Chapter 32 #2
I paced back and forth, dragging my hands over my face. Torin grasped my shoulders, and I halted, rubbed my eyes, and sighed.
“If your instincts took you here, we’ll find whatever it is that’s here,” he said with conviction.
Torin believed in me. His eyes softened, and the look he gave me held so much concern and care about me that I wanted to hug him.
Something behind Torin caught my attention, and I peered around his massive body.
Not too far away from us, the butterfly creature fluttered around in a circle over the metal directory sign. Then it flew away to an erect tombstone. On top of the white marble lay an open book made of the same stone.
The rectangular stone structure stood much taller than me, but from a distance, I could clearly see the book resting on top of it and the sign engraved on the wall facing us. It read, In memory of those innocent who died in the witchcraft hysteria.
The white marble tombstone sparkled in contrast to the dark graveyard of gray, crooked stones.
The butterfly landed on top of the book.
“This way,” I said and dashed toward it.
The men followed. When we got to the stone structure, I jumped a few times but not high enough to see the book.
“Torin, if you jump, can you see the creature?”
He gave me a quizzical look but did as I asked.
“The only thing on top of the stone is an open book statue,” he said.
“Never mind,” I said.
The creature hid itself and only revealed its existence to me, then.
I didn’t have much time to think about it, so I focused on the tombstone. I walked around it and touched the stones, but no secret compartment opened.
I examined the structure from every possible angle. Torin and Hayden mimicked my movements, trying to help me, but the uneasy feeling in my stomach only intensified. Cordelia would be here soon.
“I need to get on top of it,” I muttered.
Hayden lifted me by my waist, and then, after I grabbed the edge, pushed my body up, supporting my feet.
I crawled to the book, my knees aching on the hard surface. There were three symbols carved across the pages of the stone book.
“Before I touch the symbols, we have to choose out of three. The first is a circle dissected by four lines. I don’t recognize it.”
“What are the other two?” Hayden shouted from the ground.
“The next one is a circle with a pentagram in it.” I stared at the third symbol. “The last one is a daisy wheel.”
I gulped for air. There were no coincidences.
“Go for it, sweetheart,” Hayden said.
I pushed on the daisy wheel. The symbol moved and dropped into the stone. A rumbling sound echoed, and I gasped.
A moment later, Torin knelt next to me. He looked me over, and then we stared at the stone book. It revealed a hollow space underneath.
A small wooden box lay inside. I reached for it, and Torin pressed the side of his body against mine.
“Torin, I’m not going to get swallowed alive by a small treasure box.”
He shrugged. “I can’t fight my instinct. Not now, Princess.”
I nodded and picked up the box as big as both my palms.
The air around us stopped moving and filled with tension. The familiar mist crept through the fence and entered the graveyard.
“She’s here,” I said.
My skin prickled with goosebumps and my heart thumped.
“Sweetheart… Alpha Torin? You may want to climb down here,” Hayden said, his tone laced with worry.
Torin jumped first and then helped me get down. When we turned to face the dirt pathway, Cordelia stood there.
The Alpha cursed under his breath, and the witch sent him a glare.
“I don’t have time to deal with you two.” She then looked at me with her brown eyes, and a ping of some emotion stabbed my chest. “No more games, child. Give me the box.”
“Cordelia,” I said, and she flinched at the sound of her name. “I can’t let you have the athame to take revenge on the supernaturals. The past stays in the past. Isn’t there a way to resolve this without fighting?”
“Hand over the box,” she said.
My hands shook. Was I too selfish to want whatever was inside the box if the price were our lives? It could be something else rather than the athame.
“Anna, don’t give her the box. Hayden and I will protect you,” Torin said as his vampire surfaced, shifting into his full form.
He growled at the witch, but she only smiled at him and shook her head.
“Alpha, you are still the same fool,” she said in a familiar manner.
I didn’t have time to ponder on her past relationship with my mates as the soil under my shoes trembled.
Cordelia raised her hands, and roots emerged from the ground as if they were alive. The men dodged some of them and slashed through others with their talons and claws. Headstones dislodged from the ground and flew toward my mates while they were busy fighting with cobra-like roots and branches.
