The Seven Year Witch: That Old Black Magic, Book 2 (27 page)

“Do not test the master,” Envy rasped warningly. “He is already angry that I allowed the wolf to live.”

Greed suddenly materialized near the fountain, its dark eyes full of disdain. “Yes, that was rather a stupid move on your part. You should have fed him to the master like the others.”

Nausea rolled in the pit of Clarissa’s gut. Her focus swerved from Seven to the lake teeming with oil and fire behind the beast. “You are the evil that lives in those waves.
You’re
consuming the souls.”

Greed rolled her eyes at Envy. “Honestly, what do you see in this one? She’s not even that bright.”

Ignoring the sin’s bitchy sarcasm, Clarissa stared at Seven. “What
are
you?”

Another of those terrible laughs shook from the creature. “Don’t you know? I’m the dark at the end of the tunnel.”

Logan glared at the small crowd of spectators who’d gathered in the bedroom. If it were up to him, he would have kicked most of them out. Particularly the damn guild members, who were no doubt sitting in on the hypnosis session just because they were pains in the asses who enjoyed sticking their noses in a man’s private business.

Constance finished anointing his forehead with her charmed oil concoction before placing her fingers over his eyelids, forcing them shut. “I want you to just concentrate on your breathing for a moment.” She talked him through the process, her voice a relaxing lullaby. “Feel yourself going deeper and deeper within yourself. Your wolf is there, waiting for you. Waiting to take you to Clarissa.”

A strange spiraling sensation overtook him, but rather than panic, he allowed the ebb and flow of the currents to buffet him through the swirling vortex.

Suddenly the spinning stopped and he was inside his wolf, crouched near the cave where he’d slept with Clarissa the previous night. Keeping low to the ground, he belly-crawled to the mouth of the structure, his preternatural eyesight giving him the added boost of being able to see if anyone was hiding in the dense shadows filling the cavern. It appeared to be empty.

He was about to dart toward the opposite end of the cave when a strangely familiar scent bombarded him. Though it possessed an unquestionably female bouquet, it wasn’t Clarissa. Whirling, he growled at the trespasser.

“Down, Cujo. It’s me. Willa.”

If he’d possessed the ability to speak, he was damn certain he would have cursed every word in the book at the young witch, right before demanding she tell him how the hell she’d ended up there.

“Yeah, I can tell from your expression that you’re pretty much wondering the same thing I am. Suffice to say, I have no damn clue what I’m doing here, either.” Willa hunkered close to the rock wall, her teeth chattering loud enough to rouse the entire mountainside.

Fuck. This wasn’t good at all. How was he supposed to gather intel on Seven and keep watch over Willa at the same time? He crowded her closer to the concealment of the cave and gave her a warning look, hoping she’d get the message. He took two careful steps forward. And immediately heard the
swoosh-swoosh
of her feet disturbing the sand behind him. Jerking his head around, he stared her down.

“No way, buster. Wherever your furry ass is going, I’m following. This place is too creepy to hang around by myself.”

Damn stubborn women. They were going to be the death of him. Literally.

Returning his focus to the path that snaked toward the shores of the lake in the distance, he snuffled the ground. Sure enough, Clarissa’s sweet scent mingled with the grains of sand. She’d been through here recently. After a quick glance to ensure Willa was still trailing close behind, he dashed in the direction of his mate. As they neared the lake, he could make out several figures standing on the beach.

But it was the massive beast rising from the waves that turned his blood to ice.
What. The. Fuck.
He detected Willa’s sharp intake of breath and prayed that she wasn’t about to scream. Or do anything else that would bring attention to them both and potentially put Clarissa in danger before he could reach her.

Giving Willa an unsubtle nudge, he galloped toward the cluster of boulders that bisected the beach and the sheer curtain of rock comprising the interior of the mountain. The shelter would provide them cover, but it was also close enough to the action that if that thing moved to attack Clarissa, he’d be on top of the bastard in an instant.

The sound of raised voices carried to him, and he cocked his ears forward.

“You humans always amuse me with your constant quests for eternal enlightenment, when clearly it’s always been the darkness that consumes you most.” The smug diatribe seemed to be coming from the ugly-ass beast. “One only has to watch those news programs your kind adore to see your obsession with tragedy. Killings and muggings. Kidnappings. War and disease. Day after day, you find more ways to destroy the light. And feed
me
.”

