by Sarra Cannon
Once I had the raw powders and liquids I needed, I moved on to transmuting. It was work I had done countless times before. For me, my lab was my sanctuary where I prayed to the gods of alchemy and earth. I both lost and found myself in this room. Here, I had real power. Real control. When the rest of the world made no sense, I could always come here to feel centered.
My life had purpose in this lab, tonight more than ever.
I molded and transformed the raw elements into potions of unique power, concocting a mix of the clarity of Blue Frost and the passion of Red Dragon. I tested the limits of my own skill and knowledge, creating one potion for the witches who would join the fight, one for the demons, and one for the vampires.
As the clock struck eleven-thirty, I stared down at twenty-one perfect vials, knowing we would need every single drop.
Chapter 9
One Devil At A Time
I corked each of the vials and put them inside my large leather satchel. I disappeared into my storeroom for a moment, and added more than a hundred other vials of various potions to a second bag.
And it still didn't seem like enough.
The Devil would have his castle well-fortified by now. He would expect me to come. I just hoped he didn't expect me to bring an army along with me.
In all the years the Brotherhood of Darkness had been in existence, no one had ever challenged its leadership. Its principles. The most radical act of rebellion had been my own refusal to partake of human blood. I knew my actions tonight would change the Brotherhood forever. Once the battle was over—regardless of the outcome—the brothers who stood with me tonight would face judgment for attacking one of our own.
But even if it meant a death sentence, I knew I would die with honor. I would die for love. As long as Franki survived, it would be worth it.
I slung the satchels over my shoulder. I needed to get upstairs to meet the others. Some were likely already gathered in the main room of the house, waiting.
But before I could join them, there was one last thing I needed to do.
Something I had sworn never to do again.
I found the glass of blood where I had left it in the back of the lab. I closed my eyes and lifted it to my lips, my hand trembling with need. I drank it slowly, savoring the taste and the raw power that flowed through me.
Azure's sacrifice was one of love and true friendship. I would have never asked for such devotion, but the fact that she offered it willingly made it less of a betrayal.
My muscles rippled with new strength. I gripped the exposed rock, the blood pulsing through me like a powerful drug. It spread like wildfire, igniting my senses. God, I had forgotten how good this felt.
I was drunk with power, remembering the demon I used to be. The demon who had earned the name Rend all those years ago when I first became a vampire.
I opened my eyes, seeing every detail of the lab with new eyes. New clarity.
I shifted to demon smoke, amazed at the ease of it. I had grown used to fighting for every use of magic, learning to utilize every drop of my potions in order to cast. But with the blood of a powerful half-witch, half-demon, I felt as if I had been reborn.
I was tempted to leave the elevator behind and fly to the first floor, but I reminded myself that this was only the beginning of the night's work. I couldn't afford to waste a single drop.
Riding up on the elevator was torture. Energy buzzed inside every cell of my body, begging to be set free. I focused my thoughts on the Devil's face, and how good it would feel to rip him in two from mouth to cock.
Upstairs, a small group had already gathered around the massive fireplace in the main room. Harper was there, Jackson, Aerden, Lea, Essex and Mary Anne at her side. Mordecai, Joost, Cristo and Erick—friends of Lea's from the Shadow World—stood by the door. A teenaged girl I hadn't seen before sat alone on the leather couch, her blond hair covering half of her face. She looked up as I entered and smiled nervously.
I joined Harper's group, nodding to her in thanks.
She smiled. “I hope you don't mind. We made ourselves at home,” she said. “I think you've met everyone.”
I glanced at the girl on the couch and she ducked her head. I frowned. I didn't want to bring anyone into this fight if they weren't ready. This girl seemed very shy.
“That's Courtney,” Harper said.
“Are you sure she's up for this?” I asked.
Harper nodded. “Trust me. She's very shy, but she has a unique power that will really come in handy tonight.”
When I raised an eyebrow, she continued.
“She can recharge powers,” she said. “Like a human battery.”
My mouth fell open. I had heard of similar powers before, but never actually met someone who could do it. “That's a rare talent,” I said.
Courtney's face blushed a bright red and she lowered her head, her hair falling across her face.
“She'll be fine,” Harper whispered, smiling. “And we have one more coming. Zara said she'd be here, but—”
“She's notoriously late for everything these days,” Mary Anne said. “She gets wrapped up in something and loses track of time. It's annoying.”
“I'm here,” a sing-songy voice called from the stairs. “And for the record, I wasn't wrapped up in something frivolous. I remembered a trick my mother taught me about fighting vampires.”
Zara, a fairy-like young girl I'd met once or twice before, descended the last of the steps and held up a small blue bag.
“What's that?” I took a quick step back from her, repelled by the power of whatever she held concealed in her tiny hands.
She smiled. “My secret weapon,” she said. “Mother called them black pearls, but really they are just very small, very concentrated soul stones with a special enchantment on them.”
Black pearls. Dear Lord, this girl was waving them around like they were marbles.
