But I...I would fight for Mike. Because he was my friend. And I would do whatever it took to free him from the mess I'd created by making myself available to this mother fucker. All because I wanted a chance to flex my powers and get a little recognition.
The dagger burned against the skin of my lower back. But it wasn't ready. Fighting down my panic, I desperately tried to think of something he wouldn't be able to refuse. "Alice," I told him. "I'll give you Alice."
The djinn's eyes shot to my face. "Alice," he deadpanned. "My niece."
"Yes," I said, my voice gaining strength again. "I'll bring her to you."
He was still. So still I took a breath to beat back a wave of nervousness. "By what means?"
"By whatever means I have to use." I expected the surge of guilt that came as soon as the words left my mouth. What I didn't expect was the sense of loss that rose up within me now that the offer was on the table. We'd never really been friends, Alice and I, and honestly, I'd never liked her. She'd always been so sweet. So innocent. A brown noser. The exact opposite of myself. She'd always been around at family events and coven meetings and that, but she was never really a big part of my life.
But serving her up to the djinn...it wasn't sitting well with me.
However, I was running out of options. And maybe it would buy me enough time to figure something else out. But first I had to convince him this was the way to go. "It's what you came here for to begin with, right? To recruit your family? Well, I can help you with that. You've lost Alex, he'll never leave Kenya, but Alice...his sister...her I can get. But only if you release Mike from all of this and agree that he's off limits. He has no powers. No magic. He's of no use to you." I took a breath. "Agree to my terms and I'll bring you your niece."
"You would risk the wrath of your coven. Trade your cousin's life for your friend's."
In the coming darkness, I couldn't read him. Had no clue what he was thinking. "Yes. For you, I would do that."
He looked down at the sacred ground between us. I thought maybe he was smirking, but I couldn't really tell. "And what about yourself, Angel? What do you want out of this for yourself?"
"I want to be free of you," I told him without hesitation.
Tilting his head back, he studied the sky again.
He was playing with me. I could feel it. He wasn't going to go for my deal. Anger suddenly swept through me and I took a step toward him, sucking air in through my teeth as the dagger wiggled with the movement, searing my skin. "I'll bring you Alice! It's what you wanted! So, set me free!"
"And what of her brother, Alex?"
Immediately, I shook my head. "That's impossible. There's no way I could control him. And he's mated. Death itself couldn't keep him from her now."
He was silent for a long time as he studied me. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, digging into the earth. "Does family mean nothing to you, witch?"
The air around me thickened and thinned, swirls of power brushing my cheeks and hands, but I didn't dare take my eyes off of the djinn. "I've never really had much of a family," I told him honestly. "Not close, anyway."
"I had a brother," he told me. "We were very close when we were younger. And then he betrayed me over a woman. A witch." He paused, lost in the past. "I never forgave him."
Yes, Alex had filled all of us in on the history. I felt like he was waiting for me to say something. "I'm sorry."
He toed the dirt with his foot. "Are you, though? Do you truly understand what it feels like to put your love, yourtrust, into someone, only to have them throw it in your face?"
Actually, I did. "Yes, I do." Adrenaline rushed through my veins. He was fucking playing with me. The air became so full of malice I started to breathe through my mouth in an effort to get more oxygen.
"And yet, you're doing this exact thing to my darling Alice? How do you think that will make her feel?"
He was fucking crazy. He was never going to consider my deal. "I'm just...trying...to show you...that I'm loyal..."
"Bullshit!"
He was suddenly right in front of me, his hand around my throat. I coughed and gagged as he lifted me with one arm until only the tips of my toes scraped the ground. I tried to pull his hand away, but he was too strong, his magic too powerful.
"You're standing here in the middle of an empty cemetery sacrificing your family to save your own pathetic skin," he ground out. "And that of your friend. A HUMAN! I should kill him, right now."
"NO!" Tears filled my eyes and ran down my face. I could barely draw air. "Please!"
But he only smiled.
Without releasing me, he lifted his other hand. From the corner of my eye, I saw him begin to clench his fist.
