The Rose Witch - Chandelle LaVaun Page 0,24

hands. A strong gust of energy rushed out of her and then whipped around us in a circle. I shivered. Goosebumps spread across my skin. I didn’t have a coat. I didn’t even have sleeves on this gown, yet neither did she. But she didn’t look bothered by the temperature at all.

“Hellhound.”

“Fine. Hellhound. Aren’t you afraid of what you’re summoning?”

At that, she looked over to me and grinned a grin that sent a shiver down my spine. Her pale green eyes twinkled like a glass of absinthe. “Darlin’, I’m the scariest thing out here.”

I froze. Like literally. Every inch of my body went ice-cold. What does that mean? Why would she say that? Before I could form words to ask, that rainbow magic of hers poured out of her hands. It rained down on the grass in a light mist. The ground warmed under our feet. Little pulses of energy tingled through my feet and up my legs. I glanced over my shoulder to the house, but through the glass wall I saw the party was still going hard. No one had noticed our departure.

No one knows I’m out here.

Wait. Why am I afraid of the High Priestess? She’s in The Coven. They’re supposed to protect us. But there was something about Tegan that terrified me deep down into my core. I wanted to trust her except something told me not to. I needed to stop her and ask more questions. I needed to let someone else know we were out here. Tell my mother or granny. Shit. Maybe I ought to tell Jackson?

I opened my mouth to insist we pause when bright light flashed from the ground. I looked down, finding two circles drawn in the grass – one inside of the other. Both were drawn in neon red light several inches thick. Tegan dropped to her knees beside me but raised her face to the sky. She wiggled her fingers through the air like she was playing a piano.

My stomach turned and tightened into knots.

It was too late to turn back.

She chanted words in a language I’d never heard.

My pulse skipped. My palms grew sweaty. I trembled. She was summoning the hellhound. The one that had chased me. Why did I agree to this? Why didn’t I just leave? Walk back to the house?

I took a step backward, preparing to abandon Tegan to her own rubbish when a pair of eyes lit up within the shadows of the trees.

One gold. One red.

Both glowing.

I froze. I’d found my courage to bolt too late, or maybe that was a complete lack of courage. Either way I was going to need courage now, because there was no turning back. It saw me. Granny had said nothing could touch me here…but Tegan had summoned it.

I swallowed the hot lump of fear in my throat and turned to face it head on. Just beyond our property line was a small little forest that I used to play in as a little girl. The trees were lined up so close together that the branches interlocked, blocking out any and all-natural light. At night, it was utter blackness. Those glowing eyes emerged from the darkness. Two big black paws stepped out from the tree line and into the moonlight, shadows clinging to it like a cape.

“Tegan…the demon is coming…”

“It’s not a demon.”

“How do you know?”

“I know demons,” she growled and then I realized she’d meant exactly what she’d said. She really was the scariest thing out here. “Plus, demons smell like maple syrup.”

“Okay, well, what’s your bloody plan here?”

The demon-dog, hellhound, lunged forward. I shrieked and jumped behind Tegan. Then it vanished. I gasped. My blood ran cold. Smoke and shadow filled our circle, seeping up under our feet between every single blade of grass.

“Where is it? Where’d it go?”

“Here,” Tegan whispered.

The shadow slithered over the grass and then swirled together, growing thicker and taller in size until it stood almost as tall as me. My knees trembled. My breath left my mouth in shaky white puffs of smoke, like the temperature had plummeted. I wanted to be brave. I wanted to have courage. But I was terrified. I reached out and grabbed ahold of Tegan’s shoulder.

From within the black shadow, it opened its mismatched eyes.

Tegan gasped and lunged for it so quickly I actually stumbled forward, dropping to one knee. But she didn’t notice. She slid right up to its face and giggled. With hands that were somehow not shaking, she reached up and