by R. L. Weeks
“Welcome to headquarters,” Alec said when we reached the west wing of the house. “This is where we gather, where many of us live, and of course, where we practice magic.”
The room we were in had a black, shiny grand piano in the far left corner. The room was around sixteen thousand square feet. It was divided into sections by Moroccan-style room dividers. Poker tables were at the far side of the room, near the piano and black leather sofas. Divided in another section was a huge altar with assorted, old-looking objects on it. A huge, metal pendulum hung from the main wall, and pictures of demons and angels covered the far-right wall. Alec took me to the right side of the room. I walked around the dividers and saw red sofas, chairs, and a fireplace. It was cozy… but something you’d imagine from a vampire’s house. Wine glasses were on the table, half filled. A woman, presumably human from the way she avoided eye contact, collected the glasses and wiped the table.
His eyes followed her out of the room. “Human,” he said, confirming my theory. “Indebted to us.”
“Indebted?” I questioned, biding time until Nicholas somehow, hopefully, tracked us.
“Yes.” He gestured toward the seat on the sofa across from where he sat, and I took my seat. “Humans come to us,” he explained, “wanting favors. An ex-lover cursed, wanting to see a lost one again for an hour, needing us to clean up their messes. The price—their soul.”
I gasped. “That’s awful.”
He shrugged. “They knew the price before they agreed. Humans can be so fickle, so willing to lose their soul over something so fleeting.”
His obvious hatred for humans made me nervous. He really would have killed Vanessa and her parents if she had crossed him. I hesitated with my questions. “They work here for you then?”
He nodded. “Some of them. Some of them go straight down there.” He whistled and pointed at the floor.
“Hell?” I gasped.
He scoffed. “Eventually, but no. In our basement.”
Whoa, now I was truly horrified. “What for? Sex slaves?”
He looked disgusted at the thought of copulating with a human. “No.” He spat. “Food for the wendigos.”
I shuddered. They kept people alive as snacks. My stomach churned. I wanted out. I couldn’t believe I had ever thought about joining the Black Rose Coven.
Alec clicked his fingers in the air, and almost instantly, another woman ran over and handed him a glass of scotch. He looked at me. “Want one?”
I shook my head, too afraid to talk.
He downed the glass and asked for another. “Now, to why you’re here,” he said. “You know by now the prophecy about you and Nicholas Nightshade.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know that you have one year to choose a coven or you both die.”
My heart skipped a beat, making me dizzy. “No. What? But that can’t be—”
“It is,” he said, interrupting me and seemingly annoyed. “I don’t have time for your childish love fantasies.”
“You’re making a compelling case in making me join your coven.” My voice was thick with sarcasm. “I’d rather die than hurt Nicholas.”
“You were born to be our queen,” he said angrily. “Born to lead us out of the shadows so we wouldn’t have to hide anymore. To save our coven. Does duty mean nothing to you?”
“No,” I admitted. Hearing that took my fear of Alec and the coven away. He needed me. They all did. They weren’t going to hurt me. “What’s to stop me from walking out this door right now?”
“We could hurt you.”
I gave him a look. “We both know you need me. You just let that slip.”
He gripped the arms of the chair. “Just because we can’t kill you doesn’t mean we won’t hurt you. You have, what? Nicholas and you against all of us. Even the Black Lily won’t help you. They’re afraid of you.”
I sucked in a deep breath. “Perhaps you should be too.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “No. You are nothing how I imagined. Regardless, you need to make your devotion to our coven. Make the final choice. You have a long list of loved ones we can kill, and trust me, I would take the greatest pleasure.”
My gaze darkened. I felt the black magic bubble to the surface. “If you lay a finger on any of them, I’ll—”
He laughed. “You’ll what? You forget.” His gaze glinted red, darkening like mine. “I have the same powers as you.”
“If that were true, then why do you need me so bad, huh? Why was I prophesized?”
He didn’t say anything. I had him. There was something he wasn’t telling me and didn’t want me finding out, and you bet I was going to.
