Cain

The next two days came and went and after Cain told me his story I felt the need to help him even more. He’s been through so much and if I can help him by getting his Loyal back I’ll do everything it takes. I don’t care what he’s done in the past, no one deserves having both his siblings killed and being thrown away from the only life he’s known. His family should have told him what was wrong with him from the moment they knew. Lying to someone you claim to care about is one of the ultimate betrayals for me.

No one should have to feel that way. And because of it, I’m packing my bag. Tot and Tater whine but I can’t bring them with me. I give them kisses and leave my room. I’m halfway down the stairs and towards the door when I hear voices.

“You don’t get to leave without us,” Patrick said.

I turn around to see Cynthia and Patrick with duffle bags in their hands. I was hoping to leave without them but I should have known they know me better than that.

“You can’t come with me.”

I continue my way to the door but they catch up and block it. I sigh.

“Yes, we can. We said we were going. I’m not comfortable with you going alone with some guy you barely know.” Cynthia argued.

“We’re coming with you. Whether you like it or not.” Patrick said as if his word was the law.

Like they practiced it, they both cross their arms and give me stern looks. I groan.

“Fine.”

“Not so fast.”

All three of us turn around and Mira is there in all her horrible glory. She has her curly brown hair in a messy bun, her suitcase is in hand and she’s wearing designer sweats.

“What?” I asked, annoyed.

“I’m coming with you.”

She starts to walks towards the door but I block her off.

“No, you’re not.”

“My mom told me to watch out for you. To make sure you don’t fuck up and get yourself killed.”

“You don’t even know where we’re going.”

She shrugs. “Doesn’t matter. I’m coming along or you’re not going.”

I smirk at her. “I can make sure you can’t leave out this door.”

“You do that and I’ll make sure mom never lets you leave the house again.”

“I’ll tell her about the elder’s boy.”

She glares at me but in a weird turn her face softens. “Look. The Elder’s council is on her ass right now. You keep leaving and fucking up and they don’t think she can handle her job. Their questioning if they should remove her.”

My eyes widen. “Remove her for what? All I did was go to my house and a couple of other places. This isn’t a prison.”

“It’s something else, Elsie. It was like they knew exactly what you were doing.”

They couldn’t know I’m helping Cain could they? No, there’s no way. This must be something about my mom. Cynthia did tell me that they think I’m going to turn into her. But why would they be questioning my aunt instead of me? Something bigger is going on here but for now, I need to focus on one thing at a time.

I sigh. “You can come but don’t ask any questions.”

“Why can’t I ask-”

It’s my turn to glare at her. “Take it from me. Once you ask one question you’ll want to know all of them. It’s better that you just go along with whatever.”

“Fine.”

I let her walk to the door and she drops her suitcase in front of me like I’m her servant and walks out the door. I roll my eyes and pick up her suitcase. It’s going to be a long journey.

****

Cain’s new house isn’t that far from the mansion but I’d rather have my car just in case we have to book it out of there. We pulled into the driveway of a mansion that was smaller than the coven mansion but it was bigger than I thought it would be. The exterior stone and the windows and doors are white. The lawn is perfectly green and there is a multiple car garage.

I park the car on the side of the house and we all get out. The front door opens and the woman who acted like a complete robot when I was at Cain’s house in Arizona opens the door. I keep forgetting to get her name but for now, I’m just going to call her robot woman.

“Miss, Clermont. Mr. Adam is expecting you. Come in.”

We grab our bags and walk inside. The inside is more beautiful than the outside. It’s modern and people are walking around moving furniture and unpacking. I take a look around the beautiful mansion and my eyes land on Cain. He’s at the end of the stairs looking at me. His green eyes stare into my brown ones and everything in the world somehow feels easier. His curly brown hair is wet like he just got out of the shower. He’s wearing a loose brown button down shirt that has a few buttons unbuttoned at the top and navy blue pants.

He looks good as usual. We don’t say anything. We just stand there and stare at each other. It probably looks creepy to everyone else but I can’t help it. Ever since I looked into our bond I get butterflies in my stomach whenever I see him.

“Where should we put our bags?” I asked.

“Fred will take them.”

A man in a suit comes over and grabs our bags. Cain gestures for us to follow him. He leads us to a room that has shelves of herbs and a few things we have in our potion room.

“What’s all this?”

“For the locating spell. I didn’t know what you would need so I got a few things I’ve learned over the years.”

“Yeah, definitely. We’ll need personal items from them.”

“Yeah, I have those.”

