Page 47 of Isabel and the Werewolf Beast

“Irealize you can hear me,” Silas said.

The worst part was that I could. I was in stasis again. Silas had me, but everything felt weird. Disconnected. The last thing I remembered was drinking Dante’s blood and then Silas’s voice taunting me. Had Silas killed Dante? If so, I’d make him pay so harshly, he’d wish I’d kill him. First, I needed to figure out why I was in stasis again, but it was so hard when my head hurt so much. What had Silas done to me now?

“Isabel,my love, you gave me no choice.”

Choice? What choice? And calling me love? His idea of love was twisted to the extreme.

“My curse didn’t give me the desired results. You kept avoiding the inevitable inside the castle, but now, I have you.” He laughed manically. “Part of you at least.”

Part of me?

His finger stroked my lip. If I wasn’t in stasis, I would have recoiled at the touch and slapped him away, or bitten the finger off into a bloody stump, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t wake myself. How injured was I to be this deep in the tomb of stasis?

“The most important part.” He lifted my top lip. “Once I figure out how to use your fangs to turn me, then we can be together always.”

He hummed a tune. Glass clinked against glass a tinkling sound alerting me to the presence of magical vials. He stepped around the room, footsteps heavy in my ears the only reason I heard him, and then returned and prodded my fangs.

“Soon, my love, soon.”

Chapter twenty-five

Dante

Three days of trekking through the forest. Of never-ending tree trunks. Heavy canopy overhead. Of shade. The coolness beneath the leaves. A gentle rustle of fallen leaves beneath our feet never ceased until we did. The constant scent of earth, foliage, and Silas stayed in my nostrils. Three days of taking it in turns to sleep. I didn’t sleep well knowing there was a vampire beside me who would under any other circumstances kill me. I’d hunted too, catching a large deer, and roasting it over a fire. Maximus had watched me yet again with a mixture of confusion and fascination. His stare creeped me out. He never fed, and I itched toask him how often vampires ate. The books I’d read never mentioned how often a vampire needed to feed to survive, but if he looked at me like I was a walking blood donor, then I guess I’d offer it to him. Wouldn’t I since we were on the same mission?

Before it came to that, we approached a cabin nestled in the woods. Smoke billowed from the chimney in a plume of unusual bluish-gray smoke showing someone was home and that someone was Silas. His scent permeated the air even through the smoke indicating this was his residence and had been for some time. I hadn’t scented Asher once which concerned me, but my focus had to be on getting Isabel’s head back. Getting her back. Saving her.

Maximus and I squatted behind a thick bush and peered through the gaps in the leaves. Watching. Waiting. I wanted to charge in and demand her head, but what if he destroyed it in the process? If that was even possible with a vampire’s head. Why hadn’t I asked Maximus more questions on our journey? We had spoken little since that first day. Was Maximus keeping a distance for a reason or did he hate werewolves as much as everyone kept telling me vampires did? Maximus was a question to think about another time.

Right now, we had to focus on Silas.

We stayed still for so long my muscles cramped from our stationary position.

“He’s not coming out soon,” I whispered.

“Doesn’t look like it.” Maximus’s mouth firmed into a tight line, but the tips of his white fangs peeked through his lips.

“We need a plan. I’d never met Silas before until the night he took Isabel’s head. I’ve never met a warlock either. What doI need to know?”

“You go in first. Grab his hands otherwise, he’ll be able to cast spells. I’ll find Isabel’s head while you keep him occupied.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s your plan. Isn’t he evil? Won’t he have booby traps?”

His lips twitched at the corners. “I guess you read books?”

“What…oh, never mind. Let’s get Isabel’s head.” I crept around the bush and sneaked up to the cottage.

Maximus followed behind me as we approached the door, he ducked to the left hiding his presence. I placed my hand on the doorknob and tried to open it, but it was locked. I shook my head at Maximus. He mimed knocking. I rolled my eyes. As if Silas would open the door out here in the middle of the forest with no one around. I crept to the window beside the door, wrenching back my fist, I slammed it forward into the glass sending a spray of shattered particles inside. A bright orange ball of magic flew through the hole in the glass. I ducked before it slammed into me.

The door burst open. Silas stood in the doorway, his hands glowing orange as he built more magic in his hands. Shit. Why didn’t Maximus tell me he could shoot magic from his hands? I ducked the next orange ball and charged Silas. My shoulder slammed into his chest knocking the air from his lungs. He grunted as our bodies fell to the floor. We wrestled in a mad scramble of limbs. His hands glowed again, but I rolled us over diverting the bolt of magic coming from Silas. My chest heaved as I fought with him. He was stronger than he looked. Finally, I got my hands around his wrists and pinned them over his head while straddling his body.

He writhed in my grasp. “Who are you?”

“None of your business.”

“What did I ever doto the werewolves?”

“I don’t know.”

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