Wicked (The Drake Chronicles Book 1) (16 page)

“You have a mouth just like your father, Ethan Drake.” Craven walked around Emma and Logan and passed Vander and Hoke who were now on their knees. “I am Craven Bell.”

Ethan took a step back, suddenly growing tense. Adam ran to his side, his palm out toward Craven. The man threw his head back and laughed.

“Boy, step out of the way!” Craven commanded, moving toward Ethan.

“No,” Adam growled in defiance.

“Sire, what about me?” Vander said. Craven came to a halt and spun on his heels.

“What about you?” Vander looked taken aback. He got up off of his knees and walked over to Craven.

“You said if I brought them to you, you’d put me to rest?” Vander smiled nervously. Craven let out a hoard of laughter that stung everyone’s ears.

“Ah, yes. See, I played with your mind. There’s no such spell. You’ve been able to die all along, you fool.” Vander stumbled backward, his mouth falling open in shock. Emma stared at Vander and for a moment, she felt bad for him.

“You used me?
No one uses me!
” Vander charged into Craven but the man flung him all the way across the cathedral. Vander landed with a crash at the podium.

“Now that I have all three of you, we can be on our way,” Craven said.

“What do you mean all three?” Emma asked. Craven smiled but didn’t turn to her.

“I need Mason too, dear girl. He’s the only one who knows where your mother buried something I need for the ritual.”

“You’re never going to get it, Craven,” Mason hollered as Vander picked himself up from the floor.

“Why not, old man?” Craven turned.

“Because he’ll be dead,” Vander said and with a crush of his fist, Mason fell from the pentagram. He landed on an array of spiked metal candle holders, blood rushing to the ground.

Emma cried out as Adam ran over to them and tried to remove the rope, but nothing seemed to be working.

“MASON!” Ethan tore through the middle aisle, his temples throbbing and his heart in his stomach. He ran up the steps to the podium and dropped to his knees in front of his godfather.

Ethan tried to revive him as more blood spilt from the corners of his mouth. Mason looked into Ethan’s eyes and smiled. He raked at his brain trying to remember a spell, but it was no use. The man was already gone.

“Mason!” Emma bawled.

“You imbecile, do you realize what you’ve done!” Craven shouted at Vander.

“Of course I do, sire,” Vander smirked. “Now, all you’re plans are dust.”

Out of the blue, the entire cathedral began to rumble. One by one the chandeliers came crashing down, glass and metal flying all over. Something was causing the building to crumble.

Emma, Adam, and Logan turned and watched as Ethan stood up from Mason’s body and twisted around, facing everyone. Blood garnished his hands and his eyes were pitch black.

The skylight caved in and glass showered upon the pews. Purple mist began enveloping the sky. Craven threw his hands forward and impaled Vander onto a broken chandelier. Vander quickly disintegrated, smiling as his face and body evaporated into dust.

Craven whirled around to Emma.

“THIS ISN’T OVER, NOT IN THE LEAST,” he roared and vanished into thin air, leaving behind a cloud of blue smoke.

Hoke spun around from where Vander had vanished and growled at Emma. He barreled toward her as the rope around them dissolved into sand. Hoke pushed Adam and Logan out of the way.

The two boys slammed into a window and hit the ground hard. Hoke snatched Emma by her throat before she could move and pushed her into a wall, roaring into her face.

Emma began to choke, her eyes bulging, and her face turning red. She dug her fingernails into Hoke’s skin and he cried out.

Ethan screamed loud and fiercely. Right then, every single window in the cathedral blew inward and chunks of the woodwork and glass began to plunge to the ground. The far corner of the cathedral cracked in half and crumbled as black birds began circling the open skylight.

Ethan moved his hand through the air, pulling Hoke away from Emma. He let go of her and she fell to the floor, landing on her feet.

Ethan held Hoke high in the air as the man struggled to free himself from the boy’s solid grip. Hoke ragingly shook himself and hissed at Ethan.

“No one mess with my family,” Ethan bellowed as Hoke latched both of his hands onto his own neck, struggling for air.

“Ethan, don’t do this!” Adam ran into the middle aisle.

“Why not? He was going to kill Emma,” Ethan looked down at Adam.

“Because this is it, this is the one thing that ensures you turning dark.”

              Emma pushed her way up the aisle and stopped next to her brother. She placed her hand on his shoulder and he turned to his sister. The look she gave him was hurting him. But something inside of him wasn’t letting go of the darkness.

