Witch's Storm (The Bone Coven Chronicles Book 2)

by Jenna Wolfhart

  “But it’s on shaky ground because of them.” I rolled my eyes and glanced at Ben Ackers who stared silently at the table. “They’re the ones who are bringing the demons into this world, and Vincent is the one who angered the Daywalkers in the first place. All these problems we’re experiencing? It’s because of them.”

  “Still,” he said with a sigh. “I cannot make a move against our ally without speaking to the main coven first. Besides, an attack on them may end up not being necessary. Four of their members are dead, and I imagine it’s not going to stop there.”

  I stared at our leader, shock and horror pounding through me. Suddenly, I stood and backed away. “Right. I’ve heard enough.”

  When I reached the door, the Magister’s voice rang out behind me. “You’re not to do anything, Zoe Bennett, and that’s an order. You may be a promising young Enforcer, but I’ll rip that title away from you just as quickly as you got it.”

  I didn’t stick around to hear any more. As much as I enjoyed being an Enforcer, there were things in this life that were a hell of a lot more important. And sticking up for what I believed in was one of them. To hell with sacrificing humans. To hell with binding demons. To hell with standing by while every Daywalker bit the dust. I was going to put a stop to this, even if I had to do it by myself.

  As I scanned the streets for a taxi, footsteps pounded on the pavement behind me before they slowed to a stop. It was probably the Magister or one of his Enforcers here to make sure I wasn’t about to run off and do something against orders. But I’d put up a fight if that’s what I had to do.

  When I turned, it wasn’t the Magister. Ben and Laura stood before me, clenching and unclenching their fists. Surely Laura wouldn’t try and calm me down. She knew the stakes. Hell, she’d been chomping at the bit to confront the Blood Hunter Coven since we’d found out about the fire.

  Ben frowned and glanced up at the building, his eyes heavy with sadness. “I’m sorry about that, Zoe. That wasn’t the reaction I expected out of him. In his attempts to right the wrongs of the previous Magister, he’s turning out to be far more like him than we thought.”

  “Don’t apologize, Ben. It’s not your fault. It’s his.” I sighed and shrugged. “It’s the fault of this entire system. All these politics are getting in the way of what really needs to be done.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Which is?”

  “Stop the Blood Hunter Coven. Stop the demons. Get Dorian back. And, if we can wing it, smooth things over with the Daywalkers. If the veil has been weakened, we’ll need them if the demons start pouring through.”

  “That’s a tall order,” he said with a low whistle.

  “And against orders.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I lifted my chin. “I assume you’re here to stop me.”

  “On the contrary,” he said. “I know I’m not much, but I’m here to help.”

  “But Magister Salvatore—”

  “Has it all wrong,” he finished the sentence before I had a chance. “Maybe one day he’ll see that and understand. But for now? I’m here to help. So, that turns your team of two into three.”

  “Four,” I said with a smile. “I’ve got a werewolf who is dying to do something other than howl.”

  Chapter 27

  Our group of four grew to five. We all stood on the sidewalk outside of the Blood Hunter Coven’s building, shivering as a wintry wind spit snow onto our heads. Laura and I formed the front of our group while Nathan—in wolf form—rounded out the back with Ben and Anastasia. Juno had made it through the night, and my werewolf friend had been more than happy to help us confront a coven full of mages who wanted to take control of the world. It was the most random, mis-matched crew I could have gathered, but it was all I had.

  “What’s our play here, Zoe?” Ben asked as we stared up at the second-floor loft.

  The lights blazed inside, so at least some of the blood mages were home and awake. A silhouette shifted behind a gauzy curtain, a look-out who had no doubt spotted us down amidst the growing piles of snow. Not that it made much difference. I hadn’t expected to get in unseen or unannounced. The Blood Hunter Coven would have wards around their premises to protect them from situations like this. Plus, they must have known I’d figure out they were behind Dorian’s kidnapping sooner rather than later. I wasn’t entirely sure how demon control worked, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were aware I’d found Dorian in the crypt.

