Scryer

by West, Sinden

  “Screwing me was your idea, Ivy. I didn’t actively seek you out.” He gave a shrug. “I must admit that it was satisfying having you of all people in my bed. I liked having what the Corins thought belonged to them. Plus, you liked it, Ivy. We had a good time together.”

  “Shut up, Caleb.” Penzance turned her eyes to me. “You’re special, Ivy, compared to the others. You must know that, with the attachment that they have to you…Although, I must say that I was surprised when Lake Corin turned up at my door, and you had no idea who he was. I felt sorry for you then, I really did.”

  “Do you feel sorry for me now?” I asked snarkily as I pulled at my binds again, and my skin stung once more.

  “Don’t,” Caleb said. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

  I gave a hollow laugh. “I think I’ll get hurt anyway when you rip out my heart.” My voice started to break and I clapped my mouth shut as the realization of what they were about to inflict on me sank it. The surprise and shock of the situation had pushed away thoughts of the horror to come.

  “Give her something to calm her down,” Caleb said to Penzance.

  She shook her head. “I’m not doing anything without your father’s say so. You are not in control here, Caleb. You’d better remember that,” she said crisply. Caleb’s back was to me, and I couldn’t see his reaction.

  “Why do you have to rip out my heart?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking even though I didn’t really want to know.

  Caleb turned. “So they can’t resurrect you.”

  “Resurrect me?” I laughed; it was a horrible sound. “They’re not gods.”

  “They seem to think that they are,” Penzance scowled. “They may not have any talent themselves, but they certainly find those who do to serve their purpose. They take witches and enslave them, and your kind just helps them. You never fight; you never struggle. You just stay there and take it.” She shook her head, her face twisting with distress at the thought. “It’s disgusting.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut, mentally willing away this nightmare but when I opened them again, nothing had changed, except Caleb had left the room. Penzance stood with her hands clasped together in front of her as she stood beside her table of knives.

  “Stop looking at me!” I snapped at her. It was easier to harness anger than fear. Anger gave me power; fear stole everything from me.

  “I was good to you,” she told me. “I tried to make your last months happy. I tried to make you have a normal life, but you wouldn’t accept my help. You just wanted to live out your miserable existence through drinking by yourself and screwing any male that came along.” She gave a slight laugh, but there was no humor in it. “I tried to warn you against Caleb. I told you he was bad.”

  “So are you,” I said listlessly.

  She shook her head. “No. I’m doing all of this with a purpose, out of a genuine care for our environment and land from which all we have has come. Caleb, on the other hand, does it because he was told to. His father leads our coven, and Caleb does what he’s told so he can lead someday, but he doesn’t care, he only cares about himself. I, on the other hand, care too much.”

  “What are you waiting for, then?” I shot at her. “Get it over with.”

  She gave a slight laugh. “You don’t know much about witches, do you? I’m waiting for the others to arrive. We need six. Witches always need six to perform incantations. We will return your blood to the earth so that you can finally do some good in the world, Ivy.” She stepped forward and stroked my hair, and it was agony to keep still underneath her touch. “You need to accept your fate, Ivy, as we all accept ours.” Her voice was smooth and calm; it was so unlike the Penzance who was my roommate and never hid her flaws. Although, she obviously wasn’t real. She was a carefully crafted character to make me relax around her. Then her mouth went down at one corner as she took a deep breath. “I can slit your throat first. That way it won’t hurt. I’m not supposed to do it like that, but…”

  I broke out into laughter and saw her eyes widen in surprise at my reaction. “You stupid bitch. I don’t need your mercy or your pity. You have no fucking idea what I am or what I can do. You think that you’ve won? You think that you can destroy me?” Rage overtook all fear then. It burst to my surface in a vicious torrent that I imagined like a smooth wall of water: unstoppable and formidable. “You think that I’m evil and need to be put down like some kind of errant dog? You have no idea how wicked I can be.” My wrists strained against the ropes and that spurred on my ferocious rage even more. The Circle may have bound me with unseen restraints, but there was always an element of freedom there. The torture of the bindings cutting into my skin released something in me along with the pain. The words formed on my tongue almost without me thinking of them, but the pleasure that they gave was exquisite, sending a shiver of brutal delight down my spine.

