Page 51 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

Chapter

Thirty-Five

I shook my head, examining the swirling mist in the bottle. “But I didn’t kill Roman, and once I’m strapped to this table, I won’t get the chance.”

“You don’t need to kill Roman.” Ruin reached into his pocket and withdrew a delicate golden ring, which he slipped onto my ring finger. “The ritual will severely weaken Barric’s hold on the Infernal Sol, and you’ll be able to take it.”

“And I’ll be lost forever to the amulet.”

“No, you won’t,” Ruin said. “Not if we do this while he’s performing the Admordum Nexia Covenant. The ritual also diminishes the stone’s defenses. Now hurry, drink the formula, and I’ll explain while I get you ready.”

Trusting Ruin—such a weird thing after all that happened—I uncorked the bottle and gulped the Soulvation. What other option did I have?

Tingles overwhelmed my body, and the room spun as a heady rush hit my system. I was suddenly floating on a warm, gentle breeze, bobbing like a balloon. A giggle slipped out of me when my skin hummed and buzzed .

“I can see why demons like souls so much—I mean, besides having to consume them to remain on Earth.” Another giggle tumbled from my mouth, and then I hiccupped. “What’s the ring?”

After Ruin hauled me up onto the table, he grabbed a paintbrush and a small container of black paint. “Cyria Vassali gave it to me.”

My lips parted once he said the last name, and the pieces fell together. “Your demon friend from the other night? That was the demon queen of Chicago?”

He nodded as he dragged the tip of the paintbrush across my arm, drawing ebony lines and swirls. “The one and only.”

“She gave you this ring?” As I analyzed it, the symbols etched into the metal twisted and writhed across the gleaming band.

“Her father did. And Drogan is one of the oldest, most powerful demons I know.” He blew out a deep breath and traced more shapes across my skin. “He might have even known some of the original demons.”

My quiet gasp sounded through the room. “As in, possibly the one who made the Infernal Sol?”

“Because you already have a bond with the Infernal Sol and part of it still exists inside you, the Soulvation will blur the lines of reality to bring you closer, mentally, to the amulet. The ring, also an ancient demon relic, will give you the strength to merge with the amulet without losing yourself.”

I licked my numb lips as memories of being deeply lost in the dark bubbled up. “But giving myself over to the amulet, bonding with it again, will steal all my control and shove me down. I won’t be me anymore.”

Ruin drew an intricate symbol from the book onto the center of my chest. “You’re not giving yourself over, Tate. You are merging with the Infernal Sol. Completely.”

Cold, sharp panic sliced through my heart as my pulse spiked at Ruin’s ominous words. “What does that mean? How is that different?”

The high demon lowered his head until his nose touched mine. “It means that once you do this, there will be no more amulet. You become the Infernal Sol.”

The chains strapping my arms and legs to the table dug into my limbs until pain throbbed across my whole body. Sweat slid down my throat, and more ran down my temples, wetting my hair. Figures dressed in those ominous black cloaks and white masks chanted and twirled around the room.

Fane glowered against a far wall, purple magical bands binding him to a chair while a Malbraxis manacle on each wrist kept him from shifting. Clearly, one wasn’t enough. Barric knew he was too much of a threat. If he got free, he’d wreck the entire ritual room, Hawk’s life be damned.

I choked back my unease and hoped Fane wouldn’t endanger my best friend to save me, especially now that he knew Ruin and Roxie were really on our side. Even though I revealed the high demon’s plan to Fane through our mental link, fury still crashed within him for being left out of the loop.

“Ruin didn’t have all the information yet,” I’d said. “He didn’t have the ring, and he wasn’t sure this would work.”

“How does he know it’ll work now?” Fane’s menacing growl rumbled through my mind as his rage heightened. “And did you miss the part where you have to go through most of the Admordum Nexia Covenant to merge with the Infernal Sol? You don’t know what that even entails!”

I winced at his booming voice and the bevy of emotions rippling through the bond. Beneath the flood of anger, fear vibrated and surged through him. If I could reach out and touch him, I’d take his emotional pain away.

Unfortunately, I was chained to a fucking table across the room.

“Out of all of us, Ruin knows the most about the amulet,” I reassured him . “He researched and studied it for decades.”

If anyone knew how to manipulate the ancient amulet, it was Ruin.

Hawk stood a few feet from Fane’s chair, chains dangling from his arms and legs while Roxie, her face unreadable, guarded him.

I still wasn’t a hundred percent sure she was on our side.

Her bond with Ruin was the only reason she was doing this, the only reason she didn’t escape before shit hit the fan.

Sharp pangs whipped through my heart as memories of us at Corvin Manor flooded my mind. Had Roxie only pretended to be my friend just to get to Hawk? Did no part of her enjoy spending time with me?

As if she felt my stare, her angelic blue gaze swiveled in my direction, and something unusual flashed through it.

It wasn’t pity, exactly. Sympathy, maybe.

Could Roxie feel sympathy?

But her harsh expression returned, washing away any softer emotions that might have been there.

Another burst of power permeated the air, puckering my clammy flesh and stealing my attention from Roxie. My back arched away from the table as the sinister energy spiraled around me, under me, inside me, and fucking everywhere .

Barric appeared near my head, that white mask peeking out from the shadows of his hood.

“ Hoc vase eldsneyta sáttmálann .”

He lifted the mask with a scarred hand, raised a copper bowl to his mouth, and took a sip before passing it to the person on his right, Amelia. Her cruel stare pierced me like daggers as she lifted the mask to drink whatever foul, bloody concoction swam in that bowl.

