The night reeked of danger.
I shouldn't have been out here. Every instinct screamed at me to turn back, to run, to pretend I never saw Jake disappearing into the abandoned chapel at the edge of campus. But I was done pretending.
My brother had been lying to me for over a week, sneaking off in the middle of the night, coming home with bruises, his eyes hollow like a ghost was eating him from the inside out. And tonight, I was going to find out why.
---
The air smelled like rain and burning wood as I pressed myself against the cracked stone wall of the chapel. Shadows moved about inside, cast by a circle of candles arranged around a group of hooded figures. The dim light stretched their silhouettes, twisting them into something inhuman. My pulse pounded in my throat.
Jake was in there.
I forced myself to breathe, to stay calm, but my fingers curled into fists. The voices inside were low, murmuring words that sent an icy dread crawling up my spine.
Latin? No. I think something older, darker, and evil.
I peered through the gap in the rotting wooden door. My breath hitched. Jake stood in the center of the circle, shirtless, his chest smeared with dark symbols that glowed faintly in the candlelight. His jaw was clenched, his fists trembling at his sides. And before him, a tall figure in a black robe held a silver blade against his palm.
"What's bound in blood cannot be undone," the robed man intoned. His voice was smooth, hypnotic. "Once you take the oath, the Covenant owns you," he concluded. I heard him clearly from where I stood.
Jake swallowed hard. His lips parted—he was about to speak.
No. No. No. This was a cult. A goddamn cult.
My breath came too fast, too loud. I had to stop him. I couldn't let him throw his life away. But before I could move, a voice whispered behind me.
"Lost, sweetheart?"
A jolt of terror shot through me. I spun around. A guy stood in the shadows, half-hidden by the vines curling over the chapel's stone walls. I hadn't even heard him approach. He was dangerously tall with sharp, sculpted features and deep-set eyes that gleamed like molten silver in the darkness. His lips quirked in a smirk, but there was something deadly behind it, something that made my stomach churn.
I took a step back. "Who are you?"
He tilted his head, studying me. "That depends. Who are you?"
His voice was smooth but laced with amusement. His gaze darted toward the chapel. He knows. He knows I was watching.
"Move," I said, trying to step past him.
He didn't. Instead, he lifted a hand slowly. And that was when I saw the ring on his finger.
A silver emblem. A serpent coiled around a dagger. The same emblem that was tattooed on Jake's chest.
My heart skipped.
"You're one of them," I whispered.
His smirk widened. "Guilty as charged."
And then he moved. Fast. Too fast. One second he was in front of me, and the next he was behind me, his arm looping around my waist. My back slammed against his chest, and heat seared through me where his skin touched mine.
"Let me go!" I struggled, but his grip was like iron.
"Shh." His lips brushed against my ear. "You don't want them to hear you."
Jake. I had to warn him.
I kicked back, aiming for his shin, but he twisted, pinning my arm against my back. His breath was warm against my neck. "Feisty," he murmured. "I like that."
Rage burned through me. I wrenched my arm free, spun, and aimed a punch at his face. He caught my wrist in mid-air. His grip was firm, his fingers pressing against my racing pulse. His smirk never wavered.
"Careful, sweetheart," he said softly. "You don't want to start something you can't finish."
Then I noticed that something strange and dangerous flashed across his face. And, just as suddenly, he let me go. I stumbled back, gasping for breath.
"What do you want?" I hissed.
He leaned against the wall, watching me like a cat playing with its food. "You're not supposed to be here," he said. "But since you are, you have two choices."
I swallowed hard. "What choices?"
He held up one finger. "One: You walk away. Forget you ever saw this place. Forget you ever saw me." His gaze darkened as he raised a second finger. "Two: I take you inside."
I clenched my fists. "And what happens if I go inside?"
He smiled, slow and wicked. "You find out the truth."
Just then, a scream cut through the night. My blood turned to ice instantly. Jake.
I shoved past him, bolting toward the chapel. But the second I burst through the doors, I knew I'd made a mistake. Apparently, the greatest mistake of my twenty-two years of existence. All eyes turned to me. The hooded figures. The robed leader. And Jake. His face was pale, his shirt soaked with blood. The silver dagger trembled in his hand.
The air crackled with something unseen, something wrong, something dark. And then the robed man smiled.
"Welcome," we've been expecting you," he said with a sneer.