Bound (World of Shadows Book 2) Read online

  “I know she’s still at your house,” I told him. “But I can check on her and make sure she’s okay. Let her know that you’re okay, too.”

  “But you’re not going to let me out.”

  I stood abruptly and put my satchel over my shoulder again. “This conversation is going in circles. I understand you’re pissed off but what did you expect? I can’t let you out yet and that’s all there is to say.”

  He didn’t move, just dangled the bottle of water between his fingertips and watched the water swish back and forth.

  I still kept an eye on him as I crept to the door.

  “Yes,” he said.

  I stopped in the patch of light and turned. “What?”

  “Yes, will you please check on Audrey for me? Tell her I’m okay and I’ll…” He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “Tell her I’ll hopefully see her soon.”

  I nodded. “You will. Bye, Gage.”

  I eased through the opening and moved to push the rock into place. Suddenly, Gage appeared, making me jump back. “Fuck. You scared me.”

  His features were still taught with pain, but he gave the ghost of a smile. “Are you going to come back?”

  Was I? I didn’t know my plan yet, only that I had to figure out something better than just letting him walk out of here. I nodded after a moment. “I’ll bring you some food or something. You still eat, right? Or did that change after the full moon, too?”

  He gave a low laugh. “Yes, I still eat.”

  He backed away, letting me move the rock again. I grunted when it took more effort than the first time but once it was nearly covering the opening, I figured it was good enough.

  I also figured I might as well go see Audrey now to tell her about Gage. On the way there, I called Grace.

  “What’s up?” she asked in her usual cheerful voice.

  “I’m going to Gage’s house. Do you think you could meet me there?”

  She sighed. “You let him out, didn’t you?”

  I rolled my eyes. “No. I told him I’d check on Audrey.”

  “Psycho vampire sister? You do remember her trying to strangle you, don’t you?”

  I sighed. “Yes.”

  “Just checking. Sure. Your mom needs time to—”

  “You can just call her Helen.”

  There was a pause, then Grace corrected herself. “Okay, Helen needs time to look around for those books. I can meet you for a bit before I get back to her.”

  “Thanks.”

  When I arrived at the house, I waited for Grace in the circle drive, leaning against the car and wondering if Audrey already knew I was here. Was she going to let us in? Try to strangle me again?

  But it stayed quiet until Grace arrived. She got out and looked around. “Is Dylan still at your house?”

  I nodded.

  “Still in doggy mode?”

  “Yeah.” I pushed away from the car. “And he was being a jerk about it. I left the door open for him, though, in case he needed to go out or something.”

  Grace grimaced. “Gross.”

  “Either way, he wasn’t being very understanding.”

  She nodded seriously. “Totally. I mean, how dare him not want you to spend time around vampires? Big time jerk.”

  I frowned at her but didn’t say anything. I could tell she was partly joking. Besides, she was allowed to have more bias against vampires with her history and being stuck in town and everything.

  Grace propped her sunglasses on top of her head. She paused on the porch and looked at me. “I get it. Really, I do. But you haven’t lived here for years like me and Dylan. You didn’t grow up with the stories. Vampires are our natural enemies. It’s been ingrained in us our whole lives.”

  I rang the doorbell and nodded. “I understand.”

  Grace eyed the door warily. “I’ll try to play nice but if she tries to pull anything like Gage did…” She barred her teeth.

  I chuckled. “I’m sure we can all manage to play nice.”

  Audrey opened the door a moment later. I could see the whites of her knuckles when she clenched her hand on the knob. “You brought a werewolf here?”

  Grace grinned. “Nice boots.”

  Audrey didn’t even blink at the compliment.

  “How do you know she’s a werewolf?” I asked.

  She folded her arms, looking fierce. But I could still see how heavy her eyelids looked. How tired and rundown. “I can sense it.”

  Grace glanced at me, still looking amused “We all have our own abilities. She can sense paranormals and I can sense her feelings right now. I can tell she’s trying not to throw up all over her pretty boots.”

