Sacrifice Me: The Complete Season One (46 page)

My hands scratched at the rope, but couldn't grasp
its smokey form.

I remembered this feeling. I remembered the way
the vampire had held me back at Rend's safe-house and how, no matter
how hard I tried, I couldn't grasp the demon rope.

The Devil leapt onto the altar. He grabbed my hair
and wrenched my head to the side. His fangs pressed against my neck
and he brought the blade of my father's sword to my throat.

Tears of rage spilled down my cheeks.

Was this the end? Had I lost this fight? What more
did I have to give?

My wings disappeared and I closed my eyes, pain
throbbing in my chest.

But just when I thought all hope was lost, the
door at the back of the room crashed open. I lifted my eyes just as
Rend rushed through the doorway.

Our eyes met across the great expanse of the
ritual room and love washed through me.

Several witches moved in behind him, Mary Anne
leading the way. They dipped their hands into small leather bags and
drew out fistfuls of tiny black beads. They crouched low and rolled
the beads onto the floor at the feet of the vampires gathered in
rows.

Screams echoed through the room as the vampires
shifted to smoke, the essence of their beings writhing in pain as
their power was sucked down into the stones.

The Devil tightened his grip on my hair and pulled
his other hand backward, the sword slicing into the skin at my neck.

I drew in a breath, connecting with the last drop
of power inside me. In an instant, my body disappeared, shifting to
shadow as I embraced the demon half of my heritage. The sword sliced
through nothingness.

I twirled around, reforming as I gripped the hilt
of the sword, pulling it from the Devil's trembling hand.

His eyes flashed deep red as I lifted my father's
sword and sliced his arm from his body.

He screamed and fell backward, scrambling off the
altar, black sludge oozing from his severed limb.

Chaos erupted around me.

Vampires shifted and fled in fear while those most
loyal to the Devil stayed behind to fight.

I glanced back and saw the familiar faces of those
I'd met in Peachville as they joined the battle.

I turned my attention back to the Devil. Fallon
had crawled to his master's side, but when I lifted the powerful
sword toward him, he backed away, disappearing into the shadows at
the back of the room.

Black smoke swirled around the Devil's form as he
struggled to shift, but the pain of his wound had dampened his power.
He pushed back with his legs, scurrying across the floor.

I jumped down from the altar, vengeance gleaming
in my eyes.

I walked toward him with deliberate steps. “I
am my father's daughter,” I said with a smile. “You of
all people should have known better than to underestimate that
power.”

The sword was heavy in my hand, but I wielded it
well. I lifted it high into the air, but before I could end the
Devil's life, a dagger plunged into my back.

I gasped and fell to my knees, the sword clanging
to the ground at my feet. Warm blood flowed down my back.

A trembling hand removed the dagger and my mother
stepped around my fallen form, her eyes mad with panic. The stone at
her neck pulsed with light, as if a heart were beating deep inside.
My mother clawed at the stone with her free hand, her movements jerky
and frantic.

She kicked Solomon's sword from my reach and
pointed the small dagger toward me.

“I am not going to let you ruin this for
me,” she spat. “I had a life before you came into this
world and you took it away from me. Eighteen long years I wasted
taking care of you, and I hated you every second of it. I was meant
for more than this. I should have been the one the Mother Crow loved
most. I should have been the one she showered with love. But she
couldn't see my potential. She couldn't see the great things I was
capable of.”

My vision blurred and sweat beaded on my forehead.
Fever spread through my body and I collapsed to the floor, barely
able to lift my head.

Smoke swirled around the large black stone at her
neck as Solomon's power pushed against its cage. My mother twitched,
her face contorted and wrinkled.

I pressed my hands flat against the ground and
pushed up with all my might, trying to stand. My knees buckled and I
fell again to the stone floor. “I refuse to be your sacrifice,”
I said.

I crawled toward her, clawing at her gown.

