Was there ever another time in my life when I’d felt so trapped? No. Nothing compared to this. The most trapped I’d felt until now was while working the cash register at my mom’s new age shop, Tarotology.
I’d hated working there.
Now, I’d give anything to go back there. It was funny, wishing for what I once hated. I guess it was true that you never knew what you had until it was gone.
“Top,” I made a split second decision. Being in a bottom bunk would surely make me feel more trapped than I already did.
“Perfect,” Suzanne said. “There’s an empty top bunk above mine.”
She motioned for me to follow her to the other side of the room, and I did. A few people glanced at me when I walked by. Most ignored me.
Once we reached her bunk, she placed her hand on the bed that would be mine. “Here we are,” she said with a warm smile. “I know this is hard, Raven. But I want to make this transition as easy for you as I can. Okay?”
“Do you do this for everyone?” I looked around at the others in the room. Some were watching me curiously, and others had books in front of them, reading. The ones who were watching me looked away the moment my eyes met theirs.
“I do.” She chuckled, although her eyes were sad. “I suppose I’ve taken on the role of camp counselor. You see, we’ve all been in the same position as you right now. We know how important it is not to bombard you. You’ll get to know everyone soon. But to get you situated, I’ll tell you how things work around here, give you the grand tour, and answer any questions you have. Sound good?”
“Sure,” I said, since I planned on getting out of here. The best start would be to ask as many questions as I could. I’d arm myself with information. That’s what Noah and Sage did before their hunts. The more information I had, the better chance I had at success. “How long have you been here?” I asked.
“Forty-six days,” she replied.
“And in all that time, you didn’t try to escape?”
“There is no escape.” She shook her head sadly. “The only way out of here is to do well enough on your physical and health assessments to be moved to the next location.”
“Where’s that?” I perked up, hope filling my chest at the thought that there might be an actual way out.
“I don’t know.” Suzanne shrugged. “None of us do. And they won’t tell you, so I don’t recommend asking. It just makes them angry.”
“The demons?” I asked.
“And the doctor.”
I didn’t have time to ask about the doctor before lights in the corners of the ceiling started flashing overhead. It was like a fire warning.
“What’s going on?” I looked around in alarm. None of the others looked panicked. But they started shuffling around in their bunks—putting their books away and heading toward the door.
“Dinner time,” Suzanne answered. “Do you like boiled meat, rice, and vegetables?”
“Sort of?” It certainly wasn’t my preferred meal of choice, but I wasn’t opposed to those things.
“Good, because you’re going to be getting a lot of them.” She headed toward the door and motioned for me to follow. “Come on. The first stop on our tour is the dining hall.”
7
Noah
Thomas unblocked the service on my phone to allow me to call Amber. He controlled whose phones worked or not in the Bettencourt with his technopath ability. I took his allowance to let mine work as an admission that the two of us might be becoming friends.
Amber was quick to agree to let our gang stay with her and her circle in the Devereux mansion. It turned out she knew Cassandra—the two of them were distant cousins. That helped a ton with getting her to trust Thomas as well.
My stuff was already packed and ready to go, and it didn’t take long for Thomas and Cassandra to gather theirs. Once ready, we gathered in the living room to head out.
We’d be traveling the quickest way possible—teleportation. But Cassandra could only teleport one person at a time. That was typical for witches, and for most creatures that could teleport. The fact that the greater demon that had taken Raven and Sage had been able to take them both at once demonstrated how majorly powerful he was.
Going against him was not going to be easy.
But that hadn’t stopped me in the past, and I certainly wasn’t going to let it stop me now.
Cassandra had never been to the Devereux mansion before, which meant it was going to be harder for her to accurately teleport us there. But Thomas was able to zoom in on the house’s location using satellite map view, and Amber showed her what the interior of the house looked like through video chat.
Once Cassandra was confident about the location, she teleported me there first. We figured it was best to bring me first instead of Thomas since I’d met Amber and her circle before.
My stomach swooped as the world disappeared around me, and I instinctively closed my eyes as we made our way through the ether. I didn’t know where we went in the seconds between leaving a place and arriving at the intended destination, but my instinct had always been to close my eyes.
My feet hit the ground, and I opened my eyes to find myself standing in the middle of the Devereux living room.
Amber waited for us on the couch. She wore a bright pink jumpsuit and was swirling a matching pink martini in her hand. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, like she’d just finished working out.
She would have looked like a typical Beverly Hills housewife who didn’t have a care in the world, but the dark circles under her eyes said otherwise.
The three other members of her circle sat on the couch perpendicular to hers. They all had pink drinks in their hands as well, and their dark magic smelled like maple syrup that had been sitting out for too long. Together, their magic smelled so strong that it practically blocked out Amber’s light magic floral scent.
Amber had always been the one to work with customers who dropped by for spells and potions. The others stayed in the background. The fact that they were here showed that a lot had changed since the last time Sage and I had been here.
It was understandable, given that Azazel had murdered their fifth circle member. They hated him as much as I did.
