Under a Spell uda-5 Read online

  I felt myself gape. Then I felt the wind being knocked out of me as something came down hard, pressing against my lower back, knocking me off my feet, and shooting me right to the edge of the black hole.

  “Look what I brought you.”

  My head snapped up as Miranda sauntered in, a wide grin cutting across her face. It was only then that I noticed that most of her wounds had healed. The enormous purple-blue bruise that marred one whole cheek was gone, the skin pink and perfect. I must have been staring because she dragged an index finger down her cheek and said, “Oh this? It was all stage makeup. If you had really paid attention, you would have known I was a drama geek, too. A few necessary blows, and grease paint the rest. But thanks anyway, you made a swell nurse.”

  “Miranda,” Heddy snapped, “lock that door and get into your robe. We don’t have much time.” Heddy was standing at the head of the pentagram and seemed to be controlling the swirl of the vortex. She was wearing a hooded robe that screamed every bad Druid movie ever made and carried a lit candle in one hand and an expression that clearly said that she wasn’t as pleased with Miranda’s gift of me as Miranda had been.

  “What?” I pushed myself onto hands and knees. “Miranda—you?”

  She just smiled silently.

  “What the hell is going on here?” I pulled myself to my feet. “What is this?”

  “Portal,” Miranda said simply.

  “Like a hell mouth? At a high school?” I cocked out a hip. “Hate to tell you, ladies, but it’s already been done.”

  “Silence!” Heddy yelled. “Lay down where you are. The Dark One will appreciate a second sacrifice in his honor.”

  “The Dark One?”

  “He will be very pleased.” Another voice came out of the perimeter of darkness around the room.

  “Finleigh? You’re in this, too?”

  “Sacred order,” Miranda said, slipping into her robe. “Me and Finny are legacies. Those two”—she pointed to two girls I had never met—“were perfect additions to the old Lock and Key Club.” Her eyes cut to the closed door of the supply closet. “So was Kayleigh.” She wrinkled her nose. “But Kayleigh’s special.”

  I licked my lips as the two girls I didn’t know grabbed my arms and pinned them to my side. “And what about Fallon?” I asked Miranda.

  Miranda shrugged and picked a piece of invisible lint from the sleeve of her maroon-colored robe. “She wanted in. Don’t like her. She bugs me.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “She bullied you.”

  Miranda grinned. “Did she?” She checked her nails. “She and that stupid Janitor Bud.”

  “So Bud was a part of this.”

  “Uh, no.” Miranda cut her gaze to me, laser sharp. “Bud thought he could stop this.” She held her arms out, indicating the creepily robed girls, the vortex. “He really thought that he could change ol’ Heddy. Bring her back from the dark side. Ain’t that right?”

  “Stop talking, Miranda,” Heddy commanded.

  “But he killed himself. Tonight.”

  “He had to go,” Miranda said with a shrug. “And he got all over me.”

  My stomach folded in on itself and I had to look away, unable to consider how much evil was housed in Miranda’s teenage body.

  “We haven’t much time!” Heddy yelled again.

  Finleigh took a step forward and pulled open the supply closet door. Kayleigh let out a terrified shriek that was muffled by the gag around her mouth. Her eyes were wide and darting; her skin was filthy and her ankles and wrists were bound. Finleigh grinned at her friend before grabbing her by the feet and sliding her across the room. She dumped her at the edge of the pentagram. Kayleigh curled herself into a tight ball and pressed her eyes shut, crying softly.

  “Oh God, Kayleigh.” I wanted to offer her some comfort, but she kept her eyes fixed low, refusing to make contact with any of us.

  Heddy looked at each girl; each girl in turn stepped to a point. I stood there, completely free, feeling stunned and numb as they each lit a candle and began chanting around me. The vortex seemed to ebb and flow with the rise and fall of the chanting voices. I cut my eyes to the door, judging the distance, but Miranda took a miniscule sidestep, glaring down at me as she broke my easy escape.

