Sacrifice Me, Season two

by Sarra Cannon

  “Dammit,” I said, pulling another book from the shelf. “There has to be something in one of these books about how to cure a sleeping curse. We just have to find it.”

  “Half of these books are written in languages I can’t even read,” she said. “If we don’t find something soon, I’m going to have to make a trip down to the lab just to make a potion that will help me keep my eyes open.”

  “You know how to do that?” I asked.

  “You don’t have a best friend who’s an alchemist for eighty years without learning a thing or two about crafting potions,” she said with a laugh. “Especially ones that help keep you awake. When we were first creating Venom and getting everything ready, I think I had weeks where I didn’t sleep at all.”

  “Seriously?” I asked, smiling. I could get used to having Azure as a friend. It was fun to hear about the things she and Rend had done together. It made me feel closer to both of them. “Well, if you decide to go down there, make one for me, too. I’m exhausted.”

  “It’s too bad we can’t just make a potion for Katy that would wake her up,” she said, chewing on her lower lip. “When Rend gets back, maybe he’ll know something that can help.”

  Her words made my stomach flip.

  “He will come back, won’t he?” I asked softly.

  I hated to doubt him. If anyone was supposed to be here keeping the hope alive, it was me, but after everything I’d been through in the past twenty-four hours, I was too tired to pretend to be a pillar of strength.

  It was crazy how fast I had gone from the happiest moments of my life to some of the darkest.

  “He will,” she said. “Even if he has to fight his way through a thousand vampires.”

  I smiled, and Azure smiled back at me.

  “Well, if we’re not quite at the potion-making portion of the evening, I at least need to go make a pot of coffee,” I said. “I don’t think I can rest until we’ve at least made a dent in these books, but I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open.”

  “You go check on Katy,” she said. “I’ll make the coffee. Meet you back here in fifteen minutes?”

  “Deal,” I said, peeling myself off the leather couch.

  We each went our separate ways as I walked down the hallway to the bedroom and Azure headed downstairs to the kitchen.

  Connery stood just outside the bedroom door, his eyes closed as he leaned his head against the wall.

  “Some guard dog you are,” I muttered.

  He smiled and opened one eye. “Are you kidding? I could smell you the second you entered the hallway,” he said. “And don’t call me a dog.”

  I laughed, grateful to have someone here who could make me smile during such tense times.

  Katy was in the exact same position as when I’d left. Her eyelids fluttered as I approached, and for a brief moment, I thought she might be waking up.

  But her eyes never opened, and I realized that she was trapped in a dream.

  “I hope it’s a lovely dream,” I whispered to my friend as I placed a kiss on her forehead. “I’m going to get you out of this, Katy. I promise. I’m going to find a way.”

  I stared at the black stone on the table and sighed.

  Azure was right. I couldn’t expect to go through that stone and kill the Mother Crow for what she’d done. And I highly doubted that she’d stay true to her promise to release Katy’s curse when I showed up. Especially if I showed up with a dagger in my hand.

  Putting Katy into that curse was nothing more than emotional blackmail. It was like some grand game of evil chess where she was several steps ahead of me and knew exactly how to manipulate the way I played the game.

  The last thing I needed to do was fall right into her trap, foolishly thinking that I could somehow outsmart her.

  I needed another plan, and searching through these books didn’t seem to be getting me anywhere.

  I squeezed Katy’s hand and started toward the door, but in the darkness, I nearly tripped over my backpack. I cursed and grabbed my foot, but when I looked down at the bag, I got an idea.

  Maybe Rend didn’t have the right kind of books here in his library, because he wasn’t familiar with the spells the crows liked to cast. But there was one place where there was a treasure trove of spell books created by the crows themselves.

  I sat on the floor and unzipped my bag, quickly locating the small black journal I’d taken from the crow village just the other day.

  I flipped through the journal in the half-darkened room, searching for any reference to a sleeping curse. When I didn’t see anything, I went back to the beginning and searched again, slower this time.

  Nothing.

  Frustrated, I stood up and set the book next to the stone on the table.

  Maybe the crow village’s library would have more answers. There were hundreds of books there, and my chances of finding a cure for this curse in their library were much greater than finding it here.

  But then again, the crow village wasn’t exactly the smartest place to go tonight. Would they be expecting me to go there in search of the answers?

  My head hurt from thinking about it, and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed next to my friend and sleep until Rend came home.

  If Rend came home.

  But as tired and weary as I was, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Not yet.

  That stone could be activated at any moment, and when the time came, I would have a decision to make. If I didn’t go, she’d said she would kill Katy. But if I did…

  I shook my head and leaned down to give Katy another kiss on the forehead.

  I turned and walked into the hallway, my heart heavy. Azure would be waiting for me in the library, and we had a lot of work still to do before the night was over, but a sound downstairs drew my attention.

  “Azure?” I called out tentatively, stepping onto the first step of the grand staircase.

  My heart beat wildly, and I was suddenly wide awake. Someone was down there.