“Get them away from me.” The order came out darker than I intended, but what she held in her hand was extremely dangerous for any vampire. Especially one who had just fed on a witch's blood.
Zara's innocent smile faded from her pale face. She pulled the blue bag tightly against her body. “I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking,” she said. “I've never actually worked on the same side as a vampire. I was just thinking about how useful they might be for tonight.”
I softened. “I didn't mean to scare you,” I said. “They will definitely come in handy tonight. I just don't want them anywhere near me or the others who will soon join us.”
She nodded, her blue eyes wide. “Where should I put them?”
I looked around the room. We needed a more protective box for the black pearls. I'd only had them used on me once, many years ago, but it was an experience I was not keen to repeat any time soon. Or ever.
The black pearls were, as she'd said, small, concentrated soul stones enchanted in such a way that when thrown at the feet of a vampire, they were able to pull the lifeblood's power from their body, leaving them weak and defenseless, completely unable to cast or use magic. The effects of the pearls could last years if powerful enough.
And since Zara was the daughter of one of the original five priestesses of the Order of Shadows, I felt certain the black pearls in her bag were the real deal.
“I think, perhaps, I can be helping with this,” Essex said in his strange accent. “If you have any spare materials around that I might use in weaving, I can make for this, special bags, enchanted, so that the power of these pearls does not escape. I can make one for each of the witches who are needing one.”
I nodded, relaxing. I hadn't realized he was a weaver. “Thank you,” I said. I disappeared upstairs for a moment and returned with straps of extra leather I'd used to make my own potion bags.
Essex took them from me and bowed. “I will get to working on this.”
I thanked him and turned to the rest of the group.
“It's important to anyone here who plans to use them, that you memorize the faces of the vampires on our side. Several m
embers of the Brotherhood of Darkness will be joining us soon. They are taking a great risk fighting one of our own, and I don't want any harm to come to them because one of these pearls was used on them accidentally.”
Zara nodded and wisely went to sit near Essex on the other side of the room, far away from the group gathered near me.
A door opened upstairs and I raised my eyes to see Marco and most of the Venom staff descending toward us.
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked. “I don't want to put any more of my staff at risk. You guys have been through enough.”
Marco lifted his hands. “Do you really expect us to miss out on the greatest battle this world has seen in a while?” His eyes dipped toward Harper. “Well, since Peachville, anyway.”
Harper smiled. “I like this guy.”
Marco reached out to clasp my hand. “We all want to help however we can,” he said sincerely. “You've done so much for us. We're a family, remember? We're all in this together.”
Minutes later, I felt the presence of power enter the room.
My brothers flew down the stairs, streaks of black and white smoke trailing behind them.
Silas was the first to regain his human form. He reached for my hand.
“Brother.”
“Thank you for being here,” I said. “All of you.”
I looked at the group of vampires who had come to fight at my side. Ten demons I had known for more than a century. After tonight, I would forever be in their debt.
Everyone gathered around me, and I knew the time for action had finally come.
“Never before in the history of this world or the next has such a group come together to fight against evil,” I said. “When Solomon was bound to a stone, we mourned his passing, but those of us who knew the great evils he had performed since coming to this world, also knew that his passing was for the best. He and his brother had become addicted to power, not caring who they killed in their quest to obtain it. If Solomon had not been stopped, who knows what might have become of the human world.”
Many of the Brotherhood nodded in agreement. Most of Harper's crew knew nothing of the great evils Solomon and the Devil had done, but they were no strangers to evil and senseless killing.
“Tonight, the Devil has plans to sacrifice a young witch in order to free Solomon's power from the soul stone where he's been trapped for more than twenty years,” I said. Franki's face passed before my eyes and I took a deep breath, praying we were not too late. “This young witch is Solomon's daughter. A woman named Mary Francis. Half crow. Half demon. The power that runs through her veins is dark and powerful, but she is nothing like her father. She does not deserve to die. And we must do everything in our power to make sure the Devil does not follow through with this ritual.”
“What's our plan?” Silas asked.
I pulled a map from one of the leather satchels I'd carried up from the basement laboratory. “While I was working downstairs, I drew up a crude blueprint of the Devil's castle. I know many of the Brotherhood have been there, but this will be the first time for most of the rest of you.”
I spread the map out on the large table in front of the couch and everyone gathered around it in a circle.
“The Devil will likely have guards stationed at every entrance.” I pointed out the four entrances I was aware of—the front door, an old servant's entrance at the back, an underground tunnel through the hills and a hidden half-door on the side. “I think our best bet is to send a pair to each entrance and hit all four at the same time. We'll confuse them and split their defenses. Zara here brought black pearls that used to belong to Priestess Winter of the blue demon gates. If we use the element of surprise to hit the guards at each entrance with these pearls, we can take their power and defeat them very quickly.”
I sensed the fear and discomfort of the other vampires at the mention of the black pearls. Several threw odd glances at Zara.
“An attack like this will mean the witches of the group will have to go in first,” I said. “We'll split you into groups of two. Harper and Mary Anne at the main entrance. Zara and Courtney here at the servant's entrance. Peri, you and Cherish go to the underground tunnel here. Brandy and Kianna, you'll take this half-door.”
