by R. L. Weeks
“I appreciate all you’ve done.”
He shook his head. “You have no idea what I’ve done to get you here. None.”
“Tell me what you’ve done,” I demanded.
I watched with amusement at his internal conflict over obeying a command from his newly appointed queen. “No,” he managed to say bravely and slammed his drink on the mantelpiece.
Roaring anger rippled through me. How dare he disrespect me? A voice tinkered in my mind, a male voice. Make him pay.
Raising my hands, I closed my eyes and felt my magic seep out of me like venomous snakes slithering toward their prey. Jerimiah squirmed under my power and slunk back, pressing himself into the wall as much as he could.
SLAM.
I didn’t expect that. I was thrown across the room, forcing the air from my lungs. Hastily, I got to my feet and ran back to where Jerimiah was standing. His black gaze latched onto mine, neither of us able to look away. The other witches and warlocks dispersed and watched from a safe distance. I summoned the spirits of the dead that haunted Crimson Leaf, luring them to me like rats following the tune of a piper’s flute. Channeling their powers, I entered a magical showdown with the boy I thought to be weak. Instead, Jerimiah held his head high, showing no signs of fear. I had unlocked something deep within him, a power he had held in. He was no match to mine, but the brute force of his will would make him a worthy opponent.
He pulled a voodoo doll from his pocket, sporting a sinister smile as he did, and twisted the arm; as he did, the bones in my arm cracked. Pain shot through me in waves. I closed my eyes and focused on healing, but nothing was happening. I used the pain and focused it into a pinpoint of torture. It tricked out of me, through the ground, and up through Jerimiah, temporarily linking us. I got a small but clear insight into his mind. Like a flash, I saw a plethora of voodoo dolls. That was his skill. Too bad for him that mine was destruction. I let the beast free, and the power that had seeped through him twisted and coiled around his core, bringing him to his knees. He gripped the ground as he fought against the torture ensuing inside his soul. I brought forward each painful memory and saw his parents as clear as day. His mom was lying in bed all day, on Valium, and his dad would hit and push Jerimiah around. A voice in my head told me it was wrong to torture Jerimiah with those awful memories, but the darkness seduced me into wanting to see his suffering. I unhinged his mind, peeling apart his childhood into layers and smothering him with them.
BANG.
Jerimiah smashed through the torture and snapped the other arm of the voodoo doll, making me scream out. With one final push of the beast, I forced all the violent thoughts like invisible daggers, aimed at Jerimiah’s chest. They hit him, forcing him to pass out. A vibration slinked around us and the fight ended.
Alec clapped his hands from over by the door, slowly at first, then faster. Everyone else joined in. I was sweating profusely. He was harder work than I had anticipated. I’d got a sense of invincibility from my powers, only to have a rude awakening—from Jerimiah of all people—that I could be beaten.
I sucked in a deep breath and attempted to soothe the pulsating energy inside of me.
“You were wonderful,” Alec said as he approached me. He placed his hands on mine, and warmth spread through my bones. He had healed me.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“My pleasure.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and escorted me through the witches and warlocks who were keeping a good two-foot distance from me. I wasn’t a ruler through love or respect but through fear. Alec grinned as we walked down the staircase. “Are you ready for a real party?”
The party was in full swing when I saw Joshua. He was locked inside the main bedroom, surrounded by witches and warlocks deep in pleasure with one another. How was Joshua there? I thought he was back in Ontario.
Alec gave Alexandra, the witch with red hair from the house in the woods, a stiff nod. On getting the signal, she forced the silver liquid down Joshua’s throat.
I gasped. “What are you doing?”
Alec tutted. “I hope you’re not worried about him.”
“I’m not,” I said earnestly.
“It’s an elixir that lowers your inhibitions. Joshua was found skulking around the building with Nicholas, trying to find a way to break you out.”
I wanted to ask where Nicholas was, but I knew it was best not to. “What are you going to do to him?”
