Chapter 19

NINETEEN

Asha

Power crackles through me and my entire body shakes. I feel the blood within me humming with energy and I move toward the web of dark magic that encircles the town. It’s strange… this magic. It isn’t like something I need to know how to use. It feels like something that simply wants me to tell it what to do.

That’s not how witches work. That’s not how any creature I’ve ever heard of works. But instinctually, I know that’s what’s happening now.

As my hand hovers above the web, I tell my powers to part it. To let us through. To make a doorway for us. The web hisses as if it wants to fight me, to fight back against my order, but it untangle slowly, creepily, like a living thing, and then a doorway stands in front of us.

“Okay,” I tell them. “We can get through. But go carefully. Walk exactly where I walk.”

I feel Braxton and Max draw closer to my back. They can’t see the web, and I have no idea what will happen if they touch it, so I move slowly through, inching underneath it like this all might just be a trap. A trap I need to protect the two men with me from.

When we get far enough inside, I turn back and watch the web close behind us once more, sealing off our exit, although I’m pretty sure that I can command it to open again, if I want to.

Hopefully.

Looking forward once more, I take two steps into the town, and everything changes. It’s like someone snaps their fingers and destroys the small-town vision I had just a moment before. Everything grows shockingly dark, dark as night, only there’s no bright moon or stars to light the way. Instead, blood glows off every surface. I know it’s blood, not just because I smell it, but it’s literally splattered on walls and doors in a way few things could splatter. Pools illuminate the streets, most accompanied by a body nearby.

Which is weird. Blood Mages kill for blood. So, if blood is everywhere, what is this one doing?

“You guys see the glowing blood too, right?” Braxton whispers nearly into my ear.

I nod.

“And it’s darker?”

“Yes,” Max says, and he sounds worried. “This is some serious magic.”

“We should stick together,” I say.

“Agreed.” Max’s voice is almost a growl, and I look back to see he’s elongated his claws.

My gaze meets with Braxton’s and we both let our nails grow into sharp claws before continuing.

The place is fucking eerie. No one is out. There are no sounds, not even the chirping of crickets. It truly is like we’ve stepped into another world seeped with evil.

I try not to think about which pack member did this, but I know deep in my heart that this isn’t the work of Simon. My brother might be twisted by the dark magic. I’m prepared for that. But this… this is on a whole other level. None of this are the actions of a scared, confused Blood Mage. This is some serious shit. And as hard as it is to accept that this means I need to keep looking for my brother, for once, I can live with this not being a lead to him.

We’re all heading for the center of town, at least I think we are, when something changes in the air. Slowly, a heavy fog rolls through the city, but the fog is darker than any fog I’ve seen before. It keeps growing until I can barely see through it. I start to breathe deeper to make up for the loss of sight, to rely more on my other senses, but it’s hard to smell anything except for blood.

“What the hell is in this fog?” Braxton sounds panicked.

“It’s just weird. Heavy and dark,” I tell him reassuringly.

“No,” Max says, his voice off. “There’s something wrong with it.”

“Just stay close together. Rely on your other senses.” I don’t know when I became the one in charge, but it seems I am. Although it feels strange to me. There’s something going on with Max and Braxton. Yes, this is weird, but not as weird as they seem to think.

“Everything’s going to be okay. We’ll go slow. We’ll stick together.” I keep moving, sticking to the road we were on, knowing that eventually it’ll take us to the center of the town. We have… maybe ten more minutes, and then we’ll find the source of all of this trouble.

“They’re ghosts,” Braxton says, and now the panic in his voice has turned to dread.

“There aren’t any ghosts,” I call over my shoulder, then look back, before remembering that we’d have to be nose-to-nose to see each other.

“And what if they attack us in this? We won’t even see them coming.” Max’s voice is a low growl.

“We’re okay. We’ll smell them before we see them. It’s just the fog playing with your head,” I reassure them. I hesitate, then keep going.

The blood pools and splatters are still lighting through the fog, but nothing like they were before. I just tell myself to put one foot in front of the other. To keep my steps quiet on the cobbled road. To keep breathing in the scents around me, so I know when we’ve reached my pack member before they see us.

If they can see us through all of this.

