“How the hell did you get out of your cell?”
“I have friends in high places,” she said, taking slow and steady steps toward us. “You should have known better than to leave your coven unguarded this evening while you’re out trying to hunt down demons. Rookie mistake.”
“No one there would have let you out,” I countered. Or would they have? It wasn’t as if I’d personally vetted every mage who had come through the door asking for help. I hadn’t thought I’d need to.
“Things aren’t always what they seem,” she said, turning sharply toward Laura. “Now, I’m not going to make the same mistake twice. I need you to go over to that tree there with your hands raised and put your palms against the trunk. Otherwise, your friend here will be the one getting stabbed instead of you.”
“Why are you doing this?” I asked. “You can’t honestly believe that the world would be better off if it was overrun with demons.”
“What I think has nothing to do with it,” she said. “Wagner gives the order, and I follow. Simple as that.”
“So, you just blindly follow whatever he says?”
She shrugged. “Pretty much.”
“That’s insane,” I said just as she jabbed the dagger at Laura’s gut. With a sharp breath, I raised my hands, heart beating wildly in my chest.
“Go over there and put your hands on the tree or I swear to the goddess I will kill the blood mage.” Her voice was full of venom, and her eyes flashed with rage. Something about it reminded me of the look on my grandmother’s face just before she’d tried to kill me. A hint of deep fear, of impenetrable anger, of recognition and despair. It made me pause. There was something else going on here, something I didn’t yet understand. And this girl was a big part of it all.
“Okay, no need to get stabby,” I said as I inched toward the tree. “If there’s something you want, you can leave Laura out of it. She’s innocent in all of this.”
The girl laughed. “She’s hardly innocent, but I agree. She doesn’t need to be involved, and it’s up to you whether or not she is.”
“Fine.” I placed my palms on the rough wood. “What is it that you want?”
“You need to let me kill you,” she said. “Just stand there, and I’ll get it over with as quickly as I can. Don’t try anything funny or Laura will be sacrificed instead of you.”
“Alright.” I kept my hands flat on the tree and closed my eyes. “Go ahead.”
“Zoe, no!” Laura cried out. The sound of a hard slap of skin on skin echoed around us, and Laura choked out a cry when something sliced in the air. Anger and fear rushed through me, and I curled my hands around the bark, torn between turning toward my friend and keeping my eyes on the tree. Either option spelled danger.
“What just happened?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“Your fucking friend slapped me, that’s what,” the voice that answered me was edged in anger, high-pitched and sounding nothing like the girl who had spoken to me only moments ago. “I cut her shoulder, but she’ll live.”
Laura’s sobs shook me to my very core. Everything inside of me ached to turn around and do something—anything—to help my friend. Standing here helpless like this was against everything I believed in. Just taking it wasn’t a term that was found in Zoe’s personal dictionary. I didn’t take shit sitting down, and I certainly wouldn’t take a threat against my best friend’s life. I was a shadow mage. This witch had no chance against the kind of spells I could cast.
Fury rattling my lungs, I whirled with fists raised over my head. My magic rose up within me and blasted from my fingers faster than the witch could blink. Darkness flew from my fingers, and shadows wrapped around her body. The dark strands squeezed tight, so tight she dropped back her head to scream into the night.
“Zoe, stop,” Laura said as she rushed toward me. I glanced at my friend, at the gaping wound on her shoulder. And the entire world froze as my gaze locked on the pool of blood on her soft skin. A hunger rose up within me. A need I’d never felt before. My teeth ached, and my saliva spread across my tongue. Grimacing, I doubled over and grabbed my knees. Suddenly, red filled my vision and bees swarmed my ears. I wanted my mouth on Laura’s skin. I wanted to taste her, to feel her blood coat my throat.
I wanted to drink until there was nothing left.
“Zoe?” Laura’s soft hand landed on my shoulder, and I jumped back ten feet to escape from the intoxicating need that scraped against the sides of my stomach.
