by Isabel Wroth
"We ensure you live in an excellent home, drive the most expensive cars, and ensure you undergo special glamour work to appear perfectly pleasing to the eye at all times.
“Your wardrobe is constantly stocked with the latest fashions, and what you learn here, the spells you’ll cast, there is literally no limit to how powerful you will become. This is all before your marriage to the human we’ve selected.
“If the coven is going to invest so much time and effort into you, we want to make sure you’re just as dedicated to us. That requires a sacrifice—proof you’re willing to do whatever it takes to be one of us.”
Mrs. Price pushed open a wooden door banded in iron that looked completely out of place in the creamy-white and gold color scheme of the mansion, and led Kerrigan down a wide stone staircase.
The intensity of evil increased until the hair on Kerrigan’s body stood on end, her most primal instincts telling her to turn around and run as fast as possible, but Mrs. Price had a death grip on Kerrigan’s arm, forcing her to keep walking.
“Mrs. Price, I mean this with the utmost respect, but there’s been a misunderstanding. I didn’t come here to join your coven.”
The witch’s laughter echoed ominously in the cavernous stairway. “Of course you did, darling. Your parents made it very clear you’re not living up to your full potential, which is hardly surprising since Haggara isn’t known for teaching real black magic.
"You’re restricted to such limited education there, but here, the sky’s the limit. And not to worry about your sacrifice, your parents have already sent it ahead.”
They came to the bottom of the staircase, and Mrs. Price towed Kerrigan into the seat of the dark coven’s power: a dungeon with a well of black ooze that churned and bubbled in the center of the room.
But it wasn’t the dungeon, or the many varied torture devices, or even the elegantly lit shelves stocked with body parts floating in glass jars that tore a horrified gasp out of her.
It was Maksim, stripped to the waist, shackled at the wrists and ankles, hanging behind the stone altar already coated in his blood.
His head shot up when she called out in horror, a sob choking her to see the cruel metal device jabbed into his mouth to hold it open.
Blood ran in rivulets down his lips and chin from gaping holes in his mouth where his fangs used to be. He looked at her with fear and rage, jerking at his restraints with such force more blood spurted from where the shackles bit into his arms
Mrs. Price was far stronger than she looked, not having to strain at all to keep a grip on Kerrigan’s arm when she would have torn free to run to Maksim.
She didn’t realize she’d been hysterically screaming to be let go until Mrs. Price slapped her across the face hard enough to throw Kerrigan to the ground.
Flirting with consciousness, the taste of blood in her mouth, ears ringing, Kerrigan could barely make out the sound of Maksim’s enraged roaring.
“That is quite enough,” Mrs. Price snapped, and a loud crunch followed by a gurgling grunt snapped Kerrigan out of her daze.
Kerrigan looked to where Maksim hung on the wall, something not right about the way his throat looked, but she was too dazed to say what it was.
“No.”
“What was that?” Mrs. Price demanded, tilting her head to the side as though she hadn’t heard. Which, considering her actual age, might have been the case. Kerrigan looked up at the coven leader, seeing right through the beautiful facade to the truly hideous face beneath.
Stomach churning, from more than just pain, Kerrigan stumbled to her feet, looking to her parents.
“You did this?”
Her mother seemed a little pale, but she was smiling tremulously. Her father scowled at her, his expression a mix of disgust and florid fury.
“Hell yes we did this!” he spat. “I had to hear from one of my business partners that my own daughter was seen out on the town, whoring herself out to a vampire.
"Did you really think after everything your mother and I have sacrificed for you, we’d let you run off and drag our family name through the mud, make us a laughingstock among our peers?”
Kerrigan couldn’t breathe past the agony of what her own father was saying to her. She looked to her mother for some kind of reassurance, help even, but found nothing but sympathy.
“Your father and I only want the very best for you, Kerrigan. There is no other coven on the planet more powerful or well respected. You have no idea what doors will open for you, for us.”
Feeling their betrayal straight through to the marrow of her bones, Kerrigan wiped the blood off her chin and tried to ignore the terrible throbbing in her face.
