The Monster Within

CHAPTER THIRTY

DYLAN thrust his arms forward, and a burst of energy knocked Nora backward. She landed next to Shannon. If only Shannon wasn’t still trapped in her own magical prison. I grabbed Ethan and pulled him toward the door. I had to get us out of there. This wasn’t our fight. This had started long before Nora did the spell to bring me back, and I knew it was going to end with a lot of dead witches.

Ethan and I moved around the counter slowly, trying not to draw attention to ourselves. We were still two powerless humans in a diner full of witches. Nora attacked Dylan with a jolt of energy that sent green sparks through the room. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said she was channeling all the electricity in the place and trying to fry Dylan. He dodged to the side, ducking behind the counter.

Nora turned toward Ethan and me. “Stick around!” She raised her hands toward us, and I knocked Ethan onto the floor before she could hit us with her spell.

I was on top of Ethan, and he stared up at me with a pained expression. “Did she hit me?”

I moved off him and checked his chest and limbs for injuries. He was fine. Not a scratch on him, except for the gash on his head from colliding with the bathroom sink when he’d died. “Is it your head?” I asked.

He reached for his chest. “My lungs.”

No, not already! His body was giving out on him. He was going to need to feed soon. The urge usually took hold of me pretty quickly. At least it did before I’d started feeding on witches. Now the magic sustained me longer. If only I could give Ethan some of Ben’s magic lingering inside me.

“Stay calm. It’s an effect of the spell Nora did to bring you back.” Glass shattered and sprayed down on top of us. I shrieked and covered my head. Ethan leaned over me, shielding me with his body. I could feel his skin turning cold again.

Dylan and Nora were throwing spells back and forth at each other, destroying the diner in the process. Ethan and I separated, and I peeked around the counter. If only I could free Shannon. Then she and Dylan could overpower Nora. It was our only chance. With the way things were going, I’d never get Ethan out of here before his symptoms turned into a full-blown attack.

“Stay here,” I told him. “I’m going to try to free Shannon.”

“How? You’re not a witch. You can’t break her free from the magic holding her.” Ethan was catching up quickly, and he was handling it well. I hoped he’d still be so open-minded when I told him he’d have to kill to stay alive.

“I don’t know, but I have to try. We can’t sit here and let them battle it out.”

“Why not? Dylan’s holding his own. We could make a run for it the next time he knocks her down.” He stared at me, pleading with his eyes. “I don’t want to lose you. If Nora catches you, or if you get in the way of one of the spells…”

I had to tell him. “Ethan, we can’t leave. Something is going to happen. To you. The tightness you’re feeling in your chest…” A rumble as loud as thunder shook the diner. I didn’t know who had cast the spell, but it made everything shake like we were in an earthquake. There wasn’t time to explain all this to Ethan. I had to move. “Trust me.”

He nodded. The last time he didn’t trust me had been right before he died. I knew he didn’t want to make the same mistake again. He reached for me, kissing me hard on the lips. “I love you.”

It was like he was saying goodbye. The thought rattled my insides. Made me so angry and desperate to save us. “I love you, too.” I kissed him again quickly, and then darted under the booth in the back corner.

Nora had Dylan raised about six feet off the ground. She held her hand in the air, looking like she was squeezing something in her fist. Dylan choked. I wasn’t sure if he could do any spells. She was strangling him. I couldn’t let this happen. I owed him that much. I dove out from my hiding place and charged at Nora. She turned her head slightly, sensing my attack. And before I knew what was happening, Dylan was soaring through the air right at me. He slammed into me, and we toppled to the floor.

“Sam!” Ethan yelled.

“Ethan, stay back!” My entire body hurt, like I’d been run over by a Mack truck.

Ethan was on his feet, but Nora didn’t pay attention to him at all. He wasn’t a threat as far as she was concerned.

Dylan shifted into a sitting position. He held his hand up and created a shield to block us from Nora’s attacks. She pounded spell after spell against Dylan’s protective shield.

Nora laughed. “You can’t keep that shield up forever.” She was right, and Ethan was helpless out there on his own.

“Use the magic inside you,” Dylan whispered to me.

What was he talking about? “I don’t have any magic left in me. It goes away after a while. I can’t feel it tingling under my skin anymore.”

Dylan shook his head. “The power never left you. It settled inside you. We don’t get that tingling feeling unless we are tapping into the power, actively using it. But it’s still there. All of it.”

“Nora said I wouldn’t be able to do spells.” Not that I knew any.

“More lies. You can help me fight her. Channel your energy into that magic. Channel Ben’s magic.”

My heart clenched at the sound of Ben’s name. Dylan was helping me, even after I’d killed his brother.

“Ben would want you to take Nora out. He’s dead because of her.”

“He died because of me.”

“I’m not saying I don’t blame you at all, but Nora used you. It’s her fault you came back this way.”

How had I been so wrong about all of this? No, I knew the answer to that. Nora had used a spell on me to make me believe her. I had to do what I could to fix it. “Tell me how to use the magic. I want to free Shannon, give us the upper hand.”

“Focus on the magic until you feel it tingling under your skin. Then think about what you want to do. Don’t let any other thoughts into your head or it won’t work. I’ll take care of Nora.”

“What if I can’t do it?”

“Then get Ethan and get out of here.”

He was going to save me. After all I’d done.

“Ready?”

Not at all. I nodded. My hands shook, and Dylan ran his fingers on top of my forearm. His touch tingled, and I could see the faint glow of magic inside me.

“See, it’s still there. Use it.”

I nodded more confidently this time.

“Now!” Dylan threw the shield forward at Nora, and she fell backward. I rushed to Shannon. I didn’t have a clue how to break the ring of magic containing her. I reached for it, but Shannon shook her head. I remembered she couldn’t talk, so I raised my hand to her mouth and concentrated on breaking the silence spell Nora had cast on her. My hand shook, and I felt the magic tingling through me.

