Until then he didn’t realize his eyes were closed. Slowly, he opened them, and he gasped, stunned, as he saw the whirling walls of the wreath’s cocoon surrounding them. He could see!
“Only in your mind, wicáhmunga,” Sarah said, taking a step back from him,
Sebastian’s gaze automatically flicked over her. She was naked, and her black hair was again loose, swirling around her slender body like a cape. The sight of her feminine curves incited his lust to such intensity that he wanted to grab her and take her violently, painfully.
“Then do it,” she encouraged, stepping toward him again and trailing her hand down his chest.
“No!” Sebastian declared furiously, grabbing her wrist as her hand began to slide toward his erection. “We’ve played this game before, and I am not an animal.”
His fury was nothing compared to the rage that leapt into her eyes, turning them into golden flames of hatred as she spat, “You have no choice, wicáhmunga. Take me as you were meant to take me before, or I will torture your friend until you do.”
She raised her free hand and pointed to the left. Sebastian immediately swiveled his head in that direction and gasped in horror. What seemed like hundreds of lightning tendrils left the walls and slithered onto Lucien’s body, which lay on the cocoon’s floor.
As Sebastian stared at the tendrils their tips transformed into eyeless snake heads, just as they had when he and Sarah had been cocooned on the mountaintop, and they began to writhe and hiss. He knew that they were waiting for Sarah’s order to strike. He also knew that when they did, Lucien would suffer the torture she promised.
He shuddered and forced his gaze back to Sarah’s face, which had again sharpened into inhuman cruelty. He knew the change in her was due to the cocoon. Every time it encased her, it changed her, stealing another piece of her humanity. But apparently it had to force Sarah and him into a brutal coupling to complete her transformation into its evil minion, or she wouldn’t be demanding that he rape her. But why did it need her to be sexually victimized to accomplish that goal, when there were any number of equally vicious means it could use?
He didn’t have the faintest idea. If, however, it was that important to the talisman, he knew he couldn’t go through with it.
“I am not going to rape you, Sarah,” he said, steeling himself against the knowledge that he could be condemning Lucien to a horrible, torturous death. “So if you’re going to kill Lucien, get it over with.”
“Oh, I will not kill your friend,” she drawled. “I will leave his mind trapped in the darkness where it now exists, and his only company will be the lightning snakes.”
Sebastian shuddered at the image her words conjured up. Lucien was trapped in darkness, just as blind as Sebastian would again become once he was released from the cocoon. He looked at Lucien, not even wanting to imagine what it would be like to be lost in that murky void with those monstrosities.
“He can hear the lightning snakes, wicáhmunga,” Sarah said in a strangely crooning voice, “He can feel them crawling over his body. But he can’t see them. He can’t touch them to knock them away. He knows they will strike, but he doesn’t know when or how often. It will always be a surprise attack.”
“Stop it!” Sebastian yelled, jerking his head back to glare at her.
“What’s the matter, wicáhmunga?” she mocked. “If you can choose to condemn your friend to a nightmare, surely you should be willing to know how he will suffer.”
He balled his hands into fists. It was the only way he could keep from wrapping them around her throat and strangling her. He knew, however, that the talisman wouldn’t let her die. It would just use the violence to sink its claws deeper into both of them.
Through gritted teeth, he ordered, “Release Lucien. Now.”
“I can’t,” she replied, her lips lifting into a taunting smile. “The only way to open the window to where he is is if you take me, and if you don’t do it soon, it will be too late.”
As the impact of her statement hit him, Sebastian trembled with new fury. The talisman had maneuvered him into a no-win situation. If he didn’t take Sarah, Lucien would be trapped alive. And as long as he was alive, the coven couldn’t elect a new high priest without a special dispensation from the high council. That would take time—time they didn’t dare risk, because he had no idea how fast the barrier was disintegrating.
