Witch's Blade

by Jenna Wolfhart

With a sigh, I glanced at Dorian. That thought had been on my mind all day. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d acted against their orders, and my introduction to the force had been less than optimal in the first place. But I wasn’t so sure they’d be so quick to brush this one aside. Not only had my choices gotten one of their council members killed, but I’d been acting in direct opposition to the ally they were trying so desperately to keep.

  I had a feeling my days as an Enforcer-in-training might be over. At least their prison cells were a hell of a lot more comfortable than those of the Blood Coven.

  “We’re going to return,” Dorian said before I could voice my thoughts. Through our bond, he probably had a pretty good idea of how I felt anyway. “When they realize the siege wall has been taken down, they’ll likely attempt to recast the spell. If we don't talk to him, all of this might end up being pointless. Like I’ve said before, our Magister is a reasonable man. Maybe we can convince him that this approach is the wrong one.”

  “They did kill Ben,” I said in a whisper. “Surely the Magister won’t see that as an act of an ally.”

  “Well, good luck,” Ryker said. “I hope you’re able to get through to him. But if you aren’t? We found that weapon we were looking for, and we’re more than prepared to use it against the covens.”

  “Wait, what?” I stood. “You actually found a weapon in Blue Moon Tavern? It wasn’t…?”

  I didn’t voice the end of that question. It wasn’t me? Because I’d become more and more sure that I was the butt of Belzus’s stupid fae joke. That he’d been talking about me and my powers as the weapon hidden in the bar. In the wrong hands, that’s exactly what I was. To hear that the rebels had found an actual weapon, well, it left me gobsmacked. It didn’t make any sense.

  What else could it possibly be?

  Gigi cocked her head at my words, clearly hearing my unfinished question. Her eyes met mine, and intense curiosity filled her expression. She knew that I knew something more than I was saying, but she also knew I wouldn’t say anything more. So, she left it at that, but I had a feeling my misspoken words would someday come back to bite me in the ass.

  “Turns out there’s a little hidden cellar in the stock room,” Gigi said, eyes still watching my expression. “The weapon was down there.”

  Not many people knew about that cellar. I could probably count the number on a single hand. So, I had no idea how a weapon had gotten there. What I did know was…Belzus was one hundred percent aware of that hidden room.

  “What is it? What's the weapon?” I asked quietly. “If you found it in my bar, I deserve to know.”

  “I thought you said it wasn’t your bar. That you just work there.” Ryker smiled. “Or was that just a way to try and stop us from taking the building?”

  Rolling my eyes, I turned toward Dorian. Despite helping these assholes, I wasn’t entirely sure I liked any of them. They were cocky and abrasive and chose methods that were questionable at best. Hell, they were like me, only far worse.

  “Tell us what the weapon is, Ryker,” Dorian said.

  The rebel shook his head. “That information is need-to-know, and we think it would be better if you weren’t aware, especially because you’ve decided to return to your coven. It’s not the kind of information we’d like being fed to the Magister.”

  “We’re not going to tell the Magister,” I said.

  “Maybe you wouldn’t want to tell him. Or maybe you would.” Ryker shook his head. “Either way, they could try to pry the information out of you if they wanted.”

  Frowning, I met Dorian’s eyes. While I could see their point, I was more than a little uneasy at the idea of this weapon—whatever it was—in their hands. As terrible as the coven’s decision was to help the Blood Coven trap the sun mages, I would never want to see a weapon used against them. There had to be some other way. Something that would involve no one getting hurt.

  Dorian seemed to read my thoughts because he sighed and dragged a hand down his tired face. “Look, Zoe and I understand what it is you guys are fighting for, but please, for the love of the goddess, don’t use this weapon against our coven. At least give us a chance to talk to them before doing anything rash.”

  Ryker glanced at his fellow rebels and nodded. “Deal. We don’t want to see anyone get hurt either. If we can resolve this peacefully, then we're happy with that.”

  “Okay,” I said, slowly handing over the rune. “Here’s everything you need to cast the spell to take down the siege wall. Dorian can translate if you don’t have any Latin speakers among you.”

