Chapter 1: The Setup - Bloodween

“ONE THING I REFUSED TO BE THIS HALLOWEEN, WAS A DEAD LITTLE WITCH.”

I’d always associated the color red with power. Red lipstick. Red dresses. Red wine. In my world—in the world of The Crimson Witches of the Blood Coven—red was our identity. Red meant magic. Red meant sacrifice. Red meant blood.

And this Halloween, I was going to paint the town red. Because if I didn’t… I was going to be a dead little witch.

And I was far too cute for that.

Earlier today, I’d taken a potion that would change the trajectory of my life as a witch. My Coven Master had handed me the Crimson Elixor in a small vial—black glass, no bigger than my thumb. The liquid inside had been dark, reddish-black, and when I’d uncorked it, the smell had made my eyes water. Iron and ash and something older.

“You understand what this means,” she’d said. It wasn’t a question.

I’d nodded. I knew all the risks. I knew that I couldn’t punk out. Not that I would; I’d been waiting for this day since I was twenty-one and of age to do the ritual.

“Once you drink it, there’s no going back,” she’d reminded me. “Twenty-four hours. You complete the ritual or you die.”

“Yes. I know. I am ready, Master Vale.”

She’d studied my face for a long moment. Then she’d smiled, just slightly. “Yes, Armisha, you are.”

Her eyes flashed red, giving me the okay, and I’d tilted my head back and drank, officially making myself a Crimson Circle initiate.

It had tasted like swallowing smoke and rust. Like drowning. Like death. Most importantly... like power.

Now, twelve hours later, I could still feel it moving through me. A restlessness beneath my skin. A hunger that had nothing to do with food.

The bass of the music thrummed through my chest, bringing my awareness back to where I stood in the corner of the crowded living room, red cup with club soda in hand.

As much as I could use some real liquor, I didn’t have time for that. I needed to focus on the task at hand.

I scanned the room, searching for my best friend, Renna. She’d been arguing with her boyfriend and I’d given them space but honestly we didn’t have time for all of that. Then again, her arguing with him might mean she’d need a shoulder to cry on soon and I had one waiting right for her.

Just for her.

Someone dressed as a sexy nun stumbled past me, giggling into the neck of a guy in a Ghostface mask. Mortals, especially in the city of Marlowe⁠*, were always eager to play pretend. Dressed as witches, wolves, and demons, never realizing the real ones were right beside them.

I rolled my eyes and pushed through the crowd toward the kitchen. The microwave clock glowed 11:33 p.m.—twenty-seven minutes until Halloween.

For them, another night of unlimited liquor and bad decisions.

For me, Bloodween.

“Armi! There you are!”

I turned towards Renna’s voice to see her pushing through the crowd as she made it into the kitchen. I forced my face into something friendly: bestie mode activated.

Ren looked stressed. Her shoulders were tight and her pretty smile did not reach her deep brown upturned eyes. Eyes that always reminded me of my own. Just softer. Sweeter. People always said we could be sisters. Same build, same brown complexion, and both always wearing braids. Although, I was maybe a half an inch taller at exactly five foot seven.

She had on the she-wolf costume she’d shown me when we video chatted earlier. She thought it was bestie coded that she’d be dressed as a wolf while I was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood.

Little did she know… this was irony in full effect. At least the gray bodysuit, fake fur, and clip-on ears were cute.

“Hey,” I said as she got closer. “You okay?”

“Not really,” she said, immediately grabbing my cup from me with her free hand. The other had her wolf mask dangling from it. She took a sip and balled up her face. “That taste like weak Sprite.”

“Because it’s club soda.”

“Oh my God,” she sighed, placing it down and grabbing a cup next to the bottles of hard liquor. She reached for a brown and poured herself a hefty shot. “I need to talk, but somewhere quieter. Okay?”

I nodded and let her lead the way, watching as she downed the shot and tossed the cup in the trash before we left the kitchen. We headed towards the stairs only for our pathway to be blocked by her man. Dorian, or Dro as everyone called him, was dressed in a similar wolf costume.

“We need to talk,” he said to her. His voice raspy and deep.

She looked at him, then back at me and said, “Come on Armi. It smells like trash over here.”

“Ren. Quit it. I told you it was nothing.” He wrapped his hand around her elbow. Her nostrils flared and I swear I saw her growl before her eyes flickered to me and she frowned.

She definitely growled. But as the good witch I am… I saw nothing.

Heard nothing either. Just two humans having a totally normal human argument.

He leaned down, whispered something in her ear and she didn’t hesitate to push him away before grabbing my hand and dragging us both away.

“He makes me so damn mad,” she seethed as we climbed the stairs. “But… is he watching me?” she inquired.

I glanced back to see that he most definitely was.

“Yup.”

“Good.”

We entered into an empty bathroom and the door wasn’t even closed before I asked, “What’s going on?”

She bit her lip, then blurted out, “I need a huge favor and it’s gonna sound completely insane.”

“Okay...”

“Can you switch costumes with me and pretend to be me for like thirty minutes?”

I blinked. That wasn’t what I’d expected. “What?”

“I know, I know.” She was talking fast now, the way she did when she was nervous. “Don’t judge me. But Dro’s apartment is down the street, and this is the only chance I’m going to get to go through his stuff. I—I need to know what the fuck he’s on. I’m almost sure he’s cheating on me, Armi. And I know whatever I need to know is on his iPad.”

“Ren,” I sighed.

“I know what you’re going to say. It’s childish and I’m too old to be doing shit like this but, I need proof. That way when I beat his ass, it’s justified, you know?”

