“To that mystery island Orion found.”
Everyone looked to Orion. He turned to Varu and raised a brow, refusing to panic—vampires didn’t panic— because the link between him and Kaia remained strong. He felt no fear or pain from her. Not yet.
Varu nodded. “Duncan, go. But the rest of us will stay with Orion and plan. The witch is too smart to be so obvious.”
“Agreed.” Orion felt a hunger for battle, and his fingertips itched, his nails growing sharper and stronger as they pushed past their normal length. “She’s not the real threat.”
“Right. The demon is,” Khent said, appearing with Rolf and Kraft behind him.
“No, I am,” Orion smiled, his fangs sharp and his appetite keen. “I’m ready to kill the unkillable.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.” Kraft chuckled and rubbed his hands together with glee. “This is going to be epic, ja?”
Kaia had taken one small step outside the house, waiting for her father in his safely protected driveway, when Jack, one of her roommates, drove up and waved from the driver’s side, his window down.
“Kaia, thank God. I was worried. I couldn’t get a hold of you.” He blinked. “Nice hair.”
“Thanks.” She glanced around, prepared for a trap or her mother to pull a fast one using one of her friends as bait. “Jack? I thought you were working on a project for MEC.”
“I was.” He grimaced. “I need your help. I think your mom did something to Drake and Web.”
She hurried over to him, her new power still growing, still shifting inside her, calling for her to return to the sea, a lake, any type of water so that it might swell and settle. And then, according to her dad, she could start to feel for what she could do. Not every sea witch was the same. Though all could make deals with humans and magir, the extent of their power to make wishes come true varied. Unlike the djinn, who were a similar yet very different level of Wish Master.
“How did she find you guys?”
“She has some lycans we were sent to look for. They’ve been missing for over a week and they have a connection to some artifact we’re after.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes, his worry evident.
She looked over her shoulder, needing to get her father involved. That’s when Jack struck.
The needle to the back of her neck didn’t hurt, but it stole her will to resist.
“Get in the car, Kaia,” Jack said with a smile. “No one wants to hurt you. I just want to talk to you about a problem I’m having.”
But when Kaia stared into Jack’s eyes, she didn’t see him at all. She saw her mother.
The trip to her mother’s house in Magnolia happened without incident, the music in the car something she hummed along with as they drove, the streets not crowded at all due to the late hour. She felt a need to scratch the back of her neck but didn’t, irritated but not hurt in any way by the pressure at her nape.
Once past a long driveway to the grand home sitting on an acre of land and overlooking Elliot Bay, Jack parked then went around to her side of the car and opened the door for her.
“Thanks.”
“Sure, Kaia.” He tucked her arm in his and walked her into her mother’s fancy home. Worth several million and decorated with no expense spared to give the house an ornate interior design, filled with white or near-colorless walls and blue and green accents, it fit Sabine Belyaev. But Kaia didn’t care for the expensive pieces making the house feel like a showplace instead of a home. At least in Belyy Zamok, the castle felt authentic, not as if her mom were trying too hard.
Jack walked her to her mother then sat down on a plain white chair, no doubt worth more than Kaia made in months, and stared at nothing. Oddly, she felt relieved that she’d been right; Jack wasn’t working for her mother of his own free will. He’d been enthralled.
“Is he okay?” She should have been more worried about her friend. But she liked keeping calm, and the roiling seat of her power relaxed, the frothing waves no longer fighting to storm free.
“Your friend is just fine.” Sabine smiled, walking forward with her wine glass half full. She took a sip, looking Kaia over, and frowned. “I’m not sure I like your new look.” She fingered her own white hair, worn down. “But I sense something else different about you.”
“I mated with Orion,” Kaia announced, too happy to keep the truth a secret.
Her mother’s mouth dropped open, and she set her wine down then hugged Kaia hard. “Oh, honey. I’m so happy for you.” She pulled back, clasping her hands with her daughter’s as she studied her. “You’ve gained so much power.” Sabine looked delighted, not at all as angry as Kaia had expected.
“You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be mad? You’re perfect. As you were meant to be.” She guided Kaia with her up the stairs and out onto a large patio on the rooftop overlooking the bay. Overhead, a storm gathered, the clouds constantly shifting to block what little light the crescent moon reflected.
It was then Kaia saw the marble altar and table next to it filled with sharp instruments, a few daggers, and a large black statue, half as tall as Kaia, presiding over it all. The altar was slightly tilted and solid, beautifully crafted with thin red lines, no, rivulets, carved in a pattern that led to a hole at its base. And underneath, a flat black bowl sat, ready to gather whatever flowed from the altar’s lines.
“Mom?” Kaia turned, and her mother stabbed her just above the heart with an athame that smelled of cinnamon and ash. Brimstone. Kaia couldn’t move, frozen. The pain was nothing compared to the horror that washed over her as the statue came to life over her mother’s shoulder. And grew.
“Ah, but what is this?” a deep, sibilant voice hissed. “The sacrifice I was promised is not here.”
“Not yet.” Sabine nodded to Kaia. “She mated him. He’ll be here soon.”
“And so we wait.” The man, no, demon, drifted closer. Handsome and human looking, if not for the large, black, leathery wings behind him, or the tail that whipped around and slashed her cheek. The sharp tip of his tail flicked over his lips, and he licked her blood off it. “Oh, lovely.” The creature—Pazuzu, maybe?—stroked her mother’s cheek with a long finger ending in a sharp black nail. “But not what we agreed upon, my love.”
“My love?” Kaia couldn’t believe her mother was cavorting with demons. “Mom?”
“I’m sorry, Kaia.” Sabine sounded genuinely apologetic, which made the chaos around her even more confusing. “But there can only be one White Sea Witch.”
Then her mother flicked her hand, and Kaia was yanked back and slammed onto the altar, her head higher than her feet, her wrists and ankles bound with chains of black bone. Sabine shifted Kaia’s hands in place, moving them over the red grooves in the marble. Her mother took the athame from Kaia’s chest and slit each of her wrists, the cuts deep yet small, allowing Kaia’s blood to drip constantly from her body.
Kaia screamed as the burn in her wounds intensified, the marble under her sucking her blood into the mapped lines carved into the altar.
“Slow and steady.” Her mother smiled. “You’re beautiful, almost as pretty as I am. But your blood is tainted. Time to purify it.”