Ink & Dagger (Sins of Eden #1)

44. Chapter XLIV

Chapter XLIV

Emily

A resounding crash and males yelling at one another down below startled me into action at the exact moment that Jaxon gripped my wrist and began growling low in his chest.

“Gabriel,” he spat like a curse.

He let go and spun as if to march back down the stairs to join the fight, but I grabbed his arm and held him in place.

“Jaxon, please -” I pleaded desperately.

Please what? Don’t leave? Don’t fight him? Don’t get yourself killed?

I didn’t even know what I was asking of him, but my simple plea was enough to make him take a deep breath and follow me instead. We took off together down the hall, sprinting through the foyer to a room that I’d only entered once before, almost a lifetime ago, the night I came into my powers.

The ceremony room.

As I stepped into the room, lit by only the flames of the black candles along the floor, I staggered back into Jaxon’s hard chest. All of the remaining Witches of the Dark Hearts , both young and old, lay in a circle on the ground in a pool of crimson as if they’d all been slaughtered at once. Their life blood poured to the center of the pentagram on the marble from gaping wounds to each of their throats.

This was bad. Really fucking bad.

A drop of blood from a Witch was enough to allow one Witch to walk the in-between. But an entire fucking coven? Not only would this amount of blood bring hoards of vampires into town, but an “offering” this size didn’t just open the in-between - it was the in-between, contained only by the magical barrier of the pentagram.

“Sweet Witch,” Jaxon called through my thoughts, pointing to the center of the room.

He took a step forward as if to cross the barrier, but I tugged him backwards before he could get any further.

“You can’t enter.” I whispered in a shallow breath.

“But we have to get to them,” he said, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked down at me.

“I said you can’t enter,” I reiterated.

Gripping the collar of his shirt, I pulled him down to me and kissed him hard, savoring the way his lips felt against my own as I mentally pushed all of my emotions to him. I didn’t know how this was going to go, if I would even be able to leave once I crossed the barrier. This wasn’t the same as when I used astral projection to walk the in-between, but if these were to be my last moments then it would be with the memory of his lips on mine and him knowing how much I loved him.

“Emily,” he growled as I backed away from him and turned towards the pentagram.

“Guard the doors, Brimstone. Don’t let Gabriel in and no matter what happens, do not come after me.” My voice shook as I spoke.

Relaxing my breathing and slowing down my heart rate, I took my first step into the pentagram. I glanced over my shoulder, watching with my heart in my throat as he banged his fists against the barrier and screamed for me to come back.

His frantic voice was drowned out by the screeches and cries of the trapped spirits of the Witches who had been murdered tonight.

Some were familiar to me, Witches who I’d grown up with and others I’d never met, each trying to push their way out. I straightened my spine and took another deep breath, feeling myself become weaker by the second just from being in the realm of lost souls. This wasn’t like the times I’d astroprojected my soul here. This time, my physical body was in this realm too and if I weren’t quick, I would soon cross over completely. One foot in front of the other, I walked closer to the center, each step feeling heavier and harder to take. My knees buckled and my body shook the further I got.

I was Emily Celeste Cross.

Daughter of Katelyn Abigail Cross.

I was the strongest grey Witch alive and a fucking half Angel.

No Demon, Witch, or realm could stop me.

Something within me clicked the moment I thought those words and I felt my magical well of strength that had previously felt depleted become an endless supply of power. A faint light radiated from my skin as I straightened my spine and took another step, crossing to the center of the room, to the cage containing Ghost and Cerys.

The souls that had previously been gathering closer to me now hissed and retreated as I crossed the makeshift in-between, avoiding my holy light and the power I radiated.