Chapter 12 Julia
Julia
The apartment door rattles as Maya tries to enter, only to be stopped by the three bolts.
We’ve run out of time—but Elizabeth’s address might be enough to lead us to Rebecca.
“What should we—” Hannah begins.
Shunk. The top bolt slides open on its own.
We look at each other, eyes wide.
Shunk. The middle one slides open.
Not a witch, Maya? I think, my skin tingling as her magic hits me like fog rolling in.
Damn it all. I should have known she was lying. Should have smelled the way she expertly suppressed it. She has the power of the Kwan family in her blood, and I’m willing to bet that magic has never skipped a generation.
I raise my palms for a fight, but the gesture is laughable. Even blasting open the door was an effort, and I doubt I could fight so much as a rat right now.
Hannah’s eyes dart around the room. She grabs my arm and pulls me toward a door. “Balcony.”
Hm, yes, fleeing is wiser.
Shunk. The third bolt slides open, and I hurtle after Hannah into the cool night air.
Hannah quietly shuts the door behind us just as the front door’s hinges creak, the sound filling the small space.
“Who’s here?” Maya calls out from beyond the closed door, her voice rough and menacing, not at all like the scared victim we cornered in the alley.
“Shit,” Hannah whispers, leaning over the railing. “How do we get down?”
We’re overlooking a courtyard far below, where hard stone pathways wind between grass and gardens. No one is around, though lights glow in square windows on all four sides. Across the way, a path leads back to the road. Now if we could just get there.
The temperature drops suddenly, and frost spreads across the glass with an ominous crackling sound. The crystals form a pattern until the meaning is clear: Maya is casting protection runes. I step back from it, feeling its sting without touching it.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck,” Hannah whispers. She shivers and crosses her arms. Then she gasps, her face going white in the moonlight. “My sweater! I left it beside the computer.”
I bite the inside of my cheek, holding back my annoyance at her foolishness. But Maya probably knows who her intruders are, anyway.
I return my attention to the drop. It’s too high to jump without using magic to cushion us.
“Show your face, cowards!” Maya barks. A blast of magic lifts strands of our hair, and the glass door cracks, spider-webbing from the impact.
A charged hum fills the air, seeping through the walls—the crackling energy that builds with a witch’s rage. Something crashes inside as her anger escalates.
Whatever she said about not wanting to be part of the coven, she’s still a witch, and Florence’s power pulses through her veins. And if she’s inherited even half of Florence’s abilities, she will incinerate us both when she finds us cornered out here.
I turn to Hannah, gripping her shoulders hard. “I need magic to get us out of here. Now.”
Hannah nods, stepping closer without hesitation. “Take it.”
Her breaths are shallow, her lips parted like she’s ready to breathe her life into me.
God, she’s lovely.
I shove her against the railing and press my body to hers, cupping her face. Her skin is silky and cool beneath my palms. I murmur the incantation, running my hands down her neck, bare shoulders, and arms. My whole body tingles as my magic begins to feed, drawing her sweet taste into me.
I settle my hands in the strip of bare skin at her hips, holding her to me.
It helps that she’s shed that bulky garment she called a hoodie, leaving less between us and more skin I can access.
The lacy thing she’s wearing is nothing short of scandalous, all delicate straps and sheer material that does nothing to hide the curves beneath.
I can even see her nipples peaking the fabric.
I have to focus, to draw just enough to get us to safety. But oh, she tastes divine. The rush is intoxicating as power floods into me, and she shivers under my touch.
Maya’s footsteps thump closer.
My pulse pounds. I need to hurry.
“Open your mouth,” I whisper.
Hannah’s breath catches. “What?”
“I need your essence. Your breath.”
Her lips move wordlessly, like she’s trying to process what I’m asking. But we don’t have time for that.
I push two fingers into her mouth, parting her plush lips. The moment her hot tongue touches my fingers, my insides burn with desire. I try to focus on drawing power, but there’s a split second where her tongue flicks over my fingertips, and I have to bite back a groan.
I pull my fingers out and slide my hands around the back of her head, tangling them in her soft hair that smells like peaches. I lean in so close that our lips are nearly touching and inhale deeply, drinking in her life force.
We’re not kissing, but God, her lips are so close. They’re a hair’s width away, plush and open. The urge to cross that small distance and take her lips in mine is overwhelming, but I hold back. Not like this.
I tighten my fingers in her hair, tipping her head back so I can drink in more of her. She’s so pliant under my touch, yielding to my every movement. What I wouldn’t give to have more time.
