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The vampire screamed and dropped her. She collapsed, but the handprint glowed bright red against his chest, and she didn’t stop. Magic flowed through her, scraping against her soul like sandpaper, and she dragged out everything she had. Every last drop of power.
There was a broken chair leg nearby, just out of reach. Burnt, but still in one piece.
Vampire venom flowed through her veins, working against her, making her weak, turning her limbs to lead. It numbed her, too, designed to make the vampire’s victim struggle less.
She used that numbness to her advantage, ignoring the pain and the blood, and she crawled to the chair leg.
The burning faded, and she looked up as he stopped struggling. He straightened up, clutching his chest, and he pulled his shirt open. She could see his skin healing. Smooth skin spreading across the handprint. Cara got one foot under her, grabbed the splintered wood, and she pushed herself up.
He turned to her and she drove it through his chest.
His mouth opened but no sound came out, and he collapsed onto his back, and she landed on top of him. She turned her head to the side. There was one fire still burning, and she had to blink against the hazy smoke.
His body was stiff and unmoving, and then it collapsed, turning to ash. She hit the ground with a groan, coughing into the ashes, and she rolled over, trying to breathe.
Cara closed her eyes. She didn't have the strength to touch her neck, but she focused on it. She didn’t know if she had any magic left. She didn’t think so. She didn’t let herself think about what her neck looked like, what it felt like. She just focused on where it was and tried to nudge her magic towards it.
She couldn’t feel any warmth, but she had to hope it was working. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and the smoke forced her into a coughing fit that left her struggling to breathe.
Cara rolled over and got her hands under her. She couldn’t push herself up, but she had to. She couldn’t stay here, the smoke was lethal, and she was going to bleed out. She pushed herself to one knee, took a moment, then the other knee. She was pretty sure she was supposed to stay low and keep her body near the ground, but she couldn’t remember where she heard it. She didn’t try to stand.
She crawled towards the door, and she risked touching her neck with her hand. It didn’t hurt, but she could have been in shock. Her skin was slick with blood. She couldn’t tell if her magic healed it. She didn’t feel the power working through her.
She needed to find help, find someone who could finish healing her. She could picture his face, but his name wouldn’t come to her. Someone with magic. She couldn’t focus.
Weak and dizzy, she turned to the metal door. It was covered in blood - black and red. Vampire and witch.
Cara lifted her arm, and blood dripped from it as she touched the door. She whispered the words of the spell, struggling through the pain in her throat, and she waited.
After a long, agonising moment, the lock clicked.
***
Chapter 21 - Nick
“Can you try tracking her with magic? That’s a thing, isn’t it?”
“If it was that easy, I would’ve done it already.”
Nick turned the next corner cautiously, but there was nobody waiting for them. The building was suspiciously empty. It was possible the vampires fled when they figured out that someone had broken in, but he couldn’t take any chances.
“Why won’t it work?” he asked.
Jay didn’t reply for a minute, and Nick glanced over his shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
“We should stop talking. They might hear us.”
“It’s dead quiet, and the vampires can probably hear us coming from a mile away, no matter how quiet we try to be. And they know we’re here. Those other vampires literally died screaming. Everyone knows we’re here.”
Jay’s eyes narrowed. “Fine. Why are you so curious about how it works?”
“I’m not trying to steal witch secrets, I’m just trying to find her.”
Jay shrugged. “Whatever. Locator spells take time, concentration, and a few physical things I don’t carry with me.”
“Like what?”
