A Curse in Darkness by Sherilee Gray

Chapter 27

Willow

Ren was strappedto a chair in Else’s workroom, and the spirit inside him was seriously pissed off.

“Bring me Elswyth!” he screamed as soon as I removed the gag. “You promised me Elswyth, now bring her to me.”

Iris and Mags stood behind me, and Warrick hadn’t left my side. I crouched down in front of Ren. “We didn’t promise you that.” Else wasn’t home, thankfully. We wanted to find out more about this guy before she stepped foot in here. They had a past, and it was pretty fucking obvious that past was horrific. “If you want to see her, you need to answer some questions first.”

He spat at me, and I dodged the loogie just in time.

“Tell me who summoned you?”

His face screwed up in a way that was not Ren, then he snapped his teeth at me.

“What’s your name?”

He said nothing.

His gaze slid around the room, light sparking in his eyes. “Is she listening? Is she hiding somewhere, listening to me?”

“Maybe,” I lied.

His gaze slid back to me, with eyes that weren’t my fox’s, and he stared hard, like he was trying to set me alight from the force of his rage alone. Then he tilted his head back and yelled, “I know you’re listening, Else. Stanley screamed, he begged me not to hurt you. He begged for your life right until he stopped breathing.”

Stanley? Else’s familiar. He’d died when he was twenty-one and Else was nineteen. He’d been the love of her life, she’d told us that much, and she’d never loved anyone the same since. She never told us what happened; she couldn’t even bring herself to talk about it all these years later.

“You killed her familiar?” I rasped.

He grinned. “I tortured him. He lingered for days before I finally chopped him into little pieces.”

“Who the fuck are you?” I rasped.

The door opened, and Else walked in, Mom right behind her, looking frantic. There was fear in Else’s gaze, real fear, something Else seldom let anyone see, no matter how bad things got. She was one of the strongest women I knew.

“This is Edward, my sadistic weasel of a cousin,” she said. “He killed my Stan, then tried to kill me.” She patted her prosthetic leg. “But I wasn’t the one who died.”

Ren’s head jerked back. “Who are you?”

Else limped to her workbench and unraveled a length of string, then sliced her palm, balling up the string in her hand to soak up her blood. She was trembling as she came closer. “You don’t recognize me, Ed?”

He thrashed in the chair, fighting his bindings. “Why would I recognize you?”

“I know I’ve aged, but surely there’s still some of the girl I was left? Why don’t you look into my eyes, Ed? Look into your cousin’s eyes.”

He stopped his thrashing and stared at her with his black gaze, confusion slashing across his face.

“It’s been a while, Ed. I had hoped never to see you again, but here we are.”

“How?” he whispered.

“Haven’t you wondered why your magic doesn’t work?”

His eyes went wild. “I thought you bound them, didn’t you? You were always jealous of my power…so you…”

She shook her head. “You were the one who was jealous. I was the powerful one, and Stan saw right through you. He knew you wanted to hurt me.”

“I got rid of him,” he said with glee. “I took him from you, to break you. Then I was going to kill you—”

“But I killed you,” Else snarled.

The room went silent. Ed had no idea how much time had passed, or that he’d died fifty-three years ago, or that Else had killed him. Shit.

“No,” he said, fighting against his ropes again. “You’re lying.”

She went to the other side of the room and snatched a mirror from one of the drawers and brought it back. She held it in front of him.

“Why are you making me look in a mirror?” he said, staring at himself.

“This is not your face.”

His eyes darted frantically over the reflection staring back. “Yes, it is,” he roared.

The mind will make you think all kinds of things if you want to believe it badly enough.

“You were never this good-looking,” Else said. “Another reason you were jealous of Stan. You always were an ugly little weasel, inside and out.”

He hissed and snapped at her.

“You set your trap for me and left me overnight,” she said. “You planned to come back, to torture me like you did Stan.” She slid her blade free from the sheath she wore hanging from her waist. “I took my own leg, freed myself, and when you came looking for me to finish the job, I buried this knife in your heart. I sent you to Hell. That’s where you came from, Ed, and where we’re going to send you right back.”

“No,” he said, thrashing harder, fear filling his gaze. He shook his head furiously. “No. You’re lying.”