“Shit.” I blinked and whirled away, my heart pounding hard against my ribs. “Shit, shit, shit. Get away from me.”
“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice trembling. “Are you okay? Is it your magic? Or did that mage do something to you?”
“Someone’s done something, but I don’t know who.” I closed my eyes. “I’ve been cursed.”
Chapter 21
“What do you mean you’ve been cursed?” Frowning, Laura shifted closer to me. The scent of her blood rushed into my nose, and a sharp pang of uncontrollable hunger shot through my gut. I clenched my jaw and shoved my hands into my hair, pulling at the strands near my scalp. If she didn’t get out of here now, there was no way in hell I could control this craving. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. And that included the sensation I got when my shadow powers threatened to take control of my mind, my body, and my soul.
This was much worse than anything I’d ever experienced.
“Dorian suspected it before,” I said as I panted heavily. “Wagner must have done it at his cottage.”
“Done what?” Laura leaned down, and the silky stands of her long hair fell into my face. My vision went red, and nothing else existed in the world but her skin and her blood. I licked my lips as the need to taste her drowned out every other thought in my head. I couldn’t even remember my name, let alone hers. Her blood smelled like freshly-cooked meat drowned in the best gravy that money could buy.
“I bet your blood tastes so good. Deep and savory and full of flavor,” I whispered as I raised my gaze from the ground to stare into her wide blue eyes. Something about this girl reminded me of someone, someone from my past whose name I could scarcely remember. Laura, was it?
I blinked, my veins running cold when I realized just how much the bloodlust had taken over my mind.
“Zoe?” Laura frowned and searched my eyes. Everything inside of me begged her to pull away from me and to run as fast as she could. But instead, she lowered herself so that her face now hovered only inches from mine. My gaze shifted from her eyes and to her throat. Her heartbeat thrummed against the delicate skin at the base of her neck, and my teeth began to ache. “What did he do to you? What kind of curse is this?”
“Can’t you tell?” I asked in a strained voice. “He’s turned me into an Unbound.”
Her eyes widened, and her hand flew to the bleeding wound. She pursed her lips into an O, but to my surprise, she didn’t step back. She stayed rooted to the spot, her hand squeezing my shoulder like a lifeline.
A lifeline I wanted to eat.
“It must be something else,” she said, shaking her head. “Anastasia would have been able to smell the change.”
“Well, she did say I smell different now,” I said. “Remember? A couple of times she said I smelled more like Dorian than myself. We thought it might be our bond, but—”
But that was before I wanted nothing more than to rip my friend’s neck open wide.
“Let me see.” Laura leaned forward and sniffed my skin. And that was all it took for me to lose the tenuous grasp on my self control. My jaw ached as my teeth began to change into jagged pointy ends. I grabbed Laura’s arms and squeezed so tight she let out a yelp of pain. Red churned through my vision as my desire for this girl’s blood filled my brain with a kind of need I’d never felt before. My mouth watered as I dropped my lips to her neck. The taste of her filled my soul even before I took a bite.
“Zoe!” A deep voice cried out from somewhere in the distance. But the voice d
idn’t matter. It had nothing to do with me, with this sweet-smelling blood, and the delicious meal I was about to enjoy. As long as the shouting man didn’t try to stop me, everything would be fine.
“Zoe, what are you doing?!” The man’s voice was close now, so close that I could smell the blood churning through his veins. His scent was much different than this girl’s, though my body still begged for a taste of him. There was something odd about him, like I knew him in a way that I knew no one else, almost as if he were a part of me. It was intriguing enough that I snapped my attention away from the girl’s neck.
“Are you shouting at us?” I said, slurring my words. “Just leave me be to eat in peace. Or, you can join me.”
“I think she’s trying to drink my blood,” the girl said in a panicked voice. “She was talking about being cursed, and then it was like she just snapped or something. It’s like she’s not even in there, and she won’t answer to her name.”
