Page 21 of Rise of the Witch
I had to look away from him at that thought. I had no living family that I cared about—or who cared about me—except my chosen family of Tan and Nox. Obviously, my relationship with Tan was more complicated than the brotherhood binding the three of us together, so if he didn’t want to stay out here with me...if he asked me to choose…
“Don’t look so grim, boys,” Vasi’s amused voice rang out as she suddenly appeared before us. “Nox is alive.”
“How do you know?!” Tan was beside her in an instant, gripping her arm so tightly I expected to see claws extending from his fingertips this time.
Those claws of hers in my skin…
Vasi shrugged him off, looking oddly uncomfortable as she curtly replied, “I just do.” Spinning on her heel, she took off in a seemingly random direction, and I froze, realizing that, instead of her usual long skirt, she was dressed in black yoga pants and knee-high riding boots.
Tan slapped an arm over my shoulders, and I wrenched my gaze from her spectacular ass to find his hazel eyes shining at me with a mischievous light. “Think you might be interested in being a top after all?” he chuckled, kissing me on the cheek before releasing me.
Jesus, I know I’m not your favorite son, but you need to take the wheel right now.
Willing myself to focus on our missing friend andnoton the vision of Vasi bent over in nothing but those boots, I shouldered my rifle and took off after the tempting witch. After the three of us had been walking long enough for us humans to lose our warm outer layers, Vasi abruptly stopped, her head cocked as if listening to a far-off sound. Straining, I could barely make out the faintest tones of a melody drifting through the trees. The singer sounded mournful, so hauntingly sad that I just wanted to find whoever it was and gather her in my arms...allow her to drag me down...to where there was no more pain…
“SHIT!”Vasi hissed, startling me back to reality as she fumbled in her pack, producing a thin rag and frantically tearing it into small pieces to shove at us with shaking hands. “Put these in your ears, immediately. Do not listen to...TAN!Come back here!” she grabbed him as he started to wander off with a dreamy look on his face.
For some reason, I could resist the music enough to help restrain Tan while Vasi stuffed the fabric in his ears. Checking that the work I’d done on myself was satisfactory, she nodded solemnly before motioning for us to follow her in the direction of the mysterious song. While I wasn’t happy about losing one of my senses, the ones that remained seemed amplified. Despite the thickness of the surrounding forest, my eyes caught every glimmer of movement in the undergrowth, with every source immediately identified for precisely what it was. My nose could detect a wolf pack’s fresh kill of an elk even though I somehow knew it was many kilometers away.
Something in me felt...changed.
Magic pussy, indeed.
Back to his un-hypnotized self, Tan was attempting to catch my eye as we walked, mouthing something that looked like “you’re growing” as he spread his hands in an arc shape over my head. Apparently, lip-reading was not on my list of newly-attained talents, but before I could decipher what he was saying, Vasi halted us again. Maneuvering around her suddenly towering form, I saw we stood on the edge of a small pond, the greenish water murky with algae and debris. Scanning the surface, I gasped in horror when I spied Nox’s submerged face only a few feet offshore. Vasi thrust her arm across my chest to stop me from diving in after him and lifted her chin to glare at the thick reeds surrounding the pond.
“Rusalka!” she boomed in a voice so powerful I could plainly hear it through the fabric in my ears. “You have something of mine, and it would be wise of you to give him back.”
Turning to Tan and me, she indicated that we could remove the makeshift earplugs. I hurriedly obeyed and immediately regretted it as the most horrid laughter filled the air. It sounded like every possessed child from every bad horror movie ever made, and I honestly hadn’t understood how flesh could crawl until this very moment.
An excruciatingly beautiful woman suddenly rose from the muddy pond, long, red hair draped over her naked breasts and doing little to cover the rest of her. Dirty water ran in rivulets down her ghostly skin, calling me to follow its trail to where it disappeared between her legs. It took all of my willpower to bring my gaze back to her face, where I found glowing green eyes sparkling with dangerous mischief. I quickly averted my eyes and saw that Tan had done the same, sweat beading on his brow with the effort. Somehow, I knew that, unlike Vasi, where her beauty was the reality, this was a disguise—an attractive trap meant to lure men to their dooms.
Men like Nox.
I fixed my gaze on his familiar face below the surface of the pond, on how still and lifeless he looked. While I remembered Vasi had sworn he was still alive, the realization that this happened to him because ofmyactions started to seep into my bones, chilling my blood as I began to shake. Vasi laid a soft hand on my forearm—nothing like the delicious hold she’d had on me last night, but equally calming. I gratefully settled into her touch, trusting in her to handle this as the Rusalka started to speak.
“Yaaaagaaaaa,” she chortled, revealing the rotten teeth hidden behind her perfect, red lips. “What is the trouble? This man came to me willingly. He was sodissatisfiedwith whatever you had to offer that he sought out the sound of my call...the comfort of my arms...the pleasures of my flesh…”
“Enough!” Vasi barked, my dick twitching at the glorious rage radiating from her. “This. Man. Belongs. To. Me.”
The Rusalka laughed again, the sound of nightmares. “Oh, Vasilisa, everyone knows your power only goes so far since you’ve been unable to find your Ri…” the beast faltered, and I dared to raise my gaze. Her watery eyes were shifting nervously between Tan and me before skimming over Nox’s submerged body and back to Vasi’s face, a new expression replacing the defiance.
Fear.
Whatever the Rusalka had just realized was making her change her tune and fast. Stumbling backward onto the opposite bank, she quickly waved a hand in Nox’s direction, causing him to emerge from the pond and float, unconscious, to the grass at our feet. Tan immediately dropped to his knees and began performing CPR, but all I could do was dumbly watch.
I did this.
Another person I loved got hurt because of me.
Vasi looked at me sharply, as if I’d spoken aloud, but quickly returned her terrifying focus to the Rusalka. The creature chuckled, hands spread in a false gesture of friendship. “Apologies for the misunderstanding, Yaga. I trust that my sisters and I will remain under the protection of your guardianship.” Vasi curtly nodded and began to turn away when the Rusalka added, “Oh! AndNadiasays hello from the depths…” With one last spine-chilling laugh, the monster expertly dove into the pond, quickly disappearing from sight.
Nox’s eyes shot open with a choking gasp, and Tan helped roll him to his side as a bucketful of murky sludge exited his lungs. Relief surged through me, temporarily overshadowing my guilt, although I knew it would return in no time. Looking at Vasi, I startled as I saw her gaze was still fixed on the pond, a single tear trailing down the smooth skin of her cheek.
Chapter 18
Nox
She had rescued me.
