“Maybe I don’t want to join anymore.”
“Strange. You were so eager last week when I promised to give you the name of the man that could help your brother.”
“That was then.”
I move closer and peer around the edge of the doorway to see them inside. James’s back is to the door and he stands shirtless before Kara and five men dressed in black robes. The room is dark, lit only by candles and torches set into the stone walls. There’s a pit filled with smoldering ash in the center of the room. Chains and manacles are attached to the walls.
It looks chillingly like a dungeon.
“We helped you.” Kara gives him one of her special smiles, the one that’s made many men over the years lose their coins into her purse. “And now you will help us.”
“Not sure about that, Mother.”
She grimaces. “I’ve asked you not to call me that.”
“Sorry, keep forgetting. Don’t want these nice men to know you’re ancient enough to have a son my age, do you?”
She nods at another man, her expression impassive. “He’s going to be a problem.”
“What should I do?”
“Whatever you feel you must to gain control over this situation.”
He draws out a long metal bar from under his robes. James doesn’t even see it coming as he’s struck in the back of the head. He falls to the ground unconscious and bleeding.
I don’t hesitate before racing into the room.
“What are you doing?” I demand.
Kara looks at me with shock, which shifts swiftly to disappointment. “Adam, you shouldn’t be here.”
“Why did you knock him out? You told me he wasn’t even here and now you do this to him?”
“He agreed to be a part of this.”
“Sounded like he changed his mind.”
“It was stupid to render the boy unconscious,” another man in robes says through clenched teeth. “The vessel needs to be conscious. It has already begun. There’s no stopping it now.”
The ashes in the pit begin to swirl as if touched by an unseen wind and the room grows colder until I can see my breath freeze before me with each exhale. I crouch over James, a fierce need to protect him from these strangers—even Kara, whom I’ve never totally trusted but never considered a true threat.
“Oh, Adam,” she says, shaking her head. “You don’t know what you’ve interrupted here.”
“Some sick ritual to help you get revenge over Thomas Kraven?”
“Him and many others.”
“Is that all that matters to you? Revenge, power, money?”
She looks at me as if confused. “Yes, of course. It’s what I want, what I’ve been working for all these years. Why I had two children—one to sacrifice to the darkness when the time came. It was never supposed to be you, my darling. James’s soul is already spoken for.”
Three years ago she admitted to selling James’s soul to give her access to black magic. I’d assumed she was drunk and hadn’t taken a word she said seriously. But James had gone very quiet.
He believed. He’s always been the one to believe in Heaven and Hell. Every time we dug up a body for Kara, he’d pray to be absolved of his sins afterward. He didn’t think I heard him, but I did.
The idea that his mother had sold his soul for her own gain had hit him hard even when I tried convincing him it was all lies. He’d barely spoken to her since, even when I tried to convince him she’d been lying.
“Do it,” Kara now says quietly.
Two of the men grab me, their grips so tight I can’t break free. Another man cuts open my shirt with a dagger, then dips his finger into a bowl of thick red liquid and begins to trace symbols on my chest. It’s blood. He’s drawing on me with blood.
My stomach clenches with fear and disgust.
“What are these symbols? What are you doing to me?”
Kara nods. “It’s right that it’s you. This is a true sacrifice. They will see that and they will reward me.”
“Kara!”
“You should have minded your own business. Your brother didn’t need your help. You think you’ve saved him?” She pats my cheek hard enough to hurt. “There’s no saving him. His soul belongs to Hell.”
“You’re such a bitch.”
“Only because life presented me with no other options, my darling.” She looks over her shoulder at the swirling ashes. “It’s here.”
The two words turn my blood to ice.
The ashes begin to rise up from the pit. The air is so cold it’s like it’s suddenly the dead of winter despite it being midsummer.
They wanted to do this to James. Whatever this is.
I can’t move. All I can do is stare at the ashes as they draw closer to me, forming a line like a rope that slithers around my wrists, my waist, my throat. It’s choking me. It’s killing me...
But as quickly as it starts, it’s all over.
I fall to my knees, reaching out to grab James’s arm, hoping to shake him awake so we can get out of here. I’ve survived whatever the hell that was and I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone hurt my brother. He’s always been there for me and I’d give my own life to save his.