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Vanore’s nose creased. She glanced around the room and out the window. “You give your word no stone monster follows you tonight?” Her voice quivered.
“I swear on my grave,” Reed whispered. “You’re safe.”
“The devil broke me, and nothing will fix my ruined back. I want nothing more to do with that creature. So does Elliana send you to fulfill her promise of payment?”
“We have the money, but considering the last spell didn’t quite go to plan,” Reed explained. “We’ll pay you the full amount owing for a new spell.”
Vanore cleared her throat. “No deal. I provided a spell and got hurt for doing so. So if you want a new potion, pay me for the first one, and then we’ll talk.”
Reed shifted in his seat and dumped Elliana’s bag of coins on the table in front of her. “There.”
She was quick to collect the money before tucking it into a pocket in her dress.
Without waiting, I detailed our situation with Elliana, how fucked-up the initial incantation had gone. “Can you assist her again please?”
Vanore huffed and laid her folded arms across her belly. “My whole life I’ve been able to tell what people were. Take you two, a lion and dragon shifter. Your auras reveal your real forms, but Elliana was the only person I could never work out. She was human but is morphing into something else from all the magic twisted into her soul.”
I could only imagine the enchantment had integrated into her so much, it had become part of her somehow.
“For a price, I will create a potion to deal with the gargoyle, but there is nothing I can do to eradicate the full hex. Just so you know, the witch who placed the curse will always remain connected to Elliana until whatever she cast is erased.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Anything you can do to free Elliana from the gargoyle gives us a fighting chance.”
“Yes, part of a solution,” Vanore said. “The witch who hexed Elliana owns the gargoyle and she holds the true power over the creature. I cannot break that bond. But I can strengthen my magic to block the resurrection of the stone monster. I can’t guarantee it won’t eventually be broken because I don’t know this witch’s ability, but I’ll use each of your blood to bind it with my power. It’s the best I can offer. It might give you enough time to destroy the witch while keeping Elliana safe.”
Dread circled in my gut like those goddamn earlier vultures on my mind. I exchanged looks with Reed, who asked, “Is there anything you can do about the witch? A spell to kill her? Something to freeze her? Maybe we can lock her up somewhere? She’s kidnapping shifters and using magic to turn them into her slaves.” His voice had dipped, and his agony came through his strangled tone. He was a shifter who lived by loyalty and keeping others protected.
“Ey, if I kill a witch, every magic caster will hunt me down. We have rules we must abide by. The most I can do is offer a hex for the gargoyle.”
“So there’s nothing you can do?” Reed’s face tightened, and I tensed. “For Elliana’s safety. Do you want her to die?”
Vanore sighed, leaned forward, and scanned the room. “Few know this, but killing a witch is close to impossible. We wear a lot of protection armor, but I’m only telling you because I adore Elliana, and it kills me to see someone torture her this way for all these years. Chop off a witch’s head and burn her to ashes. Only then will she die. Don’t leave behind a single bone or she will return.”
No one spoke a word, but I stiffened in my seat, ready to do the deed.
“Now payment,” Vanore said. “What will you offer me?”
“Gold,” I said. “As much as you want.”
She shook her head and stared at Reed. “I choose his mane.”
I shuddered on the spot and Reed leaned back, his face blanching. “What do you mean?” he asked. “As in, cut off my hair while I’m a lion?”
“No. You come to my home, and I put an incantation on you where you give me your mane.”
He moved around in his seat, uncomfortable.
“What does that really mean?” I asked. “When he turns into a lion, he has no mane?”
“He won’t have the ability to shift into his lion form.” Her tone remained calm, despite just admitting payment to help Elliana came at the price of Reed losing his shifter side.
“No!” Reed declared.
Vanore raised herself to her feet, leaning on her cane. “Then you are wasting my time.”
I took her wrist, stroking her hand, coaxing her to sit back down. If this gave Elliana the chance to gain freedom, even if it just gave us enough time to take her from the witch’s grasp until we came up with a plan to kill the bitch, I refused to walk away. What if Kahlo couldn’t find the dagger? What if the blade claimed the person who killed the stone creature, as it had Dustin?
“I’ll offer you something else.” The rest of my response refused to surface. It lingered on my mind, but this wasn’t about me. “Take my dragon wings.” Just hearing the words left me exhausted and shaking.
