Sleeping with Monsters

by Amelia Hutchins

  The moment everything was set up, chanting began and, one by one, we stepped forward, holding the rock in one palm as we slid a blade through the palm of our hand, leaving a shallow cut in it before we used the other hand to place the stone into the blood.

  I watched from the back of the group as each witch moved up with the stone held in their closed palm. The first few passed and went back to the coven that stood off to the side, watching in sadness as one by one, their children and bloodline moved closer to their fate. Within an hour, we had fourteen dark witches, and most of the others remained the same, untouched by the taint that could either destroy them, or save us.

  It wasn’t until Kat stepped up to reveal her stone that my stomach sank as my grandmother’s face twisted in sadness. I swallowed a cry of denial as she twisted her neck to look back at me, a look of sheer panic in her beautiful gaze.

  Next, Dexter moved up, mere feet away from me, he too was chosen. His shoulders didn’t shrink as Kat’s had. Instead, he moved to her in the pentagram and hugged her tightly. The next few were a mixture of white and dark, and then I stepped up to my grandmother. Her vision sparkled with unshed tears as I held out my hand, palm up. The look of relief that washed over her sent a pang of guilt rushing through me.

  She exhaled and motioned for the group who waited to see if any of the chosen failed to the darkness. I stared at Kat and Dexter, who embraced each other, and my stomach churned with unease. Falcon looked excited, and I wondered if he hadn’t already known his fate. His cronies remained close to his side.

  Every one of the men who had remained close at his side had been chosen. An unsettling feeling filled the air, but as I watched Falcon, I noted he anticipated something. My heart slowed as I watched him, noting the thin black pupils that seemed to pulse, as if they wanted to grow.

  My mind flashed back to the first few days in Portland, to the clubs that I’d been wild inside of. It was as if memories were slowly coming back, and then something I’d hidden came rushing back. I knew his look; I knew it because I’d felt it before.

  I stepped backwards slowly, turning to move to the back of the group. I withdrew the knife from my pocket, slowly cutting open the tip of each finger as I expelled the tiny shard of crystal I’d sewn into them to hold it at bay. I whispered the spell to heal my skin but nothing happened. We were warded against magic, I realized as I stared down at the symbols scribbled on the concrete. I stared at the blood oozing from my fingertips and frowned. I slipped the knife into its sheath and moved back to the front of the group as I pushed my hands into my pockets, concealing the blood.

  Kat and Dexter stood with two other witches as the larger group stood on the other side. There were witches from the coven all around them outside the barrier, placing the final pieces to ignite the spell that would force the darkness which had chosen them to come out. My stomach swirled with unease as Falcon smirked at me, and then his eyes blurred, turning black as he tilted his head.

  He was already dark. I closed my eyes, remembering the way his skin felt oily, as if he was tainted. I started forward but I was too late. The magical cage ignited, sending a buzzing noise through the air around us.

  “He’s already dark,” I uttered as I looked through the crowd for my mother. I pushed through the coven members, struggling to find her. Once I did, I grabbed her arm and watched as Kendra smirked beside her. “They came to us dark,” I announced, horrified that my friends were inside that magical cage with them. They’d slaughter the others before they ever had a chance to fully embrace their own darkness.

  “What are you talking about, Lena?” she demanded. I looked past her to Kendra and watched as her face contorted.

  “Lena, save me!” echoed through my head so loudly that it almost took me to my knees. “You have to save me!”

  Something changed in her eyes; they turned darker as her face moved, looking to those who started shouting from the cage. I swallowed and shook my head.

  “Kendra?”

  “Lena, save me.” She sounded weak, almost faint this time she spoke. As if she’d used everything she had to get the first words out. I blinked repeatedly as I covered my ears as the endless chatter erupted inside my head.

  “Magdalena!” my mother shouted, grabbing my hands as a scream ripped from the cage. I turned, hating the noise level that rose around me. Sabrina was in front of Kat and Dexter, and she was on the ground, writhing in pain. I looked at Falcon, who was moving his fingers as he stared at her. He was casting…dark magic.

