Sacrifice Me, Season two

by Sarra Cannon

  He carefully lifted the sheet of cookie dough from the dark marble countertop and slid it into the oven. With a flourish, he closed the oven door and tossed the mitt toward me.

  “You know, you don’t actually need the oven mitt until after the cookies are done,” I said.

  “I can honestly say I never dreamed in a million years I would be standing in this kitchen baking cookies,” he said with a laugh. “What have you done to me?”

  I crossed to him and gripped the front of his black t-shirt with my fist, pulling him toward me until our bodies were touching. “You are so hot right now.”

  Heat radiated from him, his muscles pressing against me. God, I loved the way he felt next to me. How the hell had I gotten so lucky?

  His dark eyes devoured me, and his lips parted slightly, a familiar hunger tensing his features. My breath caught in my chest, and I leaned into him. My palm flattened against his hard chest as his arm slid around my waist.

  With one quick motion, he reached his free hand into the bag of flour on the counter. Before I realized what he was doing, a cloud of white billowed up around me as the soft powder coated my neck and the front of my tank top.

  I lowered my hands and stepped back, blowing my breath out to keep the flour from going in my mouth.

  “Oh, it’s on,” I said.

  I reached into the bag of flour, arming myself with a giant fistful. Rend ran around to the opposite side of the island in the center of the kitchen, placing his hands on the marble top protectively.

  A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as I slowly stalked him from the other side of the kitchen, fist raised in warning.

  “Don’t think for one second you can outrun me,” I said.

  “Are you sure you want to challenge me like that?” he asked.

  “Oh yeah,” I said, taking another step forward.

  He countered with a step in the opposite direction, keeping the large island between us. I narrowed my eyes at him. Okay, so he was fast. There was no doubt about that. If he shifted to shadow, I was never going to catch him.

  And there was no way I was letting him leave that kitchen without being covered in flour.

  I broke eye contact and moved to brush some of the white powder from my shoulder, but before I completed the motion, I hopped over the top of the island, sliding my butt across its smooth surface. Before he could react, I threw the flour directly at his chest.

  My weapon hit its target with ease, and Rend stepped back, coughing and laughing as he patted the flour from his t-shirt.

  I hopped off the island, knocking over the bowl of remaining dough. I reached down and grabbed a handful of the cookie dough and rushed him, sliding the mixture across his cheek and neck.

  “You did not just dough me,” he said, touching a hand to his neck and coming away with a glob of chocolate chips.

  His face grew serious, and he focused in on me. I screamed, half laughing as I turned and made a break for the safety of the other side of the island.

  Rend’s hands gripped my waist and pulled me backward, flattening my back against the warmth of his chest. Flour rose around us like a cloud.

  I wiggled and pushed against him, laughing so hard I could barely catch my breath.

  Rend tightened his grip on me, his strong arms wrapping completely around me. I couldn’t move, and dear Lord, I didn’t want to. My heart raced from the feel of his body against mine. His warm breath whispered against my neck as I turned my head.

  Rend lowered his mouth to my neck, his lips grazing the surface of my skin. My eyes closed, and I drew in a deep breath, trying to calm the beating of my heart. I gave in to him, leaning my head back against him, opening myself to him.

  He spun me toward him, his lips descending on mine. My arms rose to circle his neck and pull him closer, my mouth opening to deepen the kiss. He tasted sweet, like sugar and chocolate. He groaned, and his hands tightened to fists, gripping the band of my jeans, his skin brushing against the bare skin at my waist.

  I never wanted this moment to end. If I could have, I would have frozen time right there, and we would have forever been locked in this kiss, the smell of cookies baking in the oven mixed with the heat of our desire for each other. My heart was full with the thought of him, and I never wanted to be farther from him than I was right there in that very moment.

  He pulled away and looked into my eyes, nothing but pure love reflected there.

  He raised a hand to my cheek, smearing what was left of the raw cookie dough across my face.

  I smiled, knowing this was the single happiest moment of my entire life.

  Rend kissed me, softer this time, his happiness mixing with my own.

  “If anyone else saw me right now, baking cookies and covered in flour, my entire reputation would be ruined,” he said with a small smile.

  “What? Big bad vampires can’t have a softer side?” I asked.

  “Not where I come from,” he said. He kissed my forehead. “Totally worth it,” he whispered against my hair.

  I held him for another minute, not wanting to let him go.

  “Do we really have to go back to work tonight?” I asked. “Why don’t we both call in sick one more night and stay home? We could rent a few movies, veg out on the couch for a few hours, snuggle up with a bottle of wine or something.”

  He shook his head. “As nice as that sounds, you know we have to be there tonight,” he said. “The owner of the club can’t exactly call in sick twice. Besides, vampires don’t get sick.”

  I stuck my bottom lip out in a pout. “Fine,” I said. “I better get cleaned up, then. If we both show up covered in flour, everyone might think something kinky was going on here.”

  He laughed and reluctantly let go of me, holding onto my hand until I was too far away for us to reach.

  “I’ll clean up in here,” he said. “How long do these things need to bake, anyway?”

  “Oh crap, we forgot to set a timer,” I said. “Give them a couple of minutes and check on them. When they look ready, take them out.”

