Page 136 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

Walker discovered a blue jacket—identical to the one the vampire had worn—on one of the dilapidated beds.

“How does she find people to work for her?” Walker mused and continued down the hall. “This is hardly better than our cells.”

“How’d she rope you two into working for her?” Ryder replied.

The High Witch had always been feared, but I had imagined her court to be the picture of regality and justice. I hadn’t imagined a portal to the darkest parts of the past.

“No one knows how old Cordelia is,” Cady said, “but I’m thinking she’s pretty freaking old after seeing her place.”

Some witches stuck to the old ways and lived in the recesses of the world untouched by modern technology, but most covens prided themselves on being able to succeed in the human and the witch world.

How had we allowed ourselves to be led by someone stuck in a time long passed?

The hallway winded, and we checked door after door in hopes of a stairway, but there were only more dingy rooms. There were no tapestries, decorations or anything else that could be used to hide a door. I realized the court was not only hard to find, but it was also a labyrinth to escape.

“Can you sense anything?” I asked Cady.

Though I spoke in hushed tones, my voice was far too loud in the quiet hall.

“There’s something ahead of us,” she said. “It feels like a cache of magic.”

I had been too consumed by Arion’s far-off presence to notice it, but I sensed the magic too after she brought it to my attention.

“Sounds fun,” Walker muttered.

“It might be a good sign,” I suggested. “If there’s a way up, it would probably be guarded.”

The hallway narrowed and sloped downward, toward a metal door that glinted silver in the dim light. Ryder cringed. I yanked on the door’s handle and revealed a weapons room that put the Reids’ to shame.

Machetes, swords, throwing stars, daggers, chains, and arsenal I didn’t have a name for lined the walls and shelves. Though they were made of various materials—silver, obsidian, titanium—magic buzzed around each one.

“Don’t touch anything,” I warned and shot Cady a look. “I mean it. I know how you get around pointy things.”

“There’s another door over there,” Walker said and gestured to the far corner of the room.

I nodded, though I was too short to see over the shelves. Ryder and Walker led the way toward the door, and I took up the rear. We walked through the rows of weaponry, and I wondered if Arion’s distraction might actually allow us to reach him unscathed.

Someone’s gloved hand wrapped around my throat and pressed me against a broad, firm chest. Instinctively, flames sprouted from my hands, but my fire had no effect on my attacker. Cady whirled and gasped. Beyond her, guards in all-black armor and gloves sprang from the shadowy corners of the room and attacked Walker and Ryder.

As I elbowed my assailant in the ribs, Cady summoned a slab of stone from the floor. With a vicious smile, she dropped it on my assailant’s foot. He released me with a grunt, and I launched him across the room with a gust of wind. The blade of a hatchet cut through his thigh and trapped him. He screamed, but I couldn’t summon any guilt.

I paused to study the man. Unlike our vampire guard, he wore black from head to toe, and only his brown eyes were visible through his mask. Magic emanated from him, but not with the wild ferocity of a wolf or the cold chill of a vampire. His power didn’t feel resonate like Walker’s either. This man’s magic was subtler. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t put my finger on who.

A snarl snapped me back into the present. I turned and watched Ryder slash his claws through his attacker’s throat. Blood spouted from the wound, but not the amount I would’ve expected. The man was still able to breathe.

Their clothes must provide some kind of magical protection.

Sparks flew from Walker’s fingertips, but his lightning wasn’t enough to permeate his attacker’s clothes.

“His eyes!” I yelled.

Walker gouged his fingers into the man’s eyes. As lightning struck them, the man screamed and fell to the ground. Smoking holes were all that remained in his sockets.

Walker stared in horror at what he had done, but, with Cadence in front of us, I grabbed his hand and raced for the far door. Turning back wasn’t an option.

Out of the armory, the hall splintered into three directions. Ryder turned to the right, so we followed him. Footsteps pounded behind us. The stone-paved path sloped down, then up, then down again. It curved left, then right. We raced past sparsely spread closed doors, and the footsteps grew louder.

Whatever hunted us, they were quickly catching up. A plan took shape in my mind. I sent a gust of wind behind us, and bodies skidded down the hall. The wind knocked out the nearest lantern’s lights and plunged us into darkness. I reached for the nearest door handle, whispered a quick unlocking spell, and pushed it open. Luckily, my friends followed me wordlessly inside, and I clicked the door shut.

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