by Patti Larsen
Odette didn’t wait for Mom to demand their proof.
“Bring the girl,” she said.
I turned, knowing what I’d see, but still horrified nonetheless. Page looked terrible, anemic, like she’d been bled. Which she probably had been. She was led in by the brothers, each with a hand on her arm. Quaid and Ameline trailed in after them. Two puncture wounds stood out on her neck, some blood dribbled artfully down the front of her shirt.
It was so staged to look like a vampire attack I wanted to applaud and give them an Oscar.
“Girl,” Kristophe said, shaking her a little. “Tell them what happened.”
Page mumbled something before Kristophe shook her again. She perked then, looking about, dazed expression retreating. She took one look at Uncle Frank before she pointed at him and screamed. She collapsed backward, the brothers barely holding her up, as she clamped one hand over her neck and sobbed.
So she believed it at least. They’d done that part of the job well enough. Mom stared like she was thinking the same thing.
“I think it’s obvious, is it not?” Odette turned to Mom. “Miriam, I’m shocked and appalled that your own brother is a drinker. And were the decision only mine, you know I would ask for leniency.” Yeah, right. “But with all these witnesses and the girl, so young. So pretty… such a shame. You know coven law when it comes to vampires. They have rights. Until they drink from a human.”
And then they had none.
Mom turned to Page. “I want to examine her,” she said. “The memory could have been implanted, her experience created.”
Odette smiled. “Of course. Be our guest.”
Damn it. What was the old bat up to? And where was Gram? We could have used her in all this.
Coming, she sent then. Don’t let them hurt him. I’ll kill her myself if I have to.
I’ll do my best. I watched Mom approach Page, soothe her with magic. And instead of minding my own business and staying out of it, I slid my power along side Mom’s and followed her into Page’s head.
We weren’t alone.
“In all fairness,” Ameline said softly. “One of us needs to be with you. So you don’t tamper with her.”
Mom stared flatly, but didn’t argue.
In we went, past spinning, manic thoughts, into fear and darkness. Page’s mind heaved against us, the specific memory drawing us to it easily. Vague, with clumps of shadow, one face dominating as he bent toward her, eyes glowing white.
Uncle Frank. Oh no, please.
I pulled free, unable to take anymore, but Mom stayed with Page for quite some time. When she finally lifted her head, hands falling free from the cheer girl’s forehead, her expression was blank, but her heart was full of grief.
I reached for her again, linked power with her as Mom turned and met her brother’s eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “The memory is real.”
Uncle Frank writhed against the Dumont magic. “No! Miriam, Sunny, I didn’t, I swear it! The girl is lying.”
Odette’s power crushed him into forced silence.
“You’ve had your time to examine the accuser,” she said. “You’ve discovered what I myself know is true. Your brother is a drinker and for that crime, he dies.”
Mom stood there for a long moment in silence. “And his manner of death?”
There were several ways to do it. Humane ways. Only one would cause him horrible pain and suffering. We were hours from that, however. I was sure she had something else in mind. But Odette couldn’t hide the smile that crept over her face and I knew I was wrong after all.
“He will be held in custody until dawn,” she said, “and then he will be put out into the sun.”
***
Chapter Thirty Seven
The room was growing crowded. First a whole slew of coven members arrived, ours and theirs, faces I’d never seen before mixed with the most familiar. Quaid mentioned Odette brought family with her. I wondered where she’d been keeping them.
Celeste and James arrived shortly after Erica and the Vegas. Martin and Louisa looked longingly at Quaid from time to time. They sweet couple I’d always adored had taken the ungrateful wretch in and treated him as their own after the Moromonds abandoned him. And do you think Quaid, Mr. High and Mighty Dumont had even a glance for either of them?
One more item of punishment to add to his growing list. He’d pay someday.
Oh, he’d pay big.
