Page 44 of Blood and Hexes

The Last Farewell

Greer had to admit she had been pretty astonished that Ruby had heeded her request without so much as a word of protest. Perhaps—not unlike Greer—Ruby had been desperate to leave the lakeside, leave the nauseating sight of Chloe, lying too still, too quiet, blood dripping out of her. The memory would forever haunt her.

Chloe wasn’t supposed to die now, in her twenties. She wasn’t supposed to die at all. Greer found herself lost, facing her own mortality, her own frailness, reflected in her friend’s passing. She didn’t have time for regrets. And she knew, deep inside she just knew, that there was one thing she would forever regret if she didn’t do it now.

Whatever Ruby’s reason, Greer was glad for the supernatural assistance. Without the vampire, she would have been much slower, and time was of the essence.

They stopped by the dorm long enough for Greer to rush to her room and grab a sachet she’d kept under her pillow for months, then she let Ruby carry her up Cosnoc. The vampire moved so fast Greer almost vomited on the way. She squeezed her eyes shut tight.

In under a minute, they were at the entrance of Eirikr's cage.

Eirikr. The monster out of any vampire's nightmare. The creature most hated by Greer's ancestors.

The hike up the forbidden hill would have taken Greer a good hour without spells—or about ten minutes if she’d used some of her magic, which wouldn’t have been advisable. She couldn't afford to drain her energy. Not now, considering the insane plan she had in mind.

A plan that had been in the corner of her mind for quite some time, or she wouldn’t have been ready to execute it.

Ruby helped her down to her feet, steadying her. "I can go no further. There are spells," the vampire explained.

Greer had expected as much. “Thank you, Ruby. I can take it from here.”

As soon as she took the first step, the pain started, sharp and blinding. Her ancestors felt her intention, her defiance. And they were attempting to stop her. Greer opened the sachet clasped in her hand, revealing a syringe attached to one dose of clear liquid.

"What is that?" Ruby recoiled.

Greer smiled reassuringly. "Nothing that'll hurt me."

She tried to align it with her vein, her hands trembling with the effort to go against a dozen dead witches who still controlled her. "Dammit."

"I'll help," Ruby offered.

Greer had to step back a little to be outside of the wards that would hurt the vampire. She smiled up at the crazy brunette. She had to be given credit: Ruby was taking a hell of a leap of faith, without explanation.

When Greer had been young, Ruby had grimaced whenever she’d been around her, as though Greer smelled rotten. She’d thought the vampire hated her. Maybe she hated witches—or, more than likely, children. Now, she wasn’t so sure. She knew none of the men who’d raised her would have supported her like this, without questioning her judgement. With Levi or Alexius, she would have had to explain herself, wasting precious time. And Mikar would have simply locked her in her room.

Ruby took the syringe and shot its contents through Greer's honey skin, into her vein.

Greer almost immediately felt its effect. She had minutes, at most.

Greer started chanting the spells she'd always known, from the moment she'd opened her eyes. The spells had only been revealed to her because she was supposed to forbid anyone from using them.

Her head was burning, like a hundred ice daggers were stuck right inside her skull. She felt ready to explode. Blood trailed out of her nostrils as the witches of her clan fought her with a rage she hadn't quite expected, from beyond the veil of death.

She kept reciting the incantations all the same.

She owed it to Chloe. She even owed it to Eirikr.

Greer, shaking, bleeding, drained, chanted until the last of the spells had been lifted from Eirikr's prison.

He stumbled out of the dark doorway, stunning and terrible as a fallen angel, his confused gaze on her. He wore a loose pair of gray sweatpants low on his hips, and nothing at all on top, his finely-sculpted torso bare. Which didn’t lessen his devastatingly potent presence. “What is this?" His voice was darker than she remembered, each of his words sounding like a threat.

What could she even say? Chloe was dying, or dead. Chloe was dying or dead, because she'd saved Greer. Greer didn't know how to tell him, how to make him understand. There was no voicing this tragedy. There was no paying for the debt she owed Chloe. The only thing she could do was give Eirikr time to say goodbye.

Feeling her mind slip, she rushed words out of her mouth. "You have until I wake up. Maybe five, six hours..."

That was all she managed, before darkness swallowed her.

She fell on her feet, never hitting the ground, as both Ruby and Eirikr held her up.

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