Before I could say another word, he placed his empty glass on the table and stood. “Choose or you’ll both die. Your year is already ticking along. I’d estimate you have eight months until you die along with Nicholas. If you decide to join us, then we will take you over Nicholas. If you do not, we will invite Nicholas.”
I scoffed. “He’d never agree.”
“You’ll have no choice. Witches and warlocks cannot remain in two covens.”
Everything suddenly made sense. “My magic, it conflicts with each other.” I thought back to the nights tossing and turning. The tug of war between my powers on my soul.
“Yes, and soon it will destroy you from the inside out. It may have started with you killing the schoolgirl, but it will end with whole cities destroyed. You’re both too powerful.”
I pondered back to when Nicholas and I were in the throes of passion and the bedroom was shaking, mirrors breaking, lamps falling. Our powers were stronger together, almost uncontrollable. “What if we both joined one coven?”
“You can’t,” he explained. “Your prophecy will not allow it.”
“But Joshua said—”
Alec spat on the marble floor. “Joshua is weak. He leads the Black Lily Coven with ignorance and weakness. He knows he cannot get around the prophecy no matter what he tries.”
I cast my gaze to the floor. Nicholas and I would die unless we chose a coven, and he would obviously pick the Black Lily Coven. A question lingered in my mind. “Why all the lying? Why was I told I had time to choose? That I could go and spend time with the other coven? That there was a loophole? That we could both join this coven and live?”
“Trickery,” he said indifferently. “Tricking you into joining is not in my nature. I believe in straight-up honesty. Your uncle believed you would come around and join us, then they could turn Nicholas away.”
“Why should I believe you?”
He shrugged. “You don’t have a choice. Wait and find out if I’m lying if you like. I’m trying to save you from premature death.”
I was so angry, fed up of false promises that Nicholas and I could be together and escape the foretelling of one killing the other, enraged that I had to make an impossible choice. Magic stirred inside me, powerful and strong like a tornado on my core. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Waves of rage left my body like a hurricane. The building shook and began to crumble. Alec tried to grab me, but I pushed him away with a second wave that hit harder than the first. A simple but strong bloodlust accompanied the magic that forced its way through the house. Screams rang in my ears as the ground beneath me cracked. I wanted to bring death to them all. I could not kill Nicholas. I would not. With each thought of protecting him, my powers got stronger until I was getting hit by falling pieces of stone. A chandelier crashed onto the ground, shattering everywhere.
People ran, but it was no use. A fierce heat accompanied my magic, burning their eyes out of their skulls. Alec had vanished, probably hiding away. I tried to stop the magic—I’d done enough—but it wouldn’t stop leaving my body. I couldn’t reign it back in. Panicked, I ran, but it followed me. I made it to the front door in one piece and screamed when I saw the witches and warlocks dead on the ground. Blood was everywhere. The waves wouldn’t stop. They kept coming until the ground outside shook. What had I done?
I felt a hand on mine, and it calmed the beast inside me. Nicholas’s worried stare was the last thing I saw as all faded to black.
***
My dreams were more vivid than ever. I was again standing at the edge of the cliff. On my wrist, the Black Lily Coven’s mark burned. Nicholas’s was no longer there. He had chosen to join the Black Rose Coven.
Tears brimmed in my eyes as he cocked his head. He was no longer my Nicholas, instead warped by the darkness. His soul had been marked, and there was no coming back. Our bond was weaker than ever as he stepped closer to me. I knew what came next. I would drown. My mom’s face swarmed in my head as I almost toppled over the edge. She’d die too, losing me. Vanessa would cry every night. Maria and Grayson and all the other people at school would do a memorial for me, just like Amara’s.
“Please, don’t!” I shouted as he moved to push me.
Alec materialized behind him. “You still have a choice. You can save yourself,” he told me before I fell off the side of the cliff.
