The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the feeling of cold stone underneath my naked backside. My wrists were bound above my head with leather straps and my ankles were each cuffed to the corners of the stone table I was laid out on.
I heard the same chanting I'd heard in my dream at the hospital, and if I didn't think I was in trouble when I found myself bound to a stone altar, I knew it then. Figures in black robes stood around me in a circle. The only light in the room were candles on ornate candelabra stands behind the figures.
The chanting stopped. They must have realized that I was awake. Each of the figures took a step forward in unison.
"I should get a chance with her. I was the only one who didn't get to try her out." A male voice said, and it took me a moment to recognize Jareth's voice. "I did just as much work as you, but I never had a go at the little slut."
"She's yours once the entity is inside of her anyway." Another voice said. It was Pierce. "Brian and I already have our wives, so it's your turn. You can use her up to your heart’s content. I'm sure the nasty little fiend we're summoning tonight won't mind."
I let out a strangled whimper barely able to comprehend what was happening to me. Molly had been right. I couldn't figure out what they were talking about, though. They were summoning an entity and after that I'd be married to Jareth? That was some next level weird shit.
The main thing that bothered me at that point was whether they had to kill me to summon this entity before I got married off to...
Sirens.
That's what Nick the goth had been talking about. He didn't mean sirens like on a fire truck, he was referring to the mythological creature. Three men who were all attractive and tempting for their own reasons. They'd kept me here long after I should have known to run.
So, that was it. I'd fallen for a great set of abs and a few kind words and death was my prize. Or was it possession?
"Hey, what are you assholes doing, anyway?"
"Enough." One of the other hooded figures said. "Let us begin."
The chanting began again, and the circle closed in around me. It grew to a fevered pitch as one of the chanters stepped forward. From his robes he pulled a long, ceremonial knife.
It was the same scene from my dream at the hospital. He held the knife under my breast, and I began to sob. I was convinced the corpse girl I'd seen was me and that he was about to cut me badly.
Instead, he made a small, but still painful, nick. Another member of the circle stepped forward and collected my blood in a silver chalice.
"Rise." They began to chant.
"Claim."
"We summon you, Vanthshadra. We offer this vessel to you."
The altar I lay on began to shake. I pulled at the binds, but they were secure.
"Please." I begged.
The man with the knife cut my arm. I cried out in pain.
"Hush." He said and cut me again.
From the darkness, a figured appeared. The circle parted and she walked up next to where I was trussed. It was the corpse girl. She still looked like me, but I could tell that it was not a vision. It was an imitation. She'd been watching me.
Her transparent hand reached out and touched the wound on my arm. I felt my life draining away while she changed from a walking corpse to a vision of physical perfection. Her head turned to the man with the knife and she gave him an approving nod.
The man moved to my side. He held the knife over my chest and then plunged it into my heart.
Epilogue
It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Vanthshadra didn't erase me entirely. I'm still in here somewhere, and I'm allowed out as long as I don't try to get help.
The other girls who are dead or in prison must have tried to fight their entity. The secret is to make peace with it. If you want to stay out of jail, then help your demon with their mission. Follow the coven's rules. Make a happy and welcoming home for your husband.
As a Stonebridge, I'm expected to help run the coven as soon as I'm ready. As long as I cooperate, I'll be granted unimaginable power. Jareth and I also got to keep the gold. The wedding was beautiful, and we had three kinds of cake.
He's hired someone to remodel the kitchen, and next summer we're going to put in a pool. The downside is that Vivian wasn't really dead. That was all just a ruse to lure me in.
But, Vanthshadra has grown tired of the wrinkled, old bitch. So, we're going to disembowel her while she takes a nap. Demons, what can you do?
Copyright© 2017 Sara Bourgeois
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.
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