Page 67 of Cursed Sight
She nodded as she stood again. “Nice, I wasn’t prepared for that one.”
“You always think you’re so damn clever,” Aja sneered as she took on Volark’s form and then Bonnie’s before switching to a few Serena did not recognize.
Serena raised a shoulder. “I mean, I don’t have to think I’m anything. Luckily for the coven, the ancestors didn’t put all their crystals in one witch.”
“Ah!” Aja screamed as she lurched forward.
The sound alerted Serena, so before Aja could put her foot down, Serena pinned her to the wall. “What’s your deal, Aja?”
“My deal is you took what was mine!” Aja screeched the last word, making Serena wince.
Taken off guard, her hold slipped enough for Aja to counter. One moment Serena was standing, but the next, she was pinned to the wall like da Vinci’sVitruvian Man. She narrowed her eyes on Aja and blew. A gust of air slammed into the woman’s abdomen and pushed her into the opposite wall once again.
Serena dropped to the ground and pushed to her feet. “You’re playing games you can’t win, Aja. If you were destined to be our high priestess, you would have won when you challenged me. Now you’ve crossed lines you can never recover from. Creating alliances with demons? You’ve poisoned me? You’ve kidnapped two of us? Youknowwhat they’ll do to you now.”
The hatred in Aja’s eyes dimmed for a moment.
The witch before her had once been her friend. Serena’s voice dropped as sadness filled her. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
“Lacerandas!”Aja called.
Serena screamed in agony. She peered down and watched blood pool from hundreds of slices along her flesh. Her heart thundered in her ears as she was overcome with pain. Shock filled her that Aja would ever use such a dark spell. She stared at the woman who had fallen so far off the path that there would be no redemption for her.
“Serena! What’s going on? Where are you?”Ethan cried.
She knew all too well he was experiencing the pain through their connection. Serena loved him too much to let him suffer.
“Stonebrook farmhouse. I love you, Ethan Broderick,”she choked out before raising a shield between them to stop his pain.
After shutting off the switch of their bond, she forced the searing pain out of her mind. With a quick glance at the puddle of blood around her, she realized she only had a few short minutes before she passed out from blood loss.
Digging deeper than ever before, Serena called out clearly as the door shook on its hinges.“Quod factum est voluntas tripliciter solvit!”
Aja’s eyes rounded a moment before Serena threw back her spell, three-fold. Aja’s mouth opened wide with a silent scream as the same lacerations tore into skin, only deeper than Serena’s.
Serena crumbled to the ground with tears in her eyes as she caught a glimpse of the girl she had once loved like a sister. Blood seeped from her wounds, exhaustion settling into her bones with the excruciating pain.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when the door flew open. Her breaths were shallower than she last remembered. She was unable to raise her heavy lids, but relief filled her when she sensed Ethan.
“Ah!” Ethan cried. “No! Serena, No!”
“Holy shit. Is that Aja?” Peter asked.
“Move! Give me some fucking room!” a familiar voice called.
She tried to see who had barked the order, but her eyes refused to cooperate. “S-s-so c-cold,” she muttered.
“I’ve got you, honey,” Ethan said before her skin began to warm.
With each passing second, the pain lessened, but her muscles were incredibly weak. Familiar fingers threaded with hers, and a wave of love washed over her.
“Ethan?”she asked.
“I’m right here,”he said.
Hearing his words, she let go, unable to fight anymore.
***
