Cass looked mortally offended at “pink furry one,” but wisely decided not to argue.
I took a few nervous steps that placed me directly next to Brock. I trusted the crone because Gran had told me to, but that didn’t mean I was at ease with her.
Willemena opened the door to my house as if she owned it and started inside. “The rest of you…” She looked at the two warriors. “Watch the skies. If anything looks off, I need you to let me know immediately.”
Reo and Haru nodded as if they understood what she was talking about. I sure as heckfire didn’t.
Brock ushered Tianna, Cass, Molly, and me inside, then shut the door behind us. Willemena smiled at the space that must remind her of her friend, before wiping that smile away.
“Sit,” she said.
Tianna, who I doubted obeyed anyone, promptly sat, while Brock pulled a chair out for me before taking a seat himself. When I jumped into it, only my head appeared above the table, and I sighed heavily as I leaned my chin on the old wood. Cass chose to hover with his wings, and Molly moved to a spot in the corner of the room, where she stood silently, seemingly in awe of being in attendance at this special meeting.
“We have to move fast before the spell latches on to Evie any more than it already has.” Willemena leaned over the table to stare into my eyes. I tried not to twitch or blink, but failed on both counts. “Tianna was right in keeping you from shifting back. You would have died instantly if you had.”
Brock went rigid next to me and I urged my lungs to keep pumping air through my little fox body. I remembered all too well what it felt like to be deprived of it.
“But remaining in your kitsune form is only a temporary solution,” she added.
Well, duh. I wasn’t about to spend the rest of my life as a fox. Besides, what happened when a baby tried to pop out of me while I was this size?
“I’d recommend it wholeheartedly if it were a solution,” Willemena, the crazy old bat, continued. “Carrying out the rest of your life as a fox wouldn’t be all that bad compared to our other alternative.”
“What the hell do you mean?” Brock said, his voice too gruff for a witch as powerful as this one.
Tianna stared at her hands folded across her lap, and that worried me big time. “She means that the only way to remove the spell completely is painful as fuck.”
“And also not guaranteed to work,” Willemena added. “But it’s the only chance we have. If not, in a few hours the death spell will break through her kitsune magic and attack her anyway. It’s our only chance.”
“What is our only chance? Enough with the riddles,” Brock snapped. “This is the woman I love that you’re talking about.”
Holy fuck. He just said it again. He was angry and practically shouting, and he wasn’t addressing me, but he’d still sort of said it.
Brock loved me.
‘Damn, girl. He just dropped the L word like it was no big deal,’ Cass commented through our link.
I was too shocked to respond to my bestie.
“Well, in that case,” Willemena continued. “I’ll make it extremely clear for you, Alpha.” The dangerous tone of the very powerful witch’s voice made me forget all about Brock’s love declarations. “When Evie killed the vamp lord, delivering him to his eternal death, she activated a kill spell attached to him. Tianna probably already told you this.”
Brock and Tianna nodded.
“But what Tianna didn’t realize is that the kill spell works to achieve balance. It doesn’t seek to punish, though I’m sure that’s how the seethe lord interpreted this ancient magic. But the framework of the spell is actually laced in balance. Are you following?”
“I think so,” Tianna said, though I sure as hell wasn’t, and Brock didn’t say a word. “You’re saying that the spell is satisfied whenever it determines that balance has been achieved.”
“Exactly.”
I so wished I had my vocal cords so I could ask them what the hell they were talking about!
“If the spell finds that fairness is enacted,” Willemena continued, “it will dissolve.”
“How else would this fairness be enacted if not through punishing the killer?” Brock asked.
Willemena shrugged, but I wasn’t buying the nonchalance of her gesture. The witch seemed fascinated with the idea of a challenge. “That’s the tricky part, isn’t it?” Her wicked smile lit up her face, making her look far younger than her eighty years or so. “We have to think outside the box and figure out what would satisfy a spell conceived of to punish a killer for taking a life. What else could Evie give in exchange besides her own life? What else would be fair?. The sacrifice must be real, and sufficient to bring about balance, or it won’t work, and Evie will die.”
Minutes ticked by while Tianna and Willemena appeared to consider our shitty situation. Brock stood and began to pace, stomping across the dining room as I cycled through an endless loop of some variation of fuck-fuck-fuck me-holy fuck. I was wondering what kind of creative cursing Cass might be cycling through in his own mind when Molly stepped forward and cleared her throat.
“I have an idea,” Molly squeaked, pinning wary eyes on Willemena.
The witch crossed her arms across her chest and threw an accusatory glare at Molly, who allowed it to bounce right off her.
“I don’t know if it’ll work, but it might,” Molly said, seeming to be pep-talking herself.
