Sacrifice Me: The Complete Season One (31 page)

I tried to calm the panic in my heart and instead,
I remembered what the girls had taught me earlier that night in the
dressing room.

Connect to your power, Franki. You can do this.

It took a few tries to calm down enough. I felt
the pressure of time, knowing that if I didn’t figure this out
fast, we might all die right here and now.

Or worse.

They might kill the others and take me to the
Devil. I did not want to find out what he wanted to do with me.

I forced a deeper breath, searching for that spark
of power deep within myself. I imagined dipping my fingers into that
well of power, then opened my eyes and knew I had found it.

I had no idea how to fuel it, but before I could
even think about it, I knew I had all the fuel I needed right here.
My power had always been closely tied to my darkest emotions. Anger.
Rage. Sorrow. My whole life, these emotions had been dangerous for
me. Now, they were my best hope at surviving the night.

I embraced the anger inside me, picturing Selena’s
eyes as the light drained from them.

I fueled my power with rage, letting it blossom
deep inside, radiating from my center until it consumed me. I could
feel the buzz of it travel along my nerves until my hands shook with
tension.

My hair blew back from my shoulders as a great
wave of wind washed through the room.

I focused my gaze on the second demon fighting
Marco. He was half-human, half-smoke. I imagined harnessing the power
of that wind-force, gathering it into my hands. I pulled it back
toward my body, and then pushed outward, sending a strong wind
straight at him.

The demon’s eyes flashed with surprise as he
flew up and back, his body slamming into the back wall of the house
so hard the drywall split into pieces. He fell to the floor, his eyes
closed and his head limp against his shoulder.

I turned to the one who had come in the back door
with him, but before I could repeat the spell, a coil of black smoke
wrapped around my neck and yanked me backward.

I clawed at the smoke, but couldn’t get hold
of it. It was as if a ghost held me, there, but completely unformed.
I could feel it against my skin, but when I tried to grab it with my
hands, it was like it wasn't really there.

How did you fight an enemy like this?

I struggled for breath, but couldn’t draw a
single wisp of air into my lungs.

My bare feet dragged along the floor until my back
hit the muscled chest of the demon who held me captive.

Mordecai lay unconscious on the floor at my feet.

Lyla’s eyes flew open and she seemed to lose
her concentration when she saw me. The demon she’d been holding
under her spell broke free and descended on her so fast she didn’t
have time to react.

I tried to scream, but had no air left to make a
sound. My pulse throbbed in my neck where the demon’s coil of
smoke held me.

He leaned close to my ear and in a deep, ominous
voice, he whispered, “Forget her. You belong to the Devil now.”

My vision blurred and my knees weakened.

I couldn’t breathe.

I used every ounce of strength in my body to
struggle against him, desperate to break free long enough to draw a
breath. If I passed out now, I might never wake up.

I refused to let this be the end of me.

The rage I'd felt before he grabbed me
intensified. A strong wind blew through the room.

I pushed my hand forward, then drew my elbow back
into the demon’s stomach. It wasn’t enough to make him
drop me, but it was enough to make him loosen his grip long enough
for me to take one glorious breath of air.

I inhaled, filling my lungs. Inside me, the breath
connected with the fear and rage rising inside me. The air descended
into the very core of my power.

Darkness consumed me and I felt a shift in my
power. Instead of rage, I moved toward hatred. It expanded like a
tumor in my heart, black and malignant, poisoning my power.

All I could think about was how much I wanted to
hurt this demon who held me. I wanted him dead.

Acting on that instinct, I turned my head to the
side and opened my mouth wide, exhaling that dark breath. A black,
oily smoke oozed from my mouth. It tasted of ash and chalk. The
shadow took on a life of its own, shifting into a thousand tiny
mosquitoes. The winged bugs swarmed around the head of the demon
holding me. He screamed and dropped the smoky rope coiled around my
neck. I pulled away, gasping for breath.

In horror, I watched as the swarm of bugs flew
into his mouth, nose, ears and eyes. The demon clawed at his face. He
screamed and fell to the floor, scratching at his chest and arms
furiously as his now-human skin bubbled with large black welts.

