“I can’t promise you that,” she said as she tugged me into her arms and held me. “You will not make it out of this unscathed, Lena. If you can’t save Kendra and your mother, get out. Don’t be a hero like your brother was. You are the power that holds this coven together; you hold us up right now and keep us safe. If she isn’t our Kendra, she isn’t worth dying for. You have to live, do you understand me?”
“I’m not planning on dying,” I whispered against her ear.
“They want her, right? This Katarina?” she asked.
“Something like that, and the seal she holds. I have to go,” I said.
“No, not yet,” she mused as she touched her index finger to her lip. “If they came for her, why do they need you there? You said the journal mentioned the nightmares the coven suffered and how they mentioned runes, right?”
“Yes,” I mumbled as I checked the time on the phone I held.
“Come with me,” she said as she tugged on my arm.
“I don’t have time!”
“You do for this,” she countered. “They need you for something, or they wouldn’t have taken my daughter. If I am correct, you play a big part, and in case that is what I think it is, I need to do something. If we end it, the next generation will not suffer from their deadly games anymore.”
I followed her into the room and once she’d finished doing what she needed to, I gently kissed her on the cheek. “I love you; if I had to choose a family to be mine, you’d always be my choice too.”
Chapter 35
I slowly rounded the corner of the house, gaze darting around as I searched the chaos going on for my mother. I found her atop the pile of drained bodies, tied to a corpse. My stomach dropped and my knees threatened to buckle as I took in her disheveled appearance. Her clothing was ripped, her hair mussed and covered with dried blood, which I prayed wasn’t hers.
Her eyelids opened as if she sensed me, and she lifted her tawny head, shaking it and using her bruised arm to shoo me away. I wasn’t leaving her. She was my mother. Fate had brought us here; for whatever fucked up, twisted reason, we were here facing down the devil and creatures that shouldn’t even be in our world.
I exhaled and struggled to gain what little courage I could as I stepped forward, revealing myself. No one turned or even looked at me as I walked to the circle. It was drawn in human blood and I swallowed the bile as I looked at the pile of bodies and realized they’d been sacrificed. Innocent lives had been lost to create a protection circle which couldn’t be broken. The same one Katia had used, only thicker this time.
“There’s our girl,” Lucifer said without turning around. When he finally did, I swallowed hard to keep from crying out as I took in his appearance. Gone was his mask of civility and humanity. His piercing blue eyes took in the swaying skirt and my disheveled appearance from the trek over here. I hadn’t bothered wasting time changing. I’d simply slipped a small knife into my pocket and had headed out the moment my grandmother had created a small scene and distraction.
The icy wind bit into my skin as it howled and sent my hair whipping into my face. The skirt lifted, revealing my legs as I slowly stepped forward until my toes touched the line.
“You will let my mother go and I will enter the protection circle. You cannot force me to enter it; I know how it works, Lucifer. Once you have let her go and vowed that she is not to be harmed, you can have me to do as you want,” I said without letting the tremor that rocked through me show in my voice.
“You’re fire and ice, Lena. You surprise me,” he chuckled as he moved to the pile of bodies and kicked a young woman’s corpse. “At first I wondered how he could be drawn to you, but as I’ve learned, you’re special. You break the rules, and yet you have an honor code you follow, just as he does. You’re selfless, which you shouldn’t be. You weren’t created to be selfless; you were created to be dark and deadly. Yet here you are, coming to me to save a worthless human.”
“You didn’t create me,” I growled, but his lips thinned as they lifted into a beautiful grin that made my heart pause before pounding faster. “Let her go,” I demanded adamantly. “You said if I came, she could go. Let her go and give me your word that she won’t be harmed, and I will enter the protection barrier you’ve created. If you think to harm her after I am inside, I will hurt myself and Lucian will be here within moments. Do you understand?”
