Chapter 75
The large cauldron’s bottomless pit of darkness seemed more ominous as Ethel stared into it.
That same darkness, the one she’d captured on her first and only trip to the Underworld, was the source of her power.
But it was running out. She needed to replenish it, but with Pierce hiding so well, it would be impossible for her to retrieve more of the dark power she needed.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and used Pierce’s guiding spell to access the core of the power.
It was delicious in its toxicity. Death, pure, true, and terrifying.
It infused every cell, darkening her hair to an almost pitch black as it replaced the negligible Power of the Water she’d been born with.
This dark power was everything she’d ever wanted, the instrument of the vengeance she sought.
But unlike her true power, it needed constant care, regular housekeeping, or it would dissipate.
It was the only reason she was unsure she was ready to face the coven.
There was no telling when her power would wane, and she couldn’t take that chance.
The darkness whispered to her, called her to take even more of it into her.
But it waned, the cauldron now only a quarter of the way full, and she needed more every day if she was to defeat the male witch.
He was powerful enough to destroy her, her army, and everything she’d built.
It was a good thing he hadn’t yet found his anchor.
Antagonizing Pierce had been an amateur’s error.
She’d since found a way to gather all his power to herself, but he was hiding too well.
It also didn’t help that he was the only one with the antidote to all the darkness she’d drawn from the Underworld.
If he ever allied himself with the male witch, her power would be child’s play compared to theirs.
That’s why the wolf was so important. Magicae Lupus.
Who would have thought an Earth Witch would create such a wonderful being?
He was the perfect conduit. With his help, she could find Pierce, destroy his hold on her, and access more dark power.
But the Goddess had one trick left up her sleeve.
Magicae Lupus had to enter the Underworld of their own volition, or they too would remain trapped in the darkness, unable to return.
She sighed, used a tiny amount of her dark power to conceal the cauldron and its dark energy, as her allies approached her front door.
With so much power, she had little to fear from them.
But as the two Born-Vampires entered her home, the confidence in their strength a cloak around them, she shrank back, out of habit.
That was another thing she aimed to rectify.
The Grand Priestess, in her deference to them, had made vampires all-powerful, when the power on the tip of her finger was enough to bring a hundred vampires to their knees.
When she was done with them, the Grand Coven would be nothing but ashes, and if the vampires proposed to stand in her way, well… she had a solution for that as well.
“Let’s hope that wolf will do his part. He failed before,” Bastian, the younger of the two, said. His inexperience, born of an arrogance only Born-Vampires possessed, grated on Ethel’s nerves. But she took comfort in the useful tool he’d proven to be over the years.
“Yes, my dear witch. Explain to me again why we need that wolf.” His father, Lucien, was the spitting image of the all-powerful King of the Vampires with none of the shrewd cunning his brother possessed.
“Zeke has proven loyal to me.” She let the full extent of her power permeate the room, her unwavering gaze on Bastian.
“If you and your vampires hadn’t been too eager that day, we wouldn’t have wasted ten years.
” Memory of her failure brought a rage she struggled to contain.
Zeke had been on the verge of convincing Mark to join their side, but her hopes were dashed when Bastian’s vampires, too eager and ignorant of her plans, had threatened everything she’d worked for.
She’d hoped perhaps Mark’s grief would make him more pliable, but in the ten years since that event, he’d remained hidden from her, cloaked by powerful magic.
She wouldn’t have found him if he hadn’t stumbled into one of her magical alcoves, a place she’d created to try and replenish her cauldron.
But the same pesky, powerful, but rickety magic had prevented one of her pets from getting to him.
Amelia. It had to be. It would make sense that she would protect her creation.
Ethel wasn’t worried about the inferior Earth Witch.
In the Coven’s hierarchy, even her insignificant Power of the Water would be sufficient to dispatch an Earth Witch.
Amelia was little more than a nuisance. One she would take care of soon.
“Yes. That was unfortunate.” Lucien’s tone was laced with the admonishment of a disapproving father as he sat on the couch with a sigh. “Bastian knows to choose his hunting party with more care next time. Don’t you, son?”
He didn’t once glance at his son, and Ethel smiled. Bastian’s naked desire to please his father and Lucien’s excessive ambition would work well for her purposes.
Ethel sat across from Lucien. “Now we wait. Zeke will convince the Magicae Lupus to join us, and everything will fall into place.”
“I couldn’t care less about the wolves.” Lucien’s contempt for the species he considered below him was his reason for joining her quest. “My first order of business on the throne will be to eliminate them all.”
The girl she had been before the Grand Priestess’s betrayal would worry about the pronouncement Lucien had made numerous times before. The powerful witch she’d become in the centuries since couldn’t care less. Once she’d exerted her vengeance, the world could burn for all she cared.
“You think that Mark will fall under Zeke’s spell again?” Bastian asked. “He is enamored with my cousin, now.”
“Caster?” Lucien asked.
Bastian nodded. “I saw something between them when I was there”—his fingers grazed his throat— “when that vile creature almost killed me. And our spy confirms it.” He sat next to his father.
“If Caster and the Prime Alpha are working together and our spy says they are, this will prove more difficult.”
“Not with Zeke’s new powers of persuasion.
” Ethel paused for effect and smiled when both vampires granted her their full attention.
“Zeke is now almost… if not… as powerful as the Prime Alpha. He can infiltrate the thoughts of other wolves, control them much like the Prime Alpha does.” She leaned back in her seat. “Mark has little hope of resisting.”
Zeke’s powers had been his idea. It had taken too long to find the right combination of spells to grant him those powers, and she was sure he had his own agenda, but his loyalty did deserve a reward.
Plus, the werewolf army she was certain he would create would be easy to manipulate, not to mention useful in sowing the chaos she hoped to unleash on the world.
Lucien smiled. “Good. We’ve added a thousand new Made-Vampires to our ranks.” His smile grew predatory. “Soon, we’ll be ready to go to war.”
That left just one problem. Pierce and the potential he had to derail their careful plans. She had little hope of finding him, not without access to greater power. Her co-conspirators didn’t need to know that detail. Not when they were nothing more than a means to an end for her anyway.
- THE END -
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