I nodded, my breath hitching in my chest, my lungs refusing to open.
“Her body has entered a cocoon.” The shaman gently lowered her ear to Zara’s body. “She’s resting, preparing for a great transformation.”
“You mean, she’s alive?”
“Yes,” she said, her eyes returning to their natural deep blue as she placed the empty bottle in her bag.
“What about the curse?” I asked.
“Sometimes even the darkest magic cannot dim the light of the purest souls,” she said, resting her hand on the cocoon and closing her eyes. When she opened them again, she nodded, as if understanding something she hadn’t a moment before. “This witch sacrificed herself for someone out of love, and her selflessness broke the curse.”
Sacrificed?
My heart clenched, and I swallowed, glancing at the horror scene around us.
Something lying on the floor near the wall caught my eye, and my world shattered. I couldn’t breathe. It was like someone had reached inside me and torn my heart out.
I stood and crossed to the necklace, praying I wasn’t seeing clearly. It couldn’t be hers. It just couldn’t.
I crouched down and struggled against the panic that threatened to overcome me.
Harper’s necklace lay in a pool of blood, the chain snapped and broken. I closed my eyes as I took a deep breath, my chest tightening.
The mystic placed a hand on my shoulder. “What is it?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head, unable to answer. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even think.
I reached down and clasped the locket in my hand, holding it up to my heart.
Where was she? Was she still alive?
I spun on the balls of my feet and searched the hallway, my eyes seeking any clues as to what happened here.
I touched my hand to the streaks of blood that ran along the floors. Green mixed with red. My body broke out in a terrible fever as I rubbed the green blood between my fingertips.
The emerald priestess.
She must have fled up the steps toward the Hall of Doorways. Had Harper followed her?
Two green shards of glass lay in the middle of the floor, but when I reached for them, the shaman grabbed my arm and shook her head.
“I wouldn’t touch those, if I were you,” she said, her eyes wide. “They’re poisoned with dark magic.”
My hand trembled as I wiped blood across the leg of my jeans.
Harper had been poisoned.
This couldn’t be happening again. I’d already lost my brother to the Order, and it had taken me a hundred years to save him. I couldn’t bear going through that again. Not with her.
I couldn’t live without her.
My eyes followed the smear of blood that led from where I’d found the necklace to the entrance of the hidden staircase leading up to the attic. I shifted and flew up toward the pentagram-shaped room at the top. The blood led straight to the Hall of Doorways.
Breathless, I flung the demon door open and followed as far as I could, shifting back to my human form when the trail of blood thinned and disappeared.
I stared at the door to my right, an emerald scarab beetle carved in glowing green on its surface. There was no doorknob, and when I pushed and pounded on the door, the magic locked inside burned my skin. There was no way inside.
I cried out and fell to my knees, my heart shattering into a million pieces.
Why? Why had she gone after the priestess alone?
Why hadn’t I looked for her sooner? I should have sought her out, made sure she was safe.
I pressed my fists to my forehead, my body trembling and hot with fear.
Sobs rocked my shoulders as I doubled over, the pain of losing her so great, I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to survive it.
I will find you, I thought, hoping that somehow, wherever she was now, whatever she was going through, she would be able to sense my presence. My undying love.
I promise, even if it takes the rest of my immortal life, I’ll never rest until you’re safe in my arms again.
Exhausted and broken, I struggled to my feet and stared at the door, every muscle in my body rigid as rage took hold.
I’d been called Wrath once because, in my anger and sorrow, I’d forced my way into this world through blood and death to try to save my brother.
Dark shadows swirled around me as the fury of a long-lost fire ignited within my soul.
Clutching the golden locket in my fist, I vowed that this time, it wouldn’t take a hundred years. This time, I would teach them all the true meaning of the word wrath.
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Complete Book List
Books marked with an * are currently free
Peachville High Demons Beautiful Demons Box Set, Books 1-3*
Beautiful Demons*
Inner Demons*
Bitter Demons*
Shadow Demons
Rival Demons
Demons Forever
A Demon's Wrath: Part I
A Demon's Wrath: Part II
After Midnight
Beautiful Darkness Emerald Darkness
Sacrifice Me Season One Box Set
Episode 1: The Demon*
Episode 2: The Dream
Episode 3: The Darkness
Episode 4: The Dying
Episode 5: The Devil
Episode 6: The Doorway
Eternal Sorrows Death's Awakening
Fairhope The Trouble With Goodbye*
The Moment We Began
A Season For Hope
The Fear of Letting Go
Emerald Darkness Page 22