by Tania Hutley
“I’ll wake you if you do. I’m tired, but I can’t sleep. There’s too much going on in my head.”
He lies down on the grass and I lie with him, his big arm over my body. For years I’ve been fending for myself, determined to get by without the community or magic I used to take for granted. I took pride in developing my strength and independence. I told myself I didn’t need anyone.
But Xander has pushed through all my defences. Though I haven’t known him long, I’ve come to depend on him. And if I lost him now, it would hurt.
So much for being strong. Where Xander’s involved, I’m becoming weak and vulnerable.
The thought terrifies me. But at the same time, I close my eyes and feel my muscles relax. In spite of the hard ground and the fact the entire police force is after us, I feel my breathing slow. And though my brain is still in turmoil, my thoughts slip away into blackness.
I wake with a jolt in the darkness. Xander is snoring softly in my ear, his arm heavy on my side. I can feel every twig and stone underneath me, digging into my already battered and aching body. How on earth did I manage to fall asleep? And how long did I sleep for?
“Wake up,” I say, struggling out from under Xander’s arm.
“What time is it?” asks Xander, sitting up and yawning.
“I don’t know, I fell asleep too. But the moon’s not that high. It’s probably about nine or ten.”
“After all that cycling, we both needed a rest.” He gets to his feet and winces. “I haven’t done that much exercise in a while.”
When I push myself up to standing, my entire body hurts. “I wish I knew my aunt and uncle were okay. But Uncle Ray should have picked up my message. And he did say he was taking precautions.”
“Maybe we should go to the nightclub first,” Xander rubs his eyes and yawns again. “It’s a good time to go and we may not get another chance.”
We hobble out of our hiding place and back to the road. Xander picks a car that’s not too close to a house and uses a rock to break one of its back windows. We drive slowly out of the area, keeping our eyes peeled for police cars.
We make it to the nightclub without trouble, and park our stolen car in the darkest corner of the rutted, overgrown parking lot. There are plenty of other cars here, and the neon sign is lit up. A loud bass beat thumps out of the rundown old train station.
Trainwreck’d is pumping.
Amazingly enough, the bouncer doesn’t so much as blink at us when we walk in, even though our clothes are sweaty and torn, with an assortment of bloodstains providing the finishing touches. All I’ve done to get ready for the club is pull the hairbands out of my hair and comb it out with my fingers. Xander brushed a few twigs off his filthy jeans. Other than that, we look exactly like we’ve spent the last couple of days getting beaten up by a demon, running from the police, and sleeping in a park.
Could the desperate fugitive look be in fashion? Maybe the bouncer thinks we spent hours making ourselves look this way.
Nope, the bouncer doesn’t care. He’s letting everyone in, though the place is already full. Despite its middle-of-nowhere location, this must be the most popular nightclub in Baltimore.
As we head down the stairs into the basement club, the heavy beat of the music rises to meet us. A bar stretches along one end of the large room and the massive crowd of partygoers is thronged against it. The DJ has a booth beside the heaving dance floor.
“See anything suspicious?” asks Xander in my ear.
I shake my head. Maybe this is going to turn out to be a waste of time, but at least we can grab a drink before we leave. And for some reason I feel less conspicuous in this crowd than I did roaming the streets. Perhaps because it’s dark in here and the strobe lights make it hard to see anything in much detail. Or because we’re underground, among people who are too absorbed with each other to bother with us.
“Let’s head that way,” he says, pointing to the other side of the club.
Then I feel it. A tingle of magic. There’s something—or someone—magical here. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Xander leads us into the far corner, where the crowd is a little thinner. I scan the room, looking for where the magic might be coming from. The prickling on my skin gets stronger. Somebody’s performing a spell.
Is it hot in here?
I feel flushed, mostly because Xander’s so close. Suddenly, his muscled body is all I can think about. He’s got to be the best-looking guy here.