“Spit it out, then, girl,” Tianna encouraged, “because I think we’re all out of ideas at the moment.”
“If the spell can only be satisfied by balance, then maybe it isn’t that big of a leap to think it might accept a life for a life.”
“Go on,” Willemena said, though I wasn’t sure I was following yet. A life for a life? If Molly was about to suggest we kill someone, I wouldn’t allow it.
Molly’s eyes flashed to Brock. “Well, one of the alpha’s wolves died maybe forty-five minutes ago. The body’s probably still warm.”
‘Molly!’ I hissed inside my head, sending to Cass or Brock—I wasn’t sure. My apprentice had lost her damn mind. Just what was she suggesting?
Tianna jumped in before Molly could explain. “Which means that if Evie were able to somehow trick the kill spell into thinking that Nathan’s dead body was hers…”
Molly shrugged. “I realize it’s a bit of a stretch...”
“So great of a stretch that it might not work at all,” Willemena said, and Molly seemed to deflate a little. “But it sure beats sacrificing Evie’s life. It’s definitely worth a try. It might actually be genius.”
“That’s what I thought!” Molly beamed.
“It might just work,” Willemena said, and you could almost see the wheels turning in her mind. Her eyes grew sharp and her lips puckered. “If the spell interprets it as a true balance, it might solve our problem.” Her voice quickened with excitement.
“Hold on just a second,” Brock said. “You can’t seriously be suggesting that Evie … swap places with a dead man? How on earth would she manage that in the first place, and what if it doesn’t work?”
When he put it that way, it did sound really farfetched.
When neither of the women replied right away, Brock pressed, “It’s not possible. Unless one of you has some magic that will make Nathan look like her, and if so, now’s the time to mention it.”
Willemena paced the area, stroking her chin. It didn’t inspire confidence. Clearly she had no idea.
“Maybe if I kill a chicken and use that death sacrifice to bind—” A knock sounded at the door, cutting off her words.
The door popped open and Haru peeked his head inside. “I know exactly how she can do it.”
Willemena threw her arms up into the air. “By all means, do come in, then.” She continued on to mutter: “Since you’re already eavesdropping anyway.”
I’d already been wondering if my protector warriors were human. They definitely had extraordinary hearing and super quick reflexes. Hmm, I’d have to ask them about it later—when I wasn’t dying.
Reo settled on Molly’s other side as both brothers stepped into the room and leaned against the wall next to her, crowding the small dining room.
“Most kitsune possess transformation magic to some degree. If Evie’s is strong enough, she’ll be able to essentially transform Nathan so that he looks like her,” Haru said before Reo took over, his eyes serious.
“She might even be able to project herself as Nathan, transforming her fox form to look like him.”
Brock’s head whipped around as he asked Willemena, “Will that work? Will that be enough to lift the spell?”
The witch stared blankly ahead for a full half minute before saying, “If Evie can pull something like that off, then it could work, for sure it could. She wouldn’t need to hold the transformation for long, just long enough for the spell to consider the debt paid—or the balance managed. The moment the spell’s terms are met, the threat to Evie will dissolve.”
Umm, did she hear what crazy Reo just said? I’d have to somehow make Nathan look like me, and then somehow make me look like him, all while shifting? Were they all fucking high? I couldn’t do that! I didn’t even have an inkling of where to start trying to do that.
“The only question that remains is whether or not Evie can pull it off,” Tianna said.
The question that remains is … what are they all smoking?
Cass dropped onto an open chair at the table as I sank deeper into mine. “Psh,” he said while adjusting his fanny pack. “My girl can do anything. She’s the best bounty hunter there is. I’m sure she’s also the best kitsune. All you have to do is teach her how to use her transformation magic.”
I hid my panic for Cass’ sake and attempted a smile, grateful that he had enough confidence to make up for all that I was currently lacking.
Brock’s cell phone rang, and when his gaze fell on the screen, some of the color left his cheeks.
“Fuck,” he said. “It’s the wolf council. I like this plan, but don’t do a single thing until I get back. I have to take this call. I’ve already waited longer than I should have. The seethe will be reporting their deaths. It won’t take long. We can get to work when I get back.”
Everyone smiled their acquiescence with the alpha’s order until Brock was out of earshot. Then they all started moving at once.
“I take it we’re not waiting for Brock to get back?” Molly asked.
“Hell no,” Willemena said. “There isn’t a second to spare. Besides, he’s not my boss. I haven’t lived as long as I have to start following orders I don’t want to.”
“Yeah,” Tianna said, shadowing the witch as she gathered crystals from around the house and laid them on the table. “The only one who’s a part of his pack is Evie. The rest of us don’t have to do a thing he says.”