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“I’m a half-vampire,” he corrected.
“You—”
“And you are nothing like him.”
His fangs came out and descended on the man’s skin, piercing the parts that the potion didn’t touch. It hurt, anyway, but Maddox kept going until he felt the man’s energy leaving his body. It shuddered toward Maddox and their surroundings, a toxic, sinister force that matched Brian’s soul. He gritted his teeth when it tried to enter him…then, slumped when it dissipated as Brian stopped fighting and just stopped existing.
The death made his heart heavy, but Maddox pushed himself up and willed himself to keep going. Still dazed, he stumbled back to the potions room, rereading labels until he found the one that he hadn’t needed earlier. The pain tried to delay him at every turn, but he managed to drag his ass back to the boxes, where he grabbed the two glass balls.
Without hesitation, Maddox smashed them to the ground and poured the potion over the shiny liquid before he succumbed to the pain.
“Keep healing him.”
“I am. His wounds are just scars now.”
“The inside. Check for an organ failure.”
“I did that first. What do you take me for? An amateur?”
He woke up to voices around him and his body snapping up in defense. A hand slapped his shoulder and he groaned, but the familiar voice gave him pause.
“I’m sorry. I must have missed healing that.”
Maddox stared at Helga, whose hand glowed as she infused magic into his shoulder, and he felt it getting stitched. The pain lessened, then disappeared completely. He looked around at the rest of the scattered voices and spotted James at the far corner of the room, sweeping the space with his magic. Other assistants were chanting while someone covered up Brian’s dead body.
“What—”
“A few of us figured the answers would be here after we saw the amplification,” Helga replied. “It was you, wasn’t it? You amplified those memories for everyone to see.”
He wasn’t sure it would work, and relief entered his body that it had. Then worry coasted in at the number of council assistants.
“I know they might have been altered…”
“Glass balls are solid, boy, and they can’t be altered. Especially not with that many witnesses.”
James was looking at him. He swallowed. “I can explain—”
“Or you can direct us to the sisters. So we can help.”
The matter-of-fact tone snapped him out of his defensiveness when he realized that James wasn’t eyeing him in suspicion. Maddox stood up and looked around.
“You all saw what happened. What Brian did.”
“The whole of Broom’s Isle did,” James confirmed quietly.
“The Suttons need help. They are in trouble now, and they badly need help.”
“Where are they?” someone asked.
“I will lead the way.”
Half of the people in the room came with him, while the other half stayed to ensure the evidence wouldn’t be tampered with. When he ran for it, so did they, catching on to his urgency and the fear that he had lost too much time. They began to gather an audience on the way as people wandered out of their houses toward the hills and fields—the most he had seen gathered since he got here. Worry consumed him and he spoke loudly, still adamant to defend.
“Ruby started having nightmares after she got the wishing stone. Then she started getting corrupted. She fought it and won over it, but we need help sealing the hole she created. She and her sisters are fighting the demons as we speak…”
The elderly woman who had defended him in the bar joined their run, then Abby from the bakery. He glimpsed multiple familiar faces pop up here and there as residents approached the group like moths to a flame, and one of the stronger warlocks suggested something that hadn’t sunk in his still-muddled mind.
“Portal! Everyone who can, create portals or use mine! You, give us directions!”