The swelling and the cuts on the inside of her cheek made it difficult to form words, but she managed.
“Not. Happening.”
“Kerrigan.” Her mother sighed as though she were the greatest disappointment ever.
Her father wasn’t so taciturn. Spit frothed at the corners of his lips; his eyes burned with rage as he called on his magic, suffocating her with the heat of it as he furiously stabbed his finger at Maksim.
“You’re going to put that walking corpse down like a rabid dog and pledge to the Silver Wives, end of discussion!”
“Go fuck yourself,” Kerrigan answered, spitting blood at his feet.
“Young lady,” Mrs. Price tsked, making Kerrigan scream when she grabbed a fistful of Kerrigan’s hair and yanked her around to face Maksim. “That’s no way to speak to your father.”
Mrs. Price used the grip on Kerrigan’s hair to steer and shove her forward, pushing her around the altar until she was close enough to reach out and touch Maksim, but an uttered curse of the cruelest magic settled around Kerrigan every bit as firmly as the shackles that held Maksim securely to the wall.
“Now then, so much fuss. It’s really quite a simple process, Kerrigan. To kill your love is to blacken the soul, which is the sacrifice all of us made to join the Silver Wives.
"You won’t even notice it, except for the way that your power will leap and grow like a wildfire. You’ll have everything a girl could possibly dream of. Wealth, power, fame—”
“I don’t want any of that! Let me go!” she shrieked, fighting the hag’s magic with all her might, thrashing against it with all the futility of a wet rag slapping at a steel wall.
“You will want it,” Mrs. Price answered, stepping up behind Kerrigan close enough to feel the press of her fake breasts against her back.
Mrs. Price reached around to push a crude, ugly dagger in Kerrigan’s hand, and like a marionette, Kerrigan’s palms slapped together around the hilt, the deadly point aimed right at her beloved’s chest.
She stared into Maksim’s eyes and saw nothing but calm forgiveness in the dark blue depths.
“NO! I won’t! I won’t do this! You can’t make me—” Mrs. Price gave an exasperated sigh, put her hands on Kerrigan’s shoulders, and shoved.
The blade was so sharp it slid through Maksim like he was made of softened butter. His blood gushed out over her hands in a thick, warm rush, and Kerrigan did feel something die inside her.
There was the sensation of a balloon being popped, and just like that, Mrs. Price’s dark hold on her snapped.
The shackles holding Maksim to the wall opened, his limp body falling against Kerrigan, taking them both to the floor.
“That shouldn’t have happened,” she heard Mrs. Price say, almost like she was impressed, but Kerrigan could have cared less.
Choking on her gut-wrenching sobs, Kerrigan carefully unstrapped the horrible gag from Maksim’s mouth, throwing it away with a violent fling, cradling him in her arms.
“Maksim, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry.” She wept, her tears splashing on his ashen cheeks.
“My little witch,” he choked out, more blood sliding out of his mouth. “Go. Leave… me.”
“No! No! Please, please! You can’t leave me here alone!” He gave a ghost of a smile and she watched the spark of life slowly fade from his vibrant
eyes.
“Never,” he rasped, but he slowly turned a lifeless gray, muscle and sinew shrinking beneath his skin, and in no time at all, it was a withered husk that Kerrigan cradled.
Time moved like frozen molasses around her, voices faded in and out, and before long, the blood soaking her started to cool.
“What the hell is all that noise, Vivica? I was getting a massage out by the pool and thought you were down here torturing someone without having invited the rest of us to watch!”
“Just initiating our newest recruit. She’s having a little tantrum,” Mrs. Price drawled, her golden heels catching the peripheral of Kerrigan’s blurry sight. The bitch actually had the nerve to reach out and nudge Maksim’s hip with the toe of her shoe.
Kerrigan snapped.
A haze clouded her sight, not red, but a shadowy black that somehow managed to make every light in the room seem bright as day, muting all the colors around her, sharpening the faces of the Silver Wives crowded around her in the dungeon.
“Well, well,” one of them chuckled. “Look at those eyes.”