Xander’s hand snakes around my waist. He pulls me against his chest and puts his arms around me, holding me against him. “Saffy,” he says, his voice hoarse. “I want you.”
My body responds instantly. My face lifts to his and our lips crush together, my urgency matched by his.
Our kiss is even more amazing than the one in the boat house. This time, I give myself over to the sensation completely. My hands slide over his chest and then up around his neck, against his bare skin. He takes the kiss deeper, his tongue dancing with mine, creating butterflies inside me that travel into my core.
He pulls me tighter against him and his body feels so good against mine that I moan against his lips. I forget about everything but him. His mouth, his hands, his body are all I need.
With a low growl he slips his hand under my T-shirt. He strokes his way up to my breast. His touch lights fires on my skin. I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything, and I don’t care where we are or who might be watching. Nothing matters but the need burning inside me.
Dimly, I realize the DJ has started playing a different kind of music. It’s a hypnotic, swaying beat that has me sliding my hips against Xander in an unconscious response.
I force my eyes open. The people next to us are necking just as passionately. The woman’s top is lifted, exposing her breasts.
“Xander.” I try to push him away.
“Mmm?” His lips are on my neck.
“Xander, stop. Now.” I push hard and manage to make a little space between us, though he lets out a frustrated sound. “Look.” I sweep one hand around the club, that just a few minutes ago seemed so normal. Now it’s become a writhing mass of sexual energy. Everyone in here has paired up. Some are in three-and-foursomes. And there’s a group in the corner I give only a single, horrified glance.
“Look what’s happening. This isn’t normal. Someone’s cast a spell.”
Xander doesn’t look where I’m indicating. Instead he pushes one hand into my hair and gazes into my eyes. He’s so handsome, it almost stops my heart.
“A spell?” His voice is low and hoarse with need. “I don’t think so. I’ve wanted you since the moment I met you. And you want me too, don’t you? So why fight it?”
“Look around, Xander. Something’s making you feel this way.”
“It’s your beauty. And your bravery. And your gorgeous legs. And those muscles in your arms. They’re the most beautiful arms I’ve ever seen, Saffy. But you’re not just strong in your body, you have an inner strength too. It’s incredibly sexy. I can’t keep my hands off you, and it’s not because of a—”
“Stop. Please.” I press my hand over his mouth. I don’t want him to tell me I’m beautiful because he’s under a spell. It’s not real. And wanting his words to be true won’t make them that way.
He tugs my hand away. “Saffy, I’m trying to tell you how I feel.”
“Just look around. Is this normal?”
When he leans in for another kiss instead of doing what I say, I cup his chin and force his face away from mine.
“Look at all these people. This isn’t a sex club. And even if it were, this is a little extreme, don’t you think?” I point to a couple whose clothes are already on the floor. “Look at them.”
“They’re entitled to express their love.” He tries to kiss me again.
“They’re naked, and nobody’s sparing them a glance. Come on, you’re a policeman. You know when something’s not right.”
His body relaxes a little and he pulls away
enough for his gaze to skim over the mass of writhing bodies around us. His expression changes, and I can see him struggling with himself. Finally, he nods. “Yeah, it’s a little strange.”
“It’s magic. Somebody’s making these couples forget about anything but each other.”
“Who’s doing it?” As though they have a mind of their own, his hands are still on me, moving under my T-shirt. And when he nuzzles my neck, I tip my head to allow him better access. I know we shouldn’t be doing this, that we need to find out what’s happening, but I can’t make myself move out of his arms.
Twenty-Six
“Xander, cut it out.” I have to say it three times before Xander groggily lifts his lips from my neck.
I put one hand up to his cheek. “Break out of it. I know you can.”
His eyes, so dilated they seem black, stare at me with confusion. He leans in again and places his lips against mine in a searing kiss that sends my synapses spinning. I want to just let go, to surrender to the well of desire that’s lying just out of my reach. Every cell in my body is raging at me to let go.
But I won’t. I’m stronger than that. If Xander and I get intimate, it’s not going to be because of magic.