“But first you’re going to tell me who summoned you.” Else lifted her fist, still holding the blood-soaked string, and pressed it to her lips, whispering a spell before she unraveled it, then began wrapping it around one of Ren’s arms.

Smoke rose from his skin, the bloodied string burning into it. I cried out, and I tried to rush forward. “You’re hurting Ren!”

Warrick hooked me around the waist, holding me back. “Wait,” he said against my ear.

The silver was still binding the spirit to Ren, which meant the spirit could feel pain, but so could Ren. If someone became the blood enemy to a coven, the blood of those witches could literally be used as a weapon. Something Else had obviously done. She kept wrapping more around his arm, and Mom stepped forward, her eyes closing, hands outstretched, whispering a spell that would cause more pain. Ren arched, veins in his neck bulging, and screamed. Iris pulled Mags in tight, hugging her as Ren continued to scream in pain. I wasn’t sure I could take much more. Mom went to Else’s workbench and unraveled more string, making a slice in her own palm.

Else leaned in. “Who summoned you?”

He hissed, nostrils flaring, and shook his head.

She started again, Mom joining in, and I couldn’t bear it. I knew why they were doing it—whoever did this had targeted Mags and me. But seeing Ren suffer like this was tearing me apart.

“Stan cried when I told him I was going to kill you next,” he screamed. “So I took his eyes.”

Else swayed, then straightened and drew her knife. She was going to stab Ren. Warrick released me and grabbed Else, lifting her off her feet, and carried her out of the room.

Everything went silent. Mom stood beside me, a look of shock on her face. Biting back tears, I turned to Ren—no, Ed. “Who summoned you?”

He clamped his mouth shut.

I lifted my hands and whispered a spell that I never had before. It was used by witches as a torture device, attacking every nerve ending in the body. I’d been told it felt like being sliced by razor blades from the inside out. Ren threw his head back again and screamed. Acid crawled up my throat.

“Tell us!” I yelled.

When he said nothing, I stepped back. “Fine, you can go back to Hell.”

He stared at me, and then something flashed through his eyes, a flicker of a memory, and he started to freak the fuck out. “No! No, I can’t go back there. Don’t send me back there.”

“Then tell me what I want to know.”

He was shaking so hard his teeth chattered. “I think…a woman.” He squeezed his eyes closed. “A woman’s voice. That’s all I know, I promise. That’s all I know.”

“Where did you hide Stan’s body?” That was the only other thing Else had told us about Stan, that she didn’t know where he was. She’d never gotten the chance to say goodbye to him.

He bared his teeth. “I drove him out of town and threw his body into Hunters Ravine.”

I had to ask just one more thing. I didn’t know if the image of Azel I’d had while I was shadow seeking was real or something my mind conjured, but I had to ask. “Do you know a fallen angel named Azel?”

No recognition showed on Ed’s face at the mention of that monster. “No.”

Relief shot through me. “Prepare the oil, Iris.” I slid off my shirt. “Mags, get the urns.”

Ren’s head swung around the room, watching us. Ed knew what we were doing. He was a witch, or had been once. “No. No, I told you what you wanted to know. I told you the truth. That’s all I know, I promise, it’s all I know.”

Mom moved in and took his face in her hands. “You deserve to burn in Hell for eternity, Ed. And we’re going to make sure you do.” Then she gagged him again and we got to work.

I’d done this a couple of times just recently, so it didn’t take long for us to gather what we needed, only this time we wouldn’t just be getting the spirit out of Ren and holding it, we’d be sending Ed, and the other two we had trapped, back to Hell.

Art and Bram were with Warrick, and I told them to stay with Else and Rose, but Else walked back into the room a few minutes later, calm and focused. She wanted to be here to see Ed go back to the torture and horror he deserved, and I didn’t blame her. I looked at Ren, and there was still no trace of him when I stared into his eyes. I felt that loss down to my soul.

“You don’t have to do this,” I said to Mags. “We’ve got it covered.”

She was behind one of the shelves, finishing with the oil. Mags was still young and hated any spells that required her to get naked; it was bad enough around us, let alone someone else. I got that. I’d been in the same boat as her. It was humiliating. Nothing made you notice your flaws, or changing body, more acutely than having to stand naked in front of someone, but eventually, it also made you accept those things and learn to either love them or not give one shit about them. It just took some time.

