Wicked Soul (Ancient Blood #1)(48)

“Whatever they are, they nearly killed me,” I said. “And if there are more, I want them stopped. So if you really need to curse me, we should probably get moving. My, er, friend gave me ten minutes before he’ll come looking, and he’s not going to be pleased if he catches us mid-curse.”

“The giant-blood?” Joana asked. “I take it he works for your vampire?”

“He’s really nice, but it’s kind of his job to make sure I don’t get myself into trouble. And, uh… I think this classifies as trouble.” I made a vague gesture between us.

“Yes, of course.” She reached into her shoulder bag and pulled a half-liter plastic bottle out. It had a small bit of red, viscous liquid in the bottom. She handed it to me, catching my gaze with hers. “The Coven of the Moon thanks you for your sacrifice, Liv. What you are doing today will save many lives.”

I eyeballed the liquid. “What… is that?”

“Blood from every member of the coven,” she said, as if it was a completely normal thing to haul around in your handbag. “You will need to drink it.”

“Ew, what? No!” I thrust the bottle back at her, but she didn’t take it. “That’s wildly unhygienic! Ever heard of hepatitis?!”

“You won’t get sick, I promise.” She put a hand on my arm and looked at me, the expression in her eyes urgent and sincere. “The blood is cleansed by magic. This is the only way of completing the spell—you have to take their life essence inside you to protect them. Please, child. We need your help. And you ours.”

I guessed once you agreed to getting cursed, there was no need for catching to be at the top of your worry-list. Grimacing, I unscrewed the cap and raised the bottle to my lips. “I just… drink it?”

Joana nodded. “Make sure you get all of it.”

Here goes nothing. I took a deep breath and tilted the bottle upside-down.

The blood of Joana's coven tasted nothing like the sweet, wild, powerful flavor of Warin’s. It was slightly sour and tasted overwhelmingly of iron tablets.

I gagged as I forced myself to keep the bottle to my lips so every last drop of the sluggishly dripping fluid landed on my tongue. When it was finally empty, I tossed it to the floor and pressed my hand to my mouth in an effort to not hurl all over the staff room.

“Good,” Joana said. And then she clasped her hands to my upper arms with surprising strength, her eyes lighting up with a bright green and one hundred percent unnatural light.

I croaked and tried to jerk away from sheer surprise, but she clung on.

“Be one of us, Liv. Feel for us. Bleed for us. Die for us. By the dark goddess, by the power of the blood—take our pain, be our shield against the night. My will be done!”

The oddest sensation of power crackled through my veins as Joana spoke, almost electric in nature. It felt oddly like it had when the green light had shot from me to push away the skinwalkers, but different. Foreign—like an outside force pressing itself through my blood.

Something inside me rose up, like a tidal wave of responding power, as if my body tried to defend itself against the invading magic, but it was too late.

I felt the foreign magic take hold—and then nothing.

Joana let go of my arms with a deep breath. “It’s done.”

I blinked and stared at my hands, halfway expecting them to glow with the strange green light, but there was not a single sign that a witch had cursed me. “I don’t feel any different.”

“You won’t, so long as your vampire behaves himself.” She looked at me, head tilted. “Do you know you have the Gift?”

“The Gift?”

“You have magic, girl. You’re one of us.” Joana reached out and grabbed my hand between hers. “Did you know?”

I bit my lip. “I, uh… had an incident the other day. But I didn’t… I mean, it wasn’t like a spell or anything. I’m not even sure—“

The redhead shook her head, silencing me. “You’re a witch, Liv, and deep down you must know. We all do, even if we don’t know what it is.”

I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t. Not after having felt that powerful green light the other night.

Magic. I had magic.

A week ago my only impressive skill was my extraordinary ability to find the bitchiest reality TV, no matter when I flicked on the TV.

“Does your vampire know?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think he’d be thrilled.”

“No.” Joana hesitated before she gave my hands a squeeze and let go. “He mustn’t find out, Liv. Your life would be in danger. He might act your friend now, you might think you understand him, but… trust me. You don’t. And he isn’t. Whatever his reason for protecting you now, if he knew you were one of us…”

She paused, letting an ominous silence hang between us. I wanted to deny her suggestion that Warin would ever hurt me. He’d saved my ass twice now, and I trusted him in a way that went beyond even that. It was almost as if part of my mind… recognized him somehow.

I’d never felt as safe as I did when I was around him.

And yet…

“I won’t tell him,” I said softly.

“Good.” Joana nodded. “If I were you… I’d try to suppress your power, at least for now. Magic can be volatile and unreliable when a witch first starts out—you don’t want it to accidentally burst out when you’re around the dead man. Once you part ways, seek me out and I will put you on the path. As a thank-you for what you have done today. But not before.”