In the meantime, I had Uncle Frank to worry about. Odette wouldn’t let us near him, her family magic encircling him. And there was still no sign of Gram. But there were vampires. Boy, were there ever. The Dumonts only allowed Sunny and Anastasia inside. The rest of the blood clan gathered, the weight of their presence almost comforting, their power pressing in on us.
He could just run. I sent that to Mom in as tight a beam as I could.
He refuses, she sent back. He insists he’s done nothing wrong.
Of course she’d thought of that. Being innocent won’t save him without proof, Mom. So do we fight, then? Is this it?
Mom met my eyes, hers full of misery.
He won’t let me.
She’d thought of that, too. Naturally. I stood there, staring at my uncle, picturing my little sister Meira in his place. It was almost enough to break me.
Stop, Syd. Sunny. Don’t do that to yourself. Frank wouldn’t want you to suffer for him.
I sent her love even as I reached for Uncle Frank, meeting Odette’s shields for the millionth time.
Where the hell was Gram?
I could feel the morning coming, sense it through my tie to Mom and Sunny. We’d sat vigil with Uncle Frank all night. I wasn’t even tired, too wired up for that. I noticed Kristophe nodding off and wished I could jab him awake again.
Just to hear him shriek like a girl.
“It’s time.” Anastasia gripped Sunny’s arm. “We have to go.”
Sunny shook her head, eyes locked on Uncle Frank where he remained, crouched and chained in magic at Odette’s feet. “I can’t leave him.”
Anastasia nodded once, quickly. “I’ll tell the others.” Her eyes met Mom’s. “You’ll guard her today.” It wasn’t a question.
“With my life,” Mom said.
The tall blonde nodded and left us there.
Uncle Frank struggled against the magic again, his own surging as though he’d been saving his strength. Odette’s eyes narrowed, but he won free enough to turn and stand, facing Sunny. She reached for him even as the old woman cruelly tightened her grasp again, the power between them keeping them apart.
“I love you.” Mouthed by him, heard in her voice as they spoke as one. Sunny wept then, great, hot tears, refusing to look away as Uncle Frank turned and stared at Mom. Wordless between them, just a simple wave. His eyes met mine and there was no way I could let him die. No way! But he managed to smile at me and I cried instead of raging as I wanted to.
No hope. No respite. He went rigid as dawn neared, eyes fluttering closed.
Sunny remained, her age giving her longer, before she too became a flawless statue. Mom whispered a spell, wrapping the blonde vampire in a cloak of darkness Erica quickly took charge of, spiriting her body from the room.
“It’s time.” Odette rose while her family yawned around her. Andre kicked Kristophe’s foot, jerking the teen awake. They looked bored, tired and ready to have done with it.
How dare they.
Mom had to act! She had to. And yet I saw it in her face, felt it in her magic. She was going to let her brother die. And I knew why. She didn’t have a choice. It was Uncle Frank or the coven.
Clever Odette. I’d underestimated her after all.
“Bring him.” Odette strode from the room and those in her way parted to allow her to pass. I followed, fury rising as three werewolves lifted Uncle Frank’s stiff form as if he were a sack of ordinary garbage.
“You’ll treat him with respect.” My demon emerged, surging forward.
They handle
d him more gently after that.
Like it mattered. The sky was deep red and orange in the east as the sun woke for the day. It would be only a moment or two before the first rays crested the edge of the world and Uncle Frank burned to death. I’d witnessed something like this before, when the Moromonds tried to murder him by putting him in the sun, and again when Cesard was left to die. But the first time Mom and I managed to rescue my uncle and the second was a monster who had no other way out. This was far different.
This was losing my Uncle Frank.
My heart fluttered, beat against my ribcage. Inside me my soul panicked, begged for some turn of events to make this all go away. But my body wouldn’t react, held as firmly as his it seemed, locking me in place and not allowing me to do anything at all.
And what could I do? One show of defiance could start a war none of us would win. A war that could very well end with my mother’s death. My father’s. Meira’s.
My own.
