On Pins and Needles: Sierra Fox, Book 3

by Yolanda Sfetsos

  I glanced at the latch on the glass and noticed it wasn’t locked, but it was closed and I doubted Papan would be able to get inside without shifting. We didn’t need him to use extra energy on shifting multiple times when they obviously knew he was here.

  “Come on, get down there.” Jonathan grabbed Lavie’s arm to get her moving and when her hand slid out of mine she missed a step, falling right into him. He lost his balance and they both disappeared into the black opening. I knew they’d reached the bottom when I heard a loud thump.

  I wasn’t sure if Lavie’s clumsy nature had propelled them into the abyss, or if she’d done it to give me enough time to open the door for Papan, but I appreciated the opportunity. I raced over and slid it wide enough for a wolf to slink past. Though I sneaked a quick look at the patio outside, I couldn’t see him.

  Stay safe, Papan.

  “You clumsy bitch,” Jonathan was saying as I rushed down the stairs.

  “You made me lose my step.” Lavie was using his body to get to her feet and in the process kneed him in the crotch. “I didn’t mean to fall down a flight of stairs!”

  The satisfied grin on her face confirmed otherwise. She hadn’t liked Jonathan from the moment she met him. And now, even as she rolled her shoulders and rubbed her left wrist, she looked gratified.

  She’s good.

  Jonathan stood. “Come on, you two.” He took a step and winced, limping a little. It looked like he’d either twisted his ankle or hurt his foot. Then again, a crotch blow could make any guy walk funny. I didn’t care, but it was good to know he wasn’t at full strength anymore. He could heal others, but could he heal himself?

  “Look who’s here to see you,” Maya was saying from farther inside the room.

  In spite of the coziness of this rumpus room, my skin crawled. Nothing good ever happens in basement levels. With the lights off and the natural light blocked by black tarps stuck in front of the two long windows, I had a feeling we were headed into some bad stuff.

  “Hurry up!” Jonathan grabbed a hold of my elbow and dragged me along with him.

  Lavie trailed behind but I could see her from the awkward angle Jonathan had me in. She was looking around the claustrophobic space a little too closely. What could she see or feel that I couldn’t?

  I let Jonathan drag me the rest of the way, noticing there wasn’t much clutter in this basement. A pool table had been pushed against the far wall, several bean bags were thrown underneath it, and a couch was pressed against the adjacent wall. A stack of plastic tubs filled with an assortment of tools sat in one corner. But there was hardly any dust or cobwebs covering anything, and definitely no mess to slow our movements. I suspected the rumpus room spanned the length of the house above it and had once served as a comfortable games area.

  We turned a corner and the glow of candlelight sharpened everything.

  My heart sped up when I looked ahead and spotted an upside down pentagram carved into the polished concrete floor. The round canal—encircling the star and connecting the five points—was scored deep enough to make a trench.

  “Sierra!” Willow called, making a move towards me.

  Maya caught her arm. “Uh-uh, I don’t think so. You need to stay right where you are.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked. It was good to see her, and even though we were lambs to the slaughter, at least she was all right.

  She nodded and actually didn’t look hurt in any way.

  “Why wouldn’t she be? She surrendered willingly,” Maya said, patting the back of Willow’s hand. “She’s a good girl, just like her father said she was.”

  “Is it true?” I asked, meeting my sister’s gaze. “Did you come here on your own?”

  She lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me. After losing my friends, I didn’t want you to be in danger too. You were all so willing to risk your own lives for me. I…I couldn’t let you.”

  Yet here we were. “What did you do to Oren?”

  “I used the poltergeist power to knock him out,” Willow whispered. “I didn’t hurt him too bad, did I? I made sure he was breathing before I left. He looked okay.”

  I pursed my lips. This was turning out to be quite the reunion.

  “Enough chatter, we need to get started.” Maya pulled on Willow’s hand until she was standing at one of the inverted ends of the pentagram.

  “What are you doing to her?” I asked, moving forward.