Brick by brick, I build a stone wall around myself, pushing away the dark, tantalizing spell that’s got its claws in us both. “Come on,” I say, pinching Xander to drag his attention away from what he’s doing to my body.
He smiles down at me like it’s some kind of sexy game and pinches me back. It hurts, but it helps to clear my mind. Grabbing his hand, I lead him along the edge of the room toward the exit. He follows along obediently.
Then I spot the only movement in the room that’s not a sex act. Some large men in suits are pulling a couple of barely-dressed partygoers into a back room. As they haul them away, the couple don’t even struggle. Their sexual daze is enough to make them compliant as the men push them into the room and shut the door behind them.
“This way,” I say, tugging Xander toward the room.
“Wait.” Xander pulls me to a stop.
“What?”
In answer, he pulls me against his chest to kiss me. A surge of pure lust pulses through me, too strong to control. I don’t want to control it, because Xander feels so good. I’ve been wanting to kiss him like this for the last few days, and now I’m not sure how much of the lust I’m feeling is the magic. It’s intensified what was already there.
It takes me a long time to build my wall back up, using the stones inside my head to shield me from the spell’s effects.
From the corner of my eye, I see the men come back out of the room and grab more people. Like the others, they’re malleable, not protesting when the men haul them up and drag them off.
What could they be doing behind that closed door? Only one way to find out. We need to get inside that room. The only way I can think of to do that is to be the next romantic couple the goons manhandle in there.
I lead Xander as close to the door as we can get, pushing him onto the floor close enough that when they next open it, we’ll be lucky if it doesn’t hit us.
Once Xander’s where I want him, I get into his lap, put my arms around his neck, and kiss him.
Hey, I may as well enjoy the wait.
The magic tears down my defenses until I have to pull back and take a fortifying breath of air.
The door opens. Rough hands grab me and haul me off Xander. I don’t protest, just go along with him as though I’m as dazed as everyone else.
The men push us into the room and we stumble to a halt just inside. The smell of blood is the first thing that hits me. Lots and lots of blood.
A river of blood.
The Unseen’s words come back to me, chilling my entire body. My magic surges in response to the blood that coats the floor. The last traces of the lust spell fall away and I feel the dark magic that’s running underneath it.
Powerful magic.
Though I know it’s evil, the magic is seductive. It calls to me, urging me to plunge my hands into the blood at my feet. To take whatever I want. To cast down all who would challenge me. To kill without conscience and revel in it.
I gasp in a ragged breath, trying to control the thoughts raging through my head. This is why dark magic is forbidden. It’s cruel, and strong, and merciless. Giving into it corrupts the mind.
“Bring them here,” intones a deep voice.
Then a foul stench hits me, so pungent it makes me gag. Rotting flesh. Dog hair.
Jeqabeel.
A figure is standing in the blood, bodies piled at his feet. He’s wearing a long, black cloak that’s soaked and heavy with blood, the hood drawn over his head. It’s not until the men drag us toward him that I see what’s under his hood.
A jackal’s head.
Xander draws in a sharp breath. I think the spell must have broken its hold on him, but I can’t tear my eyes away from the creature in front of us to check.
In the library, it almost killed us. And now, how much stronger has it become? Now that it’s standing in the river of blood it needed?
The jackal throws back its hood with human hands that are slicked with red. “Hello, Saffy.” Its voice is half human, and half the rough growl of an animal.
As it watches the men drag us closer, its features start to change. Its hair becomes shorter as though retracting back into its skin. Its muzzle shrinks and becomes a nose. The smell lessens, then disappears as a human face emerges.
A face I recognize.
Uncle Ray.
I can only gape. My uncle? But how? Why?
“I’m glad you’re here.” Uncle Ray’s voice is almost normal now. “You always were an annoying little busybody, but don’t worry, you’re about to be useful to me for the first time in years.”