  The voices rose in their chant and Heddy took a step toward me. She slipped a long, narrow sword out of the sleeve of her robe. I unfortunately recognized it as the Sword of Bethesda—a sweet little instrument of death that had once before been used in an attempt to gut me. I slid away as Heddy brought the knife dangerously close to my ear.

  “Wait!” I held up my hands and looked from girl to girl to Heddy. “It’s obvious I’m not getting out of here. So just tell me why. Tell my why you took Kayleigh if you already had Alyssa?”

  “Alyssa was worthless,” Heddy spat. “Not even as a morsel to appease the Dark One. But Kayleigh . . .” Her eyes glittered with a hunger so fierce it shot ice water through my veins. “She’s the key.”

  Kayleigh began trembling, her whimpering more panicked.

  “The key to what?”

  Heddy ran her tongue over her teeth, forcing a grotesque smile. “The key to this world and the next. The key to finally freeing me from this plane. She is the key to Heaven and Hell. The keeper of souls.” Her voice had gone from secretary sweet to a grainy, desperate pitch. She bellowed something else and the swirling vortex in front of her expanded and rose, reacting to her voice like a hellish version of Fantasmic. And maybe it was me being mesmerized by the swirling vortex or me waiting for a savior, but I didn’t register what she said until right that very moment.

  “Wait. Do you mean the Vessel of Souls? That Kayleigh is the Vessel of Souls?”

  Heddy couldn’t hide her surprise—then her disdain. “What do you know about the Vessel?”

  “I know that it’s the preternatural Vessel—not key—that houses all human souls in what we know as limbo.”

  I widened my stance and crossed my arms over my chest, shooting her my best “beat that” expression. Heddy seemed to shrink considerably.

  “Wikipedia?” she asked, eyes narrowed.

  “I also know that Kayleigh is not the Vessel. If you use Kayleigh, you’re going to fail again.”

  Heddy seemed to regain a little of her bravado and she narrowed her eyes into angry little slits. “And how do you know that?”

  I caught my reflection as the vortex swirled and blew my hair around my shoulders, which were thrown back and strong. The leather that seemed to chafe and pucker hours ago was like a second skin now and all I saw was me—and my power. My “bulging thighs” were pillars of strength. My belly disappeared as I stood up tall.

  “Because I’m the Vessel of Souls.”

  I guess I thought the vortex would swirl and rise to the voice of its rightful owner or at the very least, suck Heddy the infidel in, but nothing happened.

  And then it did.

  Heddy’s eyes started to tear and wrinkle. She doubled over and held herself. Then she howled like a hyena. She laughed so hard that tears rolled down her face.

  “Oh, Sophie. Do you think I don’t remember you from high school?” she said when she regained her composure. “You were a lovable dolt back then. Now you’re just nosy, delusional, and frankly, kind of a bitch. You’re not the Vessel of Souls. Kayleigh’s father is the most powerful witch in a hundred years. The Vessel needs protection like that. Careful watching over. Who watched over you? Your nutcase Grandma?” Heddy took a step toward me. “The Vessel comes from a place of power, Sophie. Kayleigh has that power.” Heddy looked down at the terrified, trembling girl and huffed. “Though you wouldn’t be able to tell it now. It’s in her blood. You have no one. You’re worth nothing. Never were, never will be.” She grinned, her teeth gray and pointed in the dim light. “High school never ends.”

  I felt myself bristle. My insides roiled and heat shot through me, rage invading my every cell.

  “You don’t know a thing about power, Heddy. What it is, or where i
t comes from. People don’t watch over me, they guard me. And while Kayleigh’s dad may be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat? My dad can drag you to hell, where you belong.”

  Before I had a chance to think, my boot was square in the center of Heddy’s chest as she was vaulting backward, screaming as the vortex sucked her in and closed around her.

  The girls’ screaming started when the door to the room was vaulted open. Will crashed in and the girls ran out, dropping their candles and stripping out of their robes as they did. Paramedics pressed in behind him, rushing to Kayleigh. I vaulted over them and followed Will out the door.

  “Miranda killed Bud,” I huffed. “We have to find her!”

  It didn’t take long. She had cut across the back hall and was already on the first floor, reaching for the double doors when they flew open in a haze of licking flames and smoke.