Actually I didn’t know because I wasn’t dickmatized like my friend. Or in love. Or whatever the heck she was feeling to want to go snooping through his stuff.

“As you saw, I’m giving him the silent treatment. He’s not gonna try to talk to me for at least another thirty minutes after what just happened. Trust me.”

This was the type of foolery that made it hard to be someone’s best friend. I didn’t have time for this. We didn’t have time for this.

“Please.” She fake pouted. “Ever since he um—graduated from dental school—things have been off. And I swear I smelled—” she cut her self off and sighed loudly, pushing her braids out of her face. “I sound crazy, don’t I?”

No, you sound like a werewolf picking up another woman’s scent on your boyfriend. But what do I know? Not that you’re a werewolf that’s for sure.

“A little but⁠—”

She placed a hand on my arm and the elixir seemed to jump at her touch. “I really need to do this Armi.”

I sucked in air, giving in. “Fine.” Thirty minutes wouldn’t ruin my plans. “But you promised me we’d do the midnight haunted house crawl tonight,” I said, making sure she remembered she was supposed to be leaving the party with me tonight.

“And we will, scaredy cat,” she teased me, locking the door. “Besides, there’s something I need to tell you.”

She started peeling off her bodysuit and I did the same with my costume.

“About what?”

“Don’t worry about it right now,” she brushed it off as if she hadn’t brought it up. “Anyway, stay visible but not really around him, you know?” She talked as we swapped clothes. “If he tries to talk to you, which I doubt, give his ass the cold shoulder and walk away. I’ll text you when I’m heading back and we can go on our haunted house adventures.”

“Now if he realizes I’m cospl⁠—”

“Girl, he’s been drinking. Long as you keep the mask on, his dumb ass will think I’m me and sulking around.” She grabbed the wolf mask and fitted it over my face. “Perfection.”

The only thing visible was my eyes and hair. “You don’t think he’ll notice that suddenly you have boho braids?”

“Absolutely not. He’s a man, Armi. And a dumb one because I know he’s been cheating on me and that’s stupid in itself.”

Her voice had a subtle playfulness to it, but I could also hear the underlying heat. She placed my Little Red Riding Hood cloak over her head, shielding her face.

“Oh,” she reached into the pocket of my skirt she was now sporting and pulled out a small perfume vial. “Just in case he comes close, you’ll smell like moi.”

She sprayed me down—a little too much if you ask me—and then asked, “Ready?”

I adjusted the bodysuit so that I could breathe better, “Thirty minutes max, Renna.”

“Yes, promise.” She gave herself a look in the mirror. “Now you head out first in case he’s out there! Text me when it’s clear!”

In all of my twenty-nine years of life, I’d never done anything like this. If I didn’t have things to do, and the potential poison in my body counting down the seconds, then this might’ve been fun. But right now when we were ten minutes away from it officially being Halloween, it was not.

As I stepped foot back into where the thick of the party was happening, I spotted Dro on the back porch and texted Renna that she was clear to sneak out.

I didn’t know if I’d classify Dro and I as friends, but he was my best friend’s boyfriend and that made us pretty cordial over the past two years that they’d dated.

I never fully trusted him for her though. His aura gave off a type. The ‘I have the ability to ruin a woman’s life’ vibe and from the way my bestie was acting—I’d been right.

I mean, he was fine as hell, but that’s why you leave them alone. Especially when they are regular ass mortals.

How pathetic.

Renna was better than me. I couldn’t imagine being a werewolf and not tearing my mortal ass boyfriend’s limbs apart for playing me. Her pack better be proud.

Not that it’ll matter after tonight.

I weaved through the crowd as everyone counted down to Halloween like it was the start of a new year. And for me, I guess it was. By this time tomorrow, I would be a member of the Crimson Circle—or else.

I spent the next twenty minutes circling the party spaces. After my third time, stopping near the DJ area, I spotted Dro back near the food. He was already watching me - watching Renna. Our eyes met—briefly—before he looked away, pretending he hadn’t been.

My phone vibrated in my hand and I tapped on the notification.

Renna

OMW back soon. Meet me outside in about 10 mins. I’m over this shit.

About time.

I didn’t wait, I slipped out the side door, the loud music fading behind me. The fresh Halloween air was colder than it had any right to be, heavy enough to make my breath fog. A faint smell of marijuana and wet leaves clung to everything.

I stood off to the side of the house, waiting. The silence was too thick.

The kind that made me aware of my own pulse.

The kind that made me think too much about what I still had to do.

My phone’s clock read 12:24 a.m.

Eleven hours and five minutes left to perform the ritual and I was out here playing switcheroo instead.

One more bestie adventure for the road, I guess.

See, I am a good friend.

Clearly not a GREAT friend since Renna never told me her secret. Granted I never told her I was a witch either. But still.

Before I put my phone away, it vibrated again.

Renna

Make that 15 mins. Don’t fight me .

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to respond as I pushed my phone into the zippered pocket of the costume.

Of course she didn’t adhere to the thirty minutes.

I started back towards the front of the house when I heard a rustle. I ignored it, thinking it was only the wind. But then another—closer.

My fingers twitched, ready to cast if I needed to.

The crunch of a leaf snapped behind me, and before I could turn⁠—

—a hand clamped around my neck.

“I see you want to play.” The voice was muffled in my ear. I went to pull away but something pressed against the nose of the mask. A sickly-sweet smell flooded my senses.

What. The. Fuck?

The world tilted sideways. My knees buckled. I opened my mouth to yell but nothing came out. I tried to activate a protection spell, but my body failed me.

The last thing I heard was, “Now you’re all mine.”