by Sarra Cannon
He nodded. “Petite blonde. Cute, but human.”
“I forgot I invited her here tonight, but she just showed up and she wasn’t acting like herself,” I explained. “She got my attention, said some ugly things to me to start a fight, and then she ran out the Chicago door. I think she was trying to manipulate me into following her.”
I barely finished getting the words out of my mouth before Marco took off in a sprint toward the bar to tell Azure what was going on. With Rend gone, she was in charge.
“Where did she go?” Azure asked when she joined us.
“She left through the Chicago door,” I said again.
She nodded to a few of the other staff members who’d joined us. People on the dance floor were starting to notice us, and the rumor mill had started turning all around us, spreading the word that something was wrong. It wouldn’t be five minutes before every person here knew something had happened, but Azure didn’t seem to care what anyone else thought.
She pointed to the five other doors to the club—the doors leading to Paris, New York, Berlin, Moscow, and Havana. “I want security on every door increased,” she said. “Marco, you and Connery come with me.”
“What do I do?” I asked.
“Get back behind the bar.” Her eyes met mine for the briefest moment, and an electric shock passed through my body.
She’d been expecting something to happen tonight.
The realization hit me hard, and I wasn’t sure whether to be furious Rend had told her about it instead of me or grateful that Azure was keeping me safe.
“I want to come with you,” I said. “If Katy’s in trouble, I need to know what’s happened to her.”
“I don’t think that was Katy,” she said.
Nausea rolled through me.
I didn’t think it was Katy, either, but then who was it? And where was my best friend?
“Stay here,” she said to me. “Marco, grab a couple others and run after that witch. If you find her, bring her back to me.”
Dammit. I spun around, staring at the door as Marco disappeared.
Connery stayed stuck to my side like glue.
Azure started back toward the bar, but I hesitated.
I wanted to be out there with them. I’d been practicing my magic. If it came to a fight out there, I could battle with the best of them.
Maybe. I’d sure as hell try.
I bit my lower lip and stared at the door. Azure would be pissed if I disobeyed her, but that was my best friend out there.
Or at least someone who had stolen her appearance to trick me.
I wanted nothing more than to follow them, and the Franki of six months ago would not have hesitated to run head-first into the unknown.
But I’d seen too much in the past few months—and come way too close to death—to take a risk just because I was too stubborn to listen.
I cursed and stomped over toward the bar where Azure waited.
“I thought for a second there you were going to bolt,” she said with a smirk. “Maybe you’re getting smarter.”
“Almost dying a few times does that to a person,” I muttered. “Now, give me your cell phone. I need to make a call.”
A Crow Witch
Franki
I dialed Katy’s number a dozen times and let it ring, but she never picked up. Each ring was like a dagger to my heart. If someone hurt her, I would never be able to forgive myself.
I handed the phone back to Azure and took off in a run back to the dressing rooms to search for my own phone. Maybe she simply wasn’t answering because she didn’t recognize the number on caller ID. No one picked up from a number they didn’t recognize these days.
With trembling hands, I searched my bag and finally was able to call her from my own phone. I held onto the slightest bit of hope, praying that any second, she would answer and yell at me for not following up with her about tonight.
When it went to voicemail yet again, I closed my eyes and had to hold myself back from throwing the phone into the large mirror that took up the entire wall.
I wanted to destroy something.
After everything else, surely this wasn’t happening. Maybe I was wrong, anyway. Maybe that was Katy here at the club, and she was just in a really bad mood.
I walked out to the main part of the bar and searched for Marco. It wasn’t long before he came back through the Chicago door, worried looks on their faces.
“Was it her?” I asked. “Was Katy out there?”
“Definitely not Katy.” Marco sat down on the bar stool closest to me. “Whoever it was, she was a crow witch, like you.”
“Did you see her face?” I asked. “Did you recognize her?”
“I wasn’t able to get too close to her,” Marco said. “I found her down at the other end of the alley, but as soon as I walked toward her, she shifted into crow form and flew away. To me, she just looked like Katy until she shifted.”
“Who else could it have been, then?” Azure asked. “Are there any other crows that you know?”
I shook my head. “My mother?”
“I don’t think so,” Marco said. “Your mother wouldn’t have had any reason to try to lure you outside like this.”
“She did it once before,” I mumbled. Of course, back then, she was doing it to try to protect me. Not to hurt me. Or at least that’s what I believed at the time.
Whoever came here tonight pretending to be Katy was probably trying to get me alone so they could attack.
Connery shook his head. “We need to figure out what they were doing here tonight. And why,” he said. “Would your mother have had any reason to want to hurt you?”
“Who knows what her motivations might be,” I said. “I would like to think she’s out there trying to protect me and keep me safe, but I have never once spoken to her. I have no idea what she wants to do to me.”