  “Another witch?” Will asked me.

  “Where is he?”

  I took a step forward, coughing and squinting. “Kale?”

  She was outlined in a crackling flames. Her hair was wild and her face was drawn. Eyebrows pressed into a furious V. Eyes as black as night.

  And she was talking to Miranda.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Miranda said coolly.

  Kale’s nostrils flared and I half-expected steam to come shooting out of them. She took a step forward and Miranda’s hand went up. Her lips were moving and I knew from watching Kale and Lorraine that she was chanting.

  Kale just smirked. “Are you done yet?”

  Miranda took a step back. “What do you want? I’m not the witch. I’m not the real witch.”

  I took a step forward. “Kale—”

  And then it hit me. The thundering beat of metal. The growling. The screaming. I cocked my head toward the bank of lockers to my right.

  “Vlad?” I asked.

  “Uh-huh.”

  Miranda’s head snapped to me, her lip curling into a snarl. “Go away, Ms. L.”

  I continued walking forward, talking to the lockers. “Where are you?”

  “Nowhere!” Miranda growled. “He’s nowhere!”

  Kale cocked a single eyebrow and threw out one arm almost nonchalantly. A locker door—crushed and badly dented—flicked open.

  Vlad poked his head out.

  “Seriously?” I asked.

  He was handcuffed to the top rail and he looked sheepish, then shrugged.

  Miranda ran in front of the locker and splayed herself in front of it. “You can’t have him. He’s mine! He loves me. We’re together and he’s going to make me immortal. Get out of here! Get out or I’ll send you to the depths of hell, do you understand me?”

  I had never seen such fire in any woman. Miranda’s eyes were lit and dancing. Spittle shot out of her mouth as she screamed. Her knuckles went white as she clawed at the ruined metal of the locker. I almost felt bad for her, having just lost her witch-mentor to a giant gaping hole in the ground, and now her undead love. Almost.

  Kale paused, the brimstone and fire fading away behind her. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  “Let me get this straight: You are going to be with him,” she said, her voice calm.

  “And you are going to leave us the hell alone.”

  Kale cocked her head, considering. “So you’re saying that Vlad, the man that I’ve dedicated the better half of my year with, is going to be with you? Is that what you’re saying?”

  Miranda seemed to lose a little bit of her swagger, but she pumped her head anyway.

  “Cuz if that’s what you’re saying”—she took another step closer and narrowed her eyes—“you better back off, bitch.”

  Will and I both dropped to the ground. I had my palms pressed against my ears and my eyes pinched shut. There was smoke and heat, and fire alarms wailed. Sprinklers rained from the ceiling. A wisp of smoke sailed up around the singed outline of what used to be Miranda.

  “I probably should have stepped in,” I said, as Kale broke Vlad out of his cuffs and threw her arms around him.

  “Nah,” Will said, shaking his head. “I think you did the right thing.” He slung an arm over my shoulders. “Don’t you just love young love?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  It only took twenty-four hours for things to go back to normal. Kayleigh was back to reigning with Fallon, the other girls were in counseling, and no one, conveniently, wanted to know where Heddy Gaines or Miranda Shepperd were. I had my shoulder bag hiked up and was ready to go back to work at the Underworld Detection Agency when I opened my front door and caught Will standing there, mid-knock.

  “Good morning,” I said with a smile. “Did you forget we’re not working at the school anymore?”

  “No,” he said, handing me a paper cup that percolated with the aroma of hazelnuts and whipped cream. “But I thought I could walk you, just for old time’s sake. And also because you totaled my car.”

  I bit my bottom lip. “Yeah, Will, I’m really, really sorry about that. The thing is—”

  “You don’t have insurance?”

  “I have insurance. Not American insurance.”

  He rolled his eyes, but there was still a hint of playful smile behind his coffee cup. “The thing is, I actually want to talk to you about something.”

  He stepped aside and opened the vestibule door for me. I tugged my jacket tighter around my shoulders. “Let me guess—you’re really digging the supernatural crime fighting and want to come on board officially? UDA offers great dental.”

