Page 11 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

Something poked at me, and I gasped at the strange sensation of pressure and coolness at my palms, my feet, my neck.

Kylo was quick to train his gaze on me. “Everything okay?”

I wasn’t used to seeing Kylo this jumpy and unsure. And in a way I wasn’t expecting, it humanized him, making me even more ashamed of who I thought he was in the wake of his betrayal.

I nodded. The spirits released me. As I walked to the center of the room, whispers grew louder. My first instinct was to shut them out, before remembering that wasn’t who I was anymore.

No more running. No more repressing. No more weakness.

Kylo once again looked at me in some holy reverence, and I realized a thin mist of shimmering shadow had gathered around me—like a dark, starry night.

It reminded me of the room of stars in the art exhibit where Kylo told me he loved me.

I’d never done magick in front of anyone before, not like this. The occasional tarot reading or tiny working, sure. But not an elaborate ritual. I’d certainly never allowed anyone to see me in communion with the otherworld, with the spirits and energies whom only I could hear. It was too vulnerable, and I’d been too ashamed.

I hadn’t forgiven him, but I also couldn’t deny that Kylo might’ve been the only person in the realm I was comfortable revealing this side of myself to.

He’d never feared or shunned my darkness. My power. My secrets. He’d only ever encouraged them, pried them from my depths with a sweet, coaxing tongue.

It wasn’t until I reached Kylo and Idris, the circle and sigils activating with a faint glow, that I remembered I had absolutely zero ingredients or instructions for a turning spell.

“I always suspected you hailed from the stars,” Kylo said softly. He stared down at me, Idris between us.

My cloud of onyx and starlight swept through the space, and several pillar candles sprouted flames across the room. I recognized my own guides, ancestors, and helpers as they flooded the area, including Hekate.

“I’ll get a statue for you soon,” I promised, a whisper.

Kylo raised a brow. “I’m not sure that would be good for my ego.”

“Not you,” I muttered.

It was the most inappropriate time for jokes, but my lip twitched anyway. Kylo homed in on the movement, his own lips curving ever-so-slightly. I could just nearly make out that silly dimple.

“Princeton didn’t write down any of his workings, Evie. Especially not this one—for obvious reasons,” Kylo said softly.

“I figured.” I avoided looking at my brother, keeping my eyes on Kylo’s. “I was being groomed to take Princeton’s place, but I’m nothim. And I don’t need to be. The ritual will probably need to shift now that I’m the one doing it.”

“I wasn’t grooming you for that,” Kylo said, studying me.

I closed my eyes. I slowed my breathing. A wave of my righteous anger dissipated into fine mist. “I know you weren’t.”

My higher self had already taken over, because that’s what this magick needed from me. I needed truth. Focus. Centered calm.

Idris’s life was at stake. There was no room for error.

When I felt a shift, I slowly sank to the floor, my eyes still closed as my head dropped forward.

I heard faint static and then a few popping sounds as my spirit began to float.

Show me what I need to turn my brother,I said, calm but fierce.

It wasn’t a request, my usual method of crafting new spells as a chaos witch.

It was a command.

I opened my eyes, staring down at my cross-legged form below. Kylo was sitting now too, watching my physical body in rapt attention.

I floated up, past the ceiling, past the layers of stone and sediment. All the way up to the forest floor. Trees were lush; wildflowers were in full bloom. Under a dark sky, the smell of incense smoke was rich in the summer air.