Ana Mourns (The Clermont Coven Trilogy Book 2)

by Alina Banks

  “Honestly, Ana, I think it’s more likely that they’ve been lying to each other.” Mom sighed. “They’ve always done what they thought they had to, because they don’t trust each other. I don’t think they ever have. Joseph, I’m certain, has never trusted anyone, and Madeline…well, she wants him to trust her, so she does what she believes she has to, even though she’s probably wrong about that.”

  “You hated her not so long ago.”

  “Death puts things into perspective. I’m able to see things I couldn’t before, and now I can see that the vampires are people too. Just because I made assumptions doesn’t mean I know anything about any of them. I made the decision they were enemies based on what they were and the decisions Madeline had made.”

  The wake was much busier. Everyone seemed to have known Mom, and even the Easons were there. Dad managed to be civil with them, not telling them to leave, which was probably attributed to the fact that I’d warned him in advance it was likely they were going to be there, and the last thing I needed was for him to make it obvious he knew they were the reason Mom was dead. He needed to seem normal. Grieving, but normal.

  I didn’t think for a moment it was easy for him, as he left for about five minutes after speaking to them, but I didn’t hear anything from him. Whatever he did to deal with his emotions was silent, at least. On my walk back in, his eyes met with mine, giving me a slight nod, and I understood what he meant. He was thanking me for reminding him of how things needed to be if I was going to avenge Mom.

  Damien came over to me after that. He studied me. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better than I was.” I shrugged. “This is more for other people than it is for me. I’ve already dealt with Mom’s death, and this is just giving everyone else a chance to say goodbye.”

  “How did the funeral go?”

  “We had more people there than I thought possible, but cemeteries like that one are unusual.” I smiled. “I think almost every witch that previously died was there to pay their respects to both me and Mom.”

  “Good.” He smiled back. “I was hoping that was how it would work out.” We fell silent for a moment as someone passed us. “I know a little about the cemetery because my cousin told me after I became a vampire. She took me there a couple of times when she was working on the spell, but it wasn’t willing to let me in.”

  “Are you really surprised by that?”

  “No, I’m not. I can understand why it wanted me to stay away, and I kept my distance after that because I knew it was for the best. At least, until one time when I returned with Violet.”

  “I know neither of them could speak with the dead the way I do.”

  “Yet they could still speak with those who’d passed on, if they put the effort in, which is something Violet chose to do. She wanted to learn more about me from my cousin, but my cousin wasn’t willing to talk all that much about me. I remember Violet coming out with this look in her eyes that told me my cousin was angry with me. She knew about the choices I’d made after leaving Clermont, how I’d done everything I could to force myself to be who Joseph wanted me to be, and that infuriated her after everything she did to try to help me. Yet she was still able to help Violet double check the spell that might give me back my freedom.”

  “From what I’ve gathered, that spell didn’t work.”

  “Unfortunately. Violet didn’t have the strength to make it work, but it wasn’t a broken spell, so it didn’t rebound on her. Instead, she just drained everything she had for nothing, and I know that scared her. She was scared I might try to harm her while she was at her weakest. I did what I could to help her, instead. I helped her get home without any of the others seeing her and got her into the sanctuary, where she had some things she could use to regain her strength. After that, I left her. Joseph never learned about that, otherwise I know he would have been furious with me. At the time, Violet didn’t have an heir, and if I’d killed her then, the coven might have fallen apart.”

  “I’m sure the Cane would have been able to hold things together.” I shrugged. “If not, then the magic would have passed on to another generation, because that was how it had always worked before. The death of one witch and the memories stolen from the others wouldn’t have destroyed the coven, although I am surprised Joseph didn’t make the most of things back then.”

  “If Violet had died, he would have. Her being alive complicated things, especially as she was still a witch, and she did find a way to help the rest of the coven. With my help, of course.”

  When the day was finally over, I made my way into the sanctuary, where I could be alone for the first time in hours. Slumping onto my comfy chair, I looked over at the door. I knew someone might walk in, but I hoped they wouldn’t, because I really didn’t want to talk to anyone right then. Not even Miss Cane. Then Sasha walked in, jumping onto my lap, seeming as tired as I felt, and when she looked at me, I could see how different she really was. She was nothing like all the other cats I’d met through the years. She was special. She was my familiar and that meant she was feeling how I felt. Gently, feeling guilty for that, I stroked my hand down her back.

  “I’m sorry.” She gave me a look like she thought I’d lost my mind. “I know part of what you’re feeling is mine, Sasha, and you might not mind that, but I do. That may well be part of being a familiar. I’ve never had a familiar before, so I don’t entirely understand what this is meant to be like. If you feel what I feel, then I need to get better at being able to deal with things.”

  Blinking, she gave me a swipe with her paw, no claws out. I understood that. “How long have you been a familiar?” I shook my head. “Like you can answer that question. I just wish I knew more about you than I do. You’re so much more than you seem to be, and I just have no idea what your life was like before you came to live with me. Have you been the familiar of other Conways?” Her tail flicked, which I’m sure meant she was trying to tell me something, but I had no idea what it was. “I think one of our jobs after this should be connecting in a deeper way. I don’t know if it will work, but I think it will help both of us, though that might make this problem worse.”