  “That sounds complicated,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t want to just hang out down here for a while until they’re done? I have an idea how we could pass a little time.”

  I laughed and shook my head. “You’re one of the most talented alchemists in the history of two worlds. You concoct some of the most brilliant potions and elixirs ever known to man or demon, and you’re afraid of burning a few chocolate chip cookies?”

  He shrugged and glanced at the oven.

  “I think you can handle it,” I said. I lifted a finger toward him in warning, narrowing my eyes. “And you better not eat them all before I get back.”

  He lifted his hands in surrender. “I would never.”

  I smiled and spun around, practically floating from the kitchen on a cloud of content.

  Which is exactly when I saw it.

  I stopped, my body turning to stone as I stared ahead.

  A single envelope made of thick, black paper was propped against the stone hearth of the large fireplace. It hadn’t been here an hour ago when we’d gone into the kitchen to cook, and neither one of us had heard anyone come in.

  It was as if it had just appeared, a harbinger of some dark fate.

  I couldn’t move or speak. I could hardly breathe, the happiness of the last two days replaced by a terror so strong and complete that it consumed me like a flame.

  The Brotherhood of Darkness had finally issued their summons, and I knew that our lives would never again be the same.

  Episode Two

  Summoned

  Franki

  I couldn’t breathe.

  I stared at the black envelope on the hearth, fear rising inside me and choking the voice from my throat. Dark shadows swirled around me, lifting the edges of the envelope as it fluttered in the sudden breeze.

  “I thought you were heading upstairs,” Rend said, coming out of the kitchen. He’d mostly managed to clean himself up, but his black t-shirt w
as still covered in a thin white powder. Evidence of the joy that had been stolen from us so quickly. “What—”

  His body tensed beside me, and he reached for my hand.

  The shadows around me stilled as his skin touched mine, but I couldn’t calm the beating of my heart. The fear that bubbled up in my core and threatened to boil over.

  After all these months of waiting and wondering, it was time. I thought we were prepared to face this, but I realized now there was no way to be emotionally ready to face the possibility of losing the one person you’d ever truly loved.

  We should have run away in Paris when we had the chance.

  “Franki…” Rend started, but he couldn’t continue.

  He turned to me, and I forced my eyes away from the black envelope.

  I shook my head, a tear falling down my cheek. Rend pulled me into his arms, clutching me tightly to his body.

  I wanted to be strong for him and show him that I knew we could make it through anything, but I couldn’t control my emotions. Terror and sobs shook my body as I clung to him.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “We’ve been through worse than this, right?”

  I pulled away, and he wiped the tears from my cheeks.

  “What if they condemn you all to death, Rend? What if they don’t listen?”

  He shook his head and lifted my chin. “Listen to me. No matter what they decide, I can promise you that we are not going to let them condemn us without a fight. There are others in the Brotherhood who understand why we had to do what we did. The Devil had been breaking the rules of the Brotherhood for years. Everyone thought he was too powerful to confront, but when he took you, he crossed the line,” he said. “There are vampires who will stand by our side if the Council decides against us.”

  My breath hitched on a sob. “So, what? You fight to the death?”

  “We kill whoever we have to kill,” he said, his jaw tightening. His black eyes flashed with lines of silver like lightning. “I will come home to you, Franki. The Brotherhood of Darkness has needed to change their ways for decades. What they do to witches needs to be stopped. I just was never strong enough before to stand against them.”

  “And what makes you so sure you’re ready now?” I asked.

  “Now I have something to live for,” he said.

  “This is all my fault,” I said softly. “If I had never come to Venom—”

  “The Devil would have taken you, anyway,” he said. “And with Solomon free, the Brotherhood would have been terrorizing witches the way they did twenty years ago. Killing anyone they could get their hands on. Even children. I would have gotten involved, anyway, Franki. I wouldn’t have sat back and let them kill like that again. I couldn’t have. This isn’t your fault.”

  He leaned his forehead against mine, and we both breathed in. There were so many things unsaid between us still. So many years of life together that I wasn’t willing to sacrifice. I wanted to hold him closer, but I knew that we were running out of time. He had to answer the summons now.

  “You wouldn’t take it back, anyway, right?” he asked in a whisper. “If you could go back and change things, would you?”

  I closed my eyes, picturing these past few months together. Living here together in the mountains. Everything we’d been through. Venom. Fighting the Order of Shadows. Making love in Paris.

  I shook my head, a final tear sliding down my cheek.

  “I wouldn’t change one minute,” I said, the knowledge of that putting everything into perspective.

  “We are going to get through this,” he said.

  He glanced nervously at the envelope and shook his head.

  “I have to open it,” he said. “If I don’t answer the summons immediately, they will make it worse for all of us.”

  I nodded, drying my tears so that the last time he saw me, he could know the strength of my love. That I believed in him and trusted him to come home.

  “Go,” I said.

  He kissed me, but the meeting of our lips was way too short, just like the time we had left.

  He walked over to retrieve the envelope from the fireplace, but before he opened it, he walked back to me, his hands trembling slightly.

