The Thirteenth Sacrifice (36 page)

Samantha just continued to stare at Katie, her mind racing.

“That’s why I kept pushing you and pushing you. I needed you to use your powers. I needed you to come here. That night at the school, I didn’t expect you’d kill
Naomi. I was sad to lose her. She was one of my best. And it made what I was doing that much more dangerous.”

“You were dying,” Samantha said.

“Yes, and without Naomi there to save me if she had to, it was quite frightening. But you came through in the end, just like I knew you would. After that, it was a simple matter to put my babysitters to sleep when I had to slip out and perform a ritual. Except for today, of course. This morning another witch took my place, disguised as me. We couldn’t risk having any of the police contact you, tell you that I was gone until I was ready for them to do so. Then, at the appointed hour, she slaughtered them.”

Samantha lunged forward and with a wave of her hand Katie sent her flying back. She landed hard on her side and felt a rib crack. She shoved her hand against the floor and unleashed a wave of energy that made the floor buckle. She saw several witches swept off their feet, but Katie just chuckled and absorbed the energy.

Samantha pushed herself to her feet, grunting with the pain. “Why did you do this to me?” she demanded. “No one could have stopped you. The police were never a real threat.”

Katie smiled wickedly. “Because unlike you, dear Samantha, I learn from the past. A few years ago my mentor gave me Abigail’s spellbook and personal journal. I studied them, read them until I had them memorized, especially the parts that related to raising the demon. Abigail left that spell incomplete, but even though I knew I couldn’t work the spell without her, I did eventually figure out what went wrong so many years ago.”

“What?” Samantha whispered.

“It takes the blood of a witch to raise the demon. Abigail tried to use the blood of one of her own coven,
sparking a rebellion when her plans were revealed. I’m smarter. I lured in a witch who wasn’t one of my own to offer as a sacrifice. No one here will care if I kill you. It’s all very exciting, really. I had to sacrifice to earn my mentor’s respect and be worthy to see Abigail’s book, sacrifice in order to take Katie’s place, sacrifice to strip my powers, sacrifice the girls to raise Abigail. So many sacrifices, but you… you, Samantha, will be the greatest. My thirteenth sacrifice, a real witch.”

“Why do you even want to raise this demon? Are you crazy? You’ll never be able to control it.”

“Why did Abigail want to raise it so many years ago?” Katie asked with a smirk.

And Samantha realized that she didn’t know. She stared back at Katie and hated the smug look on her face, the air of superiority.

“I want what she wanted back then,” Katie said.

Which was what?
Samantha wondered desperately.

“But why all the games, the pretending?” she asked.

“I needed you to embrace your powers first. You needed to be a practicing witch. You know, when I met you, you were pathetic. I could barely feel any power in you. But look at you now. A worthy feast for the beast. And I must say, killing Bridget? I didn’t see that coming. You know, I actually considered for a minute trying to sway you to our side instead. Abigail thinks it’s possible. But in the end I realized I just don’t have the time.”

Samantha looked around the room, searching for allies. There were none, but both Randy and Autumn bore looks of concern. She turned back. “You’ve failed,” she told Katie. “I found the doctor you tried so hard to hide, and I have unleashed the cure to the toxin.”

“A mild annoyance at best. Really, after tonight, we won’t need the toxin.”

“You’re very sure of yourself,” Samantha said, fighting for time to think, to work out a plan.

“No,
we
are,” Katie said. And at that, the witches flanking her lowered their hoods. Samantha recognized one woman as the owner of the store that sold all the candles downtown. The other was Gus, the fraternity student who had talked about people with real power and who Ed had said had disappeared.

“You knew the real Katie,” Samantha accused.

He nodded. “But really, I like this version so much better.”

“Drop the glamour,” Samantha said to Katie. “Let me and your followers see your true face.”

Katie laughed. “This is my true face. The real Katie Horn already looked a bit like me. After I sacrificed her it was easy to tweak the memories of others so that mine was the face they thought of when they thought of her.”

“You killed Katie!” Autumn cried out, stricken. “She was my friend!”

