“Here we go,” Harper announces, coming to a stop in front of a set of wooden doors. Then, clearing her throat, she lifts her hand and knocks. “Breezy, are you decent?”
“Why would she not be decent?” I ask, trading a questioning look with Rhyland.
But he’s staring in the opposite direction, frowning, and the dark circles underneath his eyes have become more prominent.
“You okay over there?” I ask, shifting Raven’s weight in my arms.
He blinks at me, his eyes glazed over. “Huh?”
My lips plummet to a frown. He’s acting very strange.
“Maybe you should take a walk and let me handle this,” I suggest. “You’re getting a weird look in your eyes and I’m worried you’re… Well, I’m not sure.”
“I’m fine.” He blinks a couple of times and the dazed look fades. “I’m just stressed out about her.” He glances at Raven and swallows hard. “I want to be in there for this. I actually need to ask some questions for Raven, if she doesn’t wake up in time.”
“What questions?” I ask. When his worried gaze flicks to Harper, I inch closer and lower my voice. “You might as well tell me now so I’m not surprised when we get in there. And Harper’s going to hear anyway.”
He dithers, appearing torn. “Raven mentioned just a bit earlier that right before the curse was put on us, the queen told her that the more Raven suffers, the more she gains power.” He gives a hesitant pause. “Then she referred to Raven as a moonlight abomination.”
“Really? I wonder why?” I sound about as surprised as a vampire when they walk into their surprise birthday party, which isn’t very surprised at all—vampires get very unenthusiastic when it comes to surprise parties.
He narrows his eyes accusingly. “Did you already know that?”
I shrug. “Don’t we all already know some things that most of us don’t know?”
Frustration bites at his tongue as he says, “So the queen told you already?”
I shake my head. Then, glancing over my shoulder to make sure Harper isn’t paying attention, I lean in and lower my voice. “Actually, Raven’s father did. A long, long time ago, back before all of this happened. He didn’t use the term abomination, though. Just told me that she was a very powerful and unique moonlight creature.”
“Then why in the hell didn’t you tell me?” he hisses.
“Because her father made me take a Blood Oath to keep it a secret.”
“But that was life cycles ago.”
“I know, but the Blood Oath still held. Now that you’ve figured it out on your own, though, we should be able to talk about it.”
“But why didn’t her dad want anyone to find out?” His jaw ticks. “Well, except for you apparently.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. It was completely by accident that I found out. I was actually spying on him and dad one day when they went back to have a drink in the office, like you and I did sometimes, and they said something about her being this unique and powerful moonlight creature and that no one could ever find that out or else her life could be in danger and maybe even all the worlds if her power was used in the wrong way. I gasped when I heard and they realized I had been spying and made me take a blood oath never to talk about it with anyone who didn’t know what Raven is.”
He shakes his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe all this time I didn’t know.”
“I’m sorry. If I could’ve told you, I would’ve.”
He stares down at Raven worriedly. “If the queen called her an abomination back when the curse first started, then it means she’s known all along that Raven is powerful. Which means the curse was probably a set up.”
“Yeah, but we already knew that.”
“But what we don’t know is how the queen has been channeling power from Raven’s suffering and what she plans on doing with it.”
“Maybe it’s how she’s making the Created,” Harper suggests, popping up at my side and startling the shit out of Rhyland me.
I throw a quick, skeptical look at Harper. Yeah, I trust her with my secrets, but this isn’t my secret. It’s Raven’s, the one creature in this world beside my brother that I’d do anything to protect.
“I’m sorry,” Harper quickly apologizes when she notes my uneasiness. “I know you guys were trying to have a private conversation, but I couldn’t help but accidentally overhear while I was eavesdropping and I thought I’d tell you my theory.”
“Okay.” Wariness laces my tone.
“Well,” she starts, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I can’t help but wonder if perhaps the queen is channeling Raven’s power and making it her own so she can create the Created from the energy by transferring the powers of one creature into another.”
“But I thought the Created were created from mixing different species blood. I mean, how else are faeries getting Wicca powers and vampires possessing dragon fire? They’d have to possess the blood of a witch and a faerie.”
Harper shakes her head. “That’d make them more like me, and I’m not the same as the Created.”
“True,” Rhyland agrees, reclining against the wall behind us. “And the Created, they’re not really half of something and half of something else. Like Nadine. She doesn’t have witch blood inside her—that much I could tell when I blasted her with a curse. She can just channel Wicca energy.”
I can feel a blood headache coming on. “But how is that possible when she doesn’t have witch blood running in her veins?”
“Maybe because the queen’s extra power she’s stealing from Raven has somehow given her the ability to siphon powers from one creature and put them into another,” Harper suggests with a casually shrug.
Nothing about what she said is casual, though. In fact, it’s fucking terrifying.
“Siphoning? But that’d mean that she could actually create any creature she wanted, even rare, nearly impossible ones to find,” I say. “And she could create them whenever she wanted. Well, unless she can’t always channel Raven’s power.”
