Dance With Death

by Becca Vincenza

  My usurped body twisted around, heading back in the direction from which I fled. Frustration ate at me, my mind raging while my body betrayed my escape. I thought of the ways I’d broken this spell before.

  Indigo’s kiss, which knocked me on my ass as old feelings ignited in a new, fresh way.

  Balthazar’s kiss didn’t really pull me the way I needed it to.

  But pain. Pain could work.

  Slipping my tongue between my teeth, I chomped down. The pain was staggering enough for a split second that I stumbled out of the spell. It weaved slowly through my body, the muscles in my legs tightening and twitching as the power of the spell abated.

  “Rowan.”

  The voice stopped me cold. Partially released from the caster’s spell, I twisted around and glared at the newcomer.

  “You better have brought backup.”

  Balthazar’s blond hair seemed almost white in the moonlight. His pale skin was ivory, the richness of the night accenting his otherworldly beauty. Another shiny addition was what really caught my attention, and I looked at the beautiful black blade hanging from his hip.

  “Oh, please tell me that’s for me.”

  Balthazar gave me a predatory smile that stirred something in me I didn’t like.

  “It’s all yours.”

  At the seductive purr in his voice, my gaze flickered up to his hungry look. What the hell has gotten into him? Balthazar usually acted like such a gentleman, but this wasn’t the time to question his personality change. We had more pressing matters to attend to.

  The spell that had been weaving up my legs faded and then disappeared entirely, which didn’t make sense. In any other situation, the magic user would have sensed the spell working and moved in to capture me. I held out my hand for the blade as I looked behind me, searching for Jason. Soft fabric landed in my palm instead of the cold metal of my blade, and I turned around in confusion.

  Looking at my outstretched hand, then to a suddenly half-naked Balthazar, all I could mutter was, “Uhh...”

  Balthazar’s gentlemanly gaze dropped down for a second before returning to my face. My burning, red, hot face. In the excitement of Balthazar arriving and the brand spell activating, I forgot about my utter state of undress. Quickly slipping the shirt on, I refused to look Balthazar in his red wine-colored eyes. Instead, I held out my hand again for the onyx blade.

  “Don’t use it on me, please. I had to park my vehicle quite a distance away, so it wouldn’t be seen by the others. We will have to be fast and quiet.”

  I nodded at his instructions. Escaping was my top priority. I’d already risked enough trying to stick this out. All the adrenaline that fueled my initial escape had long since faded, and the weakness from earlier was settling back in.

  Just a little bit longer, then home.

  The word home brought to mind the apartment across from mine, which was so sparsely decorated it shouldn’t feel like home, but it did. Indigo did. He always had, and the thought of returning there and finally getting to sleep perked me up once more.

  With a lazy swirl of my wrist, I tested the weight of the borrowed blade. I certainly wasn’t used to such a heavy weapon, but it would work in a pinch. The onyx on the sword hilt felt muted, unlike the onyx pressing into my thumb from the ring Indigo gave me.

  “I’ll take the lead,” Balthazar declared as he turned and started in the same direction Jason and I were heading. I reached out to contact Jason since he hadn’t come back to check on me, but the connection felt disrupted. Tightening my grip around the handle of the new blade, I cleared my mind and focused on following Balthazar. Jason would be okay, and I’d reconnect with him once I was safe.

  Balthazar was too far ahead of me, and I loped after him. We made our way through the maze of the shipping yard without incident. For once, it felt like things were beginning to look up. Relief coursed through me as we jogged through the parking lot to Balthazar’s car. He turned and finally noticed I was hobbling on the hard cement and lifted me bridal style into his arms.

  “Whoa.” I wrapped my arms around his neck at the unexpected move.

  “I apologize for the wear on your feet. I should have addressed this sooner.”

  “It’s fine. I’ll survive.”

  Balthazar took the last remaining strides to the car and expertly opened the door with me still in his arms. I raised my brows at him as he set me gently inside. His gaze went to the broken handcuffs still hanging off my wrists and deftly pinched the metal, breaking it, the pieces falling to the ground with a thud.

  Freedom. I sighed.

  Balthazar offered me a weak smile and closed my door. I flipped down the visor mirror and scrutinized my face. Fuck, I look absolutely horrible. My cheeks were gaunt, and the purple rings under my eyes made it look like I’d been punched...repeatedly. My hair needed about four washes and a brushing or three. I slapped the mirror shut and put the visor back up as Balthazar climbed in.

  “Rest. You’ve had a long week.”

  “Yeah, true. Although I’m sure my night has only begun. I’m pretty sure Nix and Indigo will grill me to within an inch of my life,” I admitted with a quiet laugh. But the warmth of the heated seat had already begun to lull me to sleep.

  Rest. Finally.

