by Zoe Warner
The inside was just as beautiful as the outside. It was painted a white color with hardwood floors. The old metal chandelier was hanging in the entryway and had old candles still attached to it. A part of me wondered why they hadn’t updated it. They obviously had money and magick, but I didn’t say anything. I figured it wasn’t my place seeing how I’d just met Zane’s mom and still didn’t know her name.
“You can share a room, yes?” She asked, closing the door and crossing her arms.
“Yes, mom. That should be fine,” Zane said. He started up the stairs and I followed behind. Zander stayed and started a conversation with Zane’s mom.
"That was awkward," Zane said. "My mom is different. She wanted me to go to Erik's coven."
“Yeah, I figured that out.”
“She won’t bother you, though and we won’t be here long.” Zane stopped in front of the third door on the left and pushed it open. “I’m sorry we have to share here.”
“It’s okay,” I said. I put my hand on his and smiled. “I love spending time with my guys.”
He smiled back and gave my hand a hard squeeze. “I love spending time with you too.”
He pulled me to him and gave me a hard kiss on the lips. I loved it when he took control and showed me how much he cared for me. He did it in little ways, but they were more important to me than any large gesture could be.
I walked passed him into the room and shook my head. It was huge. There was an old fireplace to the left with ornate gold trim all the way around it. The bed was to the right of me and was so large, I knew we’d all fit fine in it. The floor was the same hardwood as the rest of the home with a throw rug covering the exposed part near the bed.
“This is amazing,” I said. “I didn’t realize you were this rich.”
“We were. The only thing left is the house now,” he said. “My cousins are always trying to get our family back to the proper stature, but it never bothered me to be with less.” He smiled. “It’s actually very freeing.”
“I don’t even know your mom’s name,” I said without thinking.
“Gabby,” He said simply. “She’s not much for people.”
“I gathered that,” I said with a snort.
“I have a car coming that will take us to the Priestess. Then we can get this whole thing taken care of and behind us.”
“I really hope so.” I forced a smile but knew what this meant. She would have to face the Demon in order to end it all. That thought alone made her want to hide, but it also made her want to see what could happen. A part of her was intrigued by this power the Demon had over her and what it meant. She knew his power was inside her dying to get out.
The car was the same one with the same driver as before. I wondered how they could keep doing this with a driver if they didn’t have money, but that question was for another day.
“She stays by the river for the most part in her home, but tonight is a special night so she will probably be outside doing a circle,” Zane said. “If we are lucky, she will be alone.”
“What if she’s not?” I said.
“Then we will have a new set of problems,” Zander said.
We drove for a bit through the oldest parts of the city. It was amazingly beautiful. The buildings had their own set of charm with the iron door handles and balconies. The brick buildings were still holding even after some of the worst storms and the people seemed almost unbreakable. It was an amazing feeling. I almost wished I had come here instead of heading to California like I did.
We kept driving even after most of the buildings were out of sight until we were in the middle of the bayou. The trees lining the roads so thick, we couldn’t see anything beyond them, but I could feel the energy getting stronger. We were in the Priestesses territory now. She was the one that would control our fate here.
She was stronger than any other Witch I’d ever felt and I wondered how she had become so powerful.
“She works old magick. Voodoo is one of the oldest and most powerful magick there is. I would never want to come up against anyone that practices it,” Zane said. He was watching through the window as he spoke and his words sent a shiver down my spine. If this Witch decided she wanted something big, there was no way I’d be able to say no.
That was going to make things very interesting.
The car pulled to a clearing and stopped. The driver didn’t move and Zane pushed open his door.
“Here?” I said and he just closed the door behind him.
I opened my door and scooted out, watching Zane and trying to figure out what the hell we were doing.
“The driver won’t go any further. We have to walk from here,” he said.
I followed Zane and Zander through the trees. They swayed and moved without warning When they blew in the slight breeze it was almost as if they were telling us to go back. A warning that powerful magick was here and we were trespassing.
“I don’t think we should be doing this,” I said as cold crept up my spine.
“We don’t have a choice,” Zander said. “We have to stop this Demon. She’s the only one that will be able to help us.”
“Why?” I said it without thinking.
Zane and Zander glanced at each other before Zane answered.
“She made a deal with a Demon a long time ago.”
I stopped and stared at their backs. Neither one would look at me. “What makes you think she won’t contact my Demon and betray us?”
“I don’t know that she won’t,” Zander said. “I just know you needed to the help.”
“So, we could just be walking into a trap and not even know it,” I said.
“Doesn’t matter now,” Zane said as the heat was sucked out of the air. The light faded from the sky and everything around us went dark as night. I took a shaky breath, but the air burned my lungs. Then out of nowhere, an older black woman appeared before us. She was beautiful, but fierce in a way I didn’t understand. Her hair was pulled back under a beautiful blue and purple wrap. She stared at me with her dark eyes until a smile pulled at her lips.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Catterina.”
