by Sarra Cannon
She also reached into her pocket and pulled out a set of keys with an emerald scarab beetle charm dangling from it.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“There’s a Cadillac parked behind the house. The keys were inside,” she said with a laugh. “I guess no one around here is worried about theft these days.”
“It’s a different world for sure,” I said with a nervous laugh.
I was so used to modern conveniences that I had no idea what to expect once I stepped outside the house.
Just before I left, Brooke handed me a small piece of paper with a set of numbers scribbled on it.
“This is the phone number for this house,” she said. “Call and give me an update if you can, okay?”
“I’ll try,” I said.
“Harper, please be careful,” she said, taking my hand.
“I will,” I said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She nodded and held the back door open for me as I stepped out into the cool, April air with a small overnight bag packed with essentials and a change of clothes. The only other thing I brought with me was the emerald master stone, strapped against my thigh, just in case.
I had considered shifting into my demon form to fly to Chicago. It would certainly be much faster, but it would also take a toll on my power. Plus, I didn’t need to leave a clear, traceable trail of where I was going.
And magic always left a trail.
So, it was a road-trip for me. With no cell phone or power steering.
Luckily, the Cadillac did have an automatic transmission. I’d never learned to drive a stick shift, and I really didn’t want to start learning now.
I left the house and drove around until I caught sight of a five-and-dime on the corner. I parked on the street and ran inside.
“Do you have a roadmap of the United States?” I asked.
He studied me for a moment. “I have a travelog,” he said, pulling a thick booklet from behind the counter. He was an older man with a receding hairline and thick, black glasses. “Where are you headed?”
“Chicago.” I placed a five-dollar-bill on the counter.
“Vacation?” he asked, taking his time with the change.
“Something like that,” I said with a smile.
He leaned across the counter. “Not all alone, I hope,” he said. “A nice young woman shouldn’t be on the road by herself.”
I stared at him for a moment until I remembered where I was.
“Oh, of course not,” I said. “My father asked me to pick up the map before we left.”
He smiled at that, obviously relieved that a young woman wasn’t heading out onto the dangerous streets all by herself.
I barely turned around before I rolled my eyes. I definitely couldn't get stuck here in this time and place.
I would never survive it.
The Power Inside My Blood
Harper
With the help of a local newspaper, I discovered I was trapped in some small town in Ohio. Luckily, that was much closer to Chicago than most places I could have ended up.
The drive over there, though, took a lot longer than I expected. There weren’t even any interstates or major highways yet, so I had to take backroads and kept having to pull over to figure out exactly which way to go.
I wasn’t exactly proficient at reading maps like this, either. I was so used to just putting an address into my phone and following the instructions called out to me as I drove.
I had to go a lot slower, too, because the last thing I wanted was to get pulled over and asked to present some kind of identification. Sure, magic could help me through anything, but I didn’t want to use any if I didn’t have to. The less there was to trace where I was headed, the better.
It was dark by the time I pulled through the city limits.
I had been to Chicago before, but the city was nearly unrecognizable. I sat in traffic for a while just staring at the old cars and the way people dressed. Almost every woman who passed by on the sidewalk was wearing a dress that fell well below her knees. Men were dressed in slacks and hats with long wool coats.
I was glad I had chosen a simple green dress for myself. I needed to blend in to the Chicago nightlife as much as possible.
When I saw an opportunity to pull over and park on the side of the road, I took it. I had stopped just about half an hour ago to buy a more detailed map of the city, and I spread it out now across the front of the car, searching for the street closest to Venom’s alleyway entrance.
Several men and couples passing by gave me suspicious looks, and a few times, I thought someone was going to knock on my window to see if I needed help, but I did my best to ignore them. I was on a tight timeline here, and I didn’t have time to worry about people who were concerned about a woman alone in her car on a dark side street.
I located the street on the map and memorized the turns it would take for me to get there. It wasn’t too far away, so instead of taking the car, which someone might be looking for at some point, I got out and started walking.
It was freezing cold here, and the wind whipped my hair back and forth across my face. I pulled my coat tighter around my body, but wished I had something thicker covering my legs. By the time I reached the alley where Venom’s entrance was located, it was well past ten in the evening, and I was shivering from head to toe.
I had been to Chicago with Jackson a couple times before this whole mess started with the emerald priestess. We’d met up with Rend and Franki soon after Rend had repaired the entrance here, and we’d gone on a few double dates in the city.
Still, everything looked so different now. The restaurants weren’t the same. Some of the buildings had changed. I kept losing my bearings.
I had to double-check the street signs, but when I was sure I’d found the right alley, I started slowly walking down, hoping to feel the familiar magical pull of Venom’s entrance.
It was completely hidden to people who were not magic-users, but everyone who had some type of magic running through their veins felt the call of the place the moment they got close enough. It was how Rend kept it hidden from normal humans.
