by Raven Steele
Lucien smeared more blood onto the floor. “They are seared into my brain.”
“Good. When the time is right, say them over and over until Boaz is unconscious. Use every ounce of concentration you have. This magic is powerful and dark. Don’t let it overwhelm you.”
“Are you worried it will do that to you?”
Eve used the last of the blood to close the circle. She straightened and stared down at the red symbol, firelight casting shadows across her face.
“I’m ready for this,” she said.
Lucien wasn’t so sure, though. Her trembling hands spoke a different truth. He crossed the room and pulled her to him, cradling her small frame.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said. “We’re more powerful together, remember?”
She nodded against his chest and inhaled deeply.
“Just remember that I love you,” he added.
She looked up at him, trying to smile through her fear. “And I you.”
Lucien leaned in to kiss her, but stopped when a wolf howled in the distance.
Eve’s whole body tensed. “He’s here.”
Chapter 20
Lucien gripped Eve’s arms. “You can do this. Soon this will all be over.”
She couldn’t move, couldn’t respond. Boaz was coming. With his wolf, Hunwald. Her whole body shook.
“Eve!” Lucien squeezed tighter until the pain focused her attention.
She gasped, her mind snapping back to focus. “I’m okay. Go. Hide upstairs. And take this.”
She reached into her pocket and handed him a small syringe filled with blood. She looked up into his eyes. “Don’t miss.”
“Eve—”
“Just go!” She pushed him away, afraid he might say something that would make her falter, like offering to meet Boaz himself while she ran away.
She turned from Lucien as he hurried up the ladder to the loft above. Her heart pounded mercilessly, each beat threatening to shatter her rib cage. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.
Focus.
She couldn’t let Boaz into her mind. It would take all her strength for the spell to work.
She called upon it now, the magic already burning inside her. When it filled her entirely, she walked to the window and opened it wide to the cool night air. A breeze rushed in, lifting her hair and caressing her skin, igniting a different kind of fire, one she hadn’t felt in a long time. She used to mistake that feeling for passion and love, but now she recognized it for what it was: an attraction to dark magic.
Boaz had sent it before him as if to tease her. Before it could entice her any further, she whispered, “Remetior.”
The dark energy receded, seeming to take the warm air in the room with it. A shadow in the distance caught her attention. Near the tree line. A masculine figure stood tall, long black jacket flapping in the wind around him. And next to him, a lone wolf. They didn’t move. Neither did Eve.
The pressure in the air changed suddenly and became electric. What was he doing? Was he waiting for her to invite him in?
Eve took a step back from the window. Still, Boaz didn’t move.
The dark magical energy returned, a wind more forceful than the last. It rushed in through the window and swirled around her. Its touch against her skin lit a fire throughout her body, sucking away her breath. She tried to repel it, but it became more forceful and more focused. The wind turned to mist, and the mist to fog. Long finger-like appendages stretched from the dark cloud and hovered through the air toward her.
Instead of stopping him, she decided to go with whatever he was going to do. Maybe if he could trust her, even a little bit, he would let his guard down.
She didn’t resist, even when the smoky fingers caressed their way up her arm and to the hollow of her neck. It paused there, as if waiting for some kind of reaction. She lifted her gaze to the window. Boaz’s hand was raised, as if he was controlling the hand in the fog. His fingers spread, as did the moist appendages touching her throat. Then, slowly, they slid around her neck and squeezed. Not hard enough to cause pain, but enough for a pleasurable chill to erupt all over her body as memories of their time together flooded her mind. Boaz must have noticed, because there was a glint of his teeth in the moonlight as he smiled.
Eve returned the smile ever so slightly, even though she felt like vomiting. He thought he was in control, exactly what she wanted.
She raised her own hand and bade him inside. He didn’t move, but Hunwald turned around and disappeared into the forest. The grip on her neck clamped down, surprising her. Maybe she wasn’t as in control as she thought.
