Page 73 of Silver Claw

I might not have magic, but the wand sure did. Awful magic, true, but magic. And right now, I needed that. I wouldn’t dwell on the fact that the wand needed Lennon powering it to make it more than a pretty but battered little stick. Because of the witchwolf’s lingering power, it should at least be able to stake a vampire spirit.

Then I could suck him into the trap, put him away, and let him quietly fade into oblivion. Sort of like what he was doing to Mila.

“What do you see?” her mother whispered when I stood there silently staring a little too long. “Can you help her?”

I still didn’t want to alert the vampire, so I gave her what I hoped was a comforting smile over my shoulder and nodded. Then I put a finger to my lips.

Her eyes widened and she stepped closer to her husband. He put his arm around her, and they gazed at Mila, waiting. Hoping.

“Keith,” I murmured. “Get your little dog.”

He did, immediately.

Joe took another step toward the foot of the bed, his stare intense. He watched Mila too, but I didn’t think he was reallyseeing her. He was feeling the vampire, even if he didn’t know exactly what he was feeling.

He’d be affected by the news of a vampire afterlife, too.

I tossed what was left of the salt to Joe. “If any of it gets disturbed, refresh it.”

“Got it,” he replied.

And then, carrying the wand and the trap, I walked once again around the bed and sat down behind the ghost.

It felt like the whole house was holding its breath. There was a heaviness in the room, the heaviness of darkness smothering all the light, and it was tenacious, determined, and old.

But maybe, just maybe, I could handle him before he became aware and fought me.

With the trap in one hand, ready to suck the bastard to hell, I slid the wand across the bed and positioned it at his back. Not touching him, not yet.

I needed to center myself.

I put my stare on the gaping hole in his back. That was where I’d stake him. And as he yanked himself away from Mila and writhed in what I hoped would be severe agony, I’d shove the trap against his head. It would vacuum up the trash, freeing the child.

It took me a second to react when he flipped open his eyes, ripped his teeth from his chosen human’s neck, and flew into the air, hovering above the bed.

He didn’t try to escape, though. He didn’t want to leave the girl, as though to do so would end his afterlife.

He didn’t want to run.

He wanted to kill me.

And honestly, I felt his power, and I wasn’t too sure that he wouldn’t succeed.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The ring of salt would have kept him contained, even if hehadtried to run. At least for a while. And after the initial shock of his abrupt awakening, I was ready to fight.

But first…

“Joe,” I yelled.

I dove for Mila, yanked her into my arms, and threw her at Joe. He didn’t ask questions, just fled the room, the child in his arms. Keith and Leah at his heels. Then the bedroom door slammed shut, and I was in full fight mode.

In less than three minutes, Joe was back inside the bedroom, but I barely noticed. I was too busy trying to stake and ghost-trap a vampire spirit while keeping his teeth out of my body.

He hadn’t made the trip from human to vampire to ghost with his sanity intact. And I wondered briefly if any of them did. All he wanted was to eat, and that desire consumed him, the way the thirst for blood consumed a new vampire.

And the ghost would have no one to help him through it, to master him, to control him. He was just a crazy mad ghost lost not to bloodlust, but to lifeforce lust.