Witch (Cursed book 4) Read online

  Lorri turned onto a street and walked up to a large country house with a beautiful front porch.

  Sam froze as he felt it. He felt the cold in the air. It sparkled around his body.

  He looked at Lorri who growled, “Guards.”

  Sam nodded. He looked up to the window with the light on. He could see movement in the window. He flashed himself to the roof below the window. He peeked inside. He looked back at Lorri and pointed. She nodded and looked back the wolves surrounding the yard.

  “Aleks’ dad has been here, Lorri. I can smell him. It’s fresh.”

  Lucas growled and began sniffing the yard.

  Sam watched a guy and girl sitting on the bed talking. He smirked at how awkward they looked, they liked each other. He gave a slight tap on the window, making them both jump and turn around sharply.

  The guy dove at the window, like a hero protecting his girl. He pulled open the window with a look of rage on his face.

  “What the fuck? Who are you? Why are you doing this?” He grabbed at Sam.

  Sam laughed, “I’m here to help. Has a wolf been here?”

  The girl nodded, looking terrified. Her left eye was incredibly dark, but her right eye was pale and slightly-frightening looking. Sam felt bad for her. Her face couldn’t look more terrified. Her pale skin looked stark against her dark hair and one dark-blue eye.

  “How the fuck did you get up here? What do you want?” The raging teenager got in Sam’s face. Sam tried not to laugh, “I am a magical being with powers like being able to travel without walking or moving. What is your name?” He looked directly at the frightened girl.

  She frowned at him, “Who are you?”

  “I’m a Rose and you are in terrible danger. If you come with me, I can protect you. That wolf won’t be the only thing that comes after you.”

  The girl’s face broke into a smile, “Like the Terminator?”

  Sam grinned back, “Exactly.”

  The guy looked back at the girl, “We need to call the cops. This is nuts, Ophelia.”

  Sam continued to look into her marvelous eyes. He hoped she would use her ability to sense him and know to trust him. The guards weren't going to let anyone in.

  Chapter Nine

  Ophelia

  The black, soulless eyes of the mysterious guy outside her window were trying to tell her something. She didn’t know what, but she felt a hum inside of her mind when she looked at him. He was ridiculously good looking. He made Jake look plain. She couldn’t focus around him, something about him was unnerving. He smelled like something she had never noticed before. He was sex and seduction. His lips… She broke the stare and took a breath.

  “What are you?” she whispered.

  He grinned at her.

  Jake gripped her arms and shook her, “Ophelia, we need to call the cops and your parents. Where are they?”

  She blinked at him, unable to process what he said.

  He repeated himself, “Where are your parents?”

  “They went to the movie.”

  Jake’s thoughts seemed to pour into her mind, but it was as if they found their way in through his touch. He was frightened, he liked her a lot. He wanted to punch the beautiful stranger with the black eyes.

  Ophelia snapped out of the haze and blocked his thoughts from her mind. She pulled away from him and turned to her bedroom door. She flung it open, panicked suddenly. His last thought made her skin crawl.

  “Your sister.” Jake’s words were a whisper.

  Her feet couldn’t move quickly enough on the bare hardwood floor. She skidded down the hall and flung the door open. Abbey's dark room sat empty. The only movement came from the huge picture window, where the long, white silky curtains billowed into the black room. The open window looked different. She shivered, walking forward, feeling the carpet beneath her toes. She gulped. Her sister wasn’t there. Her bed sat empty. The covers were pulled back. The cool breeze that played with the curtains found its way to her. Her skin prickled with fear and confusion. She stopped, one foot short of the window, seeing the screen was missing. Her sister was obsessive about bug screens. She was allergic to mosquito bites.

  Ophelia leaned forward to see the torn screen lying on the grass below.

  She gulped again and looked back at Jake who filled the lit doorway behind her.

  “She’s gone.” Her voice was a whisper.

  “We need to call the police.”

  She took a step back to him, “I know but I’m scared Jake. That wolf didn’t look like any wolf I’ve seen before—and that man on my window ledge, how did he get there?”

