“It struck true,” I said a little more defensively than I liked. “His heart, or near enough. But it didn’t kill him. Lu was hurt, I was weaponless. I found Raven’s feather in my pocket, and I asked for his help.”
“The crows,” Cassia said. “He must have sent them.”
I drank coffee. The witches really knew how to make a mean cup. It was rich and delicious.
“It was enough,” I said, “the crows hurt him enough, distracted him enough, blinded him—that Lula was able to cut off his head.”
That was simplifying it a bit and leaving out the part where he’d tried to choke her to death, but those weren’t details I needed to share.
“He died,” I said. “I filled the vial with blood from his still twitching body—does that make a difference for your spells?”
She shook her head.
“I filled the vial, and we left as quickly as we could. We were about halfway across the field when the vampires surrounded us.”
“At this point,” she said, “you only had your daggers?”
“That’s right.”
“I wasn’t at my best,” Lu admitted. “My injuries slowed me down. Slowed us down.”
“I slowed us down.” I pointed at my face. “Human.” I pointed at her. “More than human.”
“But you fought them?” Cassia pressed.
“We fought them,” I said. “We weren’t going to win that fight.”
“Then what happened?” Abbi asked with a big grin. “Did something amazing happen? Didsomeoneamazing happen?”
“Then,” I said, “Abbi shone her magic. And she was bright as the sun.”
“Yes!” She threw her hands in the air and tipped her face to the ceiling. “Bright as the sun! So bright I melted the vampires!”
Hado, in kitten form, on her lapmeowed.
She looked down at him. “Okay, also I used a lot of magic, which probably did most of the melting.”
“After that, we made the deal with Hatcher to return the token in exchange for the book,” Lu said. “Franny was there.”
Cassia sipped tea then nodded and set the cup down.
“The blood of the vampire, combined with our magic and portions of the spells in the book from the Crossroads, hasbeen very powerful,” she said. “We were able to use it to return Rhianna to her human self.
“She’s sleeping, but we expect a full recovery. We’re still doing what we can to reverse Variance’s vampirism.”
“Can you do it?” I asked, keen to know if they had some way to help him. Keen to know if they could help other people who were bitten.
I glanced at Lula who stared at me, knowing what I was thinking. Could her bite be reversed? Could she become human again?
“Because Variance’s bite is so recent, because it is the blood of the vampire who turned him, and that vampire is now dead, yes,” Cassia said, “I think we can. But it will take more time, more magic. A lot of patience.”
“If he’d been bitten a longer time ago?” I asked. “Say several years ago?”
“No, I don’t think we’d be able to change that, to change him.” Her gaze shifted to Lula. “I’m sorry.”
Lula relaxed. It had been a long shot, thinking the witches would know a way to return her to her human self.
“I’m glad for him,” Lu said. “For both of them.”