The witches all studied the map as I spoke.
“As soon as the attack begins, we'll concentrate the rest of our force here at the back entrance,” I said, pointing to the old servant's entrance. “It's the closest both to the dungeons where Franki is likely being held and to the ritual room where the Devil will be preparing.”
“He'll probably have Solomon's stone there as well,” Silas said.
“Yes,” I said. I looked into his eyes, knowing how difficult this must be for him. “Your primary focus tonight needs to be retrieving that stone, Silas. Do whatever you have to do to get the stone and take it far away from the Devil's castle.”
“If I do manage to get it, what do I do with it?” he asked.
“Destroy it,” I said.
Silas swallowed and his eyes grew dark.
“I know it's difficult, but you're the only one who can do it,” I said. “Destroying the stone is the only way to make sure his spirit can never be used for harm.”
Silas nodded slowly. I could see the struggle going on inside him. He'd loved his father. Worshipped him. But that was before he saw what his father was capable of doing I knew destroying the stone would be difficult for him, but I also trusted him to do the right thing.
I went over the rest of the plan as quickly as I could. I had no idea how long Franki had left, but I knew we didn't have a minute to lose.
“There's one more thing,” I said. I walked to the satchel of potions I'd set by the fireplace. I hadn't made enough for everyone, but what we had would have to do.
I handed the red ones to the demons, deep cobalt blue potions to the witches and the purple potions to the vampires, saving one for myself.
“I spent the better part of the day crafting these special potions to give us all heightened senses and clarity,” I said. “Their magic is strong, but the effects won't last long. Two hours at most. Let's pray to the gods we don't need more time than that to put an end to the Devil's plans. Some of you will have to share yours, which will give you even less time. I wasn't expecting such an amazing turnout, but I am grateful to each of you for being here.”
“Cheers,” Mordecai said, lifting his red vial into the air.
“Here's to conquering evil,” Mary Anne said. “One devil at a time.”
Everyone raised their vials to their lips and drank of the potions I'd prepared.
I passed out the rest of the vials from the second satchel. These were mostly bombs and weapons, illusions and tricks. I'd grabbed anything that might be useful in a fight, knowing that even with the thirty of us gathered here, we would still be massively outnumbered.
When everyone was ready, I opened the front door and stared out at the rocky cliffs.
Here's to first love, I thought as I downed my own potion and flew into the darkness.
Never in all my centuries of life had I ever thought of myself as a demon who deserved love. And never had I wanted so badly to have the chance to tell her how desperately I loved her back.
Chapter 10
FRANKI: Annabelle
I struggled against sleep, my head pounding. I forced my eyes open. Every inch of my body ached, and darkness threatened to pull me under once more.
I pushed back, refusing to become its slave. I was lucky to have regained consciousness. If I let sleep claim me again, would I ever wake up?
I couldn’t risk the answer being no.
I took several pained breaths, my ribs sore and my lips so dry they cracked when I opened them. I swallowed, but my mouth was a desert.
My head rested against my arm. My numb hands were bound above me, and my weight hung limply from the cold metal clamped around my wrists.
I lifted my head, fighting against the pain. My vision blurred for a moment and
my stomach lurched.
The smell of blood and piss invaded my nostrils.
I adjusted my weight, forming my hands into fists to wake them up. My legs ached from being in the same position for a long time. I stretched them out across the stone floor, sucking in a breath as the feeling rushed back into them.
Whatever the Devil had cast on me had left me only half of myself. My awareness was fuzzy, as if I couldn’t quite access all of my brain. How long had I been asleep?
I couldn't tell if it had been hours or days.
Even in my haze, I knew I needed to act quickly.
First, that meant trying to stand up and figure out how the hell I was going to escape. I closed my eyes and took three deep breaths in and out. I calmed the panic that lived just under the surface of my skin and focused instead on finding that spark of power deep inside.
If I had any chance of surviving this night, tapping into that well of energy was my greatest hope.
On the third breath in, I felt a twinge of it, there on the edge of my awareness. Power that sent chills up my arms.
I grabbed hold of it, pulling it up from the depths of darkness and forcing it into the light. I pushed that power through my veins, feeding off it until my skin buzzed with it.
My eyes snapped open, my vision no longer fuzzy and blurred.
For the first time, I got a good look at the room where I was confined. Cell would have been a better name for it. It looked like something out of an old Dracula film. The floor and walls were made of huge gray stones of various sizes. Decades worth of dirt lined the floors. Streaks of blood ran down the walls as if someone had literally tried to claw their way through the stones.
Iron bars locked me inside.
I almost smiled. Was I really so dangerous that one of the most powerful vampires in existence felt the need to knock me out and chain me up inside a cell with iron bars?
Maybe I really was capable of so much more than I realized.
If that was true, I’d better wake up my inner bad-ass before the Devil came back.
Across from me, I could see an identical cell. At first, it looked empty, but when I looked away, movement caught the corner of my eye.