Witch's Sacrifice

by Emma L. Adams

  “I’m assuming she’s the pretty spectre who visited us a few weeks ago?” said Cheadle. “The one who’s marching around killing people?”

  “That’s her,” I said. “I won’t hurt you, and if you don’t want to join us, I understand. But I can undo what she did to you with no lasting harm. You won’t be obligated to fight in her army, or in ours.”

  One of the vampires, a tall, lanky teenage male, said, “And what’s this offer of yours?”

  “Evelyn is just getting started.” I raised my voice to address the whole group. “She’s planning on going to war with the gods and doesn’t care who gets caught in the crossfire. I’m not going to force you to join us, but if you do, you stand a better chance of surviving what’s to come.”

  “Sure,” said the kid.

  His fellow vampire shot him an incredulous look. “What? You believe that crap?”

  “She’s not lying,” said the teenager. “Look at the state of that spirit line. I want to be on the side of whoever will help us survive this.”

  “I’m getting out of the city, thanks,” said the second teenage vampire.

  “Leaving the city won’t help,” I told the group. “Evelyn’s war will affect this whole realm, not just Edinburgh. I can offer you protection, but I can’t be in a dozen places at once. So, who’s with me?”

  A surprising number of their group said yes. Cheadle volunteered to be healed first, and it took only one touch to remove the remainder of Evelyn’s spirit essence. Maybe her influence was fading now she was no longer a shade, but I couldn’t count on it. She needed allies. Immortal or not, she couldn’t win the war with the gods alone. She’d be back to claim her army soon enough.

  After we left the vampires’ alley, my phone rang. I checked the number. “Drake?”

  “Emergency council meeting,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Watch the council, they’re in a pissy mood.”

  “They aren’t the only ones.” My anger at Evelyn had simmered in the background all morning, but each vampire I freed from her influence was another reminder of how little she valued other lives.

  I ended the call. “I guess I’m still on the council, even though my evil alter ego murdered their most beloved apprentice. I’ll text you when they let me out.” I hugged Keir, who gave me a quick touch of reassurance in the spirit realm. It’s okay. You’ll be okay. I appreciated it. After a morning of handling Evelyn’s magic, I could barely sense my own. Or maybe it was the numb effect of the curse creeping all over my body.

  Talking to vampires all morning had meant I’d put off the inevitable moment when I had to face the other council members about Wanda’s death. I knew it wasn’t my fault, and I also knew that attempting to put a lid on my grief wouldn’t help. But I wouldn’t have much time to mourn. I was a dead woman one way or another, and I’d use the time I had left to make sure as many of my friends survived as possible.

  I reached the mages’ guild, a whitewashed house surrounded by fences. I upped the wards outside the iron gates before heading past the guards.

  Inside the guild, the mages had gathered in groups in the carpeted lobby. Drake looked at me, his eyes red-rimmed, and gave me a half-hearted wave. “Hey, Jas.”

  “Hey,” I said. “Is Ivy still not back?”

  “It’s not unusual for her to get stalled in Faerie,” Vance said, his voice as rough as Drake’s. “We must proceed without her.”

  I scanned the lobby. Ilsa was there, pale and tired-looking. Isabel was notably absent, too, but she’d have stayed behind to help take care of her coven. I hoped Asher had managed to track her down without any issues from the Hemlocks. The Hemlocks. I hadn’t even tried to cross into the forest, but if Asher had made it in there before the spirit line had split open, Cordelia should have been able to send him to safety. I hope.

  “I’ve been speaking to the vampires,” I told Vance. “Convincing them to leave Evelyn’s side. I think she’s abandoned her army, to tell you the truth, but that doesn’t mean she’s not causing trouble somewhere.”

  “I don’t doubt that,” said Vance. “There’ll be time enough to grieve later. We must protect those who survived.”

  “And destroy Evelyn,” said Drake. “Immortal or not.”

  “She took Ivy and Ilsa,” Vance said. “She killed Wanda. We will show her and her allies as little mercy as they showed us.”

  Slow clapping rang through the lobby, and all eyes turned to the door as Evelyn walked in.