“Force him to admit the darkest parts of himself.” Alec’s eyes blazed red. “The Black Lily Coven is full of self-righteous liars, and now they’ll get the worst punishment, starting with their high priest.”
“Tell her the truth,” the woman, Alexandra, ordered Joshua.
Joshua looked at me with tortured eyes. “I can’t.”
“Do it.”
I knew what they were doing. Trying to jam a ridge between Nicholas, Joshua, and me using desire. Sever all ties to my humanity for good.
Joshua growled under his breath. “Kate. I want Kate.” The elixir was forcing him to admit things he wished he couldn’t.
He was at the edge of tears. Alexandra smiled. “Then take her.”
Everything slowed. A piece of tinkering music filled the house with a soft, sad melody. Joshua, looking pained, walked toward me. He was trying to fight her orders, but the elixir was too strong.
“Do it,” she scolded him.
He made his way closer, his shoulders slumped over. When he reached me, he wrapped his arm around me. The ritual only brought out your darkest desires. He must’ve wanted me. “I thought you went back to Canada.”
“I came back as soon as Nicholas told me you’d been forced to their side,” he said regretfully.
His gaze was filled with desire when he looked at me. I was taken aback. I hadn’t gotten the vibe once that he wanted me in that way.
“Kiss him,” Alec told me.
“Why should I?”
“Prove your loyalty. If Nicholas means nothing to you now, then you won’t mind kissing his cousin.”
As he said that, Nicholas was dragged in behind us. “Kate!” he bellowed. “Joshua!”
The tortured gaze from Nicholas pulled the shred of humanity out of me that was left, forcing it to the surface. My eyes glazed over. I was wrong in thinking that bringing the coven back or the fight with Jerimiah had been an initiation. They showed my abilities, not my loyalty.
Joshua closed his eyes, unable to look at Nicholas as he ran his hand down my arm. My skin pricked under his touch. It was just one kiss, then they would have to let them go—loyalty proved. Yet, no amount of justifying it satisfied my guilt.
With force, I buried my feelings about Nicholas deep and leaned into Joshua. He smelled like pure masculinity. I ran my fingers over the lines of his abs and sighed. His nose bumped mine, reminding me of Nicholas. I heard him shouting as Joshua and I shared our first kiss. It was sweet, short, and lingering. After a few moments, Alec ordered us to stop. Joshua pulled away, his eyes glazed over. Nicholas looked like a shell of himself.
Alec seemed satisfied. “Let them go. They can fight among themselves like the pitiful excuses for warlocks they are.”
I didn’t look as Joshua and Nicholas were dragged from the room. I wouldn’t let my regret show and practiced the best and most important poker face of my life as I caught Alec’s gaze.
Chapter Fifteen
The day was over. Nicholas and Joshua had become nothing more than afterthoughts as I nestled into the blankets of my bed. It was good to be home. Alec had wanted me to stay at the house, but I refused, telling him it was non-negotiable.
Mom was happier than ever to have me home, and thank goodness for love being blind; she didn’t seem to notice any changes. I told her I had been staying at Vanessa’s house, whom I hadn’t heard from despite being given my phone back. In fact, I heard nothing but radio silence from anyone. Not that I cared. My momentary lapse in humanity earlier had only shown me that I needed to be without those pesky human emotions.
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My birthday was tomorrow. I would be turning eighteen, and I was doing nothing for it. I wondered if they would hold a party at the Black Rose headquarters for it. I pondered the craziness from the past few months. I had gone from depressed Kate to scared-and-confused Kate, then to Kate, Queen of Darkness. Giving into the black arts had been easy. As I thought that, Joshua’s talk from a while ago came back to me. He’d told me there were two paths, the hard one and the easy one, and only one of them was good. I shook my head, dismissing the thought, and closed my eyes. I drifted to sleep easier than ever, falling through my unconscious with blissful ignorance.
I walked through the gates of hell with my head held high and shook hands with the devil himself. In giving my soul to the darkness, I had given myself to him. His gaze looked familiar; I had seen those snake-green eyes before. His face was a demonic mask, but underneath it, he looked almost human. I knew that sly smile anywhere. The devil was real, and he was walking among us all, disguised as a handsome warlock.