“Oh good,” Mrs. Price said with a heaping dose of satisfaction. “For a minute there, I was worried she didn’t have it in her.”
Haggara might not have a class dedicated to black magic, but that didn’t mean Kerrigan was ignorant of how to use it.
All it took was a tiny bit of blood, foul words, and vengeful rage. Right now, Kerrigan had all three in spades.
“You want black magic?” Kerrigan asked hoarsely, carefully laying Maksim’s remains on the floor. “Okay.”
An icy wind whipped through the room, blowing out the ritual candles, plunging the room into total darkness.
She could feel Mrs. Price and a few others try to contain her in a circle of their wickedness, but Kerrigan was coated in the blood of a magical creature. The blood of a loved one.
Nothing the Silver Wives could conjure up in that moment would be strong enough to hold Kerrigan’s will at bay.
“With blood and smoke, a plague of nightmares I invoke,” she chanted harshly, lifting her hands to her face, painting sticky stripes of blood across her cheeks and symbols onto her arms. She licked it off the palm of one hand, then the other, swallowing the bitter metallic taste of death.
“Silver Wives, who tell silver lies, this is where your magic dies. Your charms will rot, your true faces seen, more hideous than you’ve ever been. With lover’s blood and widow’s tears, I curse you!”
Above them, the ground shook and the house shuddered. The glass jars on the dungeon shelves shattered, women shrieked in surprise, and when the shaking finally stopped, Kerrigan got to her feet in a daze.
There was a loud snap, and all the candles in the dungeon flared to life, once more illuminating the space.
“Well, that was dramatic,” Mrs. Price declared with a cruel laugh. “And you certainly made some noise, little witch, but if you think that pathetic excuse for a curse will—”
The screams that cut through the air were music to Kerrigan’s ears.
She stood there smirking, surrounded now by the most hideous, wrinkled hags she’d ever seen.
No amount of makeup, spells, or ‘physical enchantments’ could make them beautiful ever again.
CHAPTER FOUR
“You put a curse on the Silver Wives?” Astrid wheezed in awe filled horror, her hands flying to her mouth.
Kerrigan smirked, recounting the moment when Vivica realized what Kerrigan had done. The vain witch’s beautiful hair had turned gray and stringy; her taut, tan skin dried up, wrinkling and sagging off her bones.
Big warts and boils appeared all over her, her back bent in a grotesque hunch, her nails chipped and yellowed, teeth blackened and cracked, and her face looked like something out of a zombie movie.
She’d looked like a shriveled up prune stuffed into a golden dress and fancy shoes.
“Holy Mother of the Gods,” Astrid breathed. “Why didn’t they come after you?”
“I have no idea. I kept expecting them to, but they never did. There were days when I really wished they would have, but I figured they were too busy trying to undo my curse.”
They sat in silence for a while until Kerrigan forcibly sucked back the tears spilling uselessly down her cheeks.
“What next?”
Flustered, Astrid hurried to pull another three cards. Kerrigan thought she knew what they indicated, but Astrid tossed out a handful of runes across the table and peeked back into Kerrigan’s empty teacup.
The runes that landed on the constellations or symbols etched into the table-top added a whole other layer of information, combined with the spread of Tarot cards, only someone with Astrid’s ability to see the patterns of the cosmos could decipher the whole story.
“Alright.” Astrid folded her hands over her heart in a familiar gesture that told Kerrigan she was getting some additional insight and taking it, literally, to heart.
“What’s past is past, and there’s some bad news in your future, some real bad news, and then some good news.”
“Lay it on me,” Kerrigan said, waving her hands in a ‘bring it on’ motion.
“This right here is the struggle you’ve had, trying to summon Maksim’s spirit.” Astrid circled her open hand over an illustration of a skull, with two obsidian runes touching some star constellations beside it.
“We’re going to come back to that in a minute. This thing you’re doing for the French vampire…” Astrid touched the Sun card, which couldn’t be clearer in reference to Etienne.
“You’ll get the answers he wants, but if you give him his treasure, the balance of the supernatural world will shift so dramatically, it will be felt with the force of a nuclear bomb across the many different factions. If you don’t give it to him… well, either way, be prepared to kill him.”
