Sabra holds up a knife carved from stone, and I lift my palm toward her. I’m familiar with this part, but I hear Layden’s sharp, surprised inhale as she slices the knife across my skin.
“Right on that symbol there,” Sabra says, pointing to a symbol she’s chalked in front of me, overlaid with one of Layden’s glowing runes.
“Why does she have to be part of this?” Layden asks. I hear the concern for me in his question.
“She’s a blood goddess,” Sabra says as if it’s obvious, and I try not to wince. I haven’t told Layden everything, and it feels like she’s outing me. “Her blood amplifies any spell we weave and calls to the other planes since?—”
I jab her in the ribs, and she looks at me, seeming surprised at my glare. But she does stop talking. Thank fuck.
“Since?” Layden queries.
“Since her blood and Vlad’s line are so powerful,” Sabra covers smoothly. “Her blood is the jet fuel to our spell.”
I can feel Layden’s eyes boring a hole in the back of my head but ignore it as I clench my hand over the rune Sabra indicated so that blood drips down from it. I know there need to be at least three drops. Magic comes in threes and sevens. Don’t ask me why. I’m just the blood bank here.
As I stand back up, the circles begin to spin around us.
“It’s working!” Sabra says excitedly.
“Did you think it wouldn’t?” I ask.
“What happens now?” Layden asks.
Sabra grins. “We wait and see.”
“Wait and seewhat?” Layden asks. An excellent question.
The spinning circles start humming, and the ground under our feet starts to rumble. I’ve been in conjuring circles with Sabra before, and this doesn’t usually happen.
“Sabra—” I start warily.
“Just wait and see!” Sabra repeats, her eyes glowing with excitement.
I reach back and grab hold of Layden’s shirt. “What the hell are we waiting to see?”
The ground rumbles even more, and beyond the circle, I see Vlad and several of my uncles pour out of the compound. Sabra starts laughing with delight.
“What the fuck, Sab?” I say, my hands gripping onto Layden’s torso. His arms wrap around my waist, holding me tight as blinding white light leaps upward from the ground where his runes were placed.
And then, just like that, it all disappears. The circles stop spinning, and the light dissipates in the blink of an eye, the ground returning to normal as if it wasn’t just shaking underneath our feet like an earthquake.
Sabra starts jumping up and down. “Did youseethat?”
“We all saw that, Sabra,” I say furiously, letting go of Layden and trying to step up to her as she dances around the circle. Only problem is, Layden hasn’t let me go. His arms are still firmly locked around my waist.
“Are you all right?” he whispers in my ear.
I turn around in his arms, my belly flipping over at how near his face is to mine. How near his lips are and the concern in his eyes by the time I’m facing him.
“Y-y-yes,” I stutter out. “You can let me go now.”
Reluctantly, his eyes search mine for another long moment, and then his arms slide away from around my waist. I struggle not to reach for him the moment I lose contact. But then I remember I’m pissed at Sabra and spin on her where she stands, still looking absolutely delighted with herself.
“What thehell, Sab?”
“Oh, it was marvelous, did you see?”
“Yeah, Sabra, I saw. And so did Vlad and everyone else in the compound. It felt like you were about to blast us to kingdom come. What was that?”