It’s another few minutes of walking, although I’m not sure how much, when I freeze. The smell of blood has deepened. The coppery scent is so strong that I actually gag a little, but it’s not just blood. It’s the scent of dead bodies.

“I think we’ve reached him,” I whisper.

But there’s no answer.

“Max? Braxton?” I look behind me. Nothing stirs.

I retreat a few steps trying to pick up their scents and find nothing. No trace of them. I have to speak quietly or I’ll give myself away to our enemies, but I call for them, search for them for a few minutes, but stop myself from going too far. From leaving the road. I feel like one of those people in movies where if they leave the path they’ll never be seen again. But where the hell are Max and Braxton?

Finally, I remember my walkie-talkie and try calling their names over it.

Still no answer.

A lump forms in my throat. Something had to have happened to them. They wouldn’t have just left me here alone to face a dangerous person. Even if I was a total ass to them before.

If something happens to them… No, I can’t think about that. I need to retrace my steps and reach the center of town, the place with the bodies and blood. If I can get there and find my pack member, I can stop all of this. Hopefully before the two stubborn brothers are hurt.

Turning back around, I retrace my steps, scenting the blood and bodies, but pushing forward anyway. Always moving forward until my foot hits something. I kneel down and discover that I’ve stepped on a wrist. A dead body from the smell of it. For one second I’m afraid it might be Max or Braxton, but then I see a bright yellow sleeve and breathe a sigh of relief.

Dead bodies are never good, but at least it’s not my men.

I step around it and keep going. The further I go the more the fog seems to clear until I can see a short distance in front of me. Enough to step around the dozens and dozens of bodies littering the ground. There are still blood splatters everywhere, still bloody pools, but the bodies I come across seem to have been drained. Which is something. Isn’t it?

And then I freeze as I hear the sound of bones cracking ahead of me. And it has to be bones, I know it deep inside. I know it by the chill that rolls up my spine.

Inching forward I move toward the sound, until I find it . Until I find the… thing .

It’s turned away from me, but it looks like something out of a horror movie. If it was once a man, it isn’t any longer. It’s turned an oily black color marbled with green veins. Big… tentacles are growing out of its naked back, and the tentacles move like they’re living things. It’s crouched over a body on the ground, and it feeds on the person’s stomach like some kind of wild animal.

I lift a hand, feeling the magic inside of me whispering. Begging to be released. I think I could kill this thing right now. End its miserable life and not have to fight something that is probably infinitely more powerful than I am.

And yet, I drop my hand.

“Blood Pack?” I whisper.

It freezes but doesn’t turn to look at me.

“I’m Asha of the Blood Pack. I was there, in the cells, along with you. I know what they did to you, because they did it to me too. And I’m here to help you. To get you out of this.”

“Aa-sha.” The word comes from it, almost foreign, like it’s never heard my name before, and I’m beginning to wonder if I made a terrible mistake.

“Y-yes, it’s me. I had a brother, Simon, and a sister, Isabella. My mom was… she was a shifter and a witch. Do you remember me? Can you tell me your name?” I don’t know what I’m saying or doing. Maybe saying my name was a mistake after what I did. Maybe it’ll only piss him off.

And then, it turns slowly toward me, so slowly that it reminds me of some kind of alien-like animal.

My stomach drops. The creature is alien-like. It’s covered in oily black and green veins. Its eyes are sickly green with no whites at all. And its front has more tentacles growing out of its belly. Whatever this is… I don’t know if it has anything human inside of it any longer.

I’d heard dark magic could change a person. I never imagined that would look like this.

“Asha,” it says again, this time more smoothly.

It stands to its full height, and we stare at each other. I feel the dark magic crackling around us in every direction, radiating off of whatever this man has become. It’s like a live wire, and I’m terrified that I’m about to die right here.

It tilts its head and points at me. “Asha.”

I nod. “That’s right. Asha of the Blood Pack.”

Then, it points at itself. “Simon.”

Simon.

Simon.

Simon .

I gasp in a breath, tears filling my eyes. No. No, it must just be repeating me. This can’t be Simon. Not my gentle brother. Not the boy who watched over me my whole life, who protected me, who let me run wild under his watchful gaze.

“No,” I say, “you’re not Simon.”

