Chapter 314: Tears Of The Coven
We didn't move, not one of us, not even when the alarms drew close, when the firefighters arrived, the police. Usually the intrusion of normals would make us flee. But we couldn't leave them, not one of us.
We were finally forced back by normals who thought this was some ordinary fire. But I knew better. Had felt a fire like this one before, knew it was fed by magic outside my own, by sorcery.
Someone set it to kill the Vegas. For what they knew. I screamed inside my head at myself. They wanted to talk to me. I knew it was important. And I let them down. Would they be alive now if I'd found the time, made the time, stopped for one moment and gave them the attention they'd asked for?
How much guilt could one girl survive, exactly? Because it appeared I'd signed up to find out.
Who has done this? The twins found my mind, their rage making their mental voices quiver.
I don't know. I let the whole coven feel my shame. But Martin and Louisa were silenced, I have no doubt of that.
Quaid's arms tightened around me. He knew it too.
This cannot be allowed. Voices joined the twins, angry minds.
It cannot. I threw it back at them, fed their outrage with my own. Someone killed two of our family members on purpose. With purpose. And we will find out who. When we do, nothing and no one will keep us from our revenge.
The family surged with fury, their magic eager, giving over their power to me as I plunged into the house with my mind, hunting for something, anything, a clue, a hint. I suspected the Dumonts immediately, but where had they found a sorcerer to do their dirty work?
There was nothing. Not a whisper. The fire consumed it all, left not a single trace.
Our disappointment was bitter, felt collectively. I was forced to back off, to turn and face them all at last, to study each person while my expression settled into a grim, dark mask.
"Go home," I said and sent, reaching them on both levels. "There is nothing left to do here. But mark me, we will find out who did this. And we will act."
"What about the rest of us?" Celeste was among them. She dared break a direct order? But she sounded as afraid as everyone else, so I let her have her moment of terror. Locked eyes with her, let her feel how very little I cared for her fate, how I wished, oh I wished, the body in ashes buried under the Vega's house was hers. She flinched, moved back, hands falling from the desperate tugging she'd been doing on her thick braid.
No one looked at her. I'd done nothing to shield them from my feelings. And from the way they cut her out they shared them.
"The Vegas had information for me," I said. "I have no doubt that is why this happened. And I failed them. Their deaths are mine to bear."
I pulled away from Quaid, my heart hardening, forming a crust of anger around the fresh agony inside me, knowing I had to block it off before it consumed me utterly. There would be time to grieve, to process this guilt. But for now I had a responsibility to my coven, to the two brave witches now dead on my watch.
"I'm watching you now," I said. "And no one, no one, will dare come near my family." I glared directly at Celeste.
She turned and fled. I guess she got the message.
Good for her.
I sent the family away with more confidence in my presence then I really felt, knowing they needed it. They were still with me, trusting me despite the fact I doubted myself in the secret place behind the wall of rage I sustained. They must never feel it.
Not until it didn't matter anymore.
Revenge is coming, Gram sent, voice quiet and full of her own cold fury. Right now we have a job to do.
I looked up into the sun and nodded, only then taking Quaid's hand and walking away.
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