  “They were already dark. They didn’t turn dark,” I mouthed in horror as I pulled away from her.

  I stepped forward as blood exploded from Sabrina’s nose and mouth. She screamed as Falcon grinned coldly; those behind him joined him as he started to laugh as Sabrina’s body jerked, and she screamed louder with pain tearing her apart, literally.

  “Stop them!” I screamed and watched as my grandmother turned, staring at me as her complexion turned pale. Her eyes were large, rounded in the horror of watching what was unfolding. “Stop them!” They had to stop this. Kat and Dexter were inside with Falcon, the same monster who had helped Kendra blow the dust into my face.

  “No one can get into them, it’s sealed, Lena,” my mother murmured.

  I moved forward as the Fae closed in, expecting the dark witches to escape the cage if my grandmother opened it. I knew she wouldn’t. She would be potentially placing the coven in mortal danger if they escaped. Kat and Dexter would die once they’d finished murdering Sabrina. They’d come here to kill us, all of us. They hadn’t wanted protection, they’d wanted to take the power the white witches held, the same as the demons we feared. One would use our bodies; the other could steal our power. Both were evil.

  Dark witches could siphon white magic as their own, adding it to their power. That’s why everyone feared Benjamin, but where he’d helped us, these fuckers had strolled right in—and we’d allowed it. I brought the knife from my pocket when everyone else screamed in fear as Sabrina began bending in weird positions as they broke every bone in her body from the inside.

  I slit my tongue open, spitting out the last crystal my body held to keep the darkness I’d conquered at bay. I moved with purpose, watching as everyone stepped away from me. Power erupted from me, sending a wave of it crashing through the crowd as lightning exploded, hitting trees just mere feet away from where Falcon stood. His gaze searched the crowd until they landed on me. He smiled coldly, unafraid of me. He should be afraid. I’d fought the darkness and already won. I’d suppressed it until now, keeping it locked inside and hidden with crystals made directly from the original leylines.

  Someone moved to stop me and I disappeared from where I’d stood, popping up in front of Kat and Dexter. Their cage held darkness in, not out. I spun around, staring at my friends as they came up from where they’d been huddling together on the ground, awaiting death.

  “Lena, you’re…dark,” Kat whimpered as she stared at me, confused.

  “I am not dark, not entirely,” I uttered, spinning back around as I felt power rushing towards me. I lifted my hand, easily preventing his magic from touching me or my friends. “Stay behind me,” I ordered as I let the darkness inside of me unravel. I’d been terrified of it, of the vile things it had whispered to me. I’d wanted to murder everyone and anything when it had first shown up right after Joshua’s funeral. I’d left without a word after that, unable to control it and terrified of what would happen if I couldn’t.

  The other witches started adding to Falcon’s power as he stepped back into their protection. I reacted, moving forward without a thought other than the fact that Kat and Dexter’s lives were within my ability to protect them. Coven law stated that we protected our own, no matter the cost. The problem was that I liked the darkness. It offered freedom; the magic it released was raw, powerful, and there was no limit to what you could do.

  But it came with a pric
e. One I hadn’t wanted to pay. Until now.

  The first witch stepped into my path, intending to take me down, and I smiled as the blackness inside of me erupted without warning. I reached for his arms, grabbing both as he threw the first punches, which would also be his last. Falcon’s magic continued to assault me but it didn’t touch me. I’d built a wall between him and us. It was a strong magical barrier that refused to allow him to touch my friends with his tainted magic.

  My hands captured the man’s arms and I ripped them from their sockets. He wailed and I smiled coldly, using the magic inside of me to finish him. Blood exploded as his body was ripped apart. He dropped and the next one moved to take his place. I kicked him in the nuts, using an uppercut to catch him off guard before I dropped, swinging my leg out to send his out from beneath him. I didn’t murder him; I wouldn’t allow the magic to do as it wished. I pulled it back and shoved it into the dark recess of my mind as I stood up and stared at Falcon.