Shannon opened her mouth and inhaled deeply. “Don’t touch the magic holding me. It will pull you in here with me, and we’ll both be trapped.”

“How do I break it?” I stared at the swirling prison.

“Get the salt and pour it on the magic. It will break the spell.”

“What if it touches you?”

“It will burn me, but I’ll live. Remember, you can’t touch it either. You’ve got magic inside you now.”

Ethan was at my side with the salt in his hands. “I can’t sit on the sidelines and watch, Sam. I—” He stumbled forward, and his eyes widened.

Crap. It was happening.

Shannon looked at him with fear in her eyes. Ethan could feed off her. It would save him. No. We’d be down a witch, and we needed her to fight Nora. I grabbed the salt and eased Ethan into a booth.

“Hang on, okay?” I told him, knowing it didn’t work that way. He had no control over how fast the life drained from him.

I took the salt and poured it on the magic ring around Shannon. She cringed as some of it touched her skin, but the magic disintegrated and she was free.

Nora and Dylan were killing each other. They were both cut up. Their clothes were torn, and their noses were bleeding. They were using all their energy to fight.

“Time to finish this,” Shannon said, advancing on Nora. She thrust her arms out, and Nora flew backward, slamming into the coffee maker and falling to the floor. The hot coffee poured down on top of her. I could see her skin bubbling from the scalding hot liquid. Shannon said another spell, and Nora was pinned to the ground by magic.

It was over.

I breathed deeply, thankful that Nora was contained. We’d have to figure out what to do with her, but for right now, she wasn’t a threat anymore. Shannon and Dylan stared at each other and then looked at Nora. They nodded in silent agreement.

“What?” I asked.

They both turned to me. For the first time, Shannon wasn’t looking at me with hatred in her eyes. We were on the same side, at least for now.

“We have to kill her,” Dylan said. “She’s too far gone. Consumed by black magic.”

Deep down, I knew that was what he’d say, but it still hit me hard.

Dylan walked over to me. “She was never your friend. I know it’s hard, but if she doesn’t die, she’ll come after all of us. She won’t leave you or Ethan alone. And if you don’t do what she says, she’ll kill you both.”

Ethan. Oh, God, he was dying. I spun around. He was slumped back in the booth. I ran to him. “Ethan?”

He coughed and grabbed his chest.

“He’s dying.”

Dylan turned toward Nora again. I rushed to her. She’d put the spell on Ethan. She could remove it.

“Tell me how to break the spell,” I said, standing over her.

She laughed. “Sorry, Sam. It doesn’t work that way. I can’t lift the spell. He needs to feed or he’ll die. You should’ve listened to me. I could’ve helped you.”

“You weren’t trying to help me. You were trying to kill Dylan and Shannon.”

“What do you care? Shannon hates you. You should’ve let Ethan kill her. You still could. And if you think Dylan will forgive you for killing Ben, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought. He’s using you to get rid of me.”

I turned to Shannon, hating that I was actually debating it, but it was Ethan. I’d done this to him. I’d told Nora to bring him back. She wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t asked.

Shannon shook her head. I saw a glimpse of a silver necklace tucked under her shirt. I stepped toward her.

“What are you doing?” She backed away.

“You have my necklace. You were the one who broke into my house and stole it?”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Then how do you have it?” I was yelling now, totally panicked.

“I took it from Nora. I had to ransack her house to find it.”

So Ben hadn’t come after Nora. He hadn’t tried to kill her. Shannon was the one who’d wrecked Nora’s house.

“I was going to give it back to you, but she trapped me before I could.”

“You expect me to believe you were going to help me?”

“Just because I didn’t like you doesn’t mean I wanted you dead. And I certainly didn’t want you to continue helping Nora kill witches. Rebecca and Ben were my friends.”

I held out my hand. “Give it to me.”

She removed the necklace and placed it in my hand.

I wrapped my fingers around it. “How are you even able to wear it?”

“The spell I put on it protects you from harmful magic, nothing else,” Dylan said. “It’s not harmful to witches. That’s why Nora was able to steal it.”

“Shoddy spellwork, Dylan,” Nora said with a laugh. “Your magic is nothing compared to mine. I was even able to keep Sam from rising for four days after I did the spell to bring her back.”

“What? Why?” I asked.

“We couldn’t have you waking up in the middle of your own funeral, now could we?” She laughed, clearly amused with herself. “I even cast a spell on the mortician so he wouldn’t touch your body after I gave you Ethan’s blood.”

I looked at the necklace. If it protected the wearer from harmful magic, it could help Ethan. I rushed over to him, placing the necklace in his hand. “Hold this. It will help.” He was so weak he couldn’t even hold the necklace. I had to close his fingers around it.

“That necklace was made to protect you,” Dylan said, coming up behind me. “It won’t help him.”

No. That couldn’t be true, but Ethan sputtered and coughed again. His fingers were like ice in my hand. I turned to Dylan. “What am I supposed to do? I won’t let him die!”

“The only way to break the curse she put on you two is to kill her. She did this. Only she can undo it.”

I couldn’t believe he was suggesting Ethan kill Nora, but doing that was the only way to make up for killing Ben. I saw that now.

Ethan choked, and the life in his eyes started slipping away.

“You’re running out of time.” Dylan grabbed my arm. “You don’t have a choice. This kind of curse will die with her. As long as she’s alive, you’re going to be a monster—witchy powers or not. And Ethan’s going to die. This time for good.”

He was right. If the choice was between Nora and Ethan, I had to choose Ethan. And killing her would mean freeing both of us for good.

“Okay,” I said. “Bring her here.”