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He looked at me in disbelief. “No one would turn down power like yours.” Moving across from me, he drew a second circle on the floor, the flames rising, sharp and blue. He stood inside that one and he began to chant.
Nothing happened for a while. I called out to Phoebe a few times, but she didn’t rise. Lambert continued to chant.
Then I felt little pulls on my skin, like the spell was peeling away some old sunburn. I crossed my arms, suddenly colder. “What is that?”
The chanting grew louder, and the spell started to pull harder, reaching into me. It felt like it was trying to yank out my organs.
“Stop,” I cried. But I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t even move, still wrapped in the holding spell. Tears pricked at my eyelids and a heavy sadness draped over me. I felt like I was losing something, and I wasn’t even sure what it was.
He’d said he was taking my magic, and I’d told him to go ahead. But as he ripped it out of me piece by piece, I realized how my magic was tied into every part of me, part of my very soul. “Stop!”
Tripp
We bounded through the gate and the castle appeared before us.
Levi swore behind me. It wasn’t a surprise to me, but I knew Lambert. I knew his tricks and his games, and I knew his weaknesses. The path we walked on was surrounded with overly long grass, and I could feel the magic seething through it. “Be careful,” I muttered.
A blade of grass tried to curl around my foot and I hit it with a flame spell.
“Dammit. Get off me,” Roman muttered behind me.
I turned to see the grass was gathering around both the vampires. They were clawing and biting at it, but it just wound tighter. I looked for Hudson, but he’d shifted and the grass let the turtle through.
“Fire’s the best way to deter it,” I said. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Just do it,” Levi muttered. “We’ll survive.”
Once Hudson reached the edge by the moat, I turned and called a fireball. I blasted the grass at Levi and Roman’s feet. It blackened and fell to the ground. The fire tried to catch on the vampires too, so I sent a spray of water over them. Fire meeting water caused a thick mist, but after a few moments the vampires came striding out.
“We’re fine,” Roman muttered at my appraising glance. “Anything to save Delphine.”
I turned and approached the moat. The drawbridge was up, and I was sure it wouldn’t be lowered willingly. I thought over my arsenal of spells, but I didn’t want to use too much and be weak when it came to facing Lambert.
The vampires raced by me and crossed the moat with speed. Then they climbed the walls, finding purchase on the rocks. In minutes, they were over the top of the turrets and lowering the drawbridge to the ground.
Hudson shifted and stood next to me.
Once the drawbridge dropped, we ran over it and into the castle.
“Master Tripp,” the old butler said, blocking the door.
“Alfred.” I inclined my head.
“You know I cannot allow you entrance. You have betrayed our master.”
I raised a hand, the spell ready. “And you know I can turn you back into the delightful rodent you’re meant to be.”
His beady-eyed stare narrowed. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would do anything to save my mate.”
Hudson had worked his way around behind Alfred. He raised a large stick and bashed the butler over the head. The man fell to the ground, completely out.
“Save your magic,” Hudson said, meeting my eyes.
“Where’d you find the stick?” Levi asked, clapping him on the shoulder.
“That grass held a lot of junk,” Hudson said. “I think we could have put together a car from the parts out there.”
