“See anything?” Ian calls.
“No.” I walk around the fire pit and the chairs settled around it, then out through the other side. But the smell dissipates. Something about it draws me back to the patio. “Wait.” I pull Everly away until we’re standing at the edge of the stones. “See that?”
She leans forward. “What?”
“Look at the design. The white stones around the outside, the black ones in the middle.”
“Oh.” She nods. “I see it. It’s a big pentagram.”
“Yes.”
Buffy hops onto one of the chairs and then on the low stone wall that divides the patio from the rest of the garden.
“What are you doing, Buff? You see something?” Everly goes to follow her, but I hold her back.
Buffy pads down the stone wall, then stops and paws at something. A clicking sound comes from the center of the patio, and the fire pit starts to rise.
“What the hell?” Ian stands on the other side of the patio as the bottom of the pit spreads open and a black cauldron rises from its depths.
“Was Grammy Imelda a—”
“A witch.” I pull her back as a green flame ignites around the base of the cauldron and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “Something’s coming. We need to leave. Now.” I scoop her into my arms and take off.
“What’s coming?”
“I don’t know, but we don’t want to be here when it arrives. The cauldron must’ve sent out a signal to her familiar.”
“Like an animal or somethin—”
A wolf’s howl cuts through the night, and I whirl just as a beast jumps the garden fence and charges toward us.
16
Everly
Holy shit is all I can think when I see the giant furry beast clear the fence like it’s nothing. There is no way that is a dog. Vincent shoves me behind him as the beast comes charging at us. Buffy lets out a hiss and runs toward the danger, taking me by surprise.
“Buffy!” I scream before I push Vincent as hard as I can. He actually moves, to my surprise. Hell, he more than moves. I must have really caught him off guard, because I send him flying a few feet. I lift my bow and fire before the animal can get to Buffy. I have no idea what she’s thinking.
My bolt cuts through the air, and I immediately reload another. I’ve never actually shot at a living thing before, but my instincts kick in. I have no idea what this creature is, but I hope the silver affects whatever it is as much as it does vampires. I fire again right as my first arrow sinks into the beast's eye.
I expect the beast to cry out, but instead it explodes into nothing, all but disappearing into a puff of smoke that drifts away as if it was never there to begin with. My second arrow lodges into the fence behind where my target had been only moments ago. The wood splits and chunks of it go flying. I finally relax when I see Buffy is safe and sound.
“What was that?”
“Yeah, what was that?” Vincent stares at me.
“Did she really toss you that easily?” I look at Ian as if he’s crazy. I mean, there was a huge furry beast running at us moments ago, and he’s more concerned about my burst of strength? Seriously?
“She did.”
“We’re talking about me? That thing, whatever the heck it was, just disappeared into thin air!”
“Spectral werewolf.” Ian peers into the dark where the beast went poof. “Booby trap on the cauldron, most likely. Not real, but certainly seemed that way.”
I lean down and scoop Buffy off the ground. “Bad kitty. You do not fight disappearing beasts by yourself. We’re supposed to be a team.” She butts her little head against my hand and purrs loudly.
“You okay?” Vincent wraps his arm around me, pulling me into his big body.
“I’m fine.” He grabs my chin, tilting my face back and forth. I do suddenly feel sluggish as the adrenaline starts to leave my body. My mouth starts to water thinking about feeding off him again. “Was it your blood?”
“Probably.” A small smile starts to form on his lips.
“Don’t get cocky. Soon I might be able to kick your ass.”
“Good. I’ll be okay if you can kick my ass if it means you’re stronger. Whatever makes you the safest you can be, poppet. That’s all I care about.” If I hadn’t already known I was in love with Vincent, this moment would have confirmed it for me.
“I’m not feeling so hot either.” Ian slips his stake back into his back pocket. “I want to check her house out. If she’s a witch, that means she’s got books, and I want them.” I nod in agreement.
“Can you go in?” I ask Vincent. Ian really isn’t looking good. I wonder if that green smoke did something to him. I might not be feeling it because I have vampire blood in me.