Scryer (15 page)

In spite of everything, I managed to
have my lips curve up into the slightest of smiles for him, even as the air
felt heavy with sadness and the scent of blood. For the first time, I yearned
for my scrying talents to tell him what would become of the future. But there
was only one way to do that for Circle members, and these witches would never
allow that, plus, there was no way that I could speak anyway.

When he saw my smile, he gave a slight
laugh and blood showed on his teeth. “You’re amazing, you know that?” he
whispered as he leaned his head against the wall beside me. Then he inched
forward so that his forehead touched mine, and I closed my eyes, wanting to
keep him there like that forever. Our blood must have mingled, transferring
from one to the other. I liked that. I liked the idea of me carrying his blood
upon my face and that he carried mine. It cemented us together somehow, even if
for just this moment.

I wanted to respond with so many things.
I wanted to let my guard down now because I didn’t think that we would live
much longer. My eyes began to water at the thought of watching him die.

Or would it be me that would perish
first? Watching the anguish on his face would be just as painful.

Caleb’s father walked in, and
automatically the witches deferred to him. They stood as if in the presence of
someone to be revered.

“Start making the preparations. We’ll do
it here,” he ordered. Then he cast his eyes in our direction and gave a small,
smug smile. It made me want to claw his eyes out and my fingers automatically
curved inward.

A rug in the center of the room was
rolled up to reveal a pattern beneath it. Branded onto the floorboards like a
blackened scar was a circle with curved lines protruding out for its entire
circumference, forming a sun. Within the circle, was undoubtedly a star, and
within that a tree with a thick trunk and bare branches. It encompassed the
nature that the witches worshipped or drew their strength from.

I had sat above that symbol at the
party, drinking and ignorant of those plotting my fate. Two of the witches
stepped forward toward us. Lake moved from me to look at them squarely, his
eyes defiant and showing no fear. They grabbed his arms and pulled him to his
feet. When he struggled, they sent that shooting pain into his head again. He
cried out as he bent over in pain and lost his footing, but they dragged him,
anyway.

I winced as they dropped him in the
center of the sun burnt into the floor. Quickly, they arranged his limp body so
that he laid on his back, pulling his arms out so he was spread-eagled, his
wrists and ankles pinned with wooden spikes that were driven into the
floorboards.

I let out a low moan as they stepped
forward with knives, obscuring my view of him. But I figured out quickly what
they were doing. They cut at his clothing and stripped him bare. As they
finished, the shredded clothing was tossed to the side and they moved so I had
a clear view of him again. He was groggily coming back to consciousness just as
they finished securing him. My eyes travelled over his naked body, over every
exquisite dip and curve of his muscle as he flexed, testing his bindings. I
looked to his face and saw no fear there. If he could show no weakness when at
his most vulnerable, then I could mirror that action.

Caleb’s father’s eyes scanned over his
prisoner and there was something of satisfaction on his face. He indicated with
his head to his men, and that’s when they came for me. I didn’t struggle. It
would be pointless. I stood still while they cut at my own garment. It fell
silently to my feet, fluttering down like this was some sensual moment and as I
stepped out of the pool of silk, I cast my eyes at my attackers. There was no
lust at my nudity; all I saw was hatred.

I lifted my chin and stepped forward
when pulled, keeping my footing and maintaining all the grace that I could
muster.

“Down,” came the grunt, and a hand
pointed toward next to where Lake lay. His place was in the circle, and mine
was to be at his side. Slowly, I crouched down beside him, but swiftly my arms
were uncut from behind me and I was pulled down onto the floor and arranged on
my side, facing Lake. My legs and arms were pinned with the same wooden pegs,
and I couldn’t help but jump as they were driven deep into the floorboards on
which I lay.

