Wicked (The Drake Chronicles Book 1) by Clover Donovan Page A

in his hand. His short hair looked nearly blue, but his features were of a younger man, maybe a several years older than Emma. He had a square shaped face and his eyes were sunken in and black as night.
     
    There was no pupil and the whites of his eyes no longer existed. His hair stood on end as if it was attempting to escape his pale scalp and his eyebrows looked thick and menacing.
     
    He looked like a demon, Emma thought, as she tried moving her legs. There was no use, she could do nothing. What did these men want? And why were they hurting them?
     
    “The boy is not here,” Hoke declared.
     
    “We’ll take his son then, since Bennett didn’t want to cooperate. We’ll show him that we mean business.” The man swung one of his gloved hands through the air in front of him and Emma and Logan flew to the middle of the room, back to back.
     
    “What the hell?” Emma snapped.
     
    “Des lende modes moratu.” The man recited a spell and as soon as he had finished, a glowing gray rope appeared, wrapping itself around the two teenagers. “Don’t move. It will only hurt more.” Logan pushed himself into the rope and a shock vibrated through his body. He cried out in pain and Hoke laughed.
     
    Emma didn’t dare move.
     
    “Where’s my father?” Logan screamed.
     
    “He’s in the kitchen, unconscious of course, and tied to a chair. But you are coming with us. I’m going to teach your sad excuse of a father a lesson. Now, where is Ethan?” the man walked around Logan and stood in front of Emma.
     
    Her head was hung low and tears were streaming down her face. She just wanted this all to be over. “Where is he?” the man grabbed Emma by her chin and tilted her head back. She stared into his eyes and could see her own reflected in the darkness.
     
    “You will never find him,” Emma growled.
     
    “Oh, I’m not going to find him. I am going to use you to get to him, even if I have to sever a few limbs to get him to rescue his dear twin sister. Craven will bow to me when I bring you both to his lair. It will be glorious ,” the man said into Emma’s ear. His breath smelt of mint and it forced goose bumps to ignite on Emma’s skin.
     
    “Who are you?” Logan growled.
     
    “Who am I? Young boy, you don’t remember me? I am Vander Hilt. I nearly killed you and your father years ago. I was so close to getting you but your father was too fast. But now, I can have the pleasure of bleeding you dry. Or maybe letting my good friend, Oden, the hellhound, clean the meat off of your bones .” The hellhound took a step forward, its sharp white teeth gleaming in the lantern’s light. “Not now, Oden. I have plans for these two.”
     
    Vander stood up and walked over to Hoke. Emma cried, realizing that she was more than likely never going to see her brother again. She wouldn’t want him to find her; he needed to be safe.
     
    Logan grabbed Emma’s hand, shocking them both. He held onto it tightly and told her that everything was going to be okay. She nodded but couldn’t bring herself to believe him.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    8

     
    Ethan awoke with a start. His eyes slid open and he flung himself forward. He leaned back, breathing hard and staring up at the ceiling. He was lying on a bed but he didn’t know where he was.
     
    The sweet smell of strawberries flooded his nostrils as he began to calm down. He looked around and saw that he was in someone’s bedroom. The walls were light brown and only two posters garnished them. One was of a band called The Seven-Sixes and the other was of a candle made out of a skull. Ethan turned on his side and saw Adam making his way over to an opened closet.
     
    Adam was shirtless and was going through the clothes. Ethan watched, unable to take his eyes off of him. The tattoos that covered his arms down to his elbows were entrancing, and after staring for a while longer, he noticed that they were trees, dead ones,