“Franki’s right,” Azure said. “We can’t assume we know her mother’s reasons for doing anything. Until we find her and are able to talk to her ourselves, we’ll never know for sure.”
“Okay, so we don’t know for sure who it was that came here tonight to try to lure you outside,” Marco said. “What we do know is that whoever it was knew about your friendship with Katy. They’ve watched her enough to know how to glamour themselves to look like her.”
“And they also knew Katy was supposed to be here tonight,” I said, chills running down my arms.
“Tonight?” Connery asked.
“I’d forgotten about it in the chaos after the summons arrived, but when I saw her on campus the other day, I invited her to join me at the club tonight,” I said. “The woman pretending to be Katy knew that, because she mentioned it when she approached me earlier. And I think they may have gotten to her, too.”
“What do you mean?” Marco asked.
“I’ve been trying to call her ever since you guys first went outside. She’s not answering her phone,” I said. “That’s not like Katy. Especially since we had plans tonight.”
“Don’t panic,” Azure said. “We’re going to figure out what happened, and we’re going to find her. Maybe she’s just got her phone off or something.”
“Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it,” Marco said. “I can go over to the apartment and see if she’s there.”
“I’m going with you,” I said, already turning to go back to the dressing room.
“I don’t think that’s such a great idea,” Azure said.
“I’m sorry, love, but I happen to agree with Azure,” Connery said, shaking his head. “If that witch was trying to get you outside the protection of this club, your best bet is to let us go to Katy’s while you stay here at Venom.”
“Well, I really don’t care what you guys think,” I said, raising my eyebrows in a challenge. “As long as you guys are there with me, I won’t be going to the apartment alone. Rend trusted you guys to keep me safe, so that’s what you’re going to have to do. But I’m not going to just sit here and wait for news about my
best friend. If something happened to her, I want to be the first to know about it.”
I stormed back to the dressing rooms and quickly changed back into my jeans and tank top. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
And all that kept going through my mind was that Rend must have expected something like this to happen. He’d set me up with a bodyguard, told everyone to be on the lookout for something strange in his absence.
If he had suspicions about Venom being attacked so that the crows could get to me, he damn well should have talked to me about it earlier.
But it wouldn’t do me any good to get angry with him right now. All I wanted was to know that Katy was safe.
“We can take my car,” Connery said when I came out of the dressing room.
“No, we’ll shift and fly there,” I said.
“Absolutely not,” Azure said, giving me a look that said I really shouldn’t challenge her right now. “If the crows are tracking you, using your power is the last thing you should do. You should be staying here, honestly, but if you’re determined to go, you need to take Connery’s car and conserve your magic. Using it now is way too dangerous, Franki.”
My jaw tightened as I stared at her.
Dammit, she was right, but I didn’t have to like it. I wanted to get to Katy’s house as fast as possible, but it wouldn’t do me any good to get ambushed and captured along the way.
“Okay, we’ll all ride together in the car,” I said. “But I’m driving. Let’s go.”
I snatched the keys from Connery’s hand and led them out into the night.
Where You Belong
Franki
It took nearly fifteen minutes to get to the apartment, even though I was driving as fast as humanly possible.
I knew something was wrong the minute I stepped into the hallway and started walking toward the apartment.
The energy felt off. Dark.
Something terrible had happened here, and it turned my stomach thinking about it.
I threw open the door of the apartment and nearly collapsed onto the floor.
The place was trashed. The furniture had been overturned, and scratches lined the walls. But it was the blood that terrified me.
Beside me, Connery cursed.
“Katy,” I screamed.
I ran through the apartment, shouting her name. I was terrified they had taken her, but when I ran into Katy’s bedroom, the sight of her slammed into me like a bus.
Her body was pale and lifeless. Her eyes were closed, and her hands were crossed over her chest as if she were dead. There were scratches all along her arms and legs, and a single, long scratch ran down her left cheek.
“In here,” I shouted as I ran toward her.
I placed my hand on her neck, searching for a heartbeat. When I found it, her pulse was weak and slow, but it was still there.
I grabbed her hand and collapsed onto the bed next to her.
“She’s alive,” I said when Connery and Marco ran into the room. “But she’s in some kind of coma. I can’t wake her up.”
I checked her forehead, trying to see if she had a fever, but her skin was ice cold.
“Wake up,” I said, shaking her slightly. “Katy, it’s Franki. I need you to wake up.”
Connery shook his head and picked a piece of paper up off the side table. “I don’t think she’s going to wake up that easily,” he said.
“What is it?” I asked, my entire body shaking now.
I should have protected her, somehow. Maybe I should have cut her out of my life after that whole thing went down with the Devil. This world was too dangerous for someone like her. She had no way to protect herself against witches, vampires, and other magical creatures.
What, exactly, had they done to her?
Connery passed the note to me. A streak of bright red blood ran along the side of it.
“What does it say?” Marco asked.
