The smell of blood could be perceived in the chapel; strong, thick, and metallic. The candle flames flickered unnaturally, bending in submission to the unseen force that had just been unleashed. The Veiled Covenant had spoken, and the night was far from over.
Alex stood at the center of the gathering, his fingers curled into fists. He hadn't planned on Jade discovering this world so soon. He should've kept her away and steered her clear. But now she was caught in the jaws of something she didn't understand. And to think Jake actually joined the cult to protect her. He had always protected her in any way he could ever since their parents died.
Victor, of course, was pleased. The bastard stood beside the High Priest, his gaze fixed on Jade as if she were a prey he had finally cornered.
"She came to us willingly," Victor murmured, voice smooth like silk but laced with poison.
"She came for her brother," Alex corrected sharply.
The high priest's lips curled into a smirk. "And yet, here she stands. Fate has a funny way of leading the lost into our arms."
Jade stood frozen in the candlelight, her chest rising and falling too fast, her wide eyes darting from Jake's trembling form to the robed figures surrounding them. She was afraid. And she ought to be when death stared them in the face. They had lost their parents in an accident, and now, they were about to be sacrificed too; at least one of them, though.
Beneath Jade's fear, Alex saw something else—fury. Jade was scared and furious at the same time. To Alex, the fury was intoxicating.
---
My heart was a snare drum in my chest, each beat more deafening than the last. The robed figures loomed around us, their faces hidden in shadows, their whispered chants coiling through the air like smoke. The dagger in Jake's hand was stained with his blood, and the symbols on his chest glowed an eerie crimson.
I should've run. I should've screamed. But I was rooted to the cold stone floor, trapped between terror and something darker.
Then I felt it—his presence.
Alex.
I knew it was him before I even turned. His head pressed against my back, while his breath fanned the side of my face. "You should've stayed away," he murmured.
I whipped around, hands colliding with his chest. "And let them do this to Jake? You're out of your mind."
His jaw clenched. "You don't understand what's happening here."
I laughed coldly. "Oh, trust me, I understand just fine. This is a cult, and you're one of them."
Alex didn't flinch, didn't deny it. His silver eyes gleamed in the dim light, and for the first time, I saw it—the truth. He wasn't just involved. He was deep in this. And yet, when he looked at me, there was something else in his gaze. Something almost...desperate.
"Jade—"
A slow clap echoed through the chapel, interrupting whatever lie he was about to tell me.
Victor.
The way he stepped forward made my skin crawl. He moved with the kind of arrogance that came from knowing he was untouchable.
"My, my," he drawled, eyes raking over me like I was something to be devoured. "You have no idea what you've walked into, do you?"
I glared at him. "I know enough."
Victor smirked. "Do you?" He reached into the folds of his robe and pulled out something small, something glinting in the candlelight. A ring.
Jake's ring.
My breath caught. "What did you do to him?"
Victor turned it between his fingers lazily. "Your brother made his choice. Now it's your turn."
---
The temperature in the chapel dropped suddenly, so violently that my breath came out in a visible puff. The candles flickered again, but this time, their flames turned black. And then the whispering started.
Not the low murmurs of the robed figures. No, this was different. This was something else entirely. The walls groaned as if the stone were alive, and the shadows around us slithered, moving against the light, against nature. My skin prickled from the unnatural phenomenon I was witnessing. For a brief moment, I didn't know if I was dreaming or even... alive.
Jake gasped, his eyes rolling back, his body convulsing. And then I saw them. Faces.
Emerging from the darkness, stretching, twisting—half-formed things with hollow eyes and mouths that opened in silent screams. I choked on a cry, stepping back—straight into Alex's arms. His grip tightened around me, strong and grounding, but I could feel the tension in his body. He wasn't unaffected by this.
Victor, on the other hand, looked delighted.
"This," he whispered, "is what true power looks like."
The shadows surged forward. And I screamed.
---
A blast of heat erupted through the room, scattering the figures of the dead and breaking the unnatural chill. The air rippled with an invisible force and suddenly, I wasn't in the chapel anymore.
I was somewhere else. Somewhere dark. But I wasn't alone.