Charmed & Deadly by Candace Havens Page B

and pulling away was impossible.
    “Stop it!” I heard Simone’s yell, but couldn’t respond.
    A stabbing pain began in my shoulder. Someone had nearly pulled my arm out of its socket. The pain ended and I stared into Simone’s eyes. I must have had my evil eye on, because she blanched.
    “Don’t you dare yell at me!” She shoved me into the chair in the corner. “You were in pain. I could see it on your face and then your color drained. Your lily white ass was getting paler by the minute.”
    I took a deep breath.
    “I’m not mad. I think you may have saved my life. What was that? I couldn’t let go.” My body ached like I had the flu and I was shaky with chills. “I need my bag.”
    Simone brought it from the bed and sat it in my lap. I swallowed the new healing potion, the same kind I’d given Garnout. Almost instantly a surge of energy moved through my body, warming me.
    Excellent.
    I looked at Garnout. His skin had deepened in color. His breathing was stronger. Then it dawned on me. His body had been drawing power from me . I knew he hadn’t meant to hurt me; it was an automatic response. You can’t kill a wizard, but you can drain his power and leave him in a giant hole of nothingness.
    That’s what had happened. The shadow, whatever it was, had drained most of his power. Garnout’s quick action in blocking whatever was thrown at him had allowed him to hold on to some of his life force.
    I needed a way to give him power without killing myself.
    Only I had to find a way to get rid of the confusion spell before that happened. Giving a confused wizard back his powers could be a very bad thing. Accidentally destroying the world: bad. Argh!
    I ran for the door. “Stay with him and yell if anything changes. I need to make some phone calls.”
    “Wait a minute. At least tell me what just happened,” Simone said.
    I explained, and laughed as she backed away from the bed. “Simone, he can’t drain your powers. It was because I connected mentally. You don’t have to worry about it.”
    She nodded. “Okay. I know you’re trying to save his life and all, but I could use a shower and some food. Um, you might want to change clothes, too.” She pointed to my T-shirt.
    For the first time since she arrived with Garnout I took a real look at her. Demon goo was in her hair and she was covered in blood.
    I glanced down at my shirt and rolled my eyes. I’m not sure, but I think a piece of demon brain was stuck to my chest. Lovely.
    “Okay. New plan. I’m going to grab a shirt and my cell phone and I’ll be back in a second.”
    I ran upstairs to the room I used when I was here and grabbed a clean black T-shirt. I kind of wanted to jump in the shower, but there wasn’t time. It was just the tiniest bit of brain, but it still grossed me out. Running the taps, I wiped my chest with a wash-cloth. I threw the soiled shirt in the trash and put on the other one. I found my cell phone on the nightstand.
    There was one person who could help me with all of this and actually do something about it.
    I punched the number.
    Cole answered. “Hey, Bronwyn, what’s up?”
    “Where are you?”
    “Virginia. Why?” I could hear the ding of a car door.
    “I need you in New York now. Someone tried to take out Garnout. And he’s bad, Cole, really bad. They threw nasty crap at him, and I can’t fix him.” I was mad at myself because tears had started to fall. I didn’t give in, though. I pushed them away with my hand.
    “I’ll be there in an hour.” He’d gone into Cop Cole mode, his voice serious. “Whatever is going on, we’ll get to the bottom of it. I promise.”
    I made my way back downstairs to relieve Simone so she could shower.
    “I called Cole and he’s on the way.”
    She grunted. For some reason, she’d never liked him. It’s weird because Simone likes all men. I’d asked her once, and she told me she felt like she owed him something for saving my life, but I don’t think that’s it. Like I said,