  The new Evelyn didn’t look anything like me at all. She was several inches taller, her hair longer and glossy brown, her eyes the colour of an ocean storm. She wore a black coat and jeans, not adorned or eye-catching, yet she walked like a queen. Like she deserved the earth and she was willing to take it.

  No wonder Cordelia had seen her as the worthier heir to the Hemlock name.

  Evelyn smiled. “Hello, Jas.”

  “Go to hell.”

  “I’ve been there,” she said. “I spent more than twenty years there.”

  “Get over yourself,” I said. “You’re past forgiveness. You killed Wanda.”

  “Her death was tragic, but it wasn’t my intention to hurt your friends,” Evelyn said. “I did warn you there’d be casualties, Jas.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Magic sprang to my fingertips, sharp and potent. “You made a huge mistake walking in here when everyone in this building wants you dead.”

  Vance raised a hand and the air shifted, sending Evelyn flying backwards through the doors. Her shielding spell kept her from falling down the steps at the entrance, but Vance strode towards her, the air crackling with the force of his power.

  Flames shot from Drake’s hands, evaporating on contact with Evelyn’s shield spell. The other mages closed in, and I spotted the dead bodies of the two guards outside. She’d torn the wards, off, or countered them. After all, her magic and mine were one and the same.

  Which meant I could undo her shield.

  I squeezed through a gap in the crowd, feeling for the threads of her magic and tearing them loose. She flew into the air, and a whipcord of magic formed in my hands.

  “This is for Wanda.” I brought the whip down in a slashing motion that tore into the pavement.

  Evelyn leapt back with preternatural speed, but Vance’s next attack hit her head-on sending her crashing onto her back. She sat up, spitting blood onto the cobblestones, her hands clenched. An Evelyn-shaped dent marked the stone.

  Wait…

  My gaze went to her exposed wrist. Greyish markings covered her skin, forming a bark-like texture. Like mine.

  Immortality hadn’t spared her from the curse after all.

  She caught me looking, and spat onto the road. “Your curse has infected me, too.”

  “My curse?” I said. “I’m not the one who should have originally had it, Evelyn. This is not my problem.”

  I could’ve laughed. Despite all her decades of scheming, it might be the Hemlock curse that brought her down after all.

  “It’s our problem, Jacinda,” said Evelyn. “We still need one another. Otherwise, we will both be trapped in that hateful forest.”

  “Should have thought of that before you killed my friend.” I conjured magic to my hands, whipping at her throat.

  The blow would have killed her, had she been mortal. As it was, the blood seeping from the wound vanished almost instantly, the gap in her neck sealing up. She must have marked herself with a healing rune.

  Darkness flickered in her eyes. “If you refuse to cooperate with me and break our curse, then I will destroy everyone you care about, Jas. Don’t leave me with no choice.”

  A sound like a thunderclap rent the air as Vance raise his hands, and Evelyn was flung backwards several feet. Her body crashed to earth, colliding with a fireball courtesy of Drake. Twisting, a snarl on her mouth, she found herself in the death grip of a vampire.

  “You,” said Keir. “Thought you could get away with hurting Jas, did you?”

  “You’ll be
the first to die, vampire,” Evelyn spat. “You can’t drain me.”

  “No?” He tilted his head. “If not, then that means you’re no longer a shade. One death is all you get.”

  “No,” she said. “My spirit is eternal.”

  Curiosity grew within me, and I tapped on my spirit sight. Evelyn’s spirit hovered before me, but didn’t glow with the same inner light as before.

  Evelyn no longer had the spirit sight. She wasn’t able to use necromancy, or any of her shade powers. No wonder she lost her vampire army.

  Evelyn broke free of Keir’s grip in a fierce lunge. I lashed at her hands again, only for her to conjure a mirror of my own shield.

  “You’re outnumbered, Evelyn,” Vance said from behind me. “Surrender and we will grant you a painless death.”

  “I’d rather submit to the curse than surrender to you.”

  Evelyn whirled on the spot, sprinting away so fast her body blurred. She’d used a blood magic rune for speed, too.

