"I told you. All I know is that they have Isabelle and that they plan on drinking her blood," Aine said, breathlessly. She was behind me, trying to keep up with me, as I ran like a madwoman through the trees beside the lake. Aine did not question my state of being when she found me on the floor in my bedroom. She was focused solely on the fact that her coven had kidnaped Izzy. And so was I.
"I'll be in so much trouble if they find out I told you!"
Nothing mattered to me but the situation Izzy was in. As a matter of fact, that was all I could think about. I had to get to her. And fast. But I just couldn't move fast enough. Not even Bane existed in my world at this point, only Izzy and the fact that she needed me. I was almost there. So close that I could see the property through the trees up ahead. Twilight dressed it in thin layers of pale greens and grays.
"Please, Luna, don't let them know that I told you," Aine pleaded.
Aine had told me that they had taken Izzy to the cave, so when I emerged from the woods and into the clearing, I did not stop. I spotted the big, gaping hole right away. I dashed across the clearing and moved swiftly down the throat of the cave. Even though I had processed a lot of information instantaneously, like the circle of candles, Devine, Psyche and one other cloaked body, it was Izzy I found first. She was tied to a pole in the darker part of the cave, just off to the right of the circle. The way her head was hanging told me that she was passed out. Devine was just moving something away from Izzy's throat, something that shimmered in the light of the candles. While they chanted in unison, Psyche bent forward, her lips latched onto Izzy's neck and she sucked, almost seductive-like.
Oblivious to what was coming, I charged at them. I shoved Psyche in the shoulders, sending her flying backward and away from Izzy. She hit the wall, and her head bounced off of it. I punched her in the nose, feeling it crackle and sink beneath my knuckles. The blow sent her head back into the wall again. I did not feel the pain in my already broken knuckles. I felt nothing but tunneled-vengeance. I spun on a heel, swinging at the same time, catching Aine in the corner of her eye with my fist and sending her whirling in a circle. I turned, facing the cloaked mystery person and swung at her too. No, him. A large hand clamped onto my wrist, and before I realized what was going on, Devine stabbed me in the arm with something sharp.
I looked down to see a needle being extracted from the bend of my elbow. I jerked away from the man who held my wrist and I squeezed my fingers into a tight fist, while glaring into Devine's laughing eyes. I pulled my arm back to punch her in the eye.
But something went wrong.
The cave suddenly tilted to one side. I stumbled sideways, trying to maintain my balance. Big, strong arms caught me before I could fall to the ground. Someone had angered the candles, causing them to start flickering wildly. The darkness that mingled with the light had thickened and spread throughout the cave like black goop.
"Izzy!" I cried out for her, trying to turn my head to find her, but my neck felt like an air sock, and I couldn't seem to make sense of direction. I couldn't remember where to find her with my eyes. "Izzy!"
Now I was afraid. Not for me, but for Izzy. Something was terribly wrong with me. I had been rendered helpless. Useless. I could not save Izzy. I had been drugged. With what, I had no clue. I had tried many substances, but nothing like this that wiped away half my mind while allowing me to stay in control of my deeper self.
"Bane!" I cried for him in my mind. Bane could save Izzy!
But my deeper self reminded me that I had not felt the gooey, black shadow within me since I had gotten up from my bedroom floor. I knew Bane was not going to hear my cries for help.
The cloaked man drug me to the center of the circle of lights and then let me go. I crumpled to my knees like a lifeless rag doll. I could feel the moist, hard earth of the cave's floor seeping through the fabric of my pajama bottoms.
Psyche appeared before my eyes, as if she had materialized out of thin air. Maybe she had. Maybe she hadn't. Blood ran from both of her nostrils, drowning her lips and dripping from her chin. The way the candle lights flickered in her dark eyes made her look demonic. I knew I needed to pop her in the nose again, rescue Izzy and get the hell out of there, but I just couldn't seem to send the right messages to my body in order for my body to cooperate with my plan. All I could do was sit there, slumped over myself, completely at the mercy of the drug that now coursed through me entirely.
"Luna, Lanchester, there is something you need to do for us." Psyche took me by the hair at the back of the head and turned my face so that I could look at Izzy. "Your friend is going to die tonight, Luna. You are going to have to watch. And guess what? There isn't anything you can do about it." Psyche let go of my hair. My head dropped and my chin stabbed into my chest. "Give yourself to me, Luna, willfully. Agree to sacrifice yourself so that Isabelle may live."
There were all kinds of things her words had triggered in my head. There were all kinds of things I wanted to say, and especially do, in response, but my mind wasn't functioning properly. The drug had short-circuited some wires in my brain.
I was well aware, though, of the power growing around me in the circle of light. Devine was walking clockwise around it. I could hear her voice, but I could not make out what she was saying. Whatever it was, it was magic, dark and sinister. I could literally feel it breathing with life, building and growing around me. It was touching me, caressing me. If Devine and her fellow witches were The Hallows Coven misfits, it was not evident. Devine was obviously quite capable of wielding a powerful magic.
