“I would rather spend our time talking now,” I said, even as I recalled Mona’s warning to avoid talking at all costs.
Her smile broadened. I was relieved to see that my response had pleased her. She sat up, sliding her hand in mine and tugging on me to sit up next to her on the mattress.
“You are right,” she said. “We don’t have much longer.” She paused, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I always did wonder, what happened to you after that night we parted? Where did you go?”
“I paid a visit to my sister,” I said, with as little hesitation as I could manage. Ernesta was the only thing that I knew about Magnus’s life in any kind of depth.
“I see,” Lilith said.
“I didn’t stay with her long. I’ve never gotten on well with my sister. I spent time in The Cove after that.”
“Why The Cove?”
Good question… I couldn’t imagine any vampire in his right mind wanting to spend any amount of time in that insane place. I wasn’t sure where a vampire could physically live in that place in any case…
“I met a girl… a mermaid.” I was fully aware that I had just made my story even more bizarre, but I had already dug myself into a hole. I wasn’t about to stop digging. “I managed to find a dark cave to stay in, away from the sun.”
“Oh,” she said. A flicker of pain played across her face.
I was surprised by how easily she accepted the explanation. I wasn’t sure how a vampire could even have a relationship with one of those creatures, even if he could bring himself to look past her black teeth and slimy appearance. Lilith seemed to be too affected by the idea of Magnus being with another woman to think much into my story.
I supposed that was good. We needed to break her heart. I still didn’t know how Mona planned to do it, but I figured that making Lilith feel jealous and planting the seed that Magnus had been with other women since her could only help.
“I didn’t stay long in The Cove either,” I continued. “I soon realized we weren’t very… compatible.”
“And then what happened to you?”
“I met another witch. I was in a relationship with her up until Rhys came for me. After that… I remember nothing.”
She breathed out deeply, raising my hand against her lips and planting a kiss against it. “I’m glad that you managed to find someone else, Magnus,” she said. “I was living in guilt that I might have cut you too deep to heal.”
“Yes, I was very much in love with her,” I said.
She swallowed hard, but nodded. She even managed a smile. “Good. That makes me happy.”
I gazed into her eyes, surprised at how she was responding. It seemed that she really did care for Magnus. She wanted him to be happy.
She averted her eyes away from mine. “We need to part soon, Magnus. And I will probably never see you again. I hope you’ll move on again with your life, as you were able to before. I just… I wanted to see you again before I passed away.”
“Passed away?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“Yes,” she replied. “I told you already that I shouldn’t have lived this long. My time is coming soon. I’ve been granted this last burst of youth, but after this, I’ll no longer be able to fight death’s clutches.”
I found it interesting that she deliberately left out the fact that she was about to perform a blood ritual. Perhaps she didn’t want Magnus to know about the evil she was about to engage in.
“I promise that I will look for the witch I fell in love with and continue our relationship, if she’ll still have me.”
She smiled again, and then I sensed that she was about to lean in for another kiss. I was saved by a splash from the pool at the other side of the chamber.
Relief was the first emotion to rush through me, but then I was consumed by alarm. My first thought was that it was Mona. But I should have known that it wouldn’t be her. She never would have been so careless as to draw Lilith’s attention.
No, emerging from the pool was none other than Rhys Volkin.
Chapter 26: Mona
Leaving the river, I transported myself back to the graveyard. Approaching Lilith’s grave, I was shocked to see that nobody was surrounding it. I’d told everyone specifically to wait here.
What’s going on?
It was then that my attention was drawn to shouting in the distance. My eyes shot toward the borders of the graveyard. It was teeming with crowds of witches and warlocks. Bright curses lit up the sky, hurtling in all directions.
The graveyard was under siege.
And that could only mean one thing: Rhys had returned with reinforcements and the black witches had managed to penetrate The Sanctuary’s boundary.
Of course, the black witches were weaker outside of their own territory. They were completely outnumbered and wouldn’t be able to do much damage, but it would only take one of them to slip through the defenses…
“Mona!” I turned around to see Aiden approaching me, worry written on his face. His words confirmed my fears. “Rhys has returned with more witches. They managed to break through the boundary. The white witches are doing a decent job of heading them off, but we have lost sight of Rhys himself.”
“When was the last time you saw him?” I asked, my fists clenching.
“About five minutes ago. We’ve been looking for him ever since among the crowds, but none of us have spotted him since. We fear that he might be—”
I didn’t wait to hear the rest of his sentence. I leapt into Lilith’s open grave and dropped through the hole in the base of her casket. I submerged myself in the liquid and let it drag me downward. I was so panicked that I had not thought to put the breathing and invisibility spells over myself before leaping in, so I cast them now before I reached the base of the pool.
Please, Kiev. Please be all right.
Reaching the water, I pushed myself up slowly, careful to cause as few ripples as possible in case someone was watching the pool. I poked my head above the liquid and looked around the room, my pulse racing.
