Page 4 of Wicked Chains
Soren steps forward, and the slight scent of brimstone and whiskey fills the air.
The stranger straightens, giving Soren an appraising look. "Incubus. Interesting choice of ally, Rose." He gestures lazily, and a sigil appears in the air between them. "But demons are never as powerful as we think."
Soren drops to his knees, gasping. His eyes roll back, and he collapses completely, his chest still rising and falling but his consciousness clearly gone.
"Stop it!" I push past Drake, my fear turning to anger. "What do you want?"
Drake grabs my arm, pulling me back behind him. "Rose, don't?—"
"And the ghost," the stranger says, turning his attention to Drake. He looks at the place where Drake’s hand touches me. “Tragic Mr. Winstead, who is not quite what he pretends to be, either.”
Drake's grip on my arm tightens. "I won't let you hurt her."
The man laughs. "Hurt her? Hurting her is the last thing I intend."
He raises his hand, and a fog begins to form. Drake's body glitches in and out, growing more transparent at the edges.
"No!" I grab for him, but my hands pass through his rapidly fading form. "What are you doing to him?"
"Temporarily relocating him," the man says casually, as if he's discussing the weather. "He'll return once he figures out how to align himself with this plane again. It might take a few hours."
Drake's face is all panic and rage as he disappears entirely, leaving me alone with the stranger and my two incapacitated protectors.
"Now," the man says, stepping over Lucien's paralyzed form, "we can speak without interruption."
I back away until I hit the wall again, my hands scrabbling uselessly. "Stay away from me."
"Rose." He says my name with such familiarity it makes me nauseous. "You have nothing to fear from me. We've waited a very long time for you."
"Who the fuck is ‘we’?" My voice trembles despite my efforts to sound brave.
“Apologies. Where are my manners? My name is Ash. And ‘we’ are the Blood Moon Coven.”
"Why did you kill her?" I demand, trying to piece together the fragments of what I'd seen. "Why kill Abigail?"
“Because that’s what was always meant to happen, Rose. Now everything can become what it should have been.”
My head is spinning, and not just from whatever dimensional whiplash I'm experiencing. This guy is standing here spouting cryptic bullshit, and meanwhile the only allies I have are either paralyzed or vanished into thin air. None of this is making any goddamn sense. “So you knew that Abigail was the source of the Accord, and you wanted to break it?”
Ash smiles. “No, not break it. The blood oath endures.” He gestures to my arm, where the blood mark is. “I wanted to take back what was owed.”
"What do you mean, take back what was owed?" My voice cracks on the last word.
"Your family’s connection to natural magic was promised to us first, Rose. Before Abigail's betrayal. Before she sold out to the Crescent Moon." Ash steps closer. "The Blood Moon Coven had a prior claim. We were allies, partners even. But she chose survival over loyalty."
"That was three hundred years ago! Whatever beef you had with her doesn't involve me."
"Oh, but it does." His hand reaches out, and I move away slightly, but he only touches the wall beside my head. “You're everything, Rose. And now you’re mine.”
Two
Rose
I wake up to the morning light streaming through my room’s windows, and the memory of Ash's words in my head. My door is locked, and I know this because I spent half the night rattling the handle and trying to conjure up enough magic to blow it up, but no luck. Kinda ironic that I’m supposed to be so powerful that not just one, but two, evil covens want my magic. And yet I can’t even break myself out of a locked room. I understand now why my mother didn’t like magic, didn’t want me to have it. Why she bound mine and hoped it would never break free. It really is a curse.
And now the Blood Moon Coven has taken over Serpentine Academy without firing a single shot, and I'm their prisoner. Or a prize. Or whatever the hell Ash thinks I am. All I know is that yesterday I watched my ancestor die centuries ago, and today I'm trapped in a dorm room wondering what’s going to happen next.
After Ash appeared and took out Lucien, Drake, and Soren like they were nothing more than annoying flies, he'descortedme back to my room. And by escorted, I mean he perp-walked me downstairs and wouldn’t tell me anything else. Ash's cold smile never wavered as we passed a group of black-clad strangers who nodded at him with respect, and not a little fear.