She opened her mouth, once again, to expel the dark energy, but before she could, the fog’s hand released her neck and spiraled into her mouth and down the dark corridor of her throat. Her eyes widened and fear squeezed her chest.
The thing was inside her, clawing and scraping at whatever it could, but she was too panicked to do anything about it. She dropped to her knees, struggling more to get away from the searing internal pain than any effort to breathe.
“Remetior,” Lucien yelled from the loft. He jumped down next to her just as the fog shot from the house. The window slammed shut behind it.
Eve coughed, spraying blood across the floor. It took her three more hard coughs and several swallows of blood before her throat finally healed.
Lucien was on his knees in front of her, his muscles tight and eyes burning with rage.
“Better?” he asked, when she could finally get air into her lungs.
She nodded weakly and lowered her head. They had failed. She was about to say that much to Lucien when he straightened.
“I’m going to kill him,” he said. He disappeared before she could stop him.
She scrambled to the opened door and yelled into the night, “Lucien!”
Only empty darkness responded. He was gone.
She whirled around, her breathing coming quick. What had she done? She had toyed with Boaz, thinking she could lure him in, but instead he had played her. Now what? Had she really been about to give up? Maybe that’s what Boaz had wanted. Maybe he had planted the thought somehow. Or maybe she was too afraid to face him…
She shook her head. She had come here for one purpose. Her life and so many others depended upon it.
She had to fix this. No more games.
Chapter 21
Lucien exploded through the forest as a dark blur, racing in and out of trees. His senses were acutely aware of Boaz’s presence still lurking in the forest. He turned left, dipping in and out of a steep ravine, and stopped at the top of the ridge. He was sure Boaz had gone this way but now felt nothing.
A breeze blew and within it, Lucien sensed a hint of magic. To his right. He hurried back down the ravine and followed a worn, narrow trail, most likely used by deer and other woodland creatures. He stopped again when the trail turned cold.
He lifted his head to the night sky, trying to hear and feel the gentle vibrations in the wind. Back to his left. He hurried quickly. He must not lose Boaz. It was time to make him pay for everything he had done to Eve.
Lucien continued to chase the wind, back and forth, never seeming to get a grasp on Boaz’s exact location. That’s when he stopped. Boaz was toying with him, a cat with its prey.
Lucien closed his eyes and concentrated hard, ignoring the wind’s gentle tug on his natural senses. There was only one sense he needed to focus on now: his sixth.
His toes began to tingle and the prickly sensation raced up his body and burst his mind into a spectrum of colors. Magic coursed through him, more powerful than ever. To keep it at his fingertips, he used his love for Eve and his overwhelming desire to never lose her again.
Boaz.
He wasn’t far. Maybe a hundred yards away on the edge of a small cliff overlooking the forest.
Lucien shot upwards into the night and not even a second later, dropped from the sky mere feet from Boaz, the ground shaking from the force.
Boa
z turned around, his eyes widening briefly before turning to a scowl. “Lucien. My biggest regret.”
Lucien growled and rushed him. Boaz knocked him away with a simple wave of his hand. Lucien slid along the ground, scraping up several inches of dirt and grass as he went. He jumped up, but Boaz mentally shoved him back down with a crushing invisible force. Lucien tried to free himself, but every time he moved, the pressure only grew until he was unable to even expand his lungs.
Boaz strolled over to him. “Did you know you and your brother were the only Bradys I let live? I killed every other offspring of those damned witches who refused to join me, but Aiden was a special breed. I recognized a loyal follower when I saw one. Aiden swore you were the same.”
An icy cold pain sliced through Lucien’s brain. Boaz was trying to get in. Lucien gritted his teeth and mentally pushed back.
“I’m going to kill you, Lucien,” Boaz said. “But first, I’m going to rip every last bit of magic from that body of yours.” He reached down and stroked the top of Lucien’s head as if soothing him. “Give yourself to me.”
Lucien lifted his gaze to Boaz and managed to say through his clenched jaw, “Go to hell.”
