Chapter 41

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The two hunters took me to the woods

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The two hunters took me to the woods.

Apparently daemonic rituals couldn't take place in normal places like a grocery store or a library. No, they had to be in the creepy dark woods. The wind bit through my sweatshirt, chilling me to the bone as the two hunters gripped each of my arms and pulled me through the thicket of trees. Neither of them made any contact with my skin. The observation almost made me want to chuckle.

Almost.

Instead of fear in my stomach and in my bones, I felt resolved. I knew what I had to do, and I knew that Tucker and my family were safe. As long as Tucker wasn't anywhere near the ritual, then my father couldn't succeed. The lie that Rose had told him would've taken him far away from West Acres. His absence, at least, would buy me more time.

When the hunters slowed their pace, I could fully look around at my surroundings. Much of the woods in West Acres looked the exact same, and I had spent far too much time wandering through them. But this was an area I knew I'd never actually been in-  but I'd dreamt of it.

The river where Tommy Joy died.

What looked like a crowd of people had gathered around the small river on both sides. As we neared the crowd, I realized that many of them had their hands tied behind their backs like me. I assumed they were the sacrifices or, at least, the ones that the Codex said he needed. Two of each creature: witch, faerie, werewolf, vampire, and daemon.

My stomach dropped when I recognized some familiar faces.

The witches- two women I'd never seen before stood the furthest away from me and both of them had resilient looks in their eyes.

The faeries- Rhiwallon and one of the other emissaries looked full of murderous hate at being held captive and rightfully so. The anger on their faces mirrored mine.

The fair folk were standing next to two unfamiliar men with the strangest aura I'd ever seen- blood red. Vampires.

Malik, the Denver pack's daemon, stood next to the other daemon sacrifice... Noah Joy.

Little Noah had tears on his cheek, looking up at Malik in confusion and terror. Pure and undiluted hate for my father at causing the six-year-old such torment fueled my walk. The little boy hadn't known- none of us knew that Noah was unlike his brothers, but my father did.

There only needed to be two werewolf sacrifices, but sparing any of the Joy boys wouldn't satisfy my father's desire for revenge. Ben, Elias, and Lucas were all held by their own hunters and I swallowed thickly. Ben caught my eye and a mixture of relief and panic flooded his features.

I, however, only felt panic as I looked to my father and the boy at his feet.

Familiar brown eyes connected with mine, and my stomach dropped. My heart thumped painfully against my ribs.

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