However, if he did take Sarah with brutal ruthlessness, he was sure she’d turn completely evil. So even if that act would bring Lucien back, they’d not only have to contend with the barrier, but with Sarah’s transformation. Even a child warlock could figure out that she’d use the talisman’s power to stop them from their repair work.
Sebastian muttered a violent curse and raked a hand through his hair. He loathed the thought, but his only logical choice was to sacrifice Lucien—let him remain in that dark, nightmarish world with the lightning snakes—rather than give in to Sarah’s demand. After all, there was no guarantee that if Lucien did come back his magic would work. The talisman could have taken away his powers, just as it had Sebastian’s so many times.
Except if Lucien came back powerless, he could voluntarily step down as high priest, and Zachary could be put into the position immediately. The only other solution was to send for a new troubleshooter, but there was no guarantee that they could get through to the high council to make the request. Even if they did, he might not make it here in time to save them.
Dammit! Why was it so important for Sarah to be sexually assaulted? If he just knew the answer to that question, he might be able to fight back.
The question is not why, wicáhmunga, the Indian spirit suddenly murmured in his mind. It is who.
What in hell does that mean? Sebastian demanded.
If you are meant to know all, you will understand.
Chapter 16
Evil Gathers
THE QUESTION IS not why. It is who. As Sebastian mentally repeated the spirit’s words, their meaning suddenly hit him. He shook his head, irritated that he hadn’t seen the answer before. The sexual assault wasn’t important. It was who performed it, and obviously, that who was him.
But why me specifically? he wondered as he regarded Sarah’s evil countenance warily. The only reason he could think of was that he wore a piece of the talisman. But if that were the case, why hadn’t the talisman chosen Butler for the job? According to Sarah, the man had killed at least two people, so he wouldn’t think twice about rape.
Dammit! There’s something I’m not seeing. What the hell is it?
“Your time is running out, wicáhmunga,” Sarah said. “Are you going take me as you were meant to take me? Or do I tell the lightning snakes to attack your friend?”
As if to add emphasis to her words, the lightning tendrils hissed louder. Sebastian told himself to ignore them, but he couldn’t resist looking at them. They’d wrapped themselves around Lucien’s body so that he now resembled an electrified mummy. As Sebastian watched them writhe and quiver, they suddenly raised their illusionary heads toward Sarah, as if eagerly awaiting her permission to begin their torture.
Bile rose to Sebastian’s throat, and he returned his attention to Sarah. Every ounce of decency in him screamed that he should do what she wanted and save Lucien. No one should suffer through what she planned to do to him.
But the credo for his race was inviolable. No single person’s life was more important than the safety and survival of the coven. And it wasn’t just the coven at risk, he reminded himself. It was all of mankind.
“What is it going to take to make you reach a decision?” Sarah demanded. “Do you want to see the lightning snakes strike your friend? Do you want to hear his screams of agony? And you will hear them. His mind is displaced, but his body functions as if it were whole, so his vocal cords work just fine.”
As Sebastian listened to h
er diatribe, he felt a sense of déjà vu. He’d heard a variation of this speech before. Why did it sound so familiar? Why did he feel it was important that he remember?
“This is your last chance, wicáhmunga,” Sarah warned. “Give me your answer now, or I will prove to you how badly your friend will suffer.”
The moment she said prove, Sebastian realized why her words were familiar. She was threatening to harm Lucien, just as she’d threatened to harm Zachary or Ryan to prove that her powers worked from within the confines of Zachary’s spell. Then, as now, she told him what she could do, when showing him would have had a greater psychological effect.
As the significance of that hit him, he stared at her in amazement. Outwardly she looked like evil personified, as if she didn’t have one shred of humanity left, but perhaps she hadn’t lost her humanity. If she had, she wouldn’t refrain from torturing Lucien to coerce Sebastian into doing what she wanted.
