looked
around, the breeze in the meadow blowing gently over the top of me.

Voices tinkled
softly in the air that moved around me, but I could only catch snippets of what
they were saying while I tried to recognize them.

“Is she okay?”

“…don’t know if…”

“…hasn’t woken up
since…”

“No, he’s gone…”

I tried talking to
them to get their attention. “Hello? Is someone there?”

“…just moved…”
came the reply.

“Maybe she is…”
another voice answered.

I concentrated
real hard on the sound of those voices.

“Grandma?” I
called out, thinking I recognized one of the voices as I heard more of the
mumblings. “Shelly!” I shouted when I recognized her voice out of the blue, but
there was no reply from either of them.

I got up and
wandered around when I realized the curious conversation had stopped. I walked
around the edges of my meadow, examining the beautiful flowers that dotted the
landscape, but I soon tired and lay down once again to rest.

The next time I
opened my eyes, I found myself situated in Grandma’s guest bedroom, lying on
the comfy bed with blankets tucked nicely around my body.

I blinked several
times at the bright light that filled the room.

 “Oh! You’re
awake!” an exuberant voice at my side exclaimed, and I turned my head to see
Shelly jump up from the chair. She tossed a book onto the nightstand and came
to sit beside me on the bed. I was happy to see her appearance was back to the
old Shelly I had known and loved my whole life.

“Hey,” I said, my
voice cracking a little from lack of use.

“How’re you
feeling?” she asked me, a concerned look on her face.

I did a quick
mental check before replying. “Fine, I think. Where is everyone?”

“They’re not here.
I volunteered to sit with you while they all went to the funeral,” she replied.

“The funeral?” I
asked, and horror streaked through my body. “Where’s Vance?”

“I’m sorry,
Portia,” Shelly replied with a sad expression. “I forget you don’t know
everything that’s going on. You’ve been out of it for a while.”

“Shelly!” I
groaned, struggling to sit up. “Where is Vance?”

“He’s gone,” she
replied, and I sucked in a sharp breath, a sob caught in my throat.

“He died?” I
asked, everything in my whole world crumbling to nothingness.

“What? Died? No!” Shelly
responded in a rush. “I’m sorry. I’m really botching this up, aren’t I? It’s
Marsha. They’re all at Marsha’s funeral.”

It took a moment
for her words to sink in.

“He’s not dead?” I
gasped, and I fell back onto the pillows in exhaustion, my hand clutched over
my pounding heart.

“No. But he is
gone. He left.”

“He left?” I
asked, still confused. “Left where? To the funeral?”

 Shelly got up off
the bed and walked around to where a white envelope was lying on the nightstand.
She picked it up and brought it to me.

“He said to give
this to you when you woke up,” she explained, handing it to me.

My hands trembled
slightly when I took it from her, carefully opening the envelope and reaching
in to pull out a folded paper from inside. When I opened the paper, several
pictures fell out, tumbling before my eyes into my lap. They were our
photographs from the day we had been in the forest.

I held up the
images one by one, looking at our smiling faces. Some were funny, others were
serious, and we were kissing in several of them. I paused on the last one I had
taken of him that day, propped up on his arm as he looked at me with all the
love in the world.

I gently placed
the pictures on my stomach, picked up his letter and began to read:

“Portia, my
love,

I’m breaking my
word to you by even writing this letter. Please don’t hold it against me.

First of all, I
ask your forgiveness for all the heartache I’ve caused you. I can’t even
imagine what I must’ve put you through. Thank you for believing in me and not
giving up. It means more to me than you will ever know.

I assume it’s
been explained to you by now that you’re a healer witch. Without the gift of
your blood, and power, I would most certainly have lost my life in this battle.
Your mother said you wanted a miracle, and you got it. A healer witch has never
been able to heal someone in demon transition before. As usual, you’ve proven your
powers far exceed what anyone ever thought they could do.

It was the
words of our binding spell that finally brought sanity back to my head. Thank
you for helping me to remember.

Second, as I’m
sure you’ve noticed, I’m no longer there. I cannot, and will not, let you live
a life where something like this could happen again. I’m going to go find my
father and finish this once and for all. If I’m successful, I’ll return to you
as fast as I can. If I’m not, then please know I love you more than anything in
this world, and I will be waiting for you to join me in the next one.

Please live
your life and be happy. I hope to see you again soon!

My Heart Will
Always Be Yours,

Vance

To say that my
blood began to boil would have been an understatement. I was furious!

“What the heck is
he thinking?” I yelled at Shelly, and she took an involuntary step backwards. “He’s
going to get himself killed!”

I tried to push
myself up out of the bed so I could stand.

“What’re you
doing? You’re too weak to get out of bed yet!” She hurried over and tried to
push me back down onto the pillows.

“Move out of my
way!” I said, grabbing her hand.

“I’m supposed to
be taking care of you, though,” she pleaded with me.

“I can’t live
without him, Shelly. He has no support, no help, nothing! He’s running to his
death!”

“What do you need
me to do?” she asked then, sighing in resignation.

“Bring your car
around,” I said firmly. “I’m going after him.”

###

Check out the next exciting book in the Of Witches and
Warlocks series:

 The Demon Kiss

About
The Author:

Lacey
Weatherford has always had a love of books. She wanted to become a writer after
reading her first Nancy Drew novel at the age of eight.

Lacey
resides in the White Mountains of Arizona, where she lives with her wonderful
husband, six beautiful children, one son-in-law, and their energetic schnauzer,
Sophie. When she’s not out supporting one of her kids at their sporting/music
events, she spends her time writing, reading, blogging, and reviewing books.

Lacey
loves to hear from her readers!  Feel free to contact her!

 Twitter:
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Official
book website:
http://www.ofwitchesandwarlocks.com

Lacey’s
author website:
http://www.laceyweatherfordbooks.com