22. Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Casimir

E merging from the darkness always took its toll on me. Like I was shedding a dense shadow and escaping a fog and learning to breathe again all at the same time. I hated Deimos. No, that wasn't quite accurate. I hated myself for the deal I'd made but it was easier to blame him than it was to accept him as a part of me.

I don't think I'd ever come to terms with being bound to the God of Fear. It wasn't something that was easy to accept. The man was a God and an asshole. Not exactly easy to like. the runes branded onto my skin should be keeping him at bay, but recently, there were moments where I could feel him seep into my emotions and that terrified me. Would there be one day that I'd wake up and there'd be nothing of me left?

What would I do then?

"Nice to see you back to your usual grumpy self," Nox said, slapping my shoulder as he walked past. I wouldn't say I was quite there; I could sense Deimos lurking in the back of my mind. Like if I looked to the side, he'd be there, waiting. So, I was just ignoring him. If I couldn't see him, he wasn't there, right?

"Are we there yet?" Hawk asked as he swung an axe through the air. I mean, where did he even get the axe from? The guy looked like a heathen. He'd ripped the sleeves off his coat and he didn't even have a shirt on under it. All I could see were tattoos and runes and —

"Are you staring at me, vulpe ?"

"What?" I said.

Hawk smirked, a sinister curl to his lips. "I asked if you were staring at me. Your eyes are focussed here." He dragged his hand down his bare chest.

"Just wondering why you aren't wearing clothes. It's odd."

"I don't like the feel of it against my skin. It feels unnatural."

I scoffed. "Well wear a shirt next time."

"Why?" he asked, his head cocked to one side. "Is it distracting? Do you want to touch?"

Had it suddenly gone hotter? "No."

He stepped closer and shit, the guy was tall. Like a foot taller than me. How had I not noticed that? Probably because I'd never let him stand so close.

His grin was wicked as he leant closer. "It's okay, vulpe . You can touch if you want."

"Absolutely not. Fuck you." I stepped around him and headed towards Nox and Korbin.

"Only if you ask nicely," he crooned from behind me.

I ignored the shudder that traipsed up my spine and continued to catch up with the others.

"What was all that about?" Nox asked.

"Nothing," I snapped and Korbin, the asshole, just laughed. "Which house is it?"

"Number 13," Korbin said. "It should be the last house on the end."

"13?" I snorted. "Seriously?" Could you get any more witchy?

"Lucky for some," Hawk muttered in his deep drawl.

It was a quiet little place in Malificavae, no more than a long street with a few houses and a corner shop. Although this was a corner shop in a village of witches, so it wasn't exactly the place to get bread and milk.

Raevyn's house looked like an ordinary house. There was nothing different about it. A blue front door, four windows and a little thatched roof. It was perfect for a postcard. Except for the eerie magic I could feel surrounding it. Like a dampening spell or some kind of cloaking spell. My mind fluttered back to the story Raevyn told us and my blood boiled. Were these silencing spells to keep the neighbours from hearing the screams?

"Fucking animals," I spat. How could they? How could they hurt my beautiful little bird.

"Keep it together, Casimir, or you can wait out here." Korbin fixed his dead eyes on me, and I could see the same hatred in his face. "We don't know if the mother was treated the same way."

"Considering she let her daughter die, I'd say that was enough to warrant her death," Nox said, echoing my own thoughts. "Or at least some serious maiming."

"Nevertheless," Korbin placated, "we're not here to judge. We're here to ask questions. What if we kill her and Raevyn didn't want that? What then?"

"Fine," I grumbled. "I'll play nice." For now, at least. There was no telling what would happen after the questioning.

Nox took Korbin's hand and placed it on his shoulder to lead him into the house. Then he threw a grin my way. "Let's get some answers for our girl."

I felt Deimos stir a little as I walked up the stone steps towards the front door.

I really hoped he stayed in his cage.

No promises, love came the whispered words from deep in my mind.

Fucking fuckity fuck. He was getting stronger.

