Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 99935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“They said much after you left,” she confessed as we settled into an uneasy truce. Sabrina wove around my shoulders—which she always refused to do—giving me a break from her strangle-grip on my abdomen. “They had even more to say than the gossip and titters among the others. Unsurprisingly, for the knowledge of the vampires stretches far beyond hell.”
“Really?” Latching on to this topic helped me put all thoughts of Tristan, and the desire still lingering in my chest, aside. “What did they say?”
“They spoke of the crest left at the scenes of slaughter. It means that mark is not a general mark used by all witches. It is in actually, the mark of one coven in particular. The most fearsome and deadly of all the witches. The one the supernatural feared most.”
“What?” I hissed, stopping short with my hand on the knob. Lunch was almost over. The gong would sound any second summoning me to class, but those words stopped me in my tracks. “What coven is that?”
“The Avos coven.”
“Avos?”
“Yes.” I don’t know if Sabrina noticed that she lowered her voice, matching my whisper. “I do not know much about the history of witches myself. Your vampire professor was quite right that the history has been distorted and misrepresented here in hell. I can only tell you what they spoke of last night, but among them they told the tale of witches blessed with the most coveted power.
“Blood magic.”
“Blood magic?” I whispered. “Why is it the best?”
“They say it is a form of ancestral magic, but even more powerful. As long as that person—dead or alive—is of your blood, you can draw upon their power. Think of it, human. As the generationsss march on, as the bloodlines mingle, as new power comes into the fold, the power at a young witch’s fingertips only accumulates.
“But they say the witches did not stop there,” she said. “The Avos coven gathered witches far and wide with all powers and blessings that could be named, and bound their sisters together with this blood magic so forbidden, it is banned in hell itself.”
My brows rose. “Blood magic that not even demons would touch?”
“Oh yes.” Her soft, hissy voice raised the hairs on my neck. “Blood magic is not and cannot be one-sided. Once you bind someone by blood—they are tied to you just as strongly as you are tied to them. You can draw on their power without restraint, but they can also draw on yours. Imagine if a lowly demon used blood magic to bind himself to my lord Lucifer.
“Their power would be shared, their lives would be shared, their fates would be shared.”
It took a second for understanding to dawn. “You mean if one died, the other would die too?!”
She dipped her head. “Just so. They become one in every way.”
“But—but—” My head spun. “But you said they could draw upon the power of witches that were already dead, as long as they were related by blood. How does it work if they’re already dead?”
“If they are already dead, fate will correct this unbalance by draining your life each time you use their power, until you’ve finally joined them in the afterlife.”
My jaw dropped. “Were these Avos witches nuts? Either one of the sisters trips down the stairs one day and they all drop dead? Or they use great-great-granny’s power until it kills one of them... and they still all die!”
She held me with a steady gaze. “Death is a natural part of life, human. It would’ve come for all the members of the coven either way, but at least if they were all bound by blood magic... they’d die after a life wielding limitless power.”
I fell quiet. Despite myself, I could see what she was saying. Would you rather die rich or in poverty? Would you rather die alone or surrounded by family and friends? Would you rather die after a lifetime filled with achievements? Or be cut down before ever having truly lived at all? Either way, you would still die, but there was no point pretending that some lives weren’t better lived than others, and there were plenty of people that would happily trade a long lifespan for the power to make deadly supernatural creatures run scared.
“Sabrina... was it the Avos coven that banished all the supernatural creatures to hell and closed the gates?”
“That is what the vampires say, human, yes.”
“But what’s the point?” I cried, brows crumpling. “The demons who kidnapped Dora were the first to die, and there’s no way that’s a coincidence. Whoever is behind taking Dora must be behind these murders, but why use the mark of a coven that was an enemy over three hundred years ago? Why kill those vampires specifically? Did they know something? Were they involved?
“And if they are trying to frame me? Why aren’t they doing it?” I burst out. “Why aren’t they leaving evidence that points to me at the scene? Why aren’t they making sure I don’t have an alibi at the times of the murders?” A thought seized me, bolting me upright. “Sabrina, what if this isn’t about me at all! What if this is all—the murders, the victims, the Avos coven—is about Dora? What if that’s why they took her in the first place?”