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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
“Hey, there you are! I got home early and I thought I’d come see you.”
Rath was standing in the doorway and he had removed his “human suit” so his skin was its normal green. He was wearing his usual jeans and a t-shirt. The front door was open behind him which was strange, since I had locked it behind me. But then I remembered that he had a spare key, because my Grandma had left him as the caretaker.
Still, I was worried to see him in the house when the black door was there too.
“Rath, come here,” I said urgently. “I need to talk to you about something.”
I didn’t want to talk about the family curse too close to the house—I guess I had a fear that if I said Milas James’s name out loud and he heard me, he might come after Rath. I wanted to get him away from the house—preferably as far away from it as possible.
“Nah, baby—you come here and give me a hug. I missed you!” He beckoned to me with one big hand. “And I brought you lunch from a famous deli back in the human world. Hope you don’t mind—I let myself in so I could put it in the fridge. Do you like pastrami?”
“That sounds delicious but I really need to talk to you out here.”
As I spoke, I came up the porch steps. But just as I was getting close to Rath, Sebastian suddenly jumped between us, hissing.
“Sebastian?” I looked down at my cat in surprise. He was glaring up at Rath, his back arched and his mouth open in a hissing snarl. “It’s just Rath, Sebastian,” I told him. “What are you so upset about?”
“So you have a cat, do you?” Rath said in a strange voice. “Of course you do—what’s a witch without her familiar? How else can she commune with the Horned One without a beast to help her do so?”
I frowned up at him—he didn’t sound like himself at all.
“The Horned One? What are you talking about?” I demanded.
“I’m talking about you, witch!” One big hand shot out and grabbed me by the wrist.
“Rath?” I barely had time to gasp and then his other hand was wrapped around my throat.
“You’re supposed to be the special one—the Natural Witch!” he hissed at me and I saw that his golden eyes were now burning red. “The one to end the curse—the one to kill me and finish what your ancestress started! She thought she had me bound—that I could not escape. Imagine her surprise when I slipped my bonds and killed her Heartmate right before her eyes!”
I said Rath’s name again, but this time it came out in a choked gurgle. I had a sudden horrible memory of what I had read in my Grandma’s Grimoire.
“His Spirit enters into them and drives them MAD until DEATH takes them!”
I hadn’t thought about the implications until right then. I had assumed that maybe the spirit of Milas James made the men he invaded go crazy with suicidal thoughts—I hadn’t even considered the possibility that he might be able to possess them! But that was clearly what he had done to Rath, because when I looked in the big Orc’s eyes, it wasn’t Rath looking back at me—it was Milas James.
“Rrrrrth,” I gurgled, trying to say his name again. I was beginning to lose consciousness—big black flowers were blooming in my field of vision and everything was going gray. I knew I had to get away from him before he choked the life out of me, but how could I escape when his long fingers were wrapped nearly all the way around my throat?
There was a furry blur and I saw Sebastian climbing Rath’s body like it was a tree. With an angry hiss, my cat swiped at the big Orc’s face, clawing right down his cheek and drawing blood.
“Aaaigh! Filthy beast!” James roared, using Rath’s voice of course. He let go of my neck and my wrist in his attempt to dislodge Sebastian, who had climbed around and was now clinging to his back and biting his neck and shoulder.
I took the chance my cat offered me because I knew there wouldn’t be another. With a gasp, I stumbled off the porch and around the side of the house, trying to put some distance between me and the possessed Orc.
I heard Sebastian hiss again and then the pounding sound of Rath’s footsteps right behind me. A moment later, Sebastian streaked past me, running for his life with Milas James in Rath’s body in pursuit.
I doubled my speed, gasping for breath as I ran. At least I was getting oxygen again and the world was no longer going gray. I had to find a place to make a stand—I needed to use my magic but I couldn’t let James get his hands—or rather, Rath’s hands—on me again. Natural Witch or not, if he locked his fingers around my throat a second time, he would choke me to death before I could do anything to stop him.
The pounding footsteps behind me grew closer, seeming to shake the ground and I felt like I might die of fright. My heart was rabbiting in my chest and the breath was tearing in my bruised throat. I had to get away—but where could I go that would keep him from getting me?
I was at the top of the steep hill that comprised the backyard as I thought this. Then a silver band winking at the bottom of the hill reminded me of another thing I had read in the Grimoire.
Where the stream runs Swift and Pure
There our Sorrow She shall Cure
There the Evil one she’ll Take
