Chapter Fifty: Raid Vaziri

Present day

Outskirts of Albemarle, NC

Raid checked the time on his phone. He'd paced up, down, and around the entire parameter of the bridge trying to locate Zara, and she was nowhere to be found. Now keeping west of the river, where the afternoon glare of the sun didn't prevent him from having a clear view along the highway, he read her message again. Two miles north of the Pee Dee River by the bridge. He opened up his GPS, took in every inch of his surroundings, and was certain he was in the right location.

He tried Zara's number again. As soon as he heard the automated voice confirming her phone was still off, he hung up. Where the hell was she? He said he would be back at the house in fifteen minutes and that time had already passed. Deciding not to wait any longer, he headed back to the car. If she wanted to talk to him, she could damn well turn on her phone and call him.

Then, like he'd willed it to life, the device vibrated in his palm. But it wasn't Zara. Raid answered the call while opening the door to the car.

"I just finished getting Flick registered here," Gabe explained on the other end of the line. He was now sitting in his vehicle waiting for her and Phoenix to return from exploring the rest of the college campus. "Why do I have missed calls? What's happened?"

"Zara's disappeared," Raid said, throwing himself into the driver's seat and slamming the door in frustration. "She told me she's working for the Coven."

"Told you in person?" Gabe sounded like he was waiting for a punchline.

"Never got the opportunity," Raid complained, starting the engine. "Her phone's off. She asked me to meet her at the bridge, but she's not here. She admitted everything in a message. She's the vampire working for Dimitri, she turned Flick, she betrayed us –"

"That's a lie, she never turned Flick. She would have recognized Zara instantly." There was no hesitation in Gabe's voice.

"Zara could have compelled her to forget," Raid replied, a question now hidden in his statement. That's what vampires did, right? He knew first-hand how effective compulsion was.

"The compulsion would have ended when she was turned. That's how it works; not that I would have expected any of you to know that, not even Zara. There are rules we have to abide by as Council Members and not turning anyone against their will is one of them," Gabe clarified. "But I'm telling you now, Zara has never wiped a memory nor turned another person a day in her life. If you knew her history – knew her views on autonomy – you'd understand why." Gabe stepped out of his car, heading back towards the college campus. He had to find Phoenix and Flick and return to the safe house immediately. "Do you even know if Zara's the one who has her phone? Do you know for sure that she's the one who sent you the message?"

Raid gripped the phone tighter. He had to have an answer for that. Adam said he'd witnessed her escape, but what if there was more to it? What if the same person who had been threatening Stef was now also threatening Zara? What if Cristian had lied and he'd intercepted her before she could reach the bridge? There were so many other possibilities he hadn't considered. Raid hit his fist against the steering wheel. "Shit!" He immediately put the phone on loudspeaker, slammed the car into drive, and pulled the car off the grass verge and back onto the highway.

"Somebody wanted you out of that house, Raid," Gabe warned. "Did you check everywhere before you left? Who's in there right now?"

"There was nobody in the house when I left except Stef, Adam and Lorraine." He hoped that was still the case. He took the next turning off the highway, heading towards the house.

Gabe was suspicious at the unfamiliar name. "Who's she? Who's Lorraine?"

"Don't worry, she's human," Raid stressed, laser focused, the curves in the road acting as no deterrent as he continued to increase his speed to sixty miles per hour. "She's my ex-girlfriend who turned up out of the blue. She's got top tier stalking skills."

"That sounds too coincidental," Gabe deduced. "What's she look like?"

"Don't worry, I've already got her ruled out." Raid didn't elaborate. There wasn't time. "I'm heading back to the house now. I'm almost there."

"If there's any sign of trouble, get out of there and drive Stef and Adam back to Atlanta," Gabe ordered. "Winifred knows more about those who have had connections with the Coven. I'm going to call Phoenix now so we can leave, then I'll call her. I'll let you know what I find out."

"Same," Raid agreed. He ended the call and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat, continuing down the road. Less than a minute and he would be back with Stef. Had someone really wanted him out of the house? Why just him? Had it been a trap meant for him? Or was someone after Stef? If Cristian was behind this, no witches could enter the house. If vampires tried to break in, Adam would have called. Nothing could have happened to her in the time he'd been away. Even if it had, Stef could protect herself. He had to believe that.

His phone buzzed just as he pulled onto the gritted driveway, and Raid grabbed it, reading the message as he ran up to the house.

Adam: Why was your phone engaged? Get back here now!

Adam had tried to call? Fuck! Raid was already through the door. Before he could conjure up any worst-case scenarios, he immediately spotted Adam and Lorraine standing in the living area, pacing, fidgeting, deep in thought. Stef was lying unconscious on the couch, obviously placed there peacefully, her hands resting over her lap. Raid watched Adam turn in his direction as he rushed towards her. Adam's expression would tell him everything he needed to know. He saw concern morph into relief. Relief was good. Relief was exactly what he needed to see. It didn't stop his heart pounding or the panic rising, but at least it meant there was hope.

"She's okay," Adam reassured him, as Raid dropped down to his knees beside Stef.

"What happened?" Raid demanded. She was pale. He checked her pulse. It was slow. Her breathing shallow.

"She found out you'd left. She tried to take Phoenix's car to go after you, but some kind of spell had been placed on the car. She collapsed and we haven't been able to wake her."

Raid's mind was racing. A spell was on the car? Was it a trap meant for him? Did he take the wrong car? "How did she find out?" he snapped. "Why did she follow me?"

Adam took a deep breath, stepping in front of Raid, crouching down to his level, and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Someone's been watching us. Cristian sent her a message after you left and whatever it said made her go after you. Just before you got back, he sent me a message too." Adam took his phone out of his pocket, opening up his messages, and handed it to Raid.