Whatever was inside the box could be a weapon and help me fight against this crazy woman. Even if it was the athame, it was still a knife, even if it wasn’t the sharpest. I placed my hand over the box lid when a painful scream echoed from my side.
When I lifted my gaze, a large tombstone landed on Hayden’s chest.
“No,” I shouted, but it was too late.
My palms grew damp while grasping the box. Hayden's legs convulsed, and he whimpered in pain.
I looked at Torin to help me move the stone off Hayden’s chest, but he was busy slashing roots and crushing stones. He must have felt my gaze because Torin glanced at me, and at that moment, a thick green branch wrapped around his neck and squeezed.
I had to choose who to help first if I could. Torin wasn’t injured, at least not yet. I dashed toward Hayden.
His ribs must have been broken. He could heal the wrong way, or the stone pieces could puncture his lungs. Extra adrenaline shot through my body at the sight of my bodyguard on the brink of death. Blood dripped from the side of his mouth, and he coughed. He might have had internal bleeding.
“Hayden, how can I help you right now?” I asked.
“Nurse me back to health, sweetheart. Just like when we were kids.” He coughed again. “I’ve been worse off.”
“Stay with me, Hayden,” I said when his eyes rolled back.
Guilt overwhelmed my body, and the pressure of my decisions weighed on my shoulders. I’d been reckless to take on this adventure with Torin and Hayden, risking their lives.
I squeezed Hayden’s hand. “I’ll help you. Don’t give up. Okay?”
Straightening, I held my chin high. I opened the box, and something shiny glimmered from within. A golden bracelet. I furrowed my eyebrows.
“What?” I muttered. “Just my luck finding jewelry when I need a weapon.”
The bracelet gleamed with supernatural brilliance.
I reached to touch it, and it seemed to come alive against my fingertips with warmth.
The jewelry clung to me as if we’d bonded, and its warm energy transferred to my body as if it recognized me as its rightful owner.
The same energy I felt when I touched the magic books and their souls within.
The dazzling bracelet extended into a long rope, resembling a whip. I couldn’t disconnect my gaze from the glimmer of the golden whip. It had a powerful aura, offering a sense of comfort and protection.
I brought it to my face to examine the carved symbols all over it. It was the same pentagram and four symbols but in a miniature version. Whoever engraved and blessed this jewelry with power did so using the witch athame.
I’d found a weapon.
I dropped the empty box and grasped the golden whip with both hands, yet the weapon hung limp and unmoving.
I’d thought the enchanted whip could crack with power and energy when wielded with mastery. It could slice through the thick air.
“No,” I whispered.
Standing in the grim graveyard, I glanced at the two men, and my heart plummeted. Each fought to draw their next breath. One mate lay beneath the weight of a heavy headstone, its unforgiving weight crushing his lungs. Every contour of Hayden’s face screamed in agony as he gasped for air.
My other mate was ensnared in a deadly embrace by a vine-like branch that tightened its grip around Torin’s neck with each passing minute. His struggling body convulsed, attempting to loosen the constricting hold.
The responsibility to save my mates weighed heavily on my shoulders. But how was I supposed to protect these two lives that hung by a fragile thread? I had no clue how to wield the weapon bestowed on me.
A half groan, half sob escaped my mouth as I shook my hand, the whip lying uselessly in my hold.
Cordelia still held her arms up in midair, and her eyes had grown as big as an entire moon.
“That can’t be,” she uttered softly, looking at the whip. “Why would she give it to you unless…”
“Unless what?” I demanded.
She flattened her lips and stepped closer.
As if reacting toward the dark witch, the golden whip snaked around my left arm like a living creature, shortening simultaneously, and turned to a beautiful bracelet that coiled three times around my forearm. The gold shimmered around my skin.
No matter how much I tried to tug or pull, the bracelet clung resolutely against my forearm, refusing to yield.
Panic surged through me as I fully understood my predicament. My heart raced, and tears welled up, blurring my vision, as I realized the full extent of the trouble I had gotten myself into.