“Yes,” I answer, unsure of what he’s getting at.
“She looks normal, no different that you or me, right?”
My stomach churns to the point that I’m worried that the single chunk of meat that I had for breakfast will come back up. “She’s like you.” It’s not a question. I already know it’s true.
“Seraphina is just like me. Just like every single member of my clan that I brought with me. I didn’t know it at the time. It wasn’t until she used her magic and created a ball of fire in her palm – a ball of black flickering flames. All of our magic is dark like that, in some way or another. I am like you, she said to us. I am one of you. Yet I don’t have to subdue my given magic. I don’t have to live the human life you do. I can show each of you how to fight this, how to defeat it, but you have to join me.”
There are witches and warlocks who have lost their magic due to abusing it. Emmy was born without it. It’s possible to live a life without it. There’s no reason why people would want to though. The sage said as much during that carnival I went to so long ago. The magicless left Rovente, become their own clan. How many of them would pass at the chance to have their old lives back? “How many went with her?”
“I tried to persuade them to stay. Tried talking some sense into them that there was no escaping our fate. They wouldn’t listen and there was nothing more that I could do.” His jaw clenches. He’s still mad at himself for not doing more. “Half left with her.”
People start to line up just outside of the treeline, people clothed just as poorly as the man before me. They look like normal people, but they aren’t. The people in Miami that were after me, they weren’t Malum either; they were just infected people showing dark magic. If Aetheries doesn’t use magic then …
“Her and her Hunters left with my people. I thought that was the end of it. As bad as it was, at least it was done. It wasn’t. She returned a few weeks later, and this visit was far less friendly. She threatened us. Threatened to kill us off slowly one by one until she got a reaction out of us. She would do it again and again until we each turned Malum.” Sweat beads on his forehead at the mere thought of her threat coming true. “A fate worse than death.”
“What was her offer this time?” I ask him.
“Join her or become what we are afraid of.” He takes a step closer to me. “Do you understand why we are here now? We can’t defend ourselves against her or her Hunters. We can’t fight her let alone win. I’m not asking for Pensatore to fight her for us. I’m simply asking for a sanctuary, a place to stay until we figure out our next move.”
I swallow. Hard. From what I can tell he has been nothing but truthful to me and that is scary as hell. But it still doesn’t answer all of my questions. Plus, I’m not the one that can offer him the sanctuary that he seeks, only Ben can. “When did you leave your home and come here? How long ago?”
His head shakes slightly and he shrugs. “I don’t know exactly. Maybe two weeks ago. Why?”
Two weeks? That means that they were already on their way here when we were attacked at that camp. I stare at him, trying to decide on if I trust the man or not. Trusting people doesn’t come to me naturally, that’s always been an Emmy thing rather than a me thing. Right now, though, right now I know that they didn’t do it.
His perfectly timed trip here may clear him of the devastation of our soldiers and camp, but that’s all it does. When those two black eyed warlocks raided our settlement and started killing people, one of them said they were Aetheries, they said that they knew who I was and that they wanted me. I glance back up at Lucas. “Do you know who I am? Did you send those people after me?” My voice starts to rise and I step closer him, staring him down.
“W-w-what?” he stutters as he backs away. “No. We don’t hurt people, remember. I’ve never seen you before. I don’t even know your name.”
Realizing that I’m actually scaring him, I stumble back, falling down to my knees. Am I like him too? I heard those voices in my head. I felt it trying to convince me to act the way it wanted. Is it still inside of me? Is that why I was basically on top of Lucas just now? No. No, there was no voice. No urge. It was just my old violent Violet showing itself. I purged all that energy. I literally watched the electricity turn from black to white. It’s gone. Damn I hope I’m right.
Lucas continues to watch me, trying to figure out why I asked the questions that I did. Good luck – half the time I can’t even decipher what’s going on in my own head. “We sent someone to your clan a few months ago, he didn’t come back.”
Some of the uneasiness seems to seep from him now that I’m calmer. “No one visits my clan. The only ones who did were Seraphina and the two male Hunters with her.”
My heart starts to race, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “I have to go. We’ll come to you with our decision.” I bolt before I even finish the sentence, running as fast as I can toward the gate. I wiggle my way through the small crack that the people on the other side managed to make in the short amount of time that they had.
Seraphina. The first time I saw her… it wasn’t in Strega. It was in Miami. Under a bridge in the middle of the hot and humid summer. She was in the human realm.
“How far out are they?” I demand of Tessa. “Where are they?”
Tessa’s long copper hair sways as I rattle her shoulders. “We just opened the east gate for them. What happened? What did he say?”
I can hear her shouting my name, but I continue running towards the east gate. I didn’t even know that there were two until I showed up outside this one today, so I have only my stupid memory to guide me. More and more people are congregating, thankfully, and so I know I’m headed in the right direction.
The Healers and soldiers that remained in the settlement help carry the injured people inside on stretchers. Tables of food and water have been set up while I’ve been distracted with Lucas. Families are running around, trying to find their loved ones in the mass of thousands. I plow through every one of them, screaming out Ben and Lincoln’s names until my throat is raw. Every person looks the same: covered in dried blood and grime, all wearing the same fucking clothes. I scream louder.
A man yells out my name, which I barely hear over all of the commotion and ruckus. Twisting and turning, I search for the source. “Lincoln!”
He sees me before I see him and he scoops me up, pulling my clear off me feet and into his chest. “Are you okay?”
My chest heaves as I try to catch my breath. He finally lets me go, his eyes searching for any signs of injury on me. “Seraphina. It was her. All this time. It was her.”
“What are you…”
I stop listening as I see Emmy’s icy blonde hair catch the sunlight. She and Damon walk side by side towards the mountain’s edge, peering over. Even from where I’m at, I can hear her obnoxious chuckle. Damon had been injured at the camp – the Healers must have taken care of him already seeing as he looks as good as new now.
“It was her,” I say back to Lincoln. “She was the one that directed us to Aetheries. She was the one that sent those people after me. It was all –”
Damon reaches out, scooping his hand around the back of Em’s neck. His other hand stretches across her face.
It happens so fast.
The sound of her neck breaking as he twists is so loud I can’t even hear myself scream her name. I’m running. I refuse to believe this. I won’t believe it. She can’t … why. Why the fuck would Damon do this?
Halfway to her, Damon glances at me then pushes her limp body. Shoving her until she falls. Until she disappears over the edge.
Yelling is a part of me. I’ve yelled at everyone at some point or another. Screaming is different. Screaming is a sign of fear and weakness that I don’t give willingly. The sound leaving my lips is neither of those things. It’s primal, gut wrenching, and full of more pain then I have ever felt.
It’s the sound of my heart breaking.
sp; Laura Stephens, Enemy Of My Enemy (Price Of Power Book 1)
Enemy Of My Enemy (Price Of Power Book 1) Page 28
