Chapter 28

The beginning of my nightmare.



My blood turned to ice as I blinked twice staring at Craig with the desire to smash his pretty face with my fists. My breathing became even more laboured but I knew he was playing a game with me. Dad was in London, he wouldn’t just leave without telling me first, but now I wasn’t so sure because it had been days since I’d spoken to him.
"I don’t believe you. Kelsie isn’t coming here, I didn't call anyone."
"Are you sure about that, Smarty? You haven’t been yourself for the past few hours. Don’t you remember when you talked to her in the car?"
My heart pounded wildly in my chest and cold sweat covered my entire body. Craig was right: I couldn’t remember anything after Jasper was attacked. It was just before he tried to make a deal with that magic thief.
"Okay, fine, I’ll talk to Kelsie, but my mother has nothing to do with this. She doesn't need to be involved."
Craig yawned, then threw his cigarette on the floor.
"Excuse me for a sec."
As soon as he was out of my sight, I tried to search my memory for the right spell. I pulled and pulled but only cut circulation to my fingers. Whatever spell that bastard used was powerful and I had no idea how to get myself out of this mess.
Then my heart leapt twice, and I stopped moving because I heard someone at the door. It was time to forget about magic and start screaming. However, Craig anticipated my next move because he stuck a cloth in my mouth and rushed towards the door. I tried to scream but soon realised that I was only gagging myself making muffled noises. Then I thought my heart would give out because Kelsie and my mother entered the living room.
They were laughing but they stopped as soon as they saw me.
"Julia, what is—"
Mum didn't finish because she was hit from the back with her favourite Moroccan vase and crashed to the floor. I screamed, or at least tried to scream but only mumbled cries escaped my mouth.
Kelsie jerked backwards and went pale as soon as she saw Craig standing by my mother. His eyes changed shape and turned into yellow flames.
"Hello, whore, we’ve been waiting for you," Craig snarled lifting my mother into his arms. I pushed myself with fury, trying to move at least an inch but the magic tied me up and I was helpless.
"Craig, what the fuck are you doing here? Let the woman go," Kelsie barked as her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The whole house trembled, and Kelsie’s body went rigid. It was clear she was just about to shift, and I wished that she could turn into a monster and crush Craig once and for all. Soft wind scattered papers across the table and every small hair on my body stood on end as I called out for my magic, but it was useless.
"I wouldn’t do that if were you, wolfy, or I might accidentally kill this lovely lady, who just so happens to be the mum of your best friend, here," Craig shouted, grabbing my mother by her hair, dipping the knife to her throat; she was still unconscious. From that moment, my whole world came crashing down, and I fought hard to break the spell but whoever used their magic on me was an expert.
Kelsie hesitated but her yellow eyes still glowed; she glanced at me watching as I furiously tried to free myself from the spell. Craig looked like a mean motherfucker and my mum was going to be dead in a second if Kelsie didn’t calm down.
She was breathing so hard that I thought she was shifting, her face flushed, and her eyes went wide. A moment later she stopped shaking and her eyes went back to their normal colour. Kelsie was a full-blooded shifter, but she couldn't possibly think she could take on Craig alone.
"Fine, I'm not shifting. Let’s go, it’s obvious that you want me. Julia and her mother don’t need to be involved."
Craig pushed a chair towards her with his foot.
"Sit down and shut up!" he ordered. Tears were streaming down my face as I watched how he left my mother and secured Kelsie’s hands behind her. He was working fast, not giving her any time to even consider attacking him.
"Fuck! Just tell me what the hell you want, Craig! You have no business being here!" Kelsie continued shouting. Craig laughed brushing his brown hair, stretching his arms over his head. He approached me and removed the cloth from my mouth. My stomach heaved but I swallowed hard, breathing like there wasn’t enough oxygen around me.
"Girls, girls there’s no point fighting," he said circling around me. "I'm here for Julia. Unfortunately, I’ve been lied to. I was the supposed to be the last dark leader."