  Jake put a hand out for her. The feel of his warm skin was a welcome feeling compared to cold of her sister's room.

  Jake pulled his cell from his pocket and dialed with his free hand. She let her hand drop from his and walked back into her room. The dark-eyed guy was still perched in her window. His expression looked pained.

  “She’s gone. My sister. Her window, the screen.” She felt dizzy, trying desperately to process it.

  He nodded, “Others know about you, Ophelia. You need to come with us.”

  “I want my sister back.”

  “You have a spell on the house that will keep you safe as long as you stay inside of it. Nothing can get to you inside of here but you can’t ever leave. They will come for you.”

  She shook her head, “You’ve come for me it seems.”

  He smiled, “I have. I also have no intention of harming you. They do.”

  She shook her head, “I don’t know you. I just want you to go away. I want my sister back.”

  She closed her eyes, trying to regain some composure. She felt her grip on her emotions slipping.

  “I called the sheriff. He’s coming directly.”

  She spun, “Jake, he isn’t going to believe us. A huge wolf snuck in my sister’s window and stole her in the night and this guy flew up here.” She looked back at the guy in the window, “Will you even be here if the cops come?”

  He shook his head.

  She put her hands on her hips and looked back at Jake.

  His face was flushed; he looked angry in a way she’d never seen, “Ophelia, someone is fucking with us. He climbed, he never flew. The wolf was probably trained to distract us so they could kidnap your sister. They’re holding her ransom until you go with them.”

  It made more sense than the explanation she was processing. She couldn’t shake the feelings she was having, or the fact she wasn’t afraid of the guy in the window. The wolf didn’t seem trained, it seemed savage.

  She looked back at the guy in the window but he was gone. The wind blew in the empty window. She frowned at the empty space and slumped onto the floor.

  Jake went to the window and closed it and the blinds.

  “Sheriff’s here.” He ran out of the room and down the stairs. She sat on the floor alone, waiting for something to start making sense.

  ‘Ophelia, you need to get out of here. They know. They know you’re alive.’

  She looked around at the air. The voices usually brought the ghosts with them.

  No one was in the room with her.

  She walked down the stairs after Jake.

  “Sheriff, I saw it.”

  Sheriff Walker stood in her doorway. He didn’t seem to be able to walk past the threshold of the door.

  He grinned when he saw Ophelia.

  “Honey, are you okay?”

  She nodded. She couldn’t help but notice, he stood at the line of her doorway. His feet never budged past the doorway.

  “Sheriff come—”

  “NO!” she shouted wild-eyed at Jake. She leapt at Jake and clamped his mouth with her hands. She whispered, “Look at his feet, it’s like the wolf.”

  Jake’s eyes dropped to the feet staying exactly out of the house but as close as they could get.

  “Ophelia, what’s the problem? Why don’t you come to my car and we’ll see about your sister.” He stepped back and held a hand out.
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  Ophelia shook her head, “No, my parents are upstairs. They said she’s at a friends.”

  The sheriff, she had known her entire life, watched her silently. His smile turned to a sickly-sweet grin, “Ophelia, invite me in.”

  She shook her head, “My parents are upstairs.”

  His grin hardened on his face, “Ophelia, invite me in. We need to make a report about the wolf.”

  She took a step back, taking Jake with her. He had removed her hands from his mouth but he watched in silence. The sheriff suddenly seemed to be much more than was possible.

  Jake gripped her fingers, “Sheriff, why can’t you just step into the house?”

  The sheriff laughed, “Oh Ophelia, you silly girl. Now, just ASK ME IN THE FUCKING HOUSE!” His face erupted in anger. His skin paled against the porch lights. Fangs shot from his front teeth.

  “Ophelia, you’re in danger. Bad people are coming for you.” His eyes began to glow bright yellow. His face started to shiver. She screamed and lunged at the door. She slammed it shut and jumped back at Jake.

  “What’s happening? It’s like a horror movie out there.”

  He stood completely still, his lower lip trembled slightly, “I don’t know. We need to get out of here.”