The corners of Boaz’s mouth turned up. “You first.”
Lucien narrowed his eyes and concentrated hard on blocking Boaz, just like Henry had taught him. A roaring battled his ears, and his vision blurred. The pain was severe, but he was gaining ground. Boaz’s hold was slipping.
Boaz straightened, teetering slightly. “What are you doing? Who taught you to do that?” he asked, his voice laced with anger.
Lucien mentally pressed back harder, the roaring growing louder and louder until he felt moisture coming from his ears.
“Impossible!” Boaz grunted and touched his head as if feeling the same pain Lucien had felt moments before.
When the pressure eased up on Lucien’s mind, he fought harder, mentally pushing back against Boaz. A new power surged into him, feeling as old as time. This new strength stretched toward Boaz in great invisible waves, pulsing to an unfamiliar rhythm.
Boaz fell to his knees, breathing hard.
Lucien rose from the ground, his entire essence filled with commanding energy. He could’ve blasted Boaz with magic, sent him flying into a tree. Or he could’ve mentally lifted Boaz into the air a hundred feet and slammed him into the ground. But none of them would’ve been as satisfying as this:
Lucien cocked his fist back and punched Boaz square in the jaw.
Boaz’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell to the side, not out cold but dazed. Lucien jumped on top of him and continued to rain blows upon him.
“Die, you bastard!” he yelled.
Boaz’s nose cracked, and blood poured from his nostrils. His eyes snapped open; the whites of them bloodshot. Boaz growled low and shoved Lucien hard with his palms. Lucien flew back but managed to land on his feet.
“You fool!” Boaz said. “You can’t kill me!”
Boaz snapped his arms forward, sending a blast of energy at Lucien. Instead of being knocked back, Lucien absorbed the dark energy into him. At first, the sensation was painful, but Lucien mentally focused the energy back into the ends of his fingertips. He swirled his arms wide then pushed the darkness, combined with his own power, back to Boaz. This was enough to knock Boaz from his feet.
Lucien lifted his arms, making several sticks rise into the air. In one swift motion, he darted them toward the sky, then clenched his hands tight, shooting them back down toward Boaz with one focus: Boaz’s heart. Just before they were to hit intended target, the broken limbs inexplicably disintegrated before Lucien’s eyes.
Boaz laughed and rose to a standing position. “I told you. I can’t die!”
Lucien was too stunned to react when the ground buckled beneath him. He fell onto his back. Boaz was upon him in an instant.
“My turn,” Boaz said and grinned. He raised his arm and smashed his curled fist into Lucien’s face.
A sea of colors burst into his field of vision, and a pain just as intense threatened to split his skull. Boaz raised his fist again; dark energy swirled around it. Lucien’s eyes widened. This blow may be his last. Where the hell was Henry?
Boaz’s fist came down, but before it could make impact, Boaz was slammed in the chest by an invisible force. His body flew up and was pierced to a tree, held fast by the same force. Lucien rolled over onto his belly and looked up.
Eve stood before him, her hand outstretched toward Boaz.
“You are through ruining my life!” Her gaze dropped to Lucien. “Get the blood.”
Lucien scrambled to his feet and reached into his breast pocket for the syringe.
Boaz chuckled. “You look angry, Love. Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy me inside you moments ago. I felt your pleasure.”
“You repulse me!” Eve hissed through her teeth, the knuckles on her hands white. But what worried Lucien was her expression. Her eyes and hair color appeared darker and for some reason the veins on her face appeared swollen and black.
“You feel it, don’t you?” Boaz said, his voice low. “The connection between us is as strong as ever.”
Lucien walked next to Eve and took hold of her hand. She gasped at his touch and exhaled as if she had been holding her breath for a very long time.
“Look at me, Eve,” Lucien said in a commanding tone. He had to break whatever hold Boaz held over her.
Up above, pressed high against the tree, Boaz thrashed as he tried to free himself.