  They would be expecting us.

  “First, we need to have a chat,” I said, rolling back my shoulders while giving myself a mental pep talk. We could do this. Because the opposite meant I wouldn’t get my partner back. “Trying to go in with guns blazing won’t get us the answers we need. I want to try and reason with them before anyone does anything rash. Maybe Ivan Wagner is wrong.”

  “Ivan Wagner is not wrong. Blood mages have had it out for us for centuries,” Anastasia hissed, her fangs poking out from a pair of bright red lips. “They should die for what they’ve done to my family. Three vampires perished that night they attacked the club with the fire. For that, these mages need to pay.”

  Nathan let out a deep-throated growl, one I could only assume meant he agreed with the vampire. What a week of firsts. Vampires and werewolves never agreed, and they certainly never fought together. But when I’d explained to Nathan what the Blood Hunter Coven was up to, he’d been appalled for the Daywalkers. Even though his werewolf instincts encouraged revulsion toward any and all vampires, he’d risen above that to make up his own mind about the situation, confirming everything he’d been trying to tell me all along. Nathan was the one in charge of his nature, and he existed as one with the wolf.

  “Anastasia.” I gave her a sharp look. “Don’t make me regret bringing you along. We can’t just go in and start killing people. We don’t even have any solid proof they’re the ones behind this.”

  “We have Fane’s testimony as well as Ivan Wagner’s,” Laura said, surprising me when she spoke up from my side. I would have thought she’d want to do whatever it took to protect the mages who were her own, even if they were guilty. But she was taking Anastasia’s side. Interesting. “What more proof do you need?”

  “That’s not for me to decide,” I said quietly. “Yes, they’re probably guilty. In fact, I’m certain of it. But trying to blast them into nonexistence isn’t the answer. We need to confront them about what they’re doing and get them to stop. We don’t need to kill them. And most importantly, we need them to cooperate if we’re going to get Dorian back.”

  “Zoe’s right,” Ben spoke up from behind me. “While the council has been completely useless in fixing this problem, they are correct about one thing. Any aggressive move made against this splinter coven will cause issues with the main Blood Coven. We need to find an amicable solution to this.”

  Even though Ben had just agreed with me, I couldn’t help but frown. “Amicable solution?” I barked out a harsh laugh. “They’ve taken one of our Enforcers and are controlling demons through his unconscious body.”

  “But you just said—”

  “I said we can’t go in there with guns blazing,” I said with a determined nod. “But once we have what we need to get Dorian back? Fuck being amicable. They’re trying to destroy the world as we know it. And we should do whatever it takes to put a stop to their plans.”

  The three of us who were mages stood on the landing outside the coven’s door. Anastasia perched on the fire escape outside their windows while Nathan lurked just down the hallway. Because of their amplified senses, both would hear us if we needed help, but I thought it was best to keep them out of sight for now.

  Just as I lifted my fist to knock, the door swung open. The Magister, Piper Maddow, stood on the other side, a faux-smile painted on her delicate features. “Hello. Nice to see you again, Zoe and Laura. And who is this warlock accompanying you?”

  “Ben Ackers,” he said, stepping forward with a hand extended toward the Magister. “Member of the Bone Coven council. We
need to discuss some allegations that have been levelled at you and your friends here. Either you can let us in to discuss them, or you can come with us to headquarters where we’ll have to undergo a more formal interrogation.”

  Good one, I thought. A total bluff, but a good one nonetheless.

  “And tell me, Mr. Ben Ackers,” Piper said as her lips twisted into a cruel smile. “Is the rest of the Bone Coven council aware that you’re here? The Magister, particularly?”

  I flinched, glancing at Ben. How could she have known we were on a mission by ourselves?

  “Because I’ll tell you what.” She crossed her arms and stepped back from the doorway, putting more space between my crew and hers. “I find it impossible to believe that your council would risk the alliance with our mother coven in this way.”

