Wicked Webs

by CoraLee June

  Some of the pain and disappointment leaked through my expression before I could lock the cage around my feelings again. I slammed it into place and straightened my spine, licking the remnant of food off my fingers.

  Just one more night. I just needed to get through one more night, and then I could leave Thibault and all of this behind. Spector Inc. was my chance, and I wasn’t going to let anyone ruin it for me.

  Chapter 3

  Things got...weird.

  One moment, the banquet was in full effect, with dressy people drinking and eating and mingling, and the next, we were ushered into a new room. This one was just as large as the one before, but there were no decorations in the sparse space. It was just wood panelled walls and black marble tile, an expanse of windows lined up along one side of the room.

  The only embellishment was a huge black rug laid out in the center of the room. The lights were just as dim as in the other room, and as soon as I made my way inside, I noted that there were a dozen men and women in Spector Inc. uniforms standing sentry along the walls.

  My steps slowed, a feeling of unease spreading through me. When I saw Stiles, I snagged his jacket sleeve. “What’s going on?” I hissed in his ear.

  “Don’t fight it,” he replied back.

  My grip tightened. “What the fuck does that mean?”

  He shrugged me off as if I were a nuisance. “Spector obviously chose you for a reason. They can make you better, Motley. Stronger. Just don’t fight it, okay? It’s bad if you fight it.”

  I blinked at him, and the foreboding feeling in my gut spread throughout my entire body. My fangs dropped down at my rising fear.

  “All Spector intern invitees, please step into the middle of the room, and then we will begin.”

  I turned to look behind us, just as the door to the room closed with a click. I saw a searing bright light coming through the other side, letting me know that a portal had been opened.

  Searching around the room, I saw that all the high society members hadn’t come into this room. There were about two dozen Thibault students, including myself, Headmaster Torne, another man I hadn’t met, and the Spector Inc. guards. That was it.

  A slick sheen of sweat broke out on my skin. The other students looked curious, but wary, while the Spector members and Headmaster Torne looked…eager.

  “Welcome,” the man standing beside Headmaster Torne said, flashing a charming smile as he looked around the room. My eyes slipped down to the X mark on his pale neck. So he was a necromancer, then.

  “My name is Cue Hafferty, and on behalf of Spector President Lorenzo Belvini, I’d like to welcome you all here tonight,” he said warmly. “This is an extremely exclusive internship. Thibault Academy and Spector Incorporated have teamed up for this amazing opportunity, and you’ve been selected to participate in this program that will propel your careers. Each and every one of you fits into the very specialized attributes required, so you should feel very proud.” Hafferty boasted his speech with pride, walking around with his chest puffed out and a grin on his face. “Now, if you accept the internship, please come forward and sign your name at the table behind me, then return to stand in the middle of the room, and we’ll get started inducting you.”

  My eyes slid around at the others, noting the various expressions on their faces once more.

  “What’s the program?” a necro student asked. “What’s required of us?”

  “Unfortunately, all information is classified until you join,” Hafferty answered, looking apologetic. “But I can tell you that you’ll be working with Spector very closely. You’ll be groomed to propel their vision and have opportunities to be placed in leading positions throughout the supernatural communities.”

  At that answer, several people moved forward to sign the contract.

  “And what exactly is their vision?” I asked.

  Hafferty faced me, his friendly smile still in place. “Again, I’m not at liberty to say very much. Spector Inc. is classified for good reason since our process is both foresighted and delicate. If this information became public knowledge, we wouldn’t be able to protect the supernatural community the way we aim to. Just know that by enlisting with Spector, you’ll be joining an organization that is striving to protect our kind and propel us to new heights that we never thought possible.”

  I considered his words, and several more people moved forward, lining up to sign their names one by one.

  My gaze went over to Stiles and then to Headmaster Torne.

  I had a decision to make, and I could feel the importance of it all the way down to my bones. I could walk out of here right now. I could leave this place, leave Thibault, and go back home to Aunt Marie. I could tell her the truth about not getting a placement in the council. I could try to get some low level vamp job befitting of my societal classification.

  I could see my entire life playing out if I did that. Being stressed to the max, trying to juggle taking care of Aunt Marie—who’s condition would only get worse—and working at a sucky, unfulfilling job that didn’t challenge my intellect or my drive. That road was safe, but it was a dreaded road I’d been trying to run away from my entire life.

  So when my feet carried me forward, I wasn’t all that surprised. When my hand skittered across the paper to sign my name, I didn’t even try to talk myself out of it. I had to make my life and Aunt Marie’s life better than that dismal future. Despite the unease I felt, I had to do this.

  Every single student signed the paper. I’m sure they all had their reasons, probably not all that different from mine. We were immortal. Positions of power were everything to us.

  As soon as the last student had signed and taken their place in the center of the room, two of the guards moved forward and started rolling up the black rug beneath our feet. We had to shift around each other awkwardly as the carpet was moved away, and I nearly fell against Cheryl before straightening up again.

  By the time I saw it, it was too late.

  With the rug now gone, we saw what was painted at our feet. A circular design on the hardwood floor that had harsh, chalk-white lines with dozens of pentagons interconnected and an empty space in the middle where we stood.

