Sacrifice Me, Season two Read online

  Sacrifice Me, Season Two

  Part 1

  Sarra Cannon

  Dead River Books

  Copyright © 2018 by Sarra Cannon

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Cover by Ravven

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  Contents

  Episode One

  Episode Two

  Episode Three

  Three Free Books

  Join Sarra’s Newsletter

  Also by Sarra Cannon

  About the Author

  To my friend Emily.

  Because you believed in this one.

  Thank you. <3

  Episode One

  Prologue

  Franki

  Growing up, we learn there’s only one thing that’s completely unavoidable in this life.

  Death.

  No matter who you are or what you do, death is always waiting for you at the end of the road.

  At least, that’s what I always believed. Back before I knew I was different. Back before I walked down that alley and stepped through Venom’s doors.

  I used to believe a person was lucky just to get seventy or eighty years to figure shit out and try to make the most of it. Now I know there are some who get more than just a handful of decades.

  They get centuries.

  What would you do with hundreds of years on this earth? What would a decision or a single moment mean in a lifetime like that?

  They say time heals all wounds, but what if that’s not true?

  What if time is the one thing that makes it impossible to move on and forget the mistakes we’ve made? The pain we’ve caused?

  Or is it all relative? Does a year with someone you love mean it will only take a year to forget them?

  Nothing more. Nothing less.

  I’ve been asking myself these questions a lot lately. Time is something that’s on my mind more than ever, because I’m running out of it faster than I ever dreamed.

  I lie awake at night watching him toss and turn, and I know that once I’m gone, he’ll have centuries to mourn me. He’ll have lifetimes to curse me for my decisions.

  And for his own.

  I imagine the pain will be unbearable at first, but over the months and years, it will fade until it’s nothing more than an occasional sting at the edge of his consciousness.

  How long before he forgets me entirely?

  He says there isn’t time enough in the world for that to ever happen, but I can’t imagine a hundred years from now he’ll still be whispering my name from the rooftops of Paris or standing on these Alpine cliffs shedding tears over losing a girl like me.

  No, my name will be a dusty word locked away in the attic of his memory.

  He may pull it out from time to time and think about the months we spent together, but I don’t fool myself enough to believe that less than a year in his arms equates to an eternity of mourning my death when I’m gone.

  It isn’t fair, but unlike death, fairness has never been promised to any of us.

  I can feel the darkness closing in, and I know that death is watching me.

  It won’t be long now, and no matter how much I want to spend my final days curled up in my love’s arms, I refuse to let it end this way.

  When the time comes, he won’t be able to do what has to be done, and then we’ll both be lost. I won’t do that to him.

  I won’t leave him with that choice.

  I lift my eyes and stare out at the early morning fog that curls around the mountains like a soft blanket. I will miss this place and its magical beauty. Its solitude and safety.

  I will miss the clean smell of freshly fallen snow and the warm crackle of the fire after we’ve come in from a long day of hiking to rest our feet on the hearth.

  I will miss the sweeping staircase and the way he looks at me as I walk down the steps to meet him.

  I will miss the basement laboratory with its rows of glass bottles and potions and powders. The way he sometimes holds his breath as he mixes the ingredients together, waiting to see if he was right.

  But most of all, I will miss the man I have come to love more than life itself.

  I walk over to the bed and let my fingertips rest gently on his shoulder as he sleeps. I want to kiss him one last time, but I’m afraid I’ll wake him.

  He would kill me himself if he knew what I was planning to do.

  He won’t understand it, and for a while, he’ll hate me for it.

  But over time, I hope he’ll come to see that this was the only way.

  When I’m ready, I tiptoe from the room and make my way down to the lab. I find the dagger in its place inside the apothecary cabinet and take it to the work bench, along with three large, glass vials. I will leave him a gift as a parting thank you.

  One final I love you.

  I will give him the only thing I have left that is fully mine to give, and I will pray that he understands the reason for my sacrifice.

  Eventually, death comes for us all.

  But I’ll be damned if I’ll let it take me without a fight.

  Familiar Black Wings

  Franki

  One Week Earlier

  Stepping out of the air-conditioned building was like stepping into an oven. I couldn’t remember a Chicago spring quite this hot before. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I swiped it away.

  “What the heck is going on with this heat wave?” my friend, Katy, asked, fanning her face. “It’s got to be ninety degrees today.”

  “It feels like a hundred and twenty,” I said. I pulled my long, black hair off the back of my neck.

  I needed to lose this backpack, or I was going to melt.

  “I guess coffee is out of the question, then?” She scrunched her nose. “What about an iced latte?”

  “We just got coffee this morning. You’re such an addict,” I said, laughing. “What about a bottled water? Or five?”