  Chapter 29

  In my restless dreams, a howl echoed around my head, sounding so sorrowful and broken, tears pricked my eyes. The siren call of sleep forgotten, I twisted in the seat and inhaled deeply before stretching and slowly blinking my eyes open. The sunlight finally did it, waking me completely. I squeezed my eyes shut before braving the harsh light again.

  Squinting one eye open and gradually adjusting to the brightness, I opened the other and looked out the passenger side window. The terrain around us was seriously lacking in buildings, though it had a surplus of trees. Anxiety wrapped around me like an itchy blanket I couldn’t shrug off.

  I glanced over at Balthazar, who was wearing a new shirt to replace the one he’d offered me.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’m sorry to have done this, but Morris called. He’s been keeping an eye on us in the city and has grown very concerned with your apparent lack of self-preservation. Not to mention my lack of control of the situation. He demanded that we return immediately for an evaluation.”

  I went to grab for the blade that Balthazar had given me at the docks but found it was missing. My worry increased, and my stomach tightened. While I didn’t want to give away my only trump card here—the fact that he didn’t know I could control vampires—I’d be willing to do it to free myself from this situation.

  “Morris has been updating your parents. They seem concerned with what they’ve been hearing. Morris is eager to find your brother as well. Since you are my deehire, you are considered part of the coven family, which means your brother is, by extension, also a member. He plans to send another unit out to find him.”

  The glaring threat in his voice caused the breath to leave my lungs, and they started to constrict. Rubbing the onyx ring on my finger for comfort, I tried to keep up a facade of calm.

  “Do you think they’ll find him?” The worry in my tone was real but not for the reasons Balthazar thought. As far as I knew, the vampires were under the impression Abel had been kidnapped.

  “I believe they will be able to bring him home, yes.”

  “And you’re ready to jump right into this?” I asked, nervous to hear his answer. I didn’t know where he stood with his wooing me.

  “Well, I believe you first need to connect to the rest of your powers, and the ceremony is a very important aspect in your culture. I’m sure you have felt incomplete without having concluded it. Returning to Kodiak Falls will be safer for you until we can retrieve Abel. Then, you both can begin your lives. And we can begin ours,” Balthazar announced, watching the road, but tightening his hands on the wheel.

  “You still want to go through with it? Even if I’m not ready?”

  “While I understand that you hav
e only recently discovered our engagement, I have been aware of it for the past twenty-one years. Your parents began giving our coven updates around the time you were growing into maturity. I am ready, and Morris has become restless. Let us just return and settle his worries. We will discuss the next steps after that.”

  It felt like he was trying to justify his actions and make me compliant, and I’d already made a fatal mistake. He still had my blood in his system, which he claimed would linger a month or more before that link dissipated. By then, I suspected he already had a plan for us to be mated and tied to one another forever.

  “You should drink some water. You’re probably dehydrated.” He indicated to the water bottle sitting in the cupholder between us. My stomach soured. The last thought on my mind was rehydrating.

  “Do you have a phone?” I asked, changing the subject.

  “Your parents already know we’re on our way back,” he answered primly.

  “Yes, but Ind— ...Nix,” I quickly corrected, hoping he didn’t catch my flub, “doesn’t know what happened. I don’t want him to worry or waste their resources trying to find me,” I insisted.

  “I’ll call him once we arrive home. You slept for quite a while. It should be about ten more hours before we arrive. If you’re hungry, I can stop and get you something.”

  “No, I’ll just rest some more.”

  Truthfully, I was starving, but I didn’t think any food I ate would stay down. My stomach churned, and anxiety thrummed through me. Playing along would be my only option for survival. And the first chance I got, I would get my hands on a phone. I needed to call Abel and warn him.

  Balthazar’s warning rang through my head. My parents had been threatened before, and the contract was still in place. Everything he was doing was legal in the eyes of the Council.

  But anger simmered under my skin with the knowledge that I walked right into this. Offered myself up on a silver platter.

  Balthazar grabbed my hand, the one with the onyx ring around my thumb, and brought it to his lips.

  “I was so worried about you while you were in the custody of that slave trader.”

  I made a noncommittal noise and twisted in the seat away from him, closing my eyes. I gripped the door handle in my hand and tried to call Jason, but my powers were distant and muted. Balthazar released my hand, assuming I had fallen sleep again.

  Opening my eyes a sliver, I stared at the band around my arm, suddenly realizing it looked different. The color of the staurolite was a more vibrant shade than before, which meant it definitely wasn’t the same band that Kayana put on me.

  Dread swirled in my gut with the realization that Balthazar, knowing the other band was fake, switched them as I slept.

  Jason couldn’t help me or reassure me now. Not with my powers being muted by my oh-so-concerned fiancé or with the threat hanging over my parents and Abel. Did I really have a choice not to play along?

