Page 80 of Monster's Delight

“I don’t know what you did to change the spell. It should have worked. It should have severed your bond to him.” Victoria laughed a high, thin chuckle. “Well, it would have exploded, since your little boyfriend was chewing mint. It might have taken out both of you! Who knows?”

I swallowed hard, feeling one of her long fingernails pressed against my neck. “How did you kill her?”

“She was nervous about the spell. She’d studied everything she could about disjunction magic. Used my thesis for most of it. But this spell was the first time it had ever been attempted. She wanted me there for her. Formoral support,” she spat. “I gave her gum to help calm her nerves. She’d forgotten, or didn’t know, about the potential interaction.”

“Why couldn’t you have just let her go through with the severing?” I asked. “Why did you have to kill her? She would have lived with her husband, raising their son, maybe even had more children—”

“Weren’t you listening?” Ms. Carlisle hissed. “Ihatedher. I wanted her job. I wanted Declan to suffer for not wanting me. I wanted hergone!”

A tear leaked out of my eye. “How can anyone hate someone that much? Why didn’t you talk to someone about this?” I released the spell that held Mr. Brecken captive. He didn’t deserve to be frozen like that, not when he’d done nothing wrong.

“Who would have talked to me? I’m a vampire, child. I don’t have a heart. And you won’t have yours for much longer!”

Before I could figure out whether she meant to rip it out of my chest or turn me into a vampire like her, her body froze in position.

I winked at Aiden. “Nice spellwork,” I told him.

“Wasn’t me,” he said, and pointed to someone over my shoulder.

It took a moment to extricate myself from her grip without accidentally cutting myself on one of her talons, but I managed it.

“I’m sorry,” Mr. Brecken sobbed. He was on the floor again, bent over his knees. “I’d thought... I’d thought...” He broke down.

I walked over to him and hugged him. “You thought you’d done something to cause Bridget’s death,” I said softly.

He could only nod, tears and snot streaming down his face.

It was disgusting. I did a quick clean of my clothing and hair, in case any had gotten on me. “It’s not your fault and it’s not Grandfather’s fault.” I stared up at Professor Dunlop and Aiden, who were hovering. “Oh my God, we need to contact Grandfather!” I exclaimed.

“Would you like to use my mirror?” Professor Dunlop offered. “I need to bring this vampire to justice, and that will take a while.”

“No, no, I have my own, thank you.” I looked up the stairs at Hazel’s ashen face. “And I have some explaining to do.”

“Very well.”

“Thank you for saving me,” I told him.

“Thank our librarian,” Professor Dunlop said with a smile. “I haven’t seen spellwork that precise in ages.” He waved a hand at the ex-academic advisor and she started floating next to him as he made for the main doors. He paused suddenly. “You know I didn’t mean those horrible things I said about you being with a monster, right? I think witches are valuable members of society, and if a monster and a witch are soul bound, no one should get between them. It is fate and destiny.”

I laughed. “Thank you for being clear about your stance. I never believed your words even for a moment, although you were a little scary.”

“Ah, well. I must use my acting skills every once in a while. I don’t want to get rusty!” Professor Dunlop winked. “Remember me to Declan, will you? I think it’s high time that we reconnected.”

“I will.” After he left, I turned back to the librarian. “Thank you for saving me,” I repeated, to the correct person this time. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“I think you need to take some self-defense classes next semester,” Aiden said. “I almost lost you.”

“You wouldn’t want me if I was a vampire?” I asked him.

“I’m not sure that was her intention,” he replied sourly.

“I think, to avoid nightmares, I’m going to pretend that it was,” I said, trying not to think about it too hard. “Let’s go up to my room. I need to contact Grandfather. Hazel can hear the whole story then.”

“What about the mess?” Aiden asked.

“I’ll take care of cleaning up everything down here,” Mr. Brecken said. “You kids go relax.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, concerned.

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