Page 13 of The Blood Witch
Yes, sirsounds off all around me, and even though I don’t look away from Rogan’s face, I hear witches scurry out of the room on Marx’s command. The sound of the door closing and a lock being put in place registers to my ears, and yet I stand, brokenly staring at the man who’s betrayed me every chance he’s been given.
Silence wraps itself all around us until eventually Rogan breaks it. “Are you okay?” he asks me, his eyes searching mine for answers.
“No,” I surprisingly respond, my voice flat and distant.
“Are you hurt?”
I take stock.Am I hurt?Eleanor’s scream reverberates in my mind, and I flinch against the playback of the sound in my head.
“Not physically,” I voice quietly.
Geez, is Rogan part Vox Witch and he forgot to tell me about it, or does my drunk-sloth-mode come with an auto-answer setting?
“What was that?” I ask shakily, relieved that I can form the question and not just stand here and spit out answers like I’m still in that interrogation room.
“They’ll run tests to confirm, but I’m pretty sure it was a demon curse,” Rogan tells me. There’s awe and worry lacing his tone, and it makes me feel as though he’s surprised by what he’s saying.
I don’t know much about demons other than they’re powerful and parasitic. They feed off the essence of other living beings, but I have no idea why a demon would be involved in any of this. Questions fire off in my mind, zinging by too quickly for me to grab any and force them out of my mouth. I have no idea what this means, but judging by what I just saw, I’m no safer here in the heart of the Order than I was outside of this place.
“If I had touched that note before she did…” I start, but the adamant shake of Rogan’s head makes me trail off.
“She knew better, she knew she shouldn’t have handled any evidence without proper precautions in place. She put us all at risk with her blatant disregard of protocol. They wouldn’t have let you handle that letter without protection,” he reassures me, but I’m far too busy putting myself in Eleanor’s shoes to really hear him.
I shake off those thoughts and rub at my eyes as though it will scrub the image of what happened to that witch out of my mind. “Why would a demon do that? I don’t understand how that fits with everything else that’s happened?”
Rogan puts his head back, stress and exhaustion radiating off of him. “I don’t know. Demons are rare and don’t usually involve themselves in witch business. They have no political aspirations, no desire to be part of the hierarchy, as far as I’ve ever known. They have their underworld and thrive in that atmosphere.” He pauses, his eyes lost in thought as he works through possibilities, better equipped than I am to suss them out with his vast experience of the magical world.
Meanwhile, I can’t help but look at all the shadows in the room suspiciously.Am I being hunted by demons?Worse yet is that I don’t know ifthatpossibility is better or worse than the idea of my Grammy faking her death and potentially kidnapping witches.
“The Order has experts in demon magic. They’ll study what occurred, break down the purpose of the curse, and figure out why that happened. Until then, Lennox, we need to be careful. Whoever is behind this breached the Order once, they could do it again,” he warns me, and I swear the room feels like it grows colder by degrees.
I’m back to side-eyeing the shadows when Rogan releases a deep sigh and presses his forehead to mine. “Lennox, I know you’re mad at me,” he starts, and I despise that breathing him in feels comforting to me. People who are assholes shouldn’t be allowed to smell good or feel safe. My instincts should be warning me away from him right now, not dosing me with the warm and fuzzies.
Traitors.
“I need you to give me my magic back,” he finishes, the breath of his question tickling my lips, and finally the warning bells I’ve been looking for inside my head go off.
Something snaps inside of me, and I shove him away.
Note to self: when drunk-sloth-mode is accidentally activated,hateis the off switch.
“Are you for real right now?” I demand incredulously, and Rogan steps back into my space, crowding me, confusing my senses. I back up to keep him away and hold up a hand in warning.
“This isn’t aboutus, Lennox,” he argues. “I’m vulnerable, and I can’t be, not here, not with demon magic breaching the Order,” he attempts to reason, but it falls on deaf ears.
I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him. “You’ll make it work, Rogan. I know I did when you forced my hand the first day we met or when you drugged me and shoved me into this den of vipers,” I snap, not an ounce of sympathy in me for his plight.
“I didn’t have a choice,” he defends. “Elon is in trouble. This was our best bet at finding him as quickly as possible. We needed more resources than what we had access to. Our best shot was to take advantage of what the Order was offering.”
I stare at him, gobsmacked. “You didn’t have a choice?” I repeat as though there’s no way I heard him right. “Oh, you had a fucking choice, Rogan, you just didn’t chooseme. Don’t get that twisted in your conniving little mind. The Order didn’t offerusanything; you went to them for a fucking trade. Me for what you wanted. Don’t paint your decision with bullshit martyrdom and forced-hand nonsense,” I lob back venomously.
“No, Lennox, I didn’t have a choice. I was never in a position where I could choose you. It was always about finding Elon. Always. I owe him that much.”
“Then owe him,” I shout, moving to get in Rogan’s face. “Owe him whatever you want, but don’t sacrifice me to payyourdebt! Don’t fuck me over because your guilt when it comes to your brother overrides whatever decency you had or trumps whatever the hell was happening with us!” I yell, furious.
“There is nous,” he counters with a snarl, and I reel back as though he just slapped me. “There can’t be when Elon’s not safe. Don’t you understand? I failed my brother before. You have no idea the torture he went through. I can’t let myself get distracted, I can’t put anything before him andhissafety!”
I shake my head and look around frustrated. “I get that. I do. But why the hell are you kissing me then? Why are you trying to get to know me?Youare the one who ignores and crosses the boundariesyousay you have, not me!”
