Nika was on high alert as Dante guided her through the patch of woods surrounding the cemetery. Almost a month ago, Miles's funeral had brought her to this very site. Evidence of her vomit might have even remained in the bushes near the parking lot.
She thought she might be sick again, but this time, it wasn't caused by the murder of a friend. It was her lack of weapons and company, that the sky was growing darker with an eclipse, and a good-looking boy with uncertain intentions was leading her into a dense grove.
"This is the part of the horror film when I get chopped up into pieces and buried in multiple graves," she thought aloud.
Dante huffed a laugh, glancing over his shoulder. "You're too pretty to die young."
And you are too good at lying.
With that in mind, Nika assessed her surroundings, noting which was the fastest route back to the graveyard, and whether any rocks or sticks could be used as weapons. Her hand instinctively hovered over the mobile phone in her pocket, and she sent a silent prayer to the Oldbloods that Ren would be ready to retrieve her at a moment's notice.
There was little she wouldn't give to be with him instead of Dante right now, to see surly scowls instead of honey-coated grins.
Within minutes, they emerged into a grassy clearing, where the tree canopy opened like a smile to the sky. Nika wondered why he'd brought her here, and when she would reunite with Lu—until she spotted a figure in a long, hooded cloak.
A few seconds of examination led Nika to a belly-churning realization. An old-fashioned gown, coils of vibrant red hair, and if not for the sunglasses concealing half of the woman's face, eyes gleaming as blue as sapphires.
"What took so long?" the demon-witch hissed. "This sunlight is burning my eyes."
Suddenly, the mission didn't matter. Getting information was a trivial endeavor. It came crashing down—pain, screams that echoed through a cave, the scent of blood on stone.
Nika darted across the clearing and lunged, fangs bared. She was too busy drowning in hate to register the rough clink from behind. And when her jaws were an inch away from Tatiana's throat, something stopped her.
Metal, cold and rusty, bit into her wrists. Then fire, ripping through her shoulders and down her arms. She glanced down to find iron manacles and chains that dangled from sturdy bolts into a tree on either side of her.
Nika twisted, snarling, and Dante slowly circled around her, holding out his hands as though she were a rabid dog.
"What is this?" she hissed, panic bombarding her. "Let me out!"
She yanked at the chains, but the slightest graze sent tongues of invisible fire across her skin. Belabane.
"Son of a—" She threw herself at the wolfblood. "I'm gonna kill you!"
Dante leapt back, leaving her grasping at air and grunting at the scrape of metal.
"Put your fangs away and I'll explain."
Each breath came in difficult huffs as Nika closed her eyes. After much concentration, the fangs retracted with a click.
"You can't hurt her," was all Dante said. "We're breaking the curse today, and Tatiana needs to be there during the ritual. That's why I brought you to this place."
Her mouth went dry as she glanced between him and Tatiana. Damn your curse! she wanted to scream. But she managed to focus her rage on what mattered most: "You better release me and take me to Lu, or I swear to the Oldbloods, Dante, I'll hunt you down and make you wish you'd never been born."
For a moment, she thought his reddish-brown eyes might have flashed with fear. But no sign of it existed in his voice when he said, "I can't. When the curse breaks, all Volkari will be forced to shift into wolf form. Including you."
Dread formed a lump in her throat. "You can't make me do anything."
"It's not an option. The magic will take over, and we won't be able to control it. And you'll be ten times more unpredictable because you've never had a transformation before. The restraints are for your own safety; you need to stay here until it's over."
Now—they were going to break the curse now. Nika shut off her mind to prevent herself from having a meltdown.
"And then what?"
"Then you can see Lu, and—"
His head whipped to the side, a guard dog catching a sound. He gazed beyond the woods to a place Nika couldn't see.
A heartbeat later, Dante looked skyward, saying, "I need to get going. Tatiana, make the ward."
Without so much as a glance at Nika, he turned and sprinted into the trees. Nika lurched forward.
"Dante, don't you dare!" she shouted. When he ignored her, she cursed up a storm and heaved hard on the chains—all to no avail.
The demon-witch laughed, a soft but menacing sound. Nika's breath came hard and fast as she watched Tatiana saunter around the clearing's perimeter, going from tree to tree and marking them with a piece of chalk. Whatever she drew on the bark, Nika was on the wrong side to see it.
"What are you doing?"
"Trapping you with a ward"—a twitch of the mouth—"in the event that you break free."
Nika clenched her teeth. "Why help him?"