“No, I’m helping. I want to send that fucker back to Hell,” she said as she walked out.

Our Mags was utterly gorgeous. Shorter than Iris, Rose, and I, and curvier as well. Her thick, wavy, black hair was pulled forward, covering her full breasts, and my heart gripped at the sight of all the long cuts, the rows of stitches, against her pale skin. I held out my hand and she gave me a determined look as she took it, giving it a squeeze.

The five of us stood around Ren, Iris, and Mom, holding the other two urns containing the souls I’d already gathered. They placed them on the floor by Ren’s feet, and Else laid salt down in a circle around them, then nodded to Mom and Iris. They unscrewed the urns and the rat corpses exploded out, hissing and backing away from the salt, running around Ren’s feet.

We joined hands, and Else began the chant. “What was summoned will be returned. Hell, take back these souls so dark, remove it from the mortal realm, never to return.” We all followed one by one, oldest to youngest, a chorus of voices all repeating the spell over one another, an unbreakable chain, a wall of words and magic flowing through our voices.

We grew in speed and volume, and Ren threw his head back and roared, the rats running in circles, shrieking.

The floor within the circle began to swirl and glow.

Ren thrashed harder, blood coming from his eyes, his ears, his nose. I wanted to snatch him out, I wanted to stop his pain, but I couldn’t do that. Not yet.

The floor glowed brighter, brighter still, then there was an explosion of heat and an orange light, a boom so deep, it shook the ground beneath us.

The dead, rotting rats fell limp.

Ren slumped in his chair.

The awful noise stopped, the heat and light dimmed until it was gone, and the stone floor was back to the way it had been.

The door flew open and Bram ran in, chest heaving, eyes full of fear. “Mags…”

“I’m okay, B,” she said.

He froze, his eyes sliding over her, then widened. He quickly dipped his head and ducked back out, shutting the door behind him.

I rushed to Ren, dropping to my knees. “Renny?”

He didn’t move, his eyes squeezed shut.

I dipped my face lower. “Ren, please.”

His eyes opened, and I sucked in a pained breath. The agony, the desolation, the horrors there were more than one being could contain. I reached for him, and he jerked away, stumbling to his feet.

Lifting my hands, I took a step back. “It’s me, Renny. You’re safe now.”

He shook his head. “Stay away from me.”

My heart shattered. “It’s me, it’s Willow.”

“I know,” he rasped and looked at his hands. There was dried blood on them. He stumbled farther away from me. “The things I’ve done, Wills…the things he made me do…”

“That wasn’t you,” I said and took a step closer. “None of it was you.”

His eyes widened in fear. “I can’t be here…I can’t…” He shifted, turning into his fox, and tore from the room. I snatched the robe Mom held out to me, shoved it on, and went after him. I ran out the door and down the hall, then out the front door.

But there was no sign of him.

He was already gone.

Still, I wandered into the field next door, a place he loved to run when he was younger. I called for him until my voice was hoarse, but he didn’t come. I dropped to my knees and buried my face in my hands and sobbed until big, muscled arms wrapped around me from behind and I was lifted to my feet. Warrick held me close, he held me up, giving me all the strength he could.

“I’ve got you,” he said against my hair.

“He’s gone.”

“He needs time.”

“What if…what if he hurts himself, what if he…”

“Don’t,” Warrick said. “Give him time to get it all straight in his head.”

I wasn’t sure that was possible. Edric chose death over living with what he’d done while possessed, over turning feral. A hellhound, a thousand years old.

How was my gentle, sweet fox going to get through it on his own? Without me there to help him?

Warrick gave me a squeeze as if he were trying to take the pain and hurt from me, and when I was in his arms like this, I almost believed he could. For a short time, anyway.

I lifted my head and Warrick brushed away my tears, then took my hand to lead me inside.

As I turned, I spotted a familiar envelope sticking out of the letterbox.

I slid the thick folded parchment free and opened it. It was from the council, a time, date, and location scrawled on it in blood.

“What is that?” Warrick asked.

“My trial, it’s tomorrow night.”