  My weapons were left behind, along with my sense of safety. For once in my life full of werewolves, I felt like I was walking into the wolf’s den.

  Epilogue

  Ring.

  Ring.

  Ring.

  Ring.

  The tinny recording of her voicemail clicked. “You’ve reached Rowan. You know what to do.” Beep.

  Gritting my teeth, I glared at my phone. This was the tenth time I’d tried to call Rowan within the last half hour. She always had her phone on her. Now, more than ever, she needed to answer. I was running out of time. I couldn’t hold onto this phone any longer. I just had to hope my warning would reach her before it was too late.

  “Rowan, stay away from the Morris coven. I was tipped off by a very reliable source that they are not all they seem to be. Under no circumstances are you to return home. I’m destroying this phone and going deep underground. Shit is about to go down, little twin. Be safe, and stay close to those who love you.”

  Hopefully, she would know I meant Indigo. He would do anything to protect her. Anything. And that was exactly what she needed. I considered calling him as a back-up, but that was risky. As the full moon hung above us, I didn’t know if he would have enough control not to react impulsively.

  Acacia watched me with a careful eye.

  “Don’t give me that look.”

  “You should have told her everything,” she chastised.

  “Really? You’re going to lecture me on keeping secrets?” I snapped, still annoyed by her latest revelation.

  “She might be better prepared.”

  “Unless someone else has her phone, listens to my message, and then learns exactly what we know. I can’t risk it until I actually hear from her.”

  I hoped I made the right decision by being vague with my message, but my gut told me something happened to Rowan. Gritting my teeth, I flung my phone to the ground and stomped on it with the heel of my boot. Hopefully, I would be able to get in contact with her soon.

  “We have to get moving,” Acacia warned.

  “Then let’s go.”

  We took off like we had hellhounds on our heels, which wasn’t far from the truth.

  To be continued...

  A Special Tease

  Willow

  My father didn’t know that I’d escaped his clutches again. Of course, the first time I had help from Rowan, and it was about time I repaid the favor. She didn’t realize who had bought her, but I overheard my father and knew it was the same vampire coven to whom he’d given me—the one who branded and tortured Rowan.

  The shipping yard was one of many places he used to drop off his merchandise, but using my magic to trace her, I followed and waited. I planned to extract her before the other vampires arrived, but some dropped by unannounced to check out the unit where she was being held captive. After that incident, my father instructed a few of his goons to keep an eye on the area. In their excitement, the vamps arrived too early and set off his alarms. I knew how to get around the vampires, but the goons, I did not.

  My father dabbled in dark magic that our kind detested.

  Night fell, and another set of vampires arrived with the witch, Sierra, who was there to activate Rowan’s brand. No one knew that my magic could counteract hers—a secret I kept to myself. I offered as much support to Rowan as I could while she fought to escape. It didn’t bypass my attention that the vampires who went to grab her hadn’t returned.

  I hoped my assistance was enough, because it wasn’t long before Sierra realized what was happening and came in search of me with another vampire. Sierra cast spells at me with increasing ferocity while I deflected, but it was the vampire who worried me the most. Magic wasn’t a problem; however, the speed and strength of the vampire wasn’t something I could escape. As I was busy blocking another fireball from Sierra, the vampire moved in to snatch me.

  As his claw-tipped hands reached for me, a solid body suddenly landed between us. A muscular tail wrapped around my waist, tugging me out of the way of another fireball, and wings expanded as another form of protection.

  My eyes were like saucers as I gaped, “Cornelius?”

  “Where the fuck have you been?” he growled as he grappled with the vampire, whom he matched in both speed and strength. All while he kept me wrapped in his strong tail, dodging me from Sierra’s magic.

  “Um...”

  “We’ll discuss it later. Right now, we need to find Rowan,” he grunted, continuing his battle with the vampire.

  I turned my attention to Sierra. Using my blue flames magic, I created a whip and forced her on the defensive. While cocooned in Cornelius’s grip, we compelled her to the ground. With a snarl, Cornelius twisted the neck of the vampire with a crack—not killing him but definitely knocking him out for a couple hours.

  He pulled me around, so I stood in front of him, brushing a calloused finger over my cheek. I closed my eyes, enjoying the small touch. His earthy scent filled my nose, reminding me of a home I had long since forgotten.

  A howl, so mournful and heartbroken, pierced the
air, and I stumbled backwards.

  His jaw tightened as Cornelius looked in the direction from which it came.

  “Indigo.”

  LAST WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

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  Stuff about the Author

  Becca Vincenza lives in wonderful Michigan. She has an obsession with candy, her animals, and of course books. When she's not wearing her author hat, she's working to pay off her student loans for her acquired English degree.

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