              “Ethan, stop this,” Emma began to sob.

              “Listen to her, Ethan,” Logan shouted.

              Ethan was trying deep inside to make it stop. He was looking for a switch but there were none. This wasn’t like the other times. This time, it wasn’t letting him go and a part of him didn’t want it too.

              “I’m sorry, Emma,” Ethan said as he pushed her away. She landed backward on a busted pew, her head in excruciating pain.

“Ethan, stop!” she exclaimed but Ethan wasn’t listening.

All the familiar sensations began and his dark magic erupted within him. It flooded his veins with an addictive rush and clouded his mind with wickedness. His fingers tingled and his irises began to flood with black ink.

A storm brewed outside, black clouds invaded the daytime sky and the purple mist swirled into the cathedral like a tornado, ripping pews and pillars out from the ground as Adam and Logan tried to pull Emma to safety but she didn’t want to move.

Ethan couldn’t hear anything but his heart beating in his head as he threw open his closed palm and heard the echoing snap of Hoke’s neck.

Ethan let go and the man plummeted to the ground with a heavy thud.

Emma could only watch as purple mist spun around Ethan like ribbons until it fully swallowed his entire body. Her brother had just killed someone and now he was turning dark.

Tears rushed down her cheeks and Emma began to shake.

“ETHAN!” Emma gave one last holler as everything came to a halt.

Silence was all Ethan could hear as the mist vanished. Everything suddenly felt different, he felt good,
amazing
. It was so enthralling.

He watched Adam and Logan rush toward Emma as she collapsed to the ground. Only then, had Ethan fully realized what he had done.

He was a dark blood now. And whether he liked it or not, it was going to change
everything
.

15

Ethan stared down at Emma as she slept, her chest rising and falling. She seemed calm. But what was she going to say when she woke up? How would she react when she saw him? He couldn’t help but wonder if it would hurt them.

Would she ever trust him again?

“Emma?” Ethan combed his fingers through his sister’s hair. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up into her brother’s. They weren’t the hollow black she had seen in the cathedral. They were back to normal.

“Are you still?” Emma breathed.

Ethan nodded.

“Oh my God,” Emma pushed her brother away and sat up on a sofa she’d never seen before. “
How could you do this?
”

“Emma, I had no choice!”

“Yes, you did. You didn’t have to kill Hoke. The whole point of us doing all of this was so that we didn’t give in to our dark blood. This is… I can’t believe this is happening.” Emma began to cry. Ethan reached a hand out but she brushed it away.

“I’m sorry,” Ethan said.

“Sorry doesn’t make it any better, Ethan. This was not how it was supposed to be. We were supposed to put an end to Craven and go
home
.”

“Emma, we are home. Elsmere is where we belong. We have no business in the mortal world. We’re not mortals.”

“I don’t want anything to do with this world. Mason would have wanted us to go back. He didn’t want this for us. He worked too damn hard to keep us from becoming this way and now look what’s happened?”

Emma got up from the sofa and turned away from Ethan. She couldn’t look at him right now. All she wanted to do was hit him. She wanted him to understand what she wanted. What she wanted for the both of them.

“You guys, I think you need to come see this.” Adam hurried into the room.

Emma swiped tears from her eyes and turned back around, ignoring her brother. Ethan hung his head. He knew what he’d done was wrong. It was the worst thing he could have done. But deep inside a part of him wasn’t sorry at all.

They both followed Adam out through the living room archway and to the front door of Preston’s safe house. Emma kept her eyes down as Ethan shook his head at her. It was as if they were children again, ignoring each other. Some things never changed.

“This is all because of you.” Ethan turned his head. Logan was standing behind them, his arms folded over his chest. “I hope you’re fucking happy.”

“What’s going on?” Emma asked, nervously.

“Show them, Adam.” Logan commanded, his eyes digging into Ethan’s. He looked as if he wanted to attack him.

With a heavy sigh, Adam pulled the front door open and moved aside for them. Ethan turned to Adam and he looked down, avoiding Ethan’s eyes.

              Reluctantly, Ethan and Emma stepped out onto the wooden porch. It was cold outside and they could see their breath. Emma snuck a glance at Ethan and saw his face. He looked stunned and troubled.

Curiously, Emma looked straight ahead where Ethan was staring and caught her breath. Her heart nearly stopped as she tried to steady herself.

              Out across the entire massive front lawn, beautiful white snow covered the ground, glistening in the moonlight.