  My hair floated with the power pulsing through me. I had an endless supply of magic at my fingertips.

  “If it isn’t a fucking Fitzgerald,” Falcon laughed coldly. “Wasn’t expecting that,” he sneered as his men got closer to him, as if they could save him. I’d been burying my magic for so long that it had built up a dangerous supply. It was why I hadn’t been able to release the leyline. I’d hidden it so deep that I’d blocked myself from knowing it was there; unless someone I loved had their life on the line, it would have remained locked inside, hidden from even me. I’d erased my own memories of it, leaving only a few crumbs to lead me back, should I ever need to use it. Not even Lucian’s blood magic had found it. Kat and Dexter being placed in danger had made the crystals in my fingertips burn, my trigger to unlock the memories.

  They moved as a group, and I smirked as I shouted a spell to make them all float in the air, helpless, unable to cast. They screamed as their bodies became paralyzed in midair. I walked below their floating bodies until I was toe to toe with Falcon.

  “You are not welcome here,” I growled. “Leave now and I will release those who came with you, but you are not to return here. Your kind is unwelcomed.”

  “You think you can do a spell and beat me? You’re nothing,” he laughed coldly as he moved to strike me. I grabbed through his chest without a thought, withdrawing his still-beating heart as I held it up to my eyes, which I knew were black from the sudden release of raw, dark power I’d called upon. Blood dripped from my wrist and arm and I stared at his useless heart, covered in thick black lines. He’d been dark longer than I had. I dropped it as he fell to the ground. My head tilted and I swung my head to where I felt a heavy stare boring into my head.

  Lucian stared at me and I felt nothing; cold and lifeless as he had made me feel when he’d proceeded to remove his things from the room without a word. He’d used magic to make me sleep through it, but like this, I could remember everything. His midnight gaze flinched as he took in my profile. I knew what I looked like: evil incarnate. Blackness swallowed the irises and whites of my eyes, thick veins of dark magic pulsed beneath my skin, and my hair floated like the men I stood beneath. Gone was his little wilted flower who needed to be loved, and in her place was a coldness that didn’t want his warmth.

  “Put it away, Lena, he’s gone.”

  I stared at him, unwavering as I decided the fates of those who literally hung in the balance. I could hear my mother crying as Alden comforted her with empty words. Synthia inched closer to me, ready to follow through with the promise I’d made her vow to keep. Kat and Dexter begged me to bury it wherever I’d hidden it before, and I ignored them all as I stared into eyes the color of the flames that burned in Hell as he ordered me to come back.

  “Kill him,” a voice whispered, and I smiled as I considered it.

  “It cannot win if you are stronger,” a softer voice whispered, and I blinked. “Do as he says, he’s trying to help you.”

  “She doesn’t need him. He’ll kill them all if she doesn’t stop him. We all know that lesson too well. He is death; he will take her soul and curse it, as he has done with all of ours.”

  “She is in love with him.”

  “And that worked out so well for us, didn’t it?”

  They were arguing again inside my head. I shoved them all away, the voices, the magic, the power that flowed through me. Grunts sounded as bodies hit the ground and I craned my neck as I watched them get up with horrified looks as they got as far away from me as possible. I slowly moved to see what had become of Falcon and blanched as his severed heart lay beside his head, directly in front of his open eyes. The other body lay in pieces, two to be exact, still where I’d ripped it apart. I knew why those who had welcomed the darkness kept it; it numbed the pain of what you had done in its sickening embrace.

  “Magdalena,” my grandmother fretted. I turned sapphire blue eyes on her and watched as she exhaled deeply, releasing the fear she’d held. I dismissed her as I moved away from Lucian and Synthia, towards Kat and Dexter and the others from my coven who had awaited certain death at the hands of the dark witches we’d allowed to get close to them.

  Their darkness called to mine and I smiled, holding my arms out as they rushed into them. They were my people. I’d given up my secret to save them, and I wouldn’t change it. I was born bad, with a sickness that not many could contain, but it didn’t change that I was good, too. Had I known who my father was, I could have handled it before it had driven me from town.

