Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(45)

“When Engel caught on that the bond wasn’t working, he brought in some Dark Casters to work their magic on me. The three little witches from hell,” I bit out, my lip twitching as I thought about them.

“The Sisters of Roderick?”

I blinked. “You know about them?”

“Everyone knows about them.”

Mmmkay. That probably wasn’t a good thing.

“So why’d he bring them into it?” he asked, confused by their role in this. “It’s not like they could spell the Amulet from you. It doesn’t work like that.”

“Apparently, they didn’t need me to hand over the Amulet after all. The could do the spell with it around my neck,” I explained grimly. “All they needed was for me to stand still, and it didn’t even have to be willingly.”

“Shit.” He dropped his head again. It was killing him that I went through this alone. That he wasn’t able to magically ride in and save the day for me.

Luckily though, I saved my damned self.

I told him all about the strange clearing they dragged me into and how they used their magic to bind me inside some hell-pit while they chanted around me in languages I didn’t understand. I explained how the spell was coming to fruition right before my eyes, but that they never got a chance to finish it.

“I didn’t let them,” I said, proud of myself.

“How?” His eyebrows drew together as though he couldn’t possibly fathom how little old me could stop them all by myself. “Their magic isn’t from this world…it’s dark and depraved and it’s—”

“Well, I guess I am too.” I pulled the sleeves of my sweater up and turned my arms out to him, palms up so that he could see the mess of runes blazing all over my skin. “I invoked, Trace. I figured it was as good a time as any,” I added to lighten the mood even though I didn’t have the slightest idea how I’d invoked or what exactly I unleashed from within myself.

He reached out and took my arm in his hand, turning it lightly as his eyes traced my runes. My skin immediately hummed from the warm contact.

“They took off running as soon as they realized what was happening, and I pretty much just let them go,” I continued, staring down at him. “The only thing I cared about in that moment was taking out Engel once and for all.” A knot twisted in my gut as I recalled what I’d done, but it wasn’t fear or regret. It was excitement. Exhilaration. “I didn’t hesitate this time and I wasn’t scared at all. I knew what I had to do and I did it; I pulled his heart out of his chest with my bare hands and then we smoked him into his next life.”

Trace’s head jerked back as though surprised by my crudeness.

My homicidal buzz quickly died down as I remembered what came after that. “I wish I could say it all ended with him, that we can all live happily ever after now, but I know this is just the beginning.”

“I don’t understand,” he said as he let go of my arm.

“The red sky, Trace—I’ve seen it a hundred times before in my dreams, and I know it means something. Something awful. I don’t know what the sisters did out there, what they unleashed, but it’s bad. I have to track them down and make them undo it. And yes, I know you can’t undo magic, but I have to try something, Trace. I have to.”

“The blood around the moon,” he said, sort of to himself and then looked up at me. “I noticed it when I was driving over to get you. Figured it was some kind of weird lunar eclipse.” He paused as though something occurred to him. “Wait. What do you mean you’ve seen it before in your dreams? You’re getting visions?”

I shrugged my shoulder and ran my fingers through my ponytail. “I don’t know what they are. I thought it was some weird re-occurring nightmare, but when I saw the sky light up, it all came together.”

“Shit.”

“This is big, Trace. Huge. Something is coming and it’s been in the making for a long time.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll fight it. We’ll fight it together.” He rose to his feet and closed the small distance between us.

“I don’t want you involved in this,” I said, stepping back from him.

“You can’t stop me,” he replied, matching my step.

“It’s not your mess to clean up.”

“And that’s not your choice to make.” His eyes ignited with passion. “Don’t you get it yet? I’m not leaving you, Jemma. Your battles are my battles. Your crosses are my crosses. I’ll happily go to my death fighting beside you if it means never having to live one more day in this shitty Realm without you, and there’s nothing you can say to change that so you might as well stop trying.”

“You don’t mean that. You can’t. You don’t know everything.” I couldn’t even face him. I didn’t deserve to. He was willing to sacrifice everything—even his own life. And for what? For me? He wasn’t thinking straight. He wasn’t seeing me clearly. Not yet. Because I hadn’t even told him about Dominic yet.

I took another step back, putting more distance between us.

“Jemma.”

“I wasn’t finished, Trace. I haven’t told you everything.”

His dimples pressed in as he flexed his jaw and erased the gap. “Whatever it is, I don’t care. The only thing that matters to me is that you’re—”