  Audrey frowned. “Bite me.”

  “I believe that’s your territory,” Grace said with a grin.

  I held up a hand before they could get into it. “Please don’t. We didn’t come to argue. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

  Audrey’s eyes narrowed on me. Finally, she stepped back and gestured to the foyer. “I’m fine.”

  I stepped inside, watching as Audrey kept her gaze on Grace. She looked poised for a fight, hands clenched and back straight.

  “Do you have my Book of Shadows?” I asked.

  Audrey nodded. “It’s hidden well.”

  Grace glanced at me before looking like she was going to yell at Audrey.

  “I’ll give it back,” Audrey said, “if you tell me where Gage is.”

  “I can’t until you give it to me.”

  She folded her arms again. “Then it looks like we’re stuck.”

  Grace started to step forward but then Audrey spoke, surprising us with her question.

  “Who was that you took out of here earlier?” Audrey asked.

  “My mom.” I glanced at Grace.

  She frowned. “You didn’t know who your own brother had in his basement?”

  Audrey actually rolled her eyes. “He kind of likes to do things on his own. He asked if I wanted to come stay with him and said he had something that was going to help me. But he also said he didn’t want to get my hopes up, so he wasn’t really telling me anything. I didn’t even know your mom was in the basement until you all barged in here.”

  Grace’s eyes flashed. Her voice was sharp when she spoke again. “Do you have any clue why Link’s mom was here? Or why Link was here? Your brother wasn’t just having friends over—he kidnapped Link. He was acting like a monster. He—”

  “Stop,” I told Grace.

  Audrey’s gaze was murderous, but then a fit of coughing overtook her. It sounded so painful it made me wince.

  “Shit,” Grace said. She grabbed my arm. “Come on, let’s get her some water.”

  “I’m fine,” Audrey said, but then started coughing all over again.

  Grace ignored that and followed me to the kitchen. When I reached for the cupboard with the glasses, her eyebrows lifted. “Wow, you sure know your way around Gage’s kitchen.”

  I didn’t answer. She already knew what I told her—that Gage wasn’t exactly the monster she claims he was when I was here. He held me captive for sure, but he didn’t hurt me. He fed me and made sure I was comfortable. He also charmed me way more than I was comfortable admitting to anyone right now.

  Audrey wandered into the kitchen as I filled the glass with water. She took it from me and drank most of it before sitting at one of the stools at the counter.

  Her red-rimmed gaze met mine. “He told me you could help. That there might be a chance to reverse the curse. I could already feel it when I got here. I felt better. I still feel better, actually.” She looked at her water. “I let myself hope for a little while—to believe that this might actually work, and I’d be healed.”

  She lifted her gaze and continued with a humorless laugh. “I guess that made it easy to overlook what was going on. Reversing the curse is a big deal—even I know that. It’s what my other brother has wanted for years. I…” She sighed and held her hands out, as if trying to appeal to us. “I just w
anted to believe Gage and I know all he was doing was trying to help me.”

  I glanced at Grace, but she only shook her head slightly. Convincing her was probably going to take more work. Same with Dylan.

  “I do want to help,” I told Audrey. It hurt me seeing her like this and I barely knew her.

  Grace set her hand on my arm. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

  I stepped back and followed her to the hallway, leaving Audrey in the kitchen staring at her water.

  Grace gripped her hair at the roots and closed her eyes briefly, breathing in a breath that sounded almost painful. “Link, you’ve got to be kidding.”

  “Kidding about what?”

  She opened her eyes, glaring at me. “Helping her. I just heard you say it.”

  “I don’t mean I want to reverse the curse. I mean, there’s got to be something else we can do—or I can do—to help her feel better, right?”

  “You mean like a healing spell or something?” she asked, eyes narrowing.

  “Sure. Or…something. I mean, if I can make fire and contact a long-dead ancestor, helping Audrey isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility, is it? Better than unleashing all kinds of evil if I reversed the spell. Besides, that’s not what Gage and Audrey want anyway—they just figured that was the only way to cure her. Maybe we can find a way to make everyone happy.”

