Sacrifice Me: The Complete Season One (41 page)

My life had purpose in
this lab, tonight more than ever.

I molded and
transformed the raw elements into potions of unique power, concocting
a mix of the clarity of Blue Frost and the passion of Red Dragon. I
tested the limits of my own skill and knowledge, creating one potion
for the witches who would join the fight, one for the demons, and one
for the vampires.

As the clock struck
eleven-thirty, I stared down at twenty-one perfect vials, knowing we
would need every single drop.

I corked each of the vials and put them inside my
large leather satchel. I disappeared into my storeroom for a moment,
and added more than a hundred other vials of various potions to a
second bag.

And it still didn't seem like enough.

The Devil would have his castle well-fortified by
now. He would expect me to come. I just hoped he didn't expect me to
bring an army along with me.

In all the years the Brotherhood of Darkness had
been in existence, no one had ever challenged its leadership. Its
principles. The most radical act of rebellion had been my own refusal
to partake of human blood. I knew my actions tonight would change the
Brotherhood forever. Once the battle was over—regardless of the
outcome—the brothers who stood with me tonight would face
judgment for attacking one of our own.

But even if it meant a death sentence, I knew I
would die with honor. I would die for love. As long as Franki
survived, it would be worth it.

I slung the satchels over my shoulder. I needed to
get upstairs to meet the others. Some were likely already gathered in
the main room of the house, waiting.

But before I could join them, there was one last
thing I needed to do.

Something I had sworn never to do again.

I found the glass of blood where I had left it in
the back of the lab. I closed my eyes and lifted it to my lips, my
hand trembling with need. I drank it slowly, savoring the taste and
the raw power that flowed through me.

Azure's sacrifice was one of love and true
friendship. I would have never asked for such devotion, but the fact
that she offered it willingly made it less of a betrayal.

My muscles rippled with new strength. I gripped
the exposed rock, the blood pulsing through me like a powerful drug.
It spread like wildfire, igniting my senses. God, I had forgotten how
good this felt.

I was drunk with power, remembering the demon I
used to be. The demon who had earned the name Rend all those years
ago when I first became a vampire.

I opened my eyes, seeing every detail of the lab
with new eyes. New clarity.

I shifted to demon smoke, amazed at the ease of
it. I had grown used to fighting for every use of magic, learning to
utilize every drop of my potions in order to cast. But with the blood
of a powerful half-witch, half-demon, I felt as if I had been reborn.

I was tempted to leave the elevator behind and fly
to the first floor, but I reminded myself that this was only the
beginning of the night's work. I couldn't afford to waste a single
drop.

Riding up on the elevator was torture. Energy
buzzed inside every cell of my body, begging to be set free. I
focused my thoughts on the Devil's face, and how good it would feel
to rip him in two from mouth to cock.

Upstairs, a small group had already gathered
around the massive fireplace in the main room. Harper was there,
Jackson, Aerden, Lea, Essex and Mary Anne at her side. Mordecai,
Joost, Cristo and Erick—friends of Lea's from the Shadow
World—stood by the door. A teenaged girl I hadn't seen before
sat alone on the leather couch, her blond hair covering half of her
face. She looked up as I entered and smiled nervously.

I joined Harper's group, nodding to her in thanks.

She smiled. “I hope you don't mind. We made
ourselves at home,” she said. “I think you've met
everyone.”

I glanced at the girl on the couch and she ducked
her head. I frowned. I didn't want to bring anyone into this fight if
they weren't ready. This girl seemed very shy.

“That's Courtney,” Harper said.

“Are you sure she's up for this?” I
asked.

Harper nodded. “Trust me. She's very shy,
but she has a unique power that will really come in handy tonight.”

When I raised an eyebrow, she continued.

“She can recharge powers,” she said.
“Like a human battery.”

My mouth fell open. I had heard of similar powers
before, but never actually met someone who could do it. “That's
a rare talent,” I said.