It tilts its head, and the oily black crawls off of his face like a living creature, revealing… Simon. His brilliant red hair. His beautiful eyes. He’s thinner. Older. But Simon.

“It’s you,” I sob, pressing a hand to my mouth.

“It’s me,” he says, his voice more like Simon’s than before.

“I’ve been looking for you. Searching day and night–”

“Because of your guilt.” His face holds no expression.

“No,” I say, shaking my head, feeling confused. “Because you’re my brother. Because I love you. Because you’re the only family I have left.”

He studies me. “Because you are the reason the Blood Mages found our town. You were selfish, and you led them right to us. And then you had a choice to save others, and you saved your own life instead. Not just in the village, but with the Blood Mages.”

I feel the tears rolling down my face. “Yes, I did all of that.”

“Because you are selfish. You have a dark heart.”

His words are like blows. “No, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t mean for the Blood Mages to find us. And… people don’t always think clearly when they’re being tortured. Yes, I was weak. I just wanted the pain to end, and I wasn’t thinking–”

“That you would cost others their lives.” His eyes never leave my face, studying me like I’m an insect.

I draw myself up taller. “I knew that. I’m sorry for all of it. If I could take it back, I would, but I can’t.”

“You can’t,” he repeats my words and takes a step toward me. “But now you are powerful. You’ll never be hurt again. You’ll never let anyone take and take from you again.” He lifts a hand out to me. “And you’ve come to join me. To add your power to mine so that this world will be ours.”

It takes me a second to process what he said. A painfully long second. “No, Simon, no. I’ve come here to save you. To help you get away from the dark magic.”

And then he shows his first bit of emotion. He laughs. At me. “Save me? I don’t need to be saved.” He lifts his hands and gestures around himself. “I’ve claimed an entire town as my food dish, my source of power. There are bodies here, but there are hundreds more hiding in their homes, thinking I can’t smell them, can’t sense them. I will consume this entire town, and then I’ll go to the next, and the next.”

“Until what?” I’m shaking. This isn’t my brother. This can’t be my brother.

“Until I’ve consumed it all.”

“Simon, no. This isn’t what you want. You’d never want to hurt and kill people. You’d never want to cause all this destruction just for power. This isn’t you. It’s the dark magic inside of you.” And I’m pleading, but it’s because my gut is churning. Something inside of me is saying it’s too late, and I can’t let it be too late.

There has to be a way to save him.

“Sister,” he says with a smile, “I think you’re the one who needs to be saved. To understand. Our pack was weak, and so we were destroyed. Now, we’re not weak any longer. No one will ever hurt us again. If you join me, we can have everything we lost. We can have it all.”

I’m crying. Fully sobbing, although I’m not sure when I started to cry. “We can’t have it all just by pursuing power and using our dark magic. But we can try to get back some of what we lost if we find more of our people and come back together. Maybe we won’t have Isabella and Mom, but we can have each other. We can be happy again.”

“Asha, I do not want that life again.” His gaze grows harder, colder, and the black webbing that had retreated from his head starts to cover him once more. “I’ll never be that person again. This is what I want now.”

“Think about what Mom and Isabella would want!” I cry out, desperate, feeling everything slipping away.

“What they’d want is for you not to have killed them in the first place,” he tells me coldly. “But I can forgive you for that. Their deaths had to happen for us to become what we are now. I understand that, although it took me some time.”

“Simon–”

“Join me, Asha. Take this town with me. Take the world with me. We can have it all.”

I shake my head, my vision blurred with tears. “Simon, I love you. You’re my everything, but I can’t do this. I can never be this. Please just come with me. With time, you’ll understand what I’m saying.”

The oily black has nearly covered his face once more. “If that’s your choice, then you are not the Blood Mage I need. You’re not strong enough. Not powerful enough. And you have no benefit to me. Like everything else that’s weak, you must die.” And then, his face is gone, and it’s only the monstrous creature in front of me.

He lifts a hand, and I feel his powers buzzing.

I lift a hand, calling to my own magic as sobs wrack my body. But even still, I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know if I can kill my brother.

The monstrous creature, my brother, smiles, as if he’s reading my mind.

Did you enjoy this book? If so, preorder your copy of Wolf Laws . The release is set out a little while, but my plan is to move the date up.