by L. A. Sable
“The power is our right. There is no right, but that we will it so.”
He turned my hands so that my palms faced the dim candlelight. I was surrounded by blood, the smell of it tainted the air and the growing pool of it on the floor was inches from my toes. But my hands were clean. Destruction was our gift, but the stain it left behind was only on the inside.
I stared at my hands as he shifted away, heat receding with his form so that the cold once again settled over me like a death shroud. I wasn’t supposed to be a murderer, whatever terrible things I had done in the past had only been in self-defense. But Valentines presence did something to change me, made me capable of things that I never would have been otherwise.
With his hands no longer caressing my skin it was easier to understand that the longer I stayed here, the more quickly I would lose myself.
A heavy chain settled around my neck. I brought my fingers up to trace the chain that ran past the hollow of my throat to the pendant settled between my naked breasts. Was I naked? How had that happened? The stone was cool to the first touch but warmed as I caressed its smoothed face.
“A gift,” Valentine murmured in my ear as he gripped my hips in his hands and pulled me back against him. I shiver at the feel of his bare skin against mine. “Because you please me so.”
The pendant glowed under my fingers as he fucked me from behind. I stared at it as he bent over me over a table and the thing settled into the hollow of my throat. Pleasure and fear built in me until it was difficult to tell one from the other but that didn’t stop me from coming apart under his touch.
And the necklace swayed around my neck, glowing ever brighter as it absorbed our combined magic for a purpose that I would never know.
Chapter Seventeen
Jinx
I came back to myself when someone banged hard on my bedroom door. The box had fallen from my lap and dead rose petals scattered on the floor and quilt. The necklace was still in my hand, its pendant dull and lifeless in the dim light. But I shoved it quickly under the bed as I stood.
Zuzu watched me as I struggled to my feet, my mind still half-stuck in recollections of the past so vivid that I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn’t happening now. Valentine wasn’t here, at least not yet. I had at least a bit more time before I would finally have to face the man who had haunted my dreams for the last year.
Would he murder me on sight? He had done nothing to hasten his arrival to the Proving Grounds. Maybe my presence here wouldn’t matter to him at all. This whole plan would fall apart and I could slink away with my tail between my legs. Assuming that Darius let me walk away.
But the necklace hanging over my hands belied that hope. Valentine had sent this, no one else would have had it in their position. He wanted me to know that there would soon be a reckoning between us.
I realized distantly that someone was still knocking on the door, growing progressively louder until the sound resonated painfully in my ears. There wasn’t anyone within these walls that I wanted to tolerate for a visit.
“What?” I yelled loud, enough that it startled Zuzu.
“Let us in,” West said gruffly, his voice muffled by the wood but an obvious command in his tone. “It’s important.”
I hesitated for the barest moment before letting out a sigh and rising from the bed. Zuzu scuttled to the corner when I waved him away and crouched there, round eyes glowing softly in the light. He made a low growling sound when Bastian called from the other side of the door, telling me to hurry, but the imp stayed put when I shot him a look. For the moment, I had decided not to question the demon’s decision to follow my command. There was a good chance that it was only lulling me into a false sense of security so that it could bite off a few chunks when I wasn’t paying attention, but I was taking my chances.
I opened the door to reveal all three acolytes standing in the dim hallway, expressions equally grim. The sight of them made my head ache because I knew that they wouldn’t come here for anything good.
“If you guys are out Christmas caroling, you’re about two months too late.” I gripped the door knob and only opened the door wide enough that they could see my body and nothing in the room beyond. “And I make it a habit not to donate to charity.”
“We need to talk,” Cynth said, trying to peer into the room behind me. “And not in the hallway. Let us in.”
My gaze flitted to Bastian, looking for the characteristic smile that he seemed to have left somewhere. His expression was the most serious that I’ve ever seen it. “It’s been a really long day, guys,” I said, pulling the door closer as West took a step forward. “Can’t this wait?”
“Nope.” Not bothering to ask again, West took a step forward and gripped my hips, hands large enough to span the entirety of my waist with room to spare. With apparent ease, he lifted me up and strode into my room with me still in his arms, ignoring my loud protest. He set me down next to the bed and stepped back to avoid my hand when I tried to slap his face. “We have to talk now.”
Bastian and Cynth followed us into the room without even a bit of hesitation, as if they owned the place. Cynth stopped at the wall near the door and leaned back against it. Bastian crossed the room all the way to the bed, settling in next to me like he’d done the same thing a million times before.
Bastian leaned forward and plucked a rose petal off of the quilt, holding it up. “Rose petals on the bed. Are you setting the mood for something?”
“Not exactly.” I snatched the petal from his fingers and tossed it onto the floor. “I was actually really hoping to get some time alone, but you know how that is.” The necklace was still visible where it had fallen to the floor and I hastily kicked it further under the bed before any of them noticed it lying there. It was unlikely any of them would recognize it on sight as a magical artifact, but I wasn’t taking any chances. “Just tell me what you want so you can leave.”