Which was exactly why I trusted them.
“Perfect landing.” Amber regarded Cassandra with a closed-lip smile and took a sip of her martini. “Powerful magic clearly runs in the family.”
“Of course it does.” Cassandra returned her smile and looked each of the witches in the eyes. “Let me grab Thomas, and then we can get better acquainted.”
She flashed out, leaving me alone with the four witches.
I shuffled my feet and looked around the lofty living room, unsure what to do.
“Would you care for a drink?” asked one of the witches whose name I didn’t know. She wore all black, had inky hair that fell all the way down to her back, and eyes rimmed with kohl. It was like she wanted the world to know that her magic was dark, and that she was proud of it.
“Sure.” I glanced questionably at the pink martini in her hand. I wasn’t one for girly drinks, but at the same time, I didn’t want to insult their hospitality.
“Don’t worry—we have other options,” she said. “How about a beer?”
“That’s perfect.”
She seemed pretty chill—like the type of girl Sage would get along with. She returned with my beer just as Cassandra flashed into the living room with Thomas.
He glanced around the mansion’s modern interior with clear approval. Then he walked to stand in the front of the room, facing the witches.
“Thank you for hosting us,” he said. “I’m Thomas Bettencourt, leader of the Bettencourt vampire coven of Chicago. I assume Amber has already told you why we’re here?”
“She has,” the witch in the all-black getup who’d gotten me my beer said. “I’m Bella. You’ve already met Amber over the phone. Our other two sisters are Evangeline and Doreen.” She looked at each of them as s
he spoke their names. They both wore casual jeans and t-shirts, and had similarly colored brown hair. I doubted I’d be able to remember which of the two witches was which. “Do you and Cassandra want drinks? Noah struck me as more of a beer guy, but I’m getting a cabernet vibe from you…”
“Intuitive.” Thomas nodded in approval. “Cassandra and I will have a bottle of your finest cabernet.”
Bella got them situated with their drinks, and the group of us settled on the couch. To an outsider, we might have looked like old friends reuniting. But the tension in the room was thick with questions—and worry about whatever was to come.
I sipped my beer, but the chilled drink did nothing to soothe my nerves.
They wouldn’t be soothed until Raven was back in my arms where she belonged.
“I’m guessing Amber told you why we’re here?” I jumped on starting the conversation before Thomas had the chance.
“She did,” one of the other witches—either Evangeline or Doreen—said. “Ever since the passing of our sister Whitney, the Devereux circle is dedicated to assisting supernaturals in whatever they need to fight against the demons.”
“Ever since Azazel murdered our sister Whitney,” Bella corrected her, her eyes hard.
Amber blinked away tears and took a large swig of her pink drink. “Whitney used her Final Spell to create a powerful barrier around our mansion. It’s now the safest place in LA,” she said. “It might even be the safest place in the country. We refuse to let her sacrifice be in vain. So whatever you need, we’ll do everything we can to help.”
“Have you coordinated with the Earth Angel on Avalon?” Thomas asked.
“Avalon is impossible to track down—we suspect it might exist on a different plane entirely,” Amber said. “We’ve tried to get word to her that we want to help, but we haven’t been able to reach her.”
She was trying to hide it, but I could see the worry in her eyes.
I got it. It was worrisome that the Earth Angel hadn’t communicated with anyone on Earth since going to Avalon months ago. But I’d met her. Annika was determined to use her powers to bring together an army strong enough to vanquish the demons that had escaped the Hell Gate. Plus, she had the angels on her side.
She and her army were our only chance at winning this war.
“Once Raven and Sage are back, we’re heading to Avalon,” I said. “One of the first things I’ll do when I get there is tell the Earth Angel to get in touch with you.”
“Thank you.” Amber smiled.
“It’s the least I can do,” I said. “But first, we need to get to Raven and Sage. Do you have ways of tracking people other that the typical tracking spell?” I focused on Bella, since she seemed the most powerful of the three dark witches. “Ways that use dark magic?”
“Tracking spells can only be done with light magic,” Bella said. “If Cassandra couldn’t locate your friends with her spell, they can’t be found that way.”
Any hope I’d had that the dark witches could do something to track Raven and Sage deflated in a second. But I wouldn’t be defeated so easily. We could save the girls. I wouldn’t rest until we did.
“Flint doesn’t know Sage is missing yet, but once he does, he’ll be out to find her just as much as we are.” I leaned forward, fire rushing through my veins at the prospect of taking action. “Pack always helps pack. The entire Montgomery pack will join us, and they have the numbers to help us find and rescue Raven and Sage from the greater demon that took them. We need to go to the compound and talk to him as soon as possible.”
“Except that Flint put a bounty on Noah’s head.” Thomas sighed and took a sip of his wine. “He’s making it sound far easier than it will be.”
“The group of us together is just as strong as the Montgomery pack—perhaps even stronger,” I said. “If we all go there, the pack won’t fight us. Especially once they hear what we have to say.”