"Oh, please, don’t make me laugh. You can't even take care of your own people," Kelsie said laughing. Craig roared kicking a box on the floor with my mother’s needling items before he took Kelsie’s face in his hands squeezing hard.
"I'm here for her, to show the master that he can't fuck with me. When I kill her I’ll get what I want."
He pushed her away laughing. Kelsie looked startled and equally confused as I was then. I tried to concentrate on my mother, who still wasn’t moving. Dad was going to be here any minute, our connection was deep, and he sensed when I was in danger, I just needed to let him know.
"Take what you want—money—anything. My father has a safe in the back, it’s—"
"Are you fucking kidding, you useless bitch?" he asked walking towards me. His eyes were crazy, but I held his gaze not allowing him to intimidate me. This wasn’t the first dangerous situation I’d found myself in. "Do you remember the first time you killed someone? When you followed her to her home and then tricked her into going back to that factory before stabbing her?"
Craig’s questions inflamed my anxiety. I rubbed my tied hands behind me and glanced at Kelsie, who looked equally surprised that he knew about Jennifer and her co-worker. My throat went dry and I tried not to show any emotion, but my mind stopped functioning.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about," I said as calmly as I could. Craig didn't like my response, so he smashed another vase on the floor.
“Don't lie to me, you cunt!" he roared. "You didn't even know what you were doing. I saw you killing that dark-haired paranormal. At first, I thought you were too weak, too fragile to do it, but you stabbed her a few times before making sure she was dead."
I tried to block Craig's voice, telling myself that he was wrong. My blood ran cold, but I fought with those shattering memories, the joy that filed me up when I checked Jennifer’s pulse. Some of the memories were faint; I only had pieces in my mind.
“Don't listen to him, Julia. He’s lying, manipulating you to believe him," Kelsie shouted but then Craig hit her so hard she must have blacked out for a good few seconds. Blood began dripping from her mouth.
"You see what you made me do?" he growled, massaging his hands as his eyes changed to a bright yellow colour.
"Why are you doing this? I haven’t done anything to you. Kelsie left and started a new life in London. I might have killed those women, but those crimes have nothing to do with you. If you let me go, you can still come out of this unscathed."
Kelsie was coming back to herself, moaning loudly. I concentrated hard, talking to my magic, knowing I could bring it back. I was more powerful than him. Then Craig started laughing but there was no warmth in his laugh, just pure evil.
"He promised me the position of dark leader, he said that as long as I followed the rules he would keep his word. Last night I realised that I was just a puppet. He taught me a spell that causes disconnection between the body and mind."
Craig was talking loudly to himself; he wasn’t making much sense, but I listened thinking his mumbling would give me some indication of why I was here. It was obvious that he wanted Kelsie, but I didn't understand how he knew about my mother’s house, or about the murders.
"He said I could use the whore. I needed her to establish my position as a leader. The whore would do anything for that stupid half breed. He promised if I let her believe that she committed those crimes, then the whore would be mine. All the evidence pointed to the half breed. She was easy to control, easily manipulated, to believe that she’d done it."
I couldn't breathe, my chest felt tight and all the blood drained from my face. For some reason Craig was disconnected from reality—with what was happening now—but I understood what he was saying and all at once, my memories returned. In an instant I understood everything. Craig was the one who was behind all the murders. He used the spell to gain control of me, to make me believe that I’d blacked out. The first time he made me hurt Quentin, but that was just a trial to see how far he could go.
Then he was in my apartment using magic to make me leave and make it look like it was me who hurt Jennifer. His orders were in my head all the time, but he was the one who attacked Jennifer. He lured her to Nathaniel’s factory and then stabbed her multiple times until she wasn’t moving.
"I was watching the half breed all the time, the whore helped her. They were talking to that other mermaid. She’d have recognisd me, so I had to get rid of her. The master didn't know that I used his spell on her again, but it needed to be done. The girl would have talked."
My memories continued coming back to me. Craig killed Jennifer’s co-worker using the same method; he made me blackout, implanting new memories, making me believe that I was the killer.
