Chapter 7
It had been a silent journey on the way to Dymphna Chapel. I kept a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel as I navigated the winding roads, only glancing occasionally at Jasper. He kept his gaze trained out the passenger window, staring at the blood moon as it cast its eerie glow over us.
The homes we passed were quiet as their occupants slept silently in their beds. The chapel was on the outskirts of the city proper. By decree of the council, no one was allowed to build anything in a five mile radius due to the immense power that guarded the building.
Massive, gilded gates opened as I pulled into the driveway and began the final leg of our journey along an old cobblestone road. The manicured lawn was well-watered, the vibrant green standing out even in darkness. The chapel sat amongst a copse of trees, backing up to a small nature reserve where, according to Kallistos legends, the monsters of old still roamed the grounds.
I did not consider myself one who put stock into old stories. Still, I also was not the idiot who would test that particular tale.
As I stopped along the circular driveway, we sat idle for only a moment. It was twenty minutes till ten. A constant stream of adrenaline coursed through my veins, and I tapped my fingers along the steering wheel, unable to contain it.
I hated the secrets—that Jasper had not informed me about who we were meeting. I trusted him, obviously, but that did nothing to quell my anxieties. Given their outright distrust of our kind, I was unsure how he had been able to form some type of amicable relationship with a witch.
“I feel like I need to warn you,” Jasper began slowly. The leather of his seat groaned as he turned to face me.
My heart dropped. This is what I had been afraid of. “Warn me about what?” I gritted out, tightening my grip on the wheel beneath my hands.
He scratched the back of his neck, at least having the sense to appear apologetic. “My contact can be a bit… abrasive at times.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
He shrugged and opened the door. “You’ll see.”
I followed suit, fastening my suit jacket. “That was some warning,” I grumbled, earning a small laugh and clap on the shoulder from Jasper.
The air crackled as we stepped through protective wards into the darkened chapel. It felt like it had been ages since I had been here, but it was hard to believe it had been just over a month. So much had changed in such a short amount of time—it was just the blink of an eye to one of my kind.
Being back here was suffocating, forcing me to recall the events of our wedding. I remembered the screams and the sound of guns firing all around. Even then, someone had wanted to stop our union enough that they were willing to take out a building full of innocents to do it.
Now, there was no sign of the events that had occurred. All the bullet holes had been mended, and the blood scrubbed away, leaving me to almost wonder if it had ever happened at all.
The faint moonlight cast shadows through the stained-glass windows, illuminating the aisle toward the altar where I could make out the outline of a figure standing atop the steps.
“You’re late.”
Jasper cast a smile in their direction, looking at his watch. “You’re early.”
A woman cautiously stepped out of the shadows, scowling as she glanced between us. She was tall, statuesque almost, with blonde hair slicked back in a low bun at the nape of her neck. Tattoos covered her fingers, expanding along her arms, and her hands crossed tightly over her chest. A small glittering ring hung from her septum, drawing attention to her pursed lips. Though she looked young, it did not necessarily mean she was. While witches did not live as long as vampyres or fae, their aging was slower than that of mortals.
“Yes, well, I don’t trust either of you not to fuck me over, so…” She shrugged as though that was all the explanation she needed to give.
I lifted my brow. Abrasive was certainly one word for it, but Jasper paid no mind. This is where he thrived, living for this sort of back-and-forth banter. He also had the innate ability to charm the most unlikely suspects, which is one of the reasons we had been friends for so long.
Even when I tried to get rid of him, he came bouncing back.
“Come on now, Sloane. How long have we known each other? Five? Ten years?” He placed one hand in his pocket and leaned against a pew. “Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?”
“Yes. Absolutely,” she said, examining her long black nails. “On multiple occasions.”
“Name one,” he fired back.
“Well, there’s the time I asked you to discreetly take care of a problem, and you ended up stringing my ex-husband’s body in the middle of the square. Or how about the time you drunkenly told an entire bar you had just fucked me behind?—”
Jasper winced. “Okay, okay. I get it. I don’t know why you’re still holding that against me…” he mumbled, crossing his ankles. “Your ex-husband was an abusive dick. He deserved what happened.”
Sloane shrugged. “He did, but I didn’t need his death to be so public, and you said you would keep it quiet. You didn’t. Which brings us back to my well-earned lack of trust.”
“Then why agree to this meeting?” I asked, interjecting before Jasper could risk pissing her off further.
She studied me, her blue eyes blazing across my body as though taking me in for the first time. “Consider me curious. What could the infamous Rion D’Arcy need badly enough that he would dare the coven’s involvement?”
Her smirk told me everything I needed to know.
She knew what I wanted, but would force me to say it. She wanted us to beg, for me to beg. If that was the price, I would happily pay it.
“Three days ago, my mother attempted to break the curse on vampyres and fae. She wanted to sacrifice my wife to do this, however—” My voice broke as I cleared my throat. “My wife took matters into her own hands.”
Sloane rolled her eyes. “Oh, I know all about Leonora D’Arcy and what she’s tried to accomplish. But why do you need me? Where do I fit into your grand plan?”
“We need to know what Leonora is hiding. Her research and reasonings were cryptic toward the end. She mentioned something about a descendant of the sorceress that placed the curse on our peoples,”—I paused, gauging her reaction—“but we were under the impression that such a descendant did not exist.”
