Page 111 of To Crave Deeply
“Ladies and gentlemen, please take a seat. This will be quite the show, but please don’t interrupt. There will be magic here that looks painful, but it is intricate and walks a fine line between life and death.”
Grumbles were muttered by the rest of the team, but they did as they were bid, even if they didn’t like it. Rae and Violette took up a position on the dais behind Lucifer and me.
“I’m going to need you both to kneel and grasp each other’s forearms. Rae and Violette will then rest a hand on your shoulders to help me channel the magic,” Selene explained as she came to stand in between us all.
My heart started pounding in my chest as I complied with her instructions and my mouth went drier than the desert. Lucifer held his arms up and I placed mine over his as Selene had told us. I could feel his muscles flexing beneath my fingers with his nerves. This was it. I just prayed this fucking worked because I was getting sick of being shit on from a great height.
“Now, I’m going to need a drop of blood from each of you,” Selene said as she pulled out a wicked looking blade. She indicated that she wanted my hand, so I gave it to her. She stabbed the point into my thumb and there was a sharp sting as a bead of blood pooled on the tip of it. “Place your thumb in the centre of the soulbond mark on Lucifer’s chest.”
I did as I was told, marking his chest with my blood, and feeling his rapid heartbeat beneath my fingers. Selene then repeated the same thing with Lucifer, and the moment blood pooled on the tip of his thumb, my stomach roiled and clenched with a sudden burst of hunger. Something must have shown in my face because Lucifer hesitated.
“Lori?”
“I’m fine. It’s fine,” I said through gritted teeth.
“My, my,” Selene chuckled. “Mordecai does work fast.”
If I hadn’t been concentrating so hard on keeping my mouth shut and as far away from Lucifer as possible, I’d probably have commented on her words. But it was taking everything in me to stay still as Lucifer leant forward and swiped his thumb across the mark on my chest.
The sweet aroma of his blood filled my senses and something dark within me found life. I could feel it stirring, churning, melding with everything else deep within me until all I could feel was power. I couldn’t tell if it was the magic, the demon, or whatever Mordecai had woken in me, but there was definitely a hunger lurking deep in my very core that had my fear and panic running into overdrive.
Why was life never fucking simple?
Lucifer looked at me with worry, and I knew this was going to be a conversation for later. Right now, we had to fix the soulbond. That took precedence. Then I could stop worrying if Lucifer was going to die or not and focus on the fact that I was about to turn into a fucking vampire.
I wish Jasper were here. I had so many questions.
Selene held her arms aloft, looking up towards the dome of the room, and started chanting. I didn’t understand the words. I didn’t need to. The light faded around us as if even the sun feared the magic the original witch was about to call forth. Rae’s hand clenched on my shoulders, and I found her looking down at me reassuringly.
This was all going to be fine. It had to be.
Electricity hummed in the air as the presence of magic increased. I clutched onto Lucifer as my heart rate sped up. The dark energy pulsed beneath the mark on my chest as whatever Selene was doing took hold. Wind came out of nowhere, whipping the tendrils of my hair around my face. It surrounded Lucifer and I and the three witches like a tornado. Selene’s strange words got louder, and a grimace fell over Lucifer’s face. He was in pain. Oh god. I needed to stop this.
“Lucifer! Selene, stop!”
“No,” Lucifer called through gritted teeth. “Lori, let her finish.” His hands gripped my forearms tightly. I knew there would be bruises later but I didn’t care. I needed to be strong for him. We needed to get through this together.
The wind intensified around us, and through the tornado I caught glimpses of the team watching on in a mixture of horror and fascination.
Suddenly, Lucifer threw his head back with a roar. My heart clenched. What was Selene doing to him? Fuck. Was she killing him to balance the bond?
The sweet coppery scent of blood hit my nose and I panicked. My eyes darted everywhere until my nose followed the scent to Lucifer. There were droplets trailing across his cheeks as his eyes cried bloody tears. The darkness stirred in me again and dread took root in my gut. I was consumed by the smell of it. Lucifer’s blood was calling to me and I had a real fear that I was going to let go and ruin everything.
Rae’s hand clenched harder on my shoulder and she pushed me backwards. Shit. I’d gotten closer to Lucifer. This was bad. This was really bad. What was I going to do? Lick his face while he was dying? Fuck. Selene needed to finish this so I could run away as far as possible.
A soft melodious chuckle sounded deep in my mind.
Mordecai.
“Remember. Call me when you need me, little one. It won’t be long now…”
Disgust roiled in my stomach as I heard his words as clear as if he were standing next to me, whispering them in my ear. No. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, call to him. I could get past this. I had people around me to help. I could do this. I could.
I was distracted from thoughts of Mordecai when a glowing gold ribbon appeared between the marks on mine and Lucifer’s chest. What the Hell? That was what a soul looked like to me when I fed my demon.
She was doing it. Selene was actually reconnecting our souls. How was she going to reconnect the bond to our hearts?
The answer came with a searing pain right where Lucifer had marked me with his blood. My eyes widened and a gasp escaped my lips. Fuck me, that hurt. It was excruciating. Like my heart wanted to burst from my chest. The gold ribbon turned blood red as the pain deepened. Lucifer’s body went rigid, as if the agony was too much to bear.