Magnus—Kiev—was standing a few feet away from the bed, holding a sheet up against him. In front of him stood Lilith, also holding a sheet wrapped around her for modesty. And in front of her was the warlock. Rhys.
I kept myself submerged as low in the water as possible while still being able to hear their conversation. I wanted to call out to Kiev to reassure him that I was here—I could only imagine how vulnerable he must have been feeling with these two monstrously powerful witches in the same room. He was just a vampire—his only protection was his disguise, which could be removed at any moment if either of them suspected something odd about him.
But so far, it seemed that they hadn’t…
“No, Rhys,” Lilith said, glaring at the warlock. She’d planted herself protectively in front of Kiev.
“I am merely making a suggestion,” Rhys said. I could tell that he was trying his best to reel in his temper.
“And I have already given you my answer,” Lilith said, looking no less aggravated than Rhys. “You had no permission to kidnap Magnus. I had forbidden you to go near him. We will perform the ritual without Magnus. We do not need him.”
“I understand that we do not need him,” Rhys countered. “And I apologize for disobeying you. But please understand that I had your best interest at heart. You are not as strong as you used to be, even though you are in your youthful form again. Nobody knows what the strain of the ritual will do to you—remember, we have never attempted anything like this before. I merely want to improve our chances of—”
“No,” Lilith said, “I want you to leave. I never gave you permission to seek me out in my sanctum. Yet another thing you have disobeyed me in.”
Rhys’ back heaved. “As you wish,” he said. “I hope that you do not live to regret this decision.”
“I will not,” she snapped.
“Before I leave,” he said, “there is something you must be aware of. Mona is after Magnus. You must make
sure that he is safe. Somehow she managed to find out about him…”
“Mona.” Lilith spoke my name as though it was a dirty word. “Fear not. I will make sure that Magnus remains protected for as long as the ritual lasts. Nothing will happen to him, and nothing will happen to me.” She looked the warlock right in the eye. “We will complete the ritual without him… So leave now. I will meet you back in the castle soon so we can begin.”
I began to panic as Rhys started moving toward the pool. I backed away from the entrance of the chute as far as I could. I held my breath as he got inside and kicked toward the hole. I hoped that he wouldn’t sense my presence in the water. Thankfully he didn’t. He disappeared through the chute.
I raised myself back to the surface to see what was happening with Kiev and Lilith. She had approached him and had begun talking to him.
“The time has come for us to part, my love.” Her voice was choked up.
Kiev looked down at her seriously through Magnus’ blue eyes.
“I will cast a spell on you,” she said, “a strong spell, and nobody will be able to lay a finger on you for five days. That will be enough time for you to get away from this place to safety. I’ve arranged for a boat on the northeast shore of The Sanctuary, which is where you are now. I’ll take you there myself.”
She moved closer to Kiev and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down and closing her lips around his. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge on seeing her passion, although technically she was kissing Magnus.
The kiss lasted for what felt like three minutes. Kiev had tensed up and was trying to ease away from her, but she kept pulling him back, kissing him harder and running her hands along his back.
When she was finally finished, she manifested a set of clothes for Kiev to change into—which I imagined that he was deeply grateful for. Then she manifested a set of clothes for herself—a long dark dress.
Once they were both wearing clothes, she gazed back at Kiev.
“One last thing,” she said. Reaching for the collar of her dress, she pulled it downward, exposing her neck. “You haven’t had fresh blood in your system for a long, long time. Drink from me now. It will give you strength.”
Kiev hesitated, but it didn’t seem like Lilith was going to let him off the hook, so he wisely did as she had requested.
He placed his hands either side of her waist and sank his fangs into her flesh. He tried to withdraw after a few seconds, but Lilith insisted that he drink more, so he did.
After what looked like ten deep gulps, she finally let him go. Kiev wiped his bloody mouth against the back of his sleeve, grimacing.
“Now,” she said. “I will cast the spell on you.”
She made him bend down before her on his knees. Grasping his head, she began muttering a chant even I could not recognize. It sounded long and complex. Whatever it was, I was grateful that she was casting it on Kiev. At least I didn’t have to be worried about him getting hurt during whatever we were up against next.
As tears began spilling down her cheeks, it dawned on me just how much she loved Magnus. She was willing to sacrifice the very cause she had devoted her life to for him. Having Magnus present at the ritual could have improved the chances of being successful, yet she had shunned Rhys’ suggestion. I never could’ve expected such emotions from her.
She kissed Kiev once more, long and hard, and then the two of them vanished.
The northeast shore. I tried to picture their destination in my mind before vanishing myself too.
I appeared on a beach, but it was empty. Clearly I’d gotten the wrong one. I scanned all the beaches in the area until I finally spotted a boat bobbing on the waves in the distance.
Standing next to it was a tall dark figure. Kiev. But Lilith was nowhere in sight. She must’ve bade her final goodbye to him already and left to begin preparation for the ritual.
I hurried toward Kiev and whispered, “She’s gone?” just to be sure.
“Yes,” Kiev replied, looking in my direction.