Thirty-Five
I stood there watching this woman as she eyed me. She was everything you would expect from a powerful Voodoo Priestess. The magick coming from her was stronger than anything I’d ever felt before. She took a step towards me and it took everything to not back up myself as she made her way towards me.
“The Demon is looking for you,” she said. “Even now, it plots.”
“That’s why I’m here,” I said. My voice was shaky.
“We need to know how to stop him,” Zander said.
“I know,” she said without taking her eyes from me. “I can help you, but you have to help me first.”
“What do you need?” I said without thinking.
She finally looked at Zane and Zander before sliding her gaze back to me.
“I have a charge who is staying from the path. I need you to help her realize magick is a part of her life.” She glanced at Zane. “You know about the pull more than anyone. You can show her the way.”
“What will happen to her?” I wasn’t sure if this was going to be the right path, but I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to get the help I needed.
“She will become a powerful Witch.” She smiled. “Much like you.”
I watched her as she spoke. “What do you say?”
I bit my lip and glanced at Zane who was watching me. This was my choice. That much I’d figured out on my own.
“I’ll do it,” I said and she raised her hands. The air around us became thick with magick and I tried to catch my breath. When the magick let up, we were standing at the coast looking over the Ocean.
“Blake is a powerful fire Witch. She is torn right now between her life as a Witch and her life as a Hunter,” she said.
“Hunter?”
“She was born to two sides of a coin. A Witch and a Witch Hunter.”
“You want me to convin
ce her to turn to her Witch side,” I said without looking at her. “How do we do that?”
“She is being called to a Coven you know very well. She just needs to go there.” She looked at me and her dark eyes seemed as though she could see straight into me. “She feels the pull. She just needs to be shown the way.”
“Why do you care so much?”
“I am just the seeker of balance. Not all good and not all bad," she smiled. "The world must have bad for the good to shine. Otherwise, no one would be able to rise to their fullest.”
“Seems like a shitty way to get good people to do good.”
“It is, but it’s needed,” she held her gaze.
I smiled and looked out over the ocean. It was a peaceful place. I almost didn’t want to leave, but if I wanted to figure this whole thing out, I had to. I had to find Blake and help her before my own soul was sucked into darkness.
I looked back to the Priestess, but she was gone. I was standing alone on the edge of the Ocean watching the waves slink onto the shore.
A car pulled up behind me and I turned to see Zane standing on the outside of the car with his hand resting on the top of it. The dark car had its own odd feeling about it.
I didn’t say anything as I walked to him. He cocked his head and smiled and moved so I could get into the car.
"I know who we're looking for," I said. "Her name is Blake." I watched as Zane's eyes got big and he shook his head.
“Of all the people we would have to help, it had to be Blake,” Zane let a slight laugh escape his lips.
“What’s the big deal?”
Zander put his hand on mine and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Blake is Zane’s ex.”
That made things that much more complicated.
Thirty-Six
Caleb
He opened his eyes as the room spun around him. The Demon was gone from him. He had succeeded in undoing his binding. He was nothing now except a guy tied up in a basement and he was sure Zarrick was enjoying every minute of it.
He pulled at his bindings to see if they would give at all, but they didn’t move. He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to get away, but he knew he didn’t have a choice. He had to find a way out of this mess before Zarrick and the others killed him for what he did.
He heard the door open and dropped his gaze. Zarrick came into the room and walked to him.
“You’re still alive,” Zarrick said, holding his chin to look at Caleb’s face.
Caleb didn’t answer.
“I’m surprised you made it through,” Zarrick said. “Are you going to work with us or should I just kill you now?”
Caleb laughed. “I am not going to ever work with you.”
“Then I guess you’ll stay down here until you change your mind.” He laughed. “That could be a very long time.”
Caleb looked at him and shook his head. “What the hell would I get out of it?” He laughed slightly. “To stay alive? What do you think is going to happen to me once the Demon realizes I betrayed him?”
Zarrick sighed. “I’m not worried about the Demon. You should be worried about me and what I could do to you.” Zerrick put his hand on Caleb’s bound wrists and squeezed.
Caleb wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of showing the pain that pulsed up his arm. He met Zarricks gaze. “Is that all you can do without your master?”
Zerrick let go and backed away from him. “Your time is limited. If we don’t kill you, the Demon will.”
“And you with me. Do you really think it’s going to be that easy to stop him? You can’t.”
“Our coven can.” Zarrick shook his head. “Look, I hate you. We all know that, but I can put it aside if you can.”
Caleb looked at him. He seemed to be telling the truth, but he still didn’t trust him.
“How does it work?” Caleb said.
Zarrick reached down and pulled his restraints off. “You have to trust us. I know that’s not easy.”
“No, it’s not.”
“When the others get back, we can induct you,” He said.
Caleb rubbed his wrists. “What happens until then?”
