by Ava Benton
“You have?” I stared. “You never said.”
“It never came up,” he pointed out. “Yes, I’ve seen him. I’ve been face-to-face with him, and I can tell you, he’s beyond humanity. There’s nothing left of anything resembling kindness or empathy. I want you to be prepared for what you might find.”
“You have me picturing sacrifice rooms lined with bones,” said with a nervous laugh.
“You might not be too far off.”
I gulped, suddenly nauseated.
“We have to hurry, then,” I said, ready to turn and get out of the car and run straight to the crumbling hotel.
But Elias held me firmly in place. “That’s what he’ll expect, for us to be in such a panic that we won’t think before rushing to her rescue. He takes pride in his intelligence as well as his heartlessness. He’ll stop at nothing to have what he wants.”
“I understand that.” Why were we wasting time?
“If he remembers me and sees there’s anything between the two of us, he’ll use you against me. I’m sure of that.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because he’s done it before.” His expression hardened, and all the tenderness in his eyes turned to bitterness.
“To you?”
He nodded slowly. “Do you remember your mother talking about the witch I lost?”
“Yes—they burned her at the stake.”
“That wasn’t who Cressida was referring to.” His eyes shifted up, over my shoulder. Staring into the past. “He didn’t kill her outright. Charlotte. He wasn’t able to get close enough to her—I made sure of that—and he knew he was outmatched between my skills and Charlotte’s abilities to defend herself. But he managed one last spell before he disappeared.” His voice was flat, but I could still hear the pain in it. Pain he had carried for so long.
“What did he do?”
“He made her sick. We didn’t know it at first. It took weeks to develop, and there was nothing to be done about it. Trust me, the coven tried everything. Even conventional human medicine.”
“What did she have?”
“Consumption—or, rather, tuberculosis. It ravaged her. I never left her side over the course of it and by the end, she died in my arms. Coughing up blood. Choking on it. To this day, I can’t get over the twisted nature of it. Making her choke on her blood when he knew I needed that blood to keep our connection, to stay alive. I had to rely on animal blood to feed on because her blood was tainted. But that did nothing for our connection. I felt everything she felt. He probably knew that, too. He’s pure evil.”
“You loved her,” I whispered.
“I did. Then. And I let her die.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“You might be surprised, but there are many others who don’t share that opinion. I let him get close enough to her to hurt her. Had I been smarter—had I known exactly who I was dealing with—things would’ve turned out differently. I only thought he was vicious, an animal. I didn’t know at the time that he was deliberately cruel, too.”
“I’m sorry for all of that.” I didn’t know what else to say, but I felt like I had to say something or else seem uncaring.
“You see why I’m worried, then. Because if he senses a connection, he’ll want to use it. So if I’m in trouble, you need to promise you won’t try to help me.”
“That’s impossible. I can’t promise that.”
“You have to, or you won’t come in with me.”
“You can’t stop me.”
“I have ways of subduing you and keeping you restrained.”
I winked. “Don’t get me excited just before we’re about to do something so important.”
His eyes narrowed as he frowned. “Mariya, this is serious.”
I grew serious. “You have another thing coming if you think I’ll let you go in alone. I can throw a spell at you faster than you can do anything to subdue me. As for acting like there’s nothing between us… I can do my best, if the alternative is you leaving me locked in the trunk.”
He sighed. “It doesn’t look like I have much of a choice, either.”
“You’re extremely perceptive. And I love you.”
His eyes widened. He was just as surprised as I was.
I didn’t mean for it to come out like that—once it did, everything spilled out. Maybe I was afraid of never getting a second chance. “I’ve been in love with you since the minute Vanessa woke you in your cell. I stood outside and watched the ritual, and I hated her guts. I honestly hated my sister because you would be her Nightwarden. And she would never appreciate you, because she never appreciated anything. And now, I might lose you because we have to get her out of there. And I don’t know how I feel about that.” Tears filled my eyes, and my chin quivered. “I’m a terrible person, aren’t I? Because I feel like this.”
His face fell as he touched my cheek, my hair. “No. You’re not terrible. But just think, we never would’ve found each other, either. And there would always be an obstacle in our way. I could only be around you as long as Vanessa was High Sorceress. That wouldn’t last forever.”
I smiled. “Not true. Remember, she’s never leaving the position.”
He winced. “I forgot. Lucky me.”
I laughed softly, leaning my head against his palm. “She’s a challenge. But I love her.”
“I know.” He looked out through the windshield, toward the hotel. “Which is why we need to get her out of there.”
I did everything I could to hide the way my heart was breaking.
We were slipping away, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
“Let’s go, then,” I agreed in a choked whisper.
“There’s just one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
He leaned in until we were almost nose-to-nose and took my face in his hands, burying his fingers in my hair. “I love you.”
15
Elias
“You’re sure the spell is working?” I asked as we walked hand-in-hand down the cracked, crumbling sidewalk.