I woke covered in sweat and dust. I sat up, breathing heavily. Nicholas was by my side. He was covered in blood. What the hell had I done? Was the dream real? Would Nicholas really choose to join and kill me? I closed my eyes again and tried to push the nauseating assumptions from my brain.
“What happened?” he asked frantically.
We were still by the house, except it wasn’t standing anymore. It was a pile of rubble. Sticking out of it were some arms. The wendigos’ cages were open, without the creatures inside of it any longer. It was too much for me. I’d killed everyone in there, including the humans in the basement, and any who did survive were probably eaten by the wendigos. I was a murderer. Perhaps it was better if I died.
“Breathe, Kate. Tell me what happened.”
I burst into tears. “What have I done? My magic, it was just coming out of me in waves. I couldn’t control it.”
“Start from the beginning.”
“The guy, Alec, he threatened Vanessa and her parents. I had to go with him, then he took me upstairs. They had wendigos in cages and humans trapped in the basement. He told me we had to choose a coven separate from each other to fulfill the prophecy, and if not we will die in about eight months’ time, and I just freaked out. The powerful magic inside of us, both light and dark, will kill us, destroy us from the inside.” I couldn’t breathe. “The longer I don’t choose a coven, the more this magic will hurt people. We don’t have a choice.” I cried. “We have to choose, or other people will die.”
Alec stepped out in front of Nicholas and me. Where had he come from? “You can reverse all of this, Kate.”
Nicholas stood to punch him, but Alec pushed me aside.
“Don’t bother,” he told Nicholas. He extended his hand toward mine. “Come with me, and we can reverse everything you’ve done. Bring all of them back. Just join us, and we can make it all go away.”
Tears patterned my cheeks. “How do I know you’re not lying? How can I trust you?”
“Do you have a choice?”
I looked around at the carnage. Nicholas got to his feet and growled at Alec. “She’s not going anywhere with you!”
I took Alec’s hand regretfully. I didn’t trust him, but it seemed like the only way I could bring back the dead and fix my mistakes. “I’ll join your coven. Just bring them back. Make it all go away.”
Chapter Fourteen
Once you taste the darkness of humanity, you will want nothing more than to rule it.
“Leave. Please!” I shouted as Nicholas tried to pull me away from Alec.
He grabbed my arm tightly and pulled me away from the house. “You’re insane!” he growled. “You are not theirs.”
“I have to go through with this! Don’t you see?” I broke down. “How can I live with myself after all the death?”
He held onto me with unmoving force. “No. You’re not going with him.”
“Don’t make me do this,” I begged.
His gaze darkened. “Don’t make me.”
I pushed him away, and it took every ounce of my being to do so. He grabbed my wrist, twisted me around, and slipped his other hand around my waist. My hair blew in the wind that roared around us. The ground shook, and we rose upward in the air. I panicked when I realized there was nothing beneath my feet. I clung to Nicholas as we rose higher. He looked just as shocked as I felt.
We were in the eye of the storm—because we were the storm. I held Nicholas’s arms and gazed at him wildly. After a moment, we landed back on solid ground. I had never felt more grateful to feel the earth under my feet.
Alec watched us with astonishment. I had never seen Nicholas’s powers come out as strong as mine, but then I realized his weakness—me. That made what I had to do so much harder. I had to go with Alec. I needed to make sure we didn’t die. I wouldn’t fulfill the prophecy and hurt him. What harm could it do to join one coven? Especially if it meant I could undo all the harm I had done? It was the only thing keeping me going. Having blood on my hands was the worst feeling in the world. I belonged in jail. I was a cold-blooded murderer. There was an evil nestled inside of me, a beast that wanted to cause destruction and nothing more. I walked toward Alec, my tears drying in the leftover gusts of wind, and cast a barrier with my mind so Nicholas couldn’t follow us.
Alec escorted me to the building. “Are you ready to become one of us? You understand what this means?”
I nodded. “I must give in to the coven’s desires and demands. The coven I must put first,” I said, remembering what I had read in the book Joshua had brought. I just hoped I was making the right decision. I was ready for the power inside of me to be calmed. It was too overwhelming. I was a ticking time bomb ready to explode, killing thousands in collateral damage. I had to control the beast before it became me.