Lake turned his head to face me, and we
kept our eyes solely on each other, even as Caleb’s father stood over us so we
lay in his shadow. We heard footsteps as every witch in the room stepped
forward, surrounding us in a circle. I should have felt more fear than I did,
but with my eyes glued to Lake’s, I felt like I gained strength from him. He
smiled at me and I saw the love shine in his eyes. My own mouth moved to make a
smile, and for that instant, I didn’t care about the pain.

“Look at this,” Caleb’s father spoke,
“the killer of our earth and his handmaiden, right by his side. It’s only
fitting that the one who has helped them in their destruction, join him in
undoing the damage.” He crouched down beside us and pulled something from a
leather sheath, which was then cast aside while he held up a shining, lethal
blade. Could he see his reflection in it? Did he like the cruelty that he saw?
I imagined that he did. “When your blood slowly drains from your body, it will
reunite with the earth and begin to renew and replenish nature from the
destruction that your kind have caused.”

“Don’t look at him,” Lake said to me in
a low voice. “Don’t pay them any attention.” His body was relaxed and he no
longer flexed his muscles or tested the bindings. He had the gentlest smile on
his face and I knew that was just to calm me.

Caleb’s father gave a laugh, and then he
brought the blade down onto Lake’s bicep in a vicious swipe that made him hiss
in pain as scarlet began to pool from the cut. It wasn’t deep though, at least
not as deep as he could have made it with that size blade. I desperately tried
to suck in breaths to calm myself and stop the scream that wanted to erupt from
me. I didn’t look at anyone other than Lake; I had no desire to see the smug
satisfaction on their faces as they enacted their revenge.

The blade went to Lake’s other bicep,
and this time it dragged slowly across the skin. Lake didn’t move, even though
everything inside of him must have been screaming out in response to the
stinging pain. I couldn’t watch his face right then. Instead I looked at the
blood that began to flow down his skin, over the dips of the muscle and then drop
to the floorboards. I didn’t take my eyes off of the red, even as the chanting
around me began. Their voices began like a dull hum as they spoke, all in
perfect unison. The language was unfamiliar, but it progressed to something
beautiful, like a bird song or water running down over rocks. Or at least, it would
have, if not in combination with the blood and pain that ran from Lake’s body.

In response to their voices, the blood
no longer just created a pool as it fell onto the floorboards. Instead, it took
on a life of its own. It turned into a long length, like a snake, and slowly
began to move onto the deep grooves of the sun’s pattern. The witches’ voices
became higher and their chanting increased in speed. I felt like the sound was
drumming into my head and everything became hazy as that blood continued to
glide onto the pattern beneath us.

I barely registered Lake calling out,
and then I felt the sting of the knife slitting my own skin. A muffled sound
came from me, and I felt the blood begin to trickle from one arm. Though no
panic rose in me, somehow, I felt at peace. The pain wasn’t dulled as they
attacked my other arm. I felt the bite of the knife clearly and felt the warm
flow.

Still, I couldn’t remove my eyes from
Lake’s possessed blood slithering on the floor. Creeping up beside it came a
new strand, and my peace dissolved into horror as I realized that it was mine.
It travelled up over Lake’s blood and began to twist around it, as if it were
no longer liquid and had changed into something solid, something with a brain
and intent. The continuous curling line of my blood around Lake’s seemed to
give it power and increase the speed even more. Slithers of the blood broke off
to seep into the rays of the sun, while others dived under our bodies to
complete the star and the tree.

In the corner of my eye, I saw the knife
placed against Lake’s chest and more blood began to run. I looked to his face
and he was speaking, but I could not hear him, all I sensed was the sharp pain
above one of my breasts and then more warm blood that was sure to slide down to
the floor and spiral around Lake’s like a serpent manipulating this event to a
speedy end.

The cuts continued. The palms of our
hands were pierced so we resembled the stigmata and our feet followed suit, and
then the knife rested down low on my stomach, that stomach that would never
bear Lake’s child. They cut in a shallow way so that blood ran down each side,
coating me in it. In the craziness of the moment, I enjoyed the warmth of my
own life blood and imagined it protecting me and covering my naked body…

But then the constant pain broke through
the haze, and I knew for sure that we would die, slowly as each drop of blood
inched from us until our bodies grew cold and lifeless on the floor.