The entire lot surrounding the hotel was in shambles, overgrown and forgotten. Broken glass sparkled like glitter under the sun. I scanned the scene, eyes sweeping back and forth over everything for signs of movement.
“I’m sure of it. Just don’t let go of my hand, or you’ll seem to appear out of thin air to others.” Her voice was tight from the effort of keeping us invisible as we approached. “Do you feel her? Is she in there?”
“I haven’t felt her since she disappeared,” I admitted, looking at the boarded windows and wondering which one she was behind. There were so many. “There must be an enchantment, something he cast over the property so I wouldn’t be able to sense her.”
“That makes sense. I can feel the energy. Can’t you?”
I could. Like a cloud surrounding the grounds. Layer after layer of protection against the rest of the world.
“It’s there,” I agreed. “Will we be able to get through?”
“We will.” She didn’t elaborate.
I didn’t want to risk breaking her concentration, so I left it up to her. I needed to concentrate on what we would find once we were inside, anyway.
How many did he have with him? What were they capable of? I didn’t doubt Mariya could handle herself, no matter how many of them came our way, and I would gladly rip apart anybody who decided to test their luck with me. It had been a long time since I had the pleasure of killing somebody who really deserved it—the two in the warehouse had only served to whet my appetite.
We made it down the pathway to the wide double doors, sidestepping the weeds that grew through the cracked cement as tall as young trees.
She squeezed my hand. “If I’m going to get us inside, I have to stop focusing on invisibility and start working infiltration.”
So, we became visible.
Mariya dropped my hand and lifted both of hers.
The fog around the hotel felt a little thinner,
like a veil was lifting or wind was blowing things out of the way. The energy lessened, felt less intense than it did while we were walking up the sidewalk.
“Okay. Let’s go in.” She looked at me, and the thing that stood out most was the complete lack of fear in her eyes. They were like steel. Completely determined.
I had never loved anyone or anything in my long life as I loved her at that moment.
We stepped into one of the more depressing, chilling scenes I had ever witnessed.
The lobby floor was covered in dead animals—raccoons, squirrels, birds, rats. The occasional dog or cat. They had wandered in through the open doors and found their end, but not through natural causes.
A dog with its head turned backward hadn’t died naturally. A cat with no eyes, its jaw broken and hanging open. Some of them looked like they had killed each other—covered in blood and deep gashes, sometimes with their throats torn out.
I wondered if somebody inside the hotel found it funny to force animals into fights to the death. It wasn’t even surprising. Rage built within me.
Mariya let out a sound of mixed dismay and disgust when she took in everything. She had never seen what he was capable of. She didn’t know—it was one thing to be told, but another to see it for herself. Only that was the tip of the iceberg.
“Focus on what we’re doing here,” I muttered, even though my stomach turned when I almost stepped on a dog’s carcass.
Even without the wall-to-wall animals, the lobby would’ve been a depressing sight.
It used to be beautiful. I could see that much for myself. The marble was pitted and cracked, but it had probably shone at one time. The wide, sweeping staircase that could’ve easily fit twelve men standing abreast was full of more animals and corners stuffed with rat shit, its banisters rotting and broken. The place reeked of piss and death. I told myself to follow the advice I had just given Mariya and concentrate on finding Vanessa.
“Can you feel her?” she whispered.
“No,” and it unsettled me terribly. “But he probably still has a spell on her. Something to block me from picking up on her.”
“Right.” She looked at me. “What about blocking her from picking up on you?”
I winced. Yes, Kristoff had to know we were there.
“Where should we look first?” she murmured.
I pointed. There was a pathway through the animal bodies. It led through the lobby and down the hall to a closed pair of doors.
“It’s as good a place to start as any,” I whispered. “It’s a high-traffic spot, at least.”
“All right. You’re ready for this?” she asked.
“As ready as I can be.” The dagger seemed to burn on my hip, and my hunting knives and other thin-bladed daggers hung from the inside pockets of my coat. They were as ready as I was. My fangs ached to emerge.
We reached the doors, and each took one handle.
“One… two… three.”
We pushed in unison and entered what turned out to be a ballroom. Or what used to be a ballroom. It had turned into something much like the lobby, but without the dead animals. That was a step up, at least. It didn’t quite burn the inside of my nose.
Yes, a ballroom. That would appeal to Kristoff’s sense of drama. The room looked empty, however, and out of use. Marble columns dotted it, stretching up to ceilings so high I couldn’t make them out of the shadows. We walked side-by-side into the center.
“Ah. Our guests have finally arrived.”
I touched Mariya’s arm to keep her silent as my eyes followed the sound of the cold, nasty voice.
It carried throughout the ballroom, as did his slow, measured claps. “We’ve been waiting for you,” the voice announced. “I was afraid you wouldn’t make it in time for the show to start.”
“Don’t move,” I whispered, barely moving my lips.
He was somewhere near the front of the room, maybe somewhere on the dark bandstand. It hadn’t seen a band in a long time—but that wasn’t the entertainment Kristoff had in mind.
And he wasn’t alone.