A wisp of black smoke rushed up from behind me and
coiled itself around my mother's body. Rend emerged from the shadowy
smoke, his fangs sinking into my mother's throat. She screamed and
dropped her dagger. She convulsed against him as he drained every
last drop of her blood. Her face went slack and pale, her body limp.

Rend tossed her to the ground and turned his
blazing red eyes on the Devil, who was inching toward Solomon's
sword.

Rend placed his boot on the sword's blade and the
Devil's head snapped up in terror.

“The Brotherhood will punish you for this,”
the Devil said. “Your life will be over and for what? A human
witch? You're a disgrace to everything Solomon and I built in this
world.”

“I would give my life a thousand times for
love,” Rend said, his voice strong and deep. “There is no
greater sacrifice than that.”

He grabbed the Devil up by his robes, lifting him
high into the air.

My heart swelled and I found the strength to
stand. Rend kicked the silver sword toward me and I bent down,
wrapping my hand tightly around the hilt.

I nodded to Rend and he opened his fist, letting
the Devil fall to the ground like a ragdoll.

He stepped aside as I approached the evil vampire.

“This is for every innocent life taken by
you and by my father,” I said.

I plunged the blade deep into the vampire's chest.
His eyes grew wide as he clutched the blade with both hands. The red
fire in his eyes faded to a deep black as his life faded.

I pulled the blade back and Rend stepped forward.
He placed his hands inside the Devil's mouth and with a terrible cry,
he tore him apart, the Devil's body splitting down the middle and
erupting into ashes that crumbled to dust in Rend's hands.

I fell to my knees, the wound in my back
throbbing.

Rend dropped to my side and gathered me into his
arms. My eyelids fluttered as I struggled against the darkness.

He pulled me tight against his chest, rocking back
and forth as tears cascaded down his cheeks.

He shouted, but his voice was distant.

He kissed my cheeks and stroked my hair, his body
shaking with sobs. I wanted to tell him that I loved him, but I
couldn't find my voice.

Flashes of light and shadow moved around us as the
battle continued, and someone knelt beside us. I recognized Jackson
as he placed his hands on my back.

I closed my eyes, feeling death brush against my
soul. Knowing there was no other place I'd rather die than in the
arms of the man I loved.

A cold chill spread through me.

When you are about to die, they say your life
flashes before your eyes. Life's last gift. A single moment of
clarity so you can see all the things you did wrong.

Every bad decision.

Every mistake.

Every horrible word you said to someone when you
really just wanted them to love you as much as you loved them.

It’s easy to get lost in the regrets of our
past, thinking that if we’d only chosen something different, we
might have been able to save ourselves a hell of a lot of heartbreak.
If we'd only been born to difference circumstances or been given a
second chance, we might have become someone different. Someone
better.

Only, the thing is, we should really be giving
ourselves credit for just surviving the best way we know how.

At any given moment, we’re all just doing
the best we can to survive and make a place for ourselves in this
shit-storm we call life.

Looking back, it’s easy to forget just how
broken we were when we made those bad decisions. And most
importantly, it’s easy to overlook the fact that if we really
were able to go back in time and change things, sure, we might avoid
some of the worst heartaches of our lives, but at the same time, we
also might not be here, right now, with the one person we love most
in all the world.

What if my mother had never met Solomon?

What if the Mother Crow had never sent me away?

What if the Devil had never known I existed?

These questions flash through my mind in these
last moments, but then all I can think is that one small change—one
“
better
” decision—and I might have missed
him altogether.

So you know what? If I had the chance to go back
and do it all over again, I wouldn’t change one painful,
gut-wrenching, dangerous, terrifying moment of what I’ve been
through the past two weeks.

Even knowing it meant the death of me, I’d
go through it all over again, just for him.

Warm sunshine fell across my cheek.

I opened my eyes, expecting heaven. Or hell.

But what I found was life. A second chance.

Rend slept in a chair at my bedside, his body
twisted uncomfortably and his face pressed against the back cushion.

Love and gratitude washed through me as tears
sprang to my eyes. My body ached and my head pounded, but I was
alive. Somehow, I had survived.