A malicious smile chased her lips, reveling in the idea that my death was near.

“ Stela industria skildi eftir .”

As the bowl passed around The Collective Nosterium—the remaining Collective guests still milling about the grand room—the massive onyx doors opened, and two members dragged in another bound and barely conscious shifter.

Sickness roiled in my stomach as they dropped Marcel onto the black tiles.

“They need a bitten shifter to make sure the ritual works,” Fane said, his muscles popping as he strained against Roman’s Vulcrum cords.

The witch leaned on a wall near the door, his jaw clenched and eyes hard as the ritual unfolded. He wanted no part of this anymore, but he couldn’t lift a finger to stop it.

I gritted my teeth against the fury pummeling my insides. “It won’t work. I’ll make sure ? —”

Dizziness washed over me, and the room blurred into a twisting mess of red, black, and fire. Hunger swept through my bloodstream, and my mouth watered.

Was I drooling?

Hunger .

So hungry—for souls.

Oh hell .

Waves of fire and ice rushed over my sweaty skin as the concentrated, unbalanced Soulvation took effect. A crimson fog descended on my mind, numbing my senses and stealing my rational thought.

Stealing my sanity.

My back arched away from the table again, the chants spinning around me in incoherent whispers. I fought the chains while my talons burst out and teeth elongated. The longing for souls crashed within me like a hurricane wrecking the shore.

Hungry. Hungry. Hungry.

The multitude of souls, no matter how dark they were, pulsated in the room like flashing lights, tempting me. I wanted to consume every last one, inhale them, and revel in their energy and life.

“Hungry,” I hissed over the mystical wind twisting the candle flames and tossing the strands of my hair that had fallen from the braid.

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

Which creature should I rip that pretty light from first?

None of them seemed very bright, except for the chained male across the room. The birdie, a raven with golden eyes.

The one on the floor, a wolf in a man’s clothing, was pretty too. He would be easier than the bird, considering he could barely stay awake.

A male, the one closest to my head, gaped at me as confusion swirled in his golden-brown gaze, a sliver of scarlet around his irises. He slipped off the white mask, and his mouth opened as he spoke to someone.

“Is this supposed to happen?”

The tall, beautiful high demon who lingered near the altar above the fireplace shrugged. “I’ve never performed this ritual before, but the text did mention something about the sacrifice fighting the magic.”

“But she can’t, right?” the leader asked.

The demon scoffed. “Not in the end. She will succumb.”

The other one’s smile curved into an eerie split of his mouth, much too wide to be natural. A red stone dangling from his neck glimmered in the flickering candlelight like fresh blood—the blood I wanted to see pouring out of his nose.

But he wasn’t a man. He was a wolf.

My father.

Barric.

I took a deep breath, fighting the thick fog trying to consume me. The amulet dangled above my head, so close I could touch it if my hands were bound. I’d rip it free and swallow it whole.

Focus, Tate.

The hunger pounding within me attempted to control my every thought, but I had to concentrate on the amulet and not my sudden desire for souls.

Warmth circled my finger as the symbols on the gold ring came alive again. Sharp tingles rippled up my hand and then twisted around my arm, making me shiver.

What is this? I feel an ancient demon in my midst.

“Who said that?” I blurted. “Who’s speaking to me?”

The voice in my mind laughed, a silky, unnerving sound like black smoke.

Oh, right. The Infernal Sol.

I have not felt a power like yours in so long, locked up in that box and hidden by the unworthy Karn. And then there was the girl. So very malleable and easy to control.

Seriously? The amulet thought I was so easy, and yet here I was, tricking the ancient power with Soulvation and an antique ring.

“I am powerful. Much more than that impostor wielding you,” I said.

Barric scrutinized me as he sipped from the copper bowl again, his mask gone to reveal the crease between his brows.

My heart skipped a beat. Could he hear me? Was I speaking out loud?

“Yeah, fiera mika.” Fane’s voice swirled into my mind, cutting a line through the fog and hunger. “You’re talking out loud.”

There is something very familiar about you.

The Infernal Sol’s voice diverted my attention from Fane, and I focused on the conversation before the stone realized I wasn’t an ancient demon.

“We’ve crossed paths before,” I told it. “You’ll remember—once you come to me.”

Yes, perhaps I will. I’ve grown tired of this one. He can’t handle much more before his mind fractures.

A manic laugh burst out of my mouth as the Soulvation swelled through my system again. “Bloodstains and daggers. My favorite white knight. A crimson cape and down the rabbit hole we go.”

What the hell did that mean? I was freaking losing it. My thoughts rolled into one another and collided with images that made no sense. Or they did make sense, but not when I tried to explain them.

This was how my mind felt when the amulet slipped behind the wheel to take control—crazy and unhinged.

Obviously, I spoke the Infernal Sol’s language with the Soulvation permeating my bloodstream. Ruin had been right that the madness would entice the amulet .

“Come to me, a gem so wicked. Long is the night, and terror we can take in abundance. And dance until sunrise. Eat the moon and all the stars.” My laughter resounded over the creepy chants still swirling in the room.

But then Barric’s ruby eyes seared into mine as he stood behind me, stealing the air from my lungs and freezing the blood in my veins. The ceremonial dagger he wielded shone like liquid metal beneath the lights.

My heart slammed into my ribs when he positioned the blade a few inches above the center of my chest. And then, with a triumphant yell, he shoved the dagger down.