As Wicked As They Come

by Emma Dean

  “You saw the show too! I knew you had some normal in you,” Audrey exclaimed.

  The creature trilled again and then bit Mika hard enough she yelped in pain.

  It took off, bursting right through Audrey’s circle and growing bigger with every bounding step it took. Without a sound or even a look back, it leapt from the roof and disappeared.

  “Oops.” Audrey laughed hard enough tears ran down her face.

  “Well, shit.” Mika sighed.

  “I can hunt it down,” Corbin offered. “It shouldn’t take long in my raven form.”

  Mika took his hand before he could shift. “When you find it just tell me its location. I’m the one who needs to actually capture it.”

  The raven nodded before folding in on himself and launching into the sky as a massive black bird.

  Ethan watched the raven disappear. “Wasn’t the circle supposed to hold it?”

  “Yup.” Mika would like to have another word with Aine as soon as possible – preferably before the blood beast ate a student or whatever it was it felt inclined to do with its own free will.

  “You could try another one and then get that one to fetch it,” Audrey suggested.

  “Yeah or make one and do the same thing.” Lucien grabbed one of the smaller blood stones and held it up to the light to inspect it. “I mean, what are these for if they just run off?”

  Mika gathered up the rubies and put them in the velvet bag. “I don’t know. I’m supposed to have a clan of blood witches to help me.”

  But she was the only one muddling through all this crap and even though she had Ethan, Audrey, Lucien, Corbin and Malachi with her – Mika felt alone. And in this, she was.

  She was the last blood witch and there was no one else around who knew what it was like to struggle with learning how to use this power. There were no classes on blood magic, no degree for sanguimancy.

  Mika sighed. “I need to suit up, access the crystal again, and then hunt the creature. You guys will have to have dinner without me.”

  “Mika.” Ethan reached out and took her hand. “It’ll work out.”

  She kissed his cheek; grateful he hadn’t said ‘I told you so.’ “I’m sure it will,” she agreed. Mika took the last ruby from Lucien and headed back downstairs to her room.

  Ethan was always more confident than she was thanks to his never-ending optimism. But it felt like no matter how far she progressed, there was always more to learn, more steps to take, and Mika was growing impatient.

  She needed the Morrigan, now.

  Mika needed to be ready.

  Because something was coming, even if she had no idea what it was.

  “I didn’t realize I needed to be so explicit,” the memory of Aine said, arms crossed over her chest. The crown and her armor glinted in the black nothingness. “You were supposed to use a blood circle to keep it contained.”

  A blood circle.

  Of course.

  “How exactly do I bind it to me then?” Mika asked, inspecting the bite on her hand.

  Aine waved her hand dismissively. “It’s ingested your blood already, now you just need to invoke the spell and bend it to your will.” She said it so matter-of-factly, like it should be plain as day. “Finding it will be the difficult part, or perhaps not if it leaves a trail.”

  Mika fumed. “I know all this seems obvious to you, but I am the only one left with these abilities. Without you or another blood witch there to actually instruct me in each step, I’m going to make mistakes.”

  Surprisingly, the goddess looked mildly chastened. “I apologize, young blood-witch. I’m not sure any of us has ever had to go through what you are. Even in the beginning when the Morrigan created blood-witches, we had each other, and we had her.”

  Mika paced, wondering where the other queens were, but she didn’t bother asking. “My raven is tracking it. I needed to know how to bind it to me once I find it, and now it’s out there doing the Fates know what. I should have just made my own.”

  She’d made an innocent mistake, but Mika hated making mistakes.

  “It’s most likely eating rats,” Aine said calmly. “They’re not inherently evil despite their appearance.”

  “Rats, not people?” Mika asked, feeling a tiny bit hopeful.

  “Beasts don’t eat people,” Aine reassured her. “Say they taste abhorrent. Although, they will kill them for sport.”

  “They can speak?” Mika stopped pacing and took a deep, cleansing breath. She felt wrung out.