Kelsie lifted her head moaning louder, which caught Craig’s attention. Even though my magic now seemed absent, misused, I felt that he was drained. He used dark magic, forbidden spells, and they were eating him alive. Kelsie looked at me, half of her face was covered with blood, but she was lucid, alerted as to what was happening.
"Craig, baby, it’s all right. Let Julia go. We should talk about this," she said staring at her ex, who was still talking to himself.
"Shut up, whore. You were supposed to rule with me. It was an easy blackmail. I had everything planned, evidence that she killed those women. He just wanted to see if the half breed was powerful enough. Then everything spun out of control and he refused to feed me with more power. Once I kill the half breed, I won’t need the master. Her power will give me enough strength."
Kelsie looked at me confused, and I understood why she wasn't understanding what Craig was talking about.
"He’s under influence of dark magic, so he won’t listen to you, Kel," I said fighting with everything I had to push through the potion. Dad’s magic surrounded this house and I could feel it in my bones, but whatever potion Craig forced me to drink was making it impossible to do anything. I kept wondering about what master he was talking about. Someone helped him put me in this position. Jasper was the only wizard who was around dark magic, but now he was probably dying somewhere surrounded by magic thieves.
"Shut your mouth, half breed! You’re going to die tonight!" he shouted, rushing toward Kelsie, muttering something to himself. I tried to push my hands, fighting with that spell but I was only making the bruises worse, hurting myself. "Get up and grab the this!"
As soon as Kelsie was freed her eyes began to glow with yellow light. Craig must have noticed because he said:
"One wrong move, and that human is dead. I know how to kill, we both know that." He squeezed my mother’s neck. I had a feeling that Kelsie understood him. She shot me a fearful look assessing the situation, approaching a yellow canister.
"Now, I want you to splash what’s inside the canister around the whole house," he ordered her. My heart gave me a smack in the chest and I started to pray, because I already knew Craig had brought petrol with him.
Kelsie’s hand was shaking as she lifted the canister. My mind spun because I knew my nightmare was just about to begin. Craig was planning to start a fire inside my parents’ home. For a second, I couldn't breathe or move. Fear attacked me like a beast, sending a long cold chill down my spine.
Kelsie lifted the canister going pale, undoubtedly smelling petrol.
"Craig, come on let’s talk about it, baby," she pressed, but then Craig tightened his hands around my mother’s neck and I thought I was going to explode.
"Do what he says, Kelsie," I said swallowing back tears. My friend started moving around the room splashing petrol all over the house, covering the floors and furniture. The clock was ticking but my body wasn’t responding, the absence of my energy was making me nauseous.
My mother lay on the floor unaware of what was happening to her. I heard splashes of that deadly liquid and a strong smell that enchanted my childhood home. Craig decided to start the fire in the living room, which separated the kitchen with a white wooden door. I only had a few minutes to figure out how to make it out of there alive.
I fought, squeezing every muscle I had, calling up my energy. Sweat gathered on my forehead as I closed my eyes, imaging Craig dead, and that Kelsie, Mum and I were going to be fine.
"Everywhere—make sure that you spread it evenly."
I tried to block out what Kelsie said, remembering that evening in the agency, when I nearly burned to death because of Jennifer. I kept telling myself It was just a dream. Those dreams never come true.
Kelsie was in the hallway and when she came back I started sobbing, feeling hopeless. My excess magic refused to be awakened. Craig grabbed Kelsie darting his eyes around.
"We’re leaving now. I'm doing this to prove my point, to show the master that he shouldn’t have dismissed me like that."
I roared with frustration feeling tingling in the back of my neck, but nothing happened. I was simply a human, lost within my own body.
Kelsie was going to shift but Craig sensed what she was up to and hit her. I roared trying to get up as he lit up a single match standing by the door.
“It's time for you to die," he whispered. Then everything started moving in a slow motion. I watched as the match fell to the floor. Craig was rushing towards the door dragging Kelsie behind him. She opened her mouth shouting as he was pushing her. Time stopped as I roared calling up my source, praying for it to appear. In that split second, I didn't think about the potion, because I wanted to live.