“No.” Clarissa shook her head adamantly. “We’re not monsters like you.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. My pride corrupts your egos, even while my envy cripples your souls. I’m the gluttonous darkness that desires to smite all else. As you see, there’s a little piece of me in every single one of you. It’s time you fully recognize that.” The beast snapped its tentacles toward its psychotic henchmen, and the four creatures pounced on Clarissa.

Fear and rage exploding within him, Logan released a ferocious growl and leapt from concealment, sprinting to his mate’s aid.

The next several seconds were a terrifying blur as he attacked each of the creatures. He managed to fling two of them off Clarissa, and she struggled to escape the other pair. Willa came running from behind as three more of the creatures jumped into the fray. They dragged Clarissa into the lake, shoving her beneath the waves.

His anguished howl renting the air, he dove in after her. She resurfaced, choking on a mouthful of the oily water. He swam toward her, his legs paddling furiously, but just as he was almost upon her, a fierce wave tossed him skyward.

For one blinding moment, he was suspended.

The next second, he crashed back into his body. Gasping and trembling, he snapped his eyes open. Constance was leaning over him, her face deathly pale as a rush of anxious questions pelted from her mouth. Tuning them out, he pushed her away and vaulted to his feet, his gaze sweeping the crowded room for Willa. She was slumped against the wall, her expression dazed. He raced to her, catching her around the arms as she started to slide toward the floor. “What the hell happened?”

“I—I don’t know. One minute I was in the lake, and now I’m here. But I still feel Clarissa. She’s alive.”

Willa’s admission swamped him with relief and prompted a tidal wave of stunned demands around the room as everyone suddenly became aware that he hadn’t been the only one to take a trip to Freaky Island. Domino asked the question that seemed to be most prominently poised on everyone’s tongue, but with her own unique, domineering twist. “Willa, I demand to know how you ended up over there.”

“I—I have no damn idea. But it’s the place from my dream. Only I guess it’s not really just a dream anymore.” She shuddered.

Desperate to get her back on track, he shook her shoulders. “You’ve dreamt about that thing? What the fuck is it?”

“I th-think it’s a levi—the word that’s kept popping in my head for the past week. As soon as I saw that disgusting…” She broke off for a moment, blinking. “Leviathan.”

A hush fell over the guild members, and Logan swerved his focus to Domino. “What? What is it?”

“They’re the seven-headed gatekeepers to hell. The most powerful of all soul collectors.” Domino’s fingers trembled as she pressed them to her lips. She shook her head, the color slowly returning to her high cheekbones. “Impossible. It’s believed they’ve been extinct for at least a century.”

“Trust me, that fuckin’ thing is alive and kickin’.” But not for long. “How is it killed?”

“I don’t think it can be.”

“Hope,” Willa whispered.

He and Domino glanced at the young witch. Willa’s eyes glazed over, as if she’d traveled to some far-off place. “It can be slain by hope. But first we must relight hers.”

Domino frowned. “Willa, what’s wrong with you?”

Shoving the pain-in-the-ass guild leader aside, Logan clasped Willa’s arm. “Whose hope? Clarissa’s?”

She nodded. “The lake extinguished her hope. Her only chance of surviving, and killing the Levi, is if we relight it.”

Domino made an impatient noise. “
Willa
, what—?”

Slashing his gaze in Domino’s direction, he bared his teeth. “Say one more word, and I swear to Christ I’m jamming a sock in your mouth.”

The guild leader’s eyes blazed, but at least she took his threat to heart. His attention shifted back to Willa. “How do we relight her hope?”

“We call her to us.” She bit her lip and looked around the room before staring up at him. “We call her home.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Sweet Clarissa.”

Envy’s covetous touch roamed her face, brushing over her eyelashes. “You are truly ready to become my bride now. Reborn and baptized.” The sin delicately wiped the last traces of oily ooze from her hair with the cloth it’d wrapped around her as soon as she’d been dragged from the lake. She shivered, a terrible emptiness carved deep within her belly.

“You feel it now, don’t you? The darkness that brings you closer to me. To master. We are one now. Forever.”

