Night World - Spellbinder Part 13

Blaise gave them a slow smile. "Hang around and you'll see." She scanned t he courtyard and said sweetly, "And there is the perfect mark. Selene, wil l you go ask him to come here?"

Selene got up and languidly drifted to the boy Blaise had pointed at.

Thea recognized him. He was Luke Price, a guy who drove a sleek red Mase rati and looked like a bad-boy Hollywood star. He was fashionably unshav en and unkempt, had electric blue eyes, and right now looked vaguely surprised to find himself following Selene back to Blaise. "Luke, how's it going?" Blaise said pleasantly. Luke shrugged. "Ok ay. What do you want?" His electric blue eyes lingered on Blaise, but he wa s obviously used to playing the tough guy with girls.

Blaise laughed shortly, as if taken off guard by the question. "Nothing I can have," she murmured-and then looked slightly startled at herself. "I want to talk to you," she said smoothly, recovering. "And . . ." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Maybe the keys to your car."

Luke laughed out loud. He leaned one hip against the concrete wall by the stai rs, two fingers fishing in his T-shirt pocket for a cigarette.

"You're crazy," he said indistinctly.

Dani coughed as smoke drifted toward her. Thea swirled her plastic bottle o f Evian water in one hand.

Blaise made a face. "Put that out; it's disgusting," she said.

Luke blew smoke toward her. "If you've got something to say, say it." He w as eyeing Blaise's zipped-to-the-neck jacket with disfavor. "Otherwise sto p wasting my time."

Blaise smiled.

She touched the zipper at her throat. "You want to guess what's under here?"Luke's eyes went up and down the silk of the jacket, particularly where Bla ise made it curve. "Maybe you'd better show me."

"You want me to show you? You're sure, now?"

Thea looked heavenward, thumb playing with the opening to her Evian bottl e.

Luke was scowling, blowing smoke between tight lips. His electric blue eyes were narrow. "I think you're some kind of tease. . . ."

Blaise took the zipper between two fingers and slid it down.

The necklace fit like a collar, lying against the pale skin of her throat an d the matte black of her simple blouse. And it was everything Thea had known it would be.

It was delicate, exquisite, magical. Swirls of stars and moons in enchanted patterns. Gems of all kinds tucked into the mysterious curves. Green garnet, imperial topaz, sunstone, cinnabar. Violet sapphire, African emerald, smoke stone.

It seemed to move as you looked at it, the lines changing and flowing. Pullin g you into the center of its mystery, winding around you like strands of soft ly burnished hair. Holding you fast . . .

Thea pulled herself away with a physical jerk. She had to shut her eyes and p ut up a hand to do it.

And if it does that to me . . .

Luke was staring. Thea could actually see the change in his face as the nec klace worked its spell. Like some Oscar-winning actor transforming from bad boy to vulnerable kid right there on screen. His jaw softened, his tight l ips relaxed. The muscles around his eyes shifted and he lost his tense squi nt. He looked surprised, then defenseless. Open. Those electric blue eyes s eemed dazzled, pupils widening. He sucked in a breath as if he couldn't get enough air. Now he looked awed; now hypnotized; now y earning . . .

Spellbound.

Luke had been transformed. His whole body seemed smaller. His lips were pa rted. His eyes were huge and full of light. He looked as if at any second he might fall down and start worshiping Blaise.

Blaise sat like a queen, with her midnight hair tumbling around the necklace, her chest moving slightly as she breathed, her eyes as brilliant as jewels.

"Put the disgusting cigarette down," she said.

Luke dropped the cigarette and stamped on it as if it were a spider.

Then he looked back at Blaise. "You . . . you're beautiful." He reached a ha nd toward her.

"Wait," Blaise said. Her face a.s.sumed a tragic, wistful expression. "First, I'

m going to tell you a sad story. I used to have a little dog that I loved, a c.o.c.ker spaniel, and we would take long walks together around dusk."

Thea gave her cousin a narrow sideways look. She'd never heard such a lie.

And what was Blaise talking about dogs for?

"But he was run over by an eighteen-wheel Piggiy Wiggly truck," Blaise murm ured. "And ever since, I've been so lonely. ... I miss him so much." She fi xed her eyes on the boy in front of her. "Luke . .. will you be my little d og?" Luke looked confused.

