“You say it like I care, which I don’t,” I smirked as I turned to the group and away from the man who was even now crowding my space with his heady scent. “You guys head to the abbey, have them prepare for us in case we come in hot. Have the healers on standby as well, in case she’s bad off.”
“You think she’s even still alive? She’s been gone hours. You could end up hurt trying to find her, and she may not even be alive,” Dexter debated.
“I’m not counting her out yet, neither should you. If it was you out there, any of you, I’d come for you too. I wouldn’t stop looking until I knew your fate,” I replied carefully with a calmness I didn’t really feel. My heart had sped up, my temples throbbing with the fear I felt of going back into town, but I couldn’t leave her. “Go back to the abbey where it’s safe, and stay together no matter what happens.”
Grandma had been reckless, and wrong. She’d told us to split up to increase the odds of some of us making it back alive, and yet if we’d stuck together, we’d all be on our way back to the abbey safe and sound. There was protection in numbers.
“Spyder, go with them. Make sure they get back to the abbey in one piece.”
“They know how to survive,” I replied crisply.
“They are walking back without you, the most powerful witch of the group. He’ll keep them safe while you and I go find the missing girl.”
I watched them retrieving their bags as they slipped them onto their backs and started out of the little clearing Lucian had brought me to before gathering the others. Spyder and Lucian shared a look before he took up the tail end of the group as they made their way back to the protection of the abbey.
Lucian jerked his head in the direction of the group. “Why would you even bring them out of the protection of the abbey?”
I snorted and shook my head at him. “You don’t get it, we’re alone. You fucked us,” I laughed hollowly. “They could have been in a bunker. Instead, we’re fucking sitting ducks for demons. They might as well put us in an amusement park and pick us off one by one. Why are we out here? Because if we plan on surviving, we’ll need supplies to do so. You don’t have to help us; like you said, it’s not your fucking problem, it’s ours. You made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with me, so you tell me, why are you out here?”
“Because no matter what has happened, you’re not going to Lucifer to be used against me. You think I care if they die?” he asked, hiking his thumb in the direction the team had just walked off in. “I don’t, but you? You are being hunted, and he almost fucking had you. You think he won’t cut you up and send you back to me, piece by bloody fucking piece?”
“Would you even care?” I scoffed. “You placed me in his path, and then you allowed him to take my sister in my place. Instead of trusting me to be strong enough to handle it, you erased my memories. Do you know what he did to her?” I demanded, fighting the angry tears that burned in my gaze. “She won’t even speak to me now, no more than a few muttered or screamed words, and then she walks away from me.”
“She’ll get over it,” he growled.
“You have no remorse, do you?” I whispered as I stared at him.
“For protecting you? Absolutely fucking not,” he murmured as he closed the distance between us. I stepped backwards and shook my head.
“We don’t have time for this,” I muttered softly as I turned towards town and started the trek back.
“You can hate me if it makes you feel better, but no, Magdalena, I’m not sorry she took your place. He would have ruined you. If I was given the choice again, I’d do the same thing to protect you from him.”
“Why does he even want me?” I asked, refusing to turn around and look at him as I stumbled over downed trees and branches. We weren’t close to the trail we’d followed from the abbey. This one was more jagged, and turned in directions that added more time to the hike back to town.
“I don’t know,” he muttered angrily.
“Bullshit,” I growled, finally turning to face him. We’d just cleared the last large tree and entered a thicket that had rushing water beside it. “The devil doesn’t come hunting without reason. He sure as shit doesn’t seek one witch out to torture without a reason. You said it was to hurt you, why?”
“I took something from him,” he admitted.
“Something?” I pressed as I continued to watch him.
“I took someone he loved,” he growled as he ignored my wide-eyed look.
“And now he thinks you love me?”
“He watched us fuck, Lena,” he laughed coldly. “Whatever he saw as we fucked that night in the club, he assumed you were mine and meant something to me.”
I shivered at the reminder. “He watched us together,” I huffed out a deep sigh and swallowed as I closed my eyes. “You think that was enough for him to think you love me? You must fuck a ton of women; I mean, you own a sex club and you have women panting after you with their tongues rolled down to the floor. What was different about us?” I asked, watching him as his jaw ticked with anger. “Had to be something you did,” I said thoughtfully as I tapped my chin, recalling that night. My body heated as the memories swam inside my head.
“You were no different from the others,” he said coldly, and just like that, a bucket of ice-cold water was splashed over my head.
“No? Then why wasn’t he after the others instead of me?” I demanded. “I mean, he somehow escaped Hell to get inside the abbey. Of course, it was Samhain, so the walls were down a bit to allow the dead through. But then, he didn’t go there for anyone else you fucked, he was looking for me.”
“Walk or I turn around and take you to the abbey,” he demanded.
“What the fuck was so special about me to make him come after me?” I returned.
“Nothing,” he hissed as he pushed past me and started on the trail that led into town.
Once we were a mile from town, I paused and stood still. The smell of sulfur was thick, assaulting my nose with its putrid scent. I had been about to open my mouth and point it out when Lucian slammed into me, taking me to the ground with a bone-jarring thud as something flew over the top of us and bark flew from the tree as it gave way and slammed into the ground next to us with a deafening sound.
