Witchcraft (#2 Witchblood Series) (28 page)

‘
Yes, but maybe they’ll go back to
the house. I also need to get my Book of Shadows, because it’s not
safeif the house is empty.’

‘
My
book
will have been destroyed,’ Brittany said, looking glumly back
towards the church.

‘
We can go and look for it,’ I
said.

‘
No point! It’s magic isn’t it? It
will be dust now,’ she said with a small shrug. ‘I can write
another one, but it will take ages, that’s all.’

‘
You wrote your own?’ I
asked.

‘
Yes, didn’t you?’ she
said.

‘
No, it’s passed down. I…’ I
faltered, catching Luke’s slight frown. He was right, everyone
wanted my book and I still didn’t know enough about
Brittany.

‘
Oh, you’re lucky. I didn’t have
one, so in school we kept secret ones, making notes of all the
spells that worked, what didn’t and any new stuff we noticed, even
moon charts. Now I’ll have to start again,’ she said, with a yawn.
‘Wow, I’m tired. I need to get back onto daytime schedule. I’ve
become nocturnal.’

‘
Right. Here’s what we’ll do,’ I
said, smiling at Luke’s raised eyebrow. ‘Did you say Alex was in
hospital? Here?’

‘
Yes. When she ran from here she
didn’t get far, only half a mile or so, where she got lost in a
residential area and collapsed. A woman found her and called an
ambulance, so she was taken to a nearby hospital, where I believe
she caused a lot of confusion, due to her extensive blood loss and
her body having no wounds other than bruises. However, the main
problem was hysteria, which began when she became conscious –
shouting about vampires and witches, and how she had to rescue you.
We had to arrange an emergency staff change and edit her notes. I
expect by now her memory will have been fixed and the staff will
believe they are dealing with an amnesia victim. She won’t know
you, Jess. She won’t remember.’

‘
Fine, but I still want to see her
before we go back to Manchester. I want to check she’s going to be
alright. Then we’ll go back to Manchester, to the house. Hopefully
Daniel and Eva will be back, and we can have a nap.’

‘
Jess… Daniel’s not going to be
there. You need to…’

‘
Look, just shut it, okay! If they
aren’t there, I’ll deal with it then.’

‘
Drop it Luke,’ Brittany said,
moving to my side.

Luke shrugged, ‘Fine, but she’s going to
have to accept it soon,’ he said. ‘I’ll tell Cam we’re going.’

The hospital breakfast rounds were well
underway when we arrived, and after a brief illusion change into
jeans and jumper, we barely caused a second glance as we entered
the main doors.

‘
Jess, we can’t stay long. I’m
tired and can’t hold your illusion much longer,’ Brittany whispered
as we casually walked past the central desk. Brittany had let her
gothic dress illusion drop and was now dressed in the same clothes
that I had last seen her in when she’d come down to bind me, and
later save me, in the cells. Luke looked a little alternative in
his baggy yoga pants, but it was me who needed a
disguise.

‘
Don’t worry, we’ll be five
minutes. I just want to check she’s alright,’ I said.

‘
This way. Cam said she’s been
transferred to the Intensive Care
ward on D2,’ Luke
said, as we walked towards the lifts.

‘
Are her parents here yet?’ I
asked.

‘
I doubt it. We’re waiting for her
to finish her course of blood transfusions, then we’ll wipe the
medic’s memories, and her notes of everything connected to the
blood loss. Once she is simply an amnesia patient we’ll release her
name and her parents will be contacted. Currently, the staff have
no idea who she is,’ he said.

‘
So how can we be seen visiting
her? It’s not even visiting hours. They’ll ask us who she is, and
who we are,’ Brittany interrupted.

‘
It is a complication, but she’s
been given a private room, and I’m hoping the few human nurses on
the ward will be kept busy. We’ve placed several supernatural
medics on the ward to keep an eye on things.

The lift clanged open and we stepped out
into the corridor. All was silent. At the end of the corridor was a
wooden door, a security camera and hand cleanser.

‘
So how do we get past the
security buzzer?’ I asked.

