by Alex Lux
She shrugged in typical teenage fashion. "Didn't think you guys would care. You never cared about anything I said or did. And Mother told me not to talk about it, that it was a secret between us. I thought she was training me to take over the coven someday, that she finally trusted me to do something meaningful with my life, instead of always shoving me into the shadows of the two of you."
Guilt ate at me as I considered how hard all of this had to be for my little sister. She didn't have Derek, or a best friend like Ocean. She and I hadn't been close in a long time. She was all alone without Mother and the coven, and yet here she was, ready to walk away from everything to do the right thing. I walked around the table and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Jas. You've been through hell, and I've been no help. I can't tell you how glad I am that you're here, that we're together. We'll get through this, I promise. You're not alone."
She pulled away first and sat back down, running her hand over the book. "I always figured that when you used your power, you fried the person's brain. But if you're a Cambion—"
"I send them to the demon dimension."
She nodded. "Right. And who's in the demon dimension?"
She sounded like a teacher.
Ocean flicked her hand in annoyance. "Other demons?"
Jasmine flipped through the pages and stopped at a picture of different glyphs. "Exactly. If you want real answers, you need to contact them." She pointed to the page. "With this ritual."
SEVEN
The Seeds of Time
DEREK
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow, and which will not,
Speak.
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth
MY PHONE BEEPED, pulling me from my dreams. I reached for Rose but her side of the bed had gone cold. A text from Tammy told me they were coming home—with company.
"Rose?" I checked the bathroom, but it was empty. Pulling on pants, I kept my phone with me and left the room to find her.
The library lights were on, but no one was there. I heard voices from the kitchen and went to investigate.
Rose, Ocean and Jasmine all sat with cups of tea at the corner nook.
"Ladies, couldn't sleep?" I stood by Rose, needing to feel her, to be close to her. I hated waking up without her, fear steeling my breath at the thought of all the things that could tear her from my life right now.
She stood and wound her arms around my waist, kissing me. "We were doing some research and got thirsty. You okay?"
I hugged her tighter. "I am now. Tammy texted. They'll be here soon. You should get dressed. I'll get my parents."
Ten minutes later, everyone was clothed, if sleepy, and waiting in the foyer for Tammy to arrive.
She walked through the front door, dark circles under her eyes, as Rob and Spencer, our cousins, dragged in an unconscious man.
Rose ran forward, and my heart nearly stopped.
She leaned down to look at the man. "Blake." Then she stared up at Tammy. "Is he okay?"
"What does it matter? He's working with her." Tammy's eyes blazed with hate.
I'd never seen my sister so full of rage. "What happened tonight?" I asked.
Tammy turned her eyes to me. "She got away with the roses, but we caught him. Shifting hurt us pretty bad, but the fight didn't last long. We're getting weaker, Derek. We may not be able to shift again."
Rose's eyes filled with tears, though at Tammy's admission or the bruised and beaten body of Blake, I couldn't tell and wasn't sure I wanted to know.
I'd told her it didn't matter what she'd done after I left her and broke her heart, but the truth was much harder to swallow. I knew she hadn't slept with anyone else, but there was a lot of room between nothing happening and full on fucking and it made me physically ill to contemplate where in that grey area she'd fallen, and with whom. Seeing how she looked at Blake, I had a better idea of the “whom.”
If he wasn't already dying from the beating he'd taken tonight, I might have to kill him myself for touching Rose.
After Rob and Spencer carried Blake to a spare room upstairs, I turned to Rose, her eyes still full of tears.
Before I could say anything, she threw herself into my arms. "Are your powers really fading that fast?"
Maybe she had been crying for us and not the demon. I couldn't be mad at her, not as tears for my pain soaked through my shirt. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head and held her close. "I'm okay, Rose. Don't worry about me."
"How can I not worry? As your family loses power, Mother is closer than ever to gaining it. We need to talk to Blake and find out what he knows."
I wished I could have kept her out of that room and away from him, but she'd never agree to sitting out on this, and I knew when to pick my battles.
Rob and Spencer guarded the front door, but when we entered, Blake, bruised and unconscious, hardly looked a threat to anyone.
Rose approached the bed first, sitting on the chair next to him.
Squeezing my hands into fists, I counted to ten and resisted the urge to send him back to the demon dimension with blunt force trauma to the head.
Rose glanced up at me, as if sensing my pent up rage. Her lips curved down in a frown, but she turned back to him. "Blake? Can you hear me? It's Rose."
His bruised eyes peeled open like purple grapes. "Rose. I'm sorry. So sorry."
She reached for his hand, and I growled under my breath, feeling my wolf rise to the surface for the first time since the roses were taken. I didn't resist the shifting, didn't fight the wolf as he took over. My eyes changed first, then my hands as claws extended from my nails. They retreated as fast as they'd come. My eyesight shifted back to normal, and my body shook with fatigue. I leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths to regain my composure. I couldn't shift. My magic was dying inside of me, and soon I would die with it.
We all would.
"What are you sorry for?" Rose asked the demon.
