Covenant by Sabrina Benulis Page A

people like us and see that deep down, we’re really no different than them?”
    â€œBut we are different,” Camdon said in her ear. “We can do things they can’t.”
    â€œThat’s only because we’re more confident. Because the Vatican turns a blind eye and encourages us to tamper with powers that we shouldn’t.”
    â€œAll blood heads aren’t witches or warlocks, Angela. True, Stephanie and her Pentacle Sorority were a good example of what can happen when the wrong people tamper with powers they don’t understand. But we can do good with those abilities too. In fact, that’s partly why I wanted you here tonight. I needed to show you, Angela.” Camdon’s face became stony, and his eyes narrowed, examining her.
    â€œShow me what?” Angela whispered.
    Suddenly, the world turned in slow motion. A sick feeling worked its way into her stomach, and she knew what Camdon would say before the words even passed his lips. They tolled like a bell of doom, drowning out the elegance of the night.
    Camdon pulled away from Angela but remained by her side. His smile seemed odd and out of place as he looked over her shoulder at someone approaching from behind. “I brought my sister back.”

Eight
    Long ago, I fixed the dreadful price of a soul’s return. —L UCIFEL
    Dead silence descended on the room. The music stopped. Hushed words and whispers whirled around Angela like a tornado.
    Softly, footsteps approached her.
    She couldn’t turn around. A sense of dread and elation, the strangest feeling she had ever known, had stopped the world.
    Camdon beamed brighter than ever, and Angela now realized that the intensity she had found in his eyes was a type of madness. She stared back at him, unable to express in words the sudden horror she felt at his touch and the way he’d spoken in her ear. But she didn’t need to speak, because another voice called her name from a shadowy realm beyond the grave.
    â€œAngela,” Nina Willis said from some nearby spot behind her.
    The silence in the room pressed like a vise. Most people who had known Nina when she was alive seemed rooted to the spot, either confused or vaguely terrified. In the background, someone muttered a hasty “Hail Mary.” Others cried softly, but whether from relief or fear it was impossible to tell.
    But no one moved.
    â€œAngela,” Nina’s voice said again. “Aren’t you going to say hello?”
    It can’t be.
    Nina was dead. She went to Hell in Angela’s place, so Angela could live and help everyone else. She was gone forever .
    Slowly, Angela turned around, her knees feeling shaky and weak.
    Nina Willis stood in front of her, looking almost exactly as she had when she was alive. Almost . Her hair, which had always been frizzy and unkempt, had been pulled back into a smooth and careful braid. Nina’s eyes, which had always been so bloodshot, were clearer than Angela had ever seen them. She wore a dirty white dress that Angela recognized instantly as the dress Nina’s body had been buried in. Oddly, there wasn’t a single scar on her neck marking the spot where her throat had been cut.
    It was like looking at Nina’s twin—someone very similar but not quite her.
    â€œYou—you’re dead, Nina,” Angela whispered lamely. Tears rolled down her face. What else could she possibly say? It was a miracle she hadn’t fainted on the spot.
    Nina took a very deep and alive-sounding breath, and she gazed at Angela with the most open and sincere expression possible. “Not anymore. Someone brought me back.” She lifted her dirty hands, showing off the mud caked beneath her fingernails. “Do you know what it’s like to crawl out of the ground, Angela? Not—very—pleasant. But I’d much rather be here than in Hell where I don’t belong. Just imagine it; I fell into Hell and lost all sense of place and