  “Well, there’d you be wrong,” I said, joining in on the bluff. “Because we’ve spoken to your so-called mother coven, and they sure as hell don’t approve of what you’re up to here. In fact, this is why you broke off from them in the first place, isn’t it? So that you could do whatever the hell you wanted with the demons.”

  Anastasia frowned. Jackpot, I thought. She certainly hadn’t expected that. As doubt clouded her face, she glanced behind her at the other members of her splinter coven, who had begun to gather in a small cluster just to the side of the door. They looked worried, scared. As well they should.

  “So, I take this to mean you’re no longer looking into the murders of my innocent coven members.” Her eyes flashed with barely-contained fury. “Or maybe you’re endorsing it now and working with the killer. Don’t think it escaped my notice that you arrived with a vampire and a werewolf. And don’t forget I saw one of the bodies of my mages. If those wounds weren’t caused by one of those abominations out there, I’ll eat my own fucking heart.”

  Laura narrowed her eyes and fisted her hands. “Better start eating your heart then.”

  “Is that a threat, vampire wannabe?” Piper swung her arm to her side and yanked a dagger from her belt, the long and twisted blade rippling with a glow of red and black. “What a pathetic existence you must lead if you choose another coven over what you really are. If you choose the vampires when you’re a slayer in your heart.”

  “The only pathetic person I see right now is you.” Laura whipped out her own dagger and aimed it at the Magister. “You were so unwanted in Scotland that you moved countries in order to start your own.”

  “Alright.” I held up my hands between them. Laura couldn’t get in a true hit against anyone in the loft, not with the wards protecting the room. But the Magister didn’t have that same problem. If she wanted to dash out and stab Laura in the gut, she could. “Let’s all take a deep breath and calm down. We came here to chat, not lob threats at each other.”

  “Oh, this isn’t a threat. It’s a promise.” Piper smiled, flicking her fingers in the air. A rush of wind filled the room and shot toward our trio, bringing with it a loud roar that echoed around us. But this wasn’t the sound of a werewolf. It was the sound of a demon, a harsh and grating noise that shook me to my core. The dark form rose up behind Piper, the wings stretching out to fill the entire width of the loft. Piper smiled at the creature over her shoulder, but the other blood mages cowered back, as if they were far more afraid of it than she was.

  “See,” Piper said with a smile. “Not a threat. A promise. I can destroy any or all of you with a single flick of my wrist.”

  Ben gaped at the corporeal demon. Even though I’d explained to him what had happened, this was the first time he’d set eyes on one himself. “Why are you doing this? Don’t you know what it is you’re playing with here?”

  “Yes, I do. They’re demons we can command,” Piper said. “Vampires are the ones we cannot control. We’ve been ignoring our purpose for far too long. It’s time we take back control of the world.”

  “Right,” I said, grabbing my own dagger from my sheath. I’d heard enough. As much as I’d wanted to avoid violence, we couldn’t let her continue on like this. The demons were growing stronger, and the veil was weakening by the moment. She had to be stopped. “We didn’t come here to fight, and we certainly don’t want anyone to get hurt. Surrender, return Dorian, and reverse your spell to bind the demons.”

  Piper stared at me for a long and silent moment before she tipped her head back and laughed. The sound was eerie and strange, like it was coming from another time and place. As the seconds ticked by, her laugh got louder and harsher until her voice choked off into a cough of rage. “Nice try. But there are three of you and six of us. Plus, my lovely demon.”

  Frowning, I glanced behind her at the creature who hovered in the air, its face blank, its eyes focused hard on the wall above our heads. “Just the one?”

  “Oh, trust me. One is enough.” Moonlight reflected off her teeth when her smile widened. “And soon, I’ll have even more. We’ll have even more.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Laura glance my way. She was thinking what I was thinking. I could tell by the furrow of her eyebrows and the pursing of her lips. If this was the only demon within their control, what about the other three who had been stalking around Juno’s shop? The three who had attacked her and escaped into the night.

  “So, you’re telling us that this is the only demon your coven has bound?” I cocked an eyebrow, hoping my hunch wasn’t right. Because I didn’t know what that would mean if it were.