Focus. Draw deeper. I’m wasting seconds we don’t have, distracted by wanting her.
Hannah’s hands come up to grip my cloak, but she doesn’t push away. Just holds onto me as I keep taking. Power floods through me, and she trembles in my arms.
The door handle rattles as Maya grabs it from the other side.
I fling my hand out behind me to stop her, slamming the door before she can open it all the way. The wood groans under the pressure.
She roars in frustration, and it rattles so hard that a cloud of dust rises. My hair stands on end as she fights against my magic.
Power surges through my veins as Hannah’s energy mixes with my own. It’s more than enough to get us out of here.
“Hold onto me,” I tell her, wrapping my arms around her waist.
Her eyes widen as she realizes what I’m planning. “Julia, no—”
But I’m already pulling her over the railing with me, and her protest gets lost in the wind. When will she learn that she’s safe under my protection?
She screams as we plummet through the air toward the grassy courtyard.
I focus all my newfound power downward, calling to the earth.
Chunks of soil tear free from the grass and garden beds, rising to meet us in a spiral.
We hit them in stages—a pillow of soil, a mound of grass, an entire bush, until we land on the stone walkway with a thud that knocks the air from my lungs.
Hannah gasps, and as I try to disentangle my limbs, it becomes clear that she’s landed on top of me.
“Are—you hurt?” I ask between breaths.
“I d-don’t think so,” she stammers, her breath tickling my lips.
She shifts, and one of her thighs slips between mine, pressing against my center.
She’s staring at me, frozen, her face an inch away. Her scent envelops me, sweet and inviting.
For a moment, we stay there, the intimacy of the feeding still hanging between us.
Past her, high above, Maya’s silhouette appears at the railing. Power crackles around her hands like white lightning. “You should have left me alone, Julia Moreau!”
Normally, words like that would make me pause to show her what a mistake she made by threatening me. But given my reduced power and my need to keep Hannah alive…
I push Hannah off me. “Run.”
She scrambles to her feet, and we make it two steps when the earth erupts beside us. We fall to our knees, coughing and throwing our arms up in the wave of dirt and rocks.
Another blast hits even closer, and without thinking about it, I grab Hannah and pull her down, covering her body with mine as debris rains around us. She gasps in pain beneath me, but better bruised than dead. She’s under my protection, and I will not let Maya’s tantrum end what’s mine.
“Wait,” I snarl in her ear, using my magic to shield us.
I spin and send the uprooted bush toward Maya. She deflects it, and the pause is long enough for us to get up and keep running.
“If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you both!” Maya shouts.
I gather my power from Hannah’s sweet energy still flowing through my body. With a grunt, I hurl another wave of dirt and rocks toward Maya. As she raises her hands to shield herself, I take Hannah’s hand and pull her back to her feet.
We race away through the darkness, following the stone path out of the courtyard and back to the busy street. Hannah coughs and wipes her face, dark streaks of blood dotting her pale skin.
A jolt of concern lances through me before I can suppress it. Ridiculous. I’ve watched hundreds of people suffer far worse without batting an eye. Why should these little cuts on Hannah be any different?
But somehow, seeing Hannah get hurt by Maya makes me want to turn around and burn down Maya’s entire home. The entire town.
An explosion of earth erupts behind us, but nothing hits, and soon, Maya’s furious shrieks fade into the distance.
My heart pounds hard, and it’s from more than just the escape.
I can still feel Hannah’s breath on my lips, taste her as she fills my soul, and hear her soft, hitched breaths as I fed. My fingers ache where her silky hair ran between them when I couldn’t help but touch her.
I cannot deny it: my attraction to her has become impossible to ignore. I want to feed on her again and again, but it’s more than that. I haven’t felt like this since Charlotte.
And that’s exactly the problem. Charlotte looked at me with breathless wonder once, and look how that ended.
Every bruise, scrape, and mark on Hannah’s body is because of me.
She’s lied and stolen in the hours since we’ve met.
I’m witnessing her corruption already—these small compromises, hour by hour, proving that the innocent woman from the beginning of the night will soon be gone, and it will be my fault.
But what am I meant to do? We’re stuck together. I cannot simply send her home.
And even if I wanted to…
Well, even knowing what I’m doing to her, I don’t wish to stop. I want to keep feeding on her, touching her, tasting her, ruining her.
And if I’m reading the way she looks at me correctly, she wants to be ruined.