Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 125179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
She could hear voices whispering to each other. Female voices. Ones she recognized.
Demetria’s coven.
Bitches. They’d pay for this. Dearly. Not at this exact moment, though. Because the chatter and laughter of the other townspeople was far too close. If she freed her monster here, it could go after nearby innocents—that would be bad.
Sure, Wynter could try taking on her kidnappers herself. She was pretty sure it wouldn’t be hard to take them out. But she needed to make a public statement. While she couldn’t allow everyone to see her monster, she could certainly allow them to see what it could do—it was about the only way she could prove it existed. As she’d told Cain, only fear would truly discourage assholes from trying to cash in on the bounty.
She wondered if her coven had yet realized she’d been taken. Oh, they’d notice she was missing. But, naturally, they’d initially assume they’d merely lost her in the maze or simply couldn’t see her due to all the maze’s fog.
“We need to move faster,” whined the person dragging Wynter. Missy.
“For heaven’s sake, lower your voice,” said Kyra. “We don’t want to get spotted.”
Missy snorted. “People won’t care. They’ll be glad to see the skank go.”
“Not after Cain’s speech they won’t,” objected another voice—Vera. “Most are fully behind him, and they’re too scared to cross him anyway.”
“Exactly,” agreed Kyra. “Everyone knows what he did to Grouch when the berserker didn’t stop mages from kidnapping his consort. They won’t want to meet that same fate if Cain finds out they saw her being taken and didn’t do anything to help.”
“Most also believe he’s right that Adam won’t hand over a single dime,” Vera added.
Missy made a pfft sound. “It’s obvious that Cain only said that to discourage people from going after his consort.”
“No one really trusts Aeons, though,” said Kyra. “So they’re more willing to believe Cain than Adam. Not that I’m complaining. It means that no one got to her before we could. The bounty is now ours for the taking.”
“Damn right. And it means we can also avenge Demetria. I don’t condone that she freed that Saul asshole, but she didn’t deserve to die for it.” Missy paused walking for a moment, breathless. “We should have parked the car somewhere close.”
“It would have been noticed,” Vera pointed out. “It was better to park it outside the tunnel.”
Grunting, Missy resumed walking. “How pissed do you think she’ll be when she realizes she was rendered defenseless by a simple sleeping powder?”
“Seriously pissed, hopefully. This proves she ain’t no revenant.”
“Not necessarily,” said Kyra. “Even a revenant would be knocked out by a sleeping potion.”
“You can’t truly think this bitch was Favored by a deity,” said Missy, her voice ringing with disgust and incredulity.
“I don’t,” Kyra told her. “Demetria always said it was a lie, and I agree. I’m just making the point that—”
“Oh, who cares?” Missy halted again. “God, does the skank really have to be so heavy?”
“Stop complaining,” said Vera. “She’s only a slender thing. She can’t weigh much.”
“Yeah? Then you drag her the rest of the way.” Missy unceremoniously dumped Wynter onto the ground.
Fucking ow.
Vera huffed. “Fine.”
Right then, a gust of air humming with encouragement whispered over Wynter. Her monster responded instantly, shoving closer to the surface, readying itself to lunge.
Sensing someone hover over her, Wynter flipped open her eyelids, knowing black inky ribbons were wriggling over her eyes.
Vera froze, her lips parting.
Wynter smiled. “Well, hello.” Her monster charged forward, and everything once more went dark.
Chapter Seven
Wynter woke with a groan and blinked hard a few times. A purple night sky streaked with thick clouds came into focus, and she became aware that she was indignantly splayed out in the grass.
The back of her head throbbed a little, which could no doubt be courtesy of her hitting the ground when she passed out. One side of her face burned in a way that told her Kali’s mark was now visible—at least temporarily.
No other part of Wynter’s body hurt, so she didn’t think she’d been injured when her monster took over. Thankfully, that was usually the case.
She didn’t always fall unconscious when the entity withdrew. Sometimes she simply “jolted” back to herself. Maybe it was dependent on how long her monster was in control, or maybe it was dependent on Wynter’s physical condition at the time—she really had no clue.
Sitting upright, she took in the scene with a grimace. There was a lot of blood. It discolored the soil, dotted the blades of grass, and left slashing marks on the trees. All that was left of the witches were the occasional chewed limb, half a torso, and a severed head.
Lovely. And not an uncommon sight in such instances.
Her monster had a tendency to eat its enemies alive when it attacked. And it gave few fucks about what kind of mess it left in its wake. Which was when Anabel’s special evidence-ridding brews came in handy. They were stronger and more fast-acting than any bleach.