"The ceremony has begun. At the exact point when Devine says the word offering, you will plunge the bolline into your heart," Psyche said. She held out her hand, offering me the double-bladed, bone-handled dagger that was balanced on her palm. I could only raise my eyes to look at it. I could do no more than this. I wanted, more than anything, to rip the knife from her hand and use it against her and everyone else who would stand between Izzy and I, but all I could do was sit there in that slanted circle, trying with all my might to keep myself from tipping over.
"It will be you or Isabelle, Luna. It is your choice who gets to be the one to die tonight. And if by the word offering you have not given yourself to us, it will then be Isabelle you have chosen to die. You will get to go home and live the rest of your life with the decision you have made," Psyche said.
Before I even realized I had done so, I took the dagger from Psyche's palm. The weight of it was almost too much of a burden for my liquified muscles. The tip of the blade clinked against the cave floor, but somehow I managed to keep my fingers around the handle. It took all the strength I had to keep the bolline from dropping to the cave's floor. Sweat trickled from my forehead. My arm shook convulsive-like from the effort.
Have you chosen, Luna? You or Isabelle? Speak the name into this circle so that all who are present will hear."
I tried to wield the dagger, tried to encourage my arm to swipe through the air so that I could cut Psyche, but my strength was only depleting by the moments. Everything around me seemed so far away that it was now nearly nonexistent, everything except for Izzy. Every part of me seemed to be connected to her, like a thousand invisible strings were attaching us together. And I desperately clung to her. It was all I had. It was all I could do.
"Izzy will live," I said, the words slurred from my tongue. "I will die for Izzy." Without a doubt, I would die for her. Izzy's life was far more important than my life was. Her god had plans for her. And besides, Bane wanted to be free from The Coven. I could set them both free, Izzy and Bane.
The commotion around me faded into the background, but I sensed a change in the air that came with my words. Something I said seemed to have caused the witches to change gears. I wanted to look up and see what was going on, but my chin felt glued to my chest. I suddenly wondered how I would be able to lift the dagger to my breast or have the strength to shove it through my heart when Devine said the word offering. Heck, how was I going to hear the word when I couldn't even stre
tch my mind outward far enough to know what was going on around me?
Panic ticked in my heart.
"Oh, Luna, you're here! Hi, Luna!" Izzy's voice was like a temporary antidote, and I found that I was able to raise my chin up to look at her. "Ashmodai said you'd be here! Oh, it's so good to see you! Hay, did they give you whatever they gave me? Wow! This is some crazy stuff!"
I tried to smile. I felt tears gather in the corners of my eyes. I was going to miss Izzy.
"Did you try the face, Izzy?" I asked. I wasn't sure whether or not she would understand me because the words came out of my mouth sounding like they were all adhered together, like my saliva was glue.
"I did! But no one saw it, except for maybe Ashmodai. You know, I was supposed to remember something he told me, but---"
"Silence!" The hooded man standing next to Izzy scolded her, but then my mind faded him out again, and he was gone completely, lost in a strange oblivion.
A swirl of black cloaks passed me by, slow and hypnotic-like. The Daughters of Hallows were walking the circle. My mind could not hold on to what was going on or what was being said, and I hated this. It frustrated and angered me, but these emotions were muted inside of me.
Then I heard the word offering. It stuck out like a flashing beacon, and my arm automatically responded. I lifted the dagger and pressed it to my left breast. The power in the circle, the one I felt breathing around me, caressing me, had lent me just a little of its strength. I raised my other hand, gripping the hilt with both my hands. I knew I would need both their strengths combined to do what I needed to do next.
"Offering!" The word came again, and I pressed as hard as I could. The tip of the blade broke through the fabric of my sweatshirt and slid into my flesh about an inch. Blood oozed from the little hole I had made in my body, but that was all the strength I had. Panic tugged at my insides. I had to do this! I had to muster the strength, or Izzy was going to die!
"Luna! What are you doing, Luna? Oh! I remember now! Ashmodai told me to stall you! Oh, goodie, I know what he means now! Luna, you stop that."
I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, trying to make Izzy fade away into the same oblivion where everyone and everything else was going.
"Luna! You put that knife down this instant!" Izzy cried out hysterically. "This is what I'm supposed to distract you from! Oh, God, dear, precious God. Um. . .Luna! Have you heard this song? "I'm a little tea-pot, short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my---for crying out loud, Luna! Put down that knife!"
Damn it, why wouldn't she just fade away? I tried again, pressing the tip of the dagger as hard as I could. I was about to drop it, so I turned it just slightly. This caused me to dig out a little chunk of meat from the hole I was creating in my breast.
Luna! Stop that! What are you---" Izzy's sudden silence seemed to give me more strength. I could do this. I knew I could. Take a deep breath and just shove, I heard my inner voice say. Or maybe it was a demon. I wasn't sure.
The voices around me were causing a stir in the magical breath of the circle. I squeezed the hilt. I took a deep breath.
And with sheer determination empowering me, I shoved the dagger into my breast.
"Luna, your boyfriend does have wings," Izzy's voice was crisp and clear. "And he looks very, very angry, Luna!" Her voice would be the last thing I would ever hear. And that was all right. That was just perfect, because Izzy was alive. I chose to die for her.
"Luna?" Izzy's voice finally faded into oblivion, and I was taken with her.
Darkness lapped me up, and magic breathed me in.
****
Chapter Fifty-Three
Bane