We get to work immediately. Patrick, Mira, and Cynthia help me set up candles and symbols. I put the metal bowl in the middle of the table that will hold a few herbs and the personal items of his Loyal. He walks over to his bag and pulls out a few items. A blue hair clip, a black feather, a bone, and a tiny bottle filled with black smoke. He walks over and hands it all to me. I put the stuff in but the bottle of black smoke holds my attention. I’ve seen this type of smoke before. I just don’t know where.

“Who does this belong to?”

“This is some of Keir’s demon essence.”

That’s demon essence. I’ve never seen it before but for some reason, it felt familiar. It should creep me out and yet I feel calm with it in my hand. I pour the essence inside the bowl with the rest of the stuff. Mira, Patrick, and Cynthia sit down next to me and we join hands. Doing magic is better with more witches. In unison, we say the chant of the spell. I can feel my power flowing out of me and into the spell. Their hands tighten on mine. Something is wrong. I open my eyes to see red smoke coming from the bowl. That’s not supposed to happen. The map we laid out starts to burn. Cain tries to stop the fire out. But it’s no use, the map has burned into a message clear as day. Nice try. They release my hands at the same time and catch their breaths.

“What the fuck was that?” Patrick asked while breathing hard.

Cynthia and Mira are doing the same. I feel fine. Disappointed it didn’t work but fine.

“What did you feel?” I asked them.

“You didn’t feel that?” Cynthia answered.

I shake my head.

“It felt like we were being pulled into the darkness. It was cold and empty Elsie. It felt like what death would be like.”

Her body is shaking and tears form in her eyes. I pull her to me.

“You can leave if you want,” I told all three of them.

I’ve been dragging them into my problems for way too long. I never wanted to be the friend who was always causing the trouble, I wanted to help stop it. What if this goes too far? What if Lilith decides to make her angry about one of my friends? I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I was the cause of their deaths. I joke around a lot but when it comes to them I get serious. They’ve been the only ones there for me. I can’t lose them.

“No. We want to be here for you. But we’re not strong enough.”

“We’re not as strong as you,” Patrick said now that he’s calmed down.

“I’m not strong.”

He rolls his eyes. “You are. The whole coven knows it,” he said. “You can do it, Elsie.”

“As much as it hurts me to say it. You’re pretty fucking storm, Elsie. You can do it.” Mira encouraged.

I nod my head and close my eyes. I channel all the magic that flows in me. At first, I think the spell is working because a new map starts to form. Not a physical one but inside my mind. It’s not a normal map but one with the locations we need. As the map grows I start to feel this aching feeling in my chest. I hear myself groan. It’s like a wall is being put in front of it. Someone is blocking me. Lilith. I see a bright flash of red before I’m thrown back into a wall. The pain in my back is nothing compared to the burning headache I have.

“What happened?” I hear Cynthia’s worried tone rushing over to me.

“Lilith, it fucking with us,” Cain growled.

Cain walks over and picks me up. I feel his muscular body against mine. I laid my head against his hard chest. I can’t help myself as I breathe in his sweet smelling cologne. I feel unexpected lips press against my forehead, then a calm wash over my body, and the pain goes away.

“What was that?” I asked.

He remains holding me while he answers. “We are connected through our soul bond. Whatever you feel, I feel. I can heal much faster than you so I transferred my healing over to you.”

“And that required a kiss?”

He clears his throat awkwardly. “It was the fastest way.”

“Right.” I dragged the word out. I pat his chest. “You can put me down now big guy.”

He sets me down on my feet.

“Now what should we do?” I asked.

Cynthia and Patrick are both quiet for a minute before answering.

Cynthia snapped her fingers. “Sexual energy.“.

I’m thrown off. “What?”

“Like Cain said you guys are connected. If your souls are bonded then you should be able to channel each other’s magic and get even higher power to do the spell,” she explained and then looked over at Cain. “Does your power match Lilth’s?”

He nods. “It’s better.”

“Then it should work. The only problem is you’ll have to have sex.”

“Hold on. I didn’t sign up to be a part of some orgy. And Elsie’s my cousin.”

Cynthia rolls her eyes at Mira. “We don’t have to be involved, just them.”

“Oh, well in that case you guys go get your sex on. The sooner the better. I don’t know what’s going on here but I’d rather be done with it as quickly as possible.”

My eyes widen.“There isn’t another way we could connect? Like maybe through a hug?”

Is this really what it’s going to take? I wasn’t afraid to have sex with him or anything. It would just be for the spell. It wouldn’t mean anything. I’ve had meaningless sex before. It’s no big deal.

“No. It has to be more bonding than just a hug. Sexual energy is more powerful than any magic. You would know this if you showed up to a class or two.”

She couldn’t help but take a jab at my lack of attendance every chance she got.

“Now is not the time for that.” I look over at Cain.“What do you think?”

“Let’s do it.”