“That is the human. Isaac.” I tighten my hold on the binoculars until the housing protests my grip. Fuck. If I am not careful, I will break them.
I let my power rush down the mountain, blanketing everything around me. The magic Grayson spoke of leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I sense two souls in addition to Isaac. One is familiar. The Fae doctor. But I do not recognize the other.
Mist takes position next to me, muscles coiled and ready to spring. “Witch,” she hisses through clenched teeth. “Fucking hell. Kàra. Get your ass over here.”
The other vampires surround Mist so quickly, their movements stir the leaves at my feet.
Ewan peers down at the van, his dark blond brows furrowed. “I cannae tell what?—“
Kàra grabs his arm and pulls a deep breath in through her nose. “The witch is blood bound.”
“Blood bound? What the fuck does that mean?” I cannot tear my gaze away from the van. Hannah’s brown hair shines in the vehicle’s headlights as she strides toward the building. Another woman trails behind her, almost floating, with pale skin and jet-black locks long enough to brush her ass.
“The one you believed was Fae?” Kàra says, her voice taking on a haunted, rough edge. “She is much more than that. She is vampire, and the witch is in her thrall.”
“Fuck me.” Killian stalks away, muttering under his breath. “Is nothing in this world simple?”
The conversations around me fade into noise as Isaac comes back into view. Slung over his shoulder, her body limp and her soul still trapped in the void, is Willow.
Willow
I thought darkness was the absence of light. But even when my Dad used to take me stargazing during the new moon in the middle of nowhere, I could see…something.
Now, I’m trapped in a sea of nothingness. No sensation. No sound. No smell. No taste.
I can’t draw breath. Can’t feel my heartbeat.
Help me! Gabriel! Please, find me!
Minutes in the void feel like an eternity. I cry out—or I would if I still had a voice. A mouth. Lungs. But here, the endless scream is only in my mind.
Is this what it’s like to die?
I’m slipping further and further away from my life. From any hope of rescue. From Gabriel. I’ll never know the comfort of his arms around me again. Or his warmth. His strength. His voice.
I love him. I know that now—without any doubt—and I never got the chance to tell him.
Anguish tears through my consciousness. Rending one thought from the next, shredding them, and leaving my mind in tatters.
“I’ve been planning this for years.”
“With your consciousness trapped…it’s like you don’t even exist.”
Hannah won’t keep me here forever. She needs me to wield the Blade. Tonight, she said. They took me close to noon. How long can I survive here? Six hours? Eight? Ten?
Each moment feels like an eternity. Or…maybe each momentisan eternity.
If I could, I’d throw myself against the walls. Claw and scratch until my fingernails are bloody and my bones broken. Instead, it’s my mind that fractures into pieces.
“You will obey me.”
The sweet, lilting voice is so beautiful. It surrounds me, like flowering vines weaving through my hair, winding down my arms, my torso, my legs.
I can’t help but agree.“Yes. Of course. I’ll do anything you want.”
“Good, sweet Willow. I knew you’d see reason.”
Reason? I can’t see anything. I don’thavelegs in the void. I don’t have a body at all. Flowers don’t exist here. The voice is a lie. The only thing here is pain.