That was why they had put the mental block on Autumn. She had known the real Katie.

Autumn raised her hands, her face contorting in fury, and hurled an athame toward Katie. It stopped in midair, spun, and shot back, embedding itself in Autumn’s stomach.

She collapsed with an unnatural wailing sound that made several witches cover their ears. Samantha took advantage of the moment and leaped forward. She grabbed Katie’s head and slammed it into the edge of the altar.

Blood gushed from the wound, but before Samantha could slam it again, something sharp punctured her back between her shoulders. Her hands dropped, momentarily useless, and she spun to face Abigail.

She could feel the blade in her back and she dug deep, sending waves of energy through her muscles, and pushed hard enough to dislodge it. The weapon fell to the ground.

Katie, blood trickling down her face, began to chant and Abigail joined in. The words were familiar; Samantha had heard them before. Then came the sound of nails scrabbling on the ground and for a moment she was a child again, hearing the thing that was going to come and kill her. She sliced open her arms and spun in a circle, dripping blood onto the ground to create a circle of protection.

Howls, screaming, just like in her nightmares. And she knew, deep inside, the hellhound that was coming. She’d dreamed about it the night before she met Katie.

She’d dreamed about it when Katie had sent it to gut Brad inside his locked bedroom at the fraternity house.

She’d dreamed about it even as it was killing him.

Which meant she was connected to it.

She finished the circle just as something slammed into it, snarling as it was rebuffed.

She turned slowly around and saw it. The thing that had clawed and growled in her nightmares. Not a demon, but a creature just as terrifying. It was similar to the hellhound that had tried to drown Anthony, only larger by half. It was roughly dog shaped, with a mouthful of fangs several inches long, glowing black eyes, and quills like a porcupine flared next to its spine. Saliva dripped from its fangs as she stared in fascination. It was the one she had seen as a child. She recognized it and she felt sick to the bottom of her soul when she realized that it recognized her as well. Beyond it she could see Abigail and Katie at the altar. They had her chalice and were dropping things into it, preparing to summon the demon while their pet monster kept her at bay.

But what if she could control their monster? What if she was the master? It was an insane thought, but something about it felt true. It was more connected to her than Katie. She gathered her energy, preparing to make her move. She raised both hands, and then Randy lunged toward her, grabbing her left hand in his, and she felt his energy mixing with hers. “What are you doing?”

“I’m on your side!” he shouted above the rising wind. “But you’re stronger. Use me!”

“The circle won’t protect you!”

“Just do it.”

She chained their energies together and then stared the monster in the eye, forcing the energy to wash over him. The hellhound’s head cocked slowly to the side.

“Who do you belong to?”

The creature blinked. And then it turned and attacked Katie.

The witch didn’t realize it was coming until it was too late. She twisted with a cry and then it was on her. Its jaws snapped shut on her throat and it shook her, hard.

Then it dropped her limp body and turned to Abigail, who was better prepared.

The witch hit it in the face with a blinding flash of light. The creature roared and flailed blindly. It staggered into a cluster of onlookers and when they screamed it slashed with claws and fangs, piling up bodies in its wake. Others exploded into action, trying to form their own protective circles, but it was too late.

Samantha turned away from the carnage and reached out to Abigail. But instead of slamming her with energy, Samantha took a page from what had happened to her the day before. She still clutched Randy’s hand, and together they began to pull the energy out of Abigail’s body.

The witch fought back, but every wave of energy she sent they absorbed and she was left weaker. Finally Samantha let go of Randy and stepped forward, put her hand on the woman’s chest, and yanked as hard as she could. The life force streamed out of Abigail and into her. She could feel the wound on her back heal in an instant.

Abigail fell to her knees with a cry, and as her features began to shrivel and wither before Samantha’s eyes, Abigail looked up at her and a flash of memory sparked across her face.

“I remember,” the old witch said, eyes wide. “It was you.”

And then her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground, dead again. With a sweep of her hand Samantha knocked the chalice off the altar and its contents spilled across the floor. The wind that had been whipping through the room ceased instantly.