The instant he came to that realization, he understood why the talisman wanted him to rape Sarah. Three people wore pieces of the talisman— Sarah, Butler, and himself—and he knew instinctively that all three of them had to be debauched before the pieces could come together. But so far the talisman had only managed to fully corrupt Butler, as evidenced by the fact that he’d committed murder.
Sebastian was sure that the taking of a life was the final, irrevocable step all of them had to take for the talisman to reach its full power. It had pushed Sarah into blinding him, but he wore a piece of the talisman. It couldn’t let her kill him, because it needed him alive and corrupted or the pieces couldn’t reunite.
So for Sarah to fall victim to its corruption, she had to kill. The talisman gave her the chance to do that while confined in Zachary’s spell. But she’d resisted because, as Sebastian had told her then, her strong moral code was still intact. She’d been furious at being unfairly confined, but no one had done her any actual physical harm, so her morality wouldn’t let her commit murder.
But rape was one of the most brutal, degrading crimes that could be committed upon a woman. If he assaulted Sarah, he would cause her both physical and emotional trauma. She’d have reason to strike out in revenge against him, and what better revenge than to kill someone important to him—Lucien. Once she did that, her soul would belong to the talisman. And by raping her, he’d have taken the first step toward losing his own soul.
At the moment he knew the talisman was lying to Sarah. His sexually debasing her wouldn’t open a window to release Lucien’s mind. Indeed, he doubted there was any window involved. The talisman had simply used Lucien as bait to draw him into the cocoon with Sarah, and to give her a victim to kill once he’d raped her.
But if he didn’t go along with the talisman’s plans, would Lucien’s mind be restored? Hopefully, he could trick Sarah—or, rather, the talisman—into answering that question.
“If I refuse to do what you ask, will the talisman release us, or will it just force us together as it did before?” he asked her.
Her lips twisted into a malevolent parody of a smile. “Very good, wicáhmunga. It’s true that you will take me one way or another. Your decision lies in whether you will save your friend before you do.”
“How can I be sure that having sex with you will save Lucien? How do I know you aren’t lying to me?”
“I have no reason to lie. As I said, you will take me, regardless of your decision.”
He nodded. “How does the magic work? Is it the act of copulation that opens the window to Lucien’s mind or something else?”
She scowled at him. “You don’t need to know how it works. You only need to do what you were meant to do.”
“Oh, come on, Sarah,” he cajoled. “I’m a warlock and magic is my stock-in-trade. Satisfy my curiosity and tell me how it works. After all, it isn’t as if I can get out of having sex with you, so why would it matter if I know how the magic works?”
Her scowl deepened and she eyed him warily. “You’re trying to trick me, but it won’t work. I can read your mind, and I will make you do what you must do.”
“You haven’t been reading my mind, though, have you?” he countered, startled to realize it had to be the truth. Otherwise, she’d have tried to persuade him his conclusions about the talisman’s scheme were wrong. “Why, Sarah? Are you afraid to read my mind for some reason?”
“I have no reason to fear you!” she declared angrily, “and the time for talking is over. Do you choose to save your friend or not?”
“I choose to save him, but I still want an answer to my original question. Is it the sex act itself that opens the window?” Sebastian replied, knowing by the vehemence of her response that she was afraid to read his mind. But why? Was the talisman instilling her fear? Was it afraid that if she followed his deductions, she’d realize it was a trap and fight against it?
“It doesn’t matter how it opens, only that you do what you were meant to do so that it will,” she said, breaking into his musing.
Her refusal to answer the question convinced Sebastian that he was right. There was no window involved. Lucien was nothing more than bait for him and a convenient victim for her. Since the talisman wouldn’t let them out of the cocoon until they’d had sex, he’d have to thwart it as he’d done before—make love to her and pray that by resisting the talisman’s scheme, Lucien would be freed. Even as he made the decision, Sebastian knew making love to Sarah wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded. His fear for Lucien had quelled his desire, or, at least, quieted it. But now, as his gaze flowed down her beautiful, naked body, lust streaked through him like a bolt of white-hot lightning.
