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  I smiled. "Come." I turned and flashed a pleased smile and winked at my girls before the four of us strolled out of the bar together.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I walked with the new-found confidence of having managed to catch my prey. With my ego fully loaded, I took the lead with Ethereal, Ember, and Phoenix all following behind me. I led them out to the alley off to the side of the bar. It was dimly lit. The immense shadows added an eerie feeling to the situation, just the way I liked it. My nerves were still pulling at my insides, trying to overtake the new sense of accomplishment that I felt. I refused to give them the victory, I wouldn't give up my success that easily. I finally had a test subject. I needed to try this spell out on someone before we took the risk of using it as part of my revenge plan. Phoenix was nothing more than my lab rat, a very sexy lab rat, but still no less of a rat regardless.

  Phoenix followed us loyally. He was probably under the impression he was about to get lucky with three girls. Men's thoughts were extremely predictable. Too bad the kind of action we were planning on giving him wasn’t the kind he desired. Too bad for him that was. Ember and Ethereal were my pawns for the night as well, but they were aware of that fact. They knew that, for my revenge plan to work, I needed to be in complete control. They were kind enough to step aside and allow me that small pleasure, a kindness I was very grateful for at the moment. Judging by the looks on their faces as we stood around Phoenix in the ally, they were feeling the added tension now that it was do or die time as well.

  I took up the place directly in front of Phoenix, carefully placing my feet into the ground, ensuring my own confidence remained at its current high. Ember stood off to my left, and slightly behind him. Ethereal did the same to my right. Even when we weren’t casting, it was a habit for us to stand in our usual triangular formation. Phoenix never showed the slightest bit of emotion as we took our positions. No excitement, no fear, nothing. He was just with us one way or another, and it didn’t seem to matter to him what the outcome of this situation would be.

  “Phoenix,” I said and put an extra dose of passion behind the words for show.

  He raised an eyebrow at me, still calm and collected.

  “How do you see this night going?” I asked.

  My interest had been piqued by his lack of emotions. I couldn’t decide whether it was a good sign or not. Sure, his confidence was what had drawn me to him in the first place, but usually, the three of us intimidated people. He didn’t seem to be threatened in the least.

  He shrugged his shoulders, and a grim smirk crossed his face.

  “Girls?” I looked at Ember and Ethereal. They both smiled and nodded slightly, indicating that they too were ready for the experiment.

  I cleared my throat, preparing to cast, and closed the distance between Phoenix and me. He observed us all without the slightest shift in his facial expression. His breathing wasn’t quickening the way I had expected it to. That was when I realized the hole we had dug ourselves into and just how bad my judgment had been. I carefully observed his neck; nothing. My eyes lowered to his chest, still nothing. He wasn’t breathing. He wasn’t alive.

  “No!” I exclaimed and looked to my sisters in a panic, wondering if they had put together the dire situation I had gotten us into yet. They both stared blankly at me. Clueless.

  “That’s right.” Phoenix smirked again, his teeth exposed this time and his two canines revealed his secret through his lips. They were long, narrow, and came to a sharp point at the end, made for feeding. “You’ve finally figured it out have you, witch?”

  I looked back and forth between Ember and Ethereal again and saw the clarity on their faces as they finally realized what kind of position we were in. Their eyes went dark, and their mouths hung open slightly in shock. Now I was the clueless one, I had no idea how to move on from this.

  “Now, tell me Acqua, where exactly did you see this night going?”

  The confidence that had caught my eye when he walked into the bar was back now. Arrogance was more like it. But he had earned the right to be cocky. He had managed to get three witches out into a dark alley. I had thought I was playing him by leading him out here. Turns out, we were the ones being played all along.

  Witch blood was a specialty for vampires. Especially on a full moon when our powers coursed through our veins stronger than any other time. I knew it was a full moon tonight. We knew the moon cycles well, especially Ethereal, whose affinity was directly linked with the moon and its tendencies. We were creatures of the night, daughters of the Moon Goddess. Its power was what we fed off of, what we based our every move around. That was why we had chosen tonight to come out looking for a guinea pig. It would seem that Phoenix had been searching for a treat himself. With full thanks to my clouded judgment, which had been focused on nothing more than testing my revenge plan, I had led us straight into his trap. And I didn't have the slightest idea as to how to get us out of it.

  “I have to say, I always thought it would be harder than this to score a witch, let alone three.” His voice grew husky as he spoke. His excitement was building from the anticipation of clearing out his catch.

  My breathing was unsteadied and rapid. I circled in on my powers and watched as my sisters began to move out further, taking their respective places to fully form our triangle, with Phoenix in the middle. My hands started to lift of their own accord as my magic took charge of my movements. My hair raised from my shoulders as the wind around us began to flow, thanks to Ethereal summoning her element. My eyes took on the radiance of the flames that started to spur around us when Ember brought her fire to us. A mist began to descend on us as the water answered to my own call.

  Phoenix’s expression had finally taken on one of panic. He must have been under a false pretense that he was actually going to take on the three of us and get what he was after, without a fuss.

  “Vengeance come to me

  Let your will be

  Take what has come

  And make it undone.”