I stared at the horizon, begged the sun to stay for once, not to rise. The seconds crept by, the world growing more and more visible around me. A huge sob built in my chest, the pain of it squeezing the life out of me. This couldn’t be happening.
It just couldn’t.
And then she was there, stunning in her fury, more powerful than I’d ever seen her. Ethpeal Hayle, former leader of the coven, every inch the witch she was and much, much more, she strode forward from the tree line and up to stand toe-to-toe with Odette.
I wanted to cheer.
“You will let my son go, you bitch,” Gram snarled, “or I will rip your heart out and feed it to your dogs.”
It should have worked. Odette was cowed, clearly, almost terrified.
It should have worked.
But for Ameline. “Your son is a menace,” she said in her calm, cool voice. “And he must be punished.”
My eyes snapped to her the moment Gram’s did. A horrible feeling rose in me, a knowing, an understanding. I spun, spotted Page still limp and out of it between the brothers. I didn’t ask permission. I just dove in.
Alone. Without Mom. But more importantly, without Ameline.
No wonder we didn’t feel the alteration of her memory. We’d assumed Odette did it. But no, not the Dumont leader at all. Ameline herself. Having her with us disguised the feel of her magic.
There was no hiding it now.
Gram nodded at me. She’d known. But why the wait? Why this torture? I threw the truth outward, felt Gram catch it, spread it to everyone there. Mom gasped, spun on Ameline, just as the sun lifted over the horizon and touched Uncle Frank.
Slow, so slow. No simple matter of dragging him down a flight of stairs this time. He was still cocooned in the bubble of magic, but it let in the light, didn’t it? Mom reached for him, tried to mask him, but Odette was still in control.
Locked in that power struggle, neither let go until Uncle Frank began to scream.
***
Chapter Thirty Eight
It wasn’t until Mom physically had her hands on Uncle Frank I realized how much trouble we were in. He was screaming over and over, a high-pitched keening sound into the early morning light, his body burning slowly from one side to the other. I dove for him, Mom’s movement breaking my freeze.
It seemed we all moved at once then, piling on top of him, the very weight of our presence smothering Odette’s magic and freeing him from her grasp. The moment her shields collapsed, the lavender power dissolving away with a sigh, a black cloud of energy enveloped Uncle Frank, blocking his undead body from the sun.
I had no idea how much damage was done. He had stopped his unearthly shrieking at least, though I wondered if he still burned and smoldered inside the curtain of darkness.
Mom was sobbing, but in control of herself, as if her tears and her actions were completely unconnected. She carefully lifted the shrouded form of my uncle with her magic, floating him toward the parking lot and our minivan. Dad scrambled to open the back while Mom placed Uncle Frank carefully inside.
I looked away, unable to watch, unwilling to break down as she had. Well, at least not any further. When I did, my eyes met Ameline’s and for the first time since we’d met, the ice girl finally showed emotion.
She was smiling, her eyes lit with it, her delight at our suffering so very clear to me it made me gasp a breath before my demon surged inside me, taking over.
Before I could do anything we’d all regret, Ameline bowed her head to me and turned away. I snarled, having to release at least some of the built up emotion, my gaze falling at last on Quaid.
He looked ill, as if he were only just holding onto the contents of his stomach and his eyes were full of grief.
Bit late for that, the jerk.
Mom returned to us, face sheathed in tears, but her expression as stoic as ever. “There has been a miscarriage of justice here today,” she said with great poise. I still wished I knew how she did that. “My brother was almost killed, all because of lies told by this child.” She pointed directly at Ameline whose expression had also returned to the flat, blank one she usually wore. “I demand satisfaction.”
Tables suddenly flipped. And did it ever feel good.
Odette instantly attempted to do the slimy weasel and get out of it. “I’m sure there’s been some misunderstanding,” she said, an edge to her voice. “Simply a mistake.”
“No mistake,” Gram growled.
“A childish prank gone awry, then.” Odette knew the moment she spoke she was only making things worse for herself. Her expression hardened, her anger finally emerging, if only for a moment. “I can not be held accountable for the actions of one girl.”