“I keep an eye on you,” he said. “They should be back in a day or two. Do you think you can not be an asshole that long?”
“Yeah,” he said, but he had other plans. Caleb wasn’t going down that easily. He knew what Zarrick would do to him given the chance. He was going to use him to kill the Demon and then kill him. Then he’d be free from all of them. That was how Zarrick worked. He just hadn’t shown it to Cat yet.
Caleb knew one thing, that wasn’t going to happen to him.
Thirty-Seven
Cat
I stared at Zander for a moment before shaking my head. Of course, she was his ex. That was just what I needed to hear. I took a deep breath, rather than let the emotion take over and kill everyone in the car.
They would have ex’s, I told myself. It would be weird if they didn’t. I just didn’t understand why I had to help one of them to help myself.
“Are you okay?” Zander asked.
I forced a smile. “Yes, I just didn’t realize.”
“Blake likes to hang out in the French Quarter. We’ll try there first,” Zane said.
“Was she a Witch when you knew her or did she hunt Witches?” I knew it was a blunt question, but I wanted to know what I was walking into.
“She was a Witch, but she has always been on both sides,” Zane said. “She is a difficult woman.”
“That’s what Owen and Erik were worried about, wasn’t it?”
“Hunters have been killing Witches for a long time. They think we’re destruction. Some of us are, but most just want to be normal.”
“Too bad we can’t be,” I whispered to myself. I could see why someone would want to kill us. We caused a lot of trouble. Look what was happening with the Demon.
“It’s not far. Hopefully, she will listen to reason,” Zane said. He glanced at me and smiled slightly. There was something behind it, but I didn’t press.
A part of me knew this was a bad idea, I mean she was a hunter with Witch powers. While I didn’t know a lot about hunters, I figured they weren’t good if Erik of all people was hiding from them.
We stopped in front of a small shop on the corner of the old cobblestone street. It looked as though it was abandoned, the magick coming from it said otherwise.
“She’s in there,” I whispered without thinking.
“Yeah, she is.” Zane put his hand on mine. “She’s powerful so be careful, you can’t heal so if she lights you on fire, you’re dead.
“Thanks for that wonderful thought,” I said with a hint of sarcasm.
I stepped out of the car first with Zander right behind me.
Zane opened the car door on the other side and glanced back to me. Our eyes met and I could see the regret he held. A part of him still cared for Blake.
I bit my lip. While it made my heart ache, I had to know they would still have a connection. He cared about what happened to her in much the same way he cared about me.
“I’ll go in first,” he said.
I watched him walk towards the door and stop just short of it. He hesitated before putting his hand on the doorknob, sending shards of ice over it like a new sheet of ice on a lake. The whole door froze and then fell into the building. He glanced back to me and smiled before walking into the building.
I held my breath.
The hair on my arms raised and I felt an electric pulse in the air. I glanced to Zander who was already racing towards the building. I ran behind him. Something was wrong and losing either of my men was the last thing I wanted.
I didn’t know what caused it, but in a second I was laying on the ground staring at the ceiling and couldn’t move.
A woman with blond hair and emerald green eyes leaned over me with a smile on her face.
“I knew there was a Demon in town. I just didn’t figure she’d be with my old boyfriend,” she said before putting
her hand above my face and sending some kind of odd energy into my body. I tried to fight it, but the world went black anyway.
I opened my eyes to see I was lying in a circle in the middle of the abandoned store. The walls were incomplete in places and there was plastic over some of the windows. In one corner there was a ladder with a paint can sitting on the stair.
“Where am I?” I demanded as I pulled myself to my feet.
The blond was messing with something on a bookshelf with her back to me. She didn’t say anything.
"Where's Zander and Zane?" I waited for a beat for her to answer. "If you hurt them, I'll turn you inside out.”
She laughed. “Like you could.” She finally turned towards me and took a step towards me. “How did you convince them you were so innocent?”
I finally got a good look at her. She was taller than me, but only by a little bit. Her blond hair was wild and curly. It fell down her back in waves. Her eyes were mesmerizing. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a white tank top.
“I didn’t have to convince them anything,” I said, crossing my arms.
“I can see the Demon all over you,” she said looking me up and down.
“You’re Blake, aren’t you?”
Her gaze snapped up. “How do you know me?”
“I met a Priestess that would very much like to talk to you,” I said, not looking away.
“I’m not going back there,” she said.
“Why?” I asked without thinking. Everything I’d seen of this Priestess was good. She was powerful, yes, but she was also kind.
“She’s not what you think,” Blake said.
I watched her as her gaze fell and she took a step back.
“She knows about Demons because she works with them,” Blake said. “She wants me because I have a powerful unpredictable power. It’s perfect for working with Demons.” She cocked her head. “Much like yours is.”
I bit my lip. I wasn’t sure how much I should tell her about me and what I was dealing with.
“You gave yourself to a Demon, didn’t you?” She watched me as she spoke.
