Prolog
Seraphina took a steadying breath, closing her eyes in the warm night air. The moonlight provided no comfort to her as she assembled the tools necessary to complete her task. Fingers shaking, she finished weaving the effigy and looked down. A perfect recreation of a wolf sat before her, woven of dried herbs and grass. She placed it in the middle of the sigil drawn in her blood.
“This will work?” Her voice shook with uncertainty. A low sensual chuckle reverberated through the night air, and the demon appeared at her side. She gazed up at him, her eyes shining with apprehension and lust. The moon sucked the color from his skin, leaving him a shadowy figure towering above her. Like he had the first time she had summoned him, he wore no shirt, only low-cut pants that displayed the V-like indents at his hips. The moonlight exposed his muscled chest, conjuring sinful desires to touch and be touched. His eyes kept all of their crimson hue and glowed at her in the darkness, two fiery orbs.
“Yes, Seraphina, but do not forget the cost. Revenge will not come to you for free.” His voice wrapped around her and caressed her skin, leaving her feeling cold despite the night’s warm spring air. Greed filled her eyes as she thought about all this spell would mean for her. The demon had promised that one piece of magic would grant her revenge on the man she loved and the witches who scorned her.
Seraphina had never been a powerful witch, something often attributed to the fact that she was born to a mortal woman. Her father’s power and status in the coven had always given her a place among them until he died. In her hour of need, immediately after her father’s burial, her brothers and sisters rejected and shunned her. Then she met a man who made her forget all that. River had won her over with his enigmatic smile and passionate lovemaking. But he, too, had decided she was not worthy of him, abandoning her after she had handed over her heart.
Seraphina would show them just how worthy she was. Once she brought River and his pack under her thumb, she would use the pack to decimate her small coven. Then she would seize what she was owed. Fire filled her veins, and the demon chuckled as if he could smell it on her. He kneeled across the altar, and she pulled out the wicked, long dagger.
“Just a bit of my blood now,” He crooned. She sliced a small cut in his palm, and he placed his bleeding hand on top of the wolf effigy, then removed it, leaving behind a black stain on the creature. Seraphina lifted the knife and chanted words of power. They were of an ancient language remembered only by demons and witches, and hung heavy in the air. As she did, the silver moon above her glowed red, and she felt a dark power rising inside her in response to the forbidden magic she was channeling. She brought the dagger down decisively through the wolf, slamming it until it crashed into the wooden dais below. The moon turned black, and she blinked in the sudden darkness as she felt something inside of her rush out and through the trees. The moon regained its silver light, shining down on her as she panted and looked across at the demon. He had a wicked grin curled across his mouth, sharp, lethal teeth gleaming in the light.
“Now, Seraphina, the price.” She sighed and nodded, rising to her feet. The demon was there before she could stand, pulling her against his body. His skin was burning hot, but it left her feeling cold inside at his touch. Warring lust and fear fought for dominance in her, and as he leaned down, lips inches from hers, the lust began to win out. “Do you, Seraphina, witch of no coven, pledge your soul to me for eternity?” his breath brushed against her skin, and she shivered.
“I do,” she whispered, feeling something inside her detach and pull against her mind. The demon grinned widely, and then he pulled her wrist to his mouth and kissed the sensitive part below her palm before looking at her with his glowing, mischievous eyes and then biting into her flesh. Her cries rang out as black blood dripped from his mouth down her arm and icy pain flashed down her bones and through her body. He ended the bite, and she stared at him in horror as he grinned, his mouth and teeth now stained black in the moonlight with her blood.
