Blood War (Book 1, the Halfblood Chronicles)

21.2 | Brief and Endless Agonies

The hood scraped Lu's cheeks as it came off. She blinked, eyes adjusting to the darkness. Her mouth went dry when she beheld Nika against a rocky wall, shackled by the wrists and ankles, delirious and bloodied.

Lu sucked in a breath, feeling the wolves' eyes like a hot brand. They didn't need to vocalize the warning—if she so much as flinched in a suspicious way, she'd regret it.

Less than an hour ago, she'd been trapped inside the mobile home, practicing spells and getting in touch with her power as Tatiana had instructed. Then the betas had shoved a cloth sack over her head and dragged her deep into the forest.

"I wish it hadn't come to this," Tatiana had said as they hauled Lu into a vehicle, "but your friend is quite the nuisance."

"What's going on?" Lu had demanded.

Tatiana hadn't sugar-coated it. She spoke of her encounter with Nika at Hekate's Cauldron, how Lu's sister-friend had stolen the necklace.

"If I don't get Asteroth back, my magic won't work properly. And if you don't help me find him, Nika Dimitrovich will die."

Lu hadn't stopped trembling throughout the bumpy ride, and it only grew worse as she stood in the chill of the cave, realizing that this wasn't a nightmare.

Her skeleton turned to putty. She didn't notice she was falling until one of the betas caught her and pulled her upright again. There was a pounding in her ears, a screeching wind inside her skull.

She didn't understand. The alpha gave his word that Nika wouldn't be harmed, so long as Lu cooperated. She'd been careful to obey every order, which meant they must have been desperate. Desperate and insane, if they were willing to risk her compliance for Tatiana's amulet.

Based on the torn clothing, cuts, bruises, and the metallic scent lingering in the air, Nika had already suffered greatly. They must have been torturing her. But time was essential; Tatiana needed the location now.

"This is a good opportunity to practice mind-magic," Tatiana had said minutes ago. "Make me proud, witchling."

Throat swelling, Lu stepped forward. She'd always felt that bewitchment violated the free will of others and refused to use it unless necessary. So she'd bargained with the demon-witch. Instead of forcing Nika to reveal the answer, she would coax her into giving it.

This kind of mind-magic was ancient. She'd read about it in the grimoires and witch texts that Tatiana had supplied. It was inspired by mythical spiders that lived in the Shadowlands, the home realm of Daemonstri-kind. These spiders were known for spinning dream-webs, and Lu would spin one for Nika.

She knelt before her sister-friend, averting her gaze from the inflamed gashes on her arms and legs.

Cracked lips parted with a breath of surprise. "Am I hallucinating?" Nika whispered.

Lu's chest tightened, and she fought the sting in her eyes. "Not yet."

Seeing Nika teeter on this precipice between life and death—it shattered something inside her.

Mercy, she told herself. What I'm about to do is merciful. Painless.

And even though she might never forgive herself for it, Lu touched her fingers to Nika's temples, summoning her power. Thousands of invisible currents surged toward her, attracted to the volatility of her emotions. The fear and rage and love brawling inside her heart were irresistible to magic.

As she murmured the chant of the dream-weavers, Nika's eyes shuttered.

Even in the illusion, they never left the cave. Lu didn't want to confuse the mind too much, or else Nika might lose it. But instead of kneeling in front of her, Lu was being tied to a wooden chair by the two betas.

"Tell me where Asteroth is," Tatiana told Nika. "Or watch her die."

On the fringes of Nika's mind, Lu felt something. Her mental shield achingly rose, a wall of glittering diamond. Lu panicked. If Nika blocked her out, this would fail. And if this failed, Tatiana would cut her away, piece by piece, until nothing of the Halfblood Bastard remained.

So she manipulated the illusion, making Nika believe that her shield was already raised. In reality, it crashed back down. She was too weak to keep it standing anyway.

Lu continued to construct the dream.

"Tell me!" Tatiana cried, her voice echoing through their minds. In the real cave, the demon-witch didn't even breathe as she watched.

Nika yanked on her chains, both in the physical world and in the hallucination. "You're bluffing," she croaked. "You need Lu. Why else would you be holding her captive all this time?"

"She is not the only Lazarov witch available to us. The little sister—Franka—will be difficult to extract from headquarters, but she'll work just as well."

Tatiana had already offered to use Franka instead, but Lu hadn't allowed it. She wouldn't let the Volkari take her little sister.

Nika's face was a cold mask, as if she didn't care about Franka. Lu knew that wasn't true, but it was still unsettling.

So she struggled against the ropes and screamed, "Don't you dare touch Franka!"

One of the betas struck her. In the physical world, Lu could've sworn she felt the blow and tasted the blood that pooled inside her mouth.

Nika jolted, chains rattling. "Don't hurt her."

"We won't," Tatiana said, her voice like an angel's. Lu had never heard her speak this way, but Nika didn't respond to intimidation tactics. She was too stubborn to give up. "All of this will end as soon as you tell us where Asteroth is."

Nika's gaze settled on Lu. There was no disguising the battle in those emerald eyes.

"Just tell them," Lu urged.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Asteroth . . . " She hung her head. "It's dangerous."

Lu chewed on that piece of information. Nika knew something. What had she seen? What horrors was the pendant capable of?

It didn't matter. If Lu didn't retrieve the location, Tatiana would bring a world of pain onto Nika. Even if it killed her. Lu wouldn't let that happen.

So she willed the illusion further, warping time and casting visions. For every second in the real world, hours past in Nika's dream. Hours in which Lu begged and coaxed, in which Tatiana bullied and screamed.

When those methods came to naught, the demon-witch ran a knife along Lu's arms. As she bled, Nika bellowed and sobbed and cursed. She tried to break free, but the betas held her, made her watch as Tatiana raised the blade to Lu's throat.

Darkness shrouded the edges of Nika's mind. Lu didn't know how it was possible, but Nika had called upon Death. As if taking her own life would make them stop.

Panicking, Lu weaved another illusion—one in which all of Nika's wounds had healed, her energy restored. Death balked at her reinvigorated state, at the life radiating from her, then scurried into the shadows.

So Nika was forced to watch as Tatiana pushed the knife into Lu's neck. Scarlet dribbled down her walnut skin.

"Tell them, Nika!" It felt wicked to manipulate her, but Lu continued, knowing it would save her life. "Please! Hel—"

"Francesca Laguna has it!" Nika cried out. "Asteroth is in a vault, in the basement of Laguna Manor." Her voice projected into the physical world, beyond the boundaries of the dream. "That's all I know. Now please . . . stop hurting her."

A sob broke the words, and Lu's heart cracked open. She withdrew from the illusion, but before she had a chance to throw her arms around Nika, the betas hauled her away. Tears clouded Lu's vision as Nika sagged against the stone, unconscious.

Lu thrashed, demanding to be released. But they shoved a hood over her again, and she was carried out of the cave. A piece of her soul, however, remained with Nika. It was a whispering flame on a lonesome winter night, the only source of light and warmth in a world void of hope.