The Council, A Witch's Memory (24 page)

“Oh, I think you know what I want. I’m very weak right now, and your mother is the reason for that.”

“Craven,” I growled. So it was him. I didn’t recognize his voice.

He started at that. “What?”

“You heard me,” I snapped.

“You will call me Father.”

“No.”

“Show me some respect.” He pushed off the table, limping toward me. “I am your father. I’m sorry it had to be this way. I wanted to take you with me when I left, but you were hidden away from me. Let us be a family.”

“You’re insane. I never wanted to go with you in the first place. Why do you think Zane and I hid that day on the shore?”

“You do not know what you do by resisting me.”

“I’m doing what’s right.” I slid closer to Pepper, hoping I could protect her. If I had to I’d heal her and try to distract him so she could run for it.

“I am your father.”

“No.” I stood, my legs trembling, but managed to keep myself upright. “You were Craven to my mother, and you will be Craven to me.”

He closed the distance between us, the toes of his boots mere inches from Pepper’s head. I could not see his eyes or his face under the hood of his cloak. But I felt his malicious glare.

“You will give in, and when you do, you will heal me.” His voice rumbled in the room. My neck prickled and every little hair on my body stood at attention.

“Never.”

His hand lashed out, not nearly as fast as Zane, but fast enough that I couldn’t move out of the way. He lifted me off the ground. I’d seen this same move once before. He was getting ready to throw me just like he threw my mother.

“If you hurt me, I can’t heal you.”

This seemed to register; the tips of my toes brushed the floor. He dropped me. I landed on my side with a groan.

“Do it.” He extended a white hand. His fingers were thin and boney, skin so translucent I could see his blue veins clearly.

I pushed myself up, trying to see his face hidden beneath the blackness of his cloak, and I remembered…

“
Venna,” my mom was sitting at the dining room table with an icepack over her right eye. I dropped my pail and shovel on the floor and wiped my sandy hands on my shorts.

“
What happened?” I went to her and pulled at the pack to see.

“
No, Darling,” she tried to push my hands away. “I’m fine.”

“
Was daddy mad again?”

She nodded, the blue of her eyes glowing brightly. “Yes, very.”

“
Why?” he got mad a lot now. But he’d never hit my mom before.

“
I told him to leave.” She grasped my hand and pulled me closer. “Venna, if you remember anything I tell you, remember this… Your father feeds off fear now. Any sign of weakness means defeat for the person who shows it.”

“
But we love daddy, we’re not scared of him.”

She hugged me close, “In his eyes, love is a weakness.”

I glanced up at my father, knowing I’d remembered what my mother said at this crucial moment was for my benefit. Not his. “What will happen to me if I heal you?”

“I may need your powers in the future. You will come when I call.”

I slid my hand to touch Pepper’s ankle, thinking I’d heal her and tell her to run. I’d attack Craven so she could get away, and injure him even more.

I’d pushed my luck.

He grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked me back up.

“Heal me, not that stupid human.” He shook me. My eyes crossed from the force. “You selfish brat!”

I grabbed fistfuls of his cloak to steady myself and gave a swift kick to his bad leg. He dropped me again. I managed to put some space between us and ran to the center of the room. “Henry will be here any second.”

“Oh, I’m so scared.” He whipped around and strode toward Pepper. “I can’t believe my daughter keeps the company of a human.”

“Don’t touch her.” Not knowing what possessed me to do it, I raised my hand and leveled my gaze at him, shaking uncontrollably. I must not look very intimidating.

He made a tisking sound. “Venna, you have to be touching my skin in order to cause damage.”

I took a step forward, my hand still raised. “I mean it, back up.”

He lifted his good leg, positioning it over Pepper’s head. “You’re out of your league child.”

“No!”

He brought the heel of his boot down.

I felt my skin tingle and heat as a pulse of energy shot down my arm through my fingers. Craven flew back. He slammed into the wall, rattling the building.

I stared at my hands in disbelief.

“How did you…” he trailed off, pushing away from the splintered wood. “You’re bound to the prince?”

I nodded, unable to speak, still shocked at what I’d been able to do.

He shook his head, which was still covered by the hood. He didn’t seem to be at all affected by my sending him flying into a wall. “The royal family will do anything to get you back. Imagine the demands I could make, the ransom.”

I raised my hand again, “Here’s what’s going to happen, Father. You are going to come with Pepper and I to Henry’s house.”

He laughed. “Oh, I give up, is that it? You want me to surrender to the little prince?”

“Yes.”

He came closer and I shook my head, raising my other hand too.

“I never understood what you saw in Henry when you were little. Bossy little shit.”

I felt the energy tingle in my fingers and flow down my arms, and I didn’t stop it from shooting out of my hands and sending Craven back into the wall again.

This time he didn’t get up.

“I’m in charge now.” I said.

“Spoken like a true royal.” A clammy hand clamped down on my wrist and wrenched both of my arms behind my back. I twisted around to see Cal’s beady black eyes and wicked smile. He bound my hands together with a frayed piece of rope and pushed me to the floor.

I squinted at him in the way Henry did when he moved an object. Cal didn’t fly through the air like Craven though. I wasn’t strong enough.

If Henry didn’t come soon I was officially done for.

“This is going to be fun.” Cal grinned. He was missing a front tooth and his broken leg was in a cast. The kind where it had a boot on it so you could walk around. Did he ever give up? Take a vacation?

“I concur.” My father rubbed his hands together.

Craven and Cal stopped their celebration and grew very quiet.

