Page 138 of A Bond with the Dark

She is the quiet to my loud. Her presence hushes my demons and calms them.

The ravine doesn’t seem so scary with her close to me.

It’s knowing what that abyss means is what opens another chasm of terror. If I’m in it, that means she is not, and to live in a world where she doesn’t exist combines those two abysmal things.

If I’m in that darkness, it means her death.

38

MOMENT IN THE DARK

SAYAH

Dusk is upon us, and the stars are starting to freckle the sky. The sun is almost set, giving that dull yellow light a faint, dreary feeling, keeping everything soft and colorful.

Inside, much of the group is doing our part to clean up the mess that was made. Dom and I are sweeping up the glass, Bash and Talora are putting the furniture back into place, Everett and Ollie are wrapping Joe up in a sheet, and Allison is cleaning up the blood. Adaline, Scarlet, and Hattie have returned to the spell room to commence trying to break the curse.

“What are we going to do with the—with Joe?” asks Ollie, helping Everett to roll him over onto a sheet.

“We need to get rid of it,” Everett says, and Jasantha shoots him a look that could probably kill him had she turned her siren powers on. She’s still kneeling on the floor next to Joe.

“We’ll take him to the lake and sink him,” she says solemnly, tears like sparkles on her cheeks. “I can visit him sometimes that way.” She makes a low keening sound, as though she’s expressing her grief through sound. My heart breaks for her.

It’s easy to see how much she loved him by how hard she’s grieving.

“I’ll take you,” Everett says, his stoic features softening toward her. “I need to get out of this place anyway. At least for a minute.”

Adaline emerges from the hallway, eyes sharp like tacks and concentration haloed around her as though she’s a powerful scientist who has been locked away, discovering the next great equation.

“We need wolfsbane,” she announces, tapping her fingernail on the marble island to get the family’s attention. “I don’t have any left. Didn’t know I was going to need it. So, I need someone to go out and get some.”

“Where do we find it?” Dom asks as he finishes sweeping the glass into my dustpan.

“There should be some at the local nursery,” she says, looking down at me.

“I’ll go,” Dom offers, setting the broom handle against a barstool.

“I’ll go with you,” Ollie adds, finishing with rolling Joe up tight.

Everett heaves Joe up and throws him over his shoulder. “Let’s go, J,” he directs at Jasantha.

Reluctantly, she pulls herself off the floor and follows her dad out the back door.

Dom takes the dustpan from me as I stand. “I’ll be right back, okay?” he tells me with the question.

“Okay,” I say, unable to hide the despair in my voice. “I’ll work on the sun talismans.”

He kisses me on the lips. “I’ll be right back.”

“Ollie, do you have a piece of jewelry you’d like me to spell?” I ask as he walks by.

He appraises me with a look as calm as the sky at sunset and unclasps his necklace, handing it to me. “Thank you,” he says, grasping my hand in his. There’s a kindness in his voice and a softness in his eyes that isn’t like the others. “He’s gonna be okay,” he says gently for only me to hear.

I nod again and give him a smile before embarking on my journey to gather more jewelry.

They leave out the front door, and Talora and Allison continue cleaning up the blood around the house. Bash is on the floor, picking up the broken bits of glass.

Doing magick and helping the vampires with sun talismans will keep my mind at ease, even if I don’t feel like helping some of them. More so the ones that seem to want me dead—like Hattie.

---