"Once the curse is broken, the Volkari will have no more use for me. Dante has ensured that I will survive to see tomorrow."
"And you believe that?"
Her only response was to remove the sunglasses and slip them to the inner pocket of her cloak. "So you're a wolf. How ironic."
Ignoring the jab, Nika spat, "If you're so afraid that they'd hurt you, why don't you just let me go and explain what the alpha wants with me?"
Tatiana cocked her head, eyes squinting. "Don't you know? The alpha has no idea you're even here, let alone that you're a Volkari."
"What?" Nika breathed, gazing at the place where Dante had disappeared.
He'd been scheming all on his own? Panic gripped her bones. She needed to get out of here. Right now.
"I have a question for you, halfblood. What happened when you wore Asteroth?"
Nika didn't hear her at first. She was too busy studying the restraints to even care. But then she felt a familiar nudge in her mind—Asteroth's presence slithering inside.
Slamming a protective shield around her thoughts and memories, she said, "Why do you care?"
"Asteroth has outlived entire civilizations. He only speaks to special people."
"Like you?"
"Indeed. Magic chose me for a great purpose, made me something better and stronger than the Serafi I used to be. But what is special about you?"
"Nothing. And I don't know what happened. I can barely even remember it. I just know that my body was hijacked and the stone turned green."
Nika could have sworn that Tatiana's face went green, too. The demon-witch stepped closer, ready to say something else, but Nika tuned out the words when a dark figure appeared amid the trees behind her cloaked figure.
It was an effort to control her features, to pretend nothing was amiss. Because Ren Romanovich cut through the woods like a giant wraith, bearing a glower that promised death and a pair of fists that were more than capable of executing it.
✦
"You felt a presence, didn't you?" Tatiana was saying.
Ren didn't know what she was talking about, and he had no intention of discovering it. He merely slipped into a killing calm and attacked.
"What did she—"
The demon-witch's words fell to the wind as she spun around and gasped. A slender hand flew out in front of Ren, but he blocked it and struck her hard.
Tatiana staggered and crashed to the ground, blood pooling on her lips. Ren kept his distance, calculating what moves were most efficient for taking her out. If he'd had a gun, he would have shot her from a distance, but he'd given his last spare to Elliot before tracking Nika down.
Just when he found an opening to strike again, Tatiana was moving. Fast—impossibly fast. Before he even pulled back his fist, she was standing in front of him.
Without really intending to, he halted.
No.
Around the witch's neck, Asteroth's red stone sputtered to life. And like a slithering thread of mist through an otherwise crystal mountainside, a dreadful, ancient voice slipped into Ren's thoughts. It obliterated that wall of obsidian protecting his mind, and panic surged as the mental shield fell around him in glittering pieces.
Hello, old friend. So many thoughts you have. So many feelings, too. Things you despise, things you love, things you appreciate. But what is it you want most, dark creature? What makes you tick?
A menacing laugh rattled through Ren's bones. Grunting, he dropped to his knees and clutched his head.
I sense rage, Asteroth taunted. An ocean of rage. But you don't know what to do with it. Let me help you.
The demonic presence cleaved Ren in two, detaching mind from matter, and he descended into himself, deep, deep down into a frothing inferno of anger.
The red, glowing eyes of his stolen body landed on Nika. She was pale and wide-eyed, her mouth moving. But it wasn't her warm, rich voice that said, Kill her.
Savage passions blended together, and Ren became a slave to the most secret parts of himself. He was not his own. Not as he charged for Nika. Not as he followed Asteroth's commands to paint the world with her blood.
"Ren, don't!" Nika was screaming, futilely trying to break free of the restraints.
Her face twisted with dread and horror as he barreled across the grass, his heart on a rampage in his chest. In a blur, she moved, pulling one chain taut. Ren couldn't stop his momentum, and all that was left to do was brace himself as the metal dug into his shins and swept his legs from beneath him.
The impact with the ground sent stars flashing through his vision, and he distantly heard Nika begging him to retake control of his body.
"Please!" she cried. "This isn't you."
Her desperation roused a phantom of the man he was. It fought for dominance, but flames of violence engulfed him, and the wicked doppelgänger won.
When he got back on his feet, the fiend didn't feel any pain. When Nika screamed, he didn't hear it. When Tatiana circled around the clearing and etched symbols into the towering pines, he didn't see it.
All he knew was rage.
It's a weapon, Asteroth sang. Use it.
Replica-Ren wrenched the chain straight out of the tree, and as Nika went motionless, gaping at him, all he could think was, Mine—the kill is mine.