15
EVIE
I had to hide what I was reading from Kylo, from anyone , at all costs.
The book that had jumped out at me was a chaos magick text on a chthonic goddess the author called Hekate. She was a minor deity I’d never heard of before, but her resemblance to Lillian instantly put me on edge. Though, unlike Lillian, she clearly served witches and other mortals above all others.
I’d asked the spirit realm for guidance, and here Hekate was, making herself known. Gods and spirits tended to be that way. If they had something to say, they’d be sure to let you know.
I could ignore them, if I wanted to. But the more powerful the call, the more persistent they were in getting a witch’s attention.
It was also in bad manners to ask the otherworld for help and then blatantly shun what I received.
But the more I read about these encounters with Hekate, and the rituals and spells concocted with her aid, the more wary I became.
This was powerful work. Beyond a healing herbal salve or a candle spell for inspiration.
This book was everything my fellow witches feared about chaos workers like me. To some, the rituals described might be viewed as disruptive to the natural flow of the universe.
And I hated how alive it made me feel, the way these handwritten pages called to the deepest, most buried parts of me.
Almost as much as I hated the way Kylo stirred those hidden depths too.
I tried to focus back on the text, still swimming with warmth and intrigue from Kylo’s assessment of me and this confusing world.
It was terrifying how his words seemed to come from my own unspoken thoughts. Did he feel as lonely as I did? Did he feel different from everyone else too?
I remembered all those humans who’d greeted him in the market. He said his friends were meticulously curated. Did that mean they were as special as he made me feel?
I burned with curiosity, with strange obsession. I wanted to know if this was all a trap. I wanted to know this man and why he made me feel like he might actually understand me.
He hadn’t thought my idea was stupid. He?—
A scream rang through the space, cutting through my racing thoughts.
The text beneath my palm seared in warning. In a flash of intuition, I grabbed the book and shoved it in my purse with my notebook.
Kylo was already on his feet. I thought he might leave in search of whoever screamed, but he moved in front of me instead.
He was a wall of muscle, and something about the fact that his first instinct was to protect me made my heart pang.
I stepped closer to him, and he peeked down at me. His eyes darted back and forth as if he were thinking rapidly, making quick assessments.
He cursed. “There’s a private study room nearby. We’re going to take shelter there, understood?”
I nodded, watching his sharp jaw tick.
“Let’s go, angel,” he said softly, guiding me with a hand on my lower back.
But when we passed by the first bookcase, another jolt of intuition shot down my spine, halting me in place.
“Evie—”
“By order of Lord Conrad, we will not harm any mortals so long as you stand out of our way.”
The voice boomed, and I knew instantly it was a born vampire speaking. But there was another presence, a familiar energy, just a few rows away.
My head swiveled. As humans escaped past us to the lower level, I homed in on where the commotion was coming from. I ignored Kylo’s sharp commands and grip on my arm, shrugging free to turn a corner and gain a vantage point of the section with the authoritative voice.
The section we were just in—the shelves of books created by and for fellow chaos witches.
“You can’t do this,” a woman wailed from the ground, as if she’d been shoved there. “University buildings are vampire-free zones?—”
“Bullshit,” the man from before snarled, a tiny red flame in his palm. “This university is overrun with blasphemies of Lillian’s will. You may shun natural-born vampires, but you allow bastard ones to roam free.”
My stomach turned over.
They were going to burn those books. Those handwritten gifts from one witch to the next, witches like me. Powerful, feared, beloved, despised.
Innovators, artists, healers, destroyers.
“No,” I said, before I could stop myself.
Kylo was glued to my side, his fists clenching and unclenching as he stared between the born and me.
I spotted a third body—an older woman in all black—standing next to the vampire. She was a witch, and her role was clear. The vampire turned toward the shelves.
But the witch who’d betrayed her own kind to lead a vampire to our ancient texts stared straight ahead. Her eyes found mine, and they instantly narrowed.
I could hear my heart beating hard and fast in my ears as my blood rushed to my head. Black. She wore all black.