“Y-you…” I stutter as the truth hits me. “You were the one who attacked us in the library? You killed all those people? Sylvia and my parents? You murdered your own sister?” My voice rises. The horror is too much to bear. The only man who was even halfway decent to me after my parents’ death was the man who killed them.
“Your mother wasted Jeqabeel’s power for years, keeping the bone locked away. She didn’t see that it could be used. She refused to see the potential.”
His eyes burn and for an awful moment I see the demon alive inside him. Its madness has him in its grip.
“She loved you,” I spit, struggling against the grip of the men holding me. “She and Dad were your family.”
“They thought they were better than me. I proved them wrong.”
I shake my head, trying to think. My brain is on a feedback loop. I picture the demon possessing him, my uncle welcoming it. I see him devouring my mother’s heart. He already had animal magic. Did he intend to steal hers as well, because it was so much stronger?
Then the explosion that killed my father. Was it intentional? Did he mean to kill him?
I lunge at my uncle, rage filling me with a need for vengeance. The men hold me back though I try as hard as I can to wrench myself free.
All I want is to tear him limb from limb.
“Now, now, Saffy.” My uncle gives me a smile so smug it makes me struggle harder with the overwhelming urge to wipe it off his face. “I’m glad you’re here. I had thought to kill you months ago, but breaking the magical bindings around your magic may have alerted the council to my plans. Now I’m glad I resisted the urge. Jeqabeel wants to use your flesh for his rebirth into this world.” He nods at his men. “We’ll take them with us.”
“Take us where?” I demand. “What am I in time for?”
“The Blood Moon ceremony, of course. You’ll be my guest of honor, Saffy.”
“You’re going to use the ceremony to release Jeqabeel.” I shake my head. “You can’t do it. You don’t understand—”
“It’s going to be beautiful.” My uncle’s smile widens. “Magnus and the rest of those arrogant fools will finally see how strong my magic has become. I’m going to make them tremble. I’ll m
ake them kneel.”
“Magnus doesn’t know about the demon?” Xander sounds almost as angry as I am.
“He knows nothing. It will be a surprise for him when I take power over the council at the ceremony.”
I make a furious, choking sound. “You mean, when Jeqabeel takes power and doesn’t need you anymore.”
“When I release Jeqabeel from his prison, I’ll have everything I’ve ever wanted. I’ll sit on the demon’s right hand, with dominion over all. The most powerful witch who ever lived.” His eyes glint and he clenches one fist. “Everyone’s always called me weak. After tonight, they’ll see the truth. They’ll see how strong I really am.”
“You’re disgusting.” It’s probably not smart to antagonize the man who holds our lives in his hand, but I can’t help myself. “You’re not strong. You’re nothing. So weak, you’ll let a demon use you as its tool. I hope it kills you painfully. I hope it dances on your corpse—”
Uncle Ray lifts one bloody hand and I feel dark magic surround me so tightly, it’s like being encased in clingfilm. I can’t move. I can’t speak. I can barely even breathe. It’s like when he took me to the Veritas, only worse. The dark magic feels dirty, like there’s something disgusting creeping over my body, seeping into my pores.
“Jeqabeel has been feasting. He’s grown more powerful than you can imagine, and his power has filled me. I could kill you with a thought.” My uncle smiles. “But both your body and your magic are strong, and Jeqabeel needs a vessel. Raw material for his rebirth into this world. He’ll transform your flesh and use it to create his true form. The more powerful the clay, the better.” He gives me an appraising look, up and down. “I was going to use Magnus’s body after I take leadership of the council from him. But yours is younger and Jeqabeel finds it pleasing. I’ll take Magnus as my slave instead. For years he refused me membership to the council, and now he’ll obey my every command. He’ll beg for every scrap of food or sip of water I allow him to take.”
If I could control my body enough to shudder, I would.
Wet cloak dragging, my uncle walks close enough to run his bloody hand down my bare arm. The look in his eyes is so lascivious, my stomach clenches with disgust.