  “I’m going to watch you burn, bitch.”

  She took a step back, but that wouldn’t help her. At first, there was just a wisp of smoke, before the first flame appeared in her hair, and then every beautiful blonde strand of hair on her head ignited in a fire-ball and the screaming began.

  I should have closed my eyes, but I couldn’t as the flames engulfed her. I couldn’t have stopped the fire then, even if I wanted to. Instead of feeling horror, I felt euphoria. It swept over me with an almost sensuality where every nerve in me tingled with an ignited desire. With shock, I realized that I was turned on by my power; by my own cruelty. I heard her screams, but they sounded so far away as if I had allocated the horrific sound to a small, hidden recess in my brain. Gradually, the awful sound died away.

  She collapsed to the floor and the flames burned her down to nothing as they melted away her skin and gore, reducing her to down to charred bone that still burned.

  Caleb burst through the door. In his hands he held a robe like Penzance had been wearing and he threw it over the fire. The robe didn’t suffocate the flames though. Instead, they just burned through it. I felt the oppression of the interference like it was over me, trapping me, and suddenly, the euphoria died within me, only to be replaced with fatigue. I gave up. The flames went out, and Penzance was dead.

  Caleb stood there, panting for a moment, before slowly turning to me. “You did this,” he said, more to himself than to me.

  “Yes.”

  Could I do it again? No. I felt exhausted. I resigned myself to my fate as he took a knife and walked over to me. I closed my eyes and waited, but I never felt the sharpness of a blade piercing my skin. Instead, with a few tugs, I was cut free. First my arms and then my ankles.

  “What are you doing?” I drew my stiff and aching limbs back to my body, covering myself as I managed to sit up,

  “What do you think I’m doing?” he snapped as he threw the knife back on the table. “I’m letting you go before the others get here to kill you.”

  I swung my legs off the table. “Why are you helping me?”

  I watched as he pulled his t-shirt over his head and threw it at me. “Get dressed. You haven’t got much time.”

  I didn’t need to be told twice. I pulled the t-shirt over my head and pulled it down to cover my nudity. It stopped just above my knees. It would have to do. He pulled out his wallet and bundled cash into my hand.

  “You’ll get in trouble,” I said as I took the cash, folding my hands over it to stop the trembling.

  “Don’t worry about me,” he muttered. “Go away, Ivy. You need to leave, disappear or we’ll keep coming for you.” He unbolted the small door at the far end of the room. It hadn’t been opened for a long time and he had to shove his shoulder against it and force it to open wide. It revealed a small, rickety fire escape. He indicated with his head. “Go.”

  I met his eyes before I ducked through, a thousand questions burning in my mind. But my desire for survival overcame them. Agile in my bare feet, I climbed swiftly down the ladder. It stopped several feet above the ground, and I had to leap down. I landed awkwardly on my ankle and bit my
lip as pain seared through me. Above me, I heard the door slam shut and the bolts slide back into place.

  I had to keep moving. I was in a narrow alleyway with an opening at either end. I just had to hope that I made the right choice in the direction that I took. I limped as fast as I could. I must have made a pathetic figure, clad in just an oversized t-shirt, my legs bare, and smelling like smoke and burning flesh.

  When I made it onto the street, a few stares were directed my way, but no one asked if I was okay. Besides, this wasn’t a great part of town and there were many in worse shape than myself. When I finally found a taxi, I nearly cried with relief.

  “Where to?” the driver asked. I began to give my address then stopped. They knew where I lived; it was no longer safe for me at the apartment. Then I thought of Magdalena. We weren’t friends exactly, but I didn’t think that she would turn me away. But did I want to expose her to this? And if they came after me, would they hurt her?