  This was all a lot.

  “Not in so many words. Once they’re bound to us, we can communicate through concepts.” Aine came forward and placed a hand on Mika’s shoulder comfortingly. “But if you don’t bind it to you soon someone else might find it and take it from you.”

  “Is that bad?”

  “The creature has your blood. Do I need to explain to you what that means?” Aine asked archly, annoyed again.

  Apparently, tempers were another trait of blood-witches.

  “Fine,” Mika snapped. “I find it, say the binding words, and then what?”

  “It should bow before you,” Aine told her. “If it does not, set a blood circle with your blood, and prove your dominance by physically making it submit. Beasts are pack animals and you must be its alpha leader.”

  Mika nodded. “Thank you, I’ll make sure it’s caught.”

  With a wave of her hand and a thought the blood dream dissipated.

  She grabbed her gear and stepped into the modern armor she’d paid Kenzie to make for her. It was black and enchanted – similar to dodgeball gear but built for stealth.

  All of this extra stuff that came with being a blood witch was still so strange.

  There was a whole culture to being a morrigan that Mika was missing out on. There was no elder to guide her, only what she could figure out from books and crystals. Mika was smart, but there were some things that just couldn’t be taught, small things that were lost in translation.

  Aine had said the beast wouldn’t eat people, but Mika didn’t think it would take any abuse either. One prod and the thing could easily rip someone to shreds with those claws and teeth, just like she’d seen them do in the blackthorn’s memory.

  Corbin landed on her windowsill in his raven form and cawed.

  Mika closed her eyes and held out her hand as she concentrated until the now familiar weight landed. She strapped Excalibur to her back and a knife to her thigh before following Corbin out the window.

  This beast would bow to her, or she would destroy it.

  18

  Mika ran through the forest, following the shadow of Corbin’s raven as she used her speed charm to fly through the grounds. She refused to be responsible for another thoughtless death. Mika tried to remember what she knew about blood beasts between what she’d read, what she’d learned through her clan’s crystals, and what she’d learned from the queens.

  The original texts stated that blood beasts were created from a witch’s blood and bound to her. They did their bidding like very loyal dogs, even if they weren’t really animals either. The benefit of them was their versatility.

  They could take on any animal form the witch wanted them to, depending on her power, or even a form that reflected that witch’s personality. No matter what it looked like though, it was the color of wet blood with black eyes like the Morrigan’s.

  Mika wondered who had thought up the slimy red thing – like it had been created from a nightmare.

  When she hit cleared land with the university buildings ahead, Mika felt sick to her stomach. A monster wasn’t loose in the middle of the night this time. It was dinner and there would be people everywhere, not just the dining hall.

  The bloodstones around her neck slapped against her skin – a pretty cage for the creature she was chasing.

  A witch could carry an entire army of blood beasts with her and no one would ever be the wiser.

  That was part of the problem, Mika supposed. So many witches were secretive
even with other classes of witches. Information got lost, as did purposes for pretty trinkets tucked in closets. Witches like shiny things, but none of them were supposed to be useless.

  Mika possessed too many rubies to count – raw, cut but unset, in bracelets and necklaces and brooches and earrings.

  No doubt once things had gotten murky, her clan had simply assumed rubies were their ‘thing’ and kept the tradition going. After all, it wasn’t unusual for witches to store power in stones, gems, and crystals. The Kavanaghs did the same with the obsidian, and Takahashi wore her agate and coral.

  Her raven screeched overhead and veered left, away from the main buildings. Mika felt relief wash through her, and she sped up, recognizing the path Corbin was leading her on. When she burst out of the trees and into the cemetery, Mika was prepared.

  The beast was gnawing on something small, an animal from what she could tell.

  Mika didn’t waste time slicing open both hands with her thumbnails. She slapped her bloody palms together and muttered the incantation, making sure to be precise about the size she needed. Then she flung out the circle, blood dripping down her arms.