  It was a fucking ritual circle. For demons.

  I’d seen them in plenty of textbooks to know what they looked like, and sometimes even in newspapers of rituals gone wrong. Supes would sometimes get cocky and think they could mess with the underworld, but it was ridiculously tricky and rarely worked the way they wanted it to.

  Demons were different than the rest of us. We were immortal, sure...but high level demons were nearly impossible to kill, and their abilities were unrivaled. Supes were not supposed to fuck with demons. Hell, even low level creature demons were said to be fucking viciously powerful.

  The four supernatural breeds may run this world, but that was because demons let us. I didn’t need to be a genius to know that this was incredibly dangerous and not something we should mess with.

  I guess I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, because a female shifter at the edge of the circle shook her head. “Oh, fuck that. No one ever said anything about messing with a demon ritual. Did you hear about that lady that ended up with three dicks when she tried to summon a lust demon?” she asked, looking around at the rest of us. “Not one. Three. Three fucking gigantic dicks that hung down to her fucking knees. Nope. No way. Not happening,” she rambled while throwing her hands up. She looked scared shitless at the sight of the ritual circle. Thick brown fur gathered on her knuckles, warning of an impending shift.

  “That was because the people performing that ritual were uninformed. I can assure you that we’ve perfected this ritual, and your safety has been taken into consideration. We wouldn’t risk your lives needlessly,” Hafferty said with a placating look on his face.

  “No, I’m not doing it,” the shifter said, her voice becoming muddled with a panicked growl.

  Hafferty cringed, as if he were about to tell her a terrible inconvenience. “
Unfortunately, you’ve already signed the contract. You are no longer permitted to back out.”

  Her eyes widened, and more fur bloomed across her skin. “What? No. I want out!” she shouted before trying to run. As soon as she tried to leap over the lines of the circle, her body slammed into an invisible force. She stumbled back, shaking her head in a daze from hitting it so hard, and looked over at movement from four of the guards. They were surrounding our circle, holding their hands up and holding an invisible barrier around us. Air elementals.

  The shifter girl growled, and then her skin tore away and her body grew, and a fully shifted grizzly bear stood in her place. The bear slammed against the barrier over and over again, making a few of the elementals wince.

  A water elemental stepped forward, forming a sphere of water, and shot it toward her, engulfing her head. The grizzly roared, but it was drowned out by the water flooding her mouth and nose. The students beside her tried to help, but they were pushed away by another barrier, and even when one of the fire elemental students threatened to attack Spector personnel, he was overtaken immediately.

  The grizzly thrashed around and choked until she crashed to the ground, blacking out from lack of oxygen. She hit the floor with a resounding thud, and the water splashed away from her head. In that second, every student in the room seemed to realize at once that this was not what they thought they signed up for. Panic ensued.

  The necromancer started clawing at the barrier. A shifter crouched low and was about to shift. Even Cheryl’s fangs were bared in defense as she looked around wildly. But we were trapped inside the barrier, unable to get out.

  Stiles watched us alongside Headmaster Torne, his face impassive and his body still. My fangs grew, and I tried to flash away, but the air barrier was too strong, and I went flying backwards, falling into students behind me. Everyone was shouting to be let out, powers were flinging around the room, and just when total destructive pandemonium was about to break out, a voice halted us.

  “Students, stop!”

  I felt my body jerk to a stop, my muscles stiffening against my will. Everything about me was frozen, forced into a statue-like state that made me rage in panic.

  What the fuck kind of magic was this?

  A Spector guard waltzed forward and circled the room, his eyes blood red. He was tall and imposing, with a deadly energy about him that made me want to run—but I couldn’t. Every Thibault student in the room was on pause, not a single one of us was even able to blink.

  The man sighed and shook his head at us. “I don’t know why you bother with the song and dance, Hafferty. It’s so much easier doing things my way,” he said while rolling his neck like he was bored.

  “President Belvini prefers a sense of civility, Jones,” Hafferty replied with a sigh.

  “Yes, but it’s better when they’re willing. The success rate nearly doubles,” the red-eyed man with the halting words replied. “But they’re hardly ever willing, unless I make them be.”

  “Indeed.”

  “Well? Make them be willing, then,” Headmaster Torne put in. “I don’t want my most prominent graduates killed tonight. That wouldn’t do well for my re-election as headmaster.”

  Rage festered inside of me. These people were talking about taking away our free will as nothing more than an annoying hurdle to jump over so that they could perform whatever fucked up demon ritual they had planned. I always knew the headmaster was a jackass, but this was some next level bullshit.

  With a curt nod from Hafferty, the red-eyed man—Jones—walked in front of us. His creepy gaze slid over our frozen forms. “When I release you, you all will remain calm. You will perform the ritual as instructed, and you will not fight it.”

  His words dug into my brain like a maggot digging through rotted waste. I felt it niggling into my consciousness, spreading through me like a virus.

  “You are released,” he said, his low voice like a murmur that travelled from my toes to my spine.

  Instantly, my body let go, like a car suddenly kicking from neutral into drive. I faltered on my feet, my heel catching on the hardwood as I settled into a decisive stop.