Amber looked around at her sisters in alarm. “My sisters and I can’t leave the house at the same time,” she said. “We need at least two of us here at all times to keep watch.”
“I thought this mansion was the safest place in LA?” I asked.
“It is,” she said. “But the boundary spell is strongest when there are at least two of us here to add magical fuel to it. One light, and one dark. And we don’t know what the demons are capable of. We can’t let our guards down. Not even for a second.”
“Bursting into the Montgomery complex was never a good idea anyway,” Thomas brushed away my idea like it was nothing. “Flint is in the midst of making a powerful alliance, so there could easily be more than just his pack there when we showed up. They might not want to help us.”
“If they’re allied with the Montgomerys, it means they’re on their side,” I said. “Sage—one of their pack members and their alpha’s sister—was just taken by a greater demon. Of course they’ll want to help us.”
“You’re letting your emotions for Raven and Sage get in the way of logic,” Thomas said. “When I spoke with Flint, he sounded desperate. Desperate people make imprudent alliances. The Montgomery pack might want to help us, but their alliance might not. We’d be foolish to deliver ourselves to their doorstep like pigs to the slaughterhouse. We can’t save our girls if we’re dead.”
I glared at him and took a swig of my beer, hating that he had a point. Not having Raven by my side was making me irritable in a way I’d never been before. But if I wanted to approach this correctly, I needed to rein in my emotions.
I needed to think clearly enough to save her.
“Fine,” I said, still hating that he was right. “What do you think we should do then?”
“We need to spy on them first,” he said simply. “That way we can see what they’re up to and plan the best way to approach them.”
“It’s not a terrible idea,” one of the Devereux witches—either Evangeline or Doreen—said.
“But the Montgomery complex is well protected,” Amber chimed in. “I put the spell on it myself.”
“What spell?” I knew enough about witches to know it couldn’t be a boundary spell. To maintain a boundary spell, a witch had to be living inside the compound. When I’d stayed in the Montgomery pool house, only wolf shifters lived there.
“A detection spell,” she said. “To alert them whenever a non-pack member steps onto their property.”
Thomas rubbed his chin in thought. “That’s nothing a bit of technology can’t handle,” he said, an excited gleam in his eye. He looked to me and asked, “Can you put aside your wolf instincts to burst in there and fight, and instead work with me on approaching this logically?”
As a vampire prince, Thomas was higher up on the supernatural totem pole than I was. So I appreciated his including me in the decision process instead of taking charge himself.
“How long will it take?” I couldn’t handle sitting around waiting much longer. He was right about the “wolf instinct” thing. A huge part of me wanted to shift into wolf form, run into the mountains, and hunt to work off all my anxious energy. But I fought against it.
Any time spent not trying to save Raven wasn’t worth spending at all.
“I can have the equipment delivered within twenty-four hours,” he said. “From there it’ll take a bit of tinkering—and some spells and potions from the witches—and we’ll be ready to go.” He glanced over at the witches, as if making sure this was okay with them.
“Our house is your house.” Bella’s red lips curled into a smile. “You’ve got both light and dark witches at your disposal here. So whatever spells and potions you need, you’ll get.”
“Then let’s get that equipment here,” I said. “And let’s save our girls.”
8
Raven
Everyone filed out of the bunk, through the hall, and into the dining area. Suzanne walked beside me the whole way.
The dining room was sparsely decorated. It was just clusters of circular tables, like a high school cafeteria. But unlike a h
igh school cafeteria, plates of food were already set down at each spot.
Some of the plates had more food on them than others, but the portions were all substantial. There were little place cards next to each plate, each one with a number on it.
It was something you’d expect to see at a formal meal—not for humans being kept prisoners by demons. And the demons weren’t letting us forget that we were their captives. There were four of them in the dining hall, including Marco. All of them were men. Each stood guard, keeping his eyes on us.
“We all have to sit at our numbered seat,” Suzanne said, glancing at the thirty-three on my jumpsuit. “I’ll help you find yours.”
She walked me to a table on the far end of the room, where five others were already getting situated. I felt silly being escorted by Suzanne. But in such unfamiliar territory, it was nice having a friend to take care of me.
Especially because while Suzanne looked nothing like my mother, her personality reminded me of her.
There was, of course, a chance that she was a spy for the demons. But my gut told me she wasn’t. Her gift of compassion was genuine. I’d felt it when she’d touched me earlier. And she truly seemed to care about teaching me about life here.
Not like I intended on staying here. But I was grateful for her help just the same.
I approached the table looked at the place cards. Numbers thirty-one through thirty-six. Suzanne’s jumpsuit was number seven. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she wouldn’t be sitting with us.
I placed my hand on the back of the chair for number thirty-three and stared down at the colorless food on my plate. Boiled chicken, steamed rice, and vegetables.
It looked blander than the tofu and quinoa my mom occasionally cooked us for dinner.
“Be sure to finish everything on your plate.” Suzanne patted my arm encouragingly. “I’ll come back once the meal is over and give you the tour of the bunker. It isn’t big, so you’ll see everything before lights out.”
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