“You have a cut on you. It’s triggered her bloodlust,” the man responded, his voice also sounding strained. I caught the furrowed eyebrows, and the flick of his gaze onto her skin. And the quick flick away. That was when I finally understood why he felt so familiar. He was like me. He craved the blood. He smelled her savory skin. And he wanted to eat her alive.
“But how the hell does she even have bloodlust?” the girl practically shouted. “Wouldn’t she have, I don’t know, shown symptoms before now if Wagner had really cursed her?”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” The man pulled the girl from my grasp and put his body between us, though I didn’t particularly mind. I’d happily drink his blood and then move onto hers once he was out of the picture. “I know what you’re thinking, Zoe, and it needs to stop. Calm yourself. Come back to reality. Remember who you are and what really matters. The Bone Coven. Getting the blade. Finding your Grams.”
At the word Grams, reality snapped back in around me so hard and so fast that I stumbled back from the shock of it all. With my hand pressed against my heart, I glanced from Dorian to Laura and back to Dorian again. Blood filled my neck and my face. I’d just tried to kill Laura. Hell, I’d thought about killing Dorian, too. All to drink some fucking blood.
Shaking my head, I stepped back as tears dripped down onto my cheeks. As much as we’d hoped it wasn’t true, tonight had shown the truth in full technicolor. I was becoming a vampire. One who had a kind of bloodlust I didn’t think could be controlled.
Chapter 22
The horror I felt at what I was becoming was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. Even when I discovered the nature of my powers, I’d known somewhere deep inside of me that I didn’t have to give into the darkness, that it didn’t have to define who I was or the choices I would make. Vampirism was different, especially the kind that plagued Dorian. It was a curse, after all, and the hunger that came along with it was next to impossible to ignore. Hell, Dorian couldn’t even ignore it. He’d spent his entire life battling against his urges, in constant pain when he chose to drink refrigerated bags from the fridge.
And just now, I’d tried to attack one of the only people in the world that I loved. I would never hurt Laura, and yet I’d just thought about ripping out her throat and drinking her blood until she was dead.
If Dorian hadn’t arrived when he did…I closed my eyes and shuddered. I couldn’t even contemplate what might have happened.
“I’m so sorry, Laura,” I said, choking over my words. “I’m so, so sorry. I have to get out of here.”
The only place I could go was somewhere very far away from here. Somewhere I couldn’t hurt anyone. Somewhere I could avoid the bloodlust.
Dorian had once told me that Unbounds would die if they didn’t drink blood, but there was no alternative for me.
With a deep breath, I took off through the trees and into the depths of the cemetery. The Land of the Fae was not only close by, but it was also full of beings whose blood I wouldn’t crave. It was the only place for me now. I certainly couldn’t stay here. The Bone Coven would never survive the demon war if they were led by someone who wanted nothing more than to drink every last one of them dry.
When I reached the crypt, I knocked on the door as hard as I could, heart hammering in my chest. Belzus had been in the cemetery only moments before, and it was still the dead of night. Surely he had to be somewhere nearby. Hell, he’d probably seen the entire thing.
“Belzus!” I called out, pacing from one end of the clearing to the other. “Where the hell are you!?”
In the distance, I saw the flash of lights as the backup mages took charge against the demons that Laura and I found, as well as the mage who had attacked us. My chest ached. I should be there, by their sides, helping them fight. They weren’t trained, and they’d never faced one of these creatures in their lives. They needed me. But not in the state I was in now. I’d only end up turning on them all.
“Zoe,” Dorian said, panting as he reached the clearing. He slowed to a stop, his feet pounding the hard-packed ground. “I should have known you’d come here. What did you think you’d do? Hole up in the crypt until the bloodlust passes?”
“Something like that,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “And you’re not going to convince me otherwise.”
“It won’t help, Zoe.” Dorian gave me a sad smile and ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s already started. There’s nothing you can do to stop it once it gets to this point. I should have warned you, but I’d truly hoped that Wagner hadn’t cursed you. I never wanted it to come to this.”
