The Seven Year Witch: That Old Black Magic, Book 2 (26 page)

“Maybe I prefer to torture his soul. For eternity.”

She ripped her focus from the unbearable pain in Logan’s eyes and glanced at Envy. The sin’s eyes held a wealth of hatred and jealousy as it glared at the wolf in its grip. Her mind racing, she swallowed hard. “L-let him go, and I will love you. I will love you more than I ever loved him.”

Envy turned the full heat of its covetous stare on her. “Sweet Clarissa, you strike a hard bargain.”

The creature slowly retracted its talons, and Logan plummeted to the sand. His wolf lay motionless for many moments, stoking a noxious brew of fear within her stomach that caused her to heave. If he was dead…

Just as she was about to drop beside him, he stirred. Giving a weak whimper, he crawled toward her, his eyes beseeching. She choked back a sob. “Please go.”

He inched closer and she backed up, the place where her heart used to be cramping. “
Go
.”

A plaintive whine broke from him, slicing her to shreds. She could feel the tears drying on her face as the lake’s furnace-like heat wafted over her. “You don’t belong here. Please…just leave and forget about me.”

Envy’s fingers curled around her wrists, dragging her with him. She chanced one more look in Logan’s direction and noticed he was gone. Even as relief swept her, a crushing sorrow threatened to topple her to her knees. Feeling as if she were slowly dying, she returned her attention to Envy, who was tugging her toward a cavern half hidden in the rocky face of the mountain. “Where are you taking me?”

“To your new home, precious.” The sin hauled her into the cave, and she peered around at her subterranean cell. Water seeped from giant stalactites that covered the majority of the ceiling, dripping into the murky pools carved into the floor.

To say the place was unwelcoming would be an understatement. Shivering, she huddled against the mouth of the rocky cavity, dreading the necessity of spending even an hour within the space. She noticed that Envy was watching her closely, gauging her reaction to her new abode, undoubtedly. Despising the creature to the core, along with this wretched hellhole, she faked a smile. “It’s lovely.”

“I knew you would appreciate its charm.” The sin caressed her cheek. “I wish only to please you. We’re family now, sweet Clarissa. The only one you’ll ever need.”

As if on cue, Envy’s six siblings appeared. Greed eyed her coldly, a mocking laugh slipping past those blood-red lips. “Oh goodie. The homecoming queen has finally arrived.” She shifted her callous gaze to Envy. “It’s feeding time. Care to leave your
precious
long enough to lend a hand?”

Greed’s sarcasm seemed to roll right off Envy, because the sin merely grabbed Clarissa’s arm again and yanked her to a chain shackled to the wall of the cave. After securing the metal cuff to her ankle, the creature departed with the others.

Defeated and miserable, she slumped against the slick limestone, drawing her knees into her chest. Strange, terrifying shadows danced along the surrounding walls. She slammed her eyes shut in an effort to block them out. A scratching noise approached, and she flinched, convinced that the shadows were coming to devour her. Something cold and wet licked her face, and she shrieked.

Soft fur brushed her cheek. She opened her eyes and stared into Logan’s gleaming irises. Unable to stop it, she let a sob escape. He licked her again, her tears falling victim to the gentle persuasion of his tongue.

“You were supposed to go.”

He gave a low
woof
that she swore sounded argumentative, and she sighed. “And you call
me
stubborn.”

Butting against her, he curled into a ball and snuggled his head in the crook of her shoulder. His ear tickled her nose, but she didn’t mind. Just having him close offered a comfort sorely lacking in this place. Tunneling her fingers through his thick, silky fur, she looked up and noticed the soft glow of those odd lights she’d noticed earlier. “You can’t stay. There’s no place for you here,” she repeated.

Logan gave another forlorn whine, and the lights overhead dimmed. Her eyelids heavy, she drifted off to sleep.

He awoke with a jerk, the memory of Clarissa’s softness pressed against his wolf form slowly melting into the reality of her lifeless body resting next to him. His heart pounding erratically, he stroked his thumb across her lips. They were colder than before. But she was alive. Both here and in that other world that was filled with darkness and death.

