Page 1 of The Blood Witch

Prologue

FIVE YEARS PREVIOUSLY

Death comes in many forms.

Death can be the creeping cold of a winter’s night when you have no home to keep you warm. Death can be slow starvation, each day leaving you weaker and weaker until you’re simply too hollow to go on. Death can be a violent monster, a familiar face you once loved that masked something truly evil.

And death can come from a single mistake.

Feet pounding against the pavement, running as fast as she could, Vee knew she was going to die. Her breaths came in ragged gasps as she pushed herself to go even faster, praying to any deity who might be listening for an extra burst of speed. It didn’t matter that her heart felt like it might explode, didn’t matter that her leg muscles burned so much she thought they might give out at any second; they had no choice but to run.

Run or die.

Jayce was slowing down already. Barely nine years old, he was even younger than Vee, and his short legs couldn’t keep up. Maybe if he hadn’t spent so many years surviving off scraps and stolen food, he wouldn’t have been so stunted. Maybe then he could have kept up withher. But there wasn’t ever enough to go around. Even with Vee sharing what she could, it was never enough. It wasn’t his fault…

Even if he was the reason that they got caught.

“Come on, Jayce!” Vee shrieked at him, looking back over her shoulder to see him struggling. The men were coming, closing in behind them. She could hear their shouts, hear their feet heavy on the gravel. They were so close now. Too close. “Hurry up!”

The extra two years she had on him were enough. Still a kid, sure, but Vee’s legs were long and built for running. If she were alone, she could have escaped them easily. If she were alone, they never would have gotten caught stealing.

Behind her, Jayce’s foot hit a rock at the wrong angle, and he stumbled, his ankle twisting as he fell forward with a pained howl.

No, no, no, Vee thought, panicked, skidding to a stop, eyes locked on the entrance of the alley behind them. She rushed back, grabbing Jayce’s arm and hauling him upright, but it was too late.

Three men rounded the corner, looking nowhere near as winded as Vee and Jayce were. Of course not. They were plump, pampered with food and excess while she and Jayce were barely keeping themselves alive. Vee pulled on Jayce’s arm, trying to pull him to his feet, but his ankle twisted again, and he fell back to the ground with a grunt.

“There you are, you little thieves,” one of the men shouted, advancing. Males from the Witch faction weren’t nearly as scary as real Witches, but you didn’t need to have power over the elements to hurt someone. You didn’t need to control Earth or Air or Fire or Water to break someone’s neck.

Her mouth dry with fear, Vee tried one last time to get Jayce to stand, but already knew it was a lost cause. It was too late now, anyway. The men were already here, surrounding them. They’d lost their chance to escape.

She could still run.Shouldrun. She knew the streets of the Eternal City like the back of her hand. She could easily lose them if she ran now. Jayce was the one who’d gotten them caught, Jayce was the one who’d messed up picking a Witch’s pocket, whose hands hadn’t been quick or skilled enough to stop him from getting noticed. She could leave him here to deal with the consequences on his own.

That was the first rule in their little gang of strays: Don’t get caught. But Jayce swore he’d been practicing, swore he was ready. And everything had been going so well until…

Too late. Too late to run now, even if she were to abandon him. Still gasping for air, Vee realized she had waited too long to decide. She and Jayce would take the fall for his mistake together.

One man reached out and grabbed Vee by her hair, pulling her away from Jayce hard enough to hurt. She shrieked, kicking out at them, but he just laughed. Laughed like she was nothing. Laughed as she swung her arms and kicked, her fists and feet hitting nothing but air. Laughed at how small she was, how weak she was.

She was nothing to them. They were nothing. Just two kids no one cared about. And now no one was going to stop these men from exacting whatever punishment they saw fit.

Jayce didn’t look at them as they approached. He looked at Vee, terror in his eyes. Young. He was so young. He knew what would come next. He knew they would hurt him.

Help, his eyes pleaded.Help me, please.

Vee fought and struggled, spitting and cursing as she thrashed, but the man holding her just shook her by the hair, and it hurt so badly she screamed. She was too small and too skinny to do anything to them. Jayce needed her help, needed her to protect him, but she was just as malnourished and helpless as he was.

“Where’s my coin purse, you little shit?” the man asked, advancing toward where Jayce lay on the ground. Jayce tried to scramble away but was quickly pushed back down to the pavement.

They wouldn’t find the coin purse, not on Jayce anyway. Vee had dropped everything they’d managed to pickpocket that day as soon as they’d been caught. She’d abandoned it all in an alley trashcan where another one of their gang could find it. Jayce’s brother had taught them that little trick. That way, if you ever get caught, you don’t have the evidence on you. But more importantly, the gang still gets the money. Even if you don’t come back alive, at least they’ll get to eat.

Jayce’s brother had been clever like that. But clever wasn’t enough to keep you alive in their world. Clever didn’t stop Jayce’s brother from getting caught one too many times. Didn’t stop him from being beatento death in an alley just like this one after he broke their first, most important rule.

Don’t get caught.

“He doesn’t have it!” Vee shouted at them, knowing it was futile. They wouldn’t listen, not to her.

Jayce screamed when the first kick landed. It caught him in the chest, right against his ribs. He screamed again when the next kick hit the small of his back.

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