Chapter 424: BLOOD WARD

RAINA’S POV

“Right. This is for Vaheed.” I pursed my lips and lowered my head.

I did not like relying on Jiya’s power. I was unsettled about it, but what else could we do? There might not be another option to help Vaheed.

Valen sensed my disconcertment and clipped my chin with his fingers, lifting it to gain my gaze. “If Jiya succeeds today, that’s just one accomplishment for her. So stop looking at what she can do because what you mean to me was never up for comparison. It doesn’t decide your worth. It never will. Okay?”

I nodded with a smile.

He nuzzled his nose with mine, which elicited a soft giggle from me.

“I made sure Vaheed will be unconscious throughout the procedure. No one can go in or out of the dungeon without my magic. You’ll be safe until I return.” He pecked a kiss on my cheek and then my lips as his body shimmered and vanished.

The room was unnervingly quiet and chilly. It was my first time here, so I glanced around a bit. I was surprised by how futuristic it looked. It resembled a long, spacious spaceship room. The walls were matte white and gray panels with black accent sections and digital status screens.

Overhead, rectangular LED panels bathed the room in a cool, white light that gleamed across the spotless charcoal floor. The thick doors and built-in control panels made the room feel secure and isolated.

Afterward, I went up to the large rectangular Gesell mirror to peek into the silver steel vaulted cell. From the observation room, we could see them, but inside the cell, they wouldn’t see who was watching.

Marlena was already inside with Vaheed and Jiya. His dark-haired head was bowed as the senior witch set him upright on a light blue magical slab. It securely held him in place with double-sized magical chains, crossing in two massive X’s from his shoulder to his waist and then from his thighs to his legs.

Jiya was just observing at the side. She wore a neutral expression, one arm folded across her waist to support her elbow, so her index finger tapped thoughtfully against her lips.

Suddenly, a confusing blend of hopeful yet uneasy energy hit my senses in the observation room. It was so conflicting that I turned my head in that direction.

It was Tallulah. She was standing to my right at the same mirror, hugging herself. I looked her over quickly, and my eyes widened at the various bruises on her arms.

Concerned, I stepped towards her and reached out a hand. I touched her elbow tenderly and instantly retracted my hand when she gasped and jumped in fright.

“What’s the matter? What caused those?” I inquired softly.

Tallulah cast her kobicha-brown eyes down after giving me the saddest smile, and immediately started to wring her hands.

She dragged her words like an overwhelmingly tired person when she spoke, “Vaheed’s mating is not exactly conventional.” She chuckled brokenly. “I didn’t know what I signed up for.”

“He’s been torturing you? You’re obviously being hurt,” I stated, flicking my eyes to her bruised neck and arms before raising them to her face. “Do the Elders know? You shouldn’t be subjected to this.”

Very slowly, she looked up at me with fear, and her chest began rising and falling rapidly.

“He won’t let me go,” she whispered, petrified.

Baffled, my eyes narrowed, yet I assured her, “You can leave if you want to. It's your right,” I explained, but that didn’t stop her worries. “You know what? I’m taking you with me when we’re done here.”

She stared at me with doubt and shook her head in dismay. “I can’t do anything unless he commands it.”

“What?” I asked, confused. Then I had to remember that inside that dungeon wasn’t the best friend I knew. He was evil Vaheed right now. Damn. What has he done to her?

Tallulah’s lips trembled. A pale shard of hope formed in her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak. “Do you think he’ll change after today?”

Suddenly, the familiar whumm of teleportation made the hairs on my arms stand on end. Valen was back, and a lot of people had arrived with him.

Tallulah swatted my hands from her shoulders and hugged herself again. She bowed her head and stepped back. Her energy reeked of a wounded person who wanted to crawl into a corner. She turned slightly to peer at the glass, spacing out completely.

“No more delays. Let us begin,” Elder Victor declared.

I whipped around to meet several pairs of eyes. The Alphas—Aughi, Saaki, Poel, Wentz, and Ousley eyed me hard as they all approached the mirror.

To make space for them, I stepped closer to Tallulah. Valen and Devin sandwiched me while the others fanned out.

“May the moon guide them,” Elder Sybil wished solemnly. “May Selene’s grace see him through and cleanse the darkness.”