But before Luke could answer me, the
door opened and a middle-aged woman in a nurse’s uniform poked her
head around the door. Her face was framed with ebony curls, her
deep chocolate skin flawless and youthful.

‘
Hey Luke, so this must be
the
Jess
we’ve heard so much
about,’ she said, looking directly at me, ‘and you, young lady are
the new witch, responsible for causing equal amounts of trouble and
bravery?’

We both nodded and looked at Luke.

‘
Come on in, quickly, whilst I’ve
sent the two humans to our most demanding patients. They’ll be tied
up a good ten minutes with those two,’ she said, with a quiet
chuckle.

‘
Who’s she?’ I whispered to Luke,
as we followed him in through the door and down the
corridor.

‘
That is Molly. She’s a witch from
Jamaica and she loves everyone new at the beginning, but you don’t
want to cross her. I mean it, just don’t go there,’ he said, with a
quick frown.

‘
Here we are,’ Molly said,
suddenly stopping by a couple of closed doors, opposite a quiet
ward. ‘I’ll be on the desk here, so just open the door a crack when
you’re ready to go and wait for my signal and I’ll let you straight
out,’ she said to Luke.

‘
Okay, thanks Moll,’ he said with
a wink.

‘
By the way Jess, your illusion is
dropping, I can see your blood stained jeans like a mirage beneath
the charmed ones. Take a break in there, where no-one will see you,
but you’ll need it for getting out.’

I looked with horror down at my legs,
and sure enough I could see right through the clean, new pair which
shimmered above the real ones. I looked over at Brittany who looked
pale and tired. Luke quickly opened the door of the darkened room
and we slipped inside.

‘
Let it go Brittany, have a rest,’
Luke said and immediately I felt a cool shiver race across my skin,
as the charm was dropped and my appearance returned to normal.
Well, it was by no means normal, but I was stuck looking like a
walking murder victim until I could get a shower and some clean
clothes.

‘
Alex!’ I whispered, as my
vampire’s eyes focused through the gloom and took in the frail
girl, asleep and hooked up to several machines. A large machine
beeped steadily, monitoring her heartbeat, which thankfully seemed
even and strong. A drip trickled clear fluid into a vein in her arm
and the third sent a steady stream of dark, burgundy coloured blood
into her other arm. The aroma sent me reeling. My fangs exploded
through my gums and I could feel my heart thudding faster in my rib
cage. I wasn’t hungry, but the scent was hard to ignore, and I
imagined ripping the tube out of her arm and sucking on it like a
straw.

‘
Jess, it’s okay. Stop breathing,
you can do that right?’ Brittany said quietly, her hand gently
pressing down on my shoulder, reminding me where I was… who I was.
I nodded and concentrated on the room. This was Alex, my best
friend.

Brittany hung back and sat in a chair in
the corner, closed her eyes and rested, while Luke and I went to
her bedside.

‘
She’s been sedated, so I doubt
she’ll wake up,’ Luke said.

I nodded and tried to pull my eyes away
from the tube of blood, which pulsed into her arm, and Luke
noticing my struggle, drew the sheet up and over her. I gave him a
sheepish smile, and looked down at her face. It was pale and drawn,
she had huge dark rings under her eyes and her lips were pale and
cracked.

‘
It’s all my fault,’ I
said.

‘
No, it isn’t, Jess. You stayed
away from her. I have no idea how Cole found out about her being
your friend, but it wasn’t your fault.’

‘
I should have come sooner. I knew
something was wrong as soon as you said she was
missing.’

‘
I know, I did too, but both of us
had orders to follow, and initially what they said made sense.
Until Cole whispered in my ear, I didn’t believe he’d taken Alex
either.’

I nodded and felt a single warm tear
roll down my cheek.

‘
Jess don’t worry. She’s going to
be fine.’

‘
Luke? What happened? What are you
wearing?’ Alex’s voice was frail and shaky, but we both jumped as
her words broke our silence.

‘
Alex, you’re awake. How are you
feeling?’ I asked, scrubbing my cheek dry.

‘
Who are you? I don’t know you.
Luke where am I?’ she said, ‘and who’s she?’ Alex added, looking
over to Brittany who had stood up from her chair in the
corner.