Kerrigan snorted, hugging her arms around herself with a curl of her lip.
“Is that the really bad news? Because he’s got Maksim’s rubies, and for that alone, I’m willing to promote him to full dead.”
Astrid gave a short laugh, moving on to the next portion of her reading. “These cards and runes all tell me joy, happiness, rebirth, and life-affirming harmony will come with the resolution of everything you’ve suffered through. This rune, this card, and this constellation confirm your soulmate isn’t far away.”
Kerrigan shook her head sadly, sinking immediately into a dark, hollow place.
“My soulmate is gone, Astrid. Maksim was it for me.”
Astrid made a waffling motion with her hand.
“I’m not so sure about that.”
When Kerrigan made a strangled noise of derision, Astrid gave her a plaintive look. “Bear with me. Something has been blocking the connection, either on his end or yours, which is why you haven’t been able to pull Maksim’s spirit to you. I think I can help you with that, but we have to do it tonight.”
Kerrigan’s heart practically flew out of her chest, anger forgotten. There wasn’t even a hint of hesitation on her part.
“I’m in. What do you need?”
Astrid shook her head and gestured at the back door of her shop.
“Just a few things from the storeroom and a bit of muscle. I’ll call Abel.”
Tongue tied in knots, Kerrigan just sat there while Astrid cleaned up and called their friendly neighborhood enforcer and put him on speaker. Able picked up after one ring, a growl in his voice.
“Woman, this better be an emergency.”
“No one’s dead or dying, but Kerrigan and I are going to need some help tonight.” Astrid picked up Kerrigan’s teacup, pondering its mysteries before rinsing it out in the sink.
“Fuck me. What now?” he demanded roughly. “You do remember I’m on Tynan’s payroll, not yours, right?”
“Mmhm,” Astrid answered with a chipper hum. “If you’re too busy, I’m sure Ilex’s boys can handle it. Sorry to bother you, hon.”
Kerrigan snickered at the well-placed barb. Abel had a soft spot for
Ivy after what she’d done to bring Reece back, and that day in the meadow, his lions all messed up and bleeding, he’d had to watch Ilex’s big, muscle-strapped warriors carry the girls back to the house because the lions had been too weak to do it.
Muttering curses under his breath, Abel finally heaved an irritated growl, sounding extremely put upon.
“What’s the problem?”
Astrid giggled sweetly, jars clinking in the back.
“Kerrigan has been struggling with something from her past, and I’m gonna need you to sit around and watch out for us while we work some magic. Nothing too strenuous. I’d say you and two others would be more than enough to handle the job. I’ll even throw in some freshly made peppermint bark and hot cocoa.”
“When and where?” Able grumbled.
“The stargazing deck at sundown. Bring your boys, come furry.”
Able was silent for a minute, seemingly undisturbed when he asked if he needed to bring supplies to kill a vampire and burn the body after.
Kerrigan assumed Reece or Doyle had confided in their team leader that she was having vampire issues.
“Not tonight. I just need you to sit, keep watch, and make some noise when I tell you to.”
“Fine. We’ll be there.” Abel didn’t even say goodbye.
Astrid beamed, gathering up a few baskets to set on the table. “Excellent. We’ll need a shit ton of candles and the buffalo hide.”
“So what all is this going to involve?” Kerrigan asked, smoothing her hands over the caramel-colored hide.
Astrid shot her a smile and handed over her basket of candles.
“A spot of astral travel.”
With a skeptical frown, Kerrigan started to roll up the hide.
“We haven’t done that together since eighth grade, and it didn’t exactly go well. We got as far as the lacrosse team’s locker room before Joseph Luton noticed and threw a spell at us that felt like liquid lightning. I hurt for days afterward.”
Astrid wrinkled her nose, fetching some crystals to add to her basket. “I’ve had a lot of practice since then, and the worst that’ll happen is feeling like the-morning-after-I-drank-an-entire-bottle-of-Tequila-all-by-myself.”