Page 110 of Ruthless Ends

He pushes to his feet, his movements sluggish. According to Kirby’s estimates, we should have another hour or so before the potion’s effects wear off. Not that he’d be able to get out of the circle either way, but there are a few pieces of this spell that will get tricky if he has the strength to fight back.

“Roe,” Nathan slurs, and her nickname on his tongue burns away any lingering sympathy. “What is this?” He turns to the guys, his nose wrinkling as he realizes they’re mostly wolves, not even bothering to plead with Avery or Kirby, not bothering to look at them at all, like they’re not even there.

“Get the fires started,” I say.

Three points around the circle alight at once, one in front of Feddei, Daniel, and Kirby, the three of us who will center the spell, so to speak, as I manipulate the energy.

Nathan shrinks away from the flames, his gaze swinging to me as he realizes who’s running this.

“Does your boyfriend know what you’re up to?” he practically spits. “They’ll burn you for this. All of you.”

I dig the bags Cam left me from my pocket and step outside the circle’s boundary. “Maybe. But you’ll burn first.” I toss Cam’s blood and hair onto the pile of ingredients beneath Nathan’s feet, and the concoction immediately goes up in flames.

He curses and lurches back, hitting the barrier of the circle again, then throws himself to the side, trying to get away from the heat of the fires, but they surround him and there’s nowhere to go.

“I need his wrist,” I say, my voice coming out hoarse.

Avery seizes his arm without hesitation, wrenching it the side until he cries out, and presents the inside of his wrist for me. He meets her eyes, the glow from the fires flickering across his face.

“Please,” he says quietly.

But that just makes Avery tighten her grip until her nails break skin. “Funny. I remember saying the same thing to you.”

She looks at me over her shoulder, giving a nod as the go-ahead, and right where my blood deal mark had been on the inside of my wrist, I position the rusty nails and hammer them in until they cross each other in an X.

If he screams, I don’t hear it. But his mouth opens, so I think he must.

The rain pounds into the earth around us, violent and thrumming with energy as it’s if a living entity bearing witness to this event. Part of me wishes I was still the host of the blood deal, then I’d be able to feel it transfer to Nathan before he dies so I’d know the spell is successful. What must Cam be feeling right now?

Using the wind, Kirby hovers the vials of blood over the fire, and Monroe adds the oil, sending plumes of thick, black smoke into the air.

A chill washes over me, so much colder than the rain, like the surrounding shadows are sinking through my skin. Then a current hums, starting at the soles of my feet and shooting up my spine. It almost steals my breath, the sheer power of it, howendlessit feels. No matter how strong my blood magic is, I could always feel when I started pushing it too far, when I needed to ease back. But now the magic feels like it would never run dry, would never stop if I asked it not to.

“His mouth next,” I say, and a shiver runs through me despite the heat of the fires.

More, the magic hisses inside of me.More.

Daniel stares at me for a moment, like he’s arguing with himself. Burns and blisters coat Nathan’s face, and he barely fights as Daniel finally steps forward, grabs him roughly by the jaw, and forces his mouth open. I pour the snake venom onto his tongue, and Daniel forces his jaw closed until he swallows, no matter how much he coughs and tries to wrench his face free.

“Don’t let him go,” I say, grabbing the wax next, letting it mingle with my blood as it melts and drips onto his mouth, sealing it.

I don’t know what it says about me that this, more than anything we’ve done here, shakes me to my core. Maybe it’s my body remembering better than my mind the feeling of having something forced into your body and your lips sealed closed.

“Val?” Monroe prompts, bringing me back to the present as Nathan writhes on the ground, hands futilely trying to free his mouth. Even if he claws the wax off, it won’t matter. The magic has sunk deeper than that.

“What next?” asks Avery, her eyes shining in the light of the fire like she’s eager for it.

Nathan lets out a noise that doesn’t sound human against his sealed mouth, coughing and sputtering as he climbs to his hands and knees. Blood runs out of his nose, his ears. I force myself to watch, to not look away. I don’t get to be responsible for thisandturn a blind eye.

More. More.

Shapes form in the black smoke as it rises toward the sky, creatures with teeth and claws and features twisted beyond recognition. It could be my eyes playing tricks on me, but somehow I know in my bones that it’s not.

More. More.

The cells in my body vibrate faster, the energy churning higher. The darkness calls to me, wrapping its arms around me in a cooling, velvet-soft embrace. My eyelids feel heavy, and I fight to keep them open, Nathan’s next cry echoing around us.

More. More.

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