She remained seated on my bed, arms crossed over her chest. “I’m not letting you get out of this conversation that easily.” She paused and looked up at me seductively. “Novalic… If there really is nowhere to take me, then why don’t you just take me here?”
I stared at her disbelievingly as she slid out of her dress and slipped between my bedsheets. She loosened her hair and pouted her lips.
I need to stop being such a gentleman with this little wench.
“Celice,” I said, “I don’t want you. I lied when I said that I wanted to be with you. I only wanted to use you to protect my friend’s island. Now that’s all gone to hell, I have no interest in you. Absolutely none. But there are plenty of other men on this island. Go pick one of them to deflower you.”
Her face flushed. Her pupils dilated with anger. Her voice became deep and deadly as she spoke.
“Never insult a witch, Kiev.”
She yanked her clothes back on and stormed out of the room, the windows shaking from the force of her exit.
Good riddance.
Bitch.
Chapter 20: Mona
It was starting to feel like I’d never left the coven. Over the next few weeks, I slotted back into my place. Even Isolde and Efren seemed to accept that I was here to stay and stopped glaring at me so much.
The other witches and warlocks stopped whispering to themselves in the corridors whenever I walked by, and Rhys reappointed me to my former duties. These mostly consisted of assisting in creating potions for the various forms of witchcraft they were trying to master. Occasionally, I was called to join in creating magic, or more often, casting a curse.
But I was starting to forget what the potions I was helping to make were for. I was starting to forget about the sacrifices of innocent people that were going on around me in the name of restoring our kind’s former glory. It was easier not to think of these things.
Rhys was right.
I found myself wishing that I had just listened to him from the start. He’d always told me that if I followed him blindly, I would find a place of peace.
Or at least a place of numbness.
I’d caused myself so much unnecessary pain.
And when I finally closed my eyes to the evil we were committing and became numb to it, Rhys was also much easier to get along with. He had told me that if I just surrendered myself to him, he would make an effort with me. He kept that promise.
Each night that I shared his bed, in the morning my skin looked paler. The circles under my eyes grew darker, more prominent. The darkness that had taken root in my heart swelled and enveloped it. Accepting my surrender hungrily.
But although I felt I was dying a little more each day, it didn’t hurt as much as it used to.
Although each time Rhys touched me, it felt like I was sinking further and further into oblivion, it was less painful than trying to fight him.
And really, that was more than I could have ever hoped for from a place like this.
One morning as I woke in his arms, I looked up to find that he was already awake. He’d been watching me, waiting for me to open my eyes.
“Today’s schedule will be a little different,” he said softly, stroking my cheek with his fingers. “For all of us. In fact, the next few days are going to be different.”
I raised my eyebrows in question.
“There’s something I haven’t gotten round to telling you yet. It concerns a monthly, and sometimes bi-monthly, blood ritual we started to practice since you’ve been gone.” He got out of bed and began to dress himself. “We’ve made allies of a group of vampires.”
“Vampires?”
“Yes. You may have noticed my three sisters’ absence since you’ve been here. That’s because they no longer live here. They stay on an island near the pirate area of Triquetra. They managed to procure the vampires, and in exchange for helping us with our rituals, they have cast a spell over the island keeping them safe from invaders and spirits.”
I had to pull my pillow over my face to stifle a gasp.
These vampires must be the Black Bell pirates. Those Matteo always warned us to stay away from.
“We leave in a few hours, to start preparing for tonight’s ritual. It’s the full moon tonight. We’ll stay there for three days… three rituals. And then return.”
I nodded, trying to conceal my restricted breathing. I got dressed and once I was ready, Rhys held out his hand and said, “Come with me.”
I followed. He led me along corridors and down steps—where everybody seemed to be hurrying around getting ready for our departure—until we reached the back of the kitchen. He bent down over a large trapdoor, unbolted it, and pulled it open.
The stench that came wafting out toward us was sickening. I looked around in astonishment as we descended. The entire dungeon was crammed with cells of humans.
A wave of deja vu hit me.
This is just like the dungeons of the ogres.
But where in the world do we find all these humans?
“We need to choose three of them for the rituals,” Rhys said. “One for each night. We’ll also be bringing some others for the vampires, but I’ll have Efren and Isolde gather them together. Help me choose the three.”
I looked around in horror. There were men and women, young and old. I felt frozen to my spot, not knowing which direction to take first. Luckily, Rhys was too impatient to wait for me. He dragged out three humans from the cell nearest to us—three young men—and bound them all in chains. When they shouted and tried to scramble away in opposite directions, he cast a tranquilizing spell on them. Their mouths opened and closed while their eyes rolled wildly in their sockets, but no sounds came out. Their limbs became docile and obedient.
Rhys placed one hand on the small of my back and nudged me up the stairs while he followed behind, guiding the three humans up with us.
Once we’d reemerged in the kitchen and closed the trapdoor, I couldn’t keep myself from asking, “Where do they all come from?”
He sighed and looked down at me.
“I’ll likely tell you one day. But it’s not important for you to know now.”
Chapter 21: Mona
I shuddered as we arrived at the beach of the dark island. Being this close to where I’d spent several years in hiding on Matteo’s island felt bizarre now that I was so far away from the person I’d been then. I looked around at the crowd of witches who’d come with us. We’d all come. This was the tradition apparently. Tiarni was holding the chains of the three humans, while about two dozen other humans were being kept in check by Efren and a few other witches.