Free WitchLove by Emma Mills

within me jumped eagerly into the fray in full on defensive mode, but there was nothing to fight. I sped around the circle, my eyes focused on any possible escape, my ears tuned into any sound, but all I could hear was the screaming wind whipping the branches into a frenzied dance.
    As I reached a tree that looked familiar, a nearby branch flew from the floor and cracked against my cheek. I screamed and ran back, a sob of terror rising from my chest. Vampires I could fight; people I could fight; but how could I fight something that was invisible? I darted across the clearing to the other side, and again the invisible barrier threw me back into the centre. I jumped up and decided to try and grab a ley line to get me out of there, but as I looked up a branch swiped down from a nearby pine and fired all its needles at me. More leaves whirled up from the floor and swirled about me, making me dizzy and frantic.
    ‘Jess? Jess?’
    The voice that always saved me floated through the howling wind and I snapped my head towards its direction in hope, and as I turned everything stilled. The wind dropped. I looked up and the trees were perfectly normal, four strides apart, and I could clearly see the gap through which I’d entered. I bolted over to it and in one graceful and rather panicked leap I flew through the trees back onto the path and stumbled straight into the arms of a stunned Luke.
    ‘Whoa… what’s the matter?’ he said, as I grudgingly let go of him and stepped back.
    ‘I was trapped, there’s something in there… I couldn’t get out. The wind was like a tornado, screaming in my …’ Luke pushed past me and darted into the clearing, but all was peaceful, silent.
    ‘Jess, what do you mean? There’s no wind, it’s totally still,’ he said reappearing by my side.
    ‘What do you mean, it’s totally still ? A typhoon just went overhead,’ I said, frowning at him.
    ‘No Jess, your aunt sent me out here to find you and I heard nothing. There’s been no wind and just now I heard a scream.’ He paused looking at my frowning face. ‘I called you and suddenly you jumped on me from behind a tree. There’s nothing here,’ he said, looking at me with concern. ‘You’re probably just tired.’
    Just as I was about to launch into a volley of expletives, my vampire hearing picked up another crackle of movement, followed by a very quiet giggle. Without stopping to explain to Luke I leapt through the tall pines to my right, over a wide, scraggy hawthorn and into a tiny clearing. As my fingers touched down on the unsuspecting Saffy’s neck she shrieked and bolted, disappearing from my view. Brittany’s invisibility trick, damn! I looked all around me, peering through the gaps in the trees, but she was nowhere to be seen.
    ‘Jess!’ Luke’s voice called to me, so I jumped back through the thicket onto the path.
    ‘I think I was the brunt of Saffy’s evening entertainment,’ I said. ‘Cow! I’ll get her back.’
    ‘Jess, don’t go causing trouble the moment you’re here. She’s your age, why don’t you try and make friends? You are cousins after all,’ he said.
    ‘Not according to her.’
    ‘What do you mean?’ Luke asked.
    ‘According to her I’m a vampire freak and stopped being her cousin when I died. Like I said, she’s a complete and utter cow,’ I said with a grin. ‘Anyway, how come you’re here so soon?’
    ‘Ha, long story… well, not really. Come on, let’s walk back and I’ll tell you.’
     
    ‘So, Daniel came to see you after I’d left?’ I asked, as we walked back down the path towards the house.
    ‘Yeah. Actually it was probably before you left. I was on the next flight to you. I thought I’d actually make your flight, but I missed it by thirty minutes,’ he said.
    ‘And he paid for you?’ I asked.
    ‘Yup, he said something about wanting me to make sure you were okay. I think it was his way of apologising for getting me in trouble. I wasn’t going to accept the money,