Courtney's face blushed a bright red and she
lowered her head, her hair falling across her face.

“She'll be fine,” Harper whispered,
smiling. “And we have one more coming. Zara said she'd be here,
but—”

“She's notoriously late for everything these
days,” Mary Anne said. “She gets wrapped up in something
and loses track of time. It's annoying.”

“I'm here,” a sing-songy voice called
from the stairs. “And for the record, I wasn't wrapped up in
something frivolous. I remembered a trick my mother taught me about
fighting vampires.”

Zara, a fairy-like young girl I'd met once or
twice before, descended the last of the steps and held up a small
blue bag.

“What's that?” I took a quick step
back from her, repelled by the power of whatever she held concealed
in her tiny hands.

She smiled. “My secret weapon,” she
said. “Mother called them black pearls, but really they are
just very small, very concentrated soul stones with a special
enchantment on them.”

Black pearls. Dear Lord, this girl was waving them
around like they were marbles.

“Get them away from me.” The order
came out darker than I intended, but what she held in her hand was
extremely dangerous for any vampire. Especially one who had just fed
on a witch's blood.

Zara's innocent smile faded from her pale face.
She pulled the blue bag tightly against her body. “I'm sorry, I
wasn't thinking,” she said. “I've never actually worked
on the same side as a vampire. I was just thinking about how useful
they might be for tonight.”

I softened. “I didn't mean to scare you,”
I said. “They will definitely come in handy tonight. I just
don't want them anywhere near me or the others who will soon join
us.”

She nodded, her blue eyes wide. “Where
should I put them?”

I looked around the room. We needed a more
protective box for the black pearls. I'd only had them used on me
once, many years ago, but it was an experience I was not keen to
repeat any time soon. Or ever.

The black pearls were, as she'd said, small,
concentrated soul stones enchanted in such a way that when thrown at
the feet of a vampire, they were able to pull the lifeblood's power
from their body, leaving them weak and defenseless, completely unable
to cast or use magic. The effects of the pearls could last years if
powerful enough.

And since Zara was the daughter of one of the
original five priestesses of the Order of Shadows, I felt certain the
black pearls in her bag were the real deal.

“I think, perhaps, I can be helping with
this,” Essex said in his strange accent. “If you have any
spare materials around that I might use in weaving, I can make for
this, special bags, enchanted, so that the power of these pearls does
not escape. I can make one for each of the witches who are needing
one.”

I nodded, relaxing. I hadn't realized he was a
weaver. “Thank you,” I said. I disappeared upstairs for a
moment and returned with straps of extra leather I'd used to make my
own potion bags.

Essex took them from me and bowed. “I will
get to working on this.”

I thanked him and turned to the rest of the group.

“It's important to anyone here who plans to
use them, that you memorize the faces of the vampires on our side.
Several members of the Brotherhood of Darkness will be joining us
soon. They are taking a great risk fighting one of our own, and I
don't want any harm to come to them because one of these pearls was
used on them accidentally.”

Zara nodded and wisely went to sit near Essex on
the other side of the room, far away from the group gathered near me.

A door opened upstairs and I raised my eyes to see
Marco and most of the Venom staff descending toward us.

“What are you guys doing here?” I
asked. “I don't want to put any more of my staff at risk. You
guys have been through enough.”

Marco lifted his hands. “Do you really
expect us to miss out on the greatest battle this world has seen in a
while?” His eyes dipped toward Harper. “Well, since
Peachville, anyway.”

Harper smiled. “I like this guy.”

Marco reached out to clasp my hand. “We all
want to help however we can,” he said sincerely. “You've
done so much for us. We're a family, remember? We're all in this
together.”

Minutes later, I felt the presence of power enter
the room.

My brothers flew down the stairs, streaks of black
and white smoke trailing behind them.

Silas was the first to regain his human form. He
reached for my hand.

“Brother.”

“Thank you for being here,” I said.
“All of you.”

I looked at the group of vampires who had come to
fight at my side. Ten demons I had known for more than a century.
After tonight, I would forever be in their debt.

