Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“I had no choice,” the oracle claimed. “Kali wouldn’t back off and let me contact my deity.”
And then realization dawned on Wynter. “You never really had a vision of Saul and Abel meeting on the badlands.”
“Of course she did not,” said Saul. “But we needed people to think that I was gone.”
“Cain was supposed to then pull his guards off you, but he didn’t,” complained Demetria.
“So let me see if I have this straight.” Wynter glanced at Demetria. “You freed Saul so you could sic him on me like a Doberman?”
“If you’re dead, Kali will be gone too,” said the oracle. “I can’t kill a revenant for good. But an Aeon? They’re a match for you.”
“More than a match,” said Saul.
“I don’t know why you’re flashing me a smug grin,” Wynter told him. “You haven’t managed to kill me yet.” Not permanently, anyway. And now that she was immortal, he’d find it even harder to end her. But they wouldn’t know that.
Very few were aware that Wynter had exchanged her soul for immortality. She’d kept it quiet, knowing that the element of surprise would give her an edge if whoever freed Saul ever came after her. And lo and behold . . .
“You will not return from the dead this time,” Demetria insisted. “Saul will kill you for certain. And then I will be rewarded by Nemesis. At first, I couldn’t understand why She would allow Kali to be such an obstruction. And then I realized: It was a test.”
Wynter frowned. “Come again?”
“Nemesis was testing me to see how far I would go to preserve and protect our bond.”
“Or She’s abandoned your fickle ass.” Wynter was leaning toward that theory, because . . . “Your mark has faded.” Only slightly, but still. “I suspect it’ll keep on fading.”
The oracle shook her head. “Not once I’ve proven my dedication to Nemesis.”
Wynter snorted at her. “You’re betraying a fellow Favored witch. The deities really hate that sort of thing.”
As if to punctuate that claim, an otherworldly wind whirled angrily around Demetria, ruffling her hair and clothes.
The oracle jumped with a screech.
“Kali just wants to say hi,” said Wynter. “It should delight you, bearing in mind how long you’ve been trying to get Her attention.” Trusting the deity to keep the oracle occupied, Wynter cut her gaze to Saul. “As for you, well, you wanted my attention. Now you’ve got it. What are you gonna do with it?”
He licked his front teeth. “I am going to rip your insides out, obviously.”
“Obviously,” said Wynter drily. Her monster snarled, pushing for freedom, wanting to take out these two fuckers itself. And since she really needed to be up on the surface and couldn’t afford to stick around, she’d let the monster have its way in this.
“You really are a dumb fuck, Saul,” she told him. “You should have followed me to the surface and attacked there where you could have called the wind to take you to safety. Coming to my home, attacking me here, is the height of ill-advised.”
Not seeming convinced, he only smiled. Then he rushed her, a white fireball materializing in his hand.
Wicked fast, Wynter shoved her palm into his chest, sending him zooming backwards and crashing into the wall. He bounced to the floor, his fireball fizzling out. She heard Demetria gasp in shock and then let out a squeal as a breeze again picked up, but Wynter didn’t look her way. She remained focused on the Aeon.
“Yeah, I’m a lot stronger now,” Wynter told him.
Saul blinked up at her, stunned. “How . . .”
“Like I said, you’re a dumb fuck. You think you’ve trapped me here with you. The reality is that you’ve trapped yourself here with me.” Without moving her gaze from him, she gave a discreet signal to her coven. They quickly fled, disappearing from view.
Saul jumped to his feet, snickering. “Are you not going to run too? Not that it would do you any good if you did. I would be on you before you could blink.”
Black ribbons sliding along her eyeballs, Wynter had to smile. “They’re not running from you, Saul.” She dealt him a magickal “punch” that knocked him on his ass. “They’re running from me.” And then she let her monster free.
*
In the hallway, Anabel froze as a grating, hackle-raising roar came from the living room. There were screams of terror, both male and female. Power crackled. Magick whooshed. Bones crunched. Sharp cries of pain rang out. And then there were nauseating slurping sounds.
Anabel shuddered in horror, knowing that Wynter’s monster was eating its prey and drinking their blood even as it fought them. The coven had fast learned that that was how the monster rolled. Which was why Xavier winced, Delilah pulled a face, and Hattie quietly cackled to herself.
Lots of things made Anabel nervous. Everything from crowds and attention to the breath of death itself. Recently, she’d been able to add another thing to that list: Whatever creature lived inside Cain. Its eyes had given her the creeps in the worst way, and she hoped to never come in contact with it ever again in her life. But Wynter’s monster? In Anabel’s opinion, it was ten times more horrifying than any serpentine entity.