Page 41 of The Maestro's Mates
“But—”
“You want her back? You need to prove your commitment.”
“Rick, I’ll do whatever you want. I can join the coven, work for you, whatever you need.” The despair in Justin’s voice made Sebastian’s heart ache.
“Oh, you will.” Sebastian shivered at the crude desire dripping from the man’s tone. “Starting right now. You’re a pretty little thing…”
Something hit the floor. Maybe a chair? Justin cried out, but the outburst quickly came to a strangled stop.
Sebastian wouldn’t let whoever this man was mistreat his mate. His whole body trembled with rage. He didn’tknow what he could do—he didn’t have any supplies to work a spell—but what kind of mate would he be if he allowed this to go on? Assessing the door for a moment, he took a deep breath and kicked. Hard.
The crack that issued forth as it gave way was unnatural. He’d broken open not only the door to the room but some kind of otherworldly power lock. It echoed with a low, demonic hum.
Inside, he found Justin. A clawed hand was wrapped around his throat, and the vampire attached to it dwarfed Justin’s small frame. Sporting a crew cut, the muscular man had a sneer plastered across his face, enhancing the ugly malevolence of his square visage.
The room was in a different location entirely from the hallway behind him. This wasn’t the second floor of an old Bayonne mansion. They were on the ground level now, somewhere in the woods, and the logs making up the walls were aged and deteriorating. He’d never been to this cabin before.
“You aren’t supposed to be here,” the massive vampire growled and tossed Justin to the side. Sebastian flinched at the crunch when Justin’s head hit the wall. “This isn’t for you.”
Before Sebastian could reply, Justin screamed from the other side of the room.
“You’re supposed to be dead, Rick!”
The large man laughed, the sound of it harsh and joyless. “Maybe I am dead. But not so dead I can’t take care of a weak vampire and his powerless witch.”
The calculus of the situation was flying through Sebastian’s brain, and it wasn’t good. Wherever they were, he didn’t even have the most rudimentary ingredients. Therewere other ways to work, but none he was comfortable with. Spellwork with his own blood wasn’t an option, even in a moment this desperate. The consequences of blood magic were too great, and he wouldn’t only be putting himself at risk. He knew some witches used aural components to cast spells, but he… Well, he didn’t have anything that made noise.
Of course, hewasa singer, even if the tradition of his Circle didn’t typically use that method. But he’d ever trained in it. He’d be making this up on the fly.
Sebastian had to try. He swallowed, clearing his throat, before he took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
The people that walkéd in darkness
That walkéd in darkness
The people that walkéd, that walkéd in darkness
Have seen a great light
Have seen a great light!
It was the very first thing that came to Sebastian’s mind. What a ridiculous choice. From Handel’sMessiah, the aria was something Sebastian sang as a teenage bass, playing at being an opera singer. It was a bible verse, and nothing about Sebastian or his magic was Christian in nature. Religious spellwork wasn’t his thing.
But in his worry, his unconscious had started his voice box phonating without any input from his brain, and this is what had spewed out. It was haunting, thrumming with a kind of menace that spoke deeply to Sebastian.
Rick calling him powerless while threatening Justin had awoken a deep, rumbling rage in him.
In a second, the spirits were on Sebastian. His friends,his ambassadors of chaos. Quicker and stronger than they’d ever been before. He wondered if it was due to his singing or because his mate was in danger. But regardless, the unruly wisps flocked to him.
To Sebastian’s eyes, the air was thick with them, although he knew others couldn’t see them. They appeared gray, with sparks of color electricity in their small bodies of spiritual mist and fog, like tiny sentient thunderclouds.
They were whispering to him, so many, all at once.
Need? Let us break. Mischief. Luck.
The chaos spirits weren’t the most intelligent of the entities witches could have an affinity with, but their childlike glee suited Sebastian. He directed them wordlessly, encouraging them toward Rick.
Being a chaos witch was a double-edged sword. He was at the mercy of his fickle spirits. On the other hand, when they were decided, they didn’t hold back.
