by Sarra Cannon
Finally, Rend opened his eyes and lowered himself, pushing into me with one glorious stroke. I gasped and cried out from the fullness of him. My hands tensed and scratched at his back, pulling him down as my hips rose.
We found a rhythm as we danced along the edge of abandon, taking our time exploring and learning each other's limits. It was a game of push and pull, reaching one limit, then backing away until control could be found again.
Wind whipped around us, cooling our heated bodies as my magic took over. When it got too strong, Rend slowed and waited until the wind died down. If he moved his lips toward my neck, I pulled him back, forcing his eyes to mine until he calmed.
But eventually, desire took hold. We brought each other to the edge, then pushed past. Debris moved around as passion exploded within my core. I cried his name as the window broke and glass fell to the floor.
Rend groaned as he moved inside me. He pushed a hand into my black hair and pulled my head back hard against the bed, exposing my neck. I screamed in both pleasure and pain as his fangs grew long and he lowered his head to my bare skin.
His teeth drew blood just as he reached his climax. I dug my nails into his side, trying to push him off me, even while a part of me still wanted to draw him closer.
“Rend,” I cried as I pushed against him. My mouth grew dry and fear pounded through my veins.
He let out a low, unearthly growl, then pushed me away. In an instant, his body shifted to smoke and flew from the room, leaving me panting there on the bed alone and exposed.
I reached up to touch the sticky wet blood on my neck, then fell back against the bed and smiled, exhausted and satisfied.
And still very much alive.
Chapter 11
The Flutter Of Black Wings
I crawled out of bed and pulled the tattered blanket around my body. I tiptoed across the creaky old floor and made my way out the front door of the house.
I wasn't sure how long I'd slept or where Rend had disappeared to, but I wanted to make sure he knew I was okay.
I moved to the edge of the front porch railing and looked out across the crow village. Rend sat near the stone altar in the center of town, wearing nothing but his jeans. He was bent over, his head in his hands.
But as my eyes landed on him, he looked up and straightened. I smiled and lifted a hand in a wave and his shoulders relaxed. His eyes tensed, but I noticed a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
I knew we still had a long way to go and so much we still needed to discuss and figure out, but for now, I was happy just to be here with him. Just to have had this one night with him.
I sat down on the railing and imagined what my life would have been if my mother had never left this place behind.
Where would I be now? What kind of woman would I be?
I had spent so much of my life being angry with my mom for her choices and her regrets. I would have given almost anything for the chance to talk to her about why she’d left in the first place. And why she didn’t love me the way I deserved to be loved as a small child.
I wiped a tear from my cheek. Now was not the time for sadness and regret, but somehow opening myself to Rend had also opened a chamber in my heart that held memories and sorrow. I was overcome by more emotion than I'd allowed myself to feel in a very long time.
Part of me wished Rend and I could stay here forever, never having to face the dangers of the outside world. I was sure we could learn to find a balance between surrender and control. But I knew our time here was limited. When the sun came up in the morning, I knew we would have to get serious about making a long-term plan.
We couldn’t run forever, which meant only one thing.
We would have to stand and fight.
Movement near the entrance caught my eye and I pulled the blanket tighter around my body.
Mary Anne must have come back already. Did that mean there was trouble back at the house? Had they been attacked?
Rend saw my concern and moved to my side in seconds.
“Who is it?” he said.
“Mary Anne, I think,” I said. “We’re safe here, right? No one else can get in.”
“Stay here,” he said.
I heard him, but didn’t want him to go out there without me, so I followed right behind him.
Near the entrance, I saw the flutter of black wings.
I sped up and moved ahead of Rend to the entrance to greet her, not even caring that I was dressed in nothing more than an old rag.
Only, the figure shifting into human form at the entrance to the crow village was not Mary Anne at all.
The sight of the woman standing there froze my feet to the ground. The breath was knocked from my lungs with the sheer force of surprise.
I opened my mouth to speak, my lower lip trembling. Could this be real?
She stepped forward, a sad smile etched on her familiar face. “Franki,” she said.
I shook my head and took two steps back, a tear falling down my cheek at the sight of her.
“Mom?”
Episode 6: The Doorway
Chapter 1
Misunderstood
“Mom?”
My mother stood at the entrance to the crow village, her eyes bulging. Her entire body shook with fear.
“Franki, thank God you're here,” she said. Her voice sounded foreign. Almost child-like in her terror. She ran toward me and grabbed my arm. “You're in serious danger. We have to get out of here. He's on his way.”
“Who?” I asked. My breath came in short bursts. “The Devil?”
Mom looked behind her at the entrance to the village. Her head twitched. “Yes. He's been holding me prisoner for a very long time. I finally managed to escape, but we don't have much time.”
“How did you know where to find us?” Rend asked.
She looked at him as if realizing, for the first time, that he was here. “Rend. Thank goodness you're here with my little bird,” she said. “I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been able to keep her safe.”
“Answer my question,” he said.
