Page 118 of Lunar Desires
Arrogant arsehole. And I trusted his words like I trusted not to burn my hand if I shoved it into lava.
The human drew his last breath, the magic in Marcus’s hands growing, coiling around his arms.
“At last,” he said, dropping the athame. “At last.”
Rhianna released a sound caught somewhere between a sob and a gasp. Magic ignited on her belly, forming a ring of flowers with black centers, rotating in a circle. “Daddy, are you?—”
“Silence!” Marcus lifted his hands. “From The Sun and The Moon, I call to you. In the shadow of such a sorrowful sacrifice, I call to you.”
Sorrowful? Why? Had the human been important to him?
“In the name of my father, Kane Kingwood, I call to you.”
“In his name,” every shadow witch responded.
They seriously revered Kane Kingwood as some sort of deity.
Rhianna moaned in pain, her eyes wide. “Daddy…”
“Draw Essence!” Marcus roared, slamming his hands together.
Magic slammed into me, my pulse quickening as my spine bent backwards. My jaw opened, followed by the sensation of fingers sliding in. Deeper than physically possible, feeling their way down my throat.
Searching…
I didn’t choke, stock-still as they probed around in my chest, close to my heart.
What are you looking for?
The fingers locked onto something, then shot out of me, leaving me gagging and choking in the aftermath of their assault.
I heard my brother do the same.
What happened? Did the arsehole use a spell to take our powers? I called them, despite the oil. Found them there still, locked in an oily box.
Wiping tears and snot from my face with my T-shirt, I blinked away the blur in my vision, observing the next stage of this nightmare play out.
A small ball of sunlight blazed in Marcus’s right hand, while a sphere of moonlight shimmered in his left.
“Sun and Moon!” he cried. “Sun and Moon!” He moved toward his daughter, placing both hands on her belly. “Join with me, vessel of hope. Join with me. Feel the essence of The Sun and The Moon. Connect to it. Be at one with it.”
“Join. Join. Join,” the shadow witches chanted, their hands pressed together in prayer.
Rhianna groaned, her teeth bared in a grimace.
I couldn’t formulate a thought, aghast at the power of shadow magic, and the brutality of its spellcasting.
This house must fall…
“The Sun and The Moon give life to hope,” Marcus said. “The blessed magic shall join with the vessel. Do you feel it, daughter?”
She sniveled out a yes as the balls of sun and moonlight energy seeped into her. She lit up like a Christmas tree, magic spreading across her body as white light.
She let out a cry of pain, screaming for her father. The bed shook as she struggled against him, her legs kicking out.
“Daddy! Please!”
“Feel the power, my darling daughter!” he cried. “It flows! It expands! It feeds!”
