Page 73 of Sophie's Ruin
“A blood pact?” Yvonne asked, her dark brows climbing her forehead.
Henry nodded and glanced at Celeste—a cue for her to take over.
The witch let the suspense build for a few seconds as her gaze slowly traveled over all the vampires in the room. When her perusal was finally over, she reached into her cloak and retrieved a piece of parchment.
“All I need is a drop of blood from each of you,” she said, as she walked around the desk and rolled the parchment out on top of it. I could recite the words on the paper by heart—after all, I was the one who’d written them down. They mirrored the terms Henry had laid out to the clan leaders.
Yvonne stepped closer to the desk first, peering down at the parchment atop it. Her eyes quickly scanned the paper before lifting to Celeste.
“How will this work?” she asked.
“Your blood will make it binding. If you ever break any of the rules outlined in this agreement, the spell I will place on it will alert me, and then…” She trailed off, turning her head to look at me.
“I’ll take it from there,” I said darkly, trying to infuse my voice with as much menacing energy as I could.
Yvonne paled and staggered back a step.
“We are not going to require that everyone in your clan signs the agreement,” Henry said, drawing the attention to him. “But as the clan leaders, it will be your responsibility to keep your families in line.”
“And what if we don’t?” Dion asked.
“Then you are not fit to be their leader,” Henry told him. The look he gave him spoke louder than words, making Dion curl into himself. “I’ll go first,” Henry said, letting go of my hand. “The Duval clan will be a part of this contract just like everyone else,” he declared, in an attempt to show good faith.
He turned toward the desk and pricked his index finger with his claw, letting a drop of blood drip on the parchment.
“Who’s next?” Celeste asked, as Henry’s blood bloomed on the paper.
“I’ll go next,” Remy said, speaking up for the first time. “The sooner this meeting is adjourned, the sooner I can be on my way to begin making preparations for our new way of life.” His boyish voice didn’t carry even a hint of malice, and he sounded almost relieved by the decision. I angled my head, taking a closer look at him. It appeared not everyone in the Stern clan was a depraved psychopath.
After he’d stepped up to the table and added his blood to the parchment, silence stretched as everyone else in the room stood unmoving, their gazes cast down to the floor.
“You do realize that when Henry said we propose a blood pact, that wasn’t really a suggestion?” I said, folding my arms over my chest.
I fixed my eyes on Yvonne standing in front of me, letting my gaze bore into her until she had no choice but to meet it. With a snarl, she moved to the table and added a drop of her blood.
After the remaining clan leaders had begrudgingly done the same, a sigh of relief almost left me. It appeared we’d won, but I knew I would never truly rest easy while other vampires were still in the world. I would always be on high alert, waiting for something to happen. In a way, it would be easier to kill them all, only leaving Henry, me, and Isabelle, but that would make me a monster, and I refused to be one.
“It’s your turn,” Celeste said, looking at me.
With a nod, I pricked my thumb and ran it across the parchment, smearing the six drops of blood.
“What are you doing?” Adelaide asked, scrunching her face up in concern.
“Binding your will to mine,” I replied. “You will never be able to run or hide. I will always be able to track and summon you.”
Shock splashed across the clan leaders’ faces just as Celeste held out her hands above the parchment and uttered an incantation.
Potent magic filled the study, making it difficult to breathe. The others seemed impervious to it, but as a White Witch, I was experiencing the full effect of Celeste’s powers. It clogged my throat and constricted my chest, suffocating me. When Henry noticed something was wrong, he placed a hand on my lower back for support. I gritted my teeth through the discomfort, as Celeste’s chanting grew louder until it abruptly stopped. The oppressive waves of magic ceased at the same time, and I inhaled deeply just as the parchment under Celeste’s hands flickered. The edges of the document burst into blue flames that rapidly spread, eating up the paper until they met in the middle, dissipating in a puff of white smoke. Even after it had burned, the parchment appeared perfectly intact, shimmering slightly.
“It is done,” Celeste declared.
No one moved. Everyone barely breathed as the witch rolled up the parchment and handed it to Wren, who paled as he received it.
“There is one more matter we need to discuss,” Henry said next to me. His deep voice jolted everyone out of their stupor, and all the eyes in the room fixed on him. “Are there any Ravagers left that we don’t know about?”
My gaze slid to Yvonne, and her amber eyes widened in fear.
“The Ravagers you sicced on me at your estate. Where did they come from?” I asked her.