A scream erupted behind her and she turned to see the monster bite Randy nearly in half. And then she was shouting in Latin, words she didn’t know that came from somewhere deep within. A burst of energy pulsed out of her and surrounded the monster and in a flash of light it disappeared.

The door crashed open and Samantha spun to face the new threat, but lowered her hands as she saw Captain Roberts in full tactical gear and several others she knew swarm into the room.

The three witches who were still alive threw a wave of energy at them, but Samantha raised her hand and diverted it to herself. Moments later the three were cut down in a hail of bullets.

“Clear!” she shouted when the firing had ceased.

The officers fanned out through the room as she
dropped to her knees next to Randy. He looked up at her with pain-filled eyes. He was dying. Given the amount of damage his body had taken, there was nothing she could do. “Why did you help me?” she whispered.

“It’s my job. Just wish I’d known sooner we were on the same side,” he wheezed. “Randy Turner, FBI.”

“Samantha Ryan, Boston PD.”

He nodded. “This isn’t our first witch hunt. Been trying to stop Bridget and whoever was behind her. They’re dead, but it’s not over. Salem was just one of the front lines. There are others.”

Not for me,
she thought.

He shuddered and then he was gone. She bent her head over him and wept for him, for herself, and thought she might never stop.

After a while Captain Roberts pulled her away and took her downstairs, far from the smell of blood. She sat at the kitchen table, dimly aware that someone put a blanket over her.

He shoved a cup of coffee into her hands and she clutched it but drew little comfort from its warmth.

After what seemed like a lifetime she looked up and saw him staring at her. “How did you find me?” Samantha asked.

“The GPS in your phone. I’m just grateful that you actually had it on you.”

“Ed will be so happy,” she said numbly.

“Did they raise the… the thing?”

The demon. She had stopped them from raising it. She shuddered and couldn’t contain the sob of relief that escaped her.

“What now?” he asked.

She shook herself. There was work still to be done. She couldn’t collapse just yet.

“Now we tear this place apart. We’re looking for a spellbook and journal that used to belong to Abigail. If it’s not here, check her house next. There’s a doctor you’re going to need to pick up. He’s a witch and a dangerous one at that. I’ll give you the address. Also, there are two dead witches in the bathtub back at my hotel room.”

“It’s a hell of a mess,” he said.

“I know. But one that has to be cleaned up. While you’re at it, search Gus’s room at the frat house. And tell everyone to be on the lookout for a cross necklace.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“It’s mine. I think Gus might have taken it off me the day we were at the fraternity. It could be anywhere. Have everyone keep an eye out for it.”

“Done. Where are you headed?”

“To the hospital. If he’s still alive, I have to see Ed.”

An hour later Samantha walked into Ed’s room in the intensive care unit. He was hooked up to so many machines, and lying there with his eyes closed and face pale, he looked so fragile.

She reached out and took his hand. She felt the cure flowing into him. Then, a few moments later, she poured her energy into him as well. As her body synced with his, she struggled to get breath and keep her heart beating. Her kidneys shut down, along with her liver. She could feel toxins escaping into her bloodstream. Her legs gave out and she fell on top of him and lay there, writhing in agony.

And slowly his body began to heal. When his kidneys started functioning again so did hers. Same for the liver. Her breath came easier and her heartbeat regulated. Slowly she was able to stand as the bones in his legs knit. She was weak, exhausted, but otherwise okay.

Ed opened his eyes a slit and she forced herself to smile. He closed them again and then sank into a deep, healing sleep. Samantha turned to go and saw his wife, Vanessa, staring at her through the glass window in the door.

Once she was outside the room, Vanessa hugged her tight. “Thank you.”

“He’d have done the same for me,” Samantha said.

Together they walked to the waiting room. “He told me everything. You just saved him like you saved that girl, right?”

Samantha nodded, not having the heart to tell her that saving Katie had been a huge mistake.

“Is it over? Everything that’s been happening?”

“Yes.”

“I’m so glad. Why don’t you go home and get some rest? Then you can come back and see him tomorrow.”