together for him. An explanation of why I am immune to his vampire abilities at last presenting itself.
“Excuse me,” Antonia interjects. “Did I just hear you correctly? Am I to believe that this girl is one of the power blooded females?”
“True indeed, fair Governess,” Theodore answers, with false sincerity and an even falser smile. “But you can wipe that hungry expression off your greedy face,” he continues. “I discovered her, therefore she belongs to me now.”
“She belongs to nobody but herself,” Ethan spits, and his words surprise me. He had never struck me as the type to value the free will of the women he wanted to bed. He’d actually said some fairly sexist things to me in the past. Although the circumstances had been unusual, I’ll give him that. But even more surprising is the fact that he doesn’t claim ownership of me the way Theodore does in relation to my blood. I had thought Ethan would be the first to want to feed from me and gain access to a life in the sun. Apparently I’d been wrong. Apparently he is actually quite valiant, and views me as a person rather than a necessary food source.
“Well, well, what is this now?” Theodore asks in vicious amusement. “A blood drinker with a sense of justice and nobility?” and then he gives Delilah’s hair another yank for his own personal enjoyment. What a bitch.
Before I can hear Ethan’s response I crawl back under to see if Rita is making any kind of headway.
“Tegan, come quick,” she says when she sees me approach. “We need you here to create the circle.”
I know it’s not a time for playful comments, but I can’t seem to help myself. “What, you can’t do it by yourself?” I grin and then make a “tut tut” sound with my tongue. “My mother could after all, you really are slacking Rita.”
She only bumps me with her shoulder and tells me to shut up, then says, “What your mum did shouldn’t be possible, but don’t worry, I intend to look into it as soon as all of this life and death stuff blows over, happy?” she finishes.
“Yeah sure, let’s get this over and done with.”
Rita instructs Gabriel to pour my blood into the large bowl in the centre of the wooden board only when she tells him to. He nods and places the vial in front of him, within arm’s reach. Then she holds both of our hands, Gabriel takes my other hand in his.
Rita begins speaking rapidly in a foreign language that I don’t recognise at first. It takes me a minute before I realise it’s Latin. I won’t even venture to repeat Rita’s invocation, it is far too complicated for my dim, non-linguistic mind. The only word I can make out is Theodore’s name sprinkled here and there. I hadn’t expected Rita to be quite so educated. The girl just keeps continuing to surprise me. This spell is nothing like the one she’d cast before, instead of swirling, the concoction in the bowl begins to pop and crackle, sparks fly out of it and I’m nervous of them hitting me in the face.
I almost let go of Gabriel’s hand in fright when a spark flies over my shoulder, but he feels my grip loosen and holds tighter onto my hand so that I don’t inadvertently break the circle and completely ruin the spell. One more sentence leaves Rita’s lips, and this time I am confident enough to repeat it correctly.
She raises her head up to meet both mine and Gabriel’s eyes, and then says loudly. “Aperiesque ostium inferni dimensionem and you shall open the door to the dimension of hell.”
Then she signals for Gabriel to pour my blood into the bowl, he lifts up the vial and does so, thereby completing the spell. The three of us sit there and stare at each other for several moments, but it doesn’t feel like anything has changed. It certainly doesn’t feel like the door to a hell dimension has been opened. The three of us crawl out from under the platform, and I feel a certain sense of satisfaction that I have well and truly ruined Theodore’s evening gown. It’s got grass and mud stains all over it.
When we emerge Theodore still has Delilah gripped by the hair, and he is speaking with Antonia now, who has stepped up closer to him. No doubt she is trying to make some deal about me. I’d wanted to plunge a stake into her the moment I saw the way her eyes lit up when Theodore told everyone what I am. Unfortunately, Theodore doesn’t fail to see me this time as I step out from under the big wheel with Rita and Gabriel. Rita looks up into the sky all around, most likely wondering where on earth her door has gotten to. Oh God, I really do hope that the spell worked.
“Ah, my human was not taken after all,” Theodore smiles. “Come here Tegan, so that I may return this wench to her rightful owners.”
“Don’t go near him,” Ethan says to me, his eyes meeting mine for a second. I am almost fond of him right now, as I remember the way he’d defended me.
Oh, I have absolutely no intention of going anywhere near Theodore, so I step back to stand behind Gabriel. Theodore’s eyes flash purple again, I can see it even though I’m far away. I brace myself, anticipating being transported to some other place again like before. But nothing happens. It’s only when I see the others’ eyes go wide in shock as they stare at the space just behind me that I realise there is something there. I just really, really don’t want to look.
However I don’t need to look, because when I smell the salt and seaweed I know that the monstrous crow is standing behind me, waiting to lift me up with its enormous talons again. It clutches me around the waist, and I feel so minuscule in comparison to those claws that cut into the dress I’m wearing. It all happens so fast, and just as the bird readies itself for flight, Ethan comes zooming by with his vampire speed, raises his sword and chops the crow’s claw clean off. I drop to the ground with the disembodied claw still tight around me, blood sprays all over me and the horrible filthy nails dig into my skin. I’m definitely going to have to get a shot for rabies if I ever survive this night.
The crow squeals and caws in pain and anger, and begins to frantically flap its wings. I lie still on the ground, unable to bring myself to touch the dead claw that’s wrapped around me. The bird dives for Ethan, snapping at him and trying to draw blood. Ethan punches it square in the beak with his fist that seems to be made from steel, he pulls his hand back without even a bruise. The crow retreats and I can now see that Ethan had bashed its entire face in.
“Are you hurt?” Ethan asks, as he flings the dead claw off me without too much effort.
I am about to answer when I see something big and gaping form several feet above Theodore’s head. At first I think, Oh please no, not another of his monsters, but then I realise that Theodore has no clue that there’s a giant hole hovering above him.
Rita’s doorway finally came through.
Chapter Nineteen
Like Father Like Daughter – Maybe
Out of everybody present, Rita seems the most surprised to find that her spell worked. Disbelief colours her expression as she slowly walks toward the hole in the sky that she created. Finally, Theodore turns around to see what everybody is looking at, and I would love to be able to see his face right now, but I can’t since his back is to me. His sense of power and control must be shattering before his very eyes.
He puts his hand out, it is curled into a fist except for the baby finger. He points it at the hole and quite calmly says, “Close” – but the door doesn’t close, and this appears to take him off guard. He whips back around to glare at us. Rita is now standing directly in front of him and he seems to realise that she is the one responsible for the dimensional door, as his cold eyes cut into her.
It is at this moment that something comes to me. When I’d thought that Theodore reminded me of somebody before I couldn’t put my finger on who it was. But now I know. It’s Rita. They have the same eyes, except for the fact that Rita’s hold life and vitality, while Theodore’s contain nothing but malevolence and concentrated magic.
And then I recall something else. That time when I’d been in Rita’s house and Alvie had confided in me, theorising that Rita is perhaps so good with spells because her unknown father was a warlock. Or a Sorcerer even. No, it couldn’t be. The resemblance is surely a coincidence.