  The spell came to me quickly. I had never tried a spell to take away a memory, but it felt like a life-or-death situation. I couldn’t have him running around and telling his vampire friends about us, we would end up ganged up on if that happened. Vampires didn’t do well accepting losses. They already had the lead in the war that had been raging between our species for close to a decade. The war had started once the vampires had discovered the power our blood contained and the way they could use those powers by feeding on our blood. Phoenix couldn’t be allowed to remember what transpired in the alley, it had to be kept between my sisters and me. Chances were even we would never speak of it again. I had made a horrible mistake, one that even magic couldn't take back, but it was one that would remain in this alley.

  Phoenix’s vivid blue eyes eclipsed immediately. His face went blank and confirmed that my spell had, indeed, worked. I let out a sigh of relief. We were saved from the blunder I had driven us head-on into. Ember and Ethereal echoed my sound of relief. Phoenix stood in the middle of us and seemed utterly confused.

  “Where am I?” he asked, completely dumbfounded as he revolved on his heels and examined the three of us slowly.

  “Behind the bar,” I answered his question as I was still piecing together a cover story in my head.

  “Why?”

  I had yet to figure that part of the lie out. What excuse could I come up with to explain why he was in a dark alley with three girls? The only notion that came to mind wasn’t a good one, but it was the only thing I had. Left with no alternative, I went with it.

  “A make-out session?” I questioned myself even as the words escaped my mouth.

  His left eyebrow raised and he spun around taking all of us in once more. “Oh really?” he asked. His face changed completely by the time he completed his circle and settled back on me. He had a sly smile on his face. “So, we didn’t come back here so that I could take advantage of your full moon blood?” His fangs pushed through his smile, and his eyes gleamed wit
h pleasure. “I could’ve sworn that was what was happening before your spell to try and take it away from me failed.”

  Ember and Ethereal both took a step away from him, their faces panicked.

  “You played that well,” I responded quickly, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of showing fear. It may have been a lie, but it was one I was going to ride out. I refused to give him the upper hand and let him know he had intimidated me straight into a panic. My defenses weren’t that wounded, at least not yet.

  “I’ve dealt with your kind before.” He spat the words out without taking his eyes off me. “Though I have to admit, you’re the cutest little witch I’ve come across in all my days.” His dark hair and bright eyes stood out amongst the shadows of the alley.

  My heart flipped at the compliment, despite the threat that still surrounded me.

  “You don’t really need these two, do you? I have a feeling you could handle yourself just fine without the sidekicks.” He pointed back to Ember and Ethereal as he spoke.

  Both of their faces blanked out in shock. Mine filled with rage. One thing I did not put up with was anyone insulting my sisters. They had saved my life, and I never allowed myself to even consider where I might have ended up without them. I didn’t take kindly to anyone messing with them. Screw me all you want, spit on me, beat me down, whatever. Regardless of any situation we had ever faced, no one messed with my sisters.

  “You know nothing of what I would be on my own.” My voice turned rancid as I glared at him. “And you don't know anything about what we are together.”

  “Fresh meat? Magic blood? Which would you prefer, dear?”

  My anger surged under my skin, and I reddened in response. The thunder and lightning clapped around us as the rain turned into a full-on downpour in response to my emotions.

  “Leave. Now.” I separated the words to increase the drama behind them.

  “But things were just getting fun I thought!”

  How had he managed to resist my spell? That was the one thing that I couldn’t figure out. Sure, it had been something I’d made up on a whim. But it was a full moon, so it should have worked regardless.

  “Fine!” A new idea popped into my head, and the precarious plan developed right after. I had lost my mind if I thought it would work, but I was backed into a corner without options and desperate times called for desperate measures.

  “For the wrong you have done

  With us now you will come

  Until I decide your fate

  For your decisions made in hate

  Goddess of darkest night

  Send our troubles all to flight

  Burn them in thy sacred fires

  And replace them with our hearts' desires!”

  The rain pounded harder and small bits of hail mixed in as I spoke the new spell. This was the spell that we had brought him out here to try in the first place. The spell we planned to use for my parents as part of our master plan to extract my revenge on them.

  “Bind him!” I called to my girls behind him as I watched all recognition leave his face.

  They both stared at me blankly.

  “I said bind him!” I yelled.

  The rain let up instantly as I let go of my element and decided to focus on the rest of the plan that I hadn’t developed before acting out the first part. I lit a cigarette to help my mind process what I had done and where I was going to go now that it was too late to turn back.

  “What exactly is your plan?” Ember asked as I took a long drag.

  Ethereal stood next to her working to bind my prisoner’s arms behind him.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t figured it all out yet.” I shrugged.

  “So, you decided to take a vampire captive, on a full moon, without any thoughts of what to do afterward? That’s great, Acqua!” Ethereal’s voice squeaked as she spoke.

  “I didn’t see you coming up with any ideas as you two cowered away when things got tough!” I took another drag. Apparently I still needed to calm down, I had never lashed out at them to that extent. I was like a hormonal teenager.

  “Right. Well, you need to figure this crap out now that you’ve dragged us into it!” Ethereal spat back at me.