  “You can have water. I need caffeine.” She grabbed my arm and steered me toward the Starbucks inside the student center. “I was up all night studying for that Philosophy exam.”

  “How did it go?” I asked.

  “I should have slept, for all the good it did me,” she mumbled.

  “I’m sure you did better than you think. You always do.”

  Katy claimed to bomb every single test she’d ever taken, but when the grades came in, she was always at the top of the class. I, on the other hand, was close to flunking out of school in my very last semester.

  It wasn’t that I was dumb or anything, I just preferred to spend my evenings with Rend at the club rather than studying or doing my homework. Turns out professors kind of have this thing about turning in assignments and showing up for class.

  I grabbed two bottles of ice-cold water and set them on the counter.

  “Anything else?” a tall red-headed girl asked. She didn’t bother looking up at me.

  “What do you want?” I asked, turning to my friend. “My treat.”

  Katy raised an eyebrow. “Okay, Miss Moneybags, if you say so,” she said. “Get me a tall iced vanilla latte. No, wait. Make it a venti since you’re paying and all.”

  Miss Moneybags. Like she was one to talk. Katy had never had to work or worry about money her entire life. Her parents had enough to last several lifetimes.

  But then again, so did my current boyfriend.
/>   “Venti it is,” I said with a laugh.

  I paid for our order, and we moved down to the other side to wait for her coffee.

  “Must be nice dating a rich guy,” she said. “I need to find myself one of those.”

  “Hey, I work, too,” I said. “Besides, I tried to tell him he didn’t need to pay for my school and give me extra money, but he insisted. What could I do?”

  “Oh, right, I’m sure you tried really hard,” she said. “Rend, please don’t give me any money. I loved being poor and working two jobs while putting myself through college.”

  Her Franki voice was actually pretty good, but she was wrong about me. I really did try to pay my own way this semester, but Rend wouldn’t hear of it. He insisted on paying for everything these days.

  I was still working at the club almost every night, too, and I made a hell of a lot more than the typical ten bucks an hour most of my previous jobs had paid.

  For the first time in my life, I had more money than I knew what to do with.

  I couldn’t say I hated it. Being poor sucked.

  “Speaking of rich, handsome guys, when are you going to hook me up with Marco?” she asked, glancing toward the far side of the student center.

  I followed her gaze and shook my head. Of course, Marco was there. Rend never let me go anywhere without a bodyguard these days. He nodded when our eyes met, but he didn’t come over to talk. He preferred not to let anyone know he was watching me.

  “It’s not fair for you to get all the Venom guys to yourself, Franki. Sharing is caring.”

  I laughed and turned my attention back to Katy.

  “I don’t have them all to myself. I have Rend. As much as any girl can have him,” I said. “And I’m not sure you really want to get mixed up in this world. It’s not as glamorous as you think.”

  Katy made a face. “Considering you’ve almost died a few times in the past few months, I believe you.”

  The barista called her name, and Katy grabbed her iced latte like it was the greatest thing ever known to man.

  “God, I’ve been dying for caffeine all morning,” she said when she finally came up for air. “Thank you.”

  “You are very welcome,” I said. “What are you up to next? Do you want to walk over to the library with me to study for a few?”

  We both had an hour before our next morning class started, and I was dying to get to the library to research something I’d found in a book at Rend’s last week.

  “By study, of course, you mean find more witchy books on crows and stuff, right? No, thank you. You get so wrapped up in your research, you don’t even hear me most of the time when I’m talking to you.”

  “Libraries aren’t really places to hang out and chat, anyway, I guess,” I said. “I just don’t get to see you enough these days.”

  “Hey, it was your decision to basically move into that mansion of his. I can’t imagine how that’s better than our tiny two-bedroom apartment, but I guess I’ll forgive you,” she said, laughing. “I’m actually going to try to catch one of my professors during office hours this morning. He gave me an A minus on a paper last week, and I completely disagree with his reasoning on that.”

  “Of course you do,” I said with a laugh. “So, you’re going to try to talk him into an A?”

  “I deserve an A on that paper, and I’m going to bug him until he agrees with me.” She flashed her brilliant, familiar smile. “I’ll see you later this afternoon for pizza?”

  I winced. I’d totally forgotten about our pizza date.

  “I can’t. I’m so sorry,” I said, wincing. “I forgot. What about tomorrow night?”

  “Dammit, Franki, this is our one afternoon a week to really hang out,” she said. Her smile was gone. “You promised.”

  “I know. I’m really sorry, but Mary Anne is meeting me at the crow village later today to go through some spells,” I said.

  “How about later, then?” she asked. “Nine? I’m sure Rend would give you the night off if you asked for it.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t. Rend is taking me somewhere after work tonight, and he’s being all secretive about it. I promised him I’d go.”