Sloane cocked her head to the side, glancing between Jasper and I. “And you think I would tell you even if I knew?” She barked out a laugh. “You vampyres… You really are arrogant, aren’t you? You think the whole world should fall at your feet, that the covens owe you something for the curse you caused upon yourselves.”
She was saying no.
Jasper stepped forward, hands out in placation. “Please, Sloane. We just need?—”
“No, thanks. I think I’ve heard all I need to hear. I risked my ass meeting with you tonight, but I’ve paid any debt I owed, and this is where my involvement ends. See ya.”
She attempted to storm past me with a half-hearted salute, but I refused to let her get far. Any hope we had of stopping my mother and avenging Calia’s death would be thoroughly lost if she left this chapel.
I grabbed Sloane’s arm and jerked her back, not paying attention to the small gasp of surprise that escaped her lips. “My fucking wife gave her own life in an attempt to stop my mother, and I will be damned if that sacrifice is in vain.”
“You’re damned, anyway. What does it matter?” she asked curiously, peering up at me. After a moment, her lips parted as though she had solved some great riddle. “You really loved her, didn’t you?”
I did. Gods, I did. And it was the most terrifying emotion I had ever felt. I could handle pain, and I was no stranger to rage. Disappointment went hand-in-hand with both. But loving Calia gave her power over me that no one else had ever come close to possessing.
I quickly stepped away from her and released my hold, mumbling an apology. “I will do this with or without your help, but I promise that the way without will be much bloodier.”
“What?” she asked incredulously. “Are you going to slaughter every coven until you find one that gives you what you want?”
“Believe me, witch… I have no qualms about taking however many lives I need to in order to achieve the results I desire. Do. Not. Test. Me.”
The silence stretched between us until it was suddenly broken. The sound of shattering glass drew our attention toward the chapel entrance, rooting us to the spot as we peered into the darkness to find the source.
There was no sign of shadow, no movement to give away a possible intruder. In fact, it was impossibly silent.
“Were you followed?” she asked softly, brows drawn in tight as we waited for any sign of life.
“No,” Jasper whispered, shaking his head. “I kept my eye out for any possible tails. Were you?”
She rolled her eyes. “As if. Give me some credit, asshole.”
“Stop it. Both of you,” I said, holding my hand up.
The seconds ticked by without a sound or disturbance. Yet, the inescapable notion of being watched filled me with dread as my skin erupted in goosebumps. Then, something small rolled into the aisle, a metal canister no greater than my palm.
“Get down!” I yelled, colliding with Sloane as each of us hit the ground. The canister detonated, and smoke filled the air, clouding our vision and filling our lungs with suffocating fumes.
Footsteps quickly followed, so many that I could no longer discern how many or from which direction they came. But none of that mattered if the gas took us down before we even had a chance to fight back.
“There,” Sloane gasped, pointing to a small door off the side of the chapel. She began to crawl, pulling her shirt over her nose and mouth, muffling the sound of her strained breathing.
“Fan out! Keep your eyes peeled,” a voice barked.
“They won’t get far,” another responded. “That bitch better pay up when we deliver.”
We quickly trailed behind Sloane, knowing we were as good as dead if we did not. The door just ahead was our only chance at salvation. Already, my limbs felt heavy. Whatever had been released into the air was acting fast.
Sloane reached it first, pushing the door open just enough so she could pull herself inside the stairwell. Jasper and I followed, letting out choked breaths as we lay on our backs and stared at the stairs leading to the bell tower.
“There’s an emergency exit through that door,” Jasper whispered, pointing behind us into the dark. “It goes through the underground wine cellar and will put us near the forest. That’s our best bet at making it out alive.”
Sloane nodded, but I could not move. I did not want to escape. I wanted to mercilessly kill any and all who tried coming after me and my family. I wanted to feel them take their last breaths, to watch the life drain from their eyes as I placed my hands around their throats and squeezed. I had experienced tear gas before, and as I lie on the concrete floor, feeling disoriented, I knew this was something else.
There was another way out of here that did not include running away.
“Do you still have your gun?” I asked, turning toward Jasper. He nodded once, pulling up his jacket to show the weapon still in its holster. “And you?”
Sloane chuckled, offering us the first genuine smile I had seen from her since our meeting. “I’m not stupid enough to show up for a meeting with two vampyres unarmed.” She crawled toward the corner of the room, reaching into a small black duffle I had not noticed before. When she pulled back, she held a silver pistol in each hand.
“What’re you thinking?” Jasper asked.
I pointed above us. “Two flights up, there is a door that leads to the viewing balcony on the second floor. The smoke will have cleared considerably.” I shrugged. “They came for a fight. Let’s give them one.”
Jasper’s lips twisted into a smirk, confirming he would go with me without hesitation. “Alright, brother. Let’s make them pay.”
“This bonding moment is wonderful, really, but I’ll remind you that there is some sort of toxin circulating our systems right now, and we won’t get a chance to play out your little revenge plan if we don’t get a move on.” She jerked her chin toward the stairs.
“Yes, ma’am,” Jasper said, giving a salute. “Whatever you say.”
Sloane pushed to her feet, stumbling slightly before placing her hand on the banister, and began to climb. Jasper cocked his head to the side, clearly watching her ass sway with each step. “That woman terrifies me,” he said with a chuckle.
Sloane turned, staring down at us. “Are you assholes coming, or are you going to stand around and pretend like you aren’t looking at my ass?”