  “Get her!” Vance vanished in a sweep of his cloak, then reappeared in front of Evelyn. She veered to the side, and my heart lifted—perhaps even she couldn’t outrun Vance’s teleporting power. I hurried after them, Drake one step ahead. His breathing was harsh and he looked like he hadn’t slept all night, but the flames in his hands burned brighter than I’d ever seen them. Drake had always been the laid-back one, but now Wanda had gone, the fire mage was not someone I wanted to cross.

  Drake and I skidded to a halt as Vance reappeared at our side. “She hopped through the spirit line.”

  “Of course she did.” I swore. “She knows she’s outnumbered, immortal or not. And nothing will stop the curse.”

  “Curse?” said Vance.

  “The Hemlock curse. She’s dying.” I sucked in a breath. “She can’t have gone into the forest, considering the curse is stronger there, so she must have gone into the other realm. If I manage to drag her into the forest myself, the Hemlock curse will claim her and the Devourer won’t be able to escape.”

  Vance and Drake exchanged glances. “She’d be better off dead,” said Vance.

  “Eternal imprisonment is the next best thing.” Waking or not, the Devourer couldn’t escape as long as a Hemlock witch lived.

  “How would you go about doing that?” Keir asked. “Trapping her? Using a binding spell?”

  “Not when her magic is the same as mine.” Except for one crucial aspect. “I need to speak to the necromancers.”

  “They’re back at our place.” Vance turned towards the gates, where mages gathered in the streets around the bodies of their fallen guards. I spotted Lady Montgomery with several other necromancers, including Ilsa, and made my way over to them.

  "She escaped?” Ilsa guessed.

  “Hopped through the spirit line,” I told her. “She’s falling under the curse. I need to trap her on the spirit line long enough for it to take effect.”

  Lady Montgomery’s brows rose. “Do you know how to trap her, Jas?”

  “She can be summoned,” I explained. “Using blood magic, like any other Ancient. She’s no longer a necromancer, so she can’t use the same magic against me. I don’t have to speak an Invocation either, because she doesn’t have a god’s name. Just her own.”

  “A summoning circle? For an Ancient?” said Drake. “Don’t get me wrong, I know you’re a damn good necromancer, but the Ancients are, well, gods.”

  “He’s right,” said Ilsa. “When we tried to trap a god inside a circle before… they’re not meant to be contained like that.”

  “But this is Evelyn, not a god,” I said. “She’s immortal, but she’s not as strong as an Ancient. She doesn’t have their magic. She’s basically a witch trapped in the body of a god.”

  Granted, our Hemlock magic was meant to be as strong as the Ancients’, but every single Hemlock witch was set against Evelyn. If I could convince Cordelia to speed up the curse, it might be enough.

  “It’s worth trying,” said Vance. “From what I’ve observed, the ancient predecessors to the necromancers had some success with sealing the gods in iron.”

  I blinked. “I thought iron was supposed to be deadly to faeries, not the Ancients.”

  “It is,” said Ilsa, her brow creasing in confusion. “What, like a binding spell? Is there a binding spell that involves iron?”

  “An ancient one,” Vance said. “Not mage magic. It must be necromancy or witchcraft.”

  “Or both,” I said, thinking of the symbols. “Or… blood magic.”

  Lady Montgomery looked startled for an instant. “Is that what you wish to do, Jas? A blood magic binding?”

  I bit my lip. “I’ll need witches, too. I don’t know if marking necromancers will have the same effect… and I need to wait until I hear from my witch allies first.”

  “You mean Isabel?” asked Vance. “She’s here.”

  My heart jolted, and I turned on the spot. Isabel approached the mages’ guild, alongside Asher, and behind her was what must be her entire coven.

  20

  At least a hundred and fifty witches followed Isabel, all armed, and all dressed for war.

  “I thought you were at home.” I scanned the gathering witches. “With your coven.”

  “I figured Evelyn would target this place first,” she said. “So I brought everyone willing to fight against her.”

  “Damn,” I said. “Nice going.”

  “I just overheard you mention a binding spell,” added Isabel. “We’re all prepared to help you, if we can. Don’t you have a book of ritual magic? Perhaps there’s a suitable spell in there.”

