Twice Bitten (Love, Lust & Magic #1)

Griff

“Ah,” remarked Ada. “It looks like the entire gang is finally here, huh? What should I call you all, the Mystic Mischief?”

Uriah turned to see , followed by Pruitt, followed by Darcy. The werewolf quarterback was dragging Darcy by the collar of his shirt.

“N-not a bad name, actually,” Darcy said sheepishly.

“Any last words before I have my favorite brainwashed witch Darcy kill you all?” the villainess laughed.

“I won’t do it,” Darcy hissed as his body convulsed.

“So, that’s how you do your dirty work these days, huh, O?” asked Uriah. “Can’t even do the heavy lifting yourself, per usual. Have to rely on whatever poor, vulnerable bloke you can find to brainwash.”

Darcy’s involuntary tremors suddenly stopped. He fell limp in Pruitt’s grip.

Ada again pressed her body against Uriah, her hand running through his beard. “Oh, Uriah. You know me and the games I like to play. Finding a young witch hungry for power was hard, but not impossible. Using him as a conduit to possess your filthy vampire friends? Somewhat of a gamble, I must admit. But it all paid off. And do you want to know why?”

Uriah readied his fists to attack, but found himself frozen. watched as he struggled to even lift his arms. “I’m stuck,” he managed.

“ Please , Odessa,” Pruitt bared his teeth. “Enlighten us.”

Ada looked from Pruitt back to Uriah. “Because even without realizing it, you two brought me just what I was looking for.” With her hands on Uriah’s shoulders, she looked back at . “Or, shall I say, who I was looking for.”

“Touch him and I’ll kill your host body,” Pruitt fumed as he let Darcy fall to the floor like a rag doll.

“Oh, no,” Ada sarcastically gasped. “And here I thought I could have you back if I just played the beautiful girlfriend act.” The witch outstretched her arms as though to show off her new body.

“ Ex ,” spoke up. “Someone hasn’t been paying attention.”

“Ah, I forgot. The twenty-first century. Everyone is gay now.” Ada rolled her eyes as she again put a magical chokehold on . “Oh, well. No matter.”

“I can’t br-breathe,” gasped as he held his hands to his neck.

Pruitt charged forward to knock Ada off of her feet, but an invisible force stopped him dead in his tracks. “You never learn, do you, my wolf?”she laughed in response.

Pruitt spit in her face. “I’m not yours .”

Ada snapped her fingers. “Then how can I do this?”

Pruitt watched in horror as his hands involuntarily transformed into wolf paws. His uniform ripped down the front as his shoulders expanded. He howled in pain, but he couldn’t move.

“, have you ever seen your lover transform before?” Ada looked from to Pruitt. “I’m sure he’s told you it’s not the most comfortable thing. Imagine how it feels in slow motion.”

Pruitt let out a monstrous scream, one that sent shivers down ’s spine. Pruitt’s whole body was in the middle of metamorphosis, his face changing in shape as a wolf’s mouth pushed out of his human one. “You will die for this,” Pruitt cried out.

“I don’t think so, my sweet little Silver Wolf,” Ada said with a laugh, pressing a kiss on Pruitt’s snout as he finally reached his full transformation. His beautiful fur had traces of black, but most of his coat was a shiny, entrancing silver. His eyes shone a beautiful amber. This was ’s first time seeing him this way, but he feared it would also be his last.

“Let him go!” shouted as he felt the grip on his neck loosen. His words rippled through the air, shaking the bleachers. It was as though the danger of the situation was triggering his magical abilities. Ada stumbled, allowing Pruitt—now the Silver Wolf—to unfreeze.

“Now, now,” Ada struggled to get to her feet as the werewolf lunged towards her. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Me, personally, I’m immune to your little puppy curse, but I’m afraid this human body isn’t.”

The Silver Wolf lunged at Ada, but she telekinetically shrugged him off. Pruitt whimpered, falling to her feet with submissive eyes. noticed they were shining purple.

“Leave them alone,” called out. Ada laughed, lifting her hand as though to pick him up by his throat. Her invisible magic arm carried him into the air, once again restricting him to shallow breaths.

“Perhaps I’ll let the legendary Silver Wolf handle you,” said Ada. With the snap of her fingers, the werewolf charged at him.

“Pruitt, no! You’re stronger than her! Than this!” thought back to the spell on commanding a familiar and wished he had it memorized. He struggled to escape from the witch’s magical grip as he felt the hot breath of the werewolf on his ankles. He cried out as he felt Pruitt’s wolf jaw sink into his skin.

