AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I brought what you asked for,” she said. “Now give me what I need, Esme. We had a deal. Tell me where she is.”
Esme turned, arching a thin black eyebrow at my sister. “I must examine the prize. If she proves worthy, only then will you have your payment.”
Her voice was smooth as velvet, but I got the uneasy sense that a monster lurked beneath the surface of her skin. She took a step towards me and my stomach roiled. Dark energy oozed from her pores, the air around her tasted like rotten eggs on my tongue.
Shifting, I sat with my back against the tree and met her probing gaze. “I’m too damn tired for this. Who the hell are you?”
Esme’s lips turned up into a smile, flashing her yellow teeth between them. “Feisty and foolish just like your mother, I see.”
A stone dropped into the pit of my stomach. No one had ever compared me to my parents. I knew so little of them, but there was no way her knowledge came from a pleasant encounter. Nothing about this woman screamed pleasant. She belonged in a James Wan movie.
“Stand, child.” The witch extended her long thin fingers from inside her coat and a flash of green energy rolled over her pointed black nails. A ball of light crackled in the air, and then shot across the clearing in the blink of an eye. It hit my chest and the air evaporated in my lungs. My throat burned with acid reflux, every muscle in my body seized, and then the pain was gone.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Poppet’s cuff glitter with red light. Her voice whispered in the back of my mind.I can’t save you from her, but I can at least mask the pain for you. I remember how it feels.
“I’m no one’s prize. If you want me to do something, then ask,” I snarled at the creature in front of me as I willed my thanks through the bond in the bracelet. I could only hope Poppet could feel my gratitude. Clearing my throat, I squared my shoulders. “Who the hell are you? What the hell do you want from us?”
Esme’s lips twitched, finding humor in my attitude. “You have power. That’s for sure, but I can feel the suppression spell on your skin. My child is not as clever as she thinks.”
A secondary green spark struck Poppet in the chest. She cringed, and an unseen force lifted her from the ground by the neck. Her toes skimmed the ground as she clawed at her throat. The power flickered around her body, and she was carried across the open ground in our direction.
I leapt forward. “Stop it! You’re hurting her!”
Poppet’s body dropped at Esme’s feet and the fae witch narrowed her glare in my direction. “Is that affection? Even after she killed those girls? After she shot your lover? How touching.”
I took another step, tempted to run for Poppet’s side, but instead, I whirled on the woman and charged at her. “You sour bitch. She’s not your daughter. She’s a Devereaux. My sister.Mine. So, out with it. Tell me what you want and leave us both alone. What. Do. You. Want!”
Esme’s hand caught me by the throat, her claws digging into my neck. Her lips spread into a smile as she tilted her head to the side, and the beads lining her turban chimed like tiny bells. “Did my darling Poppet fail to explain? I should’ve known. She does like to drag things out. For dramatic effect and what not. She is a fantastic actress.”
I stared at Esme, willing Poppet to run. In the back of my mind, I knew the wolves were coming, but the dread mounting in my chest was getting harder to ignore. The cloud of power issuing from this woman was getting darker by the minute. I could feel it seeping into my pores, trying to spread its roots.
Without releasing me, or breaking eye contact, Esme snapped her fingers. But the sound didn’t sound like a snap. Everything she did rang like a bell. Poppet’s body twitched, as if the clanging sound was rippling through her body, and the fae chuckled like a mad woman. “Rise and tell her. Tell your sister the terms of our exchange.”
Poppet rose to her feet, tears dripping down her cheeks. “I made a deal—a life for a life, and nothing is more valuable to her than a Devereaux. I’m sorry. But I had to. I tried to find a loophole, but—”
“I refused to help. I made it worse.” I croaked, meeting her eye. “You’re her prisoner?”
“Yes, but it’s not my life I’m bargaining for.”
I looked back at Esme. Her scent made my eyes water, but up close she smelled like fae spices and sweat.“So, this is all because of you? You’re the idiot who thought you could mess with my family?”
Esme rolled her eyes and dropped her hand from my throat. “You Devereaux witches have always been so cocky.”
She waved her fingers, and a burst of air threw me off my feet, flying backwards into a tree. My spine crunched as it met the wood, and I dropped to the ground, blinded by the pain.
Coughing, desperately trying to drag air back into my lungs, I smelled Esme looming over me.
“The things I’ll do to you after I’ve taken what I want…” She hissed, a deep rumble in her voice.
I shook my head, and looked up at her, blinking the black spots from my eyes. “You can’t have me, and I’m not letting you take my sister.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You have no power. How do you imagine you could stop me? Evenwithyour magic you couldn’t beat me. You’re no better than a newborn babe.”
“You don’t know me very well, so I’ll let that slide.” My hand shot up into the sleeve of her coat. I grabbed her wrist and pulled it forward. I rolled my eyes back into my head and groaned. I had no power, of course, but I could still act. One dramatic psychic at your service.
Esme hissed and ripped her hand from my grasp. “Keep your hands off of me!”
“Oh, it’s not my hands I’d be worried about. It’s the fangs coming for your throat. The claws that will tear apart your flesh. You never should have touched my family.” I smiled and in one swift move, I rose from the ground, and jabbed my free hand into her throat. A swift strike, sharp enough to make Jackson proud. Esme doubled over and I grabbed Poppet’s wrist. “Let’s go!”
