Chapter 20
Emery
Witnessing the love of your life’s eyes turn solid red is a bit jarring.
The first time it had happened in that alley when I’d crossed the line in a moment of frustration, mentioning Hudson’s mother drinking herself to death, I’d chalked it up to being a trick of the light, or the way he’d knocked the wind out of me messing with my head.
Sitting there on the floor in that musty little room, heaving shallow breaths, I couldn’t explain it away.
“Em!” Tyler’s shout from the sunroom was muffled against the blood rushing in my ears.
My fingers were numb, sweat coating my palms as I stared vacantly at the Garland grimoire on the floor. Was this what they’d been hiding? Had their attempts to keep Hudson in the dark pushed him to the very thing they’d wanted to keep secret?
“Emery!” Tyler roared from my side, shaking me and pulling me back to my senses. “Hudson just took off down the coast!”
“I…” I swallowed hard, searching his face. “I don’t… know how to help him, Ty.”
A sharp smack to the back of my head and a furious growl from Tyler made me gasp. “I don’t know what the fuck just happened, and I don’t give a shit, Emery! That’s our boy, and he’s not safe out there!”
I set my jaw, coming back to myself at his words. Before Tyler could blink, I scooped him up in my arms, darting out through the back door with a hint of supernatural speed, slow enough so he didn’t hurl, fast enough to find Hudson.
“Jesus, Em!” Tyler shouted as we whipped through the backyard. “What the fuck is going on?! Why are you both so freaked out?!”
“Guys!” Malik appeared in my path, Gage emerging from the treeline as we reached the shore, both of them panting. “Hudson, he—”
“We know,” I growled, moving past him. “Stay here. He’s… going through something. We’ll handle it.”
I had no idea how the Lawsons would react if they knew.
Their fealty to the Garlands likely wouldn’t extend that far.
Once upon a time, anyone who stood between a blood witch and the pyre would’ve joined them.
And, despite my moment of panic in the altar room, I would burn with Hudson. Without question.
When we were out of earshot of Malik and Gage, I spoke in a low rumble to Tyler. “What Hudson just did…” I scanned the area ahead as we moved down the coast, letting Hudson’s lingering scent fill my nose. “That was blood magic, Tyler.”
Ty’s eyes widened, locked on my face. “And that’s… bad?”
“It’s forbidden.” I came to a stop where Hudson’s scent began to fade, turning back and eyeing the treeline up a rocky slope that led into the woods.
Setting Tyler down, I took his hand, leading him up toward the forest, helping him keep his footing.
“Blood witches haven’t been around in—” I froze in my tracks at the top of the ledge, letting out a sigh and screwing my eyes shut.
“Fuck… about a hundred and fifty years. Right around the time—”
“Of the Garland blood feud," Tyler finished my sentence. He gave me a gentle shove, pushing me toward the edge of the trees. “So, why is it forbidden?”
“One, blood magic requires bloodletting. Hudson used his own back there, but… a lot of them went real bad, using sacrifices to fuel their spells.”
“Like, killing people?” Tyler asked in a hushed tone, following close behind me.
“The bigger the spell, the more blood required.” Nodding once, I led him deeper through the woods as Hudson’s scent grew stronger, listening.
“Blood magic, it’s… wildly powerful. A witch has to be born with the ability to use it.
Even before it became taboo, it was incredibly rare.
They don’t need a spell or an incantation, only blood and purpose. ”
“Does that mean… all the Garlands were blood witches?” Ty asked, stopping beside me as I swiveled my head, trying to pinpoint where Hudson was.
“No, I doubt it,” I breathed, moving faster once I was certain where to go.
“But I’m willing to bet whoever started that feud was, and the other Garlands erased them from their history once they were dealt with.
” When I knew we were closing in on Hudson, I stopped, turning to Tyler.
“I need to talk to him for a sec. I fucked up back there, and—” The scent of blood suddenly had my heart in my throat.
Hudson’s blood.
“Hudson!” Hurtling away from Tyler, I bolted toward the smell, racing with all my power. Within moments, I stumbled into a secluded clearing, halting with wide eyes at the scene before me.
Blood swirled through the air like fine ribbons of crimson.
A red mist glistened all around, a macabre fog billowing outward from where Hudson stood in the center of the trees.
His palms were slashed, a bloody, jagged rock lying at his feet.