  She nodded, “We need that guy; I don’t know why, but I trust him Jake.”

  Jake’s face turned dark, “You think he’s hot.”

  She knit her brow, “What?”

  He took a step toward her, “He’s a bad guy. A very bad guy. I can tell.”

  She took a step back, “Jake, I don’t think he’s hot. I-I-I just think he can help. Why are you saying this?”

  His eyes focused on hers, and then as if a storm passed, he blinked, “I don’t know. I feel like I’m not in control.” He blinked again and rubbed his eyes.

  She sighed and took the step toward him again, “It’s late and you’re tired, I’m exhausted. Let’s just go back to my room.” She put a hand out for him. He took it. She wondered if he was going to change like the sheriff, who she had known her entire life.

  He took her hand in his and squeezed, “Maybe it’s all a dream, a bad dream.” He pulled her to him, “Except the part where you finally let me in.” He smiled his charming grin at her.

  She shivered, seeing the look upon his face.

  He pulled her into his embrace. His warm arms circled her and crushed her into him.

  He rested her head against his chest and kissed the top of it. She closed her eyes and imagined it the way it was supposed to be. She wished it was prom and she was in her prom dress and he was in a tux. She wished they were dancing at the school. The night was filled with magical lights and music.

  Chapter Ten

  Sam

  “They’re gone.”

  Lorri gave him a look, “What?”

  Sam nodded, “They’re gone. They were in the living room and then they weren’t.”

  Her face knotted, “Where did they go?”

  "They were dancing and then they were gone. I don’t know how else to describe this. They vanished."

  Lorri snarled, "Don’t get smart, Sam. Find her."

  Sam glared, "Lorri, I was watching her."

  Lorri pointed to the house and growled, “And yet, she is gone."

  Sam looked around, "Whatever. Where are the wolves?"

  Lorri looked ready to rip his head off, "After Aleks' dad. I told them to track him. When they get him, we'll do a trade. Daniel for Jon."

  Sam pointed at the house, "Why'd Jon come here? Seems too weird to be random."

  "He has a thing for witches. Sam, we can have this fucking conversation later. Find the witch and get rid of the dark one. How long has he been a traitor, I wonder?" She glanced at Luke, "Your people never knew the sheriff was bad?"

  Luke shook his huge wolf head. She clicked her tongue and looked around.

  Sam shrugged and looked at Lucas who looked at them both and whined. He turned and ran around the back of the house.

  Sam sighed and walked back to the front door where the shifter-sheriff lay dead in the garden. He grabbed the leg of the dead man and flashed to the Grand Canyon. He looked around at the amazingly-beautiful surroundings. He felt the weight of the dead man in his hands as he sighed and thought about Hanna. He opened his hands and flashed back to Maine, before the sound of the body hitting the canyon filled his ears.

  The sheriff hadn’t expected to find their kind of Roses in the garden. Lorri had snapped his thick wolf neck in one blow. The wolves would be upset when they realized Lorri had killed one of theirs. They would be even more upset when they realized he was a dark one. One usually meant there were more.

  “Sam, Lucas found them. They’re this way.” He looked at the savagely-angry face of Lorri.

  “What is she?"

  Lorri looked at him through her eyelashes, “Ever hear the stories of Annabelle as a girl?”

  He shook his head. Lydia was tight-lipped about the ghostly maid.

  “She is worse.”

  “She’s a witch. How much worse can they get?”

  Lorri nodded, “She is so much more than that. Annabelle is just a witch. Ophelia is half angel and half witch. Her mother is The Witch. She’s been held in captivity since we lost Jonathan to them.”

  Sam felt sick, “Over a thousand years?”

  Lorri nodded, “Yup.”

  “How?”

  Lorri pointed down the road, “We need to go. If they get her, we lose the war. She’s that important.”

  “Hey, I thought I was the piece of the puzzle that won you the war.”

  She rolled her eyes and flashed away.

  He followed the scent of Lucas until his flashes led him to a large building. It was a brick building that reminded him of the high school he had watched Hanna attend as a teenager.