An unnatural stillness settled around us. I could hear thunder rumbling outside. A breeze swept through the room, whipping my curls around my face.

The lights flickered once, twice.

A bulb above me popped, then the one next to it.

I inched out from under the lights as they flashed and cracked, holding back a scream when the room plunged into blackness.

My attention was drawn to the windows on the far left side.

The cracked and broken glass began to rattle, tremble as if alive.

What was left of the windows shattered, raining down to the floor from the force of the rumbling walls. Dirt and dust drifted in thick clouds from the beams in the ceiling above. I gagged, barely able to inhale. A cracking sound echoed around us as the window frames splintered. The structure groaned, bowing outward. Its windows wrenched free from the wall, sucked into the dark outside.

Through the hazy room I saw a figure standing in a gaping hole where the windows had been. A shiny object glistened at his side, wood and glass crunched under his shoes as he strode into the mill.

He climbed over the chunks left over from the missing windows, wielding a gleaming sword in front of him as if it were an extension of his arm.

“It’s over.” Henry crossed the room, placing himself between the hooded lunatic and me.

Cal was watching the hole in the wall closely. I forced my eyes away from Henry to see what had his attention. Dmitri stood in the opening now, his lip curled above pearly white fangs.

Cal took a step back when Quinn appeared next to Dmitri. He looked even more foreboding than usual, holding a crossbow. A wolfish growl escaped from his clenched teeth.

I turned my attention back to Henry and Craven.

“You underestimate my capabilities.” Craven said, sounding smug.

“If you’re referring to your goons outside, they’re dead,” Quinn growled. “Tough luck.”

“They were expendable.” Craven chuckled and snapped his fingers. “I allowed you to find me. I allowed you to break in here. I’d planned this all along.”

More men came into the room from the far doorway, we were outnumbered.

“We can end this now, without any blood spilled.” Henry said.

“Hum, no. I don’t see three spoiled princes, my weakling daughter, and an unconscious human as much of a challenge. It is you, Your Highness’, who should surrender for your lives.” Craven laughed wickedly. “This was my plan, you see. Venna is the bait. Yes, I need her to heal me, but I also gain leverage over the Council by capturing their heirs.”

Dmitri hissed. “You haven’t captured us yet.”

“Yes, I have.” Craven said, and looked at me. “Venna, you may heal me whenever you’re ready.”

I gasped, “Never.”

“I would spare Henry, let him live if you healed me.”

My throat went tight and I gazed up at Henry. I could save him by healing Craven. But then I looked at Pepper and Dmitri and Quinn. They wouldn’t be so lucky.

“Like you spared my mother?” I asked.

Craven snarled. “She chose her own fate. Who am I to deny her of it?”

I’m not sure who threw the first punch, but suddenly, the men behind Cal launched themselves at Dmitri and Quinn.

I struggled to my feet, thinking I’d run for the old table saw and try to cut the ropes off. But suddenly Dmitri was behind me and he tore them free.

I nodded, “Thanks.”

He was gone in a blink, and I forced myself to move. I caught Pepper under the arms, dragging her across the room to the massive table saw.

Someone grabbed me from behind.

I whirled and came face to face with a vampire. His fangs bared, he lunged for my throat. I screamed, pressing my hands to his face. The smell of smoke began to permeate the air and the monster fell to the ground writhing. His skin on fire.

I grabbed Pepper again and managed to drag her the rest of the way, though not as gently as I’d like. I pulled her under the table with me and placed my hand over her forehead and healed her. Then I turned my attention back to the fight.

Chapter 30

Craven’s men gave everything they had, ruthlessly bating and shouting obscenities. Despite their efforts, they were losing. There were only a handful of traitors left, Cal, a vampire, and a few warlocks.

Dmitri would rush the vampires from behind and behead them. Quinn took a more forward approach, charging them and snapping their necks with his hands. He used the crossbow on the ones across the room, first taking out her legs to slow them down, and then…well, I didn’t really want to see the rest, so I averted my gaze.

Lightning shot out of Cal’s hands. The wall next to the table saw was charred and smoking. He aimed his hands at me this time. I grabbed Pepper, ready to drag her out of the way.

Quinn shot Cal in the good leg with his crossbow, giving Dmitri the chance to wrestle him the floor.

I looked away, not wanting to see what happened next.

“Cowards.” I heard Quinn bark. I glanced back just in time to see the last of Craven’s men run out the hole in the wall. Dmitri raced after them, daggers and fangs ready.

I looked past him at Henry. He was fighting a vampire. There was a gash in his arm, and blood ran down his fingertips. But that wasn’t all. The blade of the sword was red.

The vampire lunged for Henry and the sword flew out of his hands and skittered across the floor, very close to the table saw. They fell back, hitting the ground, and rolling into a wall.

Henry hit the vampire in the side of his head. He pulled back his bloodied fist again and the vampire caught his arm. He sank his teeth into Henry’s wrist.

I screamed and crawled out from under the table, grabbing the sword off the floor. It was heavy. I lugged it across the room with me. The vampire was digging his teeth into Henry’s flesh. Henry beat the side of the monsters head with his good hand.

I didn’t think twice and lifted the sword.

It sailed through the air and sliced into the vampire’s side. The monster hunched over. Henry kicked him off and rolled to his feet.

“Venna, are you all right?” he held his wrist in this good hand to stop the bleeding.

“Me?” I shouted. “You’re the one being sucked dry.”

I pulled his good hand away from his wrist and pressed my fingers to the oozing wound. It healed in a matter of seconds.