Page 123 of Blood and Trouble

I didn’t know what we’d find on the other side. Perhaps Lycan was in pieces, mutilated by perverse magic. Perhaps we wouldn’t be able to stop it, no matter what we tried.

“Remember the plan,” Ava said. “I go for Lycan. You cut down anyone in the way.”

I took a deep breath, wondering how much longer we had on Bridge’s countdown, before steadying myself on one foot and kicking open the doors with the other.

Vampires stood around a white circle on the ground, all clothed in pale capes with hoods drawn over their faces. They chanted in low, drawling whispers while five witches held their hands up, swirls of mist and light beaming from their palms. Evelyn stood in the center with her arms stretched up, her head back on her shoulders, her mouth open as if awaiting divine sustenance. Black veins protruded from her neck and disappeared under her clothes, seeming to undulate in time with the vampires’ chants. I found Moose and Locust first, kneeling around the inside of the circle, their wrists bound, their mouths gagged, pools of blood under their legs.

Lycan sat opposite Locust, a piece of cloth around his mouth, and the sight of his beaten, bloody flesh sent my wolf into a rampage. Snarling, I bared my fangs and sliced at the closest vampire, sending him tumbling to the ground. Ava sprinted toward Lycan, but the commotion seemed to wake Evelyn from her trance.

“Ahh, Avalon,” she said, dull crimson eyes settling on my mate. “Good of you to join us.”

“We don’t have much time, ma’am,” one of the witches muttered. “The sacrifice is here. We need to move fast.”

Fuck. That.

Evelyn nodded, and I’d just been about to descend on these motherfuckers like a wild beast when a hard kick to my knees sent me to the ground. My face slammed into the hardwood, my vision blacking out as ringing silenced my ears. My machete flew out of my hands, skittering out of reach. I pushed the floor away and tried to stand, to shove the weight on my back off me, but it did no good. Two vampires grabbed one arm, two more grabbed the other. I struggled against them, and I would have broken free. But one of the witches came closer and grabbed my face, holding my gaze up to hers.

My bond to Lycan went taut, then wrenched. Every muscle in my body froze. My magic seized. She held my bond in her fist and with it, my free will.

No. NO!

Fingers twisted in my hair and yanked my head up, forcing me to watch Ava walk into the circle. She dragged her feet like she was being compelled, like the magic had taken over her willpower.

“Watch what happens, Wolf,” the vampire holding my head said. “Watch as we bleed her dry. Your mate, too. Maybe, if you’re lucky, we’ll kill you once this is done.”

My eyes burned as tears streaked down my cheeks. My wolf bucked against the mental hold, snarling and struggling to break free. It couldn’t have come to this; I wouldn’t accept it. Everything I’d done. Everything I’d been through. All of it boiled down to helplessly watching as some rotting vampire used her crony witches to tear apart my mates.

And I could do nothing…nothing…to stop it.

CHAPTER 29

Ava

Come to me.

The voice whispered in my head like a siren song, willing me forward despite my worry about Poe. My wolf growled and bucked against the foreign presence, but I had to comply. Magic wrapped around my muscles and tightened until I did what it wanted, until I crossed the boundary into the circle and stood in front of Evelyn.

“There she is,” she muttered, brushing a long finger down my cheek.

Up close, she looked terrible. Her pale skin had gone nearly translucent, the dark lines under her flesh moving and pulsing with the chants echoing around us. Her teeth were black, and her crimson eyes were now the color of old blood, rotten and decayed.

“I can see why they love you,” Evelyn said. “You are quite beautiful.”

I struggled against the compulsion, screaming inside my soul, wrenching the energy until it coiled tighter. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

“Fight it,” my wolf snarled. “Come back. Get up. Move.”

“Ava!” Poe’s distant voice slammed against my mind like a shout through water. I vaguely remembered him being important. That what we were doing was imperative, but the supernatural essence overwhelmed that sensation. “Ava, snap out of it!”

“For the record, I am sorry for what I have to do,” Evelyn said. “But if you don’t struggle, it shouldn’t be painful.”

Stay still, the voice hissed. Be still. Be strong. Be still. Be strong.

It repeated the mantra, and after the last few weeks and everything I’d endured, I wanted to listen. I wanted to lie down and rest, to find some peace at the edge of this hellscape. Didn’t I deserve that? Hadn’t I paid my dues?

Yes, rest, the voice said again.

“Ava! Stay with me. Don’t you dare go under. Fight it off. You’re so much stronger than this. Fight them!” Poe’s voice came again, but the mystical chanting and the voice’s slow seduction drowned it out. Everything grew hazy. My head was light and buzzy. It would be so easy to give over, to let them have me, to do what they wanted for the sake of ease and relaxation.