Chapter 50

A flash of heat surged through Lynda. Her neck stung. And her mouth tasted like she'd licked a copper penny. Grogginess clung to her as she forced her eyes open.

Grace, one of the witches along with Pierre frowned down at her. She held a green vial with swirling liquid inside which she quickly put a stopper in and pocketed. “Good, my emergency healing potion I bought still works.”

“Wha—?” Why did it hurt so much to talk? Then she remembered Mihnea attacking her, and she flinched. Why did he attack her? What happened that made him do that?

“Easy, you're okay,” Pierre said.

Were Mihnea and Andrei all right? Had Andrei woken up from his coma? She glanced behind Pierre and found Andrei still in the same position on the cot as before but the glow around him had faded.

“Wher—” she croaked out again.

“No change with Andrei.” Pierre stepped back for her to see. “And my other brother is being given bags of blood to try and steep the magical spell that caused him to go into full blood-rage.”

Grace placed a hand on Lynda's arm. “I can see the questions on your face. When you tried to heal Andrei, it triggered a spell hidden inside him that none of the healers had seen.”

Leave it to her to trip over something that others hadn't noticed. She bit her lip staring at Andrei's unmoving body. Or had it been planted in him just for her?

“You said Andrei was brought here and that rogue witches had done this to him.”

“Yes, that's right.” Grace nodded.

“Where was he found?”

“I'm not sure.”

“What are you thinking, love?” Pierre asked.

“That this was planned. Someone who knows I have magic, but not how to use it.” Lynda faced Grace. “Can you find out where he was found, please?”

Grace dry-washed her hands. “Yes, I'll find out, but the council has been waiting patiently for you to address them and answer what happened with the building collapse and the resurrection of the dead bodies.”

All but one. Lynda shuddered, remembering the headless corpse. Even though everyone was now alive except one vampire, guilt still plagued her. She never would've tried to practice her magic and light a flame if she knew the repercussions of what it would reap. And now it was too late.

“Sorry that the council has had to wait so long.” She hadn't planned on not being able to heal Andrei from the magical-induced coma. After thirteen witches had healed her, she felt like she could do nearly anything including waking Andrei up.

And she'd wanted to stand in front of the elders with all three of her men.

“Will Mihnea be ready to join us soon?” she asked. Hopeful that whatever trap she'd opened wasn't more than the witches here could fix. She needed a crash course in how to use her magic or simply plug into the Matrix like in the movie and learn everything in seconds.

“I'm afraid not.” Grace paled. “The amount of blood he's going through to keep him calm is frightening everyone here.”

“Then teach me how to use my magic and heal him.” Lynda had resurrected dead people including a little boy. Healing a vampire shouldn't be so hard.

“Impossible.” A man with a bald head and grey and orange goatee marched down the hallway toward them. “Healing is a specialized skill. Few have it and it takes them a decade to do simple spells like minding scraps and cuts. The more advanced users can fix broken bones, remove an appendix without excess bleeding or even cutting the individual.”

“All right, so let's get one of the advanced healers up here to turn Mihnea back to normal and wake up Andrei.” Lynda placed her hands on her hips. Witches and Vampires held an uneasy relationship. Like oil and water, they didn't mix well. She never understood why until she found out about her ancestor, Ekaterina and how she originally created vampirism to aid Vlad the Impaler. Like a typical jerk, he betrayed her and she twisted her gift into a curse causing vampires to fry in the sun and all the limits of their power.

“What both of your vampires suffer from,” the man answered, “is not a simple appendicitis or broken leg. One of the brain surgeons who performs magic wouldn't be able to help. It would take a specialist.”

“Who?” Lynda asked.

“I'm afraid I can't answer that.”

Pierre stomped up to the man. “Can't or won't?”

“It doesn't matter.” Grace pulled on Lynda's arm. “We have to get her to the council before they rule her guilty and strip her magic from her.”