  “Connery,” I shouted, glancing back at the sleeping werewolf.

  But he was already standing behind me, his yellow eyes flashing.

  “Something’s throwing off my scent,” he said.

  “The snow?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “But I can hear them. Stand behind me.”

  I called for Azure again, hoping she would appear from the kitchen and say that she was the one making all that noise, but she didn’t. Instead, she poked her head out of the library behind me.

  “I’m here,” she said. “What’s going on?”

  I searched the hallway for any type of weapon, scared to death that somehow the crows had found us here. Yes, Rend’s mansion was carved into the side of a mountain in the Swiss Alps, but right now, I wasn’t putting anything past the Mother Crow.

  When I couldn’t find anything else, I ran down the stairs and grabbed a poker from the fireplace.

  Connery ran after me, a low growl sounding in his throat as footsteps sounded on the front steps.

  On the other side of the room, Azure’s hands began to glow with a bright pink light. In the shadows, I could swear I saw the outline of shimmering wings at her back, but when I blinked, they were gone.

  I held my breath as the doorknob turned, and the door pushed open. I lifted the makeshift weapon over my head, but the moment he walked into the room, I dropped it to the floor as I cried out.

  “Rend,” I whispered, his name a prayer on my lips as I ran to him.

  Rend had come home.

  Episode Three

  Still Not Over

  Franki

  I dropped the makeshift weapon in my hand and ran to him, my heart full of hope and love.

  I threw my arms around Rend’s neck, and he picked me off the floor and held me close as my legs wrapped around his body.

  “I knew you would come back,” I whispered into his ear. “I was so scared it would be weeks. How did you get out of there so fast? Did they decide to let you all go?”


  The words flew out of my mouth so fast, I wasn’t even sure he would understand me. I had a million questions, but most of all, I just wanted him to tell me that it was over. That we had worried for nothing, and that now we could go back to our lives.

  When he let me go, though, my heart sank.

  “It’s still not over, is it?” I asked.

  He grabbed my hand and turned to address all of us. That’s when I noticed the circle that had been carved into his arm. It was covered in dried blood, but the wound was angry and red, as if it had just happened moments ago.

  “No, it’s not over by a long shot,” he said. “Let’s sit down for a minute. It’s been a long journey home for me, and I’m still trying to put together the puzzle of what happened.”

  Impatient, I led him over to the couch and sat next to him as he caught his breath. He took a silver dagger out of his waistband and set it on the coffee table.

  I stared at it, eyes wide as he began explaining to us what had happened at the Council’s meeting.

  “Silas?” I asked, bringing a hand to my heart. “But how? I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t he have told you he was going to be there? You could have all made a plan together.”

  “I don’t know, exactly,” Rend said. “I was hoping to talk to him when the meeting was over, but the lights went dark in the room and when I walked into the main hall, the Council members were all gone. Including Silas.”

  I shook my head, my thoughts rolling through my brain.

  “From what I was able to piece together, it seems the Council didn’t want him to tell us that he would be there tonight,” Rend said. “He was ordered to keep it a secret, I think. All I can come up with was that Silas discovered this loophole of sorts in the Enchiridion.”

  “What’s the Enchiridion?” Connery asked, leaning against the fireplace.

  “It’s basically the rule book for the entire Brotherhood of Darkness. Solomon and the Devil wrote it when they first decided to form the Brotherhood more than two centuries ago,” Rend said. “It’s law to the Council, and they have sworn to follow it to the letter. My guess is that Silas started going through it and figured out that the Council couldn’t condemn us to death or even make a decision about our punishment without a vote of four members. Since there are only three of them, and since Silas voted against them, they need another vote to give their final judgment.”

  “Do you think that’s why they’ve taken so long to even call you all together?” Azure asked.

  “It must be,” Rend said. “But what I want to know is how long Silas has been meeting with the Council. How long he’s been working to set this whole thing up.”

  “Wait, so if they need another member, won’t they just elect someone new to the Council?” I asked. “What if that person votes against you? You could still be condemned to death?”

  “This is where it gets complicated,” he said.

  He quickly explained about the nominations and the tie vote. He told us about the ceremony he’d had to go through and that both he and his opponent had been given a single task to perform.

  “What task?” I asked, chills running down my spine.

  Rend looked into my eyes and shook his head. “I have to kill the Mother Crow,” he said.

  Everyone in the room gasped, but my shoulders relaxed.

  “That’s good news, though, right?” I asked. “I mean, we want her dead. It’s not like they asked you to murder someone innocent or do something you’d never want to do in a million years.”

  “It’s more complicated than that,” Rend said. “First of all, we have no idea where the Mother Crow is hiding. There have been multiple factions searching for her ever since Harper injured her in Peachville more than a year ago. She’s not exactly going to be an easy witch to find, and I’ve only got a week to find her and kill her.”

  “Oh my God, Solomon,” Azure said, sitting down hard on the chair next to the couch.