“Do you know how dangerous it could be if she created certain creatures,” Rhyland whispers. “I mean, think about if she put a giant and a dragon together. Then there’d be a damn giant dragon flying around big enough to probably wipe out an entire land.”
“There’s even worse creatures hiding in our worlds than dragons and giants,” Harper utters worriedly. “A lot, lot worse. And who knows what she’s created already. And how many.”
“I know. And every time the curse resets, the population of the Created grows,” I remind all of them.
“But then why is she trying to kill Raven now?” Rhyland pushes away from the wall and brushes the back of his hand across Raven’s cheek. “If she gains power from Raven through the curse—through her suffering—then why try to end it?”
“That’s another thing we need to figure out,” I mumble, staring down at Raven passed out in my arms, the fire burns flaking at her skin on the base of her neck. “Our To Do List is getting pretty fucking long. We really need to start working on getting stuff scratched off.”
“After we talk to the witch doctor, I’ll set out to find a dragon,” Rhyland offers, his fingers linger on Raven’s cheek. “That is, if everything turns out okay with her. I can’t leave until I know she’s safe and healthy.”
“And I can go gather everything we need to do an anti-possession spell,” Harper offers. “I’ll probably have to transport to another shimmer blob, but that usually isn’t too complicated.”
“And I can go scope out the Land of Moonlight,” I say. “See if I can find the army of the Created. Maybe spy on the queen a bit. I’ve always been good at that.”
Rhyland swiftly shakes his head. “No, you need to stay here.”
“Like I’m just going to sit here and do nothing,” I argue. “Do you not know me at all?”
“I know that you’re her Blood Protector and I’m not going to just leave her here alone unprotected.” His gaze i
s firm, his voice stern. “I also know that despite all this madness going on, I’m still the king, which means you take orders from me.”
“Fine,” I say flatly. “My king. But you’ll have to leave us some of your blood for her to drink.”
He nods, looking dazed again. “Good idea.”
Honestly, I’m unsure if I’m pissed off or impressed with him offering to leave and making me stay here. Doesn’t really matter, though. In the end, I want to protect Raven, so I’ll do what I have to.
“Oh, I think she’s ready,” Harper announces with a clap of her hands as the set of doors finally creak open. “Is everyone ready?” She doesn’t wait for us to answer, skipping inside the room.
“Why does she act like we’re going to a party or something?” Rhyland whispers as we inch toward the doorway.
“Who the hell knows,” I mutter. “But I wish I could share her enthusiasm.”
“Me too,” he agrees, sounding as worried as me.
While Harper may be able to bounce around and be cheery, Rhyland and I understand that a lot is riding on if this witch doctor can help us.
Lives are riding on it, in fact.
Maybe even all of the worlds.
Rhyland
I’m worried. Not just about what Kingsley and I discussed, but because something is stirring inside me. It’s part of why I suggested I go search for a dragon to cure Raven’s burns once we were finished with the witch doctor. That will get me out of this shimmering blob for a while and far away from Raven until I can figure out what hell is going on with me.
I hate the idea of leaving Raven, but I’ll do anything to protect her, even leave her. I need to make sure I leave some of my blood behind, though, for her to drink. I’m unsure whose blood I’m supposed to drink, though, if it turns out she’s having a bad reaction to me drinking her blood.
I swallow hard at the idea that maybe I won’t ever be able to feed from her.
Before I enter the room, I discard my torn shirt and hurry and clean some of the blood off my chest, trying to make my appearance as less alarming as I can.
“Good evening Harper.” The witch doctor greets as the three of us enter the room.
She’s sitting in the center of the dark room made up of dirt and mud. Large, winding roots of the tree snake around the area and faint flickers of light creep in from somewhere.
“I know we’re creatures of the undead,” I whisper under my breath to Kingsley. “But this place gives me the creeps.”
“That makes two of us.” He shifts Raven in his arms as he surveys the area.
“Gentlemen, have a seat,” the witch doctor instructs, patting the spot on the ground beside her and offering us a smile.
I eye her over warily. She’s probably only a couple of years older than Kingsley and I with blood red hair that matches her lips. Her eyes are like liquid fire, her skin inked with tattoos, and she’s wearing a white, flow length dress that has to be getting stains from sitting in the dirt. She’s in no way, shape, or shapeshifter form, what I expected a witch doctor to look like. I expected someone much older and dressed in rags. I’m not sure why.
Kingsley casts a glance in my direction. Sensing what he wants, I take a seat beside the witch doctor. Then he sits down beside me while continuing to hold Raven in his arms. Harper lowers herself to the ground on the other side of the witch doctor.
As silence takes over the room, I decide to ask the witch doctor if she knows what’s wrong with Raven, but she holds up her hand before I can even get my lips parted.
“The girl is very sick,” the witch doctor mumbles, her tattooed brows pulling together as she assesses Raven. “But, she is curable.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Kingsley asks, shifting so Raven’s head is resting in the crook of his arm.
The witch doctor—I think Harper called her Breezy—slants forward to get a better look at Raven. “Many things are eating the girl from the inside.” She closes her eyes and places the heel of her hand against Raven’s forehead. Then her face instantly bunches in pain. “There’s so many cracks inside. So much pain eating her away. Little webs of poison gnawing at her insides and her mind.”
