Page 84 of The Most Wanted Witch

“I want to do it tomorrow, early, before anyone knows we’re gone.” I toyed with the fringe on the throw blanket beside me. “Just us. That’s it. If things go badly, I don’t want to worry about anyone else getting caught in the crossfire.”

“It’s not going to be easy.”

That sounded like the understatement of the decade. The way Lou had laid it out, I’d be lucky to make it through the first part of what was coming.

Hawk stood.

“You think it’ll work?” I asked before he could leave, hating how desperate that had come out.

He took a step toward me. “You’ll make it.”

“How do you know?”

He leaned down, his lips crashing over mine, his presence swallowing me whole the way it always did when he touched me.

I was breathless when he broke off a few seconds later.

Hawk cupped my face with a firm grip. I couldn’t break away from the intensity of his stare. “I can’t stop you from doing this, but I’ll be damned if I let you die.”

He walked out of the room, leaving me stunned for different reasons.

* * *

It wasn’t yet dawn when I made my way downstairs in what I considered my best combat gear of black boots with steel toes, leather pants, and a jacket that wasn’t very warm but didn’t have any bulk to slow me down.

Hawk was waiting for me, looking pretty kick-ass himself.

“You ready?” he asked as I walked into the room.

Sleep hadn’t come to me until well into the night, but my tank was fueled with adrenaline. From the calmness that had settled over me, it seemed my engine ran cleaner on that stuff than sleep and good food. It was something to think about in the future. Or had I become adrenaline adapted? Either way, I was about as steady as you could get.

“Yeah. I am. Let’s go catch some evil.”

33

We walked to the spot, the place we’d always felt Dread the most. It wasn’t there, but Lou had told us how to lure it out.

I held my palm out to Hawk, silently asking for his knife.

“You’re sure?” he asked.

“As sure as anyone can be, given the circumstances.”

He reached for the blade at his side and handed it to me then grabbed my hand. “You just need a little. Don’t deplete yourself so much that you don’t have enough to finish.”

I nodded and steadied myself. He was right. I couldn’t mess this part up. I was about to offer up a sacrifice to whatever the forces that ruled Xest were. I would say the words and then pierce my skin right above my heart. If I did it right, it would flow magic. If I did it wrong, it would flow blood. If it went really wrong, it would drain all the magic I had, and this wasn’t the worst part of the plan.

Blade in hand, I said the verse I’d only learned yesterday.

“With this blade, I offer homage. I offer life; I offer payment. Do my will. Grant my wish; fulfill my destiny.”

My chest grew warm, tingling.

I tugged my shirt down to right below my collarbone and dragged the point of the blade over my flesh. I cut just deep enough, but hopefully not too deep. Apparently slicing yourself open was a delicate thing.

I didn’t stop until the line, which was red at the moment, was the approximate length of my fist, or heart. The red that seeped out, which I was sure meant I’d blundered, slowly lost its color, first turning clear, almost like I oozed aloe, until it began to shift. That was when things got really interesting. As I stared down at my chest, the clear jelly substance began to take on a tint of pink, then blue, silver, turquoise, until it resembled the rainbow of my magic. As it shifted, it lost its gel-like appearance, thinning into vapor and lifting away from me in a steady stream.

Hawk gave me a nod as I stood, waiting. Just as Lou had said, it didn’t take long to get results. A trickle of unease settled over me. I could feel Dread nearing.

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