“We made a deal, Magdalena. There’s no reason to get angry,” he purred as he pulled my mother from the pile, the ropes disintegrating. She shook her head as he pushed her towards me. Tears streamed from her eyes as she rushed to me, only to be thrown back as she crashed into the barrier. Lucifer laughed and I exhaled slowly as I struggled to remain composed.
Demons moved closer to where I stood, smiling at Lucifer as I released a pulse of magic, enjoying their screams and the heavy scent of sulfur as they burst into ashes. I didn’t back down as he snarled and pulled my mother up by her hair.
“You have a thing for killing my friends,” he snarled.
“You need new friends.”
He shoved my mother through the barrier and I breathed a sigh of relief as she rushed to me, hugging me tightly.
“Lena, don’t go in there,” she pleaded as I embraced her tightly and then pulled away.
“Go into the house and activate the wards,” I uttered as I pushed her hands away as she tried to hold on me.
“Lena, no, please. They are going to kill you!” she screeched as tears flowed relentlessly down her face.
I stepped through it and spun around to stare at her. “I love you,” I said through the tightness in my throat. Strong arms grabbed me and I closed my eyelids.
“That was fucking stupid, girl,” a deep voice growled against my ear. I was turned to face Lucifer and I paused, mentally calculating how the fuck someone else was in the circle. Kendra moved into my line of sight and frowned at me briefly before she concealed it with an aloof look. She smiled coldly as she moved closer and frowned.
“You’re sure the spell will work?” she asked, turning to glare at Lucifer.
“It will work,” he assured her as she moved away from me and started to drop items into the cauldron, which boiled as steam rose from it.
“Have you told her what she is yet?” she laughed mirthlessly. “How she isn’t even real?”
“I figured you wanted to tell her, love,” he mused. “How’s our little one?” he asked, ignoring her as his gaze latched onto my midriff. “Did you tell Lucian he was going to be a father?”
“No, I didn’t. What was the point?” I asked. “You think he cares, but he doesn’t. I keep telling you this, and yet you refuse to listen to me.”
“Because I know he cares.” Lucifer touched my cheek as the arms released me and the man walked to where Kendra stirred the cauldron. “You’ve met Hades before, kind of. He’s the one who lapped at that pretty pussy of yours. He’s also the one who prevented me from getting you pregnant.”
The man turned violet eyes on Lucifer and narrowed them. Power erupted from both men as if they’d fight, but then Kendra reached over and slammed her palm against his chest and the man went to the ground. Violet eyes stared up at Lucifer.
“Oh, don’t be so surprised, Hades. I knew whose side you were on,” he laughed coldly. “I knew Lucian had someone on the inside, someone who reported to him. You tipped your hand when you didn’t fuck Magdalena. I had my minions following you, and when they reported back to me that you’d gone aboveground, I had enough proof. Don’t worry, old friend. The spell will only render you paralyzed until I’ve finished here.”
I was pushed closer to the cauldron, which released a putrid scent that made it almost impossible to breathe. I covered my mouth with the back of my hand as I glared at Kendra. She exhaled and shook her head.
“He only liked you because he thought you were m
e,” she said in a deadpan tone. “He thought you were pure, but you’re nothing more than a selfish bitch. You left me down there to endure what should have been your torment. But I guess I should thank you for that. It was so much easier to get your sister to agree to allow me to endure the pain for her.” My heart hammered against my chest as tears burned my vision. “You see, I’ve always been a part of her. Just as you were never meant to be born,” she said cryptically. “You didn’t just come to be, you were created from magic. Your father helped me; he planted the seed, and I divided it. Everything that was dark inside of me is now yours. You’re nothing but the parts I didn’t want. You see, after so many centuries of being chased and hunted, I made a deal with Lucifer that he couldn’t pass up. Revenge against Lucian in exchange for my life back,” she cackled, and I narrowed my stare on her coldly.
“You cannot intervene with life,” I growled. “Magic has rules; there are boundaries that no witch can touch.”