“Temper, temper,” Bastian chided with a wicked grin. “We’re only here to help and I think the rose petals are a very nice touch for some personal time.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively on the last words.
Great, now they thought I’d been here feverishly masturbating on a bed of rose petals like some kind of mental case. That was still better than the truth, that was I stuck in a flashback about my ex-boyfriend who also happened to be a sociopath with more power than should be possible. Either way, I looked like an idiot.
“His delivery leaves something to be desired, but Bastian is right. We really are here to help you.” West leaned back against the rickety desk that looked like it was moments from collapsing beneath his weight and stared at me with a gaze that seemed too serious, even for him. I had to look away when our eyes met, because all I could think about was him chasing me through the forest and then the aftermath when he caught me. This was so not the time for sex flashbacks.
My hands clenched into fists as I fought back the wave of desire that threatened to crash over me. I couldn’t look at any of them without thinking about what I’d done with each of them, and it was driving me mad. We were supposed to hate each other, not fall into bed together. “Help me how?”
To my surprise, it was Cynth who spoke next and with none of the angry heat that usually saturated his voice when he talked to me. “You don’t stand a chance against Valentine. Facing him is essentially certain death.”
“That’s old news. I’m just supposed to be a distraction.” And exactly how distracting I would be was still a matter for debate. Valentine could have chased me down a long time ago, if he’d really wanted to. “No one has ever suggested that I can take Valentine down. Darius just wants to use me as bait.”
“You do know what happens to bait when you’re fishing, right.” The concern on West’s face was obvious, and I had no idea what to make of it. He knelt on the floor in front of me so I had to look down to meet his gaze. I’d never known a shifter to take a subordinate position when they weren’t forced to do so, even casually. “You might catch th
e fish, but the bait gets swallowed up and nobody thinks twice about it.”
A cold chill worked its way down my spine. “So you think Darius is planning to let me die.”
“His entire plan hinges on your death.” Bastian said it so matter-of-factly that I was taken aback, although sympathy filled his gaze. “Darius believes that your death will distract Valentine long enough for the rest of us to move in and finish the job. If Valentine doesn’t do it, he plans to accomplish the task himself. He doesn’t want you around as a loose end, not with how unpredictable your magic is.”
“He told you this?” My voice sounded reedy with fear, even to my own ears. But that fear turned to anger as I watched them all nod in unison. How could I have been so stupid? “This entire time, you’ve all known what Darius planned to do, and you didn’t say anything?”
West had the grace to look embarrassed, with maybe the smallest measure of shame. “We owed you nothing. Headmaster Darius is the one who decides if we ever become one of the Blooded, something most of us have wanted since the cradle. He made it clear that this was the only way.”
I looked at Cynth, who stared back at me with eyes that resembled cut emeralds and were just as inscrutable. “And at least one of you would be very happy to see me dead, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Or are you hoping to get me to trust you now, so it will be easier to betray me later?”
Cynth did not blink as he stared back at me, but I saw some emotion move in the depths of his eyes. “Things have gotten more complicated.”
But I decided to press him, because that wasn’t exactly an answer. Cynth had made it clear from the day we met that he wanted to see me six feet under, more than he wanted anything else. “So, you don’t want me dead for what happened to your brother.”
Cynth sighed. “I want vengeance for my brother, for the loss of him. But killing you won’t bring him back and at this point, I suspect it won’t do anything to make me feel better. It wasn’t exactly a sanctioned duel, but Ceres attacked you because he thought you were too weak to be a threat. He was wrong, and he paid the price for underestimating you. I won’t make the same mistake.”
“You do realize that none of that answers my question,” I pointed out. “Are you saying that we’re not sworn enemies, anymore?”
“I’m saying that I doubt your death would bring me joy. You aren’t what I expected you to be.” Cynth’s face remained emotionless as he regarded me, but his words would have been a revelation coming from anyone else. Vampires weren’t exactly known for their emotiveness. “And when I look at you now, all I can think about is how much you taste like sunshine.”
It was only then that I recognized that nameless emotion in the vampire’s gaze. It was desire. He wanted me, although I couldn’t be sure if it was as a meal, a lover or something in between.
“You bit her?” West asked with a threatening growl.
“Let’s not get distracted from the main point.” I reached out to grip West’s shoulders, unsure if he planned to launch himself at the vampire this time. My touch seemed to soothe something in him and he contented himself with a glare in Cynth’s direction. And my mind whirled with the realization of how dramatically things had changed between all of us. My attention turned to Bastian, who had been uncharacteristically quiet for the last few minutes. “What about you? Are you just hoping to get into my pants again before Darius kills me?”
“You wound me.” Bastian clutched a hand to his chest in mock distress. “Obviously, I’d like to finish what we started in the observatory, but it’s more than that. You are wholly unlike any other woman that I’ve ever met, it would be a shame for Valentine to paint the cobblestones with your blood.”
I raised my eyebrows, knowing my expression was full of sarcastic disbelief. “I didn’t know you cared.”
Bastian gave me a small smile, but light from the sconces danced in his eyes. “The Fae are nothing if not changeable, but we cannot lie. I would be devastated to witness your death.”