  Ryker snatched the paper and handed it to Gigi, his second-in-command, who tidied the rune into a plastic folder that she then slid into a messenger bag. “We’ve got that covered. Now, how does everyone feel about getting out of Scotland?”

  “You’re not ripping my castle from its foundation if that’s what you’re suggesting,” Dorian said as he stood from where he knelt by the fire. He grabbed some ash from beside the fireplace and dumped it onto the flames. Smoke billowed into the room, engulfing us in shadows. “We’ll go the normal way.

  “We’ll have to go back outside to do that,” Gigi said. “If we don’t use a building, we have to use a patch of grass.”

  “We’re not taking my castle,” Dorian said. “A little rain won’t kill you.”

  I grabbed my jacket from the rack, but I shouldn’t have bothered. It was still soaked through and now it was ice cold from the lack of body heat I’d been feeding it. Taking a deep breath, I followed our group outside, gazing up at the storm-studded sky. It was hard to believe that this was the same sky I saw back home every night. I felt so far from everything I knew.

  “All right,” Ryker called out when his feet hit the ground. “Gather round. We need to get in a circle while Jack draws the boundary around us.”

  We huddled in the middle of the storm, shivering as our bodies knocked together. Dorian was closest to me, and the lack of warmth in his body didn’t prevent my own from heating up. Just being close to him lit a fire within me, one that drowned out the miserable weather. I backed up a fraction of an inch and smiled when I felt the hard planes of his stomach against my back.

  As we waited, Jack dropped to the ground and carved a circle into the ground with his dagger, marking each inch with a hastily-drawn rune. When he’d completed the circle, he glanced up and said, “Okay, I just need to draw the last rune, and we’ll be out of—”

  He stopped short when a shriek echoed in the distance. A shriek that sounded very, very familiar. Sucking in a breath, I whirled toward the noise just as another rang out in the darkness of the storm. It was an animalistic shout. One that didn’t sound the least bit human.

  “What was that?” Gigi asked, her teeth chattering. “Some kind of animal?”

  Dorian shook his head, his jaw clenching as he scanned his eyes across the hills. “That’s not an animal.”

  Jack slowly stood from his crouch with his dagger dangling from curled fingers. “I know that sound. But it’s daytime.” His voice trembled. “It’s impossible for them to be out hunting right now.”

  Dorian whipped out his chalk, muttering under his breath when it slid against his palm. It was wet. Too wet. If he tried to draw a rune with chalk, it would dissolve into nothing but smeared remnants. “They’re allergic to the sun, but look at the sky. It’s full of clouds. Nothing can stop them from coming out in the day with weather like this. Welcome to Scotland.”

  “Shit,” Ryker said as he pulled his dagger from a hidden sheath. “We need to get out of here before they attack. Jack, carve the last rune.”

  Jack shuddered when another shriek rang out. This time, it was much, much closer. Nosferatu were known to move fast. They could run much faster than a normal person could. The only thing in the world that could outrun them was a werewolf. And with Dorian’s hybrid status, even he couldn’t keep track.

  “Jack,” I said, echoing Ryker. “Carve the last rune.”

  He shook his head as th
ough exiting some kind of reverie, like their shrieks had been speaking to him the way they had to me in the dungeons. Without another word, he dropped to his knees and began to carve the rune in the ground. His hands shook, water droplets spilling into his eyes and dripping into his open mouth.

  When he was two beats away from finishing the rune, a blur of motion shot through the rain and slammed into his body.

  Chapter 14

  Dorian leapt into action and threw his body in front of mine, his left arm snaking back to keep me behind him while his right hand held his dagger high. Swallowing hard, I grabbed my own blade and tightened my grip around the comforting handle. My magic came alive with my weapon in my hand, and even my fear couldn’t douse the power inside me.

  “Zoe, stay back,” Dorian murmured before he launched himself onto the back of the vampire. He slammed his dagger into its head with a force I didn’t know he had. The Nosferatu screamed, its body shaking as the blade dug into its skull.

