The Monster Within

“You came to kill me, is that it? Stop the monster you created?” I turned my body, reaching for the salt behind my back.

“I didn’t bring you back.”

“Your coven did, and you’re part of it.”

“No, we didn’t. Nora did.”

Before Dylan could say another word, he flew backward into the kitchen door. It swung open, and he disappeared inside. I whirled around to see Nora. She had Sha

“Lay some salt across the entrance to the kitchen. It will contain him in case he wakes up before we finish this.” Nora moved toward Ethan, but I was frozen in place. “Go! If he wakes up, he’ll ruin everything. Ethan’s life depends on Dylan staying out of the way.”

I carried the saltshaker to the kitchen and lined the floor with it. “How did you figure out what spell to use? You weren’t there when the coven brought me back, so how do you know what they did?” I kept my eyes glued to Dylan, lying motionless on the kitchen floor. His head was leaning against the metal island he’d collided with.

“Spells leave traces. That, and Rebecca likes to run her mouth. She bragged all about that spell. Bet she doesn’t think it was so fantastic now.” Nora went behind the counter and grabbed a knife.

“What are you doing?”

“I need some of Sha

I didn’t want to watch. Didn’t want to know what the spell entailed. After all this time of wondering what Ethan had done, I had a front-row seat to the whole thing. It was hard to watch. I didn’t understand a word Nora was saying. She held the knife over Ethan’s body, waving her hands above him. Finally, she walked around him to where Sha

Sha

Nora waved her hand in front of Sha

Nora took the knife and dragged it across Sha

I watched as Nora carried the knife very steadily, making sure she didn’t spill a single drop of Sha

My stomach lurched. I’d heard of people calling themselves vampires and drinking blood, but seeing someone drink another person’s blood—especially when it was your dead boyfriend—was terrifying. Nora finished the spell and bowed her head.

“What now?” I choked out.

“We wait. It takes a little while for the dead to wake.”

“Is this the same spell they used on me?”

Sha

“Can’t you stop her from making that noise?” I covered my ears. “I can’t take it.”

“That’s your conscience getting to you.” Dylan’s weakened voice came from the kitchen. I turned to see him still lying on the floor and looking pretty bad.

“That injury will take a lot of energy to heal,” Nora said.

“Energy?” I asked.

“Yes. We can heal ourselves if we harness the energy in our magic. But that’s one nasty cut on his head, judging by the amount of blood on the floor.”

I cringed, not just at the sight of the blood, but at the thought of Gloria and Jackson coming to work in a few hours to find this place wrecked.

“I’ll manage,” Dylan said.

“Good luck with that.” Nora walked over to me. “I don’t suppose you’re feeling the need to feed, are you?”

I shook my head. Ben’s life force and magic were keeping my body pretty well maintained.

“Oh well. My guess is that Ethan will need to pretty soon after he wakes. With any luck, you’ll be ready by then, too. Then we can end this. One evil witch for each of you.”

Dylan laughed. It was the laugh of a crazy person. “That’s your big plan, Nora? Feed us to your little creations?”

“Don’t call us that!” I snapped. “Besides, Nora wouldn’t have had to bring Ethan back if you guys hadn’t done this to me in the first place.” I didn’t want to think it, but Ethan would’ve been better off if I’d stayed dead.

“You keep telling yourself that, Sam. Whatever you need to do to be able to live with yourself. But why don’t you ask Nora why she shut Sha

“To keep her from screaming,” Nora said. “That’s obvious. Keep up all this a

Dylan laughed. “You can’t. Not with that salt barrier in the doorway. You can’t touch me, Nora. But you didn’t think about that, did you?”

“Of course I did.” She stepped within five feet of the barrier, not daring to go any closer. “But I won’t be the one touching you. Sam will. Or Ethan. Whichever. I’m flexible.”

“You sure about that?”

Now Nora laughed. “Dylan, this is pathetic. You’ve lost. Admit it. At least then you can go down with a shred of dignity. Right now you’re just acting like a whiny little bitch.”

I walked over to Ethan and touched his hand. It was still ice cold. “Nora, how do you know you did the spell right? He’s still so cold.”

“Oh, she knows,” Dylan said. “Believe me, she knows.”

Nora waved him off. She put her hand on my shoulder. “Relax. Everything went exactly right. Ethan will be with you again soon. I promise.”

“Waiting is killing me. And listening to him,” I motioned toward the kitchen, “isn’t helping.”

“Ignore him. He’ll say and do anything right now to make this harder on you. That’s what evil people do, Sam.”

I nodded. I had to forget about him and focus on Ethan. He’d be waking up soon, and then we’d get out of here. Go somewhere far away and forget all of this. But Nora had said we’d need to kill Dylan and Sha

Ethan’s fingers twitched, and I rushed to him. “Ethan!” I took his hand in mine, and tears dripped down my face. It was happening. He was waking up. He was alive. He opened his eyes and looked around for a minute before he found me.

“Sam? What happened?” He tried to sit up, but he was woozy and he fell back down. “My head.”

“I think you might have hit it. You fell on the bathroom floor.” I brushed his hair away from his forehead. “What do you remember?”

He swallowed hard. “I was in the bathroom. I was going to take a shower, try to relax after our fight.”

“I’m so sorry I left. I never should’ve run off like that.”

“You’re here now.” He gave me a weak smile. “But what happened to me? I don’t remember anything else.”

“You…” I couldn’t say it. Even though he was back now, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him he’d died.

“Come on, Sam. Man up!” Dylan said.

“Who is that?” Ethan tried to sit up again, but I held him down.

“Easy. You hit your head, remember? You might have a concussion.”

“Sam, what’s going on?”

I sighed. “Okay, we’re in the diner.”