Words of Power (Alice Gray Book 3)

66

Thomas's head jerked back, the violence of the movement drawing my hands away from him in shock. The crunch of bone made me wince as his head slowly rotated one way and then the other, his skull grinding hard against the Minster's paved floor.

That had got to hurt, even for a vamp.

When his eyes reached mine again, pure white met my gaze.

Crap.

I'd seen this before when my great-granny Evelyn Gray had possessed the leader of the Northern Coven. Thomas had left the building, and I needed him back.

Right now.

Grabbing his skull, I forced myself to look directly into those fathomless balls of white. "Thomas, get back here," I whispered, unable to stop myself reaching out to him, even though I knew it wouldn't be enough.

A nasty guttural noise rumbled in the back of his throat. Before I could lean away, whoever the hell was in there spat straight into my face. Thomas's mouth twisted into a nasty smirk.

Real mature, these vamp ghosts.

His face went slack before his head jerked back again, mouth opening so wide that his jaw unhinged with a loud crack. Gruesome fangs erupted from his gums, nothing like the pearly whites that I had seen before.

His deep tan skin took on a tinge of green, all humanity fading from him and leaving something monstrous and other. Something old and unevolved. Something that didn't fit in this time and place.

Unintelligible words poured from his mouth louder and louder. The twisted rhythms of ancient language wrapped around me. I didn't understand their meaning, but I didn't need to. The brittle, deconstructed sounds, grunts and splutters were full of anger, hatred and threat.

I focused on the Tree, trying to drown them out. The chaotic peels of silver crashing against silver sang overhead, filling the air with their maddening song. It sounded true and pure next to the darkness pouring from Thomas's throat. But those words could only harm me if I listened.

Or so I hoped.

The Tree would drown them out, and the Tree would help me drive out the spirits of these dead vamps and bring Thomas back.

Because they had it all wrong.

It wasn't a choice between dead vamp energy or natural witch magic. The two opposing forces didn't have to be antithetical. There was something in my silver life-force that allowed the two to merge and thrive and that's what I needed to tap into now.

In times of peril Thomas and I had shared magic. There was something in our bond that allowed our magic to communicate on a molecular level, to replenish our stores of energy; vampire and witch magic both.

Dead vamp energy and natural witch magic could work together, through me. But if my plan was going to work, I needed to keep that little nugget to myself, and play on the prejudice running through these factions. There were still some pieces of the puzzle that I needed to fit into place, and I needed their hatred to do it.

Thomas's body bucked underneath me while I clamped my thighs around his with a silent apology for the violation. I told myself that in his right mind, he wouldn't fight me, he'd welcome the contact, but deep down I knew that might not be true. Not anymore.

Not since I'd seen him with Adelaide.

I had to push all that away. If this was going to work I needed our energy to connect. And for that to happen, we needed to feel each other. Like, really feel each other.

I wrapped my arms around his torso like a baby monkey clinging to its mother. There was nothing romantic about this exchange.

Forehead pressed against his, I forced my silver magic out, through my blood, into the air around me, and then into him. It was more brutal than anything I would have cared to inflict, but I needed his vampire energy. I needed him.