“I wasn’t bound by those laws in death. A child isn’t alive until its heart begins to beat anyways. Just as your child’s does now inside your womb. I divided the egg in your mother’s womb, cutting away bits and pieces, and then there you were. It was the same for your brothers, which was how we knew it would work the second time. One twin born of light, and the other of darkness. Drake, of course, figured out that my intent was to kill Benjamin and hid him from me, but then that little problem solved itself, now didn’t it? Joshua was slaughtered in a war, far from home. Not before they were once again tethered, thanks to Lucifer. You see, if one of us dies, the soul returns to the other, becoming a whole. Unfortunately, the spell must be finished first, or both of us perish. Nasty hiccup, so don’t get any ideas or you will die with me, along with your unborn child.”
“You’re insane,” I muttered.
“No, I’ve spent centuries planning this, and you? You played your part beautifully, Magdalena. You were created to lure him to you and keep him occupied as Lucifer laid down the trap to ensnare him. But you, you little slut, you couldn’t stay off of him. I guess it’s not really your fault. You are every part of me that ever loved that monster.”
I trembled as it hit me. Lucifer wasn’t L. Lucian was L, and Kendra had been taken over by the dormant soul of Katarina.
“You won’t keep her,” I seethed. “She’s my sister!”
“She’s already gone,” she laughed as she watched me. “She’s now the dormant soul, fading away as I take full possession of her. Poor thing; she couldn’t handle what was being done to her, but when Lucifer showed her you in his bed and projected the image of you being slaughtered, she had handled everything we’d done to her at that point. You helped us break her. Once she watched you being fucked and murdered by Lucifer, she broke and begged to not feel it anymore. So I made her an offer: I’d feel everything and she wouldn’t ever have to feel it again.”
“You made her think I was dead,” I mumbled as I struggled to imagine what she’d gone through. They’d raped her night after night, until she was pregnant with Lucifer’s child, and then I’d walked into his club in my dream and he’d made her think I’d been murdered before her eyes as she was raped.
“She wouldn’t break,” she growled as she tossed the hair of the dead into the pot. “I whispered to her, promising her escape, and yet she held on. You’re both so fucking stubborn and think little of tradition. Neither of you deserved to live, which makes this easy.”
“And you? What about you, carrying Lucifer’s bastard in your belly?” I asked.
Her hand moved faster than I predicted, slapping me across the face. I slowly brought my gaze back to hers and smiled. For someone with so many years on her, she hit like a bitch. I stepped closer, only for Lucifer to growl in warning.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he hissed as the air around us grew thicker, power erupting as trees cracked from the pressure of the wind. The flames of the fires around us leapt and his scent rushed through my senses. “Stupid bitch! You’ve brought them right to us before we’re ready,” he snapped as Lucian appeared inches from the circle with Spyder beside him. One by one, they appeared around us. The Fae sifted in, bringing those of the coven with them. I winced as Synthia brought my grandmother and then pushed her carefully, using her own body as a shield.
“I warned you last time to stay away from her,” Lucian seethed. “There won’t be another time.”
“She came to me of her own free will, Lucian.”
I flinched from the anger I read in his eyes as they locked with mine. My mother rushed from the house, having watched everything from inside. Alden caught her as she rushed into his waiting arms. I swallowed the pain as her battered face was examined, but Lucian’s gaze moved from my mother, to me, and then to Kendra.
“Let the girls go, now,” he demanded.
“I don’t think so; you see, we’ve been planning this a very long time.”
Katarina glared at me before she swung her matching eyes to Lucian and scowled at him. A hungry look filled them as she slowly let her heated gaze slide down his hard, sinewy body that rippled with strength and power.
“I have them both,” Lucifer laughed. “I have Magdalena and her sister,” he purred as he grabbed our hands and pulled us closer to him. “One carries my child, the other carries yours.”
“Impossible,” Lucian snapped as his stare moved to me accusingly. “I cannot sire children; Katarina saw to that.”