  She gave me another swipe. “Yes, I know. You don’t care about it, but I do.” She curled up in a ball on my lap. “It bothers me that you’re feeling this, because I know how I feel right now, and that…I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, especially not you.” I ran my fingers over her fur. “You’ve already done so much for me in the time we’ve been working together, and I have no idea how to thank you for that, apart from by giving you more treats.” She flicked her tail. “Yes, I know that will make you fat, and you don’t want to be fat. That’s why I want to connect with you and find out what it is you want, because that will make this simpler for both of us. Then you won’t have to listen to me being an idiot while you try to go to sleep after a long day.” She gave me her cat smile then. “I’ll be quiet now. Promise.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The time was coming, and I knew it. Alex had been delivering my tonic to those who needed it every other day. It should have been making the blood-drinking vampires weaker, but I had no way of knowing if that actually worked until the day came, and that…I hated not being certain. I hated feeling like I wasn’t ready. As I went over the spells I thought I needed, for what had to be the hundredth time, I told myself I was as ready as I could be. There was nothing more I could do, apart from continuously going over things until I knew I didn’t need any prompts to be able to get the spells right. I knew what should work. Damien had already helped to work out how I was going to make it happen, using the spell that would remove the curse of vampirism from all the people in the room. I still didn’t think it was going to work on Joseph, but if I got lucky, then things might be easier than I thought they were going to be.

  But hope wasn’t a way to plan anything. I had to assume that I was right about the spell not working on Joseph, the oldest of the vampires, as that was what he’d wanted. He’d made the decision to work w
ith the demon to get what he wanted, while the others had been bribed. I knew it was probably similar for Joseph at the beginning, but as time passed, he lost that bit of humanity. Maybe, with time, the same thing would have happened to the other Easons. I had no way of knowing.

  I glanced over at the journals. At how many people had been affected by the demon’s decision to ‘gift’ a group of women with magic in order to get what he wanted. That was such a small number, as the magic passed from one generation to the next, but the rest of the coven…according to the early journals, there were twenty women in the coven. The magic passed down from one generation to the next, normally going from a mother to a daughter, but sometimes, the magic split into two. I had a feeling, as I had the power of two people, that something similar would happen after me. If all the witches who could return, did so, then the coven would be up to at least fifty people, depending on how many had had children.

  Sighing, I raked a hand through my hair. I knew so little, still, about the history of the coven. Miss Cane, who I still couldn’t call Rebecca, was hunting for more Cane journals in her basement, wanting to bring them to the sanctuary. The more we had together, the better it was going to be. I wanted to learn everything I could, because without learning those lessons, I felt like I was never truly going to understand what things had been like for the witches through the years. How the generations that had been fighting the demon made sure that the following ones didn’t forget. As hopeful as I was that I would be able to banish the demon for good, I wasn’t willing to believe it was truly possible. I might be able to trap him for longer than the others, but I was certain he was always going to find a way back. No matter how strong we became, he was always going to be stronger.

  “Are you ready?”

  I glanced over my shoulder at Damien. “What do you think?” I ran my tongue over my bottom lip. “I don’t feel ready, but I know I have to be. Tomorrow night, I’m going to be walking into your house knowing exactly what Joseph is planning, and I’m going to try to defeat him. A vampire. Someone who’s had far longer to learn how to use his strength than I have had to use my magic.” I raked a hand through my hair. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like this is my chance to finally regain the life that was taken from me by the demon.” He stepped closer to me, and put a hand on my shoulder. “I believe in you, Ana.”

  “Most people seem to.” I sighed, again. “All I can do is hope that your belief isn’t misplaced.” I turned to look at him properly. “I promise that if I can free you, I will, and then you need to decide what you want to do next.”

  Dad was sitting at the kitchen table when I stepped into the house. “How are you feeling?”

  “Why is everyone asking me that?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think I don’t know something big is coming?” He shook his head. “You’ve been acting very different, and Damien’s been here a lot, so…” He shrugged. “Are you going to tell me what’s happening?”

  “I was going to.” I sat down opposite him. “That was the plan for this evening, if I could find the words.” My eyes met his for a moment. “Nothing about what’s coming is going to be simple for me or for anyone else involved, and there is a chance I might not come back. That is something I’m going to do my best to avoid, but I can’t make any promises. I can’t be certain of what might happen tomorrow - all I know is that I’m going to be walking into the Easons, in the hope that I can bring an end to the vampires, which is something I’m getting Damien’s help with.”

  “You’re the only one who can do this?”

  “Unfortunately.” I smiled. “I’m fairly certain that Miss Cane will be there too, but this is my job to do, not hers. I am the coven leader. I am the one with the strength to cast the spells that need to be casted. I hate that this is what I have to do because of what happened before, but I know this is my only chance to be able to end this before the door is opened and the demon is brought through. We really don’t need that to happen when we still have the vampires here.”