“Lucian,” I whimpered as the sound of feet thundering over the wet forest floor met my ears.
“Lena,” he smirked as his forehead rested against mine. “Scared?” he murmured as his lips feathered over mine.
“Shouldn’t we do something?” I asked, unsure why he seemed so calm considering there was probably an entire army of demons heading straight for us.
“Who says I’m not?” he muttered as he inhaled my scent into his lungs. “You smell fucking delicious.”
“It’s just wild berry and chamomile shampoo,” I rambled off as I shivered against him, inhaling him greedily. His woodsy scent made my senses swirl as the rich, musky aroma curled my insides with need. Lucian was raw, infused with earthy scents that seemed to work against me.
“Lena, close your eyes for me,” he whispered as his lips pressed against my forehead. I held them shut tightly as I felt his body lifting from mine, leaving me cold without his heat. On the ground, I lay there, paralyzed without his warmth to feed me strength. I listened to the sound of feet meeting the ground and then something else joined in. A new sound erupted in the forest. I rolled onto my stomach and pushed off of the ground, getting back upright as I stepped over the newly fallen tree and took cover behind a larger one.
I leaned my head against it as the sounds intensified, growing closer to my location. I turned my body and peeked around the tree as my fingers bit into the bark as I watched a whirling blue light moving through the demons. I shivered as, one after another, the demons fell into smoldering piles of nothing but ashes and sulfur. When the last demon had fallen, Lucian shimmered to a corporal form and hi
s blue glowing gaze held mine as he moved towards me.
“I told you to close your eyes,” he growled angrily.
“I cheated a lot as a kid playing hide and go seek,” I babbled as I stepped backwards needing distance between us. “What the fuck are you?” I whimpered as a tree barred my retreat.
“Does it really matter what I am?” he asked softly as his stare landed on my lips.
“Sorta, I’m in the woods alone with you and we’ve done things,” I hissed barely above a whisper. As if someone would over hear me and start laughing at me, which would be my luck.
“Done things? Like when you swallowed my cock?” he mused cockily as he tilted his head a bit. “Would knowing what I am change what we’ve done?”
“Here’s the thing, you got really angry when we had sex and your runes disappeared. That means something, right? The coven intended to have a ball that night, inside your club. You know why? Because the solar eclipse aligned with Venus, which means fertility. Those runes of yours, they vanished as it happened, not before it, not after it. Exactly during the eclipse,” I explained in a firm tone, somehow managing to keep the utter panic from filling it. I watched his gaze darken as he stepped closer to me. “You knew that, though, didn’t you?”
“You’re not pregnant with my child, Lena. I can’t have kids,” he snapped coldly.
“Noted,” I said. “I didn’t say I was, but what if? Then knowing what you were would matter to me, wouldn’t it?” I challenged.
“Let’s move, Witch,” he growled, grabbing my hand before I could yank it away from him. I followed him closely, hating that the simple touch of his hand against mine sent butterflies fluttering through my stomach.
“Why do you need the grimoires?” I asked, trying to think of things to talk about to calm the nervousness inside of me.
“Not your concern,” he replied, not stopping as we trudged through the once again thick brush. “Why’d you take them?”
“Not your concern,” I shot back as I nearly tripped over an uprooted sapling. “Who’s Katarina?” I asked.
I was pulled against him before I even knew what was happening. His lips pulled back from his teeth as he growled at me. “How do you know that name?” he demanded coldly.
I tapped my head. “First book inside my head is hers,” I admitted carefully. “You are after them; you should know whose they were or who they once belonged to, or you wouldn’t want them, now shouldn’t you?” I smirked as he released his hold on my arm and I stepped back, putting distance between us. “You know what they hold, or what you think they hold, so tell me: Who was she and why does it repeat her name through generations?”
“It’s your history, Lena, not mine. You tell me,” he challenged as he pulled a branch up to let me pass.
“I think she’s the cursed witch, the one the monster hunts,” I said, studying his posture and body language. He gave nothing away. “She’s reborn and then he comes for her.”
“And you think I’m the monster?” he asked, turning to stare at me with his hands fisted at his sides.
“No; she does reference L a lot, but my money is on Lucifer, so is she who you killed?”
“I didn’t say I killed her, did I?”
“No, but this is you we are talking about, and I know you have a tendency for hiding dead bodies in your backyard. I did mention that when my memories came back, all of them of you came back, right?” I goaded, reminding him of the body I’d once accused him of burying. “I think you took the witch from him and he is trying to pay you back for it with my head.”
“You think too much, and this isn’t something I care to fucking discuss with you, Witch,” he growled, turning to leave me standing alone as he tromped over bushes. I struggled to follow him and then turned my head as I heard a noise.
“Lucian,” I said, trying to catch up with him. He didn’t slow down, not even as I tried running through the thick brush and fell into a hole where a tree had once grown its roots. I closed my eyes as I tried to hear the noise again, turning towards it. I could hear Lucian getting further away; his footsteps continued as I pulled myself out of the dirt and looked around.
