Turning toward the screams mixed with laughter, two sounds that didn’t belong together, I moved in their direction with my heart racing loudly in my ears. The hair on my neck rose. I listened to the snarling wolves while men screamed, and a smile spread over my lips.
Knox deserved the wolves’ anger for hunting me until I was so exhausted I didn’t even remember what it felt like to sleep. There were much better ways to exhaust me, and chasing me wasn’t it or fun. I knew his game was to wear me down until I made a mistake that would allow him to capture me without a fight. I didn’t intend to let that happen, not at any cost.
Chapter Two
Knox wouldn’t enjoy the wolves, but he also wouldn’t hurt them. Technically, they were already dead, but the problem with dead dire wolves was this; if you killed one after its true death, it would multiply during regeneration. When Hecate first discovered this anomaly, she allowed the witches to use this knowledge to manipulate the wolves, creating an army of thousands. Living dire wolves were rare. Therefore, Hecate allowed the mated pairs to roam freely within the tomb to breed, maintaining the line.
At the sound of Lore screaming like a woman, I winced and canted my head, pausing. I could hear Lore, Brander, and Killian, but I couldn’t hear Knox, even though I knew he was behind me.
I shivered as the sensation of being watched settled on my spine, thankful that my invisibility spell was still working. My eyes swung toward the mouth of the alleyway, finding it empty. Worrying my lip with my teeth, I exhaled as I greedily drank in Knox’s scent before dropping my head back, trembling violently with need.
Forcing myself to ignore the scent of the primal male that promised carnal pleasures untold, I moved toward the center of town. Rounding a corner, I came to a dead stop as my stomach churned, and chaos danced in my mind. Men and women swayed on their feet as their bodies dripped blood from gashes slit deep into their flesh.
The scene was grotesque, and the vileness mixed with carnage had me swallowing past the saliva in my mouth, threatening to release the contents of my stomach, which I’d been lucky to find. Food wasn’t something I could waste since I needed the energy it would give me to escape Knox. Food was fuel, and without it, Knox would surely catch me.
My back brushed against a stone cottage. I backed away from a couple that nearly trampled me. They barreled through the village, blindly, tearing each other apart with their bare hands and whatever they found lying in the road, doing anything to ease their sexual urges.
I covered my mouth, stopping the scream that bubbled up, tightening my chest while they went at one another. Blood splattered the wall near my face, and I closed my eyes, trying to block out the sounds of their bodies slamming together against the house as they fucked and moaned loudly. Clearly spelled, they were mutilating each other for someone else’s entertainment.
Cruel laughter turned my focus to the dark shadows across from me, watching the couple as they feasted on and fucked each other, slowly stripping their lives away in the process. Feminine voices cheered the male on, laughing when the woman screeched as he parted her legs too far, and bones crunched as he repeatedly slammed his body into hers.
The woman’s teeth ripped into the man’s throat, tearing the flesh as he moaned and snarled, pounding into her body, harder and faster until she screamed her release. The couple was driven into a frenzy using sex magic while the shadowed figures continued to cheer and utter encouragement.
Slowly, I side-stepped toward the doorway of the nearest house, carefully to not disturb the dirt and gravel at my feet. I forced myself to move away from the splattering blood that painted the stone cottage from their frenzied coupling.
Turning my head, I watched as other couples slowly joined the morbid dance of death, oblivious to their surroundings. Blood turned to ice in my veins, growing sluggish as it pumped through my body, and I shivered. Disgust raged within me, realizing the people in this village served as living sacrifices for the wicked creatures still hovering in the shadows.
The entranced couples danced an ancient ceremony once used to induce mass suicides as sacrifices to Hecate. It was one of the darkest rituals she’d performed, and long ago outlawed because the spell could spread without warning, causing entire villages to become inflicted by the mysterious lure of the magic.
Entering the stone cottage, I quickly tore a piece of fabric from my dress to wash away any traces of blood that might have splattered on my face. I jumped as a loud bang sounded against the house’s wall, followed by loud cries of pleasure mixed with pain. Taking a deep breath, I nearly choked on the coppery smell of blood that hung heavy in the air, and I closed my eyes, pushing the back of my hand against my lips as I fought the need to throw up.
It took effort not to get sick as the pained sounds of coupling continued outside. Every single person who had lived inside this village was dead. They just wouldn’t succumb to death until the shadowy figures had finished playing their game. There was no need for this spell to linger, but the spell casters were enjoying the pain inflicted on the villagers, enjoying their suffering as their forced copulation fed the spell.
Grabbing onto the handrail, I climbed the darkened staircase, compelling myself to move faster before I heard another body hit the ground in death. I searched each of the darkened rooms, peering out the windows into the torch-lit night. I searched for a view of the courtyard. Window after window, all of them faced other windows and stone siding to the cottages next door.
The last room I entered had a perfect view of the monstrosities playing out in the courtyard. I settled into the shadows, observing the scene as dark figures wearing masks depicting demons and hideous beasts, danced around the couples continuing to encourage their participation. Long daggers glinted in the torchlight, ending life after life of those that didn’t dance fast enough, or hadn’t been pleasing to watch. Hecate, the goddess, demanded the most beautiful and purest men and women to mate, coupling to offer a child for her altar.
I’d never actually seen the dance of death playing out, but I’d read about it a thousand times. The House of Magic told us about the evilest, vilest enchantments, whispering to us in warning of spells and dark sorcery that we couldn’t allow practiced. The house itself was a vessel of magic, a calling to be pure of the darkness and bathed in the light of true magic. I was always eager to hear the tales and learn, much to my sisters’ chagrin. They found it boring and tedious to listen to a house.
This was the third town in which I’d found all the inhabitants dead. The dance was a new touch of carnage, but the dark figures inducing the magic weren’t. Each village had shown an escalation of violence, their acts growing viler as the spell grew more potent and more ominous.
This spell was smothering and powerful, forcing my skin to pebble and my soul to recoil. I knew the difference between darkness and light, having been tested for both types of magic after my mother declared to my teachers that I was a practitioner of the dark arts. I knew how each felt and what the magic of the light offered to avoid the darkness. The magic in these villages was darker than any other I had ever experienced.
I wanted to examine the horror unfolding, needing to sense what was at work after I stumbled across the first town. The Neanderthal chasing me made it difficult to manage, though. Each time I entered a village, Knox was hot on my heels, forcing me to take in what I could quickly before I had to portal out or chance getting caught. He was making it extremely difficult to do anything about the current state of affairs in my house. I portal-hopped until I was partially drained, slaughtering an entire manor of witches, escaping by the skin of my teeth from the last realm I’d visited.