Rose didn't notice my near shifting, not with all of her attention devoted to Blake. I balled my fists and glared at him.
"I tried to stop her. Tried to change things." Blake flinched in pain, but the swelling in his eyes had already subsided and the coloring looked like a bruise a week old, not freshly made. "Is Jasmine safe?"
Jasmine walked forward to stand next to Rose. "I'm here, Blake."
He smiled. "The Wintersong girls. You two are the only humans I've ever cared about."
He reached into his pocket and I jumped forward, grabbing his wrist. "Don't try to pull anything, asshole."
He opened his hand to reveal a silver sphere that pulsed with some kind of magic. "Take this. It's not mine, and I'll need to get it back to the person it belongs to, but it will help increase your power. Maybe it'll help the Druids hold on a little longer to defeat Rainbow."
Rose grabbed the sphere from him, and I plucked it from her hand. Her eyes widened, but then she nodded in understanding. If it increased someone's power, Rose shouldn't get anywhere near it, not when she was trying to subdue her particular gift.
Blake fell into unconsciousness, and we left him to meet in the living room as a family to discuss our options.
Rose sat beside me on the loveseat. My parents each took a chair and Jasmine, Ocean and Tammy took the couch.
Tammy's cheeks had more color and she sat taller, straighter, less zombie-like. I wondered if the sphere was the cause. While we didn't like the idea of messing with powers we didn't understand, we'd seen how powerful the witches became when they attacked us. Tammy had put the sphere in Dean's hands, hoping it would ward off the death that haunted him.
My dad started the discussion. "There will be no torture or beatings of our guest. He has not posed a direct threat to us and unless he does, we won't harm him. Is that clear?"
Tammy seemed ready to spit fire, and I didn't blame her. I spoke up before she could. "He's a demon and he's working for our enemy. He has information that could help us. We should do wha
tever it takes to get that information from him."
Rose tensed beside me. "I'm a demon, too," she said in a quiet voice. Everyone turned to look at her. "I'm a demon, but that doesn't make me bad. He hasn't always made the best choices, but he did spare our lives before, and he gave us a tool that could help all of you. Besides, there's another option for getting answers—answers he doesn't likely even have."
Dad nodded for her to continue.
She sucked in a breath and let it out. "I can contact the demon realm and try to find my father."
I stood, muscles tensed as if for battle. "No way in hell am I letting you mess with demon powers."
Rose got up and faced me. "Let me? I didn't realize that you own me, or that I need your permission to do something."
Were we actually fighting about this? "Rose, this isn't an option. It's dangerous, deadly even." I made eye contact with each member of my family. "Back me up, guys."
Tammy shrugged. "We need answers, Derek, or we're all going to die, and you know it. If she can find out something that could help, if she can bring Dean back, then we need to at least consider it."
Had everyone lost their minds? "Mom? Dad?"
Mom sighed. "I know this is hard for you, son. But she's an adult and can make her own decisions. And Tammy's right, we are running out of options and time."
Rose brought my hand to her heart. "I love you, Derek. I can't lose you, or anyone here. I'll be as safe as possible. Blake can help me; he knows more about the demon dimension than anyone. We can also call Father Patrick as back up. I'm sure he'd be happy to help. I won't go into it blindly, but, as your family has said, we can't write this off when we have no other options available. You have to trust me."
I caressed her face, so smooth under my hands. "It's not about trust, my love. I'm scared. If anything ever happened to you… " I couldn't finish the thought for fear of making it a reality by speaking it out loud.
Tears filled her eyes. "It's late. We should all get some sleep and talk about it more tomorrow." She glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. "Er, later today."
It wasn't thoughts of sleep that occupied my mind as Rose undressed for bed in front of me.
When she moved to pull a shirt on over her naked body, I grabbed her wrists. "How tired are you?"
Her lips curled into a naughty grin. "Not that tired."
An electric current ran through her hand, and a line of pain shot through my head like lightning.
She yanked her wrist out of my hand, looking panicked. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. "Just a small headache. It's already gone."
Stepping away from me, she clutched her nightshirt to her chest. "Maybe I should sleep in a different room tonight. My power doesn't feel quite stable right now."
"No." I wrapped my arms around her and refused to let her go. "You're not sleeping away from me. We can manage this like we always do. How adventurous are you feeling?"
She relaxed in my embrace, eyes wide with fear and desire. "What did you have in mind?"
I grinned. "I bought toys."
Reluctantly releasing her, I dragged a bag from under the bed and dumped the contents on the chair.
With tentative strokes, she ran her fingers over the metal hand and ankle cuffs. Her breath hitched when she saw the leather whip and feathers.
I turned her to face me. "We don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with. But I know you need more pain to stay in control, and I want it to always be fun for you. I can make this fun for you, for both of us, if you're interested."
My cock could have shattered glass, it was so hard. Seeing Rose naked, tied up, blindfolded with legs spread just for me nearly had me coming right there on the spot. I wanted to fuck her so badly, but I needed to feed her power first, before I could touch her too much.