  I was born into darkness, but so, too, was Benjamin. Unlike him, the moment it had surfaced, I’d been old enough to hide it from others, even the High Priestess. I’d stayed away from them until I knew I wasn’t a risk or danger to my coven, but I’d needed my powers awakened. I laughed as I considered what it entailed. I’d awakened to my powers on Lucian’s cock, because I hadn’t needed to be blessed by anyone; darkness doesn’t need the light. The light needed the darkness so it could see the stars and the beauty that the night held secret.

  “Magdalena, not a word,” my grandmother urged as I released Kat and Dexter to be freed from the circle.

  “I know the rules,” I said. I spun on my heel, facing the witches that Falcon had brought with him, the dark witches of my own coven at my back. “You can stay and fight the demons with me, or you can run and I will hunt you down and kill you. That choice is yours, only you can make it. Your leader is dead, and he was of weak bloodlines, but I am not. I am Magdalena Fitzgerald, dark witch of the Haven Crest coven, and my coven is ours to protect. Vow you will not harm them and I will allow you to live.”

  “Falcon promised us power, we’re not from strong bloodlines,” one announced.

  “You don’t need to be from strong bloodlines if you are dark witches. You just have to be smart enough to survive. Power comes with time, but the white witches of this coven will keep theirs. No harm is to become of them; vow it, or die.”

  “You will kill us anyways,” another shouted. The others agreed.

  “It is possible, but I will make you a promise that I won’t do it today. If you decide to leave, you will leave this town and never come back. If you stay, you will promise to protect the coven and in exchange, you will have food and shelter, and you won’t have to face or worry about demons as you sleep. Decide.”

  I waited, not knowing if they would choose to follow me, or if the coven would even allow it. However, we’d only gained a handful of witches who could protect the coven and we needed them all.

  “You won’t kill us if we remain with you?” one of the younger boys asked. He couldn’t have been any older than sixteen. He trembled and I frowned.

  “I do not relish the kills, but if the need arises to protect my coven, I will not hesitate. Our laws state that we protect our own, and if that need arises,” I moved my eyes to hold my grandmother’s, “then we will do whatever it takes to protect them, no matter the cost to ourselves.”

  T
hey huddled together and we waited; once they’d decided, I exhaled and nodded. I hadn’t wanted to release the magic again. Each time I used it, it became harder and harder to push it away. It was why I’d placed the shards into my skin and tongue, blocking every point on my body that could release magic. Then I’d erased my own memories, which was probably why, when Lucian had erased it again, it had taken so long for them to come back.

  I turned and faced my grandmother, bending down until I was on my knees, the others following my lead. I lifted my gaze to hold hers.

  “I am yours, you are mine. I give this vow through the blood of mine. You are mine to protect, and I am yours to control. The coven shall accept us, one and all, for this darkness inside should not fight the light. In your darkest hour of need, we will arise, to fight with you by our side. I am given to you in this time of need, do you accept me as yours, to use as you need?” I waited, praying she would accept us.

  “I accept, granddaughter mine. Rise darkness, and come to the light, for we have need of you at this time.”

  I rose and frowned.

  “What?” she asked softly.

  “That was corny as shit,” I laughed nervously.

  She laughed and the crowd released its breath, joining in. We’d survived the darkness, and as I searched the crowd for my mother, I paused. Tears streamed down her cheeks as Kendra glowered beside her. Her gaze remained locked on Falcon’s remains. I swallowed down the suspicions for tonight and almost jumped out of my skin as my grandmother touched my arm.

  “You were not supposed to intervene,” she announced. “I am glad you disobeyed this time, but it could have turned out differently for you, granddaughter.”

  “I vowed to protect the coven at all costs when I agreed to allow the ancestors to awaken my powers. We all did; I made a choice. It’s one I will have to live with.”

  “You didn’t make a choice here; you revealed that dark witches can be saved. You used crystals to keep it hidden, to contain it. You have done the unthinkable, but you have also given the coven hope on this day, in our darkest hour.”