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“Shannon cast a spell to protect me,” she says with an ugly grin. “I am responsible for the king’s death, and when the witches kill Jesse, I’ll be queen.”
“What makes you think they won’t kill you, too, Jasmine?” I shout, my anger overruling my good sense. “The whole point of this mission is to wipe out the royal family and eliminate its power, right?”
“They wouldn’t dare. I’m––”
Her words cut off as her head drops to the ground and tumbles forward a few feet. Erik materializes behind her body just as it, too, falls to the ground. Steph screams, but before I can react, Shannon leaps forward, grabbing my free hand. Then, she grabs Steph’s, forming a circle.
Tamelen and Hyacinth vanish, leaving Erik twisting around in search of them. Shannon chants some foreign words as I try unsuccessfully to rip my hand from her grasp. Erik moves toward us, but seems to come up against an invisible barrier. His fist bangs against nothing, and his mouth moves soundlessly as he yells for Steph and me.
“Eden!”
I hear Jesse’s voice behind me, but time grinds to a halt as the edges of my vision darken. Steph’s grip on my hand slackens, and I hold it tightly despite the weakness filling my body. The alley starts to spin around me, and I hear Jesse call my name one more time before everything goes black.
39
NO NEED FOR NAME CALLING
The first thing that registers in my brain is the cold, hard stone beneath me. My eyes blink rapidly as my eyes try to focus, but everything continues to look blurry as my head spins with dizziness. Giving up for the moment, I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths.
As the dizziness fades, I push myself up into a sitting position and slowly open my eyes. My blurry surroundings slowly slip into focus, but I can’t make sense of them. Four stone walls enclose the tiny room I’m in. There’s a blanket on the floor in the corner next to a gallon jug filled with what I can only assume is water and a small bucket.
“What the fuck?” I murmur, then slowly push myself to my hands and knees.
Dizziness overtakes me again, and I breathe through it for a few moments before I feel solid enough to stand. Looking around again, I spot a solid metal door with a small window covered by a metal grate. Moving forward on shaky legs, I discover there’s no doorknob or latch to open it. Pressing my weight against it, I give it a push, but it doesn’t budge.
“Hello?” I call out, my voice weak and cracked. “Is anyone there?”
“Eden?”
“Steph? Is that you?”
“Thank the fucking Lord,” she calls back. “I thought I was locked up down here by myself.”
“Do you know where we are?”
“I have no clue. I woke up in this dirty cell a little while ago. I called out, but no one has answered.”
What little relief I felt at not being completely alone vanishes as it occurs to me that this could be a trick. It could be Shannon pretending to be Steph again just to fuck with me.
“Steph?”
“Yeah?”
“Who did I use as a muse for Sebastian Drake?”
Only Steph knows I modelled the hero of my vampire series after my lit professor in college. Well, Steph, and the professor, himself. Apparently, he read it, then emailed me to see if I’d like to role play some of the scenes in the book even though he had a wife and three kids.
A chuckle rings out, but the sound is too deep and ugly to have come from Steph. A figure steps into view on the other side of the door, her familiar face twisted into a sneer.
“I guess you’re just too smart for me,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Shannon,” I breathe. “Where’s Steph? What have you done with her?”
“What I would’ve done years ago if our stupid mother hadn’t hidden her from us. I took her power as my own and snapped her neck. She’s dead.”
Horror gushes through me as the blood drains from my face. “You’re lying.”
Shannon shrugs, replying, “Believe me or not. I don’t really care.”