  I nodded when he met my eyes, and he ripped the paper open, breaking the red wax seal that held it closed.

  A swirl of shadows much stronger than the one I had created just moments ago flew out of the opening in the envelope, blowing my hair back from my shoulders. It grew like a black tornado, the winds strengthening between us.

  Inside the shadows, a portal opened, revealing a castle made of dark, rough stone. Large torches burned with roaring flames on either side of the gate leading up to the castle. Wherever the castle was located, it was already long past dark there, and I felt it swallow my heart in its depths.

  Rend reached for my hand as a booming voice shook the room.

  “Rend, you have been summoned by the Council of the Brotherhood of Darkness to answer for your crimes,” the voice said. “You must appear at the Castle of the Brotherhood immediately. Bring no weapons or be put to death.”

  With that, a huge gust of wind blew me backwards, my hand leaving Rend’s as I screamed his name.

  The envelope in his hand erupted in flames, and he dropped it to the ground.

  “Tell the others at Venom what’s happened,” he said. He took something from his pocket and tossed it toward me. “Activate that stone, Franki. Connery will come to stay with you. Don’t leave the house or the club, if you can help it. I will return to you, I promise.”

  “Please,” I shouted, holding onto the back of the chair as the wind increased and a black rope of dark shadow rose from the flames at his feet. “I love you, Rend. Come home to me.”

  His mouth said the words ‘I love you’ but his voice was lost to the roaring wind and the darkness that circled his body rapidly.

  “Rend,” I shouted, reaching for him.

  But before I could take a single step, he was sucked into the vision of the castle.

  The wind died instantly, and the shadows were gone.

  A single piece of burned black paper fluttered to the ground at my feet, and the silence in the room was broken only by the sound of my choked sobs. I fell to my knees, the red stone clutched in my trembling hand.

  Rend had been summoned, and all I could do now was wait.

  The Final Throne

  Rend

  The moon’s glow kissed the top of the water that surrounded the giant stone castle.

  My heart pounded in my chest, and I took several deep breaths to try to calm myself down. I needed to appear confident and sure when I stepped inside to face the Council, and I didn’t think they’d give us much time to gather our thoughts out here before they called us in.

  I scanned the faces of those who joined me on the wooden drawbridge.

  Ten, including me.

  Silas wasn’t here.

  My mouth went dry as I waited for him to appear. Where in the hell was he? Had he received the summons and refused to answer it? Was he already dead?

  Or had his father’s darkness consumed him? Changed him?

  I had no idea what the Council would do to punish him for not showing up tonight. Not appearing at a summoning usually meant death for any vampire who failed to show. The entire Brotherhood would be in appearance tonight to hear the Council’s decision, and despite Silas’s relationship to Solomon, I didn’t think they’d go easy on him.

  The last time the entire Brotherhood had been called in was twenty-one years ago when Solomon himself had been condemned to a spirit stone by the Mother Crow.

  Everyone in the Brotherhood was required to answer the summons immediately, no matter where they were or what they were doing, and I had no doubt the rest of the Brotherhood was already inside, waiting for the Council to announce our arrival.

  As the seconds ticked by, I prayed for Silas to suddenly appear at my side, but the longer I waited, the more sure I was that he was not coming. />
  Ryken stood to the side, his fists balled up at his side, and a scowl on his face.

  “We should have followed my plan when there was still time,” he said. “Now, we are at their mercy.”

  I placed a hand on his shoulder. “We were always at their mercy, Brother. This way, at least we still have a chance of survival,” I said. “If we had tried to attack the Council, the entire Brotherhood would have seen us condemned to death before sunrise.”

  He growled and stepped aside, obviously disagreeing with me. I didn’t blame him. It was my fault they were all here tonight. My leadership that had led them into battle against one of our own.

  And I would do everything in my power to make sure we all walked out of here safely tonight.

  One of my other brothers, a tall vampire named Campbell, raised an eyebrow at me.

  “What?” I asked.

  He stared down at my shirt and stifled a laugh, which was a welcome sound after Ryken’s grumbling. “What exactly were you doing when the summons arrived?”

  I laughed, remembering our baking session in the kitchen. Already, it felt like a distant memory.

  I patted at the flour on my shirt until all evidence of it was gone.

  “Believe it or not, I was making cookies,” I mumbled.

  Campbell laughed again, but the sound didn’t carry far. The night swallowed it whole, as if the very sound was offensive to the darkness.

  “What do you think is going to happen in there tonight?” he asked as the other vampires gathered around us.

  I turned to stare at the heavy iron door at the end of the drawbridge. Two large men guarded it, each over twelve feet tall and pure muscle. They wore black suits and sunglasses that hid the holes where their eyes should be.

  They looked like men, but they were not human. They were Hollows, conjured beings created by the Council two hundred years ago to guard this castle. They had no soul, no eyes, and no will of their own.

  The Hollows—fifty in total spread throughout the castle grounds—obeyed only the Council. I’d never fought one before, but I had seen others who opposed the Council’s orders destroyed by these Hollows in gruesome ways. It was not something I ever wanted to experience myself, and I shuddered at the thought of having to face fifty of them tonight if it came down to it.