  With a grunt, my partner yanked the knife out of the creature, leaving behind a trail of blood. Jack groaned and rolled the body off of him, his face contorted in disgust and in pain. As Dorian towered over the mage, Jack gazed up and gave him a nod.

  “Thanks, Dorian. That could have ended much worse.” He held out a hand, and Dorian pulled him up. They clapped each other on the back and fell silent, gazing around us as another shriek filled the air. “Shit. I was kind of hoping there was just the one of them.”

  “Why are they here?” Gigi asked, her voice shaky. “I thought you said no one knew about this place.”

  Dorian’s jaw rippled as he scanned the grounds of the castle. “We passed some Nosferatu cells in the dungeons, and they took a lot of interest in Zoe.”

  My head jerked toward Dorian. “You think they escaped the cells somehow? In order to come after me?”

  “No.” Dorian shook his head. “But they can communicate over large distances.”

  “So, you’re saying that those prisoners alerted their friends of the fact that a—”

  “That a sweet-smelling mage was wandering the Scottish Highlands?” Dorian cut me off just as I was about to say too much. “It’s possible. And now they’ve stumbled upon an entire group of us. This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered some Nosferatu, so I feel pretty confident in saying they sound pretty fucking hungry.”

  “And they like mage blood more than human blood,” Ryker said with a nod.

  “That’s right.” Dorian winced, knowing that fact far more than any normal person would. As a hybrid, he’d done his best to subsist entirely on animal blood, but I knew he hadn’t been able to do that his entire life. Even though he wouldn’t tell me about it, I knew he’d tasted human and mage blood before. And so he would know exactly how much vampires preferred to drink from mages. “The taste of mage blood is stronger and spicier. And they get a hit of our power when they drink it.”

  No wonder I’d sparked something in those dungeons. If vampires craved mage blood more than human, then out of all the types of magic, they’d want mine the most. It was full of darkness, just like them. It was the kind of magic that vampires would thrive upon, an intoxicating blend of danger and pain and fear.

  Two more shrieks echoed back to back. I frowned through the rain, trying to spot where they were hiding. How many of them were out there? Two? Three? A dozen or more? It didn’t matter. If we didn’t get out of here before they launched their next attack, we could all end up being served for dinner.

  “Jack,” I said, snapping everyone’s attention back onto the task at hand. “Finish carving that final rune.”

  He hesitated, his fingers clutched tight around his dagger’s handle. “Running is so cowardly. We should stay and fight.”

  Actually, Jack might be right. It was a mantra I’d repeated to myself at least a dozen times. Any time I saw a leader run, I labeled him a coward because fleeing from a problem only made that problem chase after you even faster. But now was different. This wasn’t our fight, and the rebels were desperately needed elsewhere.

  “If we die fighting these Nosferatu, who’s going to cast the spell to set the sun mages free?” I asked. “Who’s going to make sure they don’t die of dehydration and of hunger?”

  Hesitation flickered across Jack’s face. “But if these Nosferatu live another day, how many more innocent people will they kill? Not everyone they go after will be a mage with a dagger.”

  “We’ll stay and fight,” Dorian said with a nod, surprising me. “But if even one of us falls, we agree to complete the rune and get the hell out of here.”

  “Deal,” Ryker said. Quietly, he motioned to his team, and they drew together into a circular formation that Dorian and I joined as well. We each faced outward toward the night with our blades held at the ready, our backs tucked tight against each other so no one could approach us from behind. The rebels were well-organized and clearly trained, and I hoped it would be enough.

  A blur of motion launched itself in our direction, and something hard slammed into my body. As I stumbled onto the hard dirt, I heard the cries of my allies as they were hit just as hard. The vampire grabbed me and hoisted me off the ground, throwing me away from the others.

  My teeth knocked together when my body hit the earth, my ears ringing from the impact. The ache went deep into my bones as I struggled to stand, but I grit my teeth to block it out. The blur hurtled past me once again, and I followed the movement with my dagger, spinning quickly in my boots.

  In the distance, I could see the battle raging on, Dorian whirling at an impossible speed. I’d been tossed out here all on my own, I realized, as my heart pounded against my ribcage. I was the prize. The meal they were all craving. And they’d separated me from everyone else as quickly as they could.