But that was a problem for later. Or maybe I'd just ignore it like everything else he did. That would work. Yep. Definitely.

I reached for the doorknob and turned it, surprised when it opened, and the door swung inwards.

"Spooky," Nox said.

I crossed the threshold and felt the magic caress my skin, assessing me for a threat. It was a simple spell, but I could feel the power in it. It was strong and I suddenly dreaded to think what it would do to us if the spell found us wanting.

I listened quietly, hearing the soft crackle of a small fire and bubbles popping in a potion. I followed the hallway and the putrid scent of decaying lilies until I emerged into a large open plan kitchen.

Herbs hung from the ceiling over a large butcher block island. A cauldron sat bubbling away over an open fire which I assumed was the reason for the stench. There were books, bones and parchments littered across the island top and a row of jars that I definitely didn't want to take a closer look at.

As I stepped deeper into the room, I could hear someone shifting in the shadows. I turned to Nox who pointed to the corner furthest away from us.

"I knew you'd be coming," a woman's voice said.

"Show yourself," I said, trying to stay calm. Deimos rippled under my skin as Raevyn's mother stepped into the light. I could feel his need to make her pay and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to hold him back when the time came for us to leave.

"You're here about Raevyn, aren't you?" the woman asked.

"Yes," I answered. "There are things that don't add up."

"Let me make us all some tea," she said with a sigh. "This might take a while."

Raevyn's mother waddled over to the kettle, her belly large with child, and set about making us a drink. I bet Raevyn would be beautiful pregnant, her skin glowing, her hips wider, her — fuck. It wasn't the time for thinking about something that may never come to pass. I wasn't even sure we could have children. But, for the first time in my life, I wondered about the possibility.

"What's your name?" Korbin asked as he sat on one of the stools.

"Alice," she replied, lifting the tea tray. The cups wobbled and chunked as she struggled with it.

Hawk reached out to take it from her and she sent a small smile his way.

"Thank you. You're not a Revenant," Alice stated.

"No," Hawk said as he set the tray down. "I'm a Moroi ."

"Wow." Alice's eyes widened at his words. I bet she'd never met one before. There weren't many left. Just ghost stories and myths really. "You're a long way from home."

"He's a long way from his resting place," Nox said with a snort.

Alice frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Raevyn wanted to test her powers and she brought the monolith back from the Depths," Nox said.

"Impressive," Alice said with a smile. It wasn't a big one, but there was some warmth to it. "I always knew she was capable of great things."

"Then why does she not think she has any magic?" Korbin asked. "We could sense it as soon as we met her, but she seemed to believe she was a Null."

"It's complicated." Alice tapped the side of her flowery mug with a long fingernail.

"Then uncomplicate it," I snapped. Korbin shot me a flat look, his white eyes seeing too much of my inner turmoil.

"Who is her father?" Korbin asked.

"That's the complicated bit." She paused for a moment, her lips pursed, and brow drawn down. "I don't know who he was."

"How can you not know?" Nox hissed.

I tried to quell the urge to rip open the woman's throat. How could she not know who she'd fucked?

"I was young and rebellious," Alice said with a wistful look in her eyes. "We're a matriarchal coven. There's no place for men except to provide offspring."

"Wow," I mumbled.

"We're a sisterhood and have been for centuries. We go through a process to choose our potential donor and—"

"Potential donor?" I scoffed.

"Casimir," Korbin said sharply. "Remember why we're here."

I knew why we were here. I was just having trouble reminding myself this woman was Raevyn's mother and I couldn't do her any harm. I was just glad Raevyn was away from the Raathmores where she couldn't be hurt anymore. It was just tragic that it needed her death to bring her freedom.

"Anyway," Alice continued, "I decided to spend a night in Midnight just before my twenty-first birthday and I met the most captivating man. He was handsome, intriguing, intelligent and he swept me off my feet. I fell for him, and for one night, he made me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. By morning, he was gone."

"And you never knew his name?" Hawk asked.