It wasn’t just Vanessa I scanned the ballroom for. There had to be others like the ones I’d already killed, warlocks who had glommed onto Kristoff because they were too weak or stupid to make it on their own.
Where were they?
He would sic them on us first to tire me out—and to give me a false sense of triumph when I killed them. Then, he would attack.
I thought I saw movement in the shadows to my left.
“Nine o’clock,” I muttered.
Mariya didn’t make a sound—instead, she threw her left arm straight out, and a ball of flame shot from it, hitting the wall.
It didn’t burn, but it did cast enough light to reveal three warlocks crouched in what used to be inky darkness. They had no choice but to rush us once we knew they were there.
“Incapacitate!” I bellowed as I ran to them, out of the path of the spell Mariya was about to cast.
A bright, blue light surrounded the men and froze them in place. They were too slow, to begin with.
I reached inside my trench and pulled out two hunting knives, throwing them into the chests of two of the three and dropping them to the floor.
I spun in a circle, holding my dagger at shoulder-height, slicing into the throat of the third warlock in one smooth movement before looking to the opposite side of the room, where several others charged at her.
“Behind you!” I threw another knife which caught the chest of one of them and dropped him on the spot, but there were three more coming.
Mariya spun in place and hit them with another ball of flame, but this one consumed all three and left them writhing and screaming as their flesh melted like wax.
We stood back-to-back, turning in a full circle, at the ready.
The screaming faded into the background of my thoughts.
Where was Kristoff? Where was Vanessa?
Vanessa was the crown jewel, and he would want to keep her for last, as something to taunt us with.
The light from the fire showed off more of the room—the mile-high ceiling, the rusted old chandeliers draped in cobwebs and thick with decades of dust. The windows high up on the walls must have been beautiful once, like the draperies hanging from them, but the windows were broken, and the draperies were faded and shredded and probably full of bats and insects. The perfect place for Kristoff to do his deeds. A hotel full of death.
“Come out and show yourself!” I roared. “What are you afraid of?”
Silence.
Then, “Certainly not you.”
Where was he?
I swiveled back and forth, eyes scanning, but I couldn’t see him.
“Maybe you should be,” I called out. “We just took out seven of your boot lickers, and we’re not even breathing heavy. That’s not counting the two I slaughtered last night.”
A beat passed.
“Two? Last night?”
“Jeremiah was one of them. The other one didn’t get the chance to give me his name.”
“A shame. They were… enthusiastic to get on with the ritual,” Kristoff said.
He was clearly on the dark stage somewhere.
“Where is she?” I called out.
Nobody else came at us from the shadows. Was that it? Did he not have a larger army than that?
“Vanessa? My honored guest? She’s right here.”
A spotlight—clearly controlled by magic—shone down on the stage and illuminated a large, wooden X with a woman shackled at her wrists and feet.
She raised her head and looked out at us.
Mariya’s breath caught.
“Focus,” I growled, even as I couldn’t help but notice how torn and dirty her knee-length, silk nightgown was. What had they done to her?
“Relax.” It was as if Kristoff read my mind. “I’ve made sure she stays clean, meaning none of my men were allowed to touch her. These last two days have cleansed her. Pain has a cleansing effect.”
�
��What does that mean?” Mariya asked.
I wished she hadn’t said a word.
“Who’s this?” Kristoff stepped out, and some of the light fell on him.
He hadn’t aged a day—his dark magic worked well. His hair was still supernaturally white, slicked back away from his smooth, high forehead. His eyes reminded me of obsidian—even from far away, they burned into me. Then, into Mariya.
He strode across the stage like he owned it. “Oh. You look just like your sister. You must be Mariya. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I can’t imagine why,” she said.
I sensed the tension coming from her—she was wound tight, ready to spring.
“You’re the less-talented sister of the Chosen One,” he sneered. “I suppose that isn’t easy for you to hear.”
She shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
His brows knitted together when he frowned. He enjoyed playing mind games, finding weaknesses and exploiting them.
I could’ve told him Mariya wouldn’t be that easy.
“I’m glad you two could make it,” he said, bouncing back. “It’s always better to have an audience for something like this.” His heels clicked against the wood planks as he walked back to where Vanessa waited.
“You’ll be able to perform your ritual without your friends here to help you?” I asked, arms spread. “You seem lonely now.”
“I don’t need anyone but myself. I never have.” He touched one of Vanessa’s long curls.
I remembered how she had curled her hair for the coven meeting, and how frustrated I was with her stalling.
Now it was lank and dirty.
She flinched away from him.
He snickered.
“You need no one but yourself, yet you’ve been repeating this ridiculous ritual again and again for decades. What? Afraid you won’t be able to cast a spell without stealing another witch’s powers?” I took a step forward, placing myself in front of Mariya.
It was a mistake.
There I was, thinking she would give us away, when my instincts were what did it.
Kristoff’s unsettlingly unlined face broke into a smile. “Ahh. I see. Why bring her if you didn’t want me to kill her?”