  “Where to?” the driver asked impatiently. I took a breath and gave him Lake’s address. He let out a low whistle. “Nice part of town.”

  I had only been to Lake’s apartment once while we were together. He preferred my bed or hotels like I was a dirty little secret to be hidden. As the cab came to a stop outside the shiny steel and glass apartment building, I handed the cash to the driver before getting out. The doorman stopped me. In his pressed uniform, he looked down at me.

  “And where are you going?”

  I straightened my posture and looked him straight in the eye. “Tell Lake Corin that Ivy Scryer is here to see him.”

  He gave me a look but did as I asked, within moments of him making the call, I was escorted to the lift and the key was turned for the penthouse suite. As the lift shot up, I let out a breath and leaned against the wall. I felt numb, but like I could lose it at any moment and collapse. All too soon, the doors opened into the entranceway, and I stood up straight and tried to remember how to breathe. When I had come here that one time, I had asked him how he could afford such a place and he answered with a shrug. “Family money.”

  Lake was shirtless, watching me as I limped out with a rare quizzical look on his face. I started to speak before he could say anything.

  “They’re witches. They worship nature or some crap like that. Penzance was one of them.” That was all that I had to say. His questions would need to wait. “I need a shower,” I mumbled, and limped off to the bathroom to wash away everything that had just happened.

  Lake came in later, presumably after he had made several phone calls to address the situation. He watched as I showered, not speaking or asking any questions, for which I was glad. I washed my hair and rewashed it, time and time again until everything ran from me and down the drain, and the awful scent of burning flesh was replaced with fake fragrance. A lump was forming on the back of my head, and there was a cut beneath my hair. I let my hand search over it, wincing at the grotesqueness and what it represented, shivering at the thought of Penzance causing it, and worse, at my revenge.

  Lake held the towel out to me as I stepped out of the shower, and I took it, wrapping it around me.

  “Got any ice?” I asked him, he just nodded and led me to the living room.

  I sat on the leather armchair with my ankle propped up while he prepared an ice pack. My ankle was puffed up, and I hissed with relief as he gently held the ice against it. I didn’t bother with my head. I thought of it as penance.

  “It was Penzance, my roommate. I thought she was my friend. And Caleb, the guy I was sleeping with.” I shook my head. “I feel so stupid.”

  There was no smirking in his reaction. “I had them both checked out and nothing unusual came out about either of them. We also had you watched. Our men never knew that you had even left the apartment…”

  “Do you know who they are? Penzance wore a white robe. Does that mean anything?”

  Lake rubbed my foot softly with his hand, absentmindedly or not, I didn’t know. “I believe so, but…they’re supposed to be peaceful, weak. They were never taken seriously as a threat. How did you get away?”

  “Caleb let me go.” I gave a bitter laugh. “And before that…”

  “Yes?”

  “Before that…I killed Penzance.” He didn’t need to know how. That would be my little secret.

  He didn’t raise an eyebrow or show surprise, he just gave a nod and took my hand. “You’re a fighter, Ivy. There’s nothing that you can’t do.”

  Suddenly, the need to divulge came over me. “Can I tell you something? When I killed her, I felt…wonderful. I felt powerful. I felt…”

  Horny

  The shame of the memory of that feeling hit me. What the hell was wrong with me? But even describing it, again I felt that desire.

  “Have sex with me,” I said quickly.

  He looked at me with his dark eyes, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

  “Now,” I said.

  Again, there was nothing to tell me how he was feeling or what he was thinking, but then he moved suddenly, gripping my chin and kissing me hard. I let my arms go around him, pulling him down to me. My towel dropped, falling to either side of me as he knelt between my legs.

  He broke the kiss and asked, “How do I make love to you without hurting your ankle?”

  I shook my head and pulled him in close again. “It doesn’t matter. Everything hurts. Everything.” And with that I let my nails curve into his flesh until he hissed with pain and I smiled smugly. “Come on. I want you now.”