  “You promised me, too. You can’t keep bailing on me, Franki,” she said. Then she smiled slightly and glanced over her shoulder. “See? This is why you need to set me up with Marco. We could double-date.”

  I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a giant hug.

  “I love your face,” I said. “I won’t stand you up again. Actually, why don’t you come by the club on Saturday night?”

  Her eyes lit up. “Are you serious? I thought you said you didn’t want me to get mixed up in that world?”

  I shrugged. “I want you to be a part of my life, and my life right now is Venom,” I said. “I’ll make sure they know you’re coming in, and we can hang out there.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” she said. “So, what’s this secret thing Rend has planned for you guys, anyway?”

  “He refuses to even give me so much as a clue,” I said. “But I think he’s been planning this for a while, so I’m excited.”

  My voice stumbled on the last word. Yes, I was excited about spending time with him on a romantic date, but I was also terrified of what it might mean. For months, we’d been living with the fear of what might happen when the Brotherhood of Darkness decided it was time to bring judgment upon the vampires who had helped to hunt down and kill The Devil.

  They’d been eerily silent about the whole matter for a long time, and there wasn’t a day I didn’t wake up wondering when they would come for Rend and his friends.

  What if Rend had heard something? What if it was happening soon?

  I shuddered at the thought.

  “You don’t look too excited,” Katy said. She placed a hand on my arm. “Are you okay? You look ill all of a sudden.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, quickly putting on a smile. “I was just thinking about what on earth I’m going to wear to a fancy night out when I have no idea where he’s taking me.”

  “Do one of those glamour-thingies,” she said. “You can wear anything you want and then make it look different once you get where you’re going. I would kill to be able to do that. Take a magazine with you, so you can pick something off the pages. It’ll be like taking an entire closet of outfits with you.”

  “That’s actually not a terrible idea,” I said.

  “I know it isn’t. I’m full of great ideas, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  I groaned. “I noticed. Everyone noticed. You’re amazing. Blah blah blah.”

  She swatted my arm and laughed. “Wherever you go tonight, make sure to take lots of mental pictures so you can describe every detail to me afterward,” she said. “I have to run, or I’m going to miss office hours. I’ll see you Saturday?”

  “Definitely,” I said.

  “See you there,” she shouted as she hurried off toward the next building.

  I spun on my heels and headed toward the library. I would only have about forty minutes now to look for a book I wanted on ancient spells and myths relating to birds. The school’s online database said it was part of the rare books collection.

  Unfortunately, that meant I wouldn’t be able to check it out and take it home, but I could at least go in and read it during extra hours on campus.

  Of course, I should have spent that time studying. I’d worked too damn hard to put myself through school for all these years to flunk out now.

  Rend thought it was a bit crazy that I’d decided to go back to school in the first place. If all I planned to do after graduation was stay on at Venom, why did I need to get my degree at all?

  Maybe he had a point, but I’d sacrificed so much to make this happen before I ever knew about Venom. I was so close now. I couldn’t just drop out.

  I was determined to buckle down and do well enough on my finals to pull off a passing grade and graduate in a few weeks.

  But first, I needed to find that
book.

  I climbed the steps of the library but stopped just as I reached for the door.

  A shiver ran down my spine, and a cool breeze kissed my skin, despite the heat. Someone was watching me.

  I turned slowly, looking for the familiar black wings. The deep blue eyes.

  Students rushed all around me, laughing and talking on their phones or to their friends. The hot sun bore down on my skin, and I squinted as I scanned the area.

  She was perched on the bottom limb of a giant oak tree. It was too far of a distance for me to tell the color of her eyes, but I knew they would be the exact blue of my own.

  The moment my gaze landed on her, the bird’s beak opened, and a loud caw echoed across the quad. Her wings expanded, and with a graceful leap, she was in the air, flying far overhead where I lost her in the glaring brightness of the sun.

  I never saw more than a glimpse of her, and I wasn’t sure who she was, but she’d been watching me a lot lately. She obviously wanted me to know she was here, but why?

  What was she waiting for?

  I searched the sky for any sign of her onyx wings, and when I knew for sure she was gone, I walked into the library to search for the book about crows.

  Rumors

  Rend

  “Still no sign of him anywhere?” I asked, running a hand through my hair as I paced the floor of my office.

  “Nothing,” Connery said. “I’m still waiting for news from the Black Hills pack, but I’m not holding out any hope there. That’s not a place your kind likes to go.”

  I shook my head. “It doesn’t make any sense. How could Silas just disappear like that?” I asked. “And why wouldn’t he at least let me know where he was going? Or whether he’d destroyed the stone?”