Free VA 2 - Blood Jewel by Georgia Cates

steal his heart away.
Happy Birthday.”
    Her face lit into a smile. “Thank
you for making me feel so special. How did you manage to pull that
off without me knowing?”
    “Lairah, the eternal roadie, knows
the band. She suggested I bring you here after dinner because she
thought you might enjoy the music.”
    She nodded and said, “She was
right. These guys are great.”
    “Lairah definitely knows music,” I
agreed. “I...”
    I couldn’t finish my sentence
because there was something terribly wrong. I heard the whisper of
a female voice as she chanted. I turned to my family to see if they
heard it as well. None of them appeared phased by the soft sound of
evil murmuring, which meant I was the only one hearing
it.
    Chansey was panicked by the look on
my face. “What’s wrong, Curry?”
    I felt myself break into a sweat,
something I hadn’t done since I was human. My heart started racing
and my head began to painfully pound behind my eyes as my vision
began to blur.
    “You’re scaring me. What’s
happening?” Chansey demanded.
    And then it happened without any
warning. Twenty-two years without feeling her presence and I
suddenly felt her again. It was Marsala.
    My vision was worsening as the
chanting became louder. I reached for Chansey’s arm. “Don’t ask me
why because there’s no time, but I need you to take me to
Sebastian.”
    She did as I asked and didn’t
question why she had to lead me toward my family and I wasted no
time getting to the point, “I think Marsala is here. I don’t know
how, but she has done something to me. I have an excruciating pain
behind my eyes and I can’t see, but I hear her voice chanting
something. It began as a soft whisper, but it’s grown louder. It
feels like it’s getting closer and it’s beginning to drowned out
everything else.”
    I barely heard Sebastian ask, “What
is she saying in the chant?”
    I listened to the repetitive cycle
and then repeated it for Sebastian.
    “I use the bark of this white
thorn tree,
    To give my eyes freedom to cross
the sea,
    I use this spell to conjure the one
I love, yet cannot find,
    And like a nail, I drive my eyes
into his mind,
    So I may see what it is he
sees,
    Do you hear me coming? Soon, it
shall be.”
    I felt the slam of someone’s hand
over my eyes. “Shut your eyes, now!” Sebastian roared at me. “Don’t
open them. Someone is helping her use Black Magic to find you. She
is using a spell to bind herself to you so she may take your vision
as her own. That’s why you can’t see; she’s stealing your sight.
She is trying to find you by identifying your surroundings. We need
to look around the club to see if there is anything that would clue
her to where you are.”
    “Do you think this means she is
close?” I asked, begging it to not be so.
    “I don’t think she’s on this
continent because the spell spoke of crossing the sea, but I think
she will be soon if anything in this place can identify where we’re
at. What were you looking at when this started?”
    I thought back to the moment I
noticed it beginning. “Chansey and I were dancing, so I was looking
over her shoulder as we danced in a circle. That means she got a
panoramic of the entire room. When I stepped back, I looked
directly at Chansey’s face, so she knows exactly what she looks
like. When we came to the tables, I was straining to see all of
you. You know what that means.”
    I heard Sully say, “Lairah and I
weren’t sitting at the tables when Chansey led Curry to the tables.
We were at the bar getting drinks, so she didn’t see
us.”
    I guess you can call it the big
brother in me, but I was relieved to hear that because I didn’t
want Marsala to know that Sully still existed.
    I heard Sol’s voice next. “Guys, we
have a problem. Look at the sign behind the bar.”
    “What does it say?” I
asked.
    No one responded to my
question.
    “Somebody tell me what it says” I
shouted.
    Sebastian was the only one brave
enough to reply.