  “I do,” Ilsa said. “I’ll fetch it. I vaguely remember reading something about a powerful binding spell, but it involves marking everyone who participates with blood magic symbols. I already know them, so I can teach them to anyone who volunteers.”

  “You know them?” I frowned at Ilsa. “You never said.”

  “I read the book backwards,” said Ilsa. “I’ll get it.”

  Of course Ilsa would have packed her beloved textbooks when she’d moved from the guild’s ruins to the mages’ headquarters. Some things never changed.

  Was there a truly a spell powerful enough to ensnare Evelyn, aside from the curse? Even a temporary binding would do, but it also relied on Cordelia being willing to drop her belief that Evelyn would one day see reason.

  Evelyn was a bundle of contradictions, but I knew she’d rip the worlds apart rather than submit to being trapped in a cage again. And I understood her—god, I did, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t stop her.

  “Where’s Asher?” I asked Isabel, noting that he was no longer at her side.

  “He went to get his spares tattoo pens from his shop,” she said.

  “So you two made it up?” The magic I’d given him must have slowed down the blood curse, but I hoped for both their sakes that he’d told her the truth about his fate.

  Before Isabel could reply, Lloyd came up behind me. “Hey, Isabel. Jas, are you seriously planning on trapping Evelyn in a summoning circle?”

  “Worth a shot,” I said. “Ilsa is bringing the ritual magic book. We’ll have to do it directly on top of the spirit line, where the Hemlocks’ magic should reach her. Then…”

  Lloyd’s eyes rounded when I showed my marked palms, which shimmered with green light. At least I’d have no trouble accessing my power.

  “We’ll need iron candles,” Ilsa said, hurrying over with the book open in her hands. “Does the guild even have those?”

  “We can look.” Lloyd stepped forward. “Right, Jas?”

  Oh, all right, then. “Let’s pretend it’s like a regular mission. Race you to the candles.”

  If one last zombie movie night wasn’t on the cards, I could at least go through my final necromancer mission with my best friend.

  Lloyd and I headed for the guild. While my shielding spell had stopped the place from totally collapsing, the doors hung from their hinges and piles of rubble littered the lobby.
/>   “Careful,” Ilsa said from behind us. “The ground’s unstable.”

  “I know,” Lloyd said. “Where are the candles, in the storeroom?”

  “I’d guess so.” I led the way upstairs, grimacing at every creak beneath my feet. While my magical shields held the guild together, traces of the spirit line filled the air, bright ribbons of colour visible above our heads. My magic responded, bringing shivers to my arms.

  “This isn’t fixable, right?” said Lloyd. “I mean—the spirit line.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe the spirit line will end up being another Ley Line. Then again, it’s my coven’s magic fuelling it, so if the Ancients break out, it’ll all be over anyway.”

  “What?” said Lloyd. “I thought your coven was still alive.”

  “Yeah, but Evelyn screwed it all up,” I said. “I don’t think she’s gone to confront the gods in the forest, but it’s taking all the Hemlocks’ magic to keep them from breaking out. I think that’s why the curse is accelerating for me—and Evelyn, too.”

  “What?” Lloyd stopped walking. “You mean she went to all that trouble to become immortal and ended up stuck under the Hemlock curse anyway?”

  “That’s why we have a shot at binding her.” I led the way into the storeroom, finding the iron candles on a shelf too high for me to reach. “All I can do is stall her until the curse kicks in. If the Devourer breaks out anyway… let’s just hope it doesn’t get that far.”

  “No kidding.” He reached up and passed me a couple of candles. “Guess we’ll have to make the city into a death-trap for her.”

  River and Ilsa came in to help us collect more candles. We cleared out two storerooms, and Ilsa kept asking for more.

  “I’ve never heard of a ritual which involves more than twelve candles,” I said to her when we brought her the latest batch. “How many does the book recommend?”

  “There are a few recorded cases with a hundred and forty-four candles being used to hold powerful spirits,” she said. “Evelyn’s definitely not a necromancer?”

  “Not even a shade,” I said. “She traded it all for immortality. I’ll help with the summoning, but as soon as she’s here, I have to get into the forest and tell the other Hemlocks to act fast.”