  “Solomon?” I asked, not understanding at first. But it only took a second for it all to become clear. I raised a hand to my mouth. “If the Mother Crow dies, my father’s spirit goes free.”

  “Yes,” Rend said.

  “I take it that’s a bad thing?” Connery said.

  “It’s a very bad thing,” Rend said. “Solomon was one of the founders of the Brotherhood, and he was one of the most ruthless and evil vampires I’ve ever known in my life.”

  “But Silas knows that better than anyone,” I said. “Why would he give you orders to basically set our father free? It doesn’t make sense. When we killed the Devil last year, he was more than willing to take our father’s stone and destroy it.”

  “Or at least, that’s what he said.” Rend stood and began pacing the room. “But maybe he was taking it so that no one else could destroy it.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “I mean, I never had the chance to meet my father, but I can feel his darkness inside of me every time I try to cast magic. I can’t even grow a simple flower without it dying and wilting right before my eyes.”

  I thought of the horrible way I’d killed one of those vampires who had attacked us back at Rend’s safe house last year. Actual bugs had come out of my mouth and devoured that demon’s soul.

  That was an experience I would rather not ever have again, and it was a huge part of the reason I’d been terrified to really experiment with my own powers.

  Someone had later told me that my father, Solomon, had been known for devouring souls in exactly the same way.

  I had no doubts that the darkest sides of myself had come from him. Why would Silas now want to set him free?

  “We could stand here for weeks debating the reasons why Silas has decided to do this, but right now, all I have time to think about is finding the Mother Crow and putting an end to her before Dagon does.”

  “Dagon is the other candidate for the throne?” Azure said, shuddering.

  “Yes,” Rend said. “And there’s no doubt in my mind that if he wins this challenge and gets to the Mother Crow first, he’ll sentence us all to death the moment he takes the throne.”

  “We have other reasons we need to find her and kill her,” I said.

  I hadn’t yet had a chance to tell Rend about Katy and the crow witch who had come to Venom pretending to be my friend.

  I took him up to the bedroom where Katy still slept and explained everything.

  He listened with a worried expression on his face, and when I was done, he took the black stone in his hand.

  “The letter said this was a portal stone?” he asked.

  I nodded. “It said that when it became activated, a portal would open that would bring me back to the crow village where I belong.”

  “Franki, I know how difficult this is for you, but this stone could mean the difference between me winning and losing the throne,” he said. “What if I go through the portal when it opens, instead of you?”

  “Do you think that would work?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, but it’s worth a try,” he said. “I certainly don’t want you to try going up there on your own. We have no idea why the Mother Crow wants you there with her. It could just be that she wants you to rejoin the family, but her intentions could be much worse.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “She’s been known to kill members of her own family to increase her power and her life,” he said, putting the stone back on the table. “She’s also used sacrificial magic to create permanent spells. It’s the darkest kind of magic there is, and she’s used it so many times, it’s turned her soul black, Franki. The more powerful the sacrifice, the more powerful the spell that can be cast.”

  I remembered Mary Anne telling me how sometimes the Order of Shadows would kill one witch so that they could permanently glamour another. That was how some of the Priestesses of the Order were able to send spies into the smaller demon gate towns.

  The sheer power of that kind of magic was mind-blowing to me.

 
“With your unique heritage as the daughter of a powerful demon vampire and a crow witch, she could use your blood sacrifice to do a lot of terrible things in this world,” he said. “We can’t put your life at risk in that way. Not even to save my life, if it comes down to it.”

  “But what if the stone can only be activated by me?” I asked. “We don’t know enough about it to take the risk of letting you try to go through. If the Mother Crow sees that we’ve tried to trick her, she’ll kill Katy. I know she will.”

  “Then we have to find another way to wake her up before the stone is activated,” he said.

  “I don’t suppose you know a potion that could reverse a sleeping curse?” I asked hopefully.

  “No, unfortunately I don’t know of anything off the top of my head. I’ve never had to deal with magic like this before,” he said. “But we should contact Angela in the Shadow World.”

  “Harper’s sister?” I asked. “Do you think she could heal her?”

  “It’s worth a try,” he said.

  I couldn’t imagine that it would just be that simple, but I was willing to do anything right now to wake my friend from this curse.

  “It’s possible Mary Anne knows something about this type of magic, too,” I said. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier. She spent the first part of her life around the crows. Maybe she’s seen it before.”

  “We should go now, then,” Rend said.

  “Are you okay to travel?”

  “Let me get cleaned up, and then we can go,” he said. “Give me ten minutes. Go downstairs and let Connery and Azure know what’s going on. If they can stay here and make sure there’s no change with Katy, we’ll go to the castle and be back as soon as we can.”

  He pulled me into another hug and kissed the top of my head.

  “We’re going to get through this. Hopefully this will all be over in just a few days,” he said.

  He left me to go shower and clean the blood from his arm. For a few minutes, I sat at Katy’s side, replaying his entire conversation in my head.