The chanting stopped, and a fresh fear
went through me, eclipsing the pain. What now?

“Get some rest,” Caleb’s father
instructed the witches. “Dawn is a few hours away. We will bleed them fully the
moment the sun starts to rise. It will give their blood time to soak in and
dry.” Most of them turned and started to leave the room. Two took chairs in
front of the fire to stay warm while they guarded us.

Once more, I turned my eyes to Lake only
to find his gaze resting on me and a small smile on his face. Why the hell was
he smiling? We were about to die.

“You look so beautiful. I know that
you’re terrified, but you still look so gorgeous,” he said to me softly. “When
we get out of this, I’m going to make you my wife. I don’t care about having
kids. I don’t care about pissing off Michael. I just want you, if you’ll have
me.” Tears pricked at my eyes and the smile collapsed off of his face. “Don’t
cry,” he said urgently. “Please don’t cry. I’d give anything to make you happy.
Remember when we were together? You were happy then. We were both happy. I’d
give anything to have that again.”

He flexed his fingers, and the tips of
them managed to touch mine. I gave him a bloody, macabre smile in response and
he grinned again. We stayed like that, touching each other just lightly, as the
hours passed and dawn loomed closer and closer. He didn’t speak; he just kept
his eyes on mine, and that was all that I needed.

Until, a lighter glow began to fill the
room. The light quickly snuck in under drawn curtains. Was it dawn already? No,
it was too bright. The men standing guard jumped to their feet.

“What the hell?” One ran to the window,
brushing the curtain aside and the glow beamed even brighter. “Dammit, get—”
His words were cut off by a scream erupting from his mouth as he stumbled back,
clawing at his eyes. “It’s burning. It’s fucking burning.”

The other witch stared at him in horror.
“We’re supposed to be protected here. There’s supposed to be a protection spell
around us.” He took a step forward as if to touch his friend, then thought
better of it. “We need help in here!” He ran for the door, while his friend
fell to his knees screaming for help.

Lake began to laugh, and when I looked
at him with my eyes wide with confusion, he merely said, “We have witches,
too.”

From other rooms, we heard screams and
pleas for help, and then we smelled smoke. A pungent yet familiar stench
reached us and made me want to vomit. “They’re burning them,” Lake told me. “It
won’t be long now, Ivy.”

The guard was still crouched over and
moaning, his hands covering his eyes. He didn’t even move when the door flew
open and a group of men and women entered the room. They were all of varying
ages, but their faces were long and oval like they all shared the same blood.
Their expressions were grim as, in unison, they began to chant.

And the man began to scream again, he pleaded
and begged, but no one was listening. He burst in flames; a controlled fire so
intense that I could feel the heat on my face.

“They need six to make fire,” Lake
explained as he watched. His eyes were alive with bloodlust as the reflection
of the flames danced in them while he pulled at his tethers.

Six to make fire, and I only needed one…

The man’s screams stopped as he
collapsed to the ground, and the new witches let him burn for a while longer
before extinguishing the flames. And then, solemnly and silently, they filed
from the room, not even bothering to look at us.

Felix rushed in. “Lake, are you okay?”
Knife in hand, he began to cut through the binds that held Lake.

“I’m fine. Release Ivy. She’s lost a lot
of blood. Her wounds need to be dressed, and get that awful thing out of her
mouth,” Lake ordered.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood, as well.”

I cast my eyes to the person who had
spoken. Dorothea stood above me, dressed in white furs and with her black hair
piled on top of her head, she looked like the Snow Queen. She must have stolen
in silently like the snake that she was. She wasn’t looking at me though; her
eyes were firmly on Lake who, with his bindings cut, now managed to sit.