I slid a hand down her body, groaning as her nipples hardened. I pinched one hard, then used the leather whip against her thigh. She cried out through the gag, straining against her cuffs. We had a hand signal she was to use if it got too much, and I watched carefully for her to make it, but she didn't. She wanted more. Needed more.
I might have shifted from so much pent up energy pulsing through me, if I had enough magic to shift.
Using a feather, I caressed the red line on her pale skin, making her shiver with the contact. Using my teeth, I bit and sucked at her nipples while dipping my fingers into her wet pussy. As I rubbed her clit, I applied more pressure with my teeth to keep it in balance. Just as she came, I unlocked her cuffs and freed her from the blindfold and gag. I wanted her to wrap her legs around me as I fucked her. Wanted her nails against my skin as I pounded my cock into her.
She felt so tight. So wet and warm and perfect. I claimed her mouth with mine, exploring her with my tongue as I buried myself inside of her. Her vaginal muscles clenched, quivering around me as we both came again.
I kissed her nose. "I love you, Rose. Forever."
Her cheeks were red and eyes glassed over with pleasure. "I love you, too, Derek."
One more thrust and I collapsed on her, holding myself up on my elbows just enough to not crush her.
I kissed a trail down her collarbone, my cock still hard inside of her. I could stay like this forever. I never believed I could find a love that would change my life, a love that would inspire me to become the best version of myself, but I'd found that in Rose. For her I would move the world. For her I would risk it all.
Dizziness clouded my vision, her beautiful eyes blurring.
Her heart pounded against my chest, more frantic then before.
Pain raced through me, clutching my core and not letting go.
Rose screamed my name, her face contorted in fear, but she sounded so far away, as if speaking from within a bubble.
I couldn't think, didn't understand what was happening.
Something.
Dark.
Evil.
Hungry.
And then I knew, but it was too late. I couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't fight. My wolf, my protector, was nearly dead inside of me, no longer able to block the bulk of her power.
I didn't realize I'd depended on my magic so much when we made love.
Didn't know that I'd be at greater risk as my magic drained from me.
She pushed me off her and ran away.
I smelled blood, but couldn't get to her.
Her screams tried to penetrate my haze, but only partially succeeded. My soul, my heart, reached out to her, but darkness pulled it back, sucking it into hell.
My eyes closed, but I wasn't asleep. I saw my body lying on the bed, still, lifeless.
Saw Rose bleeding on the floor, her tears mingling with her blood.
My heart tore apart. I needed to help her, to heal her, to tell her it was okay, but I couldn't.
The dark band of power around me yanked through time and space and shoved me into the dark.
Screams howled around me, but not hers. Not Rose's.
Sulfur and acid clogged my throat.
Pain, unending and unendurable, threatened to undo me.
And then I saw Dean, trapped in the same kind of prison, writhing in his own pain, and I knew what had happened.
EIGHT
The Grief that Does Not Speak
ROSE
Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break.
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth
Dear Diary,
I'm dead inside. That's the only way I know how to describe this hollow emptiness burrowing through my soul. I've damned the love of my life to eternal torment and suffering.
I don't deserve to live.
SUNSHINE PEEKED THROUGH the curtains in the guest room as I sat in the bed staring at the wall. A dim awareness of pain throbbing in my thigh did little to break through the haze of utter grief that had consumed me.
Someone had carried me out of our bedroom.
Someone else had dre
ssed my wound and washed the blood from my body.
Another someone had tried to get me to eat or drink something, but I didn't allow that. Couldn't. I would vomit if forced to consume anything right now. Bile already threatened to fill my mouth each time I swallowed.
I'd spared just enough energy to put on clothes that covered every inch of my body. I'd had to go back into our room to get my gloves. A large pool of blood stained the thick carpet, but at least Derek wasn't in our bed staring at nothing with vacant eyes. They'd moved him, probably in with Dean.
Just thinking Derek's name, my heart crashed against my chest, trying to get out, to escape the pain and gnawing sorrow clinging to me.
I didn't know how long it had been, and I didn't care. I had nothing left to live for. Nothing more to give to a world that had stripped me of everything.
If I had a switch to turn off my emotions, I would have flipped it. I couldn't bear this pain anymore, but I deserved every second of it.
If I'd followed my instincts and slept somewhere else, Derek would still be here with me.
A knock at the door didn't motivate me to move.
"Rose. It's Ocean. I'm coming in."
She tried the knob, but I'd locked it. No one would be coming in. I wouldn't risk anyone else I loved being too close to me.
"Rose, you can't lock me out forever. Honey, let me in. Let's talk about this."
There was nothing to talk about.
She sighed dramatically on the other side of the door, then the clicking of heels told me she'd given up.
More staring at walls.
More sinking into the darkness that grew in me, swallowing up everything light in my life.
Another knock at the door. "Rose? It's Tammy. We need to talk."
I expected her to leave too, once she discovered the locked door, but she'd come prepared. A key slipped into the doorknob, and Tammy walked in. Her face had sunk into itself, casting harsh shadows over the hard lines of bones. Her skin had paled into a sickly sallow color, and her eyes looked washed out.