  Jonathan pulled me back. “I don’t think so.”

  “Relax. This is all part of the ceremony.” Maya raised Willow’s left hand and turned it over. She then plucked a small scalpel out of nowhere and cut a horizontal line along the underside of Willow’s wrist. Blood swelled instantly and Maya held my sister’s arm over the point of the star until droplets dribbled over it. The blood seemed to be falling a lot faster than was naturally possible. “There, now you’re in your place.”

  Willow tried to take a step but couldn’t move. “What have you done to me?”

  “Everyone’s got their point on this star. This just happens to be yours.” Maya turned to Jonathan. “Leave the lovely ladies for a moment and get me the next point.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave them unattended—”

  “Jon, just do it! Seriously, where are they going to go? They obviously came here for the girl and the policeman, so they’re not going to run now.” Her caramel eyes were extra shiny in the candlelight, and filled with menace. “Are you, Sierra?”

  I shook my head.

  “Didn’t think so,” she said with a smile. “Bring me the next one.”

  Jonathan looked me in the eye before releasing my elbow and stepping away. He blended into the shadows behind the pentagram. The golden glow of the black candles at each point made everything hazy and I couldn’t see who—or what—was hiding back there.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Gareth made a move to shove Jonathan and managed contact before Jonathan punched him square in the face.

  “Just get in place,” Jonathan spat, yanking Gareth back to his feet and throwing him onto one of the points behind Willow.

  Maya stepped up to Gareth and slowly turned him around so he was not only facing the pentagram, but also staring right at me. She ran the back of her hand over his face. “Look who has come to rescue you,” she teased. “I bet you never thought a policeman would need to be saved by a girl.”

  “Sierra, what’re you doing here?” His nose was bloody from the punch Jonathan had just delivered, and there was some dribbling from the side of his mouth too. His right eye was already swollen shut. At least it looked like he hadn’t given in without a fight.

  “I wanted to ask you the same thing.”

  Maya walked around him. “You can’t imagine my surprise when I found out this one had magic inside him. Thank you for bringing me another perfect point.” She slashed his wrist the same way she had Willow’s and dribbled droplets of his blood over the annex of the star. “That’s two points taken, three to go.”

  I didn’t even want to think about who else she had in mind for this, but had a pretty good idea.

  “Come on, demon hunter, we’re going to put you to some good use.” As soon as Jonathan made a grab for Lavie, she kicked him in the midsection.

  “I don’t think so.” She was so caught up in attacking him she didn’t notice Maya sneaking up behind her.

  “Look out!” I yelled too late.

  “I like my points feisty, and it looks like most of you are.” Maya spared a quick and very condescending glare Jonathan’s way, while tightening the forearm she’d wrapped under Lavie’s chin and dragging her to the point next to Gareth.

  I clenched my hands into fists, feeling the need to attack both of these assholes. But one look into Willow’s shiny eyes made me stop. She was already sealed into the star and so was Gareth. What would happen to them now if I acted out violently?

  According to Oren, anyone sealed inside the pentagram
for this ritual could only be released via death. But was that as soon as they were sealed, or after it was formally started? Maybe it was when the demon had already been conjured.

  Everything was muddled inside my head and I didn’t want to risk anyone’s life.

  I have no choice but to play this out. There’ll be another opportunity.

  This was getting worse by the minute. Between Jonathan and Maya, the two managed to magically bind Lavie to the point.

  My mind raced. Where was Papan? And more importantly, how could he get us out of this situation once the blood sealed each of us into our designated spots? I had no doubt that the other two points were reserved for Jonathan and me.

  “Bring her to me,” Maya instructed.

  “Not until the others get here,” Jonathan said with a frown.

  Maya’s silky laughter filled the room. “What others? You didn’t honestly think anyone else was invited to this party, did you?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Jonathan’s face contorted into the gray, sallow creature with glossy black eyes. “You told me—”

  “I told you I’m fed up with waiting. So sick of drawing this ritual out until Mace is ready to complete it. We’re going to open ourselves to Legion today,” Maya spat. “No more games. I finally have the guest of honor all to myself and I intend to use her.”