She blinked several times, tears filling her eyes. “The Devil knows you're here. I heard him talking about it to one of his servants. He can't be far behind me.”
“It's okay, Mom. We're safe here. He can't get in. This village is enchanted, remember? You have to know that.”
She shook her head violently and pulled hard on my arm. “You don't understand.” She pushed her hair back from her neck to reveal two swollen puncture wounds. “He's been drinking from me for months, taking me down to almost death before letting go. He let me heal and then he drained me again. Over and over.”
I gasped and reached up toward the wounds, pulling back before touching them. Her neck looked infected. What horror had she been through? My stomach turned at the thought of her as his prisoner all this time.
“That means he can get inside the village,” Rend said. “When was the last time he drank from you?”
“Hours ago,” she said. “He'll still have some of my power inside him. The spell won't keep him out as long as he has some of my blood running through him.”
“Shit,” Rend said. He grabbed my hand. “We'll go to my house. Or to Venom.”
“No,” my mother said. Her hand was cold and clammy against my arm. “There's another way, but we have to go now. We can't risk him finding us here.”
I looked at Rend and could tell he wasn't happy about being told no. The line of his jaw was straight and tense, and his eyes flashed with veins of silver in the blackness.
“What other way?”
“There's a doorway here inside the village,” she said. “The Devil doesn't know about it. No one outside of the crow witches even knows it exists.”
“Where does it lead?” I asked. She was digging into my arm so hard, I was afraid she was going to draw blood. I had to wrench my arm from her grasp. Rend was already tense enough. I didn't want to aggravate him.
“To a secret network of
doors belonging only to the crows,” she said.
“Like the hall of doorways at Venom?” I asked. I wasn't sure she knew about the hall there, but apparently hallways like that existed all over the world and most witches and demons knew they existed.
“Similar,” she said. “But these doors only lead to secret hiding places of the crows. It's the Mother Crow's personal hallway. If we can get inside before he arrives, he'll never know what happened to you.”
“Franki, I don't know about this,” Rend said, turning me toward him. “I don't know that turning to the other crows at a time like this is the best plan. The Mother Crow may be just as dangerous as the Devil right now.”
“I won't take her to the Mother Crow,” Mom said. “I swear it.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn't think straight. Rend and I had just gotten here. We hadn't even had a chance to talk about what had happened between us, much less what we were going to do about the Devil. This was all moving way too fast. I didn't know who to trust or what to do. One wrong move could mean all our lives.
“I have to get dressed,” I said. “I need a minute to wrap my head around this and figure out what we should do.”
My mother stepped back and studied me, her eyes traveling from my face all the way down to my toes. Her gaze snapped toward Rend. “You were supposed to be protecting her, not taking advantage of her.”
She lashed out at him, but Rend stepped back. I moved between them and held up a hand. “Stop,” I said. “I've been taking care of myself for the past three years. I'm not a child anymore. I know you're scared and you're trying to help, but I'm not going to let you just barrel back into my life and start criticizing my choices.”
Tears fell from my mother's eyes and she swiped at them. “You're right. I'm sorry, but you have to understand how this looks to me,” she said. “I didn't want to leave you, Franki, but at the time, I thought it was for the best. You have no idea all the things I've sacrificed to keep you safe.”
My heart tightened in my chest. Was that the truth? Had I completely misunderstood her all this time?
“Let me get dressed,” I said. “I'll be right back.”
Mom nodded, but jerked her head back toward the entrance. “Hurry, please,” she said. “I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you.”
I studied her face for a long beat. She seemed to be genuinely worried about me. I had never seen her act this way my entire life. Had I been wrong about everything?
I squeezed her hand once and hurried toward the small rust-colored house Rend and I had claimed as our own.
Chapter 2
The Last Kiss
Rend followed me into the room. I searched for my clothes on the floor and began dressing as fast as I could.
“Franki, something doesn't feel right about this,” he said.
I shook my head. “Nothing has felt right for the past week or two,” I said. “My entire life has been completely turned upside down.”
“No, I mean your mother showing up here like this,” he said. He sat down next to me on the bed as I pulled the tank top over my head. “If the Devil had her prisoner for the past several months, how did she suddenly get free on her own? He wouldn't have just let her go. Not after what she'd heard.”
“I don't know,” I said. I pulled my pants up and started searching for my shoes under the bed. “She's obviously terrified. You saw the marks on her neck. I think she's telling the truth.”
“I'm not saying she's lying to you,” he said. “I just think we need to be careful.”
I stretched to reach one of the shoes that had somehow gotten pushed way under the bed. My hands were shaking. “What do you think we should do, then? Where can we possibly go that is going to be safe from him?” I asked. I finally grabbed the edge of the shoe and dragged it out. “How did he even figure out that we were here in the first place? It's like he has eyes everywhere. I don't even know where to begin to fight back against that.”
“I don't know,” he said. He stood and punched a fist against the wall. “I hate this. I want to keep you safe, but I feel powerless. If we can get you to Venom, we can regroup there. I can call in any favors and friends who might be willing to stand and fight.”
