Summer Cursed

Chapter Twenty-One

The rest of the night was full of pack business. They bombarded us with questions, accusations, and pleas for help. We spent the next few hours cleaning up after the attack, comforting the bereaved, and helping the wounded, including Isaac’s mom. Thankfully, she had healed and had gone home to rest.

We hadn’t told her about them taking Isaac yet. She’d been through enough, and we weren’t sure what was going on with him just yet anyway.

But all I could think about was Isaac and whether he was dead or alive. Suffering at the hands of Stella or her men, or maybe he was killing them all as I thought about him.

As Liam finished up, I wandered over to the lake on the edge of the property. I thought about praying to Artemis. You know, on the off chance she was real and didn’t actually have it out for me, but the moon wouldn’t be full for another week or so. Praying to the Vinur seemed silly since I was pretty sure he didn’t exist, and even if he did, he wasn’t a God so…

I stood staring at the moon’s reflection in the water, planning all the ways I would make Stella suffer.

That’s a normal reaction to having your best friend attacked and kidnapped by your former mutual friend, right?

I sensed Liam approach but didn’t turn around. He stood beside me without saying a word. We stood there for a long while until our phones disturbed the peace.

Fear slithered its way through me. We’d both gotten the text at the same time. It couldn’t be good.

“Phil?” I called and waited for him to make his way over to us. “Did you just get a text?”

“Yes.”

My stomach clenched. All three of us. “It’s got to be her.” I pulled my phone from my pocket and nearly crushed it when I saw the text.

It was a picture of Isaac tied up on her board, bloodied and unconscious. They had pulled his arms and legs unnaturally far apart, and his head hung forward.

A few seconds later another text came through.

If you want him to live, you’ll come to the Cullum house.

I looked at Liam. “The Cullum house?”

“I know where it is.”

“Okay, let’s go.” I looked at Philip. He was naked and covered in Stella’s wolves’ blood. “No point in you getting cleaned up just to get covered in blood again.”

Another text came through. This time on my phone only. It was another picture of Isaac. He was bloodier and awake. A sense of relief washed over me when I saw his expression was full of hatred and not pain. But seeing his blood made mine boil.

“When we get there, she’s mine. Neither of you will touch her.”

Half an hour later we pulled up to a large, crumbling stone house.

“What the hell? Was this a plantation?” I asked as we grabbed the swords we’d borrowed from the Cabin.

“Yes, it was before the Civil War. The Union destroyed it along with many others throughout the south,” Philip explained as we made our way up to the opening that once held a door.

Philip froze, his features changing slightly as he sniffed the air. “Vampire.”

“Very good, Philip,” a disembodied voice said.

“Cybil,” Philip hissed in the voice’s direction. His fangs extended and his features shifted a little more. Unlike some movies, the vampier he got, the more attractive he became.

From Liam’s reaction, Cybil was the one who had turned Philip. “Uh, Liam,” I said, “refresh my memory… How do I kill a vampire?”

“Oh, honey, you won’t kill me,” Cybil said from wherever she was hiding. “But maybe you can try with my babies.”

“Babies?” I muttered as a swarm of vampires charged us from the dark corners.

“Use this,” Liam said, throwing me a knife with a wavy blade. I had no idea where he’d gotten it from, but I wasn’t complaining. “Through the heart or eye.”