  “What about when the others find out?”

  “There are only two left, so what could they do to me for defying them? You’re here, I’m here, and we’ve got enough magical points to complete the circle.” She sighed, a little too dramatically. “Now, put the amulet on her.”

  “When Mace and Duff find out, they’re going to be furious!”

  “By the time they find out, we’ll have total control of as many demons as we can each hold within our bodies and spread them out into the world at our leisure. They can join us then.” Maya’s eyes were shiny with ambition as she stepped away from Gareth and into the center of the circle. “We’ll start with a modest-sized company like Regalia before branching out into other corporations and eventually the government. We’re going to offer Legion what it always wanted, and be heavily compensated with limitless power and wealth. Our souls will live forever!”

  So this delusional woman honestly thought she could summon and then control a powerful demon? Roger Hocking tried to do the same thing once. He’d infected his wife with a demonic seed, opened a rift between patches, and ended up dead.

  This isn’t going to turn out well.

  “Maya, don’t do this. It’s not how we planned it—”

  “Jon, things don’t always go according to plan.” She licked her ruby lips and turned her gaze to me. “I’ll be the only one strong enough to tame the Catcher and use her power for Legion’s advantage. She doesn’t look so threatening to me.”

  As I watched her—with rage slowly boiling inside my veins—Maya suddenly morphed before my eyes. Her blue dress melted away as quickly as most of her humanoid qualities, and a long blue tail uncoiled from where her legs used to be. Her tail whipped out and wrapped itself tightly around my hips so I couldn’t move. Her long hair lashed out behind her and her nipple-less breasts dominated the brown hide resembling leather.

  “Put the amulet on her!” Maya’s voice had also changed to a screechy, grating sound—like nails on a chalkboard.

  Jonathan didn’t respond, but threw something over my head and my skin started to crawl instantly. I looked down, recognizing the ugly amulet—The Eye of Wakh. The one I’d once taken from Ebony and given to Jonathan, hoping he would help us find out what it was. Funny enough, he’d answered our questions but I’d been stupid enough to leave it in his care and didn’t bother asking about it later.

  The thing was just as awful as I remembered. The longer I looked at it, the more my vision crinkled at the edges.

  I glared at Jonathan as he made his way towards the point directly across from Willow, leaving me in the middle.

  They were going to use this jinxed thing on me to absorb my powers and then invoke it via a crazy ritual. As foggy as my head was, I couldn’t understand how Maya intended to do this without the full extent of my power. Wasn’t the plan for me to inherit it from Grandma when they were ready? What the hell was I missing?

  Maya’s tail tightened around me, dragging me along as it slithered until I was standing on the point between Willow and Jonathan. Willow was sobbing quietly, Gareth staring at me wide-eyed, and Lavie seemed to be considering our surroundings as if she could still see something the rest of us couldn’t. Or it could’ve been hopeful thinking on my part.

  “Jon, hurry up and seal yourself to your point,” Maya demanded.

  “What the hell is going on?” I heard Gareth ask Lavie.

  “We’re about to be used for a ritual,” the demon hunter answered.

  “Don’t you want me to bring the sacrifice first?” Jonathan asked.

  “Just get in your corner before I tear your head off and get this going that way,” Maya barked. With every angry word, she tightened her hold on me.

  Jonathan glared at her, and for just a moment I thought his black eyes flashed to brown.

  “Hurry up, Jon. Feed your blood.” She looked me in the eye. “Your precious blood will be last. I can’t wait to finish what was started so long ago.”

  “This isn’t going to work.” The whisper escaped me before I could stop it.

  Her eyes hardened. Maya slid closer, coiling her long tail around me another time so that every breath was a struggle.

  “Oh, no?” I could see what appeared to be a dragon tattooed on her lower abdomen. I didn’t need to view her back to know what it was, because both Jonathan and Mauricio had the same tattoo in different places. This one just happened to be bigger. “How would you know what we are about to do?”

