I watched in horror as Kenna leaned over his lifeless body, leaving a bloody handprint on the creature’s skull still covering his face. Her lips brushed against it, muttering something I couldn’t make out.
I expected something. Anything to happen. But all I was met with was silence. Not a single whisper plagued my mind. They were there one second and gone the next. I couldn’t tell if they had truly vanished or if my connection to them had been severed.
The air thickened with heat as the flames began to spread, consuming the church with relentless hunger. The wooden beams groaned and popped as the flames danced up the walls.
Wind howled around me, a force conjured by Cal. The vicious storm only fueled his magic as he tried to extinguish the fire before the entire church went up in flames.
“Cal, I need to get to him,” I gasped, stumbling back from the searing wall of heat.
He nodded, closing his eyes and focusing. A strong gust parted the flames, and I took the opportunity to sprint toward the altar.
The floor was slick with Grey’s blood. My shoes left a trail of footprints all the way to the pulpit. I froze, my heart lurching in my chest as I watched him slip away. The room seemed to close in around me, the walls pressing down like they were suffocating me. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, just stood there, paralyzed by the overwhelming fear that I was losing him.
I wanted to scream, to beg him to stay, but my throat was tight, the words stuck, lodged somewhere deep inside me where they couldn’t escape.
My hands trembled as I reached out, and began trying to perform CPR. I blew into his mouth, but air and blood sputtered out of the deep gashes all over his chest. I tore off my shirt, using it to apply pressure to the wounds. He’d healed before; he could do it again.
Tears blurred my vision, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t look away. I watched helplessly, each second stretching into eternity, knowing there was nothing I could do to stop it. The reality of losing him sank like a heavy weight in my chest.
“Kenna!” I bellowed, anger and confusion laced my tone. She turned to face me, her brown eyes wide with fear before she blinked, and it disappeared. Glass crunched under her steps as she strode to what remained of the stained-glass window.
“Dorothy, Elizabeth, Clara.” Kenna rattled off names I didn’t recognize. “We will soon have our revenge on this town for what they did to us.”
What the hell was Kenna talking about?
She gripped the spellbook, knuckles whitening as her fingers curled around the worn leather. She effortlessly read the Latin scrawled among its pages, as if she’d written the words herself.
Holy shit.All the pieces shifted into place.
“Veda.”
My eyes snapped to Kenna. At the sound of the name, she stepped forward.
“Kenna is possessed.” I looked down at the wounds she’d inflicted on Grey. I was going to kill Veda for this. For every goddamn thing she’d done.
“What?” Eli asked beside me. His shadows and him moved as one, poised and ready to strike. Eli had always struggled to control his power, and I wasn’t sure when or how he had finally mastered them.
“Kenna’s possessed,” I said with a calmness that didn’t match the brewing anger inside me.
My blood-soaked hands brushed the hair from Grey’s brow. “You’re right, she is a fucking bitch.”
I straightened and turned to face the witch.
“Veda,” I shouted, lunging forward, sending us both to the ground. Stinging pain burst from my knees as shards of glass and bone pierced my skin.
She gasped, and for a split second her flames faltered, giving Eli the chance to steady his shadows. It didn’t take long for Veda to regain her composure and flames circled around us once again.
“You’re pretty,” Veda said, looking me over from head to toe.
The voice was Kenna’s but the timbre was different. Cold and harsh. How had I missed it? Even the way she carried herself no longer seemed familiar.
“So, he told you about me.” Her eyes lit with amusement, and a smile I didn’t recognize spread across Kenna’s lips.
Cal’s raspy cough tore my attention from the threat in front of me. Cal and Emory battled the blazing fire, but it was spreading fast. The old wood caught fire easily, creating dark, suffocating smoke.
“And a witch. Grey must’ve hated himself for loving you,” Veda sneered, disgust rolling off her tongue.
I bent down, grabbing a piece of glass. It sliced my palm as I tightened my grip, ready to drive it through her heart like she’d done to Grey. An eye for an eye, or in this case, a heart for a fucking heart.
