Page 143 of Kick the Candle (Knight Games 2)
"Don't do it," I begged Soleil and was rewarded with a stubby hand over my mouth.
Kai thrust her forward, and I watched his grip tighten around her neck, reddening the skin there. Soleil's eye's filled with tears. She was holding back, I could tell, but it was painful.
"Now, Kai!" Naill demanded.
The nekomata dug in harder, until Soleil's neck began to bleed, but the blood was not red like human blood. Soleil's blood was liquid sunshine, so bright I had to partially close my eyes as it dripped onto the stone vault and sizzled like acid.
Kai's voice filled the space as he spoke the incantation, and Soleil glowed ever brighter under his assault. I closed my eyes fully and sent out my strongest plea yet for Rick's help, but nothing came down our connection. Either he couldn't hear me, or he wasn't answering.
A mighty crack echoed through the room.
I opened my eyes to see the dusty, cobweb covered interior of a crypt exposed to Soleil's light. Before I could react, Naill pounded the hilt of his dagger into my temple, so hard my teeth clanked together and my skull bounced against the tile floor with a resounding crack. I fought against the temptation to pass out, sure that the last of my armor enchantment had dissipated with the force of surviving the onslaught.
Unable to move, I watched Naill push Kai and Soleil aside and hop into the crypt, emerging a moment later with a book powerful enough to fill the space between us with a heavy, palpable dread. This wasn't just a grimoire. The darkness leaching from it pushed Soleil's light back inside her skin. The fairy moaned and listed to the side in Kai's grip.
In an army crawl, I pulled myself forward for a better view. I recognized the corner of the tome as a shoulder blade. A human spine bound the pages. Slivers of bone framed the cover made from leathered human skin. I'd heard the pages were also made of skin, and the writing, not ink but blood. The book appeared to have a clasp or lock of some kind constructed of a human jaw and other, smaller bones.
Naill chuckled wickedly and held The Book of Flesh and Bone above his head like a prize.
"Let me see it," Kai demanded, casting Soleil to the floor and reaching for what he wanted. "Give it to me."
"Patience. The mistress will be here to open it at dusk."
"Bathory had better remember our deal. The first spell must be used for me, then the book is yours." A flash of black fog passed behind Kai's irises.
"Of course, that is the deal. Soon you will have your own flesh and the mistress will have true immortality."
Silently, I crawled forward, reaching for Nightshade. I pulled myself up on the pool table and Naill made a face like a cockroach just poked its head out of his macaroni salad.
"You're Mr. Helleborine. You helped kill the last Hecate," I stated dumbly, possessed by some unexplainable need for closure. "You and Anna were the ones helping Marcus from the outside. And now you're trying to kill me again."
Kai tilted his head and his eyes flicked to something behind me. I followed his gaze to see Naill grinning, his hand charged with green energy. Holy crow that little guy was fast!
"Fuck," I mumbled before he zapped me with his magic and a bag slipped over my head, plunging me into darkness. Yeah, that protection enchantment was definitely done for, and probably, so was I.
Ceremony
I came around but didn't open my eyes. Better possessed-Kai didn't know I was conscious. Cold, so cold. As I shivered, my back bounced against a rock hard surface. I was bound, hands, waist, and ankles. Damn, I was getting sick of waking up bound. Listening carefully, all I could make out was wind across my ear, the crackle of burning wood, and icy wet hitting my skin. I was outside, maybe freezing to death.
"Are you alive?" Soleil's voice whispered.
I cracked my eyes open. The dim, winter sky above me dribbled tiny snowflakes that stung my eyes and cheeks. I blinked them away and turned my head to the left. Soleil was tied to a tree a few feet away from me, and she looked like hell, as if someone had beaten her within an inch of her life, then smothered her in mud.
"Deep water mud dulls my power. I'd warm you but I can't even muster a faint glow," she said sadly.
With a ridiculous amount of effort, I strained my neck to look down my body. I was tied to a stone slab, about three feet off the ground. I couldn't see much else except that we were in the woods somewhere. A small fire to my right barely nudged back the frosty weather, but because of my restraints, I couldn't see beyond the topmost flicker of the flames.
I whispered to Soleil, "Can you see what I'm tied to? Is there any way for me to free myself?"
She shook her head. "You are bound to a stone altar. She plans to cut out your heart." Her voice sounded hopeless, and a shiny gold tear cut through the mud on her cheek.
"My heart? Wha-can you see Nightshade?" I struggled against my restraints.
"Shhh." Soleil warned me to calm down with stern eyes. "Your blade is resting on top of the tied bag that holds your bird, about fifteen feet to your left, guarded by a sleeping leprechaun."
Shit. Think. Think. Think. Think. "Is there anyone else here at the moment?" I asked, trying to picture our surroundings.
Soleil swallowed and another star-bright tear carved down her face. "Your caretaker."