  Keeping the spell in place was a big deal. It limited paranormal power so that vampires couldn’t become true vampires, werewolves didn’t change at the full moon, and so on.

  She folded her arms, angling her head as she considered this. “It might work. You could also be honest and tell Audrey you’ve trapped her brother and she might try to take a bite out of you—”

  “I heard that!” Audrey called from the kitchen.

  Grace stared at me. “See?” She glanced over her shoulder and then lowered her voice. “Or if you let Gage out, he might try to bite you because he’s pissed off you’ve made him King of the Amethyst—”

  “King of the Amethyst,” I repeated, rolling my eyes. “Grace.”

  “I’m just saying, Gage is unpredictable. And we don’t know Audrey well enough to decide about her, but same family, you know.”

  “I’ll convince them both that this is the best plan. Gage won’t have any choice but to listen.”

  “I’m pretty sure you’ve lost your mind.”

  I smiled at her. “I’ve been accused of that before. Say you’ll help me.”

  “Find your mind?” When I continued to look at her, she sighed. “Link, I swear you try my patience.”

  My smile widened. “I’ve heard that before, too. You said your life was more interesting since I came to Knob Creek.” When she looked on the verge of agreeing, I added, “I’ll make you a love potion so that all the cute guys in Knob Creek fall in love with you.”

  “All the cute guys here already are in love with me. But who has time for romance?”

  “There’s got to be something I can bribe you with.”

  “Maybe…” She gave a wicked grin and glanced to the kitchen. “Audrey’s boots.”

  “I heard that!” Audrey called again.

  I rolled my eyes but smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Chapter 3

  Since I knew I was going to have to see my mom and I still had no clue what to say to her except for how disappointed I was in her for leaving me and my father, I decided to stick to the facts.

  I followed Grace up the steps to my mother’s house, clenching and unclenching my fists. It was the first time I’d been here since she’d returned to Knob Creek.

  She still looked tired when she met us at the door. Her hazel eyes were the exact same shade as mine and our hair color matched to a tee. My father used to tell me all the time how much we looked alike. And it always made me angry.

  What was the point of looking like someone you barely even knew? Someone who didn’t even want to know you?

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Helen said. “I found a journal from someone in the original coven who did the binding spell.”

  Grace sat down on the couch. “Really?”

  She nodded. “It was the spell they did to bind the original four powers in Knob Creek.”

  “If we know the spell, can we…do it again? You know, to make sure it’s intact like before?” I asked.

  Helen bit her lip. “I don’t know for sure. I’d know more of I could look at my Book of Shadows, but it seems to be missing.”

  I paced toward the door and then back, thinking. “Gage has it.”

  “What? How did he get it?”

  I stopped to look at her, feeling a flicker of guilt. “I sort of…borrowed it. And then Gage took it from me.”

  The corners of her lips turned down in a frown.

  “Listen,” I said, irritation bubbling up, “you weren’t here to help. I had no idea what was going on or what to do and I needed answers. I found them where I could.”

  Her eyes softened but her voice didn’t. “I kept you in the dark for a reason.”

  “Which wasn’t your choice to make. You didn’t just take away my family, you took away my heritage. I kept setting things on fire, and I didn’t know why—and there was no one to help me.” I stopped and gritted my teeth, not wanting to keep going on this path. Talking about our past was just going to lead to a fight. “Did you even know about Dad?”

  Helen dropped her chin. “I heard about him passing. I’m sorry.”

  “You heard but you didn’t do anything? You couldn’t even call or come to the funeral? How could you—”

  “Link,” Grace started.

  “What?” I spun to face her, needing to take my frustration out on someone. “I’m in this mess because of her and the least she could have done was called. Or told me what was going on. Sent a letter or something since being around me clearly isn’t something she wants to do.”