I took the note in my hand, blinking as I tried to read.
The writing on the thick, textured paper was elaborate and beautiful.
* * *
Mary Francis,
You cannot possibly know how many times I have thought about you over the years. How many times I have wondered how you were doing, so far away from our village in the trees.
I hope you understand why I could not keep you here with the rest of us at the time, but now that you are ready to come into your true powers and your true purpose, you belong here with us. Your sisters.
I am sorry we had to bring your dear friend into this mess, but she is only sleeping. For now.
Come home, and I promise to release her from this curse without any further harm.
I have had one of my many daughters leave a stone for you. Inside this stone is a special type of portal magic. When activated, it will bring you directly home to us, my sweet crow child.
Answer my call. Come home where you belong, and your friend will be safe.
Ignore my call and your poor friend will die. I regret it must be this way, but I fear your attachment to that despicable creature called Rend has turned your loyalties.
I will call for you soon, my little crow.
* * *
The letter was not signed. Instead, there was a black ink spot in the shape of a crow in flight.
I dropped the paper on the bed and turned away. My stomach hurt. What kind of people did this to try to convince someone in their family to come home? It was madness.
Yes, there was a part of me that had always longed to know my true family, but if most of them were willing to do things like this to the people I cared about, they could all go to hell.
“The Mother Crow?” Marco asked.
“It must be,” I said. “But why does she care about me? Why won’t she leave me alone?”
Marco placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’re valuable to her, Franki,” he said. “The woman who pretended to be your mother for all those years told us that the Mother Crow had plans for you. She must have something she wants to use you for. Which is why we can’t let her have you.”
“You obviously can’t go when she calls for you on that stone,” Connery said. “It’s a trap.”
“Of course it’s a trap,” I snapped, anger boiling over inside me. “She’s an evil bitch, and she could care less about anyone’s life but her own. She holds all of her so-called daughters prisoner, threatening them with death and dark magic if they disobey her. She kills infant children to extend her own life. And now, she’s trapped my best friend in a sleeping curse until I surrender myself to her. It’s obviously a trap, but what else am I supposed to do? I can’t just let my friend waste away in a coma while I continue to live my life.”
“If you ignore this, she’ll come for you in another way,” Connery said. “If you’re really as valuable to her as Marco says you are, she’s not going to just let you go. Ever. We need a plan to keep you safe.”
“Do you think this is really even a portal stone?” Marco asked, taking a black stone off the side table where the letter was left. “That’s not easy magic to cast.”
“The Mother Crow is capable of great magic,” I said. “She has no problem using the darkest of magics to get what she needs. She’s proven that in the past, and I have no doubt that if she wanted to, she could find a way to cast any spell she wants to cast. She has no limitations.”
“But can we trust it?” Connery asked.
I felt claustrophobic in the tiny bedroom with two towering men. I needed to get some air. I couldn’t breathe.
And I wanted to get away from the dark energy of this apartment.
I wanted to get Katy out of here, too.
“We need to take Katy back to Rend’s house,” I said. “Can you guys lift her and get her into the car?”
“I can get her,” Marco said. “Are you sure you want to do that, though?”
“Well, I’m not going to leave her here by herself,” I said. “The letter says that Katy is only sleeping, but for how long? How long can she g
o without food or water? I have to watch her at all times and make sure she’s going to be okay. The only reason she’s in this mess is because she’s my friend.”
“Get the car started,” he said to Connery. “I’ll carry Katy down, and we’ll take her back to Venom with us. We can get to Rend’s from the door there. Franki, stay with Connery, just in case the crows are still watching the apartment.”
I nodded, reluctant to leave my friend even for a minute.
When I left the apartment building, I looked up, searching the trees and the sky for any sign of fluttering wings. I had no doubt we were being watched. That I’d been watched for a while now.
So, why not approach me or try to take me one day after class, when I was unguarded and vulnerable? Why bring Katy or Venom into this at all?
There had to be more to the timing of this whole thing.
The crows specifically waited until Rend was gone to attack me, but why? I wrapped my arms around my body, even though it was warm out for a spring night.
What was I missing?
And why did it feel like all our lives might depend on it?
Rule Or Die
Rend
This was the last thing I had ever expected to happen tonight, but as I knelt there, I was grateful we had spent so much time over the past few months talking to the vampires of the Brotherhood we thought we might be able to turn to our side in a fight.
Their votes would be necessary now. This was our last hope at survival, because I had no doubt that if Dagon took that throne, we were all doomed to death.
“A betrayer now sits on the throne, and he’s permitted to nominate the leader of those betrayers as a suitable replacement?” a vampire shouted from the middle of the room.
I did not turn to see who it was that spoke, because I knew his voice well.
Barker, an evil vampire who had tried to make trouble at Venom more than once. I should have silenced him a long time ago when I had the chance.