“Lucian!” I shouted, and then I heard it. The whizzing of something as it shot through the air and moved towards me. I hit the ground, crying out as the tree that I’d been about to climb over splintered, sending slivers of it into my skin as I lay there, unmoving.
I heard feet moving, and then grunts of pain, as if something was tearing them apart. I brought my hand up and wiped away the blood from where the wood had cut me. I didn’t get up this time; instead, I waited until Lucian loomed over me and I glared up into his glowing stare.
“You’re the worst bodyguard ever,” I muttered as I got up.
“You’re bleeding,” he growled.
“It’s a scratch,” I hissed as he tried to look me over. “I called for you.”
“I know,” he said gruffly. I couldn’t tell if he was mad at me, himself, or both. “You should have stayed behind me.”
“I tried, but my legs are shorter and I can’t leap over trees like you,” I said as I stood up and ignored his hand, which he’d offered. I searched the brush for any sign of danger, pausing as the bright white straps of my bag came into view. “Tara!” I screamed, moving through the brush with ease as I raced to her as she turned and looked at me. I stopped as the damage to her face came into view.
Her eyes were blackened from abuse; angry bruises covered her face and arms, and cuts from claws bled freely. Her pants were covered in blood as well, as if she’d been held and tortured.
She didn’t say anything. She made it to me and rushed into my arms as sobs rocked her body. I didn’t ask if she was okay, because I knew she wasn’t. I rocked her as Lucian watched us, taking in the damage to her body.
“She could be possessed,” he pointed out.
“We are protected from it,” I whispered as I pulled away, looking at her green gaze and bright red hair. “You’re okay, you will be okay.”
“I thought you left me,” she whimpered as her nose started to bleed. “I thought they’d catch me again and do…that again,” she sobbed.
“They won’t touch you again, ever,” I vowed firmly, even though anger pulsed to life inside of me. “Let’s go home, Tara.”
A few hours—and a lot of stumbling to keep her upright—later, we made it to the abbey. I was exhausted, yet relieved to have made it back. Lucian hadn’t said much since the last attack or finding Tara, other than to tell us to watch our step every once in a while and placing his hand behind my back when I faltered. It sucked admitting that if he hadn’t shown up when he had, we probably all would have died tonight.
Everyone was outside as I helped Tara pass over the wards and handed her off to my mother. Lucian and Spyder stood just outside the wards and I paused, watching him as he took them in. His stare lifted, as if he’d felt me watching him. I grinned as his glare narrowed on me. Yes, I’d helped place them, and I’d used the ones from the grimoires inside my head.
“Lucian, a word?” my grandmother called out as a Land Rover pulled up into the driveway of the abbey.
“For you, Sarah, anything,” he said, but he made no move to pass the wards. He stood firm just outside of them, forcing her to step beyond the protection I’d erected. I watched in silence as she moved to him and then, together, they moved even further away, out of hearing distance.
My heart sped up as I waited for her to return. I heard Kendra speaking to the others, her tone low and muffled. I turned, watching as she smiled and nodded to the other girls, who all spoke excitedly. As if something had had happened to help her in my absence from the abbey? Her gaze lifted and held mine briefly before they moved past me and settled on Lucian with a wide-eyed look of shock.
Lucifer had taken Lucian’s form, and yet she con
tinued to stare at him with something I’d never seen in her eyes. Hunger? Hatred? I wasn’t sure. She’d been through so much. Guilt washed over me as I turned my gaze back to where my grandmother was, watching as she shook hands with Lucian before making her way back to me.
“What was that about?” I asked as I tried to ignore Lucian as he folded his tall frame into the Land Rover before it drove off without so much as a goodbye.
“I’m adapting to the times,” she said with a sad smile. “Come, we must prepare for what must be done soon.”
Chapter 22
A couple days passed with the abbey in a bustle of activity as everyone moved around, doing daily chores and helping to create potions. I sat in the window seat again, watching the wards that protected us from the demons outside.
I’d spent countless hours trying to get Kendra to just talk to me, and yet she continued to put more distance between us. Not even doing communal chores together urged her to speak to me. She had, however, begun talking to everyone but me.
I stared out the window and didn’t hear her approach until her hand touched my shoulder. I looked up at her in surprise.
“Kendra,” I said softly before looking around at the now empty room.
“I need you to take me somewhere,” she said sternly as she folded her arms across her chest.
“We can’t leave,” I scoffed and creased my brow at her request. “It’s too dangerous to leave the abbey right now.”
“You owe me for what happened,” she snapped heatedly. “You will take me where I need to go, and you won’t ask questions.”
I looked at her in confusion and then shook my head. I stood up and stretched. “You know we could die out there, right?” I asked carefully.
“You’re powerful,” she scoffed. “It’s all everyone is talking about. How special you are, how much you’ve done, and what you will become someday.”
She hated me. It was in her tone, in the way she glared at me. Guilt assaulted me and I looked at the almost-empty room, which only had a few people milling about.
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