‘
Shhhh, it’s okay Alex. You were
at a club. We think your drink got spiked. These girls found you.
Don’t you remember?’ Luke said, reaching down and holding her
hand.

‘
No, it’s really strange. I have
this weird feeling, like something really bad is hanging over me. I
feel shaky, as if I’ve just narrowly missed being run over by a bus
or something, but it’s all a complete blank,’ she said.

‘
What’s the last thing you
remember?’ he asked.

‘
I don’t know. It’s pretty hazy,
but I do remember chatting to you in my new flat in Manchester. I
remember giving you Murphy to look after, because he reminded me
too much of Jess…’ Her eyes flicked over to me briefly, and I
stared back into her eyes, uncertain whether I wanted her to
remember me or not.

‘
And after that?’ Luke
asked.

‘
I don’t know. Like I said, it’s
pretty hazy. I’m tired. Where’s mum?’ she said.

‘
I’m sure your mum will be here
soon. Don’t worry Alex, we’ll sort it out. Do you remember how you
got to London?’ Luke said.

‘
I’m in London? Oh yeah… I
remember, I met this guy after a lecture one day. He was really
cute. He said he was scouting for students to model this new
clubwear, and we were going to get five hundred pounds, plus
expenses. He bought my train ticket and everything. We were
supposed to meet at this trendy new club in London… ahh! I can’t
remember what it was called, that’s where it’s all going fuzzy. I
guess that’s the club where my drink got spiked. God, I feel so
stupid.’

‘
You’re not Alex. It’s not your
fault, but next time don’t go and disappear without telling
me
…
or your friends
where you’re going, okay?’ he said with a smile.

I wanted to hug her, to hold her hand,
but I knew I couldn’t. She didn’t know who I was anymore. I glanced
back at Brittany and she gave me a sad smile and held out her hand
to me. I smiled at Alex and left her side, joining Brittany in the
corner. I needed friends who could protect themselves, in my new
world. It wasn’t safe for Alex to be my friend.

‘
Time’s up guys, you’ve got two
minutes to get off the ward. The consultant is on his way up.’
Molly said, her head suddenly appearing round the doorframe. ‘I
need to disconnect the blood transfusion unit and amend her
notes.’

With a swift nod of his head, Luke
leaned down and gave Alex a kiss on her forehead.

‘
I’ll come and see you tomorrow,
okay?’ he said to her, and then to us, ‘Come on,’ as he made his
way to the door.

‘
Bye Alex,’ I said, taking a last
look at my friend, before following Luke and Brittany out of the
door.

As we left the room, I felt the silky
chill of the illusion charm being thrown over me once more, and
looking down I saw the clean jeans and soft pink sweater had
returned. I smiled at Brittany and mouthed a silent thanks. The
girl looked shattered.

‘
Luke, we need to get out of here
and back to Manchester. Brittany needs to rest and I need to see
Daniel, and sort this mess out,’ I said.

‘
Jess, I told you, you need to
prepare for the worst. I think…’

‘
Don’t! Let’s just get
back.’

‘
Fine.’

Chapter Twenty-One

‘
There’s a bit of a problem Jess,’
Luke said, once we were outside, standing at the back of the
hospital, behind the empty visitor’s car-park.

‘
What now?’ I said.

‘
If you want to get back to
Manchester quickly… and I don’t think London’s commuters are up to
seeing you in full zombie costume... there are too many of us. I
can manage two people max, but not all three of us, and Brittany is
clearly out of energy,’ he said, looking at the young girl, who was
sitting with her back resting against a tree. My camouflage was
gone and I was back to looking like the walking dead.

‘
Oh! But I’ve still got enough
power, so can’t Brittany use mine?’ I asked, looking across at
Brittany.

‘
No. Draining another witch’s
magic uses dark magic. I never use dark magic,’ Brittany said,
struggling to her feet and walking over to us. ‘But what if I
showed you how to fly the ley lines? You’ve got enough power to
take us both. That way Luke can travel his own way, and I can
instruct you?’ she said.