And yet that was what she’d been demanding of my mother.
Shoe on the other foot kind of pinches, doesn’t it?
“Ameline must be punished.” Mom’s calm was full to the brim with the power of the Hayle coven.
“She will be. Raoul.” Odette gestured at her bodyguard. “Take Ameline inside.”
It did the werewolf credit he glanced at Mom first.
“Do you really expect me to allow that?” My mother didn’t move, but she was suddenly threatening. Even I felt it. “She comes with me.”
I noticed Ameline’s perfect calm crack. She glanced at Odette. Just a quick look, but it was enough. From a girl with a heart made of rock, that one look told me volumes.
She was afraid.
Awesomesauce.
Odette glared at Mom. “You can’t compare the life of a witch to that of a vampire,” she spluttered.
“She can.” I stepped forward on impulse, meeting Mom’s eyes. She simply watched me as I turned to Ameline. “But it’s not her decision to make, is it? The honor of our coven wasn’t challenged, but that of the Blood Clan DeWinter.”
I felt the surge of Mom’s approval even as Gram’s anger slammed into me, both at exactly the same time. Good thing I had my demon and Shaylee holding me up or I would have wobbled my way to the ground.
“Agreed.” I was shocked Celeste spoke up. I so sure she would back the Dumonts.
“Agreed,” Erica said hastily. I saw her flush slightly, knew she was pissed she let Celeste speak first. Erica was Mom’s second after all. The not-so-subtle shove Celeste just gave her had to sting.
More murmurs from our family. Odette ground her teeth, her smile still there but twisted and nasty. Gram stood in front of her, her own smile growing until she looked like one of the werewolves who guarded their Mistress.
“Very well.” Odette backed down, gaze falling from Gram’s. “I will obey the law. The girl will be judged by the blood clan and the vampire she has falsely accused.”
“And you will abide by their decision,” Gram said softly.
Odette snarled at her. “I will.”
Ameline looked suddenly paler. And like she didn’t agree with this plan even a little bit.
“Now,” Odette said, “Raoul, take Ameline inside.”
Gram laughed in her face, shaking with it. “Yo
u’re a fool, Odette,” she said. “And not half as clever as I thought.” Gram threw me a wink. “Maybe Naudia was the brains of your outfit after all.”
I’ve never seen anyone transform the way Odette did at the mention of her dead sister. It was as if she had her own demon inside, warping her expression. She went from angry to absolutely horrifying in the space of a heartbeat, as the magic holding her in her youthful state slipped and showed the real face behind the mask of power. Deep, sharp edged wrinkles dragged at her eyes and mouth, skin tinted a sickly green. Her teeth even seemed decayed, stained and jutting from her mouth like a demented picket fence. The vision only lasted a moment as she pulled herself together again, but it was enough for all of us to gasp as one in a collective of absolute disgust.
“You bitch,” Odette hissed, voice deep and grating. “You dare.”
“I do,” Gram said. “And I always will.”
Mom stepped forward, and part of me was relieved. Don’t get me wrong, I was looking forward to watching Gram tear Odette apart, but there were more important things just yet. And though the woman slipped, showing her weakness, I knew the moment to take advantage of that had passed.
Gram looked disappointed to the point of rage, but backed off as Mom approached.
“We will take custody of Ameline,” she said. “She will be returned here at dusk to face her fate.”
Erica immediately surged forward, the Vegas with her, surrounding the girl in magic. She didn’t fight them, her face back to its typical mask. But I knew now this was not part of Odette’s plan and felt for once we had the upper hand.
As long as we could keep it that way. And there wasn’t another disaster.
In my family, the latter was more likely to happen.
I watched Erica and the Vegas guide Ameline to Erica’s car. They went with her while Mom spoke.
“She will be carefully guarded,” Mom said softly, though the warning in her words was clear—a rescue attempt would be met with war. “We will see you when dark returns.”