"You see," Blaise went on, slipping a hand in her pocket, "if I could just have somebody to remind me of him, I'd feel so much better. So if you'd wear this for me . . ."

She was holding a blue dog collar.

Luke looked even more confused. Redness was creeping up his neck and jaw.

His eyes filled.

"For me?" Blaise coaxed, jingling the collar- which was way too big for a spa niel, Thea noticed. "I'd be so grateful."

Luke looked as if he were having a tremendous internal struggle. His breat hing was uneven. He swallowed. A muscle in his jaw twitched.

Then, very slowly, he reached for the collar. Blaise held it down low.

Luke's eyes followed the collar. Jerkily, as if his muscles were fighting each other, he knelt down at Blaise's side. He stayed there, stone-faced, as Blais e fastened the dog collar around his neck.

When it was secure, Blaise laughed. She glanced at the other girls, then jing led the metal loop for the dog tag. "Good boy," she said, and patted his head .

Luke's face lit up with an excitement that bordered on ecstasy. He stared into Blaise's eyes.

"I love you," he said huskily, still squatting.

Blaise wrinkled her nose and laughed again. Then she zipped up the bronze j acket.

The change on Luke's face was much quicker this time than his first transfo rmation. For an instant he looked completely blank, then he glanced around as if he'd suddenly woken up in a cla.s.sroom.

His fingers went to the dog collar. His face contracted in anger and horror and he jumped up.

"What's going on? What am I doing?"

Blaise just gazed at him serenely. Luke tore the collar off and kicked it.

Although he was glaring at Blaise, he didn't seem to remember the last few minutes. "You-are you gonna tell me what you want or not?" he snapped, his upper lip trembling. "Because I'm not going to wait all day." Then, when n obody said anything, he walked huffily off. His buddies across the courtya rd were roaring with laughter.

"Oops," Blaise said. "I forgot about the car keys." She turned to the other girls. "But I'd say it works." "I'd say it's scary," Dani whispered. "I'd sa y it's incredible," Selene murmured. "I'd say it's unbelievable," Vivienne a dded. And I'd say it's the Armageddon of accessories, Thea thought. And, inc identally, so much for Selene and Vivienne changing their ways. They may hav e been shocked at what happened to Randy and Kevin, but it sure didn't last.

"Blaise," she said tightly, "if you walk around school showing that, you are going to cause a riot." "But I'm not going to walk around school showing it,"

Blaise said. "There's only one guy I'm interested in right now. And this"-sh e touched her throat- "has his blood in it. If it works like that on other pe ople, I wonder what it will do to him?"

Thea took a few deep breaths to relax her stomach. She had never gone one- on-one with Blaise in a matter of witchcraft. And no one had ever challeng ed Blaise for a boy.

But she didn't have a choice-and putting this off wouldn't help.

"I suppose you're planning to find some time to ambush him," she said. "S ome time when I'm not around."

It worked. Blaise stood, tall and regal in her bronze silk jacket, hands in he r pockets, hair like a waterfall behind her. She gave Thea a slow smile.

"I don't need to ambush anybody," she said with dreadful confidence. "In fa ct . . . why don't we set up a meeting after school? Just the three of us.

You, me, and Eric-a showdown. And may the best witch win."

CHAPTER 11.

I don't understand," Eric said pitifully as Thea towed him toward the bleache rs.

"Well, that's reasonable."

"Blaise wants to talk to me alone and you want me to do it."

"That's right." Thea hadn't realized it was possible to sound bright and blea k at the same time. "I told you she'd probably go after you-"

"And you told me to be careful of her. You made the point very strongly."

"I know. It's just . . ." Thea searched for an explanation that wouldn't be too much of a lie and clutched her bottle of Evian water. She didn't need to ask him if he had the protective charm with him- she could smell New Hampsh ire pine needles.

"It's just that I think it's better to get things settled," she said finally. "O ne way or the other. So maybe if you talk to her face-to-face . . . well, you ca n decide what you want, and we can get this over with."

"Thea . . ." Eric stopped, forcing Thea to stop, too. He looked completely bewildered. "Thea-I don't know what you're thinking, but I don't need to ta lk to Blaise to know what I want." He put his hands gently on her upper arm s. "Nothing she can say could make any difference."

Thea looked at him, at his clean, good features and his expressive eyes. He thought things were so simple.