I manifested myself again so that Kiev could see me. Relief spread across his face. We motioned to embrace each other, only to find that there was some kind of invisible barrier between us.
Frustration surfaced within me. All I wanted to do was hold him. Still, it was a good thing that he was so… contact-proof.
“Now what?” Kiev asked.
“We need to hurry back to the graveyard to gather the others,” I said.
Since the black witches had already broken through The Sanctuary’s boundary, and it seemed that the white witches had not yet put it back up, we had no problem re-entering the city. We raced together to the graveyard and as we did, we began discussing what our next step had to be.
Our next, and hopefully final, step.
Chapter 27: Mona
When we reappeared in the graveyard, it was evident immediately that the struggle with the black witches had ended. There was no shouting, and no sign of any curses being hurled about. White witches were milling around the tombstones.
“Mona,” Derek called behind us.
“They’ve gone?” I asked.
He nodded. “They just… withdrew.”
As the ocean withdraws before a tsunami…
“We need to gather everyone around,” I said. Kiev and I had already worked out exactly what we needed to do now. The run had been useful. We had been able to clear our heads and discuss the situation without distraction.
A few minutes later, all of our companions were surrounding us. Kiev and I were bombarded with questions about what had happened, but we were able to go into detail on only the things that were essential to know.
“We need to reach the black witches’ castle in the supernatural realm,” I said. “That is most likely where they are carrying out the ritual.”
“Will we even be able to enter?” Erik asked.
“Let’s just see what happens when we get there,” I said.
Corrine and Ibrahim didn’t know where the island was. Only I knew. I recalled making this journey when I was younger, from The Sanctuary to their small island, when I had been banished.
“Wait… How will I travel there?” Kiev asked.
I frowned at him. “By magic, of course—”
My voice trailed off as I realized I couldn’t touch him. I looked around the graveyard, my eyes settling on a nearby tree. I walked over to it, snapped off a branch, and then placed it on the ground at Kiev’s feet.
“Pick it up,” I told him.
He reached down and picked it up.
“Now try to touch me with it,” I said.
He extended an arm and was able to touch me with the end of the branch.
“Okay,” I said, relieved. “Keep the stick against me. This should work.”
I made sure everyone else was touching before transporting everyone to the black witches’ island. Thankfully, Kiev wasn’t left behind. Arriving, we found ourselves standing in a cluster of giant black rocks, the ocean lapping close to our feet. Yes, there was a boundary keeping us out. I realized that this boundary I would not be able to penetrate. I decided not to think about how we were going to enter for now. First we needed to locate where they were holding the ritual.
I knew enough about the witches’ habits to guess that the ritual would be held outside. There was no room inside the castle that would have been large enough to hold all the witches as well as all of the blood that they would need.
“I smell blood. Lots of blood,” Caleb whispered.
The other vampires murmured in agreement, as did Micah.
“Which direction is it coming from?” I asked.
Aiden pointed to our right, further along the rocky shore. We made our way toward the smell until it was so strong that all the vampires and Micah stopped at once.
“We are right next to it,” Matteo said.
We then moved as close to the barrier as we could before we hit up against it. But we were still too low down to see anything
from this angle. Corrine, Ibrahim and I lifted ourselves into the dark night and hovered above the boulders to get a view of what was happening.
My eyes widened at the scene beneath us. A massive vat that looked more like a lake was filled with deep red liquid. Blood. Lining its edges were piles of humans. Mostly young females and clearly alive, they were hogtied with ropes. Crowds of black witches stood around them, holding ceremonial knives. I spotted Isolde, Julisse, Rhys and some other familiar faces, but couldn’t see Lilith yet. Somewhat of a good sign. At least it meant that they had not yet started. Still, it was clear from the scene that it wouldn’t be long now.
When I lowered myself again, I was shocked to see that Kiev had managed to cross the boundary.
Could that be the effect of Lilith’s spell on him?
“Kiev,” I whispered. He stepped back through it and approached me. “Okay. We’ll wait out here for you. But stay with us until Lilith arrives—I’ll give you the signal.”
Levitating myself in the air again, I looked back down at the scene to see how it had progressed. Lilith still hadn’t emerged. I wondered what was keeping her. I found myself glancing from the area, then back down to Kiev, afraid that he might suddenly turn back into himself. He had shown no signs of it yet, and since I’d taken one of Magnus’ head hairs—as we had learned from experience when Sofia had been stuck in the form of Derek for more than a day—it was more potent and it should last a long time. I just hoped I hadn’t brewed the spell any differently than before.
“Is that her?” Corrine whispered, hovering in the air a few feet away from me. I couldn’t see what she was pointing to at first, but then I noticed. The witches surrounding the lake to our right were parting, making way for Lilith, who had changed, now wearing a pure white dress that trailed down to her feet. She was walking toward the pool. Her long dark hair hung down her shoulders, and it had been braided with thorny twigs—from a rose bush, I guessed. Clasped in her hands was a bouquet of blood-red roses.
“We’ve spotted her,” I whispered down to Kiev. “Just hold on a little longer…”
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