Page 52 of Grave Revelations

On a stone dais in the middle of the room, Rebecca lay motionless. Her arms and legs were secured at either end of the table, and a thin line of blood ran down her cheek.

The sight roused something in Sophia. “Rebecca,” she called weakly.

Rebecca didn’t respond.

Beside the dais, Elizabeth, small in stature but not in presence, dominated the room. She barked orders as night beings moved around them. And there were other creatures in the room, too. By their eyes, they appeared human, but their faces were wrong, skin torn away and sagging in places.

Elizabeth’s head snapped up as she entered, her sharp yellow eyes trained on Sophia. There was something different about Elizabeth from the others, but she couldn’t say what it was. Her aura was bigger, alive in a way the others weren’t, and her eyes glowed brighter, nearly gold in their iridescence.

“Bring her. Bring her quickly,” Elizabeth ordered.

Phoebe and Cassia stepped into the center of the room, dragging Sophia with them. Moisture collected on Sophia’s brow, crystallizing and freezing on her cheeks.

Even in this subdued state, water strained to be near her. Her change hadn’t affected how the water reacted to her, only how her magic intertwined with the element. If she could speak to it, ask it instead of command, could she regain the pure magic she once held?

She collapsed to the floor in a heap as her sisters dropped her at Elizabeth’s feet.

“I'm disappointed.” Elizabeth tsked. “I asked you to bring Rebecca. Instead, you fought at every turn and encouraged her to run.”

Sophia lifted her head, turning to the side, and spit on the ground.

Elizabeth scowled. “No matter. You led me to her all the same and I have another use for you. Sophia, stand.”

To Sophia’s abject horror, she did. Legs moving on strings, she pushed to her feet with a strength she hadn’t known she possessed and stood.

“Good. Now, Sophia, I want you to go to your friend. That’s right, go stand by her.”

Sophia moved mechanically, stopping beside Rebecca.

Rebecca’s eyes were rolled back in her head, and she let out a soft moan when Sophia’s hip bumped her swollen, reddened flesh.

Rebecca must be cold, or perhaps she was beyond feeling. Her bare skin was red in too many places to count, and there were several puncture wounds in her chest and stomach. The trickle of blood near her mouth matched the others on her body: dark, viscous blood seeped from them all.

A buzzing started in Sophia’s head, her mouth going dry.Stop, she pleaded with herself.She’s your friend. The conscious part of her mind fought with everything she had against the hunger zinging through her.

Rebecca groaned again, her head twisting to the side, and several puncture wounds on her neck began to bleed.

Sophia’s mind went blank.

She moved, sinking teeth into soft, warm skin and sucked the shimmering vital essence that was so much sweeter than the other humans.

Chapter 33

Azazel

Azazel dug his fingers into his chest, trying to reach the fading ember inside. She was dying. Dying. And he was stuck in this God-forsaken realm.

He wrapped his fingers around the chair to Samael’s left—crude onyx and blue with a right-side-up triangle bisected by a line—and tore it from the stone, hurling it against the wall.

“Release me, or so help me, I will end you!” he roared, chest heaving.

Samael sighed dramatically as though he were a doting father to an unruly child. “Mahazael, get your brother under control.”

Mahazael, formerly Sariel, rose from his throne, raising placating palms. “Brother, you can save her. Accept your place and go to her.”

Azazel balled his clawed fingers into a fist and punched the Second Prince of Hell in the face. He paced away, not waiting to see if Mahazael would respond. Another stabbing tear in his chest sent him to his knees.

“If she dies, we will be separated for all eternity,” Azazel said, dropping his head into his hands. “Please. Let me go to her.”

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