  She rolled her eyes. “I know you are aware that the spell requires a human sacrifice, and despite what you might believe, we aren’t the bad guys here. Our rules are simple. Only sacrifice a human who is a bane upon this world. Murderers, for example. Vincent did not live by those rules, which resulted in his untimely death, but the rest of my coven does. So, yes. This is the only one so far. We want to be certain when we make our sacrifice, and we want to keep control of their forms for eternity. The next demon we bind will be through the Unbound vampire. This first one was merely a test.”

  My heart thumped hard. It was just like I thought. The demon in the crypt was the demon Piper bound, but there were three more lurking around the world. Either they were bound by someone else entirely, someone we weren’t aware of, or they were demons without a master. Demons who could do whatever they wanted, including slice up blood mages who were trying to harness them into an army through mind control.

  “What’s going on, Zoe?” Ben asked quietly, but his words were easily overheard.

  “Yes, what’s going on?” Piper repeated. For the first time since we’d arrived, she looked uncertain and more than a little bit worried. “Why are you asking about other demons?”

  “Let me just get something straight,” I said slowly. “As far as you know, the only demons who have been bound by your coven have been through yourself and through Vincent.”

  “Yes, but Vincent is dead,” she said in a whisper. “Your coven sentenced him to death for his terrible deeds against innocent humans, did you not?”

  Despite the pain that shot through my heart, I nodded. “And yet, there are three other demons displaying the same traits as yours here. Which leads me to this: what happens to bound demons when their master dies?”

  Piper’s mouth dropped open, her eyes blinking so rapidly that her lashes looked like wings. “I…I don’t know. I always assumed that they went back into the demon realm.”

  The lights in the loft began to flicker, and a buzz of electricity hummed in the air. A chill swept across the landing before pushing into the room, the mages shivering when it blasted them in the face. Dread pooled in my stomach as the final pieces of the serial killer puzzle fell into place. The murderer wasn’t human. He wasn’t a vampire, and he certainly wasn’t a werewolf. And I knew deep down in my gut that the killer—or killers—was now here.

  Sucking in a sharp breath, I stared up at the lights, knowing the answer to my next question without even uttering it aloud. “Tell me something, Piper. When that spell of yours gets broken, how do you think the freed demon
s would react to the fact they had been controlled? Think they might want to put a stop to it ever happening again? Maybe get a little bit of revenge while they’re at it?”

  “Oh, shit,” Ben whispered, his words echoing my own fears. Laura’s hand found my arm, and she squeezed tight. Wind hurtled past us, ice blasting into the loft. Piper stumbled back, glancing at the growling demon over her shoulder, her eyes so wide they resembled the full moon.

  And then the lights popped out.

  Chapter 28

  “Let us in. Now,” I said in a hurried rush of words. “Vincent’s demons have been freed upon this world, and they’ve been taking out your coven members one by one. And if this wintry wind is any indication, now they’re here. We can’t help you if you don’t let us inside.”

  “Why should I trust you?” Piper’s eyes darted around the room as her face went stark white. She stumbled back, clutching her dagger to her chest. “What’s to stop you from attacking me?”

  Laura edged to the door and pointed up at the massive creature flapping its wings behind Piper. “That thing is what’s stopping us from attacking you. We figure if you’re controlling a demon, then we really don’t stand a chance. Besides, if we killed you, it would be free to do whatever the hell it wanted. None of us wants that.”

  Ben nodded, spreading his hands to his sides as if to call a truce. “Come on. We’re all stronger if we fight together.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, Piper nodded and lifted her hand to drop the wards that kept the outside world from intruding upon her home. As soon as the bright red beams flickered away, several demons appeared all around us, their mouths open wide and their bodies billowing with smoke. My heart lurched in my chest, horror shaking through me as they rushed into the loft, their dark and soulless eyes zeroed in on the cluster of blood mages who were quickly retreating to the back. I realized our mistake far too late. These creatures had been watching and waiting, and we’d played right into their hands.