It seemed to take great effort, but eventually Eve’s gaze turned toward him. He smiled kindly at her, and remembered her love for roses. “All roses have thorns, but those prickly barbs do not take away from the rose’s true nature of beauty, truth and light. You felt it once, Eve. Feel it again. Do not let your thorns control you.”
Her eyes welled with tears, and she lowered her head as if ashamed.
Lucien touched her chin gently and lifted her head back up. “Together?”
“It doesn’t matter what you do or how you do it,” Boaz growled, still thrashing high against the tree. “Eve will give herself to me and the longer she delays, the more people are going to die!”
“Together,” Eve whispered.
Lucien let go of her hand and raced toward Boaz just as Eve loosened her mental grip on him, making Boaz fall to the ground. Boaz grinned, and his body began to change into a dark smoke. He was going to get away!
Lucien jumped as fast and hard as he could. Just before Boaz’s head dissipated, Lucien plunged the syringe below Boaz’s jaw and pressed the top, injecting the blood into him.
Boaz clawed at his neck, his face grimacing. “What did you do?”
A second later, his arms snapped to his sides and his head straightened as if he were a soldier responding to a command. “Stop this right now. You must—”
Boaz’s body vanished.
“He’s in the circle,” Eve said. “Get there as quickly as possible.”
She disappeared.
Before Lucien hurried after her, he turned in a full circle and yelled into the night, “Henry! We have Boaz, and we need you now more than ever. Do not let us down, or I will kill you myself!”
Chapter 22
Eve reappeared into the candlelit cabin. Boaz was lying on the floor, trapped in the circle, his body stiff and rigid and his face scrunched in pain. She couldn’t believe she had let him control her so easily! But even worse was how she had almost given up. Thank goodness for Lucien and his strength. The moment he had touched her hand in the forest, she had felt the light between them ignite. It was more than enough to snuff out the darkness Boaz had left inside her.
“Don’t do this, Eve,” Boaz spat out from the floor through his clenched jaw. “Innocent blood will be on your hands.”
Eve glanced out the window, searching for Lucien and Henry. They needed to say the words that would place Boaz into an eternal slumber as soon as possible. She wasn’t sure how long her protective circle would
hold.
Boaz grunted and rolled into a tight ball. The spell was wearing off. “You are just delaying the inevitable.”
“There is no inevitable for me and you,” she said.
Lucien flung open the door, breathing hard. “Ready?”
Eve peered out the window. Henry’s dark form was not far away. “Let’s begin.”
Lucien came to stand on the opposite side of the circle as her. Their eyes met briefly, and then in unison they spoke:
“The world is gray, the night is black,
We hold a demon in our trap.
Close his eyes and make him sleep,
An eternal night he must keep.
For there he will lie and never die,
A corpse buried in his lies.”
They chanted the words over and over and, with each verse, the pressure in the room grew. Sweat ran into Eve’s eyes, and her legs grew weak. The spell was more taxing than she anticipated. And by the looks of Lucien, he too was struggling. His face was pale, and like her, he was sweating profusely.
But the spell was working.
Boaz writhed on the floor. His hands covered his ears as if he was trying to block out a terrible sound, and he was screaming loudly, making it hard for Eve to hear her own voice. She spoke louder, and Lucien matched her volume.
The crack of thunder shook the room and lightning streaked across the ceiling, nearly hitting the top of Lucien’s head. A strong gust of wind came with it, extinguishing the candles and the fire in the fireplace. The room was plunged into darkness so suddenly that both Eve and Lucien stopped talking. Boaz, too, was strangely quiet.
“Is it over?” Eve whispered.
The fireplace lit up. Shadows danced upon Lucien’s face as he stood in front of the flames. He held no matches. He must have used magic to start the fire. Lucien turned around and looked down at the floor. Eve followed his gaze.
Boaz’s body was straight as a board, his eyes closed tight. His expression was so relaxed, and his body so still, that he looked more like a wax statue than an actual living being.