"Never," Alice replied. "I guess I just wanted one night of freedom before everything changed."

"I can understand that," Korbin said. "But I don't understand why she thinks she doesn't have any magic."

Alice blanched and her eyes filled with tears. "It was for her own protection. When she was eight there was an incident. No one knew, not even my mother. We were walking through the cemetery and these creatures started appearing from nowhere. Ghosts and souls of people long since dead. At first, I thought Raevyn had found her necromancy powers, but it was more than that. She stopped time to pull them through from the voids."

Hawk stepped forward and looked at Korbin. "Stopped time?"

Was I missing something here?

"Yes," Alice said with a nod. "But the souls were twisted and angry. I don't know where she pulled them from, but she called them into her own body. She consumed them and I couldn't do anything to stop her, caught in the time field."

"And she did this at eight?" Nox asked.

Alice nodded again, her soft brown curls bouncing around her shoulders, and Korbin cocked his head, like something had occurred to him. "What happened when she was fourteen?"

"How do you know about that?" Alice frowned and leant forward across the island.

"I saw part of her memory, but it felt incomplete." Korbin steepled his fingers. "Did you take her to a memory demon?"

"Yes," she said.

I jumped to my feet, a savage growl escaping my chest. "You did what?"

"I had to," she sobbed. "Raevyn was getting too powerful. She attacked Nissa with a darkness that was beyond anything I'd ever seen before. When I found Raevyn, she was covered in blood and Nissa was suspended in the air, frozen. I called the memory demon to me and made a deal with him to remove any hint of her magic. I suppressed her magic, buried it deep in her mind so that my mother would never find out what Raevyn would be capable of."

I stepped closer to Alice. "She's not just a witch, is she?"

She shook her head, tears rolling over her cheeks. "I don't think so, but I don't know what she is."

"You should have never sacrificed her," I spat. "She is worth more than that and it's your lies that cost Raevyn her life."

"I know," she cried. "I wanted more for her, but I didn't know how. My mother is cruel, and she would have manipulated and used Raevyn for her own gains."

"So instead, you let her be abused by your coven. How's that any better?" Nox seethed, his blue eyes sparking with silver.

"It's not," Alice said. "But what else could I do?"

Hawk loomed over her, his amber eyes bright like fire. "You could have left the coven, found somewhere safe."

Alice flinched. "But this is all I know. It's my home."

Fucking selfish witch. I shook my head in disbelief. "You're not worthy to speak our name."

"I agree," said Nox. My eyebrows reached my hairline. First time for everything. "We hereby rescind any power granted in our name and will never more gift any to the Raathmore coven, as long as they shall live."

"No!" Alice screamed. "You can't do that."

"On the contrary," I stated, almost with a bored drawl. "We can and we will."

"My mother will seek revenge for this," she spat. "Mark my words, your days are numbered."

I laughed, hard and cruel, and felt Deimos seep through a little. The temperature in the room dropped and the lights flickered.

"Alice Raathmore, you dare threaten us? Your magic is nothing compared to the power we wield." I gripped her chin and let my magic pour from my fingers. "No more words shall leave these lips, thy voice belongs no more to thee."

She gasped and sputtered as I let her go. Her lips moved but no sounds came out and I soaked up the fear that bled from her soul. Gods, that tasted fucking divine.

"I don't think that was necessary," Korbin said as we left the house.

"I thought it was fucking hot." Hawk swatted my ass as he strode past, and I had the sudden urge to punch him in the face. He was really starting to get on my fucking nerves.

Nox let out a low groan. "Enough with the sexual tension. Leather pants don't make for a comfortable erection."

"Do you ever think about anything other than sex?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied with an innocent grin. "I quite often think about the joy violence brings me."

Hawk laughed and Korbin heaved a resolute sigh.

"Let's get home. I want to make sure our girl is okay," Nox said with a smile as he skipped off into the sunset, humming a tune and twirling his knife. The guy was a fucking loon.