“And you think I did?” With a laugh, I raised my hands to my sides. “Do you think I wanted to attack my best friend? Do you think I want to go into hiding? Do you think I want to give up the demon fight now, right when we’re so close to stopping this thing once and for all? Because that’s where we’re at now. I can no longer be involved. I’m a threat to all those mages. Because if I’d go after Laura? I would sure as hell end up going after every single one of them.”
“Luckily, you have me,” he said in a deep voice as he took two slow and steady steps toward me. “I’ve been through this before. I can teach you how to manage it.”
“Two days ago, you told me that you feel like you’re on edge all the time,” I said. “You told me you’re constantly in pain and that the cravings are always there. That you’ve snapped and lost it on numerous occasions.”
“True, but you’re also far stronger than I am,” he said. “You’ve had to deal with your shadows your entire life, whether you realized at the time that was what they were or not. If you can control that, then you can control this.”
“Dorian,” I said, my voice cracking as I leaned against the crypt door and slid to the ground. Shaking my head, I finally let it out, all the tears I’d been holding up inside all this time. “I just can’t fight anymore. Not against myself. Not like this. I’m tired. I don’t want being good to be the hardest thing in the world.”
He stepped closer, his sad eyes reflecting the feeling that squeezed tight around my heart. Holding out a hand, he gave me a nod. “Then, come with me. Let me help you. I promise that we can find a way to work through this, and you’ll come out on the other end stronger, smarter, and fiercer than ever. Zoe Bennett, Magister of the Bone Coven, shadow mage and Unbound vampire. Hell of a combo if you ask me.”
“Then why does it feel like death?”
Chapter 23
Dorian went to check on the backup’s fight with the demons. I waited by the crypt, refusing to let Laura come and speak with me. I wasn’t going to risk my hunger getting the better of me. One sniff of her blood, and I knew I’d lose my head. When Dorian returned, he filled me in on the fight. They had dispatched the aimless demons with the Nosferatu fangs and they’d trapped Wagner’s murderous minion, though there had been some casualties on our side. No sign of the warlock controlling it all. If Wagner had been around, he’d disappeared when his plan to trap me backfired. He’d probably expected me to go barreling into the crypt without he
sitation. And I might have if things had gone differently.
Back at Dorian’s apartment, I curled up on his chair and pulled a blanket over my body. In the heat of the moment, I hadn’t realized just how cold I’d gotten out there in the wintry night. My entire body shivered, and a thin sweat coated my face. I tucked up tight and watched Dorian pace across his floorboards. Every so often, he would stop by his refrigerator, but then he’d shake his head and continue his walk to and fro.
A tear slid down my cheek as I sniffed and stared through his window at the full moon sky. “Is this what you feel like all the time?”
“I feel much worse most of the time,” he said with a sad smile. “The beginning was the easiest part. Before I’d…fed.”
“What will happen to me when I don’t feed?” I couldn’t help but ask. It had been a question I’d been mulling over in my mind ever since I’d realized that my entire life as I knew it was getting turned upside down.
“You’ll die.” He stopped pacing and stood next to the refrigerator. “It’s a curse for a reason. While Daywalkers can live a very long life without ever partaking of flesh and blood, we’re not so lucky.”
We. Because not only were we bonded, we were now the same. In any other situation, I would welcome the similarities. Dorian was one of the best people I’d met in my life, if not the best. He was strong and fierce and brave. And loyal to a fault. While he’d been able to fight through his curse, I didn’t know how I could. Because there wasn’t just the vampirism to worry about. It was how my powers would respond to it.
“Maybe that wouldn’t be such a terrible thing,” I murmured more to myself than anything. Eternal torture wasn’t something that was particularly appetizing while the taste of blood most definitely was.
“I won’t allow you to talk that way,” he said, striding toward me with a fierce expression on his face. “Now, the reason you are feeling the way you do—”
Witch's Fury (The Bone Coven Chronicles Book 4) Page 10