Ada laughed hysterically as ’s ankles bled. “Any last words, my—oh, what is it your precious Uriah likes to call you again? Ah, yes— little witch .”

“You stupid…” gasped. Although the body she possessed was feet away, he could feel his airway tightening as though Odessa was closing it. If she can do all of that with her mind, why can’t I? “...fucking…”

Closing his eyes and concentrating on a visual of his necklace, missed the awe on Ada’s face as the pendant in question floated up from the ground where Darcy had left it, whizzed past the werewolf digging into his leg, and landed in his hand.

finished his sentence as he inhaled deeply: “...bitch.”

Odessa’s magical chokehold was gone, and he fell back onto the risers. The Silver Wolf pounced on him.

The words , thought to himself as he panicked. As though his necklace radiated out magical information to him, it surprised him to realize the spell he was hoping to recite was at the forefront of his memory. “Familiar you are, and familiar still you shall be; relinquish all your commands, my familiar you will now be!”

When opened his eyes, The Silver Wolf was licking at his wounded ankles as though to apologize. The werewolf then turned to face Ada, his teeth gritted.

Uriah discovered that Odessa’s hold on him had also disappeared. “Thought you were the big witch on campus, didn’t you?” he asked as he appeared in front of Ada. She looked horrified. “Like I said, Odessa, things have changed.”

With that, he placed his hands under her jaw and snapped her neck before tossing her body over the railing and onto the field. Though he knew he had a spell to stop Odessa’s possession, all could do was watch in amazement.

“You’re hurt.” In the blink of an eye, Uriah was in front of him and examining his bruised face, battered arms, and bitten ankle. Without hesitation, he bit into his wrist and offered it up to ’s mouth. “Here. This is how I can heal you.”

hesitated. “Wh-what about my bite?”

The werewolf let out a low, frustrated whimper.

“Ole boy says he’s sorry, . I know he means it,” said Uriah, a pained look on his face. “Odessa said she was immune to werewolf bites, so maybe you are, too. You’re immune to all our other powers, right? Just drink. Please ,” Uriah insisted as he held up his wrist.

With some hesitation, took the vampire’s arm in his hands and drank. After a few seconds, he could feel his splitting headache resolve. The hot pain of the fresh bites on his legs faded, as did the puncture marks. As he looked up, Uriah gently caressed his cheek with his thumb.

“Thankfully I’m not immune to your blood’s healing properties. Thank you,” said as he wiped his lips. The moment was almost romantic. Then he suddenly remembered the unconscious Quinn. “Oh shit, can you do that for my professor?”

“Huh?” Uriah asked.

“He’s a witch, too, I guess. And he tried to help me.” He turned, pointing several rows up to a limp body. “Please heal him.”

“You good, Pruitt?” Uriah looked at the werewolf, who now stood on top of a helpless Darcy. The Silver Wolf nodded.

“Come on then,” Uriah continued, grabbing ’s hand as they made their way over to an unconscious Quinn.

“Quinn, we’re coming!” shouted.

“Well, he’s at least still alive,” said Uriah as he flipped the man on his back. “Let’s see if this does the trick.”

Uriah pushed his wrist into Quinn’s mouth as a wide-eyed watched on. As excess blood spilled down Quinn’s chin and cheeks, a deep gash on his forehead faded away. His sallow complexion disappeared within a minute’s time.

“Let me at ‘er!” Quinn shouted as he suddenly sat up. “Wait, where am I?”

smiled and pulled Quinn into a hug. “Thank you for saving me.”

“Got yourself a vampire, eh, ?” Quinn turned to Uriah as he slowly found his footing.

“I guess he could say that,” Uriah said with a smile as he shot a wink. Quinn shrugged at a blushing .

“Um, guys. Cute moment, really, but I think we have a problem,” said the professor, his eyes widening as he pointed back in the direction they came.

“Oh, shit,” Uriah cursed as he spun around. “Looks like all that didn’t quite do the trick.”

Down below, Darcy’s eyes once again glowed purple. “Stupid wolf,” he hissed as he shrugged the wolf off of him and pulled out a gun. He trained it on Pruitt’s werewolf form, unlocking the safety. “Did you really think I would let my best minion run around Mystic Hollow without a few silver bullets?”

“Oh, god,” said with a gasp. “Uriah?”

Almost as though in response to ’s voice, Darcy turned and fired right at him. Uriah pushed down as he took a bullet to the shoulder. With a groan, the vampire rolled over and clutched his wound.