A witch who served Lillian. A witch who served bloodthirsty, soulless demons.
Two opposing urges battled in my system.
First, to fucking run.
Second, to stop them from burning those books.
Buried anger surged in my blood. Dangerous, forbidden. I couldn’t let them know what I was or what I carried in my purse. I couldn’t accidentally harm anyone, especially humans like Kylo.
“We have to do something,” I said, even as I trembled, even as buried memories assailed my mind’s eye.
Witches in black, gathered with them. Idris screaming somewhere I couldn’t reach.
Kylo stared down at me, those deep, dark blue eyes at war. “Fuck. I?—”
He shook his head, looking from them to me. “I can’t. There are more downstairs. Let me get you somewhere safe first. I’m sorry, Evie, I…” He trailed off, as if thinking hard as he spoke.
I didn’t understand what he was saying or why he was apologizing. I knew logically there was nothing he could do.
I glanced at him, that nagging intuition still lodged somewhere in my gut. Unless he could do something…
When I looked back at the witch, she was still staring at me.
“What’s in your bag?” she hissed.
I heard a child scream, and tears burned my eyes.
I took a step back, my muscles locking up even as my mind yelled, Run, run, run!
The vampire flung a ball of deep red fire at the bookcase. I screamed. The room went completely black. Kylo shoved me to the ground. Something exploded against the wall behind us.
Had I made the lights go out? Magick surged in my blood, angry and vengeful, and I resisted its pull to surge from my fingertips.
But even if the lights were off, I wasn’t powerful enough to extinguish the sun. And it wasn’t merely dark in this room, it was onyx. Impenetrable, as if subdued by a field of shadow.
I heard a loud crack, like bones snapping. The smell of smoke filled the air, and it broke my heart. Those were pages and pages of love and dedication, scorched and destroyed in an instant.
Where was Kylo? I swung out my arms wildly. It was so quiet for a moment, the briefest of seconds. I stood.
A body slammed into mine.
Sour breath flooded my nostrils. “What’s in the bag, witch ?”
The voice was a grating screech. I heaved as I recovered from having the wind knocked out of my lungs.
Hands reached for my purse, clawing at my arm. I saw my mother’s cold eyes. I heard Idris’s voice, so small. Only a child, hands so tiny. Reaching, trusting, hoping.
No one protected us. It was up to me.
Something feral left my lips as I grabbed the woman by the throat. Magick leaked from my fingertips, and my head swam with delirious pleasure.
I’d finally let the poison buried inside me out of its cage.
The woman gurgled, and something hot sprayed across my face. Suddenly she flew off me, and I was being lifted in the air.
“Kylo?”
The room flickered from darkness to light and back again. The strobing made me want to vomit. From strong arms and a sturdy chest, I caught a glimpse of the witch who’d attacked me lying on the floor. Her eyes had popped out of her skull, and sticky black goo marred her flesh.
I shut my eyes.
I did that. I killed her.
I hadn’t realized I’d been repeating those words until a deep voice spoke.
“Shhh. It’s okay,” he whispered. “If you hadn’t, I was about to.”
Idris. I had to get to Idris. I was going to be sick. I knew we were moving, but all I could focus on was not throwing up or passing out. I kept my eyes squeezed shut until I was certain we were on the lower floor.
The lights continued to strobe, and I clung to Kylo as more commotion erupted all around us. Turned vampires in masks, humans running, born fangs flashing.
I searched the crowd for Idris, for any more witches dressed in black. And it wasn’t until we were outside that I realized I was in a masked man’s arms.
I screamed. He set me down as more bodies ran in all directions around us.
“Shhh, baby,” he said softly, his voice unmistakably distorted. “Behave. No screaming.”
Behave.
Where was Kylo?
Splotches erupted in my vision, and I felt my blood pressure tank.
Oh fuck. I was going to pass out. Idris. Idris…
The last thing I heard was a sigh. “I’m going to take your swooning as a compliment.”