  The circle landed around her and the beast, slamming into the ground and slicing through a few headstones. Mika grimaced. She hadn’t realized the kind of damage a thrown circle could cause.

  The beast looked up and snarled, slamming into the shimmering ruby wall over and over as it tried to run away from her.

  Corbin shifted mid-flight and stood just outside her circle while he watched, clearly not pleased she was inside and alone with this thing.

  Mika didn’t bother trying to calm it down. She spoke the binding ritual over and over as she walked toward the beast. It wasn’t trying to attack her, which was strange. Mika worried that centuries of being trapped might have ruined whatever mind it had.

  She had to be the alpha and show this creature it couldn’t just run off and kill whatever it wanted.

  Grabbing the back of its neck, she dodged the first strike and the second, its claws nearly ripped her open, but Mika expected it.

  The skin wasn’t as slimy as it looked, and she couldn’t decide if that was worse or better.

  Pinning it to the ground, she let her blood drip into its mouth as she spoke the words of the binding spell one last time.

  Then, on instinct, she wove a blood dream from her memory. Morgana stood before them in her spectral form, wielding Excalibur.

  The creature stopped struggling and looked up at the Witch Queen as if it remembered her to some degree. When Morgana handed Mika the blade, she released the creature and took Excalibur. It weighed nothing – it was nothing but her memories and what she could weave together to create this illusion.

  When Mika stood and Morgana disappeared, the creature was no longer looking at the dead witch, but Mika and the sword. She sheathed the fake, releasing the dream. The real thing on her back held the creature’s eye.

  Mika offered it her hand again, covered in her own blood. It leaned forward slightly, sniffing.

  Then without warning it shifted, skin boiling like a cauldron, growing smaller and smaller until…

  It was a gross, hairless cat. Who happened to have blood-red skin.

  “Did it work?” Corbin asked.

  The blood beast rubbed against Mika’s legs just like a normal cat would. “I think so.” Mika wasn’t sure if it was bound to her or not though.

  “Test it out. Tell it to do something.”

  Mika unsheathed Excalibur and pointed the sword at Corbin as she waved her hand through the circle to disperse it. “Fetch, don’t harm.” The ancient language felt strange on her tongue.

  The raven’s eyes went wide as the blood beast leapt, shifting into something like a massive tiger mid-air. It landed on the shocked raven, pinning him to the ground, teeth to his throat.

  “Let him go,” Mika ordered in Old Gaelic, stalking across the cemetery to make sure Corbin was still alive.

  It backed off of him slowly, still snarling. If she wanted him caught and dead the creature wouldn’t hesitate.

  “A bit of warning would be nice next time,” Corbin muttered with a cough, brushing the dirt from his shoulders.

  She shrugged, one corner of her mouth lifting in a half-smile. “You weren’t specific.” Mika held out the ruby she’d freed the creature from and gave it a pointed look. Without any issue it shook itself and jumped into the ruby.

  “Well,” Corbin said, holding out his hand. She dropped the bloodstone into his palm and the raven held it up to the light as if he might be able to see the beast inside. “I see why those of us trapped by witches went insane. That was disturbingly realistic.”

  She paused and looked up at Corbin in horror. “What did you say?”

  He shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “Some witches wanted unwilling ravens. They used their blood to bind us like the blood witches did with their beasts. It’s why we disappeared for a while – became nothing more than rumors. We watched the world in our raven forms until it was deemed safe.”

  “You mean normal witches used blood magic to bind ravens?”

  Corbin nodded and gave her back the ruby. “Not just ravens, but us more than any of the other shifters. Imagine what you could accomplish with an assassin to do your bidding.”

  Mika didn’t know which part was more disturbing – that ravens had been bound against their will, that they could be, or that normal witches could use blood magic almost the same way that blood witches could and give them all a bad name for their misuse of it.