"Then you can just tell her that," she said, trying to sound optimistic. "And the whole thing will be resolved."

Eric shook his head, but allowed her to guide him onward.

Blaise was leaning against a concrete dugout by the baseball diamond. Whe n they were about ten feet away, Thea stopped and nodded at Eric to keep going.

He walked to Blaise, who slowly straightened with the leisurely grace of a s nake uncoiling.

Thea put her thumb into the Evian bottle and jiggled it gently.

"Thea said you wanted to talk to me." Eric's voice was polite, but not encour aging. He looked back at Thea after he said it.

"I did," Blaise said in her liquid, persuasive voice. But to Thea's surprise, she addressed the ground, as if she felt awkward. "But now . . . well, I fee l so embarra.s.sed. I know what you probably think of me-trying to say somethin g like this while your girlfriend is standing there."

"Well . . ." Eric glanced back at Thea again. "It's okay," he added, his voice s ofter. "I mean, it's better to say whatever it is in front of her than behind he r back."

"Yes. Yes, that's true." Blaise took a deep breath as if steeling herself and th en lifted her head to meet Eric's eyes.

What on earth is she doing? Thea stared at her cousin. Where did this scen e come from?

"Eric ... I don't know how to say this, but ... I care about you. I know how that sounds. You're thinking that I have dozens of guys, and the way I treat them I can't possibly care about any of them. And I don't blame you if you ju st want to walk away right now, without even listening to any more." Blaise f iddled with the zipper at her throat.

"Oh, look, I'm not going to walk away. I wouldn't do that to you," Eric said , and his voice was even more gentle.

"Thank you. You're being so nice-much nicer than I deserve."

Absently, as if it were the most casual of gestures, Blaise reached for the zi pper at her throat and pulled it down.

The necklace was revealed.

Don't look directly at it, Thea told herself. She stared instead at the back o f Eric's sandy head-which suddenly went very still.

"And you know, this is going to sound strange, but most of those boys don't r eally like me." Blaise's voice was soft now-seductive but vulnerable. "They just-want me. They look at the surface, and never even try to see any deeper. And that makes me fee l... so lonely sometimes."

In Thea's peripheral vision, gold stars and moons were shifting and flowing. Yemonja root and other delicious scents wafted toward her. She hadn't even noticed that the first time; she'd been too deep in the necklace's spell to a.n.a.lyze it. And a faint, high resonance hung in the air-two or three notes t hat seemed to shimmer almost above the threshold of hearing.

Singing crystals. Of course. Blaise was a.s.saulting every sense, weaving an i nescapable golden web . . . and the whole thing was tuned to Eric's blood.

"All I've ever wanted is a guy who cares enough about me to look deeper than the surface." Blaise's voice had a slight catch now. "And-well, before I kn ew Thea liked you, I guess I thought you might be that guy. Eric, please tel l me-is that completely impossible? Should I just totally give up hope? Beca use if you say so, I will."

Eric was standing oddly now, as if he were crippled. Thea could see his bre ath coming faster. She didn't want to see his face-she knew what it would b e like. Like Luke's. Blank wonder changing into slow adulation for Blaise.

"Just tell me," Blaise said, raising one hand in a gesture full of pathos. "And if you say no, I'll go away forever. But if ... if you think you could care ab out me ... even just a little . . ." She gazed at him with luminous, yearning e yes.

"I . . ." Eric's voice was thick and hesitant. "I... Blaise . . ." He couldn't see m to get started on a sentence.

And no wonder. He's lost already.

Certainty hit Thea, and she stopped shaking her plastic bottle. Her little El ixir of Abhorrence didn't stand a chance against Blaise's magic. Eric was hoo ked and Blaise was reeling him in.

And it wasn't his fault. n.o.body could be expected to hold out against the k ind of enchantment Blaise was using. Enchantment and psychology so beautifu lly mixed that even Thea found herself half believing Blaise's story.

But she had to try anyway. She couldn't let Eric go without a fight.

With one final, violent shake, Thea took her thumb out of the bottle neck. C olorless liquid skyrocketed, spraying up and then raining down on Eric. A ge yser of loathing.

Only one thing went wrong. As soon as the mysterious downpour hit Eric, he turned to see where it was coming from. Instead of looking at Blaise when t he elixir soaked into his skin, he was looking at Thea.