I’m not letting Ruth take that away from them. The Covenstead was my home. My sanctuary. It’s stood against dark forces before, and I’ll be damned before it falls tonight.
The magic sparks around my fingers, fueled by my rage. The girl screams again, and oppressive energy drifts through the forest. More demons.
Julian tightens his grip on the dagger, and I add more energy to the magic sizzling around my fingers. If Ruth is inside, then hopefully the demons and vampires are all out here still.
And we have a chance to save everyone.
We move behind a large tree, peering through the forest. Then I see someone laying on the ground, face down in the dirt. It’s Sister Selena. I run to her and drop to my knees. Maybe Julian can heal her. Desperately, I roll her over and gasp. She’s been sliced open, navel to sternum, and her intestines have been pulled out.
There’s no way Julian can save her. She’s dead.
Julian comes over, eyes narrowed as he looks at the body. Removing organs like this is some sort of necromancy, and Julian seems to recognize just what spell it will be used for.
“Callie,” he starts in warning but is too late. Ruth steps from the shadows, holding her hands out in front of her. They’re covered in blood, and she’s muttering a spell. Julian reaches for me right as Ruth claps her hands together, and something reverberates through the forest.
It passes right through me, and I fall back, pain rippling through my body. It’s like I’m being ripped in half, like someone is trying to yank my heart right out of my chest. I scream in pain and force my eyes open, looking for Julian.
He’s nowhere to be found.
My body convulses, and the pain intensifies as if every bone in my body is being broken at the same time.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t see.
My ears are ringing, and my head is pounding, and I know it’s too much. My eyes roll back in my head, and I slump down, body going still as everything turns black.Chapter 42Callie.
I try to open my eyes and fail. I’m cold, so cold my fingers ache and my toes have lost all feeling.
Callie.
The voice is familiar. It’s close and far at the same time. I take in a breath, but it hurts. It would be easier to just stop breathing all together. To give in.
You have to wake up.
Leaves crunch under someone’s feet, and the sickening smell of sulfur wafts through the air. A soft breeze rustles my hair, and the sounds of twigs snapping echoes around me.
The woods. I’m in the woods. But why? I don’t remember anything. And I don’t want to. I just want the pain to end.
Open your eyes, Callie.
Whoever was walking by me pulls a dagger from its sheath, and the metal on metal cuts through the night like a harsh whisper. The tip of the blade presses into the flesh on my forearm. The cut stings, and the blade slowly slices through an inch of my skin. Blood trickles down my arm, warm on my frozen skin.
I’m so cold. So tired. The pain is overwhelming.
Wake up, Callie.
I can’t.
Yes, you can. Look at me.
My eyes are still closed, but slowly, my eyes begin to focus on the fuzzy outline of a man.
You are strong, my daughter. Look at me.
“Dad? Is that really you?” I don’t say the words out loud, but he can hear me.
Yes. You have to wake up. You have to break the spell.
“Spell?” What spell.
Ruth cast a spell that banished angels. Being only half angel, it didn’t physically banish you.
“Help me.”
I can’t. I’m not really here. Open your eyes, Callie.
“I can’t.”
Yes, you can. Do it for her.
“Her?” I ask, but Michael is gone. More leaves crunch, and I hear someone whispering a Latin incantation. “Dad?”
He doesn’t answer, but I’m becoming more aware of my surroundings. Ruth cast a spell to banish angels. That’s why Julian disappeared and why I felt like my soul was being ripped out of my body.
Do it for her.
Michael’s words echo in my head. Did I imagine him? No, I know I didn’t, and the her is my baby. A girl.
Lucas and I are having a baby girl.
I suck in a breath and take in the smells of the forest. The leaves. The dirt. The fire from the torches outside the Covenstead door. I can do it for her. For Lucas. For us.
More comes into my awareness. I’m standing with my back against something hard. Something that digs into the skin on my wrists. I’m cold because my jacket has been removed. I curl my fingers into fists but can’t move my arms.
I’m bound to something…a tree, I think. Yes, it’s a tree. I slit my eyes open again, and blue light from the Covenstead door glows before me. Ruth is kneeling before it, mixing something in a bowl. Two demons and three vampires stand behind her, unmoving as they wait for her next command.