Page 57 of First Bite
Chapter Twenty-Two
Iwoke up in a daze. I had no idea how long I’d been out, but Boots was growling as he hovered over my neck, protecting me from whatever energy had attacked me and made me pass out.
“Thank you, Boots,” I said to the fierce-looking tabby as I sat up. “Thank God you were here to help me. I need to find the guys. Come with me.”
I pulled on a robe, and Boots followed me out. I heard yelling in the living room, and as scared as I was to walk into a vampire confrontation, the darkness that seemed to be looming over me was more frightening. I skidded into the living room and stopped when I saw all the vamps standing around in some sort of standoff. My guys were more vamped out than I’d ever seen them.
“Where is the sister?” Logan demanded.
“What the hell?” I said as I came further into the room and saw a black pile of ash at Braden’s feet. He was flexed and positioned to kill anything that approached him. It was probably the reason why the others stood there frozen, staring at my vampires in fear.
“Braden found the witch and killed her and her little vamp buddy, Ben,” Zac announced. “No questions asked. Typical Braden fashion. Now, we have her fucking witchy sister to deal with.” Zac was annoyed, but I could tell I had shown up in the middle of interrogations.
“I don’t give a fuck about her sister. She’s as good as fucking dead when I find her too!” Braden growled. “Now, you’re all going to tell us exactly what happened tonight. Why was Elle acting like she was possessed?”
Cal eyed Braden and the others cautiously. “Because she was. The witch you killed—our master—is known as the Grove Witch. You will regret what you’ve done to her. She is one of the most powerful witches—”
Braden vamped toward Cal and grabbed him by the throat. “Was!Shewasone of the most powerful witches,” Braden said in a menacing growl only inches away from the guy’s face. “Don’t you dare threaten me, you sick fuck. Now, what did she want from us?”
Cal laughed and spit in Braden’s face. I thought I was going to watch my vampires mutilate these vamps right after that, but Boots made a screeching meow that stopped Braden.
Braden looked back at the smug vamp he held by the throat. “You’re lucky that cat has better senses than all of us combined.” He shoved the vamp back. “Sit the fuck down.”
“You’re too late,” Jessa spoke up. “She already knows.” She looked to me and her dark eyes trapped me with their stare. “She’s already enacted the curse and will have you soon enough, Life Blood.”
“What the hell do you mean, she already enacted a curse?” I said, terrified that the looming darkness was what Jessa was referring to.
“Descendant of Lady Morgana,yourblood is what they’ve searched for,” Jordan said with a sinister grin. “The coven has been waiting, and now your bigstrongimmortals can’t protect you anymore. It is time for us to go and prepare.”
Jessa closed her eyes and clutched the locket that hung around her neck. She muttered a string of incoherent words under her breath, and in the blink of an eye, she and her friends were gone.
I stood there slackjawed at what I’d just witnessed. Watching people disappear into thin air was not exactly something I’d seen before.
“Come here, baby,” Logan said as he vamped over to me and pulled me into his arms.
He was the only one of my guys who didn’t have rage oozing off of him. He kissed the top of my head. “Some crazy shit you’ve had to contend with tonight,” he said squeezing me. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully. “What do we do now? What if the other witch comes for us?”
“We stay on guard,” Braden responded.
“That fucking witch was here, and we didn’t know shit until your cat stopped her from possessing Elle,” Zac interrupted.
“What do you think Boots picked up on?” Cole said. “That cat did something to snap all of you out of the spells you were under.”
“It was bad enough to have Enzo on our asses,” Logan said. “Now, Braden just torched a goddamn witch—God knows how powerful that spawn of Satan was—and her minions just used magic to vanish. Let’s assume that the surviving sister is ancient, much more powerful, and ready to burn all of us.”
I felt dizzy and like I was going to barf. “I need to sit down.”
“She’s as pale as a ghost,” Zac said. My eyes closed and my lids were so heavy I couldn’t reopen them if I tried.
“Elle? Elle! What the fuck?” Cole snapped.
I heard Boots let out that screeching meow, and suddenly I felt as though I were floating in darkness. Instantly, my eyes popped open, and my entire body had been transported into a dark room lit by candles.
“What the hell?” I tried to move, but the table I was laying on had some force keeping me strapped down. “Help!” I screamed, hearing my voice echo through the brick chamber.
“Quiet, descendant of Morgana,” a soft voice cooed. “You’re confused, but that will be resolved soon enough.”
I tried to look to locate the owner of the voice and noticed robed creatures chanting as they entered the room.
“What thefuckis this?”
“Quiet,” the same voice chimed. “I just need to perform a spell to see if my sister was successful with our plan to have you impregnated by the Banners. I cannot allow my sister to have perished in vain.”
“No! No, no, no!”
“Oh, yes,” she said with a laugh. “You have no idea how long we waited for fate to deliver your blood to the most powerful vampires in existence. Those four immortals will give us what we’ve waited decades for. The time has finally come, now silence yourself. I must focus on your womb.”
Whatever force was holding me down got heavier, making it hard to breathe. I closed my eyes and hoped with everything that I was that I could somehow mentally reach my vampires with our newly-sealed bond. I had no idea where the hell I was, or what this witch had planned for me, but I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