I finished dressing and stood. My head throbbed with a sudden headache. “If we can even get there at all,” I said. “The Chicago entrance is ruined. He's already got eyes on Paris. Probably all the others, too. What about the entrance from your house? Could we go through the hall in Harper's house to get there?”
He shook his head. “It's not that easy,” he said. “The only entrance to Venom from my house is through a specific hallway outside of Venom. It's a trick I put in place with my own magic. If we go through the hallway in Harper's house, we can get to my house, but not back to Venom. Not directly, anyway. It's complicated.”
I ran a hand through my knotted hair, still tousled from sleeping. I glanced over at the bed. I would have given anything for just one more peaceful night here alone with Rend. I wanted nothing more than to be lost in his arms again.
“We have no choice,” I said. “Anything else is too risky. If we leave the safety of this village, we're vulnerable until we can get back to Venom. For all we know, the Devil is already out there waiting for us to leave.”
Rend turned to me, his chest rising with each labored breath. “Okay. We'll follow her through this secret doorway of the crows, but at the first sign of trouble, we bail,” he said. He moved toward me and put a hand on my cheek. “I won't let anything happen to you, Franki.”
I wasn't sure it was entirely up to him, but I wanted to believe he could keep me safe. I wanted to believe there was a future for us, outside of this constant danger.
“I won't let anything happen to you either,” I said with a smile.
Rend smiled and lowered his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around him, pressing my body tightly against his. Our kiss deepened as we opened to each other. I dug my fingers into his back, wanting him closer.
His hand slipped behind my head, tangling in my hair. His other hand gripped my shirt into a fist, desire overcoming us as our bodies went up in flames. Now that I'd had a taste of what it was like to be with him, I wanted more.
But there was no time.
I groaned and pulled away, pressing my forehead against his as we both panted and caught our breath.
“We have to go,” I said.
“I know,” he said. He pulled back and locked his eyes on mine. “When all this is over, we're going to finish this. I'll figure out a way for us to be together, Franki.”
I blushed. “We were pretty together last night,” I reminded him.
He bit his lower lip and his eyes sparkled. “Yeah, but I was holding back,” he said.
His words made my stomach flip in a rush of desire and anticipation. If that had been him holding back, dear God I wanted to know what it felt like when he gave all of himself.
Someone began knocking furiously on the door of the house and Rend groaned.
“Franki, we have to hurry,” Mom said. “I think I saw movement outside.”
“I'll be right out,” I called.
I lifted onto my tiptoes and kissed Rend one more time. As our lips met, I sent up a silent prayer that this would not be the last kiss.
Chapter 3
The Door
Mom sat on the top step of the porch, waiting. She stood as we came out, her eyes full of fear.
“I think he's close,” she said. “We need to get to that door as soon as we can.”
She took my hand and pulled me down the stairs. Rend followed closely behind.
“Where is this door?” he asked.
“It's below the stone altar in the center of the village,” she said. “The Mother Crow created it decades ago. None of us were ever allowed inside without permission, but I've been through the doorway once before, when I was younger.”
“Where will we go once we get inside?” I held tightly to her hand, trying to remember the last
time I had actually held my mother's hand.
“There's another village similar to this one that was set up about thirty years ago,” she said. “Some of the other crows lived there for a while, but it's been abandoned for the past ten years or so.”
“Wait,” I said, slowing. “How do you know the rest of the crows aren't all living there now? Mary Anne said they all disappeared after the Mother Crow's fight against Harper here in Peachville.”
She shook her head and yanked on my arm, putting all of her weight into it. “I just know,” she said. “The Mother Crow wouldn't have gone anywhere Mary Anne and her friends could go after her. She would have hidden somewhere new. I imagine she's set up a new village somewhere, by now.”
My stomach knotted. Were we doing the right thing trusting my mom?
I wasn't sure, but we couldn't stay here. Rend was right, though, something didn't feel right about all of this. I needed to know she could be trusted. I needed to know that, after all this time, she was willing to tell me the truth.
I paused when we reached the stone altar. I took my hand from hers and watched as she lifted the stone, revealing a staircase that led down into the darkness.
“Come on,” she said, motioning for me to follow her.
“Hold on.” My heart raced.
She had already started down the stairs, but she stopped to look up at me. “Franki, there's no time for this.”
“There's something I need to know before I can follow you down there,” I said. I crossed my arms over my chest, holding myself tightly, afraid even to ask for the truth after all this time. I wasn't sure I was prepared to hear the answer. “I need to know why the Devil is after me specifically,” I said. “Out of all the witches in the world, why me?”
She shook her head and her eyes searched my face. “We can discuss this later,” she said.
“No. We need to talk about it now,” I said. I remembered my conversation with Mordecai on the ride down to Peachville. He had said the secret to my unusual strength was not my crow heritage. It was my father's. “I need to know who my father is.”