A Little Wicked (The Bewitching Hour Book #4)(48)

The elevator carried her up higher and higher. She should feel wrong being here, but it was impossible for her to feel worse than she already did.

And when the doors opened, Abigail was there, waiting.

Sam could feel the emotion right behind the surface, threatening to boil over. She couldn’t let it out. If she gave it time to escape, she’d never be able to rein it back in. And she needed to remain cool. She needed to keep her head on straight. It was the only way to get him back.

“Hello, Samantha,” said the darkness through her mother’s body.

“Bring him back,” said Sam through a strangled voice. She held her breath after that. Her grandmother had told her time and time again how impossible it was to raise the dead. She remembered how her own mother, the one standing in front of her now, had begged for Claudia to bring back Sam’s father. But Claudia had soundly refused, not only saying that she wouldn’t but that it wasn’t possible.

But it had to be possible. Sam couldn’t face the world without Derek. She couldn’t face the darkness alone. She couldn’t do any of this without him. So she held her breath, waiting for the darkness to laugh in her face and tell her how stupid she was being.

But Abigail didn’t laugh. She simply cocked her head and considered her. “You’re asking for a lot. Are you willing to pay the price?”

“Price? There is no price. This is Derek. I need him. Can you do it?” She would empty Fort Knox. She’d drain the oil fields. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to get Derek back.

“You know I have plans, Samantha. You’re going to help me achieve those plans.”

“Just tell me what to do,” she managed from between clenched teeth.

All Abigail did was smile.

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The banging on the door was so intense that the entire apartment vibrated. Dante ran to the door while Angela pulled out her gun. He tried not to roll his eyes. What the hell was a gun going to do if the darkness was outside and coming for Claire?

Besides, he doubted the darkness would be knocking.

He looked through the peephole and was relieved to see it was just Sam. But before that relief could set in, he realized she had a look in her eyes he’d never seen before. Half crazed, half desperate. Instead of telling Angela to relax, he held up his hand, signaling her to stand by as he opened the door a crack. “What’s wrong, Sam?”

She stood on her toes to look over his shoulder. “Where’s Claire?”

“In the back, resting. What’s wrong, Sam?” he repeated, not about to let her in until he got some answers.

“Something bad happened. I need to see Claire.”

“What do you need with Claire?”

She looked him in the eye, and in an eerily calm voice, she said, “I need to kill her.”





Claire looked at her best friend and tried her best to not freak out. “You want to what?”

“It’s just temporary. I need you to let me stop your heart, and after I’ve fooled the darkness and she brings Derek back, you’ll be revived and Derek will be alive and we can kick the darkness’s ass.”

Claire looked to Dante, trying to get a read for what he thought about the situation, but his angry expression made his feelings on the topic more than evident.

Luckily, Angela was more than willing to ask the questions Claire was too afraid to ask. “How do you fake someone’s death? How likely is the fake death to turn into a real death?”

“It will be fine,” said Sam, as though she didn’t have a doubt in her mind that it would work. “Dante is an expert and I’m more powerful than ever. We can do this.”

“You said Claudia has Derek,” said Dante. “Let’s find Claudia then.”

“And then what?” bit out Sam. “She stole his body, Dante,” she said pointedly. “She took him away from me and hasn’t been taking any of my calls. She hated him when he was alive. Do you think she’d do a damn thing for him now that he’s dead? She wouldn’t save my father and she actually liked him. I’m not going to put my faith in Claudia. She’s let me down too many times.”

“But you’re going to trust the evil entity who is possessing your mother,” said Angela.

“I’m going to try!” she screamed. Her voice echoed off the apartment walls. “Do I trust her? No. I’m not a fucking idiot, but I don’t have any other options!”

Claire was quiet as Sam stared them all down, as though willing someone to fight with her. It was obvious that Dante was against the plan. He barely knew Derek. But Claire couldn’t say that.

Derek had saved her. She remembered when he’d talked to her after Tommy Collins had taken her. How Derek had protected her when the sentries had come after her. The friendly ear he’d been once they’d become neighbors. Even though he had sworn war on witches, he’d never cut her out of his life. Which was good because she’d needed as many friends as she could get at that point in her life.

It was hard to even comprehend that Derek was gone. She’d been in so many life-and-death situations lately, but she’d always assumed she was going to be the one to die. It seemed like fate had it out for her anyway. Derek, who had been so self-sacrificing and heroic every time he needed to be, was gone. It didn’t seem fair that someone so willing to give of himself was the one who had to pay such a high price. It was supposed to be her. She was the one who the darkness was after. She should’ve died when the darkness came for her the first time in the form of Tommy Collins. “I’ll do it.”