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)
Wynter took stock of herself as she stood. No wounds, just as she’d suspected. But there was plenty of crimson splatter on her clothes and skin. Also some bits of flesh and guts.
Her scalp was wet and itchy. She didn’t need to reach up and touch her hair to know that it was streaked with blood. Awesome.
Her head whipped to the side as she sensed people bearing down on her. Her coven, she quickly realized.
“Are you okay?” asked Delilah.
Wynter grunted. “Never better.”
“It took us a few minutes to realize you’d been taken,” said Anabel. “We just thought we’d lost you somewhere in the maze. We tracked you this far, but then we heard your monster when we got close. We decided to stay out of the way and let it take care of business.”
“Good call,” said Wynter, cricking her neck.
Settling her hands on her hips, Anabel sighed. “You know, you all really need to listen to me when I say that death stalks us. It’s not a difficult concept to grasp, people.” She raked her gaze over Wynter. “Do you have any of my healing potions with you?”
“Yes, but none of this blood is mine.” Wynter looked at what was left of the bodies. “They didn’t hurt me. They knocked me out with sleeping dust.”
Honestly, she was kind of insulted that they’d thought it would be enough to incapacitate her for longer than a few minutes. But then, they’d insisted on believing that she was simply a good ole regular witch. That was their mistake, and she supposed she should be glad they’d made it. Not that they would have otherwise gotten her to Aeon. Neither Wynter nor her monster would have allowed that.
Xavier circled their remains. “I recognize that head. It’s the Oasis Coven, huh?”
“Yup.” Wynter scratched at her sticky scalp, and a small meaty blob plopped to the ground. Nice. “Kyra grabbed me while I was in the maze. She blew powder in my face before I had the chance to react. I went out like a light. I don’t think I was out for long, because I wasn’t far from all the activity when I woke up to find that I was being dragged off by Missy. They had a car waiting outside the tunnel, apparently.”
“So they were in cahoots with Demetria?” asked Delilah.
“No, it seemed that they wanted to avenge her death.”
Humming to herself, Hattie began pulling fragments of bone and brain matter out of Wynter’s hair as casually as if they were blades of grass. “They meant to hand you over to Adam, I’m guessing,” said Hattie.
Wynter nodded. “That was their idiotic plan.”
The old woman sneered at the dismembered corpses. “Then they deserved what they got.”
Anabel pulled out a vial. “Here, let me clean your clothes.” She splashed the vial’s contents over Wynter’s tee and jeans. The blood gradually faded like, well, magick. The blonde’s nose wrinkled. “I can’t pour it over your hair unless you want it bleached white.”
“Thanks, but no,” said Wynter.
“If it helps,” began Xavier, “a lot of people have poured fake blood on themselves for the street party, so I don’t think you’ll stand out too much when we’re walking home.”
Wynter didn’t care if she stood out, because this would be an occasion when she wouldn’t hide what she’d been forced to do. But she did care that she hadn’t been able to quite simply enjoy an evening out with her coven. It had been going so well up until that point.
Delilah blew out a breath. “Your man is gonna be pissed when he hears about this, Wyn.”
Totally. “And no doubt disappointed that he wasn’t able to administer some punishment himself.” She truly hoped that Cain wouldn’t start to again argue that she needed guards, because he really wouldn’t like it when she refused to back down on this.
Folding his arms in a petulant manner, Xavier glanced at the corpses again and sighed. “Your monster never leaves me anything to play with. I could have had so much fun reanimating the bodies and sending ’em running after people. It probably would have been a while before anyone realized that the witches were actually dead and not just acting scary for the street party.”
Anabel gaped at him. “You’re really thinking about how you were deprived of fun right now? Wynter was almost kidnapped, you tool.”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t the first time. Probably won’t be the last.”
Wynter snickered. “I really wish I could say you were wrong.”
Anabel huffed at him and held out another vial. “Here. Make yourself useful and clean the scene.”
“No,” Wynter objected, closing her hand around the vial before Xavier could take it. “People need to see what happens to anyone who fucks with a revenant. They need to understand that I am a revenant.”
“This will definitely make that clear, so all right,” said Anabel. “What do we do with your monster’s leftovers? Leave them here?”