I force down the lump welling in my throat. “How much pain is she in?”
“Surprisingly not much,” Breezy answers with her eyes shut. “She will be when she wakes up, though, unless we can find a temporary fix.”
“Can you do it?” I ask, hoping to the Gods she can. “Heal whatever’s making her like this?”
Breezy smiles, but it’s not the kind of smile that leads to a cheerful answer. No, I’ve seen this kind of smile before.
She wants to make a deal.
“Heal her from what exactly, though?” Kingsley demands, growing impatient. “Because you haven’t even told us what was wrong yet. Just that she has cracks inside, which we already knew, and that you want us to give you something to heal her, but how do we know you know what you’re talking about. Maybe you’re just fucking with us.”
I shoot him a look. Calm down, I mouth.
The last thing we need is for him to lose his temper and piss her off before she helps us.
Breezy’s eyes pop open, her gaze locking on Kingsley. “Such impatience.”
“Vampires aren’t known for their patience,” Kingsley states unapologetically. “We are known for our ability to kill with a single bite, if we need to.”
Her brow meticulously arches. “Is that a threat?”
“Not at all.” Kingsley holds her gaze. “Just a simple reminder.”
“I see.” She studies him with a curious expression, her tongue slipping out to wet her lips. “Fine. I’ll tell you what’s wrong with her. But just know that I have the only temporary cure and that comes with a price.”
“What about a permanent cure?” I ask. “Do you have one of those?”
She shakes her head. “But I do know of one. Only she can get it, though.” She nods her head at Raven. Then she slants forward, the liquid fire in her eyes flickering. “To break the poison feeding off the girl’s body, she has to break the curse.”
“Why is everything always caused by the fucking curse?” Kingsley growls, a vein in his neck bulging.
“Don’t misunderstand me, vampire,” Breezy’s tells him. “The curse isn’t causing the girls illness. The illness is the curse, running inside her, like a web. And the more the curse is broken, the more the illness grows and breaks the girl. If one crumbles, they both do.”
So does that mean she’s not having a bad reaction to me feeding her? I’m not sure and she’s really not making much sense.
Pain throbs against my temple. “So let me get this straight, if Raven breaks the curse, then the curse breaks her? Yet the cure for the poison inside her is to break the curse?” I ask and Breezy nods. My fingers curl inward—I’m on the verge of exploding. “So that fucking means that she never could’ve broken the curse. That all this time, all these stupid lifecycles of trying to free Raven—to free all of us from this hell—was for nothing. That she’s going to die no matter what.”
I realize that’s exactly what Nadine told Raven, that her—that all of us who were part of the curse—were going to die.
“Not quite.” Breezy rises to her feet, the beaded bracelets on her wrists clanking together as she turns around and walks toward the back wall of the room. “The curse she has inside her is made up of a very ancient magic. Even more ancient than me and I’m older than the trees themselves.”
“Really?” I question. “You sure as hell don’t look like it.”
She grins at me from over her shoulder. “Coming from an old vampire, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
I should probably be polite and smile back, considering she might have knowledge that will save Raven, but I’m too pissed off and frustrated to do so.
“Always so sad,” she remarks. “I guess that makes sense, though. You did curse your love to this painful demise.”
“You said she wasn’t in pain,’ I
grit out, clenching my fists.
Kingsley shoots me the same look I gave him earlier, warning me to chill the hell out.
“I meant she wasn’t in any physical pain,” she elaborates. “Her emotional and mental pain, however, is so heavy even I can feel the weight of enduring it.” She twists around, facing us again. “But the pain to come will be so heavy none of us may be able to breathe through it.”
“Okay, now you’re starting to sound like Harper, talking in riddles,” Kingsley snaps then glances at Harper. “Sorry, no offense.”
“None taken,” Harper smiles at him. “To say that the witch doctor is like me is a great compliment, although, completely not true. I’ll never be anything like Breezy, unfortunately.”
Yeah, I’m not so sure I agree with Harper. Sure, the half pixie, half faerie, might be skipping to the beat of her own drum, but at least she wouldn’t demand a fee to save a creature’s life.
“So how do we get rid of the pain?” I ask. “And how do we save her? Because I’m not accepting the answer you gave me.”
“But I never gave you an answer.” The smile playing at Breezy’s lips makes me question if she’s toying with us.
Maybe Harper was wrong about her being trustworthy.
“Then what’s the answer?” Kingsley asks, his voice controlled, even, but firm. “How do we cure her without killing her?”
He may appear composed on the inside, but I know him almost as well as I know myself and inside, he’s struggling to remain calm.
“I already told you, by breaking the curse.” Breezy turns her back to us again and I start to jump to my feet, any amount of my patience gone, but she holds up a hand. “Be patient. I’m not done yet.” She waits for me to finish sitting down before continuing. “There is a creature that is older than any magic. If you want to save the girl without killing her, you need to go to it. It should be able to help you.”