  “Like I didn’t already know that was the next step.” I rolled my eyes and swiveled on my heels in an effort to focus on figuring out what to do from here.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “You do know that my clan will come for me, right?” Phoenix had protested the entire journey through the woods. Being that I had him tethered him to myself, so he could only move about 2 feet away from me, it was basically impossible to ignore him. Each one of my nerves were set on fire as we walked through the dark paths.

  “You do know my spell will work on them too, right?” I countered quickly as I took out another cigarette and lit it, the flicker of the lighter reflecting my mood.

  Ember and Ethereal still weren’t talking to me. They followed after me without even hearing out my plan. Although, in their defense, they didn’t have much choice in the matter. I was happy they hadn’t attempted to discuss technicalities before we headed off. Mainly because, technically speaking, I hadn’t figured them all out yet. It would seem I was on a roll of not thinking anything out at the moment, which was very much not who I was. That fact was probably why Ember and Ethereal were so thrown off and nerve-ridden about the predicament. I was acting out of the ordinary, which seemingly had them more scared than the fact that we had just kidnapped a vampire.

  Thanks to the full moon, the woods were brighter than usual and easier to navigate through. The heat of the day had faded and combined with the cool of the night to create a thick, dense fog that rose from the ground. Dewdrops rested on every inch of the woods. The thick brush cut into my legs as we walked farther. I had taken my shoes off long ago. Heels were absolutely not made for walking through the woods. Ember and Ethereal followed a few feet behind me. I was growing increasingly restless, my hands didn't want to remain still. Without meaning to, I looped my arm into Phoenix’s elbow and led him next to me. Ember and Ethereal wanted no part of Phoenix in any way.

  “Do you really think your clan is going to miss you?” I broke the silence that was working to deafen me.

  “Of course they will,” he jeered.

  “Just seems like you might be one of those overly arrogant, bothersome people that everyone secretly wishes would disappear one night anyway. Maybe we’ve actually done them a favor?” I chortled.

  “This from the girl who only has two people in the world? Nice.” His arm tensed under mine as my anger caused my grip to tighten around him. “Hit a soft spot, have I?”

  “Once again, you don’t know anything about me. They may be all that I have, but trust me when I say they’re all that I need.” I shot him a quick, knowing glance, hoping it would be enough to make him drop the subject.

  “Given the statistics, I can conclude that your spells only work half the time. So, the way I see it, I still have pretty decent odds to get away!” His head bobbled as he spoke, his confidence at a rather high level for someone in captivity.

  “Just because my first one did nothing to you says nothing about my capabilities.” I rolled my eyes.

  “On a full moon, even,” he countered.

  “I’m well aware of the moon cycle, thanks.” I didn't need his assumptions or accusations, especially not now.

  “So, shouldn’t any spell you cast be pretty foolproof tonight?”

  “You really should quit speaking about things you know nothing of. Just because our magic is stronger on a full moon doesn’t make us perfect.” I rolled my eyes and added a dramatic scoff for effect.

  “Acqua!” Ember squealed behind me. “Give away information much?”

  “Oh please,” I groaned. “He already knew that. It’s why he came out witch hunting tonight, isn’t it, Phoenix?”

  “Now you’re speaking about things you know nothing of,” Phoenix murmured.

  “Then why don’t you enlight
en us on the details of how and why you were going to drain us. At least I didn’t plan to kill you. Which I could have, mind you.” I inflicted my disgust into the last line, he needed to know I wasn't playing games. Even if I wasn't the greatest kidnapper, he had no right to assume I was clueless in every aspect of my life.

  “I didn’t intend to kill you, for the record. I just wanted a little — added strength.” He looked down at the ground as he spoke and stumbled over his own feet.

  “I thought vampires were already strong.” Now it was my turn to second-guess his abilities, double standard or not.

  “Obviously, I’m not already strong enough, or I wouldn’t have managed to be captured by a few amateur witches!” His eyes revealed that he regretted the words the second he had spoken them. His gaze wandered around aimlessly.

  “Amateur?” Ethereal’s offended voice chimed in.

  “Shut up, Ethereal!” I sighed.

  “And you say I’m the one who wouldn’t be missed?” Phoenix countered.

  “You can shut up as well.” I cut my eyes at him, daring him to press the matter further. The entire ordeal was continuing to spiral out of control, into a black oblivion. I had no way of stopping it, I wasn't steering. At this point, I wasn't sure what was.

  “You asked me a question, I thought you wanted an explanation.” He was proud of the emotion he was raising in me, which cause more anger to grow, yet I refused to allow it to show in any way.

  “You got off track, and I got bored, but do continue anyways.” I lit another cigarette, wishing they would calm my nerves already and make this night slightly less stressful. I was having no luck thus far.

  “Well, I don’t want to bore you with my problems or anything!” Phoenix scoffed.

  “No really, there’s nothing better to do anyway, so go ahead.” I inhaled my cigarette and relished in the slight relief as the smoke permeated my lungs.

  “Well, I wasn’t going to kill you, regardless of what you may think,” he began. “I just needed some extra strength. I’m still a new vampire—”