“No!” Pruitt howled in a low, guttural voice that was unlike anything had ever heard. Well, guess that’s how a werewolf talks, he thought to himself.

Darcy screamed in agony as the werewolf pounced on him, knocking the gun out of his hand.

“Are you okay?” asked as he regained his footing and rushed to Uriah’s side.

With a smile, Uriah lifted the hand that covered his wound. Save for a bloodstained shirt, all could see was a fading bruise on the vampire’s chest. He held the bullet in his palm.

“I’d be better if you had one of those on-the-go stain removers,” Uriah said with a laugh as he examined the point of entry. “Just got this shirt to impress a guy.”

“If only I was that kind of witch,” beamed.

“Speaking of,” began the vampire, “can you do some kind of voodoo on your roommate before he becomes our star football player’s next meal?”

placed the chain in his hand back around his neck and closed his eyes to concentrate. “Let’s give it a shot.”

“Down, you disgusting werewolf!” came a high-pitched, raspy voice from Darcy.

“Time to put you down,” said as he looked up, his eyes filling with color.

“What is this, amateur hour? I swear…” Darcy’s voice trailed off as he rolled his eyes.

“Unseen no more is the witch that possesses thee. Banish her powers, let this witch be free,” chanted . “Let this witch be free!”

Darcy’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out.

“I did it! I think, anyways,” said with a smile. “She’s—I think she’s gone for good.”

“What?!” Quinn asked.

“Grandma got her meds and is sealed away for a thousand years. Good work, little witch,” Uriah said, giving the freshman’s shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

“Team effort,” replied .

“Wait!” Quinn exclaimed as he took in Pruitt’s werewolf form. “We’ve got vampires, witches, and werewolves in town?” Unsure of how to answer, and Uriah stared wide-eyed at one another. Quinn rushed to the werewolf’s side.

“Wow. Pruitt Mondamin all along,” Quinn said with a sigh of realization, holding out his hand as though to allow the werewolf to inspect it. “I guess now’s the time I apologize for that full moon last year where I chased you halfway across campus trying to put a taming spell on you.”

The werewolf lifted its right paw up as though to shake Quinn’s hand in a sign of forgiveness.

“Um, wow,” was all could verbalize.

“All right, all right,” Uriah said as he clapped his hands. “That was a very sexy performance, Pruitt, but let’s get the dog back in the cage before we get in trouble for not having him leashed, huh? Especially since we seem to be on some kind of livestream.”

The remaining group turned to acknowledge the large live projector screen on the side of the stadium was trained directly on them, providing visuals of their every move to several large screens across the facility, and to who else knows where.

The wolf nodded, ducking underneath the nearest set of seats as he transformed.

“It’s almost unbelievable to me that I’ve come across every paranormal creature in the book,” Quinn said with fascination as he watched Pruitt’s fur slowly fade away into smooth, sculpted back muscles. “And at a home game, of all places.”

“Let’s give the man some privacy,” Uriah suggested, leading Quinn and away.

“Well, well, well,” came a voice from the field below them. As a pair of hands gripped the railing posts, it became apparent who was back for more. “Sounds like a party. Is there gonna be food?”

Quinn spun around as Ada’s athletic body carried her over the railing. With a backflip, she landed feet from him. “You know, never could master that one ‘til now. And keeping my crown on the whole time? Must be fate,” she said with a shrug.

“Okay. Now, I’m really confused,” said a befuddled Quinn as he looked to for guidance. “Is this witch-incarnate Ada or just plain old homecoming queen Ada?”

Uriah sniffed the air. “By god, I think it’s vampire Ada.”

“Love the workshopping, boys, but let’s go with this: Ada Ambrose, vampire homecoming queen. Oh, I just love this journey for me.” Ada blurted out excitedly. Before anyone could react, Ada stepped forward, punching Uriah in the face before wrapping her hands around Quinn’s neck. “And nothing personal, but a queen’s gotta eat.”

darted toward the pair, but he wasn’t fast enough. Ada bit into the professor’s neck and started to feed.

How do I get a vampire to stop feeding? Oh, god . Channeling whatever human emotion they have left? Maybe? thought to himself as he charged.

“Off him, you Pruitt Mondamin reject!” shouted .

Ada immediately retracted her fangs, a fiery expression on her face as she pushed Quinn’s limp body out of the way. “What did you just?—”

Uriah and Pruitt watched in shock as bitch-slapped a vampire.