  “I know a lot more than you think.”

  Maya’s smile spread. “Come to me now, Eli.”

  From the shadows shambled a man with glazed blue eyes. He had brown hair and wasn’t tall. He looked a little soft around the middle, but he was totally bewitched.

  Maya extended a hand out towards him. “Come to me, lover.”

  “No, Dad, don’t do it!” Willow yelled, thrashing against the invisible clamp keeping her in place.

  Her father didn’t listen, and instead took one unsteady step after another like some sort of smiling zombie. He entered the circle and placed one of his hands in Maya’s.

  “Good toy,” she said huskily. “You have served your time well.”

  Eli didn’t respond, just stared at her with his head tilted sideways.

  “Are you sealed in?” Maya asked, glaring at Jonathan.

  “Yeah,” he responded, his wrist already bleeding into his point on the star.

  Willow sobbed, but I couldn’t look at her because Maya’s hold on me was restricting my ability to move.

  Maya smiled at Eli, patted his head with a taloned hand, and shoved the other one into his midsection, so it burst out the other end. With the length of her tail, she was able to keep a steady grip on me while disemboweling him, until blood poured from every piece of his broken shell and filled the circular tracks around us.

  His blood blended with that of the others.

  “No!” Willow yelled, and a bright light cut across the basement.

  Whatever black magic Maya had used to seal everyone in seemed to be pulling the collective blood and feeding the points of the star.

  There were many ways to conduct ritualistic situations, and it didn’t take an expert to see what was going on here. Eli’s copious blood was already filling the crevices near my feet.

  “Now we’re just about set,” Maya said, glancing at Willow. “I knew the necromancer would call the ghosts to her. It’s an essential ingredient to this, you know.” Her focus switched back to me. “One we lost when you killed Troy and his brother, but I found a better replacement. Do you know how hard it is to find a necromancer nowadays?”

  I didn’t o
ffer a response, and doubted she was waiting for one.

  She slid forward until we stood cheek-to-cheek. “You’re the final ingredient. Your blood smells so nice.”

  The energy the amulet had collected from me shimmered like a barrier between us. Maya’s fangs peeked out, pressing on her bottom lip.

  I attempted to recite the protective incantation that had helped me when Mauricio went for the death strike, but my mind remained fuzzy. Wearing the amulet was affecting me already, confusing my thoughts.

  “Take my hand,” Lavie whispered from the other side of the circle. I wasn’t sure what she was doing.

  Maya was close enough to kiss, her warm breath making me flinch. When she raised her face and flashed her massive fangs—which resembled a snake’s—my pulse sped up. This was really it. I was about to become the pawn these assholes wanted, at the hand of some ambitious creature willing to double-cross her own group of demonic believers.

  When her fangs tore through the skin of my neck, I cried out. Pain flowed beneath my flesh like a poisonous fire tearing through my veins. Her slurping noises filled me with disgust and though I tried to push her away, I couldn’t. She had her arms wrapped as tightly around me as her tail, her strength too much to overcome.

  My power slowly seeped from my limbs and into hers. The more blood she took, the more my vision curved at the edges.

  “Sierra, fight it!” Who was that? A female voice I knew but couldn’t place at the moment.

  My eyelids were getting so heavy I couldn’t help but close them. Even then, the light from my left was so bright it stung, forcing tears.

  Everything slowed—my heart, my ability to think, my breathing. I was being drained of my very essence. She was taking what I was, what I’d accepted, everything that gave me the spark of life. I didn’t think she wanted me dead. So what the hell was she doing?

  “Maya, you have to stop!” Jonathan yelled. “If you kill her now, we won’t be able to finish this.”

  The Lamia yanked her fangs from the side of my neck, taking a chunk of skin with her. She looked at me, her eyes glowing gold with power. She chewed the flesh she’d bitten off, blood dribbling out the side of her mouth.