“Actually,” Katarina laughed haughtily. “You can have children; you just have to care about her enough to ignite the curse. Of course, the moon had to shadow the sun and day had to become night with Venus in her closest position to the earth. I made sure the curse couldn’t be broken until I was ready for it to be, Lucian.”
His gaze swung to hers and he swallowed hard. I winced as a look passed over him that I’d never seen before. His eyes filled with pain and something else, something that drove a blade through my heart. He’d loved her. My hand tightened against Lucifer’s as I struggled to get it free. I was in their fucking game, not because Lucian had brought me into it, but because his lover had.
“Lena,” Lucian growled, and I swallowed hard as I brought my tear-filled gaze to his. He flinched as he read the truth of their words on my face. Lucifer dropped my hand and moved behind Katarina, placing his hands over her womb. Lucian’s gaze left mine, burning a hole into where Lucifer touched his lover.
The nightmares, the one the entire coven had endured, were of him. He was the monster who hunted the cursed witch through every lifetime, and also her lover. I’d given him a piece of me, the one piece that hadn’t been hers: My heart. I no longer wondered why he walked out; he’d never stopped loving the original witch, and now she was here, inside my sister.
“Katarina, sweet girl,” Lucian whispered, and as his words soothed and caressed, my heart shattered a little more. “Come to me.”
“Not this time, Lucian. Not anymore. You see, I’ve already won. Everything that loved you inside of me is now in her. Your precious Lena. Even your precious seal,” she purred as she laughed as his eyes widened and slowly moved to my stomach. “You’re getting it. I have ensured that you feel pain like you’ve forced me to endure time and time again. You let me come back long enough to seduce me, and then murder me. I am free of you; Lucifer has made sure that you can never hunt me again, monster. I have won.”
My heart sank and my knees threatened to give out. I had the seal inside of me? I had it? No. I smothered a sob with the back of my hand. I didn’t have it, my child did. Lucian’s child held the purest form of evil in his tiny soul. I stepped back as I shook my head. This wasn’t happening.
“You cursed an innocent child to death?” he demanded.
“No, I cursed you to take your own child’s life. You want it so bad, Lucian, take it.”
“And what happens to Lena?” Spyder asked as he stood
inches from the circle, as if he intended to bust through it, which was hopeless. No one could get through.
“She dies, of course,” Lucifer answered. “Katarina will need the rest of her soul back. By the way, Lucian, it’s a boy. The son you always wanted and never could grasp. It’s too bad you’ll never get to see him grow as I will watch mine and Katarina’s child do.”
Chapter 36
I continued moving backwards until I was inches from the cauldron. One kick, one kick and the potion to remove the soul would seep into the earth. I let the darkness slither over my skin, knowing what I was about to do would be suicide, but it was the only chance I had to get everyone out of this without leaving them broken or worse.
Katarina started in on Lucian, and he argued facts with her, which seemed mundane now. They’d pushed innocent lives into their deadly game time after time again. I turned, intending to push the cauldron over, but Lucifer slapped me, appearing in front of me. He sent me sailing to the ground, and I lay there, dazed, as I regained focus. I shot up the moment he dropped his guard, thinking I was subdued. I heard Lucian scream as my grandmother and mother cried out with him.
I pushed my hand through Lucifer’s chest, intending to remove his heart. Light flashed around us and the ground trembled, but the further I dug inside his chest, the less I found. He bellowed and slammed me against the ground; my vision blurred as my head hit against something hard. I gurgled as I fought to get back up, but couldn’t.
“You stupid bitch!” he snarled as he straddled my body and gripped my head, slamming it down on the ground over and over again. I heard it crack as it bashed against the hard ground and darkness threatened to consume me. I struggled to get free, but I couldn’t move. Something moved beside me out of my peripheral vision. Screaming continued, light exploding as the sound of trees hitting the ground filled the area. One minute I’d been expecting certain death, and the next something slammed into Lucifer.
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