But the further I walked down the alley, the more I started to panic. I wasn’t feeling the pull of the entrance the way I normally did. What if I was too early? What if Rend didn’t open this entrance to the club for another several years?
How would I find him?
The entrance to his house in the Hall of Doorways was only accessible from Venom, as far as I knew, which was how he designed his door to work in order to use the Hall without interference from the Order of Shadows.
I still didn’t understand how he had managed that particular type of magic, but there was still a lot about Rend I didn’t know.
All I knew right now was that I needed to find him. No matter what.
I kept walking down the dark alley, searching for any sign of the familiar doorway to Venom that would usually reveal itself once you got closer, but it never appeared.
Sure that I’d gone too far, I started walking back toward the street. It seemed to be getting colder by the minute, and even though the two tall buildings on either side of the alley kept me shielded from a lot of the wind, I was still freezing my butt off.
If I didn’t find him tonight, maybe I could find a hotel close by and try again in the morning. When the sun was out.
Tired and scared, I stopped where I thought the door should be and ran my hand along the rough brick.
“Please,” I whispered, leaning my head against the wall. “Rend, where are you?”
Behind me, a growl echoed through the darkness. I turned just in time to see a dark figure materialize out of shadow and run straight for me.
I tried to run or shift, but the man moved so fast, I didn’t have a chance. He grabbed my shoulders and spun me around, pinning my back against the rough wall.
His mouth opened wide, fangs extended toward my neck. His dark, red eyes made him nearly unrecognizable.
&nbs
p; “Rend, don’t,” I shouted, pushing against his chest. He was too strong for me to move him even an inch. “Rend, you can’t do this. You know me. Stop, please.”
He tilted his head slightly, his teeth grazing my skin. The heat of his breath nearly burned me. His hands on my shoulders were feverish, burning through the light coat I wore.
Even though I had met several vampires in my day through Rend and the club, they were mostly very controlled around me. Other than the one night we had helped Rend save Franki, I had never come this close to actually being drained by a blood-thirsty vampire.
Seeing him like this was terrifying.
I didn’t want to use my magic on him, because I didn’t want to hurt him, but I would do it if I had to.
“Rend, I need you to listen to me,” I said as calmly as I could, trying to steady the furious beating of my heart. He seemed to respond to the sound of his name, so I kept repeating it, hoping to get through to him somehow. “Rend, my name is Harper, and I’ve been looking for you. I have something very important I need your help with.”
He growled again and ran his fangs across the skin of my neck, but he didn’t draw blood. At least not yet.
I resisted the temptation to reach for my power. I knew that would only send him deeper into his blood-thirst, and if I pushed him over the edge, I would have no choice but to fight him.
It was the power inside my blood, running through my veins, that had him in this state to begin with.
But the fact that he had stopped gave me hope. He pulled back and seemed to study me with his red eyes. Still, his grip on my shoulders never loosened.
I could sense that he was just one moment away from sinking those teeth into my skin. If he got even a taste of my blood, it would all be over for me.
“Rend,” I said again, this time more forcefully. “Let me go. I know you’re in there, and I know you can hear me. This isn’t who you are. Let me go.”
He pulled back slightly, his eyes seeming to clear for a moment.
Behind him, footsteps sounded against the pavement. Someone was running toward us. I could only pray it wasn’t another vampire. I took a deep breath and prepared to connect to my magic.
“What are you doing?” a woman’s voice asked. She stood behind him, and in the darkness, I couldn’t see her face, but her voice sounded familiar. “Rend, put her down. Now.”
He shook his head and leaned toward me, breathing in the scent of me. Someone grabbed his arm, and he pushed her away. He seemed to barely use any energy, but the motion sent the woman flying across the alley.
She hit the brick wall opposite us and grunted.
“Dammit, Rend, I swear to God, I’m going to kill you if you do that again,” she said.
He leaned toward me, inhaling deeply and tightening the grip on my shoulders. He couldn’t control himself.
What should I do? I didn’t want to start a fight with him. The outcome was too uncertain. If I used my magic, he’d be even more agitated and hungry.
But without magic, I was nothing.
“Rend, please stop,” I said again. “I need to talk to you. You’re my only hope right now.”
His eyes flashed red again, and I could almost feel the hunger rolling off him. I was sure this was it, but when he released me and turned sharply toward the woman behind him, I realized what had caught his attention.
Azure—the head bartender from Venom—stood several feet away with a small dagger pressed to her wrist. Small drops of blood fell to the pavement at her feet.
I had never been happier to see a familiar face, but what the hell was she doing? Trying to get herself killed?
Rend shifted to pure smoke and in an instant, was wrapped around her entire body. When he took human form again, he had her wrist near his mouth.
With faster reflexes than any normal human witch, Azure kicked Rend in the gut and slammed her dagger into his chest, pressing hard until it was buried in his skin.
I gasped, hardly able to believe my eyes. Was she trying to kill him?
