WitchsSpell3

She slid her gaze to where the robed Vega knelt in prayer beside her. Ever the showman, he had commissioned a special dais on wheels. With it, he laid his hands on the damned in mock mercy and rolled away before the flames were lit.

“Amen.” The priest broke the silence.

Vega’s final word shot adrenalin through Isabel’s body. Her tongue rubbed the wolf’s fang hidden in her mouth as she searched the square for any sign of Carlos.

Nothing stirred.

Despair stung her throat as her plan fell apart. Only vengeance remained. Its original purpose denied, the deadly fang could take Vega’s life as well as a sword. Death waited for her in the hands of the guards, but at least the monster perished with her.

Breath filled her lungs as she prepared for her last act on earth.

A severed arm, covered in the fine red velvet, sailed past her head.

Vega’s face went ashen. “Your demon will not stop me, you witch.” The priest reached into his robe producing a gleaming dagger.

Galvanized, she shook free of the ropes and ducked clumsily as he lunged. His blade sank into the wooden stake.

“Isabel. I’m here.” Carlos hobbled up the steps to her side ignoring the cardinal trying to free his knife. “The tooth. Do you still have it?”

She spit it into her hand. “Your sword? Where is your sword?” They had hidden it so carefully in her garden lest it be taken from him when the Inquisition came for her.

“Lodged deep in the first guard’s gut, I’m afraid.” Carlos pulled her into his arms. “But we don’t need it. Look around my love.”

She tilted her head away from her lover and saw for the first time the wolf creature that had made Vega panic. It stood on upright legs towering over the only man still standing. With a single sweep of its clawed hand, the guard’s head left his body and arced into the sky.

The Beast.

Stories told of the werewolf’s monstrous form, but Isabel had never witnessed the creature. A perfect killer.

Determination gripped her anew. All was not lost. Still, Isabel wanted Vega’s life for her spell. As if sensing her thought, the great Beast jumped to the platform and reached for the petrified man.

“Make this one hurt, Koltis.” Isabel commanded. The werewolf plunged his claw into Vega’s chest. Isabel looked the dying man in the eyes. “For the innocents who fed your bloodlust. Now you will feed mine.”

“The spell.” Carlos grabbed her and pushed Isabel’s fang to his chest. “Let us finish this now while his blood still flows to feed the magic.” He produced his fang and pointed its deadly tip at her heart.

Together they started the ritual, the spell’s chant memorized perfectly. Each word uttered with more difficulty as Carlos plunged the tooth deeper into her chest. Unbearable pain gripped her, and yet, a supernatural force kept her upright. Kept her chanting. The magic of a thousand years guided her hand as she pushed the fang into her lover’s chest leaving a bloodless wound.

Blackness descended and the physical world abandoned her. Isabel grasped at darkness, her feet kicking in a vain attempt to find solid ground. “Carlos!” Oh, goddess, she had failed him. They were lost to each other.