Chapter 16: The Church on Maple Street

Jenna had found the truck hiding behind the gymnasium. It was an old Ford with some rust marks along its doors and a cracked windshield. She had to turn it over three times before the engine fired. "Get in," Jenna commanded.

Dorian got inside the truck and laid back on the seat. He was still pale but the wound on his chest had stopped oozing. He kept his palm over the spot regardless.

I slid into the passenger seat and buckled my belt. Dorian had placed Vance in the rear and had managed to bind him with electrical wires. Jenna hadn't bothered with binding his legs since she needed him to walk, but she threatened him with the same fate his partner received if he ran away.

The truck reeked of stale cigarettes and old coffee. There was no working heater and I had to tighten my grip on my jacket.

"Tell me, why does Mira need my power that bad?" I asked without turning to look at either of them.

Vance moved his bound hands around uncomfortably in the seat. "Because the only thing keeping that demon at bay is your bloodline. Without you, we lose our best weapon."

Dorian's eyes narrowed. "You could have told us that earlier," he muttered.

Vance shrugged as much as he was able to. "You didn't ask."

Jenna turned her car onto Maple Street. There was nobody there and any tracks made by cars earlier that day were gone under a thick layer of snow. "We're almost there," Jenna reported.

The church seemed deserted. Its roof was crooked and many windows were covered with wooden planks. The red door had peeling paint and there were fresh tire tracks leading around the church.

Jenna pulled her truck behind the dumpster and turned off the engine. "Let's go in quietly. If there's no other choice, use magic sparingly."

I raised my hands for her to see the burns on my palms and small blisters on my fingertips. "It's a bit hard right now."

Dorian opened the car door and got outside, feeling the cold wind instantly. "Stay behind me.”

"We've been over this," I said.

"Yeah, well, I'm saying it again."

The front door wasn't locked. Jenna kicked it in with her foot, and we stepped through.

The benches had been upended, and a few of them were broken to pieces for firewood. White and red puddles of melted wax covered the floor. There was an air of incense in the building, beneath which I could make out a familiar musty scent.

Jenna indicated with her finger the direction to a door behind the altar. "Voices are coming from there," she murmured.

First, I recognized Mira's voice – it was shrill and nervous. Next came the deep voice of some man that was as slow as if he had plenty of time.

We went down the stairs. In the basement there was a specially decorated space meant for rituals. Candle flames flickered everywhere; someone drew symbols on the concrete floor with dark red paint. In the center of the room stood the grimoire.

Next to it on one side was Mira, her hands pressing onto its surface; the veins were clearly visible under her skin and the color of her knuckles.

On the other side was a very tall and thin man whose jet-black hair reflected blue in candlelight. His eyes weren't golden like any other vampire I'd seen – both of them were crimson and gleaming. He was dressed in a dark suit and a white shirt; his shoes were polished to perfection.

As soon as we descended the stairs to the basement, the man lifted his head and said, "Vampire smell. Warden smell. And something else very old." Crimson orbs fixed their gaze on me. "Ah, yes. The witch."

"Cross!" exclaimed Mira, stepping away from the table. "I warned you that they will come."

Dorian blocked my view and put his hand over the injury on his torso. "Councilman Cross. I should have guessed."

Cross gave a smile, which did not extend even remotely beyond his lips. "Dorian. My boy! You are such a disappointment to your family. Associating with witches and Wardens! Your mother is in tears, I suppose."

"My mother died sixty years ago," replied Dorian calmly.

"But she cries at her grave now." Cross took the grimoire from the table and began flipping through its pages. "I don't care about your demon. I don't care about your portal. I want the spell in this book – the binding spell."

Jenna approached me. "Why?"

"Because for decades, the demon council has stolen the territory from my family, and with this spell, I will be able to bind and control their leaders." He looked straight into my eyes. "And I need your magic to do it."

"Never give away your magic."

Cross chuckled. "No one said I'm asking for a gift. I propose you make a deal with me. The grimoire for your magic. Your body will stay intact; I will find a way to extract only the power, and that is all."

Mira shook her head vigorously. "It wasn't supposed to happen like that!"

"Don't be naïve," Cross replied and looked away. "The deal was already changed."

"She lies! Don't trust her!"

Cross glanced sideways at me and smirked. "She is the only one here who is lying, believe me. The demon intends to possess you. Warden wants to use you as bait, and Dorian wants to save you because he is crazy about you, which makes him completely incapable of thinking logically."

I felt heat rising to my cheeks, but I wouldn't dare look at Dorian.

"And what do you expect in return?" Jenna asked him.

"That it will hurt you and you will lose all your magical memories. You will forget how your mother looked, all your spells – everything, basically. There is nothing left after that."

My hands shook as I clasped them tightly to my legs trying to steal them.

"I need a moment…"

"No time." Cross looked at me with his red eyes. "I will give you ten seconds to think."

"Ten." My gaze met with Dorian's. His face was set in stone and fists clenched on the sides.

"Nine." I looked at Jenna. Her eyes were bright with determination and firmness, yet her lips were pressed into a thin line.

"Eight." I turned my eyes to the grimoire. The face of Zoe appeared behind its dark cover and whispered to me 'Don't.'

"Seven." Mira stood beside me. "Don't do that. He is manipulating you, don't fall for it!"

"Six." Cross' red eyes were burning with an intense fire.

"Five."

I opened my mouth…