I struggled to sit up, wincing as pain shot
through the wound in my back.

Rend jerked awake. His eyes met mine and he slid
from the chair, falling to his knees at the side of the bed. He
grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips like a prayer.

I squeezed his hand.

“Please tell me I'm not dreaming,” I
whispered.

He shook his head and smiled. “I was about
to say the same thing.”

He moved to my side on the bed and ran the back of
his hand across my cheek.

“I was so afraid you'd never wake up,”
he said.

“How long have I been sleeping?” I
asked.

“Weeks,” he said. “Sixteen days
to be exact.”

I forced myself to sit up, my head swimming.
“Katie, she—”

“Katie's fine,” he said. He moved to
place a few extra pillows behind me to help prop me up. “I sent
Marco to check on her and give her some excuse as to why you weren't
home. Of course, she raised hell and demanded to know the truth. I
distinctly remember telling you not to give Katie the details of what
was going on at the club.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I've never really been
a rule follower.”

He laughed. “Really? I didn't know that
about you.”

I smiled. “So she's okay? She's not
completely freaking out?”

“Oh, she freaked out big time. She demanded
to see proof that I hadn't gone all vampire on you and sucked your
blood,” he said. “Her words, not mine.”

I laughed and my ribs protested. I sucked a breath
through my teeth and raised my hand to my side.

Rend furrowed his brow. “I'm sorry. I
shouldn't make you laugh right now. How are you feeling?”

“Like I almost got murdered in a sacrificial
ritual performed by the Devil and the woman formerly known as my
mother.”

Rend bit his lower lip to suppress a smile. “It's
good to know they didn't destroy your sense of humor in the process.”

I sighed. “I'm just glad to know they didn't
destroy me, period.”

“Me, too,” he said softly, trailing a
fingertip down my arm.

“What happened that night?” I asked.
“How did you guys even get inside the castle?”

“We brought a bad-ass army,” he said.
“Harper and most of the Peachville crew came, some of the staff
from the club, and ten members of the Brotherhood.”

“Is everyone okay?” I asked, my heart
tightening in my chest. I wasn't sure I was ready to hear bad news if
someone else had died trying to save my life.

“We all made it out alive,” he said.
“A few nicks and bruises here and there, but nothing that won't
heal.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Even Lyla and
the others?”

“Yes,” he said. “A lot of them
have been by to see you, but I told them you needed your rest. When
you're ready for visitors, I'm sure you'll have all the company you
could ever want while you're recovering.”

A child's face flashed into my memory.

“There were others,” I said. “Witches
locked in the dungeons of the castle. Rend, some of them were only
children. Babies.”

He nodded and stroked my hair. “We got
everyone out of there,” he said. “One girl in particular
has been asking about you nonstop. Annabelle, I think her name is.”

I held back tears of relief. “She was in the
cell across from mine,” I said. “Her mother was killed
while she was in there. I can't even imagine the horror some of those
witches have been through.”

“Most of them returned to their families,
but Annabelle had no one left,” he said. “She's been
staying at Harper's.”

“I really owe her one for helping us. I owe
all of them, really,” I said.

Someone knocked on the door, and I looked up to
see Jackson standing in the doorway. “We were just glad we
could help,” he said. He stepped into the room. “I came
to check on my patient, but I see you're doing better.”

“Patient?” The memory of him kneeling
at my side flashed into my mind. “You're a healer?”

“It's one of my gifts,” he said. “I'm
not as strong as some, like Harper's sister, but I can heal some
basic wounds. You didn't get a chance to meet her, but she came here
to Rend's as soon as he brought you back here. She's been busy with
some things in the Shadow World, but it was really her power that
healed the worst of the wounds from the dagger. How are you feeling?”

“I wonder how many times I'm going to be
asked that over the next few weeks,” I said with a laugh. “I'm
sore and weak, but I'm glad to be alive. And please, if you speak to
Harper's sister, tell her thank you.”