Raven of Water

Chapter 30: Sacrifice

Why Kai wouldn't want me to reach the dagger I didn't know, and I brushed aside my creeping doubt in favor of keeping myself calm. I'd need a clear head to do what needed to be done. Sighing and ignoring my fear and mistrust, I shifted my head and stared up at the overcast sky as my grandfather and Jackson began to chant something, an incantation I'd never heard before. It was strange that the entire coven wasn't here, although I didn't feel like asking the two of them why.

As the spells of the pair fell on me, my powers stirred, and though I called upon them, they wouldn't come to me, not in the way that I needed them to. Perhaps my lack of access to my powers was the restraints.

Maybe it was something more, something divine?

Whatever forces prevented me from accessing my full powers didn't startle me. I had the sense that something was about to happen. Something big. That's why I couldn't access my abilities. They were building, priming for some spectacular display of power. The yelled chants from Jackson and my grandfather had now merged into one and were scattered by the wind, making their voices sound almost like white noise. The sound was strangely soothing, and it had me relaxing as I stared into the sky, sinking into the stone beneath me as I relaxed. My subconscious mind assured me that everything was as it was supposed to be. I'd never felt so strange. Maybe I'd been drugged, although I was quite sure Kai wouldn't have done that to me. No, this was something inside me. Something as ancient as the land we stood on right now.

Then I noticed the raven overhead, swooping along the air currents.

It was strange that she was up this high, as this wasn't an altitude where many animals thrived. Smiling at the creature, I soon noticed her joined by another... then another... then more until the distant sky was filled with sleek black feathered creatures.

I could sense their eyes on me. Watching. Waiting.

They were beautiful.

Like Kai.

When the chanting shifted, I looked over to notice Jackson approaching me, a ceremonial dagger clutched menacingly in his clawed hand. Kai stood by near my head, glaring but not saying anything as Jackson reached my side.

Jackson still smelled like the expensive cologne he wore, the scent of his privilege and arrogance made me gag. When he spoke, spittle flew from his mouth and befouled my face. Above us, the flight of the ravens grew more erratic...

Enraged. The birds were furious.

"You don't know how long I've waited for this, Lex."

I snorted, shifting in my chains and testing their hold, although I knew that escape wouldn't be easy. Experience had taught me that these sorts of binds weren't escapable, but my body still tried despite what my mind knew.

"Weird and very evil villain of you. Hey, Jackson, tell me, did your therapy every take, or are you still an arrogant asshole who can't get it up unless he—"

The man slapped me hard across the face, cutting off my words as I felt my lip split and blood spill out onto the stone underneath me. Kai made a low noise of warning, but didn't move as Jackson laughed and my grandfather kept chanting. Grinning maniacally, Jackson gently ran the tip of his dagger over my arm, barely scratching the surface of my skin before he lifted the metal and dipped it in the blood from my busted lip. Still smiling, he then held the knife aloft to inspect it in the hazy light of the overcast mountain day.

"Technically, this is enough blood to start the ceremony, but I really, really enjoyed that. I think I'll do it one more time. Where else should I make you bleed, Lex?"

"You're insane." I glowered, wincing when my tongue slid out and licked the ravaged skin of my lip. I was going to have a few scars after this...

More than a few.

"It's your power." His grin grew as he sucked my blood off the knife before his gaze slid over my body. It took me a few moments to catch onto his line of thinking. My power made him hate me?

"You had no idea what you were, but we did. There's a reason only women can open the gates, Lex. You're so much more powerful than us. I can feel that magic coursing through your veins. It makes me dizzy."

"And that's the reason you keep women subjugated, Jackson? You're scared of us."

His nod and deadly gaze had me recoiling. "Because if you knew what you were capable of, you'd destroy all of us."

Really. This was where his hate came from? His fear? The revelation almost had me laughing despite the poisonous glare the man was giving me.

"Don't be dramatic, Jack. We'd just destroy the assholes." I grinned, ignoring the pain the movement caused in my lip as Jackson's gaze darkened and he lifted the sleeve of my dress, exposing my forearm. He was going to cut me again, and there wasn't anything I could do yet, so instead, I kept speaking. "Destroy like I'm going to destroy you. And close this gate. You think you've won, but you've only reminded me what I really am."

The birds swooped lower, watching the scene play out below them. I could feel our reflections in their black eyes, shiny and black like onyx or obsidian.

"I'm going to end this, Jackson. All of it. And I'm going to take control of the coven from my grandfather, and we will be good, a safe place for women and outcasts from our world. No more of the bullshit. Then we'll come for your coven and take over that one. And the next one. And the next. Until all of you assholes are gone and only the good remains. But the first step for me is closing this gate."

Jackson laughed darkly at my threat, staring into my eyes as he whispered. "Only the death of the key will close the gate, Lex. So, if you really want to do that, if you really want to close the gate, then you're going to die."

I scowled, my rage slipping into confusion, though the anger stayed there, boiling below the surface. They weren't just going to use me. They were going to kill me, too.

"Why? Why do you hate me so much?"

"You're a reminder of everything I can't have," he spat, gaze growing mad as he snarled out, yelling so that I could hear his words over the gusts of wind. The birds still watched as they'd always done. "The powers! The peace! You have everything I'll never have, and that's not fair. Because I'm better than you. We're better than you. We're stronger and deserve everything you have and more!"

I rolled my eyes to hide my fear of his insane and vindictive mind. "Look. Let's get this show on the road, then. You're fucking insane, and you're going on an evil villain monologue right now. Just do what you're supposed to do so that we can end this, asshole."

Frowning, he ran his fingers over the soft, exposed skin of my forearm, his tone shifting to a hideous lust that slithered over my skin. "Fuck. Why are women so beautiful?"

That was what he snarled out before dragging the blade roughly against my skin, spilling more of my blood and leaving me to whimper, the sound of which only had him laughing.

Still chuckling, Jackson strode over to the stone gate, knife dripping my blood onto the ground as he moved. The chanting from my grandfather reached a crescendo, and I strained my neck to watch as Jackson got my blood on his fingers then smeared it in each of the four quadrants of the gate.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, I heard it, a drone coming from the stone gate that sounded like the buzz from an improperly grounded electrical box. There was a slight tremor in the ground, and looking triumphant, Jackson stepped back to stand beside Kai, who glared at the man with vitriol.

After a few more seconds, the gate began to glow, filling with a purple light.

Purple like my powers.

But, it smelled like sulfur, and a clawed hand emerged, gouging the stone as the creature fought to pull itself out of the swirling and undulating mass of violet power. I hissed, tugging lightly on my restraints as if that would help me get free. Near me, Jackson laughed, watching the demon emerge from the portal with horrid glee.

When the creature's head popped out, I realized I recognized him... Daz.

The demon was emerging, the one that could read minds and rip out memories, and I was stuck to the stone, offered up as a sacrifice to the creature I'd just pissed off the day before.