He would bring her back. Now that his wolf had tracked its mate, there would be no stopping him. He kissed her before climbing from the bed. He’d fallen asleep in his jeans. Rather than changing into the sweatpants that Fiona had produced for him last night, he walked downstairs as is. Everyone was gathered in the kitchen, including Tanner and Sarah.

“I’ve found her. That fucking monster is keeping her chained up like a prisoner.”

Clarissa’s coven sisters gaped at him. Constance was the first to speak. “Wait a minute. You
saw
her? How is that even possible?”

“I was hoping you could tell me,” he admitted. “One minute I was asleep, the next I was inside my wolf, racing through freaky land to catch up with Clarissa’s scent.”

Fiona chewed on her thumbnail, her expression thoughtful. “Your wolf is convinced Clarissa is your mate?”

He nodded, and Fiona and Constance exchanged a look before Fiona finally glanced back at him. “That’s got to be the key. Enough of a bond has been established to link you astrally, granting you admittance in this creature’s realm.” Fiona took a deep breath, her lip quivering. “H-how is she?”

“Scared, obviously. But our Clarissa is one tough nut to crack. She has the strength to fight this thing. And we’re gonna help her.”

Everyone started talking at once. Amongst all the commotion, Tanner lurched to his feet and strode toward Logan. Anxiety rode every inch of the kid’s features. “It took her, didn’t it?”

Logan blinked, taken aback. Tanner started pacing, his hands shoving through his cropped-short hair. “She didn’t tell me it was taking her so soon. I—I thought…
shit
.”

A gasp shot from Sarah. “Tanner Joe Montgomery. You know better than to cuss in front of a roomful of ladies.”

At the moment, Logan didn’t give two shits if Tanner swore a blue streak. It was the rest of the startling revelation coming from the kid’s mouth that had him interested. “What do you mean she
told
you?” Why the hell would Clarissa confide in a total stranger when she hadn’t peeped a word to her coven sisters? To
him
?

Tanner slid a cautious glance in his mother’s direction. It became clear to Logan that the boy was unlikely to say much more in front of her, for some reason. Clamping onto the kid’s shoulder, he prodded him toward the hallway. Once they were safely out of earshot of the women, he backed Tanner against the wall, leveling him with a steely look. “Spill.”

“Th-the thing also tried to contract my soul. I would have done it, too, if she hadn’t stopped me.”

Shit
. He dropped his hand from Tanner’s shoulder. He eyed the kid’s ashen pallor, suddenly realizing that a possible source of insider information had just fallen into his lap. “What do you know about this thing that has Clarissa?”

“Just that its name is Seven, and it has about a bajillion fucking personalities.” Tanner slashed a quick look toward the kitchen, his cheeks taking on a guilty flush. “Uh, please don’t tell my ma I said the F word. She’d be running for the Palmolive.”

“What do you mean by personalities?”

Tanner shrugged. “Exactly how it sounds. The thing can appear one way one second and something else the other.”

His mind tracked back to the trucker and the doppelganger. He’d seen the creep walk off with them, along with four others he hadn’t been able to really make out in the fog crawling in off the fiery lake. And now that he thought about it, a couple of those
personalities
had been at that weird-ass mansion. If he understood Tanner right, all those creatures were the same
thing
?

He rubbed his jaw, his brain spinning. Hell, he’d never heard anything like it. Still, it didn’t necessarily surprise him. There was plenty of odd shit in the world, the majority of it existing outside the boundaries of most folks’ comprehension.

So basically, it boiled down to them having to battle not one son of a bitch, but several.
Jesus
. Mimicking Tanner’s earlier move, he rifled his fingers through his hair and burned a path in the hallway runner as he let the ramifications sink in. He returned his scrutiny to Tanner. “Is there anything at all you can remember about this Seven creature that might shed some light on what might kill it? Or at least what could be a weakness we could use against it?”

“Not really. It spent most of the time telling me all the things it could do for me. You know, to convince me to sign the contract. It was pretty damn persuasive too. I almost fell for it.” Shame tinted Tanner’s voice and clouded his eyes.

Remembering the similar expression Clarissa had worn while she’d admitted to her hidden envies, Logan squeezed the boy’s arm. “You can’t beat yourself up over it. None of us are infallible. It’s called being human.”

