Page 75 of The Vampire and the Case of the Cursed Canine

The fire gem was sitting on the seat in its metal box, and my head was pounding from fighting it off. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten about Mum’s affinity for fire as well.

Panic laced through me as I saw the faraway look in her eyes. She absent mindedly put the pot of potion on the floor and reached into the back of the truck for the gem. ‘No! Mum! You have to fight it,’ I yelled. She hesitated and looked at me but then she turned back to the box. She was too far gone.

‘Fuck!’ I pushed her away from the truck, reached inside and grabbed another set of cuffs from the black bag I’d thrown in there. When I turned around, she was smiling at me but her hands were covered with fire. ‘Mum, it’s me, Elizabeth! You have to stop. Lower your flames.’

‘We will not stop. This world is ours.’ Her voice was echoing like Elsa Wintersteen’s had done when she was under the control of the gems. I blinked and my stomach sank. Whatever the problems between us, I didn’t want to hurt her and I didn’t want to take her power like I had taken Wrangell’s. If I did that, I’d take everything from her including her position as High Priestix, and I couldn’t risk that. I needed to put the magic-cancelling cuffs on her and hopefully they would clear her mind enough so she could apply the potion and ward the box.

‘Mum, stop! I don’t want to hurt you,’ I pleaded one more time.

‘You cannot hurt us, together we are unstoppable,’ the gem said through mum’s mouth. The stupid thing was arrogant, that was for sure.

As I took a step towards her, she launched a fireball at my face. I let it hit me, let the magic sink in and add to my own like I’d seen Baranof do. She kept launching and I kept absorbing until I was close enough to her.

I thought of all I could do and decided only one thing might work. I lifted my hand and slapped her—hard. Her head snapped back and she gasped in outrage. Her now fire-free hand rose and touched her cheek. I had built up a lot of hurt and resentment towards her and, if I’m honest, slapping her was a tiny bit satisfying.

She blinked and her eyes cleared. Her hand fell away from her face – which bore a bright red handprint. I cringed: that was probably going to swell. I’d controlled my strength, but it had still been a mighty slap.

She looked around. ‘Oh my God! I’m so sorry, Eli– Bunny,’ she said.

‘I’ll try and keep it contained,’ Father Brennan said. He had his book open and he started to chant in Latin.

Connor chose that moment to come running towards us with a wooden box in his hands. ‘Mum, you have to fight the stone,’ I pleaded. ‘I know it’s hard – it’s calling to me, too. Use the potion. The sooner we get that bloody thing in the box, the sooner we can both relax.’

She nodded and picked up the potion container. Connor put the box on the bonnet of his truck and Mum started painting the runes and chanting the words. She stopped and started a number of times, panting, clearly trying to fight the gem as she worked. It was the longest three minutes of my existence but finally she stepped back. ‘Hurry, Bunny. I don’t know how much longer I can resist it.’

‘Me neither,’ I admitted. I wanted to put my hands over my ears and sing loudly like a child, but that wouldn’t help when the voices were in my head. But Father Brennan’s chanting was doing something because it seemed easier to resist and my head wasn’t splitting with the effort.

As I pulled the iron box out of the truck and set it on the ground, I heard an engine straining up the road. I glanced over my shoulder: it was Liv’s sedan. Shit. ‘Hurry!’ Connor yelled.

My hands were shaking. I flipped open the lid and almost keeled over at the gem’s strength. It was screaming in triumph at me, and I could feel it trying to pull my power forward as it had done once before. I had to lock it down or it would destroy the wooden box.

Sweat was pouring down my back and into my eyes. I grasped the velvet lining to avoid touching the gem then I lifted it and laid it inside the wooden box.

Liv’s door slammed shut. She started screaming words in a language I didn’t know – some kind of spell – and the decaying stench of her magic filled the air. Hot winds swirled around me, so hot that they took my breath away. I felt something tugging at my middle and I knew that she was trying to control me. ‘Lift the gem out of the box,’ she commanded.

‘Bunny! No!’ Connor shouted, barrelling towards me.

‘Stop!’ she ordered him and he froze where he was, his eyes furious as her necromantic magic held him still. ‘Lift the gem out of the box!’ she yelled at me.

The tug came again, but it was easy to push aside and she seemed confused that I wasn’t complying with her orders. But I was a hybrid vampire, neither undead nor truly alive, and she couldn’t control me. I slammed the box lid shut.

Liv let out a guttural scream and fell to the floor.

Silence reigned. The gem was quiet and the pressure in my head was gone.

I looked around to see what Liv’s first spell had done. Thankfully, she’d missed us; maybe that had been Good Liv’s influence. Connor, Mum and I were fine, but the new truck was disintegrating before our eyes. The ear-splitting sound of breaking metal had us all covering our ears as it twisted in on itself and fell, flake by flake, into nothing but rusty dust. Her spell must have been concentrated death and decay.

Liv’s face was twisted in horror as she sat on the ground, shaking her head. She reached up to touch her face. ‘Bunny?’ she said faintly.

‘Yeah, I’m here.’

‘I tried to fight it,’ she mumbled. ‘I tried so hard.’ She looked at me bleakly. ‘That’s why I insisted that Gunnar put another barrier plan in place. I was scared I’d somehow sabotage the magic users’ plan. I’m sorry.’ She shuddered.

‘You should apologise to Connor. That’s his second truck destroyed in a couple of weeks.’

She struggled upright. I’d never noticed how small she was; her forceful presence made her seem seven feet tall. But Liv was from an ancient time and she was petite, only a couple of inches over five feet tall. Her usually perfect hair was wild and unkempt. She clutched her head. ‘What did I do? I know I cursed someone.’

‘What do you remember?’

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