Page 48 of Lunar Diamonds
I gestured for Erin to run, my heart pounding, the pain in my forehead thumping along with it.
She didn’t move, folding her arms across her chest. “Leave this place.”
Zara laughed. “Drop the delusion, bitch. I’m not here for it. Hand over those witches and I might let you live.”
“This is a sacred place,” she countered. “You must leave.”
Zara’s presence made my skin crawl.
Loathsome piece of shit.
She spat on the floor. “Shut the fuck up, old woman. You’re no match for us.” She spat again, completely disrespecting this house. “Look at you and look at us. We broke your defenses, we’re winning big.”
Footsteps pounded above, along with three new arrivals dashing past the open living room door. Shadow witches were everywhere, like invading ants.
Wankers.
“You are unworthy of this blessed space,” Erin said, a firm lid on any emotions. She looked so calm. “The corruption of shadows is not welcome. Leave before you live to regret it.”
Zara sniffed and fired her gun. Erin flew across the room, crash-landing into a vase. She hit the floor with the broken shards, blood quickly pooling beneath her.
Shit. This really wasn’t supposed to happen. Erin Lovell was an essential part of this house. If she died?—
Don’t let it happen.
I pondered my next move, my legs my best weapons right now.
“We know you’re in here, Drake,” Zara said with a chuckle. “Batting for the other side, are you? I knew you were a traitor. I could smell it.”
She wasn’t wrong about the traitor part. As long as I didn’t fuck up, this mansion and these witches were my way out.
I scratched at my left wrist, Rhianna’s dirty work a constant irritation.
I’ll be free of you soon.
“Come out and play, Drakey Wakey,” Zara taunted.
A blend of revulsion and fear knotted inside me, threatening to skewer me and throw me off course.
I’d come too far to fall apart.
Zara and Rhianna were always joined at the hip. A cruel pair, delighting in torture. Most nights I heard the pain of their victims when drawing blood for their magic, helpless in my dark cell. The endless pleas for mercy, prayers, bargaining, and the mocking delight of the best friends reveling in the suffering.
Rhianna loved locking me away in darkness for hours. Seeing as she couldn’t physically hurt me, she used mental torture on me. She knew my past, knew how to hurt me. No light, no warmth, leaving me to hope that one day I’d break these bonds.
As much as the fear ofthatcell rattled me, I steadied myself.
I’m not going back.
I’ll be free tonight.
Man, a couple of sniffs of ginkgo powder would give me the boost I needed right now. But it was in Alice’s pocket.
“Drakey, Drakey, Drakey,” Zara sang, just as she did whenever I got marched into the dark, a hood over my head.
Pure darkness.
Pure emptiness.
