Page 74 of Dark Reckoning
We all agreed.
“Good,” he said, then released whatever it was that kept us in place.
I was finally able to breathe fully, now that my chest wasn't constricted. I guessed we needed to find something else besides violence to distract us. Another two hours passed and I had stopped looking at videos of people dying. I wondered how many humans and supernal had been killed or turned. Most likely, more humans than supernals as we were all ordered to lockdown and mages placed barriers over our safe houses. I knew this because I'd gotten in contact with other griezel kings and queens and they were all in lockdown. None of us liked it, but it was necessary. The door to the lounge opened and Sage was standing in the doorway.
“We're ready, come on,” he said.
We followed him to a room that crackled with energy when I passed through. I was sure the others felt it by the shivering that mirrored my own. I looked around the room to see a large symbol that had been painted on the floor in what looked like black ink. It had a design on the inside that had three circles that interlocked in the middle. Each circle also had sigils in them. On the outside was a design that was a star with eight points that had circles on the tip of each point. It was very intricate. I turned my gaze from the symbol to look at the eight mages that were gathered. They were all wearing black robes with gold symbols on them. When I looked back at the symbol on the floor, I noticed that each of the eight circles had different symbols in them. I knew those designs represented each mage.
There was a table as well, loaded with swords. It would seem these mages were prepared for one hell of a fight, and on our behalf. Well, on behalf of the entire world. Just these eight mages. If nothing else, I was grateful for them. I also acknowledged just how powerful they all were as a group. It was a reason why no one fucked with the Echelon Imperial Council. When they gave an order, laid down a rule, you obeyed, no matter who you were. And now, Adrian and Sage were a part of them with Salino in control of them. Jesus. I hoped he kept his word and left my territory alone.
“Please remove your clothes and wear these.” A female mage with red hair walked up to us, handing us red velvet robes.
I took it and began to undress.
“Nice,” I heard Salino say as he eyed my nakedness.
“Not in a million years,” I replied. Of course, I couldn't help but check him out... he was stunning, and the cock ring was a surprise, to say the least. But I'd never fuck him. Never.
He chuckled softly as he put on the red robe. Once we were all prepared, the red-headed mage gave us blood to drink, and as soon as I swallowed, I could feel the magic race through me and I swooned, but managed to catch my balance. I didn't ask what any of it was. I didn't ask if there was a price to pay. As far as I was concerned, as long as it didn't kill me, no price was too high, because we were already paying it.
“All right, please stand in the middle of the sigil, each one of you in a circle,” said a stunningly beautiful Japanese mage. I held my hand up. “Can we at least know your names, and is this spell going to kill us?” I asked, because I needed to put my mind at ease a bit. Adrian said it wouldn't kill us, but I wanted to hear it from them as well.
“Forgive me, my name is Kakashi Okumura, Magi-Grande of the Echelon Imperial,” the Japanese Mage said. Next, the other mages introduced themselves, then Kakashi continued. “This spell will not kill you, but it will leave you drained of your essence. It will take you a while to recover. Perhaps several days, but you will survive this and you will not lose your power as a supernal. The spell requires the very power you have in order to make the weapon we need.”
Okay, that was what I wanted to know. I joined Salino and the female alpha inside of the sigil where I had been directed to stand. Apparently, each circle was designated by the design inside of them. I watched with trepidation as the other eight mages all took their places on the sigil and began to pass a chalice around. Each one took a sip and seemed to sway, but stay upright. To say that I wasn't nervous would have been a lie. I didn't hang around mages, never needed to. Not only that, but mages tended to keep to themselves or hang out with humans. There really was a general distrust between supernals, and mages were a tricky breed. The next thing they did was cut themselves and bled onto the sigil that began to smoke and glow a bright blue. That was when I felt something inside of me snap and my body went ridged as a board. I couldn't move, not even to look around. I could only assume the same thing had happened to the alpha and Salino.
I began to hear chanting and the sound of the mages voice grew louder and louder in my ears until I could feel the vibration of their voices inside my very being. It was followed by pain, god... so much pain, and I was unable to scream. My vision blurred as it felt like my soul was being drawn from my body through my feet and sucked into the sigil. The chanting was blaring in my ears now, so deafening, and the pain felt like fire. Tears flowed from my eyes; it was all I could do to get some relief from the agony. The spell seemed to go forever as I grew weaker and still couldn't move. I heard a loud collective clap and everything went black.
Chapter eleven
IwatchedasDamon,Salino, and Josette fell to the floor. With the spell completed, their energy and essence had been successfully drawn to create our weapon. My own body had been wiped out as well, and I lay on the floor far too weak to move. We all were. In fact, the only two among us who could still sit up were Sage and Kakashi. Probably because Sage was a hybrid and Kakashi was just the oldest mage here. Kakashi murmured something and the spell Maryanne crafted that was in eight vials began to float to each of us, landing on the floor by our hands.
“Drink… drink,” Kakashi panted. His hand trembled as he reached out for the vial. It seemed to take every bit of energy he had left to lift it to his lips. He swallowed, then collapsed, lying unconscious. Sage was next and he also passed out afterward. Eventually, we all took the potion, and I didn’t think I had ever had the hardest time trying to drink anything. But once I swallowed the last of it, the room went cloudy, then disappeared.
***
I felt a gentle stroking of my jaw and smelled a familiar scent. Sage. Slowly, my eyes opened and he was looking down at me. He was so beautiful and those gray/golden eyes—wow—dynamite. I smiled up at him. “Please tell me it's over already?”
He chuckled. “Not yet. Now, we have to do the spell to be able to locate him.”
I wasn't looking forward to that. Not. At. All. I'd never had sex publicly, not even to jerk off, and I was expected to share something so intimate with the man I loved with six other people, pretty much strangers. I didn't like it, but there really wasn't any other way around it. We didn't have time to hope a spell would pop up that would be different. This might be the only spell for the job. So, I nodded and Sage helped me to my feet.
I looked toward the middle of the sigil where Salino, Damon, and Josette had been, but they were gone. “Are they okay?” I asked, motioning to the empty space.
Sage nodded. “Yeah, they're knocked the fuck out in their homes. I took Damon and Salino back and Kakashi returned Josette home.”
“Ahh, okay, good.”
“Do we need to do anything else for the spell?” Sage asked.
“I had already set everything up before you returned. Then we did the Goddess Blessing potion. Now, we just have to do it,” I said. We'd done all the prep, because I knew once we had his location, we had to act. The way the spell worked, if the goddess was pleased with our offering, she would reveal the location to Sage and me. I just hoped we would give her the best sex ever, because she might not be so willing to see us again any time soon. The spell and Goddess were that fickle, I'd say.
I looked around and saw that Kakashi held the weapon in his hands, no doubt, for him to wield, since it was his spell that helped create it. It was beautiful and didn't look like a weapon at all. It looked more like some kind of precious mineral. It was a silver orb surrounded by a glowing gold material. Not sure what it was made of, like if any of that could be found on the periodic table. I doubted it. “What will that do to him?” I asked.
“It will trap his soul and destroy it. But that will take time. You will all need to fight him to keep him distracted while I activate it,” Kakashi reminded us.
Oh man, why couldn't we just toss it at his ass and boom, Dark God killed? I had never even met the asshole and I hated him so much. “So, that means some of us might not survive this encounter?” I asked, getting to the point Kakashi didn't make.
