The words of my spell echoed as clearly as they had the night I’d first spoken them.
Blood of hell, blood of night
I call on the darkness to show us the light
May evil and malice and violence intended
Return to its hosts uprooted, upended
Dark Goddess I bend, Dark Goddess I bow
Hear my petition, and thusly I vow
My service is yours, by blood and by blade
Until my last breath shall deem it unmade.
That night, my allies and I—my sisters among them—had been trapped in a prison compound hidden in the Olympic National Forest. We’d managed to free the prisoners—dozens of witches and other supernaturals captured by human hunters and the corrupt fae they were working for—but soon our enemies surrounded us, outgunning us four to one. They were hybrids—nearly unstoppable beasts with the combined powers of vampires, shifters, and genetically altered super-monsters we couldn’t even identify.
Even with our own formidable team of supernatural heavy-hitters, there was no way we could’ve survived their relentless attack.
In a last, desperate move, I petitioned Melantha for the strength and magick to turn the tides. She answered my call at once, and thanks to her, we earned our victory—first retaking the compound, then finishing the job last night at the Battle of Blackmoon Bay.
The battle for our lives and our home. For everything we held dear.
I glanced down at my boots, the last of the blood soaking into the dirt, along with any hope I had of avoiding this disastrous mission.
If I refused her, everything I was able to accomplish through the spell would be undone. The city of Blackmoon Bay would fall. My sisters—the family I’d only just discovered—would die. And everything we’d fought so hard to save would just…
It would end.
A surge of renewed strength shot through my limbs, my blood simmering with magick.Mymagick.
“My service is yours,” I said now, repeating the vow I’d made that night. “By blood and by blade. Until my last breath shall deem it unmade.”
“Rise, Daughter of Darkwinter.”
I got to my feet and met her gaze once more, hoping like hell we were done with the Big Goddess Energy show. I’d seen enough of her scary magnificence to fill my nightmares for the next decade, thanks.
Her dark wings fluttered in the breeze, and the same rot and ruin I’d smelled in the sanctuary assaulted my senses. I tried not to recoil.
“Are you prepared to accept this task?” she asked. “To see it through by any means necessary?”
“I am,” I said firmly. I was in it to win it now, no going back. With what I hoped was a confident smile, I asked, “What must I do?”
Melantha extended her arms. One claw held my weapons. The other clutched a glass vial about the size of a tube of lipstick.
After re-securing my stakes and blades, I took the vial and peered inside. Magick swirled beneath the glass, red smoke shot through with threads of black and gold. It was oddly mesmerizing.
“Keradoc dwells in the dark fae realm of Midnight,” she said. “This portal spell will take you there, but you won’t survive it alone. There’s a man in your home realm—also fae—one rumored to have escaped Midnight alive. You must ask for his assistance.”
My heart stalled. All the confidence I’d conjured up evaporated in an instant.
The ground spun out from beneath my feet, and I fell back to my knees, my lungs struggling to suck in air.
Deep inside, beneath all the magick and fire, behind all the parts of myself I’d sharpened into weapons and hardened into shields, a tiny box lay hidden, bolted with iron chains and encased in cement. That box held my darkest, most private pain. All the ghosts that had the power to eat through my very soul.
I’d sealed them away years ago, vowing to never open that box again, no matter how often it called to me. And though it still rattled inside on occasion, for the most part, I’d kept it on strict lockdown.