He cocked his head, and my heart dropped. “Alec! You’re the devil?”
He nodded. “Not what you expected?”
I looked around at the grey, ash-covered space. There was no fire there. No light except a constant, maddening grey dim light could enter the area. Alec sat on a throne of stone, and snakes hissed as they slithered around it. Alongside us were rows upon rows of jail cells. There were no guards—of course not, we couldn’t escape hell and it’s not like the dead needed food or water—and there were no sounds besides us. The prisoners were eerily quiet as if their voice boxes had been ripped from their throats upon arrival. It was so quiet that I could hear my own heartbeat, muscles creaking when I moved my arm, and my bowels moving. “What a horrible place,” I said and shuddered. I never knew how important background noise was until now. Without it, it was torture to the senses.
“It is,” Alec said, his gaze narrowing. “I am trapped to serve here for another millennia unless you break all the seals.”
I looked around. Who wouldn’t want to get out of there? Flames, torture, they all seemed childish compared to the real hell, the never-ending pit where evil souls were sent to rot. The real hell was much worse than the one I had grown up hearing about at church.
“What will you do if you come back to earth for good? How were you back in the first place?”
“I can visit,” he said sourly, “for short moments, but when I fall asleep, I come back here. I simply want to live among witches, take on the body of the real Alec, and live out my days in a place where sin is thriving, immortality is worshiped, and desires of the flesh can make me feel.”
“You want to feel again?” I asked, pulling his points together.
“Yes, petulant girl, and you’re going to help me.”
“You should try taking some Adderall. Anti-depressants?”
His nails scraped against the stone on his throne. “This is not a joke.”
I smirked anyway. “I’m not going to help you.”
The tattoo on my back burned, forcing me onto my knees. I screamed, and he basked in the pain I was feeling. “You do not have a choice. Bringing an entire coven back from the dead was the first seal.” He hissed. “You must unlock the other seals, or I will make you experience pain beyond anything your human brain could imagine.”
I shuddered. They had used me. He had intended for me to kill all those people. Feeling betrayed, I turned and ran, my black dress whipping behind me. Alec watched me intently.
I thought I was turning bad, but Alec took the crown. He was the embodiment of everything I hated—anger, jealousy, pettiness, pride… However, I knew no matter how fast I ran, there was no way I could be free of him. He would come back to visit, and as long as that tattoo remained on my back, he had full control of me.
***
I woke in my bed. The lamp was still on, and my teddies watched me with dead eyes from on top of the ottoman. I blinked several times. Everything clicked into place. I was being used as a pawn on the chessboard of the supernatural, among angels and demons. I grabbed my phone from my nightstand and texted Nicholas.
I’ve made a mistake. I need to talk to you.
I then texted Joshua the same message. It was late, so I doubted either of them was awake. I called Vanessa.
“Hello?” she answered tiredly.
“It’s Kate. I need your help.”
“Uh.” She sounded uncertain. “I don’t know if I should get involved.”
“Please, Nessie. This is an emergency. I’m worried,” I admitted. “Can I come over?”
I heard her sigh before she agreed. “Fine. Mom and Dad just left for Borneo yesterday.”
I had forgotten all about them going with everything else that had gone on. “On my way.”
After pulling open my drawer, I grabbed my knee-high striped socks and pulled them on. I dressed into my black short skirt and star-patterned, navy-blue top, then shoved my feet into my black pumps and my hair into a messy bun. I crept out of the bedroom, careful not to wake my mom, and down the stairs. When I reached the front door, I looked back and spotted a cake-sized box on the kitchen counter. Mom probably already bought my cake for today. I had to be home to at least spend some of my eighteenth with her.
An owl hooted as I walked along the empty sidewalk. It was getting colder. Frost covered the roofs of the houses like an icy blanket. After several minutes, I finally reached Vanessa’s quaint house nestled between two bigger houses. The only light on in the house came from her bedroom window. I texted her.
