Hex on the Beach by Kelley Armstrong

Chapter Five

Ow.

No, really, owwww! If anything hurt more than a mostly-shattered head knitting itself back together, I hadn’t felt it yet. I puked three times inside my mouth before I had enough coherence to try spitting it out, and then I was frustrated and furious when I couldn’t move enough to do that.

Damn that spell!No wonder some vampires had been so afraid of magic that they’d convinced the ruling council to outlaw it for thousands of years. I was normally strong enough to bench press a car, and now I couldn’t so much as spit.

But, spitless or no, and collapsed in an underwater cave or no, I was still alive. Thank you, freaky power-absorbing abilities. I couldn’t have done this without you.

Something hard hit me, interrupting my gratitude. Great, was it the final vampire? I thought I’d twisted that blade and killed her, but maybe I hadn’t. Everything had gone black before I could be sure she was dead.

Another hard thump, and then I felt a leg. A warm one.

Not the vampire then. Our species was room temperature, and in this cold water, we’d feel downright chilly. Whoever this leg belonged to was human.

Was it the boy? I’d told him to run, dammit. Or was it the final chanting witch? I hadn’t heard her during those last moments before I passed out, but that didn’t mean it was because she’d left the cave. More likely, it was because I couldn’t hear anything beyond my skull being beaten in.

If it was her, she could be trying to finish me off. Normally, a human wouldn’t stand a chance against a vampire, but in my condition, she’d have reason to feel confident.

Whoever it was yanked on my arm. I tried to shake off the mental fog that made me feel like cotton had replaced my brain.

Focus, Cat! You probably have to mind-smash one more knife!

She yanked harder, and my head cleared the surface. The first thing I saw was mahogany-colored hair plastered to a familiar face before that face broke into a smile.

“Thank God, I found you!”

I was shocked. What was Denise doing here? The water was so high, she barely had any room to breathe.

“Are you hurt? Why aren’t you moving?” she asked me.

I couldn’t answer, of course. I could only stare at her.

“What’s wrong with you?” Now she sounded scared.

She should be. I found that I could move my eyes, and I glanced at the ceiling, the water level only inches below it, and back at her.

Get it, Denise? You’re the one in danger!

“Yeah, I know,” she muttered, and then relief suffused her features. “If you can manage to show your annoyance despite not being able to move or speak, then you’re still in there. Good. I was afraid you might be dead.”

She’d been married to a vampire for years; didn’t she remember that we shriveled back to our true age when we bit the dust? Some vamps looked like old-school mummies after they died. Then again, I hadn’t been changed into a full vampire that long ago, so I guess Denise had had reason to be unsure.

“Gotta get out of here, but I don’t have your vision, and the torches are all out,” she said, more to herself than me.

She was right. It was almost pitch-black in here, and with the cave’s bends and turns now hidden underwater, it would be easy to get lost. And trapped. At least the part of Denise that wasn’t human protected her from all but one form of death, and drowning wasn’t it.

Still, drowning and coming back only to drown again and again would be horrible until low tide came and took the water away. Besides, who’s to say the two witches who’d escaped wouldn’t be back with reinforcements before then?

“Do your eyes still work?” Denise suddenly asked.

What did she mean by…? Oh, right.

I let out the green glow in my gaze. An emerald light instantly illuminated a couple feet of the cave. Denise gave the light a critical look, and then hefted me over her shoulders.

“Ugh, you’re really heavy.”

There goes your Hanukkah present,I thought irreverently.

“This isn’t going to work,” she said after dragging me a few feet. “The water’s hampering me, and you’re dead weight.”

Go,I tried to tell her with my gaze.

She’d done everything she could. I’d have to wait for the spell to wear off.

Denise glanced up again. The ceiling was now brushing the top of her head. Soon, there wouldn’t be enough room for her to breathe at all. She barely had time to get herself out of the cave even if she left me right now.

Go!I thought again, my gaze brightening with urgency.

A look of obstinance crossed her features, and she hauled my face close to hers. “I know what you’re thinking, and no, I’m not leaving you behind. You’d never do that to me—”

A new surge from the tide swept water into her mouth. She spat it out, coughed, and tilted her head all the way back. It was the only angle she could now use to get a breath in.

Just go!I mentally roared. Both of us don’t need to be stuck here, and I’m the only one who doesn’t need to breathe!

“That hurt,” she said in a hoarse voice, and then choked out a laugh. “Don’t know how fish stand breathing that…”

She stopped speaking. I was terrified that she’d lost the remaining scant space she needed to breathe, and I couldn’t angle my head in order to see. Her grip had loosened, and the currents from the incoming tide now had me facing away from her.

“This’ll be weird,” I thought I heard her say, and then her grip on me vanished completely.

Without it, I sank to the bottom of the cave. I tried to see where Denise was, but the green glow from my gaze barely cut through the water. Then, a tremendous thrashing turned my limited vision into nothing but movement and bubbles.

Pain ripped at me. That must be Denise, drowning. Oh, God, she’d suffer that horrible death over and over because she’d refused to leave me, and there was nothing I could do to help her! How many hours until low tide…?

A large shark suddenly filled my vision, mouth open as if grinning while it swam straight at me. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! I’d never wanted to move so much in my life, but I could do nothing but stare as rows of knifelike teeth sank into my arm.

Agony shot through me, and inwardly, I screamed. In my darkest wonderings about how I’d die, and I’d had many of those, getting eaten by a shark had never made my list. Guess I hadn’t given Fate enough credit. Good one, you sick bitch!

The shark bit me again, this time catching my upper shoulder. Amidst the new burst of pain, an image of the last time I had seen Bones flashed in my mind: his deep brown hair, creamy alabaster skin, high cheekbones, winged brows, full mouth, and eyes so dark brown they could have been black. And Katie, my beautiful little girl, standing next to him, watching me solemnly as I promised that I’d be back soon—

Red light suddenly suffused the shark’s black eyes. Shock numbed me for a few seconds as to what that meant. In that short amount of time, the shark swam us out of the sacrificial chamber and into the cave’s winding tunnels. There, its sleek body easily maneuvered around the bends and turns. I was the one who hit every protruding wall. Those hard jostles caused the shark’s serrated teeth to tear deeper, but aside from holding me in its jaws, the shark didn’t bite me again.

Red eyes. Only demons had those…or people whom demons had branded with their power, thus transferring some of their supernatural abilities to the branded person.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I thought with awe this time. You have outdone yourself, Denise!