I followed Alec’s lead and sliced my finger open willingly. I reached behind me and pushed my finger against the Black Rose tattoo on my lower back. I felt it sizzle, burn, then settle. When I looked at my wrist, the Black Lily tattoo had vanished.
“Welcome to the coven,” Alec said.
In my heart, I felt a new pull—one to protect my coven. A built-in sense of family that was never there before. I understood their loyalty to one another more now.
Alec smiled at me, the first genuine smile I had seen from the man. “You can undo all the damage now.”
“How?” I asked, but I didn’t need his answer. I felt the power inside of me. It was acute, not untamable. The tug of war had been won, and the darkness had never felt so good. I spun around, taking a moment to bask in the warmth of the magic that soared within. I knew what I needed to do. I called upon the dark forces to bring back what had been lost to me. Only I could do that, but I had to marry the darkness first, become the queen of the black magic.
A ring of fire alighted around us. Smoke pillared into the sky, and as the sun set, the dead rose. The energy seeped out of me, trickling into the ground, tiring my soul. Alec watched me with amazement. His eyes flamed red as the entire coven crossed back from the other side and into the land of the living. I watched them crack and climb out from under the rubble, covered in dust, looking upon Alec and me. The stones from the house levitated in the air and locked back together. It was as if I were watching a reverse time lapse. I was astonished at my own magic. Once I had finished, I sank to my knees, unable to bear the weight of myself any longer.
Alec rose his hands in the air and flames died down. “Your new queen, Kathryn Bathory.”
One by one, they sank to their knees and bowed their heads. I looked at them like they were insane. I had just killed them, but apparently, me bringing them back showed them something I couldn’t understand.
Alex extended his hand to me with a nod. “Come join your new family.”
Hesitantly, I took his hand and walked to my coven. I felt a connection with each of them. I wasn’t sure if it was because I had brought them back from the dead or because I had somehow become their queen, but either wa
y, it didn’t matter. I let the darkness inside of me lick out to every part of me, consuming my being into a pool of ecstasy.
***
I was dressed in all black, but fashionably so. I wore a lace dress that hugged my figure. It stopped at my knees, where my suede boots began. My nails, bright pink and royal blue, popped against my outfit. I puckered my lips with my crimson lipstick and painted my eyelashes with mascara. My eyes danced between light and dark blue. They didn’t look scary, more enchanting. I strutted into the rebuilt house and looked around at those I had brought back from the dead. I couldn’t bring Amara back as it was too long ago, I presumed, as she was the only person I had killed who hadn’t risen from the dead. It was sad, but my soul wasn’t crippled anymore from the pain of grief. It was a relief not to feel.
Jerimiah watched me from the corner of the room. Even as a warlock, he was unpopular. He sipped his drink through a straw and looked at his feet. Surrounding me, people were enjoying themselves, uncaring of the damage I had previously done. Nicholas was… well, I had no clue where he had gone, but he wasn’t at the house. I did pine for what we’d had, but I missed the sex more than anything. Relieved from the annoying emotions of humanity, I was free. I caught Jerimiah’s gaze when he looked up. He was the only person who didn’t look happy. He hated that he had been cast aside as soon as I joined, used as a pawn to bring me to them. Alec had told me everything. I didn’t care about him, only that he did his duty to us, so I went to talk to him.
I stepped out in front of him and shot him a prizewinning smile. “Jerimiah, are you not enjoying the party?”
His eyes glinted dangerously. “What do you want?”
“Am I not your leader now?”
He twisted his mouth in disgust. “Not yet, you’re not.”
“Soon,” I sang. “Therefore, it would bode well for you to have some respect.”
“Respect.” He spat. “You waltz in here, having not proven your loyalty to us or the dark lord once, and get promoted and praised whereas I am the reason you’re here, and I get nothing.”