Tanner frowned. “Actually, that reminds me. I don’t think Seven holds any warm fuzzies where humans are concerned. In fact, I sorta get the feeling it pretty much thinks we’re scum.”

Logan scowled. “What a coincidence. ’Cause I feel the same way about it.”

He spent the rest of the day strategizing a plan. The way he saw it, there was only one option when it came to discovering the way to destroy Seven.

He’d have to go directly to the source.

A little covert spying in that other twilight world just might dig up the dirt that’d put a permanent end to that motherfucker. He’d have to be careful not to alert the creature to his presence, but that shouldn’t be too difficult. The hard part would be staying long enough within the dream state that allowed his wolf free rein over there. He’d only been with Clarissa’s soul roughly an hour. That wasn’t enough time to learn dick. He didn’t trust anything chemical, such as a sleeping pill. Pharmaceuticals tended to have an adverse affect on his shifting. Who knew if they’d produce a similar outcome in the REM state? Best not to risk it.

There was another option—one he’d never personally tried before. Hypnosis.

Kegan had once mentioned that Constance knew how to perform past-life regression, which utilized hypnosis. If she used the same technique on him, she might be able talk his wolf back into that other world and hold him there long enough to find out everything he could to annihilate the monster and bring Clarissa back, safe and sound.

Like anything else, there were risks involved. He’d be under the influence of another, giving him less control of his wolf. But he was racing against time here. Every hour lost took Clarissa deeper and deeper under the command of that fucking thing.

Leaving his mate’s bedside, he went downstairs in search of Constance. God willing, his plan would work.

Chapter Twenty-Three

She didn’t know how long she slept before Envy came for her again. At first she panicked, thinking Logan was still curled beside her. But as awareness slowly crept within her drowsy brain, so did the chill of the limestone beneath her. Logan’s warmth was gone. As was he. Maybe he’d taken to heart her admonishment to stay away.

Envy sprung the shackle from her ankle and jerked her to her feet. “Come. I have a surprise for you.”

Her knees, stiff and aching from her uncomfortable bed on the hard stone, protested the rough treatment. She steadied herself before traipsing after Envy. Outside the cave, the sky remained cloaked in twilight. How could that be? She’d dozed for what’d seemed like forever. Surely dawn should have broken by now. Unless…

Perhaps this place was perpetually shrouded in darkness.

A heavy bleakness anchored in her chest at the idea of never seeing the sun again or feeling its comforting rays.

“Look. Isn’t it wonderful?”

She lifted her head at Envy’s excited shout. An enormous fountain stood in the middle of the beach. It took her a moment to realize it was an exact replica of the one in Forsyth Park. Wispy figures were frolicking beneath its spray. She drew nearer, and the three individuals came into sharper focus—Jolene and the two Tatum girls. She recoiled in shock.

“Quite realistic, aren’t they? I spent all day working to get their likenesses perfect.”

She gaped at Envy, who seemed oblivious of her reaction. But then the sin turned toward her, its zealous glee intensifying. With sickening clarity, she determined the creature’s motive for resurrecting the painful scene. “Why do you crave torturing me this way?” She hated how small her voice sounded, like she’d been transformed back into that child who’d longed for her parents’ love and affection.

“Because it gives
me
great joy.” The voice did not come from Envy.

She pivoted, horror crashing over her as a massive, hideous beast rose from the depths of the lake. It resembled a giant squid, but with seven heads and huge, demonic red eyes.

Each of which just so happened to be pinned on her. She stumbled backward, nearly tripping on the sand. “Dear goddess, protect us all.”

A deep booming laugh thundered from the beast. It was then that she recalled where she’d heard the sound before. In her dream.

This was Seven. The core creature comprising the sins.

“Your goddess does not exist here.
I
am the creator of all. And the destroyer of many. Bow before me, you worthless human.”

If her legs weren’t already too frozen to move, she still would have refused the demand. The creature’s numerous mouths yawned open, revealing a plethora of razor-sharp teeth. “
Bow
.”

Before she could tell Seven what it could do with that request, Envy shoved at her shoulders, forcing her to her hands and knees, until the rough scrape of silica bit into her palms.

“That’s more like it.”

“I didn’t—” She broke off with a gasp, tears stinging her eyes as Envy’s talons dug into her scalp.