  Will stopped on the sidewalk and faced me. “Sophie, I’m serious. This whole Guardian thing. It ends, you know?”

  I took a step back. “No, I don’t know. Aren’t you going to be here, guarding me?”

  “As long as you’re the Vessel of Souls.”

  I frowned. “And if I’m not?”

  He shrugged. “Then I get reassigned.”

  I had never wanted Will in my life, but now I couldn’t imagine my life without him.

  “Why are you telling me this, Will? Why are you telling me this now?”

  He sucked in a deep breath and looked down at me, his eyes the color of honey and warm. “Look, I know you’ve got a thing with Alex—”

  “No.” I held up a hand. “I don’t have a thing with Alex.”

  At least I was pretty sure I didn’t.

  Will looked at his feet, then up at me again. “Well, that’s good, because I lov—”

  His voice was drowned out by the sound of horns honking as a woman zigzagged her way across the street, making a direct path through the cars for Will and me. She grinned when she crested the curb in front of me, a wide, thrilled smile that cut across her wrinkled face and pushed up her ruddy cheeks. She reached out and wound her fingers through my hair, still smiling.

  Everything inside me told me to bolt, to put distance between this crazy woman and me, but I couldn’t. My legs were leaden and I was rooted. Her eyes raked over me and finally locked on mine—hers a filmy, water blue.

  “He’s been looking for you for a long time, Sophie. He’s been looking and he’s so happy that he’s finally found you. It’s only a matter of time, now.”

  I pulled back, stunned. “Who’s found me? Who are you?”

  Immediately, the smile dropped from the woman’s lips and they went to a tight purse. She stepped back from me as if I had burned her and yanked her hand out of my hair, breaking a few strands as she did so.

  “Get away from me,” she said, her voice sour, her eyes frightened. “I don’t know you. Get away from me!”

  She reeled backward, then was swallowed up by the crowd. She was gone, but her voice kept swirling in my head: He’s been looking for you for a long time, Sophie. He’s been looking and he’s so happy that he’s finally found you. It’s only a matter of time, now. Only a matter of time . . .

  Please turn the page for an exciting sneak peek of the next installment of Hannah Jayne’s Underworld Detection Agency Chronicles coming soon from Kensington
Publishing!

  I could feel the cold stripe of fear going up my spine-like icy fingers walking slowly up vertebra after vertebra.

  “Is she dead?” The voice was a faint whisper but it throbbed through my head, singeing the ache that was already there.

  “Maybe we should go.”

  I hoped that they would. I prayed that they would. I remained as still as possible, breath barely trembling through my body, willing my heart to thrum silently because I knew that vampires can hear everything. Every little whisper, every little thought. Please go, please go, I pleaded silently.

  And then the icy breath was at my ear. “Sophie!”

  Now the voice was incredibly loud and I jumped straight up until the tops of my thighs mashed against the underside of my desk. I missed the chair coming back down and flopped unceremoniously onto my ass.

  “What do you want?” I glowered, rubbing my tailbone and seeing Nina and Kale through narrowed dagger-eyes.

  “Were you asleep?” Kale asked, cocking her head so that her newly pink hair brushed against her cheek.

  I pressed the pads of my fingertips against my temples, making small circles. My head kept aching. “I was trying to. I have a headache.”

  Nina rolled her eyes and hopped up onto the corner of my desk, her tiny butt and weightless body not making a sound. “Are you still trying to claim PTSD for the whole back to school thing? It’s over, all right? You closed up the hell mouth or whatever, and never even had to wear the school uniform.”

  “What do you guys want?”

  Nina whipped out a nail file from I-don’t-know-where and began working on her right hand. She blew a bubble from the wad of gum she was chewing and after twelve years with Nina LaShay as my co-worker, roommate, and best friend, I’ll never get comfortable seeing a vampire blow purple Hubba Bubba bubbles. It just looks weird.

  “I’m hiding out from Vlad. He’s got an all-fangs-on-deck VERM meeting and I have much better things to do than sit in a stuffy conference room with a bunch of dead guys talking about ascots and their graveyard dirt and glory days.”