  Fuck. Now I was getting emotional and dammit, I’d told myself a million times over the years that it wasn’t worth getting upset about my mom. She clearly didn’t care so I shouldn’t.

  But now I was here, facing it, and she wasn’t even fighting back. In fact, she was nodding like what I had to say was perfectly reasonable.

  I swallowed hard and turned. “I need to go.”

  “Wait,” Helen said behind me. “Please don’t.”

  I glanced over my shoulder. “Why not?”

  “There’s a bigger picture here,” she said. “We need to make sure the spell doesn’t get broken and it’s my job to help. If we have to stick to that for now, I can do it. Whatever you want.”

  Grace shot me a look of appeal. Yeah, it looked simple on the outside.

  I ran a hand over my face. “Fine.”

  Helen nodded. “I’ll need my Book of Shadows.”

  “Can we use mine?” I asked.

  Her mouth opened in surprise. “How did you get your Book of Shadows?”

  Not from you. I didn’t say it out loud, but I kind of wanted to rub that fact in her face. She was the one who was supposed to give me book in the first place, right? Wasn’t that how it worked?

  “Savannah showed me where it was.”

  Helen’s shoulders tensed. “Savannah…like our ancestor Savannah?”

  I touched the necklace. “She gave me this, too.”

  To my surprise, Helen sat in chair and dropped her head into her hands.

  “What is it?” Grace asked.

  Helen only shook her head.

  “This is bullshit,” I said, angling for the door again. When Grace looked at me, I said, “I’m sorry. But if she has something to say, she just needs to say it. Otherwise we’re wasting time.”

  “Savannah was a very powerful witch,” Helen said. “Yes, she helped work the original binding spell—they needed her because she was a Master of the Flame. But, her motives…” She sighed. “She wasn’t going it for the right reasons. She lied to the rest of the coven to make them help with the spell.”

  I sat o
n the couch next to Grace. “But I thought she and the rest of the witches wanted to stop the vampires.”

  “They did. And it was a good thing—the vampires weren’t being smart with their powers. But Savannah…” Helen sighed. “She wanted to do the spell for revenge. She put hatred into that spell and her magic was dark. I think maybe…that dark magic is being carried over to you.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “Savannah’s been helping me. I wouldn’t have gotten out of Gage’s house if not for her. And I wouldn’t have found the cave and my Book of Shadows.”

  “I’m just saying that you have to be careful. You’re already connected to her through blood. If she can reach you through your spirit, the bond is only going to get stronger.”

  I nodded. “And maybe that will give us the help we need to stop this.”

  “I can’t tell you what to do,” Helen said. “But—”

  “No, you’re right,” I said, standing again. “You can’t tell me what to do. That ship has sailed.”

  Silence fell over the room. I was sure what Helen said had some merit. After all, she’d been a witch twice as long as I had, but it irritated me to take her advice. She hadn’t been there to give it to me for so many years. However, Savannah had helped me. She didn’t seem evil so much as sad.

  Grace stood as well. “So, the Book of Shadows. Audrey said she’d give it to us if we tell her where Gage is.”

  “That’s right.”

  She nodded. “Okay, tell her. No big deal. She won’t be able to get him out anyway.”

  “Why not?” Helen asked.

  I spared her a brief glance. “I put a spell on the cave to trap him inside.”

  “And it worked?”

  I frowned at her. “Yes. Why wouldn’t it?”

  “It’s not—that’s not a bad thing. I’m just surprised you had that much power so fast and…”

  Her voice trailed off. She might be less surprised if she knew me at all. I was a fast learner—always had been. Besides that, this was important. I hadn’t had the option of making a mistake.

  “Okay, let’s talk to Audrey again,” Grace said. “We can make a deal. Tomorrow.”

  “Why tomorrow?” I asked.

  “Because everyone needs to rest and get some perspective. And tomorrow Dylan will be back to his regular self, hopefully, so we’ll have him there too. You know, if we have to deal with worst-case scenario.”