  She shook her head and wiped at the sweat dripping down her face after that chase. The speed charm had exhausted her. “It’s so strange. Most of the other classes or specialties don’t allow for crossover. I can’t control the weather the same way Ethan does. It doesn’t change with my moods and lightning doesn’t strike when I’m angry. Yet Ethan can use blood magic just like I can.”

  Corbin threw his arm over her shoulders as they walked back toward Oleander House. “He can’t control blood or use it to heal without even trying. Ethan can’t find the truth in a drop of blood, or hear it singing.” He kissed her forehead harder than necessary as if telling her she was being silly. “You can rip a person apart from the inside out, with just a thought, and turn their power and strength into your own as you cut them down.”

  She shuddered slightly as she remembered those images from the blackthorn. “And then use the body and bones to create shields and fortify defenses – they were called death knights, from what the fox books say.”

  Not only that, her kind could bind their enemies and set them on fire – essentially using their blood to cause spontaneous combustion. They could cause aneurysms or nose bleeds or make someone faint.

  There were times Mika understood why it had been hated so much.

  “Do you think I’d bind you?” Mika asked, rolling the bloodstone between her fingers as they walked through the calm forest.

  Corbin wrapped his large hand around hers to still the nervous fidgeting. He pulled her to a stop and tilted her chin up, so she was forced to meet his eyes. “No. But I do like that you have the power to and choose not to. Must be the masochist in me.”

  She couldn’t help but smile at that. “Must be.”

  Mika stood on her tiptoes and leaned forward, kissing the raven softly. “I would never bind anyone. I know witches were warriors and all that, but the thought of becoming a death knight…”

  Corbin kissed her again, effectively silencing her doubts. “You have to remember; those death knights had a code of honor – just like human knights. They didn’t take lives lightly, and only in war did they use their full potential.”

  She nodded and sighed, slipping the ruby back into the necklace. Convenient little design. “I know, but every day I worry it might come down to it. There aren’t just witches and shifters in play. Someone or something locked the Morrigan away – something strong enough to lock away a goddess? To do it right under Lucifer’s nose?”

/>   Mika shuddered. Kenzie had dealt with a god. What would she have to face?

  Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone vibrating in her pocket. Mika pulled it out, ready to update Audrey or Ethan on the beast’s status. But it wasn’t either of them.

  Jessica’s name displayed on her screen.

  The surprise made her almost miss the call, but Mika answered before it dropped. “Hey, Jess.”

  “You said you were looking for a banshee, right?”

  Her heart leapt into her throat. “A willing one, yes.”

  “Can you make it to Eisheth’s loft today?” Jess sounded harried and distracted, but Mika didn’t question her good luck.

  Corbin gave her a nod, and Mika instantly started considering the logistics. “Can you meet me outside the Bay Coven building?”

  “Yeah but hurry up cuz. She doesn’t like being here out in the open.”

  “I’m leaving now. Meet me there in fifteen minutes.” Mika hung up and looked up at Corbin. “Are you coming with me?”

  “To San Francisco. But I’m going to stop at the Kavanagh mansion. I’m sure they could find us a necromancer if properly motivated.” Corbin cupped her face with both hands. “Take one of the others. Ethan would be my first choice; he has a calmer aura and wouldn’t scare off a banshee as much as Lucien might.”

  “Good idea.” Mika kissed Corbin hard.

  It didn’t matter how many times she kissed him, Mika always felt breathless, like this moment might not be real when she opened her eyes.

  When she pulled back, her heart was pounding, and Mika felt like she was finally making progress.

  She glanced over her shoulder just once, noticing the way the darkness seemed endless – thicker than normal. Then she dialed Ethan’s number. “Want to come meet a banshee with me?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Ethan murmured sleepily, as if she’d interrupted a nap. “Last one to the portal has to buy her whiskey.”

  19

  Jessica James was waiting outside the Bay Coven building for her just like she’d promised. The demon witch didn’t ask about Ethan or where Corbin was flying off to. She just took both their hands and Mika felt that strange turning of her stomach. She barely had enough time to take a breath before they disappeared into that nothingness.