  Before I could decide to try to escape again, it was like my brain split in half. Part of me knew that I needed to run, to get the fuck out of there. But the other half of my brain refused to let me. Even my panicked heart had stuttered to a slow, calm beat.

  This man’s power, however he was able to do this...it was like a vice around my entire being, controlling my every reaction and movement. It scared the fuck out of me.

  I bared my fangs at him—or at least, I would’ve if the compulsion power had let me.

  I tried to fight it. I tried so, so hard, but it didn’t work.

  My body and my mind weren’t under my own control. A shifter settled beside me and was heaving in and out, likely trying to fight against this power like I was. A necromancer stood at my back and closed his eyes as if meditating.

  Cheryl was shoved into me, her willowy body pressed at my side as she shook with fear and rage. I felt bad for her. We hated one another, but I didn’t want this for any of us. I still wasn’t exactly sure what this was.

  My entire body tensed, my mind screaming at my body to flee so violently that I started shaking. Part of me wanted to run far, far away, but the other half soothed me, like everything was sunshine and daisies. Every bone in my body felt strangled with warring tension.

  I met Stiles’s eyes from across the room. “Don’t fight it,” he mouthed.

  My eyes blazed with fury, but he just burrowed his icy gaze straight into my soul as his expression slipped into resigned indifference.

  Don’t fight it? Fuck him.

  This was breaking every natural law we had. Supes weren’t allowed to mess with demon magic. It wasn’t our place. Demons were different from us. Powerful. Dark. And these students weren’t even willing. This was so wrong on so many levels. No wonder Spector was so fucking secretive. When the council found out about this, they’d all be executed.

  Against my will, I felt my entire body relax. It felt unnatural, but my lips parted on a sigh. The tension around my eyes went away. My muscles stilled until they were unclenched, and I stood there with all defiance leaked out of me, just like the rest of my peers.

  “That’s better,” Jones said with a smirk. His rustic voice grated against my skin.

  The Spector elementals finally dropped their hands, eliminating the barrier since there was no need for it now. Then one by one, the rest of the Spector guards closed in around the ritual circle, stopping right outside of it. They clasped hands and then immediately started to chant. The words were foreign, spoken in a haunting, monotonous tone that made the hairs on the back of my neck raise up to attention.

  Sarathess rythirite lamentous orelustimenum...and on it went.

  My heart raced with each uttered syllable of their raised voices. I could feel the anxiety in the room from my classmates as they looked on in bland fear, like the expression couldn’t fully reach the surface thanks to our compulsion.

  The voices grew louder and louder, and wind that seemed to come from nowhere started whipping at my cheeks. It started as a soft breeze but picked up in intensity, tossing around my hair and dress as it raged around me.

  Cheryl’s blonde strands stuck to the gloss on her lips as her body went limp. She fell against me, and I instinctively shot my arms out to catch her, trying to keep her from face planting. The other students had to squint as they endured the harsh breeze, holding their hands up in front of their faces as they tried to ward it off while we were stuck in the center of its cyclone.

  The room began to shake, the wind tore through us, and still, the Spector guards kept on chanting.

  “Don’t let go! Keep going!”

  I looked over, tears ripping away from my windblown eyes, and I saw one Spector man’s face twisted up in pain. The other two on either side of him were struggling to keep hold of his hands, their muscles bunched and their eyes squeezed shut
as they continued to speak in the demonic language that wasn’t meant for their tongues.

  The lights began to surge in and out. The ground began to shake. The smell of smoke permeated the air and filled my nose. In an instant, I felt a tugging sensation somewhere deep in my gut. The feeling was just a light nuisance at first, but then it grew more and more insistent until it felt like my entire body was being ripped in half. Students all around me started screaming.

  It was fire and pure, burning pain.

  Every cell, bone, tendon, and organ burned with a hellfire of excruciating pain that made my mouth crack open on my own blistering cry.

  It ignited my veins and drowned me with punishing smoke that filled my lungs. Whatever ritual they’d done...they hadn’t just brought demons here; it felt like they’d brought hell itself and shoved it down my throat. I was covered in smoldering suffering.

  All at once, the floor opened up and flashes of black light shot up inside the pentagrams. It surrounded us, engulfing our bodies with dizzying darkness. Cheryl stared at me, struggling to stand, her eyes wide with fear. She backed away out of my hold, and when she opened her mouth to scream again, the blackness shoved itself down her throat, swallowing all sound.

  And then I was suddenly surrounded by my own swathe of darkness, and everything else was blocked off until all I could see was him. Her. It.

  A huge, sleek black body. Legs. A bloody hourglass. Frightening reflective eyes that stared back at me like they could burrow into my soul. A spider demon. A black widow here to kill me. It towered over me, its body made of that unnatural black light and billowing smoke.

  There were other demon shapes crowded around the room, facing off with the others, but I only had eyes for mine. It crawled closer and closer, moving stealthily. It seemed frozen with graceful decision, and then without warning, became a blur of legs rushing toward me. It leaped, and I opened my mouth to scream, but it entered me before I could let out a single sound.