  That was all that he needed. His fingers dug into my ass painfully as he lifted me up and entered me roughly. I was wet and ready for him. I closed my eyes and moved with him as he fucked me. I tried to just concentrate on him being in me, but flashes of the past kept returning and searing through my brain. I remembered the rage, the power, the euphoria. I wrapped my legs around him, jarring my ankle, but I didn’t care. I arched my back as I felt that same intense desire that I had experienced as I brought about Penzance’s horrific demise.

  Me.

  I had that power.

  I bit Lake’s shoulder as I built up to cumming. I felt animal-like and dangerous, imagining blood on my lips as I wreaked vengeance…

  I screamed out as I came at the same time as him, except he called out my name in a deep grunt whereas I was thinking only of myself. He recovered quickly to give me a brief kiss on the lips before he brought his hand to my mouth and jammed his fingers into me so I could not speak as the curse roared up inside me, ready to tell him anything that would benefit him. There was an urge in me to rip away that hand that blocked my speech, but then I remembered that he was my enemy and stayed still and silent until my curse died down.

  Slowly, when he realized that the time had passed, he removed his hand from me.

  “I think that I’m becoming one of you.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I think I’ve turned into you. I think I’ve turned bad and power hungry. I murdered my enemy and I liked it. I was triumphant and all I felt like doing was fucking to satiate myself. Is that how you and your kind feel when you take what doesn’t truly belong to you? Do you feel that perverted need to just take from everyone around you?”

  He pushed me away from him violently so I fell back, but I rose up onto my knees without missing a beat. Tilting my head, I arched an eyebrow and gave a coy smile. “What? Too close to home?”

  His fists clenched at his sides, and he breathed heavily as if fighting something. I waited, wanting to see what it was.

  But there was an interruption. We heard the chime of the lift arriving on the penthouse entrance before heavy footsteps sounded. Michael came into view, and Lake turned to face him, still fully naked.

  “You don’t call first?” he sneered at his uncle before grabbing a throw that had been draped over a chair and wrapping it around his waist.

  “What a lovely scene,” Michael said as he took in our nude figures. I lazily took the towel and covered myself. “
Are you all right, Ivy?”

  I grinned at him bitchily. “I’m always fine, Michael. Always.”

  His lips flicked up briefly. “Good, Ivy. I love how nothing can break your spirit.”

  I pulled the towel tighter around me now. “So, I take it that you’ve dealt with the witches.”

  “It’s being taken care of.” He walked over to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a scotch.

  “Really? I would have thought that they would all have been tied to stakes by now and burned alive.”

  “You’re a bloodthirsty little thing, you know that, Ivy?” he commented as he leaned his head back and downed the scotch all in one go.

  “I don’t need you to tell me what I am.”

  “Have you tracked down her lover?” Lake asked as he poured himself a drink.

  “Caleb let me go. He’s no threat.”

  Michael’s smile was indulgent and condescending. “We’ll make the decisions from now on, Ivy.”

  “Really? You didn’t even know who they were. I don’t have a lot of confidence in you. You seem to think that you’re better than you really are.”

  Michael raised an eyebrow. “We always thought that they were non-violent, however they have a new leader and it appears that his influence has become detrimental. He will be taken care of.”

  I opened my mouth to reply, but Lake cut me off. “Go to bed, Ivy. You’ve had an ordeal. You should rest and let us take care of everything.”

  I glared at him, disgusted at being treated like a child, but for now, I wouldn’t fight. Fatigue overcame me, and gripping my towel around me, I made my way down the hallway to find a spare bedroom. I knew where Lake’s bedroom was. I had been in there before, spread over his luxurious bed while dizzy with lust and love. The spare bedroom was sparse except for a bed, but that was all that I needed. I found a silk slip in the closet and dressed in it, not thinking too much about to whom it belonged to and what dirty things she had done in it with Lake. I climbed in between the sheets and drew the covers over me. I didn’t feel safe though; I felt fear. Not fear of the Corins or even the white witches or whatever the hell they were, but I felt fear for myself and what I was capable of.