𝐒𝐲𝐧 ┃𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

124. 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑖

???

I smelled them the instant they appeared. The awful scent of death and fire engulfed my senses, leaving me nauseated and desperate to grab Queen and flee. I shut all the curtains, only peeking out of the one beside the front door. They were always here- colluding. But I felt another presence- one much more suffocating even before they arrived.

I took a chance to glance back at Queen. She was lying in the same spot she passed out in. Black symbols and patterns snaked themselves around her wrists and ankles, like chains against the floor. I wasn't sure what type of demonic entity she had allowed to enter her body, but my plan wouldn't work if she was corrupted by it.

I needed her pure. As pure as someone like her could be anyway...but this wouldn't help. At all. She was beginning to smell like them- my nostrils and throat burned every time I inhaled the ash smell.

There was no choice but to render her unconscious. I could see the blank rage setting into her eyes when I was on top of her. After a few moments of holding all the power, it became a game of survival. If I didn't make a move, she would have killed me.

I scoffed, shaking my head. She would have killed me. When I had done nothing but try to save her from herself and her choices.

She was a hard one to win over. I should have known considering what she did to me all those years ago, but I thought it would be a lot easier than this. I didn't expect her to fight me like this. I could've been whatever and whoever she wanted me to be. But she was holding out. I looked out the sliver in the curtains-- for them. For him.

For hope of being "rescued". She would never need saving from me but her mind had been so warped by these creatures that she actually believed that they had her best interest at heart. They abandoned her and came back when it was convenient for them. I stayed. Even when she pushed me to the brink and I wanted nothing more than to move on, I stayed. I was the only one in her life that had.

The sooner she realized that, the better. And until then, she could stay unconscious. Maybe she would come to her senses. Even if she didn't yet, it would delay the magic beginning to consume her. It would buy me time to once and for all get rid of the people standing in the way of our happiness.

I studied them all. A couple of men; vampires...easy enough to kill. I recognized one as Drake and my confidence soared even more. He'd help me. He despised Syn. The witch who would've been trickier to kill if she were more powerful stood beside him. My eyes landed on the grimoire in her hand. Now that would be a problem. Even in a mere mortal's hand, it'd do damage. Where did they get something like that? It glowed a bright gold only visible to me, the whispers of spirits radiating off of it-- calling out to me.

Chanting my name.

My true name.

And if it knew my true name, then it was written somewhere inside of it. I tensed. I had spent centuries destroying any written record of my name in such books. I freed myself long ago, but if they had already known, they would've done something with it. I was safe for the moment, but I couldn't determine for exactly how long.

I needed that book.

I needed leverage to get it though. They wouldn't just hand it to me. The moment I placed any sort of importance on it, Syn would immediately catch it.

My eyes bounced around each of them. The ideas ran frantic in my mind. I couldn't leave. They needed to come to me. I could kill them outside the barrier, but it would be ten times more difficult and I wasn't in the habit of making things harder on myself.

Cain stood in front of Syn, both of them deep in conversation and I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was right beside them- weightless and invisible to them. They couldn't see or hear me. I was just a spirit lingering around them, my chest tightening as my proximity to the book increased. I tried to ignore its call and zeroed my focus on their conversation. Their mouths were moving, but I could only make out bits and pieces of the conversation.