Page 53 of The Blood Witch
We’re not going to die.
I repeat it over and over again in my head as I pace the edges of my cage. Maybe if I say it enough, it’ll be true.
An owl hoots somewhere outside, and it feels like the gong of a grandfather clock announcing that time is up. As though that thought conjures her from the growing fog outside, Jamie is suddenly standing in the doorway. I blink in quick succession, focusing on her silhouette and praying that it’s just my eyes playing tricks on me. She steps into the gloom of the church, her bag of damnation and death once again slung over her shoulder. My attempts at staying plucky are plucked away when I see her arm is healed and that there’s a new demon mark burned into the flesh where her damaged eye used to be.
Score one for me, I suppose.
Her sudden and silent presence makes my skin crawl, and it’s as though she’s sucked all the air and sound from the world around us. Everything is eerily quiet, and I can feel the menace pulsing off of her in waves. My heart thumps in my chest like it’s banging angrily on a door and demanding to be let out. A ringing starts in my ears, and a silent chant ofthis is itwhispers through my mind.
Rogan has until she comes back from her demon orgy all pumped full of magic, before it’s too late. But he doesn’t know that. Our stupid tether doesn’t let me explain anything to him, and I’m terrified to even entertain the thought of what happens to him if he doesn’t find us in time. It’s not even just Rogan I worry about, but what happens to all the witches if Jamie pulls this off? I mean, I seriously doubt she’ll stop at just bone magic. She’s too much of an all or nothing kind of psycho. I hate that I’m even questioning it, but am I staring at the person who could single-handedly be the end of the witch race? What’s worse is that no one, outside of the dead, will even see it coming. Just look at what she’s done to Osteomancers, there’s only two of us left.
I swallow down my dread as Jamie stands there, surveying the inside of the church as though she’s surveying her kingdom. She starts to walk, her footsteps practically thunderous against the apprehensive silence pressing in against me. I breathe through my alarm and activate the only line of defense I have left...piss the bitch off and try to save Elon for as long as I can.
Jamie doesn’t look at me as she closes the distance from the doors to the back of the church and the lines of symbols trapping me here. Her teeth are clenched, her eyes fixed on the altar, like the silent treatment is what’s going to send me over the edge. She’s so busy trying to ignore me as she walks by that she doesn’t see me reach for my bucket and heave the contents at her.
Please let this go through. Please don’t splash back at me.
I silently chant my pee-prayer as I watch excitedly as the liquid passes the symbols and splashes all over Jamie. I’m about to raise my hands in celebration and let out a hoot of approval when her head snaps to me, and she growls.
“Sepha.”
Torment explodes all around me. One second I’m standing there watching piss drip down part of Jamie’s face, hair, and clothes, and the next it feels like tiny needles are being shoved into every inch of me.
I bite back a scream. I knew this was coming. Pushing her buttons was always going to come with retaliation, but as hard as I’m trying to keep it in, a whimper escapes me as I crumple to the floor as the bucket goes bouncing away. Elon’s yelling; at me or her, I’m not sure. I want to tell him to shut up, to keep her attention on me, but my mouth can’t do anything other than grit through the pain. I push to raise my head through the agony attacking me and glare at him. He’s too busy snarling at Jamie to notice. It seems Elon has a plan of his own, and it doesn’t involve saving his own ass; he’s trying to save mine.
Ugh.Doesn’t he know Rogan needs him more than he does me?
I considered the selfish route. Thought about the fact that as thesource, I have all the power, and it might be better if I last longer in this sacrifice scenario, but I’ve spent all night and day tossing it all back and forth, and I just can’t. Saving myself at the cost of someone else will never sit right with me. So here we are.
“Shut the fuck up!” Jamie screams, bringing her hands up to her ears and covering them as though it will be enough to block out whatever Elon’s growling at her.
Her voice rings with unhinged panic, like everything is becoming too much, and I get the impression that Jamie’s teetering on the edge of control, like her breaking point is just on the other side of a narrow ledge.
Now if I can only push her over.
The pain stops as Jamie loses her focus and tromps up to the dais. She moves as though she can’t escape fast enough, and I wonder what’s happened since she was here last. She seems far angrier and more subjugated than she was before. The bag practically gets slammed down on top of the altar, and Jamie just stands there, her breathing quick and ragged. She looks up after a moment, her one teal eye settling on me as she wipes piss-soaked strands of hair from her face.
“I’m going to destroy you,” she seethes at me. “You’ll be screaming in the afterlife, that’s how badly I’m going to fuck you up,” she threatens vehemently.
I shoot her a cheeky grin and try to cover up my shaky limbs as I push up from the ground. “Your mama,” I snap back without hesitation.
Instantly I want to facepalm.
Really, Lennox, that’s the best you’ve got?
In my defense though, I’m insanely thirsty, and I was just lightly tortured.
Elon snorts out a laugh that says even he’s judging me. I dismiss his appraisal with a look that says,I know, I know. Give me a minute to warm up.I get to my feet and look back at Jamie. There’s wild mania gleaming in her eye and insanity etched into her features.
“What are you waiting for then?” I challenge. “Let the screaming begin. Let’s find out if all this is going to work the way you want it to. I mean, there’sno wayyour dumbass has accounted for everything. You didn’t even know the others’ magic would trace back to the source instead of going to you,” I ridicule. “You really thought you could throw a little bitch fit and the magic would just cooperate, but you forget, Jamie, you have to be worthy of it, and you and I both know that’s never going to happen.”
An angry twitch reveals itself in her top lip.
Looks like I just struck a chord.
“What are you going to do when the magic keeps eluding you? How much space is left on you for more ugly ass demon promises?”
“Guess we’ll find out,” she snaps at me, pulling new candles from her bag and angrily setting them all around. “You’re so typical,Osteomancer Osseous,” she mocks. “You think you’re so much better than me because you have a little power running through your veins. You want to know who else thought that?” she taunts, a wicked smile on her face. “Every other dead Osteomancer that came before you, that’s who. Go right ahead and talk all the shit you want, we’ll see how brave you are when you’re up here bleeding for me, begging me to stop, as you piss and shit yourself.”