The mosquitoes were inside him, eating him from
the inside. His body began to shrivel and decay right before my eyes,
as if the bugs were eating him alive.

My screams joined with his. How could this
darkness have come from me?

What had I done?

I watched in terror as his body jerked and shook
and turned to bone and ash before me. Dark smoke rose from the
decayed form of the dead demon. I backed away, but the energy of
whatever was left of him found me, entering me through my mouth, the
bugs returning to wherever they'd come from.

His life-power filled me up, fueling me with a
dark energy that oozed through my veins, thick and slow. Wind whipped
around us, sweeping the remaining ash against the wall near the
stairs.

I gasped and fell to my knees, unable to believe
what I'd done. Yes, I had wanted him to stop hurting me, but I hadn't
meant to kill him. Not like that. I felt sick.

But at the same time, I felt alive. The darkness
running through me made me feel invincible and powerful, as if I
could kill them all with a flick of my wrist. I struggled against
that darkness, but its power fought to seduce me.

“Franki?”

Lyla's voice was thin and shaky.

I looked up, remembering there were still more
demons left to fight. But all of the fighting in the room had
stopped. The night descended into a silence so complete I could hear
nothing but the beating of my own heart and the call of the darkness
within.

I turned to the other three vampires in the room.
Their eyes filled with awe and complete terror.

Part of me wanted to collapse completely at their
feet and beg for forgiveness. I wanted to tell them I hadn't meant
it. Killing him was an accident. At the same time, another part of me
wanted to rise up stronger than ever and kill them all. They attacked
us. They brought this on themselves.

It was fight or die right now, for all of us. And
I wasn't ready to die.

I turned to the demon who still had Lyla pinned to
the floor. I pointed my index finger at him.

“Let her go,” I said. My voice did not
even sound like my own. It was deeper. Richer. And most definitely
darker.

The demon obeyed, releasing his hold on Lyla’s
arms. She stood and rushed over to Marco’s side, grabbing his
arm. When she looked at me, it was impossible to miss the fear in her
eyes.

I turned my gaze to the other two demons, but my
vision tinted, making them hard to see in the darkness of the night.
I shook my head, blinking.

The room spun and I placed a hand on my forehead.
I gasped for breath, unable to focus on anything or anyone. I
couldn't seem to get my bearings. My stomach lurched and I doubled
over, leaning against the toppled couch for support.

Lyla ran to my side. She took my hand in hers and
helped me stand up straight. Before I could decide what should be
done about the three demons still facing us, she raised her free hand
toward them. The three of them froze. Lyla's hand wobbled, every
muscle in her body tense as she stared them down.

Marco nodded toward Mordecai and the tall black
demon stepped forward. He lifted his silver dagger to the throat of
each demon, slicing them from ear-to-ear. Black blood ran down their
bodies like obsidian waterfalls.

When their eyes were closed and their bodies
drained, Lyla lowered her hand. All three bodies fell to the floor
like ragdolls.

I stared at the carnage, my mouth open. A final
gust of wind whipped my hair across my face.

Lyla leaned against me, resting her hip against
the overturned couch. “Franki, sweetheart, it’s okay,”
she said. Her voice was strained and she struggled to catch her
breath. “You’re safe.”

I swallowed, barely able to hear her over the
panic that rang in my ears. Panic and fear.

I had become someone else, completely overcome by
a darkness that scared the shit out of me. How could any of them
still be standing here by my side after what had come out of me? If I
were them, I would have run as far away as I could.

“I’m so sorry,” I said. The deep
tone had left my voice, replaced by a trembling terror. “I
swear I didn’t mean to do that. I didn't mean to hurt him like
that. I just wanted him to leave me alone.”

Mordecai smiled and laughed, a deep rumbling sound
that seemed out of place among the bodies of the dead. “Are you
kidding me?” he asked. “That was the singularly most
bad-ass thing I’ve seen a human witch do in a very long time.”

He seemed happy and impressed, but I felt sick.

