Page 49

“Get the fuck off me!” Finn lashed out, aiming for one of the witches who’d grabbed him, but before he could hit his target, he suddenly stopped.

After a second, I knew why.

“Okay, I get it. Now sit down and shut up,” Daniel said as he kept his gun pointed at me. “Or I’ll shoot her again.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Finn replied. “She’s already bleeding, and you need her for your stupid spell.”

The ground near my knee exploded into splinters, and I screamed, covering my head.

“Don’t test me,” Daniel replied. “I only need her breathing for a little while longer. She’s not going to die from that wound immediately, nor would she from another few. I know exactly where to aim.”

A vice-like grip closed around my arm and pulled me to my feet, and I swayed as my head spun.

“Fine,” Finn said, lowering his chin as he watched Daniel. He didn’t move his gaze even as his hair fell over his eyes and the witches bound his hands behind him with cuffs made the same black material as mine.

“For now,” he told Daniel.

“We should kill him,” one of the lackeys suggested. “Maybe a bullet wouldn’t work, but there are other ways. He’s too much of a risk.”

“I’m not going to let you kill me,” Finn remarked.

Daniel frowned at him. “You would let me do it for her.”

Finn snapped his mouth shut.

“You’re probably right,” Daniel continued, touching his head as he turned his attention back to his crew. “Let’s get it done with and dump him. ”

The man who’d made the initial remark nodded and pulled out a knife.

“No!” I struggled against the man holding me and tried to ignore the fire that continued to spread through my chest. “I won’t fight!”

The group froze and looked at me. There was something strange, and familiar, pulling at my ankles, and my wrists were burning as a low vibration radiated from the bindings.

That had been the one thing they’d been concerned about.

“What?” Daniel asked.

“You have to take off these cuffs eventually,” I said, trying to ignore the bile rising in my throat.

“That doesn’t matter. You’re no threat to me right now,” Daniel replied. “You can hardly function.”

My blood was on fire, and my fingers trembled as the pressure increased around my wrists. But with that was a rising sense of urgency. Indignation and possessiveness swelled in my chest. I was supposed to be stronger than this. I had to do something.

I couldn’t let them kill Finn.

That was my job.

“Are you sure about that?” I asked. I didn’t know where these words, this bravery, was coming from; internally, I was quaking, but I leaned into this confidence.

The air pulsated in tandem with the flames licking along my shins, and the thin dress wafted around my knees.

“You cannot win against me. But if you can promise that he won’t get hurt, I will not fight. ”

Finn glowered at me. “Don’t do that. That’s so stupid,” he said. Yet there was curiosity in his expression.

Daniel ignored him and closed the short space between us. Sweat pooled at the back of my neck as the pain got worse, but I bit the inside of my cheek. I had to maintain my composure .

“Fine,” Daniel said finally. “But you have to keep your word,” he added.

“I will,” I told him. Plan C was coming along nicely; hopefully, Finn wouldn’t disappoint.

“But Daniel—” the knife-wielding witch began.

“This works out better anyway,” Daniel said, waving away their protests. “Bring them both.”

My legs shook as the pressure retreated and the burning stopped.

“Let’s go.” The man holding my arm pulled me forward, and I fell into step beside him. Finn glared at his back the entire way.

We went down an elevator, and the air turned colder as the doors opened into the barely lit basement. Overhead lights flickered as we stepped onto the black and white floor, and Daniel paused outside the mortuary doorway.

“Put them in here,” he said before he moved toward the room next door. “We’re almost ready. Let them say their final goodbyes, or whatever, I don’t care.”

The tile was cold under my bare feet, and I was shivering as I was pushed into a chair. The hands that bound me against it were rough, causing my arm to jostle and my nerves to scream. Finn, similarly, was seated across from me.

“There’s no use trying to escape,” the man who tied me said, standing at the door. “You’re shit out of luck.”

My heart pounded as he shut the door, leaving us alone.

What had I done? There was no way this was going to end well.

Now that this was so close to happening, I couldn’t breathe.

“Bianca.” Finn touched his toes to mine. His face was set in earnest determination as he spoke. “You cannot check out.”

I blinked at him.

“Do you understand?” he asked. “You need to stay present. ”

Hesitantly, I nodded.

“I—” I began, looking back to my knees. “It’s my fault.”

“What?” Finn asked, and the surprise in his voice prompted my attention.

“You were doing something earlier,” I explained. I knew I was the liability. “You could have beat them, and now you’re trapped here with me.”

“Just stop,” Finn replied. “The only thing that’s your fault is your refusal to take your medication.”

My breath caught. Why was he bringing this up now, on the evening of my demise?

“Will you just let that go?” I told him. “I’m fine.”

“Are you though?” Finn wrinkled his forehead as his voice rose an octave.

“Yes,” I told him. “So stop acting like you know everything about me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Finn retorted. “I do know everything about you. You’re scared of the dark. You can’t swim for shit. You secretly read boy’s love comics. You hide all sorts of shit from your doctor. You’ve got a scar on your thigh that you’re incredibly self-conscious about—”

“Hey, how do you—” I began, but he ignored my protest.

“—and you need your medicine because I can’t use my use my abilities otherwise,” he finished, and I stopped breathing.

I bit my lips, my eyes watering as I looked at the floor.

“I—I don’t understand,” I said. “Why would the medicine—”

“Because of your insane habit of sacrificing yourself,” Finn replied. “Which is screwing us now because, apparently, your plan is to let them eat you. Good job, now they’ll only get even more powerful.”

“They won’t,” I told him.

“Of course they will,” he said. “The spell’s reach is directly related to the strength of the sacrifice. Why else would Daniel risk everything? Their power and influence will be so strong that I doubt even Miles will remember us.”

“It won’t work.” My voice was barely a whisper.

“What won’t work?” he remarked.

“The spell,” I answered. “They need a virgin. That’s—that’s not me.”

Finn didn’t respond, and I was afraid to look at him. We might have been best friends once, but we never talked about this sort of thing.

Finally, as the silence drew longer, I looked up. Finn had grown still, and the hair on my arms rose at the dark expression on his face.

“What—” I started. Why was he angry?

“Their tracking curse can only target qualified people,” he interrupted me. “Are you telling me that you’re planning to die for no reason because you’ve misinterpreted the meaning of a word?”

Then their curse was wrong. And why did he have to be so insulting?

“It wouldn’t be for no reason,” I informed him. “My surrender would be toward their abject failure and the undeniable ruin of their family line.”

He threw his head back, looking to the ceiling. “Oh my God, now we have no choice but to go with your other stupid plan.”

So he did understand?

Before I could clarify, the door slammed open with a resounding bang. Finn’s expression turned somber, and my stomach lurched as Daniel Cole entered the room.

There was no time to speak before the doorway was shadowed by two other men, who promptly descended upon us and covered our heads with brown bags. And even though I’d promised to be brave, I screamed as the rope holding me to the chair was removed, and I was tossed over a hard shoulder.

The jostling movements deepened the stabbing ache in my shoulder. The blood rushed to my head as the wind was knocked from me. My screaming thoughts deafened me as one step led into another.