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Bodies were tightly packed and gyrating to the music, many of them wrapped around one another. The festive atmosphere led to a lowering of inhibitions. Every year was the same. Samhain and the festival of the dead was a wild time and one I enjoyed.
We finally made it through the crowd about ten minutes later.
“I thought we’d never get through,” I joked, reaching the keg and Roman’s tall frame.
“Agreed. This night is much more than I bargained for.”
Staring at him in confusion, I tried to discern his meaning. “You said your last name was English?”
He nodded, grinning wickedly.
English. Why was that a name I felt like I knew?
“Oh, come now, Cassie. Surely you’ve figured it out already.”
Dawning realization hit me, and I gasped at the same moment he lifted a syringe, plunging the murky liquid housed inside the tube swiftly into my neck. “One of the original Salem lines, banished from the thirteen.”
“You’re . . . one of thedamned.” The drug was taking effect quickly and I started to sway on my feet. Kayde tried to explain. Thedamnedwitches – those who sold their souls to the devil in exchange for power – were deadly and dangerous. Where was Kayde now when I needed him? Or the rest of myCosan?
Everyone around us seemed oblivious to the evil stranger who stood next to me and wrapped an arm around my waist as if we were close friends. No one noticed how he drugged me or the urgency of the situation. Did myCosanrealize I was in trouble?
“Aw, sweet little Cassandra, you’ve made me wait so long.” He caught my body as I started to fall and lifted my limp form into his arms, eyes scanning the trees and nearby cemetery. “YourCosanis far too late to save you.”
“HURRY, SHE’S BEGINNINGto awaken.”
The caw of a raven echoed in my ears as my eyes fluttered and opened. The ebony silk of the bird’s feathers shone in the moonlight as it hopped about as if in distress.
Moaning, my head rolled from side to side as I fought the effects of the drug.
“What are you doing?”
A female voice I didn’t recognize was arguing with Roman. He spoke to her low and harshly, but I couldn’t comprehend his words or meaning. My mind was foggy. I tried to reach out with my magic, but I was blocked.
“Stop struggling, Cassie,” Roman ordered, as I met his stern gaze. “It will only hurt more.” A small knife was clutched in his hand, the sharp blade a cool silver in the silent beams of moonlight. The tip of the knife dug into my right arm at the elbow as I screamed, the sound foreign to my ears as the drugs prevented the noise from carrying far. It came out as a warbled groan.
Another caw echoed from the raven as it launched into the sky and flapped its wings rapidly as if in a hurry.
“Ancestors,” I whispered, unable to call to them properly.
As I regained a small portion of my coherency, I realized my body was lying on a cold slab of stone or concrete. Both of my arms were spread out at my sides and seemed to be anchored with thick, rough pieces of rope at the wrists. My ankles were also tied down in the same manor.
Human sacrifice?
Candles were lit one by one by the unknown female as she began to chant, her words in a language I didn’t recognize. The flames of the black candles rose higher as Roman walked around the stone altar to my right and jabbed the knife into my other arm, also at the crease of my elbow, slicing deeply into the skin.
Screaming again in pain, I began to fight as my lucidity returned.
He bent over me with a sneer. “Cease your screams, chosen, or I will slit your throat.” His hand wrapped around my neck and squeezed as my eyes widened and I nodded.
The woman chuckled as her wiry red hair blew in the light wind. “I’ll gladly do it for you.”
“Not yet, Morgan. The ritual must be completed first.”
Ritual? What the hell was he talking about?
Roman’s gaze lowered to mine as I tried to reason with him. “You don’t have to do this.” My voice choked off painfully as his grip tightened around my throat.
“Oh, but I do. You see, Cassie your bloodline holds the most power. If I’m to send a message to the thirteen there’s no bigger statement than to begin with the Howe legacy.”
