Nail in Her Coffin (Devil's Witch Book 1)

STELLA

I’m really not sure why Val is hiding her side-man from me. I mean I may have been drunk last night, but I was alert enough to watch the hunk waltz right out the front door in the dead of night. I had come back to the house earlier and fell asleep on the couch, then I wake up and find mister mystery striding down the stairs and out the front door.

I had fallen back asleep shortly after in my half-drunken state. When I woke up a bit ago, I walked up here.

I find my friend fast asleep on her bed in the guest room we touched up to make homier.

I don’t know why, but she left the window open and the frigid air has turned this room into a walk-in freezer. I hurry over to the window and slam it shut. When I look back over at Valerie, I see her socks are covered in mud. When I turn her lamp on, I’m expecting her to wake up, but she doesn’t.

Not only that, now that I can see better, wisps of her hair are floating towards the ceiling in unnatural angles.

Her magic is unsettled, as it shifts around her sleeping form.

She must have been practicing earlier and really stressed herself out for her magic to act like this in her sleep. Well, every witch knows the best way to calm your magic and mind is to get a good night’s rest. So I turn away from my sleeping friend and switch off her lamp, heading to my own room.

Now it takes a lot to spook a witch. Especially the daughter of the highly regarded belated headmistress, my mother. Yet, when I enter the hallway and find two large vampires disguised as police standing there I scream like a child.

“Settle down ma’am. We got a call from a neighbor, said they thought they saw a witch flying while we have a no-fly zone ongoing.” The tall blonde officer informs me sounding bored and I narrow my eyes at him.

How dare he just walk in here! He’s Val’s familiar too! And he’s...a vampire! He’s no different then the rest of them, he must have been concealing his aura all this time! They can’t enter my house without a warrant!

“You have broken into my house and deceived my best friend!” I screech in anger, leaving out the part where they scared me.

The tall vampire next to officer Nick laughs.

“She knows and your coven knows, that we are all vampires. They have come to terms with it and for now there has been peace,” officer Nick tells me.

It seems everyone knew except me that the police chief was one of them. How could Val keep this from me?! Her familiar is one of them! No wonder he turned into a snake, vampires have demon blood in them.

“Get out of my house!”

“We can’t do that. Your friend in trouble. She attacked and is sick,” the other vampire murmurs in broken english.

There’s something about him that is scarier than Val’s vampire familiar -- who also happens to be the police chief.

The two of them brush by me and enter Val’s room, fuming I chase after them. I use my magic to turn the light on in her room and rush to her side, shaking her to wake up. She doesn’t. Drips of sweat plaster her forehead and her eyes are clamped tightly shut like she’s in pain.

I didn’t notice earlier, but her left arm is swelled up like she’s having an allergic reaction.

“She’s been scratched by a werewolf. Her body is fighting off the virus,” Nick says sounding disgusted.

Well, I am too. I look closer at her arm and see three long thin claw marks.

How could I have not seen that before?

As if it’s going to help anything, I start crying. Everyone knows werewolves are the weakest of supernaturals.

If her body can’t fight off the virus, she will turn and the coven will come for her.

I don’t want these two vampires here, they won’t help her any! I bet they are just waiting for her to give in to the virus and kill her before she can shift.

“You can’t help her,” the other vampire cop states coldly. I want to scream. I can make Val’s transition less painful, but other than that, it’s hopeless.

Only a witch like my mother would be of any help in a situation like this.

“What are you doing?” I ask, but it comes out as a harsh statement.

Nick lifts up Valerie’s injured arm, letting it fall limply back to her side.

“I can rid her of it,” the vampire police chief says without tearing his gaze away from Val.

“No! You don’t get to decide that. I’m calling the...headmaster,” I announce while pulling out my phone.

Oh, how I hate calling Will that.

However, my phone is snatched out of my hand by the other vampire cop who I’m now realizing is pretty much Nick’s bodyguard.

“If I drink a little of her blood it will be enough. I gather that is better than her turning into a werewolf?” the police chief asks me with a serious tone and face to match.

I bite my lip looking between the two of them, wondering why they won’t let me call Will.

Clearly, this is illegal business no matter how it goes down. Even if Will is in charge of things now, he’s still held accountable to our law. Valerie will be a hybrid if Nick doesn’t cure her. I don’t want her to end up like Jackson.

Oh jeez, what am I thinking!? This is insane...

“Give me my phone back. I’m not calling anyone,” I scowl.

The vampire returns it to me. I stow the device in my pant pocket and cross my arms, looking between Nick and my best friend. Maybe things won’t be so bad for her. I really do think officer Nick cares for her.

Some awful, sick-minded part of me even believes him to be the better man for her. I had sensed it before knowing him to be vampire, I’m not so sure now though. Them being here just seems too convenient. They knew if they asked to come in here I wouldn’t allow it, so they barged in instead. Strings will be attached if one of them turns her intentionally or not.

Some complete stranger already bit her though. What choice do we have?

“Fine, but don’t try anything. Will you end up really turning her?” I ask skeptically.

“No, I will just cure her. I won’t give her my blood.”

I gulp, not liking how simply he speaks. So long as he doesn’t give her his blood she won’t turn.