“The vision Jiya had guaranteed that her blood would not fail,” Elder Mitchell added confidently.

Elder George took out his phone, fiddling with the screen.

“Now is not the time to talk to your mother, George. She's not going to put your face on telephone poles if you miss one text.” Elder Jacob reprimanded him sternly. “We need to get the ritual started.”

“That's not what I am doing. I’m going to record this. I want the purging live,” Elder George fired, pointing his cane at him. “See what I tell you about your mouth.”

“We can’t start if you’re this noisy,” Elder Victor noted in exasperation, and they quieted down.

Dang.

I gulped, but Valen’s presence was comforting. He stepped behind me and brought his hands to my shoulders to rub me soothingly.

Everyone was quiet when Marlena began. She summoned an ancient witch’s dagger in her left hand and moved over to Jiya, maintaining a gap between them, and uttered, “It’s time to create the blood ward.”

In my anxiousness, I clasped my hands together, keeping watch on everything going on in the cell.

Jiya unbuttoned the front of her white blouse to expose her white bra. Then she dropped her hands to her side. Her chest inflated with the deep breath she took to brace herself.

Marlena lifted the same palm with the dagger to Jiya’s chest without touching her. Then her mouth moved inaudibly, and the hilt that comprised of twisted tree roots began to coil around her wrists.

A white spark appeared abruptly on the upper left side of Jiya’s chest, near the breastbone. She stiffened and clenched her fists when Marlena placed the tip of the dagger at the exact spot and made a slice. Jiya winced.

A bead of Jiya’s blood floated from her chest towards Marlena. She used the copper tip of the dagger to swing the blood bubble where she wanted it to go.

Nervous hope burned in my heart as the Elder witch stepped in front of Vaheed. She raised her coiled left hand and opened her palm to blow the dust particles from the sacred moon stone at the round blood. After that, she incorporated left-hand signals, and the bead of blood began to stretch to form the thinnest crimson line. The gleaming blood ward.

Next, I saw when Vaheed thrust his head back with a loud grunt. “Argh!”

My breath caught, and my stomach twisted with worry.

“Vaheed,” I whispered. He was evidently in a lot of pain.

“It’s resisting,” Devin commented, “Look at his chest.”

“Shh!” Someone silenced him.

Marlena shifted to the side to allow us to view what she was doing. Vaheed’s chest pumped vigorously, glowing red and black, resembling an X-ray vision of his corrupted heart and the evil thread of chaos.

He began to thrash against the chains when Jiya’s streak of blood pierced into his chest.

“Easy, son. Hold on,” Elder Victor voiced, worriedly.

All of us gasped, seeing the vile thread’s black tendrils clench and unclamp around his organ.

“It is clinging to him, fighting to stay.” This was Saaki’s voice.

“Moon above! He’s been carrying that all this time?” came from Wentz in disbelief. “That’s not a thread. It’s a leech-like parasite.”

“And that thing can’t get out of him?” Aughi’s familiar voice rang out.

“He’s been fighting it every day,” I defended strongly without tearing my eyes away. “It’s been hard for him.”

“Fucking Worgens,” Valen cursed under his breath.

Lifting my hand, I stretched it across my chest to pat his large hand that was still resting on my shoulder.

All of a sudden, Vaheed’s eyes snapped open, showing pitch-black sclera as thick veins spread across his face and down his neck. His body convulsed violently while Jiya’s blood was burrowing into his heart, wrapping around the dark thread of chaos to fuse with it.

My pulse hammered in my ears. It was heart-rending. I could barely endure watching him suffer, but all I could do was stare as his body shook harder with every muscle straining against itself.

Suddenly, a brilliant white light consumed the darkness in his eyes.

“Rai, it’s pulling free,” Devin remarked with a happy note. “It’s actually cleansing him.”

"Please be purged," I breathed, my voice breaking.

Once the white light vanished, the trembling stopped. Vaheed’s head lolled to one side, though his chest rose and fell in uneven, ragged breaths.

My own breathing turned shallow as I stepped forward and pressed my palms against the mirror, searching for any sign that he was alright. His head remained bowed, and his body was stagnant, so I couldn’t be sure.

Silent anticipation gripped the room as we waited to see whether the procedure had worked.

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