His eyes were solid red again, tears trailing down his jaw as he looked up.
“Emery…” he sobbed, his jaw trembling. “What… am I?”
Heaving a shaking breath, I stepped forward, reaching for him. “We’ll figure it out, Hudson. It’ll be okay, I promise.”
“This… is why they were able to force a curse upon the unwilling…” he bawled, the ribbons of his own blood spiraling around us faster with his rising emotions. “I’m—I’m a monster.”
Taking another step, I grabbed Hudson’s face in both hands, my own eyes welling up.
“You are not a monster,” I said through gritted teeth, clumsily wiping away the tears on his face with my thumbs.
“You… are the most beautiful thing in all of existence. If you’re a monster, then so are the rest of us. ”
Tyler made his way over, resting one hand on my shoulder and another on Hudson’s.
“There are people in this world without a shred of magic that are worse monsters than you could ever be capable of being, Hud.” His hand moved up to grip the back of Hudson’s neck.
“What we are… the circumstances of us… that’s not what makes us good or bad. Learned that from you.”
Hudson bit his lower lip, shaking his head. “I’m… a blood witch. They were bound and eradicated for a reason. If anyone finds out…” He closed his eyes, another sob escaping him in a choked breath. “I’ve already got a target on my back… now this?”
As if in response to his question, the blood weaving itself through the air pulsed, dissipating, coalescing with the red mist to surround us. My chest rumbled as the scent of Hudson’s blood invaded my senses, my wolf reacting protectively. “Hudson… let go. Whatever you’re doing, stop.”
“It’s…” Hudson opened his eyes, still red, growing wider as he stared at the thickening crimson fog. Echoing screams tore out of the mist, making my skin prickle. “Not me.”
A dark shadow flew through the fog, racing right at us.
What I could see of its features sent my heart into my throat.
Arms elongated beyond that of a human, ending in razor-sharp claws.
A glimpse of pointed ears and feral eyes that burned like hellfire, right before the creature leapt.
I whirled around, shielding Hudson and Tyler with my body, only for the shadow to waft right through me and vanish.
“What the fuck was that?” Tyler’s hand curled around my bicep, trembling slightly as he pushed closer.
Before I could answer, two more shadows emerged from the haze, both human and staring right at us.
“You’re certain this is the only way, Lenore?” the further of the two asked in a hushed tone, his voice shaking. “Once the others learn what we’ve done…”
“They’ve already chosen sides, Theodore,” the closer shadow said sharply, gaze fixed in the direction the creature had vanished. “I don’t believe for a second that Sarah and Alexander simply absconded into the night to join Henry and the wolves, do you?”
Theodore swallowed audibly. “They’re… dead, aren’t they?”
After a moment of heavy silence, Lenore heaved a breath. “Henry already means to eradicate us. His fear of our magic has pushed him over the edge, and I won’t stand idly by while we’re picked off one-by-one.”
Hudson moved from behind me, stepping toward the figures. Reaching out, his fingers drifted right through Lenore’s shoulder, her figure wafting away and then reforming like smoke. “Henry Garland. His name is one of the first listed in the pages of ascension after my family moved here.”
“That creature will force them to retaliate, sister,” Theodore said with a tremble. “A curse born of blood magic… they’ll label us all heretics and put us to the slaughter.”
Lenore turned back to Theodore, her expression darkening. “Then we shall be ready when they come.”
“You-You want to create more of these monsters?” Theodore’s eyes widened in horror. “You saw what Daniel did when he woke! The carnage he wrought was unlike anything the wolves have ever—”
“He fed upon those who meant to destroy us, Theodore!” Lenore hissed, stepping toward the other figure.
“He, and all those who become like him, shall be rewarded for their service!” She blew out a shaking breath, placing both hands on Theodore’s shoulders.
“We don’t deserve to burn for a magic we were born with. ”
Hudson sucked in a sharp breath. Lenore’s head snapped back to him as if she had heard, her eyes solid red just as his were. “None of us do.” With her final words, the vision dissipated, leaving the three of us standing in the clearing.
The red mist evaporated. The cuts in Hudson’s palms closed. His eyes cleared, becoming emerald again. He fell to his knees, staring at the space where the figures of his ancestors had vanished. “The feud… was between the blood witches and the rest of the Garlands.”