  “The demon will still come through.”

  “At the moment, I don’t think there’s any way to stop that. I will be looking into ways to keep him from returning to Earth, in the hope that I can prevent it, but…I don’t even know if that’s possible. My focus right now needs to be on dealing with the vampires, especially Joseph. He’s the one who’s truly dangerous. The others are just doing what they believe they have to do in order to keep him from looking at them with any kind of suspicion.”

  “What I really want to do, more than anything, is tell you not to go. But I know that’s not going to change anything, is it? This is something you have to do as the leader of the coven.”

  “Yeah, it is.” I bit my lip. “I wish Mom was here, but this is something I’m going to have on my shoulders from now on. She was the leader, so she was doing things like this, and if she’d come to me…” I shook my head. “What happened can’t be changed. All I can do from here is protect those I can, including you. Joseph, if he has to, will use anyone here to get what he wants, and I’m not letting that happen.”

  Alex was waiting for me when I got to school. Apparently, I was going to keep having to talk to people about what was coming next. His eyes met mine. “The principal is sick, apparently, which tells me something is coming. Are you going to tell me what that is?”

  I shook my head. “When you’re ready to know the whole story, I’ll share it with you.”

  “Nothing about that says this is something I want you to be doing, and yet, I know I can’t stop you. This is the path you have to walk.” He studied me. “If we’re going to be together in the future, it’s a path I have to learn to accept, or the only other option is for me to walk away. As that’s not something I want to do, I really only have one option.”

  “Yeah, you do, but I won’t hold it against you if you do make the decision to walk away.” My eyes met his. “If I were you, I’d walk away. I’m only saying that because I know so much more than you do.”

  Someone’s hand rested on my shoulder. “I wouldn’t walk away, and I know as much as Ana does.” I could hear the smile in Damien’s voice. “We’ve talked about this before, Alex, and I’m here as a reminder that things can be okay if you know the whole truth.”

  “For someone who has as complicated of a path as Ana.”

  “In a way, that’s true, but I think that in some ways, it would be better for someone like you to be with her. Someone who does have a more normal life. I’ve never had that. I don’t know what it’s like to think about college and whether or not I’ll be better off in one state or another, because of how life has been for me and how Joseph has had us moving from place to place. Part of that might be because he was looking for someone he believed only he could find.”

  “Mom.” I didn’t need to look at Damien to know I was right. The way his fingers tightened slightly on my shoulder told me everything I needed to know. “Honestly, I thought she was imagining it, but if Joseph was hunting her, it makes sense that she was traveling from one place to the next like that. If I had known, I would have done the same thing.”

  Looking slightly confused, Alex looked between the two of us. “You knew about Ana, but Ana didn’t know about you.”

  “That’s the way of things. Joseph has been watching the Conways for a very long time, waiting for the moment when one of them made a mistake that he could use to his advantage. Fortunately for Ana, there have been other people stepping in to help those Conways. If they hadn’t been around, there’s a chance she wouldn’t be here right now.”

  “We both know there would be someone else here to take my place.” I almost smiled. “Not that it matters. What matters is dealing with things as they are now.”

  Damien squeezed my shoulder, this time on purpose. “You aren’t wrong about that. Alex, I need to ask for a favor from you.”

  Glancing at Damien, I tried to work out what he was going to ask, but his face was giving away nothing. “W
hat?” Alex sounded uncertain. “The two of you need my help?”

  “It’s more that I need your help, but if things work out the way I think they might, then it could well be for the both of us. What happens tonight is likely to change everything. I wouldn’t ask this for no reason, but I think we’re going to need someone to help us once this whole mess is over. Can you wait outside my house tonight? I know the plan is to get started around eight tonight, so it should be over by ten at the latest, but it might take longer.”

  “Damien…” I said.

  “We need him, Ana. We need someone who won’t be in the middle of this. All of us are going to be weaker than usual, so having someone waiting for us can only be a good thing.”

  Alex nodded. “I can do that. I’ll talk to James too. He knows more about this than I do, so the two of us can wait for whatever happens.”

  “Just promise me one thing?”

  “What?”

  “No matter what you hear coming from the house, you don’t enter until one of us calls for you. Only if it’s me or Ana. No one else. That’s how you’ll know it’s safe.”

  As he’d promised, Damien was right by my side when we walked into the house, but that wouldn’t mean anything if the plan went wrong. He’d do what he had to do in order to stay in Joseph’s good graces. If I had been in Damien’s position, I would make the same choice, but I wasn’t. Instead, I was one of the two witches Joseph wanted to use to open the door that would let the demon back to a place he shouldn’t be. My eyes met with Miss Cane’s, and it was obvious from the look she gave me that she hadn’t been asked whether or not she wanted to join the party. That had probably been Madeline, which wasn’t a surprise. Then, slowly, I looked around the room. Both Madeline and Jessie were there, but Joseph wasn’t.