“Answer Pierre’s question.” She had to know.

“I can’t answer who would be able to help because honestly, I don’t know myself.” Grace ran a hand down her face. “But even if I did know, I couldn’t tell you without the council’s permission. They have a gag spell in place not to reveal other witches or their powers until you, in this case, have been approved to have that knowledge.”

All these rules and regulations. What would they do to me and my magic? If I don't have this power then I can't hurt anyone ever again. But then I can't help either. “What’s involved to take away my magic?” Not that she'd be able to fight as a normal person against Dracula. But if they could make him see reason, give back the data he stole, and have Andrei and Mihnea back to normal, then she'd consider giving up her abilities.

The man stared at Grace, then shook his head. “You haven't told her, have you?”

Damn, these witches were just as complex as their spells.

“Tell her now or I might grow thirsty like my brother.” Pierre grinned. His eyes held a tinge of red and black in them.

How long had it been since he fed?

“Grace let's get a couple of blood bags for Pierre while you tell me about the magical removal ritual.”

Grace nodded and her mouth grew in a thin line. “Why don't we get you something to drink as well? I know you received healing, but when was the last time you've eaten?”

“I am hungry.” Last she ate was the sandwich and protein shake before Natasha took her blood to test if how much was needed to cure the vamp-zombies. Then after Lynda had accidentally destroyed the building with magic, she'd thrown up and hadn't eaten since. As much as she wondered about the council and what they wanted, how they'd remove her magic, and about Andrei and now Mihnea...she needed to keep her strength. What if Mihnea needed her blood, but she was too weak from everything to give him any? Would that also help Andrei?

“Guess the elders are already fuming,” Grace shrugged, “but I don’t want you passing out either. How about an apple on the way?”

“Thanks. I really appreciate you helping me so much.” She smiled.

“This way. We'll grab you one from the kitchens.” Grace led her down the hallway.

“If the council blames you for me being tardy, I'll just tell them I bewitched you into feeding me.”

Grace let out a chuckle. “Believe me, many of the elders have little to no sense of humor.”

“Then I'm not too sorry about making them wait a bit more.”

In the kitchen, Grace tossed her a huge, red apple. Lynda took a massive bite and followed Grace back out into the hallway.

Maybe she could glean some information about healing from Grace then use that to help Mihnea and Andrei. “So, do you all take classes or anything? Like how to heal with your power without causing more damage?”

“My element of power is fire, but I’ve never tried to heal anyone before. I’d worry that I’d catch them on fire or make them explode from the inside out. With magic, a little can make the difference. Like when you need to hammer a nail into plywood, you'd use a lighter stroke than say putting a nail into a tree.”

“That makes sense, I guess. But if you've never held a hammer before or hit a nail into anything, how would you know what to do?” Like Lynda was still getting used to the idea of having magic at all much less using it effectively. So far, she’d caused more harm than good…except when she resurrected the undead vampires that had died during the building she accidentally brought down.

Grace furrowed her brow as she considered. “That's an excellent question. I'm not sure how you'd start.”

“So tell me about the magical removal process. What happens exactly?” Lynda took another bite of her apple. She wanted two more, but this would get her by for a bit. Hopefully, the council meeting wouldn’t take hours or anything.

Grace paused at a crossroads in the castle, then took the left path.

“Is the process hard...I mean to remove the magic?”

“Depends on how strong the power is in the person.” She whispered, “For some, it can be painful. Like having your legs amputated.”

Pain was not something Lynda wanted to have to deal with. “What about if the council buffered the magic?”

Grace frowned, her brow pinching. “Meaning what?”

“Like a partial removal. A subduing of the magic.” So that I can still protect myself and the princes but not crumble a building.

“I-I don't know how that would be possible, but I'm not an elder.” She shook her head. “As I said, I’ve never healed anyone or tried.”

Would that be something the elders would be willing to try? Or would they want to remove all the power to keep everyone safe?