“And they created the second curse to protect themselves,” Tyler uttered as he moved to kneel at Hudson’s side, placing a hand on his back.
“They still cursed people against their will, Tyler,” Hudson said quietly, shaking his head before turning to Ty. “You heard the way she talked, like the ends justified the means, but… in the end, they became the monsters the rest of the Garlands made them out to be.”
“You don’t know that, Hudson,” I growled, moving to squat in front of him, looking him right in the eye. “What we just saw was something the Lawsons didn’t mention in their story. And I’m willing to bet you’ve never heard of Lenore or Theodore, have you?”
“I…” Hudson’s brow furrowed as he cast his eyes to the forest floor. “No. Henry’s in the grimoire, and so are his sons and daughters, but…”
“History is always written by the victors, sweetheart.” I brushed a strand of Hudson’s bleach-blond hair from his forehead, urging his eyes back to mine. “And it’s clear that your family’s victors haven’t been very honest.”
Hudson’s gaze turned livid. “We never would have seen that vision if I hadn’t banished them from the grounds like I did.”
“You… banished them?” Tyler’s voice broke with the question, brows raised.
“Yeah…” Hudson sighed. “Don’t know if it will stick. I didn’t even do it on purpose, I just… wanted them to fuck off. To stop hiding shit from me.”
A few moments of heavy silence passed before Tyler asked, “So, you had no idea? You’ve never used blood magic before?”
“No.” Hudson shook his head with a pained expression, brows furrowed and bottom lip sucked between his teeth.
“I don’t know much about it. I remember Grams shutting down a couple of questions I asked about blood witches when I was younger.
Guessing it’s something that can be bound while we’re kids, like any other magic. Spell probably broke when she died.”
“You used it in the alley behind the Hole…” I said, avoiding Hudson’s eyes. “Your arm was cut. I pissed you off. It was dark, and I thought I was seeing things, but… your eyes turned red when you slammed me into the wall.”
“R-Red?” Hudson gasped, clutching his face beneath his eyes. “You mean like Lenore’s did?”
“Yup,” Ty chuckled, patting Hudson on the shoulder. “It’s pretty spooky.”
“Awesome,” Hudson groaned, rolling his eyes as he swatted Ty’s hand away. With a heavy breath, he settled back in the grass, staring off into the distance. “I won’t have much power behind my magic without my ancestors around. My… usual magic anyway.” He cast his eyes back to the ground.
“You could always call them back after we’ve done our digging,” I offered, giving his shoulder a lingering squeeze. “If you feel like groveling, that is.”
“I can’t have it both ways…” Hudson muttered softly, his eyes growing wide.
“She did know. Grams. She was trying to tell me—” He buried his face in both hands with a frustrated growl.
“Fuck it all. Magic, this town...” Lowering his hands, he met our faces with watery eyes.
“Let’s just leave. Forget it all and get the hell out of this place. ”
Tyler and I shared a private, concerned glance. “Is that… really what you want, Hud?” Tyler breathed, turning to him.
“You’d give it all up?” I asked, leaning closer to him. “Both of your magicks?”
“I don’t…” Hudson’s gaze dropped again. He screwed his eyes shut with a shaking exhale. “Two weeks. I’ve got two weeks to decide, right?”
“Right.” With a nod, I clapped Hudson on the shoulder before standing. I glanced back through the woods toward the coast, then smiled at each of my guys. “I don’t know about you two, but I could use a break from supernatural shit for the day. How ‘bout a swim?”
Hudson let out a snort, clambering to his feet. “Lake’s going to be butt-fucking freezing right now, Em.”
“When has that ever stopped us? You in, Ty?” I chuckled, turning to Tyler where he remained on the ground, his face pensive and his brows pulled tight. “Ty? You alright?”
“Huh?” He snapped his head up, blinking absentmindedly. “Y-Yeah. Fine.”
Searching his face for a moment, I cocked my head, then offered him my hand. “You, me, Hudson? Beach?” Clasping my hand around his wrist, I hauled him up, then smacked his ass, making him jump forward into my chest. “Maybe we lose the swimsuits at some point?”
Hudson rubbed his eyes, letting out a snort. “Yes, please. Fuck the crazy right out of my brain.”
Ty’s face lit up, and he started jogging backward toward the house. “First one out of the water gets down on all fours!”