Before he could make a grab for self-control, Sarah walked to him, dropped to her knees and took him into her mouth. As her lips closed over him, he lost the ability to think. All he could concentrate on was satisfying the overpowering needs of his body.
HE MUST TAKE you as he was meant to do. You must not fail this time.
Sarah shivered, fear gnawing at her insides. The words were an insistent chant that had echoed through her mind from the moment the cocoon descended over them. She knew Sebastian desired her; his magnificent erection proved that. But he’d wanted her before and refused to take her as he was supposed to take her. She couldn’t let him do that again. She had to make him want her so badly that he’d take her as he was meant to do.
When he paused in his questioning, she decided that it was time to stop talking and take action. Instinctively, she walked to him, dropped to her knees, and drew his erection into her mouth. He gasped and she felt a tremor race through his body. But though she could sense the lust coursing through him, he stood unnaturally still.
At first she thought she had done something wrong, that she wasn’t providing him enjoyment. But then he tangled his fingers in her hair and groaned deeply, gutturally, while moving his hips so that he slowly slid in and out of her mouth in a provocative parody of lovemaking.
Sarah shivered again, but it wasn’t from fear this time. It was from a seductive sense of feminine power, the certain knowledge that her intimate kiss could drive Sebastian to the brink and beyond. She wanted to continue her teasing torment and bring him to a shattering climax, just as he’d used his lips and tongue and hands to do the same to her when they’d made love on the mountaintop.
No! Don’t let him bewitch you! a voice inside her protested vehemently. You must deny him satisfaction, or he will not take you as he was meant to take you. You cannot fail this time!
The words flashed through Sarah’s mind with the force of a shout. She immediately released Sebastian from her oral intimacy, and he muttered a curse. Slowly, she let her gaze travel up his muscular body to his face. His eyes gleamed with that incandescent light, and his expression was taut with lust. But the triangle on his chest glowed red with anger.
She regarded him warily. Lustful anger was the emotion she wanted to provoke in h
im. She needed him to want her so badly that when she refused him, he’d take her anyway. However, she knew that he’d again managed to separate his lust from his anger, just as he had on the mountain. Somehow she had to make him unite the two emotions or she’d never conquer him.
His fingers were still tangled in her hair, and he flexed them against her scalp as he drawled derisively, “What’s the matter, Sarah? Lose your nerve?”
“No,” she said, running a hand up the inside of his thigh to his testes. As she cupped him, he sucked in a harsh breath and closed his eyes tightly. Again, the seductive sense of feminine power surged through her. While she gently kneaded him she drew the tip of his shaft into her mouth, circling it with her tongue. His entire body went rigid and his fingers again flexed in her hair. She knew he was on the verge of ejaculation, and she immediately pulled away from him.
His eyes flew open, and he scowled down at her as he rasped, “It isn’t going to work, Sarah. You can’t tease me into raping you.”
“Well, you aren’t going to deny me the pleasure of trying, are you?” she responded throatily.
His scowl darkened to a glower. “That depends on how brave you are.”
“I can be as brave as necessary.”
“I doubt it.”
She dropped her hands away from him and eyed him suspiciously. “What is it you think I’m not brave enough to do?”
He uncurled his fingers from her hair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Truly seducing me—not just physically, but mentally. And that’s what it will take for you to drive me into mindless lust.”
At his blatant challenge, Sarah told herself to ignore him, that whatever he was up to was a trick. Curiosity, however, got the best of her, and she asked, “And just how do I conduct this mental seduction?”
“Open your mind to me,” he answered. “Let yourself connect with me and let me show you how I feel—how my body responds—when you arouse me.”
“No,” she stated hoarsely, an erotic shimmer of excitement stirring low in her abdomen at his words. She knew she couldn’t do as he asked. He was a wicáhmunga and could take control of her mind, and she couldn’t let that happen.
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