Cristian: There's only one way to break the spell and save her. Raid needs to give Stef his blood. But he'll pay the price by losing his magic. That's what he gets for taking what's mine.

Without a word, Raid shoved the phone back into Adam's hand, rose without hesitating, stormed into the kitchen, and grabbed a knife. He ran it firmly across his palm as he returned.

Adam stood, holding both hands out calmingly, trying to prevent him from making any rash decisions. "Raid, you'll lose your magic –"

"I don't give two fucks about my magic!" he shouted, kneeling down next to Stef. "I'm not losing her!" This was all his fault. He should have told her everything. Without delay, he tilted down her chin, opening her mouth, and placed his bloodied palm against her lips. He pressed and squeezed against his hand as firmly as he could, but she wasn't taking any of it in. Nothing was changing. No movement. No color to her cheeks. She wasn't recovering. His other hand stroked along her hair. "Come on, baby, please, come back to me. This has to work."

Adam shook his head. "She's not taking in the blood."

Watching over the both of them, Lorraine suddenly quipped, "I've got an idea!" and ran out of the room. Moments later she returned to Raid slowly breaking down, his head against Stef's stomach, his hand not removed from her mouth despite the hopelessness he was now feeling. Adam stepped aside as Lorraine knelt down next to him. "It's been a long time since I've done this, Raid, but before I got into aesthetics, I was trained in phlebotomy. We'll try this intravenously, okay?"

Raid finally removed his hand from Stef's mouth, the blood smearing down her cheek as he slipped back onto his heels despondently. He turned his head towards Lorraine, a syringe clasped within her palm. Whatever. He was willing to try anything. He held out one arm towards Lorraine, his other hand taking hold of Stef's. He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb as Lorraine unsheathed the needle.

The scratch of the needle into his arm coincided with a vibration felt in his pocket. He released Stef's hand and took out his phone. Gabe must be on his way. He opened his messages.

It wasn't what he'd expected. Raid's brows lowered as he expanded the photo Gabe had sent. It was a picture taken in Canada by one of his co-stars, and shared on social media weeks ago. A group photo of a night out on the town after a day of filming. Over a dozen of the cast and crew were squeezed together for the photo to be taken. Both Adam and Lorraine were in it, Raid's arms around each of them.

Raid closed the image, noticing Gabe had added an additional message.

Gabe: If the woman in the photo is in the house, get out now! She's not who you think she is. Her name is Lana. She's the vampire working for the Coven. Winifred confirmed it. Take Adam and Stef and run!

The stupidest thing Raid could have done was falter. Even for a second. A stupid second of remembering each and every woman in that photo and realizing that Gabe could only be referring to Lorraine. Another stupid second of looking down and noticing, among the four rings Lorraine wore on her fingers, one with a small lapis lazuli stone – the same stone Stef wore as part of her daylight necklace. Then a final stupid second of realizing that Lorraine was not drawing blood, but injecting him with a liquid.

A burst of power shot out of Raid; strong enough to make Lorraine fall backwards onto the floor, but not as strong as he intended to emit. Whatever solution she had put into him, it was weakening him.

He ripped the needle from his vein. "What have you done?" he fumed, pressing a hand onto the couch cushion for stability, a wave of dizziness striking him as he tried to move.

Lorraine shifted backwards along the floor, out of reach. "Well, that could have been a lot worse without the sedative," she commented at the surprise hit. "What I've done is lie to you – a lot. You really will believe anything when it comes to Stef's safety, won't you?"

"What did you inject into me?"

Standing, Lorraine swept her hair out of her face. "It's a type of barbiturate. One that's not been in production for a long time. At least not medically. Fortunately, I can get my hands on almost anything I need," she bragged. But then her face turned serious. "Except the talisman. Tell me where Stef's hidden it. I tried to compel it out of this useless cousin of yours, but as good as he is at following orders under my compulsion, the idiot doesn't know a damn thing. You're going to die either way, so let's not make it painful. You have about thirty seconds to tell me before you end up in the same state Stef's in."

"You drugged her," Raid accused.

Lorraine considered this. "I guess in a way I did, since my blood incapacitates her. Now where's the talisman?"

"I don't know!" Raid spat.

"You won't even tell me to save her?"

"I don't..." Raid muttered, feeling the world spin around him, his entire body swaying, "...know."

"Unfortunately, I believe you," Lorraine harrumphed. "Despite the talisman being linked to your life, I have no doubt you'd hand it over to save hers."

"Don't... hurt... her." His vision was beginning to blur, beginning to darken. He would not pass out! He would not pass out!

Lorraine shot him a look of inconvenience. "If I told you that Stef's going to live, but you're going to die – pinky swear – do you think you could hurry up, stop fighting, and collapse? Don't worry, the effect wears off after about twenty minutes, so you'll get to experience your own demise, but I've got a call to make, and there's some anti-magic cuffs upstairs that I'm eager to try out on you. So... chop chop!" Lorraine clapped her hands twice, encouragingly.

At the second clap, Raid gave up the fight, slumping to the floor unconscious surprisingly quickly.

Lorraine beamed happily. Everything was now neatly slotting into place. She started taking out her phone from her pocket while stepping closer to Adam to compel him. She was oddly going to miss this pathetic minion once he was dead. "Go into the weapons' room and find the cuffs embedded with black tourmaline. Put them on Raid and get him into the car. I'm going to call Cristian and find out what he wants done with you both."

Adam turned towards the stairs to follow out her command. "Fucking bitch," he muttered loudly.

Lorraine rolled her eyes as she started to dial. Maybe she wouldn't miss him after all.