“Don’t,” I shouted.
But Rend’s eyes had cleared, and he stepped back against the brick wall, grasping the hilt of the dagger and wrenching it from his chest. He shook his head and dropped the weapon to the ground.
“Dammit, Azure, was that really necessary?” he asked. “That hurt like hell.”
He swayed in place for a moment, confusion in his eyes.
“What did you put on this thing? Poison?”
His eyelids drooped slightly, and he fell to his knees. Just before he passed out, his eyes connected with mine.
“Who are you?” he asked, as if really seeing me for the first time.
He fell face-first onto the pavement, his head hitting the cement with a hard thunk.
Azure stepped over him and picked her dagger off the ground. She wiped it across the leg of her jeans.
“A good question, even if he won’t remember asking it,” she said, finally turning to me. “It’s time you started talking. Who the hell are you? And what are you doing here?”
Uneasy
Jackson
We gathered at Eloise’s house and went through our plan one more time. So far, we hadn’t had any contact from the remaining priestesses of the Order. No threats. Nothing. Either they hadn’t yet realized their sister was dead, or they were all in hiding again.
Whatever their reason for not coming after us or attempting to get the emerald ritual items back from us before now, I was glad they were leaving us alone.
But I still wanted everyone to be prepared today. We had no idea what might happen when the first gate went free.
“Mordecai, I want you and the rest of the demons to create a tight perimeter around the entrance to the emerald gate,” I said. I motioned to a few witches who’d been freed from the sapphire gates. “I’d like three of you to watch the main highways that lead into town. The rest of you stay hidden here in the house in case anyone comes through the demon door upstairs. If you see anything suspicious, call me immediately. Unless it’s just a single witch, don’t try to fight them on your own. Just let us know they’re coming and let the demons take care of them.”
The witches nodded and headed to take to their stations.
“Rend, you and Azure can guard the stairway leading down to the ritual room,” I said. “Franki, you stand at the bottom of the steps. If anyone attacks and manages to get through the line of demons, guard that entrance with your lives. We just need enough time to complete the ritual.”
He agreed, but I noticed that he still looked uneasy about this whole thing. Maybe he really was just stressed about the Brotherhood of Shadows, but his concern worried me, too. Something was definitely bothering him. He wasn’t himself the past couple days.
“We need five witches for the actual ceremony, so Eloise, Caroline, Meredith, Azure, and Mary Anne will all take their places here.” I pointed to a crude drawing of the pentagram on the ritual room floor. “Do you guys remember everything you need to do for the ceremony?”
They all nodded, and Eloise and her daughters clasped hands. They were excited, but nervous. As long as we could just get through this ritual, they would be free from the Order forever.
“Essex, you and I will guard the women as they begin the ritual,” I said. “These statues lining the room here and here will most likely come to life. When the creatures wake up, I’ll freeze them in place. I just need you to send your spear through the soft parts under their shell. Aim for their bellies, and we should be able to take them down quickly.”
Essex raised his spear into the air.
“I am being ready,” he said.
Mary Anne took his hand and smiled. “We can do this,” she said. “We should get moving. We only have about half an hour until three.”
I folded my papers and stuffed them in my bag. It was time. We’d been over the plan several times, and I felt like we had all our bases covered. Still, my body was lit up with nerves.
We’d performed th
is type of ceremony more than a hundred times when we freed the sapphire gates, but this time, there were still so many unknown factors. There were so many lives on the line here, and I knew we needed to do this as quickly as possible.
Still, something had been bothering me last night.
I picked the emerald ring from the table and stared at it.
What I couldn’t figure out was how in the world Harper had gotten ahold of this ring. The other ritual items stayed in the human world, but the ring could only be found in the Shadow World.
How had Harper gone into the Shadow World and gotten it on her own?
In her letter, she hadn’t explained how she’d gotten any of these items. Sure, it made sense that she had the master stone. That had been the one thing keeping the emerald priestess alive for all these years.
The other items were questionable.
Harper had been with us when we performed all of these rituals to release the sapphire gates. She knew from experience that we didn’t need all of the original items from the creation of the first gate. All we needed to release an individual gate were the master stone and ring. Everything else—the chalice, the necklace, and the dagger—came from that gate rather than from the priestess’s gate.
So why had she left them all inside that box?
And how had she gotten them? She couldn’t have taken them from the emerald priestess of the 1950’s or it would have changed the timeline. Without the ring in its place on the Shadow World to act as an anchor, no new gates could have been created and no new demons could have been pulled through.
So the ring had to have been in place until very recently. We knew from asking around that new witches had been initiated in some of the emerald covens right up until the day we discovered these items there in the box.
Without the ring in place, that shouldn’t have been possible.
I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
I’d mentioned it to Mary Anne this morning, but she told me I was just being nervous about nothing. She said that if Harper left those items for us, she had to have known they were safe.