  He frowned, hearing music coming from the building. Cars lined the parking lot. He looked at Lorri who looked incredibly pissed suddenly, “She’s going to be my own personal fucking nightmare. Fucking Jonathan. Fucking fuck.” she muttered and flashed inside of the school.

  "You have a real potty mouth for an angel. Were you like this before you fell?"

  If looks could kill, hers would have blown him into tiny bits.

  Teenagers lined the halls, gossiping and laughing. Everyone wore a prom dress or tuxedo.

  He looked at one girl who shook her head, “I seriously thought prom was next week. I don’t even remember changing into my dress.”

  The girl across from her wore a blank stare, “I know.”

  Sam started to worry. He had seen Annabelle go poltergeist once, he never wanted to see that again. Her magic was terrible.

  The song “Yellow” by Coldplay blasted from the gymnasium. It echoed through the school.

  He turned the corner into the gym to see couples slow dancing to the haunting song. The girl stood in the middle of it all with her eyes closed, gripping the teenage boy from her living room. They danced as if no one else was in the room.

  Lorri walked up to them. Sam flashed next to them quickly, before Lorri just tore an arm off and dragged her outside.

  Lorri grabbed her arm roughly, “Ophelia, I’m an old friend of your dad's. It's lovely to meet you, now send all these kids back to bed. You don’t want me to do it for you. I’m not really as gentle as I appear.”

  Sam wanted to laugh at that, since she looked severely sharper than she acted, but decided against it.

  The girl looked up from the chest of the massive boy, horror filled her face.

  “H-how did we...?” She trailed off as she looked around at the party she was at.

  The teenage boy pulled her back into him. He completely ignored Lorri.

  Lorri looked at Sam and nodded.

  Sam touched her and the boy, and felt the cool air as he suddenly stood outside of the huge mansion on the old, oak-lined street. A warm feeling filled his chest as he saw it.

  Suddenly Annabelle was at the door on the front porch.

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nbsp; “What the hell?” The teenage boy started to freak out.

  Sam smiled, “I did try warning you, let's not forget that part.”

  The girl looked worried, “Who are you?”

  “I’m a friend. My name is Sam. That is Annabelle on the porch and we are at the home of a friend named Lydia. She’s like you. She can help you.”

  She looked around, “What—where are we? Why is it so cold here?”

  “It’s Portland.”

  The teenage boy looked confused, “No way! I’ve been to Portland, dude. No way.”

  “Oregon.”

  Both of them turned their heads to him as their jaws dropped, “What?” they spoke in unison.

  Sam walked toward the huge house, “Come on. We have some serious explaining to do.”

  “Where are my parents? Where is my sister? Why am I in a prom dress?”

  Sam felt his heart drop. Her sister had been lured through the window; he knew she was most likely dead. No human was ever left alive. He winced, “Come in the house.”

  Ophelia started to cry, “I’m not going anywhere until someone explains this to me. Why am I wearing my prom dress? This isn’t even the dress I bought. I bought a red one. Why is he in a tux? We were in my living room and then we were dancing. What is happening to us?”

  The guy pointed at him, “Yeah, we were in swim gear. What the fuck is this?” He seemed to finally be surfacing.

  Sam sighed and looked around. He was waiting for Lorri to arrive and take it over. He knew she would have Lydia at the prom cleaning up. He dreaded any of the kids who resisted.

  “You found her.” He turned to see Dorian grinning from the porch.

  Sam laughed, “Nick of time, dude. Come and help before one of us ends up with some injuries.”

  Dorian laughed and sauntered from the house, “You really are Jonathan’s daughter. You are your mother in every way. Except the scent maybe.” His wicked lips curled up into his evil grin.

  Sam rolled his eyes, “Shit Dorian, she doesn’t know any of that.”

  He shrugged, “She will.”

  Ophelia shook her head, “Is that the FedEx guy? Why are you here? This is madness. My father’s name is Vic and my mother is Helen. My sister is Abbey and she’s missing. I’ll do whatever you want but please just let her go.”