“What happens now?” I asked, looking from one of them to another. I couldn’t imagine a more unlikely group, if I tried. “I can’t run because there’s nowhere to go where Darius won’t find me. And Valentine is already on his way here.”
“What if we told Valentine the truth of what Darius has planned?” West asked, as he rocked back on his heels. “Turn them against each other.”
Cynth made an incredulous sound. “Yeah, right.”
“Valentine isn’t exactly the forgiving type,” I told him as Bastian just shook his head. “The fact that we planned to turn against him in the first place is all the excuse he’d need to kill us all. Then we’d have them both to deal with.”
“There’s no winning this war,” Cynth said, voice bleak. “Running and praying to whatever god will listen is the only option.”
I didn’t miss the bleak note in his tone and couldn’t help but marvel at his sudden willingness to give up everything he had worked so hard for. Cynth was the ideal vampire, obsessed with proving himself to his bloodline. The fact that he would even consider running away was amazing, especially since he seemed willing to do it to save me.
“Those aren’t necessarily our only options.” Bastian reclined on my bed like he belonged there, long body stretching out until he nudged me with his foot. “There’s a spell in Primrose’s grimoire for tethering souls together to share power and protect each person from harm. It’s similar to what witches do when they form circles, only much more powerful and permanent.”
Cynth was already shaking his head. “You’re talking about binding ourselves in a way that’s closer than marriage, that spell even transcends death. If one of us got hurt, they could use the others life force to survive.”
“And it would make us all that much harder to kill.” Bastian shrugged, as if it didn’t matter to him one way or another. “Just pointing out that it’s an option.”
“And even if something that crazy could work, we don’t have access to the grimoire,” West said. His hand played idly along my legs as he knelt in front of me on the floor. The touch was exploring but in a soothing way, as if he wasn’t even aware he was doing it. “And I sincerely doubt that Primrose would lift a finger to help us.”
“If only we had access to her grimoire,” Bastian drawled, pushing his lower lip out in a pout. “Right, Jinxie?”
“Don’t call me that,” I said, slapping away the hand that he inched toward my backside. “And how the hell did you know?”
“I’m a creature of the shadows.” Bastian raised his arms high over his head in a long stretch, revealing the taut skin of his belly as his shirt lifted. “And I told you that the walls here have ears.”
With a sigh, I reached under the bed, fingers searching for the familiar leather of the grimoire. I touched the necklace and a jolt of electricity ran through me before I forced myself to shove it away. I found the grimoire and pulled it out. “Tell me more about this spell. What happens if it goes wrong?”
“Oh, there are a million different ways it can go wrong,” Bastian assured me as he rose to read the grimoire over my shoulder as I flipped through pages. “We could implode or bring the whole castle down around us.”
“And if it goes right?” West asked, voice wary.
“The power of one becomes the power of all,” I intoned, reading from the page. “A spell for amalgamation. This is heavy duty stuff. I’m not good enough at spellwork to cast this.”
“I am.” Bastian didn’t say it like he was bragging, but simply stating facts. “But once something like this is done, it can’t be undone. I don’t know what it will mean for us to spend the rest of our lives bound together.”
“I’m the one that Darius wants to sacrifice,” I pointed out, feeling compelled to stop them from tying themselves to my sinking ship. “The risks if this goes wrong are too great.”
“To Darius, we’re just as expendable as you are.” Cynth crept closer to the bed, although he remained standing. “The Proving Grounds ar
e full of people eager to take our places. The only way we survive this is by working together. Let’s do it.”
I searched his face, but Cynth looked away when he caught me looking. There was a barest hint of a lie in his voice and I was certain I knew what it was. He wasn’t doing this to save himself, but to save me, even if he didn’t want to admit it. West was already nodding in agreement, his gaze never leaving my face.
Bastian draped an arm around my neck, his voice full of satisfaction. “Like with all good spells, first we have to get naked.”
Chapter Eighteen
Bastian
Sex magic was the oldest kind out there. Even though I’d decided that fucking Jinx Darkward as soon, then as often, as possible was my primary focus, suggesting the spell wasn’t exactly a trick.
Although, it shouldn’t take a genius to figure out that to bind our souls, our bodies had to be bound together as well. I’d forgotten to mention that part before we got started. The Fae couldn’t lie, but we almost never told the entire truth.
And I didn’t even mind that there would be a vamp and a shifter along for the ride. The Fae didn’t discriminate and I’ve never had a problem with sharing. I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep the curious little witch alive for another day.
She’d become a sort of obsession and I wasn’t in the habit of questioning the things that I wanted.
Jinx stared at me now like she was afraid of whatever was coming next, uncomfortable with her nakedness in a way that was almost cute. My gaze drifted to the perfect breasts that were on display, like dollops of cream on her chest. She caught me looking and blushed. I loved that it was so easy to embarrass her, not like other witches.
She shifted uncomfortably from where she knelt on the floor as I continued to stare at her. “Can we get this show on the road?”