Everyone gathered around me, and I knew the time
for action had finally come.

“Never before in the history of this world
or the next has such a group come together to fight against evil,”
I said. “When Solomon was bound to a stone, we mourned his
passing, but those of us who knew the great evils he had performed
since coming to this world, also knew that his passing was for the
best. He and his brother had become addicted to power, not caring who
they killed in their quest to obtain it. If Solomon had not been
stopped, who knows what might have become of the human world.”

Many of the Brotherhood nodded in agreement. Most
of Harper's crew knew nothing of the great evils Solomon and the
Devil had done, but they were no strangers to evil and senseless
killing.

“Tonight, the Devil has plans to sacrifice a
young witch in order to free Solomon's power from the soul stone
where he's been trapped for more than twenty years,” I said.
Franki's face passed before my eyes and I took a deep breath, praying
we were not too late. “This young witch is Solomon's daughter.
A woman named Mary Francis. Half crow. Half demon. The power that
runs through her veins is dark and powerful, but she is nothing like
her father. She does not deserve to die. And we must do everything in
our power to make sure the Devil does not follow through with this
ritual.”

“What's our plan?” Silas asked.

I pulled a map from one of the leather satchels
I'd carried up from the basement laboratory. “While I was
working downstairs, I drew up a crude blueprint of the Devil's
castle. I know many of the Brotherhood have been there, but this will
be the first time for most of the rest of you.”

I spread the map out on the large table in front
of the couch and everyone gathered around it in a circle.

“The Devil will likely have guards stationed
at every entrance.” I pointed out the four entrances I was
aware of—the front door, an old servant's entrance at the back,
an underground tunnel through the hills and a hidden half-door on the
side. “I think our best bet is to send a pair to each entrance
and hit all four at the same time. We'll confuse them and split their
defenses. Zara here brought black pearls that used to belong to
Priestess Winter of the blue demon gates. If we use the element of
surprise to hit the guards at each entrance with these pearls, we can
take their power and defeat them very quickly.”

I sensed the fear and discomfort of the other
vampires at the mention of the black pearls. Several threw odd
glances at Zara.

“An attack like this will mean the witches
of the group will have to go in first,” I said. “We'll
split you into groups of two. Harper and Mary Anne at the main
entrance. Zara and Courtney here at the servant's entrance. Peri, you
and Cherish go to the underground tunnel here. Brandy and Kianna,
you'll take this half-door.”

The witches all studied the map as I spoke.

“As soon as the attack begins, we'll
concentrate the rest of our force here at the back entrance,” I
said, pointing to the old servant's entrance. “It's the closest
both to the dungeons where Franki is likely being held and to the
ritual room where the Devil will be preparing.”

“He'll probably have Solomon's stone there
as well,” Silas said.

“Yes,” I said. I looked into his eyes,
knowing how difficult this must be for him. “Your primary focus
tonight needs to be retrieving that stone, Silas. Do whatever you
have to do to get the stone and take it far away from the Devil's
castle.”

“If I do manage to get it, what do I do with
it?” he asked.

“Destroy it,” I said.

Silas swallowed and his eyes grew dark.

“I know it's difficult, but you're the only
one who can do it,” I said. “Destroying the stone is the
only way to make sure his spirit can never be used for harm.”

Silas nodded slowly. I could see the struggle
going on inside him. He'd loved his father. Worshipped him. But that
was before he saw what his father was capable of doing I knew
destroying the stone would be difficult for him, but I also trusted
him to do the right thing.

I went over the rest of the plan as quickly as I
could. I had no idea how long Franki had left, but I knew we didn't
have a minute to lose.

“There's one more thing,” I said. I
walked to the satchel of potions I'd set by the fireplace. I hadn't
made enough for everyone, but what we had would have to do.

I handed the red ones to the demons, deep cobalt
blue potions to the witches and the purple potions to the vampires,
saving one for myself.