“If I catch either of you giving her blood I will have you evicted,” I warn, which is a nice way of saying I will actually put the ward I have around here up to good use.

They’d both be fried like bacon in the blink of an eye.

“Yes ma’am,” they reply in unison.

Officer Nick already has Valerie’s injured arm up close to his face and I rush over to him.

“You better not hurt her,” I threaten while aiming a dart of my magic at him.

He makes a clicking noise with his tongue and actually licks his lips, looking not at Val’s arm, but her face. Nope, I don’t particularly like watching him look at her like that knowing what he’s capable of.

For a second, I regret everything. It’s too late though. I’m waiting to see him bite her arm or maybe starting by cleaning up the smeared blood that coats it.

Instead, he drops her arm completely and dives for her neck!

“Hey, just what do you-” I begin to shout, but I’m pulled away from the bedside by the other vampire cop.

“Let him be, otherwise, make angry. He help her so hush and be still, orange-hair witch,” the vampire chuckles.

Is he a foreigner? I don't recognize his accent as southern, that's for sure.

He lets go of me and I stand in stunned silence, watching Nick practically laying over my friend as he drinks her blood like a starved animal.

Valerie’s face softens, but even as the leech drinks from her she doesn’t flinch. After a long minute that feels like an eternity, the police chief pulls away from her and I relax a little seeing color return to Val’s face. Her breathing seems normal and Nick did do as he agreed, only drank enough of her blood to get the virus out.

The vampire police chief wipes his mouth with his black tie. His eyes are shiny and unfocused like he’s high or something. It’s beyond disturbing and I know when Val wakes up she’s going to hate me.

To my annoyance, the claw marks are still there on her arm. For some reason, I thought him curing her would make the wound heal too. Maybe if he turned her it would.

“How was it?” the other cop in the room asks.

I glare at him, knowing fully well they are discussing the value of my friend’s blood.

“Nothing special,” the police chief brushes off, but even I can tell he’s lying.

Maybe vamps like to hoard their would-be snacks to themselves. Well, too bad for him he is never biting her again!

“Would you look at that?” the other officer mutters while looking at Val’s arm.

Her blue magic wavers over the claw marks, healing herself. Her strength is finally returning as she subconsciously heals. Then her eyelids flutter open and I push Nick out of my way not wanting the vampires to be the first things she sees.

“He bit you!” I blurt out, unable to withhold my resentment.

Her eyes widen in confusion and as she sits up, she gapes at the policemen behind me.

“You were scratched up by a werewolf. It was either I suck the venom out or you would turn into a hybrid,” officer Nick explains.

“Y-you bit me?” she echoes looking stunned.

“No worry, you won’t turn. We have witness if you don’t believe us,” the other officer says as if trying to reassure her. Val’s worried gaze lands on me and I pat her shoulder, nodding my head solemnly.

The police still have the nerve to stick around. The police chief talks in a serious tone, “What you really should be worrying about is who clawed you and how you got into such a predicament. Do you remember anything of this evening, after I left?”

“No...” she whispers, looking down at her covers with a blushed face.

“Look, I know what’s going on between the two of you so quit acting like it’s some secret. He’s a vampire and you’re a witch...” I warn Val, hoping she will quit seeing the guy.

Her eyes bulge, as she looks at me like a fish out of water.

“Nothing is going on between us! He’s my familiar! What are you thinking? I wouldn’t keep anything from you. Why isn’t Will here?” she shoots back, fumbling to reach her phone on her nightstand.

She proceeds to call him and begins explaining to him about the attack. Hopefully, the coven beats the vampires to finding it. I want to see this werewolf myself, it’s probably in the same pack as the one who bit Jackson.

When Val hangs up on Will, she rubs her neck while watching Nick warily.

It is definitely a good thing she was asleep through it all, but the bite mark on her neck is still there as a reminder.

It’s disgusting.

The vampire chief looks at his watch and frowns as if he has somewhere else to be. He owes Valerie a huge apology for not even bothering to clean up the mark on her he made. Most vampires, the smart ones, lick their bite marks to hide their evidence of feeding on humans.

The least he could have done was that, especially since he bit her neck which was totally uncalled for!

“Ms. Parway, Ms. Gild...I do believe we have rounds to be on. Goodnight,” Nick tells us.

I scowl, seeing the two of them vanish into thin air.

At least Val won’t be a hybrid, but judging by the look on her face it may take a lot of convincing for her to remain calm and not be traumatized.

***

WILL

Feeling exhausted and ready to check on Valerie, I climb up into my truck.

Then something happens. Something that makes even a grown man like me shudder. Getting a funny feeling, I glance into the rearview mirror to find the back seat occupied.

Familiar dark watchful eyes stare back at me. The whites of his eyes and irises turn completely red, except his diamond-shaped pupils. No longer does he appear human at all.

The outline of his body is a complete colorless black, except for his red demonic eyes and police outfit. I blink and the disturbing sight is gone. At least I think it is, I rub my eyes drowsily thinking I’m seeing things.

Paranoid, I glance back into the rearview mirror, slamming the breaks on when I realize I have a passenger again. The vampire police officer sits in the back seat.

“We need to talk,” the police chief tells me.

“That’s too bad,” I grit back.