Outside, Nessie.
She took forever to open the front door, but after several minutes, it swung open. Vanessa looked tired. She had dark circles under her eyes. Her cheeks were blotchy. Had she been crying?
“Nessie, what’s wrong, hun?” I asked and grabbed her hands.
She burst into tears, her body trembling.
“What’s happened?”
She leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder. “I wanted to tell you, but he threatened me.”
“Alec?” I asked angrily.
She shook her head. “No, Jerimiah.”
I saw red. “What the fuck did he do?”
“He was so angry when he came. He came by today and was muttering something about Alec and you and how ungrateful Alec was after all he did, and you were getting too big for your boots.” She cried. “He said he wanted revenge, and he pulled out a voodoo doll. He said it was his thing. He twisted the leg of the doll, and…” She looked down and then I noticed it. Her leg was bruised.
My eyes widened as I looked back up to meet her gaze. “Is it broken?”
“No,” she clarified. “But it’s sprained and hurts like hell.”
“I’m going to fucking kill him!” I promised. “He’s already crossed the line with me.” I pulled out my phone and dialed Nicholas. The phone rang and rang, but no answer.
“I’ll be back,” I told Vanessa. “Just stay indoors. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She called to me as I reached the gate. “Happy Birthday, Kate.”
I looked back and smiled. “Thanks. I’m truly sorry about all of this, but don’t worry. I’m going to make everything better. I promise.”
It was five in the morning when I reached Nicholas’s house. I banged on the door and tapped my foot on the doormat. The door swung open. It was Joshua.
“Where’s Nicholas?” I demanded.
He looked sad, so, so sad. “He’s in his room. He hasn’t come out since…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but I knew he was referring to our kiss.
I pushed past Joshua and stomped to Nicholas’s room. I pushed the door open, and my heart dropped. Nicholas was lying in bed, and next to him was Jayde wearing very revealing pajamas: a tight tank top and shorts. Thankfully he was fully clothed, but still.
“What the fuck is this?” I bellowed. Tears burned at the back of my eyes. I shut them tightly to block passage.
Nicholas jumped up. His regret was so inte
nse that I felt it rather than saw it. Jayde looked at me snidely and stretched out. I could kill them both.
“I needed to talk to you about something important, but I see now that you were busy banging trash.”
I turned around and stomped back through the house. Joshua gave me an apologetic look. “You’re coming with me. I need your help. It’s Jerimiah,” I explained. “He tried to hurt Vanessa.”
Thankfully, Joshua put his current mood away and followed me out of the house.
When we were outside, I ground my teeth. “He’s fucking Jayde Merriweather?”
He pressed his lips together. “I don’t think he slept with her. He was devastated after our kiss and seeing you with the Black Rose Coven. He thought he lost you forever…”
“Don’t defend him.” I shook my head. “We didn’t kiss because we wanted to. We kissed because we had no choice.”
He didn’t respond but instead flushed red. “What did Jerimiah do to Vanessa?”
“He has a voodoo doll of her. He said something about Alec being ungrateful. I’ll explain everything that’s going on, on the way to his house.”
***
We arrived at Jerimiah’s rundown house. I looked up with unease at the blood. “I wonder what he’s hiding in there.”
Joshua flexed his muscles. “We might have to take him to Magora.”
“Where?” I furrowed my brows.
“It’s a supernatural prison. It’s on a small island in the middle of the Indian ocean. The evilest of them all reside there until they die.”
I shuddered as I remembered hell. I was sure Magora was nowhere near as torturous as there. “Let’s just go in, all fire blazing!” I said. “We need to have the element of surprise. Jerimiah’s not as weak as he looks.”
Joshua slammed his hunk of a body against the front door, and just like in a movie, the door broke open. I stormed in behind Joshua, wearing my magic as a shield. Jerimiah was dangerous.
The first thing to hit us was the stink of rotting flesh accompanied by the sound of buzzing from flies. “Oh my God!” I hollered and pinched my nose.