AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My muscles spasm as an electric current fries my brain.
“Oops. Did I forget to mention this collar is noise-activated? A single word from you and the device will send a shock of electricity through your body.”
I grit my teeth and force myself to bear the pain.
“In trouble,” I gasp before the surge of electricity becomes too much and brings me to my knees again, leaving me clinging to the railing of the stairs and praying to Gaia that Sebastian gets to Fintan in time.
Sebastian wasn’t lying about the collar. This one differs from the one the wolves had. Beyond the bonus of electric shock therapy, the dampening effect is so extreme it feels worse than the time I had a horrible strain of the flu and couldn’t lift my head.
A thump from above us has Sebastian turning his head to the ceiling a moment before a blast of light flashes from the office.
“What in the nine circles of hell?”
Yeah, I want to scream at him. Moon Witches. That’s what I was trying to tell you, asshole.
“What’s going on?” Rune asks, appearing in the opening of the front door. His gaze lands on me and Sebastian, and in the next moment he’s already upstairs with a scream of Finn’s name.
That finally gets Sebastian moving.
Woozy and getting worse by the second, I push myself out the front of the house. Guilt gnaws at me for leaving Finn behind. The feeling is irrational.
And not real, I remind myself.
However I feel about him right now, it’s a figment of Fintan’s imagination. Without my magic, it’s not like there’s anything I can do to help.
Stupid Sebastian and his stupid freaking collar.
My steps falter when I reach the lawn. It’s quiet out here. Not the calm quiet of the middle of the night when most people are safely tucked into their beds, but the eerie, still silence that alerts your sixth sense that something is terribly, horribly wrong.
I move as quickly as I can across the grass, onto the stone path, and then the cracked sidewalk beyond. By the time my shoes hit the asphalt of the road, I’m panting even though I’ve run only fifty feet.
I try to inhale, but get no relief from the burning in my lungs as my throat tightens. Each step makes me more out of breath, and I’m heaving, collapsing onto the road, still hot from being baked in the sun all day.
The edges of my vision go blurry, and when I gasp for breath, the weak sound sends a brief burst of lightning sizzling through my body.
I can’t catch my breath.
The only thing I can do is cling onto the solid weight of the grimoire against my chest.
I’m about to pass out.
“You found the other feature of my collar, I see.”
Air rushes into my lungs and I sputter back into consciousness, hauling glorious oxygen into my system as a shadow looms over me.
I scream when the collar around my neck zaps to life and scream again as the cycle continues until I have no breath to make even a whisper of sound.
Sebastian smirks down at me, amused by my impression of a fish out of water, flopping around and gulping at the air. His eyes are the same color as the blood staining his lips and for a horrifying moment, I fear he bit me while I was out of it.
“Josie!” The harsh tone of Finn’s voice makes me flinch, but when he comes into view, there is only concern on his face. He pushes Sebastian away and bends to help me to my feet.
Who am I kidding? He all but holds my entire weight, my shaking legs still pulsing like they have their own heartbeat. I hate to admit it, but I’m glad to see Finn, and relieved to see he doesn’t have any wounds on him.
I’m even more relieved he intervened when he did.
Rune whistles as he joins us on the road. “Good gods, that was—okay, I missed something. What did I miss?” The middle-aged woman in his arms groans as she’s manhandled by the vampire, slipping in and out of consciousness and bleeding from the nose.
Sebastian seems unfazed. “Rune, bring our Moon Witch friend back to Elysian, then you’re with me along the Algiers boundary. The wolves can’t have gotten far, and they’ll have to get past us if they want back onto their side of the river.”