  Luckily, I wasn’t a sweet innocent sheep being led to the slaughter. I was a fucking shadow mage.

  My magic boiled inside me as the Nosferatu hurtled past once again. It was circling me, trying to confuse my eyes. If it could distract me long enough, then another vampire could move in for the kill. Bending my knees, I readied myself, calling upon my shadow magic.

  Smoke curled inside my belly, whispers of darkness filling my mind. But for once, I embraced it and opened myself to every single part of those shadows. Darkness could answer darkness, I figured. If these Nosferatu wanted to come at me, they’d have to deal with my power.

  Long black strands spilled from my fingers just when the Nosferatu finally made its move. It hurtled toward me, its wide red eyes zeroing in on my throat. Sharp nails were held high as it bared its lips to reveal two rows of teeth that were as sharp as knives. I tried to hold in my fear, knowing that it would only take a second for this creature to rip out my neck.

  Taking a deep breath, I lifted my hands and hurled my magic at the creature. It let out a shriek as the darkness hit him hard, sending him spiralling into the night, far away from both me and the others. To my right, another figure flew past, and the tension in my body racketed up another notch. I’d been right. There’d been two circling me. And while I’d taken care of one, I didn’t know how long until he’d be back.

  The second Nosferatu rushed toward me without a single sound, and once again, I threw out my hands. This time, my magic missed. The vampire’s lips twisted into a smile, its long and thin body bearing down on me. It reached me fast, faster than I’d expected. Its hand snaked out and grabbed my hair, pulling me close to its chest. I wriggled in its grasp, kicking and punching and throwing my entire weight into my squirms.

  But the creature was far too strong. It was Dorian times ten, and there was no way in hell my measly muscle could get me out of this. Heart charging like a bull, I tried to summon my magic. If there was any time I needed it, it was now. I didn’t know what I wanted it to do, and I especially didn’t know the how of it.

  I just knew I needed it. My life depended on my power.

  The magic twisted and turned in my gut, screaming inside me. Voices whispered in my ears. K
ill the vampire. Destroy the creature. Tear its body to shreds. Swallowing hard, I squeezed my eyes tight and gave my magic the slightest of nods, giving it permission to do whatever the fuck it wanted in order to ensure I survived.

  That was all it took.

  Dark magic blasted out of me like an exploding bomb. The vampire screamed and dropped its hands from my neck just as it shot up into the dark sky. The creature spun as shadows encircled its body, writhing and twisting as strand after strand of shadows closed in around its open mouth.

  My magic was suffocating the creature, drawing out its demise like a demented form of torture. A limb popped off and hit the ground. And then another. Piece after piece until there was nothing left but a pile of blood and bones.

  Nausea choked my throat, and I fell to my knees. My vision swam, and my eyes burned. How could I have done such a thing? How could I even be capable of it? It was so wrong. Twisted. Demented. As much as I’d wanted to save myself, I hadn’t wanted to do it like that.

  Another scream reached my ears, but this time, it wasn’t a Nosferatu setting its sights on me. It was Gigi, calling out as a Nosferatu’s fangs sunk into her neck. Abandoning the gruesome pile of vampire flesh, I jumped to my feet and ran toward her, pumping my arms by my sides. Her head was tipped back, and her eyes were open wide as she stared up at the sky, almost unseeing.

  She’d stopped fighting against the vampire, either out of fear or pain. And before I could reach her, the vampire pulled his fangs from her throat, snapped her neck, and tossed her body to the ground. Utter horror filled my gut, and I had to force my feet to keep moving.

  Even though I’d only just met her, wave after wave of grief crashed into me. She’d been so young. All she’d wanted was to make the supernatural world a better place. Save the sun mages. Stop the covens from hurting anyone else.

  And now, she was dead.

  I stopped with my feet only inches from her body. A tear leaked out of my eye as I stared down at her blood-stained neck. Only moments before, she’d been so alive, her bright hair flaming down her back. How could someone with so much life be gone from this world with the single flick of a vampire’s wrist?