The creature’s cold, clammy kiss iced over her lips before the sin helped her into the black lace wedding dress that’d magically appeared beside her. “Come. It’s time to celebrate our union and make it official. The others are waiting.”

As if she were no more functional than a zombie, she followed Envy’s command. There was nothing left of her now. No struggle. No fight. Only a vast, unfillable void.

They stepped into the twilight. The darkness was denser than ever, a perfect twin to the empty abyss within her soul. As promised, the others were gathered at the lake’s edge. She and Envy joined them, and Clarissa stood motionless while the six sins danced around her and Envy. Even the bitchy Greed and the lazy Sloth seemed to be enjoying the festive atmosphere.

“For seven years I’ve patiently waited to make you mine.” Envy’s talons caressed her chin. “Did you know that I came to your coven house the day of that tiger and witch’s wedding? I watched you, sweet Clarissa, my eagerness almost overwhelming as I imagined reciting our own vows. And now here we are. It’s a dream come true.”

It occurred to her that she should feel disturbed that the sin had been anywhere near the coven house. Instead, she felt…nothing.

“I have forgiven you for doing all of those wicked things with that filthy wolf. It’s quite generous of me, no?”

Wolf?

Oh yes, Logan. She waited for the pain of his absence to fill her. But…nothing.

Lust suddenly whirled her into its arms, jerking her around like a rag doll as the sin waltzed her upon the sand. An angry hiss erupted from Envy and it leapt at Lust, knocking the creature onto its ass. The two sins began fighting, clawing at each other, while jeering laughter broke from their siblings.

Amidst the commotion, she heard the faint echo of her name. At first she paid it no mind, but then it grew louder. Enough so it drew the attention of the five sins who were not squabbling. Their features froze for a fraction of a second before twisting with ugly menace. A legion of hisses filled the air, almost drowning out the constant chanting of her name, which had grown to a deafening crescendo.

The two sins wrestling on the sand ceased beating on each other. Its expression awash with panic, Envy hurtled to its feet. The creature spun in circles, making terrible hissing and growling noises into the darkness. When that didn’t defeat the rising chorus of her name, Envy crushed her to its chest, clamping its hands over her ears. But even with everything muffled, a strange thing occurred.

The emptiness within her belly began to recede.

She felt a flicker of something. A spark. The edges of her conscience tried to grasp the meaning of it, why the tiny flame offering its meager warmth called to her.

A furious cacophony of noise clanged inside her head, competing with the voices singing her name. The sins were screeching, their shrill, discordant yowls deafening.

Horrific images sprang into her mind. Battlefields soaked in blood, the dead and wounded stacked in massive piles while bombs exploded everywhere. She heard Wrath’s rattling laugh and the fragile spark within her sputtered.

Clarissa
. The sweet invocation of her name curled around the wick of the weakening flame, stoking it to life. The death-strewn battlefield disintegrated, along with Wrath.

Squeals of rage blasted from the remaining sins. Their crazed flurry like a whirlwind, they swooped on top of her, hurling her into the lake. Their claws dug into her hair, trying to dunk her beneath the waves. The light faltered.

A barrage of disturbing images flashed before her—machines of mass destruction and greed stripping the earth, erecting altars filled with rotting waste.

Clarissa
. The beckoning of her coven sisters cracked through the dark.

The machines stalled, crumbling into rusted flakes. Hideous wailing came from Greed and Gluttony as the sins dissolved. Envy’s talons sank into her flesh, mad desperation contorting its features as the creature plunged her beneath the oily water. Her lungs filled with the incessant, drowning darkness.

She started to fade.

Rissa
. Logan’s voice pierced the emptiness, floating toward her like a life preserver. The light of his love filled her chest, making her buoyant. She surged upward, breaking the water’s surface with a gasp.

“No,” Envy roared, hatred blazing in its eyes. “You’re
mine
.” The lake seethed and roiled. Funnels of fire torpedoed from its depths as Seven’s formidable bulk ascended from the surf and towered behind Envy. The beast’s many jaws yawned open, venomous hatred dripping from its fangs.

Envy yanked her head back, its claws aiming for her throat.

Rissa, I love you
. The power of Logan’s declaration thundered through her, and the light exploded in a fierce illumination.