Protect her.
Save her.
Murder all the others.
Blood.
Death.
Pain.
Screaming.
From everyone but her.
My mate.
Carina.
The wolf is in control.
And he’s hungry.
Fifty
CARINA
Shock is so often describedas the ground shifting beneath one’s feet, and I’ve always thought it to be such a dumb description.
Until I feel it myself.
Until the Seer looks straight at me for the briefest second.
A blink—from us both—and his head is lowered again.
I skitter from the cell before Sloane witnesses the interaction. She shuts the door with a wave of her hand, a series of locks magically fusing into place before the vines reclaim their position.
“Heaven is linked to Hecate more than Hell is, so where do you think that leaves us? Heaven will pull the Goddess’s daughters in—pullusin—which cannot happen. The vampires, having originated from a demon, have already begun assembling, and it is them we must join.”
“Why do the vampires even care about all this? Surely, they’d make it out of the war alive.”
Her responding smile appears almost proud as she leads me through the stone room and back to the dirt-lined hallway. “Vampires may be immortal, but they require the earth tosurvive. If there’s nowhere to land their feet, there’s no way of life. If too many humans perish, their food source diminishes. So you see, we’re all on the same side.”
“The side of Darkness, but it doesn’t need to be that way. Choose Light.”
“It takespower, and that’s what Darkness is.”
The dais behind us with old bloodstains feel like an ominous counter to her point.
“Hecate—”
“Will encourage us to join the angels,” she snaps, “and the angels will not win this war. You saw it too; the devil will destroy Earth while searching for his mate, or bride…or whatever he’s calling her.”
“Then instead of going on the defence, why don’t we try to find her for him?”
How, I have no idea.
Even Sloane’s skepticism won’t be collared as a scowl twists her face more than it naturally is. “Hecate has always been right about us being on a different side than Celestials, so it’s not wise to interfere in their business.” She pauses, both her walking and her speech. “You’re frustrated, but you must understand balance is key. Heaven and Hell represent two sides, the same way Light and Dark do for us. The entire world rotates around the concepts—even mortals offset sins with virtuous acts.We—witches—must be a part of that balance. Morgan taught you to view black magick as entirely Dark, but if that was the case, how do I have access to my elemental magick? How does Harlow, now a Dark creature, have access to her powers?”