It hadn’t felt impressive to me at all. It
felt wrong and evil.

An image of the Mother Crow flashed through my
mind. She was known to be one of the most evil witches who ever
lived, and tonight, I had shown my connection to her in the most raw,
horrific way imaginable.

“I hate to bring it up, but we’re
still in danger,” Marco said. “Knowing the Devil, this is
just the first wave. And we just barely managed to defeat them. I
don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to find out
what happens when more of them show up.”

“Or the Devil himself,” Lyla said in a
whisper.

“Where will we go?” I asked. All I
wanted was to find Rend. I wanted him to explain what had just
happened to me.

And how to make sure it never happened again.

“We have a plan, but it’s going to
take considerable power to pull it off,” Mordecai said. He
looked to me and lifted his chin. “You up for it?”

I swallowed back the bile that coated my throat.
Was I? Did I have a choice?

If it was death or my best attempt, I was willing
to give it every ounce of whatever power lay inside my body.

“I can try,” I said. “What does
it involve?”

“Are you familiar with glamours?”
Marco asked.

Lyla took my hand in hers again, and I was
grateful for the reassuring motion. It was good to know she wasn’t
horrified by me.

“We actually just showed her how to do one
earlier tonight,” Lyla said. She glanced at the marks on my
neck. “Think you can do it again?”

I nodded. As long as it didn’t involve
vomiting mosquitoes, I was good to go.

“What do you want me to do?”

Marco locked eyes with Lyla. “This involves
you, too,” he said. “And it’s asking a lot, so if
you want to say no, there’s no shame in that.”

Lyla’s mouth opened in surprise. “What
is it?”

“We need the two of you to change places,”
Mordecai said. He walked over to the broken window in the living room
and looked out. “I’m guessing we don’t have much
time to pull this off. I can feel their energy moving closer. We’ll
have to time it just right to make it work.”

“What do you mean switch places?” I
asked.

“I need for you to glamour yourself to look
like Lyla, and for her to do the same with you,” he said. “That
way anyone following Franki gets confused and follows the wrong
trail.”

“You want me to be a decoy Franki?”
Lyla asked. Her hand slipped from mine. I couldn't tell from her
voice if she was upset or resigned. “They'll all follow me
instead.”

“Lyla, I can't ask you to do this,” I
said. “I’ll run. If we go now, we could leave before the
others arrive.”

She turned to me. “Franki, there's no way
I'm letting you leave without at least trying this,” she said.
“I'll do whatever I can to save you.”

“Why?” I asked, shaking my head. “Why
are so many people risking their lives to save me?”

She gave me a small smile. “You’re a
part of our family now. Our Venom family. And if you mean this much
to Rend, you mean this much to all of us.”

“If something happens to you, I'll never
forgive myself.”

“It’s going to put you in serious
danger,” Marco said. He stood in front of Lyla and put his
hands on her shoulders. “Like I said, I know this is way too
much to ask of you. If you don’t want to do it, we can just
take our chances and hope Franki gets away without our help.”

“But you need to decide now,” Mordecai
said. His dark eyes searched the yard in front of the house, his
shoulders tensing.

“She’s really important, isn’t
she?” Lyla asked, almost as if I wasn’t standing here
beside her. “What does the Devil want with her?”

“We don’t know exactly, but Rend
suspects the Devil wants to perform a permanent spell of some sort.
One that requires a powerful blood sacrifice.”

Lyla turned to me. “Who are you?”

I shook my head. Now was not the time for secrets,
but I had never been more ashamed of my family line than I was at
that moment. “I’m a descendant of the Mother Crow,”
I said, giving voice to the truth for the first time.

“Oh my God,” Lyla said in a whisper.
She backed away from Marco and lifted a hand to her mouth. “So,
it’s not just powerful blood that runs through your veins. It’s
blood that's tainted with the darkest kinds of magic.”

I flinched, knowing she was right. But also
knowing I had never asked for this darkness.

There was no way Lyla would risk her life for me,
not after finding out who I really was. I couldn’t blame her.